Short answer: fighting a raid or gym alongside a friend gives your side an attack boost and, in raids, extra Premier Balls - both scaling with friendship level: Good Friend 3% / 0 balls, Great Friend 5% / 1, Ultra Friend 7% / 2, Best Friend 10% / 4. Forever Friends keeps the same 4 extra balls and adds a further attack boost that Niantic hasn't published an exact number for. Only your single highest friendship level in the lobby applies - the bonuses don't stack.
This is separate from the friendship XP levels - that guide covers how you level up and the XP it pays. This one covers what the level actually buys you once you're standing in a gym or raid lobby with that friend.
The bonus table
| Friendship level | Attack/damage bonus | Extra Premier Balls |
|---|---|---|
| Good Friend | 3% | 0 |
| Great Friend | 5% | 1 |
| Ultra Friend | 7% | 2 |
| Best Friend | 10% | 4 |
| Forever Friend | 10% (same as Best) + an unpublished extra boost | 4 |
Niantic has confirmed Forever Friends (added December 2025) carries an additional attack boost on top of Best Friend's, but hasn't stated the exact percentage anywhere public - treat "10%+" as the honest answer until that changes.
Where it applies - and where it doesn't
- Raids: both the attack bonus and the extra Premier Balls apply, based on your friendship level with whoever else is in the lobby.
- Gyms: the attack bonus applies when you battle a Gym alongside a friend; Premier Balls aren't relevant there (Gyms don't use them).
- It does not apply to solo play - fighting a raid or gym alone gets none of this, friend or no friend.
- It's not the same system as Trainer Battles (PvP against a friend) or the Stardust discount on trades - those are separate friendship-level perks with their own scaling.
The non-stacking rule
If you raid with several friends at once, only one bonus applies - the game uses your highest friendship level with anyone in the lobby, not a sum of everyone's levels. Bringing three Good Friends and one Best Friend to the same raid gets you the Best Friend bonus, not four separate bonuses added together.
That makes a small circle of Best/Forever Friends more valuable for raid damage than a huge list of Good Friends - worth keeping in mind when you're deciding who to prune versus who to level up first.
Getting there faster
Every raid together also counts as that day's friendship interaction, so a regular raid group levels itself up just by playing normally. If you want to speed past Good and Great Friend on purpose - so raids with a specific person hit the 7% or 10% tier sooner - daily gifts are the easiest guaranteed interaction; see the friendship XP guide for the full stacking strategy, and grab fresh trainer codes here to build out a raid circle in the first place.
FAQ
Does the extra Premier Ball bonus work in Gyms too? No - Gyms don't hand out Premier Balls, so that part only matters in raids.
Do the attack bonuses from multiple friends in the same raid add up? No - only your highest friendship level with anyone present counts, once.
Is the Forever Friend attack bonus higher than Best Friend's? Niantic says it's an additional boost on top of Best Friend's, but hasn't published the exact number - so beyond "at least 10%," don't trust any specific figure you see quoted for it.
Does this bonus affect my catch chance directly? No - it's an attack/damage bonus, which helps you and your group win the raid faster; the extra Premier Balls are a separate reward for having a friend along, not a catch-rate boost on any single ball.