With the amount of Pokémon you see and catch, choosing which one to power-up is indeed a problem among many trainers. Stardust is a resource you get sparsely when you reach high levels. While candies are now easy to come by with the help of the Buddy System and Rare Candies, the candy requirement goes up almost exponentially when you get past level 30. We really need to know which Pokémon are worth our precious candies and Stardusts. I'll gladly help you along the way. There are many great attackers, but there are two best Attackers we are taking into account first
These attackers have great overall attacking power that can use even against Pokémon with neutral effectiveness. Two Pokémon tops this list: Dragonite and Tyranitar. They boast one of the best DPS there is with STAB and overall stats backing them up.
Dragonite's best moveset DPS-wise is Dragon Tail and Hurricane or Outrage, but Outrage is the better partner. If you use those moves, only Steel-types resist it while Fairy-types are immune to it. It's legacy Fast Move Dragon Breath might have less DPS, but it is better for players that prefer the ability to dodge easily. I actually prefer this over Dragon Tail. Sadly, no Legacy Charge move are good pairs with it, so you will really need a Charge TM to make Dragon Breath Dragonite usable. The same two Charge Moves are perfect with it. My main attacker is a Dragonite with Dragon Breathe Outrage, and it has not failed me since. Being Dragon-type, it has key resistances in Fire, Water, and Grass. Its Flying-type adds immunity to Ground-type. Still, Dragonite is weak against Ice, Rock, Fairy, and Dragon. You can still use it against the latter three, but Ice-type deal the most damage against it so don't go using it on Articuno raids.
Tyranitar's best moveset DPS-wise is Bite and Stone Edge, but you can still use Crunch. Only Fighting types resist both Rock and Dark, and it hits you the strongest, but there is no great Fighting-type defender. You can opt out of Fairy, Water, and Grass types, but all of them are neutral against Rock and Dark, plus Tyranitar has decent bulk, so winning against them is still possible. Tyranitar is good against most of the Gen I and II Legendary Pokémon, with Rock being strong against all 5 Legendary birds, 3 being double weak against it, and Entei, while Dark is strong against Psychic like Mew, Mewtwo, Lugia, and Celebi.
Other than those two, there are Pokémon with almost the same power as them, but have lackluster bulk. These are "glass cannon" Pokémon, which includes Alakazam, Espeon, and Gengar. Alakazam and Espeon's best moveset is any Fast Move plus Future Sight, while Gengar's is Shadow Claw or Hex plus Shadow Ball or Sludge Bomb. Shadow Claw is a legacy move but it boasts one of the best DPS so hold on to a Gengar with that move. Alakazam and Espeon are especially good at Fighting and Poison, the latter currently being the most common type in the game, but avoid Dark-types. Gengar as a Ghost-type attacker is better on types it resists, especially Fighting. Psychic may be weak to Ghost but Gengar's Poison typing makes it weak against them in return. The same is true with Ghost. As a Poison-type attacker, Gengar is great against Fairy, but right now, most Grass-types are part Poison, and you rarely see Grass-types to begin with, more on that later.
There are also Pokémon with good DPS movesets and passable attack and bulk. Gyarados and Vaporeon are good Water-type Pokémon with access to Hydro Pump. Gyarados, though, can use choose between both Bite and Dragon Tail, with the latter having higher DPS, and Bite being more friendly to players who dodge. I personally pick Bite. Water-type moves have great coverage, being good against Fire, Rock, and Ground. Use these against Tyranitar, Rhydon, Moltres, and Ho-oh raids.
Moltres, Flareon, and Charizard with Fire Spin and Overheat are the best Fire Type Attackers, with Arcanine with Fire Fang and Fire Blast lagging behind. These first three can also have Fire Blast which is an okay second option if you can't afford the Charge TM. Ember on Flareon and Charizard is okay but you should opt for a Fast TM. These Fire-types go well against Grass, Bug, Ice, and Steel but all of them have yet to see a good defender. While Steel is a good overall defensive type, a Pokémon has yet to utilize this, and Gen 3 onwards will release such mons, so have these Pokémon ready. All of them are weak to Water and Rock types, Moltres and Charizard being double weak to the latter, while Flareon is weak against Ground. Avoid Pokémon with access to such moves.
Zapdos and Jolteon are the premiere Electric-types available. Other than Jolteon's Discharge, any of Zapdos and Jolteon's moves are usable. Thunder and Zap Cannon have good raw power, while Thunderbolt has great DPS, and goes well with Zapdos' Charge Beam. Charge Beam has great EPS, Thunder Shock is great for those players who utilize dodging, and Volt Switch is a great Fast move and is best defensively. Ampharos is a close second, but getting one is hard, considering the rarity of the Mareep line. Magneton with Zap Cannon is also good only if you don't have any choice. Electric-types have key strengths against Water and Flying, both of which are common defenders. Gyarados, a common defender, sports both types so it's double weak against Electric. The lone weakness of Electric is Ground so you only need to look out for those. Dragon, Grass, and Electric itself resist Electric, but currently, the only good Dragon-types also have a second type of either Water or Flying, so Electric has neutral damage, plus Electric itself are not seen that much as gym defenders, with the only good Electric-type defender, Zapdos, being banned on gyms. Grass types, on the other hand, are not seen that much as defenders, but again, more on that later.
Heracross and Scizor, on the other hand, are good Bug-type attackers, with Pinsir as a legitimate option. Scizor with Fury Cutter and X-Scissor, and Pinsir with Bug Bite and X-Scissor are great single type movesets. While Struggle Bug is not the best moveset, other than if you plan on using Heracross on a Psychic type, which is not recommended due to its Fighting type, Counter is preferred to pair with Megahorn. You don't see much use of Bug-type as an attack because Dark-types are preferred against Psychic-types due to is immunity to Psychic, plus Psychic-types are more inclined as attackers, and are rarely seen as defenders. Also, Fighting-types are preferred against Dark-types, and two of them even sport that moveset. Finally, Grass-types see less use, more on that later. Scizor is the only great Bug-type user with resistance to Psychic-type due to its Steel typing, so you can use that against Psychic-types, especially when Mewtwo and Mew are seen in raids. Do not use them against Fire, Rock, and Flying.
Some Pokémon have two good attacking types. Charizard, while being a great Fire-type, also has a good Flying-type Fast Moves: Air Slash and Wing Attack, the latter being a Legacy move. That is also the case with Ursaring with Hyper Beam. Golem is a Rock and Ground Pokémon that utilize each type well, with its Rock-type moveset overshadowing its Ground-type moveset. Rock Throw and Stone Edge makes Golem the premier Rock Attacker, being good against all Legendary Birds, boasting as the only real answer vs Zapdos, and a good overall attacker. Mud Slap and Earthquake, though not as devastating, is a great Ground type combination, and is one of the best Ground type attacker, being the sole weakness of Electric types, while also being strong against Steel, Rock, Poison, and Fire, a total of 5 types equal only to Fighting-types. Sadly, Golem goes down easily against Water and Grass, while also having weakness against Ice, Ground, Fighting, and Steel. Another option for Ground type attacker is Rhydon with Mud Slap and Earthquake.
Exeggutor is a Grass and Psychic Pokémon and like Golem, it utilizes each type well. DPS-wise, Extrasensory and Solar Beam is the best, but if you have its Legacy Fast Move, Zen Headbutt and Confusion, choose those, especially Zen Headbutt. If you want a single-type moveset, the charge move Psychic has passable DPS and goes well with the 3 Psychic-type Fast Moves. The same strengths of Alakazam and Espeon goes to Exeggutor's Psychic set as well. As for the Grass-type moveset, Bullet Seed and Solar Beam has passable DPS as well. Grass-types are strong against Water, Rock, and Ground. Sadly, Grass-type attackers are greatly underappreciated because of Water and Electric attackers being more popular, both of which are discussed earlier. All of the coverage of Grass-types are already covered by Electric and Water. The only Pokémon with sole weakness of Grass-type are Water and Ground type Pokémon like Quagsire, but it doesn't see much use. The good news is that there will be a great Water and Ground defender in the next few Generations, like Swampert, Gastrodon, and Seismitoad. There will be a need for great Grass-type attackers soon. Other notable Grass-type attackers you can use is Venusaur and Tangela, with Vine Whip and Solar Beam. With Tangela, you can also use Grass Knot or Power Whip as a Charge Move.
Lapras and Articuno are not great attackers, but there will be an abundance of Pokémon with double weakness to Ice-types in the future. Dragonite falls in the hands of Ice-types, and so will Salamence, Flygon, Gliscor, and Garchomp. Both of them with Frost Breath and Blizzard or Ice Beam are phenomenal, but choose Articuno if you have one. Lapras can also opt for Ice Shard. You can also use Cloyster and Jynx with Frost Breath and Avalanche. For Cloyster, you can also use Ice Shard and Blizzard, but even though these are legacy moves, DPS-wise, Frost Breath is better, and Avalanche sometimes outperforms Blizzard. Other than Dragonite, use them against Ground, Flying, Grass, and Dragon. Be aware that Ice-type's only resistance is Ice-type itself, which is a rare defending type, with only Lapras being the only common Ice-type defender. Also, most Ground-types have Rock-type moves, like Quagsire and Nidoqueen. Steel-type is also a common coverage move much like Dragonite's Steel Wing.
Lastly, there are Pokémon with very high bulk, in which when paired with their okay attacking prowess, has great overall offensive presence. Lugia, Snorlax, and Blissey are such examples. Lugia with Extrasensory and Future Sight or Sky Attack, Snorlax with Lick and Hyper Beam, and Blissey with Pound and Hyper Beam may not seem much, but because of their bulk, they outlast their opponents while surprising them with their passable offense. Do take note that they are not the first line offense, especially on raids. They are good 6th Pokémon, and they make sure you finish the raid without wiping out your team entirely. Some people experience errors when they get wiped out during raids and the raid finished while they are in the lobby. They were not able to catch the Pokémon, the game thinks they have not joined the raid, and when they do try a second time, the game shows an error again before you start the second raid. If that happens to you, having these Pokémon as the 6th member can avoid that. Because of their bulk, you can use them even against their weaknesses. Still, Blissey and Snorlax should stay away from Fighting-types, while Lugia is still susceptible to Dark, Ghost, Rock, Ice, and Electric attacks.
This guide should narrow down your choices in which Pokémon you should power-up. Personally, I power-up my main attackers only up to Level 30, because at that level, the Pokemon already had 90% of its max power, while in levelling past Level 30, the candy and Stardust requirement skyrockets. The only mons I'm levelled up past 30 is Dragonite, Tyranitar, Gyarados, and Snorlax. I would also do it with Blissey but I don't have the right Chansey or Blissey yet. I did it to Gyarados because of the CP requirement in gyms back then, but I'm not planning on powering up a Gyarados anymore. My source on some of this information is from RyanSwag's Attacker Recommendation which can be seen here, and for more information on this topic, watch Trainer Tips' video below.
Of course, raids are fun, but you need a lot of players with you, especially on Legendary Raids. If you live in the Philippines and don't have people to raid with, check out the Pokémon GO Philippines Discord Group by clicking here. If you don't live there, check out my piece on why Legendary Raids are fun when you're not alone by clicking here.
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| Legendary Raids are Fun When You're Not Alone |
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