Pokémon Go Crowned Sword Zacian counters, weaknesses and tactics

Crowned Sword Zacian counters and weaknesses in Pokémon Go

First things first: find a raid and join a lobby. Crowned Sword Zacian will be appearing in five-star raids on Sunday 29th June between 10am and 6pm (local time), as part of Go Fest Global 2025.

Second, you need to know that unlike regular Zacian, which is a pure Fairy-type, the Crowned Pokémon both gain Steel-typing. This means that your optimal counters are going to look a little different to regular Zacian. Below you’ll find the counters and weaknesses for Crowned Sword Zacian to help you win the raid:

• Crowned Sword Zacian types - Fairy and Steel-type
• Crowned Sword Zacian is weak against - Fire and Ground-type attacks
• Crowned Sword Zacian is resistant to - Bug, Dark, Dragon, Fairy, Flying, Grass, Ice, Normal, Poison, Psychic and Rock-type attacks.
• Crowned Sword Zacian Mega counters - Primal Groudon is your best bet, followed by Mega Charizard Y. Mega Blaziken is a distant third, tied with Mega Garchomp.
• Crowned Sword Zacian non-Mega counters - If you have a Shadow Heatran, it will outperform Mega Blaziken and Mega Garchomp. If not, Regular Heatran, Shadow Chandelure, Reshiram or Blacephalon will do the trick. Pick them in that order if you want an easy time.





• Number of players to beat Crowned Sword Zacian - You need a minimum of three Trainers to take it down, or ideally five to eight for a reasonable challenge. Any more than that and you can look forward to talking to your friends without looking at the screen while furiously tapping at the same time...
• Tactics - By and large, this is simply pick the right counters and mash the attack button. There's a lot of good options to fall back on, but pick from the above list if you want to speed up the raid!

Crowned Sword Zacian CP in Pokémon Go

Crowned Sword Zacian and Crowned Shield Zamazenta will revert to their Hero of Many Battles forms after defeating them in a raid. Below you’ll find the CP levels for Hero of Many Battles Zacian in Pokémon Go:

• CP range for catching Zacian - 2100 to 2188 CP
• Weather boosted (Cloudy) when being caught - 2625 to 2735 CP

Best Crowned Sword Zacian moveset in Pokémon Go

Crowned Sword Zacian gets a 31% attack boost in its Crowned form, along with access to its signature move, Behemoth Blade, promoting it from virtually useless to a top-tier attacker. On top of this, it's now the top-ranked Pokémon in Master League. No matter how you play, you should probably pay attention to its moveset...

The optimal moveset for Crowned Sword Zacian is Metal Claw (Fast), Close Combat and Behemoth Blade (Charged). Behemoth Blade is this Pokémon's signature move and its Adventure Effect, dealing big damage for a reasonable cost. Close Combat is a self-debuff, however, so should primarily be used as coverage.

Here are all the Fast and Charged moves Crowned Sword Zacian can use in Pokémon Go:

Fast Moves:

• Metal Claw (Steel)
• Air Slash (Flying)

Charged Moves:

• Behemoth Blade (Steel)
• Close Combat (Fighting)
• Giga Impact (Normal)
• Play Rough (Fairy)

Make sure you know the October event and raid schedule. You can now catch Dynamax Pokémon through Max Battles. First, however, you need to visit Power Spots to collect Max Particles and complete the To the Max! quest. Don't forget to try out Routes, Gift Exchange and Party Play while you're hunting down rare Pokémon, fighting in the Go Battle League or competing in PokéStop Showcases.

Everything we know about Crowned Sword Zacian

The Warrior Pokémon, Zacian, is pretty interesting. It shares a category with Zamazenta, the literal shield to Zacian's sword. Zacian is Zamazenta's older sister (which is mildly infuriating as that’s not how species work).

On top of this, the duo plus Cresselia form an elite group of Pokémon who have had their base stats updated with the release of a new generation. In this case, Zacian's attack was reduced from 130 to 120 - clearly a dog with a sword in its mouth is just too powerful...

Crowned Sword Zacian, meanwhile, is far more interesting. Despite the nerf, it has the highest Attack stat of all Fairy-type Pokémon. It also has the highest base Speed stat of all Fairy-type and Steel-type Pokémon.

If you're wondering about the design, it's believed that Zacian is based on the tale of King Arthur, wielder of Excalibur. The wolf design is likely influenced by the fact that they were once common here in the UK, and were seen as symbols of nobility. Think Dire Wolves in Game Of Thrones, rather than hunters that eat farmers' sheep... But when it comes to its Crowned form, we lean more into the UK's Norse influence, with the crescent shapes of the sword resembling Hati Hróðvitnisson, the wolf that chases the moon.

This sword is paradoxical in of itself, being able to cut through anything - including presumably Crown Shield Zamazenta's shield. To have hair that strong it must have used a lot of extra-hold gel... If someone could please ask it what product it uses, we would be very grateful.

Finally, we can settle the name debate. Zacian is literally 'the cyan' said in a Japanese accent. The becomes 'Za' and cyan in Japanese is 'Shian' (pronounced sheean). If you want to know what Zamazenta is, it's The Magenta. Amusingly simple, right? Now you won't forget which is which (unless you're cyan–magenta colourblind, in which case, the one that sounds like shield has the sword and the one that sounds like sword has a shield... sorry about that).

If you want to learn more about Zacian, you can read its official Pokédex entries below:

• Zacian: 'Known as a legendary hero, this Pokémon absorbs metal particles, transforming them into a weapon it uses to battle. This Pokémon has slumbered for many years. Some say it’s Zamazenta’s elder sister - others say the two Pokémon are rivals.'
• Crowned Sword Zacian: 'Now armed with a weapon it used in ancient times, this Pokémon needs only a single strike to fell even Gigantamax Pokémon. Able to cut down anything with a single strike, it became known as the Fairy King’s Sword, and it inspired awe in friend and foe alike.'

You'll be pleased to know that shiny Zacian is in the game, along with shiny Crowned Sword Zacian!

As you can see below, Shiny Zacian is actually cyan. Knowing what you now know about the name of this Pokémon, this is really cool. Plus, if you like the colour blue (we do), this Pokémon becomes incredibly appealing.

Crowned Sword Zacian is just as cool, with two-tone blue and its regal gold looking incredible against each other. We're crossing all of our fingers and toes to pick one of these beauties up this weekend.

Good luck defeating Crowned Sword Zacian in Pokémon Go!