Pokemon Go is bringing another fan-favorite Legendary back for a limited time later this week. As part of the game’s Animation Week event, Lugia is returning to Raid Battles starting November 5. The Legendary Diving Pokemon has appeared a handful of times in Raids since it first debuted back in 2017, but it’s worth catching again even if you already have one, as this time it knows the powerful Flying move Aeroblast. If you need help capturing the Legendary, we’ve rounded up some tips to help you beat and catch Lugia below.
Lugia Raid Hours
Lugia will return to five-star Raids starting 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET on November 5, and it’ll remain in the game until the same time on Monday, November 16–giving you a little over a week to battle and catch it. Since Raid Battles don’t follow a set schedule, Lugia Raids will happen periodically during the Legendary’s stint as a Raid boss, but you’ll receive a notification within the game when one is about to begin at a nearby Gym.
As usual, your best chance to encounter Lugia will happen during Niantic’s weekly Raid Hour event, which occurs every Wednesday evening from 6-7 PM local time. There will only be one Lugia Raid Hour before the Legendary Pokemon leaves the game again; that takes place on Wednesday, November 11, so make sure you don’t miss that chance to get it.
Lugia Weaknesses And Counters
Although it lives at the bottom of the sea in Pokemon lore, Lugia is actually a Psychic- and Flying-type, which gives it a handful of weaknesses that you can exploit. Its Psychic typing means it’s susceptible to Dark and Ghost Pokemon, so some great monsters to use against it include Tyranitar, Weavile, Darkrai, Giratina, Chandelure, and Gengar. Keep in mind, however, that Gengar is also part-Poison, which means it’ll take super-effective damage in return if Lugia knows a Psychic attack.
Lugia’s Flying typing opens up a couple more weaknesses, namely to Electric, Ice, and Rock Pokemon. Electivire, Raikou, and Zapdos are some great Electric types; Mamoswine, Glaceon, and Articuno are good choices when it comes to Ice Pokemon; and Rhyperior, Terrakion, and Gigalith are some of the game’s strongest Rock Pokemon. Alolan Golem is a good choice to use as well since it’s both Rock and Electric.
Types To Avoid
Although Bug Pokemon normally have an advantage over Psychic-types, you’ll want to avoid using most of them against Lugia; not only will they take super-effective damage from Aeroblast, their Bug attacks will only deal neutral damage to Lugia thanks to its Flying typing. Fighting Pokemon are likewise weak to Flying-type moves, while Poison Pokemon will take super-effective damage from any Psychic attacks that Lugia has.
GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.
