Sawk (Shadow) Raid Guide

Sawk (Shadow)

Shadow Sawk is now available in Tier 3 raids throughout Europe, Asia and Australia in Pokémon GO. Shadow raids can only be accessed with in-person passes. Shadow Sawk is an immensely difficult tier 3 raid due to the Shadow Raid mechanism. You will need to be well prepared with top counters, correct movesets, powered up Pokémon, and most importantly, Purified Gems.

Keep an eye on the weather, Cloudy weather will boost Shadow Sawk, and make this already difficult raid, even harder.

You can catch shadow Sawk after the raid with the following CP values (starting at 6/6/6 IV):

• 1458- 1593 CP, at Level 20 with no weather boost 
• 1823 – 1991 CP, at Level 25 with weather boost, during Cloudy weather conditions

Sawk is a pure Fighting type Pokémon, and is weak to Fairy, Flying and Psychic type moves. Even though Sawk has a shiny variant in the game, Shadow Sawk encountered from raid battles won’t be able to be shiny. 

Shadow Raid Information & Advice

As a shadow raid, Sawk will hit harder than ever before, so make sure your counters are powered up, have the right moveset, and aren’t weak to the raid bosses moves. These tier 3 raids are a tricky solo task for even the most prepared trainers, and you will need Purified Gems to defeat them. Shadow Raid Bosses will grow enraged as you battle them, boosting their attack and defence.

You will need to subdue Shadow Sawk using Purified Gems, a new item that can be assembled from Shadow Shards.

Shadow Shards are mysterious gem pieces that may be dropped by Team GO Rocket grunts, leaders, and from Shadow Raids. You will need to gather enough shards to use Professor Willow’s newly invented Shard Refiner, and in return you’ll be rewarded with a Purified Gem. Be sure to have collected as many as you can before you attempt a Shadow Sawk raid, as without them you won’t be able to return it to its normal, non-enraged state.

There are multiple ways Purified Gems can assist your battle against enraged Shadow Raid Bosses:

• When you use a Purified Gem during a Shadow Raid, the enraged Shadow Raid Boss’s attack and defence will be lowered temporarily. This can give you the opening you need to take them down.
• You and your fellow Trainers can use more than one Purified Gem during a Shadow Raid. If used at the same time, their effects will stack.
• If enough Purified Gems are used, the enraged Shadow Raid Boss will be subdued—returned to its non-enraged state—which might give you the edge you need to defeat it!

Purified Gems will show in the bottom left corner of the raid battle when you are able to use them, so be sure to communicate with your raid group to stack their effects!

Shadow Sawk Counters

Since powering up Shadow Pokémon is exceedingly expensive and removing Frustration with a Charged TM depends on specific events, this article will NOT list them as raid counters. However, if you already have a listed raid counter Pokémon in its shadow form, powered up and TM-ed, feel free to use it. The figures in our database for DPS and TDO are calculated using Level 40 Pokémon with perfect IVs.

The best counters for shadow Sawk are the following:

#	Pokemon	Fast Move	Charge Move	TTW	Faints
1.	Alakazam (Mega)	Confusion Psychic	Psychic Psychic	41.77s	0.75
2.	Gardevoir (Mega)	Confusion Psychic	Dazzling Gleam Fairy	46.85s	0.50
3.	Latios (Mega)	Zen Headbutt Psychic	Psychic Psychic	47.80s	0.50
4.	Pidgeot (Mega)	Gust Flying	Brave Bird Flying	52.77s	1.00
5.	Latias (Mega)	Zen Headbutt Psychic	Psychic Psychic	56.21s	0.38
6.	Mewtwo	Psycho Cut Psychic	Psystrike Psychic	60.59s	0.88
7.	Gengar (Mega)	Shadow Claw Ghost	Psychic Psychic	64.67s	0.38
8.	Charizard (Mega Y)	Air Slash Flying	Blast Burn Fire	63.23s	1.00
9.	Slowbro (Mega)	Confusion Psychic	Psychic Psychic	65.87s	0.63
10.	Hoopa (Unbound)	Confusion Psychic	Psychic Psychic	63.61s	1.75
11.	Blaziken (Mega)	Counter Fighting	Brave Bird Flying	65.16s	1.75
12.	Hoopa (Confined)	Confusion Psychic	Psychic Psychic	74.34s	0.38
13.	Lunala	Confusion Psychic	Psychic Psychic	76.07s	0.13
14.	Articuno (Galarian)	Confusion Psychic	Brave Bird Flying	74.49s	0.75
15.	Banette (Mega)	Shadow Claw Ghost	Dazzling Gleam Fairy	74.16s	1.00
16.	Swampert (Mega)	Water Gun Water	Hydro Cannon Water	76.17s	1.00
17.	Alakazam	Confusion Psychic	Psychic Psychic	73.35s	1.75
18.	Salamence (Mega)	Dragon Tail Dragon	Draco Meteor Dragon	77.24s	1.00
19.	Moltres	Wing Attack Flying	Sky Attack Flying	76.14s	1.38
20.	Espeon	Confusion Psychic	Psychic Psychic	74.54s	1.63
21.	Metagross	Zen Headbutt Psychic	Psychic Psychic	80.27s	0.60
22.	Medicham (Mega)	Psycho Cut Psychic	Psychic Psychic	75.22s	1.63
23.	Latios	Zen Headbutt Psychic	Psychic Psychic	77.63s	1.25
24.	Yveltal	Gust Flying	Hurricane Flying	82.17s	0.50
25.	Azelf	Confusion Psychic	Future Sight Psychic	76.07s	1.75
26.	Sceptile (Mega)	Bullet Seed Grass	Frenzy Plant Grass	74.99s	2.00
27.	Tapu Lele	Confusion Psychic	Future Sight Psychic	79.16s	1.38
28.	Blastoise (Mega)	Water Gun Water	Hydro Cannon Water	82.53s	0.75
29.	Ho-Oh	Extrasensory Psychic	Brave Bird Flying	83.06s	0.75
30.	Charizard (Mega X)	Fire Spin Fire	Blast Burn Fire	81.48s	1.00
31.	Meloetta (Aria)	Confusion Psychic	Psyshock Psychic	84.92s	0.50
32.	Gardevoir	Confusion Psychic	Psychic Psychic	81.90s	1.17
33.	Rayquaza	Air Slash Flying	Hurricane Flying	80.46s	1.38
34.	Altaria (Mega)	Peck Flying	Dazzling Gleam Fairy	80.25s	1.43
35.	Gallade	Confusion Psychic	Psychic Psychic	80.72s	1.50

 

Stats and Max CP

Sawk (Shadow) Fighting
Max CP at Level 40 2788 | Max CP at Level 50 3152
ATK 231		DEF 153		HP 181
Weak To: Strong Against: Fairy Flying Psychic Bug Dark Rock

Moveset

And that’s all, Good luck with your shadow Sawk raids, and until next time, trainers!