To give you a challenge, the Love Cup has a number of restrictions, including one that suits the event’s Valentine’s theme.
The Love Cup is also running alongside the Master League, so, if you fancy a change, you can always compete in one of those battles.
Below you can find our Love Cup recommendations which work within the event’s restrictions and will help you create a powerful Love Cup team.
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Still, there are a number of Pokémon which stand out amongst the others and we’ve included them in our list of recommended Love Cup Pokémon below.
Before you enter the Love Cup, however, it’s a good idea to go over the event’s restrictions and, with these rules in mind, carefully examine the Pokémon you have which fit within these restrictions. It’s a good idea to have a mixture of Pokémon types and have one Pokémon who can quickly build up Charged moves in an attempt to knock out your opponents shields in the early stages of the match.
If you’ve got a good amount of Stardust going spare, then the Love Cup is the time to spend it - either on unlocking a Pokémon’s second Charged move or powering them up just enough to keep them within the 1,500 CP limit.
If you’re looking for a full list of Pokémon eligible for the Love Cup, including their typing, check out the next section in this guide.
Our Pokémon Go Love Cup recommendations:
Druddigon
Type: Dragon
Recommended moves: Dragon Tail (Fast) / Dragon Claw (Charged)
Druddigon weaknesses: Fairy, ice and dragon types
We’re opening with Druddigon not necessarily as the best on the list, but as the most interesting addition. New for 2022 - having only been added to the game in December 2021 - Druddigon is the only dragon-type eligble for the Love Cup.
Dragons are useful due to their range of resistances - specifically against grass, water, electric and fire types - meaning it’ll effectively stand up against a few big hitters such as Charizard. The difficulty will be against fairy types - which will naturally be prevalent during the Love Cup - so perhaps have Druddigon ready in the wings for when those are out of the way.
Charizard
Type: Fire and flying-type
Recommended moves: Fire Spin (Fast) / Dragon Claw or Overheat (Charged)
Charizard weaknesses: Electric, rock and water-types
Thanks to its long history in Pokémon Go, Charizard has a wide range of moves it can use, especially if you’re lucky enough to own a Charizard with a number of Legacy Moves. This means that, depending on which moves your Charizard uses, it can easily take care of a range of Pokémon present throughout the Love Cup.
If your Charizard is a more recent addition to your team, then it will most likely know a range of fire and dragon-type moves, which cause great damage to any of the bug, grass or steel-type Pokémon you face. Thanks to this, Charizard is a great choice for defeating any Pokémon your opponent might be using to counter fairy-type Pokémon.
Clefable
Type: Fairy-type
Recommended moves: Charm (Fast) / Ice Beam or Play Rough (Charged)
Clefable weaknesses: Poison and steel-types
Clefable is a good choice for your Love Cup team if you want a fairy-type Pokémon and don’t have a Wigglytuff which falls within the event’s requirements. Like Wigglytuff, it can use a range of strong fairy-type moves which can easily knock out a number of Pokémon within the Love Cup.
It’s important to note that, unlike Wigglytuff, Clefable doesn’t fall prey to fighting-type Pokémon as much, because it lacks the normal-type. Clefable will still have trouble against any poison or steel-type Pokémon, so make sure you switch it out quickly if you’re facing one of those types.
Wigglytuff
Type: Normal and fairy-type
Recommended moves: Charm (Fast) / Meteor Mash or Psychic (Charged)
Wigglytuff weaknesses: Poison and steel-types
If you’re going to pick a fairy-type Pokémon for the Love Cup, then we highly recommend Wigglytuff. Not only does it have the fairy-type moves that can deal a dent into any Pokémon’s HP, especially the fighting-types, but it’s dual type nature means that it has a number of resistances that Clefable doesn’t have.
Since normal-type Pokémon are resistant to ghost-type moves, it means Wigglytuff is touched by moves like Lick, which you’ll encounter if your opponent has picked a Lickitung or Lickilicky.
Just keep an eye out for any poison-type or you’ll find Wigglytuff in more than a bit of trouble.
Vileplume
Type: Grass and poison-type
Recommended moves: Razor Leaf (Fast) / Sludge Bomb or Moonblast (Charged)
Vileplume weaknesses: Fire, flying, psychic and ice-types
If you want a grass-type in your Love Cup team, then Vileplume is an excellent choice. Razor Leaf, its Fast move, will allow you to deal a good amount of damage onto water-types, such as Alomomola.
Vileplume also has the added bonus of being a poison-type Pokémon, which means that it can easily take care of those persky fairy-type Pokémon. For this reason, we highly recommend choosing Sludge Bomb for one of its Charged moves.
With this move in play, you have the chance of quickly knocking out any fairy-type your opponent places on the battlefield. You can even power up this Charged move and then switch Vileplume out for another Pokémon to ensure the move is ready to go.
Magcargo
Type: Fire and rock-type
Recommended moves: Ember or Rock Throw (Fast) / Stone Edge or Overheat (Charged)
Magcargo weaknesses: Fighting, ground, rock and water-types
Magcargo is a rather surprising entry to this list, but, in the terms of fire-type Pokémon, it can actually be seen as a better fire-type choice compared to Charizard.
This is because of its fire and rock-type, which give Magcargo an advantage over both grass, steel and bug-type Pokémon, making it an excellent counter to Scizor. For this reason, it’s a good idea to give Magcargo a mixture of moves to ensure both of its types are covered.
The downside to Magcargo, however, is that it’s weak to a number of other Pokémon appearing in the Love Cup, including water-types like Alomomola.
Scizor
Type: Bug and steel-type
Recommended moves: Bullet Punch (Fast) / Iron Head, X-Scissor or Night Slash (Charged)
Scizor weaknesses: Fire-types
If you’re having trouble with the fairy-type Pokémon and have the Stardust to spend, then Scizor is an excellent choice.
Since it’s part steel-type, Scizor can easily defeat any of the fairy-type Pokémon, with it’s Fast move causing a good amount of damage before you unleash the Charged move. Aside from fairy-types, Scizor’s type combination means that it has an advantage over a number of possible Love Cup favourites, including Vileplume, Slowbro and Seaking.
Just make sure you keep Scizor away from any fire-types!
Medicham
Type: Fighting and psychic-type
Recommended moves: Counter (Fast) / Psychic, Ice Punch or Power-Up Punch (Charged)
Medicham weaknesses: Fairy, flying and ghost-types
Medicham makes an appearance on this list thanks to it’s psychic-typing, which gives it an advantage over the poison-types which will appear throughout the Love Cup. This means that it’s a great switch out for any of your fairy-types.
With Counter as a Fast fighting-type move, you then have a choice of Charged types, which will allow you to customise your Medicham.
Psychic will, of course, give it an additional advantage over poison-types, while Power-Up Punch will allow you to knock out fire-types like Marcargo.
Scolipede
Type: Bug and poison-type
Recommended moves: Poison Jab (Fast) / X-Scissor, Megahorn or Sludge Bomb (Charged)
Scolipede weaknesses: Fire, flying, psychic and rock-types
If you’re Vileplume doesn’t fit within the restrictions for the Love Cup, then Scolipede is a great alternative.
Its poison-type moves, especially Poison Jab, will ensure that it can hold its own against any fairy-type on the field. Depending on how you’ve trained your Scolipede, it also has a chance of defeating Medicham, though you’ll want to keep an eye out for any psychic-type moves.
We still recommend choosing Vileplume over Scolipede if you’re looking for a poison-type Pokémon, but it’s a good alternative which has the ability to turn the match in your favour if used correctly.
Alomomola
Type: Water
Recommended moves: Waterfall (Fast) / Psychic, Hydro Pump or Blizzard (Charged)
Alomomola weaknesses: Electric and grass-types
Whether you’ve got Stardust to burn or simply want to give the Love Cup a try, Alomomola is a great choice for any team.
Its water-type moves ensure that it can easily defeat any fire, rock or ground-type Pokémon. Alomomola also has a good chance of defeating, or at least causing a substantial amount of damage, to both the fairy and poison-type Pokémon which will appear throughout the Love Cup.
You will need to keep an eye out for grass, electric and, depending on your opponent’s moveset, fighting-type Pokémon, as they can easily defeat Alomomola. Though, this doesn’t prevent Alomomola from being a powerful Pokémon in the Love Cup.
The first is that only Pokémon with a CP level of 1,500 or lower can participate in the Love Cup.
The second, and more complicated one, is that only Pokémon coloured red or pink can take part in the Love Cup. This means that your selection of Pokémon has been severely restricted.
Below you can find the full list of Pokémon, organised in alphabetical order, eligible for the Love Cup:
The Season of Mythical Wishes continues with the Winter Holiday event, which has brought Mega Glalie to Pokémon Go. Don’t forget to partake in the new Go Battle League season.
Elsewhere, be sure to use Daily Adventure Incense for the chance of encountering Galarian Articuno, Galarian Zapdos and Galarian Moltres.
The Love Cup will be available from Monday, February 7th to Monday, February 21st, ending at the following times:
UK - 9pm (GMT) Europe - 10pm (CET) East Coast US - 4pm (EST) West Coast US - 1pm (PST)
Good luck in the Love Cup!
