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First Wave Generation 5 New Ghost Pokemon

Which is Worth Powering Up?

The first wave of Generation 5 in Pokemon Go was launched few days ago and players are now busy collecting and evolving the new Gen 5 pokemons. As much as we are all eager to show off who is the first to get the new pokemons, let’s take a look at what’s worth catching and powering up for gym battle and raids. This article will focus on the first 2 ghost type that was recently released.

Golurk

Golurk is a new ghost and ground type pokemon. At first glance, it looks bulky and strong. Golurk Max CP for perfect IV is 2854 (Attack: 222, Defense: 154 & HP:205). Pretty decent stats. Ranking as 4th best ghost type with the current available ghost pokemons in the game. It best move-set however is not ghost moves but ground moves. With Mud Slap and Earth Power, it has a DPS of 12.89 and TDO of 474.4. Golurk ghost move combination (Astonish & Shadow Punch) turns out rather disappointing with DPS of 10.04 and TDO of 359.56. Comparing with Gen 1 Gengar, which most of the players have an army of it, Gengar highest DPS (Lick & Shadow Ball) is 17.91 and TDO is 493.38.

As a duo-type pokemon, its ground typing places it with an advantage when battling with Gengar and the new Chadelure as both are weak to ground type moves. On the other hand, its ground and ghost typing also means that it will be weak to dark, ghost, grass, ice and water type pokemons. It’s ranking for ground type is at number 17 just after the recent Community Day Torterra. Meaning that players would have a lot more better ground type pokemons to use instead of Golurk. As for PvP, Golurk probably is more like to fit into the Ultra and Master league. However, there are also better ground type pokemons to use in such league which puts Golurk on a cold bench most of the time.

Golurk can be evolved from Golett which is currently available in the wild and 10km egg.

Verdict: Unless Niantic gives Golurk better ghost and ground moves, it is probably just a wallpaper collection.

Chandelure

Players who are familiar with Gen 5 pokemons will be excited with Chandelure. It is a massive pokemon with impressive stats. A duo-type pokemon (Fire & Ghost), Chandelure is ranked 3rd in the ghost type, just after Giratina (O) and Gengar; ranked 3rd as well in fire type after Reshiram and Volcarona (both will only available end of the year or early 2020).

Chandelure max CP for perfect IV is 3268 (Attack: 271 Defense: 182 HP: 155). Chandelure biggest strength is its high attack stats. It’s Defense stat is also higher than Gengar, making it slightly tankier in gym battle. DPS & TDO comparison is as follows:

Players who have access to Gengar’s Lick and Shadow Claw legacy fast moves are still going to benefit from Gengar higher DPS. Giratina (O) is only available in limit period legendary raid and not really accessible for many players. Currently Chandelure can only access to Hex as its fast move, thus lowering its DPS & TDO. There could be a possibility that Niantic may update Chandelure move-set through special event or raid hour. Let’s take a look at the numbers if Chandelure can access to better fast move.

Notice that with a possibility of Chandelure having Lick or Shawdow Claw as its fast moves, it can outperform or match Gengar.

As Reshiram and Volcarona is not yet available, I shall leave the fire type comparison in the future article. Anyhow, Chandelure reigns as the highest DPS for fire type (Fire Spin & Overheat) at 17.29 outperforming currently fire pokemons like Entei, Moltres and Blaziken.

Chandelure is the third evolution of Litwick. You will also need the new Unova Stone to evolve from Lampent, it’s second evolution. Litwick is consider a rare pokemon thus it will not spawn much in the wild. Litwick is also available in 10km egg.

Verdict: Consider it is quite rare, players will have limited access to Chandelure. I would recommend just evolve 1 or 2 first and wait for future addition of move-set for Chandelure. It can be your second or third choice after Giratina (O) to add into your Ghost fighting team for variety.

Conkeldurr – The New King of Fighter

As Gen 5 is launching soon, I will be writing on pokemons that are really worth to catch ’em all. Let’s start with the new King of Fighters – Conkeldurr

Conkeldurr is the new fighting type pokemon in Gen 5. Why should you be excited? Because it is going to dethrone Machamp as the best fighter. Max CP at 3337 for hundo with an Attack stat of 243, Defense at 158 and Stamina at 233, it is going to be your choice mon to fight that tanky Blissey in the gym.

Comparing with Machamp, Conkeldurr is edging out Machamp with counter and dynamic punch fight set. Machamp DPS is 16.20 and TDO is 619.44 while Conkeldurr DPS is 17.53 and TDO is 744.61. It is a clear winner! Furthermore, Conkeldurr would be able to survive longer as it has higher HP than Machamp by almost 30 points.

Do note that Conkeldurr is the final evolution of Timburr. I believe Timburr will be available in the wild the next few days / weeks.

Time to put on your running shoes and run for a Timburr appearing near you soon!

To Max or Not to Max?

Utilizing your Stardust Wisely

We are often quick to recommend someone who caught a high IV Pokemon to max it. Maxed-out Pokemon may look impressive in gym and intimidating to an opponent; contrary, it may not always be the wisest thing to do.

Practically, you will only want to power up the Pokemon that are relevant in the current game play. It will be big waste of stardust to power up a 100% IV Typhlosion with Blast Burn if you already have a high IV Charizard or Blaziken with the same legacy move-set. Typhlosion with a lower DPS than the other two will not benefit from maxing out. An extreme example would be powering up a 100% IV Pidgeot. I am not saying that Pidgeot cannot fight in gym battle. It is one Pokémon you would hardly use in any gym battle. I am sure many of you have not even used an Amphoros with Dragon Pulse charge move in gym battle after its Community Day last year.

The biggest consideration when maxing out a Pokemon is stardust. Accumulating stardust is one of the hardest things to do in the game. Unless you can play Pokemon 24/7. On average, I am only able to get about 100,000 stardust a week from 1 to 2-hour of play daily. I am sure casual players may get even lesser in a week. Powering up a level 20 from egg hatch to level 40 needs 235,000 stardust and 263 candies. That’s roughly about 2.5 weeks of stardust grinding. If you get a lucky Pokemon, the amount of stardust required will be halved but it is still 117,500 stardust to spend on. Thus, choosing the right Pokemon to power up while understanding the breakpoint / bulk point makes it even more important for many players.

Breakpoint Explained

A breakpoint is the level where a Pokemon’s fast attack deals maximum damage to the raid boss than it would before. This level is relative to the Pokemon’s attack IV. A higher attack IV Pokemon will reach the breakpoint sooner than a lower attack IV one. Pokemon of any attack IV may be nearly equal in DPS if they meet the same breakpoint. This means that powering up a Pokemon from its breakpoint at level 30 to the next level may yield minimal or zero advantage in DPS. Especially for players who aimed for maximum damage of extra 2 – 3 balls from raid boss, knowing your Pokémon’s breakpoint may help you to get there.

A fully maxed out 100% IV Pokemon is marginally better than others. Most Pokemon are only as good as their last breakpoint. This is the reason why some of the players value 15 attack IV Pokemon.

The following is a link to Pokemon Breakpoint Calculator in GamePress.

https://Pokémon go.gamepress.gg/breakpoint-calculator#/

Let’s take Tyranitar breakpoint as an example when encountering a Cresselia raid boss.

Tyranitar breakpoint when encountering a Cresselia Raid Boss

Assuming your Tyranitar is at 15 Attack IV, its breakpoint is at level 28. Notice that at 14 Attack IV, it is also at the same level to power up. For those who have a 98% with 14 Attack IV Tyranitar, rejoice! Your Tyranitar is as good as a hundo. Even if you have a 0 value attack IV, powering up to level 32.5 has nearly the same damage potential as a hundo at level 28. Thus, breakpoints is dependent on your Pokemon’s level, IVs, fast attack, and the raid boss you are encountering. However, powering up doesn’t stop at breakpoint. The next to consider is bulk point (the maximum duration a Pokemon can endure in a battle).

Bulk Point Explained

A bulk point is the level at which your Pokémon has just enough Defense and HP to survive a number of fast moves and a charge move from the enemy.

For example, Giratina (Original Forme) with 15 attack IV, 13 defense IV and 13 HP, its bulk point when encountering a Cresselia raid boss is at level 39.5. Which means that a fully max out Giratina will not benefit from additional time in the battle. This can potentially help you to save up 15,000 to 30,000 stardust for powering up your Giratina to the next level.

A bulk point calculator from GamePress is as follow:

https://Pokémon go.gamepress.gg/bulk-point-calculator#/

Conclusion

Every player has their own way and style of playing Pokemon Go. Some like to collect and complete their Pokedex, while others like the battle in gyms or raid. By understanding the two determinants of your individual Pokémon’s potential in PvE / raid perspective, I hope the article will help you to decide how to use your stardust frugally.

What to Expect for Adventure Week in June?

Adventure Week is back. This year, we will see a few more addition of Gen 4 rock-type pokemons. The wonderful part about the upcoming event in Singapore is that it coincides with our Public Holiday (Hari Raya Puasa) on 5 June and Slakoth Community Day on 8 June. This means trainers can make full use of these 2 days to maximize the rewards for the event and walk till you drop.

The rewards for Adventure week are as follow:

4x Buddy Candy
10x XP for spinning NEW PokéStops
Special Raid Battles and Field Research
Shiny Onix, Lileep, and Anorith
Adventure Sync Reward for 50km = 50,000 Stardust/15 Rare Candies

1) 4x Buddy Candy

This is the best time to walk your favourite pokemon that you need to gather more candies to evolve or power up.

2) 10x XP for Spinning New Pokestops

For those who have not reached level 40, head down a park or town where you have not visited. A quick calculation, 10x XP will be 2500 XP per stop. If you throw a lucky egg, you get 5000 XP. Assuming you are able to spin 20 new stops within 30 minutes of walking, you will get 100,000 XP. This is really insane! I would suggest for Community Day, instead of going to your regular spot, why not head down to a new place. Imagine for 3 hours, if you are able to spin 100 new stops, you will get at least half a million XP.

3) Special Raid Battles and Field Research

If you have not gotten a good rock type pokemon, now is the best time to go raid for them. Hopefully, Shieldon and Cranidos (speculation) will be added in the raid battle and you might be able to get a hundo for these rare pokemons.

Update: Cranidos and Shieldon are found in special field research.

4) Shiny Lileep, Anorith and Onix Added

All you shiny queens and kings, this event should be keeping yourself busy for the next one week to hunt for them and show-off in the forums and Facebook groups.

Wait! Shinies are not just these 3. If you have not gotten shinies that were released last year, now is you chance again.

5) Adventure Sync Reward

If you do point 1 to 4 diligently this week, I am sure clocking 50KM will not be an issue. 50,000 stardust would be a great bonus for everyone. For myself, I would probably use to it get a 2nd charge move for one of my pokemon.

Which Pokemon Should You Really Hunt for During Adventure Week?

Other than just hunting for shines, here are my list of useful rock-type pokemons that you should be looking out for.

Larvitar

Tyranitar is one of the best generalist possibly even up to next few generations. It is useful for many tier 5 raids and gym battles. Even currently, for Cresselia raid boss, Tyranitar (Bite / Crunch) is still one of the recommended pokemon to use. Tyranitar is always in my gym battle pre-set groups and this beast has never fail to disappoint me.

Rhyhorn

Those who does not have access to Tyranitar (Smack Down / Stone Edge) move-set. This is probably your next best pokemon to have and evolve into Rhyperior with a Sinnoh stone. Currently ranked number 2 for Rock-type, Rhyperior has a Max CP of 3733 (Attack: 241, Defence: 190, Stamina: 251). Great pokemon to use in gym and raid battle. However, like Tyranitar, it is one of the weakest defenders in the gym.

Aron

One of my favourite pokemon to use as it is slightly tankier (Defence Stat of 257) than Machamp and yet able to knock down a Blissey and Gardevoir gym defenders. Also, if you do not have a good Metagross, due to some reasons that you missed out Beldum Community Day last year, Aggron (Steel-type move-set) is still the next best alternative, albeit slower, to take down some of the common gym defenders.

Shieldon

PvP players should rejoice as there should be more spawning of Shieldon. Bastiodon has an impressive Defense stats of 286, making it a beast for Great League PvP.

Onix

Another PvP favourite, when evolved into Steelix, it is one of the pokemon that resist damage from many types (Poison, Electric, Rock, Bug, Dragon, Fairy, Flying, Normal, Psychic and Steel). Most optimized for Ultra League PvP with Max CP of 2414, it is also very useful for Great League PvP.

Shuckle

Many players may not realise that Shuckle can be a decent defender in the gym. I usually put Shuckle as the last pokemon to delay some time for the attacker to complete 1 round of attack. Although it only has max CP of 405, it’s Defense stat is insane at 396.

Cranidos

I hesitate to list Cranidos on the must-have list if not for its rarity. At Max CP of 3298 (Attack: 295 / Defense: 109 / Stamina: 219) Rampardos is one of the glass cannon that may not deal a lot of damage in gym / raid battle. It’s weakness is its Defense. When battling an ice-type raid boss, you may only get one charge move released before being knock-out within seconds. Although it is probably the best counter for Articuno, I would suggest only to put it as the first pokemon and after that a team of Tyranitars and Rhyperior with Smack Down / Stone Edge move-set in order not to re-lobby during higher tier raid.

Conclusion

This event is probably an awesome one for those who are shiny crazy and those who need to grind for XP to reach level 40. As nomination of new pokestops can be done for some northern parts of Singapore, it may be a good time to achieve level 40 as quickly as possible in order to be eligible for nomination.

Have Fun!

Do You Really Need a Garchomp?

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The latest craze for Pokemon Go players is Gible / Garchomp. Gible is super hard to find and even for me, I have not encountered one yet. Of course, in many Pokemon Go Facebook groups, when you see someone evolved and maxed out their prized catch, many of you will be gushing and envying.

The intent of post is for those who, like me, haven’t got a single Gible and analyse if you really need one now.

First and foremost, for those who really must have one to show-off, of course, there’s nothing I could say to stop you for having one. Also, I am writing this for PvE purpose (raid / gym battle) instead of PvP as I know many here don’t really play PvP. Lastly, for those who like to take thing slow and have patience to wait for the best, then perhaps this post may enlighten you a little.

Garchomp is probably one of the strongest Pokemon in Gen 4. A duo type mon, it is ranked #2 as dragon type and #2 in ground type. Best move-set is Dragon Tail / Outrage with DPS (Damage per second) of 33.26. Let’s do a comparison and see if it is really a “must-have”.

From stats point of view:

Pokemon	Max CP	Attack	Defense	Stamina
Garchomp	3962	261	193	239
Rayquaza	3835	284	170	213
Salamence	3749	277	168	216
Dragonite	3792	263	158	209
Groudon	4115	270	228	205
Rhyperior	3733	241	190	251

One may think that Garchomp has a higher CP (except for Groudon which is the highest at 4115) who probably be a better fighter in the gym. However, CP does not always equate to higher damage and tankiness in Pokemon Go. Take example for Slaking. Those who have maxed out their best Slaking will agree that it is probably the one of the most underwhelmed pokemon in the game with the highest CP.

A more relevant comparison would be looking at the DPS and TDO perspective of each mon.

Image extracted from Go Hub DPS / TDO Comparison

As a dragon type, Garchomp DPS (Damage per second) is the lowest comparing to the other top 3 dragons in the game. It’s TDO (Total Damage Output) is higher due to its higher stamina. However, one can only benefit from Garchomp’s impressive TDO if you are good at dodging opponent’s charge move. Most of the players I observed don’t dodge in gym / raid battle. I have even seen players chatting with each other and just tapping on the screen throughout the whole raid. Encountering a raid boss with high attack stats will easily knock out your mon with one charge move. Thus, TDO is not as relevant as DPS for many who just tap without dodging.

Those who are consistently playing since launch of the game in 2016 would have a few good Dragonite, Salamence and Rayquaza. Even for those who started recently, you may still have a few Salamence from last community day in April which still have a higher DPS than Garchomp.

How about Garchomp as Ground type? Yes, it does sound impressive as a ground type with Mud Slap and Earthquake as its best ground move-set. Ground type mon is highly effective against fire, electric, poison, rock and steel.

Groudon is still king as a ground type pokemon. You can argue that it is a legendary mon and cannot be put in a gym as defender. Most of the time, players use ground type as an attacker rather than defender as it is still weak to grass, ice and water. I am sure those who do gym battle will know how easy to take down a Rhyperior as a defender.

Moreover, as duo type, Garchomp have additional weakness to dragon and fairy type. To make thing worse, it takes 256% damage from ice type instead of 160% damage for Groudon.

Verdict:

Garchomp is not the best dragon type mon in the current list. With other dragon types that can easily matched and available from raids and wild encounters, there is no urgency to get it as a dragon type. Groudon still beats Garchomp as the king for ground type. Furthermore, Groudon is coming back as tier 5 raid boss in June / July, you still have an opportunity to get a good one and max out.

Unless you really need to fill up your pokedex, I will probably wait for Gible community day next year to catch ‘em all