All G-Max Moves in Pokemon

Pokemon Sword and Shield introduced the community to Dynamax, a new mechanic that increased any given monster's size and altered their moveset for three turns. However, there was also a side variant of this Dynamax feature known as Gigantamaxing.

This form of Dynamaxing only works for certain creatures, granting them a signature move and a new design. What makes these signature moves so special is the secondary effects each of them have. Some of these effects are so good, that Gigantamax Pokemon are banned from most formats. Here is everything to know about each exclusive Gigantamax G-Max move.

Every G-Max move in the Pokemon franchise

G-Max moves often provide an extra layer of utility onto a monster's existing toolkit (Image via The Pokemon Company)

G-Max moves provide additional effects onto dealing a massive base total of 160 damage. Additionally, each of these attacks cannot be blocked with the standard Protect move. Rather, they can only be blocked by Max Guard, unless stated otherwise. The following is each of the G-Max moves introduced in the Pokemon franchise as of writing:

G-Max Move	Pokemon	Type	Effect
G-Max Befuddle	Butterfree	Bug	Poisons, Paralyzes, or puts targets to sleep
G-Max Cannonade	Blastoise	Water	Deals lingering damage to non-Water-type targets for 4 turns
G-Max Centiferno	Centiskorch	Fire	Traps targets in Fire Spin
G-Max Chi Strike	Machamp	Fighting	Increases the critical hit chance of the user and allies
G-Max Cuddle	Eevee	Normal	Opponents of the opposite gender become effected by Attract
G-Max Depletion	Duraludon	Dragon	Drains 2 PP of the move last used by the target
G-Max Drum Solo	Rillaboom	Grass	Activates Mold Breaker
G-Max Finale	Alcremie	Fairy	Heals user and allies for 1/6 max HP
G-Max Fireball	Cinderace	Fire	Activates Mold Breaker
G-Max Foam Burst	Kingler	Water	Lowers speed of opponents by 2 stages
G-Max Gold Rush	Meowth	Normal	Confuses all opponents; scatters coins around the field
G-Max Gravitas	Orbeetle	Psychic	Activates Gravity
G-Max Hydrosnipe	Inteleon	Water	Activates Mold Breaker
G-Max Malodor	Garbodor	Poison	Poisons all opponents
G-Max Meltdown	Melmetal	Steel	Activates Torment on all opponents
G-Max One Blow	Single Strike Urshifu	Dark	Hits through all protection
G-Max Rapid Flow	Rapid Strike Urshifu	Water	Hits through all protection
G-Max Replenish	Snorlax	Normal	50% chance of restoring the user's consumed berry
G-Max Resonance	Lapras	Ice	Activates Aurora Veil
G-Max Sandblast	Sandaconda	Ground	Traps target in Sand Tomb
G-Max Smite	Hatterene	Fairy	Confuses all opponents
G-Max Snooze	Grimmsnarl	Dark	50% chance to activate Yawn on the target
G-Max Steelsurge	Copperajah	Steel	Scatters Stealth Rocks that deal Steel-type damage across the battlefield
G-Max Stonesurge	Drednaw	Rock	Scatters Stealth Rocks across the battlefield
G-Max Stun Shock	Toxtricity	Electric	Either poisons or paralyzes each opponent
G-Max Sweetness	Appletun	Grass	Cleanses status ailments of the user and their active ally
G-Max Tartness	Flapple	Grass	Lowers evasion of opponents by one stage
G-Max Terror	Gengar	Ghost	Prevents the target from switching out
G-Max Vine Lash	Venusaur	Grass	Deals lingering damage to all non-Grass-type targets for 4 turns
G-Max Volcalith	Coalossal	Rock	Deals lingering damage to all non-Rock-type targets for 4 turns
G-Max Volt Crash	Pikachu	Electric	Paralyzes all opponents
G-Max Wildfire	Charizard	Fire	Deals lingering damage to all non-Fire-type targets for 4 turns
G-Max Wind Rage	Corviknight	Flying	Removes entry hazards, protective screens, and terrain from the battlefield

The Gigantimax mechanic is tied to a phenomenon in the Galar region, so it is likely that these will be the last G-Max moves we will ever see from the Pokemon franchise. Before, Gigantamax Pokemon could only be caught from Raids featuring them that would randomly spawn in the Wild Area.

However, in the Isle of Armor DLC, Max Soup was introduced. This soup can be made from collecting Max Mushrooms from around the map. This allowed players to grant any creature that has the capacity to Gigantamax the ability to do so, rather than just allowing for standard Dynamaxing.

Gigantamax were considered so overpowered on their debut, that they were not legal for competitive play until the end of Sword and Shield's life span. This is because the last half of the expansion pass brought the final set of returning creatures to the game. Allowing these Gigantamax creatures sort of balanced the metagame out.

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Edited by Srijan Sen