I guess I should do the typical thing of posting tier lists whenever I feel like it as if I'm actually a proper RBYer. I posted one before about three months ago and that is largely accurate, however time and the metagame has moved on a bit since then and my opinions have shifted. This is what I will be submitting for the VR Update which is likely to take place in around three weeks. I did do a video for this but most people don't have the time to watch some random person rant incoherently for over an hour so here we are. List is slightly different than there, merely my list there was made on the fly and I forgot some things and made some tweaks to the lower tiers. These are all ordered within tiers.
1. Mr Mime
2. Charizard
3. Clefable
4. Blastoise
5. Poliwhirl
6. Nidoking
7. Kabutops
8. Golem
9. Venomoth
10. Moltres
11. Kingler
12. Exeggcute
13. Seadra
14. Ninetales
15. Raticate
16. Porygon
17. Wigglytuff
18. Pinsir
19. Primeape
20. Arcanine
21. Fearow
22. Sandslash
23. Rapidash
24. Electrode
25. Dragonair
26. Abra
27. Slowpoke
28. Gastly
29. Drowzee
30. Scyther
31. Muk
32. Seaking
33. Magneton
34. Weepinbell
2. Charizard
3. Clefable
4. Blastoise
5. Poliwhirl
6. Nidoking
7. Kabutops
8. Golem
9. Venomoth
10. Moltres
11. Kingler
12. Exeggcute
13. Seadra
14. Ninetales
15. Raticate
16. Porygon
17. Wigglytuff
18. Pinsir
19. Primeape
20. Arcanine
21. Fearow
22. Sandslash
23. Rapidash
24. Electrode
25. Dragonair
26. Abra
27. Slowpoke
28. Gastly
29. Drowzee
30. Scyther
31. Muk
32. Seaking
33. Magneton
34. Weepinbell
S Tier:
- You could drop Mr Mime, but at the end of the day assuming you are wanting to build a competitive team, I'd ask yourself why? Mime is the best revenge killer in the tier, best status spreader in the tier, Mime's psychic is arguably the hardest move in the tier to switch into to the point you have some people arguing a group of psychic eggs is better than a flaming legendary bird. If Mimeless was a pokemon I put it towards the bottom of C2 Tier as I have admittedly done it enough times and won games but it does get into the territory of winning because the opponents team is also bad or I just have far more experience.
A1 Tier:
- If you dropped all three of these, I'd tell you that you were mad, you generally want at least one of Clefable or Blastoise, my personal preference is to have all three of these Pokémon on my team, I see them as 80% usage mons.
- Charizard, probably the one I use the least of the three and I think is the most droppable but Swords Dance Charizard is undoubtedly meta warping and affects pokemon and moveset viabilities and needs multiple checks. Lead Charizard is a fine consistent lead, but if that was all that Charizard did, then it would not be in A1 Tier. SD Charizard has this X factor like the Sword of Damocles where at any point if you misplay it can take over a game, it can be a bit daunting for new players I feel. As I have played more and more, I see it as less and less of an issue, I am always cognizant of where I am at when Charizard is concerned. I personally think non-spin movesets are still underutilized on SD.
- Clefable I've always seen as the swiss army knife and I still see it that way. It is the best scrapper in the tier bar none. I think often when you are feeling stuck within a game, throw clef into battle is generally a reasonable answer even if it isn't the optimal one in that situation. Generally the best answer to Clefable in lots of situations as well is Clefable, the hallmark sign of a strong pokemon. It's adaptability to the gamestate is unparalleled and I think there's quite a bit of skill expression in using Clefable. Clefable does have this weakness of getting chipped down, but it really doesn't matter too much when Clefable is nearly always taking at least one Pokemon down with it. You can run a variety of sets but you generally won't go wrong with Body Slam, Twave, Blizzard, Thunderbolt, though feel free to run Hyper Beam, Sing or Counter to randomly trip up your opponent.
- Blastoise is the best defensive water in the tier, responsible for ruining many a Poliwhirls dream and reminding Charizard lovers why their rival went Squirtle line. Blastoise I think is in a better position than it has ever been as far as move choice is concerned. When I started playing, Rest was almost mandatory on Blastoise but nowadays you can see a lot of four attack Blastoise with Surf plus any number of moves. Other Waters are either less bulky, aren't resistant to water and therefore cannot take on +2 Poliwhirl or lack the physical coverage. Blastoise can also if need be trade surprisingly well with stuff like Clefable or Mr Mime although you won't win. It takes a few hits for even Pokemon with super effective moves to KO Blastoise.
A2 Tier:
- This is where you are starting to get into goodstuffs teams, if you have merely chosen from S, A1 and A2 tier. You'd probably have a decent team as well. The pokemon here either have significant niches or broken attributes that allow them to be here. I'd say with the possible exception of Moltres, you need to have all these Pokemon in your repertoire if you want to play Tournament Level NU.
- Poliwhirl, as much as I hate to say it, is the 5th best Pokemon in NU. It is very inconsistent, but when it goes off, boy does it get annoying to deal with if you don't have a Blastoise or an Exeggcute or something faster. Sometimes though Poliwhirl will die doing nothing, as it is hampered by its mediocre NFE stats despite having both Amnesia and Hypnosis. An extremely punishing pokemon in the same vein as Charizard, you can't really afford to make misplays around this pokemon. I think there is more to be pushed from this pokemon, especially from Back Poliwhirl as well as some of the more unorthodox movesets such as Blizzard Psychic specifically for fighting its primary switch ins. On the same angle, I think some anti-leads becoming more popular will hamper Poliwhirl in general as it can be difficult to find positions good for Poliwhirl in the late game if the opponent is cognizant of the fact you haven't get gotten sleep yet and chooses to cheekily just make sure you never get it for the entire game.
- Nidoking is the second best revenge killer after Mr. Mime and a large force that hampers some of the pokemon below it such as Kabutops, Golem and Kingler which it threatens heavily. It isn't the greatest at switching into things. A common line is to switch it into Twave such as from Clefable, I'm not personally a fan of this line. Its better to get Nidoking in as a revenge killer as its coverage is really difficult to deal with. Once it is in, it can trade with nearly everything just like Clefable. Clefable is the only thing I can think of that can switch into Nidoking and then beat it 1v1 (perhaps moltres if EQ is selected or Mime if no EQ selection), though you wouldn't really want to do it. Nidoking especially benefits from double paralysis so you should run it on every nidoking team.
- Kabutops would be even higher if not for the fact that it can sometimes be a questionable check to SD Charizard. Slash hits pretty damn hard, has Surf for Fires and Golem and can even put on offensive pressure with Swords Dance. Rest as a set has largely died with Fire Spam. Kabutops is when you want a Rock that won't roll over to every water type or be outsped by everything. It doesn't even mind being burnt that much either by the Fire Blasts it may have to switch into. I'd say the fact it is worse vs. Charizard and that its easier to revenge kill with Mr Mime which just has less switchins than say Blastoise, makes it not definitively better than Golem.
- Golem is a cool pokemon. Hits very hard, can switch into Twave from Mr. Mime at least, best done when it is unrevealed. It does have a problem with its lack of speed and the number of water types in the tier. Kingler in particular is a menace that loves seeing Golem on the field since it tanks Golem hits and then hits back even harder. Strong players can use Golem's weaknesses against it and not even give it time to boom, which is why I think I have it lower than Kabutops despites its myriad of strengths. Technically it is also a window for Egg to get off sleep which can be rare some games if Mime isn't hitting the field until late game. Despite everything, it is still the single best Charizard check in the tier.
- Venomoth may even be underrated at the 9th Slot, being the best overall sleeper in the tier and the second best when including other attributes, it is definitely a pokemon you will be wanting to consider for a lot of teams. Moth gets a bad reputation of only being good at getting off sleep, perhaps a paralysis and otherwise being dead weight. If we are looking at pure chess value, a 100% Poliwhirl is generally worth more than a 100% Venomoth, but a 50% Moth is worth more than a 50% Poliwhirl, Moth's value as a lead extends into the late game a lot better than Whirl which you generally ride or die on the lead slot. Moth can do these cheeky moves where you trade for a bit and then at the end of the game, you come in after a kill trade and win a dirty stun spore speed tie with Mime or Psychic their Nidoking that allows you to win the game.
- Moltres, clearly the worst of these lot but with its power I couldn't really justify putting it any lower. It's main issue is not being SD Charizard and not being able to KO it easily. How good Moltres is depends on how many times you can click Fire Blast in a game. Ideally you want to play a bit more aggressive with Moltres than I think some people do. Click less spin imo, just click Fire Blast on Resists, Kabutops is the only thing that can really switch in, anything else is in danger of getting heavily chipped or burned or crit which because of how absurdly strong Moltres is can lead to KOs on resists. Crit on Golem can lead to a KO with Blast for example. Also one of the few pokemon (along with Ninetales) that Clefable and Mime can just not deal with very well.
B1 Tier:
- Here you kind of start getting into Niche Pokemon that can be put in a wide variety of teams but have more pronounced flaws. Still strong pokemon in here that need to be prepped for heavily in the builder.
- Kingler is probably the best of these and I was tempted to even put it in the bottom of A2 (or alternatively put Moltres in B1). A lot of teams are for whatever reason pitifully weak to Kingler once Mr Mime is paralyzed. Perhaps it is because people do not quite understand how absurdly powerful +2 Kingler is or have forgotten it exists or something. It comes in, punches holes in your team and that's all it needs to do. People using this mon as a sweeper will not find that much success, it guarantees a kill against some fat thing and then you might get another hit in if they have a Blastoise or a Golem. Also nothing can switch into Crabhammer either despite Kingler having 50 Special. Also lives +4 Charizard Move.
- Exeggcute kinda does nothing but the right kind of nothing. If you are looking for the tiers single viable Mime Psychic switch in not called Mime, here it is. It will do that and then get off sleep powder and then perhaps a stun spore if you are lucky. Want something to switch in on Poliwhirl and put it to sleep making you not need to worry about it for the rest of the game? Egg is your mon. If you are really lucky it will get off a boom. Beyond that though it loses to everything, it's bizarre matchup spread makes it useful in any game though.
- Seadra has a case of the Zapdos syndrome. Realistically it beats most of the tier and gets easy setup opportunities to outspeed a potential Charizard/Mr Mime revenge kill, it just has one big turtle in its way. Blastoise at 30% can bring it back vs. Seadra and to add insult to injury, Seadra isn't even bad defensively but Blastoise outdoes it there thoroughly too. As soon as Blastoise is gone though, the hands are coming off and you better be ready for the pain and misery this pokemon can inflict. In the late late game, it can actually beat Blastoise through freezing or rest stalling it out of PP, something to note but SD Zard has to be out of the picture there.
B2 Tier:
- This is basically where the stuff that is kinda good but has significant stuff holding it back from really making a case to be put up further. Some of these pokemon have it worse than others due to the metagame but I've ordered them so you should know.
- Ninetales is a really good pokemon that is cursed by the fact that SD Charizard exists and its crappy typing. Ninetales is that sweet middleground between Charizards and Moltres's Fire Blast where its Blast doesn't hit like a wet noodle like Charizard but it has more tools and speed to annoy the opponent than Moltres. Watching Poliwhirl, an already infamous misser of sleep try to hit hypnosis through confuse ray is just sad and even if you were to get that 30% chance, you'd probably hit yourself trying to set up amnesia. Venomoth lead obviously hates seeing Tales, so does Mime, you can Twave for sure, but then you are taking a Fire Blast which OHKOs on a crit and say goodbye to ever getting sleep with Egg if you have that. This mon I think is underrated.
- Raticate is another underrated mon that mainly just uses Super Fang on fat stuff to break through teams. Its speed tier is super good though and has good enough coverage and stab normal type, probably the second best normal after Clef. You can often KO a pokemon at least if you play well with Raticate and generally these pokemon are ones that are annoying to get rid of like Clefable, Blastoise and Golem. Hard to get in on anything though and has nothing going for it defensively.
- Porygon is just...there I guess. It just kinda sits there and recovers. Sometimes it gets a matchup where it is just utterly unkillable demon king switching in on blastoise all day, spreading the twaves, other times it just dies in one hit and you cry. I think after rat, you start getting to really inconsistent pokemon though that are matchup dependent, this is one of them.
- Wigglytuff is just a budget Clefable, which isn't a bad thing at all. It isn't quite as bulky, its slower so it speed ties with Golem, it hits like a wet noodle on the special side so it can't trade with certain things as well as Clefable. It's passable at many things, but a master of nothing which can hurt it in a tier where being good at something is valued.
- Pinsir is the first of the shitty SD pokemon which generally have trouble switching into any special move ever. Pinsir for what its worth can in fact take two Psychics, doesn't really matter though when you cant take a single fire blast from even Charizard. I think a big mistake is using bind, if you miss Bind as they go Charizard its sadtimes. Just use SD Normal attack, Submission, Hyper Beam.
- Primeape you can kinda use as an anti lead, I'm not sure if I am being too kind to it here putting it over Arcanine. What differentiates it from other anti leads is it can hit everything hard rather than like a few things hard. It does however hate Mime lead, but then your opponent has led mime so its a win or it would be a win except you led Primeape.
- Arcanine is probably the last of what I would say is clearly useable without any stupidly big flaws in NU. Its problem is that its fire blast doesn't hit hard and it doesn't even get the x-factor of spin. It's not bulky to wall other fire types since the main one you want to wall is Charizard which will SD over your face and then destroy your whole team. I could see a world where Arcanine balances are used, but its not this meta.
C1 Tier:
- Reserved for pokemon that generally have offensive menace but have crippling matchup depression.
- Fearow I think is low key actually a big pain to deal with when you dont have Kabutops or Golem. When Golem/Kabutops exist, Id rather even have Wigglytuff despite thinking that pokemon is overall a bigger waste of space. If you are a doubling god you can make Fearow work vs. Rocks, when you are vs. Nidoking Fearow will be likely KOing at least 1 pokemon. Surprisingly ok antilead that can just click buttons vs. anything too.
- Sandslash is just so slow and hates blizzard and surf which are everywhere. If I wanted a Golem Switchin, I'd just add a Water. May swears by it so I give it the respect of this placing over Rapidash.
- Rapidash is a lot better in theorymon than in practice. It is however better than some people give it credit for, being able to Fire Spin other Fire Spinners that are toxiced guaranteed providing you are hitting, however low of a niche, is a niche.
- Electrode really isn't as good as some people think, if you are a doubling god you can say this is as good as Raticate or Porygon. It does have good matchup vs waterspam, eggy isn't a great check since you can just bait chip on egg easy by going mime. Vs Nidoking/Golem you have to outplay in order to win.
- Dragonair I've put here as I think its somewhat underexplored and every time I've used it it has done decent when it hasn't gotten haxed. Of course trying to wrap to win in NU, which is all Dragonair can do is pretty bad since you have to hard commit to it and one wrap miss = dead and with Golem/Kabutops you can never do enough damage. Surf/Tbolt/Agility/Wrap probably the best set.
C2 Tier:
- Pokemon with the odd niche, memes kinda here too.
- Abra is a crappy mime with no coverage and no bulk. The fact that this mon gets 2hko by blastoise body slam says it all.
- Slowpoke is potentially interesting but slower than everything and can't rest stall pokemon like its bigger badder cousin since SD anything destroys it so it won't ever get setup. Twave keeps it here on its own.
- Gastly is another theorymon, it can switch into normal type attacks, I could see it even being in C1 but I find the most common mons have some sorta coverage that would smack it anyways and its weak to mime.
- Drowzee is the very marginally bulkier and far slower mime with hypnosis and still no coverage. Doesn't really do anything and too slow to revenge anything.
- Scyther cries whenever there is a fire type or a rock type or the similarly rare gastly.
- Muk kinda just exists, I've tried to make this pokemon work but here we are.
- Seaking is just a worse Seadra that doesn't outspeed anything other than clef before setting up and you want special rather than attack.
- Magneton theoretically would do ok vs. waterspam, problem is most those waters can trade cause they faster, you'd rather have trode.
- Weepinbell can theoretically come in and sleep pokemon and then be similarly useless to egg, but it cant switch into psychic or blizzard so ye.
D Tier
- Wont be talking about these, kinda ordered other pokemon I've tried.
- You could drop Mr Mime, but at the end of the day assuming you are wanting to build a competitive team, I'd ask yourself why? Mime is the best revenge killer in the tier, best status spreader in the tier, Mime's psychic is arguably the hardest move in the tier to switch into to the point you have some people arguing a group of psychic eggs is better than a flaming legendary bird. If Mimeless was a pokemon I put it towards the bottom of C2 Tier as I have admittedly done it enough times and won games but it does get into the territory of winning because the opponents team is also bad or I just have far more experience.
A1 Tier:
- If you dropped all three of these, I'd tell you that you were mad, you generally want at least one of Clefable or Blastoise, my personal preference is to have all three of these Pokémon on my team, I see them as 80% usage mons.
- Charizard, probably the one I use the least of the three and I think is the most droppable but Swords Dance Charizard is undoubtedly meta warping and affects pokemon and moveset viabilities and needs multiple checks. Lead Charizard is a fine consistent lead, but if that was all that Charizard did, then it would not be in A1 Tier. SD Charizard has this X factor like the Sword of Damocles where at any point if you misplay it can take over a game, it can be a bit daunting for new players I feel. As I have played more and more, I see it as less and less of an issue, I am always cognizant of where I am at when Charizard is concerned. I personally think non-spin movesets are still underutilized on SD.
- Clefable I've always seen as the swiss army knife and I still see it that way. It is the best scrapper in the tier bar none. I think often when you are feeling stuck within a game, throw clef into battle is generally a reasonable answer even if it isn't the optimal one in that situation. Generally the best answer to Clefable in lots of situations as well is Clefable, the hallmark sign of a strong pokemon. It's adaptability to the gamestate is unparalleled and I think there's quite a bit of skill expression in using Clefable. Clefable does have this weakness of getting chipped down, but it really doesn't matter too much when Clefable is nearly always taking at least one Pokemon down with it. You can run a variety of sets but you generally won't go wrong with Body Slam, Twave, Blizzard, Thunderbolt, though feel free to run Hyper Beam, Sing or Counter to randomly trip up your opponent.
- Blastoise is the best defensive water in the tier, responsible for ruining many a Poliwhirls dream and reminding Charizard lovers why their rival went Squirtle line. Blastoise I think is in a better position than it has ever been as far as move choice is concerned. When I started playing, Rest was almost mandatory on Blastoise but nowadays you can see a lot of four attack Blastoise with Surf plus any number of moves. Other Waters are either less bulky, aren't resistant to water and therefore cannot take on +2 Poliwhirl or lack the physical coverage. Blastoise can also if need be trade surprisingly well with stuff like Clefable or Mr Mime although you won't win. It takes a few hits for even Pokemon with super effective moves to KO Blastoise.
A2 Tier:
- This is where you are starting to get into goodstuffs teams, if you have merely chosen from S, A1 and A2 tier. You'd probably have a decent team as well. The pokemon here either have significant niches or broken attributes that allow them to be here. I'd say with the possible exception of Moltres, you need to have all these Pokemon in your repertoire if you want to play Tournament Level NU.
- Poliwhirl, as much as I hate to say it, is the 5th best Pokemon in NU. It is very inconsistent, but when it goes off, boy does it get annoying to deal with if you don't have a Blastoise or an Exeggcute or something faster. Sometimes though Poliwhirl will die doing nothing, as it is hampered by its mediocre NFE stats despite having both Amnesia and Hypnosis. An extremely punishing pokemon in the same vein as Charizard, you can't really afford to make misplays around this pokemon. I think there is more to be pushed from this pokemon, especially from Back Poliwhirl as well as some of the more unorthodox movesets such as Blizzard Psychic specifically for fighting its primary switch ins. On the same angle, I think some anti-leads becoming more popular will hamper Poliwhirl in general as it can be difficult to find positions good for Poliwhirl in the late game if the opponent is cognizant of the fact you haven't get gotten sleep yet and chooses to cheekily just make sure you never get it for the entire game.
- Nidoking is the second best revenge killer after Mr. Mime and a large force that hampers some of the pokemon below it such as Kabutops, Golem and Kingler which it threatens heavily. It isn't the greatest at switching into things. A common line is to switch it into Twave such as from Clefable, I'm not personally a fan of this line. Its better to get Nidoking in as a revenge killer as its coverage is really difficult to deal with. Once it is in, it can trade with nearly everything just like Clefable. Clefable is the only thing I can think of that can switch into Nidoking and then beat it 1v1 (perhaps moltres if EQ is selected or Mime if no EQ selection), though you wouldn't really want to do it. Nidoking especially benefits from double paralysis so you should run it on every nidoking team.
- Kabutops would be even higher if not for the fact that it can sometimes be a questionable check to SD Charizard. Slash hits pretty damn hard, has Surf for Fires and Golem and can even put on offensive pressure with Swords Dance. Rest as a set has largely died with Fire Spam. Kabutops is when you want a Rock that won't roll over to every water type or be outsped by everything. It doesn't even mind being burnt that much either by the Fire Blasts it may have to switch into. I'd say the fact it is worse vs. Charizard and that its easier to revenge kill with Mr Mime which just has less switchins than say Blastoise, makes it not definitively better than Golem.
- Golem is a cool pokemon. Hits very hard, can switch into Twave from Mr. Mime at least, best done when it is unrevealed. It does have a problem with its lack of speed and the number of water types in the tier. Kingler in particular is a menace that loves seeing Golem on the field since it tanks Golem hits and then hits back even harder. Strong players can use Golem's weaknesses against it and not even give it time to boom, which is why I think I have it lower than Kabutops despites its myriad of strengths. Technically it is also a window for Egg to get off sleep which can be rare some games if Mime isn't hitting the field until late game. Despite everything, it is still the single best Charizard check in the tier.
- Venomoth may even be underrated at the 9th Slot, being the best overall sleeper in the tier and the second best when including other attributes, it is definitely a pokemon you will be wanting to consider for a lot of teams. Moth gets a bad reputation of only being good at getting off sleep, perhaps a paralysis and otherwise being dead weight. If we are looking at pure chess value, a 100% Poliwhirl is generally worth more than a 100% Venomoth, but a 50% Moth is worth more than a 50% Poliwhirl, Moth's value as a lead extends into the late game a lot better than Whirl which you generally ride or die on the lead slot. Moth can do these cheeky moves where you trade for a bit and then at the end of the game, you come in after a kill trade and win a dirty stun spore speed tie with Mime or Psychic their Nidoking that allows you to win the game.
- Moltres, clearly the worst of these lot but with its power I couldn't really justify putting it any lower. It's main issue is not being SD Charizard and not being able to KO it easily. How good Moltres is depends on how many times you can click Fire Blast in a game. Ideally you want to play a bit more aggressive with Moltres than I think some people do. Click less spin imo, just click Fire Blast on Resists, Kabutops is the only thing that can really switch in, anything else is in danger of getting heavily chipped or burned or crit which because of how absurdly strong Moltres is can lead to KOs on resists. Crit on Golem can lead to a KO with Blast for example. Also one of the few pokemon (along with Ninetales) that Clefable and Mime can just not deal with very well.
B1 Tier:
- Here you kind of start getting into Niche Pokemon that can be put in a wide variety of teams but have more pronounced flaws. Still strong pokemon in here that need to be prepped for heavily in the builder.
- Kingler is probably the best of these and I was tempted to even put it in the bottom of A2 (or alternatively put Moltres in B1). A lot of teams are for whatever reason pitifully weak to Kingler once Mr Mime is paralyzed. Perhaps it is because people do not quite understand how absurdly powerful +2 Kingler is or have forgotten it exists or something. It comes in, punches holes in your team and that's all it needs to do. People using this mon as a sweeper will not find that much success, it guarantees a kill against some fat thing and then you might get another hit in if they have a Blastoise or a Golem. Also nothing can switch into Crabhammer either despite Kingler having 50 Special. Also lives +4 Charizard Move.
- Exeggcute kinda does nothing but the right kind of nothing. If you are looking for the tiers single viable Mime Psychic switch in not called Mime, here it is. It will do that and then get off sleep powder and then perhaps a stun spore if you are lucky. Want something to switch in on Poliwhirl and put it to sleep making you not need to worry about it for the rest of the game? Egg is your mon. If you are really lucky it will get off a boom. Beyond that though it loses to everything, it's bizarre matchup spread makes it useful in any game though.
- Seadra has a case of the Zapdos syndrome. Realistically it beats most of the tier and gets easy setup opportunities to outspeed a potential Charizard/Mr Mime revenge kill, it just has one big turtle in its way. Blastoise at 30% can bring it back vs. Seadra and to add insult to injury, Seadra isn't even bad defensively but Blastoise outdoes it there thoroughly too. As soon as Blastoise is gone though, the hands are coming off and you better be ready for the pain and misery this pokemon can inflict. In the late late game, it can actually beat Blastoise through freezing or rest stalling it out of PP, something to note but SD Zard has to be out of the picture there.
B2 Tier:
- This is basically where the stuff that is kinda good but has significant stuff holding it back from really making a case to be put up further. Some of these pokemon have it worse than others due to the metagame but I've ordered them so you should know.
- Ninetales is a really good pokemon that is cursed by the fact that SD Charizard exists and its crappy typing. Ninetales is that sweet middleground between Charizards and Moltres's Fire Blast where its Blast doesn't hit like a wet noodle like Charizard but it has more tools and speed to annoy the opponent than Moltres. Watching Poliwhirl, an already infamous misser of sleep try to hit hypnosis through confuse ray is just sad and even if you were to get that 30% chance, you'd probably hit yourself trying to set up amnesia. Venomoth lead obviously hates seeing Tales, so does Mime, you can Twave for sure, but then you are taking a Fire Blast which OHKOs on a crit and say goodbye to ever getting sleep with Egg if you have that. This mon I think is underrated.
- Raticate is another underrated mon that mainly just uses Super Fang on fat stuff to break through teams. Its speed tier is super good though and has good enough coverage and stab normal type, probably the second best normal after Clef. You can often KO a pokemon at least if you play well with Raticate and generally these pokemon are ones that are annoying to get rid of like Clefable, Blastoise and Golem. Hard to get in on anything though and has nothing going for it defensively.
- Porygon is just...there I guess. It just kinda sits there and recovers. Sometimes it gets a matchup where it is just utterly unkillable demon king switching in on blastoise all day, spreading the twaves, other times it just dies in one hit and you cry. I think after rat, you start getting to really inconsistent pokemon though that are matchup dependent, this is one of them.
- Wigglytuff is just a budget Clefable, which isn't a bad thing at all. It isn't quite as bulky, its slower so it speed ties with Golem, it hits like a wet noodle on the special side so it can't trade with certain things as well as Clefable. It's passable at many things, but a master of nothing which can hurt it in a tier where being good at something is valued.
- Pinsir is the first of the shitty SD pokemon which generally have trouble switching into any special move ever. Pinsir for what its worth can in fact take two Psychics, doesn't really matter though when you cant take a single fire blast from even Charizard. I think a big mistake is using bind, if you miss Bind as they go Charizard its sadtimes. Just use SD Normal attack, Submission, Hyper Beam.
- Primeape you can kinda use as an anti lead, I'm not sure if I am being too kind to it here putting it over Arcanine. What differentiates it from other anti leads is it can hit everything hard rather than like a few things hard. It does however hate Mime lead, but then your opponent has led mime so its a win or it would be a win except you led Primeape.
- Arcanine is probably the last of what I would say is clearly useable without any stupidly big flaws in NU. Its problem is that its fire blast doesn't hit hard and it doesn't even get the x-factor of spin. It's not bulky to wall other fire types since the main one you want to wall is Charizard which will SD over your face and then destroy your whole team. I could see a world where Arcanine balances are used, but its not this meta.
C1 Tier:
- Reserved for pokemon that generally have offensive menace but have crippling matchup depression.
- Fearow I think is low key actually a big pain to deal with when you dont have Kabutops or Golem. When Golem/Kabutops exist, Id rather even have Wigglytuff despite thinking that pokemon is overall a bigger waste of space. If you are a doubling god you can make Fearow work vs. Rocks, when you are vs. Nidoking Fearow will be likely KOing at least 1 pokemon. Surprisingly ok antilead that can just click buttons vs. anything too.
- Sandslash is just so slow and hates blizzard and surf which are everywhere. If I wanted a Golem Switchin, I'd just add a Water. May swears by it so I give it the respect of this placing over Rapidash.
- Rapidash is a lot better in theorymon than in practice. It is however better than some people give it credit for, being able to Fire Spin other Fire Spinners that are toxiced guaranteed providing you are hitting, however low of a niche, is a niche.
- Electrode really isn't as good as some people think, if you are a doubling god you can say this is as good as Raticate or Porygon. It does have good matchup vs waterspam, eggy isn't a great check since you can just bait chip on egg easy by going mime. Vs Nidoking/Golem you have to outplay in order to win.
- Dragonair I've put here as I think its somewhat underexplored and every time I've used it it has done decent when it hasn't gotten haxed. Of course trying to wrap to win in NU, which is all Dragonair can do is pretty bad since you have to hard commit to it and one wrap miss = dead and with Golem/Kabutops you can never do enough damage. Surf/Tbolt/Agility/Wrap probably the best set.
C2 Tier:
- Pokemon with the odd niche, memes kinda here too.
- Abra is a crappy mime with no coverage and no bulk. The fact that this mon gets 2hko by blastoise body slam says it all.
- Slowpoke is potentially interesting but slower than everything and can't rest stall pokemon like its bigger badder cousin since SD anything destroys it so it won't ever get setup. Twave keeps it here on its own.
- Gastly is another theorymon, it can switch into normal type attacks, I could see it even being in C1 but I find the most common mons have some sorta coverage that would smack it anyways and its weak to mime.
- Drowzee is the very marginally bulkier and far slower mime with hypnosis and still no coverage. Doesn't really do anything and too slow to revenge anything.
- Scyther cries whenever there is a fire type or a rock type or the similarly rare gastly.
- Muk kinda just exists, I've tried to make this pokemon work but here we are.
- Seaking is just a worse Seadra that doesn't outspeed anything other than clef before setting up and you want special rather than attack.
- Magneton theoretically would do ok vs. waterspam, problem is most those waters can trade cause they faster, you'd rather have trode.
- Weepinbell can theoretically come in and sleep pokemon and then be similarly useless to egg, but it cant switch into psychic or blizzard so ye.
D Tier
- Wont be talking about these, kinda ordered other pokemon I've tried.
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