Dewgong PVP IV Deep-Dive

Pokemon GO is having GO Battle Day: Seel. On March 5th from 11am to 2pm local time, any Seel evolved into Dewgong will know the Legacy Moves Ice Shard and Icy Wind. With the right PvP IVs, Dewgong has the potential to completely dominate the mirror matchup without spending a single shield and better manage threats such as Umbreon- where the “Rank 1” high Stat Product Dewgong would struggle. This Dewgong PvP IV Deep Dive highlights Dewgong’s most relevant IVs and Breakpoints for Great League PvP in Pokemon GO. 

This guide discusses the hidden true stats of Pokemon in Pokemon GO. In order to see these true stats you need to use an IV checking app (CalcyIV, Pokegenie) or an IV checking website (GOStadium, PvPIVs.com, or PvPoke itself). To make things simple, the guide also features a PvP IV tables. 

If you’re not familiar with PvP IVs, check out this PvP IVs Simplified video:

Dewgong has several useful Atk and Def Breakpoints in Great League PvP. Meeting both stat goals could be ideal, but only 8-64 of 4096 IV spreads can. To add, you may personally value some stat goals over others. To help you evolve your personal best Dewgong, several important Breakpoints are highlighted below. 

Atk Breakpoints:

• 101.79-102.81: Umbreon 0-1, 1-2, 1-1 farm potential, and 0-0, 2-2 consistency
  • 101.79 is based on the Rank 1 Umbreon, given that our Umbreon PvP IV Deep Dive suggests going with a higher Def Umbreon, you may need up to 102.81 Atk.
  • Atk milestones for higher Def Umbreon: 101.9, 102.31, 102.71, 102.81.
• 102.03-104.35: Mew 1-1 potential (Mewvset depending) 
  • 102.5-103 Atk could be considered a “safe” goal if you don’t want to sacrifice Dewgong’ bulk for 104.35 Atk. 
• 102.52-103.09: Weather Boosted Trevenant 1-1 and 2-2 farm potential, more comfortable 1-2
• 103.7-104.87: High Def Trevenant 1-1 and 2-2 farm potential, more comfortable 1-2.
  • Arguably less useful than settling for the Weather Boosted Atk weight, as the drop in bulk is pretty harsh on Dewgong’s other matchups
• 102.89: Max Def Dewgong 0-0, 1-1, and 2-2 potential
  • Dewgong can get a massive Def Breakpoint for the mirror match. If you can’t meet that Breakpoint with your Dewgong, this Atk weight can help your Dewgong maintain an advantage. 
• ???: Toxicroak 1-1
  • Toxicroak generally wants high Atk for the mirror match in competitive limited formats (moreso in the Silph Arena than GBL). Higher Atk on Dewgong means more potential to catch a Toxicroak thrifting too much on their Def. 
• 101.46-103.14 : Tropius 1-2, 2-2 potential vs Razor Leaf
• 101.4-102.94: Alolan Marowak Trade IVs to Rank 1, 1-1, 1-2, and/or 2-2 potential circumstances depending.

Def Breakpoints:

• 138.28-141: Dewgong mirror domination
  • 138.28 dominates 12 of the Top 20 Stat Product Dewgong in every single shield scenario (the Rank 1 is in shambles). 
  • 139.45, 43 of the Top 50 Stat Product Dewgong won’t have enough Atk to stop it.
  • This utility becomes a bit questionable once you realize the Dewgong mirror takes over 3 minutes to finish.
• 137.53-139.25: Greedent 0-1 and 1-2 potential
  • Unchasable vs high Atk weight Greedent.
• 136.81-137.81: Drapion, Vigoroth, Obstagoon, and Scrafty, no notable matchup changes
• ~131.7: Bare minimum Def before you start losing random even matchups

While the Def Breakpoints for the Mirror Match are tantalizing, considering a 102.89 Atk stat evens things out, a slightly Atk weight Dewgong with more balanced bulk may be more useful than a lower Atk, Def focused one. If you have to choose between one or the other, evolve both, and several more too if you have the Candy for it. Then base whichever one you ultimately power up to use on which matchups you expect to see and want to have advantages in. 

The tables below are basic set points for you to work off of. The tables are customizable, so you can change the stat cutoffs to fit your personal tastes. 

• Max Def Umbreon, Dewgong, most Mew, and Weather Boosted Trevenant Atk, Very OK Bulk
• Rank 1 Umbreon Atk, Balanced Bulk
• Rank 1 Umbreon Atk, Rank 1 Dewgong dominating Def

What about the “Rank 1” Dewgong?

Given the dynamic nature of Pokemon GO’s PvP system, it’s unlikely that any 1 specific IV spread is 100% superior to all others 100% of the time. While Atk and Def weighted Dewgong have clear matchup advantages over the Rank 1, the possibility always exists that the Rank 1’s higher HP could enable it to survive hits the others could fall to. The likelihood and frequency of any stat advantage in Pokemon GO can’t be tracked precisely, so it ultimately comes down to you to decide what makes the most sense for you. 

After all these years, the double Legacy Dewgong has finally been made available through an event. Rather than pinning over which Dewgong to spend our Elite TMs on, we can evolve several of them with varying stat weights with reckless abandon. The question is, will Pokemon GO do a similar evolution event for double Legacy Seaking too?