Pokemon Sword & Shield Holiday Max Raid Event Now Live

A new Wild Area event is now underway in Pokemon Sword and Shield. With the holidays just around the corner, you’ll be able to encounter the gift-giving Pokemon Delibird much more often in Max Raids for a limited time–and snag some extra rewards for defeating it.

The holiday Max Raid event runs until December 26. Despite being a fitting star for the event, Delibird isn’t the most exciting Pokemon to encounter, but there’s a good incentive to participate in as many Raids as you can anyway: you’ll net even more candies than usual for defeating Dynamax Delibird, along with a handful of great Ice-type TRs. Much like the TMs of old, TRs are single-use items that can teach Pokemon new attacks, making them very valuable.

Delibird isn’t the only Pokemon appearing more often in Max Raids right now. Until January 9, you’re more likely to encounter Gigantamax versions of Butterfree and Snorlax. On top of that, Sword players can find Gigantamax Drednaw and Sandaconda, while Shield players are more likely to run into Gigantamax Corviknight and Centiskorch. You can see the current Gigantamax Raid schedule here.

In addition to the holiday Max Raid event, The Pokemon Company is giving away some new freebies for Sword and Shield players. Until January 15, you can receive a handful of rare Poke Balls via Mystery Gift. You also have until that date to claim a free Gigantamax Meowth. You can see all the other free gifts available now for Pokemon Sword and Shield in our roundup.

Pokemon Sword and Shield earned a place on GameSpot’s best Switch games of 2019 list. We gave the titles a 9/10 in our Pokemon Sword and Shield review and called them “the best new generation of Pokemon games in years.” If you need help on your Pokemon journey, you can see some of our Sword and Shield guides below.