Pokemon Go Raids Have New Bosses

Pokemon Go has received a number of big updates over the past year, but one of the most notable changes was the introduction of Raid Battles. Beginning this past June, players could team up with friends to battle against powerful boss Pokemon at Gyms. Aside from appearances by new Legendary Pokemon, however, Raids have featured the same list of bosses since the feature first rolled out back in summer--until now.

Pokemon Go developer Niantic has refreshed the list of boss Pokemon players can encounter in Raid Battles (via Eurogamer). Surprisingly, Niantic didn't advertise the change in advance of its implementation; instead, the developer quietly rolled it out over the past weekend.

Among the changes Niantic has made to Raids are their duration. Before, players would have a full hour to complete a Raid after the boss Pokemon hatched; now, the Raid Battle will last for 45 minutes. As far as new Pokemon go, Metapod is now a tier-1 Raid Boss, while Ivysaur, Charmeleon, and Wartortle have replaced the Gen 2 starter evolutions as bosses. Porygon has been added as a tier-3 Raid Boss, while Golem, Victreebel, Poliwrath, Nidoking, and Nidoqueen are new tier-4 encounters.

Not all of the previous Raid Bosses have been replaced, so players will still be able to encounter and capture powerful Pokemon like Snorlax, Tyranitar, and Gengar. Additionally, the three Legendary dogs Entei, Raikou, and Suicune are currently available in their final regions. Players will be able to battle the Legendaries as tier-5 Raid bosses until November 30.

In addition to standard Raids, Niantic has a new type of encounter called EX Raids in the works for Pokemon Go. Players need to receive an invitation in order to take part in EX Raids, which will be the only way to encounter certain Pokemon like the Legendary Psychic-type Mewtwo. Niantic hasn't announced when it will implement EX Raids in full, but the developer has said it will fix the invitation system following several weeks of field-testing the feature.