Best Team for the Sunshine Cup in Pokemon GO (Max Out Season)

The Sunshine Cup has returned to the Pokémon GO Battle League, giving competitive-minded trainers another chance to test their best Fire, Grass, Ground and Normal Pokemon in battle. With only four types available to enter, you’ll have to rethink your usual team compositions to make sure you outshine the competition.

We may be approaching spooky season, but there’s one last bit of sunshine before we fully indulge in the Halloween festivities. The Sunshine Cup is a limited-time challenge that takes the Grand League’s 1500 CP format and strips out the majority of eligible Pokemon, only allowing four elemental types to enter. Oh, and Charizard is also banned.

Best team for the Sunshine Cup

Talonflame, Quagsire and Jumpluff make an excellent trio

One of the best teams you can use for the Sunshine Cup is Talonflame, Quagsire and Jumpluff. Together, these three Pokemon offer a wide variety of coverage so you can take on almost any opponent that comes your way. They are also three of the highest-rated Pokemon based on PvPoke’s rankings. While this doesn’t always translate to guaranteed wins, it can mean they are some of the best Pokemon you can have on your team.

Up first is Talonflame, who is expected to be the one to watch out for In this edition of the Sunshine Cup. With a moveset that includes both fire-type and flying-type attacks, it will have no problem taking down any grass-type Pokemon you come up against, but it’s also a key win over Pokemon like Diggersby and Clodsire. Talonflame has been a big league star for a while now, so it’s no surprise to see it shine brightly here as well.

As with any themed mug, you’ll want to A Pokemon that can take down the meta’s biggest threat. To combat any opposing Talonflame, look for a strong Water-type Pokemon like Quagsire. It has an impressive stamina stat and a great moveset, including mud shot to generate energy very quickly. Being a dual Water/Ground-type also means that Quagsire only has one weakness to watch out for, Grass-type attacks, so be careful of those.

You can probably guess where this leads to – Rounding out your team with a powerful grass-type PokemonWhich is where Jumpluff fits in nicely. As well as a strong and bulky counter to any Water-type Pokemon you face, Jumpluff can also dodge fellow Grass-type Pokemon with one of its Flying-type Charged Attacks. As you’d probably expect, the big threat to watch out for when using Jumpluff is Fire-type opponents.

I would usually recommend being careful about spending a lot of resources powering up Pokemon for a themed cup like the Sunshine Cup, as these often only appear once a year. However, all three of the Pokemon on this team are viable in the traditional big league, making them good investments. Chances are, you’ll also get to use them in other themed cups in the future, so there’s even more reason to go all out with them.

Best Pokemon for the Sunshine Cup

Make sure you have a range of coverage options

The best Pokemon to use will always depend on what your opponent sends, but there are a few Pokemon that should give you a good chance of success. You can see them, as well as their recommended movesets, in the table below:

Most of the Pokemon expected to perform well in the Sunshine Cup have dual typing, such as the Fire/Flying-type Talonflame or the Poison/Ground-type Clodsire. This is often the case with themed cups that limit what types can enter. Not only do dual-type Pokemon have unique resistances, but they can also often access moves that mono-type Pokemon can’t.

Normal-type Pokemon like Lickilicky and Dunsparce are also relatively safe bets in the Sunshine Cup, as their only weakness is Fighting-type attacks and there aren’t many of those available to compete (but watch out for Diggersby!). Normal-type attacks are also largely unresisted, so you won’t have to worry too much about your type matchups.

If you don’t have access to any of the Pokemon featured in the table above, it might be best to give the Sunshine Cup a miss. While there’s always room for experimentation and trying alternative options, chances are you’ll struggle to beat teams that use the highest-rated Pokemon. If you still want to compete, I recommend checking out PvPoke To see if there are any other top Pokemon you could use instead.

When does the Sunshine Cup start and end?

Here’s when you can take part in this unique challenge

The Sunshine Cup will begin Tuesday, October 8, 2024 at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM BSTand run until Tuesday, October 15, 2024, 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM BST. This means you only have one week to order your team and compete in this special cup.

If you are looking for a higher level challenge in Pokémon GOWhy not try the Ultra League? The traditional 2500 CP format will run alongside the Sunshine Cup, giving you a chance to test your more powerful Pokemon, including some legendary creatures. You can check out my Best Ultra League Team Guide if you’re not sure what Pokemon to use there.

Source: PvPoke