Kabuto 100% perfect IV stats, shiny Kabuto in Pokémon Go
Everything you need to know about Kabuto during Water Fest Spotlight Hour.
This week’s Spotlight Hour features the Shellfish Pokémon. Well, looking at it, it features a few shellfish, but in this case we’re speaking specifically about how it’s the perfect time to catch a strong Kabuto in Pokémon Go.
Kabuto is a fan-favourite Pokémon, being one of the two original fossil Pokémon found in Kanto at the franchise’s very inception. In Pokémon Go, its evolution Kabutops is an interesting choice as a Water/Rock-type, though its current moveset holds it back at the bottom of a fairly rare type bracket.
Still, all Pokémon are just a move update or two away from being meta relevant, so if you fancy catching a really cool-looking Pokémon for PVP, this event is for you!
This week’s Spotlight Hour also comes with a triple catch XP bonus — the first ever seen in a Spotlight Hour and something generally reserved for Community Day — so if you’re looking to rack up XP quickly, crack a Lucky Egg and get good at Excellent Curveball throws!
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Kabuto 100% perfect IV stats in Pokémon Go
This week’s Spotlight Hour is a great opportunity to catch a Kabuto 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 Kabuto 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 Kabuto:
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.
The World of Wonders season has come to Pokémon Go, which has brought Rediscover Kanto and Sustainability Week, along with 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 Kabutops good in PVP?
No, at least not yet. Kabutops sits in a weird place in the meta — as a Rock/Water type it’s weak only to Grass (double weak), Electric, Fighting and Ground. But, thanks to the way the meta has shaped up, its resistance to Fire, Poison, Normal, Ice and Flying don’t really get a chance to shine in Go Battle League. On top of this, it’s generally poor bulk doesn’t look likely to leave it in a good position, should it get a move update that massively boosts its attack.
Running Mud Shot, Stone Edge and Ancient Power, we’re learning fairly heavily into Rock and ignoring Water entirely. Mud Shot works as a fast-charging Fast move, but deals low damage without STAB. This means you’re replying entirely on Stone Edge as a nuke and Ancient Power as spam. All in all, it’s a pretty inflexible Pokémon with lacklustre stats.
Starting with Great League, we have good matchups against Froslass, Alolan Ninetails, Drapion, Walrein and Pelipper, but poor matchups against Galarian Stunfisk, Noctowl, Lanturn, Trevenant and Sableye – all of which are heavy in the meta.
In Ultra League, Kabutops works slightly better as anti-Flying tech. You can expect wins against Talonflame, Alolan Ninetails, Pidgeot and both Shadow and regular Charizard. However, you lost against meta-relevant Swampert, Giratina, Walrein, Tapu Fini and Trevenant.
Master League is a brutal place for Kabutops. It will beat most Fire-types, but lose to pretty much everything else that’s meta-relevant
Is there a shiny Kabuto in Pokémon Go?
Yes, as a Kantonian, there has been a shiny Kabuto for many years! Shiny Kabuto was released in May 2018 as part of Adventure Week 2018!
What does shiny Kabuto look like?
As you can see below, shiny Kabuto is a tad green. It almost looks like it stood in one spot, out of the water, a little too long, but rather than being a deep mossy colour, it’s that strange lime green that you often see with Kantonian shinies.
Shiny Kabutops follows suit with the lime-green vibe. With that colouring, it almost looks like it’s trying to do Scyther cosplay.
Thanks to YouTuber RaZzi for the handy comparison!
Other tips for this Spotlight Hour
Aside from trying to catch a shiny Kabuto in Pokémon Go, there are a couple of other good reasons to partake in this week’s Spotlight Hour:
- The best reason is, of course, the triple catch XP bonus running throughout the hour. This applies to all Pokémon caught, so do your best to get good at Excellent Curveball throws on a Kabuto to quickly rack up the XP!
- If you’re a newcomer, this Spotlight Hour is the perfect time to collect enough Kabuto candy to fully evolve this Pokémon and enter its evolution into the Pokédex.
- Thanks to Kabuto being a Rock/Water-type, catching a bunch during this Spotlight Hour will add progress to your respective catch bonus medals.
Spotlight Hour events only last for an hour – 6pm to 7pm (local time). Come back next week for a primer on Binacle with its double catch candy bonus!
Good luck finding a perfect Kabuto!