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Raid Hours are the perfect opportunity for Trainers go get out into the world and catch some rare and powerful Pokémon inPokémon GO.They happen once a week and will always feature the current 5-star raid Pokemon in the current raid pool, unless otherwise stated by Niantic. OnWednesday, June 5th, 2024, our Raid Hour will feature Zapdos, the Electric/Flying-type Legendary Bird from Generation I. The event will take place from the hours of6:00 pm to 7:00 pm local time, similarly to Spotlight Hours. This hour will feature a greater number of 5-star raids, so much so that you’re going to start feeling like you’re being spammed by Niantic.
This guide will set you up with the best tips to make the most of this coming Wednesday’s Raid Hour, so you’re able to net yourself a bunch of Zapdos. This event will be particularly useful to you if you’re not able to Remote Raid much, or you prefer to raid in person with a group of Trainers you know locally. Let’s get into it.
Prepare Your Team
First thing’s first - you’re going to need good Pokemon to raid with. By no means does your team have to be best-in-slot, but you should have at least 6 decent enough counters to go into the raids with. Make sure that they are all healed up (or revived), and that you have Mega Energy ready for any Pokemon you’re going to be Mega Evolving for the hour.
You’re also going to want to do this if you plan on Primal Reversions, too. In this case, you’ll be making sure you have ample Primal Energy for the raids.
For ideas on what types of Pokémon to bring for this raid hour, check out our Zapdos raid guide where we list the best of the best Pokémon to bring to raid against Zapdos. With that said, if the people you’re raiding with have some decent Pokémon, you do not have to have best-in-slot Pokémon and builds for these raids.
Pokémon GO: Zapdos Raid Guide
This Pokémon is beloved by the community as one of the original few Legendaries the franchise has to offer, and holds a special place in our hearts.
In general, you’re going to want to make sure you’re bringing your strongest Ground and Rock-types to the battlefield. Zapdos is weak to Rock-types, being a Flying-type itself. Additionally, your Ground-type Pokemon will take reduced damage from Zapdos’s Electric-type attacks, neutralizing a great portion of its threat against you. Zapdos’s strongest moves are its Electric-types, so if you may find a Ground Pokemon with Rock-type moves in your arsenal, you’re well ahead of the game.
Prepare Your Storage
Make sure you empty out enough space in your Pokemon storage so that you can catch a handful of Zapdos without worrying about having to transfer any Pokemon out. This will keep you engaged through the hour, so it’s best practice to do so.
Additionally, you’re going to want to verify you’ve got ample Healing items for the Raids. Unlike Battle League, your Pokemon will need to be healed after falling in 5-star raid battles. I tend to prepare with the following:
You will probably not burn through all of this, assuming your counters are strong. However, if you have weaker counters, you’re probably going to want more of these. In that case, stock up on what you’re able to get your hands on and ensure you stick close to a good-sized cluster of PokeStops (I like to have at least 4-5 easy ones to spin) so that you can replenish your healing item stocks.
Pokémon GO: All Healing Items
In this guide, we delve deep into the arsenal of healing items at your disposal.
Plan Your Route
You’re going to want to find a spot with a nice cluster of Gyms that areeasy to access. The best spots are going to depend on your area, so verify you’re scouting out places with a good concentration of Gyms. Not every Gym is going to have a Zapdos spawn, so having more of them around will increase your chances at being able to find one and net a couple Zapdos in the mean time.
Additionally, the places with the highest concentrations of Gyms are usually the places with the highest concentration of players. Having a lot of players around to play with will make these raids far easier to take down, as you may have a maximum of 20 players in a single raid. With this amount of people, 5-star raids are kind of a joke. However, that means that you’ll be using less healing items and you’ll be clearing these Zapdos faster. Speed is the name of the game when you’ve only got an hour to accomplish something.
Team Up With Friends
We mentioned above that you can have a maximum of 20 people raiding any given raid at a time. However, you can make thiseven strongerby using the Party Play function in Pokemon GO. Make sure you’re coordinating with friends, sharing your Trainer codes with local Trainers, and forming a party in-game. This will give you awesome boosts to your damage that would otherwise go wasted, because most people don’t think to use Party Play when they’re out and about.
Having a group of friends to Party Play with is a great idea for Raid Hours, and for raiding in general. you may have up tofour Trainersin a Party.
Maximize your Raid Passes
You get a Free Raid Pass every day, and you should save the one you get on Wednesday for the Raid Hour. you may spin Pokemon Gyms to get them. Additionally, you should consider stocking up on some Premium Raid Passes. The Premium Raid Passes can be purchased from the in-game shop for 100 Pokecoins.
You can either purchase Pokecoins with money, or you can get 50 free Pokecoins per day by having Pokémon defend Gyms. These Pokémon will return to you after being defeated from a Gym with an amount of Pokecoins that increases up to a maximum of 50, based on the time it spent in the Gym. Typically, I attempt to make sure my Pokémon stay in Gyms for a day before letting them get knocked out of a Gym.
Pokémon GO: June 2024 Schedule
We have a couple of repeat raids coming up for those who may have missed some of these great Pokémon when they were in the pool.
