Pokémon Go Dynamax Suicune counters, weaknesses and tactics explained

How to defeat the Dynamaxed Water-type Pokémon.

Dynamax Suicune, the ultimate form of the Aurora Pokémon, is here in the world of Pokémon Go.

This is the first Legendary Water-type Dynamax Pokémon in the game, making it well worth picking up if Dynamax battles are your thing.

Like all Dynamax and Gigantamax Pokémon, Dynamax Suicune can’t be caught in the wild. You must first head to the relevant Power Spot and beat it in a Max Battle.

For the uninitiated, Dynamax Pokémon are like normal Pokémon, but supersized. Gigantamax is a special version of Dynamax where, rather than being comically large, they take on a brand new appearance. In both cases, they’re free to max out in a Max Battle, and revert to their normal form outside of battle.

If you’ve not added Dynamax Pokémon to your collection yet, we strongly recommend reading our Max Battle explainer article first, so you know roughly what to expect.

Below you’ll find Dynamax Suicune’s counters and weaknesses to help you succeed in Pokémon Go. Once caught, you can use your Dynamax Suicune in future Max Battles.

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Dynamax Suicune counters and weaknesses in Pokémon Go

In order to battle a Dynamax Suicune, you first need to do three things:

Have 800 Max Particles
Have IRL friends who play the game
Find a Power Spot with a Dynamax Suicune

While the upside to Max Battles not using Raid Passes is that this is obviously a money-saver for the player. The downside is that you need to find people to play with in real life, rather than remoting in. As with previous Max Battles, we strongly recommend travelling to an urban centre for a pre-arranged meet-up. This is not soloable, and history shows you have little chance of winning with a small group in a rural area.

Once you have achieved these lofty feats, you can begin the Max Battle and attempt to take down Dynamax Suicune. Don’t worry if you fail the first time — your Max Particles aren’t taken until you win the battle; as long as you have enough Revives and Potions, you can keep trying until you run out of battery! Below you’ll find the counters and weaknesses for Dynamax Suicune to help you win the Max Battle:

Dynamax Suicune types — Water-type
Dynamax Suicune is weak against — Electric and Grass-type attacks
Dynamax Suicune is resistant to — Fire, Ice, Steel and Water-type attacks
Dynamax Suicune top counters for attacking — Gigantamax Toxtricity and Gigantamax Venusaur are your best attackers. After that, you’re looking at Dynamax Zapdos, Dynamax Raikou, Dynamax Toxtricity or Dynamax Rillaboom.

Dynamax Suicune top counters for defending — Gigantamax Lapras and Dynamax Blissey are your best tanks. After that, you’re looking at Gigantamax Blastoise, Gigantamax Venusaur or Dynamax Rillaboom — these last two double up nicely as attackers, of course. Finally, we have Gigantamax Snorlax as another excellent tank.
Dynamax Suicune top counters for healing — Dynamax Blissey is naturally your best healer. Failing that, Dynamax Rillaboom or Gigantamax Snorlax are your best options.
Number of players to beat Dynamax Suicune — You’re looking at a team of four trainers across all three roles. We recommend two attackers, one defender and one healer for a well-rounded team. Remember, your lobby will be made up of multiple teams of up to four trainers, so the more the merrier! This is why we recommend large population centres where you can see multiple trainers IRL.
Tactics — Unlike bog-standard raids, the tactics here are a little more complicated…
Rewards for beating Dynamax Suicune — For taking down a 6* Dynamax Suicune, you will receive 25,000 Stardust, 25,000 XP, 1 Rare Candy XL, 30 Suicune Candy, 1 Suicune Candy XL and 10 Premier Balls. Don’t forget to crack a Star Piece and a Lucky Egg beforehand if you want to maximise your Max rewards!

The Might and Mastery Season and its seasonal quest has arrived. You can now catch Dynamax Pokémon through Max Battles. First, however, you need to visit Power Spots to collect Max Particles and complete the To the Max! quest. Don’t forget to try out Routes, Gift Exchange and Party Play while you’re hunting down rare Pokémon, fighting in the Go Battle League or competing in PokéStop Showcases.

Dynamax Suicune CP in Pokémon Go

Unlike with Raids, there is no visible CP on a Max Battle boss. Instead, it just has a giant health bar that gets slightly smaller with each hit. It’s also worth noting that because these battles take place in their own special arena, there is no weather boost available.

Below you’ll find the CP levels for Dynamax Suicune in Pokémon Go:

CP range for catching Dynamax Suicune — 1627 to 1704 CP
CP for perfect Dynamax Suicune — 1704 CP

Best Suicune moveset in Pokémon Go

Dynamax Suicune is currently the only Water-type Legendary Max Pokémon in Pokémon Go. This means that as far as Max Battles go, you’re almost certainly going to want this as a Water-type option.

That said, if you want to use your fancy new Suicune in Go Battle League, you are welcome to do so. Be aware, however, it won’t be in its Max form!

However, you should note that Suicune isn’t quite top-tier in Go Battle League. It’s not bad, per se, but it’s never going to be our top recommendation for the typing. If you absolutely must bring Suicune to battle, we recommend running Ice Fang (Fast), Bubble Beam (Charged) and Scald (Charged) in Great League. For Ultra and Master League you should swap Bubble Beam for Ice Beam so you can start shooting down those pesky Dragons…

Here are all the Fast and Charged moves Dynamax Suicune can use in Pokémon Go:

Fast Moves:

Extrasensory (Psychic)
Hidden Power
Ice Fang (Ice)
Snarl (Dark)

Charged Moves:

Bubble Beam (Water)
Hydro Pump (Water)
Ice Beam (Ice)
Scald (Water)
Water Pulse (Water)

Everything we know about Suicune

The Aurora Pokémon, Suicune, is one of the three Legendary Beasts hailing from Gen 2’s Johto region. It was resurrected by the legendary Phoenix Rainbow Pokémon Ho-Oh, along with its cousins Raikou and Entei, after the burning of the Brass Tower.

Thematically, Raikou is the thunder that struck the tower. Entei is the fire that burned it while Suicune is the water that doused the flame. This trifecta is also similar to the Legendary birds of Gen 1, except we swap Ice (Articuno) for Water (Suicune) and stick to a single typing.

Suicune’s design is quite interesting. It seems to be based off a leopard combined with the north wind. Fujin, the Shinto god of the wind, historically wears a leopard skin, which perhaps fed into its design. Its multicolour mane resembles the aurora and it has the ability to walk on water, similar to the Chinese mythological Kirin.

Finally, we have the name — as a Legendary/Box Art (Crystal Version) Pokémon, its name stays pretty much the same across all languages. Suicune is thought to be a merger of the Japanese sui (水) and kun (君). Sui means ‘water’ and kun in this context would be ‘monarch’ – so Suicune is effectively the Water King.

If you want to learn more about Suicune, you can read its official Pokédex entries below:

Suicune: ‘Suicune embodies the compassion of a pure spring of water. It runs across the land with gracefulness. This Pokémon has the power to purify dirty water.’

It’s also good to know that shiny Suicune is in the game, which means that shiny Dynamax Suicune is in the game too! As you can see below, Shiny Snorlax is a slightly lighter shade of blue.

Shiny Suicune in the wild confirmed. Not a Guarenteed catch.
byu/symmiR inTheSilphRoad

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Thanks to Reddit user symmiR for the handy preview!

Good luck defeating Dynamax Suicune in Pokémon Go!