With Mega Evolution officially underway in Pokemon GO, players are now able to partake in new Mega Raid Battles as well. Players with their sights set on a Mega Charizard will have to prepare to defeat the fiery opponent in battle.
Pokemon GO most recently treated players to a series of themed event weeks, one of which offered myriad Dragon-type Pokemon. These rare Dragons should come in handy now that Mega Charizard X is appearing in Raids. Players hoping to defeat the Kantonian starter should prepare to Raid with at least two other decently leveled Trainers to succeed.
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Mega Charizard X, is a Fire/Dragon type Pokemon, and one of the first five available Mega Pokemon in Pokemon GO. To obtain the Pokemon, players must gather 200 Charizard Mega Energy by completing Mega Raid Battles, and then spend the energy on one of their Charizards. Its Fire/Dragon-typing means that it is weak to Ground, Rock, and Dragon-type Attacks, but players should take particular note: Charizard X is not weak to Electric-types, like Charizard, because it is no longer a Flying-type. In fact, its Dragon-typing gives it resistance to Electric Pokemon, so do beware old habits. On the other hand, its loss of Flying as a type makes it conveniently susceptible to Ground-type moves, so players can lean into that instead.
Charizard X currently has a decently varied spread of moves at its disposal, though the majority of its options are Fire-type. It can appear with Air Slash (Flying) as a Fast Move, and more notably, with Dragon Claw as a Charged Move, so players should be cautious to include Dragon-type counters. Bearing this in mind, often overlooked Ground-type Pokemon will probably be best against Mega Charizard X.
Sadly, none of the rewards from the new Pokemon GO Special Research Challenge are helpful in this case, but nonetheless, some of the more powerful counters to Mega Charizard X include:
- Rayquaza (Dragon Tail/Outrage)
- Salamence (Dragon Tail/Outrage)
- Groudon (Mud Shot/Earthquake)
- Rampardos (Smack Down/Rock Slide)
- Tyranitar (Smack Down/Stone Edge)
Players are encouraged to exploit Mega Charizard X’s new weakness to Ground and challenge it with earthy powerhouses like Groudon. That being said, less Legendary options, like Rampardos or Tyranitar, are more than viable. It may not be the optimal counter, but players can also use the fierce Water-type Mega Blastoise to defeat Mega Charizard – if anything, it would make for a memorable showdown. Either way, the important thing to focus on is a Pokemon’s move set, not its typing. A Groudon with Solar Beam instead of Earthquake, for example, would no longer be an impressive counter.
Unfortunately, it also seems that once players have evolved their Charizard into Mega Charizard X once, they will still need to spend another 200 Mega Energy obtaining Mega Charizard Y before the Mega Evolution discount registers. That said, players can currently mitigate this by using a Mega Evolution workaround involving trading. With this little loophole in hand, players can work at completing their Mega Pokedexes without spending too much coin on Raid Passes.
Pokemon GO is available now on the App Store and Google Play.
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Source: Pokebattler