History ThatOneBoss / PokemonGo

* Tier 3 Flareon used to be incredibly difficult to solo, to the point that it became a HopelessBossFight, because of its incredibly high defense combined with virtually no effective counters, as Golem and Vaporeon lack firepower. Thankfully, the availability of much stronger counters such as Waterfall!Gyarados, Kyogre, Smack Down!Tyranitar and Rhyperior, made the raid easier.
** Ninetales is another variant of Flareon, aside that it has more colorful coverage moves and its attack is lower, meaning that it doesn't give you a lot of charged move energy and it can instantly knock out nearly any counter using Solar Beam. This transforms it into a HopelessBossFight. At the next time it is released, we have much more effective counters in addition to Rampardos and Palkia, although the latter does not have a water fast move. Beware though, as dodging Solar Beam will make the timer pretty close and will often activate server desyncs that might both destroy your Pokémon and heal the boss.
* Tier 3 Shuckle. People expected it to be easy due to having extremely low CP, however its insane defense made it literally impossible to solo and even hard to duo without proper counters. It doesn't help that, as a Bug-Rock type, there are few moves that are strong against one of its types but not weak against the other.

** One of Cliff's early drops was Stantler, which could spawn with the Psychic-type attack Zen Headbutt nullifying its weakness to Fighting types, and its Tackle is way worse; it's strong enough to kill even pokémon that resist it. He also has Teddiursa in a later rotation, which is just as bad as mentioned above. It WILL soften your pokémon to a point where the pokémon following it up can kill yours with fast moves alone.

* While the grunts can be hard but easily beat due to their PoorPredictableRock teams and their inability to use barriers to block your attacks, that all changes when you challenge the trio of leaders. Arlo, Cliff, and Sierra have these restrictions and handicaps removed, meaning they will gladly block the first two Charged Attacks you fire against their Shadow Pokémon and bring in a mix of different types to make their roster less predictable. Giovanni is in much of the same boat, except he brings in a Legendary as his final Pokémon.

* While Mega Raid Bosses are advertised as Tier 5 Raid bosses, they require a minimum of 6 players to beat and the Mega energy gained from each victory isn't enough to get the first Mega Evolution, which means having to beat the same Raid boss several times. It's even worse if you're unable to find other players to join the raid with you, as the Mega-Evolved Raid Bosses are absolutely ''brutal'' and can KO your Pokémon in a matter of seconds while only having a tiny sliver trimmed off their own health bar. Many consider them to be harder than fighting the Legendaries.
** Mega Charizard X is the worst of the bunch if it has Dragon Claw as its charged attack. Since Dragon Claw doesn't take much energy to charge, Mega Charizard X can and will use it multiple times against you in rapid succession. Since Mega Charizard X is part Dragon, Dragon Claw will get a boost in attack power, making it extremely lethal unless your lead Pokémon is tanky and can resist Dragon.

* Back when Shuckle was a tier 3 boss, people expected it to be easy due to having extremely low CP, however its insane defense made it literally impossible to solo and even hard to duo without proper counters.

** Arlo with Fury Cutter!Scyther was a nightmare in the early days. Take every annoying aspect of Scyther and Scizor packing the move and turn it UpToEleven for a frustrating experience that also included either Magnezone, Crobat or Gyarados, the worst of the pack, who could shut down your Fire-types before reaching Scizor. Alternatives to Scizor weren't a cakewalk either: the Fire/Flying beast Charizard or the Dragon/Flying terror Dragonite. Have fun!

* If the male Normal-type grunt leads in with Teddiursa, [[SurpriseDifficulty watch out]]. What the Teddiursa lacks in power and durability it makes up for in sheer attack speed, resulting in it being capable of [[DeathOfAThousandCuts draining your first Pokémon's HP in only a few seconds only using its fast attack]] if you aren't prepared for it, even if your Pokémon resists the type of the move Teddiursa is using. Plus, it can sport the Fairy type attack Play Rough as its charged attack, making mincemeat of your Fighting types. Then, if you're really unlucky, you will have a Snorlax to go through after that. If the Snorlax in question has Lick as its fast attack, you shouldn't have much to worry about, but if it has the Psychic-type Zen Headbutt, there's a chance the battle may end with a TotalPartyKill, as Fighting-type Pokémon are the usual choice to tackle on Normal grunts.
* Psychic-type Grunts can start with the tanky Wobbuffet which may have either Counter or Charm as its fast attack, which counter Dark type pokémon. It also gets STAB from Mirror Coat, its only charge move. Their lineups also may include one or two members of the Drowzee/Hypno line, which, in addition to their tankiness, were very sought out during the 2020 Kanto cup due to Hypno's varied moveset, which includes the powerful Ghost-type attack Shadow Ball and the Ice, Fire and Electric punches, which can nullify a lot of threats.
* Dark-type grunts have at least one member of the half-Poison Stunky line, which decimates fairies with Sludge Bomb (and Skuntank's Poison Jab) and neutralizes damage taken from Psychic (due to the Dark typing taking a quarter of damage from any Psychic attack) and Bug (due to its Poison typing doing the same) types while also dishing out quite a lot in return (with the Bite/Crunch combo) thanks to the Shadow bonus. The line even has the Fire type charged attack Flamethrower, for extra coverage. It's not uncommon to find Rocket grunts with three mons belonging to this line.

** One of Cliff's early drops was Stantler, which could spawn with the Psychic-type attack Zen Headbutt nullifying its weakness to Fighting types.

* Back during the Tier 4 existence, if you are trying to duo Metagross you are in for a surprise, because it is insanely hard, and even 6 maxed-out Moltres counters will defeat it in around less than 10 seconds left, assuming all of the Moltres are maxed-out and all players are Best Friends with each other.

* Arlo with Fury Cutter!Scyther was a nightmare in the early days. Take every annoying aspect of Scyther and Scizor packing the move and turn it UpToEleven for a frustrating experience that also included either Magnezone, Crobat or Gyarados, the worst of the pack, who could shut down your Fire-types before reaching Scizor. Alternatives to Scizor weren't a cakewalk either: the Fire/Flying beast Charizard or the Dragon/Flying terror Dragonite. Have fun!
* Sierra usually has a Lapras on her team with water or ice based fast attacks that hit ''very'' fast. Thanks to Lapras being quite the tank with its defense and HP, you'll be chipping away at it while it steamrolls your team. On some occasions, Sierra will have ''two'' Lapras, or worse: Lapras as her first mon. Good luck taking down those shields!
* One of Cliff's early drops was Stantler, which could spawn with the Psychic-type attack Zen Headbutt nullifying its weakness to Fighting types.

!! Raid bosses

!! Team GO Rocket

* Early on, Tier 3 Jolteon. While this might seem like a typical high difficulty tier 3 raid boss at first, it only has a sole weakness to ground. The problem? Back then, Ground moves were limited to Earthquake (And later Bulldoze on Mamoswine) and were incredibly slow and inefficent, so most of the time you are barely doing any damage and you will time out. Groudon makes this slightly better, although you will still need to have them maxed or near-maxed out in order to see any visible result.
* Tier 3 Alakazam used to be such a thing. When the raid system first got out, Alakazam solos were among one of the hardest things to do in the entire game. Not only it had incredibly high attack, it even has a high defense stat[[note]]which means that you can time out in front of it if your Pokémon are not strong enough[[/note]], and even its best counters could get knocked out: Gengar was out in four confusions[[note]]its half Poison typing wasn't helping matters[[/note]], Tyranitar was out with a single Focus Blast[[note]]Due to the attack being Fighting type, which means that it inflicts 4x damage on the Rock/Dark type Tyranitar; thankfully, Focus Blast is still easy to dodge and it's a one-bar attack, which means that it's defintely not going to spam it. Beware of self destruct desyncs however.[[/note]] and can OHKO Gengar or severely cripple Mewtwo with just one Shadow Ball[[note]]Unlike Focus Blast, Alakazam will spam this move and it's also significantly harder to dodge[[/note]]. Thankfully, due to the double nerfs at late 2018 and much better counters such as Weavile and Giratina Origin being available, it's much easier than it is before.

* If the male Normal-type grunt leads in with Teddiursa, [[SurpriseDifficulty watch out]]. What the Teddiursa lacks in power and durability it makes up for in sheer attack speed, resulting in it being capable of [[DeathOfAThousandCuts draining your first Pokémon's HP in only a few seconds only using its fast attack]] if you aren't prepared for it, even if your Pokémon resists the type of the move Teddiursa is using. Plus, it can sport the Fairy type attack Play Rough as its charged attack, making mincemeat of your Fighting types. Then, if you're really unlucky, you will have a Snorlax to go through after that. If the Snorlax in question has Lick as its fast attack, you shouldn't have much to worry about, but if it has the Psychic-type Zen Headbutt, there's a chance the battle may end with a TotalPartyKill, as Fighting-type pokémon are the usual choice to tackle on Normal grunts.

* Flying-type grunts can spawn with Skarmory, one of the high kings of the Great League. On top of its 10 resistances, access to the devastating fast attacks Steel Wing and Air Slash, and its bulkiness, it has the 20% shadow damage bonus turning it into a nightmare. And if you're really unlucky, at the end of the lineup, you may find a Dragonite, Crobat or Gyarados, which not only can tank pokémon they're weak against but also decimate them in seconds if they spawn with the right (for them, of course) moveset.

* One of Cliff's early drops was Stantler, which could spawn with the psychic attack Zen Headbutt nullifying its weakness to Fighting types.

* The "neutal" female grunt. Neutral grunts use a mix of Shadow Pokémon that follow a certain theme rather than typing. While the male one is "starters" (they'll always have at least one member of the Kanto starters), the female one seems to be "strength": her lineup may contain PVP regulars such as Snorlax, Dragonite, Lapras, Poliwrath, Gardevoir or Gyarados, whose already high dangerousness level is increased with the Shadow bonus. This one can easily result in a TotalPartyKill if you don't have something fast and strong enough, since they can easily knock out anything weak or even neutral to their typings. Needless to say, slow-charging Pokémon don't work. Have fun not knowing what to prepare for.
* If the male Normal-type grunt leads in with Teddiursa, [[SurpriseDifficulty watch out]]. What the Teddiursa lacks in power and durability it makes up for in sheer attack speed, resulting in it being capable of [[DeathOfAThousandCuts draining your first Pokémon's HP in only a few seconds only using its fast attack]] if you aren't prepared for it, even if your Pokémon resists the type of the move Teddiursa is using. Then, if you're really unlucky, you will have a Snorlax to go through after that. If the Snorlax in question has Lick as its fast attack, you shouldn't have much to worry about, but if it has the Psychic-type Zen Headbutt, there's a chance the battle may end with a TotalPartyKill, as Fighting-type pokémon are the usual choice to tackle on Normal grunts.

* Tier 3 Claydol. While it has a cp of merely around 13000, it has among one of the highest defense of any raid boss, to the point that Kyogre and Gengar need to be nearly maxed to even have a chance. The other high tier counters, such as Shadow Ball Mewtwo, Tyranitar, Gyarados and Sceptile need weather boost to even succeed despite high DPS. While it is much easier in the 2019 Hoenn event, due to the raid boss HP boost afterwards, it has returned back to its past difficulty and your non-Kyogre counters, including Giratina Origin and Mamoswine need to be maxed to even stand a chance.
* Tier 3 Jolteon. While this might seem like a typical high difficulty tier 3 raid boss at first, it only has a sole weakness to ground. The problem? Ground moves are limited to Earthquake (And recently Bulldoze on Mamoswine) and are incredibly slow and inefficent, so most of the time you are barely doing any damage and you will time out. Groudon makes this slightly better, although you will still need to have them maxed or near-maxed to have any visible effect.
* Tier 3 Alakazam used to be such a thing. When the raid system is first out, Alakazam solos are among one of the hardest things to do in the entire game. Not only it has incredibly high attack and while ghost and dark type Pokémon are the best counters, it can knock out a Gengar in four confusions, can knock out a Tyranitar in a single Focus Blast [[note]]Thankfully, Focus Blast is easy to dodge and it's a one-bar, which means that it is defintely not going to spam it. Beware of self destruct desyncs however[[/note]] and can OHKO Gengar or severely cripple Mewtwo with just one Shadow Ball [[note]]Unlike Focus Blast, it will spam this move and it's also significantly harder to dodge[[/note]], it even has a high defense stat, which means that you can time out in front of it if your Pokémon are not strong enough. Thankfully, due to the double nerfs at late 2018 and you get much better counters such as Weavile and Giratina Origin, it's much easier than it is before.
* Tier 3 Flareon used to be incredibly difficult to solo, to the point that it is a HopelessBossFight. This is due to its incredibly high defense combined with virtually no effective counters, as Golem and Vaporeon lack firepower. Thankfully, this is averted since you get much stronger counters now, such as Waterfall Gyarados, Kyogre, Smack Down Tyranitar and Rhyperior.

* It didn't take long for the first of the Mega Raid bosses to earn the ire of players. While they're advertised as Tier 5 Raid bosses, they require a minimum of 6 players to beat and the Mega energy gained from each victory isn't enough to get the first Mega Evolution, which means having to beat the same Raid boss several times. It's even worse if you're unable to find other players to join the raid with you, as the Mega-Evolved Raid Bosses are absolutely ''brutal'' and can KO your Pokémon in a matter of seconds while only having a tiny sliver trimmed off their own health bar. Many consider them to be harder than fighting the Legendaries. Mega Charizard X is the worst of the bunch if it has Dragon Claw. Since Dragon Claw doesn't take much energy to charge, Mega Charizard X can and will use it multiple times against you in rapid succession. Since Mega Charizard X is part Dragon, Dragon Claw will get a boost in attack power, making it extremely lethal unless your lead Pokémon is tanky and can resist Dragon.

* The female one who has two shadow Snorlax and a shadow Dragonite. While Shadow Pokémon are much stronger than normal Pokémon and only higher level players can face the strongest teams, this one can easily result in a TotalPartyKill if you don’t have something fast and strong enough like a level 30+ Tyranitar or a level 35+ Lucario with Counter/Power-Up Punch, since they can easily knock out anything weak or even neutral to Ghost/Psychic/Dragon/Steel, even if you are using Machamps with Counter/Dynamic Punch. Needless to say, slow-charging Pokémon like Groudon and Rayquaza don't work.
** Said female grunt has grown to expand her team, and now can include various other pokemon, such as powerful PVP Pokémon like Lapras, Poliwrath, and Pokémon powerful in both gameplay styles, specifically Gardevoir, Gyarados, and the earlier mentioned ''Shadow Dragonite''. Oh, and she can still have Snorlax. Have fun no longer knowing what to prepare for.