Pokémon GO Master League Premier: Best Pokémon

If you want to experience heavyweight battles in Pokémon GO, but don’t have access to many of the game’s Legendaries or Ultra Beasts, then Master League Premier is your time to shine, as it sets the focus on monsters that are more easily accessible. Master League Premier will run from October 14 to 21, 2025, and feature quadruple Stardust rewards for every win.

This GO Battle League competition runs on a special ruleset without any competition point (CP) limits. You may not field Legendary and Mythical Pokémon or Ultra Beasts in this tournament. 

Since this is a Master League competition with unlimited CP rules, having Pokémon upgraded with Candy XL is the best course of action without exception. As such, you won’t see our usual [XL] markings behind Pokémon names in this guide. Simply assume that Pokémon with Candy XL power-ups are the standard in this format.

Show your opponents that having many Legendaries is not necessary for becoming a great trainer with the best Pokémon for Master League Premier in Pokémon GO based on statistics and simulations provided by PvPoke.com.

Pokémon GO Master League Premier: Best Leads

These Pokémon pressure your opponent right from the beginning of a duel and are able to live through 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. Florges (Fairy Wind, Chilling Water, Moonblast)
2. Togekiss (Peck, Dazzling Gleam, Aura Sphere)
3. Gyarados (Dragon Breath, Aqua Tail, Crunch)
4. Dragonite (Dragon Breath, Thunder Punch, Superpower)
5. Goodra (Dragon Breath, Aqua Tail, Thunder Punch)
6. Metagross [S] (Shadow Claw, Meteor Mash, Earthquake)
7. Avalugg (Ice Fang, Avalanche, Body Slam)
8. Shadow Dragonite (Dragon Breath, Thunder Punch, Superpower)
9. Scizor [S] (Bullet Punch, Night Slash, Trailblaze)
10. Baxcalibur (Dragon Breath, Avalanche, Dragon Claw)

[S] = Regular form and Shadow form perform comparably.

Pokémon GO Master League Premier: 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. Florges (Fairy Wind, Chilling Water, Moonblast)
2. Metagross [S] (Shadow Claw, Meteor Mash, Earthquake)
3. Gyarados [S] (Dragon Breath, Aqua Tail, Crunch)
4. Ursaluna [S] (Tackle, Swift, High Horsepower)
5. Shadow Hippowdon (Sand Attack, Weather Ball (Rock), Earth Power)
6. Feraligatr (Shadow Claw, Hydro Cannon, Ice Beam)
7. Rhyperior (Mud Slap, Breaking Swipe, Rock Wrecker)
8. Togekiss (Peck, Dazzling Gleam, Aura Sphere)
9. Lapras (Psywave, Sparkling Aria, Ice Beam)
10. Hippowdon (Sand Attack, Weather Ball (Rock), Earth Power)

Pokémon GO Master League Premier: 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. Metagross [S] (Shadow Claw, Meteor Mash, Earthquake)
2. Gholdengo (Hex, Shadow Ball, Focus Blast)
3. Florges (Fairy Wind, Chilling Water, Moonblast)
4. Primarina (Charm, Disarming Voice, Hydro Cannon)
5. Togekiss (Peck, Dazzling Gleam, Aura Sphere)
6. Rhyperior (Mud Slap, Breaking Swipe, Rock Wrecker)
7. Shadow Ursaluna (Tackle, Swift, High Horsepower)
8. Venusaur (Vine Whip, Frenzy Plant, Sludge)
9. Gyarados (Dragon Breath, Aqua Tail, Crunch)
10. Goodra (Dragon Breath, Aqua Tail, Thunder Punch)

Pokémon GO Master League Premier: 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. Florges (Fairy Wind, Chilling Water, Moonblast)
2. Metagross (Shadow Claw, Meteor Mash, Earthquake)
3. Togekiss (Peck, Dazzling Gleam, Aura Sphere)
4. Goodra (Dragon Breath, Aqua Tail, Thunder Punch)
5. Annihilape (Counter, Rage Fist, Close Combat)
6. Magnezone (Volt Switch, Wild Charge, Mirror Shot)
7. Scizor (Bullet Punch, Night Slash, Trailblaze)
8. Snorlax (Lick, Body Slam, Superpower)
9. Sylveon (Charm, Moonblast, Psyshock)
10. Venusaur (Vine Whip, Frenzy Plant, Sludge)

Any Master League format is very costly to get into due to the required Candy XL amounts, but the Premier version at least opens things up a little bit by banning Legendaries and other rare Pokémon categories that are even more difficult to power up. Although Florges is keeping its grip on the meta, once again being the dominant force in the rankings, Dragon-type monsters have fallen off quite a bit compared to this format’s last iteration.

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.