Evergreen
Great League Team Building: Cores, Safe Swaps and Closers
Build a Great League team that holds together: pick a lead, pair it with a safe swap that covers its counters, and add a closer for the shield-down endgame.
So many species can compete in Great League that team building here is less about finding strong Pokémon and more about fitting three together. A good team is three Pokémon with separate jobs whose weaknesses don't line up. If the 1,500 CP limit itself is new to you, start with our guide to Great, Ultra and Master League.
Three slots, three jobs
| Slot | Job | What makes a good pick |
|---|---|---|
| Lead | Opens against an unknown opponent and tries to win or trade evenly | Broad matchups, steady fast-move pressure, a cheap charged move that forces an early shield decision |
| Safe swap | Comes in when the lead matchup looks bad | Very few hard losses, good bulk, a typing that covers the lead's counters |
| Closer | Finishes the match, often after shields are gone | Strong with no shields in play, beats what your other two struggle with |
These labels are community shorthand for how a team is played, not game rules; our general team building guide describes the same lead, switch and closer split for any format.
The lead: surviving the opening
Your lead meets a Pokémon you know nothing about, so the best leads are generalists that win or trade evenly against a wide range of common picks. If the opening is clearly lost, switching early is often better than staying in. A Pokémon keeps its energy when it is switched out, so a lead that retreats with a charged move nearly ready can come back later and use it.
The safe swap: the hardest slot to fill
After a voluntary switch, a cooldown timer stops you from switching again for a while. The cooldown only starts when you choose to switch; when a Pokémon faints, you pick its replacement yourself without starting it. Whatever you bring in by choice has to hold its own, which is why the safe swap is often the hardest slot to fill. It needs to beat the Pokémon that commonly beat your lead, and it needs to avoid being worn down with fast moves ("farmed") by whatever the opponent switches to next.
Closing out the match
By the time your closer arrives, shields are often gone on one or both sides. Community rankings commonly rate Pokémon in several shield scenarios; a good closer does well in the no-shield ones. Very bulky Pokémon that can outlast an opponent, and Pokémon with a cheap move they can fire repeatedly, both tend to close well.
Pairing Pokémon into a core
A core is two Pokémon where each one handles what threatens the other. The examples below use single types to show the idea; dual types shift the numbers, so check each pairing against our type chart.
| First Pokémon's type | Weak to | Partner type | Why it helps | Partner is weak to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | Grass, Electric | Dragon | Resists both Grass and Electric | Ice, Dragon, Fairy |
| Steel | Fire, Fighting, Ground | Water | Resists Fire and hits Fire and Ground super effectively | Grass, Electric |
| Fairy | Poison, Steel | Ground | Resists Poison and hits both Poison and Steel super effectively | Water, Grass, Ice |
| Fighting | Flying, Psychic, Fairy | Steel | Resists all three and hits Fairy super effectively | Fire, Fighting, Ground |
| Dragon | Ice, Dragon, Fairy | Steel | Resists all three and hits Ice and Fairy super effectively | Fire, Fighting, Ground |
The last column is the point of the exercise: whatever your partner fears is the job you hand to the third Pokémon.
ABB and ABC: two common team shapes
- ABB. Your safe swap and closer both handle the lead's main counters. If the opponent leads with something that beats your lead, you have two answers in the back. It is forgiving, but one opposing Pokémon that beats both back-line picks can cause real trouble.
- ABC. Each Pokémon covers the one before it: the safe swap covers the lead's counters and the closer covers the safe swap's counters. It spreads coverage wider but asks you to know which Pokémon answers each threat.
Building a team step by step
- Choose one Pokémon you are confident with and decide whether it plays best as a lead, safe swap or closer.
- List its weaknesses and the common Great League picks that beat it.
- Add a partner that resists or beats most of that list, forming your core.
- List the partner's weaknesses and choose a third Pokémon that covers them.
- Check the third Pokémon's weaknesses against your core: if one type hits it and a core member super effectively, make sure the remaining Pokémon has an answer, or swap one.
- Confirm each is as close to 1,500 CP as it can get without going over (some picks top out a little lower, which is fine) and has the moveset you planned, including any second charged move.
A quick example using types only: a Water/Fairy Pokémon is weak to Grass, Electric and Poison. A Steel partner resists Grass and Poison, while Water/Fairy resists two of Steel's weaknesses, Fire and Fighting. That leaves Electric and Ground attackers as the third slot's job.
Test, then adjust one piece at a time
Try the team against the threats you listed in step 2, and try each of your three as the lead before settling the order. Change one Pokémon or one slot at a time so you can tell what the change did; our guide to reviewing your battles helps with that.
Team building questions
Do my three Pokémon need three different types?
Not strictly. What matters is that their weaknesses don't pile up. Two Pokémon that share one type but have different second types can work together fine.
Do I need perfect IVs?
No. In Great League a “perfect” appraisal often isn't even the best copy, because lower Attack lets a Pokémon reach 1,500 CP at a higher level with more bulk; our league guide linked above explains why. A well-covered team you know how to play matters far more than the last few IV points.
Once your team is set, the Trainer Hub homepage has guides on raising and powering up the Pokémon in it.