ho-oh release raid
ho-oh release raid
Ho-Oh

Best Ho-Oh counters are strong Rock type attackers that utilize Ho-Oh’s double weakness to Rock moves. Ho-Oh raid boss is a Tier 5 Legendary Raid Boss in Pokémon GO, with 50064 CP. Shiny Ho-Oh is available from raids. Ho-Oh is an easy fight that can even be (theoretically) duoed with a strong selection of Smack Down Tyranitars.

Ho-Oh Raid Boss CP is 45702 and it can have Max Capture CP:

  • 2119 – 2207 CP (Level 20, perfect 100% IV)
  • 2649 – 2759 CP (Level 25, perfect 100% IV Sunny and Windy weather)

Smack Down Tyranitar and other Smack Down users are the best Ho-Oh counter, even in cases when Ho-Oh has Solar Beam.

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Ho-Oh Counters

# Pokemon Fast Move Charge Move Time to win Deaths
1. Rampardos Smack Down Rock Slide 453.55s 27.33
2. Rhyperior Smack Down Rock Wrecker 515.90s 23.92
3. Terrakion Smack Down Rock Slide 514.45s 25.00
4. Tyranitar Smack Down Stone Edge 556.60s 18.92
5. Landorus Rock Throw Rock Slide 577.13s 24.42
6. Landorus (Incarnate) Rock Throw Rock Slide 578.68s 24.25
7. Ampharos (Mega) Charge Beam Power Gem 619.40s 17.25
8. Aerodactyl Rock Throw Rock Slide 588.75s 25.42
9. Gigalith Smack Down Rock Slide 623.56s 27.42
10. Omastar Rock Throw Rock Slide 636.54s 26.67
11. Golem (Alola) Rock Throw Stone Edge 644.22s 25.33
12. Blastoise (Mega) Water Gun Hydro Cannon 640.85s 25.50
13. Golem Rock Throw Stone Edge 640.47s 29.08
14. Archeops Wing Attack Ancient Power 645.12s 31.83
15. Aggron Smack Down Stone Edge 693.28s 21.08
16. Regirock Rock Throw Stone Edge 731.77s 18.75
17. Gyarados (Mega) Waterfall Hydro Pump 725.06s 21.08
18. Crustle Smack Down Rock Slide 687.08s 31.00
19. Zekrom Charge Beam Wild Charge 736.95s 19.67
20. Rayquaza Dragon Tail Ancient Power 747.66s 23.92
21. Melmetal Thunder Shock Rock Slide 755.43s 23.17
22. Darmanitan Tackle Rock Slide 730.18s 31.75
23. Lunatone Rock Throw Rock Slide 728.94s 32.75
24. Solrock Rock Throw Rock Slide 730.38s 33.00
25. Darmanitan (Standard) Tackle Rock Slide 734.93s 32.08
26. Reshiram Dragon Breath Stone Edge 818.47s 19.67
27. Zapdos Thunder Shock Ancient Power 782.44s 26.50
28. Raikou Volt Switch Wild Charge 793.08s 26.75
29. Kyogre Waterfall Surf 793.24s 28.33
30. Carracosta Rock Throw Ancient Power 786.65s 30.92
31. Clawitzer Smack Down Crabhammer 749.88s 36.50
32. Excadrill Metal Claw Rock Slide 778.65s 36.55
33. Thundurus (Mega) Volt Switch Thunderbolt 729.79s 29.33
34. Manectric (Mega) Charge Beam Wild Charge 721.32s 31.83
35. Swampert Water Gun Hydro Cannon 793.16s 34.92

Ho-Oh Raid Counters Explained

Ho-Oh has mostly the same counters like Moltres, as they have the same type combination. However, Ho-Oh has access to Solar Beam, which makes it quite dangerous to Rock and Water attackers, especially if they are combination types like non-Alolan Golem and Omastar.

Simply put, with the advent of Smack Down Tyranitar from Larvitar Community Day, Tyranitar is hands down the best counter, and even if Ho-Oh has Solar Beam, Tyranitar still has the best time to win by far. Use Smack Down Tyranitar, it is that simple for the easy wins against this Legendary. No Aggron, or Hydro Pump Lugia, or other Ho-Oh, Tyranitar with Smack Down brings the pain.

Golem, as listed above, is good in both its Alolan form and its regular form, although the Alolan form outperforms the regular due to it being a Rock Electric, instead of a Rock Ground. In other words, Solar Beam will not destroy it entirely, every single time, A-Golem might survive one possibly. A consideration to have is if you know Ho-Oh has Solar Beam, and for some reason you are not fighting will a full team of Tyranitar, perhaps use Rock Blast as the charged move instead of Stone Edge. The logic being at least with Rock Blast (50 Damage each) you are almost guaranteed to fire off two of them, whereas with Stone Edge (100 Damage each), you might get lucky and fire one before Solar Beam knocks you out of existence, and even then you might not manage the one.

Zapdos and Raikou are also great as Ho-Oh raid counters. They offer strong DPS and utilize electric moves to be achieve advantage over Ho-Oh, but they are a bit squishy.

Kyogre is one of the best Water type attackers in the game, so utilize it well! It is relatively tanky, so even against Solar Beam Ho-Oh it is a good one to take in.

Rayquaza is one of the top tier attackers with amazing DPS and very few deaths. It makes an amazing counter for Solar Beam Ho-Oh, as it will double resist the devastating charge move.

Please, be very careful of Solar Beam Ho-Oh! It’s completely devastating for Rock and Water types, especially to Golem (low HP) and Omastar (double weakness). Think of it in the same way you think about Hydro Pump Lugia, Groudon, and non-Thunder Kyogre. Scary, isn’t it? 👻

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Ho-Oh can have the following moves:

  • Steel Wing (quick) steel
  • Extrasensory (quick) psychic
  • Brave Bird (charged) flying
  • Fire Blast (charged) fire
  • Solar Beam (charged) grass

Weather Influence on Ho-Oh

Partly Cloudy weather will be your best friend, along with Rainy weather! Sunny weather might cause a few issues, and take a lot more effort to beat, with it boosting both Solar Beam (*screaming*) and Fire Blast! But enough talk, here is a chart to help you see what weather would be optimal for battling the great Ho-Oh!

Weather Pros Cons
Sunny — Boosts its Fire Blast and Solar Beam attacks
Partly Cloudy Boosts all Rock type move —
Cloudy No pros nor cons
Rainy Boosts all super effective Water and Electric type moves —
Windy — Boosts its Extrasensory and Brave Bird attack
Fog No pros nor cons
Snow — Boosts its Steel Wing attack

Additional Ho-Oh Counters

These Pokemon are weaker than the counters mentioned above, but they are still viable, especially in large raid groups. Do note that these Pokemon are often siting in your inventory forgotten, even though they can perform better than much higher CP Aggron or Ho-Oh:

  • Zapdos with Thunder Shock / Thunderbolt
  • Salamence with Dragon Tail / Hydro Pump (for both Solar Beam and non-SB variants)
  • Gyarados with Waterfall / Hydro Pump
  • Sudowoodo with Rock Throw / Rock Slide
  • Mew with Charge Beam / Rock Slide
  • Armaldo with Fury Cutter / Rock Blast

Considerably weaker, but still viable counters, mostly used in large groups as throw away attackers:

  • Vaporeon with Water Gun / Hydro Pump
  • Jolteon with Thunder Shock / Thunderbolt
  • Mewtwo with Confusion  / Shadow Ball
  • Aerodactyl with Bite / Ancient Power
  • Starmie with Hidden Power / Power Gem
  • Sharpedo with Waterfall / Surf
  • Swampert with Water Gun / Surf

Ho-Oh Catch Chances with various throws and berries

Ho-Oh BCR is 2% as observed in the GAME_MASTER file. The following table shows various throw/berry combos.

Berry Curve Throw type
Normal Nice Great Excellent
No Berry
 – 2.00% 2.30% 3.00% 3.70%
Curve 3.40% 3.91% 5.10% 6.29%
Razz Berry
 – 3.00% 3.45% 4.50% 5.55%
Curve 5.10% 5.87% 6.29% 7.65%
Golden Razz Berry
 – 5.00% 5.75% 7.50% 9.25%
Curve 8.50% 9.78% 12.75% 15.73%
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