Hippopotas 100% perfect IV stats, shiny Hippopotas in Pokémon Go

This week’s Spotlight Hour is all about the Hippo Pokémon, making it the perfect opportunity to catch a perfect Hippopotas in Pokémon Go.

Hippopotas’s evolution, Hippowdon, is a rarity in that it is reasonable in all three leagues in Pokémon Go. That’s pretty rare for a Spotlight Hour so if you’re into competitive play, this is worth showing up for.

But if you’re not a fan of competitive play - or even hippos, for that matter - Niantic has you covered because this Spotlight Hour is also about Poliwag, Snorunt and Vulpix! Presumably this has something to do with Weather Week, but if that’s the case why isn’t the Weather Pokémon in the Spotlight? An hour of purely random Castform would have been pretty cool.

Finally, the special bonus that runs alongside the event is the double Catch XP bonus, meaning that you can rake in XP by cracking a Lucky Egg and going to town catching any Pokémon you come across.

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Hippopotas 100% perfect IV stats in Pokémon Go

This week’s Spotlight Hour is a great opportunity to catch a Hippopotas with perfect IV stats.

'Perfect' means two things in Pokémon Go, depending on how you plan to use a given Pokémon. First, there’s the maxed out, 100% IV version, which is the 15/15/15 you’re looking for your 4* Pokédex, raids and Master League. Yet, because of how CP is calculated using three stats, a perfect IV Pokémon is generally only ever the best version of itself in the Master League.

Of course, you can’t see the IV of a Pokémon without catching it first, but, with a little research beforehand, you can quickly spot a perfect Hippopotas based on the CP alone.

If you’re at Level 30 (or above), you’ll ideally be looking for the following CPs for a perfect 15/15/15 Hippopotas:

The wild CP value aligns with your Trainer Level until you reach Level 30 and, due to the majority of the player base now being above this level, we’ve kept to these values for the sake of simplicity. These values will, however, be different if you’re currently below Level 30.

Is Hippowdon good in PVP?

Hippos, as we all know, are violent dangerous animals. They’ll happily mess you up because they’re having a bad day. Hippowdon is no exception to this rule. Maybe it’s something to do with rolling around in clay all day, but this Pokémon is not afraid to throw down.

In the first two leagues, Hippowdon runs Sand Attack (Fast), Weather Ball (Rock, Charged) and Scorching Sands (Charged). This is a spammy combo that can apply shield pressure while staying flexible in its typing. Sand Attack is fast charging and Scorching Sands has a 30% chance debuff the opponent’s attack. Weather Ball is great as spammy coverage.

In Master League, it swaps Scorching Sands for Earth Power. This move is very similar to Scorching Sands - it hits a little harder, but has a 10% chance of dropping the opponent’s defense.

In all three leagues, you want to run the Shadow if you have it.

In Great League, Shadow Hippowdon beats Lanturn, Galarian Stunfisk, Talonflame, Annihilape and Dragonair, but loses to Whiscash, Azumarill, Lickitung, Skarmory and Cresselia.

In Ultra League, Shadow Hippowdon takes down Skeledirge, Charizard, Cobalion, Registeel and Giratina Altered. You will lose to Virizion, Poliwrath, Cresselia, Steelix and Talonflame.

In Master League, you can look forward to stomping on Xerneas, Melmetal, Ho-Oh, Excadrill and Dialga. However, you’ll be ground to dust by Dragonite, Therian Landorus, Kyogre, Giratina Origin and Mewtwo.

The World of Wonders season has come to Pokémon Go. Wiglett can now be caught as part of Rediscover Kanto, but don't forget to complete the World of Wonders quest. Don't forget to try out Routes, Gift Exchange and Party Play while you're hunting down rare Pokémon, fighting in the Go Battle League or competing in PokéStop Showcases.

Is there a shiny Hippopotas in Pokémon Go?

Yes, there is shiny Hippopotas in Pokémon Go! Shiny Riolu, Lucario, Hippopotas and Hippowdon were released as part of the of Sinnoh Celebration in February 2020.

However, there’s also pretty obvious sexual dimorphism in this species, so be aware that the female Hippopotas and Hippowdon have different colouring to the official Pokédex entry. If you see the Pokémon below, they’re not shiny, they’re female.

However, since Spotlight Hours do not have a boosted shiny rate, the chances of finding a shiny are the same as it would be finding it in the wild. You simply have more chances of finding one because of the number that spawn.

What does shiny Hippopotas look like?

Shiny Hippopotas and Hippowdon are incredibly lazy. If there was an award for lazy shiny design, this Pokémon wouldn’t show up because that sounds like hard work.

nearly traded a shiny for a female Hippowdon, careful out there!
byu/CaptainModrah inPokemonHome

Thanks to Reddit user CaptainModrah for the handy comparison.

As you can see, the male shiny has zero rizz. At best, it coloured itself in with a yellow highlighter, but there’s otherwise no discernible difference between the regular Pokémon and the shiny male Hippopotas and shiny male Hippowdon.

Shiny female Hippopotas though? Still pretty bland - same highlighter trick. But shiny female Hippowdon is making an effort, opting for a mossy green instead of the usual slate grey. Its darker shell takes on a brownish hue, too, adding a bit of contrast.

Other tips for this Spotlight Hour

Aside from trying to catch a perfect shiny Hippopotas in Pokémon Go, there are a couple of other good reasons to partake in this week’s Spotlight Hour. The vast majority of players showing up for this Spotlight Hour will no doubt be doing so for the hour-long special bonus below:

• The best reason, depending on how long you’ve been playing Pokémon Go, may be the double catch XP bonus running throughout the hour. Try to focus on making Excellent Throws to make the most of this bonus! We also recommend waiting until this Spotlight Hour is live before catching your first Pokemon of the day, because, again, it will result in more XP.
• This bonus can be stacked with a Lucky Egg, which doubles the amount of XP you earn for every activity in Pokémon Go.
• If you’re a newcomer, this Spotlight Hour is the perfect time to collect a lot of Candy for all of the different Spotlight Pokémon, and add their evolutions to the Pokédex.
• Thanks to Hippopotas being a Ground-type, catching a bunch during this Spotlight Hour will add progress to your respective catch bonus medal.

Remember - Spotlight Hour events only last for an hour - 6pm to 7pm (local time). Come back next week for a much calmer Spotlight hour, where Hoppip breezes into the Spotlight with its Double Catch Candy bonus.

Good luck finding a perfect Hippopotas!