Alakazam
Attack
Defense
Stamina
Best Movesets
Analysis
Over the generations of GO, Alakazam has transformed from an ace glass cannon to simply “not Mewtwo”. It's now to the point where Alakazam is just not a recommended investment short of desperation or preperation for Mega Alakazam, as it's just so outclassed. Its strongest move takes an Elite TM, and it's just not worth spending one on this Pokemon! Sadly, it will take quite a bit to make Alakazam worthwhile, and even then it will likely still have a long way to go to be competitive with Mewtwo, much less the Shadow Pokemon that are becoming ever more dominant as time goes on...
Offense
- Confusion’s higher DPS makes it objectively better than Psycho Cut. However, due to its shorter cooldown, many players prefer Psycho Cut.
- Focus Blast pairs with Counter and gives Alakazam some great type coverage over meta relevant Pokemon such as Blissey, Snorlax, and Lapras, though it's weaker in this role than actual fighting types if not Shadow.
- Psychic* is a no-brainer here, sporting the best power that Alakazam can muster while being a 2 bar move. Future Sight just falls short.
- Shadow Ball is useful against Psychic and Ghost-type raid bosses.
- Dazzling Gleam has a use vs. Machamp raids, but even then, Alakazam has a better option.
- Fire Punch is of no value on an attacking Alakazam
Defense
- Confusion’s high base damage makes it a clear choice on defense.
- Counter's solid stats and coverage make it a potentially decent choice
- Dazzling Gleam* is preferred on defense due to its wide coverage and low energy cost.
- Shadow Ball is an outstanding move on defense, but it leaves Alakazam little more than a bump in the road against Tyranitar and other threatening dark-types.
- Focus Blast can lay the hurt on Dark-types, but it is easy to dodge and Alakazam may not even get a chance to use it.
- Fire Punch is a 3-bar move with decent counter-coverage. But, again, this leaves Alakazam easily crunched by Tyranitar.
- Both Future Sight and Psychic* are poor on defense, offering no coverage.
Counter is generally preferred for its superior damage output and wide relevant coverage, despite STAB and superior energy generation with Psycho Cut.
Fire Punch costs the least amount of energy, and can be used frequently. Psychic is a move that hits hard with STAB, but is limited by availability. Shadow Ball provides coverage against Alakazam's weakness to Ghost-types, in addition to relatively neutral coverage overall, but lacks STAB. The rest of Alakazam's charge moves cost too much energy to be viable; Alakazam will very likely faint by then.
Alakazam prior to its Community Day has seen zero use in PvP due to its extreme fragility, but the addition of Counter from CD and Fire Punch from the December 2019 rebalance gave it the tools it needed to compete in the meta. Access to Counter and Fire Punch enables valuable coverage against a large portion of the meta, in particular most Steel-types and a variety of Grass-types. Unfortunately Alakazam's very poor bulk causes it to perform quite badly in most matchups where it can't hit for Super Effective damage, which makes it more of a niche.
