How to get Mewtwo in ‘Pokémon Go’: Weakness and counters guide will help you prepare for the raid

Ever since its appearance in the initial Pokémon Go trailer in 2015, Mewtwo has weighed heavily on the minds of trainers. Now that we’ve seen the legendary psychic-type Pokémon debut at the Yokohama Pikachu Outbreak in Japan and we know that it’s part of a new raid type called “exclusive raids,” the new question is how to best take Mewtwo down and claim it for yourself.

If you’re looking for a little more information to give yourself an edge over the somber Mew clone, we’ve got it for you.

Pokémon Go Mewtwo raid: Everything you need to know in one handy guide

Silph Road poster RyanoftheDay created a handy macro for those of us who are still looking for an edge over the new psychic legendary once it goes live.

Obviously Tyranitar is top of the list, with its dark-type moves and high survivability, but RyanoftheDay did make one caveat about Tyranitar’s chances: Mewtwo reportedly has a 25% chance of coming with the fighting-type move Focus Blast, which would wreak havoc on Tyranitar’s rock type.

Overall, RyanoftheDay stressed that in spite of this weakness, Tyranitar was still an incredibly powerful counter to Mewtwo. They did also say that they were considering creating a more expanded list with specific counters for a Focus Blast Mewtwo.

Pokémon Go Mewtwo raids: Unusual moves are what the game needs to keep certain Pokémon from ruling the roost

It’s not really a secret that certain Pokémon tend to dominate the charts for legendary raids. As we learned with Lugia, however, sometimes an unusual Pokémon can be a good counter, against all normal expectations. Pokémon Go needs much more of this to prevent every legendary raid from turning into a question of how many Tyranitars and Golems you can afford to bring to a fight.

It also makes sense that Mewtwo would be a good starting point for this, given one of its defining traits is that it can learn a large number of moves from Technical Machines in the main game series.

With many of the Gen 1 and 2 legendaries staying on particular elemental themes, it might be worthwhile for Niantic to throw in some unusual moves to keep legendaries from getting stale. Wouldn’t that be nice?

More Pokémon Go news, updates, tips and tricks

Raids are here — and not just for ordinary Pokémon. Check out our coverage of the legendaries now in-game, Lugia and Articuno. If that’s not enough, check out our tips for making the most of raids and what counters you should focus on finding, as well as what to do with the Golden Razz Berries and TMs you find after completing them. Find out what went wrong at the Pokémon Go Fest in Chicago while you wait for the debut of the European Safari Zones in August and September. Finally, check out some reporting on the issues plaguing rural players a year after launch, how the game created a space for black female gamers and how Pokémon Go can continue to build its community.