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What can counter Eternatus?

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What Can Counter Eternatus? A Comprehensive Guide

Eternatus, the colossal Poison/Dragon-type Legendary Pokémon, presents a significant challenge to trainers. Its high stats and dual typing make it a formidable opponent. To effectively counter Eternatus, you’ll need a strategic approach, leveraging its weaknesses and employing Pokémon with the right move sets. In short, Eternatus is vulnerable to Ground, Psychic, Ice, and Dragon-type attacks. Therefore, your primary strategy should revolve around using Pokémon that can exploit these weaknesses. Here’s a more detailed breakdown of how to defeat Eternatus.

Effective Strategies Against Eternatus

Exploiting Type Weaknesses

Eternatus’s dual typing of Poison and Dragon gives it a unique set of vulnerabilities. These weaknesses are crucial for building a winning strategy:

  • Ground-type Attacks: Ground-type moves deal super effective damage against Eternatus, making Pokémon like Primal Groudon and Garchomp excellent choices. Their high attack stats coupled with Ground-type moves such as Earthquake or Earth Power can quickly deplete Eternatus’s health.

  • Psychic-type Attacks: Psychic-type moves are also super effective against Eternatus. Powerful Psychic Pokémon such as Mewtwo, Mega Alakazam, and Calyrex (Shadow Rider) can deal massive damage. Their high Special Attack stat coupled with moves like Psychic or Psystrike will be devastating to Eternatus.

  • Ice-type Attacks: Ice-type attacks are another super effective option. Pokémon like Kyurem (Black), or Galarian Darmanitan (Zen), packing powerful Ice-type moves like Ice Beam or Avalanche, can take down Eternatus with relatively high damage, especially when boosted by STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus).

  • Dragon-type Attacks: While it might seem counterintuitive to use Dragon-type moves against a Dragon-type, the nature of the typing means they deal super effective damage to each other. This opens the door to using strong Dragon-type Pokémon like Mega Rayquaza. Mega Rayquaza’s extreme attack power combined with powerful Dragon moves like Dragon Ascent is a great choice here.

Specific Pokémon Recommendations

Beyond simply having the right types, the specific Pokémon you choose should have the right abilities and stats. Here are some standouts:

  • Shadow Mewtwo: Shadow Mewtwo is arguably one of the best overall counters due to its exceptionally high attack stats and access to powerful Psychic-type moves. The Shadow Boost further amplifies its damage.

  • Mega Rayquaza: With a sky-high attack stat and a diverse move pool that can include powerful Dragon-type moves, Mega Rayquaza is a top-tier choice. Its ability to forgo a Mega Stone to gain another item provides a unique advantage.

  • Primal Groudon: Primal Groudon has the bulk and the power to take hits from Eternatus and retaliate with powerful ground type attacks. This makes it another reliable option.

  • Mega Alakazam: Mega Alakazam boasts high speed and special attack, making it an excellent choice for inflicting quick, heavy damage through Psychic-type moves.

  • Calyrex (Shadow Rider): With a very high special attack, it is another excellent choice.

  • Kyurem (Black): A great option with good stats and access to very powerful ice type attacks.

  • Galarian Darmanitan (Zen): While the zen mode can be hard to set up, once achieved, Galar Darmanitan can dish out a significant amount of damage.

Things to Avoid

While understanding what works against Eternatus is important, it’s just as vital to know what not to use:

  • Avoid Poison, Rock, Bug, Fire, Water, Grass, and Electric-type attacks: These types of attacks deal ineffective damage to Eternatus.
  • Don’t rely on Normal-type Pokémon: They deal neutral damage and don’t take advantage of Eternatus’s vulnerabilities.
  • Lower tier Pokémon: While any pokemon can potentially be viable, it’s usually better to opt for higher tier choices with higher base stats to help make the battle easier.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here are some frequently asked questions regarding countering Eternatus, to help you further strategize for your encounters with this powerful legendary:

1. Is Eternatus a Legendary or Mythical Pokemon?

Eternatus is considered a Legendary Pokémon, not a mythical one. It’s part of the main storyline of Pokémon Sword and Shield and is catchable in both versions.

2. What is Eternatus’s typing and weaknesses?

Eternatus is a Poison/Dragon-type Pokémon. This means it is weak to Ground, Psychic, Ice, and Dragon-type attacks.

3. Can I catch Eternatus with any Poké Ball?

Yes, Eternatus has a 100% catch rate. Once you’ve depleted its health, you can use any type of Poké Ball to catch it, no need for Master Balls.

4. What is Eternamax Eternatus?

Eternamax Eternatus is a form only encountered during the final battle of Pokémon Sword and Shield. It has much higher stats and is not obtainable as a usable Pokémon.

5. Is Eternamax Eternatus the strongest Pokémon in the series?

Eternamax Eternatus has the highest base stat total of all Pokémon at 1125. However, you cannot legitimately use this form in regular gameplay.

6. Is Mega Rayquaza better than Eternatus?

In game mechanics, Mega Rayquaza has a higher base stat total (780) than regular Eternatus (690). However, Eternamax Eternatus is significantly stronger than both, but is not a usable pokemon.

7. Can Zacian and Zamazenta defeat Eternatus?

Yes, Zacian and Zamazenta are the Pokémon that defeated Eternatus in the story of Sword and Shield. They wielded their sword and shield to fend off the dangerous alien.

8. Can Zacian defeat Eternatus?

Yes, while Zacian was one of the Pokemon to defeat Eternatus in the lore, if you are trying to battle Eternatus using Zacian, it can win, but is not a good choice as Zacian’s Steel and Fairy typing leaves it susceptible to Dragon and Poison moves from Eternatus.

9. Is Eternatus faster than Zacian?

No, Zacian is faster than Eternatus, although it’s worth noting that Zacian has different speeds in its different forms.

10. Who can outspeed Zacian?

Pokémon like Calyrex-S, Choice Scarf Kyogre, and offensive Eternatus can outspeed and KO Zacian-C.

11. Who is stronger: Arceus or Eternatus?

In terms of base stats, Eternamax Eternatus is much stronger than Arceus. However, Arceus’s versatility and type changing ability could make it a good choice, though it is not the highest stat-holder in the series.

12. Can you lose the Eternatus fight?

Yes, you can lose the battle against Eternatus. If you do, you’ll lose some Poké dollars and respawn at the nearest Pokémon Center.

13. Does Eternatus faint?

Yes, Eternatus can faint like any other Pokémon. Once you reduce its HP to zero, you can catch it.

14. Who owns Eternatus?

Eternatus was caught by Goh and given to Leon, though the pokemon was used by Rose during the games main storyline.

15. What Pokémon are strong against Zacian?

Good counters to Zacian include Shadow Metagross, Mega Gengar, Mega Beedrill, Metagross, Mega Rayquaza, and Nihilego.

Conclusion

Defeating Eternatus requires a smart approach by exploiting its weaknesses and utilising your Pokémon strategically. By leveraging the type matchups and using the strongest recommended Pokémon and avoiding the incorrect choices, you’ll be well on your way to defeating this formidable legendary Pokémon. Understanding the unique characteristics of Eternatus will significantly improve your strategy and success rate in Pokémon battles.

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