How to Find Top Training Pokemon
USER GUIDE | Submitted by SeanTr0nIt seems to me that the main purpose of some of the Pokemon in the current meta is to be used to train up friendly gyms. The current training rules reward you for using Pokemon with lower CP than the Pokemon in the gym. The greatest amount of prestige (1000) can be gained when the highest CP of the Pokemon in your training team is less than the lowest CP of the Pokemon in the gym.
Therefore, the best training Pokemon are those that out-perform their CP, in other words, they are a stronger Pokemon than their Combat Power would indicate. There are 2 ways that a Pokemon can out-perform its CP.
1. Proper attack moves
It is essential that your training specialist has good attacking moves. For training Pokemon in Pokemon GO, I would say that the attacks a Pokemon has are more important than any other single factor (base stats, IVs, type, etc.).
For a training Pokemon, their attacks should be quick and deal a lot of damage. Your attacker benefits tremendously if it’s attacks benefit from STAB.
PROTIP
STAB stands for Same Type Attack Bonus. It’s bonus damage multiplier applied when the Move used is the same Type like the Pokémon using it. Example: a Grass Pokémon using Solar Beam, a Grass type move.
Great quick attacks for training Pokemon are Water Gun and Bites. These attacks are fast enough that I can continue using the them until the yellow flash indicates that I need to dodge, so I don’t waste any time. However, don’t spam that attacks because they will queue and you will get hit.
To find more good training quick moves, go here: https://thesilphroad.com/pokemon-go-moves and look for quick moves that have a duration of 500 ms or less. 500 ms is used as the cutoff because 500ms just enough time you need to dodge the 700ms dodge window,making it possible for you to get in as many attacks as possible between the attacks of the Pokemon that is already in the gym.
For charge moves, you also want something that is fast, so you don’t have to take any damage. For this reason, charge moves like Solar Beam and Hyper Beam, although good for pure attackers, are not the best for training Pokemon.
Using attacks as slow as those usually mean taking a direct hit and that can greatly reduce the number of hits that this training Pokemon can deliver in its lifetime because it probably has very somewhat little HP (more on that later).
Good charge moves have a duration of less than about 2400 ms. The idea here is that you need to be able to use them between the gym Pokemon’s quick attacks. In many cases you won’t have the time or the HP to wait for them to use charge attack to use yours. Good examples of charge moves are Body Slam and Dragon Claw.
The slower the attack is, the better the trainer needs to be at timing them. For example, Aqua Tail has a duration of 2350 ms, which is under the limit, and I have successfully used it between the gym Pokemon’s quick attacks, but it is risky.
2. High Defense and/or HP Stats
Because the CP Formula is more sensitive to Attack than Defense and HP, Pokemon with low Attack stats, but good Defense and HP stats can have a fairly low max CP. This makes these Pokemon perfect for training.
However, Pokemon with very low attack stats (like Chansey), will likely not be able to defeat a Pokemon within in the Gym time limit. Pokemon that meet this criteria are Wigglytuff, Slowbro, Tentacruel, and Hypno.
Pokemon that fit one of these criteria can be great trainers and Pokemon that have both will be amazing members of any team, even if they never take down or protect a gym.
