The holidays are here, and Game Freak has decided to celebrate in Pokemon Sword and Shield with the arrival of "Santa Claus" in Pokemon form. "For a limited time," max raid battles in Pokemon Sword and Shield are featuring Delibird the Santa Claus-themed Pokemon that will reward players with Delibird as well as extra Ice TRs and Exp. Candy. These max raid battles can be found in the Wild Area, but players must be connected to the internet to see the increased spawns.
Delibird is an Ice and Flying-type Pokemon introduced in the second generation of the Pokemon games and can be found in the Wild Area when the weather is snowy or hailing. Delibird will be weak against Steel, Fire, Electric, and Rock-type Pokemon, and players wanting to be able to take them out with ease need to invite others to the battle.
Players who are not necessarily overjoyed at a max raid revolving around a somewhat common Pokemon without Galarian or Gigantamax forms is the feature for the Christmas event are not out of luck. If players navigate the menu and go to the Mystery Gift tab, open the menu by pressing X and selecting Mystery Gift then go to the Get Mystery Gift option, players can enter the code PRESENT, which expires on January 30th, and they will be gifted with 10 Luxury balls to use in-game.
Luxury balls increase the friendship stat with Pokemon faster, so trainers going for the friendship evolutions like Sylveon, Umbreon, and Lucario will enjoy the decrease in the time it will take to get their Pokemon's friendship increased to the threshold.
Players can also enter in all of the Ball Guy codes currently being handed out on Twitter and take full advantage of the generosity that Game Freak is showing.
This event is not the first time that there has been a Christmas event in a mainline Pokemon game, and players may be able to expect several holiday-themed events as the new year arrives. Players can use this event to guess what future events may have and even if the events may bring in new Pokemon to the Galarian Dex for players to collect.
Pokemon Sword and Shield are currently available exclusively on Nintendo Switch.
Source: Polygon