Premier Ball

Overview

A Premier Ball is a white ball with red trim supplied exclusively when you start a bonus catch encounter after winning a Raid Battle (including Shadow Raids and Mega Raids), a Max Battle, or a Team GO Rocket battle. You cannot store Premier Balls in your Item Bag or switch to your own Poké Balls, Great Balls, or Ultra Balls during these encounters.

Because a Premier Ball has a base ball modifier of 1×—identical to a standard Poké Ball—its value comes from giving you shots at the boss rather than higher base catch strength. Every missed throw or breakout uses up one of your allotted balls, and any remaining Premier Balls vanish once you catch the Pokémon or run out of attempts.

How to get it

• Win a Raid Battle (including Shadow Raids and Mega Raids), a Max Battle, or a Team GO Rocket battle to receive Premier Balls when you start the bonus encounter.

• Damage dealt, completion speed, Gym control, and raiding with friends increase your raid allocation; battling in person or upgrading rewards adds balls in Max Battles, while surviving Pokémon and the Hero and Purifier medals add balls in Team GO Rocket encounters.

How to use it

1. Throw the supplied Premier Balls during the bonus encounter. Berries (such as Razz Berries and Golden Razz Berries) and throw bonuses (Nice, Great, Excellent, and curveball throws) work normally.

2. Any unused Premier Balls disappear as soon as the encounter ends; they never enter your Item Bag and cannot be saved for later catches.

Worth knowing

Treat each throw as a limited opportunity: wait for a safe opening instead of throwing into an attack.

A Premier Ball has a 1× ball modifier like a standard Poké Ball, though later throws in ordinary raid encounters and certain event bonuses can improve your chance of catching the boss.

Earn more attempts before the catch starts

Catching a boss depends on two separate factors: how many Premier Balls you earn before the encounter starts, and your chance of catching the Pokémon on each individual throw. In Team GO Rocket battles, keeping your three-Pokémon party from fainting and leveling up your Hero and Purifier medals increases the number of Premier Balls awarded. In Raid Battles and Max Battles, your preparation, group composition, and battle performance determine your starting total.

Earning every possible Premier Ball before the encounter begins is critical because you cannot pull Poké Balls, Great Balls, or Ultra Balls from your Item Bag if you run low. Set up a strong counter team and raid with friends to maximize your ball total during the fight, then pair Golden Razz Berries with consistent curveball throws once the catch screen opens.

Where extra Premier Balls come from

Raid Battle allocations combine a base award of 6 Premier Balls for defeating the boss with bonuses for individual damage dealt (0–6 balls), completion speed, Gym control (2 balls), and Friendship level. Raiding with a Great Friend adds 1 ball, an Ultra Friend adds 2, and a Best Friend or Forever Friend adds 4. Only the single highest Friendship tier among the Trainers in your raid lobby counts; bonuses from multiple friends do not stack.

Gym-control bonuses do not apply to Shadow Raids because Team GO Rocket controls the Gym.

Max Battles grant a base allocation of 10 Premier Balls, which can be upgraded to 20 after victory by spending PokéCoins, plus an additional 2 Premier Balls when you battle in person at the Power Spot rather than remotely.

Team GO Rocket victories grant 2 base Premier Balls, 1 to 3 balls for your conscious Pokémon remaining at the end of the fight (1 per surviving team member), and 0 to 4 balls each from your Hero and Purifier medals (+1 at Bronze, +2 at Silver, +3 at Gold, and +4 at Platinum). While you cannot use Great Balls or Ultra Balls in these encounters, you can select a Master Ball from your Item Bag if you own one and the encounter allows it.

Special event rules can modify or replace Premier Balls altogether. Some events and GO Passes apply a temporary bonus that increases your chance of catching Raid Bosses with Premier Balls without changing the ball's standard 1× modifier outside the event. Other events replace Premier Balls with another encounter ball, such as Beast Balls for Ultra Beast encounters or GO Safari Balls for eligible Raid Battle and Max Battle catches during GO Wild Area 2025.

Use the results screen for the actual award. Speed bonuses have changed over time, and Mega Raids award Mega Energy for speed instead of the ordinary speed-ball bonus. A historical speed table is not a reliable prediction of today’s total.

Encounter-specific catch rules

Shiny Raid Bosses and Giovanni’s Legendary Shadow Pokémon have a 100% catch rate on the first throw that connects, provided you are not speed-locked or experiencing GPS errors. In standard non-Shiny raid encounters, a hidden catch-assistance mechanic gradually increases your chance of catching the boss on later Premier Ball throws, though Niantic and Scopely have not published its exact formula.

For an ordinary difficult raid catch, a Golden Razz Berry and an accurate curveball improve each opportunity. Wait for a clear opening and aim for a ring size you can hit consistently. The raid reward items have already been earned; failing to catch the boss does not undo those rewards. A successful battle and a successful catch are separate outcomes.

If you decide to use a Master Ball on a high-value boss, switch to it before throwing your final Premier Ball. Once your last Premier Ball misses or the Pokémon breaks out, the encounter ends immediately and you cannot reopen the ball menu.

Also keep in mind that minimizing or backgrounding the Pokémon GO app during a raid encounter can cause a known visual glitch where the on-screen Premier Ball counter resets to your starting number, even though the server still tracks your actual remaining throws.

Older speed-bonus tables

Older reference tables list 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 bonus Premier Balls for non-Mega raids finished with 0–25%, 25–50%, 50–75%, 75–90%, and 90–100% of the raid clock remaining. In March 2026, players documented reduced speed-ball payouts across those time brackets (such as topping out at 6 balls instead of 8 on the fastest clears). Because an official replacement table has not been published, the older brackets are kept here only as historical context—always check your post-raid results screen for your actual total.