Best moveset for Alolan Sandslash in Pokemon GO

Pokemon GO's Sandshrew Community Day event has come to a close. This event has left many players with a new Alolan Sandslash. These players may find themselves wondering if this Pokemon has any use in the competitive Battle League or if it is just a fancy new addition to their collection.

Alolan Sandslash and its pre-evolved form, Alolan Sandshrew, were announced in the seventh generation of the franchise. The former was also exclusive to Pokemon Moon and Ultra Moon, while its counterpart, Alolan Ninetales, is exclusive to Pokemon Sun and Ultra Sun.

Various factors need to be considered when adding a new Pokemon to a user's competitive team in Pokemon GO. Details like the Pokemon's typing, stats, and potential moveset are all crucial when analyzing a specific Pokemon. Knowing how it interacts with the current metagame also helps.

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Alolan Sandslash in Pokemon GO: An analysis

The announcement image for Pokemon GO's March 2022 Community Day event (Image via Niantic)

Unlike the Kantonian Sandslash variant, a pure Ground-type Pokemon, Alolan Sandslash is an Ice and Steel-type Pokemon. This typing combines the best and worst defensive types, making Alolan Sandslash take 256% damage from Fire and Fighting attacks and 160% damage from Ground attacks.

Alolan Sandslash has defensively oriented stats in Pokemon GO. Its highest stat is its defense at 195, followed by its stamina stat of 181. Its lowest stat is its attack, though it is not far behind at 177.

While there are clear differences in its stats, Alolan Sandslash is a reasonably balanced Pokemon that can fit in any team.

As far as an optimal moveset goes, its newly added Elite Move, Shadow Claw, is still untested in competitive play. The move performs well on Pokemon like Gengar, but Alolan Sandslash lacks the Ghost typing that would give the move the added benefit of the Same Type Attack Bonus, or STAB as it is called for short.

Alolan Sandslash lacks a lot of helpful coverage moves in Pokemon GO, though it covers its Fire weakness through its access to the charged attack, Bulldoze. Sandslash can hit seven different types for super effective damage in total if it chooses to run one move corresponding to each of its types.

For players looking to maximize their Alolan Sandslash's damage output in Pokemon GO, they can give it a combination of Metal Claw for a fast attack and Blizzard for a charged attack. Powder Snow is great for charging energy, so gamers can use it over Metal Claw if it suits them.

While Alolan Sandslash's new move, Shadow Claw, is still untested, it makes it an interesting Pokemon to experiment with in the mobile game's Battle League. Users wanting to use Alolan Sandslash should keep its major weaknesses to Fighting and Fire-type moves in mind.