Late in Season 8, Zacian was released, and it would soon bend the entire metagame to its knees in the following seasons. Make no mistake though - Ho-Oh was still a good Pokemon. As a result of its clunkiness, Ho-Oh wasn’t exactly the most popular Pokemon in the Master League. Additionally, a low HP Ho-Oh must always be on the lookout for opposing attempts to snipe it with a strong fast move in the middle of Incinerate’s duration, especially after it debuffs itself with Brave Bird. Togekiss’s part Flying-type can often force Ho-Oh to debuff itself with Brave Bird, and with shields up, Togekiss can overwhelm Ho-Oh with Charm damage. For instance, Ho-Oh’s matchup vs Togekiss can be tricky despite its type advantage and superior stats.
Expensive charge moves combined with debuffing mechanics from Brave Bird makes shields a challenging obstacle to overcome. Additionally, it has no move that costs less than 55 energy, rendering it incapable of doubling up its charge moves. While its moveset packs immense power, Incinerate’s 5-turn duration combined with Ho-Oh’s expensive charge moves can feel unwieldy. It is not all sunshine and rainbows for Ho-Oh, however. Pokemon like Zekrom, Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina are common teammate options, all acting as solid counters to Kyogre. These qualities enable Ho-Oh to be a good teammate to Dragon types. It also stands up quite well against Dialga, although the matchup may be inconsistent with proper fast move timing. Ho-Oh’s resistances to Fairy, Ground, and Fighting offers it great matchups against many key threats such as Togekiss, Groudon, and Zacian (more on Zacian in a bit!). Ho-Oh is a core Pokemon in the Master League Classic, owing to its fairly unique typing, a stat product that surpasses even Dialga, and a powerful moveset. Thanks to Incinerate’s generous energy gains, Ho-Oh can finally reasonably access its devastating charge moves and wreak havoc with its nearly unresisted move combination. However, everything changed when Ho-Oh received Incinerate. Even in PvP, Ho-Oh remained unviable for a long time due to its awful fast moves combined with its prohibitively expensive charge moves. Before PvP came about, Ho-Oh was consistently a mediocre raiding choice despite its high stats, and it only got worse as more powerful options got released. For over 3 years, Ho-Oh was considered the butt end of Pokemon GO’s jokes when it comes to iconic legendaries.
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