Max Raid Discussion Thread

[Raikaria]

Max Raids with Rock Slide are nightmares. And basically unbeatable solo if they're 4* or higher. The NPC's will just die and you can't solo the barriers before they respawn and die again; kicking you out.

I can't get a Raid reset because no-one will join my Gigalith raid; and the Gigalith knows Rock Slide and oneshots the NPC Trainers who bring garbage.

Concerning max raids, why does a super effective hit not cause hardly any damage to the Pokémon you’re battling? For instance, my Max Quake from Flygon barely dents the Togedemaru that I’m battling. Usually, after you break its shield, you cause more damage, but the second successful hit I landed did about half as much as my first hit! Togedemaru is quad weak to ground so I have no idea why my level 65 Flygon barely dents it. Any ideas?

Raids at 3* or above have thresholds where their HP will flat out stop falling and they'll put up a barrier.

50% for Raids which put up 1 barrier; 75% and 50% [Might be 45? Hard to tell for sure] for Raids which put up two.

 

[Worldie]

Max Raids with Rock Slide are nightmares. And basically unbeatable solo if they're 4* or higher. The NPC's will just die and you can't solo the barriers before they respawn and die again; kicking you out.

Actually any raid with AoE abilities. Torkoal and several fire types can have Lava plume, some water types have Muddy Water, i can't remind what had Hyper Voice.

But again, i'm fine with this. The raids are meant to be mainly a multiplayer feature, and anyone complaining about paywall is being ridicolous anyway lol.

50% for Raids which put up 1 barrier; 75% and 50% [Might be 45? Hard to tell for sure] for Raids which put up two.

Not really correct sadly for T5 raids.
The threshold vary depending on raid. Some raids will actually have the first barrier up istantly for example.
Each pokemon has its own threshold basically.

 

[eworm]

Being post-game, I don't seem to be able to happen upon ☆ or ☆☆ Raids at all. The lowest I get are ☆☆☆ ones. Do we know whether the game gives you a minimum or if that's just a coincidence?

 

[Blazade]

Yeah I've got mixed feelings about the raids. I do like how they're better postgame than the nothing we got last gen. I also like how they give you another opportunity to play with your friends.

But damn if the implementation of online features isn't janky as hell. I was walled for days trying to get more raids when no one would join my online ones and drednaw was killing the NPCs. I don't mind that drednaw is hard, he should be, but I shouldn't be locked out of more raid opportunities based on this.

It's gotten a lot better since the game's launch but for a minute there it was literally impossible to join other people's raids before they quit or closed. The fact that you can't refresh stamps whenever you want is silly.

And getting a variety of pokemon and searching for hidden abilities and gigantimax is cool (if frustrating to find a specific one ala ultra space), but I've hardly found raids where it was correct to do anything but bring Zacian or Specs Eternatus and click the dynamax hate move.

If you're hosting, bringing a dynamax capable pokemon with a supereffective move can help chip the shields and be better than the box legend sometimes. For status, pranskter Grimmsnarl can use twave before the first barrier comes up if you're into that. If you use other online functionality like surprise trading, you might be able to get your stamps to refresh faster.

I've also seen my raids update earlier when connecting online but it could have just been time based.

One thing I stil haven't found info on is whether the ball you throw at the end of the raid matters. Anyone have anything on that?

 

[eworm]

One thing I stil haven't found info on is whether the ball you throw at the end of the raid matters. Anyone have anything on that?

It matters, absolutely. Don't use Heavy Balls though, Dynamax Pokémon have no programmed weight, so it fails pretty much by default. Quite counter-intuitive.

 

[Gravelmouse]

For any1 Struggling with obstagoon, who spams protect move every other turn and times you out, I suggest using a taunt mon and using taunt on it turn 1, before it gets up barriers and blocks taunt.

 

[Gravelmouse]

Yuck, sorry for double post, but I just wanted to ask on a different note, is anyone actually struggling with multiplayer raids? I can't imagine having any difficulty killing something with 3 semi-competent players. Also I think Bulk>Attack, because your attack won't matter when you only break 1 shield anyway, the key is to not die :WeSmart:

 

[Blazade]

It matters, absolutely. Don't use Heavy Balls though, Dynamax Pokémon have no programmed weight, so it fails pretty much by default. Quite counter-intuitive.

Mmm. Was hoping since we got one shot and can't influence the catch rate at all that we'd at least get to try for the ball we want without consequences. Guess it's Ultra/repeat balls for me. Thanks

Edit: above i usually survive any raid that doesn't have aoe by myself with zacian, and any raid with aoe with a single competent player (usually can't get 2 butt npcs but still)

 

[Skore]

Ive started taking mons with strong priority into other people's Max Raids so I can get the first shield to spawn before the usual turn 1 D-Max, meaning it does something useful and breaks 2 shields.

 

[Worldie]

Being post-game, I don't seem to be able to happen upon ☆ or ☆☆ Raids at all. The lowest I get are ☆☆☆ ones. Do we know whether the game gives you a minimum or if that's just a coincidence?

The tier of raids you get depends on what point of the story you are. You aren't going to get any raid lower than T3 (with most raids being 4 or 5) once you're in postgame.

Yuck, sorry for double post, but I just wanted to ask on a different note, is anyone actually struggling with multiplayer raids? I can't imagine having any difficulty killing something with 3 semi-competent players. Also I think Bulk>Attack, because your attack won't matter when you only break 1 shield anyway, the key is to not die :WeSmart:

Speed > bulk > damage is my thought.

Also it helps to have a very fast paralyzer or crippler, as if you can get a turn one burn / paralysis or speed drop it can *massively* help breaking T5 raids.

Setupping is useless, btw, outside of screens / weather / terrains you can put manually and reliably. However, priority debuffs when applied before shields will *not* be cleared by the enemy raid.
Also FollowMe is busted.

Ive started taking mons with strong priority into other people's Max Raids so I can get the first shield to spawn before the usual turn 1 D-Max, meaning it does something useful and breaks 2 shields.

I've also started to slap a extreme speed or sucker punch on any of my support mons (including Grimmsnarl) for same purpose: getting that break earlier can also have whoever dinamaxes be able to apply the debuff/weather/terrain which otherwise would be blocked.



Oh... I'd add Defiant raids can be pretty ridicolous.

 

[Zelsie]

Also I think Bulk>Attack, because your attack won't matter when you only break 1 shield anyway, the key is to not die :WeSmart:

for random multiplayer raids i'd say this is the case since 4 real pokemon will break a shield and get another one up just as fast as any others, for organized i'd say worldie's is the best for the reasons he/she listed, and for random npc battles i'd say attack is the best, as zerging down the boss as fast as possible before your npc team of garbage gets ripped apart is the only real strat possible

 

[Worldie]

It's worth noting that raids will debuff themselves with -2 def and spdef each time a barrier is broken, so a t5 raid will eventually have -4 def/spdef, meaning that as long as you're not underleveled and not hitting for resisted hits, you're nearly guaranteed to 1hko it after the 2nd break.

 

[eworm]

Do we have somewhere a list of moves that straight-up don't work against Raid Bosses? I know weight-based ones fail, as well as Knock Off, but I'd like to know all of them. I suspect ones like Trick/Switcheroo or Covet/Thief might also fail? Can't imagine Super Fang being allowed either.

 

[Worldie]

Do we have somewhere a list of moves that straight-up don't work against Raid Bosses? I know weight-based ones fail, as well as Knock Off, but I'd like to know all of them. I suspect ones like Trick/Switcheroo or Covet/Thief might also fail? Can't imagine Super Fang being allowed either.

Weight, Item and %based moves don't work as far as I know.

Also any status move will not have effect behind barriers but will have effect if barrier is down. % based dots seem to work but damage is significantly reduced, might be based on base HP rather than total HP after dynamax.
Poison definitely works, but I haven't got around to try Toxic.

 

[Zelsie]

terrain setting and stat reduction on dynamax moves also do not work when being sent at a barrier, but iirc if it raises the stats of your team it will work regardless of hitting a barrier or not

g-max centinferno and charizards g-max move will still add the fire spin regardless of hitting a barrier or not

i presume lapras' g-max will still cause an aurora veil, corviknight's will still remove screens, and alcremie's will still cause a healing effect, but i can't confirm it as i haven't seen either move being used vs a barrier yet

i believe meowth's and eevee's secondary effects might work through barrier, as i'm not sure if barrier protects against confusion/infatuation

and i'm pretty sure butterfree/pikachu's wouldn't inflict status through barrier, but again i haven't seen them so i may be wrong

 

[TenshouYoku]

Raids with multi-target attacks and multi moves are wayyyyyyy too overpowered. Just had a team up with some friends using a total of 2 Eternatus, a Bolthund (since he had nothing else and has play rough for it) and an Ice type Sivally against a Flygon, mofo launches two earthquakes consecutively almost wiping out the full team

Granted going after an obvious EQ spammer with a full team weak against ground is an awful idea but the point is the damage they can lob is insane, you would stand no chance solo unless the bot feels generous

 

[Worldie]

Granted going after an obvious EQ spammer with a full team weak against ground is an awful idea but the point is the damage they can lob is insane, you would stand no chance solo unless the bot feels generous

Have you considered actually going into raids with resists instead of Pokemon weak to their stabs?....
Flygon's actually one of the freest raids as long as you go with fliers...

yes, raids with spread moves are the hardest, but going into them with stuff that's weak to them is kinda silly :P

 

[MrTharne]

Have you considered actually going into raids with resists instead of Pokemon weak to their stabs?....
Flygon's actually one of the freest raids as long as you go with fliers...

yes, raids with spread moves are the hardest, but going into them with stuff that's weak to them is kinda silly :P

That is good advice, I think having something that resist all the moves the Pokemon can throw is more useful than having a super effective move in raids tbh.

 

[Count Bleck]

So for shits and giggles, i used EQ to finish off a heatmor raid, killing 2 of my AI allies in the process. Turns out that the partners faint first, and even if Heatmor has 0 HP left, can still initiate a Game Over. Luckily only 3 people fainted overall so i still caught it.

Moral of the story, dont bring spread moves at all unless ypu are doingna super strat like water absorb spam

 

[Zelsie]

That is good advice, I think having something that resist all the moves the Pokemon can throw is more useful than having a super effective move in raids tbh.

yeah, making sure you're not getting hit super-effectively by the boss' stab is most important since like 75% of your damage goes into shields anyways and a fainted pokemon does no damage as well as being a liability that simply ends the raid quicker

 

[Worldie]

a fainted pokemon does no damage

Well, you can always be me and get a Shieldbreaking Cheer on a 6 stack shield just after I die... :P

 

[Count Bleck]

Oh yeah, for raids, dont forget you can use items in raids! If you know a teammate might not survive and they lock in an attack, heal them with a full restore or other such items before they cause a wipeout.

You can also buff allies with X items too, if you wanna play a support role. A dire hit or x attack might be able to really chunk through shields

 

[Gravelmouse]

Do we have somewhere a list of moves that straight-up don't work against Raid Bosses? I know weight-based ones fail, as well as Knock Off, but I'd like to know all of them. I suspect ones like Trick/Switcheroo or Covet/Thief might also fail? Can't imagine Super Fang being allowed either.

Weight, Item and %based moves don't work as far as I know.

Also any status move will not have effect behind barriers but will have effect if barrier is down. % based dots seem to work but damage is significantly reduced, might be based on base HP rather than total HP after dynamax.
Poison definitely works, but I haven't got around to try Toxic.

Super fang does the damage of their real HP stat, so if they have an HP stat of 400, it will do 200 damage to their 800 HP dyna form, but the damage will stop if it hits a shield threshold, so its not rlly good.

And yes, please test toxic, that could be massive for when you need to solo bcause of internet or something, you can toxic+follow me spam with a bulk mon

 

[Zelsie]

also it seems there may have been some sort of fix pushed out

trying to join a raid group gave me a message of something like "the party leader has already filled their team up for this encounter, let's get you a fresh page of stamps" and my stamp book was immediately filled with a bunch of new raids

 

[Zelsie]

also it seems there may have been some sort of fix pushed out

trying to join a raid group gave me a message of something like "the party leader has already filled their team up for this encounter, let's get you a fresh page of stamps" and my stamp book was immediately filled with a bunch of new raids

actually nevermind, still getting the same errors as always, guess it was a one time thing but maybe there's hope for better multiplayer search in the near future