Pokemon Go trainer defeats Raid Boss Machamp with just one Pokemon

Machamp features in three-star Raid Battles in Pokemon Go. Defeating it by yourself is hard enough, but doing so with just one Pokemon is even tougher.

That’s exactly what one trainer has managed to do, though. Many guides state you need a minimum of two trainers to defeat the iconic fighting-type ‘mon but this player has proven that incorrect.

In addition to proving this false, the trainer in question, Mlberry1991, did it without fainting one of their Pokemon. The question is how do you defeat a Machamp that has 19,707 CP with just one Pokemon?

Shadow Mewtwo

The answer to that is Shadow Mewtwo. Some of you may be confused why it is strong, let’s explain.

Firstly, it is weak to psychic attacks, receiving 160% of the usual damage. This puts Mewtwo in pole position to be arguably the absolute best Machamp counter. That is nowhere near enough to defeat such a strong Pokemon by itself, however.

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The Kanto legend has the sixth best attack stat in all of Pokemon Go. Many trainers will be know that attack is the most important stat when deciding which Pokemon to use in Raid Battles. This is in comparison to GO Battle League (PvP) where bulk is needed.

Again though, this wouldn’t be enough to take a Tier 3 Raid Battle down by itself. That’s where its Shadow form comes into play.

Shadow Pokemon have their attack boosted by 20%, although that comes at the expense of their defense stat which drops 20%. It is this extra 20% that allows you to defeat Machamp albeit barely.

Shadow Mewtwo is widely considered to be the best attacking Pokemon in the mobile game and it is feats such as this that proves it. To our knowledge this is the first time a trainer has defeated Machamp in Raid Battles with just a single Pokemon.

Interestingly the Shadow Mewtwo in question didn’t even have the max CP of 4,178 but instead 4,101. There was also a lot of expert dodging involved, something that is hard to master.

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With such impressive results maybe trainers will join Team Rocket to take advantage of more Shadow Pokemon. On the other hand Niantic could nerf them, too, so be careful before going to the dark side.