Introduction
The GoFest 2020 promotional image included a number of Generation 6 Pokémon, and that means it’s reasonable to start thinking about what they might mean for the game!
Methodology:
At the time of writing, none of these Pokémon are even in the Game Master file, and that means this is all speculation. While we know each Pokémon’s stats (as GO just uses a converted version of the main series stats), that’s all we really know for sure. Stat product was calculated via Kieng's Great League Stat Product Calculator. Do note that the exact stat product listed might not be exactly right, but it was the highest I could find, and it should give a reasonable sense of where the Pokémon lies.
As for moves, I referenced PokemonDb to identify all moves that each Pokémon can learn in the main series. Since Pokémon in GO only learn a subset of their main series moves, we can at least see what they might learn. For the sake of not making you read “And it learns Hidden Power and Hyper Beam!” every time, the only moves included on this list will be ones with meaningful potential utility.
Top Pokémon
Type: Steel/Ghost
Max CP: 1,595
Optimal Great League Stat Product: 2,689 with 8/15/15 IVs, bulkier than Bastiodon
Fast Moves: Fury Cutter, Shadow Claw, Psycho Cut,
Charged Moves: Aerial Ace, Iron Head, Night Slash, Sacred Sword, Rock Slide, Shadow Ball, Close Combat, Flash Cannon
Utility: Great League
Aegislash has some absolutely incredible moves to choose from, with unbelievably powerful coverage. While it doesn’t really have good Steel-type charged moves, it doesn’t really need them. Shadow Claw + Shadow Ball and Close Combat/Sacred Sword would be incredible.
There are two major caveats to this, though. First: This uses Aegislash’s Gen 6 stats, with 150/150 defenses. In Sword and Shield, they were dropped to 140/140, which (in PoGo) drops its defense from 291 to 272, and its optimal stat product to 2598. To be clear, that’s still insanely good, just not quite as insanely good.
The second caveat is that Aegislash has two forms, the other (Sword Forme) has flipped Attack and Defense, and that is exactly the opposite of what you’d want for PvP. In the main series, Aegislash starts in Shield Forme, switches to Sword Forme when you use an attack move, and then returns to Shield Forme again when using its signature move, King’s Shield. At the moment, no Pokémon in GO has the ability to change forms within battle, so it’s questionable as to how this would work for Aegislash. If it’s only ever Shield Forme, it’s a beast. If there’s a chance you flip to Sword partway through, the mon may be much less useful.
Type: Rock/Fairy
Max CP: 1,467
Optimal Great League Stat Product: 2,473 with 15/15/15 IVs, comparable to Umbreon
Fast Moves: Rock Throw, Smack Down
Charged Moves: Stone Edge, Moonblast, Earth Power, Psychic, Rock Slide
Utility: Great League
While it only has a few moves to choose from, a lot of them are potentially really good. Carbink is incredibly bulky, which automatically makes it really noteworthy for Great League. Rock/Fairy typing allows it to completely wall out Altaria. However, being weak to Water, Grass, and Ground, and being 4x weak to Steel doesn’t exactly put it in a great position against the rest of the Great League metagame, where Azumarill, Registeel, and mudbois run wild. It has a lot of inherent raw power, but its meta positioning might just not be great.
Type: Normal/Ground
Max CP: 1,509
Optimal Great League Stat Product: 2,247 with 14/15/15 IVs, bulk between Munchlax and Steelix
Fast Moves: Mud Slap, Mud Shot
Charged Moves: Earthquake, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch, Rock Slide, Sand Tomb, Body Slam, Sludge Bomb, Superpower, Earth Power, Gunk Shot, Stone Edge, Wild Charge, Grass Knot
Utility: Great League
Diggersby is bulky. That means it can take hits. It also has the potential for a fantastic movepool. Mud Shot + Body Slam gives the fastest Body Slam spam rate in the game, one every 8 turns (4 seconds). This is a step up over Galarian Linoone’s Body Slam once every 9 turns (4.5 seconds). While it lacks the shield-independent fast move pressure of something like Vigoroth’s Counter/Body Slam setup, the speed is something special! If you pair that with Earth Power to cover Steel-types, you’re basically set! Think of it as a third in the eternal war between Vigoroth players and Munchlax players.
Type: Ice
Max CP: 3,198
Optimal Great League Stat Product: 2,023 with 1/15/15 IVs, comparable to Linoone
Fast Moves: Powder Snow, Ice Fang
Charged Moves: Body Slam, Icy Wind, Blizzard, Skull Bash, Rock Slide, Avalanche, Surf, Ice Beam, Earthquake, Superpower, Iron Head, Stone Edge, Heavy Slam
Utility: Great League, Ultra League
As bad as Ice-type is defensively, Avalugg is thick. With Powder Snow, and the potential to get incredible moves like Avalanche, Icy Wind, Body Slam, and great coverage like Superpower, it might be able to overcome the Ice-type curse and make a name for itself.
Type: Rock/Ice
Max CP: 2,803
Optimal Great League Stat Product: 2,000 with 0/12/13 IVs, comparable to Linoone
Fast Moves: Powder Snow, Rock Throw, Dragon Tail
Charged Moves: Icy Wind, Avalanche, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Earthquake, Psychic, Stone Edge, Rock Slide, Dark Pulse, Flash Cannon, Discharge, Earth Power, Iron Head, Outrage, Dark Pulse
Utility: Great League, Ultra League
Really good collection of moves and solid bulk. The only thing holding it back is its awful defensive typing. On the plus side, there aren’t really any powerful Pokémon with Steel-damage in Great or Ultra Lea-wait. Sorry, what? Regi-who?…..my bad. It’s dead in the water. However, the fact that it could get such incredible moves as Icy Wind and Avalanche could give it some real potential in restricted formats, like a Silph cup!
Type: Dragon
Max CP: 2,037
OGLSP: 1,985 with 1/15/15 IVs, comparable to Ninetales
Fast Moves: Dragon Breath, Water Gun, Counter, Mud Shot
Charged Moves: Acid Spray, Body Slam, Muddy Water, Rock Slide, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Thunderbolt, Sludge Bomb, Outrage, Dragon Pulse, Sludge Wave
Utility: Great League
Sliggoo seems like a mon pretty comparable to Zweilous. With a bit more bulk, and access to the same Dragon Breath + Body Slam moveset. Its actual usefulness would come down to what secondary charged move it gets. If it learns something like Sludge Bomb or Thunderbolt to let it more effectively fight back against Azumarill or Registeel (without even considering the potential power from Counter!), it might be even better!
Type: Dragon
Max CP: 3,506
Fast Moves: Dragon Breath, Water Gun, Counter, Mud Shot
Charged Moves: Aqua Tail, Acid Spray, Body Slam, Power Whip, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Rock Slide, Weather Ball, Flamethrower, Hydro Pump, Surf, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Earthquake, Fire Blast, Sludge Bomb, Superpower, Focus Blast, Sludge Wave, Draco Meteor
Utility: Ultra League, Master League
So Goodra’s interesting. As you’d expect from an evolution, it’s kinda like Big Sliggoo. Biggoo, if you would. It has the same fast move options, but with a significantly improved charged move pool. As with pretty much every single Dragon-type in Master League, though, it has one big issue: it’s not Dialga. As a Dragon-type that takes Super Effective damage from other Dragons, it’s often really hard to justify including it in a team. But who knows! Maybe! In Ultra, depending on what moves it gets (looking at you, Fire Punch and Earthquake), it could also stand out!
Type: Fairy
Max CP: 2,341
OGLSP: 1,960 with 0/13/15 IVs, comparable to Wigglytuff
Fast Moves: Charm
Charged Moves: Psychic, Moonblast, Thunderbolt, Psyshock, Energy Ball, Flash Cannon
Utility: Great League
Another mon in the list of Charm users. It doesn’t really do much to stand out among the crowd, necessarily. It could learn the same Charm + Psyshock moveset that Alolan Ninetales has, but drops the Ice typing, which could be situationally helpful. Secondary coverage with something like Thunderbolt or Energy Ball could let it hold a bit more of a niche, but with Charm’s low energy generation it isn’t likely to matter that much.
Type: Grass
Max CP: 2,798
OGLSP: 1,891 with 0/12/12 IVs, comparable to Ivysaur
Fast Moves: Vine Whip, Razor Leaf
Charged Moves: Leaf Blade, Earthquake, Grass Knot, Energy Ball, Wild Charge, Surf, Superpower, Rock Slide
Utility: Great League, Ultra League
While the stats aren’t overwhelmingly good, the movepool almost is? Vine Whip + Leaf Blade would automatically give Gogoat a niche, and the possibility of something like Wild Charge or Rock Slide as secondary coverage to beat Flying-types would make it stand out among other Grass-types in a big way. In Ultra League, it could run Earthquake in a Meganium impression to help it handle Registeel.
Type: Fighting/Flying
Max CP: 2,410
OGLSP: 1,775 with 0/14/15 IVs, comparable to Hitmonchan
Fast Moves: Wing Attack, Poison Jab
Charged Moves: Sky Attack, Flying Press, Aerial Ace, Cross Chop, Rock Slide, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Fly, Superpower, Close Combat, X-Scissor, Brave Bird, Iron Head, Stone Edge Grass Knot
Utility: Great League, Ultra League
There are two total Pokémon in the whole series that can learn Flying Press (a 90 Power/40 Energy Fighting-type move): Pikachu wearing its Libre costume, which you can receive for hitting Rank 10 in GO Battle League, and Hawlucha. This means that Hawlucha is all but guaranteed to learn it, and the sheer power of that move is enough to give the mon a niche. While it’s not the bulkiest mon in the world, that doesn’t matter given the sheer rate at which it can power out high Fighting-type damage. If Niantic is willing to give it Sky Attack for dual STAB, Hawlucha could be a massive threat in both the Great and Ultra Leagues.
Type: Psychic/Dark
Max CP: 3,995
Fast Moves: Confusion
Charged Moves: Shadow Ball, Psychic, Foul Play, Dark Pulse, Thunderbolt, Energy Ball, Grass Knot, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch, Gunk Shot
Utility: Master League
Hoopa-Unbound’s Psychic/Dark-typing is...uncommon. It has a triple resistance to Psychic, but no resistances to anything else. This means it will generally have to rely on raw stats to stand out. On the plus side, though, it has a lot of raw stats! With a 310 Attack stat (10 higher than Mewtwo’s!), and a very broad charged move pool, it can hit incredibly hard. It does have a signature move in Hyperspace Fury, a strong Dark-type move, which (depending on its stats) could give it yet another really nice boost. Keep in mind that its low bulk could leave it in a similar position to something like Darkrai, where it’s too prone to getting Dragon Breath’d down by Dialga to really accomplish much.
Hoopa also has a Psychic/Ghost "Confined" form, with significantly reduced offensive stats and a different signature move: the Psychic-type Hyperspace Hole. A 4x weakness to Ghost (hi, Giratina) doesn't exactly make Hoopa-C better than Hoopa-U, so unless Hyperspace Hole is significantly more broken than Hyperspace Fury, you can probably write that one off as just a worse version.
Type: Dark
Max CP: 3,782
Fast Moves: Snarl, Air Slash, Sucker Punch, Shadow Claw
Charged Moves: Dark Pulse, Foul Play, Sky Attack, Psychic, Dragon Claw, Shadow Ball, Rock Slide, Focus Blast
Utility: Master League
The first thing you’ll notice is that Yveltal has basically every move it could want. It has the potential to get Snarl + Foul Play and Sky Attack, giving it great speed and power. While Yveltal doesn't fit cleanly into the existing Master League format as either a new meta or antimeta option, it seems like an incredibly solid pick that won't lead you wrong!
Type: Fire/Water
Max CP: 3,629
Fast Moves: Smack Down, Hidden Power, Take Down, Rock Smash, Cut
Charged Moves: Weather Ball, Body Slam, Overheat, Solar Beam, Earthquake, Sludge Wave, Flamethrower, Sludge Bomb, Fire Blast, Focus Blast, Rock Slide, Flash Cannon, Earth Power
Utility: Master League
Volcanion’s the only Pokémon with its incredibly unique Fire/Water typing, which is cool! Its Charged Move pool is also incredible, with crazy coverage and technically the potential for either Weather Ball Fire or Weather Ball Water (if we’re incredibly lucky). However, the Steam Pokémon is meaningfully held back by its fast move pool. Like, those are it. And Smack Down is the only one of those that isn’t just straight up bad. But the fact that it has so many unique aspects to it might be good enough to give it a real niche in Master League!
Type: Ground/Dragon
Max CP: 3,410
Fast Moves: Dragon Breath, Dragon Tail, Bite
Charged Moves: Crunch, Earthquake, Outrage, Sludge Wave, Focus Blast, Stone Edge, Rock Slide, Grass Knot, Draco Meteor, Earth Power, Superpower
Utility: Ultra League, Master League
Zygarde’s a kinda weird one. It has 3 different forms, with different stats. 10% and 50% are basically unique forms, whereas Complete is the result of a Zygarde with the Power Construct ability dropping below 50% health and gaining massive stats and turning into a massive dragon mecha thing. It also has 4 different signature moves: Land’s Wrath, Thousand Waves, Thousand Arrows, and Core Enforcer. The first three are Ground-type, and Core Enforcer is Dragon-type. The important thing is, Niantic could do whatever they want with those. And with Dragon Breath, Zygarde already has immediate potential in PvP! Pairing that with anything else could make it even more exciting!
Dishonorable Mention
Just one. Literally just one.
Type: Fairy
Max CP: 3,782
Fast Moves: Zen Headbutt, Hidden Power
Charged Moves: Moonblast, Megahorn, Night Slash, Outrage, Close Combat, Psyshock, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Psychic, Focus Blast, Rock Slide, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon, Dazzling Gleam
Utility: Making me unhappy.
Xerneas doesn’t have any good fast moves. This is it, man. Zen Headbutt and Hidden Power are the only moves that Xerneas can learn in the main series that are Fasts in Pokémon GO. So unless Niantic goes out of their way to make its signature move, Geomancy, into a Fast Move, or make a new Fast Move just for Xerneas, Xerneas is going to be Ho-Oh part 2, and that would be really disappointing. All those awesome charged moves? Pointless. The stats? Pointless. The fact that Xerneas could be the strongest Fairy-type in the game? Pointless. All we can do is hope that something happens to make the Life Pokémon not so dead on arrival.
Conclusion
It doesn’t exactly look like Gen 6 is set up to totally warp the PvP metagame. That said, it’s got a few really interesting Pokémon that could totally make names for themselves across different formats. Aegislash, with its massive bulk, great defensive typing, and incredible movepool is likely the mon with the most potential impact on Great League, and Zygarde (especially if Complete Forme is accessible) is likely the strongest new mon in Master. As for Ultra League, it doesn’t look like there’s anything likely to break the three top threats in Cresselia, Registeel, and Giratina. Maybe Gogoat as a new Swampert counter?
Either way, though, the advent of gen 6 is super exciting! I can’t wait to see what moves all these Pokémon actually get, and how Mega Evolutions will work, and whether or not Xerneas will actually get a fast move!
