The 5 Best Pokemon to use Elite TMs on

Elite TMs are pretty rare. Even if you play every season of the Go Battle League, you won’t get many. You are basically restricted to one per season. As it stands, there are only two reliable ways of getting Elite TMs of any type. The Go Battle League rewards one per season, alternating between Charge and Fast TMs. And Community Day boxes tend to contain a TM, generally based on whatever the Community Day move is. Elite TMs are also very rarely given out in limited or special research tasks, as well as paid events.

On the flip side, events can also randomly bring back exclusive moves. For example, despite being a fairy event, Luminous Legends X allowed you to evolve Dragonite and Salamence and get their Community Day moves. Before that, Metagross has had multiple events allowing you to get Meteor Mash.

Between the rareness of Elite TMs and the randomness of events, it’s hard to decide what to use an Elite TM on. Luckily, I’ve got a nice list for you.

“But Medic, your list is entirely PVP-orientated!”

Eh not really. Starters in general are insanely good in PvP. Just look at Swampert for example. But at the same time, most PVP-based Community Day moves are hit and miss. Aqua Tail is a must for Gyarados, but there are plenty of other water types you can take instead. At the same time, Counter is USELESS on Alakazam, while Payback for Machamp is a sidegrade at best.

More importantly, PvP is so open-ended that I can’t make recommendations for you. It’s better to create and experiment with your own teams and find what works best for you. Plus, it’s not like I play much GBL anyway.

Fire and Water starters

Most Fire and Water starters are lucky Pokemon because they have access to Blast Burn and Hydro Cannon. But these are both exclusive Community Day moves. That being said, which starter is best to give an exclusive move to? Charizard and Blastoise are both great options, but Swampert is amazing and Empoleon has a great niche too. Blaziken gets an awesome Mega Evolution and loses part of its weakness to Rock. It’s more personal preference here, as well as which Pokemon you think looks cooler. But they’re all worthy of an Elite TM. Except maybe Infernape, which is just a worse Blaziken.

For PvE, while Legendaries do tend to be better, it’s much harder to power up a Kyogre or six compared to Swampert or Blastoise for example. Water types in particular also don’t have much competition in the legendary compartment, with only Kyogre and Palkia really posing any threat.

Venusaur

While you have options when it comes to the other starters, in the Grass category, you have far fewer options. Venusaur, with both an outstanding Mega, is generally the superior choice. Its typing is also pretty interesting as well.

When Sceptile gets its Mega, then it might be a good secondary choice, as Grass/Dragon is pretty good. Despite having a x4 weakness to Ice. But Venusaur is simply a better pick in the mean time.

Garchomp

Honestly? Garchomp is great. And it’s getting a Community Day. But a lot of us have probably already evolved a Garchomp or two. I have a nearly maxed, lucky, shiny Garchomp. Okay, sure, we don’t know what the move will be (as of writing at least). But whatever it is, it’ll probably be good. This is a big fan favourite, and a lot of its potential moves will make a good Pokemon even better.

Mewtwo

Some Pokemon are pretty strong. Mewtwo on the other hand is insanely strong. It’s so strong that Mewtwo actually is a top 10 Pokemon in raids, even if the raid boss isn’t weak to Psychic. On top of that, Psystrike is a STAB move that’s also insanely strong, to the point that Psychic, Mewtwo’s other move, might as well not exist.

Shadow Mewtwo takes this even further with its flat 20% damage buff, making it basically the most powerful Pokemon in the game. Glassy as heck, but absurdly strong as an attacker. And, on top of that, Mewtwo has TWO Mega forms in the future. Because of that, Mewtwo is DEFINITELY worthwhile for an Elite TM.

Rockwrecker Rhyperior

“Medic, why is this guy above Mewtwo?” Because Rockwrecker Rhyperior is INSANELY useful. There are a huge number of legendary raid bosses that are weak to rock types. From the legendary birds to Rayquaza to Yveltal, there’s a ton of flying types and ice types. Simply put, you’ll get a lot of use from a Rockwrecker Rhyperior, probably more than you’ll get for any other Pokemon on this list.

Sure, Rhyperior isn’t as strong as Mewtwo, not at all. But it’s much more reliable, and less likely to die. A perfect combination of sheer damage and tankiness.

So if you only have one or two Elite TMs, hopefully you have a better idea on what to use them on.