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Trainers will be pretty lucky during the Season of Mischief because of the appearance of Hoopa, an elite mythical Pokemon from Generation VI.
Psychic and Ghost aren't seen too often on the same Pokemon. The only other Pokemon with this combination are Lunala and Calyrex-Shadow, two legendaries.
Being a mythical Pokemon, Hoopa gets an exquisite stat spread, most notably with 261 Attack in Pokemon GO. Unfortunately, it lags behind the other elite Psychic-types like Mewtwo and Alakazam, but that doesn’t mean it won’t perform well in PvP or raids.
Which moves are best on this legendary Pokemon?
Hoopa’s ideal quick move would be Confusion. Every Psychic-type Pokemon that gets this is lucky since it has an enormous 20 base power and charges 15 energy per use. The drawback of this move is that it’s a bit slow for a quick move (1600 ms), but the pros outweigh the cons in this instance.
In terms of charge moves, Hoopa operates very similarly to Espeon: it wants Psychic and Shadow Ball. The only difference is that, because Hoopa is part Ghost-type, Shadow Ball will get STAB and, as a result, deal more damage.
Psychic shouldn’t require much of an explanation. It’s a very powerful move in the hands of a strong attacker, which is a description Hoopa definitely fits. Only needing half the bar to use also means that it will only take four Confusions to have enough energy for a Psychic. Hoopa can blow away opponents that don’t resist Psychic moves with this combination.
Whereas Psychic has great power for a move that requires half the bar to be used, Shadow Ball is arguably the best move in that category. It’s a 100 base power move that can be used 1.5 times on average in every match.
Considering that Hoopa is both Psychic and Ghost, it won’t be resisting opposing Ghost-type moves, but it will hit Ghost-types in return for big damage with Shadow Ball. This makes Hoopa a decent option to bring to raids of Ghost-type Pokemon, but it won’t be defeating any Mega Gengars or Giratinas.
As potent as this Pokemon seems, Hoopa may be getting an even stronger version in the future. In the main series games, Hoopa has an “unbound” form with raised stats. If this alternate Hoopa is included in the game, it will undoubtedly become a premier attacker.
The Season of Mischief promises to have many surprises in store, so Hoopa Unbound may end up in the game by the time this season is over.
Note: The article reflects the views of the writer.
