After its Community Day, many Pokemon GO trainers are going to be Oshawott owners.
Of course, most people will evolve this Pokemon into Samurott (especially since it will be getting access to Razor Shell and Hydro Cannon).
Pokemon GO does have a history, though, of holding tournaments that only feature Pokemon in the first stage of their evolution. It might be worth it to know what moves Oshawott should be using for the next Element Cup or similar event.
Check out the current Pokemon GO raid bosses that you can encounter in-game
Which moves should trainers pick for this first-stage evolution Pokemon?
As for quick moves, Oshawott gets to pick between Tackle and Water Gun. Statistically, they’re the same move; they have 5 base power, charge five energy, and they last half a second.
The only thing separating these two moves is typing, and Water Gun is Water-type. This means that Water Gun is going to be the clear choice since it gets STAB.
As with most other Pokemon that aren’t fully evolved, Oshawott gets a few of the weaker charge moves to choose from. This Pokemon will want a Water STAB move for sure, so trainers should pick between Water Pulse and Aqua Tail.
Even though it has more base power, Water Pulse is just a really underwhelming option. Charging 50% energy only to do 70 damage just won't reach the threshold to where it can beat Pokemon quickly, especially when Oshawott can charge the bar to 66% and use two Aqua Tails instead.
Trainers will most likely get better performance from Aqua Tail, which will still do decent damage albeit with only 50 base power.
Oshawott’s second charge move should be Night Slash. This is another low base power move with a low energy cost. At worst, it can bait the enemy into burning its shields. At best, it can help beat Psychic and Ghost-type Pokemon such as Ralts, Gastly and Beldum.
Both Night Slash and Aqua Tail give Oshawott quick damage options, and it can farm energy to use several of these moves in a row.
🚨 Calculate the Pokemon type effectiveness to win battles with our newly launched Pokemon GO Type Calculator 🚨