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With Pokemon GO's Charged-Up Research Day coming to a close, many players are looking back on their newly caught horde, seeing which of their additions have any potential in the competitive scene. However, determining a creature's viability in the popular mobile game requires a bit of a different perspective from that of the main series.
The Battle League metagame looks drastically different from the main series due to the mobile game's entirely unique real-time battle system. This change, paired with restrictions for each of the ranked tiers, has given many weaker creatures a chance to shine. Here are some of the best metagame contenders from the recent Research Day.
NOTE: This article is subjective and reflects the views of the writer.
Pokemon GO's five best PvP choices found during the Charged-Up Research Day
1) Heliolisk
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Heliolisk may not be the meta-game staple of some of the other choices on this list, but it is still an incredibly useful monster to have on standby. Its diverse moveset is loaded with coverage options like Grass Knot and Breaking Sweep. While it may be average in standard competitive play, it is prevalent in many special cups that occasionally come to the servers.
Heliolisk is a Normal and Electric-type Pokemon, which is a combination only shared with its pre-evolved form. This allows Heliolisk to access a wide spread of different types of moves, something Electric-type Pokemon normally do not have to compensate for their lack of multiple weaknesses. However, this does impact its offensive capabilities as an Electric-type attacker.
Players can obtain a Heliolisk by evolving their Helioptile with 50 candies and a Sun Stone.
2) Galvantula
Galvantula is another Electric-type that sports an almost entirely unique typing. It originally rose in popularity as a counter to the meta-game at the time, which revolved heavily around Azumarill and Registeel. Over time, Galvantula carved out its own spot among the high-tier picks of the competitive scene.
Thanks to its access to Bug, Electric, Poison, and Grass-type attacks, Galvantula is a strong offensive closer for any fight when the opponent is low on shields. Being a Bug and Electric-type, it is only weak to Rock and Fire, which are relatively uncommon attacking types in the Great and Ultra Leagues.
Galvantula evolves from Joltik. In Pokemon GO, players can evolve their Joltik with 50 of its respective Candies.
3) Manectric
Manectric is a solid choice for players looking to add an Electric-type to their Great League team. Though it is rather frail and a pure Electric-type, it has a decent variety of moves at its disposal, as well as the powerful Wild Charge. It also has the capability to learn Psychic Fangs via an Elite Charged TM.
In addition to being a great PvP choice, Manectric also has the ability to Mega Evolve. While this cannot be used in PvP, it is incredibly useful for PvE Raid Battles. Mega Manectric is arguably the best Electric-type attacker in Pokemon GO, so players should always pick one up if they have the chance.
Manectric evolves from Electrike in Pokemon GO using 50 Electrike Candies.
4) Lanturn
Lanturn is a notoriously good pick in the Great and Ultra League due to its high bulk and great coverage, thanks to its almost-unique Water and Electric typing. It also has very few typings, meaning it can switch into almost any match-up safely. It shines in countering other Water-types like Jellicent and Azumarill thanks to its Electric attacks.
Lanturn does have its downsides. Primarily, it lacks coverage options. While Water and Electric cover a good portion of the roster, the lack of coverage options means that Lanturn can get easily walled by a defensive Steel or Dragon-type. It also has a rather low stat pool, meaning it can be outclassed by a lot of other creatures in higher tiers of play.
Lanturn can be evolved from Chinchou in Pokemon GO using 50 Chinchou Candies.
5) Pawmot
Pawmot is one of the most interesting Electric-types Niantic has brought to the mobile game in quite some time. Unlike many other Pikachu clones of their respective regions, the Pawmi line evolves twice. This allows the line to have a much higher base stat total, being more viable than other similar electric rodents.
Being a Fighting and Electric-type with access to both Close Combat and Wild Charge, Pawmot is a unit whose sole job is to go in and cause as much damage as possible before burning out. However, it is still relatively new, and the competitive community is still experimenting with it.
Pawmot is the final stage of Pawmi, which evolves into Pawmo with 25 Candies. Pawmo can evolve into Pawmot with 100 Pawmi Candies after walking 25 kilometers with it registered as the player's Buddy Pokemon.
