Pokemon Sword & Shield event shakes up Max Raid Battles again

Game Freak have once again made a big change to the list of Pokemon that appear in Max Raid Battles, meaning Sword and Shield players should expect to see some new faces for a limited time. 

The game’s developers have released many themed events in the past, including one during the holiday season where the gift-giving species Delibird was appearing much more frequently than usual in Max Raid Battles, and there have been a few like it since.

As many players will be aware already, the roster in Max Raid Battles is being changed up constantly, meaning that you have to pick your moments if you’re looking to run into a specific Pokemon.

For those who haven’t completed many of them already, this type of special encounter involves more than one trainer battling online against a super powerful Pokemon, and defeating it can be particularly rewarding as well – picking up candies and opening up the opportunity to catch the Pokemon once it’s been defeated.

• Read More: How to defeat Mewtwo in Pokemon Sword and Shield Max Raid Battles

So, what’s been changed this time? Well, trainers will be able to find different Pokemon Gigantamaxing in the Wild Area. Gigantamax Snorlax is coming back into the fold, joined by Gigantamax Machamp and Gigantamax Gengar.

These additions do come at the expense of five other Pokemon, however, as this new event completely overhauls what can be found here. The ones removed from Max Raid Battles, as a result, are Toxtricity, Grimmsnarl, Hatteren, Kingler and Orbeetle.

This will be good news for those looking to catch themselves a shiny version of the Pokemon added to the Max Raid Battles, though, using the chain tactic. This involves knocking out or catching as many of the same species as possible to increase the chances of finding a shiny variant in the future. More information on shiny hunting here.

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The new event will be running right the way through the month, ending on March 25 (23:59 UTC).

This should give you plenty of time to run into the Pokemon that have been added but remember the differences between lights for this type of battle. If a red light is hovering over a den, it’s a common encounter, while purple is rare. Good luck!