Best Hisuian Samurott raid counters and movesets in Pokémon Go

Hisuian Samurott is finally available in Pokémon Go through a special Raid Day event, which means players need to get their best counters ready to take on—and hopefully capture—their own regional variant of the Water Starter. 

The Raid Day, which runs from 2 to 5pm local time on Dec. 3, is the debut for Hisuian Samurott and the best way to obtain the Water/Dark-type at this time. Thankfully, the raid itself isn’t the most challenging an event like this has featured before and players are mostly saying it is only difficult if you don’t come prepared. 

Pokémon Go: Best Hisuian Samurott raid counters

Because Hisuian Samurott is a Water/Dark-type you can build a relatively easy team of heavy-hitting counters to battle against the frail Starter. Any Fighting or Fairy-type can go in without fear of being hit for supereffective damage and bringing the right Grass or Electric-type can close things down too. 

The most heavily recommended Pokémon to bring to this three-star raid is a Sceptile capable of Mega Evolution. Even if it will be hit heavily by a potential Fury Cutter or X-Scissor from Hisuian Samurott, the damage output on Mega Sceptile is bonkers thanks to Fury Cutter and Frenzy Plant. Mega Blaziken and Mega Gardevoir are also up there since they can deal massive DPS with Fighting and Fairy-type attacks, Counter and Focus Blast or Charm and Dazzling Gleam are key options respectively. 

If you don’t have access to a Mega in that class, Fighting-types such as Terrakion, Machamp, Hariyama, and Lucario are all great choices. You can just load them up with whatever Fighting-type moves you have available and walk in with an advantage. The same can be said for Pokémon like Zapdos, Zekrom, Electivire, Kartana, Venusaur, and Scizor. Just bring strong Electric or Grass-type moves on them and you should be able to handle yourself since they aren’t too scared of taking a hit. 

It should be noted that, whether you are playing with others or trying to solo the Hisuian Samurott raids, your Pokémon should be between level 35 and 40 at least. Several players have said that going in with decent counters at that level could net you a solo win and nearly guarantee you a victory if you are going in with at least one other similarly prepared player. 

Pokémon Go: Best Hisuian Samurott PvP and PvE movesets

Because Hisuian Samurott is so fresh to the Pokémon Go meta, it doesn’t have a defined role in PvP just yet. 

Currently, trainers who frequent the Go Battle League, like analyst JRESeawolf, think it has low potential due to its added Dark typing, which makes it weak to key offensive juggernauts like Fighting and Fairy-types. It has decent Fast Moves in Snarl, Fury Cutter, and Waterfall, but they don’t make up for its lacking options on the Charged Moves,

Suppose you plan to use Hisuian Samurott in any capacity. In that case, you should know that you will be relying on a frail Pokémon that doesn’t have the firepower to match other, better Water types you have likely already changed up. However, here are a few of the best options you can field when using the Hisuian Starter until it either gets buffed or Hydro Cannon is added to its learn pool. 

Best Hisuian Samurott moveset for Great League in Pokémon Go

• Fast Moves
  • Waterfall
• Charged Moves
  • X-Scissor
  • Icy Wind

This moveset is focused on just trying to do as much with Hisuian Samurott as quickly as possible since you likely aren’t going to be outlasting anything that the Pokémon doesn’t outright counter. Waterfall does the most damage at only a second longer cooldown compared to the other options, leaving you to spam it before trying to debuff your opponent with Icy Wind and using X-Scissor when needed. 

This is also the best moveset for Master League, but it is highly recommended you try to field a better Pokémon if you plan to climb those ranks. 

Best Hisuian Samurott moveset for Ultra League in Pokémon Go

• Fast Moves
  • Snarl
• Charged Moves
  • Icy Wind
  • Dark Pulse

This is a league with more room for Dark-type options, so Hisuian Samurott can stick on the field a bit longer in certain matchups. Here you will spam Snarl for its Dark-type damage and debuff potential while leading into doing the same with Icy Wind and hitting hard with Dark Pulse. Even here, you might find yourself struggling to finish off foes, so instead, Hisuian Samurott is best served as a PvE or raid Pokémon for players who like using it. 

There, it can cover some nice type matchups thanks to that Dark-type offering while still having Water, Bug, and Ice moves. This Pokémon should improve with more moves in the future, but Water-type Pokémon are abundant and plenty of them are better than Hisuian Samurott at filling spots on teams.