Attacks

Attacks are moves that Pokémon can use against opponent Pokémon in combat. Each Pokémon can learn one fast attack and two charged attacks at time.

Fast attacks


Fast Attacks are the basic moves used when a Trainer taps on the screen during the battle in Gym, Raid, Trainer Battle, GO Battle League or against Team GO Rocket. Repeated uses of Fast Attacks recharge the Charged Attack meter.

A Fast TM can be used to change a Pokémon's Fast Attack.

Charged attacks
Charged Attacks must be charged, which can be done by using Fast Attacks.

Initially, Charged Attacks had their energy meter which used to be displayed under the Pokémon's HP bar in the upper left hand corner during Gym battles. Each segment of the bar would represent a single use of the Charged Attack. Later on, the energy meter was moved below the Charged Attack button at the bottom of the screen. Now, these energy meters are displayed only in Pokémon Summary page, in Pokémon moveset section.

Currently, the Charged Attacks energy is measured by filling a Charged Attack button at the bottom of the screen. Once, the button is filled, Trainer can use it by tapping on it. Charged Attack can be filled a couple of times, which is indicated by stronger color of the button with each filling.

In Trainer Battles, GO Battle League matches and battles against Team GO Rocket members, when Trainer uses the one of Battle Minigames is initiated. The bonus power of the Charged Attack depends on the player's performance in these minigames.

Pokémon with more than one charged attack can learn an extra attack by paying different amount of Stardust and candies, see:

A Charged TM can be used to change a Pokémon's specific Charged Attack.

Attacks aspects
There are several aspects for both Fast and Charged attacks that help to define if specific move is optimal in combat.
 * Damage (also called Power)
 * Damage per second ( DPS for short)
 * Its formula is value of Damage divided by value of Cooldown
 * Energy  (generated per use)
 * Energy per second ( EPS for short)
 * Its formula is value of Energy divided by value of Cooldown
 * Cooldown
 * Energy meter bar pieces - is one of the aspects of charged attacks, it defines how many pieces bar containing energy of such attack is split into. The number of bar pieces for attacks currently present in game is between 0 to 3 pieces for charged attack.

STAB
STAB (an acronym for Same-Type Attack Bonus) is a bonus that is applied to the power of an Attack, if the Type of the Attack matches the Type of the Pokémon. If the attack grants a STAB, a 20% Attack bonus will be applied.

For example, Twister is a Dragon-type Attack that both Pidgey and Dratini can have. The base power for the Attack is 45. While Pidgey's damage will remain at 45, Dratini's damage will be boosted to 54 as it is Dragon type. STAB damage is not displayed in-game.

In the Pokémon main game series, the applied bonus of STAB is 50%.

Prior to the Gym overhaul and introduction of Raid Battles, STAB granted a 25% bonus.

Dodging
In Gym battles and Raid Battles, in addition to attacking, Pokémon can dodge incoming attacks with Trainer swiping either left or right on the screen. A Pokémon is preparing to attack when the edges of the screen flash yellow. A message stating "Dodged!" will appear if the dodge is a success.

In Trainer Battles, GO Battle League matches and battles against Team GO Rocket, Pokémon cannot freely dodge attack from the opponent. However, Charged Attacks can be completely avoided using shields, which Trainer can use twice during single battle.

Legacy moves
Legacy moves are attacks that were previously available for specific Pokémon to learn, but currently they're not. Most of the changes to the moves of Pokémon learnsets occurred either on August, 2016 or February , 2017.

Unused attacks
There are currently some attacks in the game data that can't be learned or used by any Pokémon.

List of unused attacks
category=Unused attacks
 * Twineedle
 * Smog
 * Double Slap
 * Slash
 * Absorb
 * Headbutt
 * Slam
 * Scald (Blastoise)
 * Hydro Pump (Blastoise)
 * Water Gun (Blastoise)
 * Wrap (Green)
 * Wrap (Pink)
 * Dark Void
 * Fiery Dance
 * Relic Song
 * Hyperspace Fury
 * Hyperspace Hole
 * Water Shuriken
 * Fusion Bolt
 * Fusion Flare
 * Glaciate

Charged attacks meter
From the release of the game to the present day, there were a few changes to the graphic design of the charged meters. Currently none of these assets are used, as they were replaced with flat bars of single-color corresponding to the type of a charged attack.

Two first versions of charged attacks meter had up to 9 bars, despite the fact that meters from 4 to 9 pieces were not used.