How to Raid

 If you’ve ever been to a Gym with an Egg and a timer on it, you might have wondered what it was for. Or, maybe you’ve hung around long enough to see it hatch and know that is a Raid. In this guide, I will explain how Raids work and how to take them on and defeat them.

When a Raid appears at a Gym, players (over trainer level 5) can gather to overtake the featured Pokémon. The Pokémon featured depends on things like in-game events. Sometimes there will be Raid events where a certain Pokémon will appear more often in Raids than other Pokémon that would usually appear during that time. In order to actually participate in the raid, you need to either be close by and use a Raid Pass (or Premium Battle Pass if you’ve already used your free Raid Pass for the day) or by joining a friend or tapping a far away Gym and using a Remote Raid Pass. 

There are seven different levels of difficulty when it comes to Raids. The first is a Tier 1 Raid, which typically, can be completed by yourself. The Raid Egg will be pink. Next, you would expect Tier 2, but it is actually Tier 3. Tier 3 Raids appear as yellow Eggs and it is recommended that at least 2 trainers attempt it, although if you are leveled high enough, it can definitely be done on your own as well. Tier 4 (Event Raid) is the next one which features a blue Egg. The Pokémon in this raid will be featured as a part of an event like Community or Raid Day and the suggested party size is 4 trainers. Next is Tier 5 which is split into two categories; Legendary and Ultra Beast Raids. The Legendary Raid will feature a purple Egg where you battle a Legendary Pokémon. The Ultra Beast Raid is similar but has a portal instead of an Egg where you battle one of the Ultra Beasts. For both, it is recommended to have a party of at least 5. Finally, there is the Tier 6 Mega Legendary Raid, where as the title describes, you will be fighting a Mega Legendary Pokémon. It is also recommended to have at least 5 Pokémon for this Raid. 

When you win a Raid by depleting the Raid Pokémon’s health bar, you are given a chance to catch it by using Premiere Balls. The number of Premiere Balls granted depends on the type of raid completed, how fast it was completed, and the color of the gym (extra balls if it’s your Team’s color). But be careful; there is no time limit to catch the Pokémon as long as it’s still on your screen, but once you run out of Premiere Balls, it WILL run away, meaning you cannot catch it anymore.