Best moveset for Xerneas in Pokemon GO

Xerneas is coming back to Pokemon GO raids in August. After a brief showing at the GO Fest 2023 event in Osaka and London, the Legendary Pokemon will appear in raids for the global playerbase on August 16, 2023, starting at 10 am. The raids will be available until August 23 and again from August 27 to September 1. Primal Groudon and Kyogre will appear in raids during the period in between.

Xerneas caught during this period will know the exclusive Fast Attack, Geomancy. Pokemon GO PvP enthusiasts might be interested to know if the attack is good enough to make it to the creature's optimal moveset. This guide aims to clear all your doubts in that regard.

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Best PvP moveset for Xerneas in Pokemon GO

Xerneas in GO Battle League (Image via Sportskeeda/Niantic)

Xerneas's best PvP moveset in Pokemon GO includes the following attacks:

• Fast Attack: Geomancy
• Charged Attack: Moonblast + Close Combat/Thunder

Geomancy is one of the best Fast Attacks in the game. With Fairy-type STAB, it deals nearly 1.596 damage per turn (DPT). At the same time, it has a very high energy generation rate of 4.33 energy per turn (EPT). This nearly matches Snarl, which does only 0.064 DPT more damage.

Those familiar with Snarl-Zacian in the Master League will know exactly how powerful these numbers are.

For Xerneas' first Charged Attack, Moonblast is the best choice. With STAB, the move does 132 damage and consumes 60 energy. This is a damage output of 2.2 damage per energy (DPE). Additionally, the move has a 10% chance of dropping the opponent's attack stat.

For Xerneas' second Charged Attack in Pokemon GO PvP, you can go for Close Combat, which is Xerneas' fastest charging attack. It does 100 damage at 45 energy (2.22 DPE), but it debuffs the user's defenses by two stages. This can be worked around if you have the option of pivoting out, but if you are stuck, it might cause some trouble.

Being a Fighting-type attack, Close Combat is also a good coverage move for Xerneas. It does super effective damage to Steel-type Pokemon, which are some of the strongest counters to a Fairy-type creature like Xerneas.

For players who don't wish to grapple with the debuff or teams with other Steel-type counters, Thunder is a strong move to have, as it can take your enemies by surprise.

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Best PvE moveset for Xerneas in Pokemon GO

With a base Attack stat of 250, Xerneas can also be a superb Raid or Gym attacker. The best attacks for the creature in Pokemon GO PvE are:

• Fast Attack: Tackle
• Charged Attack: Moonblast + Close Combat

While the high energy generation of Geomancy is useful in PvP battles, the damage output is just not high enough to be useful in Gym and Raid battles. In this regard, Tackle is a good alternative as it does a solid amount of damage to nearly all opponents.

Moonblast is Xerneas' best STAB-boosted attack, while Close Combat is an excellent coverage move that gets even better without the defense debuff.

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Yveltal will also be available in raids during August, with an exclusive Charged Attack, Oblivion Wing, at the same time as Xerneas.