Team meta

The group rule

Buffs and healing belong to whoever uses them. What adds up between players is the effects on enemies.

What changes with more people

Enemy damage does not go up: HP and numbers do. The 64-enemy screen cap stays the same, so with 3 or 4 players the screen fills up and almost everything spawns as an elite (×1.6 HP).

• In the Judgment, the first legendary spawns with the HP of about 3 s of the whole team’s single-target damage. Stronger team, stronger legendary.
• XP items and upgrades go into the team average: with 4 players, they are worth ¼.

The roles that exist

Each Pokémon only learns normal moves and moves of its own types, so the team’s types decide which effects you have. The Pokémon in each role are the best team picks that already carry the effect in their team build.

• Poison

  Up to 8 stacks per enemy, shared by everyone. Each stack takes 1.2% of HP every 0.6 s: with 8, about 16% per second, regardless of attack. Works on bosses and legendaries, and since it is a percentage it keeps up with their extra HP in a group. One poisoner is enough: the cap of 8 is the enemy’s.

  Types

  Poison

  Moves

  Toxic SpikesSludgePoison StingToxicAcid Spray

  Best in a team

  • S
  • S
  • S
  • S
  • S
  • S

• Ghost (Hex)

  Hex chains across up to 11 enemies and deals ×1.7 to anyone with poison, burn or slow from any player. Stun does not count. It is the move that gains the most from a team.

  Types

  Ghost

  Moves

  Hex

  Best in a team

  • S
  • S
  • S
  • S
  • S
  • S

• Slow

  Works at full strength on bosses and Judgment legendaries (Arceus is immune) and turns on the others’ Hex.

  Types

  IceBugWaterGroundGhost

  Moves

  Ice Beam 70%String Shot 60%Bubble 45%Powder Snow 45%Mud Shot 40%Lick 40%Hail 40%

  Best in a team

  • S
  • S
  • A
  • A
  • A
  • A

• Stun

  Stops the horde. On bosses and legendaries it lasts only 35%.

  Types

  ElectricIceRockFighting

  Moves

  Thunder WaveFreeze-DryRock TombDynamic Punch

  Best in a team

  • S
  • S
  • S
  • S
  • S
  • S

• Pull

  Gathers enemies for everyone’s area moves. On bosses, 25% strength.

  Types

  WaterGroundGhost

  Moves

  WhirlpoolSand TombOminous Wind

  Best in a team

  • S
  • S
  • S
  • A
  • A
  • A

• Burn

  Turns on Hex. Burn damage uses the level of the player nearest to the enemy and, from the code, the game counts level 1 for anyone who is not the host. Do not rely on it for damage.

  Types

  Fire

  Moves

  EmberFlamethrowerFire SpinHeat WaveWill-O-WispFlame WheelFlame Charge

  Best in a team

  • S
  • S
  • A
  • A
  • A
  • A

• What does not exist

  Healer, taunt tank and team buffs. The sturdiest player goes in front, because enemies chase the nearest living player, and that is all.

Team tier list

The same score as the tier list, using each Pokémon’s team build: Hex ×1.7, poison ×1.25 and slow up to ×1.18. Those weights are ours, taken from the code; attack, bulk and speed weigh as in the tier list. 73 Pokémon move up a letter and 74 move down.

Checked against the leaderboard: 67% of the Pokémon in the 50 best teams are S or A on this list, against 56% on the solo tier list.

Solo tier list →

What the best teams use

The 50 best teams on the all-time leaderboard (since October 18), read on October 21. The game stores only the Pokémon, not the moves, so the role comes from the types. The group leaderboard does not split duos, trios and quartets.

• 35 of 50 teams have a Poison-type member. By chance it would be about 10.
• 22 have a Ghost with Hex, against about 8 by chance. 20 have both.
• Among the players on those teams, 30% use a Pokémon with poison. In the solo top 50 it is 18%, and across all Pokémon in the game, 8%.
• Gengar is the only fully evolved Pokémon with both poison and Hex, and it is in 14 of the 50 teams.
• 25 duos, 12 trios and 13 quartets.

Cores

The 15 best teams

Pairs that repeat

• Gengar + Rampardos 2 teams
• Gengar + Mewtwo 2 teams
• Gengar + Xurkitree 2 teams
• Gengar + Keldeo 2 teams
• Slaking + Marshadow 2 teams
• Kartana + Marshadow 2 teams
• Marshadow + Munkidori 2 teams
• Mewtwo + Xurkitree 2 teams
• Tentacruel + Iron Moth 2 teams
• Gengar + Marshadow 2 teams
• Hoopa + Marshadow 2 teams
• Mewtwo + Slaking 2 teams

Ready-made teams

Built from the team tier list: first a poisoner, then a Hex user, then a slower; the rest is damage. Each with its team build.

Playing together

• Stay close. To get a downed ally up, one living player almost touching them (56 px) for 3 s is enough; they come back at half HP with 2 s of invulnerability. There is no limit, and two helpers are not faster.
• The run only ends when everyone is down. In a rift, if everyone goes down, only the rift is lost.
• The player with the most HP and defense goes in front: enemies always chase the nearest living player.
• One person entering the rift takes the whole team.
• Broken traps hurt everyone nearby: it is the only damage between allies.
• In the Judgment, Arceus drops pillars on every living player. More people, more pillars.
• Only the host submits the time to the leaderboard. If the host leaves, the run ends for everyone.