Before you attempt to catch the electric-type legendary bird, we recommend you learn the various Zapdos weaknesses and counters are - that way you can easily pull the battle in your favour! Like all Legendary Pokémon, Zapdos will appear in five-star raids. You may discover that you need to team up with a group of trainers to defeat Zapdos and now, due to Remote Raiding, you can do this wherever you please. Zapdos makes a reappearance during the Season of Go, appearing alongside Articuno and Moltres during July 2022. On this page:
Zapdos type - Electric and flying-type Zapdos is weak against - Ice and rock-type Pokémon Zapdos counters - Tyranitar, Glaceon, Mamoswine, Weavile, Rampardos and Terrakion Other Zapdos notes - Ideally you’ll want to start this battle using your strongest rock-type Pokémon, before, if needed, moving onto your ice-type Pokémon.
Raid Boss CP - 46,418 CP CP when being caught - 2,015 CP Weather boosted CP (Rain) when being caught - 2,519 CP
Fast Move:
Charge Beam (Electric)
Possible Charged Moves:
Ancient Power (Rock) Drill Peck (Flying) Thunderbolt (Electric) Thunder (Electric) Zap Cannon (Electric)
The Season of Mythical Wishes continues with the Winter Holiday event, which has brought Mega Glalie to Pokémon Go. Don’t forget to partake in the new Go Battle League season.
Elsewhere, be sure to use Daily Adventure Incense for the chance of encountering Galarian Articuno, Galarian Zapdos and Galarian Moltres.
‘Zap’ is an obvious reference to a sound that is connected to electricity. Meanwhile, ‘dos’ is Spanish for the number two, reflecting how Zapdos is the second member of the legendary bird trio. Articuno is the first, with uno meaning one, and Moltres is the third, as it’s name ends with ’tres,’ which means three.
Interestingly, Zapdos has a type advantage over the other members of the legendary bird trio, due to how electric-type Pokémon are highly effective against flying-types. This advantage even extends to Lugia, the master of the trio.
Zapdos appears to take inspiration from the Thunderbird from Native American legends. Though the myths surrounding the Thunderbird vary, it’s generally described as being a large bird that was created to fight underwater spirits and has the ability to create thunder by flapping its wings.
