Does attack matter on Groudon?
Since today is the last day for Groudon I have decided to power up one of mine to level 32. Choices are:
2309, 15 attack, 12 defense, 14 stamina
2890, 13 attack, 15 defense, 15 stamina (weather booster)
I've always been very hesitant to power up legendary pokemon, since they require an enormous amount of resources. A part of me wants to power up the 96% Groudon but I want him to be able to do maximum damage. The 91% is lower but has perfect attack. How would these two Groduon perform say against the occasional gym battle and the Kyogre raid?
Answers
You know that there is a breakpoint calculator at this site, yes? Your ATK 13 will at level 38.5 (and only there) do one point less damage against Ninetails than your ATK 15. I think you will agree that this is a gigantic difference. Personally, I would transfer both and try to get a decent Groudon once he reappears in raids.
Attack is not the only thing that matters. Several pokemon have bulkpoints that make or break their performance in raids, very notably most of Kyogre's top counters only become able to tank its charge moves at higher levels and that level goes higher if your bulk IVs are lower. Their offensive breakpoints make very little difference in comparison to launching one more Solar Beam. Same was true for Gyarados against DT/SoB Groudon, Raikou against Ho-Oh and continues to be for Gengar against Confusion Alakazam/Mewtwo and Machamp against FB Tyranitar, just to throw in some examples.
Why would lag make bulk points irrelevant? A bulk point means that the pokemon will be able to tank a certain number of hits before fainting and lag has absolutely zero effect on that.
Luckily, I don't need to rely on sims because I have actually tested them out in real battles. My Groudon is able to tank Blizzard from Kyogre and launch its Solar Beam and earlier on my level 36 Raikou never died to the first Solar Beam from Ho-Oh.
You are severely overestimating the value of attack IV. 99% of the time the only thing it matters for is whether you need to do one or two more powerups to reach a breakpoint. It's a tool for saving stardust and candy, not a "this is the only thing that matters in the game" thing.
You've made so many power up questions you could try reading the responses from your previous ones and actually understand the reasoning behind them so that you don't have to ask the same rehashed question.
If I was going to spend 250 or so rare candies onto maxing out a Pokemon I'd max the one that is most likely to perform as close as possible to a perfect one, which is the one with 15 attack because the potential losses from not being able to hit a breakpoint due to not having 15 attack IV are greater than the potential gains from 3 defence and 1 stamina IV.
I'm sorry to hear that and wish you well in your healing process. Please don't pay attention to what pp wrote.
I have asked many questions, some repeatedly about the same subject. This board does not have a good search function (sorry, GP) and sometimes this is the fastest way to get the answers you need. Almost everyone here will patiently answer and offer advice.
To the few exceptions: If a question offends you, don't reply; if it's too long for your liking, don't read it. And never make assumptions about anyone or anything.
Of the two you have I would pick the 2890. The amount of candy necessary to take the level 20 to level 32, will take your level 25 to level 34, and savie you 5K stardust. That 13 attack would then have the equivalent attack breakpoint as a level 33 15 attack, so you are ahead, plus better chance of hitting a defence breakpoint, and a bit higher HP.
You could punch both into pokebattler for comparison.
After catching 40+ Groudon, my best ended up as a level 20 15 14 13. A bit sad, but I maxed him to level 40. A quick check found that 15 14 13 is exactly the same as 15 14 14 for level 40 HP (154).
I'll make a second Groudon when I can transfer the catches for double candy, and my choices are similar to yours. I'll be taking a 13 attack Groudon to level 34.
Mudshot with a 13 atk reaches its last breakpoint at level 30 against nine tails and against many other pokemon. In fact, if you max him out, mudshot will do the same level of damage regardless of his attack iv (assuming a minimum of 10). His charge move may do 1 point less damage but that is insignificant.
