Raid Battle

A Raid Battle (Japanese: レイドバトル Raid Battle) is a type of battle in that takes place at a  in which players battle against a wild Pokémon called a Raid Boss, typically one much stronger than can be found in the wild. The Raid Boss is stationed at the Gym for a limited period of time, and players must use a Raid Pass to challenge it. As with Gyms, up to twenty trainers can join together to fight the Boss. After defeating the Boss, players receive a variety of rewards and are given the opportunity to catch the Raid Boss.

Description
''A raid is a battle where you and up to 20 other Trainers work together to defeat the Raid Boss—an extremely powerful Pokémon. Win to receive fantastic rewards and a chance to catch a stronger-than-normal Pokémon of your own!''

Raid Battle mechanics
The goal of a Raid Battle is for players to defeat the Raid Boss within the time limit. There are five levels of raids with Pokémon that increase in difficulty, starting at level 1 for basic Pokémon that can usually be defeated by a single player, up to level 5 for Legendary Pokémon, which may require several players to work together to defeat. The following table lists the properties of a Raid Battle determined by the level.

During the daytime (exact hours vary by location), a Raid Egg may randomly spawn at any Gym which does not already have a Raid Egg or Raid Boss. When a Raid Egg appears, its associated timer appears and begins counting down until the Raid Egg hatches and reveal the Raid Boss; currently, Raid Eggs normally have a timer of 1 hour. The Raid Boss that can hatch from the Raid Egg depend on its level.

When the Raid Egg hatches, the Raid Boss appears, and a new timer appears and begins counting down until the Raid Boss will disappear; currently, Raid Bosses normally have a timer of 45 minutes. While a Raid Boss is present at a Gym, the Gym defenders cannot be challenged or fed Berry treats, their motivation cannot be changed, and players who have defenders in the Gym cannot view the Gym remotely via the defenders; however, players can still spin the Photo Disc as normal. While a Raid Boss is present, players within range of the Gym can spend a Raid Pass to join a Raid Battle; if a player spends a Raid Pass at a Gym, they can continue to challenge that Raid Boss any number of times, until either they win the Raid Battle or the Raid Boss leaves the Gym, but their Raid Pass cannot be refunded.

When a player initiates a Raid Battle challenge, they enter a lobby with a two-minute countdown (from when the first player in that challenge entered the lobby), after which the Raid Battle immediately begins. While in the lobby, players choose their team of six Pokémon to battle the Raid Boss and use items from their Bag to heal their Pokémon; the game automatically populates the player's party with six Pokémon it recommends to use, depending on the Raid Boss's move set and the player's Pokémon stats and current HP. In the lobby, the player can see the other players currently waiting in that same lobby and the teams they belong on, with each lobby being able to hold up to 20 players; once a lobby has 20 players, newly joining players will instead be placed in a separate lobby for a separate challenge of that Raid Boss. If a player specifically chooses to quit a Raid Battle, either from the lobby or after the start of the Raid Battle, they cannot rejoin that same challenge. Players can also opt to join a private group using a specific group code.

During the Raid Battle, all normal battle techniques are available to the player. The group of players in that Raid Battle challenge must defeat that Raid Boss within the time limit, otherwise the Raid Battle is lost. If all six of a player's Pokémon faint, the player is returned to the lobby, where they can heal their Pokémon using items from their Bag and choose six Pokémon to use to reenter the battle with, while the players who still have conscious Pokémon in their party continue to battle the Raid Boss.

Raid Boss
Raid Bosses are giant Pokémon with much higher CPs than standard Pokémon. At each raid level, there is a fixed HP value for all Raid Bosses, regardless of species. The Attack and Defense stats will always be set to have the maximum 15 s, and the CP multiplier will be set to 1. Hence, a Raid Boss's CP is calculated as:



where
 * HP is the fixed HP value for the raid level
 * Attack = base Attack + 15
 * Defense = base Defense + 15

During the Raid Battle, the Raid Boss will attack similarly to a Gym defender. After being defeated, a Raid Boss will shrink down to normal size and can be captured during the bonus challenge. Its stats will be reduced to that of Power Up level 20 (or level 25 if it has a weather-boosted type), and like Pokémon hatched from s, it will have random s of at least 10 per stat. The moves are also randomly re-rolled, so a captured Raid Boss may not necessarily know the same moves it used during the raid.

Bonus challenge
After defeating the Raid Boss, players receive a certain amount of Premier Balls exclusively for use in that Raid Battle's bonus challenge, where they have a chance of capturing the defeated Raid Boss. These Premier Balls are the only Poké Balls that can be used, but players may still use Berries from their Bag. If the player runs out of Premier Balls, the Raid Boss will flee, but will not flee otherwise. Even if the player fails to catch the Raid Boss, once they have successfully completed a Raid Battle they cannot participate in it again.

The number of Premier Balls awarded depends on the player's individual contribution to damage dealt, the player's team's contribution to damage dealt, highest Friendship level with another participant, and whether the Gym is currently under the player's team's control. Each player may receive 6 to 18 Premier Balls for their bonus challenge. Any leftover Premier Balls will be discarded and cannot be used for future raid challenges.

Some Raid Bosses, depending on species, have a chance of becoming during the bonus challenge. For Legendary Raids only, Shiny Pokémon are guaranteed to be captured by the first Premier Ball that successfully hits it.

Rewards
Upon completing a first attempt of a raid, participants are awarded 1,000 regardless of victory. Winning a raid awards all participants:
 * Trainer level XP (amount depends on raid level)
 * 1,000 Gym Badge XP
 * Various item rewards

The following table was last updated October 2018. It shows the quantity per bundle and an estimated probability based on empirical data.

The number of random bundles awarded depends on the raid level and number of Premier Balls earned. Premier Balls earned from raiding with a Friend do not count towards reward bundles. The amounts are as follows:

List of Raid Bosses
Currently, raids are the only way for players to encounter, , and most Legendary Pokémon. ,, and , which used to be raid exclusive, can also be obtained via hatching s. Pokémon tend to cycle and change depending on the latest updates and any running events.

Raid Boss Pokémon that are currently available are highlighted with a green background. All CP values are calculated based on the most recent updates. This list was last updated on May 2, 2019.

EX Raids
EX Raids are level 5 raids that require an EX Raid Pass to join. EX Raid Passes are given out to players that have completed a raid an EX Raid Gym in the previous week. These EX Raid Gyms are generally situated at sponsored venues or in park-related areas, and can be identified by an "EX Raid Gym" label on the top right-hand corner of the Gym screen and by a darker green shade on the map. The EX Raid Pass is a one-time offer, and should a player not be present, the pass will expire and disappear from their inventory. Players who receive an EX Raid Pass may also invite one Ultra Friend to the raid, but cannot send out another invitation even if the previous is declined. During an EX Raid, players without passes can only see the Gym's color and the first defending Pokémon atop, and if they attempt to interact with the Gym they will be informed that the Gym is closed and the time that it will reopen.

Pokémon GO at Pikachu Outbreak
During the Pikachu Outbreak event on August 9-15, 2017, special Raid Bosses were available at Pokémon GO Park events in Japan. These Raid Bosses have not been made available since the event. These were all classified as level 4 Bosses.

was also available during the event on August 14, 2017 at Yokohama Stadium, and marked the first time that it had become available to players. It was classified as a level 5 Raid Boss.

Special Raid Challenge
Special Raid Challenges are time-limited events which allow players to defeat a Raid Boss within a three hour window. All Gyms during this period of time will have the Boss active for the three hours, and if the Boss is defeated, the Pokémon encounter afterwards will have a chance to be Shiny. Excluding, these Bosses know a special move which may be otherwise difficult to obtain. Five free Raid Passes are available to players during the three hour window.

The times for these Raid Challenges have so far been held at the same time:
 * Asia-Pacific: 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. JST (GMT +9)
 * Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India: 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. UTC (GMT +0)
 * The Americas and Greenland: 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. PST (GMT −8)

The first three Raid Challenges, the legendary birds, were unlocked as part of Professor Willow's Global Challenge which ran over six days over the period from June 30 to September 2, 2018. As all three parts were successfully completed, all three legendary birds were available to players again from September 13-20, 2018.

Legendary Hour
Legendary Lunch and Dinner Hours were introduced as an experiment to increase opportunities for players to participate in Legendary Raids. At 12:00 PM (for lunch) or 6:00 PM (for dinner) local time, level 5 Raid Bosses will spawn in many Gyms all at once and remain for an entire hour. Raid Eggs will also spawn with a 20 minute timer before the start of the raids. Only Gyms that do not currently have Raid Bosses or Eggs may spawn a raid for Legendary Hour.


 * - Mar. 13, 2019, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
 * (Origin Forme) - Apr. 10, 2019, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
 * - Apr. 19, 2019, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. (unannounced)
 * - May 1, 2019, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. (unannounced)