"Thinking of using rare c███ to p███ ██ your Lugia or Articuno? Consider waiting for Zapdos instead."

#PokemonGO: TL;DR: Articuno and Lugia are a moderate upgrade from comparable non-legendary Pokemon, and their stats are primarily defensive. Zapdos on the other hand has excellent attack power and is overall a lot better than Jolteon.Articuno and Lugia are both great Pokemon, but Zapdos and Moltres are also coming soon. Out of these four legendaries, Zapdos is by far the best overall investment.First, compare the two legendaries released so far vs. non-legendary Pokemon that fulfill similar roles:LugiaExcellent stats overall, but mostly good defense. As a general-purpose tanky attacker, the closest non-legendary is Snorlax. Compared with Snorlax, Lugia has about the same attack, and about 15% more survivability (comparing the product of DEF x STA).LugiaSnorlaxMax CP35983355Attack193190Defense323190Stamina212320DEF x STA6847660800Lugia also has arguably better movesets than Snorlax, since Snorlax lacks a STAB quick move, and has only one possible (non-legacy) STAB charged move.Lugia's main problem is lack of DPS. Many players will prefer higher DPS attackers such as Dragonite or Tyranitar. Note that since Lugia is legendary, you can't leave it to defend a gym.Compared with other psychic types (who are mostly glass cannons), Lugia has amazing survivability, but low DPS. In a solo Machamp raid, Lugia will live a long time, but may have trouble dealing damage fast enough to beat the clock. It's probably best used in the 5th or 6th slot, after all your glass cannon psychic types have fainted.LugiaEspeonExeggutorAlakazamMax CP3598300029162887Attack193261233271Defense323194158194Stamina212130190110DEF x STA68476252203002021340ArticunoArticuno isn't strong enough to be a top-tier generalist attacker, but it's definitely the best overall ice type compared with existing ice types:ArticunoLaprasJynxCloysterMax CP2933260325122475Attack192165223186Defense249180182323Stamina180260130100DEF x STA44820468002366032300However, there isn't really much of a reason to invest too much in an ice type at the moment. Out of all the possible tier 3+ raid bosses (including the other legendary birds), the following are weak to ice, but ice isn't the most efficient counter to any of them:- Venusaur (High DPS fire types like Flareon are better)- Rhydon (Water types are better)- Zapdos (Rock/Ground is better, namely Golem)- Lugia (Tyranitar is best, or electric type attackers are good too)For attacking gyms, Articuno is great vs. Dragonite and grass types, but if you already have a high level/IV Cloyster, Jynx, or Lapras, Articuno might not be that important. Pretty much any reasonably strong ice type can easily beat Dragonite.ZapdosThis bird is truly legendary. Look at its stats compared to the top 3 non-legendary electric types:ZapdosJolteonAmpharosMagnetonMax CP3330273025122237Attack253232211223Defense188201172182Stamina180130180100DEF x STA33840261303096018200Zapdos is the clear winner here - it has better attack and better survivability than both Jolteon and Ampharos. Electric moves are great against Vaporeon and Gyarados, which are both popular gym defenders. Zapdos is also a good high-DPS counter to these raid bosses: - Vaporeon (tier 3)- Charizard (tier 4)- Lapras (tier 4)- Moltres (legendary, not yet released)- Lugia (legendary)edits/FAQ:What's with the title? Automoderator removes posts which include the phrase "p███r up" in the title, so I redacted it.What about Celebi / Legendary Beasts / Ho-oh / Mewtwo / Gen 3+ / etc ?For this post I'm only considering the 3 original Legendary Birds plus Lugia, since there haven't been any announcements about the other legendaries yet. Anything beyond the Lugia plus the three birds is highly speculative, and you probably will have plenty of time to get more rare candies by the time they are released.Raikou is better than Zapdos, why not save for Raikou instead?Raikou and Zapdos are very close - 3349 CP for Raikou vs 3330 for Zapdos. Zapdos has slightly higher attack while Raikou has better defense. Zapdos is coming "soon", Raikou and the other Beasts could be a ways off.What about Moltres?Flareon is very close to matching Moltres' attack, with somewhat worse survivability than Moltres. It isn't as much of a difference as with Zapdos vs. Jolteon. Moltres' being a fire/flying instead of pure fire gives him more of an advantage vs. grass types (double resist), but less of an advantage vs. ice types. IMO, Moltres isn't quite as good of an investment as Zapdos, but probably worth it if you want a really good counter to grass types. I'll probably add Moltres to the main post tomorrow if this post gets any attention.Rare candy isn't rare, it was nothing for me to spend 60 rare candy on Lugia/ArticunoIf you have a good supply of rare candy and have no problem spending 60 of them, by all means spend it on Articuno or Lugia if you want. Keep in mind that Niantic hasn't announced when the other Birds are coming. It might only be one or two weeks from now until Zapdos/Moltres are released, or it could be a few months, who knows? I'm not saying to hoard hundreds of candies, but maybe keep around 50-60 in case Zapdos comes out soon. via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2tFbdh8