How to defeat Mewtwo in Pokemon Sword and Shield Max Raid Battles

As part of the annual Pokemon Day celebration, Mewtwo has been added to Pokemon Sword and Shield’s Max Raid Battles. The Kanto legend is causing trainers a lot of trouble though, so, how can you defeat Mewtwo?

It’s difficulty is somewhat ironic, considering a lot of trainers have been complaining about how easy the mainline Pokemon games are. It looks like Game Freak have heard these comments and have finally decided to give trainers a challenge – and then some.

The Dynamaxed Mewtwo competes at an intimidating Level 100 and has counters for almost every option you can think of. You’ll need to be very prepared to take it down.

Can you catch Mewtwo?

To clarify, you can definitely defeat Mewtwo but you cannot catch it. If you manage to win the Max Raid Battle you won’t be given a chance to capture it.

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This is intentional and the rewards for defeating it are the items it drops, not the Pokemon itself. Fortunately though, this ultra powerful Mewtwo is shiny locked which means the game won’t tease you by putting a shiny out there that you can’t catch.

Mewtwo has a 10% spawn rate in these Sword and Shield Raid Battles. It is joined by Pokemon such as Gmax Orbeetle, Kingler, Hatterene, Grimmsnarl and Toxtricity. In addition to this though, the Kanto starters – Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle – are also appearing in both their first and second evolutions. These can be shiny.

What items/rewards do you get for defeating Mewtwo?

It has been reported that you will get the following items for winning the Max Raid Battle:

• 30x Exp. Candy M
• 20x Exp. Candy L
• 10x Exp. Candy XL
• ??x Dynamax Candy
• 1x Ability Capsule
• 1x PP Up
• 1x Bottlecap
• More

What Pokemon should you use?

One Redditor, roxasventus210392, shared some excellent advice on which Pokemon you should use:

• Screen setter. Preferably Prankster Grimmsnarl, or a Lunala/Necrozma that can out-speed Mewtwo. The physical Mewtwo has brick break so be prepared to reset screens
• Some form of debuffer. Since you wont know if it’s special or physical, it’s a gamble. As such, Marshadow is great here. Spectral thief can steal said buffs. Just make sure it doesn’t die in 1 hit. A bulky Arcanine could be an option, with it running wil-o-wisp, snarl and intimidate
• Dynamax DPS. Bring a bulky Pokemon. They are no use if you Dynamax and die after one hit. Tyranitar with assault vest, or a bulky Lunala will do the trick. Inceneroar could be an option too.
• Some other DPS. Zamazenta or Zacian work well, though Zamazenta is bulkier. Another copy of the Dynamax Pokemon can be an option.

It goes without saying that your Pokemon should be Level 100 (or very close) and ideally EV trained.

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It’s also imperative to make sure you have a type advantage. Finally, you need to have a team of competent players – if you don’t Mewtwo will be too much.