Pokemon Sword & Shield may have moved away from the powerful Z-Moves of Pokemon Sun & Moon, but there are still plenty of exceptional new attacks to the series. These take the form of G-Max Moves, attacks that are unique to certain Pokemon that can be only used when they've grown into their massive towering forms.
With each Gigantamax Pokemon having its own unique move, there's quite a few to sift through. To help you make the most of them, we've compiled a list of the 12 best and most powerful G-Max Moves.
Updated January 23rd, 2022 by Quinton O'Connor: We've added a handful of G-Max Pokemon moves that have been making waves recently in the online meta. You won't want to miss these sterling techniques when you're planning out a competitive Sword & Shield team for the 2022 seasons.
10 G-Max Hydrosnipe
Two of the first Pokemon you meet in Sword & Shield are packing a pair of the game's strongest G-Max moves. The first of these is Inteleon, whose G-Max Hydrosnipe deals great damage while ignoring an opponent’s abilities.
Abilities like Storm Drain and Water Absorb negate or even reflect Water-type damage moves. Some teams are built around well-timed nuisances like these, bouncing back an unsuspecting player's greatest machinations and laughing all the way tothe win. Being able to resist these effects gives Inteleon's G-Max Hydrosnipe a clear edge. It also looks pretty darn rad, highlighting the aquatic lizard's superspy vibe.
9 G-Max Meltdown
Gigantamax Melmetal is one of the few Gigantamax Pokemon that’s banned from online play, and with its signature Steel-type move G-Max Meltdown, it’s no surprise why. This move puts a Torment effect on the target and its ally, causing extreme damage and preventing them from using the same move twice in a row.
This may not seem significant to those who don’t play in online Ranked Battles, but those who do are plenty familiar with how disruptive this can be. Many foes won’t be able to use Super Effective attacks repeatedly or max out a stat with a Status Move, and with a Gigantamax opponent, this restriction can become utterly debilitating.
8 G-Max One Blow
Urshifu doesn’t need a Gigantamax form to be overpowered, but its unique move is especially worth noting for its guaranteed damage. Rather than a certain Critical Hit like its original signature move, this G-Max move will always hit through Dynamax opponents using Max Guard.
This makes it impossible to ignore, and being a Dark-type move means it’ll deal with all sorts of defensive Psychic-type opponents who desperately want to waste your turns. Since the normal Dark-type Max Move simply lowers your foe’s Special Defense after damage, this newer move gives Urshifu even more edge than most other strong Dark-type Pokemon.
7 G-Max Volt Crash
There are tons of G-Max Moves that inflict status conditions, but very few of them have turned out to be notably powerful. Butterfree and Toxtricity both have moves like this, but they have a random chance between multiple status ailments like Poison, Sleep, and Paralysis, making them hard to use reliably.
The husky Gigantamax Form of Pikachu, though, is as reliable as they come, and on a surprisingly fast and strong body too. This will deal immense damage to an opponent, and both the target and its ally will be Paralyzed afterward. This not only halves their Speed stat, but it’ll also cause them to lose moves a quarter of the time, making it easily one of the most dramatic effects you can get in the entire Pokemon series.
6 G-Max Drum Solo
Rillaboom’s G-Max Drum Solo is much further ahead of Inteleon, but not so much because of its effect to ignore abilities. It’s essentially identical, and there are some Pokemon with the ability Sap Sipper to negate it, but these sorts of effects aren’t exactly as common. Instead, Rillaboom’s move is more notable to its raw power, as this move is potentially the most powerful Grass-type move in the entire game.
If Rillaboom has its Grassy Surge ability, it’ll make Grassy Terrain that boosts all Grass-type moves by a significant margin, and since its power is already higher than other G-Max moves, it’ll be capable of annihilating nearly any undefended foe in a single hit. This might not be as fancy or spectacular as the other moves on this list, but being able to hit that hard is an absolutely incredible achievement for Rillaboom all the same.
5 G-Max Wildfire
Charizard has been one of the most dominant Fire-types since Pokemon Red & Blue, and its G-Max Move is no different. This flaming blast will ignite the ground around the target, dealing additional damage at the end of each turn for four rounds.
RELATED: Pokemon: 5 Great Movesets For Charizard (& 5 Awful Ones)
This move is just raw power, and its simplicity is what makes it so strong. Few Pokemon resist Fire-type moves to a degree where this would be a bad choice of attack. Even against a resistant foe, this move is strong enough through its secondary effect to be an effective attack in any battle it’s used in.
4 G-Max Wind Rage
Corvinight’s signature move has a truly atypical effect compared to many G-Max Moves. Alongside dealing damage, this move will also destroy defensive walls like Reflect or Light Screen, as well as remove other terrain conditions like Spikes and Stealth Rock.
Destroying walls on its own is exceptionally strong, especially now that trainers have access to Alolan Ninetails with the dual-walling move Aurora Veil. Having a move like this can throw opponents completely off their plan, and with a typing that extremely few Pokemon are going to be resistant to.
3 G-Max Stonesurge
Stealth Rock has always been a great entry hazard to slowly stab your opponents, and Dreadnaw’s G-Max Stonesurge can do just that without taking off a turn. The damage itself that this move causes is Water-type, but the rocks it leaves behind are Rock-type, meaning it’s one of the few moves in the Pokemon series that can essentially deal two types of damage at once.
To be totally effective, this move has to be used early, as Stonesurge’s user Dreadnaw has a concerning number of weaknesses that can lead it to faint if you aren’t efficient enough. Thankfully, the move itself is a huge force that can get battles off to a head start that’s hard to catch up to, so blasting an opponent with this move will almost always make an impact on their team.
2 G-Max Finale
One of the best G-Max Moves lives up to its climactic name, being both an intense Fairy-type attack while healing the user and its teammate for a sixth of their maximum health. This move is exclusive to Alcremie, a defensive Fairy-type that can utilize this move greatly, and you’ll wish you could have it on every Pokemon in your team.
Healing yourself when your health is boosted by Gigantamax puts this move far above the others, making the user extremely hard to beat as long as it’s standing. Even if the move doesn’t deal enough damage, the healing can help you stall the battle out a long time, and can keep you alive while your opponent gets drained by status effects like Poison or Burn.
1 G-Max Resonance
The best and only Ice-type G-Max Move belongs to Lapras, and with its rare typing comes a degree of power that few ice-type Pokemon have. Besides damage, this move creates a unique wall that halves all damage received for up to five turns, even longer when equipped with the Light Clay item.
Walls like this usually require a dedicated support Pokemon on your team such as Grimmsnarl, so having a defensive effect like this on a damaging move means a lot more flexibility. With Lapras’s absurd defensive stats and health in Gigantamax, this means that setting up this wall will make it nearly invincible for the rest of the battle, blowing most other Gigantamax Pokemon fully out of the water.