How to beat Crowned Sword Zacian in Pokémon GO Raids – Shiny, 100% IV CPs, Counters

Crowned Sword Zacian

Crowned Sword Zacian is a Tier 5 Legendary Raid Boss in Pokémon GO — and yes, its shiny form is available. As a Fairy and Steel type, Zacian is vulnerable to Fire and Ground-type moves, making it much easier to counter if you’re properly prepared.

After defeating Crowned Sword Zacian (*), it can be caught with the following CP values:

• 2100 – 2188 CP at Level 20, no weather boost
• 2625 – 2735 CP at Level 25 with Cloudy weather boost

A 100% IV Zacian will have 2188 CP with no weather boost or 2735 CP with weather boost.

Theoretically, a Crowned Sword Zacian Trio raid is possible in ideal weather conditions and with max-level counters. But to be safe, 4-6 high-level Trainers are recommended for a reliable clear. Lower level trainers or those without ideal counters may want to use a larger squad.

(*) After defeating Zacian in a raid, you will encounter it in its Hero of Many Battles form. However, it can be <strong “>form-changed into Crowned Sword Zacian using Crowned Sword Energy.

Crowned Sword Zacian Raid Counters

The best counters for Crowned Sword Zacian are strong Fire and Ground-type Pokémon.

#	Attacker	Fast Move	Charge Move	DPS	Faints	TTW
1.	Mega Delphox	Fire Spin	Blast Burn	30.54	23	542s
2.	Mega Y Charizard	Fire Spin	Blast Burn	29.10	26	578s
3.	Primal Groudon	Mud Shot	Precipice Blades	27.94	21	587s
4.	Mega Chandelure	Fire Spin	Overheat	27.64	23	592s
5.	Blacephalon	Incinerate	Mind Blown	29.08	35	588s
6.	Shadow Reshiram	Fire Fang	Fusion Flare	28.03	38	631s
7.	Shadow Heatran	Fire Spin	Magma Storm	26.70	25	627s
8.	Mega Blaziken	Fire Spin	Blast Burn	28.36	44	642s
9.	Mega Garchomp	Mud Shot	Earth Power	25.97	35	663s
10.	Shadow Chandelure	Fire Spin	Overheat	24.93	37	684s
11.	Reshiram	Fire Fang	Fusion Flare	24.56	36	707s
12.	Mega X Charizard	Fire Spin	Blast Burn	24.67	39	708s
13.	Shadow Delphox	Fire Spin	Blast Burn	24.20	42	716s
14.	Heatran	Fire Spin	Magma Storm	22.35	25	740s
15.	Shadow Moltres	Fire Spin	Overheat	23.45	40	720s
16.	Shadow Ho-Oh	Incinerate	Sacred Fire	22.27	31	748s
17.	Shadow Entei	Fire Spin	Overheat	23.03	41	743s
18.	Shadow Groudon	Mud Shot	Precipice Blades	23.25	46	744s
19.	Mega X Mewtwo	Counter	Flamethrower	22.55	40	760s
20.	Mega Y Mewtwo	Counter	Flamethrower	21.80	34	765s
21.	Shadow Charizard	Fire Spin	Blast Burn	22.73	47	754s
22.	Chandelure	Fire Spin	Overheat	21.61	36	781s
23.	Shadow Excadrill	Mud-Slap	Scorching Sands	22.90	52	777s
24.	Shadow Garchomp	Mud Shot	Earth Power	22.87	54	792s
25.	Volcarona	Fire Spin	Overheat	21.43	40	789s
26.	Mega Houndoom	Fire Fang	Flamethrower	20.05	68	819s
27.	Moltres	Fire Spin	Overheat	18.80	47	826s
28.	Shadow Garchomp	Mud Shot	Earth Power	20.09	69	801s
29.	Crowned Sword Zacian	Metal Claw	Behemoth Blade	18.46	43	832s
30.	Groudon	Mud Shot	Precipice Blades	18.77	54	837s

Zacian Stats, Moves and Shiny form

Zacian is a strong Fairy type Legendary with a glaring weakness to Steel, which makes picking counters rather straightforward – almost all of them use this weakness, with the exception of a few top-tier Poison Attackers. Let’s go over the stats and then we can focus on the moves.

	Crowned Sword Zacian FairySteel
Max CP	5629
ATK	332
DEF	240
HP	192
Weak to
Resists	Almost everything else
Fast moves	Metal Claw Air Slash
Charge moves	Behemoth Blade Play Rough Close Combat Giga Impact

Zacian Moveset Analysis

Fast Moves:

• Metal Claw and Air Slash won’t be any issue whatsoever for your Fire and Ground counters. 

Charged Moves:

• Play Rough gains STAB, and it is pretty damaging, but it deals reduced damage to Fire-types!
• Close Combat is a powerful move that charges quickly, and despite lacking STAB, can KO some of your Ground types, but it is less worrying than Giga Impact or Behemoth Blade
• Giga Impact does a ton of neutral damage to almost all your counters, but luckily it won’t hit frequently, as it is a 100 Energy move. Still, it deals 200 damage, like Behemoth Blade, and it always deals full damage due to being Normal
• Behemoth Blade is Crowned Sword Zacian’s signature move, and it deals 200 base damage. Luckily it deals reduced damage to Fire-types, but it still hits twice as hard as Close Combat

Shiny Crowned Sword Zacian Comparison table

Regular Sprite	Shiny Sprite
Crowned Sword Zacian	Crowned Sword Zacian

How to get Crowned Sword Zacian

With enough Crowned Sword Energy, a Zacian that knows the Charged Attack Iron Head can be transformed to become Crowned Sword Zacian. Trainers can transform Hero of Many Battles Zacian using 1,000 Crowned Sword Energy as long as it knows the Charged Attack Iron Head.

Pokémon	Requirement	Evolution
Zacian knows Iron Head	1000× Crowned Sword Energy	Crowned Sword Zacian

When Zacian becomes Crowned Sword Zacian, its Charged Attack Iron Head will change to the Charged Attack Behemoth Blade. Behemoth Blade is a Steel typed Charge Attack that is the Signature attack of Zacian.

Conclusion

For a full PvP and PvE analysis on Zacian, check out the below:

• Zacian in the raid and Dynamax meta
• Zacian in PvP