Pokémon GO Summer Cup – Great League Edition: Best Pokémon

Pokémon GO Summer Cup – Great League Edition takes place from September 9 to 16, 2025. The little brother of the Ultra League Edition, this tournament is generating no less heat.

This GO Battle League competition runs on a special ruleset limiting participating Pokémon to a maximum amount of 1,500 competition points (CP). In addition, you may only field Pokémon of the Normal-, Fire-, Water-, Grass-, Electric-, and Bug-types.

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

Pokémon GO Summer 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. Toxtricity (Acid, Wild Charge, Power-Up Punch)
2. Shadow Kingdra (Dragon Breath, Swift, Outrage)
3. Cradily (Acid, Rock Tomb, Grass Knot)
4. Togedemaru (Thunder Shock, Fell Stinger, Wild Charge)
5. Shadow Ursaring (Shadow Claw, Close Combat, Swift)
6. Kingdra (Dragon Breath, Swift, Outrage)
7. Morpeko (Full Belly) (Thunder Shock, Aura Wheel, Psychic Fangs)
8. Drampa (Dragon Breath, Swift, Dragon Pulse)
9. Roserade (Poison Sting, Weather Ball (Fire), Leaf Storm)
10. Magnezone (Volt Switch, Wild Charge, Mirror Shot)

Pokémon GO Summer 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. Shadow Kingdra (Dragon Breath, Swift, Outrage)
2. Crustle [S] (Fury Cutter, X-Scissor, Rock Wrecker)
3. Shadow Charizard (Dragon Breath, Blast Burn, Air Cutter)
4. Drampa (Dragon Breath, Swift, Dragon Pulse)
5. Shadow Ursaring (Shadow Claw, Close Combat, Swift)
6. Kingdra (Dragon Breath, Swift, Outrage)
7. Shadow Empoleon (Metal Sound, Hydro Cannon, Drill Peck)
8. Samurott [S] (Fury Cutter, Hydro Cannon, Megahorn)
9. Cradily (Acid, Rock Tomb, Grass Knot)
10. Empoleon (Metal Sound, Hydro Cannon, Drill Peck)

Pokémon marked with [S] deliver similar performances in their regular and Shadow forms.

Pokémon GO Summer 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. Shadow Electivire (Thunder Shock, Ice Punch, Wild Charge)
2. Empoleon [S] (Metal Sound, Hydro Cannon, Drill Peck)
3. Shadow Raikou (Thunder Shock, Wild Charge, Aura Sphere)
4. Cradily (Acid, Rock Tomb, Grass Knot)
5. Crustle (Fury Cutter, X-Scissor, Rock Wrecker)
6. Togedemaru (Thunder Shock, Fell Stinger, Wild Charge)
7. Raikou (Thunder Shock, Wild Charge, Aura Sphere)
8. Shadow Venusaur (Vine Whip, Frenzy Plant, Sludge)
9. Shadow Samurott (Fury Cutter, Hydro Cannon, Megahorn)
10. Shadow Magnezone (Volt Switch, Wild Charge, Mirror Shot)

Pokémon GO Summer 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. Razor Leaf users, as seen below, are a bit of an exception to this rule, as the immense attack speed of the move makes the usage of glass cannons a worthwhile risk.

1. Forretress (Bug Bite, Sand Tomb, Rock Tomb)
2. Cradily (Acid, Rock Tomb, Grass Knot)
3. Shadow Forretress (Bug Bite, Sand Tomb, Rock Tomb)
4. Gastrodon (Mud Slap, Body Slam, Water Pulse)
5. Toxapex (Poison Jab, Brine, Sludge Wave)
6. Kingdra (Dragon Breath, Swift, Outrage)
7. Diggersby [XL] (Quick Attack, Fire Punch, Scorching Sands)
8. Toedscruel (Mud Slap, Seed Bomb, Wrap)
9. Araquanid (Bug Bite, Water Pulse, Bubble Beam)
10. Magcargo (Ember, Rock Tomb, Overheat)

Pokémon marked with [XL] need to be upgraded with Candy XL to reach their optimal level for this competition.

Soaring too close to the sun, Flying-types have fallen out of favor since last time this edition of the tournament was available. Electric-types prominently continue holding their own, while the ascent of Pokémon with Dragon-type moves – a trend visible in other formats as well – keeps up its momentum.

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.