Lickitung PvP IV Deep-Dive

Lickitung has grown from a niche Body Slammer to one of the best meta picks in Great League PvP over the past year. It is one of the few Pokemon that Play Pokemon Championship competitors bemoaned not having, as the extraordinary XL Candy cost made it unrealistic to build one in time for their Regional. No one knows when Pokemon GO will do another Lickitung Event, but what trainers do know is that they want to use XL Lickitung in the Great League. Given how resource intensive it is to build, it’s mindful to build the best Lickitung possible. The Lickitung PvP IV Deep Dive aims to guide players towards the superior Lickitung PvP IV spreads. 

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 PvP IV tables. 

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

When Lickitung first got Body Slam as an event move, it was seen as a solid Lick+Body Slam Pokemon, but didn’t see much usage outside of Cup formats. With the additions of Shadow Claw Cofagrigus, Trevenant, Icicle Spear Walrein, and Zap Cannon Registeel, Lickitung steadily increased in value. Basically, it was the Lick+Body Slam Pokemon that could manage these threats decently, while also putting pressure on Azumarill, Swampert, Medicham, and Deoxys Defense Forme.

To use Lickitung effectively, you need 2 things: Body Slam or an Elite TM to get Body Slam, and roughly 296 XL Candy. Given the heavy investment, it might help to know which stats/IVs to look for in a Great League Lickitung. 

The tables below feature the IV spreads that meet some of the more important stat checks highlighted in the article. It’s important to review their respective sections to make sure you’re getting what you want out of your Lickitung. For example, a higher Atk weight may be more valuable to you than extra Def or HP.

The General Good (125.94 Def, 183 HP)

• The minimum bulk for a “good” Lickitung

Atk Focus (97.7 Atk, 125.94 Def, 183 HP)

• Potentiates Registeel and Shadow Walrein Breakpoints without giving up too much bulk
• 126.2 Def, 126.58 Def, and 184 HP are notable stat checks
• Priority Recommendation 126.2 Def=184 HP>185+ HP=126.58 Def

The Budget Bois (97 Atk, 125.1 Def, 181 HP)

• This budget list is for players who’ve already built a Lickitung and are wondering if they should build twice (or for players looking to save ~94 XL Candy)
• If you meet at least 125.1 Def and 181 HP, building a better Lickitung might not be worth it compared to other projects

You may have noticed that all optimal Lickitung Atk IVs are 6 or greater. This means your odds of catching a good/optimal PvP IV Lickitung are significantly higher in Partly Cloudy Weather, as the weather boosted IV floor is 4. Basically, when it isn’t Partly Cloudy outside, Lickitung will have 2368 more IV variations, 100% of which are completely useless. With the weather bonus, your odds of getting a good IV increases by well over 50%. To add, this IV floor suggests you can trade Lickitung with your Best Friends with reckless abandon to improve your IVs, where most Pokemon have you seeking out Good Friends (as the Best Friend Trade IV Floor is 5).

Why is 6+ Atk IV better than 0? Unlike most Great League Pokemon, Lickitung hits its max Stat Product at level 50 with 8/14/15 as its IVs (7/15/15 at level 50.5, if Best Buddied). 0/15/15 would only reach 1417 CP at level 51.

Most Great League Lickitung will want to focus on bulk, aiming for 125.94 and 183 or higher Def and HP. In general, these bulk stats will give Lickitung a performance that’s consistent with the Rank 1 (8/14/15) Lickitung. The Def is a reasonable soft cap for slightly Atk weighted Azumarill (0-1, 1-2 shield scenario consistency), which also happens to cover Shadow Kanto Ninetales, Lapras, Shadow Lapras, Bastiodon, and a handful of Counter users. The HP blankets a variety of matchups including the Mirror 1-1, Altaria 1-1, Swampert 2-2, Deoxys Defense Forme 0-0, Froslass 0-0, Walrein 0-0, and Play Rough Azumarill 1-2 Body Slam only. Given variations in your opponent’s IV spreads and chip damage from swapping, true HP demands may be slightly higher or lower. 

If you’re looking at bulk options for Lickitung beyond 125.94 Def and 183 Def, our recommended priority is 126.2 Def=184 HP>185+ HP=126.58 Def. The initial 125.94 Def is based on a 92.15 Atk Azumarill, which is the most common expected Atk weight on a high quality Azumarill (16 of the top 23 Stat Product Azumarill have this Atk, including the Rank 2). 126.2 Def covers 92.43 Atk Azumarill, which nearly blankets the entirety of high quality Azumarill (22/23). 126.58 Def covers the highest reasonable Atk weights on Azumarill from our Azumarill PvP IV Deep Dive. While chasing this Def for Azumarill may sound excessive, Lickitung is a bulky, safe swap type Pokemon that is expected to take damage from multiple Charge Moves. Higher Def potentiates Charge Move Breakpoints against all Pokemon. Therefore, if you take 3 Charge Moves of damage and 1 higher Def reduces that damage by 1, then that Def would be more valuable than 2 more HP. Unfortunately, the reality isn’t that linear, so it’s important to not overlook HP. 

As for Atk weights, Lickitung does have the potential to get match flipping Atk Breakpoints against Shadow Walrein (0-0, 2-2 potential, and 1-1 Body Slam only potential) and Registeel (2-2 potential and general damage). What makes recommending these Atk weights difficult is a) To consistently meet them may sacrifice a significant amount of bulk and b) these two particular species have little control over their own IVs, so you may not even need that much Atk. For example, the highest Def weighted raid caught Registeel (10/13/10) can be met by the Rank 1 Best Buddy Lickitung (7/15/15, 96.92 Atk). However, the recommended Def weights from our Registeel PvP IV Deep Dive would require 97.48-98.56 Atk. For Shadow Walrein, the variation on Def is even more volatile (95.63-99.93 Atk). To best hedge your bets, 97.7 Atk is a general recommendation if you’re chasing Atk, with 98.23 as a reasonable soft cap. However, you could miss the Breakpoint if they have a very lucky Def weight on their Pokemon, and you could easily just have it with the Rank 1 Lickitung if they don’t have a Def weight. Given that this mainly affects these two matchups, Atk shouldn’t be the focus of the Great League Lickitung, but it is something that you should be aware of.

Some players may have already built a Great League Lickitung and may want to know if they should upgrade. If a Lickitung has at least 125.1 Def and 181 HP, it should be fine for most general Silph Arena and GO Battle League uses. The Def is based on the lowest end of Azumarill Atk weights and is the tip of the iceberg of all the Def Breakpoints that come before it. 181 HP should be able to handle most HP based matchups, but may require more tech or  prior-damage circumstances to meet a handful of 183 HP based wins. 

If you haven’t built a Lickitung already for the Great League, it’s still highly recommended to hold out for higher Def and HP weights. If you can’t wait any longer or have over 400 Lickitung XL Candy, try to at least have it near or above 98.23-99.61+ Atk to give it some extra tech for dumping the bulk.

Given that over 2/3rds of Lickitung’s ideal IVs are Best Buddy based, if you happen to have a good looking Best Buddy variation of Lickitung, go for it. While the Best Buddy slot can be contested, Lickitung appears to benefit from it more than most other meta options. Of course, using Best Buddy Lickitung could limit you from bringing out Pachirisu, Purified Wobbuffet, Chansey, Vullaby, Alolan Sandshrew, and other <1500 CP Pokemon’s fullest potential (fortunately, most of these Pokemon are off-meta or Cup based).

Lickitung appears to be pretty forgiving with its stat ranges, having relatively tame recommended Def and HP checks for its species. Given the low spawn rate of Lickitung, lack of Lickitung Raids, and that Lickitung isn’t in the Egg pool, if you haven’t started walking one for XL Candy already, it’s going to be a slog. Even if you don’t have a good IV Lickitung yet, you may want to power one up to level 35-40 (level influences XL Candy drop rate when walking a buddy up to level 40) and start walking it to start working on the XL Candy grind. If you’re starting below 100 XL Lickitung Candy, chances are you’ll find a premium IV one by the time you finally reach 296.