Salamence is a powerful Dragon and Flying-type Pokemon that can wreak havoc onto your team if you aren’t prepared! We’ll be taking a look at Salamence’s weaknesses and counters in Pokemon go, so you can easily take them out and grab a victory in your next battle with it.

You’ll likely be taking on Salamence in your battles against Team Rocket’s Arlo. It has newly been added to the team in July 2020, so you might not have been prepared for it prior. The lineups have changed across the board for Team Rocket, so be prepared to take on some testy Pokemon. These are shadow versions, which make them particularly powerful and if they counter your team types, then you’ll be in for some trouble.

Salamence Info

Let’s take a look at what you’re up against stat-wise:

  • Dragon & Flying-type Pokemon Weaknesses to Fairy, Dragon, Ice (4x Damage), and Rock Possible Fast Moves: Bite, Fire Fang, and Dragon Tail Possible Charge Moves: Fire Blast, Hydro Pump, Draco Meter, Frustration, and Outrage

Dragon and Flying-type Pokemon are resistant against Grass, Fighting, and Bug Pokemon. However, they have weaknesses to Fairy, Dragon, and Rock. They are particularly weak against Ice-type moves, which will do 4x damage against them. That means we’re going to want to have Pokemon that have powerful Ice moves if we’re going to be able to take down Salamence!

While we look for counters, we’re going to want to make sure we avoid anything that’s a Grass, Fighting, or Bug-type because they will be weak against Salamence. That’s not too bad for us, because we’re looking for ice moves, and those types of Pokemon generally don’t carry them!

Here’s a look at what counters would be good against Salamence:

  • Pokemon with Ice-type Moves: Ninetales - Alola, Suicune, Ho-Oh, Regice, Lapras, Regigigas, Hippowdon, Shadow Articuno, and Feraligatr Pokemon with Rock-type Moves: Tyranitar, Shadow Tyranitar, Terrakion, Rhyperior, Omastar, and Gigalith Pokemon with Dragon-type Moves: Reshiram, Shadow Dragonite, Palkia, Zekrom, Dragonite, Hydreigon, Giratina, and Dialga Pokemon with Fairy-type Moves: Togekiss and Shadow Gardevoir

If you have one of the two, then Nintales and Suicune are going to be your best options. You can get dual Ice-type moves on them, with Powder Snow/Ice Beam for Ninetales and Ice Fang/Ice Beam for Suicune. These are going to be the best options to beat Salamence. After that you’ll have the powerful Tyranitar with both normal and shadow versions being very good against Salamence. You’ll want Smack Down as your main move to take the dragon/flying Pokemon down.

When you go against Leader Arlo, he will also have Dragonite and Scizor with him that you will need to contend with. Dragonite is also weak to Ice-type moves, so any of those Pokemon should do well. You could also risk a Pokemon with Dragon moves against them, but his Dragon-type moves could be problematic against you. Suicune ends up being the best option against both Dragonite and Salamence. As for Scizor, you will want a Pokemon with Fire-type moves. That’s the only type it’s weak against, and thankfully it’s 4x weak to them. Steel Pokemon are not very effective to Fire, Water, Electric, and other Steel Pokemon. So, any of those that have Fire-type moves should be good enough to take it down!