Pokémon GO Spotlight Hour Schedule
Pokémon GO Spotlight Hour takes place every Thursday evening from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM local time (it moved from Tuesday to Thursday in June 2026 and now shares the day with GO Battle Thursdays). For 60 minutes, a featured Pokémon takes over almost all wild spawns alongside one of five rotating bonuses: 2x Catch Stardust, 2x Catch XP, 2x Catch Candy, 2x Transfer Candy, or 2x Evolution XP.
- When Is Spotlight Hour: Every Thursday from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM in your local timezone. It is skipped during GO Fest, GO Wild Area, and GO Tour weeks.
- Does Spotlight Hour Boost Shiny Odds? No—unlike Community Day (1/25), Spotlight Hour uses the featured Pokémon's standard base Shiny rate (usually ~1/512), though the massive spawn density increases your total checks.
- How to Prepare for Each Bonus: Pop a Star Piece on 2x Catch Stardust weeks, a Lucky Egg on 2x Catch/Evolution XP weeks, and tag your extra Legendaries ahead of time to batch-transfer during 2x Transfer Candy weeks.
Copy a clean 4-bullet tactical summary formatted for in-game R4/R5 alliance mail or Discord.
The 5 Rotating Spotlight Hour Bonuses Explained
Niantic rotates five specific 1-hour multipliers across each month's Thursdays: 1) 2x Catch Stardust (stack with a Star Piece for 3x total Stardust—especially lucrative when naturally boosted Stardust Pokémon like Audino, Shroomish, Meowth, Trubbish, or Staryu are featured). 2) 2x Catch XP (stack with a Lucky Egg for 4,000+ XP per Excellent Curveball throw). 3) 2x Catch Candy (combine with a Pinap Berry and a Mega Level 3 Pokémon of matching type for up to 14 Candies per catch). 4) 2x Transfer Candy (clean out your Pokémon storage and transfer tagged spares). 5) 2x Evolution XP (run two 30-minute Lucky Eggs and mass-evolve common catches for 4,000 XP per evolution).
Fast-Catch Technique & Adventure Effect Optimization
To catch 250–350 Pokémon during the 60-minute Thursday window, activate Daily Adventure Incense or regular Incense while walking, and use Origin Forme Palkia's Spacial Rend Adventure Effect to double your spawn visibility circle.
Pokémon GO: Optimal Meta Play vs. Common Resource Traps
- ●Keep top Shadow Raid Attackers (Shadow Mewtwo, Shadow Groudon, Shadow Rhyperior, Shadow Mamoswine) as Shadow for the flat +20% raid damage bonus.
- ●Use a Meteorite to teach Mega Rayquaza Dragon Ascent before Mega Evolving, and use Elite Charged TMs for Precipice Blades (Groudon) and Origin Pulse (Kyogre).
- ●Redeem promo codes on the official web store (store.pokemongolive.com).
- ●Never purify a high-tier Shadow raid attacker just to get a 100% IV Hundo—a 0% IV Shadow deals more raid DPS than a 100% IV Purified Pokémon.
- ●Do not spend 296–360 Candy XL pushing non-meta Pokémon to Level 50 before building your core Level 40 raid teams.
- ●Do not forget to have an active Mega Lv. 3 Pokémon matching the raid boss's typing to earn extra Candy XL on catch.
❓ Pokémon GO Frequently Asked Questions
Click any question below to view the verified answer and mechanics breakdown.