Pokémon Go Halloween Cup team recommendations, dates, rewards and restrictions

Great League Halloween Cup restrictions in Pokémon Go explained

There are two restrictions you need to keep in mind when choosing your team for the Great League Halloween Cup in Pokémon Go.

The first is that the CP limit is 1500, as the name suggests, so make sure your choices either meet this limit or are beneath it.

Secondly, the Pokémon you can enter must be a Poison, Bug, Ghost, Dark or fairy-type – you know, the Halloween stuff. They can have dual typing, of course, but at least one of their types must be one of the above.

Froslass, for example, is still eligible for the Halloween Cup as it's an Ice and Ghost-type, fulfilling the requirement.

Pokémon Go Great League Halloween Cup recommendations

Just like with every league or special cup in the Go Battle League, there is no true 'best' team for the Halloween Cup, because you'll never know which Pokémon are in your opponent's team.

The restriction does mean, however, that there is a limited pool of Pokémon for you to choose from, which does help you choose your team — in this case, there are 309 Pokémon you could reasonably work with, though some are naturally going to be better than others.

Technically, you could carry over your team from last week's Little Halloween Cup, unchanged, but this would be like bringing your Great League team to battle. It's not unheard of, but it is embarrassing for both players involved. If you're curious as if you can bring last week's Pokémon but levelled up to just under the new CP cap, again the answer is yes, but we would strongly advise against this for two reasons.

First, you can't level down your Pokémon, so if you level them up beyond 1500 CP, you can't use them in next year's event, if there's another Little Halloween Cup. Second, with the higher CP cap comes a new bunch of eligible Pokémon, meaning that the match-ups and meta advantages you came across last week may not necessarily hold true here.

If you do ultimately decide to do this, however, make sure you check out our list below to see whether we recommend a move change to better suit your Pokémon to the meta they will be entering.

Either way, before making your selection, it's a good idea to review the restrictions for the Ultra League Halloween Cup, so you know exactly which Pokémon are available to you.

You should also ensure you have a selection of Pokémon types and have one Pokémon whose Charged attack can be built up quickly, so you force your opponent to use one of their shields early on.

Our Pokémon Go Ultra League Halloween Cup recommendations in National Pokédex order are:

Galarian Weezing

Galarian Weezing types: Poison/Fairy
Perfect IVs: 8/15/15
Galarian Weezing weaknesses: Ground, Psychic and Steel
Galarian Weezing recommended moves: Fairy Wind (Fast), Play Rough (Charged), Brutal Swing (Charged)

Galarian Weezing is well-known as a decent Pokémon, especially in recent limited metas. It's a spammy, flexible Pokémon that can apply Shield pressure while also being able to take a few hits, thanks to the fact that it has no fewer than six resistances.

The downside to this Pokémon is that there is a surprising density of Ground-type Pokémon at the top of the meta to take down the Poison types running rampant.

If you have it, the Shadow version is slightly better than the regular Galarian Weezing, helping you pull in wins against Guzzlord, Mandibuzz, Shadow Drapion, Alolan Ninetales and Shadow Golurk. However, you should keep an eye out for the following Pokémon, which will have you beat: Clodsire, Toxapex, Azumarill, Skeledirge and Greninja.

Qwilfish

Qwilfish types: Water/Poison
Perfect IVs: 0/12/14
Qwilfish weaknesses: Electric, Ground and Psychic
Qwilfish recommended moves: Poison Sting (Fast), Aqua Tail (Charged), Ice Beam (Charged)

Qwilfish is one of those Pokémon that offers great flexibility, thanks to Ice Beam. Poison Sting is a great, fast-charging Fast Move, with Aqua Tail running a spam/bait role. Should you need to really let loose though, Ice Beam is a great high-energy coverage move.

The main downside to this Pokémon is simply that it is less bulky than the rest of the meta, and is quickly taken down by some of the best Pokémon in the Halloween Cup.

Specifically, you need to watch out for Clodsire, Greninja, Mandibuzz and Toxapex. Do that, and you'll have a great Pokémon that can take down Skeledirge, Alolan Ninetales, Azumarill, Shadow Drapion and Shadow Golurk.

Azumarill

Azumarill types: Water/Fairy
Perfect IVs: 0/12/14
Azumarill weaknesses: Electric, Grass and Poison
Azumarill recommended moves: Bubble (Fast), Ice Beam (Charged), Play Rough (Charged)

Fans of Go Battle League will remember the heyday when Azumarill was a scary Pokémon. Hard to believe, looking at its cute little face, but behind that mask lies a hardened killer.

Azumarill is an absolute unit. It is extremely bulky, and though successive nerfs have taken it down a fair few pegs, it still shines in certain metas, like this one. Bubble is very fast-charging, allowing you to fire off Play Rough pretty quickly, or Ice Beam if you need the coverage. The main downside here is the lack of a meta-relevant attack.

Despite this, you can still quickly take down Mandibuzz, Greninja, Alolan Ninetales, Shadow Drapion and Shadow Golurk. As a Fairy, however, you need to watch out for the Poison types Toxapex, Qwilfish and Clodsire, along with the fellow tank Wigglytuff.

Shadow Drapion

Shadow Drapion types: Water/Fairy
Perfect IVs: 2/15/14
Shadow Drapion weaknesses: Ground
Shadow Drapion recommended moves: Poison Sting (Fast), Crunch (Charged), Aqua Tail (Charged)

Drapion is another Pokémon that PVP fans will recognise from other leagues, thanks to its spamminess, flexibility and its ability to put down Shield pressure. The fact that it has a single weakness doesn't hurt, of course…

Poison Sting is huge in this meta, thanks to its fast-charging nature, allowing you to fire off quick Aqua Tails to spam away shields. Should you need it, Crunch offers a 30% chance to drop your opponent's defense by one stage – just be aware that Fairy-type Pokémon are naturally resistant to Dark, so it won't be doing a huge amount against the tankiest stuff.

Onto match-ups, Shadow Drapion (the slightly stronger of your two options) wins against Skeledirge, Shadow Alolan Marowak, Carbink, Alolan Ninetales and Toxapex. However, losses will come from Shadow Golurk (scarily fast, as it happens), Greninja, Clodsire, Azumarill and Mandibuzz.

Shadow Golurk

Shadow Golurk types: Ground/Ghost
Perfect IVs: 2/15/14
Shadow Golurk weaknesses: Dark, Ghost, Grass, Ice and Water
Shadow Golurk recommended moves: Mud Slap (Fast), Shadow Punch (Charged), Dynamic Punch (Charged)

Despite being weak to two meta-relevant types, Dark and Ghost, and two secondary types that you will see a lot of in this cup, Ice and Water, Shadow Golurk is incredibly useful in the Halloween Cup – mostly as a counter to those annoying Poison types.

Despite the drawback of being a glass cannon, Shadow Golurk has multiple upsides: it's spammy, dynamic, flexible with its anti-Ghost and Dark coverage attacks, and can apply both Fast and Shield pressure. It's a classic case of perfect in the right situation, but awful when it's not.

You can expect wins against king of the meta, Clodsire, along with Shadow Drapion, Toxapex, Carbink and Skeledirge. Losses will come from Mandibuzz, Alolan Ninetales, Greninja, Azumarill and Galarian Weezing.

Mandibuzz

Mandibuzz types: Dark/Flying
Perfect IVs: 0/13/15
Mandibuzz weaknesses: Electric, Fairy, Ice and Rock
Mandibuzz recommended moves: Snarl (Fast), Dark Pulse (Charged), Aerial Ace (Charged)

If you want a non-Fairy tank, Mandibuzz is known for its extreme bulk. While it is pretty spammy with its Snarl/Aerial Ace combo, nothing is particularly weak to Flying-type moves in this meta. Dark Pulse is great coverage, should you come across something weak to it, such as the anti-meta tech, Golurk.

There's not much else to say about Mandibuzz, it's just an impressive tank that can roll out wins against Shadow Golurk, Malamar, Alolan Shadow Marowak, Skeledirge and Shadow Drapion.

Losses, however, will come from Carbink, Alolan Ninetales, Azumarill, Clodsire and Toxapex.

Greninja

Greninja types: Water/Dark
Perfect IVs: 3/15/12
Greninja weaknesses: Bug, Electric, Fairy, Fighting and Grass
Greninja recommended moves: Water Shuriken (Fast), Hydro Cannon (Legacy Charged), Night Slash (Charged)

It's great to see a fan favourite make the top table, especially when it's a starter as cool as Greninja. That said, this is our only recommendation running a Legacy move, so be aware that it is potentially more expensive than anything else, thanks to the relative scarcity of Elite TMs.

If you have a Hydro Cannon Greninja, you have a spammy, Flexible Pokémon that lay down impressive Shield pressure. Water Shuriken is a very fast-charging move, allowing you to fire off Hydro Cannon in as few as three turns. Unless the opponent is weak to Dark, you can also fire off Night Slash, which comes with a 12.5% chance to boost your attack by 2 stages. This is inconsistent, sure, but it feels great when you hit it as this momentum can really help.

In terms of match-ups, you can expect wins against Alolan Ninetales, Shadow Golurk, Shadow Drapion, Carbink and Clodsire. Losses, meanwhile, will come from Azumarill, Malamar, Toxapex, Galarian Weezing and Clodsire.

Carbink

Carbink types: Rock/Fairy
Perfect IVs: 5/15/15
Carbink weaknesses: Steel (2x), Grass, Ground and Water
Carbink recommended moves: Rock Throw (Fast), Power Gem (Charged), Moonblast (Charged)

Along with several of the Fairy types in the meta, Carbink is a notoriously tanky. Such is its defence that a perfect 5/15/15 will get to level 49.5 at CP 1498. At this point, its defense of 247.8 is almost three times higher than its attack of 84.8.

What do these numbers mean? Mostly that you can annoy your opponents by putting your walls up and throwing rocks over the top of them. You don't have massive Shield pressure here with Power Gem, but if you have stripped away the opponent's shield with previous Pokémon, you can fire off a couple of Moonblasts for decent damage before your Carbink bites the dust. It really is a very tanky Pokémon.

So, who does Carbink beat? Fellow tank Mandibuzz, for a start, along with Shadow Alolan Marowak, Skeledirge, Alolan Ninetales and Galarian Weezing. Losses will come from Clodsire, Greninja, Shadow Drapion, Azumarill and Toxapex.

Clodsire

Clodsire types: Poison/Ground
Perfect IVs: 0/14/13
Clodsire weaknesses: Ground, Ice, Psychic and Water
Clodsire recommended moves: Poison Sting (Fast), Earthquake (Charged), Stone Edge (Charged) OR Sludge Bomb (Charged)

At last we come to the undisputed king of the meta, Clodsire. It is so impressive that the only Pokémon to rival it is itself, using a slightly different moveset.

There is debate over whether to run Stone Edge or Sludge Bomb. Really, it should come down to the rest of the team and what gaps you're trying to cover, but the long and short of it is this: using Stone Edge gives you the edge against Mandibuzz, but makes Drifblim an issue. Sludge Bomb will help you beat Greninja, but makes Mandibuzz an issue. Since Mandibuzz is the better (and vastly more annoying) Pokémon, we would generally recommend Stone Edge.

Either way, you're looking at an extremely bulky Pokémon with spammy, meta-relevant attacks. Poison Sting is fast-charging, Stone Edge and Earthquake are nukes, and Sludge Bomb is great when you need it.

Assuming you run Stone Edge, you can look forward to wins against Toxapex, Alolan Ninetales, Mandibuzz, Shadow Drapion and Azumarill. Losses will come from Shadow Golurk, Shadow Sableye, Malamar, Froslass and Greninja.

Halloween Cup dates and times in Pokémon Go

The Halloween Cup is running in two halves this year.

The Great League Halloween Cup, runs from Tuesday, October 22nd at 9pm BST to Tuesday, October 29th at 8pm BST. Yes, you read that right: the Halloween Cup will not be playable on Halloween. No, we don't know why they did that either.

Anyway, please note the following end times depending on your region:

• UK – 8pm (GMT)
• Europe – 9pm (CEST)
• East Coast USA – 3pm (EDT)
• West Coast USA – noon (PDT)

Good luck in the Great League Halloween Cup!