Pokemon Go: How to defeat Alakazam, weakness and counters

Alakazam is a classic Pokemon from back in Generation I, but do you remember what weakness Alakazam has? Here are some counter tips.

This piece is intended to be a short guide to help you learn about the weakness of Alakazam and how to exploit it, to properly counter the powerful Psi Pokemon.

What is the biggest weakness of Alakazam in Pokemon Go?

This one is a fair bit complicated, as Alakazam posses a wide move pool that offers it a lot of counter-attack potential. Dark-Types have a favourable matchup into Alakazam that focus on Psychic-Type and Ghost-Type attacks, but will suffer against Fairy or Fighting-Type moves, both of which Alakazam has access to. Psychic-Type attacks are still the most common for Alakazam though, so Dark-Type does come out just about on top.

Meanwhile, Bug and Ghost-Types both do well into those Fighting-Type attacks, but each have a weakness of their own that Alakazam can use against them in Pokemon Go. Your best bet is to lead with a Dark-Type Pokemon and swap out to one of these types if it’s clear that the Alakazam you’re fighting has moves that counter Dark-Types.

How did we find the most exploitable weakness?

As is typical in any Pokemon title, including Go, precisely how strong a Pokemon is and what moves it uses may vary depending on the individual, but there are a few things we can use as a weakness that remains consistent across all of any given species of Pokemon.

The easiest of these to exploit for counter purposes is often the Pokemon’s Type.

Alakazam is a pure Psychic-Type Pokemon, so the usual weakness and strengths of Psychic-Types apply here in full, meaning there’s a good chance you’re already familiar with the counter Pokemon choices to fight Alakazam – but if you’re not, don’t worry, we have all the details below.

Alakazam Type Interactions in Pokemon Go

Resistances

• Fighting
• Psychic

Being a pure Psychic-Type, both of these resistances only apply once, meaning that these Types will deal 62.5% damage to Alakazam. It’s not the biggest handicap, but enough to avoid them if you’re looking for a speedy win using the best counter Pokemon for fighting Alakazam in Pokemon Go.

Counters

• Bug
• Dark
• Ghost

Similarly, due to being a mono-Type Pokemon, these weaknesses also only apply once, for a damage rate of 160% for any moves of these types. So now that we know they all deal the same damage, which one makes for the best counter against Alakazam?

What moves does Alakazam use in battle?

Fast Attacks

• Confusion (Psychic)
• Psycho Cut (Psychic)
• Counter (Fighting)

Charged Attacks

• Fire Punch (Fire)
• Focus Blast (Fighting)
• Future Sight (Psychic)
• Shadow Ball (Ghost)
• Dazzling Gleam (Fairy)
• Psychic (Psychic)

As shown, Alakazam has quite a varied moveset. Typically with Psychic-Type Pokemon, Dark-Type is often an obvious front runner, as it has immunity to Psychic-Type attacks, however while that is still true, Alakazam brings both Fighting-Type and Fairy-Type moves, both of which counter Dark-Type Pokemon.

Bug-Types perform somewhat lacklustre here, they’ll resist the Fighting-Type attacks but get absolutely fried by Fire Punch. They can be a reliable choice as only one move here counters them, though if you end up against it you’ll struggle. Likewise, Ghost-Types handle themselves well into Fighting-Type attacks but will be defeated very quickly if hit by that Shadow Ball attack.

Overall, Dark-Type is likely still the most favoured here, as the immunity to Psychic-Type attacks still removes much of what Alakazam can use, but no matchup is an absolutely safe choice against Alakazam, its possible counter-attacks are simply too varied.

Alakazam counters and weakness Summary

All in all, your best bet is likely still going to be a Dark-Type Pokemon, but you’ll need to be cautious and possibly swap out to a different Pokemon when against an Alakazam packing Dazzling Gleam or Fighting-Type attacks.

Bug and Ghost-Types perform slightly worse while also having fewer counter-attacks from Alakazam, so realistically this choice may come down to whatever Type you have the strong Pokemon in.

That’s about everything I can tell you about what counter choices to make while Fighting Alakazam in Pokemon Go, good luck out there trainers.

If you’d like more stories, articles and guides for Pokemon Go, you can find them right here on The Click, and if you’d instead like to see more by me specifically, a list of my articles is available here.