It is often difficult to assess the suitability of candidate multivalent cathodes since their electrochemical activity cannot be effectively evaluated until problems associated with the cell cathode, the cell anode, and the cell electrolyte are simultaneously resolved. In such cases, the use of alternative techniques to pre-screen candidate cathodes is important so that cell optimization efforts are focused on the most promising cathode systems. Some simple tools for pre-screening multivalent cathodes utilizing both experimental and computational methods developed in the course of our work will be discussed in the broader context of results that validate these approaches.