Best Pokémon for Pokémon GO’s Love Cup

Pokémon GO’s Love Cup is in full swing, and love is in the air! And by “love,” I of course mean “punching.” There is a lot of punching in the air. But hey, everyone knows that love comes in a lot of forms, one of which being tough love, so show your opponents just how much you love them by conquering the Love Cup. Here are the best Pokémon to use for Pokémon GO’s Love Cup. 

The Love Cup began on February 8, and will run until next Monday, February 15, at 4 PM local time. While the rules of battle in the Love Cup aren’t out of the norm for Pokémon GO tourneys, the rules of entry are a little different. In keeping with the lovely theme of the season, you can only pack Pokémon that are either red or pink in coloration, and only ones with a CP of less than 1,500. Can’t be showing your opponents too much love, or you might kill them. With this odd limitation, many players are making liberal use of the most predominantly red and pink Pokémon: Fire and Fairy types. Here are a few candidates for your team to consider.

Best Pokémon for Pokémon GO’s Love Cup

Fire types are great damage dealers even in normal circumstances, and in the Love Cup, that hasn’t changed. Since you can’t use most of the heartier types like Rock or Steel, you’ll want some buff ones that can deal good damage while taking a lot of hits. A couple of quality candidates would be Magmortar and Charizard (who is orange, not red, but whatever). In Magmortar’s case, you can mesh Fire Spin with Brick Break for great damage, or if you were lucky enough to get an event-exclusive Magmortar, try Thunderbolt for more type coverage. Charizard can go toe-to-toe with most of the available Pokémon with moves like Air Slash and Blast Burn, though again, Blast Burn is event-exclusive, so you may have to compromise on Fire Blast.

Fairy types are no pushovers, though. In fact, some of the most notable ones like Wigglytuff and Clefable, have surprisingly big HP pools, not to mention surprisingly diverse kits with moves like Ice Beam and Play Rough in the former’s case and Meteor Mash and Psychic in the latter’s. Also, while it’s not a Fairy type, Blissey is an excellent choice, as its mildly massive HP allows it to outlast most foes while peppering them with quick moves like Pound and Zen Headbutt.

Remember, a Pokémon doesn’t have to be 100% red or pink to be eligible. Long as they’ve got a little color on them, they’re good to go!