Palkia Meta Analysis

Palkia WaterDragon

Space is the breath of art

– Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect

Space is the Dragon Breath of W(art)er

                   – Palkia, Space Lord

Sinnoh presented us with an absolutely amazing legendary Dragon trio and while Palkia is a competitive beast, Dialga and Giratina have always been more popular.

In Pokémon GO, both Dialga and Giratina (Origin) have been the title holders of the best Master League Pokémon –  and rightfully so! These two caused a paradigm shift in the ML meta, and the viability of a Pokémon in the highest PvP league is often determined by their ability to successfully deal with these two behemoths.

Palkia deserves its space (pun intended) among the elite group of ML monsters and this article will shed light on the untapped potential of this space-bending dragon. 

While the Ultra Unlock Part 2 event is bringing in Shiny Palkia, trainers of culture will pursue it for its meta-defining value. As you will find out by reading this write-up, Palkia is better than you think it is! 

So just how good is Palkia in Pokémon GO? 

Is it also good in PvE? 

How does it compare to Dialga? 

And what does the future hold? 

Trainers, you can rest assured that you’re in for a treat with the jaw-dropping perks of using a Palkia in your line-up. Palkia might even steal the ‘thunder’ from Dialga! 😉

So move over, time travel and antimatter – let’s fold the space fabric in your favour when you use Palkia in the Master League!

Typing and Match-ups

Palkia is a Water Dragon Pokémon and as such, is only weak to the Dragon and Fairy types. 

So, Palkia is one of those few dragons that are not weak to Ice type attacks – very cool! The resistance of Water to Ice and the weakness of Dragon to Ice blend together to help Palkia take only neutral damage from Ice. Yes, this dragon loves to replenish itself with a glass of iced water! 

With this dual typing, Palkia resists Fire, Water and Steel types. To be more specific, it doubly resists Fire and Water, making those attacks little more than a tickle to the space dragon. 

Also, it’s a Dragon type that resists Steel type attacks? Bring it on! 

Seriously, Palkia gets A+ in terms of its typing. The combination of Water and Dragon is rare, otherwise showcased only by Kingdra and Gen 8’s nightmare fuel Dracovish. 

Needless to say, this dual typing really does raise Palkia’s stonks in the Master League. With that on the scoreboard, let’s check out Palkia’s legendary stats. 

Stats

Palkia has the following stats in Pokémon Go:

Palkia Water Dragon
Max CP at Level 40 3991 | Max CP at Level 50 4512
ATK 280		DEF 215		HP 189
Weak to			Strong Against
Dragon Fairy			Dragon Fire Ground Rock

Palkia has an absolutely monstrous ATK stat of 280 and is pretty bulky in its own right. It actually has a marginally higher ATK than Dialga, though the latter is clearly bulkier. 

The stat distribution of Palkia puts it in a good place for both PvE and PvP. There’s just one crucial parameter left… movepool!

Moveset Analysis

Palkia learns the following moves in Pokémon Go:

Straight off the bat, Palkia lacks a Water type fast move. Unfortunately, it doesn’t even learn Water Gun or Waterfall in the main series games. So Palkia’s Water type potential is limited to…

Aqua Tail. Which isn’t a bad thing, to be honest. In fact, Aqua Tail is responsible for making Palkia formidable in the Master League. Sporting a nice 50 DMG at just 35 energy, Palkia can bait shields and can even dish out appreciable damage with that 280 ATK stat. 

Hydro Pump is a powerful charged move that could have elevated Palkia to a highly meta relevant Water type attacker if only it learnt a Water type fast move in Pokémon Go. In PvP, it costs a whopping 75 energy and as such, is not practical to use due to the lack of a high EPT fast move as well as the fact that Aqua Tail is efficient per se.

Dragon Breath and Dragon Tail are both mighty fine for PvP. After the game-changing Dragon Tail upgrade, the (DPT/EPT) set of (4.33/3.00) is executed well by Palkia.

However, like Dragonite, Palkia is one of those Pokémon that learn both Dragon Tail and Dragon Breath. While the (DPT/EPT) of Dragon Breath is (4.00/3.00), it has a cooldown of just 0.50 sec as opposed to Dragon Tail’s 1.50 sec. So Dragon Breath would surely be smoother and more convenient to use for Palkia in PvP.

In PvE, Dragon Tail is the unanimous choice. 

Draco Meteor is literally a draconic nuclear airstrike. At 65 energy, it delivers a devastating 150 DMG that can take a toll even on Steel types. While it does debuff your Palkia’s ATK by 2 stages, hitting it is almost always a sure shot nuke. 

Fire Blast has an energy requirement of 80, making you groan. Even at such a high energy requirement, it deals 140 DMG, which is lower than Draco Meteor. Also, it lacks STAB. While Fire Blast can severely burn Steel types, its usage is extremely niche. With Fire Blast, Palkia will KO Metagross and Melmetal. That’s about it, however, as Palkia without Fire Blast would still:

• Beat Melmetal in (1-1)
• Beat Metagross in both (1-1) and (0-0)

So while Fire Blast can be serviceable, its extremely high energy requirement, lack of STAB and limited viability make it inferior to its other charged moves.

So what is Palkia’s ideal moveset?

• With all cards on the table, Dragon Breath paired with Aqua Tail and Draco Meteor is clearly the ideal moveset for PvP
• For PvE, it’s Dragon Tail and Draco Meteor

Performance in PvE

Dragon Tail and Draco Meteor form a dangerous duo. However, Palkia still falls behind the likes of Rayquaza and Salamence. Future Pokémon like Mega Rayquaza, Mega Garchomp, Black Kyurem, White Kyurem, Mega Salamence, etc, will all clearly surpass Palkia. 

It is worth noting, though, that Palkia heavily resists both the Fire and Water types. As such, it is a great counter to Reshiram and Palkia raids where the aforementioned raid bosses have Fire and Water type moves.

Performance in the Master League

Palkia’s stats make it a given for Master. Let’s look at Palkia’s battle match-ups with the various seasoned heavyweights and brawlers of both the Classic and Open ML, highlight its biggest selling points and shortcomings, and compare Palkia with Dialga to find out if the former has an edge over the latter against the meta. 

Master League Classic

Palkia has the following battle profile in the ML Classic:

• Beats Giratina (Origin) in (0-0)
• Beats Psystrike Mewtwo in (1-1)
• Beats Ice Beam Mewtwo in (1-1)
• Ties with Dialga in (1-1)
• Beats Metagross in (0-0)
• Beats Melmetal in (1-1)
• Beats Excadrill in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Mamoswine in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Mud Shot Garchomp in (1-1)
• Beats Dragon Tail Garchomp in (0-0)
• Beats Dragonite in (1-1)
• Beats Goodra in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Groudon in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Kyogre in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Landorus-Therian in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Swampert in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Yveltal in (0-0)
• Beats Snorlax in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Machamp in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Conkeldurr in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Dragon Breath Gyarados in (0-0)
• Beats Waterfall Gyarados in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Raikou in (1-1) and (0-0)

Takeaways from the ML Classic:

• Palkia is inconsistent against fellow Dragon types.
• With the handy resistance and Aqua Tail neutral damage, it can go head-to-head with Steel types.
• A clear winner against fellow Water types.
• Performs well against both Fighting types and Flying types.

Open Master League

Note: The italicized text refers to new wins

• Beats Giratina (Origin) in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Psystrike Mewtwo in (1-1)
• Beats Ice Beam Mewtwo in (1-1)
• Beats Metagross in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Excadrill in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Melmetal in (1-1)
• Beats Mamoswine in (1-1) and (0-0) 
• Beats Mud Shot Garchomp in (1-1)
• Beats Dragon Tail Garchomp in (1-1)
• Beats Dragonite in (1-1)
• Beats Goodra in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Groudon in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Kyogre in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Landorus-Therian in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Swampert in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Yveltal in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Snorlax in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Machamp in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Conkeldurr in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Dragon Breath Gyarados in (0-0)
• Beats Waterfall Gyarados in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Raikou in (1-1) and (0-0)

Takeaways from the Open ML:

• Palkia resurfaces with a similar battle profile to ML Classic, but does much better here.
• More efficient at dealing with both Dragon types and Steel types.
• Delivers a complete performance, showing more reliability and efficiency.

Comparison with Dialga

As is quite evident from the matchups, Palkia delivers a super impressive performance in the Master League. In fact, Palkia has a higher win rate than Dialga!

It’s worth noting that even in the optimised (1-1) shield scenario of the current meta, Palkia displays a staggering 93.9% win rate. Of course, from the long list of positive match-ups I’ve already shown you, this figure looks totally justified. Palkia indeed has a tremendous and dominating performance against the rest of the ML meta!

Let’s compare the two now!

Daenerys has got dibs on Dialga

Dragons run amok in the ML format and span legendaries, pseudo legendaries and high ATK stats in general. Against such carnage, Dialga only takes neutral damage from Dragon types, while Palkia is cut into super-effectively. Not to mention that Dialga’s Iron Head is unresisted by most dragons. 

The kiss of death

While Dialga will lose to Togekiss in (1-1), it still has the bragging rights of being able to beat Togekiss in the (0-0). In the Master League, Dialga is the only Dragon that can possibly take down Togekiss, undoubtedly the biggest bane to dragons. Even in a losing effort with shields in the picture, a Togekiss will definitely shield an incoming Iron Head from Dialga. 

Uphold the resistance(s)

The Steel typing is a major asset to most any Pokémon that has it (unless you invite multiple 2x weaknesses like Aggron). The combination of Steel and Dragon gives the Lord of Time a whopping 10 resistances that include Grass, Poison, Bug, Electric, Flying, Normal, Psychic, Rock, Steel and Water.

In simpler terms, Dialga will resist Wild Charge, Brave Bird, Body Slam, Psystrike, Stone Edge, Meteor Mash, Aqua Tail and Surf. 

These are the names of certain impactful moves which anyone with even a little ML experience can relate to. Even if you are unshielded and have some decent HP left on your Dialga, you can count on it to take the hit. It also helps that Dialga has good bulk. 

Palkia has only three handy resistances, two of which Dialga shares. Also, Palkia is not as bulky as Dialga. 

In a nutshell, Dialga takes a comprehensive win over Palkia from a defensive standpoint.

Generally, you need space

Overall, Palkia rounds up as a better generalist, having a convincing record against the larger world of the meta. 

Dialga has two glaring weaknesses to the two best offensive types: Fighting and Ground.

Mud Shot helps Pokémon like Groudon, Garchomp and Excadrill charge up their Ground charged moves super fast.

Counter from Conkeldurr and Machamp gives a horrible time to Dialga. In the (2-2) shields scenario, Conkeldurr can beat down a Dialga by using only Counter, something that even Machamp can’t do!

Palkia also has only two weaknesses: the Dragon and Fairy types. With Dragon Breath or Dragon Tail, Dialga can beat these dragons in niche shield situations. 

As such, Palkia is a better generalist than Dialga. On the other hand, Dialga has a more specific profile relative to Palkia. 

The Spacetime Continuum:- D and P axes

It is worth noting that Dialga and Palkia have no common weaknesses. They mutually add up to only four weaknesses, which is equal to or less than the weakness of many relevant Pokémon. 

So D&P are weak to Dragon, Fairy, Fighting, and Ground. 

• Dialga technically deals with both of Palkia’s weaknesses.
• Palkia deals with Ground super-effectively and as listed in Palkia’s profile, can also beat the best Fighting types of ML. 

Tag something like a Kyogre or a Ho-Oh, and you actually come up with a pretty solid team. So, you can go ahead with a Dialga-Palkia core in the Master League and have some really good battles! 

The Future of Palkia

Palkia has a signature move called Spacial Rend. In the main series games, Spacial Rend is a Special Dragon type move with a Base Power of 100 and an accuracy of 95% with a high critical hit ratio. This powerful move can be speculated to cost around 50 energy and deal 85 to 90 DMG, making it better than Outrage in PvP, and an absolutely fantastic Dragon type charged move for Palkia. With Spacial Rend, Palkia could turn into one of the best dragons in the meta. Do note that these figures are just speculative and do no reflect Niantic’s data.

It is worth noting that Palkia is technically better than Dialga in the Main Series Games. A higher speed stat (100 vs 90), a better signature move (high critical hit ratio vs the inability to move the next turn) and more viability (rain teams)… Palkia is undoubtedly scarier than Dialga on the battlefield. So don’t be surprised if Spacial Rend ends up making Palkia strictly better than Dialga with Roar of Time!

Parting Words

It goes without saying that Palkia is a truly amazing Pokémon in the meta. It displays a dominating performance in the Master League, being a better generalist than even Dialga. With formidable typing, impeccable stats and a good moveset, you can totally justify raising an XL Palkia for yourself. This monster has an almost perfect performance against ML’s meanest!

With the Diamond and Pearl remakes looming, the day isn’t far when Palkia receives its powerful signature move. Yes, it can be farther than we imagine, but one day… one day Palkia will get even better than it is now, and show why the ML Space is its own domain!

Gaze into the open space and bend it like Palkia!

Dracarys.