Let's Go Little Cup is very different from other modern Little Cup formats, with its lack of many traditional attributes, most importantly items, abilities, and widespread healing, ultimately resulting in an unparalleled offense-heavy metagame where risk-taking is absolutely vital for victory. We've discovered some new sets since the previous thread, so I thought setting up a new one made sense.
Rules: Only Level 5 Pokemon that have not yet evolved and are capable of evolution are allowed. Standard Smogon clauses apply. The use of Candies (AVs) is not permitted- while it was permitted previously, this has been changed.
Banlist: Omanyte
This is outdated!
LG LC Viability Rankings
(In alphabetical order, this may change once the meta has been tested further)
S Tier (stands for staryu)
Staryu
A Tier
A+
Diglett
Voltorb
A
Abra
Doduo
Gastly
Rattata-Alola
A-
Eevee
Exeggcute
Meowth
Rhyhorn
Sandshrew-Alola
Shellder
B Tier
B+
Bulbasaur
Grimer-Alola
Koffing
Oddish
Ponyta
B
Ekans
Kabuto
Magnemite
Meowth-Alola
Slowpoke
B-
Charmander
Clefairy
Dratini
Drowzee
Krabby
Pikachu
Sandshrew
C Tier (unorganised, currently contains Pokémon that have potential niches but are mostly outclassed or struggle in the meta)
Diglett-Alola
Growlithe
Goldeen
Jigglypuff
Kabuto
Mankey
Paras
Rattata
Seel
Spearow
D Tier (You probably shouldn't use these)
Everything else.
LG LC Viability Rankings
(In alphabetical order, this may change once the meta has been tested further)
S Tier (stands for staryu)
A Tier
A+
A
A-
B Tier
B+
B
B-
C Tier (unorganised, currently contains Pokémon that have potential niches but are mostly outclassed or struggle in the meta)
Diglett-Alola
Growlithe
Goldeen
Jigglypuff
Kabuto
Mankey
Paras
Rattata
Seel
Spearow
D Tier (You probably shouldn't use these)
Everything else.
This only includes Pokemon ranked C or higher.
T0 (>17: Boosted tier)
Ponyta 0 +2 (30)
Growlithe 0 +2 (24)
Goldeen 0 +2 (24)
Dratini 0 +2 (22)
Shellder 0 +2 (20)
Shellder -Spe +2 (18)
T1 (16-17)
-17-
Voltorb +Spe
Diglett +Spe
-16-
Diglett-Alola +Spe
Meowth +Spe
Meowth-Alola +Spe
Pikachu +Spe
Abra +Spe
Ponyta +Spe
Staryu +Spe
T2 (14-15)
-15-
Ponyta 0
Gastly +Spe
Doduo +Spe
-14-
Rattata +Spe
Rattata-Alola +Spe
Spearow +Spe
Mankey +Spe
Tentacool +Spe
T3 (12-13)
-13-
Rattata 0
Rattata-Alola 0
Spearow 0
Goldeen +Spe
Growlithe +Spe
Ekans +Spe
Kabuto +Spe
-12-
Goldeen 0
Growlithe 0
Ekans 0
Kabuto 0
Dratini +Spe
Bulbasaur +Spe
Magnemite +Spe
Seel +Spe
Tier 4 (10-11)
-11-
Dratini 0
Bulbasaur 0
Magnemite 0
Seel 0
-10-
Drowzee 0
Sandshrew 0
Sandshrew-Alola 0
Shellder 0
Exeggcute 0
Koffing 0
Oddish +Spe
Paras +Spe
T5 (<10)
-9-
Shellder -Spe
Oddish 0
Paras 0
Grimer-Alola 0
Rhyhorn 0
-8-
Jigglypuff 0
Slowpoke 0
-7-
Jigglypuff -Spe
T0 (>17: Boosted tier)
Ponyta 0 +2 (30)
Growlithe 0 +2 (24)
Goldeen 0 +2 (24)
Dratini 0 +2 (22)
Shellder 0 +2 (20)
Shellder -Spe +2 (18)
T1 (16-17)
-17-
Voltorb +Spe
Diglett +Spe
-16-
Diglett-Alola +Spe
Meowth +Spe
Meowth-Alola +Spe
Pikachu +Spe
Abra +Spe
Ponyta +Spe
Staryu +Spe
T2 (14-15)
-15-
Ponyta 0
Gastly +Spe
Doduo +Spe
-14-
Rattata +Spe
Rattata-Alola +Spe
Spearow +Spe
Mankey +Spe
Tentacool +Spe
T3 (12-13)
-13-
Rattata 0
Rattata-Alola 0
Spearow 0
Goldeen +Spe
Growlithe +Spe
Ekans +Spe
Kabuto +Spe
-12-
Goldeen 0
Growlithe 0
Ekans 0
Kabuto 0
Dratini +Spe
Bulbasaur +Spe
Magnemite +Spe
Seel +Spe
Tier 4 (10-11)
-11-
Dratini 0
Bulbasaur 0
Magnemite 0
Seel 0
-10-
Drowzee 0
Sandshrew 0
Sandshrew-Alola 0
Shellder 0
Exeggcute 0
Koffing 0
Oddish +Spe
Paras +Spe
T5 (<10)
-9-
Shellder -Spe
Oddish 0
Paras 0
Grimer-Alola 0
Rhyhorn 0
-8-
Jigglypuff 0
Slowpoke 0
-7-
Jigglypuff -Spe
Council:
Eve
nobody else (at the moment)
We have a channel for the meta in the Let's Go Discord if you're interested in that. To play the format, you can challenge your opponent with /challenge [user] gen7letsgoou @@@ !!Adjust Level = 5, -All Pokemon, +LC, -Omanyte, -Dragon Rage, -Sonic Boom.
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Rhyhorn is another option for a rocker. It's type is pretty polarizing, often being very valuable or pretty sucky, so make sure that you're not stacking weaknesses with other mons when you add it to your team. While lacking priority and setup, rhyhorn has much, much stronger initial attacks with it's higher attack and higher power STABs and coverage, as well as more physical bulk, being the most physically bulky pokemon in the tier. Definitely is by no means outclassed by sandshrew-a or vice versa, it's a sidegrade option that depends on your comp.
yeah... this guy. As far as I can tell there's little reason to use this pokemon over rhyhorn. Its biggest claim to fame is not being weak to ground, but in many cases taking around 50% from something doesn't give more value then taking 90%, it's still a 2HKO. Sandshrew doesn't resist anything that it's competition don't, doesn't have priority like it's cousin, and is outclassed offensively by rhydon in every way. I guess it has SD but good luck using it with that base 40 speed.
This shouldn't be your first pick for a rocker, but if you're role compressing then it can work in a pinch. While not bulky enough to be a popular rocker, diglett is one of the most important pokemon in the meta. It outspeeds the entire unboosted tier sans voltorb, and typically wins exchanges with voltorb, due to its type. It has strong STAB to make up for its low attack and can do large amounts to staryu, letting it become a great wincon once mons that can live a hit are whittled. Its always great to have this mon, because it does so many things in one, outspeeding the star, dealing with voltorb, breaking, sweeping, and priority. Diglett has little to think about when it comes to moves, EQ is a given, rock slide is run for flinch chance and the 1 viable bird in the tier, sucker doesn't compete with much else. Toxic would be rarely clicked, facade or headbutt could be a VERY situational gimmick, protect could win vs a booming voltorb. Mainly its 4 move should be sub, as if they sack a pokemon or click a non attacking move(or a move that does not break the sub, like tbolt or rock slide) sub will give you huge rewards, with them not being able to revenge kill you immediately with priority or a pokemon that wins 1v1.
Staryu have good things good things make it good. Thaz it. This pokemon has 2 weaknesses, is outsped by 2 viable pokemon, has an above average attacking stack, augmented by a way stronger then usual STAB with hydro pump, has the quintessential best coverage in the game with ice beam and tbolt, and has above average 55 base defenses, which are made more valuable with its access to both screens, and recover. It 2HKOs the entire tier, and only needs prediction for a handful of rarely run pokemon. It's very unlikely that you will choose pokemon for your team 6 times and all of those mons would preform better then a staryu would in it's place. The 2 drawbacks I can think of is
Voltorb is, in my opinion and experience, the worst of the big 3 pokemon of the tier. However it's still insanely important because it has a very good thing to brag about: it is the only pokemon in the game to outspeed and OHKO starmie. While maybe not to the levels of staryu and diglett, voltorb is also a great pokemon in it's own right, grass types are easily pressured by ground type(cough) and water type (COUGH) attackers, and ground types are often chipped when they try to get up rocks. This make lategame voltorb very common as a win condition. Unfortunately for it, it has a very crowded but lackluster movepool, and choosing its 4 moves can be important to how viable it is in a match.
With scarfers and webs not existing, there is no way to alter speed besides boosting, which can make revenge killing mons like shellder a pain, as they also get to run -speed and free-use mix sets. Shellder is very physically bulky with weaknesses to typically special types, which means the mons it CAN set up on, it does so easily. Despite its 1 dimensional moveset and gameplan, shellder is still really good and synergizes well with staryu. It runs pump or surf by preference, ice beam as its best coverage, and either ice shard to beat out sucker punch and provide more utility, or self destruct to nuke a shared check it has with another mon.
(wait why is this mon so cute aaaaaa) Unlike shellder, dratini cannot boost it's attacking stats, it's just an agility sweeper. However, dratini has AMAZING defensive typing, being weak to practically nonexistent types in the tier and having a boatload of resists. It also has well rounded defensive stats and a muuuuch higher attacking stat then shellder. Dratini relies on its team to weaken pokemon that could otherwise live a hit like staryu, and then set up on basically anything and win with STAB outrage in the endgame. It has great special coverage that it uses out of lack of anything else to use, or facade if you're feeling gimmicky
Doduo is another one of my personal favorites. It is the only viable pokemon immune to ground, so just having it on your team makes your opponent work and think harder, it has unique offensive typing, and it got the move jump kick, which is the PERFECT coverage to tie its moves together. Doduo has a well above average attack stat, STAB quick attack, and 2 setup options. Because it has access to priority, SD is the preferred setup move, but agility can bop teams that only have offensive counterplay. Between its good stab in drill peck, rock and steel covered by jump kick, and quick attack hitting faster mons, the bird can be a menace to switch into.
koffing is not very similar to its usual roles in little cup, mainly because it loses out on its ground immunity, but it still is able to check many many physical pokemon. It has the bulk to take on many hits, like +2 drill peck from doduo for example, and the movepool to support its team pretty effectively. It has clear smog/haze for emergency setup removal, status like taunt toxic and wisp to keep the opponent from doing what they want, and strong STABs, fire coverage, and explosion for an offensive presence.
Tentacool was something we used a little too often for how good it is, it's not a staple but it's pretty cool. It is the 2nd most specially defensive pokemon in LGPE LC, but unlike drowzee it has a pretty good move selection. Resisting Staryu STAB is pretty valuable, and although Thunderbolt normally does 60%, making tenta not a counter, it still comfortably wins the 1v1. Tenta has some good STABs, coverage, and mega drain, which lets it win vs staryu and stay healthy easier. It runs either timid or modest, because a spedef boosting nature does not change the damage it takes from staryu. It can be pretty hard to switch into tenta, letting it give you a lot of momentum. (oh, mega drain has 75 base power in this tier, just btw)
Exeggcute is above and beyond the best grass type in the tier, this lets it switch in pretty well to diglett and voltorb, as sucker punch will usually be futile with the former and Exeggcute dodges the 2HKO on foul play for the latter. 60/80 physical bulk is very impressive, letting it live even x4 effective moves and it also has access to sleep powder, making your opponent have to give up momentum and choose a pokemon to be temporarily put out of commission. It isn't slacking on the special offense stat either, and often runs modest because it has damn good coverage and modest maximizes the hp gain from mega drain. You can also run teleport, but there are not too many pokemon that you 100% wall, so you won't have as many chances to use it as you think.
Diglett-Alola
This mon is really good to have, because it can switch into abra and also has stab sucker punch, which does a lot of damage. Quick-attack is also perfect because of its stab it does a lot as well, so it suboptimal speed tier is negated. I would have put it higher but the existence of the less viable but situationally better alola-grimer puts it down from the other two, since it can be replaced. It also struggles a bit from 4mss since it wants to for sure run qattack, sucker, uturn but then only has 1 slot left for crunch (cannot hit clef or alola-grimer or itself) or double-edge (recoil+gastly cant be killed without risking a wow/sub).
Priority is king in this tier and having access to both fake out and quick attack is such a boon for Meowth. It also has an amazing speed tier where it is able to easily outspeed a lot of the tier, being able to tie staryu. It is an nice mon to use that can do a lot for the team, but it is definitely held back by its weaker attacking stats. It also has 4mss since it is hard to fit in a headbutt/facade as a hard hitting normal move, but with foul play and tbolt coverage (for staryu) it can hit most mons (except voltorb) hard.
Although it gets considerably less usage, it is still centralizing in the builder because the moment it gets a sub with its good speed tier it can go ham and just get kills left, right and center. It has a great coverage, making it very easily to kill most mons or it's checks. It being hard countered by Grimer-alola makes it the least useful A+ tier mon, but it is still really good and forces you to bring checks for it every game (one of the reasons why rattata-alola is so viable). Its best set is definitely sub (circumvent sucker), psychic, dazzling-gleam, shadow ball/fire punch. The latter choice is either hitting itself is more important or if you want to get the kill off on the snowshrew.
The previous PR had gastly as high as Abra but this is definitely not the case. It has not the greatest speed tier and no good priority, so it just gets revenged by most mons in the tier and has the same checks and counters as abra, it is just slightly weaker. The normal resist is not that important into this tier and WoW is a very slow move, although occasionally very useful. It is just a worse abra, but still a threathening presence. The best moveset is definitely shadow ball, sludge bomb, tbolt/dgleam, sub/wow, since its stabs just hits super hard and tbolt/dgleam are nice coverage options.
This mon was underrated since its high attack stat, nice speed stat and qattack priority makes it the best fire type by far. Staryu is its bane but it takes a lot from headbutt and can even cos some hard to play around flinches behind a sub. However, staryu being one of the best mons makes it harder to use and diglett being a good revengekiller if it isnt behind a sub, puts it in this tier. WoW could be cool, but it is way to slow for the horse. So the best set is definitely sub, flare, headbutt/facade, qattack.
This was considered not a good rocker, but it is actually one of the better onces. Having fairy type, makes the dark type hard hitter of rattata a lot weaker (especially if it drops d-edge for crunch) and it is bulky enough to tank a few hits and gets rocks up. Also having fire blast means that it will threathen out the snowshrew and moonblast is basically unresisted in this tier so it will get a lot of damage off. However, it being slow and a bit weak, makes it way less good than its bigger brother. Best moveset is moonblast, rocks, fire blast, tbolt. One can replace tbolt with twave, but being able to hit staryu super-effectively is really nice.
It is just slow and that makes it a lot worse to use and its bulkyness without regenerator is just not worth it. But it is the best para spreader and its typing is a nice niche that is able to makes it harder to deal with. Normally staryu is your water type revenger but t-wave is the worst thing that can happen to staryu. Generally, it is not the greatest but it has its niche. Moveset is definitely t-wave, psychic, surf and ice beam.