Pokémon Go Spring Cup – Great League Edition: Best Pokémon
Spring isn’t a fantastic time for everyone to play Pokémon Go outside with allergies of all sorts acting up and making life a bit unpleasant, but thankfully Spring Cup – Great League Edition is keeping us company at home.
Spring Cup will run from March 8 to 22, 2024, and you should be especially eager to dive in during the second half of its appearance from March 15 to 22, as you'll be able to earn quadruple Stardust rewards for wins in that timeframe.
This Go Battle League competition runs on a special ruleset limiting participating Pokémon to a maximum amount of 1,500 competition points (CP). In addition, you may only field Pokémon of the Water-, Grass-, and Fairy-types. Toxapex and Mantine are completely banned from this discipline, despite fitting the type restrictions.
Show your opponents that you're not afraid of some puny pollen with the best Pokémon for Spring Cup – Great League Edition in Pokémon Go based on statistics and simulations provided by PvPoke.com.
It's time for a spring clean: Clear out your opposition and enjoy a clean climb up the leaderboard.
Niantic
Spring Cup – Great League Edition: Best Leads
These Pokémon aggressively pressure your opponent right from the beginning of a duel and can survive even tough battles for quite a while – they are perfect to open a match up, enabling you to score an early knockout or set up a strong counter play.
- Ferrothorn (Bullet Seed, Power Whip, Flash Cannon)
- Tropius (Air Slash, Leaf Blade, Aerial Ace)
- Galarian Weezing (Fairy Wind, Overheat, Brutal Swing)
- Shadow Ferrothorn (Bullet Seed, Power Whip, Flash Cannon)
- Abomasnow (Powder Snow, Weather Ball (Ice), Energy Ball)
- Tentacruel (Poison Jab, Acid Spray, Scald)
- Araquanid (Bug Bite, Bug Buzz, Bubble Beam)
- Jumpluff (Fairy Wind, Acrobatics, Energy Ball)
- Shadow Mawile (Fire Fang, Power-Up Punch, Play Rough)
- Shadow Tentacruel (Poison Jab, Acid Spray, Scald)
Spring Cup – Great League Edition: Best Safe Switches
If the opening pairing is to your disadvantage, you should consider switching out your lead for another Pokémon. This is where this class comes into play. They are either strong leads themselves or are specialized in countering some of the most popular leads. In any case, a switch will preserve your original opener to fight later on in the battle and perhaps force your opponent to also adapt their strategy on the fly.
- Pelipper (Wing Attack, Weather Ball (Water), Hurricane)
- Galarian Weezing (Fairy Wind, Overheat, Brutal Swing)
- Shadow Tentacruel (Poison Jab, Acid Spray, Scald)
- Roserade (Bullet Seed, Weather Ball (Fire), Leaf Storm)
- Serperior (Vine Whip, Frenzy Plant, Aerial Ace)
- Tentacruel (Poison Jab, Acid Spray, Scald)
- Empoleon (Steel Wing, Hydro Cannon, Drill Peck)
- Golisopod (Shadow Claw, X-Scissor, Aerial Ace)
- Grovyle (Quick Attack, Leaf Blade, Aerial Ace)
- Abomasnow(S) (Powder Snow, Weather Ball (Ice), Energy Ball)
(S) = Regular and Shadow forms perform comparably.
Spring Cup – Great League Edition: Best Closers
These Pokémon are particularly useful when there are no shields left in play on either side – they are incredibly tough themselves or end battles quickly thanks to powerful charge attacks, which can’t be deflected without a shield.
- Shadow Empoleon (Steel Wing, Hydro Cannon, Drill Peck)
- Ferrothorn (Bullet Seed, Power Whip, Flash Cannon)
- Shadow Walrein (Powder Snow, Icicle Spear, Earthquake)
- Carbink(XL) (Rock Throw, Rock Slide, Moonblast)
- Quaquaval (Wing Attack, Close Combat, Aerial Ace)
- Galarian Weezing (Fairy Wind, Overheat, Brutal Swing)
- Chesnaught (Vine Whip, Frenzy Plant, Superpower)
- Empoleon (Steel Wing, Hydro Cannon, Drill Peck)
- Shadow Jumpluff (Fairy Wind, Acrobatics, Energy Ball)
- Trevenant (Shadow Claw, Seed Bomb, Shadow Ball)
(XL) = Pokémon requires Candy XL to reach the optimal level for this competition.
Spring Cup – Great League Edition: Best Attackers
These Pokémon perform best when fighting a trainer who still has shields, while you no longer have shields yourself. They combine important resistances and strong fast attacks to compensate for this disadvantage. For this reason, you rarely see Shadow forms in this role – they take more damage than their regular counterparts, making them a risky card to put on the table.
- Ferrothorn (Bullet Seed, Power Whip, Flash Cannon)
- Tropius (Air Slash, Leaf Blade, Aerial Ace)
- Galarian Weezing (Fairy Wind, Overheat, Brutal Swing)
- Shadow Ferrothorn (Bullet Seed, Power Whip, Flash Cannon)
- Abomasnow (Powder Snow, Weather Ball (Ice), Energy Ball)
- Tentacruel (Poison Jab, Acid Spray, Scald)
- Araquanid (Bug Bite, Bug Buzz, Bubble Beam)
- Jumpluff (Fairy Wind, Acrobatics, Energy Ball)
- Mawile(S) (Fire Fang, Power-Up Punch, Play Rough)
- Shadow Tentacruel (Poison Jab, Acid Spray, Scald)
Though stable overall, there are some changes to the Spring Cup meta compared to its prior appearance in 2023. Trevenant is no longer an unavoidable force, while the duo of Abomasnow and Tentacruel have climbed the ranks in most categories. We've got a new addition to consider in the form of Carbink as well, while Empoleon has benefited from the recent World of Wonders update, gaining Steel Wing as a move and relevance in this competition.
