Bibarel is not a Pokémon you’d consider looking up what type of attacks and moves they know in Pokémon Go. Normally, they’re a fairly standard choice that doesn’t sit too high in too many leagues. Because of its overall power, you might use it in a unique PvP Cup or unique circumstances, depending on the team you’re using. However, following Bidoof’s big day, where it receives its shiny version, Bibarel has the chance to learn three new moves, expanding its overall moveset, making it a more diverse choice.
Bibarel is a Normal and Water-type Pokémon. It will be weak against Electric, Fighting, and Grass-type moves, but it is resistant against Ghost, Water, Steel, Ice, and Fire-type moves. It’s not going to be the strongest Pokémon you use, and we highly recommend you keep it in the standard Great League, even with the improvements.
These are all of the moves Bibarel can learn.
Fast moves
- Take Down (Normal-type) – 5 damage and 2.6 energy per turn (1.6 damage per turn) – 3 turns
- Water Gun (Water-type) – 3 damage and 3 energy per turn (3 damage per turn) – 1 turn
Charged moves
- Hyper Beam (Normal-type) – 150 (180) damage and 80 energy
- Hyper Fang (Normal-type) – 80 (96) damage and 50 energy
- Ice Beam (Ice-type) – 90 damage and 55 energy
- Return (Normal-type) – 130 (156) damage and 70 energy
- Shadow Ball (Ghost-type) – 100 damage and 55 energy
- Surf (Water-type) – 65 (78) damage and 40 energy
- Thunderbolt (Electric-type) – 90 damage and 55 energy
When it comes to the fast move, you almost always want to go with Bibarel’s water gun. It’s a solid attack with consistent damage, energy generation, and it’s reliable. You can’t go wrong with it. It’s much faster than take down, which takes a full three turns to execute. Water gun will happen much faster, doing more damage and generating more energy.
For the charged move, you have a few more choices available to you that you want to consider using. The most obvious choice is from Bibarel’s standard selection, surf. It has good damage, and you can use it fast enough to potentially cost your opponent a shield if they’re not paying attention. You want to consider using these three charged moves for the second choice: ice beam, shadow ball, and thunderbolt. These are the special moves you can only teach Bibarel during certain times during the Bidoof event, and then using an Elite Charged TM, Bibarel can teach them whenever you want to teach them.
We believe thunderbolt has the most use of the three choices, followed by shadow ball and then ice beam. Thunderbolt and shadow ball are pretty closely aligned, so a Bibarel with one of these attacks and then having another with the other is also a good choice. These attacks do not bump Bibarel up through the ranks massively, but it’s going to make a much bigger splash than it normally would in most Great League battles.
The best moveset to teach Bibarel is the fast move water gun, followed by the charged moves surf and thunderbolt, or you can swap out thunderbolt for shadow ball.
