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Shadow raid

Shadow Zapdos counters

electricflyingShadow Tier 1

A Shadow raid boss hits harder than its normal form (Shadow Frenzy), and the Pokemon you catch afterwards is a Shadow. Purified Gems weaken it mid-fight; the simulation does not use them.

Lobby CP
9,283
HP
600
Timer
3:00
Attack
160
Defense
119
Difficulty
0.14
Pokebattler scale

Beating Shadow Zapdos should take 1 trainer with level 40 counters. Caught CP 1,864-2,015.

Weak torock1.6xice1.6x

Who to bring

Improve your raidweather · friendship · Mega in the lobby · Party Power · Adventure EffectsShow ▾

Weather

★ boosts a type this boss is weak to

Friendship

every trainer in the lobby who is your friend

Mega in the lobby

a Mega boosts every trainer's attacks: 1.3x of its own type, 1.1x of others
Try a Rock Mega — most top counters attack with Rock

Party Power

Party Play: the charged move after a full meter does 2x

Of the game's eleven Adventure Effects only Behemoth Blade (Crowned Sword Zacian), Behemoth Bash (Crowned Shield Zamazenta) and Dynamic Punch+ (Mega Mewtwo X) change a raid; Roar of Time, Spacial Rend, Freeze Shock, Ice Burn, Sunsteel Strike, Moongeist Beam, Future Sight+ and Dynamax Cannon act outside raids. Dynamic Punch+ only counts against a Mega boss, so it changes nothing here. Sources: the full list, Behemoth Blade / Bash, Dynamic Punch+.

Best counters

Mega, Legendary, Shadow · level 40

The best Shadow Zapdos counters are Mega Mewtwo Y, Kyurem (Black), Kyurem (White), Shadow Tyrantrum, Shadow Rampardos & Shadow Rhyperior.

Suggested party of sixat most one Mega
  1. M. Mewtwo Y
  2. Kyurem (Black)
  3. Kyurem (White)
  4. S. Tyrantrum
  5. S. Rampardos
  6. S. Rhyperior

1 more Mega ranked inside the top six — a party can hold only one Mega, so the best one stays and the next non-Mega takes the slot.

Ranked by Estimator (trainers needed); small print: time to winOrder byEstimatorOverall %

  1. 1Mega Mewtwo YMegaLegendarypartyConfusion / Future Sight+0.130:24
  2. 2Kyurem (Black)LegendarypartyDragon Tail / Freeze Shock0.140:25
  3. 3Kyurem (White)LegendarypartyIce Fang / Ice Burn0.140:26
  4. 4Mega DiancieMegaLegendaryRock Throw / Rock Slide0.150:26
  5. 5Shadow TyrantrumShadowpartyRock Throw / Meteor Beam0.150:26
  6. 6Shadow RampardosShadowpartySmack Down / Rock Slide0.150:27
  7. 7Shadow RhyperiorShadowpartySmack Down / Rock Wrecker0.150:28
  8. 8Shadow GigalithShadowSmack Down / Meteor Beam0.160:28
  9. 9Mega TyranitarMegaSmack Down / Stone Edge0.160:29
  10. 10Shadow TyranitarShadowSmack Down / Stone Edge0.170:30

More orders under All settings (Sort by). The top 15 in detail.

Build and order a party of six →Plan your raid lobby →

Related countersGalarian Zapdos
Raid alerts…

Top 15 Shadow Zapdos counters in detail

Click a row for damage per move, breakpoints and the energy cycle. Click a column to sort. All 30 ranked attackers, with every column, are under All settings.

Trainers1soloable
#AttackerMoveset
1Mega Mewtwo Ypsychicjoint top pickpsychicConfusionpsychicFuture Sight+6,4280:240.130.01809.5%
2Kyurem (Black)dragonicejoint top pickdragonDragon TailiceFreeze Shock4,6050:250.140.11776.7%
3Kyurem (White)dragoniceiceIce FangiceIce Burn4,6050:260.140.01691.8%
4Mega DiancierockfairyrockRock ThrowrockRock Slide4,3460:260.150.31667.9%
5Shadow TyrantrumrockdragonrockRock ThrowrockMeteor Beam3,1280:260.150.01656.7%
6Shadow RampardosrockrockSmack DownrockRock Slide3,2980:270.150.91637.7%
7Shadow RhyperiorgroundrockrockSmack DownrockRock Wrecker3,7330:280.150.01570.4%
8Shadow GigalithrockrockSmack DownrockMeteor Beam3,2280:280.160.31557.2%
9Mega TyranitarrockdarkrockSmack DownrockStone Edge5,3470:290.160.01527.4%
10Shadow TyranitarrockdarkrockSmack DownrockStone Edge3,8340:300.170.31466.5%
11Mega Mewtwo XpsychicfightingpsychicConfusionpsychicPsystrike6,1120:300.170.31449.1%
12Shadow MamoswineicegroundicePowder SnowiceAvalanche3,3280:310.170.41426.7%
13GlimmorarockpoisonrockRock ThrowrockMeteor Beam3,2730:310.170.51403.7%
14Mega DragonitedragonflyingdragonDragon TaildragonOutrage+4,8230:310.170.21401.9%
15Mega Raichu YelectricelectricThunder ShockelectricZap Cannon+3,7800:310.170.41392.7%

Ordered by Estimator alone, fewest trainers needed first. . The place badge names each row's Overall place on hover.

Times are one trainer with six copies of that attacker, level 40 at 15/15/15, no weather, no friendship, no dodging, Shadow / Mega / Legendary attackers hidden — the same defaults pokebattler.com's own counter pages open with. Open the full counter tool to change any of them. "Details" opens the per-move damage, breakpoints and energy cycle against Shadow Zapdos.

Estimator is how many trainers of this strength the fight needs. Power is the share of Shadow Zapdos's HP that six of that attacker remove inside one raid timer, so over 100% means they finish it with time to spare. Faints is how many of the six go down inside that timer.

“Joint top pick”: 2 attackers inside 2.1% of each other — this simulator's own accuracy against pokebattler.com (median 1.6% per attacker), so any of them is the right answer.

Simulating each boss moveset…

Zapdos weaknesses and resistances

Every one of the 18 attacking types against this boss's typing. GO multipliers: 1.6x super effective, 2.56x doubly, 0.625x resisted, 0.39x doubly resisted.

  • Weak (2)
  • Neutral (10)
  • Resists (6)

It resists fighting0.625xflying0.625xground0.625xbug0.625xsteel0.625xgrass0.625x— bringing one of those is throwing damage away.

What Zapdos throws at you

Its standard movepool, with the damage window a dodge has to beat.

Fast moves

MovePowerEnergyDurationHits at
electricCharge BeamSTAB7+141.0s0.75s

Charged moves

MovePowerEnergyDurationHits at
electricZap CannonSTAB140-1003.5s2.80s
electricThunderSTAB100-1002.5s1.30s
electricThunderboltSTAB80-502.5s1.80s
flyingDrill PeckSTAB70-332.5s1.90s
fireHeat Wave95-1003.0s1.70s
rockAncient Power70-333.5s2.85s

Catch CP

What the encounter after the fight can hand you.

IV spreadCP at L20CP at L25 (weather boosted)
6/6/6floor1,8642,330
7/7/71,8802,351
8/8/81,8972,371
9/9/91,9142,392
10/10/101,9302,413
11/11/111,9472,434
12/12/121,9642,455
13/13/131,9812,476
14/14/141,9982,498
15/15/15hundo2,0152,519

Caught CP range 1,864 - 2,015, or 2,330 - 2,519 when the weather boosts it.

A raid encounter is level 20 (level 25 weather boosted) and cannot roll an IV below 6/6/6 — a Shadow raid's floor is 6, not the usual 10. Anything outside the first range is not this raid's reward.

Shadow raid floor. A Shadow Raid encounter rolls a minimum of 6/6/6, so this band starts at 1,864, not at the 1,930 a 10/10/10 catch would give. pokebattler.com's own page for a Shadow boss prints that 10/10/10 value as its floor — it is applying the standard-raid rule — so expect its range to start 66 CP higher than this one. LeekDuck's published band agrees with the table above.

When it is in raids

From the raid schedule, refreshed daily.

Zapdos is not on the raid schedule right now. The simulation above is still exact for the tier chosen — any boss can be simulated, current or not.

All settings

Shadow Tier 1: 600 HP, 3:00 timer, boss Attack 160 / Defense 119 (15/15/15 at tier CPM 0.5974).

Attackers allowed
Share these exact settings
Every column, and pokebattler.com's own rank

On a phone the list shows estimator, time to win and faints. Overall, Power, win chance, CP, DPS and TDO appear on a wider screen.

#AttackerEst.TimeFaints
1
Mega Mewtwo Y
top pickpsychicmega
Confusion / Future Sight+
0.130:240.0
2
Kyurem (Black)
top pickdragonice
Dragon Tail / Freeze Shock
0.140:250.1
3
Kyurem (White)
dragonice
Ice Fang / Ice Burn
0.140:260.0
4
Mega Diancie
rockfairymega
Rock Throw / Rock Slide
0.150:260.3
5
Shadow Tyrantrum
rockdragonshadow
Rock Throw / Meteor Beam
0.150:260.0
6
Shadow Rampardos
rockshadow
Smack Down / Rock Slide
0.150:270.9
7
Shadow Rhyperior
groundrockshadow
Smack Down / Rock Wrecker
0.150:280.0
8
Shadow Gigalith
rockshadow
Smack Down / Meteor Beam
0.160:280.3
9
Mega Tyranitar
rockdarkmega
Smack Down / Stone Edge
0.160:290.0
10
Shadow Tyranitar
rockdarkshadow
Smack Down / Stone Edge
0.170:300.3
11
Mega Mewtwo X
psychicfightingmega
Confusion / Psystrike
0.170:300.3
12
Shadow Mamoswine
icegroundshadow
Powder Snow / Avalanche
0.170:310.3
13
Glimmora
rockpoison
Rock Throw / Meteor Beam
0.170:310.5
14
Mega Dragonite
dragonflyingmega
Dragon Tail / Outrage+
0.170:310.2
15
Mega Raichu Y
electricmega
Thunder Shock / Zap Cannon+
0.170:310.4
16
Shadow Galarian Darmanitan (Standard)
iceshadow
Ice Fang / Avalanche
0.180:321.3
17
Rampardos
rock
Smack Down / Rock Slide
0.180:320.9
18
Mega Rayquaza
dragonflyingmega
Dragon Tail / Breaking Swipe
0.180:320.4
19
Shadow Aggron
steelrockshadow
Smack Down / Meteor Beam
0.180:320.4
20
Primal Kyogre
watermega
Waterfall / Avalanche
0.180:320.3
21
Eternatus
poisondragon
Poison Jab / Dynamax Cannon
0.180:330.0
22
Shadow Mewtwo
psychicshadow
Confusion / Ice Beam
0.190:330.7
23
Necrozma (Dawn Wings)
psychicghost
Psycho Cut / Moongeist Beam
0.190:330.4
24
Shadow Landorus (Incarnate)
groundflyingshadow
Rock Throw / Rock Slide
0.190:330.6
25
Mega Abomasnow
grassicemega
Powder Snow / Weather Ball (Ice)
0.190:340.4
26
Shadow Aurorus
rockiceshadow
Rock Throw / Weather Ball (Ice)
0.190:340.6
27
Rhyperior
groundrock
Smack Down / Rock Wrecker
0.190:340.0
28
Mega Delphox
firepsychicmega
Fire Spin / Mystical Fire+
0.190:340.6
29
Mega Houndoom
darkfiremega
Snarl / Dark Pulse+
0.190:340.6
30
Galarian Darmanitan (Standard)
ice
Ice Fang / Avalanche
0.190:351.0
How accurate is this? Same top pick as pokebattler.com on 26 of 27 lists checked, 90% of its top tens shared; weakest on Mewtwo's default list (7 of 10).

Ranking. Our full ranking against the page pokebattler.com serves for the same boss and settings, on 27 boss and filter combinations read live (2026-10-04): 242 of 270 top-ten places shared, the same #1 on 26. On the six fixed reference bosses (read 2026-10-03): 85% top-ten overlap with its default filters, 83% with Shadow, Mega and Legendary on. A close top three is shown as a tie because the order inside it is below what we can measure.

Time to win. Graded with Pokebattler's own movesets against every boss moveset, average per boss: Tier 1 and 3 +0.1% to +1.2%; Tier 5 −2.9% to +1.3%; Mega −1.1% to +2.6%; Shadow Tier 5 −1.8% to +0.3%. One attacker can be off by more: median 1.6%, worst 15%, RMS per boss moveset 2.05%.

Known weak spots.
  • Mewtwo (Tier 5, default filters) shares 7 of Pokebattler's top 10: Absol, Incineroar and Salamence sit just outside ours, Polteageist, Cursola and Hisuian Typhlosion just inside.
  • Groudon (Tier 5, default filters) shares 7 of 10; its Grass and Water counters run 2-6% fast here.
  • Tier 5 times run about 2-3% fast for attackers that faint often, and 2-3% slow on Mega Charizard Y and Mega Beedrill, whose counters resist the boss.
  • Tier 1 lists are the least checked: Combee (Tier 1) shares only 3 of Pokebattler's top 10, with Gigalith first here where Pokebattler puts Rhyperior.

This boss on pokebattler.com (its Shadow boss page; the ordinary boss's page is a different, easier fight). Boss-by-boss accuracy report.

Ranked 30 attackers in 0.1 s (50 Monte Carlo runs each, seed 1). Same boss on pokebattler.com. The same ranking as JSON: /api/raids/rank.

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