Is Ho-Oh good in Pokémon Go?

When attempting to capture a Pokémon in Pokémon Go, you may wonder if it’s worth your time and effort to go after it. Will it be useful to you in raids, or will it excel in the game’s PvP portion and take off in the Battle League? Does it require a specific team? You might be wondering this about Ho-Oh, January’s first five-star raid Pokémon, and if it’s worth your time to go after it. You want to make sure you can beat it in the five-star raids, and we’ve already listed out the best moveset it can learn.

Overall, yes, Ho-Oh is an excellent Pokémon for you to add to your collection. Not only is it a legendary Pokémon that seldom appears in the game, but it’s a powerful Pokémon that you’ll probably find being used by plenty of trainers in the Master League. You can use Ho-Oh in the Ultra League, no problem, but it truly excels in the Master League when it reaches its maximum CP of 3,863.

What makes it good is that it can counter plenty of specific meta Pokémon a lot of trainers use in the Master League. Ho-Oh can counter Dialga, Melmetal, Groudon, and Togekiss. Not only will it be a reliable option against these Pokémon, but it has equally potent offensive and defensive stats in the game, 200 and 204, respectively. Even if it is not battling any of these key meta picks, you can expect it to do plenty of work against a regular Pokémon, and its attack range to do plenty of work.

Ho-Oh generally went up in the rankings because it learned the move incinerate, a fast move Fire-type attack introduced late in 2020. Incinerate is a great Fire-type attack capable of doing 15 damage and producing 4 energy per turn. You’ll need to watch out for other notable meta Pokémon Giratina (Origin), Kyogre, Dragonite, and Lugia, as these are direct counters to Ho-Oh.

A good way to make sure Ho-Oh excels in the Master League is to pair it with Dialga, Mewtwo, Zekrom, or Garchomp. Mewtwo and Dialga might be the best choice to do some great damage and to protect each other. Still, this match-up will struggle to fight a Flying or Ghost-type Pokémon, and only Ho-Oh’s charge attacks do well against Steel-type Pokémon, except for Mewtwo’s preferred focus blast charge move.

If you’re hesitant about grabbing Ho-Oh, you need to drop these fears and go after it. You would regret not adding it to your Pokémon collection, and you’ll find that if you want to compete in the Master League, it’s an excellent Pokémon to build alongside a powerful team.