Pokémon GO Fest Chicago 2026: Top Spawns, Shinies & Best Pokémon to Catch (Raid & PvP Guide)
Good day, Pokémon Trainers! Pokémon GO Fest season is upon us and it promises to bring about some big changes to the formula! But this brings up the ever-popular question,
What are the best Pokémon to catch?
Well, not to worry fellow trainer, I’m here to help narrow the field! But before we get to that it’s worth noting that this guide only accounts for those that we know for sure will be available during the Chicago GO Fest period according to the information shared officially.
With that out of the way, Which Pokémon are truly worth getting?
Let’s begin and find out!
For Gameplay
Unlike previous years, this year there will not be specific habitats. Instead, areas in Grant Park will be divided based on different Gameplay features available in GO. Unique GO Fest specific wild encounters will be available all throughout the park area along with the entirety of Chicago city during the event.
As such, this guide will be divided into three main segments, Pokémon worth catching for gameplay purposes, Pokémon worth catching for collections and the use cases of Pokémon that will be available in raids during the event. Starting with the gameplay focused ones:
Bulbasaur
Bulbasaur
Wearing a Pikachu Visor
Bulbasaur’s final evolution, Venusaur is a great Grass-type raid attacker, whether it be in its regular, shadow, or mega variant. It’s shadow and mega forms are solid as Poison-type raid attackers as well. As for PvP, Venusaur falls off and on in the Great League and the Ultra League depending on the meta, where it typically focuses on spamming its legacy move Frenzy Plant. But even in metas where it isn’t a top-player, it can still be a decent spice pick.
The Bulbasaur available during GO Fest will have a unique costume which can be shiny as well. Also worth noting, Bulbasaur itself frequently finds success in the 500 CP Little Cup formats.
Electabuzz
Electivire, Electabuzz’s evolution is such a damage dealing powerhouse that even its non-shadow regular form is one of the best Electric-type raid attackers. In fact, Shadow Electabuzz itself can be usable in a pinch. It’s PvP performance isn’t particularly noteworthy though, as it is quite frail, you could try it as a spice pick for the Ultra League.
Jolteon and Alolan Raichu
Jolteon is one of Eevee’s many evolutions, and Alolan Raichu is the Alolan variant of Raichu, Pikachu’s evolution. So we have two Electric-type evolutions of Pokémon’s main two mascots. As for why you might want to focus on catching them, evolved Pokémon give more XP and extra candies compared to stage-1 Pokémon. So they can help with the grind. Other than that, Jolteon can be pretty okay as an Electric-type raid attacker.
Dratini
The Dratini-line is the very first psuedo-legendary and the iconic first generation Dragon-type line. So quite fitting for its accolades, the Dratini-line has multiple uses in GO. To start off, Dratini itself can be a solid Pokémon for the 500 CP Little Cup format, Dragonaire is a solid choice for the Great League and even Dragonite can be a decent spice pick, and finally, Dragonite alone is one of the few non full legendaries that consistently dominate in the Master League.
But it doesn’t end there, as Dragonite has both a shadow and a mega form and is fantastic as a raid attacker in all three forms.
Houndour
Houndour’s evolution, Houndoom has a mega form which is one of the best Fire and Dark-type raid attackers. Unfortunately, you can’t get Mega Houndoom itself at Chicago GO Fest. But this can still be a good opportunity to collect some candies, plus shadow and regular Houndoom can be fairly decent as Dark-type raid attackers by themselves. Though you won’t exactly get a Shadow Houndoom in GO Fest this year either.
Lileep
Lileep’s evolution Cradily is a very good Pokémon to use in the Great and Ultra Leagues as it has very good defensive stats, a unique Rock/Grass dual-typing, and a dynamic and flexible moveset.
Combee
While Combee and its evolution, Vespiqueen aren’t exactly useful for either PvP or PvE, there is a good reason for you to catch Combee whenever you find one. And that’s because Combee gives a whopping 750 Stardust upon a successful capture. And in Pokémon GO, you can never have too much Stardust!
Mudbray, Dhelmise and Sinistea
Slowing down a bit, Mudbray’s evolution Mudsdale can be a decent Ground-type raid attacker, but not much else. The same applies for Varoom’s evolution Revavroom, and Dhelmise. Dhelmise is an okay Ghost-type raid attacker, and does have some spice potential in the Ultra League, but is largely outphased by Trevenant in its type category. Whereas Revavroom is actually pretty reliable as a Poison-type raid attacker.
Galarian Corsola
Galarian Corsola has one use case but it is one of the best at what it does. Thanks to its solid bulk and fantastic move pool, Galarian Corsola is one of the best Pokémon you can use in the Great League right now!
For Collection
While not necessarily ones that provide specific gameplay benefits, these rare Pokémon are still worth collecting if you’re following the motto of “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” and want to add some rather exclusive Pokémon to your roster. Starting with:
Costumed Pikachu And Caterpie
We already took a look at the new costumed Bulbasaur but Bulbasaur’s Kantonian companions Pikachu and Caterpie are getting costumes at GO Fest as well. Pikachu adds to its expansive list of costumes by adding a hat to represent Team Mystic, whereas Caterpie gets the second closest thing to a cowboy hat.
Regional Exclusives
Comfey, which are typically only found in Hawaii and Blaze Breed Paldean Tauros, a type of Tauros only found in the Eastern Hemisphere will be available to catch during the event. Paldean Tauros will be available via raids, wheres Comfey will be out in the wild. Though its worth noting that Comfey is shiny locked and only the non-shiny variant will be available.
Unown
Every form of Unown will be available during the event! If you’re trying to complete your Unown dex, or the much more difficult shiny Unown dex, this is a great opportunity to catch the ones you might be missing.
New Debuts
The shiny form of Wash Rotom will be available for the first time in Pokémon GO during GO Fest, additionally the Mythical Pokémon, Zeraora will be making its debut and ticket-holding trainers will be able to complete a special research to encounter one.
Raid Pokémon
Almost all raid Pokémon have some use, whether that be for collecting or gameplay. So at last, we will take a look at all the raid Pokémon and what they can be used for:
Three-Star Raids
As mentioned before, this breed of Tauros is only available in the Eastern Hemisphere, so this is a good opportunity to catch it for those living in the West.
Five-Star & Five-Star Shadow Raids
Lots of 5-star raids to tackle this GO Fest but Mewtwo definitely feels like the star of the show! In fact, Mewtwo will be available during raids in multiple unique forms, two of which we will take a look at later. While Regular Mewtwo is outclassed by the Shadow form, it is still one of the best Psychic-type raid attackers you can ask for, along with being a solid choice for the Master League.
The two Fire-type legendaries Entei and Moltres are both some of the best Fire-type raid attackers, especially in their shadow forms. Zapdos can even be a solid as a Flying-type raid attacker. Both of these thunderous legendaries are also solid off-meta picks in almost all three leagues, but their best performance are definitely as their shadow variants in the Ultra and Master League formats.
Finally, Shadow Groudon and Shadow Kyogre are among the absolute best as Ground and Water-type raid attackers respectively, though for PvP their regular variants outperform. It’s also worth noting while they are among the best, they are not THE best, for that we have to look at:
Primal Raids
So, Primal Groudon and Kyogre, which behave like Mega forms of Groudon and Kyogre will also be available during GO Fest. These are the strongest Ground and Water-type raid attackers you could ask for right now, and will likely be so going into the future. Not only that, Groudon in its primal form gets a secondary Fire-typing making it a solid Fire-type raid attacker as well. However, despite that, these two are not the highlights of the raids in GO Fest this year. That honor goes to:
Super Mega Raids
Mewtwo’s two mega forms will debut during GO Fest this year and are definitely the highlights of this year’s events. A timed research must be acquired which will allow you to participate in the recently introduced Super Mega Raid against either Mega Mewtwo X or Mega Mewtwo Y. Mega Mewtwos caught during these raids will have at least Mega Level 1 unlocked with the potential to have Mega Level 2 and 3 being unlocked from the start as well if you are lucky. With how strong Mewtwo already is Mega Mewtwo X and Y are likely to become some of the strongest raid attackers after they are available!
Conclusion
GO Fests have recently begun changing the formula around and this year is no different. Not only do we have gameplay focused areas as opposed to habitats to look forward to and a seperate city experience, we also have the debut of the much beloved Mega Mewtwo X and Y with the equally new and novel Super Mega Raids. With an all new experience to look forward to in this year’s GO Fest, I’m sure it’ll be a fun experience and I hope this article has helped you narrow down what to focus on. Have fun, and stay safe out there.
Goodbye for now, Pokémon trainers. Priom-out!
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