Since the game went online over a year ago, players of Niantic’s massively popular (and often frustrating) AR monster-catcher have wondered where all the legendary creatures are hiding in Pokémon Go. The original Game Boy title had massively powerful, interesting, and unique legendary Pokémon way back in the 90s, but the smartphone game launched without access to Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, and Mewtwo, despite a heavy feature in the original trailer.
Now, at least some of these critters are catchable in the game: the first two legendary Pokémon to appear are the flying-ice type bird Articuno and the flying-psychic type Lugia, with more monsters slated to hit the game later on. But be warned: catching them isn’t going to be a walk in the park. Unless you catch them by walking to the park. Like I did.
An Introduction to Raid Bosses
If you’ve played any massively multiplayer online RPGs, like World of Warcraft, you’ll be familiar with the concept of a raid boss. It’s a massively powerful enemy that’s more or less impossible for a single player to take down, requiring a coordinated team or a huge group of dozens or more players to defeat.
In Pokémon Go, the raid bosses introduced in the latest update are regular Pokémon. But instead of simply trying to capture them by throwing balls and lures, you’re first tasked with defeating them in a gym battle: the monster spawns at a gym for a set amount of time, during which groups of up to twenty Pokémon Go players can team up in groups to take it down. Once the boss Pokémon is dispatched, you’ll have a chance to catch a weaker version of the rare monster with a conventional ball throw, using the special Premier Balls you earned as a reward for battle.
While all the raid bosses in Pokémon Go will be powerful monsters, the legendary Pokémon will be even rarer, appearing exclusively in these community-focused battles. The mechanics for the bosses as outlined below won’t change, but in order to get a chance at catching one, you’ll want to go to a popular area or gather a team.
Step One: Find a Raid Pass
You can’t just walk up to a raid boss and pile in—you’ll need a Raid Pass. These tokens are granted once a day by walking within range of a Pokémon Gym and spinning the circle, just like on a PokéStop. You can only get one Raid Pass per day, no matter how many gyms you go to, and you can’t hold on to more than one at a time—that means free players are limited to one raid boss battle per day, and they’ll have to spin the circle at a gym before going to a new raid battle the next day.
There’s an alternative if you want to attack multiple raid bosses in a single day: the Premium Raid Pass. This is an item bought in the Shop for 100 coins, and you can buy as many as you can afford in a day. But just like the regular Raid Pass, you’re limited to only a single Premium Raid Pass at a…
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