Pokemon Go How to Counter Mewtwo and What is Mewtwo’s Use as an Attacker

Dejan Kacurov August 21, 2017Last Updated: August 31, 2017

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Niantic released Mewtwo as a raid boss on August 14th, for the Pokemon Stadium event in Yokohama, Japan. It was said that Mewtwo will be available through Pokemon GO’s new raid system.

When Mewtwo came to the game, Trainers started asking many questions. The most asked question is how to counter Mewtwo and what is Mewtwo’s use as an attacker. So we think we have the answers to these questions.

Mewtwo Optimal Movesets: Confusion or Psycho Cut + Shadow Ball Great Movesets: Confusion or Psycho Cut + Focus Blast Confusion is on par with Psycho Cut for quick moves; the former offers higher DPS and the latter offers faster energy gains and it’s easier to dodge. Shadow Ball is clearly superior to Psychic. Despite lacking STAB, its base power is similar to Psychic for half the energy cost and goes resisted by only 2 types of Pokemon (Normal and Dark).

Shadow Ball does as well as Psychic against Fighting and Poison-types while also giving Mewtwo an edge over other Psychic-type Pokemon.
Focus Blast is a viable, alternative option for countering Normal-type Pokemon such as Blissey and Snorlax. Its power rivals that of Machamp.
Hyper Beam is definitely Mewtwo’s worst charge move. TM if possible.

Niantic decreased all of its stats by 9%. Rather than breaking the game, Mewtwo is weighing heavily upon it.

Just like Dragonite, Mewtwo will excel in many matchups. But it will sometimes fall short of optimized counters. Unlike Dragonite, Mewtwo’s Psychic, Ghost and Fighting-type attacks offer a variety of optimal matchups.

It’s powerful Psychic-type quick moves help against Poison and Fighting-type raid bosses, and it counters them harder than ever. Mewtwo’s resistance to the Psychic-type attack make these types of raid bosses bend their knee to the new king. Even Blissey will shiver before Mewtwo, as Mewtwo is resisting Blissey’s paltry Zen Headbutts while obliterating it at near Machamp speeds with the Focus blast.

In comparison to the previous legendary raid bosses, Mewtwo’s movesets will influence the raiders’ experience. Its difficulty will depend on which fast move it has. The Psycho Cut’s low base will put Mewtwo on easy mode, and will put emphasis on resisting Mewtwo’s charge moves. Confusion will put Mewtwo on the hard mode, and also will put an accent on the need to resist Psychic-type damage. Confusion is so powerful that will call the viability of ‘Glass Cannon’ into question, and will make ‘Good’ counters look weak.

All in all, Tyranitar is the n.1 counter to almost all Mewtwo movesets. Tyranitar’s Dark-typing will allow it to resist Mewtwo’s Psychic-type attacks while putting a STAB 1.2x multiplier behind the super effective Dark-type attack. Tyranitar’s dual typing will also resist both Mewtwo’s Shadow Ball and Hyper Beam. Stone Edge and Crunch are equally viable as charge moves. Even with dealing neutral damage, Crunch is weak enough where the gap between the two moves is quite small.

The main move with Tyranitar is Bite. Mewtwo may be carrying the charge move Focus Blast, which will take Tyranitar’s hit points to zero. Luckily, you can easily see if Mewtwo is carrying the Focus Blast just from looking at the auto-selected lineup. If Tyranitar is auto-selected, you are most likely facing a Mewtwo with Psychic, Shadow Ball or Hyper Beam as its charge move. If Tyranitar is nowhere to be seen, you either forgot to revive yours or Mewtwo is packing Focus Blast.

If Mewtwo is carrying Focus Blast, then Dragonite, Bite Gyarados, and Mewtwo itself take the spotlight as Mewtwo’s best counters. If the Focus Blast Mewtwo has Psycho Cut as the quick move, Gengar will dominate the fight with its high DPS, super effective, STAB attacks Shadow Claw, Hex, and Shadow Ball.

With all this in mind, Tyranitar is still the best option against Focus Blast Mewtwo. Even though Focus Blast will most likely take Tyranitar out in one hit, Focus blast is still just a one bar charge move and will make few appearances in the fight. It’s high DPS and powerful resistance to all of Mewtwo’s quick moves still makes it a better option than others.
Houndoom, Pinsir, and Scizor are good but are a bit more on the low survivability against Confusion. Although their DPS and performance against Psycho Cut cannot be ignored.

After them, a wide variety of Pokemon lurk as sub-optimal counters to Mewtwo, including but not limited to: Alakazam, Flareon, Moltres, Zapdos, Exeggutor, Vaporeon, Arcanine, Sneasel, Typhlosion, and Umbreon. If you find yourself reaching this low, you just might be better off with an underleveled Tyranitar.Snorlax and Blissey both come up as tankier, low DPS options against Mewtwo. They both resist Shadow Ball. Against all 3 of the charge moves ( Shadow Ball, Psychic and Hyper Beam), Tyranitar will be a better servant. Lick Snorlax is a decent option against Mewtwo, but it is not recommended to use the weak and slow Blissey.

Snorlax and Blissey both come up as tankier, low DPS options against Mewtwo. They both resist Shadow Ball. Against all 3 of the charge moves ( Shadow Ball, Psychic and Hyper Beam), Tyranitar will be a better servant. Lick Snorlax is a decent option against Mewtwo, but it is not recommended to use the weak and slow Blissey.

Just from reading the post, it is clear that if you are not rolling up to the local Mewtwo raid with many Tyranitars, it will be a tough raid to win. If you queue up and you see your Tyranitar is not auto-selected, you might be going up against Focus Blast. In this case, make sure to slot in Dragonite, Gyarados, Gengar, Lugia or even your own Mewtwo.

When you clear the raid, be aware that you are now in possession of one of the most powerful, metagame defining Pokemon in the game. It is best to save all Rare Candy for powering. If your Mewtwo has Psychic or Hyper Beam, you might want to use a Charge TM. Shadow Ball is just as powerful as Psychic against targets weak to Psychic-type damage. It will also allow Mewtwo to smash the Psychic-type Pokemon. Focus Blast will allow Mewtwo to rival Machamp as the No.1 Blissey slayer.

So, it all comes down to having an army of Tyranitars. But, for those who are just casual players and don’t have a lot of Tyranitars, there is a solution as well by catching 12 of the below Pokemon and use their best movesets as follows: