Recommended Moves for Main Story [Pokémon Sun and Moon]

Detailed information on recommended moves for a Pokemon to learn during Main Story in Pokémon Sun and Moon.

Physical and Special Moves

A Pokemon’s offensive moves are classified as Physical and Special.

The basis for selecting an offensive move depends on the Base Stats, which are set and vary across Pokemon species, and some stats will increase more than others when leveling up.

For example, Starmie has high base Sp. Attack and low base Attack. Therefore, it is advised to teach it Special moves such as Surf instead of Physical ones such as Waterfall.

However, it is wise to take into consideration that other Pokemon may require a physical moveset or a combination of the two because of their stat distributions, so you need to adjust accordingly.

How to decide between Physical and Special Moves

As you progress through the Main Story it is important to replace weaker Power Moves for higher ones, such as in the case of Ember which deals less damage than Flame Burst, to increase your damage.

As mentioned above, since offensive moves are split into Physical and Special, it is not wise to teach Special ones to a Pokemon that has high base Attack but low base Special Attack stats.

In the game it is easy to remember which are considered Physical as they are marked with a Red Shot. On the other hand, those that are considered Special are marked with a blue ripple.

Moves that match the Pokemon’s Typing (Same-Type Attack Bonus or STAB)

Apart from the Physical and Special splits, Pokemon and Moves are both categorized according to type. Whenever a Pokemon uses a move that matches its type, its power is multiplied by 1.5. Those that match the Pokemon’s Type or otherwise known as Same-Type Attack Bonus (STAB) Moves are highly recommended as the Pokemon’s primary means to deal damage. Since these are more powerful than non-STAB ones, offensive Pokemon should be able to use at least 1 of them.

How to decide between Power and Accuracy

Whenever you select a Move, it can be further broken down in terms of: Power, Accuracy Rate and additional effects. In other words, even if they are close in terms of Power, these may vary in terms of advantages and disadvantages based on Accuracy and presence of additional effects.

For example, when selecting a Special Fire-Type Move for Charizard, Flamethrower has the least amount of Power but can do consistent amount of damage due to having the highest accuracy rate; Fire Blast does more damage than Flamethrower but at the cost of having a very low accuracy rate; and Overheat does the highest amount of damage among the three with a somewhat decent accuracy rate that is however compensated by the addition of lowering Special Attack by 2 stages after each use.

This is summarized on the table.

Status Moves (Non-Damaging)

Status Moves are moves that do not deal direct damage to the opponent Pokemon. These can be classified into different types: stat buffs, stat de-buffs, those that inflict status conditions, etc. These increase one’s advantage during battle.

Some can provide buffs to the Pokemon that used it and increase the Pokemon’s stats. A good example of stat-buffs are Swords Dance and Nasty Plot which increase Attack Stat by two stages; and Special Attack Stat by two stages respectively. These only require 1 turn of set-up to gain a two-stage increase. Another means of buffing is Dragon Dance, which increases two different stats: Attack and Speed stats by 1 stage each.

For the Main Story, there are several Pokemon that specialize in Attack, this makes the move Baby-Doll Eyes a useful to lower the damage received before the opponent strikes.

In addition to providing buffs, moves that inflict status conditions on other pokemon are also status moves. These include Sleep Powder and Thunder Wave which cause the status conditions Sleep and Paralyzed respectively. These moves incapacitate opponents, so they might miss moving on the following turn until the condition is cured. It is advantageous to use moves that cause status conditions. Therefore, these moves are recommended during the Main Story battles, competitions, and even capturing Pokemon.

Pokemon Sun and Moon Recommended Article List

This article is about Pokemon Sun and Moon. For information about Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon, click below.