Pokemon Go: Five Tips to Beating Raids

Pick Your Pokemon Wisely

Unlike normal gym battles, it doesn't pay to have a diverse team of Pokemon when entering a raid. Each raid boss has a specific set of weaknesses that can be exploited by a certain Type of Pokemon.

There's also a lot of Raid Bosses that have similar weaknesses. For instance, six of the known Raid Bosses are weak against Water-Type Pokemon while five Raid Bosses are weak against Electric-Type Pokemon. Therefore, you might want to stockpile Pokemon like Jolteon and Vaporeon so you have a team of fast attackers that can do a lot of damage to raid bosses.

More importantly, make sure you know which Pokemon you're bringing into battle before a raid starts. If you have multiple Vaporeon, but only one knows Hydro Pump, be sure to differentiate that one from other Vaporeon so you know which one to bring.

Charged Moves Are King

The most effective way to beat a lot of these Raid Bosses is simply to batter them with Charge Moves as quickly as you can. Use your Charge moves as often as you can.

It also helps to know which of your Pokemon have the strongest Charge Moves, even if it doesn't get a Same Type Attack Bonus.

There are a few Pokemon that have bizarre movesets that can come handy during Raid Battles. An Alakazam with Close Combat (a Fighting-Type move) might be problematic under a lot of circumstances, but it would be more useful in a Raid against a Snorlax than a Fighting-Type Pokemon that doesn't have a Fighting-Type charge move.

Dodge, Dodge, Dodge

Pokemon Go battles aren't very complex, but there is a benefit to learning how to dodge. That benefit increases 1000x during Raid Battles, as the most powerful Raid Bosses can wipe out your Pokemon with a single Charge move.

Dodging is really easy in Pokemon Go. All you do is swipe to the side whenever the screen flashes, which signals when an opponent is about to attack. You'll occasionally have a short window (less than a second) to dodge, so get used to dodging whenever you see that flash on your screen.

You Get Multiple Tries

Don't be discouraged if you don't beat a raid on the first try. While most low level Raids should be pretty easy for a small team of trainers, several of the Level 4 Raids are challenging for even high level players.

Luckily, a Raid Pass lasts for the full hour that a Raid takes place, so you can try a raid multiple times.

Also, players can "flee" a raid mid-battle to heal their Pokemon. Players can then return to the battle with a fresh team as long as the 180 second raid battle timer hasn't run out.

While the game recommends fleeing and healing your Pokemon, players can also do a wholesale switch of their Pokemon...which technically gives them up to 12 Pokemon to use during a raid.

Remember that healing and switching Pokemon counts against your battle timer, so be quick when making support moves to help your Pokemon.

Bring a Friend

Pokemon Go is a cooperative gameplay experience and raids are specifically designed to be easier with multiple players. Any Level 3 or Level 4 Raid is all but impossible for players to beat on their own, even if they bring in a team of Dragonite into battle.

Finding a teammate for raids is an absolute must. If you don't know someone who plays Pokemon Go nearby, try finding a Facebook group or look on Reddit to see if you can track down a player who lives in your area.

If you can't find anyone to attend a raid with, just show up and see who's there. Most Pokemon Go players will welcome the help on a raid and you might even make a new friend!

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