POKEMON
Pokemon GO Zapdos day COUNTDOWN: Shiny start time, Raid weakness and counters news
PSA: ZAPDOS DAY LIVE
The Pokémon GO Zapdos Day has begun in Asia, Oceania and other adjacent regions.
It will lasts 3 hours and already players are reporting successful shiny captures. In fact there's one post on the Silph Road Reddit thread from one player who claims his wife managed to catch a Shiny Zapdos with her first raid!
To quote one Napoleon Dynamite: "Lucky…"
Anyway, stay tuned for more details throughout the Pokemon GO Zapdos Day including details on when it has gone live in each region and whether players are proving more successful with their shiny hunt.
Zapdos Raid Counters
Planning to take down Zapdos? Here's the best Pokemon to use. 
Original Story – Last weekend Pokemon GO trainers managed to unlock a very special treat: Zapdos Day.
To cut a long story short, Trainers across the world had to complete a very particular set of goals as part of the Chicago Pokemon GO Fest event.
In completing these challenges, trainers were able to unlock a series of bonuses for catching Pokémon and participating in Raid Battles. But as soon as all four global zones completed their respective challenge, it unlocked Zapdos Day.
Essentially this is Niantic's way of refreshing the pool of raid bosses in the game. Now, you might already have a Zapdos, so it might not feel all that special.
But what if we told you all Zapdos caught will have Fast Attack Thundershock? And what if we said you will be able to encounter a Shiny Zapdos! Yup, now we're talking.
All of this takes place later today, on Saturday, July 21st, and like your standard community day event, you've only got a limited amount of time to make the most of this opportunity.
For everything you need to know, including when the event starts, the best way to counter Articuno and much more, keep reading
Trainers! For a limited time, you can earn double Candy for catching Pokémon and hatching Eggs. You can also earn up to 5 free Raid Passes on July 21 during Zapdos Day! pic.twitter.com/uywps98HVl
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) July 21, 2018
When Is Zapdos Day Taking Place?
As mentioned, it starts today, Saturday, July 21st, but it's not all day. You'll have a very specific 3-hour window to make the most of this opportunity.
Incidentally, you can only hold one free raid pass at a time. But you will be able to pick up a total of 5 for free across the whole 3-hour window.
So here are the global times for when the event gets started.
- The Asia-Pacific region: 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. JST (GMT +9)
- Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India: 9:00 a.m.to 12:00 p.m. UTC (GMT +0)
- The Americas and Greenland: 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. PT (GMT -8)
So for trainers in the UK, it will be worth keeping an eye out for the first Pokemon Go Zapdos Day rewards from 10am onwards.
Niantic has also confirmed that all Raids during the allotted time will be Zapdos raids.
Shiny Zapdos Chances?
If you're interested in catching a shiny Zapdos and nothing else, you're going to probably need more than five free raid passes over the course of the three hour window.
According to The Silph Road, your chances of catching a Shiny Articuno with one of the free raid passes was 22%
"So what's the shiny rate for Zapdos? During Articuno Day we recorded 3,000+ encounters to find out. Findings: the odds of catching shiny Zapdos with the 5 free Raid passes is roughly: 22.5%. Plan accordingly, travellers!"
Further insight from Silph Road also indicated that – whilst shiny rates vary from trainer to trainer – the usual shiny rates for Raid bosses is roughly 1/19 based on their Aritcuno research article.
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Zapdos Weaknesses:
The official guide from the Pokemon Company gives some good tips on how to take down Zapdos and which Pokemon to lead with in your team, explaining:
The Electric- and Flying-type Zapdos is weak only against Ice-type and Rock-type attacks, and it isn't doubly vulnerable to either type. It's also resistant to Ground-type attacks, so the tactics you'd use against other Electric-type Pokémon won't work well against Zapdos.
"Ground-type Pokémon will still take the least damage from Zapdos's Electric-type attacks, and Dragon-, Electric-, and Grass-type Pokémon will take reduced damage, too.
"Zapdos will quickly decimate your Water-type and Flying-type Pokémon with supereffective damage, so deploy them with caution.
"No one type resists Zapdos's attacks while dealing supereffective damage in return.
"That leaves Golem's two types overwhelmingly the best choice—its Rock-type attacks will be super effective, and as a Ground-type Pokémon, it'll take reduced damage from Zapdos's attacks"
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Zapdos – Raid Pokemon Alternatives:
If you've not got a lot of Golem's to call on, there are some other Pokemon you could look to to help, but be warned, they also come with certain drawbacks, as detailed, again, by the Pokemon company:
"Rhydon shares this optimal combination, but it'll deal much less damage because it can't learn a Rock-type Fast Attack to go along with the Charged Attack Stone Edge. Fellow Rock-type Tyranitar's Fast Attacks won't be super effective either, plus it lacks Rhydon's resistance to Electric-type attacks.
"Tyranitar's astronomical stats still make it a good choice if it knows the supereffective Stone Edge, though.
"Most Ground-type Pokémon don't deal enough damage to be strong choices, but don't overlook Piloswine. The Swine Pokémon will take little damage from Zapdos's attacks while dealing impressive damage in return—if it knows the Charged Attack Avalanche.
"Ice-type attacks from Jynx and Articuno, or Rock-type Attacks from Aerodactyl, are sure to deal devastating damage, just be ready for Zapdos to knock them out of battle with shocking efficiency.
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