Pokemon GO's list of challenging Legendary Battle Raid bosses has grown a ton since the early days of the mobile AR game and, at this point, trainers can battle Legendaries from across the span of the franchise history. When it comes to the later, more contemporary generations, the cover Pokemon for Sword and Shield are two of the most powerful and popular.
Each time a Legendary returns to tier 5 Battle Raids in Pokemon GO, trainers should take a bit of time to review their collection and put together an ideal counter roster. Taking the time to prepare before heading into the fight can help ensure that trainers don't waste any valuable Raid Passes on failed attempts and that they do enough damage to earn as many Premier Balls as possible at the end of the fight.
Heading into the battle, players should keep in mind that Zacian is a Fairy-type Pokemon. That means that this Legendary Raid Boss is going weak to Poison- and Steel-type attacks. Forming a counter roster that capitalizes on those weaknesses can be a little tricky, particularly if players are short on Shadow and Mega Pokemon. That said, there are still plenty respectable options that even newer players should hopefully have in their arsenal.
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Zacian Weakness
Zacian is weak to Poison- and Steel-type moves.
Best Zacian Counters
- Shadow Metagross - Bullet Punch, Meteor Mash
- Mega Gengar - Lick, Sludge Bomb
- Metagross - Bullet Punch, Meteor Mash
- Mega Beedrill - Poison Jab, Sludge Bomb
- Dialga - Metal Claw, Iron Head
- Exadrill - Metal Claw, Iron Head
- Shadow Mewtwo - Psycho Cut, Psystrike
- Genesect - Metal Claw, Magnet Bomb
- Jirachi - Charge Beam, Doom Desire
- Scizor - Bullet Punch, Iron Head
As always, trainers should keep in mind that they don't need the absolute best counter roster to successfully take down this boss. Instead, they should focus on exploiting the boss' weaknesses as much as possible (in this case by fielding their strongest Poison- and Fairy-types) and entering the battle with enough allies to ensure victory. For the Zacian fight it would be wise to enter with at least four other experiences Battle Raiders. Trainers who want to ensure even more success should consider burning through some Stardust, Elite TMs, and Candy before the fight to get their team powered up and equipped with the ideal moves ahead of time.
Be sure to check back in the near future for more Pokemon GO news, strategy guides, and updates. Until then, good luck out there, trainers!
Pokemon GO is available now in select regions on mobile devices.