Pokémon Go’s Hidden Gems update introduces two new moves

Check out the balance changes made to Pokémon Go’s PvP battles

Marco Wutz | May 31, 2023

Pokémon Go’s Hidden Gems update introduces two new moves /

A new season called Hidden Gems has begun in Pokémon Go and brought some key changes to the mobile game’s PvP battles. In the previous season, balance adjustments ended up being rather light, but Hidden Gems has quite a few items in store that will be noticeable in many of Go Battle League’s formats.

First of all, Hidden Gems introduced two new moves to Pokémon Go, which can be taught to Pokémon and be used in PvE as well as PvP battles:

Liquidation (Charged Attack, Water-type)

PvP: 70 Power and a chance to lower the opposing Pokémon’s Defense by one stage.
PvE: 70 Power

Leafage (Fast Attack, Grass-type)

PvP 6 Power
PvE: 9 Power

Existing moves have been adjusted through some numerical tweaks. Here are the changes:

Icicle Spear: Power increased from 60 to 65.
Poison Fang: Power increased from 40 to 45.
Rollout: Power increased from 4 to 5.
Mud Bomb: Power increased from 55 to 60.
Seed Bomb: Power increased from 55 to 60, Energy Cost increased.

Icicle Spear had been nerfed a bit in a previous season, so this new adjustment restores a bit of its former power. The change to Seed Bomb is widely seen as a nerf and hits popular Pokémon like Trevenant, who may see a little less usage in the coming months. Mud Bomb’s damage buff is a nice one for creatures like Quagsire, who can expect to rank up in terms of importance.

There have been some availability updates for moves as well – many attacks are now available to a bunch of additional Pokémon, adding to their flexibility and power:

Alolan Sandslash: Drill Run
Clefable: Fairy Wind
Wigglytuff: Disarming Voice
Goldluck: Liquidation
Dewgong: Drill Run and Liquidation
Cloyster: Liquidation
Vaporeon: Liquidation
Togetic: Fairy Wind
Quagsire: Mud Bomb
Tyranitar: Brutal Swing
Cradily: Rock Slide
Armaldo: Liquidation
Floatzel: Liquidation
Drifblim: Mystical Fire
Snover: Leafage
Abomasnow: Leafage
Probopass: Zap Cannon
Heatran: Earth Power
Samurott: Liquidation
Whimsicott: Seed Bomb
Carracosta: Liquidation
Emolga: Acrobatics
Eelektross: Liquidation
Litwick: Mystical Fire
Beartic: Liquidation
Rowlet: Leafage
Dartrix: Leafage
Decidueye: Leafage
Primarina: Disarming Voice
Fomantis: Leafage
Lurantis: Leafage
Golisopod: Liquidation
Ursaluna: Ice Punch

Togetic, Emolga, and Golisopod are three of the biggest winners of these adjustments with Togetic and Emolga scoring huge wins in Great League and Golisopod becoming a force to be reckoned with in Ultra League. Quagsire and Clefable have to be mentioned in this context as well.

Expect to see a few new names in these leagues when competing in Go Battle League this season!

Published May 31, 2023

MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg