With the introduction of Lucky Friends, you can now know that your next trade with that Trainer will be a Lucky Trade. That is now the easiest way to get a high IV Pokémon as you are guaranteed to get minimum IVs of 12/12/12. Not only that, but you can also power up that Pokémon for 50% less Stardust.
That seems like a perfect opportunity to get high IVs for every Pokémon you ever wanted. But, if you love PvP and you need advice on what Pokémon are the best options to lucky trade for PvP purposes, you came to the right place!
This article will feature different kinds of Pokémon: Pokémon that need to be maxed out for a specific league (e.g. Dialga in Master League, Galarian Stunfisk at L50 in Ultra League) and Pokémon that max out slightly above a certain CP cap (saving you lots of stardust if you lucky trade them while not losing much in terms of performance).
Master League
For Master League, you always want to have the best IVs you can get (15/15/15 – 100%) as there is no CP cap. Everything you use should be maxed out if you want to increase your chances of winning.
Thus, literally any relevant Pokémon in the Master League is a good choice for a lucky trade. Here are some suggestions based off the Master League / Master Premier rankings in PvPoke (full credit to PvPoke, as always).
| Pokémon | Legacy? | Special trade? | Moveset | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fast Move | Charge Move | 2nd Charge Move | |||
Altered Giratina
Origin Giratina
|
No | Yes |
|
|
|
Dialga
|
No | Yes | Dragon Breath | Draco Meteor | Iron Head |
Garchomp
|
No | No | Mud Shot | Outrage | Earthquake or Sand Tomb |
Swampert
|
Yes (Hydro Cannon) | No | Mud Shot | Hydro Cannon | Earthquake |
Groudon
|
No | Yes | Mud Shot | Earthquake | Solar Beam or Fire Blast |
Melmetal
|
No | Yes | Thunder Shock | Rock Slide | Superpower |
Ho-Oh
|
Yes (Earthquake) | Yes | Incinerate | Brave Bird | Earthquake |
Zekrom
|
No | Yes | Dragon Breath | Crunch | Wild Charge |
Incarnate Landorus
|
No | Yes | Mud Shot | Rock Slide | Earth Power |
Dragonite
|
No | No | Dragon Breath | Dragon Claw | Hurricane or Outrage |
Togekiss
|
No | No | Charm | Ancient Power | Flamethrower or Aerial Ace |
Rhyperior
|
Yes (Rock Wrecker) | No | Mud Slap | Rock Wrecker | Surf or Superpower |
Kyogre
|
No | Yes | Waterfall | Surf | Blizzard or Thunder |
Metagross
|
Yes (Meteor Mash) | No | Bullet Punch | Meteor Mash | Earthquake |
Magnezone
|
No | No | Spark | Wild Charge | Mirror Shot |
Snorlax
|
No | No | Lick | Body Slam | Superpower, Outrage or Earthquake |
Raikou
|
No | Yes | Thunder Shock | Wild Charge | Shadow Ball |
Tyranitar
|
Yes (Smack Down) | No | Smack Down or Bite | Stone Edge | Crunch |
Mewtwo
|
Yes (Psystrike or Shadow Ball) | Yes | Psycho Cut | Psystrike | Focus Blast |
Lugia
|
Yes (Aeroblast) | Yes | Dragon Tail | Sky Attack | Aeroblast |
Gyarados
|
Yes (Aqua Tail) | No | Dragon Breath | Crunch | Aqua Tail |
Heatran
|
No | Yes | Fire Spin | Iron Head | Stone Edge or Flamethrower |
Mamoswine
|
Yes (Ancient Power) | No | Powder Snow | Avalanche | Ancient Power or Bulldoze |
Ultra League
With the new level cap, some Pokémon that have been staples in the Great League are now able to max out just below (or just above) the 2500 CP cap.
Pokémon such as Meganium or Steelix that used to be good choices for lucky trades to use in Ultra League will now max out well above the 2.5k CP cap, so if you want to maximize their performance you should be using better PvP IV spreads.
| Pokémon | Legacy? | Special Trade? | Moveset | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fast Move | Charge Move | 2nd Charge Move | |||
Umbreon
|
Yes (Last Resort) | No | Snarl | Foul Play | Last Resort |
Galarian Stunfisk
|
No | No | Mud Shot | Rock Slide | Earthquake |
Skarmory
|
No | No | Air Slash | Brave Bird | Sky Attack |
Mandibuzz
|
No | No | Snarl | Foul Play | Shadow Ball |
Altaria
|
No | No | Dragon Breath | Sky Attack | Dragon Pulse |
Scrafty
|
No | No | Counter | Power-Up Punch | Foul Play |
Galvantula
|
No | No | Volt Switch | Discharge | Lunge |
Great League
And the same happens in Great League. Thanks to the new level cap, you can now forget about Sableye, Medicham and Bastiodon (the old lucky trade recommendations for Great League as they maxed out just below 1500 CP), because their optimal PVP IV spreads have changed.
| Pokémon | Legacy? | Special Trade? | Moveset | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fast Move | Charge Move | 2nd Charge Move | |||
Lickitung
|
Yes (Body Slam) | No | Lick | Body Slam | Power Whip |
Chansey
|
No | No | Pound | Psychic | Hyper Beam |
Wobbuffet
|
Purified (Return) | No | Counter | Return | Mirror Coat |
Good luck getting the best possible IVs from all of your Lucky Trades!
