Exclusive raids in ‘Pokémon Go’ bring Mewtwo to the game — here’s how they work

Pokémon Go exclusive raid battles will be the only way to get Mewtwo soon, or so said Niantic in their latest blog post. Alongside the introduction of everyone’s favorite Mew clone, Pokémon Go will dial back the difficulty of raid battles. They’ll do this not by making the Pokémon weaker, but by scheduling in advance when you’ll fight a legendary Pokémon.

Besides the fancy name, how exactly is an exclusive raid battle different from your standard, vanilla raid battle? Here’s what we know.

Pokémon Go exclusive raids, unlike regular ones, will offer up Mewtwo

Normal raids let you catch average Pokémon like Arcanine, Bayleef and Magmar. Exclusive raids will let you catch Pokémon that are a bit more rare.

Mewtwo will be the first exclusive raid Pokémon available when the new feature launches. Unless you went to the Yokohama event the weekend of Aug. 12, then you probably don’t have your Psychic legendary. If you didn’t hop across the ocean, you’ll need to gain access to one of these exclusive new raid battles.

Pokémon Go exclusive raids are invite only

Difficult captures like Zapdos and Moltres were made only more difficult when there were no other trainers to fight alongside you. Exclusive raid battles adds an element to the mix that fixes all that — scheduling.

Pokémon Go now will give you time to prepare in advance for raids because of this invitation system. Here’s Niantic on how invitations will work,

To receive an invitation to participate in an exclusive raid battle, trainers must have successfully completed a raid recently, by defeating the raid boss, at the gym where the exclusive raid battle will be taking place. The invitations will include advance warning of when the exclusive raid will take place, giving them ample time to coordinate with other trainers before taking on the powerful raid boss.

It will be interesting to see how much of a heads-up exclusive raid battles will offer players. A couple of weeks in advance would indeed be “ample” time, but a week in advance would be appreciated as well.

Pokémon Go exclusive raids could come to other legendaries as well

The news post by Niantic introducing exclusive raid battles doesn’t mention that Lugia, Articuno, Moltres or Zapdos will be available via this new form of raid battle. If these exclusive raids are successful, we could see this type of battle as the new standard for legendary Pokémon introductions. If it means a higher chance of catching those oh-so-rare Pokémon, sign us up.

Check out more Pokémon Go news and coverage

Raids are here, and so are Articuno, Lugia and now Moltres! See how to locate the best ones and why they may be the key to legendary Pokémon. Find out how to determine how long it will take you to reach level 40, and see what we think of the Gen 2 Pokémon added to the game. And here’s where you can check out what you missed during the Water Festival and Solstice events.