Googled and found a few threads that seemed somewhat divided in the answer for this one…
I have a Psyduck right now… pretty good one, HP=Def=Attack… have enough to evolve but, 2 buttons… power up or evolve.
Is it better to power up to max, then evolve later?
or evolve now, and power up as I get more candy?
0 voters
It’s only a Psyduck, don’t Power it up at all. Save that valuable Star Dust for the Pokémon that are more of use for Raiding and Battling Gyms.
To answer the original question. Pre TM days you would never Power anything up until evolved as you could have got a bad move set. Now with the ability to change moves using TM’s it does not matter.
What? Psyduck isn’t any good? That’s a shame… I don’t follow Pokemon or anything, started playing because of my nieces. We live middle of nowhere so I have to drive us to stops/gyms… so… ya, now I’m addicted too. Always remembered him from the cartoons they watched and thought he was kinda funny. 
But, just in general wasn’t sure… there were some (old) posts about what you mentioned but I was looking for some current info. As you said, being able to change moves is more recent so made the argument for it moot in the older threads.
Just wasn’t sure if cheaper to power up a tier 1 then evolve? or doesn’t matter? or how it affects the evolution. I assume a higher CP would mean a higher CP when evolved… but then again, I have had twice now where once evolved the CP actually dropped. My niece had that once as well. Can’t recall which one it was, but it was around 750CP and I evolved it and the went down to 450CP. I wasn’t too excited about that.
Evolving only costs you Pokemon’s candy, so it has no disadvantage against other Pokemon (evolving one thing wont stop you from evolving a different Pokemon), while powering up costs dust, a universal currency you should only save for meta-relevant Pokemon
Psyduck is indeed useless, even as a Golduck, so dont power him up, but evolve him as you wish to fill a gap in your dex
Power up means to level something up by 0.5 levels, so either way (PU then Evo/Evo then PU) your Golduck will have the same exact stats
Ah so, don’t waste the dust on Psyduck, but do waste the candy so I can fill in the gap of my pokedex.
But, for other Pokemon, since Psyduck was just an example… powering up then evolving, vs evolving then powering… no advantage/disadvantage either way?
No disadvantage with TMs available.
Yeah its the same, since stats are decided by IVs and Level, and neither of them change upon evolving
What does change are the base stats, which are unique to each species of Pokemon (a 100IV Golduck at level 28 has always the same stats, regardless of if you power him up after or before evolving)
If its a good meta pokemon and you arent going to catch a better one: Evolve first cause it will greatly increase its CP so it might be usefull.
My tactic usually is: First save up enough candy + dust and then evolve + power up to where i want it in 1 go. That way if i find the same pokemon again with better stats, i wont have wasted candy+ stardust yet cause i havent spent it yet.
I think on the long way everybody with a high IV is worth to go up to level 30 (from where on the cost is very expensive).
Allways it’s better to evolve first, and power up after (both ways go to the same final, but the first one only cost is candies).
I think, 96, 98 and 100% IV have at least reason to go up to level 30, doesn’t matter their value in Meta.
98 and 100 have reason to go up where ever you are capable to raise them.
I’m at the point that I don’t evolve anything until I get double the candy required. Giving me plenty of time to get a better specimen to evolve.
Why power up something you wont ever use?
@Necrozmadabest. Very true. That is why I rarely power up anything. If it isn’t good when I catch it, I let the professor grind it into candy.
Depending on your playing style (I’m a pure collector), and on reading style, jiji… I wrote “on the long way” ,and this means looong, maybe one, two, or 5 years. And then it doesn`t matter to keep dust. On the way you will earn enough dust for all of them, and then all of the at least +98 have the value to be powered up.
No, you dont lose a Pokemon if you dont power it up
If its a useless Mon like Poliwrath, powering it up to any level does nothing, except that you waste dust which is still better used for meta relevant Pokemon
I accept your point of view, but I still play different. On the “long way” I want to have a Poliwrath in level 30 AND in IV 98 or 100.
What you call Meta is for the fighting style of play, I still not have found nothing I can’t do with this type of bitches.
Apart that I want this Meta-Pokémon as well in level 30 (or more), hehe
So, should I Power Up my Level 20 Perfect Eevee…
or should I wait first for the upcoming evolution before powering it up?
If your using one of the guaranteed methods to get the Eeveelution you want there is no harm powering up before evolving.
If it’s going to be luck of the RNG it’s best to evolve then Power Up if it’s something you want.
Thanks…
actually finished with the guaranteed evolutions… waiting for the new 3 when they will be release…
Do you need one of the five Eeveelution for raid, gym or PvP now?