Pokemon You Should Never Use in Raids

The idea of Raids in Pokemon GO is pretty damn simple. You pick a team of Pokemon that counter the raid boss, then you tap your screen until it’s dead. Sure, there’s some nuance to be had. There are definitely Pokemon that do better. I also didn’t bother mention dodging, because that’s finicky at best. However, there are definitely Pokemon you shouldn’t use in raids, just because, well, they don’t do much.

While you can get away with using an evolved Pokemon with the right stats, it’s important to try and get a hold of some decent raid Pokemon. Not only do raids finish quicker if you do more damage, but you also get more Pokeballs. And having the best counters is pretty much required if you don’t have many people raiding with you.

Here’s a handful of Pokemon you should avoid using in raids.

Normal Types

I do feel sorry for normal types. Normal typing only resists Ghost, and doesn’t do super effective damage at all. That means, no matter what raid boss you’re fighting, you’ll never be doing good damage. Even a weaker Pokemon with a super effective move tends to be more useful. Unfortunately, not even Regigigas, with its enormous legendary stats, can really do much. Even if you do luck out and get a decent Hidden Power typing.

While yes, Normal does resist Ghost, Ghost resists Normal back. So you’re better off just using Dark types, who do more damage and also resist Ghost.

Lugia and Aggron

For some reason, Lugia and Aggron always get recommended for use during raids. However, neither of them are particularly useful in raids. The reason behind why they aren’t good for raids is quite simple: all their power comes from their massive defenses and health. Sure, your Pokemon will last the longest in a raid but you’ll be contributing basically no damage.

Despite being useless in raids though, Lugia has a nice place in PvP, where that bulk comes in more useful. In PvP, the goal is to outlive the enemy more than it is to throw out as much damage as possible. Lugia does well, and also has good moves that help it too. However, Aggron just doesn’t the stats or moves to be particularly useful, especially when most of its weaknesses are pretty common.

Whatever the game recommends to you

Honestly, the teams that Pokemon GO recommends are just awful. While yes, sometimes it will pick a team of Machamps to fight a Regigigas, half the time it’ll also recommend Lugia, sometimes even random Pokemon like Rhyperior or Garchomp. The reason behind this is quite simple: the game is recommending a team that will last the longest, not do the most damage.

But even when the recommended team does get it right, it still doesn’t. I have a 4000CP, maxed out and perfect Mewtwo. But whenever the game requires me to use Psychic types, that perfect Mewtwo is regularly not even chosen.

Basically, the moral of the story is, don’t use recommended teams. Because the recommended teams only consider not dying, rather than doing damage. And you need lots of damage in raids. Just take a moment to look up what is super effective against the raid boss, then use that.