Pokémon GO's Charged TM System Needs an Overhaul

Unless you're into wasting a precious commodity purely based on chance. You do you.

Trying to get Rock Tomb on your Claydol? LOL, good luck.

During a recent video showcasing Centiskorch, YouTube content creator Jonkus casually mentioned that he used an Elite Charged TM to get a particular Charged Attack on his newly built Pokémon. To the uninitiated, this may not sound like a big deal, but Elite TMs are generally reserved for teaching what are known as “legacy” moves: moves in Pokémon GO that Pokémon would only be able to learn in specific circumstances, usually during Community Days or soon thereafter. They’re meant to be used sparingly because, as the name “Elite TM” suggests, they’re fairly rare.

Why would Jonkus use an Elite Charged TM for a move that isn’t a legacy move on a Pokémon that he was playing with for one day and might not touch again for the foreseeable future? The answer is likely sadly obvious for the veteran PoGO Trainer: he ran out of standard Charged TMs.

The top comment on the video is from a man whose physical appeal is rivaled only by his knowledge about a game filled with virtual pocket monsters. So, yeah—I wrote it. It reads as follows: “That you had to use an Elite TM to get Lunge shows what a broken economy/system we're facing regarding Charged TMs. It's a constant problem for battlers.” That it’s far and away the most-liked reply indicates to me that, on top of yours truly being ridiculously handsome and smart, this sentiment resonates with the community members in the audience.

Before I get ahead of myself, a bit of explanatory lore from the main series games for the normies reading (hi, Mom!): TM is short for “Technical Machine.” This item is used for teaching a Pokémon a specific move that is part of its learnset, the pool of available moves a Pokémon can potentially learn. At least in the early main series titles, TMs are given an identification number and teach one move, after which they can’t be used again. Poof! One and done!

Their impermanence stands in contrast to the immutability and indestructability of HMs, or Hidden Machines, moves that only a handful of Pokémon can be taught and which are usually required to access previously unreachable parts of the map. Is that suspiciously cuttable plant blocking your path? Trainer, you need Cut! Can’t find your way through a dark cave? Time to boot up Flash! Forced to cross large spans of ocean to get to the next Gym? Your ass better get your hands on Surf!

Because they are essential for progress and/or collecting certain items, HMs can be taught to any number of Pokémon that can learn them. Meanwhile, the drawback to HMs, in addition to sometimes not being all that useful in battle, is that when a Pokémon learns one, it can’t be forgotten until you get to the municipality where the Move Deleter (in Japanese, “Forgetful Man”) resides. For this reason, players will often load up one Pokémon capable of learning multiple HMs and keep it as a party member solely for this purpose. Sorry, Bidoof—you’re not here to be a team leader.

In Pokémon GO, since you are the one moving through time and space and not merely your on-screen avatar, there’s no need for HMs. Not to mention that, if you, say, end up slicing through your neighbor’s burgeoning tree saplings to maximize your mobility, you could end up getting a visit from the local police. Gulp.

Accordingly, it’s all about TMs in PoGO. Rather than specific moves being tied to specific TMs, each Pokémon has a limited number of attacks it can learn. Using a standard TM changes the current move to another random move in that Pokémon’s move pool. There are separate TMs for Fast Attacks, some of which are employed primarily for raw damage output but are mainly used to generate energy, and Charged Attacks, which tend to be stronger moves that require a numeric energy value to activate. Fast Attacks build up energy, Charged Attacks expend that energy. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Now that I’ve laid the groundwork, why does it matter that standard TMs choose another attack at random? Well, Smarty Pants, I’ll tell you! Moves don’t get deleted once they’re added to a Pokémon’s move pool, but as part of periodic rebalancing, they do get either buffed (made stronger) or nerfed (made weaker), such that a once-preferred move may suddenly find its way to the scrap heap if that Pokémon has better options. As you’ll almost always want to add a second Charged Attack to a Pokémon you regularly employ for PvP or PvE purposes as a means of coverage against Pokémon of different types, getting the right moveset may mean the difference between winning and losing and, therefore, it’s doubly important.

Depending on the Pokémon in question, the inherent randomness of TMs in Pokémon GO might not be all that burdensome. For Thievul, the fancy-pants fox that, like Centiskorch, is an addition to Pokémon GO this season, there’s no guesswork involved. For its Fast Attack, it’s either Quick Attack or Snarl. For its Charged Attacks, the only choices are Night Slash and Play Rough. I say, old boy—these moves are top-drawer, but the selections are dreadfully boring!

On the other side of the spectrum, we have Claydol, a Pokémon which has seen so many move additions and updates over the years that people are convinced it must be someone on the PoGO team’s favorite Pokémon to get this much attention. A buff this season to the move Rock Tomb has made Claydol—at long last—relevant, and it has made teaching Rock Tomb to a Claydol that doesn’t already know it pretty much essential. As opposed to Thievul, however, Claydol can learn eight different Charged Attacks.

What this means is that, in the service of trying to acquire Rock Tomb, assuming you have the move you want in the other slot, there are six possible unwanted outcomes in what effectively is a game of roulette. As each outcome has—as far as I know anyway—the same probability of occurring, what could potentially happen is that you keep cycling between the same few bad results, burning through Charged TMs in the process. I’ve felt the agony of desiring Move A out of a group of A, B, and C, only to have the game oscillate between Moves B and C several times before landing on A. When RNGesus takes the wheel, it’s like riding in a Tesla self-driving car. You could make it to your destination without incident—or you could wind up driving through a wall.

Assuming a limitless number of chances, the standard TM mechanic (notably for Charged Attacks, which tend to inhabit larger move pools) is, at worst, inconvenient. It would cost time, an increasingly precious resource amid a worsening global outlook, but at least you’d have infinity TMs left at your disposal—look on the bright side! As is the case with gambling, provided that the stakes aren’t too high, it might even prove enjoyable, despite the house always winning, or more precisely, winning more often than losing.

The problem, though, is that these items are not limitless to the extent that PoGO has made them artificially scarce. Your best avenues for securing Charged TMs are by playing GO Battle League or battling other Trainers in friendly matches, participating in Raids, or completing Research tasks that offer them as rewards, but it’s hard to accrue them in bulk these ways. This creates a bit of a vicious cycle. You’re seeking Charged TMs to help you win, but to acquire them you might be faced with the prospect of going in with a suboptimal lineup to try to earn them. Depending on your level of commitment, this is a possible disincentive to ready Pokémon for battle or even battle altogether. There are enough matters to worry about in the realm of PVP combat. How many TMs you have left shouldn’t be one of them.

It would be one thing if Pokémon GO were nakedly driving you to a paid alternative to grinding for Charged TMs. That would be reprehensible, sure, but it would be logical. Instead, there’s no consistent outlet for what amounts to a continuous TM drought, leading me to believe that the team behind the game doesn’t fully appreciate the scope of the problem—or they do and insist on battlers suffering through it as some sort of forced shared hurdle to clear in the name of competitive equality or mental fortitude or whatever. Then again, maybe the people behind the game really do hate their players. Make it make sense.

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Trying to use standard TMs to get Psyshock on Mew? You stupid bastard.

To put a cap on this way-too-lengthy discussion of yet another deficiency in Pokémon GO, what is the solution to the Charged TM conundrum? How do we, well, fix it? One potential remedy suggested in a reply to my comment would be allowing Trainers to choose the desired attack by using a standard TM, only without being allowed to select a legacy move. They’d instead still need an Elite TM for that. Another user opined that if there were better Tier 3 Raid Bosses, there would “be hardly any issues,” as these Raids are usually able to be soloed and they’re guaranteed to give out Charged TMs. I feel like this would put an emphasis on Raids when the focus on this feature is arguably already too strong, but hey, it’s an idea.

Of course, another way to get around the shortage is to, you know, just give out more. Maybe you could get Charged TMs as a chance reward from spinning a PokéStop. Or throw them in with Gifts from friends. Lord Arceus knows there are so many features and mechanisms in PoGO that could serve as conduits for TMs. Niantic/Scopely could stand to really open things up for this purpose.

In the grand scheme of things, Pokémon GO is but a game, and to scores of casual players, the Charged TM situation likely doesn’t matter. Heck, someone somewhere is probably dumping them from their storage as you read this sentence. One Trainer’s trash is another Trainer’s treasure, eh? That said, it matters to avid users like me, and I see the Charged TM shortage as a microcosm of sorts. PoGO frequently offers bonuses to entice participation in their umpteen events. 2x Stardust. 2x XP. Bonus Candies and Candies XL. 1/2 Hatch distance. The list goes on. These various carrots are dangled before players when, realistically, they could be offered all the time as the basic rewards of a better game. A Pokémon social safety net, if you will. These currencies don’t need to be as broken as they are.

As with real-life economies, however, the drive for a more equitable approach in Pokémon GO is a decidedly slow process. Much as I’m not holding out hope for major positive change in my lifetime regarding our stratified society, I’m not holding my breath for a Charged TM revolution in PoGO before the game runs its course. Maybe the recent sale will help in this regard. Just the same, I’m liable to think twice the next time I look to add or change a move for one of my Pokémon—and pray to RNGesus if I do decide to take the plunge.