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Not much of a reason to power it up...

If you havent read this, https://pokemongo.gamepress.gg/raikous-return
please do before hand

Raikou's still strong, but despite its versatility, that does come at the cost of rare candy that could be better spent on much better legendaries. Even if there is some raikou raid day, the problem then becomes the stardust, which can be better spent on other legendaries or other better nonlegendaries, wouldn't really be worth it to spend on raikou. Electric doesnt have much of a place in the game, yes it counters the likely to return vaporeon, but we have other pokemon that can take it on, it still holds supreme against both kyogre's blizzard sets and lugia, but Kyogre's already come and gone likely for a while, and Lugia, there are other alternatives, and they do have more use outside of just lugia. That and powering it up for the occasional rainy gym take over or gyarados doesnt seem justifiable, given the much cheaper to get and power up jolteon and likely electavire and magnazone

With Gen IV coming, the number of legendaries that are still relevant to raids will likely start dropping, some like mewtwo will likely stay unchanged, but lesser ones may not

Asked by MetagrossMaxis6 years 8 months ago

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I think you can make a stronger case against powering up any given Pokemon than for it. Here are some reasons why you wouldn't power up the top three: Mewtwo is the best Psychic specialist but there's no use for Psychic specialists right now; with Shadow Ball it's a great generalist but the age of generalists is gone (also has few applications as a Ghost specialist); with Focus Blast it's more potion-efficient in gym attacking than Machamp but that's about it. Kyogre has been hyped for getting Origin Pulse soon and that should give players pause in powering up current Kyogres with Hydro Pump. Rayquaza is also a great generalist but has no specific use right now, and Dragonite performs almost as well as a Dragon-type attacker and doesn't require RC.

Power up what makes you happy. I'm not disagreeing with the claims in the article you linked, but I'm kind of tired of seeing all this discussion about what should and shouldn't be powered up. Dust doesn't go away if unused, so there's no harm in just waiting until a need arises to power any given Pokemon up.

The age of generalists isn't gone, you just need fewer of them. An optimal gym team will have Machamps and strong generalists that can cover Machamp's bad matchups, preferably by being direct counters to Machamp's counters. Mewtwo and Rayquaza are excellent examples of such pokemon, they can deal efficiently with many of Machamp's counters while sporting enough neutral DPS that anything that doesn't resist them doesn't stand in their way for long.

You have a good overall point and I definitely agree that reasons to not power up something are easy to think of, but this theorycrafting and resource optimization is part of how many people enjoy the game. Like it or not, there's always going to be an effort to find consensus about which mons are the most worthy of investing in for the meta.

EDIT: I'm all for powering up what makes you happy. Best way to play the game IMO.

I'm for powering up pokemon, but there are some times I do draw the line, with things like origin pulse and precipice blades, we have no idea when those are coming out, and they are the best of there type as well as very relevant, with raikou, it is the best of its type, but isnt relevant, and we do know that magnazone and electavire are coming

I do agree it is easier to say why not to power something up rather than a reason to power it up, and to do what makes you happy, but there isnt a feeling worst than getting something really good, and realizing you spent a lot on something else and didnt need to. Everyone has their own ways that they play, and I do power things up even if it isnt really needed, but there are still times where I do regret doing that

Im not saying all of them are useless, there are still ones that are relevant and useful, but eclectic have very little coverage and use, generalists aren't bad, but they are made obsolete when an optimal counter is gotten.

Yes psychic mewtwo is the best psychic type, but its more useful with shadow ball or focusblast as a specialist, pokemon like raikou that only have a monotype moveset aren't really comparable to the usability of a pokemon with a more diverse moveset, its that specific monotype set that really handicaps a number of legendaries The dust isnt as big of a problem as rarecandy, which is what you need for raikou unless you buddy it or there is a raid day for it, which wont get much unless you raid tons of them

Hard to make a stronger case against powering up Machamp or Tyranitar.

Machamp is the most generally useful Pokemon in this game for sure and will continue to be useful in the future. I don't regret powering up a team of them. But the question of Rare Candy allocation (and even dust allocation, since you can catch wild Machop at level 35) doesn't come into play with Machamp, certainly not to the extent of the top tier legendaries.

Tyranitar is the best in two roles right now but neither are set in stone (no pun intended) come Gen IV. He's on rockier terrain (no pun intended) than Machamp, although I've gotten plenty of use out of him as well. Similar rules apply for Ttar as Machamp though as far as resource allocation is concerned, although candy is scarcer for the former.

My original point wasn't to say that any of these Pokemon are bad and aren't worth powering up, just that toiling over what will be good in the future is mostly a moot point because you can very easily save your resources until they're needed. And, powering up what you like over what you 'need' is always a more fulfilling way to play. If you have to RC-dump for bag space reasons, I'd recommend Kyogre because it'll always be good and multiples can't hurt.

most people level 36-38 who have less than 1 million in dust have no real need to power up anything. most people level 39-40 don't need anything period. there can be wants... but nothing is a need.

Raikou is the fastest way to take out that last pidgey in the gym

Rubbish.
Every raid boss that made Raikou relevant could come back at anytime. Also, anyone getting their first Raikou now, is probably more into soloing tier 3 or duo/trio tier 4 than raiding legendaries, otherwise they would already have Raikou.
While it is generally good advice to wait until you have a target before powering, Rai is a safer bet than most.

Meh, I don't need raid relevancy to max out the best Pokemon of a type. If I get one with better IV's than my best one I'll pour a few candy and the few grams of dust into it that it needs to be a GOD among heathens. If something better comes in the future I'll max that too and then I'll have 3 uber godly electric types. I battle gyms so much that I have to use EVERYTHING in my collection to keep up. It's a good thing gen 4 may be coming, that way my mass graveyard might rise back to life once again.

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