Here’s how the Dynamax mechanic works in Pokémon Go

Dynamax Pokémon begin to roll out in Pokemon gowith the feature now live in select countries including Australia, New Zealand, and many countries in Asia. While Max Battles aren’t available yet, players can now collect Max Particles and catch a few Dynamax Pokémon along the way.

In this guide, we’ll explain everything you need to know about how the Dynamax mechanic works in Pokémon Go. We’ll explain how to collect Max Particles and catch your first Dynamax Pokémon, among other things.

Max Particles (MP) are a new resource in Pokémon Go that you can use to power up your Dynamax Pokémon and participate in Max Battles. You can collect them in two ways: by visiting Power Spots or by walking.

Power Spots are new PokéStop-like structures in the world, and thankfully they don’t take over or replace Stops or Gyms. Instead, it seems like most Power Spots are tied to locations like shops, businesses, and churches — essentially places that wouldn’t necessarily qualify to be Stops, but are generally accessible to the public in some way.

When you visit a Power Spot, you can click on the structure to go to a screen where you can obtain Max Particles, which give you 120 MP per Spot. It appears that each Spot can only give out MP once per day, and Power Spots are listed on the recently upgraded page nearby.

Walking also lets you earn Max Particles, with 300 MP for every 2km you walk. You can only earn 800 MP per day, but if you’re below that when you claim your walking MP or Power Spot MP, you can go over that limit. You can also only store 1000 MP at a time, but the same warning applies.

Dynamax Pokémon aren’t currently available in the wild, but the tooltip for Power Spots says that they will appear at Power Spots at some point in the future. This is similar to raids, where players can battle Power Spot Bosses in Max Battles and capture those Pokémon after successfully defeating them. The game also says that visiting a Power Spot may spawn a Pokémon, and that “Dynamax Pokémon may appear even if Gigantamax Pokémon are placed on the Power Spot,” referring to the ability to leave Pokémon at Spots to help other Trainers and earn Candy.

That being said, there are ways to get Dynamax Pokémon early on. Currently, we have found two methods. The first is a Dynamax Wooloo, which is a reward for completing the first stage of the special research quest To the Max!. The second method is by maxing out the MP counter to 1000, which will also spawn a Dynamax Wooloo in this stage.

Catching these Dynamax Pokémon is similar to catching other Pokémon, and you can use your own Poké Balls instead of just Premier Balls like in raids. After you catch a Dynamax Pokémon, you can see its Dynamax form on its page in the Pokémon list, where you can also upgrade its Max Moves with MP, Candy, and XL Candy.

There is currently no way to convert Pokémon you own into Dynamax or Gigantamax Pokémon.