Legendary and Mythical Signature Moves

Whenever a new legendary or mythical Pokémon debuts in Pokémon GO the same question comes to mind: how viable is it now and how viable can it be in the future? And… does it have any signature moves in the main series games?

We have seen time and time again that new (legacy) moves tend to shake up the meta. Therefore, some trainers opt to not spend their resources in the first wave of a new legendary Pokémon unless it is extremely viable in the meta right off the bat. And that’s actually a pretty smart strategy.

The most recent example would be Xerneas. Xerneas has an amazing stat spread and a good typing, but it lacks a fairy type fast move. As of now, it can only learn Zen Headbutt and Tackle as fast moves, both terrible moves that don’t even get STAB when Xerneas uses them.

Xerneas, like many other legendaries and mythicals, can learn a signature move. And judging from Niantic’s strategy in the past (e.g. Lugia, Mewtwo or the legendary birds), it’s only a matter of time until Xerneas gets to know its signature move, Geomancy, which will likely be introduced as a legacy, raid-exclusive move.

In this article, we’ll go over the entire list of signature moves from the main series games and we’ll see which legendary/mythical Pokémon have the potential to improve in the future. This article has been requested multiple times, so I hope y’all enjoy it!

Disclaimer: the lists feature Pokémon up until Generation 6. This article will be updated in the future once Pokémon from newer Generations get released.

List of legendary Pokémon and their signature moves

Let’s start with legendary Pokémon. In the following table, you’ll find the list of legendary Pokémon and their signature moves from the main series games, as well as the typing of such moves and what type of move (fast/charged) they are in Pokémon GO, provided they are currently in the network traffic of the game.

Take into consideration that some moves (e.g. Thunder Shock on Zapdos) are not signature moves in the main series games despite being legacy in Pokémon GO at Niantic’s will. Thunder Shock was in fact removed from Zapdos’ movepool right before its first release in the game, just to be replaced by the mediocre Charge Beam.

As a final remark, if a Pokémon can be considered both mythical and legendary (e.g. Deoxys or Darkrai), it will only be included in the following list if it has ever been “raidable” in Pokémon GO.

Please take that into account before roasting me in the comments section.

Raidable Pokémon = legendaries in Niantic’s eyes.

List of legendary Pokémon and their signature moves from the MSGs

Pokémon	Move	Stats known	Available
Articuno (Galarian) PsychicFlying	Freezing Glare Psychic	No	No
Zapdos (Galarian) FightingFlying	Thunderous Kick Fighting	No	No
Moltres FireFlying	Sky Attack* Flying	Yes (Charged)	Yes
Moltres (Galarian) DarkFlying	Fiery Wrath Dark	No	No
Mewtwo Psychic Mewtwo (Armored) Psychic	Psystrike Psychic	Yes (Charged)	Yes
Entei Fire	Sacred Fire** Fire	Yes	No
Lugia PsychicFlying	Aeroblast Flying	Yes (Charged)	Yes
Ho-Oh FireFlying	Sacred Fire** Fire	Yes	Yes
Latias DragonPsychic	Mist Ball Psychic	Yes	Yes
Latios DragonPsychic	Luster Purge Psychic	Yes	Yes
Kyogre Water	Origin Pulse Water	Yes (Charged)	No
Groudon Ground	Precipice Blades Ground	Yes (Charged)	No
Rayquaza DragonFlying	Dragon Ascent Flying	No	No
Deoxys Psychic	Psycho Boost Psychic	Yes (Charged)	Yes
Dialga SteelDragon	Roar of Time Dragon	No	No
Palkia WaterDragon	Spacial Rend Dragon	No	No
Heatran FireSteel	Magma Storm Fire	No	No
Regigigas Normal	Crush Grip Normal	No	No
Giratina (Altered) GhostDragon Giratina (Origin) GhostDragon	Shadow Force Ghost	No	No
Cresselia Psychic	Lunar Dance*** Psychic	No	No
Darkrai Dark	Dark Void*** Dark	Yes (no stats yet, though)	No
Cobalion SteelFighting	Sacred Sword Fighting	Yes (Charged)	Yes
Terrakion RockFighting	Sacred Sword Fighting	Yes (Charged)	Yes
Virizion GrassFighting	Sacred Sword Fighting	Yes (Charged)	Yes
Reshiram DragonFire	Fusion Flare Fire Blue Flare Fire	No No	No No
Zekrom DragonElectric	Fusion Bolt Electric Bolt Strike Electric	No No	No No
Kyurem DragonIce	Glaciate Ice	No	No
Kyurem (White) DragonIce	Fusion Flare Fire Ice Burn Ice	No No	No No
Kyurem (Black) DragonIce	Fusion Bolt Electric Freeze Shock Ice	No No	No No
Genesect (Normal) BugSteel	Techno Blast Drive-dependent Normal Fire Ice Water Electric	Yes	Yes (only Fire, Water and Electric)
Xerneas Fairy	Geomancy*** Fairy	No	No
Yveltal DarkFlying	Oblivion Wing Flying	No	No
Zygarde DragonGround	Land’s Wrath Ground Thousand Arrows Ground Thousand Waves Ground Core Enforcer Dragon	No No No No	No No No No

* In Generation II, it was the signature move of Moltres

** Prior to Generation VI, it was the signature move of Ho-Oh. Now, Entei is also able to learn it. Thus, it is debatable whether or not it can still be considered as a signature move

*** These moves do not inflict any damage in the main series games

Several Pokémon from the list above have amazing potential in the game.

Just to name a few, from the PvE perspective, Kyogre, Groudon, Dialga, Giratina, Darkrai, Reshiram, Zekrom and Kyurem Black. Some of them are already the best attackers of their respective types as of now, so you can imagine how powerful they could be once they finally get to learn their signature moves. If you want to check the best attackers of each type, feel free to use our database or other online resources such as the amazing raid simulator Pokebattler.

From the PvP perspective though it can be a bit more difficult to predict, as the meta evolves continuously and predicting what will be used by the time these moves are made available in Pokémon GO is a difficult task. However, several Pokémon that are already dominant in PvP such as Dialga, Giratina, Kyogre, Groudon and Yveltal would probably look even more threatening after they get their signature moves added to their movepools. Xerneas could also be an interesting pick if Geomancy ends up being a good fast move in Pokémon GO. PvPoke is the go-to resource for PvP-related topics.

Keep in mind that all the moves listed above are already legacy moves or will probably end up being legacy moves once they’re released, the only exception being Psycho Boost on Deoxys. Prepare your Elite TMs if you want to teach them to your previously caught legendaries!

And as always, stay tuned for our updates, meta analyses and raid guides. As soon as these moves get added to the network traffic of the game, we will do a deep dive analysis to let you know how good these moves end up being in Pokémon GO.

List of mythical Pokémon and their signature moves

Next up, mythical Pokémon and their signature moves.

List of mythical Pokémon and their signature moves from the MSGs

Pokémon	Move	Stats known	Available
Jirachi SteelPsychic	Doom Desire Steel	Yes (Charged)	Yes
Manaphy Water	Heart Swap**** Psychic	No	No
Shaymin (Land) Grass Shaymin (Sky) GrassFlying	Seed Flare Grass	Yes	Yes
Arceus Normal	Judgement Normal	No	No
Victini PsychicFire	V-Create Fire Searing Shot Fire	Yes (Charged) No	Yes No
Keldeo (Ordinary) WaterFighting Keldeo (Resolute) WaterFighting	Sacred Sword Fighting Secret Sword Fighting	Yes (Charged) No	No No
Meloetta (Aria) NormalPsychic Meloetta (Aria) NormalFighting	Relic Song Normal	Yes (Unknown)	No
Diancie RockFairy	Diamond Storm Rock	No	No
Hoopa (Confined) PsychicGhost Hoopa (Unbound) PsychicDark	Hyperspace Hole (Confined) Psychic Hyperspace Fury (Unbound) Dark	No No	No No
Volcanion FireWater	Steam Eruption Water	No	No
Melmetal Steel	Double Iron Bash Steel	No	No

**** Prior to Generation VII, it was the signature move of Manaphy. Now, Magearna (a mythical Pokémon from Generation VII) is also able to learn it. Thus, it is debatable whether or not it can still be considered as a signature move. Furthermore, it does not inflict any damage in the main series games

It is yet unknown how these moves will be implemented in Pokémon GO. We have the precedent of Jirachi (Doom Desire) and Victini (V-Create), whose signature moves were added to their respective movepools upon release. However, Meloetta (Relic Song) didn’t follow the same path.

Thus, predicting what will happen with the remaining mythical Pokémon can be quite challenging. Given the precedents just mentioned, the exclusivity of mythical Pokémon and the lack of legacy moves in their movepools in Pokémon GO, a reasonable bet would be that we might eventually see these signature moves being added to their regular movepools in the future.

List of non-signature legendary and mythical legacy moves

The last table will feature the list of legendary Pokémon and their legacy, non-signature moves.

List of legendary Pokémon and their signature moves from the MSGs

Pokémon	Move	Stats known	Available
Articuno IceFlying	Hurricane Flying	Yes (Charged)	Yes
Zapdos ElectricFlying	Thunder Shock Electric	Yes (Fast)	Yes
Mewtwo Psychic	Hyper Beam Normal Shadow Ball Ghost	Yes (Charged) Yes (Charged)	Yes Yes
Suicune Water	Hidden Power (random)	Yes (Fast)	Yes
Ho-Oh FireFlying	Earthquake Ground	Yes (Charged)	Yes
Celebi PsychicGrass	Magical Leaf Grass	Yes (Fast)	Yes
Regice Ice	Thunder Electric	Yes (Charged)	Yes
Regirock Rock	Earthquake Ground	Yes (Charged)	Yes
Registeel Steel	Zap Cannon Electric	Yes (Charged)	Yes
Groudon Ground	Fire Punch Fire	Yes (Charged)	Yes
Rayquaza DragonFlying	Hurricane Flying	Yes (Charged)	Yes
Cresselia Psychic	Grass Knot Grass	Yes (Charged)	Yes

If you want to obtain the moves listed above, you will have to use an Elite TM or wait until Niantic decides to make them available again during a specific event or period of time.

The most useful Pokémon in PvE from the list above are Shadow Ball Mewtwo and Thunder Shock Zapdos. Both better in their shadow variants.

In PvP, Fire Punch Groudon is amazing in Master League, Earthquake Ho-Oh is also quite good in that same league and Hurricane Articuno can be quite helpful in open Ultra League. (Shadow) Thunder Shock Zapdos also has some play in Great and Ultra League, but it is quite fragile so you better save some shields if you want to use it!

Parting words

And that’s it! I hope you found the lists helpful, and please let me know in the comments section if I missed any moves.

Here’s the tl;dr:

• In the tables above you’ll be able to find the lists of signature & legacy moves for legendary and mythical Pokémon
• Plan ahead and decide whether or not it is worth raiding and spending resources on a certain legendary Pokémon based on its current potential and how much it could improve if it ever gets access to its signature move. Spend your raid passes wisely
• Elite TMs are a step in the right direction but the amount of Pokémon that could be rendered almost useless in comparison to their updated versions with their signature moves is quite significant. Manage your resources and keep them for meta-shaking Pokémon such as Primal Groudon & Kyogre, Giratina, Reshiram and Zekrom, among others
• Most of the signature moves have ended up being Charged Moves in Pokémon GO. However, there is still hope for Pokémon who desperately need a better (or shall I say usable?) Fast Move such as Xerneas. Niantic, please, make Geomancy a good Fast Move in Pokémon GO!