Pokémon GO: Community Day with Magikarp – Here’s how to make the most of it

Next weekend (August 8th), the Community Day August featuring Magikarp starts in Pokémon GO. Here you will find all the information on start time, bonuses, and how to make the most of the day.

This is the Community Day: Once a month, the Community Day in Pokémon GO takes place. A specific Pokémon is always in focus, appearing more frequently – including in its shiny form.

Additionally, there are special bonuses that run throughout the event. In August, Magikarp is the focus.

All info about the Community Day in August – Start time and bonuses

As usual, you have six hours to catch numerous Magikarp. You can complete the evolution to Gyarados even between 5 PM and 7 PM to secure the exclusive move.

What else is there? For the Community Day, you can buy a Community Day box in the shop, which contains 30 Ultra Balls, one Elite Charge TM, six star pieces, and one incense.

Additionally, there is a ticket for the special research “A Gallant Splash” for about 99 cents (varies at Samsung Store and Google Store). There you can secure even more candy for Magikarp – the small fish needs a total of 400 candies to evolve.

How to make the most out of Community Day

Catch as many Pokémon as possible: The main bonus during Community Day is the triple stardust for each captured Pokémon. You need this to power up your Pokémon – it is therefore quite valuable.

If you want to maximize your stardust gain, you should use star pieces as well – they further increase the stardust obtained per Pokémon.

Plan your items properly: If you already know that you want to play the Community Day for an extended period, you should use multiple items at once right at the start. The duration of the items will be stacked – and you won’t have to remember to activate them while playing.

It’s best to start the incense right away (you only need two because of the long item duration to cover the entire event period) and activate the star pieces. One star piece lasts for half an hour – theoretically, you can fit twelve pieces into the event duration. That way, you won’t miss any spawn or stardust provider.

Also, make sure you have enough Poké Balls stored – ideally several hundred. Especially if you are playing the Community Day from home, you should not go into the event with too few balls.

You can also get balls from gifts from friends – if you are looking for friend codes, you can find them here.

Shiny Magikarp and Gyarados

This is what the shinies look like: Magikarp is among the most exciting shiny Pokémon. The red fish shines in brilliant gold, while the usually blue Gyarados appears in red coloration.

Many players probably also know the red Gyarados from the old Silver/Gold/Crystal games, where it played a role. This is how the monsters look:

During Community Day, the shiny rate is usually increased, so your chances of getting a shiny Magikarp are good. However, keep in mind that Magikarp requires a total of 400 candies for evolution – save those candies for a shiny or a particularly strong specimen.

Gyarados with Splash – how strong will that be?

Here Gyarados with Splash is worth it: If you consider only the damage, Hydro Pump is the stronger water move, for which Gyarados also gets the STAB bonus.

However, Splash has the advantage of being charged much faster – making Gyarados more interesting in PvP.

In the battle league ranking of PvPoke, based on battle simulations of the Pokémon, Gyarados ranks 7th among the best Pokémon in the Ultra League with the following combination:

• Fire Spin as a fast move
• Splash as a charged move
• Crunch as a second charged move

With this combination, it can damage many different monsters. Gyarados is also expected to become interesting when mega evolutions are introduced to the game. These have already been announced – and Gyarados is among the monsters that can mega evolve.