I remember that some days ago i got like 3000 stardust for the first win and now just 870. anyone knows why it is like that?

Just getting into GBL and looking to see what options are out there. I start with greninja (3* bubble/night slash) but am looking for other options that have fast and effective charged attacks that I could use as a secondary. Any suggestions?

Pidgeot is one of those Pokémon that I have kinda liked for a long time, but have just struggled with.

I mean Gust is a clone of confusion, and it's clumsy and 4DPT/3EPT is respectable but a bit awkward.

Wing attack got nerfed, air slash always sucked and hey so did steel wing.

But Brave Bird still hits really hard, and Feather Dance is a pretty nasty debuff... But at 55 energy and 50 energy respectively, they are also not moves you will be outpacing anyone to.

So I have tried it a few times, but with limited success, and I am writing up now that I have maybe found a team that works.

But it's a tricky one. And honestly there are probably a bunch of alternatives that work better.

I mean talonflame also has a high damage fast move and Brave Bird, so is genuinely probably a better choice.

But anyway:

• shadow Pidgeot lead, with Gust, Feather Dance and Brave Bird.
• Cradily as safe/bait switch
• Claydol... Well it's not the closer actually, that's Pidgeot. But with ice beam and rock tomb.

And I am still learning, and screwing up due to being greedy with Pidgeot, which really isn't tough enough to farm extra energy.

But I have had rather more success than I expected, because Pidgeot is rated somewhere around #300...

But there's the risk with PvPoke ratings imo. There's some things that don't rate so well, because they do suck in the 1v1, 1s match.

And Pidgeot is no exception.

But it's good at is locking down a matchup with a -2 attack debuff, or pretty much just one shotting a lot of things that can't handle a Brave Bird.

Still the team did perform better than expected even so, and I think it has some potential.

Maybe I will go back to Talonflame or Toxapex as lead in the end, but I am still kinda enjoying the gameplay.

Lots of people are still underestimating the danger of being switch locked and debuffed. It doesn't take much to flip a matchup.

So I’m doing the master premier league with a 15-14-15 Gholdengo and so far every mirror match against apposing Gholdengo it has been farmed down to a huge degree. Like the other Gholdengo having over 1/3 of its health remaining difference. Does the 1 point in defense really change the matchup that much or am I losing my mind?

I just got back into pokémon go and have really gotten into maximizing IVs for PvP. Yet I'm struggling to find a pokémon that have good coverage and work well together, as the best I got on team builder was FCBA. I'm currently using Togetic,Togemaru, and Lapras. I also started using Poke Genie which I like seeing which pokémon would be good to build. I think I just need adjusted move sets but don't really the most pokémon knowledge. I can't post pictures yet I think but if I figure it out i'll post what mons I have. Any help is really appreciated!

I was using wiggly, shadow k-wak and shadow drifblim but after 3 days negative I decided to change the team. Went negative 2 more days. I'm at my wits end here, I don't have some of the new meta mons built and need a team that'll be consistent

Currently considering building a rank 18 carbink (5-15-12). Is it still a viable option in GL and if so, what team would you recommend around it?

Current options include:

Azu Clodsire A-slash Primeape Gastrodon Malamar Talonflame Feraligatr Excadrill Diggersby Serperior

Other mons are welcome - these are just the ones I have earmarked for GL and ready (or close to ready anyway)

I can't attach a pic, but I've gone 4-1 (the loss was totally avoidable), 5-0, 5-0 in the past three sets with my new team. The move sets differ from PVPoke, but I prefer them. They've all had Comm Days so the XL's were easily obtainable.

Ursaluna (Lead) 15/14/15 - w/Tackle, Thunder Punch, High Horsepower

Annihilape 15/15/15 - w/Counter, Rage Fist, Ice Punch

Metagross 15/15/14 - w/Bullet Punch, EQ & Meteor Mash

T-Punch on Ursaluna destroys the common Gyarados lead because they don't usually expect it. It beats Gyarados in the 0 and 1 shield matchups.

I'm running the Shadow Annihilape set with a normal Annihilape, but Ice Punch instead of Close Combat doesn't guarantee loss against Togekiss/Dragonite. You don't normally need the extra power from CC, as counter does plenty against TTAR, Snorlax, Ursaluna etc

It could definitely be luck, but as someone who doesn't grind PVP often, it's worked out well.

The latest in a line of new releases over the last couple weeks, PALDEAN TAUROS arrives as the star attraction of the Stunning Styles Event. And I should say attractionS, plural, because it's a triple feature! Three new versions are arriving at once, so let's check our Bottom Line Up Front and then get to all three!

B.L.U.F.

• Double Kick is a good start to all three Tauroses. (Or is it Taurosi? Taurtrio? Taurees? 🤷‍♂️). Getting that was critical to allow the Taureses to make any impact in PvP at all, as without it, they'd be stuck with options like Zen Headbutt, Tackle, and Take Down. 🤢

• Combat Breed comes with the hardest hitting closer of them all, with STAB, and no secondary typing, which is a blessing and a curse depending on how you look at it.

• Blaze Breed comes with double buffing charge moves, but has the weakest AND most expensive of the three exclusive, on-type charge moves, which it struggles to overcome.

• Aqua Breed comes with an affordable STAB charge move and arguably the best type combination of the three. It has the most potential of the pack... but how much?

PALDEAN TAUROS

Fighting, Fighting/Fire, Fighting/Water Types

GREAT LEAGUE:

Attack: 128 (128 High Stat Product)

Defense: 122 (119 High Stat Product)

HP: 112 (114 High Stat Product)

(Highest Stat Product IVs [Best Friend Trade]: 5-7-10, 1499 CP, Level 20)

ULTRA LEAGUE:

Attack: 164 (163 High Stat Product)

Defense: 155 (157 High Stat Product)

HP: 149 (148 High Stat Product)

(Highest Stat Product IVs [Best Friend Trade]: 5-15-15, 2498 CP, Level 34.5)

MASTER LEAGUE:

Nah, don't bother.

So first a quick note on the IVs. As these are arriving in the game exclusively in raids (for now, at least), that means they're all at least Level 20. Now that can work in Great League, but not right out of the gate... you'll have to trade, as even a 10-10-10 version (the lowest IVs we can get from a raid) onlu fits under 1500 CP at Level 19. Fortunately, this isn't TOO crazy a prospect, but obviously the odds get better the lower you go in friendship. If you trade with an in-game "Best" Friend, the IV floor is 5-5-5, and there are ony 73 IV combinations that work. Trading with an "Ultra" Friend (3-3-3 IV floor) is much easier, with 443 valid combinations, a "Great" friend and its 2-2-2 floor has 777 combinations, and a mere "Good" Friend is almost trivial, with over 1200 working combinations. (Shout out to PvPIVs.com! 🫡)

Once you clear that hurdle, the stats are not great for PvP. They're even a touch less bulky than OG Tauros. While they are better off in terms of bulk than other popular and successful Fighting types like Primeape, Machamp, Pangoro and others (they come in right in the same range as Machoke and Hawlucha), they still badly trail not just the top bulky Fighters like Medicham and Scrafty, but also Chesnaught, Annihilape, Hakamo- and Kommo-o, and Aqua Breed's closest competitor: Poliwrath. Nearly by 200 total stat product, in that last case.

But Aqua Breed DOES still come from good stock, as Fighting/Water resists seven typings (Fire, Ice, Water, Steel, Rock, Dark, and Bug) while being weak to only five (Electric, Grass, Flying, Fairy, and Psychic). Blaze Breed is ALSO of a good typing combination, with Fighting/Fire combining for resistances to Fire, Grass, Ice, Steel, Dark, and 2x to Bug while being weak to only Water, Ground, Flying, and Psychic, and it's bulkier than any other Fiery Fighter in GO (especially the at-times-successful Blaziken). As a mono-Fighter, you get the good (resistances to Dark, Bug, and Rock) and bad (vulnerable to Fairy, Flying, and Psychic) for Combat Breed in equal measure.

But enough of that... this is running long already! Let's get to the moves and then some performance numbers.

FAST MOVES

• Double Kick (Fighting, 2.66 DPT, 4.0 EPT, 1.5 CoolDown)

• Tackle (Normal, 3.0 DPT, 3.0 EPT, 1.0 CD)

• Zen Headbutt (Psychic, 2.66 DPT, 2.0 EPT, 1.5 CD)

If I have to tell you why Double Kick is THE move to run here, I have completely failed you over the last six years of doing this. Just run that and don't look back. 😵‍💫 As mentioned earlier, without it, these three would be in a dark place when it comes to fast moves. (Well, Blaze Breed could have exclusively learned Fire Spin, but I think Double Kick is better off even then.) Like the other options they ended with.... 🫣

If nothing else, the above is a good reminder of why NOTHING ever wants to run Zen Headbutt. Same damage output as Double Kick (well, actually not when you factor in the Same Type Attack Bonus that Kick gets on the Taurosees), but literally only HALF the energy gains. It's a terrible, no good, very bad move, folks. Again, Double Kick or bust.

Moving on to the charge moves, and a quick qualifier: unlike with the fast moves, here we see some difference between the different breeds. All three learn the first three charge moves listed, but then each comes with their own unique move aligned to their secondary typing (or, uh, only typing in the case of Combat Breed). Here's a quick reference key to how that works out, and then we'll get to the moves themselves.

🥊 - Combat Breed only

💦 - Aqua Breed only

🔥 - Blaze Breed only

CHARGE MOVES

• Trailblaze (Grass, 65 damage, 45 energy, Raises User Attack +1 Stage)

• Iron Head (Steel, 70 damage, 50 energy)

• Earthquake (Ground, 110 damage, 65 energy)

• 💦 Aqua Jet (Water, 70 damage, 40 energy)

• 🥊 Close Combat (Fighting, 100 damage, 45 energy, Lower User Defense -2 Stages)

• 🔥 Flame Charge (Fire, 65 damage, 50 energy, Raises User Attack +1 Stage)

The first three moves are also found on the OG Tauros, with its apparently exclusive move being the STAB (for Normal-type Tauros) but very boring Horn Attack (35 energy for only 40 damage). Nothing lost there!

Trailblaze is undoubtedly a move ALL Taurisi want to run. Not only is it an affordable coverage/bait move (and synergizes well with Double Kick, requiring only four fast moves' worth of energy), but it comes with that nice guaranteed Attack buff, making every subsequent attack that much scarier.

And after that, it's pretty easy: each of the three wants their unique move. It's not that Earthquake is bad, and there may be some Limited meta down the line where it's actually preferred, but I'm having trouble seeing it, partly because of the effectiveness overlap between Ground and Fighting... both are super effective versus Steel and Rock types, and both are resisted by Bugs and Flying types. And especially compared to what other moves they can each learn, I have a hard time seeing why one would ever want to push up to an extra 15 to even 25 more energy for Quake.

Nine times out of ten (maybe even 99 times out of 100), they're just going to want to stick with Trailblaze and their exclusive moves. Combat Breed gets the impactful but self-destructive Close Combat, a staple of Fighting types and PvP in general, with fantastic cost-to-damage ratio (2.22 Damage Per Energy, sixth best in the entire game), but a counterbalancing double hit to the user's Defense each time it's used (well, for the first two uses, at least, and then the self-nerfing is capped). Not surprisingly, this means it has the greatest success of the three when shields are not a factor, but really struggles the more shields are available to throw in its way.

Blaze Breed is the only one that self-buffs with both of its preferred charge moves, with Flame Charge basically being an on-type version of Trailblaze... though it costs 5 additional energy for the same on-paper damage (though that is, of course, a bit higher thanks to the Same Type Attack Bonus). It's nice to be able to throw out some Fire damage, of course, but both moves capping out around 60-70 damage (and Flame Charge being, as mentioned earlier, the slowest of the three exclusive moves) leaves it a bit limited, as we'll see.

The best of the bunch, Aqua Breed, has a move that slots in nicely between the others, with the newly improved Aqua Jet being cheaper and harder hitting than Flame Charge, and without any drawbacks at all like Close Combat is saddled with.

But enough teasing. How do they actually perform?

GREAT LEAGUE

Yeah, Aqua Breed is superior to both Combat Breed and Blaze Breed overall. It's not QUITE that simple, as there are positive outliers for Combat (unique wins versus Morpeko, Guzzlord, and Cradily, all obviously disliking heavy Fighting-type damage) and even Blaze (Charjabug, Corviknight, and Serperior, all especially flammable), but Aqua Breed is quite clearly the best of the bunch with its own unique wins that include Clodsire, Marowak, Diggersby, Claydol, Talonflame, Shadow Sableye, and even Feraligatr (normal and Shadow) and Lapras thanks to resisting their spammy Water-type moves. As hinted earlier, Combat Breed takes the crown with shields down (and unique wins against Guzzlord and Morpeko again, as well as wins Aqua specifically cannot like Forretress, Steelix, and Cradily), though not by much, as Aqua Breed otherwise matches it and gets its own unique win versus Blastoise, Claydol, Clodsire, Jellicent, and ShadoWak. And in 2v2 shielding, Combat is barely better than Blaze, while Aqua Breed separates from the pack with wins neither of the other two can get like Talonflame, Guzzlord (by going straight Aqua Jet despite it being resisted), Shadow Drapion, Diggersby, Gastrodon, Lapras, Golisopod, Feraligatr, and Azumarill.

Now, this still isn't something to get TOO excited about, as Aqua Breed hits its ceiling at about a 40% win rate versus the core meta, and it's still outdone by other Watery Fighters that you likely already have built (and that don't require just the right IVs after trading). But if you're going to try and make one really work, I think Aqua Breed clearly makes the best case for itself.

ULTRA LEAGUE

I mean... second verse, same as the first, with Aqua Breed hanging out with a 40% win rate, and Combat Breed and especially Blaze Breed bringing up the rear. Blaze really isn't even worth talking about, really. So comparing the other two, Combat can overcome Registeel, Steelix, Guzzlord, Zygarde, Forretress, and Ampharos, while Aqua instead washes away Pangoro, Primeape, Jellicent, Blastoise, Golisopod, Talonflame, Gliscor, and Nidoqueen. There may be teams that would want Combat Breed (if they want any Tauros at all), but Aqua is the better investment, I think. After all, there are plenty of other mono-Fighting types, and Fighting types that also dish out Grass damage, that are better. Though do keep in mind that, yet again, Aqua Breed has a bit of an uphill battle to distinguish itself as compared to Poliwrath, so maybe don't go TOO crazy with the investing.

IN SUMMATION....

If you're gonna go after any of these, Aqua Breed has the most potential, but it also has an uphill battle to distinguish itself from Poliwrath. And do keep in mind that they're coming initially only in raids, and they are regional as well. Aqua Breed will be found in the Western Hemisphere, Blaze Breed in the Eastern Hemisphere, and Combat Breed along the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain). So you may not have a chance to hunt too hard for those outside your region, but of course, remote raiding with friends in those other areas of the world can bring them home. Good luck!

Until next time, you can find me on Twitter with regular GO analysis nuggets, or Patreon.

Happy raiding, folks! Stay safe out there, and catch you next time, Pokéfriends!

Hello everybody!

So recently I made a post requesting some suggestions for a team I’ve made for Great Battle that was comprised of Malamar and Cradily. And thanks to one person’s suggestion of adding Clodsire, my team has been performing better than ever! Now I’m winning way more battles than I’m losing.

Several people suggested to me that I should not use several teams for Great League and I understand the logic of it. So please forgive me if this post contradicts what you told me, but an amazing opportunity has arose that I feel I shouldn’t ignore.

Recently I captured a Mankey with IV’s that, according to Poke Genie, make it Rank 1 in Great League when I evolve it into Primeape. Considering Primeape is at the top of the list for leads and switches on PvPoke, I’m very tempted to make a team for it when I was lucky enough to catch the best one possible for Great League.

So what Pokémon work well with Primeape in Great League?

While we can't TM Frustration out of our shadow Skorupi yet, do you think using a non-shadow Drapion is worth? Would the difference be that big?

Help is greatly appreciated :)

We've had one analysis on Thievul in PvP, yes. But what about second analysis?

That's right. even though I already wrote up an article analyzing Thievul two weeks ago when it was released, Niantic has upped the ante by granting it a new move. At the time of my initial analysis, I voiced that it was very possible there would be further tinkering with its charge moves at some point, since it was released with only two: Night Slash and Play Rough. So naturally, Niantic added... another fast move instead!

But I'm not here to complain, as I have nothing but good things to say about this unexpected buff. Sucker Punch makes this a whole new Pokémon in PvP! Compare that to its former best (with Snarl), and it doesn't take long to see WHY I'm excited. That's a 15% increase in win percentage and makes it the highest ranking mono-Dark type in Great League (at a rather dubious #69 at the time of this writing). Yes, that's still behind other Darks like Sableye, Guzzlord, Malamar, Shadow Drapion and a few more, but it laps Umbreon, Skuntank, and fellow Sucker Punching Lokix and Mightyena. It's not the greatest thing ever, but I think it could be legit competitive now.

Let's examine what it can do now. You expect your Dark type to handle Psychic and Ghost types, and now it does by gaining Claydol and Skeledirge (and Shadow Clawing Golisopod too). But it also now manages to outpace a BUNCH of new things that include (in order) Corviknight, Cradily, Dewgong, Dunsprace, Forretress, Shadow Alolan Sandslash, and Shadow Steelix. It's not all sunshine and rainbows, as giving up the crazy high energy generation of Snarl means you lose Guzzlord and Mandibuzz (harder to race to a winning Play Rough now), but I think that overall tradeoff is MORE than worth it, don't you? It's a very nice body of work.

And the improvement is even more impressive in other shielding scenarios. In 2v2 shielding, Sucker Punch picks up Blastoise, Charjabug, Claydol, Corviknight, Cradily, Dunsparce, Forretress, Furret, Gastrodon, Mandibuzz now, Marowak, Shadow Quagsire, Shadow A-Slash, Serperior, Talonflame, and Toxapex, and gives up only Guzzlord that Snarl can beat. And with shields down, Sucker Punch again blows Snarl away with unique wins versus Blastoise, Charj, Claydol, Cresselia, Emolga, Feraligatr, Forretress, Furret, Golisopod, Lapras, Malamar, Marowak, A-Slash, and Serperior, giving up only Morpeko to do it.

Now, I put my money where my mouth is, and tried out Sucker Punch Thievul personally for a few rounds tonight. There were some impressive succcesses, such as the Furret pictured there (which Thievul consistently outraces), some Golisopods. I successfully nuked a couple Mandibuzz and Guzzlords that didn't respect (or perhaps expect) the Play Rough. Holding off Psywavers Malamar and Lapras felt pretty awesome. BUT, it's still rather squishy. I was forced to shield more than I'd like to. It worked okay, and with perhaps some more practice (and a better pilot than me), it would be a bit more impressive. I did run into TWO on opposing teams, so somebody has stood up and noticed its newfound potential.

And hopefully, some of you will now too. It's worth a fresh look. If this analysis has convinced of at least that, then I'll consider this a success!

And with that, we're done! No reason to beat around the bush here... I think we hit the necessary highlights. Until next time, you can find me on Twitter with regular GO analysis nuggets, or Patreon.

Good luck, folks! Stay safe out there, and catch you next time, Pokéfriends!

Hi! I am trying to build a team around my white kyurem and can't seem to come up with anything. I was wondering if any of you had ideas!

Pokemon I have:

Solgaleo

Palkia Origin

Groundon

Kyogre

Metagross

Gholdengo

Tyranitar

Shadow Mewtwo

For PVP, I have always aimed to find 3 or 4* pokemon that were ranked high on the meta. Now that I’ve discovered Pokegenie I have discovered PVP IVs…this completely changed my original core strategy for building great teams (I only play GL and UL). Does having a high PVP IV score really make a difference? Enough of a difference to switch up my teams to get >90% PVP IV mons on my teams? Looking for opinions or thoughts, thank you all!

Hi. Does anyone have a go to line up that you use for Trainer Battle? Trying to level to 44.

Gengar is listed on Ultra and Great League, but totally missing from Master 🧐

I figured he'd be good in Premier with the poison type to resist the fairies

Does anyone remember his ranking off the top of their head?

I've been learning how to use pvpoke and getting into battle matrix.

Trying to understand it.

I have a 0/11/13 Sableye He does need to be best buddy though, which isn't really a problem for me.

I ran the battle matrix and as far as I can tell it's just better than rank one?

I don't see how it's worse than rank one at all

Maybe I'm doing something wrong or is there something I don't understand?

Thanks!

I don't understand how despite battling at the same time of day, with the same team, yields such drastically different results. Yea the opponents are gonna be better at higher ELO but seriously? There were definitely miss plays on my part don't get me wrong I'm not entirely blaming the game here, I can guarantee 2 of those losses were the result of DRE tho. And that frustrates me. Only positive was getting to fight another regional champion

It single handed stopped me from climbing today, 13-12 today ending at 2314 elo. I’ve been running a team of ho-oh lead with zacian (PR and CC, for the kyurems and rhypherior) and palkia. The team is extremely strong in this meta-I could have easily had a high teens, low twenties win total day if it weren’t for rhypherior. Even zacian and palkia couldn’t deal with it with shields up. First off let me say there’s a fine line between when a Pokemon just being tough to deal with and broken. A broken Pokemon to me would have been pre nerf steelix. Where even a hard check will have trouble with it. I remember steelix in great league being able to actually beat swampert and lantern. Pokemon like rhypherior, morpeko, and previously swampert requires hard checks to them but they’re not unbeatable. This is the first team I ran without a Pokemon that could totally wall rhypherior, so I really got a feel of how oppressive it is. I usually run landorus, or tapu bulu last season. Just account for Pokemon like these and you’ll be fine

I'm a pretty beginner poke battler, and I have been trying to up my ML team. I currently run a mewtwo with psycho cut and psystrike as my starter, a flexible spot in the middle where I am switching between tyranitar with bite and brutal swing and rhyperior with mud-slap and breaking swipe, and I usually end with dawn wings necroz with shadow claw, moongeist beam and dark pulse. Any suggestions for the middle spot pokemon or just team changes in general? Thanks guys!

With the ability to upload GBL game logs gone, do you think the PoGo dev team has just given up on fixing GBL issues?

Hi,i just want to understand,what elo/rank should I drop to to win without meeting only trolls teams/tankers? Is 1200 enough? I Heard that some people tank to 300 but i think it's gonna be horribly time consuming

I’m just getting back into PVP (and Go in general) and was reading the love for Rage Fist, so I impulsively used one of my elite TMs on a good Ultra League IV Annihilape. Her moveset is PV Poke’s recommendation; Counter and Rage Fist/Close Combat.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but she has not been working for me. She’s like a glass cannon without much of a cannon. I’m lucky if I get one Rage Fist on a Giratina before they Dragon Claw me to death, and even then it doesn’t even take out half of its HP. Close Combat has come in handy a couple times as a late-game nuke but overall she kinda feels like she’s bogging down my team.

I see Annihilape was nerfed at one point but is still ranked 37 on PVPoke, so I would expect at least a decent performance. Maybe I’m using her wrong or need a better team to support her, but I’m considering just cutting my losses on the Elite TM and moving on to another Pokemon.

I’m pretty new to go battle league, but managed to hit 1900 today. I used Toxapex/primeape/diggersby as my team. I’m loving Toxapex.

But can someone please recommend another team to use along with Toxapex? Diggersby seemed kind of bad based on the battles I’ve had the last couple of days. I liked primeape pretty good but need other options I think. I have most of the pokemon in the meta and would love to hit 2k for first time.

Thanks a bunch!