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

Shadow Palkia has arrived in Pokemon GO as part of the Fashion Week Taken Over event. Until March 4, 2025, players will be able to encounter Shadow Palkia by defeating Team GO Rocket's Giovanni in battle. With this new Legendary Pokemon being so easy to come by, some trainers will want to use it for various fights in the popular mobile game.

To properly use Shadow Palkia, players will need to know more about it, like its weaknesses, strengths, and best movesets. Here is everything trainers should know if they intend on adding the Pocket Monster to their party.

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Everything to know about Shadow Palkia in Pokemon GO

Palkia's base stats makes it a perfect candidate for the Shadow Boost (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Shadow Palkia has always possessed an attack-oriented stat spread in Pokemon GO, so granting it a shadow variant with the Shadow Boost is bound to see some levels of success. The game's Shadow Boost increases a Shadow Pokemon's attack by 20% while decreasing its defense by 10%.

With this in mind, here are Shadow Palkia's base stats, calculated with the Shadow Boost applied:

• Stamina: 189
• Attack: 336
• Defense: 194

Palkia is a Dragon- and Water-type Pokemon, but its limited movepool makes it better when utilizing its Dragon-type moves, as it lacks any Water-type fast attacks.

With these stats, Shadow Palkia will be one of the best Dragon-type attackers for Raid Battles.

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Best counters for Shadow Palkia in Pokemon GO

Palkia is a Dragon- and Water-type Pokemon, which only leaves it vulnerable to Fairy- and other Dragon-type attacks. When it comes to countering it in battle, players should bring a Mega Rayquaza to their fight against Giovanni. Origin Dialga and Palkia are also great choices for taking down Shadow Palkia under Giovanni's control.

In the Battle League, Palkia will be much more difficult to deal with, but the abundance of Dragon-type picks in the Master League, paired with Shadow Palkia's lowered defense, will make it harder to wield effectively. Common picks like Origin Dialga or Dragonite should be able to deal with Shadow Palkia with relative ease.

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Best moveset for Shadow Palkia in Pokemon GO

Palkia is weak to Dragon- and Fairy-type attacks (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Shadow Palkia's optimal moveset consists of Dragon Breath, Draco Meteor, and Aqua Tail. This moveset utilizes both of Palkia's elemental typings, providing a balance of both damage output and offensive coverage.

However, some players may choose to run Fire Blast over Aqua Tail, which can provide some helpful coverage against Steel-type foes but sacrifices damage output and makes Shadow Palkia much slower to use.

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Is Shadow Palkia any good in Pokemon GO?

Palkia's base, or "Altered" form, has seen immediate replacement in the metagame following the release of Origin Palkia, which possesses better stats and access to Spacial Rend.

With its Origin Forme being better, Shadow Palkia will likely see very little play. The only advantage Shadow Palkia has over Origin Palkia is its accessibility, being available from Giovanni battles for the time being.

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For more information on the game, check out the articles below:

• Ditto disguises
• Sierra counters
• Cliff counters
• Arlo counters
• Giovanni counters
• Team GO Rocket Grunts