The Pokemon GO Dark Flames event has added a brand-new branching Timed Research for players to complete, and, of course, it has given players a difficult choice to make. This is the choice between the Dark-type path or the Fire-type path after you finish step 1.

The best path to choose in the Pokemon GO Dark Flames Timed Research depends on which Pokemon you want to catch more.

Picking the Dark path will give you encounters with Dark-type Pokemon like Carvanha, Sneasel, and Scraggy. Meanwhile, choosing the Fire path will give you encounters with Fire-types, such as Slugma, Alolan Marowak, and Darumaka.

Additionally, the path you choose will also determine whether your Incense attracts Dark or Fire-type Pokemon for the duration of the Dark Flames event as well as which Pokemon you need to catch to complete the Dark Flames Collection Challenge.

Luckily, you don’t have to consider which path is more tricky as their difficulty is completely equal. The only difference in tasks is whether you must catch, power up, evolve, or purify Dark-types or Fire-types, and plenty of both are spawning in the wild during the Dark Flames event!

If you still can’t decide which path to take, find out all of the tasks and rewards in the Dark Flames Research.

Alternatively, we have included all of the different Pokemon encounters you can earn from both branches below.

Dark-Type vs. Fire-Type Path Reward Encounters in Pokemon GO Dark Flames Research

The reward encounters you get from the Timed Research depend on which path you choose – Dark-type or Fire-type. These are all of the Pokemon reward encounters you can earn from each of the paths:

Other than the differing Pokemon encounters, the rewards remain exactly the same for both paths.

Whether you decide to go down the Dark path or the Fire path, you must finish this Timed Research before it expires at 8 PM local time on July 2, 2023. Otherwise, you won’t be able to earn all of the rewards.