Pokemon Go fans call for more transparency surrounding Shadow Raids

Pokemon Go players want to see more transparency surrounding Shadow Raid mechanics following the event’s debut.

Pokemon Go’s new Shadow Raids are finally here and players are busy trying to coordinate with other trainers to take on the various Shadow Pokemon available.

Shadow Raids also introduced some new raid mechanics, such as Shadow Shards and Purified Gems, which can be collected beforehand and used during the raid to weaken the target Shadow Pokemon.

However, some Pokemon Go trainers want to see a bit more transparency to how these new Shadow Raid mechanics affect the raid, as the community has started performing their own tests.

Pokemon Go fans want Shadow Raid mechanic info

A post on TheSilphRoad subreddit which asked, “Is there any documented evidence of Purified Gems having any effect on Shadow Raids,” sparked a discussion among the Pokemon Go community.

Is there any documented evidence of Purified Gems having any effect on Shadow Raids?
by u/Galimor in TheSilphRoad

Though the event has only been around for a couple of days at the time of writing, players have eagerly started testing out the best strategies and mechanics to take on these strong Shadow Pokemon. Unfortunately, it seems players are having a hard time.

“Early reports seem to suggest that Purified Gems are having a next-to-negligible effect on the difficulty of T3 Shadow Raids, or are bugged… It would be good to know if Purified Gems will have any effect on Shadow Mewtwo before organizing raids for it,” the OP wrote in the post.

Early impressions from other players were able to shed a bit of light on these mechanics, as some trainers claimed it took eight Purified Gems to subdue an enraged Shadow Raid boss.

Still, other trainers simply called for Niantic to release more explicit information about this new event, considering the community’s effort to organize in-person raids. “It’d be great if Niantic could just be transparent about the mechanic. How much does a single gem reduce defense and attack? How do they stack?”

Especially with the Shadow Mewtwo raid coming up soon, players are worried they won’t have time to be prepared. “We have 2 days to raid Shadow Mewtwo and all we will know is what people have been able to figure out from doing raids themselves at a different tier for a week, assuming they can collect the right data and make sense of it.”

There’s still time for Niantic to reveal a bit more detailed info about the new Raid mechanics and the best ways to use them, but for now, players are scrambling to try and figure it out themselves.