Empoleon: Best Moveset, Weaknesses & Counters, Stats, and Evolution

The world of Pokémon has been a growing phenomenon since 1996, when the first pair of video games came out in stores. Pokémon started off as a video game series and although new creatures are primarily introduced in the video games, the anime series has become as popular as the video games. As of December 2021, there are almost 900 individual Pokémon identified by the PokéDex and in this article, we are going to tell you everything you need to know about one of them – Empoleon.

Empoleon is a dual Water- and Steel-type Pokémon first introduced in Generation IV of the core video games as one of the generation’s three Starters. Empoleon is the second and final evolution stage of Piplup and Prinplup. As a dual Water- and Steel-type Pokémon, it is weak to Electric-, Fighting-, and Ground-type moves, and is super effective against Fire- and Fairy-type Pokémon.

In this article, we are going to tell you all the information you’ll need if you want to breed an Empoleon in any of the games. You’ll find out about its type, its powers, its strengths and weaknesses, its evolutions, and its moves. We’re going to focus on both the core games, as well as other popular video games based on the Pokémon franchise.

Best moveset

In the Pokémon GO videogame, the best moves for your Empoleon are Metal Claw and Hydro Cannon if you’re battling Pokémon in Gyms. Namely, this moveset gives you the highest total DPS and is, likewise, the best moveset for PVP battles. The official description for Metal Claw reveals the following: “The target is raked with steel claws. This may also raise the user’s Attack stat”; as for Hydro Canon, the attack is described as follows: “The target is hit with a watery blast. The user can’t move on the next turn.”

Weaknesses and Counters

As dual Water- and Steel-type Pokémon, Empoleon is weak against Fighting-, Ground-, and Electric-type moves, and is super effective against Fire- and Fairy-type Pokémon. It is immune to Poison-type moves. It receives normal damage from Ghost-, Fire-, Grass-, Dark-type moves.

Powers and Abilities

Empoleon’s Stats, based on the most recent available data, are:

Stats	Base Stats	Min-	Min	Max	Max+	Min-	Min	Max	Max+
HP	84	159		191		309		372
Attack	86	95	106	138	151	187	208	271	298
Defense	88	97	108	140	154	190	212	275	302
Special Attack	111	118	131	163	179	232	258	321	353
Special Defense	101	109	121	153	168	214	238	301	331
Speed	60	72	80	112	123	140	156	219	240

In Pokémon GO, Empoleon has a Base Stamina of 197, a Base Attack of 210, and a Base Defense of 186.

As for its abilities, they are:

• Torrent: Powers up Water-type moves when the Pokémon’s HP is low.
• Defiant: Boosts the Pokémon’s Attack stat sharply when its stats are lowered. (Hidden Ability)

Evolutions

Empoleon is the second and final evolution of Piplup, the Water-type Starter Pokémon from Generation IV. In order to get an Empoleon, you first have to evolve your Piplup into Prinplup by leveling up, starting at Level 16. After that, you need to level up your Prinplup to Level 36, at which it is going to evolve into an Empoleon. Empoleon doesn’t have any additional stages.

In Pokémon GO, Empoleon is also obtained by evolving Piplup into Prinplup first, for which you need 25 Piplup Candy, and after that, by evolving Prinplup into Empoleon, for which you need 100 Piplup Candy.

Moves

As of Generation VIII, the movies that Empoleon can learn are:

• Bold indicates a move that gets STAB when used by Empoleon
• Italic indicates a move that gets STAB only when used by an evolution of Empoleon
• × indicates a move that cannot be used in Generation VIII

By leveling up

Level	Move	Type	Cat.	Pwr.	Acc.	PP
1	Aqua Jet	Water	Physical	40	100%	20
1	Metal Claw	Steel	Physical	50	95%	35
1	Pound	Normal	Physical	40	100%	35
1	Charm	Fairy	Status	—	100%	20
1	Tackle	Normal	Physical	40	100%	35
1	Growl	Normal	Status	—	100%	40
Evo.	Aqua Jet	Water	Physical	40	100%	20
4	Growl	Normal	Status	—	100%	40
8	Water Gun	Water	Special	40	100%	25
11	Swords Dance	Normal	Status	—	—%	20
15	Peck	Flying	Physical	35	100%	35
19	Bubble Beam	Water	Special	65	100%	20
24	Swagger	Normal	Status	—	85%	15
28	Fury Attack	Normal	Physical	15	85%	20
33	Brine	Water	Special	65	100%	10
39	Whirlpool	Water	Special	35	85%	15
46	Mist	Ice	Status	—	—%	30
52	Drill Peck	Flying	Physical	80	100%	20
59	Hydro Pump	Water	Special	110	80%	5

By TM

TM	Move	Type	Cat.	Pwr.	Acc.	PP
TM03	Water Pulse	Water	Special	60	100%	20
TM05	Roar	Normal	Status	—	—%	20
TM07	Hail	Ice	Status	—	—%	10
TM10	Work Up	Normal	Status	—	—%	30
TM13	Ice Beam	Ice	Special	90	100%	10
TM14	Blizzard	Ice	Special	110	70%	5
TM15	Hyper Beam	Normal	Special	150	90%	5
TM17	Protect	Normal	Status	—	—%	10
TM18	Rain Dance	Water	Status	—	—%	5
TM26	Earthquake	Ground	Physical	100	100%	10
TM28	Dig	Ground	Physical	80	100%	10
TM31	Brick Break	Fighting	Physical	75	100%	15
TM32	Double Team	Normal	Status	—	—%	15
TM39	Rock Tomb	Rock	Physical	60	95%	15
TM40	Aerial Ace	Flying	Physical	60	—%	20
TM42	Facade	Normal	Physical	70	100%	20
TM44	Rest	Psychic	Status	—	—%	10
TM45	Attract	Normal	Status	—	100%	15
TM47	Steel Wing	Steel	Physical	70	90%	25
TM49	Scald	Water	Special	80	100%	15
TM55	Brine	Water	Special	65	100%	10
TM56	Fling	Dark	Physical	—	100%	10
TM58	Endure	Normal	Status	—	—%	10
TM65	Shadow Claw	Ghost	Physical	70	100%	15
TM68	Giga Impact	Normal	Physical	150	90%	5
TM72	Avalanche	Ice	Physical	60	100%	10
TM75	Swords Dance	Normal	Status	—	—%	20
TM76	Stealth Rock	Rock	Status	—	—%	20
TM80	Rock Slide	Rock	Physical	75	90%	10
TM82	Sleep Talk	Normal	Status	—	—%	10
TM83	Bulldoze	Ground	Physical	60	100%	20
TM86	Grass Knot	Grass	Special	—	100%	20
TM87	Swagger	Normal	Status	—	85%	15
TM88	Pluck	Flying	Physical	60	100%	20
TM90	Substitute	Normal	Status	—	—%	10
TM91	Flash Cannon	Steel	Special	80	100%	10
TM93	Cut	Normal	Physical	50	95%	30
TM95	Surf	Water	Special	90	100%	15
TM96	Strength	Normal	Physical	80	100%	15
TM97	Defog	Flying	Status	—	—%	15
TM98	Rock Smash	Fighting	Physical	40	100%	15
TM99	Waterfall	Water	Physical	80	100%	15
TM100	Rock Climb	Normal	Physical	90	85%	20

In Pokémon GO, Empoleon can learn Waterfall and Metal Claw as Fast Attacks, and Hydro Pump, Blizzard, Flash Cannon, Drill Peck, and Hydro Cannon as Charged Attacks. Some of these attacks depend on when you caught and evolved your Empoleon, as they are event-only attacks.