Road to Unova and GO Tour Unova 2025 Recap: Legendaries, Tour Pass and Kyurem Fusions

Road to Unova was the week-long lead-in to GO Tour Unova 2025, and it was packed. Here’s what it included, what I thought was worth your time, and how I prepared.

The legendary raid schedule

Every day brought a different set of Unova legendaries to raids, each with timed research:

• 24 February: Genesect, including all five Drive forms.
• 25 February: Cobalion, Terrakion and Virizion.
• 26 February: Tornadus, Thundurus and Landorus (Incarnate Forme), with special moves.
• 27 February: Reshiram.
• 28 February: Zekrom.

If you were short on raid passes, Reshiram and Zekrom were the priority. Both are strong attackers in their own right, and you needed them to fuse White and Black Kyurem over the Tour weekend. Of the rest, I gave the Forces of Nature day a hype score of 8, since Thundurus and Landorus are both S tier. Genesect (S tier as a Bug attacker, C tier overall) and the Swords of Justice (with Terrakion the only S tier of the three) each got a 7.

Matt's takeReshiram and Zekrom were an immediate 10 out of 10, because you needed them for the Kyurem fusions. Overall it was an 8.4 out of 10 week of legendaries.

For counters and hundos, see my Reshiram and Zekrom raid guide, and for which fusion to build, Black or White Kyurem.

What else Road to Unova brought

• Half hatch distance, and a refreshed 2km Egg pool including Larvesta.
• Remote Raid Pass limit raised to 20 from 24 to 28 February.
• Wild Snivy, Tepig and Oshawott, and Unova-themed Field Research.
• A paid Road to Unova Raid ticket with extra Candy, Stardust and XP, and a paid Hatch ticket with Sigilyph, Maractus and Bouffalant.
• Paid Masterwork Research for shiny Meloetta.
• A Pokédex visual update and a new spawn system that made Pokémon appear more often, including in rural areas.

I gave the whole announcement a hype score of 14 out of 20.

The Tour Pass

GO Tour Unova brought the first Tour Pass, which works like a battle pass: you earn points by playing and unlock reward tiers. There was a free version and a Deluxe version (US$14.99, or US$19.99 with 10 ranks included).

The tiers I thought stood out:

• Rank 1: Victini (Deluxe).
• Ranks 34 to 36: 18,000 Stardust.
• Rank 40: a Kyurem helmet avatar item (Deluxe).
• Ranks 70 to 75: 36,000 Stardust.
• Rank 100: the Lucky Trinket (Deluxe), which expired on 9 March at 6pm.

Two downsides: after rank 100, rewards dropped from around 5,000 Stardust per rank to just 100, and you could only clear 4 ranks a day on the free pass (5 on Deluxe) until the weekend, when it became unlimited.

I bought Deluxe because I didn’t have a Victini, and I wanted to use the Lucky Trinket to mirror trade a shiny Rayquaza with a friend.

Matt's takeIf you don't have Victini and have a friend to do a Lucky Trinket trade with, the value of the pass goes up. If you already have Victini and play solo, its value drops dramatically.

Tip: use your Star Pieces and Lucky Eggs before you claim tiers.

How I prepared for the Tour weekend

• I tagged the Reshiram and Zekrom I planned to fuse. I picked the lowest IV, non-shiny ones, because only the Kyurem’s IVs carry over.
• I cleared my bag of spare TMs and berries so my GO Plus + could keep spinning PokéStops.
• I converted spare Rare Candy into Candy I use often, like Origin Forme Dialga.
• I transferred everything 2 stars and below so I wouldn’t hit my storage limit.
• I marked my older Pokémon so I could quickly offer a friend something great during the five extra Special Trades.