Why does a Dynamax-boosted attack do little to no damage sometimes on a max Raid Pokémon? Is this a bug or intentional?

Question

(with gravitas) Greetings, all,

So I’ve been playing Sword and Shield with my child and I do the Max Raids so I can give them evolved forms of their Pokémon, which brings them much joy. However, there is this issue I’ve run into that I find very frustrating. When I attack say, a Dynamaxed Sudowoodo with Max Geyser from my Pelipper in rain, the move, unlike the previous turns, does little to no damage whatsoever. The Sudowoodo then throws its shields up immediately after this attack. This has happened with numerous Max Raid Pokémon I have faced: Ferrothorn, Gurdurr and Shiftry, to name a few. Is this a bug or intentional? Is there anything I can do to fix it? Does anyone know if Game Freak is working on it for the next update? Let me know, please and thank you.

Answer 1

Max Raid Pokemon have that special shield ability, and that ability triggers at specific breakpoints in their HP based on the number of stars the raid is ranked. When they are reduced to that breakpoint threshold, an further damage from that attack is negated, and the next shield triggers. This also coincides with behavior changes in the Raid Pokemon's AI, as well as letting the Raid Pokemon attack multiple times on its turn.

It is entirely intentional. I'd assume it's to make the Max Raids feel more like a boss battle.

Comments

Thank you very much! And in thinking about it, this has happened most frequently with five star raid Pokémon. So that makes sense, per your answer.