Pokémon Go's Legendary Flight Lead-Up Timed Research Doesn't Make Sense

The Legendary Flight Lead-Up Timed Research for the upcoming Zaptos Max Monday event has been released for Pokémon Go and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for most players.

To start, you have a little more than 3 days to complete the following tasks (similar rewards are expected for the Moltres Legendary Flight Lead-Up Timed Research):

• Collect 500 Max Particles (Reward - Dynamax Drillbur)
• Win a Max Battle (Reward - 50 Grookey Candy)
• Win 3 Max Battles (Reward - Dynamax Crygonal)
• Catch 5 Max Pokémon (Reward - 50 Drillbur Candy)
• Level up a Max Move 3 times (Reward - Dynamax Grookey)
• Unlock a Max Move (Reward - 50 Cryogonal Candy)

In terms of costs, you'll need at least:

• 750 Max Particles to win 3 Max Battles (maybe more to catch 5 Max Pokémon but keep in mind that the reward Pokémon also count towards the quest).
• 300 Candy (100 each) to level up 3 Max Moves to level 2 (up to 390 Candy for a Legendary) plus 1350 Max Particles (450 each). This is the most onerous of the Timed Research and the one that gives you pause about completing it.
• 50 Candy to unlock a Max Move (up to 80 Candy for a Legendary) plus 300 Max Particles.

In total, that means you'll need to spend at least 350 Candy and 2400 Max Particles to complete the timed research over roughly 3 days (which rewards 150 Candy and 3 Dynamax Pokémon that you still need Candy and Stardust to evolve/level up). That's essentially 3 days' worth of Max Particle collection (you can collect up to 800 to 1000 Max Particles a day) i.e. all of your Max Particles for the duration of the Timed Research period (keep in mind that the Max Particle costs for powering up Max Moves are discounted by 25% during the research i.e. they normally cost more).

A challenge with getting more of the necessary Candy right now is that the needed Pokémon aren't in the common spawn rotation and only Cryogonal is currently appearing at Power Spots. So, you don't already have the necessary Candy, you'll left to either do any or all of the following to get the candy: find a spawn nest, walk the Pokémon as your Buddy (Pro-Tip: if you're trying to eke out Candy this way, using a Poffin and walking a Route will speed up the process), and use Rare Candy (not recommended).

The most useful rewards for preparing to battle the Dynamax Legendary birds are the candies and Max Particles (because you can save it to use on Max Monday).

The question then is: "Just who is the research aimed at?

It's not for new players who are unlikely to have enough Candy to complete some of the tasks (and might not yet know how the Dynamax system works yet). They can however do some of the Max Particle collection and Max Battle quests to gain Dynamax Pokémon and Candy which might help them in the future but won't do much to move the needle before Monday.

Given the short window to complete the tasks, it's not for long-term casual players who may have the Candy but might not have the time and/or motivation to farm the necessary Max Particles. Although maybe it's meant to encourage those players to spend their Poké Coins and/or money to purchase the necessary Particles.

It's not particularly for hardcore players either as they are likely to have already prepped their Dynamax Pokémon lineup to face Zaptos.

Bottom line: Completing the Legendary Flight Lead-Up Timed Research seems aimed at a small subset of enthusiast and/or hardcore players that either haven't finished prepping their Dynamax Pokemon for the event or are just compelled to complete quests.

Photo via Pokémon Go.