Pokémon Go Charmander Community Day Classic guide

Pokémon Go Charmander Community Day Classic guide

Time Stamp: September 1, 2023 10:00 PM

Pokémon Go is having a Charmander Community Day Classic event on Sept. 2 from 2-5 p.m. in your local time.

As expected with a Community Day event, Charmander will spawn in huge numbers with a high chance for it to appear shiny. There are also several other bonuses and perks, which we’ve list out below.

How do I catch a shiny Charmander?

As per old research by the now-defunct website The Silph Road (via Wayback Machine), Shiny rates on Community Days are about 1 in 24, which means that if you keep playing throughout the three-hour window, you should find quite a few shiny Pokémon.

A graphic showcasing all of Charmander’s evolutions with their respective Shiny forms. Graphic: Julia Lee/Polygon | Image sources: Niantic

If you’re short on time or Poké Balls, you can pop an Incense, then quickly tap each Charmander to check for shiny ones, running from any that aren’t shiny. Notably, any Charmander you’ve already tapped will face where your player is standing, so that should help identify which ones you may have already checked.

What Community Day move does Charmander’s evolution learn?

If you evolve Charmeleon into Charizard from 2 p.m. until 7 p.m. in your local time, it will learn the fast attack Dragon Breath and charged move Blast Burn.

If you miss out on evolving it during this period, you will likely be able to evolve it during a Community Day weekend event in December to get Dragon Breath and Blast Burn. If you don’t want to wait, you can use an Elite TM to get the move.

How does Charizard do in the meta?

Hoo, boy. While Charizard and its Mega variants isn’t at the tippy top of any attacker tier lists anymore, Mega Charizard Y (the orange one) is still pretty high up there. Mega Charizard X and non-Mega Charizard (whether Shadow or not) are still mentioned on these damage-dealing lists, so you should definitely try to grab some powerful Charmander.

Set up your Charizard with Fire Spin and Blast Burn and opt to Mega Evolve it to Mega Charizard Y for one of the best fire-type attackers in the game, for PvE content.

Charizard can see use in PvP, but rather than giving it both of its Community Day moves, you’re better off giving it Wing Attack with Blast Burn and Dragon Claw for better type coverage and good energy regeneration. Wing Attack is a legacy move, so you’ll need to use an Elite TM to get it, though.

How do I make the most of Charmander Community Day Classic?

The following bonuses will be active during Charmander Community Day:

  • Tripled Stardust for catching Pokémon
  • Incense lasts three hours
  • Lure Modules lasts three hours
  • Charmander special photobombs when taking snapshots

That said, you should definitely pop a Star Piece and an Incense and try to nab some powerful Charmander.

If you can Mega Evolve Charizard, Houndoom, or Blaziken, you’ll score additional Charmander Candy per catch.

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