Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald In-Game Tier List - Writeups

Merritt · Feb 16, 2021

Approved by DHR-107
OP adapted from sin(pi)'s DPP In-Game Tiers thread

Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald Version In-Game Tier List Writeups

What is an in-game tier list?
In-game tier lists rank Pokémon according to their usefulness during the main portion of the game — that is, until the credits roll for the first time. In-game tier lists provide players with the information needed to complete the game as quickly and as effortlessly as possible. For competitively-minded players, this approach to playing the game gives them more immediate access to useful items, TMs, and HMs.

What are the tiers?
In this in-game tier list there are seven tiers. Pokémon that are the most useful belong in the S-Tier, while Pokémon that are the least useful belong in the F-Tier. The tiers are as follows:

- S-Tier
- A-Tier
- B-Tier
- C-Tier
- D-Tier
- E-Tier
- F-Tier

Which Pokémon are available and when in Pokémon Ruby Version, Pokémon Sapphire Version, and Pokémon Emerald Version?
Certain Pokemon are only obtainable in one version of Ruby, Sapphire, or Emerald. The following list details each Pokemon in the Hoenn Pokedex and the earliest time they are possible to catch, along with version exclusivity.

REFER TO THIS FOR AVAILABILITY SECTION

Pichu -> Pikachu -> Raichu - Pikachu in Safari Zone
Sandshrew -> Sandslash - Sandshrew in Route 111 (Emerald), Sandshrew in Route 113 (Ruby/Sapphire)
Vulpix -> Ninetales - Vulpix in the grass around Mt. Pyre
Igglybuff -> Jigglypuff -> Wigglytuff - Jigglypuff in Route 115 North
Zubat -> Golbat -> Crobat - Zubat in Granite Cave
Oddish -> Gloom -> Vileplume / Bellossom - Oddish in Route 110
Psyduck -> Golduck - Safari Zone
Abra -> Kadabra (-> Alakazam) - Route 116
Machop -> Machoke (-> Machamp) - Machop in Fiery Path
Tentacool -> Tentacruel - Dewford with an Old Rod
Geodude -> Graveler (-> Golem) - Geodude in Granite Cave
Magnemite -> Magneton - New Mauville
Doduo -> Dodrio - Doduo in Safari Zone
Grimer -> Muk - Grimer in Fiery Path
Voltorb -> Electrode - Voltorb in New Mauville
Koffing -> Weezing - Koffing in Fiery Path
Rhyhorn -> Rhydon - Rhyhorn in Safari Zone
Horsea -> Seadra (-> Kingdra) - Horsea in Route 132
Goldeen -> Seaking - Goldeen can be fished in Route 102 and Petalburg with an Old Rod
Staryu -> Starmie - Staryu can be fished in Lilycove with a Super Rod
Pinsir - Safari Zone
Magikarp -> Gyarados - Anywhere with an Old Rod
Chinchou -> Lanturn - Underwater
Natu -> Xatu - Natu in Safari Zone
Azurill -> Marill -> Azumarill - Marill in Route 104 (Emerald), Marill in Route 117 (Ruby/Sapphire)
Wynaut -> Wobbuffet - Wynaut egg received in Lavaridge
Girafarig - Safari Zone
Heracross - Safari Zone
Slugma -> Magcargo - Fiery Path
Corsola - Super Rod on Route 128
Skarmory - Route 113
Phanphy -> Donphan - Phanphy in Safari Zone
Treecko -> Grovyle -> Sceptile - Starter Pokemon
Torchic -> Combusken -> Blaziken - Starter Pokemon
Mudkip -> Marshtomp -> Swampert - Starter Pokemon
Poochyena -> Mightyena - Poochyena in Route 101
Zigzagoon -> Linoone - Zigzagoon in Route 101
Wurmple -> Silcoon -> Beautifly
-> Cascoon -> Dustox - Wurmple in Route 101
Lotad -> Lombre -> Ludicolo - Lotad in Route 102 (Sapphire/Emerald)
Seedot -> Nuzleaf -> Shiftry - Seedot in Route 102 (Ruby/Emerald)
Taillow -> Swellow - Taillow in Route 104
Wingull -> Pelipper - Wingull in Route 103
Ralts -> Kirlia -> Gardevoir - Ralts in Route 102
Surskit -> Masquerain - Surskit in Route 102 (Ruby/Sapphire)
Shroomish -> Breloom - Shroomish in Petalburg Woods
Slakoth -> Vigoroth -> Slaking - Slakoth in Petalburg Woods
Nincada -> Ninjask + Shedinja - Nincada in Route 116
Whismur -> Loudred -> Exploud - Whismur in Route 116
Makuhita -> Hariyama - Makuhita in Granite Cave
Nosepass - Granite Cave (requires Rock Smash)
Skitty -> Delcatty - Skitty in Route 116
Sableye - Granite Cave (Sapphire/Emerald)
Mawile - Granite Cave (Ruby), Victory Road (Emerald)
Aron -> Lairon -> Aggron - Aron in Granite Cave
Meditite -> Medicham - Meditite in Mt Pyre Grass (Ruby/Sapphire)
Electrike -> Manectric - Electrike in Route 110
Plusle / Minun - Route 110
Volbeat / Illumise - Route 117
Roselia - Route 117 (Ruby/Sapphire)
Gulpin -> Swalot - Gulpin in Route 110
Carvanha -> Sharpedo - Route 118 with Good Rod.
Wailmer -> Wailord - Route 110 with Good Rod.
Numel -> Camerupt - Numel on Route 112
Torkoal - Fiery Path
Spoink -> Grumpig - Spoink in Jagged Pass
Spinda - in Route 113
Trapinch -> Vibrava -> Flygon - Trapinch in Route 111
Cacnea -> Cacturne - Cacnea in Route 111
Swablu -> Altaria - Swablu in Route 114
Zangoose - Route 114 (Ruby)
Seviper - Route 114 (Sapphire/Emerald)
Lunatone - Meteor Falls (Sapphire)
Solrock - Meteor Falls (Ruby/Emerald)
Barboach -> Whiscash - Fished in Route 111 with Good Rod.
Corphish -> Crawdawnt - Good Rod in Petalburg
Baltoy -> Claydol - Baltoy in Route 111
Lileep -> Cradily - Revive fossils.
Anorith -> Armaldo - Revive fossils
Feebas -> Milotic - Route 119 (Feebas Fishing)
Castform - Gift at Weather Institute
Kecleon - Route 120
Shuppet -> Banette - Route 121 (Sapphire/Emerald), Mt Pyre Interior (Ruby)
Duskull -> Dusclops - Route 121 (Ruby), Mt Pyre Interior (Sapphire/Emerald)
Tropius - Route 119
Chimecho - Mt Pyre summit
Absol - Route 120
Spheal -> Sealeo -> Walrein - Shoal Cave
Clamperl (-> Huntail / Gorebyss) - Underwater
Relicanth - Underwater
Luvdisc - Good/Super Rod on Route 128
Bagon -> Shelgon -> Salamence - Meteor Falls back room. Requires Waterfall.
Regirock - Route 111. Requires Dive.
Regice - Route 105. Requires Dive.
Registeel - Route 120. Requires Dive.
Kyogre - Cave of Origin. (Sapphire)
Groudon - Cave of Origin. (Ruby)
Rayquaza - Sky Pillar 2nd visit (Emerald)

the Beldum family, Deoxys, Jirachi, and the Lati twins are unavailable pre-E4.

(Adapted from Zystral's with minor adjustements)

What is, and what is not being tiered?
Pokemon are not tiered if:
-They come from an event
-They cannot be captured/obtained until the postgame
-They cannot be caught in-game

Trade Evolution
Pokémon with trade evolutions are tiered separately, one entry for "with trading" and one for "without". If both with and without are classed in the same tier, they may be merged. Pokemon with trade evolutions will need a writeup for both its untraded and traded rank.

Rankings
These can be found in the next post. Note that there is only one tier list, so keep in mind version exclusives. Only Pokemon ranked C or higher will be given a full writeup.

Formatting
Use the following format to submit a write-up for a Pokémon:

Name
Availability: When does this Pokémon become available? Format is "[Pokemon] can by found [Location/method] with a X% chance"
Stats: Describe how a Pokémon's stats make it excel. Is it a deadly sweeper or a strong wall? Discuss why you would use this Pokemon thank to its stats.
Typing: Discuss this Pokémon's typing in a sentence or two. Is its STAB efficient or not, does it have any great resistances or glaring weaknesses?
Movepool: Describe this Pokémon's movepool in a few sentences. Does it have many effective movepool options through level up? Is it overreliant on TMs to function? Does it have access to useful HM's to help you traverse the region?
Major Battles: Describe how the Pokémon handles the major opponents throughout the game. Notable opponents and battles include the Gym Leaders, battles against various (named) members of Team Magma/Aqua, the various rival battles, the Elite Four themselves, and the Champion.
Additional Comments: Discuss any miscellaneous information not covered in other sections here. Factors such as experience growth, abilities, and other lesser characteristics can be discussed here, as well as (opportunity) cost - does it require constant healing, highly sought-after TMs (eg Earthquake), or expensive Game Corner items, for example? The entry can be wrapped up here as well.

Code:

[B]PokemonName[/B]
[B]Availability:[/B] content
[B]Stats:[/B] content
[B]Typing:[/B] content
[B]Movepool:[/B] content
[B]Major Battles:[/B] content
[B]Additional Comments:[/B] content

Please write professionally.

Some guidelines to follow for writing:
- No glitches or heavy RNG manipulation should be mentioned.
- Keep things concise! Figure out what's necessary to explain why a Pokemon is in its specific tier, avoid having walls of text.
- If a Pokemon is best obtained later into the game, that belongs in additional comments, not availability.
- Please try to write Pokemon that you've personally used.

Please do not discuss moving Pokemon from their current ranking.

Merritt · Feb 16, 2021

S-Tier: Reserved for Pokémon who possess the highest levels of efficiency of the available options in the Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald versions. Pokémon in this tier are able to OHKO or 2HKO an overwhelming majority of opponents, limiting the amount of attacks used against them, and possess minimal reliance on items to help assist them defeat opponents at like levels. These Pokémon usually show up before the late-game and any flaws they have are absolutely made up by their advantages.

Abra (Trade)

Mudkip

Ralts

A-Tier: Reserved for Pokémon whose efficiency in terms of completing the game is considered to be very high. Pokémon in this tier are able to OHKO or 2HKO a lot of opponents and are not very reliant on items to succeed, but either have some visible flaws that hurt their efficiency or have their usefulness counterbalanced by a late arrival.

Abra (No Trade)

Groudon

Kyogre

Rayquaza

Shroomish

Torchic - reserved by Celeb

Zangoose

Merritt · Feb 16, 2021

B-Tier: Reserved for Pokémon whose efficiency in terms of completing the game is considered to be high. Pokémon in this tier are able to OHKO or 2HKO a fair chunk of opponents and may have a bit of item reliance to assist in sweeping opponents. These Pokémon are still very useful but either have several visible flaws holding them back or come fairly late.

Absol

Barboach

Carvanha

Electrike

Heracross

Machop (Trade)

Magikarp

Magnemite

Makuhita

Meditite

Marill

Oddish (Vileplume)

Pinsir

Slakoth - Texas Cloverleaf

Staryu

Taillow

Tentacool

Wingull

Zigzagoon (RS)

Merritt · Feb 16, 2021

C-Tier: Reserved for Pokémon whose efficiency in terms of completing the game is considered to be moderately high. Pokémon in this tier are able to OHKO or 2HKO a reasonable portion of opponents but are matchup-based enough to need some item reliance to assist in sweeping some opponents. These Pokémon are useful but either have several visible flaws holding them back or barely make up for their late arrivals.

Chinchou - Reserved by Celeb

Doduo

Geodude (Trade)

Gulpin

Lunatone

Numel

Pikachu

Psyduck

Skarmory

Solrock - reserved by Celeb

Spoink

Treecko

Tropius

Voltorb

Zigzagoon (E)

Zubat

Merritt · Feb 16, 2021

D-Tier: Reserved for Pokémon whose efficiency in terms of completing the game is considered to be average. Pokémon in this tier are able to OHKO or 2HKO a reasonable portion of opponents but are matchup-based enough to need item reliance to assist in sweeping multiple opponents. These Pokémon are fairly useful but either have several visible flaws holding them back or do not make up for their late arrivals.

Aron
Baltoy
Oddish (Bellossom)
Corphish
Geodude (No Trade)
Girafarig
Grimer
Koffing
Lotad
Machop (No Trade)
Poochyena
Seviper
Shuppet
Spheal
Swablu
Torkoal
Trapinch
Wailmer

E-Tier: Reserved for Pokémon whose efficiency in terms of completing the game is considered to be low. Pokémon in this tier are able to OHKO or 2HKO a small amount of opponents and tend to be matchup-based enough to need item reliance to assist in sweeping a few opponents. The usefulness of these Pokémon are typically counterbalanced by many visible flaws or are moderately useful Pokémon that come very late.

Cacnea
Castform
Clamperl (Gorebyss)
Duskull
Kecleon
Lileep
Mawile (R)
Minun
Natu
Nincada (Ninjask)
Nincada (Shedinja)
Nosepass
Phanpy
Plusle
Regice
Roselia
Sableye
Sandshrew
Seedot
Skitty
Snorunt
Vulpix
Whismur
Wurmple (Beautifly)
Wurmple (Dustox)

F-Tier: Reserved for Pokémon who possess the worst efficiency of those available in Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald irrespective of their availability. These Pokémon outright lose a lot of 1v1 matchups at like levels unless they are assisted with significant item support, or are otherwise ridiculously inefficient to capture. The flaws of these Pokémon completely mask whatever advantage they could possibly have and hence, should never be considered seriously for an efficient run-through.

Anorith
Bagon
Chimecho
Clamperl (No Trade)
Clamperl (Huntail)
Corsola
Feebas
Goldeen
Horsea (Trade)
Horsea (No Trade)
Illumise
Jigglypuff
Luvdisc
Mawile (E)
Regirock
Registeel
Relicanth
Rhyhorn
Slugma
Spinda
Surskit
Volbeat
Wynaut

Merritt · Feb 16, 2021

Extant writeups, tagged to writer, please post to confirm you still want to take responsibility for that entry and revising it if necessary

Punchshroom - Pikachu, Shroomish, Absol, Meditite, Taillow, Zubat, Ralts, Oddish (Vileplume), Oddish (Bellossom)*
sumwun - Carvanha, Heracross, Makuhita, Spoink, Abra (No Trade), Tropius, Treecko
Texas Cloverleaf - Slakoth

Name: Pikachu
Availability: Pikachu can be found in the southern areas of the Safari Zone with a 15% chance.
Stats: High Speed but lackluster stats everywhere else. Offenses improve upon evolution or equipping the Light Ball item, though it is very rare.
Typing: Electric typing has great use against Winona, the upcoming water routes, and Water-type bosses such as Juan, Wallace, and Glacia.
Movepool: Level 25 Pikachus come with Thunder Wave and learn Thunderbolt in 1 level, whereas Level 27 Pikachus already come with Thunderbolt, but needs to be reteached Thunder Wave, so take your pick on which is more valuable for you. As an Electric-type, Pikachu's movepool is pretty sparse, but it does get Brick Break and Light Screen to improve its coverage and utility, respectively. Because Pikachu doesn't need anything from its level-up movepool that can't be taught by TM, it is advised to evolve it immediately after learning Thunderbolt.
Major Battles: A quick backtrack lets Raichu grind for experience against Winona's Gym and take out everything except for Winona's Altaria. Raichu can fry most of the Water-types of Juan, Wallace, and Glacia and use Light Screen to help buffer hits better. Thunder Wave can help to neuter Drake's Salamence, while Brick Break has some mild use against Glacia's Light Screen Glalie as well as Sidney in general.
Additional Comments: While Pikachu does not need the Thunderbolt TM, it is still necessary to travel through New Mauville to acquire the Thunderstone, unless you're lucky enough to catch a Pikachu holding a Light Ball, though it is only a 5% chance. One could also manipulate Pikachu's nature with the Pokeblock feeder, with dry berries increasing the likelihood of +SpA natures and sweet berries making +Spe natured Pikachus more common.

Name: Shroomish
Availability: Shroomish can be found in Petalburg Woods with a 15% chance.
Stats: Good bulk with low offenses and Speed. Upon evolution, its Attack stat skyrockets to become obscenely high, especially at such an early point in the game.
Typing: Grass typing is useful for the earlier portions of the game due to its advantage against Rock and Electric. Upon gaining the Fighting type upon evolution, it gains additional favorable matchups against Norman, Sidney, Glacia, and Steven, though it dislikes the new Psychic weakness against Tate & Liza. Note that Breloom does not rely on Grass-type moves for offense.
Movepool: Shroomish relies on disruptive moves such as Stun Spore, Leech Seed, and Mega Drain to take full advantage of its bulk and make up for its lack of power. Once it evolves, it changes gears to become an attacking powerhouse, crushing foes with moves like Bulk Up, Mach Punch, Rock Tomb, Silk Scarf-boosted Headbutt / Strength, Sludge Bomb, and Sky Uppercut, most of which are very powerful attacks for when they are learned compared to most Pokemon.
Major Battles: Shroomish can solo Roxanne while being able to hinder Brawly with Leech Seed. Breloom can smash Wattson, Archie, and Sidney pretty easily as well as wipe out most of Norman's trainers, while Norman himself can be dealt with clever use of Bulk Up and / or Counter. It loses to Flannery, Winona, Tate&Liza, and Phoebe, but otherwise its immense power makes it a threat against nearly any opponent it fights, especially with the threat of Bulk Up + X-Speed sweeps.
Additional Comments: Breloom's usefulness against Glacia is heavily decided on whether Breloom is able to outspeed her Pokemon, so it should avoid having a speed-hindering nature and feed it any Carbos you can find.

Name: Absol
Availability: Absol can be found in Route 120 with a 8% chance.
Stats: Glass cannon; very high Attack stat with decent Speed and Special Attack, but poor defenses.
Typing: Dark typing is useful for its Psychic immunity and Ghost resistance, but does not serve Absol very well in the attacking department at all.
Movepool: Absol is TM-reliant, but fortunately it has a very diverse movepool that can easily be tailored to your needs. It has Swords Dance to bolster moves such as Shadow Ball, Aerial Ace, and Return to extremely powerful levels, or it can take advantage of the coverage granted by Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, and Flamethrower, which it can further augment with Calm Mind if it wants.
Major Battles: Absol technically has the movepool to contribute in nearly any major matchup, be it breaking teams with Swords Dance-boosted Shadow Ball, picking off specific targets with special attacks, or even potentially sweeping with Calm Mind. Do note that Absol's fraility and average Speed can make clean sweeps rather difficult, but Absol does fairly well in 1v1 battles due to its power or coverage, and can wipe out Tate&Liza, Steven, and Phoebe particularly easily.

Name: Meditite
Availability: Meditite can be found in the exterior of Mt. Pyre with a 30% chance.
Stats: Mediocre to average stats but Pure Power is an absolute boon, doubling its Attack stat to turn it into a powerhouse.
Typing: Meditite will primarily use its Fighting-type for its offense. Its Psychic-typing makes it more suitable to fighting Tate&Liza, but gives it shakier Sidney and Phoebe matchups.
Movepool: Meditite's only form of offense when caught is Hidden Power, which is highly unlikely to be useful. This means that Meditite will have to rely on TMs such as Shadow Ball and Strength to fight on its own. Hi Jump Kick arrives at level 32 which shouldn't be far if you've caught the highest leveled Meditite, though that should be replaced by the more reliable Brick Break TM once you obtain it in Sootopolis.
Major Battles: Medicham's Shadow Ball rips through Tate&Liza, while a couple of Bulk Ups can allow Medicham to sweep through Wallace, Sidney, Glacia, Drake, and even possibly Steven, though an X Speed and Hyper Potion/Full Restore may be necessary to facilitate a clean sweep. Medicham is not expected to set up very comfortably against Phoebe, but Spell Tag-boosted Shadow Ball can heavily dent her Banettes so it can still put in work.
Additional Comments: Meditite takes a painful while to evolve, so be ready to put up with Meditite's horrific stats for the lategame.

Name: Taillow
Availability: Route 104, 10%, Levels 4-5.
Stats: Terrific Speed and decent Attack, but bad defenses.
Typing: Normal/Flying typing gives access to good STABs early on, though that typing's usefulness will wane as the game progresses.
Movepool: Taillow is never out of reach of high powered STAB moves, with a potent early-game level-up movepool and taught moves such as Secret Power, Fly, and Return. However, Taillow doesn't have any other worthwhile attacking options.
Major Battles: Taillow's speed and strength lets it easily prey on route trainers, but outside of Brawly, Taillow doesn't actually excel in any important battles. Taillow can usually pick off most weaker Pokemon and can generally contribute in the majority of major fights, but is otherwise usually heavily outmatched by the boss's ace Pokemon, so it must pick its matchups carefully lest it get taken out without KOing anything.
Additional Comments: Swellow should be given the Return TM from returning the Meteorite as soon as possible to prevent its offense from falling off.

Name: Zubat
Availability: Zubat can be found in the second floor basement of Granite Cave B2F with a 30% chance.
Stats: Amazing Speed, good Attack and respectable bulk.
Typing: Typing grants many 4x resistances which help in the early game, but weaknesses to Psychic, Ice, and Rock become more pronounced towards the lategame.
Movepool: The Steel Wing TM is needed to let Zubat competently fight on its own until it learns Wing Attack, while the Sludge Bomb TM is mandatory to achieve maximum damage output. All other moves it learns are helpful but not necessary. Note that even with Steel Wing, Zubat struggles against Rock-types, and Crobat is incapable of touching Steel-types.
Major Battles: Zubat can take on Brawly (albeit not very quickly) and does decently at route sweeping, but otherwise has average to terrible matchups against all other bosses, usually faltering against their ace Pokemon, especially those that are resistant or immune to Sludge Bomb. Crobat's role tends to be relegated to toss out fast and strong attacks that can beat weaker trainers or KO one/two of the boss's Pokemon, or potentially harassing tough opponents with its fast Confuse Ray.
Additional Comments: Zubat is also available at Meteor Falls up to a more manageable level 20 and at a much higher 80% rate, but the drawback is being stuck with the mediocre Golbat stage for longer.

Name: Ralts
Availability: Ralts is found in Route 102 at a 4% encounter rate.
Stats: Rather poor to mediocre stats as Ralts and Kirlia, but Gardevoir has amazing Special Attack & Special Defense and sufficient Speed.
Typing: Psychic typing grants good neutral STAB coverage for much of the game, though Dark-types are a hassle in the early game. It can make use of its resistances against Brawly and Tate&Liza, but weaknesses to Sidney and Phoebe can prove annoying.
Movepool: Ralts first needs 2 levels to acquire Confusion to be able to fight on its own. As a Kirlia, it soon gains access to two of its most important moves, Calm Mind and Psychic, at ridiculously early levels, which tear down much of the game and are mostly all it needs. Kirlia can use the Shock Wave TM for additional coverage, which can then be upgraded to the Thunderbolt TM as Gardevoir. Double Team can possibly cheese through Ralts's few tough matchups.
Major Battles: Ralts can rely on Double Team to circumvent Roxanne's inaccurate attacks and can naturally take on all of Brawly's Pokemon, though an underleveled one might need help from Potions or smart timing of Growl to keep up with his Makuhita. Kirlia could use Calm Mind to stand up to Wattson, but a clean sweep is not easy given the number of Thunder Wave, Sonicboom, and Selfdestruct users on his team, though a Cheri Berry can help stave off paralysis if not temporarily. From here on out, Kirlia/Gardevoir should be able to set up Calm Minds against the bosses' lead Pokemon with ease to be able to wipe out their team with boosted Psychics and Thunderbolts, though it is to be expected that Kirlia/Gardevoir might need to be healed in the process. Gardevoir might also need some additional help or insurance against certain opponents, such as Double Team boosts or an X Defend/X Speed beforehand to avoid heavy retaliation from Norman's Slakings or Drake's strong Dragon-types, or berries to cure status such as Swagger, Sweet Kiss, and Toxic during setup. Phoebe can be an annoying matchup if Dusclops uses Curse before Gardevoir finishes Calm Minding (usually 3-4 times are needed for the clean sweep), but otherwise she can be dealt with as well.
Additional Comments: It is not recommended for Gardevoir to set up against the lead Mightyenas of Maxie, Archie, and Sidney despite them posing little offensive threat, as Gardevoir cannot prevent their attempts at using Roar, Scary Face, and Sand-Attack to disrupt Gardevoir's sweep. Set up on their other Pokemon instead.

Name: Oddish (Vileplume)
Availability: Route 110, 10%, Level 13
Stats: High Special Attack, middling Attack stat, and has good general bulk, but is slow. Sunny Day + Chlorophyll helps to patch up the speed issue though.
Typing: Gets access to strong mid to late game STABs and good resists, though its Poison typing can reveal some annoying weaknesses later in the game.
Movepool: Early game Oddish will be reliant on Bullet Seed and powder moves such as Poisonpowder, Stun Spore, and Sleep Powder for a substantial portion of the game. After acquiring Surf, more TMs such as Giga Drain, Sludge Bomb, Sunny Day, and Solarbeam become available. Not having any worthwhile non-STAB moves means Vileplume will struggle to beat Poison- and Steel-types.
Major Battles: Early-game Oddish will usually be harassing tough opponents with powder moves but generally won't be doing a lot of damage, meaning it has mediocre to outright bad matchups against nearly all the pre-Surf Gym Leaders. Vileplume is obtainable before fighting Winona as the Leaf Stone as well as the Sunny Day and Solarbeam TMs are in rather close proximity to each other around Fortree City, though Vileplume is only expected to beat Winona's Pelipper. Vileplume solos Sidney with ease, whereas SunnyBeam is especially useful in allowing Vileplume to heavily threaten Tate&Liza, Juan, Wallace, and to an extent Glacia, while providing solid damage against neutral targets such as Dusclops, Flygon, and Aggron. Vileplume's weaknesses against Psychic can be a nuisance when taking on Tate&Liza and Phoebe, and can only resort to powder moves against the likes of Drake's Altaria and Salamence, and Steven's Skarmory and Metagross.
Additional Comments: Oddish is also much more commonly available on Route 119 post-Surf, with the advantage of requiring less babying to reach the coveted Sunny Beam and Solarbeam TMs. One could even go after the high-leveled Glooms in Area 3 of the Safari Zone, where the SolarBeam TM is conveniently located.

Name: Oddish (Bellossom)
Availability: Route 110, 10%, Level 13
Stats: Good Special Attack and has great general bulk, but is slow. Sunny Day + Chlorophyll patches up the latter issue though.
Typing: Has some of the better Grass-type attacking options in the game, but that is all it really has in terms of attacking. It does have good resistances and the bulk to better shrug off non-STAB super effective attacks.
Movepool: Early game Oddish will be reliant on Bullet Seed and powder moves such as Poisonpowder, Stun Spore, and Sleep Powder for a substantial portion of the game. After acquiring Surf, the Sunny Day and Solarbeam TMs are mandatory for Bellossom, and having the option of being tutored Magical Leaf is a decent STAB alternative compared to the low PP Giga Drain. Unfortunately, Bellossom will be primarily reliant on powder moves to deal with anything that resists its lone STAB attacks.
Major Battles: Early-game Oddish will usually be harassing tough opponents with powder moves but generally won't be doing a lot of damage, meaning it has mediocre to outright bad matchups against nearly all the pre-Surf Gym Leaders. While the Sunny Day and Solarbeam TMs are pretty nearby to each other after Fortree City, the Sun Stone is only available at Mossdeep City. SunnyBeam allows Bellossom to heavily threaten Tate&Liza, Juan, Wallace, and to an extent Glacia, while providing solid damage against neutral targets such as Dusclops, Flygon, and Aggron. Bellossom can only respond with powder moves against any opponent that resists Grass.
Additional Comments: Oddish is also much more commonly available on Route 119 post-Surf, with the advantage of requiring less babying to reach the necessary Sunny Beam and Solarbeam TMs. One could even go after the high-leveled Glooms in Area 3 of the Safari Zone, where the SolarBeam TM is conveniently located.
not eligible for writeup

Carvanha
Availability: Carvanha can be found using a Good Rod on Route 118 with a 20% chance, levels 10 to 30.
Stats: Carvanha quickly evolves into Sharpedo, whose good attack stats and Speed but near-useless defense stats make it a glass cannon that wants frequent healing.
Typing: Several Psychic and Ghost opponents make Sharpedo's Dark STAB useful in the late game. Its defensive typing is also good, but its stats prevent it from having much defensive utility.
Movepool: Carvanha encountered at level 22 or higher should already know Crunch. It can immediately learn Surf for STAB and Ice Beam for covering Flying and Dragon. Additionally, Sharpedo can learn Earthquake to use its high physical Attack, as well as any of the 5 required HMs.
Major Battles: Sharpedo gets worn down too easily to solo entire battles, but its movepool lets it contribute against every gym and Elite Four member. Sharpedo's typing is perfect for destroying Winona and Tate and Liza. It does well against Phoebe, and its performance against Drake depends on your using Carbos and a nature that doesn't lower Speed.
Additional Comments: Carvanha can be encountered anywhere from level 10 to level 30, so try to catch one that's at least level 25. Slow leveling rate slightly hinders Sharpedo.

Heracross
Availability: Heracross can be found in the northeast area of the Safari Zone with a 5% chance.
Stats: Heracross's amazing physical Attack and good Speed are perfect for quickly defeating regular trainers, and its decent bulk means you don't have to heal it very often.
Typing: Fighting is a good offensive type, but its weaknesses to Flying and Psychic are rather common toward the lategame. The Bug type is a hindrance as it makes Heracross weaker to Fire and Flying.
Movepool: Heracross comes already knowing Brick Break and can immediately learn Strength and Bulk Up. It usually only needs to spam Brick Break, but you can teach Heracross Earthquaketo be able to touch Ghost-types. One is likely to have beaten the game before Heracross reaches level 53, so aiming for Megahorn is ill-advised.
Major Battles: Heracross can sweep Juan, Sidney, Glacia, Drake, Steven, and Wallace after a few Bulk Ups and an X Speed if necessary; certain lead Pokemon such as Juan/Wallace's Sweet Kiss Luvdisc, Sidney's Sand-Attack Mightyena, and Steven's Aerial Ace Skarmory are not ideal to set up against on the first turn, but they have other Pokemon that are much easier for Heracross to start Bulking Up on. Heracross does not fare well against opponents such as Winona, Tate&Liza, and Phoebe, since all their Pokemon can target Heracross's weaknesses or just prove a pain to set up on in Phoebe's case.
Additional Comments: You can manipulate Heracross's nature by inserting Pokeblocks into Pokeblock feeders. Pokeblocks made of Leppa Berries increase the chance of +Physical Attack natures, while those made from Pecha Berries increase the likelihood of +Speed natures. Also, Guts is the slightly better ability.

Makuhita
Availability: Makuhita can be found in the ground floor of Granite Cave with a 50% chance at levels 6-10, or the first floor basement of Granite Cave with a 10% chance at levels 10-11.
Stats: Enormous HP lets Hariyama tank stuff and use lots of Bulk Ups, and strong Physical Attack after a rather early evolution lets it 1v1 most things with or without Bulk Up. However, low defenses and Speed means it takes annoying status moves and consumes lots of potions when you fight regular trainers.
Typing: Fighting is a good offensive type throughout the game. The Psychic weakness occasionally hinders Hariyama.
Movepool: Makuhita learns Vital Throw at level 13, which is a really powerful attack at this point in the game and serves Hariyama well for much of it. Hariyama can learn Bulk Up, which it makes good use of easily due to its high HP. Much later, Hariyama can learn the slightly higher PP and non-negative priority Brick Break. Hariyama's movepool outside of Fighting-type attacks is really shallow, so moves such as Dig, Strength, or Earthquake provide much needed additional coverage against opponents that resist Fighting.
Major Battles: The Brawly matchup is unfavorable since his Makuhita is likely stronger and has Bulk Up. From here on, Hariyama can just brute force its way through most major battles with Bulk Ups, albeit with hefty Potion support. Consequently, Tate and Liza and the champion are the only really difficult fights. Of course, some opponents (namely Winona, Phoebe, and Drake) require more Bulk Ups than others.
Additional Comments: Thick Fat is the better ability because it makes Flannery and Glacia much easier. Note that Hariyama will consume much of your Potion reserves due to its high HP, low initial bulk, bad Speed, and heavy use of setup.

Spoink
Availability: Spoink can be found in Jagged Pass with a 20% chance.
Stats: Spoink is only strong enough to defeat a few regular trainers. Grumpig's high special stats make it a good tank in many major battles, as long as you watch out for physical attacks.
Typing: Psychic is not a great type. Opponents resist Psychic more often than they are weak to it.
Movepool: Spoink comes knowing Psybeam and can immediately learn Shock Wave. Grumpig learns no stronger coverage moves and consequently has trouble with Psychic-resistant opponents. Spoink learns Psychic at level 34, so you might want to delay evolution for this. Grumpig can learn Calm Mind, which lets it set up on a weak opponent and sweep.
Major battles: The unevolved Spoink can 1v1 some of Flannery's team and is mostly deadweight against Norman. Once evolved, Grumpig can use Psychic and Shock Wave to deal major damage to Winona. It is not helpful against Tate and Liza unless you teach it the otherwise useless Shadow Ball. Calm Mind lets it sweep the last gym and Glacia (except Explosion Glalie), but Grumpig's type makes it worse against Sidney, Phoebe, and Steven. Grumpig can 1v1 several of Drake's and Wallace's Pokemon.
Additional comments: Grumpig benefits from its fast leveling rate. Try to catch a female Spoink with Thick Fat, so it has an easier time against the last gym and Glacia.

Abra (No Trade)
Availability: Route 116 (E only), early, 10%, level 7 or Granite Cave B2F, early, 10%, level 10, save a Great Ball for this
Stats: High Special Attack and Speed let Kadabra easily roll through regular trainers. Special Defense is passable, especially with Calm Mind, but low HP and physical Defense make Kadabra a glass cannon that sometimes can't 1v1 physical attackers.
Typing: Psychic stops being a good type when you defeat Brawly. Opponents that resist Psychic or know Shadow Ball are more common than those that are weak to Psychic.
Movepool: Abra is stuck with Teleport and wants exp. share training until level 16. Kadabra wins most battles by spamming Confusion, Psybeam, or Psychic. Sometimes useful moves include Shock Wave for water Pokemon, conserving Psychic's PP, and double team users, Recover, Calm Mind, and maybe Teleport or Reflect. Kadabra learns no good coverage moves, so it struggles with Psychic-resistant opponents.
Major Battles: Kadabra easily sweeps Brawly and does major damage to Wattson by spamming its main STAB. It has trouble against many of Norman's, Phoebe's, Drake's, and Steven (RS)'s strong physical attacks and Tate and Liza's and Sidney's Psychic-resistant Pokemon. Kadabra can Calm Mind sweep Wallace and Juan (set up on Ludicolo if you play Emerald).

Tropius
Availability: Route 119, mid-late, 9%, levels 27 to 29
Stats: Low attack stats and Speed mean Tropius has difficulty sweeping, slows down the game, and uses a lot of potions.
Typing: Tropius's weaknesses, mainly Ice but also Fire and Flying, become increasingly crippling near the end of the game. However, it's often useful against Water opponents without Ice attacks.
Movepool: Tropius is one of only two unevolved Pokemon that learn Rock Smash, Fly, and Strength. Combined with its good (relatively to Rayquaza) availability, this makes Tropius by far the best Fly slave in the game. It can also learn Cut, Flash, or Sweet Scent if you want. If for some weird reason you're using Tropius in battle, then its main STAB is still Fly, and other useful moves might include Sunny Day, SolarBeam, Synthesis, or Earthquake.
Major Battles: Tropius can 1v1 several of Tate and Liza's and Sidney's Pokemon, but it can't contribute much else in battles. Tropius is especially useless against the last 3 Elite Four members.

Availability: Treecko can be received on Route 101 at level 5.
Stats: The Treecko family have strong Special Attack and can outspeed nearly everything. Their physical Attack is sometimes usable, and their defenses are mediocre.
Typing: Grass starts good, but it gradually gets worse as opponents use more Fire and Steel Pokemon. Past Lilycove, Grass is a good offensively and bad defensively, because Water Pokemon and Ice attacks simultaneously become common.
Movepool: This is Treecko's biggest downside. Until you get the third badge and the Strength HM, its strongest attack is Bullet Seed, and Sceptile never learns anything more powerful than Leaf Blade. The Treecko family can learn Rock Tomb, Dig, Strength, Brick Break, or Dragon Claw to cover various Grass-resistant opponents.
Major Battles: Treecko can usually solo Roxanne just by spamming Bullet Seed, but Brawly, Wattson, Flannery, and Winona are all difficult. Sceptile gets better against the last two gyms' Grass-weak Pokemon. Its matchups against Norman, Sidney, and Drake strongly depend on knowing Dig, Brick Break, and Dragon Claw, respectively.

Name: Slakoth
Availability: Slakoth can by found in Petalburg Woods with a 5% chance
Stats: Great physical tank stats supplemented by high speed and effective special attack after evolution. Slaking has the highest Attack stat of any accessible Pokemon and better bulk than Swampert.
Typing: Normal type trades a weakness to Brawly for an advantage against Phoebe. Few enemies resist Normal in game which allows for comfortable 1 and 2HKOs from STAB attacks.
Movepool: Slakoth learns Encore and Slack Off and Vigoroth learns Bulk Up after defeating Brawly, forming an unstoppable sweeping set. Slaking's movepool is incredible diverse and can be customized to defeat any opponent; options include Return, Shadow Ball, Earthquake, Flamethrower, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Brick Break, the aforementioned Bulk Up, and Hyper Beam - from Slaking this is the single strongest attack in the game.
Major Battles: Bulk Up+Encore+Slack Off enables Vigoroth to sweep cleanly through Wattson, Flannery, and Norman, as well as Winona if it is still unevolved. Slaking easily OHKOs most enemies among Winona, Juan, and Tate and Liza, while also tanking effectively in the double battle. Each of Sidney, Phoebe, Glacia, and Drake can be defeated by a Bulk Up using Slaking, or will see key enemies picked off by Hyper Beam; each of Wallace's Pokemon can also be picked off, or 2HKOed with Return.
Additional Comments: Vigoroth is one of the best mid-game Pokemon available. Slaking carries any fight it enters single handedly. The sole reason Slakoth is ranked only in B tier is the Truant ability. The painful training period of a Slakoth and the drain on time and resources imposed by Truant are simply too much to justify a higher ranking, even as Slaking matches or exceeds the abilities of other S tier entries.
Wallace's Tentacruel should be OHKOed with Hyper Beam as its Hydro Pump is able to 2HKO in return.

Merritt · Feb 16, 2021

If you'd like to reserve a writeup that's not already taken, please feel free to request it. In addition, please do provide critique of entries that other people are writing in a respectful manner!

Celeb · Feb 16, 2021

I would like to reserve Torchic, Solrock and Chinchou.

Texas Cloverleaf · Feb 16, 2021

volunteering for QC duty, confirming I will update slakoth if needed, will also update sumwun's and punchshroom's mons they do not wish to do, majority i have extensive experience with

Punchshroom · Feb 16, 2021

Merritt I'll polish up Pikachu, Shroomish, Taillow, Zubat, Ralts, and Oddish (Vileplume).

I'll leave Absol and Meditite to someone else.

Name: Pikachu
Availability: Pikachu can be found in the southern areas of the Safari Zone with a 15% chance.
Stats: High Speed but average to lackluster stats everywhere else. Offenses improve upon evolution or equipping the very rare Light Ball item.
Typing: Electric typing is useful for its neutral coverage, while being great against Winona, the upcoming water routes, and Water-type bosses such as Juan, Wallace, and Glacia.
Movepool: Level 25 Pikachus come with Thunder Wave and learn Thunderbolt in 1 level, whereas Level 27 Pikachus already come with Thunderbolt, but needs to be reteached Thunder Wave, so take your pick on which is more valuable for you. As an Electric-type, Pikachu's movepool is pretty sparse, but it does get Light Screen and possibly Brick Break to improve its utility. Because Pikachu doesn't need anything from its level-up movepool that can't be taught by TM, it is advised to evolve it immediately after learning Thunderbolt.
Major Battles: A quick backtrack lets Raichu grind for experience against Winona's Gym and take out everything except for Winona's Altaria. Raichu can fry most of the Water-types of Juan, Wallace, and Glacia and use Light Screen to help buffer special hits better. Thunder Wave can help to neuter Drake's Salamence, while Brick Break has some mild use against Glacia's Light Screen Glalie as well as Sidney in general.
Additional Comments: While Pikachu does not need the Thunderbolt TM, it is still necessary to travel through New Mauville to acquire the Thunderstone, unless you're lucky enough to catch a Pikachu holding a Light Ball, though it is only a 5% chance. One could also manipulate Pikachu's nature with the Pokeblock feeder, with dry berries and sweet berries increasing the likelihood of +SpA natured and +Spe natured Pikachus, respectively.

Name: Shroomish
Availability: Shroomish can be found in Petalburg Woods with a 15% chance.
Stats: Good bulk with low offenses and Speed. Upon evolution, its Attack stat skyrockets to become one of the highest in the game.
Typing: Grass typing is useful for the earlier portions of the game due to its advantage against Rock and Electric. Upon gaining the Fighting type upon evolution, it gains additional favorable matchups against Norman, Sidney, Glacia, and Steven, though it dislikes the new Psychic weakness against Tate & Liza. Note that Breloom does not rely on Grass-type moves for offense.
Movepool: Shroomish relies on disruptive moves such as Stun Spore, Leech Seed, and Mega Drain to take full advantage of its bulk and make up for its lack of power. Once it evolves, it changes gears to become an attacking powerhouse, crushing foes with moves like Bulk Up, Mach Punch, Rock Tomb, Silk Scarf-boosted Headbutt / Strength, Sludge Bomb, and Sky Uppercut, most of which are very powerful attacks for when they are learned compared to most Pokemon.
Major Battles: Shroomish can solo Roxanne while being able to hinder Brawly with Leech Seed and Mega Drain. Breloom can smash Wattson, Archie, and Sidney pretty easily as well as wipe out most of Norman's trainers, while Norman himself can be dealt with clever use of Bulk Up and Leech Seed / Counter. It loses to Flannery, Winona, Tate&Liza, and Phoebe, but otherwise its immense power makes it a threat against nearly any opponent it fights, especially with the threat of Bulk Up + X-Speed sweeps.
Additional Comments: Breloom's usefulness against Glacia is heavily decided on whether Breloom is able to outspeed her Pokemon, so it should avoid having a speed-hindering nature and feed it any Carbos you can find.

Name: Taillow
Availability: Route 104, 10%, Levels 4-5.
Stats: Terrific Speed and decent Attack, but bad defenses.
Typing: Normal/Flying typing gives access to good STABs early on, though that typing's usefulness will wane as the game progresses.
Movepool: Taillow is never out of reach of high powered STAB moves, with a potent early-game level-up movepool and taught moves such as Wing Attack, Secret Power, Fly, Return and even Hyper Beam. However, Taillow doesn't have any other worthwhile attacking options.
Major Battles: Taillow's speed and strength lets it easily prey on route trainers, but outside of Brawly, Taillow doesn't actually outright excel in any important battles. While it can generally contribute in the majority of major fights by picking off their weaker Pokemon, it is usually heavily outmatched by the boss's ace Pokemon. Swellow tends to operate as a hit-and-run Pokemon that can trade blows with 2 Pokemon at most and thus is usually unable to cleanly sweep an important fight.

Name: Zubat
Availability: Zubat can be found in the second floor basement of Granite Cave B2F with a 30% chance.
Stats: Amazing Speed, good Attack and respectable bulk.
Typing: Typing grants many 4x resistances which help in the early game, but weaknesses to Psychic, Ice, and Rock become more pronounced towards the lategame.
Movepool: The Steel Wing TM is needed to let Zubat competently fight on its own until it learns Wing Attack, while the Sludge Bomb TM is mandatory to achieve maximum damage output. All other moves it learns are helpful but not necessary.
Major Battles: Zubat can take on Brawly (albeit not very quickly) and does decently at route sweeping, but otherwise has average to terrible matchups against all other bosses, usually faltering against their ace Pokemon, especially those that are resistant or immune to Sludge Bomb. Crobat's role tends to be relegated to toss out fast and strong attacks that can beat weaker trainers or KO one/two of the boss's Pokemon. Crobat's Speed does allow it the option to whittle down bulkier Pokemon with the combination of Toxic, Confuse Ray, and Fly, though this strategy not only requires Crobat to have the bulk to survive a couple of attacks, but also takes time and can be easily undone by an untimely Full Restore.
Additional Comments: Zubat is also available at Meteor Falls up to a more manageable level 20 and at a much higher 80% rate, but the drawback is being stuck with the mediocre Golbat stage for longer.

Name: Ralts
Availability: Ralts is found in Route 102 at a 4% encounter rate.
Stats: Rather poor to mediocre stats as Ralts and Kirlia, but Gardevoir has amazing Special Attack & Special Defense and sufficient Speed.
Typing: Psychic typing grants good neutral STAB coverage for much of the game, though Dark-types are a hassle in the early game. It can make use of its resistances against Brawly and Tate&Liza, but weaknesses to Sidney and Phoebe can prove annoying.
Movepool: Ralts first needs 2 levels to acquire Confusion to be able to fight on its own. As a Kirlia, it soon gains access to two of its most important moves, Calm Mind and Psychic, at ridiculously early levels, which tear down much of the game and are mostly all it needs. Kirlia can use the Shock Wave TM for additional coverage, which can then be upgraded to the Thunderbolt TM as Gardevoir. Double Team can possibly cheese through Ralts's few tough matchups.
Major Battles: Ralts can use Double Team and Growl to help swing the Roxanne and especially Brawly matchup to its favor. Kirlia's matcup against Wattson is considerably shakier since multiple factors such as paralysis, Supersonic, Sonicboom, and Selfdestruct can impede or undo Kirlia's setup attempts. From here on out, Kirlia/Gardevoir's main gameplan is set up Calm Minds against the bosses' lead/weaker Pokemon to be able to wipe out their team with boosted Psychics and Thunderbolts, though it is to be expected that Kirlia/Gardevoir might need to be healed in the process, and Kirlia also needs to evolve into Gardevoir by the time it confronts Norman. Additional help such as Double Team boosts, X Defend/X Speed, or status-curing berries can help make a cleansweep even more comfortable or at least help save up on healing items.
Additional Comments: Ralts's ability can play a notable role in determining which matchups it can perform better in. Trace can let copy abilities such as Golbat/Crobat's Inner Focus (to prevent Bite flinches), Claydol's Levitate, and Sealeo's Thick Fat for easier setup, whereas Synchronize can give Kirlia an edge in the Wattson matchup or just simply let Gardevoir set up on Slaking without copying Truant.

Name: Oddish (Vileplume)
Availability: Route 110, 10%, Level 13
Stats: High Special Attack, middling Attack stat, and has good general bulk, but is slow. Sunny Day + Chlorophyll helps to patch up the speed issue though.
Typing: Gets access to strong STABs in the mid- to late-game and has good resists, though its Poison typing can reveal some annoying weaknesses later in the game.
Movepool: Early game Oddish will be reliant on Bullet Seed and powder moves such as Poisonpowder, Stun Spore, and Sleep Powder for a substantial portion of the game. After acquiring Surf, more TMs such as Giga Drain, Sludge Bomb, Sunny Day, and Solarbeam become available. Not having any worthwhile non-STAB moves means Vileplume will struggle to beat Poison- and Steel-types.
Major Battles: Early-game Oddish will usually be harassing tough opponents with powder moves but generally won't be doing a lot of damage, meaning it has middling to outright bad matchups against nearly all the pre-Surf boss fights. Vileplume is obtainable before fighting Winona as the Leaf Stone as well as the Sunny Day and Solarbeam TMs are in rather close proximity to each other around Fortree City, though Vileplume is only expected to beat Winona's Pelipper and arguably Tropius. Vileplume solos Sidney with ease, whereas SunnyBeam is especially useful in allowing Vileplume to heavily threaten Tate&Liza, Juan, Wallace, and to an extent Glacia, while providing solid damage against neutral targets such as Dusclops, Flygon, and Aggron. Vileplume's weaknesses against Psychic can be a nuisance when taking on Tate&Liza and Phoebe, and can only resort to powder moves against the likes of Drake's Altaria and Salamence, and Steven's Skarmory and Metagross.
Additional Comments: Oddish (and by extension Gloom) is also much more commonly available on Route 119 post-Surf, with the advantage of requiring less babying to reach its evolution and the coveted Sunny Day and Solarbeam TMs. One could even go after the high-leveled Glooms in Area 3 of the Safari Zone, where the SolarBeam TM is conveniently located and its nature can be manipulated with the Berry feeders.

Celeb · Feb 17, 2021

Torchic
Availability: It's a starter.
Stats: Its Attack and Special Attack are good for the whole game, however the rest of its stats are average. Final evolution improves its speed slightly, making it faster than most of the opponents.
Typing: The combination of Fire and Fighting hits 7 different types for super effective damage while only being resisted by some Flying and Water Pokemon. Defensively, the typing results in a nasty weaknesses to Water, Ground, Flying and Psychic types which are common in major battles.
Movepool: For its STAB moves, it gets Ember at level 10, Double Kick upon first evolution at level 16 and Blaze Kick upon second evolution at level 36. Stronger STABs (Brick Break, Flamethrower and Fire Blast) are only accessible via TMs. Torchic can utilize Rock Tomb as well as Ground and Normal type coverage to hit certain opponents harder. Lastly, Bulk Up is a noteworthy boosting move that strengthens the power of physical attacks and simultaneously increases Defense.
Major Battles: Its performance against Roxanne heavily depends on its evolutionary stage - Torchic fails to do anything helpful but Combusken fares much better. Most of the remaining major battles are not a big threat to Torchic thanks to its good STABs and an access to a boosting move. Most notably, even despite having a type disadvantage, Blaziken can sweep Winona and a Water type gym leader. Only Tate, Liza, Drake and Emerald's Wallace prove to be too much for it to handle.

Solrock
Availability: Solrock has a 20% chance to appear on the first floor of Meteor Falls, however only in Ruby and Emerald. It is inaccessible in Sapphire.
Stats: None of its stats are particularly great or horribly bad. Its Attack and Defense are pretty good. Its Special Attack is low.
Typing: The combination of Rock and Psychic hits 6 different types for super effective damage and is only resisted by Steel types as well as a Baltoy line. Solrock has many weaknesses but only Water, Dark and Ghost ones are noteworthy. Resistance to Flying, Fire, Normal and Psychic attacks is helpful in major battles.
Movepool: It starts with Confusion and Rock Throw. The former can be replaced by Psychic TM from Game Corner. The latter is overshadowed by Rock Slide at level 37. Solrock has access to convenient physical coverage in form of Shadow Ball and Earthquake. On a special side, it is able to learn Calm Mind, Solarbeam and Fire type coverage, however its low Special Attack makes those moves less than optimal. At level 31, Solrock gets Cosmic Power which can help survive certain threats.
Major Battles: Immediately after capture, it has a series of favourable match ups against the closest gym leaders. It reliably beats Flannery and Winona, however Norman fights back with troublesome Dark type attacks. In lategame, Solrock provides good support against Tate and Liza with Rock Slide as well as Shadow Ball but it's useless against Juan/Wallace. In League, it is simply a dead weight against everyone, excluding Phoebe whose Dusclops does not attack Solrock if it receives boosts from X items.
Additional Comments: Levitate is an excellent ability since it transform one of Solrock's weaknesses into an immunity. Ground attacks are common enough to make it noticeable.

Chinchou
Availability: It has a 30% chance to appear underwater on Routes 124 and 126.
Stats: Aside from its amazing HP, it has unimpressive stats. Its Attack, Defense and Speed are below average.
Typing: The combination of Water and Electric hits 5 different types for super effective damage (from which Water is particularly noteworthy) but it is resisted by Grass as well as Dragon types. Defensively, weakness to Ground and Grass attacks is less noticeable than 5 resistances.
Movepool: If caught on a 25 level or higher, it starts with Spark and can be immediately taught Surf. Stronger electric STABs (Thunderbolt and Thunder) are only available via TMs. Its only noteworthy coverage option is Ice Beam but Lanturn makes a great use of it. Confuse Ray and Thunder Wave are optional level-up moves that are able to disrupt opponents.
Major Battles: It provides a valuable help against Water type gym leader as well as the whole Elite Four, usually defeating certain targets or outright sweeping the whole teams with some item support. Despite having a type advantage over both champions, Lanturn struggles to do much against them because of their access to Ground and Grass coverage.
Additional Comments: It is highly recommended to catch Chinchou on level 26 or higher to evolve it immediately.

sumwun · Feb 17, 2021

Merritt's post forgot a few things I wrote.

Magikarp
Availability: Magikarp can be found using an Old Rod at Dewford Town with a 70% chance at levels 5 to 10.
Stats: Gyarados has good defense stats, but its low Special Attack prevents Gyarados from effectively using its large special movepool.
Typing: Water Flying is a good defensive combination because Electric attacks become rare after Wattson. Water is unfortunately a special type, so Gyarados's Water STAB moves use its low Special Attack.
Movepool: Magikarp wants exp. share training until it evolves and learns Strength. Lack of physical STAB prevents Gyarados from effectively using its high physical Attack. It usually relies on different-type physical moves, namely Strength, Thrash, Return, or Earthquake. Surf and Ice Beam are good options for coverage moves.
Major Battles: Magikarp is useless against Brawly. Wattson and Phoebe are particularly difficult because they can target Gyarados's weaknesses. Gyarados's good matchups depend on its coverage moves. Dragon Rage (and being female) are good against Flannery, Ice Beam is good against Winona and Drake, and Thunderbolt is good against Wallace.
Additional Comments: Slow leveling rate slightly hinders Magikarp. Intimidate is useful for weakening any physical attacker and, in Emerald, reducing wild Pokemon encounter chances.

Magnemite
Availability: Magnemite can be found in New Mauville with a 50% chance at levels 22 to 26.
Stats: Magneton has excellent Special Attack. Its speed is slightly above average, so it should eat Carbos in order to outspeed as much as possible. Mediocre HP and Special Defense make Magneton take a lot of damage from Fire and Water attacks.
Typing: The Electric Steel combination resists all but 4 types of attacks, but Ground attacks often OHKO Magneton. Its Electric attacks are useful against the many Water opponents in the second half of the game.
Movepool: Spark, Thunder Wave, and Thunderbolt are Magneton's 3 good moves. No matter what move is in the last slot, it's usually useless. Magneton's tiny movepool makes it lose to most Ground Pokemon.
Major Battles: Magneton can deal significant damage just by spamming Thunderbolt against the last 3 gyms and Phoebe, as long as its teammates take out their Earthquake user. The other Elite 4 members and the Champion are more threatening because they use Electric resists or strong special attacks.

Marill
Availability: Marill can be found at Route 104 with a 20% chance at levels 4 to 5.
Stats: Marill's stats are rather weak even with Huge Power, so it can be a slight hindrance before evolving. Azumarill has usable defense stats and Special Attack, and its physical Attack is strong if boosted by Huge Power.
Typing: Water is a strong defensive type because Electric and Grass attacks become rare after Wattson. Water is a special type, so Azumarill unfortunately can't boost any attack with both STAB and Huge Power.
Movepool: Marill can learn any of the 5 required HMs without evolving. It also doesn't require any HMs to catch, so Marill is one of the best HM slaves. In battle, Marill always has access to Huge Power-boosted Normal attacks, such as Tackle, Strength, or Return. Its coverage moves include Water Gun, Bubblebeam, Dig, Surf, and Brick Break.
Major Battles: The worst matchups are Brawly (Marill is likely still unevolved at that point), Wattson, and Phoebe. Other that those, Azumarill consistently deals damage simply by spamming its strongest move, and it does particularly well against Roxanne and Flannery. Azumarill's performance against Norman and Glacia depend on access to Dig and Brick Break, respectively.
Additional Comments: Try to catch a female Marill (with Huge Power, of course) so it does better against Flannery, Juan, and Glacia. Marill benefits slightly from fast leveling rate.

Texas Cloverleaf said:
will also update sumwun's and punchshroom's mons they do not wish to do, majority i have extensive experience with

I don't expect to be active here for the next 2 months, but I might decide to come back and write more later. Texas Cloverleaf (or anyone else who played RSE and is reading this post) can polish my writeups if they want.

Minor nitpick: It's earliest to catch Horsea on Route 134, so the availability list should probably mention 134 instead of 132.

Also let's say someone is using Swampert along with 3 or 4 random teammates (so Swampert doesn't take all the experience, and it remains at reasonable levels), and he/she/they/it doesn't use the bag in trainer battles. Swampert will be least able to contribute in which major battles?

Merritt · Feb 17, 2021

sumwun said:
Minor nitpick: It's earliest to catch Horsea on Route 134, so the availability list should probably mention 134 instead of 132.

Also let's say someone is using Swampert along with 3 or 4 random teammates (so Swampert doesn't take all the experience, and it remains at reasonable levels), and he/she/they/it doesn't use the bag in trainer battles. Swampert least able to contribute in which major battles?

134 and 132 Horsea are available at the same progression since you need the Super Rod even if 134 is technically faster to go to if you Fly.

Mudkip's only particularly bad battle is Rival 2, obviously it'll contribute less in Norman compared to Wattson and Flannery but it doesn't have any really bad matchups after that besides Emerald Wallace (still able to contribute though).

Punchshroom · Feb 20, 2021

Merritt Barboach, Doduo, and Gulpin written as well.

Name: Barboach
Availability: Barboach can be fished with the Good Rod in the lake of Route 111 with a 20% chance, varying from levels 10 to 30.
Stats: Barboach has poor stats so it wants to evolve as soon as it gets Earthquake at level 31. Whiscash has sizable HP, mediocre Speed, and average stats elsewhere.
Typing: Water/Ground typing is excellent for its wide and neutral coverage and having only one uncommon weakness, making Whiscash terrific for neutral fights.
Movepool: Surf and the Ice Beam TM are available to it immediately, and if you fished up a level 30 Barboach Earthquake is immediately learned after leveling up. Amnesia is helpful in allowing it to tank through specially-oriented fights, but if you don't need that, Whiscash can make room for another Water HM.
Major Battles: Ice Beam Whiscash beats all of Winona's Pokemon. Tate&Liza can be Surf spammed; Solrock's Solarbeam or repeated Psychics can be dangerous but Whiscash can use Amnesia to mitigate that damage if need be. Whiscash can Amnesia + Earthquake throughout the entire Wallace/Juan fight, though without X Atks and/or X Speeds, don't expect Whiscash to clean sweep without running into PP issues. The only Grass-tupe moves in the Elite 4 come from Sidney's Cacturne, Steven's Cradily, and Wallace's Ludicolo, but otherwise Whiscash can use its general bulk, Amnesia, and strong BP attacks to tank through most stronger opponents, with especially favorable matchups against Drake and Steven.

Name: Doduo
Availability: The Northwest (aka Mach Bike) area of the Safari Zone contains Doduo at 15% rarity and, ideally, Dodrio at 5% rarity.
Stats: Dodrio has high Atk, good Speed, but low HP and defenses.
Typing: Normal/Flying frankly does not offer good advantages at this point in the game, especially when its weaknesses become more common.
Movepool: Tri Attack is the main Normal-type STAB of choice since Dodrio is unlikely to build Return to max power (or even outdamage Tri Attack) without substantial investment or sidetracking. Fly is the Flying-type STAB while Hyper Beam is recommended to let Dodrio capitalize on its power and potentially minimize its bulk issues by KOing opponents when it otherwise might have taken damage instead. Nothing else is worth running, thought Taunt can be hilarious to shut down Phoebe's lead Dusclops.
Major Battles: Dodrio is a good route cleaner, but its main role in fights is primarily to weaken neutral targets with Tri Attack into Hyper Beam KO range. If it cannot accomplish this against certain opponents before it gets KOed itself, consider them bad matchups for Dodrio. This is to say that Dodrio has middling at best success against some/most of Winona, Sidney, Wallace/Juan, and Drake's teams, but is likely going to be outmatched against Tate&Liza, Phoebe, Glacia, and the Champion.
Additional Comments: Drill Peck is the best Flying-type move available in the game, which Doduo can learn at level 37 compared to Dodrio's significantly later level 47. However, Drill Peck doesn't offer much over Tri Attack and Fly in the long run to warrant being stuck as a Doduo for at least 6 levels longer than usual, so don't be tempted by this. It is also recommended to reach Lilycove City after catching Doduo/Dodrio before going back to fight Winona, so that you can cut back on further backtracking by simply Flying to Lilycove City.

Name: Gulpin
Availability: Gulpin can be found in Route 110 at a 15% chance.
Stats: Good HP and defenses, but average power and mediocre Speed.
Typing: Poison typing is nice for resisting Brawly, but its usefulness wanes as the game progresses as Psychic- and Ground-type attacks become more common.
Movepool: STAB Sludge at level 14 as Gulpin and Body Slam at level 26 as a Swalot are considerably powerful attacking options at their respective points in the game. Bullet Seed and Shock Wave can be used as momentary coverage options until you get the Ice Beam TM, as well as Sludge Bomb for your main STAB. It has rare utility moves such as Yawn, Amnesia, Encore, and even Toxic by level-up, which it greatly needs at least one of to fully make use of its potential, with Yawn generally being the most useful.
Major Battles: Swalot's performance in important fights is significantly dependent on its movepool. Gulpin is not going to fare well against Wattson's Steel-types, though Amnesia and Sludge/Bomb poison could potentially allow it to take on Manectric. Yawn and Encore can disrupt Norman's Slakings, though Swalot is unlikely going to beat them on its own. Ice Beam lets Swalot contribute against Winona and Drake, though be wary of Earthquakes. Amnesia is key in allowing Swalot to sweep Flannery and Glacia by setting up on the right target, such as Slugma and level 50 Glalie, with Yawn, Toxic, or Encore making the fight even easier, though beware of Magnitude from Emerald Flannery's Numel. Amnesia Swalot can handle Champion Wallace's Tentacruel as well as Ludicolo (especially if Swalot has Liquid Ooze), and Amnesia + Toxic even gives Swalot the potential to take on Wallace's Milotic. Swalot will be a liability against Tate&Liza, but otherwise it can at least contribute in most fights with Yawn.

iSoNkei · Feb 27, 2021

Hello I decided to help a bit with the write-ups so here are a few more entries

PokemonName Kyogre (S)
Availability: Kyogre is a guarantee encounter in Pokemon Sapphire after the player wins their 7th gym badge located in Mosdeep City (Tate&Liza)
Stats: Amazing bulk, Sp.Atk and defenses
Typing: Water is a great offensive-defensive typing and nothing at this stage of the game can really pose a problem.
Movepool: Kyogre knows Calm Mind/Ice Beam and Hydro Pump the moment it's caught making great at setting up on weak foes that can't hurt him and proceed sweeping everything in sight. The low PP in Hydro Pump can be a problem but can easily be swapped for the more accurate Surf and since you will be more or less be using a few CM first the power drop isn't noticeable. It can also learn Thunderbolt or a 100% accurate Thunder.
Major Battles: Kyogre can beast through what is left of the game with minimal support from items (mainly PP restoring ones). With Thunderbolt or Thunder wrecks Wallace, has no problem setting up CM in the face of Syndeys Mightyena, Phoebe's Dusclops, Glacia's Sealeo, Drake's Shelgon and Steven's Skarmory and then sweeping the battle from there by spamming it's most effective move.
Additional Comments: It is advisable to swap Hydro Pump for Surf and giving Kyogre an electric move. Thunder is probably better than Thunderbolt since it's more powerful and only requires to beat the rival (which should be pretty easy with all the extra experience) rather than having to go to the New Mauville and run threw the whole area. A few PP restoring items will be needed in order for Kyogre to sweep.

PokemonName Rayquaza (E)
Availability: Rayquaza can be caught in the Sky Pillar after the player awakens it for the first time to stop the clash between Groudon and Kyogre.
Stats: Amazing offensive stats and speed.
Typing: Dragon/Flying is all in all a great defensive typing but the 4x weakness to Ice can come to bite especially in a Water infested late game (since they usually carry Ice type attacks).
Movepool: Rayquaza has a stellar and expansive move pool that can be adjusted for any situation.
Major Battles: Rayquaza's great offensive stats along with it's stellar move pool and the fact that it can be caught at level 70 can pretty much steam roll what is left of the game. It does need the use of items and some TM's to do so though! It destroys Juan by spamming Outrage. With Fly/Waterfall and Outrage you win Syndey but you do need X items or use of TM's to have a clean sweep vs the rest of the Elite Four.
Additional Comments: A set of Fly/ Aerial Ace/ Waterfall/ Outrage is what speed runners use to push through the Victory Road and the Elite Four so technically Rayquaza can solo the rest of the game. Heal Powders to get rid of Confusion, some X attacks and X Speeds are always usefully items for setting up before sweeping with Rayquaza. Outrage only uses 1 PP the first time is used so a well timed Outrage can take 2-3 Pokemon's with only 1 PP!

Ernesto · Feb 27, 2021

Hi, I wanted to reserve Zangoose and Meditite since the day this was posted but I totally forgot. Also I know it's too late but I still think Seedot (R) being in E is ludicrous, it's really not worse than Bellossom or Ludicolo which can evolve much later. I nommed it for C but at the very least it should be top D. Seedot (E) might be worthy of E since it's extremely uncommon but I can't comment because I never used it. This is mostly a for the record, I understand you're not gonna be moving it now.

Name: Zangoose
Availability: Zangoose can be caught at Route 114 with a 19% chance, at levels 15-17. It's only available in Ruby.
Stats: Zangoose has very high Attack and Speed stats for the moment it's available. Its bulk is mediocre but it can allow it to live hits and set up Swords Dances and sweep.
Typing: Normal typing gives it an immunity against Ghost-type attacks and is seldom resisted offensively when combined with the Shadow Ball TM outside of Steel-type Pokemon.
Movepool: Zangoose comes Swords Dance and Quick Attack and learns Slash at level 19. It can be taught TMs such as Return, Shadow Ball, Brick Break, and Dig to hit almost every opponent hard.
Major Battles: While its typing doesn't give it any immediate advantage, the ability to set up Swords Dances and hit hard with Normal STAB allows it to do well against Flannery, Winona, Wallace, Sidney, and Glacia. With Shadow Ball it also beats Tate and Liza and Phoebe.
Additional Comments: Zangoose's biggest flaw is its experience group, Erratic. This means from the moment you catch it it'll need to defeat twice as many opponents as a Medium-Slow Pokemon so it'll likely be underleveled during the midgame. At around the seventh gym it'll begin leveling up much faster to make up for the rough start.

Name: Meditite
Availability: Meditite can be caught in the exterior of Mt. Pyre with a 30% chance, at levels 27 and 29. It's only available in Ruby and Sapphire.
Stats: Meditite's stats are low at the moment you catch it. Medicham has high Speed and passable Attack stat which becomes really high when you take Pure Power into consideration.
Typing: Meditite's unique Fighting/Psychic typing gives it a disadvantage against Flying- and Ghost-type Pokemon while hitting Dark-, Ice-, and Steel-type Pokemon hard. Being neutral to Psychic means it has a better matchup against Tate and Liza than other Fighting-types such as Blaziken or Hariyama.
Movepool: Meditite starts with only Hidden Power as a way to do damage and learns Hi Jump Kick at level 32. It can be taught TMs such as Bulk Up, Shadow Ball, and Brick Break to hit most opponents hard.
Major Battles: Medicham can defeat Sydney and Glacia with Fighting STAB alone, while Bulk Up and Shadow Ball allows it to beat Tate and Liza, Wallace, and Phoebe and knock out at least four of Champion Steven's Pokemon.
Additional Comments: Pure Power and access to Shadow Ball to handle Psychic- and Ghost-type Pokemon are the biggest advantages it has over its fellow Fighting-types.

Karxrida · Dec 12, 2022

Was bored. Saw this thread. Have a necro and a Mudkip writeup.

Mudkip
Availability: Mudkip is one of the potential starters received on Route 101 at the beginning of the game. It is obtained at level 5.
Stats: Mudkip and its evolutions are your standard tanks, with high defenses and Attack but low Speed. While their Special Attack stat isn't amazing, it's still good enough to reliably secure KOs with super effective Water STAB and Ice coverage. The low Speed can be annoying since it leads to taking hits and thus frequent potion usage, but the Mudkip line's overall versatility and power more than compensate.
Typing: Mudkip starts off as a Water-type, which is already solid, but becomes Water/Ground upon evolution into Marshtomp. Water/Ground is an amazing combo both offensively and defensively, hitting many things for neutral or super effective damage while also only providing one weakness to Grass. While this is a double weakness, Grass-type attacks are rare and easily played around.
Movepool: Being a Water-type automatically grants Ice attacks via TM, but the Mudkip line can also be taught a few Rock- and Fighting-type moves. A couple Ground-type attacks such as Mud Shot and Earthquake are obtained via level-up, though Earthquake comes very late and likely won't be online until the Elite Four. Mudkip can also learn 5 of the game's 8 HMs, providing great out-of-battle utility if needed.
Major Battles: Mudkip has a positive or neutral matchup against almost every major battle in the game thanks to its bulk, movepool, and typing. It notably soloes Roxanne and Watson, can deal with Winona's Altaria without fear of being KO'd if you teach it Ice Beam, and destroys most of Champion Steven's team. The only times it consistently has issues are during the Rival fights; the Rival will always have a member of the Treecko line when Mudkip is chosen, though a teammate can easily cover this weak spot.
Additional Comments: Even though Earthquake is Swampert's level-up movepool, it comes very late at 52. Using TM 26 is worth consideration, especially since there is little competition for the move.

Karxrida · Dec 12, 2022

Groudon (Ruby)
Availability: Groudon is a guaranteed story encounter in Cave of Origin at Level 45, just before Sootopolis Gym.
Stats: As a cover Legendary, Groudon has all-around amazing stats with no weak areas, with immense Attack and Defense in particular. Its more than usable Special Attack stat even makes it a great mixed attacker if you're so inclined.
Typing: Pure Ground doesn't provide much of worth defensively outside of an Electric immunity, though it's still amazing offensively. A Water weakness would normally be annoying due to the type's prevalence in the lategame, but Drought's eternal Sun patches this up.
Movepool: Groudon has quite the colorful movepool. It comes with Earthquake and Bulk Up to power its way through neutral matchups, while Fire moves and SolarBeam allow it to abuse Drought. It can also be taught more fringe options such as Dragon Claw and Brick Break through TM, though these likely won't be necessary.
Major Battles: Groudon is incredibly effective for the endgame, having good matchups for most the remaining fights. Despite its typing, it actually has a decent showing against Wallace's Water-types and Glacia's Ice-types thanks to its movepool and Drought, and handily soloes Champion Steven. The only fight Groudon may struggle with is Drake due to the amount of Ground-immune Pokémon on his team, though this can be partially mitigated by a Rock move or Dragon Claw.
Additional Comments: SolarBeam comes far too late in Groudon's level-up movepool to be available before the credits, so using the TM is strongly recommended. If you don't, however, Drought can still support a Chlorophyll Grass-type like Vileplume.

Karxrida · Dec 26, 2022

Since Zigzagoon (Emerald) is identical in use outside of Pickup, I just wrote the Availability and Additional Comments parts for it.

Zigzagoon (Ruby/Sapphire)
Availability: Zigzagoon is a common Pokémon that can be found on large number of grassy routes, being encountered as soon as Route 101 at the beginning of the game and as late as Route 123. If caught as early as possible, it will be either Level 2 or 3.
Stats: Zigzagoon has high Speed and not much else of note. Once it evolves into Linoone is wields a passable Attack stat relative to its acquisition and even higher Speed, but Linoone's damage will eventually lag behind as the game progresses.
Typing: Pure Normal doesn't provide much offensively or defensively outside of a decent STAB, but it also doesn't come with many drawbacks due to having only one weakness to somewhat uncommon Fighting-types.
Movepool: Zigzagoon obtains a very strong STAB option in Headbutt at Level 7, allowing it to do good damage immediately despite its unimpressive Attack stat. It doesn't get much else of note naturally outside of Belly Drum; while this might allow sweeps as Linoone, this option comes very late. Zizgagoon and Linoone may also be taught a large number of TMs for better coverage, with Linoone also being capable of learning four of the game's six HMs.
Major Battles: Zigzagoon has no outright good matchups during important fights, especially in the early parts of the game. It is walled by Roxanne, gets easily KO'd by Brawly's Fighting-types, and Wattson's team has two Steel-types that are also impenetrable. While bad matchups are less common after Wattson, Linoone's inability to deal damage as the game goes on makes it a terrible pick in the vast majority of situations. It can still contribute in the last legs of the game if Belly Drum is abused, but the move is still learned incredibly late and does not help against the final battle against Steven's Rock- and Steel-types. Zigzagoon is probably best utilized as a route cleaner in the early game when Headbutt is still doing high damage.
Additional Comments: As Zigzagoon is a subpar combatant, its viability is heavily propped up by Pickup. The drops you can get in Ruby and Sapphire are not tied to level like in later games, so you may obtain powerful items like Rare Candies, Nuggets, and Ultra Balls immediately and with decent probability. This gives Zigzagoon unrivaled utility, especially when combined with its capacity as a passable HM Slave.

Zigzagoon (Emerald)
Availability: Zigzagoon is much less common in Emerald due to its removal from a number of routes and a significantly lower encounter rate. It's still found as soon as Route 101 at Level 2 or Level 3, though at a 10% chance.
Additional Comments: Emerald Zigzagoon's battle performance is largely identical to that of Ruby and Sapphire, and is ranked lower due to the severe nerfs applied to Pickup. However, it still might be worth consideration since Pickup remains useful despite the nerfs. Addtionally, Zigzagoon is still a competent HM Slave and early game route cleaner.

pe5e · Nov 10, 2023

I really hope this tier list thread isn't completely dead.
I replayed Emerald a bunch lately, so I decided to make a few write-ups.

Name: Tentacool
Availability: Tentacool can be found in Dewford Town using the Old Rod with a 30% chance, levels 5 to 10.
Stats: Tentacool is very frail on the physical side due to its low HP and defense stats until it evolves into Tentacruel. It starts out with solid speed and good special bulk, though. After its evolution, Tentacruel has very good special defense and speed, as well as decent special attack and average physical stats. This allows it to be a great special tank that outspeeds most opponents and threatens decent damage.
Typing: Its typing gives it useful resistances against Water, Ice, Fire and Poison. Its STAB types give it perfect offensive coverage outside of other Tentacool / Tentacruel. It has to look out for ground moves that target its weak physical defense.
Movepool: Tentacool's level-up movepool is not good. Before it learns its first special STAB move in BubbleBeam at level 25, it has to use weak Poision and Normal moves coming from its low attack. After the fifth gym, it gets solid attacking options. Surf and Sludge Bomb are great STAB moves, and Ice Beam and Giga Drain are good coverage moves. It can also use all three Water HMs as well as Cut.
Major Battles: Tentacool only excels against Flannery and the Water gym. Brawly is troublesome even with Tentacool's resistance due to Bulk Up and having to rely on weak physical moves and stats at this point. Norman exploits Tentacool's weak physical defense as well, and Wattson and Tate & Liza have favorable matchups against it. Ice Beam is enough for Winona. Tentacruel is good in all rival battles and fights against Team Aqua and Magma. It is okay against Sidney but struggles a decent amount against Phoebe. Glacia and Drake can be defeated with the right coverage moves. Tentacruel is solid against Wallace, but struggles again against Steven.
Additional Comments: Tentacool's slow leveling rate and high evolution level mean it takes a decent amount of experience before it can evolve. Its abilities, Clear Body and Liquid Ooze, can situationally be useful against stat-lowering effects like Intimidate or HP-draining moves. Tentacruel does have a low opportunity cost outside of the Ice Beam TM and is largely self-sufficient. It's possible to encounter Tentacool in the water routes by surfing up to level 35 after the fifth gym. If a Repeal is used with a leading Pokemon that is between levels 30 and 35, the only Pokemon that can be encountered are high-level Tentacool. This requires a temporary other Surf user. But this makes it possible to skip Tentacool's weak early game. You can level it up with a Rare Candy to evolve to Tentacruel, give it Surf, Sludge Bomb and Ice Beam and have a functional team member right away. The Sludge Bomb and Ice Beam TMs can be acquired on the journey back from Petalburg City to Slateport City.

Name: Numel
Availability: Numel can be found on Route 112 with a 75% chance, levels 14 to 16.
Stats: Numel has very low stats with bad speed and defenses and middling offensive stats. Once it evolves into Camerupt, its offenses become much better but it still has bad speed and below-average bulk. It possesses similar high attack and special attack, allowing it to be a slow, mixed attacker. Its low bulk makes it not much of a tank.
Typing: Camerupt's typing gives it a useful Electric immunity as well as resistances against Fire and Poison. It's weaknesses to the common Ground and especially Water moves are a problem, though. Camerupt's STAB types give it nearly perfect coverage offensively, and those exceptions like Altaria can be hit by Rock Slide.
Movepool: Camerupt has a fantastic level-up movepool with good early filler moves in Magnitude and Ember and later powerhouses in Rock Slide and Earthquake. The Flamethrower and Overheat TMs can round out their special attacking sides. This gives Camerupt great high-powered STAB, coverage moves, and a nuke in Overheat. Camerupt can also fulfill the role of a Strength and Rock Smash user.
Major Battles: Camerupt matches up well against Flannery. Norman and Winona are difficult until Numel evolves and gets Flamethrower and Rock Slide. Tate & Liza are also tough because Camerupt can't use its STAB and coverage moves effectively, and Claydol has Earthquake (Emerald only). Camerupt is helpless in the Water gym. Camerupt is good in all rival battles and fights against Team Magma and Aqua, as Archie has no Water moves on his Sharpedo. The Elite Four is harsh for Camerupt, but it can fight against Sidney and Phoebe decently. Glacia, Drake, and the Champion overwhelm it.
Additional Comments: Numel's leveling rate is average. Numel's opportunity cost is somewhat demanding, as it needs some healing support early on and really wants the expensive Flamethrower TM from the Game Corner for a strong Fire STAB. It is quite nice that Camerupt is one of the very few Pokemon that learn Rock Slide and Earthquake by level up. So the important Earthquake TM can be saved for another team member. Outspeeding is really important for Camerupt, so a +Speed nature and Carbos are very helpful. Camerupt can also make use of three type-enhancing items in Soft Sand, Charcoal and Hard Stone, that you get early on to increase the damage output of its high-powered moves.

Name: Skarmory
Availability: Skarmory can be found on Route 113 with a 5% chance at level 16.
Stats: Skarmory has one of the highest defense stats in the game at 140. Its attack is average, and its HP, special defense, and speed are slightly below average. Thanks to its skyhigh defense, Skarmory is one of the best physical walls in the game, taking very little damage from most physical attackers.
Typing: It's Steel / Flying typing gives it only weaknesses to the special Electric and Fire moves. Otherwise, Skarmory resists or is immune to 7 out of 9 physical types in the game, with Fighting and Rock only being neutral against it. It even resists five special attacking types. Offensively, its STAB combo isn't bad. With most targets taking neutral damage, a few types taking double damage, such as Grass, Fighting and Rock and only Electric and Steel completely resisting it.
Movepool: Skarmory's movepool is not great. It pretty much only learns Normal and Flying moves plus Steel Wing. Its available moves are also fairly weak. It can easily carry Cut or Rock Smash because, aside from its STAB moves in Steel Wing and Fly, none of its other options are impressive or needed.
Major Battles: Skarmory is useless against Flannery. Norman, Winona and Tate & Liza can't really touch Skarmory outside of Solrock's Flamethrower. So Skarmory can slowly chip the Pokemon down. The Water gym isn't favorable due to Skarmory's low damage output and weaker special bulk. Skarmory is solid in all rival battles and fights against Team Magma and Aqua, as it resists almost all attacks aside from a few stray Embers. Sidney and Phoebe from the Elite Four are much the same. Very few moves actually touch Skarmory. Glacia, Drake and Wallace (Champion) give it a hard time, though. Steven (Champion) is beatable. Skarmory needs a lot of time and moves to actually defeat opponents most of the time, though.
Additional Comments: Skarmory needs to take a lot of hits to kill things, so while it often just doesn't die, it's also not very good at going quickly through the game.

Name: Staryu
Availability: Staryu can be found in Lilycove City using the Super Rod with a 15% chance, levels 25 to 30.
Stats: Staryu has low bulk but is fast and decently strong. Once it evolves into Starmie, it improves significantly in every stat. Its high speed and good special attack make it a fast and strong sweeper.
Typing: Its Water / Psychic typing gives it plenty of useful resistances, including Water, Fire, Ice, Psychic and Fighting. It has to be careful of some types as well, such as Dark, Electric and Ghost. Offensively, it can hit a lot of Pokemon super effectively and most things neutrally, besides a few Dark / Water and Dark / Grass Pokemon. Though it has coverage options for those.
Movepool: Staryu's level-up movepool is mostly unremarkable, which isn't a big problem as you want to evolve it with a Water Stone soon anyway. Starmie relies heavily on TMs and HMs to achieve its amazing moveset. Besides Surf and Psychic, it has access to Thunderbolt and Ice Beam which have fantastic coverage and power. It can also carry the other Water HMs if necessary.
Major Battles: Due to being obtainable so late, Starmie can't contribute in a lot of major battles. Its good against the last two gyms as well as Archie with the right moves. Sidney and Phoebe give it trouble, but it stomps the remaining Elite Four and Champion with coverage moves.
Additional Comments: Staryu has quite a high opportunity cost. Aside from the need for powerful TMs, which require sidequests or coins, it also needs a Water Stone and the Super Rod to get it in the first place. Plus, it's in the slow experience group. After you get the Super Rod in Mossdeep City, you will need to return to Lilycove City. The Water Stone is also tricky to get. Either from the Abandoned Ship or by trading a Blue Shard with the Treasure Hunter near Mossdeep City. Both of which require Dive, which means you won't have access to Starmie for the 7th gym yet. So while Starmie is a great return, it's also a big investment.

Name: Geodude (Trade)
Availability: Geodude can be found in Granite Cave with a 10% chance, levels 6 to 9.
Stats: Geodude starts out with good attack and high defense. As it evolves up to Golem, its attack and defense reach even higher levels. It is slow and vulnerable on the special side, though. This makes Golem a great physical tank that dishes out big damage.
Typing: It's typing isn't great defensively. While Golem's immunity to Electric is great, it doesn't have many useful resistances and a lot of weaknesses to common attacking types like Fighting, Ground, Ice and most importantly, Water and Grass, which threaten it. Offensively, Golem's STAB combo is great, though, with only a few rare pokemon like Breloom, Claydol and Flygon resisting it.
Movepool: Geodude gets access to really good early STAB moves in Magnitude and Rock Throw. It can later learn Rock Blast and Earthquake via level-up. It's other moves can be HMs in Strength and Rock Smash or even Double-Edge to potentially make use of its Rock Head ability.
Major Battles: Geodude struggles with Brawly. It's amazing against Wattson, Flannery, Norman and Winona though. But it's pretty bad against the last two gyms. Geodude is okay against most Pokemon from your rival, as well as Team Aqua and Magma. Aside from Phoebe, it's also not very good against the Elite Four and Champion.
Additional Comments: Gedude is fantastic in the early and midgame but falls off in the later stages when it encounters a lot of bad matchups, like the many water routes. Due to it's medium slow leveling rate, it levels up very fast early.

Name: Electrike
Availability: Electrike can be found on Route 110 with a 30% chance, levels 12 and 13.
Stats: Electrike and Manectric have good speed and special attack but have low bulk. This allows them to be fast, special sweepers.
Typing: Pure Electric only has Electric as a useful resistance, as otherwise almost everything hits Manectric neutrally. Offensively, Electric is quite useful against all the Water and Flying Pokemon in Hoenn. Ground types stop it on both ends.
Movepool: As with all Electric types in Hoenn, Manectric's movepool is quite bad. It's mostly only Electric and Normal moves. It lacks Electric attacks until it learns Spark at levlel 20, so giving it the Shock Wave TM to bridge this phase is a good idea. However, Thunderbolt and Spark are quite good moves that they can get early, and Bite is a decent coverage option. It can also carry the Strength or Flash HMs.
Major Battles: Manectric only excels in the Flying and Water gyms. Against the other gyms, its lower bulk can hinder it from going very far. Manectric is, however, quite good against most Pokemon from your rival and Team Aqua and Magma. It's also pretty solid against most of the Elite Four, with the exception of Drake.
Additional Comments: Manectric is in the slow experience group, so it levels up slower. It's Static ability can also be situationally useful, though it doesn't really want to get hit often. Electric types are great in Hoenn, and in that role, Manectric is pretty good. It has its limits, but with the help of other Pokemon against some bad matchups, it can be a great team member.

List of remaining needed write-ups:

Abra (Trade)

Abra (No Trade)

Machop (Trade)
Pinsir
Wingull

Lunatone
Psyduck
Voltorb

I intend to playtest more of these mons in the coming weeks and do more write-ups. Would be great if some people joined in though.

Ernesto · Nov 10, 2023

Hey pe5e thanks for reviving the thread! I also hope it can get done since it's very close.

My only major correction to your writeups is that Numel and Camerupt don't have Simple/Solid Rock until Gen IV—their only abilities being the mostly useless Oblivious and Magma Armor. Also I'd stress that Clear Body is Tenta's preferred ability not only for Intimidate but also for the occasional Sand-Attack Mightyena which can be pretty annoying. It might be worth to mention as well that you can catch Electrike post-Surf too since it'll skip it's babying phase but it comes with the disadvantage of lacking Thunder Wave.

Finally, I haven't used Staryu so I'm wondering: is the matchup against Tate & Liza really great? As you mentioned it won't be evolved until after being able to Dive so its awful stats coupled with Surf being a spread move make me think it'd struggle almost as much as Tenta.

Anyway, thanks again for your writeups!!

pe5e · Nov 11, 2023

Ah shucks, maybe that was just wishful thinking on my part regarding Solid Rock on Camerupt. Mine didn't have it for obvious reasons now, but it would have certainly helped a lot. I removed that line. I don't think its other abilities are worth mentioning.

I agree that Clear Body is slightly better than Liquid Ooze but I don't think it makes a big difference. Both rarely come up since Tentacruel is mostly a special attacker. I think if I mention Clear Body first, it should be fine. I don't think the difference is big enough to to warrant an extra line.

Catching Electrike later is an option but I don't think it's advisable. It would miss quite a lot of battles and Electrike's early game isn't nearly as bad as Tentacool's (where I think catching it later is better). You can just give it the Shock Wave TM after the third gym to bridge the gap until it learns Spark at level 20. It's a good route cleaner and it evolves early enough anyway.

Staryu's performance in the Psychic gym really depends a lot on which level you catch it, how many water route trainers you beat before it, which TMs you can afford to give it and your other Pokemon. Its bulk is not great but its special attack and speed are good enough with the type advantage. I agree that "great" is probably a bit of an overstatement, but I still think it is mostly solid to good against Tate & Liza and good to great in the water gym.

I touched up the mentioned entries a bit. Thanks for the sugestions.

PokeTrainer16 · Nov 11, 2023

Karxrida said:
Since Zigzagoon (Emerald) is identical in use outside of Pickup, I just wrote the Availability and Additional Comments parts for it.

View attachment 478181
Zigzagoon (Ruby/Sapphire)
Availability: Zigzagoon is a common Pokémon that can be found on large number of grassy routes, being encountered as soon as Route 101 at the beginning of the game and as late as Route 123. If caught as early as possible, it will be either Level 2 or 3.
Stats: Zigzagoon has high Speed and not much else of note. Once it evolves into Linoone is wields a passable Attack stat relative to its acquisition and even higher Speed, but Linoone's damage will eventually lag behind as the game progresses.
Typing: Pure Normal doesn't provide much offensively or defensively outside of a decent STAB, but it also doesn't come with many drawbacks due to having only one weakness to somewhat uncommon Fighting-types.
Movepool: Zigzagoon obtains a very strong STAB option in Headbutt at Level 7, allowing it to do good damage immediately despite its unimpressive Attack stat. It doesn't get much else of note naturally outside of Belly Drum; while this might allow sweeps as Linoone, this option comes very late. Zizgagoon and Linoone may also be taught a large number of TMs for better coverage, with Linoone also being capable of learning four of the game's six HMs.
Major Battles: Zigzagoon has no outright good matchups during important fights, especially in the early parts of the game. It is walled by Roxanne, gets easily KO'd by Brawly's Fighting-types, and Wattson's team has two Steel-types that are also impenetrable. While bad matchups are less common after Wattson, Linoone's inability to deal damage as the game goes on makes it a terrible pick in the vast majority of situations. It can still contribute in the last legs of the game if Belly Drum is abused, but the move is still learned incredibly late and does not help against the final battle against Steven's Rock- and Steel-types. Zigzagoon is probably best utilized as a route cleaner in the early game when Headbutt is still doing high damage.
Additional Comments: As Zigzagoon is a subpar combatant, its viability is heavily propped up by Pickup. The drops you can get in Ruby and Sapphire are not tied to level like in later games, so you may obtain powerful items like Rare Candies, Nuggets, and Ultra Balls immediately and with decent probability. This gives Zigzagoon unrivaled utility, especially when combined with its capacity as a passable HM Slave.

View attachment 478181
Zigzagoon (Emerald)
Availability: Zigzagoon is much less common in Emerald due to its removal from a number of routes and a significantly lower encounter rate. It's still found as soon as Route 101 at Level 2 or Level 3, though at a 10% chance.
Additional Comments: Emerald Zigzagoon's battle performance is largely identical to that of Ruby and Sapphire, and is ranked lower due to the severe nerfs applied to Pickup. However, it still might be worth consideration since Pickup remains useful despite the nerfs. Addtionally, Zigzagoon is still a competent HM Slave and early game route cleaner.

Zigzagoon can sweep the Emerald E4 with Belly Drum and some TM use.

Edit: lol obviously I meant Linoone.

Ernesto · Nov 11, 2023

pe5e said:
I agree that Clear Body is slightly better than Liquid Ooze but I don't think it makes a big difference. Both rarely come up since Tentacruel is mostly a special attacker. I think if I mention Clear Body first, it should be fine. I don't think the difference is big enough to to warrant an extra line.

I tried to remember the matchups where Clear Body made the difference and I think they were basically Sidney (due to Sand-Attack Mightyena but also preventing Intimidate helps get the Sludge Bomb KO on Cacturne/Shiftry which might otherwise live Ice Beam) and Drake due to Shelgon's Rock Tomb. Whether you think that's worth mentioning or not is up to you tho—also I'm not 100% sure Sludge Bomb KOd Shiftry without a positive nature.

Agree with everything else.

pe5e · Nov 11, 2023

PokeTrainer16 said:
Zigzagoon can sweep the Emerald E4 with Belly Drum and some TM use.

Linoone only learns Belly Drum at level 53 though. Which means you probably have to save some Rare Candies for it. And even if you successfully set up, it is still a shaky strategy. Some lead Pokemon of the Elite Four can screw with you and if you fail to outspeed anything you die instantly.

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