MaxRaids are an endgame mechanic in Pokemon Sword & Shield that reward players for challenging powerful Pokemon. Successfully beating these Raids and capturing the Pokemon afterward can result in the player obtaining a powerful Gigantamax Pokemon to battle with or add to the collection.
Yet this game feature isn’t without it’s flaws. Many players are discovering how much of a liability NPCs can be and the strange logic that comes into play during battle. Here are some memes demonstrating some of the insanity that goes on during these epic battles.
10 Raid All-Stars
Fighting Ditto can be a surprisingly tough challenge as the little guy will transform into one of the player’s Pokemon and be a Gigantamax version. As a result it requires players to be cautious when taking on this Raid Pokemon.
However there are three Pokemon that Ditto cannot mimic, leading to a handy exploit of sorts. This meme illustrates how Gigantamax Ditto would likely encounter the same three Pokemon over and over again as players exploit this. It would also be common regardless as players want to show off with the best of the best.
9 Tough
Players often enjoy any reason to brag in games. In multiplayer it’s common to hear such boasts being passed back and forth of their virtual deeds. This meme illustrates an boast that anyone familiar with Raids would admit is pretty tough.
Fighting with NPCs is bad enough, but NPCs who are utilizing Eevee, Solrock, and Dhelmise is particularly challenging. In fact its so hard that many players quickly abandon working with NPCs and will find human players to fight with. Anyone who stubbornly sticks it out with this kind of team definitely has bragging rights.
8 NPC AI
The Battle Tower is one of the more challenging aspects of the game. NPC trainers seem to have stunning strategies and implement brutal tactics to take down the player making it hard to progress. Which makes it so surprising that the NPCs who fight alongside the player in Raids don’t behave similarly.
This meme points out how it seems like the Battle Tower NPCS are being controlled by a mastermind AI like GLaDOS. Meanwhile the Raid NPCs are controlled by Wheatley, an AI literally programmed to think up horrible ideas.
7 Carrying The Team
Fighting Raids alongside NPCs can often lead to situations where the player is doing all the hard work and the NPCs are just kind of there. Players will bring their best Pokemon to the table while NPCs bring something random and not well suited to the situation.
This meme shows how it can feel to have a strong Pokemon like Zacian and carry the team and their poorly chosen fighters. Sure, having a bad NPC as a teammate is better than nothing, but it would be nice to have more reliable help now and then.
6 Cosmic Power
Solrock has earned an infamous reputation in Raid battles. While it can be useful it has a nasty habit of using Cosmic Power, a defense boosting move, when it should be attacking. This results in the player relying upon Solrock to attack, only to have it raising defense to defend against an attack from the enemy that could have been avoided.
As a result players have a bitter taste in their mouths when it comes to Solrock. It’s also become the go-to Pokemon for griefers wanting to harass other players in important Raids.
5 The First Raid
There’s a tongue in cheek joke among the fanbase that Gigantamax Pokemon are evidence that Niantic has run out of ideas. Instead of coming up with new designs they’ve simply made the originals bigger and made slight tweaks.
This meme pokes a bit of fun at this concept by showing an early episode of the anime Mystery At The Lighthouse with a giant Dragonite and calling it a Dynamax Raid. While it was a fun homage to The Fog Horn by Ray Bradbury it didn’t make sense at the time why Dragonite was so big. Perhaps this meme is right in suggesting it was the first Gigantamaxed Pokemon.
4 Last Move
Whittling down a Raid Pokemon’s shields down to make it vulnerable to attack takes quite a bit of effort and timing. Having that shield down is an exciting moment to get some damage in or possible finish the fight.
It’s because of this that it’s so frustrating when an NPC directs their Pokemon to use a meaningless status move instead of an attack. This meme illustrates the frustration many players often feel in this situation.
3 GameFreak Design
Many players have claimed GameFreak intentionally made the Raid NPCs bad. Evidence of this, they claim, is the fact that the Battle Tower teams are so capable in battle that they seem almost unstoppable.
Meanwhile the Raid teams buff when they should attack and send out Pokémon weak to the one their facing while keeping their strong monsters in reserve. It’s such a night and day contrast that it does seem likely the NPCs were intentionally throttled to some degree.
2 Didn’t Do Anything
What’s worst about the NPCs is that they have no concept of how well or how badly they did in battle. The NPC could have been utterly useless and they’ll still walk away from battle with a cheery demeanor patting themselves on the back.
It’s hard not to be frustrated at these clueless individuals and feels a lot like this meme demonstrates. Yet at the end of the day NPCs are entirely optional if the player can find someone else to play with. As a result, it sometimes feels like the pain and frustration is a bit masochistic.
1 NPC Counter Logic
Probably the worst offense for NPC trainers in Raid battles is that they will not use Pokémon strong against the element type. If anything they’ll occasionally pick a Pokemon weak to whatever they’re facing.
Granted, they could be taking lessons from Ash in the anime, but it seems like such a basic thing to ignore. It seems like such a simple rule to program in that it’s shocking GameFreak hasn’t done so. If anything, they’re adding more fuel to the conspiracy theories that the NPCs ineffectiveness is intentional.
