What is a “must” to have powered right now?
Considering the new raid bosses and the gym system, a week ago I was planning to max my RT/ SE 100 ivs Golem but since Flareon is gone I think it doesn’t deserves investing anymore
Answers
Beware of maxing Golems if you don’t have any specific short term goal that needs them. Golem is only a minor change away in the meta from being totally obsolete. There are several potential candidates that will destroy Golem if they get double rock.
On the other hand, with Golem introduced a a raid boss, it is highly unlikely that Tyranitar or Rhydon ever will get double rock. I would love to se double rock with decent moves on Aerodactyl.
Good advice. It's coming I'm sure. I suspect they'll legacy SE on Rhydon or TTar and give it a rock quick move. Even this makes Golem a questionable investment.
If Entei has left your area, I'd hold off on Golem for now.
I'm loving Exeggutors lately and even when it gets outgunned by Tangrowth, it'll still have the psychic backup.
Raikou is a no brainer.
I think Omastar is more of a threat to Golem's rock supremacy than Kabutops. Higher CP (than Kabutops, but doesn't look as cool), has the double resistance to fire, as well as resisting ice (there's not a lot that is strong when attacking ice and that resists ice attacks).
My gut is telling me that Omastar's moveset will shift with Gen3, giving a rock quick move back, and making double rock Omastars not a ridiculous rarity (or, among the players active on this board, a rarity).
Absolutely, level 30 is an easy pick for pokemons that are relevant at the moment. I tried to solo Scyther with 2 level 30 Golems plus a level 20 Golem and a level 20 Raikou. Missed by far, powered up both to 30 and took him down. 3 level 30 Golems is a solid ground for getting that 100% Scizor with double bug moves. And it’s only a minor investment compared to 6 at level 39.
Dragonite is a must! You need 6 good counters for every lvl 4 or 5 raid. Since a normal player doesn't have the dust to power up 6 golem, machamp or whoever is the supreme counter, Dragonite can fill out remaining slots for every raid. I would recommend to power up two Dragonite.
Tyranitar also deverves to have a place here, since it's stats are supreme and it has effective damage in a lot of machtups. Even if it hasn't, it's versatility with either Crunch or SE is very valuable. One B/C and one B/SE and you are good.
After that Machamp deserves to have powered up two with C/DP, Golem also two with double rock. Exeggutor is nice in many matchups due to the power of SoB. One pure grass and one psychic/grass is nice to have but not a must. Rhydon is slow but having one with double ground would be good. Out of the legendarires the electrics and fire types are useful and Lugia helps a lot to obtain those Machamp who are helping you getting Tyranitar. A good Vaporeon is a solid choice too, as well as Espeon.
Some food for thought on Dragonite for raids:
Dnite serves as a good generalist and can fill out slots in T3-T5 for sure. Good DPS, Good Bulk, Good all around. It's just not "Great" versus much. As your level progresses, you will use your Dragonites less, particularly as you get specified counters to each boss.
If you find that your slots are filled for most bosses, just making sure you have good dragon movesets on Dnites (incase they get legacy'd) for the future when he'll serve as a glass cannon vs other dragon raid bosses is probably enough.
I would say nothing. Generation 3 is right around the corner and we don't know what Niantic will change about the game when it's released. Most Pokemon probably won't change in their usefulness, but some could be made obsolete by either new Pokemon, the introduction of abilities, rebalancing of stats, or something else we can't predict. I'm going to wait, that's for sure.
I'd still build up that Golem. Even if new mon come out that surpass Golem as a rock attacker, are you going to get six of those almost immediately? I know I'm not that serious of a player.
Golem is still relevant against Scyther, and I feel confident that the Legendary Birds and Beasts will be back again someday, with little warning. Ho-Oh is also a good target.
But yes, Exeggutor is rising in usefulness right now. Suicune (for another few weeks, for those of us in the states), Omastar, Machamp, Golem, Rhydon. As of now, and likely for a while, Eggy is the strongest STAB user of Solar Beam, the strongest attack in the game.
