Since Pokemon GO’s latest Community Day featured Swablu, now is a great time to find out what moves are going to work best on its evolution, Altaria.
Altaria is a Dragon-type and Flying-type Pokemon introduced in Generation III. It should have potential in PvP modes, since it is actually a formidable defensive presence with 201 Defense and 181 Stamina. This Pokemon might also see some usage in the Retro Cup, since there are no Fairy or Steel Pokemon to guard against it. These are the best moves to put on Altaria.
Note: This article is subjective and reflects the opinion of the writer.
The best moveset for Altaria in Pokemon GO

For a fast move, Altaria has access to the standard Dragon Breath, which is featured on many other Dragon-type Pokemon. Its other option, Peck, might look better on paper. Despite the fact that Peck has higher power and charges more energy, Dragon Breath is actually a much quicker move. It has a lower damage window and half the CD that Peck has. With this in mind, Dragon Breath actually ends up doing more DPS at 14.4.
Altaria typically has a set two charge moves that are standard, but because of the Community Day, that may not be the case. Anyone who evolved Swablu during the Community Day received access to Moonblast, a very powerful Fairy-type move. This could potentially be a new meta pick for Altaria trainers.
Either way, the one move that should be run on Altaria regardless is Sky Attack. After taking STAB into consideration, Sky Attack does more DPS (40) than any other charge move Altaria can learn. This will also be a great move to use against some of the strong Fighting-type Pokemon that are growing in popularity.
The second charge move is where the debate lies. Beforehand, Dragon Pulse was run on Altaria since it was simply a strong move with STAB. This move, as well as Sky Attack, only require 50 energy, and therefore, can be a quick option to take a chunk of health off the opponent.
Now that Altaria can learn Moonblast though, Dragon Pulse may not be the best selection. Dragon Pulse only does 25 DPS from Altaria to begin with. Moonblast has a base power of 130, which makes Dragon Pulse simply look inferior.
Also, anyone who is planning on having a Mega Altaria one day should definitely use Moonblast, since Mega Altaria becomes Fairy-type. This move will help it in Great League to deal with Dark-type Pokemon (especially ones named Umbreon).
