Most Raid Boss counter lists assume that you have maxed out versions of each Pokémon, but in reality very few people do. With a Heat Map however, you can identify whether, for example, your level 35 Pokemon will do more damage to a the Raid Boss, than your level 40 Pokemon, due to it having a better and more effective moveset.
As an ‘evolution’ of our Raid Boss counter lists, we’ve also adopted the format of Heat Maps to help you work out which of your Pokémon are the most effective at countering a particular Raid Boss.
There are several different methods for ranking Raid Boss counters but the one that we have chosen to use is TTW which stands for ‘time to win’. Basically, this tells you which Pokémon would potentially beat the Raid Boss in the shortest amount of time, because if you’re short of Trainers and are trying to beat the clock, this will give you the best chance of doing so. Not only that, but doing more damage can mean more Premier Balls with which to try and catch The Raid boss!
Here are the Heat Maps that we’ve made for the latest Legendary Raid Bosses. Below we’ll explain how to read and use them to get the most out of your Raid squads:
(Shout outs go to Pokebattler.com for the data, Redditor u/Rayunge for his guidance in compiling the data, and GoHub Artist OrangeHeart for creating the info-graphic)
*This data assumes that you don’t know the moveset of the Raid Boss, that no moves will be weather boosted, and that you aren’t getting a friend damage bonus, so basically, almost the worst case scenari – unless the weather boosts the Raid boss’ moves, things can only get easier.
How to use our Heat Maps
As detailed at the bottom of the graphics, to use a Pokemon Go Hub Heat Map, you first need to identify which of the listed Pokemon you have, and whether they have the specified moveset. If not, you can of course use some TMs to better optimise your counters. Try to identify twelve so you can have two full Battles Parties.
Once you’ve done this, you should identify what level they’re at. As a rough guide:
- If your Pokémon is fully powered up, it is at level 40.
- If it costs around 8000 stardust to power up, it’s at about level 35.
- If it costs around 5000 stardust to power up, it’s at about level 30.
- If it costs around 4000 stardust to power up, it’s at about level 25.
- If it costs around 2500 stardust to power up, it’s at about level 20.
Once you’ve identified which of these Pokémon you have and roughly what level they are, it’s time to put them in an order of best to worst; The numbers in the grid represent how long that counter with that moveset would take to beat the raid boss if the counter had unlimited HP, so the lower (and greener) the number, the better.
When you have ordered your Pokémon from best to worst, you can make a couple of battle parties so that you’re ready for every encounter you have with the Raid Boss.
Best of luck in your battles with these Raid bosses, and if you have any feedback, suggestions or changes you’d like to see in our future Raid Boss Heat Maps, please Tweet @GoHubQoncept or join us on the GoHub Discord and tag @Qoncept with your comments.
