Pokemon GO Raid Guide: Palkia counters and weaknesses (August 2021)

Palkia will be a raid boss thanks to Pokemon GO Ultra Unlock part 2, and it can be quite frustrating in battle.

Like other legendary dragons in the game, Palkia can be a nuisance because it has an enormous Attack stat, but also has decent Defense and Stamina. This means that Pokemon will have a longer time to win against Palkia, allowing it enough time to unleash its barrage of strong attacks.

While beating this Pokemon will take a while, though, there are certainly strong counters to it.

How can trainers break through the god of space in Pokemon GO?

Mathematically, the best possible counter to Palkia is Shadow Salamence. This is partly because it’s a Shadow form of a Pokemon that already has an obnoxious Attack stat, but also because of its movepool.

Salamence gets access to Outrage, a phenomenal attack that it can use on average 1.5 times per battle.

Most of the Pokemon with the quickest wins are other strong Dragon-types like Shadow Dragonite, Rayquaza and Zekrom. The bad news, though, is that they also take super effective damage from Palkia’s Dragon Tail and Draco Meteor as well. Essentially, the hope here is that these Pokemon can break through Palkia before they get knocked out themselves.

That being said, using Dragon-types with Outrage can be a safe bet with Palkia. The only Dragon charge move Palkia learns is Draco Meteor, so options like Salamence and Dragonite will easily charge one Outrage before Palkia retaliates.

Regardless, some trainers might want a safer strategy. In this case, there is no better way to counter Dragons than Fairy-types. Shadow Gardevoir had the third fastest victory against Palkia, but even that was at 685.9 seconds.

That is a big testament to Palkia’s bulk, but at least Gardevoir doesn’t have to worry about taking huge Draco Meteors.

Ice-types are also commonly known for dealing with Dragon-types, but that isn’t the case here. Palkia is both Dragon-type and Water-type, so Ice moves only do neutral damage. Therefore, the only viable counters in terms of typing are Dragon-types or Fairies.

Thankfully, there are other common Fairy-types that perform well versus Palkia. Both Granbull and Sylveon can destroy Palkia with Charm spam. Mega Altaria is also a good option for anyone with the mega energy to spare.