How to complete the Shadowy Threat Grows research event in Pokémon Go

Giovanni has done it again, capturing a legendary Pokémon and closing the door to its heart in Pokémon Go. This time, he’s taken Entei, the Fire-type beast Pokémon. You need to obtain The Shadowy Threat Grows research task from Professor Willow to fight Giovanni and have a chance of capturing the shadow version of Entei.

However, you must have completed the previous task, A Professor’s Work is Never Done and A Troubling Situation, to gain access to it. Each of these events has you battle Giovanni who has different Shadow Pokémon at the end of every encounter.

Step 1

• Catch one shadow Pokémon – 500 XP
• Defeat three Team GO Rocket Grunts – 500 XP
• Spin 10 PokéStops – Golem Encounter
• Total reward: 500 stardust, 10 Pokéballs, and 10 Razz Berries

Step 2

• Purify five Shadow Pokémon – 750 XP
• Spin a PokéStop three days in a row – 750 XP
• Win five raids – 750 XP
• Total reward: 1,000 stardust, three hyper potions, and three revives

Step 3

• Defeat 6 Team GO Rocket Grunts – 1,000 XP
• Use six supereffective Charge Attacks in Gym Battles – 1,000 XP
• Win three Great League trainer battles against another trainer – 1,000XP
• Total reward: 1,500 stardust, 15 great balls, five Pinap berries

Step 4

• Defeat Team GO Rocket Leader Arlo – 1,250 XP
• Defeat Team GO Rocket Leader Cliff – 1,250 XP
• Defeat Team GO Rocket Leader Sierra – 1,250 XP

Step 5

• Battle the Team GO Rocket Boss – 1,500 XP
• Defeat the Team GO Rocket Boss – three silver Pinap berries
• Find the Team Go Rocket Boss – 2,500 stardust
• Total reward: 3,000 stardust, one fast TM, one charged TM

Step 6

• Claim all rewards: 6,000 XP
• Total rewards: Three max revives, 20 ultra balls, and three rare candies

A Shadowy Threat has you fighting several Team GO Rocket grunts to obtain a Rocket Radar and purifying their Pokémon. You use this radar to locate the three different Team GO rocket leaders Cliff, Sierra, and Arlo, and you battle them to create a brand Super Rocket Radar. This special radar leads you to Giovanni. He will have three different Pokémon you need to battle, and we know one of them is Entei.

The announcement about the upcoming research event came from Niantic, which shared those details in its March update blog post.