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Pokemon GO image showing Nihilego bursting from an Ultra Wormhole
Image via Niantic

Best Nihilego Counters for Pokemon Go Raids: Weaknesses & Type Effectiveness

Beat Nihilego in 5-star Pokemon GO Raids by bringing these counters

Nihilego will once again appear in Pokemon GO raids as part of GO Fest 2024 Global, with a sneak preview the week before to help trainers prepare. Here are the best counters for Nihilego in Pokemon GO.

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All Nihilego Weaknesses & Type Effectiveness in Pokemon Go

The key to beating any 5-Star Raid is to lean into type strengths and weaknesses to give your team an edge against the boss. Nihilego is a dual-type Rock and Poison-type Ultra Beast Pokemon. So, when planning for your Nihilego raid in Pokemon GO, your best counters are to train up Ground-type Pokemon, alongside Psychic, Water, and Steel-type creatures. Because Nihilego is 2X weak to Ground, these moves will be your biggest powerhouse, but a mix of other strong types doesn’t hurt.

PokemonTypeVulnerable ToStrong AgainstResistant To
nihilego
Nihilego
Rock/PoisonGround (2x)
Psychic
Steel
Water
Bug
Fairy
Fire
Grass
Ice
Bug
Fairy
Fire
Flying
Fighting
Grass
Normal
Poison

The Best Nihilego Counters in Pokemon Go

Here are our recommendations for some of the best Pokemon to counter Nihilego in Pokemon GO.

Shadow forms will always be a bit more powerful in battle, so if you have them, bring them. Same goes for Mega evolutions of the listed Pokemon, if you’ve got the Mega Energy to spare.

PokemonSuggested Moveset
primal-groudon
Primal Groudon
or
Groudon
Mud Shot
Precipice Blades
garchomp
Garchomp
Mud Shot
Earth Power
excadrill
Excadrill
Mud-Slap
Scorching Sans
swampert
Swampert
Mud Shot
Earthquake
rhyperior
Rhyperior
Mud-Slap
Earthquake
mamoswine
Mamoswine
Mud-Slap
High Horsepower
landorus
Landorus
Mud Shot
Earth Power
Donphan
Donphan
Mud-Slap
Earthquake
hippowdon
Hippowdon
Sand Attack
Scorching Sands
Golem
Golem
Mud-Slap
Earthquake

When it comes to CP, the Raid Boss version of Nihilego will cap out at 48499, so you’ll want to bring the highest CP Pokemon you have. In terms of catching it, you’ll be able to get your own Nihilego with somewhere between a 2165 and 2830 CP.

To be successful against this Raid Boss, we recommend a team of no fewer than three high-level trainers, or more if you’ve got some lower-level friends who want to take part. It can be done with just two trainers, but you’ll want to be sure you’ve got some high CP heavy-hitting Ground types to manage it. Like most 5-star raids, solo isn’t really a viable option.

Grab your favorite Ground-type powerhouse and best of luck against 5-star Nilego, trainers!

Pokemon GO is available to play now.


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Author
Image of Amanda Kay Oaks
Amanda Kay Oaks
Contributing Writer
Amanda Kay Oaks has been a freelancer writer with The Escapist since February 2024. She's a lifelong gamer with an affinity for Pokemon, RPGs, and cozy games, especially The Sims. Amanda has an MFA in Creative Nonfiction, with prior work on pop culture and entertainment at Book Riot, Fanfare, and Gamepur.