Is Quaquaval with Hydro Cannon and Aqua Step good in Pokemon GO PvP and PvE?

Quaquaval with Hydro Cannon and Aqua Step debuts in Pokemon GO on July 19, 2025, as part of the Quaxly Community Day. While Hydro Cannon is an event-exclusive attack, Aqua Step can be learned by Quaquaval at any point after the event using a regular TM.

Both Hydro Cannon and Aqua Step are Water-type moves. The former is a 90-damage move with a two-second cooldown in PvE while it deals 80 damage for 40 energy in PvP. The latter is a 55-damage move with a cooldown of 3.5 in PvE. In PvP, it deals 55 damage and boosts the user's Attack by one stage for 40 energy.

At the outset, you should know that Quaquaval with Hydro Cannon and Aqua Step in Pokemon GO is not dramatically better than it was before it got these moves. This article discusses why.

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Is Quaquaval with Hydro Cannon and Aqua Step worth using in Pokemon GO PvP?

Hydro Cannon is a busted move in PvP, and with its high Attack stat, Quaquaval benefits from its addition. The same can't be said about Aqua Step though, which is more akin to Meowscarada's Flower Trick than Skeledirge's Torch Song, both of which boost the user's Attack.

Quaquaval is hindered primarily by the lack of a good Fast Attack. Water Gun and Wing Attack are both weak in the current meta. These don't deal massive damage (something Aqua Step's Attack boost would aid, the way Skeledirge can melt enemies with Torch Song-boosted Incinerates). They are also not very quick to generate energy. This leaves Quaquaval unable to spam out Hydro Cannons — think Greninja or pre-Mud-Shot-nerf Swampert.

The Hydro Cannon + Close Combat Charged Attack combination is very strong and would have yielded great results for Quaquaval if it had an energy-focused Fast Attack.

To make things worse, there's nothing the Paldean Water-type starter can learn in the main series games that could dramatically improve its position. This means Quaquaval with Hydro Cannon and Aqua Step is expected to remain close to the bottom of the Pokemon GO PvP barrel for the foreseeable future.

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Is Quaquaval with Hydro Cannon and Aqua Step worth using in Pokemon GO PvE?

Quaquaval with Hydro Cannon and Aqua Step's prospects in the PvE arena are as bleak as they are in GO Battle League. Its best bet is being picked as a Gym attacker. While it has respectable attacking prowess, it can't keep up with powerful Legendaries and Mega Pokemon that have left the Water-type raid attacker ladder highly competitive.

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How to get Quaquaval with Hydro Cannon and Aqua Step in Pokemon GO

You can get Quaquaval with Hydro Cannon by evolving Quaxwell using 100 Candy during the July 2025 Community Day, from 2 pm local time on July 20 until 10 pm local time on July 27, 2025. There will be other opportunities to access this move in the future, but outside of these, you must use an Elite Charged TM to get it.

Aqua Step, on the other hand, is a regular Charged Move that can be achieved randomly by evolution at any point in time.

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Check out our other Pokemon GO guides:

• Ditto disguises
• Buddy Evolution Adventure Together guide
• Best Fast Attacks in Pokemon GO
• Sierra counters
• Cliff counters
• Arlo counters
• Giovanni counters
• Team GO Rocket Grunts