Niantic is adding Primal Pokemon to Pokemon GO in the mobile game’s new Tour Hoenn event, the publisher announced in a new blog post, but not everyone can join in at first. Game Freak introduced Primal forms in Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire for the Nintendo 3DS as new variants of Kyogre and Groudon, but, perhaps on account of the feature only applying to two Pokemon, it’s yet to appear in GO.
If you’re in Las Vegas in February, though, you’ll finally get to transform your Kyogre and Groudon into their Primal forms. During Pokemon GO Tour Hoenn: Las Vegas, players can encounter Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre during special raids, so make sure your Raid team is up to the task.
Defeating them increases your Primal Energy reserves, and once you have enough stored up, your Kyogre or Groudon can revert to their Primal forms.
The state lasts for eight hours, and the amount of energy required drops with each successive transformation. Both Pokemon know special moves and grant buffs to certain Pokemon types in raids or make it easier to find them in the wild.
If a stop in Sin City isn’t on your itinerary for the month, Niantic is planning more opportunities during Pokemon GO Tour Hoenn – Global later in 2023. During the event, players can complete special Primal Research tasks to generate Primal Energy for their Pokemon.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF