Pokémon Go Halloween Cup team recommendations, including dates, rewards and restrictions explained

Halloween Cup restrictions in Pokémon Go explained

The Halloween Cup has two important restrictions that you need to pay attention to before you start building your team.

The first is that only Pokémon with a CP level of 1500 or less can participate, and the second is that only bug, dark, fairy, ghost and poison-type Pokémon can compete.

Things to know about putting together a Halloween Cup team in Pokémon Go

Keeping the Halloween Cup restrictions in mind, search through your Pokémon Storage in Pokémon Go for all of the Pokémon that meet these requirements; discounting Pokémon, like Charizard, that don't meet the type requirements or any that have a CP level above 1500.

Once you've made a shortlist of Pokémon, examine their moves for both power and speed. You'll ideally want to include a Pokémon whose Charged move can be quickly powered up, so that you can force your opponents into using their shields very early on into the battle.

We also recommend boosting your chosen Pokémon's CP level up to 1500 if you have the spare Stardust. This will ensure that your Pokémon has the highest stats it can possibly have, while still meeting the requirements for the Halloween Cup.

Finally, don't be afraid to experiment by mix and matching team members.

Thanks to the type restrictions, you might be using a Pokémon that you've never entered into the Go Battle League before. For this reason, you might find that you don't like the way they battle, so don't be afraid to switch it out for another Pokémon if, after a couple of matches, you find that it's not bringing you as much success as you'd like.

Our Pokémon Go Halloween Cup recommendations, from Beedrill to Alolan Marowak

Like the Premier Cup, there's no 'best' Halloween Cup team, because you'll never know what you'll be facing and the restrictions ensure that you're dealing with a far smaller pool of options, especially if you've only recently started playing Pokémon Go.

In light of this issue, we've created a general list of recommended Halloween Cup Pokémon that you can use to build a team. We used multiple sources when creating this list to ensure that it will apply to players of all skill and experience levels.

Remember - when building a Halloween Cup team, all of your Pokémon must have a CP of 1500 or below and be either a bug, dark, fairy or poison-type Pokémon.

Our Pokémon Go Halloween Cup Team recommendations in National Pokédex order:

Beedrill

Type: Bug and poison-type
Recommended moves: Poison Jab (Fast) / Fell Stinger and X-Scissor (Charged)
Beedrill weaknesses: Fire, flying, psychic and rock-type

If you're looking for a Pokémon that has an advantage over both fairy and poison-type Pokémon, then look no further than Beedrill.

Its Fast move, Poison Jab, will easily cause a good amount of damage to these Pokémon nice and quickly, especially fairy-type Pokémon. We recommend picking Sludge Bomb as its Charged move, because this will increase Beedrill's advantage over fairy-type Pokémon and might even knock its opponent out.

Basically - if you're finding yourself troubled by fairy-type Pokémon, then we highly suggest Beedrill.

Golbat

Type: Poison and flying-type
Recommended moves: Wing Attack (Fast) / Poison Fang and Shadow Ball (Charged)
Golbat weaknesses: Electric, ice, psychic and rock-type Pokémon

Golbat is another excellent choice for the Halloween Cup and it's all thanks to its move selection.

Not only is Golbat capable of causing good damage to both ghost and bug-type Pokémon, but Wing Attack allows you to quickly power up its Charged Move. This means that, if you send it out first, you might be able to force your opponent into using a shield very early on in the match.

They don't, however, then you have the pleasure of watching them lose a substantial bit of health due to the power of either Poison Fang or Shadow Ball, which are both good choices for the Halloween Cup.

Azumarill

Type: Water and fairy-type
Recommended moves: Bubble (Fast) / Hydro Pump, Ice Beam and Play Rough (Charged)
Azumarill weaknesses: Electric, grass and poison-type Pokémon

Just like in the Great League, Azumarill is here to provide a good fairy-type option for your team.

If you do decide to have Azumarill in your team, then the debate is which Charged move do you want it to learn. Hydro Pump is a good choice, because it can easily wipe a large percentage of a Pokémon's health, as long as it's not resistant to it. Though Play Rough is an excellent move to use if you find your Azumarill facing an enemy Azumarill.

Ultimately the decision is yours, though we do suggest trying out the move your Azumarill currently has in the Halloween Cup battle, before deciding whether or not you want to change it.

Umbreon

Type: Dark
Recommended moves: Snarl (Dark) / Foul Play and Last Resort (Charged)
Umbreon weaknesses: Bug, fairy and fighting-type Pokémon

If you're not quite sure how to round off your Halloween Cup team, then we recommend experimenting with an Umbreon.

While it might not always win the fight, Umbreon is great at taking hits and staying in the fight, which makes it a great choice for knocking out your opponents shields. You can easily send Umbreon into battle first and see if your opponent will use their shield in the opening stages of a match.

As a pure dark-type Pokémon, Umbreon also has a great advantage over any and all ghost-type Pokémon, knocking them out of the battle with ease.

Houndoom

Type: Dark and fire-type
Recommended moves: Fire Fang (Fast) / Crunch, Flamethrower or Foul Play
Houndoom weaknesses: Fighting, ground, rock and water-types

Houndoom is everything you need for taking care of any bug, grass, ice and steel-types in the Halloween Cup thanks to Fire Fang.

If they do manage to survive the onslaught of the fang, then Flamethrower will knock them out of play completely. Crunch is also a great choice for defeating any Pokémon which happen to be weak to dark-types.

We do recommend, however, ensuring that the Houndoom you use is as powerful as possible to ensure that it's worth adding to your team. If you don't, then you might find that it doesn't last very long.

Mawile

Type: Steel and fairy-type
Recommended moves: Fire Fang (Fast) / Power-Up Punch and Play Rough (Charged)
Mawile weaknesses: Fire and ground-type Pokémon

If you have a Mawile which meets the Halloween Cup requirements, then we highly suggest that you put it in your team, at least to experiment with.

Thanks to Mawile being part steel-type, it's resistant to many of the types that are included in the Halloween Cup and you'll only encounter a real problem if you find yourself facing a fire-type Pokémon, such as Alolan Marowak.

Training Mawile properly, however, can cost a lot of Stardust, so make sure you're prepared for the necessary cost. Still, with moves like Fire Fang, that have a strong advantage over bug-type Pokémon, and Play Rough, which deals great damage to dark-type Pokémon, Mawile is a good choice for your Halloween Cup team.

Drifblim

Type: Ghost and flying-type
Recommended moves: Hex (Fast) / Icy Wind and Shadow Ball (Charged)
Drifblim weaknesses: Dark, electric, ghost, ice and rock-type Pokémon

Thanks to the 2020 Halloween event, you've most likely found yourself in procession of a lot of Drifloon candy and, hopefully, a powerful Drifloon or Drifblim. If this is the case, then consider investing this candy and Stardust into making Drifblim a strong Halloween Cup contender.

Drifblim can easily take on any opposing ghost-type Pokémon and, if you're able to shield yourself for its charged moves, then it can also take on Azumarill.

When it comes to Drifblim's Charged moves, we suggest having a look at your team as a whole and see where a gap might lie, since both moves are quite powerful.

Type: Water and ghost-type
Recommended moves: Bubble or Hex (Fast) / Bubble Beam, Ice Beam or Shadow Ball (Charged)
Jellicent weaknesses: Dark, electric, grass and ghost-types

Thanks to it's part ghost typing, Jellicent sneaks its way into the Halloween Cup and, considering its moveset, you should expect them to be a regular in this special cup.

Jellicent's strength is the range of moves at its disposal and, if you're going to use it, we highly suggest unlocking its second charged attack. This will allow you to benefit from the quick charging nature of Bubble Beam, so you can force your foe to use their shields, and either Shadow Ball or Ice Beam as a powerful attack.

You could, however, have Jellicent know both Shadow Ball and Ice Beam, with Bubble as its fast move, so you can take advantage of all its attack types.

Type: Ghost and fire-type
Recommended moves: Incinerate (Fast) / Flame Charge or Shadow Ball (Charged)
Chandelure weaknesses: Dark, ghost, ground, rock and water-type

Thanks to Incinerate, Chandelure becomes a true Halloween Cup contender this year. This fast-type move will help you burn your way through any bug, grass, ice or steel-type which dares cross your path.

If they do manage to survive, and your opponent is out of shields, then Flame Charge will finish them off.

Chandelure is also one of these Pokémon which need to have their second charged move unlocked to reach their true potential in any league. With Shadow Ball added to the mix, it can take out even more Pokémon and can easily work as the cornerstone for your team.

Alolan Marowak

Type: Fire and ghost-type
Recommended moves: Fire Spin or Hex (Fast) / Bone Club or Shadow Ball (Charged)
Alolan Marowak weaknesses: Dark, ghost, ground, rock and water-type Pokémon

Thanks to being part fire-type, Alolan Marowak can easily defeat any bug Pokémon you encounter in the Halloween Cup.

Its Fast move, Fire Spin, will easily cut into the health of any bug-type opponent that you may encounter, allowing you to unleash the full power of its Charged move, with the hopes of knocking it out completely.

When it comes to Charged moves, we do suggest picking either Bone Club or Shadow Ball to give your Alolan Marowak more diversity; a pure fire move Alolan Marowak maybe great for bug-types, but its always good to have a strong dark-type move for those pesky ghosts.

Halloween Cup rewards in Pokémon Go explained

Winning battles in the Halloween Cup in Pokémon Go will supply you with a number of useful rewards, such as Stardust, but the best is an encounter with either a costumed Bulbasar, Charmander or Squirtle.

These costumed Pokémon were released as part of the 2019 Halloween event, making the Halloween Cup the perfect time to either start or complete your collection.

Bulbasaur is dressed as Shedinja, Charmander as Cubone and Squirtle has donned a Yamask inspired top hat.

The Season of Mischief is here! Current events include the Season 9 of Go Battle League, the addition of Raid Achievements, the Misunderstood Mischief research quest and the new Finding Your Voice Meloetta research. Shiny Ditto can also now be found in the wild and this tricky Pokémon is now appearing as new creatures! The Halloween event is now live! You can complete the What Lies Behind the Mask research, evolve Galarian Slowking and compete in the Halloween Cup! Meanwhile, the last major update saw a level cap increase - including the addition of XL Candy, boosts to some XP sources and the addition of Platinum Medals. Inkay and Malamar are now in Pokémon Go!

Halloween Cup dates and times in Pokémon Go explained

The Halloween Cup will run throughout the majority of the 2020 Halloween event in Pokémon Go.

The Halloween Cup will be available from Monday, 26th October to Tuesday, 3rd November and will end at the following times:

• UK - 9pm (GMT)
• Europe - 10pm (CET)
• East Coast US - 4pm (EST)
• West Coast US - 1pm (PST)

Good luck in the Halloween Cup!