BW2 In-Game Tier List Discussion [Updated 7/24]

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Valid arguments. I guess i didn't take into account when you get your water stone (mines was obtained by other means) and i thought i got my Eevee at 17 but looking at Serebii, it must have been 18. My main gripe is serebii has lostron forest missing on some pokemons pages (i e my fav grass roselia) so i skipped it, i toulda got a panpur there if i'd known also.

As for lucario - It was great at first, but you go so long with just focus palm (and counter i guess) as your fighting stabs. When things like darmantian, and scraggy appear and get stronger ones sooner.

What is the consensual opinion of what ground/rock type-ish to be using?
 
Good grounds to use would be Sandile and Drilbur, while rock types are kind of iffy, the best is probably Terrakion.

Most of BW1's top stuff (Sandile, Drilbur, Darumaka, Scraggy) still perform great in BW2.
 
For a Ground-type- that's tricky. Sandile is good, but redundant with Zorua, which is more useful, in my opinion. Mamoswine is incredible, but comes so late- it makes the last tenth or so of the game easy mode, but it's not available until after beating every last Gym. I haven't used Onix, but its offenses are seriously dire; I doubt it'd be any good. Maybe if you could evolve it right after catching it, but I don't think you can get a Metal Coat that soon.

So... Haven't used it, but Drilbur? Shallow movepool, but seems like the best option until you get access to Mamoswine. A bit of a pain to get one, though. Once you can get Mamo- it's largely up to opinion which one you want; keep Excadrill and you have slightly better stats and defensive typing, go for Mamo and you get a sexy Ice STAB that lets it nearly solo the Champion.

There's also Flygon, but its prevos are horrible, slow to evolve, and have incredibly shallow movepools.

And, yeah; if it was good in B1/W1 it's good in these games. Mostly, anyway; Sigilyph isn't so sterling anymore, because Psychic/Flying isn't nearly as good without so many Fighting-types around.
 
For rock types, I remember Crustle being fantastic in the first game. Could set up and sweep in almost all of the late game fights, except for N and Marshall. I'd imagine he's a bit weaker this time around with a water gym instead of an ice gym, though.
 
Crustle isn't that hot anymore imo mostly since Brycen got replaced by Marlon and Terrakion basically accomplishes everything that it does but better. (in fact Terrakion no longer comes at the end of Victory Road but just before the 8th gym, so...)
 
ok. Was also considering Golurk, now they he gets more punches. And there is a metal coat in a good area (got it while watchign marriland's videos,( in the post castellia, pre mistavile times somewhere) but steelix and the zone would be redundant. i may try the zoura that everyone is raving about. Tried trapinch, but after elsa it became a dig slave >.<
 

Destiny Warrior

also known as Darkwing_Duck
is a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
@Afti: You're missing Sandslash. While it isn't BW1 Excadrill for sure, its performing decently for me(I don't know about other people).
 
Golurk comes too late to be of any decent use. His only utility comes in being a useful Strength slave if you somehow don't have one.

I'm not really so sure about Sandslash considering Drilbur also comes at the same time (Castelia Sewers), and Exca > slash. :/
 
Scrafty's STAB HJK hits ~33% harder than SF Darm's HA
hmm so the decision is still on table for me.. do i want stab SF Firepunch and non stab HM

or stab HJK/Crunch and unstabbed FP.

That and scraggies FP isnt until just before clay hmmmm....
 
Speaking of, are these three pretty much gonna be bottom tier now? They don't seem to be on anybody's radar, which is telling in and of itself.
To be honest, the elemental monkeys weren't that great in BW outside of the 1st gym. In BW2 you get them before the 4th gym, and by then you should have access to better options such as Darmanitan, Lilligant and Azumarill. So yeah, I think they'll be bottom tier, mid at best.

Also, it's sad that Archen and Tirtouga are now available post-game.
 
To be honest, the elemental monkeys weren't that great in BW outside of the 1st gym. In BW2 you get them before the 4th gym, and by then you should have access to better options such as Darmanitan, Lilligant and Azumarill. So yeah, I think they'll be bottom tier, mid at best.

Also, it's sad that Archen and Tirtouga are now available post-game.
Even in the one place you can find them, Lostlorn Forest, offers better more-instant options like Petilil/Cottonee, Roselia, Combee (Well, maybe "better"), Heracross/Pinsir. And if you go shaking grass hunting there's fully evolved Roserades, Lilligant/Whimsicott, Vespiquen, Leavanny...
 
I agree on everything about the monkeys except Water one. It's at least Mid. Fast, balanced attacking stats screaming for a mixed attacking set, and good movepool, especially with TMs. It's extremely frail, but hits surprisingly fast and hard, and can have great coverage.
 

breh

強いだね
I agree on everything about the monkeys except Water one. It's at least Mid. Fast, balanced attacking stats screaming for a mixed attacking set, and good movepool, especially with TMs. It's extremely frail, but hits surprisingly fast and hard, and can have great coverage.
Agreeing with this.

Simisage is objectively worse than Leavanny (which is already pretty meh), Simisear is just bad (until Fire Blast, have fun; there are far more fire types in the game that are easier to obtain and train and have higher stats), but Simipour is kind of like a mini-Starmie of sorts, I'd assume. i'm not sure if mid or low is right for it, but it's not bottom like the others.
 
Panpour/Simipour has always been the best out of the monkeys(in fact its the only reason why I even bother with BW1 Snivy). The only problem it has is an underlevelled rut at the beginning because you definitely are not using it against Elesa and it may be too underlevelled for Clay's gym. Low Tier seems more likely, but its not bottom because it does do better than what the other monkeys are doing.

(also iinw it gets scald in like 2 levels, thats fucking sweet)
 
You actually find Panpour with scald in the wild, at level 22, so I guess that's a plus for the water monkey.
The only reason why Panpour is better than the other two, it's because there aren't many options for water types at the beginning of the game.
 

Mario With Lasers

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Mamoswine is incredible, but comes so late- it makes the last tenth or so of the game easy mode, but it's not available until after beating every last Gym.
You can go to Giant Chasm with only seven badges.

Crustle isn't that hot anymore imo mostly since Brycen got replaced by Marlon and Terrakion basically accomplishes everything that it does but better. (in fact Terrakion no longer comes at the end of Victory Road but just before the 8th gym, so...)
Terrakion only appears after defeating Marlon.
 

breh

強いだね
Ok, just finished, so I'll give a synopsis on the pokemon that I used.

Flareon: This guy gets jack shit movepool-wise. Even Fire Punch could make it decent, for god's sake. Lacking that, you're forced to use either Fire Fang or Fire Blast as STAB. Have fun using Flareon! It's not a good mon at all and I dropped it after gym 8 because I was tired of dragging it around. Low or Bottom.

Sneasel: I used this guy over Flareon. It doesn't dissapoint; I'd imagine that it plays like Mamoswine (granted, a lot more frail) with a setup move. Ice Punch can be tutored with the free shards and Night Slash is a remember move once you get Weavile (essentially when you beat Marlon; before that, it's stuck with Punishment/Faint Attack, which isn't bad). It takes very little work to become a relevant member of the party, hits hard as fuck, and has a pretty nice offensive typing / Speed. I can't say where it goes since it's so late (ala Piloswine), but Mid suits it well, I guess, since it really does do a lot of work once you get it.

Petilil: I dropped Flareon before the final Achroma fight. I realized that I'd made a mistake in doing so when I started battling him and realized, "Oh shit, I have nothing to hit Steel-types SE". No problem. Just set up 6 QDs on Magneton... and then swept, finishing with no damage but 10 lost pp from Giga Drain. God, this thing is amazing. It gets its full moveset by level 28, evolves at 26 (giga drain)... It's wonderful. (for those curious, the time as a Petilil is pretty OK too). Oh, and last question - anybody with Black 2 want to test out Route 4 Modest max SpA IV trade petilil? It seems really tantalizing). Anyway, High.

Frillish: Although it's a late get, it's quite good with respect to movepool and typing (as I've mentioned before, you already have 3 great HMs/TMs to give it in the form of Surf, Shadow Ball, and Will-o-wisp). Mine had a Special Attack lowering nature, which was unfortunate and it always felt like it missed out on KOes, but beyond that, it was pretty fun to use. If you're lategame and without a Water-type, try using Jellicent and I doubt you'll be disappointed. Mid.

Dunsparce: Dunsparce was really loved by the movepool changes in this game. Ancientpower is surprisingly nice on such a silly Pokemon and can win you games if you get Serene Grace (again, as I've said before, Run Away is, overall, the better ability because Serene Grace's sole use is for Ancientpower). It gets Roost and Coil by level; guess what you can do with the two moves? That's right! Sweep Grimsley, of course (sidenote, his Liepard can't 2HKO you with one crit from Night Slash). Coil gets you out of a lot of seemingly hopeless situations and, funny as it may be, it can win games. Dunsparce is slow and a bit lacking in power though, so Mid suits it well.

Zoroark: Dark Pulse starts to show its worth later in the game. Anyway, High or Top as others have said; it was the highest level in my party at level 60 after the Elite Four for a good reason (plus, it sweeps two Elite Four members with minimal support, which is cool).

Nosepass: Although I wasn't able to use it much in the Elite Four, it was a neat little mon to abuse. Essentially, it's Magnezone-lite; it has that nice steel-typing and a movepool reminiscent of that of Magnezone. It's really not as bad as it may look; it doesn't die very often at all and it does enough damage that it's not embarassing. Earth Power and Discharge are nice coverage moves. Mid.

Some things I'd like to see other people test out:

Pretty much everything outside of Rebirth Mountain (Skarmory, Camerupt, Drifblim, and Skorupi (NOTE: If you're going to try this one, for the sake of your own sanity, get one in doubles grass for a faster evolution))
Cottonee (non-trade)
Traded Cottonee, Petilil, GIGALITH, Tangrowth (for the sake of your own sanity, don't try catching a Mantine; get a Mantyke to evolve instead)
Ampharos (I haven't seen anybody talking about it... don't forget that Electro Ball is better than Thundershock!)
Magby / Elekid
 
Ampharos (I haven't seen anybody talking about it... don't forget that Electro Ball is better than Thundershock!)
Ampharos was alright throughout the flying gym. It's only moves were STAB or a very weak Take Down. I ended up replacing it in my party after the flying gym just because it wasn't fast or powerful enough to be useful. I suggest Mid tier.
 
Just finished a run on Black 2 in Challenge Mode, so lemme dump a few more here:

Tepig - High, but can be talked to Mid
+ Still a quality Fire, better than Growlithe or Magby
+ Gets a free shot at Fire Punch or Thunderpunch by tutor
- Gym performance hurt by swapping Ice for Water
+ Rips most of Plasma apart
- Really, really misses Brick Break as a tutor lategame - I ended up sticking with Arm Thurst as an anti-Sturdy device, and it took less than half off Grimsley's L61 Scrafty

Azurill - Low
Marill - High
- Getting out of the Azurill stage is a lot like raising a Magikarp, except you get the offensive tease and it can do some damage with Return after badge 1. Ended up ditching it before I got Return simply because it wasn't doing squat for damage (non-STAB Bubble when I went out of my way to get an Adamant one? Ouch.)
+ Marill first available on Route 6, but can be accessed before Clay and will have Aqua Tail, one level from evolving and can basically take out everything bar a neutral fight with Clay's Palpitoad
+ Red Shards in high supply (at least they were for me, see Drilbur) meant Ice Punch right away, which means it destroys Drayden and Skyla as well
+ Learns two HMs

Magnemite - Top
+ As mentioned previously, Sonicboom is a 2HKO on everything early and works well for catching late (mine came with it, but I caught it in doubles grass)
+ Even if you don't want to Signal Beam it, can pick up extra coverage with Tri Attack for a Heart Scale as a Magneton (which you should reach a few levels before Chargestone Cave)
+ Boatload of resistances and can even serve as a crippler if you got a Sturdy one

Drilbur - High
+ Finding this guy means running around the Relic Path for a while (at least it did for me), which means Shards ahoy
+ Really high-powered offense, and can build EXP quite well on Route 4 (especially in White where it's perpetual Sandstorm) and Resort Desert
+ Learns EQ naturally at L36, which is a godsend when Earthquake's a postgame TM
- Despite Steel-typing, somewhat frail compared to the rest of the type and also loses out in the switch to the Water gym

Dwebble - Mid
+ Would have swept Iris with Crustle but for Haxorus's Focus Sash in Challenge Mode off one turn of setup (Shell Smash)
- Whether caught as a Dwebble or the late-game Crustle, will need babying either way to catch up (was about 7 levels down when I got it in the Desert)
+ Bug/Rock great offensive combo, works well against Elesa and Skyla, should have Shell Smash for fun with Drayden...
- ... but Rock and especially Water give it trouble, and it's somewhat slow and will trigger Sturdy (if you get it) a LOT.

Sigilyph - High
+ Same as it was in pretty much every respect in BW1, except now it can Charge Beam its way through the last Gym
+ Natural moveset decent enough, but doesn't need Tutor moves as most of its expanded moveset is TMs (Shadow Ball, Ice Beam, Charge Beam...)
+ Always helps to have something with Fly
- Defenses still somewhat lacking (which shouldn't mean much, ideally)

Of note: I may actually try a Bug-only run once I get the full English version (of Black 2, obviously).
 

Destiny Warrior

also known as Darkwing_Duck
is a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Ummm....I just want to point out that Brick Break is available in PWT. I just went through the L25 tournament a few times with the mons I had, and managed to riase the BP for Brick Break. It's why my Lucario avoided having to rely purely on a 10 PP STAB :)

It isn't the most efficient, but if you reaaally want BBreak, getting it from PWT is very feasible. In fact, if you feel your mons aren't good enough, you can always try the rentals. Losing will net you Shards as well, so its pretty much win-win!
 
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