Pokemon GO’s Little Jungle Cup arrives with unique meta

Pokemon GO is rolling out a unique new battle format with the Little Jungle Cup.

The event comes as Pokemon GO prepares for the arrival of eighth-generation mythical Pokemon Zarude, and is a new take on the Little Cup that occasionally pops up in the game. The Little Jungle Cup only allows users to battle with Pokemon of 500 CP or less, with the extra caveat of requiring Pokemon to be of certain types.

Get ready for adventure, Trainers! In celebration of the global release of Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle on Netflix, you can enjoy an event featuring Special Research that’ll lead to an encounter with the Mythical Pokémon Zarude. https://t.co/6x9bpkk6t9 pic.twitter.com/iMYDBOhTa6

— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) September 21, 2021

This creates a unique pool of Pokemon where certain surprising choices are suddenly viable. Here is everything you need to know about the Little Jungle Cup.

Pokemon GO Little Jungle Cup restrictions

Pokemon GO’s Little Jungle Cup has a unique format with restrictions based on Pokemon type and CP. As with other “little” cups, the CP limit is 500. Alongside this are type restrictions, with Pokemon of the following types being allowed:

• Normal
• Grass
• Electric
• Poison
• Ground
• Flying
• Bug
• Dark

Dual-type Pokemon that are one of the permitted types and one banned type are still permitted. For example, dragon-ground type Pokemon Gible is allowed in the Little Jungle Cup even though dragon-type isn’t normally permitted. Alongside this, Smeargle and Shuckle have both been banned.

Best Pokemon for Little Jungle Cup

The limited number of types allowed in the Little Jungle Cup is hugely beneficial to Pokemon of particular types. Grass types benefit from the lack of fire and ice types, while poison types are emboldened by the lack of steel and psychic types that might normally affect their viability. The list goes on.

This positions a number of Pokemon for dominance in the event, but there are a fair number of familiar faces when it comes to the Little Cup meta. Here are some of the best Pokemon for the Little Jungle Cup:

• Onyx
• Gligar
• Aerodactyl
• Galarian Stunfisk
• Litleo
• Anorith
• Croagunk
• Sneasel
• Wingull
• Ducklett

A running theme among the best Pokemon for the Little Jungle Cup is backdooring banned types into competition by utilizing dual-types. This allows different Pokemon to enter the fray with typing that would otherwise be banned, offering them the chance to prey upon the Pokemon types that most players will default to.

Onyx, Aerodactyl, and Anorith benefit from their rock typing, with most having few weaknesses from the pool of types that are permitted. Aerodactyl in particular resists five of the types that are permitted and is weak to only one of them.

On the flipside of this are Pokemon with types that are strong from an offensive perspective. Sneasel is a great example, with its ice moves hitting grass, flying, and ground types for super effective damage. Alongside this is the fact that it doesn’t have to worry too much about fighting-type attacks, since there are very few Pokemon in play that are capable of learning those commands.

Litleo is another great example of this. Though few realize it, the little lion is actually a normal-fire type and can tear up the bug and grass types that most will lean on during this event.