As time goes on, Niantic has started pushing farther and farther away from the Raid meta being the prime game-style of Pokemon Go in favor of PvP, but PvE still remains a very important aspect of the game. After making small adjustments to the Attackers Tier List over the past few years, the GP team thought that it was time to review the tier list and give it a total overhaul. And due to the size of this update, we're putting the change-log here rather than simply adding it to the page itself as we have recently taken to doing.
Before we go into the entire list, let's cover what exactly went into this update:
Our Methodology
- Rather than use the existing Tier List, we went into our DPS/TDO spreadsheet and made a complete list of the top 200 attackers, removing unreleased Pokemon along the way.
- Once we had our basic list, we looked over each type individually in order to identify any outliers that may not have hit our initial criteria, but were still worth ranking (for example; Poison and Bug Types)
- With this refined list, we began ranking Pokemon based on a number of criteria:
- Raw DPS rating
- TDO*DPS^3 rating
- Utility of attacking type(s)
- Competition within types
- Mega Evolution utility/compatibility
- With this information gathered, we broke the Pokemon up into broad tiers based on how well they fit the set criteria:
Tier List Definitions
S Tier
These are the Pokemon that rule the current Metagame. They are the apex of power within their given types, and are either capable of effectively slotting into teams without Super Effective damage or are simply the best of a remarkably useful type. These should be the top-priorities for any player working on building a Raid team.
A+ Tier
These are the Pokemon that stand at or near the top of their useful types, or Pokemon that bring tremendous amounts of general utility to the table. They are always very powerful, extremely versatile, or able to fill a niche in the game that is extremely valuable.
A Tier
These are the Pokemon that are genuinely good in the current Meta: the gold-standards. They are high-priority picks due to their high power and/or utility, and will find their way onto raid teams frequently due to their stellar capabilities or the important niches that they occupy.
B+ Tier
These are the Pokemon that can generally fight just as hard as the higher tiers, but are slightly less valuable due to being outclassed by the Pokemon in higher tiers or not having an extremely useful typing. It's hard to go wrong picking one of these Pokemon, as they tend to be capable of reaching similar raiding milestones as the above tiers for the most part.
B Tier
These are the Pokemon that are generally good fillers: the Pokemon that have the power needed to keep a raid-group running, but not enough to be the top picks. If you lack the top tiers, these are work-horses that can fill out a team and keep DPS up.
C Tier
These are the Pokemon that are the second-line picks. They can fill out a team if needed, but they generally aren’t worth investing much in at all.
- With all of this complete, we cross-referenced our new list and compared it with our existing list in order to see just how each Pokemon changed position in order to make the changelog. Note that many Pokemon amazingly did not change position, and these Pokemon are not mentioned below.
Potential Controversy
While we have attempted to base our tier placements on hard-data as much as possible, the nature of a tier list will tend to be naturally subjective to a certain degree, especially one of this size. For this reason, we recognize that not everyone will agree with our tiering placement. That's 100% fine, and we welcome debate in the comments, and may even end up making additional changes to our tiers based on reader-feedback. Our one request is that you remain respectful of others, as we will gladly reciprocate.
It's also possible that with a list this large, we may have missed a few Pokemon that have genuine utility. If you happen to notice anything missing, please let us know. And on that same note; specific tiers, in particular the C Tier, had the potential to be much larger, but we cut them roughly where we felt was reasonably worth considering in a raid when a given type is called for. This is, again, subjective, but our goal is not to rate the entire Pokedex in our tier list.
And with that out of the way, here's the actual change-log:
August 2022 Tier List Changelog
New Additions
Xurkitree: Added to A+
Shadow Golem: Added to A
Shadow Latios: Added to A
Shadow Typhlosion: Added to B+
Shadow Granbull: Added to B+
Azelf: Added to B+
Shadow Omastar: Added to B+
Shadow Magmortar: Added to B+
Shadow Feraligatr: Added to B+
Shadow Manectric: Added to B+
Pheromosa: Added to B+
Nihilego: Added to B+
Samurott: Added to B
Shaymin Sky Forme: Added to B
Shadow Banette: Added to B
Shadow Cacturne: Added to B
Shadow Porygon-Z: Added to B
Shadow Sharpedo: Added to B
Shadow Arcanine: Added to B
Crawdaunt: Added to B
Shadow Mismagius: Added to B
Shadow Flygon: Added to B
Shadow Nidoking: Added to B
Tapu Bulu: Added to B
Galarian Zapdos: Added to B
Celebi: Added to B
Mega Altaria: Added to B
Emboar: Added to B
Shadow Vileplume: Added to B
Shadow Meganium: Added to B
Shadow Ampharos: Added to B
Thundurus Incarnate: Added to B
Shadow Skuntank: Added to B
Krookodile: Added to B
Braviary: Added to B
Pinsir: Added to B
Alolan Golem: Added to B
Scizor: Added to B
Manectric: Added to B
Yanmega: Added to B
Escavalier: Added to B
Aerodactyl: Added to B
Gigalith: Added to B
Shadow Aggron: Added to B
Granbull: Added to B
Sylveon: Added to B
Zacian - Hero of Many Battles: Added to B
Shadow Abomasnow: Added to B
Hoopa: Confined: Added to C
Shadow Ursaring: Added to C
Victini: Added to C
Jirachi: Added to C
Shadow Hippowdon: Added to C
Meloetta - Aria Forme: Added to C
Exeggutor: Added to C
Archeops: Added to C
Banette: Added to C
Shadow Scyther: Added to C
Gallade: Added to C
Typhlosion: Added to C
Tornadus Incarnate: Added to C
Cacturne: Added to C
Shadow Kingdra: Added to C
Delphox: Added to C
Galarian Articuno: Added to C
Mega Slowbro: Added to C
Mega Steelix: Added to C
Greninja: Added to C
Simisage: Added to C
Victreebel: Added to C
Zebstrika: Added to C
Jolteon: Added to C
Flareon: Added to C
Golem: Added to C
Elektross: Added to C
Jynx: Added to C
Alolan Raichu: Added to C
Shadow Cloyster: Added to C
Shadow Articuno: Added to C
Shadow Walrein: Added to C
Sirfetch’d: Added to C
Overqwil: Added to C
Shadow Muk: Added to C
Hisuian Braviary: Added to C
Toucannon: Added to C
Deoxys - Attack: Added to C
Accelgor: Added to C
Lycanroc - Midday: Added to C
Tyrantrum: Added to C
Bisharp: Added to C
Position Promotions
Rampardos: A > A+
Shadow Electivire: A > A+
Landorus Therian: A > A+
Galarian Darmanitan: B+ > A
Hoopa Unbound: B > A
Hydreigon: B > A
Shadow Staraptor: B+ > A
Shadow Honchkrow: B+ > A
Shadow Gardevoir: B+ > A
Mega Pidgeot: B+ > A
Metagross: B+ > A
Mega Lopunny: B+ > A
Mamoswine: B+ > A
Shadow Venusaur: B+ > A
Shadow Tangrowth: B+ > A
Shadow Charizard: B > B+
Shadow Exeggutor: B > B+
Vikavolt: B > B+
Shadow Lugia: B > B+
Darmanitan: B > B+
Moltres: B > B+
Latios: C > B+
Kingler: B > B+
Shadow Pinsir: B > B+
Electivire: B > B+
Weavile: C > B
Landorus Incarnate: B > B+
Magnezone: B > B+
Swampert: B > B+
Shadow Blastoise: C > B+
Gardevoir: B > B+
Shadow Victreebel: C > B+
Glaceon: C > B+
Staraptor: B > B+
Honchkrow: B > B+
Ho-oh: B > B+
Weavile: C > B
Shadow Shiftry: C > B
Espeon: C > B
Shadow Gallade: C > B
Breloom: C > B
Heatran: C > B
Blaziken: C > B
Feraligatr: C > B
Tangrowth: C > B
Tapu Koko: C > B
Togekiss: C > B
Position Demotions
Zekrom: A+ > A
Mega Latias: A+ > A
Hariyama: B > C
