GO Battle League

Promotional artwork for GO Battle League

The GO Battle League (Japanese: GOバトルリーグ GO Battle League) is a feature in Pokémon GO for competitive, online Trainer Battles. It was first introduced on January 28, 2020.^[1] Due to an exploit that allowed players to cheat, the GO Battle League was taken down on June 12, 2020, until a fix could be patched into the game.^[2] It was restored on June 23, 2020.

Rules and mechanics

Official rules for the GO Battle League were first announced on December 11, 2019.^[3] They are as follows:

• A season is a predetermined period of time during which Trainers can battle to increase their rank and rating. At the start of a season, all Trainers start from Rank 1 and can work their way up to the maximum rank. Once a Trainer's rank moves up, it will not drop down for the remainder of the season. The current top-rated Trainers are displayed on a leaderboard.
  • Starting with Season 6, Trainers can first work their way up to Rank 20. Upon reaching Rank 20, Trainers are assigned a rating and can raise it to reach the Ace, Veteran, Expert, and ultimately Legend Ranks.
  • Prior to Season 6, Rank 10 was the maximum rank and ratings were assigned upon reaching Rank 7.
  • Trainers are matched against each other based on their current rating and rank. Prior to reaching Rank 20, Trainers are primarily matched agaist those close in rank; rating likely plays a factor despite not yet being visible. After reaching Rank 20, Trainers are matched against others close in rating and of Rank 20 or greater.
• Winning a match increases a Trainer's rating, and losing a match lowers it; currently^{[citation needed]} a tie counts as a loss. If the timer expires, the win is awarded to the Trainer with more usable Pokémon remaining; ties progress to number of remaining shields and remaining cumulative HP among their Pokémon.
• GO Battle League matches can take place in any league, as well as restricted versions of the leagues (see Special Leagues and Cups below). The available leagues rotate throughout each season.
  • The GO Battle League features a unique 500 CP league, the Little Cup, in addition to the three normal leagues.
• Teams with multiple Pokémon of the same species are not allowed. As with other Trainer Battles, Ditto and Shedinja are also ineligible to participate.
• Mega-Evolved Pokémon are not allowed outside special Mega-eligible events and leagues.
• Battles are organized into sets of five. Trainers may battle in five sets per day, though sets left unfinished until another day do not count against that day's limit. Rewards are granted at the end of the set based on the player's performance.

Unrated Seasons

Though during most seasons achieving the highest rank requires a certain rating, several seasons have not used rating-based ranks at all. Trainers are still assigned a rating for matchmaking purposes but it is not visible.

• The Preseason at the GO Battle League's launch did not use ranks.
• In Season 5, the preexisting ranks and corresponding rewards were achievable through winning set numbers of battles, with no rating-based requirements. This change was made in preparation for the Season 6 rank redesign and introduction of Candy XL.
• In the Interlude Season following Season 10, the maximum rank was Rank 20. The Interlude Season was scheduled to allow improvements to the Battle League's code.

Walking requirement

Prior to March 13, 2020, players would have to walk a certain distance in order to unlock a set of five GO Battle League matches, or alternatively could spend PokéCoins to unlock them immediately. Since March 13, 2020, there is no longer any walking requirement.

From January 28 (the launch of GO Battle League) until January 31, 2020, players would have to walk 5 km; from January 31, 2020, until March 13, 2020, players would have to walk 3 km. After unlocking a set, any additional distance traveled will be rolled over towards unlocking the next set. A player could only participate in at most five sets (or 25 GO Battle League matches) per day, but afterward, could still accumulate distance for the next day's set.

The PokéCoin cost to immediately unlock the next set depended on how much distance was left:

• 200 if at least 2 km remaining
• 100 if at least 1 km remaining
• 50 if less than 1 km remaining

Starting March 13, 2020, the walking requirement was temporarily waived amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.^[4] On April 5, 2021 (just before Season 7) it was announced that the walking requirement had been permanently removed.

Ranks

The following lists the requirements to move up in each rank. All listed requirements are non-cumulative, so the counters restart upon reaching a new rank.

Rank		Unlock requirement
	1	Start
	2	Battle 5 times
	3	Battle 5 additional times
	4	Battle 5 additional times
	5	Battle 5 additional times
	6	Battle 5 additional times
	7	Win 1 battle
	8	Win 1 additional battle
	9	Win 1 additional battle
	10	Win 1 additional battle
	11	Battle 5 additional times
	12	Win 5 additional battles
	13	Win 6 additional battles
	14	Win 7 additional battles
	15	Win 8 additional battles
	16	Battle 5 additional times
	17	Win 10 additional battles
	18	Win 15 additional battles
	19	Win 20 additional battles
	20	Battle 5 additional times
	Ace	Achieve a rating of 2000+
	Veteran	Achieve a rating of 2500+
	Expert	Achieve a rating of 2750+
	Legend	Achieve a rating of 3000+

Original Ranks

Prior to Season 6, the ranks went from Rank 1 to Rank 10. The thresholds for Ranks 8, 9, and 10 varied during Seasons 1 through 4. In Season 5, all ten ranks were achievable by winning a set number of battles.

Rank		Unlock requirement
	1	Start
	2	Battle 5 times
	3	Win 2 additional battles
	4	Win 4 additional battles
	5	Win 8 additional battles
	6	Win 10 additional battles
	7	Win 14 additional battles
	8	Achieve a rating of 2000+
	9	Achieve a rating of 2500+
	10	Achieve a rating of 3000+

Rewards

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Exact amounts of Stardust awarded for finishing a set

Selecting the reward tier in GO Battle League

Trainers can earn up to five reward bundles per set for winning in the GO Battle League. Before starting a set of battles, the Trainer can choose either basic or premium reward track. A Premium Battle Pass is required for the premium reward track, which has better rewards than that of the basic. And upon finishing a set of five matches, the player will earn Stardust based on how many matches were won. Certain rewards on both tracks improve as the player moves up in rank.

Tier	Wins
	1	2	3	4	5
Basic				×3*
Premium				×6*	×5

Starting in Season 12, players can obtain a free ticket from the shop for challenge Timed Research that lasts the entire season. Completing each page of the research requires winning 100 battles, rewarding small amounts of Stardust every ten wins and TMs when the page is completed. At 400 and 500 wins, the player can claim an Elite Fast TM and Elite Charged TM respectively. Season-long Timed Research was trialed during the Interlude Season with only Stardust rewards; at the time it required winning exponentially-increasing number of battles per page.

Stardust

The amount of Stardust awarded increases linearly with the player's rank.

Rank	Basic		Premium
	1 win	5 wins	3 wins
1	300	600	900
2	330	660	1,000
3	330	660	1,000
4	370	740	1,100
5	–	–	–
6	400	800	1,200
7	430	860	1,300
8	430	860	1,300
9	470	940	1,400
10	–	–	–
11	530	1,060	1,600
12	530	1,060	1,600
13	570	1,140	1,700
14	600	1,200	1,800
15	–	–	–
16	700	1,400	2,100
17	730	1,460	2,200
18	770	1,540	2,300
19	–	–	–
20	870	1,740	2,600
Ace	900	1,800	2,700
Veteran
Expert
Legend

Random items

The following lists the possible random item that may be awarded in the GO Battle League. The frequency of each item does not differ between reward tiers and rank.

	Fast TM
	Charged TM
	Sinnoh Stone
	Silver Pinap Berry

Wild encounters

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Missing Season 13 and 14 reward encounters

The possible wild Pokémon encounters as rewards vary depending on the Rank. They are caught at Power Up level 20 and have a guaranteed 10 IVs per stat. Currently, the wild encounter rewards are the same between the basic and premium reward tracks.

Usually, the awarded Pokémon is randomly selected from a pool that expands as the player increases in rank. However, reaching certain ranks will guarantee a specific Pokémon encounter for the first time only. If the player reaches another higher rank, that also has a guaranteed encounter, before being awarded the previous one, then the next wild encounter will be from the lower Rank first, and the higher rank's encounter will be queued for the next wild encounter that is earned.

After reaching a certain rank, it is possible to encounter the current level 5 Raid Boss as a reward encounter. This feature was originally available from March 3 to April 21, 2020, then was made permanent at the start of Season 5.

	Season 12 encounters
Rank	Random	First-time guaranteed
Rank 1
Rank 6	♂
Rank 11
Rank 16
Rank 20
Ace
Veteran
Expert
Legend
represents the current Legendary or Mythical Raid Boss(es)

	Past Seasons' encounters
Rank	Preseason	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Interlude	11	12
1	*	*	*	*	*		*	*	†	†	♂†	†	†	†
2							†
3							†
4	*						†
5									*
6							†			*	*		*	* ♂
7				*	*	*	†
8			*	*	*	*	†
9			*	*	*	*	†
10		†	†	†	†	†		♂	♂
11							†			♂	♂	♂	♂
12							†
13							†
14							†
15
16							*
17							*
18							*
19
20							♂*	*	*			†§
ACE													*	*
VETERAN									*	*	*		*	*
EXPERT									*	*	*			*
LEGEND							†	†	†	†	†		†	†
represents the then-current Legendary or Mythical Raid Boss(es) * indicates a guaranteed first encounter at that rank † indicates a one-time guaranteed encounter § indicates the encounter cannot be Shiny

Seasonal Rewards

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Missing Stardust rewards pre-Season 8

At the end of each season, all players who ranked up receive a Premium Battle Pass and Stardust according to their rank. The Stardust reward can be further boosted by using a Star Piece.

As of Season 6, players can also earn one Elite Fast TM and one Elite Charged TM per season by reaching Rank 19. The Elite Charged TM is received upon ranking up while the Elite Fast TM is given at the end of the season.

Rank	Stardust	Rank	Stardust
1	-	11	14,000
2	2,000	12	18,000
3	2,000	13	22,000
4	4,000	14	28,000
5	4,000	15	32,000
6	6,000	16	40,000
7	6,000	17	50,000
8	8,000	18	60,000
9	10,000	19	74,000
10	12,000	20	90,000
Ace	110,000
Veteran	134,000
Expert	164,000
Legend	200,000

Cosmetic Rewards

Reaching certain ranks may unlock cosmetic items and poses for the player character to wear, most inspired by characters from other Pokémon games. Each season features a unique cosmetic set as a reward, aside from Season 5. Obtaining these typically requires reaching rating-based ranks, so they cannot be obtained by winning a set number of battles alone. Pikachu Libre-themed clothing is available every season.

Season-exclusive rewards:

• Season 1: Steven Stone clothing and pose^[5]
• Season 2: Hype pose^[6]
• Season 3: Blue clothing and pose^[7]
• Season 4: Poké Ball Show-Off pose^[8]
• Season 5: No exclusive reward.^[9]
• Season 6: N clothing and pose^[10]
• Season 7: Elesa clothing and pose^[11]
• Season 8: Korrina clothing and pose^[12]
• Season 9: Leon clothing and pose^[13]
• Season 10: Lysandre clothing and pose^[14]
• Interlude Season: Gladion clothing and pose^[15]
• Season 11: Bea clothing and pose^[16]
• Season 12: Guzma clothing and pose^[17]
• Season 13: new Steven Stone clothing and pose^[18]
• Season 14: Palmer clothing and pose^[19]

Special Leagues and Cups

In addition to the regular Great, Ultra, and Master Leagues, some seasons also offer restricted leagues where Pokémon must meet additional requirements to be used.

• The Little Cup uses a limit of 500 CP and is the only format not based on the three regular leagues. The low CP limit allows many unevolved Pokémon not powerful enough for other leagues to compete. Different appearances of the Little Cup handle evolutionary lines differently: some only allow Pokémon that can evolve and are first in their evolutionary line to enter, while others have no such restriction.
• In the Classic version of a League or Cup, only Pokémon up to level 40 (or level 41 with an active Best Buddy boost) may be used. Pokémon that have been powered up using Candy XL are ineligible. Classic leagues were introduced in Season 6 alongside the Candy XL mechanic. Once Candy XL became easier to obtain, the final Classic leagues were held in Season 13.^[18]
• In the Premier Cup, all Legendary and Mythical Pokémon (including Meltan, Melmetal, and Ultra Beasts) are ineligible. The Premier Cup was introduced for the Master League in Season 2 and for the Ultra League in Season 3. Premier Classic cups ran from Season 9 through Season 13.

A wide variety of themed cups only allow Pokémon matching a particular theme to enter. Themed cups may be held in the Great League, Ultra League, or Little Cup, and some cups have been held in multiple leagues. To date there has never been a themed Master League cup.

• The Kanto Cup only allows Pokémon with Pokédex numbers #1 through #151 to battle. Non-Kanto regional forms are allowed.
• The Johto Cup only allows Pokémon with Pokédex numbers from #152 to #251 to battle.
• The Hoenn Cup only allows Pokémon with Pokédex numbers from #252 to #386 to battle.
• The Sinnoh Cup only allows Pokémon with Pokédex numbers from #387 to #493 to battle.
• The Hisui Cup only allows Pokémon with Pokédex numbers from #387 to #493 or Hisuian forms to battle.
• The Retro Cup only allows Pokémon with the original 15 Types to battle. Dark-, Steel-, and Fairy-type Pokémon are not eligible.
• The Halloween Cup only allows Poison-, Ghost-, Bug-, Dark-, and Fairy-type Pokémon to battle.
• The Holiday Cup only allows Normal-, Grass-, Electric-, Ice-, Flying-, and Ghost-type Pokémon to battle.
• The Love Cup only allows red or pink Pokémon to battle.
• The Spring Cup only allows Water-, Grass-, and Fairy-type Pokémon to battle. Toxapex is not eligible.
• The Element Cup only allows Fire-, Water-, and Grass-type Pokémon to battle.
• The Fossil Cup only allows Water-, Rock- and Steel-type Pokémon to battle.
• The Willpower Cup only allows Fighting-, Psychic- and Dark-type Pokémon. Gardevoir is not eligible.
• The Weather Cup only allows Fire-, Water-, Ice- and Rock-type Pokémon to battle.
• The Fantasy Cup only allows Dragon-, Steel-, and Fairy-type Pokémon to battle. Galarian Stunfisk and Cobalion are not eligible.
• The Color Cup only allows Fire-, Water-, Grass-, and Electric-type Pokémon to battle.
• The Mountain Cup only allows Ice-, Ground-, Rock- and Steel-type Pokémon to battle. Swampert is not eligible.
• The Sunshine Cup only allows Normal-, Fire-, Grass-, and Ground-type Pokémon to battle. Charizard is not eligible.
• The Flying Cup only allows Flying-type Pokémon to battle.
• The Fighting Cup only allows Fighting-type Pokémon. Psychic-type Pokémon are not eligible.
• The Psychic Cup only allows Psychic-type Pokémon. Mew is not eligible.
• The Electric Cup only allows Electric-type Pokémon. Unovan Stunfisk, Heliolisk, Charjabug and Vikavolt are not eligible.
• The Catch Cup only allows Pokémon caught recently, usually in the current season, to battle. Mythical Pokémon are not eligible.
• The Evolution Cup only allows Pokémon that have evolved and can evolve again to battle.
• The Little Jungle Cup only allows Normal-, Grass-, Electric-, Poison-, Ground-, Flying-, Bug-, and Dark-type Pokémon to battle. Shuckle and Smeargle are not eligible.

GO Battle League Events

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Missing many GBL-related events

Various events in Pokémon GO feature the GO Battle League in some capacity. This can include bonuses like competitively-viable Pokémon appearing in the wild, special set rewards, research tasks for battling, Pokémon learning exclusive moves when evolved, and more.

• Season 11
  • August 18 to 23, 2022: Pokémon World Championships.^[20] Great League and Fighting Cup were active. Players could complete 10 sets per day. Timed Research was available. Rhyperior, Gengar, Gyarados, Metagross, and Talonflame evolved during the event knew their Community Day moves.

GO Battle Days

GO Battle Days are a recurring weekend event where players can complete 20 sets of battles rather than the usual 5. These were introduced in Season 4 as GO Battle Nights, running from 6 PM to 11:59 PM local time, but were changed as of Season 9 to last an entire day. Season 11 introduced GO Battle Weekends which last a full weekend but otherwise function similarly.

Many GO Battle Days feature exclusive bonuses such as event Timed Research, a specific Pokémon in rewards, or allowing Pokémon to learn exclusive moves when evolved. During each event, players also receive bonus Stardust from GO Battle League. Battle Nights in Season 4 rewarded 2× Stardust and in Season 8 rewarded 3× Stardust. Starting with Season 9, Battle Days reward 4× Stardust from reward bundles but do not affect the Stardust awarded at the end of sets.

Season Schedules

Trivia

• In Season 12's Evolution Cup, Ursaring was eligible for battle despite Ursaluna being unobtainable legitimately at the time.
• In the Season of Hidden Gem's Single-Type Cup, Galarian Zigzagoon and Galarian Yamask can be used despite being dual typed.
  • Galarian Linoone could also be used, but it was fixed.
  • Despite not being released at the time of the cup, Necrozma was not allowed, as shown in the cup rules. It was represented by a colored rectangle rather than a sprite.

In other languages

Language Title Chinese Cantonese GO對戰聯盟 GO Deuijin Lyùhnmàhng Mandarin GO對戰聯盟 GO Duìzhàn Liánméng French Ligue de Combat GO German GO-Kampfliga Italian Lega Lotte GO Korean GO배틀리그 GO Battle League Brazilian Portuguese Liga de Batalha GO Spanish Liga Combates GO Thai โกแบตเทิลลีก GO Battle League Turkish GO Maç Ligi

References