It goes away on August 21

Pokemon Unite has been out for a full year, and the team is celebrating with some anniversary events. Quite a few events, actually! Whenever I’ve logged in during this period I’ve had a heck of a time delving into various menus to accept all of the login bonuses. But by far my favorite element of the event is the Pokemon Unite boss rush mode: a limited-time almost “MMO raid-like” set of encounters against three bosses in a co-op format. I hope it sticks around permanently.

So amid the introduction of Glaceon (July 21), Buzzwole (August 3), and Tyranitar (August 15), there’s a bunch of different campaigns and bonuses going on. You have several team-up/friend/invite-a-friend schemes meant to entice people to invite acquaintances into the game, the aforementioned login bonuses (which are tied to getting Glaceon for free, as well as anniversary cake bonuses); but the one that’s had the biggest impact for me is boss rush.

As a short five-minute diversion (or less, if you can clear it fast enough), you’ll jump into a game with four other players and take on three waves of bosses to get the best clear time/score. The game takes from a pool of five bosses for the first two rounds, with a final showdown against Regigigas.

Interestingly, Unite boss rush has MMO boss fight elements

A lot of typical MMO conventions apply, and some are taken directly from World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV. One mechanic involves hiding behind a block of ice during the Articuno battle to avoid a blizzard wiping the party. Another has players strategically spread out to dodge shocking other players, with a giant area-of-effect ring emanating out of your character to denote said ability range. Although there has been a bit of telegraphed dodging and PVE fighting against bigger enemies in the regular game (like Zapdos), it’s never been shown off quite on this scale: and I’m intrigued.

Even against the smallish pool of enemies, I found myself wanting a full-time PVE mode to tackle whenever I’m feeling the fatigue of competitive play (which, in Pokemon United, is often!). I have a lot of characters, costumes, and items at this point, and getting to use them against something other than the same old competitive fare is a great way to keep a lot of people invested in playing.

Maybe this mode is a test at the moment, but I hope it passes. You actually have two more chances to partake in it, as the first boss rush period has ended. The next one starts on July 31.

Here are the full dates and times for the Pokemon Unite boss rush mode:

• July 21, 2022, at 12:00 a.m. PDT to July 24, 2022, at 4:59 p.m. PDT
• July 31, 2022, at 5:00 p.m. PDT to August 7, 2022, at 4:59 p.m. PDT
• August 14, 2022, at 5:00 p.m. PDT to August 21, 2022, at 4:59 p.m. PDT

Chris Carter

Reviews Director, Co-EIC – Chris has been enjoying Destructoid avidly since 2008. He finally decided to take the next step, make an account, and start blogging in January of 2009. Now, he’s staff!