Pokémon Go Battle League Season 21 release date, changes, plus Season 21 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.
• The switcher timed was also changed to 50 seconds during the Max Out Season and will continue to be so going forwards.

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

Pokémon Go Battle League Season 21 dates explained

Season 21 of the Go Battle League is running throughout Dual Destiny 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 21 begins on Tuesday, 3rd December at 9pm UK time / 1pm PT and ends on Tuesday, 3rd March at 9pm UK time / 1pm PT.

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

• Great League and Fantasy Cup: Great League Edition dates - 3rd December to 10th December
• Ultra League and Fantasy Cup: Great League Edition dates - 10th December to 17th December
• Master League and Holiday Cup: Little Edition dates - 17th December to 24th December
• Great League, Ultra League and Master League dates - 24th December to 31st December
• Great League and Holiday Cup: Little Edition dates - 31st December to 7th January
• Ultra League and Color Cup: Great League Edition dates - 7th January to 14th January
• Master League and Color Cup: Great League Editon dates - 14th January to 21st January
• Great League, Ultra League and Master League dates - 21st January to 28th January
• Go Battle Week: Dual Destiny event dates - 21st January to 26th January
• Great League and Jungle Cup: Little Edition dates - 28th January to 4th February
• Ultra League and Love Cup: Great League Edition dates - 4th February to 11th February
• Master League and Love Cup: Great League Edition dates - 11th February to 18th February
• Great League, Ultra League and Master League dates - 18th February to 25th February
• Great League adn Master League: Mega Edition dates - 25th February to 4th March

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

• 17th December to 31st December
• 14th January to 28th January
• 11th February to 4th March

Go Battle League Season 21 events in Pokémon Go

There's two Go Battle League events running throughout Season 21 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 Dual Destiny, 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: Dual Destiny running from Tuesday 21st January at 12am (local time) to Sunday 26th January 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 Grimsley Shoes, but only if you haven't collected them before.

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

As Max Out comes to a close in Pokémon Go, the Dual Destiny Season draws closer. 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 21 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 Scraggy by the time you reach Rank 6 and then earn an encounter, you'll have to face these Pokémon before Sandile.

Once you've caught Scraggy, you'll be able to catch Sandile 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 21 is inspired by Grimsley - the Dark-type Elite Four member for the Unova region. He makes an appearance as an Elite Four member in Pokémon Black, White, Black 2 and White 2, but then makes a reappearance in Pokémon Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon where he's stepped down from the Elite Four. In Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, he has become an accomplished Mantine Surfer (a mini-game this writer is not fond of ). This outfit is based upon his appearance from the Gen 5 games.

This clothing set consists of three 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: Dual Destiny event. Though, if you've already earned these Shoes, you won't recieve them again.

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

• Ace Rank - Grimsley Shoes
• Veteran Rank - Grimsley Pants
• Expert Rank - Grimsley Top
• Legend Rank - Grimsley Pose

Finally, by reaching Rank 20, you'll earn an Elite Charged TM and, when Season 21 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!