Short-term and medium-term plans for my attacker squad
Level: 36
Spending Status: No longer spend real money on the game.
Local Gym Meta: So active that even spoofers must fight hard for every gym coin.
Local Raid Meta: Legendary raids very common and inevitably attract large crowds.
Local Weather: Only rain, sun, partly cloudy or cloudy.
Stardust: 550k
Rare Candy: 148
Fast TMs: 6
Charged TMs: 2
Current attacker squad (all level 30, IVs listed as A/D/S):
Tyranitar, Bite/Crunch, 13/15/13
Dragonite, DT/OR, 14/11/15
Dragonite, DT/Hu, 14/14/11
Machamp, Count/DP, 12/11/14
Poliwrath, RS/DP, 15/13/14
Entei, FS/OH, 15/15/11
Raikou, TS/WC, 14/10/15
Gyarados, WF/HP, 14/15/13
Gyarados, WF/HP, 15/10/14
Vaporeon, WG/HP, 15/14/14
Alakazam, Conf/FS, 15/15/14
Alakazam, PC/FS, 13/15/15
Espeon, Conf/FS, 12/15/14
Exeggutor, Conf/Psyc, 13/14/14
Exeggutor, Conf/Solar, 15/13/15
Exeggutor, BS/SB, 13/14/10
Venusaur, VW/Solar, 11/14/15
Golem, RT/SE, 15/11/15
Rhydon, MS/SE, 13/14/14
Gengar, Hex/SBall, 14/14/10
Any reason not to immediately add the following four to my attacker squad?
L25 Scizor, FC/XS, 12/12/15 (needs 44k dust)
L25 Machamp, BP/HS, 15/15/10 (needs 44k dust, 1 Fast TM & 1 Charged TM)
L30 Blaziken, FS/FocB, 14/15/15 (needs 1 Fast TM)
L26 Hariyama, BP/DP, 13/11/15 (needs 36k dust & 1 Fast TM)
Goals for January:
Currently walking Ralts. Hunt down and Pinap wild Ralts.
Solo Machamp (with CC) for a third wonder.
Once Groudon raids end, power up my best.
Other questions and possible goals:
What are Grass attackers good for, besides soloing Omastar? Should I get another and if so, which?
I have a L30 Dragonite (SW/DP, 15/13/10) and a L20 Dragonite (SW/HB, 14/13/14). Is either worth investing in?
Worth soloing Gengar for a second wonder with Hex/SBall?
Which to invest in as backup to Entei: L27 Arcanine (FF/FT, 15/10/15), L19 Flareon (Emb/FB, 12/13/14) or L9 Flareon (FS/OH, 14/14/10)? Or should I do Charmeleon raids (fewer TMs/RC)? No Moltres, unfortunately.
I have a thousand Magikarp candy and a few L25-30 wonders. Is a third WF/HP Gyarados worth it?
Is the game that lacking in Flying-type attackers? Which should I consider?
What use does the game have for Poison-type attackers (like Muk)? Would Metagross deal with Fairy-types just fine?
Answers
Agreed with the above. If you're trying to consistently solo T3 raids. Lv30 attackers are borderline.
I was fortunate to have caught a lv35 15atk Torchic which I immediately evolved and got C/FocB. After using it in battle in glad I got it at that level and didn't spend dust. Machamp is leagues ahead.
If you're looking for a good flying/flying attacker check out Scyther and to a lesser degree Crobat. They double resist grass and fight, which is s good place to use attacks of that type.
I was farming Torchic at a nest, but eventually gave up on finding a wonder and took a bus to a legendary raid. At that gym, I caught a level 30 wonder Torchic, whch turned out to be 98% (the Blaziken mentioned in my question)! Ironically, the game weather was cloudy, but the actual weather was sunny.
My local meta is all about legendary raids and attacking/defending gyms with Normal-type tanks constantly fed Golden Razzberries. Since I no longer spend real money (sticking to free passes), soloing Tier 3 raids incurs a significant opportunity cost in fewer TMs and Rare Candy compared to legendary raids.
As the best counter to Normal-type tanks, Machamp is definitely worth soloing multiple times. Did Scyther once because I want a Scizor for future Psychic-type legendaries, but could do again if I do neeed a Flying attacker. Unfortunately, I cannot acquire a legacy Gengar and Omastar from raids. No need for me to solo Alakazam as I already have a 98% with Conf/FS, a 96% with PC/FS and a L26 96% Abra.
Scizor: Reasons to power up are Celebi raids and wanting to do Alakazam solos with 6 different mons. There's a better attacker for everything that double bug Scizor does in the game currently. Moreover, it's almost useless at L30 since it tends to have a FC breakpoint above 30 which makes or breaks its DPS.
Machamp: How badly do you need another one? Can very well be worth adding to squad.
Blaziken: Worth it for 1 FTM since you do have 6 of them. It's not nearly as good as Machamp, but you don't have that many fighting types in your roster.
Hariyama: You mentioned Cloudy weather in a comment. If your area spawns Makuhitas as much as residential areas here do, you should never spend stardust on Hariyama. I've already evolved 4 that went over 2400 cp.
Grass attackers: Kyogre is most likely the next legendary raid boss since it's been featured in promo imagery. Some of the top counters are grass mons.
L30 Dragonite would certainly be worthy of TMs. I would probably just FTM and it and wait until you have more than 2 CTM to get rid of DP since you might get HB on the first roll.
Gengar is good for Alakazam solos and not much else. I would rather look for boosted Gastlys if you want another one.
Entei backup: None of the ones you mentioned. Catch high level Eevees and evolve until you get a Flareon you're happy with. Arcanine is close to L30 and pretty good IVs so might as well bring it up to 30 if you enjoy the mon.
Gyarados: Do you need more firepower in Groudon raids?
Flying attackers: Scyther has the best flying-type DPS but the best flying type attacker is generally DT/Hu Dragonite. Not a priority offensive typing either way.
Poison-type attackers: Sludge Bomb Gengar is actually pretty good. Victreebel with double poison moves has the highest poison-type DPS I think. Not that relevant of a type either. Metagross will counter fairy-types hard but you have nothing to worry anyhow. Entei is already excellent at countering Gardevoir and Raikou murders the upcoming Togekiss due to its flying-type.
Thanks. That was very helpful.
Scizor: What are the better attackers? Tyranitar, of course, but I have only one, with 16 Larvitar candy and bad luck with Tyranitar raids.
Blaziken: FTM used.
Machamp: As you mentioned, I do not have that many Fighting-types and as I mentioned, gyms here are very active and competitive, so I need more to take on Normal-type tanks. Perhaps I should first give it a CTM and see whether I get DP (then immediately FTM and power up) or CC.
Grass attackers: So I will certainly need another, but which? Options include a second Venusaur (L27, VW/PB, 10/14/14), a Vileplume (L20, Acid/Solar, 13/9/15 or 10/14/15) and a Victreebel (L26, 13/11/15, Acid/LB). Keen on Sceptile but may not be able to get a good one in time for Kyogre.
Dragonite: How good is DT/DP?
Flying and Poison attackers: Glad to know that I do not need them.
Wonder if I need an Ice attacker; Gardevoir may be good against Dragonite and Salamence, but the Lati twins resist both her fast moves and she may be too slow against Rayquaza.
"Grass attackers: So I will certainly need another, but which?"
Exeggutor with BS/SoB. Nobody else comes close. Best STAB attacker with Solar Beam, decent tankiness, and when he gets them off, does a ton of damage. Extrasensory or Confusion are also good, but not quite as good, and are way weaker against mon that are doubly weak to grass (Omastar, Rhydon, Golem, probably more).
Or, invest in Ho-Oh or Groudon with Solar Beam, but know that both are weak to water, and they will use up a fair bit of rare candy, while Eggy does not.
When Eggy was a level 2 raid boss, I did a lot of them, getting good candy and decent options to power up. Having that to build off of is very helpful.
And right now, if you get lucky, you can find a level 35 Exeggucute with good stats, evolve it, and have a strong Exeggutor for zero stardust.
To usher in the new year, I gave my L25 89% Machamp a CTM and got DP, so I followed up with a FTM and powering her up to L30.
Having a Blaziken and second Machamp gives me more time to seek high-level, high-IV Makuhitas. However, the L26 87% Hariyama has DP, so powering him up would save CTMs.
Caught a L30 13/12/13 Spheal which I immediately evolved into a Walrein with FrB/Bliz. I guess my hatched L20 12/14/15 (or 13/12/15) Lapras would remain a trophy (only 29 candy).
