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Pokemon GO February 2019 rebalance survival guide

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Pokemon GO February 2019 rebalance survival guide
January 31st News Roundup
New Sinnoh Pokémon
Moveset Changes
Rebalancing Notes

This post is a complete guide Pokemon GO’s big rebalance patch that just came out! Niantic has surprised us with new Pokemon move sets, move damage buffs and nerfs, new Sinnoh Stone Pokemon evolution and raid boss stamina changes

Well, this certainly came out of left field! With little warning, Niantic has decided to drop another wave of Sinnoh Pokémon comprised of the gender-exclusive evolutions like Gallade, the move-locked evolutions like Yanmega, and some other miscellaneous wild Pokémon. In addition, in the announcement of this new wave, and this recent Community Note, Niantic has made some big changes including moveset changes that are already live and making raids more difficult, but we will get into all of that in just a moment.

New Sinnoh Pokémon

We’ve looked at the reports flooding in and we got quite the new wave on our hands! We have confirmed:

New Pokémon Method of Obtaining
Cranidos Wild
Rampardos Evolution from Cranidos (50 Candy)
Shieldon Wild
Bastiodon Evolution from Shieldon (50 Candy)
Combee Wild
Vespiquen Evolution from Combee (Must be a Female) (50 Candy)
Ambipom Evolution from Aipom (Sinnoh Stone and 100 Candy)
Glameow Wild
Purugly Wild, Evolution from Glameow (50 Candy)
Lickilicky Evolution from Lickitung (Sinnoh Stone and 100 Candy)
Tangrowth Evolution from Tangela (Sinnoh Stone and 100 Candy)
Yanmega Evolution from Yanma (Sinnoh Stone and 100 Candy)
Gallade Evolution from Kirlia (Sinnoh Stone and 100 Candy) (Must be a Male)
Froslass Evolution from Snorunt (Sinnoh Stone and 100 Candy) (Must be a Female)

Now for those of you confused on your female Kirlia and Male Snorunts and Combee that still have the options to evolve, Niantic has already sent out an explanation on that one, stating that it is an issue and the preview should not exist.

For those that are curious like I was though, the evolution does not work, it throws up an error and you cannot have a Female Gallade.

Moveset Changes

No legacy movesets this time around, but we have a full list on the new moves that have been added to the movepools of various Pokémon. While most are coverage options for PVP and good ones at that, there are some that will also get the interest for raiders out there in the world. Bold will indicate the new moves in the movepool, Legacy or Exclusive moves are not included, and this will all be updated to our database ASAP.

Pokémon Fast Moves Charge Moves
Arbok
  • Dragon Tail Dragon
  • Acid Poison
  • Bite Dark
  • Gunk Shot Poison
  • Sludge Wave Poison
  • Dark Pulse Dark
Clefable
  • Charge Beam Electric
  • Zen Headbutt Psychic
  • Meteor Mash Steel
  • Psychic Psychic
  • Moonblast Fairy
  • Dazzling Gleam Fairy
Ninetales
  • Feint Attack Dark
  • Fire Spin Fire
  • Psyshock Psychic
  • Overheat Fire
  • Solar Beam Grass
  • Heat Wave Fire
Ninetales (Alola)
  • Feint Attack Dark
  • Powder Snow Ice
  • Psyshock Psychic
  • Blizzard Ice
  • Dazzling Gleam Fairy
  • Ice Beam Ice
Wigglytuff
  • Pound Normal
  • Feint Attack Dark
  • Ice Beam Ice
  • Hyper Beam Normal
  • Play Rough Fairy
  • Dazzling Gleam Fairy
Alakazam
  • Psycho Cut Psychic
  • Confusion Psychic
  • Fire Punch Fire
  • Futuresight Psychic
  • Focus Blast Fighting
  • Shadow Ball Ghost
Machamp
  • Bullet Punch Steel
  • Counter Fighting
  • Rock Slide Rock
  • Close Combat Fighting
  • Heavy Slam Steel
  • Dynamic Punch Fighting
Muk
  • Infestation Bug
  • Poison Jab Poison
  • Thunder Punch Electric
  • Gunk Shot Poison
  • Sludge Wave Poison
  • Dark Pulse Dark
Muk (Alola)
  • Snarl Dark
  • Poison Jab Poison
  • Bite Dark
  • Gunk Shot Poison
  • Sludge Wave Poison
  • Dark Pulse Dark
Weezing
  • Infestation Bug
  • Tackle Normal
  • Thunderbolt Electric
  • Sludge Bomb Poison
  • Shadow Ball Ghost
  • Dark Pulse Dark
Starmie
  • Hidden Power
  • Water Gun Water
  • Thunder Electric
  • Ice Beam Ice
  • Hydro Pump Water
  • Psychic Psychic
  • Power Gem Rock
Jynx
  • Confusion Psychic
  • Frost Breath Ice
  • Focus Blast Fighting
  • Avalanche Ice
  • Psyshock Psychic
  • Draining Kiss Fairy
Kabutops
  • Waterfall Water
  • Mud Shot Ground
  • Rock Smash Fighting
  • Stone Edge Rock
  • Water Pulse Water
  • Ancient Power Rock
Aerodactyl
  • Steel Wing Steel
  • Bite Dark
  • Rock Slide Rock
  • Ancient Power Rock
  • Hyper Beam Normal
  • Iron Head Steel
Snorlax
  • Lick Ghost
  • Zen Headbutt Psychic
  • Outrage Dragon
  • Hyper Beam Normal
  • Earthquake Ground
  • Heavy Slam Steel
Ampharos
  • Charge Beam Electric
  • Volt Switch Electric
  • Power Gem Rock
  • Thunder Electric
  • Focus Blast Fighting
  • Zap Cannon Electric
Ursaring
  • Shadow Claw Ghost
  • Counter Fighting
  • Metal Claw Steel
  • Hyper Beam Normal
  • Play Rough Fairy
  • Close Combat Fighting
Mantine
  • Bullet Seed Grass
  • Bubble Water
  • Wing Attack Flying
  • Aerial Ace Flying
  • Water Pulse Water
  • Ice Beam Ice
Houndoom
  • Snarl Dark
  • Fire Fang Fire
  • Flamethrower Fire
  • Foul Play Dark
  • Fire Blast Fire
  • Crunch Dark
Donphan
  • Mud Slap Ground
  • Counter Fighting
  • Tackle Normal
  • Earthquake Ground
  • Play Rough Fairy
  • Heavy Slam Steel
Miltank
  • Tackle Normal
  • Zen Headbutt Psychic
  • Thunderbolt Electric
  • Ice Beam Ice
  • Body Slam Normal
  • Stomp Normal
  • Gyro Ball Steel
Raikou
  • Thunder Shock Electric
  • Volt Switch Electric
  • Shadow Ball Ghost
  • Wild Charge Electric
  • Thunder Electric
  • Thunderbolt Electric
Entei
  • Fire Spin Fire
  • Fire Fang Fire
  • Iron Head Steel
  • Overheat Fire
  • Flamethrower Fire
  • Fire Blast Fire
Suicune
  • Snarl Dark
  • Extrasensory Psychic
  • Ice Beam Ice
  • Hydro Pump Water
  • Bubble Beam Water
  • Water Pulse Water
Ho-Oh
  • Hidden Power
  • Extrasensory Psychic
  • Steel Wing Steel
  • Brave Bird Flying
  • Solar Beam Grass
  • Fire Blast Fire
Ludicolo
  • Bubble Water
  • Razor Leaf Grass
  • Ice Beam Ice
  • Solar Beam Grass
  • Hydro Pump Water
  • Blizzard Ice
Chimecho
  • Astonish Ghost
  • Extrasensory Psychic
  • *Psyshock Psychic
  • Psyshock Psychic
  • Shadow Ball Ghost
  • Energy Ball Grass
Salamence
  • Bite Dark
  • Fire Fang Fire
  • Dragon Tail Dragon
  • Draco Meteor Dragon
  • Hydro Pump Water
  • Fire Blast Fire
Luxray
  • Hidden Power
  • Snarl Dark
  • Spark Electric
  • Hyper Beam Normal
  • Wild Charge Electric
  • Crunch Dark
Roserade
  • Poison Jab Poison
  • Razor Leaf Grass
  • Grass Knot Grass
  • Solar Beam Grass
  • Sludge Bomb Poison
  • Dazzling Gleam Fairy
Honchkrow
  • Snarl Dark
  • Peck Flying
  • Sky Attack Flying
  • Brave Bird Flying
  • Psychic Psychic
  • Dark Pulse Dark
Drapion
  • Bite Dark
  • Infestation Bug
  • Poison Sting Poison
  • Sludge Bomb Poison
  • Aqua Tail Water
  • Crunch Dark
Magmortar
  • Karate Chop Fighting
  • Fire Spin Fire
  • Psychic Psychic
  • Fire Blast Fire
  • Brick Break Fighting
  • Fire Punch Fire
Togekiss
  • Hidden Power
  • Air Slash Flying
  • Flamethrower Fire
  • Dazzling Gleam Fairy
  • Aerial Ace Flying
  • Ancient Power Rock
Porygon-Z
  • Charge Beam Electric
  • Blizzard Ice
  • Hyper Beam Normal
  • Zap Cannon Electric
  • Solar Beam Grass

* On Chimecho, this is not a typo at the moment. Currently, Chimecho knows Psyshock twice in the gamemaster. It originally knew Psyshock before the changes which is odd considering that Niantic directly mentioned Psyshock as an addition to its movepool. 

There are some immediate standouts in this list that change some raiding aspects dramatically, including:

  • Grass Knot Roserade is easily going to be one of the best Grass types for a long time to come. It might not be bulky, but it will be a direct improvement to the recent Grass Knot Breloom and will give Frenzy Plant Sceptile a run for its money in the future while outdoing Frenzy Plant Venusaur Now.
  • While none of these are, initially anyway, particularly substantial, there are going to be several new B-Team raiders on the scene, with Aerodactyl, Kabutops, Donphan, and Drapion now having access to STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus) moves for Fast and Charge attacks.
  • Peck/Sky Attack Honchkrow is poised now to be one of the best Flying types in the game. It might not have the total damage output, but its DPS is in the leagues of Rayquaza and Sky Attack Moltres.
  • Ho-Oh, as a special mention in all of this, now has access to Hidden Power, which in theory can allow for it to get a Fire fast move that it has so desperately needed.

Rebalancing Notes

Niantic today announced, and has now deployed, several rebalances to all facets of the game, from raids and gyms to PVP. For ease of reading, I will summarize them in a quick list, and go into further detail individually.

  • Tier 3 through 5 Raid Bosses have had a 1.2x multiplier added to their stamina, making the raids by default harder due to the increased health pool, and therefore making higher level raids require more players.
  • Raid Battles will reward more stardust.
  • Several moves have had changes for PVP, with the vast majority of changes being damage buffs to several moves.
  • As covered above, coverage and STAB moves have been added to the pools of Pokémon to make them more competitively viable, or be counters to well known Pokémon in the leagues.

Raid Bosses have been buffed, most likely due to the influx of low-person raids, such as Absol and Tyranitar solos, that have occurred since the Super Effective changes. To illustrate this, we have the before and after on Raid Boss CPs for this current rotation.

Raid Boss Prior CP Post CP
Palkia 50019 54793
Togetic 18671 20453
Ursaring 27409 30025
Tyranitar 34323 37599
Absol 26262 28769
Marowak (Alola) 19522 21385
Granbull 15023 16457
Azumarill 8989 9847
Machamp 17990 19707
Alakazam 21133 23150

All of these have the common thread that the Post CP matches the Prior CP when you times the Stamina Value, a preset value for Raid Bosses at each tier as defined in this article, by 1.2 what it normally is. This essentially means we have some new Stamina values for tiers 3-5, so let’s throw them up to compare:

Tier Old Stamina Value New Stamina
Tier 3 3,000 3600
Tier 4 7,500 9000
Tier 5 12,500 15000

As for moves, as stated many moves had stats changed in the gamemaster. The majority of changes were to buff damage of moves that are not generally good in PVP, such as Waterfall, with the few exceptions here and there. Here are all the changes:

Move Before After
Smack Down Power: 10 Power: 12
Waterfall Power: 10 Power: 12
Confusion Power: 12 Power: 16
Frost Breath Power: 6 Power: 7
Ice Shard Power: 8 Power: 9
Razor Leaf Power: 8 Power: 11
Body Slam Power: 50 Power: 60
Dazzling Gleam Power: 100 Power: 110
Flamethrower
  • Power: 70
  • energyDelta: -50
  • Power: 90
  • energyDelta: -55
Ice Punch Power: 50 Power: 55
Psyshock Power: 65 Power: 70
Iron Head Power: 60 Power: 70
Thunder Punch
  • Power: 45
  • energyDelta: -35
  • Power: 55
  • energyDelta: -40
Thunderbolt
  • energyDelta: -45
  • Power: 80
  • energyDelta: -55
  • Power: 90
Shadow Claw energyDelta: 7 energyDelta: 8

This was quite a surprising day, being one that has easily changed the game on all fronts. While the difficulty increase for raids might not sit well, the additional changes to movesets will introduce new fighters on all fronts of the game. Stay tuned to Go Hub to see how much this changes the PVP meta!