Ultra Beast Five-Star Raids Return This Week

Pokémon GO is doing the Ultra Beast thing again this week, but the real story is not just that three hard raid bosses are back. It’s that they’re split by region. Starting Wednesday, May 13 at 6:00 a.m. local time, Buzzwole, Pheromosa, and Xurkitree take over five-star raids, and they stay there until Tuesday, May 19 at 10:00 p.m. local time. There’s also a focused Raid Hour on Wednesday, May 13 from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. local time. (leekduck.com) ### Which Ultra Beast do you actually get? That depends on where you are. Players in the Americas and Greenland get Buzzwole. Players in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India get Pheromosa. Players in the Asia-Pacific region get Xurkitree. So if you’re in the United States, the local five-star boss is Buzzwole — not all three. ### Why does that matter so much? Because this is one of those raid weeks where location is basically part of the event design. (leekduck.com) A normal legendary rotation asks whether you can beat the boss. This one also asks whether you know people elsewhere. If you want the full set in your Pokédex, local raiding alone won’t do it unless you travel or get remote invites from friends in other regions. ### What’s the practical play in Cupertino? (leekduck.com) If you’re raiding locally in Cupertino from May 13 to May 19, you should expect Buzzwole to be the boss appearing in nearby gyms. The best single window to find active lobbies is still Raid Hour on Wednesday evening, when five-star raids spike from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. local time. Weekend meetups can still work, but they depend more on local coordination because the game itself does not create the same concentrated burst of raids outside Raid Hour. ### Are shinies in play? Yes. All three Ultra Beasts in this rotation can be shiny if you’re lucky. That matters because regional bosses plus shiny odds create a stronger reason to chase invites, not just one clear-and-done raid for dex entry. For a lot of players, the target is really “registered, high-IV, maybe shiny” — and that usually means multiple runs. ### Is this replacing something? Yes — Nihilego is the outgoing five-star boss. (leekduck.com) Event trackers show Nihilego ending on Tuesday, May 12 at 10:00 p.m. local time, with the Ultra Beast trio starting the next morning on May 13. So this is a clean weekly handoff, not a surprise mid-event insertion. ### What else is happening that weekend? The Ultra Beast week overlaps with a busier-than-usual Pokémon GO calendar. Spring Marathon starts May 12, and Deino Community Day Classic lands on Saturday, May 16 from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. local time. (leekduck.com) That means raid groups may already be out playing, which can help local turnout — but it also means players may split time and premium passes across multiple events. (leekduck.com) ### So what should players actually do? Treat this as a coordination week. If you’re in the U.S., plan for Buzzwole locally, hit Raid Hour on May 13 if you want the easiest lobby density, and line up remote invites if Pheromosa or Xurkitree are the real goal. The bottom line is simple: this week’s challenge is only partly the raid boss. The rest is geography. (leekduck.com) (pokemongohub.net)