Pokemon Go Battle Leagues CP restrictions can complicate things for aspiring trainers in Pokemon Go. Although Battle Leagues such as the Great League, the Ultra League, and the Master League can be used to facilitate Pokemon Go Trainer Battles, each of the three comes with its own rules. Your 1600 CP Charizard is too strong for the Great League, but it’s far too weak for the Ultra League, meaning that you’ll need to spend tons of Stardust powering it up. Here’s how to control CP to the best of your ability in Pokemon Go.
How to Control CP in Pokemon Go Battle Leagues
While the Pokemon Go Battle Leagues CP restrictions are pretty tight, it seems that there is a way to potentially reduce a Pokemon’s CP. Although it isn’t guaranteed, and may only work once if it works at all, trading a Pokemon to a friend and having them trade it back can cause it to become weaker. If you’ve got a Pokemon that’s just over the CP cap—say, 1520 CP—you could potentially cause it to drop 20+ CP, allowing you to use it in the Great League.
Aside from this, a post made on the Silph Road subreddit recently implored Niantic to devise a solution for Pokemon being powered up accidentally. This post asks for a “Lock” button to appear in the same drop-down menu that contains options like “Transfer” and “Appraise” so that players can lock their Pokemon’s CP, preventing it from increasing in the future until they have consciously decided to unlock it. While this may seem a little unnecessary—just don’t power it up—it does seek to establish a dialogue with Niantic about potential upgrades to the CP restrictions systems that currently define Battle Leagues. Here’s hoping that a proper solution for controlling and reducing CP is established soon!