So, I am.not a fan of PVP in Pokemon Go, better known as Battle League. Like, at all. However, there is a goofy Luchador Pikachu, locked behind Battle League, that I am a fan of. Apparently, the current season is some sort of special truncated season, which means that in order to get Luchador Pikachu, you only need to get to Rank 20, and not Rank 25.
As far as I can tell, this means getting 107 Wins.
Also, on top of that, it also means getting 3 wins out of 5 during one round, to unlock the Pikachu itself. I’ve decided to, give it a go. I am up to Rank 10, with like 30 more wins needed. So far, this whole thing has mostly just reminded me… I hate PVP in Pokemon Go.
I have been using the popular “tanking” method. This is, to some extent, a community method to make PVP easier because well, a lot of folks hate PVP. Honestly, from what I gather, the MAJORITY hate the PVP. Here is a helpful graphic I am not really following it directly.
Basically, the idea is to purposely lose a lot, to keep your actual matchmaking level very low. This puts you in the realm of other Tankers, who are also often trying to lose. Pairing against other tankers can mean an easier win, also, it just means easier opponents in general.
The graphic is the “most efficient” way, but me, I am just losing a bunch to keep my skill score low as needed.
I feel like I am not even that bad at PVO, I just find it tedious and I am never going to be top tier at it. I just want the dumb Pikachu.
My usual team for tanking are all level 1s, a Snorlax, because people never expect a level 1 Snorlax. And a couple of random costume Pokemon, so maybe some folks can get them for the Pokedex entry.
I do play some regular battles, I don’t know if my teams are actually any good. I prefer Great League, the CP max is 1500, which means more interesting teams versus Master League which is like 90% overpowered Legendaries. Plus its low enough that it lops off a lot of other Pokemon. I have a few 4* at that level, but my team is generally…
- Obstagoon, quick, fairly lethal, a decent opener to try to burn off shields. I also gave it Gunk Shot, which takes forever to charge but seems to hit super hard, and as a secondary move, they are expecting another Cross Chop hit.
- Shiftry, Feels like it hits hard and fast, fairly resistant, though fire melts it.
- Butterfree, hits harder than expected, and resistant to a fair amount. Makes a surprisingly ok tank.
Anyway, for tanking, there are a few annoying parts, and I am not sure what some folks are doing when they are taking, and playing in general. Some of this I am pretty sure is true because I have seen it mentioned elsewhere.
- You have to lose. You can’t just quit the battle, the rating doesn’t like that.
- To lose, you really need to be using bottom tier CP Pokemon. I see people running a 1200, and a 500, and a 700 CP Pokemon at Rank 18,19, etc, and I wonder WTF they are doing. That’s not good enough to win a proper fight, but too high to throw and and tank your raring. Its wasting people’s time.
- Tanking with full power Pokemon. I occasionally run into people with close to max tier Pokemon, who do not fight back. Even more a waste of time, especially if I roll in with my level 1s
- Some of these are people who have a hate boner against tankers. This isn’t a competitive FPS. There is literally no real downside here. Essentially everyone at the bottom is beating each other up for easy wins. They just AFK hoping the Tanker
Leaves, which I won’t, because point 1. I will zone out and tap away with one hand chipping away at your legendary god. - Two tankers with low CP Pokemon makes for a funny battle.
Anyway, after more effort than I wanted to put into PVP, I had my Luchador Pikachu.
An amusing after part, I decided to keep doing PVP, this time, only throwing. To help others get wins and rise.
Out of ten games (so far) with an intentionally bad team of costumed Pokemon (Croagunk in a ball cap, Wooper in a sock hat, and Luchador Pikachu, I still won 6/10 games. Against other throwers, and sometimes against
