Pokémon Go Color Cup best team recommendations
Which colour for the Color Cup? This is what we think about putting the best team together.
The Color Cup is here in the world of Pokémon Go, but what does that mean exactly?
As with other seasonal Go Battle League cups in Pokémon Go, the Color Cup comes with a set of interesting team-building restrictions — they’re just almost certainly not what you’re thinking. So, if you want to brush up on Go Battle League, now’s the time to start looking at the best Color Cup team in Pokémon Go.
These cups tend to follow two broad limitations: CP and typing. This means putting together a team that not only meets the CP cap, but is also a set of rules such as meeting a single type or colour. This time, only Fire, Water, Grass, and Electric-type Pokémon up to CP 1500 are allowed. No, those aren’t colours. Yes, we know. No, we don’t get it either.
If you’re looking for other Go Battle League recommendations, see our Great League page.
On this page:
Things to know about putting together a Color Cup team in Pokémon Go
The best thing about the 1500 CP limit is the low cost of entry in terms of Candy and Stardust. This means that if you’re looking to just dip your toes in the water, you can do so without having to waste precious resources on a cup you may not love. Of course, if there’s overlap between this Cup and your Great League team – if you run a Toxapex, for example – you can get away with spending less resources to be competitive.
So, the real question is how do you pick the best Pokémon to beat other Pokémon, when your single selector is colour, and by colour we mean elemental type. What are the best Fire, Water, Grass, and Electric-type Pokémon at CP 1500 and under?
The immediate thing that comes to mind here is Water being on the back foot, having two weaknesses — Electric and Grass. Grass is weak to Fire, which is weak to Water, rounding out our game of Rock Paper Scissors. Electric is really the only outlier here, thanks to its single weakness to Ground-type attacks. But remember, your Pokémon only needs to be one of these types — Victini, for example, is perfectly legal in this cup, despite being a Psychic-type, thanks to its secondary typing being Fire.
This already complicates things, but thanks to Water being a generally overpowered typing, things almost shake out in the end. While there are some excellent Water-type choices, Grass is the one that truly dominates this meta.
It’s also worth noting that thanks to the decreased CP limit, there are fewer Mythical and Legendary Pokémon to worry about, but there are certainly a lot that are viable. The only two you should really consider (and play around) are Shadow Zapdos and Victini. We’ll come onto how to build (and beat) these a little further down the page.
Remember, although there are specific Pokémon that dominate this meta, with the Go Battle League (and player-versus-player battles in general) you’ll be going in blind; so even if you cover yourself with a wide range of offence and defence options, no team is invincible.
Still – even with a few of the below Pokémon in your team, you should be able to fare better than if you just selected those as close to the 1500 CP cap as possible.
The Dual Destiny Season is here! It begins with the Just My Cup of Tea event, which also sees the arrival of Sinistea and the Dual Destiny quest in Pokémon Go! 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.
Our Pokémon Go Color Cup recommendations
There is no single 'best' team you can choose – since, as mentioned previously, you don’t know what you are up against – and not everyone has access to every Pokémon species.
Instead, here is a general list of recommended Color Cup Pokémon to build a team from, with a wide range of sources that should suit all players, whether you’ve been collecting creatures since day one or just started playing. Plus, even if you don’t have any Legendary Pokémon, you can still be very competitive in this cup.
Remember you are only allowed one of each in the Go Battle League, and ideally, you’d want to build a team with different type strengths and defence.
It’s also worth noting that if you want to really compete, each of your Pokémon need two Charged moves. If you want to skimp on Stardust and only run the one move, do so at your own peril – you have been warned.
Our Pokémon Go Weather Cup team recommendations in order of their appearance in the National Pokédex – while there is some overlap with our Great League guide, make sure you read the full entry as we may be recommending some move changes:
Shadow Zapdos
Perfect IVs: 5/15/14
Weakness: Ice, Rock
Moves: Thunder Shock ( Legacy Fast), Drill Peck (Charged), Thunderbolt (Charged)
The original angry bird is the first of the two Legendary Pokémon that we recommend considering for the Color Cup, but only if you have the Shadow version — so, the super angry bird.
Zapdos is already a glass cannon, and leaning into this archetype always works better than pulling back. This spammy, dynamic Pokémon applies a lot of shield pressure, leaving Grass and Water Pokémon on the back foot. The obvious other bonus here is that, due to the lack of relevant weaknesses, this is a cup where your Zapdos is about as well protected as it can be.
But it’s not all gravy – every Pokémon has a list of match-ups it wins and another it loses. For Zapdos, you can expect wins against Pelipper, Charizard, Trevenant, Toxapex and Abomasnow — three of which are strongly recommended for your team. It loses, meanwhile, to the likes of Lanturn, Cradily, Swampert and Galvantula.
Mantine
Perfect IVs: 0/15/14
Weakness: Electric (x2), Rock
Moves: Wing Attack (Fast), Ice Beam (Charged), Bubble Beam (Charged)
Mantine has the handy ability of being resistant to Water and Fire, while also being neutral to Grass. The main issue, clearly, is its double-weakness to Electric-type attacks .
As long as you can play around this, you’re looking at a bulky, spammy Pokémon. Wing Attack is fast charging, helping you fire off Ice Beams against Grass and Flying-types that little bit quicker, and Bubble Beam should you feel the need to drop the opponent’s attack by a stage every time you use it.
This combo leads to some pretty interesting match-ups. You lose instantly to anything that can produce even mild static, along with Toxapex and Cradily. However, you can expect wins against Pelipper, Charizard, Trevenant, Abomasnow and Swampert, which is a good list to keep in mind!
Tropius
Perfect IVs: 0/15/15
Weakness: Ice (x2), Fire, Flying, Poison, Rock
Moves: Air Slash (Fast), Leaf Blade (Charged), Aerial Ace (Charged)
The Color Cup is heavily dominated by the colour green, and Tropius is a Pokémon you should either consider running or plan around encountering — especially when you consider that it’s pretty powerful against other Grass-types.
Again, we’re looking at a bulky, spammy Pokémon that fires off Charged moves like nobody’s business. While Tropius doesn’t have the best attacks in the game, it doesn’t matter when it hits hard and fast, and is capable of taking a hit in return — as long as it’s not an Ice or Fire-type attack.
You can expect easy wins against Swampert and Trevenant, but also some impressive wins against Lanturn, Cradily and Galvantula. Abomasnow, meanwhile, will ruin your day – as will Charizard and Toxapex who will all beat you in record time. Pelipper and Zapdos are your two other Pokémon to watch out for.
Abomasnow
Perfect IVs: 0/15/15
Weakness: Fire (x2), Bug, Fighting, Flying, Poison, Rock, Steel
Moves: Powder Snow (Fast), Weather Ball (Ice, Charged), Energy Ball (Charged)
We need no excuse to run Abomasnow – it’s a monster in every sense of the world and it can be devastating when used correctly.
In this cup, that’s pretty easy to do – in a close match, this Grass-type Pokémon can even beat a Shadow Charizard. This spammy, dynamic Pokémon is just that good. And it’s so good at applying shield pressure, the chances of putting your opponent on the back foot are pretty high.
Sadly, no matter how much we want the scary snowman to be invincible, it can’t win ‘em all. It easily beats Trevenant and Swampert, and beats Togedemaru, Pelipper and Charizard, but loses against Toxapex, Shadow Zapdos, Galvantula, Mantine and Cradily.
Victini
Perfect IVs: 10/15/13
Weakness: Dark, Ghost, Ground, Rock, Water
Moves: Quick Attack (Fast), V-Create (Charged), Psychic (Charged)
Victini is always a shoo-in for Great League special cups. If Fire-type Pokémon are eligible, Victini is well worth a look.
It’s spammy and flexible, and Quick Attack is a great fast-charging move thanks to the fact that it always does neutral damage. The issue is V-Create, which deals great damage, but comes with the drawback of absolutely nuking your defences, so as long as you know to hold it back for when you need it, you should be fine.
In terms of match-ups, Victini will lead to easy wins against Fire-types Abomasnow, Galvantula, Luxray and Zapdos. However, it will obviously fold against Water-types and, unfortunately, Charizard.
Note: Victini is the only Fire-type in this list, despite how strong Grass is. If you need a Fire-type, Charizard or Alolan Marowak would do, but the abundance of strong Water-types means you should probably consider something with Ice or Flying attacks to counter the Grass-types at the top of the meta.
Ferrothorn
Perfect IVs: 10/13/13
Weakness: Fire (x2), Fighting
Moves: Bullet Seed (Fast), Power Whip (Charged), Mirror Shot (Charged)
The good thing about the low number of Fire-type Pokémon at the top of this meta is that Pokémon double-weak to Fire, such as Abomasnow and Ferrothorn, have very little to worry about.
This bulky, spammy Pokémon may have low Fast move pressure, but it makes up for it with shield pressure thanks to fast-charging Bullet Seed leading to rapid Power Whips for big damage, and the occasional Mirror Shot when you need a Steel-type nuke.
As mentioned, the lack of Fire-types plays to your advantage. Your biggest concerns in this meta come from Trevenant, Shadow Zapdos, Galvantula, Pelipper and Shifty. However, you can look forward to easy wins against Lanturn, Togedemaru, Swampert, Abomasnow and Toxapex.
Trevenant
Perfect IVs: 0/15/15
Weakness: Dark, Fire, Flying, Ghost, Ice
Moves: Shadow Claw (Fast), Shadow Ball (Charged), Seed Bomb (Charged)
Oh look, a Pokémon that is excellent, is excellent. Shock, horror!
Trevenant was always going to be one of the best Pokémon in this cup and it does not disappoint. And, like the other Grass-types in this cup, it doesn’t need to worry about Fire at the top of the meta. This leaves you with a Pokémon that is spammy, flexible and dynamic, that applies shield pressure and isn’t penalised for its lack of bulk by meta-relevant weaknesses.
For those who haven’t used it in the Great League, Shadow Claw is a great multipurpose Fast attack, Seed Bomb is a great attack to use as shield bait, and should they run out of shields, Shadow Ball is there to nuke them.
So, how does it stack up against the meta? Expect wins against Togedemaru, Lanturn, Swampert, Galvantula and Pelipper, but losses against Abomasnow, Charizard, Shadow Zapdos, Luxray and Toxapex.
Gourgeist (Supersize)
Perfect IVs: 0/15/14
Weakness: Dark, Fire, Flying, Ghost, Ice
Moves: Hex (Fast), Shadow Ball (Charged), Seed Bomb (Charged)
If Gourgeist looks a lot like a slightly worse Trevenant, it’s because it is. But a slightly worse excellent Pokémon is still an excellent Pokémon, and Gourgeist is not to be overlooked!
Move wise, Gourgeist is arguably better than its spooky friend, since Hex is faster charging than Shadow Claw, allowing it to make up for its lower attack as it can get more Charged Moves in over a long game.
So, how does it stack up against the meta? Expect wins against Togedemaru, Lanturn, Swampert, Galvantula and Zapdos. This is almost identical to Trevenant (which would lose to Zapdos). Losses come from Abomasnow, Charizard and Toxapex – which is the same as Trevenant – but also the scary tree itself, and Pelipper (which Trevenant would beat).
Toxapex
Perfect IVs: 0/15/15
Weakness: Electric, Ground, Psychic
Moves: Poison Jab (Fast), Brine (Charged), Sludge Wave (Charged)
It’s probably of little surprise that Toxapex is at the top of the meta if you’ve seen it in action.
Poison Jab is just a great move. Sludge Wave is a Poison-type nuke and, well, Brine is there for coverage. Really, Toxapex is here for the Poison party, what with the lack of Fire-types in the meta. While Electric-types can be an issue, the extreme bulk and defensive nature of this Pokémon mean that you’re in good stead.
In terms of match-ups, this means that you can look forward to wins against Abomasnow, Charizard, Trevenant, Pelipper and Cradily. Losses, meanwhile, come from the Electric-types and Swampert.
Color Cup end date in Pokémon Go
The Weather Cup will run until Wednesday, 15th March and finish at the following times:
- UK – 9pm (BST)
- Europe – 10pm (CEST)
- East Coast US – 4pm (EDT)
- West Coast US – 1pm (PDT)
Good luck in Color Cup!