5 moves that need a buff in Pokemon GO for Season 13

Pokemon GO has always seen tweaks to the statistics of Pocket Monsters in the game at the beginning of almost every new season. This is to ensure that the meta of the GO Battle League does not become stagnant and stale with the same creatures dominating the PvP leaderboard.

As a result, though it is expensive when you consider building new critters every season, it is important to revitalize the competitive aspect of the game.

In this article, we will take a look at some of the moves that the people at Niantic should consider buffing in the Season 13 balance changes.

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5 moves that should be buffed in Season 13 of Pokemon GO

1) Waterfall

As the name suggests, Waterfall is a Water-type Fast move in Pokemon GO. The current metagame of Pokemon GO PvP is dominated by one or two-turn Fast moves. As a result, this Fast move could use a buff in terms of turn duration. Its current attributes are as follows:

• Damage: 12
• Energy: 8
• Turns: 3
• Damage Per Turn: 4
• Energy Per Turn: 2.66

All the meta-dominating creatures perform best with one or two-turn Fast moves, except Umbreon, which sometimes uses a three-turn Fast move.

The only change that would make sense in this case would be an extra point of energy generation. This would allow a three-turn move to make some splash in the meta, allowing the creatures that use this move to be a bit more spammy with their Charged moves.

Pokemon that would directly benefit from this buff would be:

• Gyarados
• Kyogre
• Empoleon
• Golisopod
• Primarina

While using this move, you must remember its elemental typing effectiveness. It is good against Ground-, Rock-, and Fire-type creatures, while it is weak against Water-, Grass-, and Dragon-type creatures.

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2) Astonish

This is a Ghost-type Fast move in Pokemon GO. It comes with the following attributes:

• Damage: 5
• Energy: 9
• Turns: 3
• Damage Per Turn: 1.66
• Energy Per Turn: 3

An additional five points in its Energy stat only makes it a worse version of Shadow Claw, as it is a three-turn move and does not do as much damage. However, it comes in as the best alternative.

Pokemon that would directly benefit from this buff would be:

• Hoopa (Unbound)
• Drifblim
• Runerigus
• Cofagrigus
• Gholdengo

While using this move, you must remember its elemental typing effectiveness. As a Fast move, Astonish is good against Ghost- and Psychic-type creatures but weak against Dark-type creatures.

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3) Vine Whip

This is a Grass-type Fast move in Pokemon GO. This Fast move comes with the following attributes:

• Damage: 5
• Energy: 8
• Turns: 2
• Damage Per Turn: 2.5
• Energy Per Turn: 4

We do not get to see a lot of Grass-type creatures in the current Pokemon GO PvP metagame. A buff to this Fast move would fit best since Vine Whip is one of the better Grass-type attacks.

Currently, Lanturn is a menace in the GO Battle League, and since Grass beats water, an extra point in terms of Damage to this move could alter the play style of trainers to some extent.

Pokemon that would directly benefit from this buff would be:

• Venusaur
• Meganium
• Tangrowth
• Chesnaught
• Serperior

While using this move, you must remember its elemental typing effectiveness. As a Fast move, Vine Whip is good against Ground-, Rock-, and Water-type creatures. It is weak against Flying-, Poison-, Bug-, Steel-, Fire-, Grass-, and Dragon-type creatures.

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4) Infestation

This is a Bug-type Fast move in Pokemon GO with the following attributes:

• Damage: 6
• Energy: 12
• Turns: 3
• Damage Per Turn: 2
• Energy Per Turn: 4

Bug-type creatures are almost non-existent in the GO Battle League. As a result, buffing one of the Fast moves could change the meta-dominating creatures.

You must be wondering why Infestation deserves a buff over Fury Cutter or Bug Bite. These are one-turn Fast moves, and allowing them to have an additional Damage point would make them unnecessarily overpowered. To maintain the balance, we have decided to go with Infestation instead.

If Infestation receives two additional points to its Damage stat, it will make Bug-type attackers a bit more viable in the PvP metagame of Pokemon GO.

Pokemon that would directly benefit from this buff would be:

• Beedrill
• Araquanid
• Swalot
• Drapion
• Cradily

While using this move, you must remember its elemental typing effectiveness. As a Fast move, Vine Whip is good against Grass-, Psychic-, and Dark-type creatures and weak against Flying-, Poison-, Fighting-, Steel-, Fire-, Fairy-, and Ghost-type creatures.

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5) X-Scissor

This is a Bug-type Charged move in Pokemon GO with the following attributes:

• Damage: 45
• Energy: 35
• Damage Per Energy: 1.28

To make this elemental typing bounce back into the PvP meta, an additional 10 points to the Damage stat of this Charged move would be ideal. You might feel like it is a bit overkill, but given the sorry state of creatures belonging to this elemental typing, it only seems fitting.

Pokemon that would directly benefit from this buff would be:

• Beedrill
• Scizor
• Golisopod
• Genesect
• Crustle

While using this move, you must remember its elemental typing effectiveness. As a Fast move, Vine Whip is good against Grass-, Psychic-, and Dark-type creatures. It is weak against Flying-, Poison-, Fighting-, Steel-, Fire-, Fairy-, and Ghost-type creatures.