'Pokémon GO' tips and tricks: How to beat Zapdos raids

Promotional photo of the legendary Zapdos from "Pokémon GO."Facebook/PokemonGO

The legendary Pokémon Zapdos is available until Aug. 14, and players have undoubtedly been trying their best to beat it in the massive raids. It may be frustrating that some "Pokémon GO" players make catching legendary Pokémon look so easy, especially since social media allows bragging about catching legendaries instantaneous. However, there are certain steps that can be followed to increase the odds of securing legendary Pokémon.

Legendary Pokémon are only available for a limited time — which makes the first step very crucial, which is building a team.

There are groups on Facebook dedicated to searching for willing players to collaborate with and meet up in specific places where these legendaries spawn. Once a team of eight to 10 players has been established, it will increase players' chances of beating the raids.

Also, it goes without saying that players' Pokémon have to be in top fighting form with full lives. Potions and berries are highly recommended to make the raid battle and catching opportunity more doable.

Zapdos is a special electric/flying type, which means that its weakness varies just slightly from conventional electric type Pokémon. Instead of ground Pokémon types, players should be using rock types such as Tyranitar, Rhydon, and Golem. Dragonite and Gyarados, which many fans have already been able to capture, are also good Pokémon to use in Zapdos raids.

Another weakness of Zapdos is ice type Pokémon; however, most ice types are weak against electric attacks. Ice types like Jinx or even Articuno should be used as reserve Pokémon.

In other news, "Pokémon GO" developer Niantic is making the popular Pikachu widely available to players in an event called The Pikachu Outbreak in Japan on Aug. 9–15. The event aims to capitalize on the popularity of the character and Niantic will hold a myriad of festivities to celebrate it.

On the other hand, fans can expect another legendary Pokémon to be made available soon — Ho-Oh, which will be released in Japan on Aug. 14.