Buneary 100% perfect IV stats, shiny Lopunny in Pokémon Go

This week’s Spotlight Hour is all about the Rabbit Pokémon, which is weird because it's not Easter... Still, on the off-chance you don't have one already, this is the latest perfect opportunity to catch a perfect Buneary in Pokémon Go.

These things are literally rabbits - they're everywhere, but during this event they will be even more everywhere than usual. So, if you're not terribly fussed on catching yet another Buneary in Pokémon Go, you’ll be pleased to know that the special bonus of this Spotlight Hour is the double evolution XP bonus, meaning that instead of catching Pokémon, you can rake in XP by cracking a Lucky Egg and going to town!

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Buneary 100% perfect IV stats in Pokémon Go

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

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 Lopunny good in PVP?

No, it is simply - it's about as cute as it is useless. It's be one thing if it was decent in Raids, but its attack stat is simply too low to be worth using. But wait, we hear you say, low attack usually means high bulk! Yes, while those ears seem to make great shock absorbers, the move pool we're working with here is simply bad - the best combination is Double Kick, Triple Axel and Focus Blast. Triple Axel? Yikes...

We really want Lopunny to be great - it's cute and we like it - but as it stands, it can't stand up to the competition in Pokémon Go. After at least two move updates, it may get a fighting chance, but right now, it's not worth pursuing.

If you are determined to lose, in Great League, it beats Registeel, Lickitung, Shadow Gligar, Galarian Stunfisk and Lanturn, but loses to Medicham, Alolan Ninetales, Venusaur, Swampert and regular Gligar.

In Ultra League you should swap Focus Blast for Fire Punch, helping you take down Trevenant, Escavalier, Giratina, Venusaur and Greedent. Losses will come from Swampert, Charizard, Cobalion, Cresselia and Walrein.

If you do want to run a Lopunny in Go Battle League, you’re looking at the following move set: Counter, Dynamic Punch and Grass Knot as a second charged move.

Lopunny barely survived this far, don't even consider Master League.

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 Buneary in Pokémon Go?

Yes, there is a shiny Buneary in Pokémon Go! Released back in April 2019 as part of the Eggstravaganza 2019 event, it has been in the game for quite some time...

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

What does shiny Buneary look like?

As you can see below, shiny Buneary is the answer to the question nobody was asking: 'What if we made Buneary even cuter?'!?

Shiny Buneary & Lopunny model comparisons (models via Chrales)
byu/EgaTehPro inTheSilphRoad

Thanks to Reddit user EgaTehPro for the handy preview.

Both Buneary and Lopunny went for a pink wash. It's so needlessly cute, we can imagine the two of them going to the stylist together in a short video, probably holding hands on the way, while Pikachu dresses up as Mimikyu, or something equally adorable. Lazy as this design is, we low-key love it.

Other tips for this Spotlight Hour

Aside from trying to catch a perfect shiny Buneary 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 Buneary candy to fully evolve this Pokémon and register its evolution, Lopunny, in your Pokédex.
• Thanks to Buneary being a Normal-type Pokémon, 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, when Dunsparce flops its way into the Spotlight with its Double Catch Stardust bonus!

Good luck finding a perfect shiny Buneary!