I was a bit skeptical on Max Battles at first, but I find now, I really like them. They feel like raids with better mechanics, and they are just more interactive than just, throwing a ball. The design also feels right enough that the proper team make up can seriously make or break a victory or a loss, unlike Raids, where you are effectively just, competing against the clock.
I have managed to do enough of these now I feel like it may be worth throwing out some general tips I have collected. Its not always guaranteed, but it helps.
There are technically 5 tiers, but functionally, there basically three tiers of these, 1-2 star, 3, and 4-5. With a perfect team you could probably solo a 4, but the only that are essentially fpr sure soloable are 1-3 battles. There are also Dynamax (most common) and Gigantamax (way less common). Gigantamax are basically, special events and are not soloable. They also can be harder than 5*.
Some general tips that more or less apply to all levels.
- Get some tanks. Specifically, get some Chanseys. Catch every Chansey you can for candy, get at least two Max Chanseys, evolve them to Blissy, power them up to 2500+, teach them Pound using Fast TMs. Don’t bother wasting candy on anything else except maybe Max Guard. Chansey doesn’t tank everything, but it tanks most things extremely well.
- With your Chanseys, don’t waste time with charged attacks. Pound is fast, and will fill the Max meter quicker than any charge attack. Chansey has two jobs, fill the meter, and survive.
- For other tanks, it’s worth looking up similar builds, because some types will wreck your Chansey wall easily. Fighting Pokemon will obliterate them. Metagross is a decent one, Falinks is pretty tanky, etc.
- Personally, I don’t waste time and candy on any Max ability that isn’t the attack. The heal ability doesn’t heal for crap, the Guard ability is only useful in high level battles because it will protect your group mates also. However, its only really useful in person where you can coordinate and designate protectors. For remote battles with randos through something like Poke Genie, its a total dice roll of usefulness.
- Powering up is more useful than leveling up Max moves from a damage perspective, at least until you start getting to the 2500-3000+ CP range.
- Evolving is always the most cost efficient boost. Its a huge CP boost for the least candy cost. Always evolve your main Max Pokemon when you can.
- The suggested party often works, but its less effective the higher you go in difficulty. I’m gonna be using a Drampa battle a bit as an example party. Drampa is a 3* Battle. The suggested party was Eternatus, a high level Machamp, and a mid tier Hatenna. Presumably, it picks these because they all get a type advantage. But they are all very squishy against Drampa. I barely made it a quarter of the way before failing. When I swapped to 2 Blissy and the same Machamp, I wiped the floor and only lost one Blissy right at the very very end.
- Gigantamax are generally better than Dynamax.
- Its extremely easy to hit Great and Excellent ball throws against Max Pokemon (Except Darumaka, that bouncy dude). Useful if you have research requiring throw streaks.
1 and 2 Star
Not much to say on these other than your biggest hurdle will be getting something to fight with. The monthly pass gives some useful Dynamax pokemon, new players get some special research for some Dynamax Wooloo and Skwovet Pokemon. These can be used to do 1* battles to get something useful.
Once you have even a basic functional team, most 1* raids can just be won by pure brute force.
For 2, it helps to do a little bit of type matching for super effective attacks and not effective defences, but some sufficiently powered up Pokemon could probably brute force 2 as well.
3 Star
The most interesting for a solo player. Since you don’t lose your particles unless you win, if you have time, its often worth it to just roll with the default party and see how it goes. If that fails, either look up the best counters, or try the Blissy tank strategy. Most of this also applies to higher tier battles.
Essentially, use 1 or 2 Blissy and something with a type advantage, or at least something very strong. During the normal phase, just tap tap tap normal fast attacks. Collect the little orb things as you go. You swipe left or right to collect them. The game doesn’t really explain this, its not a tap to pick up, its a swipe.
However, prioritize dodging. Those orbs will wait. Unless collecting it will change phases, it may be worth holding off to dodge. When the three yellow lines flash, the opponent will use a strong attack soon, swipe left or right once while the lines are flashing to dodge. If you are already swiped (to collect an orb), or you swipe repeatedly, or if you are in the middle of a Charged attack, you will most likely miss the dodge.
Dodging will significantly reduce damage taken. Often down to a quarter. Not by a quarter, to a quarter. I don’t know the exact numbers since the game.doesn’t show numbers, but its significant.
When the Dynamax phase occurs, swap in your type based attacker, who is hopefully evolved and powered up some. Hit your 3 Max attacks and swap back to your tank immidiately when returning to the regular phase.
4 Star
Getting into the range where you will probably need team mates, but with significantly powerful enough Pokemon of the right type, most of the 3* strategies would probably work. These are not very common though and the Pokemon offered are not as popular so it may be trickier using online tools mentioned in the next section.
5 Star and Beyond
Most of the 3* strategies will work, but you probably will want two tanks. You also may want to occasionally let your tank Max so you can use Max Guard, but it also may be better to just, use Guard on your attacker for one of your 3 Max hits.
These can last a while, but for most of these, patience can pay off. It may come down to 2 people left with 50% health remaining, but those two people have the right combo to finish it, so don’t leave early. There is no real penalty for losing, unlike Raids.
You can do these remotely with a Remote Raid pass using apps like Poke Genie. Once you set up your profile you can jump in a queue, then wait for the invite. Be sure to do the proper prompts in Poke Genie. These apps are easy to use and super useful for rural players. Even with a big group, its best to still use good parties and try not to show up with Wooloos expecting to be carried. Even just having some Chansey tanks and a mediocre attacker will be more helpful.
