The Rainbow Cup is Silph Arena’s next themed global tournament for June, featuring Fire, Electric, Bug, Grass and Water type Pokémon.
The Cup lasts from June 1st – 30th. Participants can use only Kanto and Johto Pokémon that have at least 1 of the allowed types, there can’t be two of the same Pokémon in the team, and matches can only be held in the Great League format (<1500CP). The official Cup website is available here.
This article will guide you on the which Pokémon are in the top tier of this meta, how to counter them, and how they relate to other top tier Pokémon. To bring you the best possible Meta-Analysis we have had a lot of testing firsthand with great help from the PvPoke website.
Overview of The Rainbow Cup Meta
This analysis is the simplified version of The Rainbow Cup, which shows you how the meta will revolve in general. Even though at first it seems like a classic rock-paper-scissors Cup with Fire, Grass, and Water-types, we have an additional two types in Bug and Electric that will be very important in the meta.
The Rainbow Cup will be one of the most complex Cups we have had, if not the most complex one. There is so much variety and much more viable Pokémon than in previous cups. A lot of meta defining Pokémon will need their Legacy Moves to be any good, but even if you don’t have them, there are a lot of other great options to choose from.
From this point forward you can read about:
– King of the Rainbow Cup (Quagsire)
– Grass-type Pokémon (Venusaur, Meganium, Ivysaur, Victreebel)
– Fire-type Pokémon (Charizard, Ninetales, Typhlosion)
– Water-type Pokémon (Azumarill, Lanturn, Blastoise)
– Bug-type Pokémon (Forretress, Beedrill)
– Electric-type Pokémon (Raichu, Magneton, Raikou)
– Wildcard Pokémon (Mantine, Exeggutor, Slowbro/Slowpoke, Kingdra)
– Recommended team for Rainbow Cup
If you see an asterisk (*) next to the Pokémon move that means its a Legacy Move that can no longer be obtained.
King of The Rainbow Cup
Quagsire
Water Ground
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| Weaknesses | Resistances | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grass x2 | Electric Fire Poison Rock Steel | ||||
| Best PvP Moveset for Quagsire | |||||
| Mud Shot Ground | Stone Edge Rock | Earthquake Ground | |||
| Super Effective Versus | |||||
| Electric Fire Poison Rock Steel | Bug Fire Ice | Electric Fire Poison Rock Steel | |||
Quagsire will be one of the best and one of the most used Pokémon in The Rainbow Cup. Not only does it have great stats and is bulky, but it has the fast move Mud Shot, which will generate a lot of energy per turn. That means, even though its charge moves need a lot of energy, it will fire those powerful charge moves quite often.
Quagsire easily counters Electric and Fire-type Pokémon. It only loses to Grass-type Pokémon, and there are some scenarios where it loses to some Water-types and Forretress. If your opponent doesn’t have Grass-type Pokémon, Quagsire will dominate every match.
While we have Earthquake in the table as the recommended second move for Quagsire, know that every moveset on Quagsire will be a great option. We believe that Mud Shot and Stone Edge are a must as you want to have a fast move that will gain energy quickly, paired with a good Rock-type move like Stone Edge. This will one-shot Charizard and deal a ton of damage to Fire, Flying and Bug-type Pokémon like Mantine, Beedrill, Ninetales, and others.
- Mud Shot Ground with Stone Edge Rock + Earthquake Ground will give you a second charge move that hits hard. Not only is it the hardest hitting and most energy efficient move Quagsire has, it benefits from STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus) which means it will deal a lot of damage to almost everything. This Charge Move combination will be the deadliest towards the later part of the game when there are no shields in play. Having Earthquake will also help you in those Mirror Matches against enemy Quagsire.
- Mud Shot Ground with Stone Edge Rock + Acid Spray Poison will give you a great shield baiting option in that Acid Spray will always lower the defenses of the enemy Pokémon by two stages. Acid Spray can sometimes turn around the match with its debuff if you can bait those shields from your opponents with it. Keep in mind that if you are using your Quagsire with Acid Spray, it will be more useful at the beginning of the match rather then at the end.
- Mud Shot Ground with Stone Edge Rock + Sludge Bomb Poison will give you the option of a lower cost second Charge Move that can deal a decent amount of damage and will provide you with more flexibility in your matches. Sludge Bomb will also be way more effective against Azumarill.
If you want to learn more about what moveset it right for you, and how to use it, check out this great YouTube video from Pokémon Coach KiengIV where he talks about every moveset Quagsire can have.
How to get it: You need Quagsire in a level 27-33 range, meaning you want to evolve a Wooper that has close to, or less than, 480 CP. Second Charge Move cost is 50,000 Stardust and 50 Candy.
The Rainbow Cup – Grass-type Pokémon
Venusaur
Grass Poison
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| Weaknesses | Resistances | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire Ice Psychic | Grass x2 Electric Fairy Fighting Water |
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| Best PvP Moveset for Venusaur | |||||
| Vine Whip Grass | Frenzy Plant* Grass | Sludge Bomb Poison | |||
| Super Effective Versus | |||||
| Ground Rock Water | Ground Rock Water | Fairy Grass | |||
Venusaur and all other Grass-type Pokémon are the best counters for Quagsire. While you can use any of them, we recommend using Venusaur. It has one of the best moves in PvP, Frenzy Plant, that will deal a lot of damage to almost everything and also has Sludge Bomb, that does not require a lot of energy (like Earthquake for example), and with it, you can hit pretty hard everything that resists Grass-type moves. (You would deal twice as many damage to Charizard with Sludge Bomb, and it only costs 5 energy more.)
Not only does it do well against Quagsire, but it also does well against other Water-type Pokémon- watch out for Ice Beam from Azumarill, Mantine or Blastoise though! (Venusaur also wins, comfortably, against Electric-type Pokémon.)
You do have to worry about Bug-type Pokémon as they will resist Venusaur’s every move. Venusaur will also lose quite easily against all Fire-type Pokémon, and you have to watch out for Confusion users (like Exeggutor).
You could also choose to use Razor Leaf on Venusaur, but it’s not recommended. Razor Leaf charges energy slowly, and you want to be able to fire off as many Charge Moves as possible with Venusaur.
How to get it: You need Venusaur with the Community Day Move Frenzy Plant, so if you don’t have one you will need to trade for it. Second Charge Move cost is 10,000 Stardust and 25 Candy.
Ivysaur
Grass Poison
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If you can’t get your hands on Venusaur with Frenzy Plant, Ivysaur is probably your best option to replace it. It’s a little bit bulkier than its evolution, and it doesn’t have the best Grass-Type Charge Move, Frenzy Plant. Instead, you will need to use Power Whip. Power Whip is not awful, but it requires 5 energy more and hits for 10% less damage.
How to get it: You need Ivysaur at level 32 or higher. That means you probably want to evolve one of your highest CP Bulbasaur. Second Charge Move cost is 10,000 Stardust and 25 Candy.
Victreebel
Grass Poison
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Victreebel is another Pokémon that can replace Venusaur. It uses the hard-hitting Fast Move Razor Leaf and also has a great Charge Move in Leaf Blade that costs only 35 energy and hits pretty hard.
You will be able to win against Water-type Pokémon quickly (6 Razor Leaf shots will faint Quagsire, and it won’t even be able to fire one Charge Move) but you will struggle far more then Venusaur against Fire and Bug-type Pokémon because of your inability to fire Charge Moves so often.
How to get it: You need Victreebel in 22-26 Level range so you would want to evolve Bellsprout that has close to or less than 600 CP. Second Charge Move cost is 50,000 Stardust and 50 Candy.
Meganium
Grass
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Meganium doesn’t have a place in the meta right now, and there is no reason we can think of to use it ahead of any of the three above. It’s second Charge Move Earthquake charges fairly slowly and doesn’t give you any noticeable advantage.
The only thing that can be said is that it stays alive longer against Exeggutor, but still, you will lose in every scenario. Bug-type Pokémon and every other Grass-type Pokémon (apart from maybe Victreebel) will win against you in 1v1 match-up.
How to get it: You need Meganium with the Community Day Move Frenzy Plant, so if you don’t have one you will need to trade for it. Second Charge Move cost is 10,000 Stardust and 25 Candy.
The Rainbow Cup – Fire-type Pokémon
Charizard
Fire
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| Weaknesses | Resistances | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rock x2 Electric Water |
Grass x2 Bug x2 Fairy Fighting Fire Ground Steel |
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| Best PvP Moveset for Charizard | |||||
| Fire Spin Fire | Blast Burn* Fire | Dragon Claw Dragon | |||
| Super Effective Versus | |||||
| Bug Grass Ice Steel | Bug Grass Ice Steel | Dragon | |||
Charizard will be the most popular Fire-type option in The Rainbow Cup and for an excellent reason. It has the best Fire-type Charge Move in Blast Burn and also has a great second Charge Move that requires only 35 energy.
You do lose against Water and Electric-type Pokémon easily- but even the Not very effective Blast Burn will hurt them. On the other hand, you win easily against Bug and Grass-type Pokémon. You have to watch out for Rock Tomb from Forretress and Sludge Bomb from Venusaur, Beedrill and others, as both moves will do a lot of damage to Charizard.
How to get it: You need Charizard with the Community Day Move Blast Burn, so if you don’t have one you will need to trade for it. Second Charge Move cost is 10,000 Stardust and 25 Candy.
Ninetales
Fire
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Ninetales doesn’t seem to be as good of an option as Charizard in The Rainbow Cup, even though it is much bulkier. You can use a Legacy Ninetales with Flamethrower, or you can go with the Solar Beam as your second Charge Move.
It loses to Water-type Pokémon, just like Charizard, but it can win in almost every scenario against Electric-type Pokémon, unlike Charizard. In addition, you can easily handle any Grass or Bug-type Pokémon.
How to get it: If you want to use Legacy Move Flamethrower you need to have Ninetales with it or trade for one, but if you want to use Solar Beam instead you need to evolve Vulpix with the CP close to 530 or lower. Second Charge Move cost is 50,000 Stardust and 50 Candy.
Typhlosion
Fire
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As you have to use it with Shadow Claw, and not a good Fire-type Fast Move, Typhlosion cannot take down Venusaur easily. It is also the least bulky of the bunch, and it just doesn’t perform as well as Charizard in The Rainbow Cup.
It loses to both Charizard and Ninetales, and if you want to make it work, you will need to land at least one Solar Beam and do a lot of damage that way.
How to get it: You need Typhlosion with the Community Day Move Blast Burn, so if you don’t have one you will need to trade for it. Second Charge Move cost is 10,000 Stardust and 25 Candy.
The Rainbow Cup – Water-type Pokémon
In almost every team you will encounter in The Rainbow Cup you will probably see at least 2, if not 3 or more Water-type Pokémon and there is a good reason for this as they have great secondary typing and can cover most of the meta.
Azumarill
Water Fairy
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| Weaknesses | Resistances | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electric Grass Poison | Dragon x2 Bug Dark Fighting Fire Ice Water |
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| Best PvP Moveset for Azumarill | |||||
| Bubble Water | Ice Beam Ice | Play Rough Fairy | |||
| Super Effective Versus | |||||
| Fire Ground Rock | Dragon Grass Ground | Dark Dragon Fighting | |||
Azumarill is a well-known Pokémon in Great League and Silph Arena’s Monthly Cups. The same story goes for The Rainbow Cup. There is a chance it won’t be as dominant as in some other Cups, but it will be a great Water-type option, and the one you probably use quite often, so you know it pretty well.
While it will lose against Grass-type and most of the Electric-type Pokémon, they will have to shield some of its attacks to win. (For example, Ice Beam will take more than 60% of Venusaur HP).
Azumarill can win with shields against Earthquake + Stone Edge Quagsire. It will win against Forretress and Exeggutor (unless Exeggutor shields twice) but will lose against Beedrill because of that Sludge Bomb. It also has an advantage against Blastoise, Lapras, and Mantine with Bubble, but will lose against Lanturn even if it has Water Gun. Azumarill, of course, easily beats Fire-type Pokémon.
You can also run it with Hydro Pump, but that will only be helpful in some match-ups against Quagsire, so it’s not recommended.
How to get it: You will need Azumarill at level 37 or higher. That means you will need to invest a lot of Stardust in Azumarill. You want to find a higher level Marill to spend the least amount of Stardust possible, or you can evolve it from Azurill, that way you will have to spend only 10,000 Stardust and 25 Candy on the second Charge Move.
Lanturn
Water Electric
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| Weaknesses | Resistances | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grass Ground | Steel x2 Fire Ice Water |
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| Best PvP Moveset for Lanturn | |||||
| Water Gun Water | Thunderbolt Electric | Hydro Pump Water | |||
| Super Effective Versus | |||||
| Fire Ground Rock | Water | Fire Ground Rock | |||
We could put Lanturn in the Electric-Type Pokémon category, but as you want to use Water Gun as the Fast Move, we have it here with other Water-types.
Lanturn is a bulky Pokémon that only gets countered by Grass-type Pokémon along with Quagsire and Kingdra. It can handle other Water-type Pokémon, and easily counters Fire and Flying-types like Charizard, Mantine, and others. You can win against Forretress, but you do need to watch out for Earthquake in that match-up.
How to get it: You need Lanturn in level 25-30 range, meaning you want to evolve a Chinchou that has close to, or less than, 770 CP. Second Charge Move cost is 50,000 Stardust and 50 Candy.
Blastoise
Water
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Blastoise is a pure Water-type Pokémon that can have the best PvP Charge Move in the game – Hydro Cannon. Pair it with Ice Beam, that will hit Grass-type Pokémon hard, and it seems like you have an excellent Water-type Pokémon.
While it has some great match-ups across the board, we don’t see it as good as other Water-type Pokémon like Quagsire, Azumarill, Lanturn, and Mantine.
How to get it: You need Blastoise with the Community Day Move Hydro Cannon, so if you don’t have one you will need to trade for it. Second Charge Move cost is 10,000 Stardust and 25 Candy.
The Rainbow Cup – Bug-type Pokémon
Forretress
Bug Steel
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| Weaknesses | Resistances | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire x2 | Grass x2 Poison x2 Bug Dragon Fairy Ice Normal Psychic Steel |
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| Best PvP Moveset for Forretress | |||||
| Bug Bite Bug | Rock Tomb Rock | Earthquake Ground | |||
| Super Effective Versus | |||||
| Dark Grass Psychic | Bug Fire Ice | Electric Fire Poison Rock Steel | |||
Forretress is another tank of a Pokémon with a lot of HP. While it doesn’t have a great moveset it has a lot of resistances and is only weak to Fire-type Moves.
Forretress will wall any Grass-type Pokémon and Confusion users. It can farm energy on them with its Fast Move and save Charge Moves for the next Pokemon. It loses badly against Fire-type Pokémon and Azumarill, but it can win against Quagsire.
You can use any 2 out of 3 moves it can learn:
– Rock Tomb to try and surprise Fire-types,
– Heavy Slam to deal neutral damage fairly often, and
– Earthquake to try and deal a ton of damage to the enemy.
How to get it: You need Forretress in level 23-27 range so you would want to evolve Pineco that has close to, or less than, 700 CP. Second Charge Move cost is 75,000 Stardust and 75 Candy.
Beedrill
Bug Poison
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If you want to use Bug-type Pokémon, and you can’t afford Forretress, or you don’t want it, Beedrill is probably your best and only option to replace it.
It has great moves like Poison Jab that will charge energy quickly so you can fire X-Scissor quite often, and you also have Sludge Bomb that will deal a ton of damage to Azumarill, Fire-type Pokémon and almost everything that doesn’t resist it.
Beedrill has an edge against Azumarill because of Poison moves, but it will lose against Quagsire and Fire-type Pokémon.
How to get it: You need Beedrill in level 29-38 range so you would want to evolve Weedle that has close to, or less than, 350 CP. Second Charge Move cost is 10,000 Stardust and 25 Candy.
Electric-type Pokémon
If you want to use an Electric-type Pokémon that is not Lanturn, you will either have to find a Legacy Move Electric-type or spend a ton of dust on an Electric Legendary.
Raichu
Electric
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Raichu with, the legacy Fast Move, Thunder Shock is probably the best option after Lanturn. You can pretty much use any combination of Charge moves, but we do recommend you keep Wild Charge as it deals a ton of damage.
You won’t be able to do much damage to Grass-type Pokémon or Quagsire, so you need to watch out for that. However, you will be able to handle Charizard and Water-type Pokémon that aren’t Quagsire easily.
How to get it: You need Raichu with the Legacy Move Thunder Shock, so if you don’t have one you will need to trade for it. Second Charge Move cost is 10,000 Stardust and 25 Candy.
Magneton
Electric Steel
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Magneton with Double Legacy Moves is another option for an Electric-type Pokémon. It can handle Grass-type Pokémon better than Raichu and Lanturn because of Magnet Bomb. However, you can’t win against Charizard, and again, you get walled by Quagsire.
How to get it: You need Magneton with the Legacy Moves Thunder Shock and Discharge, so if you don’t have one, you will need to trade for it. Second Charge Move cost is 50,000 Stardust and 50 Candy.
Raikou
Electric
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Raikou is pretty much Raichu with a little bit more HP, no Legacy Move and a 10x more expensive second Charge Move.
How to get it: You need Raikou with the CP of less than 1500, so if you don’t have one you will need to trade for it. Second Charge Move cost is 100,000 Stardust and 100 Candy.
Wildcard Pokémon
Mantine
Water
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| Weaknesses | Resistances | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electric x2 Rock |
Ground Bug Fighting Fire Steel Water | ||||
| First PvP Moveset for Mantine | |||||
| Wing Attack | Aerial Ace | Ice Beam Ice | |||
| Second PvP Move Set for Mantine | |||||
| Bubble Water | Aerial Ace | Ice Beam Ice | |||
You have an option of using Mantine as a Flying-type Pokémon that will be able to take down Grass-types with its Flying-type Moves, or you can choose to use it like a Water-type Pokémon. We recommend using it as a Flying-type Pokémon.
This will be a replacement for Charizard and a very good one- probably a better one than any Fire-type Pokémon. But, as it’s a Flying and Water-type Pokémon, you can even run it with Charizard on the same team of six.
It will pretty easily win against both Grass and Bug-type Pokémon, the same as Charizard would, but it can also win against Azumarill and Quagsire in 2 shield scenarios. Mantine will also beat Charizard in a head to head match-up, even without Water-type moves.
However, you do need to watch out for any Electric-type Pokémon as they will destroy Mantine.
How to get it: Cheapest way to get a Mantine is to give Mantyke the new Charge Move and then evolve it to Mantine, that way the second Charge Move will only cost you 10,000 Stardust and 25 Candy.
Exeggutor
Grass Psychic
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| Weaknesses | Resistances | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bug x2 Dark Fire Ghost Ice Poison |
Electric Fighting Grass Ground Psychic Water | ||||
| Best PvP Moveset for Exeggutor | |||||
| Confusion* Psychic | Seed Bomb Grass | Psychic Psychic | |||
| Super Effective Versus | |||||
| Fighting Poison | Ground Rock Water | Fighting Poison | |||
Exeggutor with the Legacy Fast Move Confusion is probably the best Confusion Pokémon in this meta. It will beat Venusaur (if you shield Sludge Bomb), but it will struggle against Azumarill (unless you waste 2 shields) and some Electric-types.
How to get it: You need Exeggutor with the Legacy Move Confusion, so if you don’t have one you will need to trade for it. Second Charge Move cost is 50,000 Stardust and 50 Candy.
Slowbro
Water Psychic
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| Weaknesses | Resistances | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bug Dark Electric Ghost Grass | Fighting Fire Ice Steel Psychic Water | ||||
| Best PvP Moveset for Slowbro | |||||
| Confusion Psychic | Ice Beam Ice | Water Pulse Water | |||
| Super Effective Versus | |||||
| Fighting Poison | Dragon Grass Ground | Fire Ground Rock | |||
Slowbro is another off-meta Confusion user which can destroy Venusaur and has positive match-ups across the board. It does have to worry about Forretress, and it’s Bug-type moves as it will demolish Slowbro.
How to get it: You need a Slowbro in 21-24 Level range so you would want to evolve Slowpoke that has close to or less than 700 CP. Second Charge Move cost is 50,000 Stardust and 50 Candy.
Slowpoke
Water Psychic
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Slowpoke is pretty much a more expensive Slowbro with better Charge Moves.
How to get it: To use it, you will need to max out Slowpoke. Make sure you max out one with the perfect or close to perfect IVs. Second Charge Move cost is 50,000 Stardust and 50 Candy.
Kingdra
Water Dragon
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In The Rainbow Cup, Kingdra will take Super Effective damage only against Play Rough from Azumarill, while it will deal a ton of neutral damage with Dragon Breath. Kingdra will be a great generalist but lacks elite Charge Moves, which would make it even better.
How to get it: You need a Kingdra in 20-23 Level range so you would want to evolve Horsea that has close to or less than 570 CP. Second Charge Move cost is 50,000 Stardust and 50 Candy.
Recommended team for Rainbow Cup
- Quagsire should be on your team of six; it is just that good not to bring it to the Rainbow Cup.
- The second spot on your team should go to the Quagsire Counter, and that would be a strong Grass-type Pokémon. Like we already said above, we recommend Venusaur, but you can use Exeggutor, Ivysaur, Victreebel or Meganium instead.
- For the next spot on your team, we recommend a Fire or Flying-type Pokémon that can counter Grass and Bug-types well. The best option is Charizard, closely behind it is Mantine with Wing Attack, but you can also use Ninetales or Typhlosion.
- You should also bring a Bug-type Pokemon like Forretress or Beedrill that can also counter those Grass-type Pokémon, have good match-ups against other types (apart from Fire-types) and will do great against Confusion Pokémon like Exeggutor and Slowbro.
- Water-types are so strong in the Rainbow Cup that you should have at least two if not three of them. As you already probably have Quagsire, we recommend you to bring Azumarill as your second Water-type. But there is so many good options to choose from so you can also go with Blastoise, Slowbro, Kingdra, Lapras or Mantine with Bubble.
- For the last spot on your roster, we recommend you to bring an Electric-type Pokémon that can counter Water-types (apart from Quagsire) and Charizard. The best option would be Lanturn or Legacy Raichu, but you can also go with Magneton or Raikou.
If you want to learn more about the Rainbow Cup, you can listen to this 2-hour discussion on YouTube where Pokémon Go PvP Content Creators and great PvP Players talk about the Rainbow Cup and what they think about it.
