Pokemon Go Celebi: How to get Celebi in Pokemon Go with the A Ripple In Time quest

How to catch Celebi in Pokemon Go

Wondering how to get Celebi in Pokemon Go? Don't worry, you're not the only one; the time travel Pokemon can't be caught in the wild in Pokemon Go, it can only be acquired via special methods. Once you get the research task called A Ripple In Time,  you'll need to complete all of the objectives, which we've got listed right here. Go forth and acquire Pokemon Go Celebi to help complete your Pokedex, trainer!

How to get Mew and Mewtwo in Pokemon Go | How to get Celebi in Pokemon Go | How to get Smeargle in Pokemon Go | How to get Meltan in Pokemon Go | How to get Leafeon and Glaceon in Pokemon Go | How to catch Ditto in Pokemon Go | How to get Spinda in Pokemon Go | How to catch Aerodactyl in Pokemon Go

There's eight stages to go through in total, each consisting of three tasks, for a total of 24 things you have to do before you'll have the chance to catch Celebi in Pokemon Go. Nothing is particularly difficult though, as long as you have some patience, so get started with the Celebi Special Research tasks and before long the mythical green Pokemon will be yours.

How to catch Celebi in Pokemon Go

Celebi quest stage 1/8

  • Power up Pokemon 5 times (1000XP)
  • Battle in a Gym 2 times (1000XP)
  • Battle in a Raid (1000XP)

Rewards - 10 Poke Balls, 1 Fast TM, 1 Super incubator

This isn’t a particularly hard stage provided you have access to at least one Raid gym. Remember it doesn’t have to be the same Pokemon you power up 5 times, just the fact that you have hit the power up button will suffice. Battling in a gym is also easy enough given that you just have to do 2 individual battle bouts, not take the gym for your team or anything too strenuous. 

Celebi quest stage 2/8

  • Make 3 new friends (1500XP)
  • Evolve an evolved Grass type Pokemon (1500XP)
  • Catch a Pokemon 3 days in a row (1500XP)

Rewards - 1 Sun Stone, 1500 stardust, 1 Premium Raid Pass

In terms of making new friends, Pokemon Go always wants you to get out into the world and meet people. If you aren’t already part of a local Facebook or Discord group, hunt one down, or you could always guarantee a new set of friends by putting your friend code on Twitter with a #PokemonGo hashtag and hunting for people who have done the same.

The second task here, evolving an evolved Grass type Pokemon, might be trickier dependent on how much Grass type candy you are storing. This Grass Pokemon already needs to be on the 2nd of its evolutions before you hit evolve again ie: Ivysaur to Venusaur or Skiploom to Vileplume. You do not need to have been the one to do the first evolution - ie you could catch or trade a wild Skiploom and it will work - but you do need to have the inevitably 100 candy to do the evolution. If you don’t have it to hand, it’s time to buddy up and get walking.  

Celebi quest stage 3/8

  • Use a Sun Stone to evolve Gloom or Sunkern (2000XP) 
  • Reach Level 25 (2000XP)
  • Hatch 9 eggs (2000XP)

Rewards - 1 King’s Rock, Eevee encounter, 1 Premium Raid Pass

Oooh, what could that Sun Stone reward from the previous task be for? Well the good news is that you already have one of the Pokemon Go special items, now all you need is either 100 Oddish candy to evolve Gloom, or, more likely after the Johto event, 50 Sunkern candy. If you don’t have enough candy, it’s time to walk but, dependent on how much candy you have of each one, you’ll have to take the below into account. 

Ironically, if you have already evolved Gloom into Bellossom, and then set Bellossom as your buddy, you’ll only have to walk 1km to earn 1 Oddish candy. Sunkern on the other hand is a 3km buddy. You’ll just have to work out who will take you the shortest time and distance. You’ll need to walk off those 9 eggs anyway so it’s time to get stretching those legs.

Celebi quest stage 4/8

  • Evolve Eevee into Espeon during the day (2500XP)
  • Walk 10km with Eevee as your buddy to earn candy (2500XP)
  • Send 20 gifts to friends (2500XP)

Rewards - 1 Metal Coat, Eevee encounter, 2500 stardust

So no, this definitely isn’t as fast as the Mew quest and you are going to have to get your shoes on again. It’s a good thing you just got an Eevee at the end of the last quest, eh? Set this Eevee - or any other Eevee - as your buddy Pokemon and get walking. 

You have to earn two candy with that buddy Eevee and walk the full 10km to tick off one of the requirements. This will also guarantee your Espeon when you evolve the during the day. Keep your Eevee as your buddy while evolving, make sure it is not night time in the game and you will get the right Eeveelution. 

Note that if you have done the naming trick once to guarantee your evolution, this is not guaranteed to work again so do the walk and earn the candies to make sure it recognises the quest.  

Friends wise, if you’re having problems finding people, head to Twitter for new friends and then get spinning Poke Stops for gifts. You’ll probably have sent 20 or so by the time you have walked your 10km with Eevee on your shoulder anyway. 

Celebi quest stage 5/8

  • Walk 10km with your Eevee as your buddy to earn candy (3000XP)
  • Evolve Eevee into Umbreon at night (3000XP)
  • Trade a Pokemon (3000XP)

Rewards - 1 Star Piece, 15 Pinap Berries, 1 Upgrade 

Ah, now where have we seen this before? It’s time to do everything exactly the same as the previous set of tasks but this time, wait until night time to hit evolve. Yep, that’s another 10km and another two buddy candies from your chosen Eevee before hitting go. Don’t change your buddy midway through as you will lose the progress. It’s time to get walking. Niantic really wants us to lose some weight. 

Celebi quest stage 6/8

  • Visit PokeStops 7 days in a row (3500XP)
  • Use 25 Pinap Berries while catching Pokemon (3500XP)
  • Use items to evolve Pokemon 2 times (3500XP)

Rewards - 5 Silver Pinap Berries, 1 Dragon Scale, 3500 stardust

After all that walking, stage 6 seems positively relaxing. You’re on this stage for a week anyway so keeping on top of Pinap Berries shouldn’t be too tricky and, if you aren’t sure of which Pokemon can be evolved with items, check out our Pokemon Go evolution items guide. Between a combination of the Upgrade for Porygon at the end of the previous quest and the seven day Poke Stop streak, you should enough items to complete the task. If you still have any spare Sunkerns, the upgrade to Sunflora could be exactly what you need here without the 100 candy demands of other item evolutions. 

Celebi quest stage 7/8

  • Catch 40 Grass or Psychic Type Pokemon (4000XP)
  • Make an Excellent Curve Throw (4000XP)
  • Earn a Gold Johto medal (4000XP)

Rewards - 10 Silver Pinap Berries, 1 Charge TM, Celebi Encounter

You’re almost there. It’s just time for a slow slog through a lot of Grass and Psychic Pokemon. There’s no secret to this. Just go out and get catching but remember there’s always incense and lures if you are in a rush and not planning on going for a walk. Who would after all that Eevee walking, eh? Just a note, those Silver Pinap Berries don’t just double the candy but also increase catch rate by 1.8 to make sure you don’t miss any vital additions.  

For that Excellent Curve Throw, just like the Mew quest, it’s a case of endless practice. Just remember that the bullseye needs to be at its smallest size and there needs to be stars swirling around your Pokeball for it to count as a curveball. Those 40 Grass or Psychic Pokemon should at least be good training. 

And finally, you’ll need 70 out of the 99 available Johto Pokemon in your Pokedex to earn that shiny gold medal so keep doing research rewards with Pokemon encounters and keep an eye on local Raids. You can do this!

Celebi quest stage 8/8

  • Catch Celebi!

Rewards - 5,500 stardust, 1 Super incubator, 20 Celebi candy 

Get catching! You walked far enough for this so why not try and throw a Pinap Berry for even more lovely bonus Celebi candy for the Psychic Pokemon? 

Pokemon Go tips | Pokemon Go Pokedex | Pokemon Go best Pokemon | Pokemon Go trading | Pokemon Go regionals | Pokemon Go shiny list | Pokemon Go raids | Pokemon Go legendaries | Pokemon Go evolution items | Pokemon Go Sinnoh Stones | Pokemon Go Unova Stones | Pokemon Go Eevee evolutions | Pokemon Go Ditto | Pokemon Go Battle League  | Pokemon Go Team Rocket | Pokemon Go Remote Raid Pass | How to change team in Pokemon Go | Pokemon Go Mega Evolutions | Pokemon Go cheats

Louise Blain

Louise Blain is a journalist and broadcaster specialising in gaming, technology, and entertainment. She is the presenter of BBC Radio 3’s monthly Sound of Gaming show and has a weekly consumer tech slot on BBC Radio Scotland. She can also be found on BBC Radio 4, BBC Five Live, Netflix UK's YouTube Channel, and on The Evolution of Horror podcast. As well as her work on GamesRadar, Louise writes for NME, T3, and TechRadar. When she’s not working, you can probably find her watching horror movies or playing an Assassin’s Creed game and getting distracted by Photo Mode.