"Raiding and You: How to Raid and Raid More Effectively, Cresselia Edition"

#PokemonGO: IntroHiya! NordicThunder here with my first raid specific guide. A link to my general/intro to raids guide can be found HERE. If you haven’t read that and/or are not very familiar with raids. I would peep that first and then come back to this.FormatFor these guides, I will first introduce the raid boss in question and give a little information it. I will include a (somewhat subjective) difficulty rating and an (again subjective) raid worth rating, meaning how worth it is it to do that raid. You will find that I will likely never give a Tier 5 raid less than a 3/5 as the rewards are great enough (rare candy and TMs) to make these raids worthwhile. I will then delve into the counters. For the counters, I will separate them into 3 groups: 1) the top meta picks: little explanation required, these are the best of the best counters, smoke em if you got em 2) “community day” picks: these will be mons that generally fall between the other two categories but due to their wider spread availability due to either community days (Tyranitar, Metagross etc) or raid challenge days (Moltres, Gengar etc) people are at least somewhat likely to have and 3) “budget” options: these will be Pokemon that I think it's likely you will at least have a couple of if not all of them.I do not think that this will be all encompassing or cover every single possible option, but I do think it is very likely that anyone would be able to cobble together a competent team from these options.How to use this GuideMake an A and a B team using these options. You can make a C team if you want, but for this specific raid, I doubt you will use it. Unless there are massive level differences, start with the Meta Picks and work your way down. With that groundwork out of the way, let's get to our first feature raid boss: Cresselia, The Lunar Pokemon!CresseliaThe Pokedex describes Cresselia saying “Shiny particles are released from its wings like a veil. It is said to represent the crescent moon.” People weren’t sure how Niantic was going to follow the month of Giratina. There was speculation of a returning previous boss or maybe one of the much anticipated Dialga/Palkia duo. Honestly, it makes a lot of sense for them to save those for later. Cresselia is really cool and I’m glad to see that they went with a gen 4 legendary to keep the hype train rolling.Difficulty:Possible? 2 (crazy specific set up requiring many perfect Legacy Gengar, Foggy weather and Best Friend boosts)Doable if you have top tier counters and know what you are doing: 3-5Likely if you just use reasonable counters and everyone is at least a reasonable level: 5-8The crazy thing about this raid is how the counters are clustered. While there really isn’t a practical way to maximize it below doing it with 3 trainers, as long as everyone is using the right counters 4-5 trainers should be an easy victory. Definitely, a great legendary raid to get your feet wet with if you haven't really done them before.Worth Doing? 3/5I think Cresselia is really cool. I like its bright coloring and its overall concept design. Unfortunately, it has a low attack stat and faces stiff competition among psychic attackers. Getting a fairy charge move like Moonblast is cute, but it’s a 1 bar move and is worse than Dazzling Gleam. It’s best DPS output will be Confusion/Futuresight, but even there it’s pretty useless. It falls behind many many other options, even against a pure Fighting type like Machamp. It does boast high defense and HP, but without being able to put legendaries in gyms, Cresselia is just not a very useful mon at the moment. That being said, there is no reason not to get at least one for the dex. Plus, even after the reward changes, T5 rewards are still the best way to build up your war chest of rare candies and TMs. Hit EX eligible Cresselia raids for maximum utility.Why Start with Cresselia?Given that I don’t think she’s a great addition to your team, you might wonder why I chose to start with Cresselia. Well it is still the new and current tier 5 raid, so it makes sense to start there. I have no illusions of my first attempt at such a guide being perfect, so it appeals to me to use a raid that is maybe not the highest priority and will leave in a bit as a soft open to work out the kinks in both my presentation and the format. Also, want to try and save raids that will be out longer/later for later as more Gen 4 mons are released (see: the new Sinnoh Stone evolutions that entered the pool recently). I wanted to start with a guide where we would have a rough idea of what will be available for the duration of the event.COUNTERS aka The Actually Good Part of the GuideCresselia is weak to Dark, Bug, and Ghost type Attacks.*weather disclaimer - weather can have a sizable impact on what your best attackers will be, I will do my best to include attackers who shoot way up the rankings based on weather but for the most part will approach this from a weather neutral standpoint. Take notice of weather and how it may affect your decisions. This is a brief guide on weather boosts.*DPS disclaimer - I will be quoting DPS assuming neutral weather and no friendship boosts with level 40 perfect IV Pokemon.TOP META PICKSLegacy Move GengarOptimal Fast MoveOptimal Charge MoveOptimal WeatherLick/Shadow ClawShadow BallFogGengar, Gengar, Gengar! Gengar is far and away the star of this raid. Gengars of various movesets comprise the top 4 DPS slots for this raid! The reason Gengar is especially effective in this raid is Cresselia's lower attack. Gengar is a "glass cannon", which means that it does a lot of DPS, but tends to get knocked out rather easily. Against a raid boss with lower attack, the relative effectiveness of these glass cannons tends to increase, especially when a portion of their effectiveness relies on their Charge Move.​Shadow Ball MewtwoOptimal Fast MoveOptimal Charge MoveOptimal WeatherPsycho CutShadow BallFogThe once and future king. Given Cresselia’s typing, it should be no surprise that Shadow Ball Mewtwo is once again a premium counter. Less DPS than Gengar but considerably more survivability. The best choice to save on revives if that is a concern for you. A very good combination of damage and bulk. Confusion is a decent bit worse, but even with Confusion Shadow Ball Mewtwo is better than all the other non-Gengar counters listed.​Non Legacy Move GengarOptimal Fast MoveOptimal Charge MoveOptimal WeatherHex/Sucker PunchShadow BallFogLike I said, Gengar is the king of this raid. This worse, non legacy version of Gengar is basically just a better Banette, who is also a good option. Worse than Shadow Ball Mewtwo imo but much easier to get your hands on.​TyranitarOptimal Fast MoveOptimal Charge MoveOptimal WeatherBiteCrunchFogNote: DON’T TM AWAY SMACK DOWN. It's simply not worth it.The old faithful gold standard of Psychic raid boss counters. Good DPS and one of the bulkier counters. The one caveat here, is that if the Cresselia has Moonblast, your Tyranitars will be in for a bad time. For basic level purposes, I wouldn't recommend changing your raid strategy too much to account for this, but understand that it can make your raid somewhat tougher.​Weavile-Optimal Fast MoveOptimal Charge MoveOptimal WeatherFeint AttackFoul PlayFogProbably not a lot of Weaviles running around out there given the scarcity of Sinnoh Stones, but it is a very good counter for this raid. Right around the same level as Double Dark TTar.​Banette-Optimal Fast MoveOptimal Charge MoveOptimal WeatherShadow ClawShadow BallFogBy now you should be seeing a pattern, shadow ball is a VERY GOOD move, especially in raids against pure Psychic types. A little less DPS and a lot less survivability than Shadow Ball Mewtwo, but still a very solid option. Hex is a good bit worse as a fast move, but still better than any counter not listed in this section.​AbsolOptimal Fast MoveOptimal Charge MoveOptimal WeatherSnarlDark PulseFogSimilar DPS to Tyranitar with considerably less bulk. Still a good option.​HonchkrowOptimal Fast MoveOptimal Charge MoveOptimal WeatherSnarlDark PulseFogHonchkrow’s pure DPS is actually right up there with Banette’s, and is slightly bulkier. I put it this low, however, because I don’t want to give the impression that I would recommend using up a Sinnoh Stone for it at this time. If you already had a strong Murkrow that you evolved for whatever reason, feel free to use it as it’s definitely a solid counter.WEATHER SPECIFIC NOTE: Pinsir with Bug Bite or Fury Cutter / X-Scissor and Scizor and Scyther with Fury Cutter/ X-Scissor become very strong choices in Rainy weather. When it is rainy, they rank right up with there with Shadow Ball Mewtwo in terms of DPS.COMMUNITY DAY TYPE PICKSThe best event type Pokemon for this raid is Lick Gengar from the Gengar Raid Challenge Day. It is the 1b to Shadow Claw Gengar’s 1a. The only issue might be that those Gengar came with Psychic as their Charge Moves, which is just terrible for this raid. You’ll have to make your own call as to whether or not to spend Charge TMs on these Gengar. If you have enough of the other counters in that section, it might not be worth it, especially when you consider that Cresselia is not a real meta necessity herself. I will say that Shadow Claw and Lick Gengar will be very strong counters to the many potential pure Psychic type raid bosses going forward. So, feel free to Charge TM a couple strong Lick Gengar to the optimal moveset, especially if you are otherwise lacking for great counters.As for other event Pokemon, Smack Down TTar with Crunch and and Meteor Mash Metagross are both ok options that would fall in the upper half of the “budget” options in terms of effectiveness.BUDGET PICKSI won't be going into much detail for these, other than listing their optimal movesets and optimal weather. If you feel I missed any obvious choices here feel free to let me know in a comment. I tried to pick options that had a decent DPS, weren’t just super fragile, and that I figured there was a good chance even the average casual player might have just from random catching and raids. I would not recommend using any resources (dust, candy, TMs) on any Pokemon from this list. Just pick the strongest ones with the listed movesets you have from this list to fill out your teams.MonOptimal Moveset (Fast / Charge)Optimal WeatherHoundoomSnarl / Foul PlayFogAlakazamPsycho Cut / Shadow BallFogPinsirFury Cutter / X-ScissorRainyScizor/ScytherFury Cutter / X-ScissorRainySharpedoBite / CrunchFogCacturneSucker Punch / Dark PulseFogDrifblimHex/ Shadow BallFogDragoniteDragon Tail / OutrageWindyShiftryFeint Attack / Foul PlayFogUnreleased Pokemon?In an effort to give guides some obsolescence protection as the gen 4 roll out continues, I will list some of the unreleased Pokemon who would make great counters should they become available. Keep in mind that until we see them in game, these counters are basically speculation and theorycraft based on what we know from data mining, press releases etc;The only real big change would be if Darkrai were to be somehow released and available while Cres was still in Raids. Darkrai would actually be the supreme counter to Cresselia (makes sense given the lore), doing more DPS than Gengar, while being much bulkier. I don't think that is that likely to happen, but is still worth noting. Deoxys Attack Form would also be a top tier counter with the right moveset, but again seems like a moot point.Trends to Learn From and ConclusionIf you were learn one thing from this guide (other than what specific counters are good against Cresselia) it would be that Shadow Ball is a VERY good charge move. It is one of the best charge moves in the game. This means that any time you are facing down a battle against a Pokemon with typing where a Ghost type move like Shadow Ball will be super effective (Psychic or Ghost types), it is likely that your Pokemon with Shadow Ball as their charge move will be at least decent, if not very good counters.It is my hope that you will now better know what to expect when facing off against the Lunar Pokemon and better know which Pokemon of yours will give you the best chance at a successful raid. Be sure to leave any feedback (always looking to improve) in the comments, and happy raiding! via /r/pokemongo https://ift.tt/2PTKf0t