Max Mushrooms have landed in Pokémon Go, promising to supercharge your Max Battles-but there’s a catch: these powerful fungi double your Pokémon’s damage for 30 minutes, but you’ll need to pay up or complete special event research to get your hands on them. As controversy brews over their high price and limited availability, Trainers everywhere are debating: are Max Mushrooms the ultimate edge, or just another pay-to-win gimmick?
In their games of origin, Pokémon Sword and Shield, three of these mushrooms are used to make Max Soup, a treat that will turn your regular Dynamax Pokémon into rare Gigantamax Pokémon. That’s not the case in Pokémon Go, though.
Below we explain what Max Mushrooms do in Pokémon Go and how to get them.
What do Max Mushrooms do in Pokémon Go?
Max Mushrooms in Pokémon Go are special consumable items that temporarily double the damage dealt by your Pokémon during Max Battles, including both Dynamax and Gigantamax encounters. When activated, all of your Pokémon’s Fast Attacks, Charged Attacks, and Max Moves inflict twice as much damage for 30 minutes, making them invaluable for tackling especially tough Max Battle bosses. The effect is exclusive to your own Pokémon and does not boost the damage of other players’ teams. You can use additional Max Mushrooms to extend the duration of the effect, but the damage multiplier remains capped at 2x regardless of how many you use. This makes Max Mushrooms a strategic asset for trainers aiming to overcome difficult battles or compensate for a smaller group size.
Max Mushrooms double your damage in Max Battles for 30 minutes at a time each. It only buffs your Pokémon, not the Pokémon of other players.
Just like Incense, Lucky Eggs, and other similar useable items, you can stack Max Mushrooms to extend the duration. However, using Origin Forme Dialga’s Roar of Time does not increase the duration of Max Mushrooms.
All of that said, this means if a group of 20 trainers is needed to take down a Gigantamax Pokémon, you should be able to beat the battle with 10 trainers. if they all use a mushroom. Admittedly, this seems like a pretty bad way to deal with the fact that players, particularly in rural areas, are struggling to grab enough people to complete battles against Gigantamax Pokémon.
On the flipside, this also means Max Mushrooms are not required if you have the numbers and strong counters – the Gigantamax system launched without them, after all – so if you can save yourself money, we’d recommend it.
How to get Max Mushrooms in Pokémon Go
Max Mushrooms in Pokémon Go are premium items that double the damage of your Pokémon during Max Battles for 30 minutes and can be stacked for longer durations, though the damage multiplier does not increase with stacking. The primary way to obtain Max Mushrooms is by purchasing them from the in-game shop, where one costs 400 PokéCoins and a bundle of three is available for 1,000 PokéCoins. Occasionally, Max Mushrooms may also be included in special event boxes or as rewards for completing Timed Research during limited-time events, such as Gigantamax Max Battle Days, which require purchasing an event ticket (typically around $5). While some players have received a brief free trial of Max Mushrooms during specific events, there is currently no reliable way to earn them for free through regular gameplay.
At the moment, the only ways to get Max Mushrooms is to buy them in the shop, in event boxes, or tickets. On their own, Max Mushrooms cost 400 coins and a bundle of three costs 1,000 coins.
As of this writing, Max Mushrooms have also appeared in limited-time event boxes and tickets, like the Gigantamax Lapras Max Battle Day Ticket, which ran for $4.99 and included one mushroom, alongside other perks.
There is also a “Battle Box” bundle that gives you one Max Mushroom, two Max Particle Packs, 13 Rare Candy, and nine Max Revives for $9.99. While these bundles won’t stick around forever, they give a bit of an idea of other paid sources for the mushrooms in the future.
Can you get Max Mushrooms for free in Pokémon Go?
Currently, you cannot obtain Max Mushrooms for free in Pokémon Go, with one notable exception: when you start a Max Battle, you may be offered a five-minute free trial of Max Mushrooms, which is usually enough to complete a single Max Battle. Outside of this limited free sample, all other methods to acquire Max Mushrooms require payment, either through purchasing them in the in-game shop with PokéCoins or by buying special event tickets that include them as rewards. While there is speculation that Max Mushrooms could become rewards for Special or Timed Research tasks in the future, there is no confirmed way to get them for free beyond the initial trial period at this time.
As mentioned above, no – at least not as of this writing. There is a bit of a “free sample” that you can try out, though.
When you start a Max Battle, you’ll will see a Max Mushroom button the screen. Tapping this will prompt if you want to give Max Mushrooms a free trial for five minutes (about enough time to do one Max Battle).
It’s entirely possible that Max Mushrooms will become rewards for things like Special and Timed Research, the way we sometimes get research that rewards Incubators, Lucky Eggs, and other paid goodies, but it’s too early to say at this point.
How can I efficiently farm Max Mushrooms without spending money
To efficiently farm Max Mushrooms in Pokémon Go without spending money, you should focus on completing Max Raid Battles. The most effective strategy is to do as many raids as possible-both local and online-since Max Mushrooms spawn after you complete a set number of raids, typically one mushroom for every three raids completed. This method works whether you win or lose the raid, and you don’t need to catch the Pokémon afterward for the raid to count.
Here are the key steps:
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Continuously participate in Max Raid Battles, prioritizing any available dens on your map.
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After every three completed raids, check the known mushroom spawn locations (such as the Forest of Focus, Warm-Up Tunnel, Courageous Cavern, and Brawler’s Cave) for new Max Mushrooms.
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Refresh your raid list and join new raids as soon as they appear to maximize your efficiency.
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Repeat this cycle to accumulate mushrooms steadily without spending any in-game currency.
This approach allows you to farm Max Mushrooms consistently by leveraging in-game activities rather than microtransactions.
What’s the most cost-effective way to farm Max Mushrooms in raids
The most cost-effective way to farm Max Mushrooms in raids is to focus on completing as many Max Raid Battles as possible, since every three completed raids will trigger a Max Mushroom to spawn in one of four specific Isle of Armor locations: Forest of Focus, Warm-Up Tunnel, Courageous Cavern, or Brawler’s Cave.
Here’s an efficient approach:
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Chain raids back-to-back, joining the first available raid as soon as you finish one to maximize your raid count quickly.
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After every three raids, check all four mushroom spawn locations for new Max Mushrooms.
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Use local, offline, and online raids interchangeably-any completed raid counts toward the mushroom spawn.
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Repeat this process, harvesting mushrooms after each set of three raids, to minimize downtime and maximize your yield.
This method requires only your time and effort, not in-game currency, making it the most cost-effective strategy for farming Max Mushrooms through raids.
