Pokémon X & Y In-game Tier List Discussion

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Considering speedrunning strategies:

1. The traded Farfetch Lv 10 that you get in Santalune pretty much wrecks everything until Grant. Remember it has Aerial Ace and there is access to Swords Dance early on.

2. Hawlucha, in speedruns, is caught in route 10 to defeat Grant. It can easily do that abusing Swords Dance. On casual runs you can use a little leveling for the sake of safety.

3. After Korrina is defeated with Hawlucha, you get the gifted Lucario, wich has been discussed a lot here and I don't need to explain why he is used for the rest of the game.

That being pointed out, I would say that Farfetch needs to be at a higher tier than D (considering the one that is given to you in Santalune by trading a Bunnelby). Hawlucha, wich is not tiered currently, should also be high, considering that on casual runs you can use him for the rest of the game just finely.
 
Considering speedrunning strategies:

1. The traded Farfetch Lv 10 that you get in Santalune pretty much wrecks everything until Grant. Remember it has Aerial Ace and there is access to Swords Dance early on.

2. Hawlucha, in speedruns, is caught in route 10 to defeat Grant. It can easily do that abusing Swords Dance. On casual runs you can use a little leveling for the sake of safety.

3. After Korrina is defeated with Hawlucha, you get the gifted Lucario, wich has been discussed a lot here and I don't need to explain why he is used for the rest of the game.

That being pointed out, I would say that Farfetch needs to be at a higher tier than D (considering the one that is given to you in Santalune by trading a Bunnelby). Hawlucha, wich is not tiered currently, should also be high, considering that on casual runs you can use him for the rest of the game just finely.
That would make perfect sense.....

except this isn't a speedrun tier list; if it was the 3 pokemon you listed would all be S tier and everything else would be F.....

But yes, hawlucha should be higher, just not for the reasons you listed.
 
That would make perfect sense.....

except this isn't a speedrun tier list; if it was the 3 pokemon you listed would all be S tier and everything else would be F.....

But yes, hawlucha should be higher, just not for the reasons you listed.
On the original post it is said "complete the game as quickly and as effortlessly as possible".

Anyway, I wasn't focusing on the speedrunning aspect. Quacklin gets Aerial Ace, a really good move to have so early in the game. Hawlucha also strikes super effectively on Grant's pokés and can help greatly in Korrina's gym. They should be considered in casual runs as well.
 
On the original post it is said "complete the game as quickly and as effortlessly as possible".

Anyway, I wasn't focusing on the speedrunning aspect. Quacklin gets Aerial Ace, a really good move to have so early in the game. Hawlucha also strikes super effectively on Grant's pokés and can help greatly in Korrina's gym. They should be considered in casual runs as well.
I agree on hawlucha. Quacklin is great..... for one gym, after which you realize it's a farfetch'd with 60 attack..... D tier is generous for quacklin' if you ask me.
 

Its_A_Random

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On an unrelated note, It's_A_Random, can you take a look at my post on helioptile?
Also, do I really need to go on why Helioptile is D-Tier? In short, you have to wait until you get a decent STAB at Lv25 (Parabolic Charge), it is very frail until evolution, it only has one match-up it excels at (Siebold), its coverage is okay, but its frailty & such... I fail to see why it should be higher than D.
Maybe you overlooked it? ?_?
litleo: i agree with most of your account of the experience of using litleo and its strengths and weaknesses Its_A_Random but i guess I have a different interpretation of them. First my experience was a little different in that litleo did a decent job against clemont since it was evolved by then and heliolisk has dry skin which means I OHKOed, I would guess that would be common unless your ivs are bad or something. Also I don't really agree with you saying its total shit til it evolves - even off its low attack, headbutt and return are nice and between them and ember/fire fang you're 2-3hkoing most things. by the time return is really getting old, the game gives you ramos' gym to train litleo up relatively easily in. even if you're not evolved (which i agree you won't be with a team of 6) by the time you actually battle ramos himself, you're doing decent damage agaisnt him (you need to heal after jumpluff to take on gogoat). Then you can battle a few easier team flare trainers in teh power plant, wait 1 level to evolve so you get flamethrower at 36, and you're really pretty golden. With 1 (or 2 if you get unlucky I guess) potions you also beat Viola. In general what you describe is what I expect of a C tier pokemon - beat 1 gym handily (Wulfric) and contribute in several other major battles. If a pokemon can solo 2 gyms without potions at all it starting to look like B tier to me. Litleo is nice because if you choose froakie or chespin, like i did, its a handy way to beat some of what they're weak to early game. Is it the best way, no. I also don't know why Litleo is just a waste of time against Malva, like yes there are better ways to beat Malva, but if you want to use Litleo on your team then it can at least help you against her pretty well, especially if you don't have a water or ground type poke, which i agree is not common, but which we also can't assume.

Finally, what C tier pokemon is doing much better than litleo when its on a 6 pokemon team? Here I'm theorizing but Throh and Snorlax, who are like high c tier, have lots of trouble soloing any gym or E4 battle without potions because they are slow. Most of the normal types (so definitely Furfrou but also better ones like Miltank and probably Tauros) have trouble in game becuase fighting is pretty common and they don't have SE stabs and there's no notable ghost type trainer. Being able to hit Valeria's mawile SE was very nice for me at least since it is immune to poison and not weak to steel, so you kinda need to take it on with a different poke than sylveon and mr. mime. Fletchingly is maybe the only one who seems like clearly better than litleo to me, but it is probably less useful or at least more risky late game. I dunno I could be overvaluing litleo cause it was my usually my best bet against steel and ice type pokes in game. At the same time I really don't see why your tone has to go to "let me spell it out for you" or "Siebold: Give me one good reason why Pyroar should not get slaughtered here." or why you're putting dumb arguments in my mouth (at the tips of my fingers?).When did I say omg my lileo had hp grass and it got 8 critical hits in a row with it after i used work up 10 times and so i beat siebold? I never talked abt eviolite or work up, which I didn't use on litleo since indeed they aren't very helpful for it. In the end we are disagreeing about 1 level of tier difference for 1 pokemon probably partly because I used that pokemon and found it helpful, and you're theorizing about it, which gives you more distance to judge but perhaps less specific information and probably partly because I expect a little less from C tier pokemon than you and have a different interpretation of litleo's value.
"Farfetch'd handily beats one gym, & can contribute in several others! It should be C-Tier! Skrelp handily defeats one Elite Four Member & can positively contribute in other key matchups! It should be C-Tier! Escavalier beats three Gyms! It should be B-Tier!" I know those comparisons are not great, but imo, I cannot see why Litleo should be better. I guess you do have experience with it at least...

Though we should not be using other Pokémon's tiering as an excuse to tier something somewhere (Pokémon are tiered based on their own merits), there are several Pokémon that can do better in the C-Tier as well. Bidoof does well in the first two gyms & then hog the rear of the party as a slave later on to help party growth (Though if you do battle with it, it can do well against Malva at least). Chespin is handed to you on a plate, can Rollout the first gym, & make minor contributions to many other gyms, though it does not do that greatly (Not to mention, a pretty solid Team Flare game). Escavalier provides a solid late-game Pokémon that handles the last three gyms & has on okay E4 performance. Zangoose is an incredibly solid Pokémon from when you get it until the lategame where its frailty starts to hinder it. Starly turns into a shitty suicide bomber that wrecks a lot of things. Fletchling can easily handle a lot of gyms, but its lack of power hurts it in the end. So on, so on.

I guess your standards of tiering are different to what I feel the tier standards should be. To me, soloing just the one gym does not necessarily warrant a higher tiering, because I want to take into account how it contributes towards helping you lower your time as a whole. I see your points, but this is kinda where the difference of views conflict & we will never agree on some things. Also there is no need to attack my tone or imply that my post on Litleo was exclusively aimed at you either (I intended the post to be directed at all interested). There is also no need to get worked up & attack the Eviolite/Work Up point either; both are generally lame excuses one could use to say that Litleo is better than it really is. Finally, since when was my point about Siebold a dumb argument? It is pretty obvious that it does nothing to help you against him, so what else can I say. Also, dem Black Belts/Battle Girls. They are everywhere, & are pretty OP. I doubt poor Litleo is going to be much of a help against them.

I see your points, but I just feel like it is not worth a C-Tiering.

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

Azurill for S-Tier intrigues me. It is true that at the point you get Aqua Tail, it is pretty much the most Powerful Pokémon you have in the game bar none, I get it has a lot of average gyms, several great match-ups (Grant, Korrina, Lysandre, Malva, Drasna, the majority of Diantha's Pokémon come to mind), but my issue with it is its Speed. Base 50 Speed is pretty low & a lot of things will out-speed you, meaning potions can come into play. Also there is that very early-game rut it has, where it is stuck with things like Bubble until you get Return, or you evolve it very early & get Rollout, which is pretty inefficient if you ask me. I get that it is a proper disc one nuke. I get that it has very reasonable bulk. I get that it evolves very early, & that it has a really fast, efficient growth rate. I feel like a legitimate case for S-Tier is made, but I feel like its Speed is a let-down; A Pokémon that out-speeds & OHKOes is better than a Pokémon that is outsped, but OHKOes in return. It is definitely not B-Tier from what someone suggested a few pages back, & from my experience in using it. I feel like S-Tier Azurill needs more discussion, but it is definitely at least a solid A-Tiering.

Yeah Gible is worth at least a B-Tiering, though A-Tier is not out of the question. Great Speed, great offences, comes at a reasonable time of the game, right before you can rip through Clemont. I am convinced it is worth at least a B-Tier.

Aerodactyl is worth at least A-Tier, S-Tier is not out of the question.

One Pokémon I do want to bring up as a possible A-Tier (Possibly S-Tier) is Gengar. Comes late-ish (Route 14), but it gets Shadow Ball pretty much right away, & you can teach it Venoshock as well. An immediate Gengarite, & you have a massively Special Attacker & massively fast Pokémon in your hands (Gengar is already great, you are trading Ground-type immunity for higher powers). Gengar can pretty much bulldoze through the 6th & 7th gyms, it does decently against the rival (fearing Absol). Sludge Bomb later on helps it, & insane Special Coverage (Ghost, Poison, Thunder Bolt, Dazzling Gleam, etc). Its performance vs. Lysandre could be better, & its E4 performance is okay. It does not have overwhelmingly great matchups (Though Siebold can be handled with Thunderbolt), but it will do decently against all of the Elite Four. Its Diantha performance is also pretty solid from theory. It should knock Hawlucha, Gourgeist, & Tyrantrum out with not too much difficulty. Aurorus is okay, Goodra is annoying, & Mega Gardevoir is risky since the OHKO with Sludge Bomb is not guaranteed. It steamrolls AZ.

It is basically just a ridiculous Special Sweeper that can Mega Evolve when necessary, & is an incredible mid-lategame powerhouse, one of the best (if not, the best) Pokémon from Mountain Kalos. Rare, yes, but opportunity cost blah blah blah. A-Tier at the very least.

I might update the tier list within the next 48 hours.
 
I have to say that Gengar feels like it comes in too late to be S-Tier; it's certainly great if you leave a spot for it on your team and can find it quickly, but it's just so late to the game that you can't honestly call it an uber Pokemon. I feel that, if Gengar is going to be S-Tier, then Azurill most certainly is as well: Azurill kicks plenty of tail not just from Route 14 on but also all those other gyms beforehand, speed be damned.
 
Azurill for S-Tier intrigues me. It is true that at the point you get Aqua Tail, it is pretty much the most Powerful Pokémon you have in the game bar none, I get it has a lot of average gyms, several great match-ups (Grant, Korrina, Lysandre, Malva, Drasna, the majority of Diantha's Pokémon come to mind), but my issue with it is its Speed. Base 50 Speed is pretty low & a lot of things will out-speed you, meaning potions can come into play. Also there is that very early-game rut it has, where it is stuck with things like Bubble until you get Return, or you evolve it very early & get Rollout, which is pretty inefficient if you ask me. I get that it is a proper disc one nuke. I get that it has very reasonable bulk. I get that it evolves very early, & that it has a really fast, efficient growth rate. I feel like a legitimate case for S-Tier is made, but I feel like its Speed is a let-down; A Pokémon that out-speeds & OHKOes is better than a Pokémon that is outsped, but OHKOes in return. It is definitely not B-Tier from what someone suggested a few pages back, & from my experience in using it. I feel like S-Tier Azurill needs more discussion, but it is definitely at least a solid A-Tiering.
Azumarill doesn't outrun anything, but it doesn't care about getting hit by much either (I very rarely had it go into the yellow, although mine also had flawless Def and SpDef IVs.) I can see S for Azu just based on sheer damage and durability. I finished X a while ago, but I don't remember using a lot of potions on him, so he's probably sturdy enough to go between healing sites without too much babying.
 
Also, do I really need to go on why Helioptile is D-Tier? In short, you have to wait until you get a decent STAB at Lv25 (Parabolic Charge), it is very frail until evolution, it only has one match-up it excels at (Siebold), its coverage is okay, but its frailty & such... I fail to see why it should be higher than D.
Helioptile should be always evolved on the spot. Parabolic charge's benefits aren't that much better than the thundershock he comes with, so use the first Sunstone (right before the third gym, or get one from Super Training if that counts) immediately. Thunderbolt comes at the mid point when things start to catch up, just in time really.

I concede his frailty does hold him back from the B rank I wrote him up for way back when, but D rank seems too harsh. He's got good coverage, an early evolver, and no particularly glaring gym/E4 threats.

He doesn't have many sweeps true, but there are more than the Siebold you mentioned. Olympia and Malva both fall to Thunderbolt/Surf combo (even if Malva's a risk if you have dry skin).
 

Tomy

I COULD BE BANNED!
I'm using it. I'm challenging the 8th gym. Sylveon is pretty good. Definitely B-tier, maybe A. But I'll write one when I'll finish the game. My team is Meowstic/Sylveon/Greninja/Talonflame/Doublade/Hawlucha (HM Slave).
 
I'd definitely nominate Sylveon for A-tier. Although it takes a little bit to get if you aren't familiar with Amie, as long as it's evolved before level 20 (so it learns draining kiss), it is an invaluable member of your team. It wrecks Grants Tyrunt, has a favorable matchup against Korrina, and does fairly well in the grass and electric gyms. Against the fairy gym, it won't do much, but it can tank any hits in the psychic gym, and deal pretty good damage in return, especially if you're able to get Shadow Ball before hand. Wulfric is meh, but you should have something for him anyways. Against most of the team flare guys, he does surprisingly well. The only thing that threatens you are Golbat/Crobat and Croagunk, but I've never been hit by a poison type move. The E4 is slightly less favorable, but against the water dude, shouldn't do too bad. Wilkstrom isn't something you wanna go up against, but you will most likely destroy Drasna. Her Dragalge can be threatening, but set up a few Calm Mind boosts, heal up, and proceed to wreck her. Malva isn't a favorable matchup, so just use something else. Against Diana though, just set up your Calm Minds, and sweep with Moonblast/Shadow Ball. Overall, Slyveon does pretty darn good. It's slow, but it can take some pretty good hits, and proceeds to wreck stuff, even when not set up.
 

Its_A_Random

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stage7_4: Super Training is considered too inefficient for an efficient run, so it is not being factored. Fragile Helioptile until Shalour I guess... :|

I am still not convinced though, but you do bring up a good point about Olympia with it doing very well. Malva is going to be a pain in the arse regardless. I am not sure if Surf is good enough to KO things (though you should OHKO Talonflame with Thunderbolt) though, & Dry Skin works against you... Then there is its frailty. It is ridiculously frail until it evolves, & even then, its Physical bulk is bad. Its Special bulk is okay I guess.

---

Regarding Sylveon, I see it more of a B/C-Tier than an A-Tier. Basically this is because you have to rely on Pokémon Amie, which is already god-awful inefficient. From my calculations, you are looking at a good half an hour (probably hilariously inaccurate) at least to get enough affection to evolve it, which means it is already on the back foot when it comes to contributing towards a faster clear. Then there is its Speed, which is middling. What it does have when you get it, however, is insane Special bulk, allowing it to take Special Attacks all day. Draining Kiss gives sustainability, then Moonblast gives you a mighty STAB. It has coverage issues though, only having Fairy/Normal Special Coverage for a long time before Shadow Ball, then Psyshock (Great Dragalge weapon right here). Calm Mind is okay I guess, but only if you can make a long term gain in efficiency though. Its Gym performance seems solid, but having two bad match-ups hurt. It has a mixed Diantha game, but I guess she cannot do that much to you, the only ones not being taken out easily being Special Attackers. Gourgeist will probably be annoying.

All in all, a great Pokémon for in-game, but the amount of time you have to spend playing around with it on Pokémon Amie to give it enough affection to evolve is a letdown. Top C-Tier at worst, Top B-Tier at best. Amie too inefficient to consider it for A-Tiering... :(
 
Mirroring the above thoughts on Sylveon. It's B if you neglect the inefficiency of his acquisition, C if you give it the focus it probably deserves.

Azumarill going up to S tier for having a great midgame, decent bulk and enormous offensive potential is an idea to be taken seriously, no doubt, but I just can't help but point out that the initiative came from a person who played with Exp Share (Azumarill is less bulky with that) and didn't mind biking for half an hour to evolve it on time.

Azu's lack of speed is a big issue for it, as it will be taking hits and statuses all the time, which is counter-productive to efficiency, same problem as Honedge except the latter's typing is far superior. The estimated efficiency of obtaining the right training bags to make its happiness rise up quickly enough not to miss the L20-21 Aqua Tail and not wait for later opportunities to evolve should be measured.

Also, remember that Return doesn't hit hard at all until you level up a bit, Azurill's early movepool being rather sad.

On my next run, I want to wait for Luxury Balls in order to catch an Azurill with higher chances to reach the required level of happiness on time, and see if I can make it without luck-reliant training bags at all.
 
Hi Its_A_Random: I see your points on litleo and i guess i misinterpreted your earlier post's tone. I don't think its totally fair to compare litleo to farfetch'd and escavalier but at this point i guess i need to adjust my sense of the tiers.

As for aerodactyl I hope others who used it will weight in. desertspirit - i think you're underselling the power of mega-aerial ace/fly and you think i'm underselling the annoyance of fly. I also think that not having rockslide for the e4 would, as you didn't, would make aero just a little underwhelming there. I want to remind everyone that we are talking about clicking a button and getting 135 attack, 150 speed, decent bulk and an ability that boosts many of its best moves, includiing 1/2 its stab attacks. bite matters because its available before crunch which gives you useful coverage - as you said in an earlier post, 'we're not just tiering for the late game' As for the whole "Lastly, you said lower tier pokes were struggling; well they're lower tier for a reason! That doesn't make sense, I could argue "Charmander is S because it did better than litleo". Not a valid argument." let me be clearer: Like many S tier pokemon, aerodactly is able to win or at least really help in many battles, even when it is at a typing disadvantage. Thus, it functions as an insuarance policy in many of the games key fights.

I used sylveon and would say its C tier based on what I now understand of the tiering from the litleo discussion. Its excellent against korrina and can also beat Grant (though that is not very efficient) and Drasna. Its also rather helpful against Diantha, and a duo of it plus 1 fire, steel or poison type poke will beat her handily. Draining kiss is great for awhile and its nice to be able to always beat the powerful fighting types lots of random trainers have in the mid-game. you're also able to beat around 1/2 of team flare's pokes (the darks not the poisons). in the late middle-game, however, i started to notice sylveon being outsped a lot. draining kiss helps with the damage it sustained, but at some point it was just a little too weak. sylveon's special attack is only above average and a lot of the evolved pokes you fight inthe late mid-game are 3-4hko's. then you get moonblast and you're 2hko's most things but also often taking 2 turns of damage cause of the speed. also it felt to me that a lot of late game random trainers that had pokes weak to fairy had poison or steel moves on them that could hurt sylveon a lot. like sawk's with poison jab, and random iron heads from everything. finally, sylveon has a little trouble against lysandre, which you'd think would be easily beaten (besides pyroar) since honchkrow outspeeds and has steel wing and megagyra outspeeds and does a lot of damage with iron head.

cute charm can be fun though - making you feel a little like whitney from gen 2/hgss...
 
You only need 2 hearts worth of affection to get Sylveon, which is quite easy (and provides +20% exp to boot). You're doing something seriously wrong if you're taking 30+ minutes to get that in Amie.
 

Tomy

I COULD BE BANNED!
I took more or less 20 minutes actually to have 2 hearts. Coverage and middling Speed hurts him, but it has the bulk AND the typing to be an efficient poké. Resisting fighting is great (some of them have poison Jab but you can OHKO them - or finish with Quick Attack if they have Sturdy). I haven't battled vs the Elite 4 yet but with that Sp. Attack and boosted experience, C is pretty low to me. And I was underleveled because I trained 5 poke with no Lucky Egg and Exp. Share, and Sylveon saved me so many times. B at worst.

Edit: orkid: 110 Sp.Atk is "Above Average"? It's amazing. Draining Kiss gets the job done until like 6th gym where you have Moonblast which destroys a lot of pokes.
 
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The estimated efficiency of obtaining the right training bags to make its happiness rise up quickly enough not to miss the L20-21 Aqua Tail and not wait for later opportunities to evolve should be measured.
In my own experience, my Azurill died a lot (it's bulk is really really bad as Azurill), and I didn't run around much aside from my standard ingame run (looking for trainers and Pokemon) and still managed to evolve at level 18, just in time for Aqua Tail. With more babying (not letting it die) I think it has the potential to evolve earlier.
 
I wasn't really looking for any Pokemon that I wouldn't use on my run, caught an Azurill at the lowest level possible (for more +happiness per level-up) and never had it die (never found it problematic to stay alive either since nothing really hits hard at all early on).

Mine evolved at L21 just in time for Aqua Tail and I had to reset the game when it reached L21 but wouldn't evolve, grinding for training bags that improve happiness.

Did you use a Luxury Ball?

By babying, I understand mostly switching out to feed exp to the underlevelled, which I think I did a fair bit of during the earlygame because base happiness Return doesn't cut it (and you don't even have Return for a while, and when you do you also get Luxury Balls so that's probably the best time to catch an Azurill).
 
Nope, I used a Pokeball. Nor did I feed it any vitamins/rare candies.
It could've been that looking for trainer fights/Pokemon that made more of a difference than I thought :|c I remember derping around quite a bit on route 7 because I couldn't find a Swirlix.
 

Its_A_Random

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Time to do this shit.

Aerodactyl: N/A -> Limbo (A/S-Tier)
Bunnelby: C-Tier -> D-Tier
Eevee (Sylveon): N/A -> Limbo (B/C-Tier)
Gible: N/A -> B-Tier
Hawlucha: N/A -> B-Tier
Magikarp: Limbo (A/B-Tier) -> A-Tier
Starly: C-Tier -> B-Tier

Like before, all tierings are provisional until this tier list is sent to C&C. If you disagree with the tiering of something in some tier, do not be afraid to speak up & say why something should be lower or higher; it will be considered. It also means you are still welcome to nominate something tiered for another tier or validate its tiering.

Aerodactyl & Sylveon need more discussion. but Aero is definitely strong enough for at least A, & can be good enough for S-Tier. Sylveon is great, but Pokémon Amie really make it inefficient. Whether it is good enough for B-Tier or C-Tier needs more discussion. Poor Bunny got bashed at such dizzying heights that it had to go down... Hawlucha is a good competent attacker with HM Slave utility that makes it good enough for a B-Tier. Magikarp was resolved to be worth an A-Tier, so... Starly was pushed up as hinted. Gible had some discussion, & a B-Tier was pretty much worth it, so B-Tier it is.

I want to see a little more discussion on everything in Limbo, Azurill, Zangoose, & Snorlax. Limbo Tiers means they need discussion & should be resolved as soon as possible. Azurill is still debatable on S-Tiering, while Zangoose & Snorlax were given C-Tiers as a minimum. I have seen one case for Zangoose, but not much else. How higher should they be? Skrelp could use a bit more discussion. I think it is D-Tier at best for reasons stated in the last page or three, & if no one objects, I will D-Tier it next update. I am not completely convinced Shedinja should be in F-Tier with the selective walling thing, & if no one objects, I will E-Tier it next update.

Other than that, keep up the good work folks.

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