Pokémon GO Tour in Los Angeles is over, but the Road To Sinnoh has just begun. Throughout the week that bridges the gap between LA Tour and the Global Tour, we have an event unto itself that includes a free research quest that will allow some Legendaries into Great League for the very first (and possibly last?) time! So without further ado, let’s dive in and check them out!
WAITING TO BE INCRESSED 🌙
Cresselia
Psychic
Many probably don’t remember it, but long ago now, I got started in my PvP analysis “career” writing about The Silph Arena monthly metas, for about a full year before GBL even existed. I had gotten so used to that format that when GBL came along, I had to (for the first of several times) reinvent myself a bit. We didn’t even have rotating Cups at first, so for my first foray into GBL analysis, I chose to do a spotlight analysis on one of my favorite budget Pokémon in Great League: Alolan Raichu. Why do I mention this now? Because I chose to theme that and several subsequent spotlight analysis articles on one of the most derided films ever: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It is NOT a great movie, but I still find myself able to enjoy it and appreciate it as the great Sir Sean Connery’s final film. And one of his more famous quotes in the movie is one I utter often: “I’m waiting to be impressed!”
All that to say… yeah, the headline came to me immediately even all these years later. Sorry for wasting 1000 characters and a couple minutes of your time with that. 😅 Onward with some actual analysis now….
First up this week, we have CRESSELIA. Wait, what’s that? The first one is actually Darkrai? Nah, doesn’t count. We don’t talk about Bruno Darkrai. You see, Darkrai remains extremely fringy in Master League, basically useless outside of Ultra League, and has an exclusive move that is laughably bad. If you’re grinding Darkrai raids, Arceus bless you, but you’re doing it for shinies, not so much for something you’re ever going to actually use. (In PvP or PvE!) Go forth and enjoy yourselves, Darkrai-raiding friends.
For the rest of us, as I said… Cresselia, which is a PvP superstar. And there are two reasons to be excited about it returning to raids on Tuesday the 20th AND as the first reward in the Road To Sinnoh Raid Challenge Research. Firstly, Cresselia comes with its exclusive move Grass Knot, which is basically a must for Cresselia to perform at its highest level, being its only charge move that costs less than 60 energy. (Grass Knot costs only 50.) That is crucial when you want to bait out a big Moonblast or Future Sight, but it also provides very handy coverage against a number of things weak to Grass and/or resistant of Cresselia’s Psychic and/or Fairy damage.
The numbers bear this out. While a Cresselia running double bombs (Moonblast and Future Sight) still puts in a solid performance, consider how much better it can perform with Grass Knot in the mix, gaining things that Grass hits hard like Carbink, Shadow Whiscash, Dewgong, Jellicent, and Galarian Stunfisk, and better outracing others like Shadow Alolan Ninetales (and of course tying in the mirror match). And similar story in other shielding situations too, like 2v2 shielding where Grass Knot enables wins Cress cannot get otherwise like (in order) Annihilape, Carbink, Defense Deoxys, Dewgong, Gligar, Lanturn, Mantine, Shadow Swampert, Vigoroth, and both regular and Shadow versions of Whiscash.
Now arguably you may NOT need Grass Knot in Ultra League where Cresselia has ample play even with double bombs. But remember how I said there were TWO reasons to be excited about Cresselia this week? That’s because Cresselia can be caught at research level (Level 15) after only two successful raids as part of that Raid Challenge line. And as tailor made as Cresselia seems for Great League use, a Level 20 (raid level) Cress can only be snuck into the 1500 CP-capped Great League via trading, and there are only 54 IV combinations that fit when trading with a Best Friend, and it’s still in no way a guarantee even when trading with an Ultra Friend. As someone who has unsuccessfully attempted to trade for a Great League Cresselia on multiple occasions, and has even a research level one with horrid Great League IVs 😔, trust me when I say that luck can be VERY against you. So good news: this will give everyone that wants one a chance at getting your own GL Cresselia… with Grass Knot right out of the gate. Go get ’em, folks!
HEATER RUNNING? THEN YOU BETTER GO CATCH IT! 🔥
Heatran
FireSteel
There was a time when Heatran was such a frequent visitor to raids (and at least at the time, so comparatively useless even to hardcore PvPers) that it became the butt of many jokes. But then we had it only once in 2022, once more in 2023, and it hasn’t been sighted at all since last July. AND Heatran has improved along the way, with Earth Power being added to its regular movepool in June 2023, and then the new Magma Storm as an exclusive move during its 2023 return as well. Now, almost eight months later, the once-laughingstock is back with a vengeance, still more spice than full-on meta, but FAR better than it used to be, now able to beat Yveltal, Melmetal, Mamoswine, and Dialga (including its new Origin Forme), none of which it used to be capable of when it was frequenting raids and GBL rewards. Remember, it gets Magma Storm again this week!
Of course, Heatran still has a lot problems. Its Fire/Steel typing resists quite a lot of things (Dragon, Flying, Psychic, Normal, and 2x resistances to Ice, Fairy, Steel, Grass, Bug, and Poison), but it has killer weaknesses to Fighting, Water, and 2x to Ground. Seeing as how nearly half of the Master League core meta are of those typings (and/or throw out damage of at least one of those three types), thanks in large part to the presence of top ML options like Dialga and Solgaleo, those weaknesses are particularly problematic. There’s also the issue of it putting out mostly Fire damage, which is great for burning though Steel and Ice and (indirectly) Fairy types dotted throughout Master League, but becomes a liability against all the Dragon and/or Water types that resist it. (Heatran loses to basically ALL meta Waters and Dragons except the aforementioned Dialga.) It certainly can have a successful role ont he right team, but it’s very far from safe. But still… this is the best it has EVER looked.
And now the new twist. Research level Heatran can be acquired for the first time ever during the Raid Challenge Research, by winning four raids. But there is bad news too. First off, it has to be traded to get to 1500 CP or less, and there are only 51 IV combinations that work with a Best Friend trade, and even only 353 combinatiosn that work for Ultra Friend trading. In other words, it’s harder to successfully trade for a Great League Heatran than it is to trade for a raid level Great League Cresselia. But it CAN be done. However, the other bad news is that even after all that, Heatran isn’t all that hot in Great League anyway. I could see it surprising the heck out of somebody in a Fire-heavy meta, perhaps, or maybe when Halloween Cup returns later this year. So yes, it’s worth it to try. Just don’t be TOO upset if you’re not able to pull it off, as you’re not missing out on more than a spicy curiosity.
GHOST OF A CHANCE? 👻🐉
Giratina (Origin)
GhostDragon
And now the big story. Cresselia is great in PvP and already could be had in Great League by jumping through the right hoops, but is now easier to get. Heatran is so-so in PvP but now becomes Great League eligible for the first time. And now we come to something that is great in PvP AND can now squeeze into Great League for the first time ever: ORIGIN FORME GIRATINA, which is coming to raids on Friday, February 23rd AND as the third reward of the Sinnoh Raid Challenge research, rewarded for winning six raids. And it’s easier to trade for than Level 20 Cress or Level 15 Heatran, with 431 IV combinations that work with a Best Friend trade, and a whopping 1100 Ultra Friend trades that will work. Even something as high as 9-9-8 IVs fits under 1500 CP, so your odds of pulling off a trade are pretty good.
And unlike Heatran, the final product is very much viable in Great League too, comparable to other Shadow Claw Ghosts like Cofagrigus, Haunter, and even Sableye in overall effectiveness. And it holds up well across multiple shielding scenarios. (It pulls more impressively away from other Ghosts with shields down, in particular.) Giratina-O is unfortunately somewhat reliant on Ominous Wind baits, though not too badly… it still kicks some butt even by doing straight Shadow Ball (or Ball/Dragon Pulse if you want a little coverage). There’s one tough choice to be made if you pull off the trade, though. It will come with exclusive move Shadow Force, a more powerful but also much more expensive Shadow Ball. (Force is 120 damage for 90 energy, while Ball is 100 damage for only 55 energy.) Shadow Ball is a much better PvP move when you have the choice between the two. But can you bring yourself to TM it away from potentially the only Great League Origin Giratina you’re ever going to get? My humble opinion is that yes… yes it is. But only you can answer that for you, dear reader.
Just be glad it is ONLY the Origin Forme we’re getting in Great League. As much as some men want to watch the world burn, Altered Giratina in Great League would be a liiiiiiiiiitle broken. Okay, actually a LOT broken. Perhaps one day, but not yet. We’ll have Aegislash breaking GL in half before then, probably. Arceus help us!
ROTTEN EGGS? 🥚
One last thing I feel obligated to briefly cover. There is another Timed Research line that costs $5.00 (or the equivalent pricing tier in your own local currency): the Road To Sinnoh Hatch Research. I am not advocating for buying it, but if you already planned to, you get a little dust, an incubator, a clothing item, and two of each of the Sinnoh regional Pokémon: two Chatot, two Carnivine, and two of the coveted Pachirisu.
…but only two. So if you want to second move them or go on the ridonkulous grind necessary to completely max out a Pachi, you’ll still have a loooooong way to go. But are they worth all that?
Chatot
Normal
- The good news for CHATOT is that it isn’t trapped behind the worst Flying fast move in the game (Peck, with 3.0 DPT but only 2.5 EPT) anymore, freed to now run the improved Steel Wing instead. The bad news is… well, everything else. Sky Attack was nerfed. Ominous Wind is still lacklustre and Heat Wave (75 energy for only 95 damage 🤢) is just flat out bad. Add that to something with bulk nowhere CLOSE to Pidgeot and Noctowl (its bulk is actually almost exactly the same as Staraptor), and there’s just nothing much I can say here. Chatot is for collectors only. Not that that’s a bad thing in and of itself!
Carnivine
Grass
- CARNIVINE is at least somewhat interesting with the very solid Vine Whip/Power Whip combo and Crunch for nice, wide coverage. It just isn’t anywhere near as interesting as other established Vine Whippers like Venusaur or Serperior or even increasingly seldom seen Meganium. There may be a meta on the horizon where Carnie’s unique profile gives it a glorious moment in the sun, but it’s hard to see how it breaks out with so many other Grasses ahead of it. Decent enough to have on standby in case that ever happens, though.
Pachirisu
Electric
- The chase Pokémon of the group, however, is clearly PACHIRISU, a terror in several Cups and even spicy in Open Great League, owing to stupidly good bulk. And it does what it does with NO coverage moves whatsoever, and it learns some potentially GOOD ones in MSG (including Trailblaze, Grass Knot, Play Rough, Aerial Ace, Gunk Shot and more). If Niantic ever pulls that trigger… look out. In the interim, getting a pair won’t get you anywhere, but it WILL allow you to at least start the necessary XL Candy grind. If you have no other means of landing Pachi, MAYBE this purchase is worth it. But considering how long you’ll have to grind after this… perhaps not even then. Your call!
IN SUMMATION
As for me, that’s MY final call. Let’s wrap it up right here with one lasy summary:
- Origin Giratina and Heatran become Great League eligible if you win at least six raids in the Sinnoh Raid Challenge research (and pull of a good trade of the research level versions you’re rewarded with). Both are interesting enough to be worth it, especially Giratina.
- Cresselia is absolutely worth it for Great League, and ANY research level one you get will easily fit under 1500 CP if you’re still trying to get one there. ANd you get the necessary Grass Knot to go with it!
- I personally really don’t think the Hatch research line is worth the literal price of admission. But if you’re desperate to complete your Sinnoh collection and cannot otherwise… hey, who am I to judge? Pachirisu is always worth it, at least, even if you have to grind like a madman to build one you can actually use in PvP.
- …Darkrai who?
Good luck this week, with whatever (and however!) you choose to grind. Until next time, you can always find me on Twitter with regular Pokémon GO analysis nuggets, or Patreon.
Stay safe out there, and catch you next time, Pokéfriends!
