The best moveset for Alakazam in Pokemon GO

Alakazam might be just as strong in Pokemon GO as it usually is in the main series.

Fans will usually bring up Alakazam when discussing the best Psychic-types. Unfortunately, Alakazam is tremendously frail, and this holds it back quite a bit in GO Battle League. However, it still creates tons of offensive pressure with its 271 Attack stat and strong moves.

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Which moves work best on the Psychic-type Pokemon Alakazam?

The fast move that Alakazam trainers are going to want to use is Counter. This may seem counter-productive (no pun intended) since Psychic-type don’t usually run Fighting moves, but Counter has much more benefits for Alakazam than Psycho Cut or Confusion.

Psycho Cut has a really low damage output, only dealing three DPS in PvP. Confusion is much stronger, dealing 16 damage per use, but it also takes two seconds to use instead of one.

Counter, however, has the best of both worlds. It charges seven energy per use, and it only lasts for one second.

Despite the hard-hitting charge moves that Alakazam gets (Psychic, Shadow Ball, Focus Blast), trainers are definitely going to want to run Fire Punch. This is because it serves as a shield pressure option, requiring only 40 energy to use.

Alakazam makes good use of Fire Punch (Image via Game Freak)

The move also can hit Steel-types for super effective damage, something Alakazam desperately needs. The most common counters to Alakazam are Steel-types, as Pokemon like Registeel, Galarian Stunfisk, and Skarmory are seen on more teams than Dark-types are. Without Fire Punch, Alakazam is basically asking to get walled by a type that’s seen on almost every team.

The second charge move slot for Alakazam usually goes to either Shadow Ball or Psychic. In most instances, Psychic will be the preferred choice, as it does serious neutral damage to most of the meta.

The utility that Shadow Ball provides is that it can hit Ghosts and opposing Psychic-types. It’s not likely, though, that Alakazam can win a 1v1 with the popular Ghosts. Threats like Trevenant will likely still beat Alakazam because it’s quite frail.

However, Shadow Ball could be used to counter opposing Psychic-types. They may not be as popular in Ultra League, but the move can always come in handy in case Alakazam needs to go up against a Cresselia.