Pokemon Sword and Shield are the newest generation of Pokemon games, currently available for the Nintendo Switch. Combined, these two have sold an impressive 18.22 million units, had several updates, and are still bringing in new DLC and themed events, like the August Max Raid Event.
Max Raid Events are usually month-long events where players can catch special Pokemon. The themes are usually centered around different types of Pokemon, like Rock-type or Fairy-type, although there was recently a Pikachu-themed event. Players can catch special versions of the themed Pokemon, like Gigantamax and those with special stats. And all month long in August, Sword and Shield will have two different types that players can catch. These events are centered mostly around Raid dens, which are located inside Sword and Shield's Wild Areas.
The Max Raid event for August 2020 is themed around Water- and Ground-type Pokemon. Similar to the Rock- and Steel-type Sword and Shield event last month, players will find that certain types of Water and Ground Pokemon will appear more often in Raid dens and even out in the wild. Players can also find Gigantamax Pokemon like Drednaw and Sandaconda with their Gigantamax abilities triggered.
There are a variety of Water and Ground Pokemon that have been boosted for this event, including:
- Chewtle
- Feebas
- Wooper
- Silicobra
- Hippopotas
- Shellos
- Quagsire
- Gastrodon
- Milotic
- Hippowdon
- Drednaw - Gigantamax-boosted.
- Sandaconda - Gigantamax-boosted.
These Gigantamax-boosted Pokemon featured in this event are pretty much the only way that players without the Isle of Armor DLC can get them. There are no Pokemon Sword or Pokemon Shield exclusives in these events, so all these Ground and Water Pokemon can be battled and caught in either game version.
While Water- and Ground-types are the flavor of the month for this event, keep and eye out for invasion events. These allow non-Water and Ground Pokemon to invade the Raid dens. This way, even if a player isn't interested in more Ground- or Water-type Pokemon, they can get a different type all together with special abilities.
The Water- and Ground-type August Max Raid Event will last all month until 11:59PM UTC on August 31st, 2020, so players will have all month to catch 'em all. Pokemon Sword and Shield have been throwing these Max Raid events since January, so players will most likely have several more months of Max Raids to look forward to in these games. Hopefully, players will get to see more themed events around specific Pokemon, so they can catch all the different versions of their favorite Pocket Monsters.
Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield are available on the Nintendo Switch.
Sources: Serebii, PrimaGames, Twitter