Kyurem-Black Duo Guide


Overview

Kyurem-Black is a strong contender for being the single best Pokemon in the game, competing only with Psystrike Mewtwo. It has a monstrous 310 Base Attack, 10 points higher than Mewtwo's, with higher bulk than Mewtwo. The most important thing about Kyurem-Black: it received Dragon Tail/Outrage, which is the best Dragon-type moveset it could have hoped for.

All these factors combine to create a monster that does around 10% more DPS than the previous-best Dragon-type, Rayquaza, with around 30% more bulk. If you care at all about having strong Dragons, you will want to raid this as much as possible.

The trio is relatively easy; almost every Dragon-, Fighting-, Rock-, Fairy-, or Steel-type on this list, powered up to around Level 30, will be able to pull off the trio. Outrage is scary if you're using underleveled Dragons, but you can just use other types, or dodge Outrages.

The duo is much harder, but it is still achievable within reason (unlike, say, the unboosted Zekrom duo).


Kyurem's Movesets
Kyurem
Dragon Tail
Outrage
Kyurem
Shadow Claw
Outrage
Kyurem
Dragon Tail
Blizzard
Kyurem
Shadow Claw
Blizzard
Kyurem
Dragon Tail
Stone Edge
Kyurem
Shadow Claw
Stone Edge
Kyurem
Dragon Tail
Iron Head
Kyurem
Shadow Claw
Iron Head
  • Dragon Tail is boosted by STAB, hits much harder than Shadow Claw, and is super effective against Dragons, making it much harder to go against. However, Shadow Claw does hit Metagross for super effective damage.
  • Outrage is boosted by STAB, comes out frequently, and will slaughter your Dragons if not dodged.
    • Dragons are non-viable against Outrage if you do not dodge.
  • Blizzard is boosted by STAB and hits many Dragons for 4x super effective damage. If your Dragon is weak to Ice and it gets hit by a non-dodged Blizzard, it will die.
  • Stone Edge hits the flying Dragons hard, and is difficult to dodge. Without any dodging, the flying Dragons are barely viable against Shadow Claw/Stone Edge, and straight-up non-viable against Dragon Tail/Stone Edge.
  • Iron Head hits decently hard and comes out frequently, but it is not boosted by STAB and is not super effective against any of the top counters except Rampardos, making it by far the easiest Charge Move to go against.

Weather
  • If you're using primarily Dragon-types, Windy provides you with some extra leeway; however, you will still need to dodge Outrages and Blizzards for the Dragons to be viable.
  • Partly Cloudy boosts the power of your Rock-type attacks.
    • With Partly Cloudy, Level 40 Tyranitar becomes capable of duoing against all movesets.
    • If you can dodge, Level 30 Rampardos is capable of duoing against all movesets under Partly Cloudy weather.
  • Cloudy boosts the power of your Fairy- and Fighting-type attacks.
    • With Cloudy, Level 40 Counter/Dynamic Punch Machamp, Hariyama, and Counter/Focus Blast Blaziken can duo against every moveset.
    • If you can dodge, Level 40 Breloom can also duo against every moveset.
    • Under Cloudy weather, Level 40 Charm/Dazzling Gleam Gardevoir and Togekiss can comfortably duo against Outrage, and are borderline duo-viable against Stone Edge.
    • With perfect dodging, Gardevoir is borderline duo-viable against Iron Head and Blizzard.
  • Snow boosts the power of your Steel-type attacks, making the duo drastically easier if you're using primarily Metagross and Dialga.
    • With Snow, Level 40 Jirachi becomes capable of duoing against every moveset.
    • Level 40 Metal Claw/Iron Head Excadrill can duo against every moveset except Blizzard in Snow; if you can dodge, it can duo against Blizzard as well.

Viable Counters

Minimum viable levels assume Best Friends, no Weather, no Dodging.

Italics indicate a Legacy move.

vs. Iron Head

Metagross
Min. Level: 30
Bullet Punch
Meteor Mash
Rayquaza
Min. Level: 35
Dragon Tail
Outrage
Salamence
Min. Level: 35
Dragon Tail
Outrage
Dialga
Min. Level: 35
Metal Claw
Draco Meteor
Garchomp
Min. Level: 40
Dragon Tail
Outrage

Level 40 Palkia and Dragonite are duo-viable against Shadow Claw/Iron Head, but are slightly too weak to consistently duo against Dragon Tail/Iron Head. If you have enough high-level Meteor Mash Metagross carrying, you can afford to slot in a few Palkia or Dragonite.


Metagross is king against all Kyurem movesets; the more Metagross you have, the more you can afford to slot in other, weaker Pokemon without jeopardizing your chances of winning.

Note that Metagross must have Meteor Mash; without Meteor Mash, Metagross is non-viable for the duo, even at Level 40.

vs. Stone Edge

Metagross
Min. Level: 30
Bullet Punch
Meteor Mash
Garchomp
Min. Level: 40
Dragon Tail
Outrage
Dialga
Min. Level: 40
Metal Claw
Draco Meteor
Rampardos
Min. Level: 40
Smack Down
Rock Slide
Palkia
Min. Level: 40
Dragon Tail
Draco Meteor

Level 40 Machamp is slightly too weak to duo against Stone Edge by itself; if you have enough high-level Metagross to make up for the time difference, you can afford to slot in one or two Machamp.

If you can consistently dodge Stone Edges, Level 40 Dragonite, Rayquaza, and Outrage Salamence are duo-viable.

vs. Blizzard

Metagross
Min. Level: 40
Bullet Punch
Meteor Mash
Palkia
Min. Level: 40
Dragon Tail
Draco Meteor

If you can dodge, Level 40 Rampardos and Dialga are duo-viable against Blizzard.

With dodging, Level 40 Rayquaza and Outrage Salamence are duo-viable against Dragon Tail/Blizzard, but fall slightly short of being duo-viable against Shadow Claw/Blizzard.

vs. Outrage - no Dodging

Metagross
Min. Level: 35
Bullet Punch
Meteor Mash

Level 40 Dialga is borderline duo-viable against Outrage without dodging; it's technically viable against Shadow Claw/Outrage, but falls slightly short of viability against Dragon Tail/Outrage.

vs. Outrage - with Dodging

Metagross
Min. Level: 35
Bullet Punch
Meteor Mash
Rayquaza
Min. Level: 40
Dragon Tail
Outrage
Salamence
Min. Level: 40
Dragon Tail
Outrage
Dialga
Min. Level: 40
Metal Claw
Draco Meteor
Rampardos
Min. Level: 40
Smack Down
Rock Slide
Dragonite
Min. Level: 40
Dragon Tail
Outrage

Level 40 Palkia and Garchomp are duo-viable against Shadow Claw/Outrage with dodging, but not against Dragon Tail/Outrage.

Against Dragon Tail/Outrage, Level 40 Garchomp is borderline duo-viable with dodging; if you have high-level Metagross carrying, and you're confident in your ability to dodge Outrages for 5 straight minutes, Garchomp can be slotted in.