Take the Field in Pokemon GO Battle League’s Preseason

Pokemon GO‘s much-anticipated Battle League launches today, with a special preseason session acting as a tester.  As we reported before, the Battle League revamps Pokemon GO‘s PvP element and lets Trainers battle other Trainers at similar levels regardless of where they are.

The Battle League is divided into three Leagues: Great, Ultra, and Master. These are open to Trainers who have reached specific levels and with qualifying battle levels. Entry qualification depends on Trainer level — though Niantic hasn’t mentioned what the minimum requirement is — and you’ll have to walk five kilometers to earn entry into the first tier, which unlocks five battles.

The League rotates every two weeks, so while it starts with the Great League today, the Ultra League will kick off February 10, and the Master League two weeks after that.

Preseason is a bit different. Niantic is using it to

optimize and balance the GO Battle League feature during this time.

We will also be taking this time to learn about how the GO Battle League is being used in order to determine things like ideal length of seasons, rating thresholds for ranks, and more.

That means your Battle Level won’t carry over exactly the same to the regular Battle League once it begins, as it will have to be partly reset.

There are more tangible rewards on offer for taking part as well, in addition to playing against more people.

• Pikachu Libre and other avatar items
• Premium Battle Pass, similar to the Premium Raid Pass, with better rewards every time you win
• Stardust, Candies, and special encounters.

The PokeMiners dug into what some of these encounters will include as well. 

The full announcement can be found here. So far, Niantic hasn’t mentioned an anticipated end-date for the Preseason period, but we’ll be keeping up with it all. Stay tuned to GameSkinny for more Pokemon GO and Battle League news as it pops up.