Pokemon Go Celesteela Raid Guide: Best Counters, Weaknesses, Raid Hours, And More Tips

Celesteela, along with its counterpart Kartana, made a surprise appearance in Pokemon Go Gyms in the Southern Hemisphere for a surprise limited-time appearance in five-star raid battles. This Ultra Beast, released without announcement from Niantic, began appearing on September 13. Its counterpart, Kartana, is appearing in the Northern Hemisphere. This is Celesteela’s first time being available in Pokemon Go, so both veterans and newcomers have the opportunity to add a new entry in their Pokedexes.

Celesteela Raid Schedule

Celesteela is appearing as the sole five-star raid boss in the Southern Hemisphere starting at 10 AM local time on September 13, 2022 and will remain available to challenge in raids until the same time on September 27. Raids do not generally follow a set schedule, and Celesteela raids will appear randomly at Gyms around the world during this time period, but you will receive a notification from the game when a raid is about to begin nearby. Like other Ultra Beasts, Celesteela raids will be preceded by an Ultra Wormhole taking the place of the usual raid egg on top of the Gym.

Your best chance to find a Celesteela raid (or a lot of them) is during the two Raid Hours in which the Launch Pokemon will be featured. Every Wednesday from 6 PM to 7 PM local time, the majority of Gyms host five-star raids for Trainers to work together to take down. The two Raid Hours that will occur while Celesteela is appearing in five-star raids will be September 14 and 21. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, you’ll need your free daily Raid Pass or a Premium Battle Pass to join a raid in person, or a Remote Raid Pass to join a raid remotely. If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, there won’t be any Kartana raids appearing near you to join in person, so you’ll have no choice but to use a Remote Raid Pass.

Can I Catch a Shiny Celesteela?

Unfortunately, Celesteela’s shiny form has not yet been released. If you’re looking to get a shiny, you’ll have to wait until a future return to raids. Until then, you can at least fill in that rocket-sized hole in your Pokedex.

Celesteela Weaknesses and Counters

Celesteela is a Steel and Flying-type Pokemon. This means only Fire and Electric-type attacks can deal super-effective damage. Some recommended Pokemon include:

• Fire: Mega Charizard Y, Reshiram, Chandelure, Moltres, Darmanitan
• Electric: Mega Manectric, Zekrom, Magnezone, Electivire, Xurkitree

A Mega Tip: A Mega Evolved Pokemon boosts the damage of all Pokemon in the raid by 10%, and the damage of all Pokemon using attacks that share a type with the Mega Evolved Pokemon by 30%. Coordinate those Megas with your raid group for added damage.

Don’t be afraid of the shadows: Shadow Pokemon deal 20% more damage than their non-shadow counterparts, so the shadow versions of any of the suggested Pokemon that have them can help you win.

Types to Avoid

Celesteela’s Steel-type attacks like Iron Head and Heavy Slam will deal super-effective damage to Rock, Ice, and Fairy-type Pokemon. It also has access to the Ground-type move Bulldoze to hit back against the Electric and Fire Types that threaten it. Also keep in mind that Celesteela’s Steel and Flying typing means it resists many other types. Celesteela resists Normal, Psychic, Flying, Dragon, Poison, Ground, and Fairy-type attacks, and double resists Grass and Bug attacks. Stay away from these types of Pokemon.

Usefulness

Is Celesteela worth raiding beyond the Pokedex entry? Unfortunately, probably not. In addition to lacking the stats to perform well in raids, it doesn’t have any synergy between fast and charged moves. It lacks a Steel-type fast move and a Flying-type charged move, and few Pokemon take super effective damage from both of those types. On the PvP side, Celesteela cannot be obtained at a low enough CP to compete in Great League and doesn’t have high enough stats to compete in Master League. That leaves Ultra League as its only possible arena. It is viable there, but not particularly great. Air Slash is an average and perfectly usable fast move, and Body Slam is a good, spammy bait option for a charged move, but all of its other charged move options in Bulldoze, Heavy Slam, and Iron Head leave a lot to be desired.