Short answer: no, Elite Raids block both options on purpose. Niantic's own help center groups Elite Raids with Shadow Raids as the raid types that "are not able to be joined via Remote Raids" and "cannot be joined from Friend List" either, even if the friend hosting the lobby is Great Friends or higher with you. The only way in is standing at the Gym with a Daily Free Raid Pass or a Premium Raid Pass.
Trainer school
Why can't I use a Remote Raid Pass or invite friends from my list to an Elite Raid in Pokémon GO?
Every other raid in Pokémon GO now bends toward remote play — invite 5 friends from anywhere, spend a Remote Raid Pass, done. Elite Raids are the exception, and it catches people off guard because the friend-list "tap to join" button that works for a normal Tier 5 raid simply isn't there for an Elite one.
Why Elite Raids are excluded
Two features normally let a friend pull you into a raid without leaving your couch:
- Remote Raid Passes, usable on almost any raid you can see on the map.
- Join from Friend List — a friend already in a raid lobby shows up in your Friend List with a BATTLE button, usable once you're Great Friends or higher with them.
Niantic's help center states plainly that Elite Raids (alongside Shadow Raids) are excluded from both of these at once. There's no remote entry point, so there's nothing for the friend-list shortcut to attach to either — it's not a separate restriction, it's a consequence of the first one. Niantic has talked about Elite Raids as a deliberately harder, more social raid tier since their 2021 launch, and keeping them in-person-only is the mechanism that enforces that.
What this means in practice
- You and your friends must physically be at the Gym when the Elite Raid is live. Being Best Friends or Forever Friends changes nothing here — friendship level only gates the friend-list shortcut, which isn't available for this raid type anyway.
- You need a Daily Free Raid Pass or a Premium Raid Pass — Remote Raid Passes won't be offered as an option when you try to check in.
- Elite Raid Eggs hatch on a short clock (Niantic has run them with roughly a 30-minute battle window once hatched), so "we'll all drive over separately" only works if everyone arrives before it expires.
How to actually raid one with friends
- Agree on a time and Gym in advance — Elite Raid Eggs are visible on the map before they hatch, so coordinate with local friends the way you would for a Community Day meetup.
- Bring people in person, not through invites. If your usual raid group is built from remote friend codes, this is the one raid type where that doesn't help — you need trainers in your actual town.
- Use Discord, Campfire, or a local Pokémon GO group chat to fill out the lobby, since you can't lean on the app's own remote-invite tools.
FAQ
Does being Best Friends let me skip the in-person requirement? No. Friendship level only controls whether you can use the friend-list join shortcut, and that shortcut doesn't exist for Elite Raids regardless of level.
Are Shadow Raids the same? Yes — Niantic's help center lists Shadow Raids alongside Elite Raids as excluded from both Remote Raid Passes and friend-list joining.
Can I at least invite a friend who's standing right next to me? Yes — an in-person invite to someone physically in range works normally; it's only the remote invite and friend-list-from-a- distance paths that are blocked.
Does this affect my daily Remote Raid Pass limit? No — since Elite Raids never accept a Remote Raid Pass in the first place, attempting one doesn't use up any of your daily remote raid count.
Will this ever change? Niantic hasn't announced a plan to add remote entry for Elite Raids; treat the in-person requirement as a permanent design choice, not a temporary limit.