Should you get Breaking Swipe for Rayquaza in Pokémon Go?

Rayquaza is a legendary Pokémon you can encounter in Pokémon Go, and it only appears during specific events throughout the mobile game. You’ll typically find it as a five-star raid encounter, and catching it is a rare treat as you typically have to coordinate with multiple players to take it down. After catching it, one of Rayquaza’s harder-to-find moves to learn is Breaking Swipe, a Dragon-type charged attack. Should you teach Breaking Swipe to Rayquaza in Pokémon Go?

How to teach Breaking Swipe to Rayquaza in Pokémon Go

Breaking Swipe is a Dragon-type charged move, and although it doesn’t have the highest power in Rayquaza’s moveset, it does give it a substantial debuff that it can hit targets with during a battle. For those who don’t know, Breaking Swipe is an attack that does 50 damage against an opponent during a PvP battle, and it costs 35 energy to use. In addition, when it hits, it has a 100% chance to lower the user’s attack by one rank.

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Not only is it a Dragon-type move, which does more damage on Rayquaza as they share a type, but it’s a fast charged move, meaning an opponent can choose to take the hit, or they can waste a shield on it. It’s a good way to bait a shield from an opponent, especially during longer battles.

There are four other charged moves Rayquaza can learn: Aerial Ace, Ancient Power, Hurricane, and Outrage. Aerial is a decent Flying-type move, but it costs 10 more energy to do five more damage. For Ancient Power, it’s a suitable Rock-type move, but it costs 45 and does 60 damage, with only a 10% chance to increase Rayquaza’s attack and defense stats. Finally, Hurricane is the most energy-demanding move Rayquaza has, costing 65 energy to do 110 damage, the same as Outrage, but that move costs 60 energy.

Overall, Breaking Swipe is a strong bait move to pull players into wasting a shield, and it offers a great debuff that Rayquaza’s other moves cannot offer. It might be a good idea to have a Rayquaza with Breaking Swipe and Hurricane to leave at least one move on this legendary Pokémon to do an incredible amount of damage to an opponent if you have an opening to do so.