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Shiny Squirtle, evolution chart, 100% perfect IV stats and best Blastoise moveset in Pokémon Go

How to make the most of Squirtle’s Community Day Classic!

Squirtle has taken the spotlight for July’s Community Day Classic event in Pokémon Go.

Community Day Classic events are reruns of Community Days from Pokémon Go’s past; granting you the chance to benefit from an increased spawn and shiny rates, while also gaining an exclusive move if you missed the original event.

This Gen 1 starter Pokémon had its original Community Day way back in July 2018 and, while many long running players may be all Squirtled out, this is the perfect time for newcomers to catch this old school favourite. Not to forget how this July’s Community Day Classic sees the return of Sunglasses Squirtle - a rare costume Pokémon who also has a shiny form!

With Squirtle spawning everywhere and anywhere during this event, it’s an excellent time to catch a Squirtle with 100% perfect IV stats and, if you do achieve this feat, you should know Blastoise’s best moveset.

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Squirtle’s 100% perfect IV stats in Pokémon Go

July’s Community Day Classic is all about Squirtle making it the perfect time to catch a Squirtle with perfect IV stats in Pokémon Go.

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

  • Level 30 (wild CP maximum) - 810 CP
  • Level 35 (weather boosted CP maximum) - 878 CP

Squirtle’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.

When it comes to the Master League and raids, perfect means focusing exclusively on 15/15/15, which are the best possible stats a Pokemon can have. Perfect stats for both the Great League and Ultra League, however, are different since the goal is to get the lowest attack for the highest defence, while also getting that CP Level as close to the league’s cap as possible.

If you want to run Blastoise in those two leagues, you’re looking for these different stats:

  • A perfect Great League Blastoise is 1/15/15, with 1498 CP at Level 23.
  • A perfect Ultra League Blastoise is 0/12/15, with 2500 CP at Level 48.5.

Blastoise does best in the Ultra League, but, even then, it’s a very middling Pokémon and one you might only use if you’re getting started building powerful Pokémon for the Go Battle League. When it comes to both the Great and Master League, Blastoise falls quite far down the rankings, so you’re most likely going to avoid using it.

Though, no matter which League you wish to use it, we highly recommend ensuring it knows the exclusive move, Hydro Cannon.

If you do want to hunt down a Blastoise for either the Great or Ultra League, then you’ll want to look for the following Squirtle CP levels:

  • Level 23 (perfect for Great League Blastoise) - 1498 CP
  • Level 48.5 (perfect for Ultra League Blastoise) - 2500 CP

Squirtle evolution chart: What does Squirtle evolve into?

Squirtle has two evolutions - Wartortle and Blastoise - with them all following the theme of becoming a battle ready turtle equipped with a canon.

Their shells are very important to the Squirtle evolution family and their official Pokédex entries reflect this:

  • Squirtle - 'When it retracts its long neck into its shell, it squirts out water with vigorous force.'
  • Wartortle - 'It is recognized as a symbol of longevity. If its shell has algae on it, that Watortle is very old.'
  • Blastoise - 'It crushes its foes under its heavy body to cause fainting. In a pinch, it will withdraw inside its shell.'

July’s Community Day Classic event runs between 2pm to 5pm (local time), so you’ll have three hours to gather as much Squirtle Candy as possible, which will help you get both of its evolutions.

If you’re candy hunting, then you can use the following methods to increase the amount of candy you can earn:

  • Use Pinap or Silver Pinap Berries when catching Pokémon. If you successfully catch a Pokémon after using a Silver or regular Pinap Berry on it, you’ll receive double catch candy.
  • Have a member of the Squirtle evolution family as your buddy. With one of these Pokémon as your buddy, you’ll earn candy every 3km you walk with Pokémon Go.
  • Have Mega Blastoise, Mega Gyarados, Mega Slowbro, Mega Swampert or Primal Kyogre active. Having one of these Mega Evolutions active will increase the amount of catch candy you earn from Water-type Pokémon.

Blastoise moves and best moveset recommendation in Pokémon Go

So what’s Blastoise’s best moveset in Pokémon Go? Well that depends on how you’re planning to use this Pokémon.

If you want to use Blastoise to attack Gyms, then we recommend using Water Gun as a Fast Move and Hydro Cannon for its Charged Move. This set also works well when it comes to leaving Blastoise to defend Gyms.

This moveset will also work well throughout all three main cups - Great, Ultra and Master - of the Go Battle League, though you may want to either switch out or unlock Blastoise’s second Charged Attack so it can use Ice Beam.

If you’d like to use move outside of our recommendation, take a look at Blastoise’s full moveset:

Blastoise Fast Moves

  • Bite (Dark)
  • Water Gun (Water)

Blastoise Charged Moves

  • Flash Cannon (Steel)
  • Hydro Pump (Water)
  • Ice Beam (Ice)
  • Skull Bash (Normal)
  • Hydro Cannon (Water) - Community Day exclusive move or Elite Charged TM

If you’re following our recommendation, then Blastoise will have an advantage over the following Pokémon in the three main leagues:

  • Great League - You will have an advantage over Alolan Ninetales, Noctowl, Galarian Stunfisk, Sableye and Swampert.
  • Ultra League - Blastoise will be able to defeat Galarian Stunfisk, Charizard, Trevenant, Tapu Fini and Obstagoon.
  • Master League - Here Blastoise will take wins from defeating Ho-Oh, Mamoswine, Heatran, Excadrill and Garchomp.

As you can see, Blastoise can take care of a number of difficult counters (looking at you Galarian Stunfisk) in the Go Battle League. Though, if you want to take advantage of this, you really need to make sure Blastoise learns its exclusive move, Hydro Cannon.

What does shiny Squirtle, Wartortle and Blastoise look like in Pokémon Go?

The opportunity to catch a shiny form of the highlighted Pokémon is one of the biggest draws of any Community Day event, with the Community Day Classic being the perfect chance to catch a shiny form you might have missed during a past event. This is thanks to the increased shiny rate for the event’s highlighted Pokémon combined with how catching Pokémon of the same type naturally increases said rate making it easier to encounter shinies.

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 icons next to the Pokémon’s name.

While the shiny forms for Squirtle’s evolution line have been available in Pokémon Go for quite a while, you might not have them in your collection due to Squirtle’s starter Pokémon status making it a rarer spawn.

Below you can take a look at shiny Squirtle, Wartortle and Blastoise:

Squirtle Shiny Models from r/TheSilphRoad

Thank you to Brklt from reddit for the help with this information.

As you can see, due to being Gen 1 Pokémon, the Squirtle family’s shiny forms aren’t great to say the least. Squirtle simply takes on a lighter blue colouring, with its shell also being a lighter yellow. Wartortle and Blastoise fare a little better thanks to having a more purple-like hue and a darker shell colour. Still, not the most exciting shiny forms out there.

Shiny Sunglasses Squirtle. | Image credit: Niantic/Eurogamer

You should, however, try completing some of the event-exclusive field research tasks as this will reward you with an encounter with Sunglasses Squirtle. This costume Pokémon can be shiny and is far rarer than Squirtle’s regular shiny form, so it's well worth searching out. You can also evolve this shiny Sunglasses Squirtle into shiny variants of Sunglasses Wartortle and Blastoise.

If you want to evolve shiny Squirtle, we recommend waiting until the event starts to draw to a close around 5pm (local time) to ensure it learns the exclusive move upon becoming Blastoise. This way you’ll have ample time to, hopefully, catch a selection of shiny Squirtles, including the candy to evolve them, and may catch one with perfect IVs. What’s better than smashing through opponents in the Go Battle League with a shiny Blastoise?

Evolving a shiny Squirtle will add a shiny Wartortle and, if you complete the evolution line, a shiny Blastoise to your collection. If you do fully evolve a shiny Squirtle during event hours, the resulting shiny Blastoise will know Hydro Cannon - the Water-type exclusive Charged attack for this Community Day Classic.

Other Squirtle Community Day Classic bonuses

Community Day Classic events continue the tradition of bringing a host of bonuses to Pokémon Go during their event hours just like regular Community Day events.

Some of these bonuses are always the same, including increased spawns and shiny rates. There are, however, a rotating set of other bonuses, like reduced hatch distances for eggs placed in Incubators during event hours.

A full list of Squirtle Community Day bonuses are as follows:

  • Increased spawns
  • Increased shiny rates
  • 3-hour Incense duration (not including Daily Adventure Incense)
  • 3-hour Lure Module duration (not including Golden Lure Modules)
  • 1/4 Hatch Distance for any eggs placed in an Incubator during event hours
  • Photobombs - Take a snapshot of your buddy to earn a surprise encounter with Squirtle, including progressing your Cameraman medal, up to five times during the event.
  • Field Research Tasks - Spin PokéStops to get event-exclusive field research tasks, which will reward you with encounters with Sunglasses Squirtle.
  • Exclusive Move - Fully evolve Squirtle into Blastoise during event hours to have it learn Hydro Cannon, a Water-type Charged attack.
  • Pay-to-play Special Research - For $1.00 or the equivalent price in your local currency, you can partake in the Squirtle Special Research quest, Squirtle Community Day Classic. Keep in mind you need to complete this quest before its deadline or else you won’t be able to claim all of its rewards.

Hope you enjoy Squirtle’s Community Day Classic event and hope you catch the shiny you’re looking for!

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