The Pokémon Day events are already up and running in Pokémon Sword and Shield. One of the new additions is the ability to battle Mewtwo and the Kanto starters in Max Raid Battles until March 2.
But while you can pretty easily defeat and capture the starters, this specific Mewtwo event was handcrafted by Game Freak to destroy players who are trying to battle it.
Mewtwo is already one of the strongest Pokémon in the series, but because it’s a Max Raid, the Legendary Psychic-type also gets the normal boosts that are associated with a five-star difficulty raid. And to top it off, instead of being in the usual level 50 to 70 range, this monster is already level 100.
Game Freak really wanted to make trainers work for their rewards by putting one of the strongest possible Pokémon in a position that would destroy unprepared challengers.
So before you go and try to challenge the Genetic Pokémon, here’s what you need to know about the Max Raid Battles involving it.
How to find Mewtwo in Max Raid Battles
Even though it’s technically the main event going on right now, Mewtwo and the starters didn’t replace the usual rotation of special Pokémon that players can find when looking for Max Raids. Overall, the Psychic-type has a 10-percent spawn chance, while competing for five-star space with Gigantimax Orbeetle, Kingler, Hatterene, Grimmsnarl, and Toxtricity.
It isn’t impossible to find, so just keep your eyes on the Max Raid invites page of your game while looking through the Wild Area.
A key thing you need to know is that you’re unable to actually capture any Mewtwo if you do manage to defeat them. This is intentionally coded into the game for some reason, but Game Freak has not given a reason for it yet—though it’s likely because the developers have no plans on putting Legendary Pokémon into raids outside of this for some time.
How to beat Mewtwo in Max Raid Battles
This is the real challenge you’ll face since Mewtwo has been kitted out with four attacks that can easily cover any walls you might be bringing to the battle. It has a deep move pool that provides it with a lot of options in terms of breaking down Pokémon that might usually have an advantage against it.
There are physical and special builds of Mewtwo in the raids, for example, meaning you could prepare for one and get blindsided by another. You’d be better off getting the physical raid because Mewtwo has a lower physical attack stat compared to its special stats.
It will almost always have a Psychic-type move, but it can also learn Fire, Fighting, Dark, Electric, Ice, and Ghost-type moves, so you can’t just sit by and try to run up on it with a type advantage. Instead, work out a solid group composition with friends rather than playing with some random teammates so you can communicate and focus on taking it down.
Your best options for taking him on are Marshadow, Necrozma, Dragapult, Grimmsnarl, and Dracovish. Obviously other Legendary Pokémon will be good here too, such as Zacian, but these are a few you can build some strong teams around.
Grimmsnarl is going to be your best friend, using Light Screen or Reflect to halve the damage your team is taking from Mewtwo while also being able to hit it with Spirit Break or Phantom Force. You can also use Taunt while the Dynamaxed Mewtwo’s shields are down to prevent it from setting up.
Just make sure you’re holding the Light Clay so you can keep those screens up as long as possible.
Dragapult is also good because there haven’t been reports of any Mewtwo carrying Ghost or Ice-type moves yet, meaning you can just use Phantom Force and break shields with a relatively bulky and powerful Pokémon.
Marshadow is solid too because you can remove the Mewtwo’s boosts regardless of what set it’s running. All you need to do is give it an Assault Vest so it lives more hits and then use Spectral Thief to hit hard and steal the boosts.
You’ll also want to run Shadow Ball to take advantage of the special attack boosts if you do end up stealing a Nasty Plot instead of Bulk Up. You could just bring a Pokémon with Mist or Haze if you want to eliminate the stat boosts on the Mewtwo, though.
The biggest thing you need is communication with your team and powerful Pokémon that are capable of battling in the raid. So don’t just walk into a raid with a non-EV trained Pokémon that isn’t level 100—all you’ll be doing is hurting your team.
Mewtwo Max Raid Battle rewards
Since you can’t catch Mewtwo, Game Freak has made defeating the Psychic-type worthwhile by providing players with a massive amount of loot if they manage to beat the raid. Here’s what you’ll get if you can actually take down the Genetic Pokémon and all of the drop rates.
- Balm Mushroom – 100 percent
- Big Nugget – 100 percent
- Comet Shard – 100 percent
- PP Up – 100 percent (50 percent chance at a double drop)
- Rare Candy – 100 percent (50 percent chance at a double drop)
- TR11 Psychic – 100 percent (depending on which den)
- Ability Capsule – 50 percent
- Pearl String – 50 percent
- PP Max – 50 percent (depending on which den)
- All EXP Candy and Bottle Caps are guaranteed, but vary between dens
- EXP Candy M (two)
- EXP Candy L (20)
- EXP Candy XL (10)
- Dynamax Candy (five)
- Bottle Cap (one) – some dens will drop two
Mewtwo will be leaving Max Raid Battles on March 2, so you have less than a week to prepare your team, get a group together, and take down the Legendary Pokémon before it teleports away.
