Max Raid Battles

Learn how to find, start, and win Max Raid Battles in Pokemon Sword and Shield. Discover mechanics like Dynamaxing, shields, and rewards.

Max Raid Battles are a special type of Pokémon battle found in the Wild Area of Pokémon Sword and Shield. These battles take place in Pokémon Dens, which are hexagonal rock structures. A beam of light emanating from a den indicates an available raid. The color of the beam signifies the raid's rarity: red for common and purple for rare. Different raid rarities offer different pools of potential Dynamaxed Pokémon.

Raids spawn daily and are randomly distributed. They persist until midnight, after which they disappear. Clearing all existing raids will cause new ones to spawn.

Starting a Raid

When you interact with a den, you'll see the raid's difficulty (with 5-stars being the hardest), the Dynamaxed Pokémon's type(s), and its silhouette. The battle conditions, including victory and defeat conditions, are also displayed. You typically lose if the battle exceeds 10 turns or if a total of 4 Pokémon faint.

You have several options when starting a raid:

1. Invite Others: Allows local or online players to join. You can create a private room using a Link Code.
2. Don’t Invite Others: Start the raid with 3 AI partners.
3. Switch Pokémon: Choose any Pokémon from your party or boxes instead of the default first available one.
4. Quit: Leave the raid.

If you choose to invite others, you have 3 minutes for players to join. During this time, you can ready up, switch Pokémon, or quit. Once ready, you can start the battle, with any empty slots filled by AI trainers.

To join another player's raid, use the Y-Comm. Look for a "Seeking" stamp and filter by "Seeking" to make it easier. If no stamps are available, you may need to wait and refresh the stamps using the X Button prompt.

Mechanics

In a Max Raid Battle, you and up to three other trainers (human or AI) take turns performing actions. The available actions are similar to normal battles, but selecting "Pokémon" only allows you to view your team; you cannot switch Pokémon during the raid. Your allies' chosen actions are visible in the top-left corner.

Dynamaxing is possible but has specific rules. The team can Dynamax multiple times, but only one player can Dynamax per turn. The opportunity to Dynamax cycles through players, starting with Player 1 on turn 1, Player 2 on turn 2, and so on, returning to Player 1 on turn 5.

The opponent Pokémon has a significantly larger health bar and can attack multiple times per turn. It may also reset your team's stat boosts and abilities while clearing its own negative effects.

When the opponent's health drops to certain thresholds, it may activate a protective shield. This shield drastically reduces incoming damage and protects against status conditions, stat changes, and Max Move secondary effects. The shield is removed by hitting the Pokémon a specific number of times, indicated by the shield gauge. Max Moves reduce the gauge by 2 bars, while other moves reduce it by 1 bar. Once the shield breaks, the Pokémon loses HP and its defensive stats are lowered.

If your Pokémon faints, you can use the "Cheer" action on your next turn. "Cheer" may boost your team's stats, weaken the opponent's shield, or do nothing. Your fainted Pokémon will be revived with full health on the following turn. Fainting too many times results in a loss.

Rewards

Upon defeating the Dynamaxed Pokémon, you'll have one chance to catch it. The catch rate is nearly 100% for non-event raids hosted by you, but can be lower for event raids or when joining as a guest.

Even if you don't catch the Pokémon, you'll receive rewards such as experience candy, berries, and TRs (Technical Records). To maximize rewards, it's recommended to participate in raids as soon as you are able.

Tips and Advice

Max Raid Battles offer substantial rewards and can be very satisfying. Keeping AI trainers alive longer can increase your chances of success.