You don't actually. It's found in Resolution Cave and on Wild Pikachu which are SOS only.
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Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon In-Game Tier List
- Thread starter Stellar
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Oh was it down there? That sucks. Kai, you saw nothing, move along.
Meanwhile, nominating Crobat for A tier.
Comes very early (graveyard and first trial cave), it has pretty mediocre stats as zubat obviously despite a pretty good coverage, but you get given Soothe bell very early and with also the help of Exp Share you are easily able to get Crobat basically right after you obtain Golbat (mine evolved right away at level 23). Crobat has a very good typing, is fast and considerably bulky for the average mon, the movepool is quite decent as you get acces to flying poison stabs right away and bug coverage not long later. Completely walls off Lurantis, Mimikyu and Hala, demolishes Ribombee, deals easily with guzma, has balanced Atk and Spatk so you can afford to even run different types of attack. I regretted benching mine since I could not stomach using a -atk nature, it would have made my life easier.
Magnemite for S and if you disagree I will fight you irl. There is no way this thing is not S
- Availability: Trainers' School. Relatively high encounter rate, easy to catch. next
- Offense: Thunder Shock sounds dumb but off Base 95 SAtk it steamrolls shit. I hear some people saying "oh no!!! thunder shock doesnt do shit in akala" well GUESS WHAT it gets a Magnet in the Pikachu Valley and the Charge Beam TM at Brooklet Hill (or so I've heard). That's a 50% increase in damage output and right before the Water trial!!! insert multiple thinking faces here. Then it evolves probably by the end of Akala, and AGAIN once you reach Blush Mountain (not that far away). Now you have a Magnezone vs scores of NFE garbage being thrown at you, gg
- Defense: Being part Steel-type means you not only beat every Melemele trainer not named Hala, but also every Team Skull Grunt (makes a convenient lead versus them). AND half the trials: Gumshoos/Raticate, Togedemaru (use Hidden Power lol), Mimikyu, and Ribombee. Basically simplifies a lot of the game. ALSO you can use it to get a Toxic off on Ultra Necrozma = ezpz
- Design: a better Electric-type than your Rotom Dex. bzzt!
There is absolutely 0 way this mon should be anything lower than S. If you played with it and think it's not S-worthy feel free to tag me and tell me why but just know that you're wrong.
peace out
- Availability: Trainers' School. Relatively high encounter rate, easy to catch. next
- Offense: Thunder Shock sounds dumb but off Base 95 SAtk it steamrolls shit. I hear some people saying "oh no!!! thunder shock doesnt do shit in akala" well GUESS WHAT it gets a Magnet in the Pikachu Valley and the Charge Beam TM at Brooklet Hill (or so I've heard). That's a 50% increase in damage output and right before the Water trial!!! insert multiple thinking faces here. Then it evolves probably by the end of Akala, and AGAIN once you reach Blush Mountain (not that far away). Now you have a Magnezone vs scores of NFE garbage being thrown at you, gg
- Defense: Being part Steel-type means you not only beat every Melemele trainer not named Hala, but also every Team Skull Grunt (makes a convenient lead versus them). AND half the trials: Gumshoos/Raticate, Togedemaru (use Hidden Power lol), Mimikyu, and Ribombee. Basically simplifies a lot of the game. ALSO you can use it to get a Toxic off on Ultra Necrozma = ezpz
- Design: a better Electric-type than your Rotom Dex. bzzt!
There is absolutely 0 way this mon should be anything lower than S. If you played with it and think it's not S-worthy feel free to tag me and tell me why but just know that you're wrong.
peace out
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Is there no way to manipulate which stone you get from Pelago? i.e. resetting. That would affect Murkrow's viability heavily.
I really like Crobat, and I do think it's a decent mon, but there are several things holding it back.
Defensively it's typing is outstanding, especially in the early game. However it's coverage is very limited. While I do believe Flying is the best offensive typing (at least for the first 2 islands), Bite has mediocre coverage and is basically it's only option other than Wing Attack until mid-game. It gets a little better with Cross Poison and Leech Life in the 20s, but still not very good.
It's stats are pretty miserable as Zubat. It relies heavily on strong STAB Wing Attack, which is a good attack, but it's a little 1-trick.
Finally, it struggles to compete with the other Flying types, namely Hawlucha and Oricorio. It's not so much that Crobat is bad, it's just not worth the team slot when you're running Hawlucha (because Hawlucha is broken).
All that being said, I do think Crobat is decent and deserves B-tier at least.
Sadly not that I know of
The 3 sinnoh stones in particulare all marked "rare" as well. I have been using it every day since I got pelago and I only have 1 stone and I Think that might have been the free one.
Slowpoke (Slowbro) -> Lowest rank
Okay, I'm probably being a little too hard on Slowpoke, but still. It's a slowpoke at evolving and, in terms of offense and defense, it's a dud until you get it to evolve...
At LEVEL 37.
This thing did nothing but leech off of Exp. Share until it finally evolved, after which it finally started being decent. The problem is that it's probably not getting to that level until Ula'ula Island. Just, all-around terrible Pokemon. Use Wingull instead. And if the rankings aren't going to allow Exp. Share, then Slowpoke has absolutely no saving graces because Exp. Share is absolutely necessary for it to have even a modicum of effectiveness.
I won't comment on Slowpoke (Slowking) because, I'll admit, I have no idea about the earliest point King's Rock becomes (reasonably) available.
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Also, I feel like most of you are being a bit too hard on Zorua. Cheesing Ultra Necrozma is really not something to undersell, given that it's pretty painful without some method of cheesing it. And it's not just Ultra Necrozma that it cheeses; it also cheeses Giovanni's Mewtwo (if we're counting that). I remember Zorua/Zoroark doing absolutely nothing but work. Then again, I did go out of my way to get TMs (specifically Flamethrower and Grass Knot), tutored it Low Kick, and gave it Fightinium Z, so I probably went hardcore in making sure my Zoroark had good coverage (and that also explains why it was useful against every single Elite Four member for me), but let's be real: Zoroark learns hardly anything BUT Dark-type attacks through level-up, so if you aren't using TMs and the Move Tutors, you're using it wrong.
I'm probably letting my bias (read username) affect my view of it, so maybe a B rank is fair even though I wouldn't personally rank it lower than A (admittedly, Zorua isn't good enough before evolving to get it any higher). However, anyone who wants to rank it C (which I did see earlier) probably didn't use it right (seriously, TMs and Tutors)
Okay, I'm probably being a little too hard on Slowpoke, but still. It's a slowpoke at evolving and, in terms of offense and defense, it's a dud until you get it to evolve...
At LEVEL 37.
This thing did nothing but leech off of Exp. Share until it finally evolved, after which it finally started being decent. The problem is that it's probably not getting to that level until Ula'ula Island. Just, all-around terrible Pokemon. Use Wingull instead. And if the rankings aren't going to allow Exp. Share, then Slowpoke has absolutely no saving graces because Exp. Share is absolutely necessary for it to have even a modicum of effectiveness.
I won't comment on Slowpoke (Slowking) because, I'll admit, I have no idea about the earliest point King's Rock becomes (reasonably) available.
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Also, I feel like most of you are being a bit too hard on Zorua. Cheesing Ultra Necrozma is really not something to undersell, given that it's pretty painful without some method of cheesing it. And it's not just Ultra Necrozma that it cheeses; it also cheeses Giovanni's Mewtwo (if we're counting that). I remember Zorua/Zoroark doing absolutely nothing but work. Then again, I did go out of my way to get TMs (specifically Flamethrower and Grass Knot), tutored it Low Kick, and gave it Fightinium Z, so I probably went hardcore in making sure my Zoroark had good coverage (and that also explains why it was useful against every single Elite Four member for me), but let's be real: Zoroark learns hardly anything BUT Dark-type attacks through level-up, so if you aren't using TMs and the Move Tutors, you're using it wrong.
I'm probably letting my bias (read username) affect my view of it, so maybe a B rank is fair even though I wouldn't personally rank it lower than A (admittedly, Zorua isn't good enough before evolving to get it any higher). However, anyone who wants to rank it C (which I did see earlier) probably didn't use it right (seriously, TMs and Tutors)
In my experience, Zorua doesn't cheese Necrozma entirely. If it uses its non-psychic move (I forget which, and its learnset on bulbapedia isn't helping me right now) it will still OHKO before you can do anything. It happened to my Zoroark.
The best way to use Slowbro is to catch an already-evolved SOS encounter one after getting Lapras Paddle. The other, far less optimal, means of getting a Slowbro shouldn't be considered for their inefficiency imho.
The best way to use Slowbro is to catch an already-evolved SOS encounter one after getting Lapras Paddle. The other, far less optimal, means of getting a Slowbro shouldn't be considered for their inefficiency imho.
Hey all, I've been lurking for a couple years, but I decided to make an account for a nomination--Alolan Muk for S or A tier, the main reason for its buff being its access to the elemental punches.
I've been playing with an all-poison team with the exp. share off and the game style set (as opposed to switch), so this nom might not be accurate of a typical in-game run, but I think Alolan Muk has several excellent qualities going for it:
Availability - Common at Trainer's School and immediately useful with STAB Bite at Level 7.
Movepool - Bite is great for the early game, but it also gets Poison Fang relatively early, along with Fire Punch via the Move Tutor (takes 5-10 minutes of Mantine Surfing tops), which can be turned into Inferno Overdrive shortly thereafter. Later in the game, its movepool explodes, with access to Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, Gunk Shot, Knock Off, Crunch, Poison Jab, and phenomenal boosting options such as Minimize and Acid Armor. This thing has extremely diverse coverage and its movepool can easily be modified to fit your team and never disappoints. Minimize can cheese pretty much any fight, as it has the typing and bulk to live almost any hit and you can seriously abuse RNG to basically win out the gate.
Typing/Ability - Poison/Dark has only one weakness, and Ground isn't a particularly common type in this game. Seriously, I ran into almost no Ground Pokemon throughout my run. The prevalence of Dark and Ghost coverage allows Muk to easily switch into resisted hits and support its team. Poison Touch is a great ability; it tends to activate at clutch moments and Muk's access to the elemental punches gives it a chance to poison, burn, paralyze, or freeze.
Matchups in Important Fights - Grimer has a neutral matchup against the first two totems and doesn't exactly put in work vs either of them, and he doesn't perform particularly well against Hala either. However, it beats Marowak, Lurantis, Togedemaru (access to Fire Punch helps), Mimikyu, and Ribombee. It also beats Plumeria, Nanu, and has a neutral matchup against Guzma. It doesn't perform well against Hapu, but this is one of the only instances in the game it'll encounter Ground types. I can't speak to its performance against Ultra Necrozma because I'm not at that point in the game yet, but I would assume its type advantage serves it well.
Stat Spread - Alolan Muk is a very solid tank, boasting great HP, Attack, and Special Defense, while also having serviceable Defense. As a Grimer it performs a similar role--its bulk falls off right around when you get Eviolite, of which it's a phenomenal user.
Weaknesses - Its STAB stops being impressive around Olivia. Until level 32 when it learns Crunch, it doesn't get a STAB move above 65 base power, which is less than ideal. It also doesn't get STAB from Z-crystals until the end of the third island. It also evolves late at level 38, but it's a fantastic user of Eviolite and can avoid the 2KO in most cases which allows it to cheese with Minimize. My Grimer evolved into Muk just before Ula'Ula Meadow and immediately resumed its position as the best Pokemon on my team.
It also suffers a bit from 4MSS, which is pretty unusual for an ingame mon. I ended up forgoing Poison coverage for Minimize, Thunder Punch, and Ice Punch because my team needed Electric and Ice coverage. Fortunately, you can tailor Muk's moveset to your team's needs.
TL;DR - Alolan Muk's combination of early availability, phenomenal typing, expansive movepool, and convenient ability make it an excellent Pokemon for an in-game run. It evolves a little bit late, but this weakness is mitigated somewhat by its excellent synergy with Eviolite.
I've been playing with an all-poison team with the exp. share off and the game style set (as opposed to switch), so this nom might not be accurate of a typical in-game run, but I think Alolan Muk has several excellent qualities going for it:
Availability - Common at Trainer's School and immediately useful with STAB Bite at Level 7.
Movepool - Bite is great for the early game, but it also gets Poison Fang relatively early, along with Fire Punch via the Move Tutor (takes 5-10 minutes of Mantine Surfing tops), which can be turned into Inferno Overdrive shortly thereafter. Later in the game, its movepool explodes, with access to Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, Gunk Shot, Knock Off, Crunch, Poison Jab, and phenomenal boosting options such as Minimize and Acid Armor. This thing has extremely diverse coverage and its movepool can easily be modified to fit your team and never disappoints. Minimize can cheese pretty much any fight, as it has the typing and bulk to live almost any hit and you can seriously abuse RNG to basically win out the gate.
Typing/Ability - Poison/Dark has only one weakness, and Ground isn't a particularly common type in this game. Seriously, I ran into almost no Ground Pokemon throughout my run. The prevalence of Dark and Ghost coverage allows Muk to easily switch into resisted hits and support its team. Poison Touch is a great ability; it tends to activate at clutch moments and Muk's access to the elemental punches gives it a chance to poison, burn, paralyze, or freeze.
Matchups in Important Fights - Grimer has a neutral matchup against the first two totems and doesn't exactly put in work vs either of them, and he doesn't perform particularly well against Hala either. However, it beats Marowak, Lurantis, Togedemaru (access to Fire Punch helps), Mimikyu, and Ribombee. It also beats Plumeria, Nanu, and has a neutral matchup against Guzma. It doesn't perform well against Hapu, but this is one of the only instances in the game it'll encounter Ground types. I can't speak to its performance against Ultra Necrozma because I'm not at that point in the game yet, but I would assume its type advantage serves it well.
Stat Spread - Alolan Muk is a very solid tank, boasting great HP, Attack, and Special Defense, while also having serviceable Defense. As a Grimer it performs a similar role--its bulk falls off right around when you get Eviolite, of which it's a phenomenal user.
Weaknesses - Its STAB stops being impressive around Olivia. Until level 32 when it learns Crunch, it doesn't get a STAB move above 65 base power, which is less than ideal. It also doesn't get STAB from Z-crystals until the end of the third island. It also evolves late at level 38, but it's a fantastic user of Eviolite and can avoid the 2KO in most cases which allows it to cheese with Minimize. My Grimer evolved into Muk just before Ula'Ula Meadow and immediately resumed its position as the best Pokemon on my team.
It also suffers a bit from 4MSS, which is pretty unusual for an ingame mon. I ended up forgoing Poison coverage for Minimize, Thunder Punch, and Ice Punch because my team needed Electric and Ice coverage. Fortunately, you can tailor Muk's moveset to your team's needs.
TL;DR - Alolan Muk's combination of early availability, phenomenal typing, expansive movepool, and convenient ability make it an excellent Pokemon for an in-game run. It evolves a little bit late, but this weakness is mitigated somewhat by its excellent synergy with Eviolite.
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I beat the game yesterday, so some thoughts from my team. I won't give exact rankings, since I'm not too good at gauging how useful these would be on their own and not in the specific case of "I happened ot use these 6" and "I didn't use exp share"
-Primarina: Still high ranking, even if Scald's area has been moved. I found the 40 BP fairy move dropped off fast and wasn't too useful for Hala. A pro tip: during the lull between water gun and bubble beam, I found Water Pulse from the tutor (a mere 4 BP iirc) quite useful. Early Icy Wind was also very useful and remained in my moveset during the entire game. The extra SE damage was nice and so was the speed dropping. Once it hits Primarina its usefulness went from "solid" to "great" even if it took a while to get Moonblast. Solid bulk/power combo. FYI, you do get it by around aether paradise without exp share.
Only major battle I want to underline was Araquanid, where it was able to tank hits even with the rain and water bubble. Very useful at a point where 5/6ths of my team couldn't handle the pressure.
-Malamar: Man I don't know. I got it early, and everyone knows its biggest claim to fame: level 8 Foul Play. This is absurdly useful for all sorts of situations, able to deal a lot of damage to things you have no business doing. The only problem is this becomes basically its only trick for a long time until your first aether visit. It's a pretty good trick but Psywave can't deal effective damage and has highly variable damage. It has assorted problems throughout the game due to constant bug coverage (Leech Life ARaquanid AND Leech Life Mimikyu!) and being fairly frail. But I don't know, after a certain point, Malamar because very useful! Stat lowering things are present throughout the entire game and make it easy to take advantage of, it has solid-ish strength and Topsy-Turvy is useful for a variety of battles and not just Ultra Necrozma. The totems come to mind instantly. Super Power in particular was a big boon and worth dropping Reflect over; for a time it became my highest leveled pokemon.
But Akala is definite slow point that can't be ignored. It never really had trouble keeping up in levels, but it was very frail and if it couldn't put Foul Play to use it wasn't very, uh, useful.
Obviously Ultra Necrozma helps give it some life, but note if you want to use Inkay for this that the poni island ones dont have Topsy Turvy. So no easy splash-in.
-Arbok: Bias says high tier, but realistically probably mid tier. It's early, has pretty okay stats, evolves early and has a surprising move pool at times. But woof if you want an actual poison move you are in dire straits. I basically did not use poison moves for the first half othe game because the best one was Poison Sting and then Acid until you finally, mercurially, got sludge bomb tm. Thankfully Bite and then Crunch are handy high damaging dark moves and I could splash in other moves as needed. While its special attack is nothing to write home about, it's okay enough that I could use something like Giga Drain (an enormous pick up at the akala beach, would recommend!) and eventually the special poison type moves. But it's biggest boon is by far Intimidate & Glare. Perfect for weakening the plethora of physical attackers present in the game and for letting the slower members of the team get some action; and capturing pokemon. I used arbok a lot for all kinds of purposes even if it never shined in any given battle. It definitely doesn't deserve low tiers, though, it provides too much utility without ever once being dead weight.
-Vikavolt: Higher tier. The grubbin time period is the worst bit: weak, not many good moves (though it gets better once it gets bug bite and such) and basically didn't contribute much beyond Mud Slap before evolving. After evolving, the extra bulk & power really came through and became a staple of the team before reaching Vikavolt. And Vikavolt in general is just great! The special attack and free instant thunderbolt is the big claim to fame, but it has enough attack power that even if you don't evolve it in time for Bug Buzz (i didnt) it can still carry on with Bug Bite & X-Scissor & Crunch. I think mine had weird bulk? Might have just rolled good defense IVs. Who cares about speed when you have a nuke! Quick Claw was stapleed to this thing.
-Crabominable. Hoooo boy. Oh man. Geeze. So Crabrawler was actually great! Fighting is a fantastic type and it has generally ok stats for its time period and it can get solid coverage. Shout out to using Thief to handle Alolan Marowak. And of course it gets Iron Fist boosted Brick Break for basically the moment you get it throughout the entire game. But then you evolve it and everything goes terrible. It's slower, and while it has more bulk it literally has twice as many weaknesses in a game where the AI can and will have type coverage. It was really hard to find times to put it out and any time something like Ice Hammer misses it will probably die. And even if it doesn't die, it will be unable to hit anything because of its speed. The E4 performance had a number of key kills it needed to grab that went like this:
-lets use ice hammer to kill it
-it misses
-it dies
When it does hit, it hits REALLY GOOD but I cannot see this thing rating highly at all because there is just too much working against it.
And I used Lycanroc-D, who will probably be unrated since its a limited time event. I don't think it's entirely comparable to Lycanroc Midday since it has a useful ability and doesn't get accelrock until the move relearner. Nobody sleep on Drill Run on Lycanroc though, it's very useful coverage when your only real other option is like....Bulldoze.
-Primarina: Still high ranking, even if Scald's area has been moved. I found the 40 BP fairy move dropped off fast and wasn't too useful for Hala. A pro tip: during the lull between water gun and bubble beam, I found Water Pulse from the tutor (a mere 4 BP iirc) quite useful. Early Icy Wind was also very useful and remained in my moveset during the entire game. The extra SE damage was nice and so was the speed dropping. Once it hits Primarina its usefulness went from "solid" to "great" even if it took a while to get Moonblast. Solid bulk/power combo. FYI, you do get it by around aether paradise without exp share.
Only major battle I want to underline was Araquanid, where it was able to tank hits even with the rain and water bubble. Very useful at a point where 5/6ths of my team couldn't handle the pressure.
-Malamar: Man I don't know. I got it early, and everyone knows its biggest claim to fame: level 8 Foul Play. This is absurdly useful for all sorts of situations, able to deal a lot of damage to things you have no business doing. The only problem is this becomes basically its only trick for a long time until your first aether visit. It's a pretty good trick but Psywave can't deal effective damage and has highly variable damage. It has assorted problems throughout the game due to constant bug coverage (Leech Life ARaquanid AND Leech Life Mimikyu!) and being fairly frail. But I don't know, after a certain point, Malamar because very useful! Stat lowering things are present throughout the entire game and make it easy to take advantage of, it has solid-ish strength and Topsy-Turvy is useful for a variety of battles and not just Ultra Necrozma. The totems come to mind instantly. Super Power in particular was a big boon and worth dropping Reflect over; for a time it became my highest leveled pokemon.
But Akala is definite slow point that can't be ignored. It never really had trouble keeping up in levels, but it was very frail and if it couldn't put Foul Play to use it wasn't very, uh, useful.
Obviously Ultra Necrozma helps give it some life, but note if you want to use Inkay for this that the poni island ones dont have Topsy Turvy. So no easy splash-in.
-Arbok: Bias says high tier, but realistically probably mid tier. It's early, has pretty okay stats, evolves early and has a surprising move pool at times. But woof if you want an actual poison move you are in dire straits. I basically did not use poison moves for the first half othe game because the best one was Poison Sting and then Acid until you finally, mercurially, got sludge bomb tm. Thankfully Bite and then Crunch are handy high damaging dark moves and I could splash in other moves as needed. While its special attack is nothing to write home about, it's okay enough that I could use something like Giga Drain (an enormous pick up at the akala beach, would recommend!) and eventually the special poison type moves. But it's biggest boon is by far Intimidate & Glare. Perfect for weakening the plethora of physical attackers present in the game and for letting the slower members of the team get some action; and capturing pokemon. I used arbok a lot for all kinds of purposes even if it never shined in any given battle. It definitely doesn't deserve low tiers, though, it provides too much utility without ever once being dead weight.
-Vikavolt: Higher tier. The grubbin time period is the worst bit: weak, not many good moves (though it gets better once it gets bug bite and such) and basically didn't contribute much beyond Mud Slap before evolving. After evolving, the extra bulk & power really came through and became a staple of the team before reaching Vikavolt. And Vikavolt in general is just great! The special attack and free instant thunderbolt is the big claim to fame, but it has enough attack power that even if you don't evolve it in time for Bug Buzz (i didnt) it can still carry on with Bug Bite & X-Scissor & Crunch. I think mine had weird bulk? Might have just rolled good defense IVs. Who cares about speed when you have a nuke! Quick Claw was stapleed to this thing.
-Crabominable. Hoooo boy. Oh man. Geeze. So Crabrawler was actually great! Fighting is a fantastic type and it has generally ok stats for its time period and it can get solid coverage. Shout out to using Thief to handle Alolan Marowak. And of course it gets Iron Fist boosted Brick Break for basically the moment you get it throughout the entire game. But then you evolve it and everything goes terrible. It's slower, and while it has more bulk it literally has twice as many weaknesses in a game where the AI can and will have type coverage. It was really hard to find times to put it out and any time something like Ice Hammer misses it will probably die. And even if it doesn't die, it will be unable to hit anything because of its speed. The E4 performance had a number of key kills it needed to grab that went like this:
-lets use ice hammer to kill it
-it misses
-it dies
When it does hit, it hits REALLY GOOD but I cannot see this thing rating highly at all because there is just too much working against it.
And I used Lycanroc-D, who will probably be unrated since its a limited time event. I don't think it's entirely comparable to Lycanroc Midday since it has a useful ability and doesn't get accelrock until the move relearner. Nobody sleep on Drill Run on Lycanroc though, it's very useful coverage when your only real other option is like....Bulldoze.
Now that I've finished the main game + Episode RR, I'm regrettably nominating my boy Metagross for C-tier.
Availability - This is, admittedly, where Metagross hurts the most. Beldum isn't available until the third island, doesn't fully evolve until around early Poni without Exp. Share, and can be a bit of a nuisance to catch, but on the bright side, its encounter rate isn't bad at all for a pseudo-legend at 20%.
Movepool - Metagross' levelup movepool is good enough on its own, with access to two crazy strong STABs in Meteor Mash and Zen Headbutt, STAB priority in Bullet Punch, and strong coverage in Hammer Arm upon evolving. Unlike in SM, however, it also gets access to Iron Head, Thunder Punch, and Ice Punch through Move Tutor right off the bat, not to mention Brick Break, Rock Slide/Tomb, Bulldoze, and Psychic through TM for the midgame, and in the postgame, it gets Earthquake. It can even use Corkscrew Crash as of the very area it's found in, thus giving it a nuke option early on if you opt to put your Eviolite on something else. Having this many options means depending on the moveset you choose to run, you can trust Metagross to hit pretty much anything that's put in front of it hard.
Typing - On its own, Steel is pretty incredible in-game (see: Magnemite in pretty much any game it's in). While Psychic doesn't do it many favors and renders it vulnerable to the many random Dark-type moves thrown around this game (hello, Guzma's Ariados...), it does notably make Metagross resistant to Ultra Necrozma's entire moveset, which is really helpful.
Stats - You don't need me to tell you that Metagross' stats are awesome. It sports a monstrous Attack and Defense stat along with passable Special Attack and Special Defense and a semi-beefy HP stat to boot, thus letting it rip and tear through most things easily and even play with some special coverage options like Sludge Bomb and Shadow Ball if you so choose. Even as a Metang, with Eviolite, it becomes a passable physical tank and can eat some special hits, too, although its offenses as a Metang aren't much to write home about. However, it is slow, meaning it'll have to take a hit most of the time and may eat through your healing items rather quickly as a result.
Major Battles - ...this is kind of a 50/50. As far as the totems it's available for, Metagross/Eviolite Metang is pretty good overall; the only one it 100% loses to is Totem Mimikyu, which wins 1v1 by virtue of Disguise. Otherwise, it can hit Togedemaru and Kommo-o super-effectively (provided you have the TM for Bulldoze, which you absolutely should) while only taking neutral damage at worst from both, and utterly blows away Totem Ribombee with Corkscrew Crash. As for trainers, it notably rips through Olivia's team and can go 1v1 with most of Kahili's, Lusamine's, and Guzma's mons without much of a problem (along with potentially Giovanni's, if we're counting that). However, it does lose pretty hard to Nanu, Hapu, Acerola, Molayne, and Hau (and doesn't do too well against the RR admins for the most part, either). But what I think sets Metagross apart from most other mons is its ability to singlehandedly invalidate the entire Ultra Necrozma fight, a feat that, to my knowledge, most other available mons struggle to achieve.
TL;DR, although Metagross has some availability issues, evolves super late, and is pretty inconsistent against the game's major battles, its movepool, typing, and stats I feel are good enough to justify catching a Beldum on Mount Hokulani, which is why I nominate it for C.
Availability - This is, admittedly, where Metagross hurts the most. Beldum isn't available until the third island, doesn't fully evolve until around early Poni without Exp. Share, and can be a bit of a nuisance to catch, but on the bright side, its encounter rate isn't bad at all for a pseudo-legend at 20%.
Movepool - Metagross' levelup movepool is good enough on its own, with access to two crazy strong STABs in Meteor Mash and Zen Headbutt, STAB priority in Bullet Punch, and strong coverage in Hammer Arm upon evolving. Unlike in SM, however, it also gets access to Iron Head, Thunder Punch, and Ice Punch through Move Tutor right off the bat, not to mention Brick Break, Rock Slide/Tomb, Bulldoze, and Psychic through TM for the midgame, and in the postgame, it gets Earthquake. It can even use Corkscrew Crash as of the very area it's found in, thus giving it a nuke option early on if you opt to put your Eviolite on something else. Having this many options means depending on the moveset you choose to run, you can trust Metagross to hit pretty much anything that's put in front of it hard.
Typing - On its own, Steel is pretty incredible in-game (see: Magnemite in pretty much any game it's in). While Psychic doesn't do it many favors and renders it vulnerable to the many random Dark-type moves thrown around this game (hello, Guzma's Ariados...), it does notably make Metagross resistant to Ultra Necrozma's entire moveset, which is really helpful.
Stats - You don't need me to tell you that Metagross' stats are awesome. It sports a monstrous Attack and Defense stat along with passable Special Attack and Special Defense and a semi-beefy HP stat to boot, thus letting it rip and tear through most things easily and even play with some special coverage options like Sludge Bomb and Shadow Ball if you so choose. Even as a Metang, with Eviolite, it becomes a passable physical tank and can eat some special hits, too, although its offenses as a Metang aren't much to write home about. However, it is slow, meaning it'll have to take a hit most of the time and may eat through your healing items rather quickly as a result.
Major Battles - ...this is kind of a 50/50. As far as the totems it's available for, Metagross/Eviolite Metang is pretty good overall; the only one it 100% loses to is Totem Mimikyu, which wins 1v1 by virtue of Disguise. Otherwise, it can hit Togedemaru and Kommo-o super-effectively (provided you have the TM for Bulldoze, which you absolutely should) while only taking neutral damage at worst from both, and utterly blows away Totem Ribombee with Corkscrew Crash. As for trainers, it notably rips through Olivia's team and can go 1v1 with most of Kahili's, Lusamine's, and Guzma's mons without much of a problem (along with potentially Giovanni's, if we're counting that). However, it does lose pretty hard to Nanu, Hapu, Acerola, Molayne, and Hau (and doesn't do too well against the RR admins for the most part, either). But what I think sets Metagross apart from most other mons is its ability to singlehandedly invalidate the entire Ultra Necrozma fight, a feat that, to my knowledge, most other available mons struggle to achieve.
TL;DR, although Metagross has some availability issues, evolves super late, and is pretty inconsistent against the game's major battles, its movepool, typing, and stats I feel are good enough to justify catching a Beldum on Mount Hokulani, which is why I nominate it for C.
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I'm currently getting towards the end with a monotype Dark team , and so far I have a couple pointers:
Contrary Malamar is really inconsistent. Most of the time he's useless, but when he shines (bosses mostly, early foul play & Topsy Turvy, Superpower shenanigans), he's brilliant. Get's wrecked by bug moves though. This has all been said before though. Situational, but maybe even B- due to the game's emphasis on boosted boss battles. But totally could be a C too.
Incineroar has been most solid, Leech Life early on as a TM is pretty amazing, moveset otherwise wonderful, including Acrobatics. Able to take some hits too. I guess those last levels as a Torracat are pretty underwhelming. Solid B for coverage and well rounded stats.
Hmm, Zoroark was pretty bad before evolving, but this might've been due to being overshadowed by 5 other Dark 'mon. Makes for a nice mixed attacker, but has the defense stats of wet rice paper. Movepool options somewha interesting for a dark type. Illusion can be very good, if mostly useful for cheesing the occasional Totem.
Honchkrow (Super Luck) has been my true MVP for the first half of the game. You can get Murkrow pretty early on at the Hau'oli Cemetery, and boy, those attack stats demolish every early bug, grass and fighting type on the first 2 islands. Dusk Stone comes in rather late, if you're not lucky with the Pelago. Getting the Scope Lens at Paniola Ranch alleviates this somewhat. Movepool could be lots better, but Thunder Wave is a nice surprise! Strong B.
Muk, hmmm, Grimer can be caught easily early on, and starts off strong. Amazing coverage, especially with the surf tutor handing out the elemental punches.Solid defenses, but slowly tapers of on the offensive side. Late evo makes the late 30's painful. Muk itself is good, if not amazing. Still, I'd say C.
Krookodile, late but evolves soon after getting it. Both abilities are 5/5 and movepool is powerful if unispired. Can't take too many hits. Hits relatively fast and hard. Maybe still only a C due to late availability and a plethora of Pokemon with the same moves available.
Contrary Malamar is really inconsistent. Most of the time he's useless, but when he shines (bosses mostly, early foul play & Topsy Turvy, Superpower shenanigans), he's brilliant. Get's wrecked by bug moves though. This has all been said before though. Situational, but maybe even B- due to the game's emphasis on boosted boss battles. But totally could be a C too.
Incineroar has been most solid, Leech Life early on as a TM is pretty amazing, moveset otherwise wonderful, including Acrobatics. Able to take some hits too. I guess those last levels as a Torracat are pretty underwhelming. Solid B for coverage and well rounded stats.
Hmm, Zoroark was pretty bad before evolving, but this might've been due to being overshadowed by 5 other Dark 'mon. Makes for a nice mixed attacker, but has the defense stats of wet rice paper. Movepool options somewha interesting for a dark type. Illusion can be very good, if mostly useful for cheesing the occasional Totem.
Honchkrow (Super Luck) has been my true MVP for the first half of the game. You can get Murkrow pretty early on at the Hau'oli Cemetery, and boy, those attack stats demolish every early bug, grass and fighting type on the first 2 islands. Dusk Stone comes in rather late, if you're not lucky with the Pelago. Getting the Scope Lens at Paniola Ranch alleviates this somewhat. Movepool could be lots better, but Thunder Wave is a nice surprise! Strong B.
Muk, hmmm, Grimer can be caught easily early on, and starts off strong. Amazing coverage, especially with the surf tutor handing out the elemental punches.Solid defenses, but slowly tapers of on the offensive side. Late evo makes the late 30's painful. Muk itself is good, if not amazing. Still, I'd say C.
Krookodile, late but evolves soon after getting it. Both abilities are 5/5 and movepool is powerful if unispired. Can't take too many hits. Hits relatively fast and hard. Maybe still only a C due to late availability and a plethora of Pokemon with the same moves available.
Can I just say that I just caught a Xurkitree before the endgame, and that it by itself easily sweeps the entire endgame?
Here is what I did first:
1. Made sure mine isn't -Speed or -Special Attack, mine actually turned out Modest
2. Bought(with easily to get BP) 10 Carbos to ensure I outspeed common threats
3. Teached it Grass Knot, Magnet Rise and Dazzling Gleam, Z-Move depending on situation
Xurkitree @ Electrium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 60
EVs: 100 Spe
Modest Nature
- Discharge
- Grass Knot
- Dazzling Gleam
- Magnet Rise
(In case you are curious: Z-Magnet Rise raises invasion which came in handy once)
And I simply swept everything so far with which didn't completly threaten it.
It kinda reminds me of Rayquaza in Emerald with some issues (availability etc.) but I would definitely rank it easily B Rank
(Change your Magnezone to this behemoth!)
Here is what I did first:
1. Made sure mine isn't -Speed or -Special Attack, mine actually turned out Modest
2. Bought(with easily to get BP) 10 Carbos to ensure I outspeed common threats
3. Teached it Grass Knot, Magnet Rise and Dazzling Gleam, Z-Move depending on situation
Xurkitree @ Electrium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 60
EVs: 100 Spe
Modest Nature
- Discharge
- Grass Knot
- Dazzling Gleam
- Magnet Rise
(In case you are curious: Z-Magnet Rise raises invasion which came in handy once)
And I simply swept everything so far with which didn't completly threaten it.
It kinda reminds me of Rayquaza in Emerald with some issues (availability etc.) but I would definitely rank it easily B Rank
(Change your Magnezone to this behemoth!)
Hawlucha for S. Like in X/Y it just shows up as automatically the best guy around, and that's even with me forgetting to teach it Bounce. The Flyinium-Z helps out every flying-type, but Hawlucha is better than most. Only problem is that it lacks a bit of oomph until it gets High Jump Kick
Mudbray for A. The only horse the McElroys couldn't destroy. It does exactly what you want a physically invulnerable mono-ground type to do. Access to Rock Tomb, Bulldoze, and Low Sweep helps its speed in the mid-game. Heavy Slam plays a nasty trick on fairies (the trick is death), and High Horsepower at 24 lets it never, ever want for physical damage ever again. It doesn't do that great against opponents that can hit its weaknesses unless they're physical and Stamina's stacked up from an earlier foe, but it beats tons of opponents 1 on 1. Notable is outlasting Totem Togedemaru until the end of linear time or the opening to one-shot it with High Horsepower opens, but it performs well enough against pretty much every other thing that isn't water or grass. Bonus points for 3 members of the E4 having one Pokemon each that's capable of seriously injuring it.
Milotic for B. Getting the Feebas is annoying. Getting the Prism Scale is an amazing act of backtracking, and it requires a trade, and Scald moving is very mean. It works decently with Water Pulse at least. Competitive makes it flip out in response to random stat-downs, or Marvel Scale lets you make it really really tough with the Flame Orb. It wasn't a fit for the team I had, but I imagine once it gets Scald and Blizzard it picks up even more.
Toxapex for C. Getting one is hard, but that's about it. Any opponent that can't hit it super-effectively just generally loses because it can stall them out with recover. Any opponent open to poison is doom'd to toxicstall. A lot of random opponents chip at it while it sets up toxic -> venoshock. Low attack stats are offset by Merciless, which helpfully goes straight through aura stat buffs. Baleful Bunker is probably better than I gave it credit for. It needs the eviolite at all times until it evolves but thankfully 38 is right before a lot of baddies you'd want an indestructible punk for. Biggest flaw is that Necrozma obliterates it.
Mimikyu for A. You can duck around its 5% encounter rate by getting the totem. The higher level curve gives it more of the game, relatively, with Play Rough. The AI doesn't comprehend Disguise. It has 3 immunities to use to get into fights. Z-Shadow Claw can solve a lot of problems. It isn't tough enough to take Ultra Necrozma's Photon Geyser without an X-Sp. Defense, but even then it's all hurdy durdy smart strick is se! and falls for Disguise anyway. Change to the E4 hurts a bit, but it'll always take one move for free.
Ultra Wormhole things are hard to think about, because the Ultra Wormhole can be a pain in the ass. Yet, it's entirely possible to fly in there right quick for something like Palkia or Groudon or whatever and just chokeslam the rest of the game.
Mudbray for A. The only horse the McElroys couldn't destroy. It does exactly what you want a physically invulnerable mono-ground type to do. Access to Rock Tomb, Bulldoze, and Low Sweep helps its speed in the mid-game. Heavy Slam plays a nasty trick on fairies (the trick is death), and High Horsepower at 24 lets it never, ever want for physical damage ever again. It doesn't do that great against opponents that can hit its weaknesses unless they're physical and Stamina's stacked up from an earlier foe, but it beats tons of opponents 1 on 1. Notable is outlasting Totem Togedemaru until the end of linear time or the opening to one-shot it with High Horsepower opens, but it performs well enough against pretty much every other thing that isn't water or grass. Bonus points for 3 members of the E4 having one Pokemon each that's capable of seriously injuring it.
Milotic for B. Getting the Feebas is annoying. Getting the Prism Scale is an amazing act of backtracking, and it requires a trade, and Scald moving is very mean. It works decently with Water Pulse at least. Competitive makes it flip out in response to random stat-downs, or Marvel Scale lets you make it really really tough with the Flame Orb. It wasn't a fit for the team I had, but I imagine once it gets Scald and Blizzard it picks up even more.
Toxapex for C. Getting one is hard, but that's about it. Any opponent that can't hit it super-effectively just generally loses because it can stall them out with recover. Any opponent open to poison is doom'd to toxicstall. A lot of random opponents chip at it while it sets up toxic -> venoshock. Low attack stats are offset by Merciless, which helpfully goes straight through aura stat buffs. Baleful Bunker is probably better than I gave it credit for. It needs the eviolite at all times until it evolves but thankfully 38 is right before a lot of baddies you'd want an indestructible punk for. Biggest flaw is that Necrozma obliterates it.
Mimikyu for A. You can duck around its 5% encounter rate by getting the totem. The higher level curve gives it more of the game, relatively, with Play Rough. The AI doesn't comprehend Disguise. It has 3 immunities to use to get into fights. Z-Shadow Claw can solve a lot of problems. It isn't tough enough to take Ultra Necrozma's Photon Geyser without an X-Sp. Defense, but even then it's all hurdy durdy smart strick is se! and falls for Disguise anyway. Change to the E4 hurts a bit, but it'll always take one move for free.
Ultra Wormhole things are hard to think about, because the Ultra Wormhole can be a pain in the ass. Yet, it's entirely possible to fly in there right quick for something like Palkia or Groudon or whatever and just chokeslam the rest of the game.
I think by virtue, all Box Wormhole Legends (if ranked) should be at most D tier and the Sub Wormhole legends should be E due to the random factor of what legend you can even obtain. They do come at level 60 which is on par with Final Boss Hau, but the lack of EVs are apparent on them especially when the boss trainers of Gen 7 use EV spreads. You also don't really have a choice of which legend you want so you have to grind out obtaining them, and then grind out the Festival Plaza or Poke Pelago for EV training. It's just a lot of time investment that they can't be any higher.
But since none of the wormhole mons (except for Poipole) are part of the regional dex, they most likely wont be ranked.
I wanted to note that while Popplio loses early game Scald, it can learn Water Pledge, which has the same power, in the first island, so yeah, not that big of a loss!
Max Happiness could be difficult at this point of game, no ?
Warning: upcoming quik mahts - may contain errors or assumptions, take only as general guide not facts
Popplio has a base 70 happiness. Soothe Bell is obtained on Route 3 right before Kahuna fight.
To maximize Soothe Bell gains, let's have Popplio very underleveled - at only level 12 by the time that you get to the route (equal to high leveled wilds). Unfortunately unless you have Popplio faint (counterintuitive to say the least) this means you're at a minimum of 104 happiness from level ups so you no longer can stack on top of the 0-99 happiness boost.
Beating Hala will give you 6 happiness with Soothe Bell, putting you at a minimum of 110. Let's also get all the way to level 23 (probably pretty close to the level you'd be for Scald in SM) - an additional 66 happiness with Soothe Bell, putting Popplio at 176. To get to the maximum of 255 we're still missing 79 happiness - until we reach 200 happiness every 128 steps has a chance of boosting happiness by 3 with Soothe Bell, afterwards it's just 1 unless Soothe Bell rounds up happiness gains instead of truncating like everything else.
After at least 8 of those 128 step cycles (1024 steps) we've hit 200 happiness and gains fall of drastically. We've still got at least 55 128 step cycles to go, or another 7040 steps. This brings us to a total of 8064 steps with Soothe Bell. In comparison, hatching a pseudo legendary (or others who require 40 egg cycles) takes about 5120 steps with Flame Body factored in. It's a lot of steps.
These are also ludicrously optimized happiness gains since you'll have several 128 step cycles where you don't actually proc the happiness gain and you're likely to hit the 100/200 happiness drop offs earlier than I said, so it'll be even more steps.
In short, while I'm thinking it's possible to get to Water Pledge around the same time you got Scald in SM you're also going to have a bunch of running back and forth. I'm going to tentatively say that it's implausible for an efficient run to get Water Pledge on the first island though.
I actually got Water Pledge immediately, without Soothe Bell, but my Popplio hasn't fainted yet and I have caught a lot of Pokémon, that may be the reason.
This was also my experience.
I think the real question that needs to be asked is not so much "is it normal to get Water Pledge at the end of the first island?", but "can Popplio reasonably learn Water Pledge at roughly the same time it could have learned Scald in Sun/Moon, if not just slightly later?" That might be a stretch but if it can, then I don't think losing Scald is as big of a deal for Popplio as it is for some of the other Water-types. Not likely though.
A few more mons to nominate, and to see how low they can go.
Bagon for C or D tier. Now before anyone brings up SOS Salamence, that's a super low encounter ontop of a 1% encounter just for the Bagon, and then you add in the Adrenaline Orb being island 2, and that's backtracking ahoy! Sticking with the base Bagon... it's shit. Bagon hits like a wet limp noodle, is slow and takes hits poorly, so it has to be babied until it becomes a Shelgon, and even then it's damage is underwhelming until it evolves again... and then Kommo-o obliterates it, Necrozma obliterates it, Ribombee obliterates it... And with Hala swapped out for Molayne, it has no real stand out moments against the Elite 4. It takes too long to get online, and it just isn't worth it.
Amaura for D tier, maybe even E. Slow, weak, can't rely on Nature Power for constant free ice moves, and being vulnerable to so many typings, many which are common coverage, means this thing NEEDS all the help it can get, let alone coming in underleveled compared to the rest of your team. Olivia nukes it, Totem Togedemaru nukes it, Guzma nukes it, the list goes on and on. If you want a masochist run of UM, feel free to use it...Lack of good power moves until the late game also really hurts.
Ralts for B or C tier. I love Gardevoir to death, she's one of my favorite mons to use in-game, and every chance I get, I use her... but this game HATES her guts. Starting off without Confusion really hurts Ralts, so those poison types Ralts and Kirlia SHOULD at least be able to bop hard just murder it until it gets Psychic either from level up or from Aether Paradise. The physical frailty and slowness of those two doesn't help either, given all the dark and ghost coverage thrown their way (Atleast the dark is only neutral... but Kirlia still crumples to it). Almost all the totems are bad matchups for Gardevoir, you're stick with Draining Kiss until you get Dazzling Gleam or Moonblast way later, Kommo-o outspeeds and one shots you with Poison Jab, Necrozma has Smart Strike, Gardevoir HATES Molayne replacing Hala in the Elite 4... It's still a solid mon, but this game is just mean to it and almost seems designed against it.
Snorunt for D or E tier (if Glalie). At least it comes much earlier than it did prior... but that doesn't help poor Snorunt out against the hell it's in for. It's just too weak and fragile to stand against what the rest of the game has to offer by that point, even when it evolves into Glalie. Everyone packs super effective moves against it, 80 base stats SUCK, and it struggles at times to even kill things that are weak to its Blizzards, like Kahili's team. I need to use Froslass to see how much better that fares, but I have a feeling it isn't that much better.
Bagon for C or D tier. Now before anyone brings up SOS Salamence, that's a super low encounter ontop of a 1% encounter just for the Bagon, and then you add in the Adrenaline Orb being island 2, and that's backtracking ahoy! Sticking with the base Bagon... it's shit. Bagon hits like a wet limp noodle, is slow and takes hits poorly, so it has to be babied until it becomes a Shelgon, and even then it's damage is underwhelming until it evolves again... and then Kommo-o obliterates it, Necrozma obliterates it, Ribombee obliterates it... And with Hala swapped out for Molayne, it has no real stand out moments against the Elite 4. It takes too long to get online, and it just isn't worth it.
Amaura for D tier, maybe even E. Slow, weak, can't rely on Nature Power for constant free ice moves, and being vulnerable to so many typings, many which are common coverage, means this thing NEEDS all the help it can get, let alone coming in underleveled compared to the rest of your team. Olivia nukes it, Totem Togedemaru nukes it, Guzma nukes it, the list goes on and on. If you want a masochist run of UM, feel free to use it...Lack of good power moves until the late game also really hurts.
Ralts for B or C tier. I love Gardevoir to death, she's one of my favorite mons to use in-game, and every chance I get, I use her... but this game HATES her guts. Starting off without Confusion really hurts Ralts, so those poison types Ralts and Kirlia SHOULD at least be able to bop hard just murder it until it gets Psychic either from level up or from Aether Paradise. The physical frailty and slowness of those two doesn't help either, given all the dark and ghost coverage thrown their way (Atleast the dark is only neutral... but Kirlia still crumples to it). Almost all the totems are bad matchups for Gardevoir, you're stick with Draining Kiss until you get Dazzling Gleam or Moonblast way later, Kommo-o outspeeds and one shots you with Poison Jab, Necrozma has Smart Strike, Gardevoir HATES Molayne replacing Hala in the Elite 4... It's still a solid mon, but this game is just mean to it and almost seems designed against it.
Snorunt for D or E tier (if Glalie). At least it comes much earlier than it did prior... but that doesn't help poor Snorunt out against the hell it's in for. It's just too weak and fragile to stand against what the rest of the game has to offer by that point, even when it evolves into Glalie. Everyone packs super effective moves against it, 80 base stats SUCK, and it struggles at times to even kill things that are weak to its Blizzards, like Kahili's team. I need to use Froslass to see how much better that fares, but I have a feeling it isn't that much better.
Some more noms now that I'm at Olivia on UM:
Mawile: S rank. Unless the bulk magically falls off at some point in the game, I can't see how Mawile can be lower than S. Amazing typing, comes after Hala, comes with Intimidate. Early Sucker can fix speed issues and snag kills on Ghosts and Psychics. Can learn early Iron Head from BP on top of Ice or Thunderpunch for more coverage. Not enough Ground or Fire types in game to affect its viability.
Gyarados: S rank. I was leaning A but honestly, the bulk, movepool, and Intimidate pushes it to the top. Can learn Bounce via BP for a Flying stab (or Z move) for Lurantis, learns Bulldoze, Dragon Dance, early Ice Fang. Slogging around a Magikarp is worth it if you picked Rowlet or Litten at the start.
Magnemite: S rank, no questions asked.
Furfrou: A rank (for now). Furfrou has really surprised me. It's coverage is crap (mine has Bite/Headbutt/Sand Attack/Baby Doll Eyes), but the bulk has been surprisingly good. Fur Coat really helps against all the totems and it is faster than most things in Alola. It might fall off at some point but it's definitely a solid mon.
Murkrow: B rank, possibly C. Does really well on the first two islands thanks to good stats and early Z move. I feel its bulk will suffer a lot on the last two until the Dusk Stone. You would want to evo it at 55 though to get Sucker and Night Slash, meaning you are carrying around a Murkrow for 95% of the main game. Movepool is interesting; it can learn Heat Wave and Icy Wind, and a special set isnt horrible as it has equal SpA and Att until it evolves. Haze has been hit or miss for me. It's poor bulk means it may die before getting a Haze off.
Arbok: C rank. I think we can actually tier the in-game trade and a caught Ekans as the same, since the in-game trade happens right before Lurantis, which is when your Ekans should be evolving anyway. It's typing is ok, but its movepool is meh, and all I've used it for is Intimidate swapping and healing others up. I haven't been that impressed with is so far.
Mawile: S rank. Unless the bulk magically falls off at some point in the game, I can't see how Mawile can be lower than S. Amazing typing, comes after Hala, comes with Intimidate. Early Sucker can fix speed issues and snag kills on Ghosts and Psychics. Can learn early Iron Head from BP on top of Ice or Thunderpunch for more coverage. Not enough Ground or Fire types in game to affect its viability.
Gyarados: S rank. I was leaning A but honestly, the bulk, movepool, and Intimidate pushes it to the top. Can learn Bounce via BP for a Flying stab (or Z move) for Lurantis, learns Bulldoze, Dragon Dance, early Ice Fang. Slogging around a Magikarp is worth it if you picked Rowlet or Litten at the start.
Magnemite: S rank, no questions asked.
Furfrou: A rank (for now). Furfrou has really surprised me. It's coverage is crap (mine has Bite/Headbutt/Sand Attack/Baby Doll Eyes), but the bulk has been surprisingly good. Fur Coat really helps against all the totems and it is faster than most things in Alola. It might fall off at some point but it's definitely a solid mon.
Murkrow: B rank, possibly C. Does really well on the first two islands thanks to good stats and early Z move. I feel its bulk will suffer a lot on the last two until the Dusk Stone. You would want to evo it at 55 though to get Sucker and Night Slash, meaning you are carrying around a Murkrow for 95% of the main game. Movepool is interesting; it can learn Heat Wave and Icy Wind, and a special set isnt horrible as it has equal SpA and Att until it evolves. Haze has been hit or miss for me. It's poor bulk means it may die before getting a Haze off.
Arbok: C rank. I think we can actually tier the in-game trade and a caught Ekans as the same, since the in-game trade happens right before Lurantis, which is when your Ekans should be evolving anyway. It's typing is ok, but its movepool is meh, and all I've used it for is Intimidate swapping and healing others up. I haven't been that impressed with is so far.
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