The Season of Light is the eighth game-wide season in Pokémon Go and it’s themed around the legendary Pokémon, Cosmog.
You’ll learn more about Cosmog by completing A Cosmic Companion – the Season of Light special research quest, which will be released throughout the Pokémon Go season. It will also see the return of legendary Pokémon, like Yveltal and Deoxys, in five-star raids.
The Season of Light, like every past season, sees changes to the egg charts, seasonal spawns and which Pokémon are appearing in the northern and southern hemisphere.
On this page:
Pokémon Go Season of Light end date: When will the Season of Light end?
The Season of Light has a start time of Thursday, 1st September at 10am (local time) and an end date of Thursday, 1st December at 10am (local time).
Season 12 of the Go Battle League will be running throughout this time period and, as usual, it will contain the three leagues and a selection of special cups.
What do we know about the Season of Light in Pokémon Go?
A number of features have bonuses running throughout the Season of Light in Pokémon Go, beginning with Research Breakthrough rewarding you with more items and an increased amount of Stardust.
Raid fans, meanwhile, can collect two free Raid Passes per day by spinning PhotoDiscs at Gyms and enjoy an increased amount of damage when using a Remote Raid Pass. You’re also guaranteed to receive a Gift from spinning a PokéStop and you’ll earn extra stardust from opening Gifts as well.
Finally, Incense will be more effective while moving.
In a similar manner to the Misunderstood Mischief quest which was released during last year’s Season of Mischief, there is a special research quest – called A Cosmic Companion – running throughout the Season of Light.
A Cosmic Companion revolves around investigating the legendary Pokémon Cosmog, which can evolve into Cosmoen and either Solgaleo or Lunala, alongside Professor Willow.
At the time of writing, three release dates have been announced for this special research quest:
- Thursday, 1st September
- Wednesday, 5th October
- Wednesday, 23rd November
The Season of Light will, of course, contain a number of in-game events for Pokémon Go trainers to enjoy and, at the time of writing, seven have been announced:
- Inkay Limited Research – Saturday, 3rd September between 11am to 2pm (local time)
- Psychic Spectacular – Tuesday, 6th September to Monday, 12th September
- Clefairy Commotion – Saturday, 10th September between 6pm to 9pm (local time)
- Deoxys Raid Day – Sunday, 11th September between 11am to 5pm (local time)
- Test Your Mettle – Friday, 16th September to Wednesday, 21 September
- September Community Day – Sunday, 18th September between 2pm to 5pm (local time)
- Fashion Week – Tuesday, 27th September to Monday, 3rd October
At the time of writing, the Pokémon for the September Community Day is yet to be announced.
Season 12 of the Go Battle League will also be running throughout the Season of Light.
Legendary Pokémon will, of course, be returning to five-star raids, with the following being the ones we know about at the time of writing:
- Deoxys – Normal, Attack, Defense and Speed Formes – Thursday, 1st September to Tuesday, 13th September
- Yveltal – Tuesday, 27th September to Saturday, 8th October
Considering the mysterious gap between Deoxys and Yveltal, there’s a possibility we’ll see some new legendary Pokémon make an appearance in five-star raids.
Finally, the Pokémon Go Twitter has been using pictures of a starry night sky to hint at upcoming Season of Light events. Some of these pictures have been rather difficult to decode, but we’ve done our best below!
The first appears to be Cosmog – hinting at the season-long special research quest.
The second is most likely Inkay, due to the upside down face and the date lining up with the Inkay Limited Research event.
Now the third is where things get tricky, but my best bet is Mega Alakazam. Why else would there be spoons?
Using the date as our main hint again, this Pokémon is probably Clefairy since the date matches the one for the Clefairy Commotion event.
With the DNA emoji and the date, I think this Pokémon is meant to be one of the Deoxys forms.
Number six is another tough one, but, considering the little candle, this Pokémon could be Litwick, which is, well, a candle. (Pokémon, am I right?)
I’ll admit it – I have no idea what this Pokémon could be. Maybe it’s Lunala, but I honestly have no idea.
The eighth picture is another tough one, but, to me at least, it does resemble Umbreon.
Below sits the ninth and final picture and, again, I’m at a loss. The only Pokémon which jumps to mind is Guzzlord, due to the star’s shape and the recent introduction of the Ultra Beasts in Pokémon Go. I am prepared, however, to be completely and utterly wrong.
The Season of Go has arrived!
The latest event is the Pokémon World Championship quest, which also has a Twitch code giveaway for a Team Building quest.
Elsewhere, be sure to use Daily Adventure Incense for the chance of encountering Galarian Articuno, Galarian Zapdos and Galarian Moltres. There’s also a new special research quest – A Mysterious Incense.
While Go Fest 2022 may be behind us, there are still three special research quests you might be working on – Pokémon Go Fest 2022, Rhi’s Arrival and A Radiant World.
This season has also seen the lowering of the requirement for Candy XL and introduced the first Ultra Beasts, along with new Prime Gaming rewards every fortnight.
Season of Light Hemisphere Pokémon, seasonal and biome spawn changes
The Season of Light, like every Pokémon Go season, changes which Pokémon are spawning specifically in the northern and southern hemispheres, including the creatures who appear in different biomes:
| Area | Pokémon |
|---|---|
| Northern Hemisphere | Scyther Dratini Chikorita Cyndaquil Totodile Teddiursa Shroomish |
| Southern Hemipshere | Paras Chansey Skitty Bagon Snivy Tepig Oshawott |
| Cities | Jigglypuff Machop Magnemite Muk Voltorb Umbreon Litwick |
| Forests | Mareep Sunkern Yanma Espeon Pineco Burmy (Plant Cloak) Hisuian Voltorb |
| Mountains | Sandslash Clefairy Diglett Snorlax Sneasel Stantler Deino |
| Beaches and Water | Seel Staryu Mantine Pelipper Carvanha Wailmer Feebas |
We will also see a number of changes in the egg charts, but, it should be noted, that the lists below do not show the complete list of Pokémon appearing in each egg pool during the Season of Light:
| Egg | Pokémon |
|---|---|
| 2km | Pichu Cleffa Munna Fomantis Wimpod |
| 5km | Tyrogue Elekid Magby Miltank |
| 5km Adventure Sync | Cranidos Shieldon Happiny Munchlax Karrablast Shelmet |
| 10km | Tirtouga Archen Noibat Rockruff Jangmo-o |
| 10km Adventure Sync | Dratini Bagon Beldum Gible Riolu Goomy |
What are seasons in Pokémon Go?
First introduced in December 2020, seasons are in-game periods – three months in length – which tie together various events to a theme and add a number of new features and quality of life changes.
This includes:
- Changes to how Pokémon spawn season-to-season, which may see some creatures appearing more regularly or become rarer in the wild for limited periods of time.
- Changes to egg pools and raids.
- Northern and southern hemisphere-specific spawning, coinciding with the real world seasons themselves.
- Highlight specific Mega Evolutions, giving them a power boost throughout the season.
- Changes to Deerling forms.
- A new Go Battle League season, which will be the same length as those seasons.
- XP boosts for completing specific activities, such as five-star raids for example.
- Introduce other general quality of life improvements.
- A range of in-game events.
- New Pokémon.
If you’d like to learn about the past Pokémon Go seasons, visit our pages on the Season of Celebration, Season of Legends, Season of Discovery, Season of Mischief, Season of Heritage, Season of Alola and Season of Go.
Hope you enjoy the Season of Light!
