Pokémon GO Players Express Frustration Over Max Raids

Players of Pokemon GO are expressing their dissatisfaction with the daunting difficulty of Max Raids, particularly when they struggle to gather a full team of 39 others to join in. While these Max Raids offer the chance to add powerful Dynamax and Gigantamax Pokemon to players' collections, the challenge of defeating and capturing them has become overwhelmingly difficult for many.

Introduced in Pokemon Sword and Shield during its November 2019 release, Max Raids allowed groups of up to four players—or a mix of players and bots—to team up at designated locations to battle and catch Dynamax and Gigantamax Pokemon of varying star ratings. This mechanic was adapted by Pokemon GO in September 2024 as part of its Max Out season, significantly ramping up the stakes by permitting teams of up to 40 players to engage in a single Max Raid.

The official Pokemon GO website states that "groups of 10-40 Trainers should be able to defeat and catch these formidable Power Spot Bosses." However, many players find that anything less than a full team of 40 makes winning these Max Raids nearly impossible. This is especially challenging for players in rural or less populated areas, where gathering 40 participants for a raid is often unrealistic. To make matters worse, Niantic did not implement any Remote Raid Pass options at the feature's launch. Even when players do manage to form a large party, there's no guarantee that everyone will have strong Pokemon with compatible attack and defense types. This has resulted in frustrating situations where even teams of 40 watch helplessly as a boss ends a battle with a half-filled HP bar.

Max Raid Battles Proving Difficult for Many Players

This is not the first time Pokemon GO fans have raised concerns about Max Raid difficulty. Players have faced challenges for over a month, with Beldum Max Raids in late September being particularly troublesome due to reports of crashes and glitches. Accessing Max Raids requires a special currency called Max Particles, which players can collect up to 800 of daily for free. However, many fans perceive the high difficulty as a cash grab, suggesting that it incentivizes players to purchase additional particles from the in-game shop to keep attempting these challenging battles.

Despite the frustrations, players may still hold out hope for improvements. Niantic has previously responded to widespread complaints by adjusting the difficulty of certain features, such as making shiny Galarian birds easier to catch than their non-shiny counterparts by removing their ability to flee from battles.