Best Pokémon Go movesets
Pokémon Go can be as simple or complex as you make it. For those that really care about the details, you can find out the individual values (IVs) of your Pokémon. But if you want to beat raid bosses on your own, earn the maximum damage bonus or maximise the time spent defending gyms you need to understand movesets.
That maxed-out Blissey is a wonderful gym defender, but if it has the wrong moves, it might not be as effective as you’d like. Similarly, you can have an army of Machamps or Tyranitars for attacking gyms, but their moveset will determine how much damage they deal.
You’ll find the moveset on a Pokémon’s card:
The top one – Zen Headbutt – is the Fast Attack, and the bottom one – Psychic – is the Charged Attack. You can use the latter only when the Pokémon’s energy bar has filled up. Some Charged Attacks have multi-part bars, which means they can be used sooner than single-bar attack moves. Psychic is a single-bar attack.
The same Pokémon can have different moves, and if you discover yours has a less-than-optimal movset you can change the Fast and Charged move individually usingTechnical Machines, which are rewards you may receive for successfully completing raids.
What’s the best moveset for a Pokémon?
Below, you’ll find the ‘best’ movesets for the top Pokémon you’ll actually want to use for attacking and defending.
Sometimes there is a clear winner, but for certain Pokémon the best moveset will depend upon whether you intend to use it to attack gyms (or raid bosses) or defend gyms.
There are also many other factors to consider, including the type of the Pokémon and the type you’re battling, whether a move benefits from STAB (same-type attack bonus) and even the current weather. Plus, now that the Friends system has been introduced, your Pokémon become stronger attackers if you battle in a raid with your friends.
Even things such as your play style can influence your choice, as some movesets are better if you play cautiously and dodge attacks, while others can be better if you prefer to go all out and attack constantly without worrying about the number of revives and potions you’ll need to use afterwards.
A quick word on STAB: this makes a move more powerful if the move type matches the Pokémon type. So a Dragonite with the moves Dragon Tail (quick) and Outrage (charge) both benefit from STAB as they are all Dragon type.
Should I just pick the moveset with the highest DPS?
DPS – damage per second – is a useful starting point. It’s calculated by taking into account the damage dealt by a move along with the cool-down period before it can be used again.
There are lots of other more subtle factors, which are either considered or omitted by DPS calculators, but the figures are useful nonetheless.
You can find out the DPS for a move by looking it up online or – more conveniently – in a companion app such as Poke Genie or Calcy IV. These are both ‘safe’ as they don’t need your login details, and won’t get you banned.
Poke Genie is available foriPhoneandAndroid, butCalcy IVonly works on Android.
These tools are especially handy as they can tell you the alternatives available if you use a Technical Machine to change a move, as well as legacy moves which are no longer available.
Using Poke Genie is more time-consuming than Calcy IV because it requires you to take screenshots of each Pokémon before it can analyse it. But unlike Calcy IV, it has a built-in Battle Simulator which can tell you which six attackers to pick for any given raid boss, and can even take weather, the raid boss’ moveset and friends into account.
Best Pokemon Go Movesets
Without further ado, here are the best movesets for popular attackers and defenders. They’re provided here for quick reference for those who just want to know whether to keep existing moves, or if they should roll the dice with a TM and try for a new one.
Note that you cannot choose which move you want: a Technical Machine will pick from the available pool at random.
Also, if there’s more than one ideal moveset, just make sure that you have multiple of the same Pokémon with different movesets.
Best attack movesets
Pokémon
Quick move
Charge move
Mewtwo
Confusion
Shadowball
Machamp
Counter
Dynamic Punch
Tyranitar
Bite (or Smack Down)
Crunch (or Stone Edge)
Exeggutor
Bullet Seed
Solar Beam
Hariyama
Counter
Dynamic Punch
Dragonite
Dragon Tail
Outrage
Rayquaza
Dragon Tail
Outrage
Salamence
Dragon Tail
Draco Meteor
Kyogre
Waterfall
Hydro Pump
Gyarados
Waterfall
Hydro Pump
Vaporeon
Water Gun
Hydro Pump
Golem
Rock Throw
Stone Edge
Groudon
Mud Slap
Earthquake
Raikou
Thunder Shock
Thunder
Entei
Fire Spin
Overheat
Moltres
Fire Spin
Overheat
Charizard
Fire Spin
Overheat
Lugia
Extrasensory
Sky Attack
Best defence movesets
Pokémon
Quick move
Charge move
Blissey
Zen Headbutt
Dazzling Gleam
Snorlax
Zen Headbutt
Heavy Slam
Gardevoir
Confusion
Dazzling Gleam
Slaking
Yawn
Play Rough
Dragonite
Dragon Tail
Outrage
Chansey
Zen Headbutt
Dazzling Gleam
Gyarados
Dragon Tail
Outrage
Tyranitar
Iron Tail
Crunch
What’s the best moveset for Mew?
You can have but one Mew in your collection, but it can have moves of every type. Combined, these factors make it very difficult to choose. Mew isn’t a particularly powerful attacker, though, so arguably it isn’t hugely important to have the ‘best’ moveset for it.
Plus, as there are such a variety of moves, you might use up a lot of your precious TMs trying to get a specific one.
If you just want us to recommend a moveset, try Rock Smash and Focus Blast, as this is optimal against the Blisseys you’ll find in your local gyms.
What’s the best moveset for Celebi?
If you don’t have one already, you’ll soon have your one and only Celebi in your Pokédex. Its best moveset – currently – is Confusion and Dazzling Gleam.
That’s because it’s a Psychic / Grass type, but has no available Grass moves (neither fast nor charge) to benefit from the STAB boost.
Author: Jim Martin, Executive Editor, Tech Advisor
Jim has been testing and reviewing products for over 20 years. His main beats include VPN services and antivirus. He also covers smart home tech, mesh Wi-Fi and electric bikes.
