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Shiny Chespin evolution chart, 100% perfect IV stats and Chesnaught best moveset in Pokémon Go

Everything to get the most out of Chespin Community Day!

Chespin is stumbling its way into January’s Community Day – a reoccurring Pokémon Go event that increases the spawn rate for a specific Pokémon, while also boosting shiny rates and offering an exclusive move, along with a whole host of other bonuses!

The amusingly named Spiny Nut Pokémon is a great choice for Community Day, not only because it adds a new shiny to the game, but because it’s a starter Pokémon – and hopefully means a shiny Froakie is coming later this year in Pokémon Go! Future events aside (though we are all already very excited for shiny Greninja), this is your first opportunity to go looking for shiny Chespin, Quilladin and its final evolution, Chesnaught.

This event is also perfect for catching a Chespin with 100% perfect IV stats and, if you achieve this feat, it’s a good idea to know Chesnaught’s best moveset.

Even if you’re not fussed on this month’s Community Day Pokémon, there are a multiple other bonuses that may get you out and about, including double catch Candy and quarter hatch distance for Eggs placed in Incubators during the event.

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Chespin’s 100% perfect IV stats in Pokémon Go

January’s Community Day is the perfect opportunity to find a Chespin with perfect IV stats in Pokémon Go.

Chespin.

For Chespin, the CP values which correspond to perfect 15/15/15 stats are as follows:

  • Level 30 (wild CP maximum) – 939 CP
  • Level 35 (weather boosted CP maximum) – 1018 CP

Chespin’s wild CP value aligns with your current Trainer Level until you reach Level 30, so, since the majority of the player base is above this level, we keep to these values for the sake of simplicity. If you’re currently beneath Level 30, however, these values will be different.

Perfect stats in Pokémon Go, however, depend entirely on what you want to use your Pokémon for.

A Pokémon that is perfect for the Master League and raids means exclusively 15/15/15 – the best possible stats that a Pokémon can have. Meanwhile, perfect for Great League and Ultra League are completely different, as the goal is to get the lowest attack for the highest defence, and getting that CP as close to the league’s cap as possible.

If you want to run Chesnaught in Go Battle League, you’re looking for different stats:

  • A perfect Great League Chesnaught is 1/15/15, reaching CP 1499 at Level 19
  • A perfect Ultra League Chesnaught is 1/15/14, reaching CP 2500 at Level 33.5
  • A perfect Master League Chesnaught is 15/15/15, reaching CP 3340 at Level 50
Spin Pokéstops during Community Day to unlock these cute event-exclusive stickers. (Image credit: pokemongolive.com)

This Community Day adds the move Frenzy Plant to Chesnaught’s move pool, which is kind of a big deal, being both cheaper and stronger than Energy Ball, even if it doesn’t come with the same debuff. This addition makes it a lot more viable in Go Battle League than it was before, even if it's far from being the best in class in any of the three main leagues.

Still, if you’re big on PVP, and hunting for Great League and Ultra League Pokémon, you’ll want to look out for the following Chespin CP levels:

  • Level 19 (evolves into a perfect Great League Chesnaught) – 1499 CP
  • Level 33.5 (evolves into a perfect Ultra League Chesnaught) – 2500 CP

Chespin evolution chart: What does Chespin evolve into?

Chespin’s evolutions all follow the usual theme of becoming a bigger version of the one before. The Spiny Nut Pokémon Chespin evolves into the Spiny Armor Pokémon, Quilladin, which evolves into another Spiny Armor Pokémon, Chesnaught. You can read their official Pokédex entries below:

  • Chespin – The quills on its head are usually soft. When it flexes them, the points become so hard and sharp that they can pierce rock.
  • Quilladin – It relies on its sturdy shell to deflect predators’ attacks. It counterattacks with its sharp quills.
  • Chesnaught – Its Tackle is forceful enough to flip a 50-ton tank. It shields its allies from danger with its own body.

Fortunately, in Pokémon Go, all forms of a given Pokémon share the same resources – this means you’ll need a total of 125 Chespin Candy in order to complete this evolution line; 25 for Quilladin and another 100 for Chesnaught.

Everything in the Chespin line is a Grass type, except for Chesnaught which gains Fighting typing. (Image credit: pokemon.com)

January’s Community Day event runs between 2pm and 5pm (local time), so you’ll have three hours to gather as much Chespin Candy as possible.

If you’re hurting for Candy, use Pinap Berries and Silver Pinap Berries to double the amount of Candy you earn from catching, and make sure to have a Grass-type Pokémon Mega Evolved – Abomasnow, Sceptile or Venusaur – to get one extra Candy per catch without any extra work.

Chesnaught moves and best moveset recommendation

Chesnaught.

No matter your league, we have a standout best moveset for your Chesnaught. But first, let’s look at the full move pool:

Chesnaught Fast Moves
  • Vine Whip (Grass)
  • Smack Down (Rock)
  • Low Kick (Fighting)
Chesnaught Charged Moves
  • Frenzy Plant (Grass)
  • Superpower (Fighting)
  • Gyro Ball (Steel)
  • Energy Ball (Grass)
  • Solar Beam (Grass)

So, it looks like we’re running Vine Whip (Fast), Frenzy Plant (Charged) and Superpower (Charged) – all of which get STAB. Vine Whip is also a fast-charging move, helping you get to that brand new Frenzy Plant all the sooner. Be aware though, Superpower comes with the notable downside of debuffing the Pokémon that used it, dropping your attack and defence by one stage each, every time you use it.

Assuming this moveset, this is what we’re looking at for each of the leagues:

  • For Great League you can pull in wins against Azumarill, Lanturn, Swampert (which is double-weak to Grass), Galarian Stunfisk and Sableye, which is a great list of wins. The flip side is that you will lose to Altaria, Noctowl, Trevenant, Skarmory and Medicham.
  • As to Ultra League, you beat the same Pokémon, but with additional wins against Obstagoon, Scrafty and Walrein (thanks to Superpower). Loses now include Talonflame, Giratina, Nidoqueen and Cresselia.
  • And finally, Master League – believe it or not, this is not a terrible Master League Pokémon. Sure, it’s not in the top 100, but you can still beat Swampert, Excadrill, Gyarados, Garchomp and (again, believe it or not) Dialga. The flip is that you lose almost instantly to Mewtwo, Giratina, Dragonite, Metagross and Zacian.

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.


What do shiny Chespin, Quilladin and Chesnaught look like?

The opportunity to catch a shiny form of the highlighted Pokémon is one of the biggest draws of any Community Day event. This is thanks to the increased shiny rate for the event’s highlighted Pokémon, along with the fact that Community Days often release a new shiny into the wild. In this case, not only do we have a brand new evolution, but we have its shiny version released at the same time.

To find a shiny Pokémon, you need to either start a catch encounter with a Pokémon in the wild or earn said encounter by completing an activity, like a raid or research task. From there, it’s easy to see if you’ve encountered a shiny Pokémon due to its alternative colouring, the sparkles which shine when the encounter begins and the shiny icon next to the Pokémon’s name.

This Community Day marks shiny Chespin’s debut in Pokémon Go, meaning that the shiny is being released with this event, so you’ll want to make sure you catch a good shiny Chespin to evolve!

Below you can take a look at shiny Chespin, Quilladin and Chesnaught alongside their regular non-shiny appearances:

Thanks to Reddit user TopAssistance2 for the handy comparison!

As you can see, across all three Pokémon, the greens take on a chestnut brown and the browns become browner – really leaning into the horse chestnut inspiration for this family of Pokémon.

Other changes include Quilladin’s ears turning from pinkish red to yellow, and Chesnaught’s back changing from tan to khaki green. All in all, these are really cool shinies, and we love the top-down design here.

If you want to evolve shiny Chespin, we recommend waiting until after the event, where you will have until five hours (until 10pm local time) to evolve it into a Shiny Quilladin, and then Chesnaught and gain the exclusive move Frenzy Plant. This way you’ll have ample time to, hopefully, catch a couple of shiny Chespins, along with enough Candy to evolve them, without having to worry about sorting through your collection at the same time. Remember, it’s a good idea to check your shiny Chespin’s stats, because it might have perfect IVs – making it even better for battle!

Evolving a shiny Chespin will add a shiny Quilladin and, if you complete the evolution line, shiny Chesnaught to your collection. If you do fully evolve a shiny Chespin during the event hours, the resulting shiny Chesnaught will know Frenzy Plant – the Grass-type exclusive Charged attack for this Community Day.

Other Chespin Community Day bonuses

Community Days in Pokémon Go always come with a string of bonuses, and Chespin Community Day is no different.

Some of these bonuses are always the same – like increased spawns and increased shiny rates. However, there is a rotating set of other bonuses that come with Community Days, such as double or triple catch Candy, Stardust or XP.

A full list of Chespin Community Day bonuses can be found below:

  • Increased spawns
  • Increased shiny rate
  • Quarter Egg-hatching distance
  • Double catch Candy
  • 3-hour Incense duration
  • 3-hour Lure duration
  • Double chance to receive Candy XL from catching Pokémon (for trainers Level 31 and up). This stacks with your Mega Evolution bonus, so if you have an active Level 3 Mega Evolved Pokémon, you will have whatever ‘double excellent chance’ works out to be!
  • Photobombs – Take a snapshot of your buddy to earn a surprise encounter with Chespin (and increase your Cameraman medal) up to five times during the event.
  • Field Research – Spin Pokéstops to get event-exclusive tasks, similar to previous Community Day events. This is likely to be 'Catch 3 Chespin' for a couple of Great Balls or Ultra Balls, Stardust, or a Chespin encounter.
  • Special Research – For $1.00 (or the equivalent pricing tier in your local currency), you can take part in the exclusive Chespin Special Research story, Quality Quills.
  • Stickers – Get event-themed stickers by spinning Pokéstops, opening Gifts and from the in-game shop.
  • One additional Special Trade can be made for a maximum of two for the day (until 10pm local time)
  • Trades made will require 50% less Stardust (until 10pm local time)
  • Exclusive move – Evolve Quilladin (Chespin’s Evolution) during the event or up to five hours afterward to get a Chesnaught that knows the Charged Attack Frenzy Plant (until 10pm local time)
  • Quilladin raids – After the three-hour Community Day event ends, Trainers will be able to take on four-star Raid Battles. Defeating Quilladin will cause Chespin to appear in a 300m radius around the Gym for 30 minutes. Note: Remote Raid Passes cannot be used for these raids, and the Chespin that spawn will have the increased shiny rate that they did during the three-hour Community Day window!

We hope you enjoy Chespin’s Community Day, and good luck finding a perfect shiny!

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