Shiny Popplio, evolution chart, 100% perfect IV stats, and Primarina¡¯s best moveset in Pok¨¦mon Go
Everything to get the most out of December Community Day!
If you’re a fan of sea lions, you’re in luck! Popplio is making an appearance in the December 2024 Community Day in the world of Pokémon Go.
Starter Community Days are always popular, giving many a chance to catch the Pokémon they started their main-series game journey with. In this case, Popplio is a Gen 7 starter from the Alola region. It's also a happy little Pokémon and incredibly cute. We like cute.
That said, Popplio is likely the least-chosen Starter from its generation - it’s competition being a bird with a bow tie and a cat with a fiery temperament. Its final evolution, Primarina, has also been the worst in Pokémon Go recently, as it is the weakest of the trio in Go Battle League. The question is, will today’s exclusive move help shoot down the competition and make Primarina finally shine?
But first, what is a Community Day? For the uninitiated, this is a reoccurring Pokémon Go event that celebrates a specific Pokémon, while boosting shiny rates and offering an exclusive move, along with a whole host of other bonuses!
Popplio will be popping up en masse throughout the event, this is the best chance we've had for catching a Popplio with 100% perfect IV stats and, if you achieve this feat, it's a good idea to know its evolution Primarina’s best moveset.
Even if you're not fussed on this month's Community Day Pokémon - again, look at its wittle face - there are a multiple other bonuses that may get you out and about, including double catch candy and double catch XP!
On this page:
Popplio 100% perfect IV stats in Pokémon Go
This month's Community Day is the perfect opportunity to find a Popplio with perfect IV stats in Pokémon Go.
'Perfect' means two things in Pokémon Go, depending on how you plan to use a given Pokémon. First, there’s the maxed out, 100% IV version, which is the 15/15/15 you’re looking for your 4* Pokédex, raids and Master League. Yet, because of how CP is calculated using three stats, a perfect IV Pokémon is generally only ever the best version of itself in the Master League.
Of course, you can’t see the IV of a Pokémon without catching it first, but with a little research beforehand, you can quickly spot a perfect Popplio based on the CP alone.
If you’re at Level 30 (or above), you’ll ideally be looking for the following CPs for a perfect 15/15/15 Popplio:
The wild CP value aligns with your Trainer Level until you reach Level 30 and, due to the majority of the player base now being above this level, we’ve kept to these values for the sake of simplicity. These values will, however, be different if you’re currently below Level 30.
The Dual Destiny Season is here! It brings the Holiday Part 1 event with it. You can now catch Dynamax Pokémon through Max Battles. First, however, you need to visit Power Spots to collect Max Particles and complete the To the Max! 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.
Popplio evolution chart: What do Popplio and Brionne evolve into?
Popplio, the Sea Lion Pokémon, is a little on the nose. Hailing from the Alola region, which is based on the real-world state of Hawaii, it is thought that its design is inspired by the Hawaiian monk seal, if it were also a circus clown. It's certainly a performer, though as it moves through its evolutions it graduates from circus tricks to being a solo singer.
Speaking of evolutions, Popplio evolves into Brionne with 25 Popplio Candy in Pokémon Go. Brionne, in turn, evolves into Primarina with another 100 Popplio Candy.
Brionne, sadly, isn’t all that interesting, but Primarina has a couple of interesting bits of trivia associated with it. Firstly, it’s the only fully evolved starter Pokémon with Fairy-typing, and secondly, it's the only Fairy-type with visible fins. Lastly, its name is a combo of 'prima donna', 'marine' and 'ballerina'. Sounds accurate.
You can read more about this Popplio’s growing skillset in its official Pokédex entries below:
Popplio: This Pokémon can control balloons made of water. It practices diligently so it can learn to make big balloons. The balloons it inflates with its nose grow larger and larger as it practices day by day.
Brionne: A skillful dancer, it creates a sequence of water balloons as it dances, then briskly bombards its enemies. It cares deeply for its companions. When its Trainer is feeling down, it performs a cheery dance to try to help.
Primarina: To Primarina, every battle is a stage. It takes down its prey with beautiful singing and dancing. Also known as a songstress, it is a sight to behold on moonlit nights when it sings in front of the colony it leads.
The December Community Day event runs between 2pm and 5pm (local time) on Saturday 21st December 2024 and Sunday 22nd December 2024, with different Pokémon featured on each day. Popplio is featured on the Sunday, so you'll have three hours to gather as much Popplio Candy as possible, to ensure you can fully evolve it!
If you're hurting for Candy, use Pinap Berries and Silver Pinap Berries to double the amount of candy you earn from catching, and make sure to have a Water-type Pokémon mega evolved - Mega Swampert, Mega Blastoise or Mega Gyarados will do fine, but there are plenty of options at this point so use whatever works for you!
Popplio's moves and best moveset recommendation
Primarina has taken a bit of a hit in Go Battle League lately, but today’s addition of the exclusive move Hydro Cannon really does help give it a fin leg up.
The up-side to running Primarina is, of course, its Fairy-typing, which is a huge boon in the Dragon Master League.
Ideally, this Pokémon would run Charm, Disarming Voice and Hydro Cannon. Charm is excellent, dealing heavy damage, and the two Charged moves are relatively cheap. There is an argument for Moonblast instead of Disarming Voice, if you want to run a slightly more expensive, but more explosive move.
If you want to see the full move set, here it is:
Primarina Fast Moves
- Charm (Fairy)
- Waterfall (Water)
Primarina Charged Moves
- Disarming Voice (Fairy)
- Hydro Pump (Water)
- Moonblast (Fairy)
- Psychic (Psychic)
Primarina Legacy Charged Moves
- Hydro Cannon (Water)
What do shiny Popplio, Brionne and Primarina look like?
This Community Day is the ideal chance to add shiny Popplio, Brionne and Primarina to your collection, so you may be wondering what the shiny versions of these Pokémon look like.
As you can see, Popplio is a subtle shiny! Shiny Popplio simply takes a very slightly darker shade of blue, while swapping its collar from light blue to a very light pink.
Its evolution, Brionne, effectively does the same. Its body swaps from a light blue to a dark purple, and its blue band on its skirt (for want of a better phrase) swaps to the same light pink.
Primarina, meanwhile, actually puts in some effort! Shiny Primarina swaps pale blue hair for blonde, and blue frills for pink.
Popplio family shiny comparison
byu/TopAssistance2 inTheSilphRoad
Thanks to Reddit user TopAssistance2 for the handy comparison!
Other December Community Day bonuses
Community Days in Pokémon Go always come with a string of bonuses, and the December Community Day is no different.
Some of these bonuses are always the same - like increased spawns and increased shiny rates. However, there is a rotating set of other bonuses that come with Community Days, such as double or triple catch Candy, Stardust or XP.
A full list of the December Community Day bonuses can be found below:
Bonus 1: Double Catch XP
Bonus 2: Double Catch Stardust
Bonus 3: Double Catch Candy
Bonus 4: Double catch Candy XL chance for players Level 31 and above
Bonus 5: Hatch distance halved for any eggs placed in Incubators during event hours
Bonus 5: Lure Modules activated during the event will last three hours
Bonus 6: Incense activated during the event will last three hours (doesn't include Daily Adventure Incense)
Bonus 7: Between 2pm to 10pm (local hours), you can make one additional Special Trade to make it a maximum of three for the day
Bonus 8: Between 2pm to 10pm (local hours), Trades require 50% less Stardust.
Bonus 9: Event-themed stickers earned by spinning PokéStops, opening Gifts or purchased from the in-game store
Bonus 10: Event-exclusive field research tasks with rewards including Pokémon encounters, Stardust and Great Balls. Joining up with your local Pokémon Go community might also lead you to finding rare event-exclusive tasks which reward Pokémon with Special Background encounters
Bonus 11: PokéStop Showcases
Bonus 12: Event-exclusive 2km eggs which can hatch the following Pokémon
- Slowpoke
- Galarian Slowpoke
- Poliwag
- Togepi
- Wooper
- Paldean Wooper
- Timburr
- Axew
- Chespin
- Fennekin
- Froakie
- Grubbin
- Noibat
Bonus 13: Free Timed Research running from 9am (local time) on Saturday 21st December to 9pm (local time) on Sunday 22nd December, which will reward you with a Rainy Lure Module and Unova Stones
Bonus 14: Community Day Continued Timed Research running until Saturday 4th January at 9am (local time), which will reward you with daily encounters with 2024 Community Day Pokémon who have Special Backgrounds. Must log into Pokémon Go during December Community Day event hours to claim
Bonus 15: The Special Background for Pokémon featured during 2024 Community Days
Exclusive move for evolutions: Exclusive moves will be available for the Community Day Pokémon when evolving from 9am (local time) on Saturday 21st December to 9pm (local time) on Sunday 22nd December
Hope you enjoy the December Community Day, and good luck finding a perfect shiny!