Niantic
Clone Pokemon of Venusaur, Charizard and Blastoise are now available in Pokemon GO from now until March 2, according to Niantic.
The Clone Pokemon are based on the ones that appear in Pokemon: Mewtwo Strikes Back-Evolution, which is arriving on Netflix on February 27 also known as Pokemon Day.
According to Leek Duck, the Clone Pokemon will know their Community Day exclusive moves when caught. Clone Venusaur will know Frenzy Plant, Clone Charizard will know Blast Burn and Clone Blastoise will know Hydro Cannon.
Here are the best counters to use against the Pokemon GO Clone Pokemon during the Pokemon Day event.
Clone Venusaur
Clone Venusaur’s dual grass and poison type makes it weak to flying-, fire-, psychic-, and ice-type attacks. It resists fighting-, water-, electric- and fairy-type moves and double resists grass-type moves.
The best counter to use against Clone Venusaur is Mewtwo with Confusion and Psystrike. Mewtwo is by far the best psychic-type attacker in the game thanks to its high attack and impressive movepool. However, keep in mind that Psystrike is an exclusive move only available to Mewtwo caught at a certain time. That being said, it’s normal psychic-type Charge Move, Psychic, isn’t too far behind in terms of damage. Psycho Cut is also a good alternative to Confusion as it has higher energy gain, but for the most damage you’ll want to go with Confusion.
The next best counter is Moltres with Fire Spin and Sky Attack. Not only are Moltres’ both its moves extremely powerful and take advantage of Venusaur’s type weaknesses, but Moltres double resists Venusaur’s grass-type attacks thanks to its dual fire and flying types. However, Sky Attack is also an exclusive move. That being said a Moltres with Overheat instead isn’t too far behind.
Clone Charizard
Clone Charizard is fire- and flying-type, making it double weak to rock-type attacks. It’s also weak against water- and electric-type moves. It resists fighting-, steel-, fire-, and fairy-type moves and double resists ground-, bug- and grass-type moves.
The best counter against Clone Charizard is Rampardos with Smack Down and Rock Slide. Rampardos has by far the highest attack stat among rock-types and an impressive moveset to go along with it, making short work of Charizard. Despite Rampardos’ fragile bulk, it still resists Charizard’s fire-type moves.
We also recommend Rhyperior with Smack Down and Rock Wrecker for the same reasons, though the Pokemon trades raw DPS for more bulk. Keep in mind that Rock Wrecker is a Community Day exclusive move, though Rock Slide isn’t too far behind.
Basically, any fully evolved rock-type with access to either Rock Slide or Stone Edge along with Smack Down would work wonders against Charizard.
Clone Blastoise
Blastoise is water-type, making it weak against grass and electric and resistant against steel, fire, water and ice.
We recommend Raikou with Thunder Shock and Wild Charge for its strong attacks and its bulk. We also recommend Electivire with Thunder Shock and Wild Charge because although it has less bulk it has slightly more DPS.
If you’d rather use a grass-type, then use either Roserade with Razor Leaf and Grass Knot or Sceptile with Bullet Seed and Frenzy Plant. Both would make excellent pokemon to use against Blastoise, though they’re not as strong as some of the electric-type Pokemon out there.
The pre-evolutions of the Clone Pokemon above are also available to fight in one-star Raids, though instead of being Clone Pokemon they wear party hats. Use the same counters for those Pokemon as their evolved, Clone counterparts since they have the same typing.
Read More: Best Counters for Armored Mewtwo in Pokemon GO Raids