How to Beat Zapdos in Pokemon Go

Team Instinct’s mascot Zapdos is the next Legendary Pokemon to come to Pokemon Go. Players will have from August 7 to August 14 to catch Zapdos, an Electric/Flying dual-type Pokemon that should present a harder challenge than Moltres and Articuno.

Unlike Moltres and Articuno, Zapdos doesn’t have a lot of weaknesses. Although it has a lower defense stat than Articuno, Zapdos doesn’t have a “double weakness” like its Legendary Bird counterparts. Because of this, it might take 6 to 7 trainers to beat Zapdos.

Most raid battles come down to a combination of having a numbers advantage and having luck on your side. Here’s a couple of tips that could also help you beat Zapdos in battle:

Golem Is Still King

Zapdos is only weak to two types of attacks: Ice-Types and Rock-Types. Most of the Pokemon that use Ice-Type attacks have some sort of secondary type that’s weak to Electric attacks (like the Ice/Water Pokemon Lapras or the Ice/Flying type Articuno,) but several Rock-Type Pokemon have an advantage battling Zapdos because they’re also a Ground-Type Pokemon.

Under normal circumstances, Ground-Type attacks are super effective against Electric-Type attacks. Zapdos is also a Flying-Type, which cancels out that advantage, but its attacks are still not very effective against any Ground-Type Pokemon.

That means that Pokemon like Golem and Rhydon will be your best chance against Zapdos. A Stone Edge Golem can still dish out super-effective damage against Zapdos, but will only take a fraction of the damage that other Pokemon would when hit with an Electric-Type attack.

Other Weaknesses

Honestly, Zapdos is going to be a tough battle because it doesn’t have a lot of weaknesses. Tyranitar will be a solid counter if it has Stone Edge, but it won’t have the resistance to Zapdos’s attacks. Dragonite should also be a decent counter, as it’s a high-level attacker. While Dragon-Types have a resistance to Electric attacks, Dragonite’s advantage is cancelled out because it’s also a Flying-Type.

If you’re looking to fill out your team, you might also want to consider some unusual Ice-Type Pokemon. Jynx and Piloswine aren’t traditionally strong attackers, but both will deal out more damage than the average Pokemon if they know Avalanche. Piloswine also has the advantage of being a Ground-Type Pokemon, so it’ll be resistant to Zapdos’s attacks. Unfortunately, Piloswine’s base Defense stat is so low, we’re still guessing it will get wiped out by a single one of Zapdos’s charge moves. 

We’re thinking that this Raid will come down to how many people in your party. This won’t be a Raid that two people can do by themselves, so be sure to find a large group when battling Zapdos for the first time.

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