How many Pokemon should I keep close to maximum CP?
ME: Level 31, Rural location with reasonable number of nests for common Pokemons but not too many rare Pokemon sightings. Gym ownership is hotly contested for the few gyms in my area, so it is hard to retain gym ownership.
I read in one of these guides that after level 30 you never get new Pokemons above level 30 either as eggs or wild. So I have chosen to not expect new higher level CP Pokemons and instead focus on powering up the ones I have. I use a lot of stardust and candies to power up a few key Pokemons (2 Snorlax, 2 Vaporeon, Lapras, Gyrardos, Victrebel, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Slowbro) which I try to keep up to my Trainer level. Currently I walk the Lapras as buddy to get candy, the rest I hatch or catch enough to keep powering them up.
Should I try to have a more varied group of high level Pokemons at the cost of not maxing out the CP of this limited number?
For example I have a nice Polywhirl at 1500 CP as a candidate to power up - should I add it to my power up group and maybe fall behind on keeping all of them up to my level? I have an Exeggutor at 1403 - should I share my buddy walks between it and the Lapras?
Sometimes I put a lower value Pokemon in a gym (in the rare cases when I have Pokemons in over 6 gyms). But I see no difference between how long the gym is held and which Pokemon I have.
Answers
Yes, Poliwrath, sorry about the typo. I see a lot of Gyarados (I live near the ocean), Vaporeons of course, quite a few Snorlax and the occasional Dragonite. So I agree with you that the significant gym defenders are usually the same.
Lately I meet an Arcanine once in a while, and have thought of spreading out the types I have by trying to build up a fire or electric Pokemon.
Thanks for you help.
I was doing that, but the amount of CP increase abose the level 30.5 is really low. I decided to chose 12 pokemons to evolve till 30.5. After that i will evolve them to 40.
EDIT: Plus I really think that you should focus on attackers, put some Fire types there. Because as time pass by, everybody will destroy gyms with ease.
Thanks for the tip about a Fire type. I think I will try that.
Strange question - Do you just keep building up and up your Stardust? Why not put it to work instead of just saving it? The increase in CP may seem small but it could be significant as a defenders CP is really important based on the Siph Road info on how gym battles work.
The answer:
About 11.
Basis for the answer:
Since you are evolving different species in view of your number of candies, the limiting factor is your stardust.
The quantity of stardust you accumulate is somehow proportionate to the XP you gather. (About 1 stardust for each 3.6XP)
At lower levels (20-30), you do not need much XP to increase your level, so you do not accumulate much stardust between two levels and cannot power up so many pokemons to their maximum.
At higher levels (30-40), you will accumulate lots of stardust between two levels, to a proportion much higher than the increased cost of powering up a pokemon.
Everything considered, your stardust will allow you to maximize more and more pokemons:
5 pokemons at level 23
7 pokemons at level 27
11 pokemons at level 31
70 pokemons at level 39
You also need to take in account that your pokemons will not be at their maximum level when you decide to maximize them. So you will need to waste some stardust to initially catch up with your own level. Taking this wasting in consideration, as a rule of thumb, you can remember than up to level 30 you can maximize a number of pokemon equal to your level minus 20.
