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With the Lunar New Year event coming to Pokemon GO, Niantic has brought back a special variant of the Battle League, the Weather Cup. These sorts of random variety leagues give players a fresh break from the standard boring metagame that many feel the Great League suffers from.
Like many other special cups for the Battle League, the changes this brings to the competitive scene focus primarily on restricting the elemental types that trainers can use. In the case of the Weather Cup, trainers can only use Fire, Water, Rock, and Ice-type Pokemon. Understandably, this has significantly affected the meta of the Battle League.
With Steel and Fairy-types nowhere to be seen in Pokemon GO's Weather Cup, trainers across the globe are free to experiment with whatever team composition they like. However, a lot of players have already found combinations of creatures that work best for tackling the ranked ladder this tier of play provides.
Top contenders for the 2023 Weather Cup in Pokemon GO
Cradily
Cradily is one of the picks that rose in popularity under the Weather Cup's restrictions in Pokemon GO. One of the creatures infamous for being rather underwhelming compared to the rest of the fossil Pokemon, Cradily has finally found its niche as one of the best Grass-types in the cup.
Thanks to its amazing bulk and quick Fast Attacks, Cradily can easily pressure opponents in the early game. With access to great attacks like Stone Edge, Bulldoze, and Bullet Seed, Cradily is a great choice for trainers looking for a tank as well as an answer to Ice and Fire-type opponents.
Swampert
Always a great choice for every event in which it can participate, Swampert is arguably the best offensive Water-type in Pokemon GO. Thanks to its inherent bulk as well as its type combination (which is only weak to Grass-type attacks), Swampert has close to free roam in the current Weather Cup.
Since it's the only viable option with access to Hydro Cannon, Swampert is the go-to Water-type for players looking to dish out massive amounts of damage. Swampert also counters other popular picks in the tier, like Blaziken, Regirock, and with the right moveset, it can even go head-to-head with Cradily.
Regice
There's no tier in Pokemon GO's competitive metagame without an oppressive Regi golem reigning over the scene. Since Registeel is banned, Regice has taken the mantle as Weather Cup's best titan. Thanks to the lack of Ice-type counters, Regice is finally free to show trainers what it can do.
With access to Lock-On, Blizzard, and Zap Cannon, Regice is free to spam a barrage of Charged Attacks. Since most of its damage will come from these attacks, it functions best in the endgame when the opposing trainer has expended all of their shields. Thanks to Zap Cannon, Regice can easily take down all of the Water-types in the top tier of Weather Cup's meta.
