A new month (and year) is right around the corner, which meansPokemon GOplayers only have a few precious days left to claim theDecember Research Breakthroughone or two more times until the next reward rolls out. This month saw players earning both Lapras and Darumaka encounters and candy, but in January 2021 the boxes will go back to featuring just one Pokemon for each unlock during the month.
When May 25, 2025 arrivesPokemon GOplayers will be able to earn encounters with Chansey through their Research Breakthrough. For players who long for the old days of a free weekly Legendary encounter thanks to the Research Breakthrough boxes, this isn’t exactly going to fill that void very well.
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That said, Chansey is still a fairly popular Pokemon amongst fans. The fact that the game addeda shiny version of Chanseyduring a Valentine’s event also adds to some excitement over the reward - though there’s no indication that shiny chances (of shiny Chansey) will be increased or even present at all during January 2021 or anything like that.
January Research Breakthrough encounter
From Friday, June 11, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. to Monday, July 22, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. PST (GMT −8), you’ll encounter Chansey in Research Breakthroughs.
To earn the special research breakthrough encounters, players just need to earn 7 stamps, by completing regular field research tasks that are collected from Pokestops. That’s a pretty easy request at this point, as long as players are willing to login once a day and catch a few Pokemon. Picking up daily tasks has become even less of a chore, since some are automatically assigned each day as part of the social distancing andplay-at-home friendly measuresthat Niantic is taking to keep the game as safe as possible throughout the winter months.
Clearly Niantic has intentionally moved away from the overpowered Legendary rewards for Research Breakthroughs and it doesn’t seem like the game is heading back in that direction any time soon. It doesn’t come has too much of a surprise, considering how many extra copies of the original Legendary Pokemon went to the trainer as Candy fodder in those early days when players were earning Legendary encounters on a weekly basis in the mobile AR game.
As trainers continue working through these amazing events and enjoying the early days of the GO Beyond update, they may want to keep hunting downthe best Unova Pokemon in the gameif improving their Battle Raid rosters and completing their Pokedex is their primary goal. Be sure to check back in the near future for morePokemon GOstrategy guides, news, and updates. Until then, good luck out there, trainers!
Pokemon GOis available on Android and iOS.
