Type advantage decides most raids, but not every Pokémon that resists or hits a boss for super effective damage is worth investing in. This guide covers the strongest raid attacker for each of the 18 types, plus how many you actually need on your bench and the mechanics — weather boost, Shadow vs Mega, Elite TMs — that separate a good attacker from a great one.
Best Attacker for Each Type
| Type | Top Attacker | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Fire | Mega Blaziken | Counter’s fast-charging bar plus Blast Burn gives it the highest sustained Fire DPS in the game. |
| Water | Primal Kyogre | Waterfall into Surf covers Fire, Ground, and Rock raids with almost no bad matchups on defense. |
| Electric | Shadow Thundurus (Therian Forme) | Volt Switch and Thunder, boosted by the Shadow attack bonus, out-damage every other Electric attacker. |
| Grass | Mega Sceptile | Bullet Seed into Frenzy Plant is the fastest Grass energy-to-damage loop currently available. |
| Ice | Kyurem (Black) | Its enormous Attack stat and Glaciate/Freeze-Dry combo make it the best answer to the current Dragon-heavy meta. |
| Fighting | Mega Lucario | Counter is one of the best fast moves in the game, and Aura Sphere closes with near-zero energy waste. |
| Poison | Mega Beedrill | Poison Jab into Sludge Bomb, with the Mega team-wide Poison boost stacked on top. |
| Ground | Shadow Landorus (Therian Forme) | Mud Shot into Earthquake covers Electric, Fire, Poison, Steel, and Rock raid bosses in one Pokémon. |
| Flying | Shadow Salamence | Dragon Tail into Outrage hits as a Dragon move, but Air Slash sets it up as a genuine Flying attacker too. |
| Psychic | Shadow Mewtwo | Psystrike (a legacy/Elite TM move) combined with the Shadow bonus gives Mewtwo the highest Psychic DPS in the game. |
| Bug | Mega Heracross | Counter into Close Combat, with a same-type Bug Mega boost for the whole raid party. |
| Rock | Mega Diancie | Rock Throw into Rock Slide, with the highest Attack stat of any Rock-type Mega or Shadow currently available. |
| Ghost | Mega Gengar | Lick or Shadow Claw into Shadow Ball, plus a same-type Ghost Mega boost that lifts the whole lobby. |
| Dragon | Mega Rayquaza | Dragon Tail into Outrage, and its Flying secondary typing means it doubles as a Bug and Fighting counter. |
| Dark | Mega Tyranitar | Smack Down into Brutal Swing covers Fire, Ice, Flying, Bug, Psychic, and Ghost raid bosses. |
| Steel | Shadow Metagross | Bullet Punch into Meteor Mash is still the fastest Steel-type damage loop in the game. |
| Fairy | Zacian (Crowned Sword) | The highest CP ceiling in Pokémon GO, plus Behemoth Blade (Elite TM move) for Dragon and Dark raid bosses. |
| Normal | Regigigas | A slow-charging but massive Attack stat makes it a strong pick against Ghost-immune-adjacent bosses where coverage options are thin. |
How Many Attackers Do You Actually Need Per Type?
You don’t need to max out every type on this list. How many attackers to invest in depends on how you raid:
- Casual group raiding (3+ trainers per raid): two fully-powered attackers per type is enough.
- Duo or trio raids: aim for six per type so you can survive a wipe and re-enter without running out of options.
- Solo raiding, Elite Raids, or remote raid trains: twelve attackers per type gives you enough depth to avoid burning through revives.
If you’re just getting your roster started, our Beginner’s Guide to Raids covers team-building basics, and the full type chart explains why each of these picks works against its target types.
Weather Boost: The Multiplier Most Players Ignore
Weather gives matching attacking types a 1.2x damage bonus in Pokémon GO, and stacked on top of STAB (1.2x) and a super effective hit (1.6x), that’s roughly a 2.3x damage swing compared to a neutral, unboosted attack — often the difference between needing four trainers for a raid and needing six.
| In-Game Weather | Types Boosted |
|---|---|
| Sunny / Clear | Fire, Grass, Ground |
| Rainy | Water, Electric, Bug |
| Partly Cloudy | Normal, Rock |
| Cloudy | Fairy, Fighting, Poison |
| Windy | Dragon, Flying, Psychic |
| Snow | Ice, Steel |
| Fog | Dark, Ghost |
Check the weather icon on the in-game map before committing to a raid — a weather-boosted attacker can genuinely change whether a raid is soloable.
Shadow vs Mega: Which to Power Up First
Shadow Pokémon get roughly a 20% Attack boost at the cost of about 17% less Defense, making them glass-cannon DPS leaders — the best pick if you raid solo or run remote raid trains where you re-enter the lobby quickly. Mega Evolutions instead boost the whole raid party: a 33% Attack bonus to teammates of the same type and a smaller 10% bonus to every other attacker in the lobby for the duration of the fight. If you raid in person with a group or grind Mega Raids regularly, that team-wide multiplier usually outweighs a single Pokémon’s personal DPS. Ideally, build both over time — Shadow forms as your primary damage dealers, Mega forms as the team booster you bring in to lift everyone else’s output.
When to Spend an Elite TM
Elite Fast TMs and Elite Charged TMs are limited — earned through GO Battle League rank rewards, in-person Raid Day events, and GO Fest ticket bundles — so it’s worth being deliberate about which Pokémon get them. The highest-value uses are legacy or signature moves that rarely or never return during normal events: Psystrike on Mewtwo, Aeroblast on Lugia, Sacred Fire on Ho-Oh, Outrage on Dragonite or Salamence, Frenzy Plant and Blast Burn on starters that missed their Community Day window, and Behemoth Blade on Crowned Sword Zacian. Regular legacy moves that show up again during seasonal Raid Days generally aren’t worth spending a limited Elite TM on — it’s usually better to wait.
Putting It Together
You don’t need all eighteen types covered before your next raid — start with whichever bosses are currently in rotation. Our current raid boss guide and Mega Raid rotation guide list exactly which of these attackers to bring for each boss on the board right now.
