Ahoy! Earlier this month Niantic released a new Special Research called "Field Notes: Team GO Rocket". This is the usual Special Research line where you have to defeat some Grunts, Catch and Purify Shadow Pokémon, defeat the Team GO Rocket Leaders and ultimately defeat Giovanni.
It's been like 2-3 months since Giovanni had Shadow Latias that we could catch and secure.
With this update, some of the Team GO Rocket line-ups have changed, with a few new Shadow Pokémon added as well. The Team GO Rocket Leaders now have Charmander (Arlo), Squirtle (Sierra) and Bulbasaur (Cliff), which can be Shiny! And Giovanni now has Shadow Latios that we can catch after completing the Special Research and defeating Giovanni.
Spoiler alert: In this post I will have screenshots of the complete text from that Special Research, and the tasks that have to be done.
When the Special Research became available last week, Rhi showed up to mention an increase in Team GO Rocket members and investigate if they're up to something.
In this step it's required to Win a Raid, defeat 3 Team GO Rocket Grunts and catch 1 Shadow Pokémon.
This step offers encounter rewards for Darumaka and Galarian Darumaka. Here is a screenshot of the ones that I got.
As Rhi is not from this world, but came through one of the Ultra Wormholes, they have no idea about Shadow Pokémon. So in this next part of the story he's wondering about the aura of these Pokémon left behind by Team GO Rocket. You as the Trainer explain that these are Shadow Pokémon. After Rhi learns about this, he wants me to rescue some Shadow Pokémon.
In this step 5 Team GO Rocket Grunts have to be defeated and 5 Shadow Pokémon have to be caught. I also have to make 3 Nice Curveball Throws in a row.
After completing that Step, Rhi is found wondering out loud about those poor Pokémon. He asks if these Pokémon will remain in this state forever. That's when you as the Trainer explain they can be Purified. Rhi would like to observe this phenomenon.
So in that step 5 Shadow Pokémon have to be purified. It's also required to defeat 5 Team GO Rocket Grunts and earn 3 Candies walking with your Buddy.
I switched my Buddy to Gyarados for this step as it only requires 1 km per Candy.
Now Rhi has seen a Purified Pokémon. He wants me to defeat the Leaders now.
This is the usual step now where the Team GO Rocket Leaders Arlo, Cliff and Sierra have to be defeated.
After I have defeated the Leaders, Rhi mentions those were fierce battles and is fortunate to call me his ally. Then he learns about the existence of the Team GO Rocket Boss, Giovanni.
Now we are at the usual step where it's required to find, battle and defeat the Team GO Rocket Boss Giovanni.
For that step I waited a while until there was a time with Windy Weather in the game. So that Shadow Latios would be weather boosted. I don't think this increases their base stats, because they're already minimum 6 for Shadow Legendaries. But it does increase their level, and I usually just prefer trying to catch them weather boosted. Perhaps in some instances if you're looking to try one of the Shadow Legendaries in PvP they might be too high in CP if they're weather boosted.
It took me I think 2 days to have Windy Weather and finding Giovanni.
Yesterday I ended up getting Giovanni from my Rocket Balloon while we had some Windy Weather in-game!
I used my Lucario to quickly take away the shields against Persian by using Power-Up Punch. His second Pokémon for me was Rhyperior. I had Metagross as my 2nd Pokémon so it was quite easy to take that one out. Then I damaged his Shadow Latios a bit more with my Metagross before switching to my Shadow Mewtwo to defeat the Shadow Latios.
Here is my encounter with Giovanni and the screen after I defeated him. Including the Shadow Latios encounter and its stats.
Unfortunately the stats aren't that great. Not all of them are above 10 unfortunately. Much worse than the one that one of my friends caught, who didn't wait until weather boost. I guess I won't power this one up, but will instead wait until we possibly get one from a Special Research. Which won't be anytime soon since it just made its Shadow debut.
Now that Giovanni is defeated, there is a bit more of a conversation with Rhi. He says we must remain vigilant, because if Team GO Rocket were to manipulate the Ultra Beasts...
In that final step no more tasks have to completed. They're all ready to claim immediately.
That wraps up this Special Research.
Have you completed this Special Research already as well to encounter and catch the Shadow Latios?