How to catch shiny Rufflet in Pokemon GO in July 2021

July promises to be very busy in Pokemon GO, and one of the exciting events could have trainers catching a shiny Rufflet.

This Pokemon was previously available through the Spring into Spring event several months ago. There were many other Pokemon to catch back then, though, including Buneary and Flower Crown Pikachu. Shiny hunters may not have gotten around to catching shiny Rufflet during that event, so here is how to catch it this time around.

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Trainers can get free encounters for the Flying Pokemon Rufflet in July

Niantic has confirmed that as part of the July events for 2021, Rufflet will be a free encounter for Research Breakthroughs. This is in addition to double XP and a Remote Raid Pass.

These Remote Raid Passes have become a hot commodity that allows players to participate in many more raids (and without as much effort). This will be a great reward for July since the list of raid bosses is looking good.

The month will be featuring three mega raid bosses, one at the beginning of the month, one in the middle, and the final boss at the month’s close. Mega Houndoom will be kicking this event off, followed by the fearsome Mega Gengar. July will close out with a bang with the immensely powerful Mega Charizard.

On top of that, some legendary Psychic Pokemon will appear in five-star raids. Deoxys Defense Forme will appear at the beginning of the month, followed by Mewtwo, arguably the best Pokemon in the game right now.

As for Rufflet, being a Research Breakthrough encounter means that trainers will only get at most five times to get a shiny encounter. Those odds aren’t ideal, but guaranteed encounters are better than having to scan the wild for a specific Pokemon.

If trainers don’t end up finding shiny Rufflet, keeping this Pokemon around isn’t the worst idea. A Rufflet with good IVs could become a strong Braviary one day. Braviary won’t dominate in PvP, but it could be a good pick-up for Great League if it’s under the CP requirement.

232 Attack is fairly decent for the Great League meta. What holds Braviary back is the typing, as Normal moves don’t hit anything for supper effective. Braviary will mostly rely on Brave Bird for damage, but it also gets Close Combat to surprise Bastiodon and Galarian Stunfisk, among other threats.