Pokémon Den

Den redirects here. For other uses, see Den (disambiguation).

A Trainer standing before a Pokémon Den

A Pokémon Den (Japanese: ポケモンの巣 Pokémon Den) is a location in where Dynamax Pokémon may reside. These residents may be fought in Max Raid Battles. Pokémon Dens appear in the Galar region in the Wild Area, the Isle of Armor, and the Crown Tundra.

Pokémon Dens look like small stone circles and can be found either on land or in the water. When a Dynamax Pokémon is present, a giant pillar of light emerges from the den, visible from a great distance. When the Pokémon is defeated, the pillar of light disappears.

Mechanics

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Needs to be rewritten to account for Dens in the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra

There are 99 standard Pokémon Dens throughout the Wild Area. There is also one special Pokémon Den, the Watchtower Lair, where the player can summon specific Dynamax Pokémon using Dynamax Crystals, but it cannot be activated any other way.

When a den is activated, it has three basic variables: encounter pool (a set of Pokémon the encounter is selected from), star rating (a subset within the pool generally relating to difficulty: similar levels and behaviors), and encounter (a 0-99 value that determines the encounter based on the relevant probabilities).

Active and inactive dens

Only a limited number of Pokémon Dens can be active (i.e. contain Dynamax Pokémon) at any one time.

When the player begins a new game, a full eight random dens are activated in the Wild Area. At the beginning of each day, all currently active random dens are deactivated, and an equal number of dens are randomly activated. When all random dens are cleared, the game will immediately activate eight new random dens. Whenever new random dens are selected (either by the date changing or all random dens being cleared), all Pokémon Dens in the Wild Area start glowing, allowing the player to collect Watts again.

In addition to the random dens, a Wishing Piece can be used on a den to activate that specific den. A den activated by a Wishing Piece will remain until it is defeated or the player using a Wishing Piece on another den. Random dens are reset whenever all random dens are cleared, regardless of whether a Wishing Piece den is present.

Watts

Separate from the pillars of light, dens may also have a slight red glow on their ring of stones. Interacting with such a den will provide Watts, after which the red glow will disappear. All dens restore Watts when a new day starts or when all daily dens are cleared.

The amount of Watts the player collects depends on whether the den has a Dynamax Pokémon present and on the player's progress.

	No Dynamax Pokémon	Dynamax Pokémon
Before defeating Eternatus	50 Watts	300 Watts
After defeating Eternatus	200 Watts	2,000 Watts

Colors and encounters

All Pokémon Dens have two standard pools of encounters: a common pool and a rare pool. The pillar of light rising from a den indicates which pool was selected. A "weak" red pillar of light indicates the common pool, while a "strong" purple pillar of light indicates the rare pool. If Wild Area News has been downloaded from Mystery Gift in the menu, a third pool for that data is also accessible, which also produces a red pillar of light. The rates of selection for these pools depend on how the den was generated.

Each pool has a type theme, where almost all Pokémon that can appear in that pool share a particular type; Pokémon that do not match the type theme typically have an evolutionary relative who does. A den's common pool and rare pool usually are the same type, but are not necessarily. Dens can have different pools between games, due to version-exclusive Pokémon appearing in dens.

Wishing Piece dens generate their contents independently of other dens. If Wild Area News data is present, the rate for selecting from the Wild Area News pool versus one of the standard pools is determined by a value in the Wild Area News data that changes in ¹/₁₆ increments. (For instance, for the Mewtwo event, a value of four made the Wild Area News rate 25%, leaving the standard pools at a 75% rate.) Between the standard pools, the common pool is selected at an 87.5% rate (⁷/₈).

Rate Wild Area News pool 6.25% × X Standard pools 100% - 6.25% × X Rate Common pool 87.5% Rare pool 12.5%

Random dens determine their contents in the same way, but with constraints on what the full set of random dens contain. When a set of random dens are generated, at most one can be a rare-pool (purple) den (but it is also possible for there to be no rare-pool dens). If Wild Area News data is present, a certain number of dens will also always select from the Wild Area News pool, with this number being defined in the event data, and is usually the same value as sets the Wishing Piece rate. For example, for the Mewtwo event, a value of 4 would mean four dens would always have Wild Area News encounters; if four or fewer random dens remained active when the day changed, all four newly selected dens would have Wild Area News encounters.

Badges and star ratings

While the entire Wild Area is explorable at any point, dens will only become active in certain parts largely depending on the Badges the player has.

Badges also determine the possible star ratings of battles. The star rating determines a Dynamax Pokémon's level and its behavior, such as whether it uses shields. It also often corresponds to more evolved or rarer Pokémon, and special attributes like more flawless IVs, a possible Hidden Ability, and a Gigantamax factor.

Any available star ratings have an equal chance of being selected when a new den is generated.

	Unlocked areas	Available ratings
		1-star	2-star	3-star	4-star	5-star
0 Badges	Land dens: western south Wild Area Excluding South Lake Miloch, Giant's Seat, and North Lake Miloch	✔
1 Badge	Land dens: full south Wild Area	✔	✔
2 Badges		✔	✔
3 Badges	Land dens: north Wild Area	✔	✔	✔
4 Badges			✔	✔
5 Badges			✔	✔
6 Badges				✔	✔
Rotom Bike Water Mode	Water dens
7 Badges				✔	✔
8 Badges				✔	✔	✔

Stats

Pokémon in active dens have fixed stats. Resetting the game or battling them multiple times will not change their stats once the den has been generated.

The game also maintains two extra sets of daily dens after the current set. This means that, if the game was saved before clearing the last daily den, resetting the game and clearing it will always result in the same dens and Pokémon. If the day changes, some of the stored dens will remain fixed, but some may change.

Battle

Main article: Max Raid Battle

Max Raid Battles pit four Trainers against a Dynamax Pokémon. The player can "Invite others" to connect wirelessly or over the Internet. If fewer than four players are present when the battle is started, random NPC Trainers will fill the remaining spots.

In battles with higher star ratings, the Dynamax Pokémon will activate shields that greatly reduce the damage it takes. A normal attack will clear a single discrete portion of the shields, while a Max Move will clear two portions.

List of Dens

Wild Area

• Rolling Fields
• Dappled Grove
• Watchtower Ruins
  • Watchtower Lair
• East Lake Axewell
• West Lake Axewell
• Axew's Eye
• South Lake Miloch
• Giant's Seat
• North Lake Miloch
• Motostoke Riverbank
• Bridge Field
• Stony Wilderness
• Dusty Bowl
• Giant's Mirror
• Hammerlocke Hills
• Giant's Cap
• Lake of Outrage

Isle of Armor

• Fields of Honor
• Soothing Wetlands
• Forest of Focus
• Challenge Beach
• Brawlers' Cave
• Challenge Road
• Courageous Cavern
• Loop Lagoon
• Training Lowlands
• Potbottom Desert
• Workout Sea
• Stepping-Stone Sea
• Insular Sea
• Honeycalm Sea
• Honeycalm Island

Crown Tundra

• Slippery Slope
• Frostpoint Field
• Giant's Bed
• Old Cemetery
• Snowslide Slope
• Path to the Peak
• Crown Shrine
• Giant's Foot
• Frigid Sea
• Three-Point Pass
• Ballimere Lake
• Dyna Tree Hill

In the manga

A Pokémon Den in Pokémon Adventures

Pokémon Adventures

Sword & Shield arc

Pokémon Dens first appeared in Zap!! A Rising Beam of Light. When a pair of Team Yell Grunts tried to destroy their Gym Challenge uniforms, Henry and Casey forced the Grunts into a nearby den. Once inside, the four had to team up and defeat a Dynamax Gurdurr in order to leave.

In other languages

Language Title Chinese Cantonese 寶可夢巢穴 Pokémon Chàauhyuht Mandarin 寶可夢巢穴 / 宝可梦巢穴 Pokémon Cháoxuè / Pokémon Cháoxué Dutch Pokémon-schuilplaats French Antre de Pokémon German Pokémon-Nester Italian Tana di Pokémon Korean 포켓몬굴 Pokémon Gul Russian Жилище Покемонов Zhilishche Pokémonov Spanish Nido Pokémon

Trivia

• Pokémon Dens were inspired by the Giant's Causeway, a collection of basalt columns in Northern Ireland.
• If the player stands close to an active den, it will emit a "glowing" sound effect. Rare dens produce a sound with a lower pitch than common dens.

References

Pokémon Dens

South Wild Area Rolling Fields • Dappled Grove • Watchtower Ruins (Lair) • East Lake Axewell • West Lake Axewell Axew's Eye • South Lake Miloch • Giant's Seat • North Lake Miloch North Wild Area Motostoke Riverbank • Bridge Field • Stony Wilderness • Dusty Bowl • Giant's Mirror Hammerlocke Hills • Giant's Cap • Lake of Outrage Isle of Armor Fields of Honor • Soothing Wetlands • Forest of Focus • Challenge Beach • Brawlers' Cave Challenge Road • Courageous Cavern • Loop Lagoon • Training Lowlands • Potbottom Desert Workout Sea • Stepping-Stone Sea • Insular Sea • Honeycalm Sea • Honeycalm Island Crown Tundra Slippery Slope • Frostpoint Field • Giant's Bed • Old Cemetery Snowslide Slope • Path to the Peak • Crown Shrine • Giant's Foot Frigid Sea • Three-Point Pass • Ballimere Lake • Dyna Tree Hill Wild Area News (2019 • 2020 • 2021 • 2022)

This article is part of Project Locations, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on every location in the Pokémon world.