Niantic
The Legendary Pokemon trio of the Sinnoh region, Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf, are now available to fight in Raid Battles in Pokemon Go from now until May 27 at 1 p.m. PDT.
According to a blog post from Niantic, the trio of Legendary Pokemon can only be fought in Raids in certain parts of the world. Uxie is found in the Asia-Pacific region, Mesprit is found in Europe, the Middle East and India and Azelf is found in the Americas and Greenland. You may also extremely rarely encounter these Pokemon in the wild in their respective regions both during and after May 27.
They’re far from the first psychic-type Legendary Pokemon we’ve fought in Raid Battles, but it’s none the less good to brush up on some of the best counters we can use to defeat them.
Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf are all psychic-type Pokemon. According to GamePress, each Pokemon have the Quick Moves Confusion and Extrasensory as well as the Charge Moves Future Sight and Swift. Each Legendary Pokemon also has an extra Charge Move they can learn that’s exclusive to each one. Uxie can know Thunder, Mesprit can know Blizzard and Azelf can know Fire Blast.
All three are weak to bug-, dark- and ghost-type moves and resistant to fighting- and psychic-type moves.
Mewtwo with Psycho Cut and Shadow Ball is the best choice. It has access to the powerful Shadow Ball which when combined with its gigantic attack stat will annihilate all three Legendary Pokemon. It also resists psychic-type moves. The only downside is that both of its Quick Moves are resisted by the three Pokemon. GamePress recommends using Psycho Cut over Confusion because while Confusion deals more damage, Psycho Cut is easier to dodge with and provides more energy so you can use Shadow Ball sooner. Though keep in mind that Mewtwo with Shadow Ball is only available from EX Raids.
Tyranitar with Bite and Crunch is the second best counter for all three Pokemon. Tyranitar has a massive attack stat of 251 with strong defenses to boot, according to GamePress. It’s also strong against the three Legendary Pokemon’s psychic- and normal-type moves as well as Azelf’s Fire Blast. So it can not only deal tons of damage but take it as well. There’s no real downside to using Tyranitar. You don’t even need its Community Day exclusive Quick Move Smack Down.
Weavile with Feint Attack and Foul Play is also an excellent choice. It has slightly more damage per second (DPS) than Tyranitar according to GamePress. It is also resistant to psychic-type moves as well as Mesprit’s Blizzard. However, it also has weaker defenses than Tyrnaitar, meaning it will last a lot shorter. This is especially true when fighting against an Azelf with Fire Blast as it is weak to fire-type moves.
Another formidable choice is Gengar with Lick/Shadow Claw/Hex and Shadow Ball. Gengar has one of the highest DPS in the game according to GamePress, and its ghost-type attacks hit all three Legendary Pokemon especially hard. He also has a double resistance against Swift. Unfortunately, its secondary poison typing makes it weak to psychic-type moves. That combined with the fact that it has even lower defenses than Weavile means that it won’t last for long. Plus, both Shadow Claw and Lick are Legacy Moves. It’s regular ghost-type Quick Move, Hex, is still usable but noticeably inferior.
Scizor with Fury Cutter and X-Scissor is a great choice as well. Its respectable attack stat paired with quick bug-type attacks can make short work of all three Legendary Pokemon, according to GamePress. It’s defenses are also decent with it resisting psychic-, normal- and ice-type moves. However, it has a double weakness to Azelf’s Fire Blast.
Metagross with Bullet Punch and Meteor Mash is an effective choice as well. It doesn’t have any super effective moves against the three Legendary Pokemon but it’s stats and moves are just so powerful that it will take them down easily. Plus, it has a double resistance against psychic-type moves as well as resistances to normal- and ice-type moves. However, it may struggle against Azelf if it has Fire Blast.
Here are some other good counters:
See also: