Bottle Cap - Master League options.
I've been seeing a lot of "who to cap" questions. The very first thing you should look at is something you will only ever get one or two of. For example, we may very well get another Zygarde...but I don't expect it to come to raids. Below are some of those Pokémon, and they also can't be traded:
Zygarde
Mew
Celebi
Meloetta
Zarude
Keldeo
Volcanion
Shaymin
Jirachi
Victini
Zeraora
Eternatus
Marshadow
Diancie
Urshifu/Kubfu isn't included here because you can trade for them.
Are we likely to get a shiny for some of these in the future? Absolutely. I've been hearing questions about shiny Zygarde for months. Shiny Volcanion was just released in the main games a few months back and looks beautiful.
A case can be made for the shiny Galar birds as well, but it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility to find someone else with a shiny Galar Moltres(?) to swap for a lucky trade. You can't trade Zygarde.
In terms of PvP usefulness the list narrows significantly, at least from a Master League perspective. You do have the option to leave the task incomplete in terms of attack so you could take something that's rate that's 0-10-15 and bump it to 0-15-15 for a hypothetical rank 1. I have no idea what this would be though...and you can't use the cap on shadow.
Zygarde - rank 25 in Open Master League. Solid choice. This is what I used my first Bottle Cap on and I do not regret it. It lost some of its luster when the Crowned Dogs were released but it's one of the few things that doesn't resist Behemoth Blade and can actually tank 2 of them, at 122-damage each, and live to tell the tale. It's stat product of 10575 is only exceeded by Crowned Zacian.
Eternatus - rank 15 in Open Master League. This is what I used this second Golden Bottle Cap on and I'm confident I won't regret it either. Mine is only powered to 47.5 (48.5 with best buddy), and was originally 13/14/13 (now 13/14/14 aiming for perfect of course). At 48.5 it was still an absolute force in Master League. Dynamax Cannon obliterates the dragons. It's hilariously powerful for costing 45 energy and taking only 4 Dragon Tail to reach. Flamethrower is great coverage for the Crowned Dogs and Sludge Bomb is fun to catch Xerneas or Primarina off guard occasionally. Eternatus can also be used in Max Battles.
Marshadow - rank 13 in Open Master League. Yet a third solid choice. You know who just loves to catch a Close Combat meant for something else? Lunala of course. But second to Lunala? Dawn Wings...ok, OK, but after that it's Marshadow. I ran a Zacian Marshadow core for quite some time with Zacian-C on the lead and caught a high number of Close Combat on Marshadow. It's every bit as devastating as landing a key Behemoth Blade. Marshadow has a solid win vs. Zacian-C as well as Zamazenta-C, and is a great response to a Lunala safe-swap. Mine is 13-14-14 and was my second choice for the bottle-cap this go-around. I screwed up and missed the Silver Bottlecap slightly...which I had planned to use here. Will try that next time.
Keldeo - rank 39 in Open Master League. Another interesting pick and the shiny was recently released. I got mine on Saturday. It has nice wins vs. Zacian-C & Zama-C while walling the standard Kyogre that doesn't have Thunder.
In terms of usefulness this is the "S-tier."
Meloetta - Rank 26 Open Master League has fallen off pretty significantly with the introduction of the Crowned Dogs. It has some neat wins like Palkia-O, Xerneas, & Eternatus, but is still a bit clunky with Confusion. A long time ago I was planning on powering Meloetta and I have 101 XL candies for it...just haven't finished the job needing 195 more.
Volcanion - rank 62 in Open Master League. This one is still a little too new. It beats both Crowned Dogs SOLIDLY with the Incinerate damage alone, and also resists the oppressive Steel damage. but it does not want to see Dragons aside from Dialga.
Beyond that the PvP usefulness drops off pretty drastically. Zarude is another casualty of the Crowned Dogs, Mew/Celebi/Jirachi really have too low of a stat product to compete in Open Master, although I have seen a few Jirachi to counter the Crowned Dogs...you'd be better off with...well...one of the Crowned Dogs. Shaymin would be great in Master Premier...if it was eligible...and so it gets just abused by the Dragons. Victini is also a bit low on the stat product. Sure it beats Zacian & Zama, but struggles hard with shields down. Zeraora is very new...yet still looks ultimately disappointing in that despite resisting Steel it still loses to Zacian & Zamazenta. Diancie is very bad.
This is not meant to be all-inclusive. I totally understand people wanting to bottle-cap a shiny-background Pokémon. I just tend to focus on things I'm not likely to see again. Sure we may get a second Eternatus, but I doubt we'll be able to conventionally raid it like Solgaleo.
Posted Jul 13, 2026, 4:36 PM UTC