Grookey beats the drum this Community Day as Pokémon Go spotlights the Grass-type starter and its final evolution’s exclusive Charged Move-giving Trainers a rare chance to power up Rillaboom like never before.
What Community Day move does Grookey’s evolution learn?
Rillaboom, the final evolution of Grookey, can learn the Charged Attack Drum Beating during the Community Day event. To obtain this exclusive move, players must evolve Thwackey into Rillaboom within two hours after the event ends. Drum Beating is a Grass-type move that enhances Rillaboom’s performance in both raids and PvP battles, giving players a strong incentive to evolve their Grookey line during the event window.
If you evolve Thwackey into Rillaboom on Jan. 18 from 2-9 p.m. in your local time, it will learn the charged move Frenzy Plant.
If you miss out on evolving it during this period, you will likely be able to evolve it during a Community Day weekend event in December to get Frenzy Plant. If you don’t want to wait, you can use an Elite TM to get the move.
How does Rillaboom do in the meta?
Rillaboom holds a solid spot in Pokémon Go’s Great League meta with access to Wood Hammer and Drum Beating from this Community Day. Drum Beating stands out for its power and debuff on opponents’ Defense, paired with Counter for Fighting coverage and Ice Punch against Flyers and Dragoons. It shines against Steel, Rock, and Water types but struggles versus strong Poisons like Venusaur or Azumarill. Many teams slot it in for its bulk and move variety.
So, Rillaboom is a very good grass-type Max Battle attacker… but none of the Grookey you find in the wild during this event will be able to participate in Max Battles. That being said, you can use Elite TMs to teach your Gigantamax Rillaboom Frenzy Plant now, if you want to use it for both raids and Max Battles. If you’re playing consistently during this event, you should be able to score enough candy to power up any Gigantamax Rillaboom you may have, while also leveling up a separate non-Max Rillaboom, so you don’t really need to use an Elite TM here.
Rillaboom is a very good grass-type attacker for raids and gyms. Set it up with Razor Leaf and Frenzy Plant to dish out some good damage. Of course, it still isn’t as strong as Mega Sceptile or Mega Venusaur, but is still worth investing in. Drum Beating is rumored to be pretty good also, based on datamines (but as of writing this, the move isn’t actually available yet, so we can’t make a call on it).
Best moveset for Rillaboom in raids and PvP
For raids and PvP in Pokémon Go, Rillaboom generally wants a full Grass-type kit built around Frenzy Plant, with Drum Beating as a strong PvP alternative.
Best raids / gym moveset
-
Fast move: Razor Leaf (highest Grass-type fast move DPS for Rillaboom).
-
Charged move 1: Frenzy Plant (Community Day move; top Grass DPS and clearly better than Grass Knot/Energy Ball).
-
Charged move 2 (optional): Drum Beating or Earth Power if available, for some coverage and flexibility, but Frenzy Plant is the main damage source.
If you do not have Frenzy Plant, run Razor Leaf + Grass Knot as a fallback raid set.
Best PvP moveset (Great/Ultra/Master)
-
Fast move: Razor Leaf for heavy fast-move pressure (shield shredder style), or a non-Razor Leaf Grass fast move if you prefer more charged move access in some metas.
-
Charged move 1: Frenzy Plant as your primary nuke (very efficient 100 damage/45 energy).
-
Charged move 2: Drum Beating for cheaper damage plus an Attack debuff on the opponent, giving bait potential and more consistent pressure.
Community analyses still rate Rillaboom as a fairly niche PvP pick even with these moves, but Frenzy Plant + Drum Beating is its best-performing combination across leagues.
Rillaboom raid counters and weaknesses
Rillaboom is a pure Grass-type raid boss, so you should focus on hard-hitting Fire, Flying, Ice, Bug, or Poison attackers and avoid bringing Water-, Ground-, or Electric-type damage dealers.
Weaknesses and resistances
-
Typing: pure Grass.
-
Weak to (take 1.6× damage): Fire, Flying, Ice, Bug, Poison.
-
Resists (deal reduced damage): Water, Ground, Grass, Electric.
So, prioritize teams built entirely from those five super-effective types.
Top counter types and examples
You do not need all of these; pick your strongest options from whichever type you have best built.
-
Fire attackers: Mega or Primal-style Fire legendaries and pseudo-legendaries (for example, strong Charizard, Blaziken, Darmanitan, Reshiram line equivalents) with Fire fast moves and Fire charged moves excel due to double advantage versus Grass.
-
Flying attackers: Powerful Flying-type legendaries and megas (for example, Rayquaza-line, Moltres-line, strong birds) with Flying fast and charged moves also perform extremely well and often resist Grass damage.
-
Ice attackers: Strong Ice megas and legendaries (Kyurem-line, Mamoswine-type builds, etc.) hit super effectively and are good backups if Fire/Flying depth is low.
-
Bug attackers: High-level Bug-types with Bug fast and charged moves are useful, especially if they also resist Grass, but are usually behind top Fire and Flying options in raw DPS.
-
Poison attackers: Strong Poison-types (for example, various mega-like Poison attackers with Poison Jab / Sludge Bomb-style kits) exploit Rillaboom’s Poison weakness and often take neutral or resisted damage from Grass moves.
If you list your strongest Fire, Flying, Ice, Bug, and Poison Pokémon (with CP and moves), I can rank them and propose an exact six-mon raid team for you.
