Get ready for fierce battles with Pokémon GO's latest Rivals Week event, starting May 4th alongside the new GO Battle Weekend

Niantic has released full details on the latest iteration of Pokémon GO's Rivals Week event, which will be taking place taking place early next month from May 4th. As with past Rivals Weeks, this event will feature Pokémon that are considered as rival counterparts to another Pokémon in Pokédex entries. Also commencing May 4th is the game's next GO Battle Weekend Event.

Rivals Week
This latest Rivals Week event begins May 4th at 10:00am, and will run through to May 9th at 8:00pm, local time.

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Event Bonuses and Activities
The following event bonuses will be active during the event period:

• Trainers will have an increased chance to encounter Shiny Zangoose, Seviper, Throh, Sawk, Heatmor, and Durant
• Trainers will receive 10× XP from spinning Photo Discs at Gyms
• Trainers will receive 2× Catch Candy

Additionally, PokéStop Showcases for event-themed Pokémon will be running throughout the event period at different PokéStops.

Timed and Field Research
Event-themed Timed Research, as well as event-themed Field Research, are available for free as part of the Rivals Week event. Completing the free Timed Research will award Trainers with XP, Rare Candy, Fast TMs, and encounters with event-themed Pokémon; while completing event-themed Field Research tasks will award encounters with a variety of different thematically appropriate Pokémon (see below for a list).

Pokémon Encounters
All Pokémon listed below with a ⁂ next to their name can also be encountered in their Shiny variants.

Wild Encounters
The following Pokémon will appear more frequently in the wild throughout the event:

• Alolan Sandshrew ⁂
• Mankey ⁂
• Poliwag ⁂
• Machop ⁂
• Gligar ⁂
• Ralts ⁂
• Lickitung (uncommon) ⁂
• Galarian Stunfisk (uncommon) ⁂

Additionally, the following Pokémon will appear more frequently on these specific dates:

• May 4th at 10:00am to May 6 at 10:00am:
  • Zangoose ⁂
  • Seviper ⁂
• May 6th at 10:00am to May 8 at 10:00am:
  • Throh ⁂
  • Sawk ⁂
• May 8th at 10:00am to May 9 at 8:00pm:
  • Heatmor ⁂
  • Durant ⁂

Raids
The following Pokémon will appear in raids during this event:

• One-Star Raids
  • Mankey ⁂
  • Teddiursa ⁂
  • Swinub ⁂
  • Jangmo-o
• Three-Star Raids
  • Zangoose (May 4th at 10:00am to May 6th at 10:00am) ⁂
  • Seviper (May 4th at 10:00am to May 6th at 10:00am) ⁂
  • Throh (May 6th at 10:00am to May 8th at 10:00am) ⁂
  • Sawk (May 6th at 10:00am to May 8th at 10:00am) ⁂
  • Heatmor (May 8th at 10:00am to May 9th at 8:00pm) ⁂
    Durant (May 8th at 10:00am to May 9th at 8:00pm) ⁂

Field Research task encounters
Completing event-themed Field Research tasks will award Trainers with encounters with the following Pokémon:

• Alolan Sandshrew ⁂
• Mankey ⁂
• Poliwag ⁂
• Lickitung ⁂
• Gligar ⁂
• Ralts ⁂
• Galarian Stunfisk ⁂

GO Battle Weekend
This latest GO Battle Weekend will run from May 4th at 12:00am, through to May 5th at 11:59pm, local time

Event Bonuses and Activities
The following event bonuses will be active during the event period:

• Trainers will receive 4× Stardust from win rewards (excluding end-of-set rewards)
• The maximum number of sets a Trainer can play per day will be increased from 5 to 20 (a total of 100 battles) from 12:00am to 11:59pm local time each day.

Timed Research
Free battle-themed Timed Research will be available for the duration of the Go Battle League Weekend, with rewards including the Hala-Style Sandals avatar item.

Trainers will also be able to purchase a ticket for event-themed Timed Research from the in-game shop. This ticket will cost US$1.00 (or the equivalent pricing tier in each local currency), awarding trainers with Stardust, a Star Piece, three Rare Candy, and three Rare Candy XL upon completion.