Pokémon Go Sunshine Cup – Great League Edition: Best Pokémon

Bird domination continues

Contents

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

Put a thick layer of sunscreen on and wear your most comfortable shorts, because it’s time for Sunshine Cup: Great League Edition in Pokémon Go, another limited format in Go Battle League.

Sunshine Cup will run from September 29 to October 6, 2023, alongside Ultra League. It's been a while since this format last returned, but the rules have not changed in the meantime.

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 Normal-, Fire-, Grass-, and Ground-types. Charizard is completely banned from this discipline, being simply too awesome and powerful.

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

It's time for another edition of the Sunshine Cup / Niantic

Sunshine 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. Pidgeot (Wing Attack, Feather Dance, Brave Bird)
2. Rufflet(XL) (Wing Attack, Brave Bird, Aerial Ace)
3. Vigoroth (Counter, Body Slam, Bulldoze)
4. Swampert (Mud Shot, Hydro Cannon, Sludge Wave)
5. Steelix (Dragon Tail, Breaking Swipe, Earthquake)
6. Shadow Abomasnow (Power Snow, Weather Ball (Ice), Energy Ball)
7. Staravia(XL) (Wing Attack, Brave Bird, Aerial Ace)
8. Gliscor (Wing Attack, Earthquake, Night Slash)
9. Shadow Steelix (Dragon Tail, Breaking Swipe, Earthquake)
10. Gligar(S) (Wing Attack, Aerial Ace, Dig)

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

Sunshine 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. Gligar(S) (Wing Attack, Aerial Ace, Dig)
2. Gliscor(S) (Wing Attack, Earthquake, Night Slash)
3. Pidgeot (Wing Attack, Feather Dance, Brave Bird)
4. Dubwool (Double Kick, Body Slam, Payback)
5. Vigoroth (Counter, Body Slam, Bulldoze)
6. Shadow Staravia(XL) (Wing Attack, Brave Bird, Aerial Ace)
7. Swellow (Wing Attack, Brave Bird, Aerial Ace)
8. Noctowl (Wing Attack, Sky Attack, Shadow Ball)
9. Miltank (Rollout, Body Slam, Ice Beam)
10. Greedent (Mud Shot, Body Slam, Crunch)

Sunshine 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 Staravia(XL) (Wing Attack, Brave Bird, Aerial Ace)
2. Staraptor(S) (Wing Attack, Brave Bird, Close Combat)
3. Swellow (Wing Attack, Brave Bird, Aerial Ace)
4. Victini (Quick Attack, V-Create, Overheat)
5. Staravia(XL) (Wing Attack, Brave Bird, Aerial Ace)
6. Rufflet(XL) (Wing Attack, Brave Bird, Aerial Ace)
7. Diggersby(XL) (Quick Attack, Scorching Sands, Hyper Beam)
8. Cradily (Bullet Seed, Rock Slide, Grass Knot)
9. Pidgeot (Wing Attack, Feather Dance, Brave Bird)
10. Shadow Swampert (Mud Shot, Hydro Cannon, Sludge Wave)

Sunshine 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. Pidgeot (Wing Attack, Feather Dance, Brave Bird)
2. Gligar (Wing Attack, Aerial Ace, Dig)
3. Steelix (Dragon Tail, Breaking Swipe, Earthquake)
4. Noctowl (Wing Attack, Sky Attack, Shadow Ball)
5. Shadow Steelix (Dragon Tail, Breaking Swipe, Earthquake)
6. Tropius (Air Slash, Leaf Blade, Aerial Ace)
7. Miltank (Rollout, Body Slam, Ice Beam)
8. Obstagoon (Counter, Night Slash, Cross Chop)
9. Gliscor (Wing Attack, Earthquake, Night Slash)
10. Diggersby(XL) (Quick Attack, Scorching Sands, Hyper Beam)

Normal-type flyers were already the top performers in Shunshine Cup, but thanks to the Adventures Abound balance update they soar to even greater heights now: Aerial Ace users benefit from that move's energy cost decrease. Steelix is another Pokémon that profits from the balance patch, adding Breaking Swipe to its arsenal and climbing a few ranks. Diggersby remains among the best Pokémon in the format, but requires a completely different move set now, bringing Scorching Sands and Hyper Beam. All in all, your old Sunshine Cup team will need only little tweaks to deliver solid battles in this new edition.