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Pokemon Go Best Pokemon: Tier List of the best Pokemon ranked by Attack, Defense and Stamina

Alex Donaldson avatar
Guide by Alex Donaldson Assistant Editor
Published on

Back when Pokemon Go first launched, Pokemon Go wasn't too important. Now there's deeper gym battles and challenging raid fights, you'll want to have a team of the Best Pokemon possible to make the most of every battle - and you'll probably want a few teams, each loaded up with uniquely powerful Pokemon.

On this page, we're going to run down the best Pokemon in Pokemon Go by digging deep and looking into their stats, including Attack, Defense, HP and CP - plus we're going to explain what moves you should shoot for on that Pokemon to make the most of them. Rather than list the best overall, we're going to list the best in each of their key stats including Attack, Defense, HP and CP - allowing you to carefully weigh up your needs against the hidden stats that secretly power Pokemon Go battles behind the scenes.

As you can imagine, the tier lists of the best Pokemon in the game are largely dominated by rare and legendary Pokemon - so if you can't get access to the early Pokemon on any given list, you should consider heading a little further down any individual list. If the rarerDragonite is out of reach, shoot to get your hands on something like Machamp instead, then build up to the legendaries and rarer Pokemon at the top of any given list. A few Eevee species Pokemon end up on these lists, too - if you need help getting them check out our Pokemon Go Eevee Evolution page.

It's well worth remembering that as well as the ranking of the Pokemon itself, you should strongly consider the Pokemon's moves and of course Pokemon type strengths and weaknesses - all of this will determine performance in battle. Even a beast of a Pokemon can lose to a less powerful one in battle if it isn't being used properly - so be careful. With that said, let's get on to the best Pokemon tier lists, split up by section... (Last Updated Nov '18 with Gen 4 Pokemon).

Best Attack Pokemon in Pokemon Go

The Attack stat in Pokemon Go of course determines how much damage each Pokemon will do, and while it'll vary within any given species depending on their level and general quality, the base stats are a great way to get an idea of which Pokemon are naturally the biggest damage dealers. There's a lot of legendary creatures on this list, but there's also plenty of non-legendary Pokemon on this top 20 that players can aspire to.

  1. Deoxys [Legendary Psychic type, 345 Attack]
  2. Mewtwo [Legendary Psychic type, 300 Attack]
  3. Rampardos [Rock type, 295 Attack]
  4. Slaking [Normal type, 290 Attack]
  5. Rayquaza [Legendary Dragon / Flying type, 284 Attack]
  6. Palkia [Dragon / Water type, 280 Attack]
  7. Salamence [Dragon / Flying type, 277 Attack]
  8. Dialga [Dragon / Steel type, 275 Attack]
  9. Alakazam [Psychic type, 271 Attack]
  10. Groudon [Dragon / Flying type, 270 Attack]
  11. Kyogre [Legendary Water type, 270 Attack]
  12. Latios [Legendary Dragon type, 268Attack]
  13. Porygon-Z [Normal type type, 264 Attack]
  14. Dragonite [Dragon / Flying type, 263 Attack]
  15. Gengar [Ghost / Poison type, 261 Attack]
  16. Espeon [Psychic type, 261 Attack]
  17. Metagross [Steel / Psychic type, 257 Attack]
  18. Zapdos [Legendary Electric / Flying type, 253 Attack]
  19. Tyranitar [Rock / Dark type, 251 Attack]
  20. Heatran [Fire / Steel type, 251 Attack]
  21. Moltres [Legendary Fire / Flying type, 251 Attack]
  22. Electivire [Electric type, 249 Attack]
  23. Mamoswine [Ice / Ground type, 247 Attack]

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Best Defense Pokemon in Pokemon Go

The defensive stat of each Pokemon determines how well they can take a hit and how well they can soak up damage - though it doesn't determine their HP - that's Stamina, which we'll get onto in a moment. Instead, DEF just determines how much damage any given attack will do when it lands. Because Legendary Pokemon are often aggressive, there's far more normal Pokemon on this list - and these guys can make great gym defenders, though still aren't the ultimate tanks compared to the HP/Stamina top 20. Here's the Best Pokemon for defense in Go:

  1. Shuckle [Bug / Rock type, 396 Defense]
  2. Deoxys (Defense Forme) [Psychic type, 330 Defense]
  3. Lugia [Legendary Psychic / Flying type, 310 Defense]
  4. Regirock [Legendary Rock type, 309 Defense]
  5. Regice [Legendary Ice type, 309 Defense]
  6. Bastiodon [Rock / Steel type, 286 Defense]
  7. Registeel [Legendary Steel type, 285 Defense]
  8. Steelix [Steel / Ground type, 272 Defense]
  9. Cresselia [Legendary Psychic type, 258 Defense]
  10. Aggron [Steel / Rock type, 257 Defense]
  11. Cloyster [Water / Ice type, 256 Defense]
  12. Dusknoir [Ghost type, 254 Defense]
  13. Latias [Legendary Dragon / Psychic type, 246 Defense]
  14. Ho-Oh [Legendary Fire / Flying type, 244 Defense]
  15. Umbreon [Dark type, 240 Defense]
  16. Articuno [Legendary Ice / Flying type, 236 Defense]
  17. Suicune [Legendary Water type, 235 Defense]
  18. Dusclops [Ghost type, 234 Defense]
  19. Onix [Ground type, 232 Defense]
  20. Claydol [Psychic / Ground type, 229 Defense]
  21. Metagross [Psychic / Steel, 228 Defense]
  22. Kyogre [Legendary Water type, 228 Defense]
  23. Groudon [Legendary Ground type, 228 Defense]

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Best Stamina & HP Pokemon in Pokemon Go

Stamina is in many senses one of the most important stats for Pokemon Go - your Stamina determines how much HP Pokemon will have once they're placed in gyms to try to control them, and so the Pokemon you find on this stamina ranking top list will all have huge amounts of HP that make them damage sponges and absolute tanks when defending gyms. Interestingly few are legendary, too - for the most part, they are normal, if often rare, Pokemon. Here's the best Pokemon for stamina and HP in Pokemon Go:

  1. Blissey [Normal type, 496 Stamina]
  2. Chansey [Normal type, 487 Stamina]
  3. Wobuffet [Psychic type, 382 Stamina]
  4. Wailord [Water type, 347 Stamina]
  5. Snorlax [Normal type, 330 Stamina]
  6. Drifblim [Ghost / Flying type, 312 Stamina]
  7. Hariyama [Fighting type, 302 Stamina]
  8. Wigglytuff [Normal / Fairy type, 295 Stamina]
  9. Munchlax [Normal type, 286 Stamina]
  10. Giratina [Legendary Ghost / Dragon type, 187-225 Stamina (depending on form)]
  11. Slaking [Normal type, 284 Stamina]
  12. Lapras [Water / Ice type, 277 Stamina]
  13. Wailmer [Water type, 277 Stamina]
  14. Vaporeon [Water type, 277 Stamina]
  15. Lanturn [Water / Electric type, 268 Stamina]
  16. Melmetal [Legendary Steel type, 264 Stamina]
  17. Cresselia [Legendary Psychic type, 258 Stamina]
  18. Rhyperior [Ground / Rock type, 251 Stamina]
  19. Jigglypuff [Normal / Fairy type, 251 Stamina]
  20. Entei [Legendary Fire type, 251 Stamina]
  21. Mamoswine [Ice / Ground type, 242 Stamina]
  22. Walrein [Ice / Water type, 242 Stamina]
  23. Whiscash [Water / Ground type, 242 Stamina]
  24. Walrein [Ice / Water type, 242 Stamina]

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