Turtwig is the Pokemon GO September Community Day creature. The grass-type starter of Gen IV games Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl, Turtwig is technically the heaviest of all the starter Pokemon known to currently exist. That makes it the slowest of the lot, too. It’s also the first (and only) starter Pokemon to know a stat-raising move right out of the gate in the main games — something that won’t mean much to Pokemon GO players.
It’s easy to consider Turtwig the underdog of its respective games. After all, can its final evolution, the world turtle Torterra, really compete with the steel-clad penguin Empoleon or the Wukong-inspired Infernape? While Torterra is my personal preference of the trio due to its defensive chops, it certainly wasn’t what most players wanted back in the day. Heck, its middle evolution Grotle sits at the bottom of our starter Pokemon middle evolution rankings…
Luckily, the September Community Day move “Frenzy Plant” might be what Torterra was hoping for.
You May Also Like:
- A Photographic Guide to the 6 Coolest Things at Pokemon Go Fest Yokohama
- Pokemon Go Shadow Pokemon Guide – How To Beat Team Rocket Grunts, Giovanni, Shadow Lugia
- Pokemon Go Rayquaza Raid Guide (August 2019) – Counters, Catch, & Shiny Rates
Pokemon GO Turtwig Community Day Date & Times
Turtwig Community Day is set to take play on Sept. 15, 2019. But be warned: Community Day times have been changed yet again. For the foreseeable future, Pokemon GO Community Day times will revert from 4-7 p.m. local time back to their original 11-2 p.m. local time slot.
While not confirmed just yet, it’s fully expected that any Turtwig evolved into Torterra during, or one hour after Community Day hours will learn Frenzy Plant. This is a move typically reserved for Grass-type starters during Pokemon Go Community Day celebrations. We saw it on Bulbasaur, Chikorita, and Treeko, too. It makes sense that we should see it on Turtwig.
As an added bonus during Community Day hours, a single Lure will last the entire three-hour duration. You will also earn three times the usual stardust on every catch regardless of species. Like with the Pokemon Go stardust bonuses throughout August, following the Yokohama Pokemon GO Fest, it’s a great time to stockpile Stardust for future Pokemon upgrades.
Torterra Stats and Competitive Viability – Pokemon GO Guide
Turtwig, and by extension Torterra, is somewhat held by back its dual Grass and Ground types. This removes the strong resistance to Water of other solely Grass-type Pokemon. With a max CP of 2934, it isn’t going to carry you through any duo or trio 5* raids right now, either.
Without a Ground-type fast move, Torterra can’t benefit from dual Ground STAB movesets like it can on its Grass typing with Razor Leaf and Solar Beam. Frenzy Plant will obviously replace Solar Beam here, but it’s not exactly going to turn Torterra into a must-have Pokemon for raids and PVP. There it’s simply used to resist powerful attackers like Groudon and Tyranitar, or not at all.
All in all, Frenzy Plant Torterra will be much like Frenzy Planet Venasaur, Sceptile, and Meganium: just okay. You’re still going to get along just fine with a Solar Beam Exeggutor if need be, but there’s no real-world situation where any Grass-type Pokemon edge out Water-types against Rock Pokemon, or Electric against Water.
Its stats aren’t inherently bad. It’s just that the Torterra moveset (even with Frenzy Plant) leaves a lot to be desired.
Pokemon GO Turtwig Community Day Strategy
I’m sad to report that Turtwig Community Day is likely just one for collectors or newcomers looking to back an easy Stage 2 Pokemon to add to their team.
Starter Pokemon are just a tad above average by design. Any Pokemon GO Community Day centered around them is far less likely to rile up hardcore raiders. That being said, it does introduce shiny Turtwig to Pokemon Go. That means it will be possible to get that yellow/gold Torterra that seemed oh so common in the mid-00’s, thanks to the arrival of online battling through the GTS.
That being said, it’s another opportunity to farm stardust for powering up more reliable Pokemon, or to teach your strongest creatures a second charge move. If you happen to have any Star Pieces left from the Go Fest bonus week, Turtwig Community Day — paired with a three-hour lure — can make for some big gains!
You need a total of 125 Turtwig candy for each Turtwig you evolve into Torterra. As we did in the Ralts community day post, here’s what we suggest aiming for during Turtwig community day:
- 2x Torterra w/ Razor Leaf / Frenzy Plant
- 1x Torterra w/ Razer Leaf / Earthquake
Torterra can actually learn Stone Edge, but given Rock-type moves are more commonly used against Flying-type Pokemon (which Torterra is naturally weak to), it’s not really a moveset worth considering.
Community Day Shiny Rates
Fan organizations like The Silph Road have reliably deduced that Pokemon GO Community Day shiny rates are around 1/24. That means each encounter with the Community Day-specific Pokemon has a four percent chance of being shiny. That’s considerably higher than the 1/450 chance on a regular day.
Given the fact Torterra is unlikely to make a real difference on most teams, it’s not really worth worrying about catching too many shinies. They’re not going to be in high demand. One or two for your collection should be fine. Though that smooth yellow/gold coloring might be too tempting for some.
