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Interactive Mesprit Counters Guide

Mesprit

Mesprit is a member of the Lake Trio of Legendary Pokemon released in Gen 4. Mesprit represents emotion and gave it to humanity as it’s gift after being created by Arceus.

They often get overlooked in favor of the more ravenous Dialga, Palkia and Giratina, and are often interpreted more like the mythicals Mew and Celebi than Legendaries. Interestingly, all 3 of them have almost identical move pools in Pokemon Go in addition to typing, and therefore, have near identical counters. They may not shake up the meta too strongly, but they all also hold the distinction of the first legendaries released in the wild and will be encounterable even after this event ends. The lake trio, appropriately enough, is biased towards spawning around lakes. They are regional exclusives, however, both as wild spawns and in raids.

Release Period: August 28th between 6-7pm (ONLY IN EUROPE / AFRICA REGION)

Event Info

Mesprit will be released for a legendary raid hour in the Euro-African region on August 28th between 6-7pm local time. During Legendary Raid hour most gyms will have Mesprit Eggs hatch, and remain active for the rough duration. This is different from the Legendary Raid Days we’ve had for the Beasts and Birds. A shiny form is not being released and they will not spawn outside their typical region. It’s just an opportunity to catch your regional Legendary Pokemon.

Mesprit in the Meta

ConfusionFuture Sight (Raids)

Mesprit also has an interesting niche. While it trails a rung lower than Azelf in DPS, its respectable balance of bulk and damage means it remains viable as a psychic attacker when being hit super effectively! It survives Ghost moves from Gengar almost as well as your average dark type, and better than Azelf/Alakazam and Espeon.

Psychic-Type Ranking:

RANK	Pokemon	Moveset	DPS%	TDO%
100%	Mewtwo (Legacy)	Confusion /Psystrike	100%	100%	1.72	0.56	0.55	1.90	0.67
72%	Azelf	Confusion /Future Sight	78%	56%	2.28	0.77	0.97	2.64	0.87
71%	Espeon	Confusion /Future Sight	75%	56%	2.36	0.78	0.91	2.67	0.88
69%	Gallade (Legacy)	Confusion /Synchronoise	71%	60%	2.44	0.79	0.82	2.78	0.94
69%	Gardevoir (Legacy)	Confusion /Synchronoise	71%	60%	2.43	0.81	0.82	2.83	0.94
69%	Alakazam	Confusion /Future Sight	77%	50%	2.45	0.82	0.98	2.75	0.89
67%	Latios	Zen Headbutt /Psychic	66%	68%	2.62	0.84	0.89	2.72	0.99
65%	Metagross	Zen Headbutt /Psychic	63%	70%	2.70	0.90	0.87	2.75	1.05
64%	Lugia	Extrasensory /Sky Attack	55%	99%	2.68	0.86	1.12	2.73	1.06
63%	Mesprit	Confusion /Future Sight	62%	64%	2.69	0.87	0.93	3.00	1.06
62%	Exeggutor (Legacy)	Confusion /Psychic	63%	53%	2.73	0.92	0.96	2.93	1.11
59%	Jirachi	Confusion /Psychic	57%	68%	3.01	0.99	0.96	2.98	1.15
59%	Latias	Zen Headbutt /Psychic	57%	67%	2.96	0.97	1.02	3.04	1.17
58%	Ho-Oh	Extrasensory /Brave Bird	52%	68%	3.00	1.00	1.18	2.98	1.16
56%	Armored Mewtwo	Confusion /Future Sight	54%	80%	3.07	1.01	1.00	3.28	1.20
56%	Deoxys (Normal Forme)	Zen Headbutt /Psycho Boost	74%	33%	2.97	0.99	1.20	3.28	1.13
55%	Jynx	Confusion /Psyshock	64%	42%	3.09	1.05	1.14	3.34	1.19
54%	Regigigas	Zen Headbutt /Avalanche	54%	63%	4.14	1.11	1.01	2.52	1.26
52%	Deoxys (Attack Forme)	Zen Headbutt /Psycho Boost	93%	19%	3.36	1.23	1.18	3.39	1.25
51%	Mew	Pound /Psyshock	52%	62%	3.39	1.08	1.25	3.46	1.33
51%	Gengar (Legacy)	Shadow Claw /Psychic	50%	31%	3.47	1.22	1.00	3.47	1.36
51%	Celebi	Confusion /Dazzling Gleam	44%	53%	2.95	0.96	1.38	4.25	1.14
49%	Cresselia	Confusion /Future Sight	46%	77%	3.58	1.17	1.16	3.68	1.42
49%	Uxie	Confusion /Future Sight	47%	58%	3.62	1.18	1.22	3.71	1.39
48%	Xatu	Air Slash /Future Sight	48%	31%	3.45	1.13	1.71	3.54	1.37
48%	Honchkrow	Peck /Psychic	50%	32%	3.73	1.20	1.46	3.48	1.36
48%	Slowbro	Confusion /Psychic	49%	48%	3.49	1.11	1.19	4.16	1.34
48%	Slowking	Confusion /Psychic	49%	48%	3.49	1.11	1.19	4.16	1.34
47%	Chimecho	Extrasensory /Psyshock	51%	41%	3.50	1.22	1.35	4.02	1.37
47%	Mr. Mime	Confusion /Psychic	51%	33%	3.41	1.18	1.50	4.07	1.36
47%	Bronzong	Confusion /Psyshock	47%	43%	3.80	1.24	1.26	3.80	1.47
46%	Kadabra	Confusion /Dazzling Gleam	48%	19%	3.40	1.08	1.54	4.57	1.27
45%	Grumpig	Extrasensory /Psychic	46%	42%	3.72	1.29	1.33	4.09	1.46
45%	Lunatone	Confusion /Psychic	49%	40%	3.96	1.29	1.29	4.10	1.37
45%	Solrock	Confusion /Psychic	49%	40%	3.96	1.29	1.29	4.10	1.37
45%	Magmortar	Fire Spin /Psychic	48%	39%	5.06	1.28	1.29	2.97	1.43
45%	Rampardos	Zen Headbutt /Outrage	55%	35%	4.05	1.40	1.21	3.94	1.48
45%	Hypno	Confusion /Future Sight	44%	43%	3.90	1.26	1.34	4.15	1.47
44%	Noctowl	Extrasensory /Sky Attack	41%	38%	3.88	1.31	1.60	3.86	1.49
44%	Deoxys (Speed Forme)	Zen Headbutt /Psycho Boost	50%	39%	3.65	1.28	1.58	4.28	1.41
44%	Girafarig	Confusion /Psychic	49%	30%	3.96	1.32	1.23	4.21	1.52
44%	Gorebyss	Confusion /Psychic	47%	32%	3.92	1.31	1.30	4.34	1.53
41%	Venomoth	Confusion /Psychic	41%	27%	4.23	1.45	1.44	4.29	1.68
40%	Golduck	Confusion /Psychic	43%	35%	4.19	1.40	1.39	4.84	1.55
39%	Snorlax	Zen Headbutt /Hyper Beam	40%	57%	4.41	1.48	1.86	4.37	1.69
38%	Alolan Raichu	Spark /Psychic	43%	27%	3.63	1.42	1.73	5.66	1.67
32%	Deoxys (Defense Forme)	Zen Headbutt /Psycho Boost	32%	38%	5.46	1.77	1.86	5.58	2.01
28%	Blissey	Zen Headbutt /Dazzling Gleam	27%	56%	4.77	1.51	2.62	8.45	1.91

Mesprit in Gym Combat:

Mesprit is a legendary Pokemon and thus cannot be placed in Gyms as a defender.

As an attacker, It has the strongest matchup against poison types like Muk, and if operating with a rare Ice/Psychic combination of moves also hits Togekiss. It does not, however, break into the top 30 choices as a general Gym Attacker regardless of dodging or weather conditions.

Mesprit Movesets

• Blizzard (1 Bar move) Blizzard is the hardest moveset, almost entirely for being the only thing that can dent Giratina-O super effectively (as well as Honchkrow and Pinsir). 
• Swift (2 Bar move) Ghost types will adore this move with their 2x resistance to it! It will fire much more frequently than the other moves which can get annoying though.  It hits absolutely nothing super effectively though which is a delight.
• Future Sight (1 Bar move) Here Dark-types will do best due to their own 2x resistance! While the highest raw damage moveset, Dark types are ready to eat it up.

General Mesprit Counters

These bosses are one of the most vanilla Psychic-type bosses ever. Gone are the monster Focus Blasts and Shadow Balls from Mewtwo and Alakazam! The Trio’s moveset is perfectly suited to be hard countered by the standard Dark and Ghost-type counters to Psychic.

Mesprit takes 1.6x damage from Bug / Ghost / Dark.

Bug Pokemon have no inherent interaction (they are not weak to Ice moves).

Ghost Pokemon have 2x Resistance to Normal moves.

Dark Pokemon have 2x Resistance to Psychic moves.

Mesprit can be beaten by 2 players in optimal weather, with max friendship and perfect level 40 counters or by 5 unfriended players using level 20 counters from this guide. When caught, Mesprit will be between 1669 and 1747 cp without a weather boost. In Windy weather, Mesprit will be between 2086 and 2184 when caught.

Giratina Origin

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Giratina is sitting in a fantastic spot against these Pokemon. It is already the best Ghost Type attacker having swiped the title from Mewtwo, having both the Bulk and DPS to survive. But Giratina Origin’s ghost typing also gives it double resistance against Swift. Giratina Origina does have a dip in performance against Mesprit’s Blizzard due to its Dragon Ice weakness.  But even that isn’t enough to dethrone Giratina Origin from its top spot as a Mesprit counter.  This leads to it on average having just about TWICE the survivability against any other top counter. If you have the option, go with the Floaty Centipede.

Gengar

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
📉 Consistency: ⭐☆☆☆☆
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Gengar manages to equal Giratina against Swift movesets, and actually jump ahead if you have legacy movesets. Notably being the only Pokemon capable of exceeding Giratina-O on moveset alone. Gengar’s Poison dual typing, however, punishes it extra hard against psychic movesets, dropping it to Drifblim and Mismagius levels. So while Gengar has a niche where it excels, just as often it suffers making it significantly less consistent in its positions. 

Weavile

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Weavile continues to top the Dark type charts, having the best non-Giratina performance against Psychic movesets on average, and actually packing a resistance to Blizzard. Weavile, however, is absolutely obliterated by Fire Blast (at which point, *Feraligar* becomes a better choice). But that is not to understate that is is usually the best Dark-type option for pure DPS.

Tyranitar

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Tyranitar has top tier bulk (even more so than Giratina-O) as well as having resistance to Blizzard. This makes him the best tank choice for attempting to two-man Mesprit if you want to avoid rejoins. Being a Dark Type, Tyranitar does its best performance against Psychic movesets.

Mewtwo

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐☆☆☆

Mewtwo is of course, also phenomenal. On average they are the strongest choice following Giratina- but his position isn’t as stable as it usually is. Dark and Ghost types have double resistances while Mewtwo only has a regular resistance, so depending on the moveset there are still arguments to use other Pokemon if you don’t have a Tina. Giratina itself is strictly superior to Mewtwo if you do have one, beating it in all metrics, even in Windy weather.

Scizor

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Scizor has almost identical performance to Pinsir, with higher bulk due to Steel typing giving them a resistance to psychic attacks. It rises above Pinsir here due to actively resisting Blizzard.

Alternative Mesprit Counters

Houndoom

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Houndoom shares Tyranitar ambivalence to Blizzard movesets, allowing him to reliably rise about Absol and Honchkrow on average. Against Pure Psychic movesets however the other Dark-types reassert themselves over him.

Pinsir

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Bug-type sadly doesn’t get inherent resistances to Psychic-types, leaving at a disadvantage against the competition. Even so, Pinsir has pretty reliable performances against all movesets.

Absol

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Absol’s pure dark typing insulates them to both the benefits and disadvantages of odd elemental type matchups, which allows it to skirt into the top 10. But on average their lack of special resistances still lead them to have low survivability, even less than Weavile.

Sharpedo

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

While not top tier, Sharpedo has respectable performance.  Water Type giving Ice resistance helps it out.

Honchkrow

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
📉 Consistency: ⭐☆☆☆☆
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

While Honchkrow has top tier attack power as a Dark type-Blizzard absolutely knocks him out of the rankings, falling below Haunter even. 

Mismagius

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

On the more expensive side, Mismagius is able to survive psychic attacks somewhat better than Gengar at least.

Yanmega

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

A decent bit below Scizor and Pinsir, Yanmega’s flying duel type does not do it any favors against Blizzard.

Raikou

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Yes, Raikou can learn Shadow Ball now. Even so, it lacks the special resistances of Dark and Ghost types, leaving it on the more frail side. Also, getting a Shadow Ball Raikou is a use of resources that is pretty hard to justify given Raikou’s utility as an Electric Type.

Alakazam

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Alakazam’s psychic resistance helps it out here, and Mesprit’s moderate attack stat allows it to survive long enough to get off a Shadow Ball or two.

Banette

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
📉 Consistency: ⭐☆☆☆☆
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Banette jumps all over the scale in performance, and while sometimes it shines as high as Gengar-it’s just so frail that its anyone’s guess how it will pan out.

Deoxys Attack

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐☆☆☆☆
📉 Consistency: ⭐☆☆☆☆
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐☆☆☆☆

Deoxys jumps all over the place. It really just comes down to if it survives long enough to make use of its Dark Pulses. It has horrific survivability, is very difficult to acquire, and has inconsistency like no other, but, if you want to make use of it, you might get lucky. And hey, now that the dodge glitch is fixed, some assumptions we have about how useful it is might be disproven with enough skill!

Muk – Alola

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Alolan Muk typing is excellent, only having a weakness to ground. But at the end of the day, it just doesn’t hit as hard. It’s rather colorful though, and if you wanna power it up, you can make use of it.

Metagross

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐☆☆☆☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Resistance to Blizzard is the primary reason Metagross makes the cut, despite not hitting super effectively.

Crawdaunt

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ok, we’re getting pretty low on the list now but cut Crawdaunt some slack. No one ever talks about him but he can still pull his weight in a fight.

Gardevoir

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐☆☆☆☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Raltz nest, and were featured in Aug-2019’s community day. They are a decently accessible spawn in cloudy weather and also hatch from 10k eggs. In addition, Kirlia is no stranger to 2 star raids.

Spiritomb

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐☆☆☆☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐☆☆☆☆

Unless you were playing during Halloween you won’t be able to have one, and even if you do, that means you were playing when lots of better dark and ghost type Pokemon were available. But they are fun and if you want to make use of it they are decently tanky.

Cacturne

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
📉 Consistency: ⭐☆☆☆☆
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Similar to Crawdaunt, Cacturne is not really that bad despite its lack of reputation. Won’t do too well against Fire Blast though.

Drifblim

⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Drifblim has an inverse problem to Banette, is it respectably tanky but with that durability, it often can’t do top tier damage. It also is difficult to get outside of its initial release, due to being largely a weather exclusive.

Weather Counters

Here is a list of Pokemon that can perform similar or better than the typical #1 option (in this case, Giratina_Origin_Form) with weather bonuses:

Weather Table
Pokemon		Weather		Fast Move		Charge Move		Estimator @ L35
	Giratina Origin Form		FOG		Shadow Claw Fast		Shadow Ball	2.22
	(Legacy) Gengar		FOG		Shadow Claw Fast		Shadow Ball	2.36
	Weavile		FOG		Feint Attack Fast		Foul Play	2.39
	Tyranitar		FOG		Bite Fast		Crunch	2.42
	(Legacy) Mewtwo		FOG		Psycho Cut Fast		Shadow Ball	2.48
	Houndoom		FOG		Snarl Fast		Foul Play	2.52
	Absol		FOG		Snarl Fast		Dark Pulse	2.56
	Pinsir		RAINY		Bug Bite Fast		X Scissor	2.61
	Giratina Origin Form		SNOW		Shadow Claw Fast		Shadow Ball	2.67
	Scizor		RAINY		Fury Cutter Fast		X Scissor	2.68
	Giratina Origin Form		NO_WEATHER		Shadow Claw Fast		Shadow Ball	2.69
	Honchkrow		FOG		Snarl Fast		Dark Pulse	2.70
	Giratina Origin Form		WINDY		Shadow Claw Fast		Shadow Ball	2.72
	Mismagius		FOG		Hex Fast		Shadow Ball	2.73
	Sharpedo		FOG		Bite Fast		Crunch	2.73
	(Legacy) Mewtwo		WINDY		Psycho Cut Fast		Shadow Ball	2.77

Closing Thoughts

This gentle trio from Sinnoh has finally come to raids! While there is no need to throw out your Mewtwo’s for them, they remain a welcome addition to our arsenal of diverse Psychic Type attackers.

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