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

This week's Spotlight Hour is all about the aptly named Owl Pokémon, making it the perfect time to catch a perfect Hoothoot in Pokémon Go.

While Hoothoot may be pretty rubbish in raids and comptetitive play, its evolution, Noctowl, does see Great League and Ultra League use in Pokémon Go. However, the real draw for this week's Spotlight Hour is the special bonus that runs alongside the event – the double evolution XP bonus.

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Hoothoot 100% perfect IV stats in Pokémon Go

This week’s Spotlight Hour is a great opportunity to catch a Hoothoot 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 for your 4* Pokédex, raids and Master League. Yet, because of how CP is calcuated 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 Hoothoot 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 Hoothoot:

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 Noctowl good in PVP?

It's not bad in Great League and OK in Ultra League, it's awful in Master League. Either way, you're looking at the following move set: Wing Attack, Sky Attack and Shadow Ball as a second charged move.

Noctowl is a bulky Pokémon with a perfectly reasonable moveset — a fast-charging Fast move into a cheap Charged move, both with STAB damage, can hit pretty hard. The Shadow Ball for coverage is a nice addition, too, giving a nuke you can slam to take down the likes of Trevenant and Medicham Great League. Sableye, Scrafty and Swampert are all also in the list of Pokémon you can beat in this league, while Altaria, Nidoqueen, Galarian Stunfisk and Azumarill are all Pokémon that will give you issues.

The issue is simply its CP range – a perfect 15/15/15 Noctowl caps out at 2288 CP, meaning that it is eligible in the Ultra League, but you will need to sink a lot of Stardust into a Pokémon with diminishing returns.

Noctowl still beats Tevenant, with interesting wins against Giratina, Cresselia and Scrafty, but loses hard to Walrein, Talonflamem Nidoqueen, Swampert and Obstagoon. The further we get away from being able to hit the CP ceiling, the more apprehensive you should be about running it

So, Master League? Amusingly, you'll still beat everything you beat before thanks to Shadow Ball doing the heavy lifting, but who's going into Master League looking for Trevenant counters? Do yourself a favour and give the bird a rest.

The World of Wonders season has come to Pokémon Go. Rivals Week is currently running in Pokémon Go. You can now catch Wiglett and, if you don't have one already, Diancie through the Glitz and Glam quest. There's also the Rediscover Kanto and World of Wonders quests to complete! 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 Hoothoot in Pokémon Go?

Yes! Released on New Year's Eve 2021, there is a shiny Hoothoot in Pokémon Go. Amusingly, this was only in the form of shiny costumed Hoothoot, which can't evolve. Shiny regular Hoothoot (and therefore shiny Noctowl) came a few ays later on January 4th 2022.

Spotlight Hours, unlike Community Days, do not have a boosted shiny rate, so, as you're hunting for a shiny Hoothoot, you'll be doing so with the regular shiny rates in this play. This means, if you really want a shiny Hoothoot, you need to make the most of this hour!

What does shiny Hoothoot look like?

As you can see, shiny Hoothoot takes on a lovely bright gold colour, while shiny Noctowl keeps the gold, but with a slightly darker hue. All in all, both are pretty good looking!

Watch on YouTube

Thanks to YouTube user cybercychreus for the preview!

Other tips for this Spotlight Hour

Aside from trying to catch a perfect shiny Hoothoot 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 is, of course, the double evolution XP bonus running throughout the hour. This gives you the chance to gather a lot of XP very quickly, so you can rise your Trainer Level. The best way to do this is to have two Tags in your Pokémon storage dedicated to this hour. The first is stuff you want to evolve and keep – generally strong Pokémon and Pokémon you need to evolve to update your Pokédex – and thing you want to evolve and transfer. This second box should contain all of the 12-candy Pokémon. The search string to quickly find all of these at lower than 3* rating is: 0*,1*,2*&10,13,16,265,293,519&!shiny
• If you're a newcomer, this Spotlight Hour is the perfect time to collect enough Hoothoot candy to fully evolve this Pokémon and register its evolution, Noctowl, in your Pokédex.
• Thanks to Hoothoot being a normal and flying-type Pokémon, catching a bunch during this Spotlight Hour will add progress to your normal and flying-type catch bonus medal.

Remember – Spotlight Hour events only last for an hour – 6pm to 7pm (local time).

At time of writing, the December Spotlight Hours haven't been announced yet, but check back next week for a primer on whatever will be shimmying into centre stage.

Good luck finding a perfect shiny Hoothoot!