Sun / Moon In-Game Tier List

[R_N]

OK I am just going to wade in here too: ColonelM Said he would possibly make a QR Code list if there was enough demand. I personally believe it should not be counted because it allows you to obtain Pokemon from outside the Alola Dex. Also: QR codes are not "trivial to find" unless you have the internet. You could potentially be waiting for upto 6 days to get the mon you want... That is terribly inefficient. The only mons you can really consider here are the ones on Island 1. If they can potentially spawn anywhere on the island, past Island 1 there are a number of areas you cannot explore immediately or until much later. That makes a number of them awkward to get your hands on.

if you're home you have access to a computer or you can put them on your phone as images

Waiting up to 6 days to get the one you want is annoying but its not like that's new to the series: see Lapras, Drifloon. And it is significantly easier to wait for that than for pokewalker stuff that was seemingly tiered before?

I also just want to say again that I'm not sure they can spawn anywhere. I think they might be static judging, but no one's really confirmed what i've seen.

I don't think Greninja is eligible for tiering? Yeah, it's infinitely repeatable, but it's still an "event" that you have to get by connecting to a separate piece of software. It's like ranking bonus disc Jirachi in Ruby/Sapphire. Well, except that Greninja isn't nearly as broken as WISHMKR Jirachi, anyway, lol; that thing is goddamn terrifying.

I can see an argument made for it. The demo is available to anyone at any time and doesn't require an external trade or even another 3DS.
Contrast with the ORAS demo, which was originally only by early release passwords before eventually being released on the eshop password.

Or, since you mentioned it, the bonus disc. That disc required:
-preordering colosseum
-a gamecube
-a gba link cable adapter
Not necessarily a widespread thing

 

[IceBeam946]

I'm gonna put my hat in the ring in the boost for Oricorio, especially the Pom-Pom version. Its pretty stellar right out of the gate and while its movepool is barren, Air Cutter really low level helps with totem battles by hitting both mons (especially Lurantis). Really surprised by this mon for sure.

 

[Coeur7]

EXCISED

 

[Paddywagon Man]

Paras for Mid Tier

Availability: They're very common in Lush Jungle, so quite early.

Stats: For in-game, its stats are actually pretty decent. It has an alright amount of bulk and high attack, and evolves very soon after it is acquired. Unfortunately its bad speed holds it back.

Typing: So, so bad. If Paras had been pure Bug I would have given it Upper Mid or even High Tier, but Bug/Grass is a crappy type. Its Grass typing gives it almost nothing because it lacks Grass STAB, is immune to Water thanks to its ability, and would resist grass anyways. Bug type gives it a useful niche though.

Movepool: This is Paras' saving grace. Spore is incredible and available early, and it gains a significant advantage over other bug types thanks to Leech Life, which Pinsir and Scyther cannot learn. Golisopod outclasses it significantly here but it can still outlast most foes thanks to the health draining effect and high power of this STAB. It also has access to several good coverage moves, Swords Dance, and Synthesis (albeit later in the game).

Major Battles: You get it right after beating Totem Lurantis, and so it unfortunately can't help out there (and would get wrecked by the ally pokes anyways). Olivia comes up next, and despite the type disadvantage Parasect does fairly well against Nosepass and Boldore. It can outspeed them both and put them to sleep with Spore, then chip them down with Grass Knot or Brick Break.

Guzma wrecks you, and Totem Vikavolt is also quite problematic, but it does quite well against Hau depending on your starter choice. With Thief or Venoshock, Parasect can do very well against Mimikyu, although keeping both Mimikyu and an ally asleep is troublesome. He absolutely devours all the Raticates and Drowzees in Team Skull, but the Golbats are a problem.

He really shines in Aether Paradise, which is full of Water and Psychic types. Wrecks Faba and can beat 3 out of Lusamine's 5 Pokemon. I brought it in against Lilligant at less than 20% health, it one-shotted Lilligant after tanking a Grass attack, and was right back up at like 75% - and then Milotic healed it the rest of the way thanks to Dry Skin!

As you can see a lot of major battles are unfavorable for Parasect, but with good sleep luck you can often still win them, and Big Root-boosted Leech Life is amazing.

Additional Comments: The Dry Skin ability is very nice, especially alongside a Drizzle Pelipper. You would have been avoiding Fire-Types anyways, and the healing on a switch-in to a water move is handy.

Parasect is outclassed by Golisopod in almost every way, but I still feel a Low Mid ranking undervalues the usefulness of STAB Leech Life and Spore. Plus, Growth boosts both Attack and Special Attack, so you can run some special moves for coverage like Sludge Bomb.

Edit - just noticed Wimpod was in Lower Mid. If Paras is going to Mid Wimpod deserves it too, with the same Leech Life spam as Parasect alsongside much better stats and typing. Irritatingly difficult to catch in my experience, and it takes longer to evolve, but it can be an absolute monster. Its ability is very annoying though, and it's garbage until it evolves, which keeps it from going higher.

 

[PK Gaming]

Just commenting on the ones I've used

Pichu: Pichu is actually really solid, but not solely because of Alolan Raichu. Charm is easily one of the best moves in the game, letting you debuff some of the more annoying totem bosses to a point where they're much easier to deal with. Charm gives Pichu an easier time leveling too, though its defense is still incredibly bad. In the mid/lategame, Alolan Raichu runs a train through S/M. Literally hordes upon hordes of Psychic and Electric weaks. Only reason it's not higher than mid is that encounter rate. 5% is Assssssssss. Rarely used Nasty Plot.

Skarmory: Has a slow start, but once this thing gets going its a goddamn beast. That top tier typing is extremely useful for dealing with some of the trickier encounters in the game (Skarmory practically soloes

Spoiler

Lusamine

after a SD) and Spikes legitimately has a use in this game lmao.

Wishiwashi: Pretty good. You can pretty much evolve it immediately once you catch one which is nice. That speed guarantees it's always going to move last which sucks, but its a decent mon with access to good moves like Scald, U-turn and Icebeam (lategame)

Litten: One of the most reliable mons in the game, imo. Earlygame Fire Fang lets it hit pretty damn fast and Torracat is extremely fast. When it evolves, the drop in Speed bites, but Incineroar's durability makes it incredibly dependable. Leech Life gives it way more survivability, letting it avoid some clean 2HKOes and Bulk Up is one of my favorite ways of sweeping. Darkest Lariat is god tier because Dark-stab is amazing. Litten should be in high tier and definitely higher than Salandit (who is actually kind of a trash mon? Not to mention incredibly obnoxious to obtain)

Gabite: Decent. Gabite's movepool is trash and it takes an extremely long time to evolve, but the investment is fairly worth it because Garchomp is as broken as ever.

Decidueye: Flawed, but good. It's got a decent enough typing and good moves, but that low defense and speed hold it back. Most of the attacks from encounters are physical, so it's eating quite a bit of damage and rarely gets to outspeed things. That said, Swords Dance + Sucker Punch is a clutch combo, and it can sweep once it has the momentum.

EXP Share should be banned imo. You get way too much EXP, mitigating challenge and investment for leveling up some Pokemon.

 

[nikore]

Archen: Mid -> Upper Mid

Frankly, Archen could go higher than this, but we'll start here for now.

Archen/Archeops have a ton of great aspects that should push it higher than Mid Tier. These are:

• Great stat spread. Even Archen is going to be outspeeding most opponents, and Archeops's base 110 speed is going to outspeed 95% of the opponents you face. Archen has a base 112 Attack, better than most fully evolved pogeys, and Archeops's base 140 is one of the best in the game. Yes, the defenses suck, but they don't matter when you outspeed and OHKO most opponents. Archen's good offensive stats in particular help mitigate the fact that it evolves fairly late.
• Great offensive typing in Rock/Flying. This is supplemented by having good STABs available early, particularly Acrobatics. Nothing can touch a 110 power STAB attack at that point in the game... or any point, really. Rock Tomb is also available, though frankly you're not going to be using is much given how powerful Acrobatics is. In addition to the STABs, you get recovery in Roost (a little bit later in the game) and some other silly options like Shadow Claw early, but again Acrobatics is basically all you need.
• Rock/Flying, though not great defensively, does have some good resistances and a key immunity to Ground, which you can exploit given the AI's predictability.
• Though you get it at only level 15, frankly this is more than offset by the fact that you don't have to go through any SOS/low encounter rate bullshit to get the ability/nature/whatever that you want. Just buy the fossil, save in front of the dude, and soft reset until you get the nature you want.
• Available in the middle of the game, which is not great, but not terrible.
• Defeatist sucks, of course, but given your Attack/Speed you will be OHKOing a lot of things. Even if you do get knocked under 50% health, if you've done at least 2/3rds damage to their pogey with your first attack, you can still attack again to get the kill.
• Looks cool.

Really the only major issues it has are its availability and Defeatist, but these are not enough to pull it down to Mid Tier, especially given that the other fossils live there and Archen is clearly the best of the four.

 

[Banryu]

So... here's a question.
I caught a Salamence by SOS-chaining bagon pretty early game lol.

Should Salamence be tiered separately from Bagon?

Obviously the absurd lengths one has to go to in order to get it would tier it lower by default, but the extra power it has over Bagon off the bat has to count for something, right?

 

[Karxrida]

So... here's a question.
I caught a Salamence by SOS-chaining bagon pretty early game lol.

Should Salamence be tiered separately from Bagon?

Obviously the absurd lengths one has to go to in order to get it would tier it lower by default, but the extra power it has over Bagon off the bat has to count for something, right?

Probably.

First play through the game and see how useful Salamence is.

 

[LunaStik]

I'll also comment on my playthrough, with some commentary on what I saw from other posts here.

Rowlet: Rowlet was one of my top 3. I can see why people are saying he had trouble, but I didn't. I agree with Couer7 above me that sucker punch made a huge difference. My only real struggles using him were the first Lusamine and Totem Lurantis.

Munchlax: Yeah, he was a bit of a beast. All the right coverage. Only real disadvantage was friendship evolution, which was annoying when the rest of my mons were evolving but he was stuck as baby tier. Was basically not using during mid-game, but then shone again late game. Largely underwhelming for me mid-game because I wasn't finding the right tms to supplement him.

Dewpider: Not much to say. Scald wrecks things. Even off the lower Sp. Attack, it was so spammable that it was easily the best mon on my team.

Cubone: I wasn't lucky enough to get a thick club. Without it, he was very underwhelming. The electric immunity was nice, but I usually found myself using Snorlax or Decidueye, depending on whether I wanted the rock/ground coverage or ghost coverage (freaking level 27 Shadow Bone). On the positive side, in the matchups where I felt safe using him, he was utterly dominant.

Mimikyu: The best alongside Araquanid on my team. With disguise and 3 immunities, he is just bulky enough combined with his speed to do a lot better than I expected. Basically didn't want to use anyone else apart from Araquanid after I caught him. And although I was frustrated by lack of fairy type attacks, I was surprised by how unnecessary it was. Really let down by low encounter rate, but it still isn't absurdly difficult to find at 5% (I was actually unlucky and needed more than the average twenty encounters, and still only took me about 30 minutes).

 

[Wishy]

Has anybody tried using Geodude?

On a side note, since I'm using it myself, whats the best level to evolve Growlithe? Flare Blitz is fairly late into the game after all. I am fine just evolving it when it learns Flamethrower or something?

I'd evolve it at 34 for Flamethrower and Extreme Speed.

Flare Blitz isn't until level 45 for Growlithe, which is too late in game to be optimal IMO. it's a shame there isn't a physical Fire attack between Fire Fang and Flare Blitz.

 

[FMD]

Minior is adorable and I love it to death, but it's not something I would recommend to anybody. It barely doesn't hit hard enough most of the time and it's barely not bulky enough later in the game. Where Minior really shines, I find, is as a SR setter and an opportunistic sweeper that lends itself well to larger battles. Unfortunately, those are rare to come by. I will say, however, that Minior carries its weight during the Elite Four very well. Sadly, the mid-late game performance is hard to overlook. Honestly, I feel like Minior is exactly where it should be, already.

 

[Banryu]

Probably.

First play through the game and see how useful Salamence is.

Oh yeah, I finished already, I've got some input for y'all.
So honestly, I have no idea how to tier Mence or what to propose it as... So in lieu of that, I'll offer as much input and feedback as I can think of, both good and bad, and let y'all judge from there. I'm pretty rusty on the in-game tiering scene.

Salamence (caught as is lol)
Availability: BAAAAAAD. Like, absolute bottom-tier, as bad as it can possibly get.
As good as everything else is about Mence this is obviously the biggest kicker against it. 1% chance to encounter Bagon on Route 3, then 1% again for Mence to show up as reinforcements. If you do this early, you NEED to stock up on resources (and I don't think PP-recovery can even be bought at this point or maybe ever, which is a BIG timer on your ability to keep SOS-chaning bagons), and if you do it later, it surprisingly takes some babying to get up to speed (thankfully Mence's slow exp gain isn't too noticeable this early). If you can conquer the odds, though it's all downhill from there.
Stats: It's freakin' salamence. Those stats this early in the game (even if you catch it a little later) speak for themselves.
Typing: Ice isn't that common until very late, and though Fairy and Rock are a bit more prevalent, Dragon/Flying resistances are mostly positive throughout the game.
Movepool: Its movepool options are frankly amazing. Dragonbreath at 13 is really good, as are Crunch at 25 and DClaw at 29. Everything else that particularly matters comes in the form of TMs; Steel Wing, Aerial Ace, and Fire Blast are the main ones that I used, and Roost was pretty good at times too. I don't know if I'd say it can solo the game, since some fairies (IE Primarina if you picked Rowlett as I did) will give it trouble, but def has the coverage where it counts through most of the game. Draco Meteor is quite good for the lategame (esp after getting Draconium-Z), and it's almost guaranteed that Mence will be ready to learn it by the time you get to Poni isle (esp if you pet your special liddle monster as much as it deserves). If using Mence as one of the mains, you definitely want the rest of your team built around compensating for what it struggles with. 4MSS can definitely be an issue if you're trying to use Mence to solo the game.
Major Battles:

• Hala: theoretically good (resists fighting + can use Breakneck Blitz off Headbutt), but I do NOT recommend catching it this early since False Swipe can be really helpful in the Bagon SOS-chaining process.
• All 3 Akala Trials: resists the types of pretty much all the Pokemon that will show up predominantly here.
• Olivia: Don't. Just don't, lol.
• Hau: Crunch should be learned before the first Raichu appearance. Primarina is the only one to particularly watch out for.
• Mt. Hokulani battles: Ember/Crunch might have some trouble overpowering Molayne's Skarm but it can stomp pretty much everything else.
• Totem Mimikyu: NNNNOPE. Play Rough and Disguise are too scary. The only way I can think this MIGHT be viable is spamming X Defends and Roost and just Steel Wing when you can. One of the few fights where Intimidate has a significant advantage over Moxie.
• Gladion: Brick Break stomps pretty much all of his Pokemon cept the Bats, who Dragon Claw handles well enough. Mind Weavile's Ice Shard in the last battle.
• Guzma: Stomped. Aerial Ace should be available by the first encounter and it's more of the same each time.
• Nanu: 2 of them have Power Gem, so not advised. Krokorok can be overpowered easily enough, though.
• Hapu: Not too hard. Flamethrower/FBlast/Brick Break handle Dugtrio, Gastrodon can't do anything to you, Flygon dies to DClaw esp with Moxie boost, and Mudsdale can be handled with Moxie-boosted attacks or even just Draco Meteor spam.
• Totem Kommo-o: I beat it with X Sp. Defends and Roost by letting it weaken itself with Clanging Scales and grabbing Moxie boosts off the ally Hakamo-o. Draco Meteor can probably also OHKO at high enough level (I don't think I had it at the time, which was frankly a huge mistake lol).
• Aether Battles: Faba is trouble unless you kept Crunch (you probably have better coverage options by that point). Mence wants Lusamine's Clefable and possibly Mismagius taken out before it can attempt the Moxie sweep. Draco Meteor is a good bomb for taking out Bewear in both encounters (esp in the second where you can Z-ify it).
• E4 Hala: Don't attempt to sweep, Primape and Crabominable are extremely threatening. Guerilla Draco Meteor bombing is probably the best way to use Mence in this fight unless you have Flyingum-Z (or whatever it's called) working off of Fly.
• E4 Olivia: Better not to risk it for any of them IMO.
• E4 Accelerola: Froslass will interrupt your Moxie sweep in all likelihood, but Mence can handle most of the others, esp if it still has Crunch (though at this point, DClaw/DM/AA/Fire Blast was my set and I didn't have room for it).
• E4 Kahili: The easiest Moxie sweep of the E4; just watch out for confusion.
• Kukui: Won't likely be soloing the fight since Lycanroc, Ninetales, and Primarina (if it's there) are all highly dangerous matchups, but can go toe-to-toe with the others with the right moves (IE Steel Wing can handle Ninetales if Mence is fast enough, Brick Break for Lax, BB/Bulldoze for Zone, Draco Meteor/Devastating Drake bombs for the others).

Additional Comments: Discuss any miscellaneous information not covered in other sections here. Factors such as experience growth, abilities, and other lesser characteristics can be discussed here. The entry can be wrapped up here as well.

• It can come with Moxie. It can come with Moxie. (mine did) I'm sure I don't need to talk about how good that is. However, I don't know if it's guaranteed to have Moxie. If it's not, then the gamble of whether or not it'll have it is a big deciding factor in its usefulness; obv Intimidate Mence is still Mence, but Moxie makes a huge difference in the important battles. Really good for Trial Battles as well since it makes the Totem 'mons that much easier to KO.
  
• IMO the absolute earliest you should attempt to get it is after that first Adrenaline Orb that can be found out in the wild somewhere (TBH I can't recall the exact spot, I want to say Route 8 or something but IDFK). You'll have False Swipe by this point so that will help. The latest time the catch should be attempted is the moment Cubone becomes available, because as far as I know AlolaWak is the only Fire-type to get False Swipe. (Eliminating the issue of burn hax from Bagon's Ember may not be necessary, but it helps a lot, trust me-- getting KO'd by burns rapidly decreases your chances of surviving long enough for Mence to show up).
• Getting it as early as pre-Hala is stupidly hard, but I don't doubt that it's worth the payoff (I personally didn't do this lol.... If it helps, I believe I caught mine having reached Route 8, IIRC).
• I probably wasted my time writing anything that comes after Shelgon's evolution TBH since it's the same as Bagon lol. Oh well?

 

[Coeur7]

EXCISED

 

[R_N]

I'll take the rest to the other thread, but the gen 5 starters are level 43 and my Emboar spawned in ancient poni path

 

[imcooked]

Just some quick thoughts from my first playthrough:

Rowlet was pretty good throughout, if you know and understand its bad matchups then you shouldn't have much trouble. Levels up very quickly and was surprisingly powerful (mine was Adamant) and bulky on the Special side. Lack of moveset hurts a ton as Dartrix, but Leaf Blade and Spirit Shackle are very useful later on. The amount of Dark moves in the game hurts Decidueye immensely. I suppose Upper Mid makes sense to me.

Grubbin ended up being very good for me, and I think the most underrated Pokemon I used. I got it incredibly early on and it quickly became useful with Bite, Bug Bite, and Spark. Grubbin gets Acrobatics, along with Crunch and X-Scissor, and has a ton of options for held item (Electrium Z, Eviolite, no item to boost Acrobatics). It kept up with the rest of my team during this stage and was the best matchup I had more often than I thought. Evolution into Vikavolt is very late, but it becomes incredibly useful with Thunderbolt and Agility. With these two moves alone I took on the Flying Elite 4 member, and it proved useful against the Fighting Elite 4 as well. Its movepool is super diverse, its stats are good enough to get by, it comes super early, as nice STAB and defensive typing is generally good...should be at least mid tier, if not Upper Mid.

Crabrawler was super good early on, but gets so incredibly outclassed later on. Still, Brick Break does a ton of work, especially considering how early on you get a Z move for it, and considering the amount of Normal and Dark types throughout the game. It ends up becoming too slow to work by the end, but the early access and raw power of Brick Break should warrant Lower Mid Tier over Low Tier. It still isn't that good, as even positive matchups are overshadowed by its weaknesses.

Salandit was overall disappointing, as it really didn't have the power or movepool needed to succeed later on. A generally poor defensive typing for the game paired with extreme fragility made it too much of a burden, even with Flamethrower and Sludge Bomb. This, coupled with the difficulty in finding F-Salandit, makes a case for moving it down to Upper Mid. It is still good in the right situations, but it has very little versatility in matchups.

Sandygast was disappointingly slow, to the point that its good matchups were not good simply because it took too much damage. Earth Power and Shore Up come really late in its moveset, and you really have to drag it along in your party until it evolves. Even then the damage output isn't quite there, and neither is the bulk, especially against super effective moves. The best part is probably access to Hypnosis, as well as the amount of great matchups Ground/Ghost typing gives. It completely walled many opponents, and surviving for a turn could set up a Hypnosis to do what you need. It was great for catching Ultra Beasts postgame, but not sure that counts. Mid tier is fine, Lower Mid is probably better.

Wimpod should absolutely move up. It evolves somewhat quickly, and upon getting First Impression it is seriously impressive. It takes huge chunks out of anything, and has survivability with Leech Life and coverage with Brick Break. The bad parts are pretty hindering though. It takes a bit of time to become relevant, it doesn't get access to a Water move for a while, and is practically useless against the Elite 4, in which all of its types resist Bug. I'd say Mid tier would be best, but the uselessness of First Impression was crippling, leading me to pick up...

Solgaleo, who did in fact carry. The only real downside is Sunsteel Strike's PP, but it was super useful and fit onto my particular team well. The prevalence of Dark moves does hurt, but its power is a little silly, with Steel, Psychic, and Electric coverage immediately. High tier seems right to me.

Just some thoughts, I'll be doing a couple more playthroughs and will try to share my thoughts with the stuff I pick up if it is controversial or not talked about enough.

 

[Wishy]

Re: Bagon and Salamance

Bagon is also found in a patch of grass in the cove below route 3 at a 10% encounter rate. You need Lapras to get there, so you need to backtrack soon after arriving to the second island, but it's less frustrating than 1%.

I just caught a Sandshrew and looking at its move pool I can only imagine it will be garbage tier. Still using it though, it's too cute. Might give Clefairy a spin too.

 

[R_N]

Re: Bagon and Salamance

Bagon is also found in a patch of grass in the cove below route 3 at a 10% encounter rate. You need Lapras to get there, so you need to backtrack soon after arriving to the second island, but it's less frustrating than 1%.

I just caught a Sandshrew and looking at its move pool I can only imagine it will be garbage tier. Still using it though, it's too cute. Might give Clefairy a spin too.

That's fine for Bagon, but Salamence only spawn from SOS calls from the 1% bagon. 10% bagons summon shelgon

 

[Darvin]

Might give Clefairy a spin too.

I ran a Clefairy in my playthrough, and found it to be pretty decent. It's roughly in the middle of the game with moderate availability. It has a good movepool, but has to wait way too long to get a decent STAB move. The long wait for Moonblast means evolution needs to be postponed, but as a good Eviolite user this isn't actually a huge problem since Clefairy is still perfectly usable. It has good typing and balanced stats that give it plenty of favorable matchups, but many pokemon have random steel coverage (like a certain Snorlax...) that ruin its day. It trivializes the 7th totem battle, but has little relevancy in any other totem battle.

All things considered it's a mixed pokemon. If it fits your team it's a fun pick and I can definitely recommend it. However, it's not something I'd recommend going out of your way for if it's not an interesting mon for you.

 

[Xen]

Imo, Bounsweet could stand to rise to upper mid or even high; mid tier seems way too low for it. You get it early before the water trial via a trade, which means double exp. It evolves quickly, has decent stats, has a decent pool of available moves upon evolution, and Z-Splash allows it to wreck anything from the get-go. The only major downside is that its movepool is pretty barren until it does evolve, pretty much forcing you to rely on Razor Leaf for a while.

Edit: So HJK comes later than I originally expected, so movepool issues persist longer than I initially thought. Still think it would be more comfortable in upper mid though, especially since it'll get HJK sooner than later due to the quick exp growth.

 

[Alpharite]

Island Scan should 100% be tiered. The locations are actually fixed:

https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/5ex78s/everything_you_need_to_know_about_island_scan/

Also one other piece of information I have found is that you can freely change the date to get the pokemon you want. Although time based events are disabled for 48 hours meaning you can't do 2 scans in rapid succession, you can change it to catch the specific one you want.

Lastly regarding availability, the imgur album for QR codes is freely available, and scanning + encountering a Cyndaquil took less time than finding a Mimikyu.

 

[nikore]

Agreed that Island Scan mons should be tiered given fixed locations. No need to worry about using your one scan per day on a mon that will spawn on a route that you don't have access to. And claiming anything about QR codes being hard to find is ridiculous - I mean, we're all on this website and thus have access to the Internet and its bountiful resources, is it really that much of a stretch that someone won't be able to use Google to find the QR codes for the game? It took me maybe 5-10 minutes to get my Cyndaquil, which I did after maybe an hour of playtime.

That said, I'll jump the gun and nominate Cyndaquil for Mid Tier, since I used it and just subbed it out of my team due to its poor performance.

Availability - Very early which is its biggest strength. Available on Route 3 using the Island Scanner. It took me maybe five minutes to scan the ten codes and find the mon, even before I realized that the locations were fixed. It was my first encounter on Route 3 as well - not sure if this is also fixed.

Typing - Theoretically good, but let down due to its poor Fire-type attack options early, which we'll get to later. Helps on a few trials, specifically Grass, Electric, and the Scizor SOS in the Dragon trial. Okay against Guzma, though can't stomach Golisopod's Water attacks. Late-game, as others have mentioned, there are only a handful of Fire-weak mons.

Stats - Pretty strong, though it really wishes it could switch its SpAtk for its Atk for the first half of the game. All of its coverage options from TMs in the early game are physical (Brick Break, Rock Tomb, Bulldoze, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace). At least it has good Speed, especially by Alola standards.

Movepool - As mentioned, its biggest problem. No strong fire attack until level 43 with Lava Plume - its best before then is Flame Wheel, which is physical, so if you opt for Modest/Timid you're gimped for the large majority of the game. It gets great physical coverage (the early game TMs mentioned before, as well as EQ, Rock Slide, Wild Charge, etc), but its special coverage is basically just Focus Blast and Solarbeam (Extrasensory is an egg move and honestly takes too much effort to obtain). This mon will be really weak until the endgame, and by that time there are very few mons weak to fire left to beat in major battles.

Major Battles - Again, theoretically strong, but has no strong fire move to take advantage of its typing early game when it could help against certain Totems and other major battles, and by the time it does gets its powerful fire moves, there's nothing left that's weak to Fire.

 

[Xen]

I also agree the QR code mons should be tiered. They're not really any different than other weekly mons like DPPt Drifloon and GSC/HGSS Lapras. Hell, the Primo eggs from HGSS were tiered, and obtaining those was far more cryptic than this (and also required googling to obtain).

That being said, I don't think many of them are top-tier mons anyway, besides the early island Waters. Honedge is always cool, but it won't cheese the game like it did to X/Y due to late-game matchups.

 

[Paddywagon Man]

Misdreavus
Available super early, and really powerful. In the early game it just has some of the best stats available - it lacked STAB but it was still my best 'mon running Echoed Voice. It has excellent TM compatibility, and right around the the time its stats started falling off compared to evolved competition it got Hex. Combined with Thunder Wave from the TM (and later Toxic) it was an absolute god, and eviolite brought its stats right back up to the top.

Even at Aether Paradise, when it was the only unevolved member of my team, it absolutely pulled its weight. It's starting to fall off though, and I haven't run into a Dusk Stone yet - but with an eviolite equipped it has excellent defences, an awesome type, and a very powerful STAB in either Hex or Shadow Ball. I'd put it in High Tier - My team also included Ribombee and Poliwrath (both High Tier mons), and Misdreavus was easily as good.

Spinarak
I'll admit that I didn't actually use one, so I'm extrapolating from my very favourable experience with Parasect, but I think it deserves Lower Mid rather than Low. It has STAB Leech Life off a fairly high attack, and way better typing than Parasect. It lacks Spore and Dry Skin, Poison Type means it struggles against the Psychic Types that Parasect devours, and it doesn't have the coverage options to take on Olivia, but Big Root boosted Leech Life is good enough to warrant a bump to Lower Mid, and it's available way earlier than Paras.

Slowking
I noticed that Politoed and Poliwrath get seperate entries, but Slowking gets no recognition. One of the main things holding back Slowbro is its late evolution, but Slowking is evolved the same way as Politoed, which is High Tier. I would personally split Slowpoke into Slowbro and Slowking, put Slowbro in Mid Tier, and Slowking in either Upper Mid or High. I'm using one and the speed is annoying, but it has huge bulk, Slack Off, and good Special Attack, and can run Psychic and Scald for powerful STAB.

 

[R_N]

Slowking
I noticed that Politoed and Poliwrath get seperate entries, but Slowking gets no recognition. One of the main things holding back Slowbro is its late evolution, but Slowking is evolved the same way as Politoed, which is High Tier. I would personally split Slowpoke into Slowbro and Slowking, put Slowbro in Mid Tier, and Slowking in either Upper Mid or High. I'm using one and the speed is annoying, but it has huge bulk, Slack Off, and good Special Attack, and can run Psychic and Scald for powerful STAB.

Why is Politoed high tier, exactly?
Checking serebii the only King's Rock just given to you in-game is in the post game. Otherwise you have to steal it off wild Slowbro (a SOS only encounter), a Poliwrath (also a SOS only encounter, in the rain), a Politoed (which kind of sidesteps the issue entirely but whatever), or Hariyama (post-game).

Is it because its an SOS encounter? Cuz that's kinda...look I'm just saying I spent over an hour hunting a castform or sliggoo on Route 17 in the rain. And it feels like it rains way less in Malie Garden. Its anecdotal but I feel like the weather SOS encounters are rarer than normal (has there been any research into the call rates?)

 

[Lucchini]

With Island Scan in, I imagine Marill and Honedge return to Top Tier yet again?

I gotta ask though, can you reset and look for the IS Pokemon again if you don't get one with the right ability/nature, or do you have to wait a week/reset the clock again?

And if I understood one of the posters correctly, having to wait 48 hours after rigging the system clock is hugely inconvenient.