Pokemon GO: Best movesets for West Sea Shellos and Gastrodon

The latest Spotlight Hour in Pokemon GO is doing every trainer a big favor, since Shellos and its evolution can be great assets to any team.

Once Shellos becomes Gastrodon, it becomes a phenomenal defensive Pokemon. This is because Grass-type moves are the only attacks that hit Gastrodon for super effective damage, as it is both a Water-type and Ground-type.

Its base 244 Stamina also helps in the defensive department. Apart from that, Gastrodon also gets a fairly dynamic moveset that can inflict quick damage on opponents.

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Best moves for Generation IV Spotlight Pokemon

While the Spotlight Hour is only for West Seas Shellos, there is no difference between the two versions, statistically speaking. They both have the same stats and learn the same moves. The only difference is that West Sea Shellos is pink while its East Sea counterpart is blue.

Both Shellos and Gastrodon get to pick between Mud Slap and Hidden Power for their quick moves. In most cases, Mud Slap is the way to go here. It gets the all important Same Type Attack Bonus and hits pretty hard with 12.9 DPS.

That being said, there is one instance where Hidden Power can be prioritized: if the power type is Water. This way, Gastrodon can be a very useful Water attacker during raids, especially against Rock-type and Fire-type Pokemon.

Hidden Power would be preferred over Mud Slap here because it’s quicker and charges a flat 10 energy per second.

Shellos gets a group of weaker charge moves to pick from. Its strongest move is Water Pulse, but even that has only 70 base power. This is a move every Shellos should learn, though, because it is also Gastrodon’s Water-type charge move.

The second move Shellos should pair with Water Pulse is Mud Bomb. 55 damage won't put dents in Pokemon, but it will stack up if Shellos can energy farm efficiently. Having said that, the move is still stronger than Body Slam, which doesn’t have STAB and is therefore, obsolete.

While Shellos gets a huge power spike when it evolves into Gastrodon, it doesn’t receive too many new moves. It essentially gets an upgraded Ground-type move in Earth Power. This is still a great tool for Gastrodon’s kit, though, since 100 base power is great value for only charging 50 energy.

For some trainers, it may be tempting to teach Gastrodon "Earthquake" as a legacy move. While it is a stronger move, trainers will still want to keep Earth Power.

Elite TMs are a valuable resource, and wasting one on a slightly stronger Ground move simply isn’t worth it. It's a lot smarter to save these TMs for other Pokemon.