The Pokémon Go Battle League system is finally live. And it’s great!
Technically, the Pokémon Go Battle League is in preseason mode, with competitive play rotating between the league levels starting with Great League, then Ultra League on Feb. 10, and Master League starting Feb. 24. Finally, it’s back to Great League on March 9.
Niantic is rolling out the rotation as a way to slowly introduce the new battle system so they can more easily fix glitches and tune up the overall game play. Niantic is waiting to work out all the kinks before ending the preseason and moving into full Battle League mode, so there’s no date on when that will happen.
Also, Niantic wants to get more comfortable with how the system is performing so the Battle League is just available to trainers level 30 and higher as of this afternoon. Yesterday, Niantic limited access to level 40 players only, so it seems like the new feature will roll out to the rest of the trainers soon.
UPDATE: Trainers who are level 30 and up can now enter the #GOBattle League preseason! 🥊
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) January 30, 2020
I played five rounds in Pokémon Go Battle League today and really liked it. One round ran a bit slow, especially during charged attack sequences, but overall it performed normally.
There are definitely certain Pokémon that do better than others, and not necessarily the ones you would expect. In one battle, I got my first two Great League-level Pokémon (each near perfect and maxed out) taken out by a single Marowak. So for the next two matches I put my middling Marowak in lead position and devastated the first two Pokémon of both trainers. As you probably know, Marowak typically performs best as a closer.
The entrance fee to participate in the Battle League is walking five kilometers, which unlocks five matches. Trainers can earn entrance to the Battle League three times per day, which will make for a good daily workout. For your first entrance, Niantic waives the walking fee.
Your rewards for the five matches are determined by how many of the matches you win. If you do really well you might receive items like Rare Candies, exclusive Pokémon encounters like Pikachu Libre, and even avatar items.
In the future, Niantic will evolve Premium Raid Passes into Premium Battle Passes, which can be used for Raid Battles or to enter the “premium track” in the Battle League and win even better awards.
Also, if you have PokéCoins burning a whole in the digital pocket, you can spend them to gain entrance to the Battle League. However, that option doesn’t appear to be available yet. At least, it’s not available in my app as of today. (Not that I would spend money when I could just walk.)
If there are any major developments, we’ll let you know.
Good luck competing in the Battle League, trainers!
