Pokémon X & Y In-game Tier List Discussion (MkII)

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Can I reserve Riolu?
*EDIT:

Riolu
Availability:
Route 22, 5%. Also a gift Lucario at Shalour City.
Stats: An even mixed attacker with okay speed, becoming a superb mixed attacker with great speed upon mega-evolution. Defenses are subpar though. Catching it in the Riolu stage guarantees three 31 IV's.
Typing: Very good. Fighting & Steel give it nice STABs with a plethora of resistances to cover it's defensive holes. Can't take a fire, ground, or fighting hit though.
Movepool: Wide. Riolu gets Force Palm at 15, but then is barren disregarding Nasty Plot at 47. Lucario, however, gets many early physical boosting moves and Aura Sphere, Close Combat, Extreme Speed, and Metal Claw via level 1 move tutor. Add in great TM support with Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse, Rock Slide, Earthquake, amongst others and Riolu will hardly be lacking for coverage. Note that Metal Claw is the only natural steel move until post-game's Flash Cannon.
Major Battles: Riolu cleans Grant, Clemont, and Wulfric while performing excellently against Ramos, Valerie, Team Flare, and the entire pokemon league except Malva. And even on bad match-ups, Mega-Lucario's adaptibility gives it more than enough power to muscle through most situations.
Additional Comments: The choice between Riolu and Lucario comes down to personal preference. Riolu comes with three 31 IV's and is great against Grant, but besides that doesn't begin to dominate until after Korrina anyway. The gift Lucario comes with a set Hasty nature, but you don't have to deal with a happiness evolution or a rare encounter rate. Either way, take the mega stone to unlock the full potential of this top-tier beast.
 
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Electric-types! I've got a Jolteon ready, and I'll reserve Pikachu, Pachirisu, and Dedenne for later.
EDIT: Just cleaning up this entry a bit. I'll post the other three separate from this one.

Jolteon
Availability:
Route 10, 5-20%
Stats: It is incredibly fast with high Sp. Attack but is quite frail. A low Attack stat hurts its mid-early performance.
Typing: Electric typing provides it with effective STAB yet highlights its low defenses, especially against those that resist Electric.
Movepool: It must rely on Swift and a physical movepool until getting the Charge Beam and Thunderbolt TMs, which are its best moves. Shadow Ball is its only form of special coverage, so Hidden Power is worth trying out. It also learns Strength and Rock Smash, which can easily take up a moveslot if needed.
Major Battles: It contributes very little until it gets its primary STABs, which allow it to take care of any Electric-weak Pokémon from various opponents. It also sweeps through Siebold with relative ease.
Additional Comments: There's a Thunderstone on Route 10, so Eevee can evolve into Jolteon right away without having to miss learning Thunder Fang at level 20.
 
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Tomy

I COULD BE BANNED!
I'd like to reserve Flareon, Vileplume and Zangoose.

EDIT: Flareon is ready. Please tell me if it's fine, this is my first attempt.

EDIT 2: Vileplume is already reserved, my bad!

EDIT 3: Zangoose is done, edited Flareon.

Flareon
Availability:
Route 10, 5-20%
Stats: Excellent Attack, great Special Defense, good Special Attack, but mediocre everywhere else.
Typing: Fire-type is great. It offers a lot of resistances (including the brand new Fairy-type) and hits with super effective damage some key types like Steel and Grass. Weakness to Ground, Rock and Water hurt, though.
Movepool: It starts with Fire Fang, its main STAB until level 37 (Lava Plume) and level 45 (Flare Blitz). It learns Bite by level-up, which may be useful. TM wise, Dig is very important as Fire/Ground provides excellent coverage. Other reliable options include Return, Flamethrower, Rock Smash, Shadow Ball and Flame Charge.
Major Battles: Excellent against Ramos, Wulfric and Wilkstrom; terrible against Grant and Siebold; will contribute to any other major battle.
Additional Comments: The Fire Stone is found on Route 9, so you can evolve Eevee right after the capture and allowing Flareon to learn Fire Fang (level 20).


Zangoose
Availability
: Route 8, 10% (X), only found in hordes (Y).
Stats: Great Attack, coupled with a high Speed. Its bulk is mediocre, though.
Typing: Normal-type. Weak to Fighting, immune to Ghost.
Movepool: It starts immediately with Slash, its main STAB until Return outpowers it. It can also begin with Swords Dance if you buy the TM in Lumiose City. Coverage-wise, Zangoose learns Shadow Claw (found in Gliterring Cave), Power-Up Punch, and Close Combat later in the game. Zangoose can learn many other good TMs, like Dig, Rock Tomb/Rock Slide, Brick Break, Aerial Ace, Rock Smash (early game), and Poison Jab.
Major Battles: Zangoose will remain useful throughout the game, but stay away from Korrina. It bulk is quite low, so even powerful STABs can hurt it, specially late-game.
Additional Comments: Buying the TM Swords Dance right at the beginning in Lumiose City will allow Zangoose to beat virtually everything early and mid-game, as it has the Speed and the power to do so.
 
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Is Eevee catch-able before Grant? I thought the road was closed by Team Flare, but I could be wrong.

Maybe you should say that he learns Fire Fang his first Stab at level 20, so don't catch a lvl 21 Eevee. You can also add Bite (level up) and Rock Smash (early TM) to add some diversity to his early movepool.
 
Is Eevee catch-able before Grant? I thought the road was closed by Team Flare, but I could be wrong.

Maybe you should say that he learns Fire Fang his first Stab at level 20, so don't catch a lvl 21 Eevee. You can also add Bite (level up) and Rock Smash (early TM) to add some diversity to his early movepool.
It is. You can go as far as Geosenge Town before defeating Grant.
 

Its_A_Random

A distant memory
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
Yeah hard that entry needs to be shortened as there is a fair bit of redundant text in that entry though I cannot exactly put my finger on it yet.

Yeah Tomy that looks good at a glance.

Also Tyranitarphantom, it should be [B]<Mon Name>[/B], not [B]Name:[/B] <Mon Name>. Much easier.

Anyhow I am going to march on with the fail brigade. Reserving Corsola, Phantump (w/o Trade), and Pumpkaboo (w/o Trade). Expect more professional entries that mock how bad they are... soon.


Corsola
Availability:
Route 12, 65% (Super Rod).
Stats: Corsola has semi-decent bulk but mediocre offenses and a low speed.
Typing: Water/Rock is decent offensively since it hits a few relevant trainers super effectively. Defensively it comes with several relevant resistances but nasty weaknesses to relevant types.
Movepool: Decent. It learns Rock-, Ground-, and Water-type coverage by level up and it gets Mirror Coat if it can live a special attack. Recover (re-learner only) is useful for potion conservation and it picks up Psychic-, Ghost-, and Ice-type coverage from TM's as well.
Major Battles: This is where it falls apart. Its bulk is decent enough to live one hit at most (useful if running Mirror Coat) and its offenses are generally not good enough to help. It can contribute in some battles like Malva's Talonflame and half of Wulfric's team, but otherwise it struggles all around.
Additional Comments: Corsola seems quite decent on paper but in practice, its late availability and its overall bad performance in major battles makes it a terrible choice for XY.

Phantump (w/o Trade)
Availability:
Route 16, 10%.
Stats: Terrible. Phantump's best stat is base 70 attack and not much else. Its physical bulk in particular is dreadful.
Typing: Grass/Ghost-typing is a decent defensive typing though its resists and immunities are rare at this point of the game. Offensively it is good for a few of the remaining battles.
Movepool: Phantump's coverage comes down to Grass-, Ghost-, Normal-, Psychic-, Rock-, Ground-, Fighting-, and Poison-type moves. Horn Leech gives Phantump sustainability, Phantom Force is a nasty STAB move, Will-o-Wisp burns major threats and Destiny Bond is good since it only lives one hit at most in general circumstances.
Major Battles: Because of Phantump's terrible stats, it struggles to do much in any of the remaining major battles.
Additional Comments: Natural Cure is better for status absorbing unless you want to go item hunting. Irrespective of ability though, Phantump's terrible stats means it is a terrible choice for XY.

Pumpkaboo (w/o Trade)
Availability:
Route 16, 61%.
Stats: Irrespective of size, Pumpkaboo has half decent attack and physical bulk but everything else is bad.
Typing: Grass/Ghost-typing is a decent defensive typing though its resists and immunities are rare at this point of the game. Offensively it is good for a few of the remaining battles.
Movepool: Pumpkaboo has a bad level-up movepool that is somewhat offset by Trick-or-Treat improving its STAB and it has a wide TM pool with lots of special and physical coverage. Too bad its Special Attack is too low to make good use of moves like Flamethrower.
Major Battles: Irrespective of size, Pumpkaboo struggles to do much in major battles thanks to its overall terrible stats.
Additional Comments: Pickup is preferred because it means that it can pick up items for you from time to time. Outside of that, it is not difficult to see why Pumpkaboo is a terrible choice for XY. Size does not really matter much at all here.

All done I guess? Also I guess on review that Corsola might be worthy enough of escaping the pits of F-Tier and going into E-Tier. Thoughts?
 
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Also I guess on review that Corsola might be worthy enough of escaping the pits of F-Tier and going into E-Tier. Thoughts?
I don't have much use for Corsola in-game, besides it being the go-to chain breeder for cool moves like Earth Power. It does have Fast experience growth, though, plus it gets Surf, Strength and Rock Smash to be a neat HM slave. Hustle is quite handy, but it lacks physical Water STAB, plus it's incredibly slow. Overall, I doubt it being even E-tier worthy.

EDIT:


Pikachu
Availability:
Santalune Forest, 6%
Stats: High Speed and above average Attack and Special Attack with weak defenses.
Typing: Electric typing provides great STAB with handy resistances and a sole weakness to Ground.
Movepool: Wide. In addition to Electric attacks, it also has Dig, Grass Knot, Brick Break, and Focus Blast. It is able to learn Rock Smash and Strength if needed.
Major Battles: It fights well against Viola and Siebold, and it takes care of most opponents' Flying-types. Bulkier opponents will still beat it one-on-one, though.
Additional Comments: The Light Ball gives Pikachu superior power early on but will put it at risk of being outsped often in the late game due to not evolving into Raichu and getting a higher Speed stat.


Pachirisu
Availability:
Route 12, 5%
Stats: Above average Speed, average defenses, and low
Typing: Electric typing provides good STAB and okay defensive typing.
Movepool: Pachirisu lacks the power to even use a STAB Thunderbolt well, but it still has some decent support options, most notably Nuzzle and Super Fang. It can learn Cut, too, if needed.
Major Battles: The best it can do in a major battle is paralyze threats and put them into KO range with Super Fang. Its low stats prevent it from doing anything else.
Additional Comments: Pickup is the preferred ability over Run Away.


Dedenne
Availability:
Route 11, 5%
Stats: Above average Speed with only an average Sp. Attack. Everything else is low.
Typing: Unique Electric-Fairy typing covers plenty of types both offensively and defensively. It has to stay clear of Ground and Poison-types.
Movepool: Parabolic Charge and Nuzzle are nice starting moves, and Dedenne has decent level-up options. Play Rough is its only Fairy STAB move and so is still worth learning despite being physical. Grass Knot provides coverage, and it can learn the Cut HM.
Major Battles: It has good matchups with Korrina, Lysandre, Drasna and Siebold, although it can only deal heavy hits to Siebold and Lysandre's Honchkrow.
Additional Comments: Cheek Pouch is helpful in battle if you can spare an Oran or Sitrus Berry, but Pickup provides long term usefulness throughout a playthrough.
 
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Espurr(F)
Availability:
Early, Route 6, 20%
Stats: Great speed and good Special Attack, with usable defenses to back it up.
Typing: Pure Psychic is alright, with few weaknesses and resistances.
Movepool: Female Meowstic learns a wide variety of moves by level-up, including good STABs, Shadow Ball, Charge Beam, and Signal Beam. Thunderbolt, Energy Ball, and Calm Mind are available through TM.
Major Battles: It beats Korrina by type matchup, and because it resists Psychic itself, it can beat Olympia with little trouble. It loses to Wilkstrom, but because of its movepool, it can be helpful anywhere else.
Additional Comments: Female Meowstic's biggest advantage over its male counterpart is its offensive level-up movepool, allowing it to get better attacks earlier. Outside of that, they're the same.



Mienfoo
Availability:
Early, Route 8, 10%
Stats: Mienfoo has decent stats for a basic Pokemon. Mienshao has amazing Attack and Speed, with good Special Attack as well. It is quite frail, though.
Typing: Fighting is always a useful type, being arguably the best attacking type in the game, and having a few nice resists.
Movepool: Great STAB moves in Drain Punch and High Jump Kick by level, as well as U-turn and Aura Sphere. Poison Jab, Acrobatics, Rock Slide, and Power-Up Punch are notable TM moves.
Major Battles: Grant will be very easy for it, as will Wulfric. With the right coverage move, it can easily defeat any foe, but beware faster opponents with Super Effective attacks (such as Korrina's Hawlucha and Malva's Talonflame). Stay far away from Wilkstrom's Aegislash.
Additional Comments: Regenerator is an amazing ability, and should always be your first choice, rewarding you for switching out (even via U-turn!). Mienfoo's biggest flaw is that it evolves at level 50, which is very late for an early-game Pokemon. Eviolite Mienfoo can still pull its weight, but it won't be anything phenomenal.


Burmy (Wormadam-Plant)
Availability:
Early, Route 3, 10% (must be female).
Stats: Great Special Defense with passable Defense and Special Attack. It is horrendously slow, unfortunately.
Typing: Bug/Grass is one of the worst defensive typings in the game, leaving it devastated by any Flying or Fire attack, while also being weak to Rock, Ice, Poison, and Bug. Both Grass and Bug are poor offensive types, too.
Movepool: Burmy has no good moves. Wormadam gets Hidden Power, Leaf Storm, and Psychic by level, and Energy Ball and Shadow Ball by TMs.
Major Battles: Wormadam does not have a single advantageous matchup against a major trainer. Siebold is its best matchup, but it can't reliably take on his Barbaracle or Gyarados. Every other boss trainer has at least one Pokemon who will obliterate Wormadam by preying on its many weaknesses.
Additional Comments: Anticipation will warn you if the foe has a super-effective attack, so expect to see this ability activate constantly. Wormadam is the kind of Pokemon that should be reserved only for favorites teams, as if you don't already like Wormadam, the frustration of using it in-game will surely put you off from it.

I'll take Venipede, Caterpie, and Ninjask next (man was mono-bug an annoying run).
 
Hello everybody.
First of all, i'd like to apologize in advance for my english: i'm not a native speaker, so please try to understand.
Anyway.
I'd love to start a new game with pokemon x. It will be my first ride with gen VI, even though i bought the game several months ago. In the meanwhile, I sometimes played random battles on showdown, and even built some (unsuccessful: i'm a noob, after all..) teams by my own, so i'm quite familiar with the new mechanics introduced in gen VI (mega-evs and so on).
My goal is to build an in-game team characterized by a reasonable balance between all these factors: a) using Charizard X; b) using pokés which are useful to the story; c) using pokés with good synergy with each others, similar to what happens in competitive building.
(Yeah, i know that even 6 pikachu would be sufficient to beat the elite four, but i want to make it properly...it's part of the fun, at least for me)
Most of the pokés must be chosen in order to their prior appearance in the game (or availability due to wonder trades): i'd prefer to have already caught all the pokémon i need as far as i reach the half of the game.
So, i read thread, and it was very useful: as i said, my original plan was (and still is..) to start with Charizard (X), but i had no idea about others pokémon to pair with; thanks to you, i decided to add Aegiglash's pre evolution and Azumarill.
Now i still have 3 spots lefts: would you help me to fill them properly? For start, I was thinking about a flying/ground type like Landorus. Is he catchable?
Also, due to the fact that Char/Aegi/Azu are all physical, i should complete the party with at least 2 special pokés.

Thanks for your patience!
 
Hello everybody.
First of all, i'd like to apologize in advance for my english: i'm not a native speaker, so please try to understand.
Anyway.
I'd love to start a new game with pokemon x. It will be my first ride with gen VI, even though i bought the game several months ago. In the meanwhile, I sometimes played random battles on showdown, and even built some (unsuccessful: i'm a noob, after all..) teams by my own, so i'm quite familiar with the new mechanics introduced in gen VI (mega-evs and so on).
My goal is to build an in-game team characterized by a reasonable balance between all these factors: a) using Charizard X; b) using pokés which are useful to the story; c) using pokés with good synergy with each others, similar to what happens in competitive building.
(Yeah, i know that even 6 pikachu would be sufficient to beat the elite four, but i want to make it properly...it's part of the fun, at least for me)
Most of the pokés must be chosen in order to their prior appearance in the game (or availability due to wonder trades): i'd prefer to have already caught all the pokémon i need as far as i reach the half of the game.
So, i read thread, and it was very useful: as i said, my original plan was (and still is..) to start with Charizard (X), but i had no idea about others pokémon to pair with; thanks to you, i decided to add Aegiglash's pre evolution and Azumarill.
Now i still have 3 spots lefts: would you help me to fill them properly? For start, I was thinking about a flying/ground type like Landorus. Is he catchable?
Also, due to the fact that Char/Aegi/Azu are all physical, i should complete the party with at least 2 special pokés.

Thanks for your patience!
Landorus is unavailable. You can check the first page for all the Pokemon available in Kalos up until besting the Elite Four.
 
Thanks!
Any suggestion about which pokés may suits better with the Char X, Doublade, Azumarill trio?
Greninja or Starmie would be valuable for taking the Surf requirement off of Azumarill in addition to some nice moves overall, but others may have far better suggestions to fill in the missing team slots than I do.
 
Greninja or Starmie would be valuable for taking the Surf requirement off of Azumarill in addition to some nice moves overall, but others may have far better suggestions to fill in the missing team slots than I do.
Taking Surf off of Azumarill isn't too important because you can run Surf and have 3 physical moves.
 
Reserving Pinsir [X] and Durant:
(Will add sprites later)
Holy crap, this is stupid late, but I finally fixed the issue where the post wouldn't update...

Pinsir
Availability:
Mid-game (Route 12), very rare with a 5% chance to encounter
Stats: Great Attack (equal to Heracross and Mienshao in this regard) with good Defense and passable Speed. Both Special stats are too low to be of use.
Typing: Pure Bug gets it some resists to Fighting and Ground, but it will be ravaged by fast Fire and Flying-types. It also lacks a secondary STAB
Movepool: Good. Pinsir learns its main STAB X-Scissor almost immediately after capture. It also has access to a wide array of Fighting-type moves including Storm Throw, Brick Break, and Superpower. Pinsir also has Swords Dance via TM as well as the ever-useful Earthquake. Field move duty is also possible with Strength and Cut
Major Battles: Smashes cleanly through Ramos (heads up for Jumpluff) and Olympia, and beats Team Flare without Golbat/Fire types. Struggles against Malva and Valerie and is neutral against everything else.
Additional Comments: Either of Pinsir's abilities can be useful, with Hyper Cutter thwarting Gyarados and Mightyena while Mold Breaker helps against Sturdy users. Pinsir's rarity, questionable typing, and late-game struggles are what really holds it back in-game.



Durant

Availability:
Durant is found late-game on Route 18. It is rare, with a 10% encounter chance
Stats: High Attack and Speed (109 each), coupled with a decent 112 Base Defense make Durant a good physical attacker. Its special stats, clocking in at 48 each, make dealing or taking special attacks harsh for the iron ant
Typing: Bug/Steel is a fantastic defensive typing, granting Durant only 1 weakness to Fire and a neutrality to almost everything else. Offensively, the two types have rather poor coverage
Movepool: Durant's movepool is slightly shallow, but surprisingly effective. Iron Head is available when caught, and the X-Scissor TM can be taught immediately to give Durant its best STAB attack (X-Scissor is also learned at level 51, 7 levels after capture). Dig and Crunch are coverage options learned by level-up, while Rock Slide and Hone Claws (its only Attack-boosting move), are its major TM options, with Aerial Ace being another potential consideration. Durant is also an effective field-move slave with access to Cut, Rock Smash, Strength, and Dig.
Major Battles: Durant does well against Wulfric, with Iron Head and X-Scissor covering most of his team. The ant is incinerated by Malva and cannot touch Wikstrom without Dig. Its low Special Defense won't help against Siebold, although its Dragon resistance gives it some use against Drasna. Durant can beat Diantha's fossils and Gardevoir with Iron Head and potentially her Gourgeist with Crunch, but Goodra will fry it with Fire Blast. The rival's Fire starter and Flareon will KO it easily, but Meowstic is easily defeated. Durant can also beat AZ's Golurk and Sigilyph, but Torkoal will give it trouble
Additional Comments: Durant's late arrival impacts its viability, as it only has a few instances to prove its worth. Hustle is always the better ability for Durant, as it hits much harder at the cost of accuracy. Swarm and X-Scissor can be used, but the power boost to all of its moves is much more appreciated. Durant is in the Medium Fast experience group, so it can catch up easily to your team if underleveled.
 
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So, I came up with three different alternatives:

Char X, Azumarill, DBlade, Roserade, Dragonite, Mamoswine.
Char X, Azumarill, DBlade, Roserade, Aerodactyl, Scrafty.
Char X, Azumarill, DBlade, Roserade, Lucario, Dragonite.

Which of these three party do you think is the most balanced?
 
So, I came up with three different alternatives:

Char X, Azumarill, DBlade, Roserade, Dragonite, Mamoswine.
Char X, Azumarill, DBlade, Roserade, Aerodactyl, Scrafty.
Char X, Azumarill, DBlade, Roserade, Lucario, Dragonite.

Which of these three party do you think is the most balanced?
I would say go with the second one. Dragonite takes a while to get while to get and train while the second team doesn't really have any Pokemon that come really late in the game. However if you don't mind Dragonite coming way too late in the game or have a way to get it earlier then I would say go with team 3 since Mega Lucario wrecks Kalos.
 
I would say go with the second one. Dragonite takes a while to get while to get and train while the second team doesn't really have any Pokemon that come really late in the game. However if you don't mind Dragonite coming way too late in the game or have a way to get it earlier then I would say go with team 3 since Mega Lucario wrecks Kalos.
Now i'm tempted by this fourth option: Char X, Doublade, Rotom-W/Azumarill (Huge Power), Breloom (Technichan), Snorlax (Thick Fat), Aerodactyl.
The typing synergy is great; Char+Snorlax+Breloom from a reliable trio of physical sweeper; Doublade+Snorlax form a great defensive combo, without sacrificing offensive power, also Snorlax would be my major counter for ghost types with Crunch; Aerodactyl is the flying type which suites better to the rest of team and it is also very fast, which is a plus considering the overall below average speed of the team. As for the last spot, Rotom comes with levitate, special attacks (would be the only one except Doublade) and an always handy electric STAB, but i've read it can be transformed in the wash form only quite late in the game; Azumarill, on the other hand, it's available sooner and it's a fairy, so it would help Doublade to counter dragon and fighting attacks.
Otherwise, i could keep Azumarill and switch Breloom with Roserade.
What do you think?

Thanks again for your patience.
 
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Now i'm tempted by this fourth option: Char X, Doublade, Rotom-W/Azumarill (Huge Power), Breloom (Technichan), Snorlax (Thick Fat), Aerodactyl.
The typing synergy is great; Char+Snorlax+Breloom from a reliable trio of physical sweeper; Doublade+Snorlax form a great defensive combo, without sacrificing offensive power, also Snorlax would be my major counter for ghost types with Crunch; Aerodactyl is the flying type which suites better to the rest of team and it is also very fast, which is a plus considering the overall below average speed of the team. As for the last spot, Rotom comes with levitate, special attacks (would be the only one except Doublade) and an always handy electric STAB, but i've read it can be transformed in the wash form only quite late in the game; Azumarill, on the other hand, it's available sooner and it's a fairy, so it would help Doublade to counter dragon and fighting attacks.
Otherwise, i could keep Azumarill and switch Breloom with Roserade.
What do you think?

Thanks again for your patience.
I'd stick with the second team option from earlier, the one with the Scrafty. Breloom is found only postgame at the Friend Safari, so Roserade will be what you'd want for your team. If you're going to add Rotom, just remember that it's only found on Tuesdays and that you'll need to find an HM user for Surf and Waterfall (you could raise an Azurill until then, though, and use that as an HM slave after Rotom is caught). As for Snorlax, Scrafty is a better fit because Fighting STAB is particularly useful in X/Y, plus it has a more manageable Speed stat than Snorlax, who'll have to take hits constantly due to being outsped so often.


EDIT: Since I'm here, I'll reserve Ledyba and Sentret.
 
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Throh
Availability:
Route 11, 20%.
Stats: Throh has a solid base 100 attack and is quite bulky with base 120 HP and 85 in both defenses. Its major letdown lies in its speed stat, at a low base 45, meaning it will have to survive a lot of hits.
Typing: Fighting is a great typing to have, with only three weaknesses and hitting five types super effectively.
Movepool: Comes knowing Vital Throw and Revenge, and learns other strong Fighting-type attacks and Bulk Up via level-up. When you capture it you can already teach Rock Tomb, Bulldoze, and Payback. Later it gains access to more powerful coverage moves such as Stone Edge and Poison Jab. It can learn Rock Smash and Strength if need be.
Major Battles: Throh is helpful against most foes due to its coverage options, with Wulfric's gym being its best place to shine. It can also easily deal with Team Flare's plethora of Dark-types. Don't bother trying with Olympia.
Additional Comments: Guts is the preferred ability, as due to Throh's speed it will likely be hit with status more than other, faster pokemon. Throh comes reasonably early and already at full power evolution-wise, and despite its poor speed is still a very solid choice to run through the game with.

...did I do this right?
 
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darkness7690, I think your entry looks pretty good. It covers everything about Throh in a nice concise form.


Ledyba
Availability:
Route 4, 30%
Stats: It has high Sp. Defense and average speed. Very low stats on everything else makes it poor offensively.
Typing: Defensively, Bug-Flying is very bad, with its only true advantages being that Ledyba can at least fight most Grass-types well and that it has an immunity to Ground-type moves. Most opponents take advantage of one of its five weaknesses, otherwise.
Movepool: Its movepool is quite limited. Offensive coverage spans mainly to Bug and Fighting-type moves. Supersonic proves useful, as well as Baton Pass in tandem with Agility or Swords Dance. If needed, it can use Dig, Rock Smash and Strength.
Major Battles: Weaknesses to various coverage moves makes it ineffective in most major battles, although it may prove useful against Ramos except when facing Jumpluff.
Additional Comments: It has Fast experience growth, so at least it can level up quickly enough to keep up with your team. There is nothing too outstanding or efficient it can do, though, making it one of the worst options of XY.



Sentret
Availability:
Route 6, 20%
Stats: It has above average Speed an passable Attack. Its Sp. Attack, while really low, is passable for using Surf.
Typing: Pure Normal typing, while not exceptional, provides Furret with reliable STAB for handling a variety of opponents, an immunity to Ghost, and a sole weakness to Fighting.
Movepool: Furret has an okay level-up movepool, the most notable move being Sucker Punch. Its TM movepool is large, giving it wide offensive coverage, yet Furret makes a stronger candidate as an HM slave, as it learns Cut, Strength, Surf, Dig, and Rock Smash.
Major Battles: While Furret's not anything special in most major battles, it can hold its own if given the right TMs for the right battle. It cannot battle well against Grant or Korrina, though, because the type matchups are too unfavorable to make it perform well even with TMs.
Additional Comments: Run Away and Keen Eye have about equal viability with Furret, so it is just a matter of preference. Despite making a great HM slave, it is second-rate at about everything else and has a bad early-game start.
 
Seviper
Availability:
Route 8, 10% (Y), Horde encounter w/ Zangoose (X). May be difficult to capture in X as the Zangoose will attack it.
Stats: It can easily put both offensive stats to good use with base 100 in each. However, Seviper is pretty slow at base 65 speed and is also quite frail, meaning it will likely faint more than other faster and bulkier pokemon.
Typing: Mono-Poison is a solid typing, with five resistances and only two weaknesses. Seviper has an easy tim handling Grass and Fairy-types with its strong STAB moves.
Movepool: Seviper learns good STAB Poison moves as well as Night Slash and Crunch by level up, and you should have the Venoshock TM as soon as it is captured. By TM it learns many strong moves such as Sludge Wave/Bomb, Bulldoze/Earthquake, X-Scissor, Flamethrower, and Dark Pulse.
Major Battles: Seviper is very helpful against Grant and Valerie's Sylveon, and can help against many neutral matchups due to its strong coverage and attacking stats. By the elite four it may end up being OHKO'd by random STAB attacks due to its frailty, however.
Additional Comments: Seviper's Shed Skin can rid it of a status condition, which can and will come in useful from time to time. Overall, Seviper may struggle to overcome its poor defenses and speed, but its twin cannon attack stats make it a solid enough choice to carry throughout the game.
 

Its_A_Random

A distant memory
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Just a note that I have not forgotten about this but I have been really busy and have not been able to update this thread. It will be about two or three weeks before I get around to this. Sorry.
 


Heracross
Availability:
Route 12, 5%, Y only. Using Repels with a L25 Pokemon in front makes finding slightly easier.
Stats: Brilliant Attack and passable Speed/Sp. Def. make Heracross shine.
Typing: Bug/Fighting is good ingame, giving it resistances to Grass, Fighting, Ground, Ice, Bug and Dark and weaknesses to Fire, Psychic, Fairy and Flying (4x).
Movepool: Right off the bat, it comes with Brick Break and Aerial Ace, the former being a reliable STAB until Close Combat comes at L34 and the latter allowing it to perform brilliantly against Korrina and Ramos. The only real drawback is lack of good Bug STAB until Megahorn at L46. It learns good TMs like Earthquake, Shadow Claw and Stone Edge.
Major Battles: Heracross is amazing against Gyms 3 and 4 due to Aerial Ace. It can beat Magneton and Heliolisk at Gym 5. It can't really do much at Gyms 6 or 7 unless you're REALLY stuck for something to beat Mawile with. It's great at Gym 8 and can pretty much sweep. It beats Wikstrom at the Elite 4 and beats Siebold's Barbaracle. It beats Diantha's Aurorus and Tyrantrum and doesn't do much against AZ. It does well against a lot of Team Flare, and beats Lysandre's Pyroar if it's at full HP and survives Fire Blast.
Additional Comments: Both of its abilities are usable ingame, but Guts is the better option because the AI loves to throw status around. All in all, Heracross is a very solid choice for a Y team. Using Repels with a L25 Pokemon in front makes finding it on Route 12 slightly easier.
 

Its_A_Random

A distant memory
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
Okay I have updated to Post #58 for now. I did not add hard's entry due to length. There are 60 now and there are six more I need to look at.

But yeah I guess I am back to updating this again! ^_^

well until the inevitable activity drop when oras comes around anyway
 

Colonel M

I COULD BE BORED!
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I've discussed this with IAR, but I wanted to note that I have argued Caterpie to move down into D Tier with Farfetch'd as the comparison. This may be due to having Farfetch'd rise but like I noted:

[19:11] <Colonel_M> i want to argue farfetch'd to c but that would be a journey
[19:12] <Colonel_M> doduo does overshadow a lot of Farfetch'd advantages

So in review Caterpie vs Farfetch'd. Caterpie technically starts immediately with a mediocre rut - though there aren't many Pokemon better than it and it doesn't beat many other Pokemon the grind between Metapod to Butterfree can still take quite a while. Caterpie loses a little Attack and Speed upon evolution. Many Pokemon still have much better advantages than Caterpie does at this point in the game. For example Fletchling, Bunnelby, Bidoof, Pidgey, and Zigzagoon all have STAB on Tackle. Many of these Pokemon will learn better moves to compliment them and, in Fletchling and Pidgey's case, will help them throughout the first gym.

Let's fast forward a bit to when Farfetch'd arrives. I doubt Caterpie will be Butterfree at this point (or it just freshly evolved barring major favoritism) when Farfetch'd arrives. Though it is a little inferior in levels it does have an okay movepool to work with: Level 6 Farfetch'd still have STAB Peck and by Level 9 Farfetch'd gets STAB Aerial Ace which neuters the first gym like nothing. Meanwhile, though Butterfree does have a great SpA of 90 it is locked onto just Confusion (and eventually STAB Infestation) until Level 16 when it gets STAB Gust.

Here's a quick stat comparison when they're Level 10:

Butterfree - 35 HP | 17 Atk | 18 Def | 26 SpA | 24 SpD | 22 Spe
Farfetch'd - 33 HP | 21 Atk | 19 Def | 19 SpA | 20 SpD | 20 Spe

Now assuming I did this right this is Vivillon at Level 12 with 20 IVs in everything:

Vivillon - 43 HP | 19 Atk | 19 Def | 29 SpA | 19 SpD | 28 Spe

Assuming Farfetch'd is only Level 10 and with 0 Atk IV Farfetch'd has a 9.8% chance to 2HKO. Vivillon would have to have Infestation building and spamming Tackle to win or Harden to assure a 3HKO. If we boost Farfetch'd's level to 12 the same 0 Atk IV Aerial Ace has a 93.8% chance to 2HKO (assuming no Harden). I could assume worst case scenario (-Atk nature instead of neutral), but you get the point, right?

Meanwhile, said Butterfree is doing 9-11 damage. This is assuming Butterfree is Level 12 and has a perfect SpA IV - a 0.1% chance to 4HKO. Yes, you read that properly. Confusion fails to 4HKO Vivillon.

I mean come on I barely have to say anything and Vivillon laughs at Butterfree. Butterfree is slower than Vivillon too so its "Speed advantage" versus Farfetch'd is mostly irrelevant.

Gyms 3 and 4 go about even for Farfetch'd and Butterfree. Sometimes Farfetch'd has slightly bigger advantages (for example Inner Focus screws up Mienfoo) while Butterfree has a better chance to live through some attacks (like it would take less damage against Gogoat and hit on its weaker defensive spectrum). Still what I'm saying is these two are pretty close to comparable. Don't even bother with Quiver Dance - Quiver Dance is all the way at Level 42 and Butterfree has enough problems of being mediocre.
 
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