G’day PoGO lovers! The Raging Battles GO Battle Week event is alive and well, featuring the release of Annihilape. I’m a little late to the party this event (a few life things have got in the way this time around) so I’m coming at you with a different take on my usual analysis – a Top 5 things to prioritise for this event (primarily from a PvP point of view).
Priority 1: Annihilape
Annihilape
Make no mistake, Annihilape is going to transform the PvP meta in Great League, Ultra League, and even the Master League! The catch? To evolve Primeape into Annihilape, you need to defeat 30 Psychic or Ghost type Pokémon in battle, with Primeape as your buddy. Although the current Fantasy Cup isn’t helping at all with this, thankfully there appear to be a weighting towards those types of Rocket grunts appearing during this event to support your evolution requirements (a nice touch for a company that doesn’t always seem to think of these).
Now is the best time to get out there and grind for your Mankey XL candy and some decent IV variants! In the Great and Ultra League, Annihilape doesn’t seem too impacted by having a slight attack weight, so don’t feel too stressed out about not having the max stat product versions to build. For Master League, it looks like if you’re going to thrift on anything, make it the HP – the 15-15-12 seems to have similar results to the hundo.
Priority 2: Gligar
Gligar
With this seasons changes to Aerial Ace and Dig, Gligar has emerged in the Great League as an incredible pick. It is speedy, has great typing, and overall has decent bulk to it. I personally prefer the shadow as the increased power really lets it threaten shields and take down the likes of Lanturn and Poliwrath more easily. Gligar has been a fairly recent feature in task rewards, in the wild for events, and shadow raids, but if you’re still hunting down a Great League variant, now’s your opportunity!
Priority 3: Lickitung
Lickitung
I’ve written about Lickitung quite a lot, and it has been an absolute staple in the Great League meta due to its tankiness and ability to handle Psychic fighters like Medicham and Deoxys. Annihilape’s emergence into the meta may shift this a little, but on the whole I think Lickitung is still going to be around. If you don’t have one built, and this is what you want to prioritise, then Mega Lopunny is your best bet – it can increase your chance of landing XL candy for both Normal and Fighting types, which can help a lot during this event.
Priority 4: Charged TM’s
1×
Charge TM
With the upcoming Rocket event, featuring the ability to remove Frustration from your shadow Pokémon, now is the time to stockpile on Charged TM’s. You can get a bundle of 3 quite easily through the timed research, and maybe now is a good time to prioritise some raids and GBL to pitch for some more.
Priority 5: Go Battle League
The option of doing twice as many battles per day can act as both a blessing and a curse. When you’re on a roll, it’s amazing. When it feels like the meta is against you, it can be worth it to put the phone down, take a breath and take a break. 4x stardust rewards and the enhanced ability to push for higher ranks is a definite plus to take advantage of, if you have the time during this event.
Quick Comment on the Rest
A quick comment on the other featured mons of this event:
- Throh / Sawk regionals being available worldwide is nice, but ultimately a dex entry. Throh’s only utility is as a bit of an anti-Fighting type in the (one day to return) Fighting Cup, otherwise there’s a reason you don’t see these guys in the PvP scene.
- Sableye XL candy and 750 stardust per catch is nice, for sure, but you’re probably going to be prioritising mega evolving your Fighting types, not Ghost types, so even that is going to be hard to achieve. The synergy during this event just isn’t there.
- Scrafty has fallen from relevance due to Poliwrath’s rise in the Great League and Ultra League meta. With the release of Annihilape, Scrafty looks set to fall even further from grace. If you don’t have an Ultra League Scrafty built, now is a good time to grind for XL candy.
- Thundurus has some spice play in the Ultra League and maybe the Master League, but won’t be your number 1 priority.
- Apart from (at a stretch) Pangoro, the 1 and 3 star raids aren’t worth your time.
GBL Event Rating: 7.5/10
Overall, I think this event is equal parts amazing, and a little bit of a let-down from a PvP perspective. The release of Annihilape is, make no mistake, an absolute showstopper. The increased volume of grunts could have been exciting, but we’re still mainly seeing the same old Geodudes and with the Rocket takeover event coming up, this feels more like a taster, rather than something to prioritise. There’s a few other meta relevant mons around but on the whole, this event is about one mon only. You could say this is a good thing, as it focuses your efforts in the limited time you’ve got during the event. But having more than one thing to grind for would be nice.
I hope this quick guide has helped you prioritise your PvP grinding for this event, and as always, you can find me on Twitter or Instagram for more analysis. Good luck with your XL grinding and the shiny hunt!
See ya later,
JTizzle
