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

Gigantamax Venusaur was one of the first Gigantamax Pokémon to debut in Pokémon Go, along its Kanto starter cousins, Blastoise and Charizard. At its initial launch, it was tough to grab one; players didn’t have strategies or strong counters ready. However, the plant-toad is making a return to the game on March 8 and 9, meaning that players can take on the beast with a more well-rounded party.

Even so, Gigantamax Venusaur may be tough still if you don’t have the counters nor the community support, but we’re here to help.

Below, we list out the counters for Gigantamax Venusaur in Pokémon Go, as well as some general tips that should help you take it down.

Gigantamax Venusaur weakness

Venusaur is grass- and poison-type, meaning it has four weaknesses: flying-, fire-, psychic-, and ice-type moves. Now that Max Battles have been out for a bit, there’s a decent spread of counters you can use to take this beast down.

Venusaur will resist fighting-, water-, grass-, electric-, and fairy-type moves, so we do not recommend using those offensively, with the exception of using fast moves to build up the max gauge.

Gigantamax Venusaur best counters

With the above in mind, consider bringing at least one of the following to dish out damage when Dynamaxed/Gigantamaxed:

Gigantamax Charizard with Fire Spin
Dynamax Charizard with Fire Spin
Dynamax Metagross with Zen Headbutt
Dynamax Darmanitan with Fire Fang
Dynamax Moltres with Fire Spin
Dynamax Cinderace with Fire Spin

For defense, consider bringing one or two of these to help protect your team while building that max gauge. You’ll want them to know Max Guard:

Gigantamax Charizard with Dragon Breath
Dynamax Charizard with Dragon Breath
Dynamax Metagross with Zen Headbutt
Dynamax Cinderace with Fire Spin
Dynamax Articuno with Frost Breath

Note that yes, Charizard is listed in both sets though with differing movesets. Your Dynamax Charizard should only know Dragon Breath if you plan on using it as a tank to soak Venusaur’s attacks and build up the gauge, as that is a faster attack than Fire Spin. If you are looking to use your Charizard as a DPS, it needs to know Fire Spin, so it can use Max Flare.

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 Cinderace isn’t leveled (and you don’t have the means to power it up), just bring your Gengar.

General Gigantamax Venusaur 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 Venusaur 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 overgrown toad plant.
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; Max Spirit will heal the whole party. 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 Darmanitan with Fire Fang, it will know Max Flare. 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 Venusaur! If you clear the raid, there is a chance that the Venusaur 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 Venusaur.