Pokemon GO Adventure Week Guide To Raid Boss Aerodactyl

Aerodactyl is reappearing as a raid boss in Pokemon Go today as part of Adventure Week, this time focused on rock-type monsters. Niantic announced it all in a blog post today, saying that the event will start at 1pm PDT on May 24, and finish in just over a week on June 5. If you’re looking to take Aerodactyl on but aren’t sure what Pokemon will work best against the prehistoric beast, then read on for we have the ultimate guide including the best counters, which weather to fight in, and the best movesets for taking him on and once you defeat and capture him.

Aerodactyls can have two different fast moves: Bite or Steel Wing, and thee different charge moves: Iron Head, Hyper Beam or Ancient Power. Water types are very strong against all movesets, while Ancient Power can be deadly against electric types.

Counters

There are two optimal counters for Aerodactyl: Kyogre and Raikou. Unfortunately, both of these are legendary Pokemon so you’re unlikely to have enough for a full team of them, and if you do, you’re unlikely to struggle against Aerodactyl anyway. Nevertheless, here are the best lineups for the two legendaries:

Kyogre

Waterfall and Hydro Pump is the best moveset, or you can switch out Hydro Pump for Blizzard or Thunder for a solid showing. Don’t change Waterfall though.

Raikou

Thunder Shock and Wild Charge are the two top moves for the fight, followed by Volt Switch and Thunderbolt for the fast and charged move respectively.

The following Pokemon are still very strong against Aerodactyl and are unlikely to struggle too much:

Metagross

This turquoise robot can resist every single one of Aerodactyl’s charged moves, making him very tanky and defensive. Bullet Punch and Flash Cannon is far and away the optimal moveset.

Jolteon

Jolteon is likely to be a very common counter as almost every player will have one due to the plethora of Eevees around. Very similar to Raikou, Thunder Shock and Thunderbolt is the optimal moveset, or Thunderbolt can be replaced with Discharge for similar results.

Zapdos

Charge Beam and Thunderbolt are by far the most effective moves to counter any Aerodactyl with.

Vaporeon

Like Jolteon, most players will have a Vaporeon, making it a solid choice. Water Gun and Hydro Pump are two water moves that should lay waste to Aerodactyl.

Gyarados

Very similar to Vaporeon, Gyarados can do a lot of damage with Waterfall and Hydro Pump. Watch out for Ancient Power though, as it does super effective damage here.

Tyranitar

Tyranitar is a good fit for almost any fight, and the same goes here. Iron Tail and Stone Edge are the two moves that will yield the best results.

Aggron

Aggron is like a slightly worse Tyranitar, meaning Iron Tail is again the best fast move choice. Heavy Slam is the most useful charge move however.

Dragonite

Another solid choice for any encounter, Dragonite is especially good in this matchup with Steel Wing, followed by either Draco Meteor or Outrage.

Weather

Aerodactyl is boosted in Snow, Fog, or Partly Cloudy weather. While Snow and Partly Cloudy will also boost your counter options, the best weather to fight in is either Rain or Windy weather as to not boost Aerodactyl’s powers.

Solo

Aerodactyl is more than capable of going down to a level 30+ solo player with the right counters from many of the suggestions above, but for the best chance, bring a buddy along.

Shiny

There’s a lot of rumours going round right now that Aerodactyl will have a shiny version when the winged beast is unleashed later today, so if that’s the case and you’re lucky enough to have the chance to catch one, the catch rate will most likely be 100%, like previous shiny raid boss encounters. So don’t bother with your Razz berries and instead equip those Pinaps for maximum candy gains.

Don’t forget too that the Rock Adventure Week features 4x candy for buddy walking, and spinning a brand new Pokestop will reward you with 10x the amount of experience points. Other rock types like Geodude, Lileep and Nosepass will be much more common too, so get your hunt on.

In other Pokemon news, domain names were registered last week for Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu & Eevee, leading fans to believe these will be the titles for the upcoming Nintendo Switch games. Niantic also announced that Alolan forms, first seen in Sun & Moon, will be coming to Pokemon Go soon.