Pokémon Go 'Choose Your Path Twilight Trails' Timed Research bonuses and rewards

Published Sep 23, 2026, 11:18 AM EDT Which of the paths should you pick? Graphic: Julia Lee/Polygon | Source images: Scopely Explore Pokémon Go is bringing back the "Choose Your Path" Timed Research as part of the "Twilight Trails" season. This research is a bit different from last season's, as it offers no Pokémon encounters and fewer tasks. This research is available starting Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 10 a.m. in your local time. You can find it by opening your research menu, scrolling over to the "events" tab, and claiming the reward from an automatically complete "Choose Your Own Path" Timed Research. The research expires on Monday, Sept. 28 at 8 p.m. in your local time. As per the event blog post, this feature is still being tested. Some players are getting daily research, whereas others are getting harder research that lasts until Monday. Below, we detail which "Choose Your Path: Twilight Trails" option you should pick based on your play style, and we list the steps for each type of research. Should you pick Explore, Battle, or Catch for the 'Choose Your Path: Twilight Trails" research in Pokémon Go? Players will either have three or four choices to pick from, depending on if they get the daily or weekly set. They each come with their own bonuses: Explore (PokéStops): 5x XP for spinning PokéStops Catch (Stardust): 2x Stardust for catching Pokémon Catch (Candy): 2x candy for catching Pokémon Battle (Team Go Rocket): Extra Mysterious Components from Team Go Rocket grunts That being said, the "right" option is based on how you play. If you like hunting down shadow Pokémon, you probably want to pick the battle option. If you plan on going to your local spot and you want to farm XP, you may want to pick the explore option. Since you get rare candy as a reward for completing all the steps, you may also want to pick whichever research is easiest for you to complete. Image: Scopely Explore via Polygon Notably, players with the daily research can pick a new bonus each day, so you can just pick whatever suits what you plan on doing that day. The rewards from the research also differ, but not dramatically. You can see the various research below. 'Choose Your Path: Twilight Trails' research tasks and rewards Below we list the event-long steps, and then the daily tasks, which are labeled as such. Explore (PokéStops) Hatch 4 eggs (2 Silver Pinap Berries) Explore 2 km (5,000 XP) Spin 10 PokéStops or gyms (2 Golden Razz Berries) Follow a route (5,000 Stardust) Rewards: 5 Rare Candy, 5,000 XP, 5,000 Stardust Catch (Candy) Catch 50 Pokémon (25 Ultra Balls) Use 15 berries to help catch Pokémon (5,000 XP) Make 10 great throws (10 Great Balls) Make 10 nice curveball throws (5,000 Stardust) Rewards: 5 Rare Candy, 5,000 XP, 5,000 Stardust Battle (Team Go Rocket) Use 10 supereffective charged attacks (3 Fast TMs) Defeat 5 Team Go Rocket grunts (5,000 XP) Defeat a Team Go Rocket Leader (3 Charged TMs) Power up Pokémon 10 times (10,000 Stardust) Rewards: 5 Rare Candy, 5,000 XP, 5,000 Stardust Daily Explore (PokéStops) Explore 1 km (2 Golden Razz Berries) Spin 10 PokéStops or gyms (2,500 XP) Follow a route (2,500 Stardust) Rewards: 2 Rare Candy, 2,500 XP, 2,500 Stardust Daily Catch (Stardust) Make 20 curveball throws (20 Ultra Balls) Make 10 great curveball throws (2,500 XP) Make 3 excellent throws (2,500 Stardust) Rewards: 2 Rare Candy, 2,500 XP, 2,500 Stardust Daily Catch (Candy) Catch 20 Pokémon (20 Ultra Balls) Use 10 berries to help catch Pokémon (2,500 XP) Transfer 10 Pokémon (2,500 Stardust) Rewards: 2 Rare Candy, 2,500 XP, 2,500 Stardust Daily Battle (Team Go Rocket) Defeat a Team Go Rocket grunt (1 Charged TM) Power up Pokémon 5 times (2,500 XP) Use 3 supereffective charged attacks (2,500 Stardust) Rewards: 2 Rare Candy, 2,500 XP, 2,500 Stardust Thank you to Leek Duck for confirming the research that we weren't able to pick ourselves!