Pokémon Go Master League: Best Pokémon

Dominate the competition with these Pokémon

Niantic

It’s time for the big guns! The Master League is ready to roar in Pokémon Go and will be running from December 17 to 24, 2024. This is the heaviest weight class the mobile game has to offer in its multiplayer portion, which means you’ll need to bring all those Legendary and Mythical Pokémon as well as Ultra Beasts to the table to have a shot at victory.

Table of Contents

1. Pokémon Go Master League: Best Leads
2. Pokémon Go Master League: Best Safe Switches
3. Pokémon Go Master League: Best Closers
4. Pokémon Go Master League: Best Attackers

Stardust rewards for wins are quadrupled for this entire period so make sure to give each match your best shot.

There are no limits whatsoever, when it comes to which Pokémon are allowed to take part. That can be quite overwhelming, so we’ve put together a list of the best Pokémon for Master League to get you started on your team building process. Our choices are based on statistics and simulations provided by PvPoke.com.

You’ll want to make sure to pump each of your participating Pokémon full of XL Candy before sending them out to battle in this league, which is why you won't see our usual [XL] markers in this guide. Pokémon boosted with XL Candy simply are the default here.

Pokémon Go Master League: Best Leads

These Pokémon are hyper aggressive, applying pressure on your opponent right from the beginning of a match. They can drag out even tough battles for a long time – this makes them ideal to open a duel up, enabling you to score an early knockout or set up a strong counter play.

1. Zygarde (Complete Forme) (Dragon Tail, Crunch, Earthquake)
2. Palkia (Origin Forme) (Dragon Breath, Aqua Tail, Spacial Rend)
3. Groudon [S] (Mud Shot, Precipice Blades, Fire Punch)
4. Rhyperior [S] (Mud Slap, Rock Wrecker, Breaking Swipe)
5. Solgaleo (Fire Spin, Psychic Fangs, Iron Head)
6. Landorus (Therian Forme) (Mud Shot, Sandsear Storm, Stone Edge)
7. Marshadow (Sucker Punch, Close Combat, Ice Punch)
8. Palkia (Dragon Breath, Aqua Tail, Draco Meteor)
9. Galarian Moltres (Sucker Punch, Ancient Power, Payback)
10. Yveltal (Sucker Punch, Dark Pulse, Oblivion Wing)

Pokémon marked with [S] perform comparably well in both their regular and Shadow forms.

Pokémon Go Master League: Best Safe Switches

Should the initial pairing be to your disadvantage, consider switching out your lead for another Pokémon. This is where Safe Switches come into play. They are either strong leads themselves or are specialized in countering some of the more popular members of that class. 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, equalizing the battle once again.

1. Necrozma (Dusk Mane) (Shadow Claw, Dark Pulse, Sunsteel Strike)
2. Yveltal (Sucker Punch, Dark Pulse, Oblivion Wing)
3. Palkia (Origin Forme) (Dragon Breath, Aqua Tail, Spacial Rend)
4. Zygarde (Complete Forme) (Dragon Tail, Crunch, Earthquake)
5. Shadow Groudon (Mud Shot, Precipice Blades, Fire Punch)
6. Kyurem (Dragon Breath, Glaciate, Dragon Claw)
7. Shadow Mewtwo (Psycho Cut, Psystrike, Shadow Ball)
8. Landorus (Therian Forme) (Mud Shot, Sandsear Storm, Stone Edge)
9. Shadow Gyarados (Dragon Breath, Aqua Tail, Crunch)
10. Palkia (Dragon Breath, Aqua Tail, Draco Meteor)

Pokémon Go Master League: Best Closers

The Pokémon in this category are especially useful when there are no shields left in play on either side – they are incredibly tough themselves thanks to their high hit points and many resistances or end battles quickly thanks to powerful charge attacks.

1. Ho-Oh [S] (Incinerate, Brave Bird, Sacred Fire+)
2. Palkia (Origin Forme) (Dragon Breath, Aqua Tail, Spacial Rend)
3. Groudon [S] (Mud Shot, Precipice Blades, Fire Punch)
4. Giratina (Origin Forme) (Shadow Claw, Shadow Ball, Ominous Wind)
5. Yveltal (Sucker Punch, Dark Pulse, Oblivion Wing)
6. Shadow Mamoswine (Powder Snow, High Horsepower, Avalanche)
7. Zygarde (Complete Forme) (Dragon Tail, Crunch, Earthquake)
8. Xerneas (Geomancy, Close Combat, Moonblast)
9. Marshadow (Sucker Punch, Close Combat, Ice Punch)
10. Rhyperior [S] (Mud Slap, Rock Wrecker, Breaking Swipe)

Pokémon Go Master League: Best Attackers

These Pokémon perform best when fighting an opponent 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 pull out at this stage of a match.

1. Zygarde (Complete Forme) (Dragon Tail, Crunch, Earthquake)
2. Solgaleo (Fire Spin, Psychic Fangs, Iron Head)
3. Florges (Fairy Wind, Disarming Voice, Moonblast)
4. Palkia (Origin Forme) (Dragon Breath, Aqua Tail, Spacial Rend)
5. Giratina (Altered Forme) (Shadow Claw, Dragon Claw, Ancient Power)
6. Kyurem (Dragon Breath, Glaciate, Dragon Claw)
7. Togekiss (Charm, Ancient Power, Aura Sphere)
8. Yveltal (Sucker Punch, Dark Pulse, Oblivion Wing)
9. Zarude (Vine Whip, Dark Pulse, Power Whip)
10. Hisuian Avalugg (Powder Snow, Rock Slide, Icy Wind)

Master League did not change significantly with the latest balance update, which means that you won’t need to make any new investments whatsoever to be competitive, in case you’ve already taken part in the format during the previous season.

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