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Pokémon Go Galar Cup – Great League Edition: Best Pokémon

Make your way to Galarian greatness

Marco Wutz

Niantic

Running from October 1 to 8, 2024, Galar Cup – Great League Edition is a brand-new format for Go Battle League, though it follows the structure you know and love.

Table of Contents

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

There are no restrictions on what type of Pokémon you can field, though there is a maximum limit on competition points (CP) these creatures can possess. In Galar Cup – Great League Edition, this is set at 1,500 CP. That also means that this competition is relatively light when it comes to Stardust and Candy XL investment, as you won’t have to power up your Pokémon all too much. In addition, only Pokémon found in Pokédex for Pokémon Sword and Shield are eligible to take part.

We’ve put together a list of the best Pokémon for Galar Cup – Great League Edition to get you started on your team building process. Our choices are based on statistics and simulations provided by PvPoke.com.

Pokémon Go Galar Cup – Great League Edition: Best Leads

The Pokémon in this class are aggressors, able to apply pressure on your opponent right from the start of a battle. They can also drag out tough battles for a long time thanks to their bulk. This allround effectiveness makes them perfect to open a match up, enabling you to score an early knockout or set up a strong counter play.

  1. Shadow Galarian Weezing (Fairy Wind, Play Rough, Brutal Swing)
  2. Clefable (Fairy Wind, Moonblast, Swift)
  3. Gastrodon (Mud Slap, Body Slam, Earth Power)
  4. Diggersby [XL] (Quick Attack, Fire Punch, Scorching Sands)
  5. Pangoro (Karate Chop, Close Combat, Night Slash)
  6. Shadow Dusknoir (Astonish, Shadow Ball, Shadow Punch)
  7. Togetic (Fairy Wind, Aerial Ace, Dazzling Gleam)
  8. Shadow Gallade (Psycho Cut, Close Combat, Leaf Blade)
  9. Drifblim [S] (Astonish, Shadow Ball, Icy Wind)
  10. Mandibuzz (Snarl, Dark Pulse, Aerial Ace)

Pokémon marked with [S] perform comparably well in both their regular and Shadow forms. Pokémon marked with [XL] require Candy XL to reach their best performance levels.

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

If you’re not happy with the initial pairing, you should consider switching out your lead for another Pokémon. That’s the role of a Safe Switch. They are either strong leads themselves or are specialized in countering some of the most popular leads. Putting them in will let you score an elimination, disrupt your opponent’s game plan, or at least preserve your lead for the later stage of the match.

  1. Shadow Galarian Weezing (Fairy Wind, Play Rough, Brutal Swing)
  2. Shadow Drapion (Poison Sting, Crunch, Aqua Tail)
  3. Clefable (Fairy Wind, Moonblast, Swift)
  4. Galarian Weezing (Fairy Wind, Play Rough, Brutal Swing)
  5. Qwilfish (Poison Sting, Aqua Tail, Ice Beam)
  6. Drapion (Poison Sting, Crunch, Aqua Tail)
  7. Diggersby [XL] (Quick Attack, Fire Punch, Scorching Sands)
  8. Shadow Sableye [XL] (Shadow Claw, Foul Play, Power Gem)
  9. Togetic (Fairy Wind, Aerial Ace, Dazzling Gleam)
  10. Golisopod (Shadow Claw, X-Scissor, Liquidation)

Pokémon Go Galar Cup – Great League Edition: Best Closers

These Pokémon come in quite handy when there are no shields left in play on either side – they are incredibly tough thanks to their high bulk and many resistances or they can end battles quickly due to their access to powerful charge attacks.

  1. Shadow Gallade (Psycho Cut, Close Combat, Leaf Blade)
  2. Turtonator (Incinerate, Dragon Pulse, Overheat)
  3. Toxapex (Poison Jab, Brine, Sludge Wave)
  4. Diggersby [XL] (Quick Attack, Fire Punch, Scorching Sands)
  5. Shadow Mawile (Fairy Wind, Iron Head, Play Rough)
  6. Pangoro (Karate Chop, Close Combat, Night Slash)
  7. Shadow Froslass (Powder Snow, Avalanche, Shadow Ball)
  8. Shadow Quagsire (Mud Shot, Aqua Tail, Stone Edge)
  9. Lanturn (Water Gun, Surf, Thunderbolt)
  10. Whimsicott (Fairy Wind, Seed Bomb, Moonblast)

Pokémon Go Galar Cup – Great League Edition: Best Attackers

This class is specialized in fighting an opponent who still has shields, while you no longer have any yourself. They combine strong resistances and potent fast attacks to compensate for this disadvantage. For that reason, you rarely see Shadow forms in this role – they take more damage than their regular counterparts, making them a risky card to pull out at this stage of a match.

  1. Mandibuzz (Snarl, Dark Pulse, Aerial Ace)
  2. Toxapex (Poison Jab, Brine, Sludge Wave)
  3. Diggersby [XL] (Quick Attack, Fire Punch, Scorching Sands)
  4. Steelix (Dragon Tail, Psychic Fangs, Crunch)
  5. Araquanid (Bug Bite, Bug Buzz, Bubble Beam)
  6. Aromatisse (Charm, Moonblast, Thunderbolt)
  7. Clefable (Fairy Wind, Moonblast, Swift)
  8. Shadow Steelix (Dragon Tail, Psychic Fangs, Crunch)
  9. Togetic (Fairy Wind, Aerial Ace, Dazzling Gleam)
  10. Ninetales (Fire Spin, Weather Ball (Fire), Overheat)

Galar Cup is definitely a departure from the regular Great League meta, although some of its regulars can be found among the limited format’s top rankers.

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

Published
Marco Wutz
MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg

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