Pokémon Go players can buy a “Fuzzy Fighter” paid Special Research ticket for $8 as part of the “Powerful Potential” event. The ticket will only be available for purchase from March 5-10, making many wonder: Is this “Fuzzy Fighter” Special Research worth buying?
The answer is complicated, since there’s a lot we don’t know about Kubfu and the future of Dynamax/Gigantamax. You can get one Kubfu for free from the “Might and Mastery” research, though if you want a second one, you’ll need to buy this research.
Below, we explain our thoughts behind the value of the “Fuzzy Fighter” Special Research and we list out all the steps for the research.
Is the ‘Fuzzy Fighter’ Special Research ticket worth it?
The short answer is: If you really want a second Kubfu, then yes, it could be worth it, but there are a lot of unknown variables in regards to Kubfu’s future with Gigantamax.
Let’s break it down, using prices from the Pokémon Go webstore (as usual) to be as thrifty as possible.
The pass costs $8 and there’s no $8 coin bundle. Math-ing it out, $8 is roughly 1,100 coins, based on the $10 coin bundle. This pass gives the following rewards:
- 10 Pinap Berries
- 4 Golden Razz Berries
- 4 Silver Pinap Berries
- 20 Poké Balls
- 20 Great Balls
- 20 Ultra Balls
- 1 Incense
- 1 Star Piece
- 5 Hyper Potions
- 5 Revives
- 2 Premium Battle Passes
- 5 Rare Candies
Buying the pass from the webstore also gives you an additional three Rare Candies and three Max Revives. You can only buy a few things from the above list from the in-game shop, and those items total up to 440 PokéCoins. That said, of course, you can’t buy things like Ultra Balls, Rare Candy, and the special berries, so while they don’t have an exact PokéCoin value, so you’ll need to use your own discretion to value those items based on your own needs.
As part of the pass, you’ll also get encounters with Stufful, Teddiursa, Tyrogue, Cubchoo, Pancham, and of course, a second Dynamax Kubfu.
If you just want a second Kubfu for your collection, that’s a good enough reason to grab this pass. However, if you’re big into Max Battles, then it’s a little more complicated than that — and in fact might not be worth it after all.
The thing about this Kubfu that has me narrowing my eyes is that I don’t really know what the future holds for it yet. The Isle of Armor DLC for Pokémon Sword and Shield revolves its story around Kubfu. You get one, you train it into an Urshifu — and then you give it a special soup that allows it to Gigantamax.
If you like Max Battles a lot, you will prefer a Gigantamax Urshifu, not one that Dynamaxes. Dynamax Urshifu will very likely be heavily outclassed in stats by Gigantamax Machamp (which should be showing up soon, since it was shown in the season trailer) and you may not want to sink all that hard-to-get candy and Stardust into a critter that will be outclassed by another version of itself down the line.
If this second Dynamax Kubfu can be turned into a Gigantamax Urshifu down the line and it remains the only way to get a second Urshifu, then yes, the pass is very much worth it, but we don’t know if that’ll ever be a thing.
That said, we don’t know how Niantic is rolling out Gigantamax Urshifu. Will our Dynamax Kubfu drink the magic soup, just like in the mainline game? Will Gigantamax Urshifu be locked behind a raid day event? It’s really hard to predict. For all we know, we may not see Gigantamax Urshifu for a long time, as it’s not even in the game’s files yet.
‘Fuzzy Fighter’ Special Research steps and rewards
Below, we list the full steps and rewards for the “Fuzzy Fighter” Special Research.
‘Fuzzy Fighter’ step 1 of 5
- Catch 30 Pokémon (2 Golden Razz Berries)
- Collect 500 Max Particles (Stufful encounter)
- Spin 10 PokéStops or gyms (20 Poké Balls)
Rewards: 1 Incense, 10 Pinap Berries, 1,000 Stardust
‘Fuzzy Fighter’ step 2 of 5
- Explore 5 km (20 Great Balls)
- Spin 20 PokéStops or gyms (Teddiursa encounter)
- Power up fighting-type Pokémon 10 times (2 Silver Pinap Berries)
Rewards: 1 Premium Battle Pass, 5 Revives, 1,000 XP
‘Fuzzy Fighter’ step 3 of 5
- Use 10 berries to help catch Pokémon (20 Ultra Balls)
- Win 3 raids (Tyrogue encounter)
- Power up water-type Pokémon 10 times (10 Kubfu Candy)
Rewards: 1 Star Piece, 5 Hyper Potions, 1,000 Stardust
‘Fuzzy Fighter’ step 4 of 5
- Catch 15 different species of Pokémon (2 Golden Razz Berries)
- Defeat 5 Team Go Rocket members (Cubchoo encounter)
- Power up dark-type Pokémon 10 times (10 Kubfu Candy)
Rewards: 1 Premium Battle Pass, 5 Rare Candies, 1,000 XP
‘Fuzzy Fighter’ step 5 of 5
- Earn 5 candies exploring with your buddy (2 Silver Pinap Berries)
- Make 2 excellent throws (Pancham encounter)
- Level up a Max Move (10 Kubfu Candy)
Rewards: Dynamax Kubfu encounter, 3 Kubfu Candy XL, 1,000 Stardust
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