Picking which Pokemon to power up

#1

Was just wondering what is your criteria for which Pokemon you invest your stardust in to. I know it might seem like you just go straight for the Dragonites and Tyranitars, but what factors do you take into account?

Does it have to be above a certain IV? Do you stick only to Pokemon you battle with? Power up defenders?

I have one Mewtwo that has 84 IVs, which is normally below what I’d power up, but the chances of getting another EX invite are very slim so I’m slowly working on maxing it out. I’d also like to max out my best IV of each legendary, and any 100% IV Pokemon I get.

#2

Usually at least one legendary
The only legendaries I havent powered up (usually I up them to level 31 at least, depends on how much candy I have, I could raise Rayquaza all the way to level 38) are Suicune, Ho-oh, Lugia (because they are trash in battle), Moltres (best I have is 15/15/11) and Mewtwo (best I have is 15/13/11, still waiting for the next one)

#3

I only power up legendaries if they are 96% or higher, but I like to use my stardust on Pokémon that I really like (my first two 100% Pokémon, my Mr. Mime from when I visited Europe, etc.).

#4

I have no rules when I power up, just that I have to have 1 million Stardust to spend in one go. I prefer to do the bulk power ups rather than small ones scattered about.

#5

I focus on powering up Pokémon that are useful for raiding or gym battling. My current list is: Machamp, Golem, Kyogre, Tyranitar, Gyrados, Raikou, Rayquaza, Dragonite, Entie, Metagross. Also Rydon, Piloswine for gen 4 prep and a couple exeggutor as it is useful for battling.

Before the gym rework I also did a few snorlax and Blissey. I power up only 96% or higher IVs and attack must be 15. There are a couple exceptions to this such as Kyogre where the best ones I captured were 93% with attack, or Blissey where attack isn’t important so we have powered up with defense/Stam. Once I get a Mewtwo over 90% with 14 or 15 attack I will also invest in that one.

#6

Tell me about it, 93% Mewtwo, 15 attack, 8/10 golden curve excellents…
And fled

#7

No stringent rules but high priority is given to best Pokemon required for Ledgendary Raids.

#8

For me I think I’ll power up any Mewtwo haha I have one that’s 84% and I’m maxing it out. It will be very rare for me to get more of them so I want to have any and all Mewtwos maxed.

#9

It’s really just a matter of what you personally want or need. Yesterday, I spent about 150,000 dust on maxing a Wigglytuff. Why? Because I needed a defender specifically against Dragonites with ideally some coverage against fighting types as well, and a Wigglytuff just happened to be the option I had available with the most suitable moveset (since I’m saving my Charged TMs for another project). Blissey might be a better all-round defender, but that’s not what I needed. And plenty other players in my area could put a Blissey there.

#10

Wigglytuff…

#11

These really are personal choices. Quite a few choose to power up mons so they can solo / duo / trio raid bosses.
I prefer to power up ones that I like to use, Vileplume, Dragonite, Parasect and my 100%ers.
While this stardust event is done I’ll start powering up some more mons!

#12

I would’ve preferred my Gardevoir, but that one had the wrong moveset for what I needed, and I needed that defender instantly. (the problem at hand was a noob spoofer that doesn’t have access to raidbosses and relies primarily on a couple of Dragonites and I suspect one or two Hariyamas). So, a fairytype, since those make great tanks against Dragons. Mediocre attackers perhaps, but for defense against Dragons, they’re perfect.

#13

Spoofer that has no access to raid bosses?
Okay, your choice I guess

#14

Noob spoofer, there’s a difference. Still extremely annoying. I’ve kept track of his habits for a while, and he simply NEVER golden razzed any of his defenders. When we kick him out, he’s back in 20 minutes, but somehow he never uses golden razzes, which lead to the theory that he doesn’t have golden razzes, and thus doesn’t raid. His activity hours are also outside raid times, so to raid, he’d have to spoof himself to the US, and then back to Europe to take gyms. Which is one of very few methods of getting your account flagged for spoofing.

#15

Thats actually a clever deduction

#16

Someone’s put considerable thought into this🤔

#17

I’ve only been powering up my shinies.

#18

I go straight into Dragonites and Tyranitar.

I am focused on using rare candies only on Mewtwo(6 of them) BUT once Mew is caught ill have to focus all my energy on Mew. I give dust to Blissy / Slakoth for their high CP for defending gyms. When Salamence came out i powered 3 95%+ to over 3000 cause i love my Dragons.