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Picture this: You’re queuing up for one of the toughest types of battles in Pokémon Sword and Shield. You take time and care in picking a monster with a high enough level, move set, and type advantage. You get into the raid, ready to take on whatever big baddy the game throws at you.
And then you notice that one of your teammates has brought a Magikarp to the arena. You know — the “useless” water type that just flops around everywhere? That guy.
Hilariously, this seems to be happening to nearly everyone playing Pokémon Sword and Shield based on social media posts, especially for folks playing offline. Magikarp appears to be a favored pick for NPC combatants entering raids. The good news is that Magikarp don’t just use Splash over and over again to no avail: Instead, Magikarp tend to know the move Hydro Pump, which is both powerful and unexpected. Not that this ends up making a huge difference, sometimes.
Did u bring a heckin Magikarp to a five star raid#PokemonSwordandShield pic.twitter.com/5QcaPgQHOo
— val_plays_mobile (@ValPlays) November 20, 2019
Nobody joins your Raid and one of the NPC trainers has a Magikarp #PokémonSwordShield #SwordShield pic.twitter.com/Si7HQ0edb4
— Sigma (@SASigma) November 20, 2019
swsh b like "oh you're doing a max raid without other players? here's 3 trainers they all have magikarp"
— oh squirm? (@polaroidclear) November 20, 2019
When you get into the raid and one of your team members is a Magikarp. #PokemonSwordShield pic.twitter.com/WCf4ZiD3ps
— Orlando Selasi Baeta (@OSBaeta) November 19, 2019
who the fuck brought a magikarp to this max raid i’m OFFENDED
— festive binch (@Schu_Tastic) November 20, 2019
tfw john won’t dynamax his fuckin intELLION IN THIS 5 STAR MAX RAID AND the magikarp with hydro pump is on its 3rd time fainting pic.twitter.com/GNQcDwNqPh
— 09 (@Dimitrir010) November 18, 2019
Me, when the NPC sends out a Magikarp against a Max Raid Jolteon: pic.twitter.com/J1yo93taxJ
— marky (@MagicMarky07) November 18, 2019
Me, about to go into a fight against a 5 star raid pokemon with an AI teammate consisting of a magikarp, an eevee and a clefairy: pic.twitter.com/4EMDqe9R2l
— Nya, I'm gay (@LoganArcania) November 18, 2019
me when the npc trainer in my max raid battle has a fucking magikarp pic.twitter.com/jz1KEz40fH
— Havokmin (@Havokmin) November 16, 2019
The best part about all of this? The NPC who brings Magikarp into raids tends to be a young schoolgirl. So basically, everyone is kind of raging because of a little girl who maybe doesn’t know any better.
Did this little girl really bring a Magikarp to a Max Raid Battle!?#PokemonSwordShield pic.twitter.com/YIj6brj6F2
— Big Bear (@KokoropG) November 16, 2019
You’d think things would be better if you connect online and do raids with other real players, but it seems that some trolls are intentionally bringing useless monsters into multiplayer, too. Reports indicate that one favored tactic involves bringing Magikarp with a Focus Sash into raids, which ensures that it can’t die in a single hit. It can’t, however, guarantee that the Magikarp will do something meaningful during battle.
this guy with the magikarp in raid battles has a FOCUS SASH on it, like god forbid our hard carry dies LOL
— (@UrameshiMK) November 19, 2019
If the first thing you do when you get a Magikarp in Sword/Shield isn't immediately going to a max raid and dynamaxing it, you're playing pokemon wrong. pic.twitter.com/KodJhQyBDD
— dark (@dark_decay) November 16, 2019
This man really brought a Magikarp to a raid battle smdh #PokemonSwordShield #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/JyoC7EaSZi
— Walter Reynolds (@lootrocket) November 15, 2019
Poor Magikarp is just trying to do his part, guys.
