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Most Pokemon fans know that Alakazam is astronomically powerful, but looking at the stats, its entire evolutionary line is impressive.
The one thing that makes Alakazam relevant in Pokemon GO is its 271 Attack stat. While this is amazing, its midstage form, Kadabra, has 232 Attack. In terms of Great League, that’s pretty powerful. Abra is the weakest link, being the rookie stage in the evolution, but even Abra has 195 Attack, which would do wonders in a format like Little Cup.
All three of these Pokemon can be big threats, and it’s been like that since Sabrina started using them in Generation I. So, it might be worthwhile to look at optimized movesets for each Pokemon.
Note: This article is subjective and reflects the opinion of the writer.
Which moves fit best on these potent Psychic-type Pokemon?
Abra, despite being the runt of the pack, can still have a high damage output with the moves it learns. The preferred quick move is Zen Headbutt. It has the same speed as Charge Beam, but Zen Headbutt also gets a STAB boost. When it comes to charge moves, Shadow Ball is great for Abra (as well as its two evolutions). It allows Abra to hit opposing Ghost-types hard. Psyshock is another strong option that can be charged up quickly.
Kadabra gets to pick between two Psychic attacks for quick moves, but the best decision here is Psycho Cut. 20 Damage from Confusion looks really tempting at first glance, but Psycho Cut is a much quicker option. This will get Kadabra to use its powerful moves as soon as possible.
For charge moves, Alakazam is definitely going to want to run Shadow Ball. This move can deal with Great League threats like Gardevoir and Medicham. The second charge move should be Dazzling Gleam. Psybeam does have STAB, but there are virtually no other benefits to this move. 70 base power is laughable for a move that costs 50 energy. Dazzling Gleam anyways hits Dark-types.
Finally, Alakazam’s moveset is perhaps the most important to analyze since it will be helping trainers dominate in Ultra League and Master League. There is much argument, though, over which fast move this Pokemon should run. It received Counter through a Community Day and is now a legacy move. This attack rivals Psycho Cut for what Alakazam should be running.
Counter does more damage than Psycho Cut, even when taking STAB into account. Psycho Cut does have a higher energy gain, though. In most instances, Psycho Cut is probably the way to go here, considering it’s a very quick STAB move. In Master League specifically, though, Counter gets better usage to deal with the relevant Steel-type Pokemon.
Speaking of Steel-types, one of Alakazam’s best charge moves is Fire Punch. It only has 55 base power, but that’s in the higher tier for moves that only require a third of the energy bar to use. With this move, Alakazam can deal with Pokemon like Metagross and Skarmory easily.
Its second charge move should be Psychic for anyone who has an Elite T M to spare. Psychic just does the most DPS out of any other option. That being said, Shadow Ball can always work for anyone who is short on Elite T Ms or who wants a counter to Giratina.
