The Twilight Trails Season begins on September 8, 2026, and it brings the largest Pokémon GO move update in some time. Twenty-seven attacks are being adjusted, and more than thirty Pokémon are gaining access to moves they could not learn before.
Two things make this update worth reading carefully rather than skimming. First, almost every power figure published is specifically a Trainer Battles value, so a move that looks stronger on paper may be unchanged in raids and gyms. Second, energy costs were published only as “increased” or “decreased”, with no numbers attached, which means nobody can calculate the real effect of several of these changes yet.
Everything in the two tables below comes from the official GO Battle League: Twilight Trails announcement. The interpretation section further down is clearly separated from it.
Confirmed Attack Changes
All power values below are the Trainer Battles values unless noted. Psycho Boost is the only attack on the list with a separately published gym and raid change.
| Attack | Type | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Take Down | Normal (Fast) | Power 5 → 14, energy generation increased |
| Brine | Water | Power 60 → 100, energy cost increased |
| Bulldoze | Ground | Power 45 → 80, now guaranteed to lower the opponent’s Defense, energy cost increased |
| Bubble Beam | Water | Power 25 → 50, energy cost increased |
| Draining Kiss | Fairy | Power 60 → 80, now guaranteed to raise the user’s Defense |
| Iron Head | Steel | Power 70 → 85 |
| Double Iron Bash | Steel | Power 55 → 70 |
| Mirror Coat | Psychic | Power 60 → 75, energy cost decreased |
| Air Cutter | Flying | Power 45 → 60, energy cost increased, reduced chance to raise the user’s Attack |
| Sand Tomb | Ground | Power 40 → 55, energy cost increased |
| Body Slam | Normal | Power 55 → 65, energy cost increased |
| Lunge | Bug | Power 60 → 70 |
| Poison Fang | Poison | Power 45 → 50 |
| Rage Fist | Ghost | Power 50 → 55, energy cost increased |
| Infestation | Bug (Fast) | Power 6 → 10 |
| Charge Beam | Electric (Fast) | Power 5 → 6 |
| Low Kick | Fighting (Fast) | Power 5 → 6 |
| Scratch | Normal (Fast) | Power 4 → 3, energy generation increased |
| Bite | Dark (Fast) | Power 4 → 2, energy generation increased |
| Moonblast | Fairy | Power 110 → 90, energy cost decreased |
| Shadow Ball | Ghost | Power 100 → 90 |
| Psycho Boost | Psychic | Trainer Battles 70 → 85. Gyms and raids 70 → 130, with energy cost decreased in gyms and raids |
| High Horsepower | Ground | Energy cost decreased |
| Blaze Kick | Fire | Energy cost decreased |
| Dark Pulse | Dark | Energy cost decreased |
| Magnet Bomb | Steel | Energy cost decreased |
| Shadow Force | Ghost | Energy cost decreased |
Read the fast attacks differently from the charged attacks. Take Down going from 5 to 14 power with better energy generation is a much larger change than it looks next to a charged move number, because a fast attack fires repeatedly for the whole battle. Bite losing power while gaining energy turns it into a move that builds toward charged attacks faster and chips less.
Confirmed New Move Access
The following Pokémon gain access to attacks they could not previously learn.
| Pokémon | New attack(s) |
|---|---|
| Lugia | Earth Power |
| Skarmory | Drill Run |
| Gallade | Sacred Sword |
| Darkrai | Sucker Punch (Fast), Foul Play |
| Raichu and Alolan Raichu | Volt Tackle |
| Grimmsnarl | Draining Kiss |
| Houndoom | Incinerate (Fast), Trailblaze |
| Nidoking | Avalanche |
| Alolan Muk | Brutal Swing, Ice Punch |
| Snorlax | Psywave (Fast) |
| Miltank | High Horsepower |
| Aggron | Brick Break |
| Crobat | Gust (Fast) |
| Chandelure | Astonish (Fast) |
| Mismagius | Mystical Fire |
| Cofagrigus | Energy Ball |
| Victreebel | Sucker Punch (Fast) |
| Arbok | Brutal Swing, Wrap |
| Aerodactyl | Brutal Swing |
| Greninja | Brutal Swing |
| Ariados | Foul Play |
| Grafaiai | Scratch (Fast), Foul Play |
| Kingambit | Low Kick (Fast) |
| Deoxys (Defense Forme) | Low Kick (Fast) |
| Zeraora | Dynamic Punch |
| Bombirdier | Drill Run |
| Ursaluna | Scratch (Fast) |
| Volbeat | Infestation (Fast), Lunge |
| Illumise | Infestation (Fast), Shadow Ball |
| Hisuian Zoroark | Swift |
| Toxtricity (Amped and Low Key) | Swift |
| Flamigo | Peck (Fast) |
| Audino | Charge Beam (Fast) |
Notice the overlap between the two tables. Grimmsnarl gains Draining Kiss in the same update that Draining Kiss gets a power increase and a guaranteed Defense boost. Miltank gains High Horsepower in the same update that High Horsepower gets cheaper. Those pairings are the changes most likely to actually move a Pokémon’s standing.
What Has Not Been Confirmed
Two gaps are worth stating plainly rather than filling in with estimates.
Energy values. For every attack listed as “energy cost increased” or “energy generation increased”, no number was published. Bulldoze going from 45 to 80 power sounds decisive, but if the energy cost rose sharply, it may fire less often than the move it replaces. Until the update is live and the values are readable in-game, the direction is known and the size is not.
Whether new moves need an Elite TM. Move-pool additions in past updates have generally been reachable with regular TMs, but that has not been stated for these additions specifically. Check in-game before spending an Elite TM you cannot replace.
Community Reads on the Update
These are player and site interpretations, not official statements, and they may not survive contact with the real energy numbers.
- Pokémon GO Hub expects Darkrai’s new Dark-type fast attack to improve its raid performance, given how high its Attack stat already is.
- Several commentators flagged Skarmory as a winner, since Drill Run gives a Steel and Flying Pokémon a Ground-type option, and Ground is super effective against Electric, Rock and Steel.
- Lickilicky is widely described as the clearest loser, because both of its common charged attacks are changing at once and not in its favour.
- Psycho Boost’s raid power jump to 130 has produced a lot of Deoxys discussion, with the usual caveat that Deoxys is fragile enough that the damage may be theoretical.
Treat all of that as a starting hypothesis. Prevailing opinion after a move update has been wrong before, and it usually settles about a week into the season once people have played enough matches.
What to Actually Do Before September 8
The practical question is not which moves changed. It is which Pokémon in your storage are affected, and whether to spend anything on them.
Wait on Elite TMs. This is the single most expensive mistake available this week. An Elite TM spent on September 6 based on a predicted energy value cannot be refunded on September 9 when the value turns out differently.
Identify your exposure by move, not by Pokémon. Search your storage for the changed moves rather than scrolling for affected species. If you battle in Great League, the moves worth checking first are Body Slam, Shadow Ball, Moonblast, Iron Head and Bulldoze, because those appear on a lot of common Great League teams.
Here is the shape of the decision. Suppose you have a Great League Lickilicky with Body Slam and Shadow Ball. Both charged attacks change in this update: Body Slam gains power but costs more energy, and Shadow Ball drops from 100 to 90. Because the energy figure is unpublished, you cannot yet work out whether Body Slam still fires at the same point in a shield cycle, which is the thing that actually decides whether the Pokémon is still usable. The correct action is to leave it alone until September 8, then check the numbers in-game. A Pokémon that becomes unusable is a Pokémon whose slot you free up, and a Pokémon that survives the change is one you have not wasted a TM on.
Remember the format context. GO Battle League: Twilight Trails opens with Mega Editions of all three leagues, so the Pokémon worth re-checking depends on which cup you plan to grind.
Working Out Which Ones Are Worth Keeping
Once you have found the affected Pokémon, the next question is which individual copy to invest in, and that is where the checking gets tedious. A move change can mean you need a different Pokémon entirely for a league, and evaluating candidates means opening each one, reading its IVs, and working out how it would rank once powered up. Doing that for a dozen Snorlax is a slow afternoon.
This is the kind of sorting a tracker like GoDex is built for. Scan a catch screenshot and it reads the CP and IVs automatically, then shows how that individual ranks for the Great, Ultra or Little Cup, so you can tell in a few seconds whether a given copy is worth a TM at all. You can also log which variants you already have, which keeps you from powering up a second Skarmory when you already own a better one two pages deep in storage.
Key Takeaways
- Hold your Elite TMs until September 8. Energy costs were published only as increases and decreases, so any pre-update decision is a guess.
- Check the label on the numbers. Almost every published power value is a Trainer Battles value. Psycho Boost is the only attack with a separately confirmed raid change.
- Fast attack changes matter more than they look. Take Down, Bite, Infestation and Scratch all fire repeatedly, so small numbers there outweigh larger charged-move numbers.
- Watch the overlaps. Grimmsnarl with a buffed Draining Kiss and Miltank with a cheaper High Horsepower are the clearest cases of a new move landing alongside a buff to that same move.
- Re-check your Great League roster first. Body Slam, Shadow Ball, Moonblast, Iron Head and Bulldoze are common enough that most established teams touch at least one.
We do our best to keep these guides accurate, but Pokémon GO mechanics change often. If you spot a mistake or something that's out of date, please send us feedback — we'll fix it.
About GoDex
A free companion app for tracking your collection, scanning IVs from screenshots, and checking PVP rankings. Available on iOS and Android.
