Raids are where Pokémon GO’s depth really shows. They’re the only way to reliably catch legendary Pokémon, the fastest path to high-IV powerhouses, and one of the best sources of rare candy, TMs, and golden razz berries. They’re also where a lot of players stall out — joining a raid only to watch the timer hit zero with the boss still standing.
This guide covers everything: how raid passes work, how to build a team that actually wins, what to do during the battle, and how to maximise your catch rate once the boss is defeated.
Raid Tiers and What They Mean
Every raid has a star rating that tells you how hard it is and whether you can solo it:[1]
- 1-star raids: Easily soloed. These feature basic Pokémon and are good for grinding candy and rare TMs with minimal effort.
- 3-star raids: Soloable with a strong team of 6 powered-up counters. If your team is underlevelled, bring one other trainer.
- 5-star raids: Legendary Pokémon. These require 3–6 trainers at minimum depending on the boss and your team’s strength. The best legendaries live here.
- Mega raids: Feature Mega-evolved Pokémon. Require 3–5 trainers, reward Mega Energy that lets you Mega Evolve your own version of that Pokémon.
- Elite raids: Rare, time-limited raids at EX Raid Gyms. Feature powerful Pokémon and require higher trainer counts. Cannot be joined remotely.
- Shadow raids: Introduced in 2023, featuring Shadow Legendary Pokémon. Require Purified Gems to stabilise the boss mid-battle.
For most players, 5-star legendary raids are the primary target. They offer the highest-value rewards and the Pokémon you’ll actually use in Master League PvP and level 5 raids.
Raid Passes: How to Get Them
You need a raid pass to enter any raid. There are three types:[1]
Free Raid Pass: You get one free pass per day by spinning the photo disc at any gym. Only one can be held at a time — if you already have one, spinning a gym won’t give you another. Use it before spinning to collect the next. Free passes cannot be used for Remote raids.
Remote Raid Pass: Allows you to join raids at gyms visible on your nearby screen without being physically present. These are available from the shop (occasionally free in bundles) and are the main way to join raids organised through social media and Discord groups.
Premium Battle Pass: Works like a free pass but costs PokéCoins. No practical advantage over a free pass except that you can hold multiples. Useful if you want to do more than one in-person raid per day.
The free daily pass is enough for casual raiding. If you’re hunting a specific legendary, Remote Raid Passes let you join organised raids from anywhere, which dramatically increases the number you can do per day.
Building Your Raid Team
Your team of 6 Pokémon is the biggest determinant of whether you win or lose. The key principle: use Pokémon that have type advantage against the raid boss’s typing, and make sure those Pokémon have moves that match their own type for the STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus) multiplier.[2]
Step 1: Check the raid boss’s type. Tap the egg or active raid at the gym to see the boss’s type before committing a pass. A quick search of “[Pokémon name] counters” will show you the best attackers.
Step 2: Check what types are super effective. The type chart determines what deals double damage. Common raid attacker types you’ll use often:
- Flying legendaries → Ice and Rock types (Mamoswine, Rhyperior, Weavile)
- Dragon legendaries → Dragon, Ice, or Fairy types (Dragonite, Glaceon, Togekiss)
- Psychic legendaries → Dark, Ghost, or Bug types (Tyranitar, Gengar, Scizor)
- Water legendaries → Electric or Grass types (Magnezone, Raikou, Roserade)
- Fire legendaries → Rock, Water, or Ground types (Rhyperior, Swampert, Kyogre)
Step 3: Prioritise powered-up Pokémon with ideal movesets. A half-powered Pokémon with the right type matchup is still better than a fully powered one with neutral moves. Use Charged TMs and Fast TMs to give your best counters their optimal moves before the raid.[2]
Mega Pokémon: If you have a Mega-evolved Pokémon active during a raid, it boosts the damage of all other trainers whose Pokémon share a type with the Mega. Mega Rayquaza boosts Dragon-types for the entire lobby, Mega Gengar boosts Ghost and Poison types, and so on. If you can activate a relevant Mega before joining, do it — it speeds up the entire group’s clear time.[2]
During the Raid Battle
The raid lobby gives you up to 300 seconds (5 minutes) to defeat the boss. With a full lobby of 20 trainers, most 5-star raids are finished in under 90 seconds. With 3–5 trainers, time management becomes critical.
Dodging: Swipe left or right to dodge charged attacks from the boss. The boss telegraphs each charged move with a brief yellow flash on screen — that’s your cue to swipe. Dodging a charged attack reduces the damage you take significantly, keeping your Pokémon alive longer and letting you deal more total damage. In small groups where every second of DPS matters, dodging is the difference between a win and a time-out.
Switching Pokémon: When a Pokémon faints, the game auto-switches to your next one with a brief delay. You can also manually switch during battle without penalty. If your lead Pokémon is about to faint, consider tapping the switch button before the KO so you avoid the brief revival screen pause.
Rejoin if you faint out: If all 6 of your Pokémon faint, you can rejoin the raid with a new team — as long as the timer hasn’t expired and you didn’t use a pass to join the second time (rejoining the same raid is free). Quickly switch to your backup team and rejoin immediately.
Bonus challenge for Shadow raids: Shadow legendary Pokémon have 20% more attack and defense than standard versions. Mid-battle, the boss will Frustrate — becoming even stronger. Using a Purified Gem (crafted from Shadow Shards dropped by Team GO Rocket grunts) calms the boss and temporarily reduces its stats, making the second half of the fight more manageable.[1]
After the Battle: Catching the Raid Boss
Winning the raid unlocks the catch phase — you get a limited number of Premier Balls and one chance to catch the boss. Premier Balls are not shareable; each trainer gets their own allocation, and unused balls disappear after the catch phase ends.
How many Premier Balls you get: The number is determined by several factors:[2]
- Base balls: 3 for participating
- Damage bonus: Up to 3 extra balls based on your share of total damage dealt
- Team bonus: 1–3 extra balls based on which team (Mystic, Valor, Instinct) controls the gym
- Friend bonus: 1–4 extra balls based on your friendship level with other participants — Best Friends gives +4
The friendship bonus is the single biggest factor you can control. Raiding consistently with Best Friends (which takes 90 days of trading or battle to reach) adds 4 Premier Balls to every raid. Over hundreds of raids, that extra 4 balls per attempt makes a significant difference in overall catch rates.
Catching tactics: Use Golden Razz Berries for every single throw on a legendary or rare boss. They provide a 2.5× catch rate multiplier — the highest of any berry. Don’t save them for a “good throw”; use one before every throw throughout the catch phase.
Aim for Excellent throws (the smallest circle) or at minimum Great throws (medium circle). An Excellent throw provides a 1.85× catch rate multiplier on top of the berry bonus. The combined effect of a Golden Razz Berry and Excellent throw makes legendaries catchable even with low base catch rates.[1]
Circle lock technique: hold your finger on the ball to shrink the circle, then release at the moment the Pokémon attacks (it briefly stops moving). This lets you land consistent Excellent throws on bosses that move a lot.
Maximising Your Raid Rewards
Beyond the boss catch, every raid win drops a reward bundle. For 5-star raids, this typically includes Rare Candy (applies to any Pokémon, vital for powering up legendaries), Golden Razz Berries, Silver Pinap Berries, Charged TMs, and occasionally Fast TMs.[2]
Shiny odds: Legendary raid bosses have a shiny rate of approximately 1 in 20 (5%). After the battle, the catch screen will immediately show if the Pokémon is shiny before you even throw a ball — a golden shimmer on entry. If you’re shiny hunting a specific legendary, the most efficient approach is doing as many raids as possible during its featured rotation window and joining Remote raids through Discord groups.
IVs: Raid bosses have a minimum IV floor of 10/10/10 for regular raids and 6/6/6 for weather-boosted catches (bosses caught while weather boost is active appear at level 25 instead of level 20). For PvP, near-perfect IVs on a legendary are significant. Use the Appraise function and check via third-party IV calculators after catching.[2]
Finding Raid Groups
The most limiting factor for legendary raids isn’t passes or Pokémon — it’s finding enough trainers. In low-population areas, waiting at a gym for 5-star raids to fill naturally is unreliable. Remote Raid Passes change this entirely.
The main sources for organised raid groups:
- Local Facebook groups / Discord servers: Search for your city + Pokémon GO. Most active communities share raid codes in real time.
- The Silph Road subreddit: Has a Remote Raid megathread where trainers share friend codes and raid invites.
- PokeRaid app: Dedicated remote raid matchmaking — filter by boss, add your code, and join raids with trainers worldwide.
Adding high-level trainers as friends and reaching Best Friend status with them is a long-term investment that pays out in extra Premier Balls every raid indefinitely.
Quick Reference
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Battle time limit | 300 seconds (5 minutes) |
| Max trainers per lobby | 20 |
| Trainers for 5-star (recommended) | 3–6 depending on team strength |
| Free raid passes per day | 1 (from spinning gym photo disc) |
| Legendary catch rate boost | Golden Razz Berry: ×2.5 | Excellent throw: ×1.85 |
| Best Friend Premier Ball bonus | +4 balls per raid |
| Legendary shiny rate | ~1 in 20 (5%) |
| Weather-boosted boss level | Level 25 (vs standard level 20) |
| Minimum raid boss IVs | 10/10/10 (standard), 6/6/6 (weather-boosted) |
Conclusion
Raids are the endgame engine of Pokémon GO — the source of the legendaries, the rare candy, and the TMs that power up your team. The players who consistently clear 5-star raids aren’t doing anything magical: they’re checking the boss type, bringing the right counters, using Golden Razz Berries on every throw, and raiding with friends at Best Friend level to maximise their Premier Ball count.
Start with 3-star raids to get comfortable with the mechanics, build up a roster of powered-up type counters, and start adding trainers to your friends list for the Premier Ball bonus. Once you have that foundation, 5-star legendaries become manageable — and each win is a chance at a shiny or a near-perfect IV that changes your whole team.