Best Movesets to Change with Technical Machines (TMs) in Pokémon Go

In Pokémon Go, even the best Pokémon can be made significantly weaker by poor Move Sets. Fortunately, if you spend enough time fighting Raids and PvP battles and completing research, your Pokémon won't be stuck with those inferior Moves. Technical Machines (TMs) are what let you change movesets in Pokémon Go. You can get them from winning Raid and PvP Battles, as well as from some Research. When you use a Fast TM or Charge TM on your Pokémon, it will be given a different Fast or Charged Move from the pool of available Moves. But how do you know which Pokémon to use them on and which movesets to change? Read on!

What are TMs anyway?

In any Pokémon game, TMs or Technical Machines are special devices used to teach your Pokémon new moves. In Pokémon Go, TMs come in two varities: Fast and Charged. Each can be gained in a few different ways and used once to reset a Pokémon's Fast or Charged Move. You can read more about how to get and use TMs in our TM Guide, however, if you already know the basics, read on for the best moves you can use your TMs to replace!

What are the best Pokémon Go movesets to change with TMs for Raid Battles?

If Raid Battles are your things and you want to beat the Raid Bosses, these are the Pokémon you want to use your TMs on and the Fast Moves and Charge Moves you want to get. They're all single Fast TM or single Charge TM safe, which means you're guaranteed to get something better than you have. While there are "best movesets" for every Pokémon out there, there are plenty of exceptions and special cases. We've got the best movesets here but you might find other movesets are useful too.

Note: before changing any Move, double-check to make sure you do not have a Legacy Move. A Legacy Move is one that is no longer available in a Pokémon's pool of Moves. Sometimes a Move is removed during an update, and sometimes it was only available for Community Day or Special Raids. While some Legacy Moves are less useful or even outright bad, some of them are outstanding, and some players collect Legacy Move Pokémon.

What are the best Pokémon Go movesets to change with TMs for Gym Battles?

It's hard to recommend anyone "waste" TMs on defenders anymore, given how the Gym system in Pokémon Go operates now. By punishing defenders with CP of 3000 or higher, limiting each Gym to only one Pokémon of the same kind at any given time, and making it much easier to take down Gyms, there's very little room left for classical "Gym defenders."

You're better off investing TMs — and stardust — in Raid Boss counters (see above) since anything you put into a Gym defender will, at most, only slow down an attacker by seconds. Still, if having the best defense is a point of pride for you, and you have the TMs to burn, here are some of the top Gym defenders.

Legacy Move Notes

1. Machamp's Fast Legacy Move, Karate Chop is comparable to Counter. It also have two Charged Legacy Moves, Submission and Stone Edge, neither of which are useful in battle.
2. Gengar's Fast Legacy Move, Lick is useful and may be worth keeping. Its Fast Move, Shadow Claw was a Legacy Move but is back in the movepool as of December 11, 2019. It has three Charged Legacy Moves: Sludge Wave, Dark Pulse, and Psychic, but none compare with Shadow Ball so only keep them if you're collecting Legacy Moves.
3. Kingler has a Fast Legacy Move, Mud Shot, but it is not useful in battle.
4. Zapdos' Fast Legacy Move, Thunder Shock is better than Charge Beam so, if you have it, keep it.
5. Moltres' Charged Legacy Move, Sky Attack makes it the best Flying type in the game. If you're lucky enough to have this Legacy move, pair it with the Fast Move, Wing Attack. Otherwise, Fire Spin and Overheat make Moltres a great Fire type attacker.
6. Dragonite has a Charged Legacy Move, Draco Meteor, which is comparable to Outrage but only has one bar. It's really only worth keeping if you collect Legacy Moves.
7. Mewtwo has three Charged Legacy Moves: Hyper Beam, Psystrike, and Shadow Ball. Shadow Ball is the best move so definitely don't TM over it. Psystrike is better than Psychic, so keep that one too. Hyper Beam, however, is useless.
8. DO NOT TM Smack Down on Tyranitar. If you're lucky enough to have scored it during the June, 2018 Community Day, TM for Stone Edge as well and enjoy the best Rock-type attacker in the game.
9. DO NOT TM Blast Burn on Blaziken. If you're lucky enough to have one from the May, 2019 Community Day, keep this awesome move.
10. DO NOT TM Hydro Cannon on Swampert. If you have a July, 2019 Community Day Swampert it's better than all the other options.
11. If you have a Breloom with Grass Knot DO NOT TM! This Legacy Move can be combined with either Fast Move to do incredible damage.
12. DO NOT TM Outrage on Salamence. This Community Day Exclusive Move is the best you can have.
13. Metagross' Charged Legacy Move, Meteor Mash is one of the best in the game. If you have this move from Community Day, DO NOT TM!
14. Mamoswine has the Charged Legacy Move, Ancient Power. It's really not useful though. However, Mud Slap and Bulldoze make Mamoswine one of the best Ground types in the game. It's Ice moves are better over all but for certain fights, you might want the Ground type moveset.
15. Chansey has the Charged Legacy Move, Psybeam, but it isn't useful.
16. While Body Slam used to be a Legacy Move for Snorlax, it's now in the movepool, leaving Yawn as Snorlax's only Legacy Move. Yawn isn't particularly useful.
17. As mentioned before, Dragonite has Legacy Moves that aren't particularly useful.
18. Slaking has a Charged Legacy Move from its Community Day (Body Slam) but it isn't particularly useful.

Questions about which moves to TM?

Do you have any questions about which Moves you should and shouldn't TM? Any tips for your fellow Trainers? Drop them in the comments below and be sure to check out our Complete Pokédex as well as our many Pokémon Go Guides so you too can be a Pokémon Master!