Is Water Festival 2025 Paid Timed Research worth it for Pokemon GO trainers?

With the Pokemon GO Water Festival 2025 event around the corner, players are presented with the old question: is the Paid Timed Research worth the money? The event has a plethora of free and premium content for every player to enjoy, but the decision to pay for the additional material is what needs to be assessed.

From Tuesday, July 15, at 10am to Sunday, July 20, at 8pm local time, this year's event hosts a series of wild spawns, raid choices, and unique rewards.

Let's take a closer look at what's in the Pokemon GO Water Festival 2025 Paid Timed Research and whether this US $4.99 expenditure is worthwhile for you.

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Pokemon GO Water Festival 2025: Debuts and event bonuses (accessible to all players)

All Tatsugiri forms as seen in the anime (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Perhaps one of the major features of the event is the debut of Tatsugiri, the Paldea region's Mimicry Pokemon. Trainers everywhere will be treated to various forms depending on their region:

• Curly Form Tatsugiri: Europe, Middle East, and Africa
• Droopy Form Tatsugiri: Americas
• Stretchy Form Tatsugiri: Asia-Pacific

These forms will also be accessible in One-Star Raids, providing players with an additional opportunity to collect these location-based exclusives.

Water Festival 2025 includes a good complement of event bonuses:

• Rainy Lure Modules will endure two complete hours.
• Additional Candy for Nice Throws or higher.
• Boosted shiny odds for Staryu and Tirtouga, both of which can be caught wild.
• Scarf Lapras in raids can have a special seasonal background — yet another collector's item for fortunate players.

These bonuses boost free-to-play gameplay, particularly for those searching for shiny or grinding out XP and Candy.

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Wild spawns

Scarf Lapras as seen in Water Festival 2022 (Image via The Pokemon Company)

A large number of Water-type Pokemon will spawn more frequently in the wild, including:

• Common spawns such as Squirtle, Krabby, Magikarp, and Barboach
• Less common finds such as Lanturn, Palpitoad, and shiny-eligible Feebas and Tirtouga

Raids:

• One-Star Raids contain regional Tatsugiri and shiny-eligible Shellder.
• Three-Star Raids will have heavyweights such as Gyarados and Scarf Lapras.

This combination of shiny chances and strong Pokemon makes it more worthwhile to participate in raids during the event.

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What do you get with Pokemon GO Water Festival 2025 Paid Timed Research?

Shiny Gyarados as seen in the anime (Image via The Pokemon Company)

For US$4.99, the Pokemon GO Water Festival 2025 Paid Timed Research offers the following:

• One Rainy Lure Module
• Exclusive avatar pose
• Event-themed Pokemon encounters, such as Gyarados and Scarf Lapras

Notably, the rewards and tasks need to be finished by July 20 at 8pm local time, or they will expire.

If you're going to do active raiding or event challenges, these timed tasks can provide some added structure and motivation. The avatar pose is purely cosmetic, but the Pokemon encounters (particularly the possible shiny ones) might appeal to collectors.

Additionally, players can opt to buy the Water Festival Ultra Ticket Box via the GO Web Store. Priced at the same US$4.99, it includes the Timed Research plus one Star Piece, which adds a little extra value if you’re already leaning toward buying.

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Final verdict: Is the Pokemon GO Water Festival 2025 Paid Timed Research worth it?

The Water Festival 2025 Paid Timed Study is a worth-every-penny buy for those players who love finishing timed events, earning unique cosmetics, and pursuing limited-time battles. With shiny Scarf Lapras and Gyarados on the table, the payoff could be good enough for shiny hunters and hardcore players' effort.

But for more social or free-to-play trainers, most of the event's top content (such as increased wild spawns, shiny opportunities, and regional Tatsugiri in raids) is accessible without spending a single cent.

If you play Pokemon GO regularly during events and appreciate exclusive content, the not-so-pricey $4.99 price tag is worth it. But if you don't want to invest in it, you won't miss out on the large features by skipping them.

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Check out our other Pokemon GO guides:

• Ditto disguises
• Buddy Evolution Adventure Together guide
• Best Fast Attacks in the game
• Sierra counters
• Cliff counters
• Arlo counters
• Giovanni counters
• Team GO Rocket Grunts
• Go Evolution Calculator
• Pokemon Type Calculator