Pokemon Go Just Gave Players More Chances to Catch Raid Bosses

Pokemon Go may have just fixed a bug that has prevented players from getting some much needed [...]

By Christian Hoffer

Pokemon Go may have just fixed a bug that has prevented players from getting some much needed Premier Balls.

One of the central mechanics of Pokemon Go raids is that players earn bonus Premier Balls that can be used to catch Raid Bosses for accomplishing certain milestones during the battle. Some of the bonuses are dependent on how well your Team does during the battle, while others are earned if your team controls the gym where the Raid took place.

However, the most confusing bonus is the "Damage" bonus, which players assumed was given out to players that do the most damage to Raid Bosses during battles. However, because Pokemon Go never explained how to earn the bonus, it took players time to figure out exactly how it worked.

Players eventually discovered that the Damage Bonus reset if a player's entire team of Pokemon fainted - which meant that players who didn't do a lot of damage could still get a damage bonus if the players who were actually fighting had to re-enter the raid with a new team of Pokemon. This led to a lot of players turning to Pokemon with high HP but low attack stats to "anchor" their team in order to give them a better shot of retaining their damage bonus.

How the Glitch Was Fixed

damage bonus

Over the last week or so, Pokemon Go players have noticed that they were still getting their Damage bonus, even if their first set of Pokemon fainted during the battle. It seems that Pokemon Go is now giving out Damage bonuses based on the total amount of damage a player deals out during Raids...regardless of whether they need to pull out their back up Raid team.

Since Pokemon Go never advertised that they changed how the Damage bonus is calculated, a lot of players aren't convinced that the damage bonus is fixed. However, several players have posted "control" videos to prove that something is different about raids now.

For instance, in this video, you can see two players team up to fight a Machamp. The player recording the video lets his Pokemon faint while the other player keeps his Pokemon alive. When the first player comes back with a second team, they finish the Machamp and he still receives a full Damage bonus. In this scenario, the Damage Bonus would previously reset and the player who lost his first set of Pokemon wouldn't have received any Damage Bonus at all.

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What This Means

raid battle 1

If Pokemon Go has indeed fixed the Damage Bonus system, what does this mean for trainers? Well, it should totally eliminate the "need" for anchors like Blissey or Snorlax to appear in raids. After all, there's now no benefit to having a Pokemon that can't do a lot of damage participate in raids. While players could sometime sneak away with a Damage bonus by having Snorlax on their Raid team, they should hypothetically get punished with a smaller damage bonus by using those Pokemon over a stronger Pokemon in a raid.

This new system should also reward players who build their Raid Teams around high damage attackers, even if they're glass cannons that faint after getting off only one or two raid moves. If a player can get off enough shots at a Raid Boss, they should still get a Damage bonus even if they're deep into their second group of Pokemon.

We'll have to see how else this impacts Pokemon Go, but this is a potentially huge change that could make a lot of players very happy.

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