Pokemon GO Water Festival 2019 Guide

With the latest Water Fest upon us, many trainers are trying to figure out their main priorities and goals for the event. We here at GamePress have compiled a list of Pokemon that we feel are the most useful among what has been confirmed/what is likely to appear for the event in hopes of streamlining your plans and helping you to focus your goals.

Event Information

• August 23rd, 2019 at 3 PM CDT to August 30th, 2019 at 3 PM CDT
• Blastoise, Vaporeon, Lapras, and more featured in raid battles
• A Legendary Raid Hour on August 28th featuring the Lake Trio
• Kingler and Crawdaunt will learn Crabhammer, a new Water-type charged attack (stats currently unknown)
• Water-type Pokemon will spawn more frequently in the wild
• Specific Pokemon will have their spawns increased around geographic areas with water:
• 2x Candy for Eggs
• 1/2 buddy distance for Water-type Pokemon

Infographic

The single most exciting aspect of the event is the release of the move Crabhammer. With Crabhammer, Kingler has suddenly and unexpectedly gone from nothing noteworthy to the new DPS king of the Water type, surpassing even Kyogre with its raw power!

Crawdaunt has less power behind it than Kingler, but even the Rogue Pokemon has seen tremendous gains, putting it near the top of the Water type meta and just a tad behind Kingler.

Crabhammer is an unexpectedly powerful move, surpassing even the lauded Sky Attack in sheer power. Crabhammer is so powerful in the PVE Metagame that it's instantly turned the Water type metagame on its head once again, as all of the Pokemon that can learn it have become the DPS kings of the type, even beating out the legendary Kyogre in this aspect.

On the PVP side, Crabhammer leaves a bit to be desired. It requires 50 energy to dish out 75 power, and has a 12.5% chance to raise attack by two stages. It's not terrible, but it's not making waves. In truth, this fact doesn't matter much, as both Kingler and Krabby are built more for PVE than PVP.

Milotic is a good gym defender and can perform in higher PVP leagues. On top of this, many trainers will need Feebas candy for their Jirachi Special Research.

One of the current top Water attackers in the game, Gyarados is definitely worth focusing on if you need to shore up your PVE team.

Whiscash is a great option for the Great League. While many may think that it’s outclassed by Hydro Cannon Swampert at this point, its ability to throw out Ground-type moves faster keeps it firm in its own niche.

Just like Whiscash, Quagsire keeps its own niche open in the Great League despite Swampert sharing its typing thanks to different coverage options, including a potentially tricky playstyle with Acid Spray.

Not quite as useful in the Great League, Mantine can perform well in some limited typing formats. Unless you find one with extremely good PVP IVs, it might be better to hatch or trade for a Mantyke, as its second charged move is cheaper to unlock due to being a Baby Pokemon.

The fan-favorite Ludicolo has some niche uses in the Great League, in particular in limited-type formats and Silph leagues.

Yet another Pokemon with niche uses in Silph leagues, Qwilfish has some use due to its tricky play-style and good typing.

While not useful now, Empoleon will have some niches once it inevitably learns Hydro Cannon on its community day. It might be worth seeing if you can find a few good ones in preparation.

Lanturn is an absolute staple in the Great League due to its remarkable ability to shore up weaknesses in many teams and perform very well while doing so. If Chinchou appears alongside its Water brothers in the event, it’s worth hunting for a good one.

Azumarill is one of the absolute best Pokemon in the Great League without any doubt. If you don’t already have one raised and Marill starts showing up for the event, then it’s definitely worth prioritizing. Unless you find one with extremely good PVP IVs, it might be better to hatch or trade for an Azurill, as its second charged move is cheaper to unlock due to being a Baby Pokemon.

If you missed its Community Day, don’t worry too much; we’ll likely have a re-do this December like we did last year. Swampert is fantastic in PVP and PVE without a doubt, just be sure to wait to evolve it until it can learn Hydro Cannon again.

Again; Tentacruel is a niche pick for the Great League, but it can slot into a team with specific weaknesses and help quite a bit if played to its strengths.

Needless to say, every trainer will have unique priorities and goals for this event, with some aiming for Pokemon not listed here. This guide isn’t trying to say that these are the only Pokemon worth hunting, rather it’s here in order to point out the ones that are currently projected to be the most potentially useful looking forward. Note that a number of Pokemon on this list are listed for PVP reasons; even if you don’t play PVP right now, we encourage you to at least consider them for the future, as PVP is likely to become more important moving forward.