Near the very start of the Crown Tundra storyline, one of your missions was to visit the Max Lair and go on a Dynamax Adventure to search for the foolhardy Peony. Afterwards, you can speak to the scientist at the front of the cave entrance to go on more Dynamax Adventures.

To recap, Dynamax Adventure is a new game mode where you can team up with 3 other players (or the AI) to challenge consecutive Max Raid Battles. Unlike usual, you cannot use your own Pokémon. Instead, you’ll choose rental Pokémon that are randomly provided. You’ll also have opportunities to swap your rental Pokémon during an adventure.

Starting an Adventure¶

Before starting a Dynamax Adventure, you’ll be prompted to save your game. Go ahead, unless you’ve done something you regret.

Next, you’ll be asked to invite other players or not. This works similarly to inviting players for Max Raid Battles. If you choose to invite, the game will match you with players online or locally, depending on your Y-Comm communication settings.

Once everyone is ready, players will take turns to choose from three rental Pokémon (with a time limit of 20 seconds). You can see the Pokémon’s Types, moves and Ability. Pressing the + button will display the Pokémon’s stats. You may find Pokémon here that you probably wouldn’t use normally, such as unevolved Pokémon.

Please check this page for a full list of rental Pokémon.

The Adventure Map¶

Your group will start at the bottom of the map; your task is to travel upwards, to where the Legendary Pokémon resides. Ahead, there will be multiple branching paths. Each path leads to a different Pokémon. In total, you’ll fight up to 4 Pokémon (including the Legendary). The Pokémon are obscured by a dark fog, but the game will display one of their Types.

Be cautious because many Pokémon have two Types. For example, there’s a Water-type so you might think you’ll win with an Electric-type. Then it turns out to be a Water/Ground Seismitoad. Besides the Legendary who’s fully covered by fog, it’s possible to guess the Pokémon behind the fog if they have a big and/or distinctive silhouette.

Each time you approach a branch in the path, you’ll have 20 seconds to cast a vote for which path to follow. When the time’s up, you’ll all automatically travel along the path with the most votes. Since you can’t go backwards, choosing a path may prevent you from choosing certain path(s) later on. If you need to check the paths further up, you can scroll the map using the right analogue stick.

Dynamax Battles¶

When you encounter a Dynamax Pokémon, the rules of battle are essentially the same as Max Raid Battles. To summarise, you must work together to defeat a Pokémon that’s permanently Dynamaxed.

Each turn, a player will have the chance to Dynamax their own Pokémon for 3 turns. On turn 1, player 1 can Dynamax and so forth. Your team can only fit one Dynamax Pokémon. So if player 1 Dynamaxes, players 2 and 3 will have to wait until later. The order which players can Dynamax is preserved between fights. So if it was player 2’s turn to Dynamax at the end of the last fight, player 3 can Dynamax first in the next fight.

Unlike regular Max Raid Battles, the opponent will never create any shields. This means that individual battles should be quicker than usual, as you don’t need to waste turns weakening the shield. Also, you can freely inflict status ailments or lower the stats of your opponent. But keep in mind that it can neutralize these effects occasionally.

The battles will proceed until you’ve exhausted the opponent’s HP. If you win, you can choose to catch the Pokémon or not. In Dynamax Adventures, you have a guaranteed catch rate, regardless of Pokémon or Poké Ball thrown. However, if you lose all 4 lives or an individual battle exceeds 10 turns, the adventure will end prematurely.

Afterwards¶

After winning a fight, if you caught the Pokémon, you can choose to swap your current rental Pokémon with the new Pokémon. However, only one player in your team will borrow the new Pokémon. If multiple players choose to swap, the game will assign it to a random player.

Finally, when the adventure is over (after you’ve defeated the Legendary of if you were defeated partway through), you can choose to keep one of the Pokémon you’ve captured (maximum of 4). If unsure, you can check the summary of the Pokémon to decide. In general, you’ll probably want to pick the Legendary or, if you’re lucky, a Shiny Pokémon.

Next, you’ll be awarded Dynite Ore depending on your progress and performance in the adventure. You can spend this ore by speaking to the backpacker towards the right, in the Max Lair lobby.

Finally, your game will automatically be saved.

Legendary Paths¶

For those of you who reached the Legendary but were either defeated by it or chose not to capture/keep the Legendary, the scientist at the front will offer to save a path to the Legendary. The next time you begin an adventure, you can choose this path, which will guarantee that Legendary’s appearance at the end.

Up to 3 Legendary paths can be saved at one time. If you get a new path, you’ll asked if you want to overwrite an existing path. You can also receive random path suggestions if you speak to Peonia after each adventure. She’ll request 5 Dynite Ore to add the suggested path to your list. So remember to say “hi”!