Assessment on Avalanche Piloswine in Zapdos Raid
I asked here earlier that whether I should charge TM a Piloswine to get a Avalanche. Thought at first I went with the majority who told me not to, after some raids I found that 3 Golems can't secure me the +3 damage bonus. So I pulled the trigger. I want to share some feedback with you, as a thank you to whoever answered my questions. Special thanks to razvan who even bothered to check my box, though his suggestion of using Dragonites is what I try to refute here.
TL; DR:
1. Total Damage before fainting: Golem > Piloswine > Dragonite;
2. Duration: Golem = Piloswine > Dragonite.
First of all, Piloswine is still a worse Golem. If you have stardust/TMs and want to raise a good Zapdos raider, choose the Godlem. They are just too good.
You may ask: why bother raising so many counters? How many is enough?
For me, before Piloswine I run 3x Golem, 1 T Tar, and 2 Dragons at the end. Usually the at the 5th or 6th one at victory when the group size is ~10. But I mostly get +2 dmg ball bonus. Only when I'm at the yellow/red HP of the 6th did I get +3. Dragons and T Tars die very fast, it's kinda reverse the previous raids - counters first, tankers last - Now it's counter-and-tankers first, fillers last.
In my latest raid (pic attached) where Piloswine went in for the first time, he fired 5-6 Avalanche before fainting, after taking 3 Thunder from Zapdos (last one killed him). My outrage Dragon only raged 2 times before RIP. One Thunder took 60% of his health. As for my 6th one , T Tar, he just bited in the air for several times and then we had the victory. And I got 3 balls, more than normal.
TL; DR 2: If you aim for +3 dmg bonus, you need four Golems/Piloswine. If they all die fighting, you can secure your +3.
P. S. My Piloswine's quick attack is Ice Shard. I think Power Snow's EPS is not that important since Piloswine has 155 HP at L30 which already translates into a lot of energy.
As always, any discussion is welcomed.
Cheers,
bioweapon
Answers
Those are some impressive Golems, I did 5 Zap raids today and my mostly average double rocks: 2450, 2430, 2340, 2330, 2330, 2320 held up great, never fully fainted--I was getting 15 RC and 2 TMs very often. I'll throw in my ice pilo next time, since I caught a Zap I like, but no chance I will use a TT or Dragonite. Most of the raids were against thunder bolt--the extra resisting helped b/c might have fainted/crashed w/o
Thanks for the tips. Im probably going to raid my first Zapdos tomorrow with this team:
- Golem 2735CP, RT/SE;
- Golem 2419CP, RT/EQ;
- Golem 2083CP, RT/AP;
- Piloswine 1770CP, IS/A;
- Dragonite 3326CP, DB/DC;
- Dragonite 3219CP, DB/DP.
Second line up must be 2378CP SC/SLB Gengar, 3171CP SW/DC Dragonite, 2610CP RS/SE Rhydon, 2651CP PC/P Alakazam, 2810CP L/BS Snorlax + any.
EDIT: Should i switch the second Dragonite (3219CP DB/DP) for the 2610CP Rhydon RS/SE in the main line up?.
My raiding groups allowed me to make it through without fainting, twice it was close though--that is when I needed the extra resisting. If you think you are likely to faint, try to time it right (leave on your own) to get back in and get some decent damage credit***Rhydons aren't an option to try to be awesome, but in this matchup non-EQ ones are so much better than any other tank (Snorlax, etc)
The advantage for me is that i am the highest level in my city and have the strongest Pokémon besides i pick my team correctly to maximize the damage, so almost always i get the +3 damage bonus. Its just too rare to get the team damage bonus tho (i am Instinct).
Do you think its better switch the 3219CP DB/DP Dragonite for a 2610CP RS/SE Rhydon?.
An issue is your Golem 24xx has EQ...I'm not gonna run any sims about it, but your 26xx SE Rhydon might be as good as that one (?). If you are going to try to fully survive I don't see how you could leave out the Rhydon. Beyond that, you being the best player in your city should give you the liberty to bring out some craftiness. Maybe fry a few, exit and reenter***I looked at it a little, if you feel confident in your team of raiders--TT and Dragonites do significant damage but die about twice as fast as a RS/SE Rhydon. RT/EQ Golem isn't ideal, but not that bad in dealing damage+surviving.
I'm glad you managed the 3+ damage.
I did not imagined that a lvl 30 Pilos will be better than a lvl 39 DT/O :), or even lvl 39 B/C Tyra.
And I think I can use your experience.
My next goal is to do a Zapdos in 3.
I just did it in 4 with other 3 fellow Valors, easy, they used mostly high levels Arti, Rhyhdon, Lapras, Drag and Tyra alongside 1-2 mid 30s Golems an we had around 30 seconds to spear. As a note, I advised them to use Pilos, but guess what, only one had 1 Pilos around 1800 CP :).
For trying as a trio I was relying into the idea that I just need to convince 2 lvl 39 Mystics (the Valors I did in 4th are the highest levels) to max another 1-2 Dragonites and Ttars (funny enough I'm the only high level in my 400k city that has more than 2 golems - I have 3 maxed and 2 lvl 30). But based on your field experience seams like is better for them to just use lvl 30 Avalanche Piloswine :) (and they should have since I have 2 and one amazing lv 28 swinub waiting and they have caught more than 25% pokemons than me).
What is the calculation for the damage bonus - is it the 6 mon in the most recent entrance or does it accumulate everything you do in the battle?
I've done a Zapdos with 5 today and I had to pull out and come back in after my roster of 5 golems all fainted, not sure if I should start with ttars and dragons before coming back in with golems next time I'm in a small group
