Raid – Zen Headbutt / Moonblast

There aren’t many Fairies, and with Xerneus’ base stats it’s going to be a tanky Fairy Type attacker. But lacking Charm hurts it a lot. It will likely get it’s signiture move Geomancy at some point.

There are a couple classes of unique pokemon that are more difficult to use than others, they have been filtered out here to not clog up the counters too much. These pokemon are much more resource expensive than other options.
 • Shadow Metagross– Best in General simulations.
 • Mega Gengar– Great in General simulations.
 • Mega Beedrill– Great in General simulations.
 • Shadow Mewtwo– Great in General simulations.
Less relavant Shadow and Mega Pokemon:Shadow Scizor, Shadow Victreebel, Shadow Vileplume, Shadow Muk, Mega Charizard Y, Mega Pidgeot, Mega Venusaur, Shadow Skuntank, Shadow Dragonite, Shadow Nidoking, Shadow Venusaur, Shadow Moltres, Shadow Magnezone, Shadow Entei, Shadow Machamp, Shadow Tyranitar, Shadow Raikou, Shadow Magneton, Mega Blastoise, Shadow Nidoqueen

Sorted Hardest to Easiest.Tackle and Zen Headbutt both have about average DPS and EPS for the boss, But Zen Headbutt is super effective against Poison Type counters, while Steel resists both.

Giga Impact:

  • Steel-Types are hit for 🛡️ Resistance

Megahorn:

  • Steel-Types are hit for 🛡️ Resistance
  • Poison-Types are hit for 🛡️ Resistance

Moonblast:

  • Steel-Types are hit for 🛡️ Resistance
  • Poison-Types are hit for 🛡️ Resistance

Thunder:

  •No Interaction

Close Combat:

  • Steel-Types are hit for 💥 Weakness
  • Poison-Types are hit for 🛡️ Resistance

Here is a list of Pokemon that can perform similar or better than the typical #1 option with weather bonuses:

Pokemon	Name	Weather	Fast Move	Charge Move	Estimator
	Shadow Metagross	❄️Snow	Bullet Punch	Meteor Mash	1.3
	Mega Gengar	☁️Overcast	Lick	Sludge Bomb	1.5
	Metagross	❄️Snow	Bullet Punch	Meteor Mash	1.6
	Mega Beedrill	☁️Overcast	Poison Jab	Sludge Bomb	1.6
	Dialga	❄️Snow	Metal Claw	Iron Head	1.8
	Shadow Mewtwo	🪁Windy	Confusion	Psystrike	1.8
	Shadow Scizor	❄️Snow	Bullet Punch	Iron Head	1.8

For more high density information, here is a heatmap of how counters perform against Xerneas on average, as their levels increase: If you just want to know the approximate level where a counter becomes viable to finish the raid with a certain # of players: