When it comes to player-versus-player battles in Pokemon Go, you have a choice of climbing the regular PvP ladder through the three main Leagues or taking on one of the speciality cups that introduce tighter restrictions on your team comps. Either way, you're going to come up against some strong opponents.

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In order to claim the maximum rewards from each set of five encounters - in particular those enhanced Premium Pass goodies - you'll need to plan your counters to the 'meta' Pokemon you're likely to face. This core group of opponents can prove frustrating, especially as you climb the ranks, so we're here to help you dominate.

Pokemon Go Halloween Cup: Restrictions

The difference between the rotating cups and the Great, Ultra, and Master League is in the restrictions placed on what you can select. In the three main leagues, you're only limited by the Pokemon's CP - a measure of its overall level and strength - but which Pokemon you choose is up to you.

In the Halloween Cup, you're bound by both a limit of 1,500 CP and which types of Pokemon you can use. To fit with the spooky theme, these are Bug, Dark, Fairy, Ghost, and Poison types.

This can be a Pokemon's primary or secondary type, and one thing to remember is that any moves can be used. Got an Azumarill with Water-type moves? No problem - it's just the overall typing that's important.

Best Halloween Cup Lead Pokemon

A good Lead Pokemon is one that will start strong, usually be a hard counter to your opponent's first Pokemon, and not get caught out right from the off. Many Pokemon Go PvP battles are 'shield races' - baiting out the use of the enemy's shields before your own, potentially giving you an advantage later in the battle.

Choosing a lead means trying to guess what your opponent is going to lead with. You can narrow the potentials using data on the meta, especially if you're higher rank, but ultimately you're just going to have to get lucky. These are our suggestions for the Halloween Cup, in no particular order.

Fast Moves are in normal text, Charge Moves in italic.

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Resistant means that the Pokemon takes less damage from moves of that type.

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Weak means that the Pokemon takes more damage from moves of that type.

Alolan Marowak bearing Shadow Bone were only available during the Halloween 2020 event.

Best Halloween Cup Pokemon Switches

Pokemon Go isn't like the main series, where you can switch your Pokemon at will. When you change your active Pokemon in Pokemon Go, there'll be a cooldown before you can make another change.

As such, you'll need a 'safe' Switch Pokemon, one that can both handle some punishment and be able to get the encounter back on an even footing by baiting any remaining shields. Here are our choices.

Return is only available on a Sableye caught from Team Rocket and then purified.

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Best Halloween Cup Pokemon Closers

Once you've laid the foundations of the battle, you'll want a dependable Pokemon to round things off. Getting this decision right is the difference between capitalising on your early advantage, and losing heavily.

Closers are good at mopping up weak enemies, while having solid survivability against multiple meta types - especially when there are no shields to protect them. Heavy-hitting moves are key.

Drill Run was obtained when evolving Kakuna into Beedrill as part of the Weedle Community Day in June 2020.

Halloween Cup Recommended Pokemon Comps

Now that we've got an idea of the Pokemon that work well in the Halloween Cup, we can begin to consider team compositions that can carry you to victory.

When building a team, think about whether you can get STAB - Same Type Attack Bonus. For example, if a Fire-type Pokemon uses a Fire-type move, it'll deal 20 percent more damage. Combine this with your opponent's type weakness, and that could increase even further!

You'll want a team with great coverage, better damage, awnd just that little bit of something special to carry you past the Pokemon you're likely to see time and time again. Here are three comps we think work well.

Sableye - Nidoqueen - Azumarill

This comp is incredibly scary to come up against in PvP, mainly thanks to the latter two Pokemon. Despite being a Switch, Sableye is a decent opener that balances out this team well, and if you've got Return then you're very likely to bait out enemy shields early on.

Nidoqueen is possibly the best meta Switch right now, or is at least one you'll see often thanks to her strong resistances and tanky nature, while Azumarill is... well, annoying to face and very hard to beat, especially when you load it with three moves of three different types.

Jellicent - Crustle - Azumarill

Go strong, go Ghost. Starting off with Jellicent is always a pretty decent bet, thanks to its plentiful resistances. Your opponent might just open with an Alolan Marowak, meaning your Bubble Beam has its number, and it's strong against Bug and Poison, too.

Crustle is great for that little bit of tankiness that can set you up for the final push, and rounding off your team with an Azumarill just makes sense, for the reasons laid out above.

Scizor - Froslass - Mandibuzz

This team is a little different, and not necessarily a meta choice. However, all three are great individually, and should you get lucky with the opponents you're facing, can rip through the enemy team. Scizor has a lot of resistances, and has incredible move pressure - meaning your foe is likely to burn through their shields in no time.

Follow this with the Ice-based Froslass to guarantee your opponent has no shields going into the last match-up, then watch Mandibuzz sweep in and secure the win, safe behind its sheer bulkiness.

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