Black Kyurem and White Kyurem counters, weakness, and best moveset in Pokémon Go

Kyurem, Black Kyurem and White Kyurem, are powerful raid targets in Pokémon Go, and you’ll need to take on quite a few of their raids if you want one of these creatures for yourself.

Both Black Kyurem and White Kyurem are the cream of the crop when it comes to both raids/gyms and PvP content, so if you’re looking to take on a bunch of these raids, you’ve come to the right place.

Black Kyurem and White Kyurem will be available in raids for the Go Tour: Unova event on March 1 and 2. It’s likely that it will return as part of a raid day or another event, the same way Dusk Mane and Dawn Wings Necrozma did after its initial launch.

Below, we explain Black and White Kyurem’s weaknesses, counters, best movesets, and more.

Black Kyurem and White Kyurem weaknesses

Both Black Kyurem and White Kyurem (and also regular Kyurem) are dragon- and ice-type, meaning they have the same fighting-, rock-, steel-, dragon–, and fairy-type weaknesses.

That all being said, keep your dragon-types at home for this one, as Kyurem’s powerful ice-type moves will send those packing immediately. There are a ton of really powerful steel-type Pokémon nowadays, so we recommend using those (as we’ll talk about below), but bring what you can to the fight.

Kyurem will resist water-, grass-, and electric-type moves, so don’t bring those.

Black Kyurem and White Kyurem counters

Given what we said above, here’s some of the strongest Pokémon you can bring against Kyurem:

• Dusk Mane Necrozma with Metal Claw and Sunsteel Strike
• Mega Lucario/Lucario with Force Palm and Aura Sphere
• Origin Forme Palkia with Dragon Tail and Spacial Rend
• Origin Forme Dialga with Metal Claw and Roar of Time
• Terrakion with Double Kick and Sacred Sword
• Palkia with Dragon Tail and Draco Meteor
• Metagross with Bullet Punch and Meteor Mash
• Dawn Wing Necrozma with Metal Claw and Moongeist Beam
• Dialga with Metal Claw and Draco Meteor

I know what you’re thinking. “Didn’t you say to leave the dragon-types at home? Why would I bring Dialga or Palkia to this if they’re dragon-types?” Elementary, my dear reader — they are dual type with Palkia being dragon/water and Dialga being dragon/steel. Their secondary types help them resist those ice-type moves, so they’ll only deal normal damage to it, not doubled. Yippee!

While Rayquaza and Garchomp (and their respective Megas) will dish out serious damage, they’ll also both take a lot of damage from Kyurem, since both of their dual types (dragon/flying and dragon/ground, respectively) are weak against ice.

Best moveset for Black Kyurem and White Kyurem

So, Kyurem’s moves are a little funky with regard to how they work when fused, so let’s break it down a little bit.

Regular Kyurem’s best moveset is by far Dragon Breath and Glaciate, with Glaciate being a legacy move you can only get during the Go Tour: Unova event. As usual with legacy moves, you can use an Elite Charged TM to change your Kyurem’s charge move into Glaciate.

Now, if your regular Kyurem has Glaciate and you fuse it, the fusions will get special moves that take Glaciate’s place. Both of the fusions best movesets come from the base version having Glaciate, so all you really need to know is: don’t TM over Glaciate. Remember, if you want to guarantee White or Black Kyurem will have Glaciate from raids during the event, choose that respective colour in the “It’s Not Over Yet” branching research.

Black Kyurem’s best moveset is Dragon Breath and Freeze Shock (a move that only shows up if base Kyurem knows Glaciate) and White Kyurem’s best moveset is Ice Fang and Ice Burn (again, a move that only shows up if base Kyurem knows Glaciate).

However, if you plan on using your Kyurem in PvP, it’s another story. You do still want to keep their Glaciate moves, but you’ll want to also add a second charged move and unlock their respective signature moves. That being said, according to the Pokémon Go Database, you’ll want your Black Kyurem to have Shadow Claw with Freeze Shock and Fusion Bolt and your White Kyurem to have Ice Fang with Ice Burn and Fusion Flare.

Can Kyurem be shiny in Pokémon Go?

Yes, if you’re lucky, you can find a shiny Kyurem in Pokémon Go.

When you beat Black Kyurem or White Kyurem, it’ll return to its normal unfused form to catch. You’ll see if its shiny or not from the catch screen.

Keep in mind if you do plan on fusing it into a Black or White Kyurem, it’s Kyurem that will need to be shiny — not Zekrom or Reshiram. Save your shiny Zekrom and Reshiram for something else.

If you’re wanting to get Black Kyurem and White Kyurem yourself, our dedicated explainer can help.

Elsewhere in the Pokémon Go’s Go Tour: Unova weekend event, we explain the habitat schedule and spawns, how to get free fusion energy codes, the “It’s Not Over Yet” Special Research, and the Go Tour Pass rewards.

While not 100% exclusive to Go Tour: Unova, we also have a guide with the Meloetta Masterwork Research steps.