After what seemed like a much needed break from legendary raids, Niantic decided to throw us a curveball from left field today and introduced Groudon as the next legendary raid. The first Groudon spawned in Winnipeg at 4:01pm at the Black Horse gym near the Pembina Pony Corral.
Since many trainers are still familiarizing themselves with gen 3 pokémon, Groudon might not be familiar for most, especially compared to the legendary pokémon in gens 1 and 2. This article will sum up what you need to know about this new legendary pokémon.
Groudon is a ground-type pokémon with an interesting moveset. It can learn Dragon Tail or Mud Shot for its fast moves, followed by Solar Beam, Fire Blast, or Earthquake for its charge moves. Needless to say, trainers may need a diverse army of pokémon in their arsenal, especially if the raid count is on the low side.
Given its ground typing, Groudon will be weak against water and grass pokémon. However, its diverse charge typings may pose a problem for some trainers if they come unprepared. For instance, a Vaporeon will get melted by Solar Beam, and an Exeggutor will be destroyed by Fire Blast. Regardless of charge typings, however, one can never go wrong with Gyarados with double water movesets or Ho-Oh with Steel Wing and Solar Beam.
Groudon’s CP range in normal conditions is 2236 to 2328. Under weather boost (i.e: when it’s clear), Groudon’s CP range jumps to a range of 2796 to 2910.
A “typical” Groudon raid will need at least 7 trainers to take it down. However, Groudon can be taken down with 4 high-level trainers, provided they have level 40 Gyarados with Waterfall and Hydro Pump. Under rainy conditions, Groudon can be taken down with 3 trainers only, since water moves on Gyarados would be boosted. It can also be 3-manned with level 40 Sceptiles and Exeggutors in clear conditions, provided the raid boss does not have Fire Blast.
Groudon has a large distance in the catch screen, similar to Lapras. Its full attack animation also takes a while (even if it seems the scratch itself is very quick), therefore trainers should not attempt to throw their premier balls until the scratch part of the attack animation is complete.
Groudon’s base catch rate is 2%; similar to the legendary beasts and Ho-Oh. Given its large distance, however, it may actually be harder for trainers to get a good throw out of it.
Hopefully this guide will help trainers catch their first Groudon, or if they already have one, find ways to test the limits of their pokémon to beat this new raid boss.