Shadow Raids are arriving soon as Trainers need to collect Shadow Shards to form Purified Gems, so here's how to get them in Pokémon GO.

First Published August 15, 2023, 08:27

The Season of Rising Heroes is coming to a close as trainers have battled heroically against each other during the current GO Battle League, GO Battle Days, and plenty of Raid encounters. This is marked by the dastardly reappearance of Team GO Rocket, which brought a new Raid encounter to challenge Trainers.

Shadow Raids will allow you to test your battle wits truly, but a few Raid items, Shadow Shards, and Purified Gems may help you win the battle. We’ve explored what these Raid items are and how to use Shadow Shards and Purified Gems in Pokémon GO.

15th August 2023 Update: We've updated this guide to reflect that Shadow Raids are returning to Pokémon GO during the Noxious Swamp event starting 19th August 2023 for the Season of Hidden Gems. The original article continues below.

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How To Get & Use Shadow Shards In Pokémon GO?

With the introduction of Shadow Raids in Pokémon GO also sees new items which Trainers can use to gain an advantage during Shadow Raids. Shadow Shards are one of these items introduced for this means and are extremely valuable to acquire.

These fragments, however, can be pretty complicated to get as they’re only dropped by defeating Team GO Rocket members. This includes the Team GO Rocket Grunts and any other person affiliated with this organization who can be found at various PokéStops and from Rocket Balloons that can be found within your Map View.

Once you’ve challenged a Team GO Rocket member, you’ll need to defeat them and their Shadow Pokémon, granted you have a strong line-up and enough Berries to survive the encounter. After defeating a Team GO Rocket Grunt and their Shadow Pokémon, they’ll likely drop Shadow Shards and other rewards, including the Mysterious Components.

You’ll need to collect a specific amount of Shadow Shards before paying Professor Willow a visit to use a new machine he has available to use. This machine, the Shard Refiner, will process your collected Shadow Shards to form an item that can be used during Shadow Raids called Purified Gems.

How To Get & Use Purified Gems In Pokémon GO?

After collecting Shadow Shards dropped by Team GO Rocket Grunts, you can utilize the Shard Refiler when visiting Professor Willow, which converts them into Purified Gems. These Raid items will immediately be available in your Inventory which has a powerful usage for Shadow Raids.

When locating Shadow Raids, Trainers will need to find a Gym that has been taken over by Team GO Rocket, denoted by a Raid Egg with a purple shadow appearing behind it. This Egg will eventually hatch, which changes the Gym color to black on the Map View, and you can enter the Gym to participate in the Shadow Raid using a Raid Pass.

You could face either a Team GO Rocket Grunt, one of their Leaders, Arlo, Cliff, Sierra, or their Boss, Giovanni. During the Shadow Raid, you can use the Purified Gem once their Shadow Pokémon enters an “enraged” state which you can open your Inventory and use the Purified Gem to weaken them.

Should you have more than one Purified Gem, or if other Trainers engaging in the Shadow Raid uses it, its effects will stack, making it easier to neutralize their “enraged” state. Once this state has passed, they’ll become more vulnerable to attacks, making defeating them much easier and earning various rewards from the Shadow Raid encounter.

Shadow Raids will be featured during the Season of Hidden Gems as Niantic announced their return in-game. Trainers can tackle Shadow Pokémon in one and three-star Raids during the Noxious Swamp event with the chance of encountering their Shiny forms.