Pokémon Go Fighting Cup Remix best team recommendations

Things to know about putting together a Fighting Cup Remix team in Pokémon Go

The upside to the 1500 CP limit is that, like the Great League, putting a team together is relatively cheap and easier in terms of Stardust.

The downside to this specific cup is that it is so extremely restricted, the pool of usable options is only around 50 Pokémon deep — which means that that there’s only really 20–25 viable Pokémon if you want to be competitive.

With psychic-types being banned, we need to look to look to this type’s other weaknesses: fairy and flying.

With a complete lack of fairy/fighting types in the game, that option is safe. Flying moves on fighting-types, however, is not unheard of. In order to protect against this, and the fact that mono-fighting-types tend to be extremely glassy, you’re going to want to explore your options to find a team that has the right level of defence to be competitive.

There is only one Legendary Pokémon to seriously consider here: Galarian Zapdos. But, since this is only available to those who are incredibly lucky with both Adventure Incense and catch rates, we're going to ignore it. If you have it, it's a great choice with Counter, Ancient Power and Brave Bird, but we are keenly aware that the significant minority of readers will have one.

Now, we come to the ban-list. All 'Remix' cups are based on a previous cup, but try to shake up the meta by banning the most powerful — or popular — Pokémon that were overrepresented in the last iteration. So, in this case, the Pokémon that made it into the Fighting Cup but are banned from the Fighting Cup Remix are:

• Hakamo-o
• Kommo-o
• Buzzwole
• Sneasler

This shakes up more of the meta than you would imagine, as this doesn’t just remove the most powerful Pokémon, but anything that was brought in specifically to take them down is no longer relevant or needed. So, if you took part in the Fighting Cup and had a great team, you should still cast your eyes over the recommendations below to see how your match-ups have changed.

And, if you don’t have our recommended Great League choices, chances are you can find them pretty easily in the wild. It also makes Community Day, which offers an easy source of strong Pokémon that fare well at lower CP levels, a more attractive proposition.

No matter which League you participate in, remember you are after Pokémon with a decent amount of bulk (the ability to survive charged moves – type weakness depending – so you can fire off a few of your own) and those that best counter or expose weaknesses in the current meta (which is a term for what the community is using at present).

Though there are specific Pokémon that dominate this meta, remember 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 Max Out Season is here. The new global event, Wild Area, is nearly here and In the Wild is our lead-up event, which includes the global release of Toxel. 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 Fighting Cup Remix recommendations

There is no one '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 type of Pokémon.

Instead, here is a general list of recommended Fighting Cup Remix 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.

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. For example, if you build a team with all mono-fighting types, anything with a move like Aerial Ace will just make you sad.

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 Fighting Cup Remix team recommendations in order of their appearance in the National Pokédex — while there is some overlap with the Great League guide, make sure you read the full entry as we may be recommending some move changes:

Shadow Poliwrath

Type: Water / Fighting
Perfect IVs: 0/14/15
Recommended moves: Mud Shot (Fast), Ice Punch (Charged), Scald (Charged)
Poliwrath Weaknesses: Electric, Fairy, Flying, Grass and Psychic

Shadow Poliwrath is probably the best option as a lead in the Fighting Cup Remix, offering incredible shield pressure with Mud Shot into Ice Punch, with Scald as a higher energy option with a 30% chance of debuffing your opponent’s attack by one stage.

The issue, of course, is the glassiness of Shadow Pokémon. The important thing is that it can punch its way through the likes of Toxicroak (the demon of this meta), it will lose to Machoke, Machamp and Sirfetch’d, which are all issues to be aware of.

If you don’t have a Shadow version, don’t run it – you no longer beat Toxicroak, which is the main pull of this Pokémon.

Machamp

Type: Fighting
Perfect IVs: 0/14/11
Recommended moves: Counter (Fast), Cross Chop (Charged), Close combat (Charged)
Machamp Weaknesses: Fairy, Flying and Psychic

It wouldn’t be the Fighting Cup without the MVP of fighting types, would it? Machamp is exactly the same build as was recommended in standard Fighting Cup.

As a Counter-used that hits incredibly hard, it’s a great choice. However, its lack of dual-typing makes it incredibly inflexible, leaving it exposed to that natural glass-cannon issue we mentioned earlier.

Still, both Shadow and regular Machamp are incredible here, putting down a lot of pressure very quickly. Just be aware that Close Combat is your Hail Mary when low on HP, as it’s 100% chance to seriously drop your defence doesn’t end well when you use it too early.

Machamp will beat Poliwrath, Galarian Farfetch’d and Throh, but it will lose to a Shadow Machoke, Sirfetch’d and Sawk. Importantly, it will also lose to Toxicroak.

Galarian Farfetch’d

Type: Fighting
Perfect IVs: 0/15/15
Recommended moves: Fury Cutter (Fast), Brave Bird (Charged), Leaf Blade (Charged)
Farfetch’d Weaknesses: Fairy, Flying and Psychic

It’s rare that we don’t jump to the fully evolved form of a Pokémon in Go Battle League, but this is an example where the apprentice beats the master. Sirfetch’d is just weirdly not as good as G’fetch’d.

This is mostly as anti-Toxicroak tech: Fury Cutter is very fast-charging, and allows you to either spam away shields with Leaf Cutter, or quickly slam down a Brave Bird to hopefully one-hit a Toxicroak. Brave Bird will ruin your defence, with a guaranteed three-stage drop, so use it as a Hail Mary.

There's little point going over the match-ups, as the effortlessly cool quack attack is here for a good time, not a long time, but it loses to pretty much anything with biceps, thanks to its pre-evolution lack of bulk; however, it hits hard enough with its Charged moves that it beats Water and Bug types, along with Toxicroak, Sirfetch’d and Throh.

Toxicroak

Type: Poison / Fighting
Perfect IVs: 1/15/15
Recommended moves: Counter (Fast), Mud Bomb (Charged), Sludge Bomb (Charged)
Toxicroak Weaknesses: Psychic, Flying and Ground

Welcome to the Fighting Toxicroak Cup Remix!

Every team build by anyone who has even done cursory research will know that everyone is either running this or trying to beat it. There are only four Pokémon in the entire meta it loses to in a fair fight: Throh, Shadow Poliwrath, Crabrawler and Galarian Farfetch’d. No matter your team, you need to run one of those four, and ideally a Toxicroak to go with it.

We're genuinely surprised this didn’t fall under the ban hammer, because this Cup is going to be incredibly top-heavy as a result.

There’s not much else to say: Counter is the best Fast attack in game, Mud Bomb is for the mirror and Sludge Bomb will give some heavy STAB damage. Toxicroak is spammy and flexible, but it is weak to Ground and Flying, so either hide from those or try to exploit it as you see fit!

Sirfetch’d

Type: Fighting
Perfect IVs: 2/15/15
Recommended moves: Counter (Fast), Brave Bird (Charged), Leaf Blade (Charged)
Sirfetch’d Weaknesses: Fairy, Flying and Psychic

With absolutely everything in this meta being weak to flying, Sirfetch’d running Brave Bird with STAB is going to be a huge boon for your team.

The issue, of course, is that its pre-evolved form (Galarian Farfetch’d) hits faster, which means it beats the demon of the meta, Toxicroak — something that this honourable gentleduck cannot do. And for the very same reason, it loses to Galarian Farfetch’d too.

By the same token, it has the same drawback: Brave Bird lowering your defence by three stages. This means that while it’s a great attack if it wins you the match, it can easily lose you the match if your timing is poor! Just be aware of this if you’re thinking of one for your team.

Hisuian Sneasel

Type: Fighting / Poison
Perfect IVs: 1/15/14
Recommended moves: Poison Jab (Fast), Close Combat (Charged), Aerial Ace(Charged)
Sneasler Weaknesses: Psychic, Flying and Ground

Just because Sneasler is banned, that doesn’t mean that Sneasel is out action too. Here, we’re about the word of the law, not the spirit of the law; and that means losing the Ghost-type Fast attack in favour of a Poison-type one, and taking a slight hit to the stats, but leaving you with a perfectly decent Pokémon for this cup.

Poison as a second typing makes for a great option in this cup, as evidenced by Sneasler and Toxicroak.

If you’re prepared to take this stat hit, Hisuian Sneasel will help you take down Machoke, Sawk and Hitmonlee, but you’ll struggle against Shadow Machoke and Galarian Farfetch’d, and lose hard to the likes of Throh, Toxicroak and Shadow Poliwrath.