Pokémon Go Hisui Cup – Great League Edition: Best Pokémon

Pokémon Go Hisui Cup – Great League Edition: Best Leads

These Pokémon aggressively pressure your opponent right from the beginning of a duel and can survive even tough battles for quite a while – they are perfect to open a match up, enabling you to score an early knockout or set up a strong counter play.

1. Mantine (Wing Attack, Aerial Ace, Ice Beam)
2. Lickitung^(XL) (Lick, Body Slam, Power Whip)
3. Shadow Gligar (Wing Attack, Aerial Ace, Dig)
4. Shadow Abomasnow (Powder Snow, Weather Ball (Ice), Energy Ball)
5. Shadow Steelix (Dragon Tail, Breaking Swipe, Earthquake)
6. Whiscash (Mud Shot, Mud Bomb, Scald)
7. Machamp^(S) (Counter, Cross Chop, Rock Slide)
8. Walrein (Powder Snow, Icicle Spear, Earthquake)
9. Shadow Whiscash (Mud Shot, Mud Bomb, Scald)
10. Shadow Sealeo (Powder Snow, Body Slam, Water Pulse)

(XL) = Pokémon requires Candy XL to reach optimal battle performance; (S) = Regular form and Shadow form perform comparably.

Pokémon Go Hisui Cup – Great League Edition: Best Safe Switches

If the opening pairing is to your disadvantage, you should consider switching out your lead for another Pokémon. This is where this class comes into play. They are either strong leads themselves or are specialized in countering some of the most popular leads. In any case, a switch will preserve your original opener to fight later on in the battle and perhaps force your opponent to also adapt their strategy on the fly.

1. Shadow Gligar (Wing Attack, Aerial Ace, Dig)
2. Walrein (Powder Snow, Icicle Spear, Earthquake)
3. Shadow Sealeo (Powder Snow, Body Slam, Water Pulse)
4. Shadow Walrein (Powder Snow, Icicle Spear, Earthquake)
5. Lickitung^(XL) (Lick, Body Slam, Power Whip)
6. Gligar (Wing Attack, Aerial Ace, Dig)
7. Shadow Drapion (Poison Sting, Crunch, Aqua Tail)
8. Cresselia (Psycho Cut, Grass Knot, Moonblast)
9. Shadow Snorlax (Lick, Body Slam, Superpower)
10. Overqwil (Poison Jab, Aqua Tail, Shadow Ball)

Pokémon Go Hisui Cup – Great League Edition: Best Closers

These Pokémon are particularly useful when there are no shields left in play on either side – they are incredibly tough themselves or end battles quickly thanks to powerful charge attacks, which can’t be deflected without a shield.

1. Shadow Electivire (Thunder Shock, Ice Punch, Wild Charge)
2. Whiscash^(S) (Mud Shot, Mud Bomb, Scald)
3. Umbreon (Snarl, Foul Play, Last Resort)
4. Bastiodon^(XL) (Smack Down, Stone Edge, Flamethrower)
5. Cresselia (Psycho Cut, Grass Knot, Moonblast)
6. Shadow Sneasler (Shadow Claw, Close Combat, Aerial Ace)
7. Froslass (Powder Snow, Avalanche, Shadow Ball)
8. Shadow Bastiodon^(XL) (Smack Down, Stone Edge, Flamethrower)
9. Lickitung^(XL) (Lick, Body Slam, Power Whip)
10. Hisuian Electrode (Thunder Shock, Wild Charge, Energy Ball)

Pokémon Go Hisui Cup – Great League Edition: Best Attackers

These Pokémon perform best when fighting a trainer who still has shields, while you no longer have shields yourself. They combine important resistances and strong fast attacks to compensate for this disadvantage. For this reason, you rarely see Shadow forms in this role – they take more damage than their regular counterparts, making them a risky card to put on the table.

1. Mantine (Wing Attack, Aerial Ace, Ice Beam)
2. Bastiodon^(XL)(S) (Smack Down, Stone Edge, Flamethrower)
3. Umbreon (Snarl, Foul Play, Last Resort)
4. Whiscash (Mud Shot, Mud Bomb, Scald)
5. Steelix^(S) (Dragon Tail, Breaking Swipe, Earthquake)
6. Gligar (Wing Attack, Aerial Ace, Dig)
7. Lickitung^(XL) (Lick, Body Slam, Power Whip)
8. Cresselia (Psycho Cut, Grass Knot, Moonblast)
9. Munchlax (Tackle, Body Slam, Bulldoze)
10. Grotle^(S) (Razor Leaf, Body Slam, Energy Ball)

Despite being a brand-new format, Hisui Cup: Great League Edition actually doesn’t require too many investments if you’ve regularly participated in the Great League over the last couple of months. Many staples of the regular format are powerful forces in this mode, so you should be able to cobble together competitive teams from your already built pool of candidates.