Delightful Days GBL Moves: PvP Winners & Losers (S23)

G’day PoGO fans! We’ve just had the new details dropped for the upcoming season called Delightful Days. As we’ve become accustomed to, there are several moveset and movepool adjustments that accompany the new season, which are bound to have some impacts on the open meta!

Let’s recap on the changes, and look at a highlight reel of the winners and losers of the new season changes. I’ll follow this up with a look at the individual Pokémon that will be the beneficiaries of either a move buff or a new move in their toolkit.

Reminder: S23 move stats and availability changes go live on Tuesday, June 3, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. PDT (GMT −7).

⚔️ Attack Changes

Buffs

• Ember – Energy generation increased (expected 7)
• Bug Bite – Power 3 → 4
• Fury Cutter – Power 2 → 3
• Acid – Energy generation increased (expected 7/8)
• Bullet Punch – Power 6 → 8
• Metal Sound – Power 3 → 5
• Double Iron Bash – Power 50 → 55
• Doom Desire – Power 75 → 80
• Wrap – Now guarantees -1 Defense
• Parabolic Charge – Lower energy cost (expected 45) and guarantees +1 Defense

Nerfs

• Crunch – Lower chance to reduce opponent’s Defense

New Fast Attacks

Pokémon	Fast Move
Lunala	Shadow Claw Ghost
Skeledirge	Hex Ghost
Beedrill	Poison Sting Poison
Arbok	Poison Sting Poison
Nidoqueen	Poison Sting Poison
Nidoking	Poison Sting Poison
Tentacruel	Poison Sting Poison
Toxicroak	Poison Sting Poison
Scolipede	Poison Sting Poison
Galarian Meowth	Metal Sound Steel
Perrserker	Metal Sound Steel
Aron	Metal Sound Steel
Lairon	Metal Sound Steel
Aggron	Metal Sound Steel
Dhelmise	Metal Sound Steel
Varoom	Metal Sound Steel
Revavroom	Metal Sound Steel
Pawmi	Thunder Shock Electric
Pawmo	Thunder Shock Electric
Pawmot	Thunder Shock Electric
Metang	Fury Cutter Bug
Metagross	Fury Cutter Bug
Kleavor	Fury Cutter Bug

New Charged Attacks

Pokémon	Charge Move
Gholdengo	Power Gem Rock
Raichu	Surf Water
Alola Raichu	Surf Water
Sealeo	Surf Water
Lickitung	Wrap Normal
Milotic	Wrap Normal
Dhelmise	Wrap Normal
Galarian Articuno	Fly Flying
Galarian Zapdos	Fly Flying
Galarian Moltres	Fly Flying
Lugia	Fly Flying

TLDR: Winners and Losers of the Updates

Biggest winners of S23 move shakeup

When looking at the winners overall as a whole, there are some clear standouts that will benefit from the new seasons movepool adjustments.

The biggest winners I see coming out of this update are below. This is primarily due to receiving strict upgrades on their existing moveset, or in Lunala‘s case, access to arguably the best fast move in the game!

Steel types. Largely due to how overpowered the Steel type is in PvP, plus the lack of widespread moves, most Steel types have been left running non-Steel fast moves. Steel is still not the most amazing typing offensively – only hitting Fairy, Rock and Ice types for super effective damage, but this update absolutely gives many pokémon a good reason to shift to these newly buffed moves.

Bug types. Bug is also a fairly poor typing offensively, hitting only Psychic and Dark types for super effective damage. Combined with the fairly trash stats of Bug type moves historically, there’s been a heavy concentration of Bug types in the open meta, with the meta relevant mons all sporting helpful sub-typings that support with additional resistances (think Araquanid, Golisopod, Forretress). So it is great to see bug moves getting a buff, and I’m excited to see how some this shifts the meta!

Forgotten Electric fan favourites. Mons like Bellibolt and Dedenne in particular are going to see a big uptick in their usage in their respective metas. 

Fire types (sort of). With the addition of Bug and Steel into the mix, plus the buff to Ember, we may see more Fire types coming back into the open meta. However, the Ember buff doesn’t really have super wide distribution, and doesn’t overall help too many pokémon substantially enough to shift the meta too much. It’s probably going to be most impactful in the Little Cups!

Poison types (sort of). With all the Steel buffs, it will be interesting to see how well the increased distribution of Poison moves actually benefits the mons receiving these moves. Many of the Poison types receiving new moves don’t seem to be meta stars in the new season, but it’s nice to see some increased distribution of moves to help Poison types out.

Mud boys and Water types. Although Water isn’t touched at all in the move updates, whenever you buff Electric and Steel types, you’re bound to see the Water/Ground types thriving.

Losers and missed Opportunities

There aren’t too many losers overall in this seasons update, but there are a few that stand out:

• Fairy types. There is little doubt that Fairy pokémon have been targeted in this current movepool update, and that is probably for the best. There are many Fairy mons that have long been slightly overpowered, so it’s nice to see them being addressed in small ways – although Azumarill and Tinkaton is likely to still be around!
• Grass types (sort of). The buff to both Bug and Steel types is going to make Grass a shakier proposition. I think we will still see mons such as Jumpluff and Serperior around, but the overall prevalence of Grass types may depend on the impacts to Water and Ground types in the meta. 
• Drapion. A 1 in 10 chance for a Crunch debuff is probably appropriate, though it does leave Drapion users a lot less incentivised to safely bring it into battle now that it’s less likely to flip the script with ramped up damage. It will still be around, but a little less potent than before.
• Malamar. The increase of Bug and Steel types in the open meta is going to give Malamar a lot less safety in the open meta.

There were also a few missed opportunities with this update that could have been addressed:

• Jirachi. Although the Doom Desire buff is nice, it really wants a better fast move or a Confusion buff to help it out a bit more.
• Mud Slap damage nerf. With the buff to steel types, it makes sense why they left this move as is, but this move has become overpowered. The amount of Rhyperior haters would likely attest to this.
• Rock Slide damage increase. Last season’s nerf to Rock Slide was too significant in my view, rendering it a very bad move. I would like to see this move come back as a more viable option for certain pokémon.
• Cleaning up some of the trash. Take Down, Extrasensory, Charge Beam, Low Kick, Rock Smash, Cut, Scratch… there are a LOT of fast moves that are just Fast TM tax in the game. It would be exciting to see some of these longstanding garbage moves have a stat adjustment to make them at least semi-viable in the game.
• Charged TM system. The system needs an overhaul, and it cannot come soon enough.

⚔️ New Attack Impacts

Ember

Comparable: Poison Jab

Although I have been begging for an Ember buff for a long time, the biggest limitation I currently see with this move update is that the majority of these users also have Incinerate. Incinerate is a fairly busted move, so users will be left with the choice of a slow but hard hitting and high energy generation move that can cleansweep backlines, compared with a faster but more neutral move overall.

For Ninetales and Charizard, this represents a really interesting opportunity for both of them to return to the meta. Both have fallen away in recent times due the rise of the mud-slappers, but this season may give Fire types the opportunity to counter into the Grass and Steel types prevailing in the meta.

Bug Bite

Comparable move: Dragon Breath

There has been a huge population of people crying out for Bug types to be buffed in Pokémon GO, due to how poor the majority of previous Bug type moves have been. The primary exception has been Fury Cutter, which has been a decent move with its fast energy generation. Now, with the buff to Bug Bite, we are seeing a swathe of Bug types that will have greater fast move pressure into their opponents. There still remains inherent challenges with Bug typing as a whole – due to the makeup of the GO Battle League metas where Steel and Fairy types typically dominate. So I appreciate this buff as it will help many mons to perform slightly better, despite its typing disadvantages it is often faced with.

The primary mons that I think will be excited for this buff are Araquanid and Charjabug, and to an extent Forretress. These mons are already very bulky with useful sub-typings that improve their resistances, so this is straight upside for both of them. The others are likely to remain fringe picks, but mons like Ledian and Leavanny could see some additional play in both open and limited metas through their improved viability.

Fury Cutter

Comparable move: Psywave

It will be interesting to see how impactful the buff to Fury Cutter is on these bug types. Bug type pokémon seem to have either Bug Bite or Fury Cutter in their movepool (rarely if ever both) – so we see a different set of mons coming to the fore with the Fury Cutter buff. Lurantis, Samurott, Genesect and Crustle already liked to use Fury Cutter – so this buff is straight upside for them. However, this buff gives a host of other mons another tool in their kitbag that they previously weren’t using, most notably Gligar which may see a big resurgence in the open Great League, after its previous brief moment in the sun!

However, the immediate challenge for most of the rest of the mons below is that they are fairly glassy. It will be interesting to see whether the meta shifts around these new bug types. Regardless, we’ve seen how oppressive Psywave can be in the current meta, so it will be exciting to see how Fury Cutter performs next season.

Acid

Comparable moves: Leafage , Ghost Claw

The increased energy generation change of Acid is unlikely to be +3 in my view, however that is what PvPoke is suggesting! Personally, I believe it is more likely to be an +1 or +2 energy generation increase – but let’s see what Niantic/Scopely has in store!

If Acid increases goes to 7 energy generation, it would become a Leafage clone, which would be quite nice. The mons that know Acid aren’t particularly meta-relevant aside from Tentacruel, so this feels like a fairly unsubstantial impact.

If Acid increases to 8 energy generation as PvPoke is predicting – this turns Acid into a Shadow Claw clone. That would be HUGE, though in my opinion probably a step too far. If they do indeed adjust the needle this far, they also need to unlock this as a legacy move from the OG poisons from Gen 1 (for Grimer, Muk and Weezing this move is an unobtainable legacy move). It also will make Tentacruel far too strong in my view, which will increase the prevalence of mudboys throughout the meta and increase the amount of rock-paper-scissors (RPS) matches, which is not something that improves the meta. Watch this space!

Bullet Punch

Comparable move: Sucker Punch

This is one of number of big buffs to Steel types, plus some fighters such as Hariyama and Lucario. Scizor and Metagross feel like the biggest winners here, as their primary move is also getting a powerful buff. I think we’ll see more Scizor play as an anti-Fairy pick, though its glassiness still makes it very inconsistent in open metas.

Metal Sound

Comparable moves: Powder Snow [snow-icon], Vine Whip , Quick Attack

Another big Steel buff. This adjustment feels particularly targeted towards the newly released Kingambit, though it probably isn’t quite as helpful as it might like to be super viable in the Master League. It is quite a substantial buff to the Aron line (Aggron and Lairon), though they both remain alignment reliant pokemon in PvP. It should be huge for Wormadam trash in limited metas. Overall, a nice buff that probably won’t be meta defining without further distribution of the move.

Wrap

Comparable moves: Icy Wind , Mystical Fire , Lunge

This move adjustment is nice, but not significant. It could be seen as an attempt to bring Lickitung back into vogue, but it’s quite expensive for Licki to access. It is a nice alternative for Dragonair – but the additional energy cost might not make it super viable due to its glassiness.

Parabolic Charge

Comparable moves: Crunch, Disarming Voice, Liquidation, Magnet Bomb, Night Shade

The guaranteed defense buff, combined with the energy requirement drop, is a BIG improvement for this move and the Electric types that have it. Parabolic Charge has undergone a significant number of stat adjustments since its initial release, but the latest change feels just right, finally giving the move some of the stats it deserves given the limited distribution.

Heliolisk and Dedenne in particular will appreciate this – though Bellibolt is perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the new move. PC is now a strict upgrade from Discharge, and it catapults Bellibolt up to the #1 ranked pick in the Ultra League for next season! I’m certain meta shifts will challenge this ranking, but if you’re lacking a good Bellibolt for GBL, now is the time to hunt for Tadbulb!

Double Iron Bash and Doom Desire

These two moves only benefit one Pokémon each, due to them being signature moves in the game. Both are straight upside, but won’t necessarily be meta defining changes.

Double Iron Bash

Comparable move: Brutal Swing, Shadow Punch, Aqua Tail, Cross Chop

Doom Desire

Comparable move: Hydro Cannon

🧬 Attack Availability Updates

New Charged Attacks

Gholdengo

Power Gem is an excellent coverage move for Gholdengo, slightly better in the Master League into Flying types due to lower energy cost. The need for Power Gem is probably more circumstantial, and isn’t likely to see it break out into the open Master League meta as a result, but it is a nice addition to its toolkit.

Raichu

Surf doesn’t do a lot for the Raichu line except please some of the fans of the surfing Pikachu franchise. The Trailblaze coverage is currently more helpful for it into mudboys.

Sealeo

Surf is a strict upgrade from Water Pulse. Shadow Sealeo in particular is very happy with this upgrade, now with much better pacing and damage output. I anticipate Sealeo is still going to be more of a limited meta star, but this update absolutely puts it on the map in a more watery way to its evolution Walrein.

Lickitung

As mentioned above, Lickitung will benefit from Wrap, although it remains to be seen just how much. It is a more expensive move than Body Slam, but the ability for Lickitung to debuff its opponents will prove to be a nuisance in battle. Overall, I don’t think this will mean a resurgence for Licki in the open meta.

Milotic

Milotic definitely is happy to get a new cheaper charge move to play with, but Wrap doesn’t seem to be doing much for it on paper due to its relatively slow pacing with Dragon Tail.

Dhelmise

Dhelmise appreciates having some additional coverage – and a charge move that requires less than 50 energy! But I don’t see Wrap bringing Dhelmise into meta relevance, primarily due to its lack of coverage into Dhelmise’s weaknesses.

Galarian Articuno

Galarian Articuno appreciates the addition of Fly to its movepool, which hits a lot harder than Ancient Power. However, it still lacks the bulk and fast move pressure to really be meta relevant.

Galarian Zapdos

Sadly Galarian Zapdos remains meta irrelevant due to the Counter nerf and a lack of alternative options. Not worth getting excited about until it receives some nice movepool update treatment.

Galarian Moltres

Galarian Moltres is the big winner with the addition of Fly to its movepool. It now can play a similar style role to Talonflame, but in a Darker fashion. Having both a very good bait move and a potential nuke move available of the same typing is very handy. In the Ultra League in particular, G-Moltres is currently positioned to be ranked #6 overall! That is a decent jump in the rankings for it, and should see its usage increase even further – particularly post its availability in the Global GoFest of 2025!

Lugia

Lugia really appreciates having Fly in its arsenal, as a cheaper charged move (only takes 5 Dragon Tails to reach compared to 7 for Sky Attack). This sees Lugia back inside the top 40 ranked pokémon for the Master League – simply due to its superior bulk allowing it to put in work. There has been a decent amount of power creep in recent seasons that will make it hard for Lugia to truly break back into the meta, but this update definitely helps it.

New Fast Attacks

Lunala

Lunala receiving Shadow Claw catapults it into meta relevance in the Master League. Having the ability to reach its excellent but expensive charged moves with such increased pacing means it is an absolute must have investment for Master League players. It will perform similarly to Dawn Wings Necrozma, with slightly better stat product but slightly reduced power.

Skeledirge

Hex looks like a sidegrade overall for Skeledirge – it is definitely nice to have better pacing to its charged moves, but Incinerate is such a nice move for it already with its high damage output and energy generation.

Beedrill

Beedrill is a really interesting spice pick now! It’s always had excellent moves in X-Scissor and Drill Run coverage, but has typically been more of a limited meta pick. The addition of Poison Sting offers significantly improved pacing compared to Poison Jab. I think its bulk and only ok typing will continue to be a limited meta pick moreso than the open Great League.

Arbok

Not even an Acid buff and Poison Sting addition to Arbok’s moveset can make it meta relevant. It definitely needs a cheaper poison type charged move to be a worthwhile investment. Still – I’m a fan of buffs to some of the more forgotten PVP mons!

Nidoqueen

Nidoqueen has fallen from grace in the meta in recent years due to meta shifts and its own movepool nerfs. Poison Sting is nice for it due to its improved pacing, however its now resigned to more of a bait and nuke style gameplay, compared to brute forcing its way through opponents with the Poison Jab / Poison Fang combo.

Nidoking

Nidoking has been the beneficiary of so many movepool adjustments – but its lack of bulk and a lack of decent cheaper charged moves continue to be major impediments to its usage. Save it for the limited metas.

Tentacruel

This is the buff I did not see coming. I personally don’t agree with giving Tentacruel more toys to play with, as it’s already significantly overused – particularly in the Ultra League. This buff improves its winrate and its overall standing in the meta, with a much improved pacing to its expensive charged moves of Scald and Blizzard / Sludge Wave. Expect the jellyfish to be everywhere next season!

Toxicroak

Toxicroak really appreciates this movepool addition! Particularly in the Ultra League, Toxicroak’s stocks have improved significantly through being able to rapidly fire off charged moves with the better energy generation of Poison Sting compared to Mud Shot (or Counter).

Scolipede

Scolipede remains on the fringe of the meta – Poison Sting doesn’t change that. Definitely a limited meta pick to consider.

Galarian Meowth & Perrserker

Perrserker already has Shadow Claw as its primary fast move – so even with the buff to Metal Sound, it doesn’t really help it – in fact it starts to see losses against a lot of water and steel types that it was previously able to hit neutrally into. Perrserker is more of a limited meta pick regardless, so this change may give it a nice new tool to play with in those cups.

Aron, Lairon & Aggron

Lairon has typically been more of a limited meta pick – but Metal Sound helps its performance significantly against the open meta! The main issue holding it back is a lack of bulk, and its typing is definitely challenging into the current water / ground heavy meta. Still, it very much appreciates this buff.

Okay! Aggron is here! It’s still going to struggle in a lot of neutral matchups due to its lack of bulk and its charged moves being relatively expensive. However, much like Bastiodon – when it is in a winning matchup, it dominates. It will definitely remain challenging to use, but I am keen to see whether the meta shifts in a way where Aggron becomes a household item.

Dhelmise

Dhelmise already has the amazing fast move Shadow Claw – so I can’t see Metal Sound being particularly helpful for it.

Varoom & Revavroom

At least on paper, the addition of Metal Sound to Revavroom’s movepool doesn’t actually seem to help it all that much. However, I think that its current moveset of Poison Jab + Acid Spray / Overheat is a little bit misleading in the sims, as it assumes you can land an Acid Spray bait plus an Overheat nuke. So overall, I don’t think this will change Revavroom’s stocks all that much, though it is nice to have a new tool to play with, particularly in the Ultra League.

Pawmi, Pawmo & Pawmot

In the back of my mind, during the recent community day for Pawmi, I suspected this movepool adjustment was coming. On paper, this is potentially the single most impactful moveset addition this season. The improved pacing for Pawmot through the addition of Thunder Shock to its moveset is absolutely appreciated. I still believe it’s a bit of a sim hero – as it assumes you’ll be able to succesfully bait with a Brick Break before landing the Wild Charge nuke. The overall rankings for next season justify that perspective as well, due to the lack of consistency in its results. In the right hands and meta situation, Pawmot will be an absolute handful, but I anticipate it will be more of a limited meta star than in the open meta simply due to the inherent challenges faced by electric types in the meta today.

Metang & Metagross

Metang is here folks. Currently positioned at #27 in the open Great League (#16 as the shadow!). Combining the better pacing afforded by Fury Cutter, its typing and stat product, accompanied by the meta shifts anticipated for the season – and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a meta climber. The Psychic sub-typing helps Metang a lot into the Poison types it resists, and its Steel sub-typing helps it to only take neutral from the buffed Bug types. I’m excited to see what cool things Metang can do next season!

Metagross already has the amazing Bullet Punch and is a Master League pick, so it shouldn’t be using Fury Cutter.

Kleavor

Kleavor is still held back by its lack of bulk in PVP – but it absolutely appreciates the addition of STAB Fury Cutter into its moveset. I think we’ll see a lot more of Kleavor in limited metas, with the improved pacing and damage output.

Summary

I am really happy to see a buff to Bug type moves – that has been a long time coming. The additional buff to many Steel pokémon is going to negate some of the Bug buffs, however – the common Bug / Steel typing is the MOST buffed of the lot!

Overall, this is a nice fairly balanced update to the meta – no new moves, not a huge sweeping change, but some appreciated buffs to relatively poor moves that will now allow many new pokémon to shine in PvP. There are certain mons that I’m a little surprised received additional buffs to their arsenal. Personally, I don’t believe Tentacruel needed another buff to its movepool! But it is nice to see certain mons that have been terrorising the meta in recent seasons be adjusted – in particular Drapion and to an extent Zygarde being checked through the Crunch nerf. I am incredibly curious to see how this all plays out in practice.

What do you think of the changes? Are there any big changes or pokémon that were missed here that you think will break out in the new season? Let us know in our socials!

See you round,

JTizzler