also known as: "i'm poor, but i still want to optimize what i have"
this is not an analysis for raids, nor is it an analysis for anyone building eternatus as a multi-purpose max battle assault-tank. this guide is intended for "dynamax cannon go brrrr" max battle builds on a limited candy budget.
it goes without saying that eternatus' candy costs for powering up and leveling its moves are just a teensy bit outrageous. its costs are so steep, in fact, that you're actually shooting yourself in the foot if you follow the standard rule of thumb for powering up max 'mons to level 30, then leveling max attack to 2, and so on—you won't be getting the most bang for your buck that way.
so i've gone to the trouble of calculating what the best methods for squeezing damage out of eternatus actually are for candy-limited players, depending on how much candy they have. i've calculated damage numbers by applying the STAB bonus, as eternatus will never not have STAB on dynamax cannon, but without any other modifiers included (so no weather boost, type effectiveness, friendship boost, or adventure effects—not even eternatus' own, because if your candy is limited enough that you need this guide, you're probably not planning on using that on the regular). with any of those extra modifiers applied, these thresholds may fall in slightly different places due to truncations during the calculations.
for the purposes of this analysis we'll be assuming that you did not buy the premium max finale pass, you have collected all 900 eternatus candies from the free pass, and you've concluded the event without putting any resources into eternatus yet. you are starting from a level 15 eternatus with dynamax cannon still at level 1. you can if course consider any rare candies you have as extra eternatus candies if needed.
the standard rng caveat applies: you could absolutely have really good or really bad luck and wind up needing far fewer or far more battles to get a certain amount of candy and xls. battle numbers in this analysis are presented for comparative estimate purposes only.
henceforth i will be referring to dynamax cannon level 1, 2, and 3 as DC1, DC2, and DC3, respectively.
first: the TL;DR/simple version without considering how ivs affect the numbers
at any iv, level 21.5 + DC2 is equal to or greater than level 28 + DC1 and costs 106 fewer candy (1986 vs 2092). it should take 11 battles to have this much candy with the free pass, at (assumed) expected candy rates.
at any iv, level 23 + DC3 is equal to or greater than level 29 + DC2 and costs 84 fewer candy (3456 vs 3540). it should take 26 battles to have this much candy with the free pass, at (assumed) expected candy rates. you should have enough xls after only 7 battles.
- if you have 1985 or fewer candies, you should only power up eternatus' levels. do not touch dynamax cannon at all.
- if you have between 1986–3455 candies, you should first go to DC2 and then level up eternatus as far as you can.
- if you have 3456 or more candies, you should first go to DC3 and then level up eternatus as far as you can.
and now, on to the meat of the post: a breakdown by iv, with graphs for each
attack iv 10 – [graph here]
level 20.5 + DC2 is equivalent to level 27 + DC1 and costs 6 fewer candy (1838 vs 1844). it should take 10 battles to have this much candy with the free pass, at expected candy rates.
level 23 + DC3 is equivalent to level 29 + DC2 and costs 84 fewer candy (3456 vs 3540). it should take 26 battles to have this much candy with the free pass, at expected candy rates. you should have enough xls after only 7 battles.
- if you have 1837 or fewer candies, only power up eternatus' levels.
- if you have 1838–3455 candies, first go to DC2, then level up eternatus as much as possible.
- if you have 3456 or more candies, first go to DC3, then level up eternatus as much as possible.
attack iv 11 – [graph here]
level 21.5 + DC2 edges out level 28 + DC1 and costs 106 fewer candy (1986 vs 2092). it should take 11 battles to have this much candy with the free pass, at expected candy rates.
level 22.5 + DC3 is equivalent to level 28.5 + DC2 and costs 50 fewer candy (3366 vs 3416). it should take 25 battles to have this much candy with the free pass, at expected candy rates. you should have enough xls after only 7 battles.
- if you have 1985 or fewer candies, only power up eternatus' levels.
- if you have 1986–3365 candies, first go to DC2, then level up eternatus as much as possible.
- if you have 3416 or more candies, first go to DC3, then level up eternatus as much as possible.
attack iv 12 – [graph here]
level 21.5 + DC2 edges out level 28 + DC1 and costs 106 fewer candy (1986 vs 2092). it should take 11 battles to have this much candy with the free pass, at expected candy rates.
level 22.5 + DC3 is equivalent to level 28.5 + DC2 and costs 50 fewer candy (3366 vs 3416). it should take 25 battles to have this much candy with the free pass, at expected candy rates. you should have enough xls after only 7 battles. damage continues to be equivalent at levels 23 + DC3 and 29 + DC2—at a cost of 84 fewer candy for DC3 (3456 vs 3540)—before diverging further in favor of DC3.
- if you have 1985 or fewer candies, only power up eternatus' levels.
- if you have 1986–3365 candies, first go to DC2, then level up eternatus as much as possible.
- if you have 3416 or more candies, first go to DC3, then level up eternatus as much as possible.
attack iv 13 – [graph here]
level 20.5 + DC2 is equivalent to level 27 + DC1 and costs 6 fewer candy (1838 vs 1844). it should take 10 battles to have this much candy with the free pass, at expected candy rates.
level 22.5 + DC3 is equivalent to level 28.5 + DC2 and costs 50 fewer candy (3366 vs 3416). it should take 25 battles to have this much candy with the free pass, at expected candy rates. you should have enough xls after only 7 battles.
- if you have 1837 or fewer candies, only power up eternatus' levels.
- if you have 1838–3365 candies, first go to DC2, then level up eternatus as much as possible.
- if you have 3416 or more candies, first go to DC3, then level up eternatus as much as possible.
attack iv 14 – [graph here]
level 21.5 + DC2 is equivalent to level 28 + DC1 and costs 106 fewer candy (1986 vs 2092). it should take 11 battles to have this much candy with the free pass, at expected candy rates. damage continues to be equivalent at levels 22 + DC2 and 28.5 + DC1—at a cost of 140 fewer candy for DC2 (2216 vs 2076)—before diverging further in favor of DC2.
level 22.5 + DC3 is equivalent to level 28.5 + DC2 and costs 50 fewer candy (3366 vs 3416). it should take 25 battles to have this much candy with the free pass, at expected candy rates. you should have enough xls after only 7 battles. damage continues to be equivalent at levels 23 + DC3 and 29 + DC2—at a cost of 84 fewer candy for DC3 (3456 vs 3540)—before diverging further in favor of DC3.
- if you have 1985 or fewer candies, only power up eternatus' levels.
- if you have 1986–3365 candies, first go to DC2, then level up eternatus as much as possible.
- if you have 3416 or more candies, first go to DC3, then level up eternatus as much as possible.
attack iv 15 – [graph here]
level 21.5 + DC2 is equivalent to level 28 + DC1 and costs 106 fewer candy (1986 vs 2092). it should take 11 battles to have this much candy with the free pass, at expected candy rates.
level 22.5 + DC3 is equivalent to level 28.5 + DC2 and costs 50 fewer candy (3366 vs 3416). it should take 25 battles to have this much candy with the free pass, at expected candy rates. you should have enough xls after only 7 battles. damage continues to be equivalent at levels 23 + DC3 and 29 + DC2—at a cost of 84 fewer candy for DC3 (3456 vs 3540)—before diverging further in favor of DC3.
- if you have 1985 or fewer candies, only power up eternatus' levels.
- if you have 1986–3365 candies, first go to DC2, then level up eternatus as much as possible.
- if you have 3416 or more candies, first go to DC3, then level up eternatus as much as possible.
now, i do need to point out that the ivs are only important here for determining at which specific levels the thresholds are for "lower level, higher DC power" becoming more cost-effective for eking out every scrap of damage potential on a limited candy budget. ivs are not important for actual damage numbers. a 10 attack iv eternatus is still going to do 98.4% as much damage as a 15 attack iv eternatus in the max phase. your eternatus is a beast. yes, even if its ivs are bad. please don't worry about it!
a footnote for premium pass purchasers
as long as you finish your pass, you will have enough candy and xls to make your choice of power-up route an extremely easy one. if all you want is the maximum damage output in the max phase then in all cases, it is the most efficient for you to go straight to DC3 and then level up eternatus as much as you can. you don't even need to do any battles for extra candy or xls to reach a higher damage output than the threshold for DC3 to outpace DC2 in terms of damage to candy spent. you could focus entirely on battling gigantamaxes and raiding instead and still have a more powerful eternatus at the end than most free-to-play trainers.
if you're looking for advice on the efficiency of leveling eternatus' defensive max moves as well, i'm afraid you won't find that here. however, you are welcome to reference [the data i've compiled] (post-calculation sheet; sorry, my actual formula sheet is a complete disaster and mostly unrelated to this) to draw your own conclusions privately or in the comments.
key data references:
- [this article] for the damage formula
- [this page] for eternatus' base stats
- [this post] for evidence of dynamax cannon using gmax move stats, and the stats themselves
- [this post] for (assumed) expected candy and xl rewards from eternatus battles
- [this post] for "900 candy from the free pass" figure
- editing in a couple of links i forgot: [this post] * for candy costs, and [this post] for xl candy costs
- candy costs are out of date, but i don't have updated level-by-level information yet. i suspect the updated numbers will only affect the cost of powering up for the last several levels, but either way i can't reassess my math until i have specific numbers to use.
- candy/xl/particle costs for eternatus' moves are listed in [this post]
i do not use ai. all mistakes are my own.
by technoxenoholic