Pokémon GO Willpower Cup – Great League Edition: Best Pokémon

Whether you’re fighting a battle of the mind or the body, a strong will to win is critical. To triumph in Pokémon GO Willpower Cup – Great League Edition, which is running from September 16 to 23, 2025, you’ll also need the necessary knowledge to create a powerful team.

Making all the trouble worthwhile is a little bonus from the developers: While this tournament is taking place, the Stardust rewards for wins will be quadrupled.

The upper limit for competition points (CP) in this format is 1,500 CP – hence the Great League Edition moniker – and you can only field Pokémon of the Dark-, Psychic-, and Fighting-types. A trio of monsters is explicitly banned from participating, so say goodbye to your Gardevoir, Zorua, and Zoroark compositions.

We have collected all the best Pokémon for the Willpower Cup – Great League Edition in Pokémon GO based on statistics and simulations provided by PvPoke.com, so you can fully focus your mind on winning.

Pokémon GO Willpower Cup – Great League Edition: Best Leads

You’ll want one of these Pokémon to open up the battle on your side. Their aggressiveness puts pressure on your opponent right from the beginning, while they are tough enough to survive a bit of punishment in return. This gives you time to think over your next move and might give you an advantage in a battle of attrition. Ideally, of course, you achieve a quick first knockout.

1. Metang (Fury Cutter, Psyshock, Gyro Ball)
2. Claydol (Mud Slap, Scorching Sands, Rock Tomb)
3. Primeape [S] (Karate Chop, Rage Fist, Close Combat)
4. Shadow Murkrow [XL] (Peck, Drill Peck, Foul Play)
5. Annihilape [S] (Counter, Rage Fist, Ice Punch)
6. Galarian Rapidash (Fairy Wind, Body Slam, Megahorn)
7. Drapion (Poison Sting, Crunch, Aqua Tail)
8. Mandibuzz (Air Slash, Foul Play, Aerial Ace)
9. Pawniard [XL] (Fury Cutter, Night Slash, X-Scissor)
10. Sableye [S] [XL] (Shadow Claw, Foul Play, Power Gem)

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

Pokémon GO Willpower Cup – Great League Edition: Best Safe Switches

Should the initial pairing be to your disadvantage, you might want to consider switching out your lead monster for another Pokémon. This is where Safe Switches come into play. They are either strong leads themselves or are specialized in countering some of the more popular members of that category. In any case, a switch will preserve your original lead to fight later on in the battle and perhaps force your opponent to adapt their strategy on the fly, balancing the scales.

1. Shadow Metang (Fury Cutter, Psyshock, Gyro Ball)
2. Galarian Rapidash (Fairy Wind, Body Slam, Megahorn)
3. Malamar [S] (Peck, Foul Play, Superpower)
4. Primeape (Karate Chop, Rage Fist, Close Combat)
5. Shadow Sableye [XL] (Shadow Claw, Foul Play, Power Gem)
6. Shadow Murkrow [XL] (Peck, Drill Peck, Foul Play)
7. Drapion [S] (Poison Sting, Crunch, Aqua Tail)
8. Hisuian Qwilfish (Poison Sting, Aqua Tail, Shadow Ball)
9. Murkrow [XL] (Peck, Drill Peck, Foul Play)
10. Shadow Primeape (Karate Chop, Rage Fist, Close Combat)

Pokémon GO Willpower Cup – Great League Edition: Best Closers

Once no shields are left in play on either side, you’ll want to use one of these Pokémon. They are incredibly tough thanks to their high defense and plenty of useful resistances or can knock out an opponent in a single blow with their powerful Charged Attack.

1. Galarian Moltres (Sucker Punch, Fly, Brave Bird)
2. Shadow Murkrow [XL] (Peck, Drill Peck, Foul Play)
3. Morpeko (Full Belly) (Thunder Shock, Aura Wheel, Seed Bomb)
4. Claydol (Mud Slap, Rock Tomb, Scorching Sands)
5. Metang [S] (Fury Cutter, Psyshock, Gyro Ball)
6. Mandibuzz (Air Slash, Foul Play, Aerial Ace)
7. Shadow Sneasler (Shadow Claw, Close Combat, X-Scissor)
8. Spiritomb (Sucker Punch, Rock Tomb, Shadow Ball)
9. Kommo-o (Dragon Tail, Clanging Scales, Upper Hand)
10. Pawmot (Thunder Shock, Brick Break, Wild Charge)

Pokémon GO Willpower Cup – Great League Edition: Best Attackers

If you’re left without shields while facing an opponent who still has that option available, these Pokémon are your best friends. They combine important resistances and powerful Fast Attacks to compensate for the 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 pull out at this stage of a match.

1. Mandibuzz (Air Slash, Foul Play, Aerial Ace)
2. Pawniard [XL] (Fury Cutter, Night Slash, X-Scissor)
3. Claydol [S] (Mud Slap, Scorching Sands, Rock Tomb)
4. Guzzlord (Dragon Tail, Brutal Swing, Dragon Claw)
5. Sableye [XL] (Shadow Claw, Foul Play, Power Gem)
6. Annihilape (Counter, Rage Fist, Ice Punch)
7. Drapion (Poison Sting, Crunch, Aqua Tail)
8. Hatterene (Charm, Psyshock, Power Whip)
9. Umbreon (Snarl, Dark Pulse, Last Resort)
10. Shadow Annihilape (Counter, Rage Fist, Ice Punch)

Willpower Cup’s meta looks fairly stable with many familiar names returning or even rising into better positions compared to the last iterations — Claydol and Primeape are examples for this. Metang is making its presence felt in this edition, conquering several top positions thanks to its advantageous typing.

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.