Today the top raids are set to return in Pokémon GO. After a period of uncertainty, it became clear on Saturday night that you will meet Hoopa again.
When do the top raids start? In the overview of events in December 2022 for Pokémon GO, the return of the top raids was announced for December 10.
The top raids are currently scheduled to become active at three times:
- At 11:00 AM local time
- At 2:00 PM local time
- At 5:00 PM local time
What is special about top raids? The top raids first appeared in October 2022. They are characterized by some unique features:
- A very powerful boss Pokémon, requiring significantly more trainers to be defeated
- Remote raid participation is not possible; you can only join on-site
- Once the raid is opened, the battle is available for half an hour
- After a successful raid, you may encounter rarer spawns near the top raids.
With these features, players can expect the same on December 10.
Hoopa has been confirmed for the top raids
Update: Players in the early time zones have confirmed that this event will also bring Hoopa back to the arenas in the top raids. The best counters against Hoopa in top raids can be found here.
Until the night of December 10, it was unclear which Pokémon you would encounter at the raid event. There was no detailed announcement from Niantic.
The original announcement continues:
Which Pokémon appears in the top raid? In the announcement of the December 2022 events, though top raids are mentioned, it is not clearly stated which Pokémon will appear there.
Currently, there is still no official announcement about the event with details. At one point, trainers thought the developers might have even forgotten the top raids – however, players from the earlier time zone in New Zealand report that the top raid eggs with appropriately long timers have now appeared (via reddit).
The eggs will open at 11:00 AM local time in New Zealand (11:00 PM here). By then, it should be clear which boss is in the egg—unless there is an official announcement beforehand.
However, since there has not yet been any further announcement regarding the top raids, trainers are generally expecting that the unleashed Hoopa will once again appear as the boss of the top raids. This has always been the case when the top raids appeared.
