What are red raid eggs and how do they work in Pokémon Go?

The mysterious red raid egg began appearing in large numbers throughout the map in Pokémon Go back on Oct. 15, mainly found around RX Gyms. When receiving these eggs, players were puzzled as to what these mysterious items were actually for. 

If you are in the same boat and want to learn what these red raid eggs are actually for, continue reading this guide.

How do red raid eggs work in Pokémon Go?

The mystery surrounding these eggs isn’t that hard to crack, literally. These eggs will crack within 24 hours of them spawning to reveal to players what they hold inside: Elite Raids.

That’s right. Depending on when these red raid eggs spawned, they will hatch within 24 hours when a player has gotten their hands on it, letting players in on the toughest raid battles yet, called Elite Raids.

Depending on when the egg spawned, it could hatch at any of the following hours in local time:

• 11am
• 2pm
• 5pm

Within 24 hours of the egg spawning, you will need to quickly gather a team of players for the raid, with the ideal number of players for an Elite raid being around five.

Furthermore, you will not be able to invite your friends who are not close to the gym to help you out. You can only recruit players who are nearby. Remote Raid Passes are also not allowed for Elite raids. 

For Pokémon Go’s first Elite Raid back on Oct. 15, Hoopa Unbound welcomed players to the sparkling new tier of raid battles. This Psychic and Dark dual-type Pokémon is significantly more difficult than five-star raids.

This was the very first time Hoopa Unbound was available to players beyond the Special Research you could acquire it from that appeared during the Season of Mischief.

Hoopa Unbound then appeared on Nov. 13 in the next Elite raid, and very recently appeared once more on Dec. 10, spawning at 11am, 2pm, and 5pm in local time. All Elite Raid encounters stay active for 30 minutes.

The Pokémon featured in these Elite Raids have nearly 20,000 health, making them incredibly more tanky and powerful than any Pokémon that appears in five-star raids. If you defeat these beastly Elite Raid spawns before the timer runs out, you will be allowed to catch it along with your teammates.