Pokemon GO's latest trio of Legendary Battle Raid bosses have begun to descend on Gyms around the world and trainers are just getting started on their journey to defeat and capture each member of the Tao Trio. The Battle Raid rotation began with the appearance of Reshiram, but Zekrom and Kyurem are both right around the corner and will be hear before long.
As players use their Remote Raid Passes or set back out into their communities to team up with Friends and allies to take down the new trio of Legendary Pokemon, there will be a lot of new Pokemon Storage spots filled up with the Legendaries. As always, spots are a valuable resource in the game and Pokemon GO players are going to need to decide how strong and meta-relevant each of these creatures are and whether or not they should keep a bunch of them on hold for future Battle Raids.
Luckily, the Pokemon GO data crunchers are already hard at work investigating the strengths and weaknesses of Zekrom, Reshiram, and Kyurem and figuring out how important these Dragon- dual types are going to be for future Battle Raids and Pokemon GO League PvP matches. As it turns out, they're all actually pretty impressive, though each has their own set of skills.
Zekrom
Dragon/Eletric
MAX CP 4038
ATK 275 DEF 211 HP 205
Trainers may quickly notice that Zekrom and Reshiram share identical stats and Max CPs. This is no accident and seems to be an allusion to the fact that legend says the two Pokemon are both originated from the same powerful dragon. That said, there are still many differences between the two thanks to the move sets and dual type match-ups.
Zekrom is a very powerful Pokemon who is sure to be incredibly meta-relevant thanks to some powerful move sets. The most important move sets will likely end up being Breath/Outrage for the all-out Dragon-type strengths and Charm Beam/Wild Charge on the Electric-type side of things.
Reshiram
Dragon/Fire
MAX CP 4038
ATK 275 DEF 211 HP 205
Just like its stat twin Zekrom, Reshiram has fantastic stats that are balanced and powerful. Dragon-/Fire- is a powerful combo, which is going to help make this another PvE all-star in the near future. As far as move sets are concerned, Reshiram's strongest lineups are probably going to be Dragon Breath/Draco Meteor for the Dragon-type move sets and Fire Fang/Overheat on the Fire-type side of the house. Those are both solid options and, paired with its stats, will make Reshiram a very popular choice in the mobile game's meta scene.
Kyurem
Dragon/Ice
MAX CP 3575
ATK 246 DEF 170 STA 245
Although Kyurem's stats aren't quite as perfectly balanced as Reshiram and Zekrom, don't overlook this third of the Tao Trio. Kyurem is still pretty powerful, but it is going to be held back by some limited move sets on the Ice side until it gets some additional or different moves in the future. To start, Kyurem does have access to Dragon Breath/Draco Meteor on the Dragon-type side, which is great. Unfortunately, the Dragon/Ice-type has no Ice-type Quick Move and is stuck with just Dragon Breath or Steel Wing instead. That's going to take it down quite a few pegs and put it below other Ice-type top performers like Mamoswine on the DPS meters.
Conclusion
All three of these Legendaries are going to have an impact on the PvE and PvP scenes, which is pretty rare for a Battle Raid rotation. Zekrom is going to be a powerful PvE option for Dragon-type or Electric-type counters, but will really shine more on the Electric-type side of things. As a matter of fact, Zekrom is lined up to become the single best Electric-type counter choice for Battle Raids that the game has to offer. For PvP, Zekrom isn't expected to really rise through the ranks and there are lots of better choices.
Reshiram is also going to become a top choice for PvE Battle Raids for both its Dragon-type and Fire-type movesets. This Legendary is quickly going to claim the top spot for Fire-type DPS and become the number one option when Fire-type counters are needed at the Legendary level. It will also quickly rise through the ranks on the Dragon-type side and be one of the top five choices for Dragon-type counter. Reshiram is probably the best of the trio on the PvP scene, but is still going to be outranked by quite a few better choices.
Finally, Kyurem becomes an excellent choice for Battle Raids where Ice-type counters are needed, despite lacking an ideal Quick Move and falling before Mamoswine on the DPS charts. In terms of Dragon-type counters, Kyurem is going to fall pretty far down the list based on the move set is has available and its slightly less balanced stats. It's not an awful choice, but dedicated Battle Raid trainers are likely going to have much stronger options when the need for Dragon-type counters comes up. Again, Kyurem isn't expected to make much of a splash on the PvP side of the house either.
For now, players may want to keep hunting down the best Unova Pokemon in the game if improving their Battle Raid rosters is their primary goal. Be sure to check back in the near future for 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.