Cobalion Duo/Trio Guide
Cobalion's Base 192 Attack isn't great by PvE standards. An even worse movepool in Metal Claw, Zen Headbutt, Close Combat, Iron Head, and Stone Edge means that Cobalion should never see the light of day in PvE. Metal Claw/Iron Head isn't a bad Steel-type moveset, but Cobalion's Base 192 Attack means it falls below Metagross, Dialga, Scizor, Durant, and even Aggron's level of performance.
That said, a Tier 5 Raid is a Tier 5 Raid, and it's still worth doing Cobalion in small groups to maximize Rare Candy gains.
The duo is possible, but it requires Sunny weather to pull off.
Outside of Sun, Cobalion is a fairly easy trio.
- Metal Claw is boosted by STAB, but is resisted by the multitude of Fire-types that reign supreme in this fight, and is therefore slightly easier to go against than Zen Headbutt. Zen Headbutt also hits Fighting-types for super effective damage.
- Iron Head is boosted by STAB and comes out frequently, due to being a 2-Bar move. However, Fire-types naturally resist Steel, making Iron Head one of the easiest Cobalion movesets to go against.
- Close Combat is boosted by STAB, but for a 1-Bar move it doesn't hurt that much. Many of the best Pokemon in this fight also possess a resistance to Fighting; in Chandelure's case, it possesses an Immunity-tier resistance to Fighting.
- Stone Edge, although lacking STAB, hits Fire-types very hard, especially Fire/Flying types such as Moltres and Charizard, and is therefore the hardest moveset to go against.
- Stone Edge Cobalion cannot be duoed without extremely good RNG.
- Sun boosts the power of your Fire-type attacks, and is necessary to pull off the Cobalion duo.
- Cloudy boosts the power of your Fighting-type attacks. However, even with a Cloudy boost, Fighting-types are not capable of duoing Cobalion (until Conkeldurr is released).
Cobalion Duo - Viable Counters
Minimum viable levels assume Best Friends, Sunny Weather, no Dodging.
Italics indicate a Legacy move.
Level 40 Counter/Blast Burn Blaziken falls a little short of being duo-viable by itself; if you have enough Chandelures and Moltres carrying, a few Blast Burn Blazikens can be safely slotted in.
Level 40 Fire Spin/Overheat Moltres falls a little short of being duo-viable; again, if you have enough Chandelures carrying, a few Moltres can be slotted in against Close Combat.
Cobalion Trio - Viable Counters
Minimum viable levels assume Best Friends, no Weather, no Dodging.
Italics indicate a Legacy move.
Compared to the Sunny duo, trioing Cobalion is much easier, and many more attackers are trio-viable. Against Iron Head, Fire-types do very well due to their resistance to Steel.
Overall, Close Combat is slightly harder than Iron Head to go against. However, Close Combat is also easier to dodge, and this fight's DPS check is lenient enough that you can afford to dodge a bit to save on Revives without jeopardizing your run.
Stone Edge hits hard, is difficult to dodge, and hits Fire-types for massive damage, especially Moltres and Charizard. Fighting-types, due to their resistance to Rock, perform a bit better against Stone Edge than Fire-types.
