Is Hisuian Growlithe good in Pokemon GO PvP?

Thanks to Pokemon GO's ongoing "A Valorous Hero" event, trainers have been able to battle Hisuian Growlithe as a 1-star raid boss and capture it. Unlike its standard counterpart, Hisuian Growlithe possesses a Fire/Rock typing and a learnable move collection to match. Seeing as many players are capturing this species, just how good can it be in PvP battles?

Although it does have decent attack and stamina stats for an unevolved Pokemon, Hisuian Growlithe likely isn't any trainer's first pick in Pokemon GO PvP, at least not as far as the Great/Ultra/Master League is concerned.

But why exactly doesn't Hisuian Growlithe measure up in Pokemon GO's PvP arenas? The answer is multi-faceted, and trainers are better off evolving this species into Hisuian Arcanine.

Note: Parts of this article are subjective and reflect the opinions of the writer

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Why isn't Hisuian Growlithe good for Pokemon GO PvP?

It's no secret that many Pocket Monsters in Pokemon GO's Battle League aren't exactly the cream of the crop. This may be due to their IV stats, their CP, or a substandard collection of learnable moves.

Hisuian Growlithe, in particular, simply doesn't have the maximum CP or stats to be competitive against other opponents in the Great, Ultra, or Master Leagues. The creature may occasionally have some viability in certain specialty formats, but it isn't particularly reliable in the mainline PvP formats.

Overall, Hisuian Growlithe has a maximum CP of 1322 in Pokemon GO, placing it quite a bit below the maximum limit of even the Great League. This Pocket Monster does have a diverse collection of learnable moves to lend it help in type matchups. However, it doesn't have maximum stats (142 attack, 92 defense, 155 stamina) to contend with some of the most popular options in the Great League, and it would be heavily outclassed in the Ultra and Master Leagues.

Put plainly, Hisuian Growlithe certainly has some potential in limited formats where the stats and CP of its opponents are more even. However, Pokemon GO players are better served by evolving it into Hisuian Arcanine, which has vastly better IV stats, a great collection of attacks to use, and a maximum CP of 3,145.

Hisuian Arcanine isn't exactly a top contender in the meta, but it can fill a niche role as an attacker or switch and does its job reliably. It also won't be capable of sweeping enemy teams very often. However, the increase in performance between Hisuian Growlithe and Hisuian Arcanine is very tangible.

As previously stated, Hisuian Growlithe shouldn't be completely discarded in PvP since many specialty cups exist that can even the playing field for it. However, it should be kept out of the traditional GO Battle League formats in just about every circumstance.

The creature from ancient Sinnoh simply doesn't have the numbers to match up with popular picks in the main leagues, and its heavy susceptibility to Ground and Water-type attacks is a liability as well. Trainers should save themselves some headaches and evolve this Scout Pokemon to give it vastly improved performance.