Lapras is Tier 3 Raid Boss in Pokémon GO, with a Boss CP of 23476. It is weak to Electric, Rock, Fighting and Grass, but depending on what moves Lapras has, it can do some serious damage to some of those counters.

Lapras can be caught in the following CP ranges:

  • 1435 – 1509 CP (L20, no weather boost)
  • 1794 – 1886 CP (L25, Rainy and Snow weather)

Lapras is soloable, but only with top, high level counters, so keep this in mind! It is a very tanky defender, so groups of 2-4 are recommended depending on player levels and available counters.

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Best Attackers Against Lapras

# Pokemon Fast Move Charge Move Time to win Deaths
1. Venusaur (Mega) Vine Whip Frenzy Plant 129.9s 4
2. Zekrom Charge Beam Wild Charge 131.5s 4
3.   Ampharos (Mega) Volt Switch Zap Cannon 124.66s 3
4. Lucario Counter Aura Sphere 124.8s 5
5. Conkeldurr Counter Dynamic Punch 136.7s 5
6. Raikou Thunder Shock Wild Charge 141.1s 5
7.   Manectric (Mega) Charge Beam Wild Charge 116.86s 4.25
8. Magnezone Spark Wild Charge 148.7s 4
9. Lopunny (Mega) Low Kick Focus Blast 129.31s 3
10. Thundurus (Therian) Volt Switch Thunderbolt 119.20s 4
11. Gengar (Mega) Lick Focus Blast 145.7s 5
12. Machamp Counter Dynamic Punch 140.7s 5
13. Rampardos Smack Down Rock Slide 117.08s 5
14. Terrakion Smack Down Rock Slide 144.7s 5
15. Tangrowth Vine Whip Power Whip 159.8s 4
16. Zapdos Thunder Shock Thunderbolt 147.1s 5
17. Tyranitar Smack Down Stone Edge 154.0s 5
18. Roserade Razor Leaf Solar Beam 145.4s 6
19. Rhyperior Smack Down Rock Wrecker 138.1s 6
20. Electivire Low Kick Wild Charge 143.5s 6
21. Mewtwo Psycho Cut Thunderbolt 156.5s 5
22. Venusaur Vine Whip Frenzy Plant 156.0s 5
23. Hariyama Counter Dynamic Punch 152.7s 6
24. Sceptile Fury Cutter Frenzy Plant 152.4s 6
25. Blaziken Counter Focus Blast 135.93s 5
26. Gigalith Smack Down Rock Slide 149.92s 3
27. Luxray Spark Wild Charge 150.3s 6
28. Exeggutor Bullet Seed Seed Bomb 158.7s 5
29. Breloom Counter Grass Knot 144.4s 7
30. Abomasnow (Mega) Razor Leaf Energy Ball 153.10s 3

Moveset

Fast Moves Charge Moves
  • Water Gun Water
  • Frost Breath Ice
  • Ice Shard* Ice
  • Blizzard Ice
  • Skull Bash Normal
  • Hydro Pump Water
  • Surf Water
  • Ice Blast* Ice
  • Dragon Pulse* Dragon

*denotes legacy move only obtainable via Elite TM.

With a variety of Ice and Water type moves, Lapras can be tricky to counter. When going into the raid, have a look what your recommended Pokémon are before you pick your team. If it is suggesting Rock types it is probably safe to assume it doesn’t have Water type moves. If no Grass types are appearing, it more than likely comes armed with Ice type moves that will make quick work of your Grass types.

The best attackers to fight Lapras that are not weak to any of its moves, are strong Fighting types like Machamp and Lucario, or electric type attackers with great DPS output such as Raikou, Magnezone, Electivire, and Zapdos.

Other potential options include Heracross, Poliwrath with double fighting type moves (Rock Smash/Dynamic Punch) and Lanturn with double electric type attacks, but they are way below in terms of viability with respect to the three mentioned at the beginning.

Honorable Mentions

  • Lucario with Counter / Close Combat
  • Rhyperior with Smack Down / Stone Edge
  • Jolteon with Thunder Shock / Thunderbolt
  • Heracross with Counter / Close Combat
  • Exeggutor with Bullet Seed / Solar Beam
  • Tangrowth with Vine Whip / Solar Beam

Final tips

Lapras is considered as an ultra-rare Pokémon. Encountering it in the wild can be really difficult, and it was one of the most difficult Pokémon to hatch from 10 km eggs. It is a great gym defending option to consider, due to its typing and available ice type movesets. If you see a Lapras Raid Boss, you should consider giving it a try.

A Lapras with Frost Breath/Blizzard or Frost Breath/Ice Beam destroys Dragonites, which are still present in some gyms and could be included in potential future Raid Boss rotations.

Catching a Lapras can be extremely difficult. Its catch percentage went down from 20 to 5% in the latest GAME_MASTER change, which makes it very challenging to catch one. Even after using a Golden Razz Berry, its circle will still show up red, so aiming carefully is almost mandatory in order to catch it.

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