Pokemon GO offers some very difficult challengers in its Mega Battle Raids, but the rewards are usually well worth the extra effort. Mega Energy is a valuable resource and these difficult boss fights are often the best route to farming it. In order to do that efficiently, trainers need to study each Mega Pokemon's counters and weaknesses before hopping into a fight against them.
The best way to avoid those failed Battle Raid attempts is by studying ahead and time and carefully optimizing an ideal counter roster. As Pokemon GO trainers do their homework for Mega Raids, they need to be careful to prepare for each of the bosses so that they don't end up wasting Revives, Potions, and Raid Passes. To prepare for a fight against Mega Salamence, trainers are going to be able to get creative and take advantage of four different potential weaknesses and a very important 2x weaknesss that can be the real key to victory.
Mega Salamence has four different weaknesses, which gives players a lot of options when it comes to forming their counter roster, but to get the best results they'll want to lean heavily on that double weakness to Ice-types. If players are planning to attempt a very small group battle, they'll want to take the time to spend some Stardust, Candy, and Elite TMs before heading into the big fight.
Mega Salamence Weaknesses
As a Dragon- and Flying-type Pokemon, Mega Salamence is weak to Dragon-, Fairy-, Ice-, and Rock-type moves.
Mega Salamence Resistances (Avoid These!)
Mega Salamence is resistant to Grass-, Ground-, Bug-, Fighting-, Fire-, and Water-types.
Best Mega Salamence Counters
- Abomasnow (Mega) - Powder Snow/Weatherball
- Mamoswine - Powder Snow/Avalanche
- Darmanitan (Galarian Standard) - Ice Fang/Avalanche
- Glaceon - Frost Breath/Avalanche
- Weavile - Ice Shard/Avalanche
- Mewtwo - Psycho Cut/Ice Beam
- Jynx - Frost Breath/Avalanche
- Charizard (Mega X) - Dragon Breath/Dragon Claw
- Ampharos (Mega) - Volt Switch/Dragon Pulse
- Vanilluxe - Frost Breath/Blizzard
- Blastoise (Mega) - Bite/Ice Beam
- Beartic - Powder Snow/Ice Punch
- Gengar (Mega) - Lick/Sludge Bomb
- Articuno - Ice Shard/Ice Beam
- Cloyster - Ice Shard/Avalanche
Trainers should remember that this list of counters represents the strongest possible options, but there are plenty of other Pokemon who could still get the job done. Trainers should search their Pokemon collection by using the keywords "Ice", "Fairy", "Rock", or "Dragon" and go with a roster that seems the strongest based on those options. Trainers should also remember that they won't actually earn an encounter reward with a Mega Pokemon after completing this Battle Raid. Instead, they will earn an encounter with regular Salamence and a handful of Mega Energy to use for a temporary Mega Evolution in the future.
Be sure to check back in the near future for lots more Pokemon GO strategy guides, news, and updates. Until then, good luck out there, trainers!
Pokemon GO is available now in select regions on Android and iOS devices.