Gym meta : now that gen 2 is here

Analysis

Best defenders

Not a lot has changed except for a few new Pokémons (note that this doesn't consider maximum CP or how high you can place your Pokémon, only how good they are in gym defense) :

Blissey : the new defense god. As we all expected, Blissey is tanky as hell. Quick moves : Pound > Zen Headbutt. Charged moves : Hyper Beam > Dazzling Gleam > Psychic. Chose your attacker carefully and don't even think about dodging its quick moves if you want to finish the fight in less than 90 seconds.
Steelix : strong tank but low CP. Quick moves : Iron Tail > Dragon Tail. Charged move : Heavy Slam.
Tyranitar : a top tier Pokémon with a maximum of 3670 CP. Quick moves : Bite > Iron Tail. Charged moves : Crunch > Stone Edge > Fire Blast. If you don't know what it looks like, don't worry : you'll see many of them in gyms in a few days. Just like Dragonite, it has a few hard counters. An impressive Pokémon, but manageable if you have the right team.
Dragonite : Dragon Tail + Outrage is his new best defensive moveset.
Honorable mentions : Slowking, Umbreon, Espeon, Donphan, Politoed, Miltank, Lanturn, Feraligatr, Skarmory.

Best attackers

Due to all the new moves and gen 2 defenders, many things have changed now. Fighting type Pokémons and Ghost Pokémons now have a place in your elite attack team (this ranking considers both Pokémons are level 40 with 100%IV).

Dragonite : Dragon Breath + Dragon Claw still makes Dragonite the best attacker.
Tyranitar : given its raw strength, it can defeat most of the defenders, even the ones who are supposed to resist to its moves. A jack of all trades in an unbreakable armor. Aim for Bite + Crunch or Bite + Stone Edge.
Machamp : with its new moveset Counter + Dynamic Punch, it becomes one of the best attackers and also the best Tyranitar counter. Probably the best gen 1 Pokémon to invest in at the moment.
Heracross : a smaller version of Machamp, still one of the strongest attackers. Aim for Counter + Close Combat.
Gengar : with its new quick move, Hex, Gengar has become a very strong attacker.
Honorable mentions : Donphan (Counter + Earthquake), Crobat (Air Slash + Sludge Bomb), Piloswine (Powder Snow + Avalanche), Ursaring (Counter + Hyper Beam or Close Combat)

Sources (17/02/2017 updated)

EDIT : added legacy movesets.

Posted Feb 17, 2017, 3:40 AM UTC · edited

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