Pokemon Go: How to Beat Armored Mewtwo

Pokemon Go's Armored Mewtwo is here, providing players with a whole new challenge. Pokemon Go developers Niantic recently added Armored Mewtwo as a Raid Boss to promote the upcoming release of Pokemon the Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back EVOLUTION. While the new movie is mostly a remake of Pokemon the Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back (the first Pokemon movie ever made), it does give Mewtwo a fearsome set of armor used by Team Rocket to control Mewtwo in battle. While Mewtwo remains a pure Psychic-type Pokemon, it now has stronger Defense stats and a new moveset that adds some extra wrinkles in Raid Battles.

One key difference between Armored Mewtwo and previous Mewtwo raids is that Armored Mewtwo has access to the moves Iron Tail, Earthquake, Rock Slide, and Dynamic Punch. Some of those moves can really hurt some of the Pokemon usually used to battle Mewtwo, so you'll need to plan carefully to avoid getting knocked out due to a poor type match-up. For instance, a Tyranitar with Dark-type moves is usually great against Armored Mewtwo, but it won't last long if Armored Mewtwo has Dynamic Punch as its charge move. Likewise, Gengar is another great counter, but will get put away by Mewtwo's Earthquake attack.

Giratina (Origin Forme) is the best Pokemon to use against Armored Mewtwo, largely due to its resistance against all of Mewtwo's attacks. While Gengar has a higher DPS (damage per second ratio), a Giratina with Ghost-type moves will be able to last a lot longer in battle. In addition, a non-armored Mewtwo with Shadow Ball is also an effective Pokemon to use, even if it doesn't benefit from a Same Type Attack Bonus. Other effective Pokemon include Honchkrow (especially when fighting against an Armored Mewtwo with Earthquake), Scizor, Banette, and Salamence.

As with all Raid Battles, your best strategy is simply to link up with a large raiding group. Players should be able to easily defeat Armored Mewtwo in groups of 6 or more, regardless of the strength of their Pokemon. Of course, large Raid Groups also come with one drawback - there's a higher likelihood that you'll get less Premier Balls with which to catch Mewtwo.

Armored Mewtwo will be available as a Raid Boss through July 31st.