What is the minimum group size for zapdos raid?
Assuming level 30 players, what the minimum group size?
I'd like to hear from those actually participated in zapdos raids and make their practical guess/estimate. Thanks.
Answers
I don't think there's any way it will be easier than Moltres. Moltres is double weak to rock, and single weak to water and electric. Even if you don't have Golem/Tyranitar 6 deep, surely most level 30+ players were able to find good Vapes to fill in the gaps.
Zapdos has no double weakness. It's single weak to rock and ice only. Even if you have a good ice mon, it's probably going to be weak to electric attacks (Lapras, Cloyster) or glassy as heck (Jynx). This means that to fill out your roster after Golem and Tyranitar, you're talking DPS without any advantage. Something like Dragonite.
So to answer OP's question, in my experience Articuno took 6-8 high level players. Moltres took 4-6. I expect Zapdos to require more like 6-10.
Golem is double resistant to electric. The most difficult part of defeating moltres was the dodge bug from overheat and fire blast. This shouldn't be an issue against zapdos due to electric only doing .51 damage to golem. In real world practice, golems will last longer than they did against moltres which increases effective dps. If you want to get technical, there's a thread on the Shilphroad with the calculations showing that zapdos will be trio-able with level 30 players and easily quad-able.
It's a bit more than 30% tanker, charge beam isn't a powerful quick move (compared to fire spin). Plus the dodge bug is not going to play as prominent of a role. The issue of attacking moltres in small teams was losing the first line up and having to resort to the B team. This will not be an issue against zapdos assuming everyone is using 3 to 4 golems.
I did read that thread saying that Zapdos was trio-able. The same poster predicted that Moltres would be duo-able.
I will grant that Zapdos will be easier than Articuno. However I don't know about you, but around me Rock mons are rare so very few, even the highest levels in my town, have more than 3-4 quality Golems.
It will definitely not be easier than Moltres, but I also don't think it will be harder than Articuno, the issue with Articuno is that the only Counter that boasted resistance to Articuno's attack was Omastar, and Rock throw Omastar is extremely rare. The best estimation for Zapdos is that it can be killed by 3 level 40 players with a rooster full of Golems, if you go down to level 30, we are talking about 4 players with a 6 Golem Rooster.
Looking at results from Pokebattler, it looks like it shouldn't be too hard for three high level players with 6, maxed golems. I think 4, mid 30 players with a couple golems could even do it.
On pokebattler, just divide time to win for each Pokemon by 300s and round up to get the absolute minimum number of people (assuming everyone uses that pokemon). Then look at the number of that pokemon defeated (indicated by number next to skulls) add one and make sure it is less than 6 per person. If it is, then that is the minimum number. If it is more, then you need to account for time to revive or look for a slightly tankier option.
I'd recommend 250-260 seconds (depending on how laggy your game is) to account for the time it takes for the raid to start (My raid counter usually start at 290, sometimes even lower) plus the time to switch/replace pokemon and the energy that is wasted as a result of pokemon fainting, just to be on the safe side.
