The fastest way to level a single pokémon; a guide to Survival Mode farming

What is the fastest way to get a single pokémon to level 10, 15 or even 20? Vicitini and Ampharos grinding is the usual answer. The only problem with them is that they are slow and they divide the exp 4 ways. So a single pokémon takes quite some time to level especially later on. Another option is Exp. Boosters, but they are limited in quantity and you never know when you might need them, right?

Survival Mode is the only always present way of being able to get unlimited supply of Exp. Boosters, but until now there was no way to beat it consistently. Enter Mega Beedrill. The bee has been all the buzz recently and understandably so. This new mega allows us to reliably beat Survival Mode stages Mega Rayquaza could only dream of. All of the info I will be sharing will be after about 15 survival runs, so with more experience and new pokémon some things might change. Without further ado here are the specifics:

Survival Mode:

Cost: 3 hearts and 30 - 70 minutes of you time (different for each player)

Coin gain: 20 for each stage completed (30 20 on 3DS aswell)

Exp gain:

Level 10 - 1 Small Exp. Booster (50 exp alltogether)

Level 20 - 2 Small Exp. Booster (150 exp alltogether)

Level 30 - 3 Small Exp. Booster (300 exp alltogether)

Level 35 - 1 Medium Exp. Booster (500 exp alltogether)

Level 40 - 2 Medium Exp. Booster (900 exp alltogether)

Level 45 - 3 Medium Exp. Booster (1500 exp alltogether)

Level 50 - 1 Large Exp. Booster (2500 exp alltogether)

The team:

Mega Beedrill (fully candied), Landorus Therian (sl5), Charizard (sl2) and Hoopa-U (sl3) (all max level)

I chose Charizard over Reshiram because he has 5 more base power than Reshiram and you don't need barrier bash with the bee there to remove the barriers; plus Burn can help your damage a bit and disrupt the stage for a turn. This is mostly preference, using Reshiram won't hinder you too much. If we ever get a high base power fire/ice/fighting type with Risk Taker the team composition will probably change.

Performance:

I usually get to level 30 - 40 during an average survival run. This means you get 600 - 800 coins and 300 - 800 exp (on mobile). Once in a while you might get lucky and beat 45 (900 coins and 1500 exp) or even 50 itemless (1000 coins and 2500 exp). Bear that in mind I've only done 45 itemless once so far in 15 runs.

Comparisons:

3 hearts on Ampharos - 675 exp and 60 coins (750 exp and 90 coins on 3DS)

3 hearts on Meowth - about 1000 coins on average (1500 on 3DS if you are good) (and very low exp since most of you team isn't levelling in most comps)

So lets say you want to grind pokémon and get coins at the same time:

3 meowth + 3 ampharos runs (6 hearts) nets you about 700 exp and 1000 coins.

6 hearts (2 runs) in survival nets you about 600 - 1600 exp and 1200 - 1600 coins.

Conclusion:

If you want to do BOTH exp and coin farming at the same time then Survival Mode is your best option. (And if you don't mind the time investment.)

Also you get all this exp as items so you can pump all of it into a single pokémon if you please - thus making it the fastest way to level a single pokémon. If you can beat level 35 - 40 consistently Survival IS the best way to farm EXP.

If you have any suggestions/questions then fire away!