Bad Zapdos
I didn't hook up with any raid groups until the very end of Raikou in the US. As a result, I don't have Moltres, Articuno, Lugia, or Raikou. Got a few good Entei, three bad Suicune (but aren't they all bad, ...), and then started to clean up with 9 Ho-Oh and 6 Groudon so far.
I did get lucky and stumble onto an early Zapdos raid, literally the hour it came out. Caught it, but got 10a/12d/10s with Thunder. Literally 2 defense better than the worst possible Zapdos. So I didn't bother to power it up, thinking I'd get another (didn't).
Now, here we are, with Kyogre probably about to debut, and I don't have any good electrics. Against Hydropump, I'm fine with Exeggutors. Against Thunder, same thing. But against Blizzard, Eggy is weak, Dragonite is doubly weak, and I don't know what I'd hit with. My Jolteons are also nothing to write home about, the strongest ones all have Thunder.
So, is it worth it to power up a mediocre Zapdos, spending 63 rare candy (of 131 as of this instant, but still need to power up Mewtwo from 28-30). Or should I not compromise, save the rare candy to power up a double ground Groudon so that if/when Zapdos and/or Raikou make a return appearance, I can bag some more easily, and prepare for Blizzard Kyogre with Jolteons. (As an aside, took 5 of my strong Eevees [lvl 33+] and evolved them to try and get a Jolteon, got 4 flareons and a vaporeon.) Have plenty of Eevee candy, and Eevees are common here, especially when it's partly cloudy. Oh, and my one Ampharos has Focus Blast, and I used my last CTM on the Mewtwo to get Shadow Ball from Hyper Beam.
Any advice appreciated, especially a less painful option.
Answers
The bad Zapdos has Thunder, not Thunderbolt.
My thinking on this is to keep catching the best Eevees I can and evolve them, hoping to get a good Jolteon with Thunderbolt or Discharge. That will cost no rare candy, little to no dust, and just a few Eevee candy (of which I have 674 at this moment, enough to evolve 27 Eevees, more with the catch candy). That should allow me to get a few good Jolteons to fight with.
Zapdos really is only marginally better than Jolteon against a Blizzard Kyogre, but it is a solid long-term investment. I would recommend a SoB Groudon if you had the resources to take it to a high level, but at level 30 it can't tank Blizzard reliably and you're lacking CTMs too. (BTW Don't use it against Zapdos if that comes back, Zapdos resists Ground due to typing)
Looking at the list of counters, Blizzard KOs pretty much everything at level 30 that deals good damage, so I'd go with glass cannons with multi-bar charge moves. Leaf Blade users are a good option, Sceptile, Victreebel and Shiftry all have very reliable damage output until they die. Jolteon isn't bad either, probably gets off 2 Thunderbolts most of the time.
Agree with first point, I had forgotten that Zapdos's only weaknesses are Ice and Rock, so not so great against Blizzard.
My SoB Groudon will be useful against Thunder Kyogre, but I'm skeptical that (with weakness to Waterfall) it can take on either Blizzard or Hydropump. I'm planning on using neutral counters against Bliz - Ttar, Mewtwo (SB), Double Dark Gyarados (who resists waterfall), Entei, Espeon. Still on the fence about powering up SB Ho-Oh. My only weather buffed one was originally slated as a Machamp Tank, so I CTMd from SB and got FB (not BB). If I get another CTM soon, I could try again, and use what I get, either against Kyogre (SB) or Machamp (BB).
Against Zapdos, if he comes back, I have 4 strong golems that will do a lot of damage. That's the one thing I started building up from day one in the game.
Had thought about other dark options, but Shiftry hadn't come to mind. CP is low, though. Double dark Gary should be more effective (CP 2811 at level 31 for Gary vs. 1789 at level 29 for Shiftry, both with IVs in the low 90s).
Thanks for the input (everybody), it's been very helpful.
