Zen Headbutt/Thunder Xerneas Duo Raid, Cloudy Weather, Mega Rayquaza Only, no candy XL + Max Battles

A very late upload, which surprisingly fits well in this time. This Duo Raid was done in 2023, and it surely gives us some nostalgia to those old features that will never return, the real time battle system and old avatar models.

This was supposed to be the beginning of Mega Rayquaza's long journey, alongside with Yveltal Duo Raid. Interestingly, Xerneas had once again marked an end of era and a new beginning in last month with the raid system changes. This time, we will show the very first Duo Raid Mega Rayquaza had done as well as the brand new PvE feature - Max Battles.

It shouldn't be surprising at this point that Mega Rayquaza can defeat Xerneas as Duo Raid. With the new move shuffles, Steel-type, e.g., Excadrill and Dialga have been rise up as a great counter against Fairy-type like Xerneas, where Lv30 Excadrill/Dialga can defeat it as Duo Raid without weatherboost. Suprisingly, Melmetal is also a viable counter towards Xerneas, however, it would requires the exclusive move Double Iron Bash.

Of course, that discussion might not be truly relevant when Dusk Mane Necrozma have completely destroyed Xerneas as shown in the speed duo. What's even more, with the move buffs, other neutral attackers like Dawn Wing Necrozma and Primal Reversion also show up as top counters. Dawn Wing Necrozma is ranked at top, only second to Dusk Mane Necrozma and Mega Gengar, while Primal Reversion ranked around Excadrill and Metagross (non-shadow).

Back to the Duo Raid, Mega Rayquaza was facing a Zen Headbutt/Thunder Xerneas. As shown in the execution, Mega Rayquaza struggle to dodge Thunder since Air Slash has a cooldown time that is same as Thunder's damage window in length. So the only way to dodge Thunder perfectly is to anticipate an incoming Thunder. Thankfully, Mega Rayquaza had enough DPS margin to afford anticipations and misdodges, where they completed the Duo Raid barely in time. This Duo Raid, compared to Kyogre Duo Raid, has shown how much Mega Rayquaza benefits from both Air Slash buff and damage window removal (such that Kyogre's Thunder in new system hit much slower than Xerneas in old one).

For Max Battles, we have summed up some key observation we have gained today. First of all, dodging would charge the Max Meter. At the same time, you can swipe the Pokemon towards the Max Meter bubble near the Pokemon to gain extra energy towards the Max Meter.

However, on the downside, it seems dodging in Max Battles are not so similar to what we have known. As shown in the lefthand side, keep on swiping (dodging) will not dodge any incoming move at all. It seems that (as shown in righthand side), dodging will only be registered if you swipe when text "ATTACK INCOMING" and the "alert" visual effect above the Pokemon have shown up. Of course, even with that, it still wouldn't guarantee a successful dodge. Unfortunately, we cannot figure out what contributes to a successful dodging right now, and further testing/analysis would be required.

The second key observation we have is raid boss never use a fast move, as shown in all Max Battles, the raid boss will only use charged move.

We have also found out that damage dealt to raid boss seems to contribute on charging up the Max Meter, as shown in Squirtle vs Skwovet test where Squirtle charge up Max Meter in much quicker pace thanks to Aqua Jet generating massive energy.

The last one we have observed is raid boss deals little damage to player's pokemon. For example, a super effective Power Whip deals only a 22 damage on Squirtle despite being a super-effective move with high base power. If we are using the stat of Tier 1 raid boss, Bulbasaur would have defeated Squirtle in a single hit. We don't know if this is intended and if it will be applied to all raid boss in Max Battles.

At last, we have shown that a single Lv15 Skwovet caught from research is capable to defeat the 3 Kanto Starters as Solo Battle, without upgrading any Max Moves. It is a good news for those who would like to reserve resources for better Dynamax Pokemon. Overall, Tier 1 Max Battles feels like a tutorial where every players can complete them easily and start their new journey on collecting Dynamax Pokemon.

Pokemon used:
CP 5713 Mega Rayquaza - Lv40 15/15/15 Air Slash/Dragon Ascent

CP 5713 Mega Rayquaza - Lv40 15/15/15 Air Slash/Dragon Ascent