Pokemon GO is experiencing a resurgence, as absurd as that claim is to make about a game that generated over $1.2 billion in revenue over its first year of existence. The past year has seen the game address many of its biggest technical issues, while Niantic has remained committed to adding significant extra content over the course of the past twelve months. That approach has culminated in the release of Pokemon GO raid battling, a popular addition that sees trainers team up to take down difficult Pokemon raid bosses that offer massive XP and exciting rewards for doing so.

While Pokemon GO raids are relatively new, the vibrant end-game community that Niantic has cultivated is already expending a lot of energy on breaking down the ins and outs of those battles. With Pokemon GO testing legendary raids as we speak, it has become something of a sticking point for trainers to have all the current tiers figured out as scientifically as possible prior to that release.

To that end, we've put together a little guide on the most difficult raid bosses currently - those at the Tier 4 level. Thanks to the team at Pokebattler, there's even a handy infographic that can help break down what players need to do when faced with any of the possible Tier 4 raid bosses in Pokemon GO. Here's the graphic:

Essentially, the graphic breaks down to show a possible boss and its potential attack types in the first column, the best counter Pokemon to combat these bosses in the second column, the niche Pokemon that can defend well against specific types of attacks from a boss in the third column, and an overall summary of the best types of attacks trainers can have available during the raid battle in the last. This chart is already extremely handy, but there are a few tips and tricks that make it even more interesting - so let's dive right in.

Bring a Machamp or a Dragonite

The first thing the chart quite clearly demonstrates is that Machamp is a house - a Machamp with a Fighting-type move will hard counter three of the possible seven Tier 4 raid bosses, while also providing a soft counter to a fourth if it has an Ice-type move. Dragonite is a little less versatile in the sense that it is only a hard counter to two of the possible seven Tier 4 raid bosses, but makes up for that by providing a soft counter to two others depending on its moveset. These Pokemon simply offer a higher success rate based on percentages, and should be trained up - alongside liberal TM use to ensure the ideal moveset - to make the highest tier of raid battling that much easier.

Be Prepared to Get Beaten, Though

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to identify what the best counter to the boss a player is assigned. A trainer will have to start battling him to determine what the boss moveset is for a given raid battle, then customize their team as a result. While it is certainly possible in some instances to know that a Pokemon a player brings will likely not have to deal with any weaknesses, even that can be difficult - some bosses have four or even five different move types available to them, and it can be difficult or even impossible to be prepared for all of them.

If You Can DPS, You Shouldn't Dodge

Oddly enough, recent changes to Pokemon GO's battling system have made it more difficult than ever to time a dodge correctly - to the point that it actually makes less sense to attempt it during a raid battle than to just soak up the damage and focus on dealing out the maximum amount of DPS on the player's end as well. That's because, when prepared, basically the only way to lose against a raid boss is to timeout, so it is imperative that players maximize the way they use their time during the fight and focus on dealing as much damage as possible.

So there it is - a quick and dirty guide to Tier 4 Raid battles, mostly in time for Pokemon GO's first year anniversary and the large influx of players that the celebration has brought back into the fold. These tips, alongside the chart, should help trainers be much better prepared for the trials they will eventually face during raid battling, and if nothing else, they're proof that the Pokemon GO community may be many things, but less than thorough is certainly not one of them.

Pokemon GO is available now for iOS and Android mobile devices.

Source: Pokebattler