Broke on Stardust: A Budget Minded Overview Of The Ferocious Cup Top 30

Hello, and welcome to the first edition of Broke on Stardust, in this we will be taking a look at the Ferocious Cup top 30 to help you make a competitive team for as little stardust as possible.

We have all seen the top 3, how arguably Umbreon and Vaporeon don’t need a second charge move and with Bibarel second move only cost 10k stardust you can add the top 3 to your line up for a measly 10k and power up costs. With that kind of savings in the top 3 it got me thinking, what other competitive options are out there for 10k stardust or under. And well the results weren’t just surprising, they were in some cases down right shocking. Some Pokemon in the top 30 only lose a handful of wins, talking 4 or less, others retain the same performance they had, but shockingly some actually gained wins, they increased their performance by only having one charge move. Please bare in mind this is my first guide, so forgive me if this one is not as professional looking as it could be. All sims were done in Pvpoke’s default 1 shield match ups. As for why the top 30, we had to draw a line somewhere. Guide will be ordered from the worst budget options of the top 30 to the best.

The Ugly

Can not be recommended under any circumstances

Lickilicky and non legacy Nidoking, yes they are both in top 30, rank 23 and 13 respectively. In Lickilicky’s case not even sure how he got here as he only gets 12 wins. In Nidoking’s case his rank is Fury Cutter only, he loses 21 of his wins if he doesn’t have Fury Cutter

The Expensive

The following pokemon give up more then 4 wins when run with only one charge move and cost 50k for the second move, below is their best single charge move set to minimize lost wins, but you can clearly see most want that second move.

Piloswine Rank 7(Powder Snow/Avalanche 65 to 58)

Lickitung Rank 12(Lick/Powerwhip 52 to 44)

Alolan Marowak Rank 16(Firespin/Shadowball or Bone Club 57 to 42)

Alolan Sandslash Rank 18(Powder Snow/Ice Punch 50 to 41)

Minun Rank 22(Spark/Thunderbolt 53 to 47)

Pachirisu Rank 28(Spark/Thunder Punch 49 to 31)

Sandslash Rank 29(Mud Shot/Bulldoze 68 to 54)

The 10,000s

There are only 5 with charge moves costing 10k in the top 30, and all of them actually perform well enough to be in the top 15, but in the event 10k is still too expensive for your budget, only 3 truly need it. We will come back to the other 2, for now here is what the 3 lose without the second move.

Linoone Rank 5(Shadow Claw/Grass knot 61 to 55)

Furret Rank 9(Quick Attack/Brick break 62 to 52)

Alolan Raticate Rank 10(Quick Attack/Crunch 61 to 57)

Although that last one only appears to be a loss of 4 wins for Alolan Raticate, that is with Pvpokes recommended moveset of Crunch/Hyper Fang,, if you were to run Crunch/Hyper Beam instead the wins jump from 61 to 65, with 1 of the 4 gained being a slim win over Umbreon.

The Debatable

These pokemon arguably do not need a second charge move, giving up 4 wins or less without it, and with all but one having a charge move at 50k or more, is what you gain really worth the price?

Umbreon Rank 1(Snarl/Foul Play 82 to 78)

Bibarel Rank 2(Water Gun/Surf 69 to 68)

Vaporeon Rank 3(Water Gun/Aqua Tail 71 to 70)

Nidoking Rank 13(Fury Cutter/Earth Power 53 to 51)

Nidoqueen Rank 14(Poison Jab/Earth Power 49 to 47)

Sheldon Rank 19(Dragon Breath/Twister 66 to 63)

Mamoswine Rank 20(Powder Snow/Avalanche 54 to 52)

Weavile Rank 21(Snarl/Avalanche 42 to 39)

Miltank Rank 24(Tackle/Body Slam 55 to 54)

Hippowdon Rank 28(Fire Fang/Body Slam 62 to 59)

The Steady

These pokemon retain all their wins whether they have 1 charge move or 2, they honestly don’t need it and you can feel good about saving you stardust.

Donphan Rank 17(Counter/Heavy Slam 71 to 71)

Ursaring Rank 25(Counter/Any Charge Move 50 to 50)

Torkoal Rank 26(Fire Spin/Earthquake 40 to 40)

The Wonders

These pokemon not only take the fight to the rest of the Ferocious cup field, they take the fight to logic and reason as well. They break the rules of conventional wisdom, as they not only don’t need a second charge move, they don’t even want one. For these pokemon, they perform better with a single charge move. Yes, Pvpoke has them performing better with a single charge move. This stumped my local discords just as much as I’m sure it’s stumped you. So in an effort to figure it we dove deeper in Skuntank, and while Sludge Bomb is his best DPE move, in 4 of his matchups if you fire it off you lose the matchup, by straight firing Crunch he picked up 4 wins he didn’t have before. Now yes, if you already have a second charge move on these pokemon just avoid using the inferior move and you’ll be fine as long as you don’t misclick, but for those of you that have yet to add a second charge move to these pokemon I advise you to save the stardust and give the Misclick Grim Reaper one less way to interfere. Without further ado here are the pokemon you are probably all here to see.

Alolan Ninetales Rank 4(Charm/Dazzling Gleam or Blizzard 68 to 69)

Granbull Rank 8(Charm/Play Rough or Close Combat 65 to 70)

Delcatty Rank 11(Charm/Play Rough 53 to 58)

Skuntank Rank 15(Poison Jab/Crunch 51 to 55)

Persian Rank 30(Scratch/Play Rough or Power Gem 50 to 53)

Please do note in the event you have a legacy Night Slash Persian and would like to run it, that one gets 52 wins

The Wild Card

I know what your thinking “he said this was a top 30 but were at end and he hasn’t said anything about Suicune.” Fact is it does fit anywhere really, as nothing else does what Suicune can with its Bubble Beam, and with Suicune’s ability to essentially cripple pokemon on the opposing team it makes it that much harder to determine what this pokemon can do. And although it gets 79 wins with its 2 charge moves, even those are iffy and not locked in. Understandably that makes it hard to justify the 100k price tag, but maybe, just maybe, Suicune does need it. Suicune may lose the battle, but thanks to the Bubble Beam debuff, can potentially win the war. Below are Suicune’s 3 single Bubble Beam movesets

Suicune Rank 6(Ice Fang/Bubble Beam 79 to 57)

Suicune Rank 6(Extrasenory/Bubble Beam 79 to 45)

Suicune Rank 6(Snarl/Bubble Beam 79 to 44)

Although Ice Fang does add the most teeth back to Suicune’s bite it also generates the least energy. As for which of the 3, if any, could be the right fit for your team I’ll leave to people smarter than me, but it would appear a just Bubble Beam Suicune can be a viable option

If you have made it this far thank you for the taking the time to read my first guide, I hope this can help you get more players in your communities involved in pvp and help you avoid being “Broke on Stardust.”