The Community Day with Machollo is coming up in Pokémon GO, and finally, the values of the exclusive move Counter have been revealed. We will show you how strong Machamp will be with it.
This is Counter: It is the exclusive move that is only available on the Community Day in January. You will receive it when you evolve Machoke into Machamp.
So far, no Pokémon has mastered Counter, so it was unknown how strong the attack would be. However, Niantic has now added the values of Counter to the game files. So we finally know how strong Machamp will be.
All information about Machamp with Counter
These are the values: Counter is a charge move of the Dark type. It has only one charge bar and is therefore quite slow to charge.
- In PvP, Counter deals 110 damage and costs 60 energy
- In raids and gym battles, Counter deals 100 damage and costs 100 energy
This is how strong Counter will be in PvE: In raids and gym battles, Counter does not really provide you an advantage.
We can explain this using the example of a Mewtwo raid. Counter is effective against Mewtwo as a Dark-type move, but Mewtwo’s Psychic attacks hit Machamp very effectively. Additionally, Machamp has no instant move of the Dark type. Real Dark attackers, such as Darkrai or Tyranitar, are therefore significantly better.
This is how strong Counter will be in PvP: The move is definitely designed for the PvP League. It can be compared to the charge move Stone Edge. It is the second charge move that a Machamp should learn alongside Cross Chop and Dynamic Punch. With this, you can surprise some players in PvP since you are fighting with a fighting Pokémon but using a rock move.
You can replace the rock move after the Community Day with Counter. So you would have fighting and Dark type moves on a Machamp. We will now look at the individual leagues:
- In the Great League, you could potentially pressure ghost or psychic Pokémon. Hypno or Gastly are popular in this league – they would lose against Machamp. Even a Deoxys in its defense form has problems against Machamp. Without Stone Edge, you would be weak against monsters like Altaria or Tropius.
- In the Ultra League, you could counter the numerous Giratina that are active there with Counter. Additionally, Pokémon like the armored Mewtwo or Cresselia are vulnerable to the Dark move. Nevertheless, you would lose against Pokémon like Dragonite or Charizard without Stone Edge.
- In the Master League, while Counter is effective against Giratina, they often win against Machamp anyway. Here you would lose significantly against Togekiss or Dragonite.
Is the move worth it? To summarize, Machamp with Counter can counter some Pokémon well, but in return loses against other popular monsters.
Counter is not a move that you necessarily need, but it can help in certain situations. You will not be overrun if you don’t use it.
All further information about the Community Day can be found in our guide to the event: Community Day in Pokémon GO with Machollo – How to make the most of it
