Best raid counters and weaknesses for Nihilego in Pokémon Go

There are very few Pokémon that can rival Legendaries in terms of how dangerous and powerful they are, but Ultra Beasts are easily at that level—and now they are in Pokémon Go. 

Nihilego is the first Ultra Beast appearing in our world via Ultra Wormholes, and the Parasite Pokémon isn’t going to be easy to defeat. 

First appearing alongside the first Ultra Wormholes during Go Fest 2022, Nihilego is a Rock and Poison-type best known for producing neurotoxin that can cause severe damage to almost any foe, which it may then feed on. This, along with its strong stats, make it a pain to take down when battling it in five-star raids. 

While other Ultra Beasts will eventually make their way through the Ultra Wormholes and pose a threat to players, for now, you can team up with the Go Ultra Recon Squad to tackle Nihilego and ensure that you can handle the mysterious beings from Ultra Space. 

How to beat Nilihego in Pokémon Go raids and battles

Nihilego isn’t the strongest opponent, but just being an Ultra Beast makes it a threat you need to take seriously when preparing to challenge it.

The Parasite Pokémon is a Rock and Poison type, which makes it vulnerable to multiple, easy-to-access attacks. Ground is likely going to be your best general counter for Nihilego overall, as it is quad-effective against it, but Water, Psychic, and Steel are also viable typing options when planning out your offense. 

Steel-type Pokémon will actually be your best defensive option against Nihilego, as the Ultra Beast does not have access to any move that a good Steel type won’t resist. It has no Rock-type Fast Moves, and its Charged Moves are all Rock or Poison type. 

When it comes to counters, here are some of the best Pokémon you can bring into a raid when facing off against Nihilego, along with some recommended movesets. 

• Excadrill (Mud-Slap/Earthquake)
• Garchomp (Mud Shot/Earth Power)
• Rhyperior (Mud-Slap/Earthquake)
• Groudon (Mud Shot/Earthquake)
• Landorous (Incarnate Mud Shot/Earth Power or Therian Mud Shot/Earthquake)
• Aerodactyl (Steel Wing/Earth Power)
• Steelix (IronTail/Earthquake)
• Aggron (Iron Tail/Heavy Slam)
• Metagross (Bullet Punch/Meteor Mash)
• Mewtwo (Confusion/Psystrike)

Basically every Pokémon mentioned above has multiple moves that can hit Nihilego for super-effective damage, or will easily tank some hits to buy time for you as your teammates try to whittle the Ultra Beast down. 

As long as you have a few of these Pokémon, or something to fill a similar role, you should be able to handle Nihilego. 

Nihilego captured CP and moves

As of now, Nihilego can be encountered in raids with a Raid Boss CP of 48,499. 

Whenever you catch a Pokémon after a raid, that Raid Boss CP drops to a normal number within a range, which will be what you catch the Pokémon at—if you manage to catch it. For Nihilego, you can normally catch it between 2,167 and 2,256 CP, but it has a boosted CP of 2,709 CP to 2,829 CP in certain situations. 

Nihilego Pokémon Go moveset

• Fast Moves
  • Acid (Poison-type)
  • Pound (Normal-type)
• Charge Moves
  • Power Gem (Rock-type)
  • Rock Slide (Rock-type)
  • Sludge Bomb (Poison-type)
  • Gunk Shot (Poison-type)