How to beat Xerneas in Pokémon Go – All weaknesses, best counters, and tactics

Xerneas is making its debut to Pokémon Go in legendary five-star raids during the Luminous Legends X event. The event kicks off on May 4 at 10 AM in your local time zone, and after a little bit, it will appear as a five-star raid for players to battle. We highly recommend making sure you bring a few other trainers to help support you as this battle won’t be easy. You’ll need to bring the best Pokémon to defeat it, and we’ve broken down all of Xerneas’ weaknesses, and the best Pokémon to counter it. We’ve also broken down the chances of encountering its shiny version, if Xerneas is good, and the best moveset to teach it.

How to beat Xerneas

All Xerneas weaknesses

Xerneas is purely a Fairy-type Pokémon. It will be weak against Poison and Steel-type moves, but it is resistant against Dragon, Bug, Dark, and Fighting-type attacks. This is a good opportunity to use several of your more powerful Poison-type Pokémon, as they are rarely used for difficult five star raids.

Best Pokémon to counter Xerneas

The best Pokémon we believe you’ll want to use against Xerneas and counter it include Mega Gengar, Metagross, and Roserade.

Mega Gengar is a Ghost and Poison-type Pokémon. When you use it in a raid, it boosts the attack power of your friend’s Pokémon, and this form is heavily effective against Xerneas. You want to use the fast move lick, followed by the charged move sludge bomb to do the most damage. The regular form of Gengar is also a worthwhile choice we highly recommend.

Next we have Metagross, a Steel and Psychic-type Pokémon. With Metagross’ Steel-typing, it’s capable of withstanding plenty of attacks against it, and can do a lot of damage due to the many Steel-type moves it has for both its fast and charged moves. The best fast move to teach it is bullet punch, and the best charged moves are meteor mash, earthquake, or psychic.

The final Pokémon we want to recommend for this raid is Roserade, a Grass and Poison-type Pokémon. It’s a rare moment for Roserade to feel like the optimal choice for a five-star raid, so it’s good opportunity to use it. The best fast move you can have it using against Xerneas will be the Poison-type poison jab, and the charged move sludge bomb.

All Pokémon counters to Xerneas

You need a complete team of six Pokémon to use against Xerneas. Here are some other choices we’re also going to recommend you use during this raid.

• Aggron
• Dialga
• Excadrill
• GBisharp
• Genesect
• Gengar
• Heatran
• Mega Beedrill
• Mega Venusaur
• Toxicroak

Following the battle with Xerneas, if you win you’ll have a chance to capture this Pokémon to add it to your collection.