The Silph Road launched a new online tool named Silph Radio that allows Pokémon GO players to find allies for raid battles.
Raid battles are a new feature introduced by developer Niantic Labs in the mobile game's latest major update, which also massively changed how gyms work in Pokémon GO.
Silph Radio Makes 'Pokémon GO' Raids Easier
Raid battles in Pokémon GO offer players the chance to work together in groups of 20 to take down rare and powerful Pokémon bosses that randomly appear in the redesigned gyms. Players only have a limited amount of time to defeat Pokémon bosses once they show up, though, so it is important for raid teams to be assembled quickly.
The problem, however, is the formation of raid teams often depend on Pokémon GO players simply running into each other while a Pokémon boss fight is available nearby. To make it easier for players to assemble raid teams, The Silph Road launched a tool named Silph Radio.
In the announcement of the tool, The Silph Road's dronpes described Silph Radio as a raid beacon network that lets players know about raid teams that are assembling nearby. It also allows players to alert others in the area when they are planning to attack a Pokémon boss.
The online tool, which requires the registration of Reddit accounts with The Silph Road and accessible through an internet browser, will allow players to set up a radius around their "home base" and send up beacons whenever they go on a raid battle. The tool will also encourage other players in the area to set up their own beacons.
As more users send up raid beacons, more raid alerts will be sent out, which should make it easier for players to coordinate with one another to beat raid battles.
Is The Silph Radio Legal?
Niantic Labs has continued to crack down on Pokémon GO cheaters, with shadowbans against players found using third-party apps that violate the game's Terms of Service and slash marks to indicate Pokémon caught using such tools.
Players should not worry about being on the receiving end of sanctions from Niantic Labs when using the Silph Radio, though. The information used to enable the tool is entirely crowdsourced and does not break the Pokémon GO Terms of Service. Using the Silph Radio to form raid teams takes away the exploration aspect in searching for potential allies, though, but for players who are willing to do anything to take down as many Pokémon bosses as possible, that may be a small price to pay.
