Power Whip vs Solar Beam

I mean, it's 120 damage versus 70 damage.

They use 100 energy both. That' the problem for PW.

SB makes 120 in 4,90sec
PW makes 70 in 2,8sec so Tangela can uses 3 more VW during the 2,1sec left compared to SB. That makes 21 more damage (3VWx7)

120>>91

Both are 100 energy moves. Solar Beam increases the combined average of your quick and charge moves more than Power Whip does mainly due to its higher damage, so you end up doing more damage over a long period of time than with Power Whip.

Empirically, the mon that has both of these in Tangela, which I use for prestiging. I much prefer SB over PW, as it takes the same amount of time to power up, yet I can typically get close to a kill shot in with the SB, while the PW seems to only do half the damage ... actually .58 of the damage.

In theory, making it a choice between higher damage over more time, or higher DPS is a nice idea. But I think Power Whip and Heat Wave should both have much lower time so they are closer to almost 30 DPS. That would make both of them much more viable alternatives to Solar Beam and Fire Blast. (The fact that Heat Wave actually deals less damage and has lower DPS than Fire Blast is pretty sad.)

An important point to consider, however, is the effect of dodging and energy waste. If you're saving Solar Beam for the cooldown of an enemy's charge move you are wasting energy, and losing DPS. In these scenarios, Power Whip edges slightly closer to the "real world" DPS of SoB.

I have a crew of 5 Tangelas ranging from 1221 to 1247 CP. These guys are absolutely amazing for prestiging. 4 have Solar Beam, 1 has Power Whip, he's by far the red headed step child of the crew... Math aside, you hit the full bar Power Whip and your like, that's it?

Of all of the long 1-bar charge moves, Solar Beam is my favorite. (Thunder 2nd.)