Top PvE Attackers

Ice-types have a wide offensive coverage: in addition to Flying-types, Ice-types are super-effective against Dragon, Grass, and Ground. They are most effective when preying on 4x weaknesses (eg. Dragon/Flying-types such as Rayquaza).

• Mamoswine is head-and-shoulders above the rest of the Ice-type competition. Any Raid Boss that is 4x weak to Ice is trivial to duo with an army of adequately-leveled Mamoswine.
• Weavile makes its second appearance, this time with its Ice-type moveset. Although Weavile falls short of Mamoswine in both DPS and bulk, it's still a very good Ice-type option - just not as good as the Ice-type king.
• Glaceon is essentially interchangeable with Weavile as the 2nd-best Ice-type. While its DPS is a little lower than Weavile's, its increased bulk more than makes up for it, and high-level Eevees are easier to find than high-level Sneasels.
• Ice Beam Mewtwo sneaks its way onto this list as the 4th-best "Ice-type". Despite lacking STAB on Ice Beam, Mewtwo's enormous 300 Base Attack allows it to outperform several other Ice-types with lower Attack stats, such as Articuno. It's solidly outclassed by the above 3 Ice-types, though.
• If the target is not weak to Psychic, use Psycho Cut, as its Energy gain is higher, and the majority of your damage will be from your Charge Move. If the target is weak to Psychic, use Confusion, as its damage when super effective is significant.

Use Ice-types against: Zapdos, Lugia, Latias¹, Latios¹, Groudon², Rayquaza, Giratina¹, Shaymin-Sky, Tornadus, Thundurus, Landorus, Zekrom¹, Yveltal, Zygarde, Tapu Bulu³, Ultra Necrozma¹, Guzzlord⁴, Naganadel¹

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¹ Due to their extremely high Attack stats, the Big 6 Dragons are generally stronger counters to Dragons that are only 2x weak to Ice.

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² Avoid using Ice-types against Fire Blast Groudon; additionally, avoid using Mamoswine against Solar Beam Groudon.

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³ Poison-types will be significantly more effective against Tapu Bulu (Grass/Fairy).

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⁴ Fairy-types will be significantly more effective against Guzzlord (Dragon/Dark).

Rock-types were highly-demanded at the start of the Legendary Raid meta. While their importance has declined since then, Rampardos is so far above its competition that it will continue to brute-force its way into the top counters for any Legendaries that are weak to Rock.

• Rampardos' 295 Base Attack is higher than Rayquaza's. It also has a fantastic Rock moveset in Smack Down/Rock Slide. Anything Rock Tyranitar can do, Rampardos does about 100 seconds faster. While it is notably glassier than Tyranitar and Rhyperior, Rampardos' Rock-type DPS is in a completely different league.
• For perspective: Tyranitar and Rhyperior are capable of easily duoing Moltres. Rampardos, however, may be able to solo Moltres with a Partly Cloudy boost.
• Tyranitar is a great Pokemon stat-wise. Unfortunately, it needs its Community Day-exclusive move Smack Down to really shine as a Rock-type. Even with Smack Down, it's still utterly outclassed by Rampardos in terms of DPS; however, Tyranitar maintains a sizeable bulk advantage over Rampardos.
  • Tyranitar without Smack Down is outclassed in pure Rock-type DPS by other Rock-types such as Golem.
  • Please don't use your Bite/Crunch Tyranitars against Raid Bosses that require Rock-type DPS. The only exception is if the Raid Boss is weak to both Dark and Rock (eg. Lugia), in which case Bite/Stone Edge will outperform Smack Down/Stone Edge; even in those cases, there are numerous better options than Tyranitar.
• Rhyperior is a very slight downgrade to Smack Down Tyranitar; however, it's not limited by a legacy moveset like Tyranitar is. As with Tyranitar, it falls far short of Rampardos' DPS, but it's much tankier.
• Aerodactyl is 'only' around as powerful as Rhyperior and Tyranitar, but it lacks their bulk, being as glassy as Rampardos without the stupidly high firepower that Rampardos brings.
• Golem (and its Alolan variant) are distinct B-tier options that, in a pinch, will serve you decently well.

Use Rock-types against: Articuno, Moltres, Zapdos, Entei, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Regice, Rayquaza¹, Shaymin-Sky¹, Tornadus, Thundurus, Reshiram², Kyurem², Yveltal, Volcanion³, Blacephalon

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¹ Ice-types are significantly more effective against Rayquaza and Shaymin-Sky (Grass/Flying).

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² The Big 6 Dragons are generally stronger counters against Dragons that are only 2x weak to Rock; however, Rampardos' DPS is so high that it can easily compete as a top counter.

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³ Volcanion (Water/Fire) will likely have lethal Water-type attacks for Rock-types.

Electric-types have a narrower offensive coverage than Ice or Rock, only being super-effective against Water in addition to Flying, but that doesn't make Electric-types useless. Kyogre is one of the hardest Raids in the game, and it's also among the strongest and most-desirable Legendary Pokemon. Electric-types are consistently the best counters to it - against Blizzard Kyogre, Electric-types are essentially required to pull off the trio.

• Raikou is overall the best Electric-type attacker in the game. Thunder Shock/Wild Charge is a fantastic Electric-type moveset, and Raikou's 241 Base Attack is more than good enough for it to put in work. While Raikou has slightly lower DPS than Electivire, it's significantly bulkier, and in many fights that extra bulk offsets the slight DPS advantage that Electivire offers.
• Electivire is blessed with the same Thunder Shock/Wild Charge moveset that makes Raikou so good. Electivire has an even higher Attack stat than Raikou, solidifying its place as the #1 Electric-type DPS - although it is noticeably glassier than Raikou.
• Zapdos is the other Electric-type Legendary currently in the game. While Zapdos has the highest Attack stat on this list (except Mewtwo) at 253, it unfortunately has moveset problems. Thunderbolt is worse than Wild Charge, and its best Fast Move, Thunder Shock, is legacy. Furthermore, its secondary Flying type tends to be more of a detriment than a benefit - against Kyogre, for example, Zapdos is weak to Blizzard and only neutral to Thunder, while other pure-Electric types would be neutral to Blizzard and resist Thunder. Zapdos is still a great Pokemon, but the lack of Wild Charge really holds it back from its full potential.
• Magnezone's DPS is respectable, but it falls slightly short of the top 3 Electric-types. What makes it really stand out is its typing: Electric/Steel is a fantastic type combination that gives it 11 resistances and 1 immunity-tier resistance.
• Luxray, if you have one powered up, is a strict downgrade to the above 4 Electric-types; however, it's still a decent option that outperforms Jolteon. Shinx being confined to Eggs and Raids may make it less likely that you have the Candy to power a Luxray up, though.
• Thunderbolt Mewtwo yet again shows up on one of these lists when it's not even the right type. As with Ghost Mewtwo and Ice Mewtwo, Electric Mewtwo performs adequately enough as an "Electric-type" thanks to its 300 Base Attack and access to Thunderbolt.
• If the target is not weak to Psychic, use Psycho Cut, as its Energy gain is higher, and the majority of your damage will be from your Charge Move. If the target is weak to Psychic, use Confusion, as its damage when super effective is significant.

Use Electric-types against: Articuno¹, Moltres¹, Suicune, Lugia, Ho-Oh¹, Kyogre, Tornadus, Keldeo, Yveltal, Volcanion, Tapu Fini, Celesteela

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¹ Rock-types are significantly more effective against these Pokemon due to their 4x weakness.

Psychic-types generally have only one purpose in Pokemon Go: soloing Machamp Raids. Past that, they aren't really useful for anything else; Gen 5 has 4 Fighting-type Legendaries, but only 3 of them are weak to Psychic, and against those 3, Psychic-types face heavy competition from other types.

• With the addition of its signature move Psystrike, Mewtwo is by far the best Psychic-type in the game. Psystrike paired with Mewtwo's insane base stats is so strong that, in Windy weather, Mewtwo outperforms Groudon against Raikou, despite lacking type advantage. If you don't have a Psystrike Mewtwo, Psychic Mewtwo is a steep downgrade, but still the 2nd-best Psychic-type option.
• Azelf is Mewtwo-lite and is unquestionably the 3rd-best Psychic-type. Future Sight is a much better move than Psychic, but Mewtwo's base stats are simply too high for Azelf to compete with; that said, 270 Base Attack is still very good. The problem with Azelf: Mewtwo exists. If Mewtwo can be a top-tier attacker for Ghost, Ice, Electric, Fire, AND Psychic, while Azelf is only a top-tier attacker for Psychic, it's difficult to justify giving Azelf Rare Candies over Mewtwo.
• Espeon is a strong, accessible Psychic-type option. Given the narrow usage of Psychic-types in Pokemon Go, evolving a team of high-level Espeons is probably the most dust-efficient strategy for soloing Machamp Raids.
• Alakazam is similar to Espeon in overall performance; compared to Espeon, it has higher DPS, but lower bulk. Both will get the job done fine, but Alakazam may be less accessible than Espeon for some due to Abra's rarity.
• Gardevoir's main standout quality is its part-Fairy typing, which gives it a 4x resistance to Fighting-type moves. However, Machamp also carries Heavy Slam, which is super-effective against Fairy-types.
• Gallade, with its Community Day-exclusive move Synchronoise, moves up from being completely worthless to being a pretty decent Psychic-type attacker. It's still worse than Alakazam and Espeon, and being a good Psychic attacker doesn't mean much for the PvE meta, but it's still an improvement from its previous state.

  Use Psychic-types against: Terrakion, Virizion¹, Keldeo, Meloetta-Pirouette, Marshadow, Nihilego², Buzzwole ¹, Pheromosa ¹, Naganadel³

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  ¹ Flying-types will be significantly more effective against Virizion (Grass/Fighting), Buzzwole (Bug/Fighting), and Pheromosa (Bug/Fighting).

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  ² Ground-types will be significantly more effective against Nihilego (Rock/Poison).

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  ³ Due to their extremely high Attack stats, the Big 6 Dragons will be better counters to Naganadel (Poison/Dragon).

Ground-types have great stats, but they are cursed with absolutely terrible moves. The only saving grace for Ground-types is that Electric-types are only weak to Ground, and that a few Legendaries are 4x weak to Ground. In all other scenarios, avoid using Ground-types if you have the choice of using a Pokemon of another type.

• Excadrill has lower base stats than Groudon. The difference: Excadrill has Drill Run, which is one of the very few Ground-type moves that aren't terrible. As a result, Excadrill solidly outperforms Groudon DPS-wise, and is generally a better Ground-type attacker. However, Excadrill is significantly squishier than Groudon, and its Steel typing doesn't do it many favors against Heatran with Fire moves.
• Groudon is Kyogre's counterpart, the god of the land. While it has the same monstrous stats as Kyogre, Earthquake is so bad that Solar Beam, which lacks STAB, outperforms it when Grass and Ground are the same effectiveness. Despite losing its spot of #1 Ground-type to Excadrill, Groudon is still significantly bulkier, and it can only improve in the future with its signature move Precipice Blades and its Primal form.
• Garchomp is the best non-Legendary Ground-type. In matchups against Electric-types, Garchomp can actually surpass Groudon's performance, thanks to its Dragon/Ground-typing that gives it a 6x resistance to Electric-type moves. However, Gible's current rarity, its inevitable Community Day, and the minimal utility of Ground-type attackers means you may want to hold onto your best Gibles; in the meantime, the other Ground-types below will still get the job done.
• Rhyperior can also flex as a Ground-type attacker with its Mud Slap/Earthquake moveset. It's a definite downgrade from Groudon or Garchomp, but it's much more accessible than either of those two.
• Mamoswine is a decent enough Ground-type attacker, but it's much better-suited to attacking as an Ice-type. That secondary Ice-typing significantly reduces Mamoswine's performance as a Ground-type attacker - it becomes weak to Fire and Steel, two of the types that you would typically want to use Ground-types against.
• Rhydon is the ultimate budget Ground-type option, requiring only 25 Rhyhorn Candies to evolve. However, Rhydon is significantly weaker than Rhyperior; it can't reliably trio Raikou, and it is a very shaky duo against Heatran.

Use Ground-types against: Raikou, Entei¹, Regirock¹, Registeel¹, Dialga¹, Heatran, Cobalion¹, Terrakion¹, Zekrom¹, Diancie², Volcanion³, Tapu Koko¹, Solgaleo¹, Necrozma-Dusk¹, Magearna¹, Zeraora, Nihilego, Xurkitree, Stakataka⁴

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¹ Ideally, use another type that's super-effective instead of Ground.

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² Steel-types will be significantly more effective against Diancie (Rock/Fairy).

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³ Volcanion's Water-type attacks will be lethal to most Ground-types except Garchomp. Also, use another super-effective type if possible.

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⁴ Stakataka (Rock/Steel) is 4x weak to both Ground and Fighting; Fighting-types will be significantly stronger because of how weak Ground-type moves are.

Fire-types generally have good to great stats, and above-average moves. When a Raid Boss is weak to Fire, Fire-types are often near the top of the list of counters. The main problem that Fire-types face: there just aren't a whole lot of Legendary Raids that require Fire-type DPS.

• Chandelure is arguably the #1 Fire-type Pokemon in the game, with a very high 271 Base Attack and the flagship Fire-type moveset Fire Spin/Overheat. With Fire-type DPS on par with CD Blaziken and better bulk, Chandelure's only downside is its current rarity and the need for a Unova Stone.
• Moltres is armed (winged?) with an excellent Base 251 Attack and a very strong STAB moveset in Fire Spin/Overheat. While Community Day Blaziken has higher DPS, Moltres retains a significant bulk advantage over Blaziken.
• Blaziken with its Community Day-exclusive move Blast Burn jumps past Moltres to take the crown of #1 Fire-type DPS, though it is considerably more frail. Unlike many other Community Day Pokemon, Blaziken was blessed with a second, permanent addition to its movepool, Blaze Kick. Blaze Kick is not quite as good as Blast Burn; with Blaze Kick, Blaziken's DPS falls below Moltres. However, Blaze Kick Blaziken is still soundly ahead of the next best Fire-type option, Charizard.
• Charizard with its Community Day-exclusive move Blast Burn is a discount Moltres, falling short in both DPS and TDO. Still, "discount Moltres" is not a bad title to have, and Charizard has the benefit of not requiring Rare Candies to power up. The downside: Charizard needs to have Blast Burn to really stand out as a Fire-type attacker. Without it, it's a rather mediocre option that is outperformed by Flareon and Heatran.
• Entei is the lower-DPS, higher-TDO Fire-type option compared to Moltres. The decision between Moltres and Entei is up to player preference; however, Moltres does have higher DPS, and in certain matchups (eg. against Bug or Grass) its Flying type can make it even bulkier than Entei.
• Flareon is the most accessible option on this list. As with most Eeveelutions, Flareon's performance falls slightly but significantly short of the top-tiers. Flareon is incapable of trioing Registeel, for example, while Moltres and sometimes Blaziken can. That said, with how easy (relatively) it is to acquire multiple high-level Eevees, and with how little usage Fire-types see, evolving a team of serviceable high-level Flareons may be a better use of resources than maxing 6 Moltres.
• Heatran is another case of a Legendary with great base stats, amazing typing, and a mediocre moveset. Heatran with Overheat is right up there with Moltres' Fire-type DPS, and is much bulkier to boot. Unfortunately, Heatran got stuck with Fire Blast instead, dropping its DPS below that of Flareon's. It's still very bulky, but DPS is generally more important when shortmanning Raids, and Heatran's DPS is just rather lackluster, especially when it requires Rare Candy investment.

Use Fire-types against: Articuno¹, Regice, Registeel, Shaymin-Sky², Cobalion, Virizion³, Genesect, Tapu Bulu⁴, Solgaleo, Necrozma-Dusk, Magearna, Buzzwole³, Pheromosa³, Celesteela, Kartana

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¹ Rock-types are significantly more effective due to the 4x weakness.

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² Ice-types will be significantly more effective against Shaymin-Sky (Grass/Flying).

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³ Flying-types will be significantly more effective against Virizion (Grass/Fighting), Buzzwole (Bug/Fighting), and Pheromosa (Bug/Fighting).

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⁴ Poison-types will be significantly more effective against Tapu Bulu (Grass/Fairy).

Flying-types in Pokemon Go are by far the best counters to exactly 3 Legendaries: Virizion (Grass/Fighting), Buzzwole (Bug/Fighting), and Pheromosa (Bug/Fighting). For these 3 Raid Bosses, exploiting their 4x Flying weakness will likely be necessary to duo them. Apart from these 3 very specific fights, however, Flying-types see almost no use. You could use them to solo Machamp, but Psychic-types will generally do that job better.

• With the addition of Wing Attack to its movepool, Moltres with its Raid Day-exclusive move Sky Attack is by far the best Flying-type attacker. Its Fire-typing also makes it quite bulky against Grass- and Bug-type moves.
• Honchkrow is now the 2nd-best Flying-type DPS, having been surpassed by Moltres. However, it still has access to Sky Attack, which sets it ahead of Rayquaza. Furthermore, it is much easier to evolve a team of high-level Murkrows for minimal Stardust investment than it is to power up a team of Moltres or Rayquaza. Given the extremely narrow usage of Flying-types, Honchkrow is probably the most economic option for putting together a Flying-type team.
• Rayquaza's Flying-type DPS is nowhere near as impressive as its Dragon-type DPS. Although Rayquaza's Base Attack is significantly higher than Honchkrow's, Aerial Ace is a subpar move that simply cannot compete with Sky Attack. That said, many players already have one or several powered-up Dragon Rayquazas; a quick TM could net you the 2nd-best Flying-type attacker for no additional Dust/Candy investment, and Flying Rayquaza is still more than good enough to get its job done.
• Unfezant, the Pidgeot of Gen 5, is actually surprisingly good. Its base stats are much lower than Rayquaza, but it received Sky Attack; as a result, Unfezant's DPS is competitive with Rayquaza's, although it is less bulky.
• After the top 4, the Flying-type attacker pool is extremely shallow, with the next highest-DPS options being Pokemon like Swellow, Chatot, and Fearow. If you must invest in a Flying-type attacker, your next best options are most likely Yanmega and Togekiss. Yanmega at least has a secondary role as a top Bug-type attacker, while Togekiss with Charm and Dazzling Gleam can be a pretty decent option against Dragons.

Use Flying-types against: Shaymin-Sky¹, Virizion, Keldeo, Meloetta-Pirouette, Tapu Bulu², Marshadow, Buzzwole, Pheromosa

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¹ Ice-types will be significantly more effective against Shaymin-Sky (Grass/Flying).

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² Poison-types will be significantly more effective against Tapu Bulu (Grass/Fairy).