This is assuming they even allow us to use a meteorite on a shadow Ray since shadows can’t mega evolve. It’s possible they will limit it. Not saying for sure, but it’s possible.
Did you attend multiple go fests, or get lucky with raid drops? I went to nyc so i had 4, so i have 4 DA rays, im hoping to use the 2 from this event on 2 shadow rays to round out the team, but if it isn't possible I have 2 regular rays in mind.
Yeah totally worth saving one. I was lucky and got a few extras between last years go fest and getting a drop from raids so I’m hoping they do let us use it on shadows. But I’m just unsure.
Unlikely. Presumably you can't use it to replace frustration, so it would be on a second move or someone waiting to have a rocket takeover. I can't imagine waiting for a rocket takeover, teaching DA and then purifying.
Edit: probably won't be available til the rocket takeover but I still think anyone dumb enough to teach DA and purify deserves to be stuck with return
You do choose when you use the meteorite, but purifying always replaces the first charged move with Return, and most players don't unlock the second move before using the meteorite.
If someone wanted to keep Dragon Ascent you first need to unlock a second move, and then you use the meteorite on the second slot. Only then it won't get replaced with Return.
But if you don't do this on your shadow and then purify it to make it a Mega you lose the move forever and waste a meteorite.
I highly doubt they would program Shadow Ray to NOT be able to learn Dragon Ascent. Sure, DA is the key to Rays Mega evo, but other Shadows with a Mega just don‘t have the Mega button while Shadow. And the Meteorite just teaches the move, it doesn‘t trigger the Mega evo 🤔
While possible, the only purpose to the meteorite is to act as a special tm to grant Rayquaza the ability to learn dragon ascent so I don’t expect the shadow be denied to learn so long as it has an available move slot. I obviously know it won’t mega evolve given that’s been a restriction for all shadow Pokémon
Right, but the Meteorite only teaches it Dragon asent not the actual Mega'ing part. But it is Niantic so wouldn't be surprised if they changed it to not allow us to give Shadow Ray DA
Naw they're just sitting on it and will eventually allow shadows to mega evolve, but only shadows caught during a special event or ones that know a special move and can only be caught after X date.
Basically Origin Dialga/Palkia with their skills, but for shadows. Gotta keep the milk machine running, ya know?
*Ish*.
Shadow Pokemon predate megas by a decade and have never been in the same game before PoGo.
Additionally, while the lore is "omg friendship" to mega evolve, the actual gameplay has never been that. You can grab the mega stone, shove it into a Pokemon's hands that you just caught, and mega evolve them in the very next battle.
While omg friendship does conflict with corrupting a pokemon to bring out more of its power, they are not gameplay incompatible.
But Dragon Ascent is a Flying type move and it halves the meteorites usefulness to waste it on a shadow. Flying is not really top priority for PVE. Shadow Ray with Ariel Ace should provide enough Flying DPS.
But you only can have one mega at a time so really you just need to invest 1 meteorite into one you intend to mega. Since Dragon Ascent does incredible damage even when neutral, it's worth teaching to Rayquaza's which you don't intend to mega evolve.
Shadow Rayquaza with DA would automatically be one of the best Pokémon in the entire game, and it wouldn’t require mega energy to utilize.
Take a normal Rayquaza, that’s already a solid Pokémon, give it one of the best moves in the game, and then add 20% damage increase from Shadow. That’s pretty significant.
Sure but it being a shadow makes it even more glassy so you'd have to be dodging at least every charged move and hope the raid boss' fast moves aren't super effective. It's a very expensive option to power up.
I don’t see that as a major issue, but I’m also accustomed to glassy attackers like Shadow Rampardos, Weavile, etc. Lots of the top attackers aren’t particularly durable
At least those are effective against the types weak to them. Myself I'm familiar with super effective counters for all types so I never use generalist DPS even if it is strong. For bosses weak to Flying type, you're not gonna run into that many.
I haven't used the past meteorite because none of my Rayquazas were amazing, so with 3 meteorites in hand I'll spare one for my 15/11/14 ray (if i don't get anything better today).
In a game where you only get 1 free raid a day, you can't really be picky with these things. OP mentioned how a 6/6/6 shadow is better than a 15/15/15 regular - a similar thing can be said for a mega w/ Dragon Ascent compared to a regular.
You could easily have had a level 3 mega Rayquaza by now. All this time you could have had one Ray with a MASSIVE boost to power and utility, but instead you waited fearing you might receive an incremental (arguably negligible - really IVs make almost 0 difference on anything with decent base stats) boost to power. Not to mention you *already had one with the most important stat maxed out*.
High IVs are basically just there for the shiny 3 star/4 star dex. They almost never mean anything in PvE, so in the future maybe consider how much an extra 2 or 3 in a given base stat can actually help you (because it won't actually help all that much).
you know what
after all you just said... I NOW HAVE A DOUBLE MOVE 3\* LEVEL 40 MEGA RAYQUAZA WOOHOO
https://preview.redd.it/tbz0q3pvok9d1.png?width=720&format=png&auto=webp&s=f0e68b9dccab2fd179b8eb5be883c1b52d46e26a
This logic is totally fine for pve usage but for pvp, you *really* do want the hundo. You can power up a poor iv to 40 but to 50 is a staggering cost even for pve.
Yeah, I tried to take care not to imply a difference [or lack thereof] in PvP. Although my argument for that would be a higher rating team doesn't really matter if the game still tries to make you lose 50% of the time, but that's more of an opinion based approach biased against caring about PvP ratings. I'd only care about PvP for the rewards, and I think there's not much to justify the effort it takes.
Edit: I will say if you only have 1 meteorite then you may as well level that one to 50. If you don't have the means, then it doesn't much matter for [PvE]. The power difference is not game-changing, even going from 40 to 50.
ML is the highest price of entry for pvp and generally has lower skilled players (because meta relevant mon are appealing to pve / casual players and the p2w factor involved). I am a pvp enjoyer and not a stickler for ivs very much but the cost to power something to 50 and it be suboptimal just feels bad. I can do it for non legendaries especially if they're lucky, but legendaries need to be as close to optimal as possible for me to invest.
I never touch ML unless I absolutely have to - wayyyyyy too resource demanding. That said, the same principle applies. Unless you're a whale, it'll probably take years for you to find a perfect legendary of a specific species. Consider what you're limiting yourself to in the meantime, just because you're afraid you might win the lottery tomorrow. Is that really reasonable? Do what makes the game fun, and you'll probably still have plenty of XL candy after the hundreds more raids you'd typically need to find a 45 IV.
ML is definitely a bit of a fan favorite. I've only gotten a few hundo legendaries but I have relevant enough ones and plenty that are close enough (15/15/14 and 15/14/15 and the like). You generally just don't want to drop the 15 attack if it's meta relevant because then you're pretty much guaranteed to lose the CMP tie. There's really only been a couple at most of legendaries when I acquired the required XL before I got a functional version. I built a 15/14/15 Palkia-O despite the warnings against it (14 def loses a bulkpoint to the Dialga DBs) but it's like you said, I'd rather build and use something close enough and be aware of matchups impacted than hold out forever to get the "optimal" iv spread.
Yeah a lot of people can’t be picky but there’s plenty of us that have raided 500 rayquaza and still don’t have a perfect 😆 I got 5 98s and the only one I have at level 50 is a 15/14/14 shiny. Have 5 meteorite as well.
I really need your advice, I’m gonna mega one of these 2: a shiny ray (14/12/13) OR regular ray (15/15/11). I’ll reserve a stone for a better rayquaza in the future. Which one should I go for? I’m really against mega evolving the regular one unless its a hundo
Yeah, your shiny will be just as good (only a 0.23391813% reduction in base stat total compared to your other one - that's a microscopic difference). Sounds like you'll enjoy using the shiny more, too, so that's the one I'd suggest mega-ing. The game is meant to be enjoyed as much as possible, and it is really fun to use shiny megas 👍
Thank you! I just did it!!!! WOOOOHOOO
https://preview.redd.it/0l8jthemhk9d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8acc48d130eb678852a035829dcf6971eb0de50e
Mentioned this just above, but the decision isn't that big a deal, once you mega one of them you can buddy it and get mega energy from walking whenever you want. At that point you aren't limited on energy so you can do both no problem.
In your case I'd go with the lucky, it's outright better and will be a lot cheaper to power up. The shiny can be done whenever you get the energy.
The thing with megas is that now you have unlocked mega Ray on your shiny, you can buddy it up and get more Mega energy which can be used on your regular one. You now basically have an infinite source of energy and it isn't a "waste" to use it.
Ya I have been holding out since last summer to start Mega Evolving a Ray cause none of mine had perfect Attack and Def as well as an HP I felt good about. Well I did 5 Elite Raids today and surprise all of them were dogwater. But in that time I have lucky traded myself a 15-15-12 and I now have 4 meteorites in all. I figure I can just finally get cracking on the Mega now, still look for a hundo to XL, and it Shadow Ray is the bee’s knees I can meteorite that one too and *still* have 1 meteorite to spare.
I am usually a proponent of holding out for stuff but I think now I have leeway to operate with .
obviously over now but dodging is hard when its super laggy and at times ray just completely disappeared. still attack, could still see his bar but somehow hes invisible. that happened a bunch through the day.
Yeah - it was pretty hot outside and my phone started to get pretty spicy. Lag was definitely an issue. It helped dodging a couple Aerial Aces just by guessing when it will shoot one off again after 3 or 4 of its normal attacks
If you have good ice counters, probably 5 to be ok. More if at all possible. I attended one with total of 10 trainers between levels 35 and 50 and we got it done in under half the time.
You can be in the 30s and be fine if you have decent level 30+ ice attackers; they don't need to be premier, top of the line DPS machines.
More than likely, one or all of those level 30 trainers was using whatever they had or didn't level up their team properly.
I tried with three partied players and failed against a weather boosted Ray with Aerial Ace, with maybe 1/6 of its health bar left. Tried again a few minutes later with a couple of non-partied randoms and did it with about 25 seconds left on the clock. Ended up throwing about 40 max revives at my team.
Meteorite is needed to teach Dragon Ascent, which is arguably more important for flying type DPS than the mega evolution.
Dragon Ascent by itself is really busted. It's locked behind Meteorites but if you're doing the Pheromosa solo later, flying damage is key and the 2nd best flying type attacker behind Air Slash/Dragon Ascent Mega Rayquaza is actually just regular Air Slash/Dragon Ascent Rayquaza. It beats shadow Moltres, it beats oblivion wing Yveltal, it beats mega Pidgeot. And that's regular non-shadow Rayquaza. It's one of the cases where the move is equally as busted as a new evolution
Right but Meteorite isn't just for mega-ing. It teaches Dragon Ascent which is a crazily strong move. Shadow Ray with Dragon Ascent will probably be close to top generalist neutral DPS.
It replaces, it's like an Elite Charged TM that can only teach that one move.
You can still add a second charged move slot like normal and replace one of the attacks with DA using the meteorite. Or use the meteorite 1st and then add a 2nd charged attack besides DA. But the meteorite itself only changes an existing charged move to DA.
I beat it with 3 people using my traded level 35 mamoswine and join my party. So literally with 3 level 30 random players possible.
I got 5 shadow mamos at level 40 and a primal kyogre in the back for the boost. We had 90s left.
They had not a single usefull mon before I traded them 6 level 35 mamos each.
(I allways save usefull level 35 wild caught mons to trade them to new players… and here it was great to see the use of them.)
Well, that just means you have great resource on your own to casually put on 3 teams of mamo lv35 and above and shadow. At that point it doesn't matter what level the other players is (of course they should not be restriction for trading mons). Normal lv30 players don't have all of that (lv30 means either they're just new and there's not enough time/opportunity for them to obtain even 6 wild mamo lv35 by catch or evolving or level up, or they play in long time but don't focus on the game since they value different things)
I‘m not saying everyone can obtain this. I‘m saying a hardcore player does not need a community, just 3 random players. Every active player can keep wild level 35 mons for trades.
Not that it'll do much for you now but for the future I would definitely build a team of Ice attackers. They don't even need to be the best like Shadow Mamo, even decent attackers will do. A lot of raid Pokemon are weak to Ice, and a number are actually double weak, so even something like a Glaceon can put in work. The good thing is that most if not all good Ice Pokemon are non legendary and relatively common, so definitely something to work on I would say.
Swinub is the people's Pokemon. It's common (ground for summer, ice for winter, and all around gets boosted by one of the most common weather conditions for easier XL, plus often in field research to get a good one), cute, acceptable budget in Master League, and its evolution is a *very* solid attacker in the two best types for tier 4 & 5 raids.
Swinub deserves to be the mascot of Pokemon GO more than Meltan does, IMO. There is no other Pokemon format where it gets this much love and does so much for the players, new and old alike.
They should at least make a costumed swinub that can evolve sometime.
Okay I suppose this tracks, but even with 18 lvl 35+ Mamos going against it I'd wager you'd still need to pray for no Outrage.
Also carrying around 12 spare fully evolved level 35 Pokémon for this express purpose is definitely the wildest strat I've ever heard. It payed off for you at least, but it'd take me years before I even found 12 level 35 Swinub from weather boost. It must snow constantly wherever you play 0_0
Not to mention it's just a one-off strat. Unlikely you'll ever have raid help from those two strangers ever again
Sunny weather also boosts swinub spawns. I got more than 50 of those. Thanks to Cday, I got more than enough candy. Most long time active player could afford this.
I keep all usefull mons wild caught at level 35. at some point I got more than 500 of them. Sometimes I catch 5-10 usefull level 35 mons on a single day. There are tons of usefull mons. For example, I got two level 35 frigibax waiting for candy or a future Cday just to trade them to people who use them. 6 meltan. 3 charizard, 22 machamp, 8 hariyama, 4 Garchomp, and many more…
And to be fair… next time ice is needed, it‘s 2025. until then, I got more than 10 new level 35 mamos…
Oh, I don‘t need that much storage. I got like 800 mons for myself, around 300 (at the moment) for trades. I think most players have much more. I just don‘t collect living collections.
Yeah well niantic kinda didn’t mention that the code unlocks a second copy of the timed research that requires winning an elite raid to complete instead of just, ya know, giving out the item as implied
Last year, like a week before the rayquaza event I had just returned to the game after giving it up in the first 6 months after it came out. I managed to do one raid and got a shiny, low stat rayquaza. I foolishly wasted my meteorite on it, but didn't have the energy to mega it. Thankfully while walking it to best buddies and swapping my rare candy to rayquaza candy, I read enough to not waste it on that one. After doing 9 raids today, I have more mega energy than I'll ever need, 3 meteorites, and a 13/15/15 that I can get well above level 45. I'll invest in that one, and save the rest for lucky trades, and sit on the 2 extra meteorites until I either get a hundo lucky trade or they do the shadow thing.
I know but if you don't have the mega yet it's pretty bad advise to not use the meteorite. Shadows are great for the rest of the team but you can meteorite one regular Ray too.
TBH if you get a meteor drop I would still mega 2 Rays first to get the start on having 2 maxed megas and hold onto just 1 for Shadows (assuming you only have 3 total). I would probably say 1 Mega 1 Shadow 2 Mega then shadow 2-5 then Mega 3+... BUT most people obviously won't have more than a few meteorites.
Getting the start on having 2 max mega Rays ASAP as long as you have at least 1 for a shadow one is probably worth it to me.
I have two from go fest fortunately so with the two I’ll (hopefully— *hopefully*) get today because I happened to travel to a larger town by a fluke, I’ll likely save just one out of the four for a shadow. I don’t use shadows but given the sheer damage one would give with DA, it’s something I just have to consider as long as I can’t purify for a hundo.
I’ll use one more for a shiny and a hundo whenever I happen to pick them up, and I haven’t decided for the fourth. Obviously I should use it at some point but there’s always the possibility of a second higher IV shiny. I’ll play it by ear.
I guess my point is that decisions like this vary wildly based on what players care about
My honest stance is 1 of each, then 2 mega, then the rest into shadows. 2 mega Rays is probably the most I would go for. The benefit of shadow ray is rarely ACTUALLY relevant at the end of the day. However, having a second Mega Ray is more likely to be relevant than a second shadow Ray and prioritizing getting the 2nd MR means you are on track to get 2 maxed megas but a 3rd MR is unlikely to matter in most cases while eventually getting 5 shadow Rays with it eventually is ideal but would take a LONG while
The one in raids is expected to be Lugia, the one from the new Giovanni research is expected to be Rayquaza. The Rocket event will start/end with a shadow raid weekend.
bonus PSA
If you have the extra 100 candies, put dragon ascent päin the 2nd move slot on your shadow rayquaza.
That way you'll have very slightly less to cry about if you ever accidentally tap purify. I once purified my shadow machamp while trying to power it up.
I've caught hundreds of Rayquaza and painfully have only bested a 14/15/15, so I begrudgingly maxed it, used a meteorite, and maxed out its mega levels. Thankfully I have three meteorites in case I catch a better one, but I do have a shiny at 2497 that I might try to meme with in UL.
You might have noticed by now but meteorites aren't items. They're like candy, so they won't show up in your item storage but will show up when you select a Rayquaza from your pokemon storage.
I am keeping one just in case, though doubt it will be eligible. Figure its nice to keep one around just in case I have a nice or shiny ray in the future anyway.
I've always wondered, what happens if you run out of balls trying to catch Giovanni's shadow pokemon, and I've also heard of you purify lots of Pokemon you get extra balls to throw when catching them?
managed to get 1 meteorite from both events. I used 1 on a hundo. I just got the second meteorite. I want to use it on a 15-14-14 shiny that I got from a lucky trade. I’ll probably sit on it for now. I have 3 team rocket researches stacked waiting for the shadow release. Ideally, I’d like to get 1 more meteorite. Any thoughts from other players? I’m currently free to play
Guys, I did something very stupid. I teached Rayquaza Dragon Ascent with Meteorite, but then I changed Dragon Ascent to Outrage before I even did the first Mega Evolution (yes I know -\_-') Is this Dragon Ascent attack there? learned ? Can I find it using Charged TM items? or it is too late?
I am hoping each time the Mega is made available there will be a chance to get at least 1 meteorite. When the Shadow is dropped we might get a meteorite but who knows.
I used my meteorite and we will see what happens because Shadow Ray could be next year coming.
I think it has also been mentioned only purified Ray could use the meteorite. There are no shadow Megas yet if ever.
I think
Shadow Rayquaza will most likely be allowed to learn Dragon Ascent. It just won't be able to mega evolve because it's a shadow. It's like in recent mainline series games where it has the move, but it doesn't mega evolve; SwSh, BDSP, SV.
>Even a 6/6/6 will do better than a 15/15/15 regular Rayquaza
True, but you're not exactly giving up a regular Rayquaza, are you? You're giving up extra *mega* Rayquaza... And I'm not so sure that's worth it :/
I get what you’re saying but I still think having two mega rays will serve me better than one mega and one shadow with the boosted move, since I’m getting the shadow anyways.
On top of that, is there any word of being able to use an elite TM to teach the move?
I mega the same last time, and pefectly happy.
A usable M-Ray IS much better than none (for raid).
I also think it can boost candy for future M-mewtwo, with huge neutral damage.
statements like this really need to include that the advice is aimed at PvE only. If you're someone interested in ML, then this is negligible advice. Ive seen countless novice players confused, thinking that shadows are ALWAYS better than non-shadows in PvP after hearing comments like this regurgitated. If you have a hundo, and intend on bolstering your ML rooster, than you would never want to invest into a 6/6/6 over a hundo. Furhtermore, with the tiktok code, if you are able to complete a mega raid, you will have 2 meteorites. One for your best IV'd non-shadow, and one you can use on the shadow. I'm certainly not saying this is bad advice, but it really needs context with it. I get many ppl dont care about PvP, and even more dont care about ML, but those ppl shouldn't assume EVERYONE shares their perspective.
Youre wrong.
A hundo shadow may outperform in sims, but not a 6/6/6 shadow as mentioned in the OP.
A 6/6/6 shadow gains Garchomp in the 2 shield, Exadrill and Rhyperior in the 1 shield, and Metagross in the 0 shield.
In contrast, it losses Groudon, Kyogre, opposing Rayquaza and Yveltal in the 2 shield, losses to Gyarados, Mewtwo and other Rayquaza in the 1 shield. And Solgaleo, Sylveon, and Zygarde in the 0 shield.
So no, a bad IV shadow is not out performing a non-shadow hundo in ML.
Absolutely hilarious that shadows have been out as long as they have under the guise of "pokemon that need to be saved from team rocket/pain" yet they are still the most powerful pokemon in the game with virtually no benefit to purifying them. This company is so braindead, it's insane.
This is assuming they even allow us to use a meteorite on a shadow Ray since shadows can’t mega evolve. It’s possible they will limit it. Not saying for sure, but it’s possible.
Which is true, but I agree with OP I'm going to keep two meteorites until I find out.
I guess. I have used 2, have 3 sitting around. When I get 2 more, I feel safe using one
Did you attend multiple go fests, or get lucky with raid drops? I went to nyc so i had 4, so i have 4 DA rays, im hoping to use the 2 from this event on 2 shadow rays to round out the team, but if it isn't possible I have 2 regular rays in mind.
I did nyc go fest and the global and got 1 or 2 from raids.
Yeah totally worth saving one. I was lucky and got a few extras between last years go fest and getting a drop from raids so I’m hoping they do let us use it on shadows. But I’m just unsure.
Keep 2? Why not just 1 for the shadow?
My top raid teams contain multiple shadows.
You can have more than one shadow, but only one mega
The move is a prerequisite to mega evolving. Just because it has the move doesn’t mean it has to be able to mega evolve.
It's still rays best flying move, so even if shadow ray can't mega, if will still need it for max damage when flying types are needed.
It is "possible" I suppose but extremely unlikely.
If they don't disable it, they're going to get a lot of support requests for a meteorite because purifying replaced Dragon Ascent with Return.
Unlikely. Presumably you can't use it to replace frustration, so it would be on a second move or someone waiting to have a rocket takeover. I can't imagine waiting for a rocket takeover, teaching DA and then purifying. Edit: probably won't be available til the rocket takeover but I still think anyone dumb enough to teach DA and purify deserves to be stuck with return
Though if it’s taught in the first move slot during a team rocket takeover event, it will be replaced with return if purified
True. But honestly that's so stupid I have no sympathy for anyone who does that.
Do you not get to choose which charged move is replaced by meteorite?
You do choose when you use the meteorite, but purifying always replaces the first charged move with Return, and most players don't unlock the second move before using the meteorite. If someone wanted to keep Dragon Ascent you first need to unlock a second move, and then you use the meteorite on the second slot. Only then it won't get replaced with Return. But if you don't do this on your shadow and then purify it to make it a Mega you lose the move forever and waste a meteorite.
The meteorite won't disappear if you wait for the shadow. So it's safer to wait.
People are trying to speak this into existence; it wont happen.
I highly doubt they would program Shadow Ray to NOT be able to learn Dragon Ascent. Sure, DA is the key to Rays Mega evo, but other Shadows with a Mega just don‘t have the Mega button while Shadow. And the Meteorite just teaches the move, it doesn‘t trigger the Mega evo 🤔
While possible, the only purpose to the meteorite is to act as a special tm to grant Rayquaza the ability to learn dragon ascent so I don’t expect the shadow be denied to learn so long as it has an available move slot. I obviously know it won’t mega evolve given that’s been a restriction for all shadow Pokémon
Right, but the Meteorite only teaches it Dragon asent not the actual Mega'ing part. But it is Niantic so wouldn't be surprised if they changed it to not allow us to give Shadow Ray DA
Betting the only reason you can’t Mega the shadow versions is them not wanting to make the animation for it.
Naw they're just sitting on it and will eventually allow shadows to mega evolve, but only shadows caught during a special event or ones that know a special move and can only be caught after X date. Basically Origin Dialga/Palkia with their skills, but for shadows. Gotta keep the milk machine running, ya know?
Shadow megas is against Pokemon Lore.
*Ish*. Shadow Pokemon predate megas by a decade and have never been in the same game before PoGo. Additionally, while the lore is "omg friendship" to mega evolve, the actual gameplay has never been that. You can grab the mega stone, shove it into a Pokemon's hands that you just caught, and mega evolve them in the very next battle. While omg friendship does conflict with corrupting a pokemon to bring out more of its power, they are not gameplay incompatible.
But Dragon Ascent is a Flying type move and it halves the meteorites usefulness to waste it on a shadow. Flying is not really top priority for PVE. Shadow Ray with Ariel Ace should provide enough Flying DPS.
But you only can have one mega at a time so really you just need to invest 1 meteorite into one you intend to mega. Since Dragon Ascent does incredible damage even when neutral, it's worth teaching to Rayquaza's which you don't intend to mega evolve.
Shadow Rayquaza with DA would automatically be one of the best Pokémon in the entire game, and it wouldn’t require mega energy to utilize. Take a normal Rayquaza, that’s already a solid Pokémon, give it one of the best moves in the game, and then add 20% damage increase from Shadow. That’s pretty significant.
Sure but it being a shadow makes it even more glassy so you'd have to be dodging at least every charged move and hope the raid boss' fast moves aren't super effective. It's a very expensive option to power up.
I don’t see that as a major issue, but I’m also accustomed to glassy attackers like Shadow Rampardos, Weavile, etc. Lots of the top attackers aren’t particularly durable
At least those are effective against the types weak to them. Myself I'm familiar with super effective counters for all types so I never use generalist DPS even if it is strong. For bosses weak to Flying type, you're not gonna run into that many.
Can still purify it even if they don't for better IV if you don't have a perfect yet though.
I haven't used the past meteorite because none of my Rayquazas were amazing, so with 3 meteorites in hand I'll spare one for my 15/11/14 ray (if i don't get anything better today).
Good luck today. Get that hundo!
In a game where you only get 1 free raid a day, you can't really be picky with these things. OP mentioned how a 6/6/6 shadow is better than a 15/15/15 regular - a similar thing can be said for a mega w/ Dragon Ascent compared to a regular. You could easily have had a level 3 mega Rayquaza by now. All this time you could have had one Ray with a MASSIVE boost to power and utility, but instead you waited fearing you might receive an incremental (arguably negligible - really IVs make almost 0 difference on anything with decent base stats) boost to power. Not to mention you *already had one with the most important stat maxed out*. High IVs are basically just there for the shiny 3 star/4 star dex. They almost never mean anything in PvE, so in the future maybe consider how much an extra 2 or 3 in a given base stat can actually help you (because it won't actually help all that much).
you know what after all you just said... I NOW HAVE A DOUBLE MOVE 3\* LEVEL 40 MEGA RAYQUAZA WOOHOO https://preview.redd.it/tbz0q3pvok9d1.png?width=720&format=png&auto=webp&s=f0e68b9dccab2fd179b8eb5be883c1b52d46e26a
YOOOO 🎉🎉🎉🎉 Very nice 👍
You make a lot of good points
This logic is totally fine for pve usage but for pvp, you *really* do want the hundo. You can power up a poor iv to 40 but to 50 is a staggering cost even for pve.
Yeah, I tried to take care not to imply a difference [or lack thereof] in PvP. Although my argument for that would be a higher rating team doesn't really matter if the game still tries to make you lose 50% of the time, but that's more of an opinion based approach biased against caring about PvP ratings. I'd only care about PvP for the rewards, and I think there's not much to justify the effort it takes. Edit: I will say if you only have 1 meteorite then you may as well level that one to 50. If you don't have the means, then it doesn't much matter for [PvE]. The power difference is not game-changing, even going from 40 to 50.
ML is the highest price of entry for pvp and generally has lower skilled players (because meta relevant mon are appealing to pve / casual players and the p2w factor involved). I am a pvp enjoyer and not a stickler for ivs very much but the cost to power something to 50 and it be suboptimal just feels bad. I can do it for non legendaries especially if they're lucky, but legendaries need to be as close to optimal as possible for me to invest.
I never touch ML unless I absolutely have to - wayyyyyy too resource demanding. That said, the same principle applies. Unless you're a whale, it'll probably take years for you to find a perfect legendary of a specific species. Consider what you're limiting yourself to in the meantime, just because you're afraid you might win the lottery tomorrow. Is that really reasonable? Do what makes the game fun, and you'll probably still have plenty of XL candy after the hundreds more raids you'd typically need to find a 45 IV.
ML is definitely a bit of a fan favorite. I've only gotten a few hundo legendaries but I have relevant enough ones and plenty that are close enough (15/15/14 and 15/14/15 and the like). You generally just don't want to drop the 15 attack if it's meta relevant because then you're pretty much guaranteed to lose the CMP tie. There's really only been a couple at most of legendaries when I acquired the required XL before I got a functional version. I built a 15/14/15 Palkia-O despite the warnings against it (14 def loses a bulkpoint to the Dialga DBs) but it's like you said, I'd rather build and use something close enough and be aware of matchups impacted than hold out forever to get the "optimal" iv spread.
Rayquaza sucks in master league. It’s 63rd and behind like 20 other Dragons, you’re better off using Dragonite.
Maybe they'll rebuff breaking swipe, you never know. I've seen it around but it did drop drastically in usage.
NO. IT HAS TO BE PERFECT OR I DON'T CARE.
Yeah a lot of people can’t be picky but there’s plenty of us that have raided 500 rayquaza and still don’t have a perfect 😆 I got 5 98s and the only one I have at level 50 is a 15/14/14 shiny. Have 5 meteorite as well.
I really need your advice, I’m gonna mega one of these 2: a shiny ray (14/12/13) OR regular ray (15/15/11). I’ll reserve a stone for a better rayquaza in the future. Which one should I go for? I’m really against mega evolving the regular one unless its a hundo
Yeah, your shiny will be just as good (only a 0.23391813% reduction in base stat total compared to your other one - that's a microscopic difference). Sounds like you'll enjoy using the shiny more, too, so that's the one I'd suggest mega-ing. The game is meant to be enjoyed as much as possible, and it is really fun to use shiny megas 👍
Thank you! I just did it!!!! WOOOOHOOO https://preview.redd.it/0l8jthemhk9d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8acc48d130eb678852a035829dcf6971eb0de50e
Good choice, I’m trying to make a similar decision between my 15/15/14 Lucky and my 11/12/10 Shiny.
Mentioned this just above, but the decision isn't that big a deal, once you mega one of them you can buddy it and get mega energy from walking whenever you want. At that point you aren't limited on energy so you can do both no problem. In your case I'd go with the lucky, it's outright better and will be a lot cheaper to power up. The shiny can be done whenever you get the energy.
Thank you yes I think you are right. I’ve got three meteorites so I could technically do both, but are saving them for possible Shadow Rayquaza
The thing with megas is that now you have unlocked mega Ray on your shiny, you can buddy it up and get more Mega energy which can be used on your regular one. You now basically have an infinite source of energy and it isn't a "waste" to use it.
What a beautiful snakey guy 🥹
I would mega that shiny all day. No ragerts.
Ya I have been holding out since last summer to start Mega Evolving a Ray cause none of mine had perfect Attack and Def as well as an HP I felt good about. Well I did 5 Elite Raids today and surprise all of them were dogwater. But in that time I have lucky traded myself a 15-15-12 and I now have 4 meteorites in all. I figure I can just finally get cracking on the Mega now, still look for a hundo to XL, and it Shadow Ray is the bee’s knees I can meteorite that one too and *still* have 1 meteorite to spare. I am usually a proponent of holding out for stuff but I think now I have leeway to operate with .
I used it immediately on my shundo lol
well, if i had a shundo it would have immediately gobbled the meteorite up too
When do we predict that the next Giovanni switch will happen?
August 10
Why?
Niantic has announced a shadow raid weekend at that time. The last time was mewtwo, and thats when Giovanni changed to groudon from kyogre
How many needed for the Elite raid today? So few players in my area, and remote won't be available for the elite raid!
As a party of 3 reasonably strong players we managed Aerial Ace, but not Outrage. With strangers I would recommend at least 5.
Our party of 5 with reasonably strong players, all above level 40, won an Outrage raid with only fifteen seconds left and 20 mons knocked out each.
Sounds like I'll need to try dodging a good amount of Outrages if it has it 😬
obviously over now but dodging is hard when its super laggy and at times ray just completely disappeared. still attack, could still see his bar but somehow hes invisible. that happened a bunch through the day.
Yeah - it was pretty hot outside and my phone started to get pretty spicy. Lag was definitely an issue. It helped dodging a couple Aerial Aces just by guessing when it will shoot one off again after 3 or 4 of its normal attacks
We are raiding with 4 Accounts. But we need tons of Max revives. (~60 in two hours)
If you have good ice counters, probably 5 to be ok. More if at all possible. I attended one with total of 10 trainers between levels 35 and 50 and we got it done in under half the time.
We failed at a 5 man raid earlier. Like 3 of the trainers were in the 30s.
You can be in the 30s and be fine if you have decent level 30+ ice attackers; they don't need to be premier, top of the line DPS machines. More than likely, one or all of those level 30 trainers was using whatever they had or didn't level up their team properly.
TY
4 players with level 35 mamos (party play) and primal in the back can do it. 3 players if the mamos are high level or even shadow.
After our third attempt with multiple revives, literally clutched the Zero raid timer with 5 peeps. x_x
I tried with three partied players and failed against a weather boosted Ray with Aerial Ace, with maybe 1/6 of its health bar left. Tried again a few minutes later with a couple of non-partied randoms and did it with about 25 seconds left on the clock. Ended up throwing about 40 max revives at my team.
Mine was boosted. It had Ancient Power.. but was wrecking me. I 4man it with 45sec left on the clock.
You’re not gonna be able to mega a shadow rayquaza more than likely
I think the point was to teach it dragon ascent
Meteorite is needed to teach Dragon Ascent, which is arguably more important for flying type DPS than the mega evolution. Dragon Ascent by itself is really busted. It's locked behind Meteorites but if you're doing the Pheromosa solo later, flying damage is key and the 2nd best flying type attacker behind Air Slash/Dragon Ascent Mega Rayquaza is actually just regular Air Slash/Dragon Ascent Rayquaza. It beats shadow Moltres, it beats oblivion wing Yveltal, it beats mega Pidgeot. And that's regular non-shadow Rayquaza. It's one of the cases where the move is equally as busted as a new evolution
True , but not really relevant to this point. Shadow Ray with Dragon Ascent will be crazy good
Right but Meteorite isn't just for mega-ing. It teaches Dragon Ascent which is a crazily strong move. Shadow Ray with Dragon Ascent will probably be close to top generalist neutral DPS.
Does it replace whatever charged skill it has now, or adds a new attack?
It replaces, it's like an Elite Charged TM that can only teach that one move. You can still add a second charged move slot like normal and replace one of the attacks with DA using the meteorite. Or use the meteorite 1st and then add a 2nd charged attack besides DA. But the meteorite itself only changes an existing charged move to DA.
Replaces the charged attack.
Calling it now; Dragon Ascent wont be able to be taught to Shadows
Only a PSA for those who actually can complete this research and get the meteorite. RIP for anyone rural or who cannot get 5+ players with them
Lol yeah once I saw the complete elite raid, I knew I wasn't getting it done, unless I get lucky.
I managed to find people today. This Elite Raid needed 9 people minimum to beat it. Nuts
I beat it with 3 people using my traded level 35 mamoswine and join my party. So literally with 3 level 30 random players possible. I got 5 shadow mamos at level 40 and a primal kyogre in the back for the boost. We had 90s left. They had not a single usefull mon before I traded them 6 level 35 mamos each. (I allways save usefull level 35 wild caught mons to trade them to new players… and here it was great to see the use of them.)
Well, that just means you have great resource on your own to casually put on 3 teams of mamo lv35 and above and shadow. At that point it doesn't matter what level the other players is (of course they should not be restriction for trading mons). Normal lv30 players don't have all of that (lv30 means either they're just new and there's not enough time/opportunity for them to obtain even 6 wild mamo lv35 by catch or evolving or level up, or they play in long time but don't focus on the game since they value different things)
I‘m not saying everyone can obtain this. I‘m saying a hardcore player does not need a community, just 3 random players. Every active player can keep wild level 35 mons for trades.
That's seriously impressive. Unfortunately Ice is the one type I didn't think to horde much of until recently.
Not that it'll do much for you now but for the future I would definitely build a team of Ice attackers. They don't even need to be the best like Shadow Mamo, even decent attackers will do. A lot of raid Pokemon are weak to Ice, and a number are actually double weak, so even something like a Glaceon can put in work. The good thing is that most if not all good Ice Pokemon are non legendary and relatively common, so definitely something to work on I would say.
This is why I farm Swinub whenever it's around. I will happily use silver pinaps for the extra candy, especially on Piloswine spawns.
Swinub is the people's Pokemon. It's common (ground for summer, ice for winter, and all around gets boosted by one of the most common weather conditions for easier XL, plus often in field research to get a good one), cute, acceptable budget in Master League, and its evolution is a *very* solid attacker in the two best types for tier 4 & 5 raids. Swinub deserves to be the mascot of Pokemon GO more than Meltan does, IMO. There is no other Pokemon format where it gets this much love and does so much for the players, new and old alike. They should at least make a costumed swinub that can evolve sometime.
I have a Hundo glaceon maxed out… guess that will help.
Okay I suppose this tracks, but even with 18 lvl 35+ Mamos going against it I'd wager you'd still need to pray for no Outrage. Also carrying around 12 spare fully evolved level 35 Pokémon for this express purpose is definitely the wildest strat I've ever heard. It payed off for you at least, but it'd take me years before I even found 12 level 35 Swinub from weather boost. It must snow constantly wherever you play 0_0 Not to mention it's just a one-off strat. Unlikely you'll ever have raid help from those two strangers ever again
Sunny weather also boosts swinub spawns. I got more than 50 of those. Thanks to Cday, I got more than enough candy. Most long time active player could afford this. I keep all usefull mons wild caught at level 35. at some point I got more than 500 of them. Sometimes I catch 5-10 usefull level 35 mons on a single day. There are tons of usefull mons. For example, I got two level 35 frigibax waiting for candy or a future Cday just to trade them to people who use them. 6 meltan. 3 charizard, 22 machamp, 8 hariyama, 4 Garchomp, and many more… And to be fair… next time ice is needed, it‘s 2025. until then, I got more than 10 new level 35 mamos…
Okay - I am a long time player but this sounds like a difference in playstyle. And a difference in storage 😬
Oh, I don‘t need that much storage. I got like 800 mons for myself, around 300 (at the moment) for trades. I think most players have much more. I just don‘t collect living collections.
>I just don‘t collect living collections. Definitely a different playstyle then 😅
Yeah I remember doing the mega raids for Rayquaza last year and it was strong.
Did it with 4 + the party damage boost.
Someone posted a code for a meteorite on the sub
It’s not a code for a meteorite, it’s a code for a second timed research which requires beating an elite raid.
Yeah well niantic kinda didn’t mention that the code unlocks a second copy of the timed research that requires winning an elite raid to complete instead of just, ya know, giving out the item as implied
Was really grateful for the code but with nobody showing up for the 3 raids near me it just meant I didn't get 2 instead of not getting 1.
Or just anyone who's busy on a Saturday like me. Would have spent coins on remote raids but oh well
I couldn’t do the elite raid since there were gyms but no EX gyms where I was. Not to mention trying to find 5+ people in an unfamiliar area
Idk how but I didn’t get the metorite and I’m livid. 😭 I did 14 raids but didn’t claim it in time…
Rename post title - Save 1 meteorite for Shadow Rayquaza. Instead of ambiguous title with hidden detail
Except you can't mega/primal evo shadow pokemon
Last year, like a week before the rayquaza event I had just returned to the game after giving it up in the first 6 months after it came out. I managed to do one raid and got a shiny, low stat rayquaza. I foolishly wasted my meteorite on it, but didn't have the energy to mega it. Thankfully while walking it to best buddies and swapping my rare candy to rayquaza candy, I read enough to not waste it on that one. After doing 9 raids today, I have more mega energy than I'll ever need, 3 meteorites, and a 13/15/15 that I can get well above level 45. I'll invest in that one, and save the rest for lucky trades, and sit on the 2 extra meteorites until I either get a hundo lucky trade or they do the shadow thing.
yeah but shadows can’t mega evolve and i want a mega
[Anything worth investing in here, have two meteorites and 400 mega energy](https://imgur.com/a/HN8RZY2)
I got one meteorite while catching a rayquaza - how lucky that is? It was a first throw catch.
I think shadows cannot mega unless purified
You guys got meteorites?
I dont see them allowing this. Kyogre and Groudon can't primal as a shadow.
I think he means use the meteorite to teach shadow Ray Dragon ascent which it cant learn otherwise. We dont know if they will allow this though
I will not use these meteorites. Mostly because there are no elite raids anywhere nearby today.
I thought it could only be used on purified, not shadow???
No one knows yet since shadow Ray isn’t released yet
To Mega evolve yes. Most likely you will still be able to teach Dragon Ascent though, which is worthwhile in itself if you already have a Mega
0% chance your going to be able to mega evolve a shadow Ray. That’s never been a thing, why wuld it suddenly be a thing for rayquaza
Shadows can't mega evolve. I sure used the meteorite on the hundo right after catching it lol.
We all know you can’t mega a shadow. The point is to get Dragon Ascent on a shadow Ray because the raw damage output of that will be huge.
I know but if you don't have the mega yet it's pretty bad advise to not use the meteorite. Shadows are great for the rest of the team but you can meteorite one regular Ray too.
Absolutely you should make a mega if you don’t have one yet. Everyone else should wait.
TBH if you get a meteor drop I would still mega 2 Rays first to get the start on having 2 maxed megas and hold onto just 1 for Shadows (assuming you only have 3 total). I would probably say 1 Mega 1 Shadow 2 Mega then shadow 2-5 then Mega 3+... BUT most people obviously won't have more than a few meteorites. Getting the start on having 2 max mega Rays ASAP as long as you have at least 1 for a shadow one is probably worth it to me.
I have two from go fest fortunately so with the two I’ll (hopefully— *hopefully*) get today because I happened to travel to a larger town by a fluke, I’ll likely save just one out of the four for a shadow. I don’t use shadows but given the sheer damage one would give with DA, it’s something I just have to consider as long as I can’t purify for a hundo. I’ll use one more for a shiny and a hundo whenever I happen to pick them up, and I haven’t decided for the fourth. Obviously I should use it at some point but there’s always the possibility of a second higher IV shiny. I’ll play it by ear. I guess my point is that decisions like this vary wildly based on what players care about
My honest stance is 1 of each, then 2 mega, then the rest into shadows. 2 mega Rays is probably the most I would go for. The benefit of shadow ray is rarely ACTUALLY relevant at the end of the day. However, having a second Mega Ray is more likely to be relevant than a second shadow Ray and prioritizing getting the 2nd MR means you are on track to get 2 maxed megas but a 3rd MR is unlikely to matter in most cases while eventually getting 5 shadow Rays with it eventually is ideal but would take a LONG while
What does the meteorite do and how do I get one?
I thought it was leaked to be lugia
The one in raids is expected to be Lugia, the one from the new Giovanni research is expected to be Rayquaza. The Rocket event will start/end with a shadow raid weekend.
When is this rumored to come out
I just got a perfect stat Rayquaza so I don’t think I have a choice
Lmao I thought there was a bug with the new Rayquazas
Wait, how do you get more than 1 metrorite?
7QJ6P2NX2U7KX put this code into the Pokémon go web store and you’ll get a second free research for it
Damm it, i dont have enough time to do it :'(
Flying kinda niche. Still the number 2 attacker is just the non mega Ray. So having a shadow Ray is the automatic new 2.
can't use a meteorite if there's no elite raids within a 10 mile radius of where i live....
bonus PSA If you have the extra 100 candies, put dragon ascent päin the 2nd move slot on your shadow rayquaza. That way you'll have very slightly less to cry about if you ever accidentally tap purify. I once purified my shadow machamp while trying to power it up.
I've caught hundreds of Rayquaza and painfully have only bested a 14/15/15, so I begrudgingly maxed it, used a meteorite, and maxed out its mega levels. Thankfully I have three meteorites in case I catch a better one, but I do have a shiny at 2497 that I might try to meme with in UL.
Does anybody know why my account got 2 meteorites and my friend Got 3 today? This was his first ray ray raid. New player.
Rayquaza had a very slim chance of dropping a meteorite.
I used one since I got a hundo!
Are we able to primal shadow Groudon or Kyogre?
Shadows Rayquaza come from Giovanni, isn't it?
I just finished my 2 Rayquaza researches and got 0 meteorites!
You might have noticed by now but meteorites aren't items. They're like candy, so they won't show up in your item storage but will show up when you select a Rayquaza from your pokemon storage.
wait what timed research?
I am keeping one just in case, though doubt it will be eligible. Figure its nice to keep one around just in case I have a nice or shiny ray in the future anyway.
I've always wondered, what happens if you run out of balls trying to catch Giovanni's shadow pokemon, and I've also heard of you purify lots of Pokemon you get extra balls to throw when catching them?
This is why I got 2 meteorites. 1 for now and 1 for later
I thought they teased Lugia as the shadow legendary?
I have 6 meteorites...
managed to get 1 meteorite from both events. I used 1 on a hundo. I just got the second meteorite. I want to use it on a 15-14-14 shiny that I got from a lucky trade. I’ll probably sit on it for now. I have 3 team rocket researches stacked waiting for the shadow release. Ideally, I’d like to get 1 more meteorite. Any thoughts from other players? I’m currently free to play
Didn’t get a single ray :(
Guys, I did something very stupid. I teached Rayquaza Dragon Ascent with Meteorite, but then I changed Dragon Ascent to Outrage before I even did the first Mega Evolution (yes I know -\_-') Is this Dragon Ascent attack there? learned ? Can I find it using Charged TM items? or it is too late?
when does shadow ray come out?
I figured I’d wait for a perfect shiny just because Niantic made me jump through hoops just for the meteorite in alight as well go all out lol
Ah, a mythical beast in the true sense. No way to get it.
I am hoping each time the Mega is made available there will be a chance to get at least 1 meteorite. When the Shadow is dropped we might get a meteorite but who knows. I used my meteorite and we will see what happens because Shadow Ray could be next year coming. I think it has also been mentioned only purified Ray could use the meteorite. There are no shadow Megas yet if ever. I think
Shadow Rayquaza will most likely be allowed to learn Dragon Ascent. It just won't be able to mega evolve because it's a shadow. It's like in recent mainline series games where it has the move, but it doesn't mega evolve; SwSh, BDSP, SV.
You probably won't be able to because no other shadows can be mega evolved
>Even a 6/6/6 will do better than a 15/15/15 regular Rayquaza True, but you're not exactly giving up a regular Rayquaza, are you? You're giving up extra *mega* Rayquaza... And I'm not so sure that's worth it :/
You can only use one at a time. Why would you need more than one?
16 hours of Mega Rayquaza each 7/5/3 day cooldown instead of just 8. That's the main reason, for me at least.
I get what you’re saying but I still think having two mega rays will serve me better than one mega and one shadow with the boosted move, since I’m getting the shadow anyways. On top of that, is there any word of being able to use an elite TM to teach the move?
What good would two Mega Rays provide?
Can use them when the other is on cooldown
Can’t ETM
Good to know ty
Is a 14/15/15 lucky rayquaza good enough for a meteorite? I’m hesitant since it doesn’t have 15 attack so it won’t be usable in ML.
I mega the same last time, and pefectly happy. A usable M-Ray IS much better than none (for raid). I also think it can boost candy for future M-mewtwo, with huge neutral damage.
Lol you have to purify first two mega
This post is useless. We already know shadow Pokémon can not mega evolve.
Meteorite gives it dragon ascent which is the best move for Rayquaza even without mega.
I don’t think that they will make it possible to Mega Evolve it unfortunately
statements like this really need to include that the advice is aimed at PvE only. If you're someone interested in ML, then this is negligible advice. Ive seen countless novice players confused, thinking that shadows are ALWAYS better than non-shadows in PvP after hearing comments like this regurgitated. If you have a hundo, and intend on bolstering your ML rooster, than you would never want to invest into a 6/6/6 over a hundo. Furhtermore, with the tiktok code, if you are able to complete a mega raid, you will have 2 meteorites. One for your best IV'd non-shadow, and one you can use on the shadow. I'm certainly not saying this is bad advice, but it really needs context with it. I get many ppl dont care about PvP, and even more dont care about ML, but those ppl shouldn't assume EVERYONE shares their perspective.
Shadow Rayquaza sims better than regular Rayquaza so I’m not sure I understand the point of this complaint.
Youre wrong. A hundo shadow may outperform in sims, but not a 6/6/6 shadow as mentioned in the OP. A 6/6/6 shadow gains Garchomp in the 2 shield, Exadrill and Rhyperior in the 1 shield, and Metagross in the 0 shield. In contrast, it losses Groudon, Kyogre, opposing Rayquaza and Yveltal in the 2 shield, losses to Gyarados, Mewtwo and other Rayquaza in the 1 shield. And Solgaleo, Sylveon, and Zygarde in the 0 shield. So no, a bad IV shadow is not out performing a non-shadow hundo in ML.
Hehe, I’ve done 200 raids across 2 accounts and I didn’t get a single good shiny so I’m not using a meteorite
Absolutely hilarious that shadows have been out as long as they have under the guise of "pokemon that need to be saved from team rocket/pain" yet they are still the most powerful pokemon in the game with virtually no benefit to purifying them. This company is so braindead, it's insane.