"[Analysis] Aqua Tail is better than Hydro Pump"

#PokemonGO: After an unbelievable amount of potions and time, I was able to record the performance of 100 successful battles using an Aqua Tail and Hydro Pump Vaporeon against a Mud Slap/Megahorn Rhydon. Here are the results.TL;DR -> See TitleGetting StartedThe following were used for this experiment:One 100% IV Lv. 30 Vaporeon with Aqua TailOne 100% Lv. 30 Vaporeon with Hydro PumpOne 100% Lv. 30 Rhydon with Mud Slap/MegahornIn order to run this real-world experiment, I first had to risk quite a bit of dust on my Aqua Tail Vaporeon to get it to Lv. 30 (which I'm now glad I did). Then I had to convince my friend to power up his Rhydon (he was not pleased), and to power up his Hydro Pump Vaporeon (an easy ask, I think it was already Lv. 28.5).Please Note: I could not get a hold of a perfect Mud Slap/Earthquake or Stone Edge Rhydon, sorry 😢.MethodMy goal for this was simple. Complete as many perfect runs as possible with the two Vaporeons. A perfect run is a battle performed with flawless dodging while attacking as often as possible.Now due to connection issues there were many failed attempts (and subsequent potion waste 😡), requiring me to repeat the trials. To achieve consistency between the two Vaporeons, I attacked twice with Water Gun at the beginning of each battle and dodged twice thereafter. And honestly, I believe this is optimal when you take into account some of the connection issues with the game. You probably will not be able to fit 3 WGs at the beginning, nor will you likely be able to fit 1 WG in between the opening two attacks from the defending AI."The Perfect Hydro Pump Run"As far as the concept of "perfect run" applies to the Hydro Pump Vaporeon, I waited to dodge Rhydon's charge move before using HP. However, you will pretty much always take damage from Mud Slap before you can dodge again. Given the inevitability, I did not consider taking one hit from Mud Slap after using HP to be a failed battle. But more on this later. as there may be another way...The Moves In The Context Of An Actual Battle:Water Gun: does 5 base damage every .5 seconds, and gains 5 energy per use.Aqua Tail: does 50 base damage over 1.9 seconds, and depletes 33 energy per use (3 bar move).Hydro Pump: does 130 base damage over 3.3 seconds, and depletes 100 energy per use (1 bar move).Note: you can use, typically (because the AI does not always attack at the same interval), 5 WGs before needing to dodge a Mud Slap (you might be able to squeeze 6, but lag and human error...and lag...best go for 5, and sometimes 4).In a vacuum, it would take you 7 uses of Water Gun to charge 1 use of Aqua Tail, and 20 uses to charge Hydro Pump. However, we do not battle in a vacuum. In Pokemon Go, every time you take damage, you gain energy. Energy gained from damage occurs at a rate of 1 Energy for every 2HP lost.Now given Rhydon's attack stat at Lv. 30, the damage of Mud Slap with STAB, Vaporeon's defense stat at Lv. 30, and the 75% reduction in damage that occurs when you dodge -> Both of the Vaporeon in this experiment should take about 3 damage per dodged Mud Slap. And this means, should gain 3 Energy for every 2 Mud Slaps dodged.Recall in the beginning of a battle, the Gym AI attacks twice. This is significant, because now after just 6 WGs, you are already ready to use Aqua Tail once. And keep in mind that because of that short 1.9 second animation time, you can ALWAYS fit Aqua Tail in between either of Rhydon's fast attacks (Rock Smash or Mud Slap).Results:50 successful battles with Aqua Tail, and 50 successful battles with Hydro Pump later...Aqua Tail: On average, this Vaporeon ended the battle with 160/201HP. Average battle time was 34 seconds.Hydro Pump: This Vaporeon ended the battle with 148/201HP, with a 34 second battle time.A Tale Of Energy WasteOk, so why is this the case, when most calculations will tell you that Aqua Tail's weave DPS is only 87-90% of Hydro Pump's? Because a pure dodging-style with Hydro Pump is extremely wasteful from an energy standpoint.Once you have charged Hydro Pump, continuing to attempt a perfect run means that you will keep using WG far past the 100 energy you can store. If you used HP right away, all that energy would be put into the next HP. On average, I used WG 9 times after my energy bar was already fully charged. That's about 45 energy waste. And during that time, you will likely take 6 damage from 2 dodged Mud Slaps, so that is an extra 3 energy, making it 48 wasted energy before you use HP. Essentially, you are wasting nearly half an energy bar while you try to maintain perfect dodging. If you were weaving your attacks as much as possible, you would be able to use Hydro Pump twice in this match-up, and the battle time would be much lower (should be around 20 seconds).But doing that will cause you to take a lot of damage. So, if you use a Hydro Pump Vaporeon trying to dodge as much as possible, you will almost never be able to outperform an Aqua Tail Vaporeon. AlmostNow when it comes to the Aqua Tail Vaporeon, it is very energy efficient. There is far less energy waste at the end of the round. Aqua Tail Vaporeon can maintain perfect dodging while averaging 4 uses of Aqua Tail per battle. What this means is that you can successfully use ~133 energy without taking a direct hit, compared to only using 100 energy (with Hydro Pump) without taking a direct hit. Comparing base damage, that is a difference of 200 (50 base dmg x 4) to 130 (base dmg of HP).Using the "wait for the defender's charge move before using HP" method meant taking a direct hit from Mud Slap once for 12 damage, which is where the 160 (Aqua Tail Vape) to 148 (Hydro Pump Vape) difference in the final health comes from.The "Almost" CaseSo I wanted to try something else. I decided to attempt battles where you dodge as much as possible, but then use Hydro Pump as soon as possible to see if I could achieve a better result in terms of energy waste and time. Well naturally if you do this, you will be able to beat Rhydon faster, however you run the very high risk (to a certainty basically) of getting hit by the charge move. ExceptExcept I was able to perform, once, a perfect run with a Hydro Pump Vaporeon using HP basically as soon as it was ready to be used. I used HP, and somehow was able to queue a dodge so that I avoided taking a direct hit from Megahorn even though to my eyes it look like it hit me. Well the battle ended much better than the others. I had 160/201HP left, and the battle lasted 34 seconds. So despite my best efforts, it ended up basically the same as an Aqua Tail Vaporeon.Conclusion:Rhydon only takes 50 candy to evolve...and evolves from a Pokemon that nests. Of the top 4 Highest CP (currently available) Pokemon (Tyranitar, Dragonite, Snorlax, Rhydon), Rhydon is the only Pokemon that has those characteristics.Meaning it, along with Vaporeon, are the lowest-effort high-placing defenders available. Anecdotally, there are a lot in my area. If the same is true for you, consider choosing the Vaporeon with the ability to maximize dodging and damage output so you can take multiple Rhydon down with ease (Hint: Aqua Tail). via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2oPWpsq