How to unlock Mew in Pokémon Go's A Mythical Discovery.
Guide by Matthew Reynolds Contributor
Updated on
The chance to catch Pokémon Go's Mew is completely different to every other creature we've seen in the game so far.
The game's first Mythical Pokémon is available as part of a Special Research quest named A Mythical Discovery, where players must complete a series of objectives as part of a story-based questline.
How Mew event 'A Mythical Discovery' works in Pokémon Go
As part of a March 2018 update, Pokémon Go introduced new Research quests, where players complete objectives for special rewards.
There are two types of these quests - Field Research and Special Research. It's this latter type we'll be focusing on, as where Field Research offers objectives that can be collected by players at any time, Special Research is a story-driven questline with specific steps.
The first Special Research quest is named 'A Mythical Discovery', and will see Professor Willow "take Trainers further into the world of Pokémon Go than ever before!", according to Niantic.
At at the end? Players will be given Mew as a reward for its completion.
The quest is broken down into eight stages, with multiple challenges to complete per stage.
Though these are similar to Field Research quests, the specific steps are fixed for every player - so if you don't mind spoilers, you can plan ahead and learn what you need to do to complete them all catch Mew - which is useful as you'll need to undertake Raid and Gym battles along the way.
Otherwise, there are no restrictions on how fast you can complete A Mythical Discovery, so provided you fulfil the criteria of each stage, Mew could be yours in no time at all. That said, though there's no 'difficult' steps, a few might take you some time to complete!
How to complete each of Mew's 'A Mythical Discovery' event steps
Here are all eight steps and their rewards in A Mythical Discovery. Be wary of spoilers before continuing, if you are worried about learning what each objective entails before unlocking them.
'A Mythical Discovery' Step 1 of 8
- Spin 5 PokéStops
- Catch 10 Pokémon
- Transfer 5 Pokémon
Rewards: 500XP per step; 10x Great Ball, 1x Incubator, Lure Module x3
'A Mythical Discovery' Step 2 of 8
- Earn 2 Candy walking your Buddy
- Make 10 Great Throws
- Hatch 3 Eggs
Rewards: 1000XP per step; 2000 Stardust, Incense x3, Great Balls x20
'A Mythical Discovery' Step 3 of 8
- Reach Trainer Level 15
- Battle in 2 Raids
- Battle in a Gym 2 Times
Rewards: 1500XP per step; 1x Fast TM, 1x Charge TM, 2x Star Pieces
'A Mythical Discovery' Step 4 of 8
- Earn the Kanto Silver Medal
- Evolve 20 Pokémon
- Earn 5 Candy Walking your Buddy
Rewards: 2000XP per step; 4000 Stardust, 3x Lure Modules, 20x Great Balls
'A Mythical Discovery' Step 5 of 8
- Catch a Ditto
- Catch 10 Ghost-Type Pokémon
- Perform 20 Great Throws
Rewards: 2500XP per step; 1x Premium Raid Pass, 1x Lucky Egg, 15x Revives
'A Mythical Discovery' Step 6 of 8
- Reach Trainer Level 25
- Evolve a Magikarp
- Perform 10 Raids
Rewards: 3000XP per step; 6000 Stardust, 5x Rare Candy, 3x Incense
'A Mythical Discovery' Step 7 of 8
- Catch 50 Pokémon using a Berry
- Earn a Kanto Gold Medal
- Perform an Excellent Curve Throw
Rewards: 3500XP per step; 8000 Stardust, 5x Great Ball, Mew
'A Mythical Discovery' Step 8 of 8
- Catch Mew (don't worry, there's a zero percent flee rate!)
Rewards: 4000XP, 10,000 Stardust, 1x Super Incubator, 20x Mew Candy
Thanks to ZoomBoingDing on the Silph Road subreddit for helping fill the gaps in the list above.
The Shared Skies Season is here! Currently the Slumbering Sands event is running and can still worked on the Shared Skies quest.Don't forget to try out Routes, Gift Exchange and Party Play while you're hunting down rare Pokémon, fighting in the Go Battle League or competing in PokéStop Showcases.
Mew stats and what else you need to know about Mythical Pokémon in Pokémon Go
Mew was the franchise's first ever Mythical Pokémon - and also Pokémon Go's first Mythical Pokémon - which are some of the most elusive creatures to find.
While Legendary Pokémon are powerful beasts that are caught in game through specific steps, Mythical Pokémon can only be added to the game by acquiring it from real-world giveaways, and later in the series, online events.
Beyond its availability, what made Mew special is its ability to learn any move in the game. In Pokémon Go, its move pool adopts some of these characteristics.
It can learn a variety of charged moves - Blizzard, Earthquake, Psychic, Focus Blast, Thunder, Fire Blast, Hyper Beam and Solar Beam, its fast move is restricted to pound, restricting its usefulness in battle. (Thanks to The Silph Road clarifying these based on pre-release data.)
Though it can learn a variety of moves, its type - Psychic - is fixed, leaving it open to Bug, Dark and Ghost attacks. Unlike Mewtwo, it also has fairly average stats.
Between this and Dark currently riding high in the meta, it's highly likely Mew won't be an effective creature in battle. However, its rarity alone makes it well worth the time and effort in completing the 'A Mythical Discovery' event.
Mew isn't the only Mythical Pokémon, either. Like Legendary Pokémon, each generation adds one or two of these creatures - such as Gen 2's Celebi and Gen 3's Jirachi and Deoxys - and it's assumed these creatures will be added to the game as part of their own Special Research quests at some point.
