Pokemon GO Altaria: How to Catch

Pokemon GO trainers are figuring out how to catch Altaria thanks to the May Community Day event featuring Swablu.

Niantic Labs released both Altaria and its pre-evolved form, Swablu, with the rest of the Sky-themed Hoenn Pokemon in February 2018—along with both of their shiny variants. So, shiny-hunters eager to find a golden goose among the clouds should be able to net at least one with no issue. Altaria, itself, is known as a popular choice in the Great League due to its surprisingly tough hide and type advantages.

Pokemon GO Altaria: How to Catch

Trainers can only obtain Altaria through evolution—which, in and of itself, is a bit of a pain. Altaria is one such Pokemon that requires a large number of candies to prompt evolution in the first place. Like Gyarados, it requires 400 candies to evolve from Swablu. This means that Community Day is the primary event trainers should participate in if they're interested in an Altaria of their own.

Only Swablu can appear in the wild on the overland map. A single Swablu gives three candies per catch and an additional piece if transferred—so trainers will need to catch at least 100 of them to get enough candy for Altaria.

Swablu is commonly known to hatch from 2 k.m. and 5 k.m. eggs. Depending on the egg, a successful hatch could net trainers anywhere between 5-15 or 10-21 candies, respectively. Obviously, this could significantly shorten the number of captures needed to get to 400.

While Altaria is a flying and dragon-type, Swablu is a flying and normal-type, which slightly impacts how trainers should be going about their search. The highest chance of encountering Swablu occurs during Partly Cloudy and/or Windy weather. Should Niantic ever choose to implement Altaria into the wild, only Windy weather is necessary.

Altaria's PokeDex number is 334. Also known as the "Humming Pokemon," it is best known for its cloud-like appearance and "crystal-clear" voice that "makes its listeners experience dreamy wonderment."