Pokemon Go's Water Festival Event Is Returning With Two New Shiny Pokemon Next Week

Pokemon Go's upcoming Suicune Raid Day isn't the only event players have to look forward to this month. Developer Niantic has announced it is bringing back the Water Festival for a limited beginning next week, giving players a chance to encounter more Water-types and even catch a couple of new Shiny Pokemon. [Update: This is now over, but you'll soon be able to catch Gen 5 Pokemon.]

The Water Festival kicks off at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM BST on August 23 and runs until August 30. During that time, Water Pokemon such as Wooper, Wailmer, Magikarp, and others will appear in the wild much more frequently than normal, regardless of where you live. If you happen to be near a body of water, you'll find increased spawns of the following Pokemon:

• Wartortle
• Poliwhirl
• Seaking
• Lapras
• Qwilfish
• Mantine
• Lotad
• Feebas
• Piplup
• Buizel
• Finneon

In addition to increased spawns, Water-types will hatch from Eggs more often during the Water Festival, and some monsters such as Blastoise, Vaporeon, and Lapras will appear as Raid bosses. If you're lucky, you'll also have a chance to encounter Shiny versions of Carvanha and Barboach during the event.

On August 28, Niantic is bringing the Legendary lake trio--Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie--back for a special Raid hour. Each of the Legendary Pokemon will appear in five-star Raids in their respective regions from 6-7 PM local time. As a reminder, Azelf is currently exclusive to the Americas and Greenland; Mesprit is available in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East; and Uxie is only appearing in the Asia-Pacific region.

Finally, you'll receive twice the normal amount of Candy for hatching Pokemon during the Water Festival, and the distance it takes to earn Buddy Candy will be cut in half if your Buddy Pokemon is a Water-type. You can read more details about the event on the official Pokemon Go website.

In the meantime, Niantic is bringing the Legendary Water Pokemon Suicune back for a special Raid Day on August 17. The developer has also shared the first details for Pokemon Go's September Community Day. That event is set for Sunday, September 15, and will feature Turtwig, one of the three starters from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.