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Pokémon GO Announces Attack Updates For PVP Battles

It seems that the meta of PVP battles will remain ever-changing in Pokémon GO. As Niantic prepares for the second leg of GO Battle League Season Six, which will introduce the new Unova species Frillish as a GO Battle League-exclusive reward when players hit Rank 20, they have also announced a list of updates to current attacks. Some of these will buff attacks that had previously underperformed in PVP bouts, while other changes will nerf overpowered attacks in Pokémon GO. While some may be disappointed to find their favorite Pokémon's most effective move lose its dominance, this certainly does prevent the top rankings of species and moves from becoming stale. Here are the full details.

GO Batte League promo in Pokémon GO. Credit: Niantic
GO Batte League promo in Pokémon GO. Credit: Niantic

On the Pokémon GO official blog, Niantic announced the following changes to moves when applied in PVP battles. These changes include:

The following attacks will be updated for Trainer Battles.

Ember: This Fire-type Fast Attack will now deal more damage.

Karate Chop: This Fighting-type Fast Attack will now generate more energy.

Bubble: This Water-Type Fast Attack will now deal less damage.

Razor Leaf: This Grass-Type Fast Attack will now deal less damage.

Crabhammer: This Water-type Charged Attack will now deal more damage. Sky Attack: This Flying-type Charged Attack will now deal less damage.

Rock Slide: This Rock-type Charged Attack will now deal less damage.

Shadow Bone: This Ghost-type Charged Attack will now deal less damage.

The following attacks will be available to Pokémon that couldn't learn them before.

Fire-type Weather Ball: This powerful Fire-type attack will now be available to Vulpix and Ninetales originally discovered in the Kanto region.

Ice-type Weather Ball: This powerful Ice-type attack will now be available to Vulpix and Ninetales originally discovered in the Alola region.

Water-type Weather Ball: This powerful Water-type attack will now be available to Politoed.

Ice Punch: This powerful Ice-type attack will now be available to Primeape.

Ice Beam: This powerful Ice-type attack will now be available to Claydol.

Shadow Ball: This powerful Ghost-type attack will now be available to Claydol.

Tri Attack: This powerful Normal-type attack will now be available to Porygon-2.

Mud Shot: This powerful Ground-type Fast Attack will now be available to Excadrill.

For trainers either worried about Rock Slide dealing less damage in raids or excited that Crabhammer, one of the very best Water-type attacks, will do even better in raids, that will not be the case. These moves function completely differently in PVP battles, so the performance of these moves in raids will not be impacted. However, the Kanto and Alolan forms of Vulpix and Ninetails being able to learn new moves may indeed have an impact, though it's not expected to raise either form to the top of the Fire-type or Ice-type charts respectively.


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Theo DwyerAbout Theo Dwyer

Theo Dwyer writes about comics, film, and games.
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