What is a budget Pokemon? Typically, a Pokemon is considered budget when it is a non-legendary and doesn't require an exclusive move to be viable. This is true when looking for raid attackers, but I am taking the budget a step further. I'll be going through budget Pokemon for both the Go Battle League and raiding. Pokemon that require at most fifty candies to evolve and have a unlock cost of ten thousand stardust and twenty-five candies for a second charge move. Pokemon that evolve for free after being traded are also considered budget and can be used for both raiding and PVP.
Go Battle League Pokemon
Whiscash is one of my personal favorite budget Pokemon for the Great League. It was especially good back when Registeel was the best Pokemon in the Great League. It takes out other steel types like Galarian Stunfisk and Bastiodon, while also being able to win against Defense Deoxys.
Umbreon is not exactly a budget Pokemon as it could use Last Resort as a legacy move and it requires seventy-five thousand stardust and candy for a second charge move. However, Umbreon is ranked within the top Pokemon of the Great League and could be used with just Foul Play or Dark Pulse. Meaning you could catch a relatively high leveled Eevee and evolve it and have a very powerful Pokemon for very little resources.
Noctowl is perhaps to the average player, one of the most underrated budget Pokemon for the Great League. It can eat an Ice Beam from an Azumarill, unlike Altaria. It can even beat Azumarill if you double shield. It can of course take out grass types such as Shiftry and Meganium, but with its bulk, it can stay in neutral matches better than other fliers.
Clefable and Wigglytuff play similar roles as charmers in the Great League. Charmers can sweep some teams if they aren't ready for them. Wigglytuff has Ice Beam for some nice coverage and Clefable hits hard with Meteor Mash and Psychic. Clefable is a fantastic Pokemon in the Ultra League if you gather the resources to max it out.
Alolan Raichu is another personal favorite of mine and that I often run with Whiscash. Alolan Raichu can be great as an opener or a closer. Volt Switch is a devastating fast move that charges Wild Charge very quickly. Wild Charge can close out the game by taking out basically anything once shields are down. Grass Knot gives it coverage against things like Swampert and you can run Thunder Punch for shield baiting. Having a budget Pokemon that takes out fliers such as Skarmory and dominates Azumarill is very valuable.
Sunny Cherrim is perhaps the easiest of these Pokemon to acquire. In sunny weather, you can find it high leveled in the wild, basically ready to go for battling. It doesn't take much to get enough candy for the second charge move. Landing a Solar Beam for that #getbeamed is always awesome and Weather Ball plus Bullet Seed is super spammy.
The Starters
The Starters do require their Community Day move to be useful for the most part, but they all have the ten thousand stardust plus twenty-five candy unlock cost for second charge moves. They are pretty available in the wild and are featured in events frequently. With some patience, you can wait for December Community Day and have yourself some powerful Pokemon for both the Great and Ultra Leagues, without using an Elite TM.
Venusaur and Charizard are both viable in both the Great and Ultra Leagues. They both have hard-hitting moves with Frenzy Plant and Blast Burn, plus nice coverage with Sludge Bomb and Dragon Claw respectively. They're both solid Pokemon to have on your roster.
Meganium is the best representative from the Jhoto starters. It has been a staple in the Great League with Frenzy Plant and Earthquake lining up well against that meta. Typhlosion is a spicy pick for the Ultra League and Feraligatr has its niche uses. Overall Meganium is a Pokemon I highly recommend getting.
Sceptile is the exception among the starters as it is the only one that doesn't require its Community Day move to be competitive. Leaf Blade hits hard and spams, and Earthquake covers those fire and steel types. Bullet Seed can also spam Dragon Claw like crazy, which could be a strategy worth using.
Swampert is the G.O.A.T of the starter Pokemon. It has dominant performances in all of the Go Battle Leagues. From Great League to Master League Swampert's relevance is outstanding. It has plenty of resistances and has grass as it's only weakness.
Empoleon being water and steel typing gives it unique resistances and coverage. Waterfall and Hydro Cannon is a solid combination and it recently got Drill Peck for coverage against grass types. Empoleon see's decent play in Ultra League and it's Premier Cup. It has even seen play in the Premier Cup for the Master League.
Raid Attackers
Aggron has a very high defense stat meaning it will stay in the battle for a while. Having high defense also makes it great at defending gyms. Aggron is also solid in the Ultra League and although it takes a hundred twenty-five candies to evolve fully, it has a ten thousand stardust plus twenty-five candy unlock cost for a second charge move. This makes it a budget option if you are looking for a Pokemon to use in the Ultra League. For raiding it can be used as either with Smack Down, Stone Edge as a rock attacker, or Iron Tail, Heavy Slam as a steel attacker.
Ursaring I feel is an underrated budget Pokemon for raiding. It has a diverse move set and is decent at defending gyms. Shadow Claw and Counter are some of the best charge moves in the game and having Close Combat and Pay Rough gives it two hard-hitting charge moves. What I like about it is that isn't difficult to find a high leveled Teddiursa in the wild and it is cheap to evolve. A very useful Pokemon for new players looking to jump into raids and that don't have stardust to spend.
Steelix is another Pokemon that can take a beating during raids thanks to its steel typing. Earthquake and Heavy Slam help it be used as a ground or steel type attacker. It can also be used for guarding gyms and is decent in the Ultra League
Breloom has a very high attack stat and is quite good as a fighting type raid attacker. It has access to both Counter and Dynamic Punch and is cheap to evolve. Going out to grind some Shroomish with some Pinaps is easy enough in sunny weather and Breloom will pay dividends for you in raids.
Hariyama is a fantastic Pokemon for new players. It has the ideal move set of Counter and Dynamic Punch for raiding and will offer your team some strong bulk in the back end to keep you from fainting out. Hariyama is also a popular gym defender and overall is a cheap and valuable Pokemon to have.
Excadrill is one of the top ground meta attackers and is very accessible. Drillbur can be found very often and with enough Pinaps you can have multiple Excadrills ready to go. Mud Slap and Drill Run are very energy efficient together and will put out tons of damage.
Kingler is a very important budget Pokemon. It was once the top water meta attacker in the game when it learned Crabhammer. Krabby is featured pretty often in events and can found pretty easily in rainy weather. Like Excadrill, Kingler is very dominant and is a great long term investment.
Free To Evolve
Machamp is an absolute must-have for every new player s the original Counter and Dynamic Punch user. It is dominant as a meta attacker and was the number one fighting type meta attacker for years. It can also be used in both Ultra and Master League with their Premier Cups included.
Gengar is one of the top ghost type meta attackers. It has uses in the Go Battle League but requires the Shadow Punch legacy move. However, Shadow Ball is the only move you need for raiding and is not legacy.
Normal Golem and its Alolan Form can both be decent raid attackers. Regular Golem is a cheap ground type attacker and Alolan Golem is a solid electric type attacker. Alolan Geodude is widely available in the wild making it easy to bulk trade it.
Escavalier is one of the new free to evolve after trading Pokemon from the Unova region. It isn't useful as a raid attacker but it is used in both the Great and Ultra Leagues. Paying zero candy to evolve is a significant discount and you can slowly hoard candies to unlock the second charge move.
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