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.

Current season
GO Battle League is currently at Season 4. The formats are:

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

Initially, participation in GO Battle League required unlocking a GO Battle League set, which granted Trainer an access to play a series of 5 matches. First set was free, while next ones could be unlocked by walking 3 km for each set.

If Trainer did not want to walk, a button was displayed, giving an option to unlock one set by spending,  or  if at least 2 km, 1 km or less than 1 km remaining respectively.

Trainer could view their progress towards earning a set on the Battle page. Once the next set of matches was unlocked there was an in-app notification delivered and a red dot on the Main Menu's Battle button would appear. Trainers could only unlock a maximum of 5 sets per day, but could still accumulate distance for the future set.

Battle Leagues
GO Battle League uses Battle Leagues mechanic. These are leagues available in GO Battle League:

Ranks and Ratings
Rank is a measure how many matches the Trainer has played and/or won. Once they attain a new rank, they cannot drop below it for the rest of the season. Reaching rank 9 can see the 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.

Ranks and ratings may differ between seasons.
 * For ranks and ratings for current season, see: 

Rewards
Before beginning a battling in a GO Battle League match, Trainer needs to pick the type of match set with either Basic Rewards or Premium Rewards. Trainer must exchange a Premium Battle Pass to receive Premium Rewards. Winning a match unlocks one out of five rewards. These rewards can be: Pokémon encounter, Stardust, Rare Candy and random items which include: Stardust reward that depends on which reward set was chosen and what Rank is Trainer.
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Reaching rank 10 often rewards Trainer with other exclusive items such as avatar items. There are also exclusive rewards at the end of each season. Rewards, including random items, Pokémon encounters, Stardust amount and the end of the season reward, are different during each season.


 * For rewards for current season, see: 

So far, Scraggy and Rufflet are the only Pokémon exclusive to rewards of GO Battle League at their initial release.

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.

Feature launch

 * 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

Seasons

 * From January to March, 2020 – Preseason
 * From March to May, 2020 – Season 1
 * From May to July, 2020 – Season 2
 * From July to September, 2020 – Season 3
 * From September to November, 2020 – Season 4
 * From November to, 2020 – Season 5

Events

 * March -, 2020 – GO Battle League Preparation
 * March -, 2020 – GO Battle League Season 1 Launch Celebration
 * April, 2020 – GO Battle Day: Marill
 * September, 2020 – GO Battle Night