How good is Hoopa Unbound in Pokemon GO?

Hoopa Unbound's arrival marks the end of the Season of Mischief (Image via Niantic)
Hoopa Unbound's arrival marks the end of the Season of Mischief (Image via Niantic)

The finale of the Season of Mischief in Pokemon GO is going to give trainers access to a much more powerful version of Hoopa.

Just like in the main series games, Hoopa will be getting its Unbound form in Pokemon GO. Trainers will need to feed 10,000 Stardust and 50 Hoopa candy for this change, but there will be another necessary item to change form. This could be the Prison Bottle, which is what Hoopa uses to transform in the main series games.


New version of Hoopa to be very powerful in Pokemon GO

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First of all, Hoopa unbound gets a huge buff in typing. Whereas Hoopa Confined has a Psychic and Ghost typing, Hoopa Unbound swaps out the Ghost type for Dark.

Both of these types take away weaknesses from each other. The Dark type takes away Psychic’s weakness to Dark and Ghost, whereas Psychic takes away Dark’s weakness to Fighting.

As a result, there are only two types that hit Hoopa Unbound for super effective damage: Bug and Fairy. Bug does hit Hoopa Unbound for double super effective damage (256% power), but Bug types are not as common. It’s not like Butterfrees and Vivillions are running around Master League nowadays.

Statistically, Hoopa catapults itself to the top echelon of glass cannons. Its 310 Attack stat is higher than even Mewtwo’s. As such, it will be one of the best Raid attackers in the game.

Hoopa Unbound's Attack is even higher than Mewtwo's (Image via The Pokemon Company)
Hoopa Unbound's Attack is even higher than Mewtwo's (Image via The Pokemon Company)

In terms of movepool, Hoopa gets a huge tool in the quick move Confusion. This move deals massive DPS that will do even more damage coming from a Pokemon as strong as Hoopa Unbound.

For charge moves, it should be running Psychic to pair with Confusion as a Psychic-type Raid attacker. From there, trainers can decide between Shadow Ball and Dark Pulse.

Each move has its advantages. Shadow Ball does way more damage, but Dark Pulse has better coverage.

All things considered, Hoopa Unbound will easily be one of the strongest offensive Pokemon in the game. It will compete with Mewtwo for best Psychic-type Raid attacker. It is quite frail for a Pokemon that will likely be used in Master League, but its sheer power will still make it viable in that meta.

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