Every Pokemon Sword / Shield Max Raid Event: Gigantamax Gengar, Charizard, And More

Pokemon Sword and Shield introduce a variety of new features to their series, but one of the most exciting is Max Raids. Much like in Pokemon Go, you can team up with three other trainers (either locally or online) and take on supersized Dynamax Pokemon together in cooperative battles.

The Pokemon you encounter in these Max Raids are special in a few different ways. First, there's a chance the monster will have its Hidden Ability. Regular wild Pokemon you come across in Sword and Shield will never have these, making Max Raids the only way to obtain Hidden Abilities in the games (outside of breeding, and in that case one of the parents would need to have the Hidden Ability in order to pass it down).

Depending on the level of the Raid, the Pokemon will have a couple of perfect IVs (base stats) as well, making them useful for breeding if you're trying to put together a competitive team. You'll also receive an assortment of rewards for clearing Max Raids, including Exp. Candy and TRs, which can otherwise only be purchased with Watts (and are quite costly). Finally, Max Raids are the only way to encounter Gigantamax Pokemon; unlike standard monsters, these Pokemon take on a different appearance when they Dynamax and all have a unique G-Max move.

Which Pokemon you encounter in Max Raids is typically up to chance, but developer Game Freak periodically hosts Max Raid events that make certain monsters--such as Gigantamax Pokemon--much more common for a limited time. You can see the full list of Max Raid events happening right now in Pokemon Sword and Shield below. Be sure to also check out our Max Raid guide for tips to help you conquer these Dynamax monsters.

Pokemon Sword & Shield Current Max Raid Events

Pokemon	Version	End Date
Gigantamax Snorlax	Sword & Shield	June 29
Gigantamax Gengar	Sword	June 29
Gigantamax Kingler	Sword	June 29
Gigantamax Lapras	Sword	June 29
Gigantamax Garbodor	Sword	June 29
Gigantamax Corviknight	Sword	June 29
Gigantamax Appletun	Sword	June 29
Gigantamax Toxtricity (Amped Form)	Sword	June 29
Gigantamax Centiskorch	Sword	June 29
Gigantamax Grimmsnarl	Sword	June 29
Gigantamax Alcremie	Sword	June 29
Gigantamax Duraludon	Sword	June 29
Gigantamax Charizard	Shield	June 29
Gigantamax Butterfree	Shield	June 29
Gigantamax Machamp	Shield	June 29
Gigantamax Orbeetle	Shield	June 29
Gigantamax Drednaw	Shield	June 29
Gigantamax Coalossal	Shield	June 29
Gigantamax Flapple	Shield	June 29
Gigantamax Sandaconda	Shield	June 29
Gigantamax Toxtricity (Low Key Form)	Shield	June 29
Gigantamax Hatterene	Shield	June 29
Gigantamax Copperajah	Shield	June 29