I've been playing Pokemon Go since its release in 2016, and I've never caught a perfect shiny legendary. They're absurdly rare, because you need to roll the right stats and the alternate pigmentation on the same Pokemon.
I suspect I'll be seeing a lot more shiny legendary Pokemon with max stats (or shundos, as the community calls them) soon, though, since developer Niantic has released the first Gold Bottle Cap into Pokemon Go.
This powerful item lets you have total control over your Pokemon's stats for the first time in the game's history, but there are a couple nasty catches -- the biggest one being that it's locked behind an additional $20 battle pass, and you only have one week to complete it.
Is it worth it for you to buy that pass and grind out the tiers until you have that sweet Gold Bottle Cap? Here's what you need to know about this hot commodity.
The Gold Bottle Cap has shown up in every Pokemon game since Sun and Moon came out on the 3DS. Niantic/Screenshot by CNET
What is Pokemon Go's Gold Bottle Cap?
The Gold Bottle Cap might be a new item in Pokemon Go, but it has made multiple appearances in mainline Pokemon games.
The first Gold Bottle Caps appeared in the Generation 7 games Sun and Moon, where they were used to max out all of a single Pokemon's individual values (IVs). These IVs are hidden stats that are intrinsic to a Pokemon -- you can manipulate them through breeding techniques, but the only way to change them on an already-generated Pokemon is through using the bottle caps.
The Gold Bottle Cap in Pokemon Go serves the same purpose as it does in the mainline games. This item will boost a single Pokemon's Attack, Defense and HP IVs to 15 (the max value in Pokemon Go), assuming you're able to complete the Hyper Training tasks the Gold Bottle Cap unlocks.
The current way to manipulate a Pokemon's IVs in Pokemon Go is to trade it with a friend (and each Pokemon can only be traded once), so the Gold Bottle Cap is the only true guarantee that you'll get a specific perfect Pokemon.
... continue reading