Pokemon Go Mega Gyarados Raid best counters, moves, and more

Pokemon Go Mega Gyarados Raid
(Image credit: Niantic)

Pokemon Go Mega Gyarados Raids are here, which means you'll want to know the best counters to deal with them. Mega Gyarados in Pokemon Go is one of the best Megas in the game because of its typing – its Water and Dark typing is great against a lot of Legendaries and powerful Megas in Pokemon Go. So trainers will want to catch this Pokemon and gain enough Mega Gyarados Energy to use this powerful ‘mon in battles.

While this Pokemon will appear in Mega Raids for a limited time, we’ve come up with this guide to help trainers choose the best Pokemon to use in battle and what moves to look out for.

Pokemon Go Mega Gyarados Raid Counters

Mega Gyarados is a Water and Dark-type Pokemon, making it weak to Electric, Grass, Fighting, Bug and Fairy-type moves.

There are a lot of different attacks that are super effective against Mega Gyarados, but we recommend trainers choose one common theme for their team before going into battle. And whichever theme they choose, there will be a Mega Pokemon that should anchor it.

Trainers who want to go with an Electric-type team, they’ll have Mega Ampharos and Mega Manectric to use. Grass teams should use Mega Venusaur or Mega Abomasnow. 

Mega Lopunny is the only Fighting-type Mega, currently, in the game so that’s a no-brainer when bringing a Fighting team. The same goes for Mega Altaria and Fairy-type teams.

And then we have the Bug-type, which has Mega Beedrill and Mega Scizor to choose from.

Grass-type trainers should round their team out with powerful Pokemon like Zarude and Tapu Bulu. A Fighting-type team really needs Pokemon like Lucario and Conkeldurr, or as we like to call them, the Counter users. 

Fairy teams don’t have a very viable Mega option, but any Pokemon that can use the Fast Attack Charm will do wonders against Mega Gyarados.

And while Electric types don’t resist many of Mega Gyarados’ moves -- we’ll get into that more in the section below -- there are plenty of powerful options including Zekrom and Xurkitree.

Here are just some Mega Gyarados counter options that trainers can choose from.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Pokemon Go Mega Gyarados Raid Counters
PokemonMoveset
Mega VenusaurRazor Leaf and Frenzy Plant
Mega AbomasnowRazor Leaf and Energy Ball
Mega ManectricThunder Fang and Wild Charge
Mega ScizorFury Cutter and X-Scissor
Mega LopunnyCounter and Focus Blast
LucarioCounter and Aura Sphere
TogekissCharm and Dazzling Gleam
XurkitreeThunder Shock and Discharge
ZekromCharge Beam and Wild Charge
PheromosaBug Bite and Bug Buzz

Pokemon Go Mega Gyarados Moveset

Pokemon Go Mega Gyarados Raid

(Image credit: Niantic)

Mega Gyarados’ moveset isn’t as varied as many trainers would probably like, but it handles the Water and Dark side very well.

Its Fast Attacks include Bite (dark), Waterfall (water) and Dragon Breath (dragon). Going by this, Fairy types have the advantage because they resist Dark and Dragon-type attacks. So if you go up against a Mega Gyarados with one of those two moves, they’ll do great.

As for the other recommended types, Grass only resists Gyarados’ Water attacks while Electric and Bug don’t resist any of them. Fighting types resist Dark attacks so there will be pros and cons to bringing any of the recommended types into battle.

Mega Gyarados’ Charged Attacks include Hydro Pump (water), Crunch (dark), Outrage (dragon) and Twister (dragon). Which types excel against this Pokemon’s Charged attacks is the same as when we discussed the Fast Attacks.

However, we do have to point out a few of our possible counters and how they stack up against Mega Gyarados’ moves. 

Zekrom, while it resists Gyarados’ Water attacks, it is weak to Dragon-type moves. Lucario’s Steel typing makes it resist Gyarados’ Dragon moves while the Gen 4 Pokemon’s Fighting typing helps it against Dark attacks. 

Here are all the attacks that Mega Gyarados can use in Pokemon Go Raids.

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Pokemon Go Mega Gyarados Moveset
Fast AttackCharged Attack
BiteHydro Pump
WaterfallCrunch
Dragon BreathOutrage
Row 3 - Cell 0 Twister
Phillip Martinez

I'm currently a GamesRadar guide contributor with a specialty in everything Pokemon GO. If you've wanted to know the best way to take down a Rayquaza, there's a good chance you read one of my guides. I previously have written for IBT Media, Newsweek and Screen Rant. I'm a huge fighting game fan and everything Pokemon, but I've grown to love RPGs.