The best moveset for shadow Moltres in Pokémon Go

Moltres is one of the few legendary Pokémon in Pokémon Go that you can receive as a shadow Pokémon. A shadow Pokémon has increased attack power but lower defenses. If you’re considering if the trade-off is a worthwhile choice for Moltres, you need to compare the two options, but we think it’s a good choice. It might not be much better in PvP, but it’s a good option in PvE. If you need a new Fire-type raid Pokémon, shadow Moltres is a good option. You want to make sure you teach it the best moveset before taking it into a battle.

Shadow Moltres is a Fire and Flying-type Pokémon. It will be weak against Electric, Rock, and Water-type moves, but it’s resistant against Bug, Fairy, Fighting, Fire, Grass, Ground, and Steel-type attacks. For PvP, it has a maximum CP of 3,465, an attack of 210, a defense of 154, and a stamina of 175. When using it in PvE encounters, shadow Moltres has an attack of 251, a defense of 181, and a stamina of 207.

Here are the best moves shadow Moltres can learn.

Fast moves

• Fire Spin (Fire-type) – 9 damage and 3.3 energy (3 damage per turn)
• Wing Attack (Flying-type) – 5 damage and 3.5 energy (2.5 damage per turn)

Charged moves

• Ancient Power (Rock-type) – 45 damage and 45 energy (10% chance to increase user’s attack and defense by two ranks)
• Fire Blast (Fire-type) – 140 damage and 80 energy
• Heat Wave (Fire-type) – 95 damage and 75 energy
• Overheat (Fire-type) – 130 damage and 55 energy (100% chance to lower user’s attack by two ranks)
• Sky Attack (Flying-type) – 75 damage and 45 energy

When it comes to shadow Moltres’ fast move, you want to go with wing attack. It’s going to be a faster option than fire spin, and it produces a hair more energy. While it might do less damage, the energy output and how quickly the fast attack fires off make up for it.

For shadow Moltres’ charged move, you have a few more options. Your first choice should always be sky attack. It’s a low cost charged attack that does 75 damage and only requires 45 energy. When it costs so little, you can fire it off pretty often and potentially use it for whittling down an opponent’s health or bait their shields, allowing Moltres to fire off a stronger attack.

The second charged move you want to go with after you’ve cleansed shadow Moltres of frustration, is overheat. It’s on the same level as sky attack and does nearly twice as much damage for only 10 more energy. The downside to the move is it lowers shadow Moltres’ overall attack. However, that’s the benefit of using a shadow version of the Pokémon. Even though it has less attack from using overheat, the attack bonus of being a shadow Pokémon balances it out.

The best moveset you want to teach shadow Moltres is the fast attack wing attack, followed by the charged moves sky attack and overheat.