Pokemon Go Swinub Incense Day start time, how to catch Shiny Swinub and more

Pokemon Go Swinub Incense Day is here and the Season of Heritage has begun. It’ll give Pokemon Go trainers a special event involving Swinub and its evolutionary line.

The special Swinub Incense Day acts similarly to a Community Day, but with a bit of a twist. Instead of the spotlight Pokemon showing up in the overworld, Swinub and Pokemon of two specific types will be attracted to Incense that trainers pop. This Incense will attract Pokemon to the trainer’s location, no matter where they are, for a limited time.

In addition to Swinub, Ice and Ground-type Pokemon will be attracted to Incense at specific times during the event.

Specific Pokemon spawns aren’t the only thing trainers can expect, as an exclusive move and many more in-game bonuses will be prevalent in Pokemon Go during the special event, and we’ve compiled this special guide for trainers to get the most out of the Swinub Incense Day.

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Pokemon Go Swinub Incense Day Start Time and Schedule

The Pokemon Go Swinub Incense Day begins on Sunday, December 5 and runs from 11am to 5pm local time.

In those six hours, trainers will see Swinub appear before them when they use an Incense. However, Swinub won’t be the only Pokemon that will appear. Ice and Ground types will appear during different hours of the event.

From 11am to 12noon, 1pm to 2pm, and 3pm to 4pm, Ice-type Pokemon will be spawning near trainers that use Incense. Niantic has confirmed the following Pokemon as ones that will be caught during these hours:

Seel
Jynx
Sneasel
Snorunt
Snover
Vanillite
Galarian Darumaka (rare spawn)

To encounter Ground-type Pokemon, pop an Incense from 12noon to 1pm, 2pm to 3pm, and 4pm to 5pm. The following Pokemon will appear during these times:

Onix
Cubone
Rhyhorn
Wooper
Phanpy
Barboach
Larvitar (rare spawn)

For trainers that don’t have Incense to spare, Niantic will be selling an item bundle containing two Incense for one PokeCoin. Be sure to pick this up if you are in need from the in-game shop.

How to Get Shiny Swinub

During Community Day events, the odds of finding the Shiny version of the spotlight Pokemon is increased and the same happens with Incense Day.

Community-driven Pokemon Go database, The Silph Road, discovered that the rate of finding a Shiny Pokemon is approximately 1 in 500. This rate is increased during specific events like Community Days. According to The Silph Road, a “medium event” like Incense Day will increase the Shiny rate of spotlight Pokemon to 1 in 125. As long as Niantic doesn’t mess up as they did with the Carvanha Incense Day in 2020, trainers should see a Shiny Swinub or two.

Unfortunately there’s no true and tried way to ensure a Shiny during these events, so trainers will just have to be patient and encounter as many Pokemon as possible in the time available. Shiny Swinub is green in color, a sharp contrast from the normal version’s brown coloring.

How to Get Mamoswine with Ancient Power

During this event, trainers will be able to get the legacy move, Ancient Power on Mamoswine upon evolving. Trainers have to evolve their Swinub and Piloswine all the way to Mamoswine for the Ice and Ground-type to learn this move.

Ancient Power is a Rock-type Charged Attack that does 45 damage in Trainer Battles, with the chance to increase Mamoswine’s Attack and Defense, and 70 base power in Gyms and Raids.

Swinub evolves to Piloswine using 25 Candy, while the middle evolution needs 100 Candy and a Sinnoh Stone to evolve to Mamoswine. To get a Sinnoh Stone, trainers can obtain them in trainer battles or through Research Breakthrough.

This event will have exclusive Field Research that may gift Sinnoh Stones as rewards, so be on the lookout for those.

Trainers could still get Ancient Power on their Mamoswine if they missed the 5pm cutoff, it will just require an Elite Charged TM to get it. If you want Ancient Power, we recommend getting your Pokemon ready for Sunday since these TMs are hard to come by.