Pokémon GO Great League Tier List: November 2026

The Pokémon GO Great League tier list for November 2026 is led by Melmetal, Altaria and Shadow Ninetales in S tier, with Mimikyu and Cramorant close behind in A+, based on PvPoke's 1,500 CP overall rankings as imported by Pokémon GO Hub on November 3. Tinkaton, Shadow Altaria, Corviknight, Galarian Corsola and Florges round out the top ten. The list matters more than usual this month because Megas have joined GO Battle League and several big move changes landed at the start of the Twilight Trails season.

We used the official GO Battle League: Twilight Trails announcement, Pokémon GO Hub's Great League rankings (PvPoke data, imported November 3, 2026), its IV guide and the November 2026 event posts to put this together.

When Great League Is Live This Month

GO Battle League rotates formats weekly, so a tier list is only useful during the weeks you can actually play the format. The official season schedule runs each block from 1:00 p.m. Pacific on the start date to 1:00 p.m. Pacific on the end date, and the Twilight Trails season ends on December 1, 2026.

• November 3 to 10: Great League: Mega Edition, alongside the Ultra and Master League Mega Editions, with 4x Stardust from win rewards (end-of-set rewards excluded).
• November 10 to 17: standard Great League, Ultra League: Mega Edition, and the 2026 GO LAIC Cup.
• November 18 to 25: Ultra League, Master League: Mega Edition and the LAIC Cup continue, with no standard Great League listed.
• November 24 to December 1: Master League and the Mega Catch Cup: Great League Edition, which only allows Pokémon caught during the season and bans Mythicals.

The official page lists the November 18 to 25 and November 24 to December 1 blocks as overlapping by a day, and shows nothing between November 17 and 18. We are reporting it as published; check the Battle screen in the game for the format actually running.

Every Great League format, including the themed cups above, uses the same 1,500 CP limit. The LAIC Cup is a special case worth knowing about: it bans Fire, Dark, Steel and Fairy types, Legendary, Mythical and Ultra Beast Pokémon, and a long list of species including Altaria, Galarian Corsola, Jellicent, Araquanid, Clodsire, Medicham and Annihilape. Your usual Great League team will not carry over to that cup.

The Great League Tier List

These rankings come from PvPoke's open Great League overall scores, which measure performance across the format on a 100-point scale rather than win rate. GO Hub labels tiers relative to the top score; it only assigns explicit tiers to the first five, so we group the rest by score.

Great League top 12, PvPoke scores via Pokémon GO Hub, imported November 3, 2026

Rank	Pokémon	Score	Recommended moves
1	Melmetal	93.9	Thunder Shock, Double Iron Bash, Dynamic Punch
2	Altaria	92.8	Dragon Breath, Moonblast, Flamethrower
3	Shadow Ninetales	92.6	Ember, Weather Ball, Energy Ball
4	Mimikyu	92.0	Shadow Claw, Shadow Sneak, Play Rough
5	Cramorant	91.6	Peck, Surf, Fly
6	Tinkaton	91.6	Fairy Wind, Gigaton Hammer, Bulldoze
7	Shadow Altaria	91.5	Dragon Breath, Moonblast, Flamethrower
8	Corviknight	91.4	Sand Attack, Air Cutter, Iron Head
9	Galarian Corsola	91.3	Astonish, Night Shade, Power Gem
10	Florges	91.3	Fairy Wind, Chilling Water, Moonblast
11	Shadow Quagsire	91.2	Mud Shot, Aqua Tail, Stone Edge
12	Quagsire	91.1	Mud Shot, Aqua Tail, Stone Edge

S tier is Melmetal, Altaria and Shadow Ninetales. Melmetal is the score leader, and Altaria appears twice in the top ten thanks to its Shadow form at seventh. A+ tier is Mimikyu and Cramorant. Just below, the spread is extremely tight: ranks six through twelve are separated by half a point, so your own matchups and comfort matter more than the exact order.

Movesets matter as much as species. Melmetal's recommended set pairs the Fast Attack Thunder Shock with Double Iron Bash and Dynamic Punch, so a Melmetal stuck with a different Charged Attack will not perform like the one in the rankings. Shadow Ninetales relies on Ember with Weather Ball and Energy Ball, Cramorant uses Peck with Surf and Fly, and both Quagsire forms want Mud Shot, Aqua Tail and Stone Edge. Before you spend Stardust on any of these, open the Pokémon and compare its moves with the table; if one is missing, a Charged TM or an Elite TM may be a better use of resources than another round of power-ups. It is also worth checking your storage for the cheaper names in the top 12 before chasing Melmetal, since Quagsire and Corviknight are usually far easier to find and level than Melmetal.

The next group, ranks 13 to 20, is Shadow Corviknight, Ninetales, Clodsire, Shadow Hydreigon, Shadow Sableye, Thievul, Araquanid and Jellicent. Any of these is a fine team member, and several are much easier to build than a Melmetal. One thing you will not find anywhere in the top 20 is an Eeveelution, so if you are working through our Eevee evolution guide with PvP in mind, treat those as fun picks rather than meta ones for now.

Megas in GO Battle League

The biggest structural change this season is that Mega-Evolved Pokémon joined GO Battle League starting with Twilight Trails, and the announcement says they will continue in future seasons. They are eligible in the Mega Edition versions of each league and in the Mega cups, but not in standard Great League weeks or the GO LAIC Cup.

The rules are designed so a Mega cannot simply overpower the cap. If a Mega or Primal Reversion pushes a Pokémon over the league's CP limit, its level is temporarily lowered for that battle only and restored afterward. After Mega Evolution ends, a Mega-capable Pokémon can stay in your party even if its original CP is above the limit.

In practice, Mega Edition weeks play differently from the standard list above. Plan two teams: one for standard weeks built from the table, and one for the Mega Edition weeks that adds a single Mega you have already leveled. If you also raid, note that the Megas that top raid charts are not automatically good here; our best raid attackers breakdown explains why those rankings reward raw damage rather than the bulk and energy that win Trainer Battles.

Move Changes That Reshaped the Meta

The season launch rebalanced a long list of attacks for Trainer Battles. These are the ones most likely to change what you face in the Great League:

• Bulldoze: power rose from 45 to 80, and it now always lowers the opponent's Defense by one stage, at a higher energy cost. Tinkaton's recommended set uses it.
• Moonblast: power dropped from 110 to 90, but it costs less energy. Altaria, Shadow Altaria and Florges all run it.
• Shadow Ball: power dropped from 100 to 90, a small hit to Jellicent and other Ghost types.
• Brine: power rose from 60 to 100 with a higher energy cost.
• Draining Kiss: power rose from 60 to 80 and it now always raises the user's Defense by one stage.
• Bite: power fell from 4 to 2 but it generates more energy, while Take Down rose from 5 to 14 with more energy too.

New moves also arrived. Raichu and Alolan Raichu can learn Volt Tackle, Snorlax can learn the Fast Attack Psywave, and several Pokémon, including Greninja and Alolan Muk, picked up Brutal Swing. If you abandoned a Pokémon last season because its moves were weak, check it again.

One more move to watch this month: the November 21 Community Day gives Kingambit the exclusive Charged Attack Kowtow Cleave, with 75 power in Trainer Battles. Our Community Day guide covers the evolution window you need to hit to get it.

Building a Team of Three

A Great League team is three Pokémon, and the usual structure is a lead that wins the opening exchange, a reliable switch that handles what beats your lead, and a closer that cleans up when shields are gone. A few practical rules hold up across every season:

1. Cover each other's weaknesses. If your lead struggles against Melmetal or Corviknight, your switch should be something that beats them.
2. Do not stack three Pokémon that share a weakness. Two members of the same type invite a single well-chosen counter to sweep you.
3. Pick a closer with strong Fast Attack pressure, since end-of-match battles often happen with no shields left.
4. Play the same three for a full set before changing; ten battles is a small sample, but one bad set tells you little.

Thursday is the best day to practice. Daily Discoveries: GO Battle Thursday gives up to 4x Stardust from win rewards and raises the daily set limit from five to 10, for 50 battles in total.

IVs, Stardust and Elite TMs on a Budget

Great League rewards a different kind of IV than raids. Low Attack IVs let a Pokémon reach a higher level under the 1,500 CP cap, which means more Defense and HP overall; GO Hub notes that 0/15/15 is not automatically best, but low Attack generally helps here while Master League favors 15/15/15. The in-game search string 0attack finds Pokémon with zero Attack IV, and 1attack finds those from one to five. Our guide to checking IVs walks through the appraisal screen and the full set of search filters.

For moves, the free battle-themed Timed Research pass in the shop is worth finishing. After the first page, each page asks for 100 battles and 50 wins, and the rewards include an Elite Fast TM and an Elite Charged TM, which can teach legacy moves that some top picks rely on.

Starting With a Deeper Box

A competitive team needs the right species, often with specific IVs, and that takes time to collect. Some players browse the account listings on our Pokémon GO page instead, which third-party sellers post and which change every day. Keep in mind that the operator's Terms of Service, last modified July 15, 2026, prohibit selling or trading accounts and describe it as cheating.

If you would rather build from scratch, the November 10 to 17 standard Great League week is the one to target with the table above.

Frequently Asked Questions