Pokemon Go Festival of Lights start time, and how to catch Morelull or Shiny Chinchou

Pokemon Go Festival of Lights
(Image credit: Niantic)

Pokemon Go’s Festival of Light introduces Morelull and Shiinotic this year. These mushroom Pokemon from the Alola region have a rare typing and were pretty useful in traditional Pokemon battles.

How they will be used in Pokemon Go is yet to be seen, but this guide will break down all the ways to catch Morelull, its evolution Shiinotice and everything else during the 2022 Festival of Lights event in Pokemon Go. This event also introduces Pokemon Go Elite Raids, a new event that will let you catch more powerful pokemon with friends.

Pokemon Go Festival of Lights 2022 Start time 

This year’s Festival of Lights event begins Friday, October 14 at 10 a.m. local time and ends Monday, October 17 at 8 p.m. local time. 

How to catch Morelull and Shiinotic in Pokemon Go 

The mushroom Pokemon, Morelull and its evolution Shiinotic will make their Pokemon Go debuts in the Festival of Lights 2022 event. Similar to how Pokemon Go has introduced other Pokemon in the past, this event will give trainers a lot of chances to catch both before they are permanently added to the revolving roster. 

Morelull will appear more frequently in the wild during the event. It’ll also appear more frequently for trainers who use an Incense. The Grass and Fairy-type Pokemon will also appear in One-Star Raids during the duration of the event. With that typing, trainers simply need to use a Poison-type attack to deal four times the damage against it.

The Pokemon will also be appearing as a reward for completing certain Field Research tasks. More on that below.

To obtain a Shiinotic, trainers simply need to use 50 Morelull Candy. While using Pinap Berries will help double the amount of Candy obtained from catching them, this event also gives more Candy for catching Pokemon. 

We’ll dive more into those in-game bonuses at the end of this guide. 

How to catch Shiny Chinchou and Lanturn in Pokemon Go 

Chinchou and Lanturn have had their Shiny variants in Pokemon Go for some time now, the Festival of Lights 2022 event will give trainers a greater chance of finding these Johto-region Pokemon.

One of the in-game bonuses for the 2022 Festival of Lights is an increased chance of encountering a Shiny Chinchou. Thankfully, trainers will also have a few ways to encounter the Water and Electric-type.

Chinchou will appear more frequently in the wild and as a reward for completing certain Field Research tasks (More on that below).

And to get a Shiny Lanturn, trainers will have to use 50 Chinchou Candy which is easy considering the amount of Candy players can obtain during the event.

Pokemon Go Festival of Lights

(Image credit: Niantic)

Which Pokemon are available to catch in Festival of Lights 2022 

During this year’s event, the following Pokemon will appear more frequently in the wild: Pikachu, Vulpix, Magnemite, Chinchou, Litwick, Lilteo, Helioptile, Dedenne, Morelull. 

Use an Incense to have Alolan Geodude, Blitzle and Darumaka appear more frequently. 

Rare encounters include Galarian Ponyta, Togedamaru and Galarian Darumaka.

As for Raids, here is how it’s broken down:

  • One-Star Raids: Galarian Ponyta, Darumaka, Dedenne, Morelull
  • Three-Star Raids: Alolan Raichu, Galarian Weezing, Mawile, Hisuian Braviary
  • Five-Star Raids: Xerneas
  • Mega Raids: Mega Manectric

Festival of Lights 2022 Field Research Tasks 

By spinning PokeStops during the event, trainers can obtain event-exclusive Field Research that will help them earn encounters with certain Pokemon.

Here are all of the Festival of Lights 2022 Field Research Tasks and their rewards.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Festival of Lights Field Research Tasks
TaskReward
Catch 5 Pokemon Chinchou
Catch 10 Pokemon Blitzle
Catch 15 Pokemon Morelull
Hatch an Egg Galarian Ponyta
Power up Pokemon 5 timesDedenne
Send 5 gifts with stickers attachedMagmar/Electabuzz

Festival of Light in-game bonuses 

Trainers can enjoy these in-game bonuses that will help trainers earn enough Candy to obtain Shiinotic. 

First, trainers will have receive double the candy for catching Pokemon. Use a Pinap Berry to quadruple your Candy. Trainers will also earn double the experience for catching pokemon and Incense will last for two hours instead of the usual one.

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Eggs trainers receive from Friends will also see different Pokemon hatch from them. Grabbing a 7km Eggs from Gifts will give trainers a chance to hatch from a pool of interesting Pokemon including a handful of Baby Pokemon. 

If you’re looking for specific Pokemon to try and hatch, Chinchou is a great option as its evolution Lanturn is great in the Ultra League format. Alolan Geodude’s evolution Golem may not be the best in PVP, but can really put in work in specific Raids against Flying and Ice-type Pokemon like Yveltal, Lugia and especially Articuno.

Elekid’s final evolution, Electivire, is a great option against Water and Flying-type Pokemon. It has high attack stats and comes with powerful Electric-type moves.

Here’s the complete list of Pokemon that can be hatched from 7km Eggs found during the Festival of Lights:

Phillip Martinez

I'm currently a GamesRadar guide contributor with a specialty in everything Pokemon GO. If you've wanted to know the best way to take down a Rayquaza, there's a good chance you read one of my guides. I previously have written for IBT Media, Newsweek and Screen Rant. I'm a huge fighting game fan and everything Pokemon, but I've grown to love RPGs.