Pokemon GO Aerodactyl PvP and PvE guide: Best moveset, counters, and more

Official artwork for Aerodactyl (Image via The Pokemon Company)
Official artwork for Aerodactyl (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Pokemon GO is known for having a wide and expansive roster of collectible and trainable monsters. This comes into play when participating in the game's competitive PvP scene. However, many players would prefer to skip the experimentation stage and get right into battle with some of the best monsters possible. This may eventually bring Aerodactyl to the attention of these trainers.

Being one of the original 151 Pocket Monsters, fans have come to love Aerodactyl for its design, power, and appearances in the franchise's anime renditions. What some players may not consider is the drastic difference between the battling systems of the main series and that of GO, which leaves a lot of room for a particular pick's relevance to change. So what about Aerodactyl?


Is Aerodactyl good in Pokemon GO PvP?

Aerodactyl as seen in the anime (Image via The Pokemon Company)
Aerodactyl as seen in the anime (Image via The Pokemon Company)

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Sadly, Aerodactyl has fallen off significantly following Niantic's choice to remove utility from Pokemon GO's battling system. With no priority moves or no real use for its once high speed stat, what is left of Aerodactyl is a glass cannon with five weaknesses to some of the metagame's most common typings.

Steel-types are everywhere in the Battle League. Without a strong Ground or Fighting-type move to deal with them, Aerodactyl gets walled off incredibly hard by any that it may encounter. For this reason, the monster has no relevance in any tier in the mobile game's competitive scene. As such, it is not advised for serious use.

For those adamant on using Aerodactyl, it performs best with a moveset of Rock Throw, Rock Slide, and Earth Power. These moves are incredibly spammable and deal a fair amount of damage. Earth Power also provides some decent Ground-type damage but still gets outlasted by most Steel-type tanks in the scene.


Is Aerodactyl good in Pokemon GO PvE?

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Aerodactyl is surprisingly good in the PvE scene thanks to the implementation of its Mega Evolution. Mega Aerodactyl, being a monster with very high attack, proves to be very useful for those needing a Flying or Rock-type attacker. It is also great for raids featuring more defensive bosses as its presence powers up the damage of other commonly used Rock-type raiders like Rhyperior and Gigalith.

This also makes the pick great for attacking gyms, but trainers should also be aware that Mega Aerodactyl is still far from tanky. As such, it is important to analyze the situation to see if bringing a Rock-type is beneficial. Thankfully, gyms display every monster that is currently defending them. If you want a Rock-type that is a bit more sturdy, you may want to consider bringing Mega Tyranitar instead.

Those who want to use Mega Aerodactyl for raiding or gym offense in Pokemon GO should bring a move set that includes Rock Throw and Rock Slide. These two moves cement Mega Aerodactyl as being one of the game's best Rock-type attackers, but this does mean it gets walled off hard by Steel-types. As such, express caution when using a team with very few coverage options.