Winners of the Gen 5 Movepool Update
Niantic has updated the Game Master with movepools for Generation 5, and initial impressions are promising. This article will take a closer look at the winners of this Game Master update.
Notable Moveset(s): Counter/Dynamic Punch
Conkeldurr is a strict upgrade over the current king of Fighting-types, Machamp. With the same incredible moveset of Counter/Dynamic Punch, higher Attack, and more overall bulk, Conkeldurr will do everything Machamp currently does, but a little better.
Notable Moveset(s): Dragon Tail/Outrage
Kyurem-Black's stats are so high that it reaches a max CP of 4596 - and that's after the 9% base stat nerf. Even with suboptimal Dragon-type moves, its base stats would have made it competitive with Rayquaza. With Dragon Tail/Outrage, Kyurem-Black is unquestionably the best Dragon type, being roughly 10% stronger than Rayquaza.
Notable Moveset(s): Bite/Dark Pulse
Hydreigon is a straight upgrade over Tyranitar. While its DPS doesn't quite reach Weavile's, it's significantly bulkier, and its Dragon-typing gives it a large list of resistances to play around with. The unreleased Mythical Darkrai will be significantly better than Hydreigon, though.
Notable Moveset(s): Charge Beam/Wild Charge, Dragon Breath/Outrage
Charge Beam is a mediocre Fast Move; however, Wild Charge is the best Charge Move that Zekrom could have hoped for. Wild Charge paired with monstrous base stats leaves Zekrom as the #1 Electric-type by far, being significantly bulkier than Electivire and having significantly higher DPS than Raikou.
As a Dragon-type, Zekrom struggles to stand out from the rest of the Dragons; not having Dragon Tail hurts its performance compared to the other Dragon titans.
Notable Movesets: Mud Shot/Earth Power, Rock Throw/Rock Slide
The genie of healthy meta makes his way into Pokemon Go, and it is just as powerful here as it is in the OU metagame. With Mud Shot/Earth Power, Lando-T obliterates Groudon as a Ground-type attacker. Even the projected Precipice Blades Groudon doesn't quite reach Lando-T's level of performance.
An amazing Rock-type moveset in Rock Throw/Rock Slide also allows Landorus to flex as a Rock-type attacker; despite lacking STAB, Lando-T outperforms Smack Down Tyranitar, and is behind only Terrakion and Rampardos in the Rock-type department.
Notable Movesets: Smack Down/Rock Slide
Terrakion is the clear #2 Rock-type. It doesn't quite reach Rampardos' insane DPS, but it is much bulkier and has significantly higher DPS than Tyranitar and Rhyperior.
Notable Movesets: Bug Bite/Bug Buzz, Fire Spin/Overheat
Volcarona received pretty much optimal moves for both its types. Backed by very high base stats, Volcarona will be the undisputed #1 Bug-type, above even the Mythical Genesect. On the Fire side, Volcarona will be a very solid but not quite the best option, landing around Moltres' level of performance. Fellow Unova Fire-types Chandelure and Reshiram as well as Blast Burn Blaziken will all outdo Volcarona as a Fire-type.
Notable Moveset(s): Fire Fang/Overheat, Dragon Breath/Draco Meteor
Fire Fang is not as good a Fast Move as Fire Spin; however, Overheat is among the best Fire-type Charge Moves, and Reshiram's Base 275 Attack allows it to brute-force its way to the top of the Fire-type hierarchy. In terms of raw DPS, it competes with Blast Burn Blaziken, but Reshiram is much bulkier than Blaziken.
As a Dragon, much like Zekrom, there is simply too much competition among other Dragons for Reshiram to really stand out.
Notable Movesets: Fire Spin/Overheat, Hex/Shadow Ball
Fire Spin/Overheat is the flagship Fire-type moveset, and Chandelure's base 271 Attack is well above average. Put the two together, and you have a Fire-type monster that is only outperformed by Blast Burn Blaziken and Reshiram.
As a Ghost-type attacker, Chandelure is a welcomed addition to a pool that consists mostly of Legendaries (Giratina-O) and Legacy Pokemon (Lick/Shadow Ball Gengar, Shadow Ball Mewtwo). Chandelure has higher DPS than Giratina, but lower bulk; compared to Gengar, it has lower DPS, but higher bulk.
Notable Movesets: Mud Slap/Drill Run
In terms of base stats, Excadrill is far below Groudon. The difference: Excadrill got Drill Run, while Groudon is stuck with the terrible Earthquake. The result: Excadrill solidly outperforms Groudon most of the time, and is the clear 2nd-best Ground-type behind Landorus-T.