How to Beat Dynamax Zapdos in Pokémon Go

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Along with a group of three others I managed to defeat Dynamax Zapdos on our first attempt this Max Monday in Pokémon Go and again on Tuesday without any problems.

I went with the same group as last week's Dynamax Articuno and due to the experience, things went a lot smoother this time around.

We had two players with mostly 3000 CP Pokémon, one player with 2000ish CP Pokémon, and one player with slightly less than 2000 CP Pokemon that drew from a very small pool over 12 to 15 Dynamax Pokémon (he doesn't play much).

My lineup consisted of a 3000 CP Rillaboom, a 3000 CP Excadrill, and a 2500 CP Lapras. Our main tank was a 2300 Excadrill with Level 1 Max Guard and we didn't have any issues against both a Zapdos with Drill Peck and another with Thunder.

Keys to beating Dynamax Zapdos (and Dynamax Bosses in general):

  • Try to reach at least 2000 CP for your defending Pokémon. This will make it fairly likely that you'll make it to your first Dynamax after which your tank should use Max Guard to grab aggro and prevent other party members from taking too much damage. I would prioritize 2000 CP over leveling Max abilities. Our party mostly used level 1 Max abilities.
  • Focus on charging the Dynamax Meter. Be sure to grab Dynamax orbs as they appear and spam fast attacks. It is generally to your benefit to pick the fastest fast attacks. Don't bother with charge attacks as they're slower and feed the meter the same amount as a fast attack. Most of your damage is done during the Dynamax stage and the Dynamaxing can interrupt the Boss' attacks. Additionally, the Boss doesn't attack while your Pokémon is Dynamaxed.
  • Be sure to dodge. Only the charge attacks can be dodged and the boss will only target one party member for it. A yellow alert mark will appear above the Pokémon being targeted. Dodge immediately upon seeing the yellow mark. If it flashes yellow and red, it's already too late. After the tank uses Max Guard, he will draw aggro and should focus on dodging.
  • Bring neutral or resistant types as your defenders (the Pokémon you have out during the non-Dynamax portions of the fight). It's okay if your attacker is weak against the boss' attacks as they should only ever be out during the Dynamax stage (you have 3 seconds to swap them in before each Dynamax stage starts).
  • Good attackers include:
    • Cryogonal
    • Lapras
    • Articuno
    • Toxtricity
    • Gengar (no type bonus but has high attack). 
  • Good defenders include:
    • Rillaboom (unless Zapdos is using Drill Peck),
    • Excadrill
    • Metagross (not resistant but still tanky).
  • Try to get four people. More people = faster Dynamax Meter charging. Even if they're lowbies that quickly get knocked out by the Boss' fast attack, they still help charge the Dynamax before and after getting knocked out.
  • Have a designated healer. Depending on how strong your party is they might not have to heal much (or at all) but it's good to have someone that can keep your tanks health/stamina up as needed.

This is how the fight should go:

  1. Fight begins. Everyone spams fast attacks to build Dynamax meter. Whoever gets targeted by the Boss should dodge.
  2. First Dynamax. Main tank should use Max Guard while the rest of the party uses Max Attacks.
  3. Spam fast attacks. Main tank should focus on dodging Charge Attacks.
  4. Second Dynamax. Main tank should continued to Max Guard. Tank should be healed as necessary. Otherwise everyone else should use Max Attacks.
  5. Repeat #3 and #4 as needed.

Update 1/29/25 - I did another Zapdos Dynamax battle tonight during Raid Hour. It was with three other random people so I don't know their stats and I think they were on the other side of the block as I didn't see them. We defeated it on the first try. I ended up using a 1680 Articuno (i.e. an unleveled one that still did decent damage) without any problems. My defenders were still a 3000 CP Excadrill and Rillaboom. From what I could see during the battle, the other three players ran Excadrills for their tanks and, interestingly enough, all three were using Charizard for their attacker. I'm guessing they were high CP with higher level Max abilities but, again, I can't be sure. I'm just noting it to show you can still do the fight even if you don't quite have the best type Pokémon or level for the fight.

Photo via Pokémon Go.

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