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Poliwag 100% perfect IV stats, shiny Poliwag in Pokémon Go

Everything you need to know about Poliwag’s Spotlight Hour.

Nic Bunce avatar
Guide by Nic Bunce Contributor
Updated on

This week’s Spotlight Hour is all about a whole bunch of different Pokémon, including the Tadpole Pokémon, making it the perfect opportunity to catch a perfect Poliwag in Pokémon Go.

Poliwag’s evolutions, Poliwrath and Politoed, have long been decent choices in Pokémon Go, and their prowess in Go Battle League means that this is a Spotlight Hour worth showing up for.

But if you’re not a fan of competitive play - or even Poliwag, for that matter - Niantic has you covered because this Spotlight Hour is also about Vulpix, Snorunt and Hippopotas! Presumably this has something to do with Weather Week, but if that's the case why isn’t the Weather Pokémon in the Spotlight? An hour of purely random Castform would have been pretty cool...

Moving on, the special bonus that runs alongside the event is the double Catch XP bonus, meaning that you can rake in XP by cracking a Lucky Egg and going to town catching any Pokémon you come across.

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

Poliwag’s 100% perfect IV stats in Pokémon Go

This Spotlight Hour is the perfect opportunity to find a Poliwag with perfect IV stats in Pokémon Go.

Poliwag.

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

  • Level 30 (wild CP maximum) – 710 CP
  • Level 35 (weather boosted CP maximum) – 769 CP

Poliwag’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.

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 highest level you can without going over the CP cap (1500 for Great League and 2500 for Ultra League). Since attack raises CP more than defense, the highest-level Pokémon in these leagues tend to have low attack and high defence.

If you want to run Poliwrath/Politoed in those two leagues, you’re looking for different stats:

  • A perfect Great League Poliwrath is 0/14/15, reaching 149 CP at Level 22.0
  • A perfect Great League Politoed is 0/15/11, reaching 1500 CP at Level 23.5
  • A perfect Ultra League Poliwrath is 0/14/14, reaching 2499 CP at Level 44.0
  • A perfect Ultra League Politoed is 0/14/14, reaching 2498 CP at Level 48.5

Poliwag evolution chart: What does Poliwag evolve into?

Poliwag evolves into Poliwhirl with 25 Poliwag Candy. Poliwhirl, meanwhile has two evolutions - Poliwrath and Politoed. Each of these requires an additional 100 Candy, though Politoed also requires a Kings Rock.

The theme here is a little weird. When Poliwag evolves, it grows a pair of arms and the swirl on its stomach swaps direction - the forelimbs reflect the metamorphosis of a tadpole into a frog, which is cool, though the swirl and gloves are purely a Pokémon thing. Poliwrath is just Poliwhirl, but bigger and angrier thanks to it gaining Fighting as a secondary type.

Politoed, as the name suggests, is slightly different in that it has multiple toes. It’s also the first evolution to actually look like a frog - fitting as while the other three Poli’s are Tadpole Pokémon, Politoed is the Frog Pokémon, and it’s a cutie at that.

You can find out more about each Pokémon in their official Pokédex entries below:

Poliwag: For Poliwag, swimming is easier than walking. The swirl pattern on its belly is actually part of the Pokémon’s innards showing through the skin.

Poliwhirl: Staring at the swirl on its belly causes drowsiness. This trait of Poliwhirl’s has been used in place of lullabies to get children to go to sleep.

Poliwrath: Its body is solid muscle. When swimming through cold seas, Poliwrath uses its impressive arms to smash through drift ice and plow forward.

Politoed: At nightfall, these Pokémon appear on the shores of lakes. They announce their territorial claims by letting out cries that sound like shouting.

All of the Pokémon in the Poliwag evolution line are Water types, except Poliwrath which gains Fighting type. (Image credit: pokemon.com)

Poliwrath moves and best moveset recommendation

Poliwrath.

Poliwrath and Politoed are both decent in Go Battle League, though Poliwrath is significantly better, so let’s focus on that one.

The punchy frog runs hottest with Counter (Legacy Fast), Scald (Charged) and Icy Wind (Charged). In Great League, this means wins against Registeel, Galarian Stunfisk, Skarmory, Whiscash and Lickitung. Losses will come from Talonflame (ouch), Annihilape, Azumarill, Lanturn and Dragonair.

In Ultra League, Poliwrath really punches above its weight (119lbs or 54kg, apparently), sitting right at the top of the current meta. It takes down Greninja, Cobalion, Steelix, Swampert and Talonflame, but loses to Cresselia, Tapu Fini, Jellicent, Giratina Altered and Virizion.

Finally, we have Master League. If it isn’t at least pseudo-legendary or running double-Ice, don’t bother. This goes for Poliwrath, too.

Politoed moves and best moveset recommendation

Politoed.

Until Poliwag Community Day in 2023, Politoed was the more popular of the two Poli’s. Then the angriest frog learned kung fu (or at least Counter) and then got swole - at least as far as PVP is concerned. Politoed is now firmly the worser of the two.

If you want to run this version of the evolution, you'll be looking at Mud Shot (Fast), Weather Ball (Water, Charged) and Earthquake (Legacy, Charged) in Great League. In Ultra League, you should swap both Charged moved for Surf and Blizzard.

These combos will help you beat Galarian Stunfisk, Lanturn, Annihilape, Azumarill and Talonflame in Great League. Losses will come from Whiscash, Charjabug, Dragonair, Lickitung and Skarmory.

As for Ultra League, you can look to beat Talonflame, Charizard, Swampert, Steelix and Cobalion, but lose to Virizion, Poliwrath, Jellicent, Cresselia and Giratina Altered.

Master League is out of the question; don’t do it.

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.

What do shiny Poliwag, Poliwhirl, Poliwrath and Politoed look like?

The shiny forms of all of members of the Poliwag family are available in Pokémon Go.

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. From there, it’s easy to see if you’ve encountered a shiny Pokémon due to its alternative colouring, the sparkles that appear when the encounter begins and the shiny icon next to the Pokémon’s name.

Below you can take a look at shiny Poliwag, Poliwhirl, Poliwrath and Politoed, which have been available since it was released as part of Go Fest 2019 in Yokohama.

Shiny Poliwag family comparison. Available starting August 6 at 10AM JST.
byu/brizvela inTheSilphRoad

As you can see, shiny Poliwag and Poliwhirl simply swap blue for light blue. They’re not the most inspired... Poliwrath at least swaps blue for green, taking on a much more froggy colour.

Talking of frogs, Politoed swaps its greens for blues, and its yellows for a pinkish–purple hue. This is easily the best shiny of the lot!

Other tips for this Spotlight Hour

Aside from trying to catch a perfect shiny Poliwag 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, depending on how long you’ve been playing Pokémon Go, may be the double catch XP bonus running throughout the hour. Try to focus on making Excellent Throws to make the most of this bonus! We also recommend waiting until this Spotlight Hour is live before catching your first Pokemon of the day, because, again, it will result in more XP.
  • This bonus can be stacked with a Lucky Egg, which doubles the amount of XP you earn for every activity in Pokémon Go.
  • If you’re a newcomer, this Spotlight Hour is the perfect time to collect a lot of Candy for all of the different Spotlight Pokémon, and add their evolutions to the Pokédex.
  • Thanks to Poliwag being a Water-type, 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 for a much calmer Spotlight hour, where Hoppip breezes into the Spotlight with its Double Catch Candy bonus.

Good luck finding a perfect Poliwag!

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