Is shadow Moltres good in Pokémon Go?

There are only a handful of shadow Pokémon in Pokémon Go and even fewer legendary ones. Because of the increased attack stats, the shadow version of any legendary Pokémon is typically considered a better option, but in a few rare cases, that’s not true. When it comes to shadow Moltres, it’s nearly on par with its original version. The biggest issue is trying to remove its frustration from the charged attacks to increase its damage output. If you can do that, shadow Moltres is a better option and is a Pokémon we recommend you add to the collection, so long as it has the best moveset.

Shadow Moltres is a Fire and Flying-type Pokémon. It is weak to Electric, Rock, and Water-type attacks, but it is resistant against Bug, Fairy, Fighting, Fire, Grass, Ground, and Steel-type moves. For PvP, it has a maximum CP of 3,465, an attack of 210, a defense of 154, and stamina of 175. When you use it in team rocket battles and PvP, it has an attack of 251, a defense of 181, and stamina of 207. The attack does go up, and its defense goes down because it is a shadow Pokémon.

In its regular form, Moltres already had a fairly high attack. When you use the shadow version, this attack stat goes even higher, but its lowest stat, defense, goes down as well. It’s a distinct exchange that turns Moltres into a glass cannon, capable of doing quite a bit of damage, but it may not last very long in a PvP battle, even with 175 stamina.

If you’re considering using this Pokémon for PvP battles, you primarily want to focus on participating in Master League battles and not in the Ultra League. Although Moltres is not considered one of the better Pokémon for the Master League competitions, you’d be better off picking another Fire-type option, such as Ho-Oh, Charizard, or Heatran. The Water-type Pokémon dominate the upper tier of the Master League, making it difficult for a Fire-type to break through this barrier without proper support.

You might be better off electing to have your shadow Moltres be one of the fighters for raids and Team Rocket battles. It has several solid attacks, and while it might not last long, you can wipe an opponent out pretty quickly to give way to your stronger, more durable Pokémon.

Overall, shadow Moltres is a good choice, but it’s nowhere near excellent than other Pokémon that you can pick from your roster. Fire-type Pokémon are some of the weaker choices, especially without the fast attack incinerate in their arsenal, which shadow Moltres does not have, knocking it down a few pegs. If it can ever learn this attack in the future, many more players would probably be using this in their teams.