Pokemon Go Shadow Pokemon TM Guide

by Nadiki

I decided to make this guide to clear up some confusion about Shadow Pokémon, how removing Frustration works, and what the best Shadow Pokémon are.

First, Shadow Pokémon now have a “shadow boost”. This boost gives them a 20% increase to attack and a 20% decrease to defense. This is a huge deal because it turns Shadow Pokémon into some absolutely amazing (but rather expensive) attackers. There is still a chance that Niantic will nerf this boost, but even if they do, Shadow Pokémon will still be very good.

On Saturday, March 7th, from 2:00pm to 5:00pm local time, you will be able to use Charge TMs to get rid of Frustration, meaning you no longer have to get a second move for Shadow Pokémon to be useful! Removing Frustration gets rid of the move permanently (the exact same mechanics as Return). You don’t have to worry about Frustration coming back after evolution. Adding a second move won’t bring back Frustration either. Note that you can still add a second move to your Shadow Pokémon (this will let you TM them and evolve them for CD moves as well) if you’re low on Charge TMs and have a lot of extra candy and dust.

If you have Shadow Pokémon that get great CD moves, you can TM their unevolved forms and then save them to evolve during December Community Day (assuming it will work the same as 2019’s December CD.) Once Frustration is gone, you can use as many TMs as you want on the Pokémon, whether the Team Rocket Takeover is active or not. You can also use an Elite TM to get the CD move sooner.

Also, it’s probably best to use just one TM on everything you want to remove Frustration from before trying to get any specific moves.

Now, without further ado, here’s a list of the best Shadow Pokémon worth TMing.

Note: ° denotes a Legacy Move.

NON-COMMUNITY DAY (you can fully evolve these):

-Electivire (Thunder Shock/Wild Charge): Zekrom? Who? He is nothing compared to the immense DPS of Shadow Electivire. Zekrom will still be the king of TDO, though.

-Dragonite (Dragon Tail/Outrage): Better than both Rayquaza AND the upcoming Black Kyurem. Not as high DPS as Shadow Salamence, but has more bulk to make up for it.

-Moltres (Wing Attack/Sky Attack° OR Fire Spin/Overheat): You’ll need an Elite TM if you want Sky Attack. Shadow Moltres becomes the king of BOTH Fire and Flying DPS. It’s not even a contest for Flying.

-Weavile (Ice Shard/Avalanche OR Snarl/Foul Play): Shadow Weavile becomes the champion of BOTH Ice and Dark DPS. However, it’s going to be extremely glassy.

-Raikou (Thunder Shock/Wild Charge): Slightly less amazing than Shadow Electivire but still insanely good. Has more TDO than Shadow Electivire.

-Gardevoir (Charm/Dazzling Gleam OR Confusion/Psychic): A deadly glass cannon of either Fairy or Psychic type. Not as good of a Psychic type as Mewtwo, but it’s the best Fairy type.

-Gallade (Low Kick/Close Combat OR Confusion/Psychic): Although it’s not the best, it’s now a good Psychic type (equal to Shadow Gardevoir) and an alright Fighting type. Still not as good as Machamp or Mewtwo.

-Zapdos (Thunder Shock°/Thunderbolt): You’ll need an Elite TM for Thunder Shock. Not as great as Shadow Raikou or Shadow Electivire but still really good. Still better than Zekrom.

-Magnezone (Spark/Wild Charge): Not as good as Shadow Raikou or Shadow Electivire but still really good. About equal to Shadow Zapdos, slightly higher DPS but slightly lower TDO.

-Entei (Fire Fang/Overheat): Not quite as good as Shadow Charizard or Shadow Moltres but still an excellent Fire type. Still better than Reshiram and Chandelure.

-Gyarados (Waterfall/Hydro Pump): Shadow Gyarados has overthrown Kyogre as king of the sea! But he’s still not quite as good as Shadow Swampert.

-Victreebel & Shiftry (Razor Leaf/Leaf Blade): Neither are quite as good as Shadow Venusaur or Shadow Torterra, but both are better than Roserade. Shadow Victreebel is slightly better than Shadow Shiftry.

-Pinsir & Scizor (Bug Bite/X-Scissor, Fury Cutter/X-Scissor): Both of these bugs surpass the mighty Volcarona and Genesect. However, Bug types aren’t super useful (except against Hoopa in Gen 6) so these aren’t as high of a priority.

-Absol & Houndoom (Snarl/Dark Pulse, Snarl/Foul Play): Both have higher DPS than Shadow Tyranitar, but not as much as Shadow Weavile. They’re both horribly glassy though.

-Banette (Shadow Claw/Shadow Ball): Shadow Banette manages to surpass Gengar’s DPS, but it’s even glassier than Gengar.

COMMUNITY DAY (wait to fully evolve these until December unless you want to use Elite TMs for their CD moves):

-Salamence (Dragon Tail/Outrage°): This thing is now the king of neutral DPS, surpassing even Psystrike Mewtwo and Deoxys-A. It’s even better than the unreleased Black Kyurem.

-Metagross (Bullet Punch/Meteor Mash°): It’s Meteor Mash Metagross, but with an insane DPS increase. It’s a BEAST. Fairy types cower in fear before it.

-Tyranitar (Bite/Crunch OR Smack Down°/Stone Edge): As a Rock type, it’s better than Rock Wrecker Rhyperior but still not as good as Rampardos. As a Dark type, it’s better than Darkrai but not as good as Weavile. It has higher TDO than both the higher DPS options, though.

-Porygon-Z (Lock-On/???): It was recently leaked that we will be able to vote for a Porygon Community Day later this year. It could potentially get a super useful move for PvP (Tri-Attack, perhaps?) and it’s actually a fairly useful (but often overlooked) Grass/Ice attacker for raids.

-Charizard (Fire Spin/Blast Burn°): Surpasses both Chandelure and the unreleased Reshiram, but not quite as good as Moltres.

-Venusaur (Vine Whip/Frenzy Plant°): The new uncontested king of Grass DPS, beating Roserade by a wide margin.

-Torterra (Razor Leaf/Frenzy Plant°): Only slightly behind Shadow Venusaur, still extremely good.

-Swampert (Water Gun/Hydro Cannon°): The evolution of the mighty Mudkip surpasses even Kyogre. Keep Mud Shot on this one if you plan to use it for PvP.

-Alakazam (Confusion/Psychic°): Alakazam’s CD is coming up, and we don’t know what move it will get. It could get Psychic back, or it could get something different. You can also get Psychic with an Elite TM, allowing Alakazam’s DPS to surpass even Psystrike Mewtwo (although it will be much more glassy.)

TLDR; the absolute best to TM are Metagross, Electivire, Salamence, Moltres, Dragonite, Venusaur, Charizard, Swampert, Tyranitar. Less amazing but still great are Gyarados, Gardevoir, Weavile, Zapdos, Magnezone, Entei, and Torterra. The rest are down to your personal preference and needs. And for the ones with CD moves, you can either wait until December to evolve them or use Elite TMs on them.

I’m not exactly an expert when it comes to guides or anything, but I hope this helps! If I’m missing any essential information or anything meta-relevant, let me know.