Is Genesect (burn drive) good in Pokémon Go?

Is it worth your time?

Image via Niantic

Pokémon Go, at the game’s core, is a game about traveling the world and collecting various Pokémon creatures to add to your collection. These Pokémon vary in appearance and where you can find them. Since the introduction of Pokémon raids and battles to the mobile game, players are consistently wondering if a particular Pokémon is good or not.

Trainers looking to take on Genesect, a legendary Pokémon from the Unova region, are curious if it’s a worthy choice to use in the Battle League or raids. We’ve listed out its best moveset over here, but is this a good Pokémon to use in battles? It’s important to note that during January 5, 2021, five-star raids, Genesect will not have its shiny variation available, and it will be equipped with burn drive on it.

Let’s breakdown Genesect’s typing and stats. It’s a Steel and Bug-type Pokémon, meaning it’s only weak to Fire-type attacks, and it’s resistant to Bug, Dragon, Fairy, Grass, Ice, Normal, Poison, Psychic, and Steel-type moves. With only one specific attack that can reliably hit it, several huge bonuses are being used in a battle. Genesect’s stats have a maximum CP of 3,353, an attack of 211, a defense of 169, and stamina of 149. It’s the lowest stat is its stamina, which is its health. That’s not the worst thing in the world given how many things can damage it, but if it’s hit by a Fire-type charged attack or several fast moves, it’s likely down for the count.

If you plan to use Genesect in the Ultra or Master League, you need to attune your group to work with it specifically. In the Ultra League, Genesect will be able to take out Pokémon like Cresselia, Registeel, Mewtwo (armored), Gyarados, or Regice. But it’s vulnerable to several other Pokémon, such as Swampert, Giratina (Altered), Articuno, REgirock, Suicune, and more. For the Master League, it fares a bit better. You’re looking at winning match-ups against Melmetal, Dialga, Mewtwo, Snorlax, and Mamoswine. However, you’re losing against Groudon, Giratina (Origin), Zekrom, Palkia, Lugia, and Ho-Oh. All of this is considered while it has techno blast (fire-type) installed, and while we know the attack’s stats, we don’t know how or when it will be releasing for Genesect.

Depending on what Battle League you’re fighting in, you’ll need to use specific partners. For the Ultra League, you want to use Giratina (Origin), Mewtwo (armored), Gyarados, Suicune, or Togekiss. When battling in the Master League, you want to utilize Dragonite, Mamoswine, Dialga, Kyurem, or Zekrom.

Overall, it’s not a bad choice. With a Fire-type techno blast attached, it does pretty well, better than its original moveset, but it’s not sweeping the board. If you’ve been looking for a decent support Pokémon and something to take out key choices consistently used in the meta, Genesect gets the job done. Hopefully, we learn more details about how techno blast works before too long.