Mega Banette Raid Guide

Banette (Mega)

Mega Banette is a mega raid boss in Pokémon GO. Its best counters are strong Dark types  and Ghost types such as Mega Houndoom, Mega Absol, Darkrai, Mega Gengar, Chandelure, Giratina-Origin, and Mega Banette itself.

While it is possible to duo this raid, 3-5 trainers with strong counters should be able to take down Mega Banette without too much trouble, regardless of weather. The charge move it has in battle should still be kept in mind, however.

Best Mega Banette Counters

In this guide we will cover the strongest Mega Banette counters, the best strategies on how to defeat it, and what CPs you can get when catching a strong Banette.

#	Pokémon	Fast Move	Charge Move	Time to win	Deaths
1.	Gengar (Mega)	Shadow Claw Ghost	Shadow Ball Ghost	304.48s	23.33
2.	Houndoom (Mega)	Snarl Dark	Foul Play Dark	380.00s	20.33
3.	Gyarados (Mega)	Bite Dark	Crunch Dark	400.67s	18.33
4.	Absol (Mega)	Snarl Dark	Dark Pulse Dark	385.95s	32.67
5.	Hydreigon	Bite Dark	Brutal Swing Dark	500.07s	19.00
6.	Charizard (Mega Y)	Fire Spin Fire	Blast Burn Fire	491.71s	26.67
7.	Blastoise (Mega)	Bite Dark	Hydro Cannon Water	506.43s	26.50
8.	Latios (Mega)	Dragon Breath Dragon	Psychic Psychic	493.53s	30.83
9.	Darkrai	Snarl Dark	Dark Pulse Dark	525.11s	29.33
10.	Hoopa (Unbound)	Confusion Psychic	Dark Pulse Dark	527.77s	32.25
11.	Giratina (Origin)	Shadow Claw Ghost	Shadow Ball Ghost	534.70s	28.83
12.	Chandelure	Hex Ghost	Shadow Ball Ghost	507.57s	31.00
13.	Yveltal	Snarl Dark	Dark Pulse Dark	559.38s	25.67
14.	Manectric (Mega)	Snarl Dark	Wild Charge Electric	539.66s	31.67
15.	Mewtwo	Psycho Cut Psychic	Shadow Ball Ghost	537.88s	29.00
16.	Latias (Mega)	Dragon Breath Dragon	Psychic Psychic	559.25s	28.50
17.	Gengar	Lick Ghost	Shadow Ball Ghost	507.41s	44.50
18.	Charizard (Mega X)	Fire Spin Fire	Blast Burn Fire	569.60s	27.83
19.	Honchkrow	Snarl Dark	Dark Pulse Dark	580.95s	35.50
20.	Weavile	Snarl Dark	Foul Play Dark	572.44s	29.50
21.	Pidgeot (Mega)	Gust Flying	Brave Bird Flying	593.99s	26.50
22.	Aerodactyl (Mega)	Bite Dark	Rock Slide Rock	567.74s	31.60
23.	Zarude	Bite Dark	Dark Pulse Dark	599.32s	23.50
24.	Tyranitar	Bite Dark	Crunch Dark	602.23s	26.00
25.	Venusaur (Mega)	Vine Whip Grass	Frenzy Plant Grass	618.81s	24.33
26.	Hoopa (Confined)	Astonish Ghost	Shadow Ball Ghost	543.13s	42.00
27.	Absol	Snarl Dark	Dark Pulse Dark	599.26s	45.00
28.	Ampharos (Mega)	Volt Switch Electric	Zap Cannon Electric	633.47s	16.50
29.	Houndoom	Snarl Dark	Foul Play Dark	608.95s	34.80
30.	Deoxys (Attack)	Zen Headbutt Psychic	Dark Pulse Dark	501.22s	74.00
31.	Krookodile	Snarl Dark	Crunch Dark	659.45s	17.00
32.	Raikou	Thunder Shock Electric	Shadow Ball Ghost	640.13s	38.00
33.	Abomasnow (Mega)	Razor Leaf Grass	Weather Ball Ice	640.52s	38.00
34.	Trevenant	Shadow Claw Ghost	Shadow Ball Ghost	607.15s	33.67

Notes

• (*) marks a legacy Move
• Since Shadow Pokémon are extremely expensive to power up and require specific events to remove Frustration with a Charge TM, they will NOT be listed as raid counters in this article.

Because of Mega Banette’s access to Dazzling Gleam, this guide will be in two parts: battling w/o Dazzling Gleam and w/ Dazzling Gleam.

If Mega Banette does not have Dazzling Gleam, this will be one of the easiest Mega Raid you can go against. As long as you have good Dark type counters of at least Level 30, you have a decent chance. Hydreigon is the safest counter to use since it resists all but Dazzling Gleam, and doesn’t really need Brutal Swing as long as its level is high enough. With Brutal Swing, however, it is a top counter.

To show you how great Hydreigon is with Brutal Swing, when I ran simulations, two players with no Friendship bonus, each with 6 Level 25 Hydreigons with 0% IVs, can duo Mega Banette. Imagine using maxed or near maxed Hydreigons instead, plus Friendship Bonus.

If Mega Banette does have Dazzling Gleam, stay away from Dark types and lean into your Ghost types instead. Gengar (both Mega and regular) and Chandelure would be the best counters. You can still use Dark-types like Darkrai and Yveltal, as long as you dodge the Dazzling Gleam.

Mega Banette Duo

As mentioned earlier, Mega Banette can be duoed if prepared beforehand.

For Mega Evolution, either Dark or Ghost Mega would be great, but Mega Houndoom will be the safest one since it doesn’t fear Dazzling Gleam.

Speaking of Dazzling Gleam, against that move, Mega Gengar would be great along with Gengar, Chandelure, and Mewtwo with Shadow Ball. Darkrai, Yveltal, and Giratina-Origin can be serviceable if you dodge.

Against Shadow Ball, any Dark-type would be at play here, but Hydreigon, Weavile, Yveltal, and Darkrai are great options. You can use the same mons against Thunder, but Hydreigon and Giratina-Origin are honorable mentions for resisting Electric moves.

As long as you have the counters that are least level 30 and have the Friendship Bonus, you should have no issue beating Mega Banette in a duo.

Mega Banette Facts

Banette (Mega) Ghost
Max CP 4336
ATK 312		DEF 160		HP 162
Weak to			Strong Against
Ghost Dark			Ghost Psychic

Mega Banette Moveset Analysis

Mega Banette can have the following moves in a raid battle and when captured as its base form:

While it is true that Shadow Ball gets STAB (or same type attack bonus), since you would generally use Dark types to beat Mega Banette, Shadow Ball is the best Charged Move you can go against, unless you’re planning on beating it using Ghost types. Even if you resist it, try to dodge as much as you can since it is still powerful.

Thunder, while less powerful, is very hard to dodge. It also eliminates Mega Gyarados and Yveltal in the running for counters, but Dragon types like Hydreigon and Giratina-Origin will take their place.

Dazzling Gleam will be the bane of your Dark types, but Ghost types will have their day against the move, since they only fear the Shadow Ball variant.

Shadow Claw has STAB, but doesn’t generate energy very quickly, and Hex has one more base power than Shadow Claw and generates energy much faster, making it the deadliest fast move, especially if it’s combined with Dazzling Gleam or Shadow Ball.

How to Get Mega Banette

You cannot catch Banette in its mega evolved form from the raid. The mega raid boss is always catchable in its base form and as such, the CP ranges are for a regular Banette.

Banette can be caught with the following CP values:

• 1244 – 1313 CP at level 20, no weather boost
• 1555 – 1642 CP at level 25 with Fog weather boost

In order to get Mega Banette you will need 200 Mega Energy for the initial evolution, then it is possible to evolve that particular Banette again for free after a cooldown period. The cooldown period depends on their mega level, and you can use mega energy to evolve quicker if you don’t want to wait for the end of the cooldown period. Mega Energy can be obtained via Mega Banette Raids, and once you have evolved Mega Banette, you can earn 5 Mega Energy per candy while walking it as your buddy. You can walk any Shupper or Banette to earn Mega Energy, as long as you have previously evolved one to register it to your Mega Pokédex.

Banette Shiny

Like all Mega Raid Bosses, you can catch the shiny version of Banette from a raid, and also in the wild potentially, if you can find it!

Regular Sprite	Shiny Sprite

Shiny Mega Banette is only obtainable via Mega Evolution.

Mega Banette Sprite	Shiny Mega Banette Sprite