The other day, I was working on updating the Mega Venusaur Raid Guide for Gamepress, asMega Venusaurhas just recently made its return to raids. While I was doing so, I started enteringthe different recommended movesets for the different counters; Confusion/Psychic here, Fire Spin/Overheat there, all pretty standard stuff. That is, itwasstandard until I got to Mewtwo after adding Mega Blaziken. On these two Pokemon, the recommended moves were, obviously, Psystrike and Blast Burn respectively. However, for the first time, I started to really wonder about these moves;
Which move is objectively better?
This stupid question is easy to work out by just looking at their pages and pulling up a calculator or just looking at the DPE*DPS rating on every Charged Move that we have, but it started an entire thought-line about moves in Pokemon Go. Everyone who's been around for a while should alreadyknow which moves are the best, but how can we compare these moves more directly? And more importantly, Objectively speaking, what are the best moves in all of Pokemon Go?If we took away STAB and Super Effective damage, which would be the absolute best moves for a given Pokemon to wish that they could have in their moveset? Well, my mild obsession turned into an entire article highlighting the question, and now I'm going to subject you to all of my findings! So sit tight, becauseit's time to crunch some numbers!
So how exactly do we go about rankingevery single move in Pokemon Go?Right now we have 253 different moves available in-game, not including identical moves that show up in different types likeHidden Power,Technoblast,orWeather Ball,so it's going to be abearto compare every single one of them... right? Actually, no! As is usually the case with thestupidly complex complicationsthat we occasionally subject ourselves to here at Gamepress, we've left the majority of this work to our very own ComprehensiveDPS/TDO Spreadsheet.How exactly did we manage this task? Simple; we made a custom Pokemon on the sheet and used the following parameters to help us compare Applins-to-Appletuns, so to speak: We went with insanely high bulkfor the initial experiment in order to get a more realistic view of the long-term theoretical performance of each move. Using this setup, the DPS/TDO sheet is capable of generating the rankings of every single move in the game withoutmuchbias (more on that point later), and give us the answers that we're hoping to get. Want to repeat this experiment yourself? Well, here's a handy text-string containing every single move in the game as outlined above so that you can give it a try yourself and so that I don't have to go insane from losing it in the event that I happen to need this list again in the future: Acid, Air Slash, Astonish, Bite, Bubble, Bug Bite, Bullet Punch, Bullet Seed, Charge Beam, Charm, Confusion, Counter, Cut, Double Kick, Dragon Breath, Dragon Tail, Ember, Extrasensory, Fairy Wind, Feint Attack, Fire Spin, Fire Fang, Frost Breath, Fury Cutter, Gust, Hex, Hidden Power (Bug), Ice Fang, Ice Shard, Incinerate, Infestation, Iron Tail, Karate Chop, Lick, Lock On, Low Kick, Magical Leaf, Metal Claw, Mud Shot, Mud Slap, Peck, Poison Jab, Poison Sting, Pound, Powder Snow, Present, Psycho Cut, Quick Attack, Razor Leaf, Smash, Rock Throw, Rollout, Scratch, Shadow Claw, Smack Down, Snarl, Spark, Splash, Steel Wing, Struggle Bug, Sucker Punch, Tackle, Take Down, Thunder Fang, Thunder Shock, Vine Whip, Volt Switch, Water Gun, Waterfall, Wing Attack, Yawn, Zen Headbutt Acid Spray, Acrobatics, Aerial Ace, Aeroblast, Air Cutter, Aeroblast+, Aeroblast++, Air Cutter, Ancient Power, Aqua Jet, Aqua Tail, Aura Sphere, Aurora Beam, Avalanche, Blast Burn, Blaze Kick, Blizzard, Body Slam, Bone Club, Boomburst, Brave Bird, Breaking Swipe, Brick Break, Brine, Brutal Swing, Bubble Beam, Bug Buzz, Bulldoze, Close Combat, Crabhammer, Cross Chop, Cross Poison, Crunch, Dark Pulse, Dazzling Gleam, Dig, Disarming Voice, Discharge, Doom Desire, Double Iron Bash, Draco Meteor, Dragon Claw, Dragon Pulse, Drain Punch, Draining Kiss, Drill Peck, Drill Run, Dynamic Punch, Earth Power, Earthquake, Energy Ball, Feather Dance, Fell Stinger, Fire Blast, Fire Punch, Flame Burst, Flame Charge, Flame Wheel, Flamethrower, Flash Cannon, Fly, Flying Press, Focus Blast, Foul Play, Frenzy Plant, Frustration, Fusion Bolt, Fusion Flare, Future Sight, Giga Drain, Giga Impact, Glaciate, Grass Knot, Gunk Shot, Gyro Ball, Heart Stamp, Heat wave, Heavy Slam, High Horsepower, Horn Attack, Hurricane, Hydro Cannon, Hydro Pump, Hyper Beam, Hyper Fang, Ice Bem, Ice Punch, Icicle Spear, Icy Wind, Iron Head, Last Resort, Leaf Blade, Leaf Storm, Leaf Tornado, Low Sweep, Lunge, Luster Purge, Magnet Bomb, Mega Drain, Megahorn, Meteor Beam, Meteor mash, Mirror Coat, Mirror Shot, Mist Ball, Moonblast, Mud Bomb, Muddy Water, Night Shade, Night Slas, Obstruct, Octazooka, Ominous Wind, Origin Pulse, Outrage, Overheat, Parabolic Charge, Payback, Petal Blizzard, Play Rough, Poison Fang, Poltergeist, Power Gem, Power Whip, Power-Up Punch, Precipice Blades, Psybeam, Psychic, Psychic Fangs, Psycho Boost, Psyshock, Psystrike, Razor Shell, Rest, Return, Rock Blast, Rock Slide, Rock Tomb, Rock Wrecker, Sacred Fire, Sacred Fire++, Sacred Sword, Sand Tomb, Scald, Seed Bomb, Seed Flare, Shadow Ball, Shadow Bone, Shadow Force, Shadow Punch, Shadow Sneak, Signal Beam, Silver Wind, Skull Bash, Sky Attack, Sludge, Sludge Bomb, Sludge Wave, Solar Beam, Stomp, Stone Edge, Struggle, Submission, Superpower, Surf,Swift, Synchronoise, Techno Blast (Burn), Thunder, Thunder Punch, Thunderbolt, Tri Attack, Twister, V-Create, Vise Grip, Water Pulse, Weather Ball Fire, Wild Charge, Wrap, X-Scissor, Zap Cannon So stop right here and don't scroll down for a moment... okay, so saying that probably forced you to scroll down immediately, but hear me out; think about all of the top attackers in the game, future/current. What moves stand out in your mind as the best, and what do you think we're going to see in the upcoming section? Are you picturing Mega Mewtwo Y and its Psystrike? How about Primal Groudon or Primal Kyogre with Precipice Blades and Origin Pulse, respectively? How about Fast Moves? Hard-hitting attacks like Confusion and Charm are probably the first on your mind, but how about the quick-hitters that generate massive energylike Snarl? Take a second and make your guesses, then drop them in the Comments below, as I'd LOVE to see that you expected at this point in the article!Our Methodology
All Moves Text String
Have your moves in mind? Great, because it's time to unveilthe absolute best possible moveset in all of Pokemon Go! ...oh no...NONONO, I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING, SOSTOP IT! DO NOT HIT THAT PURIFY BUTTON, JUST HEAR ME OUT FIRST!! ...yeah, these results are.... problematic.Fury Cuttershowing up as the best Fast Move candefinitely bea bit surprising for some, but therealproblem isAeroblast++.For lack of a better term, this is aforbidden movein Pokemon Go. It's only usable by a Lugiathat's been purified from an Apex Shadow Lugia,but Shadow Lugia is still objectively better than a Lugia packing Aeroblast++, meaning it will basically never be the better option. But with that note out of the way, justhow much better is Aeroblast++ when compared to the second-strongest Charged Move?Well, Aeroblast++ pairs up withthe top 19 best Fast moves before we finally reach the second best Charged Move!Wow, Niantic shoveda lotof raw power into this move! So now comes therealquestion of the day;what exactly are the other top moves in Pokemon Go? Well, let's take a look! Paired Charged Move: Aeroblast++ Paired Fast Move: Fury Cutter Some of these entries and the orderthat was revealed legitimately surprised me on a few points, in particular the fact that the big-name Fast Moves likeConfusionandCharmdidn't make the cut (more on those later, don't worry) while moves that are occasionally overlooked likeMetal Claw, Karate Chop, and Crabhammerare waving at us as we scroll by Overall, this is a really interesting set of data... but it feels a bit skewed, doesn't it? Well, that's because of the base stats that we gave our theoretical Pokemon: 300 Attack is fine, but 300 HP and Defense isdownright absurd!Using that base-line, the only Pokemon in the game that beats our mutant Pokemon in terms of TDOisEternamax Eternatus,which was a boss-Pokemon that doesn't really exist for use outside of a single move cutscene in the main games due to just how stupidly broken it is! Because of this, the above list has avery strongbias towards long-term Charged moves and quick energy generationbecause that would be the ideal strategy if your Pokemon was fighting a punching-bag that would never faint, but also never attack. So let's takeanotherlook at our data after making one small yet important change....The Ultimate Moves: High Bulk
Fast Move Charged Move Fury Cutter Aeroblast++ Ranking Move 1 Fury Cutter 2 Snarl 3-4 Bug Bite 3-4 Lick 5 Thunder Fang 6 Double Kick 7-8 Karate Chop 7-8 Quick Attack 9-10 Psycho Cut 9-10 Thunder Shock 11 Rollout 12 Magical Leaf 13 Spark 14-15 Pound 14-15 Vine Whip 16 Sucker Punch 17-18 Counter 17-18 Fire Fang 19 Infestation 20 Metal Claw Ranking Move 1 Aeroblast++ 2 Flying Press 3 Aeroblast+ 4 Aura Sphere 5 Doom Desire 6 V-Create 7 Glaciate 8 Hydro Cannon 9 Aeroblast 10 Meteor Beam 11 Shadow Force 12 Sacred Fire++ 13 Fusion Bolt 14 Sacred Sword 15 Giga Impact 16 Crabhammer 17-18 Frenzy Plant 17-18 Meteor Mash 19-20 Origin Pulse 19-20 Precipice Blades
This time around, we're going to take the same stats outlined near the beginning of the article, and drop our theoretical Pokemon down to 100 base HP and Defense. This severelylowers its TDO/time on the field. So giventhese changes, what's ournewbest possible moveset? The glorious move that isFury Cutterretains the lead, but this time it's joined byFlying Press,which was the #2 move on the high-bulk rankings. This is a perfect example of how having a lower energy requirement makes a much bigger difference for Pokemon who aren't on the field for as long a time. This is beacuaseit's better to squeeze out as many hits as possible into their short lifespans rather than trying for risky big hits that they may only come out onceor twice if they're lucky. So what do our top attack lists look like given the new data? Take a look: Paired Charged Move: Flying Press Paired Fast Move: Fury Cutter Two very interesting bits to point out here: In our theoretical example above, it seems that the simstillprefers picking fast moves with high energy generation over damaging fast moves. Again; we'll definitely talk more about that in a second, but for now we can seea lotmore 3-bar moves this time around, with the classical 2-bar moves still tending to rule, all while short attack windows tend to be in the forefront among both. This is because the difference inenergy needed to reach a 2-bar move Vs. a3-bar move is only 34%, which generally won't make a significant difference. Anyone remember 5-bar moves back when the game was young? Those were always fun... Either way, this demonstrates just how variable attacks can be; the best possible choice can frequently depend on the Pokemon using it. Frequently, the best Charged Move for one Pokemon might not always be the best for another, even if they both have identical typing/moves to utilize.The Ultimate Moves: Low Bulk
Fast Move Charge Move Fury Cutter Flying Press Ranking Move 1 Fury Cutter 2 Snarl 3-4 Bug Bite 3-4 Lick 5 Double Kick 6 Thunder Fang 7-8 Karate Chop 7-8 Quick Attack 9-19 Psycho Cut 9-10 Thunder Shock 11-12 Pound 11-12 Vine Whip 13-14 Counter 13-14 Fire Fang 15 Magical Leaf 16 Rollout 17 Spark 18 Sucker Punch 19 Metal Claw 20 Shadow Claw Ranking Move 1 Flying Press 2 Doom Desire 3 V-Create 4 Hydro Cannon 5 Sacred Sword 6 Double Iron Bash 7 Crabhammer 8 Frenzy Plant 9 Meteor Mash 10 Fly 11 Brutal Swing 12 Psystrike 13 Blast Burn 14 Glaciate 15 Sky Attack 16 Shadow Ball 17 Weather Ball 18 Meteor Beam 19 Grass Knot 20 Power Whip
So many of you are probably looking at the data outlined above and thinking "hold on, some of those rankings feel really suspicious...", and you'd be right to harbor some doubts! While these are the best moveson paper,they will generally shift quite a bitin practice,and here are a few of the reasons: What we did for our example is give the DPS/TDO Spreadsheet the ability to deal neutral damage to a theoretical raid boss with every move in the game while ignoring any form of STAB bonus. The ability to utilize STAB and deal Super Effectivedamage would have resulted in a large damage boost, which tends togreatlybenefits some moves over others; namely those with higher base power. The prime example here is the fact that Psycho Cut made the top-20 while Confusion was left out in the dust, butall of our Raid Guides recommend Confusion over Psycho Cut when the target is weak to Psychic.This is because the boosts outlined above benefitConfusionfarmore thanPsycho Cut due to the former's higher base power. Despite the fact that Psycho Cut will allow for more damage fromsuper-charged Charged Moves due to its superior energy generation, the added damage on Confusion is significant enough to offset this difference in practice. To summarise: the main advantage of energy-generating Fast Moves is their energy generation, which is not boosted by SE/STAB/Weather/Mega boosts. The main advantage of damaging fast moves is their damage, whichisboosted by SE/STAB/Weather/Mega boosts. On top of that, we also have the additional bulk variables. We could change up the bulk total for our theoretical Pokemonthat was featured in our experiments infinitely, ranging from making Eternamax Eternatus look weak, to wishing that it could be as bulkyas Deoxys - Attack Forme. The ideal moveset will tend tochange based on bulk, as outlined above, and every Pokemonmaybe best using a different attack, as we've already touched on. The best example of this is with Pokemon likeMega Gengarwhich isfrequentlycalled on to take on Pokemon utilizing attacks that it's weak to or converselyfacing Fighting Type moves that it triple-resists. In this example, these artificial changes in relative bulk can, at times, shift which Fast Move is a better option betweenLickandShadow Claw, with the primary variable being if Lick's superior energy generation can allow for an additional use ofShadow Ball.though the formertendsto pull ahead in this right,both remain completely viable regardless. In the end, none of the moves that we've outlined above are bad byanystretch, but they'renotnecessarily the best within their given types in all situations either. This article is more a fun thought experiment than a resource that states "these are the objective overallbest" like with our Attackers Tier List or Best Attackers by Type list, so take this data with a grain of salt.Bias in the Data
On Paper Vs. In Practice
Alright, so we've got thebestmoves out of the way, but this naturally raises the next question:What are the WORST moves?Well, we're only going to highlight them using our high-bulk metric this time, but here are the bottom-20 of our13,032possible movesets!What About The Worst?
| Ranking | Move |
|---|---|
| 53 | Rollout |
| 54 | Scratch |
| 55 | Shadow Claw |
| 56 | Smack Down |
| 57 | Snarl |
| 58 | Spark |
| 59 | Steel Wing |
| 60 | Sucker Punch |
| 61 | Tackle |
| 62 | Take Down |
| 63 | Thunder Shock |
| 64 | Vine Whip |
| 65 | Water Gun |
| 66 | Waterfall |
| 67 | Wing Attack |
| 68 | Zen Headbutt |
| 69 | Present |
| 70 | Fairy Wind |
| 71 | Splash |
| 72 | Yawn |
Paired Charged Move: Frustration
| Ranking | Move |
|---|---|
| 161 | Acrobatics |
| 162 | Sludge Wave |
| 163 | Payback |
| 164 | Leaf Tornado |
| 165 | Stone Edge |
| 167 | Close Combat |
| 168 | Poison Fang |
| 169 | Thunder |
| 170 | Flash Cannon |
| 171 | Vise Grip |
| 172 | Octozooka |
| 173 | Psychic Fangs |
| 174 | Struggle |
| 175 | Heat Wave |
| 176 | Giga Drain |
| 177 | Feather Dance |
| 178 | Obstruct |
| 179 | Mega Drain |
| 180 | Acid Spray |
| 181 | Frustration |
Paired Fast Move: Yawn
So what the heck happened here?! Water Gun? Thunder Shock? Shadow Claw?!
Yeah, we have someobjectively weirdmoves showing up in the "worst of the worst" section. I mean, the Charged Moves are pretty much what we were expecting, but the Fast Moves?! Why areobjectively great movesshowing up in the BOTTOM of the list?
Simple; because of what they're paired with!
In this case, our theoretical Pokemon is packingFrustration,meaning high-energy-generating fast moves are basically chargingtrash,while high-damage fast moves represent the bulk of the Pokemon's DPS. For this reason, having Frustration on a Pokemonmassivelyskews the data in this light!
Ah, but I'm sure that we canallagree on this final point:
| Fast Move | Charged Move |
|---|---|
| Yawn | Frustration |
...I am totally going to drop an Elite TM on a Shadow Snorlax just so that I have a Pokemon with the objectively worst moveset in all of Pokemon Go.
Shadow Snorlax
So in the end, it turns out that acompletely objectivelook at moves is interesting, but, ironically, not the best metric by which to come up with some sort of an objective rating. Looking at moves in this way can definitely give us an idea as to which moves are "good" and which ones are "bad", but there's a lot of gray area in between where the situation can really do a number on the data! Either way, I hope that this was a fun little look at the best attacks in Pokemon Go. Don't forget to let me know what moves you were expecting to see in the top ratings for each of the headings, and also let me know which moves surprised you the most! Now that I've written an entire article and halfway through explained away the actual utility of said article, I think that I'm going to go for a walk in the woods and proceed to scream at the top of my lungs until I pass out. I hope that you have a great day, too!Closing
