How to get Sinistea and evolution Polteageist in Pokémon Go, including Phony and Antique Sinistea Forms

How to get Sinistea in Pokémon Go

Sinistea debuted during the Just My Cup of Tea event in Pokémon Go.

Here's how to catch Sinistea during Just My Cup of Tea:

• One-star raids
• Just My Cup of Tea Timed Research: Prized Possession - Overall reward for completing quest step 1 and 2 (Two Sinistea encounters in total)

When it comes to catching Sinistea in Pokémon Go, defeating it in a one-star raid is easily the quickest. Being a one-star raid boss, nearly every Pokémon Go player should be able to easily solo Sinistea into the dust. After this, all you need to do is catch it and, again being a one-star raid boss, this should be an easy feat to achieve unless you're really unlucky. The ease of doing this does, of course, depend on whether there are any Sinistea raids occurring near you, but anyone living near a good number of Gyms shouldn't have any problems finding one.

Though, when it comes down to the bone, catching a Sinistea via a raid is truly your only option for quickly obtaining one, because, even if you do want to obtain it via the Just My Cup of Tea Timed Research: Prized Possession quest, you have to successfully complete a raid anyways. Or, to be more accurate, eight raids in total to earn both of the Sinistea encounters it offers, because the only challenge this quest presents you with is winning raids. For this reason, we recommend only completing this quest if you truly want those extra Sinistea encounters as it's perfect for anyone who wants both the Phony and Antique Sinistea forms.

We highly recommend taking the time to catch at least one Sinistea during the Just My Cup of Tea event to ensure it's in your Pokédex and can be eventually evolved into a Polteageist. At the time of writing, we can't say whether Sinistea will remain in one-star raids after the event ends and, considering this method was chosen for its release, it's hard to say when (or whether) it will appear in the wild. Even if it does enter the wild spawn pool, the fact that it's a Ghost-type will make it quite hard to find and it will most likely be a rare spawn anyways. Long story short - take the time to grab a Sinistea when it's easy to do so.

Phony and Antique Sinistea forms in Pokémon Go explained

Before we take a look at how to evolve Sinistea, we first need to take a look at how the Phony and Antique Sinistea forms work in Pokémon Go. This is because - thanks to SilverBeldum1 on reddit and Haemon333 on X (formerly Twitter) - we know both Phony and Antique Sinistea form are in Pokémon Go. The Sinistea form you get appears to be selected randomly, but we wouldn't be surprised if there's some odds being rolled somewhere.

The difference between these forms is whether a small mark is present on the bottom of Sinistea's cup or on Polteageist's teapot. If a Sinistea lacks this mark, then it's a Phony form. Yet, if it does have the mark, then it's an Antique Sinistea and these are, of course, harder to catch compared to the Phony version. Sinistcha and Polchageist - the Gen 9 versions of these Pokémon - also have similar forms and marks, but the form names are Artisan and Counterfeit.

In the mainline games, this mark is found by moving your Sinistea or Polteageist around until you can spot the blue mark. Yet, we obviously can't do that in Pokémon Go. Thankfully, when appraising a Sinistea, your chosen Team Leader will tell you which Sinistea form you've caught.

Team Leader will tell you your Sinistea’s form when appraising from r/TheSilphRoad

Thank you to SilverBeldum1 on reddit for confirming Phony Sinistea in Pokémon Go.

Thankfully, there's no stat differences between these two forms in Pokémon Go. There is a difference when it comes to evolving the two Sinistea forms in Pokémon Go, however, as your Sinistea form decides whether you have a Phony or Antique Polteageist. This decision reflects how, in the mainline games, Phony Sinistea is evolved using the Cracked Pot, while Antique Sinistea requires the Chipped Pot. Thankfully, you don't need these items in Pokémon Go but you do need a lot of something else…

Thank you to Haemon333 on X for confirming Antique Sinistea in Pokémon Go.

How to evolve Sinistea into Polteageist in Pokémon Go

You need 50 Sinistea Candy to evolve a Phony Sinistea into Phony Polteageist in Pokémon Go. Yet, you need 400 Sinistea Candy to evolve an Antique Sinistea into an Antique Polteageist.

If you want to increase the amount of Sinistea Candy you have, make sure you use Pinap Berries whenever you attempt to catch one of these little tea cups. You can also passively earn candy by having a Sinistea as your buddy. Using Rare Candy for extra Sinistea Candy is another option, but you're probably better off saving that for a rarer Pokémon.

Evolving Sinistea into Polteageist is a lot easier compared to the mainline Pokémon games where you need a specific evolution item and which one you need depends on which Sinistea form you have. Yet, just remember, you need an awful lot more Sinistea Candy if you want to evolve an Antique form.

Sinistea counters and weaknesses in Pokémon Go

Sinistea may be a one-star raid boss, which means you should be able to easily solo it, but it's still a good idea to know the Sinistea counters and weaknesses in Pokémon Go:

• Sinistea type - Ghost
• Sinistea is weak against - Dark and Ghost-types
• Sinistea Mega counters - Mega Gengar, Mega Gyarados, Mega Houndoom, Mega Tyranitar, Mega Sableye, Mega Absol and Mega Banette.
• Sinistea non-Mega counters - For Dark-type, Houndoom, Tyranitar, Weavile, Honchkrow, Darkrai, Hydreigon, Yveltal, Incineroar and Guzzlord. For Ghost-types, Gengar, Hisuian Typhlosion, Origin / Altered Forme Giratina, Chandelure, Lunala, Dawn Wings / Dusk Mane Necrozma, Dragapult and Annihilape.
• Tactics - Like we mentioned above, most Pokémon Go players should be able to solo Sinistea easily - just make sure you're using your strongest Pokémon! We recommend focusing on Dark-types, because any Ghost-type you use will also be weak to Sinistea's attacks. A strong team of Dark-types will easily give you the advantage.

Sinistea CP in Pokémon Go

Here are the CP ranges you can expect to see when battling and attempting to catch a Sinistea in Pokémon Go:

• Raid Boss CP - 3845 CP
• CP when being caught - 603 to 650 CP
• Weather Boosted CP (Fog) when being caught - 754 to 813 CP

The Dual Destiny Season is here! It begins with the Just My Cup of Tea event, which also sees the arrival of Sinistea and the Dual Destiny quest in Pokémon Go! 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.

Sinistea moveset in Pokémon Go

Our recommendation for Sinistea's best moveset is Sucker Punch for a Fast Move and Shadow Ball for a Charged Attack. This moveset will allow you to attack with both a Dark and Ghost-type move with Sinistea.

If you fancy changing up this moveset slightly, or want to unlock Sinistea's second Charged Move, then we recommend focusing on adding Psychic. As the name suggests, this is a Psychic-type move and its inclusion will, again, increase the amount of Pokémon Sinistea will have an advantage over.

Here's Sinistea's full moveset in Pokémon Go:

Fast Moves

• Astonish (Ghost)
• Sucker Punch (Dark)

Charged Moves

• Dark Pulse (Dark)
• Psychic (Psychic)
• Shadow Ball (Ghost)

Good luck catching Sinistea in Pokémon Go!