Pawniard Community Day is on Saturday, November 21, 2026, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. local time. Pawniard appears more often in the wild, and it can be Shiny or have a Special Background.
The big draw is Kingambit. Evolve Bisharp by 9:00 p.m. and the Kingambit knows Kowtow Cleave. For one evening, Kingambit also only needs one Dark- or Steel-type raid win instead of the usual fifteen, and that applies to every Bisharp you own.
All times below are local. New to the event format? Start with the Community Day guide.
Pawniard Community Day: Confirmed Details
Everything in this section comes from the official November 2026 Community Day announcement.
Times at a glance
| Time | What’s active |
|---|---|
| 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. | Main event: Pawniard spawns, 2× Candy, Candy XL bonus, Egg bonus, 3-hour Incense |
| 2:00 to 9:00 p.m. | Lure bonus, extra Special Trade, 50% less trade Stardust, 1-raid Kingambit requirement |
| Until 9:00 p.m. | Evolve Bisharp to get Kingambit with Kowtow Cleave |
Featured attack: Kowtow Cleave
Evolve Bisharp during the event or up to four hours afterwards to get a Kingambit that knows the Charged Attack Kowtow Cleave.
- Trainer Battles: 75 power
- Gyms and raids: 85 power
Limited-time Kingambit evolution requirement
- From 2:00 to 9:00 p.m., Bisharp can evolve into Kingambit after you defeat 1 Dark- or Steel-type Raid Boss.
- This applies to all of your Bisharp, whether or not they are your buddy.
- At 9:00 p.m. the requirement goes back to normal. Normally, you need to defeat 15 Dark-type or Steel-type Pokémon in Raid Battles with Bisharp as your buddy (official Kingambit debut post).
Event bonuses (2:00 to 5:00 p.m.)
- 2× Candy for catching Pokémon.
- 2× chance to get Candy XL from catching Pokémon, for Trainers level 31 and up. See the XL Candy guide for what it’s used for.
- 1/4 Egg hatch distance for Eggs placed in an Incubator during the event.
- Incense lasts three hours. Daily Adventure Incense doesn’t count.
- Taking snapshots during Community Day leads to a surprise.
Bonuses that run to 9:00 p.m.
- Lure Modules last one hour and may attract Pawniard.
- Regular Lure Modules give Pawniard a very high chance of appearing. These Pawniard still have an increased Shiny chance and may have a Special Background.
- One extra Special Trade, for a maximum of two for the day.
- Trades cost 50% less Stardust.
Special Research (US$1.99)
The Pawniard Community Day Special Research costs US$1.99 or the equivalent tier in your local currency. Rewards include:
- 3 encounters with Pawniard that have a Special Background
- Additional Pawniard encounters
- 1 Premium Battle Pass
- 1 Rare Candy XL
- More items not listed by name
It has no medal and no story. You can gift a ticket to a friend at Great Friends or higher by tapping the ticket in the in-game shop and choosing Gift. Gifting won’t work if that friend already bought or received one.
The Web Store will also sell a Pawniard Community Day Ultra Ticket Box for US$1.99, with an event ticket and five Ultra Balls. It appears to be the same Special Research ticket with the Ultra Balls added.
Other ways to get Special Background Pawniard
- Field Research: Community Day tasks reward Stardust, Ultra Balls, and Pawniard encounters, and some lead to Pawniard with a Special Background.
- Community Ambassador meetups: checking in gives Timed Research with Special Background Pawniard encounters and premium items.
- Community Day featured Pokémon have had a yearly Special Background since January 2026.
What isn’t stated
- Kowtow Cleave’s energy cost.
- Whether a Dark- or Steel-type raid you finish before 2:00 p.m. counts toward the 1-raid requirement.
- Which raid bosses appear in one-star and three-star raids on November 21.
- Whether the Dynamax Trails event (November 16 to 23) adds anything on Community Day.
- What the snapshot surprise is.
- Shiny odds for Pawniard during the event.
How to Unlock the Kingambit Evolution on Community Day
You need one Dark- or Steel-type raid win between 2:00 and 9:00 p.m. The official November schedule has Darkrai in five-star raids from November 16 to 24, so Darkrai is the one confirmed option on the day. Cresselia shares that rotation but is Psychic, so a Cresselia raid won’t count. Mega Banette (Ghost) and Shadow Tornadus (Flying) won’t count either.
Lower-tier bosses for November 21 haven’t been announced. If a one-star or three-star Dark- or Steel-type boss shows up, that’s the easier route.
See the November 2026 guide for the full raid lineup that week.
Practical Application: Plan Your Pawniard Community Day
Example: you have 120 Pawniard Candy and no Bisharp. Catch Pawniard from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. with 2× Candy, then evolve one Pawniard into Bisharp (50 Candy) and that Bisharp into Kingambit (100 Candy). That’s 150 Candy total. Raid a Darkrai any time between 2:00 and 9:00 p.m., and your Kingambit comes out knowing Kowtow Cleave. If you finish the raid at 9:05 p.m., you’re too late: the requirement is back to fifteen raids and the move window has closed.
A few rules follow from this:
- Do the raid after 2:00 p.m. The announcement doesn’t say whether an earlier raid counts. Raid between 2:00 and 9:00 p.m. to be safe.
- One raid covers every Bisharp. The requirement applies to all of them, not just your buddy, so you don’t need a raid per evolution.
- Evolve your best Bisharp first. Check IVs before 2:00 p.m. and decide which ones are getting Kowtow Cleave, so you aren’t sorting at 8:55 p.m.
- Save Candy before the day. Every Pawniard to Kingambit evolution is 150 Candy. Use Pawniard as your buddy in the weeks before to build a stockpile.
- Use regular Lure Modules after 5:00 p.m. Pawniard keeps a very high chance of appearing at regular Lures until 9:00 p.m., with the boosted Shiny chance. Special Lures aren’t mentioned in the announcement.
- Put Eggs in during the event. The 1/4 hatch distance only applies to Eggs placed in an Incubator from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.
- Plan trades for the evening. The extra Special Trade and 50% Stardust discount last until 9:00 p.m.
- Check the weather. Pawniard is Dark/Steel, so it’s weather boosted in Fog or Snow. Boosted catches give more Stardust and can appear at higher levels. See the weather boost guide for the full mapping.
Tracking Your Pawniard Community Day Catches
A Community Day can leave you with dozens of Pawniard, a few with a Special Background, a Shiny or two, and several Kingambit. A week later it’s hard to tell which Kingambit was evolved in the window and has Kowtow Cleave.
A tracker like GoDex can help. Scan catch screenshots to tag Shiny and Special Background Pawniard, and mark each Kingambit with its move so you know which one to power up.
A scan also shows PvP rank for every stage of the family, which matters before you spend Candy. The 13 / 15 / 12 Pawniard above is a good Great League Pawniard at rank 324, but as Bisharp and Kingambit it drops to rank 1943 and 1959. Evolved at its current level, its Kingambit would be CP 1527, over the 1,500 Great League cap. The best Great League IVs for Kingambit are 0 / 15 / 13, so if you want a Kowtow Cleave Kingambit for Great League, scan your low-Attack Pawniard before 9:00 p.m.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is Pawniard Community Day? Saturday, November 21, 2026, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. local time. Some bonuses, including the Kingambit evolution requirement and Lure bonus, run until 9:00 p.m.
How do you get Kingambit with Kowtow Cleave? Evolve Bisharp into Kingambit during the event or up to four hours afterwards, so by 9:00 p.m. local time.
How do you evolve Bisharp into Kingambit on Community Day? Defeat one Dark- or Steel-type Raid Boss between 2:00 and 9:00 p.m. It applies to all your Bisharp, not only your buddy. Normally you need 15 raids with Bisharp as your buddy.
What is Kowtow Cleave’s power? 75 in Trainer Battles and 85 in Gyms and raids.
Can Pawniard be Shiny on Community Day? Yes. The announcement says you might encounter a Shiny Pawniard or one with a Special Background.
How much is the Pawniard Community Day Special Research? US$1.99 or your local equivalent. It includes three Special Background Pawniard encounters, a Premium Battle Pass and a Rare Candy XL.
Key Takeaways
- 9:00 p.m. is the real deadline for both Kowtow Cleave and the 1-raid Kingambit requirement.
- Raid one Darkrai after 2:00 p.m. to unlock the evolution for every Bisharp you own.
- Save 150 Candy per Kingambit, and use the 2× Candy from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. to top up.
- Keep using regular Lures until 9:00 p.m. for more Shiny and Special Background chances.
We do our best to keep these guides accurate, but Pokémon GO mechanics change often. If you spot a mistake or something that's out of date, please send us feedback — we'll fix it.
About GoDex
A free companion app for tracking your collection, scanning IVs from screenshots, and checking PVP rankings. Available on iOS and Android.
