Gigantamax Kingler counters, weakness, and battle tips in Pokémon Go

Gigantamax Kingler is the seventh Gigantamax Pokémon introduced to Pokémon Go, and is available in Max Battles as part of the Gigantamax Kingler Max Battle Day on Feb. 1 from 2-5 p.m. in your local time.

Like all the other Gigantamax Battles, Kingler will be challenging, so players who aren’t ready for the spike in difficulty are going to have a tough time.

Below, we list out some general Gigantamax Max Battle tips and counters for Gigantamax Kingler in Pokémon Go.

Gigantamax Kingler weakness

We’ll want to utilize Gigantamax Kingler’s weaknesses: grass-, and electric-type moves. At this point, there’s a nice spread of Pokémon that you can use against it.

Kingler resists steel-, fire-, water-, and ice-type moves, so we don’t recommend using those offensively, with the exception of using fast moves to build up the max gauge.

Gigantamax Kingler best counters

With the above in mind, there’s quite a few counters to bring to Kingler. We recommend the following to focus on offensive moves:

Gigantamax/Dynamax Venusaur with Vine Whip
Gigantamax/Dynamax Toxtricity with Spark
Dynamax Zapdos with Thundershock
Dynamax Rillaboom with Razor Leaf

Kingler can possibly use X-Scissor, which will deal increased damage against Rillaboom, so we recommend using the other counters, if possible.

If you want to be an ally to your team, you can bring the following Pokémon with Max Guard and/or Max Spirit to help our defensively:

Gigantamax Lapras with Water Gun
Gigantamax/Dynamax Blastoise with Bite
Gigantamax/Dynamax Venusaur with Vine Whip

These moves will allow you to build up the max gauge quickly; they resist most of, if not all of, Kingler’s possible moves. (Yes, Venusaur can dish out some good DPS while also serving as a tank.)

Even if you don’t have these powered up, consider just bringing the strongest Dynamax Pokémon you have. If you have a maxed out Dynamax Gengar and your Dynamax Venusaur isn’t leveled (and you don’t have the means to power it up), just bring your Gengar.

General Gigantamax Kingler tips

If you’ve been struggling in Max Battles, here’s some general tips to survive — and make sure you’re an asset to your team. Gigantamax battles involve way more strategy than the usual rampant tapping that you do in raids, so make sure to know what you’re doing before jumping in.

Make sure you have enough players. High-efficiency groups with maxed out investments can take down the Kingler with fewer people, but practically, if you don’t have hundreds of spare candy and even more Stardust laying around, this isn’t going to be an option for you. Make sure you have as many people as possible to ensure that you get your foamy-bearded king crab.
Don’t sleep on Max Spirit and Max Guard. Teams work best when there’s a variety of moves, not just maxed-out attacks. Each player should bring Pokémon with the defensive and healing moves unlocked as well. Max Guard will focus single-target damage towards you and reduce the damage taken and Max Spirit will heal the whole party, so these moves are really important to make sure your damage-dealers can keep dishing.
Remember to swap to super effective moves when it’s time to Dynamax. For Dynamax Pokémon, their max moves are determined by whatever type their fast move is. This means if you have a Cryogonal with Frost Breath, it will know Max Hailstorm. A Gengar with Lick will know Max Phantasm. Take advantage of this and make sure to swap to a Pokémon that will deal super effective damage to your target before Dynamaxing, if you can.
Focus on your fast moves. You want to spam your fast moves to build up that Dynamax meter and often times, using your charge move is actually a DPS loss when compared to the damage you could be doing with your max move will be. Spam those attacks!
Level up a few ‘mons, but you don’t have to go too hard. Depending on your group size, you absolutely do not need to max out all your Dynamax Pokémon to level 40-50. While this will make it easier on the rest of your group, if this isn’t an investment you can make, you don’t have to stress about it. Power things up as high as you can afford to, but don’t fret if you don’t have a maxed out Pokémon.
That all being said, make sure to come as prepared as you can be. This is a team effort and there’s a chance that a full group of four can still fail. Do not just bring your unleveled Dynamax Wooloo expecting a free ride to a powerful Pokémon. (After all, if everyone does that, then you certainly won’t clear the battle.) Again, you don’t have to completely max out your Pokémon, but it will be better for everyone involved if you bring something helpful to the table.
Keep your eye out for a shiny Kingler! If you clear the raid, there is a chance that the Kingler you catch will be shiny — which also means it’ll be a guaranteed catch. Use a Pinap Berry to score extra candy if you get lucky enough to find a sparkly Kingler.