Shadow Lugia Pokémon GO Raid Guide: Weakness and counters

Shadow Lugia is back in Five-Star Pokémon GO Shadow Raids on August 10 - 11. Shadow Raids are incredibly hard, and can only be completed in person. You'll need lots of Purified Gems and a good squad of trainers.

Shadow Lugia is a very powerful Pokémon, especially if you have an Elite TM handy to teach Shadow Lugia the Charged Attack Aeroblast. That makes this Shadow Raid Weekend well worth putting some effort in. Be warned, you will need a lot of Trainers and some patience to track down these Shadow Raids.

So, here's everything you need to know in order to take on Shadow Lugia in Pokémon GO, including Shadow Lugia's weaknesses and best counters.

BREAKING NEWS: Niantic have announced that due to an in game bug, Shadow Lugia will not become enraged. That means you should need less Trainers and will not need Purified Gems to take on this Raid.

Shadow Lugia hits hard, and you will need a good team of Pokémon to take it down. Shadow Lugia has a weakness to Dark, Electric, Ghost, Ice and Rock-types. It has two double resistances, to Fighting and Ground types, then further resistances to Grass and Psychic-types.

Here are the best Shadow Lugia counters in Pokémon GO:

If you played any of the Pokémon GO Fest events, then you are well set to take on Shadow Lugia's weaknesses. Both Dawn Wings and Dusk Mane Necrozma are fantastic Shadow Lugia counters in Pokémon GO. If you haven't yet used your Fusion Energy and have a spare Necrozma and Lunala, we suggest fusing into Dawn Wings, as that is the better of the two.

What great about those two Fusion Pokémon is that they are just as powerful as Mega Pokémon, but you can have more than one of them in your team at once. That means you can pair them with a powerful Mega Pokémon. The best Mega to take advantage of Shadow Lugia's weaknesses is Mega Tyranitar.

Overall, there are some really good Pokémon to choose from, and a lot of them have been avaliable to Trainers recently. This should allow all Trainers to get a team together to take on Shadow Lugia in Pokémon GO.

Yes, Shadow Lugia can be shiny after you win a Shadow Raid in Pokémon GO.

Mega Evolutions can help you get more candy and XL candy with every catch. Having a mega level 3 active that boosts candy for Flying and Psychic-types will give you an extra 2 candy per catch, as well as a 25% bonus to your XL candy chance.

Here are the Pokémon you can Mega Evolve to get more Lugia candy in Pokémon GO:

While most of these Pokémon aren't good Shadow Lugia counters, Mega Rayquaza will be a solid counter as well as give you extra candy. Mega Rayquaza doesn't directly counter any of Shadow Lugia's weaknesses, it just simply does so much damage that it is still a good counter. If you want extra candy, pick Mega Rayquaza if you have one at Mega Level 3.

Before we even consider how many trainers you need in your group, you must have Purified Gems to win this raid. Without them, Shadow Lugia will tear through your team relentlessly.

Even with those Purified Gems, Shadow Lugia is still a very tough Pokémon to take down. In order to beat Shadow Lugia, you will need at least 7 Trainers. However, to be safe you should aim for at least 10. Lower level Trainers might even need a group of 15 to win this raid.

Don't forget to use Party Play to get extra damage in your Raids.

Of course, given that this is one of the best Pokémon in Pokémon GO, a 100% IV Shadow Lugia would be an amazing result. The minimum IV floor for Shadow Raids is 6/6/6.

Furthermore, for a Pokémon this strong, you might even want to use your Masterball on this raid if you get a 100% IV Shadow Lugia. That makes knowing what values to look for even more important.

Here are the CP values to know you have a 100% IV Shadow Lugia:

Weather boost can help you save candy, get better IVs and benefit from power boosts on your team. Here are the weather effects to keep an eye on when taking on these raids.

Keep your eye out for Windy weather this weekend if you want to catch a higher CP Shadow Lugia in Pokémon GO.

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