Power up only def pokemon

i just ask 5minutes ago the same question and read your previous post. i wouldnt power up your pokemon ;)
lets see what say...

I only power-up Pokemons for attack, because what you said above and because most of the defending movesets are only good because of the current gym mechanics.

I am actually currently powering up similar Lapras than yours. And if I would have either of your Snorlax, I would power it up.

I am doing exactly that, thus I power up only Def pokemons.

Despite living in big city (relatively big in my country) I rarely encounter pokémon over 2k cp at gym other than Vape, Dragonite or Arcanine (Which are really easy to defeat). I already have level 27,5 (1863 CP) Vileplume Razor Leaf/Solar Beam, 28 (2126 CP) Vaporeon with WG/Hydro Pump, 27,5 (1946 CP) Flareon with Ember/Fire Blast and 27,5 Cloyster with FB/Blizzard (As you see, not a single rare pokémon). I already take down any, even higher level gym with ease so powering them up would be IMO a waste.

And just for the same reason, I power up only defenders like Poliwrath, Slowbro or Wigglytuff, to be above 2k and be really scary. That's the only way of defending gyms now.

Remember, a gym doesn't have to be strong. A gym just have to look like it is strong so that people believe it is strong.

So my verdict will be: If you have stable attacking team and have no trouble with taking gyms, you would probably rather power up defenders.

Pretty much what "Olupaj mi banan" said. After a certain point powering up attacking Pokémon almost becomes a waste of stardust (I suppose you end up spending a bit less potions but that's it). With decent crew you can already take down pretty much anything, so for that reason you might want to focus on spending your stardust on defending Pokémon, to make them stay higher up in the gym making them harder to remove from there.

My strategy has been to power up a single defensive and single offensive Pokémon of every species I need (that is as much as I've been able to get my hands on them). I've powered up pretty much everything I can to level 30 and after that I have powered up some defensive Pokémon above that because I feel like spending any more stardust on those attackers is going to be waste as I already demolish any gym. Also you want to think carefully about powering up Pokémon beyond level 30, because after that they only gain half the CP on each power up.

Though, the benefit of having high level attackers is that you don't really need to worry that much about type advantages and such (once you get your hands on a good Dragonite with offensive moveset you don't need much else for attacking).

But to be honest, if you are very conservative with your stardust, you should be able to power up everything you need.

I think it depends where you live.

If the game is still really popular in your area and gyms never last (it's always being attacked) then you want strong attackers. Take over 2-3 gyms as fast as possible and collect your bonus then go home.

If the game has died out a bit, gyms are basically trained to level 10 and last for weeks. You get kicked out by allies, not enemies. Someone has multiple accounts and they knock out the bottom of the gym and put theirs in instead. In this case, power up defenders. You need high CP to stay in a gym at all, but once you're there you'll collect 3+ gyms every day for weeks.

The other thing to consider is that for training, lower CP good pokemon are ideal to get more prestige. Attacking is also relatively easy. So powering up attackers may help it get done faster, but otherwise offers limited benefit. Higher CP defenders will discourage attackers from trying though.

The reason is that you can evolve any high CP evee, growlithe, execcute, magikarp etc and get a ready to use good attacker without spending any dust and candies. Because IV doesnt matter for attacker. Only moveset and CP.

You should only power up a strong attacker of a type you are lacking and that is very usefull for attackings gyms.
Dragonite (DB/DC or DB/DP, Venusaur with VineWhipe/SB or Razol leaf, Lapras with FB, Cloyster/Dewgong FB/Blizzard)
But you dont need to power them up to lvl 30. I would say 2000CP is enough for venusaur and lapras, 2600 enough for dragonite)

It really depends on your gym scene.

Where I live my team is dominating (Instinct) and I spend 99% of my time battling my own gyms to build them up. I rarely attack enemy gyms (once a day or maybe once every 2 days at most).

So powering up attackers is a huge mistake. I need my attackers to be small so I can get high prestige.

I am much more excited about catching great creatures in the 1,000 CP range than I am in catching 2,000 CP creatures.