One of the most exciting new features of the Crown Tundra DLC Expansion for Sword & Shield is the Max Lair or Dynamax Adventure, where the player can team up with three others to take down a series of Pokémon and eventually attempt to defeat and capture a Legendary Pokémon.
The game does, of course, give a short tutorial on how to use the Max Lair, but there are still a few questions that are left to the player to answer on their own. Here are some tips and things you need to know about the Max Lair.
10 Availability
The promotional material for the Crown Tundra and many fans online have stated that any Legendary can be caught in the Max Lair. This is, of course, only mostly true. There are some Legendaries that cannot be caught in the Max Lair.
These include the Swords of Justice (Terrakion, Cobalion, Virizion), which are caught via Sonia’s footprint process, most Mythicals, Cosmog, Cosmoem, the Gen VII Legendaries (Zacian, Zamazenta, Eternatus, Kubfu, Urshifu, Calyrex, Glastrier, and Spectrier), the Galarian Legendary Birds, Poipole, and the Regis.
9 Only One Keeper
If you complete a full Dynamax Adventure, you will have defeated four Pokémon: the first three encounters and then the final boss Legendary. No matter how far you make it through the adventure, though, you’ll only be able to keep one of these Pokémon.
In many cases, the choice is obvious: keep the Legendary. But, there are a few reasons that this might not be the choice. First, if the Legendary is not defeated or the player declines an attempt to catch it, it won’t be an option to keep, so they might want to select one of the first three encounters.
Second, if one of the earlier Pokémon is shiny, it’s probably better to keep it than a regular Legendary that can be encountered again. Lastly, if the Legendary has already been encountered and caught, the player is not given an option to catch it again. You can also opt to leave without taking any Pokémon.
8 Type Display
The encounters leading up to the Legendary and the Legendary itself are all obscured behind red clouds, making it a bit of a surprise which Pokémon it will be. However, it’s important to note that the type hint displayed only shows one of the Pokémon’s types if it’s a dual-type.
This is a key thing to remember, as some types lose their weaknesses when paired with other types that resist them. For example, if the Legendary is Zapdos, the hint might say “Electric,” leading players to grab a Ground-type, only to find out that it’s immune because of its Flying-typing.
7 Peonia’s Help
Peony’s rebellious daughter, Peonia, will hang out in the lobby of the Max Lair after she is encountered during the first trip inside the den. Here, she’ll give the player small hints and suggestions for their next raid.
Once in a while, Peonia will offer a few helpful things. She’ll sometimes give the player new clothing items, but, more interestingly, will tell you the location of a specific Legendary for a handful of Dynite Ore. If the player agrees to the exchange, they can then specifically request that Legendary from the scientist when entering their next raid.
6 Jot it Down!
An important part of the Max Raid process in the Max Lair is the scientist’s notes. After failing to defeat a Legendary or declining a catch attempt for it, the scientist will offer to write down where you found that specific Pokémon. Or, she will have the location after learning it from Peonia.
Now, the player can force that Legendary to be the next one encountered by selecting it from the scientist’s list when entering their next raid.
It’s important to note that only three can be recorded. If the player has three jotted down, the scientist will make them replace one with a new one, if they so choose. You can, however, choose not to record one if you wish.
5 Shinies
One of the most exciting draws to this new raid system is the high potential to catch shiny Pokémon, and especially shiny Legendaries. However, there are a few things to know about obtaining shinies from the Max Lair.
The Legendary Pokémon at the end of the adventure and all of the encounters in between can be shiny. However, they won’t show up shiny in the actual battle. It won’t be until the end when the game prompts you to choose which Pokémon you’d like to keep that they’ll show up shiny.
It’s recommended that if you defeat the Legendary but one of the earlier encounters ends up being shiny that the shiny Pokémon is chosen. A Legendary can be encountered again, and even recorded by the scientist to be specifically requested again — a shiny cannot.
4 Helpful Encounters
There are helpful things that can be encountered during a Dynamax Adventure. The first is a small pile of Berries. If this is encountered in the path chosen by the players, it will heal missing HP on any of the team’s Pokémon.
The second is a scientist. This NPC will offer each of the players a chance to swap their current Pokémon for the scientist’s. Which Pokémon the scientist has is not known unless it is selected. If more than one person opts for the new Pokémon, only one will receive it, much like the option to take a defeated encounter Pokémon.
The final helpful encounter is a backpacker, who will offer a random assortment of items for the player’s Pokémon to hold, ranging from Leftovers to Blunder Policies.
3 Catch Rate
It’s a relief to know that the encountered Pokémon in a Dynamax Adventure apparently have a 100 percent catch rate. This means that the player need not worry about it breaking out of a Ball, especially the Legendary.
This also means that you can stock up on the cheapest option — regular old Poké Balls — rather than something more expensive like an Ultra Ball, since each Ball effectively has the same catch rate.
2 How to Get Poipole
Players interested in getting their hands on the Ultra Beast Poipole need to know that it isn’t encountered in the Max Lair in the normal way that most other Legendaries are. There’s a simple, albeit tedious, process to finding Poipole.
The player will need to catch five Ultra Beasts in Max Lair runs, which can only be done after completing the first three Legendary Clues from Peony. After this, the fourth, called “Legendary Clue?” can be found on his cabin floor.
After doing this and then encountering five Ultra Beasts in Max Lair runs, Poipole will appear in the lobby under the monitor. Speaking to it will allow you to add it to your team. Unfortunately, Poipole is shiny-locked.
1 Joining Others
One way to get your hands on Ultra Beasts before finishing the necessary steps is to join someone else’s raids. This isn’t done the same way as normal Max Raid Battles on the Y-Comm, however. A player cannot see someone calling for help on the Y-Comm and opt to join in.
Instead, it seems players are matched up randomly with others who also select the “Invite Others” option when starting a Dynamax Adventure. If you’re lucky, the randomly-selected host will be after something you’re looking for.
NEXT: 10 Pokémon You Forgot Were Normal-Type
