Fans now know what special move will be available to unlock during September’s Community Day.
Pokemon Go Trainers have known for some time that Chirkorita would be part of the official lineup.
This means that the Gen 2 starter will be spawning at a higher rate on Saturday, September 22.
Pokemon Go players will be able to rack X3 catch XP during the event, which is set to run for around three hours.
Shiny Chikorita will also be found in the wild during the Community Day celebrations, and those who have the time to catch enough will also be able to unlock a special move.
This will be available to all Pokemon Go Trainers who can evolve a Chikorita into its final form, Meganium.
If they can do it, the special move Frenzy Plant will be unlocked as a Community Day exclusive move.
“You’d better Bayleef it, Trainers! Meganium evolved during September Community Day will know the Grass-type attack Frenzy Plant, a Community Day exclusive.” a message from Niantic confirms.
But while a special move is always welcome, it doesn’t appear to have impressed fans all that much.
A discussion on the Community Day bonuses is currently ongoing on the Silph Road Reddit, with players commenting on its usefulness.
“Is this really surprising? Meganium already had a pretty optimal grass move set (two good fast moves, plus Solar Beam), which is only marginally worse than Frenzy Plant in terms of pure DPS (though this somewhat understates the value of Frenzy Plant, as it isn’t all-or-nothing),” one fan writes.
“Meganium’s anaemic 168 attack puts it well behind Shiftry and Victreebel’s 200 and 207, let along Exeggutor’s 233 (though Exeggutor has the misfortune of having Bullet Seed as its fast move, which is just vastly worse than Razor Leaf).
“It’s a fun novelty-type pokemon, but it is really pretty garbage.
Another adds: “Grass type isn’t really hurting for good charge moves to begin with; Solar Beam and Leaf Blade are both quite good charge moves, and appear on quite a good Pokemon (Shiftry/Victreebel/Exeggcutor), which is part of why it is so hard for Meganium to compete.
“Though grass type generally has the problem that it’s only super effective against Ground, Rock, and Water.
“And while that doesn’t sound so bad, Ground/Rock types are also double vulnerable to Water, so that relatively fertile niche has them going up against water types, which includes monsters like Kyogre and Gyarados, and bulky attackers like Vaporeon. That leaves them with Ground/Water and Rock/Water, both of which are uncommon types.
“There aren’t any relevant Rock/Water types at this point and the only relevant Ground/Water type is Swampert (and maybe Quagsire if they implement abilities), which might matter in PvP but isn’t likely to matter otherwise, and even then, it’s probably marginal unless they implement the stun/sleep/leech moves that grass is immune to in the main games.”
Whatever happens with the upcoming event, it’s expected that plenty of players will be out to try and catch as many Pokemon as possible.
And with just days to go before the September Community Day event, Niantic has given Team Valor and Team Instinct extra incentive to go out and catch some Pokemon.
According to the August Community Day stats, the blues of Team Mystic thrashed their blue and yellow counterparts.
The blue team caught the most Eevees in North America, Asia, Africa and Europe.
Despite only dominating Oceania, the reds of Team Valor would come in second place overall.
The yellows of Team Instinct finished in third place but did manage to score a victory in South America.
The reds and yellows will be hoping for some revenge in the next Community Day event, which takes place on September 22.
As mentioned above, the September event focuses on Chikorita, which is ideal if you’re yet to evolve a Bayleef or Meganium.