Thundurus Incarnate Forme is the raid boss to beat in the month of March. Or rather, Thundurus is the “background” raid boss we’ll be fighting in between all the event raid weekends. Overall, Thundurus is just a pallet swapped version of Tornadus with an Electric secondary type, but it could pay to know what the difference in the raid counters are. The article below covers the best counters to the Thundurus Incarnate Forme raid, their breakpoints and bulkpoints, and Thundurus’ use in the Raid and Trainer Battle metas.
Also, interestingly enough Thundurus may be obtained from GO Battle League rewards. So you may not have to raid it at all to obtain it!
The Thundurus Incarnate Forme raid has two optimized counters: The extreme Glass Cannon Rampardos, and the reliable Tank Rock Wrecker Rhyperior. Both options can help trainers complete the raid with a low amount of allies, having Duo worthy levels of damage at as low as level 30. The next best options are Mamoswine and Terrakion. Both have Duo worthy levels of damage as well, but may require you to power them up to at least level 35 to do so. Of course, if you are interested in doing the Thundurus Duo, you should hone your team with our Duo Guide.
With the current Shadow Bonus in Pokemon GO, Shadow Weavile and the elusive Shadow Smack Down Tyranitar also stand out as extremely powerful options. While it’s not currently advised to power up Shadow Pokemon for raids (assuming Pokemon GO is going to nerf the Shadow Bonus) if you already have powered them up or are a Weavile/Tyranitar enthusiast, they are as good as Rampardos in damage.
If you are lacking the above raid counters, most Rock and Ice-type Pokemon will help to get the job done. Stone Edge Rhyperior, Smack Down Tyranitar, Weavile, Glaceon, Ice Beam Mewtwo, Jynx, and both Alolan and Kantonian Golem are recommended before more alternative choices. After them, then Pokemon GO’s auto-select becomes slightly more palatable. As with Tornadus, Thundurus is the type of raid boss where The Aggron is slightly acceptable.
Breakpoints & Bulkpoints
| Pokemon | Breakpoints | Bulkpoints |
|---|---|---|
| Rampardos | 28, 30, 34.5, 39 | 31.5, 34.5, 36, 39.5 |
| Rhyperior | 26.5, 29, 33.5, 39 | 34, 35.5, 37, 40 |
| Terrakion | 27.5, 30, 35, 40.5 | 30, 32.5, 34, 35.5 |
| Tyranitar; Smack Down | 27, 29.5, 34, 39.5 | 35.5, 37, 38.5 |
| Mamoswine | 26.5, 36 | 34, 37.5, 40 |
| Weavile | 31, 38 | |
| Glaceon; Frost Breath | 27, 32, 41 | 38.5, 40 |
*Most Bulkpoints featured are based on Brick Break and will not appear on our bulkpoint calc
Use in the Meta
Thundurus Incarnate Forme shares candy with and is objectively worse than its unreleased Therian Forme. In that respect, any candy gained from Thundurus Incarnate Forme could be considered an investment in its future Therian Forme. As far as the Therian Forme is concerned, the current Game Master suggests it has a weak movepool. However, it is expected that the Game Master will change before its release.
Currently, all Therian Formes have the same exact movepool as their Incarnate Formes. Similarly, Giratina’s Origin Forme had the same movepool as its Altered Forme up until its release. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect the Therian Forme’s movepools to change in the future. If these changes will make them meta or not has yet to be seen, but Thundurus only really needs Wild Charge or Thunderbolt to get good so the odds are with it.
Overall, Thundurus isn’t all that exciting of a raid boss as it has no real use in the Raid or Trainer Battle metas. Fortunately, each weekend in March has a shiny and/or exclusive Charge Move re-release of more coveted raids bosses (Darkrai, Giratina, Cobalion, and Lugia). Given how easy it is to beat Thundurus, Thundurus serves as a nice break in between the more exciting raid boss events. Since you can also get Thundurus from GO Battle League rewards, you may not even have to raid him at all.
