Pokémon GO Summer Cup – Ultra League Edition: Best Pokémon

The Pokémon GO Summer Cup – Ultra League Edition is running from August 5 to 12, 2025, bringing spectacular duels to the beach or wherever else you want to play from.

Since the competition is using the Ultra League format, only Pokémon with a maximum of 2,500 competition points (CP) may be fielded. Additionally, there are some type restrictions you’ll need to mind: Only Pokémon of the Normal-, Fire-, Water-, Grass-, Electro-, and Bug-types may take part in battles under this ruleset.

Shine as brightly as the sun with the best Pokémon for Summer Cup – Ultra League Edition in Pokémon Go based on statistics and simulations provided by PvPoke.com.

Pokémon GO Summer Cup – UL 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. Cradily (Acid, Rock Tomb, Grass Knot)
3. Bellibolt (Sucker Punch, Parabolic Charge, Zap Cannon)
4. Togedemaru (Thunder Shock, Fell Stinger, Wild Charge)
5. Shadow Cradily (Acid, Rock Tomb, Grass Knot)
6. Lapras (Psywave, Sparkling Aria, Ice Beam)
7. Shadow Victreebel (Acid, Leaf Blade, Sludge Bomb)
8. Skeledirge (Incinerate, Torch Song, Shadow Ball)
9. Tentacruel (Acid, Scald, Sludge Wave)
10. Roserade (Poison Sting, Weather Ball (Fire), Leaf Storm)

Pokémon GO Summer Cup – UL 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. Cradily [S] (Acid, Rock Tomb, Grass Knot)
2. Shadow Samurott (Fury Cutter, Hydro Cannon, Ice Beam)
3. Lapras [S] (Psywave, Sparkling Aria, Ice Beam)
4. Bellibolt (Sucker Punch, Parabolic Charge, Zap Cannon)
5. Shadow Victreebel (Acid, Leaf Blade, Sludge Bomb)
6. Golisopod (Fury Cutter, X-Scissor, Aqua Jet)
7. Shadow Typhlosion (Incinerate, Blast Burn, Thunder Punch)
8. Crustle [S] (Fury Cutter, X-Scissor, Rock Slide)
9. Roserade (Poison Sting, Weather Ball (Fire), Leaf Storm)
10. Shadow Feraligatr (Shadow Claw, Hydro Cannon, Ice Beam)

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

Pokémon GO Summer Cup – UL 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. Tentacruel [S] (Acid, Scald, Sludge Wave)
2. Shadow Electivire (Thunder Shock, Ice Punch, Wild Charge)
3. Shadow Raikou (Thunder Shock, Wild Charge, Shadow Ball)
4. Turtonator (Incinerate, Dragon Pulse, Overheat)
5. Cradily [S] (Acid, Rock Tomb, Grass Knot)
6. Shadow Victreebel (Acid, Leaf Blade, Sludge Bomb)
7. Lapras (Psywave, Sparkling Aria, Ice Beam)
8. Bellibolt (Sucker Punch, Parabolic Charge, Zap Cannon)
9. Kingdra (Dragon Breath, Outrage, Octazooka)
10. Shadow Venusaur (Vine Whip, Frenzy Plant, Sludge Bomb)

Pokémon GO Summer Cup – UL 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. Bellibolt (Sucker Punch, Parabolic Charge, Zap Cannon)
2. Cradily [S] (Acid, Rock Tomb, Grass Knot)
3. Toedscruel (Mud Slap, Earth Power, Wrap)
4. Gastrodon (Mud Slap, Earth Power, Body Slam)
5. Ferrothorn (Bullet Seed, Power Whip, Flash Cannon)
6. Forretress (Volt Switch, Rock Tomb, Earthquake)
7. Jellicent (Hex, Surf, Shadow Ball)
8. Tentacruel (Acid, Scald, Sludge Wave)
9. Virizion (Double Kick, Sacred Sword, Stone Edge)
10. Miltank (Rollout, Body Slam, Ice Beam)

The pecking order has changed a little bit since the last edition of this tournament happened. Toxtricity has lost some value across the board, while Tentacruel and its new regional version, Toedscruel, are big winners. Lapras, Jellicent, and the rare Fire-type Pokémon among the top contenders have lost out as well, but only by small margins.

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.