“Pokemon Go’s” Max Out season has introduced Dynamax Pokemon, and that sparked a thrill as one of the latest gimmicks to the main series games finally made it to the flagship mobile game. Now, Niantic has introduced the other half of that phenomenon found in the Galar region — Gigantamax — which is launching from 10 a.m. Oct. 26 to 8 p.m. Oct. 27.
Although they sound the same and often get confused, these are two distinct forms of the phenomenon found in the region. In the main series games, any Pokemon can Dynamax but only a select few can Gigantamax.
The Gigantamax transformation is also more drastic than the Dynamax counterparts, which look like supersized versions of the normal forms. Gigantamax Pokemon are special in their reimagined and exaggerated style. Blastoise spawns more guns on its back. Charizard is beefier and cloaked in fire. Venasaur’s flower now covers its body almost like an overgrown hairdo.
Aside from the special visuals, Gigantamax still work the same with three Max moves available after a meter is powered up, but the special creatures also have one unique attack, along with upgradeable Max Spirit and Max Guard. It’ll be a must-have for all trainers for bragging rights and future battles, but the big issue is trying to get one. It will be hard without a big group.
Gigantamax Max Battles are considered six-star raids and will require as few as nine players, according to Kathy Woo, a Niantic producer. Because the debut takes over a weekend and it will require a crowd, players should treat it like an EX Raid on steroids. It will cost 800 Max particles that will be spent upon the battle completion. During the debut, the Gigantamax raids will spawn multiple times a day. Lastly, up to 40 players can join, but the way the actual fight goes down is in groups of four or fewer.
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The reason for that is players will have to work together to defeat the extra-large pocket monsters. This is probably where other talents such as Max Guard for defense and Max Spirit for healing can make a difference, especially in situations where players may not have a big group. Even if all your Pokemon faint, players can still cheer on the rest of the team to fill their Max meters faster. That’s reminiscent of what happens in “Pokemon Sword” and “Pokemon Shield.”
Although this is a six-star raid, Woo said there is a tier higher, and that will be Legendary Gigantamax raids, but that’s far in the future.
As for turning a normal Dynamax Pokemon into a Gigantamax one, the main series games have an option to do that. Players can do that with a Max Soup, but Niantic senior producer John Funtanilla said that he “thinks it’s an interesting feature, but there’s no plans for that right now.”
Aside from having a chance at catching a Gigantamax Pokemon after a battle, a perk of adding a Gigantmax Pokemon at a Power Spot is that there’s a chance to have a special wild encounter with a Dynamax Pokemon at the spot. That’s a feature that’s also at normal Dynamax Power Spots, but players can get normal but somewhat rare encounters.