Sadly, Sandshrew – both in its Kantonian and Alolan forms in Pokémon Go – and its evolved forms (Sandslash) are pretty rubbish in raids and comptetitive play, which means that the real draw for this week’s Spotlight Hour is the special bonus that runs alongside the event – the double evolution XP bonus. On this page:
Alolan Sandshrew 100% perfect IV stats in Pokémon Go
This week’s Spotlight Hour is a great opportunity to catch a Alolan Sandshrew 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 for your 4* Pokédex, raids and Master League. Yet, because of how CP is calcuated 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 Alolan Sandshrew 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 Alolan Sandshrew: 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.
Is Alolan Sandslash good in PVP?
Alolan Sandslash is perfectly ok, but it’s not great by any stretch and you shouldn’t go out of your way to find a perfect one for Go Battle League. Ice-type Pokémon shine strongest in Master Leage, but this is not really a Master-level monster. In Great League and Ultra League you’re looking at Shadow Claw, Ice Punch and Bulldoze, while Master League leans into triple-Ice with Powder Snow, Ice Punch and Blizzard. Alolan Sandslash is a bulky Pokémon with a perfectly reasonable moveset: Shadow Claw in the lower leagues to deal with the likes of Cresslia and Giratina, and Powder Snow in the big league when the Dragon-types come out to play. In Great League you can expect to beat Altartia, Noctowl, Skarmory, Lanturn and Trevenant, while losing to the likes of Medicham, Galarian Stunfiskk, Registeel, Sableye and Swampert, which isn’t really an ideal set of losses. In Ultra League it’s a similarly bleak set of match-ups. You can expect wins against the same Pokémon, along with the likes of Nidoqueen and Muk, though you should expect to lose to Swampert, Galarian Stunfisk, Talonflame, Walrein and Tapu Fini – all of which are meta Pokémon. The issue is simply its CP range – a perfect 15/15/15 Alolan Sandslash caps out at 2750 CP, meaning that it is woefully underpowered in the Master League. While you can lean into Ice typing to take down Garchomp, Giratina, Lugia, Gyarados and – believe it or not – Mewtwo, you really want a perfect Shadow Alolan Sandslash to get that extra damage in. If you really need an Ice-type Master League Pokémon, there are vastly better options out there. The Season of Mythical Wishes continues with the Winter Holiday event, which has brought Mega Glalie to Pokémon Go. Don’t forget to partake in the new Go Battle League season. Elsewhere, be sure to use Daily Adventure Incense for the chance of encountering Galarian Articuno, Galarian Zapdos and Galarian Moltres.
Is there a shiny Alolan Sandshrew in Pokémon Go?
Yes! Released in June 2019, there is a shiny Alolan Sandshrew in Pokémon Go. It has had a Community Day since then too, so a shiny Sandshrew is far from a rarity. Spotlight Hours, unlike Community Days, do not have a boosted shiny rate, so, as you’re hunting for a shiny Alolan Sandshrew, you’ll be doing so with the regular shiny rates in this play. This means, if you really want a shiny Alolan Sandshrew, you need to make the most of this hour!
What does shiny Sandshrew look like?
As you can see, shiny Alolan Sandshrew takes on a cool blue colour, really leaning into that icy theme. However, this is let down by the awful saturation-slider evolution, where shiny Alolan Sandslash is just Alolan Sandslash but more so. Thanks to Reddit user EgaTehPro for the handy comparison of both forms!
Other tips for this Spotlight Hour
Aside from trying to catch a perfect shiny Alolan Sandshrew in Pokémon Go, there are a couple of other good reasons to partake in this week’s Spotlight Hour. The vast majority of players showing up for this Spotlight Hour will no doubt be doing so for the hour-long special bonus below:
The best reason is, of course, the double evolution XP bonus running throughout the hour. This gives you the chance to gather a lot of XP very quickly, so you can rise your Trainer Level. The best way to do this is to have two Tags in your Pokémon storage dedicated to this hour. The first is stuff you want to evolve and keep – generally strong Pokémon and Pokémon you need to evolve to update your Pokédex – and thing you want to evolve and transfer. This second box should contain all of the 12-candy Pokémon. The search string to quickly find all of these at lower than 3* rating is: 0*,1*,2*&10,13,16,265,293,519&!shiny If you’re a newcomer, this Spotlight Hour is the perfect time to collect enough Sandshrew candy to fully evolve this Pokémon and register its evolution, Sandslash, in your Pokédex. Thanks to Alolan Sandshrew being an Ice and Steel-type Pokémon, catching a bunch during this Spotlight Hour will add progress to your respective catch bonus medals.
Remember – Spotlight Hour events only last for an hour – 6pm to 7pm (local time). Next week’s Spotlight Hour is all about Wooper, and the double catch Stardust bonus that runs alongside it. Good luck finding a perfect shiny Alolan Sandshrew!
