Mewtwo in the Pokémon GO metagame

Mewtwo has one of the most diverse movepools in Pokémon GO, as it has access to moves like Psychic, Shadow Ball or Ice Beam. Thus, it can fulfil many different roles.

However, is it really the number 1 option to fulfil any of these roles or is it just a filler Pokémon that can offer you a decent performance? Let’s find out.

Mewtwo Psychic
Stats
ATK 300		DEF 182		HP 214

Disclaimer: This analysis focuses mostly on the PvE meta and the variant used is the normal or regular one, not the Armored version.

Mewtwo as an Ice type attacker

Pokémon	Fast Move	Charge Move
			Mewtwo Psychic	Psycho Cut Psychic	Ice Beam Ice

Non-Shadow Ball Mewtwo have often been used as ice type attackers. In fact, there was a short period of time before Mamoswine, Glaceon and Weavile were released when Mewtwo was the best ice type attacker.

If we compare their performance against Rayquaza, Ice Beam Mewtwo could be considered as the #4 best ice type attacker despite not dealing super effective damage with any of its fast moves. Pretty decent performance, but not the best. Furthermore, you don’t need rare candies to power up Mamoswine/Glaceon/Weavile and even Jynx for a similar or better performance.

Mewtwo as a Fire type attacker

Pokémon	Fast Move	Charge Move
			Mewtwo Psychic	Psycho Cut Psychic	Flamethrower Fire

Trainers don’t usually use Mewtwo as a fire type attacker for obvious reasons.

1. First of all, Flamethrower can’t compete with Overheat (the best non-signature/exclusive fire type charge move in the game, which Mewtwo can’t learn by the way)
2. There are plenty of better investments if you want a good fire type attacker (Moltres, Blaziken, Entei, Charizard, Flareon, Heatran, …)
3. Fire type Pokémon are not really relevant in the current PvE metagame

Just to give you an idea, Flamethrower Mewtwo is the ~20 best option against Registeel and Regice, two raid bosses weak to fire type moves.

Mewtwo as an Electric type attacker

Pokémon	Fast Move	Charge Move
			Mewtwo Psychic	Psycho Cut Psychic	Thunderbolt Electric

As an electric type attacker, Thunderbolt Mewtwo performs quite well under certain circumstances. Against Kyogre, it is a TOP 5 attacker vs. Blizzard (despite not being an electric or a grass type Pokémon), a TOP 10 attacker vs. Hydro Pump (resisted by grass types, thus enhancing their performance) and a TOP 15 attacker vs. Thunder (resisted by grass & electric types). As you can see, it needs to have a better type matchup than the other attackers (that would otherwise outperform it) to stand out, as you can see vs. Blizzard.

Vs. flying types, there are better options such as Rampardos, Smack Down Tyranitar or the other electric types, so forget about it.

Mewtwo as a Ghost type attacker

Pokémon	Fast Move	Charge Move
			Mewtwo Psychic	Psycho Cut Psychic	Shadow Ball* Ghost

Shadow Ball Mewtwo (a legacy Pokémon as of now) used to be arguably the best ghost type attacker for a while. Shadow Claw Gengar (another legacy Pokémon) was very difficult to find and Gengar itself was too squishy to be used in raids. Then, 4 things happened:

1. The stat rework made Gengar less fragile
2. Lick Gengar (also legacy…) was released, and its performance was almost on par with its Shadow Claw variant
3. The super effective/not-super effective multiplier changed (bad news for SB Mewtwo, which dealt significantly less damage with all of its psychic type fast moves vs. other psychic type Pokémon)
4. Origin Forme Giratina (arguably the best ghost type attacker with a bit less DPS than Gengar but significantly higher TDO & a better type matchup vs. most raid bosses) was released, its movepool was updated and Shadow Ball Giratina-O became a thing

Does this mean that Shadow Ball Mewtwo is a bad ghost type attacker now? Absolutely not, but it’s not the #1 option as it used to be in the past. Depending on Gengar’s matchup vs. a specific raid boss or moveset, Shadow Ball Mewtwo is currently the #3 ghost type attacker (#2 if it has a better type matchup).

Mewtwo as a Psychic type attacker

Mewtwo is a psychic type Pokémon. Thus, you’d expect it to perform really well as a psychic type attacker as it benefits from the STAB bonus when using psychic type moves. And… you’d be right.

Pokémon	Fast Move	Charge Move
			Mewtwo Psychic	Confusion Psychic	Psystrike Psychic*

Mewtwo is currently the BEST psychic type attacker in the game with its Confusion+Psystrike moveset, period. In fact, Psystrike Mewtwo is on a whole different level than every other psychic type attacker in this game.

Psystrike is Mewtwo’s signature move, and sadly one of Mewtwo’s legacy moves in Pokémon GO. But don’t worry, if you couldn’t catch a Psystrike Mewtwo when it was available, Psychic Mewtwo is not a bad contender at all! In the latest move rebalance, Psychic got buffed and now Psychic Mewtwo is relevant again. Still outperformed by Psystrike though, but not that far in performance (Psystrike Mewtwo is ~7% better). In case you’re wondering, Psychic is now better than Futuresight too.

Will Mewtwo ever be outperformed as a psychic type attacker? The only thing capable of outperforming it in the future are mega evolutions or an even better charge move (unlikely). But Mewtwo also has the potential to mega evolve and the new move would need to have mindblowing stats for that to hapen, so I’d say we’re safe.

Mewtwo as a gym sweeper

As a gym sweeper, Mewtwo is a wonderful “generalist” to use. In fact, it’s the best generalist in the game with either Psystrike + a 2nd charge move or Shadow Ball + Psychic (SB and Psystrike cannot be combined due to their legacy status and release dates). Furthermore, there will be no need to switch between attackers if you can at least deal neutral damage against most of the gym defenders you face. Mewtwo is definitely a great Pokémon to unlock a 2nd charge move for, as you can see.

Mewtwo in PvP

Mewtwo and Armored Mewtwo have some use in the Master League, where they can fulfil different roles based on the charge move(s) they’re carrying. Mewtwo is a bit more versatile and unpredictable due to the amount of charge moves it can learn, and the Armored variant is a tankier version with some interesting moves too.

In Ultra League, only the Armored variant should be used, due to the fact that the regular Mewtwo is too fragile for this league given the CP cap.

However, all Silph PvP tournaments are played in the Great League, where none of those Pokémon can be used as their CP can’t go below 1500. Thus, Mewtwo’s relevance in the PvP meta is not that significant as of now.

Conclusion

The TL;DR version of this article would be…

• Mewtwo is one of the best attackers to use in the PvE meta. It has a top-tier attack stat of 300 and one of the most diverse movepools in the game
• Despite performing quite well in several scenarios, it does not really stand out in any of them except as a psychic type attacker (it blows every other psychic type contender out of the water)
• The ability to fulfil so many roles with the use of a Charge TM (well, let’s be honest, you’ll probably need more than one) is unprecedented, and Mewtwo is probably the only Pokémon able to do that
• Unlocking a 2nd charge move on Mewtwo is a great option due to the amount of situations where you can use it effectively
• Psystrike Mewtwo is the best generalist in the game as of now. If you don’t have one, I’d recommend you to get one via trades. However, if there’s no way to get it, Shadow Ball + Psychic Mewtwo is still a very good contender as the gap between Psychic and Psystrike is now smaller (though still existant)
• Mewtwo is probably one of the best gym sweepers in the game (if not the best one)