Pokémon Go Celebi quest - every step in A Ripple in Time

How Celebi event 'A Ripple in Time' works in Pokémon Go

Catching Celebi works much like Mew did back in the first half of 2018, becoming available as part of a Special Research quest line named 'A Ripple in Time'.

To get started, you need to have completed the third group of tasks for Mew's'A Mythical Discovery'. Like Mew, there's no time limit to completing the quest line - so take your time!

Celebi is also has also recieved it's shiny form in Pokémon Go. This form first came available during the December 2020 Secrets of the Jungle event and, if you played Pokémon Go during this event, you'd unlocked the Distracted by Something Shiny special research quest. Completing this questline would result in you catching shiny Celebi!

The quest is broken down into eight stages, with multiple challenges to complete per stage. By completing every step of the Special Research quest, the Mythical creature will be given to players as a reward.

Though these are similar to Field Research quests, the specific steps are fixed for every player - so if you don't mind spoilers, you can plan ahead and learn what you need to do to complete them all catch Celebi - which is useful as you'll need to undertake Raid and Gym battles along the way.

If you already caught Celebi by taking part in Chicago's Go Fest, then completing the many tasks will earn you Candy to help power Celebi up.

How to complete Celebi's 'A Ripple in Time' event steps

Here are Celebi's quest steps and their rewards in A Ripple in Time. Be wary of spoilers before continuing, if you are worried about learning what each objective entails before unlocking them.

'A Ripple in Time' Step 1 of 8

• Power up a Pokémon 5 times
• Battle in a Gym 2 times
• Battle in a raid

Rewards: 10 Pokéballs, Fast TM, Special Incubator

'A Ripple in Time' Step 2 of 8

• Make 3 new Friends
• Catch a Pokémon 3 days in a row
• Evolve an evolved grass-type Pokémon

Rewards: Sun Stone evolution item, 1,500 Stardust, Premium Raid Pass

'A Ripple in Time' Step 3 of 8

• Each level 25
• Use a Sun Stone to evolve Gloom or Sunkern
• Hatch 9 eggs

Rewards: Eevee encounter, King's Rock evolution item, Premium Raid Pass

'A Ripple in Time' Step 4 of 8

• Walk 10km with Eevee as your buddy to earn Candy
• Evolve Eevee into Espeon during the day
• Send 20 Gifts to Friends

Rewards: Eevee encounter, 2,500 Stardust, Metal Coat evolution item>

'A Ripple in Time' Step 5 of 8

• Walk 10km with Eevee as your buddy to earn Candy
• Evolve Eevee into Umbreon at night
• Trade a Pokémon

Rewards: Star Piece, 15 Pinap Berries, Up-Grade evolution item

'A Ripple in Time' Step 6 of 8

• Visit PokéStops 7 days in a row
• Use 25 Pinap Berries while catching Pokémon
• Use special evolution items to evolve Pokémon 2 times

Rewards: 3,500 Stardust, Dragon Scale evolution item, 5 Silver Pinap Berries

'A Ripple in Time' Step 7 of 8

• Catch 40 Grass- or Psychic-type Pokémon
• Make an Excellent Curveball Throw
• Earn a Gold Johto Medal

Rewards: 1x Charge TM, 10x Silver Pinap Berries, Celebi encounter.

'A Ripple in Time' Step 8 of 8

• Catch Celebi!

Rewards: 5,500 Stardust, 1x Super Incubator, 20x Celebi Candy.

Thanks to MatterGuy98 and Valarrian on reddit for help with the quest steps.

How Celebi first debuted in Pokémon Go

Before August, only those attending this year's Pokémon Go Fest in Chicago were available to catch Celebi.

Ahead of the July event, datamining (via The Silph Road subreddit) had revealed a Special Research quest for attendees, which confirmed how the following went down:

• A total of five steps to complete
• Challenges to hatch an Egg, earn Buddy Candy and visit PokéStops
• Catching Unown, Plusle and Minun
• Story text hinting at Celebi's time travelling abilities

Once attendees registered for the event (players have to spin a PokéStop and scan a barcade to register their account as attending) they could get started.

Another hint Celebi was going to be at Go Fest is through a sponsored tweet from Mystic7, showing a silhouette of the Pokemon in an event invite:

The datamines turned out to be true, with Celebi able to be caught after a day's play:

The Max Out Season is here and includes a new global event, Wild Area. The Harvest Festival event has returned! You can now catch Dynamax Pokémon through Max Battles. First, however, you need to visit Power Spots to collect Max Particles and complete the To the Max! quest. Don't forget to try out Routes, Gift Exchange and Party Play while you're hunting down rare Pokémon, fighting in the Go Battle League or competing in PokéStop Showcases.

Celebi stats and what else you need to know about Celebi in Pokémon Go

Celebi is Pokémon Go's second Mythical Pokémon, and the last Pokédex entry in Gen 2. While Legendary Pokémon are powerful beasts that are caught in game through specific steps, Mythical Pokémon can only be added to the game by acquiring it from real-world giveaways, and later in the series, online events.

Celebi is both Psychic and Grass Type, leaving it open to attack from Fire, Bug, Dark and Ghost attacks. Between that and fairly underwhelming stats, Celebi continues the trend that Mythical creatures aren't great competitive Pokémon in Pokémon Go.

However, its rarity alone makes it well worth the time and effort in completing the Special Research questline. After all, there is no way to trade it.

There are more to come, too. Like Legendary Pokémon, each generation adds one or two of these creatures - such as Gen 3's Jirachi and Deoxys - and it's assumed these creatures will be added to the game as part of their own Special Research quests at some point in the future.