My experience with Musharna was poor. Psybeam is good early on but it can't hit darks with a special attack UNTIL BEFORE THE SIXTH FREAKING GYM! Psychic and Calm Mind come too little, too late. Too late especially, with mediocre stats until then. Bite and Bug Bite are both common attacks early on, and later on, it has horrible stats and will just go on dying splurges. Once you evolve it, it becomes decent, but it is a pretty much dead weight until then. Low Mid definitely if there is one, if not low.
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In-Game Tier List Discussion
- Thread starter Colonel M
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Munna is, to put it bluntly, complete and total crap. Psybeam coming off of 67 SpA is fine when you get it, but being stuck with it as your only usable STAB for 26 levels is terrible. Add to this that Psychic is possibly the worst STAB in the game (due to all the Dark Pokemon running around) and the extreme lack of TMs that Munna can use, and you're left with one of the worst offensive Pokemon in the game.
Defensively, he's pretty lackluster before evolving as well. Herdier, Dwebble, Scraggy, etc. are all better candidates for the Eviolite than Munna, and there are several other Pokemon who need it to survive more than Munna will (Joltik immediately spring to mind).
Once he learns Psychic and evolves, Musharna is... good, but not amazing. Sure, he's a tank, but one with a weakness to one of the most common attack types in the game. Offensively, he's decent (not amazing, but not the worst), but that speed means he's going to take a lot of damage before killing anything.
For the endgame, Musharna is mostly worthless. Nearly everything in the Elite 4/N's castle has either a Dark or Ghost attack, and exactly 1/4 of all the Pokemon are immune to Psychic. Aside from Marshal, Musharna will struggle with every single trainer in the League.
I'd just like to point out that not teaching it Acrobatics is criminal. I'd drop Work Up since you aren't going to have a ton of time to set up with him due to low defenses and bad typing. Dig should also be considered, possibly instead of Shadow Claw.
Isn't the Earthquake TM only available in the postgame? I'm fairly certain it is.
1) Sawk has 125 Attack
2) Dig >> Bulldozer
3) You have Brick Break before the second gym how, exactly?
Tynamo even with lucky egg plows through the flying gym.
I've used Tynamo in my in-game run, it was terrible, it got OHKO'd by everything and levelling it up is like shitting bricks, however it picks up its slack after it evolves(should be around the 7th Gym) where it gets Crunch, by then you should be able to get Eelektross and teach it Thunderbolt and Rock Slide/Grass Knot/Whatever for coverage, it was good in some boss battles but I never found it to be too good, for Water types Sawsbuck has always done the job faster, and most Flying types are rather frail. Sawsbuck can at least sweep the Dark E4 once Scrafty is taken out.
TL;DR : Tynamo belongs to Low-Mid at best.
I'll also rate the pokemon I've used for ingame runs
Oshawott: High: It was useful throughout the whole game, it only starts faltering after the Elite Four, he has a good level up movepool alongside TMs that further support it.
Drillbur: Top: This thing is beast once it reaches Level 19, from there onwards it just kills, it falls a bit during the early 20s and before evolution, but then it gets Rock Slide to make up for it and you can do like I did and delay evolution back 2 levels for Earthquake.
Scraggy: High: It gets a strong level up movepool with near flawless coverage, high defenses make up for the below-average speed and High BP moves make up for its somewhat average attack. getting Hi Jump Kick at level 31 just secures its spot for High tier, imo this thing deserves to be at the top of High or the bottom of Uber, I originally intended to ditch it when Mienfoo was accessible but I ended up keeping him. (I raised Mienfoo later)
Solosis: Mid: Its selling point is the high Special Attack the instant you get it, other than that it doesn't have much going on for it, its power(In base stats) caps out at Level 32 which is both good and bad(As Reuniclus just adds bulk), he desperately needs coverage, luckily the one I used had a Bug Type Hidden Power which dispatched Dark Types.
Deerling: Mid-High: Yes, its stats are fairly poor at the beginning, but it gets Take Down, Jump Kick and Faint Attack just as you get it that somewhat make up for its attack for the time being, it truly shines when it evolves, at base 95 Speed it outspeeds lots of things in the game and KOs/2HKOs. Can Arguably reach high tier but I think thats a bit too much for it.
Tynamo: Already Discussed
Mienfoo: Mid/Mid High: He's late in the game, and you probably could be having Scrafty/Sawk/Conkeldurr/Emboar by now, Mienfoo can use Jump Kick/Rock Slide(assuming you went to Mistralton cave) when you first get him so coverage is not an issue, at Base 65 Speed he's faster than most fighting types in the game, its evolution is late, but its possible to get Mienshao right before the Elite Four, by then it gets Base 125 Attack and 105 Speed thats very helpful against most of the E4(Along with N and Ghetsis), Mienshao can possibly downright outspeed and KO Hydreigon. While he's certainly not Top/High due to late access and evolution, I think he shouldn't be anywhere near Low as its damn easy to train him right from the start(he levels up fast too) and gets really useful near the end.
I finished my Black run a while back. Ultimately, I was disappointed by Sawk every step of the way. It's not that he was bad (far from it), it's just that he never, ever set himself apart from the rest of my team. I ended up switching him out for a Dragon Dance Scraggy as soon as I got Surf, and I never missed Sawk at all.
The biggest problem with Sawk, I think, is that he never really gets a chance to shine. He's great against Lenora, but I've had no trouble with her, especially if an Intimidate Herdier is used. Then Sawk more or less sits on the bench for Pinwheel and the third Gym. Around that time, Scraggy becomes available. While Scraggy might not be nearly as fast as Sawk, he doesn't perform significantly worse than Sawk against the things Sawk is good against, and indeed Scraggy counters more things by virtue of his extra type.
For the endgame, Scraggy (probably even without Dragon Dance) performs better than Sawk against the vast majority of the final battles, as he has little problem with 3/4 of the Elite 4 and indeed swept both N and Ghetsis for me (N would be harder in White than Black since he sends out Venilluxe instead of Carracosta as his second Pokemon, making setting up with Scraggy harder).
Dragon Dance Scraggy is something I have a hard time recommending. On the one hand, it makes the final battles a cakewalk. On the other, catching an Axew and breeding a semi-decent Moxie Scraggy took forever, and probably single-handedly added about an hour to the run. Training it was no problem, though, since all I had to do was throw on an Exp. Share and she was ready to sweep the entire 7th Gym by the time I got to it (she was a little underleveled, but that Gym is kinda a joke).
Dwebble should stay Mid at best. He's loads of fun, but he's not exactly amazing. Too many foes survived after a single Shell Smash that the reward ultimately wasn't worth the risk. He's also a little out of the way, especially if you don't spend much extra time in the desert.
A final thought - surprisingly, using only three Pokemon made the game easier, I think, simply because my level was somewhat higher. Even with skipping a fair amount of optional content (random encounters, Routes 17/18, etc.), my levels going into the Elite 4 were about 5 higher than my first run.
The biggest problem with Sawk, I think, is that he never really gets a chance to shine. He's great against Lenora, but I've had no trouble with her, especially if an Intimidate Herdier is used. Then Sawk more or less sits on the bench for Pinwheel and the third Gym. Around that time, Scraggy becomes available. While Scraggy might not be nearly as fast as Sawk, he doesn't perform significantly worse than Sawk against the things Sawk is good against, and indeed Scraggy counters more things by virtue of his extra type.
For the endgame, Scraggy (probably even without Dragon Dance) performs better than Sawk against the vast majority of the final battles, as he has little problem with 3/4 of the Elite 4 and indeed swept both N and Ghetsis for me (N would be harder in White than Black since he sends out Venilluxe instead of Carracosta as his second Pokemon, making setting up with Scraggy harder).
Dragon Dance Scraggy is something I have a hard time recommending. On the one hand, it makes the final battles a cakewalk. On the other, catching an Axew and breeding a semi-decent Moxie Scraggy took forever, and probably single-handedly added about an hour to the run. Training it was no problem, though, since all I had to do was throw on an Exp. Share and she was ready to sweep the entire 7th Gym by the time I got to it (she was a little underleveled, but that Gym is kinda a joke).
Dwebble should stay Mid at best. He's loads of fun, but he's not exactly amazing. Too many foes survived after a single Shell Smash that the reward ultimately wasn't worth the risk. He's also a little out of the way, especially if you don't spend much extra time in the desert.
A final thought - surprisingly, using only three Pokemon made the game easier, I think, simply because my level was somewhat higher. Even with skipping a fair amount of optional content (random encounters, Routes 17/18, etc.), my levels going into the Elite 4 were about 5 higher than my first run.
I just finished my White run, and so to speak, I decided to just go the easy way out in beating Ghetsis and use Haxorus again: with a twist by having Substitute. Made it so easy to setup on Cofagrigus because it will spam Toxic on Substitute like no tomorrow while I set-upped to +6 and swept his team. The other oldies were Conkeldurr(which was a major upgrade over Gurdurr: evolving it immediately at LV 25 means that you have a 140 Atk monster at the 4th gym, definitely nothing to laugh at) and Zebstrika(but mostly for Elesa).
I used the last Unova starter that I didn't use this time: Snivy. Surprisingly, it outperfomed my expectations. Having something that is fast and bulky and getting Leech Seed is just too good. It rarely dies, seriously. Leaf Tornado is great midgame offense and sure, he didn't get a lot for a while(sure, I skipped that portion by grinding him to LV 25 in Pinwheel through Audino, while searching for a Pansage).
Speaking of Pinwheel, I found a wild Lilligant and I was like, OMGYESPL0X. Lilligant was great as a partner to Servine, with Servine being the tank and Lilligant being the sweeper. Ofc, 2 grass types on the same team is like asking for trouble, and I eventually benched Lilligant and converted Serperior to an offensive set of Coil/Return/Leaf Blade/Dragon Tail. :/ Lilligant was eventually benched for Fraxure, while I had a HM slave Ducklett in its place.
I used the elemental monkey this time, aka Panpour/Simipour. Getting Scald by Castelia is just... GODLY. Even with an Impish nature, it still hit hard enough, and when it got Acrobatics, the game became a lot easier. The last moveset was Work Up/Acrobatics/Scald/Bite, but Bite is only there because I can't find anything else to put(ok, maybe I could of used Shadow Claw...). I only used it because it was a female Panpour, but hey, it turned out quite epic.
I think I might try a 3-mon run soon, consisting of Dwebble, Pansage, and Sigilyph. All three are pretty much never used to me...
(is cursing on how White Forest is empty, but on the other hand, I have a DW Taillow with 31 ATK IV and Adamant... without SR/RNG. :D)
I used the last Unova starter that I didn't use this time: Snivy. Surprisingly, it outperfomed my expectations. Having something that is fast and bulky and getting Leech Seed is just too good. It rarely dies, seriously. Leaf Tornado is great midgame offense and sure, he didn't get a lot for a while(sure, I skipped that portion by grinding him to LV 25 in Pinwheel through Audino, while searching for a Pansage).
Speaking of Pinwheel, I found a wild Lilligant and I was like, OMGYESPL0X. Lilligant was great as a partner to Servine, with Servine being the tank and Lilligant being the sweeper. Ofc, 2 grass types on the same team is like asking for trouble, and I eventually benched Lilligant and converted Serperior to an offensive set of Coil/Return/Leaf Blade/Dragon Tail. :/ Lilligant was eventually benched for Fraxure, while I had a HM slave Ducklett in its place.
I used the elemental monkey this time, aka Panpour/Simipour. Getting Scald by Castelia is just... GODLY. Even with an Impish nature, it still hit hard enough, and when it got Acrobatics, the game became a lot easier. The last moveset was Work Up/Acrobatics/Scald/Bite, but Bite is only there because I can't find anything else to put(ok, maybe I could of used Shadow Claw...). I only used it because it was a female Panpour, but hey, it turned out quite epic.
I think I might try a 3-mon run soon, consisting of Dwebble, Pansage, and Sigilyph. All three are pretty much never used to me...
(is cursing on how White Forest is empty, but on the other hand, I have a DW Taillow with 31 ATK IV and Adamant... without SR/RNG. :D)
I know we're not supposed to talk about our teams, but I just finished a run using pretty much the same team consistently and now I have OPINIONS.
Scraggy - This guy should be placed even higher than he is, literally the only thing keeping him from being the best ingame Pokemon ever is his less than great speed. Moxie + STAB High Jump Kick sweeps everything that doesn't resist, and whatever does resist better be able to take a Crunch. Beats 3 of the Elite Four due to sheer type advantage, beats almost every gym either way.
Cubchoo - I chose this guy because I needed a surfer and I thought Ice Stab would help against the last gym. Except this dude's lower bulk and more weaknesses than Scraggy meant that he was literally outclassed in almost every situation. Seriously gamefreak needs to rethink the Ice Type.
Stunfisk - My favorite Pokemon may or may not be Dunsparce, and so I had to try this generation's equivalent. I was not disappointed. Static, Discharge and Bounce basically guarantee paralysis on anything that's not limber and his type combination means that in any situation he will either die a quick and painful death or he will wall the fuck out of whatever he's fighting. Definitely not the best pokemon ever, but probably deserving of a higher place than bottom of the bottom, considering his mindbogglingly wide coverage and luck with paralysis can make this little fish come out on top.
Cottonee - You can get this guy in both versions (there's an in-game trade in white) and in both he comes with literally all the moves he needs - Leech Seed, Growth, Mega Drain and STUN SPORE. Literally all a good ingame Whimsicott needs on that moveset is Giga Drain instead of Mega Drain, and you have the best support Pokemon ever. Seriously should be low high tier considering I'd take Cottonee and any mid tier pokemon any day over any of the top tier.
Scraggy - This guy should be placed even higher than he is, literally the only thing keeping him from being the best ingame Pokemon ever is his less than great speed. Moxie + STAB High Jump Kick sweeps everything that doesn't resist, and whatever does resist better be able to take a Crunch. Beats 3 of the Elite Four due to sheer type advantage, beats almost every gym either way.
Cubchoo - I chose this guy because I needed a surfer and I thought Ice Stab would help against the last gym. Except this dude's lower bulk and more weaknesses than Scraggy meant that he was literally outclassed in almost every situation. Seriously gamefreak needs to rethink the Ice Type.
Stunfisk - My favorite Pokemon may or may not be Dunsparce, and so I had to try this generation's equivalent. I was not disappointed. Static, Discharge and Bounce basically guarantee paralysis on anything that's not limber and his type combination means that in any situation he will either die a quick and painful death or he will wall the fuck out of whatever he's fighting. Definitely not the best pokemon ever, but probably deserving of a higher place than bottom of the bottom, considering his mindbogglingly wide coverage and luck with paralysis can make this little fish come out on top.
Cottonee - You can get this guy in both versions (there's an in-game trade in white) and in both he comes with literally all the moves he needs - Leech Seed, Growth, Mega Drain and STUN SPORE. Literally all a good ingame Whimsicott needs on that moveset is Giga Drain instead of Mega Drain, and you have the best support Pokemon ever. Seriously should be low high tier considering I'd take Cottonee and any mid tier pokemon any day over any of the top tier.
Honestly speaking, Scraggy can also use Work Up, and you should already have the TM for it. Getting Payback extremely soon is a big plus, although its outright down to a question of Payback vs. Crunch. :/
I don't think Cottonee is anywhere as good as Petilil. Now I've only played black and used the godly ingame trade. I'm considering using either in white.
Looking just at the ingame trade Black's Petilil gets a better use out of modest since it has a naturally higher sp. atk. I do think Cottonnee has a better trade ability but ingame is more about sweeping and laying a stun spore first is the only way I can see using it. I admit to not using Petilil's chlorophyll, didn't really matter.
Learning sleep powder and synthesis makes a huge difference for Petilil early on. Once you get the quiver and petal dance moves Liligant just needs to do this:
-Sleep Powder (it can take a few hits)
-Quiver Dance until opponent wakes up
-Giga Drain
-Giga Drain or Quiver Dance entire team
Looking just at the ingame trade Black's Petilil gets a better use out of modest since it has a naturally higher sp. atk. I do think Cottonnee has a better trade ability but ingame is more about sweeping and laying a stun spore first is the only way I can see using it. I admit to not using Petilil's chlorophyll, didn't really matter.
Learning sleep powder and synthesis makes a huge difference for Petilil early on. Once you get the quiver and petal dance moves Liligant just needs to do this:
-Sleep Powder (it can take a few hits)
-Quiver Dance until opponent wakes up
-Giga Drain
-Giga Drain or Quiver Dance entire team
Munna is a total bro. It's bulky, and can use yawn/hypnosis and flash. It serves the same purpose in the game that Snorlax did in gen 1: Stalling and allowing the use of revives and potions on your fallen pokemon during battle. It deserves Mid tier. If I were calling the shots I'd place is high, but I'm biased, so I'm recomending it for mid tier.
I agree. Dragon Dance Scraggy is a super hassle, just use work up. Lilligant straight out kills stuff (though I'm a bit biased against it but probably because I didn't use it right, Chlorophyll with Petal Dance) while Whim needs growths. And Munna is frailer than you think. Keep it as Munna till level 37 means it is the frailest member of my team (Samur/Lill/Darm/Scrag/Exca/and itself) at that time. Solosis is mid, and it is worlds better than it and so is Sigilyph, just like how Darm is worlds better than Pansear. Low is right. If Low Mid was built, it so belongs there though.
I think Jellicent deserved to be moved up, Its bulkiness helped to beat Ghestis, N, and the Fighting and Psychic Elite four when she was around level 46, since she could just will-o-whisp, surf, recover, repeat. Of course, she was a bit hard to raise for the first 30 or so levels, so I'd put it at around upper-mid tier.
Elektross, though, was my most used pokemon once I evolved it, since its good attacks, bulk, and coverage let it sweep the dragon gym, as well as Ghestis, N, and the rest of the Elite 2, a definite MVP. But he sucked to train. lower-high tier
Elektross, though, was my most used pokemon once I evolved it, since its good attacks, bulk, and coverage let it sweep the dragon gym, as well as Ghestis, N, and the rest of the Elite 2, a definite MVP. But he sucked to train. lower-high tier
I around victory road on my 4th (or 5th) playhrough and here are my thoughts:
Stoutland: i shouldn't need to speak on this. It belongs in High, where it is.
Maractus: i am not so sure why this is low. It gets Needle Arm, and Giga Drain for two powerful STABs, then Petal Dance, and it gets Sucker Punch, too. Accupressure for boosting, tho its unreliable. The only reason i can think of on why this is low, is because it is completly outclassed by Liligant as a grass type, and its horrible type coverage. Low Mid
Emolga: I love Emolgas. It's just awesome. You get it right before the flying gym, which it destroys. If you use Emolga, you should use the one that the hiker gives you. It'll already by at lvl 30, have good stats, and get lucky egg Exp, without the Lucky Egg. Since you'll be getting Lucky Egg exp without the Lucky Egg, you can use Acrobatics at double base power all the time. I slapped a Lucky Egg on mine at the flying gym so it would get even more boosted exp. It walked in lvl 30, and walked out lvl 41. What a flying Squirrel. There isnt much that will survive Emolgas Acrobatics, even tho it has pretty mediorce offenses, and if you can take Acrobatics, you better have the balls to take on Thunderbolt, and if you cant kill something, just Volt Switch out. High tier if we split High and Top, but for now Upper Mid
Cincinno: Damn is this little cute chinchilla awesome. When you catch it as a Mincinno it aint nothing special, but Double hit is surprisingly powerful if it hits atleast 4 times (assuming you got technician), and if you arent comfortable with Double Hit, use Retaliate. Then, you get the awesome Tail Slap. Evolve Mincinno at lvl 31, cuz thats the level it gets Wake Up Slap. One you get to Mistralton City, teach it Rock Blast and Bullet seed through move tutor, and you got a glass cannon on your team. If Tail Slap hits 5 times, it's 281.25 base power coming off of 95 base attack. Thats nothing to laugh at. Tail Slap, Rock Blast, Bullet Seed, and Wake Up Slap give perfect coverage, so you should always have an Expert Belt on Cincinno, since it grows so damn fast you wont need Lucky Egg. High Tier
Seismitoad: this thing doesnt deserve high tier. It's offensive stats are pretty meh, and it had a hard time keeping up with my team. Mid, or sense i didnt give much of an arguement, stay at High
Vaniluxe: Mid. Thats all i got.
Stoutland: i shouldn't need to speak on this. It belongs in High, where it is.
Maractus: i am not so sure why this is low. It gets Needle Arm, and Giga Drain for two powerful STABs, then Petal Dance, and it gets Sucker Punch, too. Accupressure for boosting, tho its unreliable. The only reason i can think of on why this is low, is because it is completly outclassed by Liligant as a grass type, and its horrible type coverage. Low Mid
Emolga: I love Emolgas. It's just awesome. You get it right before the flying gym, which it destroys. If you use Emolga, you should use the one that the hiker gives you. It'll already by at lvl 30, have good stats, and get lucky egg Exp, without the Lucky Egg. Since you'll be getting Lucky Egg exp without the Lucky Egg, you can use Acrobatics at double base power all the time. I slapped a Lucky Egg on mine at the flying gym so it would get even more boosted exp. It walked in lvl 30, and walked out lvl 41. What a flying Squirrel. There isnt much that will survive Emolgas Acrobatics, even tho it has pretty mediorce offenses, and if you can take Acrobatics, you better have the balls to take on Thunderbolt, and if you cant kill something, just Volt Switch out. High tier if we split High and Top, but for now Upper Mid
Cincinno: Damn is this little cute chinchilla awesome. When you catch it as a Mincinno it aint nothing special, but Double hit is surprisingly powerful if it hits atleast 4 times (assuming you got technician), and if you arent comfortable with Double Hit, use Retaliate. Then, you get the awesome Tail Slap. Evolve Mincinno at lvl 31, cuz thats the level it gets Wake Up Slap. One you get to Mistralton City, teach it Rock Blast and Bullet seed through move tutor, and you got a glass cannon on your team. If Tail Slap hits 5 times, it's 281.25 base power coming off of 95 base attack. Thats nothing to laugh at. Tail Slap, Rock Blast, Bullet Seed, and Wake Up Slap give perfect coverage, so you should always have an Expert Belt on Cincinno, since it grows so damn fast you wont need Lucky Egg. High Tier
Seismitoad: this thing doesnt deserve high tier. It's offensive stats are pretty meh, and it had a hard time keeping up with my team. Mid, or sense i didnt give much of an arguement, stay at High
Vaniluxe: Mid. Thats all i got.
"30 or so levels" is more than half a game. It makes no sense to say that a Pokemon is more of a hindrance than a help for more than half the game, and then declare that it's "better than average." If something needs to be babbied for the first few levels, it had better have a really good payoff. Compare to Joltik (who is arguably upper-mid material); he spends less than half that time catching up, and post evolution he gets a 120 BP STAB that runs off a 97 special attack stat. Jellicent gets an average 95 BP STAB that runs off an average 85 special attack. At its best, Jellicent never really performs better than average, and at its worst, it's just awful to endure 335 BST until level 40.
For Munna, evolving it as soon as you get the Moon Stone is an option as well. That makes it much better for midgame. On the other hand, losing Psychic later on cripples it a bit for lategame but he still has great bulk and decent offense. Benching it for a late joiner like Axew or a legendary is also an option.
Overall, Munna certainly has its share of problems, but it has enough going for it to get it out of low.
Overall, Munna certainly has its share of problems, but it has enough going for it to get it out of low.
So with Munna it's either: A) Evolve it so it's good enough for a while until it becomes useless later because it doesn't have Psychic or B) Don't evolve so it's useless for a long duration (it wouldn't learn Psychic until almost the 7th gym) and evolve it so it can be decent.
That sounds like a low tier Pokemon to me.
Psychic doesn't accomplish much ingame though, and Plasma grunts use Dark-types and Patrat, which gets Bite/Crunch. Munna only wins against Trubbish, but any good Psychic-type does as well. Earlygame nothing is really hit SE by Psychic(aside from N's Timburr), Burgh may be lol but all his mons are faster than Munna and Struggle Bug, and after that, what? Munna really doesn't work much ingame. Yawn? Pansear. Yes, I'm talking about Pan motherfucking Sear. And it's the same argument as with Stun Spore Cottonee: why bother statusing when you can have people like Darumaka, Solosis and Petilil OHKO the foe instead...
Marctus actually has better coverage than Lilligant. Lilligant just gets Grass moves, and Normal/Dream Eater/Hidden Power viva TM.
Marctus gets Dark [Sucker Punch], Bug [Pin Missile], Normal, and Poision [Poision Jab].
NNow, I've used both Marctus and Lilligant. The only grass-type I haven't used ingame is Cottonee, but it dosen't take two seconds to see that it's inferior.
Marctus is CERTAINLY better than Snivy, and, in certain situations, can pull you through better than Lilligant can, due to it's better coverage, or, the ability to abuse Acupressure against certain foes, such as N's Carracosta.
Abuseing Acupressure against Carracosta allowed my Marctus to sweep N. Lilligant might have done the same, but is more physically frail, and can't boost physical defense, so Crunch or Stone Edge mught have done her in. Not to mention not being immune to Water attacks.
To be honest, however, mine being a Bold Maractus, with a 31 IV in Defense probobly helped.
IMO, grass types in Unova should be in this order, from top to bottom:
Petlil, Maractus, Pansage/Sewdaddle [Interchangeable, IMO, cases can be made for both], Snivy, Cottonee
Not counting Virizion because it's a late/mid game legend.
Did you seriously cite Pin Missile and Poison Jab as examples of coverage? Coverage doesn't work that way.
An attack can only be counted as "coverage" when two criteria are met:
1) The attack isn't completely terrible (You absolutely cannot convince me that an un-STAB Pin Missile is anything other than worthless).
2) The attack is a decent offensive type (Poison doesn't qualify).
Sucker Punch is pushing the definition as well by virtue of its painfully low PP and late learn time, but the other two examples are just silly.
No, it's not. Serperior's niche is its fast SubSeeds, Coil, and good bulk. It is does a good job surviving whatever the game throws at it, which is better than a slow and fragile sweeper like Maractus.
How is Acupressure better than Quiver Dance in that regard? It's not like Maractus can magically guarantee that it will get a Defense boost from Acupressure before getting mauled by Stone Edge (which is the attack that Carracosta will probably favor for both Maractus and Lilligant).
Almost certainly. Your average Maractus will have much less survivability than yours did, making it much harder to set up with Acupressure.
Maractus is a sweeper with poor typing, mediocre defenses, low speed, extremely little coverage, and an unreliable boosting move. It just isn't that great except when you first get it.
The current tiering is about right for the Grass Types. Petilil is High, Pansage, Sewaddle, and Snivy are varying flavors of Mid, and Maractus is Low. Cotonee is up for debate since it often plays like a worse Snivy with more support options, but at least it is one of the best speedbumps in the game (since you don't have to level it in order for it to be useful).
Poison is a fine coverage type with Grass, and Poison Jab is quite strong for most of the game. Grass/Poison is only resisted by Steel (only 2 Steel lines in the game), Poison (only one Poison evolution line that resists both, and Garbodor is both rare and terrible anyway), and Ghost (Litwick and Yamask lines, which are rare as well). So yeah, Grass/ Poison is just fine.
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