- Starts
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- Ends
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Hello Trainers! 2026’s first Community Day is up and coming, with the Grass starter Pokémon of Galar region: Chimp Pokémon Grookey being the featured Pokémon. Evolve Thwackey (Grookey’s evolution) during the event or up to four hours afterwards to get a Rillaboom that knows the Charged Attack Frenzy Plant. Starting with the event and continuing afterwards, Rillaboom will also gain access to a new Charged Attack: Drum Beating. So, how does Rillaboom stack up in the PvE meta, and how do these new moves impact its performance, let’s find out!
The Drummer Pokemon: Rillaboom
Rillaboom
Grass
| Max CP | 3758 |
|---|---|
| ATK | 239 |
| DEF | 168 |
| HP | 225 |
| Weak to |      |
| Resists |     |
| Fast moves |
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| Charge moves |
|
*Legacy Move
Rillaboom hits a max CP of 3758 at Level 50, backed by solid stats of 239 Attack and 225 HP but a squishier 168 Defense. This setup favors it as a high-damage dealer over a tank, thriving in Sunny weather for that extra boost on Grass moves. Weaker to Bug, Fire, , Ice, and Poison, it shines against Ground, Rock, and Water bosses where Grass coverage is key.
Rillaboom in Pokémon GO PvE
Raids
Rillaboom, for long, has been running a pretty standard Grass moveset of Razor Leaf + Grass Knot. Backed by its solid stats, Rillaboom has always been a pretty decent and budget Grass type raid attacker only trailing behind the megas and more expensive options of legendaries and shadow variants. But, post Grookey’s Community Day, the story changes as Rillaboom begins to ascend. Let’s have a look at Rillaboom’s performance with and without its Community Day move, and also compare it with other top Grass attackers in Pokémon GO. Using our DPS Comparer Tool:
As we can see, while Rillaboom may not break into the Top 5, its scores are still comparable with the top Grass attackers, and there is a pretty solid improvement with Frenzy Plant as its Charged Attack. If we have a even closer look at the above table, and put in some context, one may realize that Rillaboom is actually an even better Grass attacker than it originally looks. Shaymin and Zarude are Mythical Pokémon and hence, have accessibility issues. Kartana, although does have a high DPS, it has an insanely low TDO, which means that in practice, players may struggle to maximize its high DPS output.
A more fair comparison, I believe, will be comparing Rillaboom’s performance with other Grass starters.
While Rillaboom may lag behind the top shadow Grass starters, it is ahead of their non-shadow variants, doing justice to its position as a solid budget Grass raid attacker. What we can also infer from the table is that when Shadow Rillaboom is released, it will surge ahead of the other shadow starters. This makes Grookey’s Community Day event more worthwhile as it provides players a great chance to stock up on those much needed XL candies.
Update: We now have stats for Drum Beating Charged Attack. In PvE, Drum Beating is a 3-bar Charged Attack with 115 base power. This makes Drum Beating just a slightly lesser Charged Attack than Frenzy Plant, which means players don’t need to have a Legacy Move for Rillaboom in PvE (though players may still have one with Frenzy Plant, as it is a Community Day exclusive move and is slighlty better). Rillaboom’s overall standing and performance as a Grass raid attacker still stays similar
Max Battles
Rillaboom boasts a powerful Gigantamax form that can unleash its exclusive G-Max Move, G-Max Drum Solo — a Grass type G-Max attack. While, Grookey’s Community Day may not impact Rillaboom’s performance in Max Battles, it provides an excellent chance to stock up both regular and XL candies which are required to power up your G-Max Rillaboom and also to unlock and level up its Max Moves.
G-Max Rillaboom is currently the top Grass attacker in Max Battles. The table below shows the simulation of G-Max Blastoise Max Battle:
G-Max Rillaboom is the best counter for G-Max Blastoise Max Battle. The story remains similar for all other Max Battles where Grass type counters are required. So Trainers, don’t miss out on the chance to build a G-Max Rillaboom, it will forever be useful in Max Battles.
Parting Words
Rillaboom’s glow-up with Frenzy Plant cements it as a must-have budget Grass powerhouse, outpacing regular starters and priming Shadow and G-Max variants for even bigger Raids and Max Battles ahead. Whether you’re hunting for that elusive high IV shiny, farming XL candies or powering up that drum-thumping beast, this ape’s ready to lead the charge.
Don’t sleep on this event, Trainers—grab those candies, evolve your Grookeys, and build a Rillaboom squad that’ll bang through raids for seasons to come. Your team’s meta just got a whole lot greener.
Let us know Trainers! Which Grass Starter is your most and least favourite? (I know Turtwig is someone’s favourite!)
With Grookey getting their Community Day, Scorbunny and Sobble won’t be far behind. Did you ever play Pokémon Sword and Shield? Which First Partner Pokémon did you pick?
As always Stay Safe! and Happy Shiny Hunting!
