Zacian (Hero)
The Hero of Many Battles Zacian is a Tier 5 legendary raid boss in Pokémon GO and it can be shiny! Zacian can be caught with the following CP values:
- 2100 – 2188 CP at Level 20, no weather boost
- 2625 – 2735 CP at Level 25 with Cloudy weather boost
With a pure Fairy typing, Zacian is boosted by Cloudy weather and its counters include strong Steel and Poison type Pokémon.
With such strong counters, Zacian can possibly be trio’d in ideal weather conditions and high-level counters. But to be safe, 4-5 high-level trainers can get the job done easily.
Zacian Raid Counters
The best counters for Zacian, based on the time required to win, are the following. Note that shadows and Mega evolutions are now included in the top counters.
| # | Attacker | Fast Move | Charge Move | Faints | TTW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |
Necrozma (Dusk Mane)
|
Metal Claw Steel | Sunsteel Strike Steel | 18 | 481s |
| 2. |
Metagross (Shadow)
|
Bullet Punch Steel | Meteor Mash Steel | 25 | 544s |
| 3. |
Gengar (Mega)
|
Lick Ghost | Sludge Bomb Poison | 26 | 602s |
| 4. |
Metagross
|
Bullet Punch Steel | Meteor Mash Steel | 25 | 652s |
| 5. |
Beedrill (Mega)
|
Poison Jab Poison | Sludge Bomb Poison | 36 | 604s |
| 6. |
Rayquaza (Mega)
|
Air Slash | Dragon Ascent | 26 | 659s |
| 7. |
Necrozma (Dawn Wings)
|
Metal Claw Steel | Moongeist Beam Ghost | 25 | 683s |
| 8. |
Nihilego
|
Poison Jab Poison | Sludge Bomb Poison | 25 | 706s |
| 9. |
Excadrill (Shadow)
|
Metal Claw Steel | Iron Head Steel | 38 | 648s |
| 10. |
Naganadel
|
Poison Jab Poison | Sludge Bomb Poison | 35 | 686s |
| 11. |
Dialga
|
Metal Claw Steel | Iron Head Steel | 30 | 731s |
| 12. |
Dialga (Origin)
|
Metal Claw Steel | Iron Head Steel | 29 | 744s |
| 13. |
Groudon (Primal)
|
Mud Shot Ground | Precipice Blades Ground | 19 | 843s |
| 14. |
Gengar (Shadow)
|
Lick Ghost | Sludge Bomb Poison | 45 | 668s |
| 15. |
Aggron (Mega)
|
Iron Tail Steel | Heavy Slam Steel | 26 | 783s |
| 16. |
Melmetal
|
Thunder Shock Electric | Double Iron Bash Steel | 28 | 767s |
| 17. |
Roserade
|
Poison Jab Poison | Sludge Bomb Poison | 37 | 741s |
| 18. |
Genesect (Shock)
|
Metal Claw Steel | Magnet Bomb Steel | 36 | 746s |
| 19. |
Genesect (Normal)
|
Metal Claw Steel | Magnet Bomb Steel | 36 | 746s |
| 20. |
Genesect (Douse)
|
Metal Claw Steel | Magnet Bomb Steel | 36 | 746s |
| 21. |
Genesect (Chill)
|
Metal Claw Steel | Magnet Bomb Steel | 36 | 746s |
| 22. |
Genesect (Burn)
|
Metal Claw Steel | Magnet Bomb Steel | 36 | 746s |
| 23. |
Scizor (Mega)
|
Bullet Punch Steel | Iron Head Steel | 31 | 784s |
| 24. |
Ho-Oh (Shadow)
|
Steel Wing Steel | Brave Bird | 29 | 798s |
| 25. |
Ho-Oh (Apex Shadow)
|
Steel Wing Steel | Brave Bird | 29 | 798s |
| 26. |
Mewtwo (Shadow)
|
Psycho Cut Psychic | Psystrike Psychic | 39 | 741s |
| 27. |
Jirachi
|
Charge Beam Electric | Doom Desire Steel | 28 | 812s |
| 28. |
Venusaur (Mega)
|
Vine Whip Grass | Sludge Bomb Poison | 27 | 847s |
| 29. |
Excadrill
|
Metal Claw Steel | Iron Head Steel | 38 | 772s |
| 30. |
Toxicroak (Shadow)
|
Poison Jab Poison | Sludge Bomb Poison | 51 | 710s |
* marks a Legacy Move
Zacian: Stats and Max CP
|
Zacian (Hero)
Fairy
|
|||||
| Max CP at Level 40 3829 Max CP at Level 50 4329 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ATK 254 | DEF 236 | HP 192 | |||
| Weak to | Strong Against | ||||
| Poison Steel | Dark Dragon Fighting | ||||
Zacian Moveset Analysis
| Fast Moves | Charge Moves |
|---|---|
|
|
Fast Moves:
- Metal Claw and Quick Attack won’t be any issue whatsoever for your Steel counters. However, Fire Fang will do super-effective damage.
- Snarl generates energy very quickly and deals super-effective damage to Metagross.
Charged Moves:
- Play Rough gains STAB, is pretty damaging but is resisted by both Steel and Poison types.
- Iron Head is fairly slow, doesn’t have STAB and is resisted by Steel types. This is the ideal charge move to battle against.
- Close Combat is a powerful move that charges quickly, and despite lacking STAB, can KO your Steel types (except for Metagross) consistently.
- Wild Charge does a lot of neutral damage to almost all your counters and can hit frequently.
Sprites
| Regular Sprite | Shiny Sprite |
 |
 |
Conclusion
Zacian has gained a decent set of moves and at various times has risen to be one of the top Fairy types in the Master League. It is worth noting that Zacian Crowned does not learn Iron Head and it would be replaced by the assumedly powerful Behemoth Blade. The future does look promising for Zacian Crowned and Zacian Hero, for now, is still very good in PvP as a swiss-army knife. As such, it is definitely a worthy legendary Pokémon to raid.
Draw your swords and tame Zacian! All the best, trainers!
