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Pokemon RBY In-game Tiers - Mark II

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To be fair, I often forget to buy them!

The poison immunity is also helpful for players who have some sort of a restriction preventing item use or something (e.g. a Gauntlet Challenge).
 
It still stands that you needn't spend time/a turn in-battle to use an Antidote/Potion, so I guess it's worth something. It's especially useful when you start facing all those Koffings and Weezings with Smog.
 
By the time you're seeing lots of Koffings, you should have something like Kadabra, Drowzee, or Dugtrio to one-shot them.

I'd agree with Bulba being top (albeit lower-Top), the early game should be weighted much more heavily than the late-game because that's when it's most tedious and you have yet to obtain super-mons like Kadabra. And what tougher challenge exists in the early game than beating Misty? That being said, Wartortle doesn't match up as badly against Starmie as Chou seems to be saying it does. If it's leveled to where it should be, it's tanking BubbleBeams like a champ, and a couple of Tail Whips make even Tackle threatening, so you don't even need to grind to get Bite (though it does help immensely and honestly isn't that hard to do).
 
How well would Doduo/Dodrio fare in RBY? They're pretty fast, and Tri Attack is a decent move as well. :O [If it's already tiered, I didn't see it.]
 
Bulbasuar is top tier but I now think squirtle is better. Squirtle can evolve as soon as possible because TMs give it everything it needs. It'll have bubble by level up early to own Brock, then it gets mega punch in Mt. Moon (and water gun if it hasn't learned it by level up yet). It then gets bubblebeam and dig in Cerulean, and gets surf later. This thing is more efficient than bulbasaur due to having powerful coverage and not sacrificing anything by evolving early.

Squirtle was also the starter for the record single-segment non-glitch speedrun, so that's saying something.
 
Dodrio is easy. You can get it before Erika and train there, and it stays awesome.

Its starting Movepool is pretty horrid. I think it depends on whether it can beat Erika or not. After that it snowballs....(although its movepool are pretty much DP + Tri)
 
Almost finished the write-ups for the 5 I was doing, I just want to put the finishing touches on them. Will be done by tomorrow.
 
I did some ctrl-f checking and cannot find a Doduo entry anywhere (not even on the to be done list), so if someone feels like doing that one that's sweet. It seems like a very straightforward and honestly very good Pokemon, at least as good as Omanyte and similar in many ways. Fly is a strong enough vs the Celadon gym to get Doduo out of its slight underleveledness, and from there it's smooth sailing with Drill Peck.

If there's any other Pokemon missing, please let me know.
 
I can made a write up if anyone let me so....

Used it on my last PT tbh.... although i would need some data on its later performances
 
I think it's fitting that I write this one..

- Doduo - High Tier

-Availability: After Gym 3, once the player has made it to Celadon. Doduo can be found in RB at a rate of 25% between the levels of 18-22 on Route 16. In Yellow, it can be found at a rate of 35% between the levels of 22-26. Doduo can also be found on Route 17, 18 and in the Safari Zone. Wild Dodrio can also be found at level 29 at a rate of 1% on Route 17 in Yellow - that's probably not worth your time, though.

-Stats: Doduo, and later Dodrio, has strong attack and speed stats. It's not as strong on the defensive side, with middling HP, defense and special.

-Movepool: While extremely shallow, Doduo's move pool is tailor made towards its stats and typing. Through level up, it learns mostly normal and flying type attacks which are physical - notably Drill Peck at a mere level 30. It starts with Peck and Growl but can inexplicably be taught the Fly HM (conveniently located right on Route 16!) for a great, early attack. Doduo's move pool is so shallow that it actually wants the Fly HM; quite convenient. While it learns Tri Attack naturally, TM49 can be obtained in the Celadon Department Store on the roof in exchange for a Lemonade. Not many pokemon can learn and effectively make use of the Tri AttackTM so it's a worthwhile investment on Doduo. It can also learn TM08 Body Slam and TM10 Double-Edge for other normal STABs but Tri Attack will arguably suffice if those two TMs need to be saved. Later, Dodrio can learn TM15 Hyper Beam which makes for a strong finishing move. Recommended move set for Doduo/Dodrio would be Drill Peck, Tri Attack, Fly, and one of Body Slam, Double-Edge or Hyper Beam.

-Power: The attack stat coupled with STAB on its damaging moves gives Doduo/Dodrio a lot of punch. Most pokemon that don't resist normal or flying will have a difficult time standing up to Drill Peck and Tri Attack. The speed stat allows for a quick strike and more critical hits, making Doduo/Dodrio even more dangerous.

-Type: While Normal/Flying typing doesn't scream "offensive dynamo," not much in the gameplay can actually stand up to that combination of STAB attacks. Most pokemon will at least take neutral damage from either Flying or Normal attacks. The only type to watch out for is Rock, which can handily be disposed of by a Grass or Water type partner. Defensively, Electric, Ice and Rock moves are what to watch out for but with low HP and defensive stats, hard hitters of any type can be a threat - especially because Dodrio only resists Grass and Bug moves (the latter of which is extremely rare).

-Match-ups: If obtained before taking on Team Rocket and Gym Leader Erika, Doduo can make quick work of the Rocket Grunts in Celadon Game Corner and all of the trainers in the Celadon Gym. This is made even easier by teaching Fly and Tri Attack. From there on, Doduo/Dodrio should be similar or higher in level when compared to most opponents and will rely on its speed advantage and strong attack stat and STABs. Koga in RB features a group of poison types which can be hit for decent damage with STABs. Yellow version Koga is destroyed by Flying type attacks. Team Rocket Grunts can be steamrolled again in Saffron City. Sabrina's Psychic types are weak on the defensive side and will take plenty of damage from Drill Peck or Tri Attack. Gain some quick extra levels before the 5th Gym by squashing the Fighting Dojo. Blaine's gym might be weak to Water attacks but again, STAB Drill Peck hits hard. Dodrio will need to sit the Viridian City gym out as many of those trainers carry Rock types. Two of the Elite Four members can be handled by Dodrio: Bruno and Agatha. The former carries Fighting types with their weakness to Drill Peck and the latter's ghosts can be hit hard by Drill Peck, though not for super effective damage. Just watch out for Onix on Bruno's team. Dodrio can be used against the champion's Venusaur/Exeggutor for super effective results and against his Pidgeot and Alakazam for large chunks of neutral damage.

Additional comments: A smart Doduo trainer will beeline west from Rock Tunnel to Route 16 immediately and make capture a priority. This allows for maximum opportunities to get Doduo up to par level and moveset wise. Probably one of the few notable downsides to Doduo is that it's slightly behind when you catch it. That said, Doduo's placement just outside of Celadon couldn't be more perfect. There are plenty of useful, new TMs that Doduo learns that become available in Celadon and many fodder trainers to use for experience growth, especially everyone in the 4th Gym. It also evolves at level 31 into Dodrio which is a huge power boost. No TMs are a must but it is recommended that the Tri AttackTM be used instead of waiting until level 45 for Dodrio to learn it. Fly is also recommended as there's space in the move set for it without sacrificing another attack. It's very handy when a roster mon can also assist with HM duties without any drawbacks. Doduo/Dodrio is a quick, straight forward attacker which has the ability to quickly one shot many trainer opponents with its high attack and speed and for that it deserves a spot among the better Pokemon in the game.
 
Urgh ninjaed by 30 minutes

Just finished my playthrough of RBY.... again for 3 hours

Basically i expanded up Carl's post(and some copy paste sry)

-Availability: After Gym 3, once the player has made it to Celadon. Doduo can be found in RB at a rate of 25% between the levels of 18-22 on Route 16. In Yellow, it can be found at a rate of 35% between the levels of 22-26. Doduo can also be found on Route 17, 18 and in the Safari Zone. Wild Dodrio can also be found at level 29 at a rate of 1% on Route 17 in Yellow - that's probably not worth your time, though.

-Stats: Packing high 110 attack and 100 speed, Dodrio has insane offensive power. Its defense is nothing to write home about.

-Movepool: While extremely shallow, Doduo's move pool is tailor made towards its stats and typing. Through level up, it learns mostly normal and flying type attacks which are physical - notably Drill Peck at a mere level 30. It starts with Peck and Growl but can inexplicably be taught the Fly HM (conveniently located right on Route 16!) for a great, early attack. Doduo's move pool is so shallow that it actually wants the Fly HM; quite convenient.

While it learns Tri Attack naturally, TM49 can be obtained in the Celadon Department Store on the roof in exchange for a Lemonade. Not many pokemon can learn and effectively make use of the Tri AttackTM so it's a worthwhile investment on Doduo. It can also learn TM08 Body Slam(S.S. Anne) and TM10 Double-Edge(comes after Game Corner) for other normal STABs but Tri Attack will arguably suffice if those two TMs need to be saved.

Later, Dodrio can learn TM15 Hyper Beam which makes for a strong finishing move. Recommended move set for Doduo/Dodrio would be Drill Peck, Tri Attack, Fly, and one of Body Slam, Double-Edge or Hyper Beam.
Match Ups :

Blue(pokemon tower) : Gyarados gives some problem with Hydro Pump, Thrash, and Bulk. But if you defeat game corner + Erika first, Dodrio can sweep Blue easilly.

Erika : Assuming you caught level 22 Doduo, or even less, you can Spam Fly against the Gym, and do the same to Erika

Koga : You have tons of grinding chanced beetwen Erika and Koga, from the game corner, into the Pokemon Tower and the routes. The only problem with Koga, is poisons and misses. Sludge deals quite a damage to Dodrio, Double team and Poison can also slow down its sweep. In return, Dodrio 2Hko or 3HKO everything. With Hyper Beam, it owns the gym

Blue : Alakazam, provided it can survive Dodrio's assault(which wont happen with Hyper Beam) 2HKO's Dodrio at optimum level on this point. Charizard cant survive much of Dodrio's assault, but Slash deals plenty of damage. Basically its a winning match up in Dodrio's favor.

Sabrina : Surprisingly, Dodrio has quite the enough speed to outspeed her team. Therefore you can Drill pecks them. Its almost the same as Koga, It might struggles a bit in a 2HKO cases, but Dodrio can more or less sweeps when given the right movepool at sufficient levels(40+)

Blaine : Growlithe and Ponyta cant do much to Dodrio, since its pretty likely they get OHKO'ED. Rapidash and Arcanine can be handled by Hyper Beam

Giovanni : Rhyhorn cant do much against Dodrio. Nidoqueen and Nidoking lost to Drill Peck spam. Dont bother with Rhydon

Last Non Champ Blue : Gyarados and Blastoise is a hard match up since they usually can tank Dodrio's assault and counter with Hydro Pump. Rhyhorn can be attacked until its dead(did not worth the time). Alakazam is a matter of outsped or not. Otherwise, Hyper Beam can do the job to OHKO it

Lorelei : Most of them can survive and deliver an Ice Attack in return. Jynx can be Hyper Beamed to death. However, since its a five way battle, you night want to reserve the PP.

Bruone : Other than Onix, sweeps

Agatha : Some annoyment, but Dodrio can defeat everyone of her pokemon one on one. Its like Koga, in which most of the problem comes from status, but shes significantly easier tanks to the ease of which you can sweep with Drill Peck against her fragile team

Lance : Gyarados is always a problem albeit its pretty do-able, and Dodrio didnt like Aerodactyl's hyper beam. STABS alone allows you to handle the Dragonairs. Dragonite is a huge problem.

Champ Blue : Gyarados and Blastoise beats Dodrio, but it can defeat anything that can show up in his team.


Additional comments: A smart Doduo trainer will beeline west from Rock Tunnel to Route 16 immediately and make capture a priority. This allows for maximum opportunities to get Doduo up to par level and moveset wise. Probably one of the few notable downsides to Doduo is that it's slightly behind when you catch it. That said, Doduo's placement just outside of Celadon couldn't be more perfect. There are plenty of useful, new TMs that Doduo learns that become available in Celadon and many fodder trainers to use for experience growth, especially everyone in the 4th Gym. It also evolves at level 31 into Dodrio which is a huge power boost. No TMs are a must but it is recommended that the Tri AttackTM be used instead of waiting until level 45 for Dodrio to learn it. Fly is also recommended as there's space in the move set for it without sacrificing another attack. It's very handy when a roster mon can also assist with HM duties without any drawbacks. Doduo/Dodrio is a quick, straight forward attacker which has the ability to quickly one shot many trainer opponents with its high attack and speed and for that it deserves a spot among the better Pokemon in the game.

HUGE CREDITS to Carl because this is just an extended(yet unimportant) Copy Paste
 
Haven't used it, but on paper Dodrio seems pretty awesome.

So, the only things keeping it from top are:

-Comes kind of late (compared to Spearow)
-Comes kind of under leveled (lol 1% encounter dodrio, nice)
-Cock blocked by rocks
-that's all

the fact that fly and tri attack are available right when you get to it is stupidly convenient.
 
Its kinda simmilar to Snorlax, to be honest(simmilar time frame, placed right at the time where it can owns, one HM for ownage purposes and all)

Except Snorlax is well... Snorlax. Its so good that you actualy only need Surf. Amnesia, Rest, BS, Surf alone can get you through the game. During the same PT i used Dodrio(which was like.... 3 hours ago), Snorlax become my All Purpose Answer against most opponent in game(except for Dragonite who is manhandled by Venusaur)

The thing is i dont know why the hell is Snorlax High Tier. It gets free2 turn healing, insane bulk, and can destroy in game right out of the box with some replenish-able TM. Hell Headbutt alone let Snorlax curbstomps the next routes. Considering that Articuno and Zapdos comes later, its late alvailability wouldnt be the reason its not Top

As for Spearow, frankly after level 32 it doesnt worth it anymore. Use it in this PT as well. It kinda sucked after Erika(Yeah level 34 for Drill Peck makes SO MUCH difference). Considering that level 27 is IMO pretty logical for Fearows in Celadon, Doduo's late game issue doesnt appear that much. Its Hyper Beam actualy missed a lot of OHKO's that Dodrio does.
 
High is perfectly fine for Doduo. I've used it a few times and it is pretty good.

This is a bit of a random question about my Growlithe entry.

Does anyone think that Growlithe could possibly have a separate entry for Yellow in Mid? The entry I wrote for it in High was based on my experiences in Red, and although Availability is basically the only difference, it does seem like you have to go through a lot more to get it in Yellow compared to RB. In Yellow, in addition to making it to Route 8, you have to go to Celadon City and get the Silph Scope, then go to Lavender Town and get the Pokeflute, beat one of the Snorlax, travel along one of the routes to Fuschia City (beating any trainers that challenge you along the way), beat Koga (who will likely be at a much higher level than you if you are avoiding lots of trainers in an attempt to get Growlithe sooner), obtain Surf from the Safari Zone, and finally travel to Cinnabar.

It seems like a lot to go through when there are many alternative that catch pack good power themselves but are easier to obtain, especially if you have used up Dig. It just seems a bit less useful, and therefore harder to recommend, in Yellow. Then again, you can catch it in the level 30+ range, which wouldn't require TOO much grinding (it wouldn't be difficult if you evolve it straight away like you should).

Has anyone used Growlithe in Yellow before?
 
Yeah, Doduo/Dodrio is very solid... especially when coupled with some of the other top/high tier mons like Sandshrew, Bellsprout, or Nidoran to cover the rock issues.

Also, I disagree with the Snorlax comparison. I realize they share the same attack stat but Snorlax is so slow. Dodrio has the leg up in the speed category which really makes it effective for quick battles. Snorlax often has to take a hit before dishing out damage when you first get it, which is fine it has the bulk for it, but speed is so useful in all of these games. Both are good mons but they function a little differently.
 
Has anyone used Growlithe in Yellow before?

I have, frankly it kinda sucked or a middle of the line mon in Yellow

One of many EXP farm that i used for it was Koga, not to mention Yellow has an updated movepools. As seen on your posts, tons of the awesomeness of Growlithe comes from having stats on that point of the game coupled with extensively good enough movepool, which lets it rock the game.

It comes at 37, which gives it an advantage on getting Agility(if you actualy wanted it), and conveniently it comes alongside Flamethrower and FB. Basically it comes free with its full movesets and an Evo right away. Sadly, its match ups are pretty messed up
 
Yeah, Doduo/Dodrio is very solid... especially when coupled with some of the other top/high tier mons like Sandshrew, Bellsprout, or Nidoran to cover the rock issues.

Also, I disagree with the Snorlax comparison. I realize they share the same attack stat but Snorlax is so slow. Dodrio has the leg up in the speed category which really makes it effective for quick battles. Snorlax often has to take a hit before dishing out damage when you first get it, which is fine it has the bulk for it, but speed is so useful in all of these games. Both are good mons but they function a little differently.

Not in functions, their positioning...

- Acquired at simmilar time frame(Snorlax is later though)
- Both needs/helped by a HM move(which comes at simmilar time frame again, with Surf having a one town and a route gap)
- Both comes at the position where it gets everything they need to own. Dodrio are literally surrounded by the TM it needs. Snorlax only need to wait for Surf, or go crazy with all the TMs
- Both needs a little amount of level before getting their killer move

And Snorlax speed is low, sure but theres actualy quite a lot(relatively) of mon that get outsped by Snorlax without paralyzations during my in game fights
 
Yeah, Snorlax's speed is it's main downfall-- it's taking damage every battle (so it NEEDS Rest, and against stronger opponents, you'll often need a full restore), and it's basically asking to be critical hit. Those are the only things keeping it from top.
 
A healing move on a pokemon in game is a waste of slot. Why use rest/recover/whatever when you can use that slot for a different move and eat a potion? They're dirty cheap.
 
A healing move on a pokemon in game is a waste of slot. Why use rest/recover/whatever when you can use that slot for a different move and eat a potion? They're dirty cheap.

Because im too lazy to use them ?

Yeah im just making myself look bad here
*leaves

Anyway.... yeah assuming you didnt bought a lot of stuff, and sold 2 Nuggets, you end up at 200k of money late game. This screams for 10 Revive and 10 FS.

note for Dodrio is it actualy relies on CH on so much occasion, its a good thing its CH with its entire movesets are pretty damn high even in practice.

And Finally Bulbasaur is sick. Its ridiculously helpful in Indigo, can actualy hold is own for most of the game(Sabrina, Blaine, and some of middle game) and giving it Cut actualy makes it better. The Always Ch Razor Leaf are useful against Poisons for some unexplainable reason. I think it deserves Top....

Anyway... my team were basically(before entering Indigo)
Dodrio Lv 47
Drill Peck
Fly
Hyper Beam
Tri Attack

One of my more useful mon. I actualy need to stop using it to stop it from overlevelling. It consistently does a one shot and its massive(by RBY standard) speed gives it tons of crits

Venusaur Lv 50
Cut
Vine Whip
Razor Leaf
Leech Seed

Its Environment performance were pretty damn good. The fact that it trivializes Misty and Brock make it plays a huge role during my pseudo speedrun

Snorlax Lv 45
Body Slam
Surf
Rest
Amnesia

Definitely my MVP. It owns things so hard its not even funny. Right out of the box, it handles the next route with its massively powerful Headbutts. And then it gains Body Slam. And then you get Surf. By that time, Snorlax almost guarantees that the game broke itself for you. Body Slam plays a huge role against Lapras, which was a really dangerous threat against my whole team(i can argue that Lapras and Gyarados is the only hard part of Indigo). Special note that i did not use any valuable TM and it performs really well. In fact it was so good, that just by giving Ice Beam on this thing allows me to solo the E4 and Champion(Because Bruno cant do ****)

Kadabra Lv 45
Recover
Psychic
Psybeam
Confusion

There is room from improvements with Reflect, or some extra moves. Basically Kadabra is weird, it has an extensive movepool with no way to use them. But as Chou has said before, "Screw that Psychic STAB is a good coverage in RBY". It confuses its opponent so many times, and a good utility against Team Rocket, but overall its... late game performance are pretty disapointing for an obvious Top Tier(maybe because i did not evolve it into Alakazam).

Nidoqueen Lv 48
Earthquake
Thunderbolt
Surf
Body Slam

Again, it can be improved with even more TM usage. Nidoqueen has some early game problem as Nidoran. But it evolves before MT Moon, during which it can evolve again. Body Slam is an awesome move that saved my *** so many times with its neat Para Hax. I has a particularly notable problem from refusing to teach it Water Gun, but after LT Surge, it snowballs.

Dugtrio Lv 45
Sand Attack
Dig
Slash
Scratch

Notice the level and crappy movepool ? Yes its really under utilized, but frankly, when most of my team can perform well at 45+, Dugtrio struggles with so many things and not particularly useful during mid game. I have tried a separate sets of using Body Slam and Rock Slide, and its performance did not get a significant boost. And as much as many seems to hype the whole "always Crit" Slash, Slash damage output is abysmal in comparison to my big boys
 
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