Best Great League teams to use in Pokémon Go

The Great League is the perfect place to start dabbling in Go Battle League if you haven’t tried competitive battling yet in Pokémon Go.

While the other leagues have their thrills, they can get bogged down with rare Legendary Pokémon, XL Candy requirements, and a lot of Community Day exclusive moves. 

Great League is the nearest thing Pokémon Go has to a level playing field, and while it still has its quibbles, it is a great place to learn the competitive ropes, try out some Pokémon, and enjoy some battles with friends.

We explain the best Great League team to get you started in Pokémon Go, and where the Great League meta is right now.

What is the Great League meta right now?

While the Ultra League and Master League have not had much in the way of new Pokémon for quite some time, the lower ceiling of the Great League means that any new addition has a shot. And boy, a few new Pokémon have really made an impact. 

Despite only being added recently, Galarian Corsola is taking the Great League by storm, ending up as a mainstay in the recent Toronto Regionals. Plus, another new addition Morpeko was originally so powerful it had to be banned from competitive play, though it has now returned after some tweaks. 

Finally, Starmie learned Psywave and Surf, rounding out the Pokémon’s movepool and adding to the Pokémon’s already impressive resume. 

While Great League is all about Pokémon below 1,500 CP and is something of a pint-sized free for all, there are also several different takes on the Great League in the upcoming calendar. For the sake of brevity, this guide is just a general Great League guide for the standard format in the foreseeable future.

Finally, when it comes to move for both the Great League and Go Battle League as a whole, Season 20 and Season 21 saw some major changes for competitive Pokémon Go, especially some move buffs — with increased damage for Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, and Fire Punch. Meanwhile, some move additions have made a large impact such as Bibarel learning Rollout and Gliscor learning Sand Attack, if either of those are in your team preference.

Great League best team suggestions

With the lower CP limit of 1,500, you should be able to get most of these Pokémon with little problem. Here’s our best team suggestions for the Great League:

• Clodsire, Galarian Corsola, Pangoro
• Mandibuzz, Diggersby, and Primeape

Let’s go through them separately.

Clodsire, Galarian Corsola, Pangoro

Oh Clodsire, first in most of the rankings, and first in our hearts. While the new evolution of Paldean Wooper has an unassuming look in its eyes, it’s actually a huge threat. This is mostly down fantastic defensive typing and stats, as well as access to some pretty handy moves. The dual Poison and Ground-type makes Clodsire a menace for a lot of common threats like Azumarill and Drapion. 

You want to run Poison Sting as a Fast Move to generate energy quickly, then follow up with Charged moves Sludge Bomb and Earthquake. Just like in the mainline games, Earthquake is just one of the best offensive moves across the board, only furthered by STAB bonus here. However, if you are running into problems with Pokémon like Talonflame, you can run Clodsire with Stone Edge instead of Sludge Bomb, but Earthquake has to stay. 

The introduction of the regional form in Pokémon Sun and Moon has firmly rooted itself as a favorite feature among the community, and maybe no other Pokémon has utilized this feature as cleverly as Galarian Corsola. Taking inspiration from the bleached coral on the shores of Australia and other real world location, Galarian Corsola takes on a ghostly white complexion and the Ghost-type. 

Also, yes, you may be wondering why Galarian Corsola is here instead of its evolution Cursola, and it’s to do with the way the stats are spread out. Because Galarian Corsola has high Defense and Stamina but low Attack, it can level up pretty far before hitting the 1,500 CP cap. However, Cursola swaps its bulk for Attack, ultimately making it much more frail. 

Galarian Corsola is pure Ghost-type, sadly leaving it some glaring weaknesses to Ghost and Dark-type Pokémon, which is where counters like Mandibuzz, Morpeko, and Pangoro come in. But, STAB moves such as Astonish and Night Shade take out some opponents like Gallade, and the second Charged Move Power Gem is here for Flying-type threats such as Jumpluff, Talonflame, and Mandibuzz. 

Finally, like a lot of teams, Pangoro is here to deal with a teammate, as it will help you take down any opposing Galarian Corsola. The Mighty Pangoro is dual Fighting and Dark-type, giving it resistances to Ghost, Psychic, Dark, and Rock-type Pokémon. STAB boosted Fast Move Karate Chop quickly builds energy and causes problems for other Dark-type Pokémon like Malamar. 

Then, a mixture of Charged Moves with Close Combat and Night Slash put pressure on common foes such as Diggersby, Dunsparce, and Bibarel. Your main problem is going to be finding a Pancham with the ideal IV spread of 0/15/15, as it currently only hatches from Eggs. 

This team’s best moves, IVs, and alternative suggestions:

• Clodsire alternatives: Drapion (Shadow), Toxapex, and Nidoqueen
• Galarian Corsola alternatives: Decidueye, Drifblim, and Dragapult
• Pangoro alternatives: Machamp (Shadow), Primeape (Shadow), and Greninja

Mandibuzz, Diggersby, and Primeape

Dark And Flying-type competitor Mandibuzz has some great coverage, and solid Attack stats to back it up. STAB Snarl and Dark Pulse are a huge problem for Galarian Corsola, while Aerial Ace helps to catch some Grass-type threats like Jumpluff. 

A lot of people may be tempted to swap Mandibuzz for Pangoro, and they do fill very similar roles, so it’s mostly up to you how you want to pick. For this team, Primeape makes a good teammate to fill that offensive Fighting-type role left by Pangoro, helping to take out bulky Normal-type threats like Dunsparce and Diggersby. 

Speaking of Diggersby, the Normal and Ground-type rabbit Pokémon has risen up the ranks recently thanks to the increased power of moves like Fire Punch. Use Quick Attack to gain energy quickly, then thankfully Diggersby has a pretty impressive Attack stat to take care of some of the bulkier opponents. 

Charged Move Fire Punch helps with some of the Great League Steel and Grass-type threats such as Steelix and Jumpluff, while Scorching Steps is a fantastic pick for the second Charged Move. This Ground-type move is fantastic, and helps Diggersby get some key wins over Pokémon like Drapion, Clodsire, and Morpeko. Just be careful as it has a whopping four weaknesses. 

Finally, rounding out this team is the humble Primeape. Another pick where you want the lesser form rather than an evolution, the reason for Primeape over Annihilape is because while the former can learn Karate Chop, the latter can not. This powerful move Fast Move generates energy quickly, and really helps to take down bulky Normal-type threats, but if you don’t already have a Primeape with this move it’s going to cost you an Elite TM. 

Rounding out this package, Primeape also has the Charged Moves Rage Fist and Close Combat, which are likely the best picks. But, if you want to catch your opponent out, Ice Punch can occasionally be a viable option. Still, the STAB Fighting-type power of Close Combat is phenomenal at taking out opponents like Mandibuzz, Dunsparce, and Diggersby. 

This team’s best moves, IVs, and alternative suggestions:

• Mandibuzz alternatives: Umbreon, Galarian Moltres. and Honchkrow (Shadow)
• Diggersby alternatives: Clodsire, Lickitung, and Hippowdon (Shadow)
• Primeape alternatives: Pangoro, Machamp (Shadow), and Gallade (Shadow)

In summary — 0ne of the most exciting things about Great League is that there are just so many viable options. We’ve picked a select few here, but there are still some massive threats such as Malamar, Bibarel, Starmie, and even Miltank. It means you can experiment, and all without spending too much Candy to get them up as close as possible to that ceiling of 1,500 CP. 

Meanwhile, as mentioned, while Master League demands as close to perfect IVs as possible, here you want to find Pokémon with 0 Attack IVs and high Defence and Stamina to get your Pokémon as high level as possible before hitting the CP limit. 

Finally, keep an eye on new additions to the Pokédex, as this league is the most malleable of the bunch, and each new addition has a chance of shaking up the rankings even more.

If you want some more Go Battle League tips, we also have some Ultra League best team recommendations.