On the weekend, the Raid Day is happening with the unleashed Hoopa in Pokémon GO. But even your banned Hoopa will now be useful.
What kind of event is this? On Saturday, you can take part in plenty of raids against the powerful, unleashed Hoopa from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM. You will receive some free raid passes, thus giving you the chance to secure the strong attacker. All info and tips about the Raid Day with Hoopa can be found here.
Now there is another interesting point: In the English announcement of the event, it was added that your already caught, banned Hoopa can also become an unleashed Hoopa (via pokemongolive.com). We summarize all the info for you here.
What is behind the banned Hoopa?
What is changing now? Starting from the Raid Day, the Pokémon GO team writes in the announcement, the form change for Hoopa will be unlocked for all trainers. It doesn’t matter whether you have completed the special research “Unleashed Mischief” or not. Additionally, from then on you can also send the unleashed Hoopa to Pokémon HOME – that was not possible before.
You need the following for the form change:
- 50 Hoopa candies & 10,000 stardust from banned to unleashed
- 10 Hoopa candies & 2,000 stardust back from unleashed to banned
You should note: If you don’t have a banned Hoopa with very strong stats, it is presumably more worthwhile to catch the unleashed Hoopa anew during the Raid Day. Because the 50 Hoopa candies needed for the form change can also be used well for other purposes, like leveling up or learning an additional move.
What is the banned Hoopa? The banned Hoopa first appeared during the “Season of Mischief” in 2021, where one could catch the monster in the context of a special research. This Psychic-Ghost Pokémon did not have the option to switch to the stronger, unleashed form.
During the event “Unleashed Mischief,” this changed: Another special research was added, which you received once you completed the first one. After completing it, you were allowed to switch Hoopa to the unleashed form at the end.
However: Claiming this second research was only free for a limited time. Those who never completed it could not secure the form change for the banned Hoopa. Later, there was the Top Raid Day with the unleashed Hoopa, but at that time the Pokémon was very difficult to defeat. Many players might still be missing this monster today.
