Pokemon GO Shiny Rayquaza weakness update and best raid counters

By Chris Burns/Aug. 5, 2020 10:01 am EST

Today we're taking a peek at what you're going to need to do to catch Rayquaza in Pokemon GO via Raid Battle! Rayquaza is available in Pokemon GO from July 31, 2020, until August 7, 2020, starting and ending at 13:00 GMT -7. The Pokemon that are best for defeating this Rayquaza are Ice Type, Rock, Dragon, and Fairy. This is another opportunity to find the most awesome SHINY Rayquaza if you beat any Rayquaza in a Raid battle. That Rayquaza is BLACK instead of Green – fancy!

Best Pokemon VS Rayquaza

The latest update to Pokemon GO doesn't change the basic features of the Pokemon Rayquaza – but the exact movesets you'll want in an IDEAL situation might be quite different from what you've used in the past. Rayquaza, "the Sky High Pokemon", is a Dragon Type Pokemon and a Flying Type Pokemon. This Rayquaza is weak to Rock, Dragon, and Fairy type moves, and a whopping 2x weak to Ice type moves.

Best Rayquaza Counters:

• Mamoswine (Powder Snow, Avalanche)

• Darmanitan (G) (Ice Fang, Avalanche)

• Glaceon (Frost Breath, Avalanche)

• Weavile (Ice Shard, Avalanche)

• Mewtwo (Psycho Cut, Ice Beam)

• Jynx (Frost Breath, Avalanche)

Finally, at last, at LONG last, Jynx has the potential to be useful! Even if you do not have one of these top 6 Pokemon with which to beat Rayquaza, most any Pokemon will do a DECENT job if you've got the right moves.

Best Pokemon Moves VS Rayquaza:

• Powder Snow (Ice)

• Avalanche (Ice)

• Frost Breath (Ice)

• Ice Punch (Ice)

• Ice Shard (Ice)

• Blizzard (Ice)

• Rock Slide (Rock)

• Dragon Tail (Dragon)

• Thunder Shock (Electric)

Weather Conditions

If it is Snowy, Cloudy, Partly Cloudy, or Windy, you're going to want to bust out your Mewtwo. If you've got a Mewtwo with Psycho Cut and Ice Beam, all the better! Otherwise Mamoswine, Darmanitan, Glaceon, and Weavile (as listed above) all have weather bonuses.

Number of Trainers

Rayquaza is not particularly simple to beat, and nearly impossible to beat if you've got less than 5 trainers in the Raid Battle. Once you get to 7 trainers in the battle, you should have a relatively easy time.