Gain the Upper Hand in Pokémon Go’s Sparring Partners raid day

Put your boxing gloves on because Pokémon Go’s Sparring Partners event is filled to the brim with powerful fighting types. The event focuses on three fighting-type Pokémon for you to encounter during raids with your friends and the addition of a new charged attack.

Pokémon Go’s raid day events are great excuses to get outside and start battling, as they always feature decent shiny odds for some cool Pokémon. Sparring Partners focuses on the fighting Pokémon Hariyama, Scraggy, and Mega Heracross, which is a bug and fighting powerhouse. Hariyama and Scraggy will appear more frequently in regular raid battles, whereas you’ll have to take part in Mega Raids to find Heracross.

As well as the standard raid day bonuses of free raid passes, timed research, and a higher remote raid limit, Sparring Partners introduces the charged gen 9 Pokémon move, Upper Hand, to the move pool. During and following the event, all three featured Pokémon can learn the charged move, potentially making them more competitively viable as the move has a chance to lower the opponent’s defense.

When is the Pokémon Go Sparring Partners event?

Pokémon Go’s Sparring Partners event starts at 2pm local time on April 13, 2025, and ends at 5pm local time on the same day. You can access additional passes, XP, candies, and more during the event by purchasing the event ticket for $4.99.

That’s everything you need to know about the Pokémon Go Sparring Partners event. Check out our list of Pokémon Go codes for some freebies, and make sure to read our fighting Pokémon weakness guide to get the upper hand on your raid targets.