Pokemon GO Valentine's Day 2023: Mega Gardevoir, Shiny Frillish, and Shiny Tapu Lele debuts, a global challenge, and more

Niantic recently revealed their plans for Valentine's Day 2023 in Pokemon GO. The event is slated to see the debuts of a number of Pocket Monsters, including the much anticipated mega evolved version of Gardevoir. The event will also see a global Valentine's challenge, a Timed Research story, and plenty more.

The developers at Niantic posted the February 2023 content roadmap for Pokemon GO on their official Twitter handle earlier this month. Apart from the exciting GO Tour: Hoenn - Las Vegas and Global iterations, players will also have a host of other events to engage in and the debut of the shiny variant of Tapu Lele.

This article jots down all that Pokemon GO players need to know about the upcoming Valentine's Day 2023 event in the popular AR title.

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Everything you need to know about the Valentine's Day 2023 event in Pokemon GO

The Valentine's Day 2023 event is slated to begin on Wednesday, February 8, 2023, at 10 am local time and will last until Tuesday, February 14, 2023, at 8 pm local time.

As mentioned above, the event will see the first appearance of Mega Gardevoir, along with the debuts of Shiny Frillish and Shiny Tapu Lele. Gardevoir's mega evolved form will be available as Mega Raid boss during the event.

The Gallade and Gardevoir encountered after completing raids will have the move Synchronoise (Trainer Battles 80 power, and Gyms and raids 80 power) learnt. Players who evolve Kirlia during the event will also get a Gallade or Gardevoir that knows the same move.

The Valentine's Day 2023 event bonuses will see players get 2x Stardust from opening Gifts and Lure Modules lasting for two hours if activated during the event. The occasion will also feature a branching Timed Research story titled 'Lovely Wishes.'

The awards for the various paths include more Catch XP, more Catch Candy, or more Daily Adventure Incese duration. Upon completing the said tasks, players will get their hands on numerous in-game items and an opportunity to encounter Frillish (shiny variant available).

As mentioned above, a global Valentine's Challenge will run from Tuesday, February 7, 2023, at 12 pm PST to Tuesday, February 14, 2023, at 10 pm PST where Pokemon GO players will be tasked with working together to unlock rewards. The goal and the bonuses are as follows:

• Global Challenge Goal: Send 100,000,000 Gifts
• Global Challenge Bonus: 3x Transfer Candy and 2x Transfer Candy XL for trainers with Level 31 or more for the remaining of the event

Players will also be able to change Furfrou from its Natural Form to its Heart Trim form during the Valentine's Day 2023 event. The wild encounters for the event are slated to be as follows for Pokemon GO players:

• Nidoran (shiny variant available)
• Skitty (shiny variant available)
• Volbeat (shiny variant available)
• Illumise (shiny variant available)
• Woobat (shiny variant available)
• Frillish (shiny variant available)
• Red Flower Flabebe (Can be encountered in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa)
• Blue Flower Flabebe (Can be encountered in the Asia-Pacific region)
• Yellow Flower Flabebe (Can be encountered in the Americas)
• Natural Form Furfrou (shiny variant available)
• Morelull
• Chansey [rare encounter] (shiny variant available)
• Audino [rare encounter] (shiny variant available)
• Alomomola [rare encounter] (shiny variant available)
• White Flower Flabebe [rare encounter]
• Orange Flower Flabebe [rare encounter]

The 7 km egg hatches are scheduled to be the following:

• Lickitung (shiny variant available)
• Smoochum (shiny variant available)
• Happiny (shiny variant available)
• Frillish (shiny variant available)
• Alomomola (shiny variant available)

The raid schedule is as follows:

• One-Star Raids: Chansey (shiny variant available), Shinx (shiny variant available), Natural Form Furfrou (shiny variant available), Espurr (shiny variant available)
• Three-Star Raids: Nidoqueen, Nidoking, Lickitung (shiny variant available), Miltank (shiny variant available), Gallade
• Five-Star Raids: Tapu Lele (shiny variant available)
• Mega Raids: Mega Gardevoir (shiny variant available)

Valentine's Day 2023 event will feature event-themed Field Research tasks in Pokemon GO. Upon completing these, players will have the opportunity to encounter the following Pocket Monsters:

• Pikachu (shiny variant available)
• Eevee (shiny variant available)
• Ralts (shiny variant available)
• Luvdisc (shiny variant available)
• Hippopotas (shiny variant available)
• Frillish (shiny variant available)
• Litleo (shiny variant available)
• Chansey [rare encounter] (shiny variant available)
• Spinda with a heart pattern [rare encounter] (shiny variant available)
• Combee [rare encounter] (shiny variant available)
• Audino [rare encounter] (shiny variant available)
• Alomomola [rare encounter] (shiny variant available)
• Morelull [rare encounter]

Event-themed avatar items and stickers (Image via Pokemon GO)

Pokemon GO players will also have the option to get new event-themed avatar items and stickers from the in-game shop. Stickers can also be found by interacting with PokeStops and opening Gifts.