Sinistea makes its debut in Pokémon Go as part of Dec. 2024’s “Just My Cup of Tea” event, the first in season “Dual Destiny.”
The Gen 8 ghost-type has a single evolution, Polteageist, which can also be added to your Pokédex with enough candy.
Sinistea does not spawn in the wild on its debut, making it challenging to gather enough candy to evolve one. However, the more you catch, the more chances you have to find its rare and well-hidden “antique” form.
Here’s how to get Sinistea during the “Just My Cup of Tea” event in Pokémon Go, and how to check between its phony and antique forms.
How to get Sinistea in Pokémon Go
With its debut in Dec. 2024’s “Just My Cup of Tea” event, you can catch Sinistea from one-star raids. This is the lowest raid difficulty, making it straightforward to solo even without specific counters — so simply bring your strongest Pokémon and let ’em rip.
To clarify, Sinistea does not appear anywhere else in the game right now, be it Timed Research, eggs, or in the wild. Whether Sinistea will remain in raids, or move to other sources after the “Just My Cup of Tea” event concludes on Saturday, Dec. 7, is unknown. Until then, raids should be your focus if you want to catch one.
How to get evolution Polteageist in Pokémon Go
To get Polteageist in Pokémon Go, you must evolve Sinistea with 50 candy.
If you are in the need of extra candy to either evolve or level your Sinistea, consider trading a spare with a friend, as you’ll receive candy for the outgoing Pokémon when you do. Otherwise, using Rare Candy can help top you up with the candy you need to evolve.
How to get Sinistea’s ‘Antique’ form in Pokémon Go
In Pokémon Sword and Shield — the games where Sinistea made its debut — there are two forms you can find: “Phony” and “Antique”. The latter is the rarest of the two, estimated to be encountered only one in 100 times, and is almost indistinguishable from the other apart from a mark on the underside of the Pokémon.
Both these “Phony” and “Antique” forms also appear in Pokémon Go. To check whether you have a “Phony” or “Antique” Sinistea form, appraise the Pokémon in the same way you would check its stats. As well as learning its Attack, Defense and HP values, you’ll also be given an assessment of its form. After all, you cannot check the underside of a Sinistea as you would in the main games!
The form also carries over to its evolution Polteageist — so if you want a living ‘dex, then be prepared to get two.
The chance of getting the “Antique” form in Pokémon Go is unknown, but it’s likely to be around the same one in 100 chance as the main games (similar to how rare Tandemaus’s “Family of Three” form appears to have the same chance in both Pokémon Go and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet).
Can Sinistea be shiny in in Pokémon Go?
On its debut, Sinistea cannot be shiny in Pokémon Go. The amount of time for a Pokémon to have a shiny variant is never disclosed by developer Niantic, but it often takes years to happen — so know it could be a while.
In the meantime, you can see what shiny Sinistea looks like thanks to Pokémon Sword and Shield, where it takes on a more rosy appearance.
When factoring in a shiny “Antique” form, this Pokémon then becomes one of the most sought-after shinies in the series — something that took one streamer 10,000 catches over the course of a year to get.
We look forward to a similar grind when the shiny version eventually comes to Pokémon Go — but let’s settle for a regular “Antique” form for now, shall we? See you in the raid lobby!
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