Finding the best moveset for Zapdos in Pokémon Go can be complicated. It’s a legendary Pokémon with the potential to do some real damage when battling against another player, or if you bring it with you on a five-star raid. If you want to get the most out of this Pokémon, you need to teach it the best moves. In this guide, we cover the best moveset to teach Zapdos in Pokémon Go.
Best moves to teach Zapdos
Zapdos is an Electric and Flying-type Pokémon. It’s only weak to Ice and Rock-type attacks, making it resistant to Bug, Fighting, Flying, Grass, Ground, and Steel-type moves. It’s a solid choice when you want to use it as your Electric-type attacker in particular PvP battles, or in your raid rotation. It has a maximum CP of 3,527, an attack of 253, a defense of 185, and stamina of 207.
Related: All Zapdos weaknesses and best Pokémon counters in Pokémon Go
These are all of the moves Zapdos can learn.
Fast moves
- Charge Beam (Electric-type) – 5 damage, 3.6 energy per turn (1.6 damage per turn) – 3 turns
- Thunder Shock (Electric-type) – 3 damage, 4.5 energy per turn (1.5 damage per turn) – 2 turns
Charge moves
- Ancient Power (Rock-type) – 45 power, 45 energy (10% chance to increase your attack and defense by two ranks)
- Drill Peck (Flying-type) – 65 power, 40 energy
- Thunder (Electric-type) – 100 power, 60 energy
- Thunderbolt (Electric-type) – 90 power, 55 energy
- Zap Cannon (Electric-type) – 150 power, 80 energy (100% chance to lower opponent’s attack by one rank)
Of the fast moves, you can catch Zapdos, we recommend you go with Thunder Shock. It’s a better option than Charge Beam, and you can use it to charge up Zapdos’ more powerful attacks.
For the charged moves, you have several options to pick from when trying to figure out the best combination. We recommend going with Drill Peck and Thunder. Drill Peck is a solid Flying-type move that requires the least amount of energy from Zapdos. As for Thunder, while it does cost more energy than Ancient Power or Thunderbolt, it does enough damage to make it the better option. It will do 10 more damage than Thunderbolt, although it costs five more energy. Still, Thunder remains the better option.
The best moveset to teach Zapdos is the fast move Thunder Shock and the charged moves Drill Peck and Thunder.
