Pokémon X & Y In-game Tier List Discussion

[farranpoison]

I've just noticed that Mawile hasn't been tiered yet. What do you guys think of it? I used one in my game where I EV trained all my mons, and it easily was one of my better mons, though it could be because it had good IVs, was Jolly, and such...

Actually, now that I think of it, its rare availability, lack of MegaEvo, and slowness could mean that it's very low tier. Its typing is really good though, so I dunno.

 

[Lucchini]

Mawile has to wait for the move relearner to get his physical STABs, and its BST is the same as Delcatty's. Has a good typing and Swords Dance, though. 9 resistances and 2 immunities is pretty big though. Not the worst wall to switch into physical attackers with 85 def and Intimidate. Probably a D tier.

Good match-ups against Grant, Wulfric, okay match-ups against Ramos, Valerie, not entirely bad against Diantha.

 

[Epikhairz]

Snorlax should be higher than C rank imo. It's special bulk is amazing and the only thing that fazes it are physical Fighting-type moves. It walls like every special hit, so it's good against most gyms. Also, it's found super early in the game and it starts off with its Attack and Special Defense relatively high early game and is amazing.

Also, it's fucking Snorlax. Need I say anymore?

 

[Korlashh]

did anyone else besides me use a kingdra or cloyster?

I'm using Cloyster on my current run. It has served me pretty well so far.

Gonna be posting write-ups of Cloyster, Furfrou, and Magnezone when my run is complete. Maybe one for Intimidate Krookodile if that's worth the time

 

[Banryu]

Also, it's fucking Snorlax. Need I say anymore?

I'd say do a writeup to further analyze his gym matchups, and you might have a decent case. My main thought is that Snorlax's tier will depend on what kind of TMs he can learn.

 

[Lucchini]

I'm using Snorlax right now, and C seems like an appropriate place for him. He's slow and therefore vulnerable to any powerful hit or misfortune with status and debuffs, and 110 attack is too low when you lack a STAB that could hit something super-effectively.

Mid-to-lategame Snorlax mostly relies on Body Slam and Return to kill things (Power-up Punch is good for buffing himself up), and once he gets L44 Belly Drum, he can try going for a sweep assuming he can tank a hit with 50% first and then not die to any further attacks (and other surprises related to always going second). His midgame coverage is mostly bad because Rock Tomb, Bulldoze and PuP don't outdamage neutral Body Slams and Returns.

He's also in the Slow experience group, and doesn't function as well when underlevelled. An underlevelled Snorlax doesn't perform well against Valerie's Mr. Mime or Sylveon for example, while a Snorlax with a level advantage just wrecks the place with PuP and Returns. Snorlax generally needs a level advantage to belt the gyms (where he has good matchups all over after Korrina).

 

[Xenon Blastiose]

Ok, a few Pokémon I used during my two playthroughs of X:

Aurorus-B/C Rank

I loved this thing. Rock Gym's Tyrunt got smashed, which convinced me it'll be at least OK. Don't use this thing against Korrina obviously, but other than that Ramos went OK, beat Clemont's Emolga, LOVED that it got TBolt which beat Olympia's Slowking eventually and it helped beat Wulfric with Ancient Power (lol) and resistance to Hail Damage. Refrigerate Take Down was good ingame, I quite liked beating down Ice-weak stuff with it. The big points are 4x Fighting and weaknesses to a lot of Pokémon it could beat otherwise (Siebold comes to mind).

Delphox-S/A Rank

This thing is AMAZING. Psychic STAB is great ingame and I had no trouble with Korrina due to it. Fire STAB is good also and all its weaknesses are easily covered. It seriously is amazing at all Gyms except 2.

Noivern-A/B Rank

I got it as a Noibat off Wonder Trade so I'm not sure if all the stuff about how hard it is to get is true. If it is, that'll be it in B for sure. It's amazingly good as it wrecks with Boomburst and Dragon Pulse/Draco Meteor which can both be taught with Move Relearner. It's stupidly fast, very powerful but it's not S Rank for me because I found it very occasionally misses some KOs I feel it should have got, but I suppose 97 SAtk isn't that amazing. Very good Pokémon if you can get it.

EDIT: Greninja-B/C Rank

Really fast, quite powerful and good overall. What subtracts from it is its horrible fragility and the fact that like Noivern it misses out on some KOs it should have got. Frogadier struggles a lot as well. It really isn't superb, but I suppose it can be good.

Clawitzer-S/A Rank

Oh God, I loved using this thing. It's so stupidly powerful it's unbelievable, and the Mega Launcher ability is perfect. Its only letdown is its Speed stat, but OH MY GOD it is powerful enough to make up for it. It's so unbelievably good, for me at least. Its coverage is very nice as well, and it can sort out Flare Grunts stupidly well, and kill Lysandre's Gyarados easily with Aura Sphere. It beat Diantha's Aurorus one-on-one as well, which I didn't expect. I absolutely love this thing.

Trevenant-B/C Rank

This thing is... meh. It's got good stats and learns good moves by levelup, but it's either horrifically rare as a Phantump or bad against the last Gym after you catch it on Route 20 as a Trevenant. Good, but let down by wherever you get it.

 

[Banryu]

Something 'meh' doesn't qualify for B-rank. If it's 'meh' then it should be D-rank at the very highest.

 

[Korlashh]

Why are people tiering Delphox so high? It is pretty bad at middle evolution.

-stuck with ember until laverre city (fire pledge)
-Can't outdamage fighting types with Psybeam because it lacks STAB until it reaches the final form, and bad physical bulk (will just get bulldozed)
-Fights the rock gym before grass knot, and the fighting gym before its final evo (unless people grind the shit out of their pokemon)

The final form pays off, but IMO it I don't think it's even worth A tier. It's probably not as much of a deadweight as raltz/kirlia, but the early game past the bug gym isn't good for fennekin/braxien. Either I'm completely missing a move-learning opportunity, or this thing is garbage before its final form.

B tier is in my head until I change my mind.

-

On another subject, I caught a rotom. I would be tempted to try it if it didn't have a negative nature.

 

[Lucchini]

Why are people tiering Delphox so high? It is pretty bad at middle evolution.

-stuck with ember until laverre city (fire pledge)
-Can't outdamage fighting types with Psybeam because it lacks STAB until it reaches the final form, and bad physical bulk (will just get bulldozed)
-Fights the rock gym before grass knot, and the fighting gym before its final evo (unless people grind the shit out of their pokemon)

The final form pays off, but IMO it I don't think it's even worth A tier. It's probably not as much of a deadweight as raltz/kirlia, but the early game past the bug gym isn't good for fennekin/braxien. Either I'm completely missing a move-learning opportunity, or this thing is garbage before its final form.

B tier is in my head until I change my mind.

-

Not every fighter you face will have Bulldoze, or Rock Tomb, and Braixen does well against those. L18 Psybeam with 90 base sp. atk. is quite 'hot' even without the STAB. Don't forget that Fennekin does well against the first gym and has a great earlygame, and just how good Delphox is when he fully evolves.

Also, when I played through the game with Braixen and Vivillion on the same team, Braixen's midgame was noticeably better.

It's the one starter that really deserves A tier; not so sure about Froakie.

 

[Korlashh]

Not every fighter you face will have Bulldoze, or Rock Tomb, and Braixen does well against those. L18 Psybeam with 90 base sp. atk. is quite 'hot' even without the STAB. Don't forget that Fennekin does well against the first gym and has a great earlygame, and just how good Delphox is when he fully evolves.

Also, when I played through the game with Braixen and Vivillion on the same team, Braixen's midgame was noticeably better.

It's the one starter that really deserves A tier; not so sure about Froakie.

@bold: No, it's really not. Since it got it, the only time I used it was in reflection cave with a bunch of fighting types. Other than psybeam, STAB ember was its main means of offense (unless you count flame charge and tm thief). It's stuck with ember until you power level it to 36 or make it to Laverre City for fire pledge.

"Not every fighter you face will have bulldoze or rock tomb."

Yeah, but they have STAB fighting attacks and commonly have a high attack stat. Braixen (spelled it right this time) isn't part Psychic until its final evo, so it will get wailed anyways (you'll be lucky to get 2hko'ed). Even if this stays alive, you have to abuse super potions or consistently go back to the healing npc in reflection cave. I have trouble believing this thing performed so well against korrina for other people, unless one shotting mienfoo is an achievement. If yours was lvl 34 and had psyshock, then i'd understand.

Anyways, whatever you say. Mine must have been completely underleveled compared to others. Basically everything I've faced since the 3rd gym has been on at a higher level than me.

 

[TSchmelz1994]

Korlashh, my Delphox was adamant natured in my first run-through of X and it demolished most stuff that didn't have a supereffective move against me. yeah it sucks against grant and that one Throh in reflecting cave that spams bulldoze, but other then that it kicked ass.

 

[Mulan15262]

@bold: No, it's really not. Since it got it, the only time I used it was in reflection cave with a bunch of fighting types. Other than psybeam, STAB ember was its main means of offense (unless you count flame charge and tm thief). It's stuck with ember until you power level it to 36 or make it to Laverre City for fire pledge.

"Not every fighter you face will have bulldoze or rock tomb."

Yeah, but they have STAB fighting attacks and commonly have a high attack stat. Braixen (spelled it right this time) isn't part Psychic until its final evo, so it will get wailed anyways (you'll be lucky to get 2hko'ed). Even if this stays alive, you have to abuse super potions or consistently go back to the healing npc in reflection cave. I have trouble believing this thing performed so well against korrina for other people, unless one shotting mienfoo is an achievement. If yours was lvl 34 and had psyshock, then i'd understand.

Anyways, whatever you say. Mine must have been completely underleveled compared to others. Basically everything I've faced since the 3rd gym has been on at a higher level than me.

I've never found a time when my Braxien wasn't hitting hard enough, and I forgot to teach it Fire Pledge in Laverre City. I've also had it outspeed almost everything I faced off against, so the opponents attacks being a 2HKO matters not when you outspeed and OHKO most opponents with any super-effective move. All my pokemon have been around the same level as the opponents the entire game.

 

[Korlashh]

"OHKOing most opponents with a super-effective move."

Keep in mind I'm referring to Braixen and NOT Delphox. I don't know how you can OHKO with ember or non-stab psybeam. Just being a salesman like TSchmelz is.

All my pokemon have been around the same level as the opponents the entire game.

This helps to say the least, because mine were roughtly 5 lvls behind the gym leaders' ace pokemon. I may have raised too many at the start or skipped some trainers. Just for reference, I just made it to Snowbelle City, have been training 5 pokemon, and they are 46, 47, 47, 49, and 48. Delphox is finding room to fight as he is the lvl 49.

I'll be posting some write-ups whenever I can get to the elite 4 and win. I wasn't going to include Delphox, but maybe I'll go for it.

----------------

Anyways, is Bisharp from the in-game city trade being included in the tiering? I didn't see it in the OP (possibly blind), so I figured I would add it to my team even though it doesn't balance with my team at all.

 

[Mulan15262]

"OHKOing most opponents with a super-effective move."

Keep in mind I'm referring to Braixen and NOT Delphox. I don't know how you can OHKO with ember or non-stab psybeam. Just being a salesman like TSchmelz is.



This helps to say the least, because mine were roughtly 5 lvls behind the gym leaders' ace pokemon. I may have raised too many at the start or skipped some trainers. Just for reference, I just made it to Snowbelle City, have been training 5 pokemon, and they are 46, 47, 47, 49, and 48. Delphox is finding room to fight as he is the lvl 49.

I'll be posting some write-ups whenever I can get to the elite 4 and win. I wasn't going to include Delphox, but maybe I'll go for it.

----------------

Anyways, is Bisharp from the in-game city trade being included in the tiering? I didn't see it in the OP (possibly blind), so I figured I would add it to my team even though it doesn't balance with my team at all.

I know that. I was just referring to what I experienced. Although I did use the Exp. Share, I also had a team of 6 that changed around quite a bit and I did not grind, so I ended up around the same level as the gym leaders, so I am assuming that is normal. It is possible that I happened to have 30 IVs in Special Attack or that the few Special Attack EVs I randomly decided to give it via Super Training during the game made it get OHKOs that would be 2HKOs normally, so mine could have done better than most, even though mine was Adamant.

Also, it being bad against Grant is no reason to drop it in rank. I see no reason to use a Charmander/Charmeleon against Grant, or a Sawk against Olympia or Valerie, or a Bulbasaur against Malva, but those are still S/A tier, so Braixen being poor against Grant should not drop it in teir, either.

 

[TSchmelz1994]

Mulan, you had an adamant nature too!!!? high five lol. but it would help i left exp share on, and thus i was usually over each gym leaders levels.

 

[Korlashh]

I know that. I was just referring to what I experienced. Although I did use the Exp. Share, I also had a team of 6 that changed around quite a bit and I did not grind, so I ended up around the same level as the gym leaders, so I am assuming that is normal. It is possible that I happened to have 30 IVs in Special Attack or that the few Special Attack EVs I randomly decided to give it via Super Training during the game made it get OHKOs that would be 2HKOs normally, so mine could have done better than most, even though mine was Adamant.

Also, it being bad against Grant is no reason to drop it in rank. I see no reason to use a Charmander/Charmeleon against Grant, or a Sawk against Olympia or Valerie, or a Bulbasaur against Malva, but those are still S/A tier, so Braixen being poor against Grant should not drop it in teir, either.

I get that a pokemon can't excel in every gym, but I never said it was just Grant. Somehow you came up with that inference yourself.

I didn't use mine for grant's gym. It then struggled in Reflection cave (despite having Braixen catch up), and had trouble with Korrina's gym. It would have redeemed itself if I trained it in Ramos's gym, so I'll give it that. The struggle was real up until then. After Ramos, it was still meh. I'm sorry you and others don't agree on any of this, but I plan on giving it a B-tier (even though it won't really make a difference).

Also, you're not supposed to factor in super training, or more importantly, the EXP share when forming your opinion. The EXP share can completely skew your guys' opinions. I would be surprised about how low of a tier Chesnaught and Talonflame are if the EXP share was included, because my run with them was cake with the EXP share.

 

[Tomy]

Fennekin is definitely A-tier IMO. Bar Grant, it does really well against the Gym Leaders overall.

A member has wrote an entry about Meowstic - and it's pretty accurate, I don't have much more to say - so here is one about Sylveon.

Sylveon - B/C Tier

Availability: Route 10 (As an Eevee), then Pokemon Amie. Get 2 hearts (I took about 20 minutes) and then level-up once: you have Sylveon!

Stats: 95 HP / 65 Atk / 65 Def / 110 SpA / 130 SpDef / 60 Spd

Available early: right before the 2nd gym you have a pokemon with a pretty good Sp.Att, amazing special bulk and OK physical bulk (Its HP cover the low defense stat). Its Speed is disappointing (mainly late-game), but Sylveon has the bulk to take hits.

Typing: Fairy. 3 resistances, 2 of them (Dark and Fighting) being pretty common in game. Immunity to Dragon is great. On the negative side, Fairy is weak to Steel (Not very common) and Poison (More crippling than the former).

Movepool: Limited, at best. It starts with Draining Kiss, which is your best move until level 37, but it gets the job done (Sylveon's Sp.Att helps, in fact). Than, you have Moonblast, a pretty powerful move which can lower opponent's Sp.Att. Fairy isn't resisted by many types but coverage is not Sylveon's deal. Psyshock is only found before Elite 4 (Victory Road), aaand...Quick Attack and Swift can help, while being situational. But Steel type walls pretty badly Sylveon.
Calm Mind is a nice boost (but comes late, unfortunately) and Light Screen can help your party members...You got it, Sylveon's movepool is pretty sparse.

Major Battles:
Grant: Amazing vs Tyrantum, can help vs Amaura.
Korrina: Great. You OHKO/2HKO the entire gym with Draining Kiss.
Ramos: Average. Stay away from Victreebel, though.
Clemont: Don't use it against Magneton. Can help vs the others.
Valerie: Mawile is a no-go, Mr.Mime is average, and you actually outdamage her Sylveon - you already have Moonblast, while her best attack is Dazzling Gleam.
Olympia: Average. No type advantage, but not a bad match-up.
Wulfric: Again, neutral match-up, but Calm Mind can help you quite a bit. Avalugg will fall easily with Moonblast spam, though.

Team Flare: Dark type are a piece of cake. Avoid poison-types, though.

Elite 4: Wikstrom is a giant NO. Don't send it at all. It won't do much against Malva either. It can set-up pretty easily with Calm Mind against Drasna and steamroll her. It's actually pretty good against Siebold: Clawitzer 4HKO it with Water Pulse (Without any Calm Mind boost) so you can set-up easily and destroy everything. Diantha, well...It does pretty well against Hawlucha, Goodra is Calm Mind set-up folder, and then it just got rid of everything. Mega-Gardevoir included.

Additional Comments: You must Catch an Eevee at level 19 to have Draining Kiss when it evolves. Sylveon has a 20% Exp. boost, so it level up pretty quickly. I used a team of 5 members without Exp. Share and Lucky Egg, so I was underleveled when I finished my run (Sylveon was my highest leveled pokemon: 58!), and it was one of the 2 stars of my party, the other being Doublade.

I put B/C tier because opinions are pretty torn. I think that overall it deserves a B-tier. While far from perfect, it is actually a pleasant pokemon to use.

 

[AOPSUser]

Why are we even debating Delphox. Just look at how well it does, for example:

-Steamrolls Vivillon in Santalune Gym, has a bit of trouble with Surskit though.
-Avoids Grant, but can take Amaura if you're really gutsy.
-Psybeam beats down Korrina well enough. No need for Psyshock or anything fancy, she just plain dies to Psybeam. Assuming you're around the same level of course.
-Laughs at Grant.
-Mystical Fire fucks over anything Clemont tries to do.
-Valerie: See above
-Olympia: See above. Just don't fight Slowking.
-Wulfric: lol

-Siebold: Psychic does a number to all his mons, as does Grass Knot. Grass Knot can OHKO Barbaracle nicely, and does a bit to Gyarados if you are betting in it trying to Dragon Dance or something. But seriously, just fight Barbaracle and leave the rest of his team alone.
-Drasna: Dragalge dies, Altaria can't do anything to you, Druddigon can only do significant damage with Retaliate or phase with Dragon Tail, and Noivern is super frail.
-Wikstrom: "Delphox used Flamethrower!"
-Malva: Pyroar doesn't do much to you, especially if you still have Mystical Fire. Torkoal can hit you with EdgeQuake, which is bad for you. Chandelure can drop you with Shadow Ball but you can deal a bunch of damage with Psychic. Talonflame has Brave Bird but is frail.

-Diantha: Hawlucha, Gourgeist, Gardevoir (assuming you still have Mystical Fire), and Aurorus are huge pushovers. Tyrantrum has low Special Defense, which maybe you can capitalize on, but don't count on it. Maybe you can Mystical Fire stall Goodra but I doubt it. Psyshock would do some damage though, but you can't really take Muddy Waters repeatedly.

Basically: Shaky early-game, struggles with three of four gym leader mons early. Once it is in Shalour City, even without Psyshock it can easily sweep the gym. After that, you have Ramos, then you evolve and get Mystical Fire, and the rest of the game is cake. It can do something against Siebold and Malva despite huge type disadvantages, and trolls Drasna and Wikstrom. It can also take out half (or more) of Diantha's team easily.

Who needs Flamethrower or Psychic anyways, just click Mystical Fire. It helps that most of the late-game Gym Leader mons are specially based. I was even able to beat Olympia's Slowking with it with a couple healing items.

 

[Lucchini]

^ I don't understand how Fennekin beats Amaura, or Korrina (namely Machoke and Hawlucha). Malva isn't a very good match-up either.

I never bothered with Mystical Fire. Instead, I would Calm Mind a few times and then begin destroying things with moves that have actually decent BP.

Korlashh
I wasn't using Exp Share and Braixen still had a better midgame than Vivillion. Psybeam is your best move until evolution/Fire Pledge (whichever comes first), and there's a lot of mons that are weak to it. My Braixen also had a -speed nature, so I was tempted to Flame Charge at times. Eviolite is pretty much a must on it, and it's how it ends up performing well in Korrina's gym. Besides Mienfoo, it doesn't have perfect 1-vs-1 matchups against the other two of her mons but it can chip in or help KO one of them after the others have failed (commonplace against Korina who is generally pretty tough).

 

[DarkyPwnz]

How is Blaziken not S-Tier? Its mega evolution sweeps teams alone, and it doesn't even need to be overleved to do it.

 

[Hidious]

How is Blaziken not S-Tier? Its mega evolution sweeps teams alone, and it doesn't even need to be overleved to do it.

It isn't tiered because it is an event mon.

 

[Korlashh]

@Luccini: The Eviolite didn't dawn on me. It was my first run, so I didn't remember to look for it. I guess I won't nominate Delphox for anything.

Anyways, I have just beat the elite four, so here come my write-ups:

Disclaimer - My pokemon were approximately 10 levels below the elite 4 pokemon.

Also, bare with me on the double spoilers. I don't know how that happened when I only tagged each entry once with them.

Cloyster - Limbo B/C (leaning more towards B)

Hide

Availability:

Hide

Shellder can be caught at route 8 with the Good Rod, and evolved anytime after catching it with a water stone. However the Good rod is available in Coumarine City, which is after the 3rd gym.

Stats:[50/95/180/85/45/70] Good offensive stats, fantastic defense, middling speed, and the special bulk of a first stage pokemon

Typing: [Water/Ice] A mixed bag. The Water STAB is good, and the Ice-STAB is extremely useful. However, its main downfall defensively is that it can't defend itself against special attacking fire types like the majority of other waters can. The added weaknesses to fighting and rock are somewhat offset by its sky high defense, but it will have to be cautious.

Movepool: Small, but precise

• Upon catching shellder (~lv25), it will have Icicle Spear which is a 125 bp move when factoring in Skill Link (also breaks through sturdy if necessary). It will also have Hm surf prior to catching it. Lastly, training it to 28 as a Shellder will earn it Ice Shard, which is valuable priority.
• Shellder can learn Razor Shell at lv32 if you want Cloyster to be purely physical, but I evolved mine after learning Ice Shard.
• Cloyster had all of its attacks that I wanted for it at lvl 28. The last move could be one of many, depending on what you want for it. With a heart scale, it has access to either Protect for scouting, Spikes/Toxic Spikes for utility, or Shell Smash for raping face. Cloyster's stats are tailor-made for smashing its shell. And it is what I used.
• If you want another attack instead of icicle spear or ice shard, or simply want another attack, feel free to spend another heart scale for Spike Cannon, an immediate 100 bp move that can hit water types effectively.

If there's one annoyance I had with cloyster, it's that it couldn't learn Hm Waterfall. It's not a big issue because surf is still a great move and let's cloyster go mixed.

Major Battles:

Grass gym: Cloyster swept every trainer in the gym with Icicle spear (ferroseed was the only thing not ohko-ed). I challenged Ramos with cloyster, but it is "KO or be KO'ed" there. Ice shard left Jumpluff with a sliver of health and tripped me with Grass knot. Save Cloyster for later, and it should eat Weepinbell and potentially Gogoat for breakfast.
Electric Gym: Ice Shard could revenge kill Emolga or maybe Heliolisk, but Cloyster isn't sweeping material
Fairy Gym: Nope
Psychic Gym: Ice shard could revenge kill Sigilyph or maybe Meowstic, but Cloyster isn't sweeping material.
Ice Gym: Didn't use it, but it probably could have beat Avalugg with surf.

Team Flare: Excellent. The majority of attackers are physical. Cloyster has many opportunities to use Shell smash and sweep. Even without it, it can KO physical houndooms w/surf and Gol/Crobats w/icicle spear. However, Special attacking Houndooms and Manectrics aren't worth dealing with.

Against Lysandre, it can't do much other than set up on Murk/Honchcrow.

Elite Four: Anytime it can shell shash it can sweep; being able to set up is the hard part though.

Fire: Shell Smash on Talonflame (Flare Blitz/Brave Bird is a 3hko), and sweep with surf. The fire team is very dangerous for Cloyster though, as its special bulk is little to nothing and it doesn't resist fire. But if you have the opportunity to set up on Talonflame or possibly Torkoal (I read it has stone edge), then do it.

Water: I didn't use it here. It's only worth attempting a set-up if Cloyster has Spike Cannon / Return.

Steel: I didn't use it here, but it actually may have a shot here (especially if Klefki uses spikes). I can't say for certain if Surf will OHKO this team besides Probopass, but Aegislash and Scizor are physical attackers that shouldn't be able to KO Cloyster so easily.

Dragon: Mine set up on Druddigon and outspeed/OHKO'ed Druddigon, Altaria, and Noivern. Let something else KO or weaken Dragalge because it probably packs thunderbolt.

Champion: I mistakenly brought cloyster on Tyrantrum to try setting up. Cloyster moved first and lowered its defenses in time for Tyrantrum to wail on it with Head Smash. I later used a max revive and set up on Gourgeist, and proceeded to OHKO Gourgeist and Mega-Gardevoir. It saved me.

I made a severe misplay. The lead Hawlucha has Flying Press as its main fighting move. Cloyster could have survived that easily, set up, and sweep Diantha's entire team. 4 pokemon are weak to ice, 1 is weak to water, and Gardevoir is physically frail. My Cloyster finished at lv53, which appears low for this kind of potential.


Additional Comments:

The Good:

• Comes relatively early, and able to evolve at any time with a water stone.
  
• Every necessary attack after catching it and training it for 3 levels (against the ground types in route 13), and Shell Smash after the 6th gym (which is still before the crusade against Team flare)
• Easy set-up against Physical attackers, even ones Cloyster's weak to.
• Extremely valuable against Elite four.

The Bad:

• Fighting special attackers is an absolute NO-GO unless you know you can OHKO, or if they are golbats/crobats. That said, it is nearly deadweight in the gyms after Ramos. It is still easy to train it during the Team Flare crusade though.
• Setting Shell Smash is a dangerous idea at times. If you move first, then your defenses lower in time for the opponent to hit. However, Cloyster should still be able to take hits that aren't STAB+Super-effective.
  
• Can't learn waterfall
• 4 moveslot syndrome: Protect and Spike Cannon are great moves, but I had to forgo them for a sweeper moveset and revenge killer for emergencies.
• Can't always open with Icicle spear due to middling speed.

I would tier this a B if it could hold its own in gym battles, which are all the rage for tiering. It is incredible for Team Flare and the Elite 4 though.

Furfrou - C Tier

Hide

Availability:

Hide

Route 5, after the first gym

Stats: [75/80/60/65/90/102] Its defense appears low, but its ability Fur Coat cuts ALL physical damage by half, so it essentially doubles its actual defense stat. That aside, it has good speed, good bulk, and low special attack. Its shortcoming is its attack, but it proved salvageable in-game.

Typing: [Normal] You know the deal: Can't hit rocks/steels well or hit Ghosts at all, weak to fighting, immune to Ghost, and everything else is a neutral fight. On one end, there is a low count of Steel and Rock types; on the other end, there are a lot of fighting types. Fur Coat allows Furfrou to take most SE hits at least once though (until CC and HJK starts being spammed, however).
Movepool: Furfrou would appreciate much more than it got, such as a legitimately strong fighting move. However, Furfrou had enough to make a solid moveset.

• The TM Return is given to you before even catching Furfrou. This is Furfrou's beginning-to-end move, and becomes useful very quickly (especially if you caught it with luxury balls that are given to you.) Given the low Steel/rock/ghost count, it spams return all day
• Early Game: TM Return, TM Rock Smash before the Rock Gym, Bite at lvl 22 as your go-to move against Ghosts. Return isn't immediately strong, but Headbutt comes at lvl 12 to hold you over.
• No good fighting move, but the TM for Dig is viable if you want it.
  
• For Revenge-killing: It gets STAB Retaliate (140 bp if a teammate just fainted) at lv33, and Sucker-Punch (80 bp, dark type, priority against attackers) to replace Bite at lv 42. The 5 pp on sucker punch shouldn't phase you because it is not needed often.
• For Support: Thunder-Wave is available as a TM after the 2nd gym, which is very useful if the level curve is as intense for you as it was for me. The other move is Charm, learned at 38. I used both of these moves because Furfrou can cripple and nerf Physical attackers for another pokemon of yours to set up on it (like Cloyster!). Sometimes it requires potions though.
• Field moves: Just Rock Smash, Dig, and Surf unfortunately.

Major Battles:

I don't think I need to outline each and every gym. There a couple gyms I didn't use it for, but elsewhere Furfrou spent its time 2hko'ing everything, while crippling/nerfing physical attackers that I felt were superior (not so much against fighting types though). I think people tier this so low because its main mean of offense is STAB Return; but between good speed and bulk, this pokemon can hold its own. I didn't use it much for the Elite four though.

I did not use retaliate because I wanted to use charm, but it also helped to include Thunder Wave. That said, there was no room for Retaliate.

It was my original plan to drop this pokemon mid-game, but it was one on my team that could fight well while my team was lower than the opposing pokemon.

Additional Comments:

The Good:

• Available after 1st gym, immediate TM return as well as other moves for its early game shining. Let's not forget to mention it lacks evolution, so it's at its full potential already.
  
• Good all-around stats, great ability in fur coat.
• A multi-niche pokemon: Good for return spam, Revenge-killing (sucker punch or retaliate), or crippling with Thunder wave and/or Charm

The Bad:

• Lacks a good Fighting or Ground move except for Dig. Dig likely won't be worth the 2nd turn though.
• Isn't reliable for OHKO'ing pokemon at full Hp. It can still fight many pokemon 1 on 1 though, having good bulk and usually better speed.
• Not very good for field moves.

Magnezone (Sturdy) B - Tier

Hide

Availability:

Hide

Magneton can be caught at the Lost Hotel, which is just before Dendimelle Town (after 6th gym I think). It can evolve into magnezone after lvl-ing up on Route 13 (a rare candy will do)

Stats: [70/70/115/130/90/60] Excellent Special attack, Solid Physical Bulk, respectable special bulk, poor speed and attack.

Typing: [Electric/Steel] Excellent typing offensively and defensively. Can hit flying and water types hard by electric attacks , and use steel attacks to hit the ice (in the last gym) and fairy types that remain in your path.

There isn't much that resists both electric and steel, besides electrics themselves.

Defensively, it is good for tanking outrages, and many other types including Psychic, Fairy, and Ice. However, it lures Fighting type and especially ground type moves. This is why it needs sturdy. Also note that it loses its favored resistance to Dark and Ghost attacks, which is easy to forget.

Movepool: Not very large for attacking purposes (unless you get a good hidden power typing), but it has other moves that can form a complete moveset upon obtaining Magnezone:

• Flash cannon learned at 39 (one lvl after catching Magneton), TM Thunderbolt readily available, TM Thunder Wave Already available. These are staples IMO. Volt Switch is sadly not available except at the Battle Maison, but there are other moves to fill the last slot. The last move can vary:
• TM Charge Beam is found deep in route 13, so it can be readily available too. It can be effective for finishing a kill and raising your SpA for the next pokemon. Trainers have very low pokemon counts, so I've learned it isn't always worth trying to set up. That said, it can also be used to take down those massively bulky pokemon you have no other solution for.
• TM Protect is readily available, and IMO is more useful than you can imagine. Fighting types like Hawlucha, Scrafty, and Mienfoo/shao will come at you with a High Jump Kick waiting. Just use protect, and they'll crash. The 2nd time around you can go for the KO after sturdy or then retreat for something else. Using protect twice in a row becomes a 50/50.
• I just figured out as I wrote this review that Mirror-coat is available as a heart scale move. It is a worthy choice when a special attacker is on a rampage (for example, Chandelure on Route 21)

Major Battles:

Psychic Gym: I lead with Magnezone, which disposed of Sigilyph along with weakening slowbro for another easy KO. Something else KO'ed Meowstic.
Team Flare: Didn't fear anything except for Houndoom, Scrafty, Mienshao, and Mega-Gyarados (mold Breaker). It also wasn't great for Manectric. It was good for countering previous Gyaras though, as well as resisting other things.
Ice Gym: Didn't use Magnezone, but It would have had no trouble between STAB flash cannon and Ice resistence. I don't believe Avalugg had EQ because it wasn't used on Bisharp.

Elite Four: Between my other team members (such as Delphox, Cloyster, and Roserade), it didn't get much action. It was notable for KO'ing Gyarados though. It also trumped the champion's Hawlucha because Flying press was 2x resisted.

Additional Comments:

The Good:

• Available at a convenient time, at immediate final form, and with every move necessary after TMs + 1 lvl up
• Great stats and typing for the last 2 gyms
• Sturdy is a life saver. Commonly guarantees thunder wave + an attack
• Great for Team Flare
• Resists fairy

The Bad:

• Comes one gym too late for full convenience (misses out on fairies)
  
• Low speed, which is a detriment in-game
• Nerfing of Steel types (Ghost and Dark resists gone)
  
• Not great usefulness at Elite 4. Mirror Coat could net some crucial KO's if you use it though.

It is not the same Magnezone you've used in BW2. The level curve is more intense, which hurts Magnezone's potential.

Bisharp (In-game Trade) - D Tier

Just gonna be short and sweet.

• Available for in-game trade at Snowbelle City in exchange for a Jigglypuff, which can be found at pokemon village and the route before that. Comes with an adamant nature.

The Good:

• Between TMs, Heart Scales, and/or natural moves, it can be suited with Swords Dance, Night Slash, Iron Head, and Brick Break. That said, it sweeps the Ice Gym (2hko's Avalugg after a SD)

The Bad:

• Not good for Elite 4. It is too slow to hit some things first (except maybe probopass) and lacks Sucker Punch. While I had to sit mine out during the trip through victory road, it's just not a high enough level to tank a hit and dish OHKO's (couldn't even OHKO Starmie with night slash). Maybe it can hit some pokes that I didn't match it up against, but this isn't worth it unless it fits your team perfectly.
• Dark/Steel typing is pretty bad defensively. with Fire/Ground/Fighting type moves all around.

 

[MicfiJasan]

This guy was brought up a few pages ago, but I guess I'll chime in with my experience.

Binacle: B/C Tier
Availability: He's available on Coastal Route 8 or Ambrette Town by Rock Smash, so a little bit before the second gym.
Stats: 72/105/115/54/86/68 as Barbaracle, so a good physical attacker (boosted by Tough Claws), with solid physical bulk. Speed is a little low, but it can be patched up.
Typing: Water/Rock is pretty decent offensively
Movepool: It's level up movepool is interesting, it starts with Slash, which is nice when boosted by Tough Claws, and gets a water STAB in Clamp quickly after that turns out to be quite nice. Aside from the nifty Hone Claws at level 32, it then gets pretty dull until level 44, when it starts a sequence of Night Slash, Razor Shell, Cross Chop, and Stone Edge, all of which have their uses. It can also gets the amazing Shell Smash if you have a Heart Scale to spare. As for TMs, you get Rock Tomb quickly after, which is a serviceable STAB for most of the game, as well as a plethora of coverage moves (notable ones are X-Scissor, Poison Jab, Earthquake, Aerial Ace, Brick Break, Shadow Claw, Power Up Punch), many of which are boosted by Tough Claws and can be used to fill in whatever hole he needs to fill.
Major Battles: Grant: Clamp and Rock Smash make him usable
Korinna: No
Ramos: Preferably no, although I ended up beating his weakened Gogoat with this guys X-Scissor.
Clemont: Doubtful
Valerie: If you have Poison Jab, he wrecks this gym.
Olympia: Same as above, but use Night Slash/X-Scissor
Wulfric: Beats everything but Avalugg reliably
Flare: Depends on what coverage you have at the time, but should probably stay away from Scraggy, Croagunk, and Electrike. He can definitely beat the Houndour and Zubat easily. Lysandre is a sweep minus Mienshao.
Rivals: Not really any bad matchups minus Chesnaught. Can do pretty well if he has X-Scissor for Meowstic and Absol though. Again, can use TMs to your advantage.
Malva: I tried using one member of my team against each member, so she's the only one I have experience with, but obviously he was excellent here.
Diantha: Poison Jab saved me against her Gardevoir, can potentially beat Aurorus and Tyrantrum as well.
Additional Comments: Out of Greninja/Diggersby/Pangoro/Barbaracle (I know there's major flaws, but I went with the most interesting to me first run), this guy was my favorite to use from Valerie on, and I completely forgot to give him Shell Smash. There was a definite awkward point for me the few levels before he evolved, with all the fighting, grass, and electric-types making it hard to get solid exp. However, once he evolved, I basically kept a designated TM slot and plowed through the late game, even without Shell Smash. Not to mention that physical bulk came in handy for me quite often. There might be a bit of recency bias in B-Tier, which is why I think C-Tier is an option, but his effectiveness lategame was impressive.


Oh, and this guy has some merit as an HM slave.

Psyduck: C/D Tier
Availability: He's available on Route 7 next to the daycare in a Horde.
Movepool: He learns Surf, Strength, and Waterfall, as well as useful TMs like Rock Smash, Flash, and Dig. With Hawlucha being beast with the HMs, Psyduck fills in all the other holes, with Rock Smash for earlier stuff, Flash for pseudo repel, and water navigation.
Additional Comments: Didn't battle with him so I'm ignoring everything except movepool. This guys main appeal is "synergy" with the other HM slave in Hawlucha. The only things Hawlucha doesn't get are the Water HMs and Flash, and Psyduck is the earliest thing that gets these three. I should note he doesn't need to evolve to be useful, so you can easily catch him and ignore him. He doesn't get Cut, which is unfortunate, and I don't have the battle experience to judge on C-Tier, but he is useful if you choose Hawlucha (or Farfetch'd I guess) as your other slave.

 

[Mulan15262]

I get that a pokemon can't excel in every gym, but I never said it was just Grant. Somehow you came up with that inference yourself.

I didn't use mine for grant's gym. It then struggled in Reflection cave (despite having Braixen catch up), and had trouble with Korrina's gym. It would have redeemed itself if I trained it in Ramos's gym, so I'll give it that. The struggle was real up until then. After Ramos, it was still meh. I'm sorry you and others don't agree on any of this, but I plan on giving it a B-tier (even though it won't really make a difference).

Also, you're not supposed to factor in super training, or more importantly, the EXP share when forming your opinion. The EXP share can completely skew your guys' opinions. I would be surprised about how low of a tier Chesnaught and Talonflame are if the EXP share was included, because my run with them was cake with the EXP share.

I know that. I did very little Super Training (probably under 5 points in any stat at any point during the game), and I did very little battles with my team, so, despite the EXP Share, my team's levels are around that of most peoples, so I am assuming that neither had any major effects.

Why are people tiering Delphox so high? It is pretty bad at middle evolution.

-stuck with ember until laverre city (fire pledge)
-Can't outdamage fighting types with Psybeam because it lacks STAB until it reaches the final form, and bad physical bulk (will just get bulldozed)
-Fights the rock gym before grass knot, and the fighting gym before its final evo (unless people grind the shit out of their pokemon)

The final form pays off, but IMO it I don't think it's even worth A tier. It's probably not as much of a deadweight as raltz/kirlia, but the early game past the bug gym isn't good for fennekin/braxien. Either I'm completely missing a move-learning opportunity, or this thing is garbage before its final form.

B tier is in my head until I change my mind.

-

On another subject, I caught a rotom. I would be tempted to try it if it didn't have a negative nature.

Seems like the parts that I bolded are mentioning Grant.

Also, why should you dictate Fennekin getting B-tier. I am 100% confident that Fenniken is A-tier (a.k.a. amazing, but slightly flawed-tier) from what it did when I used it during my play-through of Y.