GSC In-Game Tier List Mark V

Finished the run. Here are the logs :

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.


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.


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.


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.


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.
 
Finished the run. Here are the logs :

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.


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.


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.


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.


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.
I believe the trade Ryhdon may have been tested? Unfortunately as you have said, training a Dratini is a hard task, especially when the earliest you can get it is Goldenrod for 2100 coins in GS. It comes at level 10 and requires so much XP you wouldn't even want to trade it away to be honest. Leaving really Dragon's Den to trade for it which is Post Clair.

Everything else looks good here
 

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I did test Rhydon (both variants) and I would say E-tier for both sounds fair. Trade one requires a Dratini (which more-or-less invalidates the few good things Rhydon has), the latter comes so late that no one would bother using it. And I said "the few good things Rhydon has" because its performance isn't particularly impressive on first place

regarding Girafarig to A, it's a bit hard to justify that placement if we keep Sentret (and *mayyybe* Rattata, though a bit unsure here myself) in B-tier. While Sentret and Rattata's endgames are a bit weaker, their superior availabilities and decent performance until Girafarig appears (and HM utility in case of Furret) means that you can reasonably put at least Sentret and Girafarig into the same tier. I am indifferent in this case, but it's probably better to stay consistent, unless we agree that Girafarig is *much* better than Sentret

anyways, I decided to do a comparison test of Machoke and Machamp to see if they need to be split, mostly because I was undecided when I used both separately a long time ago. I have put all of their logs in one place, since the differences weren't as polar as I expected them to be:

Machamp

Whitney(21): outspeeds and OHKOes Clefairy with Karate Chop. Miltank is 3HKOed. Miltank is faster and 3HKOes with Stomp. Fortunately, it seems to pick Rollout turn one or turn two; should that happen, you win easily, as Rollout deals laughable damage in the first turns

Morty(25): Dig OHKOes Gastly and level 21 Haunter and 2HKOes the rest. All of them are faster and Gastly typically curses you. Luckfest that is not in your favor

Chuck(30): PB Strength 2HKOes Primeape. Machamp 3HKOes, while Machoke 4HKOes Poliwrath with this. Machamp is 3HKOed by Dynamic Punch (2HKO after a Leer), Poliwrath tends to Mind Reader and then use either Hypnosis or Dynamic Punch. Machamp is slightly better due to the higher damage on Poliwrath, but both are at a considerable disadvantage as a whole

Jasmine(31): Black Belt Karate Chop OHKOes Magnemite while outspeeding. Machamp 4HKOes Steelix, while Machoke seems to 5HKO. Iron Tail 2HKOes both, Machamp being a roll for 3HKO. Like Chuck, Machamp is better, but the considerable disadvantage that both have renders this point moot

Pryce(32): Black Belt Karate Chop 2HKOes everything. Machoke is 3HKOed by Piloswine's Blizzard, though Seel and Dewgong weaken you enough to put you in a range for a KO. Machamp can withstand more attacks from them, thus it doesn't feel threatened. In this matchup, Machamp is clearly better due to it reliably beating Piloswine

Silver(35): both outspeed and OHKO Magnemite with Black Belt Karate Chop while also OHKOing Sneasel (though Sneasel is obviously faster). Machamp's Vital Throw 2HKOes Meganium, while Machoke's 3HKOes. Both 2HKO Golbat with Strength, but it's better to avoid it. Haunter dies to Dig, though Haunter tends to click Curse. Machamp is a bit better, cause it can take out four foes without healing, wheres Machoek will likely need to heal to achieve the same

Clair(40): both 2HKO Dragonair with Black Belt Vital Throw, though Machamp also 2HKOes Kingdra. With enough luck, both can KO all Dragonair, though Machamp's superior bulk can make this a bit easier

Silver(41): both OHKO Snease with Karate Chop, Kadabra with Strength, and Haunter with EQ (Machamp can do the last one even with Reflect up, unsure about Machoke, since I never tried it). Machamp outspeeds and OHKOes Magneton with Karate Chop. Machoke is slower and fails to OHKO with that, so it should just OHKO with Vital Throw. Both should avoid Golbat. Machamp 2HKOes Meganium with no Reflect up, though racked up damage can cause Machamp to lose. No significant difference, though Machamp has a higher chance of beating Meganium

Will(42): lol no for both

Koga(42): Machamp's EQ 2HKOes Ariados, Venomoth, and Muk, while Machoke 2HKOes only Muk. In addition, Machamp lives two of Venomoth's Psychic, while Machoke lives only one. While Machamp isn't the best thing to use here, it felt obviously better than Machoke

Bruno(43): Machamp OHKOes Hitmontop with EQ while it's Digging, Hitmonlee with Black Belt Vital Throw, and Hitmonchan and Onix with Cross Chop (Onix can be 2HKOed with Vital Throw if Machamp is healthy enough). Machamp also outspeeds and KOes the opposing Machamp with Cross Chop + EQ, though it can also KO you back with Cross Chop if you aren't healthy enough. Machoke is significantly worse here, being able to OHKO only Onix and Hitmonlee with Cross Chop (and also being unable to OHKO Top and Chan at all), thus reducing its usefulness significantly. Machamp is far superior here

Karen(44): both are slower than Umbreon, but 2HKO with Vital Throw. Switch out against Vileplume. Houndoom is OHKOed by both Vital Throw from both, though you should avoid racking up too much damage from Murkrow. Gengar is 2HKOed by Machoke's EQ, Machamp is OHKOed. Both take out at least three Pokemon, potentially four if you risk it with Murkrow. No significant difference


the conclusion I came to was this: while the earlier performances aren't polar opposites, as the game goes on, the differences become starker and starker. This is especially visible in the endgame, where Machamp straight up kills more things with little effort than Machoke. I think a split (Machamp to B and Machoke to C, I'd say, are appropriate in this case) is the more appropriate course of action, though I won't die if a merge happens

I will most likely test the Odd Egg Pokemon so we have some data on them (stuff like Clefable, Electabuzz, and Raichu will be interesting for sure). Smoochum will be tested to see where Confusion makes a difference. Magby will be tested against Whitney and Morty and afterwards dropped, because my experience tells me that the 0 IVs in everything is unlikely to influence anything's performance too much. Igglybuff won't be tested, because there's no reason to use it over Jigglypuff whatsoever (beyond maybe the boosted friendship lol). I have already tested Hitmonlee in the past, so I won't test it.
 
I did test Rhydon (both variants) and I would say E-tier for both sounds fair. Trade one requires a Dratini (which more-or-less invalidates the few good things Rhydon has), the latter comes so late that no one would bother using it. And I said "the few good things Rhydon has" because its performance isn't particularly impressive on first place

regarding Girafarig to A, it's a bit hard to justify that placement if we keep Sentret (and *mayyybe* Rattata, though a bit unsure here myself) in B-tier. While Sentret and Rattata's endgames are a bit weaker, their superior availabilities and decent performance until Girafarig appears (and HM utility in case of Furret) means that you can reasonably put at least Sentret and Girafarig into the same tier. I am indifferent in this case, but it's probably better to stay consistent, unless we agree that Girafarig is *much* better than Sentret

anyways, I decided to do a comparison test of Machoke and Machamp to see if they need to be split, mostly because I was undecided when I used both separately a long time ago. I have put all of their logs in one place, since the differences weren't as polar as I expected them to be:

Machamp

Whitney(21): outspeeds and OHKOes Clefairy with Karate Chop. Miltank is 3HKOed. Miltank is faster and 3HKOes with Stomp. Fortunately, it seems to pick Rollout turn one or turn two; should that happen, you win easily, as Rollout deals laughable damage in the first turns

Morty(25): Dig OHKOes Gastly and level 21 Haunter and 2HKOes the rest. All of them are faster and Gastly typically curses you. Luckfest that is not in your favor

Chuck(30): PB Strength 2HKOes Primeape. Machamp 3HKOes, while Machoke 4HKOes Poliwrath with this. Machamp is 3HKOed by Dynamic Punch (2HKO after a Leer), Poliwrath tends to Mind Reader and then use either Hypnosis or Dynamic Punch. Machamp is slightly better due to the higher damage on Poliwrath, but both are at a considerable disadvantage as a whole

Jasmine(31): Black Belt Karate Chop OHKOes Magnemite while outspeeding. Machamp 4HKOes Steelix, while Machoke seems to 5HKO. Iron Tail 2HKOes both, Machamp being a roll for 3HKO. Like Chuck, Machamp is better, but the considerable disadvantage that both have renders this point moot

Pryce(32): Black Belt Karate Chop 2HKOes everything. Machoke is 3HKOed by Piloswine's Blizzard, though Seel and Dewgong weaken you enough to put you in a range for a KO. Machamp can withstand more attacks from them, thus it doesn't feel threatened. In this matchup, Machamp is clearly better due to it reliably beating Piloswine

Silver(35): both outspeed and OHKO Magnemite with Black Belt Karate Chop while also OHKOing Sneasel (though Sneasel is obviously faster). Machamp's Vital Throw 2HKOes Meganium, while Machoke's 3HKOes. Both 2HKO Golbat with Strength, but it's better to avoid it. Haunter dies to Dig, though Haunter tends to click Curse. Machamp is a bit better, cause it can take out four foes without healing, wheres Machoek will likely need to heal to achieve the same

Clair(40): both 2HKO Dragonair with Black Belt Vital Throw, though Machamp also 2HKOes Kingdra. With enough luck, both can KO all Dragonair, though Machamp's superior bulk can make this a bit easier

Silver(41): both OHKO Snease with Karate Chop, Kadabra with Strength, and Haunter with EQ (Machamp can do the last one even with Reflect up, unsure about Machoke, since I never tried it). Machamp outspeeds and OHKOes Magneton with Karate Chop. Machoke is slower and fails to OHKO with that, so it should just OHKO with Vital Throw. Both should avoid Golbat. Machamp 2HKOes Meganium with no Reflect up, though racked up damage can cause Machamp to lose. No significant difference, though Machamp has a higher chance of beating Meganium

Will(42): lol no for both

Koga(42): Machamp's EQ 2HKOes Ariados, Venomoth, and Muk, while Machoke 2HKOes only Muk. In addition, Machamp lives two of Venomoth's Psychic, while Machoke lives only one. While Machamp isn't the best thing to use here, it felt obviously better than Machoke

Bruno(43): Machamp OHKOes Hitmontop with EQ while it's Digging, Hitmonlee with Black Belt Vital Throw, and Hitmonchan and Onix with Cross Chop (Onix can be 2HKOed with Vital Throw if Machamp is healthy enough). Machamp also outspeeds and KOes the opposing Machamp with Cross Chop + EQ, though it can also KO you back with Cross Chop if you aren't healthy enough. Machoke is significantly worse here, being able to OHKO only Onix and Hitmonlee with Cross Chop (and also being unable to OHKO Top and Chan at all), thus reducing its usefulness significantly. Machamp is far superior here

Karen(44): both are slower than Umbreon, but 2HKO with Vital Throw. Switch out against Vileplume. Houndoom is OHKOed by both Vital Throw from both, though you should avoid racking up too much damage from Murkrow. Gengar is 2HKOed by Machoke's EQ, Machamp is OHKOed. Both take out at least three Pokemon, potentially four if you risk it with Murkrow. No significant difference


the conclusion I came to was this: while the earlier performances aren't polar opposites, as the game goes on, the differences become starker and starker. This is especially visible in the endgame, where Machamp straight up kills more things with little effort than Machoke. I think a split (Machamp to B and Machoke to C, I'd say, are appropriate in this case) is the more appropriate course of action, though I won't die if a merge happens

I will most likely test the Odd Egg Pokemon so we have some data on them (stuff like Clefable, Electabuzz, and Raichu will be interesting for sure). Smoochum will be tested to see where Confusion makes a difference. Magby will be tested against Whitney and Morty and afterwards dropped, because my experience tells me that the 0 IVs in everything is unlikely to influence anything's performance too much. Igglybuff won't be tested, because there's no reason to use it over Jigglypuff whatsoever (beyond maybe the boosted friendship lol). I have already tested Hitmonlee in the past, so I won't test it.
Good points, mostly, but Sentret actually had a relatively solid endgame IMO (at least with Curlout for Lance and Surf for Onix), on top of appearing quite a bit earlier than Girafarig and helping trample multiple scary bosses like Whitney (Curlout helps again), Bugsy, and Azalea Rival.

I might even say Curlout Sentret could be better than Girafarig in endgame quality, on top of having a frankly superior earlygame by any standard. Not sure if Girafarig belongs in A - their frailty and even lack of power can be a little inconvenient at times - but Furret IMO has a real case for A. To me, the only question is if you count Curlout heavily against Sentret. I did for my tests, but now I feel it was unnecessary as relatively few Pokemon really like or benefit from Rollout in the first place (even Rock-types like Geodude are actually better without) and many cannot even learn it at all.

Incidentally, Furret also killed 4/6ths of Lance's team in at least two runs for me now (the ingame tiering test and a recent Nuzlocke I completed successfully yesterday), as well as crushed Whitney with laughable ease. I could have even seen a case for S if Furret had a more competent Attack...
 
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Totally agree with both Rhydon in E-tier as well as split ranking for Machamp and Machoke.

As for Girafarig, Sentret (and Rattata), I guess it would make sense to have them in the same tier. I personally found Girafarig a bit better because while it comes later, it's more consistent for Morty, Pryce (as Piloswine is a roll on both but Girafarig has a higher attack stat), somewhat Clair (thanks to its bulk, it's easier to take down the 3 Dragonair) and it has a better E4. The Psychic-type is really helpful for resisting Will as well as aving super-effective moves against Koga and Bruno while not being weak to the latter typing. Furret comes earlier tho and fares well against the 3 first gyms and Curlout is great for Lance. It's really consistent throughout the game and is one of the earliest mon available so it should be good enough for A-tier. Rattata has almost the same performance as Furret (just it can't be used an HM Slave and doesn't have Curlout for Lance) so it would make sense to have it and Furret in the same tier as well.

Now, onto the run :

Chuck (30) : Seadra outspeeds both Primeape and Poliwrath. Use Rain Dance on Primeape, OHKO it with Surf and 3HKO Poliwrath. Seadra easily takes a Dynamic Punch, even after a Leer or a Karate Chop. Poliwrath never uses Surf due to bad AI so Seadra has really good odds to defeat it with a BitterBerry. Pretty good as Seadra easily defeats Primeape and has great odds to defeat Poliwrath (like more than 75%) and even in the worst case will do 2/3 to it.

Jasmine (30) : Outspeed and OHKO everything with Surf.

Rival (33) : Equip Bitter Berry for Confuse Ray. Surf 2HKOes Golbat and Sneasel while Magnemite and Haunter are OHKOed and only Sneasel outspeeds. Blizzard+Surf 2HKOes Meganium. Seadra can take Wing Attack + Razor Leaf but can't take Razor Leaf + 2 Feint Attack. Assuming Blizzard hits, it can take down the whole team outside of Sneasel even if Meganium uses Razor Leaf or everything but Meganium if you don't have Blizzard. Strong showing.

Clair (38) : Blizzard OHKOes the Dragonair. Euip PRZCureBerry in case Blizzard misses. Dragon Breath from Dragonair 3HKOes. Seadra has really great chance to beat the 3 Dragonair. Kingdra takes nothing from Twister and 2HKOes with Dragon Breath.

Rival (40) : Use Rain Dance on Sneasel, then OHKO it and Magneton with Surf. 2HKO Meganium with Blizzard + Surf. Then, set up Rain Dance on Golbat and OHKO the rest of the team with Surf. Sneasel is a speed tie. Sadly, Seadra can't take Razor Leaf + Wing Attack + prior damages from Sneasel (Feint Attack, Screech+Fury Cutter or 2 Fury Cutter) or Screech. Still, Meganium isn't guaranteed to use Razor Leaf (it uses it a 1/3 of the time) and thus Seadra has better odds to achieve a sweep. Surf OHKOes Kadabra and Haunter even without Rain. Seadra should have no trouble beating the whole team outside of Meganium or Golbat and can beat these 2 if you don't get too unlucky.

Will (40) : Surf 2HKOes Xatus and Jynx while Exeggutor is OHKOed by Blizzard. Xatus are also 2HKOed by Psychic. Xatu #2 is the only mon that outspeeds you. Psychic from everything 2HKOes. Seadra can try to use Blizzard on Xatu #1 and Exeggutor and then defeat one of Jynx and Xatu #2. Alrigh matchup as Seadra can defeat 3 mons but Blizzard missing is annoying.

Koga (40) : Set up Rain Dance on Ariados. MW Surf will then OHKO Ariados, OHKO Venomoth on rolls and will OHKO Forretress. Muk is 3HKOed by Surf but it may hax. It's still feasible to defeat it as Sludge Bomb only 3HKOes. Crobat is 3HKOed but it's better to avoid it due to the hax involved and even NVI Blizzard doesn't OHKO it.

Bruno (40) : Use Surf and then Rain Dance on the Dig turn against Hitmontop. Ko Hitmontop with the second Surf. Then, 2HKO Hitmonchan with Rain boosted Surf. Sadly, Seadra can't take Thunder Punch from Hitmonchan + High Jump Kick from Hitmonlee. As such, it will only be able to beat Hitmontop+Hitmonchan+Onix.

Karen (41) : You can OHKO Gengar after Curse with Surf. Then, if not Cursed at the time, you can take 2 Feint Attack and 2HKO Murkrow with Surf. Seadra can't do much else. Surf is only a roll for the 3HKO with Mystic Water on Umbreon so don't bother fighting it. Blizzard doesn't OHKO Vileplume and it OHKOes with Petal Dance so it's better to avoid it. Houndoom outspeeds, nearly OHKOes with Crunch while Surf only 2HKOes it.

Lance (42) : Outspeed and OHKO the Dragonite with Blizzard. It can then 1v1 Aerodactyl, taking Ancient Power/Rock Slide + Hyper Beam or Charizard, taking Flamethrower + Flamethrower/Hyper Beam while Surf 2HKOes. Charizard outspeeds so it can't take down both. Alternatively, it's possible to use Rain Dance + Agility and try to take down both Aerodactyl and Charizard, OHKOing with rain-boosted Surf. Amazing matchup as Seadra can beat 5 mons.


Chuck (30) : Kingdra outspeeds both Primeape and Poliwrath. Use Rain Dance on Primeape, OHKO it with Surf and 3HKO Poliwrath. Kingdra can take 2 Dynamic Punch, even after a Karate Chop/Rage/Fury Swipes and only Leer+Dynamic Punch will 2HKO. Great matchup seeing that Kingdra easily defeats Primeape and has excellent odds to defeat Poliwrath (like more than 75%), fearing mostly the unacurate Hypnosis and even in the worst case Poliwrath should take 2/3.

Jasmine (31) : Outspeed and OHKO everything with Surf.

Rival (33) : Equip Bitter Berry. Surf 2HKOes Golbat and Sneasel and OHKOes Magnemite and Haunter. Meganium is 2HKOed by Blizzard + Surf. Kingdra takes nothing from Razor Leaf (it does a bit less than 20%) and Feint Attack. It shouldn't have troubles sweeping here even in case of a Blizzard miss or a Razor Leaf crit.

Clair (38) : Blizzard OHKOes the Dragonair. It's possible to use PRZCureBerry and Twister the Dragonair for the 2HKO. This way, 2 Blizzard will need to be hit instead of 3. Dragon Breath from Dragonair only 3HKOes so you can afford a miss. PRZCureBerry is always good anyway in case Blizzard misses. Opposite Kingdra is outsped but only 3HKOed by Twister and Dragon Breath 2HKOes. It requires 2 flinch to defeat it as it has an Hyper Potion. Still, pretty good showing as Kingdra is really favoured to beat the 3 Dragonair and can try to weaken opposite Kingdra.

Rival (40) : Set up Rain Dance on Sneasel, OHKO it with Surf. OHKO Magneton, Golbat, Haunter with Rain Dance Surf. Then, Kadabra is OHKOed by MW Surf. Lastly, Meganium is 2HKOed by Surf + Blizzard. Kindra has no troubles winning here, only Meganium is 2HKOed and it barely does damages with Razor Leaf.

Will (40) : Psychic only 3HKOes Kingdra. Surf 2HKOes Xatus and Jynx. Blizzard OHKOes Exeggutor and Xatus. My Kingdra unlike Seadra actually outsped Xatu #2. Kingdra is able to 2HKO Xatu #1, then Jynx, OHKO Exeggutor with Blizzard. If both Xatu and Jynx didn't use Psychic, you can 2HKO Xatu #2 with Surf. If you took 2 Psychic, then you'll have to resort on Blizzard. Pretty good as Kingdra is truely able to beat the whole team outside of Slowbro with a Bitter Berry and only need to land Blizzard once (sometimes twice but Xatu #1 rarely uses Psychic and Jynx doesn't always use it). Even if Blizzard misses on Exeggutor, Kingdra is able to take Psychic from Jynx + Psychic from Exeggutor + Quick Attack from Xatu #2.

Koga (40) : Set up Rain Dance on Ariados. MW Surf will then OHKO Ariados, is a range on Venomoth and will OHKO Forretress. Muk is 3HKOed by Surf but it may hax. It's still feasible to defeat it as Sludge Bomb only 3HKOes. Crobat is 3HKOed but it's better to avoid it due to the hax involved and even NVI Blizzard doesn't OHKO it.

Buno (40) : Use Surf and then Rain Dance on Dig turn. Surf will then ko Hitmontop. Lee is 2HKOed and doesn't do too much with High Jump Kick. Chan is 2HKOed, Mach Punch doesn't threaten and Rain will fade on the second turn. Avoid Machamp as Surf only 3HKOes and it 2HKOes with Cross Chop. You can then OHKO Onix with Surf. It's really hard to set up Rain so that Machamp is 2HKOed by Surf but Kingdra beats the rest of the team.

Karen (41) : Kingdra can 1v1 Houndoom, barely living 2 Crunch while 2HKOing with Surf. It's also possible to OHKO Gengar after Curse. You can also try to OHKO Murkrow with Blizzard. it's also possible to try to defeat Vileplume as it's 2HKOed by Blizzard + Surf but it's wa better to 1v1 Houndoom. Alright showing as Kingdra can beat 2/3 mons including the most threatening one.

Lance (41) : Outspeed and OHKO Dragonite with Blizzard. Then, Kingdra can use Rain Dance on Aerodactyl and OHKO it and Charizard with Surf. Aerodactyl doesn't 2HKO with Ancient Power/Rock Slide + Hyper Beam and Charizard is outsped. Strong showing as Kingdra beats 5 mons if it hits.


Rival (33) : Strength 2HKOes Golbat. Flee Meganium. Once Meganium is koed, it can try to use Rollout. Rollout 3HKOes Magnemite, 2HKOes Sneasel and OHKOes Haunter after Curse. Strength likewise 3HKOes Magnemite and 2HKOes Sneasel. Rhydon should be able to defeat the whole team outside of Meganium, even though Golbat can get annoying due to Confuse Ray/Bite.

Clair (38) : Just beats the Thunderbolt-Dragonair, 2HKOing with Strength while Dragon Breath 3/4HKOes. Ice Beam 2HKOes, Surf OHKOes and Dragonair outspeeds.

Rival (40) : Earthquake OHKOes Sneasel, Haunter, Kadabra and Magneton. Rollout 2HKOes Golbat. Rhydon should easily beat these 5 barring major hax from Golbat.

Will (41) : Psychic from everything 2HKOes and Ice Punch from Jynx OHKOes. Can 2HKO Xatu with Rollout if it goes for Confuse Ray. Outspeed and 2HKO Slowbro with Earthquake.

Koga (42) : Soft Sand Earthquake is a roll on Ariados while Venomoth and Muk are OHKOed. Forretress is 3HKOed but doesn't threaten too much outside of Explosion which does a bit less than half. Avoid Crobat due to the hax involved. Rhydon should beat the bugs as well as Muk as it can easily take Psychic from Venomoth in addition to Explosion from Forretress.

Bruno (43) : Soft Sand Earthquake OHKOes the Hitmon (Top while underground). Rhydon can take High Jump Kick + Ice Punch and should beat the 3 Hitmon. Onix will then OHKO with Earthquake. Machamp outspeeds and 2HKOes with Cross Chop even though Earthuake 2HKOes it.

Karen (44) : OHKO Houndoom and Gengar with Earthquake. You can 2HKO Murkrow with Rollout while taking 2 Feint Attack but Rhydon can't take Feint Attack +Crunch. It's way better to 1v1 Houndoom than Murkrow.

Lance (44) : Can 2HKO both Charizard and Aerodactyl, 2HKOing each with Rollout. Rhydon can take 2 Ancient Power and 2 Flamethrower so it should defeat both.


Rival (40) : Set up Sunny Day on Sneasel. Fire Blast will then OHKO Sneasel, Golbat and Haunter. Use Stomp to OHKO Kadabra. Sun fades but Rapidash still OHKOes Magneton and Meganium with Charcoal Fire Blast. Clean sweep but Rapidash can't afford a miss.

Will (40) : Use Fire Blast + Stomp to 2HKO Xatu #1. Flee Slowbro. OHKO Exeggutor and Jynx with Fire Blast. You can't set up Sunny on Xatu #1 as Slowbro comes next and sun will fade as it gets ko'ed. Psychic from Xatus nearly 2HKOes Rapidash (and they will finish with Quick Attack) so Rapidash won't be able to defeat both Xatus. Still pretty good as Rapidash can get 3 kills if it hits.

Koga (40) : Fire Blast OHKOes the bugs. It's possible to use Sunny Day Fire Blast followed by Stomp to 2HKO Muk. It's risky tho as both moves are prone to miss due to unaccuracy and Minimize respectively and Muk 2HKOes with Sludge Bomb. Charcoal Fire Blast 2HKOes Crobat but it outspeeds and it's impossible to hit Fire Blast through Double Team, not to mention Crobat will most likely heal.

Bruno (41) : You can use Fire Blast on Hitmontop and then Sunny Day on the dig turn to 2HKO it. Charcoal Fire Blast 2HKOes Lee and Top and you can take 2 Mach Punch/1 High Jump Kick from Hitmonlee. You can even afford a miss on Hitmonchan as you can take 3 Mach Punch. Rapidash can also 1v1 Onix, 2HKOing with Fire Blast while taking an Earthquake. Machamp is only 3HKOed by Fire Blast, can heal and nearly OHKOes with Cross Chop. Still, mostly bad as Rapidash can only claim a ko and will need to hit Fire Blast twice.

Karen (42) : Charcoal Fire Blast OHKOes Vileplume, Gengar after Curse and 2HKOes Murkrow. Rapidash can beat these 3 as it takes Feint Attack + Curse and outspeed Murkrow so it's not hard to 2HKO it with Fire Blast + Stomp.

Lance (42) : Nop.


Horsea

While both versions are good, I still feel they should be D-tier (with a small possibility of C-tier). First off, I'll say that it's better to catch directly a Seadra in Whirl Island. By going to the North-East entrance, you can actually get to the Lugia room (will leave a picture on how to do so). There, you can directly encounter a Seadra at level 20-24. It's way better to get Seadra as it's way easier to train and way better for Chuck and Jasmine. Training Horsea to level 32 for these fights feel difficult.

image.png


As for differences between Seadra and Kingdra, it's not really noticable before Clair. Chuck is slightly better for Kingdra (like 5% better odd at defeating Poliwrath), Jasmine is the same, Rival is a bit better for Kingdra and Clair is mostly the same (unless you want to try flinching opposite Kingdra). That's why it's more adequate to get Dragon Scale in Mt. Mortar after defeating Clair than finding a 2% held item on Horsea/Seadra.
Afterwards, Kingdra becomes a bit superior. Againt Rival, Kingdra can get one more ko usually and has no troubles winning even if Blizzard misses a few times. Will is more consistent with Kingdra, it relies less on Blizzard and was able to achieve 1/2 more kos. Koga was exactly the same fight. Against Bruno, Kingdra can claim one more kill against an Hitmon as it's not weak to ThunderPunch. Karen is way better for Kingdra, it can OHKO Gengar after Curse, 1v1 Houndoom, barely taking 2 Crunch, and then try to OHKO Murkrow with Blizzard. Seadra can just defeat Gengar and 1v1 Murkrow. Lance is the same fight really, where Blizzard OHKOes the Dragonite and Seadra/Kingdra can then beat Charizard + Aerodactyl. Do note that my Seadra was somehow way slower, like 10 points slower. But even then, not relying on Blizzard and being able to take one more Psychic makes the Will fight way better. Lance on the other hand is the same fight, you just don't need to set up Agility if you outspeed Charizard. I don't think these differences warrant a tier difference (unlike Machamp/Machoke for example). While getting a few more kos is always good, the only fight where it's truely relevant is Karen (and maybe Will). You also have to keep in mind that getting a Dragon Scale takes lots of time and it's a major flaw Kingdra has compared to Seadra.

Performance-wise, Seadra and Kingdra are honestly good and I don't recall a single bad matchup (maybe Koga). Chuck is great for a Water-type and may get defeated, Jasmine is an easy win while Rival and Clair are pretty good as well. The E4 is great as well, both mon can achieve at least 2 kos in each fight. Lance in particular feels great, assuming Blizzard hits 3 times, it's possible to defeat the whole team outside of Gyarados. Few mons outside of Starmie and Kadabra/Alakazam can claim that.

The main reason I want to say D-tier on both is that investment they represent. Kingdra is particularly impressive in that regard as it needs : 1) getting caught in a remote area 2) Rain Dance before getting Fly to improve the Chuck fight 3) the expensive Blizzard TM 4) Dragon Scale located in a remote area. Training Seadra is also annoying because just like Seel, you have to grind on Route 40 and 41, which are full of Water-types. It will require many trips to the pokecenter and it's before getting Fly. Both mons also rely a ton on Blizzard, which is really prone to miss. They need to hit it 3 times against Clair and Lance and a few times in other fights. So, yeah between bad availability (after Pryce), reliance on Blizzard in the 2 most important fights and difficulties to grind, D-tier feels more adequate. This may need more testing as both mons were actually good and I wouldn't mind C-tier. I could be harsh with D-tier but while they perform well, they have many flaws.


Rhydon

This on the other hand is an easy E-tier. As Turdterra said, training Dratini to level 30 isn't an easy task. Even then, Rhydon was nothing special at all, even compared with the Victory Road version. The only differences I noticed were defeating the 3 Hitmon as opposed to 2 against Bruno and beating Charizard+Aerodactyl (unlike the VR which can only claim 1 ko on either of them). While it comes earlier, Rhydon just gets a ko against Clair. Underground Rival fight is also pretty good but Golbat may hax. So, yeah E-tier, raising a Dratini to level 30 is too much investment for a mon that barely does anything relevant.

Ponyta

This is another easy E-tier. Ponyta really comes too late to justify it. I managed to get it to level 38, defeating every trainer on Route 26/27, sometimes with switch grinding as Ponyta can't defeat the Water-type. Then, I got it to level 40 thanks to skipped trainers in Johto. Performance-wise, Rapidash was somewhat good, it sweeps the Rival and gets 3 kos against Will/Koga/Karen. However, you really want the Fire Blast TM, which is expensive and often misses. In the rival fight, a single miss from Fire Blast prevents a possible sweep. Bruno and Lance fights were also really bad. Anyway, this shouldn't get constested, it's a mon that comes very late and needs Fire Blast to succeed against Rival/Will/Koga/Karen. The main reason I feel Dodrio is an exception for a late mon is that it's easier to train (defeating with ease every trainer available), self-sufficient as it doesn't require a TM, uses accurate moves and has a great performance in each fight (outside of Lance).


Next team is going to be : Wobbuffet/Exeggcute/Shellder/Sneasel. I honestly expect E-tier for all of them but still want to provide datas.
 
Last edited:

Ryota Mitarai

Shrektimus Prime
is a Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Smogon Media Contributor
so I managed to do a run with the Odd Egg Pokemon (I did that days ago, but forgot / was too lazy to do it)

Obviously, none of them should be higher than E-tier, but I will provide some summaries anyways. My only suggestion is perhaps remove Smoochum from the list and give it a quick mention in Jynx's write-up; there isn't anything of interest in its performance before Clair and Confusion doesn't really give it any notable improvements. This would also reduce the amount of write-ups we will have to do later on.

Missing matchup = bad / didn't try

Elekid
Electabuzz

Morty(25): outspeeds everything but Gengar. Magnet Thunder Punch OHKOes Gastly and 2HKOes Haunter. Reasonably good matchup

Chuck(31): Magnet Thunder Punch 2HKOes both

Jasmine(31): Charcoal Fire Punch 2HKOes Steelix and OHKOes Magnemite. Easy sweep

Pryce(31/32): Charcoal Fire Punch 2HKOes Piloswine, Thunder Punch takes care of the rest, easy sweep

Silver(35): OHKOes or 2HKOes everything with appropriate punch move. Barring extremely bad luck, you win this easily

Silver(40): Fire Punch 2HKOes Sneasel and Magneton. Ice Punch 2HKOes Meganium. Magnet Thunder Punch OHKOes the rest. Pretty good

Will(42): outspeeds and OHKOes Xatu #1 with Magnet Thunder Punch. Ice Punch 2HKOes Exeggutor, while Fire Punch 2HKOes Jynx on rolls. Xatu #2 seems to be an OHKO on roll (I almost OHKOed it once) and Slowbro is 2HKOed. Psychic tends to 2HKO you

Koga(42): Fire Punch OHKOes Forry and 2HKOes the other bugs. Thunder Punch 2HKOes Crobat, which doesn't threaten you much. Great matchup

Karen(43): beats Murkrow, Vileplume, and Gengar

Lance(43): beats Gyarados and Charizard. Aero typically 1v1s it with Ancient Power + Hyper Beam. Dragonite all live an Ice Punch (even with NMI) and KO with Hyper Beam


Elekid, performance-wise, was a fairly decent Pokemon as a whole. It gets nice coverage in the form of elemental punches and is fairly fast. Its E4 performance wasn't that bad either, being able to achieve a few KOs. If it wasn't for its garbage availability, I'd probably place Elekid in C or B, it's basically a better Drowzee / Nidoking / Nidoqueen

Magby
Won't provide logs since I only used it up to Morty (to see how it performs up until it evolves). This is the Morty log:

Morty(25): outspeeds everything but Gengar. Charcoal Fire Punch OHKOes Gastly and 2HKOes Haunter. Reasonably good matchup

Once you get past the Magby stage, Magmar should perform similarly to its GS counterpart, at best maybe being slightly less bulky due to its 0 IVs across the board.

Smoochum
Jynx

Morty(25): outspeeds only Gastly. Confusion OHKOes Gastly and 2HKOes level 23 Haunter. Level 21 Haunter seems to just Curse you. Night Shade is a 3HKO. Avoid Gengar

Chuck(30): Confusion 2HKOes both, though Wrath looks like it may be a roll. Its Dynamic Punch is an OHKO, though, so you may need Sing.

Pryce(32): Confusion 3HKOes Seel and 4HKOes Dewgong, skip the latter. Piloswine seems to be a 2-3HKO with Ice Punch. Not particularly impressive

Silver(35): outspeeds and OHKOes Haunter, Golbat, and Meganium with NMI Ice Punch

Clair(39): outspeeds and OHKOes Dragonair. Kingdra is outsped and 3HKOed, though it OHKOes on rolls with Hyper Beam. You can win if you live a Hyper Beam or you get very lucky with Sing. Great matchup

Silver(40): same as last time, but add in Kadabra too

Will(42): outspeeds and OHKOes Xatu and Exeggutor. The opposing Jynx is 3HKOed by Dizzy Punch, though Shadow Ball can be used for a 2HKO instead, if you are desperate enough.

Koga(42): using NMI Ice Punch is the same as using Confusion for all intents and purposes. Ice Punch OHKOes Crobat and 2HKOes Venomoth and Ariados. Crobat 2HKOes with Wing Attack. Muk is 3HKOed and generally kills you. Decent

Bruno(43): Confusion is a 2HKO on every Fighting type. You need to heal to beat Hitmonchan and Sing to beat Machamp and Hitmonlee.

Karen(43): beats Murkrow, Vileplume, and Gengar

Lance(43): outspeeds and OHKOes Dragonite. The rest either outspeed and murder it on the spot or live one hit and murder it on the spot

As I said in the beginning, Smoochum doesn't really provide anything interesting over the late Jynx, which doesn't suffer from investment issues. It's still bonkers for the endgame, though the 0 IVs meant that Jynx had a harder time surviving some physical attacks. As suggested earlier, it's probably for the best to merge it with Jynx, since there isn't much to say that is different from Ice Path Jynx

Pichu
Raichu

Morty(26): Outspeeds everything. Magnet Thunderbolt 2HKOes Gengar and OHKOes the rest. Easy sweep

Chuck(30): Magnet Thunderbolt 2HKOes both. You can set up Rain Dance and OHKO both with Thunder if you fancy that. Note: Poliwrath OHKOes with Dynamic Punch if you suffer enough chip damage or you get Leered

Pryce(32): beats Seel and Dewgong

Silver(35): beats Sneasel, Haunter, and Golbat

Silver(40): beats Sneasel, Haunter, Golbat, and Kadabra

Will(42): outspeeds and OHKOes Xatu and OHKOes Slowbro on rolls with Magnet Thunderbolt. Jynx is 2HKOed on rolls. Pretty decent

Koga(42): Magnet Thunderbolt 2HKOes the bugs and takes care of Crobat. Great matchup

Karen(43): beats Murkrow and Gengar

Lance(43): beats Charizard and Gyarados with Thunderbolt. Alternatively, you set up a Rollout on Gyarados; #3 KOes Gyarados, #4 and #5 kill both level 47 Dragonite

so if you manage to evolve Pichu before level 26, you can get a Thunderbolt Pikachu and then evolve it into a Raichu. Of course, getting a Pichu to evolve into Pikachu before that is a big stretch, but so is the idea of using Pichu (or any Odd Egg Pokemon) on first place. STAB Thunderbolt is pretty fun as a whole, but Raichu is very frail and its lack of coverage (beyond Return) means that you get stonewalled by Electric resists quite easily. Would probably place it in D-tier if it wasn't for the availability (after all, you have to evolve this before level 26. Even with the boosted friendship, that's still quite the investment).

Cleffa
Clefable

Whitney(21): full power PB Return 2HKOes Clefairy and 3HKOes Miltank. If you are still a Clefairy, lol

Morty(25): Ice Punch 2HKOes Gastly and Haunter #1 and fails to 2HKO the rest. Meh matchup

Chuck(30): beats Primeape

Jasmine(30): Charcoal Fire Punch fails to OHKO Magnemite, which proceeds to paralyze you.

Pryce(32): Pink Bow Return OHKOes Seel on rolls, 2HKOes Dewgong, and 2HKOes Piloswine on rolls. You are likely taking out Seel and Dewgong

Silver(35): OHKOes Magnemite with Fire Punch and 2HKOes Meganium and Golbat with Ice Punch, though the former looks to be a roll. Sneasel is 2HKOed by PB Return

Clair(39): NMI Ice Punch is a 2HKO on Dragonair. With some luck, you can KO all three of them

Silver(40): beats Sneasel and Kadabra easily, 3HKOes Meganium with Ice Punch and 2HKOes Golbat and Magneton with super effective punches. You are taking out 3-4 foes at best without some luck or healing

Will(42): gets 3HKOed by Psychic and is outsped by Xatu. Can 2HKO a few things with Return, though

Koga(43): Fire Punch OHKOes Forry and 2HKOes the other bugs.

Much like Pichu, I used Cleffa in a way that would be considered quite the stretch. In this case, I got it full friendship before Whitney and gave it Return. Initially, that sounds powerful with STAB Return, elemental punches, and a Fast growth rate, but as the game goes on, Clefable will easily get KOed because of its poor bulk (caused by the 0 IV spread). Would probably place it in D-tier if it wasn't for availability

Hitmonchan
Hitmonchan

Whitney(21): 2HKOes Clefairy with Headbutt. Miltank is faster and KOes you with four Rollouts and Headbutt deals laughable damage

Morty: lol

Chuck(30): PB Strength 2HKOes Primeape and 4HKOes Poliwrath

Jasmine(30/31): Black Belt Dynamic Punch barely 2HKOes Steelix and OHKOes the rest.

Pryce(32): Black Belt Mach Punch 2HKOes everything. Nothing threatens you here. Easy sweep

Silver(35): OHKOes Magnemite and Sneasel with BB Mach Punch. Dynamic Punch nets you a win against Meganium if it lands a hit before Reflect

Clair(39): Black Belt Dynamic Punch is an OHKO on Dragonair and a 2HKO on Kingdra. Return is a 2HKO on Dragonair

Silver(40): beats Sneasel and Kadabra. Magneton needs Dynamic Punch to be OHKOed without getting paralyzed

Bruno(42): beats Hitmontop and, with Return + Black Belt Mach Punch, Hitmonlee

Karen(42): 3HKOes Umbreon with Mach Punch (2HKO with Dynamic Punch) and 2HKOes Houndoom with Mach Punch. You need to be in green to live a Flamethrower

So Hitmonchan has, like, two STAB moves only. One is Mach Punch (which comes at level 32) and the other is Dynamic Punch through TMs. Obviously, you cannot use the elemental punches because lol they are all special. Hitmonchan was useful at times, but acting as a STABless Normal-type for most of the game should speak of how unimpressive it is as a whole. D-tier without availability

Hitmontop
Hitmontop

Whitney(21): 2HKOes Clefairy with Headbutt. Miltank is faster and KOes you with five Rollouts and Headbutt deals laughable damage

Morty(25): outspeeds only Gastly. Dig 2HKOes Gengar and OHKOes the rest. Fiarly good if you don't get haxxed too much

Chuck(30): PB Strength 2HKOes Primeape and 4HKOes Poliwrath

Jasmine(30): outspeeds and OHKOes Magnemite with Dig. Steelix 2HKOes with Iron Tail. Counter at level 31 might help here, but I never tried

Pryce(32): PB Strength 2HKOes Seel and 3HKOes Dewgong. Piloswine finishes you off

Silver(35): beats Sneasel, Haunter, and Magnemite.

Clair(39): Return 2HKOes Dragonair, which 5HKO with special moves. You take out two at best

Silver(40): beats Sneasel, Magneton, Haunter, and Kadabra

While we can mock Hitmonchan for its poor STAB learnset, Hitmontop gets a special mention here, because it literally doesn't get good STAB moves at all (unless you consider Rock Smash to be "good", but Strength literally outdamages it lol). The only niche Hitmontop has, compared to its brothers, is that it can be useful against Morty with Dig (assuming you don't get haxed to death). Counter was more-or-less useless, given Hitmontop's poor HP (meaning you won't be OHKOing often even if you get put in red). This thing is borderline E-tier just on performance alone
 
While we can mock Hitmonchan for its poor STAB learnset, Hitmontop gets a special mention here, because it literally doesn't get good STAB moves at all (unless you consider Rock Smash to be "good", but Strength literally outdamages it lol). The only niche Hitmontop has, compared to its brothers, is that it can be useful against Morty with Dig (assuming you don't get haxed to death). Counter was more-or-less useless, given Hitmontop's poor HP (meaning you won't be OHKOing often even if you get put in red). This thing is borderline E-tier just on performance alone
that bad huh???? doesn't it get like...triple kick?


lemme check the movepool and-

Screen Shot 2023-01-29 at 8.02.11 AM.png


yup that's a gen 2 movepool alriight
 
I finished my run as well and I've used everything I wanted in GSC.
I actually did 3 runs with : Wobbuffet/Exeggcute/Shellder/Sneasel, Remoraid/Gligar/Swinub and Delibird/Skarmory/Phanpy (S).

Here are the logs :

Whitney (19) : Don't bother fighting Clefairy as Counter/Mirror Coat don't work on Metronome and Counter only 5HKOes Clefairy. Miltank almost always goes for Rollout, which Wobbuffet easily takes and will then kill with 3 Counter.

Rival (23) : Avoid Haunter. Use Safeguard on Magnemite (to prevent being confused) and then Counter on SonicBoom, which will ko in two hits. Mirror Coat twice against Croconaw and Zubat. It's possible to beat these 3 according to how things go. If Magnemite used 3 Sonic Boom, you'll at most beat it as well as Croconaw assuming Bite doesn't flinch. If Magnemite only used 2 Sonic Boom, you can beat it as well as Croconaw and Zubat. Even if Croconaw flinches just once Wobbuffet can defeat it.

Morty (25) : Nop, can't hit anything.

Chuck (30) : Use Counter a few times on Primeape to kill it. Then, try to use Safeguard and later on Mirror Coat Poliwrath, which will 2HKO. It's also possible to use Destiny Bond the turn before Surf will ko. It's heavily AI reliant but it's possible to achieve a win, especially considering Destiny Bond helps a lot. Hypnosis from Poliwrath means it's surely a loss. Should have tried at a lower level but Wobbuffet is able to win here.

Jasmine (30) : Use Safeguard on Magnemite as it often uses Thunder Wave. Then, you can OHKO it with Mirror Coat as it uses Thunderbolt. Sadly, Wobbuffet can't take 2 Thunderbolt + Iron Tail nor 3 Thunderbolt. If first Magnemite didn't use Thunderbolt, then you can OHKO both and use Destiny Bond on Iron Tail. It's also possible to defeat Steelix 1v1 but Screech can make things way harder.

Pryce (30) : Don't bother fighting Seel as it won't take a lot from Mirror Coat and it will spam Rest. 2HKO Dewgong with Mirror Coat. Problem is it will often use Rest and it may outstall. Mirror Coat into Blizzard 2HKOes Piloswine. The thing is it often uses Fury Attacks and COunter into FUry Attack does nothing to Piloswine. Thus, it's better to try to Destiny Bond on it.

Rival (31) : Avoid Golbat due to Confuse Ray and Bite flinches. It also can't hit Sneasel and Haunter. Use Safeguard on Magnemite to block Thunder Wave and then go for the 2HKO with Mirror Coat. Afterwards, Wobbuffet can take 2 Bite from Feraligatr and 2HKO it with Mirror Coat. It assumes not getting flinched as otherwise Wobbuffet can't defeat Feraligatr.

Clair (31) : Mirror Coat 2HKOes Dragonair as it uses Dragon Breath/Surf/Ice Beam/Thunderbolt. Mirror Coat OHKOes Kingdra after it uses Surf. Wobbuffet can take 2 hits from Dragonair and one of Kingdra so it can defeat both (or 2 Dragonair).

Rival (40) : 2HKO Golbat with Mirror Coat as it uses Bite. 2HKO Feraligatr with Counter as it uses Slash. 2HKO Magneton with Mirror Coa asit Thundershock. Avoid the rest. Wbbuffet can claim at most 2 kos but Confuse Ray, flinches and Thunder Wave from Magneton hurt a lot.

Will (40) : Mirror Coat 2HKOes Xatus after Psychic and OHKOes Jynx after Ice Punch. Wobbuffet can barely takes 2 Psychic and 1 Ice Punch. Don't bothe fighting Exeggcute as it can use both Psychic and Egg Bomb and Leech Seed is annoying. Try to Destiny Bond on Slowbro.

Koga (40) : Avoid Ariados as it requires 3 Mirror Coat to ko it and it will do around 40%. Tons of things can easily defeat it anyway. Avoid Venomoth due to Toxic and Supersonic. Forretress may use Explosion so avoid it. Counter 2HKOes Muk but Wobbuffet barely survives 2 Sludge Bomb and Toxic may make things harder. Counter also 2HKOes Crobat but Toxic can make things harder.

Bruno (40) : Counter 2HKOes Hitmontop as it uses Dig. Avoid Onix due to Sandstorm. Counter into HJK 2HKOes Hitmonlee, it takes a really long time to kill Hitmonlee if it uses Double Kick tho. Swagger can make things annoying too. Counter into Rock Slide 2HKOes Machamp but flinches can make things harder. Mirror Coat 3HKOes Hitmonchan. Due to repeated hits, Wobbuffet won't be able to ko more than 2 Pokemon.

Karen (40) : Mirror Coat 2HKOes Vileplume on Petal Dance.

Lance (40) : Mirror Coat into Rain boosted Surf and Counter into Hyper Beam OHKO Gyarados. Mirror Coat into Thunder/Blizzard/Outrage and into Hyper Beam OHKO each Dragonite while Mirror Coat into Twister is a 2HKO. Counter into Rock Slide 2HKOes Aerodactyl andCounter into Hyper Beam OHKOes it. Mirror Coat into Flamethrower OHKOes Charizard. Wobbuffet will at most be able to ko 2 mons, among gyarados, lvl 47 Dragonite, Aero and Zard. Also, Hyper Beam from everything but Charizard will 2HKO and will result in a ko. One of the biggest problem in this battle is that you have to predict right between Counter and Mirror Coat. Gyarados can use both Surf and Hyper Beam (and Flail). Dragonite can use both special moves and Hyper Beam. Charizard mostly uses Flamethrower and Aero only uses physical moves so it's better to defeat both of them.


Whitney (19) : Weirdly enough, Exeggcute is really strong here. SleepSeed is broken and you can always set up Reflect. Beating Clefairy is easy with Hypnosis and Leech Seed and you can setup Reflect. Defeating it, you can fight Miltank with full health and then it uses Rollout that does paltry damages and then you can put it too sleep, use Leech Seed and win between residual damages and Confusion. It's surprising but Exeggcute wins without any troubles here barring extreme unluck. Clefairy just doesn't do much you have Leech Seed to stay healthy and with Reflect and Hypnosis can't start Rollout.

Rival (23) : OHKO Haunter after Curse with Confusion. Avoid Magnemite as SonicBoom hurts. Avoid Croconaw as well because Bite is a range for the 2HKO. You can then 2HKO Zubat with Confusion. Exeggcute can take Leech Life/Bite quite easily even after Lick from Haunter so it's not hard to defeat both Haunter and Zubat.

Morty (25) : Everything outspeeds. Confusion OHKOes Gastly, 2HKOes Haunter and 3HKOes Gengar. Exeggcute won't last long due to Curse. Shadow Ball from Gengar 2HKOes as well. 1 Night Shade from Haunter #1 and 2 from Hanter #2 doesn't ko. Thus, if Haunter #1 goes for Curse or misses Hypnosis, it's possible to defeat it as well as Haunter #2. Pretty bad as it requires luck to even take down 2 mon.

Chuck (31) : Confusion 2HKOes Primeape and 3HKOes Poliwrath. Poliwrath 4HKOes with Surf and will most likely 2HKO after Primeape damages Exeggcute. Leech Seed and Hypnosis help a bit here. It's possible to win but it requires a ton of luck and Chuck will more often than not win.

Jasmine (32) : Don't bother fighting Magnemite. You can try to Sleep Seed Steelix while surviving Iron Tail thanks to Reflect but Screech means Iron Tail should 3HKO and Steelix is going to heal anyway.

Pryce (32) : Nop. Even Seel is only 4HKOed by Confusion and will 4HKO with Icy Wind followed by 3 Aurora Beam.

Rival (33) : Confusion 3HKOes Golbat while its Wing Attack 3HKOes and it requires luck to win it againt it (i.e that it uses Confuse Ray and you hit through it). Exeggcute can try to muscle through Magnemite but it takes time. Otherwise, it can 1v1 Haunter, 2HKOing with Confusion while taking 2 Shadow Ball or OHKO with Confusion if it uses Curse. Pretty bad as it only gets a ko.

Clair (38) : Nop, Dragonair takes nothing from Confusion and 3HKOes with Dragon Breath. No need to try to SleepSeed Kingdra due to Smokescreen.

Rival (40) : Confusion 2HKOes Golbat but between Bite 3HKOing, potentially flinching and Confuse Ray, it's better to avoid it. Haunter is 2HKOed by Confusion and does 1/3 with Confusion. It's also possible to SleepSeed Feraligatr.

Will (40) : Psychic from Xatu 4HKOes, Exeggutor 3HKOes and Jynx OHKOes with Ice Punch. It's possible to defeat Slowbro with SleepSeed.

Koga (40) : Outspeed and 2HKO Ariados with Confusion. Confusion 3HKOes Venomoth but SuperSonic in addition to Toxic can make things harder. Exeggcute will at most just beat these two.

Bruno (40) : Machamp takes nothing and 3HKOes.Hitmonchan does too much with Fire Punch. Try to defeat Hitmonchan with Leech Seed + Confusion and then one of Hitmonlee and Onix. Sndstorm from Onix hurts a lot so it can't defeat both. Confusion 3HKOes Hitmonlee/Onix/Hitmontop.

Karen (40) : Can try to 1v1 VIleplume, as Confusion is a range for the 3HKO. It's hard to win tho between Stun Spore and Acid.

Lance (40) : Nop.


Rival (23) : Surf OHKOes Haunter after Curse. Avoid Magnemite due to Thundershock. Then, outspeed and 2HKO Zubat with Aurora Beam.

Morty (25) : Surf OHKOes Gastly, 2HKOes Haunter and 3HKOes Gengar. It's possible to defeat both Haunter if the first one goes for Curse. If it goes for Night Shade, it will result in a loss as it 3HKOes Shellder. Don't bother fighting Gengar as Dream Eater OHKOes. Pretty bad considering it's luck reliant to defeat 2 Haunter.

Chuck (31) : Surf 2HKOes Primeape and Shellder easily takes its hits. Poliwrath outspeeds, does a lot with DynamicPunch and takes nothing from Shellder.

Jasmine (32) : Surf fails to OHKO Magnemite and they OHKO with Thunderbolt. MW Surf 2HKOes Steelix and will 3HKO under sun. Shellder easily takes Iron Tail (it only 4HKOes) so it shouldn't have troubles defeating Steelix.

Pryce (32) : Rain Dance Surf 3HKOes Seel. Then, Shellder can switch out against Dewgong. Piloswine is outsped and 2HKOed by Surf and won't be able to OHKO with Blizzard.

Rival (33) : Aurora Beam 3HKOes Golbat but it may 3HKO with Bite and confusion/flinch makes things harder. Avoid Magnemite and Feraligatr. Sneasel 3HKOes with Feint Attack and gets 3HKOed by Surf. It's possible to defeat it if it goes for Screech turn 1 (it often does). OHKO Haunter after Curse with Surf. It's not possible to defeat both Sneasel and Haunter because 2 Feint Attack + Shadow Ball kos.

Clair (38) : Nop, even NMI Blizzard 2HKOes Dragonair and it outspeeds and it 2HKOes with Dragon Breath.

Rival (40) : Surf 2HKOes Sneasel and OHKOes Haunter after Curse. It's also possible to beat Kadabra afterwards if it doesn't use Recover after Future Sight.

WIll (40) : Nop, Psychic from everything OHKOes.

Koga (40) : Can defeat Ariados, outspeeding and 2HKOing with MW Surf. Missing due to Double Team means it's a loss as Giga Drain will restore health and nearly OHKOes Shellder. Venomoth is 3HKOed but will use Toxic and then 2HKO with Psychic. It's possible to try to 1v1, as Shellder outspeeds and 3HKOes with Surf while Forretress often uses Spikes and then Swift but it's risky due to Explosion.

Bruno (40) : Use Rain Dance as Hitmontop goes for Dig. Then, you can 2HKO it with MW Surf. Afterwards, you can OHKO Onix with Surf.

Karen (40) : Nop, Murkrow 2HKOes with Feint Attack and Shellder can't even OHKO Gengar after Curse.

Lance (40) : Nop.


Rival (33) : Return 2HKOes Golbat and Sneasel while Dig OHKOes Magnemite and Haunter. Sneasel should beat these 4 easily. Feraligatr is only 3HKOed by Return but Golbat and Sneasel will most likely weaken to the point it won't be able to take 2 Water Gun from Feraligatr. Still, pretty good.

Clair (38) : Equip PRZCureBerry. Return 2HKOes Dragonair. Dragon Breath 4HKOes Sneasel. Usually, Sneasel gets 2 kos against Dragonair but can defeat the 3 assuming para doesn't hit. Kingdra is only 3HKOed by Return, may use Smokescreen and has healing so it's tricky to defeat it.

Rival (40) : 2HKO Sneasel and Golbat and OHKO Kadabra with Return. OHKO Magneton and Haunter with Dig. Barring confusion from Golbat, Sneasel should defeat these 5. Feraligatr is only 3HKOed and Slash hits hard so it's better to avoid it.

Will (41) : Spell Tag Shadow Ball OHKOes Jynx and 2HKOes the rest. The problem is that many moves are an annoyance. Confuse Ray makes things harder and Sneasel can be whittled down easily. Leech Seed can get annoying as Slowbro will then be a 3HKO and Curse + Body Slam from it actually hurts. Reflect likely means it's a loss as Sneasel will lose many turns. Body Slam may also paralyse. More often than not, Sneasel will nee to heal to defeat WIll. Still, it's a great matchup and Sneasel won't struggle to defeat both Xatus, Jynx and Exeggutor.

Koga (43) : Return 2HKOes Ariados and Venomoth. Actually outspeed Crobat and can thus use Screech to then 2HKO with Return. As Sneasel can take 2 Wing Attack, it should be able to defeat it, even assuming a miss.

Bruno (43) : PB Return 2HKOes Hitmontop. Avoid the rest.

Karen (43) : Return 2HKOes Murkrow while Feint Attack does nothing. Shadow Ball 2HKOes Gengar. Return 3HKOes Vileplume. It's possible to beat these 3 but Sneasel can't defeat VIleplume if it's cursed.

Lance (43) : Return 3HKOes Gyarados. It's possible to defeat it if it sets up Rain Dance first turn as Sneasel can take a Hyper Beam. Don't bother fighting the rest, Dragonite is only 4HKOed, and both Charizard and Aerodactyl OHKO.


Rival (33) : 2HKO Golbat and Sneasel with Surf, while Magnemite is outsped and OHKOed by it. Haunter is OHKOed by Surf after Curse. Psybeam only 4HKOes Feraligatr and it may flinch with Bite so it's better to defeat those 4.

Clair (38) : Aurora Beam 2HKOes Dragonair. Dragonair outspeeds and its Dragon Breath only 5HKOes Octillery so it can defeat Surf- and Ice Beam-Dragonair. Thunderbolt nearly 2HKOes so it's better to defeat 2 Dagonair than only the Thunderbolt one. Kingdra is way too bulky and will easily defeat Octillery with Dragon Breath and Hyper Beam.

Rival (41) : OHKO Sneasel with MW Surf. Avoid Magneton because while Surf OHKOes, it actually does a lot with Thundershock and may para. Psybeam 2HKOes Golbat (watch out for confusion) and OHKOes Haunter. Psybeam 4HKOes Feraligatr and while Slash doesn't do much, the opposite team will have probably weaken Octillery to the point it can't defeat Gatr.

Will (41) : Surf 2HKOes Xatu and Jynx. Exeggutor is 2HKOed by Aurora Beam. It's hard to defeat more than 1 thing as even Exeggutor outspeeds and everything 3HKOes with Psychic.

Koga (41) : Surf 2HKOes the bug while Psybeam 3HKOes Muk (which is outsped). Equip PSNCureBerry as Toxic from Venomoth is annoying. Octillery should at least beat the bugs and will more often than not defeat Muk as well.

Bruno (42) : MW Surf 2HKOes the Hitmon. Octillery is slower than everything tho. Octillery is able to defeat Hitmontop+Hitmonchan+Onix as it can take 2 Dig + 2 ThunderPunch + Earthquake. 2 High Jump Kick/Double-Kick from Lee does too much damages to the point it won't be able to defeat next mon so it's better to avoid it.

Karen (43) : MW Surf OHKOes Gengar after Curse, Murkrow and Houndoom. Octillery can take Feint Attack + Crunch and thus can defeat these 3. It's also possible to defeat Vileplume, outspeeding and 2HKOing with NMI Aurora Beam but it's way better to defeat Murkrow and Houndoom.

Lance (43) : MW Surf OHKOes Charizard and Aerodactyl and Octillery has the bulk to take a Hyper Beam from each. Otherwise, it's possible to take down the Blizzard-Dragonite, 2HKOing with Aurora Beam while taking Twister + Hyper Beam. Lvl 50 Dragonite is also feasible but it assumes it uses Safeguard and not Outrage (which 2HKOes) first turn.


Rival (33) : Outspeed and 3HKO Golbat with Return. 2HKO Sneasel with Return. Avoid the rest.

Clair (38) : PB Return 2HKOes Dragonair. Ice Beam OHKOes so avoid to fight Ice Beam-Dragonair. Gligar actually lives Surf + Drgon Breath so it can defeat both Surf- and Thunderbolt-Dragonair.

Rival (40) : Gligar outspeeds everything. PB Return 2HKOes Sneasel and Golbat while Kadabra is OHKOed. Feint Attack 3HKOes Haunter. It's possible to 4HKO Magneton as well but SonicBoom actually hurts and coupled with confusion can make things hard.

Will (40) : Can defeat Exeggutor, 2HKOing with Sludge Bomb. It's also possible to defeat Xatu #1, outspeeding and 2HKOing with PB Return. If it goes for Confuse Ray and Gligar doesn't hit itself it's possible to beat it as well as Exeggutor.

Koga (40) : PB Return 2HKOes Venomoth, 3HKOes Ariados and 4HKOes Muk. It's not hard to defeat Venomoth and Ariados. Muk can be annoying with Minimize and Acid Armor and poison but Gligar can hope to defeat it as it resists Sludge Bomb.

Bruno (40) : PB Return 3HKOes Hitmontop and 2HKOes Hitmonlee. Gligar outspeeds both and they're not hard to defeat. Hitmonchan is 3HKOed and 2HKOes with Ice Punch. Machamp is only 4HKOed by Return and will muscle through Gligar.

Karen (41) : 3HKOes Vileplume with PB Return while barely living 2 Petal Dance. Alternatively, Gligar can 1v1 Murkrow, outspeeding and 2HKOing with PB Return while living a Feint Attack.

Lance (41) : Nop.


Rival (33) : NMI Blizzard OHKOes Golbat and Haunter. Return 2HKOes Sneasel. It's also possible to defeat Magnemite, 2HKOing with Blizzard + Return. Avoid Feraligatr as it 3HKOes with Water Gun while Return only 4HKOes it.

Clair (38) : Blizzard OHKOes Dragonair. Piloswine barely takes Surf + 2 Dragon Breath, so assuming it hits, it can defeat the 3 Dragonair. Missing makes things harder, especially against Surf-Dragonair, which 2HKOes.

Rival (40) : Earthquake OHKOes Sneasel, Kadabra, Haunter and Magneton while Feraligatr is a 2HKO. Golbat is OHKOed by Blizzard. Gatr does lots of damages with Water Gun to the point if it uses it twice, Piloswine will only be able to beat 5 members of the team (losing to last mon Haunter). Still great as Piloswine can easily defeat the whole team outside of Feraligatr and only need to use Blizzard once.

Will (40) : NMI Blizzard OHKOes Xatu and Exeggutor. Earthquake OHKOes Jynx. Exeggutor is outsped. Psychic from everything 3HKOes and it's hard to hit Blizzard while confused so Piloswine will struggle to defeat more than 2 things usually.

Koga (41) : Piloswine outspeeds Ariados and Muk. Soft Sand 2HKOes Ariados and Venomoth while Muk is OHKOed. Avoid Forretress as it's only 3HKOed by Earthquake and it may use Explosion. Crobat is 2HKOed by Blizzard but it easily wastes PPs due to Double Team and its healing.

Bruno (41) : Soft Sand Earthquake OHKOes Hitmontop underground, OHKOes Hitmonlee and 2HKOes Hitmonchan. Blizzard is needed to OHKO Onix. Piloswine can defeat Hitmontop, Onix and one of Hitmonlee or Hitmonchan, living Earthquake + High Jump Kick or Earthquake + 2 Mach Punch.

Karen (41) : Earthquake OHKOes Gengar. NMI Blizzard OHKOes Murkrow but misses the OHKO on Vileplume. Umbreon is 3HKOed but is annoying as it outspeeds. Houndoom OHKOes with Flamethrower. Pretty bad as Piloswine can only defeat 2 mons, that are usually easily dealt with.

Lance (41) : Blizzard OHKOes Dragonite. The problem is that Hyper Beam and Outrage 2HKO so Piloswine will need that Dragonite don't use this move to defeat it. Alternatively, it can defeat Aerodactyl, 2HKOing with Blizzard. Rather bad, as Piloswine is an Ice-type that struggles to even achieve 2 kos.


Rival (33) : Outspeed and OHKO Golbat and Haunter with Blizzard. Delibird can also defeat Sneasel as it doesn't hit hard while SB Fly is a range for the 2HKO. Feraligatr is too bulky and 4HKOes with Water Gun and Magnemite 2HKOes with Thundershock.

Clair (38) : Outspeed and OHKO Dragonair with Blizzard. Delibird can afford a miss as it can take a Thunderbolt and 2 Dragon Breath. Delibird outspeeds Kingdra but Blizzard is only a 3HKO and Kingdra nearly OHKOes with Hyper Beam.

Rival (40) : Fly 2HKOes Sneasel. Flee Magneton. Outspeed and OHKO Golbat and Haunter with Blizzard. Fly 2HKOes Kadabra. Avoid Feraligatr as it takes nothing from Fly.

Will (41) : Blizzard OHKOes Xatus and Exeggutor. Delibird outspeed Xatu #1 (not Xatu #2) and should be able to beat both Xatu as well as Exeggutor. Jynx outspeeds and Fly 2HKOes.

Koga (42) : Fly 2HKOes Ariados and Venomoth (Double Team from Ariados can make things harder tho). Crobat is actually OHKOed by NMI Blizzard assuming it hits Avoid Muk as Blizzard only 3HKOes and Muk 2HKOes with Sludge Bomb.

Bruno (42) : Blizzard 2HKOes Hitmontop. Delibird can then OHKO Hitmonlee with SB Fly and Onix with Blizzard. It's not possible to beat Top+Chan as 2 Quick Attack + Fire Punch + Mach Punch koes. Alternatively, it's possible to 2HKO Hitmonchan with Fly, taking around 40% from Fire Punch and then OHKO Hitmonlee and Delibird.

Karen (42) : NMI Blizzard OHKOes Vileplume, Murkrow and Gengar after Curse. Murkrow can't OHKO with Feint Attack so assuming it hits, Delibird beat these 3.

Lance (43) : Outspeed and OHKO Dragonite with Blizzard.


Rival (33) : SB Fly 2HKOes Golbat, Sneasel and Haunter (OHKOed after Curse) while Feraligatr is a 3HKO. It's hard to defeat the 4 mons due to Curse from Haunter but Skarmory has no troubles defeating Golbat+Sneasel and one of Haunter or Feraligatr.

Clair (38) : Fly 2HKOes Dragonair. With a PRZCureBerry, Skarmory can beat the Surf and Ice Beam one. The Thunderbolt one does more than half with Thunderbolt so it's better to avoid it. Kingdra is 3HKOed by Fly and 2HKOes with Surf.

Rival (40) : Fly 3HKOes Feraligatr, 2HKOes Sneasel and Golbat while Kadabra and Haunter are OHKOed. With a BitterBerry, Skarmory has no trouble defeating these 5 as it easily takes 2 Water Gun from Gatr and Sneasel/Golbat barely does anything.

Will (41) : Psychic only 4HKOes Skarmory and Ice Punch 3HKOes. SB Fly 2HKOes Xatu and Exeggutor and is a roll on Jynx. Skarmory should be able to defeat Exeggutor and one of Xatu or Jynx usually.

Koga (41) : Fly OHKOes Ariados and Venomoth. Skarmory can easily muscle through Crobat and Muk with Fly/Swift while taking nothing from them. Forretress is beatable as well but it means Crobat won't be defeated as Explosion does a half.

Bruno (42) : Fly OHKOes Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan while Peck 3HKOes Hitmontop. Machamp is 2HKOed by Fly. Only Hitmonlee outspeeds and it goes for Swagger so it's better to equip Bitter Berry. Skarmory can take 3 Quick Attack and 2 Cross Chop, so it should be able to defeat all the fighters, even if Machamp is healed.

Karen (42) : SB Fly OHKOes Gengar after Curse. It also 2HKOes Vileplume. SB Fly into Peck 2HKOes Murkrow (which goes for Whirlwind turn 3). Skarmory should beat these 3.

Lance (42) : Nop, even Blizzard fom Dragonite 2HKOes.


Rival (33) : Strength 2HKOes Golbat (just be wary of confusion). Avoid Feraligatr as it 3HKOes with Water Gun while Strength is a 3HKO. Sneasel is 2HKOed by Strength. It's possible to muscle through Magnemite, 3HKOing with Strength. Then, Haunter will finish with Shadow Ball. Donphan should defeat Golbat, Sneasel and Magnemite here.

Clair (38) : Strength 2HKOes Dragonair. The thing is they outspeed and Surf/Ice Beam nearly 2HKOes. Thus, Donphan will only be able to defeat a Dragonair. Kingdra OHKOes with Surf.

Rival (41) : Earthquake OHKOes Sneasel, Magneton, Kadabra and Haunter while Strength 2HKOes Golbat. Donphan should easily beat these 5 even if it hits itself with confusion. Avoid Feraligatr.

Will (41) : Psychic from Xatu #1 3HKOes and it's 2HKOed by Strength so Donphan can defeat it. Donphan barely lives an Ice Punch from Jynx and can OHKO it back with Earthquake. It also outspeeds and 2HKOes Slowbro with Soft Sand Earthquake. Exeggutor is 3HKOed by Strength while Psychic 2HKOes. Donphan will struggle to defeat more than one thing.

Koga (41) : Soft Sand Earthquake 2HKOes Ariados, is a roll on Venomoth and OHKOes Muk. Forretress is 3HKOed so it's better to avoid it due to Explosion.

Bruno (41) : Earthquake OHKOes Hitmontop underground, Hitmonlee and 2HKOes Hitmonchan and Machamp. Machamp outspeeds but Donphan also lives 2 Cross Chop from Machamp + Earthquake from Onix so it can defeat both. Alternatively, it's also possible to defeat the 3 Hitmon + Onix as Donphan can take 2 Ice Punch + High Jump Kick + Earthquake. I tried to use 2 Defense Curl but it doesn't work as Hitmontop is going to use Pursuit and Ice Punch still does lots of damages.

Karen (42) : Beats Gengar and Houndoom, OHKOing with Earthquake while living a Flamethrower. It's possible to 2HKO Murkrow with Strength but it weakens to the point Houndoom will OHKO. Umbreon outspeeds and is only 3HKOed soit's better to avoid it.

Lance (42) : Curlout 3HKOes Aerodactyl while Donphan easily takes Aero's moves. Charizard 2HKOes with Flamethrower. Donphan can also try to 3HKO the Thunder Dragonite with Rollout, living 2 Hyper Beam but it assumes the AI doesn't use Twister and that ROllout doesn't miss.


Wobbuffet

Wobbuffet was actually alright in battles and had several uses but still deserves to be E-tier. It can defeat Whitney's Miltank, may win against Chuck sometimes, beat Clair's Kingdra and can get a few kos against Pryce, Silver and the E4. Destiny Bond can be useful to get a ko when the AI is predictible. The main reason I want to say E-tier is due to how hard it is to train Wobbuffet. It's extremly time-consuming because Counter/Mirror Coat are weak against opposite trainers and it requires many, many trips to the pokecenter. Switch-grinding is better but it still requires lots of time. In Crystal, Wobbuffet is also rather costly while it appears way too late to be worth using in GS.

While it has some uses in major battles, Wobbuffet still suffers from major flaws. Sometimes, the AI will use some status moves. Evasion moves like Double team makes the battle way longer. Poison is rather bad because it means Wobbuffet won't last long. Paralysis and confusion mean Wobbuffet won't always be able to move. There is also the physical/special factor. Against some opponents, Lance especially, you can't predict if the AI will use physical or special move. It makes fighting them horrid as if you don't guess correctly, it will result in a quick loss. Lance is especially bad in that regard when you add the Thunder Wave factor. Wobbuffet is also very prone to getting haxxed, Bite may flinch, confusion can hurt and it often gets crited as it moves last. This shouldn't get contested but Wobbuffet deserves to be E-tier due to difficulties to train, inability to do anything relevant in some fights (Morty and Karen especially), the time its battles take and the luck involved to actually win.

Exeggcute

Easy E-tier. Exeggcute can take some time to be found as it's a 10% encounter on trees. You get it at level 10, which is pretty low considering you have reached Goldenrod. To make things worse, it only learns Confusion at level 19 which means it needs 9 levels with Barrage as its only attacking move. Furtheremore Exeggcute is in the slow level group, which further complicates the grind. Afterwards, it has some uses thanks to SleepSeed + Reflect and is able to defeat Whitney this way, can get up to 2 kills against Morty and does decently against Chuck. However, Exeggcute barely contributes afterwards. Most of the time, it will struggle to get more than one ko. You also have to consider that to grind, it relies on the weak Confusion the whole game and it takes massive time to get it to the right level, especially with the slow growth rate.

Shellder

Another easy E-tier. Outside of defeating Jasmine's Steelix and Pryce's Piloswine, I don't recall anything Shellder did. When it achieves a ko, it's always a free mon like Bruno's Hitmontop or Koga's Ariados. Its stats are simply bad, especially its horrid special defense and STAB Surf is pretty much the only positive thing about it. Slow growth rate also makes it harder to train and this is especially annoying on a mon that barely does anything in relevant fight.

Sneasel

While this was the best mon in the Wobbuffet/Exeggcute/Shellder run, I still feel it deserves E-tier. Sneasel was better than expected and had an alright performance. It was pretty good for both Silver fight, had a strong Will matchup and had some uses here and here. Med slow group was also great. Main reasons I want to say E-tier is how due to how late it comes, the lack of good important matchup outside of Will and Rival and the investment it requires. Sneasel is a 10% encounter at night that comes at a low level. Friend Ball and Return TM seem mandatory on it. Otherwise, grinding is way worse and there are many foes like most Silver's team, Clair's Dragonair, Lance's Gyarados etc... that can't be dealt with without Return. The contested Dig TM is also great to help against Magnemite/Magneton. Even with 2 contested TMs, Sneasel only had a truely great performance against Will, which still doesn't always result in a win. Outside of Will and Rival, most kos were against things easy to deal with like Koga's Ariados or Karen's Murkrow. Sneasel requires too much investment in term of TMs for an average performance at best outside of Will and Rival.


Remoraid

Easy E-tier. Remoraid is annoying to get because it's a swarm-only encounter. It also comes very underleveled, being only at level 20 after 7 badges. Even then, Octillery is nothing spectacular and doesn't even perform that well. It's good for Rival fights, Karen and Koga and can most of the time get 2 kos against Clair and the E4. The main problem with Octillery is how slow it is and almost everything will outspeed it. This means it will get ko'ed pretty easily due to repeated hits. So, yeah E-tier, it's time-consuming to get and train Remoraid, all of that for a mon that doesn't even perform well due to its low speed.

Gligar

Another easy E-tier as well. Gligar doesn't get a STAB move (not even Earthquake somehow) and it comes really late. Even with Friend Ball and Return, it only gets kos against mons easy to defeat, with the exception of Will's Exeggutor and Bruno's Hitmonlee (and sometimes Bruno's Muk). There is no reason to use this honestly, it comes way too late and barely does anything relevant.

Swinub

Although it has some uses, this deserves to be E-tier too. Swinub must be the most painful to train (outside of Wobbuffet) I've used in this game. It's weak and frail to the point defeating Rattata 6 levels lower was actually a hard task. Keep in mind, it's in the slow level group and requires lots of experience to get it to the right level. I had to grind in the wild before fighting Clair due to this. Performance-wise, it's actually rather good in most fights. Earthquake + Blizzard is a strong STAB combination and Piloswine does well in most battles. However, Blizzard is really prone to miss and is a costly investment. Honestly, Swinub is way too much of investment to be worth using. It comes late, is really hard to train until evolution and requires the Blizzard TM. Catching it with a Friend Ball and giving it Return seems nearly necessary because Blizzard has low PPs and that makes training even harder. Even as a Piloswine, it doesn't have a perfect performance. It gets whittled down easily due to its low speed and Blizzard missing makes things harder. Lance's fight was deceiving as Piloswine is an Ice-type that struggles to even get 2 kos. So, yeah E-tier, it comes late, is painful to train and requires too much investment for a mon that is prone to miss and getting haxxed.

Delibird

Obvious E-tier. While it's a meme mon, Delibird actually had some uses. STAB Blizzard is really strong and Delibird was able to outspeed and OHKO Clair's Dragonair and Lance's Dragonite and can get a few kos against things weak to Ice-type. Still, Delibird is a late-mon, that is awful to train as it relies on the unaccurate Blizzard and Fly to level up. While fast growth rate helps a bit, Delibird will run out of PP rather quickly. It desesperately needs the costly Blizzard TM that is prone to miss and can't do much against mons not weak to the move. It also suffers from atrocious bulk and a single miss often results in a ko.

Skarmory

This was actually decent and can go to D-tier. Skarmory was great for both rival fights and had a good E4. It can get 2 kos against Clair, Will and defeats 4 mons against Koga and Bruno. The latter is especially noteworthy because it's rare to find a mon that can defeat every fighting-types. While Karen isn't as good, Skarmory can at least get 3 kos against Gengar, Murkrow and Vileplume. Being in the slow level up group is annoying but at least Skarmory comes at a good level. It also doesn't require much trips to the Pokecenter because thanks to its typing, most trainers mons barely damage it. I feel Skarmory can avoid the worst tier because in addition to a good performance, it's really self-sufficient. It really only needs the Fly HM to suceed and that's it. Compared to other late encounters, Skarmory has a rather good performance and doesn't need a single TM to suceed so it should be fine in D-tier.

Phanpy (S)

Honestly, I want to say E-tier on this one. Phanpy is really awful to train, like Remoraid it comes at level 20 after 7 badges and to make things worse it doesn't get a STAB move until the Victory Road. It's time-consuming to evolve Phanpy at level 25 and it takes away a lot of experience from the team. I actually had to grind 2 levels on Delibird/Skarmory/Phanpy to get at level 33 for Rival's fight. Donphan was nothing special and had a performance akin to Rhydon, trading a better Bruno for the ability to defeat Lance's Charizard. It was good for Rival, Koga and Bruno and mostly average elsewhere. It only gets a ko against Clair, Will and Lance for instance. Crystal Phanpy was actually decent thanks to a solid early to mid game but its late-game performance wasn't impressive. The difference in EVs might make a small difference as late-Phanpy is unable to outspeed Machamp. Anyway, it would make sense to have Rhydon and Silver Phanpy in the same tier. They are both mons encountered late, with difficulties to train and very similar performance.


I'll post later my own viability tier list and will briefly comment on each Pokemon.
 
Sorry for double posting but here is my own tier-list :

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Do note that Phanpy is the Silver one and Teddiursa is the Gold one. Donphan and Ursaring are the Crystal one. Mons that evolves with an evolutionnary stone will be given 2 ranks (one with evolution and one with pre-evo).

Now, I'm gonna describe briefly each mons :

:Kadabra: :Alakazam: Kadabra & Alakazam

Alakazam and Kadabra are really the kings of GSC. Outside of Karen, Alakazam easily defeats any major opponent with the possible exception of Lance where it still gets at least 5 kos. Kadabra is a bit worse as it loses to Jasmine's Steelix and Clair's Kingdra. Still, Kadabra is clearly above everything and sweeps pretty much every other gym leader and the E4 outside of Karen. Even Lance is great and Kadabra is one of the few mons that can claim 4 kos in this battle.


:Feraligatr: Feraligatr

Feraligatr is the best starter and imo the best mon outside of the Abra line. It's incredibly consistent and will either outright win or contribute a lot in almost every major battle. It can't be S-tier tho because it doesn't have the overwhelming performance of Kadabra/Alakazam, especially against the E4 where it struggles to get more thn 3 kos. Still, Gatr is a top 5 mon and one of the best option to use.

:Magmar: Magmar

Magmar really has an impressive performance and is truely incredible once caught. With just the ThunderPunch TM, Magmar easily wins in every major fight until Clair. While the Dragon gym is really bad, Magmar fares well afterwards, defeating Rival and Will while doing well against Koga and Karen. It can't be S-tier because it struggles against Clair, Bruno and somewhat Lance (at least it gets 2 kos there) and comes after 3 gyms. However, Magmar has an impressive mid-game performance (similar to Alakazam) in addition to sweeping Silver each time and is among the top of A rank.

:Fearow: Fearow

Much like Feraligatr, Fearow is incredibly consistent throughout the game. It's one of the earliest available mons and will do well in most major battles outside of Jasmine. It's not S-rank because it's not dominant like the Abra line but it's great and I'd say it's the 5th best mon in the game.

:Gengar: Gengar

Gengar was really great and incredibly consistent from the mid- to late-game. While it's annoying to get Gastly to level 25, it more than makes up for it with its performance. It does well against Morty and has a performance akin to Kadabra afterwards. It easily sweeps gyms 5/6/7, defeats the 3 Dragonair against Clair and has a strong performance against Will and Koga and average against Bruno and Karen. Lance is particularly impressive and Gengar is one of the really few things that can claim 5 kills against him. Really, Gengar is solid and will outright win most of the time starting from Chuck battle.
:Ursaring: Ursaring

Ursaring was also amazing and one of the best early mons to use. Teddiursa itself is pretty strong, easy to train and performs well. It wins against Falkner and contributes a lot in each major fight, especially against the Rival. Once it evolves, Ursaring is particularly strong, it wins against gym 5/6/7 and Clair. Defeating Clair in 5 turns is impressive and few things can claim that. Ursaring is also great for the last Silver fight and The E4. It gets 3 kos against Will and Bruno while Koga and Karen will sometimes result in a win. Ursaring might be the best thing to use against Karen, it outspeeds and 2HKOes Umbreon and VIleplume and OHKOes Houndoom, Gengar and Murkrow. Lance isn't as good but at least Ursaring can 1v1 everything but Aerodactyl. Really, Ursaring is excellent, it's great in every battle and defeating Clair and (sometimes) Karen is an impressive perk.

:Ampharos: Ampharos

Ampharos is one of the best early mons. It's strong and bulky, learns Thunder Punch and Fire Punch, evolves quickly and training it is easy thanks to med slow growth rate. It wins against Bugsy, Chuck, Jasmine and Pryce and has a strong performance in other fights. Even if it doesn't outright win, Ampharos will always contribute to the battle, netting a few kos. The only exception is Bruno but outside of it, Ampharos almost always have an above-average performance.

:Girafarig: Girafarig

Girafarig is one of the most solid Normal-type in the game. Except for Jasmine and Lance, it performs extremly well. It easily wins against Morty, Chuck and Pryce while being good elsewhere. The main reason I found Girafarig better than other Normal-types, outside of Ursaring and Fearow is its good availability and Psychic-type. Thanks to its typing, Girafarig has a much better performance against Will, Koga and Bruno compared to other Normal-types. Also, unlike Tauros and Miltank, it' not in the slow level group.

:Furret: Furret

Furret is a strong early mon. It wins against Falkner, Bugsy, sometimes Whitney (with Curlout) and Morty. While it's not as good afterwards, it still has many uses, unlike Graveler/Golem. It does a lot against Chuck and Jasmine and may win against Pryce. Furret can also potentially 1v1 Clair's Kingdra and can net a few kos against the E4. Afterwards, Lance was pretty good as thanks to Curlout, Furret can usually claim 3 kos. Additionnaly, Furret has some uses as an HM Slave as it can fit Strength+Surf in its moveset.

:Raticate: Raticate

Raticate is pretty much like Furret, in every regard. They have similar stats, availability and performance. The only difference is that Raticate has a more reliable Whitney thanks to Hyper Fang while Furret has Curlout for Lance and utility as an HM Slave. Thus, they really should be in the same tier. A-tier is fine for them as they come early, beats the first 4 gym leader and have an above-average performance afterwards.


:Miltank: Miltank

Miltank is another solid Normal-type that performs extremly well. It wins against Morty, Chuck (most of the time), Pryce and has an overall strong performance. Thanks to its bulk, it performs better than Furret/Raticate and will more often than not net one more ko. Lance in particular was a strong fight, where Miltank should be able to get 4 kos if Rollout doesn't miss. The main thing that prevents it from going to A-tier is the slow growth rate and later availability compared to Raticate/Furret.

:Starmie: Starmie

Starmie is one of the most powerful mon usable. Once caught, it has a performance mostly similar to Kadabra, trading a worse Koga and Bruno for a better Lance. This mon wins against Morty, Chuck, Jasmine, Pryce, defeats the 3 Dragonair against Clair and can win against Will. Afterwards, Starmie is still excellent and does a lot vs Koga, Bruno and Karen and outright wins against Lance. The main reason, Starmie is B-rank as opposed to A is the slow growth rate and the investment it requires. It takes away a lot of experience from the team but also needs a backtrack for Rain Dance. Furthermore, it absolutely needs the expensive Blizzard and Thunder TM. In addition to that, Blizzard is prone to miss and a single miss can ruin a sweep against Lance or Clair.

:Tauros: Tauros

Tauros is really strong, boasting great speed, power and physical bulk. It wins against Chuck and Pryce and can 1v1 Jasmine's Steelix. According to its EVs, it may defeat Clair by itself or at least 1v1 Kingdra. The E4 is also great. Like Miltank, I feel it's B-rank and not A-rank due to mid-game availability and slow growth rate. Miltank is slightly better because it wins against Morty and does more against Lance thanks to Curlout at the cost of worst other performances.

:Lapras: Lapras

Lapras is really consistent when caught and natural Ice Beam helps it a lot. It wins against Jasmine, Pryce and Clair and does alright against Chuck. Winning against Clair is particuarly impressive. The E4 is also good and Ice Beam/Thunder lets Lapras get 3/4 kos against Lance. Sadly, Lapras comes a bit too late and is in the slow levelup group, otherwise it would be a solid A-tier.

:Gyarados: Gyarados

Gyarados is the ultimate HM Slave, being able to fit Surf, Strength, Waterfall and Whirlpool in its moveset while still doing well in battles. It also comes at level 30, which is high at this point of the game. Performance-wise, Gyarados isn't that good, it wins against Chuck and Pryce but is mostly average elsewhere due to its low special attack. However, PB Strength still hits hard and lets Gyara gets a few kos against Will, Koga and Bruno while Surf lets it defeat Jasmine's Steelix 1v1.

:Graveler: :Golem: Graveler & Golem

The Geodude line has an incredible early game, sweeping with ease the first 4 gym leaders, especially the important Whitney. Afterwards, the performance is below-average but at least, both mons can get a few kos and perform extremly well against Koga. Differences between Graveler and Golem are minor, the latter can defeat Pryce's Dewgong and just one more mon against Bruno, Karen and Lance.

:Vaporeon: Vaporeon

Vaporeon is by far the best eevolution in this game. It joins at a good level, has immediate access to Surf and good stats all across. It wins against Pryce and Jasmine and has some uses afterwards. Learning Aurora Beam naturally helps a bit against Clair, Lance and Will. It's also rather self-sufficient as it does just need the Rain Dance TM for the E4 in order to suceed.

:Golduck: Golduck

Golduck is another solid water-type, with a very similar performance to Vaporeon. It easily wins against Jasmine and Pryce and has a mostly good performance thanks to STAB Surf and Ice Punch.

:Jynx: Jynx

Jynx is the best late-mon with an incredible showing that only needs the Ice Punch TM. It more often than not win against Clair which is fantastic. It defeats Silver and all but Slowbro against Will. Then, it can get 3 kos against Koga and Karen and 2 against Bruno. Lance is an excellent matchup for Jynx, where it easily defeats the 3 Dragonite and another mon most of the time. Lovely Kiss is pretty helpul and may allow one more ko for Jynx.

:Machamp: Machamp

The traded Machop is probably the best mon to defeat Whitney. It has some uses afterwards, getting a few kos against Morty, Jasmine and winning against Pryce. Clair is alright as Machamp is able to defeat the 3 Dragonair. The E4 is mostly average but Bruno and especially Karen are great fights. Machamp is one of the most reliable to defeat both Umbreon and Houndoom, thanks to Vital Throw. All in all, Machamp does a lot in the three most important fights (outside of Lance), against Whitney, Clair and Karen and contributes enough elsewhere to the point it deserves B-tier.

:Poliwrath: Poliwrath

Poliwrath is a pretty good early mon in Crystal. Poliwhirl is really strong against Morty and Poliwrath have several uses afterwards. It wins easily against Pryce and may outright win against Jasmine. Afterwards, it's pretty much like Machamp except for a bit worse Clair. It's average against most of the E4 but shines against Karen. Defeating easily Umbreon and Houndoom is pretty impressive. Also, it's really easy to train Poliwrath thanks to med slow growth rate.


:Typhlosion: Typhlosion

Typhlosion is a decent starter that performs alright throughout the game. It has a strong begining, defeating with ease Falkner and Bugsy but struggles a bit for the mid-game. While Morty and Jasmine are great, Quilava will struggle against Whitney and Chuck and Pryce requires the use of the unreliable Rollout. Furthermore, the Clair fight is really bad. The E4 is above-average outside of Bruno, Typhlosion does well against Will, Koga and gets 3 kos against Karen. Lance is alright as Typhlosion can defeat Gyarados and Charizard. The main problem I had with this mon is how long was the Quilava phase. During it, it was mostly below-average, struggling to do much and that should have an impact on its ranking.

:Arcanine: Arcanine

Arcanine is pretty similar to Typhlosion. It has the same problems against Chuck, Pryce, Clair, somewhat Bruno and especially Lance. While Arcanine is better for Whitney, Morty and maybe Chuck, it represents more investment. Arcanine levels up slowly, needs an important backtrack to get Fire Stone and comes later than Cyndaquil.

:Slowking: Slowking

Slowking was honestly good. As a Slowpoke, it wins against Bugsy and Whitney. After evolving, Slowking defeats with ease Chuck, Jasmine and Pryce. Afterwards, Slowking isn't as good, while it can net a few kos, it will get whittled down pretty easily and is prone to getting haxxed. Slowking can beat the 3 Dragonair but it requires luck. Likewise, Will and Koga need luck to defeat several mons, fighters will easily kill Slowking with repeated hits and Karen is bad outside of taking down Houndoom and Gengar. Lance is nothing impressive either and Slowking will at most net 2 kos. Training Slowpoke and Slowking is annoying due to the low speed. Also, in order to get Rain Dance and Kings Rock, it requires a massive backtrack before getting Fly. Still, Slowking was fun to use and I'd recommend using it starting as a Slowpoke.

:Tentacruel: Tentacruel

Tentacruel is another solid water-type, that has STAB Sludge Bomb. It wins against Chuck, Pryce and according to its EVs Jasmine. Assuming it has Blizzard, Tentacruel also defeat the 3 Dragonair against Clair. The E4 is also pretty good, Blizzard lets it net kos against Will, it's alright for Koga, can sweep Bruno and defeat Houndoom and Murkrow against Karen. Against Lance, Blizzard lets Tentacruel defeats the level 47 Dragonite. The factors that prevent Tentacruel from going to B-tier are its reliance on Blizzard (which is annoying in term of cost and unaccuracy), the slow growth rate and mid-game availability.

:Scyther: Scyther

Scyther is probably the mon with the most lopsided performance in the game. It can win against Chuck and Whitney (assuming Fury Cutter doens't miss). While it can defeat the Seel line against Pryce, it does nothing against Morty and Jasmine while Clair is kinda average. Afterwards, Scyther is really impressive with Swords Dance. It easily sweeps Silver, Will and Koga. Bruno is a bit less good but it's possible to kill Onix and set up afterwards. Similarly, Karen isn't totally reliable due to Sand Attack. Lance is rather bad as Scyther can't really set up on something else than Gyarados and Aerodactyl will come next. Also, Scyther is painful to catch in the bug contest. C-tier is fair as Scyther either outright wins or barely does anything, is annoying to catch and needs to be at level 42 to have Swords Dance for the E4.

:Stantler: Stantler

Stantler is a pretty strong normal-type. It wins against Whitney and Pryce and has a good overall performance, except for Morty and Jasmine. The main reason it's ranked below other Normal-type is the slow growth rate and its lack of coverage. It hits pretty hard but will struggle against everything that resists Normal-type.

:Lanturn: Lanturn

Lanturn is a Water-type that distinguishes itself from others with its Electric STAB. Immediate Surf STAB is amazing and Chinchou performs well against Morty. Once it evolves, Lanturn easily wins against gyms 5/6/7 and can beat 1v1 Clair's Kingdra. It becomes a bit worse afterwards because it will be worn down quickly due to its low still. However, it still can get a few kos, most notably against Koga, which is a great fight thanks to Thunder. The rest of the E4 isn't as good as Lanturn will fail to achieve more than 2 kos and Bruno's fight is particuarly bad. All in all, Lanturn is great for the mid-game but the slow growth rate and average late-game performance prevents it from going to a higher tier.

:Cloyster: Cloyster

Cloyster is another decent Water-type. It's great for Morty and easily wins against Jasmine and Pryce. Clair is also good and Cloyster can defeat the 3 Dragonair with Aurora Beam. Afterwards, Cloyster becomes mostly average in-battle. Its poor special bulk prevent it from doing well against Will, and while Koga is good thanks to its physical bulk, Bruno and Karen are rather bad. Also, in spite of its Ice-type, Lance isn't that good as lvl 50 Dragonite can outspeed and take an Aurora Beam. Overall, Cloyster is alright, it performs well in mid-game but struggles against the E4 and the slow growth rate hinders it.

:Machoke: Machoke

Machoke is a worse Machamp. While it's as good against Whitney and Karen, it's significantly worse elsewhere. The difference in bulk makes Pryce worse and unlike Machamp, Machoke can't hope to defeat it. The lower stats is also noteworthy against Clair (where Machamp unlike Machoke should be able to defeat the 3 Dragonair), Silver and Bruno. Still, defeating Whitney and doing well against Karen while having some uses is enough for C-tier.

:Politoed: Politoed

Politoed is simply put a generic Water-type. It's good for Jasmine and Pryce and has some uses here and here. Learning Ice Punch makes it pretty good for Clair and Lance for instance. Med slow growth rate also means it's pretty easy to train Politoed. However, it requires a backtrack for Kings Rock, which is annoying. All in all, Politoed is great as Poliwhirl for Morty, performs decently once it evolves but nothing exceptionnal due to its average stats and thus can't be in a higher tier than C.

:Mantine: Mantine

Mantine is another generic water-type. It wins against Chuck, sometimes Jasmine (according to its special attack DVs) and Pryce. With Blizzard, it can also defeat Clair's Dragonair. The E4 is mostly average and Mantine is very prone to getting haxxed due to its average speed and power. But at least, Bruno is mostly positive thanks to the Flying-type. All in all, Mantine is a decent mon but its average special attack and speed as well as mid-game availability and slow growth makes C-tier pefect for it.

:Pidgeot: Pidgeot

Pidgeot is a good early-mon. It's pretty strong early on, defeating Falkner and Bugsy with ease. The Pidgeotto phase is really underwhleming afterwards and it struggles to do someting signifiant against Whitney, Morty, Jasmine and Pryce and Chuck is the only good battle. Once it evolves, Pidgeot becomes way better. It can beat either the 3 Dragonair or Kingdra against Clair and is great for Silver and the E4. It defeats the Silver team outside of Magneton and can claim 2/3 kills against Will, Koga and Karen. Pidgeot is truely excellent against Bruno and Pidgeot is one of the few mons able to defeat all the fighting-types from him. Even Karen is good as Pidgeot defeats both Houndoom and Murkrow. Pidgeot can also defeat both Gyarados and Charizard vs Lance. Sadly, Pidgeot can't be higher than C-tier due to its poor Pidgeotto phase but it was great for the late-game and was fun to use.

:Teddiursa: Teddiursa

Late-Teddiursa is one of the strongest late-mon options available. It has the same late performance as Crystal Ursaring really. It has the same impressive win against Clair and strong E4. Ursaring is able to get 3 kos against Will and Bruno and often wins against Koga. It's also sometimes possible to defeat Karen and even in the worst case, defeating the 2 most important mons (Umbreon and Houndoom) easily is amazing. Having a mon that wins against Clair and a strong performance against Karen and the E4 overall is largely enough for C-tier.

:Lugia: Lugia

Lugia is another impressive late-mon. It easily wins against Silver, Will, Koga and Bruno. Karen isn't a perfect matchup but Lugia should be able to beat 4 mons, including Houndoom. Lance is a bit tricky as Icy Wind only 2HKOes Dragonite but thanks to its insane bulk and Recover, Lugia should be able to defeat Gyarados and at least 2 Dragonite.

:Ho-Oh: Ho-Oh

Ho-Oh has a similar performance to Lugia, except for a worse Lance. It wins as easily against Silver, Will, Koga and Bruno and gets 4 kos against Karen. Lance isn't particularly good but Ho-Oh should at worst defeat defeat Gyarados and Charizard.

:Crobat: Crobat

Crobat was pretty fun to use as well. Zubat was good for Bugsy while Golbat was great for Morty, outspeeding everything and doing a lot of damages with Bite. Like Pidgeotto, Golbat was mostly underwhelming in mid-game, outside of Chuck, which resulted in a win. As a Crobat, it was better because it's able to 1v1 Kingdra and has a mostly good E4. While it doesn't do much against Will due to its typing, it's pretty good for Koga and especially Bruno. Defeating all the fighters like Pidgeot is an impressive perk. Overall, doing well against Bugsy, Morty and Bruno while winning against Chuck and having some uses here and here is enough for C-tier.

:Dunsparce: Dunsparce

Dunsparce is really strong early on. Thanks to Rage, it easily wins against Falkner, Bugsy and Whitney. While not as good afterwards, it still has uses in the mid- to late-game. Dunsparce can get a few kos against gym leaders and defeat the 3 Dragonair against Clair. The E4 isn't good but Dunsparce can get at least a ko in each fight. Overall, I think its strong performance early game and ability to contribute afterwards is enough for C-tier.

:Flareon: Flareon

Flareon is the second best eevolutions and does fairly well. It easily wins against Jasmine and Pryce while it contributes quite a bit against Chuck and Clair. It also wins against Rival and does extremly well vs Will and Koga. Bruno isn't good even though Flareon can defeat Machamp if Fire Blast hits 3 times. Against Karen, Flareon can defeat Mukrow, Vileplume and Gengar. All in all, these good perks should be enough for C-tier.

:Hypno: Hypno

Drowzee takes a long time to train due to its bad stats but once it evolves, Hypno is alright. It's fairly good for Morty, should win against Chuck and Jasmine and sometimes vs Pryce. Against Clair, it's able to beat the 3 Dragonair as long as paralysis doesn't hit too much. The E4 is mostly good, Hypno is strong against Will thanks to its bulk and its typing helps a lot against Koga and Bruno. Karen and Lance were mostly bad and Hypno struggled to achieve more than 2 kos against the former and 1 against the latter. My main problem with Hypno was the consistency. As it doesn't hit especially hard and it may take some time to defeat opposite mons, Hypno is prone to getting haxxed. For instance, Dewgong may flinch with Headbutt, resulting in a loss. This, in addition to Drowzee being hard to train make me feel C-tier is more adequate for it.

:Nidoqueen: :Nidoking: Nidoqueen & Nidoking

Nidos were honestly average in GSC, only winning against Jasmine and sometimes Koga. Even with super-effective moves, they struggle to OHKO things. The main reason Nidos are C-tier is due to their ability to contribute in each battle. Thanks to their extensive movepool, they can always do something in major fights. For instance, they can kill Piloswine against Pryce, weaken a lot Poliwrath vs Chuck and claim up to 3 kos against Clair. The E4 is alright and Nidos can defeat Karen's Houndoom for example and elsewhere they can at least get a ko. As for differences between the 2 Nidos, King is better for Whitney, Silver and Will thanks to its superior power while Queen's bulk is better for Clair(it can defeat the 3 Dragonair), Karen (as it can defeat Houndoom+Mukrow) and Bruno.

:Granbull: Granbull

Granbull is another average mon due to its low speed and poor special bulk. Unlike Ursaring, Granbull struggles to achieve a win outside of Pryce. However, like the nidos, it can still contribute greatly in most battles thus why it's C-tier.

:Magneton: Magneton

Magneton is an alright Electric-type. It's great for Chuck, can defeat Jasmine's Steelix 1v1 and the Seel line against Pryce. The E4 is mostly good outside of Bruno and the Steel-type is great for Will, Koga and somewhat Karen. Magneton is really reliable at defeating Koga thanks to its resistances and Thunder's accuracy in Rain. Lance is pretty good as well and Magneton should claim 3 kos most of the time. Magneton is pretty good and deserves to be higher than Jolteon, Electrode and Raikou thanks to its natural access to electric STAB and Steel typing that improves the matchup against Will and Koga.

:Sandslash: Sandslash

Sandslash is mostly alright, being good in mid-game and usable afterwards. Thanks to Curlout, it wins against Whitney and Pryce and Dig lets it defeat Morty. While not as good after these fights, Sandlash is still able to net a few kos. It can defeat a Dragonair against Clair, 3 mons against Koga and Bruno, Houndoom+Gengar vs Karen and a mon against Lance.

:Donphan: Donphan

Donphan is similar to Sandslash. Curlout can win against Whitney, Morty and surprisingly Chuck. After that, it can defeat the Seel line against Pryce and 2 Dragonair against Clair. The E4 is average but Donphan fares well against Koga and especially Bruno. Against the latter, Donphan can defeat Hitmontop, Hitmonlee, Onix and Machamp which is great. Then, Donphan can defeat Karen's Houndoom and a mon against Lance.

:Primeape: Primeape

Primeape has a mostly decent performance. It wins most of the time against Morty and Pryce. In other fights, Primeape is able to severly dent other mons and can defeat the 3 Dragonair against Clair. The E4 is average, Primeape struggles against Will and only defeats the bugs against Koga. However, it's great for Bruno and Karen. It can defeat the hitmon against the former and Umbreon, Gengar and Murkrow against the latter. Lance is surprisingly good as Primeape can claim up to 3 kos thanks to the elementary punches.

:Qwilfish: Qwilfish

Qwilfish is essentially a Tentacruel which trades better special attack and availability for a stronger Sludge Bomb. Qwilfish is fairly good for Morty where it beats Gastly and Haunters, can 1v1 Jasmine's Steelix and easily wins against Chuck and Pryce. Clair is actually pretty good as Qwilfish has great odds to defeat Kingdra 1v1. The E4 is average but at least, Qwilfish can claim 2 kos against Will and defeat either the Hitmon+Onix or Machamp against Bruno.

:Aipom: Aipom

Aipom has enough uses to be C-tier. Fury Cutter lets it sometimes win against Whitney. After that fight, while Aipom won't outright sweep but it will help a lot. Against Chuck, Aipom severly dents Poliwrath and defeats the Seel line vs Pryce and the 3 Dragonair against Clair. The E4 is mostly bad but Aipom can at least defeat 2 mons against Will, Bruno and Karen, the bugs against Koga and Lance's Gyarados. This, in combination with the fast growth rate is enough to be barely C-tier.

:Onix: Onix

Onix is pretty much a worse Graveler/Golem. It's great for sweeping the first 4 gyms with ease but it has few uses afterwards. Outside of OHKOing Jasmine's Magnemite, Koga's Muk and Lance's Aerodactyl, it will only kill free mons like Rival's Kadabra. Still, the amazing early game should be enough for C-tier, even if barely.


:Seadra: :Kingdra: Seadra & Kingdra

The Horsea line was honestly great, thanks to high Special Attack, Speed and physical bulk (special as well for Kingdra). They both win against Jasmine and have great odds to do so against Chuck. Clair is good thanks to Blizzard and Silver fights will more often than not result in a win. The E4 is also pretty strong and both mons can usually claim 3 kos in each battle, except for Karen. Lance is particularly good, assuming Blizzard hits three times, both Seadra and Kingdra can defeat the 3 Dragonite as well as Charizard ands Aerodactyl. Both mons definitely had a great performance. The main reason I want to say D-tier is the investment they require. They are only available after Pryce, meaning you need to grind on water route, which is hard as trainers only Water-types. To make things worse, both mons really need the Blizzard TM, which is expensive and prone to miss. Kingdra also requires a Dragon Scale, which is pretty long to get. Kingdra is better than Seadra and is more reliable against Will and gets 1 more ko vs Bruno and Karen. The backtrack to get Dragon Scale is an mportant flaw tho and is the reason why they should be in the same tier.

:Steelix: Steelix

Steelix is another great mon hindered by its availability. As an Onix, it wins against the first 4 gym leaders. Once it evolves, Steelix is way better than its pre-evo. While Chuck isn't good, Steelix wins easily vs Jasmine and Pryce. Thanks to its typing, Clair is also better as Steelix can take down the non-Surf Dragonair. Steel-type also helps against Silver, where it defeats all but Meganium, Will which results in 3 kos, Koga where Steelix easily wins. Karen is alright as Steelix can defeat Gengar, Murkrow and Vileplume. Lance isn't particularly good but Steelix can at least defeat both Aerodactyl and the Thunder-Dragonite. Steelix was really solid across and definitely a top B tier performance-wise. The main problem is getting the Metal Coat. Finding it quite hard as it's a 2% chance on a mon with an encounter rate of 20%.

:Meganium: Meganium

While Chikorita is the worst starter, it still has some uses. Reflect is a good move and helps against Whitney and Bruno. Meganium also learns Light Screen, another nice support move. Meganium has solid wins against Chuck and Pryce and is able to 1v1 Jasmine's Steelix and Clair's Kingdra. The E4 is bad, except for Bruno where Meganium can usually get 4 kos. The early availability, 2 solid wins against gym leaders, abilities to 1v1 aces, good performance against Bruno and support in the form of Reflect and Light Screen make Meganium a top D-tier.

:Slowbro: Slowbro

Slowbro has the same performance as Slowking after Morty. It easily wins against gyms 5/6/7 and tends to be average afterwards. Due to its poor speed, it's really prone to getting haxxed, resulting in a worse than expected Will and Bruno fight. The backtrack to get it is annoying as you need to get back to Slowpoke Well and use Repel Trick. Training Slowbro can take time because due to its poor speed, it will need to be healed often. The main reason it should be a tier below Slowking is that it skips a great early-game with a Bugsy and Whitney win (and average Morty).

:Farfetch Farfetch'd

Farfetch'd has good potential thanks to Swords Dance and Agility but suffers from consistency problems. Koga is the only battle where Farfetch'd is truely reliable. It's possible to sweep Morty, Chuck and Pryce but it requires bad AI and not getting crit'ed/hit by Hypnosis. Clair requires healing and Farfetch'd struggles to do something against Will, Karen and Lance. Bruno is pretty good as Farfetch'd can beat Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan and Machamp assuming Onix was taken down. Overall, while usable and sometimes great, Farfetch'd isn't reliable enough to be above D-tier.

:Staryu: Staryu

Staryu is a worse Starmie that has the same issues. It's great initially thanks to immediate access to Surf and solid movepool but becomes way worse in the late-game. It's good for Morty and wins against Pryce but is mostly average elsewhere. Poliwrath OHKOes with Dynamic Punch so it's not a reliable win and it can't OHKO Jasmine's Magnemite. Clair is mostly good as NMI Blizzard OHKOes Dragonair but it requires hitting it three times. It's good for Rival but most of the time bad against the E4. It only gets 1 ko against Will, 2 vs Koga and Bruno while it can't hope to do something against Karen. Lance isn't that good considering Staryu's coverage, as it's OHKOed by Gyarados' Hyper Beam, lvl 50 Dragonite is only a range and both Aerodactyl and Charizard outspeed. Its performance is alright but like Starmie, the slow growth rate hurts and it requires the expensive Thunder and Blizzard TM (which is prone to miss). Rain Dance is also needed to improve the Chuck fight and it needs an important backtrack.

:Electrode: Electrode

Electrode is a situational mon that requires an important investment. It can sweep Morty with Rollout, easily wins against Chuck and defeats the Seel line against Pryce. In other fights, Electrode will only be able to defeat the mons weak to its typing. As such, it doesn't have any use against Jasmine and Clair. While it's pretty good for Will and Koga, it doesn't do much against Bruno and Karen. Lance was pleasant as Electrode can easily defeat the non-Dragonite mons easily with Thunder. This mon deseperately needs the Rain Dance and Thunder TM and is hard to train as it doesn't learn any STAB naturally. This, coupled with average performance explain why it's D-tier.

:Jolteon: Jolteon

Jolteon is almost exactly like Electrode. While it has better stats and Double Kick for Jasmine's Magnemite and Pryce's Piloswine, it doesn't learn Rollout for Morty and needs one more backtrack for its elementary stone. D-tier is fair for it as it requires many investment, in form of 2 backtrack (one for Thunder Stone and one for Rain Dance), desesperately needs the costly Thunder TM to suceed and is rather hard to train due to not having natural STAB move, all of this for an average performance.

:Raikou: Raikou

Raikou is a better Jolteon that comes later. It defeats Koga and has a strong showing against Rival, Will and is fairly strong aganst Karen. However, Bruno's fight is rather bad and Raikou will really struggle to get more than 2 kos. Against Lance, Raikou is able to easily defeat the non-Dragonite mon. However, defeating Dragonite is tricky as it requires Rain to be up and paralysis can make things harder. Main reasons Raikou should be D-tier are how late it comes, how annoying it is to catch a roaming legendary, its reliance on ThunderDance and bad Bruno performance.

:Scizor: Scizor

Scizor is pretty good but like Steelix, finding a Metal Coat is annoying. As a Scyther, it can win against Whitney thanks to Fury Cutter. Then, Scizor is pretty good against Chuck and easily defeats Pryce. Clair is solid, thanks to Steel-type and against Silver, Scizor will defeat everything but Magneton. The E4 is mostly good, while Lance is bad and Will can be tricky due to the hax involved, Koga and Bruno are solid wins and Karen is mostly good. The main problem Scizor has is its availability. Getting a Metal Coat, a 2% held item on a 20% encounter mon is time-consuming. Also, Scyther performs better as its superior speed makes it better for Will, Karen and somewhat Lance.

:Dewgong: Dewgong

Much like Seadra/Kingdra, Dewgon has terrible availability as it's obtainable only after Pryce. Training against Water-type mons is also very time-consuming and requires many trips to the pokecenter. Clair fight was amazing, Dewgong can take down the 3 Dragonair and has good odds to defeat Kingdra. After that, it's nothing special, netting only 2 kos at most in the E4 fights. Lance is particularly deceiving because Dewgong is an Ice type that struggles to defeat to do more than 2 kos because everything outspeeds. Overall, while Dewgong's performance against Clair is truely fantastic, its horrible availability, difficulties to train and average performance outside of the last gym leader make it D-tier.

:Kingler: Kingler

Kingler had some uses. It defeats Pryce and most of the time Chuck and Kingler is able to 1v1 Jasmine's Steelix. After that, Kingler barely achieves anything and struggles to do more than 2 kos in most fights. However, it has utilities as an HM Slave, being able to fit Surf, Strength and Whirlpool in its moveset while still having an alright performance. These are the reasons it's D-tier.

:Azumarill: Azumarill

Azumarill is another mon mostly used for its utility as an HM Slave. It's alright for Morty and Chuck thanks to Curlout, easily defeats Pryce and can 1v1 Jasmine's Steelix. Like Kingler, it's worse afterwards and won't achieve much outside of defeating Karen's Houndoom 1v1. It's good as an HM Slave because it can use Surf/Strength/Whirlpool/Waterfall on its moveset while still having some use. Few things learn Waterfall so it's good to have a mon with the move. It also levels up fastly so training it is easy.

:Pinsir: Pinsir

Pinsir isn't good in GSC. It's in the slow level group, hard to find and its performance is nothing impressive. It wins against Chuck and may win against Whitney and Chuck with the unreliable Fury Cutter but versus Jasmine and Morty, it can't do anything. Clair is alright as with PRZCureBerry and a bit of luck, Pinsir can defeat the 3 Dragonair. The E4 is mostly bad as Pinsir can only get 2 kos against Will, 3 vs Koga and Bruno and just 1 against Karen and Lance. While it learns Swords Dance at level 43, it's hard to get by this level on a mon with slow growth rate. In addition to that, even with SD, Pinsir struggles do someting against Karen and Lance.

:Heracross: Heracross

Heracross is pretty similar to Pinsir, being a bit better for Whitney, Clair, last Silver fight and Karen but is one of the worst mon to get. You need to specifically find with your trainer ID on which tree you can encounter it. Then, catching it isn't an easy task due to its 45 catch rate and 10% flee rate. Even considering these flaws, Heracross is hard to train due to slow growth rate and its performance is kinda average so D-tier is good for it.

:Marowak: Marowak

Marowak isn't good because it's costly, prone to miss and has a below-average performance but it's still usable. Assuming it hits, Morty and Jasmine are wins. Marowak can also get a few kos here and here, most notably 1v1ing Karen's Houndoom and is pretty good against Koga.

:Sunflora: Sunflora

Sunflora isn't that bad. It can be evolved quickly and thanks to Growth and Mega Drain will defeat Whitney. Although it requires luck, Chuck is also defeatable although it requires luck and Sunflora is able to beat the Seel line vs Pryce. Afterwards, Sunflora doesn't do much outside of a few kos. While getting Sun Stone is annoying and Sunflora is mostly bad, med slow growth rate and ability to defeat Whitney while being good for Chuck and Pryce is enough for D-tier.


:Beedrill: Beedrill

Beedrill is surprisingly usable. It wins against Falkner and Bugsy and is helpful afterwards. Beedrill can sometimes win against Chuck according to the AI and defeat the Seel line against Pryce. Clair is alright as with a PRZCureBerry, it's possible to beat the 3 Dragonair. Beedrill does several things against the E4, beating 3 mons against Will, Koga and Karen. Against the latter, it can sometimes 2HKO Umbreon if Twineedle poisons. All in all, Beedrill has enough uses to prevent it from going to the worst tier.

:Sudowoodo: Sudowoodo

Sudowoodo was mediocre, due to its poor speed. Outside of sometimes Pryce, Sudowoodo didn't have a win by itself but can still contribute to some degrees. For example, it can defeat Jasmine's Magnemite, the rival team outside of Meganium and 2 Dragonair from Clair. The E4 isn't that bad as Sudowoodo can claim up to 3 kos against Will, can defeat all but Forretress vs Koga, Houndoom+Murkrow from Clair and either Charizard or Aerodactyl from Lance. All of this is enough to prevent it from going to the worst tier.

:Arbok: Arbok

Arbok has enough uses to prevent it from going to the worst tier. It wins against Morty, is strongly favoured vs Chuck and beats the Seel line against Pryce. Clair is mostly good as it can defeat the 3 Dragonair and Arbok sweeps Silver in Victory Road. The E4 is admitedly bad but Arbok is still able to defeat Machamp and 2 Hitmon against Bruno and 2 mons from Karen.

:Forretress: Forretress

Forretress is mostly bad and has the same availability problems as Heracrossnbut is helpful enough to be D-tier. It sweeps Pryce easily thanks to its typing and Rollout and it fares well againstKoga. Where it shines tho is in its use of Self-Destruct/Explosion. In many battles, Forretress is able to defeat the ace thanks to it. Miltank, Poliwrath, Kingdra, Crobat, Machamp and Umbreon are all OHKOed by Self-Destruct, which helps a lot. This niche is good enough to not be E-tier.

:Dodrio: Dodrio

Dodrio is a strong late mon that is really self-sufficient and easy to train. It's easy to get to the right level defeating trainers near the Victory Road and from there, Dodrio is a monster. It defeats Silver's team outside of Magneton, all but Slowbro vs Will, 3 mons against Koga, all but Onix against Bruno and 3/4 mons against Karen. Lance isn't as good but at least Dodrio can defeat both Gyarados and Charizard. Really, Dodrio was strong and the fact that it doesn't even need a TM to succeed cements it in D-tier.

:Suicune: Suicune

Suicune was honestly mostly average for a legendary and felt more like a generic Water-type with amazing bulk. While it sweeps Silver, the E4 is "only" good. Suicune gets 3/4 kos against Will and Koga, defeats the Hitmon and Onix vs Bruno and Houndoom+Gengar+Murkrow against Karen. Lance is mostly average as Suicune can only claim 2 kills between Blizzard and lvl 50 Dragonite, Aerodactyl and Charizard. All in all, Suicune comes late and its performance isn't impressive so D-tier is good for it.

:Wigglytuff: Wigglytuff

Wigglytuff is a below-average mon. Jasmine is a pleasant win thanks to Fire Punch and Wigglytuff wins vs Falkner as well. However, most of the time it relies on Curlout to do damages, which is unreliable due to its accuracy and Wigglytuff's speed. Most of the time, Wigglytuff will only defeat the easiest targets like Koga's bug-type. Still, winning against Jasmine and Falkner, the potential of Curlout, the ability to do a few kos and fast growth rate is enough for D-tier.

:Noctowl: Noctowl

Noctowl is mostly bad due to its poor Attack but is usable. It's strong against Bugsy thanks to its type and has a few uses here and here. It can defeat Dewgong against Pryce, 2 Dragonair against Clair, 2 hitmon against Bruno and Murkrow+Vileplume vs Karen. It's also one of the very first mon available so D-rank is fine for it.

:Venomoth: Venomoth

Venomoth is fine. It's strong upon catching against Morty as it outspeeds everything and has Confusion. Chuck is also a good battle and Venomoth has great odds at defeating him. Afterwards, Venomoth can then defeat the Seel line from Pryce, 2 Dragonair vs Clair, Ariados/Venomoth/Muk against Koga, the 3 Hitmon against Bruno and Vileplume+Murkrow vs Karen.

:Butterfree: Butterfree

Butterfree is good early on as it wins vs Falkner and does a lot against Morty. During mid-game, Butterfree isn't as useful and struggles to do something relevant until it gets Psybeam. This move lets it defeat Ariados, Venomoth and Muk vs Koga and the 3 Hitmon against Bruno as well as Karen's Vileplume. Sleep Powder is another great move that improves a bit some Butterfree matchup. Sleep Powder + Nightmare is another strategy Butterfree can use and lets it defeat some threats like Clair's Kingdra for instance or Jasmine's Steelix but it's time-consuming and unreliable.

:Weezing: Weezing

Weezing, like in other games is mostly average. It can sometimes win against Morty with Rollout and Jasmine with Fie Blast but it requires luck. It can also defeat the Seel line against Pryce, potentially the 3 Dragonair vs Clair and gets few kos here and here. Like Forretress, it has SelfDestruct, which can be used to kill aces like Poliwrath, Piloswine, Kingdra, Machamp and Umbreon. The main reasons it's D-tier are its encounter rate (1%), reliance on the costly and unaccurate Fire Blast TM, difficulties to train, and mostly average performance.

:Victreebel: :Weepinbell: Victreebel & Weepinbell

Both Victreebel and Weepinbell were rather bad and painfull to train but had enough uses to prevent them from going to E-tier. They most notably win against Chuck easily and can defeat the Seel line vs Pryce. They are also pretty good against the Rival's Meganium and can get a few kos against the E4. In that regard, Victreebel is a bit better than Weepingbell as it can defeat one more mon against Will and Karen and 2 more mons vs Bruno. But, the backtrack to get Leaf Stone kinda neuters this advantage and thus both mons should be in the same tier.

:Vileplume: :Gloom: Vileplume & Gloom

Honestly, Vileplume and Gloom are almost exactly like the Bellsprout line. They are good for Chuck, Pryce and Chuck as well as Silver fights and this is enough for D-tier.

:Exeggutor: Exeggutor

Exeggutor has some uses but is mostly bad. It often wins vs Whitney, Chuck and is pretty good for Bruno. Elsewhere, it tends to be rather bad and won't achieve much. This, coupled with slow growth rate and difficulties to train (both as Exeggcute before learning Confusion and in late-game due to the lack of power of Confusion) prevent Exeggutor from being higher than D-tier.

:Koffing: Koffing

Koffing is almost exactly like Weezing really. It has the same performance against Morty, Jasmine and most of the time Chuck. While it's harder to train due to lower stats, Koffing is also easier to find. Really, Weezing is only very slightly better than Koffing to the point it's hardly relevant and they both deserve the same tier. D-tier is good because of their flaws (reliance on the costly and unaccurate Fire Blast, difficulties to grind and average performance).

:Ariados: Ariados

While Ariados is obviously not good due to its poor stats but is still usable to the point it can't be E-tier. Thanks to Night Shade, it can win vs Bugsy, which can prove to be hard. Afterwards, Ariados has a few uses, it's pretty good against Morty, may win vs Chuck and can defeat the Seel line vs Pryce. Then, Ariados can defeat the 3 hitmon against Bruno and Murkrow+Vileplume against Karen. This performance, coupled with Fast growth rate is enough for D-tier.

:Poliwhirl: Poliwhirl

Even unevolved, Poliwhirl isn't useless. It's great against Morty and may outright win against him. It can defeat Jasmine's Steelix, Seel+Piloswine vs Pryce and is mostly good against Rival. Afterwards, Poliwhirl isn't as good but can get a few kos. Also, it levels up fastly thanks to mid slow growth rate and is pretty self-sufficient, only needing the Ice Punch TM as it learns Rain Dance naturally.

:Espeon: Espeon

It's very hard to get Espeon as evolving by friendship us horrible in this game. Espeon will also only be usable from Clair onward as it only learns Psybeam at level 36. Performance-wise, Espeon is pretty good but still nothing spectacular. It can sometimes 1v1 Clair's Kingdra and fares well against Will, Koga, Bruno and can get 2 kos vs Karen. D-tier is good for it, it's annoying to get but its performance is good enough to prevent it from going to the worst tier.

:Growlithe: Growlithe

Even unevolved, Growlithe is usable and has a niche that prevents it from goind to E-tier. Thanks to Dig, it's pretty good for Morty, where it can claim up to 3 kos. It also wins vs Jasmine and can win against Pryce. It doesn't have much uses afterwards but is rather strong against Rival, can beat WIll's Exeggutor, the bugs from Koga and Vileplume from Karen.

:Vulpix: Vulpix

Vulpix is like Growlithe, trading better stats for a better experience group and Flamethrower. It can assist against Morty thanks to Dig, win vs Jasmine and defeat Pryce's Piloswine. Vulpix also has the sames uses against the E4, defeating Will's Exeggutor, Koga's bugs and Karen's Vileplume.

:Venonat: Venonat

Venonat has poor stats, is horrid to train until it evolves and misses a good Morty fight. However, the Venomoth performance is alright as it wins against Chuck and is strong against Pryce, Koga, Bruno (defeating the 3 Hitmon is great). Venomoth performance is enough to push it to D-tier.

:Skarmory: Skarmory

Skarmory is one of the very few late mon that is worth using. While slow growth rate is annoying, Skarmory makes up for it by coming at a good level. Performance-wise, it's pretty good against Rival which gets defeated except for Magneton. Skarmory helps a lot vs Will, easily win vs Koga and can defeat all the fighters against Bruno. These showings are enough to barely get into D-tier.

:Persian: Persian

Persian is honestly bad, it's incredibly frail and is severly lacking power. Most of the time, it will only get "easy" kos and struggles to accomplish much. The only notable things it does are defeating the 3 Dragonair if it gets lucky with a PRZCureBerry and 1v1ing Clair's Houndoom. Pay Day is also a small niche, which can prove to be useful if you're trying to get a game corner TM early on. These factors are enough to barely keep Persian in D-tier.

:Parasect: Parasect

Parasect, just like in FRLG is bad but has some uses to the point it can't be E-tier. It wins reliably against Chuck and can get a few kills here and here. It can assist against Morty, as Dig 2HKOes Gengar and OHKOes the rest, can defeat Jasmine's Magnemite, a Dragonair from Clair and a few mons against the E4. Spore is great and helps to achieve more kos and can help to build up Fury Cutter.

:Corsola: Corsola

Corsola isn't that bad and usable. Immediate Surf is great and Corsola will help a lot against Morty and can 1v1 Jasmine's Steelix thanks to it. Afterwards, Corsola only achieve a few kos but Mirror Coat is a great asset. It allows to defeat targets such as Clair's Kingdra and lvl 50 Dragonite from Lance. These things, in addition to Fast growth rate is enough to keep it from E-tier.

:Seaking: Seaking

Seaking has a few positives matchup that permits it to be D-tier. It can 1v1 Jasmine's Steelix and sometimes defeat Pryce (and in the worst case will take down both Seel and Piloswine). Assuming it has Blizzard, it can defeat Clair's Dragonair. While not the best thing against the E4, it can a ko against Will, 2 against Koga, 3 against Bruno, can 1v1 Murkrow vs Karen and defeat either Charizard or Aerodactyl against Lance.

:Haunter: Haunter

Haunter despite its lack of elementary punches in this game is somewhat usable. As a Gastly, it wins against Bugsy. Then, it can get a few kos against Silver and gym leaders, like both Haunter vs Morty, the Seel line against Pryce, Will's Jynx, Koga's Muk, Lee+Chan against Bruno. Its main niche is netting one and two kos and then use Curse, which helps a lot defeating bulky foes like Jasmine's Steelix, Clair's Kingdra or a Lance's Dragonite. Hypnosis also helps in that regard and can either help assisting or spend time against a Curse target.


:Entei: Entei

Despite its legendary statu, there aren't much reasons to use Entei as it comes really late and its E4 performance is nothing impressive. It relies extremly on Fire Blast, which has few PPs and is prone to miss. In order to be useful, Entei will need to use several Ether. The legendary dog only wins against Silver and Will. Koga is great outside of Crobat, Bruno results in 3 kos (Hitmontop, Onix and Machamp) and Karen is nothing impressive (Entei only defeats Murkrow+Vileplume+Gengar). Entei also struggles to do anything Lance. All in all, Entei needs 3 TMs (Fire Blast, Sunny Day and Solar Beam), is hard to get as it's a roaming legendary and only succeeds against Silver, Will, Koga and somewhat Bruno. It doesn't do all that well vs Karen and nearly nothing against Lance and these are the most important fights.

:Dragonair: Dragonair

Dragonair is simply put too much investment for a so-so performance. It's really expensive (42k pokedollars) to the point you need to play in the gamecorner to get it before Whitney. Then, it's pretty hard to train because it's really weak before getting Dragon Rage at level 22. The move is strong early on but begins lacking power from Pryce onward. While Dragonair can get a few kos in some fights, it relies on game corner TMs to achieve something. Not only are the moves unaccurate but they are costly on a mon that is expensive to get. Even with Fire Blast, Thunder and Blizzard, Dragonair isn't that good and outside of defeating Jasmine and Clair's Dragonair, it doesn't acheive someting important. Most of the time Dragonair will achieve only 2 kos. To make things worse, it's in the slow level group, which makes training terrible. Overall, Dragonair represents too much investment (as it's costly and needs the expensive game corner TMs), has slow growth rate. Adding to these flaws, Dragonair only has an average performance. Crystal Dratini is even worse as it comes late and underleveled.

:Jumpluff: Jumpluff

Jumpluff is only niche is SleepSeed. It can work to defeat foes, most notably Whitney's Miltank, Chuck's Poliwrath or Clair's Kingdra. The problem is that this strategy isn't reliable, a Sleep Powder miss or early wake can ruin everything. Also, as Jumpluff needs lots of turns, it's prone to getting haxxed. Jumpluff struggles to do damages outside of Leech Seed because it's incredibly weak. This makes training it particularly awful, epecially considering Hoppip starts with no offensive move. All in all, Jumpluff is horrid to train and relies almost exclusively on SleepSeed which is both unreliable and time-consuming and has overall a bad performance.

:Wobbuffet: Wobbuffet

Wobbuffet isn't that bad as it beats Whitney, Clair's Kingdra, sometimes Chuck and can get a few kos here and here. Its major problem is how hard it is to train. Wobbuffet relies either on switch grinding or taking a long time defeating trainers with Counter/Mirror Coat with many trips to pokecenter. Also, Wobbuffet has another problem which is the AI attitude. Status moves, most notably Confuse Ray and Thunder Wave are annoying and will often weaken Wobbuffet. Mixed attackers are also tricky to defeat because it requires luck to use the right move between Counter/Mirror Coat. If the wrong move is used, Wobbuffet will quickly lose health. Wobbuffet also relies on taking damages and will be easily worn down. It's also mostly useless in some fights like Morty and Karen.

:Sneasel: Sneasel

Sneasel is actually not that bad when using its physical movepool. It's possible to defeat Will and Sneasel can get a few kos here and here while the med slow growth rate makes grinding easier. Still, Sneasel requires too much investment in terms of TMs (you want Return with Friend Ball, Dig and Shadow Ball) and comes way too late to justify its use as Will is its only great matchup.

:Lickitung: Lickitung

Lickitung comes too late to justify as it's only available after 7 badges. Its performance isn't good either as outside of the always easy Victory Road Silver, it only defeats the trivial mons like Koga's bugs. Against the E4, except for Koga, Lickitung usually only gets a ko. Struggling to achieve something on a late mon makes Lickitung pretty much worthless.

:Piloswine: Piloswine

Piloswine is actually alright on the field. It's strong against Silver, can defeat all the Clair's Dragonair and can usually get 2/3 kos against the E4. Its main problem is the investment it requires. Swinub comes at a low level and has incredibly bad stats. It's not easy to train as it's weak, slow and frail and slow growth rate further complicates things. Then, Piloswine absolutely needs the costly Blizzard TM to be relevant. Blizzard can miss and that will hurt Piloswine as it's really reliant on the move. Also, Lance fight is deceiving as Piloswine is an Ice type that can only achieve 2 kos at most. All in all, Piloswine comes too late and requires way too much investment (in term of training and the Blizzard TM) to be worth using.

:Octillery: Octillery

Likewise, Octillery comes too late to justify its use. Even after 7 badges, Remoraid is only at level 20 and that's incredibly low. It will require lots of training and Octillery isn't even good. While really strong, Octillery is very slow, meaning it's prone to getting worn down easily. Most of the time, Octillery will at most defeat 2 mons due to its poor speed. The only exceptions are the Silver last fight, which is always easy and Karen, which was pleasant as it resulted in 3 kos (Houndoom, Gengar and Murkrow). There is no point in using it as it's lots of training for a below-average mon outside of Karen.

:Delibird: Delibird

Delibird is obviously bad due to its late availability, stats and movepool. While fast growth rate is great, Delibird is hard to train as it relies on the unaccurate Fly and Blizzard to do damages. In battles, it almost only uses Blizzard and will only defeat targets weak to it, with the only exception being Bruno where Fly helps. Delibird comes too late, is incredibly reliant on Blizzard (outside of Bruno, it doesn't defeat any mon not weak to it) and doesn't do enough to be above E-tier.

:Phanpy: Phanpy

Silver Phanpy is way too hard to train to justify using it. It literally has no STAB outside of Mud Slap and it's particularly annoying to level up Phanpy, especially when it's encountered at level 20. Performance-wise, it's not even good. It will only get a ko against Clair and Will. Koga is only average as Donphan fails to defeat Forretress and Crobat. Karen is above-average as Donphan can defeat both Gengar and Houndoom. Lance is bad tho as Donphan can only defeat Aerodactyl. Silver Phanpy comes too late, requires too much training for a bad performance outside of Bruno and maybe Karen.

:Togetic: Togetic

Togetic struggles to do something relevant and is obtained at level 5. The only true things it achieves is defeating Jasmine and Koga's bugs thanks to Fire Blast. Outside of these fights, Togetic doesn't do anything signifiant and will at most get 2 kos. A mon that comes at a low level, needs the Fire Blast TM and is only relevant in 2 battles is an obvious E-tier.

:Rapidash: Rapidash

Rapidash comes too late to be worth using. It needs to fight every trainer on Route 26/27 to get at the right level. Rapidash is incredibly reliant on Fire Blast and won't achieve anything without it. Rapidash wins against Rival, defeats Will ouside of Slowbro and is strong vs Koga. Afterwards, it barely does anything as it will only get a ko against Bruno, 2 kos vs Karen and it does nothing against Lance.

:Rhyhorn: :Rhydon: Rhyhorn & Rhydon

I'm grouping in-game trade Rhydon and Victory Road Rhydon with these. The in-game trade requires too much investment while the Victory Road one comes way too late. Performance-wise, they are really similar to Donphan (i.e mostly bad). Rhydon only gets a ko against Will, only defeats Ariados+Venomoth+Muk vs Koga, 2/3 mons against Bruno, Gengar+Houndoom vs Karen and Aerodactyl+Charizard vs Lance. This average performance, coupled with availability problems justify E-tier.

:Ledyba: Ledyba

Ledyba is bad due to its terrible stats. It doesn't achieve something outside of potentially defeating both Haunter and Gastly against Morty and rarely Xatu+Exeggutor against Will. Outside of these, Ledian even struggle to even defeat easy target and should only get 1 ko in most major battles.

:Xatu: Xatu

Xatu requires an important backtrack as it's encountered in a remote area. Its movepool is incredibly shallow as it doesn't get a STAB outside of the very weak Fly and Peck and as such, training Natu/Xatu is incredibly hard. Performance-wise, it's obviously bad and its only win is against Chuck and even then, Xatu isn't even reliable in this fight. In other fights, Xatu won't do much and struggles to get more than a ko.

:Umbreon: Umbreon

Umbreon has the same availability problem as Espeon but actually struggle to do something relevant in battles. While it's really bulky, it's weak and STAB Bite coming from base 60 Special Attack is incredibly weak and will sometimes fail to even 2HKO frail foes. Most of the time, Umbreon won't manage to do more than 2 kos in major battles. Even Will isn't that good despite the Dark-type as Umbreon will likely fall to repeated hits and hax. Really, there is no reason to use Umbreon, it's annoying to get and performs badly.

:Gligar: Gligar

Gligar comes too late, is weak and doesn't even learn a STAB move. It doesn't accomplish anything outside of koing Will's Exeggutor. Its use is limited to defeat free mons like Koga's Ariados. Really, there is no point in using Gligar because it comes very late and only beat foes most mons can easily defeat.

:Yanma: Yanma

Yanma is hard to get as it's a 1% encounter. In addition, it has below-average stats outside of its speed and one of the most barren movepool. The only thing Yanma can achieve is taking down both Haunter from Morty with Foresight+Headbutt and Bruno's Hitmon with Wing Attack. In other fights, Yanma will fail to achieve one more than ko. Gold/Silver Yanma is even worse as it doesn't even get Wing Attack at level 37.

:Bellossom: Bellossom

Bellossom really has no use and it's way better to keep it unevolved. It relies on the weak Absorb to do damages during most of the game. Hence, it struggles to do something relevant. While Vileplume and Gloom aren't good, they can at least win against Chuck and get a few kos thanks to STAB Sludge Bmb. Bellossom lacks the poison STAB (and fighting-type resist) and truely does nothing.

:Tangela: Tangela

Likewise, Tangela relies on Vine Whip/Mega Drain and unSTAB Sludge Bomb to do damages. It really struggles to do something and it's rare it even defeats a single mon. In addition to this, it is found very late, after 7 badges.

:Shuckle: Shuckle

Shuckle is extremly weak and relies exclusively on Rollout to damage foes. That alone makes it particularly time-consuming to train. In major battles, Shuckle does almost nothing relevant. Rollout is unreliable as it may miss and it takes many turn to gain power. Shuckle will most of the time only achieve a ko and even then, it's not guaranteed due to the luck involved. The only time Shuckle was usable is against Pryce as it can hope to defeat 2 mons with a bit of luck.

:Exeggcute: Exeggcute

Exeggcute is awful to train as it needs to gain 9 levels, using Barrage as its offensive move. The slow growth rate makes the grind harder and by mid- to late-game, Confusion becomes very weak. Battle-wise, Exeggcute struggles to do something as it's slow, not particularly bulky and relies on the weak Confusion. Its main use it SleepSeed but it's not reliable and due to Exeggcute's speed, it will be weaken very easily.

:Shellder: Shellder

Shellder has very low stats all accross, especially its low special defense. It really does nothing outside of defeating Jasmine's Steelix. Even getting a single ko in major fight is hard with Shellder due to its bad stats.

:Unown: Unown

I admitedly didn't test Unown but's very obviously bad. It requires to solve a puzzle to get it and only comes at level 5. It's not possible to choose the hidden power and being stuck during the whole game with a single type is obviously bad.

:Smeargle: Smeargle

Smeargle simply requires too much investment to be worth using. It's way too hard to use Sketch in this game and you need to use the move against specific targets. It's also only available in a really remote area with an encounter rate of 10%.

:Ditto: Ditto

I also didn't use Ditto but it's obviously bad, like in FRLG. Not only Ditto is particularly horrible to train but it's also almost useless in battles. Ditto takes too much damages while transforming and most of the time the opposite mon will ko it.


As I said in the previous post, I'm done with runs but will still be present in the thread to give my views.

Thanks for reading !
 
Quick question: what happens if a Pokemon has only been tested once or twice by the closure of the thread?
I am compiling a list still of those that only have one test and will say that they need focus. I do plan to test some of the tied ones that I find and will test them being the tiebreaker unless someone can offer good insight on them. I should have a list out later today
 

Ryota Mitarai

Shrektimus Prime
is a Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Smogon Media Contributor
decided to do a run with some of the few Pokemon I have not yet tested, those being Umbreon, Remoraid, and Slowking, mostly to provide data for write-ups.

As always, missing matchup = bad / didn't try.

Umbreon
Umbreon

Morty(25): Mud-slap 3HKOes Gastly, which means you are almost surely getitng Cursed. Umbreon does a good job 1v1ing Morty's Gengar, though

Chuck(31): beats Primeape by 2HKOing it with Return. Poliwrath 2HKOes you with Dynamic Punch

Jasmine(31): Mud-slap 2HKOes Magnemite on rolls. Good luck against Steelix

Pryce(32): Pink Bow Return spam muscles through all of them, 2HKOing Seel and 3HKOing the rest. You may need to heal if you get unlucky with high rolls, but it's perfectly possible to get by without healing

Silver(34): beats Haunter and Sneasel for sure, Magnemite can be KOed with Mud-slap, though you risk being paralyzed

Clair(39): PB Return is a 2HKO on rolls on Dragonair. Their Dragonbreath is something of a 9HKO. With one healing, it is *possible* to sweep, but not too guaranteed

Silver(40): can muscle through most of his team, for most parts, can even sweep if it gets insanely lucky. Most notable victories are Sneasel, Kadabra, Haunter, and potentially Golbat

Will(42): Faint Attack seems to be a 2HKO on everything, with Spell Tag Shadow Ball OHKOing Jynx. They will resort to hax moves, but it is possible to sweep without having to heal

Koga(42): best used to take on Crobat 1v1. Faint Attack ignores Double Team and Umbreon can take multiple Wing Attacks with no issue


I have spoken about this before, but this obviously belongs to E-tier. This run makes a very bold assumption of evolving Eevee ASAP; this was done mostly to see Umbreon's full performance, but realistically, you are likely getting Umbreon somewhere by Rocket Tower / Clair. Anyways, Umbreon suffers the same issues it suffers in other games, which is a severe lack of power. Another fun thing about "early" Umbreon is that you have no STAB moves this way until Faint Attack at level 36 (and Bite comes at level 30 as an Eevee). This means that Umbreon is actually fairly lackluster against Morty (although it does wall Gengar entirely. By the way, why doesn't this learn Dig, it makes no sense). Honestly, the only valuable thing about Umbreon is that it's one of the few Pokemon that can comfortably sit on Will's Pokemon and, even then, hax moves there make the matchup somewhat annoying.

Remoraid
Octillery

Silver(34): MW Surf OHKOes Magnemite and 2HKOes the rest bar Meganium. You are slower, so you will take some damage for sure. Golbat and Meganium are the only mons you aren't beating for sure

Clair(39): Aurora Beam puts Dragonair in red, with Dragonbreath being something like a 4-5HKO. You beat the non-TBolt one(s)

Silver(40): MW Surf OHKOes Sneasel, Magneton, Haunter, and Kadabra, though all of them are faster. Also 2HKOes Golbat

Will(42): 3HKOed by Psychic and fails to OHKO anything with MW Surf. In addition, Xatu and Jynx are faster than it. Meh matchup

Koga(42): MW Surf in rain OHKOes all the bugs

I will preface this by saying that I have used it in HGSS and expected more-or-less the same outcome as in there. Octillery's issues are pretty straightforward: it comes late, is slow, and isn't even that bulky. As a Water-type, it fails to distinguish itself from pretty much every other Water-type that you can use in this game. The rival fights and Koga are pretty much the only fights where Octillery truly felt like it did something, but that's not enough to push it out of E-tier for me

Slowking
Slowking

Bugsy(16): Curse thrice on Metapod and spam PB Swift, which should 2HKO everything

Silver(17): nope, cannot get past Gastly easily and the fight is just too slow

Whitney(20): Curse thrice on Clefairy and OHKO it with PB Headbutt. Miltank is 3HKOed, but Rollout deals no damage. Stomp flinches can be annoying, though

Morty(25): Confusion OHKOes Gastly and 2HKOes Haunter. Reasonably good without Hypnosis hax

Chuck(30): Confusion 2HKOes both and neither deals a lot of damage to Slowking. Pretty good

Jasmine(31): outspeeds and OHKOes everything with Surf

Pryce(32): Headbutt + Curse takes care of the Dewgong line while Surf OHKOes Piloswine

Silver(34/35): Confusion 2HKOes Golbat and OHKOes Haunter. Surf 2HKOes Sneasel and OHKOes Magnemite, with the latter being outsped

Clair(39/40): Icy Wind 2HKOes Dragonair, with one being enough to outspeed Dragonair if you are not paralyzed

Silver(40/41): Surf 2HKOes Magneton and Sneasel (the former seems to just spam Thundershock) and OHKOes Kadabra. Confusion 2HKOes Golbat and OHKOes Haunter

Will(42): Curse thrice and spam Pink Bow Headbutt (or Strength). You will need to heal at least once to sweep. Note that Exeggutor sets up Reflect, though nothing on his team deals much damage to you and relies on hax instead

Koga(42): 2HKO Ariados with Confusion. Set up as many Curses as you want against Forretress (I set up three in my case). 2HKO it with Surf. Confusion + Headbutt KO Crobat. PB Headbutt also 2HKOes Moth (Strength might OHKO, never tried it), and Confusion 3HKOes Muk. Poison is pretty much your only issue here

Bruno(43): Curse three times on Hitmontop and 2HKO it with Confusion. Onix dies to Surf, Hitmonlee dies to Headbutt and the rest are 2HKOed by Headbutt or Confusion. You may need to heal if you are particularly unlucky with crits and flinches

Lance(44/45): Curse to the max against Gyarados, heal up, then OHKO it with PB Strength. Level 47 Dragonite seem to be OHKOed on rolls at level 44 and guaranteed OHKO at level 45. Level 50 Dragonite seems to avoid the OHKO even at level 45. Thunder Dragonite is the most dangerous threat here, as it 2HKOes with Thunder. You will likely need at least two healing items to sweep, but if you are desperate enough, it works.

So a long time ago, I had used Slowbro and nominated it to D-tier. I consequently nominated Slowking to D-tier as well, as the stats seemed too similar to make a difference. However, I failed to consider that Slowking allows you to use Slowpoke in an almost entirely different manner, so this test used Slowpoke in that manner.

To be more specific, Slowking offers the following advantage: because you can obtain the King's Rock after beating Morty, this means that a Slowpoke caught as early as possible will evolve much earlier than a Slowpoke caught as early as possible that is waiting to evolve into Slowbro. While you can catch a Slowbro via repels, this robs you off one move: Curse. Early-game Slowpoke gets access to Curse, allowing it to sweep Bugsy and Whitney, albeit inefficiently, and also allows Slowking to set up on various opponents (such as most of the Elite Four. Maybe Clair too, though I never thought of trying that one, unfortunately) and potentially sweep them, something which Slowbro only dreams of doing. While the Curse set ups aren't the most efficient strategy as a whole, they do allow Slowking to contribute much more than Slowbro would, so I think it's fair to put Slowking in C-tier, but nothing higher. Slowbro should stay in D-tier, in my opinion, as it's just a Water-type that is incredibly slow and offers almost no real advantage, compared to its earlier counterparts.
 

atsync

Where the "intelligence" of TRAINERS is put to the test!
is a Pokemon Researcheris a Contributor to Smogon
Regarding the Slowking/Slowbro discussion, can I ask how long you guys spent grinding your Slowpokes before sending them in against Bugsy?
 

Ryota Mitarai

Shrektimus Prime
is a Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Smogon Media Contributor
I haven't tracked my grinding time, but the Swift TM with Pink Bow allows it to deal decent damage. I did use skipped trainers, though, but that was moreso cause I had them and didn't want them to go to waste.

If you don't use skipped trainers, you either set up more Curses (which is even more problematic than what I achieved but better than nothing) or just bite the bullet with Bugsy. The other matchups are still standing

e: looks like you can also catch a Slowpoke later on if it's under level 20 and still evolve it immediately. That is also an option if you want Curse but don't want to use Slowpoke
 
At this point I'm thinking it might be worth trying Slowbro caught as a Slowpoke to see if those four matchups (Chuck, Jasmine, Pryce, and Underground Rival) really merit the tier difference—presuming we agree that after evolution its performance will mostly line up with Slowking's. Chuck and Pryce should still be wins on typing alone but the others'll prolly be bad.

I don't think I'll be able to do that because I'm currently doing two runs: one with Sentret, Oddish (Vileplume), Staryu (Mie), and Seel and one with Rattata, Qwilfish, Girafarig, and Golduck and will likely have to rest after finishing them, but it just feels kinda weird to me to have them apart. Then again, Slowking has finally dethroned its sibling in Gen IX so it might be deserved :o
 

atsync

Where the "intelligence" of TRAINERS is put to the test!
is a Pokemon Researcheris a Contributor to Smogon
Yeah I'm also a little skeptical about Slowthings being tiered differently. It seems to be based on the premise that using Slowpoke early-game (prior to the post-Strength backtrack) is worth it, but based on the logs I'm not entirely convinced. All I'm seeing is a slow Curse sweep on Bugsy, another slow Curse sweep on Whitney (which could be slowed further by Clefairy getting bad Metronome rolls or perhaps even a badly timed Encore, it also assumes you aren't going to be hit by Miltank's Attract so I guess you'd just have to remember to get a female one) and then the Morty match-up is mainly just beating his weaker Ghosts but being a shaky answer to Gengar, and all of that is complimented by a relatively mediocre performance on routes (really slow and not exceptionally strong without boosts so it's often accumulating chip damage constantly compared to faster, stronger options). I would still consider this decent if Slowpoke was given to you battle-ready upon walking into Azalea Town but it starts at level 8 at most and then you have to grind it at a time where the experience yield from nearby wilds is mediocre (presumably it would be faster to take experience off trainers instead). Oh, and I guess we're investing Swift and Pink Bow as well. "Needing" Swift is honestly not a huge problem because most of the things that would be candidates for Swift can learn Headbutt and as long as you can still get past Bugsy and Rival2 safely it wouldn't be a huge hinderance, and the ones that can't learn Headbutt are mostly birds that already handle Bugsy's gym pretty well with their Flying STABs so you wouldn't really need to be using Slowpoke there anyway. Pink Bow is also OK to use I guess since you can move the item around the team as you see fit so it isn't "lost" like a TM, but you still have to back-track to Route 29 after getting the first badge to acquire it, so there's more time you spent setting things up.

And after you do set this up...you STILL have to do the exact same back-track that you would be doing for mid-game Slowbro/king to get the King's Rock for your early-game Slowpoke, so you're losing that time anyway, on top of any other grinding and back-tracking time you spent on Slowpoke. I dunno, maybe Slowpoke can do some useful things early on but just from considering the logs and other factors this just seems to cost the player more time in the long-run and would be a less efficient way to go. I still think it's better just to skip it and wait until the Slowpoke Well basement opens up and go for it then, and at that point Slowbro and Slowking are mostly interchangeable. Slowking would have the edge still due to it being more convenient to get the King's Rock vs. encountering a wild Slowbro plus potentially having Curse if the Slowpoke being evolved is at a low enough level (but the trade-off is being lower-leveled to begin with) but not enough to tier them separately in my opinion.
 
I've used both Slowbro and Slowking as well. While I can get that tiering both differently may feel weird because they are incredibly similar, I still feel it's deserved.

I'll start off by saying that training Slowpoke isn't actually hard. It has alright power and great bulk at this point. I didn't track each trainer I fought but going off memory, by defeating Rocket grunt, gym trainers and skipped trainers, it was enough to get to a correct level for Bugsy.

While Bugsy and Whitney aren't perfect fights, you have to keep in mind that both are hard most of the time, especially the latter. Outside of Geodude, Flaafy, Quilava, Fearow and Pidgeot (and Spinarak using Night Shade ig), it's hard to reliably win against Bugsy. Rage isn't a perfect strategy, Rattata might miss Hyper Fang and Furret needs to set up Defense Curl.
Whitney is notorious for being one of the hardest gym leaders. While Slowpoke isn't 100% consistent against her, having a mon that wins more often than not is great. Miltank almost always goes for Rollout, which results in a win and it's possible to get a female Slowpoke to deal with Attract.

Morty isn't the most signifiant battle for Slowpoke but it can contribute to some degrees, which is something. Afterwards, Slowbro and Slowking are obviously very similar. I admitedly didn't try Curse for the E4 but I don't think it makes much differences between Bro and King.

Overall, while it may seem weird at first, the strong matchups against Bugsy and Whitney and somewhat Morty warrant a tier difference between Slowbro and Slowking.

I'll try using Slowpoke from Slowpoke Well to Underground Rival. I'll try to detail trainers fought before Bugsy and each important fights, most notably Bugsy and Whitney where I'll try to reset a lot. I don't expect much from Slowpoke, it's harder to train compared to Bro/King, should lose to Jasmine and while it might win against Pryce, Chuck seems way harder to due to its much lower stats.
 
Regarding the Slowking/Slowbro discussion, can I ask how long you guys spent grinding your Slowpokes before sending them in against Bugsy?
I defeated Bugsy with Slowpoke at Lv12 after spreading experience equally among four members (Totodile, Wooper, Poliwag, Slowpoke) and defeating every trainer available until then. I could have probably defeated Bugsy with only forced trainers if I went Slowpoke solo since four levels is a very easy benchmark (for the record, I had Totodile Lv16, Poliwag Lv15 and Wooper Lv13). IVs were 9 Atk, 8 everything else. So, no real grinding spent on leveling Slowpoke up other than defeating the enemies that were already there.

edit: after revising my footage, the Pink Bow doesn't seem to be necessary, since +6 Swift from Lv13 Slowpoke seems to inflict around 2/3rds against Scyther when equipped with it, Scyther's Fury Cutter does 5 damage first hit, 10 damage second hit; Metapod does 3 damage before boosts, 2 damage from any boost and afterwards 1 damage
1676864071728.png


edit 2: also including Miltank, her Stomp does 7 damage, Rollout does 3 first hit, 5 second hit
1676864380941.png
 
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The Slowpoke discussion sounds quite interesting. Guess I need to try one.

Not convinced Slowbro or Slowking belongs in D. C seems fine, but I guess I'll actually have to use them.
 
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So, I did the run.

I caught a level 7 Slowpoke and only used it to defeat all Rocket grunt. It required 2 trips to the Pokecenter, one after the first grunt and one after the second one. Slowpoke was then able to defeat Grunt #3 and Grunt #4. Afterwards, Slowpoke could defeat at once every trainer in the gym. With all this training, Slowpoke got at level 14 for Bugsy.
Here are the logs :

Bugsy (14) : I tried to see how many Curses were required at this point. 3 Curse weren't enough as Scyther was able to 3HKO with Fury Cutter. 4 Curses was the right number.
After 4 Curses, Slowpoke was able to 2HKO Metapod (3HKOes if it uses Harden with Swift). Then, Swift will 3HKO Scyther while barely taking 3 Fury Cutter. Slowpoke will earn a level after defeating Scyther and 2HKO Kakuna with Swift.
I tried this several times and outside of Scyther critting, it always resulted in a win. The only other factor that prevents a win is Kakuna poisoning but a PSNCureBerry covers that.
It takes a bit of time but Slowpoke is heaviliy favoured here (and should win like 80% of the time).

Rival : Tried this both directly at level 15 and at level 17 using skipped trainers :

Level 15 : Not good. 3HKOes Gastly with Water Gun while Lick doesn't do too much damages. Zubat is only 4HKOed by Water Gun and 4HKOes with Bite. Croconaw takes nothing and threatens Slowpoke with Bite.

Level 17 : Pretty much the same. Gastly isn't hard to defeat but the rest is tricky. Zubat now 5HKOes with Bite but it's better to avoid it as it will most likely flinch. Crocnaw still does too much with Bite.

I should have tried with Chikorita as my starter because Quilava should be easily beatable with Slowpoke.

Whitney : Tried this both at level 17 and level 21 :

Level 17 : Set up 6 Curse on Clefairy. Then, 2HKO it and 3HKO Miltank with Swift. Miltank almost always uses Rollout and doesn't threaten with it so it shouldn't be hard to defeat. The main problem is setting up on Clefairy because Metonome may pick a bad move.

Level 21 : Set up 3 Curse on Clefairy. Then, Headbutt will OHKO it and 3HKO Miltank which doesn't do much back.

Whitney is obviously more consistent at level 21 but still defeatable at level 17. Either way, Miltank doesn't pose a threat as it almost always uses Rollout and even then, Slowpoke can easily afford to take a Stomp. The main problem is Clefairy picking a powerful move with Metronome but it's still rather unlikely.

Silver (23) : OHKO Haunter after Curse with Confusion. Flee Magnemite as it will 2HKOes with the combination of Thundershock and Curse. Croconaw 3HKOes with Bite and takes nothing from Slowpoke. 2HKO Zubat with Confusion, which does nothing back. Just like the Azalea fight, Quilava should be easily defeatable here.

Morty (25) : Confusion OHKOes Gastly and 2HKOes Haunter (OHKO after Curse). Curse from Gastly hurts to the point it's not guaranteed to defeat Haunter #1. However, it's possible to OHKO Haunter #1 after Curse, flee Gengar and then 2HKO Haunter #2, easily taking 2 Night Shade. Gengar 2HKOes with Shadow Ball and is only 3HKOed by Confusion. Alright matchup as Slowpoke can defeat both Haunter.

Chuck (32) : It's better to use Curse than spamming Confusion in this matchup. Confusion 3HKOes Primeape and 4/5HKOes Poliwrath. But, Poliwrath 5HKOes with Surf so it's better to ko it quickly. After 4 Curse, Slowpoke will OHKO Primeape and 2HKO Poliwrath ith Headbutt. Equip MintBerry because Hypnosis is annoying. Slowpoke should have 3/4 of its health after defeating Primeape. Poliwrath should 3/4HKO by then with Surf so Slowpoke should defeat it as it 2HKOes with Headbutt. Slowpoke is favoured to win but several things can prevent a win. If Karate Chop crits several times, it's possible to lose against Poliwrath and a Surf crit will more often than not result in a loss. Still, Slowpoke fares well.

Jasmine (33) : Magnemite outspeed and OHKO with Thunderbolt. Steelix is 4HKOed by Surf after Sunny Day. It's better to setup Curse to better tank Iron Tail. Iron Tail 4/5HKOes Slowpoke and it will take hits handily after Curse. Steelix will also spend 2 turns using Sunny Day, in which he won't attack. Due to Hyper Potion, it takes 7 Surf to defeat Steelix. Slowpoke is favoured to win here but a crit or early Screech can make things harder.

Pryce (34) : Set up 4 Curse against Seel. Then, OHKO it and 2HKO Dewgong with Headbutt. Then, 2HKO Piloswine with Surf. It's not hard to win because nothing threatens, with only Piloswine doing some damages with Blizzard.

Rival (34) : Bite from Golbat is a range for the 3HKO on Slowpoke while Confusion 3HKOes so Golbay is heavily favoured. It's possible to defeat Magnemite 1v1 as it only 3HKOes with Thundershock while Surf 2HKOes. Sneasel 3HKOes with Feint Attack while Surf 3HKOes so it requires that it doesn't use Feint Attack 3 times to defeat it. It's also possible to defeat Haunter as Shadow Ball 3HKOes while Confusion 2HKOes. Not good as Slowpoke will only achieve a ko and Magnemite/Haunter are free most of the time.


As for tiering, I really want to say D-tier on Slowpoke. The main problem I had in this short run was how slow the battles were. Slowpoke needs to setup Curse several times to win, which makes most fights annoying. Due to this, it's incredibly prone to getting haxxed and a single crit can ruin everything. Thus, outside of Pryce which was a pleasant win, Slowpoke can't achieve a 100% guaranteed sweep.
Another important problem Slowpoke has is how annoying it is to train it. Because of its poor speed, it requires many trips to the PokeCenter. It also can't be put first in the team because almost every wild Pokemon will outspeed it.

Likewise, regular Slowbro should be in D-tier and it's honestly way better on paper than in practise. It needs a massive backtrack to catch it and even then, it's a 10% encounter. Its performance is nothing impressive either. It sweeps gym 5/6/7 but is barely relevant afterwards. While it's bulky and decently powerful, its speed is an important hinderance and Slowbro will struggle to achieve more than 2 kos in major battles. Slowbro feels more like a top D-tier than a C-tier imo.

I still feel Slowking is a tier above Slowbro. While Bugsy and Whitney aren't perfect, having a mon with great odds (like 80%) to defeat both is valuable. It's also helpful to some degrees to have a mon that defeats both Haunter against Morty.
 
With just about 3 days to go, this list will come to it's conclusion. I want to personally thank everyone that has contributed to the list, to thank the people before me who headed this and the contributors in those lists. The final placements will be placed tomorrow as Ryota Mitarai was gracious enough to make up a document that showed what all had been tested and nominated. I have been at work getting this in order. During this time when the placements are posted, you have 2 days to try to get a Pokemon moved into another tier but it must have good reasoning and a compelling argument as to why it should either rise or fall. Please note that blacklisted Pokemon are barred from this since they cause enough issues in the past.
 

Ryota Mitarai

Shrektimus Prime
is a Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Smogon Media Contributor
I wonder about just one thing: If I were to quickly blaze through the game with Alakazam, what mons help it the most with its 2 or 3 bad matchups? Thanks.
Alakazam doesn't exactly have "bad matchups", unless you count losing against very specific Pokemon "bad matchups". Anyways, from a run I did a long time ago, Alakazam truly loses only to Karen's Umbreon and Houndoom (maybe Archer's Houndoom too, though never confirmed it, since Team Rocket isn't considered relevant here), so something that can take care of them will be needed. Some examples are Ursaring and Machamp. Alakazam also won't necessarily sweep Will or Lance without healing (it should still take out a majority of their Pokemon in that case, though), so you can prepare something to finish the job or death fodders for safe healing.
 

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