The Pokemon Company released a new update for Pokemon Sword and Shield in which the current Max Raid Battles have been extended.
They have been extended from January 5 to January 9, 2020.
During this time, you’ll have a higher chance of encountering Gigantamax Butterfree and Gigantamax Snorlax in both games, as well as Gigantamax forms of Drednaw and Sandconda in Pokemon Sword, and Gigantamax forms of Corviknight and Centiskorch in Shield.
Max Raid Battles 101
Max Raid Battles are a multiplayer feature that utilises the Dynamax Feature. In the Wild Area, you’ll often find areas where a Dynamaxed Pokémon can be found.
These are often denoted by a red beam of light coming from the den, but if it is one of the rarer Pokémon it’ll have big purple light. This is due to each den pulling two different encounter possibilities: A common set and a rare set.
To defeat it, you have to play with up to 4 other players to battle it, with one player being able to Dynamax their own Pokémon. This can be done locally or online, but if three more players can’t be found, Support Trainers will be added, controlled by NPCs.
The Pokémon you’ll find in Max Raid Battles change every day, with the same number of spawns you have carrying over to the next day until you clear them and the next set increases. You can also trigger max Raid Battles yourself using Wishing Piece items that you can purchase in the Wild Area.
Each Den brings a Pokémon from a pool of two possible options, a common raid pool and a rare raid pool each time a raid is triggered there. The Pokémon’s nature, stats, ability and if it’s shiny are set when the beam appears, not randomised each time you battle.
Limits
Max Raid Battles have some limits. If 4 Pokémon are knocked out, or 10 turns pass, the match loses. As you progress through the game you’ll see more higher level Raids and less lower level Raids
