Dynamax Raikou counters, weakness, and battle tips in Pokémon Go

Raikou is joining the Max Battle hype in Pokémon Go, allowing you to take it on and possibly catch one that can Dynamax. It’ll be featured during a Max Battle Weekend event, running from March 15 at 5 a.m. until March 16 at 9 p.m. in your local time.

During this event, you’ll be able to claim more Max Particles each day (up to 1,600 from 800), you’ll get more Max Particles from Power Spots, the amount you have to walk to get particles will be cut down to 1/4, and Power Spots will refresh more often.

From March 10 until the Max Battle Weekend ends, the particle cost to power up Max Moves has also been cut to 3/4 the usual amount, so it’s a great time to build some counters.

Below, we list out some general Max Battle tips and counters for Dynamax Raikou in Pokémon Go.

Raikou is a solo electric-type Pokémon, meaning it only has one weakness: ground-type moves. There is a glaringly obvious best choice when it comes to taking down Dynamax Raikou because of this, but we’ll get to that in the next section.

All of that said, Raikou will take less damage from flying-, steel-, and electric-type moves, so try not to bring Pokémon with those moves, unless you’re using the fast moves to build up your max meter.

Dynamax Raikou best counters

There is a definitive answer to the best counter for Dynamax Raikou, and it’s Excadrill. As I’ve noted in the past, Excadrill remains one of the best investments for Max Battles, and now is no exception.

Here’s a wider, more specific list of best attackers:

Note that Raikou can have Shadow Ball as part of its moveset, putting Gengar at risk. If it does have this, make sure to swap your Gengar out and allow something else to tank. (You shouldn’t really be using Gengar to tank moves to begin with, but it’s worth pointing out that you should be extra careful here.)

For tanks, you’ll want to bring one or two of the following:

There aren’t many strong other options, honestly. Most of the stronger attackers (like Charizard) or tanks (like Blastoise) will take increased damage from Raikou, so we’re not working with much here, but Excadrill is such a strong counter that you don’t really need a variety of options. You’ll want to bring at least one Excadrill and then fill up your team with any of the other Pokémon, if you got them.

That being said, until the Max Battle weekend ends, there is a Timed Research that rewards you with a Dynamax Drilbur, alongside tons of Drilbur Candy and Max Particles to help you power up a Drilbur/Excadrill. There isn’t too much of an excuse as to why you wouldn’t be able to bring one to the battle.

If you’ve been struggling in Max Battles, here are some general tips to survive — and make sure you’re an asset to your team. While Gigantamax Battles are tough, a Legendary Max Battle shouldn’t be as tough as that. You can slack a little, but you should still heed our advice: