Best Sandslash (Alola Shadow) counters in Pokémon GO

This table displays a list of best Sandslash (Alola Shadow) counters in Pokémon GO with their Fast Attacks, Charged Attacks, DPS (damage per second), TDO (total damage output), faints, TTW (time to win), and score. The list is sorted by the score, which is calculated based on the DPS and TDO.

Simulation settings

Weather

Extreme↓

Raid Difficulty

3-Star Raid (3600 HP)↓

Attacker typing

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Attacker moves type

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Shadow PokémonShadow Pokémon

Mega PokémonMega Pokémon

Primal PokémonPrimal Pokémon

Best overall 👑

Mega Blaziken

Counter Blast Burn *

Best performing move types

• 48.5%
• 48.0%
• 2.0%
• 0.5%
• 0.5%
• 0.5%

#	Name	Fast Attack	Charged Attack	DPS	TDO	Faints	TTW	Score
1	Mega Blaziken	Counter	Blast Burn *	73.83	1897.60	1	56.3s	142.2
2	Mega Y Charizard	Fire Spin	Blast Burn *	69.22	2416.91	1	58.0s	142.0
3	Shadow Blaziken	Counter	Blast Burn *	67.62	1253.33	2	64.7s	121.9
4	Shadow Moltres	Fire Spin	Overheat	61.88	1752.10	2	66.4s	121.6
5	Reshiram	Fire Fang	Fusion Flare *	61.47	1784.36	2	66.6s	121.4
6	Terrakion	Double Kick	Sacred Sword *	63.54	1467.09	2	66.5s	119.8
7	Shadow Entei	Fire Fang	Overheat	60.51	1722.94	2	67.8s	119.0
8	Keldeo (Ordinary)	Low Kick	Sacred Sword	56.91	2163.92	1	69.9s	118.8
9	Mega X Charizard	Fire Spin	Blast Burn *	60.77	1625.19	2	68.1s	118.0
10	Shadow Charizard	Fire Spin	Blast Burn *	60.63	1494.05	2	69.0s	115.8
11	Shadow Machamp	Counter	Dynamic Punch	62.79	1302.51	2	68.4s	115.8
12	Shadow Ho-Oh	Incinerate	Sacred Fire *	54.53	2069.71	1	73.0s	113.8
13	Primal Groudon	Mud Shot	Fire Punch *	54.34	2063.75	1	73.2s	113.4
14	Mega Houndoom	Fire Fang	Flamethrower	57.16	1626.10	2	71.8s	112.4
15	Shadow Infernape	Fire Spin	Blast Burn *	61.58	1170.35	3	70.8s	111.6
16	Shadow Typhlosion	Incinerate	Blast Burn *	59.78	1299.41	2	71.3s	111.3
17	Shadow Hariyama	Counter	Dynamic Punch	59.33	1316.00	2	71.6s	110.9
18	Mega Alakazam	Counter *	Focus Blast	59.43	1301.66	2	71.6s	110.8
19	Volcarona	Fire Spin	Overheat	53.78	1918.28	1	74.4s	110.8
20	Heatran	Fire Spin	Magma Storm *	54.71	1704.30	2	74.2s	109.6
21	Lucario	Counter	Aura Sphere	58.98	1222.24	2	72.8s	108.7
22	Shadow Arcanine	Fire Fang	Flamethrower	55.97	1295.76	2	75.4s	105.6
23	Standard Darmanitan	Fire Fang	Overheat	56.23	1251.50	2	75.5s	105.2
24	Darmanitan	Fire Fang	Overheat	56.23	1251.50	2	75.5s	105.2
25	Conkeldurr	Counter	Dynamic Punch	53.77	1475.63	2	76.7s	105.0
26	Moltres	Fire Spin	Overheat	51.51	1732.10	2	78.2s	104.8
27	Mega Lopunny	Double Kick	Focus Blast	53.94	1430.30	2	76.8s	104.6
28	Shadow Magmortar	Fire Spin	Fire Punch	56.45	1190.43	3	75.9s	104.5
29	Blaziken	Counter	Blast Burn *	55.58	1227.06	2	76.5s	103.8
30	Entei	Fire Fang	Overheat	50.27	1702.69	2	80.1s	102.5
31	Chandelure	Fire Spin	Overheat	54.35	1222.16	2	78.0s	101.9
32	Emboar	Low Kick	Blast Burn *	53.05	1341.81	2	78.6s	101.9
33	Shadow Sirfetch'd	Counter	Close Combat	56.57	1000.07	3	78.0s	101.0
34	Delphox	Fire Spin	Blast Burn *	51.70	1362.88	2	80.2s	100.1
35	Shadow Houndoom	Fire Fang	Flamethrower	55.43	1021.98	3	79.0s	99.8
36	Charizard	Fire Spin	Blast Burn *	50.03	1464.62	2	81.8s	99.0
37	Machamp	Counter	Dynamic Punch	51.69	1276.84	2	80.9s	98.8
38	Ho-Oh	Incinerate	Sacred Fire *	45.37	2038.52	1	86.4s	98.0
39	Pheromosa	Low Kick	Focus Blast	57.41	787.97	4	81.0s	97.3
40	Buzzwole	Counter	Superpower	47.47	1626.29	2	84.7s	97.0
41	Shadow Poliwrath	Counter *	Dynamic Punch	48.37	1481.04	2	84.1s	96.6
42	Mega Salamence	Fire Fang	Fire Blast	49.71	1312.45	2	83.4s	96.3
43	Cobalion	Double Kick	Sacred Sword *	46.19	1717.90	2	86.3s	96.0
44	Infernape	Fire Spin	Blast Burn *	50.66	1146.18	3	83.6s	95.1
45	Typhlosion	Incinerate	Blast Burn *	49.25	1273.12	2	84.4s	95.0
46	Galarian Zapdos	Counter	Close Combat	48.69	1297.94	2	85.0s	94.5
47	Flareon	Fire Spin	Overheat	49.86	1175.96	3	84.4s	94.4
48	Victini	Quick Attack	V-create	45.87	1623.97	2	87.3s	94.3
49	Shadow Salamence	Fire Fang	Fire Blast	54.22	837.58	4	83.6s	94.2
50	Hariyama	Counter	Dynamic Punch	48.50	1283.48	2	85.5s	94.0

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Sandslash (Alola Shadow) type chart

When fighting Sandslash (Alola Shadow), keep in mind the following that Ice and Steel-type Pokémon are weak to Fighting, Fire, and Ground type moves. They take reduced damage from Bug, Dragon, Fairy, Flying, Grass, Normal, Psychic, Ice, and Poison type moves.

Weaknesses

Fighting	256.0%
Fire	256.0%
Ground	160.0%

Resistances

Ice	39.1%
Poison	39.1%
Bug	62.5%
Dragon	62.5%
Fairy	62.5%
Flying	62.5%
Grass	62.5%
Normal	62.5%
Psychic	62.5%

Type chart shows the percentage (%) of damage taken from an incoming attack of a particular type.

About the results

Our guide provides detailed information on recommended Pokémon and moves that are most effective against Sandslash (Alola Shadow) in Raid Battles. Whether you're looking for the best counters to take Sandslash (Alola Shadow) down quickly with high DPS, or the tankiest counters that can withstand its attacks, our guide has something for every trainer.

The top-ranked Sandslash (Alola Shadow) counter is Mega Blaziken, followed by Mega Y Charizard, Shadow Blaziken, and Shadow Moltres. The table also includes Reshiram, Terrakion, Shadow Entei, and Keldeo (Ordinary), among others. Each Pokemon's move type is indicated by an icon beside the move name.

The most effective move-types to use against Sandslash (Alola Shadow) are:

About our ranking methodology

When calculating the best counters for any Pokémon, our simulator takes into account various factors, such as the defender's typing and average DPS against each attacker, the weather's influence, energy left over from using charge moves, Shadow Pokémon attack and defense stat changes, and more. During the initial phase of simulations, we calculate DPS and TDO for each attacker that is currently available in the game, and then we continue to rank them.

We use a ranking method developed by a Reddit user named /u/Elastic_Space, which is described in detail in this Reddit post. It is a fairly complicated, but very well thought-out mathematical model for predicting simulation results without actually running the simulations. It also correlates with field data almost too well not to be used.

Our Time to Win (TTW) and Faint numbers are also estimated, and should be taken with a grain of salt. Since we do not account for factors like Friendship and Mega damage boost, they will differ from actual experience in the field.