How to catch a shiny Heracross in Pokemon GO

Announced by Pokemon GO's update blog in a recent post, the shiny form of Heracross has finally made its appearance.

Normally region-locked to Central and South America, Heracross is currently free to spawn outside its usual confines thanks to Pokemon GO's Ultra Unlock event. A dual Bug/Fighting-type Pokemon, Heracross was originally a part of Pokemon's second generation during the tenure of the games Pokemon Silver, Pokemon Gold, and Pokemon Crystal. It also appears in those games' remakes for the Nintendo DS: Pokemon SoulSilver and HeartGold.

Players hoping to catch shiny Heracross during the current Ultra Unlock event should stock up on raid passes, as this Pokemon is a three-star star raid boss at the moment and has recently been removed from the wild while this is active.

Niantic removed Heracross from the wild when it started appearing in raids. We’ve confirmed with Niantic that this is intentional and Heracross will return to the wild after the Ultra Unlock Part 2 event ends.😬

— Nicholas Oyzon (@trnrtips) August 6, 2021

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Pokemon GO: Beating Heracross in a raid

Image via Niantic

Fortunately for Pokemon GO trainers, Heracross shouldn't be too tough of a raid boss to beat. In fact, some trainers with the right team to counter it can likely defeat it solo if necessary. Be that as it may, players will want to take advantage of Heracross' type weaknesses in order to burn down its HP before it causes too much damage to a Pokemon team.

As a Bug/Fighting-type Pokemon, Heracross is weak to the following elements:

• Fairy
• Fire
• Flying (2x as super effective)
• Psychic

With that in mind, trainers will likely want to emphasize Flying-type Pokemon and moves in order to deal maximum damage to Heracross. Since Bug- and Fighting-type Pokemon are both weak to Flying-type attacks, Heracross is doubly weak to them. Hamming away this Pokemon with Flying-type moves will be preferred, but using its other weaknesses if necessary doesn't hurt either. It all just depends on what Pokemon are used to counter this raid boss.

Pokemon GO trainers hoping to pick some solid counters against Heracross should give these Pokemon and moves a try:

Pokemon

• Pidgeot
• Moltres
• Rayquaza
• Charizard
• Yveltal
• Staraptor
• Tornadus
• Braviary
• Honchkrow
• Ho-Oh
• Togekiss
• Unfezant
• Lugia

Fast Moves

• Gust
• Wing Attack
• Air Slash
• Peck
• Incinerate
• Extrasensory
• Psycho Cut
• Fire Spin
• Fire Fang

Charge Moves

• Brave Bird
• Sky Attack
• Hurricane
• Drill Peck
• Blast Burn
• Flamethrower
• Aerial Ace
• Psystrike
• Aeroblast
• Psychic
• Overheat

It shouldn't take much to topple raid boss Heracross, but bringing a few friends along with a similar battle party makeup will allow this Pokemon to be defeated even more quickly. Once defeated, Pokemon GO players will be given the opportunity to catch Heracross, and there is a possibility that it could be the shiny form. Until Heracross returns to spawning in the wild, raiding during the Ultra Unlock event presents the best opportunity to snag the bright pink shiny.

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