Premier Cup PvP Guide

Premier Cup is Pokémon GO’s first custom format in Go Battle League. It will take place alongside Master League in Season 2 and the only rules are no Legendaries or Mythicals. This makes some pseudo-legendaries such as Metagross, Garchomp and Dragonite some of the top picks due to their very high stats and strong movesets. The purpose of this article is to go over in detail the strongest Premier Cup picks, their best movesets, what they’re strong against, and how to counter them.

First things first, here’s an infographic that you can save and reference later:

The Elite 4 of Premier Cup

*Legacy Move

These four Pokémon are the strongest threats in Premier Cup. They all have good bulk and dish out very high damage, whether it be with their fast moves or charge moves, or both in Dragonite’s case. Some of them make very good partners with each other as well, so don’t be surprised if you see more than one of them in the same team.

Metagross is the king of Premier Cup. The reason is because it has amazing stats and the best Steel type moveset in the game, with excellent coverage. It’s main counters, being the Giratinas and Groudon, aren’t allowed in this format, which makes life easier for Metagross. Metagross generally beats Dragonite in every even shield scenario as long as it doesn’t get hit by Draco Meteor. The two shield matchup is extremely close even if Dragonite goes straight Dragon Claw since Dragon Breath is just that strong. Best Buddy Metagross eases that matchup since it reaches a Bullet Punch breakpoint on non-Best Buddy Dragonite. The extra HP also lets it reach the third Meteor Mash in the two shield matchup. Metagross can farm Togekiss from full health as long as it has a shield, which is huge since a 100 energy Metagross is the scariest thing to face in Premier Cup. Although it’s a Community Day move, Meteor Mash is Metagross’s fastest charge move and the best Steel type charge move in the game, which makes it mandatory for Metagross. It 2HKOs everything in the format that doesn’t resist it, even Garchomp. Earthquake is the best coverage move Metagross could possibly get. It lets it win the mirror match if the opposing Metagross doesn’t have Earthquake and hits most of the Pokémon that resists Meteor Mash at least neutrally. Notably, Magnezone gets OHKO’d from full health if it lands.

Psychic should only be used as the second charge move if the rest of your trio beats or has the ability to beat opposing Metagross and Magnezone. The only relevant Pokémon that Psychic would be useful for are Gyarados and Charizard since they resist both Meteor Mash and Earthquake. If you don’t have any Meteor Mash Metagross, Psychic can be used with Earthquake as the second charge move. However, without the raw power and speed of Meteor Mash, you will struggle more against some key threats, most importantly Dragonite, Garchomp and Snorlax.

Regardless of which moves Metagross decides to go with, it loses hard to Fire types, Swampert and Sand Tomb Garchomp. Other Water types such as Gyarados, Milotic and Empoleon give it trouble since they resist Steel, but those matchups are fairly even. Magnezone and Electivire are fast and also resist Steel, which lets them usually overcome Metagross as long as they don’t get hit by Earthquake. Snorlax can beat Metagross semi-reliably as long as both shields aren’t up.

Dragonite forms the strongest core in Premier Cup with Metagross since they both cover each other’s weaknesses perfectly. Metagross takes care of Togekiss and the Ice types that Dragonite is super weak to, while Dragonite beats up the Fire, Water, Electric and Ground types that trouble Metagross. It also has a positive matchup against Snorlax and Counter users which Metagross can struggle with.

Other than making the perfect partner to Metagross, what makes Dragonite so strong is its bulk and access to the best Dragon type PvP moveset in the game. Dragon Breath is one of the strongest fast moves in PvP. Combined with the spammy Dragon Claw and the nuke Draco Meteor, there’s very few things that can outright counter Dragonite. Draco Meteor is a Community Day move, but it’s the best overall second charge move for Dragonite. It’s so strong that even Metagross can’t afford to take it or else it loses the matchup, despite it resisting Dragon. Magnezone also resists Dragon yet usually succumbs to Dragon Claw spam. Outrage makes a good replacement for Draco Meteor if you don’t have a Community Day Dragonite. It doesn’t have the harsh Attack drop and is slightly faster, but it’s much weaker. Hurricane hits Togekiss for strong neutral damage if it lands, but it’s still a loss for Dragonite and it has no other use besides that. Don’t use Hyper Beam.

Togekiss is the strongest Dragonite counter there is. Charm rips through it and the only way Dragonite can do any meaningful damage back is with Hurricane, but Togekiss is bulky enough to tank one and proceed farming it down. Metagross generally beats Dragonite but can’t afford to tank a Draco Meteor. Magnezone goes toe-to-toe with Dragonite but that matchup is usually in Dragonite’s favor as long as it doesn’t get baited with Mirror Shot. Ice types prey on Dragonite’s double weakness to Ice, but if both shields are up, Dragonite’s sheer power and good bulk can potentially overcome them. Dragon Breath Gyarados with two shields barely beats Dragonite, but is inconsistent in lower shield scenarios.

Togekiss is the premier Charm user (pun intended) in the format. With two shields it beats basically anything that doesn’t resist Fairy, even some Ice types, Fire types and Electric types. It’s much bulkier than Gardevoir which makes it more consistent against Dragonite, Dragon Breath Gyarados, Swampert and Garchomp. Even Magnezone, something that sounds like it would be a hard counter to Togekiss, has to play carefully in the two shield scenario to win. The only things that can for sure beat Togekiss with two shields in Premier Cup are Metagross and Typhlosion. Other than that, Ice types, Electric types and Fire types in lower shield scenarios can beat it pretty easily.

Garchomp is the best Ground type in Premier Cup. It also has the highest stats and max CP of all the viable Pokémon in the format. It easily shuts down Metagross, Magnezone and Electivire with Sand Tomb spam and beats the Fire types hard. It’s slightly bulkier than Dragonite, which enables it beat Swampert straight Outrage even though it doesn’t resist Hydro Cannon. Outrage is fast and hits insanely hard on anything that doesn’t resist it. Even Snorlax, the bulkiest Pokémon in the format, loses almost 50% HP from it.

Sand Tomb is a must in Premier Cup, as without it, Garchomp can’t reliably switch into Metagross and beat it. Earthquake Garchomp straight up loses to Metagross in the one shield matchup if it gets a two Bullet Punch energy lead. In the two shield matchup, Metagross wins with a three Bullet Punch energy lead. Earthquake Garchomp would have to successfully bait twice with Outrage to win the two shield matchup if Metagross has a two Bullet Punch energy lead. The only scenario where Earthquake would really help against Metagross is the no shield, but this scenario is too specific and one of the biggest traits of Garchomp is that it can beat Metagross straight Sand Tomb in the one shield and two shield matchups.

As with most Ground types, Flying types with shields are the strongest Garchomp counters. Togekiss walls it to oblivion since it double resists both Sand Tomb and Outrage. It beats it even if Garchomp has two shields and Togekiss has none. Dragonite with two shields can farm it all the way down even if it gets baited twice with Sand Tomb. In the one shield scenario, Dragonite loses if it gets baited with Sand Tomb. Shields down is the worst case for Dragonite since it gets OHKO’d by Outrage from full health. Gyarados isn’t weak to Dragon so it has a much better matchup than Dragonite against Garchomp. With Dragon Breath, it beats it in every even shield scenario straight Crunch. In the one shield matchup, it wins even if it gets baited by Sand Tomb. Like Dragonite, Garchomp is also double weak to Ice. It performs much worse against them than Dragonite, so stay away from them at all costs.

Swampert

*Legacy Move

 

Swampert is one of the very few Pokémon that is useful in every league. Premier Cup is no different, it is much stronger here than open Master League since there are far less Dragon Breath users and the Giratinas aren’t allowed. It fulfills pretty much the same role as Garchomp, shutting down Metagross, Magnezone, Electivire and Fire types. One advantage that Swampert has over Garchomp is it practically has no weaknesses in Premier Cup since Grass types are basically nonexistent. It also destroys Mamoswine with Hydro Cannon and beats Glaceon pretty hard rather than being really weak to them. However, this doesn’t mean Swampert is invincible. Dragonite and Gyarados wall it since they resist both of its STAB moves. Togekiss doesn’t resist Hydro Cannon, but the sheer power of Charm combined with its very good bulk is usually too much for Swampert to handle. As previously mentioned, Garchomp’s high bulk allows it to usually beat Swampert straight Outrage. Lapras checks Swampert since it is very bulky and resists Hydro Cannon. Snorlax’s crazy high bulk and fast Body Slam’s allow it to check Swampert as well.

Magnezone

*Legacy Move

 

Magnezone’s main claim to fame is it can beat the “Big 3” of Premier Cup 1v1. The Big 3 being Metagross, Togekiss and Dragonite, although the Dragonite matchup is very sketchy. It is essentially the meta of the anti-meta, since it has good matchups against many of the anti-meta picks, such as Lapras, Gyarados, Glaceon, Charizard (sort of) and Snarl Arcanine without a Fire move. It is somewhat frail, but has a very good defensive typing that gives it key resistances to Dragon, Fairy, Ice and Steel. It actually double resists Steel due to its sub-Electric typing, which makes it one of the very few Pokémon that can reliably tank two Meteor Mashes from Metagross.

Wild Charge is fast and very powerful, but it harshly lowers your Defense when you use it, so it can’t be used recklessly. The choice between Mirror Shot and Flash Cannon as the second charge move is very difficult. Mirror Shot is faster than Wild Charge and thus gives Magnezone a bait move. However, it is extremely weak and thus could be very detrimental if you fail a bait. It has a nifty 30% chance to lower your opponent’s Attack, but that isn’t something that can or should be relied on. Flash Cannon and Return have high energy costs, but they are powerful and give Magnezone a move that can KO opponents without lowering its Defense. Notably, Flash Cannon OHKOs Mamoswine and Glaceon if unshielded. Both moves give it the best shot at beating Garchomp.

While Magnezone’s typing does grant it some very useful resistances, it also comes with some very exploitable weaknesses. The biggest one being a double weakness to Ground. Magnezone has no chance of breaking through Garchomp and especially Swampert. Swampert walls it since it resists both Electric and Steel, although Return packs quite a punch. If Magnezone decides to not use Flash Cannon, then Mamoswine can beat it straight Bulldoze, but Mirror Shot damage will begin to add up since it’s super effective. Metagross’s Earthquake is an easy OHKO from full health if it lands, so make sure you have shields when you face it with Magnezone. Charizard with two shields generally beats it since Fire Spin damages adds up quickly. Since Typhlosion has to rely on Blast Burn to do super effective damage, that matchup turns out to be fairly even. Fire Fang Arcanine shreds Magnezone, but the Snarl variant needs a Fire move to be able to seriously threaten it. Lastly, Fighting types and Counter users in general beat it pretty easily.

Gyarados

Gyarados is a beast in Premier Cup. For starters, it’s the only Pokémon besides Magnezone that can beat both Dragonite and Metagross. Not only that, but it also wrecks Garchomp and Swampert since it’s part Flying type. With this moveset, Gyarados beats Dragonite with two shields and beats Metagross in every even shield scenario. It goes toe-to-toe with Snorlax and the Ice types and wrecks the Fire types, but loses to Snarl Arcanine if it has Wild Charge. Gyarados beats Garchomp and Swampert in every even shield scenario straight Crunch.

Since Gyarados is double weak to Electric, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Electric types are its biggest counters. Magnezone deserves a special mention since it resists Dragon Breath. It can simply shield once and farm it down fully from full health, then fire off two Wild Charges at the next thing that comes in. Electivire can’t farm Gyarados since it’s really frail and doesn’t resist Dragon Breath, but can spam Wild Charge faster than Magnezone and delete Gyarados from the battle before it even can retaliate. Gyarados isn’t weak to Charm, but nonetheless gets farmed by Togekiss like most Dragon Breath users do. However, Togekiss does have to watch out for Hydro Pump, which almost OHKOs. Although Gyarados resists Fighting, it usually loses to the Fighting types since it doesn’t have a reliable move to hit them with.

Snorlax

Although Snorlax struggles to find a place in open Master League, it fits right at home in Premier Cup. It is one of the best safe swaps in the format, if not the best, since its only hard losses are to Counter users. It is the bulkiest Pokémon around, but unfortunately its double resistance to Ghost isn’t as useful here as it is in open Master League. Nonetheless, Snorlax is not something to be underestimated. Body Slam is mandatory since it is Snorlax’s fastest charge move yet still dishes out decent damage. Earthquake is the best second charge move overall since it does huge damage to Metagross, Magnezone, Arcanine, Electivire and Typhlosion if it lands.

Snorlax goes toe-to-toe with Gyarados, Metagross, Magnezone, Mamoswine, Glaceon and Fire Fang Arcanine. It has pretty convincing wins on Charizard, Typhlosion, Electivire, Lapras and Snarl Arcanine. It loses somewhat convincingly to Dragonite and Togekiss due to how powerful they are. Counter users ruin its day, but since most of them are frail, Snorlax still puts up a really good fight usually.

Ice Types

*Legacy Move

 

Strong checks to Togekiss, Dragonite and Garchomp. Each is unique and functions differently since they have different typings, stats and movesets.

Mamoswine is the fastest of the three. However, it’s frail and thus can’t beat Togekiss and Dragonite with two shields unfortunately. It has pretty even matchups with Snorlax and Gyarados and has really good matchups against Magnezone, Electivire and Garchomp. It beats Dragonite and Togekiss pretty hard as long as they don’t have both shields.

Lapras is very bulky but suffers from a huge lack of offensive presence. Because of this, it also struggles to beat Togekiss with two shields, but it still beats Dragonite pretty convincingly in every even shield scenario. It has relatively even matchups against Swampert, Gyarados and the Fire types. It has very good matchups against the other Ice types since it double resists Ice and beats Garchomp in every even shield scenario.

Glaceon is frail but has the best Ice type charge moves in the game: Icy Wind and Avalanche. It still can’t beat Togekiss with two shields unfortunately, but it beats Dragonite and Garchomp in every even shield scenario and Togekiss in lower shield scenarios. It goes toe-to-toe with Gyarados, Snorlax and Electivire.

All three lose very hard to Counter users and Metagross, although Mamoswine can hurt it with Bulldoze. Mamoswine and Glaceon lose pretty hard to the Fire types, but Charizard doesn’t resist Ice so it has to be careful. Snarl Arcanine can lose to them if it doesn’t have a Fire move. Lapras and Glaceon lose hard to Magnezone since it resists Ice, but Mamoswine can counter it due to its sub-Ground typing. Lapras loses pretty convincingly to Snorlax and Electivire.

Fire Types

*Legacy Move

 

Very strong Metagross and Glaceon counters and good checks to Togekiss and Mamoswine. Typhlosion is the only one that reliably beats Togekiss with two shields. The other two struggle a lot with it in the two shield scenario since they are relatively frail and kind of slow with their charge moves, but they can beat it pretty convincingly in lower shield scenarios. Although Magnezone is weak to Fire, they all struggle with it (except for Fire Fang Arcanine) since Wild Charge is just so strong and they don’t have much bulk.

Typhlosion has the fastest Blast Burn in the game thanks to Shadow Claw. This, combined with excellent coverage in Solar Beam, allows Typhlosion to beat Togekiss even with two shields and inflict immense shield pressure on pretty much everything in the format. The only Pokémon that resist both of its moves are opposing Fire types and Dragonite, but even they don’t like taking multiple Blast Burns.

Charizard is the strongest Metagross counter in the format since it resists both Meteor Mash and Earthquake. It also has perfect coverage with Dragon Claw, which hits Garchomp and Dragonite super effectively. However, it performs the worst against the Ice types since it doesn’t resist Ice and can only beat Magnezone with two shields since it’s weak to Electric.

Arcanine is the most diverse of the three by far, since it has two viable fast moves and a wide range of viable charge moves. Fire Fang generates energy very slowly, but it is very powerful and allows it to rip Metagross, Magnezone, Mamoswine and Glaceon to shreds. Snarl takes an entirely different approach, trading power and STAB for very fast energy gains. Metagross still loses to Snarl Arcanine due to Flamethrower spam. Crunch and Wild Charge have perfect coverage in the format and synergize very well with Fire Fang since they are the fastest moves Arcanine has. Crunch is only resisted by the rare Fighting types and Wild Charge hits very hard at the cost of harshly lowering your Defense. If you want to use Fire Fang Arcanine, always stick with Crunch and Wild Charge for the charge moves. Flamethrower is better than Crunch on Snarl Arcanine to pressure Metagross more and maintain the positive matchups against Magnezone and Mamoswine. If Snarl Arcanine decides to stick with Crunch and not Flamethrower, then Magnezone becomes a huge problem, since Crunch and Wild Charge don’t do much damage and it can retaliate with its own Wild Charge. Mamoswine also would become an issue since it double resists Wild Charge, takes neutral damage from Crunch and has STAB Bulldoze. Lastly, Return is a very good option for Snarl Arcanine since it is the strongest option against Swampert, Dragonite and Garchomp. It still hits Water types and Togekiss for strong neutral damage too.

All three lose really hard to Garchomp, Dragonite and Swampert. Snorlax has convincing wins on all of them as well, especially Typhlosion since it double resists Shadow Claw. Charizard can fight back at Dragonite and Garchomp with Dragon Claw, but it’s still kinda weak since it doesn’t have STAB. Lapras gives them trouble, but Typhlosion and Arcanine can put up a really good fight since they resist Ice. Gyarados does really well against Typhlosion, Charizard and Fire Fang Arcanine. It loses to Snarl Arcanine if it has Wild Charge. Electivire counters Charizard pretty well, but it can’t afford to tank a Blast Burn.

Fighting Types

Strong counters to Snorlax, the Ice types and Magnezone. They can also go toe-to-toe with the Fire types and Metagross, although neither of them can afford to get hit by Blast Burn or Meteor Mash. Despite Gyarados resisting Fighting, they can usually beat it since Crunch is resisted and Hydro Pump takes a long time to reach. With two shields, they can also beat Electivire pretty convincingly.

Conkeldurr is bulky and stronger than Machamp but is quite slow. Its charge moves are powerful though, which makes it a very good closer and a monster with an energy advantage.

Machamp is pretty frail but is fast and has better Metagross, Garchomp and Dragonite matchups with both shields up.

Both get obliterated by Togekiss. Charm tears right through them and it’s bulky enough to survive even a Stone Edge from Conkeldurr. Dragonite with both shields beats them pretty hard as well. Metagross beats Conkeldurr in every even shield scenario since it wins charge move priority and reaches Meteor Mash one turn before Conkeldurr reaches Dynamic Punch. Machamp can only beat Metagross in the two shield scenario. Swampert and Garchomp give both of them a really hard time, but Machamp can beat Swampert in the two shield scenario.

Electivire

Just because Electivire is at the bottom of the list doesn’t mean it should be underestimated. It’s Wild Charge is faster and more powerful than Magnezone’s and has near perfect coverage with Ice Punch. The main issue is it’s very frail. It can’t beat Togekiss with two shields or Dragonite in the two shield scenario, even though it’s double weak to Ice Punch. However, it can go toe-to-toe with Metagross since it resists Steel and can usually beat Magnezone since it resists Electric as well. It performs very well against Charizard, Gyarados and Lapras since they are weak to Electric.

Swampert and Mamoswine wall Electivire since they resist Wild Charge and take neutral damage from Ice Punch. Garchomp is easily 2HKO’d by Ice Punch, but Electivire goes down very quickly to Sand Tomb spam. Snorlax has a pretty easy time with Electivire, especially with shields up since Body Slam and Lick damage add up very quickly. Counter users with shields can wear it down fast as well.

Honorable Mentions

*Legacy Move

 

Very strong counters to Mamoswine and the Fire types and good checks to Metagross. All three lose hard to Dragonite, Magnezone and Electivire.

Milotic is the bulkiest and functions pretty much the same as Kyogre does in open Master League. It loses to Togekiss unless shields are down and loses hard to Dragon Breath Gyarados. However, it beats Glaceon, Lapras and Swampert and goes toe-to-toe with Garchomp.

Gyarados using Waterfall might seem strange at first, but it gives it much better matchups against Metagross, Togekiss, Magnezone, Mamoswine and Fire types. However, it loses the ability to beat Dragonite and Lapras and still loses to Magnezone and Togekiss.

Empoleon’s sub-Steel typing allows it to beat Togekiss and double resist Ice and Steel. However, it is a double-edged sword since it also gives it a weakness to Ground and Fighting. This makes the Metagross, Swampert, Garchomp and Snorlax matchups very shaky.

*Legacy Move

 

Like Machamp and Conkeldurr, their job is to shut down Snorlax, Magnezone and the Ice types. What separates them though, is these three have much better Metagross matchups. However, they are mostly inferior overall since they are very frail and lose harder to Dragonite, Gyarados and Togekiss.

Escavalier’s excellent Bug/Steel typing leaves it only a double weakness to Fire. However, it’s not too bad against Typhlosion and Arcanine needs Fire Fang to pose a real threat. It beats Metagross pretty convincingly since it resists Steel and has Drill Run, but it can’t afford to get hit by Earthquake despite it being neutral.

Haxorus is weak to Ice so it can’t beat the Ice types as reliably as Blaziken and Escavalier, but it is the fastest and the strongest by far. It actually has the highest Attack stat of everything mentioned in this article. It also can fight back at Dragonite with STAB Dragon Claw, but Dragon Breath still rips through Haxorus, even from Gyarados. It beats Metagross as long as it doesn’t get hit by Meteor Mash and goes toe-to-toe with Swampert, the Fire types and Electivire. It can beat Garchomp with two shields but Outrage obliterates it if it lands.

Blaziken is the frailest of the three, but isn’t weak to Charm and can do big damage to Togekiss and Dragonite with Stone Edge. It still loses pretty hard to them though, since their fast moves are just so oppressive. If you don’t have a Stone Edge Blaziken or don’t want to use an Elite TM to get Stone Edge, then Blast Burn + Blaze Kick is still a very strong moveset. Blaze Kick is the best second charge move to go with Stone Edge or Blast Burn since it’s fast and gives Blaziken a bait move. Blaziken gets wrecked by Swampert and Garchomp but does pretty well against the Fire types since it resists Fire itself.

*Legacy Move

 

A decent replacement for Togekiss if you don’t have one. It is much less bulky though and performs worse in most situations. It also loses to Togekiss itself.

What About Shadow Pokémon?

Everything that is Shadow eligible is allowed, although Shadows aren’t always necessarily better.

Shadow Metagross is ridiculously powerful, but the loss in bulk ends up being more of a detriment than the extra damage becomes a benefit. I recommend sticking with regular Metagross.

Shadow Magnezone has better matchups against Dragonite, Metagross and Togekiss than regular Magnezone, making it a huge winner. If you have a really good IV Shadow Magnezone, I strongly recommend investing in it.

Shadow Dragonite ends up having mostly the same fate as Shadow Metagross. I recommend sticking with regular Dragonite.

Shadow Swampert has a better two shield matchup against Garchomp than regular Swampert and has a more convincing win against Metagross. It also picks up Snorlax in the one shield scenario, which is pretty huge, but loses harder to Togekiss and Dragonite. If you have a really good IV Shadow Swampert with Hydro Cannon and Earthquake, I definitely recommend investing in it, but I wouldn’t stress if you don’t have one.

Shadow Lapras is worse than regular Lapras.

Shadow Charizard doesn’t pick up any extra wins compared to regular Charizard.

Shadow Arcanine is worse than regular Arcanine.

Shadow Gyarados is worse than regular Gyarados.

Shadow Snorlax with Body Slam and Superpower is probably the biggest winner. It picks up Metagross, Mamoswine, Glaceon and Magnezone in every even shield scenario, Togekiss in the one shield and no shield scenarios, and Gyarados in the two shield and one shield scenarios.

Shadow Electivire picks up Dragonite and Metagross in the one shield scenario, which is really big. It also beats Metagross easier in the two shield scenario. However, it does worse against Magnezone and Snorlax.

Shadow Gardevior is strictly better than regular Gardevoir, but it is very frail and still performs worse overall than Togekiss and still loses to it.