Pokémon Sword and Shield Raid Exploit: Everything You Need to Know

A Pokemon Sword and Shield raid exploit has been discovered in game that makes finding your desired Gigantamax Pokémon much easier to obtain.

Unfortunately, the exploit has introduced a whole load of problems for players just wanting to enjoy the game, and to be perfectly fair, it is honestly way to easy to do.

Pokémon Sword and Shield Raid Exploit: Everything You Need to Know

Raids in Pokémon Sword and Shield are set to specific spawns for a period of time, which made it a grind to try to find raids with Pokémon that were actually worth it. However, just by changing the date on your Nintendo Switch, the Pokémon in the raid will change. This process only takes a few quick seconds, and can be done as many times as you want. The exploit also resets the watts given by the raid den, meaning you can build up your watts in the same location rather than have to travel to various nearby dens. The method can be used both online or offline.

While the exploit seems to be fair game for anyone that just wants a quick method to get the Pokémon they want, it has brought up a whole load of issues including spamming invites to friends when doing the trick over and over again, as well as over-saturating the global raid lobbies to inaccessible lobbies. Since the trick involves abandoning raids that you don't want to do, players that just want to participate in a real raid are finding it very hard to find one that doesn't end with an error message.

Since the exploit is affecting an entire function of the game to players not even attempting it, Game Freak is sure to patch it soon enough, but before they do, it might be a good idea to stock up on watts and find that Gigantamax Pokémon you want.

Photo Courtesy of Game Freak