What's the best path choice: Explore, Catch or Battle?
‘Fossil Fun’ is a version of the ‘Choose Your Path’ Timed Research quests which run during quiet weeks in Pokémon Go. Since this is a branching quest, you’ve got three paths to choose from — Explore, Catch or Battle — and your choice decides which additional bonus you’ll get access to. Don’t worry though, I’ve taken a look at the best ‘Choose Your Path’ choice down below.
It’s important to note that there have been reports of players getting access to a slightly different version of this quest. Both in the terms of available paths and how long they have to complete it. This guide is based off of the version I personally had access to and I’ll be keeping it updated if matters change.
Quest End Time: Sunday 21st June at 8pm (local time)
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‘Fossil Fun Timed Research’ rewards and quests steps
‘Choose Your Path: Fossil Fun Timed Research’ is only available for five days in Pokémon Go and gives you the chance to enjoy an additional bonus during this time frame. The bonuses on offer are each themed around a key mechanic of the game, with the choices being: Explore, Catch or Battle.
💡Lottie’s Pro Tip
I recommend picking either the Catch or Explore path. More details on why in the ‘Best path choice’ section.
Remember — just like with any branching quest, you can not change your choice after it’s made. Due to this, carefully consider the usefulness of each bonus before making your decision. To help you do so, I’ve divided this guide into sections covering each individual path, listing the bonuses as I go, before taking a look at what I consider to be the best Fossil Fun path choice.
For now, let’s take a look at the quest’s first step:
‘Fossil Fun Timed Research’ Step 1 of 2
- Claim reward — 500 Stardust
Reward: Five Poké Ball
The Choose Your Path: Fossil Fun quest is currently running! The Forever Forward season is here, so it’s a good idea to know the June event schedule. There’s a lot to do in Pokémon Go outside of the current event! From the Go Battle League, Remote Trading, PokéStop Showcase, Routes and Max Battles. Don’t forget to catch rare Pokémon while you’re at it.
‘Explore (PokéStops)’ path for ‘Fossil Fun Timed Research’
Choosing the Explore (PokéStops) path unlocks the x5 XP for spinning PokéStops bonus and gives you access to following challenges. Remember — you can not change your choice after it’s been made.
‘Fossil Fun Timed Research: Explore’ Step 2 of 2
- Explore 3km — Shieldon encounter
- Spin 25 PokéStops or Gyms — Shieldon encounter
- Hatch an Egg — Shieldon encounter
- Follow a Route — Shieldon encounter
- Explore 3km — Cranidos encounter
- Spin 25 PokéStops or Gyms — Cranidos encounter
- Hatch an Egg — Cranidos encounter
- Follow a Route — Cranidos encounter
Rewards: Three Golden Razz Berries and five Rare Candies.
‘Catch (XP)’ path for ‘Fossil Fun Timed Research’
Selecting the Catch (XP) path will give you the x1.5 XP for catching Pokémon with Nice Throws or better bonus and the challenges down below. Don’t forget, you can’t change your path choice after it’s been made.
‘Fossil Fun Timed Research: Catch’ Step 2 of 2
- Make 10 Nice Throws — Shieldon encounter
- Make 10 Curveball Throws — Shieldon encounter
- Make 3 Excellent Throws — Shieldon encounter
- Make 10 Great Curveball Throws — Shieldon encounter
- Make 10 Nice Throws — Cranidos encounter
- Make 10 Curveball Throws — Cranidos encounter
- Make 3 Excellent Throws — Cranidos encounter
- Make 10 Great Curveball Throws — Cranidos encounter
Rewards: Three Golden Razz Berries and five Rare Candies.
‘Battle (Raids)’ path for ‘Fossil Fun Timed Research’
Finally, if you pick the Battle (Raids) path you’ll get the extra 5,000 XP for successfully completing a raid bonus. Yes, you’ll get the challenges down below too. As always, you can not change your raid choice after it’s been made.
‘Fossil Fun Timed Research: Battle’ Step 2 of 2
- Win a raid — Shieldon encounter
- Power up Pokémon 5 times — Shieldon encounter
- Defeat 4 Team Go Rocket Grunts — Shieldon encounter
- Use 10 supereffective Charged Attacks — Shieldon encounter
- Win a raid — Cranidos encounter
- Power up Pokémon 5 times — Cranidos encounter
- Defeat 4 Team Go Rocket Grunts — Cranidos encounter
- Use 10 supereffective Charged Attacks — Cranidos encounter
Rewards: Three Golden Razz Berries and five Rare Candies.
Best path choice for ‘Fossil Fun’: Explore, Catch or Battle?
In my opinion, Catch is the best path choice for ‘Fossil Fun’. Though Explore is a very close second. I’ve based this decision around the amount of XP you can roughly earn overall during the time the bonus is active.
The reason why the Catch path comes out on top is that it provides a boost to the main activity, also the main way you earn XP, of Pokémon Go — catching Pokémon. As long as you’re making Nice Throws or better, you’ll get to enjoy that sweet x1.5 XP bonus. Add on a Lucky Egg and you’ll really rake in the XP!
Here’s the boosted XP rates for each type of throw:
- Nice Throw — 30 XP
- Great Throw — 150 XP
- Excellent Throw — 1,500 XP
- Nice Curveball — 60 XP
- Great Curveball — 180 XP
- Excellent Curveball — 1,530 XP
If you’re visiting a new location to say go on holiday (lucky), then I’d actually recommend taking the Explore bonus. This is because you’ll have the chance to spin a whole load of new PokéStops, which will make the x5 for spinning PokéStops bonus worth it. The XP you receive for spinning a new PokéStop will go from 200 XP to 1,000 XP, while you get 500 XP for spinning any PokéStop rather than the usual 100 XP. Just remember to tidy up your Item Storage regularly so you can keep spinning those stops.
Finally, I highly recommend not following the Battle path. On paper, the additional 5,000 XP for successfully completing a Raid sounds good but, in reality, it involves spending an awful lot of Premium Battle Passes to actually make the most of it. This might be fine if there was a new Pokémon in the five-star raids, but alas that is not the case this week. Instead, you’re better off saving your passes and money for now.
Best of luck completing ‘Fossil Fun’!
