Pokémon GO Water Festival Event Announced: Catch Lapras, Gyarados, And More Water-Type Critters

Unlike other previous Pokémon GO events, the Water Festival is not tied to any particular globally recognized holiday. Instead, the Pokémon GO Water Festival comes as a surprise treat and it increases one’s chances of catching water-type critters.

The Water Festival event runs through March 29 and players can take advantage of it to catch Magikarp, Totodile and Squirtle, as well as obtain their evolutions – Gyarados, Blastoise, Wartortle, Croconaw and Feraligatr. The event also increases the spawn potential of the ice Pokémon Lapras, since you can’t have ice without water.

Moreover, for players in locations where water-type Pokémon typically roam (near lakes, water streams, rivers and such), the Gen 2 water Pokémon from the Johto region will also have a higher spawn rate. This means that players could encounter Lanturn, Azumarill, Chinchou, Marill, Wooper, Sloking, Politoed, Quagsire, Corosola, Qwilfish, Kingdra, Octillery, Remoraid, and Mantine, since they’re all partly water types. The legendary Suicune would be a tough bet, however, even with the Water Festival going on.

The event also brings a new avatar wardrobe item that players can purchase with Pokecoins – the Magikarp hat.

Unlike other Pokémon GO events, however, the Water Festival doesn’t bring any bonuses, double XP, increased lure time, more candy or anything like that. Previous events offered bonuses and various sales incentives to boost microtransactions, but the Water Festival doesn’t seem to include such perks – or at least they’re not mentioned in the announcement.

Nevertheless, the chance to catch Lapras is perhaps among the most exciting highlights of this event. Lapras has been incredibly difficult to capture in the wild ever since Pokémon GO launched last year, so the Water Fest could be a boon or players looking for the elusive critter. A previous event in Japan increased Lapras’ spawn rate and generated huge interest, so the Water Fest should be a big attraction.

Should the Water Festival enable players to add Lapras to their Pokédex without relying on egg hatching, it could go down in history as one of the best Pokémon GO events ever.

Are you excited about the new Pokémon GO Water Festival? If you go out and explore, check back and leave us a comment to tell us what water-type Pokémon you encountered.