GO Battle League

GO Battle League is a feature in Pokémon GO that allows trainers to battle opponents around the globe in online Trainer Battles. The feature is released on January, 2020. It is only available to Trainers level 10 and up. Only one Pokémon of a single species can be assigned to a Battle Party.

Since April, 2020, the GO Battle League leaderboard was introduced to show the top five hundred Trainers in the world. It is temporarily disabled.

It is currently at Season 2. The formats are:
 * Battle League Great.png Great League: May, 2020 to June , 2020
 * Battle League Ultra.png Ultra League: June, 2020 to July , 2020
 * Battle League Master.png Master League: July, 2020 to July , 2020
 * GO Battle League.png All three Leagues and Premier Cup: July, 2020 to July , 2020

Entering GO Battle League
To access GO Battle League in game:
 * 1) in Map View touch Main Menu button [[file:Button Main Menu.png|30px|link=]]
 * 2) touch Battle button

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, trainers now do not require walking or PokéCoins to unlock battle sets in GO Battle League.

Participation in GO Battle League requires unlocking a GO Battle League set, which grants you access to play a series of 5 matches. Your first set is free, and you can unlock future sets by walking 3 km.

If you do not want to walk, a "Battle Now" button will appear, giving you the option to unlock one set by spending, or  if at least 2 km, 1 km or less than 1 km remaining respectively.

You can view your progress towards earning a set on the Battle page, plus you'll receive an in-app notification and see a red dot on the Main Menu's Battle button when you’ve unlocked a set. Trainers can only unlock a maximum of 5 (6 in Season 2) sets per day, but can still accumulate distance for the future's set.

If one loses all 5 matches in a set, they can continue playing in that same set until scoring a win for up to 15 losses, after which they will move to the next set.

Ranks and Ratings
Rank is a measure how many matches you've played and/or won. Once you attain a new rank, you cannot drop below it for the rest of the season. Reaching rank 7 can see your rating. Losses do not affect rank but lower matchmaking rating. Ending a season with a higher rank results in better end-of-season rewards.

Only playing the GO Battle League global matching system influences the GO Battle League Rank.

Rewards
Before beginning a set, pick the type of rewards you wish to receive (Basic Rewards or Premium Rewards) before searching for a match. You must exchange a Premium Battle Pass to receive Premium Rewards. Winning a match unlocks one reward.

Basic Premium

The random items include:
 * or.
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Reaching rank 10 can earn avatar items and an avatar pose inspired by Steven.

Pokémon
Higher ranks include Pokémon rewarded in lower ranks. The Pokémon are set at level 20 with IV floor of 10/10/10. Metagross is the first guaranteed encounter. Stunfisk is the first encounter in rank 4. Rufflet is the first encounter in rank 8. Scraggy is the first encounter in rank 9. Pikachu Libre is the first encounter in rank 10, one only.

End-of-season rewards

 * (rank 7 or above)

Development
According to Niantic, battling has been a core part of the Pokémon universe since the very beginning. This feature would build upon Trainer Battles, then-current form of player vs. player battling that exists within Pokémon GO. Like many Pokémon GO features, GO Battle League would encourage players to get out and explore the world with Pokémon. Trainers would be able to walk in order to earn entry into the GO Battle League, then battle opponents from around the globe through an online matching system and rise in the ranks of the league. This feature should make the Pokémon GO battling experience more competitive and accessible to more Trainers.

With different seasons of GO Battle League, there were significant changes to this feature including Pokémon rewards pool and moving Pokémon encounter reward into third place in the free set. After Season 1 has concluded, Legendary and Mythical Pokémon ceased to appear in rewards pool.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the walking-distance requirement was temporarily removed from the GO Battle League feature and players can access 5 sets of this battles each day.

History

 * January, 2020 - GO Battle League was open being available for players level 40
 * Two hours later - GO Battle League was made available for players level 37 and above
 * One hour later - GO Battle League was made available for players level 35 and above
 * January, 2020 - GO Battle League was made available for players level 33 and above
 * Two hours later - GO Battle League was made available for players level 30 and above
 * January, 2020 - GO Battle League was made available for players level 10 and above