Is Palkia the new must have Pokemon in GO Battle Master League?

Niantic have made some big changes to GO Battle League and one of them gives Palkia a big boost. Trainers want to know if it is now on the same level as the generally considered Master League Pokemon, Dialga.

The change made is a simple one: Palkia has been given Aqua Tail as one of its Charge Moves.

This might not seem a big deal, as Aqua Tail is by no means a powerful move, but Palkia was in great need of a fast charging Charge Move – and that’s exactly what Aqua Tail is. Beforehand the Spatial Pokemon’s lowest energy requirement move was Draco Meteor at 65. Aqua Tail is only 35.

This removes Palkia’s one weakness in the PvP format – only having high energy requirement Charge Moves. So, with this change how does it compare to Dialga?

Palkia vs Dialga in Master League

Typing

Dialga has it all – high max CP, excellent moves and most notably an incredibly effective dual typing in dragon and steel. It is the latter that is its greatest advantage, making it resistant to a total of 10 types, two of which in grass and poison, are doubly resistant. It is only weak to fire and ground.

Palkia, on the other hand, is a dual dragon and water type, which is nowhere near as effective. It is only weak to two types in dragon and fairy, just like Dialga, but is resistant to three types. Among those though, is double resistance to fire and water.

Moves

That’s a clear round one to Dialga but the moves now sway in a different direction. Both have Dragon Breath available as a Fast Move, which is better than Dragon Tail and Metal Claw – so the Fast Move is about even.

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When it comes to Charge Moves both also have Draco Meteor. This dragon-type move is the second best in the entirety of Pokemon Go when it comes to damage per energy – this makes it an obvious selection.

Its 65 energy requirement though, is too high to be considered a ‘spam’ Charge Move. Dialga relies on Iron Head for this but even that requires 50 energy. Meanwhile, the aforementioned Aqua Tail only needs 35, making Palkia an excellent Pokemon to break through Protect Shields.

There is a still an argument that Dialga is superior here, however. Iron Head is super effective against more awkward types in fairy, ice and rock whereas Aqua Tail is effective against fire, rock and ground.

So, it becomes a decision between faster charge time or effective coverage against more awkward types. At least now it’s a close run thing between two of the three members of the Creation Trio. We’ll give this round ever so slightly to Palkia.

Max CP and stats

The Temporal Pokemon has a small edge when it comes to max CP – 4,038 compared to 3,991. In the grand scheme of PvP this is pretty much negligible.

Their stats are also similar in terms of super high attacking prowess. Palkia edges it here and actually does when it comes to defense as well. However, Dialga’s 16 more stat points make it more bulky than Palkia.

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With durability being the key to GO Battle League, Dialga has to take the third and final round. Given this, most trainers will still consider Dialga the best option but with this change, we shouldn’t see every team have Dialga like before.

The Gen 4 legends will now both be highly sought after when Master League comes around again in Season 2.