Pokémon GO Element Cup – Little Edition: Best Pokémon

Become a master of elemental attacks and test your mettle in Pokémon GO Element Cup – Little Edition, the latest limited format to return to GO Battle League. This iteration of Element Cup will take place from July 1 to 8, 2025.

This GO Battle League competition runs on a special ruleset limiting participating Pokémon to a maximum amount of 500 competition points (CP). In addition, you may only field Pokémon that are able to evolve into another creature, but haven’t evolved yet. In other words: only base forms are allowed. It further limits the amount of Pokémon you can use by restricting you to monsters of the types Fire, Grass, and Water.

Show your opponents that size matters not with the best Pokémon for Element Cup – Little Edition in Pokémon GO based on statistics and simulations provided by PvPoke.com.

Element Cup – Little Edition: Best Leads

These Pokémon apply pressure on your opponent right from the start of a duel and can survive even tough battles for a long time — they are perfect to open a match up, allowing you to score an early knockout or set up a strong counter play.

1. Skrelp (Acid, Aqua Tail, Sludge Bomb)
2. Fomantis (Fury Cutter, Leaf Blade, Trailblaze)
3. Shadow Foongus (Astonish, Grass Knot, Body Slam)
4. Binacle (Mud Slap, Ancient Power, Cross Chop)
5. Frillish (Hex, Night Slash, Ice Beam)
6. Dewpider (Bug Bite, Mirror Coat, Bubble Beam)
7. Pumpkaboo (Astonish, Grass Knot, Foul Play)
8. Foongus (Astonish, Grass Knot, Body Slam)
9. Shadow Barboach (Mud Shot, Mud Bomb, Aqua Tail)
10. Shadow Carvanha (Bite, Aqua Jet, Poison Fang)

Element Cup – Little 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 category comes into play. They are either strong leads in their own right or are specialized in countering some of the most popular leads. In any case, a switch will preserve your original lead to fight later on in the battle and might force your foe to adapt their strategy on the fly as well, disrupting their well-laid plans.

1. Shadow Lileep (Acid, Ancient Power, Grass Knot)
2. Ducklett (Wing Attack, Brace Bird, Aerial Ace)
3. Skrelp (Acid, Aqua Tail, Sludge Bomb)
4. Lileep (Acid, Ancient Power, Grass Knot)
5. Foongus [S] (Astonish, Grass Knot, Body Slam)
6. Shadow Ducklett (Wing Attack, Brace Bird, Aerial Ace)
7. Pumpkaboo (Astonish, Grass Knot, Foul Play)
8. Tentacool (Poison Sting, Wrap, Water Pulse)
9. Dewpider (Bug Bite, Mirror Coat, Bubble Beam)
10. Shadow Wailmer (Rollout, Body Slam, Scald)

Pokémon marked with [S] perform similarly in their regular and Shadow forms.

Element Cup – Little Edition: Best Closers

These Pokémon are particularly useful when there are no shields left in play on either side — they are incredibly tough or end battles quickly thanks to powerful charge attacks that can’t be blocked anymore.

1. Ducklett [S] (Wing Attack, Brave Bird, Aerial Ace)
2. Skrelp (Acid, Aqua Tail, Sludge Bomb)
3. Fomantis (Fury Cutter, Leaf Blade, Trailblaze)
4. Lileep [S] (Acid, Ancient Power, Grass Knot)
5. Pumpkaboo (Astonish, Grass Knot, Foul Play)
6. Foongus (Astonish, Grass Knot, Body Slam)
7. Ferroseed (Tackle, Iron Head, Flash Cannon)
8. Binacle (Mud Slap, Ancient Power, Cross Chop)
9. Shadow Barboach (Mud Shot, Mud Bomb, Aqua Tail)
10. Frillish (Hex, Night Slash, Ice Beam)

Element Cup – Little Edition: Best Attackers

These Pokémon perform best when fighting a trainer who still has shields, while you no longer have shields to rely on. They combine important resistances and strong fast attacks to make up 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. 

Element Cup is a bit of an exception, though, with the meta preferring glass cannons over more bulky types.

1. Carvanha [S] (Bite, Aqua Jet, Poison Fang)
2. Dewpider (Bug Bite, Mirror Coat, Bubble Beam)
3. Budew (Razor Leaf, Grass Knot, Energy Ball)
4. Shadow Turtwig (Razor Leaf, Body Slam, Seed Bomb)
5. Shadow Oddish (Razor Leaf, Sludge Bomb, Seed Bomb)
6. Cottonee (Charm, Grass Knot, Seed Bomb)
7. Shadow Litwick (Astonish, Mystical Fire, Flame Charge)
8. Grookey (Razor Leaf, Grass Knot, Energy Ball)
9. Larvesta (Bug Bite, Bug Buzz, Flame Charge)
10. Sewaddle (Bug Bite, Seed Bomb, Silver Wind)

Veterans of previous Element Cups will identify some similarities to past editions, such as the prominence of Razor Leaf users. However, change is afoot outside of the Attacker category. Previously dominant Ducklett has lost a few places, making way for Acid-powered Pokémon such as Lileep and Skrelp.

If battling other players isn’t your thing and you’d rather beat up Team GO Rocket instead, check out our complete guides with the best counters to Giovanni, Arlo, Cliff, and Sierra.