How to defeat Blacephalon in Pokemon Go, weaknesses & counters

Blacephalon is now available to battle in Pokemon GO, so it's time to brush up on the Ultra Beast's weaknesses and the best counters you can use to defeat it.

Ultra Beasts are a strange-looking bunch of creatures, but Blacephalon might take the cake when it comes to the weirdest one. Known as the Firework Pokemon in the Pokedex (because of a tendency to explode its own head), here's how you can topple it in Raid Battles.

Blacephalon is a Fire/Ghost-type Pokemon, which means it's vulnerable to Dark, Ghost, Ground, Rock, and Water-type attacks.

On the other hand, it's resistant to Bug, Fairy, Fighting, Fire, Grass, Ice, Normal, Poison, and Steel-type attacks. These moves won't do much damage at all, so avoid using them wherever possible.

Here are some of the top Blacephalon counters as well as their optimal movesets:

Pokemon	Moveset	Sprite
Primal Kyogre	Waterfall & Origin Pulse	Click to enlarge
Mega Garchomp	Mud Shot & Earth Power	Click to enlarge
Mega Swampert	Water Gun & Hydro Cannon	Click to enlarge
Hydreigon	Bite & Brutal Swing	Click to enlarge
Tyranitar	Bite & Brutal Swing	Click to enlarge
Rampardos	Smack Down & Rock Slide	Click to enlarge
Rhyperior	Smack Down & Rock Wrecker	Click to enlarge
Greninja	Water Shuriken & Hydro Cannon	Click to enlarge
Excadrill	Mud Slap & Scorching Sands	Click to enlarge
Chandelure	Hex & Shadow Ball	Click to enlarge

If you don't have any of these counters, focus on your most powerful Pokemon that can target Blacephalon's weaknesses. Make sure they have attacks that match their typing, too, as they'll get STAB that way.

I'd recommend teaming up with at least eight other Trainers to guarantee victory. I took on Blacephalon with a full Raid lobby, so it was defeated in around 20 seconds, but it will take a lot longer with a smaller team.

The bad news is that Shiny Blacephalon is currently unavailable in Pokemon GO, so you'll have to make do with regular Blacephalon for now.

It's very rare for a Pokemon to make its GO debut alongside its Shiny variant - especially when it's an Ultra Beast or Legendary. They're usually saved for future events to give Trainers a reason to battle them again.

Click to enlarge

Blacephalon will appear in 5-Star Raids for Trainers in the Western Hemisphere. You can see a map of the region here, but as a general rule, this area includes the Americas, most of the United Kingdom, and Ireland.

If you're based in the Eastern Hemisphere, you can use Remote Raid Passes to join Blacephalon Raids. There are a number of ways to find these Raids, including Leek Duck's Raid NOW website or the Raids subreddit.

You can encounter Blacephalon in 5-Star Raids during the Ultra Space Wonders event from May 23 to May 29, 2024. It's unknown when it will return after this, but other Ultra Beasts have re-appeared fairly often.

That's everything you need to know to defeat Blacephalon! Visit our Pokemon homepage to see more guides, like the upcoming Spotlight Hour schedule, the best team for the Great League, or this month's events.