Blastoise is among the three original starting Pokémon that you can choose to begin your Pokémon journey. It’s a reliable Pokémon, and in Pokémon Go, you can also choose to start your game with it as your companion. Because Squirtle is a little bit harder to locate in the game, not too many players utilize Blastoise all too often. But when you do have enough candies to evolve Squirtle into a Blastoise, utilizing its best moveset is critical.

Blastoise is a Water-type Pokémon. It will be weak against Electric and Grass-type moves, but it’s resistant against Fire, Ice, Steel, and Water-type attacks. For PvP, Blastoise has a maximum CP of 2,466, an attack of 146, a defense of 175, and a stamina of 160. For PvE, it has an attack of 171, a defense of 207, and a stamina of 188. Because Blastoise has a lower CP than most would want to use for Master League Pokémon, you’re better off using it in the Ultra League, where it battles against Pokémon with similar CP and stats, or in the Great League.

These are all of the moves Blastoise can learn.

Fast moves

  • Bite (Dark-type) – 4 damage and 2 energy (4 damage per turn)Water Gun (Water-type) – 3 damage and 3 energy (3 damage per turn)

Charged moves

  • Flash Cannon (Steel-type) – 110 damage and 70 energyHydro Cannon (Water-type) – 80 damage and 40 energy Hydro Pump (Water-type) – 130 damage and 75 energyIce Beam (Ice-type) – 90 damage and 55 energySkull Bash (Normal-type) – 130 damage and 75 energy (100% damage to increase user’s defense)

When it comes to picking Blastoise’s fast move, you want to go with water gun over bite. While bite is a useful attack to have when battling in PvE raids, water gun will provide Blastoise with more energy every time it uses it. The more energy Blastoise has, the more times it can fire off its charged moves, and those moves are critical to winning the larger fights against other players.

You don’t want to use flash cannon, hydro pump, or skull bash for charged moves. While these attacks do quite a bit of damage, they’re going to require too much energy from Blastoise. It can be easily taken out during a fight well before it has enough energy to get those attacks off. Using attacks with lower energy requirements is your best bet, so you want to stick with hydro cannon and ice beam. Hydro cannon is Blastoise’s exclusive move, so you’ll have to teach it to your Pokémon at specific times, or you can use an Elite Charged TM to make it happen. Ice beam is a move Blastoise can learn at all times, and it’s instrumental when battling against Dragon, Flying, Grass, and Ground-type Pokémon.

Blastoise is a decent choice, so long as you give it the correct moveset. Beyond ice beam and hydro cannon, its other charged moves require too much energy to be viable options, but its high defensive stats help keep it in a fight. To use all of those stats, you want to use Blastoise in the Ultra League, but it can find success in the Great League with the correct team. Just make sure you don’t take it to the Master League. The best moveset for Blastoise to learn is water gun for its fast move, and then ice beam and hydro cannon for its charged moves.