Legacy Politoed Useful in PVP?
I have a politoed with Earthquake. I'm wondering if any of you have tried using one in pvp and can offer some insight on whether it's good or not. Mine is currently at level 27 (1870 CP) so I'd have to power it up a good amount to be usable and I'd rather not spend the dust to do so until I have a better idea how it performs (not to mention the 50k for the second move). So should I invest in this mon?
For context the group I'd be using it with most frequently would be Breloom (Counter+Dynamic Punch & Seedbomb) and Granbull (Snarl+Play Rough & Crunch). I could also use it in other groupings as well, but this is the primary one I'm envisioning it with at the moment.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Answers
Most of the players in my area are having a blast with PVP, myself included. I was hugely skeptical of PVP before it came out, thinking I would have zero interest. But the opportunity to use a wide variety of Pokemon that were previously relegated to dex filler status is fantastic.
To the OP, a perfect answer is below. Pretty much anything can be useful if you can use it in the right situation (knowing type effectiveness, etc). But more to the point, if you enjoy using Politoed, then by all means go for it! Make PVP teams that are fun and that you enjoy.
"My question is, does anyone even play PvP?"
- Yes. Players have been returning to the game because of this feature, and most people are having a blast with it.
"There are minimal rewards"
- Sinnoh Stones are the hottest item in the game right now, so that's hardly "minimal." Niantic will probably expand PvP rewards in the future as well.
"no one gives a flying care"
- You couldn't be more wrong.
"I wasted about 150K of dust to power up relevant azumarills and umbreons for a venue in which absolutely no one plays."
- The Great League is one of the most popular, overall. I'm sorry your experience has been different, but that does not equate to no one playing in it.
"PvP is a wasteland."
- Again, wrong.
To top it all off, this is a brand new feature. Down the road, Niantic will probably have events focused on PvP. There will probably be research related to PvP. For all we know, they'll give us new PvP features at some point that we haven't even considered yet. There's a ton of room for this new feature to grow and expand, so dismissing it as a "wasteland" that no one cares about (which is entirely inaccurate) is very short-sighted, biased, and just plain silly.
In my friend list very few people play. I’ve done less than 12 real battles. Granted not on social media begging/asking for opponents...in hindsight not worth the 9 CTMs to flip between Fire Blast and Overheat on a Blast Burn Charizard, still no Dragon Claw. A 2000 cp lucky Hydro Cannon 15/14/14 Blastoise got Flash Cannon...only save is both other moves seem to be useful (not single bar).
I have some EQ Politoed but it is too much to try to optimize it, people that use electric like fast options (wild charge and thunder bolt). Earthquake on offense won’t help Politoed on defense. Frenzy Plant/leaf blade anything would eat it for lunch...my mostly theoretical opinion since not many opportunities to really play PvP.
The beauty of PVP is that almost anything is viable depending on what you use it against. You can win with Raticate and lose with Mewtwo. Your Politoed would wreck an Ultra league Tyranitar, for instance
I find that powering up Mons specifically for PVP is completely unnecessary although adding charge moves can be useful.
In general I don't think powering up is necessary when we're talking 100-200 cp below the limit, but when it's that big of a difference (1800 vs the 2500 limit) I feel it would make a difference. Especially with the community here many are very evenly matched and it truly is coming down to a race to get off one final charge move to knock the other out (has happened many times for me both on the giving and receiving end).
