Popplio 100% perfect IV stats, shiny Popplio in Pokémon Go

This week’s Spotlight Hour is all about the Sea Lion Pokémon, meaning it’s the perfect opportunity to catch a Popplio in Pokémon Go.

While Popplio is likely the least-chosen Starter from its generation — it’s competition being a bird with a bow tie and a cat with a fiery temperament — its final evolution, Primarina, has the last laugh in Pokémon Go, as it is the strongest performer in Go Battle League. So, if you’re still missing a perfect Primarina, this is your chance to try to find one, while also grinding the Candy and Candy XL you’ll need to max out your Pokémon for competitive play.

Talking of the grind, this week’s Spotlight Hour also comes with a double catch XP bonus that runs alongside the event, so make sure you catch as many Pokémon as possible!

On this page:

Popplio 100% perfect IV stats in Pokémon Go

This week’s Spotlight Hour is a great opportunity to catch a Popplio with perfect IV stats.

'Perfect' means two things in Pokémon Go, depending on how you plan to use a given Pokémon. First, there’s the maxed out, 100% IV version, which is the 15/15/15 you’re looking for your 4* Pokédex, raids and Master League. Yet, because of how CP is calculated using three stats, a perfect IV Pokémon is generally only ever the best version of itself in the Master League.

Of course, you can’t see the IV of a Pokémon without catching it first, but with a little research beforehand, you can quickly spot a perfect Popplio based on the CP alone.

If you’re at Level 30 (or above), you’ll ideally be looking for the following CPs for a perfect 15/15/15 Popplio:

The wild CP value aligns with your Trainer Level until you reach Level 30 and, due to the majority of the player base now being above this level, we’ve kept to these values for the sake of simplicity. These values will, however, be different if you’re currently below Level 30.

The Season of Rising Heroes is here! Currently the A Valorous Hero event is running, bringing with it Mega Pinsir and the A Valorous Hero special research quest. The new Grass and Gratitude quest allows you to catch a mythical Shaymin! A new Team Go Rocket quest - From The Shadows - has been released, along with a shake up of the Giovanni and Team Go Rocket Leaders lineups. As you continue your Pokémon Go adventure, make sure to battle in the new Go Battle League season. Don't forget to take a look at the Remote Raid Passes changes or, if you purchased it, work on the Masterwork Research: Wish Granted quest. Elsewhere, be sure to use Daily Adventure Incense for the chance of encountering Galarian Articuno, Galarian Zapdos and Galarian Moltres. This incense may also give you encounters with other rare Pokémon in Pokémon Go.

Is Primarina good in PVP?

Primarina is perfectly reasonable in Master League, but falters elsewhere in Go Battle League.

The up-side to running Primarina is, of course, its fairy-typing, which is a huge boon in the Dragon Master League.

In the two lower leagues, this Pokémon runs Charm, Moonblast and Psychic, but it swaps out Psychic for Hydro Pump in Master League. This just allows you to hit that little bit harder with STAB when you need to.

There are three Water/Fairy Pokémon in Great League: Azumarill, which is excellent, Tapu Fini, which is pretty decent, and Primarina. Don’t run Primarina In Great League.

Ultra League, flips things around slightly, but only in so far that Azumarill is awful and Tapu Fini becomes of the top Water types with a Fairy-flavoured bonus. It's still not great here, mind you – it loses pretty rapidly to Talonflame, which should speak volumes.

Master League is the only place where Primarina is actually a decent choice, and is a very close second to Tapu Fini, so if you can’t find a Fini and you were hoping to run one, this is an option. The difference is that Tapu Fini runs Water Gun, Surf and Moonblast, whereas Primarina runs Charm, Moonblast and Hydro Pump, which is arguably better.

Here, we have a slow Pokémon that applies decent Fast move pressure, especially against the Dragons in the meta. Dragonite, Zekrom (ouch), Gyarados, Garchomp and Dialga all fall before the Soloist Pokémon, so if you need a Dragon specialist, Primarina isn’t a bad shout. The flip side is that you’ve lose very quickly to some of the other meta choices: Lugia, Zacian, Mewtwo, Giratina and Swampert. So, if you know how to pick your battles, Primarina may be a decent choice.

Is there a shiny Popplio in Pokémon Go?

Nope, like the other Starter Pokémon from this generation, which we saw last week and the week before, there is no shiny Popplio in Pokémon Go!

Hopefully, Popplio will get a Community Day and the shiny version of it will be released into the wild, but with the new shiny Starters seen in early 2023, it’s a safe assumption we won’t see shiny Popplio in Pokémon Go any time in 2023.

What does shiny Popplio look like?

As you can see, shiny Popplio is a subtle shiny! Shiny Popplio simply takes a very slightly darker shade of blue, while swapping its collar from light blue to white. Its evolution, Brionne, swaps from a blue to a purple, but it’s Primarina who really puts in the effort! Shiny Primarina swaps green hair for blonde, and blue frills for pink.

Thanks to Reddit user RaZzi for the handy video!

Other tips for this Spotlight Hour

Aside from trying to catch a shiny Popplio in Pokémon Go, there are a couple of other good reasons to partake in this week’s Spotlight Hour:

• The best reason is, of course, the double catch XP bonus running throughout the hour. This applies to all Pokémon caught, so do your best to get good at Excellent Curve Ball throws on a Popplio to quickly rack up the XP!
• If you’re a newcomer, this Spotlight Hour is the perfect time to collect enough Popplio candy to fully evolve this Pokémon and enter all of its evolutions in the Pokédex.
• Thanks to Popplio being a Water-type, catching a bunch during this Spotlight Hour will add progress to your respective catch bonus medal.

Spotlight Hour events only last for an hour - 6pm to 7pm (local time). We don’t have April’s Spotlight Hours at time of writing, but check back soon to see who is taking the limelight next week!

Good luck finding a perfect Popplio!