Pokémon Go Fossil Cup – Great League Edition: Best Pokémon

Digging deep for the strongest options in this competition

Contents

1. Fossil Cup – Great League Edition: Best Leads
2. Fossil Cup – Great League Edition: Best Safe Switches
3. Fossil Cup – Great League Edition: Best Closers
4. Fossil Cup – Great League Edition: Best Attackers

Time to get those rusty old bones back in shape: Fossil Cup – Great League Edition is up next in Pokémon Go, challenging you to field teams of Pokémon that have either stood the test of time by surviving for millions of years or that have been resurrected from fossils by the power of mad science.

Fossil Cup – Great League Edition will run from July 20 to August 3, 2023, so it’s worth digging up the right team for this two-week period and carve your prowess in stone.

This Go Battle League competition runs on a special ruleset limiting participating Pokémon to a maximum amount of 1,500 competition points (CP). In addition, you may only field Pokémon of the Water-, Rock-, and Steel-types.

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

Fossil Cup – Great League Edition: Best Leads

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

1. Shadow Swampert (Mud Shot, Hydro Cannon, Earthquake)
2. Kartana (Razor Leaf, Leaf Blade, Night Slash)
3. Shadow Quagsire (Mud Shot, Mud Bomb, Stone Edge)
4. Swampert (Mud Shot, Hydro Cannon, Earthquake)
5. Ludicolo (Razor Leaf, Ice Beam, Leaf Storm)
6. Pelipper (Wing Attack, Weather Ball (Water), Hurricane)
7. Lucario (Counter, Power-Up Punch, Shadow Ball)
8. Araquanid (Bug Bite, Bug Buzz, Bubble Beam)
9. Ferrothorn (Bullet Seed, Power Whip, Thunder)
10. Registeel (Lock On, Focus Blast, Zap Cannon)

Fossil 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 category 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 lead to fight later on in the battle and perhaps force your opponent to also adapt their strategy on the fly.

1. Lucario (Counter, Power-Up Punch, Shadow Ball)
2. Shadow Swampert (Mud Shot, Hydro Cannon, Earthquake)
3. Pelipper (Wing Attack, Weather Ball (Water), Hurricane)
4. Shadow Poliwrath (Mud Shot, Dynamic Punch, Ice Punch)
5. Golisopod (Shadow Claw, X-Scissor, Liquidation)
6. Swampert (Mud Shot, Hydro Cannon, Earthquake)
7. Araquanid (Bug Bite, Bug Buzz, Bubble Beam)
8. Gyarados(S) (Dragon Breath, Aqua Tail, Crunch)
9. Shadow Quagsire (Mud Shot, Mud Bomb, Stone Edge)
10. Escavalier (Counter, Drill Run, Megahorn)

(S) = Regular form and Shadow form perform comparably.

Fossil 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.

1. Registeel(S) (Lock On, Focus Blast, Zap Cannon)
2. Ferrothorn (Bullet Seed, Power Whip, Thunder)
3. Escavalier (Counter, Drill Run, Megahorn)
4. Togedemaru (Thunder Shock, Fell Stinger, Wild Charge)
5. Shadow Magnezone (Spark, Wild Charge, Mirror Shot)
6. Jellicent (Hex, Surf, Shadow Ball)
7. Cradily(S) (Bullet Seed, Rock Slide, Grass Knot)
8. Swampert (Mud Shot, Hydro Cannon, Earthquake)
9. Whiscash (Mud Shot, Mud Bomb, Blizzard)
10. Regirock (Lock On, Stone Edge, Focus Blast)

Fossil 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. Kartana (Razor Leaf, Leaf Blade, Night Slash)
2. Ludicolo (Razor Leaf, Ice Beam, Leaf Storm)
3. Registeel (Lock On, Focus Blast, Zap Cannon)
4. Ferrothorn (Bullet Seed, Power Whip, Thunder)
5. Araquanid (Bug Bite, Bug Buzz, Bubble Beam)
6. Lanturn (Spark, Surf, Thunderbolt)
7. Lucario (Counter, Power-Up Punch, Shadow Ball)
8. Shadow Registeel (Lock On, Focus Blast, Zap Cannon)
9. Shadow Mawile (Fire Fang, Power-Up Punch, Play Rough)
10. Galarian Stunfisk (Mud Shot, Rock Slide, Earthquake)

In terms of pure competitive meta, Fossil Cup is definitely a breath of fresh air compared with many other rulesets, though it’s mostly familiar faces in the top positions. What the tournament lacks a bit, unfortunately, is being thematic: Actual Fossil Pokémon don’t really play a prominent role in the action, being overshadowed by everything else, which renders the cup’s title a little irrelevant.