Pokemon Go Adds New Raid Bosses for New Event

The winds of change have added several new raid bosses to Pokemon Go.

Yesterday afternoon, Pokemon Go announced that Rayquaza had "won" the previous week's Legendary Event, which would trigger several events. Not only would Pokemon Go's gyms and PokeStops distribute more eggs containing Pokemon that prefer windy weather, Pokemon Go also announced that players would start seeing more Raids featuring Pokemon that prefer windy weather.

At first, players thought that we'd see more Raid Battles featuring Rayquaza, but it turns out that Pokemon Go has added eight new Raid Bosses to the game. A few, like Alakazam and Charizard, were already Raid Bosses but were previously pulled from "active duty," but the other Raid Bosses represent entirely new challenges for Pokemon Go players.

The new raid bosses are:

Tier 2: Exeggutor, Slowbro

Tier 3: Aerodactyl, Alakazam, Claydol, Starmie, Scyther

Tier 4: Charizard

Charizard is too difficult for one player to defeat on their own, and players are also noting that Claydol is surprisingly hard to beat to due its high Defense stat. Alakazam is also a tough Raid Boss for one player to beat, but it can be done with an optimized team of Gengar.

These Raid Bosses replace several Ice-Type Pokemon that were added to the game to help players battle Rayquaza. The Raid Bosses that no longer appear in battles include the following Pokemon:

Tier 2: Dewgong, Cloyster

Tier 3: Azumarill, Jynx, Piloswine

Tier 4: Lapras, Feraligatr

Groudon and Kyogre were also pulled out of the Raid Boss poll at the conclusion of the Legendary Week event yesterday.

Here's the full roster of current Raid Bosses:

Tier 1: Magikarp, Wailmer, Swablu, Snorunt

Tier 2: Sableye, Mawile, Exeggutor, Slowbro

Tier 3: Machamp, Aerodactyl, Alakazam, Claydol, Starmie, Scyther

Tier 4: Tyranitar, Aggron, Absol, Charizard

Tier 5: Rayquaza

Please note that Rayquaza is only available through March 16th.

This is Pokemon Go's second Raid Boss shakeup in less than a month and indicates that the game's developers are trying to find ways to keep player engagement high. Between this and the almost constant stream of events, challenges, and bonuses, it seems that Pokemon Go is trying a lot harder to keep players active and happy now that the Gen 3 rollout is almost complete.

These Raid Bosses could be transitioned out in just a few weeks, so players should take advantage of the new challenges while they can.