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Caterpie, Weedle and Wurmple 100% perfect IV stats, shiny bugs in Pokémon Go

Everything you need to know about the Caterpie, Weedle and Wurmple Spotlight Hour.

This week’s Spotlight Hour is, well... we hope you like bugs.

Niantic has started batching Pokémon for Spotlight Hours in Pokémon Go when the Pokémon, and since this week is particularly underwhelming, it’s a good excuse to try batching them together. Why is that? Because this week we’re chasing two Worms and a Hairy Bug. No, that’s not a euphemism - the hills are alive with the wriggling of Caterpie, Weedle and Wurmple in Pokémon Go. And just to try to breathe some level of excitement into this, we’re not going to tell you which is the Hairy Bug Pokémon.

Catching as many bugs as possible is the plan for this week’s Spotlight Hour - both because of the chance to shiny hunt a PVP Pokémon in Pokémon Go and because of the double catch Stardust bonus that runs alongside the event.

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Watch as battle Guzzlord - one of the Ultra Beasts in Pokémon GoWatch on YouTube

Caterpie, Weedle and Wurmple 100% perfect IV stats in Pokémon Go

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

Caterpie.

'Perfect', of course, means two things in Pokémon Go. 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 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 tell if these are the droids you’re looking for, as the late Great Ben Kenobi once said, 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 Caterpie:

  • Level 30 (wild CP maximum) - 374 CP
  • Level 35 (weather-boosted wild CP maximum - 406 CP
  • 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.

    But wait, there’s more!

    Weedle

    If Caterpie doesn’t make you quiver with excitement, fair enough – that’s totally fair. But what about Weedle and Wurmple?

    If you’re at Level 30 (or above), a perfect 15/15/15 Weedle will have the following stats:

  • Level 30 (wild CP maximum) - 391 CP
  • Level 35 (weather-boosted wild CP maximum - 423 CP
  • And finally, the following CPs for a perfect 15/15/15 Wurmple:

  • Level 30 (wild CP maximum) - 495 CP
  • Level 35 (weather-boosted wild CP maximum - 536 CP
  • If we were to recommend one to focus on, it would likely be Wurmple - it has the best shiny and it as two branching evolutions, so if you’re going for a complete 4* Pokédex, you’re going to need to catch a lot of Wurmple.

    Are Butterfree, Beedrill, Dustox and Beautifly good in PVP?

    No.

    Wurmple.

    If you want a bit more context, Butterfree, Beautifly and Dustox are atrocious - Butterfree is probably in contention for the lofty title of 'worst Bug-type in Pokémon Go'. Beedrill, perhaps unsurprisingly, is the only one that can really hold its own, and even that is only in Great League. Move up a bracket to Ultra League and not even the terrifying suzumebachi has any impact.

    If you want a 'perfect Go Battle League IV' Beedrill (you don’t), you should be looking for a 0/13/14 Weedle. Once evolved, your Beedrill want to run Poison Jab, Drill Run and X-Scissor.

    This will grant you wins against Defense Deoxys, Shadow Poliwrath, Azumarill, Annihilape and Charjabug. Losses will come from Lanturn, Lickitung, Skarmory, Talonflame, Whiscash and a whole bunch of other Pokémon.


    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.


    Are shiny Caterpie, shiny Weedle and shiny Wurmple in Pokémon Go?

    Great news - shiny Caterpie, shiny Weedle and shiny Wurmple are all in Pokémon Go and have been for a long time!

    The shiny form for Caterpie was released in 2018, with the other two following in 2020.

    If luck is on your side, you may find these shiny Bug-type Pokémon in the wild, but be aware that this is not a Community Day and shiny rates are not boosted, so the chances of catching one, let alone a perfect one, are very low. That said, each of these Pokémon have the potential to be shiny, so it’s purely a numbers game - tap each and every one of them and see what you get. Good luck finding the one you need!

    What do shiny Caterpie, shiny Weedle and shiny Wurmple look like?

    As you can see, shiny Caterpie has a lovely gold colour, which turns a burnt orange when it evolves into Metapod, with Butterfree taking a purple and pink palette!

    As for Weedle, the shiny is gold, but shiny Kakuna and shiny Beedrill lose their lovely golds for sickly greens. Boo.

    Potential CD Shiny Pokémon vs Normal
    byu/bigbaldheadNR inTheSilphRoad

    Finally, we have shiny Wurmple, which is an excellent shade of purple. Silcoon takes on a peach hue, while Beautifly opts for purple-tipped wings. All excellent, we thorough approve. Cascoon, meanwhile, goes for 'highlighter green' and Dustox swaps green for brown. These are less good, sadly.

    Thanks to Twitter X user Kelven91, Reddit user bigbaldheadNR and Kelven91 again for these three previews!

    Other reasons to catch as many Pokémon as possible

    Aside from trying to catch a shiny Bug 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 Stardust bonus running throughout the hour. The base rate of 100 Stardust per catch. This is doubled during this spotlight hour, meaning each catch is worth 200 Stardust.
    • If the weather in Pokémon Go is to your favour - in this case Rainy you will get twice the normal weather bonus (an additional 50 Stardust).
    • This all stacks with a Star Piece to give a x1.5 multiplier to all Stardust gained.
    • Also, if you’re a newcomer, this Spotlight Hour is the perfect time to collect enough of the various Candy on offer to fully evolve these Pokémon and enter their evolutions to the Pokédex.
    • Thanks to these all being Bug-types, catching a bunch during this Spotlight Hour will add progress to your respective catch bonus medal.

    If you’ve made it this far, thanks for sticking with us. As a reward, and because we know it was bugging you, Weedle was the Hairy Bug Pokémon. We know - famously smooth, that one...

    Spotlight Hour events only last for an hour from 6pm to 7pm (local time). It’s particularly cruel that last week was double evolution experience week, because now you will have to wait for that to roll back around and evolve all of these cheap Pokémon! Instead, come back next week to for a Spotlight Hour featuring Trubbish and double catch XP!

    Good luck finding a perfect Bug-type Pokémon!

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