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Now level 38. What to do next?

Sitting on 1.6 million dust, 19 FTMs, 13 CTMs and 274 RC, but not sure what (and how) to work towards. With the scanners down for two months, I miss running five blocks to catch that Ralts, planning a trip to the park that became a Wingull nest and heading to raids at specific gyms where I want gold/silver badges.

A. Powering up Fire-types (for Jynx and the Regis)
I have been too reliant on my Entei with FS/OH (15/15/11). Powering up my Charizard with FS/BB (14/13/15) should be an easy decision, but where does that leave Moltres? Having both in my Jynx solo team (along with Entei) may lead to easy wins against Draining Kiss but quick wipeouts against Avalanche. Perhaps an Arcanine (FF/FT, 15/10/15) and a Flareon (Emb/OH, 14/14/10) from the prestiging era could be invested in and return to action.

B. Powering up Fighting-types (for gym offence, Tyranitar and the Regis)
During the recent events, I hatched two 98% Machops and caught a perfect one! The 82% Machamp that I relied on in the Blissey-tower era and the 89% prize from my first successful Machamp solo can retire and assist Professor Willow with research. Just kidding. I have yet to power up any attacker or defender beyond level 30 (best Dragonite is 14/13/14; as for Tyranitar, see section C), so reaching level 38 is a good time to start with that perfect Machamp! As for Hariyama, is a 14/15/13 better than a 15/13/12 considering that it has low base defence?

C. Acquiring Metagross and second Tyranitar (for gym offence, Jynx, Gengar and Latios)
Been walking a crap Beldum (caught during Hoenn event) for over 400km. 179 candy after hatching another two; Blanche has too much attention to catch. Still. Yet. To. Hatch. A. Wonder. To complicate matters, Jynx calls for Steel moves, while Gengar (with Sludge Bomb) and Machamp (with Heavy Slam) call for Psychic moves. At least I have three wonder Larvitars (best is 12/15/15) and 116 candy, despite horrendous luck with Tyranitar raids, which usually appear at the wrong place or time (my last two completed Tyranitar raids resulted in a caught attention prize and a failed catch). Considering the resources that I have, would extra incubators only for 10km eggs be a better use for gym coins (which I have to work hard for) than extra passes only for legendary raids?

D. Questing/Badges/Others
The last time I tried to throw an excellent curveball, I wasted over fifty red balls, finally catching the Sudowoodo with an accidental non-curveball. I do not find Field Research that fun, but will do the simple ones to earn Zapdos and especially Articuno, which I intend to spend 86 RC on as my team bird and the only one that is not outclassed by a dog. Looks like the most consistent way to earn a gold/silver badge for a gym is to keep attacking it, going through all six defenders rather than focusing on the Blissey; if the gym falls, that is a bonus. Of course, this is very potion-consuming.

Asked by hkn5 years 10 months ago
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Answers

Fire - no! Machamp ist better against the regis, so Machamp yes! Tyranitar yes but no need atm. Articuno will be outclassed soon by Mamoswine and is not pretty good so save rare candy.

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Golden Gym badges are one of the most useful resources in the game, second only to bag space and pokemon storage IMO, so I'd go with that and get at least your most frequented gyms to gold quickly.

Metagross is not a priority at all for anything so skip that one for now. A second Tyranitar will get you out of trouble from time to time but I think you can do well with just the one.

So that leaves Machamp and some fire backup. Moltres is the best bird (representing the best team of course) and the best fire type ATM, so go for it if you have the RC. BB Charizard is a very good poor-man's alternative. I've already maxed out 3 of those.

I would prioritize Machamp above all else. You can never have enough Machamp, especially if you struggle with potions and revives constantly. I am one Machamp away from finishing a SECOND Machamp battle party and I couldn't reccomend maxing out any other Pokemon more than I do this four-armed mutant. They will be especially helpful in the conquering of your local gyms. Ignore Hariyama unless your dodging is subpar.

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I agree with the Machamp suggestion. I have 7 machamp from 100% to 87% and they destroy gyms

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What hurts about not having a Metagross or second Tyranitar is seeing the purple-faced dancing witch atop gyms and knowing I cannot beat her without help.

Getting my most-frequented gyms to gold sounds like a worthy goal.

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Which one is the purple-faced one?

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Welcome to the maxing club! Here's my angle:

1) I don't like Entei, I don't like it at all. It's weaker than a common Flareon. Charizard is a good bet with BB, but keep in mind BB has a super late damage window. Of the fire types I still prefer Moltres but only if you've got a really good one and have some RC knocking around - if your best is a low IV level 15 research one and you've got a high level, good IV Charizard with BB, that may take the cake and save you some candy.

2) I've really been surprised at how much I use my best Machamp. Yes, definitely max out the 100% one. You may want to hold off on the others, it really depends on how much you do TTar raids. You may find that you don't use more than 1 Machamp for gyms very often and the current raid bosses outside of TTar aren't huge on it. I would say maxing the 100% one should be the first thing you do! Hariyama is good but I would start with just one. The two you have are kind of splitting hairs so don't stress about it too much really - if it were me I would go with the higher level one if not the 2nd one.

3) Be patient with Beldum, then. I evolved a Metagross super early on and it was already a very high level so I TMed it and expected to see use very early on. I don't use it nearly as much as I thought I would. Currently, it's best use is as a gym defender since it's decent, counters Machamp and TTar depending on the moves, and collects a lot of berries as a defender. I initially evolved it to plan for possible move reworks to secure it as a Gardevoir counter but I find that I'm the only one in my town that uses lots of Gardevoirs on gym defense. By the way, hold out for a better Larvitar. I know it sounds crazy but you never know when your luck will turn around with a Tyranitar raid, and it will save you a TON of candies. If your best Larvitar isn't already above level 30, I would wait - the only reason to power a Larvitar instead of a Tyranitar should be if it's perfect, near-perfect, or a super high level and wonder, or if you live somewhere that can't access Tyranitar raids. I also don't like buying incubators since I find egg hatches very unreliable. I think raid passes continue to be the best use because they give Rare Candies, legendary candies, and possible great IV legendaries.

4) If you're biggest problem with gym sweeping is potion efficiency, try looking into a Lugia. E/SA or DT/SA makes for a fantastic generalist, and a maxed Lugia can clear a maxed Blissey even without Extrasensory. It isn't weak to fairy and resists Psychic, has a ton of bulk, is super potion efficient, and has a early damage window, strong two-bar which is ideal for gym offense. If you don't have a Lugia at all then Ttar or Gardevoir make another potion-efficient attacker.

In closing, the first thing I did when I reached level 38 was:
- Max out my 3 best Tyranitars. In your case I would raid some more of them to get very good IV ones since they are a more-or-less permanent investment. 3 Tyranitars should last you through the entirety of non-FB Mewtwo/Alakazam battles when maxed out, so maxing a 4th would hardly even see use even if not dodging.

- Max out my best legendaries. Do so on the ones that you are pretty sure will be gone (For example I wouldn't do Articuno till it leaves research tasks). For me, this was Groudon, Kyogre, Rayquaza, Lugia, Raikou, Mewtwo, Moltres, and Latios. The rest of the legendaries weren't worth the candy for me since they aren't too great but I still plan to max em out anyways.

- Max out my best Blissey. You can benefit from multiple strong gym defenders like Blisseys, but you only really need 1 strongest Blissey. You can only claim a full gym once a day and you can usually only hold 1 ex-gym at a time. Make sure it has ZH/DG.

- Max out my best Machamp. You usually only need 1 Machamp and then one thing like Ray/Mewtwo for gym offense.

Best of luck, and welcome to the club!

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1. I missed the bird raids, so my best Moltres are 14/15/12 and 15/10/14 research rewards (obviously level 15), while my Charizard was hatched (at level 20).

2. Will go ahead and max out the perfect Machamp with no regrets!

3. Praying for luck with Tyranitar raids or a Larvitar community day. (Even if I wanted to evolve my hatched 93% Larvitar and power it up, I am 73 candy short.)

4. I only managed to catch one wonder Lugia when it returned as a raid boss (I was on hiatus when it first came out). DT/FS, 12/15/13. If I focus on raids and only attack gyms for coins, I have more than enough potions, but if I repeatedly attack gyms that I want to earn badges for, then potion shortage becomes an issue. So far, I have only powered up three legendaries - Raikou, Entei and Groudon (missed out on Kyogre and no Mewtwo) - so I guess Lugia may be worth spending 57 RC on. ES/SA is also great against Machamp; how does it fare against Gengar?

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Consider the 5 Million XP challenge: try to store up enough candy and max your PKM storage with anything that evolves so that with a double XP event and enough Lucky Eggs, you may virtually skip L39!
Also I agree with others to get a Machamp team - with 15 attack they need to be L36 to have max breakpoint against Ttar, and I maxed my perfect Champ as well, hoping to try a Ttar Duo soon.

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by zap 5 years 10 months ago

You know a game is boring when people are asking what they should do, and having no real clue as to what's next.

LET'S GO NIANTIC!!!

I want to battle with other trainers. And as long as Niantic doesn't do anything about gyms (holy jeez), Machamp is the only pokemon you need to worry about on offense, cause most defenders are weak to them. If not, toss in an ancient Dragonite or Raikou and you're set.

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Just bring back the scanners, so I can actually work towards my existing goals. Relying on the egg lottery, wasting a raid pass only to find out that Jynx has Confusion + Avalanche, etc. and camping out at the town centre waiting for silver eggs (or likewise for gyms that I want gold badges on) is not fun.

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A. Invest in your BB Charizard if you feel like you need more in that department. Moltres isn't that necessary, your rare candy is better used elsewhere. I wouldn't consider Arcanine unless it has legacy Flamethrower.

B. Work on those Machamps, it's the most important thing you could be doing right now. Max the perfect one at the very least and I recommend also taking the two others to higher 30s.

C. Prioritize Tyranitar, a second one can certainly be very helpful since you care about solos. Metagross isn't that necessary, Jynx is perfectly soloable without one and if you desperately need a steel type to attack gyms (unlikely since you have the Entei), you could always use Aggron, it's passable.

D. Practice makes perfect. As long as your phone isn't hampering you, throwing excellents is just a mechanical skill that you need to learn if you want to do it.

You're right on the money with badges, the most consistent way to get a gold gym is to keep going there and interacting with it. Raids are huge and berryfeeding is huge. Fighting is relevant but potion-consuming as you said. It's better to try to drop the Blissey fast, but if it gets fed, change to going through all. Defending is the least work, but consumes a lot of GRB (I can burn 30+ in a day just on passive upkeep without accounting for any active defense).
I think the most important thing is to always only raid and feed berries on gyms that you are working towards gold.

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When I hit 38, the three things I really started enjoying were
- maxing Pokémon - you do it once and you don’t have to do it again
- building teams that can solo all the past, current and guessable future t3s
- planning ahead - really planning ahead. 2 maxed rhydons + two maxed piloswines for gen 4, tons of eggzy candy for aloha kinda thing, getting a collection ready for all the eevee variations etc.

Being able to solo all the fighting types when they came out was super awesome. And I am waiting for claydol to come back so that I can kick its ass with my 2 maxed 15a98 kyogres.

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