Everything you need to know about December's Pokemon Go raids

Pokemon Go offers raids while you are within your app. Raids Ask trainers to team up with others to take on extremely strong and challenging Pokémon, and they reward you with the opportunity to catch and add that Pokémon to your team after defeating it.

Each month, some of the Pokemon seen in Raids will change; traditionally the ones that are stronger and appear in higher level Raid Battles. Pokemon Go will make several Legendary and Mega-Evolved Pokemon available in Raids, with each of these Pokemon appearing at specific times throughout the month. This guide will be updated monthly, so be sure to check back for the latest information on Pokemon Go Raiding.

Updated on December 1, 2024 by Christian Pellegrino: With the new moon comes a change in Pokemon found in Raids. We already know what awaits us during the month of December, including Five-Star Raids, Mega Raids, Shadow Raids and Raid Hours. This month will bring several returning Raid Pokémon, giving you the opportunity to catch each of them and add them to your Pokémon Go collection. Here's everything you need to prepare for December 2024.

Five star raids

For the whole month of December, it will only be two different Pokemon appearing in five-star raids, less than most other months. For December this includes:

Each of these five-star raid Pokemon will be available in raids for at least a week, giving you plenty of time to raid and catch each of these legendary Pokemon. Below you can find the exact window of time each of these Pokemon will appear in five-star raids during the month of December.

The start and end time of each window in which these Pokémon appear in Raids will be
10 a.m. local time.

Mega raids

You can look forward to this month four different Mega Evolutions in Pokemon Go Mega Raids. You'll be able to meet and catch both of these Pokémon throughout the month of December, with each available at set days and times.

In the month of December, Mega Banette, Mega Latios, Mega Latias and Mega Abomasnow appears in Mega Raids.

In addition to getting encounters with each of these Pokemon, you get Mega Energy for the Pokemon you defeat in these raids — this is the resource used to get and use your own Mega Evolutions.

These Pokemon will be available in different time windows throughout this month, each of which is listed below.

The start and end times of each window in which these Pokémon appear in Raids will be
10 a.m. local time.

Elite raids

Elite raids you and the other trainers will battle an extremely powerful Raid Pokemon, surpasses the difficulty of all other Raid levels in the game.

Furthermore, these raids differ from other raids due to their personal requirement, restrictions on the use of Remote Raid Passes when participating in this new PvE feature.

This means you'll need to team up with other local trainers to successfully defeat Pokemon in Elite Raids, as it won't be possible to complete solo.

For December 2024, there are currently no Elite Raid Days announced. That being said, Elite Raid Day can always be added to the calendar, so keep an eye out for Pokemon Go news and announcements throughout the month.

If there is an Elite Raid Day announced for December, you can expect to find featured Pokémon in Elite Raids throughout the day and appear at specific times on the day of the event.

Elite Raid Eggs will appear in Raids before the start of Elite Raid Day
so be sure to take that into account when deciding your location.

Raid hours

Pokemon Go will host multiple Raid Hours throughout december scheduled for every Wednesday this month.

Taking place from 18:00 local time to 19:00 local time, there will be several raid hours during the month of December. Each of these Raid Hour events will introduce a specific Five-Star or Mega Raid Pokemon, Pokemon available in Raids during the month of December including:

• Genesect (Chill Drive)
• Mega Latios
• Mega Latias

The listed Pokemon that works like past raid hours will be the only Pokemon in raids during that time window, take place more often than usual. These Pokemon and their Raid Hours date are listed below.

Shadow raids

Shadow raids are a new feature recently introduced to Pokemon Go, Raids task you with defeating various Shadow Pokemon in exchange for a chance to catch and claim them. Similar to Elite Raids, these Raids can only be done in person, disallowing participation through the use of Remote Raid Passes.

Additionally, as time passes in these raids, the Shadow Pokémon become enraged, increase their offensive and defensive stats. An enraged Shadow Pokémon can be defeated by using Cleaned gems, restore your stats to their original level.

In the month of December, you can expect to find Shadow Realm in Shadow Raids during weekends. Make sure you go into this raid with the right preparations as it will not be an easy battle.

Necrozma Fusion Raid Day

There will be one Raid-focused event this month, that is Necrozma Fusion Raid Daytaking place on the day Saturday 14 December 2024 from 14:00 to 17:00 local time. During this event, both Dusk Mane Necrozma and Dawn Wings Necrozma will appear more frequently in Raids.

This promotion is a great opportunity to get
Fusion energy
a resource needed to fuse Lunala or Solgalea with Necrozma.

In addition, several bonuses will be active during this event. These three bonuses include:

• Higher encounter probability Shiny Necrozma after completing their raid.
• Gain five extra free raid passes from visiting Pokemon Gyms.
• Use up to 20 Remote Raid Passes (Friday, December 13, 2024 at 5:00 PM PST through Saturday, December 14, 2024 at 8:00 PM PST).