Pokemon Go players outline what makes Shadow Lugia so hard to catch

The Shadow Lugia raid is causing significant headaches for Pokemon Go players as they all bid to capture the variant Legendary Pokemon.

The raid itself is a relatively short, timed event running from October 28-29. As a Five-star Shadow Raid, it presents a significant challenge, even to large and experienced teams of trainers.

The challenge doesn’t end there. After defeating Shadow Lugia, players are presented with the opportunity to catch it, and this phase is proving to be one of the most challenging players have seen in the game to date.

Now, players are taking to social media to report their failures and what makes finally securing the catch a near-impossible task.

Shadow Lugia has the Pokemon community searching for a solution

In a post on Reddit, one user shared a video capture of their attempt to catch the Legendary Pokemon after they beat the raid. In it, Shadow Lugia is locked into a perpetual backflip loop that only offers around a 0.5-second window for the Pokeball to land successfully.

How are you supposed to catch this???
byu/Impulsive94 inpokemongo

In addition to its spectacularly regular animation cycle, Shadow Lugia’s position on the screen is difficult to pin down, and the Pokemon’s movements in every direction of the axis only add to the difficulty.

Some players have been successful in securing the onerous catch and offered tips on the correct timing to use, with one saying: “The best thing that worked for me is to wait for it to move from the top of the screen downwards instead of waiting for its attack animation to end. It pauses longer before attacking after it moves up or down on the screen, and its hitbox isn’t flying all over the place when it does.”

Others suggested turning to a Nanab Berry over the more obvious choice of a Golden Razz Berry (which increases the chance of the Pokemon staying in the ball when hit.) One noted: “If it’s moving this much, you’d still have a higher chance of catching it if you actually hit it with a nanab versus missing every throw with a golden berry.”

With a minimal amount of time left before the raid disappears, players don’t have long to secure their own Shadow Lugia. Though the tips above will undoubtedly help, it will still present a mammoth challenge to even the most well-prepared players.