What's happening with Shiny Zacian in Pokémon Go? Situation explained

What isn’t great is that the introduction of the Shiny Legendary Pokémon was spoiled by a pesky bug. Let’s just say it didn’t go down too well online.

Before we dive into what happened, it’s worth knowing that we’ll also go into how to get Zacian from Raid Battles and what its weaknesses are.

Here’s everything you need to know about Shiny Zacian in Pokémon Go.

What’s happening with Shiny Zacian in Pokémon Go? Situation explained

Pokémon Go fans were quick to head online to air their disappointment that Shiny Zacian was appearing as regular Zacian.

A bug caused the Shiny version of the Legendary ‘Mon to appear with the Shiny animation but Zacian’s standard colour.

The bug didn’t affect the Shiny appearance rate of Zacian or any other Shiny-related features. Just its appearance was broken.

Fortunately, the situation should now be fixed, and your Shiny Zacian should appear with the proper Shiny colour scheme and not the same colours as the base Zacian.

This was confirmed by the official Niantic Support X (formerly known as Twitter) account. Check out the post below:

If you had a bugged Shiny Zacian, the fix from Niantic should be "updated automatically". If not, try exiting and re-entering the game.

When is Zacian in Pokémon Go? Raid Battle dates and times

Zacian is in Pokémon Go as a 5-Star Raid Battle during the Legendary Heroes event, which comes to an end on Tuesday 1st October (8pm local time) 2024.

The limited-time event began on 26th September, and Zacian 5-Star Raid Battles should be taking place until 8pm on 1st October.

There’s no knowing when Zacian will reappear, which means you better get into a Raid Battle against the Legendary Pokémon soon if you want to have your chance to catch one!

A battle against Zacian will prove difficult, mind, so it’s best to know what its weaknesses are. More on that below.

What is Zacian's weakness in Pokémon Go?

Zacian is a Fairy-type Pokémon, which means it is weak against Poison and Steel-type attacks.

Bring your best Poison and Steel-type attackers to the Raid Battle and you’ll stand a better chance at defeating Zacian.

Fairy-types resist Dragon, Bug, Dark and Fighting-type attacks, so you’re best off ignoring Pokémon of those types.

Fairy-type attacks are strong against Fighting, Dark and Dragon-type Pokémon, too, so definitely avoid bringing Pokémon of that type along to the fight.

With all of that in mind, the best Zacian counters in Pokémon Go will be Gengar, Overqwil, Venusaur, Drapion, Crobat, Melmetal, Excadrill, Metagross, Magnezone, Empoleon, Bisharp, or any other strong Poison and Steel-type Pokémon you own.

Read more on Pokémon:

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• Best shiny Pokémon - the coolest creatures
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• All cat Pokémon - the felines to catch
• Pokémon natures guide - all you need to know
• Pokémon type chart - strengths and weaknesses explained
• Legendary Pokémon - the full list
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• Pokémon Fire Red cheats - all codes
• Pokémon Go friend codes - and how to find them
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