Zekrom Pokémon GO Meta Analysis

Zekrom

Zekrom! The fearsome and electrifying Dragon who is responsible for Pikachu’s loss to a lvl 5 Snivy in the BW anime.

The Electric typing doesn’t flow too much in the Master League as such, but when you bring Zekrom’s amazing dual typing, its stats and moves to a junction… you get a shockingly effective monster to boot in your future ML prospects.

On that note, yes, the Master League is not on the horizon right now and it’s pretty far away. But that’s the point! It gives you that much time to grind for that sleek, black and shiny Zekrom and plug it in when the ML switches on.

Alright! Enough of the electrical puns now. Let’s charge ourselves up for Zekrom! Watt? Did I just wrote another pun?!

Typing, Strengths and Weaknesses

Zekrom is a Dragon/Electric type Pokémon and as such, is weak to the Dragon, Fairy, Ground and Ice types. 

Its dual typing grants it resistances that include:

By the looks of it, Zekrom’s most viable resistances for the ML meta seem to be the Steel and Water type attacks. Note that this doesn’t imply the other types are undervalued in ML. It’s just that you don’t come across their STAB attacks often. On the same note, you will find STAB Steel and Water attacks being more common in ML.

It is worth noting that a Dragon type resisting Steel is definitely an impressive feat!

With that being set, let’s check out Zekrom’s stats:

Stats

Zekrom has the following stats in Pokémon Go:

Zekrom DragonElectric
Max CP at Level 40 4038 | Max CP at Level 50 4565
ATK 275		DEF 211		HP 205
Weak to			Strong Against
Dragon Fairy Ground Ice			Dragon Flying Water

It goes without saying that Zekrom has impeccable stats! And if you haven’t guessed it yet, these are the exact same stats as Dialga!

It has a crazy high ATK stat and is sufficiently bulky. Such stats are undoubtedly tailored for both PvP and PvE. Does it have the moves to back up those stats?

You bet it does!

Moveset Analysis

Zekrom learns the following moves in Pokémon Go:

Fast move analysis

While Charge Beam generates more energy than Dragon Breath, its damage potential is quite underwhelming compared to the Dragon type fast move. It also doesn’t help that Charge Beam has a longer cooldown. Most importantly, Dragon Breath is one of the best fast moves in the game. In conclusion, Dragon Breath is the obvious choice.

Charged move analysis

Outrage is an extremely powerful Dragon type move that is excellent but there’s a catch: it demands a costly 60 energy to fire off.  But that doesn’t mean you can’t use it! You often get hit by a Dialga’s Draco Meteor, which is far more expensive than Outrage. So why not Outrage?

The thing is, there are two cheaper options to Outrage. This makes Outrage an option and not a compulsion.

Wild Charge and Crunch both cost the same low energy requirement of 45 and have their highlights:

• Wild Charge gains STAB, hits hard but debuff your DEF by 2 stages on being used
• Crunch lacks STAB but is cheap, offers a 30% chance to debuff your opponent’s DEF by 1 stage and offers good ML coverage

So what is Zekrom’s ideal moveset?

Dragon Breath is the unanimous fast move of choice.

Wild Charge is absolutely necessary. It is a pretty badass move for the lower energy cost and takes out some real bigshots of the ML meta as we will soon see!

Crunch is an excellent move to use. It can bait shields and also possibly debuff the opponent’s DEF, making Dragon Breath all the more dangerous.

So Zekrom’s ideal moveset is Dragon Breath paired with Wild Charge and Crunch/Outrage.

The choice between Crunch and Outrage is left to your team composition.

Now with all these in the baggage, let’s check out how Zekrom performs in the Master League!

Performance in the Master League Classic

Dragon Breath with Wild Charge + Crunch

Zekrom has the following battle profile for (1-1) and (0-0) shield scenarios in the ML Classic:

• Ties with Reshiram in (1-1) and barely beats it in (0-0)
• Beats Togekiss in (0-0)
• Beats Zacian (Hero) in (0-0)
• Beats Metagross in (1-1)
• Beats Melmetal in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Zamazenta (Hero) in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Counter Haxorus in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Ties with Dragon Tail Haxorus in (1-1)
• Beats Goodra in (0-0)
• Beats Palkia in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Machamp in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Conkeldurr in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Zarude in (1-1)
• Beats Ice Beam Mewtwo in (0-0)
• Beats Shadow Ball Mewtwo in (0-0)
• Beats Dragon Breath Hydreigon in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Bite Hydreigon in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Smack Down Rhyperior in (1-1)
• Beats Smack Down Tyranitar in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Bite Tyranitar in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Kyogre in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Stone Edge & Superpower Landorus (Therian) in (0-0)
• Beats Yveltal in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Dragon Breath Gyarados in (0-0)
• Beats Waterfall Gyarados in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Giratina (Altered) in (0-0)
• Beats Giratina (Origin) in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Earthquake Snorlax in (1-1)

Performance in the Open Master League

Dragon Breath with Wild Charge + Crunch

Zekrom has the following battle profile for (1-1) and (0-0) shield scenarios in the Open ML:

• Ties with Reshiram in both (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Togekiss in (0-0)
• Beats Zacian (Hero) in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Metagross in (1-1)
• Beats Melmetal in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Zamazenta (Hero) in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Counter Haxorus in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Dragon Tail Haxorus in (1-1)
• Beats Goodra in (0-0)
• Beats Palkia in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Machamp in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Conkeldurr in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Zarude in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Ice Beam Mewtwo in (0-0)
• Beats Shadow Ball Mewtwo in (0-0)
• Beats Dragon Breath Hydreigon in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Bite Hydreigon in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Smack Down Rhyperior in (1-1)
• Beats Smack Down Tyranitar in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Bite Tyranitar in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Kyogre in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Stone Edge & Superpower Landorus (Therian) in (0-0)
• Beats Yveltal in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Dragon Breath Gyarados in (0-0)
• Beats Waterfall Gyarados in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Giratina (Altered) in (0-0)
• Beats Giratina (Origin) in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Earthquake Snorlax in (1-1) and in (0-0)

Performance in the Master League Classic

Dragon Breath with Wild Charge + Outrage

Zekrom has the following battle profile for (1-1) and (0-0) shield scenarios in the ML Classic:

• Beats Reshiram in both (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Togekiss in (0-0)
• Beats Zacian (Hero) in (0-0)
• Beats Metagross in (1-1)
• Beats Melmetal in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Zamazenta (Hero) in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Counter Haxorus in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Dragon Tail Haxorus in (1-1)
• Beats Goodra in (0-0)
• Beats Palkia in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Machamp in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Conkeldurr in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Zarude in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Ice Beam Mewtwo in (0-0)
• Beats Shadow Ball Mewtwo in(1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Dragon Breath Hydreigon in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Bite Hydreigon in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Smack Down Rhyperior in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Mud-Slap Rhyperior in (0-0)
• Beats Smack Down Tyranitar in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Bite Tyranitar in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Kyogre in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Stone Edge & Superpower Landorus (Therian) in (0-0)
• Beats Yveltal in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Dragon Breath Gyarados in (0-0)
• Beats Waterfall Gyarados in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Giratina (Altered) in (0-0)
• Beats Giratina (Origin) in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Earthquake Snorlax in (1-1) and in (0-0)

Performance in the Open Master League

Dragon Breath with Wild Charge + Outrage

Zekrom has the following battle profile for (1-1) and (0-0) shield scenarios in the Open ML:

• Beats Reshiram in (1-1)
• Beats Togekiss in (0-0)
• Beats Zacian (Hero) in (0-0)
• Beats Metagross in (1-1)
• Beats Melmetal in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Zamazenta (Hero) in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Counter Haxorus in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Dragon Tail Haxorus in (1-1)
• Beats Goodra in (0-0)
• Beats Palkia in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Machamp in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Conkeldurr in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Zarude in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Ice Beam Mewtwo in (0-0)
• Beats Shadow Ball Mewtwo in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Dragon Breath Hydreigon in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Bite Hydreigon in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Smack Down Rhyperior in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Mud-Slap Rhyperior in (0-0)
• Beats Smack Down Tyranitar in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Bite Tyranitar in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Kyogre in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Stone Edge & Superpower Landorus (Therian) in (0-0)
• Beats Yveltal in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Dragon Breath Gyarados in (0-0)
• Beats Waterfall Gyarados in (1-1) and in (0-0)
• Beats Giratina (Altered) in (0-0)
• Beats Giratina (Origin) in (1-1) and (0-0)
• Beats Earthquake Snorlax in (1-1) and in (0-0)

Parting Words

Zekrom looks absolutely badass and that’s exactly how it is in battle. It gains a large number of wins in the Master League, making it a huge threat to almost anything out there.

The Zekrom raids in December 2021 host the shiny and if that enough isn’t a motivator for you, its meta relevancy is another!

Try to catch one with at least 15/14/13 stats for ATK/DEF/HP, and farm to Best Buddy it. It is worth the effort!

With Form Change mechanics live in the game, Zekrom candies it even Zekrom itself could be crucial to get a Black Kyurem, a monster that even surpasses Rayquaza as a better Dragon type and even a top-tier Ice type!

Zekrom itself has two signature moves: Bolt Strike and Fusion Bolt. Any or both of these can make this already powerful Pokémon an even bigger threat!

All in all, Zekrom is an amazing Pokémon that has some great things coming for it in the future. It excels both as a Dragon and an Electric type (more as the latter).

You seriously don’t need any more reasons to catch a high IV and possibly shiny Zekrom for yourself!

All the best, trainers!