Pokemon GO Shadow Raikou raid guide: Best counters & weaknesses

A Shadow Raikou raid guide for Pokemon GO will help you tackle this legendary monster in the upcoming five-star Shadow Raids. You can participate in them from Saturday, March 2, 2024, at 6 am local time, through Sunday, March 24, at 10 pm local time. These Shadow Raids will be available every Saturday and Sunday.

In this article, we will tell you about the best counters that you can use against the shadow variant of Raikou. We will also talk about this monster’s best moveset and weaknesses so that you can build your raid party accordingly.

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Shadow Raikou’s weaknesses and resistances in Pokemon GO

Raikou (Image via TPC)

Being a pure Electric-type beast, the shadow variant of Raikou is vulnerable to only one elemental typing, and that is Ground. This shadow beast is resistant to the following elemental typings:

• Electric
• Flying
• Steel

So, avoid taking creatures that Raikou can defeat easily.

The Raikou shadow variant has a massive attack stat of 241 and a somewhat decent defense stat of 195. So, even though this legendary monster can land some hefty blows with moves like Wild Charge and Shadow Ball, it lacks the bulk stat to be insanely overpowered.

The underwhelming bulk stat will, however, be overcome by Shadow Raikou’s Enraged Form, which significantly boosts the creature’s defense stat. An enraged shadow Pokemon will also get a significant boost to its attack stat, making this legendary beast a lot more formidable to face in the 5-star raids.

You can escape from the wrath of an Enraged Shadow Raikou by using Purified Gems. These will help you subdue the Enraged Form of any shadow Pokemon, allowing you to be effective against it in the raids.

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Best counters to Shadow Raikou in Pokemon GO

• Shadow Garchomp
• Shadow Excadrill
• Shadow Mamoswine
• Groudon
• Shadow Rhyperior
• Therian Forme Landorus
• Garchomp
• Shadow Rhydon
• Shadow Golurk
• Mamoswine
• Rhyperior

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Best Mega/Primal Evolutions to use against Raikou's shadow form

• Primal Groudon
• Mega Garchomp
• Mega Swampert
• Mega Rayquaza
• Mega Sceptile

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Shadow Raikou’s moveset as a raid boss in Pokemon GO

Raikou in the anime (Image via TPC)

This Legendary monster comes with the following moves:

Fast moves:

It can learn the following Fast moves in this game:

• Thunder Shock
• Volt Switch

Charged moves:

It can learn the following Charged moves in this game:

• Shadow Ball
• Thunder
• Thunderbolt
• Wild Charge

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How to get Shadow Raikou in Pokemon GO and can it be shiny

As of this writing, the only way to get your hands on this monster in Pokemon GO is through 5-star Shadow Raids. You will not be able to encounter it anywhere else.

Since Shiny Raikou is a part of the game, you will be able to get a Shiny Shadow variant of Raikou if you defeat it in the raids. However, an encounter with a Shiny Shadow variant of Raikou is not guaranteed. It comes with a shiny odd of 1-in-20 encounters.