How to increase your rank and rating in the Pokémon Go Battle League

Pokémon Go is best known for letting players catch Pokémon, but the Go Battle League is a place where you can scratch that competitive itch by duking it out to become the game’s top battler. As you increase your rank and rating in the Pokémon Go Battle League (GBL) you can earn several rewards too. 

What is rank and rating in Pokémon Go Battle League

Each rank in the Go Battle League is a benchmark for your performance. It will also match you with better players and give you better rewards as you climb. The caliber of opponents is not the only thing that becomes more difficult, though, as the requirements needed to reach higher ranks also become steeper. 

In our experience, grinding those higher ranks can be a little tedious even if you do want to prove you’re the best trainer. But that slog could only apply to certain players and the GBL offers a number of different Leagues and Cups to add some variety if you are willing to branch out a bit.

Regardless of what type of challenge or specific League you might be looking to complete, here are the current requirements for each Go Battle League rank and several tips and tricks we have compiled to help you improve your grinding experience.

How to increase your rank and rating in Pokémon Go Battle League

The Pokémon Go Battle League has two separate indicators for player performance: Ranks and ratings.

GBL Ranks are a set number that you can achieve mostly by simply battling other players online that, up to a certain point, don’t even require you to win that many battles. This is so newer players won’t be intimidated by needing to win multiple battles in a row early on just to break out of the starting ranks—and it ensures everyone can have at least a little fun battling while nabbing some rewards.

Once you break through to Rank 20, your GBL Rating will come into play. Ranks 21 to 24 have unique titles and solely focus on this number, which goes up every time you win and down with each loss.

• Once you reach a new Pokémon Go Battle League rank you can’t be demoted to a previous rank, even when a rank requires a specific rating to achieve it initially.
  • Your rating can fall below those previously required checkpoints, however, leading to a harder time reaching higher ranks if you lose too many battles consecutively.
• Since your rank can’t drop, you are guaranteed to obtain the end-of-season rewards tied to your highest rank during a GBL season.

As you climb ranks, or just finish daily sets, in the GBL the rewards you can get change, and they also vary from season to season. For Season 16, here are some of the rewards available.

• Stardust
• Rare Candies
• Fast and Charged TMs
• Sinnoh Stones
• Rare Pokémon encounters (Pikachu Libre, Carbink, and Legendary Pokémon)
• Avatar items themed around Top Champion Geeta from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
  • These items can only be obtained by reaching Ace, Veteran, Expert, and Legend Ranks.
• You can play five Go Battle League sets per day, for a total of 25 battles. After clearing each set, you can claim your rewards.
  • If you want Premium track rewards at the end of a GBL set, you need to select that option and exchange a Premium Battle Pass.

How to check your rank and rating in Pokémon Go Battle League

If you want to check your Pokémon Go Battle League rank or rating, all you need to do is open the Battle tab you use to access the GBL. You should see your season rank pop up alongside your trainer badge on this screen.

If you don’t see your rating on this screen, that is because you have yet to reach Rank 21 and become an Ace Trainer. That is when the rating system “unlocks” and is shown alongside your badge when entering battles since this is when it becomes the main focus of the GBL ecosystem.

There is also a global leaderboard hosted officially by Niantic that updates daily with the top 500 Pokémon Go Battle League players.

How ranks work in Pokémon Go Battle League

Every Pokémon Go Battle League player starts at Rank One, but as you climb to higher ranks you will start to see the requirements to progress get more difficult and shift.

• Your Go Battle League rank is tied to the entire GBL, not a single League or Cup. So whether you participate in Great League, Master League, or only play during special events, your rank will reflect your time within the mode.
• Ranks One through 20 require you to play in or win a set number of battles rather than continuously win or worry about your rating. The specific requirements change depending on the rank, and we will break it down in full a bit further on.
  • In total, you need to participate in a minimum of 107 battles to reach Rank 20 if you win every time the requirements to progress list a specific number of wins.
• Every time you complete a set, you can claim rewards from a Free or Premium track depending on if you want to pay for the latter. These are different from rank or seasonal rewards, which you will receive throughout your time in the GBL.
• You will only actually need to worry about your number rating once you reach Rank 20 so you can break into Rank 21, which is where your titles come in.

How to reach all ranks in the Pokémon Go Battle League

From Rank One to Rank Six you will only be required to participate in Pokémon Go Battle League battles, not win them.

From there you will see Rank Seven through 10 require players to record a win to progress. Once you reach Rank 11 you will need to prepare for the real grind to begin, as, starting with Rank 12, you need to rack up more wins if you want to continue the GBL climb.

Rank 21, when you receive your first actual title, Ace Trainer, is the first time you will actually need to care about your numbered rating score since you need to bump that number up to reach Veteran, Expert, and Legend status beyond that.

All Pokémon Go Battle League ranks and requirements

Depending on how heavily you want to grind, it might be beneficial to simply focus on consistently playing your daily sets to earn rewards rather than increasing your rank and rating in the Pokémon Go Battle League.