While Dynamax can be used in battle, wild enemies can use it too in special raids.


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General principle

A variety of wild Pokémon can use Dynamax in battle during “Max Raid Battles” inspired by Pokémon GO. These Pokémon are special in that they stay Dynamaxed for the ENTIRE battle! On top of that, they can use several moves in a single turn and cancel abilities and stat changes. To start one of these raids, you need to head to the dens in the Wild Area. Raids bring together four players: you can do them with your friends or with NPCs controlled by the console’s AI.

A reward awaits you at the end all the same: the catch! As soon as the opposing Pokémon is knocked out, each player gets a Ball to try to catch it, and you pick up items and TRs along the way. Depending on its rank, a Pokémon in a raid can have up to 4 max IVs or its Hidden Ability. Raids are also the only chance (apart from gift Pokémon, of course) to obtain the Gigantamax forms of the Pokémon concerned.

The raids available in your Wild Area are refreshed when you have won all the raids displayed, or at midnight every day. To do this, you must be connected to the internet or check the Wild Area News.

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Starting Max Raid Battles and fighting

To find a raid, you have two options: either look for which dens are giving off a column of red light (or purple if it is a rare raid), or connect to the internet and look at the stickers in the Y-Comm. Ranks go from 1 to 5 (from level 15 to level 60) and you will gain access to them as your Gym Badge collection grows, since badges determine the maximum level of the Pokémon you can catch. The higher a Pokémon’s rank, the tougher it is and the more barriers it will put up. Rank 5 in particular can be very hard to beat solo…

How you join a raid is different in each case:

  • Raid in your own Wild Area. You can take part in a raid solo with NPCs, or start a search for players over the internet after connecting in the Y-Comm by pressing +. You then have 3 minutes to start the raid. If you want to take part with friends, agree on a 4-digit password and press + on the raid screen to enter that password;
  • Raid in another player’s game. Go to the Y-Comm while connected to the internet and select a Max Raid Battle sticker. You may be asked to enter the password chosen by the player who started the raid.

In every case, make sure you have the right Pokémon (you can “Change Pokémon” by taking one from your party or the PC) before confirming. Once you confirm your participation in the raid, there is no going back!

The battle is a 4-vs-1 with a few extra rules compared with usual matches:

  • if the enemy “feels cornered”, it puts up a barrier of 3 to 7 segments to break. A normal move breaks one segment, a Max Move two. Unless you use a very powerful move, you will rarely deal damage during these phases;
  • only one of the four players can Dynamax their Pokémon. The option is given first to the raid host, then to a different player each turn;
  • if your Pokémon is knocked out, you can “cheer on” your allies. If it works, it can add a Reflect (Defense boost) or a Light Screen (Special Defense boost), raise Attack, break the enemy barrier, heal status conditions or restore HP;
  • after a turn away, your Pokémon is sent back onto the field with its HP at maximum;
  • most enemy Pokémon kick you out of the den after inflicting 4 knockouts or after 10 turns of battle, forcing you to start all over again.

When the Pokémon’s HP bar drops to 0, you can make one and only one attempt to throw a Poké Ball to catch it. Whether or not it succeeds, you will receive a series of items as well as Technical Records matching the type of the Pokémon you fought.

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Catch rates of Dynamax and Gigantamax Pokémon

Any Pokémon defeated in a raid is treated as if it were a wild Pokémon with 1 HP. If you play alone with NPCs, catching the enemy Pokémon is guaranteed whether it is Dynamax or Gigantamax. Things get tougher if you play online, because your catch rate depends on whether or not you are the raid host. The catch rate is a value between 3 and 255; the higher the number, the easier the Pokémon is to catch.

  • If you started the raid: the catch is guaranteed for a Dynamax raid, and the rate is capped at 20 for a Gigantamax raid;
  • if you joined another player’s raid: the rate is the standard rate of the Pokémon concerned in a Dynamax raid, and is capped at 3 for a Gigantamax raid. For comparison, this catch rate is equivalent to that of some legendary Pokémon;
  • some Pokémon are only available as events and their stats are therefore different. Whether you are online or not, a standard event Pokémon has the base catch rate of its species. As for event Gigantamax Pokémon (Butterfree, Snorlax, Drednaw in Sword and Corviknight in Shield), the catch rate is roughly 20 if you play solo or are the raid host, and stays at 3 if you join someone else’s raid.

To improve your chances of catching it, you can use a Repeat Ball on Pokémon you have already caught, or a Dusk Ball. Dens are in fact considered caves, which means the catch rate multiplier bonus is 3 if you use a Dusk Ball.

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Moves that cannot be used in Max Raid Battles

A number of moves cannot be used during a raid:

  • moves tied to held items, such as Bug Bite/Pluck (which force the target to consume the Berry it holds), Incinerate (which burns the held item) or Knock Off (which knocks off the held item);
  • moves that remove a specific portion of max HP (Curse used by a Ghost type, Super Fang…);
  • moves that knock out in one hit or within a set time (Fissure, Sheer Cold, Destiny Bond, Perish Song…);
  • explosive moves such as Self-Destruct and Explosion;
  • moves tied to the target’s weight (Heat Crash, Heavy Slam, Grass Knot, Low Kick…);
  • note that you can inflict status conditions, but you cannot make the opponent flinch, flee or switch out.

An important detail: these moves can be used as Max Moves (that is, when your Pokémon is Dynamaxed), because they no longer have their conditions or side effects.

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