Pokémon GO Retro Cup – Great League Edition: Best Pokémon

Pokémon GO is giving out rose-tinted nostalgia glasses and invites players to participate in a tournament from “the good old times” — Retro Cup returns in its Great League Edition.

Retro Cup will run from September 2 to 9, 2025, alongside the Great League for one week.

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 particular format revolves around turning back the clock, there’s a ban on Dark-, Steel-, and Fairy-type Pokémon. Only categories from the original Pokémon games are allowed.

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

Pokémon GO Retro Cup – GL 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. Primeape (Karate Chop, Rage Fist, Close Combat)
2. Kingdra [S] (Dragon Breath, Swift, Outrage)
3. Shadow Charizard (Dragon Breath, Blast Burn, Air Cutter)
4. Shadow Gyarados (Dragon Breath, Aqua Tail, Crunch)
5. Shadow Giratina (Altered Forme) (Dragon Breath, Dragon Claw, Ancient Power)
6. Dragonair [S] (Dragon Breath, Aqua Tail, Dragon Pulse)
7. Oranguru (Confusion, Brutal Swing, Trailblaze)
8. Shadow Primeape (Karate Chop, Rage Fist, Close Combat)
9. Regidrago (Dragon Breath, Dragon Energy, Hyper Beam)
10. Araquanid (Bug Bite, Water Pulse, Bubble Beam)

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

Pokémon GO Retro Cup – GL 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. Kingdra [S] (Dragon Breath, Swift, Outrage)
2. Crustle (Fury Cutter, X-Scissor, Rock Wrecker)
3. Shadow Charizard (Dragon Breath, Blast Burn, Air Cutter)
4. Shadow Dragonair (Dragon Breath, Aqua Tail, Dragon Pulse)
5. Shadow Girafarig (Confusion, Psychic Fangs, Trailblaze)
6. Shadow Giratina (Altered Forme) (Dragon Breath, Dragon Claw, Ancient Power)
7. Shadow Crustle (Fury Cutter, X-Scissor, Rock Wrecker)
8. Charizard (Dragon Breath, Blast Burn, Air Cutter)
9. Shadow Gyarados (Dragon Breath, Aqua Tail, Crunch)
10. Primeape (Karate Chop, Rage Fist, Close Combat)

Pokémon GO Retro Cup – GL 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. Kommo-o (Dragon Tail, Clanging Scales, Upper Hand)
2. Regidrago (Dragon Breath, Dragon Energy, Hyper Beam)
3. Shadow Electivire (Thunder Shock, Ice Punch, Wild Charge)
4. Shadow Dragonite (Dragon Breath, Thunder Punch, Superpower)
5. Crustle (Fury Cutter, X-Scissor, Rock Wrecker)
6. Shadow Giratina (Altered Forme) (Dragon Breath, Dragon Claw, Ancient Power)
7. Shadow Toucannon (Peck, Drill Peck, Rock Blast)
8. Shadow Toxicroak (Poison Sting, Dynamic Punch, Shadow Ball)
9. Altaria (Dragon Breath, Sky Attack, Dragon Pulse)
10. Arctibax (Dragon Breath, Avalanche, Dragon Claw)

Pokémon GO Retro Cup – GL 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. Araquanid (Bug Bite, Water Pulse, Bubble Beam)
2. Altaria (Dragon Breath, Sky Attack, Dragon Pulse)
3. Oranguru (Confusion, Brutal Swing, Trailblaze)
4. Dusclops [XL] (Hex, Ice Punch, Shadow Punch)
5. Galarian Corsola [XL] (Astonish, Night Shade, Power Gem)
6. Lickitung [XL] (Lick, Body Slam, Power Whip)
7. Cresselia (Confusion, Grass Knot, Moonblast)
8. Cradily (Acid, Rock Tomb, Grass Knot)
9. Furret (Sucker Punch, Swift, Trailblaze)
10. Jellicent (Hex, Surf, Shadow Ball)

Pokémon marked with [XL] require to be upgraded with Candy XL to reach optimal performance.

Although traditional powerhouses like Primeape and Araquanid still fare relatively well in today’s Retro Cup meta, change is clearly in the air — literally, with all those Dragon-types claiming top spots. There is also an influx of Shadow Pokémon, making team-building a bit more of a lottery for players, as access to these versions is nowhere near as universal as to regular Pokémon.

If dueling other players isn’t to your taste and you’d rather test your mettle against Team GO Rocket instead, check out our complete guides with the best counters to Giovanni, Arlo, Cliff, and Sierra.