Pokémon X & Y In-game Tier List Discussion

[Brammi]

Snorlax for A
-Availability: Found just after 1st Gym and is interactable, so no searching and is soft resetable.
-Typing: Normal typing gives it great neutral coverage on both ends of the spectrum, it won't be hitting many things super effectively but it will be dealing solid damage into the second half of the game.
-Stats: Brilliant stats, it is slow, but makes up for it in amazing bulk and a mammoth attack stat, especially for a poke obtained so early. Later on it's level up coverage moves compliment it's high special bulk.
-Movepool: It's level up movepool is shallow early, but gets come useful coverage moves for later on. Being able to hit the last few gyms hard. It does have an expansive TM movepool and can make use of some very good moves.
-Major Battles: It won't come into it's own in major battles until the fourth gym, however, after that it does very well able to make use of power up punch, earthquake and other coverage and support moves.
-Other: It's ability gives it a very useful set of one weakness and two key resistances that let it tank the latter parts of the game.

 

[Lord Jesseus]

Another good one for me is Inkay/Malamar. With Contrary I'd put him at A-tier too.
He's available fairly early in the game, shortly after getting the Coastal Dex
His typing is pretty weird. One immunity, no resistances and two weaknesses, one being 4x (luckily you'll have passed the bug Gym already). But the small number of weaknesses is something you'll really appreciate. Offensively he gets some nice coverage too.
Not-so-great stats, but manageable. Malamar has pretty good attack and defense; he'll take a +2 Waterfall from the E4 dudes Gyarados which is pretty sweet, and he does some nice damage.
An... odd movepool. He starts with Foul Play, which is incredible as an Inkay and pretty good later, though Night Slash is also available eventually. (Swagger followed by Foul Play was a fun, if suboptimal strategy). Unfortunately he goes through a few cruddy special psychic moves before finally learning Psycho Cut. His pride and joy is Superpower though, it rounds out his coverage nicely and creates much fun with Contrary.
Speaking of which, Contrary is his primary selling point. Superpower makes you stronger and stronger while killing them, but it gets better. You see, the AI actually like to use stat lowering moves, and don't really understand what contrary is. Malamar will find himself getting swathes of free stat boosts from his opponent as you run through the game.
He matches up well against everything I mentioned for Pangoro above and then some, but seriously watch out for bug attacks.

 

[IOS]

I disagree with nearly every part of your post.

Coverage doesn't have to mean hitting everything SE; the only reason I mentioned Disarming Voice/Signal Beam is to extol Meowstic's value of hitting the types it's weak to supereffectively. However, nothing that I can think of resists Psychic/Bug/Ghost/Electric. The fact that it has a neutral move for every situation and all of those moves are pretty powerful is a huge asset to have. I know we shouldn't use the relativist argument itt, but it hits Houndoom pretty hard on the neutral side, more than one can say for fellow Psychics Kadabra, Delphox, and Gardevoir which struggle to produce a move to use against it. I did mention that Dark types that Meowstic hits neutrally do give it some problems, but that's why it's in A tier and not S tier. It has weaknesses, but they're few and far between. Pretty much everything else it can steamroll with strong coverage.

If you haven't used it, then I strongly recommend you not make statements like "I think it must rely on Exp Share" if you don't know what you're talking about. To give you some credit, it needs some help from ~lv12 when you initially get it until lv18 and only because Honedge shows up in the same route you catch it in. However, it becomes exponentially better from there and I didn't feel like I had to handhold it at all; again, it gets some good and powerful moves pretty early, so that you have a nearly complete moveset by lv31. It doesn't need lategame TMs to achieve this. The fact that its defenses aren't godawful helps it a lot.

Hitting Pokemon neutrally isn't a special trait. Just about every physical Pokemon in the game gets access to Return, a 102 BP move which hits everything but Rock, Steel and Ghost for super effective damage. If a Pokemon can hit those three types for at least neutral damage (most physical Pokemon can), then they have every type covered.

75/80 BP moves that aren't STAB also aren't anything special. Almost every physical Pokemon in the game gets access to Dig for example (an 80 BP attack), and Ground is a much more useful ingame type than Bug or Ghost. Meowstic's Special Attack is quite mediocre at 83.

I don't need to use Meowstic to know that something's off with your assessment. I ran some calculations on how it performs on netural Pokemon at certain points in the game for example, and the results aren't great. I took a neutral nature/16 IVs/30 EVs Meowstic, five levels above Lysandre's Pyroar when you face him first (Also neutral nature/16 IVs). Even with a level advantage and Pyroar being somewhat of an average Pokemon defensively, it only had an outside chance at a 2HKO. I suspect the numbers would look even worse for Meowstic if it didn't have a level advantage or if it faced a Pokemon with higher special defense.

If you're fighting wild Pokemon in the first place (as you mentioned wild Honedges in your argument), your levels are going to be inflated, and that's going to influence your perception of the Pokemon.

 

[Stone RG]

Supporting Lucario for S, i havent used it myself but hell is it an overpowered poke in game, given at a great, to say the least, level 32 with the Mega Stone equipped, which gives him a ridicoulus power in the entirety of the storyline (not to mention it has the potential of soling Laverre and Snowbelle Gyms). As well on the Kanto starters, even if i didnt use them myself, given the pretty weird level curve we got in this game, and the OP exp share, youll be getting its final stage by the 5th gym at most, by then, similarly to Lucario, Mega evolution shows its de-balancing effect in game.

Now, as for my own ideas, id like to nominate the Tyrunt line for A rank

Good level up moves, and an excelent match up on the 5th gym, where he'll be most likely evolving, make him an easy to train poke, great physical bulk and always hard hitting give him an edge on almost every trainer battle i encountered myself, and i was underleveled for pretty much the entire game until the E4, however, he has flaws in the fact he has horrid match ups on the last 3 gyms due to the Super eff moves, and the sheer amount of special move sin the 7th gym.

 

[Copes]

Mega Charizard Y: S - Tier
Availability: Player has the option of choosing Charmander shortly after receiving the first badge. With Exp Share on, Charmander will likely be a Charizard by the end of the 3rd gym, and will be capable of becoming Mega Charizard Y around the time that the Mega Evolution Bracelet is recieved
Stats: Respectable stats for the main game, especially if Super Trained. What makes Mega Charizard Y so beastly is its Special Attack stat, which is almost unrivaled during a playthrough. With Drought active, his special attacks make quick work of almost anything he is up against.
Typing: Fire / Flying. By the time Mega Evolution is accessible, Charizard will be weak to one gym, resist one gym, be super effective in two gyms, and take neutral damage in the remaining gym. He is weak to one member of the Elite 4 (however this is negated through Drought's effect on Water moves) neutral to 2, and super effective against 1. His typing leaves him open to damage from somewhat common Rock-type moves, as well as Electric type. Water would hurt outside of Drought, however, it was very rare during my playthrough that Drought ever faded before I was finished tearing through opponents with Char Y.
Movepool: Charizard Y has a wide range of moves at his disposal, especially once the player reaches the Aspertia City Pokemart. Char Y has an incredibly powerful STAB under Drought, while also having access to other special moves that cover weaknesses (1-turn Solar Beam under Drought, Focus Blast).
Major Battles: I sort of touched on this in typing, but Mega Charizard Y is not particularly weak when it comes to any of the major battles.
Additional Comments: Char Y's power during the playthrough jumped out at me more than anything else. I was frequently able to 1-shot similar level opponents with a Drought Fire Move. Up until I gained access to the Fire Blast TM, I was doing this with 70 BP Flame Bursts. Char Y becomes even more ridiculously powerful once moves like Flamethrower / Fire Blast are available. Char Y can run a Mixed set easily as well, with physical fire moves tearing through things under Drought. I obviously did not play the game with Char X so I have avoided commenting, and really didn't want to talk too much about Charizard-Regular either, since most of my playthrough I would instantly Mega Evolve for the Drought boost. Still, Char Y's special attack stat when mega evolved is just silly. He really does cleave through much of the game as if it were butter.

 

[Chaoswalker]

Where.... where's Azumarill? ... Fiiiiiiiiine I'll do it.

Azumarill A Rank (Maybe B?)

Availability: Azurill is found very early on, before the first gym. It can very quickly be on your starting team and stay there. The only trouble is making sure it has huge power.

Stats: Azumarill is a nice combination of bulky and strong. Sadly low speed means it will be needing that bulk, and will be taking a lot of hits. Don't worry about killing things though, as huge power gives it beastly attack. Plenty of OHKOs coming your way.

Typing: Water and Fairy are both great types. It gets a very nice set of resistances (Water, Fire, Ice, Dark, Bug, Fighting, Fairy, Dragon). It's weak only to Grass, Electric, and Poison.

Movepool: Unfortunately Azumarill's early coverage is sparse, though it does fill out nicely. Once it hits level 20, you're set with Aqua Tail. It's an early and powerful move that works as a nice powerful neutral stab. It will have Superpower and play rough later in the game though, and these moves give Azumarill a fairly easy time of threatening most foes. If needed, double edge or power up punch can provide increased coverage. It also has the added bonus of being able to carry Waterfall without wasting a moveslot. In fact, Waterfall is preferred by many over aqua tail. Since it mostly only needs two stab moves to succeed, you may even find room for strength or surf.

Major Battles: He's strong against/resists 5 gyms and weak to 2. Most of team flare uses fire and dark types, meaning Azumarill can single handedly eliminate 2/3 of all their pokemon. You will need something for the toxicroaks though. It also lines up well against most of the elite four's types except steel which he's neutral against.

Additional Comments: I like the fact that he's a blue bunny that kills things. It's sort of funny how well he does. I certainly wasn't oversinging his praises either, as while he was over leveled due to the exp item, he also did not have a + attack nature. That makes a big difference when you consider how huge power works.

 

[Its_A_Random]

IloveslakingIGN: Plusle & Minun are pretty ehhh, but I am sketchy on auto-tiering Dedenne; It has a decent Sp. Attack and Speed stat, and it seems pretty similar to Emolga at a glance. Not to mention, Volt Switch at Level 26 means that if Dedenne cannot KO, at least it can safely avoid whatever is coming its way.

Chesnaught: Emolga is available in both games as a wild encounter on Route 10.

Copes: We are trying to not factor Exp. Share nor Super Training, the former because it creates bias where everything performs better, & the latter because it is vastly inefficient.

I guess I should throw in some of my nominations:

Azurill: - A-Tier
Availability: Early-game — Route 3 with a pretty decent encounter-rate.
Stats: Its bulk is rather reasonable, but its Attack is lousy without Huge Power, while its Sp. Attack and Speed are nothing home to write about.
Typing: Normal/Fairy early on gives broad coverage and a solid defensive typing, which then becomes Water/Fairy after evolution, which adds more resistances and more Super Effective STAB coverage. Weaknesses to Water, Grass, and Poison after evolution do hurt it.
Movepool: Until you get the Return TM, Azurill is very weak. Then it becomes a decent disc one nuke all the way till it evolves around the Lv17-19 Range. From there, you can get Aqua Tail at Lv20-21 and then you are virtually set. Eventually you get access to Double-Edge, Superpower, and Play Rough, and it can learn Waterfall, Dig, and Bulldoze as well as the aforementioned Return as great TM Moves.
Major Battles: It cannot do much against Viola, but it can manhandle Grant, Korrina, Malva, Drasna (Watch out for Dragalge), and most of Diantha's party without too many issues. AZ and Lysandre are also easy for it to roll through. Keep it away from Ramos and Clemont, but other than that, the other encounters are pretty even in general.
Additional Comments: Always use Huge Power. Azurill benefits from evolving early and having a fast growth rate, but one of its major issues is that its speed leaves much to be desired, though its bulk means it can take hits.

Charmander [Y]: - A-Tier
Availability: Early-game — Gift from Professor Sycamore after beating him in Lumiose City.
Stats: Charmander in Y is geared towards a powerful special sweeper, with solid Sp. Attack and Speed to help its cause. It also carries decent bulk, and its Attack is decent enough to come in handy in some situations.
Typing: Fire -> Fire/Flying gives Charmander great offensive coverage as well as an immunity and several resistances as a Charizard. A bad weakness to Rock and weaknesses to Electric and Water (nullified on on Mega-Evolution) can hurt, however.
Movepool: Charmander is nothing special until you get Charizard. Until then, you are stuck with Ember (then Flame Burst), Dragon Rage, Return and a few other Physical moves for coverage, but after that, Charizard gets Flamethrower at Lv47, as well as Dragon Claw, Shadow Claw, and Air Slash, from the move re-learner. Its TM Movepool is nothing special, though Fly is useful if you need a flier. Solar Beam, Dig and Earthquake are also useful.
Major Battles: Charmander is rubbish in the second gym. After than that, it is pretty average against Korrina (unless it is a Charizard at that point), and then it starts to show its worth. Ramos, Valerie, Wulfric, and Wilkstrom do not stand a chance, while Clemont (Electric-types) and Olympia (Power Gem Slowking) are risky for Mega Charizard Y to solo, especially when they can stall out Drought if you are not careful, though Charizard has the power to muscle through both. Siebold, despite Drought, will pose problems if you do not teach Charizard Solar Beam, while everyone else poses a rather neutral match-up.
Additional Comments: If you want to use something else for the purposes of mega evolution, Charizard itself can do okay, but in doing so, you lose the ability to handle Siebold, Clemont, and Olympia to an extent.

I will start throwing things into tiers later, but it will be more or less based on what you guys feel. Otherwise, good work so far, I will throw in some more nominations later.

 

[DDRMaster]

Furfrou - A Rank

Availability: Furfrou can be found right after the first visit to Lumiose City and isn't very hard to find. You don't have to try for a specific Ability and it can be added right to your team.

Stats: Furfrou's stats are amazing right when you get it, but will eventually be lower than some of your other Pokemon due to not evolving. It's only really lacking in offensive stats, which means it can take a couple hits to defeat Pokemon, even with neutral moves. The combination of Fur Coat and its decent defenses means will still usually outdamage its opponents.

Typing: While Normal isn't the best attacking type, many Pokemon throughout the game will take neutral damage from it. It's only weakness is to Fighting attacks which are fairly common throughout the game but Fur Coat means it can still take some weaker non-STAB Fighting attacks.

Movepool: STAB Return available early on is very nice for dealing neutral damage and you can use Dig/Rock Smash and Bite/Sucker Punch to cover the things that resist it. Baby-Doll Eyes stops most physical attackers cold, especially when combined with Fur Coat. It can learn some good Special moves, but its SpAtk is rather lackluster.

Major Battles: It's only weak to the Fighting gym and its STAB is resisted by the Rock-gym. However, Fur Coat essentially gives it a resistance to all physical moves (besides Fighting which are essentially neutral), Baby-Doll Eyes makes it even more physically bulky, and it can learn Rock Smash to deal with the Rock-gym. I think only the Electric, Fairy, and Psychic gyms lack a Physically based Pokemon out of the important battles, so Furfrou will still be useful against against important trainers.

Additional Comments: If you give it a Rocky Helmet, many Pokemon will actually do more damage to themselves than Furfrou after a Baby-Doll Eyes/Charm. You can also style it if that's your thing.

Vivillon - B Rank

Availability: Scatterbug can be found right on the first route or in the forest right after. It's very common but it would be best to get Compound-Eyes on it.

Stats: Scatterbug and Spepa have pretty poor stats, but Vivilon makes up for this once Spewpa hits level 12. It has outstanding SpAtk and Speed at that point in the game and it stays decent throughout the game. It's on the frail side so it will likely die to neutral hits.

Typing: Bug/Flying gives it 2 dual resistances and an immunity allowing it to take on quite a few different Pokemon. Offensively, Bug/Flying isn't resisted by too many Pokemon in game, since Steel-types are pretty rare. It will die to any Rock move that's thrown at it, though, and any strong SE attack will also fell it.

Movepool: Struggle Bug, Bug Buzz, Psybeam, Stun Spore, and Hurricane are all available via level up, Sleep Powder is available via the Move Reminder, and it can learn Acrobatics, Psychic, and Energy Ball via TM. Hurricane, Sleep Powder, and Stun Spore become rather accurate moves thanks to Compound-Eyes.

Major Battles: Spewpa won't do a much other than Stun Spore to the first Gym but after that, Vivillon is good against 3 gyms and poor against 3. Bug Buzz and Psychic work well against Team Flare due to them having many Poison and Dark Pokemon. Sleep Powder is always a useful move to have against important trainers, as long as Vivillon is fast enough.

Additional Comments: Can't think of anything else.

Edit: I completely agree with Lucario being S and Meowstic being high. I used a Male Meowstic in game and was able to teach it TMs to make up for its lacking level up offensive movepool, so getting attacks via level up would make it even better.

I didn't use Honedge much, but I really didn't like it in the time I did use it. Its 4 weaknesses kept popping up and it never seemed to do enough damage. Also, No Guard was actually a hinderence since it kept getting targetted by Supersonic and Hypnosis. Of course, I never even got to the point of teaching it Shadow Claw before ditching it and I'd imagine Aegislash rips things apart once you finally get it.

 

[ryan]

Mr. Mime for A-tier (I would be ok with B-tier but pretty strongly believe it should be A).

-Availability: Reflection Cave, just before the Fighting-type gym where it demolishes.

-Typing: Psychic/Fairy, which is really, really fantastic typing. Coverage to hit all of Poison-, Fighting-, Dark-, and Dragon-types for super effective damage, and defensively, it 4x resists Fighting (which is a weakness I found to be very difficult to patch up in this game), and it's neutral to Bug- and Dark-type attacks, which makes up for Psychic's usual weakness to both of them. It's also immune to Dragon, and it is only weak to Ghost, Poison, and Steel. To sum up this data, it has fantastic defensive and offensive typing along with few weaknesses that are relatively uncommon.

-Stats: 40 HP / 45 Atk / 65 Def / 100 SpA / 120 SpD / 90 Spe, which is pretty great. It doesn't love to take physical hits, but this can be compensated for with its great resistances. It also serves as a great tank for special attacks, and fantastic Speed means that it can outrun most Poison-types and take them out before they get the chance to hit it. Finally, any stray Poison-type attacks (like Sawk that have Poison Jab wtf is that?) are still taken ok because of Filter.

-Movepool: This was the main issue I had with Mr. Mime. Its end moveset for me was Psychic / Dazzling Gleam / Thunderbolt / Calm Mind, and while this moveset was fantastic, it took a while to get to this point. However, this wasn't such a big deal for reasons I will cover below. The main issue was that its levelup movepool is pretty bad, only coming with Psychic-type attacks and Doubleslap. The one exception to this was Encore, which was great filler for when I was grinding with it. It does learn Psychic relatively early, however, which is nice, along with Psybeam at Lvl 25, two levels after the one you catch it at. The really cool part about its movepool is all of the coverage it gets as you go along. In the fourth gym, you get Grass Knot. The fifth you get Thunderbolt. Sixth one you get Dazzling Gleam. And in the seventh, you get Calm Mind. Literally as you go along, it just keeps getting better and better, meaning that it's never dead weight.

-Major Battles: The third gym, right after you catch Mr. Mime, is where it really shines. You're taking on a Fighting-type gym, and Mr. Mime can beat everything in it. The only exception to this for me was Korrina's Hawlucha, which outspeeds and can deal massive damage with its Flying STAB. However, I could have beaten that too had I have switched out because it used Swords Dance. u_u Does pretty well vs. the Grass gym, destroying Ramos's Weepinbell. In the Electric gym, the only thing it has no shot at beating is Magneton, which can be covered really easily. Does fine against Emolga and Heliolisk. In the Fairy gym, it won't do too much because it can't touch anything except with Thunderbolt (except I guess it can Psychic Sylveon, but special bulk is huge). Even so, after this gym it gets its secondary STAB, which is great. Psychic gym it can Thunderbolt both Sigilyph and Slowking. In the final gym, you can probably just set up Calm Mind for days, but I had a Charizard Y so uhhh yeah that didn't happen. x) In the Elite Four, it's super useful against the Dragon leader after you take out Dragalge, and mine even OHKOed Dragalge as well. Doesn't do much vs. the Steel leader. Does great vs. Water leader because special bulk + Thunderbolt or Grass Knot and can set up Calm Minds easily, and it does fine vs. the Fire leader because it can set up on Pyroar and proceed to take on Chandelure because faster and Torkoal because weak. Talonflame is the only actual struggle. And finally I solo'd Diantha with Diggersby so idk how well it would do against her.

-Other: It's a lot like Gardevoir but without having to deal with being a weak Ralts/Kirlia early-game and with Filter which is phenomenal. Soundproof could be ok too I guess, but I used Filter because it's what I caught and because it owns. Another perk for Mr. Mime>Gardevoir is that it's easier to level up, with Mr. Mime's max Exp capping at 1,000,000, and Gardevoir's at the maximum 1,250,000. All in all though, they're both probably A-rank Pokemon, but I used Mr. Mime and have not used Gardevoir.

 

[magickmissile]

Aerodactyl: - A Tier
Availability: Get Old Amber from smashing a rock in Glittering Cave. I have no idea how common this is, since I got one on the second stone I smashed. If it's a real pain, that would probably knock Aerodactyl down a tier. Once you find the researcher, he can resurrect the fossil. You can SR for nature and stats. The mega stone is given to you in the lab.
Stats: Good attack, very good speed, bleh defenses. With a mega stone, its attack becomes very good, its speed becomes incredible, and its defenses become decent. It's a fast sweeper
Typing: Immunity to Ground is always nice, and resistances to Fire and Flying are good. Weaknesses to Electric, Ice, Water, and Rock really suck. Rock and Flying STABs complement each other nicely, providing SE coverage against Grass, Bug, Fighting, Fire, Flying, and Ice.
Movepool: Upon getting Aerodactyl, you will already have access to the Bulldoze TM, and you will very quickly get Rock Tomb and Aerial Ace, which will hold you until you can get Fly. Unfortunately, Stone Edge, Rock Slide, and Earthquake are unavailable until after the last gym, but Bulldoze and Rock Tomb are usable in the event that Fly fails to reduce something to a fine pulp. Crunch and Iron Head are level up moves, and Iron Head can also be obtained from the relearner, as well as the elemental fangs. Dragon Claw is available right before the E4.
Major Battles: Aerodactyl is good against most of Team Flare (although Manectric is dangerous if it fails to KO). For Gyms, it demolishes Fighting and Grass, can do significant damage against Fairy and Psychic, and can be used against Rock, Electric, and Ice as long as it's outspeeding and OHKOing with its Ground and/or Rock moves. For the E4, it can be great against Fire, can hurt Dragon with Dragon Claw, can hurt Steel with Earthquake (risky), and can generally smash anything that doesn't resist Flying for good damage.
Additional Comments: The ability doesn't matter, since Aerodactyl only gets the mediocre Take Down as a recoil move, and will be using Tough Claws as a Mega anyway.


EDIT: Also, I agree with Azumarill being A-Tier. Mine was probably closer to S, but it had a +Attack nature.

 

[DHR-107]

Guys with so many mons I really think we have to look at mons even more objectively that in previous tier lists. I am the only person so far to advocate something for less than a B rank. I know everyone has probably picked cool mons for their first teams (which makes sense), but Bunnelby I do not see as being B rank material at all with those stats. It's slightly better than Pachirisu (and thats pretty much always been near the bottom). Its going to be similar to Watchog, Rattata, Sentret et al... So theres no way it deserves B.

I have heard nightmare stories of people trying to find Ralts (Just like in gen 3 I guess) so that should probably knock it down a rank even though its obtainable early. We have so many options that the tier list will likely be middle heavy anyway. We are going to have to be super critical I think with this one.

Oh, and don't you dare put Plusle into trash rank >_> Please use it first. Croagunk at the moment is looking... Low... Like D or E rank. Right now its being killed by everything (I am at Route 8).

 

[Its_A_Random]

Yeah I want us to be more objective with the tiering, something I have fleshed out a bit in my mind, just to get it onto paper in the next couple of days... Anyhow, something else to nominate...

Amaura: - D-Tier
Availability: Early-game — Revive a Sail Fossil obtained from Glittering Cave in Ambrette Town.
Stats: High base HP and decent defences make it quite bulky, and it has an acceptable Sp. Attack stat. Its Attack is average, and its Speed is mediocre.
Typing: Ice/Rock-typing is a double-edged sword. On one hand, you have incredible offensive coverage, hitting seven out of eighteen types super effectively. On the other, you have a garbage defensive typing, boasting six weaknesses (two of which are double weaknesses) and just four resistances to somewhat common types.
Movepool: Its movepool is quite decent. Aurora Beam and Icy Wind make an okay combination initially, and eventually, you gain useful moves like Ancient Power, Nature Power, Ice Beam, and after evolution, Freeze Dry from the move re-learner. Its TM movepool is okay as well, with Thunderbolt for BoltBeam coverage, alongside Psychic and Earthquake at the end of the game.
Major Battles: Amaura does okay against Grant if you get Ancient Power beforehand, though it cannot really solo him. After that, do not use Amaura against Korrina, Clemont's Magneton, Wilkstrom, or Siebold (unless you feel lucky). Amaura does an okay job against Ramos, though SE STAB from him hurts. Clemont is fine besides Magneton, and you should watch out for Slowking in Olympia's Gym. Amaura can do a good job against Wulfric, as well as most of Malva's team, Drasna, and AZ. Other than that, everything else is a so-so matchup, doing well against parts and struggling in other parts.
Additional Comments: Amaura is a fairly risky Pokémon to use. On one hand, it can deal lots of damage to Pokémon with its broad coverage and powerful Special Attack. On the other hand, it has a garbage typing defensively, with its bulk only offsetting it to a degree, and its Speed does not do it any favours either. Use it with caution, it can be powerful and dead weight at the same time.

 

[Swamp-Rocket]

I think one potential difference with the potential tiering is that, even if this time around the Pokemon is useless until it evolves (think of Combee). The EXP Share also makes you relatively overleveled for the most part and makes it easy for your Pokemon to catch up if you catch them late without infringing on your ability to train your other Pokemon. But yeah I agree a lot of these Pokemon are being a bit overhyped x_x

The only ones I have used on this list so far is Mr. Mime (It's either A or B, later in the game Black Belts and Battle Girls start OHKOing you with Poison Jabs and Stone Edge while somehow surviving your Psychics) and Chesnaught. I also used a Flygon (which was honestly not that good), Krookodile (which was pretty good), Cloyster (which got incredible but it took a bit of babying), Pyroar (was really good, was meh, and then was good again), and a Vespiquen (which was OK but I got lucky at finding a female first try so I'll consider that). I'll post about them later.

 

[Codraroll]

Do I have to post a "full" analysis to have my say? I'm not completely done with the game yet, but from what I've seen, this little fellow should wind up comfortably somewhere in the middle-low tiers. Probably not lower than E, but probably not higher than C either.

Beedrill is one of those Pokémon that were always stunning and dangerous in the Anime, but stunningly bad in the games. Competitively, Beedrill has always resided in the lower tiers, but being a Gen. I 'mon, it has gained a surprisingly huge movepool over the years, which makes it fun to use in-game, at least. Weedle (Kakuna too, in X) is a somewhat rare encounter in Santalune Forest. After a little babying, you will get your hands on the fully evolved Beedrill as low as level 10 - at that point, your starters are barely out of their diapers yet. Base 90 Attack and 75 Speed isn't too shabby for early-game.

Beedrill's main job throughout the adventure is taking out Grass-, Dark- and Fairy types, primarily through the use of Poison and Bug STAB. Namely, Twineedle, and later the boosted Pin Missile. Poison Sting, its earliest Poison STAB, is a very weak move, but the TM for Poison Jab isn't that far into the game (Shalour City PokéMart). You also pick up X-Scissor in Azure Bay, if you want to take the trip out there. Beedrill can even take out weaker Psychic types with Pin Missile/X-Scissor, but needs to be wary of retalation - even a Confusion or Psybeam will deal significant damage, especially if STAB-ed. Beedrill is also among the few users of Fell Stinger, but it doesn't learn it until lvl. 45 - at which point its 90 Attack and 75 Speed is outclassed by mostly everything else, and the 30 base power isn't worth the moveslot, even with the situational Attack boost that follows it. Beedrill learns Toxic Spikes by level up, which could have some interesting synergy with Venoshock, if Beedrill's SP.Atk hadn't been base 45.

Beedrill isn't really a Pokémon for use in the big battles. It excels in the Fairy gym in Laverre City, and can be used in the Grass Gym in Coumarine City, but mostly, it is best suited for the one job is does decently: All-out attacking Fairy and Grass types, or mopping up weaker opponents. I have yet to use it in the endgame, but I suspect it will perform as it has done in the other games it appears in - good enough at first, but falling further and further behind your main team as you progress. Still, it's kinda satisfying to use. Too bad its fast-flapping wings kill the FPS in battle if 3D is turned on.

 

[Brambane]

Charmander [Y]: - A-Tier
Major Battles: Charmander is rubbish in the second gym. After than that, it is pretty average against Korrina (unless it is a Charizard at that point), and then it starts to show its worth. Ramos, Valerie, Wulfric, and Wilkstrom do not stand a chance, while Clemont (Electric-types) and Olympia (Power Gem Slowking) are risky for Mega Charizard Y to solo, especially when they can stall out Drought if you are not careful, though Charizard has the power to muscle through both. Siebold, despite Drought, will pose problems if you do not teach Charizard Solar Beam, while everyone else poses a rather neutral match-up.
Additional Comments: If you want to use something else for the purposes of mega evolution, Charizard itself can do okay, but in doing so, you lose the ability to handle Siebold, Clemont, and Olympia to an extent.

I will start throwing things into tiers later, but it will be more or less based on what you guys feel. Otherwise, good work so far, I will throw in some more nominations later.

I agree with Charizard w/o Megastone being A, but once you get Charizard Y you can literally muscle through the entire game with Air Slash + Fire STAB. It has nearly no bad matchups. The ONLY place where Charizard Y can falter is against Siebold's Barbancle, but you can even get lucky with Air Slash crits or teach Charizard Solarbeam to deal with that. Every other matchup favors Charizard. Clemont stands no chance against boosted Flame Burst/Fire Blast and Charizard Y has the special defense to take a Thunderbolt. I actually had to manual restrict myself from mega evolving every fight to give the game some sort of challenge. It's absolutely ridiculous how powerful Charizard Y is ingame. You kind of need to watch out for Sturdy Rock-types, but other than that caveat Charizard Y is gg no re. It is a 100% S-rank, better than HG/SS Scyther, DPPt Infernape or BW Drilbur ever were in their respective games.

As a side note, Charmeleon can power through just about every Pokemon it encounters prior to the third gym with Dragon Rage, which should always 1 or 2 KO. By the point Dragon Rage drops off, it should have Flame Burst and be well on the way to evolving.

 

[Copes]

I agree with Charizard w/o Megastone being A, but once you get Charizard Y you can literally muscle through the entire game with Air Slash + Fire STAB. It has nearly no bad matchups. The ONLY place where Charizard Y can falter is against Siebold's Barbancle, but you can even get lucky with Air Slash crits or teach Charizard Solarbeam to deal with that. Every other matchup favors Charizard. Clemont stands no chance against boosted Flame Burst/Fire Blast and Charizard Y has the special defense to take a Thunderbolt. I actually had to manual restrict myself from mega evolving every fight to give the game some sort of challenge. It's absolutely ridiculous how powerful Charizard Y is ingame. You kind of need to watch out for Sturdy Rock-types, but other than that caveat Charizard Y is gg no re. It is a 100% S-rank, better than HG/SS Scyther, DPPt Infernape or BW Drilbur ever were in their respective games.

As a side note, Charmeleon can power through just about every Pokemon it encounters prior to the third gym with Dragon Rage, which should always 1 or 2 KO. By the point Dragon Rage drops off, it should have Flame Burst and be well on the way to evolving.

This is sort of what I was getting at, and why I would throw Zard Y into S-Tier. He is just beastly. I posted my thoughts late last night, and due to my sleep deprivation I honestly read the first post requesting that we DO make reference to EXP Share and Super Training. @_@. Don't know what I was thinking.

My opinion on Zard Y stands though. Having played through the majority of the game with access to this guy, the vast majority of fights were OHKOs with a Drought-Fire move. He is beastly.

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

Commentary on the mons I used

Greninja - B tier

I'll be honest, mine was a beast for me. But its coverage was severely lacking and it has a lot of notable weaknesses that really hamper its effectiveness. It outright swept most of the last game for me but I can easily see that being almost entirely due to being ~10 levels overlevelled from everything. Nice utility as and HM slave but having basically just Surf as your relevant coverage for most of the game is off-putting.


Vivillion - A tier

It slowed down in the end-game a bit but man did it dominate the early game. Mine wasn't even Compundeyes and it was destroying everything with Struggle Bug, Draining Kiss, Stun Spore, solid stats, and then Bug Buzz / Quiver Dance around the 30s. It stayed one of my best mons all the way up until around the 8th gym at which point its frailty lessened its utility. Available very early, can have final form by first gym. Terrific mon.


Talonflame - C tier

Its a bird, its not particularly strong. Mine did everything I asked it to but the problem was there wasn't a whole lot I could ask it to do without it potentially failing. It's very limited in movepool until the very late game and its power underwhelms at all stages. The definition of average.


Gourgeist - A tier

God I love this thing. Fantastic tank, Leech Seed+WoW+Leftovers is stupidly good, very strong and excellent 2 move coverage. Excelled on my team.


Goodra - B rank

Goomy is weak. Rly weak. Sliggoo is weak but competent. Goodra is good...but very disappointing. I can't count how many times my Dragon failed to OHKO with a coverage move until I got the Expert Belt. It's a very solid tank and a capable attacker, but definitely not a prime option for an in-game run. The evolution is a hassle unto itself.


Tyrantrum - A tier

This thing would be S tier except it has a bit of a power curve in the early levels. Up until after 33/34 Tyrunt was very disappointing with its negligible bulk and poor coverage. But holy hell did Tyrantrum destroy things in the mid to late game. Outsped almost everything it faced and almost never failed to OHKO. So physically bulky it could take opposing Tyrantrum Dragon Claws and live. Fantastic mon with a few falws makes for A tier.

 

[wavves]

snip

Azurill: - A-Tier
Availability: Early-game — Route 3 with a pretty decent encounter-rate.
Movepool: Until you get the Return TM, Azurill is very weak. Then it becomes a decent disc one nuke all the way till it evolves around the Lv17-19 Range. From there, you can get Aqua Tail at Lv20-21 and then you are virtually set. Eventually you get access to Double-Edge, Superpower, and Play Rough, and it can learn Waterfall, Dig, and Bulldoze as well as the aforementioned Return as great TM Moves.
Major Battles: It cannot do much against Viola, but it can manhandle Grant, Korrina, Malva, Drasna (Watch out for Dragalge), and most of Diantha's party without too many issues. AZ and Lysandre are also easy for it to roll through. Keep it away from Ramos and Clemont, but other than that, the other encounters are pretty even in general.

re: Azurill's earlygame potential, you can get it to evolve at L10 with minimal effort (5-10 minutes of running around, made even easier with the rollerskates) at which point it learns Defense Curl and Rollout as a Marill, thus allowing it to steamroll the entire first Gym not even fearing Vivillon's Bug-type STAB move(s). not that it's all that huge in relation to its tiering, but Marill fares a lot better against Viola than most earlygame mons


edit: as for my own personal contribution, all I can really add is Ferroseed for B-tier/possible A-tier? comes at a bad time matchups-wise (if caught in Reflection Cave, which is a lot easier than trying to find it in the Glittering Cave basement), but starts off with Gyro Ball and Curse, enabling it to set up on a good portion of the game. Ferrothorn serves as an excellent Fairy-killer (an unboosted Gyro Ball one-shotted Diantha's Gardevoir, for example) and after Korrina, it only does poorly against Malva, Wikstrom and half of Lysandre. its only drawbacks are its bad Speed + relatively high evolution level, meaning Ferroseed has to set up in order to get any EXP out of most midgame battles. all in all though, its resistances and sturdiness make it a really clutch 'mon that will completely trivialize almost all major battles

 

[Xdogking]

Minor correction: Rotom can be caught before Postgame. I got one from a trash can in the Lost Hotel [I think?] well before I beat the E4.

I used Charizard X, Honedge, Aurorus, Vivillon, Goodra, Chestnaught, Xerneas, and Dunsparce. Dunsparce and Chestnaught weren't used all the way through. Expect detailed write ups later.

 

[Hidious]

These were the pokemon I kept in my party from the moment I received them to the end of the game.

Greninja - B

I found it to be one of the most useful pokemon in my arsenal due to its high SPE and SPA. However, it's complete disregard for bulk (bad defensive typing) allowed it to be ko'd more than any pokemon I used on a regular basis. It's movepool was rather lackluster until later in the game where it got ice beam which helped a little for the Elite Four. I found it most useful at the elite four where it swept Malva and did quite well against Wikstrom and Drasna. As mentioned, its movepool is quite lackluster. Midgame, I used mainly surf and extrasensory. Late game, I finally got some more coverage with ice beam and U-Turn.

Availability: 10/10
Typing: 5/10
Stats: 8/10
Major Battles: 8/10
Movepool: 6/10

Weight of 7.4/10


Sylveon - B or A

Sylveon was my second most important pokemon. It was very useful for several of the gyms, most notably Shalour where it swept the floor using draining kiss. Korrina did not stand a chance! It was useful against team flare's dark pokemon. The only drawbacks were that it took an hour or so to evolve it from eevee and it had a limited movepool. The only thing that makes it an A is if you catch a lvl 19 eevee and play with it immediately to evolve it, because sylveon learns draining kiss at lvl 20. With Sylveon's tanking abilities, you will destroy almost anything that can't hit you super effectively and doesn't resist draining kiss. Sylveon can learn calm mind (TM), moon blast (37), and Shadow Ball (TM) later on which help you for several of the final gyms and/or the elite four. It's defensive typing is amazing and can tank almost anything that isn't a superpowerful physical attack or a special poison/steel.

Availability: 7/10
Typing: 9/10
Stats: 8/10
Major Battles: 8/10
Movepool: 6/10

Weight of 7.6/10

Mega Venusaur - A

Mega Venusaur was by far the most useful pokemon I had. It swept Ramos, Clemont, Valerie, and Wulfric. It also did most of the damage against Siebold, Drasna, and Diantha. However, it should be noted that some of this was due to the fact that my venusaur had hidden power fire, which helped out immensely. My Venusaur wasn't particularly great against team flare because I had little to throw at them against their poison types, but he was definitely my MVP this play around. The only things that I feel drops him from being an S tier is the fact that he doesn't get that strong until evolving into Venusaur and your movepool isn't that great until you get sludge bomb and earthquake. However, venoshock and bulldose do decently well in the meantime.

Availability: 8/10
Typing: 8/10
Stats: 9/10
Major Battles: 10/10
Movepool: 8/10

Weight of 8.6/10

Miltank - C

Miltank was perhaps my favorite pokemon to use. It is catchable Early-Midgame and can immediately learn powerup punch, body slam, and milk drink. That movepool is enough to stomp many opponents due to Miltank's excellent bulk. Later on, it learns zen headbutt, which can prove as an effective attack. Although I did not use miltank frequently in gyms, it can be a great asset against
several, especially Wulfric. The attribute preventing it from being a B tier is that it lacks a supereffective stab move. It is hard to OHKO many opponents which prolongs the game.

Availability: 7/10
Typing: 7/10
Stats: 7/10
Major Battles: 6/10
Movepool: 7/10

Weight of 6.8/10

Garchomp - C or B

Garchomp suffers from the "dragon syndrome" of pokemon games. Many of the dragons like Dragonite, Flygon, Salamence, and Garchomp are very powerful in their end forms, but are rather lackluster in their preevolution forms. This is obviously the case for pretty much all evolved pokemon, but with dragons, they reach their final evolution much later than other pokemon. You can acquire a gible at lvl 23-24 and evolve it into gabite immediately, but gabite does not evolve into Garchomp until lvl 48. Gabite is not a good pokemon to use in the meantime and once it evolves, it is time for the 8th gym which is ice! However, Garchomp is very effective at the elite four against almost everything but some of the other dragons and the fairies. It's movepool is quite good. You can give it Swords Dance and Earthquake as TM's, and it learns crunch and dragon claw. I would recommend this pokemon if you don't mind using it as an XP share milker and using it only when it evolves into garchomp. Garchomp is a C or B depending on how you weight availability vs stats/movepool.

Availability: 2/10
Typing: 7/10
Stats: 10/10
Major Battles: 5/10
Movepool: 9/10

Weight of 6.6/10

 

[CJorex]

I might offer some of my team

Squirtle-B tier
He was okay as a Blastoise, I guess, but as a Squirtle and Wartortle he is quite underpowered without his Mega evo. I ended up ditching mine because Mega Gengar was just better and I chose to replace him with Azumarill. As for matchups, he is good against Grant's Amaura, but not much else that I remember. He is almost definately very good against Malve, however

Helioptile- C tier
Doesn't have great matchups and is very frail, but you can evolve it just before the 5th gym. However, you may want to wait until level 40, when he learns Volt Switch (trust me, it is worth waiting for). Best matchup is against Siebold (especially if his ability is Dry Skin), but with Surf he can work well against Malva (Best to avoid if you have Dry Skin, though). Satisfying, and could easily be B tier if not for all the babying and the frailty.

Haunter- A tier
First, before you read this, you should know that the best way to use Haunter is to get one from the GTS. Then, you can have it already evolve and with boosted exp to boot! Regardless, if you evolve him before the sixth gym he is ridiculously overpowered, with his megastone available in Laverre City. He is also caught only one level away from learning Shadow Ball, and can be given Venoshock, and later Sludge Bomb, by TM. As for matchups, he destroys Valerie with Venoshock, and although risky against Olympia, he is mostly a good choice. The Elite 4 are not great matchups, but he can easily OHKO Diantha's Gardevoir with either STAB. The only reason I do not put him up for S is because he is just so frail, and that he loses leitate when he mega-evolves.

Also, agreeing with placings for Azurill. I didn't even catch one until about the seventh gym, missing out on many of his best matchups, but he was still a powerhouse endgame and much superior to the Blastoise he replaced.

 

[Sprocket]

Yveltal - A
Availability: Yveltal is a required capture if playing Pokemon Y, and acquired between the 7th and 8th gyms at Level 50. Because it is a required capture, you're guaranteed to pick him up anyway. However I recommend using your Master Ball on Yveltal if you want to soft reset; he is a pain to capture without it. 5/10 for Y, 0/10 for X
Typing: Dark/Flying is a very powerful type in the late game. It resists Ghost, Dark, Grass, and is immune to Psychic and Ground. It is weak to Fairy, Electric, Ice, and Rock, all of which are rare in the late game aside from the 8th Gym. The only Wild Pokemon that threaten it are the odd Sturdy Geodude hordes and Sturdy Graveler. 8/10
Stats: Yveltal is a monster of an offensive powerhouse. Because it is captured at level 50, all it needs is some EV training after capture and it is ready to wreak havoc. Because it is a legendary you can guarantee that three IVs will be flawless; just soft reset if the nature or wrong IVs are flawless and try again. 10/10
Move Pool: Yveltal's move pool is small compared to many Legendaries but it has precisely the tools it needs to be a late game monster. Oblivion Wing keeps it healthy (healing 75% of damage dealt), while Snarl, Sucker Punch and Dark Pulse are its go-to Dark moves of choice. For coverage it has access to Psychic, Focus Blast, Phantom Force, and Shadow Ball, all of which will find heavy use late-game. 8/10
Major Battles: Aside from the final fight with Lysandre (immediately after capture), the remaining major battles of note are Gym 8, your final Rival battle, and the Elite Four. Yveltal is strong enough to solo almost the entire end-game, only needing some help here and there for a couple battles. With the PP restoring O-Power, you may not even need to return to a Pokemon Center after capturing him! 9/10
Other: Obviously since Yveltal is a Pokemon Y exclusive, he is not available in Pokemon X. He is acquired late game, but he packs a punch right out of the gate and will carry your team all the way through the Elite Four. Despite its weaknesses, it won't have a big need to switch out as long as it can use Oblivion Wing safely.

Why not S tier? Frankly because he is captured late game when you already have access to several Mega Pokemon, and because he is Y exclusive.

Honedge / Duoblade /Aegislash - A
Availability: Honedge is available very early in Route 6, and is one of the best physical tanks in the early game. Once it evolves into Duoblade, you can evolve it to Aegislash at any time, though I recommend waiting until it learns Iron Head, or until you have access to the Move Relearner. 9/10
Typing: Steel/Ghost is rediculously good. It is only weak to Ghost, Dark, Ground, and Fire. It is immune to Poison, Normal, Fighting, and sports a buttload of resistances including Fairy. Offensively the combination of Steel and Ghost is only resisted by Dark/Steel and Normal/Fire. Only Pawniard and Bisharp are Dark/Steel, and are very rare. Litleo and Pyroar are Normal/Fire and semi-common; however Honedge has plenty of coverage moves to handle the lions.. 9/10
Stats: Honedge and Duoblade are pure physical offense and defense. Once evolved to Aegislash, its ability to change stance can be exploited against the computer, allowing it to hit hard, and not get hit back. 9/10
Move Pool: Aegislash's move pool is precise and practical, and can consist of Slash, Shadow Sneak, Shadow Claw, Fury Cutter, Aerial Ace, Iron Head, Night Slash, and Sacred Sword. Honedge will be waiting a long time for Iron Head, but it more than fills in the gaps along the way. 8/10
Major Battles: Honedge's line can handle itself in most major fights thanks to its excellent resistances and high attack, including most gym battles (except Lumiose City Gym), and especially handles itself in the Laverre City Gym due to its Fairy resistance. However it needs to be careful against most Team Flare members. 8/10
Other: I often used Aegislash in my lead spot, and it had little difficulty carving its way through the game. It unfortunately doesn't learn its best moves until later, but it always has options at every level.

Why not S rank? It takes awhile for its move pool to really get going, and while its offenses are relentless, its easily walled by many Team Flare staples including Houndoom and Pyroar.

 

[GatoDelFuego]

Lucario and Aegislash are obvious S-tier for the reasons stated.

Delphox: - S
Availability: start
Stats: Excellent special attack and speed with enough bulk to get by. This thing never got outsped by anything I was using it against and it didn't miss too many KOs
Typing: Fire typing is always great in-game, and psychic gives it tasty STAB to take out those fightings. Fire is a fantastic type to pair alongside psychic, as it destroys any steels.
Movepool: Great, even for a fire-type. Grass knot, psychic, psyshock, flamethrower, mystic flame, shadow ball...all excellent coverage moves that will hit everything that delphox needs to
Major Battles: Absolutely destroys early-game, slowing down a bit in the midgame but then picking up at the grass leader and especially late-game for its resistance to fairy and ice. It does not do well against houndooms and lysandre, unfortunately, but can solo the steel e4 member easily
Additional Comments: There's a reason speedrunners solo with braxien and lucario!


Blastoise/mega blastoise: - A
Availability: early, recieve from the professor
Stats: Good special attack, good speed, and quite nifty bulk
Typing: Water gives it some standard typing, there's not too much nifty here but not too much bad
Movepool: Fairly average movepool later on, I used surf / ice beam / flash cannon / focus blast. Dark pulse is also good (I was under the impression it DOES get that, right?). Flash cannon is especially good for fairy hits
Major Battles: The only time you really CAN'T use this thing is against the grass and electric leaders, but in all other times it can be kind of a go-to guy. Powerful against all the e4 members as well.
Additional Comments: The only thing imo that keeps mega blastoise out of S is just power. Often times I'd find myself just not being able to get the kill on something. It's bulky enough to take the hits, but you'd prefer to OHKO something and take no damage than take a little and 2HKO

Hawlucha: - B
Availability: early/mid, route 10
Stats: Good attack and speed, but no evolution, so it's not really steller
Typing: Absolutely excellent typing that covers itself quite well. It does get annoying against some potent offensive types, but it has good STABs to work with.
Movepool: Not very good here. Mostly all I was able to use was just fighting and flying. I really can't remember learning anything else, though acrobatics is nice
Major Battles: It can completely troll the gym it's caught near, and the grass gym a couple later, but that is honestly about it. Its power really slows down in the end, and can't really do much to any of the e4 by itself
Additional Comments:With its inflated stats it can function very well early on, but after the grass gym it's really not worth keeping around. At that point its lack of an evolution really hurts and drops this thing down to B in my opinion. It really lacked power when it counted late-game


Gallade: - A
Availability: early (as ralts) early/mid (as gallade), catch on route 5
Stats: Great attack and good speed, with nice special bulk
Typing: Fantastic offensive typing, letting it cover itself
Movepool: This is where it really shines. It should get power up punch around when it evolves, and low sweep around there too. Fighting is a great type, and those moves can carry it til psycho cut. Once you hit the move tutor, you can pick any combination of close combat (new as a level 1 move this gen! HUGE for it), leaf blade, night slash, and a couple others. Close combat is a top-tier move, I really can't remember much I did with this other than just smash things with CC or poisons with psycho cut.
Major Battles: Nothing notable, but nothing terrible. I suppose it does fairly well against the ice gym and steel e4, as well as having nice typing for serena and team flare. Fighthing with no psychic weakness is great for froakie and chesnaught, while its special bulk can beat meowstic in a DPS race.
Additional Comments: CC makes this thing very powerful, and its coverage is pretty fantastic.


Haxorus: - B
Availability: early (really early, surprising, the first cave)
Stats: Excellent attack, good bulk
Typing: Great, not hitting much for super effective, but massively held back by fairies
Movepool: Horrid--but not that much. Literally the only thing worth using is Dragon Dance + dragon claw, as there is zero coverage, but that's about all haxorus/axew needs.
Major Battles: Nothing special here, although you can completely dominate the dragon e4. You do lose against the fairly leader and ice leader. Honestly, in any circumstance you're not immediately threatened by something's lead, all you have to do is DD + dragon claw your way to victory in practically every match.
Additional Comments: Definitely not as powerful as it was in BW or BW2, but nicely respectable. Its power completely owns earlygame as axew, and 148 attack is great late. The fact faries exist and are immune to this thing's basically only attack really does hurt.

 

[sickweare]

Yeah I want us to be more objective with the tiering, something I have fleshed out a bit in my mind, just to get it onto paper in the next couple of days... Anyhow, something else to nominate...

Amaura: - D-Tier
Availability: Early-game — Revive a Sail Fossil obtained from Glittering Cave in Ambrette Town.
Stats: High base HP and decent defences make it quite bulky, and it has an acceptable Sp. Attack stat. Its Attack is average, and its Speed is mediocre.
Typing: Ice/Rock-typing is a double-edged sword. On one hand, you have incredible offensive coverage, hitting seven out of eighteen types super effectively. On the other, you have a garbage defensive typing, boasting six weaknesses (two of which are double weaknesses) and just four resistances to somewhat common types.
Movepool: Its movepool is quite decent. Aurora Beam and Icy Wind make an okay combination initially, and eventually, you gain useful moves like Ancient Power, Nature Power, Ice Beam, and after evolution, Freeze Dry from the move re-learner. Its TM movepool is okay as well, with Thunderbolt for BoltBeam coverage, alongside Psychic and Earthquake at the end of the game.
Major Battles: Amaura does okay against Grant if you get Ancient Power beforehand, though it cannot really solo him. After that, do not use Amaura against Korrina, Clemont's Magneton, Wilkstrom, or Siebold (unless you feel lucky). Amaura does an okay job against Ramos, though SE STAB from him hurts. Clemont is fine besides Magneton, and you should watch out for Slowking in Olympia's Gym. Amaura can do a good job against Wulfric, as well as most of Malva's team, Drasna, and AZ. Other than that, everything else is a so-so matchup, doing well against parts and struggling in other parts.
Additional Comments: Amaura is a fairly risky Pokémon to use. On one hand, it can deal lots of damage to Pokémon with its broad coverage and powerful Special Attack. On the other hand, it has a garbage typing defensively, with its bulk only offsetting it to a degree, and its Speed does not do it any favours either. Use it with caution, it can be powerful and dead weight at the same time.

I absolutely disagree with this post (with no offense intended at all to you). Amaura is extremely useful in this game and despite it's weaknesses (aka the fighting type), the game is really easy to get through with Amaura on your team. I think D is undercutting its strengths a lot. First off, it comes at a higher level than the wild Pokemon in the area, making it easier to catch up with your team. Second, it comes before Grant and if you leveled it up enough to learn AncientPower (25 or 26 iirc) you can solo Grant with just Amaura. Obviously it has a poor match up with Korrina, but I think that should be a given. Moreover, you can use eviolite until it evolves making it super bulky, because eviolite is found in Shalour City. It comes with Aurora Beam and Take Down which are two good Ice STABs right off the bat. The rest of gym leaders have good, decent at worst, matchps with Amaura/Auroros, and since it can learn thunderbolt there is no reason to not use thunderbolt. It helps beat Lysandre's Gyarados, Honchkrow, and Siebold's Gyarados. Plus, it can solo Dracona and help destroy Malva's Talonflame. It also can defeat Diantha's Tyrantrum, Goodra, and Gourgheist. I think if you understand that Amaura has a weakness to fighting and steel, then don't use it against those types unless you feel confident.

Seriously, Auroros was easily one of the best players on my team thanks to its sheer bulk and powerful moves (You learn Ice Beam via level up, and can learn Freeze Dry from the move relearner) plus the fact that it's basically handed to you if you want it an d you don't have to search for it. Imo, Auroros deserves B-Rank thanks to all of these attributes, but C-Rank at the lowest. It's a really good Pokemon in this game.


Also,

Chespin/Chesnaught deserves B-Rank
Availability: at the very beginning seeing as it's a starter
Typing: Grass/Fighting which is an excellent combo
Stats: It has a solid attack stat and an excellent defense stat, but low speed and rather average special attack and special defense stats.
Movepool: It has what it needs to succeed. It gets rollout before the first gym (which would help to solo that gym if need be). It learns a variety of grass moves at good times, including needle arm and seed bomb. It learns bite which is useful for things like Espurr which are pretty common among other psychics that he could otherwise have issues with. It learns Low Sweep by TM before being fully evolved so you can have a useful STAB move to take on others with and lower their speed at the same time. Brick Break is also obtainable. It learns Bulldoze, Earthquake, and Rock slide via TM. Hammer Arm comes along at a late level, but it still wrecks a whole lot of the later game.
Major Battles: Has a decent matchup against all gym leaders excluding Valerie and Olympia (it's good against Viola thanks to rollout). Can take on Lysandre with caution. Has decent matchup with the elite four and champion.
Additional Comments: It's the best grass type available in the game outside of Bulbasaur.

 

[Veles]

Name: Talonflame - Tier B
Availability: Almost immediately. I found it a bit annoying to find, though.
Stats: Blindingly fast, but lackluster attack in the final stage. Fletchinder has reasonably solid offenses early on, though.
Typing: Fire/Flying gives pretty good offensive coverage in the game. Hitting those pesky grass and fighting types for super effective damage. Defensively, it's shit. But this isn't usually a concern.
Movepool: Reasonably small. It's stuck with lousy Ember as a secondary stab for quite a while, but early on the Flying STAB is usually sufficient. It has access to Fly, which is always a boon, and a solid move to use in game. Flame Charge is a great middle-game move. You're unfortunately stuck with Aerial Ace as your strongest STAB during the mid-game (unless you happen to be lucky with Acrobatics TM) until Fly, but in most cases it was a clear KO on Flying-weak mons. You can also easily teach it Flare Blitz and Brave Bird with the Move Relearner, which dents just about everything even off its low attack. It also has access to Roost which has come in handy once or twice.
Major Battles: It easily handles 4 out of the 8 gyms. Bug, Fighting, Grass, and Ice all primarily take super effective damage from him. He also mostly handles the Steel Elite Four member with little difficulty. It also deals with the surprising amount of Fighting-type trainers located in Victory Road.
Additional Comments: His STAB attacks hurts stuff late game, despite the low base attack stat. It might even be possibly be worth of an A rank, but he has very little outside of his STABs, practically no coverage, and Flying/Fire has a lot of overlaps in effectiveness. While he can put a serious dent in things that take his STABs neutrally, it's hindered by the fact that it takes recoil damage (Flying-weak enemies can easily be dealt with by using Fly). However, handling half the gyms is something of note.