Mega Gyarados Raid Counters Guide

Gyarados (Mega)

Mega Gyarados is a Dark and Water type Mega Raid boss. Optimal raid counters will include powerful Electric Grass Fighting Bug and Fairy types, with quite a broad range of different counters available to help you defeat it.

Gyarados can be caught in the following CP ranges:

  • 1855 CP – 1937 CP (no weather boost)
  • 2319 CP – 2422 CP (boosted by Windy or Rainy weather)

Depending on your levels and counters, we would recommend 3-5 trainers who are high level, and more if you don’t have optimal teams. This guide will tell you how to beat this fan favourite Mega, as well as its optimal stats, moves and CP range.

Best Mega Gyarados Counters

Let’s check out the top raid counters for Mega Gyarados:

# Attacker Fast Move Charge Move Faints TTW
1. Sceptile (Mega) Fury Cutter Bug Frenzy Plant Grass 22 340s
2. Heracross (Mega) Counter Fighting Megahorn Bug 18 384s
3. Gardevoir (Mega) Charm Fairy Dazzling Gleam Fairy 16 396s
4. Kartana Razor Leaf Grass Leaf Blade Grass 22 391s
5. Terrakion Double Kick Fighting Sacred Sword Fighting 23 385s
6. Rayquaza (Mega) Dragon Tail Dragon Dragon Ascent Flying 20 401s
7. Keldeo (Ordinary) Low Kick Fighting Sacred Sword Fighting 17 415s
8. Keldeo Low Kick Fighting Sacred Sword Fighting 17 415s
9. Raikou (Shadow) Thunder Shock Electric Wild Charge Electric 24 392s
10. Xurkitree Thunder Shock Electric Discharge Electric 27 387s
11. Electivire (Shadow) Thunder Shock Electric Wild Charge Electric 31 383s
12. Sceptile (Shadow) Fury Cutter Bug Frenzy Plant Grass 28 393s
13. Machamp (Shadow) Counter Fighting Dynamic Punch Fighting 27 396s
14. Zapdos (Shadow) Thunder Shock Electric Thunderbolt Electric 26 402s
15. Blaziken (Mega) Counter Fighting Focus Blast Fighting 29 396s
16. Magnezone (Shadow) Spark Electric Wild Charge Electric 24 413s
17. Venusaur (Mega) Vine Whip Grass Frenzy Plant Grass 17 441s
18. Manectric (Mega) Thunder Fang Electric Wild Charge Electric 27 407s
19. Hariyama (Shadow) Counter Fighting Dynamic Punch Fighting 26 408s
20. Shaymin (Sky) Magical Leaf Grass Grass Knot Grass 20 432s
21. Tapu Bulu Bullet Seed Grass Nature’s Madness Fairy 14 469s
22. Alakazam (Mega) Counter Fighting Dazzling Gleam Fairy 30 410s
23. Zarude Vine Whip Grass Power Whip Grass 16 463s
24. Luxray (Shadow) Spark Electric Wild Charge Electric 33 408s
25. Lucario Counter Fighting Aura Sphere Fighting 26 422s
26. Pheromosa Bug Bite Bug Bug Buzz Bug 44 393s
27. Tapu Koko Volt Switch Electric Nature’s Madness Fairy 20 446s
28. Zekrom Charge Beam Electric Wild Charge Electric 23 436s
29. Tangrowth (Shadow) Vine Whip Grass Power Whip Grass 23 439s
30. Enamorus (Incarnate) Fairy Wind Fairy Dazzling Gleam Fairy 21 446s

 

How to Get Mega Gyarados

You cannot catch Gyarados 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 Gyarados.

Gyarados can be caught with the following CP values:

  • 1855 – 1937 CP no weather boost
  • 2319 – 2422 CP boosted by Rainy or Fog weather boost

In order to get Mega Gyarados you will need 200 Mega Energy for the initial evolution, then 40 Mega Energy to evolve the same Gyarados again in the future. Mega Energy can be obtained via Mega Gyarados Raids, and once you have evolved Mega Gyarados, you can earn 5 Mega Energy per candy while walking it as your buddy. You can walk any Magikarp or Gyarados to earn Mega Energy, as long as you have previously evolved one to register it to your Mega Pokédex.


Gyarados Shiny

Like all Mega Raid Bosses, you can catch the shiny version of Gyarados from a raid, and also in the wild potentially, if you can find it! Gyarados does have a slight gender difference in both the regular and shiny sprites, with its whiskers changing colour.

Regular Sprite (Male) Shiny Sprite (Male)

 

Regular Sprite (Female) Shiny Sprite (Female)

 


Mega Gyarados Stats

Gyarados (Mega) WaterDark
Max CP at lvl 40 4717
ATK 292 DEF 247 HP 216
Weak to Strong Against
Grass Electric Fighting Fairy Bug Fire Ground Rock Psychic

 

With a whopping max CP at level 50 of 5332, Mega Gyarados was for a time, the highest CP Pokémon in Pokémon GO, overtaking the previous highest Mega Charizard Y. It is an absolute beast!


Mega Gyarados Moveset Analysis

Fast Moves Charge Moves
  • Bite Dark
  • Waterfall Water
  • Dragon Breath* Dragon
  • Dragon Tail* Dragon
  • Hydro Pump Water
  • Aqua Tail* Water
  • Outrage Dragon
  • Crunch Dark
  • Dragon Pulse* Dragon
  • Twister* Dragon

* denotes Legacy move, only obtainable via Elite TM.

For optimal DPS Bite and Hydro Pump are the way to go. If you need your strongest Water type attacker, Waterfall and Hydro Pump are preferred for DPS, and for a Dark type attacker Bite and Crunch. Mega Gyarados doesn’t have Dragon typing, but if you want to use it as a Dragon type attacker you will need legacy move Dragon Tail with Outrage as the Charge move.


Conclusion

Mega Gyarados is a Pokémon that regardless of its stats, is going to be a Mega that people want on their teams, Gyarados is a fan favourite! It has a huge CP stat, and a high attack stat of 292, making it a great Water type attacker. It does have some big weaknesses, losing that Flying type it has in its regular form means it is much more weak to Grass types than it used to be.

Mega Gyarados isn’t generally considered one of the top tier Megas, but with such a cool design, and so many trainers having a soft spot in their heart for this big shiny red beasty, does it really matter? It’ll be great to raid strong Fire types, and can be a help against Psychic and Ghost types, including the Mega Mewtwo forms, whenever they become available.

Author & tags

kittypokemonsalot
kittypokemonsalothttps://www.kittyramblesalot.com/
Pokémon GO Hub Editor in Chief and Writer. Turtwig obsessive, real life Psyduck, Pokémon GO AR Photographer, found footage horror fan.
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