Pokémon GO Halloween Cup – Great League Edition: Best Pokémon

The spooky season is in full swing in Pokémon GO, which includes the return of Halloween Cup: Great League Edition to GO Battle League, the game’s PvP mode. Halloween Cup will run from October 28 to November 4, 2025.

This GO Battle League competition runs on a special ruleset limiting participating Pokémon to a maximum amount of 1,500 competition points (CP). Since this tournament is all about the spooky Halloween fun, only Pokémon with the types Poison, Bug, Ghost, Dark, and Fairy may be fielded.

Give your opponents nightmares with the best Pokémon for Halloween Cup – Great League Edition in Pokémon GO based on statistics and simulations provided by PvPoke.com.

Pokémon GO Halloween 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.

1. Clodsire (Poison Sting, Earthquake, Stone Edge)
2. Nidoqueen (Mud Slap, Stone Edge, Poison Fang)
3. Scizor [S] (Bullet Punch, Night Slash, Trailblaze)
4. Runerigus (Shadow Claw, Rock Tomb, Brutal Swing)
5. Shadow Dusclops [XL] (Hex, Ice Punch, Shadow Punch)
6. Morpeko (Full Belly) (Thunder Shock, Aura Wheel, Psychic Fangs)
7. Klefki (Astonish, Foul Play, Play Rough)
8. Shadow Sableye [XL] (Shadow Claw, Foul Play, Power Gem)
9. Dusknoir (Astonish, Dynamic Punch, Shadow Punch)
10. Jellicent (Hex, Surf, Shadow Ball)

Pokémon marked with [S] perform similarly in their regular and Shadow forms. Pokémon marked with [XL] require Candy XL upgrades to reach their optimal performance level.

Pokémon GO Halloween 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.

1. Clodsire (Poison Sting, Earthquake, Stone Edge)
2. Drapion [S] (Poison Sting, Crunch, Aqua Tail)
3. Shadow Qwilfish (Poison Sting, Aqua Tail, Ice Beam)
4. Crustle (Fury Cutter, X-Scissor, Rock Wrecker)
5. Runerigus (Shadow Claw, Rock Tomb, Brutal Swing)
6. Shadow Dusclops [XL] (Hex, Ice Punch, Shadow Punch)
7. Golisopod (Shadow Claw, Aqua Jet, X-Scissor)
8. Swalot (Mud Shot, Sludge, Ice Beam)
9. Qwilfish (Poison Sting, Aqua Tail, Ice Beam)
10. Shadow Sableye [XL] (Shadow Claw, Foul Play, Power Gem)

Pokémon GO Halloween 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.

1. Aegislash (Shield) [XL] (Psycho Cut, Shadow Ball, Gyro Ball)
2. Clodsire (Poison Sting, Earthquake, Stone Edge)
3. Galarian Moltres (Sucker Punch, Fly, Brave Bird)
4. Carbink [XL] (Rock Throw, Rock Slide, Moonblast)
5. Tentacruel (Acid, Scald, Sludge Wave)
6. Galarian Corsola [XL] (Astonish, Night Shade, Power Gem)
7. Klefki (Astonish, Foul Play, Play Rough)
8. Azumarill [XL] (Bubble, Ice Beam, Play Rough)
9. Tinkaton (Fairy Wind, Play Rough, Flash Cannon)
10. Crustle (Fury Cutter, X-Scissor, Rock Wrecker)

Pokémon GO Halloween 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.

1. Carbink [XL] (Rock Throw, Rock Slide, Moonblast)
2. Clodsire (Poison Sting, Earthquake, Stone Edge)
3. Nidoqueen (Mud Slap, Stone Edge, Poison Fang)
4. Galarian Corsola [XL] (Astonish, Night Shade, Power Gem)
5. Tinkaton (Fairy Wind, Play Rough, Flash Cannon)
6. Mandibuzz (Air Slash, Foul Play, Aerial Ace)
7. Klefki (Astonish, Foul Play, Play Rough)
8. Kingambit (Metal Sound, Foul Play, Iron Head)
9. Dusclops [XL] (Hex, Ice Punch, Shadow Punch)
10. Azumarill [XL] (Bubble, Ice Beam, Play Rough)

Clodsire retains an iron grip over this format, which looks largely similar to previous editions despite some new developments, such as the rise of Nidoqueen and Scizor.

If PvP 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.