The Problem with Shadow Landorus Incarnate in Pokémon GO

Shadow Landorus Incarnate has been featured both in Team GO Rocket Boss Giovanni’s team and in Shadow Raids, and it is an undeniably string Ground-type attacker for Pokémon GO Raids. However, this Legendary has always been overshadowed by the Therian Forme of Landorus, which became even stronger with its signature move, Sandsear Storm.

Unlike the mainline games, only the Therian Forme of Landorus traditionally learns this amazing Charged Attack in Pokémon GO, and not the Incarnate Forme. There’s an emphasis on ‘traditionally,’ since those who accessed the Global Unova Tour Bonus Timed Research on Day 1 of the event were able to obtain a Landorus Incarnate with Sandsear Storm.

But, whether from Giovanni or Shadow Raids, Shadow Landorus Incarnate doesn’t obtain Sandsear Storm in the mobile game. Moreover, based on how Niantic/Scopely has kept the signature moves of the Genie Trio limited to the Therian Forms, it doesn’t look like they would make them accessible to the Incarnate Forms. All things said and done, you will not be able to get Sandsear Storm on your Shadow Landorus Incarnate, so you will have to go with Mud Shot and Earth Power.

Other than this major issue, what other problems plague Shadow Landorus Incarnate in Pokémon GO? To find out, let’s check out how it performs in the Ground Raids meta.

Shadow Landorus Incarnate as a Ground-type attacker in Pokémon GO

Let’s use our trusty GO Hub DPS Comparer Tool:

Pokémon	Moves	DPS	TDO	Score
Primal Groudon	Mud Shot Precipice Blades	20.98	746.0	19.6
Mega Garchomp	Mud Shot Earth Power	19.23	621.9	17.9
Mega Excadrill	Mud-Slap Scorching Sands	19.05	524.4	17.5
Shadow Groudon	Mud Shot Precipice Blades	19.00	443.8	17.2
Shadow Garchomp	Mud Shot Earth Power	17.89	414.3	16.2
Shadow Excadrill	Mud-Slap Scorching Sands	17.84	288.7	15.5
Therian Landorus	Mud Shot Sandsear Storm	17.74	397.0	16
Incarnate Shadow Landorus	Mud Shot Earth Power	17.54	332.2	15.5
Shadow Mamoswine	Mud-Slap High Horsepower	16.95	306.7	14.9
Mega Golurk	Mud-Slap Earth Power	16.77	431.8	15.3

Shadow Landorus Incarnate is a high-grade performer in the Ground meta, convincingly surpassing Precipice Blades Groudon, and not too far behind Sandsear Storm Landorus Therian in damage output. In fact, Landorus Therian deals only 1.14% more damage than Shadow Landorus Therian. 

Even though Incarnate (DEF stat of 182) is bulkier than Therian (179 DEF), the Shadow nerf results in an effective DEF stat of around 152. As such, Therian ends up being way bulkier, although with just marginally higher DPS. But it’s not just that, as Sandsear Storm, being a 1-bar nuke, is also better with Party Play in effect. As such, regular Landorus Therian is the undisputed winner when it comes to competing with Shadow Landorus Incarnate in terms of Raid performance.

Comparing Shadow Landorus Incarnate with Shadows

Shadow Groudon is beyond reach, so let’s take Shadow Excadrill and Shadow Garchomp into account. Shadow Excadrill may be fragile, but its Steel subtyping helps it resist Rock and Steel Raid Bosses, both of which do neutral damage to Shadow Landorus Incarnate. So, even the lower bulk of Shadow Excadrill is compensated by its resistances when facing Rock and Steel Bosses.

Shadow Garchomp also resists Rock but not Steel, but it also resists Fire, unlike both Shadow Landorus Incarnate and Shadow Excadrill. The main strength of Shadow Garchomp is something that gives Ground-type Pokémon their charm: beating Electric types. The Dragon/Ground typing helps the Pseudo Legendary triple resist Electric-type damage, making it vastly superior. In fact, this trait often helps Mega Garchomp surpass Primal Groudon against Electric Bosses.

Powering up Shadow Landorus Incarnate

Say you get yourself a 100 IV Shadow Landorus Incarnate. Should you power it up?

• Regular Landorus Therian, the better Lando, is cheaper to power up.
• Both Shadow Excadrill and Shadow Garchomp are non-Legendaries, easier to find in the game, and way stronger.
• The cost to power up Shadow Landorus Therian is heavy and, sadly, not worth the grind. 

The Pokémon types that Ground counters: Fire, Electric, Rock, Poison, and Steel, are often countered better by other types. Examples include Primal Kyogre joining the fray to beat Fire and Rock types, or Mega Lucario Z destroying Rock and Steel types.

Shadow Landorus Incarnate in PvP

By getting Shadow Landorus Incarnate from Giovanni, it becomes the only Lando eligible for the Great League. Unfortunately, even with this quirk, it is bad in the GO Battle League. The CP restrictions of this format make Shadow Landorus Incarnate extremely fragile, and it is destroyed even by Ice Fast Moves. With Ice being such a formidable offensive typing, you’re essentially letting a strong Ice type farm energy to take on your next Pokémon in the team. For the Great League, just use Stunfisk or Galarian Stunfisk instead. Not to mention, Water is very prominent in the Great League.

The Ultra League notoriously has more Ice types in the reckoning, and it just cannot keep up with the strong roster. And in the Master League, it’s too bad. Landorus Therian, on the other hand, is dominant in these battles and is preferred unanimously.

Conclusion

Shadow Landorus Incarnate is a disappointment in a technical sense. It’s strange because it is actually a meta-relevant Ground attacker, so you can certainly go ahead with it if you lack options. That said, keep in mind that even with a perfect Hundo, it’s vastly outclassed in power, utility, and resource allocation by many other Ground Pokémon.