Pokemon Go’s Team Rocket event skips eagerly awaited Dragon-type Legendary
NianticPokemon Go has announced the details of Taken Over, the Team Rocket event for the Shared Skies Season. But, Giovanni‘s Shadow Legendary has baffled players as they were expecting the mighty Rayquaza in his team.
Instead, the villainous Team Rocket Boss will have Cresselia, a bulky Psychic-type Pokemon. While this Legendary is strong in the Great and Ultra League, the Dragon/Flying-type Rayquaza is one of the best attackers in the meta.
The community expressed their disappointment in the comments of a Reddit post by ‘Entire_Pineapple4732’ who questioned the decision to snub Rayquaza, especially after the previous events had Giovanni with Kyogre and Groudon.
Rayquaza is part of the Hoenn region’s Legendary Weather Trio along with Kyogre and Groudon. This made the Dragon-type powerhouse the obvious choice for Gioivanni’s team this Season with the other two species featured consecutively.
Players said they were looking forward to Shadow Rayquaza, as it would end up being the best PvE Pokemon thanks to its insane damage output. This led them to believe that Niantic withheld the Legendary as it’s a “cash cow” for them, with some even complaining that the devs were “trolling” fans.
Some trainers argued that since Mega Rayquaza Raids were set for August 3, 2024, it made sense to give Rayquaza the cold shoulder since it would result in too much focus on the said Pokemon. However, most players begged to differ.
A user explained: “I’m sure you’ll see that Rayquaza is a way more liked Pokemon than Cresselia among the playerbase, or the Pokemon fanbase as a whole. It also doesn’t help that Shadow Ray is useful in PvE (though not as good as Mega Ray), while Cresselia is useful in PvP,” before adding: “This leads to disappointment.”
In the meantime, if you’re looking for other solid Dragon types in Pokemon Go, here’s how to get Pseudo Legendaries like Salamence, Hydreigon, and Garchomp.