The first Fairy-type Legendary ‘mon is now in Pokemon GO level-five raids. Xerneas is ready to cut Dragon-, Dark-, and Fighting-type Pokemon down to size. Fortunately, Xerneas also has plenty of weaknesses that you can take advantage of. With any luck, this Xerneas raid guide will help you find the best counters to exploit those weaknesses.
Xerneas Raid Guide for Pokemon GO
Just taking a look at Xerneas makes it feel like a big imposing raid boss. In reality, this Fairy-type Legendary Pokemon is a big softie. All you need to do is take advantage of Xerneas’ weaknesses to turn this mighty Legendary into a deer in the headlights.
Three high-level trainers with decent raid counters should be able to just take down Xerneas. Cloudy weather boosting the raid boss may change this, but not by much. During a non-cloudy day, expect to be able to catch a Xerneas that’s between CP 2073-2160. Cloudy weather will boost that range to CP 2591-2701.
Xerneas Weaknesses
Xerneas has decent all-around stats, but nothing that really stands out compared to past Legendary raid bosses. It has decent HP and defense, but nothing that will prove to be too much of a challenge if you hit Xerneas’ weaknesses.
- Poison
- Steel
It’s also worth noting that Fire-types resist Fairy attacks, but Fairies aren’t weak to Fire attacks. Fire ‘mons wouldn’t be ideal for this raid battle, but they’re an option if you’re trying to reach for Xerneas raid counters.
Best Xerneas Raid Counters
Your best bet for victory in this raid is to take advantage of the weaknesses that Xerneas has by only selecting Pokemon that can hit it with super effective damage. If all you retain from this Xerneas raid guide is a list of counters, then that should still help you take down this boss.
The Xerneas raid counters listed below are from a Pokebattler simulation with level 35 ‘mons and no attack boosts of any kind. Mega and Shadow Pokemon will be listed separately since they’re currently quite costly and difficult to obtain.
- Megas:
- Mega Gengar (Lick | Sludge Bomb)
- Weather Boost: Cloudy
Mega Gengar is a glass cannon, so don’t expect it to tank many hits. To give yourself the best chance at dealing massive damage, just keep on tapping. Don’t worry about dodging since Mega Gengar will only be able to take a few hits depending upon which charge attack Xerneas has. - Mega Beedrill (Poison Jab | Sludge Bomb)
- Weather Boost: Cloudy
This is another option for a Poison-type Mega Pokemon if you don’t have access to Mega Gengar. And better yet, it has a few more resistances to Xerneas’ moveset. It’s certainly not as strong as Mega Gengar, but it’s a solid alternative counter.
- Metagross* (Bullet Punch | Meteor Punch)
- Weather Boost: Snow
If you’ve been playing Pokemon GO for a while now, then there’s a good chance you’ll have a decent Metagross with this exact moveset for raids or PvP. It resists Fairy, Psychic, and Normal moves that Xerneas might have. You only need to look out for Megahorn since it can be a two-hit KO on even high-level Metagross. - Dialga (Metal Claw | Iron Head)
- Weather Boost: Snow
Just like Metagross, it resists many of Xerneas’ attacks and hits the Steel-type weakness pretty well. But you’ll still want to look out for Moonblast. Even though Steel Pokemon usually resist Fairy-type attacks, Dialga is also part Dragon. This makes Fairy attacks hit normally, and Moonblast can do some considerable damage. - Burn Drive or Regular Genesect (Metal Claw | Magnet Bomb)
- Weather Boost: Snow
It’s worth noting here that either of these versions of Genesect will function exactly the same against Xerneas since Techno Blast isn’t being used. That means if you were lucky enough to get either one and boost it enough, then you have a solid Xerneas raid counter on your hands. - Jirachi (Charge Beam | Doom Desire)
- Weather Boost: Rain (Charge Beam) or Snow (Doom Desire)
Doom Desire is one of the best Steel-type attacks in the game. It charges fast and hits hard, but only Jirachi can learn it. Doom Desire is essentially the reason why Jirachi is on this list at all. It has the same dual typing (Steel/Psychic) as Metagross, so it has some decent resistances to most of Xerneas’ attacks except Megahorn. - Excadrill (Metal Claw | Iron Head)
- Weather Boost: Snow
Excadrill is a fairly common Pokemon and it’s usually used at a Ground-type attacker because of its access to Drill Run. But Excadrill is also part Steel, which lets it hit one of Xerneas’ weaknesses. Just keep in mind that Close Combat may one-hit KO any Excadrills you send out there. - Roserade (Poison Jab | Sludge Bomb)
- Weather Boost: Cloudy
The list of Xerneas raid counters started with Poison attackers, and it will end with one as well. Roserade is a decent option since it can hit Xerneas’ Poison-type weakness, but it might not survive very long. Roserade is still a good damage dealer if you don’t have enough of the other counters listed above.
- Other Viable Xerneas Raid Counters:
- Shadow Scizor (Bullet Punch | Iron Head) – Weather Boost: Snow
- Shadow Mewtwo (Psycho Cut | Psystrike) – Weather Boost: Windy
- Shadow Victreebel (Acid | Sludge Bomb) – Weather Boost: Cloudy
- Shadow Vileplume (Acid | Sludge Bomb) – Weather Boost: Cloudy
- Mega Venusaur (Vine Whip | Sludge Bomb) – Weather Boost: Clear/Sunny or Cloudy
- Gengar (Hex | Sludge Bomb) – Weather Boost: Fog or Cloudy
*Shadow version also viable
Xerneas Raid Moveset
Xerneas has a strange moveset for the first Fairy-type Legendary. First, it doesn’t have a Fairy fast attack to choose from, and only one Fairy charge attack. Admittedly, it isn’t unheard for Legendary Pokemon to not take advantage of STAB wither their fast attack (Suicine).
It’s nice because it makes raiding easier, but that also means Xerneas won’t be great in PvP, for now.
Fast Attacks
- Tackle (Normal)
- Weather Boost: Partly Cloudy
Poor mighty Xerneas has Tackle. Out of all the fast attacks in the game, Tackle is one of the worst moves they could have picked. for this Legendary Pokemon. And the next attack isn’t massively better - Zen Headbutt (Psychic)
- Weather Boost: Windy
You would think that since Tackle is one of Xerneas’ fast attacks, there would have to be some other ridiculously good other option. Zen Headbutt isn’t a bad attack, but it’s not good enough to make Zerneas scary to face in raids or PvP.
Charge Attacks
- Megahorn (Bug)
- Weather Boost: Rain
Megahorn does a lot of damage to Metagross, but it’s not going to wipe teams in a matter of seconds. At best it’ll be a two-hit KO on multiple counters. It’s only a major concern if your team is under-leveled. - Thunder (Electric)
- Weather Boost: Rain
Thunder is an interesting attack to face since many of the best Xerneas raid counters don’t resist it. Rainy weather will only make this worse. Thunder isn’t as good as Giga Impact, but this Electric-type attack wipes decent teams that aren’t considering this attack. - Moonblast (Fairy)
- Weather Boost: Cloudy
Moonblast is a good attack, but just about every Xerneas raid counter listed in this guide should be able to tank this Fairy-type attack. It’s going to be less dangerous than Thunder, but still, be careful. If you use Dialga, just remember that it won’t resist Moonblast. - Close Combat (Fighting)
- Weather Boost: Cloudy
This is clearly intended to be Xerneas’ option for combating Steel-type counters. It certainly will deal quite a bit of damage to some of them, but Metagross should still be safe. This is the least dangerous charge attack Xerneas can have in raids. - Giga Impact (Normal)
- Weather Boost: Clear/Sunny
Giga Impact is a heck of an attack. Even without STAB, Giga Impact will deal a ton of damage to most Xerneas raid counters even though there’s no such thing as a Normal-type weakness you might want to consider dodging or getting more trainers involved if you run into a Giga Impact Xerneas.
That’s all there is to know about the Xerneas raid, counters, and weaknesses. Hopefully, this Xerneas raid guide will help you take down at least one of these ‘mons so you can add it to your collection. For now, it seems like Xerneas will just be Pokedex filler.
