Hot on the heels of the last trio of legendary Pokemon, today Niantic announced that three more legendaries — the fabled dogs Entei, Raikou, and Suicune — are now appearing in Pokemon GO Raids.
The three dogs are split between different regions of the world, and throughout the three month long event they will move between each region, giving players the chance to capture each one (and mimicking their tendency to travel all over the Johto game world in Pokemon Silver/Gold, nice touch Niantic).
Starting August 31 and until September 30 the legendary Pokemon will appear in the following locations:
- Raikou, an Electric-type, can be battled throughout the Americas.
- Entei, a Fire-type, can be battled throughout Europe and Africa.
- Suicune, a Water-type, can be battled throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
On September 30, the dogs will rotate to new locations, and remain there until October 31. Then, on October 31 the three Pokemon will rotate again and finish out the last month at their final location.
EX Raids Tests Begin Too
In addition to the dogs, Niantic also announced they will start testing the new EX Raids, an exclusive invite only raid system where trainers can catch the rarest and strongest Pokemon, namely Mewtwo. The EX Raid tests will start as early as September 6 for test markets before going global sometime this year.
With a full month to catch each of the legendary dogs, trainers should have plenty of opportunity. It’s good to see Niantic giving ample time to catch these legendaries, rather than the initially stress inducing way the legendary birds were introduced. Plus with the apparent effort to not lose momentum it seems likely that we can expect updates to roll out a lot more frequently. Portions of the data for the third Generation of Pokemon are already in the game’s code, so expect a lot more updates from Niantic this year.