Pokémon Go is having a Machop Community Day event on Saturday, May 24, from 2-5 p.m. in your local time.
As expected with a Community Day event, Machop will spawn in huge numbers with a high chance for it to appear shiny in Pokémon Go. There are also several other bonuses and perks, which we’ve listed out below.
How do I catch a shiny Machop in Pokémon Go?
As per old research by the now-defunct website The Silph Road (via Wayback Machine), Shiny rates on Community Days are about 1 in 24, which means that if you keep playing throughout the three-hour window, you should find quite a few shiny Pokémon.
Graphic: Julia Lee/Polygon | Source images: Niantic
If you’re short on time or Poké Balls, you can pop an Incense, then quickly tap each Machop to check for shiny ones, running from any that aren’t shiny. Notably, any Machop you’ve already tapped will face where your player is standing, so that should help identify which ones you may have already checked.
This is a great time to practice your quick catch, too, to max out your Machop Candy gains.
What Community Day move does Machop’s evolution learn?
If you evolve Machoke into Machamp from May 25 at 2 p.m. until May 31 at 10 p.m. in your local time, it will learn the charged move Payback.
If you miss out on evolving it during this period, you will likely be able to evolve it during a Community Day weekend event in December to get Payback. If you don’t want to wait, you can use an Elite TM to get the move.
How does Machamp do in the meta?
Whew, okay! Let’s talk about it. In short, Machamp is a powerhouse when it comes to PvE content. While yes, it does get outclassed by Legendaries, shadows, and Megas, it remains a really solid pick, ranking only below Lucario and Conkeldurr when you factor out those aforementioned categories.
I personally love using my powered-up Machamp to help me take out the Team Rocket leaders and Giovanni. While veteran players might shrug at the thought of a Machamp (who needs that when you can just run a Mega Lucario or powered-up Terrakion?), this event is a great one for newer players who might not have that stuff yet.
This is all compounded with the fact that Machamp is getting its Gigantamax debut on May 25, literally the day after this Community Day event. That said, Gigantamax Machamp is the definitive fighting-type pick in Max Battles. So if you may want to hold off on powering up any of the Machamp you get on the Community Day and instead opt to power up the Gigantamax Machamp you can get the next day (if you’re into Max Battles). That Gigantamax Machamp will be able to be used as a regular attacker in the various types of game content, so we recommend just powering up a Gigantamax one if you only have enough candy for one. (That being said, you should get out there and try to grab as much Machop Candy as you can during this event.)
Machamp’s best PvE moveset is Counter and Dynamic Punch, so you don’t have to worry about evolving it during the Community Day period or anything like that. Specifically, you’ll likely want your Gigantamax Machamp to use Low Kick instead of Counter, since it’s a shorter attack and thus grants more max energy.
For PvP, shadow Machamp actually isn’t a horrible choice, but you’ll want to set it up with Karate Chop, Cross Chop, and Stone Edge (according to PvPoke).
How do I make the most of Machoke Community Day?
The following bonuses will be active during Machoke Community Day:
- Tripled Stardust for catching Pokémon
- Incense lasts three hours
- Lure Modules lasts three hours
- Machop special photobombs when taking snapshots
That said, you should definitely pop a Star Piece and an Incense and try to nab some powerful Machop.
If you can Mega Evolve Heracross, Blaziken, Medicham, Lopunny, Lucario, or Gallade, you’ll score additional Machop Candy per catch.
As a reminder, you can trade your Machop or Machoke before evolving it to completely negate the candy cost to turn it into a Machamp. (Usually it’ll cost 100 Machop Candy, but if you trade it ahead of time, it’ll cost none! Yay!)
There will also be “Community Day Continued” Timed Research until May 31 that will reward more Machop, including ones with special themed backgrounds. This research will keep the increased shiny rate for Machop, even after the three-hour event is over, so make sure you complete them for extra chances to get a shiny.
