Good day, Pokémon trainers! A new season of Pokémon GO Battle League is upon us. Which means new moves, rebalances, and new entrants to PvP! A lot of this has already been covered by other members over here at GOHub, such as this Move Rebalance Analysis by JREseawolf.
Today I want to add to the discussion by talking about the often understated part of Pokémon GO PvP, the Pokémon available as rewards for getting three wins in a set in the GO Battle League! Key terms I’ll be using are explained in the season 16 article. Now let’s get right into it and focus only on the newcomers or the Pokémon that got a substantial update this season.
Pokémon Leaving The Pool
These are the Pokémon that were available in the GBL reward pool last season but are no longer available as GBL rewards this season:
A huge change for the first new season change in the new year. With a lot of new Pokémon taking their place. Without further ado let’s look at how well these new Pokémon perform!
Rank 1+
These are the new or meta-shifted Pokémon that will be available after you hit rank 1:
Cubone
Cubone
Type: Ground
Viable League: Great League
Best IVs: 0/14/14
Usability As Is: No
Marowak, Cubone’s evolution, became fantastic before the end of last year. It’s a frail, heavy-damage dealer with Mud Slap and the spammy Bone Club. Its ground typing makes it strong against popular poison types such as Clodsire, Toxapex, and Drapion.
You won’t find IVs ideal for the Great League among your GBL reward encounters and you typically prefer the shadow variant anyway. So these Marowaks are best used to get some extra candies.
Wooper (Paldea)
Wooper (Paldean)
Type: PoisonGround
Viable League: Great League, Ultra League
Best IVs: 0/14/13 (Great League), 15/15/15 (Ultra League)
Usability As Is: No (Great League), Absolutely! (Ultra League)
Clodsire, Paldean Wooper’s unique evolution, is without a doubt one of the best Pokémon for the Great League right now. It is extremely bulky, it only has four weaknesses in exchange for six resistances, and it can generate energy FAST with Poison Sting. This is a Pokémon you definitely want in your Great League roster. Though you won’t find one with the IVs you need in the GBL pool so either wild catches or trading will be required.
Clodsire is also decent in the Ultra League but not as exceptional as it is in the Great League. It takes quite a lot more to power it up for the Ultra League to boot.
Spoink
Spoink
Type: Psychic
Viable League: Great League, Ultra League
Best IVs: 1/14/15 (Great League), 3/14/15 (Ultra League)
Usability As Is: No (Great League), Yes (Ultra League)
Now this is something I would not have ever guessed. Grumpig, Spoink’s evolution is now one of the best Pokémon for both the Great League and the Ultra League. It already had decent stats. Now it also has the fast energy-generating Psywave and its charged attack Dynamic Punch takes less energy to use too! Grumpig will very likely be a major player early this season, so it’s fantastic that they have it in the GBL reward pool this time around.
Unfortunately, you won’t find one for the Great League with ideal IVs, but if you find one with low attack but high defense and HP, it can work well in the Ultra League!
Rank 6+
These are the new or meta-shifted Pokémon that will be available as soon as you hit rank 6:
Skorupi
Skorupi
Type: PoisonBug Skorupi/ PoisonDark Drapion
Viable League: Great League, Ultra League
Best IVs: 2/15/14 (Great League), 0/15/15 (Ultra League)
Usability As Is: Yes (Great League), No (Ultra League)
I won’t talk much about Drapion here. Because you’ve probably had to deal with Drapion last season as well. It rose up to prominence along with other poison types such as Clodsire and Toxapex. Though unlike those Pokémon, which are very bulky, Drapion is doing about damage. The roles are reversed this time around. As you cannot find a usable Ultra League Skorupi in the GBL reward Pokémon. But a 10/14/15 Drapion is at least usable in the Great League.
Vullaby
Vullaby
Type: Dark
Viable League: Great League, Ultra League
Best IVs: 0/13/15 (Great League), 15/15/15 (Ultra League)
Usability As Is: Absolutely! (Ultra League)
Mandibuzz, Vullaby’s evolution has been one of the best in the Great League for a while thanks to its fantastic typing and immense bulk. It might be even better this season just due to the seasonal changes happening around it.
Of course, Mandi is fantastic in the Ultra League as well. However, you’ll need a fully XL’d Mandi to be viable there with close to 15/15/15 IVs. Vullaby itself is also solid for 500 CP Little Cup metas. 0/11/14 is the best IV combination for Vullaby there.
Rank 11+
These are the new or meta-shifted Pokémon that will be available as soon as you hit rank 11:
Jumpluff
Jumpluff
Type: Grass
Viable League: Great League
Best IVs: 0/14/14
Usability As Is: No
It seems super bulky Pokémon are getting a lot of love this season. Jumpluff is a Pokémon that rose to some popularity thanks to other flying types becoming less common. It is poised to perform even better this season. Despite getting a buff to Acrobatics this season, Jumpluff still seems to work better with Aerial Ace than Acrobatics. This is good news since Acrobatics is a legacy move.
What isn’t good news though is that you won’t find a Jumpluff with desirable IVs in the GBL reward pool. However, there is a silver lining. As Jumpluff is a fully evolved Pokémon you will be getting more candies to build one if you find one in the reward pool.
Barboach
Barboach
Type: WaterGround
Viable League: Great League
Best IVs: 0/14/13
Usability As Is: No
Ah, Whiscash, I still remember you! There was once a time when Whiscash, Barboach’s evolution, was everywhere in the Great League. It was so dominant in fact, that it had to be nerfed twice! Nevertheless, it’s still a decent Pokémon just not as much of a top priority as before.
Rank 11+
These are the new or meta-shifted Pokémon that will be available as soon as you hit rank 11:
Alolan Marowak
Marowak (Alola)
Type: FireGhost
Viable League: Great League
Best IVs: 0/14/14
Usability As Is: No
Unfortunately, Alolan Marowak does not perform as well as its Kantonian counterpart. Nevertheless, it is a decent spice pick. Also, since Pokémon share a common candy pool among variants this is still a good source of candy for your Kantonian Marowak as well.
Lapras
Lapras
Type: WaterIce
Viable League: Great League, Ultra League
Best IVs: 0/10/14 (Great League), 0/15/15 (Ultra League)
Usability As Is: No
Another Pokémon benefitting from getting Psywave this season and one I’m quite happy to talk about. Lapras is not only a classic Pokémon for the franchise in general, but also for Pokémon GO specifically. It has received many costumes throughout GO’s lifetime and is arguably iconic to the leader of Team Mystic.
And now, finally, Lapras can be iconic in PvP as well. It already had the bulk and the charged attacks. Now with Psywave Lapras can actually make use of those charged attacks as they do take a while to get to. I fully expect Lapras to be quite the force in both the Great League and the Ultra League so might as well find any opportunity to help you build one.
Rank Ace+
These are the new or meta-shifted Pokémon that will be available as soon as you hit Ace rank or above:
Morpeko
Morpeko
Type: ElectricDark
Viable League: Great League
Best IVs: 0/15/15
Usability As Is: No
Morpeko was arguably the most interesting Pokémon to come out last season, especially for PvP. It has a unique gimmick where it can shift between two unique forms in the middle of battle by using its signature attack Aura Wheel. Morpeko is already a great Pokémon as is, but the addition of this gimmick makes it a very potent and unpredictable threat in the Great League.
Morpeko so far has been a Pokémon that isn’t easy to come across. And this trend continues in GBL as you will only get one when hitting the ace rank.
Dreepy
Dreepy
Type: DragonGhost
Viable League: Master League
Best IVs: 15/15/15
Usability As Is: Absolutely!
Dragapult, Dreepy’s final evolution does not perform exceptionally in the Ultra or Master League as of yet. Though it does have a place in the Master League. Dragapult’s part ghost typing gives it some unique use cases compared to its fellow pseudo-legendary Master League favorite Dragonite. It can even beat some meta fairy types surprisingly enough.
Dreepy becomes available starting from the Expert League.
Pokémon From The Last Season
These Pokémon are staying this season from last season’s pool:
A lot less Pokémon than last time. From these I’d say Bunnelby, Teddiursa, Pancham, and Frigibax are still relevant to PvP in some form.
Conclusion
And there you have it. A look at every new Pokémon available as rewards in the GO Battle League. If you’re into PvP in Pokémon GO, you’ve probably figured out by now that you need to be smart about how you use your resources and make use of any and all benefits that come your way. Since you’ll be catching these Pokémon while participating in GBL anyways, might as well know how to make the best use of them. That was the idea behind this article anyway. So I hope it has been useful for you and happy battling!
Goodbye for now, Pokémon trainers. Priom-out!
