Mega Starmie Arrives: Super Mega Raid Day Guide

Mega Starmie makes its long-awaited Pokémon GO debut during a dedicated Super Mega Raid Day on August 22, 2026, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. local time. If you’ve been stockpiling Starmie candy in anticipation, this is the event you’ve been waiting for.

What’s a “Super Mega Raid Day”?

Super Mega Raids are a raid tier introduced specifically for high-profile Mega debuts, sitting above standard raids in difficulty but rewarding first access to a new Mega Evolution along with concentrated bonuses for the day. Expect Mega Starmie to hit hard and require a coordinated group, especially early in the event before trainers have optimized counters.

Event bonuses

• Up to six free Raid Passes from spinning Gym Photo Discs throughout the day — a meaningful discount if you’re planning to raid Mega Starmie multiple times to farm Mega Energy.
• Shiny Starmie is available, so it’s worth checking every encounter reward carefully.
• Event-exclusive Timed Research, including a path that rewards a Premium Battle Pass and a guaranteed Scizor encounter — useful both for Pokédex purposes and because Scizor remains a relevant pick in several PvP formats.

Why Mega Starmie matters

Starmie’s base form is already a fast, bulky Water/Psychic attacker with access to Water Gun and a wide movepool including Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Psychic and Power Gem. Mega Evolving amplifies its stats significantly and boosts the damage of same-type Water and Psychic attacks used by your whole party during the raid encounter, which is the main reason players Mega Evolve at all: it’s a team-wide buff, not just a personal power spike.

Once you’ve earned enough Mega Energy to Mega Evolve your own Starmie regularly, it becomes a strong, spammable option for Water-weak raids and a reasonable Psychic-type attacker outside of raids too.

Best counters for the raid itself

Mega Starmie is Water/Psychic, which means it’s weak to Electric, Grass, Bug, Ghost and Dark-type attacks. Strong picks include Electric attackers like Zekrom or a Mega Manectric, Grass options like Roserade, and Dark/Ghost hybrids like Tyranitar or Mega Gengar. Check the full Raid Counters page for an updated list as the event approaches and trainers share results from early attempts.

Planning your day

• Coordinate a raid group in advance — Super Mega Raids are not solo-friendly for most trainers’ rosters.
• Save your free Gym-spin Raid Passes rather than using a paid Remote Raid Pass first, since the discs refresh through the day.
• If Mega Energy is your goal, plan for multiple raids rather than just one; a single win won’t fully evolve your own Starmie the first time.

How Mega Evolution and Mega Energy work, briefly

Unlike a normal evolution, Mega Evolving a Pokémon is temporary — it lasts eight hours (extendable by spending more Mega Energy before the timer runs out) and then the Pokémon reverts to its base form. The first time you Mega Evolve a given species, you need a larger amount of Mega Energy than every subsequent time, which is why a Super Mega Raid Day is particularly valuable: it concentrates the best opportunity to earn that first, larger chunk of Starmie Mega Energy into a single day with bonus passes to make repeat attempts cheaper.

Does Mega Starmie help outside of raids?

Yes, in two specific ways. First, while Mega Evolved, Starmie boosts the damage of same-type (Water and Psychic) attacks for every Pokémon on your raid party, not just itself — which is why coordinated raid groups often ask one member to bring a Mega-capable attacker of the boss’s weak type. Second, outside of Mega form, a well-built Starmie with Water Gun and a strong Charged Attack remains a solid, spammable neutral raid attacker in its base form once you’ve built up a good moveset, useful on days when you haven’t got Mega Energy to spend.

Timed Research strategy

The Scizor-rewarding Timed Research path is available throughout the full event window, not just during the raid hours, so there’s no need to rush it in the first few minutes. If your schedule only allows a short play session on August 22, prioritize the raid itself first (since raid participation is time-limited to the event window) and come back to the Timed Research tasks later in the day if needed — most Timed Research remains completable for some time after an event technically ends, though exact grace periods vary and it’s safer not to assume one.

What if you miss the event window entirely?

Mega Starmie itself doesn’t disappear from the game after August 22 — once a Mega Evolution has been introduced, it typically continues to appear in the standard Mega Raid rotation going forward, just without the day’s specific bonuses (free passes, guaranteed Shiny odds, and the Scizor research). If your schedule doesn’t allow you to play on the exact day, you’ll still get future chances to raid and Mega Evolve Starmie; you’ll just be competing with the normal raid rotation rather than a dedicated, bonus-stacked event.