Key conclusions
- The Galar region is finally getting some attention in Pokemon GO with new Timed Research challenges.
- The Legendary Heroes event offers Sword and Shield paths, each with different rewards for players.
- Individual players are frustrated by trade challenges in Timed Research, but completing them is optional.
Pokemon Go finally giving the Galar region the attention it so desperately needs. While some Galar forms were added back in 2019 to celebrate the start of Gen 8, notable creatures from that generation were skipped over in favor of Alola, Hisui, and even Paldea from Gen 9 long before as Skarban, Sobble, and Gruky got a chance to debut in an AR adventure game. After a long wait, Galar gets his due in the final season, and it gives fans some interesting explorations through time.
Currently in Pokemon Goevent called Legendary Heroes is available until October 1st at 20:00 local time. As the name suggests, this is a group of quests designed to celebrate the fact that the Warrior Pokemon Zacian can now be battled in raids, with Zamazenta coming in the Galarian Expedition event on October 4th. To match these legendary dogs, players can go through Timed Explore and follow two paths to get different rewards: the path of the sword and the path of the shield.
How Legendary Heroes Path of the Sword and Path of the Shield work in Pokemon GO
Due to Zamazenta and Zacian being available in raids, despite being named Research in Time, neither hound is available as a reward for completing research tasks. Instead, choosing to go the sword path or the shield path changes what Pokemon players will receive during the encounter through scents and research itself. This means that players can easily choose to go the sword or shield route depending on what they may need for their Pokedex.
Players will still earn the usual stardust, experience, and items as they make their way through the Time Trial, but there are no hollar Pokemon as a reward for taking one path over another. As part of the Legendary Heroes event, Galarian Ponyta, Galarian Darumaka, Grookey, Koffing, Scorbunny, Skwovet, and Sobble will be more common in the wild for those who missed out when the Max Out season started. Below is what players can expect from completing the Incense and Timed Quests.
Path of the sword
- Sidot
- Happy
- Gothita
- Dayno
- Swirlix
- Passimian
- Rufflet – The reward for the last quest in Temporal Research.
Shield way
- Larvitar
- Lotad
- Croaghunk
- Solatura
- Spritz
- Oranguru
- Vullaby – Reward for the last temporary research task.
The choice of path will also affect the bonus players will receive in Catch Challenge and Trade Challenge. The Catch Challenge will feature Pokemon found in the respective list above, such as the Sword player getting Gotita, Sydot, and Scraggy as required catches, while the Trade Challenge requests creatures from the Shield list. This was probably taken to allow fans to interact with other players who chose a different path from them.
However, the Trade Challenge annoyed many solos Pokemon Go players who have no one next to them can complete this task. Many of these fans are asking that Niantic stop offering trade challenges for a while so that rewards aren't missed out because people don't have friends to like Pokemon play with
Do players have to complete the legendary hero time study?
Ultimately, it's up to the player to decide whether they should complete the research, but unless those particular creatures are needed for their Pokedex, want credit for an Elite Collector's Medal, or they want to level up faster, there's no compelling reason why they should do your best to complete the study on time. The time trial is fairly simple, consisting of only two parts, but there are other methods of obtaining the necessary resources Pokemon Go.
Although the concept of branching Timed Research in Pokemon Go quite interestingly, rewards can waste players' time if they were expecting any unique encounters from their efforts. Either way, players have until October 1st to complete the seven quests required for the entire journey, which can easily be completed within a day if they decide to jump in at the last minute.
