The best moveset for shadow Blaziken in Pokémon Go

Blaziken is one of the starting Pokémon from the Hoenn region you can find in Pokémon Go, and now there’s a shadow Blaziken you can acquire by taking on Team Rocket members. Should you capture a shadow Torchic and evolve it into Blaziken, it will become a worthwhile addition to your team. You’ll want to teach it the best attacks to use in battle to get the most out of this Pokémon, and there are some options available to you. Here’s what you need to know about the best moveset for shadow Blaziken in Pokémon Go.

The best shadow Blaziken moveset in Pokémon Go

The shadow version of Blaziken shares a similar type to the original version, so there are no notable changes here. Blaziken is a Fire and Fighting-type Pokémon, making it weak against Flying, Ground, Psychic, and Water-type attacks, but it is resistant against Bug, Dark, Fire, Grass, Ice, and Steel-type attacks. It has an incredibly high attack power compared to its defense, which is considerably lower. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have an incredibly high stamina stat to shore up its health, meaning it might be easier to take down than other Pokémon your team, but it can become an excellent attacker and Switch Pokémon in your roster.

Related: The best moveset for shadow Alolan Muk in Pokémon Go

Because this is a shadow version, Blaziken’s attack stat receives a 20% increase, and its defenses go down by that same amount. This can be a problematic hit, but if you lean into primarily using Blaziken as your team’s primary attacker, it should be a much more positive change than a negative one.

These are all the moves shadow Blaziken can learn in Pokémon Go.

Fast moves

• Counter (Fighting-type) – 8 damage and 3.5 energy per turn (4 damage per turn) – 2 turns
• Fire Spin (Fire-type) – 9 damage and 3.3 energy per turn (3 damage per turn) – 3 turns

You only have two move choices when picking shadow Blaziken’s fast move, Counter and Fire Spin. Both of them receive the same type attack bonus (STAB) modifier because Blaziken is a Fire and Fighting-type, but between the two, Counter is the better choice. It’s a faster attack and does nearly the same damage as Fire Spin, which takes one turn more for you to use. Regardless of your charged attack combinations, Counter wins out every time.

Charged attacks

• Brave Bird (Flying-type) – 130 damage and 55 energy (100% chance to lower the user’s defense by three ranks)
• Blast Burn (Fire-type) – 110 damage and 50 energy
• Blaze Kick (Fire-type) – 55 damage and 40 energy
• Focus Blast (Fighting-type) – 150 damage and 75 energy
• Overheat (Fire-type) – 130 damage and 55 energy (100% to lower the user’s attack by two ranks)
• Stone Edge (Rock-type) – 100 damage and 55 energy

Now, for shadow Blaziken’s charged attack, there are several more choices you can potentially pick. However, not all of them are the ones you want to go with. Of all these options, Stone Edge and Blaze Kick are the best ones. Brave Bird is a powerful Flying-type move, but it knocks down Blaziken’s defenses too much. Blast Burn is also a powerful Fire-type move, but it takes more energy to charge than Blaze Kick. The same goes for Focus Blast and Overheat. Those are good options, but not for Blaziken.

The best moveset you should teach your shadow Blaziken is the fast move Counter and the charged attacks Blaze Kick and Stone Edge.