Pokémon BW2 In-game Tier List Mark II [See Post #840]

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mienshao is actually pretty decent endgame filler and is probably one of the best filler pokemon on route 23 if you're still lacking pokemon for some reason, or you need to replace something that is just unsuitable for the E4. drain punch and regen u-turn means that it isn't exactly too frail, and if you play your cards right you can even learn HJK while in the middle of the E4 (level 56).

repel abuse is unreliable (there are over 20 items that can result from a dust cloud), so you're basically banking on less than 20% chance for a shard that may not even be the right color.
Repel abuse is amazing in the volcano, you can only find shards and Exadrill there. As far as tiering goes, volcarona should be higher imo. You can tutor it Signal Beam for Red Shards (you get 10 for sure) then you just buy Fire Blast, its amazing base stats are great boon, and he just smashed everything for me.
 
I would say Azumarrill is high tier. If you catch one with Huge Power (which I happened to do) it has a base 200 attack in essence. I was able to tear through teams with
Azumarrill alone, and it consistently remained my highest leveled, most valued team member. Aqua Tail, Superpower, Double-Edge, and Return. In game, it is easy to just wreck through teams with only attacking moves, so I did.
 

JockeMS

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I just wanted to say something I forgot to say yesterday.

Please, if you can, avoid tiering Pokémon as, for example, mid-high or low-mid tier if possible. Most of all, it makes things much easier to tier, while second of all, there are no such things as low-mid etc.

Thank you.
 

cant say

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@cant say: how did you miss cobalion it's right on the way to lacunosa, all you need is to just detour back into his clearing o.O aside from that, cobalion is pretty good imo, he sees immediate use against drayden as a good physical tank and you can immediately dump work up (and maybe volt switch for lulz) onto him.
Yeah nah I saw him straight away and made the capture, I just ne'er though of using him coz I already had planned 6 mons and thought he came later. This is only y first playthrough and I tried not to spoil much of the story before that. I can see how were they've put him he's meant to be used to help against drayden (plus what's his name straight up tells you he's a good addition to the team). He'd probably find some use with swords dance, sacred sword, iron head etc but only against drayden, grimsley and iris. I'll use him next for challenge mode maybe
 
I would say psyduck to mid and sandshrew to low tier. Having used both in my run, Psyduck was really good but between the levels 25 to 33 (when he evolves). Sandshrew was just not that good. It was good from lvl 22 (he evolved) until about 30 and then he got worse and worse. It also didn't do a lot in the Pokemon League, taking at max 1 pokemon from every leader and then it gets killed.

Trubbish is low tier too. He evolves late (37) and it doesn't hit really hard. I used acid spray + sludge bomb which wasn't that bad, but it trains just so hard. It can almost never 1HKO a Pokemon, so it will always take atleast 1 hit before killing the opponent. Just not good enough.
 
Just finished my run of Black 2 with a team of Arcanine, Jellicent, Espeon, Mandibuzz (Weak Armor), Mienshao and Gliscor. The tiering for Arcanine, Jellicent and Espeon seems pretty accurate so I won't be talking about them. I'll give my two cents on Mandibuzz in this post:

Availability: Route 4. Can be caught as early as before Gym 3. She comes at Level 25, which will be around the same level, if not higher than your other team members.

Stats: Extremely defensive (110/105/95), especially at the point you get her as your other team members will still probably be NFE. Nothing can OHKO her, not even SE attacks. Offenses are disappointing, but has decent speed.

Typing: Dark/Flying is probably one of the best typings for the E4. It gives you a typing advantage/resistance against every member.

Movepool: You can go offensive with a Nasty Plot set with NP/Dark Pulse/Air Slash/Roost - yes her offenses are weak but she has the defenses to set up - or you can go defensive with Toxic/Fly/Foul Play/Roost @ Leftovers. Protect is preferred over Roost, but it requires BP grinding at the Subway/PWT. I went with the defensive set, and whilst it often failed to one-shot opponents, it rarely ever got close to being KO'd.

Major Battles: Great against Burgh (minus Dwebble). Poor against Elesa. Clay's STAB doesn't affect her but his Pokes have SE coverage moves (and Weak Armor becomes annoying here). The remaining gyms won't do much to Mandibuzz, but it's not like she'll be doing much back either - so she's only used as a filler most of the time. She fails against Colress, too. Once you get Toxic however, you can pretty much stall out any non-Steel/Poison Pokemon with little trouble.

Mandibuzz doesn't really shine until the E4. Shauntal becomes a joke - her Drifblim's Thunderbolt can't even 2HKO you (note that my Mandibuzz did have a Careful nature). Grimsley's team can be stalled out, apart from Bisharp. Weak Armor does become a burden after a couple of defense drops though, so you'll probably have to switch out at some point. Caitlin is a joke (again, not even SE attacks will do significant damage, plus special attacks won't activate Weak Armor). Marshall is also manageable by spamming Fly, though admittedly you'd probably have a team member that's more effective against him. Mandibuzz slays Iris' Haxorus with ease with two Foul Plays (Haxorus will never OHKO, and your Foul Play will do just enough to not bring it down to Focus Sash/Full Restore range).

Additional Comments: The strategy to using Mandibuzz is to exploit her high defenses and out-stall opponents - which is why she probably wouldn't appeal to people who prefer a speed run. She isn't the Pokemon for you if you plan on sweeping through teams with a single attack. Weak Armor as an ability is also a let down, but the effects don't become noticeable until after 2-3 defense drops. Being only available on Thursdays and in Black 2 also diminishes its accessibility. But, being one of the Pokemon with the highest defensive stats in the game means that she'll often be one of the last members standing in your team. If you're looking for a fun to use Pokemon that can adopt a different strategy to other offensive powerhouses, Mandibuzz is certainly not a bad choice. For that reason, I believe she deserves a solid mid tier placement.
 
Here are the Untiered Pokemon once again...

  • Lillipup
  • Pansear
  • Panpour
  • Pansage
  • Nosepass (I think)
  • Sewaddle (I think)
  • Audino
  • Rattata
  • Grimer
  • Onix
  • Skitty
  • Buneary
  • Cottonee
  • Petlil
  • Clefairy
  • Eevee --> Flareon
  • Eevee --> Umbreon
  • Basculin
  • Trubbish
  • Maractus
  • Klink
  • Gothita
  • Solosis
  • Combee
  • Emolga
  • Pinsir
  • Zebstrika
  • Karrablast
  • Shelmet
  • Foongus
  • Castform
  • Baltoy
  • Ferroseed
  • Alomomola
  • Zangoose
  • Seviper
  • Cubchoo
  • Numel
  • Spoink
  • Banette
  • Pelipper
  • Lunatone
  • Absol
  • Gligar
  • Pawniard
  • Terrakion
  • Cobalion
  • Virizion
  • Shuckle
  • Remoraid
  • Corsola
  • Wailmer
  • Spheal
  • Swablu
  • Vulpix
  • Bronzor
  • Ditto
  • Sneasel
  • Delibird
  • Seel
  • Throh
  • Sawk
  • Bouffalant
  • Druddigon
  • Zweilous

Yeah most of the stuff left is pretty bad or late-game...
 

JockeMS

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Ok, now I'm going give you guys a proposal. I've been looking through all Pokémon available and found some Pokémon I think should be placed directly into the Bottom Tier.

But of course you guys have the final word on this. Here are the seven first I propose for immediate Bottom Tier placement:


Dunsparce


Castform


Alomomola


Shuckle


Corsola


Delibird


Ditto


What I've taken into consideration are things like bad offensive stats, rarity etc.

Let me know what you think. I might bring up some other Pokémon that fall into these categories, but I thought I'd just start out with these seven.

Discuss!
 
Alomomola and Dunsparce are questionable, but I can't really see either of them going above low. I think we can safely say that the rest of those will probably be bottom tier.
 

JockeMS

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Alomomola and Dunsparce are questionable
If they are questionable, I would like to see an argument that proves so. I won't take post like these into consideration at all, unless they present arguments to support their statements. No disrespect to you personally, but I really want to know what makes them illsuited for the Bottom Tier, if they are, so I can avoid placing them in a tier they don't belong in.
How did Dunsparce get lumped in with the rest of those guys?
With a combination of its stats and members statements about it. At the moment, Dunsparce even lies in the Botton Tier already.

But like I said, it's just a proposal, and you're free to argue for Dunsparce being placed higher.
 
I haven't personally used Alomomola, but I don't think it should be immediately overlooked. It has great bulk, is the only wishpasser, and can provide additional support with Soak and Toxic making it a pretty good toxic staller. Of course it's offenses are Water/Normal attacks from a not too great attack, but it has a helpful niche it can fulfill. I'd call it Low tier but somebody who has actually used one should give their opinion.
Dunsparce can be pretty useful early on even if it does fall behind later in the game. Delibird, Corsola, and Shuckle are outclassed in everything they can do and come very late, Ditto is very situational and hard to train, and Castform is incredibly rare and has little to contribute.
 
Toxic stalling and Wish passing ingame are unnecessary. Wastes of time; you should just be smacking things around.
 
I'd dispute Buneary - that line has great Speed and a fantastic movepool. Furthermore, Buneary's Attack isn't bad at all when you catch it. I haven't played with them, but I'd theory-vote them for Low. Decent if unexceptional in the early game; the issue is that Lopunny barely counts as an evolution, and completely prevents Buneary from keeping any momentum into the lategame.
 
I've used Azumarill in previous games (Plat?) and even though it has amazing attack, it takes too many hits it shouldn't take for a top tier Pokemon, especially coupled with its bad defenses. I'm not going to weigh in on a tier because I haven't used it this time but I don't even know if I'd place it in high since everything dies in one hit anyways, it's terrible until it evolves and even endgame it's not superb.

It's not on the tier list as far as my inspection, but Rufflet might be low tier and Braviary (white) as the Archeops/high tier of this game. The musketeers are probably high or even top tier since they come higher/same level, even if they only have a couple moves + SD. Zweilous looks low tier because of the grind.
 
Azurill is high/top tier imo. When u catch it it gets frustration, which is bloody strong at that point, then replace it with return, then evolve and get an early Aqua tail, then evolve again in just a short more lvls into the powerhouse known as Azumarill with perfect coverage in Return, Aqua Tail, and SuperPower. and it has the hp to make up for its speed.

How is that not top tier?
 
Name: Seviper
Low-Tier

Availability: Can be gotten right before Skyla by going north of Mistralton City. Found at a 5% encounter rate.
Stats: Good offenses, but everything else is poor. Notably, this means Seviper has to take a lot of hits due to its speed that it can't handle well with its defenses.
Typing: Pure-Poison is a subpar typing, both offensively and defensively. It hits very few things (and virtually nothing in major battles) super-effective. Defensively, it's nice for fighting types, though neither the bug or grass resistances help that much lategame. The poison resistance is nice in theory, but Seviper doesn't fare well versus most other Poisons due to its lack of secondary STAB or good stats. Its Psychic/Ground weaknesses are somewhat common as well.
Movepool: Seviper's only saving grace, to an extent. Unfortunately this does not apply when you first catch it, where its strongest move is a STAB Venoshock. It has Night Slash for limited coverage, but Ghosts are not that common and Psychics are generally faster than Seviper is. It won't get a better STAB until level 42 where it gets Poison Jab, which helps a lot, followed by a buff to Night Slash courtesy of Crunch at level 45. Seviper's most notable movepool addition comes late- it gets Coil at level 49 (though much to my dismay, Seviper doesn't learn Gunk Shot), which is its best bet for being useful versus the Elite 4. It also gets Flamethrower and Giga Drain, but Flamethrower is exceptionally late (not until after Team Plasma is finished) and you will need to grind a few shards to get Giga Drain (as you won't get enough just going through the game).
Major Battles:
-Skyla: Doesn't fare well versus anything, really. The best you can hope for is to Glare her Swanna.
-Drayden: Again, does nothing of note except Glaring something (which includes Flygon- its Earth Power is pathetic, my Seviper had a -Sdef nature and still survived with ~20 HP).
-Marlon: If you get Giga Drain, it would probably do pretty well here. Marlon's team is very slow, though Carracosta could potentially beat you with Sturdy and Shell Smash. If you don't have Giga Drain, Seviper will probably just get off a Poison Jab or two before dying.
-Colress: Unfortunately, you don't have access to Flamethrower until after all the Plasma business is done, so Seviper goes from being potentially decent to awful here. You can Crunch his Beheeyem before dying, I suppose.
-Ghetsis: Seviper loses 1 on 1 versus his entire team. It can do some good damage to his Eelektross or paralyze his Hydreigon (if you don't get flinched by Dragon Rush [or even possibly KOd!]), at the very least.
-Hugh: If you didn't pick Snivy, then he will have a Grass type-Simisage or Serperior-both of which Seviper beats handily, so that's something. It probably won't beat anything else on his team after that, but it can at least Glare and get a decent hit off on whatever he sends out next.
-Shantaul: Despite her team being fairly slow and weak to Crunch, Seviper still struggles a lot here, not being able to beat anything except maybe Jellicent 1 on 1.
-Grimsley: You might be able to set up Coils on Liepard, but this is hard since it has a high crit-rate with Night Slash, and Attract is a complete pain in the ass if applicable. You'll need Aqua Tail (or Rock Smash if you don't want to spend shards on Seviper) to deal with Krookodile and Bisharp. This opens up moveslot issues, as this would make the set Poison Jab/Crunch/Aqua Tail/Coil, which leaves no room for Glare, which is the only thing Seviper is going to do versus Iris. Honestly, I think the best option would be to forgo Crunch for Glare to optimize Seviper's performance for the Elite 4, as Glaring Iris' Hydreigon is much more useful than Seviper's miniscule contributions versus those Shantaul and Caitlin. Granted, this means you would need to forget Giga Drain if you had learned it (which is annoying for a move you can't relearn easily), but objectively speaking for the purposes of tiering, the game is over once you beat the Elite 4, and Giga Drain doesn't help much there.
-Caitlin: Seviper is in a pretty similar situation here as it is with Shantaul, except worse since obviously anything on Caitlin's team can OHKO it.
-Marshal: Seviper sets up Coil easily on Throh, and can then proceed to sweep Marshal.
-Iris: If you have Glare, you can get off to a decent start by using it on her Hydreigon. Otherwise, Seviper loses miserably to her entire team.
Additional Comments: Seviper has fluctuating EXP growth, which has by far the most amount of level 100 exp, though thankfully I don't think it really takes off until the later levels. Still, it's yet another disadvantage Seviper has to deal with.
 
sb879, why didnt you give seviper sludge wave, aqua tail, and dark pulse?

your anazlysis makes me not want one anymore
Sludge Wave costs way too much BP to get in a remotely time-efficient fashion (especially with an ingame team), and Dark Pulse is worse than Crunch, as their targets usually have lower defense. I'll concede I forgot Seviper could learn Aqua Tail, which definitely is a much better secondary coverage move for the E4 than Rock Smash is (man, I felt silly suggesting that >_>), but it doesn't change Seviper's tier in my eyes.

And sorry for ruining your dreams of Seviper glory, I was pretty disappointed in it too :(
 
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