How to get Spiritomb in Pokemon GO, and can it be shiny?

The process of obtaining Spiritomb in Pokemon GO and whether or not it can be shiny are questions many trainers ask, as the Dark/Ghost-type creature is often quite elusive. Outside of specific events, finding this spooky Pokemon can sometimes be difficult, but if you know where to look for it, the search can be a little easier.

Spiritomb made its first appearance in Pokemon GO during the Halloween 2018 event and has remained almost inextricably tied to Halloween ever since. Fortunately, this is changing slightly in a few weeks, so if you're hoping to catch a Spiritomb of your own, it's best to review just how this can be accomplished and whether a shiny variant is available as well.

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How to get Spiritomb in Pokemon GO

How do you catch Spiritomb in Pokemon GO? (Image via The Pokemon Company)

As noted above, Spiritomb's appearances in Pokemon GO have largely been limited to Halloween events or those that take place in the Fall season. However, this is beginning to change, though if you're hoping to find Spiritomb in the wild or raids, you may want to temper your expectations. Instead, you'll want to get familiar with completing research tasks.

Since it arrived in Pokemon GO during Halloween 2018, Spiritomb has been reserved as a reward encounter for completing Field Research, Special Research, and Timed Research. Most of the tasks that rewarded players with a Spiritomb encounter tended to focus on catching Dark or Ghost-type Pokemon, likely because Spiritomb is a Ghost/Dark-type creature.

However, Spiritomb is starting to emerge from its Halloween-centered research. From February 16 to 18, 2024, if you take part in Pokemon GO's Sinnoh Tour in Los Angeles, you'll be able to explore Los Angeles and Orange Counties and complete a Timed Research Story. Here, 108 Pokestops will be given the ability to progress the research by spinning them.

Spiritomb encounters in Pokemon GO are largely limited to Halloween research rewards (Image via The Pokemon Company)

After spinning 10 of these 108 special Pokestops during GO Tour Sinnoh in Los Angeles, you'll be able to encounter Spiritomb and catch it. Keep in mind that this new research story will expire on February 18 at 8 pm local time. Otherwise, the best chance to obtain Spiritomb will likely be to trade for it or await the Fall season when it rejoins the research reward rotation.

For clarification, aside from appearing in GO Tour Sinnoh in Los Angeles, Spiritomb has been acquired in the past by completing the following research:

• Catch 18 Dark-type Pokemon (Field Research, October 2021)
• Catch 18 Ghost-type Pokemon (Field Research, October 2021)
• Catch 18 Dark-type Pokemon (Field Research, October 2020)
• Catch 18 Ghost-type Pokemon (Field Research, October 2020)
• Win 2 Raids (Field Research, October 2020)
• Spiritomb Limited Research (Completing the first step, Halloween 2023)
• Halloween Timed Research (Completing the fourth step, Halloween 2022)
• A Spooky Message Unmasked Special Research (Completing the second step, Halloween 2020)
• A Spooky Message Special Research (Completing the second step where 108 Pokemon are caught, Halloween 2018-2019)

Outside of GO Tour Sinnoh, catching Spiritomb in Pokemon GO will likely be relegated to completing research in October or during a Halloween event. Otherwise, you may need to trade for it with another trainer.

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Can Spiritomb be shiny in Pokemon GO?

Spiritomb and its shiny variant in Pokemon GO (Image via Niantic)

When it comes to whether or not Spiritomb can be shiny in this mobile title, the answer is yes. Its blue-tinged shiny variant was introduced during Halloween 2020 and has since been obtainable wherever it can appear. The chances of it appearing are quite rare, and player-sourced metrics indicate that shiny Spiritomb has a 1/64 appearance chance.

For the time being, if you're hunting for shiny Spiritomb, the GO Tour Sinnoh Los Angeles event will be the latest way to do so on Niantic's event calendar. Otherwise, you may have to wait until the Fall when Spiritomb reappears as a research reward or simply trade for the shiny.

It's possible that Niantic will bring back Spiritomb (and its shiny variant) ahead of Halloween and after GO Tour Sinnoh in Los Angeles, but without official word from the developer, one can only speculate and lean on the Pokemon's prior appearances.