Strongest Pokemon Go Tier List - Best Offensive Pokemon For Attacking

Welcome to the Nerfplz Pokémon tier list, brought to you by a statistics fanatic that loves crunching numbers and winning games through data analysis.

This list specifically organizes Pokémon by strength in terms of gym attackers, meaning that it is heavily weighted towards their damage potential by attack values and type advantages on their potential move sets.

Additionally, it only features fully evolved Pokémon, as the evolved forms are all stronger than their unevolved forms; sorry Pikachu but you're getting hit with a Thunderstone.

Strongest Pokémon Rankings For Attacking Gyms

"What Are the Best to Use For Taking Down Gyms"

Preface Chatter

Welcome to the Nerfplz Pokémon tier list, brought to you by a statistics fanatic that loves crunching numbers and winning games through data analysis.

This list specifically organizes Pokémon by strength in terms of gym attackers, meaning that it is heavily weighted towards their damage potential by attack values and type advantages on their potential move sets.

Additionally, it only features fully evolved Pokémon, as the evolved forms are all stronger than their unevolved forms; sorry Pikachu but you're getting hit with a Thunderstone.

HOT TIP: If you are trying to beat a specific Pokémon at a gym, be sure to check out the Type Advantage Chart to gain the greatest advantage!

* I found the image above on alphacoders.com, if anyone knows the actual artist feel free to drop a comment in the DISQUS section below!

Toolkit and Options

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The Tier List

God Tier [Optimal Gym Demolishers]:

General Use: Mewtwo, Dragonite, Snorlax, Lapras, Vaporeon, Arcanine, Exeggutor, Moltres, Zapdos, Articuno, Charizard, Gengar, Flareon, Nidoqueen, Victreebel, Wigglytuff, Blastoise, Slowbro

Noteable Defense Crushers: Gengar (Shadow Claw), Lapras (Frost Breath), Nidoqueen (Bite), Vaporeon (Water Gun), Victreebel (Razor Leaf), Golduck (Water Gun)

Tier 1 [Can Defeat Most Gyms]:

General Use: Gyarados, Golem, Nidoking, Poliwrath, Venusaur, Vileplume, Golduck, Muk, Mew, Raichu, Rapidash, Cloyster, Starmie, Clefable, Aerodactyl, Jolteon, Omastar

Noteable Defense Crushers: Cloyster (Frost Breath), Gyarados (Dragon Breath)

Tier 2 [Needs Type Advantages]:

General Use: Dewgong, Weezing, Ninetales, Primeape, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, Alakazam, Kabutops, Machamp, Tentacruel, Seaking, Electabuzz, Magneton, Dodrio, Kingler, Seadra, Venomoth, Scyther, Jynx, Porygon, Pinsir

Noteable Defense Crushers: Dewgong (Frost Breath), Electabuzz (Thunder Shock)

Tier 3 [Needs Type and Level Advantage]:

General Use: Pidgeot, Magmar, Golbat, Sandslash, Persian, Hypno, Electrode, Parasect, Tauros, Marowak, Tangela, Lickitung, Kangaskhan, Mr. Mime, Rhydon, Butterfree, Beedrill, Raticate, Farfetch'd, Chansey, Fearow, Arbok, Dugtrio, Onix

Instructions and Caveats:

• Pokémon in BOLD I will talk about shortly
• Within each tier the Pokémon are strongest from left to right, but within a tier each Pokémon's strength is relatively close.
• This list takes into consideration the damage per second of each Pokémon.

Data Sources

• Moveset DPS sources from this link, 7/30/16 update
• Movesets from Pokemongodb

God Tier: These champions are almost impossible to keep down. If your team doesn't make it a priority to shut down these champions and shut them down hard, even if they lose their lane, lose in CS, and it's their first time playing the champion, they can be a massive nuisance for your team. On the other hand, if they're actually good at the champion...that's when it's time to throw in the towel. Tier 1: These champions generally do very well regardless, and have some sort of advantage over most other champions. When they do well, their team does well. Even when they don't do well, their team still has a good chance of a comeback victory by utilizing one or more aspects of their late game utility. Tier 2: This is the Tier of balanced champions where Riot shoots to place their designs. These champions generally do well in their own right, and are very strong picks with a good chance of winning. However, they're not overpowered by any means and do have their weaknesses. Tier 3: These champions can still do very well, but tend to need a little more snowballing to get rolling. Even if they get an early lead, it's still very possible to turn the tides on them with just a mistake or two. They may also have some weaknesses that can be capitalized on. Tier 4: These champions are either underpowered or offer less reward than other champions for the same amount of effort. These champions basically start winning from the get-go or get made fun of for the rest of the game. They need gold to do their job correctly, and if they don't get enough of it, they become sandbags for the enemy team to punch. Chances of a comeback with one of these champions feeding on your team is almost none.

Pokémon Explanations

• Arcanine - This puppy is one of the strongest Pokémon in terms of sheer stats, and packs quite a punch. However, he unfortunately currently suffers from a type-disadvantage since there are relatively few grass-type Pokémon being used to defend gyms now. Additionally, he does awful against Vaporeon and Gyarados, which appear to be the crowd favorites in every gym.
• Gyarados - Despite being insanely hard to evolve, Gyarados' stats are not as high as you would expect for a creature of such difficulty. However, he does come equipped with Dragon Breath, allowing him to do bonus damage to Dragonites while not taking any bonus damage himself. However, he does not receive the same-type attack bonus (STAB), so it evens out a bit.
• Jolteon - The weakest of the three Eevee evolutions, her Thundershock is quite weak and generally causes her to lose against Vaporeons regardless of the type advantage. This is mainly a result of the 1.25x bonus multiplier, which is much lower than the 2x multiplier that you get in the regular Pokemon games.
• Lapras (Frost Breath) - Against most dragon types, Lapras is the absolute best Pokémon to bring around since she gets a double attack multiplier, AND the STAB bonus when using Frost Breath.
• Mewtwo - Although Mewtwo is not available in the game yet, he was data-mined from the APK and is apparently going to pack a bigger punch than any Pokémon we've ever seen. A fitting start for a champion. The legendary birds follow a similar reasoning.
• Nidoqueen (Bite) - There are not any DARK type Pokémon in the first generation, but "Bite" is currently the strongest fast-type attack. A massive stat stick, Nidoqueens works well against any psychic types you encounter for now.
• Raichu - His type advantage against water types does not quite make up for the extremely low damage output on his potential movesets. As a result, you will find he loses many advantageous type match-ups.
• Snorlax - Although his damage itself is not the highest in the game, the HP allows him to absolutely slaughter any other Pokémon in the game just by mashing on your phone screen.
• Victreebel (Razor Leaf) - In a world with extremely weak electric types, taking down enemy Vaporeons is extremely difficult. The current best Pokémon to counter Vaporeon at the moment is Victreebel, but watch out for Lapras as her Frost Breath will crush Victreebel like a bug.
• Wigglytuff - After the latest round of buffs and nerfs, Pound is now the single strongest fast DPS move. Currently, Wigglytuff is the strongest normal type that can learn Pound, meaning that he is the strongest Pokémon that gets a STAB bonus from the strongest fast move.

Agree? Disagree? Comment below!