Should you choose Spark or Sierra in Holiday Part One Shore Thing in Pokémon Go?

When working through the holiday season, Pokémon Go‘s Holiday Part One event allows you to earn various rewards. For those working through the Holiday Part One Timed Research, you’ll have to choose between two paths: Spark or Sierra.

This Timed Research is available for a limited-time during the Holiday Part One event. You won’t have long to work on it, as the event only lasts a few days. Thankfully, many tasks you’ll complete shouldn’t be too difficult. Still, the rewards and tasks differ from the branching path you choose between Spark and Sierra. Depending on what you’d like to add to your collection, we’ll break down the differences between the Spark and Sierra paths for Pokémon Go‘s Holiday Part One event and if one is better than the other.

Is it better to go with Spark or Sierra for Pokémon Go’s Holiday Part 1 timed research?

In our opinion, the rewards for the Spark path are better, and you should go for that one over the Sierra path.

The Spark and Sierra branching path is available for you to select during Shore Thing timed research on the Holiday Part One event. Between the two options, you’re primarily choosing if you want to have a shadow Vulpix or an Alolan Vulpix in Pokémon Go. You have until Dec. 22 to complete these tasks, or the Shore Thing timed research disappears and doesn’t follow up during the Holiday Part Two event. The same goes for the Collection Challenges.

If you go down the Spark path, the tasks for their quests focus on tracking down Ice-type Pokémon. You’ll catch Ice-type Pokémon, power them up, complete field research tasks, and collect Max Particles from Power Spots. If you have a full amount of Max Particles, the best way to get rid of them is empowering Dynamax Pokémon with their max moves, or you need to participate in Max Battles and defeat Dynamax Pokémon. You get an Alolan Vulpix encounter if you complete task two for Spark, which is the only difference between them and Sierra in Pokémon Go.

When you choose the Sierra path, all the tasks are the same, but swap the Ice-type Pokémon requirements for Fire-type choices. These also appear alongside the Ice-type Pokémon during the Holiday Part One event, such as Darumaka, Litleo, or you can catch hatch eggs to collect Hisuian Growlithe and Charcadet. Between the two, Sierra’s might be more difficult because there are a handful of notable Fire-type Pokémon, but not as many Ice-type Pokémon—but this depends on your location in the world.

When we’re comparing the differences between getting a shadow Vulpix or an Alolan Vulpix, we’re going to side with the Alolan Vulpix. The final form of these two, Alolan Ninetales, is far more useful and stronger than a shadow Ninetales, as it’s an Ice and Fairy-type Pokémon. If you’re looking for a Great League Pokémon to add to your collection, Alolan Ninetales is an excellent choice.

Although Spark is the better choice, going with either of these options is fine. We can see the appeal of wanting to catch a shadow Vulpix, as catching specific shadow Pokémon is complicated. Still, Alolan Ninetales gets our vote for being far more helpful in Pokémon Go when it comes to the Great League, and raid battles.