Should I evolve and power up this Larvitar?
I got a 82% Larvitar (9-14-14) with 708 CP at level 29 (i'm 32).
I have enought candy and 200k of stardust.
What do you guys think?
Answers
I mean, it would immediately evolve into a 2900 plus attacker or defender with no extra expenditure. With those IVs it would work great on offense. For defense it would achieve a higher CP once powered up than even other high CP mons would even at 100%.
But that's a rare mon for most. It's really up to you. Less high end potential but also less risk of worthlessness. I guess the real question is would you spend the candy/dust to power up a defensive version for your gym scene at all?
It's up to you. I guess ask yourself, what happens if you get B/SE or B/C, will you power to 30? Or what about if you get a defensive moveset, will you want to power it?
I would wait till I have at least 250 candy, so if I evolve this 82% and happen to catch or hatch another higher IV, I could evolve that too immediately.
Tyranitar is meant to be an attacker to me, so IV not that important. I doubt anyone is afraid of battling a defending tyranitar anyway.
You evolve it.
These people talking IV are ridiculous. Once you evolve it, it is CP 2959. At level 33.5, it is 3202 with 161 HP.
Perfect would be CP 3329 with 161 HP.
So, the HP is meaningless and there is only very rare cases where +1 defense would help. Getting +6 attack might seem useful, but due to rounding in the damage formula, in most all matchups, it won't change things.
With its CP, it is already higher than any Blissey (with the 39 cap). Once you get it up to 34.5 (you go up one level), it'll be at 3290, which is the realm where only dragonites, tyranitar, and near-perfect max snorlax live. 3200+ has no danger of being in the bottom of ANY gym. In Philly, Baltimore, and NYC (manhattan/brooklyn), I have never seen a gym with a bottom about 3100.
To illustrate my point, I consider TTar facing a 39 ZH/DG Blissey with Bite and Stone Edge. Comparing your mon at 33.5 with a perfect one at 33.5, ZH, DG, and Bite all do the same damage. The stat boost had ZERO IMPACT. The only change was Stone Edge doing 64 damage as opposed to 66 damage. That is minimal, especially with how valuable Larvitar candy are.
Lastly, adding in effects like lag and the dodging bug, the stat difference will likely have no consistent noticeable difference from a perfect tyranitar.
You evolve it.
Also, with hatching, you have a 50/50 chance of better iv; BUT it will cost 60 candies to get it to L29 (almost half way to another tar for a modest improvement).
Conversely, you would expect to have to catch 75 larvatars to get one with both better iv and L20+. By then you'll have enough candy to evolve again. Math says "Do it".
This is all just IMHO...and it's probably in the minority, but here it is anyways.
The above is all true, but the "snob" in me will still wait...At least for me and my own play and enjoyment...I've always been a fan of less powered up defenders (#), but more powerful (higher CP ones) so I care about IVs a lot more.
With high CP defenders, you can't afford to power up every rare one (assuming Dratini and Larvitar is rare in your area) to Lvl 39 and once you start committing to 1 Dragonite or Tyranitar, I'd rather it be top shelf and not have to keep feeding 2 or 3, especially if your gyms stagnate and gym shavers are the main problem.
Getting in any gym is not the only goal (getting 97-100% perfect IVs and moves is), but if I only had enough candies or hatches to get 1 Tyranitar, I'd probably just wait and hold off since using any old Tyranitar to get in a gym isn't the point, at least not in my gameplay for mons which are more rare (I don't even have a Gyarados yet since no good IV Magikarps and them never spawning in the desert...I am content to wait since getting 400 candies was hard and not possible without the water event).
Larvitar is currently listed as an uncommon hatch with the highest CP in the game so until the gym rankings change, I'd rather just invest on much higher IV Larvitars or Dratinis.
Also, with the large amount of players and everyone leveling up fast, gym CP creep is massive now and bottom mons are near 3000+ in some stagnant gyms.
Outside of that, you have 3200+ all Dragonite gyms and sadly, if you wanted to play there, your own and only powered up Tyranitar with poor IVs may not be able to compete since everyone else just evolved their 90+ ones...Remember, there are only 10 spots in a gym and if there were hundreds of level 36 trainers around your area, yours will be on the bottom rungs...
If you look in SF, they actually have 3350+ min gyms...Until the gym rankings change, this will eventually hit ALL areas I feel.
As for 66 candies, I suppose I walk enough to get 1-2 5 km candies a day so in a month or 2, I can get that assuming no new hatches or catches.
Having played the game for months now and just hatching my 1st usable Dratini (97%), a month to two of game time is nothing IMO...(Near 1500+km walked)..
For you that is fine. In terms of general advisement that we give here it doesn't really jive.
You talk about candy rarity and commonality yet would piss away 58 candies for very little real return in the current game.
That's fine for you but I would not be doing the person asking the question any service by adding more personal preferences to any advice.
That said, I get it. I often hold out for decent IV stuff. I know it's not really necessary at times but I want the very best. But I cannot advise that as the best action to take in almost all instances because it just isn't.
This is why I prefaced it with all IMHO and there were tons of other people saying just evolve it so the OP can just read all the comments and decide for themselves.
Everyone plays the game their own way so do whatever you feel like for your own enjoyment.
I suppose part of my enjoyment is if I had a 84% Larvitar to evolve, I'd always feel bad if I hatched a 97% or 100% one tomorrow and already spent all my candies on the 84% one.
Now, I have to decide if I want to switch to start powering up and evolving another and use up another 125 candies...Eventually, you'd do both, but that takes time/walking, hatching, etc...
As an example, I hatched 3 Dratinis already, but the previous 2 were 84% or so...I skipped evolving since I never see Dratinis and wanted higher.
Recently, I just hatched a 97% one and evolved and powered up as much as I could...Still not enough candies...
Since it's 97%, I know that I can just keep powering it up and not worry if I hatch another since it's IVs will probably never be better...just more candies to power up.
It's sorta "Done" vs. the lower IV mons where you wonder if you should switch to power up another, etc...
Again, all this is based on your other defenders and other mons and gyms in your area, but as mentioned, for my own gameplay/gyms, etc...I'd rather wait and those are my reasons.
Since I normally get 8-10 gyms a day now, getting 10 more isn't going to change much for me so I can afford to wait and not feel "forced" to just get a non-ideal T-rex to put in a gym.
Wanted to add that at level 30, CP for your mon will be 3061 vs 3146 for perfect IVs.
That's 85 which is about 3-4 powerups...At the high levels, you can't level fast anymore so powering up at level 35 - 37 will take 40 candies. Again, I'd rather just start with a mon with closer to higher IVs and not have to powerup as much (or simply sit higher at a lower level) compared to the next guy since that 85 CP is about 3.5+ powerups...
Again, I feel using these Dragonites and Tyranitars are for near top positions in near Dragonite stacked gyms if everyone is your level or in weaker gyms if you are lower level...
Sigh.
You do understand that his Tyranitar will have a whopping 50ish CP disadvantage to your 100% Dragonite at the same level? Unless there is some area where gyms have zero Dragonites or are all 100% Dragonites why would this stop him?
Of course, the OP never specified what his gym scene was like so we don't know I guess.
Under your same logic no 100% Gyrados, Snorlax, Blissey or anything with less potential CP should ever be powered up. Plus he has a 1/3 chance of getting an offensive moveset where I think even you can agree it does not matter.
Yes, I it may not be much, but even you would agree that as the higher levels go, 100 CP can be near difference between top end of a gym and bottom so 50 may not sound like a lot, but look at a stagnant gym in your area with constant shaving and you need all the CP you can get, especially when the gym becomes all Dragonite/Tyranitar so yes, these types of gyms are in my area now.
My thinking is if I had a Tyranitar, it'd be for a near stacked Tyranitar / Dragonite gym...I can use "other" mons for the other gyms...since I agree, yes, not all gyms will be like this.
50CP is 2 power ups and at the upper ends, I suppose in my mind, we'd all be level 40 eventually...and if the OP is only 29, if he wants to play strategically, he can't afford to waste candies on weaker IV mons.
All this is of course, IMO...I still try to level ASAP honestly to get ahead of all my "teammates" in my area...
Again, all this depends on the OP endgame or goals...
Absolutely. That reads fine spelled out that way. Cost of possible future leveling based on CP is a reasonable discussion. FYI it's hard for me to type the counter opinion/logic without sounding like I'm just attacking your gamestyle. That's not my intention and as I said above I do similar moves at times-partially due to having my needs met or exceeded.
Wanted to also add that after you have 10-12 solid defenders, I'd probably be hesitant to power up more defenders just to get even more gym spots...Sorta unnecessary IMO and you'd be a jerk to your teammates not to mention the high cost in stardust since I'd assume for a lot of areas, being a level 30 mon isn't going to get you a good spot prob other than Tyranitar and Dragonite...
To allow adjustment to game changes, I try to just max out 2 of each species ideally...I do have exceptions for common mons like Vaporeon and Rhydon which I also use, but candies for them is sorta unlimited in my area (sitting on 400+ Rhyhorn candies)...and you just need the high IV mon first which is hard to find.
Remember the old days when all the websites would say leveling past Level 30 is probably not worth it? It's too much stardust/candies, etc etc etc...
Now, everyone is leveling past 30 and I assume, eventually to 39...I can take both of my Blisseys to pretty much 38 now...should hit max after 1 more hatch...
