Ho-Oh use in raids.
Actually, only use for Ho-Oh I see, is to be 100% counter to Machamp (something like Poliwrath for Tyranitar; always deal SE DMG, and always get NVE, or Ursaring for Snorlax; deal SE DMG, and get neutral or 2x NVE from Snorlax fast move, when Machamp get SE or neutral). But, someone can see any another use for this mon in raids? I catch this one, and I want to power him up, but if only use for him is to be counter to Machamp, I wait until gen 3 release.
https://pokemongo.gamepress.gg/76476/raid-lvl20-machamp-counter-atk-1517-def-1721-hp-122
Answers
People keep talking vaguely about how his "monstrous stats" will make him a great attacker. His stats are NOT that monstrous.
Ho-Oh's only stat that could be called "monstrous" is his defense. While not as high as Lugia's (or Cloyster's or Steelix's), it is one of the highest defense stats in the game.
Ho-Oh's stamina stat is well down the list, not only falling well short of Snorlax's, Lapras's, Vaporeon's, and Rhydon's, but also lagging behind Muk, Piloswine, and T-tar. Exeggutor and Gyarados, among others, have almost identical stamina stats to Ho-Oh.
Ho-Oh's attack stat is well below that of Alakazam, Dragonite, Gengar, Espeon, and T-tar. It is about the same as Kingler, Gyarados, Ursaring, Scizor, and Exeggutor. All of these except Kingler have vastly superior movesets to Ho-Oh.
Machamp wasn't nearly as effective when his best moveset was karate chop / cross chop, and that moveset is a whole lot better than anything Ho-Oh has. The point is that a crappy moveset will greatly diminish the effectiveness of an attacker, regardless of stats, just as a really great moveset can make a mediocre pokemon great (e.g. compare double-rock Omastar with Kabutops or Aerodactyl).
It made sense to impose a de facto nerf on Ho-Oh by giving him crappy movesets back when his CP was 4600+. The moves prevented him from potentially completely unbalancing the game at that level. Now, with the 3800+ max CP, the crappy moves make him less effective than mons with lower overall stats but good movesets (DT/O Dragonite, B/C or B/SE T-tar, or even Machamp, Golem, Gyarados, or Exeggutor).
Let's hope Niantic realizes they went too far, and gives Ho-Oh some decent STAB moves sometime soon.
And to a lesser extent, a similar argument could be made for Mewtwo. Shouldn't Mewtwo at least have the strongest psychic charge attack in the game? Yet, his only psychic move (psychic) has less power than Alakazam's or Espeon's future sight.
Well but its attack stronger than a lot of defenders or tank attackers like >Lugia, Lapras, Snorlax, Vapo, Cloys, Muk……
Its defense higher than a lot of strong pokemon like Lapras, Ttar, Dnite, Vapo, Espeon, Azar, Eggy……
Its HP is higher than many mons. Such as Espeon, Azar, Dnite, Genger, Steelix……
Its not fair to use its stat to compare with the top of att/def/sta. Overall, its stat is great than most pokemon.
This is apparently another use for Ho-oh, as stated by the "Ho-oh and its Place in the Meta" guide from GamePress. Although, I haven't actually tested it out myself to confirm this, as I've yet to power up my Ho-oh. Be that as it may, other Pokémon fulfill the role more efficiently (Machamp, Moltres, Heracross, Entei, etc.). So sad, really. Why would Niantic make Ho-oh, of all Pokémon, the second current highest CP in the game, this useless? These nerfs were uncalled for.
I didn't get a Moltres, didn't have a raid group until just before Raikou left the US. So I'd like a SW/FB Ho-Oh to fill that role - flying fire legendary. Not quite as good, but tankier.
And to those of you who say FB isn't a good move, well, you're just wrong. It does 140 base damage, and is fairly quick. The fact that Overheat does 20 more damage and is a little quicker doesn't make FB bad, it makes Overheat better. FB does more damage than Future Sight, Hydro Pump, Hurricane, Earthquake, and many other attacks that are considered good.
Yes, Overheat is better. But Fire Blast is still a good attack.
"Fairly quick?" Fire blast is one of the slowest moves in the game, with a long duration, and a late damage window. Only solar beam is slower among current one-bar charge moves. Fire blast is slower than even the notoriously easy-to-dodge hyper beam, which does more damage. It's considerably slower than focus blast and zap cannon, which do the same damage, and way slower than hydro pump, which does minimally less damage (130 vs. 140) but is almost a full second faster and has a very early damage window.
Hurricane and future sight are on a completely different level in terms of speed and early dodge window. Future sight is great because it is fast, hits quickly after launch, and is used by some of the most powerful attackers in the game.
I'll concede earthquake, which is a little faster but does less damage than fire blast (120 vs. 140 damage; 3.6 vs. 4.2 second cooldown), but nobody thinks earthquake is a great move other than the fact that it is the strongest available charge move against electrics. Fire blast is probably better than moonblast as well, but that isn't saying a whole lot.
If you think fire blast is a good move, then you must live in Lake Woebegon, where every child is above average.
But, if you want a flying fire type, and you don't have a Moltres, or a Charizard with overheat, than sure, fire blast on Ho-Oh is your best option.
