Mekkah brought up this topic for previous games, and it only seems fitting that we should look into this topic for Platinum. Now, there are a few standards that we should be looking at when Tiering Pokemon for In-Game Purposes:
S
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- Availability - Can I get this Pokemon early enough in the game or at a level close enough to the Pokemon I currently have?
- Moves - Does this Pokemon have a get set of moves that aren't all of the same type and don't require many TMs?
- Stats - Does this Pokemon have a usable Stat distribution?
- Type - Does this Pokemon's type give it usable STABs and useful resistances?
- Matchups - What Gym Leaders does it match up good against, does it have trouble or fly through large areas of the game?
(Note: Pokemon in each Tier aren't arranged in any order)Being outclassed by ________ doesn't really say anything about a Pokemon. If there was a Pokemon that had 10 worse than Staraptor line in every stat, but had everything else the same, it would still be in S tier. It just wouldn't be as good as Staraptor, but that'd be represented by putting him below Staraptor to begin with (but Pokemon within a tier shouldn't be ordered because that is too messy to agree on).
S
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- Chimchar - Wide Movepool, hits both side of the spectrum
- Starly - Fast, Strong, Reliable STABs, Close Combat keeps it useful later
- Scyther - Technician + Stab + Wing Attack and Rock Smash is a killer combo. Swords Dance later doesn't hurt at all either!
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- Rotom - Ghost/Electric are good STABs, Doesn't need many TMs other Pokemon use
- Magikarp - No STAB till level 35, and training till level 20 is annoying, but Dragon Rage is a useful early game move. Late game however, it is able to sweep the Elite 4 Easily, not to mention that it gets Dragon Dance.
- Turtwig - a beginner Pokemon so it is obviously easy to obtain. However, it is slow and doesn't learn Earthquake until evolving much later. Once it finishes evolving, you can easily have a moveset of EQ / Wood Hammer / Curse / Stone Edge by the time you reach the Elite 4. Ice-type attacks are rather scarce in this game but Turtwig is generally useless during the 7th gym (Team Galactic focusing on Flying-types such as the Zubat line and Murkrow, while Candice's gym specializes in Ice).
- Bidoof/Bibarel - good for speed and efficiency games mainly for the fact that it is the best HM slave
- Gible - Gible is now accessible without Strength, as is TM26 (Earthquake), and Garchomp is beastly throughout the game; it evolves a bit late, though
- Azelf - Received late at a high level, very strong with commonplace TMs like Flamethrower
- Piplup - Starter, Empoleon is reasonably strong and has a lot of resistances
- Heracross - Can be difficult to find, but has a nice learnset that needs no TM supplement and good stats
- Giratina - It comes at a high level, and its type is decent for the Elite Four, Shadow Force is excellent
- Meditite - Fragile and levels up fast, but Medicham is very powerful
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- Budew - Helpful early game, but only learns grass moves and isn't helpful beyond Crasher Wake
- Ponyta - Decent Chimchar replacement, Flame Wheel is nice
- Mesprit - Received late at a high level, but Azelf is better
- Abra - It's a pain to raise until it evolves and needs TMs for a diverse moveset, but Alakazam is easy to get with the GTS evolving trick and extremely strong
- Shinx - Very good early in the game, but mostly outclassed by Rotom
- Geodude - Useful early, but has too many weaknesses
- Psyduck - Very common, good substitute for Piplup
- Machop - Gets many Fighting-type moves, but not much else until EPunches
- Buizel - Crunch at level 26 is fantastic, but Water STABs are weak until Waterfall
- Drifloon - Doesn't get a really good move until Ominous Wind, but Gust is good against Gardenia
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- Uxie - Received late at a high level, but quite weak offensively
- Zubat - Hard to raise and outclassed by Starly
- Absol - Received too late to be of much use, but Dark moves are strong
- Cranidos - Doesn't get many good moves by level
- Shellos - Other Water-types are better
- Bonsly - Received fairly late, outclassed
- Mime Jr. - Received fairly late, outclassed
- Aipom - Doesn't get many good moves, but Return might suffice
- Gastly - Doesn't get good moves until later or with TMs
- Goldeen - Use Gyarados
- Barboach - Shellos is better because it can be gotten earlier
- Cleffa - Broad TM learnset, but weak
- Chatot - You can get it in Eterna City as a trade, but Starly is a better Flyer
- Pichu - Thunderbolt and Nasty Plot are nice, but Pichu is underleveled when you get it
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- Feebas - Unavailable until late in the game, then a pain to raise. Although Milotic is pretty good, the pain to get Feebas doesn't make using her worth it.
- Kricketot - Horrible Moves, Weak overall
- Burmy - Horrible Movepool
- Wurmple - '' ''
- Cherubi - '' ''
- Unown - lol Hidden Power
- Riolu - Hatch at level 1 when your pokemon are 40ish
- Dialga - Get too late in the game to help speedrun
- Palkia - Get too late in the game to help speedrun
- Shieldon - Relying on Metal Burst to do damage is not a good idea
- Onix - Very weak, use Metal Coat on Scyther
- Pachirisu - Why does this thing even exist
- Snorunt - Gotten too late to be useful
- Combee - Weak overall
- Chingling - Too weak
- Munchlax - Snorlax is very good, but Munchlax is extremely rare
- Buneary - Its 0 base experience makes it unusually hard to evolve, and it isn't particularly strong
- Bronzor - Terrible offenses
- Happiny - Unless you really want Softboiled to help heal your team, Blissey's pretty worthless ingame
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- Misdreavus
- Murkrow
- Stunky
- Glameow
- Manaphy - If you can get it early, though, it's probably A or B
Code:
Hoothoot -
Spirtomb -
Wooper -
Wingull -
Girafarig -
Hippopotas -
Azurill -
Skorupi -
Croagunk -
Carnivine -
Remoraid -
Finneon -
Tentacool -
Mantyke -
Snover -
Manaphy -
Gligar -
Nosepass -
Ralts -
Lickitung -
Eevee -
Swablu -
Togepi -
Houndour -
Magnemite -
Tangela -
Yanma -
Tropius -
Rhyhorn -
Duskull -
Porygon -
Elekid -
Magby -
Swinub -