Pokemon GO July Move Re-Balance: Biggest PvE Winners

Trainers, a movepool shakeup has just been announced in Pokémon GO! Some select Pokémon are now able to learn new fast & charge moves, and some of them are quite interesting and have the potential to shake up the meta.

Although this movepool shakeup is mainly focused on trainer battles, the new moves can also be used in gym battles and raids. If you want to check the full list, Zeroghan has compiled them all in this article, along with a great infographic by Couple of Gaming.

The main purpose of this article will be to mention which Pokémon benefit the most from this move rebalance update. Please, keep in mind that this article will only focus on the PvE aspect! A PvP article might come later if there is any interest.

Biggest winners

The main criteria used to create the following Tier list has been to consider how relevant a specific Pokémon is in the current meta.

For example, Aerodactyl has improved a lot as a rock type attacker now that it is able to learn Rock Throw as a fast move. However, Rampardos still outclasses it by a wide margin. Is Aerodactyl a big winner from this update? Technically yes, but there are still better options out there.

S-Tier

Moltres Fire Flying
Stats
ATK 251		DEF 181		HP 207
Moltres Best PvE Moveset
Fire Spin Fire or Wing Attack Flying		Sky Attack Flying		Overheat Fire

Moltres was already the best fire type attacker in the game but with the addition of Wing Attack to its movepool, it has now become the best fire AND flying type attacker in the game. The only downside is that if you want to take advantage of Moltres’ full potential, you’ll need to have its legacy charge move Sky Attack, unlock a 2nd charge move (Overheat) and probably use plenty of Fast TMs depending on the typing of the opposing raid boss.

It deals slightly higher DPS than Peck/Sky Attack Honchkrow (while having significantly better TDO) and its DPS & TDO are also higher than Air Slash/Aerial Ace Rayquaza’s (things might change in the future if Ray is able to learn its signature flying type move, Dragon Ascent).

Want a cheat sheet to know how to use it effectively? Well, if the opposing Pokémon is…

• …weak to Fire AND Flying type moves (for example, Venusaur or Pinsir): Fire Spin + Sky Attack
• …weak to Fire AND Flying type moves but the in-game weather is Sunny: Fire Spin + Overheat
• …just weak to Fire type moves (for example, Regice): Fire Spin + Overheat
• …just weak to Flying type moves (for example, Machamp): Wing Attack + Sky Attack
• …just weak to Flying type moves but the in-game weather is Sunny: Wing Attack + Sky Attack (SE > Weather Boost)

A+ Tier

Gardevoir Psychic Fairy
Stats
ATK 237		DEF 195		HP 169
Gardevoir Best PvE Moveset
Confusion Psychic or Charm Fairy		Dazzling Gleam Fairy

• Confusion>Charm against Fighting, Charm>>Confusion vs. Dark and Dragon types
• Outclassed by other attackers against Fighting, Dark and Dragon* types (due to its “low” attack stat)
• Great pick in Cloudy against Dragon types with no double weakness to ice type moves (ice types dominate against Ray/Dragonite/Salamence…) or when they have a double dragon type moveset (impressive TDO)
• Best pick against Dragon types with no double weakness to ice moves and a double dragon type moveset in Cloudy
• Great defender, now able to hit fighting, dark and dragon types with super effective damage with its double fairy type moveset. MM Metagross is a threat, though

Togekiss Fairy Flying
Stats
ATK 225		DEF 217		HP 198
Togekiss Best PvE Moveset
Charm Fairy		Dazzling Gleam Fairy

• Wonderful, Top-Tier defender. It deals super effective damage against fighting, dark and dragon types (to sum up, against most of the best gym attackers except for MM Metagross) with its double fairy type moveset. Furthermore, it resists dark type moves and double resists fighting and dragon type moves too!
• As an attacker, it has a very similar role to Gardevoir (read above). Gardevoir has slightly higher DPS and lower TDO, but their performance and niche uses are pretty similar in most cases

A-Tier

Aerodactyl Rock Flying
Stats
ATK 221		DEF 159		HP 190
Aerodactyl Best PvE Moveset
Rock Throw Rock		Rock Slide Rock

• Very decent Rock type attacker. Its DPS is almost on par with Rhyperior and below Smack Down Tyranitar and of course SD/RS Rampardos (the king of the rock type meta). Its TDO is significantly lower than Rhyperior’s/TTar’s and also lower than Rampardos’. Overall, it can now be considered as the #4 best rock type attacker in the game, right above legacy Omastar and Golem.
• Although Aerodactyl finally got the rock type moveset it deserved, it is still outclassed by other attackers, and that’s why it’s not considered higher on this ranking

B-Tier

Granbull Fairy
Stats
ATK 212		DEF 131		HP 207
Granbull Best PvE Moveset
Charm Fairy		Play Rough Fairy

• DPS-wise, it ranks below Togekiss and Gardevoir as a fairy type attacker, and its TDO is also lower. The addition of Charm to its movepool is definitely an improvement, but its viability in the current meta is a bit limited due to its stats.

Honorable mentions

Some other Pokémon have became a bit more viable too. Some examples are:

• Wobbuffet: The addition of Charm to its movepool allows it to hit with super effective damage against some of the best gym attackers. Wobbuffet is not the best gym defender out there, but a very decent and annoying one (mainly due to its wonderful stamina stat) if you want to follow the low-CP defender strategy to avoid a massive CP decay.
• Clefable: Clefable gained access to Meteor Mash not too long ago. Well, it has now access to Charm too. Its viability in the PvE meta is limited to gym defense. As a pure fairy type (with access to a double fairy type moveset with STAB), it is now able to defend significantly better. Since its Max CP is not too high, its CP will not decay too fast either. Not the best fairy type or gym defender out there, but a decent mon to consider in certain scenarios.
• Articuno: Articuno can now learn Ice Shard too, a very similar move to Frost Breath in terms of performance. Frost Breath deals a bit more damage per second than Ice Shard but Ice Shard has slightly higher energy gains in return. Not a very significant improvement, but definitely something to consider.

And that’s it! No, we did not forget to include Aggron in the list. Please, don’t use Aggron even though it got Smack Down added to its movepool.

So what do you think? Do you like the new movepool changes? I certainly do, but I also think that the whole TM system needs a rework. Let’s hope we get one in the future!