Pokemon RBY In-Game Tiers - Mark III

Status
Not open for further replies.

atsync

Where the "intelligence" of TRAINERS is put to the test!
is a Pokemon Researcheris a Contributor to Smogon
Mankey can sweep Brock without items, but it needs to be at a reasonable level to ensure a sweep. A level 9 Mankey can lose if you're unlucky, although it will still leave a mark for something else to finish him off. Having a Potion on you is a good idea, and there are at least 4 of them available for free before you reach Brock so you should have some.

But yeah I agree that the fact that Yellow Mankey is an excellent partner for Pikachu early on should be mentioned. I've played Yellow a lot and I often use Mankey (or Butterfree, but I've taken a liking to Mankey lately) at least initially to get around Brock, even if I don't necessarily keep using it for the whole game.
 
Beating Brock with a level 14 beedrill? Sounds possible, but it will take a lot of time. How? Using Fury Attack all the time? (I read in this post that Brock has Full Heals, so the poison of Poison Sting will not work...)

I haven't played Yellow for ages, I remember that Geodude and Onix aren't KO'ed by a single Low Kick unless too underleveled and they hit "hard" (Mankey has awful Defense and HP)

But again, it is what I remember when I used to play a lot of runs in Yellow a lot of years.
Well it took only one try at level 14, but it was a really long battle, and I used a lot of potions. I spammed fury attack on geodude then used the remaining PP on onix then poison stinged after that. Poisoning onix was helpful because although Brock uses a full heal straight away, it means onix doesn't attack on that turn.
 

atsync

Where the "intelligence" of TRAINERS is put to the test!
is a Pokemon Researcheris a Contributor to Smogon
All of these Pokemon will stay in Mid. I don't think any of them gained enough support for a tier change.


Magnemite
  • Mention that its type isn't the same as in later gens because Steel doesn't exist yet.
Mankey
  • Reword this sentence (the bolded part) in movepool: "Believe it or not, Submission, its best STAB, is actually not as good as you might think, because despite the fact that it nabs several KOes Karate Chop can't, its 80% accuracy combined with its 1/3 recoil."
  • Emphasize that Yellow Mankey synergizes well with Pikachu, especially at the start of the game. Mankey can beat Brock and other Rock types for Pikachu.
Poliwag
  • Needs to be revamped in some parts to emphasize the advantages of Yellow Poliwrath more. Higher catch level in particular is important, and easier access to Amnesia is cool too.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------


As usual:
  • Is this Pokemon in the right tier? If you disagree, say which tier you think it should be moved to. You'll need to give reasons of course.
  • Does the entry written for the Pokemon cover everything that needs to be covered? The whole point of the entries is to provide a convincing case for the Pokemon being in the tier they are in. Therefore, we need to make sure the entries cover why a Pokemon is good or bad. If you think something important is missing, speak up and we can add this information. Likewise, if you think an entry contains information that isn't particularly relevant, say so and we can remove the fluff.
If there is a clear consensus about disagreement with where a Pokemon is tiered, I'll move it and a new entry may need to be written (note that in some cases, simple edits of the current analysis to change the overall tone may suffice).

The next Pokemon up will be:

Psyduck - Mid Tier
-Availability: Psyduck can be caught at Seafoam Islands or using Super Rods at certain Routes. Both Seaform Islands and Super Rod are only accessible around Koga, so mid-late game. In Yellow, he is found by Surfing Route 6.
-Stats: Golduck's stats can be described as "Jack of all Trades, Master of None." All his stats are good, but none of them particularly stand out.
-Movepool: Golduck's movepool is pretty much the same as most water types. It can get by on STAB Surf, Ice Beam/Blizzard TM, and Strength for Physical Coverage. Golduck also learns Confusion via levelup, but Confusion has a low base power means that even a STAB Surf will do more damage than a Super Effective Confusion most of the time.
-Power: As a Psyduck, it doesn't hit hard at all. However, the ones at Seaform Island can be caught at level high enough that it will evolve into Golduck fast. Golduck is good at taking foes out.
-Type: Water. Water is a great type to get in the late-game, as it hits the final two gyms for Super Effective. Water is weak to Grass and Electric, but those moves are not common in the later parts of Red and Blue.
-Match-ups:
--Sabrina: Her Pokemon have powerful Special stats that wear fast. Golduck can stay in against Venomoth, but don't expect a sweep here.
--Blaine: Golduck resists Fire, and his STAB Surf hits Blaine's entire team for Super Effective damage.
--Giovanni: Giovanni's whole team is weak to Water, so Surf will take them out easily. In Yellow, this match will be tougher due to his Persian not being weak to Water, and his Nidoqueen/Nidoking having Thunder.
--Lorelei: With the exception of Jynx her whole team resists Water and is good at taking Physical Attacks/Ice moves. So don't use Golduck unless its a last resort.
--Bruno: Surf OHKO's both Onix, and easily deposes of his Fighting Pokemon due to their weak Special.
--Agatha: Golbat and Arbok are manageable, but her Ghosts have high Specials and can wear you down easily.
--Lance: Aerodactyl is weak to Water and the Dragons go down to Ice Moves. Gyarados can take Golduck's attacks and packs a powerful Hyper Beam, so have a teammate eliminate Gyarados before attempting a Golduck sweep. Keep in mind in Yellow version, one of his Dragonair's and his Dragonite have Thunderbolt and Thunder
--Rival: Golduck can beat Pidgeot, Rhydon, Exeggutor (with an Ice attack), and his Fire Pokemon (either Charizard or Arcanine). However Alakazam, Venusaur, and his Water types can be problematic for Golduck.
In Yellow, Golduck can beat Exeggutor, Sandslash, Ninetails, Vaporeon and Flareon. It loses to Jolteon, Magenton, Alakazam, and Cloyster.
-Additional Comments: As you can see, Golduck seems like a generic in-game Water type. What makes Golduck excel so well it comes at the right time and at the right moment. It comes at a time where Water becomes a highly relevant type, with the Fire and Ground bosses being at the late game. Overall, Golduck doesn't really anything that makes it stand out compared to other Water Pokemon, but it fulfills the niches of a Water Pokemon well.


-Rattata - Mid Tier
-Availability: Obtainable on the very first route in all versions and is exceedingly common and easy to catch. Will likely be one of the first two Pokemon you catch.
-Stats: Only Speed is above average, with the others ranging from average (Attack) to outright terrible (Special).
-Movepool: Get's all sorts of cool TMs but since they're almost all Special attacks they're pretty much useless. Hyper Fang is accessed at a very low level though and is very powerful at that point in the game. STAB Quick attack is very useful for picking off weakened foes. Gets STAB on Double-Edge if you want more power, but the recoil will hurt. Water Gun and Bubblebeam have some utility against Rock types, but are frequently better spent on other Pokemon since Raticate has piss poor special. But then again, what else are you going to teach Raticate? Raticate can make good use of Dig too, assuming you can spare it.
-Power: Rattata starts off strong, becomes a liability before evolving, get's strong again after evolving before slowly petering off. However, Raticate's decent Attack and High speed can actually prove surprisingly effective late game, making Raticate a good choice for quickly striking fast but frail threats such as Kadabra and Jynx.
-Type: It's a Normal-Type, what more is there to say? Complete lack of coverage outside of normal type moves bites.
-Match-ups:
Brock- Will be out-damaged even if you try Tail Whip shenanigans.
Misty- Can handle Staryu fine but Starmie creams just about everything at that level unless it has a resistance and Rattata is no exception.
Lt. Surge - His weaker Pokemon are actually beaten fairly handily, but Raichu will eat Raticate for breakfast. Give him Dig and it's another story though.
Erika - Raticate's low special means he'll probably get his ass handed to him, especially if he gets paralyzed.
Sabrina - Surprisingly actually one of the best options for her, able to move faster and hit hard enough to KO her weaker Pokemon. Can't take a hit from them though, so if it doesn't OHKO it'll probably go down.
Koga - His Pokemon are just too bulky and Raticate is just too frail. Even with Dig something else is probably a better option, though with it Raticate will do in a pinch
Blaine - Fares very well if you give it Dig, but less well if you don't have it. Will take lots of damage from Fire Blast, beware.
Giovanni - Might stand a chance against Dugtrio and Persian, but the others have too much bulk for Raticate to beat reliably. Again, having Dig gives Raticate a much bigger chance against them.
Lorelei - Might handle Jynx, but low Special and the bulk of her Pokemon means he won't last long.
Bruno - Oh god no. Don't even think of it. I suppose you could Bubblebeam his Onix?
Agatha - Well Arbok and Golbat shouldn't be too rough. Raticate can't really scratch her ghost types without Dig, but with it might actually be a good choice.
Lance - Same issue as Lorelei, too much bulk on their side and not enough on Raticate's.
Blue - Might be able to beat Pidgeot and MAYBE Alakazam, but the rest are all risky propositions due to their bulk and power. Again, Dig will give it more usefulness against some such as Jolteon and Arcanine, but remember Raticate likely won't survive the counter-attack.


Slowpoke - Mid Tier
-Availability: Slowpoke can be caught in Seafoam Islands, and its levels vary from 28 to 33, but keep in mind that if you're playing Blue, it'll only appear on the ground floor, and at level 28, and it's notably harder to find (5% encounter as opposed to 15%). However, if you're lucky/patient enough, you might encounter a level 37 or 39 Slowbro, which is mostly caught up to the rest of your team. Slowbro also appear in Blue and Yellow, but it's a 1% (as opposed to 4% in Red) encounter in both games and Slowbro will only be level 31 in Yellow.
-Stats: If there's anything Slowpoke's known for, that would be its pathetic Speed that that causes it to be outsped by almost everything. When it evolves, its Speed improves to "half the game outspeeding you" as opposed to "almost all of the game outspeeding you". Its Defense also becomes quite respectable, and its Special (which is quite meager as a Slowpoke) becomes more usable.
-Movepool: Slowpoke has a surprisingly large movepool which not only includes standards such as Surf and Ice Beam, but less likely options like Earthquake and even Fire Blast! However, the jewel in Slowpoke's movepool is Amnesia, which is essentially 2 Calm Minds in one turn. It gets it a bit late, though, at level 44 (level 40 if you can bear with Slowpoke not evolving for 3 more levels. Unfortunately, Slowbro doesn't have much else in its movepool (it learns Psychic naturally, but at level 55 which it shouldn't normally be at before the end of the game), making it reliant on TMs to fight adequately, and the TMs it desires are Blizzard/Ice Beam and Psychic, both of which are exclusive and as such will have competition from others.
-Power: Simply put, Slowpoke, with its average bulk and awful Speed mean that it won't exactly be doing well until it evolves. Slowbro, on the other hand, is quite decent, although its still poor speed combined with its Special not being high enough to OHKO enemies with neutral hits hurts it somewhat.
-Type: Slowpoke and Slowbro have 2 of the best types in the game, with Psychic hitting the remaining Rockets super-effectively and only being resisted by fellow Psychic-types, most of which can be set up on with Amnesia. Being a Water-type also gives Slowbro the ability to breeze past Fire-types and Ground-types without having to waste Psychic's PP.
-Match-ups: This list is assuming you caught Slowpoke (or Slowbro) at the Seafoam Islands, which is why Koga is not listed.
--Sabrina: Slowbro can deal with all of her Pokemon easily, with the exception of Alakazam, who, thanks to RBY's AI, will repeatedly use Recover, which heals more damage than Surf deals, meaning that if you plan on having Slowbro take her on by itself, it should know Amnesia beforehand (which is not likely if you evolved it immediately). Setting up in Yellow is far less doable, at least against her Abra, as due to the aforementioned AI, it will use Flash over and over... and over... and over... Fortunately, the only non-Psychic-type attack Kadabra and Alakazam knows is Recover, allowing for an easy setup against them.
--Blaine: The outcome of this fight should be obvious, taking type-match up alone into account, and this is true in Red and Blue, with Slowbro's high defense allowing it to take repeated Normal-type attacks with ease. In Yellow, though, his Ninetales knows Confuse Ray and will use it often. The rest of his team is easily beaten.
--Giovanni: First of all, the only Pokemon in his party that's not hit super-effectively is Persian in Yellow. Secondly, while his Nidos in Yellow know Thunder, it's nothing an Amnesia or two beforehand cand remedy. Third of all, Slowbro's Defense allows it to take a good amount of Earthquakes. Watch out for Dugtrio in Yellow, as it knows Fissure and is easily faster than Slowbro.
--Lorelei: Her Pokemon can't significantly harm Slowbro, easily allowing it to get to +6, and it needs to be at least at +4 to beat her Slowbro. Once her Slowbro is down, the rest of the fight should finish quickly.
--Bruno: Well, considering the fact that his Onix are demolished with the drop of a hat and that Slowbro has high Defense and resists Fighting-type moves...
--Agatha: Her Pokemon are all faster than Slowbro, and RBY's AI happens to register that Ghost-type moves are super-effective against Psychic-types, so if you're having Slowbro fight her Ghost-types, expect to get constantly confused. Also, her first Gengar in Yellow knows Mega Drain. Arbok and Golbat are manageable, but still frustrating to fight against.
--Lance: His team is faster than you, and while Slowbro can take two Hyper Beams, it needs to set up in order to seriously harm his Pokemon, especially if it doesn't know Ice Beam or Blizzard. In Yellow, things are harder for Slowbro, as Lance's second Dragonair and his Dragonite know SE attacks, which while they can be stomached with enough Amnesias, Slowbro will need to be at +6 for them to do less than Hyper Beam.
--Rival: Slowbro can easily set up on Pidgeot and proceed to plow through his team, with the exception of Venusaur, which is only on his team if you started with Squirtle, and if you did that, there would be almost no reason to use Slowpoke. In Yellow, his Sandslash knows Toxic and Sand Attack, making setting up on it inadvisable. However, Slowbro can set up on his Alakazam and do the same thing to his team that it would in Red and Blue, with the roadblocks being a Ninetales that knows Confuse Ray and a Jolteon that has a ~23% critical hit rate.
-Additional comments: Slowpoke has a bit of a slow start, but after it evolves, it becomes a solid Pokemon that can beat a good amount of the game's remaining bosses. Of course, its middling Speed is a definite problem that causes it to be worn down faster than other potential team members despite its high Defense and decent Special.


-Spearow - Mid Tier
-Availability: Spearow can be caught at Route 22 at levels 3 through 5 in Red and Blue and at levels 2 through 6 in Yellow. However, finding them could potentially be time-consuming, as it has a one-in-ten chance of appearing. As for evolving, Spearow evolve at the fairly average level of 20.
-Stats: Spearow and Fearow are fast and have a solid Attack stat, but they're both frail. Also, their Attack tends to fade into the "average" range as the game reaches its climax.
-Movepool: Spearow's movepool isn't exactly vast; the only moves it can learn, with the exception of Agility, which is rather useless due to Spearows high Speed, are either Normal- or Flying-type. It gets Peck from the start, which allows it to differentiate itself from Pidgey in addition to mauling almost everything in Viridian Forest. Fury Attack, while time-consuming due to it being a multi-hit attack, is more powerful against those neutral to Peck on average. Later on, Spearow (which should be a Fearow by then) learns Drill Peck at level 34, which is after it gets access to Fly, but since the two have similar base powers and Fly is a 2-turn attack, Drill Peck is often the better choice between the two. Mirror Move, while unreliable, has its uses, and with Drill Peck and Fly being the only mandatory moves, Fearow definitely has room for it.
-Power: As mentioned above, Spearow destroys everything in Viridian Forest, barring the hard-to-find Pikachu in Red and Blue and the occasional Pidgey as well as the Nidoran trainer in the bottom left corner of the woods. While Spearow doesn't exactly do well in Mt. Moon or Rock Tunnel, the small amount of Rock-types in between allows Spearow to hold its own. After Rock Tunnel come Pokemon Tower and Celadon Gym, both of which are handily beaten by Fearow, courtesy of Fly. However, once those areas are cleared, Koffing and Weezing appear, causing Fearow's usefulness to decrease to the part of the game before Rock Tunnel but after Mt. Moon.
-Type: Normal doesn't do much for Spearow, but its secondary Flying typing allows it to crush the Bug-types that are commonplace early on in the game, but also leaves it vulnerable to the Rock-types that appear shortly afterward. Another thing to take into account is the redundant coverage Fire- and Flying-type moves have: they both hit Grass- and Bug-types super effectively, and they're both resisted by Rock-types. This means that if you chose Charmander as your starter, you probably shouldn't be using Spearow.
-Match-ups:
--Brock: Spearow isn't of much help to you in this fight, due to Peck being resisted by both of his Pokemon.
--Misty: While Spearow's attacks aren't resisted by any of her Pokemon, her Starmie outspeeds it and deals a hefty chunk of damage to it with Bubblebeam.
--Lt. Surge: Same story as Brock, but Lt. Surge actually has a move that hits Fearow super-effectively.
--Erika: While her Victreebel/Weepinbell does know Wrap, Fearow is faster and it should know Fly at that point. Also, because Erika will not attack Fearow with a move that it resists, even if it doesn't do damage in the first place, none of her Pokemon will not use Stun Spore, Sleep Powder, or Petal Dance against it, making Fearow's job much easier. In fact, if you wanted, you could possibly defeat the entire Gym with Fearow alone.
--Koga: Unfortunately for Fearow, Koga's team in Red and Blue has 3 Pokemon with respectable Defense, meaning that while it does better against him than against Brock, it doesn't exactly excell against him either. In Yellow, it's a different story, thanks to his team literally consisting of 3 Venonat and a Venomoth. Repeated Psychic-type attacks do take their toll, however.
--Sabrina: In Red and Blue, this fight is the best shot Fearow has at utilizing Mirror Move. If Mr. Mime uses Light Screen, Fearow can Mirror Move it, halving all special damage (barring Psywave). However, if Mr. Mime doesn't use Light Screen, odds are that Fearow will lose against Alakazam. In Yellow, all of Sabrina's Pokemon are a whopping level 50, and as such are faster than Fearow. When this is combined with Kadabra and Alakazam's incredible Special, it shouldn't take long to notice that Fearow doesn't do too well.
--Blaine: Honestly, this fight could go either way, but the odds are somewhat in Blaine's favor due to Rapidash's Fire Spin and Arcanine's surprisingly usable bulk.
--Giovanni: It should go without saying that Fearow shouldn't even come near his Rhyhorn or Rhydon. In Red and Blue, Dugtrio has Slash, which Fearow will gladly Mirror Move back in its face for the probable OHKO, while Dugtrio can't even touch Fearow in Yellow. Speakin of which, Yellow has Persian, who also knows Slash, which does a ton when used against it via Mirror Move. Finally, the Nidos, while easily manageable in Red and Blue, know Thunder in Yellow, causing Fearow to have second thoughts about taking them on.
--Lorelei: All of Lorelei's Pokemon either have great physical bulk, an Ice-type attack, or both. The outcome of this match is obvious.
--Bruno: His Fighting-types are soundly beaten, while his 2 Onix stand(?) tall against Fearow's assault.
--Agatha: While Fearow does impeccably in Pokemon Tower, that performance doesn't transition to the fight against Agatha, mainly due to the fact that the Ghost-types in Pokemon Tower were lower-levelled than Fearow while it's the other way around for Agatha. However, her main strategy in Red and Blue is to put her opponents to sleep or confuse them, and the former can be remedied via the Poke Flute.
--Lance: Considering Fearow's forgettable physical bulk as well as the considerable strength of most of Lance's Pokemon, it should be safe to assume that Fearow's not going to be taking any Hyper Beams from them any time soon. In Yellow, his 2 Dragonair and Dragonite know moves super effective against Fearow, meaning they might not even have to use Hyper Beam against it.
--Rival: Unfortunately for Fearow, the only notable Pokemon it can beat on a regular basis is Venusaur. Everything else either beats it or isn't impressive to beat.
-Additional Comments: Spearow is your average early-game Flying-type: it's great against the numerous Bug-types early on and is otherwise solid whenever it isn't face to face with a Rock-type, but it isn't always the best choice in a major battle, due to its poor bulk and lack of coverage outside of STAB. It also has to contend with being mediocre when being used with Pikachu and Charmander: the former due to the fact that it tends to hog the Viridian Forest exp. while being no good against Brock and the latter due to redundant type coverage. However, Spearow is still a solid Pokemon, notably one that is able to clear out Pokemon Tower without having to use Dig or a Psychic-type attack.


Voltorb - Mid Tier
-Availability: Fairly early, before Lt Surge but most likely afterwards. Voltorb is found much later in Yellow, but you can get a high level Electrode once you get Surf and go to the power plant, compensating for the difference.
-Stats: Enormous speed coupled with a decent Special means Voltorb will be hitting hard and first.
-Movepool: Barren offensive movepool is an understatement. Sonicboom is good for early grinding but loses its usefulness quickly. Requires Thunderbolt from Lt Surge to function throughout the game, and while it has a good Normal-type movepool, it's attack is atrocious making those moves basically useless.
-Power: Does high damage to any Pokemon that isn't Ground, Grass or Electric.
-Type: Being weak only to Ground is great, but doesn't have a lot of resistances and offensively Voltorb is dependent on Normal-type moves to get around Ground and Grass types.
-Match-ups:
Lt Surge: If you insist on using Voltorb against Surge, it's worth noting that it will take 10 Sonicbooms to beat his entire team (3 for Voltorb, 3 for Pikachu, 4 for Raichu). He can win, but it's dependent on move selection and accuracy.
Erika: Electrode hates Grass-types. While he cannot KO them, they can status him in return or just KO outright. Don't use Electrode here.
Koga: Even at a lower level he sweeps with Thunderbolt. Koga is a joke though, and even though Muk and Weezing will take 2 hits, they won't hurt you too bad. You are more likely to faint post-battle due to poison, rather than lose here.
Sabrina: If you let Electrode learn Light Screen then you are a real chance here. Set up on Kadabra and then go for the KO with STAB Thunderbolt. Even though physical moves are an option, only resort to them if Sabrina uses Light Screen. You will out-speed her team, because Electrode is one of the few Pokemon who can, however they pack more of a punch overall, and Alakazam has the potential to wreck you even with Light Screen protection. While not a guaranteed sweep, Electrode is a good choice here.
Blaine: Electrode can spam Thunderbolt to pretty much sweep this gym. None of Blaine's pokemon can do too much damage in retaliation, assuming they aren't OHKO'd. Arcanine is the only Pokemon you may have trouble beating as it will take 3 hits to take him out, but only 2 if he uses Take-Down. In Yellow, Ninetails will be able to handle your attacks quite well due to her high Special and will hit you back hard, so make sure to take advantage of your speed.
Giovanni: Electrode can only hit his Pokemon with Normal-type attacks. Don't use him here unless he's your last Pokemon, it will not end well. On the plus side, he can KO Rhyhorn with Sonicboom, but it takes 9 uses of it and risks getting KO'd himself. In Yellow, Persian is obliterated by Electrode, but don't keep him in against the ground types.
Lorelei: Electrode does great here, especially if you set up. On the first turn use Light Screen to protect yourself from Special attacks. The reason for this is because Dewgong and the like will be bulky enough to take your attacks quite well, and so you want Electrode to have the same level of survivability. With that being said, you should still sweep fairly comfortably as not even Jynx will like taking your attacks.
Bruno: This one is a mixed bag. Electrode is one of the very few Pokemon that Onix is actually a threat to, so obviously get someone to take them out. However, Machamp, Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee will not like taking your electric attacks so there is definite opportunity for Electrode to shine here.
Agatha: Much harder than the others, Gengar and the like may not resist your attacks but their sky-high Special means you won;t be doing much outside of critical hits. It's worth noting that as long as you have the Pokeflute, the best they can do to you is chip away with Night Shade and confuse you with Confuse Ray. It really just comes down to luck here, you could win or lose either way.
Lance: Not an easy fight here, his 3 dragons outright resist your attacks and can whittle you down with Dragon Rage and Slam. It's worth noting that Gyarados is scared shitless of Electrode, as is Aerodactyl, which means with smart switching, Electrode becomes quite viable.
Rival: Mixed bag here. Exeggutor is your worst nightmare here as he resists your attack with his humongous Special and type advantage and responds with anything. Rhydon is definitely a big deal as well, and you don't to mess with Alakazam, Jolteon, Magneton or Venasaur. But on the plus side, if you picked Venasaur as your starter, he will have 3 Pokemon that are taken out by Electric attacks (Pidgeot, Charizard and Gyarados). In Yellow it's much the same deal, the variety of types is essentially the same so use the chart to your advantage.
Additional Comments: Despite being walled to hell and back by every Ground type in the game, Electrode is a great Pokemon and should be considered for every team. It's great utility combined with a great Speed stat, decent special and one of the best offensive types in the game, you have one hell of a Pokemon. It is worth noting that Electrode's poor movepool really lets it down, and it won't be soloing the entire game for you, but there are many Pokemon that just won't be able to take it on in any form. In Yellow, Electrode is completely outclassed by Zapdos, which is essentially found in the same area.


Smaller round this time because I didn't want to do Low and Mid Pokemon at the same time.

Discuss. I would appreciate thoughts on splitting Psyduck by version. I proposed Yellow Psyduck for Low in the last thread but no-one really responded, so if anyone has an opinion on it speak up (I won't change anything if no-one cares though).
 
Psyduck:

Yeah, go ahead and make a Yellow Psyduck. All the Yellow stuff I put in Psyduck was throryman anyway, as in the beginning people wanted me to add Yellow stuff to the review. But I think segregation looks better.

Voltorb:
In my opinion, the writer of this undersold.
Stats: "Enormous Speed" should mention that its actually the fasted Pokemon in the game
Power: Mention it has a huge Critical Hit ratio
Lance: Not an easy fight? Dragonite does not resist electrisity, and being able to outspeed and destroy Gyarados/Aerodactyl was pretty good in its own right.
 
In RB, nobody besides Gyarados has any special moves to hit Electrode with, so you can put up a Reflect or two and then just blast everything with Thunderbolt/Thunder crits.
 

atsync

Where the "intelligence" of TRAINERS is put to the test!
is a Pokemon Researcheris a Contributor to Smogon
Psyduck:

Yeah, go ahead and make a Yellow Psyduck. All the Yellow stuff I put in Psyduck was throryman anyway, as in the beginning people wanted me to add Yellow stuff to the review. But I think segregation looks better.
Yeah I was actually one of those people! I said that at the time because we weren't splitting entries as much, but now we've done Growlithe, Farfetch'd and Krabby, Psyduck should be done too I think (and I don't think that Yellow Psyduck should be ranked above Lapras).

So yeah I guess this is how we'll deal with Psyduck, unless anyone has any objections...

Voltorb:
In my opinion, the writer of this undersold.
Stats: "Enormous Speed" should mention that its actually the fasted Pokemon in the game
Power: Mention it has a huge Critical Hit ratio
Lance: Not an easy fight? Dragonite does not resist electrisity, and being able to outspeed and destroy Gyarados/Aerodactyl was pretty good in its own right.
Noted.

In RB, nobody besides Gyarados has any special moves to hit Electrode with, so you can put up a Reflect or two and then just blast everything with Thunderbolt/Thunder crits.
Technically Reflect can only be used once, but I see your point. We do have to be careful about how we mention crits though since they aren't so frequent that you can assume they will happen when you want them to.

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

I'm leaving this round open for a bit longer.

As far as what I want to change, I'd maybe like to see Spearow's ability to OHKO Grass types early game emphasized a bit more. It's quite useful seeing as they like to status you, and Spearow is one of the few that can kill Grass types easily that isn't terrible otherwise (like Zubat and Paras). I think it's fine in Mid though.

I have an issue with Rattata's analysis, although I can't quite place my finger on what it is exactly. I think the tone is a bit negative/underselling in some parts? Especially if it's proposing Rattata as Mid tier. The info seems mostly ok though.

I have no issues with the actual tier placements of any of the Pokemon here.
 
Slowpoke: As I stated previously, it should be mentioned that Slowpoke can be caught just after you receive the Super Rod by fishing it out of Celadon City's pond. You can only catch it at 15, however, meaning that it'll be slightly underleveled compared to your team. It's also pretty pathetic until it evolves at 37, so it might be better to wait until you can catch it in Seafoam.

Also, I know this a silly question, but is it possible to make an analysis for Mew? Despite the fact that it can't be caught by normal means, it doesn't change the fact that it CAN be caught.
 
If we allowed for Mew, then we'd also have to change the availability of tons of different Pokemon that you can also catch with the Mew glitch (Rhyhorn, Lapras, and Moltres are ones I remember beign able to catch early.) Let's just sick to Pokemon which can be obtained without glitch abuse.
 
If we allowed for Mew, then we'd also have to change the availability of tons of different Pokemon that you can also catch with the Mew glitch (Rhyhorn, Lapras, and Moltres are ones I remember being able to catch early.) Let's just sick to Pokemon which can be obtained without glitch abuse.
i'm pretty sure you can get any pokemon with some knowledge as to what their hex placements are - thus, yeah, it's not worth it, as we'd need a separate analysis for every pokemon.

missingno. is probably on the same note, but unlike the other pokemon, will appear at some point when you use the missingno. glitch no matter what; but it's only readily available in rb i think, as it's (somewhat) fixed in yellow.

still, though, i'm doubting we'll see a missingno. analysis.
 

atsync

Where the "intelligence" of TRAINERS is put to the test!
is a Pokemon Researcheris a Contributor to Smogon
Slowpoke: As I stated previously, it should be mentioned that Slowpoke can be caught just after you receive the Super Rod by fishing it out of Celadon City's pond. You can only catch it at 15, however, meaning that it'll be slightly underleveled compared to your team. It's also pretty pathetic until it evolves at 37, so it might be better to wait until you can catch it in Seafoam.
Yep. For what it's worth, I actually used a level 15 Slowpoke once and it was one of the worst things I'd ever used. I guess it should be mentioned, but it will be mainly to emphasize that you SHOULDN'T use it and that waiting until the Seafoam Islands is better.

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

For anyone who wants to understand why we won't be allowing the Missingno. or Mew glitches (or most of the other glitches that we can reasonably ban, for that matter), this post from the very first thread explains it quite nicely:

If you're going to allow glitch use, the tiering exercise becomes entirely pointless, because all Pokemon become equally capable of OHKOing things as soon as you gain the ability to dupe Rare Candies, hence making Articuno one of the worst Pokemon in the game due to the fact that it has zero availability prior to that point. Similarly, any remarks about "duping elixers" are irrelevant to tiering discussion, because I don't care about duping PP items to get more mileage out of Blizzard when my level 100 Blastoise is OHKOing everything with Surf and Ice Beam. Of course, I don't even care about Rare Candy duping when I can just sweep the entire game with the level 177 Mewtwo I caught in the Seafoam Islands.

Anyway, the same techinique used to catch Mew can also be used to catch something like Exeggcute or Lapras early on and I doubt you want to go to the trouble of tiering those according to glitch availability as well.
 
You don't even need to dupe items to break the game.

Get Mew down to level 1 (Growl the Slowpoke or whatever you're using to set the species six times), level underflow to 100, hand it some TMs.

There's nothing to tier there - it's "Mew > other level-underflowed things without the ability to take every TM in the game > everything else." Hey, look at that, I did a RBY-with-glitches tier list.

You can do either "glitches" or "no glitches"; only one of those actually has any room for discussion.
 
No one ever said the game was hard. They're trying to do a non-glitch tier list. Everyone knows about the mew glitch.

In saying that, I do think the tier list is flawed. It is based on efficiency, yet the style of run the list is tiering, which is a using a team of 4-6 pokemon around the level of the current gym leader is inherently inefficient to begin with.


Really, the best pokemon is the pokemon that is used to solo the game in speedruns. That's why I think this list should have been based on a level-restricting nuzlocke, because then you do actually need a team. Geodude is a classic example of a pokemon that is inefficient at soloing the game but is awesome to have on a team of pokemon with a level advantage.
 
You don't even need to dupe items to break the game.

Get Mew down to level 1 (Growl the Slowpoke or whatever you're using to set the species six times), level underflow to 100, hand it some TMs.

There's nothing to tier there - it's "Mew > other level-underflowed things without the ability to take every TM in the game > everything else." Hey, look at that, I did a RBY-with-glitches tier list.

You can do either "glitches" or "no glitches"; only one of those actually has any room for discussion.
Alright, alright, no need to be snarky. I already knew it was a silly question, I was just wondering if it was possible.

Anyway, as for the Rattata analysis, I think that there should be a mention somewhere of Super Fang. You're most likely going to have Pokemon that have supereffective coverage against the late game enemies, but in case you decide not to, Super Fang is a big help by devouring half their health.
 
Rattata seems to be mostly written based off of theorymon. It actually makes pretty good use of its wide movepool if you can spare the resources, kind of like Clefable, but it's obviously worse at it, and every resource you can't give it hurts. For example, if you can't give it Dig, it can't do anything in Pokemon Tower or vs Agatha. But having "piss poor" Special doesn't prevent it from beating generic trainers with 95 BP special moves or anything.
 
Rattata seems to be mostly written based off of theorymon. It actually makes pretty good use of its wide movepool if you can spare the resources, kind of like Clefable, but it's obviously worse at it, and every resource you can't give it hurts. For example, if you can't give it Dig, it can't do anything in Pokemon Tower or vs Agatha. But having "piss poor" Special doesn't prevent it from beating generic trainers with 95 BP special moves or anything.
Looking at Rattata, it reminds me of a physically inclined Clefable with a really good STAB move to carry it through the game after Level 15. It doesn't need Body Slam because Hyper Fang. Doesn't need Strength because Hyper Fang. It really wants Bubblebeam to pick on Geodude and Onix, and it can learn Blizzard and Ice Beam, if you're so inclined. It also learns Thunder, if you're feeling ballsy. I'm kinda curious why the analysis didn't mention Blizzard or Ice Beam, as your Water type will probably only need one of them, so give the rat the other as an upgrade for Bubblebeam or something?

Analysis also forgets to mention that Raticate can beat Exeggutor because lolBarrage and Lance's Dragons die to Blizzard from anything and their movepool is absurdly bad in RB. It's not as bad as the analysis says.
 
Yeah Raticate may need a revamp, its stuff like this that I'm not fond of:

Bruno - Oh god no. Don't even think of it. I suppose you could Bubblebeam his Onix?

I mean yeah, we know Bruno uses Fighting Pokemon and Raticate is weak to them. But I feel like these analysis should be user friendly and explain why I shouldn't think of using Raticate against Bruno.
 

Chou Toshio

Over9000
is an Artist Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
^to be fair, when we first started this we didn't think of these as analysis at all-- and were really only doing it for our own amusement.

Well, since these aren't going on site (are they?) it's still for our own amusement though...
 

atsync

Where the "intelligence" of TRAINERS is put to the test!
is a Pokemon Researcheris a Contributor to Smogon
I actually had a look through the old threads and apparently the guy who wrote Rattata originally placed it in Low, but changed it when he got feedback. Evidently he didn't bother rewording it to reflect its new tier. So yeah Rattata will need a revamp to fix the tone and add some of the suggestions that have been made (preferably from someone who has use Rattata before).

I'll be ending this round and posting the required changes when I get home in a few hours. Then we'll be getting into Low Tier!

Well, since these aren't going on site (are they?) it's still for our own amusement though...
I'm actually not really sure if they are going on site or not. The long entries we have now are great for discussion in this thread, but I remember Oglemi saying in the very first thread that the entries we were writing were far too long for an article so I probably won't be allowed to use them for the write-up. If I have to write condensed entries (like those used in the other tier lists we have on site) I'll probably just include a link to this thread in the article somewhere so that people can access them whenever they want and the work that the writers put into their analyses doesn't end up being for nothing.
 

atsync

Where the "intelligence" of TRAINERS is put to the test!
is a Pokemon Researcheris a Contributor to Smogon
Round's over. All of these Pokemon will remain in Mid.

Psyduck
  • Psyduck needs to be separated by version. RB Psyduck stays in Mid and Yellow Psyduck drops to Low. A new analysis for Yellow Psyduck needs to be written and mentions of Yellow stuff in the RB analysis needs to be removed.
Rattata
  • Needs a revamp to improve the tone. The analysis is a bit negative considering that it is being sold as a Mid tier Pokemon.
  • Mention Ice Beam and Blizzard alongside the other special moves it gets. They are good moves and it has a reasonable chance of getting at least one of them.
  • Mention Super Fang. It's an ok filler move and could see use as a reliable way of getting certain wild Pokemon down to low health (especially Articuno and Zapdos). It probably has limited use in trainer battle though.
Slowpoke
  • Should mention that level 15 Slowpoke is obtainable via the Super Rod, which is earlier than the Seafoam Islands. However, this should be mentioned so that players are discouraged from using it because level 15 Slowpoke is awful!
Spearow
  • Should mention that it is able to OHKO Grass types before they can start throwing status, which is useful early game.
Voltorb
  • In Stats, specifically state that Electrode is the fastest Pokemon in the game (140).
  • Needs to mention its crit rate (27.34%) in Power. Should be careful not to imply that they can be relied upon to happen when you particularly need them, but should mention that they happen often enough to get some free kills occasionally. Also mention that its crit rate is the highest in the game because it is the fastest Pokemon in the game.
  • Lance match-up shouldn't be as negative. Being able to kill Gyarados and Aerodactyl easily is useful, and Dragonite doesn't resist Electric. Reflect can be useful to soften the physical blows of his Dragons.

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


Starting Low Tier now. I've decide to do these in slightly larger groups of 9 to speed up the process, and also because I'm not expecting much discussion about some of the shittier Pokemon like Ditto.


As usual:
  • Is this Pokemon in the right tier? If you disagree, say which tier you think it should be moved to. You'll need to give reasons of course.
  • Does the entry written for the Pokemon cover everything that needs to be covered? The whole point of the entries is to provide a convincing case for the Pokemon being in the tier they are in. Therefore, we need to make sure the entries cover why a Pokemon is good or bad. If you think something important is missing, speak up and we can add this information. Likewise, if you think an entry contains information that isn't particularly relevant, say so and we can remove the fluff.
If there is a clear consensus about disagreement with where a Pokemon is tiered, I'll move it and a new entry may need to be written (note that in some cases, simple edits of the current analysis to change the overall tone may suffice).

The next Pokemon up will be:
  • Aerodactyl
Aerodactyl - Low Tier (at best)
Availability: Cinnabar Island, at Lv. 30. You need the Old Amber.
Stats: The second highest Speed in the game, with nice Attack to boot. It's very fragile, though.
Movepool: To sum its level-up movepool up: Wing Attack (35BP in Gen I), Supersonic, Normal-type Attacks. It can learn Fire Blast, but doesn't have the Special to use it effectively. It also doesn't have access to any Rock-type moves.
Power: It's one of the few Flying-types that are both walled by Rock-types and weak to the abundant Water-types. Lack of good STAB means that it'll generally be reliant on Fly and Take Down for damage. If the opponent can survive a crit Fly/Take Down, it can generally leave Aero in the yellow/red.
Type: Aerodactyl has a great offensive typing. Unfortunately, the best STAB it can use is Fly. Also, while it's the only Pokemon in RBY to resist Normal and Ground, it's also weak to Water, which is all over the place.
Match-ups:
Blaine: Because of Aero's mediocre defenses, STAB Fire Blast is seriously going to hurt, even though it's resisted. Basically, spam Fly and hope for Criticals.
Giovanni: You resist his entire team's moves, except for his Nidoking/queen in Yellow, because of Thunder. Also keep in mind that Aerodactyl can't exactly do anything to Rhyhorn/don.
Lorelei: Her team's STAB is SE on you. No further explanation is necessary.
Bruno: His 2 Onix (embarassingly) wall you, but the rest of his team is easily dealt with by Fly.
Agatha: Her entire team is physically frail, and Aero's naturally faster then all of them.
Lance: While Aerodactyl resists Hyper Beam, Lance's Gyarados knows Hydro Pump. Don't push your luck otherwise. In Yellow, his 2 Dragonair and Dragonite now know moves that are SE against your pterodactyl.
Additional Comments: Aerodactyl is a great example of how important STAB is, in the inverse manner. As you can see, Fly deals heavy damage to anything that doesn't resist it. Lack of Rock-type moves to use, late joining time, and a weakness to Water hamper its usefulness. At least Fly is good on it, thanks to STAB, base 105 Attack, and a 25% crit rate.

  • Caterpie
-Caterpie - Low Tier
-Availability: Caterpie are quite easy to obtain. They're indigenous to Viridian Forest and are quite common there in all games except for Red. Caterpie can be caught at level 3 in Red, level 3 through 5 in Blue, and level 3 through 6 in Yellow. Their first evolution, Metapod, can also be caught in Viridian Forest, but their only move is Harden, making them completely useless until they evolve to Butterfree and learn Confusion. Speaking of evolving, Caterpie evolve at level 7 and then level 10.
-Stats: Butterfree's stats, while great for the first portion of the game, are unimpressive in the long term, with its best stats being Special and Speed, neither of which are particularly impressive. Being your garden variety caterpillar and crysalis, Caterpie and Metapod are far from threatening at any point in the game.
-Movepool: Something important to remember is that Butterfree learns all of its level up moves ,save for Psybeam, earlier in Yellow than in Red or Blue. For example, Butterfree learns Confusion immediately after evolving in Yellow, while it has to wait until level 12 in Red and Blue. It gets access to Sleep Powder and Stun Spore at a level similar to Bellsprout and Oddish, in other words before level 20. After Confusion and the powders, Butterfree's level up movepool stagnates, learning nothing of note until level 32 (level 34 in Yellow), when it learns Psybeam. A TM move you will definitely want to teach Butterfree is Psychic. It's Butterfree's most powerful attack in most circumstances, and as such it is highly recommended that you teach it to Butterfree. Another move Butterfree would appreciate learning would be Mega Drain, as while it isn't as powerful as Psychic, it helps Butterfree against the late-game Water-types and assists it when fighting certain later bosses.
-Power: Caterpie's not exactly the most dangerous tool in the shed until it evolves and learns Confusion. After that, though, it does quite well until S.S. Anne, which is where its power starts to decline, and it becomes reliant on Psychic to deal damage to its opponents, as Confusion won't be OHKOing that isn't a Fighting-type. Psybeam helps, but it doesn't grab any notable KOes Confusion doesn't outside of Koffing, Zubat, and other base form Poison-types.
-Type: Bug/Flying is easily one of the worst typings for a Pokemon to have in Generation I from a defensive standpoint, as it's weak to the STABs of the common Poison-types and Flying-types. It isn't much better offensively for Butterfree in particular, as it's primarily a special attacker and as such can't use its STAB to good use, even if it knew any.
-Match-ups:
--Brock: In Yellow, Butterfree is one of only four Pokemon who can beat Brock reliably and without worry. Due to the fact that it has to wait until level 12 to learn Confusion in Red and Blue means it isn't as likely to do well against him.
--Misty: Butterfree can take a Bubblebeam from her Starmie and paralyze it or put it to sleep, but it can't do much else.
--Lt. Surge: Due to its typing, Lt. Surge's Raichu hits Butterfree super effectively, frazzling it.
--Erika: By this time, Butterfree should know Psychic. With it, Butterfree can defeat Erika handily, thanks to her entire team (save for Tangela who isn't much of a threat) being hit super effectively by it.
--Koga: Despite being weak to Psychic, his Pokemon can withstand a blast and respond with Sludge. In Yellow, his Koffing, Muk, and Weezing are replaced with 3 Venonat and a Venomoth. Because Butterfree is weak to Poison-type attacks, Toxic should be the only move Koga's Pokemon would use on it, but keep in mind Psychic's mere 10 PP.
--Sabrina: Much like with Misty, Butterfree can status her Pokemon, but not much else.
--Blaine: By virtue of typing (and stats), Butterfree loses here.
--Giovanni: Butterfree beats Giovanni in Red and Blue, but only if it knows Mega Drain. Psychic definitely helps it, but it isn't necessary in this scenario. In Yellow, Persian gives Butterfree trouble, and Nidoking and Nidoqueen both have a new technique under their belts: Thunder.
--Lorelei: Lorelei's Pokemon hit Butterfree super effectively, making this match-up clear.
--Bruno: This match-up is the opposite of Lorelei's, provided Butterfree knows Psychic and Mega Drain. The former allows it to beat his Fighting-types and the latter lets it crush his Onix.
--Agatha: Even with Psychic, Butterfree has trouble here due to her Pokemon being faster and having superior Special.
--Lance: All of his Pokemon have Hyper Beam, and considering Butterfree's paper-thin defenses...
--Rival: In Red and Blue, Butterfree can take on Rhydon, Exeggutor, and Venusaur, while Exeggutor is the only Pokemon on his team in Yellow that is seriously threatened by Butterfree.
-Additional Comments: Without a doubt, what holds Butterfree back from being a force to be reckoned with long-term is a combination of lack of STAB and the posession of a merely average Special stat. Because of those 2 factors, Butterfree has a disappointing power output in the game's later stages. That said, Butterfree is a very capable early-game Pokemon. Its access to Sleep Powder and Psychic-type moves, which have superb type coverage, make it a valuable asset before your team gets filled out, the former making it great for catching the rest of your team, notably Pokemon like Abra. Butterfree is notably better in Yellow, due to its positive match-up against Brock as well as its earlier access to Confusion, but that doesn't change the fact that it still has power issues as the game progresses. Another thing to keep in mind is that outside of status, Butterfree is largely dependant on TMs to defeat the later bosses, and is TM hungry in general after Rock Tunnel.

  • Chansey
-Chansey - Low Tier
-Availability: Chansey is probably the most unavailable Pokémon in the whole game. It is a rare Pokémon with low catch rate. What’s worse is that it is a Safari Zone Pokémon which means you have little control over whether you will successfully catch it or not. The odds are stacked against you and you will probably be looking for this for a long time.
-Stats: Chansey’s stat distribution is quite unique. Chansey has a ridiculous 250 HP. Backed up by 105 Special, Chansey absolutely cannot be defeated by any special attack, ever. The high Special also makes it a powerful attacker. On the other hand, it only has 5 Attack and Defence. Although the massive HP stat helps with physical attacks somewhat, don’t be surprised when random things like Weezing’s Sludge 2HKO you. Chansey is a bit on the slow side with 50 Speed, but as long as you are at a decent level you should go first most of the time.
-Movepool: Sadly, Chansey’s level up movepool is quite useless. It only learns physical attacks, which do laughable damage, along with a bunch of insignificant support moves. On the plus side, Chansey’s TM compatibility is insane! Between Ice Beam/Blizzard, Thunderbolt, BubbleBeam, Fire Blast, Psychic and SolarBeam, Chansey can throw together a moveset catering to your teams needs. Another thing that can’t be over-looked is its access to Softboiled. With this move in hand, Chansey can become the ultimate support Pokémon by healing its wounded team mates, saving you a trip to the Pokémon centre. Given its incredible HP score, Chansey is more than capable of performing in this role, and it is the only Pokémon able to do so anyway. Finally, Chansey has Thunder Wave which isn’t a required move but it allows it to make up for its low Speed in important battles.
-Power: Chansey is mainly held back by its lack of Special STAB. It can have trouble getting around some Pokémon that aren’t weak to one of its moves. Kadabra, Alakazam and Hypno in particular can cause problems. Still, Chansey has amazing coverage backed by 105 Special, allowing it to kill teams just fine on its own. Chansey’s low Speed can cause problems occasionally, but against most under-levelled you’ll go first anyway.
-Type: It has no use for its Normal STAB thanks to its useless Attack score. Chansey sort of wishes it had more resistances, but it doesn’t really need them. Only powerful Fighting attacks (which are not that common) have a chance to OHKO it without a critical hit, and special attacks do laughable damage to it.
-Match-ups: Koga – Psychic can be used to sweep here if you have it. In RB, you’ll be attacked from the physical side so you may struggle to sweep unassisted. In Yellow, you are much better placed thanks to your special bulk cushioning Psychic.
Sabrina – You start out with an advantage because you shrug off all of their hits. They have high Special stats though so they can survive your hits. You can’t lose unless you suffer several Special drops. Thunder Wave is a useful option here.
Blaine – The fire attacks you will face are easily shrugged off. The physical attacks are more of an issue, although watching Arcanine maim itself with Take Down recoil is satisfying! BubbleBeam is your strongest option here.
Giovanni – BubbleBeam and Ice Beam/Blizzard will cover everything except Persian. You must be careful though, as this is a physically based team and a full sweep is difficult.
Lorelei – On the plus side, you take nothing from their Ice and Water attacks. On the down side, all of her Pokémon have physical attacks except Slowbro, who can set up Amnesia. Lapras is the biggest threat with Body Slam. Thunderbolt covers most of her Pokémon just fine.
Bruno – BubbleBeam/Ice Beam/Blizzard wrecks Onix and Psychic covers everything else. Hitmonchan is a joke, especially in Yellow. Hitmonlee and Machamp are more dangerous thanks to their Fighting attacks.
Agatha – All of her Pokémon can’t really do much to Chansey directly but your low Speed leave you vulnerable to status moves. If luck is on your side then this won’t be an issue though.
Lance – BoltBeam covers everything. This is a bit easier in Yellow because there are more special attacks but everything has at least 1 physical attack. This will make a full solo difficult, but as long as you have the right moves then you can at least contribute.
Blue – What to teach Chansey governs what you can kill. Everything except Alakazam has at least 1 physical attack but not all of his Pokémon can do much with them. Basically, just pick off what you can with the moves you have and leave the rest to something else.
-Additional Comments: Chansey is definitely a good Pokémon if you can get your hands on it. But that’s the problem. Catching it is difficult and can take ages. Much like all of the rare Safari Zone Pokémon, you can waste precious time catching this, and any time that you save by having this on your team will probably not be enough to make up for this.

  • Cubone
Cubone - Bottom Tier
-Availability: Lavender Town is the earliest and they come at level 22 which isn't too far off your team at the time. In Yellow they also appear in the Safari Zone, but that's a bit out of your way.
-Stats: Cubone is slow. He has a decent Attack and a great Defense stat, but he's always taking hits because he is slow.
-Movepool: Comes with STAB moves unlike other Ground types, and can learn some great moves, but Cubone's Special is poor and can only really obtain Normal moves to take advantage of its stats.
-Power: Cubone/Marowak is very strong coming off it's STAB moves, but it's quite slow so it will always be taking a hit which will wear it down significantly.
-Type: Not a lot of trainers use Electric-type moves, meaning Cubone's immunity is useless. In addition, weakness to Grass and Water is not great. Marowak doesn't get a lot of important resistances though, which is unfortunate.
-Match-ups:
Erika: Erika is a problem for Marowak. It's slow, so it can be hit with a status, locked in a constricting move or taken out swiftly with a Super Effective move. However, if you are lucky and you are appropriately leveled, Marowak should KO one of Erika's Pokemon. Just don't expect a sweep.
Koga: Marowak is strong against poison and has a high defense. In addition, Bone Rush hits all of his Pokemon hard. Koga will often be too busy giving his Pokemon X-Attack as well, so you can be comfortable 2HKOing some of his Pokemon. Also worthy of note, Marowak's defense can help cushion Weezing's Self-destruct. In Yellow, Marowak will sweep nicely as well as Venonat is frail, but beware Venomoth's Psybeam as it will hurt you on the Special side.
Sabrina: Marowak is not great here. His low Speed combined with his low Special means he will be hit first and hard, even at level 50. He will KO Kadabra in 1 shot, but he will be hit first. Venomoth will use Stun Spore to slow you down and hit you with Psybeam. Mr Mime can take a hit, but can't do much to you back with Doubleslap. Alakazam can usually take a hit from you and hit you hard back, and since he outspeeds you even with a large level gap, this means he is very likely to KO you regardless.
Blaine: Marowak does well here, as STAB Dig/Earthquake/Bone Rush will OHKO all of Blaine's pokemon. All he will do in response is spam Super Potions and use Normal-type moves, which Marowak can take with ease due to his high defense.
Giovanni: Marowak is a solid performer here, especially if he has Earthquake. His high defense and STAB Earthquakes mean Marowak will be able to take a hit from every Pokemon on his team and strike back hard. He also gets type advantage against Nidoking and Nidoqueen as a bonus.
Lorelei: Unfortunately every Pokemon in Lorlei's team will have a type advantage over Marowak, and many of them will be faster. This is a bad match-up for Marowack.
Bruno: The opposite of Lorelei, Bruno will be hitting you exclusively with Physical attacks and his pokemon will more likely be slower. Marowak will be dealing some serious damage here, this is a great match-up.
Agatha: This match-up is very much mixed. On one hand, all of her Pokemon are poison types, but on the other, they are all faster than you and will status you to high hell and back. This match basically comes down to luck.
Lance: He has 3 Pokemon that are immune to Ground attacks, and many of those Pokemon will be hitting you hard with moves like Hydro Pump and Slam. You don't have it easy here. In Yellow this battle is much harder as his Dragons will now carry the likes of Ice Beam and Bubblebeam.
Rival: There are definitely better match-ups for Marowak, but there are some pros and cons. There will always be a Fire type and he will always have Rhydon, so you have an advantage there, but aside from that you do not want to try to sweep with this match-up. The addition of an Electric-type (and the subsequent removal of Pidgeot) gives Marowak better standing in Yellow, but not by much.
Additional Comments: Sandslash, Dugtrio, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Rhydon, Golem. Those are all the Ground types that outclass Cubone. Many of them come earlier as well, which means that in many playthroughs Marowak will be overlooked. That being said, there are a number of benefits to Cubone, one such being that he learns high base power Ground moves and works with good TM support to round out his coverage. His middling Speed and weaknesses to Grass and Water let him down. Essentially, while he has his uses, Cubone is situational at best and he is best left to be the best of the Bottom Tier.

  • Ditto
Ditto - Bottom Tier
Availability: The earliest you can get it is Route 13, but only in Red and Blue. You can find it in Pokemon Mansion in Yellow.
Stats: Untrasnformed, Ditto has a BST of 288, just enough to be absolutely useless. When transformed, Ditto copies the opponents stats aside from HP, which is still pitifully low. This works very much against Ditto. Unlike every other Pokemon in the game, Ditto's stats are forced to be terrible because he can never truly "outlevel" the opponent. He is stuck with the stats he Transforms, which takes away the advantage of being a higher level.
Movepool: Transform. Most ingame trainers use terrible movesets as well, so don't think that will save you, either.
Power: Depends entirely on what you turn in to. If you turn in to Fearow, who has high Attack but low Defense, you're golden. If you transform in to Onix, who has garbage Attack and insane Defense, well, you're not golden. Oh, and since the Special stat isn't split, you will always be doing disappointing damage there.
Type: Ditto is a Normal-type with no STAB. If a Pokemon is carrying a move super-effective against itself, pray you don't get hit by it after you Transform.
Match Ups:
Erika - You are REALLY going out of your way to get Ditto if you are using it against Erika. You can actually do pretty well here: she leads of with Pokemon that use trapping moves.
Koga - You are going to be walling each other, so expect a long fight. Except in Yellow version, since he runs Psychic on his Pokemon.
Sabrina - You wall each other. Not exactly the base way to go. You can probably oneshot Venomoth, though.
Blaine - Again, you pretty much wall each other. Don't bother.
Giovanni - In R/B, don't expect Ditto to do anything. In Yellow, Transform into Dugtrio and spam Earthquake, which hits everything but Persian and his own Dugtrio super-effective (but they are frail as hell anyways).
Lorelei - You wall each other. Don't use Ditto here.
Bruno -If you can Transform into Hitmonlee, you can spam Hi-Jump Kick. Good luck surviving long enough to do so.
Agatha - You can do extremely well against her with her high level Gengar. Just not anything else.
Lance - None of Lance's Pokemon are exceptionally vulnerable to each other, except for Yellow Dragonite who can easily clean his own team.
Additional Comments: Ditto may seems to do actually well against a few major fights, but keep in mind that they can use the same strategy to beat Ditto you are using to beat them. You can't breed in Gen I, so that utility is gone too. Don't use Ditto.

  • Dratini
-Dratini - Low Tier
-Availability: In RB, you can theoretically get it as soon as you get to Celadon by buying it from the Game Corner. It is cheaper in Red but is at a lower level and therefore requires more grinding (level 18 for 2800 coins in Red and level 24 for 4600 coins in Blue). So either you’ll have to fork over a bit of money but spend time grinding, or you’ll get it at a more manageable level but have to spend up bigger. Neither is particularly desirable in an efficient playthrough. Alternatively, you can catch it in the Safari Zone with a Super Rod at level 15. This is probably a bit more practical and cheaper, but you are at the mercy of the Safari Zone mechanics and the level is a lot worse especially at that point in the game. In Yellow, it can only be obtained from the Safari Zone, and it is a bit rarer. It comes at the same level. Note that it is possible to catch Dragonair as well, but since you’ll likely have to go past level 30 for Dragonair to match your team, this isn’t really much of an advantage.
-Stats: Dragonite has the highest Attack in the game (134), great bulk (91/95/100) and decent Speed (80). Unfortunately this is nearly irrelevent because Dragonair evolves so late that Dragonite's stats are unavailable for most of the game. Instead, you are using Dragonair and its 84 Attack, 70 Speed and 61/65/70 bulk. It is fairly weak, and Dratini is even worse.
-Movepool: Dratini’s level up movepool is not that good. Hyper Beam comes way too late. Slam has decent power but is inaccurate, though Thunder Wave has some utility until stronger moves come along. Dratini can also use the Agility/Thunder Wave + Wrap combo to get around troublesome opponents, but this is slow and not very reliable. On the plus side, Dratini has great TM/HM compatibility. Pick from Surf, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Fire Blast, Thunderbolt or Body Slam. Obviously these comes with opportunity costs (except Surf) but chances are that you will have at least a few of these free so it isn’t so bad.
-Power: You are using Dragonair for most of the game and its low stats make it barely adequate. It does put work in and its wide TM compatibility ensure that it will be at least useful, but it will most likely be the weak link of the team.
-Type: It doesn’t learn any STAB moves sadly (not even Fly). From a defensive point of view, pure Dragon is nice. A strong set of resistances is backed up a general lack of Ice moves throughout the game. It is also unique to Dragonair. For types that Dragon doesn't resist, Dragonair will be using its stats and sadly these will sometimes fall short.
-Match-ups: Erika: Grass resistance, but you need Ice Beam to really be helpful at all. If you do then it should go ok though it won’t absolutely dominate the gym.
Koga: Neutral, in terms of type advantages. Koga sucks in RB so pretty much anything can work here (Dragonair is no exception but a full solo might be a bit much). Venonat is weak so Yellow is the same deal.
Sabrina: Alakazam will be too strong to handle. It doesn’t do well in the gym overall, though Thunderbolt can help against the Slowbro and Slowpoke used by the gym trainers.
Blaine: This gym is one of your best match-ups. Surf is probably the best move to teach Dragonair simply due to it being a HM rather than a TM, and Surf + Fire resistance gives it a good showing here. Don't underestimate the power of Arcanine's physical moves though.
Giovanni: Chances are you’ll have at least one move that hits Ground super-effective (Surf most likely), so you do alright here too.
Lorelei: Ice attacks are being thrown out a lot here so don’t bother.
Bruno: Onix dies to Surf. Dragonite should be strong enough to kill everything else, but Dragonair might struggle against Hitmonlee and Machamp.
Agatha: Golbat is weak to Thunderbolt and Ice Beam/Blizzard, but if it outspeeds and confuses you then you may lose anyway. Arbok shouldn’t be too much of an issue but Gengar can still win if you are unlucky.
Lance: Depends on your moves it has. Thunderbolt hits Gyarados, Ice Beam/Blizzard hits the dragons and Aerodactyl is weak to both. In Yellow you need to watch out for an ice attack from Lance’s Dragonair and Dragonite.
Blue: In theory, you can hit pretty much everything super-effectively but again it depends on what you gave it. Chances are that you'll be able to take on at least a few things though.
Additional comments: Dragonite is awesome, but because it evolves so late it may as well not exist before the Elite 4 (and even then you may not have it yet). Instead, what you are essentially getting is Dragonair, who has below average stats. Combine this with how tedious it can be to obtain in the first place and you have a pokemon that is clearly at home in Low tier.

  • Ekans
-Ekans (Red only) - Low Tier
-Availability: Ekans can be found right after Mt. Moon at levels 6 through 12. Obviously, this means it'll have some catching up to do, which can be troublesome given what moves it knows when it's caught. Ekans evolve at level 22.
-Stats: Ekans, and later Arbok, have rather average Attack and Speed, and their defensive stats are lackluster.
-Movepool: Ekans's TM movepool is wider than what would be assumed, as it gets access to moves such as Dig, Rock Slide, Mega Drain, and even Earthquake! Its level up movepool, however, leaves much to be desired; its best level up move is Bite at level 17. Until Bite, its only attacking options are Poison Sting and Wrap, neither of which are good for efficient runs. Ekans and Arbok get exclusive access to Glare, which can potentially assist in major fights, but is useless otherwise. Another TM move Arbok can learn is Body Slam, but because it already has a Normal-type attack with passable base power in Bite at the time, odds are that Arbok won't be learning it.
-Power: Before it gets Bite, Ekans will be doing very poorly. After it learns Bite and evolves, Arbok can hold its own up until Cycling Road, but keep in mind there's not exactly any point in the game where Arbok stands out. It's also fairly useless in Pokemon Tower unless it's taught Dig or Rock Slide.
-Type: Mono-Poison typing isn't good in any Pokemon game, but Arbok definitely isn't going to be using any STAB in the first place once it gets access to Bite as Poison Sting's base power is awful and Acid is just as powerful as Bite after factoring STAB and isn't learned until level 47, by which time you should be taking on the Pokemon League.
-Match-ups:
-Misty: The best Ekans can hope to do is to defeat her Staryu, and even that's not guaranteed.
-Lt. Surge: Arbok can paralyze his Raichu and defeat his Voltorb and Pikachu, but it never sweeps him outright unless it's taught Dig.
-Erika: Arbok doesn't have to worry about Erika using Grass-type attacks, giving it a chance against her. The best Erika will do against Arbok is having her Victreebel constantly Wrap it.
-Koga: Because of Koga's Pokemon having very respectable Defense as well as Arbok only possessing average Attack, it's not going to be doing much unless it knows Dig.
-Sabrina: Even if it wasn't Poison-type, Arbok would lose here.
-Blaine: Arbok needs Dig or Rock Slide to beat him, but keep in mind it isn't guaranteed even if it knows those moves.
-Giovanni: Arbok can deal damage to all of his Pokemon (saveforDugtrio) with Dig, but it'll still get worn down by his Pokemon's repeated assaults.
-Lorelei: Arbok can defeat Jynx and Screech her Dewgong until Rock Slide 2HKOes it, but the rest of Lorelei's Pokemon have the bulk to take whatever Arbok throws at it and retaliate accordingly.
-Bruno: His Onix's Earthquakes deal unsettling amounts of damage, but Arbok can use Mega Drain against them to seriously harm them back and simultaneously heal its HP back. On the other hand, while Arbok resists Fighting-type attacks, Normal-type attacks from Bruno's Fighting-types will definitely hurt.
-Agatha: As per usual, Arbok won't be doing much without Dig or Earthquake, but that doesn't protect it from the fact that Agatha's Ghosts are faster than it and can confuse it, and keep in mind that Dig is a two-turn attack. Because of this, it is recommended that Arbok should be taught Earthquake if you want it to do well here.
-Lance: The best Arbok can do here is to defeat his Aerodactyl, but even that's dependent on Aerodactyl constantly using Supersonic and failing, not to mention Arbok would need to know Rock Slide.
-Rival: Without TMs, the only things Arbok can beat are Pidgeot, Exeggutor, and occasionally Venusaur. With Dig and Rock Slide, it gains the ability to defeat Rhydon, Arcanine, and Charizard (the latter two aren't guaranteed, though) in addition to the above.
-Additional Comments: As you can see, Ekans is greatly dependent on Dig and occasionally Rock Slide to do well against the majority of the game's bosses as well as the entire game from Rock Tunnel onward. This, combined with its average stats across the board and lack of a good STAB, make it very reliant on TMs to do well.

  • Exeggcute
Exeggcute - Low Tier
Availability: Pretty damn late... it appears in the Safari Zone, though it's fairly common and easy to catch, and comes at a max of level 26-27, which is...possibly useable... but decidedly under leveled. It can be immediately evolved with a Leaf Stone.
Stats: The evolved Exeggcutor has freaking amazing stats-- of course, it's one of the most used OU Pokemon after all. Massive fat 125 Special, and above average stats everywhere but Speed-- stats are a major reason why Exeggcutor is an amazing force in competition.
Movepool: Exeggcute comes to you with a pretty meh movepool of Hypnosis, Barrage, and Reflect, and immediately learns the similarly almost-good-but-still-meh Leech Seed. It's best Grass Stab is Mega Drain (ew...), so like competitive sets, you will likely be depending on the Psychic TM as your main means of doing damage; though you do have immediate access to the Psychic TM at the point in the game you get Exeggcute. Exeggcutor does have a decent 95 Attack stat and can use Strength, Stomp, or Hyper Beam. It gets the powders too, but really late (level 48 for Sleep Powder... ew...), so you'll likely be immediately evolving and just enduring with Hypnosis. Explosion, probably don't want to use it in-game.
Power: Psychic and 125 Special rips shit up. Mega Drain can do decent damage against opponents it hits super effectively, and Exeggcutor's decent Attack means it can actually best other Psychic-types like Alakazam by stomping them to death on their weaker physical side.
Type: Grass / Psychic is obviously good typing in general-- it's the main reason Exeggcutor is so popular in OU. However, in-game, Grass does more to hurt Exeggcutor than help, especially at the point in the game you get it. Ground-, Electric-, and Water-type attacks are rare enough that these much-sought resistances in the competitive scene are less useful in game. Low Speed and weaknesses to Fire-, Poison-, and Ice-type attacks are a bit of a burden.
Match-ups:
Koga: If you evolve it and teach it Psychic, it can destroy anything he has. Keep in mind you will be horribly outmatched level-wise (you catch Exeggcutor in Fushia at max level 27, Koga's Pokes are all level 37-50). In RB, if you don't do some major grinding, his pokes will outrun and smack you with powerful super effective Sludge attacks. In Yellow, the Venonats can only status you, but Venomoth carries the 4x super effective Leech Life (though... it is only Leech Life), and is at level 50.
Saffron Rockets: You have STAB Psychic, and resist Electric, so you will have a big advantage.
Sabrina: Exeggcutor can do well here if you have trained it sufficiently and taught it Stomp or Strength. Its Psychic resistance, high Special, and decent Attack give it a significant advantage--again, assuming you've leveled up sufficiently.
Blaine: Er... just don't get hit by a Fire-type attack. Yeah...
Giovanni: Exeggcutor obviously dominates this gym.
Lorelei: Exeggcutor's not dead weight here, with its massive Special allowing it to whether some Ice-type attacks, and retaliate with super effective Mega Drain (healing back in the process). However, your low Speed, high probability of being under leveled, and the sheer power of Lapras's Blizzard will not make this an easy match up for Eggy.
Bruno: Eggy basically laughs at anything Bruno can do (again, provided you get to a decent level).
Agatha: Everything she has will be destroyed by a STAB Psychic attack, but with your low speed, prepared to face several turns of sleeping and hurting yourself in confusion (and being extremely annoyed) before you can claim victory here... eventually.
Lance: You're slow and will not like taking repeated Hyper Beams. In Yellow, 2nd Dragonair and Dragonite can hit you with powerful super effective attacks. Not dead weight, but not great.
Rival: Exeggcutor has an advantage against most of his Pokemon. Just be wary of those with Flying and Fire attacks.
Additional Comments: All things considered, the above information definitely doesn't look bad. Good stats, a usable movepool (fuck, in RBY, STAB Psychic = usable movepool), and a few favorable match-ups. So, what's the problem? The problem is that in addition to Eggy coming so late and under-leveled in the game, it's further hindered by a really slow experience curve and low Speed. In terms of power, experience curve, and availability, you could compare it to Tauros and Staryu-- except that both of those Pokemon have a much better Speed stat. Better Speed allows them to rapidly sweep through opponents and "grind" their way to catch up to the rest of the team with comparable ease. With Exeggcutor, you will find yourself constantly stopping to bust out healing items as you try to catch up to the rest of the team-- making it decidedly more annoying to train. Given dedication, Eggy will blossom to its potential, as one of the most popular of competitive Pokemon-- in-game though, you're probably much better off with Venusaur or Victrebel... or Alakazam.

  • Farfetch'd (Yellow)
-Farfetch’d (Yellow) - Low Tier
-Availability: Farfetch’d isn’t available until after you get passed the sleeping Snorlax in Yellow, on routes 12 and 13. It can be obtained as high as level 31, although a level 31 Farfetch’d is quite rare and you may have to settle for level 26.
-Stats: Awful. 65 Attack and 60 Speed are poor, and it is frail with 52/55/58 Defences.
-Movepool: Access to Swords Dance and Agility by level up is pretty cool. Slash is a nice move too, although it comes late and Farfetch’d doesn’t even have a 100% crit rate when using it (although >93% is pretty close to perfect). Farfetch’d’s once famous access to both Cut and Fly is now useless because it comes so late that Cut doesn’t even give access to anything anymore, but at least dropping Cut allows it to run both of its boosting moves at the same time (with Fly for boosted hits and Slash when you don’t want to boost).
-Power: Farfetch’d needs to boost with Swords Dance to sweep, but a Swords Dance boosted Fly is surprisingly strong. Farfetch’d can sweep whole teams quickly using the tactic. However, having to boost every time it faces a team with more than 1 Pokémon is a pain as Farfetch’d doesn’t have the bulk to keep doing it over and over. This is especially true against faster teams, since it may need to use Agility too. Overall, Farfetch’d sweeps are satisfying but they aren’t the most efficient way to go about things.
-Type: Normal/Flying is not a unique combination, but it is a pretty good type to have. You get walled by Rock types, but these are pretty rare when you get Farfetch’d. Rock, Electric and Ice weaknesses aren’t particularly problematic because they are overall rare.
-Match-ups: Koga – You can sweep him in Yellow by setting up on the first Venonat and hitting his team with Fly. Setting up is risky though because Venonat can hit you surprisingly hard with Psychic and can inflict Toxic to wear you down as you set up.
Sabrina – You can set up on Abra but it will Flash you, and a single miss with Fly will likely lead to Farfetch’d fainting.
Blaine – Farfetch’d just doesn’t have the bulk to set up here, especially since its Low speed necessitates the use of Agility. Don’t bother.
Giovanni – You can set up on Dugtrio, but it might Sand Attack you. If it doesn’t, you can blast through a lot of his team. Rhydon can end your sweep though, and even Persian can screw you if it sets up Double Team on the first turn of Fly.
Lorelei – You are weak to Ice, so you aren’t going to do much.
Bruno – In theory, you can hit his Fighting types hard, but the problem is that Onix stops your sweep partway through so you switch out and lose your boosts. Your best bet is to just try hitting without boosting and hope you don’t die. Good luck with that.
Agatha – The interesting thing here is that you can actually set up on the first Gengar because it simply refuses to attack you with Mega Drain (due to resistance), which means all it will do is spam Substitute and Confuse Ray. If you can survive Confuse Ray, you can set up enough to ensure a sweep against her frail team! There are better ways of dealing with her, but Farfetch’d can work with a bit of luck.
Lance – Not worth it. Aerodactyl walls you, the Dragons hit you with Electric and Ice moves, and Gyarados is just too strong.
Blue – The problem here is that it is very difficult to find a safe Pokémon to set up on because all of his Pokémon have something to hit you with. You may be best trying on Exeggutor or Ninetales, but really you should just use something faster and more reliable.
-Additional Comments: Farfetch’d is a fun gimmick, and that’s it. In RB it was actually useful but Yellow nerfed it badly. Boosted experience? Gone. Early and convenient availability? Gone. Access to Cut and Fly? Still true, but now useless because of how late it arrives. Farfetch’d just isn’t worth it in Yellow.


Discuss whichever ones you wish.
 
I think all of these are kinda nice where they are. Aerodactyl has his movepool problems, Caterpie is just meh lategame, Cubone is a shittier Geodude without Normal resistance, and things like say Ditto and Yellow Farfy are a no-brainer. Ditto for instance seems kinda meh, I won't count on it being able to survive anything from Dugtrio before transforming, for instance.
 
I personally think putting Marowak in Bottom is a bit harsh. It is a Ground type, after all, and it does have decent stats outside Speed and Special. It's not completely useless, as most Bottom Tier Pokemon tend to be, and it does well in a few Gym battles. Not to mention it comes ready to go with a STAB attack. Why not put it in Low Tier instead?

It's honestly a shittier Raticate when you look at its movepool. Ice Beam/Blizzard stand out to hit Grass types, and Submission should really be mentioned as an option on the physical side, shitty as it may be.
 

atsync

Where the "intelligence" of TRAINERS is put to the test!
is a Pokemon Researcheris a Contributor to Smogon
Just to clarify, the distinction between Bottom and Low doesn't exist for this tier list anymore because Mekkah merged them when he took it over (because he saw the distinction between Low and Bottom as useless - its basically separating "bad" and "really bad" but they are still "bad" so who cares?) and I don't feel compelled to reverse that decision at this time. Therefore, Bottom and Low are essentially the same thing. Just assume that any instance of Bottom = Low. I should probably change all instances of Bottom to Low...

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

I don't think any of these need to move up.

Aerodactyl has a nice typing that lets it grind well at Pokemon Mansion and its stats are well distributed. Too bad about the movepool though.

Caterpie has been discussed to death in the last thread and the consensus was to leave it in Low. Early Psychic moves and status are ok but it is awful to grind, TM dependent, and lags late-game (and it was never particularly outstanding early-game either).

Chansey is a cool Pokemon that is ruined by availability, although if you get lucky and catch it on the way to the Surf TM then it is a neat choice if you aren't using a similar Pokemon like Clefable/Nidoking/Nidoqueen already. Softboiled is kind of cool.

Cubone has a niche by getting its own Ground moves by level up, which Geodude and Sandshrew don't get. But those Ground moves are inaccurate which is bad for a slow Pokemon like Marowak. It is also vulnerable to special moves and it doesn't have Speed to make up for its frailty.

Ditto is obvious. I remember using Ditto as a joke by gamesharking one on Route 1 and feeding it tons of Rare Candies, and it was actually awesome. It suggested to me that Ditto might have worked out if it had high Speed and HP, but it doesn't unless you grind it to ridiculous extents so yeah.

Dratini evolves way too late to do much. When you use Dratini, you are really using Dragonair rather than Dragonite, and Dragonair just doesn't cut it.

Ekans just seems a bit weak and TM dependent. Haven't really tried using it though.

Exeggcute is late and TM dependent, although Psychic, Mega Drain and Egg Bomb aren't as hotly contested as some of the other TMs. Evolve it and give it its moves and it could probably grind on Cycling Road pretty easily. Probably not as bad as some people seem to think it is but I'm not convinced it is good enough to rise up to Mid.

Yellow robbed Farfetch'd of pretty much everything that made RB Farfetch'd worthwhile (boosted experience, early capture point, Cut + Fly which is now useless because Cut isn't needed for anything anymore).

I'll look at the analyses properly later.
 

atsync

Where the "intelligence" of TRAINERS is put to the test!
is a Pokemon Researcheris a Contributor to Smogon
I've briefly skimmed the analyses.

I didn't go over Chansey, Dratini or Yellow Farfetch'd because I wrote them.

Caterpie and Ekans are fine.

Aerodactyl: Needs to mention Fly in the movepool section. It's odd that it discusses Fly in the other sections but not in movepool. Should discuss grinding in Pokemon Mansion thanks to its useful typing.

Cubone: Should mention the Special moves it has access to (Ice Beam/Blizzard, BubbleBeam/Water Gun, and Fire Blast) despite the dismal Special. Mention of Poison resistance would be nice. The Koga match-up mentions Bone Rush when I assume it means Bone Club. I can't imagine Marowak enjoying STAB Fire moves from Blaine, especially in Yellow. Against Giovanni, Earthquake is also super-effective against Rhyhorn and Rhydon.

Ditto: I don't like the last sentence in Power since I don't understand what point they're trying to make. Match-ups on this thing is horrible and that whole section could be redone.

Exeggcute: Very informative. I'm not a fan of the "casualness" of the write-up, but I don't see that as a flaw so much as a personal preference, so I have no problem leaving it in that style. I think the analysis should mention grinding on Cycling Road. I imagine a level 27 Exeggutor with STAB Psychic should be able to destroy all the Fighting and Poison Pokemon there, and that should increase your level enough to beat Koga easily too. Saffron Rockets doesn't need a mention in the match-ups section. Not sure whether I like the additional comments on this.

There's probably more stuff but I'm not really all that interested in these Pokemon so I think that will do. I'll probably end this round later today (my time).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top