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Pokémon GO bosses come in two varieties: raids and Team Go Rocket fights. Here we're going to mention the boss fights that can make a player experience hell itself.

Note that PoGo has constant balancing updates, and newer mons become available with every update, so better counters can nullify these threats. Bear in mind, however, that this still means that newer examples (and updated old examples) may appear as well.


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    Raid bosses 
  • Tier 3 Claydol. While it has a CP of merely around 13000, it has one of the highest defense of any raid boss, to the point that Kyogre and Gengar need to be nearly maxed out in order to even have a chance. Other high tier counters such as Shadow Ball!Mewtwo, Tyranitar, Gyarados and Sceptile need weather boost in order to even succeed, despite having high DPS. While the 2019 Hoenn event made things easier due to the raid boss HP boost afterwards, it went back to its past difficulty and your non-Kyogre counters, including Giratina Origin and Mamoswine need to be maxed out in order to even stand a chance.
  • 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 inefficient, 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 statnote , and even its best counters could get knocked out: Gengar was out in four confusionsnote , Tyranitar was out with a single Focus Blastnote  and can OHKO Gengar or severely cripple Mewtwo with just one Shadow Ballnote . 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.
  • Tier 3 Flareon used to be incredibly difficult to solo, 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 similar to Flareon, but 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. At the next time it was released, though, players did have much more effective counters such as Rampardos and Palkia, although the latter does not have a water fast move.
  • Tier 3 Shuckle. People expected it to be easy due to having extremely low CP, but its insane defense made it literally impossible to solo and even hard to duo without proper counters — and since raid bosses have fixed HP based on their tier, Shuckle's normal drawback of pitifully low HP is completely negated. 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.
  • Back when Tier 4 raids existed, duoing Metagross was insanely hard, and even 6 maxed-out Moltres counters per person could only defeat it with less than 10 seconds left, assuming all players are Best Friends with each other.
  • As far as lower Tiers go, Cloyster takes the cake. Cloyster is a Tier 2 raid boss, but its defense is so high that non-lv30+ Machamps and Raikous will fail to even tickle it. Thankfully due to the double nerf, it should be much easier than before if it returns, being lower in difficulty than Piloswine at Tier 3 according to online simulations.
  • While the original Mega Raid Bosses were advertised as Tier 5 Raid bosses, they required a minimum of 6 players to beat and the Mega energy gained from each victory wasn't enough to get the first Mega Evolution, which meant having to beat the same Raid boss several times. It was even worse if you were unable to find other players to join the raid with you, as the Mega-Evolved Raid Bosses were absolutely brutal and could KO your Pokémon in a matter of seconds while only having a tiny sliver trimmed off their own health bar. Many considered them to be harder than fighting the Legendaries.
    • Mega Charizard X was the worst of the bunch if it had 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.
    • Thankfully, part of the Mega Evolution rework involved considerably toning down the power of these bosses; they're now equivalent to the old Tier 4 bosses, can be comfortably beaten with as few as 4 players (possibly fewer with strong counters and friendship bonuses, depending on the boss), and a single victory can be enough to get the Mega yourself if you beat it in less than half the time limit.

    Team GO Rocket 
Team GO Rocket fights use Player Versus Player rules, including rules for certain moves, plus the mons come with the Shadow bonus that grants them a 20% attack bonus (and a 20% defense penalty making them glass cannons), so any non-seasoned player wanting to tackle out Rockets must take care against these threats and raise the right Master League counters for these threats:
  • The "neutral" 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 Total Party Kill 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, watch out. What the Teddiursa lacks in power and durability it makes up for in sheer attack speed, resulting in it being capable of 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. (It also has Play Rough, but it will beat or dent your pokémon before it can use it) 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 Total Party Kill, as Fighting-type Pokémon are the usual choice to tackle on Normal grunts.
  • Psychic-type Grunts can start with a few troublesome pokémon:
    • 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.
    • Girafarig. These things deny the use of any ghost types because they are also Normal-types — since you're guaranteed to encounter at least one in the April 3, 2022 rotation, forget using Giratina Origin. They also hit abnormally hard with both of their fast moves, that they will soften or dent your counters if they aren't fast or resilient enough.
  • 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 Bite) thanks to the Shadow bonus. (Skuntank also has Flamethrower, but you don't want any rocket pokémon to throw their charged moves anyways) It's not uncommon to find Rocket grunts with three mons belonging to this line.
  • 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.
  • While the grunts can be hard but easily beat due to their Poor, Predictable Rock 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.
    • 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 up a notch 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, 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.
    • Perhaps the worst of the bunch however, is Giovanni's Persian. With Feint Attack it's fine, but with Scratch, it does way more damage than the aforementioned Teddiursa, and it often takes out at least one of its supposed counters before it can throw a single charged move. If you even let anything else from him land a few unresisted fast moves, they will also drain your pokémon's HP in the drop of a hat.

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