Max Lair: Dynamax Adventures, Legendaries and Ultra Beasts in the Crown Tundra

Beneath the snows of the Crown Tundra lies a cavern where Dynamax takes on a whole new scale. The Max Lair is home to Dynamax Adventures: four Trainers head down together, from one giant Pokémon to the next, all the way to the Legendary Pokémon or Ultra Beast waiting for them at the very bottom.

Contents

• Where Is the Max Lair?
• Peony, Peonia and an Eventful First Descent
• Dynamax Adventures: How They Work
• Legendaries and Ultra Beasts at the Bottom of the Max Lair
• What You Can Buy with Dynite Ore
• Battling Peony in the Max Lair
• The Max Lair at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Where Is the Max Lair?

The Max Lair belongs to Galar, but you won't find it in the base game. It's located in the Crown Tundra, the snowy land added by The Crown Tundra expansion for Pokémon Sword and Shield, the second part of the Expansion Pass after the Isle of Armor. Slippery Slope borders the cave to the south.

Past the entrance, you discover a cavern of colossal proportions, where the Dynamax phenomenon is amplified many times over. It's here, and not in the small dens scattered across the Wild Area, that Dynamax Adventures take place: back-to-back raids you tackle as a team.

Peony, Peonia and an Eventful First Descent

You discover the lair from your very first steps in the Crown Tundra. The player goes there with Peony, who is on the trail of his daughter Peonia: she has run away and holed up at the very bottom of the cavern.

The scientists warn him, but Peony ignores them and charges into the lair without any protection. The player is then invited on their very first adventure to track him down; at the end of the route, they find Peonia's father dazed: he tripped over a rock and hit his head.

The episode ends on a bittersweet note. Peony realizes that his daughter has no desire to explore the Crown Tundra with him; disappointed, he turns to the player as his partner for his special expedition instead, and gives them his League Card at the end of this first descent.

Dynamax Adventures: How They Work

The idea fits in one sentence: four Trainers head down together into the depths, taking out the Dynamax Pokémon that block their path. The player fills out their group with three other players or, failing that, with support Trainers.

You don't go down with your own team: at the start, everyone picks a rental Pokémon, then can swap it for an opponent caught along the way. Each victory brings you closer to the depths, where the adventure's boss lies in wait.

Once the adventure is over, you can keep only one Pokémon out of all those you came across on the way down. So you have to choose between the big catch at the bottom of the lair and one of the catches along the way.

Legendaries and Ultra Beasts at the Bottom of the Max Lair

The final opponent of an adventure always comes from a generation before Galar. You might run into Mewtwo, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Dialga, Palkia or Giratina: enough to complete, in a single cave, many of the legendary trios and duos.

Necrozma holds a special place. Catching it and then showing it to Peony prompts a scientist to give the player a Beast Ball and an Ability Patch.

Ultra Beasts can also be waiting at the end of the path. Completing five adventures against one of them earns you a gift from the scientist: a Poipole at level 20, in a Beast Ball, with the Beast Boost Ability.

🏆 Legendaries don't only hide at the bottom of the lair: find them in our Legendary Pokémon collection.

What You Can Buy with Dynite Ore

The lair is home to a merchant who accepts only one currency: Dynite Ore brought back from adventures. Small purchases cost one to three units, whether it's Exp. Candy L and XL, Dynamax Candy, Wishing Pieces, Armorite Ore or a Premier Ball; the six vitamins, from HP Up to Carbos, cost two units each.

Training items call for much bigger reserves: 25 units for a Bottle Cap, 50 for an Ability Capsule, 150 for a Beast Ball, the Ball designed for Ultra Beasts, and 200 for the Ability Patch, which unlocks a Pokémon's Hidden Ability.

Battling Peony in the Max Lair

Once all of the Crown Tundra's quests are wrapped up, the player can challenge Peony in the lair itself. Peonia's father then fields five Pokémon between levels 70 and 74.

His team shares a single type, Steel: Perrserker, Bronzong with the Heatproof Ability, Scizor, Copperajah and Aggron. Fire hits Perrserker, Copperajah and especially Scizor hard, but does far less against Aggron, which is half Rock, or against Bronzong, protected by Heatproof; Aggron, on the other hand, is weak to Fighting and Ground.

The Max Lair at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Where is the Max Lair?
  In the Crown Tundra, in the Galar region, north of Slippery Slope. You need to own The Crown Tundra expansion for Pokémon Sword and Shield.
• How many Trainers take part in a Dynamax Adventure?
  Four: the player and three partners, whether other players or support Trainers.
• Which Pokémon do you face at the end of a Dynamax Adventure?
  A Legendary Pokémon or Ultra Beast from a generation before Galar, such as Mewtwo, Rayquaza, Dialga or Necrozma. At the end, you can keep only one of the Pokémon you encountered.
• How do you get Poipole in the Max Lair?
  After you complete five adventures against an Ultra Beast, the lair's scientist gives it to you at level 20, in a Beast Ball.
• What is Dynite Ore used for?
  It's the currency of the lair's merchant. She trades it for vitamins, Exp. Candy, an Ability Capsule, a Beast Ball or an Ability Patch, the last of which costs 200 units.

In short

The Max Lair takes Galar's raids further by turning them into a four-Trainer descent toward a Legendary Pokémon or an Ultra Beast. Between Peonia running away, the Dynite Ore merchant and the battle against Peony, it gives the Crown Tundra a gathering point you keep coming back to long after the story ends.