Let's GO's Updated Gym Defender Tier List

Vaporeons. Vaporeons everywhere!

Greetings Trainers!

The new CP update has really thrown a wrench in the gears of "Let's GO." I was all ready for Generation 2 to come out, and then out of nowhere this CP update changed everything I knew about the gym metagame. I wasn't going to write anything about this new metagame, but I decided I could do a lazy-formatted article to at least give my thoughts about the new gym defender tiers.

These rankings do not only factor in the performance of the defender, but they also take into account a Pokemon's maximum CP. This is the new age of Pokemon GO, where gyms go down much faster. The CP update also promoted a bunch of new high CP Pokemon that players will slot into gyms to avoid being the first to drop out (e.g. Rhydon, Gyarados). Due to the new gym Prestige mechanics, combined with the numerous high-CP Pokemon in the game, having high CP is that much more important for a Gym Defender. Why? Well:

In order for a gym defender to make a difference in a gym, it actually has to stay in the gym long enough to be battled a few times. A Pokemon like Chansey is beastly with its new buff, and I don't have a max-level Chansey to test against to see if it's even possible to beat it before timing out using most available attackers; I suspect it is possible. If it is possible to beat Chansey, then it's not a very good defender. The reason being that players will only ever have to battle Chansey once in order to knock it out of the gym, as it's virtually guaranteed to be at the front. This same principle can be applied to other strong defenders like Wigglytuff, that will simply get dropped from a gym too quickly to be relevant anymore. If you filled a gym with Chanseys, or Wigglytuffs, that's another story. But as general defenders... they're just not up to snuff anymore.

With that said, here's a rough prospective Tier list with some explanations/speculation. Generation 2 will totally revamp this, so I won't be putting tons of work into making this article look pretty. The new Base Stats come from a formula derived by Peter Hatch, commenter on Gamepress. As such, they are calculated approximations, and may not reflect true stats. I've always rounded down, as that's how Pokemon tends to do things. So even if a stat calcs to 200.99, I'd still say the base stat is 200. I think this is how Niantic and Pokemon treat things...

Tier Summary

For recommended movesets, see the original Gym Defender Tier List article!

S Tier

• Snorlax
• Lapras

Tier 1

• Dragonite
• Exeggutor
• Vaporeon

Tier 2

• Omastar
• Poliwrath
• Slowbro
• Venusaur
• Kangaskhan

Tier 3

• Rhydon
• Gyarados
• Muk

Tier 4

• Golem
• Tentacruel
• Clefable
• Vileplume
• Cloyster
• Alakazam
• Tauros

Tier 5

• Arcanine
• Machamp
• Pinsir

Likely "Best" Pokemon from Generation 2

Meet Tyranitar, the new Dragonite. It's a Rock/Dark type,
and effectively the Godzilla of Pokemon - instantly cool.

Greetings trainers!

Generation 2 sprites have been found in datamines of the game, which means it's no longer ridiculous to speculate on Generation 2 Pokemon. There are also rumoured leaks about corporate sponsorships with Starbucks and others, but these are just rumours for now. Hilariously (not), I had already written up most of this article and was ready to put the finishing touches on it when the new CP update hit. This new CP update has now been worked out to some extent (thanks to Peter Hatch and the folks at Gamepress), though it's still a tiny bit off for some Pokemon's true Max CP.

With that said, the metagame still hasn't settled since the update, and most intriguing to me is that Pokemon with high CP stats are no longer necessarily decent gym defenders.

Previously, Max CP was very strongly correlated with gym performance. But now, Pokemon with terrible Stamina can have very high CP (e.g. Alakazam, Kingler, Gengar), but these Pokemon do not make good gym defenders; a reminder that gym defenders receive a 2x boost to HP, making Stamina the most important stat for gym defenders. Once Gen 2 is released and we know movesets, I'll look into updating the Gym Defender's Tier List.

Summary (TL;DR): 

An interesting side effect that Gen 2 will likely have is making it relevant to have a good attacking Machamp. Snorlax having Zen Headbutt really put a damper in Machamp's metagame relevance, but with four Pokemon coming up that are all Fighting-weak, Machamp my finally gets it chance to shine. Most importantly, one of these four is the new Dragonite-equivalent, Tyranitar. Tyranitar is doubly weak to Fighting (ho yeah), and Machamp will resist whatever attacks TTar throws out, be they Rock or Dark (ho baby).

So while you'll want to save up your candies for whatever Gen 2 mons you're excited for, it might be a good idea to try and get yourself a good attacking Machamp in the meantime! Hitmonlee also received a major buff, and should be capable of tackling Tyranitar. Rock/Ground types like Rhydon and Golem should also be highly relevant to tackling the upcoming Rock and Normal types, as they resist their Rock and Normal STAB moves and can hit back with high-damage Ground moves.

Introduction to the actual meat of the article:

The Let's (Pokemon) GO! Gym Building Guide

Go away Drowzee, no one likes you

Greetings trainers,

With the latest update (released on Nov. 7th 2016), the gym Prestige system has been totally overhauled. It's now 4x harder to hold a gym than prior to the update. Why? It's 2x tougher to level a gym up, and 2x easier to take one down. Details below:

The maximum Prestige earned off a defending Pokemon in a friendly gym is now 500 (down from the previous 1000), and the prestige earned for knocking out a defending Pokemon in an enemy gym is now 1000 (up from 500). The bonus for clearing an enemy gym has been reduced to 1000 (from 1500).

What effect will this have on the metagame? That remains to be determined, but already I've been seeing a lot of former Level 10 strongholds fall. Quite interestingly, not all of them were actually taken down fully, but a number of them have had the first few Pokemon cleared out and were then left alone. These gyms are likely going to get cleared once the first strong player on a gym-run passes by, but in the meantime they're holding.

Overall, I think this change is going to be fantastic for the health of the game, though the most dedicated players will have a harder time collecting 100 coins every day. The question on everyone's mind is now: in this new age of hyper offence, how does someone build a level 10 gym anymore? First, a quick note:

Summary of Gym-prestige mechanics changes

• Against friendly gyms, beating a defender with a lower-CP Pokemon now earns you 250 prestige plus a multiplier. Beating a defender with a higher-CP Pokemon now earns you 125 prestige minus a multiplier.
• Against opposing gyms, beating a defender now reduces gym prestige by 1000, and clearing the whole gym reduces gym prestige by an additional 1000.

With that said, let's get talking about how to build these level 10 gyms. By the way, if you haven't seen our Gym Defender's Tier List yet, be sure to give it a look-over when you can. In the meantime, here is a summary of some of the strongest defenders out there:

Featured Pokemon: Wigglytuff

Question: without looking, does
Wigglytuff have a tail?

Greetings trainers!

Today we'll be talking about, perhaps, the most underestimated Pokemon in Pokemon GO. Wigglytuff has been called a "mini-Snorlax," and its massive HP and Fairy/Normal-typing really do make it feel a bit like facing a Snorlax. Wigglytuff's Feint Attack is comparable to Snorlax's Zen Headbutt, and far superior to Snorlax's Lick. On offence, Wigglytuff is a fantastic mon to use for gym-levelling, thanks to its extremely low CP for its relative performance. All-in-all, Wigglytuff is a great Pokemon with niche uses as both an attacker and very capable defender.

Recommended movesets