Pokémon Go Battle League: Season 8 release date and changes, plus Season 8 rank rewards, dates and rules explained

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:

• With the introduction of Season 6, the number of Pokémon Go Battle League Ranks were increased to Rank 1 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.
• 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.

• To participate in the Go Battle League, you must first walk 3km to gain entry, with your progress displayed in the Battle screen. This has a few requirements worth noting: each charge gives you 5 matches, and you can 'bank' a charge, meaning you can walk to build up another. You play a maximum of three sets (15) battles per day.
• Additionally, provided you've walked a set distance, you can pay PokéCoins to fast track the recharge, with the cost reducing the closer to 3km you are. (Update: Until further notice, you no longer need to walk or use PokéCoins to charge Go Battle League. So fight away!)
• 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 Battle Pass (which will replace the Premium Raid Pass, and allow you to enter either activity). 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 Battle League Season 8 dates explained

Season 8 of the Go Battle League in Pokémon Go follows the familiar format of the three main leagues - Great, Ultra and Master - with the Premier Cups and a number of special cups running alongside to shake up the competition.

It's important to remember that these dates are subject to change and we'll keep this page updated with any changes which may occur.

Below you can find all the League dates for Season 8. Each League will change over at the usual reset time of 1pm PST / 9pm UK time:

• Great League and Great League Remix - Monday, 12th July to Monday, 26th July
• Ultra League and Ultra League Remix dates - Monday, 26th July to Monday, 9th August
• Master League, Master League Classic and Ultra League Premier Cup dates - Monday, 9th August to Monday, 23rd August
• All three leagues dates - Monday, 23rd August to Monday, 30th August

From Monday, 28th June to Monday, 12th July and Monday, 9th August to Monday, 23rd August, you'll receive double the amount of Stardust from any rewards and end-of-set rewards in the Go Battle League.

Please read the section below to learn more about the Master League Classic, Great League Remix, Ultra League Remix and the Element Cup.

Season 9 will most likely begin Monday, 30th August.

Pokémon Go Battle League Season 8 special cups and leagues explained

There are a number of special cups and leagues for you to partake in throughout Season 8 of the Go Battle League.

The first is the Master League Classic which runs during both of the dedicated Master League periods for Season 8 - Monday, 28th June to Monday, 12th July to Monday, 9th August to Monday, 23rd August.

If you want to partake in this league you must ensure none of the Pokémon in your team have been powered up with Candy XL.

The Element Cup is the first special cup for Season 8 and will run from Monday, 28th June to Monday, 12th July.

For this cup you're only allowed to use fire, grass or water-type Pokémon or are a combination of these three types. The Pokémon must also be able to evolve and must be the first Pokémon in the evolutionary line. The Element Cup also has a CP limit of 500.

The Great League Remix comes next and runs during the second Great League which is from Monday, 12th July to Monday, 26th July.

In this special league you won't be able to use the top most-used Pokémon by Ace rank and up trainers in the Great League. You can find this banned list on our Great League Remix page. The Great League Remix also shares the 1500 CP cap with its originator.

The last special league for Season 8 is the Ultra League Remix which will run from Monday, 9th August to Monday, 23rd August.

Like the Great League Remix, this new special league has a banned list of Pokémon which is derived from what most Ace rank and up trainers have used in the past Ultra Leagues. You can find this list within the announcement for Go Battle League Season 8 on the official Pokémon Go website.

Finally, the Premier Cup will return between Monday, 14th June to Monday, 28th June and the Ultra League version will be available from Monday, 9th August to Monday, 23rd August.

Go Battle Nights in Pokémon Go explained

Go Battle Nights are special periods of time where you can enjoy bonuses in the Go Battle League of Pokémon Go.

During a Go Battle Night, you can complete 20 sets of battle, rather than the usual five, for a total of 100 times, which gives you five sets of 20 battles. On top of that you'll also receive triple the amount of Stardust for winning battles, completing sets of battles and ranking up in the Go Battle League.

Each Go Battle Night runs from 6pm to 11:59pm (local time) on the following dates:

• Thursday, 3rd June
• Sunday, 11th July
• Thursday, 26th August

It should be noted that the Go Battle Night's Stardust bonus will not combine with the double Stardust bonus running from Monday, 28th June to Monday, 12th July, so, sadly, a quintuple Stardust bonus remains a dream.

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 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 it's 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 Season of Legends is here! Current activities include the Luminous Legends X event, which introduces Gloomy, Spritzee and Swirlix, Xerneas and the Rainly Lure. We've also recently seen a level cap increase - including the addition of XL Candy, boosts to some XP sources and the addition of Platinum Medals.

Pokémon Go Battle League rewards

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

Season 6 heralded a number of important changes for the Go Battle League and one of them was to the rank-rewards.

Under the new Ranking system, 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:

All Go League Rank Encounters

Pokémon encounters are the same regardless of whether you go for the free or premium reward track, but differ according to your Rank. If your 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 Season 8:

It should be noted that, at the time of writing, not all of the Pokémon available from Rank 1 and up have been announced.

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 that if you haven't had your encounter with Machamp by the time you reach Rank 5 and then earn an encounter, you'll find yourself facing that Pokémon instead before Mienfoo.

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

Other Pokémon Go Battle League rewards

In Season 8, you'll receive the Pikachu Libre avatar items when you reach Rank 5.

Season 8's exclusive clothing is inspired by Korrina, the fighting-type Gym Leader from Shalour City in Pokémon X and Y. She never seen without her roller-skates and can shatter rocks with one kick.

The Korrina themed cosmetics are divided across the final four ranks of the Go Battle League, meaning you'll need to reach the Legend rank to complete the set.

You'll earn the Korrina-Style Gloves at the Ace rank, the Korrina-Style Shoes at Veteran rank and the Korrina-Style Outfit and Korrina-Style Pants and Top, which you can switch between depending on your avatar's style, at the Expert rank.

Finally, you'll earn the Korrina Pose once you've reached the Legend rank.

You'll also receive an Elite Charged TM when you reach Rank 19 and, at the end of the season, you'll earn 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!

Watch this page as Season 8 of the Go Battle League develops!