Xerneas is a Tier 5 legendary raid boss and was the first Fairy type legendary Pokémon in GO.
Xerneas can be caught with the following CP values:
- 2073- 2160 CP at Level 20, no weather boost
- 2591- 2701 CP at Level 25 with Cloudy weather boost
It has a mono typing of Fairy and as such, it is boosted by Cloudy weather and its counters include strong Steel and Poison type Pokémon such as Metagross, Dialga, Roserade and mega evolutions like Mega Gengar and Mega Beedrill.
As you will soon find out, Xerneas is quite bulky and as such, it would require 5-7 trainers to be on the safe side.
The shiny form is available if you are lucky. This shiny form is really cool, so good luck to everyone on getting that very rare shundo (100% IV shiny) to add to your Master League team.
Xerneas | Shiny Xerneas |
Xerneas Raid Counters
Mega Pokémon will be listed separately below. 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. That being said, if you have the shadow form of a listed raid counter Pokémon powered up and TMed, use it.
The best counters for Xerneas, based on the time required to win, are the following:
# | Pokemon | Fast Move | Charge Move | TTW | Faints |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Gengar (Mega) | Lick Ghost |
Sludge Bomb Poison |
386.27s | 13.10 |
2. | Beedrill (Mega) | Poison Jab Poison |
Sludge Bomb Poison |
408.09s | 23.10 |
3. | Scizor (Mega) | Bullet Punch Steel |
Iron Head Steel |
496.79s | 14.50 |
4. | Aggron (Mega) | Iron Tail Steel |
Heavy Slam Steel |
513.53s | 12.80 |
5. | Metagross | Bullet Punch Steel |
Meteor Mash Steel |
555.42s | 15.40 |
6. | Charizard (Mega Y) | Fire Spin Fire |
Blast Burn Fire |
552.61s | 17.80 |
7. | Steelix (Mega) | Iron Tail Steel |
Heavy Slam Steel |
585.83s | 11.60 |
8. | Venusaur (Mega) | Vine Whip Grass |
Sludge Bomb Poison |
564.89s | 16.60 |
9. | Alakazam (Mega) | Psycho Cut Psychic |
Psychic Psychic |
527.31s | 23.70 |
10. | Blaziken (Mega) | Fire Spin Fire |
Blast Burn Fire |
542.35s | 23.10 |
11. | Nihilego | Poison Jab Poison |
Sludge Bomb Poison |
601.01s | 15.30 |
12. | Gardevoir (Mega) | Confusion Psychic |
Psychic Psychic |
580.22s | 18.80 |
13. | Latios (Mega) | Zen Headbutt Psychic |
Psychic Psychic |
588.69s | 18.70 |
14. | Swampert (Mega) | Mud Shot Ground |
Hydro Cannon Water |
596.19s | 18.00 |
15. | Banette (Mega) | Shadow Claw Ghost |
Shadow Ball Ghost |
587.95s | 21.80 |
16. | Pidgeot (Mega) | Steel Wing Steel |
Brave Bird |
592.71s | 23.60 |
17. | Dialga | Metal Claw Steel |
Iron Head Steel |
617.02s | 18.60 |
18. | Sceptile (Mega) | Bullet Seed Grass |
Frenzy Plant Grass |
587.58s | 25.13 |
19. | Tyranitar (Mega) | Iron Tail Steel |
Stone Edge Rock |
629.23s | 18.40 |
20. | Manectric (Mega) | Thunder Fang Electric |
Wild Charge Electric |
632.52s | 23.50 |
21. | Aerodactyl (Mega) | Steel Wing Steel |
Iron Head Steel |
626.81s | 21.10 |
22. | Melmetal | Thunder Shock Electric |
Double Iron Bash Steel |
653.99s | 17.10 |
23. | Blastoise (Mega) | Water Gun Water |
Hydro Cannon Water |
627.87s | 22.30 |
24. | Charizard (Mega X) | Fire Spin Fire |
Blast Burn Fire |
645.52s | 19.70 |
25. | Zacian | Metal Claw Steel |
Iron Head Steel |
669.06s | 15.80 |
26. | Genesect (Douse) | Metal Claw Steel |
Magnet Bomb Steel |
653.46s | 20.30 |
27. | Genesect (Chill) | Metal Claw Steel |
Magnet Bomb Steel |
653.12s | 20.10 |
28. | Genesect (Burn) | Metal Claw Steel |
Magnet Bomb Steel |
652.70s | 20.30 |
29. | Genesect (Shock) | Metal Claw Steel |
Magnet Bomb Steel |
651.47s | 20.00 |
30. | Genesect (Normal) | Metal Claw Steel |
Magnet Bomb Steel |
652.38s | 20.10 |
31. | Groudon (Primal) | Mud Shot Ground |
Precipice Blades Ground |
690.82s | 14.00 |
32. | Excadrill | Metal Claw Steel |
Iron Head Steel |
650.95s | 20.10 |
33. | Roserade | Poison Jab Poison |
Sludge Bomb Poison |
629.74s | 26.44 |
34. | Gengar | Lick Ghost |
Sludge Bomb Poison |
656.15s | 22.38 |
35. | Deoxys (Attack) | Poison Jab Poison |
Zap Cannon Electric |
623.38s | 44.75 |
Stats and Max CP
Xerneas Fairy | |||||
Max CP at Level 40 3781| Max CP at Level 50 4275 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ATK 250 | DEF 185 | HP 246 | |||
Weak to | Strong Against | ||||
Steel Poison | Dark Dragon Fighting |
Moveset Analysis
Xerneas learns the following moves in Pokémon GO:
Fast Moves | Charge Moves |
---|---|
|
|
*Denotes a legacy move only available via Elite TM or during certain special events.
With the addition of Geomancy as a fast move, Xerneas is finally a worthwhile Fairy type attacker! It makes it a much harder hitter, but it still won’t trouble your counters too much.
Tackle is an okay Normal type move that doesn’t deal super-effective damage to any type. The top counter, Mega Gengar, heavily resists Tackle. In fact, Mega Gengar is grinning because it reads ‘Tackle’ as ‘Tickle’. Tch!
Zen Headbutt is the worst psychic fast move. However, it deals super-effective damage to Mega Gengar. For Zen Headbutt, Metagross is your go-to Pokémon.
Xerneas has hard hitting charge moves, Moonblast gains STAB and hits extremely hard.
Close Combat can take off a chunk of HP from your Steel types. The Poison types are more effective here.
Thunder is kind of difficult to dodge and does quite a number, so be wary of this one.
Megahorn is decent but not too much of a threat.
Giga Impact can do a lot of damage but can be dodged, steel types are also effective here.
Xerneas is bulky and as such, would take a while to be defeated. Otherwise, with numbers on your side, Xerneas can be taken down with relative ease.
Conclusion
We have had many opportunities to get Pokémon like Meteor Mash Metagross, Mega Gengar and Mega Beedrill with free mega energy. So, stacking up your counters to beat Xerneas shouldn’t be too much of a problem. It’s all about having numbers on your side!
Xerneas is a top tier Master League Pokémon. Now with a fairy type fast move it will become mega tier as it has a lot of bulk.
If you didn’t have a good Xerneas before, this is a perfect time to get one as you also have the opportunity to get its really cool shiny variant. If you haven’t powered up a good Xerneas yet, this is your opportunity to get a good shiny one or Lucky Trade a friend to reduce the candy and stardust cost of getting a maxed Xerneas.
Happy raiding and happy shiny hunting!