Pokémon Go solstice week Fire- and Ice-type event guide!

Pokémon Go is holding an Event of Ice and Fire starting June 13 and running through June 20, 2017. Coinciding with the summer solstice in the north and winter solstice in the south, it'll feature increased Fire- and Ice-type spawns for everyone, including Arcanine, Charizard, and Typhlosion on the hot side, and Lapras, Cloyster, and Piloswine on the cold side. There will also be "huge" bonuses for landing nice, great, and excellent throws and curve balls, and for hatching Pokémon eggs. To really up the XP ante, Lucky Eggs will be 50% off in the Shop.

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June 20, 2017: Solstice Event has been extended 24 hours!

Perhaps in response to Pokémon Trainer Club (PTC) login issues, Pokémon Go has extended the Ice- and Fire-type event for another day.

Make the most of it!

TL;DR: What should you do now, now, now?

• DON'T EVOLVE TO CHARIZARD, TYPHLOSION, OR ARCANINE IMMEDIATELY. You have a whole week to try and get the best (highest IV/CP mix) starters you can. Wait until the event ends and then choose your evolutions.
• Go for the throw bonuses. They'll rack up XP faster than usual.
• Walk as much as you can to hatch as many eggs as you can — massive XP bonuses for those too!
• Catch Arcanine or catch Growlithe to evolve to Arcanine to complete your Gen 1 Pokédex.
• Catch Charizard or catch Charmander or Charmeleon to evolve to Charizard and complete your Gen 1 Pokédex.
• Catch Lapras to complete your Gen 1 Pokédex.
• Catch Typhlosion or catch Cyndaquil or Quilava to evolve to Typhlosion and complete your Gen 2 Pokédex.
• Catch Houndoom or catch Houndour and evolve to Houndoom to complete your Gen 2 Pokédex.
• Catch and evolve any as many Fire types as you need to get gold in the Kindler medal and receive a 1.3x bonus towards catching all future fire types.
• Catch and evolve any as many Ice-types as you need to get gold in the Skier medal and receive a 1.3x bonus towards catching all future fire types.
• Stock up on Sneasel and Swinhub candy so you can evolve Weavile and Mamoswine in Gen 4.

Also and most importantly: Get out, enjoy, take your family and friends and Have FUN!

What is this Pokémon Go solstice event of which you speak?

Here's what Pokemon Go announced:

When does the Pokémon Go Ice and Fire event start and end?

Here are the official times:

• Start: Tuesday, June 13, 2017 at 1 p.m. PDT / 4 p.m. EDT
• End: Tuesday, June 20, 2017 at 1 p.m. PDT / 4 p.m. EDT

So, just over a week of Fire- and Ice-type fun for everyone!

What are the huge XP bonuses you'll get for Nice, Great, and Excellent Throws, Curveballs, and First Throws?

Pokémon Go announced "huge XP bonuses for successfully catching Pokémon with Nice, Great, and Excellent Throws, as well as Curveballs and First Throws" as part of the Solstice event, and it turns out they've been TRIPLED (3x)!

Here are the normal XP levels for catching:

• Curve Ball bonus: 10 XP
• Nice Throw bonus: 10 XP
• Great Throw bonus: 50 XP
• Excellent Throw bonus: 100 XP
• First Throw bonus: 50 XP
• Pokémon caught: 100 XP

Here's what they are tripled (3x) for the Ice and Fire event:

• Curve Ball bonus: 30 XP
• Nice Throw bonus: 30 XP
• Great Throw bonus: 150 XP
• Excellent Throw bonus: 300 XP
• First Throw bonus: 150 XP
• Pokémon caught: 300 XP

And here's what they are tripled (3x) and doubled (2x) again with a Lucky Egg for a hextuple (6x) total:

• Curve Ball bonus: 60 XP
• Nice Throw bonus: 60 XP
• Great Throw bonus: 300 XP
• Excellent Throw bonus: 600 XP
• First Throw bonus: 300 XP
• Pokémon caught: 600 XP

So, if you catch a Pokémon on the first throw with a curve ball and excellent bonus, you're looking at 1560 XP. Per. Catch.

How to get more XP and level up faster in Pokémon Go

What about the XP bonuses for hatching eggs?

The "you'll earn even more XP for hatching Eggs" turns out to be FIVE TIMES (5x). I kid you not.

Here are the normal XP awards for hatching eggs:

• Hatch a 2K egg: 200 XP
• Hatch a 5K egg: 500 XP
• Hatch a 10K egg: 1000 XP

Here's what they are quintupled (5x) during the event:

• Hatch a 2K egg: 1000 XP
• Hatch a 5K egg: 2500 XP
• Hatch a 10K egg: 5000 XP

Here's what they are quintupled (5x) for the event and doubled (2x) again with a Lucky Egg, for a total of TEN TIMES (10x) the normal amount):

• Hatch a 2K egg: 2000 XP
• Hatch a 5K egg: 5000 XP
• Hatch a 10K egg: 10000 XP

Yeah. Get to stepping!

Will the first catch bonus apply when you use Pokémon Go Plus?

Absolutely. A Pokémon Go Plus catch usually nest you 150 XP (100 for the catch plus 50 for the first throw). During the event, it's 450 XP (300 for the catch plus 150 for the first throw).

Throw in a Lucky Egg and it becomes 900 XP. (600 for the catch plus 300 for the first throw).

Stock up on balls and Lucy Eggs now.

50% off Lucky Eggs!

Pokémon Go has had experience events and Lucky Egg sales before, but since they can accelerate you to higher levels, they never get dull or go unwelcome.

For anyone who doesn't mind spending money, half-priced Lucky Eggs remain one of the best deals in the game today.

Do you have to be in the northern or southern hemispheres to get the increases fire or ice spawns?

So far, it doesn't look that way. Pokémon Go uses "biomes" to determine what type of Pokémon spawn in which areas. Sometimes that works for us and sometimes against us.

The Valentine's event was frustrating for those outside Porygon or Chansey biomes because spawn rates barely changed. The Water Festival had increased spawns for everyone, everywhere. The Grass-type event was, sadly, more like Valentine's than Water Festival. So was the Rock-type.

Fire won't be exclusive to the north nor Ice to the south, but rare fire and ice Pokémon may remain rare in some regions. Either way, traveling to an area that has the increased spawns, if one is close by, would be the best solution.

Where to find rare Pokémon in Pokémon Go

How do the increased spawns work?

Typically, you get spawns or cluster spawns for common Pokémon like Pidgey, Rattata, Sentrat, Hoothoot, etc.

For the type events, there's a high probability any or all of those common spawns will be replaced with fire- and ice-type spawn instead, like Charmander or Swinhub.

Same with rare spawns. For the duration of the event, if a Chansey, Porygon, or Snorlax would have spawned, there's a good chance it'll be replaced by an Arcanine, Typhlosion, Lapras, or Cloyster instead.

How to catch rare Pokémon in Pokémon Go

What are the Fire-type Pokémon in Pokémon Go?

Pokémon Go has so far introduced the Pokémon first encountered in the Kanto and Johto regions. That means Gen 1 and Gen 2, and includes:

• Charmander
• Charmeleon
• Charizard
• Vulpix
• Ninetales
• Growlithe
• Arcanine
• Ponyta
• Rapidash
• Magmar
• Flareon
• Moltres
• Cyndaquil
• Quilava
• Typhlosion
• Slugma
• Magcargo
• Houndour
• Houndoom
• Magby
• Entei
• Ho-Oh

Of those, Magby is a baby and can only be hatched, and Moltres, Entei, and Ho-Oh are Legendary and have not yet been introduced to the game.

What are the Ice-type Pokémon in Pokémon Go?

Gen 1 and Gen 2 include:

• Dewgong
• Cloyster
• Jynx
• Lapras
• Articuno
• Sneasel
• Swinub
• Piloswine
• Delibird
• Smoochum

Smoochum is a baby and can only be hatched, Delibird has unusual abilities and has not yet been introduced into the game, and Articuno is Legendary and has likewise not yet been revealed.

Are Fire or Ice types actually good for anything in Pokémon Go?

Arcanine and Flareon's old CP levels used to make them popular on Gyms, but Pokémon Go's reformulation in late 2016 effectively nerfed the big fire types, and Lapras of the Ice types as well.

Lapras and Cloyster remain the best type-counters for Dragonite in the game, though, which makes having them with ideal movesets at both high CP for attack and mid-CP for prestige important. Jynx and Piloswine can also work well for this.

Flareon with Fire Spin and Overheat is also an effective Blissey counter, which makes it extremely valuable to have on hand. Likewise, Flareon, Charizard, and Arcanine can counter the big grass Pokémon if you happen to find one on the lower levels of a Gym.

Speaking of which, there's a major Gym redesign on the way, and there's no telling how that will all shake out. If Pokémon Go limits the amount of same-species Pokémon on Gyms, for example, or starts giving bonuses for type countering, the big fire and ice types could be back in a big way.

So, for now, catch what you can and keep an eye out for any current second-stringers that could graduate to the major leagues.

Best Pokémon to evolve and power up to win at Gyms in Pokémon Go

So, you should use all the Pinap and Razz Berries, right?

Razz anything you absolutely want to catch, like that Typhlosion you need to complete your Pokédex, and Pinap anything you need more candy for, like that Lapras or Arcanine you want to power up or that Slugma you want to evolve.

Also, sounds like a great time to get gold in the Kindler and Skier medals for Fire and Ice types, doesn't it?

It does indeed! If by some chance you haven't gotten your Kindler gold for Fire types yet, and especially the much harder to get Skier gold for Ice-types, you should make sure you get it by the end of the solstice week event — and the 1.3x catch bonus it will give you going forward!

How to get every medal in Pokémon Go

Will there be a special hat like there was a for water and rock events?

Sadly, neither a Magikarp nor Expedition style hat has been announced yet.

What about... Shiny Charizard or Lapras?

The water event brought Shiny (gold) Magikarp and (red) Gyarados. No word yet about Shiny Charmander or Lapras— or any Shiny Ice- or Fire-type — sadly.

Shiny Pokémon: Everything you need to know!

TL;DR: Here it is again!

• DON'T EVOLVE CHARIZARD, TYPHLOSION, OR ARCANINE IMMEDIATELY. You have a whole week to try and get the best (highest IV/CP mix) starters you can. Wait until the event ends and then choose your evolutions.
• Go for the throw bonuses. They'll rack up XP faster than usual.
• Walk as much as you can to hatch as many eggs as you can — massive XP bonuses for those too!
• Catch Arcanine or catch Growlithe to evolve to Arcanine to complete your Gen 1 Pokédex.
• Catch Charizard or catch Charmander or Charmeleon to evolve to Charizard and complete your Gen 1 Pokédex.
• Catch Lapras to complete your Gen 1 Pokédex.
• Catch Typhlosion or catch Cyndaquil or Quilava to evolve to Typhlosion and complete your Gen 2 Pokédex.
• Catch Houndoom or catch Houndour and evolve to Houndoom to complete your Gen 2 Pokédex.
• Catch and evolve any as many Fire types as you need to get gold in the Kindler medal and receive a 1.3x bonus towards catching all future fire types.
• Catch and evolve any as many Ice-types as you need to get gold in the Skier medal and receive a 1.3x bonus towards catching all future fire types.
• Stock up on Sneasel and Swinhub candy so you can evolve Weavile and Mamoswine in Gen 4.

Also and most importantly: Get out, enjoy, take your family and friends and Have FUN!

Any Pokémon Go solstice week Ice- or Fire-type event questions?

If you have any questions about the Pokémon Go event, drop them in the comments below!