Pokemon Go: April Raid Guide

Pokemon Go offers Raids when you’re adventuring within its app. Raids require Trainers to group up with others to take on extremely powerful and challenging Pokemon, rewarding you with the opportunity to catch and add that Pokemon to your team upon its defeat.

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

Updated on March 29, 2023: With a new month comes a change in the Pokemon found in Raids. We now know what to expect throughout the month of April, including Five-Star Raids, Mega Raids, Elite Raids, and Raid Hours. This month will bring multiple returning legendary Pokemon to Five-Star Raids for a limited time, familiar Mega Evolutions in Mega Raids, and a brand-new Elite Raid Pokemon. Here’s everything you need to prepare for April 2023.

Five-Star Raids

Throughout the month of April, there will be three different Legendary Pokemon in Five-Star Raids: Lugia, Incarnate Forme Landorus, and Tapu Bulu. Each of these Pokemon will be available in Raids for either one or two weeks, allowing you to battle and add each of these Legendaries to your Pokemon Go collection.

Below, you can find the window of time that each of these Legendary Pokemon will be appearing in Five-Star Raids.

Mega Raids

This month, you can expect to see four different Mega Evolutions in Pokemon Go Mega Raids: Mega Alakazam, Mega Lopunny, Mega Blastoise, and Mega Slowbro. Although there are no new Mega Evolutions making their debut, this is still a great opportunity to stock up on Mega Energy for these Pokemon.

In addition to earning an encounter with each of these Pokemon, you will be awarded Mega Energy for the Pokemon that you defeat in these Raids — this is a resource used to obtain and use Mega Evolutions of your own. These Pokemon will be available during different windows of time, for one or two weeks, throughout this month, each provided below.

Elite Raids

Elite Raids will have you and other Trainers battle an extremely powerful Raid Pokemon, surpassing the difficulty of all other Raid tiers in the game.

In addition, these Raids differ from other Raids due to their in-person requirement, restricting the use of Remote Raid Passes when taking part in this new PvE feature. This means that you will have to group up with other Trainers locally to successfully take out Pokemon in Elite Raids, as it will be impossible to complete solo.

For the month of April, there is currently one date when Elite Raids will take place: Sunday, April 9, 2023. It has been revealed that this round of Elite Raids will be featuring either Regieleki, a Pokemon that will be appearing in Pokemon Go for the first time.

If it’s like past Elite Raids brought to the game, you can expect there to be Elite Raids on this date at 11 am, 2 pm, and 5 pm. Make sure to group up with other players and participate in them if possible, as it is unclear when you’ll get another chance to obtain Regieleki in the future.

Raid Hours

Pokemon Go will be hosting Raid Hours every Wednesday throughout the month of April. Taking place from 6 pm to 7 pm local time on whichever date they occur, each of these four Raid Hour events will feature one of the Five-Star Raid Pokemon available for this month: Lugia, Incarnate Forme Landorus, and Tapu Bulu.

Functioning like past Raid Hours, each featured Pokemon will be the only Pokemon in Raids during this window of time, taking place more frequently than they normally do. These Pokemon and the date of their Raid Hours are provided below.