Finished the run. Here are the logs :
Now, onto the ranks :
Seel
D-tier looks fine for it. First thing I'll say is that it's better to hold evolution until level 37 to get Ice Beam for Clair. Dewgong doesn't OHKO Dragonair with Aurora Beam, meaning its performance against Clair will be hindered a lot by not having Ice Beam. It also matters against Will to OHKO Xatu, to OHKO Karen's Murkrow and against Lance you really want to OHKO the lvl 47 Dragonites.
Otherwise, Seel has terrible availability as it's only available after Pryce. This means you skip experience from Team Rocket HQ and it hurts Seel a lot. Honestly, traning on Route 40 and Route 41 is awful because every trainer uses Water-type and it requires going to the Pokecenter plenty of times, before having Fly. Even after that, Seel is weak before evolving and you really want to do so at level 37 to have Ice Beam for Clair, Will and Lance. Getting Dewgong at the right level is really time-consuming really.
Performance-wise, Seel was rather bad and Dewgong was mostly average. Seel was nothing special really and its only accomplishment was defeating Jasmine's Steelix 1v1. Even then, it requires Rain Dance as otherwise, you can actually lose. Having to backtrack on a mon that is already hard to train is pretty bad. Dewgong was better tho once Seel evolves. Honestly, the Clair battle was amazing as Dewgong has a performance akin to Lapras. It defeats the 3 Dragonair in 3 turns and may defeat Kingdra if things go well. Even if Kingdra isn't taken down, severely weakening it feels great, especially after beatting the 3 Dragonair. The Rival fight was also great and Dewgong may sweep here. Afterwards, Dewgong was mostly average. It should get 2 kills maximum against each E4 member (well 3/4 against Bruno but it's not the most relevant battle). The main disapointment came from the Lance battle. Despite being an Ice-type, Dewgong struggled to defeat more than one Dragonite, which is rather bad considering it has Ice Beam. So yeah, between availability problems, difficulties to grind and average performances outside of Clair and Rival, D-tier looks more adequate for Seel than C-tier.
Lickitung
While this wasn't that bad, I still feel it should be E-tier. Not much to say about this one, it just comes late and doesn't do anything noteworthy. The only good fights were the rival's fight and somewhat Clair but the latter requires luck to defeat the 3 Dragonair. Outside of these fights, Lickitung only gets 1/2 ko per fight, usually against the free mon and doesn't really justify itself. It also needs a few constested TMs like Return and Earthquake. Lickitung isn't that bad but it comes late, underleveled and barely does anything even with a few TMs which means it's more of an E-tier than a D-tier. It doesn't justify its use imo.
Dodrio (traded)
D-tier like the Route 27 one. Dodrio was once again great, it defeats everything but Magnemite/Magneton against Rival both times and can 1v1 Kingdra against Clair. The E4 was even better than the non-traded Dodrio, it still gets 3/4 kos against Will and 3 kos against Koga, 3 kos against Karen and Gyarados+Charizard against Lance. The main difference is that in this case, Bruno is even better as Dodrio can OHKO Machamp, resulting in a sweep outside of Onix (which is easy to defeat anyway) and is a bit better for Karen and Lance. I'd say the trades-Dodrio is a bit better for these matchup and boosted exp but both should be merged in D-tier. I'd recommend trying Dodrio as despite coming late, it's strong for the endgame and was fun to use.
Rhydon (Victory Road)
Honestly, E-tier. Rhydon comes really late and unlike Dodrio it's not that easy to train. I tried facing every trainer on Route 26/27 (bar the unskippable one to get on Victory Road) and got it to level 39 by Silver. It required quite a bit of switch grinding (which is a bit time-consuming) because there are several Water- and Grass-types. Even then, Rhydon was really nothing special, just being good against Koga, Silver and able to 1v1 Karen's Houndoom. It only achieved 1 ko against Will, 2 against Koga, Bruno and Karen and 1 against Lance. Unlike Dodrio, it wasn't easy to train and didn't do nearly as well in battles. Honestly, its only perks were OHKOing Muk and beating Houndoom 1v1 and getting a few kos against free mons. It's not worth spending time to catch and train Rhydon as it doesn't do much in the late-game.
As for in-game trade Rhydon, I still need to test it but it should probably end up in E-tier as well. While it's obtainable earlier, raising a Dratini is an annoying task and unlike Dodrio, it's probably not worth. I don't see much differences with the Victory Road one, Clair battle looks bad outside of taking down the Thunderbolt Dragonair and the only things a higher level may accomplish are like beating Aerodactyl + Zard against Lance and perhaps a better Bruno but I don't see it outspeeding Umbreon against Clair.
Next run is going to be Seadra/Kingdra/in-game trade Rhydon/Ponyta. I mostly want to see the differences between Seadra and Kingdra although they should probably end up in the same tier (D-tier most likely). As for IGT Rhydon and Ponyta, I expect E-tier for both of them.
Chuck (31) : MW Surf 2HKOes Primeape, which doesn't do much back. Poliwrath outspeeds, 2HKOes with Dynamic Punch (well will OHKO after prior damages) and takes nothing from any hit.
Jasmine (31) : With a PRZCureBerry, Seel can defeat a Magnemite, 2HKOing with Surf while barely living a Thunderbolt. The best thing to do tho is 1v1 Steelix. Surf 2HKOes Steelix and while it will use Sunny Day, you can remove it with Rain Dance and defeat it without too much trouble. You really need Rain Dance as Iron Tail 3HKOes.
Rival (33) : Aurora Beam 3HKOes Golbat. It's not advicable to fight it because Confuse Ray is annoying and Golbat 4HKOes with Wing Attack and a single miss means it's a loss. Avoid Magnemite as you only 2HKO it while it can paralyse or do a lot with Thundershock. Surf OHKOes Haunter after Curse and 3HKOes Sneasel. Meganium does too much with Razor Leaf. Seel should beat Haunter and Sneasel.
Clair (38) : Dewgong outspeeds and its Ice Beam OHKOes Dragonair (Aurora Beam 2HKOes Dragonair). It's actually possible to defeat Kingdra 1v1, 3HKOing with NVI Ice Beam while not taking much from its hits, even Hyper Beam fails to 2HKO. The AI doesn't always use Hyper Potion and if Kingdra locks itself with Hyper Beam after taking an Ice Beam, the third Ice Beam will ko it. The problem is that Smokescreen can be an issue and Dewgong may run out of PP, especially if Clair uses Hyper Potion as Dewgong won't be able to afford more than 2 misses. Still, Dewgong has a great matchup, defeating the 3 Dragonair in 3 turns and has alright odds to beat Kingdra or in the worst case will severely dent it.
Rival (40) : Set up Rain Dance on Sneasel and OHKO it Magneton, Haunter and Kadabra. Then outspeed and 2HKO Meganium with Ice Beam. Golbat is a speed tie and Ice Beam OHKOes it. Dewgong can take Curse+ Future Sight + Razor Leaf so assuming it gets the tie against Golbat, it should sweep the team. Even then, Meganium doesn't always use Razor Leaf and if it does winning against 5 mons is good. Pretty strong showing for Dewgong.
Will (40) : Psychic from everything 3HKOes and NVI is required to OHKO Xatu #2. Xatus are OHKOed by NVI Ice Beam while Exeggutor isn't. Avoid the rest as Jynx is only 3HKOed by Surf and Slowbro is too bulky. Pretty average as Dewgong should get only 2kos most of the time.
Koga (40) : Outspeeds and 2HKOes Ariados and Forretress with MW Surf. Venomoth is also beatable as Surf 3HKOes. Avoid Muk as Surf only 4HKOes while Sludge Bomb 3HKOes and it's going to hax. 2HKOes Crobat, without healing with Surf+Ice Beam. Pretty good matchup as Dewgong should beat the bugs or can 1v1 Crobat (it's hard to do both at the same time due to the hax involved).
Bruno (40) : Surf 3HKOes the hitmon and OHKOes Onix. You barely take 3 Mach Punch from Hitmonchan while Surf 3HKOes so you can defeat it as well as Onix which is outsped and OHKOed. Alternatively, it's possible to take down Hitmonchan + Onix. Hitmonlee 2HKOes and Machamp also does.
Karen (40) : Dewgong can beat Murkrow+Vileplume with a PRZCureBerry as it can take Feint Attack+Petal Dance while it OHKOes Murkrow and outspeeds and 2HKOes Vileplume. Can't hope anything against the rest, Houndoom 2HKOes with Flamethrower and takes a Surf, Gengar isn't OHKOed by Surf after Curse and Umbreon takes nothing and will hax.
Lance (41) : NVI Ice Beam OHKOes the level 47 Dragonite. The thing is Thunder from Dragonite does a lot and Hyper Beam 2HKOes. Also, with Rain Dance up (and it's hard to OHKO Gyarados), Dragonite will almost always use Thunder. Even then, Dewgong needs Dragonite to use Thunder Wave, hit through paralysis twice to OHKO both lvl 47 Dragonite. Also, Dewgong an 1v1 Charizard, barely taking 2 Flamethrower while 2HKOing with Surf. Pretty deceiving considering it's an Ice-type that struggles to take down 2 Dragonite.
Jasmine (31) : With a PRZCureBerry, Seel can defeat a Magnemite, 2HKOing with Surf while barely living a Thunderbolt. The best thing to do tho is 1v1 Steelix. Surf 2HKOes Steelix and while it will use Sunny Day, you can remove it with Rain Dance and defeat it without too much trouble. You really need Rain Dance as Iron Tail 3HKOes.
Rival (33) : Aurora Beam 3HKOes Golbat. It's not advicable to fight it because Confuse Ray is annoying and Golbat 4HKOes with Wing Attack and a single miss means it's a loss. Avoid Magnemite as you only 2HKO it while it can paralyse or do a lot with Thundershock. Surf OHKOes Haunter after Curse and 3HKOes Sneasel. Meganium does too much with Razor Leaf. Seel should beat Haunter and Sneasel.
Clair (38) : Dewgong outspeeds and its Ice Beam OHKOes Dragonair (Aurora Beam 2HKOes Dragonair). It's actually possible to defeat Kingdra 1v1, 3HKOing with NVI Ice Beam while not taking much from its hits, even Hyper Beam fails to 2HKO. The AI doesn't always use Hyper Potion and if Kingdra locks itself with Hyper Beam after taking an Ice Beam, the third Ice Beam will ko it. The problem is that Smokescreen can be an issue and Dewgong may run out of PP, especially if Clair uses Hyper Potion as Dewgong won't be able to afford more than 2 misses. Still, Dewgong has a great matchup, defeating the 3 Dragonair in 3 turns and has alright odds to beat Kingdra or in the worst case will severely dent it.
Rival (40) : Set up Rain Dance on Sneasel and OHKO it Magneton, Haunter and Kadabra. Then outspeed and 2HKO Meganium with Ice Beam. Golbat is a speed tie and Ice Beam OHKOes it. Dewgong can take Curse+ Future Sight + Razor Leaf so assuming it gets the tie against Golbat, it should sweep the team. Even then, Meganium doesn't always use Razor Leaf and if it does winning against 5 mons is good. Pretty strong showing for Dewgong.
Will (40) : Psychic from everything 3HKOes and NVI is required to OHKO Xatu #2. Xatus are OHKOed by NVI Ice Beam while Exeggutor isn't. Avoid the rest as Jynx is only 3HKOed by Surf and Slowbro is too bulky. Pretty average as Dewgong should get only 2kos most of the time.
Koga (40) : Outspeeds and 2HKOes Ariados and Forretress with MW Surf. Venomoth is also beatable as Surf 3HKOes. Avoid Muk as Surf only 4HKOes while Sludge Bomb 3HKOes and it's going to hax. 2HKOes Crobat, without healing with Surf+Ice Beam. Pretty good matchup as Dewgong should beat the bugs or can 1v1 Crobat (it's hard to do both at the same time due to the hax involved).
Bruno (40) : Surf 3HKOes the hitmon and OHKOes Onix. You barely take 3 Mach Punch from Hitmonchan while Surf 3HKOes so you can defeat it as well as Onix which is outsped and OHKOed. Alternatively, it's possible to take down Hitmonchan + Onix. Hitmonlee 2HKOes and Machamp also does.
Karen (40) : Dewgong can beat Murkrow+Vileplume with a PRZCureBerry as it can take Feint Attack+Petal Dance while it OHKOes Murkrow and outspeeds and 2HKOes Vileplume. Can't hope anything against the rest, Houndoom 2HKOes with Flamethrower and takes a Surf, Gengar isn't OHKOed by Surf after Curse and Umbreon takes nothing and will hax.
Lance (41) : NVI Ice Beam OHKOes the level 47 Dragonite. The thing is Thunder from Dragonite does a lot and Hyper Beam 2HKOes. Also, with Rain Dance up (and it's hard to OHKO Gyarados), Dragonite will almost always use Thunder. Even then, Dewgong needs Dragonite to use Thunder Wave, hit through paralysis twice to OHKO both lvl 47 Dragonite. Also, Dewgong an 1v1 Charizard, barely taking 2 Flamethrower while 2HKOing with Surf. Pretty deceiving considering it's an Ice-type that struggles to take down 2 Dragonite.
Rival (33) : 2HKOes Golbat with Return. OHKO Magnemite with Fire Punch. OHKO Haunter with Charcoal Fire Punch after Curse. 2HKOes Sneasel with Return. Meganium 6HKOes with Razor Leaf while Return 3HKOes but Reflect, Poison Powder and Razor Leaf crits can make things tricky. Overall, Lickitung should be able to defeat either Golbat +Magnemite+Haunter+Sneasel or Meganium+Magnemite (and Hauner if it comes after Meganium).
Clair (38) : Dragonair outspeeds and 6HKOes with special moves. Return 2HKOes Dragonair. With a PRZCureBerry, you can beat the 3 Dragonair. You can only afford 2 misses tho (as they use Thunder Wave twice).
Rival (40) : Return 3HKOes Meganium, 2HKOes Sneasel and Golbat while Kadabra is OHKOed. Earthquake OHKOes Haunter and Magneton. Meganium can be hard to get past if it uses Reflect and may damage a lot with Razor Leaf but Lickitung can reasonnably 1v1 it and defeat Kadabra. Otherwise, it can defeat the whole team outside of Meganium with a PRZCureBerry, having largely the bulk to take multiple hits even if it hits itself with confusion from Golbat.
Will (40) : Psychic from everything 3HKOes and Slowbro is the only mon outsped. Return 2HKOes the Xatus and Jynx. Slowbro is 3HKOed (usually 4/5HKOed due to Curse) and Exeggutor is 3HKOed. Lickitung will struggle to get one more than a ko here. It's possible to beat both Xatus with a Bitter Berry if things go well but it's luck reliant. Jynx is beatable but it requires luck due to Lovely Kiss. Slowbro is feasible if you muscle through it but you really need it to spam Curse. Overall, Lickitung should only get a ko here.
Koga (40) : Return 2HKOes Ariados and Venomoth. Fire Punch (even with Charcoal) 2HKOes Forretress. Muk is 2HKOed by Earthquake but it outspeeds 3HKOes and may use Acid Amor/Minimize. Crobat is only 3HKOed and will hax. Alight matchup as Lickitung can beat the bugs but will struggle to do more.
Bruno (40) : Earthquake underground (Hitmontop outspeeds) + Return 2HKOes Hitmontop. Then, Lickitung can defeat Hitmonchan, barely living 2 Dig + 2 Mach Punch. Avoid the rest, everything is too bulky and/or strong.
Karen (40) : Can beat Gengar with Earthquake afer Curse. 2HKOes Murkrow with Return while taking easily 2 Feint Attack (even after a Curse). Vileplume only 4HKOes with Petal Dance while Return 3HKOes it so Lickitung can 1v1 it. Lickitung should thus defeat either Gengar+Murkrow or Vileplume.
Lance (40) : 3HKOes Gyarados with Return while taking Rain Surf + Hyper Beam (or double Rain Surf). As Gyarados almost always uses Rain Dance, Lickitung should defeat it. It can't be the rest, Dragonite is too bulky and Charizard 2HKOes with Flamethrower.
Clair (38) : Dragonair outspeeds and 6HKOes with special moves. Return 2HKOes Dragonair. With a PRZCureBerry, you can beat the 3 Dragonair. You can only afford 2 misses tho (as they use Thunder Wave twice).
Rival (40) : Return 3HKOes Meganium, 2HKOes Sneasel and Golbat while Kadabra is OHKOed. Earthquake OHKOes Haunter and Magneton. Meganium can be hard to get past if it uses Reflect and may damage a lot with Razor Leaf but Lickitung can reasonnably 1v1 it and defeat Kadabra. Otherwise, it can defeat the whole team outside of Meganium with a PRZCureBerry, having largely the bulk to take multiple hits even if it hits itself with confusion from Golbat.
Will (40) : Psychic from everything 3HKOes and Slowbro is the only mon outsped. Return 2HKOes the Xatus and Jynx. Slowbro is 3HKOed (usually 4/5HKOed due to Curse) and Exeggutor is 3HKOed. Lickitung will struggle to get one more than a ko here. It's possible to beat both Xatus with a Bitter Berry if things go well but it's luck reliant. Jynx is beatable but it requires luck due to Lovely Kiss. Slowbro is feasible if you muscle through it but you really need it to spam Curse. Overall, Lickitung should only get a ko here.
Koga (40) : Return 2HKOes Ariados and Venomoth. Fire Punch (even with Charcoal) 2HKOes Forretress. Muk is 2HKOed by Earthquake but it outspeeds 3HKOes and may use Acid Amor/Minimize. Crobat is only 3HKOed and will hax. Alight matchup as Lickitung can beat the bugs but will struggle to do more.
Bruno (40) : Earthquake underground (Hitmontop outspeeds) + Return 2HKOes Hitmontop. Then, Lickitung can defeat Hitmonchan, barely living 2 Dig + 2 Mach Punch. Avoid the rest, everything is too bulky and/or strong.
Karen (40) : Can beat Gengar with Earthquake afer Curse. 2HKOes Murkrow with Return while taking easily 2 Feint Attack (even after a Curse). Vileplume only 4HKOes with Petal Dance while Return 3HKOes it so Lickitung can 1v1 it. Lickitung should thus defeat either Gengar+Murkrow or Vileplume.
Lance (40) : 3HKOes Gyarados with Return while taking Rain Surf + Hyper Beam (or double Rain Surf). As Gyarados almost always uses Rain Dance, Lickitung should defeat it. It can't be the rest, Dragonite is too bulky and Charizard 2HKOes with Flamethrower.
Rival (33-34) : 2HKOes Golbat with Tri Attack. Meganium is 2HKOed by Fly (can be a 3HKO due to Fly). Avoid Magnemite. Haunter is OHKOed by Fly. PB Tri Attack OHKOes Sneasel. Unless confusion hits too much or Meganium paralyses with Body Slam, Dodrio should defeat everything but Magnemite.
Clair (38) : Drill Peck 2HKOes the Dragonair while Thunderbolt/Ice Beam 2HKOes (even after a Dragon Breath). With a PRZCureBerry, you can beat the first one. Then, 2HKO the second one with Drill Peck while taking a Thunderbolt. The best thing to do is trying to 1v1 Kingdra. SB Drill Peck is a highly positive roll for the 2HKO (like 90-95% of the time) and Dodrio can take a Surf.
Rival (40) : SB Drill Peck OHKOes Sneasel, Haunter, Kadabra, Meganium and 2HKOes Golbat. Outside of Confuse Ray hurting too much, Dodrio should have no trouble defeating these 5.
Will (40-42) : Drill Peck OHKOes Jynx and Exeggutor and 2HKOes Xatu. With a Bitter Berry, if the first Xatu goes for Confuse Ray, you can defeat 4 mons. Even then, 3 kos against Will is great.
Koga (42): OHKOes Ariados and Venomoth with Drill Peck. Avoid Forretress as Drill Peck only 3HKOes and it may explode. Muk is 2HKOed by Drill Peck and so is Crobat. It's not hard to defeat Muk as Dodrio can take a Sludge Bomb but Crobat outspeeds, has healing and Double Team is tricky. Pretty good as Dodrio gets 3 kills.
Bruno (43-44) : OHKOes all fighters with SB Drill Peck, including even Machamp surprisingly. I tried several times and Machamp was OHKOed each time. Even if it wasn't Hitmonchan doesn't go for Mach Punch so Dodrio is theorically able to take a Quick Attack from Hitmontop and a Rock Slide from Machamp. Really strong fight as Dodrio beats 4 mons ans Onix is really easy to ko.
Karen (44) : OHKOes Murkrow, Vileplume and Gengar (after Curse) with SB Drill Peck while Houndoom is 2HKOed. Sadly, Dodrio can't take a Flamethrower after Curse but still beating the best mon, Murkrow and Vileplume is great and Gengar shouldn't be hard to ko. I tried Umbreon but nop, it's 3HKOed by Drill Peck so it's not worth fighting.
Lance (44) : 2HKOes Gyarados with SB Drill Peck. Then, you can 1v1 Charizard, outspeeding and 2HKOing with SB Drill Peck while taking a Flamethrower. The Dragonite are too bulky and Aerodactyl is a Rock-type.
Clair (38) : Drill Peck 2HKOes the Dragonair while Thunderbolt/Ice Beam 2HKOes (even after a Dragon Breath). With a PRZCureBerry, you can beat the first one. Then, 2HKO the second one with Drill Peck while taking a Thunderbolt. The best thing to do is trying to 1v1 Kingdra. SB Drill Peck is a highly positive roll for the 2HKO (like 90-95% of the time) and Dodrio can take a Surf.
Rival (40) : SB Drill Peck OHKOes Sneasel, Haunter, Kadabra, Meganium and 2HKOes Golbat. Outside of Confuse Ray hurting too much, Dodrio should have no trouble defeating these 5.
Will (40-42) : Drill Peck OHKOes Jynx and Exeggutor and 2HKOes Xatu. With a Bitter Berry, if the first Xatu goes for Confuse Ray, you can defeat 4 mons. Even then, 3 kos against Will is great.
Koga (42): OHKOes Ariados and Venomoth with Drill Peck. Avoid Forretress as Drill Peck only 3HKOes and it may explode. Muk is 2HKOed by Drill Peck and so is Crobat. It's not hard to defeat Muk as Dodrio can take a Sludge Bomb but Crobat outspeeds, has healing and Double Team is tricky. Pretty good as Dodrio gets 3 kills.
Bruno (43-44) : OHKOes all fighters with SB Drill Peck, including even Machamp surprisingly. I tried several times and Machamp was OHKOed each time. Even if it wasn't Hitmonchan doesn't go for Mach Punch so Dodrio is theorically able to take a Quick Attack from Hitmontop and a Rock Slide from Machamp. Really strong fight as Dodrio beats 4 mons ans Onix is really easy to ko.
Karen (44) : OHKOes Murkrow, Vileplume and Gengar (after Curse) with SB Drill Peck while Houndoom is 2HKOed. Sadly, Dodrio can't take a Flamethrower after Curse but still beating the best mon, Murkrow and Vileplume is great and Gengar shouldn't be hard to ko. I tried Umbreon but nop, it's 3HKOed by Drill Peck so it's not worth fighting.
Lance (44) : 2HKOes Gyarados with SB Drill Peck. Then, you can 1v1 Charizard, outspeeding and 2HKOing with SB Drill Peck while taking a Flamethrower. The Dragonite are too bulky and Aerodactyl is a Rock-type.
Rival (39) : Earthquake OHKOes Sneasel, Haunter, Kadabra and Magneton. Golbat is 2HKOed by Rollout. Rhydon should easily beat these 5 with only Golbat being a possible issue due to Confuse Ray and Bite.
Will (39) : Psychic from everything 2HKOes and Ice Punch from Jynx OHKOes. Rollout 2HKOes Xatu. Earthquake 2HKOes Slowbro. Rhydon should only beat a mon as Psychic 2HKOes.
Koga (40) : Earthquake OHKOes Ariados, Venomoth and Muk (it outspeeds tho which can be a bit annoying). Forretress is 3HKOed and may do half with Protect. Avoid Crobat as it's hard to hit Rollout through Double Team.Strong showing as Rhydon defeats 4/5 mons.
Bruno (40) : Soft Sand Earthquake OHKOes Hitmontop underground. Afterwards, you can either beat Hitmonlee+Onix or Hitmonchan. Rhydon takes a High Jump Kick from Hitmonlee and an Earthquake from Onix and OHKoes both with Earthquake. Hitmonchan is 2HKOed by Earthquake and nearly 2HKOes with Ice Punch, so Rhydon can't take down Onix afterwards. Alright matchup as Rhydon beats 2/3 mons.
Karen (40) : Rhydon barely takes a Crunch from Houndoom and OHKOes back with Earthquake. It also OHKOes Gengar with Earthquake. It can't do anything else, Umbreon is a roll for the 2HKO with Soft Sand Earthquake but outspeeds, Vileplume OHKOes and it's better to defeat Houndoom than Murkrow.
Lance (40) : Can defeat either Aerodactyl or Charizard, 2HKOing with Rollout but not both as 2 Flamethrower + Hyper Beam kills Rhydon.
Will (39) : Psychic from everything 2HKOes and Ice Punch from Jynx OHKOes. Rollout 2HKOes Xatu. Earthquake 2HKOes Slowbro. Rhydon should only beat a mon as Psychic 2HKOes.
Koga (40) : Earthquake OHKOes Ariados, Venomoth and Muk (it outspeeds tho which can be a bit annoying). Forretress is 3HKOed and may do half with Protect. Avoid Crobat as it's hard to hit Rollout through Double Team.Strong showing as Rhydon defeats 4/5 mons.
Bruno (40) : Soft Sand Earthquake OHKOes Hitmontop underground. Afterwards, you can either beat Hitmonlee+Onix or Hitmonchan. Rhydon takes a High Jump Kick from Hitmonlee and an Earthquake from Onix and OHKoes both with Earthquake. Hitmonchan is 2HKOed by Earthquake and nearly 2HKOes with Ice Punch, so Rhydon can't take down Onix afterwards. Alright matchup as Rhydon beats 2/3 mons.
Karen (40) : Rhydon barely takes a Crunch from Houndoom and OHKOes back with Earthquake. It also OHKOes Gengar with Earthquake. It can't do anything else, Umbreon is a roll for the 2HKO with Soft Sand Earthquake but outspeeds, Vileplume OHKOes and it's better to defeat Houndoom than Murkrow.
Lance (40) : Can defeat either Aerodactyl or Charizard, 2HKOing with Rollout but not both as 2 Flamethrower + Hyper Beam kills Rhydon.
Now, onto the ranks :
Seel
D-tier looks fine for it. First thing I'll say is that it's better to hold evolution until level 37 to get Ice Beam for Clair. Dewgong doesn't OHKO Dragonair with Aurora Beam, meaning its performance against Clair will be hindered a lot by not having Ice Beam. It also matters against Will to OHKO Xatu, to OHKO Karen's Murkrow and against Lance you really want to OHKO the lvl 47 Dragonites.
Otherwise, Seel has terrible availability as it's only available after Pryce. This means you skip experience from Team Rocket HQ and it hurts Seel a lot. Honestly, traning on Route 40 and Route 41 is awful because every trainer uses Water-type and it requires going to the Pokecenter plenty of times, before having Fly. Even after that, Seel is weak before evolving and you really want to do so at level 37 to have Ice Beam for Clair, Will and Lance. Getting Dewgong at the right level is really time-consuming really.
Performance-wise, Seel was rather bad and Dewgong was mostly average. Seel was nothing special really and its only accomplishment was defeating Jasmine's Steelix 1v1. Even then, it requires Rain Dance as otherwise, you can actually lose. Having to backtrack on a mon that is already hard to train is pretty bad. Dewgong was better tho once Seel evolves. Honestly, the Clair battle was amazing as Dewgong has a performance akin to Lapras. It defeats the 3 Dragonair in 3 turns and may defeat Kingdra if things go well. Even if Kingdra isn't taken down, severely weakening it feels great, especially after beatting the 3 Dragonair. The Rival fight was also great and Dewgong may sweep here. Afterwards, Dewgong was mostly average. It should get 2 kills maximum against each E4 member (well 3/4 against Bruno but it's not the most relevant battle). The main disapointment came from the Lance battle. Despite being an Ice-type, Dewgong struggled to defeat more than one Dragonite, which is rather bad considering it has Ice Beam. So yeah, between availability problems, difficulties to grind and average performances outside of Clair and Rival, D-tier looks more adequate for Seel than C-tier.
Lickitung
While this wasn't that bad, I still feel it should be E-tier. Not much to say about this one, it just comes late and doesn't do anything noteworthy. The only good fights were the rival's fight and somewhat Clair but the latter requires luck to defeat the 3 Dragonair. Outside of these fights, Lickitung only gets 1/2 ko per fight, usually against the free mon and doesn't really justify itself. It also needs a few constested TMs like Return and Earthquake. Lickitung isn't that bad but it comes late, underleveled and barely does anything even with a few TMs which means it's more of an E-tier than a D-tier. It doesn't justify its use imo.
Dodrio (traded)
D-tier like the Route 27 one. Dodrio was once again great, it defeats everything but Magnemite/Magneton against Rival both times and can 1v1 Kingdra against Clair. The E4 was even better than the non-traded Dodrio, it still gets 3/4 kos against Will and 3 kos against Koga, 3 kos against Karen and Gyarados+Charizard against Lance. The main difference is that in this case, Bruno is even better as Dodrio can OHKO Machamp, resulting in a sweep outside of Onix (which is easy to defeat anyway) and is a bit better for Karen and Lance. I'd say the trades-Dodrio is a bit better for these matchup and boosted exp but both should be merged in D-tier. I'd recommend trying Dodrio as despite coming late, it's strong for the endgame and was fun to use.
Rhydon (Victory Road)
Honestly, E-tier. Rhydon comes really late and unlike Dodrio it's not that easy to train. I tried facing every trainer on Route 26/27 (bar the unskippable one to get on Victory Road) and got it to level 39 by Silver. It required quite a bit of switch grinding (which is a bit time-consuming) because there are several Water- and Grass-types. Even then, Rhydon was really nothing special, just being good against Koga, Silver and able to 1v1 Karen's Houndoom. It only achieved 1 ko against Will, 2 against Koga, Bruno and Karen and 1 against Lance. Unlike Dodrio, it wasn't easy to train and didn't do nearly as well in battles. Honestly, its only perks were OHKOing Muk and beating Houndoom 1v1 and getting a few kos against free mons. It's not worth spending time to catch and train Rhydon as it doesn't do much in the late-game.
As for in-game trade Rhydon, I still need to test it but it should probably end up in E-tier as well. While it's obtainable earlier, raising a Dratini is an annoying task and unlike Dodrio, it's probably not worth. I don't see much differences with the Victory Road one, Clair battle looks bad outside of taking down the Thunderbolt Dragonair and the only things a higher level may accomplish are like beating Aerodactyl + Zard against Lance and perhaps a better Bruno but I don't see it outspeeding Umbreon against Clair.
Next run is going to be Seadra/Kingdra/in-game trade Rhydon/Ponyta. I mostly want to see the differences between Seadra and Kingdra although they should probably end up in the same tier (D-tier most likely). As for IGT Rhydon and Ponyta, I expect E-tier for both of them.