Pokemon Sword And Shield's Newest Max Raid Event Features Lots Of Rock And Steel Types

Pokemon Sword and Shield's Gigantamax event has ended, but a new Max Raid event is now underway in the games. This one runs until July 31 and features a handful of Rock- and Steel-type Pokemon, including the Gigantamax forms of Coalossal and Copperajah.

Throughout the event, you'll have a chance to encounter the following Pokemon in Max Raid dens around the Wild Area in both Sword and Shield. You'll also earn a variety of helpful items for completing the Raids, including Nuggets, Star Pieces, and some rare berries.

• Onix
• Steelix
• Galarian Meowth
• Perrserker
• Rhyhorn
• Rhydon
• Rhyperior
• Rolycoly
• Carkol
• Coalossal (Gigantamax)
• Cufant
• Copperajah (Gigantamax)

Before you can participate in the event, you'll first need to refresh your Raid dens. You can do this either by connecting the Y-Comm online or going into Mystery Gift and selecting Get the Wild Area news.

The new Max Raid event follows on the heels of the recent Zeraora event, which saw players cooperating to defeat the Mythical Pokemon one million times. Since that goal was surpassed, The Pokemon Company is giving away a free Shiny Zeraora to all Sword and Shield players, even if you didn't participate in the event. To claim it, you'll need to transfer a Pokemon from Sword or Shield into Pokemon Home (or vice versa) before July 6; do that and you'll find the free Mythical Pokemon waiting in your Gift Box.

Alongside the Shiny Zeraora, The Pokemon Company is also giving away all three Galar starters with their Hidden Abilities, as well as a download code for Armorite Ore--a new item introduced in the Isle of Armor expansion. Among other uses, Armorite Ore can be exchanged to teach your Pokemon some brand-new items, making them valuable.

The Isle of Armor is the first of two DLC expansions releasing for Pokemon Sword and Shield this year. In our Isle of Armor review, critic Kallie Plagge wrote, "DLC is new to the main-series Pokemon games, and it's certainly a great alternative to replaying the same game a year or two later when the souped-up rerelease comes out. But like the traditional third or 'Ultra' version, The Isle of Armor does refine much of the experience we had in vanilla Sword and Shield, with a more interesting Wild Area to explore and some small quality-of-life tweaks that further the progress Gen 8 has made in that regard."