Dodging Guide

Introduction

If you're used to raiding in 20-person lobbies and just tap furiously for 50 seconds without looking at your phone, you may not even know that you can dodge in Pokemon Go! In addition to tapping, you can swipe left or right, and your Pokemon will perform a dodge as soon as it finishes its previous action. But why bother dodging?

Benefits of Dodging

If you only ever raid in 20-person lobbies, dodging is not important. You'll win with sheer numbers, even if you do absolutely nothing. But if you're raiding with just 1 or 2 other people, dodging can be critically important in some matchups.

If you successfully dodge an attack, your Pokemon will take 75% reduced damage from that attack. With consistent dodging, you can drastically extend the time that a Pokemon is alive, which allows them to deal more total damage. In addition, dodging can allow you to avoid relobbying in certain raids, which will make shortmanning that raid much easier, since you don't have to waste time reviving your Pokemon.

  • For example, if you're using Rayquaza against Draco Meteor Palkia, a single Draco Meteor will oneshot your Rayquaza, even at full health. With no dodging, Rayquaza will die a total of 56 times against Draco Meteor Palkia.
  • Enter dodging: If you dodge all Draco Meteors, Rayquaza will only faint 28 times against the same Palkia.
How to Dodge

Every attack performed by a Raid Boss is preceded by a brief yellow flash. After the yellow flash, you have 0.7 seconds to swipe either left or right.

If you want to dodge more consistently, tap slower. Pokemon Go's combat system features a one-action buffer:

  • If your Pokemon's Fast Move takes 1 second to fully complete, and you tap 2 times in one second, your Pokemon will use its Fast Move once, then immediately follow up with a second Fast Move, for a total of 2 Fast Moves in 2 seconds.
  • If you tap 500 times in one second, your Pokemon will use its Fast Move once, then immediately follow up with a second Fast Move, for a total of 2 Fast Moves in 2 seconds. It will NOT use 500 Fast Moves in 2 seconds just because you're trying to show off your APM to the other raiders.
  • If you tap once, then swipe once, your Pokemon will use its Fast Move once, then immediately follow up with a dodge, for a total of 1 Fast Move and 1 Dodge in ~1.5 seconds.
Negatives of Dodging

Despite being very useful in some situations, you generally should not dodge everything. Why? Taking 75% reduced damage sounds great on paper, right?

If you're raiding with just 1 or 2 other people, the most important enemy is the 300-second timer, not the Raid Boss itself. Dodging reduces your DPS for 2 reasons, and dodging too much can sometimes be the reason you run out of time on a Raid.

  • Time you spend dodging is time you spend not attacking. Each dodge takes around ~0.5 seconds; if you try to dodge every attack, those 0.5 seconds add up to a lot of wasted time.
  • If you take less damage, you will gain less energy. Every time your Pokemon takes damage, it receives some energy; the more damage you take, the more energy you will gain. If you dodge, you will reduce your energy gain from taking damage, which significantly reduces your DPS.