Rillaboom Raids & Squirtle Community Day replays

Welcome back to another awesome Victory Road email, courtesy of the original Trainerlocke, Cooltrainer Ace. (Is Trainerlocke a thing? I just made it up). If this is your first week here, things are usually more punny. And funny. Okay, on to the news.

Here’s this week’s rundown (estimated read time, 3.5 minutes):

• Normal-Tera Rillaboom arrives in 7-Star Tera Raids

• Upcoming Pokémon GO events, including a Squirtle rewind

• Pokémon Sleep is live worldwide

Raid that Rillaboom - the latest 7-Star in S/V

As the leakers predicted, Normal-Tera Rillaboom is the next 7-Star Raid landing next Thursday in Scarlet/Violet. The full run is Thursday, July 27, at 5:00 p.m. PDT to Sunday, July 30, at 4:59 p.m. PDT, then again Thursday, August 3 (August already?!), at 5:00 p.m. PDT to Sunday, August 6, at 4:59 p.m. PDT.

The drumming monkeh is shaping up to be one of the tougher raids, based on some projected move sets. I’ve speculated that Annihilape will (surprise surprise) be a solid choice but we’ve also consulted the pros.

In this raid breakdown, Steven from PKMNcast outlines a number of different builds that also support one another, including Zamazenta (dollar store replacements include Forretress or Bronzong), Iron Hands (but not with Shell Bell and Belly Drum), Houndstone, Galarian Zapdos, Vigoroth, and Dragonite.

If you’re raiding with a buddy, Iron Hands + Houndstone is recommended, as well as Zamazenta + Dragonite, or Vigoroth + Galarian Zapdos.

A big week of Pokémon GO

Fasten your seatbelts and limber up those pointer fingers, GO players. With a repeat event slotted in (not to mention the Pokémon Sleep crossover), there’s a lot going on in AR Pokéland.

Riolu Hatch Day

Hatch Day, you say? This new event features Pokémon that more frequently hatch out of 2 km eggs, including increased shiny odds.

That pretty much sums it up, though the hope is the Pokémon hatched from these eggs will have the higher stats typical in eggs. If perfect IV and shiny rates are the same as recent Community Days (not great, in this Cooltrainer’s experience), I can see hatch day getting scrambled. Heh, scrambled, get it?

Other event bonuses include 2x Stardust from hatching Eggs and increased drop rates of 2 km Eggs from PokésStops. A bit odd that we aren’t increasing Incubator drops too.

Squirtle Community Day comes back

Don’t call it a redo. Like trying to get out of end of year tests in school by faking sick, there’s a makeup day coming. Except in this case, it’s good thing, cuz who doesn’t want more Squirtle?

Due to "log-in issues experienced by those using Pokémon Trainer Club accounts” during the first Squirtle Community Day Classic, a global makeup is scheduled for this Sunday, July 23 from 2-5 p.m. local time.

Everything is exactly the same as far as event bonuses and Blastoise’s featured attack. Be on the lookout for the elusive shiny Squirtle wearing sunglasses as part of the Field Research.

Adventure Week

Put on your khaki outfits, Fossil Maniacs: Adventure Week is back! Starting next Thursday, July 27, at 10 a.m. local time through August 2 at 8 p.m. local time, rock-type and Fossil Pokémon will walk the earth.

A few highlights include:

• Mega Tyranitar makes its GO debut.

• Shiny Tyrunt and Shiny Amaura are available for the first time (increased odds from ones hatched from eggs).

• ½ hatch distance for eggs placed in incubators during the event.

• 5-Star Raids feature Regidrago.

Pokémon Sleep: now ready to night night

Insomniacs rejoice—the wait is over! Pokémon Sleep finally finished its global release yesterday and is available via Rotom phone in an app store near you. Since we’ve covered Sleep in the previous two issues of Victory Road, that’s about all the updates there are to share. Based on early reviews, it seems there’s much more to the game than we first thought. Rumor has it that the next feature will be bedtime stories read by Meowth (jk).

Here’s hoping it helps trainers get a good night’s sleep the same way Pokémon Smile helped us defeat plaque, bad breath and the gum disease, gingivitis.

Random encounters around the internet

• “The Teacher” How Do You Play Episode 2 (Pokémon TCG docuseries).

• Scarlet & Violet players, don’t forget the Mystery Gift code TERATYPECHANGE to snag 50 Fighting Tera Shards (ends on July 31).

• Scientific proof the Lavender Town theme is creepy AF.

Obscure Pokémon Fact of the Day (from u/Mx_Toniy_4869)

Until next time,
Cooltrainer “King Kong catcher” Ace