Pokemon Go December 2021 events: Raids, Christmas event and more

We're halfway through December, and Pokemon Go is closing out the year with a variety of events and activities. Over the next few days, players have new legendary raids, Spotlight Hours and more to look forward to, as well as the game's annual Christmas event and the new Season of Heritage. Here are all the biggest events happening in Pokemon Go in December 2021.

December Research Breakthrough: Deino

Along with a new batch of Field Research tasks and rewards, a new Research Breakthrough encounter will be available in Pokemon Go this month. Each time players achieve a Research Breakthrough in December, they'll earn a chance to catch the dark/dragon-type Pokemon Deino.

To achieve a Research Breakthrough, you must first earn seven stamps in the game. You'll receive one stamp for the first Field Research task you complete each day, which means you'll need to complete tasks over at least seven days to achieve a Research Breakthrough. Fortunately, progress is not reset between months; any stamps you earned last month will carry over until you achieve a Research Breakthrough.

Holiday event

Pokemon Go's annual winter holiday celebration returns this Thursday, Dec. 16. In addition to increased ice-type Pokemon spawns, Bergmite and its evolution, Avalugg, are making their Pokemon Go debut starting Dec. 23. There will be other festive content to enjoy as well, including holiday costumed Pokemon and a new Collection Challenge to complete. The winter holiday event runs through Dec. 31.

December raid schedule

The legendary Pokemon Reshiram, Zekrom and Kyurem are returning to raid battles in December. The first two will appear in five-star raids from Dec. 1 to Dec. 16, while Kyurem will appear from Dec. 16 to the end of the month. While all three have previously been available in Pokemon Go, this will mark your first chance to catch Shiny versions.

Pokemon Go's Mega raid rotation is also being refreshed this month. Mega Steelix will make its debut from Dec. 1 to Dec. 23, after which point it will be replaced by Mega Abomasnow. You can see December's full raid schedule below.

Legendary raids

Dec. 1 to Dec. 16

• Reshiram
• Zekrom

Dec. 16 to Dec. 31

• Kyurem

Mega raids

Dec. 1 to Dec. 23

• Mega Steelix

Dec. 23 to Jan. 7

• Mega Abomasnow

December Pokemon Spotlight Hours

Every Tuesday evening, Pokemon Go holds a Spotlight Hour event from 6-7 p.m. local time. During that hour, a certain Pokemon will appear much more frequently in the wild, and you'll be able to take advantage of a special in-game bonus, such as increased XP or candy for catching Pokemon. You can see December's full Spotlight Hour schedule below.

Dec. 7

• Spotlight Pokemon: Electabuzz
• Spotlight bonus: 2x transfer candy

Dec. 14

• Spotlight Pokemon: Magmar
• Spotlight bonus: 2x evolution XP

Dec. 21

• Spotlight Pokemon: Snover
• Spotlight bonus: 2x catch XP

Dec. 28

• Spotlight Pokemon: Cubchoo
• Spotlight bonus: 2x catch candy

December Community Day

Pokemon Go's December Community Day will be a two-day event, taking place Dec. 18 and Dec. 19. Throughout the event, you'll have another chance to get all of the featured Pokemon from 2020 and 2021, along with the special event-exclusive moves they can learn upon evolving. A few in-game bonuses will also be active throughout the event, including increased Incense duration and double XP and Stardust for catching Pokemon.