The best Pokemon to use in GO Battle League’s Little Cup

A new, exciting cup competition is coming to Pokemon Go’s GO Battle League – The Little Cup. The rules are unique from what we’ve seen in previous competitions, so let’s take a look at which Pokemon are the best to use.

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The Little Cup will only consist of Pokemon that have the ability to evolve and have yet to evolve even once. There is a meager CP limit of just 500!

Evolution restraints, along with this lowest ever CP limit, will truly shake things up in Pokemon Go’s PvP mode. There are also two other new cups coming in GO Battle League Season 5 which are being used to freshen up the repeatedly seen Great, Ultra, and Master Leagues.

With news of The Little Cup only being announced on November 2, trainers will be scrambling to 1) figure out which Pokemon are best to use and 2) actually get hold of them!

Best Little Cup Pokemon

If you have read our past coverage on GO Battle League then you’ll know how important defense stats are. Resilient and bulky Pokemon are the key to success in PvP.

Naturally, Pokemon at 500 CP or less are going to be anything but that. However, that is the same for all trainers.

So, it’s a case of finding the best out of a bad bunch. Here’s five Pokemon we consider to be some of the best but be warned, this particular cup’s meta could change very quickly.

Bulbapedia

Bronzor looks like an early must-have Pokemon for the Little Cup…

Bronzor

Early indications are that Bronzor is going to play a big part in the Little Cup meta. The dual psychic/steel-type has fantastic defensive stats, although this unsurprisingly comes at the expense of its attack.

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Its typing also gives it plenty of resistances. These include dragon, fairy, flying, grass, ice, normal, poison, psychic, rock and steel. Of these it is doubly resistant to poison and psychic. It only has four weaknesses: dark, fire, ghost and ground.

If using Bronzor make sure it’s using Confusion as that is a much stronger Fast Move than tackle. It has both psychic and steel options for Charge Moves which covers most bases. Avoid dark and fire-types and at the very least you’ll be competitive.

Cottonee

Cottonee has similar stat distribution to Bronzor, making it an immediate contender for the Little Cup’s meta. The dual fairy and grass-type also has another obvious advantage – Charm.

Fast Moves are likely to play an integral part in the Little Cup and as many of you know those moves don’t come any stronger than Charm. It is a Fairy-type move that does 5.33 DPT – only trailing Razor Leaf.

Cottonee has only grass-types Charge Moves but when using Charm you won’t get too many opportunities to use them. Fire, poison, and steel are the types you want to avoid when using the Cotton Puff Pokemon.

Bulbapedia

Those Deino trainers have been saving may finally come to use without even evolving them!

Deino

Deino is an incredibly popular Pokemon and it could just be that trainers have a lot of them ready to use. Its stats are more rounded than Bronzor and Cottonee’s but its real advantage comes in the moves it has available.

Despite being the first evolution of three, it has Dragon Breath available which has excellent damage output and reasonable energy generation. This will allow Deino to deal damage quickly and also take advantage of its fast-charging Charge Moves – Body Slam, Crunch, and Dragon Pulse.

Fairy and steel-types you’ll want to avoid but overall it has more resistances than weaknesses. If you can match Deino up against a psychic-type then you’re in store for an easy battle.

Alolan Sandshrew

Alolan Sandshrew has two things going for it – a great dual typing and ice moves, which against the right Pokemon can shred through them.

Its ice and steel-typing leaves it resistant to nine different types of which ice and poison are doubly so. It has three weaknesses, however – fighting, fire, and ground – where the two former it is doubly weak to.

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Make sure you’re using Powder Snow and Night Slash. Powder Snow generates 4 EPT and Night Slash only requires 35 energy – a combination that could frustrate opponents no end. If anyone is reckless enough to use the attack-minded Gible against you, then it’ll take a matter of seconds to defeat!

Wynaut

Our final pick is the pure psychic-type Wynaut due to its impressive stamina stat. Sure its attack is poor but few Pokemon will be taking it down quickly.

It utilizes Counter for its Fast Move which is very strong – 4 DPT and 3.5 EPT. However, it has only that and Mirror Coat for its move options. The latter of which is average at best – and no we don’t count Splash as a real option!

If you can avoid its weaknesses – bug, dark, and ghost – then Wynaut can, hopefully, be used to get rid of your opponent’s Protect Shields. Its success really depends on how effective Counter is against the opposing Pokemon.

It will be interesting to see which other species come to the forefront in the Little Cup. It starts on Monday, November 9, 1pm PST and we’re excited to see what comes from it.