How ironic.... a day after I confessed that I couldn't solo Gengar at level 39, the opportunity presented itself: Gengar raid with 8 minutes left. Suggested counters were 4 Tyranitar and 2 Groudon.... since the last attempt I had powered up 2 Tyranitar and, of course, caught me some Groudon. What made it easier: My team got a weather boost. What made it harder: My old, very laggy Galaxy S5.
First attempt: With minimal dodging, all 6 fainted.... and with my phone, rejoining is futile. But it was close - survivability would be key. I had barely enough time for one more attempt.
This time, I started out with Groudon, alternating with Tyranitar; swapped one Tyranitar for a 3rd Groudon with Solar Beam; and dodged Shadow Ball as much as possible. And it made all the difference - won with several seconds (and two counters) remaining.
This was a lot of fun - and 4 rare candy the icing on the cake.
P.S. I've done (only) 18 legendary raids so far, and those are a fun, social activity - but it doesn't compare to the feeling of accomplishment when you finally solo a tier 3.
Nice job! Definitely sounds like quite the challenge! :)
I've yet to actually attempt to solo a Gengar raid, but I've heard he's one of the harder T3 raid bosses to beat solo. But, Gengar looks like a fun challenge, so I might give it a try next time if I spot one around! Were you able to catch the Gengar?
Thanks. Yes, I made sure I got her with golden razz.... I like to keep my solo raid mon (add "Solo" to their name or stats for future reference). She's a nice one, with 93% IV's (15/12/15).
Good luck when you try! You never know what might make the difference from one atempt to the next (order, breakpoints, weather effects, dodging, etc).
In a vacuum, Gengar is the third easiest behind Porygon and Scyther due to its low defense, so most people can easily assemble the required DPS to take it down. The difficulty does come when you try to stay alive against it, as dodging is highly unreliable on lower end phones and Gengar's high attack stat and powerful charge moves wreck most attackers with good DPS. Fun raid to solo and can be a challenge for sure.
Awesome. I beat PC/FB Alakazam with 20 sec to spare this afternoon! 3 Wind boosted level 35.5 Dragonites and a 2202 SC/ShB Gengar. Has to be the easiest Alakazam to beat. I did Confusion/Future Sight with no boost on either side 3 days ago...had 5 secs to spare, Tyranitars. Obviously a psychic boost would have been trouble for me today, still might have been able to do C/FB with the wind/dragon boost. Caught a 2035 C/FS, good payout since I got lucky and it was kinda easy
I haven't been trying Alakazam for a long time, when I had it was always Confusion. Today's PC, in addition to taking advantage of the very rare dragon bonus, made me feel I'd prevail. I didn't start the raid til 12 min on the clock, I did have other things to try if I didn't win the first time (a Shadowball Mewtwo and other shadowball gengars). However, I've been trying and trying to conserve potions, so it was fulfilling I could get it done the first time.
Gave me trouble with the lag and my charge move not being accurate. However, my Tyranitars going against Gengar Shadowball taught me to just not dodge. If you are a high level and have a deep squad you can find something that will anchor and still do some finishing damage, if extra surviving is necessary.
I have to agree with devshaw here. With four T-tars in the first four spots (I'm assuming all with bite for a quick move, and at least two with crunch), you should be able to get far enough ahead of the clock that you will kill the boss before he kills you. Groudon's tankiness isn't really helping you if he is not dealing the DPS you need. Assuming they have MS for a quick move, the strong EQ Groudon will hold its own, but the other two Groudons are costing you time. If any of them have DT, they are hurting you a lot more than your phone lag.
Before I had a shadow ball Mewtwo, when I soloed Gengar, I usually put in four T-tars plus two of (SC/SB Gengar, C/FS Alakazam, S/FP Houndoom), depending on the boss's moveset, and I would dodge very minimally if at all (FB Gengar was/is an exception). You'd think that lineup would be too fragile, but the right glass cannons will do more damage over their short lifespan than either of your two less-optimal Groudons. You don't need as much tankiness if you are killing the Gengar boss with 30 seconds to spare.
Remember also that with dodging, you are still taking 25% damage while greatly reducing your energy gain and taking time away from delivering damage.
Just curious, what is it about the lag that makes solo raiding T3s so difficult?
Are all your attacks slower? Do your taps/swipes have a delay? Do you always start at 165s? I experience the dodge glitch but it seems that happens to people even with good phones.
I think that I have an outdated phone as well, but I don't think I'd have that much difficulty especially with the Pokemon you have, and I don't mean that in any sort of negative way that would take away from this accomplishment.
I still start at 175. I beat things in one try now, raid map tells me the moves. It is way easier now though with the bottom button, before my charge move would look full but when I would press it, it wouldn't fire b/c lag. Eventually it would but many times that character would faint before it got off. I survive now b/c my stuff is powered up and I have legendaries, but always impossible to reenter after fully fainting--even with something like Gengar when you can be really ahead of the clock--couldn't get back in
No offense taken, I welcome any questions. I rarely get more than 175 seconds (it was 174 on the successful solo). I can't yet judge how much slower moves are, but a friend who used it the other day (I asked her to help me catch a Groudon that just wouldn't be caught) said it has considerable lag compared to her new iPhone. And when all your mon faint, it's game over.... no way to rejoin in time with a second team.
But I'm not trying to make excuses for why I can't do what a lvl 39 trainer should be able to do (solo most or all t3 bosses?). I also don't have most legendaries. But I try to compensate for these limitations (e.g., with higher level counters).
Lag does make a difference. There is a gym in a park near me where, for some reason, I always have a laggy connection. The battles start with 173-174 seconds remaining vs. the usual 176-177, but I think there is more to it than just a few lost seconds.
Since my first successful Alakazam solo, I've tried against the PC/FS moveset five times. On four of the occasions, I won comfortably, with 5-15 seconds remaining, all on the first attempt. In the other try, however, at the laggy gym location, I failed on four successive attempts, and was never able to beat the 'Zam boss, using the same lineup that won comfortably all the other times. And there was no other plausible explanation I could come up with. It seemed like I was doing fine, and wasn't having bad luck with last-second negation of charge moves or anything, but I just ran out of time, with the 'Zam boss still having a little bit of visible health.
With bosses like Alakazam and Gengar, where you are walking a fine line between DPS and survivability, small variables can make a big difference, and I think lag is one of them.
Good job! Like Alakazam, Gengar is a fun raid boss because of the need to balance DPS with survivability. It's not just your lag that makes rejoining problematic. There is a penalty/glitch that gives the boss back a significant chunk of HP upon rejoining. I've been less than one charge move away from beating a Gengar with 30+ seconds to go, and when I rejoin, still with plenty of time, suddenly the Gengar has more HP, and it's no longer doable. Once, I timed out twice in a row against a Gengar boss (sludge bomb, IIRC), and then won with over 30 seconds left on the third try, with only a very minor change to the lineup.
You have a very tanky lineup there, but as I've said in a few other threads, survivability means survivng longer than the raid boss, not necessarily for 175 seconds or whatever. The B/C T-tars should get you well ahead on the clock, and they have enough survivability even without dodging. The B/SE T-tar(s) are good enough too, though their DPS is a little lower.
The SoB Groudon isn't helping you as much as you probably think. SoB is resisted by Gengar, as opposed to EQ which is super effective. So, with the SoB Groudon, although it survives a long time, it's really hurting your DPS. I'm assuming the Groudons all have MS for a quick move; DT is significantly worse for this matchup.
I'd bet that if you led off with the four T-tars, followed by the stronger MS/EQ Groudon, and put in, say, a DT/O Dragonite in the last slot, you'd win with 20+ seconds to spare, with no dodging, against a SB Gengar. If you have a decent double dark Houndoom, that would be even better in the #5 slot, followed by the Groudon.
But, the important thing is that you got it done!
I agree with you on the feeling of accomplishment that comes with a new T3 solo. I'm more interested right now in trying to beat C/SB Alakazam than I am in whatever the next legendary is. Tough 2- and 3-person T4 raids are a lot of fun too, because of the shared accomplishment. I think my daughter and I are ready to try a daddy-daughter Tyranitar duo, if we can find one when she is available.
BTW, I find Gengar to be the hardest T3 boss to catch. My small phone (iPhone SE) and its case make it hard to get enough distance on a curveball throw. I had maybe a 50% catch rate on Gengar until I started adopting my daughter's strategy of using the "L" throw, with which I've had 100% success. Gengar is the only boss I do that with.
There are probably Youtube videos on it, but basically, you drag the ball to a lower corner (I usually do lower left), then straight up the side edge of the screen, and release the ball when it is at the same height as the pokemon. It's pretty accurate and works well for far-away pokemon when it's hard to even get the ball in the circle. The downside is that you usually don't get the curveball bonus (although occasionally you do), thus a lower catch rate, but the catch rate is zero if you can't get the ball in the circle..
edit: Here's a Trainer Tips video that explains it pretty well. It's a short 1 min. video, and he gets right to the point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qYpFWKCD_c
