Which move is better for Primarina: Sparkling Aria or Scald?

Question

Which move is better for Primarina?

Scald is a special water type move that (usually) deals 80 damage to the target. It has full accuracy, and has a 30% chance of burning the target. If the user is frozen, the move can be used to thaw themselves out before attacking.
The move also has 15 PP.
(Fire type Pokemon, those with the ability Water Veil or those behind a Substitute cannot be burned.)

Sparkling Aria is a special water type move that (usually) deals 90 damage to the target. It has full accuracy. If the target is burned, Sparkling Aria will get rid of the burn. The move also has 10 PP.

Formats: 1v1 and 2v2 Doubles

Comments

Defining what these moves are is our job, not yours. But, props to you for researching for us.

Answer 1

Thank you for researching Sparkling Aria and Scald for us.

Now, comparing these moves to fit Primarina:

Based on PP usage, Scald has 15pp, whereas Sparkling Aria only has 10.
Based on Power, Sparkling Aria has 90 base power, whereas Scald only has 80.
Both moves have 100 accuracy (not full, Full accuracy is —) and are in the Special category.

When Primarina holds the Waterium-Z, Sparkling Aria becomes Hydro Vortex and its base power is 175.
But, when Primarina holds the Primarium-Z, Sparkling Aria becomes Oceanic Operetta and its base power is 195.
When Primarina holds the Waterium-Z, Scald becomes Hydro Vortex and its base power is 160.

Scald can only hit a single adjacent target, but Sparkling Aria can hit all adjacent targets.

Based on this, (even though Scald has more PP than Sparkling Aria) Sparkling Aria would be the better move due to it having more power (even when Primarina uses Waterium-Z or Primarium-Z) than Scald.

Comments

Note that in a double battle, Sparkling Aria gets the spread penalty that reduces it to 67 power, lower than Scald, and it also hits your teammate there. There are reasons that you might be able to ignore or even benefit from the friendly-fire aspect of the move (the Telepathy ability, the Water Absorb ability, or if you are simply that desperate to heal a burn even as it somes at the cost of taking some damage), but usually that kind of spread move is just inferior to the kind that only hits the opponents without reciprocating friendly fire, such as Hyper Voice, Rock Slide, or Icy Wind.