as I said, running on an emulator is incredibly easy, so didn't take me long to finish this run.
My team was originally Graveler / Gengar / Espeon / Red Gyarados. I was swimming in Exp. after Morty, though, so I decided to add Lapras to my team too. Had to grind for Clair for a bit (though it was mostly Espeon / Gyarados) and used a few candies on Gyarados after Clair so I could give more Exp. to my other teammates.
Espeon was used with the assumption that you don't restart the clock in any way to abuse the haircut brothers (is it even possible? I'd imagine yes, but I don't really know how the mechancis work, so...). This is probably better anyways, as you want to get Bite before evolving and the damage output of Return vs STAB Headbutt is very minimal, so you don't change a lot of matchups anyways.
Logs:
thoughts:
Graveler
Honestly, just merge it with Golem. Having used both, I fail to point at any significant difference between both. In fact, I read my logs for both and I pretty much felt like I am reading the same thing twice. Both are great early-game (including against Morty if you don't get hit by Hypnosis) but take a toll later on. E4 performance is slightly shaky, though it can be useful for Koga and Karen's Houndoom. Both are fine in A imo, given the massive early-game performance + Med. Slow growth rate making it a low-investment Pokemon, though Curlout reliance + shaky end-game are certainly worrying.
Gastly (Trade)
So let's start debunking some myths here, shall we? The Gastly period isn't *too bad*. So, don't get me wrong, I am not saying it's good or something. I just feel like it's slightly exaggarated. First, Gastly is only truly bad against Normal-types (and maybe the Union Cave Onix trainer too?) since it cannot damage them with Lick. Everything else struggles to hit Gastly hard, so it can muscle through them, albeit it will rarely 2HKO (or even 3HKO). Second, Med Slow growth rate means that Gastly is getting through that stage particularly quickly. Finally, Curse + Hypnosis make it useful for Scyther and Miltank, not to mention that Gastly can be incredibly useful for Silver if you picked Totodile, since it can just Curse on Bayleef. I think the Burned Tower rival fight and Falkner are the only times I felt the matchup wasn't great and for the Burned Tower fight, you can theoritically overlevel there and have a Gengar there anyways. Let's move on to the Gengar phase, now that I explained why I don't think the Gastly period is too bad.
Gengar can be equipped with all elemental punches rather easily. I recommend giving it Shadow Ball as well, as it's very useful for hitting Kadabra / Haunter when facing Silver, along with anything else you perceive as specially bulky. Once you get to Gengar, it pretty much has no bad matchups whatsoever. It won't sweep everything, as seen against Morty, Clair, and most of the E4, but it sweeps Gyms 5-7 (which, tbh, isn't that hard, from experience, though 2HKOing or OHKOing everything there is nice), along with Silver fights afterwards, and it tends to kill at least three mons from all the teams of the opponents I mentioned anyways.
My amazement with Gengar came up while facing Clair and Lance. Clair had her Dragonairs demolished completely by Gengar and her Kingdra was weakened by my Gengar, even if Gengar lost the 1v1. Lance was an amazing matchup; I tested him multiple times and my results were positive. You can take on the Lv. 47 DNites with no problems, Lv. 50 is also not hard, but potentially risky, and you can even beat Gyarados and Zard in one go in some more optimal scenarios. Against Lance, it is possible to beat 5/6 of his team in one go if some things go according to your plan.
Personally, I really want to say A-tier on Gengar. Gastly period is certainly not a great thing, but I felt like it wasn't enough to hold back Gengar and its all-around strong performance. I could live with B, though, if people decide that the Gastly period is too bad for Gengar as a whole. So A / B, heavily leaning towards A myself, though.
Eevee (Espeon)
Easy D-tier for me. Eevee / Espeon won't be doing anything against Gyms 4-7 that I'd classify as relevant enough. Espeon gains some usability in the end-game, 2HKOing Clair's Dragonair and getting some kills at the E4, but... it won't really sweep anything either. Psybeam cannot OHKO anything on Bruno's team, so you are bound to be weakened till Espeon faints. Koga, likewise, can live at least one Psybeam with most of his Pokemon. Will was a pleasant matchup with Bite, though, 2HKOing everything. All in all, Espeon isn't that amazing at the E4 and it's certainly not great before that either, so leaning towards D-tier. I might be harsh on it, though.
Speaking of Eeveelutions, can I just nominate Umbreon to E? Dark typing is only useful for Will and, knowing its offensive stats, it's unlikely to perform well there either (it's not like it performs well against him in HGSS). And gl using that thing on the other fights when you hit like a wet noodle. Obviously, someone may have to test it, but I have used Umbreon in other games and no matter how often you could say to yourself "oh come on, it can't be that bad", you always find out that, yes, it is that bad.
Gyarados
Strongest points of Gyarados are:
1) high join level, which can help mitigate the Slow growth rate
2) role compression
as for role compression, it's simple; you can TM it Strength and the three Water HMs and Gyarados's performance won't be heavily impacted. In terms of performance, Gyarados is mostly okay. It won't really sweep any fight beyond Chuck and Pryce, but I don't think I've ever found it useless in any. PB Strength deals respectable damage, often 2HKOing even at the Elite Four. I am gonna be honest, I didn't feel too impressed by Gyarados. As a whole, the main reason you'd want to use Gyara is cause you can just stick up four HMs on it and still perform well. B-tier at worst, maybe A-tier (but not S whatsoever). Honestly, I'd be supporting A-tier a lot more if it wasn't for the fact that Gyarados's Special Attack is pretty low.
Lapras
Lapras's biggest issue, other than coming after four badges, is the backtrack you have to do to get it. Granted, you can use your Bicycle and repels to get to that part of the Union Cave relatively quickly, but still not ideal. Lapras felt all-around great; I didn't try Thunderdance on Poliwrath, but it could probably win with that. It had no problems against Jasmine and Pryce and the ability to outspeed and OHKO all of Clair's Dragonair was certainly appreciated. Its E4 performance was relatively good, only performing badly against Bruno. Lance is a matchup that requires a bit of an investment, but Lapras can take on Dragonite quite easily. I want to say B-tier, but A might be possible, it felt like a better Gyarados, for most parts. Slow growth rate has to be mentioned, before I close this off.
I am planning on doing another run before I stop for some time. Reason for stopping is mostly so I don't flood the thread with exclusively my logs and runs, though I may chime in more often if this thread is more active so the flooding doesn't happen. Planning on using Wooper, Snubbull, Vaporeon, and Chinchou.
My team was originally Graveler / Gengar / Espeon / Red Gyarados. I was swimming in Exp. after Morty, though, so I decided to add Lapras to my team too. Had to grind for Clair for a bit (though it was mostly Espeon / Gyarados) and used a few candies on Gyarados after Clair so I could give more Exp. to my other teammates.
Espeon was used with the assumption that you don't restart the clock in any way to abuse the haircut brothers (is it even possible? I'd imagine yes, but I don't really know how the mechancis work, so...). This is probably better anyways, as you want to get Bite before evolving and the damage output of Return vs STAB Headbutt is very minimal, so you don't change a lot of matchups anyways.
Logs:
Graveler
Falkner(11): Rock Throw OHKOs everything, only watch out for Mud-slap
Bugsy(17): Rock Throw spam wins, has to be obvious
Silver(18): beats Gastly and Zubat. Avoid Bayleef
Whitney(21): DCurl, then use Rollout, which will end the fight in like three turns if you don't miss whatsoever
Silver(23): beats everything but Bayleef
Morty(25): Magnitude should be able to OHKO everything, though Gengar probably requires a higher number. You are outsped by everything, so it comes down to Hypnosis missing
Chuck(31): Magnitude 6 2HKOs Primeape, with 9 OHKOing. Poliwrath is lol
Jasmine(31): beats Magnemite
Pryce(31): Icy Wind prevents you from doing much, beyond beating Seel
Silver(33): Rock Throw 2HKOs Sneasel and Golbat. Magnitude covers Haunter and Magnemite. Avoid Meganium
Clair(38): Water / Ice coverage everywhere !!!
Silver(40): EQ OHKOs Magneton, Kadabra, and Haunter. Rock Throw 2HKOs Sneasel and Golbat, though the latter is annoying with hax
Will(41): yeah no, you are outsped often and everything hits with special attacks. Don't bother
Koga(41): EQ OHKOs Muk. Rock Throw 2HKOs Ariados, watch out for Giga Drain. Against Forry, you can try to set up a Curlout, which will be able to kill everything if it never misses.
Bruno(41): even with DCurl to the max, you are beating only Hitmontop and Hitmonlee without resorting to healing, probably Onix too, if you keep Graveler out against Machamp and Hitmonchan
Karen(41): EQ OHKOs Houndoom and Gengar
Falkner(11): Rock Throw OHKOs everything, only watch out for Mud-slap
Bugsy(17): Rock Throw spam wins, has to be obvious
Silver(18): beats Gastly and Zubat. Avoid Bayleef
Whitney(21): DCurl, then use Rollout, which will end the fight in like three turns if you don't miss whatsoever
Silver(23): beats everything but Bayleef
Morty(25): Magnitude should be able to OHKO everything, though Gengar probably requires a higher number. You are outsped by everything, so it comes down to Hypnosis missing
Chuck(31): Magnitude 6 2HKOs Primeape, with 9 OHKOing. Poliwrath is lol
Jasmine(31): beats Magnemite
Pryce(31): Icy Wind prevents you from doing much, beyond beating Seel
Silver(33): Rock Throw 2HKOs Sneasel and Golbat. Magnitude covers Haunter and Magnemite. Avoid Meganium
Clair(38): Water / Ice coverage everywhere !!!
Silver(40): EQ OHKOs Magneton, Kadabra, and Haunter. Rock Throw 2HKOs Sneasel and Golbat, though the latter is annoying with hax
Will(41): yeah no, you are outsped often and everything hits with special attacks. Don't bother
Koga(41): EQ OHKOs Muk. Rock Throw 2HKOs Ariados, watch out for Giga Drain. Against Forry, you can try to set up a Curlout, which will be able to kill everything if it never misses.
Bruno(41): even with DCurl to the max, you are beating only Hitmontop and Hitmonlee without resorting to healing, probably Onix too, if you keep Graveler out against Machamp and Hitmonchan
Karen(41): EQ OHKOs Houndoom and Gengar
Falkner(13): nope
Bugsy(17): Curse on Scyther and let it die. Fury Cutter deals exactly one HP on the first try, so you can even put it to sleep just to be on the safe side or just spam Lick and hope for lucky palaysis.
Silver(19): Curse on Bayleef and spam Lick on it and Gastly as well to win. You can put Bayleef to sleep for safety measures
Whitney(21): Curse + Hypnosis helps greatly against Miltank
Silver(22): Night Shade gets past Magnemite and Curse cna be useful for Bayleef. Zubat has Bite, Haunter can be beaten with Hypnosis to prevent Curse
Morty(25): Magnet Thunder Punch 3HKOs Gengar, OHKOs Gastly, and 2HKOs Haunter. However, you outspeed all of them, so you may be able to pull off some of Morty's tricks on him and put them to sleep with Hypnosis. Even if you don't, you can get by most of his team as long as you aren't put to sleep yourself
Chuck(30): Magnet Thunder Punch 2HKOs both, easy sweep
Jasmine(30/31): Fire Punch OHKOs Magnemite and 2HKOs Steelix. Steelix goes for Screech turn one, giving you an easy win
Pryce(31): Thunder Punch covers Seel line, Fire Punch 2HKOs Piloswine, easy sweep
Silver(33): Shadow Ball OHKOs Haunter and appropriate elemental punch OHKOs or 2HKOs the rest, easy sweep
Clair(38): NMI Ice Punch OHKOs Dragonair and 3HKOs Kingdra. You outspeed everything, but Kingdra 2HKOs with Surf. Great matchup, nevertheless
Silver(40): super effective Shadow Ball or elemental punch OHKOs everything bar Meganium, which doesn't do anything in return. Amazing matchup
Will(40): NMI Ice Punch OHKOs Xatu and 2HKOs Exeggutor. Shadow Ball OHKOs Jynx. Thunder Punch + Shadow Ball 2HKO Slowbro. You outspeed all. Exeggutor OHKOs with Psychic, while Slowbro fails to OHKO (leaves you at red, may be a roll?), so you can take out 4/5 of his team with little issue.
Koga(41): Charcoal Fire Punch 2HKOs Moth and OHKOs the other Bugs. Avoid Muk, unless you are fine with muscling through Minimize. Crobat is 2HKOed by Ice Punch and 3HKOs with Wing Attack, only watch out for evasion
Bruno(41): beats Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, and Onix. Shadow Ball 2HKOs Lee and 3HKOs Chan, while Ice Punch kills Onix
Karen(41): beats Murkrow, Gengar, and Vileplume
Lance(42/43): Thunder Punch OHKOs Gyarados on rolls, which goes for Rain Dance turn one (per constant tests on Gengar). Outspeeds and OHKO Lv. 47 Dragonite with NMI Ice Punch. It seems like it's a rolls if you are not holding NMI, but if you are, it seems guaranteed, as I tried NMI Ice Punch at least 20 times and never failed to OHKO. Aero 3HKOs with Rock Slide, but might be a roll, while Ice Punch 2HKOs. Zard is 2HKOed by Thunder Punch and it 2HKOs with Flamethrower. Lv. 50 is OHKOed on rolls by NMI Ice Punch. However, it is outsped and it goes for Safeguard turn one. Furthermore, Outrage leaves Gengar in lower yellow, so you can live one if you are healthy enough.
As a whole, you can kill the Dragonites safely. Gyarados can be beaten with no damage taken if you are willing to depend on Rain Dance turn one. If you beat Lv. 50 Dragonite and are still at full health, you get the luxury of beating Zard too. All in all, amazing matchup
Bugsy(17): Curse on Scyther and let it die. Fury Cutter deals exactly one HP on the first try, so you can even put it to sleep just to be on the safe side or just spam Lick and hope for lucky palaysis.
Silver(19): Curse on Bayleef and spam Lick on it and Gastly as well to win. You can put Bayleef to sleep for safety measures
Whitney(21): Curse + Hypnosis helps greatly against Miltank
Silver(22): Night Shade gets past Magnemite and Curse cna be useful for Bayleef. Zubat has Bite, Haunter can be beaten with Hypnosis to prevent Curse
Morty(25): Magnet Thunder Punch 3HKOs Gengar, OHKOs Gastly, and 2HKOs Haunter. However, you outspeed all of them, so you may be able to pull off some of Morty's tricks on him and put them to sleep with Hypnosis. Even if you don't, you can get by most of his team as long as you aren't put to sleep yourself
Chuck(30): Magnet Thunder Punch 2HKOs both, easy sweep
Jasmine(30/31): Fire Punch OHKOs Magnemite and 2HKOs Steelix. Steelix goes for Screech turn one, giving you an easy win
Pryce(31): Thunder Punch covers Seel line, Fire Punch 2HKOs Piloswine, easy sweep
Silver(33): Shadow Ball OHKOs Haunter and appropriate elemental punch OHKOs or 2HKOs the rest, easy sweep
Clair(38): NMI Ice Punch OHKOs Dragonair and 3HKOs Kingdra. You outspeed everything, but Kingdra 2HKOs with Surf. Great matchup, nevertheless
Silver(40): super effective Shadow Ball or elemental punch OHKOs everything bar Meganium, which doesn't do anything in return. Amazing matchup
Will(40): NMI Ice Punch OHKOs Xatu and 2HKOs Exeggutor. Shadow Ball OHKOs Jynx. Thunder Punch + Shadow Ball 2HKO Slowbro. You outspeed all. Exeggutor OHKOs with Psychic, while Slowbro fails to OHKO (leaves you at red, may be a roll?), so you can take out 4/5 of his team with little issue.
Koga(41): Charcoal Fire Punch 2HKOs Moth and OHKOs the other Bugs. Avoid Muk, unless you are fine with muscling through Minimize. Crobat is 2HKOed by Ice Punch and 3HKOs with Wing Attack, only watch out for evasion
Bruno(41): beats Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, and Onix. Shadow Ball 2HKOs Lee and 3HKOs Chan, while Ice Punch kills Onix
Karen(41): beats Murkrow, Gengar, and Vileplume
Lance(42/43): Thunder Punch OHKOs Gyarados on rolls, which goes for Rain Dance turn one (per constant tests on Gengar). Outspeeds and OHKO Lv. 47 Dragonite with NMI Ice Punch. It seems like it's a rolls if you are not holding NMI, but if you are, it seems guaranteed, as I tried NMI Ice Punch at least 20 times and never failed to OHKO. Aero 3HKOs with Rock Slide, but might be a roll, while Ice Punch 2HKOs. Zard is 2HKOed by Thunder Punch and it 2HKOs with Flamethrower. Lv. 50 is OHKOed on rolls by NMI Ice Punch. However, it is outsped and it goes for Safeguard turn one. Furthermore, Outrage leaves Gengar in lower yellow, so you can live one if you are healthy enough.
As a whole, you can kill the Dragonites safely. Gyarados can be beaten with no damage taken if you are willing to depend on Rain Dance turn one. If you beat Lv. 50 Dragonite and are still at full health, you get the luxury of beating Zard too. All in all, amazing matchup
Silver(22): PB Headbutt 2HKOs Zubat. At most, you can Mud-slap Magnemte and Haunter. Bayleef is 4HKOed, but Reflect screws you up
Morty(25): nah. Maybe Mud-slap could help it be not totally useless, but I wouldn't classify that as a good matchup anyways, so...
Chuck(31): PB Headbutt 2HKOs Primeape and 4HKOs Poliwrath. Funnily, sweeping is actually possible if you get lucky enough
Jasmine(31): Mud-slap, anyone? That's about the only thing you can do here. Btw, still an Eevee
Pryce(32): PB Headbutt 2HKOs Seel and 4HKOs Dewgong. If Dewgong goes for Rest on the turn you put it at red, you can put it in red and KO with Quick Attack before it heals again. Piloswine beats you
Silver(32): its only 2HKO here is Haunter with Shadow Ball. The rest tends to avoid a 3HKO, so take a guess as to how great the matchup is
Clair(38): Psybeam 2HKOs Dragonair and 3HKOs Kingdra, outspeeding all. However, you get paralyzed by Dragonair and you are 2HKOed by Hyper Beam, so a sweep here is impossible, though you can take out around two Dragonairs at worst if you aren't unlucky as hell.
Silver(40): PB Return 2HKOs Sneasel. Psybeam OHKOs Golbat and Haunter and 3HKOs Meganium. Shadow Ball OHKOs Kadabra.
Will(40): Bite 2HKOs everything, with Spell Tag Shadow Ball OHKOing Jynx. You outspeed everything. Hax is about the only issue you have here and Bite flinches make this more manageable.
Koga(40): Psybeam OHKOs Ariados and 2HKOs the other Poisons, though Moth might be a roll for an OHKO. Muk 2HKOs on rolls with Sludge Bomb, so gl there. As a whole, not a bad matchup, but it could be better for a Psychic type.
Bruno(41): Psybeam 2HKOs everything while outspeeding. You won't be able to sweep, but you can decide what you beat. Machamp 3HKOs with Rock Slide, for reference.
Karen(41): beats Gengar and Vileplume
Morty(25): nah. Maybe Mud-slap could help it be not totally useless, but I wouldn't classify that as a good matchup anyways, so...
Chuck(31): PB Headbutt 2HKOs Primeape and 4HKOs Poliwrath. Funnily, sweeping is actually possible if you get lucky enough
Jasmine(31): Mud-slap, anyone? That's about the only thing you can do here. Btw, still an Eevee
Pryce(32): PB Headbutt 2HKOs Seel and 4HKOs Dewgong. If Dewgong goes for Rest on the turn you put it at red, you can put it in red and KO with Quick Attack before it heals again. Piloswine beats you
Silver(32): its only 2HKO here is Haunter with Shadow Ball. The rest tends to avoid a 3HKO, so take a guess as to how great the matchup is
Clair(38): Psybeam 2HKOs Dragonair and 3HKOs Kingdra, outspeeding all. However, you get paralyzed by Dragonair and you are 2HKOed by Hyper Beam, so a sweep here is impossible, though you can take out around two Dragonairs at worst if you aren't unlucky as hell.
Silver(40): PB Return 2HKOs Sneasel. Psybeam OHKOs Golbat and Haunter and 3HKOs Meganium. Shadow Ball OHKOs Kadabra.
Will(40): Bite 2HKOs everything, with Spell Tag Shadow Ball OHKOing Jynx. You outspeed everything. Hax is about the only issue you have here and Bite flinches make this more manageable.
Koga(40): Psybeam OHKOs Ariados and 2HKOs the other Poisons, though Moth might be a roll for an OHKO. Muk 2HKOs on rolls with Sludge Bomb, so gl there. As a whole, not a bad matchup, but it could be better for a Psychic type.
Bruno(41): Psybeam 2HKOs everything while outspeeding. You won't be able to sweep, but you can decide what you beat. Machamp 3HKOs with Rock Slide, for reference.
Karen(41): beats Gengar and Vileplume
Chuck(31): MW Surf 2HKOs Primeape. Strength 3HKOs Poliwrath, which is annoying at best due to confusion or sleep
Jasmine(31): beats Steelix. Magnemite lives a Surf and Thunderbolts you
Pryce(32): Strength 2HKOs and 3HKOs Seel and Dewgong and Surf 2HKOs Piloswine. You have no problems here
Silver(32/33): can get through most of his team with no problems, only avoid Meganium. Magnemite is OHKOed by MW Surf.
Clair(38): outspeeds everything. PB Strength 2HKOs Dragonair and 3HKOs Kingdra. Watch out for the Thunderbolt Dragonair. Kingdra 5HKOs with Dragonbreath (you can use Leer to avoid the healing spam). Kingdra's only an issue if it goes for Smokescreen or you are too damaged. Otherwise, you can beat it. You will need to heal off paralysis if you are planning on using Gyara for anything that is not 1v1ing Kingdra
Silver(40): PB Strength 2HKOs Sneasel and Golbat and OHKOs Kadabra. Surf 2HKOs Magneton and Haunter, avoid the former. Meganium can be muscled through, but Reflect + Poisonpowder takes a toll on Gyara's health.
Will(41): PB Strength OHKOs Jynx and 2HKOs Xatu, outspeeding all. Can also muscle through Slowbro. If you didn't take on Slowbro, you won't need to heal to beat Jynx and Xatu
Koga(41): PB Strength 2HKOs Ariados and Venomoth and Surf 3HKOs Forry. Crobat is 3HKOed by Strength, but goes for evasion, seems to be the same for Muk.
Bruno(41): outspeeds all. PB Strength 2HKOs the Hitmons and Surf OHKOs Onix. Avoid Machamp.
Karen(41): PB Strength can be used to get past Vileplume and Murkrow. Gengar is 3HKOed by Surf and Houndoom is 2HKOed, but beats you if you've taken some damage from previous mons.
Lance(41): it gets barraged by Hyper Beams constantly and it fails to 2HKO with Strength (though Surf helps against Zard/Aero, though the latter will simply Rock you to death)
Jasmine(31): beats Steelix. Magnemite lives a Surf and Thunderbolts you
Pryce(32): Strength 2HKOs and 3HKOs Seel and Dewgong and Surf 2HKOs Piloswine. You have no problems here
Silver(32/33): can get through most of his team with no problems, only avoid Meganium. Magnemite is OHKOed by MW Surf.
Clair(38): outspeeds everything. PB Strength 2HKOs Dragonair and 3HKOs Kingdra. Watch out for the Thunderbolt Dragonair. Kingdra 5HKOs with Dragonbreath (you can use Leer to avoid the healing spam). Kingdra's only an issue if it goes for Smokescreen or you are too damaged. Otherwise, you can beat it. You will need to heal off paralysis if you are planning on using Gyara for anything that is not 1v1ing Kingdra
Silver(40): PB Strength 2HKOs Sneasel and Golbat and OHKOs Kadabra. Surf 2HKOs Magneton and Haunter, avoid the former. Meganium can be muscled through, but Reflect + Poisonpowder takes a toll on Gyara's health.
Will(41): PB Strength OHKOs Jynx and 2HKOs Xatu, outspeeding all. Can also muscle through Slowbro. If you didn't take on Slowbro, you won't need to heal to beat Jynx and Xatu
Koga(41): PB Strength 2HKOs Ariados and Venomoth and Surf 3HKOs Forry. Crobat is 3HKOed by Strength, but goes for evasion, seems to be the same for Muk.
Bruno(41): outspeeds all. PB Strength 2HKOs the Hitmons and Surf OHKOs Onix. Avoid Machamp.
Karen(41): PB Strength can be used to get past Vileplume and Murkrow. Gengar is 3HKOed by Surf and Houndoom is 2HKOed, but beats you if you've taken some damage from previous mons.
Lance(41): it gets barraged by Hyper Beams constantly and it fails to 2HKO with Strength (though Surf helps against Zard/Aero, though the latter will simply Rock you to death)
Chuck(31): MW Surf 2HKOs Primeape. Body Slam 4HKOs Poliwrath. You need Sing luck to win here or Thunderdance (I didn't try it because I am dumb)
Jasmine(31): MW Surf OHKOs Magnemite and 2HKOs Steelix, easy sweep
Pryce(31): Body Slam 2HKOs and 3HKOs Seel and Dewgong and Surf covers Piloswine, easy sweep
Silver(33): MW Surf OHKOs Haunter and Magnemite and 2HKOs Golbat and Sneasel. Beyond some hax, nothing threatens you heavily
Clair(38): outspeeds all the Dragonair and OHKOs them with NMI Ice Beam. Kingdra is 3HKOed and seems to 5HKO with Dragonbreath. Smokescreen is by far the biggest issue. Great matchup
Silver(40): set up rain against Sneasel and OHKO it, Magneton, and Haunter with Surf. Kadabra dies to Body Slam. The rest are OHKOed by NMI Ice Beam
Will(41): NMI Ice Beam OHKOs Xatu and Eggy, though Xatu is faster. Body Slam 2HKOs Jynx, but you are dealing with hax here, so avoid it.
Koga(41): MW Surf in rain OHKOs Ariados and 2HKOs Moth. Surf 2HKOs Forry. Ice Beam puts Crobat in red.
Bruno(41); beats only Onix and Hitmontop
Karen(41): NMI Ice Beam OHKOs Murkrow and Vileplume. Surf 2HKOs Houndoom, which 3HKOs even if you took an attack from Murkrow
Lance(41/42/43): Thunder OHKOs Gyarados, Surf 2HKOs Charizard, and NMI Ice Beam OHKOs the rest. Lv. 47 DNites 3HKO with Hyper Beam, Thunder one 2HKOs with... Thunder. Aero 2HKOs with Ancient Power, Zard seems to 3HKO with Flamethrower, and Lv. 50 Dragonite 2HKOs with Hyper Beam. Matchup requires some healing, but given this is Lance, I rate this a good matchup
Jasmine(31): MW Surf OHKOs Magnemite and 2HKOs Steelix, easy sweep
Pryce(31): Body Slam 2HKOs and 3HKOs Seel and Dewgong and Surf covers Piloswine, easy sweep
Silver(33): MW Surf OHKOs Haunter and Magnemite and 2HKOs Golbat and Sneasel. Beyond some hax, nothing threatens you heavily
Clair(38): outspeeds all the Dragonair and OHKOs them with NMI Ice Beam. Kingdra is 3HKOed and seems to 5HKO with Dragonbreath. Smokescreen is by far the biggest issue. Great matchup
Silver(40): set up rain against Sneasel and OHKO it, Magneton, and Haunter with Surf. Kadabra dies to Body Slam. The rest are OHKOed by NMI Ice Beam
Will(41): NMI Ice Beam OHKOs Xatu and Eggy, though Xatu is faster. Body Slam 2HKOs Jynx, but you are dealing with hax here, so avoid it.
Koga(41): MW Surf in rain OHKOs Ariados and 2HKOs Moth. Surf 2HKOs Forry. Ice Beam puts Crobat in red.
Bruno(41); beats only Onix and Hitmontop
Karen(41): NMI Ice Beam OHKOs Murkrow and Vileplume. Surf 2HKOs Houndoom, which 3HKOs even if you took an attack from Murkrow
Lance(41/42/43): Thunder OHKOs Gyarados, Surf 2HKOs Charizard, and NMI Ice Beam OHKOs the rest. Lv. 47 DNites 3HKO with Hyper Beam, Thunder one 2HKOs with... Thunder. Aero 2HKOs with Ancient Power, Zard seems to 3HKO with Flamethrower, and Lv. 50 Dragonite 2HKOs with Hyper Beam. Matchup requires some healing, but given this is Lance, I rate this a good matchup
thoughts:
Graveler
Honestly, just merge it with Golem. Having used both, I fail to point at any significant difference between both. In fact, I read my logs for both and I pretty much felt like I am reading the same thing twice. Both are great early-game (including against Morty if you don't get hit by Hypnosis) but take a toll later on. E4 performance is slightly shaky, though it can be useful for Koga and Karen's Houndoom. Both are fine in A imo, given the massive early-game performance + Med. Slow growth rate making it a low-investment Pokemon, though Curlout reliance + shaky end-game are certainly worrying.
Gastly (Trade)
So let's start debunking some myths here, shall we? The Gastly period isn't *too bad*. So, don't get me wrong, I am not saying it's good or something. I just feel like it's slightly exaggarated. First, Gastly is only truly bad against Normal-types (and maybe the Union Cave Onix trainer too?) since it cannot damage them with Lick. Everything else struggles to hit Gastly hard, so it can muscle through them, albeit it will rarely 2HKO (or even 3HKO). Second, Med Slow growth rate means that Gastly is getting through that stage particularly quickly. Finally, Curse + Hypnosis make it useful for Scyther and Miltank, not to mention that Gastly can be incredibly useful for Silver if you picked Totodile, since it can just Curse on Bayleef. I think the Burned Tower rival fight and Falkner are the only times I felt the matchup wasn't great and for the Burned Tower fight, you can theoritically overlevel there and have a Gengar there anyways. Let's move on to the Gengar phase, now that I explained why I don't think the Gastly period is too bad.
Gengar can be equipped with all elemental punches rather easily. I recommend giving it Shadow Ball as well, as it's very useful for hitting Kadabra / Haunter when facing Silver, along with anything else you perceive as specially bulky. Once you get to Gengar, it pretty much has no bad matchups whatsoever. It won't sweep everything, as seen against Morty, Clair, and most of the E4, but it sweeps Gyms 5-7 (which, tbh, isn't that hard, from experience, though 2HKOing or OHKOing everything there is nice), along with Silver fights afterwards, and it tends to kill at least three mons from all the teams of the opponents I mentioned anyways.
My amazement with Gengar came up while facing Clair and Lance. Clair had her Dragonairs demolished completely by Gengar and her Kingdra was weakened by my Gengar, even if Gengar lost the 1v1. Lance was an amazing matchup; I tested him multiple times and my results were positive. You can take on the Lv. 47 DNites with no problems, Lv. 50 is also not hard, but potentially risky, and you can even beat Gyarados and Zard in one go in some more optimal scenarios. Against Lance, it is possible to beat 5/6 of his team in one go if some things go according to your plan.
Personally, I really want to say A-tier on Gengar. Gastly period is certainly not a great thing, but I felt like it wasn't enough to hold back Gengar and its all-around strong performance. I could live with B, though, if people decide that the Gastly period is too bad for Gengar as a whole. So A / B, heavily leaning towards A myself, though.
Eevee (Espeon)
Easy D-tier for me. Eevee / Espeon won't be doing anything against Gyms 4-7 that I'd classify as relevant enough. Espeon gains some usability in the end-game, 2HKOing Clair's Dragonair and getting some kills at the E4, but... it won't really sweep anything either. Psybeam cannot OHKO anything on Bruno's team, so you are bound to be weakened till Espeon faints. Koga, likewise, can live at least one Psybeam with most of his Pokemon. Will was a pleasant matchup with Bite, though, 2HKOing everything. All in all, Espeon isn't that amazing at the E4 and it's certainly not great before that either, so leaning towards D-tier. I might be harsh on it, though.
Speaking of Eeveelutions, can I just nominate Umbreon to E? Dark typing is only useful for Will and, knowing its offensive stats, it's unlikely to perform well there either (it's not like it performs well against him in HGSS). And gl using that thing on the other fights when you hit like a wet noodle. Obviously, someone may have to test it, but I have used Umbreon in other games and no matter how often you could say to yourself "oh come on, it can't be that bad", you always find out that, yes, it is that bad.
Gyarados
Strongest points of Gyarados are:
1) high join level, which can help mitigate the Slow growth rate
2) role compression
as for role compression, it's simple; you can TM it Strength and the three Water HMs and Gyarados's performance won't be heavily impacted. In terms of performance, Gyarados is mostly okay. It won't really sweep any fight beyond Chuck and Pryce, but I don't think I've ever found it useless in any. PB Strength deals respectable damage, often 2HKOing even at the Elite Four. I am gonna be honest, I didn't feel too impressed by Gyarados. As a whole, the main reason you'd want to use Gyara is cause you can just stick up four HMs on it and still perform well. B-tier at worst, maybe A-tier (but not S whatsoever). Honestly, I'd be supporting A-tier a lot more if it wasn't for the fact that Gyarados's Special Attack is pretty low.
Lapras
Lapras's biggest issue, other than coming after four badges, is the backtrack you have to do to get it. Granted, you can use your Bicycle and repels to get to that part of the Union Cave relatively quickly, but still not ideal. Lapras felt all-around great; I didn't try Thunderdance on Poliwrath, but it could probably win with that. It had no problems against Jasmine and Pryce and the ability to outspeed and OHKO all of Clair's Dragonair was certainly appreciated. Its E4 performance was relatively good, only performing badly against Bruno. Lance is a matchup that requires a bit of an investment, but Lapras can take on Dragonite quite easily. I want to say B-tier, but A might be possible, it felt like a better Gyarados, for most parts. Slow growth rate has to be mentioned, before I close this off.
I am planning on doing another run before I stop for some time. Reason for stopping is mostly so I don't flood the thread with exclusively my logs and runs, though I may chime in more often if this thread is more active so the flooding doesn't happen. Planning on using Wooper, Snubbull, Vaporeon, and Chinchou.
