Best Max Battle Tanks Against Attacks
Pokémon that take Poison-type boss attacks best, ranked by the Max Moves your team gets.
Ranked against a Poison-type boss that only uses Poison-type attacks.
Poison-type boss
Median stats of real T5 bosses.
Type
Poison
HP
75,000
Base Attack
228
Base Defense
212
Move
Poison attack
Power 100 · Duration 2.5 s
Used for both group-wide and single-target attacks.
Type effectiveness
- Weak to
Ground
Psychic
- Resists
Grass
Fighting
Poison
Bug
Fairy
Tank level
Battle tier
#
Pokémon
Fast move
Charged move
HP
Hits to faint
Max Moves
% of best
1
Metal Claw
Behemoth Bash
163
12.4
279.2
100.0%
2
Mud Shot
Scorching Sands
203
8.5
254.5
91.2%
3
Metal Claw
Hyper Beam
162
8.5
246.4
88.3%
4
Thunder Shock
Double Iron Bash
220
8.1
236.9
84.9%
5
Shadow Claw
Psychic
162
7.0
235.8
84.5%
6
Dragon Breath
Draco Meteor
173
6.9
231.0
82.7%
7
Sand Attack
Sky Attack
186
6.9
221.1
79.2%
8
Metal Claw
Dragon Claw
147
5.3
198.5
71.1%
9
Metal Claw
Dragon Claw
147
5.3
197.9
70.9%
10
Pound
Psychic
403
5.2
194.4
69.6%
11
Lock On
Earthquake
162
5.8
193.7
69.4%
12
Metal Claw
Behemoth Blade
163
4.7
185.2
66.3%
13
Metal Claw
Psychic
134
4.6
174.6
62.5%
14
Lock On
Rock Slide
168
4.1
157.6
56.5%
15
Shadow Claw
Psychic
134
3.9
144.5
51.7%
16
Shadow Claw
Psychic
134
3.9
143.4
51.4%
17
Lick
Earthquake
272
3.5
139.8
50.1%
18
Mud Shot
Ancient Power
147
3.6
139.8
50.1%
19
Pound
Psychic
396
4.0
137.7
49.3%
20
Smack Down
Drill Run
210
7.8
136.0
48.7%
21
Lock On
Earthquake
162
3.7
133.8
47.9%
22
Mud Shot
Earth Power
162
3.3
130.6
46.8%
23
Mud Shot
Ancient Power
134
3.0
130.5
46.8%
24
Water Gun
Ice Beam
189
3.3
129.0
46.2%
25
Water Gun
Sparkling Aria
230
3.1
128.4
46.0%
26
Dragon Breath
Aqua Tail
161
2.6
104.8
37.5%
27
Dragon Breath
Psychic
162
2.6
104.4
37.4%
28
Dragon Breath
Dragon Energy
327
2.7
102.9
36.8%
29
Dragon Breath
Psychic
162
2.9
102.7
36.8%
30
Bite
Outrage
182
2.6
102.7
36.8%
31
Sucker Punch
Dynamic Punch
189
2.6
102.3
36.7%
32
Dragon Tail
Dynamax Cannon
223
5.2
102.3
36.6%
33
Spark
Discharge
154
2.7
102.3
36.6%
34
Thunder Shock
Wild Charge
175
2.6
102.0
36.5%
35
Bite
Brutal Swing
178
2.5
101.8
36.5%
36
Water Gun
Liquidation
230
2.8
101.8
36.4%
37
Spark
Discharge
154
2.7
101.7
36.4%
38
Tackle
Crunch
217
2.6
101.4
36.3%
39
Spark
Discharge
154
2.7
100.7
36.1%
40
Mud Slap
Earthquake
195
6.5
94.4
33.8%
41
Shadow Claw
Shadow Ball
113
2.5
93.7
33.6%
42
Psycho Cut
Psychic
145
2.1
93.1
33.4%
43
Psycho Cut
Psybeam
169
2.1
93.0
33.3%
44
Bite
Scorching Sands
175
2.2
92.7
33.2%
45
Tackle
Blast Burn
162
2.0
92.5
33.1%
46
Shadow Claw
Shadow Sneak
120
2.0
92.5
33.1%
47
Water Gun
Hydro Cannon
160
2.5
92.2
33.0%
48
Tackle
Body Slam
150
2.2
92.1
33.0%
49
Thunder Shock
Drill Peck
175
2.5
92.1
33.0%
50
Dragon Breath
Blast Burn
158
2.1
92.1
33.0%
Show:
1–50 of 100
Bosses with Poison attacks
Open a boss's counters to see tanks ranked against its exact moves.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes a good Max Battle tank against Poison attacks?
High HP and Defense let a tank survive more hits, and Pokémon that resist Poison take less damage from each one. A fast move that fills the Max Meter quickly matters too, since your team gets more Max Moves the faster the meter fills. In T5 battles at Level 40, Zamazenta Crowned Shield ranks first.
Should my tank use a charged move?
Usually not. Fast moves fill the Max Meter faster, and a charged move's long animation slows it down. Near the end of a battle, when there's no time for another Max Phase, a charged move can add extra damage. The Charged move column shows the strongest one for each tank.
Is Level 50 worth it for a tank?
More levels mean more HP and Defense, so a Level 50 tank survives more hits and usually earns your team more Max Moves. Use the Tank level toggle to compare. It's worth the Candy XL for the tanks you use most.
How are these tanks ranked?
We simulate each tank in 3,000 Max Battles against a stand-in boss with the median stats of real T5 or T6 bosses. It's a Poison type and uses only Poison-type attacks. Four Trainers each bring two of the Pokémon being ranked, the boss enrages partway through, and the battle ends at its time limit. The score is the average Max Moves your team gets, counting a little extra the closer the boss came to fainting.
How do you build the stand-in boss?
Its stats come from the real bosses at the selected tier: Dynamax legendary and mythical bosses for T5, and Gigantamax bosses for T6. Only bosses already released in Pokémon GO count. Base Attack and Base Defense are the medians of those bosses' stats, so one unusually strong or weak boss can't skew them. HP is the tier's standard 75,000. Its one move has the page's attack type (neutral on the overall page) and the median power, duration and energy of every charged move those bosses know. On a type's page, the boss is that type too, so its move gets the 1.2× same-type attack bonus (STAB), and your Pokémon's attacks hit it with that type's weaknesses and resistances. On the overall page it has no type, so its move gets no STAB and every attack hits it for neutral damage. In the formulas, 15 is the boss's Attack IV, 0.85 its CP multiplier, and 0.9 the attack multiplier we apply to every Max Battle boss.
