Play Pokémon GO for long enough, and sooner or later you'll want to get involved in gym battles. This is where you get to put your Pokémon's fighting prowess to the test, battling other players and Pokémon to take over gyms and then defending them.
Raids provide a similar kind of challenge, often pitting you against the most powerful Pokémon including Legendaries to get the chance to catch the rarest monsters – amongst other amazing rewards.
However powerful you might think your Magikarp is though, you won't be winning much of anything unless you know the absolute best Pokémon to bring into battle with you.
In this guide, we've put together a list of the best Pokémon for both attacking and defending, including the best moves to use for both. We've ordered them by tier too, so you can check at a glance if you have the absolute best of the best.
Pokémon GO - Best Pokémon For Attacking
When attacking gyms, you not only want a Pokémon with a high Attack statistic, but one with decent moves. These can be a crucial deciding factor in the tougher battles. Here are the best Pokémon, organised by tier.
Tier 1 Attacking Pokémon
| Appearance | Pokémon | Optimal Attack | Optimal Moves |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Kyogre | 270 | Waterfall / Hydro Pump |
 |
Machamp | 234 |
|
 |
Mewtwo | 300 | Psycho Cut / Shadow Ball |
 |
Rayquaza | 284 | Dragon Tail / Outrage |
 |
Tyranitar | 251 |
|
 |
Groudon | 270 | Mud Shot / Solar Beam |
 |
Raikou | 241 | Thunder Shock / Wild Charge |
Tier 2 Attacking Pokémon
| Appearance | Pokémon | Optimal Attack | Optimal Moves |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Dragonite | 263 |
|
 |
Salamence | 277 |
Dragon Tail / Draco Meteor |
 |
Hariyama | 209 | Counter / Dynamic Punch |
 |
Latios | 268 | Dragon Breath / Dragon Claw |
 |
Entei | 235 | Fire Spin / Overheat |
 |
Gyarados | 237 | Waterfall / Hydro Pump |
 |
Moltres | 251 | Fire Spin / Sky Attack |
 |
Exeggutor | 233 |
|
 |
Zapdos | 253 | Thunder Shock / Thunderbolt |
Tier 3 Attacking Pokémon
| Appearance | Pokémon | Optimal Attack | Optimal Moves |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Metagross | 257 | Bullet Punch / Flash Cannon |
 |
Espeon | 261 |
Confusion / Future Sight |
 |
Alakazam | 271 |
|
 |
Gardevoir | 237 | Confusion / Dazzling Gleam |
 |
Gengar | 261 |
Shadow Claw / Shadow Ball |
 |
Golem | 211 |
|
 |
Heracross | 234 | Counter / Close Combat |
 |
Lugia | 193 | Extrasensory / Sky Attack |
 |
Vaporeon | 205 | Water Gun / Hydro Pump |
 |
Blaziken | 240 |
Counter / Focus Blast |
 |
Flareon | 246 | Fire Spin / Overheat |
 |
Articuno | 192 |
|
Tier 4 Attacking Pokémon
| Appearance | Pokémon | Optimal Attack | Optimal Moves |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Houndoom | 224 |
Snarl / Foul Play |
 |
Jolteon | 232 | Thunder Shock / Thunderbolt |
 |
Ho-Oh | 239 |
|
 |
Sceptile | 223 |
|
 |
Scizor | 236 |
|
 |
Swampert | 208 | Water Gun / Surf |
 |
Latias | 228 | Dragon Breath / Outrage |
 |
Breloom | 241 | Counter / Dynamic Punch |
 |
Jynx | 223 | Frost Breath / Avalanche |
 |
Pinsir | 238 | Bug Bite / X-Scissor |
 |
Venusaur | 198 | Vine Whip / Frenzy Plant |
 |
Charizard | 223 | Fire Spin / Blast Burn |
Tier 5 Attacking Pokémon
| Appearance | Pokémon | Optimal Attack | Optimal Moves |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Shiftry | 200 | Razor Leaf / Leaf Blade |
 |
Arcanine | 227 |
|
 |
Ursaring | 236 | Counter / Close Combat |
 |
Piloswine | 181 |
|
 |
Milotic | 192 | Waterfall / Surf |
 |
Banette | 218 | Shadow Claw / Shadow Ball |
 |
Victreebel | 207 |
Razor Leaf / Leaf Blade |
 |
Poliwrath | 182 |
Rock Smash / Dynamic Punch |
 |
Absol | 246 | Snarl / Dark Pulse |
 |
Rhydon | 222 | Mud Slap / Earthquake |
Pokémon GO - Best Pokémon For Defending
We're not going to organise defensive Pokémon into tiers, as the way we see it there are two best options and then a few alternatives. Let's take a look at it.
Best Defenders
| Appearance | Pokémon | Optimal Stamina | Optimal Defence | Optimal Moves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Chansey | 500 | 176 |
Zen Headbutt / Dazzling Gleam |
 |
Blissey | 510 | 229 |
Zen Headbutt / Dazzling Gleam |
Alternate Defenders
| Appearance | Pokémon | Optimal Stamina | Optimal Defence | Optimal Moves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Milotic | 190 | 242 |
|
 |
Snorlax | 320 | 190 |
|
 |
Slaking | 273 | 183 | Yawn / Play Rough |
 |
Lapras | 260 | 180 |
|
 |
Donphan | 180 | 214 | Counter / Play Rough |
 |
Steelix | 150 | 333 |
|
|
Dragonite | 182 | 201 | Dragon Tail / Dragon Claw |
|
Metagross | 160 | 247 | Zen Headbutt / Flash Cannon |
 |
Lanturn | 250 | 146 |
|
 |
Clefable | 190 | 171 | Zen Headbutt / Dazzling Gleam |
|
Venusaur | 160 | 198 | Razor Leaf / Sludge Bomb |
|
Exeggutor | 190 | 158 | Confusion / Seed Bomb |
|
Gardevoir | 136 | 220 |
|
This article is part of our Pokémon GO walkthrough and guide series. We have articles that take you through the basics, covering How To Catch Pokémon: Throwing Tips, Poké Balls, & Capture Rates, How To Redeem Pokémon GO Promo Codes, How To Check A Pokémon's IVs Using An IV Calculator, How Trading Works, How To Track Pokémon Using Maps And Trackers, What Star Pieces And Stardust Do And How To Get Them, How Player Vs. Player Trainer Battles Work, and How To Complete Field Research And Research Breakthroughs And All Rewards.
We cover regular weekly and monthly Pokémon GO events, such as Spotlight Hour Times And Bonus Hour Times, and Community Days. We also have charts, including a Type Chart With Effectiveness And Weakness For All Types, an Egg Chart Explaining 2km, 5km, 7km, & 10km Eggs, and a Buddy Chart Explaining How To Earn Candy.
Elsewhere we cover Friend Code And Sharing Them For Easy XP and Which Pokémon GO 'Auto Catch' Companion Device Is The Best, plus more advanced tactics and info such as All Fast Moves And Charge Moves, How To Get TMs, And How It All Works, Shiny Pokémon And How To Catch Them, Glacial Lures, Magnetic Lures, Mossy Lures in Pokémon GO (And Their Exclusive Evolutions), How To Get Lots Of Candy Fast, How Lucky Pokémon Work & How To Catch Them, How To Catch All 27 Regional Pokémon, the Best Attackers And Best Defenders, All Raid Bosses And Best Counters Listed By Tier, What EX Raids Are And How To Get EX Raid Passes, What A Super Incubators Does And How To Get One, and How Get Mega Energy.
Pocket Monster-wise, we have specific guides for How To Get Pangoro, Sylveon, Glaceon, Aromatisse, Slurpuff, Sirfetch’d, Galarian Cofagrigus And More, How To Get Sylveon, Leafeon, Glaceon, Umbreon, Espeon, Vaporeon, Jolteon And Flareon, How To Evolve Wurmple Into Silcoon Or Cascoon, How To Get Tyrogue, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan And Hitmontop, How To Use The Weather To Get Each Castform Form, How To Catch And Evolve Into Galarian Slowbro, How To Catch Smeargle, How To Find And Evolve Burmy, How To Catch Spinda, Where To Find Unown, How To Catch Ditto, and The Rarest Pokémon Including Wild, Shiny, Mythical And Regional Catches.
We also cover timed research and special events, including Mew's 'A Mythical Discovery', Jirachi's 'A Thousand-Year Slumber', Celebi's 'A Ripple In Time', and Regigigas' 'A Colossal Discovery'. Other (past) event guides include Twitch Codes List - Pokémon World Championship 2022, How To Battle A Challenger (World Championships 2022), How To Battle Fashion Challengers, 'A Spooky Message' Spiritomb Quest, Kanto Event FAQ, and the Summer Tour 2018 Chicago GO Fest And Dortmund And Yokosuka Safari Zones.
Finally, there's our WIP Pokémon GO Pokédex, which currently goes up to 400 Pokémon: #1-50 | #51-100 | #101-150 | #151-200 | #201-250 | #251-300 | #301-350 | #351-400.
Comments 12
This is a poor guide, attack stat alone won't factor for much as the Pokémon's moves or accompanying stats are equally as important.
Slaking may have monstrous stats, but it has a useless fast move "yawn" that deals 1 damage per attack.
Shuckle may also have the highest defense, but it also has incredibly low HP which eliminates its worth as a tank or defender.
Indeed, this guide is vastly oversimplified. There are so many more considerations - types, move sets, aspects of what the stats mean and their relationship to one another, etc. Further, it neglects to mention that some of the Pokémon with high defensive stats are not capable of defending a gym: Legendaries.
To the author: I’d recommend spending some time researching this a little more and updating the article.
People still play this?
Why include legendaries in the defending list? you can't leave them in gyms.
Ooo, that tagline. Eesh
Ummm, does somebody want to tell this Guide's author (who obviously doesn't play Pokémon GO) that Ho-Oh cannot be a good gym defender because he's a legendary and therefore cannot be placed in a gym. Yeah, come on....these guides are terrible and clearly written by someone who doesn't understand how the game actually works.
@DarthFoxMcCloud @Artemis Yeah, I was going to say that Legendaries cannot defend gyms.
So regarding that pun, you do know what was revealed about that guy?!
Like everyone else has said this is a really basic list that is virtually useless. Not even a mention of the fact that IVs come into the equation when picking your strongest Pokémon. Doesn't matter how high your CP is if you've got the lowest appraisal and therefore a low IV it's not gonna do the job in battle.
Yet another stellar guide by Mr. Cut n' Paste.
Seriously, I hope he's not being paid for these.
Who did Glen Fox pleasure to get the Guides Editor gig?
Pokémon go tier list they have the best attackers and best defenders that was that was all on it this was amazing to have. I have to check the all frictions on it that was all on bestessay service this was good to have the formation that was about in it.
Tap here to load 12 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...