Pokémon GO Max Battles Guide: Best Strategies, Moves, and Top Pokémon (June 2026)

Max Battles are a unique and exciting feature in Pokémon GO which often require planning and teamwork. This guide should help you to improve your battling skills in this very exciting game mode.

Format

Max battles are fought in person with teams of up to 4 Trainers, each using 3 max Pokémon. The battles require you to work together to charge the max meter which in turn allows your max Pokémon to Dynamax/Gigantamax and enter the max phase where they use their powerful max moves to win the battle. In general, Max Pokémon can be categorised into three types – Defenders, Healers and Attackers.

Defenders

Defenders are your workhorse Pokémon that will do their job outside of the Max phase. Important factors for these Pokémon include having high Defence and HP stats, being resistant to the moves from the opposing Pokémon, and also having a 0.5 second fast move which will charge the Max meter as fast as possible. These Pokémon will benefit from having their Guard max move levelled up.

See our updated Defenders tier list here.

Healers

Healers are your high HP Pokémon that will heal the team in the Max phase. Important factors for these Pokémon include having high HP stats and Max Spirit levelled up.

See our updated Healers tier list here.

Attackers

Attackers are your powerhouses that will pop out during the max phase to dish out as much damage as they can with their powerful Max attacks. These Pokémon require a high Attack stat, levelled up Max attack, being super effective against the opposing Pokémon type, and it massively helps if they are the Gigantamax version as well.

See our updated Attackers tier list here.

Battle flow

Battles will generally play out in the following pattern.

1. Start with your Defender Pokémon using ONLY Fast moves – Charged attacks are slow and will slow down your progress in charging the max meter, the tiny amount of extra damage they do is negligible in Max Battles. Continually attack until the Max meter is charged!
2. During this time if the opposing Pokémon targets you – which will be indicated by three white lines above your Pokémon’s head – then a simple swipe to the side will dodge this attack and reduce the damage, no timing necessary, just swipe either way when you see the three lines.
3. Also during this time a bonus, pink Max meter Charge icon might appear next to your Pokémon, if it does, swipe into it and your Pokémon will collect it and boost the max meter even more.

Once the Max meter is charged, a 3 second timer will start in which time you can choose which Pokémon you want to enter the Max phase.

• During the Max phase you can use 3 Max moves from the available moves on your chosen Pokémon.
• After the max phase has ended, you can switch back to your defender if necessary (there is no cooldown on switching Pokémon).

What Are Max Moves?

There are three different types of Max Moves:

• Max Attack, a strong offensive move with high base power
• Max Guard, a move that adds bonus HP to the user that blocks damage taken
• Max Spirit, a move that heals the user and all allied Pokémon in the Max Battle by a percentage of the user’s max HP

How is Max Attack Typing Decided?

Each Max Pokémon has a Max attack move. For Gigantamax Pokémon this is a fixed, predetermined type that cannot be altered, however for Dynamax Pokémon the type of the Max attack is determined by the type of the Fast move the Pokémon is currently using.

So if a Dynamax Pokémon is using a Rock Fast move the Max attack will also be Rock type. This allows for more flexibility, even if the Dynamax Max attack deals 100 base damage less than Gigantamax attack.

<span class="hub-title-with-icon">How to level up your Max Moves</span>

Max Moves can be unlocked and upgraded on your Max Pokémon. These moves can be levelled up to levels 1, 2, and 3 by spending a certain amount of Max particles, Candy, and Candy XL. The amount of Candy and Candy XL needed per level depends on the specific Pokémon species, with each species being assigned to group 1, 2, 3, or 4. For a listing of groups by species, see Max Move upgrade cost groups.

All Dynamax Pokémon start with their Max Attack unlocked at level 1. Max Guard and Max Spirit start out locked. Upgraded and unlocked Max Moves are not reset to their initial levels if the Pokémon is evolved or by using a Fast TM to change the type of Max Attack.

However, upgraded Max Moves are reset back to Level 1 if the Pokémon is traded.

Max Move effects

General Team Tactics

For harder Max battles some team tactics might be necessary. It can be very beneficial for one of your team to focus on being a “Tank”, this means this Trainer will use their Defender in the Max phase to add Guard to themselves, and heal others. 

This allows other team members to use their attackers in the max phase to do maximum damage. This helps because the Pokémon with the most Shields will ALWAYS be targeted by the Max Boss, therefore it becomes much easier to control the battle.

🛡️ Best Defenders for Max Battles

Defenders are Pokémon that attack using their 0.5 second fast move to charge the max meter as quickly as possible whilst also resisting as many of the attacks from the opponent as possible.

As these Pokémon will not be attacking in the max phase it does not matter if they are the Dynamax or Gigantamax versions. If you are taking the Tank role in your team then you can enter the max phase with these Pokémon and apply Max Guard. If you are not the tank then when the 3 second timer begins for max phase you need to switch to your attacker or healer and then after the max phase IMMEDIATELY switch back to your defender.

See the full Defenders Tier list here

Currently these are the best Defenders available:

Pokémon	Defence/HP (Total) stat	Fast Move	Weaknesses	Resistances
Registeel	285/190 (475)	Metal Claw Steel/Lock-On Normal	x1.6 Fighting Fire Ground	x0.625 Dragon Grass Ice Normal Steel Bug Rock Fairy Flying Psychic x0.39 Poison
Crowned Shield Zamazenta	292/192 (484)	Metal Claw Steel	x1.6 Fighting Fire Ground	x0.625 Dark Dragon Grass Ice Normal Steel x0.39 Poison Bug Rock
Crowned Sword Zacian	240/192 (432)	Metal Claw Steel	x1.6 Fire Ground	x0.625 Dark Fairy Grass Flying Normal Ice Poison Psychic Rock x0.39  Bug x0.24 Dragon
Regirock	309/190 (499)	Lock-On Normal	x1.6 Fighting Grass Ground Steel Water	x0.625 Normal Fire Poison Flying
Metagross	228/190 (418)	Fury Cutter Bug/Shadow Claw Ghost	x1.6 Dark Fire Ghost Ground	x0.625 Dragon Flying Fairy Grass Ice Normal Rock Steel x0.39 Poison Psychic
Regice	309/190 (499)	Lock-On Normal	x1.6 Fighting Fire Rock Steel	x0.625 Ice
Latias	246/190 (436)	Dragon Breath Dragon	x1.6 Bug Dark Dragon Fairy Ghost Ice	x0.625 Electric Fighting Fire Grass Psychic Water
Corviknight	192/221 (413)	Sand Attack Ground	x1.6 Electric Fire	x0.625 Dragon Fairy Flying Ground Psychic Normal Steel x0.39 Poison BugGrass
Suicune	235/225 (460)	Water Gun Water	x1.6 Electric Grass	x0.625 Ice Steel Fire Water
Duraludon	185/172 (359)	Metal Claw Steel	x1.6 Fighting Ground	x0.625 Bug Electric Flying Normal Psychic Rock Steel Water x0.39 Poison Grass

Best Healers for Max Battles

Healers are Pokémon that use their Max Spirit in the max phase of battle to heal themselves and their allies. It is important for these Pokémon to have a high HP stat.

As these Pokémon will not be attacking in the max phase it does not matter if they are the Dynamax or Gigantamax versions.

See the full Healers Tier list here

Currently these are the best Healers available:

Pokémon	HP stat
Blissey	496
Wailord	347
Snorlax	330
Lapras	277
Vaporeon	277
Eternatus	268
Greedent	260
Entei	251
Walrein	242
Excadrill	242

⚔️ Best Attackers for Max Battles

As mentioned earlier Attackers are Pokémon that you bring out exclusively during the max phase of the battle to do maximum damage. With this in mind the Defence and HP of these Pokémon is irrelevant as they will not be receiving any damage. Furthermore Gigantamax Pokémon have fixed types so their fast and charged moves are also irrelevant.

See the full Attackers Tier list here

Currently these are the best Attackers available:

Pokémon	Attack	Attack Type
Gigantamax Inteleon	262	Water
Gigantamax Gengar	261	Ghost
Gigantamax Kingler	240	Water
Gigantamax Rillaboom	239	Grass
Gigantamax Cinderace	238	Fire
Gigantamax Machamp	234	Fighting
Zacian Crowned Sword	332	Steel
Gigantamax Grimmsnarl	224	Dark
Gigantamax Toxtricity	224	Electric
Gigantamax Charizard	223	Fire