Pokemon GO Shadow Cresselia: Best moveset, counters, and is it any good?

Pokemon GO is introducing Shadow Cresselia during its Adventure Week: Taken Over event on August 8-12, 2024, and trainers are already preparing to battle Team GO Rocket's sinister boss Giovanni to obtain the corrupted legendary critter. But what are Shadow Cresselia's best movesets and counters, and is it any good in the game's meta?

Regardless of how good this Shadow Pokemon is in the grand scheme of the meta, trainers will still want to provide it with the best moveset possible. They should also be aware of its strongest counters to give it the best chance of performing optimally in battles.

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Pokemon GO Shadow Cresselia: Best movesets

Cresselia in the anime (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Shadow Cresselia, much like standard Cresselia, has a different top moveset based on whether it's participating in Pokemon GO PvP or PvE battles. A breakdown can be found below:

Shadow Cresselia best PvE moveset

• Fast Attack: Psycho Cut
• Charged Attack: Future Sight

Shadow Cresselia best PvP moveset

• Fast Attack: Confusion
• Charged Attacks: Future Sight and Moonblast or Moonblast and Grass Knot

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Is Shadow Cresselia good in Pokemon GO PvP and PvE?

Shadow Cresselia in Pokemon GO PvP

PvP is where Shadow Cresselia excels, as it doesn't lose much of its durability as a Shadow Pokemon but gains added firepower. This makes it a more threatening (but still bulky) presence in the GO Battle League, particularly in the Ultra League. While its moves are slow, it can hit pretty hard.

Moreover, access to moves like Moonblast gives Shadow Cresselia plenty of play against the beloved Dragon-type meta of the Ultra League. It can even stand toe-to-toe with a meta darling like Giratina despite being at a type disadvantage. Shadow Cresselia's durability is still very good even when reduced by being a Shadow Pokemon.

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Shadow Cresselia in Pokemon GO PvE

While its improved firepower as a Shadow Pokemon helps its offensive output, Shadow Cresselia's stats continue to trend more toward defense and resilience than dealing damage. For this reason, Shadow Cresselia is far from ideal as a PvE attacker in raids, though it can still perform perfectly fine when attacking gyms or battling members of Team GO Rocket.

Shadow Cresselia can work alright as a Psychic-type attacker in low-end raids like Tier-1 battles. However, there are simply too many other Pokemon in the PvE meta that serve better on offense, and trainers should look to alternatives like Shadow Gardevoir, Shadow Gallade, Dusk Mane/Dawn Wings Necrozma, Mewtwo, or Metagross first.

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Pokemon GO Shadow Cresselia: All moves and stats

Standard Cresselia in the anime (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Fast Attacks

• Psycho Cut
• Confusion

Charged Attacks

• Moonblast
• Aurora Beam
• Grass Knot
• Future Sight
• Frustration

Base Stats

• Attack: 152
• Defense: 258
• Stamina: 260
• Maximum CP: 3,230

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Pokemon GO Shadow Cresselia: Strengths and Weaknesses

As a mono Psychic-type Pokemon, Shadow Cresselia takes super effective damage from these move types:

• Bug (160% damage)
• Dark (160%)
• Ghost (160%)

Meanwhile, Shadow Cresselia will resist the following attack elements and take reduced damage from them:

• Fighting (62.5%)
• Psychic (62.5%)

The elemental types that Shadow Cresselia can deal super effective to using its Psychic-type Same Type Attack Bonus (STAB) moves are as follows:

• Fighting
• Poison

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Best counters to Pokemon GO Shadow Cresselia

Best Great League Counters: Shadow Alolan Muk, Shadow Scizor, Sableye, Bisharp, Shadow Perrserker

Best Ultra League Counters: Forretress, Durant, Shadow Perrserker, Shadow Scizor, Incineroar, Gholdengo, Escavalier, Dusk Mane Necrozma, Genesect, Banette, Gengar

Best Master League Counters: Dusk Mane Necrozma, Shadow Tyranitar, Dawn Wings Necrozma, Gholdengo, Shadow Alolan Muk, Skeledirge, Hoopa Unbound, Zarude, Bisharp, Genesect

Best PvE counters

• Dawn Wings Necrozma: Shadow Claw and Moongeist Beam
• Mega Tyranitar: Bite and Brutal Swing
• Mega Gengar: Lick and Shadow Ball
• Shadow Tyranitar: Bite and Brutal Swing
• Shadow Chandelure: Hex and Shadow Ball
• Mega Banette: Shadow Claw and Shadow Ball
• Mega Houndoom: Snarl and Foul Play
• Dusk Mane Necrozma: Shadow Claw and Sunsteel Strike
• Shadow Gengar: Lick and Shadow Ball
• Blacephalon: Astonish and Shadow Ball
• Shadow Weavile: Snarl and Foul Play
• Hydreigon: Bite and Brutal Swing
• Mega Scizor: Fury Cutter and X-Scissor
• Mega Gyarados: Bite and Crunch
• Mega Pinsir: Bug Bite and X-Scissor
• Origin Forme Giratina: Shadow Claw and Shadow Force
• Mega Heracross: Struggle Bug and Megahorn

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FAQ on Shadow Cresselia in Pokemon GO

Q1) Is Shadow Cresselia good in Pokemon GO?

Even after losing a little bit of its defensive ability as a Shadow Pokemon in favor of increased damage output, Shadow Cresselia remains a very capable PvPer in the Great League and the Ultra League. It loses some effectiveness in the Master League, but it's sweet spot is certainly the Ultra League.

Shadow Cresselia, while having more firepower than standard Cresselia, still doesn't measure up in PvE situations, particularly in raids.

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Q2) How rare is Shadow Cresselia in Pokemon GO?

Considering that Shadow Cresselia has only just arrived in the game, courtesy of being Giovanni's latest Shadow Legendary during the Adventure Week: Taken Over event, it should be quite rare even when compared to its standard counterpart.

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Q3) What are the odds of getting a Shiny Shadow Cresselia?

The standard shiny appearance rate (unless it's boosted by Niantic during events) for Legendary Pokemon - Shadow or not - is a 1/20 or 5%. This should remain consistent regardless of where Shadow Cresselia is encountered.