Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald In-Game Tier List Discussion

[Texas Cloverleaf]

Abra is also available before Roxanne, same route as Nincada, which can be valuable if you want to use Roxanne and her trainers as experience fodder. In the stats section I would never call it useless, emphasize more how it's a glass cannon. I would never include Teleport as a main set option, it's a filler niche at best, you'll be running Psychic/Calm Mind/Recover and two of Shock Wave/Reflect/Psybeam. I assume this is Abra (No trade)? It's not explicitly stated, only implied.

 

[sumwun]

Abra is also available before Roxanne, same route as Nincada, which can be valuable if you want to use Roxanne and her trainers as experience fodder.

I'm not sure whether this is "objectively the best", but I personally try to catch Pokemon as high-leveled as possible. In this case, using the trainers in gym 1 to grind Abra means not giving that experience to another Pokemon. The Granite Cave Abra comes with extra experience for free.

In the stats section I would never call it useless, emphasize more how it's a glass cannon.

done.

I would never include Teleport as a main set option, it's a filler niche at best, you'll be running Psychic/Calm Mind/Recover and two of Shock Wave/Reflect/Psybeam.

I personally remember teleport being useful several times (before it got outclassed by fly, of course), mostly shortening return trips from things like training on Route 109, getting the strength HM, going to Meteor Falls, and getting the return and ice beam TMs. Are recover and reflect both more useful than this? Do they let Kadabra sweep Flannery or Norman or something like that?

I assume this is Abra (No trade)? It's not explicitly stated, only implied.

As far as I know, Emerald players who can't trade outnumber Emerald players who can, so I think everything is no trade unless specified otherwise.

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

I'm not sure whether this is "objectively the best", but I personally try to catch Pokemon as high-leveled as possible. In this case, using the trainers in gym 1 to grind Abra means not giving that experience to another Pokemon. The Granite Cave Abra comes with extra experience for free. done. I personally remember teleport being useful several times (before it got outclassed by fly, of course), mostly shortening return trips from things like training on Route 109, getting the strength HM, going to Meteor Falls, and getting the return and ice beam TMs. Are recover and reflect both more useful than this? Do they let Kadabra sweep Flannery or Norman or something like that? As far as I know, Emerald players who can't trade outnumber Emerald players who can, so I think everything is no trade unless specified otherwise.

I believe we've discussed this before that your tendency is not the most common one, the majority of players acquire things when they are first available. In Abra's case the two options are close enough together as to be functionally equivalent, there's little reason to omit one.

Warping is of such minor utility I could never see it being justified as an option when better combat ones exist. It's a niche choice, not a main recommendation.

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

Parked in front of Norman but the write up of the first half of the game will have to wait until I get back to my desk at work tomorrow. Surprising highlight: Tentacool being the MVP vs Wattson (!) with Swagger

But since I'm here, let me do the write up for Slakoth, least I can do after championing it so hard


Slakoth

Availability: Petalburg Woods, early, 5%, lv 5-6

Stats:
Slakoth: 60/60/60 represent solid physical tank stats early on, once Slakoth reaches around level 10 it can comfortably 1-2HKO most route/trainer Pokemon it will face.
Vigoroth: Excellent physical sweeper stats backed up by solid bulk, one of the best mid-game options available. Will be able to 1-2HKO every enemy that doesn't resist Normal and multiple attacks will be required to take Vigoroth down.
Slaking: The best stat block of a non-legendary in the game. 160 Attack speaks for itself but 150/100 physical bulk outpaces even Swampert. With a strong Special Attack stat if it wants to go mixed and excellent Speed, Slaking's stats are unparalleled.

Typing: Normal offers boons and weaknesses, vulnerability to Brawly is a handicap at a tough challenge early in the game but immunity to many of Phoebe's attacks make up for this. Few dangerous enemies resist Normal STAB which means good results when backed by high attacking stats.

Movepool: Phenomenal. Slakoth learns Encore and Slack Off before evolving into Vigoroth and Vigoroth learns Bulk Up from Brawly, this combined with a Normal STAB (Scratch -> Fury Swipes -> Secret Power -> Return) completely demolishes the middle game, no enemy can stand up to this. At evolution Slaking also gains access to Hyper Beam, the biggest nuke in the game, as well as many excellent coverage options including Shadow Ball, Earthquake, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, and Brick Break. Thus, while an optimal end game moveset may look something like: Return / Hyper Beam / Shadow Ball / Bulk Up, Slaking is able to customize its moveset as it desires to deal with specific enemies e.g. Ice Beam for Drake or Earthquake for Steven.

Major Battles: Slakoth can provide minor support against Roxanne with Yawn and Encore but should not be used against Brawly. Against each of Wattson, Flannery, and Norman, Vigoroth is able to abuse the lead Pokemon with Encore and Slack Off to allow for complete Bulk Up set up and is able to sweep through each opponent in this way. This is also true for Winona if it has not yet evolved into Slaking - if it has than Slaking comfortably OHKOs every opponent bar Skarmory. Slaking fears only focus fire Psychics against Tate and Liza, otherwise it acts as a superb tank while simultaneously setting up allies for clean up kills on its Shadow Balls when it isn't OHKOing Xatu itself. Juan is much the same, his Pokemon simply cannot do enough damage on Truant turns to threaten you, even without Bulk Up Slaking cleanly sweeps through here between Return and Hyper Beam. Slaking then becomes a Bulk Up sweeper against all of Sidney, Phoebe, Glacia, and Drake, each offers set up opportunities, nothing is capable of 2HKOing in Return, and Slaking overpowers any resistance. Wallace sees Slaking return to its classic role as a hit and run specialist. Every enemy here will be 2HKOed by Return, however, Tentacruel should be taken out with Hyper Beam as it is the first Pokemon able to 2HKO in return with Hydro Pump.

Additional Comments:
Vigoroth is one of the three best mid-game Pokemon available alongside Hariyama and Marshtomp. Slaking is an absolute monster that carries fights singlehandedly despite its natural handicap. Why then is Slakoth ranked only in C tier (SHOULD BE B TIER!!!)? Simply, the handicap imposed by Truant is too significant a drain on time and resources to allow it to be any higher. The time spent as a Slakoth is extremely painful to get through and requires some intelligent babying to get to Vigoroth as quickly as possible. As Slaking, the downtime from Truant does result in increased Potion consumption which is itself a drain on resources. Although this usage is effectively free due to Truant's mandatory downtime, the fact remains that Slaking will take 1.5x-2x as long as other top tier sweeper-type Pokemon to clear through a battle, even as it matches or exceeds their abilities.

Conclusion: If you can stomach a painful training period Vigoroth and Slaking will be some of the most fun and most effective options you'll ever use - even if it takes a little longer to get there in the end.

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

Roxanne:

Grovyle: trashes this to a hilarious extent, Treecko can get rolled by Nosepass if you get unlucky with Bullet Seed rolls.

Skitty: has no business fighting here. However, it does perform competently upon acquisition, up to par with the rest of the early game staples, Zigzagoon, Taillow, Poochyena, etc. Poor gym matchup but completely fine beyond that.


Brawly:

Tentacool (15): did you know this doesn't learn a Water move until level 25 (Bubblebeam)? Suffice to say with only Poison Sting at hand its very difficult to even train this up to fight the gym against Zubats and Arons and the like. Interestingly enough it actually can fight in this gym, even at level 6 against trainer Meditite's, as its poison from Poison Sting and Supersonic's Confusion will outdamage any Bide damage returned, and can also do this against Brawly's Meditite due to it only having Focus Punch. Faint praise, but notable nonetheless. Can also get through Machop with some appropriate Supersonic luck, roughly on a 1/4 - 1/3 range average success. Makuhita is a hard stop.

Skitty (17): Can beat Machop clean if you hit the t1 Sing and don't get screwed by fucking Doubleslap (three 15% rolls in a row is monka as fuck). Even on an early wake you live a +0 Karate Chop comfortably if no crit. Beats Meditite obviously, also conveniently burning Super Potions if your rolls are so inclined until you miss a Tackle and I swear to god my Skitty is blind it misses so fucking much. Anyway once you stop missing every other turn you can get through these two fairly comfortably but Makuhita is a hard stop, even if you hit the first sing you shouldn't be able to kill it before a wake and one Vital Throw will stomp you. Still not too shabby considering the type disadvantage.

Grovyle w/ Miracle Seed (19): Bullet Seed is a 7HKO which on a 2TKO roll means a clean kill on Machop, Meditite is trash etc, Makuhita is a 9HKO including Sitrus Berry which means a 3TKO on average and you live a +1 Vital Throw. Clean performance. P.S. In re-running for my preferred outcome it before clear that for whatever reason Makuhita does significantly better against a level 19 Grovyle rather than one that reaches level 20 mid-fight. I low rolled Bullet Seed several times but 2 hits into 2 hits triggered a full heal Sitrus on the same turn as a +1 Vital Throw so in this situation Grovyle would lose. With average distribution of rolls and/or one or more crits across your ~10 hits Grovyle wins, however.

Interlude: Tentacool can learn Thief! A move with actual base power! Holy crap! Also conveniently happens to be a Swagger tutor nearby. Supersonic has been a consistent damage source and this will be much more reliable. LATER: Swagger is surprisingly an excellent option for early Tentacool, carries it a fair bit until it picks up Acid, arguably should be part of the main set given competition for the tutor is non-existent. Minun sucks dog balls until it picks up Spark and it immediately becomes good, same goes for Gulpin and Sludge.

Wattson:

Grovyle (23): Electric resistance is nice. idk if it was my save state but Grovyle was a magnet for instant Spark paralysis and follow up explosion so Voltorb isn't a good spot for it to be fighting. Bullet Seed is an 8HKO regardless but I literally never got a 4 or 5 hit proc in trials. Against Magneton however it can make more progress than most thanks to Screech, this plus Quick Attack was a winning combination on a few occasions. Poops on Electrike obviously, but Bullet Seed loses to Manectric's Quick Attack in a vacuum.

Minun (21): Can't contribute offensively at all but can Thunder Wave Magneton and Manectric comfortably which is very valuable when you're comparatively underlevelled.

Tentacool (20): Can't do anything on its own but can make an amusing combo with Minunto combine Paralysis and Swagger, it picked up a couple KOs in trials this way. More testing leads me to feel that this combo is actually viable and valuable, it ended up being my most reliable way of getting a kill on one or both of the big guns (which speaks to the quality of the rest of the team), definitely the best way for Tentacool to contribute to the fight. The run where I finally managed to break through saw Tentacool secure KOs against both Magneton and Manectric with paralysis and Screech setting up Swagger.

Gulpin (22): Beats Voltorb and Electrike reasonably comfortably, Yawn and Amnesia let it avoid most damages and Selfdestructs and Voltorbs SW doesn't do too much to begin with. Could also do this to Manectric if Magneton didn't exist, Pound is a 20+HKO and after a Super Potion you can't kill it, even dodging SW crits.

Skitty (21): Can't beat Voltorb. Soundproof blocks Sing. 'nuff said.


Interludes: I'm noticing that I've been getting ridiculously unlucky this run. Any 85% accurate move hits 60% of the time at best, 95% accuracy is closer to 80%. Crits and effect procs are eerily clustered and consistent on save state re-runs. Only place I've been seeing good fortune is against my own confusion rolls, and even that is balanced by enemy Supersonics hitting 80+% of the time.

Skitty picks up Secret Power and immediately becomes viable again. Evolved at level 25 upon reaching Mt. Moon.

Gulpin is basically Grimer that's slightly bulkier and somewhat weaker only the strength difference is much more noticeable than the bulk difference and comes a bit earlier.

Acquired 100k before entering Mt Chimney to take on Team Magma with sale of HP Up, Protein, Nugget, acquired first Ice Beam TM for Tentacool (Swalot needs less help, will get the Abandoned Ship one).

Spoink GET...and its Own Tempo and not Thick Fat...and its Adamant...and I taught it Shock Wave before I noticed...


Flannery:

Spoink (23): Did not participate

Tentacool (26): OHKOs Numel, 2HKOs Slugma who can't touch you, 2HKOs Camerupt who you beat unless it uses Magnitude (never did vs me, also burns her potions), loses to Torkoal

Minun (26): Can't touch Numel or Camerupt, beats Slugma easily, is able to beat Torkoal with Thunder Wave+Encore onto t1 Sunny Day, Spark is a 4HKO.

Delcatty (26): Gets two free X Attacks on Numel's Overheat before healing, OHKOs Numel and Slugma with Secret Power, then does only 65% with +2 Dig to Camerupt, dying to Overheat. Yeah. Torkoal is obviously a non-starter.

Swalot (26): 3HKOs Numel with Body Slam, 2HKOs Slugma, beats Camerupt in a Body Slam vs Tackle war, Amnesia tanks an Overheats, then beats Torkoal with Sludge poisoning despite weak damage as it uses SD, Attract, and Overheat into +6 SDef. Wasn't a pretty fight by any means and likely could have been some loss points if the enemy had been more aggressive, but a sweep nonetheless.

Grovyle (28): Lost to Numel on the first trial despite tanking Overheat. Bullet Seed really not cutting it and I left it one level short of Leaf Blade for this gym intentionally to demonstrate.


Norman:

Spoink (27): Dies to Spinda. Actually semi-decent against Slaking, Psywave is above curve given Slaking's bulk which can be helpful at the end stage of the fight.

Grovyle (29): Clean 2HKO on Spinda, clean 2HKO on Vigoroth, Linoone is a 3HKO barring crits and a potential Belly Drum triggers a heal so tread carefully here. Slaking is a no-go. Very physically frail, will be 2HKOed by any combination of STAB attacks.

Swalot (27): Technically beats Spinda I guess, unless you hit yourself in confusion 8 straight times. Does fine against Linoone and Vigoroth too because its pretty fat but its really really weak, very noticeably weak. It's Attack stat is less than Grovyle and Tentacruel, on par with Delcatty so even though its tanking everything its 3HKOing things back if its lucky, heavily reliant on Sludge poisons for quick kills. Vigoroth was a 4HKO with Sludge. So weak that it couldn't prevent Linoone some setting up a Belly Drum. Can tank Slaking but again, reliant on Poison for damage. Oddly seems to draw weak Counters from Slaking so that's a plus. Like its fine but its definitely a Potion sink.

Tentacool (29): Dies to Spinda

Tentacruel (30): 3HKOs Spinda but even Facade doesn't do much back. Same deal for Vigoroth, 3HKO with Bubblebeam, not 3HKOed back. Same issue as Grovyle with Linoone, Bubblebeam and Belly Drum put Linoone into healing range and it can't 2HKO. Can take a hit from Slaking but can't hit too hard back.

Minun (27): Usually dies to Spinda, can win with a little luck via Thunder Wave+Encore onto Teeter Dance. Immediately dies to Vigoroth thereafter.

Delcatty (27): Beats Spinda! Holy crap! Charm nerfs Facade well, Secret Power is a comfortable 3HKO. Can do Dig shenanigans against Slaking but you aren't even 10HKOing to say nothing of potions.


Mid-game status update and review:

Spoink lv 27, Adamant, Own Tempo
71 / 27 / 29 / 40 / 56 / 39
Psybeam, Shock Wave, Psywave, Confuse Ray

Very weak so far, but this has been expected. No judgement to be passed until Grumpig arrives. Intending to use Psychic / Calm Mind / Shadow Ball / x, perhaps Strength or Brick Break to take advantage of the terrible nature.


Minun lv 27, Bashful, Minus
75 / 27 / 38 / 51 / 55 / 64
Spark, Quick Attack, Thunder Wave, Encore

Thunder Wave + Encore is a lovely little combo to gank certain enemies. Terrible until it achieves Spark, passable from then on. No bulk to speak of, it will be 2HKOed at best by most any enemy it seems, but it does fine in the spots you pick and choose for it. Currently justifying its E ranking.


Delcatty lv 27, Hardy, Cute Charm
81 / 44 / 44 / 37 / 42 / 47
Return / Sing / Dig / Charm

It's not very good, but it doesn't feel F tier to me. Compared to Rhyhorn and Anorith it doesn't require much in the way of babying, and compared to Goldeen its much more consistent in its power output and ability to contribute to fights. Probably at least as good as Castform or Phanpy or Sandshrew, especially with its great movepool yet to come online. Perhaps the 2% encounter rate pushes this down to F, but its passable enough for E at this point.

Swalot lv 27, Sassy, Sticky Hold
98 / 45 / 58 / 51 / 63 / 33
Sludge / Body Slam / Yawn / Amnesia

Whomever was arguing this as better than or as good as Grimer was on some serious drugs. I love how fat this is, its really hard to die and Amnesia invalidates some fights completely, but its really really weak. Heavily reliant on Sludge poison if it doesn't want to be 4 or 5HKOing certain enemies. Grimer (and later Muk) would consistently 2HKO enemies, this has rarely done better than 3. I enjoy it nonetheless, firmly D tier.

Grovyle lv 29, Bashful, Overgrow
69 / 49 / 36 / 63 / 50 / 65
Leaf Blade, Pursuit, Screech, Quick Attack

Sceptile is my personal favourite starter from gen 3 but based on this performance so far it should be dropped to B. Treecko was good but Grovyle sucks. Bullet Seed simply isn't strong enough, and even getting Leaf Blade for Norman only brings its power up to the average expectation you'd want. It's ridiculously frail on the physical side relative to expectations which severely hampers its ability to clean gym trainers and leaders, on top of its perpetually poor matchups from Wattson on (Magneton, Magma, Flannery, Norman). Has not lived up to the standard of A tier whatsoever, as comparison, significantly worse than Breloom, comparable output to Manectric. Sceptile will be better, but will need to be much better to justify A tier (compare to my evaluation of Combusken and Blaze, it had consistently strong performances with some let downs which put it in A, Grovyle is far below this pace).

Tentacruel lv 30, Quirky, Liquid Ooze
95 / 51 / 51 / 58 / 83 / 68
Surf / Ice Beam / Acid (Sludge Bomb) / Swagger

Even when this was really bad I enjoyed using it for some reason. Is pathetically weak as a Tentacool until it learns Bubblebeam but still managed to find ways to contribute against Brawly and Wattson. Swagger was a fantastic pickup, especially paired with Minun, its accessible from Slateport and there's zero competition for it, became one of the more reliable ways to beat Wattson. Good performance vs Flannery and decent one vs Norman, even with the painful time training it's been tracking to a C level and now that its Tentacruel I'm certain it will quickly pick up and justify its placing in B.

Overall: My team is really really weak lol. I happened to take mons from each of A, B, C, D, E, and F tiers and so far I've yielded B, C, D, E, E (Delcatty), and F (Spoink) performances which has required me to get a bit creative in dealing with some challenges. Grumpig and Sceptile will join Tentacruel and Swalot soon and that should be a comfortably solid base going forward. Delcatty may get dropped once I hit Mossdeep so I can run Glalie as its the most naturally replaceable member, perhaps Sceptile, but whomever I drop I'm sure I will have a clear picture of their capabilities by that point.

 

[TheGamer7777]

Tropius
Movepool: It learns Rock Smash, Fly, and Strength without evolving. Combined with its passable availability, this makes Tropius by far the best Fly slave in the game. It can also learn Cut, Flash, or Sweet Scent if you want. If for some weird reason you're using Tropius in battle, then its main STAB is still Fly, and other useful moves might include Sunny Day, SolarBeam, Synthesis, or Earthquake.

Mild suggestion but in Tropius's movepool you said it learns all those HM's without evolving, but that would imply that it evolves at some point which it obviously does not. Id say just leave it as Tropius learns all those HM's and how its one of the easiest/best pokes with said combination of moves maybe? Idk grammatically it just bothers me so I wanted to mention it.

 

[sumwun]

Mild suggestion but in Tropius's movepool you said it learns all those HM's without evolving, but that would imply that it evolves at some point which it obviously does not. Id say just leave it as Tropius learns all those HM's and how its one of the easiest/best pokes with said combination of moves maybe? Idk grammatically it just bothers me so I wanted to mention it.

I just wanted to emphasize the fact that not needing to evolve is important for HM slaves, and in this case it makes Tropius better than Vibrava and Salamence. Is there a less confusing and shorter way to say this?

 

[Merritt]

Call it one of the very few unevolved Pokemon with access to all of Rock Smash, Strength, and Fly.

I’ll go through the writeups in a day or two, been busy of late.

 

[Merritt]

writeup review

Universal: Format for Availability - please correct to the following kinds of format so it doesn't have to be done in final QC
Availability: Darumaka can be found in on Route 4 with a 30% chance.
Availability: Drilbur can first be found in Relic Passage Dust Clouds with an 80% chance.
Availability: Heracross can be found in Lostlorn Forest with a 5% chance. [Black 2]

This applies to all the entries submitted thus far.

pikachu

Name: Pikachu
Availability: Safari Zone, Area 1 & 2 Grass, 15%, Levels 25 or 27
Stats: High Speed but lackluster stats everywhere else. Offenses improve upon evolution or using the Light Ball item.
Typing: Electric typing has great use against Winona, the upcoming water routes, and Water-type bosses such as Juan, Wallace, and Glacia.
Movepool: Level 25 Pikachus come with Thunder Wave and learn Thunderbolt in 1 level, whereas Level 27 Pikachus already come with Thunderbolt, but needs to be reteached Thunder Wave, so take your pick on which is more valuable for you. As an Electric-type, Pikachu's movepool is pretty sparse, but it does get Brick Break and Light Screen to improve its coverage and utility, respectively. Because Pikachu doesn't need anything from its level-up movepool that can't be taught by TM, it is advised to evolve it immediately.
Major Battles: A quick backtrack lets Raichu grind for experience against Winona's Gym and take out everything except for Winona's Altaria. Raichu can fry most of the Water-types of Juan, Wallace, and Glacia and use Light Screen to help buffer hits better. Thunder Wave can help to neuter Drake's Salamence, while Brick Break has some mild use against Glacia's Light Screen Glalie as well as Sidney in general.
Additional Comments: While Pikachu does not need the Thunderbolt TM, it is still necessary to travel through New Mauville to acquire the Thunderstone, unless you're lucky enough to catch a Pikachu holding a Light Ball. One could also manipulate Pikachu's nature with the Pokeblock feeder, with dry berries increasing the likelihood of +SpA natures and sweet berries making +Spe natured Pikachus more common.

Merritt - Note in Movepool that it should evolve immediately after obtaining Thunderbolt - you don't want to instantly evolve the level 25 chu. Mention in additional comments that the light ball is a 5% held item, can be as simple as "(5%)". Good.

shroomish

Name: Shroomish
Availability: Petalburg Woods, 15%, Levels 5-6
Stats: Good bulk with low offenses and Speed. Upon evolution, its Attack stat skyrockets to become obscenely high, especially at such an early point in the game.
Typing: Grass typing is useful for the earlier portions of the game due to its advantage against Rock and Electric. Upon gaining the Fighting type upon evolution, it gains favorable matchups against Normal-, Dark-, and Steel-types, while possessing neat resistances to Ground, Water, Dark, and Rock.
Movepool: Shroomish relies on disruptive moves such as Stun Spore, Leech Seed, and Mega Drain to take full advantage of its bulk and make up for its lack of power. Once it evolves, it changes gears to become an attacking powerhouse, crushing foes with moves like Bulk Up, Mach Punch, Rock Tomb, Silk Scarf-boosted Headbutt / Strength, Sludge Bomb, and Sky Uppercut, most of which are very powerful attacks for when they are learned compared to most Pokemon.
Major Battles: Shroomish can solo Roxanne while being able to hinder Brawly with Leech Seed. Breloom can smash Wattson, Archie, and Sidney pretty easily as well as wipe out most of Norman's trainers, while Norman himself can be dealt with clever use of Bulk Up and / or Counter. It loses to Flannery, Winona, Tate&Liza, and Phoebe, but otherwise its immense power makes it a threat against nearly any opponent it fights, especially with the threat of Bulk Up + X-Speed sweeps.
Additional Comments: Breloom's usefulness against Glacia is heavily decided on whether Breloom is able to outspeed her Pokemon. Try to catch a Shroomish with a +Spe nature (or at least not a -Spe nature) and feed it any Carbos you can find.

Merritt - Try to make the typing part more relevant to the game as a whole instead of just being 'this is grass/fighting's typechart', add in a mention of its weakness to psychic coverage after evolving. For additional comments I'd recommend taking out the +spe nature bit and just make it that Shroomish should avoid a hindering nature.

absol

Name: Absol
Availability: Route 120 Grass, 8%, Level 25 or 27
Stats: Glass cannon; very high Attack stat with decent Speed and Special Attack, but poor defenses.
Typing: Dark typing is useful for its Psychic immunity and Ghost resistance, but does not serve Absol very well in the attacking department at all.
Movepool: Absol is TM-reliant, but fortunately it has a very diverse movepool that can easily be tailored to your needs. It has Swords Dance to bolster moves such as Shadow Ball, Aerial Ace, and Strength to extremely powerful levels, or it can take advantage of the coverage granted by Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, and Flamethrower, which it can further augment with Calm Mind if it wants.
Major Battles: Ice Beam + Thunderbolt Absol should wipe out Winona's Gym provided it OHKOes every target. Absol can smash Tate&Liza, though it is concerned by Emerald Claydol's Earthquake and Xatu's Confuse Ray. Absol can use Calm Mind + Thunderbolt to beat Juan/Wallace provided Whiscash is out of the way first, which usually means setting up on the Sealeo or Juan's Crawdaunt. BoltBeam coverage or Swords Dance + Strength help combat Sidney, while Swords Dance + Shadow Ball should wipe out Phoebe (although her lead Dusclops's Curse will deny the clean sweep). Absol could attempt a Calm Mind sweep against Glacia and Drake, though Absol's fraility makes this an unpractical endeavor without using up a ton of items, and is usually better off only attempting to pick off one of their Pokemon at a time. The fraility is made even more apparent against the Champion, where Absol is not expected to boost very safely at all.

Merritt - Major Battles goes into too much conditional detail, try to make it more concise. Add an Additional Comments section to mention that Absol's special coverage moves can be selected based on what the team struggles with.

meditite

Name: Meditite
Availability: Mt. Pyre Exterior, 30%, Levels 27 or 29
Stats: Mediocre to average stats. Pure Power is the only thing salvaging Meditite, but doubling the Attack stat makes for a massive power boost.
Typing: Meditite will primarily use its Fighting-type for its offense. Its Psychic-typing makes opposing Psychic attacks neutral, but removes its Dark resistance and gives it a Ghost weakness, making it a double-edged sword.
Movepool: Meditite's only form of offense when caught is Hidden Power, which is highly unlikely to be useful. This means that Meditite will have to rely on TMs such as Shadow Ball and Secret Power to fight on its own. Hi Jump Kick arrives at level 32 which shouldn't be far if you've caught the highest leveled Meditite, though that should be replaced by the more reliable Brick Break TM once you obtain it in Sootopolis. Medicham also has the option of Ice Punch via move relearner, though its use is highly situational at best.
Major Battles: Medicham's Shadow Ball rips through Tate&Liza, while a couple of Bulk Ups can allow Medicham to sweep through Wallace, Sidney, Glacia, and even possibly Steven, though an X Speed may be necessary to facilitate a clean sweep. Medicham is not expected to set up very comfortably against Phoebe, but Spell Tag-boosted Shadow Ball can heavily dent her Banettes so it can still put in work. Ice Punch also lets Medicham contribute against Drake, though don't expect Ice Punch to OHKO any of the Dragons, while Medicham must also be wary against the ones who pack Fly.

Merritt - Would suggest rephrasing the stats section to highlight Pure Power more. Typing section should be more specific, explain how the Psychic typing makes it more suitable for fighting Tate&Liza but makes the matchups against Phoebe and Sidney somewhat worse. For movepool: Secret Power is inferior to Strength, Ice Punch doesn't even deserve a mention. In Major Battles mention that potion support along with the X Speed is likely to be needed. Remove Ice Punch mentions, you can talk about how Medicham can set up vs Shelgon. Add an Additional Comments section to talk about the painful Meditite period due to Meditite's horrific stats for lategame.

taillow

Name: Taillow
Availability: Route 104, 10%, Levels 4-5.
Stats: Terrific Speed and decent Attack, but bad defenses.
Typing: Normal/Flying typing gives access to good STABs early on, though that typing's usefulness will wane as the game progresses.
Movepool: Taillow is never out of reach of high powered STAB moves, with a potent early-game level-up movepool and taught moves such as Secret Power, Fly, Return, and Hyper Beam. However, Taillow doesn't have any other worthwhile attacking options.
Major Battles: Taillow's speed and strength lets it easily prey on route trainers, but outside of Brawly, Taillow doesn't actually excel in any important battles. Taillow can usually pick off most weaker Pokemon, but is otherwise usually heavily outmatched by the boss's ace Pokemon, so it must pick its matchups carefully lest it get taken out without KOing anything.

Merritt - Hyper Beam isn't really worth mentioning in movepool. In Major Battles mention that aside from Roxanne and Wattson Taillow is generally capable of contributing but struggles to sweep. Add an Additional Comments section, say that Taillow should be given the Return TM from returning the Meteorite as soon as possible to prevent its offense from falling off.

carvanha

Carvanha
Availability: Route 118 with Good Rod, mid-late, 20%, levels 10 to 30. Try to catch one that's at least level 25.
Stats: Carvanha quickly evolves into Sharpedo, which uses its good Special Attack and Speed to outspeed and one-shot many things. However, its leveling rate holds it back slightly. Its low defenses cause Sharpedo to wear down quickly as it fights regular trainers.
Typing: Dark STAB is useful in the late game. Given its bad defense stats, Sharpedo's defensive typing doesn't matter much, but Psychic immunity helps sometimes.
Movepool: Carvanha encountered at level 22 or higher should already know Crunch. It can immediately learn Surf and Ice Beam, which covers Flying and Dragon. Sharpedo can also learn Earthquake and several HM moves, though they're not as useful as Surf, Ice Beam, or Crunch.
Major Battles: Bad defenses prevent it from sweeping entire teams, but its movepool means it has no particularly bad matchups. Sharpedo's attacks are perfect for dealing massive damage to Winona and Tate and Liza. It also does well against Phoebe, but Drake's Pokemon can outspeed and one-shot it.

Merritt - Remove exp group mention from stats, this is something that's explicitly stated as belonging to Additional Comments and honestly isn't enough to be worth mentioning anyways. In stats explain that both Carvanha and Sharpedo are pure glass cannons with good special attack and speed, excellent Attack, and terrible defenses. Typing section isn't helpful currently, explain that while it has a good defensive and offensive typing, the defensive utility is held back by awful defenses.

In movepool say that Carvanha has instant access to high BP STAB attacks in Surf and Crunch, right now you have things phrased so that it seems like you're saying that Surf is for Flying types. Earthquake is plenty useful, but you can mention that outside of that Sharpedo doesn't have many good physical options to use its high Attack. In Major Battles its bad defenses leave it struggling to set up and sweep, it's not relevant for its ability to OHKO things. Rephrase to emphasize that Sharpedo tears apart Winona and Tate&Liza. The Drake point requires that Sharpedo be underleveled or -Spe or a poor Speed IV, it's entirely capable of outspeeding and OHKOing his entire team in the context of this list, rephrase this to be correct. Mention that it's capable of contributing well enough against the rest of the Elite Four and the Champion but does not shine.

This needs significant rewriting.

heracross

Heracross
Availability: Safari Zone northeast area, late, 5%, levels 27 and 29. You might want to use Sweet Scent for this.
Stats: Heracross's amazing Physical Attack and good Speed are perfect for quickly defeating regular trainers, and its decent bulk means you don't have to heal it very often.
Typing: Fighting is a good offensive type, but its weaknesses are kind of common. The Bug type is there just to make Heracross weaker to Fire and Flying.
Movepool: Heracross comes already knowing Brick Break and can immediately learn Strength and Bulk Up. It usually only needs to spam Brick Break, but you can teach Heracross Earthquake or Return for some extra coverage. Don't bother with Megahorn; you'll most likely finish the game before Heracross reaches level 53.
Major Battles: Heracross can sweep or nearly sweep the last gym leader, Sidney, and Glacia after a few Bulk Ups. It's much worse against Winona, Tate and Liza, and Drake because their Pokemon can target Heracross's weaknesses. Heracross is useful against Phoebe only if it knows Earthquake.
Additional Comments: You can manipulate Heracross's nature by inserting Pokeblocks into Pokeblock feeders. Pokeblocks made of Leppa Berries increase the chance of +Physical Attack or -Special Attack natures, while those made from Pecha Berries increase +Speed or -Special Attack. Also, Guts is the slightly better ability.

Merritt - The tone of this entry throughout is way too informal, please correct that. Things like "You might want to use Sweet Scent for this." are unnecessary and detract from the whole. In movepool mention that Heracross struggles to touch Ghost-types without being given Earthquake, this also means the Phoebe bit in Major Battles is unnecessary.

Pokeblock lesson time - the way that Flavor is decided involves a step at the end where all negative values are set to 0 - as such a Leppa or Pecha berry are not likely to produce a block which specifically discourages a -Special Attack nature, it'd require that you end up making a White Pokeblock where everything except Dry is represented. This is very difficult and random to do in singleplayer. As such, just talk about the natures you can cause to be more prevalent (Attack and Speed).

makuhita

Makuhita
Availability: Granite Cave B1F, early, 10%, levels 10 to 11
Stats: Enormous HP lets Hariyama tank stuff and use lots of Bulk Ups, and strong Physical Attack (after evolving) lets it 1v1 most things with or without Bulk Up. However, low defenses and Speed means it takes annoying status moves and consumes lots of potions when you fight regular trainers.
Typing: Fighting is a good offensive type throughout the game. The Psychic weakness occasionally hinders Hariyama.
Movepool: Makuhita learns Vital Throw at level 13. (priority isn't a problem. it's moving last either way) It can learn Bulk Up, which Hariyama can use almost anytime thanks to its high HP. Much later, Hariyama can learn the slightly higher PP and priority Brick Break. It doesn't need much else, but you can teach it Whirlwind for Double Team spammers or Dig, Strength, or Earthquake for some extra PP and coverage.
Major Battles: Brawly is just your Makuhita versus his, and his probably has the higher level. From here on, every major battle is just a question of whether the opponent has a Pokemon that lets Hariyama use a bunch of Bulk Ups. Consequently, Tate and Liza and the champion are the only really difficult fights. Of course, some opponents (namely Winona, Phoebe, and Drake) require more Bulk Ups than others.
Additional Comments: Thick Fat is the better ability because it makes Flannery and Glacia much easier. Makuhita has fluctuating leveling rate, so leveling up starts very easy and gradually becomes more difficult. Makuhita are also 3/4 male, so Attract users might be annoying.

Merritt - Whole thing needs to be rephrased to be more formal. "(priority isn't a problem. it's moving last either way)" for example is unnecessary and detracts from the whole. In stats mention that it gets access to this strong Attack early. Be more specific in Typing, explain why Fighting is a good typing.

In Movepool, the Bulk Up point needs to be rephrased to explain that Hariyama can easily find an opportunity to set up with its obscene HP. Brick Break is not a priority move, make that clearer. Whirlwind is awful, absolutely do not mention it, it's very much capable of missing vs Double Team spammers. Mention that Makuhita's movepool outside of Fighting-type STAB moves is extremely shallow which can leave it struggling against things that resist Fighting. Major Battles needs to be restructured entirely, explain how Makuhita uses Bulk Up to brute force its way past most major battles, though this requires heavy potion support.

In Additional Comments, Attract is not nearly common enough to be worth a specific mention. If anything, talk about the Potion chugging due to its bulk being tied to HP, its low Speed, and heavy use of setup.

spoink

Spoink
Availability: Jagged Pass, early-mid, 20%, levels 18 to 20 (R) 20 to 22 (SE)
Stats: Spoink is only strong enough to defeat a few regular trainers. Grumpig's high special stats and fast leveling rate make it a good tank in many major battles, as long as you watch out for physical attacks. Grumpig usually has enough Speed to sweep regular trainers.
Typing: Psychic is not a great type. Opponents that resist Psychic or know Shadow Ball are more common than those that are weak to Psychic.
Movepool: Spoink comes knowing Psybeam and can immediately learn Shock Wave. Grumpig learns no stronger coverage moves, so it has trouble with Psychic-resistant opponents. Spoink learns Psychic at level 34, and Grumpig learns it at level 37, so you might want to delay evolution for this. Grumpig can learn Calm Mind, which lets it set up on a weak opponent and sweep its teammates.
Major battles: The unevolved Spoink can 1v1 some of Flannery's team and is mostly deadweight against Norman. Once evolved, Grumpig can sweep Winona with Psychic and Shock Wave. It is not helpful against Tate and Liza unless you teach it the otherwise useless Shadow Ball. Calm Mind lets it sweep the last gym and Glacia (except Explosion Glalie), but Grumpig's type makes it worse against Sidney, Phoebe, and Steven (RS). Grumpig can 1v1 several of Drake's and Wallace (E)'s Pokemon.
Additional comments: Thick Fat is the slightly better ability because it makes Glacia much easier.

Merritt - Remove exp group mention from stats, this is something that's explicitly stated as belonging to Additional Comments. In Stats you shouldn't need to mention that Grumpig can outspeed route trainers, this is something generally expected aside from very slow Pokemon, either explain what Speed does in major battles or don't talk about it at all. Aside from Sidney and Phoebe, there's very few enemies who know Shadow Ball, basically just some of the Victory Road trainer Sableye and a very limited number of other mons in Emerald.

In Movepool you've left whose teammates are being swept grammatically ambiguous, please correct this. Sweep is absolutely the wrong word to describe how Grumpig does against Winona. The markers for Steven and Wallace aren't necessary. Add the exp group mention to Additional Comments.

zubat

Name: Zubat
Availability: Granite Cave B2F, 30%, Levels 10-11.
Stats: Amazing Speed, good Attack and respectable bulk.
Typing: Typing grants many 4x resistances which help in the early game, but weaknesses to Psychic, Ice, and Rock become more pronounced towards the lategame.
Movepool: The Steel Wing TM is needed to let Zubat competently fight on its own until it learns Wing Attack, while the Sludge Bomb TM is mandatory to achieve maximum damage output. All other moves it learns are helpful but not necessary.
Major Battles: Zubat can take on Brawly and does decently at route sweeping, but otherwise has average to terrible matchups against all other bosses, usually faltering against their ace Pokemon. Crobat's role tends to be relegated to toss out fast and strong attacks that can beat weaker trainers or KO one/two of the boss's Pokemon, or potentially harassing tough opponents with its fast Confuse Ray.

Merritt - In Movepool mention that Zubat struggles very hard to fight Rock-types and is incapable of touching Steel-types. In Major Battles mention that Zubat is not very quick about beating Brawly but is very safe. Add an Additional Comments section to discuss the late Zubat pickup (advantages are not needing to drag Zubat as long until Wing Attack, disadvantage is being stuck with the very mediocre Golbat much longer) and to explain that Crobat struggles a lot against opponents who resist Poison as it needs Sludge Bomb for neutral damage.

I'll get to the rest in a bit, but I wanted to quickly address the Slaking writeup. Texas Cloverleaf you've got it too long, look at Punchshroom's entries for an idea of the target length and detail. I appreciate immensely the effort you put in but keep in mind this is going on a page with many other writeups, none of them should be quite that long. Stuff like stats should be condensed into one or two, three at most, sentences that cover the whole family rather than breaking it up into evolutionary stages.



Also Slakoth rises to B. It will not rise further.

 

[sumwun]

writeup review

Universal: Format for Availability - please correct to the following kinds of format so it doesn't have to be done in final QC
Availability: Darumaka can be found in on Route 4 with a 30% chance.
Availability: Drilbur can first be found in Relic Passage Dust Clouds with an 80% chance.
Availability: Heracross can be found in Lostlorn Forest with a 5% chance. [Black 2]

I think availability should include details about encounter levels and how early/late in the game it is. If there are levels, then players who find a level 14 Carvanha will know that they can try for a higher-level Carvanha instead of wasting their time exp. share training a level 14 Carvanha. I also think people who have never played a Hoenn game and have no idea where anything is would appreciate knowing when they can catch each Pokemon, in case they want to avoid a full team of only early or only late Pokemon. I think everything obtainable before gym 3 should be called "early", between gyms 3 and 6 is "middle", and after gym 6 is "late". This should divide all the evolution families into three roughly equal groups. My idea of a format looks something like, "Makuhita can be found in Granite Cave B2F (early) with a 10% chance, at levels 10 to 11." or "Heracross can be found in the Safari Zone northeast section (late) with a 5% chance, at level 27 or 29."

 

[Merritt]

I think availability should include details about encounter levels and how early/late in the game it is. If there are levels, then players who find a level 14 Carvanha will know that they can try for a higher-level Carvanha instead of wasting their time exp. share training a level 14 Carvanha. I also think people who have never played a Hoenn game and have no idea where anything is would appreciate knowing when they can catch each Pokemon, in case they want to avoid a full team of only early or only late Pokemon. I think everything obtainable before gym 3 should be called "early", between gyms 3 and 6 is "middle", and after gym 6 is "late". This should divide all the evolution families into three roughly equal groups. My idea of a format looks something like, "Makuhita can be found in Granite Cave B2F (early) with a 10% chance, at levels 10 to 11." or "Heracross can be found in the Safari Zone northeast section (late) with a 5% chance, at level 27 or 29."

Going to say hard no on the early/mid/late stuff.

Level stuff isn't awful but it'd be better off mentioned in Additional Comments for cases like Carvanha, in most scenarios you're talking about maybe 1 or 2 levels difference in which case you're seeing minimal overall performance change. When you have great variance depending on level obtained at (which is rare overall) it can easily be mentioned in Additional Comments.

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

writeup review

Universal: Format for Availability - please correct to the following kinds of format so it doesn't have to be done in final QC
Availability: Darumaka can be found in on Route 4 with a 30% chance.
Availability: Drilbur can first be found in Relic Passage Dust Clouds with an 80% chance.
Availability: Heracross can be found in Lostlorn Forest with a 5% chance. [Black 2]

This applies to all the entries submitted thus far.

pikachu

Name: Pikachu
Availability: Safari Zone, Area 1 & 2 Grass, 15%, Levels 25 or 27
Stats: High Speed but lackluster stats everywhere else. Offenses improve upon evolution or using the Light Ball item.
Typing: Electric typing has great use against Winona, the upcoming water routes, and Water-type bosses such as Juan, Wallace, and Glacia.
Movepool: Level 25 Pikachus come with Thunder Wave and learn Thunderbolt in 1 level, whereas Level 27 Pikachus already come with Thunderbolt, but needs to be reteached Thunder Wave, so take your pick on which is more valuable for you. As an Electric-type, Pikachu's movepool is pretty sparse, but it does get Brick Break and Light Screen to improve its coverage and utility, respectively. Because Pikachu doesn't need anything from its level-up movepool that can't be taught by TM, it is advised to evolve it immediately.
Major Battles: A quick backtrack lets Raichu grind for experience against Winona's Gym and take out everything except for Winona's Altaria. Raichu can fry most of the Water-types of Juan, Wallace, and Glacia and use Light Screen to help buffer hits better. Thunder Wave can help to neuter Drake's Salamence, while Brick Break has some mild use against Glacia's Light Screen Glalie as well as Sidney in general.
Additional Comments: While Pikachu does not need the Thunderbolt TM, it is still necessary to travel through New Mauville to acquire the Thunderstone, unless you're lucky enough to catch a Pikachu holding a Light Ball. One could also manipulate Pikachu's nature with the Pokeblock feeder, with dry berries increasing the likelihood of +SpA natures and sweet berries making +Spe natured Pikachus more common.

Merritt - Note in Movepool that it should evolve immediately after obtaining Thunderbolt - you don't want to instantly evolve the level 25 chu. Mention in additional comments that the light ball is a 5% held item, can be as simple as "(5%)". Good.

shroomish

Name: Shroomish
Availability: Petalburg Woods, 15%, Levels 5-6
Stats: Good bulk with low offenses and Speed. Upon evolution, its Attack stat skyrockets to become obscenely high, especially at such an early point in the game.
Typing: Grass typing is useful for the earlier portions of the game due to its advantage against Rock and Electric. Upon gaining the Fighting type upon evolution, it gains favorable matchups against Normal-, Dark-, and Steel-types, while possessing neat resistances to Ground, Water, Dark, and Rock.
Movepool: Shroomish relies on disruptive moves such as Stun Spore, Leech Seed, and Mega Drain to take full advantage of its bulk and make up for its lack of power. Once it evolves, it changes gears to become an attacking powerhouse, crushing foes with moves like Bulk Up, Mach Punch, Rock Tomb, Silk Scarf-boosted Headbutt / Strength, Sludge Bomb, and Sky Uppercut, most of which are very powerful attacks for when they are learned compared to most Pokemon.
Major Battles: Shroomish can solo Roxanne while being able to hinder Brawly with Leech Seed. Breloom can smash Wattson, Archie, and Sidney pretty easily as well as wipe out most of Norman's trainers, while Norman himself can be dealt with clever use of Bulk Up and / or Counter. It loses to Flannery, Winona, Tate&Liza, and Phoebe, but otherwise its immense power makes it a threat against nearly any opponent it fights, especially with the threat of Bulk Up + X-Speed sweeps.
Additional Comments: Breloom's usefulness against Glacia is heavily decided on whether Breloom is able to outspeed her Pokemon. Try to catch a Shroomish with a +Spe nature (or at least not a -Spe nature) and feed it any Carbos you can find.

Merritt - Try to make the typing part more relevant to the game as a whole instead of just being 'this is grass/fighting's typechart', add in a mention of its weakness to psychic coverage after evolving. For additional comments I'd recommend taking out the +spe nature bit and just make it that Shroomish should avoid a hindering nature.

absol

Name: Absol
Availability: Route 120 Grass, 8%, Level 25 or 27
Stats: Glass cannon; very high Attack stat with decent Speed and Special Attack, but poor defenses.
Typing: Dark typing is useful for its Psychic immunity and Ghost resistance, but does not serve Absol very well in the attacking department at all.
Movepool: Absol is TM-reliant, but fortunately it has a very diverse movepool that can easily be tailored to your needs. It has Swords Dance to bolster moves such as Shadow Ball, Aerial Ace, and Strength to extremely powerful levels, or it can take advantage of the coverage granted by Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, and Flamethrower, which it can further augment with Calm Mind if it wants.
Major Battles: Ice Beam + Thunderbolt Absol should wipe out Winona's Gym provided it OHKOes every target. Absol can smash Tate&Liza, though it is concerned by Emerald Claydol's Earthquake and Xatu's Confuse Ray. Absol can use Calm Mind + Thunderbolt to beat Juan/Wallace provided Whiscash is out of the way first, which usually means setting up on the Sealeo or Juan's Crawdaunt. BoltBeam coverage or Swords Dance + Strength help combat Sidney, while Swords Dance + Shadow Ball should wipe out Phoebe (although her lead Dusclops's Curse will deny the clean sweep). Absol could attempt a Calm Mind sweep against Glacia and Drake, though Absol's fraility makes this an unpractical endeavor without using up a ton of items, and is usually better off only attempting to pick off one of their Pokemon at a time. The fraility is made even more apparent against the Champion, where Absol is not expected to boost very safely at all.

Merritt - Major Battles goes into too much conditional detail, try to make it more concise. Add an Additional Comments section to mention that Absol's special coverage moves can be selected based on what the team struggles with.

meditite

Name: Meditite
Availability: Mt. Pyre Exterior, 30%, Levels 27 or 29
Stats: Mediocre to average stats. Pure Power is the only thing salvaging Meditite, but doubling the Attack stat makes for a massive power boost.
Typing: Meditite will primarily use its Fighting-type for its offense. Its Psychic-typing makes opposing Psychic attacks neutral, but removes its Dark resistance and gives it a Ghost weakness, making it a double-edged sword.
Movepool: Meditite's only form of offense when caught is Hidden Power, which is highly unlikely to be useful. This means that Meditite will have to rely on TMs such as Shadow Ball and Secret Power to fight on its own. Hi Jump Kick arrives at level 32 which shouldn't be far if you've caught the highest leveled Meditite, though that should be replaced by the more reliable Brick Break TM once you obtain it in Sootopolis. Medicham also has the option of Ice Punch via move relearner, though its use is highly situational at best.
Major Battles: Medicham's Shadow Ball rips through Tate&Liza, while a couple of Bulk Ups can allow Medicham to sweep through Wallace, Sidney, Glacia, and even possibly Steven, though an X Speed may be necessary to facilitate a clean sweep. Medicham is not expected to set up very comfortably against Phoebe, but Spell Tag-boosted Shadow Ball can heavily dent her Banettes so it can still put in work. Ice Punch also lets Medicham contribute against Drake, though don't expect Ice Punch to OHKO any of the Dragons, while Medicham must also be wary against the ones who pack Fly.

Merritt - Would suggest rephrasing the stats section to highlight Pure Power more. Typing section should be more specific, explain how the Psychic typing makes it more suitable for fighting Tate&Liza but makes the matchups against Phoebe and Sidney somewhat worse. For movepool: Secret Power is inferior to Strength, Ice Punch doesn't even deserve a mention. In Major Battles mention that potion support along with the X Speed is likely to be needed. Remove Ice Punch mentions, you can talk about how Medicham can set up vs Shelgon. Add an Additional Comments section to talk about the painful Meditite period due to Meditite's horrific stats for lategame.

taillow

Name: Taillow
Availability: Route 104, 10%, Levels 4-5.
Stats: Terrific Speed and decent Attack, but bad defenses.
Typing: Normal/Flying typing gives access to good STABs early on, though that typing's usefulness will wane as the game progresses.
Movepool: Taillow is never out of reach of high powered STAB moves, with a potent early-game level-up movepool and taught moves such as Secret Power, Fly, Return, and Hyper Beam. However, Taillow doesn't have any other worthwhile attacking options.
Major Battles: Taillow's speed and strength lets it easily prey on route trainers, but outside of Brawly, Taillow doesn't actually excel in any important battles. Taillow can usually pick off most weaker Pokemon, but is otherwise usually heavily outmatched by the boss's ace Pokemon, so it must pick its matchups carefully lest it get taken out without KOing anything.

Merritt - Hyper Beam isn't really worth mentioning in movepool. In Major Battles mention that aside from Roxanne and Wattson Taillow is generally capable of contributing but struggles to sweep. Add an Additional Comments section, say that Taillow should be given the Return TM from returning the Meteorite as soon as possible to prevent its offense from falling off.

carvanha

Carvanha
Availability: Route 118 with Good Rod, mid-late, 20%, levels 10 to 30. Try to catch one that's at least level 25.
Stats: Carvanha quickly evolves into Sharpedo, which uses its good Special Attack and Speed to outspeed and one-shot many things. However, its leveling rate holds it back slightly. Its low defenses cause Sharpedo to wear down quickly as it fights regular trainers.
Typing: Dark STAB is useful in the late game. Given its bad defense stats, Sharpedo's defensive typing doesn't matter much, but Psychic immunity helps sometimes.
Movepool: Carvanha encountered at level 22 or higher should already know Crunch. It can immediately learn Surf and Ice Beam, which covers Flying and Dragon. Sharpedo can also learn Earthquake and several HM moves, though they're not as useful as Surf, Ice Beam, or Crunch.
Major Battles: Bad defenses prevent it from sweeping entire teams, but its movepool means it has no particularly bad matchups. Sharpedo's attacks are perfect for dealing massive damage to Winona and Tate and Liza. It also does well against Phoebe, but Drake's Pokemon can outspeed and one-shot it.

Merritt - Remove exp group mention from stats, this is something that's explicitly stated as belonging to Additional Comments and honestly isn't enough to be worth mentioning anyways. In stats explain that both Carvanha and Sharpedo are pure glass cannons with good special attack and speed, excellent Attack, and terrible defenses. Typing section isn't helpful currently, explain that while it has a good defensive and offensive typing, the defensive utility is held back by awful defenses.

In movepool say that Carvanha has instant access to high BP STAB attacks in Surf and Crunch, right now you have things phrased so that it seems like you're saying that Surf is for Flying types. Earthquake is plenty useful, but you can mention that outside of that Sharpedo doesn't have many good physical options to use its high Attack. In Major Battles its bad defenses leave it struggling to set up and sweep, it's not relevant for its ability to OHKO things. Rephrase to emphasize that Sharpedo tears apart Winona and Tate&Liza. The Drake point requires that Sharpedo be underleveled or -Spe or a poor Speed IV, it's entirely capable of outspeeding and OHKOing his entire team in the context of this list, rephrase this to be correct. Mention that it's capable of contributing well enough against the rest of the Elite Four and the Champion but does not shine.

This needs significant rewriting.

heracross

Heracross
Availability: Safari Zone northeast area, late, 5%, levels 27 and 29. You might want to use Sweet Scent for this.
Stats: Heracross's amazing Physical Attack and good Speed are perfect for quickly defeating regular trainers, and its decent bulk means you don't have to heal it very often.
Typing: Fighting is a good offensive type, but its weaknesses are kind of common. The Bug type is there just to make Heracross weaker to Fire and Flying.
Movepool: Heracross comes already knowing Brick Break and can immediately learn Strength and Bulk Up. It usually only needs to spam Brick Break, but you can teach Heracross Earthquake or Return for some extra coverage. Don't bother with Megahorn; you'll most likely finish the game before Heracross reaches level 53.
Major Battles: Heracross can sweep or nearly sweep the last gym leader, Sidney, and Glacia after a few Bulk Ups. It's much worse against Winona, Tate and Liza, and Drake because their Pokemon can target Heracross's weaknesses. Heracross is useful against Phoebe only if it knows Earthquake.
Additional Comments: You can manipulate Heracross's nature by inserting Pokeblocks into Pokeblock feeders. Pokeblocks made of Leppa Berries increase the chance of +Physical Attack or -Special Attack natures, while those made from Pecha Berries increase +Speed or -Special Attack. Also, Guts is the slightly better ability.

Merritt - The tone of this entry throughout is way too informal, please correct that. Things like "You might want to use Sweet Scent for this." are unnecessary and detract from the whole. In movepool mention that Heracross struggles to touch Ghost-types without being given Earthquake, this also means the Phoebe bit in Major Battles is unnecessary.

Pokeblock lesson time - the way that Flavor is decided involves a step at the end where all negative values are set to 0 - as such a Leppa or Pecha berry are not likely to produce a block which specifically discourages a -Special Attack nature, it'd require that you end up making a White Pokeblock where everything except Dry is represented. This is very difficult and random to do in singleplayer. As such, just talk about the natures you can cause to be more prevalent (Attack and Speed).

makuhita

Makuhita
Availability: Granite Cave B1F, early, 10%, levels 10 to 11
Stats: Enormous HP lets Hariyama tank stuff and use lots of Bulk Ups, and strong Physical Attack (after evolving) lets it 1v1 most things with or without Bulk Up. However, low defenses and Speed means it takes annoying status moves and consumes lots of potions when you fight regular trainers.
Typing: Fighting is a good offensive type throughout the game. The Psychic weakness occasionally hinders Hariyama.
Movepool: Makuhita learns Vital Throw at level 13. (priority isn't a problem. it's moving last either way) It can learn Bulk Up, which Hariyama can use almost anytime thanks to its high HP. Much later, Hariyama can learn the slightly higher PP and priority Brick Break. It doesn't need much else, but you can teach it Whirlwind for Double Team spammers or Dig, Strength, or Earthquake for some extra PP and coverage.
Major Battles: Brawly is just your Makuhita versus his, and his probably has the higher level. From here on, every major battle is just a question of whether the opponent has a Pokemon that lets Hariyama use a bunch of Bulk Ups. Consequently, Tate and Liza and the champion are the only really difficult fights. Of course, some opponents (namely Winona, Phoebe, and Drake) require more Bulk Ups than others.
Additional Comments: Thick Fat is the better ability because it makes Flannery and Glacia much easier. Makuhita has fluctuating leveling rate, so leveling up starts very easy and gradually becomes more difficult. Makuhita are also 3/4 male, so Attract users might be annoying.

Merritt - Whole thing needs to be rephrased to be more formal. "(priority isn't a problem. it's moving last either way)" for example is unnecessary and detracts from the whole. In stats mention that it gets access to this strong Attack early. Be more specific in Typing, explain why Fighting is a good typing.

In Movepool, the Bulk Up point needs to be rephrased to explain that Hariyama can easily find an opportunity to set up with its obscene HP. Brick Break is not a priority move, make that clearer. Whirlwind is awful, absolutely do not mention it, it's very much capable of missing vs Double Team spammers. Mention that Makuhita's movepool outside of Fighting-type STAB moves is extremely shallow which can leave it struggling against things that resist Fighting. Major Battles needs to be restructured entirely, explain how Makuhita uses Bulk Up to brute force its way past most major battles, though this requires heavy potion support.

In Additional Comments, Attract is not nearly common enough to be worth a specific mention. If anything, talk about the Potion chugging due to its bulk being tied to HP, its low Speed, and heavy use of setup.

spoink

Spoink
Availability: Jagged Pass, early-mid, 20%, levels 18 to 20 (R) 20 to 22 (SE)
Stats: Spoink is only strong enough to defeat a few regular trainers. Grumpig's high special stats and fast leveling rate make it a good tank in many major battles, as long as you watch out for physical attacks. Grumpig usually has enough Speed to sweep regular trainers.
Typing: Psychic is not a great type. Opponents that resist Psychic or know Shadow Ball are more common than those that are weak to Psychic.
Movepool: Spoink comes knowing Psybeam and can immediately learn Shock Wave. Grumpig learns no stronger coverage moves, so it has trouble with Psychic-resistant opponents. Spoink learns Psychic at level 34, and Grumpig learns it at level 37, so you might want to delay evolution for this. Grumpig can learn Calm Mind, which lets it set up on a weak opponent and sweep its teammates.
Major battles: The unevolved Spoink can 1v1 some of Flannery's team and is mostly deadweight against Norman. Once evolved, Grumpig can sweep Winona with Psychic and Shock Wave. It is not helpful against Tate and Liza unless you teach it the otherwise useless Shadow Ball. Calm Mind lets it sweep the last gym and Glacia (except Explosion Glalie), but Grumpig's type makes it worse against Sidney, Phoebe, and Steven (RS). Grumpig can 1v1 several of Drake's and Wallace (E)'s Pokemon.
Additional comments: Thick Fat is the slightly better ability because it makes Glacia much easier.

Merritt - Remove exp group mention from stats, this is something that's explicitly stated as belonging to Additional Comments. In Stats you shouldn't need to mention that Grumpig can outspeed route trainers, this is something generally expected aside from very slow Pokemon, either explain what Speed does in major battles or don't talk about it at all. Aside from Sidney and Phoebe, there's very few enemies who know Shadow Ball, basically just some of the Victory Road trainer Sableye and a very limited number of other mons in Emerald.

In Movepool you've left whose teammates are being swept grammatically ambiguous, please correct this. Sweep is absolutely the wrong word to describe how Grumpig does against Winona. The markers for Steven and Wallace aren't necessary. Add the exp group mention to Additional Comments.

zubat

Name: Zubat
Availability: Granite Cave B2F, 30%, Levels 10-11.
Stats: Amazing Speed, good Attack and respectable bulk.
Typing: Typing grants many 4x resistances which help in the early game, but weaknesses to Psychic, Ice, and Rock become more pronounced towards the lategame.
Movepool: The Steel Wing TM is needed to let Zubat competently fight on its own until it learns Wing Attack, while the Sludge Bomb TM is mandatory to achieve maximum damage output. All other moves it learns are helpful but not necessary.
Major Battles: Zubat can take on Brawly and does decently at route sweeping, but otherwise has average to terrible matchups against all other bosses, usually faltering against their ace Pokemon. Crobat's role tends to be relegated to toss out fast and strong attacks that can beat weaker trainers or KO one/two of the boss's Pokemon, or potentially harassing tough opponents with its fast Confuse Ray.

Merritt - In Movepool mention that Zubat struggles very hard to fight Rock-types and is incapable of touching Steel-types. In Major Battles mention that Zubat is not very quick about beating Brawly but is very safe. Add an Additional Comments section to discuss the late Zubat pickup (advantages are not needing to drag Zubat as long until Wing Attack, disadvantage is being stuck with the very mediocre Golbat much longer) and to explain that Crobat struggles a lot against opponents who resist Poison as it needs Sludge Bomb for neutral damage.

I'll get to the rest in a bit, but I wanted to quickly address the Slaking writeup. Texas Cloverleaf you've got it too long, look at Punchshroom's entries for an idea of the target length and detail. I appreciate immensely the effort you put in but keep in mind this is going on a page with many other writeups, none of them should be quite that long. Stuff like stats should be condensed into one or two, three at most, sentences that cover the whole family rather than breaking it up into evolutionary stages.



Also Slakoth rises to B. It will not rise further.

I expected as much, feel free to trim it as appropriate. I'm rather biased in my judgement as to what I would consider the most important information

 

[sumwun]

Going to say hard no on the early/mid/late stuff.

Why?

Level stuff isn't awful but it'd be better off mentioned in Additional Comments for cases like Carvanha, in most scenarios you're talking about maybe 1 or 2 levels difference in which case you're seeing minimal overall performance change. When you have great variance depending on level obtained at (which is rare overall) it can easily be mentioned in Additional Comments.

Why should stuff go in additional comments if it's obviously related to availability? Is it really important for all the availability sections to use the exact same template?

Also are you going to comment on my writeups for Abra or Tropius?

 

[Merritt]

Why?

The divisions between early/mid/late are not objective or particularly useful, giving the exact location is much more precise and there's no need to have both the location and a marker of "mid/late/early".

Why should stuff go in additional comments if it's obviously related to availability? Is it really important for all the availability sections to use the exact same template?

Obtainable levels are not related to availability. When obtainable levels are particularly relevant to a mon's performance then it fits best under Additional Comments.

Of course it's important that the sections be as similar as possible in terms of template for much the same reason that the writeups as a whole use the same template.

Also are you going to comment on my writeups for Abra or Tropius?

I'll get to the rest in a bit

 

[sumwun]

I'm putting my revisions in this post. I'll revise more stuff later this week.

Spoink

Spoink
Availability: Spoink can be found in Jagged Pass with a 20% chance.
Stats: Spoink is only strong enough to defeat a few regular trainers. Grumpig's high special stats make it a good tank in many major battles, as long as you watch out for physical attacks.
Typing: Psychic is not a great type. Opponents resist Psychic more often than they are weak to it.
Movepool: Spoink comes knowing Psybeam and can immediately learn Shock Wave. Grumpig learns no stronger coverage moves and consequently has trouble with Psychic-resistant opponents. Spoink learns Psychic at level 34, so you might want to delay evolution for this. Grumpig can learn Calm Mind, which lets it set up on a weak opponent and sweep.
Major battles: The unevolved Spoink can 1v1 some of Flannery's team and is mostly deadweight against Norman. Once evolved, Grumpig can use Psychic and Shock Wave to deal major damage to Winona. It is not helpful against Tate and Liza unless you teach it the otherwise useless Shadow Ball. Calm Mind lets it sweep the last gym and Glacia (except Explosion Glalie), but Grumpig's type makes it worse against Sidney, Phoebe, and Steven. Grumpig can 1v1 several of Drake's and Wallace's Pokemon.
Additional comments: Grumpig benefits from its fast leveling rate. Try to catch a female Spoink with Thick Fat, so it has an easier time against the last gym and Glacia.

Carvanha

Carvanha
Availability: Carvanha can be found using a Good Rod on Route 118 with a 20% chance, levels 10 to 30.
Stats: Carvanha quickly evolves into Sharpedo, whose good attack stats and Speed but near-useless defense stats make it a glass cannon that wants frequent healing.
Typing: Several Psychic and Ghost opponents make Sharpedo's Dark STAB useful in the late game. Its defensive typing is also good, but its stats prevent it from having much defensive utility.
Movepool: Carvanha encountered at level 22 or higher should already know Crunch. It can immediately learn Surf for STAB and Ice Beam for covering Flying and Dragon. Additionally, Sharpedo can learn Earthquake to use its high physical Attack, as well as any of the 5 required HMs.
Major Battles: Sharpedo gets worn down too easily to solo entire battles, but its movepool lets it contribute against every gym and Elite Four member. Sharpedo's typing is perfect for destroying Winona and Tate and Liza. It does well against Phoebe, and its performance against Drake depends on your using Carbos and a nature that doesn't lower Speed.
Additional Comments: Carvanha can be encountered anywhere from level 10 to level 30, so try to catch one that's at least level 25. Slow leveling rate slightly hinders Sharpedo.

I'm going to rewrite Makuhita after I finish playing with it.

 

[Punchshroom]

Swalot lv 27, Sassy, Sticky Hold
98 / 45 / 58 / 51 / 63 / 33
Sludge / Body Slam / Yawn / Amnesia

Whomever was arguing this as better than or as good as Grimer was on some serious drugs. I love how fat this is, its really hard to die and Amnesia invalidates some fights completely, but its really really weak. Heavily reliant on Sludge poison if it doesn't want to be 4 or 5HKOing certain enemies. Grimer (and later Muk) would consistently 2HKO enemies, this has rarely done better than 3. I enjoy it nonetheless, firmly D tier.

The guy who was arguing Swalot's favorable matchup against Winona likely had an Ice Beam Swalot for the fight, just sayin'.

Revamped the write-ups, especially Absol's.

pikachu

Name: Pikachu
Availability: Pikachu can be found in the southern areas of the Safari Zone with a 15% chance.
Stats: High Speed but lackluster stats everywhere else. Offenses improve upon evolution or equipping the Light Ball item, though it is very rare.
Typing: Electric typing has great use against Winona, the upcoming water routes, and Water-type bosses such as Juan, Wallace, and Glacia.
Movepool: Level 25 Pikachus come with Thunder Wave and learn Thunderbolt in 1 level, whereas Level 27 Pikachus already come with Thunderbolt, but needs to be reteached Thunder Wave, so take your pick on which is more valuable for you. As an Electric-type, Pikachu's movepool is pretty sparse, but it does get Brick Break and Light Screen to improve its coverage and utility, respectively. Because Pikachu doesn't need anything from its level-up movepool that can't be taught by TM, it is advised to evolve it immediately after learning Thunderbolt.
Major Battles: A quick backtrack lets Raichu grind for experience against Winona's Gym and take out everything except for Winona's Altaria. Raichu can fry most of the Water-types of Juan, Wallace, and Glacia and use Light Screen to help buffer hits better. Thunder Wave can help to neuter Drake's Salamence, while Brick Break has some mild use against Glacia's Light Screen Glalie as well as Sidney in general.
Additional Comments: While Pikachu does not need the Thunderbolt TM, it is still necessary to travel through New Mauville to acquire the Thunderstone, unless you're lucky enough to catch a Pikachu holding a Light Ball, though it is only a 5% chance. One could also manipulate Pikachu's nature with the Pokeblock feeder, with dry berries increasing the likelihood of +SpA natures and sweet berries making +Spe natured Pikachus more common.

shroomish

Name: Shroomish
Availability: Shroomish can be found in Petalburg Woods with a 15% chance.
Stats: Good bulk with low offenses and Speed. Upon evolution, its Attack stat skyrockets to become obscenely high, especially at such an early point in the game.
Typing: Grass typing is useful for the earlier portions of the game due to its advantage against Rock and Electric. Upon gaining the Fighting type upon evolution, it gains additional favorable matchups against Norman, Sidney, Glacia, and Steven, though it dislikes the new Psychic weakness against Tate & Liza. Note that Breloom does not rely on Grass-type moves for offense.
Movepool: Shroomish relies on disruptive moves such as Stun Spore, Leech Seed, and Mega Drain to take full advantage of its bulk and make up for its lack of power. Once it evolves, it changes gears to become an attacking powerhouse, crushing foes with moves like Bulk Up, Mach Punch, Rock Tomb, Silk Scarf-boosted Headbutt / Strength, Sludge Bomb, and Sky Uppercut, most of which are very powerful attacks for when they are learned compared to most Pokemon.
Major Battles: Shroomish can solo Roxanne while being able to hinder Brawly with Leech Seed. Breloom can smash Wattson, Archie, and Sidney pretty easily as well as wipe out most of Norman's trainers, while Norman himself can be dealt with clever use of Bulk Up and / or Counter. It loses to Flannery, Winona, Tate&Liza, and Phoebe, but otherwise its immense power makes it a threat against nearly any opponent it fights, especially with the threat of Bulk Up + X-Speed sweeps.
Additional Comments: Breloom's usefulness against Glacia is heavily decided on whether Breloom is able to outspeed her Pokemon, so it should avoid having a speed-hindering nature and feed it any Carbos you can find.

absol

Name: Absol
Availability: Absol can be found in Route 120 with a 8% chance.
Stats: Glass cannon; very high Attack stat with decent Speed and Special Attack, but poor defenses.
Typing: Dark typing is useful for its Psychic immunity and Ghost resistance, but does not serve Absol very well in the attacking department at all.
Movepool: Absol is TM-reliant, but fortunately it has a very diverse movepool that can easily be tailored to your needs. It has Swords Dance to bolster moves such as Shadow Ball, Aerial Ace, and Return to extremely powerful levels, or it can take advantage of the coverage granted by Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, and Flamethrower, which it can further augment with Calm Mind if it wants.
Major Battles: Absol technically has the movepool to contribute in nearly any major matchup, be it breaking teams with Swords Dance-boosted Shadow Ball, picking off specific targets with special attacks, or even potentially sweeping with Calm Mind. Do note that Absol's fraility and average Speed can make clean sweeps rather difficult, but Absol does fairly well in 1v1 battles due to its power or coverage, and can wipe out Tate&Liza, Steven, and Phoebe particularly easily.

meditite

Name: Meditite
Availability: Meditite can be found in the exterior of Mt. Pyre with a 30% chance.
Stats: Mediocre to average stats but Pure Power is an absolute boon, doubling its Attack stat to turn it into a powerhouse.
Typing: Meditite will primarily use its Fighting-type for its offense. Its Psychic-typing makes it more suitable to fighting Tate&Liza, but gives it shakier Sidney and Phoebe matchups.
Movepool: Meditite's only form of offense when caught is Hidden Power, which is highly unlikely to be useful. This means that Meditite will have to rely on TMs such as Shadow Ball and Strength to fight on its own. Hi Jump Kick arrives at level 32 which shouldn't be far if you've caught the highest leveled Meditite, though that should be replaced by the more reliable Brick Break TM once you obtain it in Sootopolis.
Major Battles: Medicham's Shadow Ball rips through Tate&Liza, while a couple of Bulk Ups can allow Medicham to sweep through Wallace, Sidney, Glacia, Drake, and even possibly Steven, though an X Speed and Hyper Potion/Full Restore may be necessary to facilitate a clean sweep. Medicham is not expected to set up very comfortably against Phoebe, but Spell Tag-boosted Shadow Ball can heavily dent her Banettes so it can still put in work.
Additional Comments: Meditite takes a painful while to evolve, so be ready to put up with Meditite's horrific stats for the lategame.

taillow

Name: Taillow
Availability: Route 104, 10%, Levels 4-5.
Stats: Terrific Speed and decent Attack, but bad defenses.
Typing: Normal/Flying typing gives access to good STABs early on, though that typing's usefulness will wane as the game progresses.
Movepool: Taillow is never out of reach of high powered STAB moves, with a potent early-game level-up movepool and taught moves such as Secret Power, Fly, and Return. However, Taillow doesn't have any other worthwhile attacking options.
Major Battles: Taillow's speed and strength lets it easily prey on route trainers, but outside of Brawly, Taillow doesn't actually excel in any important battles. Taillow can usually pick off most weaker Pokemon and can generally contribute in the majority of major fights, but is otherwise usually heavily outmatched by the boss's ace Pokemon, so it must pick its matchups carefully lest it get taken out without KOing anything.
Additional Comments: Swellow should be given the Return TM from returning the Meteorite as soon as possible to prevent its offense from falling off.

heracross

Heracross
Availability: Heracross can be found in the northeast area of the Safari Zone with a 5% chance.
Stats: Heracross's amazing physical Attack and good Speed are perfect for quickly defeating regular trainers, and its decent bulk means you don't have to heal it very often.
Typing: Fighting is a good offensive type, but its weaknesses to Flying and Psychic are rather common toward the lategame. The Bug type is a hindrance as it makes Heracross weaker to Fire and Flying.
Movepool: Heracross comes already knowing Brick Break and can immediately learn Strength and Bulk Up. It usually only needs to spam Brick Break, but you can teach Heracross Earthquaketo be able to touch Ghost-types. One is likely to have beaten the game before Heracross reaches level 53, so aiming for Megahorn is ill-advised.
Major Battles: Heracross can sweep Juan, Sidney, Glacia, Drake, Steven, and Wallace after a few Bulk Ups and an X Speed if necessary; certain lead Pokemon such as Juan/Wallace's Sweet Kiss Luvdisc, Sidney's Sand-Attack Mightyena, and Steven's Aerial Ace Skarmory are not ideal to set up against on the first turn, but they have other Pokemon that are much easier for Heracross to start Bulking Up on. Heracross does not fare well against opponents such as Winona, Tate&Liza, and Phoebe, since all their Pokemon can target Heracross's weaknesses or just prove a pain to set up on in Phoebe's case.
Additional Comments: You can manipulate Heracross's nature by inserting Pokeblocks into Pokeblock feeders. Pokeblocks made of Leppa Berries increase the chance of +Physical Attack natures, while those made from Pecha Berries increase the likelihood of +Speed natures. Also, Guts is the slightly better ability.

makuhita

Makuhita
Availability: Makuhita can be found in the ground floor of Granite Cave with a 50% chance at levels 6-10, or the first floor basement of Granite Cave with a 10% chance at levels 10-11.
Stats: Enormous HP lets Hariyama tank stuff and use lots of Bulk Ups, and strong Physical Attack after a rather early evolution lets it 1v1 most things with or without Bulk Up. However, low defenses and Speed means it takes annoying status moves and consumes lots of potions when you fight regular trainers.
Typing: Fighting is a good offensive type throughout the game. The Psychic weakness occasionally hinders Hariyama.
Movepool: Makuhita learns Vital Throw at level 13, which is a really powerful attack at this point in the game and serves Hariyama well for much of it. Hariyama can learn Bulk Up, which it makes good use of easily due to its high HP. Much later, Hariyama can learn the slightly higher PP and non-negative priority Brick Break. Hariyama's movepool outside of Fighting-type attacks is really shallow, so moves such as Dig, Strength, or Earthquake provide much needed additional coverage against opponents that resist Fighting.
Major Battles: The Brawly matchup is unfavorable since his Makuhita is likely stronger and has Bulk Up. From here on, Hariyama can just brute force its way through most major battles with Bulk Ups, albeit with hefty Potion support. Consequently, Tate and Liza and the champion are the only really difficult fights. Of course, some opponents (namely Winona, Phoebe, and Drake) require more Bulk Ups than others.
Additional Comments: Thick Fat is the better ability because it makes Flannery and Glacia much easier. Note that Hariyama will consume much of your Potion reserves due to its high HP, low initial bulk, bad Speed, and heavy use of setup.

zubat

Name: Zubat
Availability: Zubat can be found in the second floor basement of Granite Cave B2F with a 30% chance.
Stats: Amazing Speed, good Attack and respectable bulk.
Typing: Typing grants many 4x resistances which help in the early game, but weaknesses to Psychic, Ice, and Rock become more pronounced towards the lategame.
Movepool: The Steel Wing TM is needed to let Zubat competently fight on its own until it learns Wing Attack, while the Sludge Bomb TM is mandatory to achieve maximum damage output. All other moves it learns are helpful but not necessary. Note that even with Steel Wing, Zubat struggles against Rock-types, and Crobat is incapable of touching Steel-types.
Major Battles: Zubat can take on Brawly (albeit not very quickly) and does decently at route sweeping, but otherwise has average to terrible matchups against all other bosses, usually faltering against their ace Pokemon, especially those that are resistant or immune to Sludge Bomb. Crobat's role tends to be relegated to toss out fast and strong attacks that can beat weaker trainers or KO one/two of the boss's Pokemon, or potentially harassing tough opponents with its fast Confuse Ray.
Additional Comments: Zubat is also available at Meteor Falls up to a more manageable level 20 and at a much higher 80% rate, but the drawback is being stuck with the mediocre Golbat stage for longer.

Merritt Edited the write-ups again.

 

[Karxrida]

Stats: High Speed but lackluster stats everywhere else. Offenses improve upon evolution or using the Light Ball item.

I'd replace "using" with "equipping" and probably specifying that the Light Ball is rare. Unless there's a freebie one like in ORAS that I don't know about.

Because Pikachu doesn't need anything from its level-up movepool that can't be taught by TM, it is advised to evolve it immediately (after learning Thunderbolt that is).

IMO it should look like this.

Because Pikachu doesn't need anything from its level-up movepool that can't be taught by TM, it is advised to evolve it immediately after learning Thunderbolt.

The parenthesis segment is unnecessary.

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

re: Punchshroom my Swalot does in fact know Ice Beam, it simply wasn't necessary pre-Norman


Merritt slakoth redux

Name: Slakoth
Availability: Slakoth can by found in Petalburg Woods with a 5% chance
Stats: Great physical tank stats supplemented by high speed and effective special attack after evolution. Slaking has the highest Attack stat of any accessible Pokemon and better bulk than Swampert.
Typing: Normal type trades a weakness to Brawly for an advantage against Phoebe. Few enemies resist Normal in game which allows for comfortable 1 and 2HKOs from STAB attacks.
Movepool: Slakoth learns Encore and Slack Off and Vigoroth learns Bulk Up after defeating Brawly, forming an unstoppable sweeping set. Slaking's movepool is incredible diverse and can be customized to defeat any opponent; options include Return, Shadow Ball, Earthquake, Flamethrower, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Brick Break, the aforementioned Bulk Up, and Hyper Beam - from Slaking this is the single strongest attack in the game.
Major Battles: Bulk Up+Encore+Slack Off enables Vigoroth to sweep cleanly through Wattson, Flannery, and Norman, as well as Winona if it is still unevolved. Slaking easily OHKOs most enemies among Winona, Juan, and Tate and Liza, while also tanking effectively in the double battle. Each of Sidney, Phoebe, Glacia, and Drake can be defeated by a Bulk Up using Slaking, or will see key enemies picked off by Hyper Beam; each of Wallace's Pokemon can also be picked off, or 2HKOed with Return.
Additional Comments: Vigoroth is one of the best mid-game Pokemon available. Slaking carries any fight it enters single handedly. The sole reason Slakoth is ranked only in B tier is the Truant ability. The painful training period of a Slakoth and the drain on time and resources imposed by Truant are simply too much to justify a higher ranking, even as Slaking matches or exceeds the abilities of other S tier entries.
Wallace's Tentacruel should be OHKOed with Hyper Beam as its Hydro Pump is able to 2HKO in return.




Picking the run back up

Winona:

Swalot (33): Sludge 2HKOs Swablu, Ice Beam 2HKOs Altaria while Earthquake fails to 2HKO in return, Ice Beam 3HKOs Skarmoy while Steel Wing 6HKOs in return, Ice Beam OHKOs Tropius while Aerial Ace does nothing in return, Sludge 4HKOs Pelipper (3 with Poison) while it does nothing in return. Needs 1 Potion, but excellent overall.

Grovyle (34): Strength is a 3HKO on Swablu but it can only Perish Song back, Leaf Blade 2HKOs Pelipper, auto dies to everything else.

Tentacruel (34): 2HKOs Swablu with everything while burning a Potion, 2HKOs Altaria with Ice Beam while living a +1 Earthquake, must Potion up and then 3HKOs Skarmory with Surf, OHKOs Tropius with Ice Beam, 3HKOs Pelipper with Sludge Bomb fearing only confusion hax in return. As good as Swalot, excellent overall.

Minun (34): OHKOs Swablu, Pelipper, and Skarmory, with Thunderbolt; can only beat Altaria if it DDs on turn 1 and you roll a long Encore otherwise Alaria kills it; 3HKOs Tropius while Twave+Encore locking it into Sunny Day.

Delcatty (34): Return 2HKOs Swablu while burning a Potion, 3HKOs Tropius avoiding damage if Sing hits, 2-3HKOs Pelipper depending on rolls, cannot touch Skarmory, beats Altaria because Return is a 3HKO and you have Charm but will need a Potion if Dragonbreath paralyzes.

Grumpig (34): 2HKOs Swablu with anything, 3HKOs Tropius while comfortably tanking Solarbeam, OHKOs Pelipper with Shock Wave, 3HKOs Skarmory with Shock Wave, only beats Altaria if it hits itself in a Confuse Ray confusion as Altaria will 2HKO from +2 and if you don't miss your attacks (Skarmoy is a bitch who uses Sand Attack).


Interlude: I picked up a Snorunt and decided to swap out Delcatty for it. I can make a clear judgement on Delcatty at this point that Skitty should rise to E. The only real case for it in F is the 2% encounter rate, but as was established in the Grimer debate this should be the sort of thing that pushes an entry over the edge rather than a determining factor.

In terms of contributions Skitty does just fine, its combat ability is very reasonably comparable to Zigzagoon or Poochyena and definitively suprior to Whismur. Delcatty is similarly mediocre, it suffers from its stats but does just fine as a general attacker and could Calm Mind if you really wanted to. It's not very good because of how its stats let it down, but its definitely a competent Pokemon.

As a comparison, Rhyhorn is also F tier and is completely unusable in fights up until the point it evolves, at which point it can only contribute to some E4 matchups - Skitty and Delcatty are usable at all points and are able to contribute to varying degrees of success at any point. Comparing to E tier, I would place Skitty's performance in a similar tier to Beautifly or Minun and clearly superior to that of Whismur. It's performance as a whole argues for a clear place in the upper ranks of E (below Natu, Regice; equal to Sableye, Minun; above Sandshrew, Castform; far above Phanpy, Lileep), and its not borderline where I would consider its 2% encounter rate to drop it down a tier.


In other news I stuck Exp. Share on Snorunt and fought water route trainers until it hit 35 then stuffed 7 Rare Candies down its throat until it evolved. Training is ez (also these 7 Rare Candies can be assumed as a standard, they're all easily accessible and in obvious places e.g. Petalburg immediately after getting Surf or obvious locations for hidden items).


Tate and Liza:

Minun (40): Can't quite OHKO Xatu but can take out the threat with a partners help. Dies immediately to Claydol. Can offer some support vs Solrock and Lunatone via Encore and a decent powered Thunderbolt.

Swalot (40): Sucks taint. Can take any one hit but gets hit too hard too fast to do anything. Doesn't hit anything for any appreciable damage.

Grumpig (40): Outspeeds and confuses stuff and takes a couple hits and does literally nothing else, Shock Wave is too weak.

Delcatty (41): Shadow Ball hits for fairly decent damage on anything, good combo killer. Bulky enough to live one hit from anything, but not two.

Tentacruel (40): Surf is great here, very good combo killer against Xatu, excellent CC vs Solrock and Lunatone, and good lead to a partner kill on Claydol. Can take any one hit but Psychic type means it can't take two.

Glalie (42): Very good. Ice Beam puts in serious work against Claydol and Xatu and Crunch does fairly well vs Lunatone and Solrock. Needs a partner to combo kill, but efficient at mowing down enemies. Takes two hits from anything that isn't CM boosted or Flamethrower.

Sceptile (38): Note the slight level disadvantage due to HM requirements over water. Speed lets it effectively partner kill Xatu, Leaf Blade comfortably 2HKOs all of Lunatone, Solrock, Claydol, or OHKO on crit. Can't carry on its own but can solo with a power partner such as Glalie. Tanks 3 Earthquakes which is all it typically has to take as you focus down everything else.


Juan:

Swalot (41): 3HKOs Luvdisc with Sludge. Three. Hit. KOs. Freaking. Luvdisc. Luvdisc actually did a third of my health despite Amnesia through Confusattract strategies. Switch out of Whiscash obviously. "Beat" Sealeo but had to to use three full Potions to do it as it Encore locked Amnesia twice and started a Body Slam with paralysis train. Took so long Sealeo literally ran out of Body Slams. Kingdra can't kill you because Amnesia. You can't kill Kingdra because Rest. Kingdra can crit. You do 4HKO Crawdaunt which is nice so you usually win oh btw Crabhammer has a high crit rate. Only beats Luvdisc and Crawdaunt and it had to fuckin 3HKO Luvdisc which is as good as a loss, Swalot fucking sucks.

Tenatcruel (41): 2HKO Luvdisc with any combo of Sludge Bomb/Surf/Giga Drain, it can't touch you. Giga Drain is a 2HKO on Whiscash but you do live an Earthquake. Sludge Bomb 3HKOs Sealeo, paras are annoying but you still win. Neither you nor Kingdra can really beat each other between your typing and its Rest BUT you can and will win if you manage to land an Ice Beam freeze. Oh and you 2HKO Crawdaunt or whatever it can't touch you. See Swalot, this is what a real Pokemon looks like, Swalot fucking sucks.

Grumpig (42): Set up Calm Mind, sweep etc. Own Tempo is neat to shit on Luvdisc. Swalot fucking sucks.

Sceptile (41): OHKO Luvdisc, barely fail to OHKO Sealeo but tank Aurora Beam and burn a Potion etc, Kingdra is a losing matchup, OHKO Whiscash, OHKO Crawdaunt. Swalot fucking sucks.

Minun (42): OHKO Luvdisc, can't fight Whiscash, barely miss the OHKO on Sealeo but only a third in damage returned, OJKO Crawdaunt, can beat Kingdra with good luck but usually won't, TBolt is a 3HKO with good rolls but Double Team, Rest looping, and bad rolls make that 3HKO very unlikely. Swalot fucking sucks.

Glalie (43): Eathquake 2HKOs Luvdisc, Ice Beam 3HKOs Whiscash, Earthquake 4HKOs Sealeo and Crawdaunt, Ice Beam a 4HKO on Kingdra. You can take your share of hits but not a great matchup. Swalot fucking sucks.

tl;dr: "Did you see that ludicrous display last night?"



Brief tiering thoughts pre-E4

Skitty: Rise to E, outlined above.
Treecko: Drop to B. Good Sceptile performances so far notwithstanding the Grovyle period is utter ass.
Tentacool: Strong B. Does better as a Cool than you might think, Cruel is a boss. Great mon.
Gulpin: Firm D (and clearly worse than Grimer SMH everyone who argued otherwise)
Spoink: Drop to D PENDING E4 RESULTS. It's really not that good plus it's movepool is garbage, HOWEVER Calm Mind is a game changer and if it can be solid in E4 as one assumes it could be it can stay C.
Minun: Top of E, comfortably. Defined niche, can't go outside of it, fulfills that niche very well.
Snorunt: Undetermined. Too early to say, great performance vs T+L, bad vs Juan, E4 will decide E vs D. Taught it Explosion forthelulz.

 

[sumwun]

comments on Punchshroom 's revision of Heracross

Heracross

Heracross
Availability: Heracross can be found in the northeast area of the Safari Zone northeast area with a 5% chance.
Stats: "Heracross's high physical Attack and Speed are perfect for quickly rolling through regular trainers, and passable bulk lets Heracross win consecutive battles without healing." looks a bit better and more formal to me.
Typing: looks good
Movepool: I think "Heracross wins most battles by spamming Brick Break, but it needs Earthquake if you want to use Heracross against Ghost-types." would be a better second sentence.
Major Battles: Sweet kiss Luvdisc is definitely ideal to set up against. Bulk up raises physical defense, so Heracross doesn't do much confusion damage. Even if Heracross gets confused and infatuated, it's not like that makes Luvdisc any more threatening.
Additional Comments: According to Merritt, negative flavors have no effect, so any spicy or sweet berries can be used in place of Leppa or Pecha berries.

Also I think Absol's writeup should mention return instead of strength. Return Absol is great at soloing Juan and Sidney.
Edit: I didn't want to double-post, so here's my next update.

Hide

I caught both Taillow and Marill on Route 104, both at level 5. Taillow was immediately able to clean some routes with its often super effective peck, but Marill started kind of slow and needed some potions.

team vs Roxanne

1:05

Treecko
Level: 12
Stats: 32/17/16/21/19/23
Bashful nature
- bullet seed
- quick attack
- absorb
- leer

Taillow
Level: 13
Stats: 36/21/14/13/13/29
Careful nature
- wing attack
- quick attack
- focus energy
- growl

Marill
Ability: huge power
Level: 11
Stats: 37/11/15/11/17/15
Mild nature
- tackle
- water gun
- tail whip
- defense curl

Hide

Treecko: has high probability of soloing if it just spams bullet seed

Taillow: no

Marill: This has significantly lower special attack and doesn't benefit from the weird damage-rounding mechanics. Marill usually can't 1v1 Nosepass, but it can cause major damage and waste Roxanne's potions.

I was able to catch a level 10 Makuhita in Granite Cave B2F after searching for a few minutes. I didn't immediately give it an exp. share because I was more interested in how Grovyle and Marill would do against Brawly if I gave them some more experience.

team vs Brawly

1:52

Grovyle @ miracle seed
Level: 16
Stats: 42/28/24/33/28/37
Bashful nature
- bullet seed
- pursuit
- rock tomb
- absorb

Taillow @ Oran berry
Level: 15
Stats: 40/24/15/14/15/33
Careful nature
- wing attack
- quick attack
- steel wing
- growl

Marill @ silk scarf
Ability: huge power
Level: 15
Stats: 47/14/18/13/21/19
Mild nature
- tackle
- water gun
- rollout
- tail whip

Makuhita @ exp. share
Ability: thick fat
Level: 10
Stats: 35/18/12/8/13/11
Adamant nature
- arm thrust
- tackle
- sand attack
- focus energy

Hide

Taillow: Wing attack is a guaranteed 2HKO on everything, but Makuhita can win the 1v1 with bulk up, vital throw, and its Sitrus berry. After Taillow gets Meditite to waste both super potions and then loses to Makuhita, the weakened Makuhita is easy to finish off.

Without Taillow: Grovyle can 1v1 Machop but not very reliably, and it loses to Makuhita. Marill can 1v1 only Meditite.

Nobody was able to 1v1 Brendan's Combusken, but Makuhita likely could have swept by using bulk up on Lombre.

When I first attempted to battle Wattson, nobody was able to take 2 hits from Manectric. (except Grovyle, which was unable to hit back) So I went to Route 117 to hopefully get enough experience to win.

team vs Wattson

3:53

Grovyle @ miracle seed
Level: 24
Stats: 59/40/33/48/39/55
Bashful nature
- bullet seed
- pursuit
- rock tomb
- absorb

Swellow @ Oran berry
Level: 23
Stats: 66/48/35/28/30/67
Careful nature
- wing attack
- quick attack
- steel wing
- growl

Azumarill @ silk scarf
Ability: huge power
Level: 23
Stats: 81/33/39/33/45/33
Mild nature
- tackle
- water gun
- rollout
- tail whip

Hariyama @ Oran berry
Ability: thick fat
Level: 24
Stats: 106/69/38/22/41/32
Adamant nature
- vital throw
- fake out
- bulk up
- arm thrust

Hide

Hariyama: It doesn't even need bulk up. Vital throw 2HKOs everything while Hariyama takes negligible amounts of damage.
Without Hariyama: I still have nothing that can meaningfully damage Manectric.

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

Sidney:

Swalot (48): Does a poor job against Mightyena but wins, can't OHKO fricking Shiftry, can't OHKO fricking Cacturne, loses to SD Crawdaunt, and wins vs Absol only from full. Very disappointing, even with Sludge Bomb and Amnesia up its weak as fuck.

Minun (47): 2 shots Mightyena, OHKOs Crawdaunt, 3HKOs Absol, shouldn't fight Shiftry or Cactrne bt can troll with Encore if you're so inclined.

Tentacruel (47): 2 shots Mightyena, 2 shots Shiftry, 1 shots Cacturne, 2 shots Crawdaunt with Giga Drain, and juuust misses the 2HKO on Absol aftter Sitrus - a win if you start at high HP. Clean performance.

Glalie (47): 2HKOs Mightyena, OHKOs Cacturne and Shiftry, can't fight Crawdaunt, loses to SD Rock Slide Absol, can't 2HKO.

Secptile (47): 2HKOs Mightyena, 2HKOs Shiftry and Cacturne with Aerial Ace, OHKOs Crawdaunt, loses to SD Aerial Ace Absol, cannot 2HKO through Sitrus without a crit.

Grumpig (47): No. Shock Wave can't even beat Crawdaunt effectively.



Phoebe:

Swalot: you lose to literally everything

Minun: 3HKOs Dusclops 1 while avoiding a Shadow Punch 2HKO, loses to Dusclops 2, fails to 2HKO Banette and is 2HKOd by Shadow Ball in return, but beats Sableye 1v1 by 3HKOing before it can 3HKO back. Encoring Dusclops 2 into Earthquake can be fun.

Tentacruel: Can beat Dusclops 1 in a damage race but loses to Dusclops 2, 2HKOs both Banette on a 3HKO in return, same goes for Sableye

Glalie: 3HKOs Dusclops 1 fearing only pp damage in return, Dusclops 2 wins the damage race of Rock Slide vs Crunch, beats both Banette 1v1 by virtue of outspeeding and 3HKOing first, Banette 1 can only 4HKO.

Sceptile: Leaf Blade can beat Dusclops 1 and chunk Dusclops 2, 2HKOs each of the Banettes and Sableye, can take two hits, sometimes three, from anything except D2s Ice Beam.

Grumpig: Cannot set up on anything, Psychic can do decent damage to Banettes, but that's it.



Glacia:

Minun: clean 2HKO on both Sealeo, 3HKOs the Glalie's but Glalie 2 2HKOs back and you have to Potion spam if Hail is up, can 2HKO Walrein without triggering Sitrus Berry if you get good damage rolls, otherwise will be 2HKOed.

Sceptile: OHKOs any Sealeo or Walrein on a crit but can only reliably beat Sealeo 1 because it uses Hail 1. Loses to Glalie's obviously.

Glalie: Can 1v1 a Sealeo but otherwise has nothing useful to contribute short of an Explosion.

Swalot: Amnesia set up is nice except for the part where you get Encore trolled by a Body Slamming paralyzing Sealeo 1. Can only 4HKO Sealeo 1 with Sludge Bomb, 3HKO on Glalie 1, 4HKO Sealeo 2 bar poison roll, lose to Glalie 2 via Explosion, lose to Walrein via Body Slam or Sheer Cold because you're too weak to kill it. Have I mentioned Swalot sucks?

Grumpig: Can finally set up and sweep yet hilariously this isn't even guaranteed and Glalie 2 outspeeds and can Explosion or Shadow Ball and Walrein outspeeds and can Sheer Cold. Plausible influence of the -speed nature here.

Tentacruel: 4HKOs Sealeo 1 with both Sludge Bomb and Giga Drain nless it rolls a Poison, Sealeo is only a 5HKO with Body Slam back though and uses Hail, clean 3HKO on Glalie with Surf/Sludge Bomb, same deal for Sealeo2 and Glalie2, Walrein wins a damage race with Body Slam.



Drake:

Tentacruel: Clean 2HKO on Slegon with Ice Beam, is outsped and OHKOed by Flygon, 2HKOs Altaria with Ice Beam, 3HKOs Kingdra with Poison but is a roll to lose vs two +1 Body Slams, and 2HKOs Salamance but is outsped and 2HKOed first.

Minun: Can't beat Shelgon or Flygon, beats Altaria via TWave+Encore on Dragon Dance with a long enough Encore as Thunderbolt is a 4HKO, can do the same to Kingdra if it goes for Smokescreen or Dragon Dance, can 4HKO Salamence but does get 2HKOed in return.

Sceptile: Loses to everything 1v1, even Flygon 2HKOs you while you only 3HKO in return (Dragon Claw would make more headway if you backtracked to Meteor Falls top floor).

Grumpig: Can get to +4 vs Shelgon fairly comfortably and then get immediately dumpstered by Flygon. If you use an X Speed it can do work but otherwise it loses to everything 1v1, badly. Unboosted Psychic is weak as hell.

Swalot: 1v1s Shelgon, tanks Earthquake from Flygon and KOs with Ice Beam if healthy, 2HKOs Salamence while only 3HKOed in return, 2HKOs Altaria which I assume can't do much back given multiple DDs prioritized, Sludge Bomb is a 6HKO vs Kingdra while you are 2HKOed by +2 Body Slam in return.

Glalie: Rolls to OHKO Shelgon, OHKOs Flygon and OHKOs Salamence being able to take one hit from either, has a roll to OHKO Altaria but takes little in return, and is unable to KO Kingdra before it gets KOed unless it uses Explosion.



Wallace:

Minun (47): 2HKOs Wailord, rolls to OHKO on Gyarados and is OHKOed back if you fail, does not 3HKO Tentacruel and is OHKOed back, OHKOed by Milotic and can't 2HKO, lolWhiscash, can only Encore Ludicolo but Thunderbolt isn't strong enough to save it.

Sceptile (48): comfortably 2HKOs Wailord against a Rain Dance but Blizzard can OHKO; OHKOs Whiscash, 3HKOs Milotic but is 2HKOed in return; can't do much damage to Ludicolo and so loses the race against Surf, lolTentacruel, loses to DD Hyper Beam Gyarados pretty badly

Swalot (48): loses to Wailord, loses to Gyarados, loses to Whiscash, 2HKOs Ludicolo as long as it has an Amnesia backing it up, tanks Milotic comfortably with Potion support via Amnesia but can never appreciably outdamage Recover, and same goes for Tentacruel, Swalot can only ever beat one of Tentacruel/Milotic because it burns so many PP trying to kill one of them it could never kill the other.

Tentacruel (48): loses to Wailord, loses to Gyarados, loses to Milotic, is OHKOed by Whiscash and can't crit KO with Giga Drain, wins handily vs Ludicolo, and can only tank Tentacruel effectively with Potions but can't do appreciable damage back.

Glalie (48): can do nothing to anthing except clean up a kill with Explosion

Grumpig (47): dies immediately to everything except Ludicolo, is outsped by Gyarados even if it does set up.



End of Run Team:

Minun lv 48, Minus, Bashful
131 / 50 / 67 / 90 / 97 / 121
Thunderbolt / Thunder Wave / Encore / Spark

Comments: Slow starter, but once it picks up Spark it becomes a legitimate option and remains exactly the same from that point on to the end of the game. Its moveset is (STAB)+Encore+Thunder Wave and this is a good combo, letting it have solid utility in most matchups. Only favourable against Winona and Juan, but can take out a couple of surprising enemies with TWave+Encore. Fulfills a specific niche and nothing else, but is effective at that role. Comfortably at the top of E.



Tentacruel lv 48, Liquid Ooze, Quirky
154 / 86 / 83 / 93 / 133 / 113
Surf / Ice Beam / Sludge Bomb / Giga Drain

Comments: Starts off extremely slowly as it doesn't learn a Water STAB until level 25, but manages to find ways to contribute nonethless via poisoning and confusion. Swagger as a free move lets it contribute early on against difficult fights, even as far as pairing with Minun to claim kills on Magneton and Manectric, and performs well against Flannery as a 'cool. Once it evolves Tentacruel becomes an excellent mon, having a strong movepool and good stats to back them up. It's quick and bulky and can perform well in neutral matchups against all remaining gyms. Slows down in the E4 when it can no longer claim type matchup, but still manages to 1v1 or 1v2 in all E4 matches except Sidney where it performs even better. A strong B tier mon, great late game pulls up the early game struggles.



Grumpig lv 47, Own Tempo, Adamant
142 / 69 / 86 / 87 / 126 / 89
Psychic / Shock Wave / Calm Mind / Confuse Ray

Comments: Arriving in the mid-game, Spoink is incapable of helping vs Flannery or Norman. Performs fairly well against Winona and clean sweeps Juan but is absolutely terrible against Tate and Liza and every E4 member except for Glalie. Grumpig is a far cry from Gardevoir due to its inferior special attack and movepool as even when it is able to setup - a rare thing due to inferior support - sweeping is difficult due to its inability to moderate its low physical bulk and the poor power of its coverage move. Supremely disappointing, and clearly unworthy of C tier. A clear drop to D with a reasonable argument to go lower, full dependent on X Item support for sweeps.



Sceptile lv 48 @ Miracle Seed, Overgrow, Bashful
133 / 104 / 80 / 122 / 102 / 133
Leaf Blade / Aerial Ace / Brick Break / Strength

Comments: As useful as starters always are, performs adequately or better up until around Wattson. Falls off heavily after this point as the power level rises and its STAB and bulk options quickly becomes a handicap against it, preventing it from being effective against an of the middle gyms. Hits its stride against Tate and Liza and Juan as Sceptile's speed and power are able to shine, something that carries through Sidney, but unfortunately falls off heavily after this point and is unable to be more than a bit player against any of the remaining E4, limited to picking off Wallace's Whiscash and chip damage here and there. A significant let down in the end and representative of a clear distinction from the expected power levels of the A tiers, Treecko fails to live up to this standard and should drop to B.



Swalot lv 48, Sticky Hold, Sassy
176 / 82 / 102 / 91 / 113 / 68
Sludge Bomb / Ice Beam / Strength / Amnesia

Comments: Starts off slow, fat, and weak. Remains slow, fat, and weak throughout the game. Solid utility moves and overall bulk let this maintain effectiveness but it is unable to create of any sort of efficiency in its attacking prowess. Low lights include failing to 2HKO Juan's Luvdisc. Luvdisc. Honestly tempting to suggest it should drop to E because the offense is that bad bt it is undeniably effective at tanking in certain matchups and does have a standout performance against Winona so it should remain in D, albeit at the bottom of the internal rankings. Comparisons to Grimer were ludicrous, having now run both.



Glalie lv 48 @ Nevermeltice, Inner Focus, Jolly
148 / 88 / 92 / 75 / 90 / 108
Ice Beam / Crunch / Earthquake / Explosion

Comments: Arrives very late and evolves late though this can be circumvented with Rare Candies. Excellent performance vs Tate and Liza, terrible performance vs Juan, good vs Sidney, solid vs Phoebe, terrible vs Glacia, great vs Drake, and terrible vs Wallace. Overall performance rounds out to a D tier level but not definitively, and so it falls close enough to the borderline where availability and evolution must count against it. I enjoyed using it and it strong enough to see play, but should remain in E.


Summary:

Treecko: Drop to B tier

Tentacool: Remain in B tier

Minun: Remain in E tier

Gulpin: Remain in D tier

Spoink: Drop to D tier

Snorunt: Remain in E tier

Skitty: Rise to E tier (See post #918)


Conclusion: One of the least fun runs I've done to day, the power level of everything was low at all points in the game and certain things that I had hopes for (Sceptile, Grumpig) underperformed to an unpleasant degree.

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

Once more with feeling. Going to run the following:

Marill: double-edge, surf-->dive, brick break, waterfall

Nincada: aerial ace, shadow Ball, dig, swords dance

Zigzagoon: strength, ice beam, rock smash, surf

Electrike: thunderbolt, bite, return, thunder wave

Heracross: brick break, earthquake, rock tomb, bulk up

Koffing: sludge bomb, thunderbolt, flamethrower, toxic (flash for lulz?)


Goals: see if marill is strong enough for it's hm slavery to justify B, I've always been skeptical; validate B for electrike; see how koffing compares to it's poison Bros; hopefully enjoy using heracross


Only a handful of stuff left I won't have run after this, Voltorb, Psyduck, Geodude, a handful of other water types, Roselia, Skarmory, and a couple obvious F tiers. What will I do with my life when I'm done :(

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

Roxanne:

Marill (15): Water Gun Geo1, Water Gun Geo2, Defense Curl and Rollout Nosepass for the clean sweep. EZ clap. Water Gun spam can win, but if Nosepass goes aggro with Rock Tomb you lose the damage race even from full given Oran Berry.

Zigzagoon (16): Loses to Geo1. Rip.

Nincada (15): Comfortably 1v1s Geo1 with Leech Life or with Fury Swipes crits if it starts spamming Harden, takes half out of Geo2 before falling if you don't use a Potion, comfortably takes out Geo2 if you do, loses the race to Nosepass but can burn the Oran Berry and take out a good chunk afterwards by spamming Sand Attack to buy time. Pretty good performance all things considered.


Brawly:

Zigzagoon (18): Loses to Machop. Needs 2x flinchhax to win if you don't trigger Potion range.

Nincada (18): Bit of a toss up with Machop, you're capable of winning with Fury Swipes but he can also 3HKO with Seismic Toss so bad RNG hurts you. lolMeditite but also free healing via Leech Life! Tanks Vital Throws comfortably even at +2 but is reliant on Fury Swipes crits to make progress and you usually lose the damage race in the long run, though in my run it took Maku to red after Sitrus.

Azumarill (18): 2HKOs Machop with Tackle, Karate Chop does nothing, lolMeditite, Tackle 3HKOs in a vaccuum, gets tougher aftert Bulk Ups but you have a ton of bulk and Defense Curl+Rollout nukes and Water Gun for cleanup so you should win this most of the time.


Wattson:

Ninjask (22): You can beat Voltorb if you roll 7 hits over two Fury Swipes and don't get paralyzed on a Spark, but then get quickly dispatched by Electrike. Magneton and Manectric are non-starters.

Linoone (23): Comfortably beats Voltorb and Electrike, Mud Sport goes a long way for eating hits. Needed a few Potions to get through Magneton due to paralysis rolls, Rock Smash was a 7HKO after Super Potion. Mag's and even Manectric's Shock Wave are only a 5HKO after Mud Sport though, so Linoone was able to solo this relatively comfortably, with the aforementioned potion support.

Azumarill (22): Managed to beat Voltorb and Electrike with 4 rolls of a Rollout before Magneton finished off. Able to tank 3 Shock Waves depending on rolls.

Electrike (22): You can beat Voltorb and Electrike with Thunder Wave+Howl+Quick Attack+1 Potion as long as you don't eat a Selfdestruct. Can't do more than paralyze Mag and Mane.

~random ghosty shedinja floating around~


End of early game summary:

Zigzagoon: I understand why they gave it Headbutt at level 7, this guy blows chunks, way worse than I remembered him being. Weak and kind of frail and just bad. Gross. Linoone has picked up since evolving. Not nearly as strong as you'd hope it would be and I can already tell it will drop off quickly but it's enough to roll over trainers and solo Wattson.

Nincada: A bit slow at getting the job done and an exp sink, but more of a boss than expected. Tough to get up to speed but he can tank the early game physical gyms like nobody's business. Ninjask is pretty cool, trades off a bunch of bulk but adding Screech is nice and it's much stronger, Speed Boost is nice for trolling paralysis.

Marill: Huge Power makes a world of difference. Not incredibly efficient but a solid option as a Marill and then of course the early Azumarill just stomps for a little bit. Huge Power Rollout is fucking hilarious, just steamrolls shit.

Electrike: Good IVs on this one, high hp/atk/spe, average def/spa/sdef. Holds its own well enough on acquisition, Thunder Wave and Howl do well for trainer fights.

 

[TheGamer7777]

Only a handful of stuff left I won't have run after this, Voltorb, Psyduck, Geodude, a handful of other water types, Roselia, Skarmory, and a couple obvious F tiers. What will I do with my life when I'm done :(

Move on to testing another game! Maybe gen 8

 

[sumwun]

Update 2 of 3

team vs Flannery

5:22

Grovyle @ miracle seed
Level: 29
Stats: 70/48/40/58/47/66
Bashful nature
- leaf blade
- pursuit
- rock tomb
- strength

Swellow @ silk scarf
Level: 28
Stats: 79/59/42/34/36/82
Careful nature
- return
- wing attack
- steel wing
- endeavor

Azumarill @ Cheri berry
Ability: huge power
Level: 29
Stats: 100/41/49/41/55/40
Mild nature
- strength
- bubblebeam
- rollout
- tail whip

Hariyama @ Oran berry
Ability: thick fat
Level: 28
Stats: 123/80/44/26/47/37
Adamant nature
- vital throw
- fake out
- bulk up
- strength

Hide

Hariyama's +2 vital throw was a 2HKO on Torkoal and an OHKO against everything else.

Without Hariyama: Azumarill's bubblebeam was usually an OHKO against Camerupt and sometimes 2HKO against Torkoal. Torkoal can win the 1v1 by using sunny day and body slam.

Without Azumarill or Hariyama: Nothing can 3HKO Torkoal or survive Torkoal's OHKO.

team vs Norman

5:41

Grovyle @ miracle seed
Level: 30
Stats: 72/50/41/60/48/69
Bashful nature
- leaf blade
- pursuit
- rock tomb
- strength

Swellow @ Oran berry
Level: 29
Stats: 81/61/43/36/38/84
Careful nature
- return
- wing attack
- steel wing
- endeavor

Azumarill @ silk scarf
Ability: huge power
Level: 29
Stats: 100/41/49/41/55/40
Mild nature
- strength
- bubblebeam
- rollout
- tail whip

Hariyama @ Oran berry
Ability: thick fat
Level: 29
Stats: 127/83/45/27/48/39
Adamant nature
- vital throw
- fake out
- bulk up
- strength

Hide

Hariyama can usually sweep if it uses 1 or 2 bulk ups on Vigoroth and plays around Slaking's counter. As it sets up, Vigoroth and Linoone might wear Hariyama down for Slaking to finish.

Without Hariyama: Grovyle and Swellow easily handle everything but Slaking, and dig Azumarill can cheese with help from rock tomb and endeavor.

Without Hariyama or dig: Grovyle and Swellow defeated his other 3 Pokemon and wasted his hyper potions, and then Swellow and my HM slave Zigzagoon weakened Slaking with endeavor and tail whip. The weakened Slaking was easy for Azumarill to finish.

Without Hariyama, Swellow, or dig: Nobody can take on Slaking when he has 2 hyper potions and I don't have endeavor.

Upon receiving the HM03 surf, I immediately caught a level 26 Magnemite and taught it thunderbolt. I fortunately don't need to catch a Tropius this time.

team vs Winona

7:33

Grovyle @ Sitrus berry
Level: 33
Stats: 78/54/45/66/52/76
Bashful nature
- leaf blade
- pursuit
- rock tomb
- strength

Swellow @ Sitrus berry
Level: 33
Stats: 91/69/49/40/42/96
Careful nature
- return
- fly
- steel wing
- endeavor

Azumarill @ silk scarf/mystic water
Ability: huge power
Level: 34
Stats: 116/48/58/48/65/47
Mild nature
- strength
- surf
- double-edge
- dig

Hariyama @ silk scarf/Sitrus berry
Ability: thick fat
Level: 32
Stats: 139/92/50/29/53/43
Adamant nature
- vital throw
- fake out
- bulk up
- strength

Magneton @ Sitrus berry
Ability: sturdy
Level: 31
Stats: 81/49/74/87/48/52
Lax nature
- thunderbolt
- sonicboom
- thunder wave
- spark

Hide

Hariyama sets up on either Tropius or Pelipper and then sweeps.

Without Hariyama: Once Swellow or Azumarill have taken care of her Altaria, Magneton simply rolls through everything else.

Without Hariyama or Magneton: Swellow and Azumarill can each get through 3 to 4 of her Pokemon before fainting. Neither can sweep the entire team.

Upon reaching Lilycove, I taught substitute to Magneton.

team vs Maxie

8:44

Sceptile @ miracle seed
Level: 36
Stats: 100/74/63/93/62/101
Bashful nature
- leaf blade
- pursuit
- rock tomb
- strength

Swellow @ silk scarf/Sitrus berry
Level: 35
Stats: 96/79/52/43/46/102
Careful nature
- return
- fly
- steel wing
- endeavor

Azumarill @ silk scarf/Sitrus berry
Ability: huge power
Level: 36
Stats: 123/58/61/51/69/50
Mild nature
- strength
- surf
- double-edge
- dig

Hariyama @ Sitrus berry
Ability: thick fat
Level: 36
Stats: 156/107/56/33/60/49
Adamant nature
- vital throw
- fake out
- bulk up
- strength

Magneton @ Sitrus berry
Ability: sturdy
Level: 34
Stats: 89/54/82/95/53/59
Lax nature
- thunderbolt
- substitute
- thunder wave
- spark

Hide

Hariyama can sometimes solo if a cannon fodder takes the intimidate and I'm not too unlucky with swagger.

Without Hariyama: Swellow can similarly sometimes solo if swagger doesn't hax too badly.

Without Swellow or Hariyama: Azumarill can (sometimes, depending on swagger hax) 1v1 anyone but is too slow to sweep. Sceptile and Magneton both have type weaknesses.

team vs Tate and Liza

9:37

Sceptile @ miracle seed
Level: 38
Stats: 105/78/66/99/66/107
Bashful nature
- leaf blade
- pursuit
- rock tomb
- strength

Swellow @ silk scarf
Level: 37
Stats: 102/84/55/45/48/108
Careful nature
- return
- fly
- steel wing
- endeavor

Azumarill @ mystic water
Ability: huge power
Level: 39
Stats: 132/63/66/56/74/55
Mild nature
- strength
- surf
- double-edge
- dig

Hariyama @ Sitrus berry
Ability: thick fat
Level: 36
Stats: 156/111/56/33/60/49
Adamant nature
- vital throw
- fake out
- bulk up
- protect

Magneton @ Sitrus berry
Ability: sturdy
Level: 36
Stats: 94/57/86/101/55/67
Lax nature
- thunderbolt
- substitute
- thunder wave
- spark

Hide

I lead with Sceptile and Hariyama. While Sceptile 2HKOs Claydol, Hariyama uses fake out on Xatu and then protect. Lunatone replaces Claydol. Expecting both to target Hariyama again, I switch Hariyama with my cannon fodder Zigzagoon and safely switch Sceptile with Swellow. When Xatu one-shot Zigzagoon, I took advantage of the mono-psychic attackers by sending in Magneton. Swellow and Magneton use spark (to hopefully waste a hyper potion) and steel wing, and both opponents use calm mind. Swellow uses another steel wing and gets one-shot by Xatu, and Lunatone attacks the replacement Azumarill. Magneton gives up on the hyper potion stuff and defeats Xatu. Solrock one-shots Magneton, and Lunatone finished off Azumarill. Hariyama and Sceptile used fake out and leaf blade, both on Lunatone, and managed to defeat it. Solrock's psychic took out Hariyama. Sceptile then 2HKO'd Solrock while it wasted a turn using sunny day.

Without Sceptile: I lead with Azumarill to hit Claydol and Hariyama to prevent Xatu from using sunny day. Xatu flinches, and Claydol and Azumarill exchange multi-target attacks. I then switch Hariyama to my cannon fodder Zigzagoon, which faints and is replaced by Swellow. On turn 3, Swellow's return finishes off the surf-weakened Claydol, and Xatu takes out Swellow. I switch in Hariyama to use protect and redirect more psychic attacks from Azumarill. Hariyama switches to Magneton as the surf-weakened Xatu gets a hyper potion and Lunatone attacks the now psychic-resistant target. Lunatone wastes a turn putting the near-fainted Azumarill to sleep, and Magneton one-shots Xatu. Both rocks double-target Azumarill the next turn, but Solrock starts "taking in sunlight" after Azumarill already fainted and was replaced with Hariyama. Magneton uses thunderbolt on Solrock. Lunatone gets hit by fake out, and Solrock uses a relatively weak solarbeam on Hariyama and takes another thunderbolt. Hariyama uses protect, redirecting 2 more attacks for Magneton and letting it 3HKO Solrock. Lunatone defeats Hariyama next turn and eats the next thunderbolt. Lunatone then receives a hyper potion and misses a hypnosis, giving Magneton the 2 turns it needed to win.

Zigzagoon can't learn dive, so I thanked it for its outstanding service as a cannon fodder immediately before I went to Route 114 and caught a Lombre.

Only a handful of stuff left I won't have run after this, Voltorb, Psyduck, Geodude, a handful of other water types, Roselia, Skarmory, and a couple obvious F tiers. What will I do with my life when I'm done :(

You might want to get a job and move out of your parents' house.

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

On today's program, Winona gets swept by Bug type Pokemon. Also everything else.


Flannery

Ninjask (25): Unfortunately will draw Overheat 100% of the time from all opponents and cannot OHKO Numel with a +0 Dig. By using a death sac (lv 11 Torchic) on turn 1 however you can buy a turn to Swords Dance against Sunny Day, at which point you OHKO Numel and Slugma, and deal 95% to Camerupt. A level 26 or 27 Ninjask may be able to OHKO Camerupt at +2. Naturally poor given typing and frailty, but still capable of minor contribution.

Manectric (26): Beats Numel and Slugma somewhat reliably with Return+Howl/Spark but can never do anything meaningful to Camerupt before dying.

Koffing (27): Dumpstered by Sunny Day+Overheat from anything, can beat Slugma heads up though.

Azumarill (27): Defense Curl+Rollout or Bubblebeam into Rollout = clean sweep. Rollout misses are annoying but as long as you don't have to start your Rollout at stage 1 vs Torkoal you win 100% of the time.

Linoone (26): Familiar story, beats Numel and Slugma, loses to Camerupt.

Summary: Azumarill rolls the gym, everyone else is a bit player.

Note: Min-maxed my money and acquired a Flamethrower TM for Koffing and a Thunderbolt TM for Manectric (Tbolt priority, Wattsons TM bound for Koffing over Shock Wave)

Note 2.0: I think next time I'm going to try Nosepass, I see some potential there with a Rock Slide / Thunder Wave / Toxic / Rest or Protect set, gets three great gym matchups in a row with some sick defenses. Comes after Wattson at level 20, might be enough to make E.


Norman

Linoone (28): Clean 2HKO on Spinda with Strength, dead to Slaking, 3HKOs Vigoroth before getting 3HKOed, gets 3HKOed by Linoone before 3HKOing back ymmv as I am -Spe nature and outspeeding may be possible otherwise.

Manectric (28): Clean 2HKO on Spinda with Thunderbolt/Spark, 2HKOs Vigoroth taking one hit in addition to Spinda, 2HKOs Linoone against a failed Belly Drum, paralyzes Slaking with Thunder Wave and then dies.

Koffing (28): 2HKOed by Spinda's Psybeam, can Toxic Slaking but is OHKOed, 3HKOed by Linoone before 3HKOing back, and same deal for Vigoroth unless you poison it and don't get crit.

Ninjask (28): As long as it doesn't get confused, does pretty well! Can get anywhere from +2 to +6 depending on RNG and depending on RNG again can get through all of Spinda, Vigoroth, and Linoone behind Leech Life's healing. Can beat Slaking with Dig but does reqire being at +2 to start or to set up on a loafing turn or you run out of PP, healing turn can also through off your timing and lead to an untimely death.

Azumarill (28): Will only 3HKO Spinda, but Secret Power+Rollout+Rollout will KO and set up OHKOs vs Vigoroth and Linoone, plus Defense Curl to help survivability. Can't ever get past Slaking though, too bulky to kill before Counter smashes.

Summary: Lots of generally solid performances, nothing outstanding

Note 3.0: Linoone Pickup Rare Candy counter: 1


Post-West Side Story Team Summary

lv 31, Gentle, Huge Power @ Quick Claw
112 / 44 / 52 / 42 / 67 / 37
Secret Power, Surf, Rollout, Defense Curl

Comments: Ya done good kid. Okay as a Marill, pretty good as an Azumarill, Huge Power is strong, Azu is nice and fat in the early going, Rollout is a monster in gym fights. Good stuff.


lv 32, Sassy, Levitate
79 / 55 / 69 / 47 / 40 / 27
Sludge Bomb, Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, Toxic

Comments: Lots of flash, little substance so far. Suffering from its late evolution being as slow as it is, its bulk becomes just okay by this point and so it gets 3HKOed before it can 3HKO. Once it evolves it should do better since it has its end-game moveset at this point. Just needs Weezing's bulk to be a good tank.


lv 32, Brave, Pickup
105 / 58 / 54 / 45 / 47 / 67
Strength, Surf, Ice Beam, Rock Smash

Comments: Pretty mediocre as a combatant, definitively worse than Mightyena in that regard. Probably worse than Skitty too. Still passable, and stars putting out average range output once it hits Linoone. Surf has marked a notable increase in its combat ability so it can get past Rocks and Grounds better. Pickup is a pretty great ability.


lv 31, Gentle, Static
94 / 62 / 45 / 76 / 52 / 82
Thunderbolt, Spark, Return, Thunder Wave

Comments: About as good as I always remembered it to be. Takes a little work to get Electrike on board but it can be managed, and once it picks up Spark its just solid all around. Spark and Thunderbolt destory the extremely common Water and Flying type enemies, 2HKOs most anthing else comfortably, and sees a solid performance against gym leaders. It's like Magneton trading off speed for bulk, just good overall.


lv 32, Lax, Speed Boost @ Soft Sand
96 / 73 / 46 / 41 / 38 / 120
Slash, Leech Life, Dig, Swords Dance

Comments: Has performed better than I expected. Offensive performance has been spotty given the low base power of its moves but its been able to leverage its support options quite well to back up its attacks. Nincada showed a very respectable level of bulk against the first two physicall oriented gyms and once Ninjask came on board the offensive level caught up. Not a world beater at all but capable of solid performances when picked for the right spots.

Note 4.0: Sneaked past most of the combat encounters between Fortree and Lilycove to go pick up a Heracross, got a bit of training in on the way back.


Winona

Heracross (31): Goes +2 on Swablu easily at which point Aerial Ace is barely a 3HKO, went to +4 and clean swept with Brick Break and Rock Tomb. GG ez.

Linoone (35): Strength just misses the OHKO but Swablu does zero damage back and you burn a Potion, same deal for Tropius and Ice Beam, same deal except 3HKO for Pelipper and Strength, 4KO Skarmory with Surf comfortably though it can actually do damage back, 2HKO Altaria with Ice Beam comfortably. Will need one Potion for the full sweep.

Ninjask (35): Swablu spams Mirror Move against you aka you get three Swords Dances for free. OHKO Swablu / Tropius / Pelipper with Slash, rolls to OHKO Altaria but it DDs and you have Speed Boost so lol, 3HKO Skarmory with Slash but it has a roll to 2HKO you with Aerial Ace.

Azumarill (35): Defense Curl+Rollout takes care of Swablu and Tropius, Pelipper will BS your run so start a new one and that will suffice for the other three.

Weezing (35): Thunderbolt OHKOs Swablu, Sluge Bomb surprisingly just misses the OHKO on Tropius but it does zero back, Pelipper OHKOed by Thunderbolt, Skarmoy 2HKOed by FLamethrower, Altaria 3HKOed by Sludge Bomb Dragonbreath is only a 4HKO and it selects for Dragon Dance.

Manectric (35): OHKO Swablu, high rolls to 2HKO Altaria but dies to a +2 Earthquake, 2HKOs Tropius comforably, OHKOs both Pelipper and Skarmory.

Summary: Winona sux, tfw two Bug type Pokemon clean sweep you. Tfw everything sweeps you.