Wild Area News
Wild Area News (Japanese: ワイルドエリアニュース Wild Area News) is a feature in Pokémon Sword and Shield that expands on the available Max Raid Battles in the Wild Area, making certain Pokémon more common for a limited time. It can be accessed via Mystery Gift or updated automatically by connecting to the internet in game. Wild Area News typically spawns different Max Raid Battles depending on the game version. Certain species of Gigantamax Pokémon, which are usually very rare, are often made more common through Wild Area News events. Additionally, during the Wild Area News events, certain Pokémon such as Mewtwo and Zeraora sometimes cannot be captured.
Any Pokémon Den can spawn a Max Raid Battle from Wild Area News. Pokémon Dens that do so will always emit a red beam, indicating the "common" pool. In contrast to normal Max Raid Battles (which either only allow Pokémon in 4★ and 5★ raids to have their Hidden Abilities, or guarantee Pokémon in the Pokémon Den will always have their Hidden Abilities), all Pokémon that spawn from Wild Area News have a chance of having their Hidden Abilities. Wild Area News Raids battled after Version 1.2.0 and 1.3.0 can drop Armorite Ore and Dynite Ore, respectively, regardless of whether or not the player has purchased the Pokémon Sword and Shield Expansion Pass.
On October 13, 2022, the Pokémon HOME news section announced that the final update for Wild Area News would be on November 1, 2022.
Prior to the final update on November 1, 2022, when no other Wild Area News event was active, any Pokémon Den that would normally contain an event raid would default to the April 5, 2021 event data:
- Main article: Wild Area News/2021 → April 5, 2021 to November 1, 2022
List of Max Raid Battles
The following lists, in reverse chronological order, the encounter rates for Max Raid Battles from different Wild Area News events.
November 1, 2022, to End-of-life
This Wild Area News focuses on Gigantamax Pokémon, several of which are not typically available in the wild, as well as Ditto, Wooloo, and Dubwool.
The Pokémon HOME news section described these event raids as "featuring Pokémon that did not previously appear during normal play, such as Gigantamax Snorlax", and announced that Wild Area News would receive no further updates following this final update.
It is assumed this event will be available via Wild Area News until the Nintendo Switch eventually reaches End-of-life, at which point Wild Area News will become inaccessible, as servers will have shutdown.
| Pokémon | Games | Location | Levels | Rate | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ★ | ||||||||||||||
| Sw | Sh |  |
17 | 50% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
17 | 50% | ||||||||||
| ★★ | ||||||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
30 | 50% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
30 | 50% | ||||||||||
| ★★★ | ||||||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
40 | 50% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
40 | 50% | ||||||||||
| ★★★★ | ||||||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
50 | 50% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
50 | 50% | ||||||||||
| ★★★★★ | ||||||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 4% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 4% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 5% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 5% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 4% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 5% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 5% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 10% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 4% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 5% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 5% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 4% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 4% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 4% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 4% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 5% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 4% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 5% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 4% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 5% | ||||||||||
| Sw | Sh | |
60 | 5% | ||||||||||
| A colored background means that the Pokémon can be found in this location in the specified game. A white background with a colored letter means that the Pokémon cannot be found here. | ||||||||||||||
2022
- Main article: Wild Area News/2022
2021
- Main article: Wild Area News/2021
2020
- Main article: Wild Area News/2020
2019
- Main article: Wild Area News/2019
In other languages
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References
See also
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||