Pokémon GO solo raiding is getting a more flexible difficulty reference through a community-made sheet that accounts for how quickly power creep has changed the game. Its current approach treats many former 3-star challenges as 1-star or 2-star solo fights when top-end Mega+ options are used, while still showing broader counter paths for players without those picks.
The reason is straightforward. Mega+ Pokémon and Pokémon with a “+move” have pushed the ceiling so high that the strongest possible counter can make some encounters look far easier than their original star rating suggests. The sheet’s author says using a different counter usually keeps the same practical difficulty, with only small increases in effort in most cases.
Solo Raid Sheet Massive Updates Feedback request (Tier 4)
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For the current Tier 4 version, the solo raid spreadsheet uses ideal Mega+ Pokémon as an upper-bound reference for 1-star and 2-star raids. It also gives the relevant Pokémon types when the top counter is unavailable. Those lower tiers can draw from nearly 10 to 50 or more viable counters across the recommended type combinations, so the sheet is designed to show that one specific Pokémon is not mandatory.
Mega+ picks are not required to match these ratings. They represent the strongest end of the range, and the author describes some of them as so overpowered that a hypothetical 0.5-star category would fit many raids. For players building teams from what they already have, the chart should remain useful even when its ideal counter is missing.
3-star raids use a different benchmark
3-star entries work differently. The sheet names the Mega+ Pokémon, but the difficulty rating is tied to the counters used in the VOD links beside each entry. Adding the Mega+ option would lower the real challenge, so generic type icons are left out because the viable counter pool is smaller than it is for the easier tiers.
The sheet defines its solo difficulty targets this way:
- 3-star means moderate difficulty with various counters at Level 40 or higher.
- 2-star means easy difficulty with various counters at Level 30 or higher.
- 1-star means very easy difficulty with lots of counters at Level 20 or higher.
Players looking for a more detailed solo plan can also use our Azelf solo-raid guide, which covers the 50 DPS threshold and different resource budgets for that Psychic-type boss. The updated sheet takes a broader approach, focusing on how many counter choices can meet a target rather than presenting one mandatory team.
Have you been using non-Mega+ counters for solo raids, and do these ratings match your experience? Share your thoughts in the comments, then follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, Telegram.
Pokémon Go
Developed by Niantic Labs, The Pokémon Company
Pokémon Go is an augmented reality mobile game that uses GPS to let players locate, capture, train, and battle Pokémon in real-world locations. Players explore their physical surroundings to find PokéStops for items, battle at Gyms for team control, participate in Raid Battles cooperatively, and compete in the Go Battle League's player-versus-player format. The game is free-to-play with in-app purchases and features Pokémon from across multiple generations of the franchise.
- Genre Role-playing (RPG), Simulator
- Platforms Android, iOS
- Perspective Third person, Bird view / Isometric, Side view
- Modes Single player, Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO)
- Release July 6, 2016
- Publisher Niantic Labs
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Age Rating
