Pokemon Go Nihilego Raid Guide: Best Counters, Weaknesses, Raid Hours, And More Tips

The Ultra Beast codenamed UB-01 Symbiont makes its highly anticipated return to Pokemon Go raids, marking a significant opportunity for trainers to capture this extraterrestrial creature. As the centerpiece of the Astral Eclipse event, Nihilego dominates the five-star raid scene with its distinctive appearance and challenging battle mechanics.

Nihilego emerges as the exclusive five-star raid boss beginning November 23, 2022, at 10 AM local time, maintaining availability through December 1 at the same hour. Unlike traditional raid scheduling, Nihilego encounters occur randomly at Gyms worldwide during this period, with in-game notifications alerting players to nearby raid activity. Similar to previous Ultra Beast appearances like Guzzlord, these raids feature the visual spectacle of an Ultra Wormhole materializing above Gyms rather than conventional raid eggs.

Your optimal window for encountering Nihilego raids arrives during the weekly Raid Hours, where the Parasite Pokemon takes center stage. Each Wednesday evening from 6 PM to 7 PM local time, the vast majority of Gyms simultaneously host five-star raids, creating perfect coordination opportunities for trainer groups. Nihilego commands the featured raid boss position during the November 23 and November 30 Raid Hours. Remember that participation requires either your complimentary daily Raid Pass, a purchased Premium Battle Pass for in-person engagement, or a Remote Raid Pass for virtual participation.

Despite Nihilego’s initial introduction earlier this year, the coveted shiny variant remains inaccessible to trainers. As this marks Nihilego’s inaugural complete raid rotation cycle, we anticipate the shimmering golden jellyfish form will likely debut during subsequent appearances, following Niantic’s typical release patterns for legendary and Ultra Beast Pokemon.

For collectors and completionists, understanding shiny release timing is crucial for resource management. Niantic typically spaces shiny releases across multiple raid seasons to maintain engagement, meaning you should prioritize capturing high-IV specimens during this initial rotation while preparing for the shiny hunt in future events. The absence of shiny availability currently suggests focusing on building your battle teams and accumulating candies for future power-ups.

Nihilego possesses a dual Poison and Rock-type composition, creating specific vulnerability patterns. This typing results in super effective damage reception from Psychic, Water, and Steel-type attacks. Crucially, Ground-type moves inflict double super effective damage, establishing them as your premier offensive choices. Top-tier Ground-type recommendations include Landorus (both Therian and Incarnate forms), Excadrill, Garchomp, and Groudon with their optimal movesets.

If your Ground-type roster lacks strength or diversity, consider these alternative counter categories with their standout representatives:

Mega Evolution Strategy: A Mega Evolved Pokemon amplifies damage output for all raid participants by 10%, while boosting same-type attackers by an impressive 30%. Strategic coordination of Mega Evolutions with your raid team can dramatically reduce clear times. Important note: While Mega Steelix provides the Ground-type damage bonus, its defense-focused stat distribution typically results in insufficient personal damage output to justify deployment. Optimal Mega selections for Nihilego raids include Mega Alakazam, Mega Blastoise, or Mega Scizor based on your team composition.

Understanding which attack types to avoid is equally important as knowing effective counters. Nihilego’s Poison/Rock typing provides resistance to several common offensive types, making certain Pokemon nearly useless in these encounters.

Fighting-type attacks deal only neutral damage despite superficial logic suggesting effectiveness, while Bug and Fairy-type moves suffer from significant damage reduction. Many trainers mistakenly deploy Machamp or Lucario expecting super effective damage, only to discover disappointing performance results.

Common raid mistakes include using Pokemon with single-type coverage or neglecting to check move sets before engaging. Defensively, Nihilego’s move pool includes dangerous Poison-type charged attacks that can devastate unprepared Fairy or Grass-type defenders. Always verify your team’s move types and consider TM usage to optimize damage output against this particular Ultra Beast.

Nihilego occupies a unique strategic niche in both Player versus Player (PvP) and Player versus Environment (PvE) contexts. In PvP battles, its unusual typing provides coverage against common meta picks, though its glass cannon nature requires careful deployment timing.

For PvE applications, Nihilego serves as a specialized counter to specific raid bosses, particularly those weak to Poison or Rock-type attacks. Its Beast Boost ability further enhances its viability by potentially snowballing damage output in extended battles.

Long-term viability considerations suggest Nihilego will maintain relevance as a rare type combination, though power creep may eventually diminish its top-tier status. Currently, it represents one of the premier Poison-type attackers available, making investment worthwhile for trainers focusing on type coverage completeness.

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