Monday, September 9, 2019

Mewtwo's Moves in Pokemon Go

Today we will be discussing Mewtwo in Pokemon Go. More specifically Mewtwo's moves. With shiny Mewtwo's release in about a week, along with it's signature move, psystrike, I thought that this would be an excellently timed topic to discuss. Additionally, please note that I will only be discussing Mewtwo's use in PvE, and not PvP. However, before we get into the main point, let's look at Mewtwo itself.
A legendary Pokemon, originally only obtainable through special EX raids, and only in regular raids at one point for a month, Mewtwo is relatively hard to obtain. This is for good reason, as it is incredibly powerful.
Mewtwo has an attack stat of 300 in Pokemon Go, unparalleled by any other with bulk enough to perform well- I'm looking at you Deoxys. It has a defense stat of 182, a stamina, or health, stat of 214, and a max CP of 4178.
Psycho Cut and Confusion make up it's two fast moves. Neither is necessarily better, and both have specific uses. Since Psycho Cut has better energy gain, whereas Confusion has better damage output, generally use Confusion verses Pokemon weak to Psychic and Psycho Cut against everything else.
Now, on to the main topic; what charge moves to use.
Mewtwo has access to 7 total charge moves; 5 in its current move pool, and 2 legacy moves. Its legacy moves are Hyper Beam and Shadow Ball. Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Focus Blast, and Psychic make up its currently accessible move set. Psytrike will join the party in about 2 weeks.
Hyper Beam:
Hyper Beam is a 1 bar normal type move. It has a base power of 150, and deals 1.5 damage per energy. A cooldown of 3.8 seconds means that you will wait an eternity before using another Psycho Cut or Confusion, and being normal type it can never be super effective. Hyper Beam is a flat out bad move and has absolutely no use on Mewtwo.
Shadow Ball:
Shadow Ball is a 2 bar ghost type move. It deals 2 DPE, and has a base power of 100. A cooldown of 3 seconds seals the deal on it being a direct upgrade from Hyper Beam. It deals super effective damage against Psychic and Ghost type Pokemon. Shadow Ball is a fantastic move, and has the best neutral DPS of Mewtwo's charge move. Mewtwo with Shadow Ball is the 3rd best Ghost type attacker in Pokemon Go. If you have a legacy Shadow Ball Mewtwo, it is an excellent choice.
Flamethrower:
Flamethrower is a 2 bar fire type move. It has a base power of 70 and deals 1.4 DPE. It has a cooldown of 2.2 seconds and is super effective against  Grass, Bug, Ice, and Steel type Pokemon. Flamethrower is a relatively poor move, and brings little to the table for Mewtwo as many fire types beat it out for raids. Additionally, there are few common gym defenders weak to fire types. It's probably best to avoid Flamethrower. 
Thunderbolt:
Thunderbolt is a 2 bar electric type move. It deals 1.6 DPE and has a base power of 80. It has a cooldown of 2.5 seconds, and is super effective against flying and water type Pokemon. Thunderbolt makes Mewtwo the 6th best electric type attacker for raids, and water types are fairly common gym defenders. Thunderbolt is not the most optimal Mewtwo charge move, but as a second move for gym sweeping or to sure up a electric team it can be used.
Ice Beam:
Ice Beam is a ice type two bar move. It has a base power of 90 and deals 1.8 DPE. It has a cooldown of 3.3 seconds, and is super effective against grass, ground, dragon, and flying type Pokemon. Ice Beam makes Mewtwo the fourth best ice type for raids, and dragons are regularly seen as gym defenders. Ice Beam is a decent first choice, but powering up a Mewtwo specifically to fulfill a ice type role is somewhat foolish as it is beat out by more easily obtained Mamoswine, Weavile, and Glaceon. However, as a second move, Ice Beam is a excellent choice.
Focus Blast:
Focus Blast is a one bar fighting type move. It has 140 base power and deals 1.4 DPE. Focus Blast is super effective against normal, ice, steel, dark, and rock type Pokemon, and has a cooldown of 3.5 seconds. For raids, Mewtwo with Focus Blast is not relevant. Focus Blast should not be your move of choice on Mewtwo on it's own. However, normal types are common, powerful gym defenders. As a second move for gym sweeping, Focus Blast is a interesting and viable choice.
Psychic:
Psychic is a one bar psychic type move. It has a base power of 100 and deals 1 DPE. It is super effective against poison and fighting type Pokemon, and has a cooldown of 2.8 seconds. Objectively, Psychic is a bad move. However, Psychic does get STAB, and is Mewtwo's only current psychic type move. Additionally, Mewtwo will likely never be outclassed as a psychic type attacker.
Psystrike:
Psystrike is Mewtwo's signature move. It is not currently available, but will be in about a week. Please note that because it is not yet released, it's stats are subject to change. It is a 2 bar psychic type move. It deals 100 base damage and 2 DPE. It has a cooldown of 4.4 seconds. It will beat out Psychic, but not by much. It's main problem is it's long cooldown.

Mewtwo has some phenomenal moves, and some less optimal moves. All considered, my top single moves would be Psychic/Psystrike, Shadow Ball, and Ice Beam. My top double move sets would be Psycho Cut, Ice Beam and Shadow Ball, Psycho Cut, Shadow Ball and Thunderbolt, and Confusion, Ice Beam and Psychic/Psystrike. The main reasons I don't have more occurances of Psychic/Psystrike within this moveset are that psychic types are not commonly used, and Shadow Ball does not synchronize well with Psychic/Psystrike because often times Pokemon weak to Shadow Ball resist psychic types, so Psycho Cut is far preferable for use with Shadow Ball. Another possible move set would be Psycho Cut, Shadow Ball and Focus Blast for sweeping gyms.


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