Pokémon GO: Dynamax Moltres Max Battle Guide (Max Mondays)

Dynamax is making its Pokémon GO debut as a powerful Max Battle boss starting with Max Monday, and you'll need to strike at its weaknesses with the best counters to stand a chance at winning and catching one. After Articuno and Zapdos' turns at providing incredibly tough challenges for even full raid parties of Trainers, the Flame Pokémon will not be any easier since it is also at the 5-Star level. It technically won't be as hard as the punishing 6-Star Gigantamax Lapras, but Moltres can quickly burn through entire teams that don't go into these grueling battles prepared enough.

Like its fellow elemental birds during the Legendary Flight event, Max Battles for Moltres will be available in two different ways. At the start, the fired bird will launch as the Max Battle boss at all Power Spots for one hour. After that, you will still be able to find Max Battles featuring Moltres, but you might need to look around a bit more since it will be sharing the spotlight with other bosses in the latest Max Monday schedule for the month.

Dynamax Moltres Weaknesses & Resistance In Pokémon GO

Rock, Water, and Electric

Custom image by Ben Williams

Dynamax Moltres has a weakness to Rock-type attacks for 256% damage compared to normal in Pokémon GO, followed by Ice- and Electric-type attacks each dealing 160% super-effective damage compared to normal. These are the same weaknesses for Moltres as in the mainline games with varying levels of damage, but targeting these in GO is more important than ever with its 5-Star boss level. With that, it's also vital you take into account utilizing the STAB mechanic: a 20% same-type attack bonus that's added on when one of your Pokémon is using the move of the same type.

As for what Pokémon not to use in this Max Battle, Dynamax has a lot of resistances in GO as well: Ground-, Steel-, Fighting-, Fire-, and Fairy-type attacks, all dealing 63% damage compared to normal. Moltres' strongest resistances are against Bug- and Grass-type attacks, which only deal 39% damage. It's fine to bring in Pokémon that can only inflict neutral damage as long as the rest of your raid party has a better line-up each to pick up the slack. However, avoid using team members that use attack types of Moltres' resistances, or you could cost everyone the whole battle.

Dynamax Moltres Best Counters In Pokémon GO

A Lot Of Great Options

The best counters to defeat Dynamax Moltres in Pokémon GO are counters that can use super-effective Rock-, Water-, and Electric-type moves like Zapdos, Blastoise, and Machamp. You can only use Dynamax- or Gigantamax-capable Pokémon in Max Battles, so the pool of options is limited compared to regular raids. Be that as it may, there are still many options due to Moltres' typing listed in the table below.

Dynamax Moltres	Type	Fast Attack	Charged Attack
Blastoise	Water	Water Gun	Hydro Cannon
Kingler	Water	Bubble	Razor Shell
Lapras	Water Ice	Water Gun	Surf
Toxtricity	Electric Poison	Spark	Wild Charge
Zapdos	Electric Flying	Thundershock	Ancient Power
Machamp	Fighting	Karate Chop	Rock Slide
Inteleon	Water	Water Gun	Surf
Drizzile	Water	Water Gun	Surf
Wartortle	Water	Water Gun	Hydro Pump
Moltres	Flying Fire	Wing Attack	Ancient Power
Dubwool	Normal	Tackle	Wild Charge

If you haven't beaten Dynamax Moltres yet and caught one, the two best counters to use are Machamp and Zapdos, since they can use the Rock-type moves, Rockslide and Ancient Power, respectively. Rock-type moves are the strongest against Moltres, but there currently aren't any Rock-type Pokémon you can take into these types of battles for STAB damage. That said, Zapdos and Machamp have powerful enough stats that using these moves alone will more than do the job.

Date & Time Of Moltres' Max Battles

Early February 2025

Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres in Pokemon GO key art for the Legendary Flight event — Zapdos, Articuno, Moltres Pokemon GO Legendary Flight

Dynamax Moltres' Max Battles will start in Pokémon GO on Monday, 3 February 2025, from 6:00 PM until 7:00 PM local time for all regions. Within this timeframe, Moltres will be the boss at every Power Spot in the game on your local map. When this shower is up, Dynamax can still be found as a Max Battle boss until February 10, 2025. However, it will have mixed availability with other Max Battle bosses available: Krabby, Squirtle, and Sobble.

This means that if you are in a more remote area, you might need to explore or wait until one with the Fire-type Legendary pops up. Nevertheless, you will almost be able to find one in its week-long fun. Just remember to target Dynamax Moltres weaknesses with counters that can use Rock-, Water-, or Electric-type moves, and you will be able to win this special Pokémon GO raid.