The Most Important Attackers for Countering the Gen 4 Legendary Raid Bosses

As we eagerly await the release of the first Generation 4 Legendary Raid Boss in Pokémon Go, we have no clues as to which one it’ll be; maybe they’ll ease us in gently with the Lake Guardians, Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf. Or maybe they could throw us in at the Awesome end and let us face off against Giratina, Dialga or Palkia!

Either way, now would be a good time to make sure we’re prepared for their arrival; Here are the attackers which are going to be the most useful against the Pokemon GO Gen 4 Legendary Raid Bosses and are therefore worth investing some Candy and Stardust into.

TLDR;

• versus Giratina, Cresselia, Mesprit, Azelf and Uxie.
  • Shadow Ball Mewtwo, Bite / Crunch Tyranitar, Gengar
• versus Heatran
  • Machamp, Groudon, Kyogre
• versus Dialga
  • Groudon, Machamp
• versus Palkia
  • Dragonite and Rayquaza

#1 Mewtwo

Shadow Ball Mewtwo will be great versus Giratina, Cresselia, Mesprit, Azelf and Uxie.

Attacker	Optimal Moveset
Mewtwo Psychic	Psycho Cut Psychic	Shadow Ball Ghost

With Shadow Ball, Mewtwo will do super effective (1.4x) damage to the five Legendary Raid Bosses shown below. It will also resist (0.714x damage) any Psychic type moves that they throw back. You will have to watch out for any Ghost, Dark or Bug type moves they may have though.

Giratina GhostDragon

Cresselia Psychic

Mesprit Psychic

Azelf Psychic

Uxie Psychic

#2 Tyranitar

Bite Crunch / Tyranitar will also be great versus Giratina, Cresselia, Mesprit, Azelf and Uxie.

Attacker	Optimal Moveset
Tyranitar DarkRock	Bite Dark	Crunch Dark

With these Dark type moves, Tyranitar will do 1.4x damage to the five Legendary Raid Bosses shown below. It will also double resist (0.51x damage) any Psychic type moves that these Legendaries manage to land. You will however, have to watch out for any Fighting, Ground, Bug, Steel, Water, Grass and Fairy type moves they might have.

Giratina GhostDragon

Cresselia Psychic

Mesprit Psychic

Azelf Psychic

Uxie Psychic

#3 Gengar

Gengar is also great versus Giratina, Cresselia, Mesprit, Azelf and Uxie.

Attacker	Optimal Moveset
Gengar GhostPoison	Shadow Claw Ghost Hex Ghost	Shadow Ball Ghost

With these strong Ghost type moves, Gengar will also do 1.4x damage to the five Legendary Raid Bosses shown below, but it may only be useful in some niche circumstances; Gengar is weak to Psychic, Ghost, Dark and Ground type moves, the first three of which may well be covered by these five Raid Bosses. Gengar does however, have a resistance to any Grass and Fairy type moves, as well as a double resistance to any Poison, Bug, Fighting or Normal type moves that they have.

Giratina GhostDragon

Cresselia Psychic

Mesprit Psychic

Azelf Psychic

Uxie Psychic

#4 Machamp

Attacker	Optimal Moveset
Machamp Fighting	Counter Fighting	Dynamic Punch Fighting

With dual Fighting type moves, Machamp is still able to hold his own as one of the most meta relevant attackers in the game and will deal super effective damage to the three Legendary Raid Bosses shown below. It will also resist any Rock, Bug or Dark type moves that they can throw back. If we’re lucky, these Bosses won’t have any Psychic, Flying or Fairy type moves, as Machamp would take super effective damage from them.

Machamp will be a top pick versus these Gen IV legendary bosses in Pokemon GO:

Dialga SteelDragon

Heatran FireSteel

Regigigas Normal

#5 Rayquaza and Dragonite

Attacker	Optimal Moveset
Rayquaza DragonFlying	Dragon Tail Dragon	Outrage Dragon
Dragonite DragonFlying	Dragon Tail Dragon	Outrage Dragon

With this moveset and their matching typing, Rayquaza and Dragonite will both deal super effective damage to the two Legendary Raid Bosses shown below. They will resist any Fighting, Bug, Fire and Water type moves that either of the Bosses possess, but will be susceptible to any Rock, Dragon or Fairy type moves they have. Also look out for any Ice type moves like Blizzard as they can be devastating to Flying Dragons…

Giratina GhostDragon

Palkia WaterDragon

#6 Groudon

Attacker	Optimal Moveset
Groudon Ground	Mud Shot Ground	Earthquake Ground

Groudon will deal super effective damage to the two Legendary Raid Bosses shown below if it has this Ground type moveset. It will also resist any Poison and Rock type moves and double resist any Electric type moves they have, but will take extra damage from any Water, Grass or Ice type moves, in the unlikely event that they get access to any.

Dialga SteelDragon

Heatran FireSteel

#7 Kyogre

Attacker	Optimal Moveset
Kyogre Water	Waterfall Water	Hydro Pump Water

As the most powerful Water type in the game, Kyogre will be able to deal super effective damage to the Legendary Raid Boss shown below. Pure Water types like Kyogre resist any Fire, Steel, Water and Ice type moves, but will be take extra damage from any Grass or Electric type moves, so consider your other options if this Raid Boss ends up with Solar Beam or Thunder.

Heatran FireSteel

In conclusion it looks like lots of the old favourites will remain prominent in the Legendary Raid meta game as we travel through the Sinnoh region, and will most likely be joined by a few new ones once we get hold of the latest generation of attackers.

But let’s save that speculation for a future article when we know more about what moves they, and the Legendary Raid Bosses, will actually have… Let’s hope it’s sooner rather than later!