'Pokémon Go' Raid Boss List: Every Pokémon you'll encounter in raid battles and their tier rankings

Impact

The Pokémon Go raids boss list may be shorter than you'd expect. In a roster of 251 pocket monsters — minus legendaries, for now — only 23 would be available to fight against with your level-20-and-above friends.

That's okay, though, because the Pokémon that did make the cut are pretty great — and some are surprisingly difficult to beat. Who's included in the Pokémon Go raid boss list? We have the answer right here.

Pokémon Go raid boss list: Charizard, Tyranitar and Lapras, oh my

The list of raid bosses in Pokémon Go come to us from r/TheSilphRoad over on Reddit. User pulsivesilver offered up a listing of every raid Pokémon you can find in the game. User lobo2ffs corroborated the data as well, and added a special chart that includes each boss Pokémon's weaknesses and attacks. Here are their findings of what Pokémon you'll find and in which tier.

Tier 1

Bayleef

Croconaw

Magikarp

Quilava

Tier 2

Electabuzz

Exeggutor

Magmar

Muk

Weezing

Tier 3

Alakazam

Arcanine

Flareon

Gengar

Jolteon

Machamp

Vaporeon

Tier 4

Blastoise

Charizard

Lapras

Rhydon

Snorlax

Tyranitar

Venasaur

For more info on CP and who are the best Pokémon to counter raid bosses, you'll want to hit up r/TheSilphRoad.

As you'll probably notice, a raid boss's tier is denoted by how many tiny monster icons appear above its name. The stronger the enemy, the more people you'll likely need to conquer the beast in battle. Pokémon in stronger tiers are also more difficult to capture. Securing a Charizard, for example, took two raids, and during the first raid we used up all 13 of our awarded Premier Balls.

Pokémon Go raid boss list: What about Legendaries and the mythical tier 5?

There's a good chance legendary Pokémon will be made available via raids sometime this summer. Some have speculated that a tier 5 exists but is currently unavailable. This would explain where these screenshots of Dragonite as a raid boss have come from, as well as how potential legendary Pokémon fit into the picture.

Few can say for sure when — or even if — a tier 5 of raid bosses is on the way. Just make sure you don't spend all your raid passes on Magikarp before the big Chicago event.

Check out more Pokémon Go news and coverage

Raids are here! Find out how to view raids near you online and why they may be the key to legendary Pokémon. Find out how to determine how long it will take you to reach level 40, and see what we think of the Gen 2 Pokémon added to the game. Here are the kinds of Pokémon you get from 10-kilometer eggs, and here's where you can check out what you missed during the Water Festival and Solstice events. Find out more about the upcoming Chicago event and why you'll probably be able to catch Unown while you're there— if you're not busy searching for rare evolutionary items, that is.