Hypno is a Pokémon that makes you take a step and deeply consider using it Pokémon Go. It’s not going to be cut out for the big battles, such as the Master League, but it’s a respectable Pokémon you can expect to see in the Great and Ultra Leagues. When using it, you want to consider your team because you can easily find yourself backed into a corner with a Hypno in your roster. We highly recommend you make sure it learns the best moveset before using it in any PvP competitions, but it’s a competent Pokémon to use in most one and three-star raids.
Hypno is a Psychic-type Pokémon. It will be weak to Bug, Dark, and Ghost-type moves, but it’s resistant to Fighting and Psychic-type attacks. Hypno has a maximum CP of 2,090, an attack of 125, a defense of 164, and a stamina of 168. When you use it in PvE raids, Hypno has an attack of 144, a defense of 193, and a stamina of 198. Overall, it’s not a huge competitor in the Ultra League unless you power it up using XL candy, and even then, it’s facing an uphill battle. You primarily want to use it in the Great League and the Kanto Cup.
These are all of the moves Hypno can learn.
Fast moves
- Confusion (Psychic-type) – 16 damage and 3 energy (4 damage per turn)
- Zen Headbutt (Psychic-type) – 8 damage and 2 energy (2.6 damage per turn)
Charged moves
- Fire Punch (Fire-type) – 55 damage and 40 energy
- Focus Blast (Fighting-type) – 140 damage and 75 energy
- Future Sight (Psychic-type) – 120 damage and 65 energy
- Ice Punch (Ice-type) – 55 damage and 40 energy
- Psychic (Psychic-type) – 90 damage and 55 energy (10% chance to lower the opponent’s defenses by 1 rank)
- Psyshock (Psychic-type) – 70 damage and 45 energy
- Return (Normal-type) – 130 damage and 70 energy
- Shadow Ball (Ghost-type) – 100 damage and 55 energy
- Thunder Punch (Electric-type) – 55 damage and 40 energy
Hypno has several charged moves you need to consider. However, it only has two fast moves, and those are quick to choose from. You want to go with confusion every time. It does more damage than zen headbutt, and it provides more energy so you can use more charged moves, which is always better.
For the charged moves, we can toss out focus blast, future sight, and return. Those attacks are all over at least 60 energy, meaning they take a good long while for Hypno to charge up. Hypno only has 168 stamina in PvP, so you don’t want to waste your time waiting for its most powerful moves to be ready.
The big charged moved your Hypno needs to know is shadow ball. It’s a strong Ghost-type attack that does quite a bit of damage for a small amount of energy. It’s even better than psyshock and psychic. The real debate comes down to your Hypno knowing thunder punch, ice punch, or fire punch. We recommend you go with ice punch, but thunder punch and fire punch are also valid options used in the Great League meta. It all comes down to what team you want to pair with Hypno and what weaknesses they have. Depending on what they are, it may change your answer. But we believe ice punch is the best choice.
Overall, Hypno is a situational Pokémon, which can benefit many trainers depending on what they need. While it is used in the lower leagues, we don’t recommend taking it beyond the Ultra League.
The best moveset Hypno can learn is confusion for its fast move and then shadow ball and ice punch for its charged moves. You can swap ice punch out for fire punch or thunder punch.
