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Mega Altaria Raid Trio Guide

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Tier 5 Raid Boss Guides
Mega_Altaria_Raid_Guide
Difficulty:
HP15,000 ATK175.40 DEF143.04
CP Range
Lvl 20 1727 - 1807 Lvl 25 2159 - 2259

Notable Weather

Boosts Boss's Moves Boosts Counters' Moves
Windy, Cloudy Sunny / Clear, Cloudy

Fast Move Difficulty

Move Difficulty
Peck Intermediate
Dragon Breath Easy

Charge Move Difficulty

Move Difficulty
Dazzling Gleam Intermediate
Sky Attack Intermediate
Dragon Pulse Intermediate

Overview

The ultimate form of Hoenn's ever-popular cotton dragon, Mega Altaria is.... not the most useful Mega Evolution on the game, but it's nice to have it for the dex entry if nothing else. As a raid boss, it's a somewhat interesting beast to counter due to its unique Dragon/Fairy typing. While dragons are generally the play for fightng other dragons, that Fairy typing entirely ruins the big plan and renders its only weaknesses as Steel, Poison, Fairy, and Ice, with none of them being a double-weakness. Add to this a decent Defense rating and you've got a Pokemon that can be challenging to unprepared teams, though it's still a fairly easy trio for a prepared team, and a very doable duo with the right team. That said, this guide will primarily focus on the trio.

Approach

Team composition

  • Shadow Metagross is the absolute VIP, standing head-and-shoulders above everything. 
  • The good, old-fashioned Metagross is also extremely viable, able to hit hard and stay on the field extremely well.
  • Mega Gardevoir is the strongest Mega counter, hitting extremely hard and lasting a long time.
  • Mega Gengar, Mega Beedrill, or Mega Scizor are runner-up Mega Evolutions
  • Rating the types, this is generally how each of the four types fair against Mega Altaria:
    • Steel tends to have the highest overall performance thanks to its high power and comprehensive resistance set for this raid, but most Steel Types not named Metagross tend to have sub-par performance.
    • Fairy Types can be great, especially while Mega Gardevoir is on the field, though non-Mega Fairy Types that aren't Shadow Gardevoir tend to be very mediocre.
    • Ice Types can be pretty high on the DPS charts, but they also tend to be really glassy.
    • Poison Types don't really exist outside of Mega Gengar, Mega Beedrill, and Nihilego.

Dodging strategy

  • Mega Altaria's attacks can be threatening for a number of counters, though many bulkier counters won't really care.

Best Raid Boss Counters

Supreme Mega Evolution Counters

Mega Gardevoir Mega Gardevoir
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The prime Mega Counter for this raid, Mega Gardevoir has outstanding staying power and DPS, especially when facing down Dragon Type movesets. Its one and only drawback is that it doesn't boost Metagross' Steel Type moveset while on the field, but our lack of strong Steel Type Mega Evolutions at this time makes this a comparatively small issue.

Good Mega Evolutions

Mega Gengar Mega Gengar
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If there's any Pokemon that needs a new move, it's Mega Gengar with a Poison Type Fast Move...

Despite having to throw out neutral Fast Move damage, Mega Gengar has some great performance, especially when facing down Dazzling Gleam. That said, it's basically a worse Mega Gardevoir in the majority of cases objectively speaking.

Mega Mega Beedrill
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Mega Beerill is basically a worse Mega Gengar. It resists Dazzling Gleam, but it's also weak to Mega Altaria's Flying Type movests, so its definitely a riskier option.

Mega Scizor Mega Scizor
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Mega Scizor has the lowest performance among the Mega Evolutions listed here, but it has one feature that makes it worth considering; it has the highest DPS among the currently available Steel Type Mega Evolutions, meaning it boosts Shadow Metagross to nuclear levels.

Mega Aggron Mega Aggron
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Same story as Mega Scizor, but lower DPS and higher TDO.

Supreme Counters

ShadowMetagross Shadow Metagross
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The counter to Mega Altaria, Shadow Metagross obliterates the cotton dragon with devastating Steel Type blows while resisting its entire moveset. This thing tops the DPS and TDO charts alike, meaning it's the undisputed top counter option for this raid.

Metagross Metagross
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While not quite on a par with Shadow Metagross, the vanilla option is still great option that hits very hard and stays on the field for a very long time. This is easy-mode for the Trio.

Good Counters

ShadowSwine Shadow Mamoswine
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The frigid pig-mammoth hits very hard, but it also drops pretty quickly due to a lack of resistances. 

ShadowGardevoir Shadow Gardevoir
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The ideal pairing with Mega Gardevoir, Shadow Gardevoir has great performance and is the non-Mega Fairy Type counter option for this raid, standing well above all of the competition. 

Shadow Mewtwo Shadow Mewtwo
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The true generalist, Shadow Mewtwo's use of Ice Beam allows it to join this raid pretty danged well.

Galarian Darmanitan Galarian Darmanitan
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Nihilego Nihilego
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The one and only non-Mega Poison Type counter that we can objectively call "good", Nihilego has great staying power and solid DPS. It also resists Flying and Fairy Type moves, so it tends to wall most of Mega Altaria's stuff pretty effectively.

Shadow Granbull Shadow Granbull
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The seocnd-tier Fairy Attacker, Shadow Granbull is solid.

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The sheer power of Glaciate is no joke, and it gives Kyurem surprising power.

Mamoswine Mamoswine
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ShadowScizor Shadow Scizor
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Roserade Roserade
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ursaring Shadow Ursaring
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In raids like this where Shadow Ursaring's Fast and Charged move options both deal Super Effective damage, its performance is surprisingly solid, especially for a Normal Type.

Xurkitree Xurkitree
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Don't forget to TM to Dazzling Gleam!

Genesect Genesect
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Zacian Zacian - Hero of Many Battles
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Utilizing a Steel Type Fast Move foreshadows this monster's future....

Excadrill Excadrill
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More proof that Eevee's Eeveelutions are the ultimate budget-options!

Glass Counters

ShadowWeavile Shadow Weavile
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It hits hard, but do not expect it to stay active for long without some fancy dodging footwork.

ShadowVictreebel Shadow Victreebel
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ShadowVileplume Shadow Vileplume
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Shadow-Alakazam Shadow Alakazam
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Raid Graph