How to dodge attacks in Pokemon GO Max Battles

Following the recent changes to Pokemon GO's Raid Battle system, many players are finding themselves under constant fire from high-damaging charged attacks from bosses. While most trainers are already familiar with dodging, the feature works slightly different in the Max Battles introduced during the Max Out season. Dodging charged attacks now requires more skill than just swiping left and right.

Here is everything players need to know about dodging in Pokemon GO's new Max Battles.

---

Dodging in Pokemon GO's Max Battle raids

With higher-level Max Battles being introduced to the game, dodging is more important than ever (Image via Niantic)

It is important to know that not every attack in Pokemon GO Max Battles can be dodged. Fast attacks from the Raid Boss will always connect. However, much like standard raids, players can tell when a boss is preparing a powerful move through text that appears on the screen prior to the attack being fired off.

In Max Battles, this is a notification stating that the boss is targeting the player's Pokemon. Once this notification appears on the screen, the trainer will see an icon briefly appear over their creature. This icon starts off as a white color and then turns red right before the attack hits. Swiping left or right before this icon turns red will command the active battler to dodge the attack.

It should also be noted that dodging an attack does not completely nullify its damage. Players will take a decreased amount of damage that gets greater the lower their Pokemon's HP is. Once a battler gets to around 5% health, dodging will result in them taking as little damage as possible.

During Max Battles in Pokemon GO, Max Energy bubbles can be seen rising from the battlefield every now and then. Trainers can dodge with their Pokemon, putting them into these bubbles to charge the Dynamax meter at an even faster rate than just dealing damage.

---

Tips for challenging Max Battles in Pokemon GO

Max Battles are the only places where Dynamax Pokemon can be used (Image via Niantic)

Max Battles can prove to be incredibly challenging for new players due to their gameplay heavily revolving around the Dynamax mechanic, which is unfamiliar to those who have not played the main series. This is especially true with the release of Dynamax Beldum, the most difficult Max Raid Boss in Pokemon GO as of writing.

In these battles, it is important for trainers to Dynamax their Pokemon as fast as possible. Energy to activate this form is generated the same way as energy for charged attacks.

As mentioned prior, bubbles will appear during these fights that players can swipe into to collect bonus energy, allowing them to Dynamax their creature faster.

---

For more information on Pokemon GO, check out our other articles:

• Ditto disguises
• Sierra counters
• Cliff counters
• Arlo counters
• Giovanni counters
• Team GO Rocket Grunts