Pokemon Go: The Difference Between Single and Multi Bar Moves and Which one is Better

There is a debate in the Pokemon Go community on which is better to use when attacking, a strong and solid charge move, or multiple charge moves? Anyone who had a Pokemon faint in battle just before getting their energy bar to 100, usually feels that having a multi bar charge move will allow them to deal extra damage. Hopefully, we’ve got the answers right here.

Not all single bar charge moves are superior to same typed multi bar iterations. The main reason as to why we assert single bar charge moves that have the best DPS in raids and gym battles is only because of their damage rate. They have an effect on the defender’s energy bar which can make them more valuable in raids. Just like your Pokemon, a raid boss or a gym defender has an energy cap of 100. Once a defending Pokemon has enough energy to use a charge move, it only has a 50 percent of chance of using it every 2 seconds. Single bar charge moves give attackers more control over the filling of the defender’s energy bar and the rate at which they release charge moves. This is only because most times the spark in DPS from a single bar charge move will overfill the defender’s energy gains.

However, there are times when the single bar charge moves will fail us. Your Pokemon can faint or you may defeat the defending Pokemon before your bar fills back up to 100. In gym battles, this wasted energy is a wasted time. More precisely, in raids, this can lead to lower personal DP.

Against a weakened defender, a multi bar charge move will end the fight much sooner than you expect. If you are battling a gym with multiple allies, the benefit is doubled. This may allow you to finish off a defender before they have a chance to use their charge move. In the raids, using a multi bar charge move is an enormous risk. On the one hand, sometimes you will have a more consistent DPS output, meaning that you are free of the wasted energy risk. While on the other hand, if you fire your charge moves early, it might result in the raid boss filling their energy bar up to 100 much sooner than you think. There is not a defined line of when wasted energy will harm your DPS.

6 Tips on Charge Move Usage in Raids

1. For your first Pokemon, try to use one with a single bar charge move (or hold out until you’re near 100 energy before using a multi bar charge move). At the beginning of the fight, everyone is at 0 energy. Holding out as long as you can to use your charge moves (before you overfill) will help keep the raid boss’ energy bar below 100 for more of the fight.
2. Use single bar charge moves as soon as you can. The damage you give and take contributes to charging your energy bar. Holding out on using a single bar charge move will result in less DPS.
3. If the raid boss hasn’t used a charge move in a while, use multi bar charge moves as soon as you’re able. The charge moves should be used before the boss uses theirs. Using them before the raid boss uses their own will result in your DPS contributing less to their energy gains.
4. Holding out so you can dodge a charge move isn’t worth it.  Holding out on using your charge moves will result in less DPS.
5. Don’t get too technical about it. All in all, don’t overthink it. If you’re in a party of 15 or more Trainers, which moves you use and when you use them it won’t matter.
6. Don’t be “the Raid Boss,” as GamePress says! If your group is not organized, trying to command the players when and where to use their charge moves may result in them giving you the annoyed look.

Multi bar charge moves probably have a clear advantage in the gym battles due to the defender CP decay, but in the raids the argument is complex.

In the raids, multi bar charge moves offer a consistent DPS output, where the single bar charge move may result in fewer charge moves that are used by the raid boss.