Primarina
PvE Analysis
Primarina is the majestic Water starter of Gen 7, and a welcome addition to Pokemon Go. With Hydro Cannon it's a pretty solid Water Type, and its basic moveset also makes it a good Fairy Type attacker, but it's not really meta-defining by any metric.
Best PvE Offensive Moveset
Waterfall + Hydro Cannon* | Best |
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Charm + Moonblast | Best |
- Waterfall and Hydro Cannon pair well together to fulfill a Water-type attacker role.
- Sparkling Aria is good, and the fact that it's 3-bar makes it situationally great, but it generally falls behind Hydro Cannon
- Hydro Pump falls behind.
- Charm and Moonblast are slightly weaker, but enable Primarina to be a decent Fairy-type attacker.
- Disarming Voice comes out a lot faster than Moonblast, but its damage output is significantly lower.
- Psychic has no use for offense.
Best PvE Defensive Moveset
Charm or Waterfall + Psychic or Disarming Voice or Sparkling Aria | Best |
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- Charm is recommended for defense due to ubiquitous use of Fighting-type attackers, as well as most more common usage of Grass and Dragon attackers compared to Poison Pokemon.
- Waterfall isn't bad at all on defense, but is more likely to be resisted.
- Psychic is better for defense against potential Grass/Poison attackers as well as Fighting-types.
- Disarming Voice is good for defense, but using it alongside Charm allows Steel and Poison Types to hard-wall Primarina.
- Sparkling Aria is objectively great, sporting high power and great flexibility. Just don't pair it with Waterfall.
- Hydro Cannon is good, but on defense it's not as good as Sparkling Aria
- Hydro Pump and Moonblast take a long time before they can be used, but the former hits much faster.
PvP Analysis
Charm + Disarming Voice and Hydro Cannon* | ||
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Waterfall + Disarming Voice and Hydro Cannon* |
Both Fast Moves feature high STAB damage output with poor energy generation, with different typing coverage. Either can be viable depending on the rest of your team composition and PvP format.
Primarina's Community Day move, Hydro Cannon, is an incredible low cost move that helps make up for the poor energy generation from its Fast Attacks. Disarming Voice is another relatively cheap STAB option that will see more play than Primarina's more expensive Charged Attack options.
Moonblast is a great move, but Primarina struggles to find room for it as both Disarming Voice and Hydro Cannon provide it with much needed consistency. Psychic can provide coverage against Poison-type Pokemon, but it is rarely more useful than Hydro Cannon. Hydro Pump was formerly a staple on Primarina to threaten Fire- and Steel-type Pokemon, but it is now severely outclassed by the much more reliable Hydro Cannon. Sparkling Aria is a solid move with a moderately cheap cost, but is completely outclassed by Hydro Cannon and should only be used as a non-Elite move alternative.
Great League | 3 / 5 |
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Notice that Fairy/Water typing? While this typing has done wonders for the popular Azumarill, it's not enough to save Primarina. There is a significant gap between the two Pokemon in terms of bulk, with Primarina being more fragile than most meta Pokemon. As a Charmer, it is also outclassed by Wigglytuff, who has greater stats and arguably more impactful Charged Attacks (even when considering that Primarina has Hydro Cannon). Generally, Primarina is more of a limited cup Pokemon, or a secondary option to Azumarill in ABB-style teams. | |
Ultra League | 0 / 5 |
Primarina is an okay option in the Ultra League. Its type combination is once again very valuable, but it is rather fragile. To set itself apart from the generally better Tapu Fini, Primarina should consider making more use of Charm. Even so, it can struggle to shine when compared to other Fairy-type options such as Alolan Ninetales or Clefable. Nevertheless, not too many Pokemon resist Fairy and Water, so Primarina with energy can often leave dents on just about anything ...except Tentacruel. Please, for the love of god, keep Primarina away from Tentacruel. There are other Pokemon that do resist its STABs but nothing will destroy it harder than the jellyfish. | |
Master League | 4 / 5 |
Charm Primarina is Palkia's worst nightmare. When one needs a full stop to one of the most powerful and most common Pokemon in the metagame, nobody does it better than Primarina. Charm Primarina can 100-0 Palkia while easily tanking its entire movepool. As a Fairy-type Pokemon, Primarina finds plenty of play in the Master League due to the prevalence of Dragon-type Pokemon. Its Water typing really sets itself apart from other Fairy-type options. Defensively, it protects Primarina against the likes of Kyogre, Dialga, and Palkia. Offensively, it pressures Ho-Oh, Landorus, and even Dusk Mane Necrozma, all common answers to Fairies. Its Community Day move Hydro Cannon grants it some much needed consistency, allowing it to better fight back against its would-be counters. The fact that Primarina can viably make use of both Charm and Waterfall can further make countering it challenging. Primarina's main drawback is its rather low stats, which in some cases could lead it to somewhat underperform even when granted a type advantage. For instance, its matchup against Kyogre can be unreliable even when running Charm. It will also struggle with Pokemon that deal enormous neutral damage such as Mewtwo. |