da raid z0ne
The Raid Frontier
( Data Thread | Cheat Sheet and Vocations | Rewards )
Competitive battling sees trainers coaching their partners to the very pinnacle of their might, wielding such power as might scar the earth in the pursuit of greater self-mastery. However, there exists another type of battle, far-flung from the rules and regulations of civilized sport circuits. A battle where nurture contends with nature, where more than mere trophies hangs in the balance, and where true and unfettered power can be let loose!
The Raid Frontier tasks trainers to bring forth their partners both great and small, to form a greater whole and together topple mighty Boss Pokemon! Here, even the most niche ally can be a link in the chain of victory!
***
The Raid Frontier
( Data Thread | Cheat Sheet and Vocations | Rewards )
Competitive battling sees trainers coaching their partners to the very pinnacle of their might, wielding such power as might scar the earth in the pursuit of greater self-mastery. However, there exists another type of battle, far-flung from the rules and regulations of civilized sport circuits. A battle where nurture contends with nature, where more than mere trophies hangs in the balance, and where true and unfettered power can be let loose!
The Raid Frontier tasks trainers to bring forth their partners both great and small, to form a greater whole and together topple mighty Boss Pokemon! Here, even the most niche ally can be a link in the chain of victory!
***
For Entry
- Players and referees must be T.Lv2 or higher.
- Challenging the Raid Frontier costs JC, depending on the Raid challenged.
- The JC cost of a raid can be found in the Data Thread.
The Raid Frontier refers to a collective of utterly remote, far-flung locations where trainers can seek extremely powerful singular opponents known as Raid Bosses. These opponents will have hundreds of HP, multiple actions per turn, special resistances, and overwhelming additional effects. To break through these titanic foes, the challenger will need to have a tightly-synergized team with complementary strengths.
The challenger will field three Pokemon and assign each a Role: Protector, Supporter, and Aggressor. This specializes one each into defense, utility, or offense. If the challenger has defeated any Raids prior, they will have Vocations to enhance the performance of each of their Pokemon in their roles. Only by emphasizing their team's greatest strengths, and minimizing their weaknesses, will the challenger be able to prove victorious.
Default Format
bXp3 Triples vs. Raid Battle
Player Hours: 72 round/72 battle
Ref Hours: 72 round/120 battle
Step Count: 1
Battle Level: Raid-dependent
Recovery / Chill: 2 / 2
Substitutions: 1
Switching: Off
Tech: 2 in Pinnacle, 0 Otherwise
Backpack Size: 3
Some Raids overwrite parts of this Format.
Contents
- Patch History
- Raid Processing
- Raid Modifiers
- Starting a Raid
- Ending a Raid
- Challenge Form
- Cheat Sheet and Vocation Lists
- Rewards
- 2023-Sep-20: Prepared for third-wave testing:
- Reduced Step Count to 1, from 2.
- Reduced most opponents' HP, to account for less steps.
- Increased the multiple turns of most enemies, to threaten a bit more damage than second-wave tests.
- Adjusted the test vocations for performance.
- Pugilist changed to "Your attacks are Physical", from "Your attacks are x1.5 super-effective."
- Revised several other vocations, but the above is the most notable.
- Added three new testing vocations:
Martyr, 
Rearguard, and 
Blackguard
- 2023-Aug-26: Heavily revised the raid "Vs. The Spectacular Spore-verlord".
- Now features a set of three discrete phases, with adds paired with each raider.
- 2023-Aug-24: Prepared for preliminary testing.
Raid Battles work much like a typical Triples battle, except that the amount and power of the opposing team can vary greatly.
Raiding Vocations
The challenger must assign each of their three Pokemon, said to be "raiders", to a unique Raid Role that specializes their performance within the Raid. Every raid party must sign up with one Pokemon assigned to each Role.
Some Raids allow players to bring more than three Pokemon, and thus allow switching. The Role and Vocation of a switched-out Pokemon will be transferred to the Pokemon that is switched in to replace them.
The roles are as follows:
Protector —
Raids target the Protector with their most powerful and punishing attacks. Although this isn't technically an effect (but just a result of how the targeting method works), it is still a vital part of a well-built raid party. The Protector should be able to weather attacks using a combination of their typing, bulk, defensive boosts, and/or recovery.
Supporter —
The raid party's Supporter has four (4) Substitutions, unlike the other roles, who have only one (1). This positions them as the party's primary line of defense against random chance, and it will be spending much of their time using utility actions to weaken or disrupt the Boss.
Aggressor —
The raid party's Aggressor deals triple (yes, x3!) final damage with hits to Bosses and to Minions. This gives the raid party the damage necessary to push through massive Bosses, some of whom can have upwards of a thousand HP, within their strict Enrage timers. The other two roles will spend much of their time protecting the Aggressor, allowing them to work uninterrupted to win the Raid!
Additionally, challengers may assign a Vocation to each of their raiders, out of the Vocations they've earned from prior Raids. Each Vocation has a powerful special effect that helps raiders overcome increasingly stronger bosses. Vocations are sorted into roles, and each can only be assigned to a raider of the correct role.Raid Opponent Behavior
Each round, the referee will determine the opponents' orders using their predetermined behavior patterns, rather than piloting them directly. Opponents have sets of actions called "Behavior Sets", from which random actions will be rolled.
Actions in these Behavior Sets are often modified with special Behavior Modifiers. You can find a list here.
When rolling orders for raid Pokemon, only roll from among actions they could attempt. If a Pokemon has a pool of five actions, but can't attempt two of them, roll from among the remaining three. If no actions in the pool can be attempted, roll nothing and order nothing. (This typically results in Struggle.) Once the raid Pokemon's orders are rolled, their ability to attempt the rolled orders may change mid-round, just like a regular Pokemon's orders.
Raid Phases
Some Raids have multiple sections, called "Raid Phases". (Not to be confused with 2.1 "Phases of a Battle") Raids will spell out their Phase Progression in their data, underneath the profiles for Raid opponents. Raid Phases typically progress from the first listed Phase to the last listed Phase, in order. Some Raids offer conditionally-branching Phases.
Phases change at the end of the round's Switching Phase, if each Raid opponent has 0 or less remaining HP. When moving to a new Phase, all Raid opponents are returned to the Bench, and then the Raid opponents specified in the Phase data are set to their maximum HP (for that Phase, if specified) and put into play.
The player's victory condition is to reach the end of the Raid's Phase Progression. (Or one of the ends, as the case may be.)
Of course, some Raids will overwrite all or part of this behavior, depending on their needs.
Raid Opponents will often have Phase-dependant data in their profiles, such as different stats or Behavior Sets for different Raid Phases. If a Raid opponent with missing data for the current Raid Phase ends up in play, something is terribly wrong.
Putting It All Together
At first glance, the extra parameters on each Raid, and the slew of additional arena effects, can make Raids seem more complex than they really are. Find an example Raid, with descriptive annotation, within.
Vs. The Exasperated Example, the Bored Bufonidae!
Venusaur
Typing: Grass/Poison
Abilities: Overgrow, Chlorophyll
Trait: Always Dynamaxed.
Phase 1 HP: 420
Phase 2 HP: 690
Attack: 6
Defen.: 6
Sp.Atk: 7
Sp.Def: 7
Speed: 80
Size: 40
Weight: 40
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 2 Substitution Behavior
Initial Setup:
1x Venusaur
Raid Arena
Fuchsia Marsh
While looking like a jungle, the Fuchsia Marsh, located within the Safari Zone of Fuchsia City, is definitely not one. Low-laying vegetation and muddy pools of water are very common here, which makes for a somewhat hostile environment. Large flowers can be seen here and there, releasing a very odd aroma.
Jungle Heat
Rewards
Player Progress: Venusaur's missing HP / Venusaur's maximum HP
Referee Progress: Number of rounds reffed / Total Rounds reffed
Venusaur
Typing: Grass/Poison
Abilities: Overgrow, Chlorophyll
Trait: Always Dynamaxed.
Some opponents may feature non-standard abilities or custom traits, so be sure to review their information.
Phase 1 HP: 420
Phase 2 HP: 690
Attack: 6
Defen.: 6
Sp.Atk: 7
Sp.Def: 7
Speed: 80
Size: 40
Weight: 40
Commonly, Raid opponents will have HP pools "Per Phase". Some opponents may have increased Size, or Weight, or more rarely have other increased parameters.
Phase 1
| Random action, target PR | Choose both action and target | Random action and target, if the Boss HP is not full |
|---|---|---|
Giga Drain x2 Sludge Bomb x2 Skull Bash +20 | Skip this turn if any Raider is Asleep. Venoshock Weather Ball Stomping Tantrum Trailblaze =10 |  Piercing Sleep PowderPower Whip Sludge Bomb  Double-Speed Sunny Day |
The bold header row (top) gives the ref instructions on how to order in the Ordering Phase. For example, this Venusaur's third action requires that its HP is not full when orders are given.
The non-bold body row (bottom) sometimes gives instructions to skip a turn under certain conditions. For example, this Venusaur's second action is skipped if any Raider is Asleep, when Venusaur would take their second turn.
Phase 2
| Random action, target PR | Choose both action and target | Choose both action and target |
|---|---|---|
These actions are each Piercing.Solar Blade x3 Sludge Wave x2 Earthquake x2 | Leech Seed Stun Spore Toxic Sunny Day | Venoshock Weather Ball Stomping Tantrum Sunny Day |
Phase 2 Substitution Behavior
At the start of your turns, IF the Weather is Sun THEN replace all instances of Sunny Day with Growth.
The raid opponent will get their orders, at random, from their behavior table. They'll take a number of turns in each round (and thus in each step), equal to the number of columns in their behavior. This example Venusaur will take 3 turns in every step.
The raid opponent may have multiple ordersets, but they rarely use more than one at a time. This Venusaur will use the upper orderset in Phase 1 and the lower orderset in Phase 2. In Phase 2, they would also additionally order with their Substitution.
When issuing orders to raid opponents, the referee will choose actions and targets as described by the column header. Often, the column will instruct the referee to roll an action randomly, and then manually select a target for the rolled action. Many other selection methods are possible, of course.
When prompted to choose, the referee should always prioritize the choice they feel most harms the challenger's odds of success.
Often as a Raid referee, you'll find all of your choices are bad—this happens with the most prepared challengers. If the choice doesn't matter, just choose at random.
In all cases, if a Raid opponent's order can't find a target, it will use default targeting. (See 8.3c "Target Legality Check")
For this Venusaur, an order post in Phase 2 could look like this:
Solar Blade (Protector), Leech Seed (Aggressor), Weather Ball (Aggressor)
At the start of your turns, IF the Weather is Sun THEN replace all instances of Sunny Day with Growth.
The Venusaur would take one turn for each of their orders, all in the same step.
1x VenusaurThe initial setup of the Raid determines the starting lineup of the opponent's team. If a Pokemon is part of the raid but only appears mid-Raid or appears conditionally, they will be listed as appearing here "x0" times.
Raid Arena
Fuchsia Marsh
While looking like a jungle, the Fuchsia Marsh, located within the Safari Zone of Fuchsia City, is definitely not one. Low-laying vegetation and muddy pools of water are very common here, which makes for a somewhat hostile environment. Large flowers can be seen here and there, releasing a very odd aroma.
TMan writes us a nice blurb of arena flavor to help bring the Raid to life. Everyone be nice to TMan!
Jungle Heat
At the end of the round: Venusaur freely executes Max Weather Ball on each raider (in role order) if there is a Weather in play; or G-Max Vine Lash on each raider (in role order) if not.
Sundown over ParadiseAt the end of the fifth round, if the Boss is not Fainted: The challenger loses the Raid.
The meat of most Raids takes place here, in the Raid's Arena effects. All Raids have some manner of effect that ends the challenge in a raider loss, said to be the Raid's "Enrage". Some Raids have "hard" (immediate) Enrages, such as the example above. Other Raids have softer, more gradual Enrages, but there's always an Enrage of some kind.
Rewards
Player Progress: Venusaur's missing HP / Venusaur's maximum HP
Progress: 7 EXP to each raider
Victory: 3 more EXP to each raider
Referee Progress: Number of rounds reffed / Total Rounds reffed
Progress: 4
JC
JCCompletion: 2more JC
more JCRaids will typically offer rewards based on progress checkpoints through the fight. Because Raids vary so much (some Raid Bosses lack HP entirely), the breakpoints have to be defined on a per-Raid basis.
Raid Battles are modified in a variety of ways compared to ordinary battles; and Raid opponents, especially Bosses, are modified compared to ordinary battlers.
Condition Limit
Raiders can only create the following conditions once per Raid Phase:
- Protection
- Evasive
- Helping Hand
(Effects that don't "create", "grant", or "inflict" a condition, such as Comatose and Cute Charm, never create that condition — the condition simply exists. See 3.3b "Ongoing Existence Effects".)
Bosses (but not Minions) are unaffected by Sleep, Flinching, Sluggish, Torment, and Encore.
Conditions that Raiders create on Bosses, except Major Status, have a duration of at most one round.
The Condition filter limits you to one of each limited condition per phase, not per raid. In multi-phase raids, you'll get multiple chances to create those conditions.
Action LimitRaiders can only execute the following actions once per Raid Phase, and can't execute them if any Raider executed Helping Hand in the same round:
- Instruct
The raiders' stat stages can only be raised half as high as normal.
The stat stages of Bosses (not Minions) can only be lowered half as low as normal.
(Round normally, if the result is somehow not an integer.)
Typically, this limits raiders to at most +1 Accuracy/Evasion and +3 other stats; and the Bosses to at least -1 Accuracy/Evasion and -3 other stats.
In addition, if an effect would change a Raid opponent's stage (for good or ill), for a duration measured in turns; instead, that duration is that many steps.
HP Filter
Raider's effects, or an effect of a Boss action, that would refer to the maximum HP or current HP of a Boss, instead refer to either that number or 100; whichever is lower.
Example: A raider Pokemon with 50 HP uses Pain Split on a 1200 HP Boss. The move "sees" 100 HP, so the raider Pokemon gains 25 HP and the Boss loses 25 HP.
Other Filters
Bosses' and Minions' actions in bold are executed freely. (See 8.3 "Legality Checks")
Effects can't inflict Fainting on Bosses.
Bosses and Minions don't have or require Energy.
Bosses' and Minions' actions cost nothing.
Bosses' actions automatically succeed their accuracy checks.
Starting a Raid
Players can start a Raid Frontier challenge by signing up here, in the Raid Frontier thread.
- Players post which Raid they wish to challenge and three Pokemon they intend to challenge that Raid with.
- Their Pokemon will have the Protector, Supporter, and Aggressor roles, in the sequence that they were posted.
- For each of their Pokemon, the player may assign them a role-appropriate Vocation from among the Vocations they've unlocked, if desired.
- Referees take players' challenges from this thread. Players challenging the Raid Frontier for the first time (e.g. those with no Raid Thread of their own) are prioritized over repeat challengers.
A Raid challenge ends under the following conditions:
- If any team wins the battle, the Raid ends.
- The challenger may forfeit the Raid at any time, reduced rewards based on the degree of completion.
When signing up for the Safari Zone, copy or approximate the following template in your signup post.
Code:
[B]Name:[/B] (name)
[B]Thread:[/B] (thread)
[B]Raid:[/B] (targeted raid)
[B]Backpack:[/B]
(3 items)
[B]Protector Pokemon[/B]
(chosen Protector vocation, if any)
(profile)
[B]Supporter Pokemon[/B]
(chosen Supporter vocation, if any)
(profile)
[B]Aggressor Pokemon[/B]
(chosen Aggressor vocation, if any)
(profile)
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Triple-Speed Psystrike"
Wide Psystrike"
Commando
Daredevil
Duelist
Engineer
Butler
Cleric
Reporter
Tutor
Gambler
Psychic
Scribe
Sorcerer
TC or 
RC from Raids. They don't have any money!
Accolades, plus 2 more if the Raid is Level 4.
choice band
leftovers
pecha berry
Shell Bell
Razor Claw
Choice Specs
Chesto Berry
Life Orb
Expert Belt
Power Anklet
Metal Coat
Goodra-Hisui @ 
Armarouge @ 
The Shadow-Wielding Master and Students!
Toxic Orb
Sorcerer
cheri berry