Slaking, Vigoroth and Slakoth

Pokemon GO Slaking (max CP 4548) evolves from a Pokemon GO Vigoroth, which evolves from Slakoth. Slaking is one of the bulkiest Pokemon in the game, but it’s damage output is laughably low.

Slaking’s downside is that it can’t deal damage outside of it’s charged moves. This applies to the whole Slaking family and is caused by their signature quick move Yawn. Yawn deals zero damage, but generates 15 Energy and has a 1.7 second cooldown.

Slaking has only one type weakness: fighting moves.

Slaking family stats

ID	Sprite	Pokémon	ATK	DEF	HP	MAX CP
287		Slakoth  normal	104	104	120	942
288		Vigoroth  normal	159	159	160	1896
289		Slaking normal	290	183	273	4548

Slaking in the Pokémon GO meta

After months of speculation, we finally know how Slaking works in Pokemon GO, and no, it’s not going to break the meta at all.

Slaking has been nerfed by giving it only one quick move, Yawn, and by reducing it’s stats slightly. Yawn is only available inside the Slaking family and deals zero (almost zero) damage, but generates 15 Energy every 1.7 seconds.

In other words, Slaking can’t deal damage outside of it’s Charge move windows. If you’re using a Slaking, you must be prepared to take damage and deal damage only when your Energy Bar is filled.

This brings Slaking in line with its performance in the core games, where Slaking could attack only every second turn.

Of course, if you are fighting against a Slaking, this makes dodging a breeze: you only need to dodge charge moves, as the quick moves can’t kill you.

Pokémon GO Slaking Moves and best movesets

Slaking’s best moveset (in our opinion) is Yawn / Play Rough. If you are already blocked from dealing damage outside your charged intervals, you may as well aim to deal the maximum amount of damage.

Play Rough is a two bar charged move that costs 90 Energy, which means you have to Yawn 6 times to use it twice, or use it every 3 Yawns. When used twice, Play Rough will deal 180 DMG, which is superior than a Hyper Beam (150 DMG) which needs one additional Yawn.

Slaking has access to the following moves:

• Yawn normal (quick)
• Hyper Beam normal (charged)
• Earthquake ground (charged)
• Play Rough fairy (charged)

Shiny Slakoth, Vigoroth and Slaking in Pokemon GO

A normal Slakoth has brown fur all over its body, 2 dark brown stripes on its back, dark brown rings around its eyes, pink belly and pink snub nose. A normal Vigoroth has white fur all over its body, a red tuft its forehead, brown stripes on its back and brown circles around its eyes. It also has black claws at the end of its limbs. A normal Slaking has brown fur in most of its body, it has a light shade of brown on its face, chest, hands, and feet. It has a white fur on its neck that extends to the top of its head.

A shiny Slakoth has purple-blue fur all over its body, dark blue belly and dark blue snub nose. A shiny Vigoroth has eggshell colored fur all over its body, a bright yellow-green tuft its forehead, dark brown stripes on its back and brown circles around its eyes. It also has grey claws at the end of its limbs. A shiny Slaking has grey fur in most of its body. It has a yellowish white fur on its neck that extends to the top of its head. 

	Slakoth	Vigoroth	Slaking
Normal
Shiny