

“Choose Your Path” Timed Research has appeared in Pokémon Go, giving you something to do and a bonus of your choice during weeks when there are no week-long events. You can pick from three different options that yield different bonuses, so you can pick based on how you plan on playing that week to make the most of said bonuses.
The current research, “Choose Your Path: Charged Embers” becomes available on Tuesday, June 30 at 10 a.m. in your local time. This research will not last the full week. This time, it ends on Friday, July 3, and it features Magmar and Electabuzz. If you’re having a hard time finding the research in the recently-revamped menu, it’s under “Research” and then “Events.” Based on our tests, the research seems largely the same as the “Fossil Fun” event that ran a few weeks ago, just with different rewards.
Below we explain which “Choose Your Path” option you should pick, what the bonuses do, and what the steps are for the different research paths in Pokémon Go. Note that it appears that players are getting different options, as it seems like Niantic is still testing out this feature. We’ll detail the differences below as well.
Update (June 30): We’ve updated this guide with the “Choose Your Path: Charged Embers” research and rewards..
Which ‘Choose Your Path: Charged Embers’ option should you pick in Pokémon Go?
After claiming the automatically-completed Timed Research in your “events” tab, you’ll be able to pick from several choices. There are either three or six options with correlating bonuses:
- Explore (PokéStops): 5x XP for spinning PokéStops
- Catch (XP): 1.5x XP for catching Pokémon with nice throws or better
- Battle (Raids): additional 5,000 XP for completing raids
- Explore (Hatch): halved hatch distance
- Catch (Candy): additional candy for catching Pokémon with nice throws or better
- Battle (Team Go Rocket): extra Mysterious Components from Team Go Rocket grunts
Each option has its own single step of research (more on that in the section below). The rewards from all the research are the same, so you should just pick whichever option best suits your play style.
If you love raiding, pick battle. If you like going on walks, pick explore. If you catch every Pokémon you see, then pick catch. It can get more specific based on your needs. If you like walking, but your area doesn’t have many PokéStops, you may want to pick the hatch-specific option instead. If you need candy, you’ll want to pick the candy-specific option, and so forth.
Pokémon Go ‘Choose Your Path’ Timed Research steps
If you swipe over to your “events” tab, you’ll see an autocompleted “Choose Your Path” Timed Research that gives you 500 Stardust and 5 Poké Balls. Professor Willow will then appear and tell you to pick from the three/six prompts listed above. If you see six options to choose from, then you will get daily Timed Research and you can pick a new path each day. If you see only three options to pick from, your Timed Research will last until Sunday.
Here’s the research for each one you pick:
‘Choose Your Path’ Timed Research: Explore
- Explore 3 km (Magmar encounter)
- Spin 25 PokéStops or Gyms (Magmar encounter)
- Hatch an egg (Magmar encounter)
- Follow a route (Magmar encounter)
- Explore 3 km (Electabuzz encounter)
- Spin 25 PokéStops or Gyms (Electabuzz encounter)
- Hatch an egg (Electabuzz encounter)
- Follow a route (Electabuzz encounter)
Rewards: 3 Golden Razz Berries, 5 Rare Candy
‘Choose Your Path’ Timed Research: Catch
- Make 10 nice throws (Magmar encounter)
- Make 10 curveball throws (Magmar encounter)
- Make 3 excellent throws (Magmar encounter)
- Make 10 great curveball throws (Magmar encounter)
- Make 10 nice throws (Electabuzz encounter)
- Make 10 curveball throws (Electabuzz encounter)
- Make 3 excellent throws (Electabuzz encounter)
- Make 10 great curveball throws (Electabuzz encounter)
Rewards: 3 Golden Razz Berries, 5 Rare Candy
‘Choose Your Path’ Timed Research: Battle
- Win a raid (Magmar encounter)
- Power up Pokémon 5 times (Magmar encounter)
- Defeat Team Go Rocket grunts (Magmar encounter)
- Use 10 supereffective charged attacks (Magmar encounter)
- Win a raid (Electabuzz encounter)
- Power up Pokémon 5 times (Electabuzz encounter)
- Defeat Team Go Rocket grunts (Electabuzz encounter)
- Use 10 supereffective charged attacks (Electabuzz encounter)
Rewards: 3 Golden Razz Berries, 5 Rare Candy
Daily ‘Choose Your Path’ Timed Research: Explore (PokéStops)
- Explore 1 km (Magmar encounter)
- Spin 5 PokéStops or gyms (Magmar encounter)
- Follow a Route (Magmar encounter)
- Explore 1 km (Electabuzz encounter)
- Spin 5 PokéStops or gyms (Electabuzz encounter)
- Follow a Route (Electabuzz encounter)
Rewards: 3 Golden Razz Berries, 5 Rare Candy
Daily ‘Choose Your Path’ Timed Research: Catch (XP)
- Make 20 curveball throws (Magmar encounter)
- Make 3 excellent throws (Magmar encounter)
- Make 20 great curveball throws (Magmar encounter)
- Make 20 curveball throws (Electabuzz encounter)
- Make 3 excellent throws (Electabuzz encounter)
- Make 20 great curveball throws (Electabuzz encounter)
Rewards: 3 Golden Razz Berries, 5 Rare Candy
Daily ‘Choose Your Path’ Timed Research: Battle (Raids)
- Win a raid (Magmar encounter)
- Power up Pokémon 3 times (Magmar encounter)
- Use 3 supereffective charged attacks (Magmar encounter)
- Win a raid (Electabuzz encounter)
- Power up Pokémon 3 times (Electabuzz encounter)
- Use 3 supereffective charged attacks (Electabuzz encounter)
Rewards: 3 Golden Razz Berries, 5 Rare Candy
Daily ‘Choose Your Path’ Timed Research: Explore (Hatch)
- Explore 1 km (Magmar encounter)
- Hatch an egg (Magmar encounter)
- Follow a route (Magmar encounter)
- Explore 1 km (Electabuzz encounter)
- Hatch an egg (Electabuzz encounter)
- Follow a route (Electabuzz encounter)
Rewards: 3 Golden Razz Berries, 5 Rare Candy
Daily ‘Choose Your Path’ Timed Research: Catch (Candy)
- Make 20 curveball throws (Magmar encounter)
- Make 3 excellent throws (Magmar encounter)
- Make 20 great curveball throws (Magmar encounter)
- Make 20 curveball throws (Electabuzz encounter)
- Make 3 excellent throws (Electabuzz encounter)
- Make 20 great curveball throws (Electabuzz encounter)
Rewards: 3 Golden Razz Berries, 5 Rare Candy
Daily ‘Choose Your Path’ Timed Research: Battle (Team Go Rocket)
- Power up Pokémon 3 times (Magmar encounter)
- Defeat 1 Team Go Rocket grunt (Magmar encounter)
- Use 3 supereffective charged attacks (Magmar encounter)
- Power up Pokémon 3 times (Electabuzz encounter)
- Defeat 1 Team Go Rocket grunt (Electabuzz encounter)
- Use 3 supereffective charged attacks (Electabuzz encounter)
Rewards: 3 Golden Razz Berries, 5 Rare Candy






