Mankey 100% perfect IV stats, shiny Mankey preview in Pokémon Go

This week’s Spotlight Hour is all the Pig Monkey Pokémon. This famous angry boi holds a very special place in many Trainer's hearts, and with the 2022 addition of a third evolution, Annihilape, to this Gen 1 Pokémon (which is yet to be added to Pokémon Go), this event is a great opportunity to catch a perfect Mankey in Pokémon Go.

Mankey, and its evolution Primeape are interesting choices for Spotlight Hour, given that Paldean Pokémon are starting to join the world of Pokémon Go. This means that we can probably expect a Mankey Community Day at some point in the future, ringing the bell on Annihilape entering the fray.

So, while we can’t talk about how good the Rage Monkey may or may not be, we can talk about Primeape and whether you want to focus on one now or wait and see what happens.

Also bizarrely, given the suspected eventual Community Day, this week’s Spotlight Hour comes with the recurring double catch candy bonus — while you probably don’t need Mankey Candy, remember that it applies to all Pokémon, including Research rewards and Raid bosses.

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Mankey 100% perfect IV stats

This week’s Spotlight Hour is a great opportunity to catch a Mankey 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 Mankey 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 Mankey:

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 Primeape good in PVP?

It’s actually not awful. It’s not good, but it’s now a middle evolution which means, to put it meme, this isn’t even its final form. As such, we expect the inevitable Annihilape to pack quite a punch.

Speculation aside, Primeape works as a worse Machamp in raids (and so is only useful to new Trainers), but in Go Battle League it makes up for its poor stats with very fast attacks. Running Counter, Night Slash and Close Combat, you have a great, spammy and dynamic move set to play with. The only issue is the aforementioned stats. You absolutely need to treat Primeape like a glass cannon because it’s all attack, no defence.

In Great League this will get you wins against Registeel, Alolan Sandslash, Walrein, Lanturn and Galarian Stunfisk — which is decent considering the meta. Be prepared, however, for losses against Medicham (king of the Fighting-types), Mandibuzz, Carbink, Sableye and Venusaur.

In Ultra League, you’ll need a Level 50 Primeape (2493 CP, 7/15/15) to really shine. This hefty investment will help you beat Registeel, Obstagoon, Swampert, Walrein and Cobalion. You should expect to lose to Cresselia, Giratina, Tapu Fini, Trevenant and Charizard. This is all decent, but there are better fighters if you have them!

Don’t try to run Primeape in Master League. You will not win.

The World of Wonders season has come to 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 Mankey in Pokémon Go?

Yes, as with all Kantonian Pokémon, there is a shiny Mankey in Pokémon Go. In this case, shiny Mankey joined the game in March 2019 as part of the Battle Showdown 2019 event!

What does shiny Mankey look like?

As you can see below, shiny Mankey falls to the curse of bad Gen 1 shinies. Like its brother in arms, Machop, the devs looked at it and clearly said 'Ok, but what about if we make it nauseating green?'

Mankey & Machop shiny family
by u/Kelven91 in TheSilphRoad

Thanks to Reddit user Kelven91 for the preview.

Shiny Primeape, is somehow worse. This time, all they did was lightly nudge the green saturation slider and call it a day. It’s like how an engineer will just add another camera to the back of an iPhone and pat themselves on the back.

Other tips for this Spotlight Hour

Aside from trying to catch a shiny Mankey 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 double catch candy bonus running throughout the hour. This gives you the chance to gather Candy twice as fast as usual, with each Mankey caught giving up to 13 Candy if you use a Pinap/Silver Berry with a Mega-Evolved Pokémon of the same type, instead of the base three.
• This bonus also extends to your research rewards. Remember, you don’t need to catch these Pokémon when you complete the task; if you run away, you can 'bank' up to 200 Pokémon for times like this, or when you want to maximise a Star Piece or Lucky Egg bonus.
• If you’re a newcomer, this Spotlight Hour is the perfect time to collect enough Mankey Candy to fully evolve this Pokémon and add its evolution to your Pokédex.
• Thanks to Mankey being a Fighting-type, catching a bunch during this Spotlight Hour will add progress to your respective catch bonus medal.

Spotlight Hour events only last for an hour – 6pm to 7pm (local time). Next week sees Girafarig trot its way into the spotlight with the double Catch XP bonus.

Good luck finding a perfect Mankey!