Pokémon Go Retro Cup – Great League Edition: Best Pokémon

Pokémon Go is donning the rose-tinted nostalgia glasses in the form of Retro Cup – Great League Edition, another limited format in Go Battle League that changes up the usual rules.

Retro Cup will run from November 19 to 26, 2024, alongside the Master League for one week. In this timeframe you will gain quadruple Stardust rewards for winning battles, so going retro with all your strength will pay dividends.

This Go Battle League competition runs on a special ruleset limiting participating Pokémon to a maximum amount of 1,500 competition points (CP). Since this tournament is all about doing things the old way, there’s a ban on Dark-, Steel-, and Fairy-type Pokémon – only categories from the original Pokémon games are allowed.

Show your opponents that size matters not with the best Pokémon for Retro Cup – Great League Edition in Pokémon Go based on statistics and simulations provided by PvPoke.com.

Retro Cup: 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. Primeape [S] (Karate Chop, Rage Fist, Close Combat)
2. Shadow Jumpluff (Fairy Wind, Aerial Ace, Energy Ball)
3. Aurorus (Powder Snow, Weather Ball (Ice), Meteor Beam)
4. Lickilicky (Rollout, Body Slam, Shadow Ball)
5. Oranguru (Confusion, Brutal Swing, Trailblaze)
6. Shadow Ursaring (Shadow Claw, Swift, Close Combat)
7. Jumpluff (Fairy Wind, Aerial Ace, Energy Ball)
8. Shadow Gallade (Psycho Cut, Leaf Blade, Close Combat)
9. Shadow Marowak (Mud Slap, Bone Club, Rock Slide)
10. Shadow Dusknoir (Astonish, Shadow Ball, Shadow Punch)

[S] = Regular form and Shadow form perform comparably.

Retro Cup: 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 Primeape (Karate Chop, Rage Fist, Close Combat)
2. Feraligatr (Shadow Claw, Hydro Cannon, Ice Beam)
3. Arctibax (Dragon Breath, Avalanche, Dragon Claw)
4. Primeape (Karate Chop, Rage Fist, Close Combat)
5. Shadow Girafarig (Confusion, Psychic Fangs, Trailblaze)
6. Oranguru (Confusion, Brutal Swing, Trailblaze)
7. Shadow Feraligatr (Shadow Claw, Hydro Cannon, Ice Beam)
8. Goodra (Dragon Breath, Aqua Tail, Thunder Punch)
9. Girafarig (Confusion, Psychic Fangs, Trailblaze)
10. Shadow Dragonair (Dragon Breath, Body Slam, Aqua Tail)

Retro Cup: 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 Mewtwo (Psycho Cut, Psystrike, Thunderbolt)
2. Shadow Feraligatr (Shadow Claw, Hydro Cannon, Ice Beam)
3. Shadow Primeape (Karate Chop, Rage Fist, Close Combat)
4. Clodsire (Poison Sting, Earthquake, Stone Edge)
5. Froslass [S] (Powder Snow, Avalanche, Shadow Ball)
6. Shadow Gallade (Psycho Cut, Leaf Blade, Close Combat)
7. Feraligatr (Shadow Claw, Hydro Cannon, Ice Beam)
8. Primeape (Karate Chop, Rage Fist, Close Combat)
9. Arctibax (Dragon Breath, Avalanche, Dragon Claw)
10. Shadow Regice (Lock On, Blizzard, Thunder)

Retro Cup: 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. Drifblim (Astonish, Icy Wind, Shadow Ball)
2. Diggersby [XL] (Quick Attack, Fire Punch, Scorching Sands)
3. Cresselia (Psycho Cut, Grass Knot, Moonblast)
4. Araquanid (Bug Bite, Bug Buzz, Bubble Beam)
5. Gastrodon (Mud Slap, Body Slam, Earth Power)
6. Lickilicky (Rollout, Body Slam, Shadow Ball)
7. Lickitung [XL] (Lick, Body Slam, Power Whip)
8. Jumpluff (Fairy Wind, Aerial Ace, Energy Ball)
9. Clodsire (Poison Sting, Earthquake, Stone Edge)
10. Hakamo-o (Dragon Tail, Dragon Claw, Brick Break)

[XL] = Pokémon requires upgrades with Candy XL to reach optimal performance.

Retro Cup is back with quite a few changes compared to last time this format was in rotation. Staples like Aurorus and Lickilicky continue to perform well despite those changes, but some fresh powerhouses have emerged as well – Primeape is one recent example riding high after gaining access to its signature move.

For more Pokémon Go, check our overviews for the weekly Spotlight Hours and 5-Star Raids.