What are Hippowdon's weaknesses in Pokemon GO?

The sand-swept hippo Pokemon Hippowdon is often overlooked in the Pokemon series, but it poses enough of a threat. Players should at least be familiar enough with it to be able to put together a counter-play.

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What are Hippowdon's weaknesses in Pokemon GO?

Hippowdon (Image via Niantic)

As a mono-Ground-type Pokemon, Hippowdon has a number of weaknesses that are fairly simple to find out.

Grass-type, Ice-type, and Water-type moves will be the moves to beat it. Each of these will do substantial damage to the sandy hippo, putting it down before it can hope to strike back.

Naturally, Pokemon of these types will be good to use as well since the moves would then get STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus), resulting in even more damage. However, Flying-types and other types that resist many of Hippowdon's moves are also nice to have.

It should be noted that Ice-type Pokemon will still take neutral damage from Hippowdon's Ground-type moves. Moreover, Hippowdon has a good variety in its Quick Move pool: Ice Fang, Fire Fang, Thunder Fang, and Bite. Among them, Fire Fang and Ice Fang are the most popular moves, and for good reason. Ice Fang puts both Flying and Ice-types at risk, while Fire Fang puts both Ice and Grass-types at risk.

In most cases, Water and Flying-type Pokemon are the ones that will perform best. Pelipper, Swanna, and Gyarados all fit this niche nicely. But in the off-chance that a Hippowdon has Thunder Fang instead of the two more popular choices, a Water and Ground-type like Quagsire or Swampert works equally well.

The biggest problem: with its plethora of differently typed Quick Moves, Hippowdon could potentially counter just about anything.

It may be in the player's best interest to first throw down with a Fairy, Fighting, or Dark-type Pokemon in order to find out what moves Hippowdon may have (all of these types resist one of Hippowdon's options without being weak to another).