Pokemon GOcontinues to pull out the big guns this summer, and the Sweet Swarm event is slated to be the next treat from the Delightful Days season. Sweet Swarm will take place from August 3 to August 6 and introduce a number of benefits, including XP and gear bonuses, Lure Module buffs, and increased chances of Shiny encounters, especially for two ofPokemon GO’s most charming Bug- and Fairy-type creatures.
Indeed, those partaking in the Sweet Swarm event will be rewarded with a significantly higher encounter chance for Combee and Swirlix, granted upon completion of Timed Research and Field Research tasks. To be more specific, completing Timed Research events on August 3 will yield encounters with Swirlix, alongside 3,000 Stardust and 25 Pinap Berries; Timed Research on August 5 will lead to encounters with Combee, 500XP, 3,000 Stardust, and a Lure Module. Field Research will increase the chances of encountering these Pokemon across the board. There will also be a higher chance of encounteringShiny versions of Combeeand Swirlix, and Lure Modules last for a longer period (one hour). This is pretty great, especially for those already knee-deep in Delightful Days and looking to pad out their Pokemon collection with these darling critters, but there’s a major caveat that ought to be considered.
As usual,Pokemon GOLure Moduleswill be especially potent for Combee and Swirlix, since they are the event-themed Pokemon.
Pokemon GO’s Combee-Centric Event Comes With an Asterisk
Only Female Combees Can Evolve in Pokemon GO
If the name wasn’t enough to give it away,Combee’s designtakes clear cues from real-world bees and beehives. The adorable Bug/Flying-type Pokemon is represented as a cluster of three hexagons that look quite a bit like the individual cells of a hive, while its evolved form Vespiquen is far more stylized, though still reminiscent of a traditional, albeit cartoonish, bumblebee. As one would expect, Vespiquen’s design is meant to be a bit less cute and a bit more formidable, similar to how the soft and cuddly Charmander morphs into the stoic, intimidating Charizard.
But unlike most Pokemon,evolving Combee into Vespiquenisn’t a straightforward task. Combee will morph into the decidedly royal-presenting Vespiquen after being fed 50 Candies, but only if the Combee is a female; males do not get the chance to evolve. This is obviously unusual, as evolutionary potential isn’t typically influenced by a Pokemon’s sex, although the aforementioned parallels to the anatomy of real-world bees make this discrepancy thematically consistent: there can only be one queen of a given beehive, and the queen can never be a male. Male bees are reserved for the positions of drone and worker, and with Vespiquen’s noble appearance, it’s not too hard to guess The Pokemon Company’s inspiration here.
Selective Evolution of Combee Might Undermine the Sweet Swarm Event
The biggest downside of Vespiquen evolution being exclusive to female Combees is obvious: there’s an unusually high chance that somePokemon GOplayers won’t be able toget a Shiny Vespiquen. This is because, while they are more common during the Sweet Swarm event, Shiny Pokemon are still rare, so if a player happens to only find a single Shiny Combee, and it’s a male, they may not get a chance to grow it into a Shiny Vespiquen. Naturally, this could lead to disappointment, especially since Sweet Swarm is only going to last a few days.
But at the end of the day, that’s themagic ofPokemon GO: the game has a strong sense of unpredictability, even to the point of randomness. And while players can adjust their playstyle and use certain strategies to maximize performance, it’s these elements of uncertainty that keep the game feeling fresh and exciting.
