Rayquaza, everyone's favorite flying green dragon from Pokémon's 2002 classics Ruby and Sapphire, has once again returned to raids in Pokémon GO. Rayquaza will be available from July 31 at 1pm PDT until September 2 at 1pm PDT, and this time Niantic has given players a chance to catch a slick, black shiny variant of the dragon. Rayquaza is definitely a Pokémon that trainers will want to get their hands on, so here is everything you need to know in order to add Rayquaza to your Pokédex.
Firstly, Rayquaza is definitely a Pokémon that you want to have on your battle team. Not only does it have one of the coolest designs that we've seen from a legendary Pokémon, but it is also one of the strongest offensive dragon-type weapons you can find in the game. If you're lucky, you might even encounter a shiny Rayquaza, as players are given about a 1-in-19 chance of doing so. The shiny variant won't be any different statistically, but your friends will have quite a hard time competing with how insanely cool it looks.
Taking down Rayquaza this time around is a bit easier than its previous raid release, with the addition of strong ice-type Pokémon like Mamoswine, Glaceon, and Weaville. Ice-type attacks will do the most damage, considering their 4x super effectiveness against the dragon-flying type that is Rayquaza. Fairy, dragon, and rock-type moves will also do a fair amount of damage, although you'll want to stick to ice-type attacks if you have them. As usual, you'll want to form as big of a team as possible to take down the dragon, but teams of just two players have reportedly won the raid when decking their teams out with strong ice-types.
Some of the best Pokémon to use against Rayquaza include Mamoswine with Powder Snow and Avalanche, Weaville with Ice Shard and Avalanche, Glaceon with Frost Breathe and Avalanche, and Mewtwo with Psycho Cut and Ice Beam. If the Rayquaza you're facing does not have Outrage, you can also take it down fairly quickly with another Rayquaza or a Dragonite that knows Outrage. Other great counters include Dialga with Dragon Breath and Draco Meteor, and Regice with Frost Breath and Blizzard.
By far, the best moveset on Rayquaza is Dragon Tail and Outrage. If your Rayquaza knows these moves, it'll surely be an offensive powerhouse. If you've already captured a Rayquaza with this moveset though, you can replace Outrage with Aerial Ace on a separate Rayquaza to give yourself a great flying-type weapon as well. To ensure your Rayquaza is as strong as possible, you'll want to catch it while it's weather-boosted by windy weather. A weather-boosted Rayquaza will spawn at lvl 25 with a CP ranging from 2627-2793, whereas a Rayquaza without the boost will spawn at lvl 20 with a CP ranging from 2102-2191.
So to sum things up, if you really do want to be the very best like no one ever was, you'll definitely want to get your hands on a Rayquaza before it disappears again on September 2. If you're lucky, you might even get your hands on the shiny version of the dragon, which will certainly be a sought-after Pokémon with a high trade value for the foreseeable future.