Shadow Kingdra

With every passing generation, Kingdra slips deeper and deeper into obscurity, often wondering what would have been. Maybe a better moveset? Or a more favorable CP calculation? Regardless, it now seems that Kingdra is unlikely to ever rise in the PvE meta to any meaningful degree.

Best PvE Offensive Moveset

• Waterfall slightly edges out Water Gun. Either should be paired with Hydro Pump for Water-type offense.

• Dragon Breath and Outrage make up Kingdra’s novelty Dragon-type attacking set.

• Blizzard, though it lacks STAB, outdamages Outrage if hitting a target with a double weakness to Ice.

Best PvE Defensive Moveset

• Waterfall is preferred for its high base damage.

• Hydro Pump is slightly favored over Blizzard due to its raw power and incredibly early damage window.

• Outrage and Octazooka are Kingdra's 2-bar moves. The former is extremely strong but is easy to dodge. The latter is fairly weak, but it has an early damage window.

Ever since PvP came out Dragon Breath has become one of the most popular fast moves due to its high damage output (4.0 DPT), and Kingdra benefits from it. Outrage is almost always preferred on Kingdra due to the cheaper energy cost compared to Hydro Pump and Blizzard, and the vastly unresisted damage. The most recent addition, Octazooka, is a staple as Kingdra's cheaper charged move (50 Energy against Outrage's 60) and the amazing 50% chance to debuff opponents' Attack stat by 2 stages at each use! That pairs perfectly with the aggressive fast move damage, which can easily overwhelm debuffed opponents; the combination is what makes Kingdra truly shine.