Don’t pass up your chance to add a legendary bird to your Pokemon lineup.
As of this week, legendary Pokemon Moltres will appear at gyms across the world. The only way you’ll secure a chance to catch Moltres is to first defeat one in a Raid Battle.
This is no easy feat. As can be expected from a legendary Pokemon, Moltres is ridiculously powerful, with ridiculously high combat power. But with some Pokemon trainer know-how and a lot of perseverance, you should be able to catch your very own fiery bird.
Here are some tips for battling and catching Moltres:
1. Battle Moltres in as large a group as you can find
Moltres is fiendishly powerful, which means if you attempt to take it on by yourself you will fail. Even taking it on in a small group of four or five isn’t enough to take it down.
Your best bet is either gathering a group of your Pokemon GO-playing friends or going to a gym in a highly populated area to find as large of a group as you can to take on Moltres. The maximum amount of people that can battle a Raid Boss at a time is 20. You’re going to want as close to 20 as possible.
2. Use Rock-, Water- and Electric-type Pokemon
Moltres is a Flying- and Fire-type Pokemon, which means that it is particularly susceptible to Rock and Water-type moves. Golem is the ideal Pokemon to use, especially if it knows the move Rock Throw, which is super effective against Moltres. Other Pokemon that can learn Rock Throw are Sudowoodo and Magcargo, but keep in mind that their overall stats are weaker than Golem.
Follow up your Rock Pokemon with a Water-type such as Omastar, Vaporeon and Feraligatr. Omastar is the standout among these, as it has the highest resistance to Moltres’ fire attacks. Omastar can also learn Rock-type moves, which means an Omastar with both Water and Rock-type moves should stay alive long enough to deal a chunk of damage to Moltres.
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Fill the last couple slots of your team with either Electric-type Pokemon or Pokemon who can withstand Moltres’ attacks. A powerful Jolteon, Raichu or Ampharos can deal damage, but it won’t be able to take damage, meaning they probably won’t last through one of Moltres’ charged attacks. Dragon-type Pokemon are the other alternative, as they do have resistance to Moltres’ attacks.
Bottom line: Before you join the battle, take the time to actually look at what moves the Pokemon you plan on using have and make sure to order your Pokemon strategically.
3. When catching Moltres, use the items you got from the Raid Battle liberally
Even if you manage to defeat Moltres in battle (which may require several attempts), you still have the difficult task ahead of you of actually corralling it into a Pokeball.
After every successful Raid Battle, you earn premium loot including Golden Razz Berries. Golden Razz Berries function just like regular Razz Berries but are more powerful. Use them liberally when attempting to catch Moltres.
The number of Premier Balls that appear when catching Moltres represents the number of throws you get before the Pokemon flees. This means each throw needs to count. Players have reported that Moltres hangs pretty far back on the screen, so make sure your throws have enough distance to reach it. Also make sure to time your throws to when the circle is smallest.
Most importantly, don’t give up. It may take a couple attempts, but your chances will only go up if you keep on trying.