Is Delphox good in Pokemon GO PvP?

With Pokemon GO's latest Community Day event coming to a close, many players are looking over their haul and evolving their stock to fill their Pokedex. Many are going over the new Delphox and wondering if it has any competitive value for use in the Battle League arena. Although it has never been a feared face in the metagame for the main series titles, GO's interesting new take on the beloved battle system gives the more underappreciated species in the franchise a chance to shine. Galarian Stunfisk and Scrafty are just two examples of this principle.

So what about Delphox? Do the changes made in Pokemon GO benefit the viability of the beloved Fire-type starter from the Kalos region, or will it permenantly remain in the crypt of obscurity that the creature has been notoriously dwelling in since its debut in the franchise?

---

Delphox in Pokemon GO PvP: Everything to know

Delphox using Mystic Fire in the anime (Image via The Pokemon Company)

The first thing to note whenever one wants to analyze a creature's competitive viability in Pokemon GO is its elemental typing. In the case of Delphox, it is a Fire and Psychic-type. This particular combination is also shared with Darmanitan's Zen Mode form, another popular Fire-type.

As for Delphox's stats, the creature is an offensive-sided pick with somewhat average bulk. This similar archetype is shared among many starters, so the critter stands in a sort of middle-of-the-road position in this regard. With this in mind, it can be reasonably stated that its stats are not the reason why it stays out of the meta. This comes from its very slow movepool.

Having no fast and reputable way to generate energy, Delphox is left with a tank's moveset but with the stats of an attacker. Sadly, this is not remedied by the recent Community Day event in Pokemon GO giving the pick access to the powerful Blast Burn attack, which merely emphasizes the issue.

This sadly leaves Delphox as a still niche and low-tier pick for Pokemon GO's competitive Battle League. The creature hasn't received any buff to fix its only issue and has only earned itself another high-energy cost charged attack in the process. Thus, it is unlikely that its placement will change much in the minds of many hardcore players.

Even in PvE play, Delphox's lack of aspiring bulk leaves it in a situation where players opt to never use it due to other Fire-types just simply being better. Overall, using it in the mobile game seems like a bad idea, but the fun part of any Pokemon title is being able to use whichever creatures one would want.

In short, Delphox lacks competitive viability in Pokemon GO due to its lack of energy-generation resources. While it does have some decent power, its lack of impressive bulk and slow-charging fast attacks make it too slow to leave much of an impact at any stage of a battle. For those looking to use a Fire-type starter, it would be best to opt for Blaziken instead.