Pokémon Go best Pokémon, from best attackers to best defenders and best Pokémon by type

The best Pokémon in Pokémon Go by type

With Pokémon Go’s Pokédex being just under 840 (as of end-December 2023), the number of Pokémon in the game has certainly Exploud-ed over the past few years. Even with the ones that are missing (there’s a total 1025 in the main-series, not including alternate forms or regional variants) there’s daunting number of Pokémon to choose from, so you’d be forgiven for having no idea what the best Pokémon in the game are.

To borrow from Orwell, while all Pokémon are equal in the eyes of Arceus, some are more equal than others, and some are definitely leagues ahead of their peers.

While there are still some obvious bests – like Mewtwo – the addition of variants such as Armored Mewtwo and Shadow Mewtwo complicate things, and the two Mega Mewtwo variants will just complicate things further. And then we have the Alolan and Galarian forms — is Hisuian Samurott better than regulat Samurott, for example? There’s a phenomenal amount of choice here, and nobody can be expected to know how each Pokémon compares in all aspects of the game.

And just to make things even more complicated, different Pokémon are good for different things, so whether you’re looking to take down or defend a gym, or even beat your friends in a round of PvP, you’re going to want a different line-up.

So, while there’s no single best Pokémon for every scenario, it’s good to know that there are still some standout contenders that you’ll want to focus your time (and more importantly, Stardust and Candy) on.

As such, it’s good to know which Pokémon are generally best for each style of play, and the easiest way to divvy them up is by their typing. Here’s an at-a-glance look at the strongest Pokémon by type right now, including the best options for their moves at the time of writing.

Note that we’ve opted for the best moves of that type where available, which might not be the optimal damage output moves for that Pokémon overall. Rayquaza, for example, does more damage (and is generally best used) as a Dragon-type attacker with Dragon-type moves. But it’s also one of the strongest Flying-type attackers in the game if you equip it with Air Slash and Hurricane, as we’ve noted below.

So use this table if you’re trying to find a good Pokémon of a certain type, specifically, even though it’s good for getting a general sense of the overall best Pokémon in the game, too.

Of course, if PvP is more your thing, we have dedicated pages to each of the cups that you can try your hand at, from the mainstays of Great League, Ultra League and Master League, to those that come and go less frequently, like the Flying Cup, Jungle Cup and Element Cup!

Pokémon Go Best Pokémon by Type

Because the best Pokémon are almost always Mega/Primal Reversion and then Shadow Pokémon, adding them seems almost pointless. If there’s a Mega Pokémon, it’s almost always best-in-class as an attacker, but obviously loses points as a defender, where it can’t be Mega Evolved.

If there’s a Shadow version of anything on this list, use it if you want it as an attacker, but hold it back as a defender because Shadows are basically glass cannons.

If you want a more detailed breakdown of each type, including the best Mega in each type and the best moves and counters for each type, make sure you check out our Pokémon Go types and weaknesses explainer. It has everything you need to know on type charts, elemental weaknesses and the differences between Go and the main series games when it comes to damage calculation.

The below tier list is as of December 2023:

Best attackers in Pokémon Go

Bear in mind as again that this Tier List is an editorialised approach, rather than a ranking of Pokémon by their highest DPS movesets or definitive stats, meaning our own experiences, knowledge, and judgement come into play here as well as the raw numbers.

That being said, several sources have been extremely useful for helping us decide: community work like this spreadsheet, as well as cross-referencing GamePress and Gameinfo in particular, who have all approached the situation in different ways, as well as calculations varying in depth from complete matchup simulations to more simple attacking and defending DPS calculations, and plenty in-between.

We recommend you give all of the above a look if you’re on the hunt for an even more detailed breakdown of the information at hand – but be warned, it gets complex!

Below, we’ll take into account all of the above, along with our own understanding of the general metagame climate as things stand – that means that while a Pokémon may rank near the very top for raw damage output, it may not rank as highly in our tier list because of some flimsy defences and lack of type coverage.

It’s also worth noting that the best attackers are almost always the Mega Pokémon, so we won’t be including those in our list. Nobody wants to read the same list of 'Mega Rayquaza and Primal Groudon are the bestest only use those all of the time', because that's (fortunately) not how the game works.

You can only have one Primal/Mega at a time, and if you’re doing a raid where the opponent is weak against something you can Mega Evolve, you should almost always have a Mega-Evolved Pokémon of that type to power up your friends' Pokémon and help get you better rewards at the end. So, we'll instead be focusing on the 'best of the rest', as it were, rounding out the other five slots in your team.

Pokémon Go Best Attackers Tier List

The best attackers in Pokémon Go as of December 2023 are:

Honourable mention: Attack Deoxys is one of the hardest hitters in the game, but since it’s so difficult to get hold of, relative to the rest of the list, it’s basically unobtainable for 51 weeks of the year, if you’re lucky. If you have one, and can get enough candies to level it up, Zen Headbutt and Psycho Boost are the moves you’re going to want to run with!

The Max Out Season is here and includes a new global event, Wild Area. You can now catch Dynamax Pokémon through Max Battles. First, however, you need to visit Power Spots to collect Max Particles and complete the To the Max! quest. Don't forget to try out Routes, Gift Exchange and Party Play while you're hunting down rare Pokémon, fighting in the Go Battle League or competing in PokéStop Showcases.

Best defenders in Pokémon Go

Just like the section above, this tier list of the best defending Pokémon in Pokémon Go is editorialised with our own experience, combined with the hard stats of the sources listed above.

Pokémon Go Best Defenders Tier List

The below tier list is as of December 2023:

Honourable mention: Slaking – while it is comically easy to take down (thanks to Yawn being a dreadful attack), putting one in a gym will immediately shoot up its height, making the gym look well defended, even when it’s not, thanks to its ridiculous CP.