Max Raid Discussion Thread

Probably one of the biggest (HA!) features in SwSh is the introduction of Max Raid battles. From farming useful TRs, finding Gigantimax Raids, or those sweet sweet XP candies, raids got all your competitive needs.

But dont be lulled into a false sense of security; these raids, especially the tier 4 and 5s, can be absolutely brutal, so its very important to have a good team comp and a firm strategy before heading in. 4 KOs and the entire battle is over, regardless of whos left or progress made.

If you've found some powerful strategies, had some funny or heartbreaking encounters, or need some help taking down more powerful raids, hopefully you'll find it here!

One strategy i tound effective is bringing in a Grapploct and using Octolock as soon as possible, making the boss lose both defenses each turn. This allows everyone to deal more damage easier, even at the point of doing significant damage through the barrier they eventually set up.
Max Raid Den List by Serebii
Sword exclusive(s): Snorlax, Gengar, Kingler, Lapras, Garbodor, Corviknight, Appletun, Centiskorch, Grimmsnarl, Alcremie and Duraludon
Shield exclusive(s): Snorlax, Charizard, Butterfree, Machamp, Orbeetle, Drednaw, Coalossal, Flapple, Sandaconda, Hatterne and Copperajah
Both games: Snorlax, Toxtricity (amped in sword, low key in shield)

Note: both games can aquire these, but need to join a raid of the other version holder.
 
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I'm playing Sword and I have a really really hard time catching the two Gigantamax from Shield Corviknight and Centiskorch, I got multiple Sandaconda for example but those two keep breaking out of Balls. I'm at something like 6 Corvi and 4 Centi (even 3 stars break out...)
I'm not sure if it's normal or not. :puff:

Edit : And of course just after posting that, I get into a G-Centi raid and I got him. :facepalm:
 
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I'm wondering how relevant a cleric build will be for 5 star raids. I'm running an impromptu Hatterene cleric build and I either save the team or don't contribute any damage and cause us to lose.
 
I'm wondering how relevant a cleric build will be for 5 star raids. I'm running an impromptu Hatterene cleric build and I either save the team or don't contribute any damage and cause us to lose.
It's pretty solid *with human partners*.

With AI partners... it's bad. AI has some pretty awful sets that can either get oneshot right away or do nothing, meaning you don't break barriers.
If playing with 2-3 more humans, having a screener helps.
Btw don't use Helping Hand, purely because the Barriers from the boss will make the damage boost irrelevant.

Also my attempt to cheese with Shedinja crashed horribly when I noticed you can't use Ally Switch.
 
Can you only access Gigantamax raids post game? I’ve yet to be able to find any or join any
I think they can only be hosted by people who have beaten the game. I haven't beaten the game and I've played in many Gigantimax raids. You might need to have higher level Pokemon. Gigantimax raid bosses are normally level 40-70.
 
One horrifying encounter i had earlier was a 5 star Hippowdon raid. Thought it would be business as usual but before I could even move i was staring at a 5 bar barrier. Even with my Rillaboom it took a few attempts because i could rarely get more than 1 person to help out.

Got a stone edge in the end though, so it was worth
 
5-star Ditto and Gigantamax Centiskorch raids fill up real quick damn. Does the number of stars affect IV? Also sometimes I see raids having a glowing yellow aura, what does that signify?
 
One horrifying encounter i had earlier was a 5 star Hippowdon raid. Thought it would be business as usual but before I could even move i was staring at a 5 bar barrier. Even with my Rillaboom it took a few attempts because i could rarely get more than 1 person to help out.

Got a stone edge in the end though, so it was worth
That reminds me, if anyone has issues finding an open raid, disconnecting and reconnecting to the internet will refresh the list. It's a little inconvenient, but its the best work around until Game Freak sorts out their server instancing/ refresh rate issues.

Also its worth noting that attacks which hit more than once do not break barriers equal to their number of hits, even if those moves are super effective.
 
I just did Obstagoon and Milotic raids. Just did both, and they were torture. Both had competitive and defiant, so when their barriers broke, they got to +4. Managed to catch both, but the fights were so hard.
 
I think they can only be hosted by people who have beaten the game. I haven't beaten the game and I've played in many Gigantimax raids. You might need to have higher level Pokemon. Gigantimax raid bosses are normally level 40-70.
I've definitely run into 3 star Gigamax way before i was done with the story.

Since all Gigamax are fully evolved raid, I'd assume 3 star is the minimum to have gigamax chance, as t1 and 2 are often NFE
 
5-star Ditto and Gigantamax Centiskorch raids fill up real quick damn. Does the number of stars affect IV? Also sometimes I see raids having a glowing yellow aura, what does that signify?
Is Centiskorch good in competitive or something?

I think yellow aura means better IVs, but not sure.
 
I have spent more time doing wild area raids than the story. Still only 5 badges in... Mostly been hoping to get a drakloak raid, but I've only seen it once so far and the host cancelled it :psycry: (I got a dreepy through trade and caught a raid ditto to brees it, but still kind of want a lower level drakloak :P)

Otherwise I've have a mixed bag of the gigantamax raids. I got a hidden ability corviknight, and I managed a sandaconda on second attempt, though I've done a few others and they all ran. Did one drednaw. It ran. Centiskorch, though... I lost count of how many of those !@#$ers ran from me. Finally caught one earlier tonight.

The most heartbreaking run so far was the corsola that I tried to catch in a premier ball. Shouldn't have gotten so greedy.... :(
 
Is Centiskorch good in competitive or something?
Even if it ends up being (which i doubt, 4x weak to rock on a average speed tier with no way to reliably boost speed), its regular Dinamax is better than its Gigamax (same as for charizard... chip damage < setting sun)

Speaking of Fire... anyone else having a severe lack of fire raids? Between the 5 of us spamming raids we've barely found any fire raids, just a few Centi and one Torkoal...
I need my Flamethrower TRs =(
 
Not sure if this has already been mentioned, but last night I SR'd on x2 raids, a 3* Centiscorch and 3* Ferrothorn, caught each one and reset 3 times, same nature and stats each time, so seems like they are 'locked' once the raid becomes available.
 
Felt that a decently high levelled Zacian and/or Eternatus helps a ton in dealing with laughably OP Max bosses with AI partners, by virtue of their insane breaking power and capability in punching through barriers. As long as teammates are still decently workable.

BTW how do you actually trigger so many Max raids? Been playing for 1-2 days and I only get two raid chances
 
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Felt that a decently high levelled Zacian and/or Eternatus helps a ton in dealing with laughably OP Max bosses with AI partners, by virtue of their insane breaking power and capability in punching through barriers. As long as teammates are still decently workable.

BTW how do you actually trigger so many Max raids? Been playing for 1-2 days and I only get two raid chances
you can buy wishing pieces to manually trigger them.
 
I really wish the NPCs were better. I've been having connection issues so I've mostly been doing raids solo, and it's really frustrating getting that damn Magikarp user on my team. :puff:

Raids and the wild area are so much fun though. I haven't had this much fun in a Pokemon game in a long time. I've been spending so much time on them in between the gym battles.

I've caught 3 Gigantamax Sandacondas and 2 Gigantamax Butterfrees from 3 and 4 star raids. I've yet to see a Gigantamax Drednaw despite the event going on. Are the Gigantamax Drednaw only available post-game?


BTW how do you actually trigger so many Max raids? Been playing for 1-2 days and I only get two raid chances
Clearing all the raids in the wild area seems to trigger new raids as well. I usually go through all the dens and clear the raids, and then new ones pop up after all of them have been cleared.
 
Felt that a decently high levelled Zacian and/or Eternatus helps a ton in dealing with laughably OP Max bosses with AI partners, by virtue of their insane breaking power and capability in punching through barriers. As long as teammates are still decently workable.
The problem with T5 raids with AI isn't not dieing per se, the problem is not losing to the AI dieing.
The strongest T5 raids have a lot of barriers and will take little dmg even from lvl 100s (Zacian/Zama/Eternatus also suffer from not being able to Dynamax to break 2 barriers at once), and there's a very high chance the AI dies 4 times before you can break all barriers and kill the raid.

BTW how do you actually trigger so many Max raids? Been playing for 1-2 days and I only get two raid chances
Raids respawn shortly after you clear all available raids.
Otherwise, if you play with other people, alternate with them

I've caught 3 Gigantamax Sandacondas and 2 Gigantamax Butterfrees from 3 and 4 star raids. I've yet to see a Gigantamax Drednaw despite the event going on. Are the Gigantamax Drednaw only available post-game?
No raid is locked behind postgame (aside 5 stars). You can get Gigamax from 3 stars onwards.
 
Suppose I might as well ask...

Is debuffing/passive damage viable enough to be a playstyle? Octolock was mentioned, but I'd like to have multiple effects so I don't have to resort to something else by turn 2.
 
Is debuffing/passive damage viable enough to be a playstyle? Octolock was mentioned, but I'd like to have multiple effects so I don't have to resort to something else by turn 2.
There's 2 issues with this.

1) The raid *will* clear your buffs very often, so don't bother with it.
2) The raid is immune to all kind of debuff and status while behind barrier.

Thus, if you plan to use debuffs or status, you need to use them turn one BEFORE attacking (as expecially tier 5 raids will either barrier right away or barrier at very high hp threshold)

The raid also doesn't take any type of relevant chip damage like weather or leech seed (if it can even be hit) and you're basically better off using quick attack to break barriers faster.
 
I agree, AI dying before you can finally take the boss down is a huge problem I've been suffering from an uncountable number of times in T5 raids.

These things are just insanely bulky and hits like massive trucks, more so if they have multi target moves (like parabolic charge).

Goddamnit GF why do your preset AIs suck so badly? At least give them some more oomph or to actually Max instead of dying all the time

BTW about raids spawning, how do I reset the raids if I could not defeat some of these raids?
 
yeah my team is often eevee spamming helping hand on clefairy who is spamming follow me alongside a solrock who is using rock polish every turn and then they all get earthquaked and die instantly

it actually feels like you could just solo the bosses without these ai teammates that are legit troll-tier death fodder to put a timer on the encounter

its also super amazing that people suggest "well just get other players lol" when the only time ive ever seen another player join my raid is when its a gigantamax pokemon or something interesting. i actually can't get any more raids to spawn because i've been stuck with 5 star diggersby that just earthquakes and laughs as my magikarp togepi mudbray team dies instantly 1 turn before i would win, and no actual player wants to help me defeat it because its diggersby
 

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