Yveltal is back in five-star raids through October 13, 2026, and it has four listed weaknesses — Electric, Fairy, Ice, and Rock all deal +60% damage. Only two of those are worth building around. Pokémon GO Hub’s raid simulator puts Electric and Rock attackers all through its top 30 counters — Raikou, Zapdos, Magnezone, and Electivire on the Electric side, Rhyperior, Rampardos, and Tyrantrum on the Rock side — and none of them need a Mega Evolution to perform. The top Fairy and Ice options (Mega Gardevoir, Mega Diancie, White Kyurem) do rank higher, but they’re locked behind Mega Energy grinds or a Kyurem fusion most trainers haven’t built. A safe group is 3-5 trainers with any of the Electric or Rock picks below; solo attempts need a genuinely strong roster and still aren’t recommended.
Why Electric and Rock Beat Fairy and Ice Here
Yveltal is a Dark/Flying type, and all four weaknesses hit it for the same +60% multiplier — there’s no mathematical reason to prefer one type over another on paper. The difference shows up in which Pokémon you actually have. GO Hub’s top-30 simulation (DPS, total damage output, and time-to-win, run under boosted weather) is dominated by Mega Raichu, White Kyurem, Mega Gardevoir, Mega Diancie, Regieleki, and Shadow Raikou in the first ten slots — a mix of mega evolutions and Pokémon that need a specific fusion or Elite TM. Strip those out and what’s left in the realistic top 30 is almost entirely Electric and Rock: Shadow Rhyperior at #12, Shadow Electivire at #17, Shadow Magnezone at #23, Shadow Rampardos at #22, Mega Aerodactyl at #26. Common Fairy attackers like Togekiss and Granbull, and common Ice attackers like Mamoswine and Weavile, don’t crack the top 30 at all — their base stats just aren’t built for it. If your Gardevoir isn’t Mega-Evolved or your Kyurem isn’t fused, Electric and Rock will out-damage your Fairy and Ice options every time. For the full type matchup, see our Dark-type weaknesses guide.
Best Yveltal Counters You Can Actually Build
None of these require a Mega Evolution, though Shadow versions (from Team GO Rocket battles) hit harder than their regular forms. The table below is ranked for accessibility, not raw score — a maxed Rhyperior will usually beat your Electric picks on raw damage, but any of these four will clear Yveltal in a group.
| Counter | Best Moves | Type | Why It’s a Budget Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rhyperior | Smack Down / Rock Wrecker | Rock/Ground | Evolves from Rhydon with a Sinnoh Stone — Rhyhorn, the base form, is one of the most common wild spawns in the game |
| Magnezone | Spark / Wild Charge | Electric/Steel | Evolves from Magneton (100 Magnemite Candy) near an active Magnetic Lure Module; no raid or event needed |
| Electivire | Thunder Shock / Wild Charge | Electric | Evolves from Electabuzz; cheap to build if you’ve done past Community Days |
| Rampardos | Smack Down / Rock Slide | Rock | Weaker bulk than Rhyperior but higher raw attack — good if you already have one |
The one-sentence takeaway: build Rhyperior or Magnezone first — both start from common wild spawns rather than raid-exclusive Pokémon, and both land inside GO Hub’s realistic top 30. Magnezone just needs candy and a Magnetic Lure Module; Rhyperior needs one Sinnoh Stone on top of the candy, so evolve it as soon as Research Breakthrough or a Team Leader battle hands you one. If you’ve already built up a Yveltal from a past raid, our Yveltal best moveset guide covers whether it’s worth powering up as an attacker of your own.
Safe Group Size and Weather
GO Hub’s raid calculator lists a minimum of 2 trainers to clear Yveltal, with 3-5 trainers as the comfortable range if your counters aren’t maxed out. Weather matters more than usual here: Yveltal gets a boost from Fog and Windy weather, raising its catch CP from the normal 2073-2160 range up to 2591-2701. If the forecast shows Fog or Windy during your raid window, round up your group by one or two trainers rather than assuming your usual squad size will hold.
What you bring should depend on where you are in the game. A new player with no Electric or Rock evolutions yet is better off joining a public raid at a busy gym and letting higher-level trainers carry the damage — Yveltal isn’t worth spending Raid Passes on solo attempts at low CP. A casual player who already has a Magnemite or Rhyhorn sitting in storage should evolve and power it up now rather than hunting for something rarer; the budget picks above close most of the damage gap. Hardcore optimizers chasing the single best DPS number should prioritize Mega Energy for Diancie or Gardevoir over grinding Electric/Rock candy, since the ceiling on those two picks is meaningfully higher once Mega-Evolved.
When to Raid: The Window Closes October 13
Yveltal’s five-star raid window runs from Wednesday, October 7 through Tuesday, October 13, 2026, confirmed on Leek Duck’s event tracker. The Raid Hour already ran on October 7 from 6-7 p.m. local time, which was the best window for finding gyms stacked with Yveltal raids back-to-back — if you missed it, you still have until Tuesday night to find standard raids through the in-game Nearby list. Shiny Yveltal is possible in any of these raids, though no official odds are published for this window. After October 13, Yveltal rotates out and Dialga takes over the Tier 5 slot, so don’t wait until the last day if your group isn’t locked in yet. For a broader rundown of raid difficulty and counters across every current boss, see our raid boss counters hub.
Sources
- Leek Duck. Yveltal in 5-Star Raid Battles. LeekDuck.com
- Pokémon GO Hub. Best Yveltal Raid Counters. db.pokemongohub.net
- mein-MMO. Pokémon GO: Raids, legendäre Bosse und Raid-Stunden im Oktober 2026. mein-mmo.de
I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.