Change your Pokemon to brand new forms with the new Gigantamax feature in Pokemon Sword and Shield. Read on to find out how this affects the gameplay and what Pokemon are able to Gigantamax.

Overview

In addition to Dynamaxing, which is common in Galar Region, there is another phenomenon that causes Pokemon to not only become larger and boost their stats, but also to change to a new appearance and gain new exclusive G-Moves. This phenomenon is called Gigantamax!

How to Catch Gigantamax Pokemon

Only a select number of Pokemon species can Gigantamax, and even among members of a species, only a select few are able to Gigantamax. Gigantamax Pokemon are not obtainable in the wild; they can only be found rarely through Max Raid Battles, by giving Max Soup to a normal Pokemon, or as special gift Pokemon

There are some limited-time events during which Gigantamax Pokemon are more easily encountered in Max Raid Battles, so be sure not to miss these when they happen to get your hands on rare Gigantamax Pokemon!

List of Max Raid Events

How to Gigantamax

Unlike Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves from previous generations, trainers can use their Dynamax Band to transform their Pokemon into Dynamax or Gigantamax Pokemon only during Gym Battles, Champion's Cup, Online Battles and Max Raid Battles. In addition, like Dynamaxing, trainers' Pokemon can only remain in a Gigantamaxed state for three turns (although the wild Pokemon found in Max Raid Battles will remain Dynamaxed or Gigantamaxed throughout the battle).

Trainers can Gigantamax their Pokemon on any turn during a Gym Battle or an online battle; the Pokemon will change form at the start of the turn, and return to their original form after three turns have passed. Also, in these battles, each player can only Gigantamax their Pokemon once during a battle.

On the other hand, in Max Raid Battles, only one player is able to Dynamax or Gigantamax their Pokemon at a time, so players must strategize to determine which Pokemon is the best choice to power up.

G-Max Moves

Gigantamaxing allows each Gigantamax Pokemon to use an exclusive move known as a G-Max Move. Each G-Max Move is only known by a single species.

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When a Pokemon is Gigantamaxed, its damaging moves which match their G-Max Move's type will change temporarily into that move. As long as a Pokemon knows one damaging move matching the G-Max Move's type, the Pokemon will be able to use that move when it Gigantamaxes.

Max Moves

Just like Dynamax Pokemon, Gigantamax Pokemon are able to use Max Moves. All of the Pokemon's moves will change into Max Moves when they are Dynamaxed, except for moves which change into G-Max Moves.

Traits of Gigantamax Pokemon

Gigantamax Pokemon have a different appearance than Dynamax Pokemon, but other than that, they're surprisingly similar. Unlike Mega Evolutions, Gigantamax Pokemon's Base Stats remain the same as their original form.

They receive the same HP boost as Dynamax Pokemon. When Pokemon are Dynamaxed or Gigantamaxed, their max HP will be increased by 50%, and they will be healed of a portion of their damage to match their boosted health.

This HP boost can be increased by 5% for each Dynamax Candy given to the Pokemon, to a maximum of a 100% HP boost. These Dynamax Candy can be obtained as rewards from Max Raid Battles.

Distinguishing a Gigantamax Pokemon

A Pokemon which is able to Gigantamax can be distinguished by the Red X on their status screen. When the Dynamax option is selected on these Pokemon, they will transform into their Gigantamax form instead of the usual Dynamax form.

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