Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon In-Game Tier list (v2)

[Ryota Mitarai]

Edit: so because the USUM just ignores you when you change the system time and I'm on day right now, I don't think I can get Rattata tonight so my logs (I plan to post after I beat Hapu) might not be for a few days unless there's a way around this. Plus, this may also stall me getting Bulbasaur cuz I think it doea this for the date, too. Boy am I glad SwSh did away with this nonsense and just let you change the date.

(side note: I should probably elaborate on my stance in regards to that. I have updated OP with it to be more detailed)

I am posting about two things. First is about my current run. I'd have posted it along with more runs, but I want to fit in my nominations in this slate. Second is about the slate itself.

Here are my nominations first:

nominations

Zorua -> potentially B-tier (but not higher)
My estimates on Zorua didn't match what I actually experienced. Zorua managed to perform better in matchups that I thought were bad. In addition the UN matchup, Zorua can beat Araquanid by using Bounce then Z-Bounce while disguised as Bug-resistant Pokemon. It can fool Guzma's Golisopod and spam Fake Tears so Snarl can OHKO and always outspeeds and OHKOs Masquerain with Z-Bounce (even at -1). It can even copy Ribombee's stats with Psych Up and OHKO it with Z-Bounce (however, you need to disguise as a Poison-type or Steel-type and hope you aren't attacked in the first two turns). At the E4, it can sweep Molayne (you need to disguise as a Ghost-type or something that triggers Dugtrio's Sucker Punch and hope Klefki doesn't break Disguise) and Acerola and can contribute against Olivia #2. Against Hau, you can disguise as a Fighting-type, set up two NPs and then a Z-Sunny Day (for a Speed boost) and then spam Flamethrower (with other moves being used as needed).

All in all, Zorua definitely exceeded my expectations. I do not mind putting it in B-tier for now. However, I strongly object to anything higher; even if it's effective when disguised as the correct teammate, efficiency isn't only about speed; it's also about something being natural and I think expecting the player to constantly bring around Pokemon that are good Illusion partners is a bit too specific and complicated to warrant a higher tier. Not to mention that, even with that, Zorua is still bad in a lot of matchups, like Normal Totem, Hala, Lurantis, Marowak, Togedemaru, Mimikyu, and Kommo-o (can Psych Up there and Z-Bounce, but doesn't win). I think B is a fair compromise for now, but I'd appreciate if more people that have used it more thoroughly can share their experience with it.

Drifloon -> D
Drifloon's biggest weaknesses are Fluctuating growth rate and Gust being its only Flying STAB for a while (upgraded to Fly and Acrobatics through TMs). Drifloon's Fluctuating group makes it hard to grind later on and I had to use it for majority of route cleaning to keep it on par with the rest of the team. Despite being a Flying-type, Gust being its only STAB for a while, coupled with unimpressive offensive stats, means that it cannot abuse what is possibly the most broken type in this game. Drifloon is useful for Hala, can beat Lurantis if evolved (Hex then Z-Gust), and also wins against Ribombee with Psych Up + Z-Fly (loses to Kommo-o with same strat, funnily enough). It is pretty bad for Guzma due to Golisopod's Sucker Punch and later on Pinsir's Stone Edge and Throat Chop, so you mostly get kills rather than sweeps.

All in all, Drifloon is not particularly strong and is hard to grind. Having a weak Flying STAB for a while, coupled with not very high offensive stats, contribute to its particular lack of strength. I think D is fair ranking for Drifloon, in spite of early availability. At most you could consider Aftermath support, but I rarely found myself needing it.

Machop (No Trade) -> C
Machoke beats Lurantis (Work Up + Z-Fire Punch) and Olivia (both fights), just like Machamp. However, Machoke is unable to OHKO Togedemaru with +1 Z-BB (unlike Machamp) and, all in all, lacks a lot of the power and bulk that Machamp has. C-tier is good for it, given Mchoke is useful for Olivia, Lurantis, and Molayne (and Togedemaru, albeit not a win).

Mareanie -> E
Mareanie has two major issues: availability and performance. Availability-wise, it's an SOS-exclusive Pokemon, so you have to chain it. There are several caveats to that:

1) in order to not deal with rare Corsola, you need to go for a bubble spot in Melemele Sea from Hau'Oli side (35%). Therefore, whenever you don't get a Corsola, you have to restart your game
2) most Corsola will have Recover, making SOS chaining harder
3) you want to get a Mareanie with Merciless and you are unlikely to have a way of knowing the ability instantly, so either you go out of your way to confirm it or you just catch it, check it, and restart if wrong ability.

out of 12 successful calls, I had around 4 appear. I had unsuccessful ones too. While I could have optimized myself better (by bringing an Electric move, for example), you have to stop at this point and realize that trying to optimize to catch something with reasonably low effort is just a sign of incredible inefficiency

as for performance, it's not that it's incredbly bad as much as that its success is based on inefficient strategies. Mareanie generally relies on Toxic at level 21 and Merciless (mostly Venoshock) to beat opponents early on. When it evolves into Toxapex, it gets Baneful Bunker, which allows it to toxic stall opponents. Toxapex is scarily effective at beating some Totems, though. It beats Kommo-o and Ribombee, for example, and can contribute significantly to Mimikyu. I won't elaborate too much unless asked, but most of those rely on Baneful Bunker + Venoshock + toxic stalling. At the E4, it's harder for it to do that, because a lot of them are immune to Poison in general and because Toxic stalling everything takes too much time and too many resources to be worth it.

All in all, it's inefficient to obtain and relies on inefficient strategies to beat opponents. It's not F-tier, because Toxapex can actually beat some key opponents or otherwise contribute majorly to them, but it should not be higher than E due to the amount of ineffciency it comes with.

Anorith -> D (somewhat generous, just like most of the other fossils)
Anorith is good for Guzma, Ribombee, Kahili to an extent, and Nanu to an extent. Erratic is both a curse and blessing, as it makes grinding Anorith early on awful, but later on, Armaldo becomes easy to train to the point I didn't have to give it Rare Candies at all. Needless to say, I think this one should also be D-tier, because I don't think it's inherently worse enough than the others to warrant a lower tier, though it's def not the best one. However, it does have some route cleaning capabilities due to diverse movepool.

Sandshrew -> maybe D
Sandshrew is good for Olivia, Kahili to an extent, Acerola to an extent, and Ribombee. It doesn't have the same amount of good matchups like Vulpix, although Sandslash does sweep Olivia, while Ninetales doesn't do much there at all. Regardless, Sandshrew is good for only two matchups and partially good for other two, the rest being mostly "Sandslash can kill something here". I think D is possible for it, though maybe Vulpix could also drop. Vulpix will be given two asterisks for this reason. It is good to note that +2 Z-Iron Head from Sandshrew can OHKO Mimikyu if you pull that off.

===

here's the slate:

slate

Yungoos -> C
Alolan Meowth -> D
Noibat -> D
Surskit -> C
Salandit -> B (two asterisks)
Natu -> D
Caterpie -> C
Squirtle -> B
Goldeen -> E (will be retested in the future)
Spheal -> D
Omanyte -> D
Turtonator -> D
Komala -> D
Gastly (Trade and No Trade) B -> C (merge, two asterisks)
Alolan Diglett -> C
Psyduck -> C (two asterisks)
Grovyle -> D
Amaura -> D
Alolan Vulpix -> C (two asterisks)
Sandygast -> D
Zorua -> B
Drifloon -> D
Machop (No Trade) -> C
Mareanie -> E
Anorith -> D
Alolan Sandshrew -> D

Inkay is going to stay C-tier for now, I think the concerns raised about it are reasonable enough to prevent a rise to B-tier, though a test can convince me otherwise.

Sandygast was slated due to receiving a good amount of discussion, though I can always change its tier if something interesting is discovered about it.

Gengar and Haunter will for now be merged into one tier. They will be dropped to C (they were actually there in my initial draft of the OP, but I decided to be more generous) and be given two asterisks for now, as I feel they have a lot of issues for B-tier right now. Always happy to be convinced with a test of the opposite though.

e: results come in tomorrow (GMT+2 here), perhaps Sunday, depending on how busy I am.

 

[Celeb]

I saw your nomination for Turtonator, Ryota, so I decided to mention my quick thoughts about my team members. It's my first run so I check everything out and have Exp. Share on. I am currently on Route 16 and all of my Pokemon are on 43 level.

My Team (Rowlet, Cutiefly, Wimpod, Passimian, Alolan Geodude/Graveler, Turtonator)

Rowlet - at the beginning, it proved to be quite tanky but hit for low damage. It actually managed to beat teacher's Litten (with the help of Roto Boost and Zorua's panic Leer). Easily beat Lana's trial. Kiawe's trial was pretty disastrous for Dartrix but I managed to see something impressive - with a single Roto Boost, the owl could potentially survive two hits from Marowak. Mallow's trial was okay but not as advantegous as I thought it would be (Lurantis' X-Scissor is neutral after all). After that, I haven't used Dartrix/Decidueye much. Rowlet, in general, feels like a B tier Pokemon so far.
Cutiefly - high speed and good level-up movepool made it a really helpful companion on Melemele. For example, Draining Kiss partially fixed the issue of its average bulk. Even if it couldn't tank the first totem well, Stun Spore helped my team. Struggle Bug definitely would help more in Ultra Moon but I am playing Ultra Sun. Hala simply got wrecked by Cutiefly. Ribombee was awesome on Akala - the combination of a high BP Pollen Puff as well as coverage (+recovery) Draining Kiss made sweeping routes easy. It couldn't do much in Kiawe's trial but wrecked Mallow's trial (Lurantis was just hard walled). I haven't used Ribombee much since then. B tier feels fine for it but I see a potential for A.
Wimpod - babying it sucked. I managed to beat some route Pokemon with it but it wasn't pleasant. Golisopod's First Impression hit like a truck at the end of Akala (even those Pokemon who resisted it). Brick Break and Sucker Punch gave enough coverage for it. I would love to write more about this Pokemon but it didn't have much time to shine. I only used it against Guzma in Malie and it went like I expected - could beat opponent's Golisopod but Masquerain wrecked it... Masquerain wrecked a lot in that fight.
Passimian - this monkey and its slow experience group was the reason why none of my earlier teammates had seen much action in late Akala and early Ula'ula. As for the Pokemon itself - it was good. Really good. With the instant access to Brick break, it easily gathered experience from route trainers and beat Olivia. Roto Boost and Bulk Up let it beat Sophocles' trial without a problem. If I were to judge Passimian for this segment of the game, I would give it an A rank instead of B.
Alolan Golem - I am not sure how to judge it yet since I grinded for the Galvanize one. I can say that Galvanize Facade was hitting absurdly hard (as a side note - it deals 12% more damage than Thunderpunch). The rest of its moves - Rock Blast, Rock Polish and Bulldoze were situational. Lack of the double weakness to Water attacks is noticeable in the middle of Ula'ula since it allowed Golem to beat Water types 1v1. After a single Roto Boost, it oneshot Banette and dealt massive damage to Mimikyu who couldn't do much in return.
Turtonator - it leveled up about 10 times since its capture but it had no great match-ups. My game just loved pouring water on every route so Flamethrower's effectiveness was hampered. Dragon Tail was only slightly helpful. After a single Shell Smash boost, Timid Turtonar was still slower than Plumeria's Golbat but it could at least oneshot the bat. It fainted soon after because some fuckhead gave Salazzle Dragon Pulse in that battle. Bottom line, good physical bulk but with this speed, it should have more damage and/or better special bulk.

I will probably need another week before I finish the campaign.

 

[Ryota Mitarai]

OP has been updated with the slate, please continue discussion and more changes will come in the future, especially as I start rolling out my runs (so far still on run #1, albeit past Mimikyu)

 

[RonJenzy]

Alright, finally got Bulbasaur so I can start my run in earnest. To stop this from being a one-liner, here's some early Rattata thoughts with a question at the end.

Rattata's earlygame is not great. Hustle is a double-edged sword; the damage boost is nice, and with Silk Scarf it outdamages my Litten even though the latter has a level lead. However, the miss chance is really annoying and causes it to ocassionally lose close 1v1s. I understand it's big thing is nuking strong, neutral targets with Z-Moves but I'm not looking forward to fighting normal trainers with this lol.
And the question: once I get the Eevee egg hatched, should I just catch a wild Eevee for a higher base level or does the egg one have any advantages I don't know about? Sorry about all the questions, my knowledge of Alola is pretty lacking.

 

[Ryota Mitarai]

And the question: once I get the Eevee egg hatched, should I just catch a wild Eevee for a higher base level or does the egg one have any advantages I don't know about? Sorry about all the questions, my knowledge of Alola is pretty lacking.

ehhh, you can just use this one. Thanks to the scaling Exp. system in these games, if you switch grind it (have it at the lead then switch out for a teammate), Eevee will catch up pretty fast to your team and most likely quickly reach the levels it'd have if caught as wild. Your choice, though.

As for advantages, the egg Eevee has no inherent advantages to normal ones in terms of natures and IVs to my knowledge, last I checked. I may see if there actually are any and if that's the case, I will return to you

 

[Celeb]

And the question: once I get the Eevee egg hatched, should I just catch a wild Eevee for a higher base level or does the egg one have any advantages I don't know about? Sorry about all the questions, my knowledge of Alola is pretty lacking.

As for advantages, the egg Eevee has no inherent advantages to normal ones in terms of natures and IVs to my knowledge, last I checked. I may see if there actually are any and if that's the case, I will return to you

I can confirm that the nature and IVs are completely randomized (based on my 16/20/21/29/14/18 Lonely Flareon I threw into the PC). Eevee from the egg just starts with a higher friendship (70 and 120 respectively). Since you are going for Flareon, using wild Eevee is more beneficial, in my opinion. Switch grinding the egg one feels like it would take more time and items then just catching the wild one.

 

[dragoncn405]

Is there an analysis on Alolan Grimer/Muk?

It seems to be a very good dark type pokemon to use against psychic types and very bulky

 

[Ryota Mitarai]

Is there an analysis on Alolan Grimer/Muk?

It seems to be a very good dark type pokemon to use against psychic types and very bulky

well, if by analyis, you mean write-up, then no, due to the list not accepting write-ups currently

I assume you want to know why it's B and not something higher. This is probably something important to cover, because Grimer was very loved in the old thread (although there were people that also suggested B, so at least I am not in the minority). To elaborate on Grimer:

- being good against Psychic-types isn't really a huge bonus to it. The list mostly ranks on major battles, where Psychic has incredibly little representation. For major fights, the typing is mostly neutral, so the line has to rely on stats and movepool to win. The only time I find route cleaning in any way relevant is for E vs D and Grimer isn't being debated for such low ranks.

- The biggest issue Grimer has is evolving late. While its stats aren't too bad, they are far from desirable and you are stuck with those for a while. Totems are all fully evolved, so Grimer, stats-wise, is at a disadvantage in most cases.

let's look at its matchups:

matchups

Verdant Cavern - easy win, just spam Acid Spray. Could maybe be troubled by constant attacks, but you aren't gonna get barraged by those, in most cases

Hala - could contribute with Acid Spray, but you need healing to beat Machop and Crabrawler, as they tend to hit it pretty hard

Araquanid - you can only win this if you are lucky with Minimize so you can spam Acid Spray in peace. I wouldn't advocate for such an RNG strategy, though, so I don't consider it great

Marowak - Marowak 2HKOs it with Flame Wheel, so you aren't gonna win here

Lurantis - the only way to win here is to badly poison with Poison Fang and then spam Acid Spray till it's down. However, this strategy takes a lot of time, as Lurantis and Comfey will be stalling with healing, so I don't consider this a 100% great matchup either

Olivia - nope (unless you wanna Minimize here)

Togedemaru - I managed to get my Grimer evolved before this fight, though I had to use it exclusively for most of Mount Hokulani. Anyways, I can't say I remember much, but I believe two Screeches + Z-Fire Punch can net you a victory if you predict Spiky Shield and Bounce correctly. However, you will be facing a lot of flinches.

Guzma - I think you could beat Golisopod and Pinsir in most fights with Acid Armor + Screech + Gunk Shot, but you generally struggle against the rest

Mimikyu - Gunk Shot 3HKOs Mimikyu, bringing it into red HP. However, you need something to break Disguise beforehand to reach that point.

Nanu - Crunch is a 2HKO on Sableye and Persian is OHKOed by Gunk Shot after Screech.

Kommo-o - Alolan Muk brings Kommo-o to red HP with Gunk Shot and later Z-Gunk Shot, you could try Acid Armoring, but you'd need healing

UN - gets 2HKOed by UN and it 2HKOs with Z-Crunch in return. You need Roto Boosts and potentially healing to win. Not saying that this is bad, but not very convincing of a tier higher than B

Ribombee - Z-Gunk Shot, then Screech

Hapu - nope

E4 - merging them in one, because there isn't much to talk about. Doesn't do much vs Molayne and Olivia, sweeps Acerola, and can potentially sweep Kahili, but needs Acid Armor to the max and some healing items. Against Hau, you beat Noivern and whatever you can hit super effectively.

all in all, Grimer doesn't outright win a lot of matchups and needs item assistance fairly often to succeed. A retest on it would certainly be interesting. I would say that Grimer is somewhat of a noob trap, though.

 

[DrumstickGaming]

It’s been a long time since I used it but I think people are attracted to Alolan Grimer because of a couple things: one weakness (Ground) and 80 base Attack as Grimer.

STAB Bite (60 BP at a time when most moves are 40-50) off 80 base Attack hurts, and only some of the most top tier Pokémon like Hawlucha can claim that level of power on Melemele.

The problem, as Ryota mentioned above, is the boss fights. Grimer just doesn’t kill things fast when it doesn’t have the type advantage. Hala I can kinda excuse for Grimer because not a whole lot of mons can do much vs him, but after that, Grimer just slowly starts petering off until evolution. Muk though is a solid lategame Pokemon, but again, the offensive type just isn’t the best.

I’d have to use it again, but yeah. While a good Pokémon overall, it’s mostly a solid member throughout the game with a great field presence. It’s just never really a standout performance most of the time in bosses, and even ones where it should win like Lurantis, it still kills kinda slowly.

 

[dragoncn405]

well, if by analyis, you mean write-up, then no, due to the list not accepting write-ups currently

I assume you want to know why it's B and not something higher. This is probably something important to cover, because Grimer was very loved in the old thread (although there were people that also suggested B, so at least I am not in the minority). To elaborate on Grimer:

- being good against Psychic-types isn't really a huge bonus to it. The list mostly ranks on major battles, where Psychic has incredibly little representation. For major fights, the typing is mostly neutral, so the line has to rely on stats and movepool to win. The only time I find route cleaning in any way relevant is for E vs D and Grimer isn't being debated for such low ranks.

- The biggest issue Grimer has is evolving late. While its stats aren't too bad, they are far from desirable and you are stuck with those for a while. Totems are all fully evolved, so Grimer, stats-wise, is at a disadvantage in most cases.

let's look at its matchups:

matchups

Verdant Cavern - easy win, just spam Acid Spray. Could maybe be troubled by constant attacks, but you aren't gonna get barraged by those, in most cases

Hala - could contribute with Acid Spray, but you need healing to beat Machop and Crabrawler, as they tend to hit it pretty hard

Araquanid - you can only win this if you are lucky with Minimize so you can spam Acid Spray in peace. I wouldn't advocate for such an RNG strategy, though, so I don't consider it great

Marowak - Marowak 2HKOs it with Flame Wheel, so you aren't gonna win here

Lurantis - the only way to win here is to badly poison with Poison Fang and then spam Acid Spray till it's down. However, this strategy takes a lot of time, as Lurantis and Comfey will be stalling with healing, so I don't consider this a 100% great matchup either

Olivia - nope (unless you wanna Minimize here)

Togedemaru - I managed to get my Grimer evolved before this fight, though I had to use it exclusively for most of Mount Hokulani. Anyways, I can't say I remember much, but I believe two Screeches + Z-Fire Punch can net you a victory if you predict Spiky Shield and Bounce correctly. However, you will be facing a lot of flinches.

Guzma - I think you could beat Golisopod and Pinsir in most fights with Acid Armor + Screech + Gunk Shot, but you generally struggle against the rest

Mimikyu - Gunk Shot 3HKOs Mimikyu, bringing it into red HP. However, you need something to break Disguise beforehand to reach that point.

Nanu - Crunch is a 2HKO on Sableye and Persian is OHKOed by Gunk Shot after Screech.

Kommo-o - Alolan Muk brings Kommo-o to red HP with Gunk Shot and later Z-Gunk Shot, you could try Acid Armoring, but you'd need healing

UN - gets 2HKOed by UN and it 2HKOs with Z-Crunch in return. You need Roto Boosts and potentially healing to win. Not saying that this is bad, but not very convincing of a tier higher than B

Ribombee - Z-Gunk Shot, then Screech

Hapu - nope

E4 - merging them in one, because there isn't much to talk about. Doesn't do much vs Molayne and Olivia, sweeps Acerola, and can potentially sweep Kahili, but needs Acid Armor to the max and some healing items. Against Hau, you beat Noivern and whatever you can hit super effectively.

all in all, Grimer doesn't outright win a lot of matchups and needs item assistance fairly often to succeed. A retest on it would certainly be interesting. I would say that Grimer is somewhat of a noob trap, though.

I see. I was just wondering which tier it would go in cause I did not find Grimmer on any of the tiers including B-tier

Thank you for the explanation though

 

[Celeb]

My previous post. Just ended my casual playthrough. I did not test every battle with every Pokemon but I can still share some informations I gathered while playing. For the record - my affection levels were mostly at 2-3 hearts. Despite receiving a lot of Rotom Powers, I mostly used Bargain, Prize Money and Boost. All of my Pokemon were at level 63 when I reached the top of the Mountain Lanakila.

My Team (Rowlet, Cutiefly, Wimpod, Passimian, Alolan Graveler, Turtonator)

Rowlet - lack of the Swords Dance TM in Malie City is really noticeable since Decidueye missed on some OHKOs on Ula'ula. Work Up was still handy though - it let Decidueye set up against Golisopod and sweep Guzma's team in Aether. Sucker Punch was also useful (even scored a finishing blow on Necrozma Bullshit Forme but mostly due to lucky "affection Focus Band"). Later in the game, it often lacked proper typing to make use of its good special bulk and lacked amazing offences/speed to break enemies easily. Still, I certainly can't say it was underwhelming. For example, with Rotom Boost and X Attack it easily swept half of the champion's team before being stopped by Noivern (who could probably be beaten if not for the absurd double Special Defense drop from Raichu's Psychic). In my honest opinion, it's a slightly above average Pokemon so both B and C tiers are okay for it, however B seems more fitting.

Cutiefly - good addition to the team. Psychic as a coverage move helped it (especially during Team Skull segment of the game) but I definitely missed having a recovery in form of Draining Kiss. Ribombee failed to beat Totem Kommo-o with Dazzling Gleam but only because I did not think about giving it Fairium Z or Choice Specs. Quiver Dance was a great move but I often opted for X Special in major battles instead. Its late game was worse than early game due to noticeable low bulk and three Elite Four members being super effective against it. Acerola got wrecked after single X Special, Quiver Dance and no healing items. B tier seems fine. Despite having a narrow movepool, it gets almost all tools it needs.

Wimpod - Golisopod was simply incredible. Despite its low speed, it had two priority moves on top of the amazing bulk and great Attack. Its type weaknesses were not very common so opponents had hard time to even bring it below 50% HP in some battles. On one hand, Emergency Exit did stop some sweeps. On the other hand, Golisopod could enter most battles to provide assistance. For example, it survived +4 Bug Buzz from Totem Ribombee and 2HKOed it back when it was on about 85% HP (rain boosted Liquidation did a lot of damage). Additionally, it swept Hapu with one X Attack (plus one healing item to not Emergency Exit out of the way) as well as destroyed most of Olivia's Pokemon in League with one Rotom Boost, single X Attack and one Cheri Berry. All in all, it does not fit D tier at all but rather C or B. It depends on how you value sweeping and providing help mid-battle. If you ask me - it's a B material. Wimpod phase sucked, however it was too short (it begun and ended on Akala in my playthrough) to really count it as a major disadvantage.

Passimian - its movepool, surprisingly good bulk and great Attack were brilliant assets. Even Pokemon with type advantage had to watch out for Rock Slide, Iron Head and dark coverage (in my case - Beat Up). Until it learnt Close Combat, it missed on many OHKOs, however it was not a big issue. Its late game performance was visibly worse due to Totem Pokemon and major trainers being having type advantage over it (Lusamine, Mina, Totem Ribombee, Kahili and even Totem Kommo-o who called for Noivern). Still, it took care of trainers like Sophocles, Gladion and League's Olivia in late game while still having amazing mid-game. It's a really solid Pokemon that fits in B category.

Alolan Graveler (trade) - another great Pokemon although Galvanize and good IVs definitely skew my perception. Alolan Golem was surprisingly bulky (e.g. it survived Golduck's Hydro Pump in Vast Poni Canyon as well as Hawlucha's High Jump Kick on Lanakila). The combination of its STABs and Rock Polish did wonders offensively beating opponents like Mina, Totem Mimikyu, Kiawe and Kahili without much item support. In my playthrough, it was an easy A tier but I have to take into the account Galvanize Return dealing much more damage than Wild Charge or Thunder Punch (and the fact I did not test most neutral match ups). It's a toss up between B and C tier. It is safer to put it in C but I would go as far as B. Its typing was really good in the campaign.

Turtonator - many locations had rainy weather which resulted in Turtonator having to hit everything neutrally with Dragon Pulse. Shell Smash is a great move but even +2 in Special Attack was not enough to reliably score OHKOs on bosses. What is worse, Turtonator simply can't tank after using its only boosting move (despite having bulk similar to Passimian and Alolan Golem). Draco Meteor combined with Dragonium Z boosted its offensive capabilities on Poni Island. Overall, it was definitely below average Pokemon but it shined from time to time. If I remember it correctly, Turtonator swept Guzma on Ula'ula and Molayne with minimal item support (the latter required a Rotom Boost and a healing item). I would not argue if it landed in E tier but I consider it a D.
I reckon Iron Defense with Shell Trap might be slower but overall more reliable against bosses. Going mixed (Shell Smash, Dragon Pulse, Shell Trap and Iron Defense/Flamethrower) might be interesting as well. Someone else would have to test it.

Maybe someone else had different experience with those Pokemon but this is how it played out on my first run.

 

[Ryota Mitarai]

My previous post. Just ended my casual playthrough. I did not test every battle with every Pokemon but I can still share some informations I gathered while playing. For the record - my affection levels were mostly at 2-3 hearts. Despite receiving a lot of Rotom Powers, I mostly used Bargain, Prize Money and Boost. All of my Pokemon were at level 63 when I reached the top of the Mountain Lanakila.

My Team (Rowlet, Cutiefly, Wimpod, Passimian, Alolan Graveler, Turtonator)

Rowlet - lack of the Swords Dance TM in Malie City is really noticeable since Decidueye missed on some OHKOs on Ula'ula. Work Up was still handy though - it let Decidueye set up against Golisopod and sweep Guzma's team in Aether. Sucker Punch was also useful (even scored a finishing blow on Necrozma Bullshit Forme but mostly due to lucky "affection Focus Band"). Later in the game, it often lacked proper typing to make use of its good special bulk and lacked amazing offences/speed to break enemies easily. Still, I certainly can't say it was underwhelming. For example, with Rotom Boost and X Attack it easily swept half of the champion's team before being stopped by Noivern (who could probably be beaten if not for the absurd double Special Defense drop from Raichu's Psychic). In my honest opinion, it's a slightly above average Pokemon so both B and C tiers are okay for it, however B seems more fitting.

Cutiefly - good addition to the team. Psychic as a coverage move helped it (especially during Team Skull segment of the game) but I definitely missed having a recovery in form of Draining Kiss. Ribombee failed to beat Totem Kommo-o with Dazzling Gleam but only because I did not think about giving it Fairium Z or Choice Specs. Quiver Dance was a great move but I often opted for X Special in major battles instead. Its late game was worse than early game due to noticeable low bulk and three Elite Four members being super effective against it. Acerola got wrecked after single X Special, Quiver Dance and no healing items. B tier seems fine. Despite having a narrow movepool, it gets almost all tools it needs.

Wimpod - Golisopod was simply incredible. Despite its low speed, it had two priority moves on top of the amazing bulk and great Attack. Its type weaknesses were not very common so opponents had hard time to even bring it below 50% HP in some battles. On one hand, Emergency Exit did stop some sweeps. On the other hand, Golisopod could enter most battles to provide assistance. For example, it survived +4 Bug Buzz from Totem Ribombee and 2HKOed it back when it was on about 85% HP (rain boosted Liquidation did a lot of damage). Additionally, it swept Hapu with one X Attack (plus one healing item to not Emergency Exit out of the way) as well as destroyed most of Olivia's Pokemon in League with one Rotom Boost, single X Attack and one Cheri Berry. All in all, it does not fit D tier at all but rather C or B. It depends on how you value sweeping and providing help mid-battle. If you ask me - it's a B material. Wimpod phase sucked, however it was too short (it begun and ended on Akala in my playthrough) to really count it as a major disadvantage.

Passimian - its movepool, surprisingly good bulk and great Attack were brilliant assets. Even Pokemon with type advantage had to watch out for Rock Slide, Iron Head and dark coverage (in my case - Beat Up). Until it learnt Close Combat, it missed on many OHKOs, however it was not a big issue. Its late game performance was visibly worse due to Totem Pokemon and major trainers being having type advantage over it (Lusamine, Mina, Totem Ribombee, Kahili and even Totem Kommo-o who called for Noivern). Still, it took care of trainers like Sophocles, Gladion and League's Olivia in late game while still having amazing mid-game. It's a really solid Pokemon that fits in B category.

Alolan Graveler (trade) - another great Pokemon although Galvanize and good IVs definitely skew my perception. Alolan Golem was surprisingly bulky (e.g. it survived Golduck's Hydro Pump in Vast Poni Canyon as well as Hawlucha's High Jump Kick on Lanakila). The combination of its STABs and Rock Polish did wonders offensively beating opponents like Mina, Totem Mimikyu, Kiawe and Kahili without much item support. In my playthrough, it was an easy A tier but I have to take into the account Galvanize Return dealing much more damage than Wild Charge or Thunder Punch (and the fact I did not test most neutral match ups). It's a toss up between B and C tier. It is safer to put it in C but I would go as far as B. Its typing was really good in the campaign.

Turtonator - many locations had rainy weather which resulted in Turtonator having to hit everything neutrally with Dragon Pulse. Shell Smash is a great move but even +2 in Special Attack was not enough to reliably score OHKOs on bosses. What is worse, Turtonator simply can't tank after using its only boosting move (despite having bulk similar to Passimian and Alolan Golem). Draco Meteor combined with Dragonium Z boosted its offensive capabilities on Poni Island. Overall, it was definitely below average Pokemon but it shined from time to time. If I remember it correctly, Turtonator swept Guzma on Ula'ula and Molayne with minimal item support (the latter required a Rotom Boost and a healing item). I would not argue if it landed in E tier but I consider it a D.
I reckon Iron Defense with Shell Trap might be slower but overall more reliable against bosses. Going mixed (Shell Smash, Dragon Pulse, Shell Trap and Iron Defense/Flamethrower) might be interesting as well. Someone else would have to test it.

Maybe someone else had different experience with those Pokemon but this is how it played out on my first run.

(would have responded earlier but I had school when I saw the post)

thank you for the run. I am glad that you agree with most of the current rankings of your team. Please only note that Lusamine and Mina's trial captains aren't considered for tiering purposes, so those don't need to be factored in (Lusamine doesn't have to be won to advance and Mina complicates tiering due to being different in both games).

to move on to Golem and Golisopod:

- For Golem, I don't have much experience with it, so I would like to use it before I give it any tier. With that said, though, it's definitely not A (as you said) and I think B might potentially be too high, Galvanize + good IVs could have skewed it a lot more than imagined. My future test of it will aim to confirm or disconfirm that. Based on my very barebones analysis, C-tier would perhaps be a safer option, but we will see

- Wimpod was on my very first test run I did to start this list, so I don't expect to have been 100% accurate when tiering it. My experience with it, as far as my memory goes, wasn't exactly great with it, it mostly contributed with kills, but never really did much beyond that. I think the item usage you provided it with could be the reason you rate it higher than me, but without, more specifically, X Item and Roto Boost usage, I think it's definitely not a B-tier Pokemon. I may retest this in the future (but not now, because I need to first make the list full then start confirming tiers), though anyone else can also jump in

I will try to post some nominations myself soon. It will be just from one run, as I've been busy with school, so couldn't progress as fast as I wanted to.

e: if Passimian, Rowlet, and/or Cutiefly get one more "agreement", I will remove their asterisks and will consider their tiers sealed., so if someone else wants to provide some opinion about those, feel more than free to.

 

[Celeb]

(would have responded earlier but I had school when I saw the post)

You respond quickly anyway, thank You.

We are pretty much in agreement about Alolan Golem. As for Wimpod - I do not expect it to land in B, however D is seriously downplaying its strengths. GameFreak made this thing to come in, deal huge damage and come back (or just sweep at times). It becomes pretty obvious while playing. I would also like to see more posts about it, honestly. It is an interesting case.

I have read the OP to understand established rules and guidelines. Since you mentioned them I want to point out two things:
1. When I brought up Mina I meant captain herself, not her trial. She is not exclusive to any version so I kinda wonder why she is not counted. I made a mistake by talking about Sophocles though. I was not aware he was exclusive (I thought only Mallow and Lana were). GameFreak surprised me once again.
2. There are Pokemon that even with X items and Rotom Boosts have troubles with major battles (like Turtonator). I do not think that using one or two is messing with the testing too much - the game definitely encourages the player to do so when you see all of the Totems. Back in earlier generations, Pokemon would love to be able to sweep Elite Four with 2 items.

I do not to wish to argue about the guidelines though. Think what is the best, these are just my views on the matter and, apparently, I felt like sharing them. It is time for me to discover Ultra's postgame.

 

[dragoncn405]

Is magnemite still a top tier pokemon. Since in Ultra we can evolve it earlier. Magnimite and Grimer are not in the list at all on the 1st page

 

[Ryota Mitarai]

Is magnemite still a top tier pokemon. Since in Ultra we can evolve it earlier. Magnimite and Grimer are not in the list at all on the 1st page

The Grimer thing is a mistake on my part, it should be in B

as for Magnemite, it simply hasn't received enough discussion. Opinion seems to be leaning towards A with a possibility of S, but Magnemite has to be tested a few times before we can reach consensus

 

[DrumstickGaming]

Quick thoughts on Magnemite:

It's a good mon but definitely not S, despite a lot of people thinking it should be in the old thread. My problem with Magnemite is that while it has good moves from tutors to alleviate the problems it has in BW2, it instead has a long period of time before it becomes consistently useful. Before you get Magnezone, Magnemite is simply good in the field at best and highly inconsistent in boss fights at worst. You take the Normal totem fine but lose to Hala, Magnemite is unlikely to beat Araquanid cleanly due to Wacan Berry and monster Special Defense, it dies to Marowak easily, and Lurantis has Low Sweep and healing to stall Magnemite out.

You get your first good matchup in Olivia at the end of Akala but then stalemate again versus Togedemaru, and then you FINALLY reach Blush Mountain, have Magnezone, and...perform great against most remaining bosses (notably doing well against all major battles on Poni, even Hapu with Magnet Rise lol), but not enough to justify S with how long you have to wait for that consistency. At the League, Magnezone is pretty good but nothing to write home about (while it's good against Kahilli and Olivia, it's gonna get worn down thanks to things like Sturdy, or fear Oricoro-Baile in Kahilli's case). Low-ish Speed doesn't help either, though ElectroWeb is a thing I guess.

TLDR: Not very good until Magneton/Magnezone, Zone pulls up the punch but it's nothing game-breaking at all and you have to earn its A-rank consistency by borderline babying it through most of the first two islands. Magnemite is A tier in my eyes, and even then I wouldn't exactly rule out B completely (though I doubt it'll land there because Magnezone does roll heads when you get there).

 

[RonJenzy]

Another update: unfortunately, my 3DS charger decided to stop working last night so now I need a new one. At least, I really hope it's a charger issue and not one with the system itself. So, it'll be a few more days for logs (I'm right outside Totem Raticate)

To get back on topic, Bulbasaur on paper looks really shaky. I imagine it has to rely on Sleep Powder for a lot of matchups since it's getting outgunned by Raticate, Araquinid, and especially Marowack. Lurantis isn't good eitger because the Venoshock TM is in Konikoni, at the end of Akala. I imagine it picks up from there but relying on sleep for the entire first half of the game is really skechy. Also, I don't know if this is preset or just luck but Grassy Terrain overrode Leech Seed on my Bulbasaur so it lost another potential tool in that.

 

[Ryota Mitarai]

Also, I don't know if this is preset or just luck but Grassy Terrain overrode Leech Seed on my Bulbasaur so it lost another potential tool in that.

not luck, Grassy Terrain is set to replace Leech Seed, much to Bulbasaur's dismay.

Anyways, I will post the nominations for one of my runs (I have yet to start run #2 of current stack) so we can have them here:

Nominations

Shellder -> C
Shellder has some pros and cons:

Pros
- Skill Link + Icicle Spear effectively gives it a 125 STAB Ice move.
- Shell Smash through relearner allows it to cleanly sweep Acerola and Kahili, makes it useful against other E4 members (albeit rarely sweeps), and can even be utilized against Hau to crush most of his team
- Has some interestingly good matchups, which I will elaborate on in a bit

Cons
- Slow experience group, so Cloyster has to be given some prefential treatment in order to keep up with your team's levels
- Relatively bad availability. It's at Kala'e Bay, so you need to massively backtrack if you want to use it for Marowak. Furthermore, it's at 5% encounter rate (35% with bubbles), which means that getting one with Skill Link can be quite tiresome. While it's more common in bubbles, you have to restart your game every time you don't find Shellder to keep the bubbles.
- Reliant on the inaccurate Hydro Pump to get some valuable KOs at the E4, which are needed in order to preserve a (potential) sweep. It doesn't learn Scald through TMs, so its strongest Water STAB otherwise is Water Pulse
- Can be caught underleveled, which, combined with Slow experience group, means that you have to baby it for a bit. Bubble spots ones can be caught at level 22, however, so they may even outlevel your team

for its matchups, it's good for Marowak if evolved immediately by OHKOing with Z-Water Pulse in rain (albeit it barely lives Brick Break and Flame Burst), OHKOs Lurantis with Icicle Spear (you can use Protect to waste its Power Herb, if you have to), potentially sweeps Olivia (depends on if her Lycanroc goes for Z-Rock), is good for Hapu, and cleanly sweeps Kahili and Acerola. For Hau, assuming your starter is Litten, you can Shell Smash on Raichu with a Sash, then heal to avoid QA KO, then OHKO Raichu, Noivern, and Decidueye with Icicle Spear and Crabo and Tauros with Hydro Pump. Vaporeon comes out last.

All in all, inconvenient availability + a good amount of bad matchups make me say C-tier for it. It was a pleasant surprise, nevertheless, as I didn't expect much from Cloyster before using it.

Tentacool -> leaning towards D
Tentacool, like Shellder, is in the Slow exp. group, so I hope you enjoy grinding Pokemon. Tentacool doesn't have any good matchups till it evolves. Tentacruel sweeps Olivia and generally contributes with kills against the rest, with Acid Spray helping out. Tentacruel is notably bad for Hapu, as it doesn't OHKO anything even with Specs Scald and they pretty much OHKO or 2HKO it in return.

As I said, it rarely sweeps, it generally kills stuff. It can beat Ribombee with Z-Sludge Bomb then Sludge Bomb again (use that over Wave due to spread penalty). It lacks in power for the E4, so its Specs-boosted moves will often 2HKO at best. All in all, I agree Tentacool is not really good, but I wouldn't say necessarily say E or F, as I found it more useful than the ranks would otherwise imply. If you are interested in the matchups in more details, please let me know and I will share more details.

Tyrunt -> D
Tyrantrum is notably bad for Guzma, as it can generally get only one kill there due to it not being particularly bulky. Tyrantrum's good matchups are Acerola and Kahili (Acerola thanks to Strong Jaws Crunch), while Charm can be useful for teammates against some more difficult opponents. I was thinking of putting this in E, but the E4 matchups convinced me to be more generous and give it D-tier. Worth mentioning that it can OHKO Ribombee as long as it doesn't OHKO Tyrantrum first.

Rhyhorn -> D
Biggest issues with Rhyhorn is relatively late availability + Slow experience group. Furthermore, it doesn't get the Protector till the post-game, so it's stuck as a Rhydon for the purposes of this list. However, this does allow it to run Eviolite, allowing it to eat attacks in some cases. Rhydon is useful for Guzma, Kahili, Molayne, and Olivia. Olivia is notable due to the fact it beats 4/5 of her team without healing whatsoever. If it was in a better experience group and/or evolved earlier, I'd have considered C, but I think D is fine

Swinub -> D, borderline E
Swinub is stuck as a Piloswine till the relearner. Piloswine can beat Nanu's Sableye and Krokorok and, as a Mamoswine, it can contribute to Olivia, Kahili, and Acerola, although it cannot sweep any of them. Molayne is a shaky matchup, as you reliably beat only Klefki and Bisharp.

Scraggy -> C
Scraggy's biggest issue is that it comes after Mimikyu. However, it has an excellent typing, which makes it useful for a good amount of important fights. It is useful for Nanu (beats Sableye and either Krokorok or Persian) and can beat Ultra Necrozma with an X SpD, Roto Boosts, and some healing (not really ideal, but at least it can do it, compared to most of the dex). However, Scraggy's biggest selling point is its E4 performance. Scrafty dominates 3/4 of the E4 members, being able to either outright sweep them (Olivia and Acerola) or just take out most of their mons (Molayne). All in all, I am gonna give it C-tier for now, because it's very useful for a good of amount of key fights, along with being potentially good for Ultra Necrozma if you don't mind the item investment for that fight.

expect more nominations as I finish more runs.

 

[DrumstickGaming]

Finally got around to wanting to update my run. Just beat Mimikyu, going to pick up Bisharp soon. These thoughts may be rough because my playthrough has taken an while for me to get motivation for, but whatever, here goes. First, logs:

Totem Gumshoos

Growlithe (13): Ember 5HKOs Totem Gumshoos, but it will chip you down gradually with Leer spam from it’s ally. You’re likely to see Growlithe fall around the time Gumshoos is close to fainting. Totem Gumshoos Tackle is still a 4HKO on Growlithe at -1 Attack.

Furfrou (16): Easy. Headbutt 3HKOs Totem Gumshoos and it takes two uses of Scary Face before they outspeed you. Headbutt OHKOs the ally Yungoos. As long as they don’t spam Super Fang you should be good.

Hala

Growlithe (17): Machop 2HKOs you with boosted Revenge despite Intimidate while Flame Wheel seems to just miss the 3HKO. Meh for Crabrawler - you seem to miss a 4HKO and All-Out Pummeling takes you to about half and two Power-Up Punches finish you off, also it outspeeds). Makuhita ALSO kinda screws you over (you like 5 or 6HKO it thanks to Thick Fat) but it also can’t kill you easily. Pretty bad.

Furfrou (19): Easy sweep, actually! Machop is annoying as it lives +1 Headbutt (you 2HKO unboosted, but it struggles to break your bulk unless Karate Chop crits, which is a 3HKO), but Crabrawler gets demolished by +1 Breckneck Blitz off Headbutt (All-Out Pummeling only does half of Furfrou’s HP which is insane) and Makuhita is OHKOed by +1 Headbutt. Might be damage ranges due to my high level, but still good.

Totem Araquanid

Growlithe (22): No, though you can oddly live a Bubble from Araquanid on a range.

Furfrou (23): You need Breckneck Blitz and two Headbutts to KO Araquanid. +2 Headbutt BARELY 2HKOs Araquanid if you Z-Work Up. In both attempts I won in red, meaning you can just barely solo. Araquanid’s Bubble is a 4HKO.

Totem Alolan Marowak

Eevee (21): Has a niche that you can drop it’s Attack to -1 with Baby Doll Eyes, but it still OHKOs with Brick Break.

Basculin (22): Both Totem Alolan Marowak’s Brick Break and Salazzle’s Venoshock 3HKO you while Aqua Tail + Aqua Jet beats Marowak. Hydro Vortex off Aqua Tail OHKOs Alolan Marowak if it does not go for Detect. You outspeed both Alolan Marowak and Salazzle. Aqua Jet knocks Salazzle to red by the way. One more thing: if Alolan Marowak goes for Detect on Z-Aqua Tail, regular Aqua Tail finishes Wak off after.

Growlithe (24): You’d think it’d be good here and you’d be wrong. Alolan Marowak outspeeds you and does 1/3 with Brick Break, while you do…like a 4HKO or 5HKO with Bite. Torment can screw you over from using Bite and both Brick Break and Venoshock finish you off after the first hit, outspeeding you to boot.

Furfrou (25): Brick Break is a rough 2HKO on you while you roughly 3HKO (probably 4HKO with Bite). However, you outspeed both Alolan Marowak and Salazzle, OHKOing the latter with Z-Headbutt. As far as support goes, you can lower Alolan Marowak’s Attack with priority Baby-Doll eyes to support a team member. Decent.

Totem Lurantis

Furfrou (27): Solar Blade is a 4HKO while +1 Z-Last Resort OHKOs Lurantis. +1 Headbutt knocks Kecleon to red, 2HKOing it. Easy sweep.

Basculin (26): Supersonic Skystrike off Bounce knocks Lurantis to red. It outspeeds and OHKOs with Solar Blade though, so you’ll need Power Herb wasted and Sun not up to get the Z-move off.

Growlithe (26): LOL if you send it in on anything after turn 1. Firium Z Fire Fang does 3/4 of Lurantis’s HP…then Kecleon comes in with Sunny Day, which makes regular Fire Fang can 2HKO…but Dizzy Punch trolls you…as does Synthesis…and you lose.

If you lead with it, you can Flame Charge (after which you still don’t outspeed Lurantis) and then kill with Inferno Overdrive after Fire Fang fine. HOWEVER, Fire Fang misses the 2HKO on Kecleon, meaning you need a Bite flinch to sweep completely. Decent.

Leafeon (27): Only possible with a Rare Candy. Best niche here is Baby Doll Eyes thanks to Lurantis’s X-Scissor. You can get off 4 Baby-Doll Eyes before you die (Kecleon’s Screech ruins you).

Olivia

Furfrou (30): Not too bad. Work Up twice, then Last Resort to OHKO Anorith (Bug Bite doesn’t 4HKO). Last Resort 2HKOs Lileep in spite of Giga Drain and now I am at 39 / 95 HP. Unfortunately, Lycanrock lives Breckneck Blitz at like 10 HP and kills me back with a critical hit Continental Crush. You do outspeed everyone though, which is nice. Absolutely can’t 1v1 Lycanroc at all: Continental Crush does over half from full, Rock Tomb drops Speed and it outpaces you to kill on the third hit (+1 Breckneck Blitz does half). Decent if you go to the move deleter first.

Basculin (30): Great: Aqua Jet OHKOs Anorith while Hydro Vortex from Aqua Tail even OHKOs Lileep. Bite from Lycanroc is a 3HKO and is annoying with flinch chance, but if you get an Aqua Tail off it should die.
Alternatively, you can simply Aqua Jet twice - Aqua Jet does like 3/4s or maybe even more to Lycanroc, easily 2HKOing it and avoiding flinch issues. Easy sweep and Basculin’s best showing so far.

Growlithe (30): Lost to Anorith / 10 (Flame Charge + Fire Fang doesn’t 2HKO, Smack Down 2HKOs despite Intimidate, and Anorith outspeeds unless you Flame Charge). Don’t bother with Lycanroc - it outspeeds you even when you are +1 Speed and while Bite only 4HKOs, it’s only a matter of time before it uses Continental Crush or flinches you. Z-Fire Fang doesn’t even knock Lileep to yellow, and even after that two Fire Fangs still don’t kill it.

Leafeon (30): Bug Bite from Anorith hits really hard as almost a 2HKO, but you OHKO it with Razor Leaf after Swords Dance. +2 Bloom Doom ALMOST nukes Lileep from the face of the earth as it is a range as revealed on replays (+2 Razor Leaf seems to do about half). Unfortunately Lycanroc outspeeds you, but if you get a +2 Razor Leaf off it is OHKOed. Both Lileep and Lycanroc seem to do about roughly under damage (a 5HKO) on you with Ancient Power and Bite respectively.

Totem Togedemaru

Pangoro (34): All Out Pummeling from Brick Break takes it to 2/3s HP after Sitrus Berry while Bounce does 1/3. Two Bounces + Steel Wing kill you.

Work Up twice as Togedemaru uses Spiky Shield, then Bounce while Skarmory goes for Tailwind, then Stealth Rock. You OHKO Togedemaru with +2 All-Out Pummeling off Brick Break, then 2HKO Skarmory off +2 Brick Break, notably even if Skarmory gets a Defense buff off its second Steel Wing, you still do enough to kill it with the second Brick Break (you initially take it to about 2/3s in yellow). You finish in red. Decent.

Furfrou (35): The first battle Furfrou outright flops on. While Zing Zap / Iron Head do about 20 damage and are thus a 6HKO on you (the gap to a 5HKO is closed by a ally’s attack), Furfrou can’t do anything noteworthy back to Togedemaru as it has +2 Defense and resists STAB; not even boosted Retaliate / Last Resort does anything. You could lower it’s Attack with Baby-Doll Eyes if you have that, but I didn’t. Note you outspeed Togedemaru unless Tailwind from Skarmory is set up.

Leafeon (35): Swords Dance on a Spiky Shield to effectively take away Togedemraru’s Defense buff, then do…barely 1/4 of its HP with Bloom Doom lol. Bounce is a rough 4HKO (30 of you 94 HP). Halfway decent here even with Torment in play: I got three Baby-Doll Eyes off and activated Togedemaru’s Sitrus Berry while alternating with Bite. You’re never killing Togedemaru ever, but you can chip it and debuff its Attack.

Arcanine (35): Firium Z Flamethrower on Spike Shield does 1/3 of Togedemaru’s HP, and a regular Flamethrower finishes it off (with you outspeeding it to boot). Dedenne is 2HKOed by Flamethrower. Should be an easy sweep really, just watch out for Dedenne’s Super Fang I guess.

Basculin (36): Actually kinda decent. If Togedemaru doesn’t use Spiky Shield, you can Hydro Vortex off Aqua Tail to get it to about half HP, which prompts Sitrus Berry to get it up to about 3/4s HP. You barely live one Zing Zap in red, so you can at least knock Skarmory to half with Aqua Tail.

Guzma 1

Pangoro (34): First Impression does 2/3 while Continental Crush off Rock Tomb knocks Goliopod to EE. Masquerain comes in and you die.

Furfrou (35): Z-Last Resort knocks Golisopod to EE while it does like 1/3 with First Impression and then…-1 Headbutt 3HKOs Masquerain. Surprisingly you outspeed both. I got crit with Bug Buzz and died though.
Leafeon (35): Leafeon dies to First Impression.

Arcanine (35): Z-Flamethrower knocks Golisopod to EE. Masquerain comes in and does 1/3 with Air Slash (notably outspeeding) but dies to Flamethrower + Extreme Speed. Thankfully Flamethrower finishes off Golisopod.

Basculin (36): Basculin can be the cleanup crew for Guzma but ain't taking him on legit when Sucker Punch is already almost a 2HKO lol.

Okay but seriously I forgot Waterium Z, sent Basculin in on an Intimidate sack, and it proceeded to Aqua Tail Masquerain down to where it could be picked off by Aqua Jet.

Basculin reliably serves as Golisopod cleanup if can live a Sucker Punch (rough 2HKO) as Bounce + Aqua Jet can finish it off.

Mimikyu

Pangoro (39): Can break Disguise or pick Mimikyu off with Bullet Punch, but lol Play Rough. Banette is 2HKOed by Iron Fist Thunderpunch (though Will-O-Wisp can delay this, it will just as easily use Curse and die lel). Obviously not winning straight up here.

Furfrou (39): Play Rough does 36 of my 121 HP (thus a 4HKO) pre-Charm. After that, Play Rough bounces off; the problem is Banette’s Screech. Bite thankfully 2HKOs it though.

After a healing item, I got loads of Play Rough misses letting me chip Mimikyu down some. I also found out ally Jellicent is also 2HKOed by Bite.

Alternatively, you can Thunder Wave twice due to Lum Berry and break Disguise (if you don’t have Charm). I even got off 2 Charms once I think due to some Screech misses. Either way, Furfrou is pretty great team support for this battle. You can Corkscrew Crash but I consider that really niche since it's only used for this one fight, and I think you're better off using Charm.

Leafeon (39): Leech Life outspeeds and 3HKOs Leafeon sadly. Bloom Doom Seed Bomb leaves Mimikyu at roughly 1/3 HP (Banette’s Curse finished me off). Seems like a straightforward result as SDing here seems unlikely unless Disguise is broken.

Even getting SD off post-Disguise doesn’t seem feasible - Banette’s Screech turns Leech Life into a 2HKO, and it also has Will-O-Wisp.

Arcanine (39): You don’t outspeed sadly, but Intimidate helps with tanking Shadow Claw, which is a 5HKO (first did 28 of my 125 HP). Sadly Specs Flamethrower JUST misses the 3HKO (I switched to something else to heal up first attempt). Unfortunately, Specs Flamethrower seems to be a roll to OHKO Banette, and you really don’t want it getting a Curse off.

Shadow Claw crits seem to be a 3HKO which Faint Attacks from Banette can close the gap on. You’re not winning here even with one healing item: between Disguise, RNG of Banette using Screech or Curse, RNG of Shadow Claw critting - there’s too much crap to deal with. But you can get Mimikyu to yellow at worst most likely.

Arcanine's Corkscrew Crash off Iron Tail knocks Mimikyu to red, but I still died due to Banette’s Curse I believe.

Basculin (39): Much to my dismay, Hydro Vortex Aqua Tail (knocks Mimikyu to mid-yellow if Disguise is busted) and Aqua Jet leave Mimikyu alive - this first take was after a Furfrou Charm.

Sadly 1v1 Basculin doesn’t fare well. Play Rough outspeeds and 2HKOs Basculin. Play Rough can miss but really, it doesn’t seem like you’re doing much here unless it misses or Disguise is already busted.

TLDR:
Melemele summary: Growlithe is pretty bad, Furfrou is amazing.
Akala summary: Growlithe still sucks, Furfrou is good, Eevee / Leafeon kinda meh to good, Basculin is alright.
Ula'Ula halfway summary: Furfrou definitely takes a hit in viability to mediocre, Leafeon is still iffy in bosses, Basculin's fraility is definitely noticeable, Arcanine with (Specs) Flamethrower has become outright good, Pangoro hasn't shined much at all save for the field.

Thoughts from my segmented memories on the above:
Furfrou has been pretty good! While it's definitely beginning to lag a little, I think it's probably deserving of B. Sweeping Hala is amazing, and it's put in good performances elsewhere like Lurantis, though 4MSS for it can be annoying. Seems like a B imo, even in fights where it can't kill it can debuff Attack which is pretty cool.

Growlithe was a whole new level of painful. While it's definitely showing some shades of a B mon NOW on Ula'ula, this is after roughly twenty-five levels of sheer pain. While I can tolerate it on Melemele because everything's wimpy, around the time of Marowak / Fire Fang you really just want to evolve already, but that's not a good idea when both Specs Flamethrower and Extreme Speed are fantastic moves. Maybe evolving into Arcanine ASAP might be better, but I'm not sure. It seems like there's a fair argument for both sides.

Either way, as it stands, it seems like C at best would be good for it from what I'm seeing - any amount of turnaround this thing can have cannot outweigh its generally terrible performances it has before level 34. And heck, I was even feeling D at some points, but the last few bosses have changed my mind.

Basculin...not much to say on it. Early Aqua Tail, Aqua Jet, and Crunch...and that's pretty much it. I feel like I have to Z-Move a lot with it thanks to Aqua Tail's 90% accuracy. I'm not sure how to feel on it performance wise: while it's definitely a good sweeper with a mostly self-sustaining movepool, its contributions in bosses have ranged from great (Totem Marowak, Olivia) to "it dies almost instantly after getting a strong Hydro Vortex off" most everywhere else. Lategame I feel like this thing will die constantly and not sweep much, so C is appropriate for now - while the bosses aren't quite there, it IS a strong mon you can pull out and use and has it a lot better than most other Water types who are stuck with Water Pulse.

Leafeon is...eh. I'm not sure. It has a good movepool but its boss performances haven't been all that great. I'm just not seeing the hype for it yet, especially since you have to drag an Eevee around until Lurantis. It's self-sufficient but aside from Araquanid (where Ryota told me Last Resort nukes it to...red I think) and Olivia it hasn't consistently shined yet. Maybe Poni and League will pull it up to B but the boss matchups just resist it left and right.

Pangoro is meh: haven't had enough game to properly judge it. Waiting for Crunch until level 42 sucks, but Iron Fist elemental punches are kinda cool I guess.

 

[Bakugames]

Hi, sorry for not updating yall. I actually got a bit busy with work and haven't had time to play the game. I finally got a week break though so I'll make the most of out of it

 

[Ryota Mitarai]

ok so I have been a bit "inactive" because I wanted to do two runs and had to do some school work, but I managed to finish them, now that school has calmed down. Thus, you will see around 12 nominations from me:

nominations

Phantump -> C
Phantump is a really weird Pokemon when it comes to tiering in this game, so allow me to explain why I am making this nomination.

Phantump comes before Olivia and can be evolved immediately with a trade. Trevenant can sweep Olivia with Z-Growth + Giga Drain spam if Lycanroc doesn't flinch you with Bite. It also sweeps Hapu, performs well against Olivia #2 and also performs well against Acerola, typically with Growth + Z-Sunny Day strategies.

So what is the impressive thing about it? The period between that. Trevenant gets all sorts of support moves that can severely cripple Totems in between. Those support moves include Curse, Destiny Bond, Forest's Curse, Leech Seed, and Will-o-Wisp. Trevenant can take down Mimikyu and Ultra Necrozma (the latter forces you to have Focus Sash) with Destiny Bond, while the other ones can just be crippled with Curse. The other boss fights aren't suitable for Destiny Bond, as they don't 2HKO it, so it requires a lot of prediction to work. But yeah, Trevenant is useful on its own in a few matchup and can be very useful in other key matchups.

As for splitting it, I am going to just merge all relevant Phantumps in one tier. The traded one comes before Totem Mimikyu, meaning it skips Togedemaru and Olivia, but it does come with traded experience. Regardless, I want to enlarge this list as rarely as possible and this bit of info is easily mentionable in its write-up.

Hoothoot -> D
Hoothoot also comes before Olivia. Noctowl is generally good for Guzma and Ribombee (with Psych Up). Kommo-o beats you even with Psych Up, as Z-Air Slash doesn't OHKO. You could even use Noctowl against Nanu and do something there. Its problem is mainly the E4, where Acerola (the easiest fight) is its only good matchup (Specs Shadow Ball go brr). But yeah, Hoothoot is like, usable, but is not particularly impressive and not something you want to use at the E4.

Tirtouga -> D
Fossil Pokemon, so not gonna mention the flaws which we all know at this point. Tirtouga is different from other fossil Pokemon in that its sweeping capabilities are much higher thanks to Shell Smash. However, there are some caveats to that:

- Carracosta is still pretty slow even after a Shell Smash, so you often need more than one, if you can even pull it off.
- Carracosta relies often on the opponent to not attack it turn one in order to set up more than one (or to just beat it and proceed to sweep).
- Carracosta relies a lot on inaccurate moves, which, if they miss, could prevent Carracosta from sweeping.

All in all, it can sweep a lot, but it's not reliable and you often need to set up more than once. I can elaborate more on its matchups, if someone is interested, but the above info should be enough to justify my D-tier nomination

Houndoom -> D
Houndoom's nomination comes mostly from the end-game, because the period before that is awful. Houndoom is stuck with physical Fire STAB for a long time, making Snarl its strongest move. It starts being good once it gets Flamethrower at level 50, allowing it to perform well against Guzma #3 (if you have Thrower at that point) and Molayne. It can also sweep Acerola easily. In general, I wanted to put it in E, but I think this might be too harsh for it. But it's definitely not a good Pokemon to use.

Alolan Graveler (Trade)
I am severely disappointed with Golem. A lot of my predictions simply didn't come true. To elaborate on every single matchup:

Mimikyu - even with four Rock Blasts, Z-Gyro Ball doesn't OHKO and Banette's Curse and Will-o-Wisp pretty much the fight for it

Guzma - generally gets two kills only, on Golisopod and whatever else you want. You cannot beat all of them at once, unless you heal offscreen or something like this

Nanu - Krokorok kills you, you aren't getting past Persian, at most you beat Sableye

Kommo-o - nope

Ribombee - Z-Stone Edge puts it in red. If you weren't attacked turn one, you win, because Sturdy

Hapu - LOL

Molayne - glhf, unless you love using Bulldoze

Olivia - you cannot really hit hard here either, though you could probably get a kill or two

Acerola - beats Banette, Drifblim, and Froslass.

Kahili - beats most of her team. It cannot sweep, as a sweep ends when Toucannon comes in and KOs you with Bullet Seed, but you can easily beat the rest of her team

Hau - beats Noivern and can beat Vaporeon.

as you can see, Golem has few good matchups and is not particularly useful in the rest. I want to hear more details about its performance before I give it any tier. B-tier is definitely out of question and C is questionable for me. My test makes me think that either Galvanize and good IVs inflated its performance or its nomination was based more on route cleaning or something similar and the major boss matchups (which I care more about) weren't taken into serious consideration. If there are no oppositions to this, I will slate Golem for D, because I found it unimpressive, but I will give it some time.

Guzzlord -> E, could be F in all honesty
Guzzlord's availability is pretty much what kills it (though its performance isn't shining either). Guzzlord is, in simple words, the hardest UB to encounter. This is because it's "common" only for wormhole type 4 (aka the wormhole that have a flower-like pattern) and "uncommon" for type 3 (two rings). It took me more than ten minutes to find a Guzzlord myself (and the map is AWFUL to navigate, though I obviously won't factor this). Its performance isn't exactly the best, either; it can sweep Hapu and perform well against Acerola and contribute with kills elsewhere. But yeah, this is an end-game Pokemon that is not easy to find and isn't the strongest either, which is why I could go as far as putting it in F, but I think E works too, as it's got some usefulness, compared to what I'd classify as F.

Crabrawler -> D
This is a rather unpopular opinion, but I think the line isn't as bad as it's being made out. Crabrawler ends the Verdant trial with no problems, can contribute against Hala (Z-Work Up, then BB, then Work Up again, then spam Brick Break till you faint to Crabrawler) and sweeps Olivia wth Eviolite and Power-up Punch. As a Crabominable, it can sweep Nanu with a Work Up, Ice Punch twice, then a healing potion, then Z-CC. It also performs well against Hapu and Acerola. I could see it in C if its later matchups weren't made of the easy ones, but this is not E-tier, imo.

Vullaby -> E
Vullaby has several flaws:

- it is in the Slow experience group
- it evolves late (level 54, before Kommo-o)
- Vullaby's offensive stats aren't particularly high
- it often needs to spam Nasty Plot to actually deal damage
- later on, it becomes bad at route cleaning, because you rarely OHKO anything, even with Z-Moves, so you have to spam Nasty Plot again

performance-wise, it does have some use, as it can OHKO Lurantis with +4 Z-Gust and sweep Hapu and Acerola with Nasty Plot + Dark Pulse. It could also beat Ribombee with Psych Up if it doesn't go for DGleam twice in a row. It can also be useful for Hala with max Nasty Plot. However, considering all of the flaws above and the need to set up numerous times constantly, I think Vullaby has a huge amount of issues and can only perform acceptably if you go out of your way to cover them up, so I think it should be E-tier.

Staryu -> C
Starmie is notable in that it can beat Marowak and sweep Olivia. It beats Marowak by outspeeding and OHKOing with Z-Bubble Beam in rain. Olivia is swept by outspeeding and OHKOing Anorith with Bubble Beam, defeating Lileep with Signal Beam spam, and outspeeding and OHKOing Lycanroc with Z-Bubble Beam. Later on, your Psychic typing won't be doing you favors, though you can beat Nanu's Krokorok and, if you live Persian's Dark Pulse, OHKO Persian with Z-Signal Beam. It beats Kommo-o with Psych Up and Z-Psychic, is good for Hapu and Olivia #2 and can crush most of Kahili's team with Specs Thunderbolt.

The flaws it has are that it's a Slow experience group Pokemon and that it can come underleveled. Furthermore, Psychic almost never really helps it for major fights, so it instantly loses a lot of them. I think C-tier is perfect for it, although I considered D-tier at one point, but it's one of the stronger Water-types, in terms of power.

Lileep -> E
Another Pokemon with many flaws:

- Evolves at level 40
- Is in Erratic experience group, which makes it awful to grind to that level
- Lileep does almost nothing, as it hits very weakly
- Cradily, while more powerful, isn't exactly strong either, so you need to rely on type matchups to win with it
- fossil Pokemon

Lileep's contributions are mostly that it 1v1s Olivia #1's Lycanroc, sweeps Hapu and can perform claim kills at the E4 if it has a type advantage. But Lileep is awful before that and Cradily doesn't compensate with that. While Lileep won't be dying easily to neutral attacks, I can say absolutely the same for its opponents. All in all, inefficient Pokemon, cannot see it higher than E.

Skarmory -> D
Skarmory can beat Kommo-o with Z-Fly and Aerial Ace and beat Ribombee with Z-Iron Head + Iron Head. It can contribute elsewhere with Spikes support, though Iron Head also helps against Olivia #2. However, it is a Slow experience Pokemon and comes at Ula'Ula, so obviously, it's not the best thing you could use, but not bad enough for E-tier

Elekid (Trade and No Trade) -> D
This assumes that you don't try to Thief Electirizer from a wild Elekid, which would impact Electivire's ranking.

Electabuzz can wall Togedemaru with Eviolite, at most needing one healing item. However, it has to hit rather weakly with Fire Punch and Brick Break to take it down, so it takes some time. Specs Discharge / Thunderbolt is good for Guzma's Golisopod and Masquerain. After that, the line disappears when it comes to good matchups. At the E4, both mons are good for Kahili and can claim kills against Acerola. Against Molayne, Electivire is a lot better, because it learns Flamethrower, so you can combine it with Choice Specs to KO many of his Pokemon. I don't really want to split them, as the difference is only one matchup, assuming you don't Thief an Electirizer.

I've got maybe only two or three runs before I get to the mega slate I've been talking about in my posts. Once I am done, we will move to confirmation phase, where we will aim to see if C-tier and above have been placed properly (along with some D-tier Pokemon, which I will provide as the list confirms more and more Pokemon's rankings)

 

[Ryota Mitarai]

so I have been a bit inactive because of more schoolwork (I am an HS graduate this year, so...), but I managed to do two runs and come closer to tiering everything:

noms

Horsea (No Trade) -> D
The Horsea line has the disadvantage of being inefficient for the Fire trial, because you not only have to backtrack massively to obtain it before that but Horsea doesn't even win there anyways.

The difference between Seadra and Kingdra is quite big. Kingdra has Swift Swim, Seadra does not. This allows Kingdra to perform much better when it comes to sweeping (e.g. Nanu) and a better E4 performance. Furthermore, Kingdra can OHKO Kommo-o with Specs Draco Meteor, wheres Seadra does nothing there. The only disadvantage of Kingdra is that you need Dragon Scale from the Kantonian Gym and Ryuki, apparently, appears randomly (though I always get him on my second visit), but I think Kingdra is well worth a tier above its no evolution counterpart, which performs well only against Hapu and Olivia #2 (though it sweeps neither of them). If only it could evole at least before Olivia #1....

Fomantis/Totem Lurantis -> E
It may seem as if I have some sort of a bias against Grass-types. While this could be true, I nevertheless don't think Lurantis is a good Pokemon. First, let me make it clear that I used the Totem version. The Totem verison looks better due to the fact that Fomantis won't evolve before Olivia #1 and it also lacks three guaranteed perfect IVs. So if you are playing US, you should definitely just use the Totem one.

Now, what are the issues with it? Well, first of all, its movepool is pretty easy to resist. It consists of Grass and Bug coverage, so it doesn't take long for that to be walled. Low Sweep helps, but it doesn't really let it win any major battle. Second, Lurantis is really slow. Even with a Z-Sunny Day, you often will be outsped. In terms of matchups, Lurantis can deal damage to Togedemaru with Sunny Day/Growth/Z-Low Sweep strats, though it doesn't win there and it sweeps Hapu. Olivia #2 isn't a great matchup, as Armaldo kills it and it's reliant on Sunny Day strategies to work there, which are often stopped by the constant sand that is brought from her teammates. All in all, this thing barely contributes and you either get it late or you are dealing with a Pokemon that is not very good (Fomantis phase) for some part of the game.

Shieldon -> E
Shieldon is perhaps one of the worst lines I've ever used in-game. Here are the issues with it:

- comes at level 15 and just before Olivia
- Erratic experience group, so hf catching it up with your teammates
- has a base Attack lower than Ekans even if fully evolved.
- You have to hold off evolving for 7 levels if you want Metal Burst earlier (also helps with Erratic experience group)
- Bastiodon has the worst combination you could have for Metal Burst strategies: low HP and high Defenses

Bastiodon's base 52 Attack doesn't really save it from any major matchup, as even super effective hits will often fail to 2HKO the opponents. Bastiodon does have some positive contributions: Metal Burst OHKOs Kommo-o after Drain Punch and Bastiodon can Toxic stall Ultra Necrozma and Totem Ribombee with Protect and Metal Burst. However, given how useless Bastiodon is otherwise and being a team slot waste for most parts, it's hard to say this is anything higher than E

Alolan Graver (No Trade) -> D
Alolan Graveler is definitely lacking in power, compared to Golem. It needs a Z-Move to 2HKO Golisopod, while Golem doesn't, for example. Contributions are similar, but due to Guzma being a worse matchup, I think I'd rather put this in D. I feel like both can be lumped in D-tier, though Golem will, at some point, be put in the high priority list

Manectric -> D, may retest it for C
Manectric is a lot better than its counterpart, Houndoom, as it has Discharge, rather than a physical move. Manectric owns Kahili and also performs well against Molayne with Flamethrower. Guzma is generally 50/50, you beat Golisopod and Masquerain, but fail to beat Pinsir. C is possible, as I didn't use Charge Beam, which could have improved Guzma and some other matchup, but for now, D-tier it is.

Slowpoke (Slowking) -> C, maybe D
Slowking is *so much* better than Slowbro. The reason for that is because you can get Slowking very early, thus bypassing the Slowpoke phase. You need to item hunt for a King's Rock from wild Hawlucha. This means that you can get it as early as Route 3 (aka for Hala). However, you are most likely going to item hunt after beating Hala, because that's when you can get the Thief TM. Obviously, the need for item hunting is its biggest flaw, which is why it's not going any higher.

Now, contribution-wise, Slowking is an easy counter to Hala. It crushes Marowak ruthlessly, as the whole trial doesn't trouble it whatsoever. It sucks for Olivia #1, unfortunately, becausei t can only take out either Anorith or Lycanroc, but not both at once (without offscreen healing). However, if you manage to get it to level 36 for Togedemaru, you can set up a Nasty Plot and OHKO it with Z-Water Pulse while it 3HKOs with Zing Zap. It beats Kommo-o with Psych Up and Z-Psychic, Ultra Necrozma with three Roto Boosts, a Full Restore, and Z-Shadow Ball, and can sweep Hapu with Specs Scald as long as Golurk doesn't attack it.

At the E4, Slowking can beat Molayne's Dugtrio, Klefki, and Metagross with +2 Flamethrower, though it will most likely need to heal to beat all of them. Against Olivia, it can generally take out around two threats without healing. Against Kahili, it beats Toucannon with Z-Ice Beam, Hawlucha, and Oricorio. Honestly, I think C might be overrating it, but I am putting it there anyways for exposure, another test on this in the future should shed some more light on this. Also worth mentioning that it has the Slow exp. group, so it's a bit hard to grind, depending on your team

Mankey -> C
Mankey's movepool is interesting, given it learns Cross Chop somewhat early and later learns Close Combat. If evolved for Lurantis, it can Work Up and OHKO with Z-Cross Chop while Lurantis spams Solar Blade. +1 Z-Cross Chop also OHKOs Togedemaru and Olivia #1 is swept easily. It takes a major blow in its performance after that, as it's not particularly good even for Nanu (where you can only take out one threat without offscreen healing). It does perform well against Olivia #2 and can contribute against Molayne (but not sweep), but I think it has too many bad matchups to warrant a tier higher than C. Worth mentioning that it's not fully useless against Guzma #2 and #3, as it can Work Up and spam Acrobatics to force out Golisopod and beat Masquerain, but it's not really that great as well.

Mareep -> C
Mareep comes early and is in the Med Slow exp. group, so it can abuse that greatly. Here are the non-obvious matchups:

Araquanid - Magnet Charge Beam then +1 Magnet CBeam then Thundershock KO Araquanid. You can live two turns from the opponents, so you need to heal to win (and get the lucky CBeam boost).
Olivia - Magnet CBeam 2HKOs Anorith and +1 Signal Beam 2HKOs Lileep (OHKO with +2). Lycanroc, regardless of +1 or +2, is 2HKOed by Electro Ball after TWave, though +2 leaves it at red

Guzma #1 - beats either Goli or Masquerain 1v1, but not both

Guzma #2 and #3 - Specs Discharge OHKOs everything but Vikavolt, but you can only beat two things before fainting

Nanu - Z-Signal Beam OHKOs Persian, which cannot OHKO. You cannot really take out more than one mon, though

Molayne - Specs Thunderbolt beats Klefki, Metagross, and Bisharp

Olivia #2 - beats Armaldo and Cradily

Acerola - beats Banette, Froslass, and Drifblim

Kahili - Specs TBolt OHKOs everything. Ampharos is often outsped, so it will most likely have to heal once to actually sweep

(anything else not listed is assumed to be a bad matchup)

as a whole, Ampharos isn't bad, but it's not as good as in HGSS, if you want that comparison. Its Flaaffy period isn't very impressive. However, Ampharos's STAB moves, coming off Specs, are incredibly powerful and you can see that Ampharos tends to contribute positively to many matchups, especially at the E4. Counting the potential exploit you can use with early Med Slow mons, I think C is perfectly fine for Mareep.

Fletchling -> B
I was surprised to experience how useful it actually is, given I expected it to perform a lot worse. It helps that it has the Med Slow exp. group and can take advantage of it for a while. Here are the non-obvious matchups:

Lurantis - Work Up twice and OHKO with Z-Flame Charge. Kecleon's Ancient Power is a 2HKO, so you need to beat Lurantis as fast as possible, so you need to OHKO. Lurantis doesn't threaten you whatsoever, though

Togedemaru - +1 Z-Ember OHKOs Togedemaru. It is faster and Togedemaru 2HKOs with Zing Zap. If it goes for Spiky Shield turn one, you pretty much win without having to do any predictions

Guzma #1 - Z-Aerial Ace, then spam Flame Charge. Beats Masquerain and greatly weakens Golisopod

Mimikyu - Z-Steel Wing puts Mimikyu in red and Mimikyu 3HKOs Talonflame. However, Mimikyu is faster and Banette can turn the 3HKO into a 2HKO with just about every move

Guzma #2 and #3 - Acrobatics then Work Up then spam Acrobatics. For Guzma #3, you cannot beat Vikavolt, but you beat the rest.

Kommo-o - +1 Z-Fly OHKOs Kommo-o. You are faster and only 2HKOed by Thunder Punch

Ribombee - +1 Z-Fly OHKOs Ribombee

Hapu - +3 Acrobatics OHKOs everything but Mudsdale, which finishes you off, if you managed to pull off three Work Ups on first place (+2 doesn't OHKO Golurk)

Molayne - Specs Flamethrower 2HKOs Metagross and OHKOs the rest (bar Zone due to Sturdy). Avoid Zone and you crush the rest with no problems. If paralyzed, heal offscreen

Acerola - +1 Acrobatics OHKOs Dhelmise and Banette and 2HKOs the rest, with +1 Flamethrower KOing Froslass. You outspeed everything.
(everyone else is a bad matchup)

as a whole, it's got quite a good end-game and it is good for Lurantis, Togedemaru (if you don't mind predicting), and the Guzma fights. Could maybe be C, but I am fine with B for now.

Cranidos -> C
Cranidos is, in my opinion, the best fossil Pokemon you can use in this game. While it starts at level 15 and with Erratic experience group, Cranidos manages to perform on a signifcantly different level, compared to the other fossils. This is due to its matchups:

Guzma #1 - Z-Rock Tomb then Rock Tomb to sweep

Mimikyu - If you have Mold Breaker, you can OHKO it turn one with Z-Iron Tail. This is the only Pokemon that can efficiently OHKO Mimikyu turn one

Guzma #2 and #3 - Rock Slide, then Rock Polish, then Z-Rock Slide, then spam Rock Slide for the win

Nanu - Rock Polish, then 2HKO Sableye with Rock Slide, then OHKO Krokorok with Z-BB

Ribombee - Z-Head Smash

Olivia #2 - Rock Polish, then OHKO Armaldo with Rock Slide, Cradily with Z-BB, and Probopass with BB. Gigalith is 3HKOed and finishes you off. Lycanroc 2HKOs you (with a combo of Z-Move and Stone Edge) while you 2HKO with BB.

Acerola - Rock Polish, then OHKO Banette with Assurance and Dhelmise with Z-Assurance. Switch out against Palossand and heal if you've taken any damage. Against Froslass, OHKO with Assurance and you outspeed and OHKO Drifblim with Rock Slide

Kahili - Rock Polish, OHKO Hawlucha with Z-Rock Slide, and spam Rock Slide on the rest.

as you can see, it has the distinct niche of killing Mimikyu turn one. In addition, it has a number of good matchups outside of that, including Kahili, Ribombee, Acerola, Guzma, and good contributions to Nanu and Olivia #2. All in all, it is the only fossil Pokemon which is actually worth using, so I think C is good for it.

Comfey -> C
Comfey is a very weird Pokemon, as its performance tends to flunctuate between "awesome" and "bruh". Comfey has one cool thing about it, which is that it's in the Fast experience group. HOWEVER, Comfey does NOT start with Draining Kiss whatsoever, so you have no STAB moves till Vast Poni Canyon. Draining Kiss has to be retaught at the League.

In terms of matchups, Comfey performs the following way in its good matchups:

Olivia #1 - Z-Growth, then Growth, then spam Giga Drain. Anorith's Metal Claw is a 3HKO even after an Attack boost.

Nanu - Z-Growth, then Growth again, then spam Giga Drain. You OHKO Krokorok and 2HKO the rest

Kommo-o - Z-Psych Up (you are slower) to heal off Poison Jab and copy Kommo-o's stats. Then click DGleam two times to KO both it and Noivern (you are faster and 3HKOed by PJab after Psych Up).

Hapu - Calm Mind, then 2HKO Golurk with Giga Drain while avoiding KOs due to healing. OHKO Mudsdale with Z-Giga Drain and kill Gastro with Giga Drain again. Flygon dies to DGleam and doesn't threaten you at all

Acerola - CM twice on Banette, which Screeches and leaves you in red with non-crit Shadow Claw. Then spam Draining Kiss on it till it's dead. OHKO Froslass with DGleam and Dhelmise with Z-DGleam. Palossand is 2HKOed by Giga Drain and Drifblim is easy to overpower with DGleam spam

Kahili - CM twice on Braviary, as it Scary Faces and BBs then spam DKiss till it's dead. Hawlucha dies to Draining Kiss and Mandibuzz is 2HKOed. If you are at full health, you can live Z-Beak Blast from Toucannon and 2HKO with DGleam + Draining Kiss. You can also beat Oricorio if you are lucky enough through Z-DGleam + DGleam

Hau - CM twice on Raichu and 2HKO it and Tauros with Draining Kiss. Vaporeon is 2HKOed by Giga Drain, Crabo is OHKOed by DGleam, Decidueye is OHKOed by Z-DGleam, and Noivern dies to DKIss spam. Seems like the matchup would be worse if you picked Rowlet, but the other starters should make this a sweep.

(the rest are assumed to be bad)

All in all, Comfey levels up fast and performs well against some of more notable opponents, being able to sweep Hau and Nanu. I considered D due to needing to set up constantly, but I decided that C for now is better.

I have intended to do two more runs with currently untiered Pokemon. One of them is with the UBs, so it shouldn't take too long. One of those runs will feature Magnemite, for which I will provide detailed logs for every single matchup, in order to determine its ranking. If I and RSE once they are done with their test also find it as A-tier like DrumstickGaming, we can pretty much put it there and seal its placement. Once I am done with both runs, I will create two slates: one for nominations that have come up before I created it and a "Mega" one and we will move on confirming C-tier and above.

 

[pahgawk3]

Is klefki missing from untiered? Or am I just blind and couldn't see it in the ranks? I recently did an USUM Nuzlocke where I used klefki for a large chunk of the run, so I could shed some light on how it functions, however, the play style of a Nuzlocke differs enough where I wouldn't want to suggest a rank.

 

[Ryota Mitarai]

Is klefki missing from untiered? Or am I just blind and couldn't see it in the ranks? I recently did an USUM Nuzlocke where I used klefki for a large chunk of the run, so I could shed some light on how it functions, however, the play style of a Nuzlocke differs enough where I wouldn't want to suggest a rank.

not everything's been tiered, so it's not anywhere yet. I am using one in my run right now, so I will be able to share some details as well.

If you do have some experience with it, please share it.

 

[pahgawk3]

My experience with klefki was actually a lot more positive then I expected going into it, the typing alone helps with most pokemon you'll encounter. Got one right after the Mimikyu trial, draining kiss is the main stab I used with mirror shot a little later. Foul play was nice against higher attack stat mons. I taught it psychic right away for poison types. This allows klefki to easily deal with really all of team skull, since they primarily use poison and dark types. I replaced foul play with thunder wave once I got to the shady house as I found I wasn't using it much and priority paralysis is great for trials and big fights. The first big fight I had was against Guzma, where I didn't use klefki much except to paralyze the masquerain and switch out to something that could one shot it. Choice specs draining kiss 0hko's Nanu's sableye and 2hko's persian, neither can do much back. Switched against krokorok so not sure what would happen there.

Aether foundation is a mixed bag for klefki, the first Faba fight is quite easy and klefki can slowly whittle hypno down, I had good Hypnosis luck as he missed two. The second Faba fight I didn't use Klefki, the Claydol scared me from using it. For Guzma, klefki was again relegated to dealing with masquerain, which I think is still quite useful as it hits deceptively hard. For Lusamine klefki should outdamage Clefable with mirror shot, however I imagine misses might cause you to lose this matchup as you don't hit overly hard. I had better options for the rest of her mons, but I feel like you get use out of klefki against Lilligant as it can't do much to you, and maybe outdamage/heal bewear with draining kiss.

Once you get to seafolk village you finally get flash cannon and a reliable steel Stab. The next trial was the kommo-o one which you would think would be extremely simple for klefki, however I had forgotten about the roseli berry and went in with specs klefki expecting to win easily spamming draining kiss. Unfortuantely due to the roseli berry Kommo-o comfortably lives and you don't heal enough, and I died to two drain punches plus a bullet punch from Scizor. Not sure if play rough would have been a better option, or if just getting off a toxic/thunderwave and switching out to something that deals with it better would be option. This is where my klefki run ended, and it's a shame as I think the best matchups for klefki were to come, as priority twave/toxic and not being weak to any of ultra necrozma's moves would have been great. Klefki could also do well against totem ribombee, but I question if flash cannon would be doing enough after the sp.def boost and quiverdances. Hapu seemed like a no-go and as far as the elite 4 go, just olivia and maybe kahili seemed like ok matchups outside of the obligatory prankster status.

Overall, klefki is one of the best utility mons in the game, and has a terrific type since most fire/ground moves are coming from predictable mons. However, the stats can be a bit of a let down sometimes. As far as an efficient run goes, I think that's where klefki struggles as a lot of its wins come from status and slowly whittling down with draining kiss. I am interested how klefki fairs for you, and if it can contribute in the later battles, I don't see it being ranked high at all due to the generally slow pace in which it works.