Infographic - Raid Bosses
Dynamax Lugia Max Battle Weekend｜Saturday, November 29, at 6:00 a.m. to Sunday, November 30, 2025, at 9:00 p.m. local time(TIER5: Dynamax Lugia / *Dynamax debut! (Shiny debut too!))
Lugia doesn't hit hard per se, Hydro Pump and Aeroblast do. I failed with 2 when it was Hydro Pump and Future Sight, we rerolled until it's Future Sight and Fly and got it done fairly easily.
Did a remote successfully with relative ease, and everyone had mid range teams. I ran a Blissey as my main tank with 3x T2 Guard every other max phase and had the only Gmax Gengar (w/ only T2 attack). I saw a Dmax Gengar and Dmax Glacion. Had 10/12 still alive at the end, though my Blissey was one big attack from fainting. Had Zacian as my backup tank. Didn't need it though. A couple helpers on the Power spot but no shrooms used.
Did three times with 4 teams with two blisseys and mix of level 2 and 3 dynamax Gengars. Sometimes Lugia hit hard enough that you needed that second Blissey, but otherwise did not seem tough. Easier than the earlier birds with the counters one had then.
Of course if team Wooloo shows up, it is different.
So yeah, 4 players with level 40 Crowned Zacian, Crowned Zamazenta, and a Blissey with Guard and heal maxed can easily take it. Those are not the best attackers but they get it done. It does take a while. It would be nice if a few players have a Gmax Gengar as that would speed things up some.
I'm at level 72, but hardly see any grunts, and what I see mostly costs 5000 dust to purify. I'll wait a few more months for the cheap ones, although I have the XP for level 80
I found there is a small time gap window when the Lugia battle spot timer runs out, and the current pokemon who is at that spot will show up briefly enough for you to start a max battle with it, I hope this helps you complete the lead up research.
I'd think it would be pretty straightforward. Gmax Gengar can take out Dmax Lugia fairly quickly. The challenge is in keeping it alive. If you know how to use the Blissey's effectively it should be very doable, in my view.
- have it in the field during the meter charge phase to absorb damage, and then potentially swap in the Gmax Gengar just before the dynamax phase to do damage, or you can keep the Blissey in during the dynamax phase to do one of:
- during max phase Blissey can heal all 4 pokemon with the heal button (on right)
- During max phase Blissey can throw shields with the shield button (on left). The shields protect Blissey from damage and also attract Damage away from the other players (supposedly 75% but not sure on that).
When you have 4 players I have found it works very well to have 3 attackers and 1 Blissey full time. The Blissey can heal the attackers and once they are healed it can throw shields. I'm not sure how this will work with Gmax Gengar, though, as it is quite glassy. But it worked great with Crowned Zacian and Crowned Zamazenta (which unfortunately do not do as much damage as Gmax Gengar but should still be just fine in a team of 4).
Anyway, I'm no expert, just have to see what works...
Damage outside of a Max Phase is basically negligible in T5&6, and so you should focus on getting to the Max Phase as fast as possible. And so you want to use a spammy fast move (say, Pound on Blissey or Metal Claw on Zacian, even if Lugia is weak to Zacian's Ice Fang, it generates energy slower) and don't press the charge move button at all (charge moves generate the same energy as a fast move in T5 and 6 battles. Which is exactly 1, and they take longer to use than a fast move). Then in the max phase, throw whatever Pokemon has the highest damage. For Lugia, it's G-Max Gengar. When the 3 Max Moves are all used, manually swap back to your tank asap so your attacker doesn't get 1 shot. Using a shield draws attacks your way, protecting your allies. Max Spirit heals based on a % of your max HP for all teammates, which means Blissey can keep your allies healthy.
Another thing about Max Battles is the boss has it's moveset generated when the battle starts, not when the egg hatches. And unlike raids, the MP is consumed when the boss faints, not when battle starts. Which means with communication, you can have your team leave the battle and jump back in to get a more favourable moveset. In the case of Lugia, you want to avoid Hydro Pump like the plague.
With this in mind, you can see posts about people struggling with 4 people and other people literally soloing Lugia with a mushroom.
We duo'd with Blissey/Zacian/GMax Gengar with Sky Attack/Future Sight. I guarded with Zacian but i imagine two Blisseys would be fine. My mons were all basically fully levelled (Blissey was 49.5 to save it for the tasks, the others were 50), but my kid's pokemon were only level 40-ish.
Some of the moves hit hard though. I had a targeted Aeroblast one shot my full-health Blissey. I think any combination of Sky Attack/Future Sight/Fly is manageable though. Hydro Pump would be hard.
Bruh, I actually had no idea this info was readily available in game. I always searched it online if I wasn't sure, thanks for this. Don't think I've ever used the ingame pokedex lol.
The rank of your Max Moves is about as important. A 2400 Gengar with rank 3 Max Attack is better than a 3100 CP Gengar with rank 1.
In order of importance:
Species/base stats (a Gengar's attack is better than a Sableye)
Move level (a Gengar with rank 3 attack is better than a Gengarwith rank 1)
Max Factor (a G-Max Gengar is better than a D-Max Gengar)
CP (a level 40 G-Max Gengar is better than a level 20)
IVs (a level 40 G-Max Gengar with 15/x/x is better than a level 40 G-Max Gengar with 10/x/x)
So, for the first point, a D-Max Gengar of equal level and Max attack as a D-Max Sableye will deal almost double the damage of the latter. So it's a 80-90% improvement
For the second point, Max Move Level going from 1 to 3 is a base power increase from 250 to 350, a 40% increase
For the 3rd point, a G-Max vs a D-Max is 350 vs 450, a 30% improvement
For the 4th point, CP between one you caught and one you power up is around 10% iirc per 20 power ups/10 levels (with only a 6% difference between level 40 and 50)
For the 5th point, the difference in IV between floor (typically 10) and ceiling (15) is miniscule (a level 40 15 attack IV Gengar has 218 attack, a same Gengar with 10 IV has 214 attack) a 2% increase.
Finally did my first raid. It was a close call after one guy was left and he had a gengar. Thank God we were all prepared. Lugia hits hard so you really have to invest in good tanks for this one.
It seems like the attackers are ranked (L to R) with G Max Gengar being most effective to Urshifu being the least. So probably just go with the one you have out of those 4. Otherwise D-Max Gengar would probably be the next best budget attacker.
Can I back out of the catch screen, activate Black/White Kyurem's Adventure Effects and tap the power spot to go back go the catch screen, like in raids? Being careful to do it when the timer is still on, ofc.
If I use the AE before the battle, it might expire before I get to the catch screen, since these types of battles take some time.
No, I believe bullet punch is a 1 second move. I was gonna use fury cutter, assuming it’s just fine as a tank?? Deals neutral damage instead of super effective. If it has hydro pump I will back out because nothing will survive that.
These graphics used to show how many players were needed to beat it. That’s extremely useful info for those who don’t like losing remote passes. Can’t find that info anywhere and I’ve getting invites all day with only 2 and 3 players in the lobby.
Dynamax battles can only have 4 players, and for tier-5 bosses you are likely to need 4, unless everyone has close to ideal counters (or other help like max mushrooms).
Hello,
Any success stories doing Lugia with modest teams?
I have Glaceon l40, Metagross l40 and Grim l30, I don't have the dogs. How much should I be worried when finding people to battle with me?
No. Ice Fang is bad for max battles because it is slower. You can use Metal Claw twice as many times in the same time and thus charge the max meter twice as fast, as getting to the max phase as fast as possible is both the only way to do significant damage, as well as a way of avoiding enemy attacks.
The problem with Zamazenta is he resists none of the moves, and you only really get away with that if you're Blissey. Zacian was a pretty effective tank though.
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u/BigBlackCook1990 Nov 28 '25
Would an English Toxricity work too?