How Many Trainers Do You Need to Beat Articuno or Lugia?

Niantic

Niantic

Sometimes it’s tough to find 20 people to join a raid, even if the Pokemon Go raid is against a Legendary like Articuno or Lugia. So what is the smallest number of people you can gather together and still have a chance at beating one of these Pokemon?

Here are what some other trainers have discovered they need to defeat the Legendary Articuno and Lugia.


Number of Trainers Needed to Defeat Lugia

Reddit/F1ash0ut

  • One lucky trainer, sts_ssp, was able to defeat Lugia with just seven people (this is very rare.) He used dodge only in the winning group.
  • Redditor Alienturtle9 suggests you need at least 10+ people to defeat Lugia. He had 19 people in his group and was on Blissey #6 when they won. He noted that anyone with 18 or more in their group should be able to beat Lugia fairly easily.
  • However, F1ash0ut said he was able to defeat Lugia with only eight players, but it wasn’t easy. They were all wiped out and some returned with Blissey. They were levels 37, 38, 39, 39, and four 40s.
  • Redditor RetroEvolute thinks that if you go after Lugia with just 10 to 12, you can win but only if everyone “gets right back into the fight with another good second set of Pokemon.”
  • dt_Spark noted that a group next to him had 11 to 12 people fighting Lugia, levels 25-32, and couldn’t win even after three tries. They were using Dragonites and Blisseys mostly.

In general, it appears that Lugia is much tougher to defeat than Articuno. Lugia can go through Pokemon pretty fast and wipe them out, so you’re better off with a larger team for Lugia if you want a sure shot at winning. If you only have 10 to 12, you need a good mix of Pokemon, a good strategy, and you need to be ready to get back in fast.


Number of Trainers Needed to Defeat Articuno

  • The smallest number so far seems to be seven. Trainer sts_ssp defeated Articuno with seven. The whole team was wiped out, but they all re-entered and finished. Bermudalife1 also won with seven, six at levels 33-35 and one at level 28. He used a Golem, Machamp, Tyranitar, and fire types. They won with four seconds to spare.
  • Redditor lionprints defeated Articuno with eight trainers. But they only had a few seconds to spare. However, dogecoin_pleasures believes eight is really all you need, since he succeeded with eight and “didn’t even use our best line up” and had 20 seconds to spare. “The trick is to leave the battle 3/4 through and reenter with a new team.”
  • Redditor nname1 defeated Articuno with nine people and had “plenty of time remaining.” He noted that all his Pokemon fainted and had to rejoin the battle.
  • Redditor raceman98 noted that he was able to defeat Articuno with 10 people. But it was close, with only 10 seconds left.
  • Wax_and_Wayne defeated Articuno twice with 12 people in each raid, ranging from level 23 to 34. There were 100 to 120 seconds left each time.
  • Magearchivist noted that for three successful battles, it took about 12 to 14 people to defeat Articuno, with levels from 12 to 36. Each group had about 20 to 30 seconds to spare.

In general, Articuno is easier to defeat than Lugia, and you are more likely to be able to take down an Articuno Raid Boss with a smaller group of trainers.

Redditor sts_ssp offered some great advice for defeating either Legendary if you only have a group of six to seven:

Usually it was something like 1 level 40 (me) + 2-3 levels 35-37 + 2-3 level 30-34 + 1 level 20-29… 6-7 people is doable, but you need to be with people who know what they are doing. If they load lineups full of Chansey/Blissey/Snorlax, it’s impossible.

And don’t forget: if you  have a smaller group, getting back into the fight as soon as possible with more great Pokemon is essential.

How many trainers did you need to defeat Articuno or Lugia? Let us know in the comments below.