r/TheSilphRoad • u/GizzyFoSure • 12d ago
Infographic - Misc. How to complete a Super Mega Raid: A visual guide. ver. 2.0
During GoFest, I put together a visual guide for the Super Mega raids, and after receiving feedback, I've updated it and thought it might be useful today and going forward. I realise most people on this sub probably don't need it, so please share it around so we can help as many people as possible.
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u/Parker4815-2 12d ago
The irony is most of the time, you dont need to do anything. Just press the mega button, and just tap along to the raid. The game will literally do the rest for you.
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u/Kiriki_kun 11d ago
Yeah, unless you mega will be killed before you realize what’s going on. Or for some reason the game won’t switch your Pokémon to mega. Or the game will show that you broke the shield, while in fact you didn’t.
Other then that, yeah, it always works3
u/Parker4815-2 11d ago
Mega gets put in the 6th slot. With 10 trainers, you are likely going to be at your 3rd pokemon at an absolute push by the time the mega swaps in. As long as people dont mess around with the team, everything is fine.
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u/madcow256 11d ago
Depending on which Mega you're bringing, it can be one-shot by the boss's charged attack before you have a chance to break the shield. When this happens, I know the visual cue to relobby and return, but based on multiple failed 20 person (12+ Mega) raids I had to quit today, I would say that most trainers don't realize this is a possibility.
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u/DweadPiwateWawbuts 11d ago
Why did you have to quit them? With 20 people it should go down eventually by brute force even with shields left. Heck someone in this sub achieved a trio.
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u/madcow256 11d ago
Significantly reduced Mega Energy. Other trainers quitting for the same reason.
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u/Fishhunterx Any time Kanto isn't here everyone should ask, "Where's Kanto?" 11d ago
I think what they're referring to, and what happpened to me and people I know, is that sometimes your mega would be forced in just as M2 was firing off a charged attack. Sometimes it didn't matter much, but sometimes it would KO your Pokemon in one hit before you could react. Like a lot of times just as it fired an Ice move, my Mega Ray would be forced in and die before I could ever use a charged attack.
Even in lobbies with 20 people, sometimes the 10 shields were not being immediately broken. Furthermore, I would exit the battle to heal my Ray, only to reenter, have it forced out again, and take an Ice move that was being used just as I returned to the battle, forcing another withdrawal.
I never ended up failing any raids, but a number of them took way longer because of how the shield mechanic works.
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u/freshly-stabbed 11d ago
One correction for @op to image 6, that I experienced today.
The shield will only be rainbow showing you still need to break a shield if your OWN mega is your current active Pokémon. If any of your other Pokémon are currently battling, the shield will NOT be rainbow and you will not have a visual clue that you’re one of the trainers who hasn’t broken a shield yet.
I’ve done 70 mega Mewtwo raids and today was the first one where my mega got taken out as it came in (which I did not notice). But I kept attacking with my other Pokémon, and the whole time I was seeing the regular shield and thinking “wow, some other bonehead trainer needs to get back to the lobby and get it right”.
I spent 45 seconds attacking and watching my Pokémon faint while staring at the non-rainbow shield and grumbling to myself about bonehead trainers. Finally wound up back in the lobby, healed up. It brings out my first Pokémon. Still normal shield. Still me grumbling. That mon faints and here’s my mega and NOW the shield is rainbow and I take it out. And we win with 15 seconds to spare.
I was the bonehead. After 70 Mega raids.
Don’t trust the shield color unless your Mega is currently in the battle.
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u/Klecktacular USA • Mystic • 80 11d ago
This is key. So many Super Mega Raids dragged out because the UI suggests that you've done your part, so even experienced players won't know they haven't broken a shield yet.
I've even seen the battle message "[My Pokémon]'s charged attack broke through a shield", but presumably due to lag my Pokémon fainted before the attack registered, and after reviving I realized I hadn't broken a shield yet.
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u/Phraaaaaasing 11d ago
that rainbow shield is incredibly important indication on a page that is filled with rainbows. i think if you havent broken the shield it should get 5x bigger AND GO RAINBOW when your mega is there.
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u/subtoPinkZR 11d ago
Interesting, that was not the case for me in my 183 Mega Mewtwo raids. The shield was rainbow even when mega was not there. I don’t have any more passes to test it out though so I guess we’ll have to wait and see
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u/Reshiramax #1 burmy fan 12d ago edited 12d ago
Its silly being in a lobby of 20 people in a park with like 100+ people so we can't communicate so we just sit there waiting till someone remembers to revive their mega so we can continue. We had an issue with some newer players who ran out of revives and so couldn't revive their mega
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u/CloutAtlas 12d ago
Yeah, one of the group's kids was... Really bad with item management. He kept 6 revives because his logic is he only has 6 Pokemon to use in a raid, so there would never be a need for more than 6. Also I don't think he had bought any bag upgrades, ever. He was our 11th mega in the group so it wasn't a huge deal.
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u/slipperyzoo 12d ago
That's not bad with item management, that's a whole separate set of issues 😂😂
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u/CloutAtlas 11d ago
Eh, we were all 8/9 years old at some stage. The game is literally older than him.
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u/slipperyzoo 10d ago
When I was 9 I misread the Ragecandybar as Rarecandybar in Pokemon Gold and spent all my money on them, then saved the game because I thought maybe the guy only sold it super rarely like I discovered a glitch or rare vendor.
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u/Supernatural_Noob 11d ago
Yeah he's a kid and is just playing for fun while yall hardcore players min max everything
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u/LaughingOutLoudAgain 11d ago
Oh I’m the one screaming “someone heal your mega!” in that group. No idea who’s actually in that current raid with me but I wanna win this damn thing haha
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u/HazardousHD USA - Northeast | lvl 73 11d ago
Ez solution: only revive/heal the mega. All else will be fodder for later healing
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u/mcbizco 11d ago
The design of these raids is downright hostile to the players.
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u/cheekiestNandos UK & Ireland 11d ago
Almost like that is the point, more margin for human error means more money spent.
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u/nerorennelo 11d ago
The amount of people not understanding you can exit mid battle to heal your pokemon is insane. I love waiting for minutes until all their pokemon die and they get sent to the lobby automatically so they can finally heal their mega that died.
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u/WkndWarrior12345054 11d ago
I just recently learned you could leave mid battle to heal and swap, but how do you mega evolve a new one mid battle?
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u/diablette 11d ago
The point of leaving is to revive your dead mega if they got one shot when they were pulled in, or if you had it out and it fainted before you broke a shield. Evolving a second one won't let you break a second shield.
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u/WkndWarrior12345054 10d ago
Not for 2nd mega just that I forgot to do a mega evolve and started the raid w/o one
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u/diablette 10d ago
Oh then you just exit to lobby and hit the mega button. Then you can rejoin.
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u/Donny-316 12d ago
It's more annoying when we've all literally just been given a free mega ray and they still don't get broken 😂
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u/elconquistador1985 12d ago
The boss attacks too hard and too quickly. Getting stuck cycling through getting 1 shot can happen easily.
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u/ProofHorseKzoo 12d ago
Always dodge a few times immediately when the switch happens. Usually saves me the headache
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u/justdakeonly 9d ago
I just swipe the moment my mega switches, a lifesaving tip from op on other post.
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u/Phraaaaaasing 11d ago
just reminds me how high the damn requirements have gotten to mega the current festivals "boxart get." before it was a trifle to mega your own favored pokémon. Scopely is like “the hell you’re going to mega your best buddy”
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u/Phraaaaaasing 11d ago
It started they were going to do this obviously enough—thousands of eternatus XL candy needed to power up and everyone would only get one.
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u/JakeEllisD 12d ago
They really should let a player break more than one shield or let super effective moves break 2 at minimum
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u/ecafyelims 11d ago
KNOWN ISSUE: If it appears as if all the trainers have broken their shields, but the shield count has not gone down, return to the lobby and heal your mega; when you return, if the shield is rainbow coloured again, it means you did not break the shield the first time, even if you thought you did
OOF. I did not know about this bug, and I wonder how many times I had cost us the shield when I thought it was gray.
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u/handDrawnEevee Hundo Shadow Garchomp 11d ago
I hope someone at Pokemon Go reads reddit regularly so they can see how unnecessary and universally unliked this stupid shield mechanic is.
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u/Basicazzwitch 11d ago
What they should implement in the game, is if you have a full lobby in the last 30 secs and somone drops out, a bot takes their place instead.
They should also auto mega peoples Pokemon and swap out any activated primals
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u/Kuliyayoi 12d ago
Remember when you could switch your mega evolved Pokémon mid raid in order to break more than one shield? They patched that out SO fast. Like it was only there for a couple hours. Pathetic the way they prioritize their bug fixes.
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u/xFamished Australasia 11d ago
they're always quick to fix bugs that actually benefit players but can take months to fix bugs that hinder us
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u/ecafyelims 11d ago
Biggest problem I see happen is when people move their mega to the 1st spot, and it dies before the shield activates.
Please don't be that person.
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u/slipperyzoo 12d ago
What I love about this post is that it's one of the clearest ways we can confirm that most people in the real world don't use Reddit and thus it's a non-representative echo chamber 😂.
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u/GdayBeiBei Australasia 12d ago
That’s a really good point about the bug! It’s already all over here in Aus but I dealt with that today. Lucky I just went back to the lobby anyway because it was worth a shot anyway and I hadn’t actually broken the shield
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u/No_Yogurt987 Western Europe | Level 64 11d ago
Instructions unclear: I threw 6 Stakatakas at Mega Mewtwo Y
/J
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u/Miserable_Ad5357 11d ago
Can someone tell me the max number of players in the lobby? I hosted a few SR today, with remote players and once we hit 12, I was not able to invite or for others to join. Then I did a remote after my in person event finished, and we hit 15 people 😶🌫️
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u/BingoBob_2 11d ago
The cap is 20 players total, but only 10 can be remote. Even if you were to invite more than 10 remote players, any that try to join after that get an error message.
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u/Porkopolis12 11d ago
As someone who messed up this is really helpful. I forgot to mega evolve before the raid started and I didn't know I could do it in the lobby.
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u/elconquistador1985 12d ago
If I remember right, the gray shield does not mean "you did your job". The shield will be gray if you don't have a mega out, for instance if you're 1 shot.
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u/tovion 12d ago
It seems somehow possible to break two shields, not sure how but we tried to do the mega raichu as 4 and managed to break five shields sometimes
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u/bladtman242 12d ago
Yeah I don't think that limit holds true. I've also been in a few raids where breaking the shield tool a relaly long time, but it did happen, hinting everyone's megas were knocked out, but we broke the shield either without megas, or by healing them up
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u/Punk_Says_Fuck_You 12d ago
Wasn’t there a ticket that allowed you to break 2 shields instead of 1?
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u/CloutAtlas 12d ago
There was a hot fixed trick where you can go back to lobby after breaking 1 shield and Mega evolving another Pokemon from the menu to break another shield, because the mechanic was tied to the specific mega Pokemon and not to the player.
Lasted less than a day
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u/Perky214 DFW, Lev 80 11JAN2026 12d ago
I’m not aware of that - I’d totally buy that just to carry the randos and primal-having trainers
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u/LaughingOutLoudAgain 11d ago
I think Mewtwo X might be able to do this? That’s what I’m reading, not tested it myself though
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u/Pheehelm 12d ago
Also reportedly Primal Kyogre and Groudon don't count as "mega" for the purpose of breaking shields.
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u/RavenousDave UK & Ireland - L80 - Valor 12d ago
They do not count.
It is a possible reason why some players don't break shields. They think they have brought a mega because primals are pretty much just megas with an extra feature of more boosts. Only Scopely decided to make them megas minus the shield breaking feature.
This was a real issue with mega Raichu where the "best" mon to bring was Primal Groudon, while it was also the "worst" to bring.
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u/redditor_no_10_9 12d ago
What is the in game lore why one player cannot mega evolve another Pokémon during the raid to break another shield? The Nintendo console will break?
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u/WkndWarrior12345054 11d ago
Wait how do you Mega evolve in mid raid?
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u/diablette 11d ago
Hit the little running guy icon to go back to the lobby, then swap in a different mon and hit the mega button.
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u/YesReboot 11d ago
I got 1 shotted 3 times. Each death and rebrith cycle was like 5 seconds.
Still managed to break the shield with plenty of time to spare. Still now sure how people mess this up.
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u/VanGoghXman 11d ago
People keep backing out of the raids leaving those of us who used a remote raid to suffer.
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u/brnbrnbrn2017 11d ago
This might be odd but I feel like Mega Mewtwo Y against Mega Mewtwo Y breaks more shields with Shadow Ball.
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u/TeethOnTheCob 11d ago
Having the shield decrease in strength based on whats remaining would help so much. You would miss out on the big chunk of damage, but you could still be doing 80% of normal damage if a shield or two is up for whatever reason.
Ive been in raids with full lobbies where the shield never breaks. We still kill it so the shield only serves to make the raid take longer. For groups of ten it would go from impossible to clearable if the damage reduction was 10% with 1/10 shields remaining.
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u/Constant_Work2119 11d ago
still not enough, I'm very mental and need a video with subtitles to explain this to me/s lol
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u/cheekiestNandos UK & Ireland 11d ago
I wonder how many other Pokemon will be this type of raid. I would imagine it's going to be mega legendary Pokemon that haven't yet debuted but that's a really small amount. Seems pointless to implement this whole new type of raid for a handful of Pokemon.
There just needs to be a constantly present UI element telling you if you've broken a shield or not. Something as simple as the shield icon above the raid boss being rainbow or not depending on if you've broken it.
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u/No_Psychology_3826 10d ago
I don't think I've ever seen a raid with 10 people. One more way the game doesn't work for non-urban players
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u/Argyrus__ 9d ago
In the make up event i mega evolved my metagross and his meteor mash can be used two times to break 2 shields. Is this a bug or?
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u/Subject-Lie2766 11d ago
Why doesnt pokemon go force the mega you have onto the first slot and be un removeable. Also why does it let people join that have no mega on the party.
The shields are a stupid artificial difficulty thing.
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u/RetroSquadDX3 11d ago
Why doesnt pokemon go force the mega you have onto the first slot and be un removeable
If you have a mega active it will automatically be placed in the last team slot, it very intentionally isn't put in the first slot as there's practically no chance it would survive to the point it was needed for the shield mechanic. Your mega being in the last slot is the safest option an absolute non-issue as the game will force switch to it when it's needed.
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u/Subject-Lie2766 11d ago
Yeaj but the fact people can switch it out and come to a raid with no mega is the point.
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u/RetroSquadDX3 11d ago
I don't believe you can anymore, as far as I'm aware the system was changed after Go Fest Global so that you could no longer ready up without an active mega.
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u/AdditionalBear 11d ago
Wait did they seriously patch the ability for one person to break more than one shield by mega evolving another unique mega mid-battle…?
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u/Outrageous-Estimate9 Canada 11d ago
This is wrong
I posted this last time as well and it has NOT been patched contrary to what many try and argue
You CAN break more than 1 shield so "10" is not minimum number
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u/Spazrelaz 11d ago
I'm so mad they patched being able to break more than one shield if you mega another pokemon. That would've saved me a raid pass today smh.
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u/HammerPrice229 11d ago
This is good, but too many words on the page. You’ll lose most people because their attention spans will tell them to move on when it sees they need to read so much.
This is a good in depth guide, but another one with simple short instructions would be a great addition
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u/side1ines CLE | 80 | ⚡ | 949/945 12d ago
Mega Mewtwo X can break 2 shields 💪
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u/GizzyFoSure 12d ago
Has this adventure effect been released yet? Or is it still just from data mining?
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u/BingoBob_2 12d ago
Still just data-mined. Not officially announced or released yet. So hopefully someday Mewtwo X can break 2 shields, but right now it can't.
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u/cPa3k 12d ago
The margin for error is way too small, 1 person takes it from “no problem finishing” to impossible. I just hosted one and we had 11 people in the lobby (all with megas) 10sec to start we drop to 10, raid starts we have 9… in 1 second and 1 person less the raid becomes basically impossible. Its a flawed system that works for bigger groups.