Gumshoos was one of the lucky few to be included in the first Alolan event for Pokemon GO. This Pokemon joins the ranks of Raticate, Patrat and Sentret as early game options that can’t keep up with other threats.
Gumshoos looks like it will have the same lackluster stats as it does in the main series (although it has a nice 204 Stamina stat). Despite being ranked incredibly low, there is still a role Gumshoos can play in the Great League.
Which moves should this Alolan Pokemon be using?
Despite being Normal-type, most of the good moves that Gumshoos learns are Dark-type. This allows it to be a Ghost-type counter since Normal-types resist Ghost-type moves as well.
Bite is the fastest move it can use. Although Take Down can be appealing (especially when it charges 10 energy per use), it is also incredibly slow at 1.5 seconds. Bite is incredibly weak (4 base power), but at least it’s quick.
Naturally, this move should be paired with Crunch to take on the threatening Ghost-types in the meta. Crunch is a good move since it has decent damage output and only costs 45 energy.
Unfortunately, Gumshoos is forced to run a substandard move in the other slot. It gets to pick between Hyper Fang (which will never hit for super effective damage) and Rock Tomb (which takes forever to charge).
While Hyper Fang can be used more often, Gumshoos might benefit from Rock Tomb. The bottom line is that Gumshoos will likely be the weakest member of any team. If it can put a teammate in a better position, though, that could potentially be a winning play.
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Rock Tomb has a guaranteed debuff on the target’s Attack stat when used. So if Gumshoos can charge enough energy to use it, it might be worth sacrificing it so that a Swampert or a Trevenant can come in and farm down the opponent.
