Quick Bites: PvP Analysis on Community Day Zoroark

It’s Community Day again this weekend, with ZOROARK now getting the spotlight. I don’t think it’s any secret that the Illusion Fox Pokémon struggles in Pokémon GO PvP, nor much surprise when I tell you that seems likely to continue. But we’re going to give this analysis a go anyway, going back to the roots of the “Quick Bites” series by literally writing up this article in the same period of time it takes to do a full load of laundry (just as I did with the original Quick Bites). 🧺 Let’s do this!

ZOROARK Stats and Moves

Zoroark Dark

Great League Stats

• (Highest Stat Product IVs: 1-15-15, 1496 CP, Level 21.5)

Ultra League Stats

• (Highest Stat Product IVs: 1-15-15, 2497 CP, Level 42)

Master League?

In this economy?.

So the analysis not only begins here, but in many ways will end here as well, even though about 10000 characters are still to follow. That’s just how I roll. 😅

We have featured many glassy Pokémon in my analysis over the last 7+ years and 700+ articles, but I can’t remember ever writing a spotlight analysis on something thinner than Zoroark. It has less bulk than Gengar, less bulk than Alakazam, less than Darmanitan, Haxorus, Chandelure, Honchkrow, Regieleki, and many more truly glassy Pokémon. Remember the Community Day analysis I wrote on Inteleon, literally the glassiest starter in the whole game? No? Right, because it’s so glassy that even I didn’t bother (and hardly anyone noticed!) It’s so glassy that moves don’t really matter… Inteleon simply remains unviable in PvP.

…and yet even Inteleon has more bulk than Zoroark!

I really want to just stop here, as I did when I got about this far into the Inteleon analysis (I DID give it the old college try before just crumpling it and tossing it in the bin), but you know what? I don’t want to do that twice, so let’s soldier on… but that awful lack of bulk really holds Zoroark back.

Anyway, the typing is pretty well understood by now. Darks are weak to Fairy, Fighting, and Bug damage, and resist Ghosts and other Darks, and double resist Psychic damage. Nice and neat… but really, doesn’t matter all that much when you fall over to a stiff breeze!

There are, of course, glassy Pokémon that overcome that limitation to still succeed, usually one of two ways: high pressure fast moves that wear the opponent down, or super spammy charge moves to break through shields before you succumb to your own frailty. Some of the historically best glassy ‘mons do BOTH, such as Victreebel (the original Razor Leafer that was particularly excellent thanks to spammy Leaf Blade), Haunter and Gengar (who I have found almost always overperform their expectations with damaging-enough Shadow Claw and spammy Shadow Punch/Ice Punch). and of course, the majority of Electric types (who usually rely heavily on spammy charge moves, but can also bring suitable fast move pressure if running Volt Switch), just for a few examples. Maybe, just maybe, Zoroark can do enough of one or both of those to carve out a role? Let’s see….

ᴱ – Exclusive (Community Day) Move

Fast Moves

• Sucker Punchᴱ – Dark type, 4.0 DPT, 3.5 EPT, 1.0 CoolDown
• Shadow Claw – Ghost type, 3.0 DPT, 4.0 EPT, 1.0 CD
• Snarl – Dark type, 1.67 DPT, 4.33 EPT, 1.5 CD

So the special Community Day move is arguably the best overall fast move currently in the game, Sucker Punch. It is a clone of the former, pre-nerf Counter. 4.0 Damage Per Turn is a lot of fast move pressure with Zoro’s wildly high Attack stat, and while 3.5 Energy Per Turn is solidly above average, it’s the least energy generation of any of Zoroark’s fast moves. Does the extra damage of Sucker Punch offset this lessened charge move pressure? Well, we’ll have to work in the charge move options to answer that….

Charge Moves

• Foul Play – Dark type, 65 damage, 40 energy
• Night Shade – Ghost type, 70 damage, 45 energy
• Sludge Bomb – Poison type, 80 damage, 50 energy
• Flamethrower – Fire type, 90 damage, 55 energy

Sadly no 35-energy moves here, so you’re not looking at the Sucker Punch/Swift pacing of Furret or anything. Instead, with Sucker Punch, you’re a turn behind Shadow Claw/Foul Play pacing (such as that on Sableye, or of course, Shadow Claw Zoroark).. Shadow Claw (generating 8 energy each) reaches exactly the 40 energy required for Foul Play after five Claws/10 turns (8 x 5 = 40), whereas Sucker Punch, generating 7 energy each, requires an additional fast move (7 x 5 = only 35, so 7 more exceeds 40 energy) and two additional PvP turns. After that, the pacing is mostly the same, with one more Claw or Punch getting to Night Shade, and one more fast move beyond that reaching the energy required for Sludge Bomb. But the coverage/closing move I think you really want instead is Flamethrower, as it has the most potential, despite also being the most expensive at 55 energy. It can usually beat everything the other two moves can plus bonuses like Tinkaton, Forretress, and Sableye.

However, all of this is academic, really… because Claw or Punch, Flamethrower or not, Zoroark just remains too flawed to work like you’d want it to, I am sorry to say.

GREAT LEAGUE

Exhibit #1: Shadow Claw is better than Community Day move Sucker Punch, at least situationally, such as in those examples of the very common 1v1 shielding matchups. Claw outraces Jellicent, Cramorant, Empoleon, Feraligatr, and Dark-resistant Tinkaton, whereas Sucker Punch can only claim Dondozo, Altaria, and Talonflame as unique wins, a +2 advantage overall for Claw… and still barely 10 wins even then. Ouch.

And while Sucker Punch shows better with shields down (compared to Shadow Claw, you gain Furret, Quagsire, and DDeoxys while giving up only Shadow Annihilape) and in 2v2 shielding (beating Cramorant, Fearow, Furret, Clodsire, Cradily, and Shadow Ninetales, none of which Shadow Claw can match), win totals of only 6 and 16 (respectively) are hardly impressive.

For the record, that’s only about a third of the Great League core meta in 2v2 shielding, and not even a fourth of that group in other even shield matchups. There is just a myriad of better Dark options out there, including other mono-Darks like Umbreon, Thievul, and even Mightyena, Alolan Persian, and even freaking Absol running circles around Zoroark.

ULTRA LEAGUE

Sorry, but no better here. I mean, it IS better than Shadow Claw, with new potential wins like Feraligatr, Swampert, and Talonflame, but I mean, we’re still talking less than a 25% winrate, amd not even 2v2 shielding can paint a rosier picture this time. And other mono-Darks still put it to absolute shame (not to even mention the wide range of dual-typed Darks that blow Zoroark completely out of the water).

IS THERE ANY HOPE?

Sadly… I don’t really see it. A possible future Shadow Zoroark with Sucker Punch is somehow even worse… IF you ever wanted to run it, Zoro would be better with Shadow Claw, it seems. Coverage and better spam are slim even in mainline games, and even the few coverage or 35-energy moves it could potentially gain in GO don’t really help. Some Pokémon are just fundamentally flawed, and at least with the way stats work in Pokémon GO, there may just not be any moves in the world that can save them. More than most, that seems to be the case with poor Zoroark. I just don’t see any reason to grind this for PvP… but go for those sweet shinies, of course!

IN CONCLUSION

Not much else to say, really! Zoroark is DOA, regardless of moves. (Shoulda been Hisuian Zoroark instead, but alas.) But have some fun with your locals this Community Day! Always up for that. 👍

Until next time, you can always find me on Twitter with regular GO analysis nuggets or Patreon.

Good luck on your grind, and catch you next time, Pokéfriends!