Pokémon Go Battle League Season 20 release date, changes, plus Season 20 rank rewards, dates and rules

How the Pokémon Go Battle League works, from Ranks to Seasons

There are many components to how the Pokémon Go Battle League works, with a number of changes being introduced in Season 6 alongside the Season of Celebration, but here it is at a glance:

• The Pokémon Go Battle League takes place over the course of a Season, and will rotate through all three existing Leagues which cap Pokémon by their CP - the Great League (1500 CP), Ultra League (2500 CP) and Master League (any CP) - every two weeks. There are bonus leagues introduced in new seasons, but those three will feature in every season.
• From Season 6 onwards, the number of Pokémon Go Battle League Ranks increased to 24. The ranks still have a number of different progression requirements; climbing from Rank 1 to Rank 20 requires you to partake and win a number of battles, while Rank 21 to Rank 24, each with it's own unique title, requires you to reach a certain rating. During the current Interlude season, however, the rankings have been capped at 20.

• Your 'battle rating' that increases when you win and drops when you lose. Though this exists outside of the Rank system, you are required to progress past certain thresholds to progress the last four Ranks. It also gives you an additional metric to complete against (with your friends, or even yourself) once you reach Rank 24 within a Season.
• For the five matches you play within a set, you can receive rewards, which are displayed on screen in a 'free' and 'premium' track, the latter you can enter by using a Premium Pass. Note once you have entered a run of battles, you cannot change track partway through.
• There are also additional rewards you earn when you level up a rank, and more at the end of the season.

Pokémon Go PvP gameplay: Distance battle against an Ultra Friend

Watch on YouTube

Pokémon Go Battle League rules and battle restrictions

Go Battle League battles seem to behave the same as a standard Battle against a Friend or someone locally, but there are some competitive-orientated rules and restrictions to make things fair:

• Each time you enter the Go Battle League, you will play a 'set' of five matches.
• There is a limit to how many Go League Battles you can participate in per day, whether free or paid, at six sets (or 30 battles) per day.
• You can only use one of each Pokémon species in your Battle team in a contest.

• As per game-wide Battle rule changes, if Pokémon use Charged Attacks at the same time, the Pokémon with the highest Attack stat will go first. If they are the same, one Pokémon chosen at random will go first.
• Switching between Pokémon will reset any changes made to Attack or Defence, such as buffs or debuffs from moves made during battle.

Thanks to martycochrane on reddit for helping with some of the above information.

Pokémon Go Battle League Season 20 dates explained

Season 20 of the Go Battle League is running throughout Max Out in Pokémon Go. During this season, you'll be able to compete in a selection of special cups in all three leagues - Great, Ultra and Master.

The Leagues will rotate on a weekly basis. The only exception is when all three Leagues are running simultaneously and, during this time, no special cup will be available (except for when the three leagues run simultaneous three times during the season). It's important to remember that these dates are subject to change and we'll keep this page updated with any changes which occur.

The Go Battle League Season 20 begins on Tuesday, 3rd September at 9pm UK time / 1pm PT and ends on Tuesday, 3rd December at 9pm UK time / 1pm PT.

Here are all the dates for the Go Battle League Season 20:

• Great League and Galar Cup: Little Edition dates - 3rd September to 10th September
• Ultra League and Galar Cup: Little Edition dates - 10th September to 17th September
• Master League and Psychic Cup: Great League Edition dates - 17th September to 24th September
• Great League, Ultra League and Master League dates - 24th September to 1st October
• Great League and Galar Cup: Great League Edition dates - 1st October to 8th October
• Ultra League and Sunshine Cup dates - 8th October to 15th October
• Master League and Halloween Cup: Little Editon dates - 15th October to 22nd October
• Great League Remix and Halloween Cup: Great League Edition dates - 22nd October to 29th October
• Great League, Ultra League and Master League dates - 29th October to 5th November
• Go Battle Weekend: Max Out dates - Saturday 2nd November to Sunday 3rd November
• Great League and Master Premier dates - 5th November to 12th November
• Ultra League and Willpower Cup dates - 12th November to 19th November
• Master League and Retro Cup dates - 19th November to 26th November
• Great League, Ultra League, Master League and Catch Cup: Great League Edition dates - 26th November to 3rd December

You'll receive quadruple Stardust for win rewards, but not end-of-set rewards, between the following dates:

• 17th September to 1st October
• 15th October to 22nd October
• 29th October to 12th November
• 19th November to 3rd December

Go Battle League Season 20 events in Pokémon Go

There's two Go Battle League events running throughout Season 20 in Pokémon Go.

The first is, of course, the free battle-themed Timed Research quest available from the in-game shop. Each quest step tracks your victories during Max Out, with each page requiring you to achieve 100 wins to complete. Reward-wise, you'll recieve Stardust, Rare Candy XL, an Elite Fast TM at 400 wins and an Elite Charged TM at 500.

The second event is the Go Battle Weekend: Max Out running from Saturday 2nd November at 12am (local time) to Sunday 3rd November at 11:59pm (local time). The maximum number of battles you can partake in will increase to 20 during this event, meaning you'll be able to complete 100 battles per day. You'll also earn x4 Stardust from win rewards, but not from the end-of-set rewards. The Pokémon you earn via Go Battle League rewards will also have a wider variance when it comes to Attack, Defense and HP stats.

This event will also have a free Timed Research quest where you can earn the Allister Shoes. There will also be a pay-to-play Timed Research for sale in the in-game shop for $1 or the equivalent price in your local currency. If you purchase this quest, you'll be able to earn 30,000 Stardust, three Rare Candies and one Star Piece by completing it.

Pokémon Go Battle League Rank requirements

Go Battle League has you progress through 24 Ranks per Season. This number was increased from 10 on November 30th 2020, alongside the release of Season 6 of the Go Battle League and the Season of Celebrations.

Each Rank requires a different objective for you to progress, and each one also has it's own set of rewards.

From Season 6 onwards, you'll need to participate and win a number of battles to progress from Rank 1 to Rank 20.

Certain ranks will be easier to overcome than others, because they will only require you to complete one set of battles to progress. This means that, even if you only win one battle out of five, you'll still progress to the next rank.

The Ranks that only require you to complete one battle set are - Rank 5, Rank 10, Rank 15 and Rank 19.

If you wish to climb from Rank 21 to Rank 24, however, you need to obtain a certain rating by remaining undefeated for a certain number of matches.

Each Rank from 21 to 24 also has its own specific title - Ace, Veteran, Expert and Legend - which not only helps you identify which rating you need to achieve, but gives you some good bragging rights too.

Below you can find which title has been assigned to each rank, alongside the rating you'll need to progress to that specific rank:

• Rank 21 - Ace - 2,000 rating
• Rank 22 - Veteran - 2,500 rating
• Rank 23 - Expert - 2,750 rating
• Rank 24 - Legend - 3,000 rating

The Max Out Season is here and includes a new global event, Wild Area, and the current 2024 Halloween event brings us Morpeko and the Halloween cup. You can now catch Dynamax Pokémon through Max Battles. First, however, you need to visit Power Spots to collect Max Particles and complete the To the Max! quest. Don't forget to try out Routes, Gift Exchange and Party Play while you're hunting down rare Pokémon, fighting in the Go Battle League or competing in PokéStop Showcases.

Pokémon Go Battle League item rewards

As you climb through each Season in the Go Battle League, you'll find yourself being rewarded in a number of ways. This includes set win rewards, Pokémon encounters and rewards for progressing to a new Rank.

The specifics of rewards, especially the Pokémon encounters, tend to change from season to season, so it's always a good idea to read through this section at the beginning of each season, so that you know what's waiting for you.

Rank rewards

Rank rewards are, as the name suggests, the rewards you receive for progressing to a new rank in the Go Battle League. These rewards often include useful items, like Potions, and Stardust.

Under the ranking system from Season 6 onwards, a number of ranks now only require you to complete one set of battles, be it win or lose, for you to progress to the next rank. These ranks have also been given specific reward tracks, which means you're guaranteed a certain type of reward for completing them.

Below you can find these special ranks and the type of rewards you'll receive for completing them:

• Rank 5 - Mystery items
• Rank 10 - Stardust
• Rank 15 - Rare Candies
• Rank 19 - Pokémon encounters and an Elite Fast TM

Go League set win rewards

Each set contains five matches, and you earn more rewards for each subsequent win, allowing you to win a total of five rewards if you win every match.

Before you play, you can either earn basic (free) rewards or use a Premium Pass to earn a different set of rewards. These are usually more of the same reward types, or will see the order shuffled so it's easier to get certain rewards.

You can see what the rewards in both the basic and premium sets are before you begin, so you can make the call of whether you want to spend a Premium Pass or not (after all, winning isn't guaranteed!).

Possible rewards in both tracks include:

• Stardust
• Charged TMs
• Mystery Item (either a Sinnoh Stone, Charged TMs, Golden Razz Berry or Silver Pinap Berry
• Rare Candy
• Pokémon Encounter (some guaranteed at certain ranks)
• When you hit certain ranks - Avatar items, such Pikachu Libre and character-inspired clothing and avatar pose exclusive to that season

Pokémon Go Battle League Season 20 encounter rewards

Pokémon encounters are the same regardless of whether you go for the free or premium reward track, but differ according to your Rank. If you're playing the free reward track, then you're guaranteed a Pokémon encounter after three wins, but, if you're on premium, then you only need one win to earn your encounter.

The higher the rank, the wider the pool of possible encounters gets, with more rare creatures available. Here are the Pokémon encounter rewards which have been currently announced for the Interlude Season:

If you reach rank 20, you're also guaranteed an encounter with the legendary Pokémon which is in five-star raids at the time you reach the Pokémon encounter reward.

Guaranteed Pokémon encounters will always occur, even if you don't earn enough wins on that encounter specific rank. This means if you haven't had your encounter with Galarian Yamask by the time you reach Rank 6 and then earn an encounter, you'll have to face these Pokémon before Haunter.

Once you've caught Galarian Yamask, you'll be able to catch Hunter during your next Pokémon encounter and this is the same for all the guaranteed Pokémon encounters.

Other Pokémon Go Battle League rewards

The exclusive clothing for Season 20 is inspired by Allister - the Ghost-type Leader of the Stow-on-Side Stadium in Pokémon Shield. (The name Stow-on-Side really proves Galar was based on the UK.) Fun fact - the Stadium Leader is different in Pokémon Sword as, instead of Allister, you'll face Bea who prefers Fighting-types.

This clothing set consists of four pieces, one being a new animated pose, and you can earn each piece of clothing by reaching a specific Rank in the Go Battle League. The exception to this, however, is the Shoes, which can be also earned by completing the timed research quest available during the Go Battle Weekend: Max Out event. Though, if you've already earned these Shoes, you won't recieve them again.

Below you'll find which pieces of the Hala-themed clothing set are earned at each Rank:

• Ace Rank - Allister Shoes
• Veteran Rank - Allister Mask
• Expert Rank - Allister Outfit
• Legend Rank - Allister Pose

Finally, by reaching Rank 20, you'll earn an Elite Charged TM and, when Season 20 ends, you'll also receive an Elite Fast TM.

Remember - your ranking will reset at the end of every season, so, if a certain reward has caught your eye, make sure you get it this season or else you risk missing it!