Sun / Moon In-Game Tier List

To be honest, I did notice that a lot of the stuff in the game is weak to rock. Or at least, it seemed that there was an abundance of flying pokemon. I think that one of the things that works against Nosepass is that you get rock tomb very early on, followed by rock slide a bit later, then stone edge late game. There's a wide range of pokemon that can learn these moves as coverage that don't have the abundant weaknesses that rock pokemon do (like A-Muk). Though I don't think C tier is the right place for it, I think D tier might fit it better than E.
I'd say D is just fine. Even with many mons being weak to rock, you're still working with absolutely horrid 45/45 offensive stats. All 3 of the starters hit harder than that - in their base forms.

Added to that, it... really isn't that beefy. Like, at all. 135/90 is great, but it's got only 30 HP. Coupled with the "my moves might as well have -1 priority" speed tier, this means it will be worn down rather quickly.

Yeah, you can also catch Rockruff, who is probably a better option too, especially if you're using sun and not moon.
I agree that Rockruff is the better choice between the two, but dang, that attack stat on Gigalith demands some respect. It's also overall more bulky than Nosepass while still allowing you access to the rock Z move
 

Darkmalice

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Crabrawler in C... I am sorry, but I have to disagree. Crabrawler isn't E material, but I do feel it works best in D. This thing... my god, this thing...



Crabrawler for D rank

Availability:
On paper, you can find Crabrawler in the first berry tree you come across, and any others on all four islands... In practice, it's even more tedious to find than many rare fishing mons, because there's only a low chance of a berry tree having one there, and you gotta wait a day or so before it respawns. This means you have to be pretty lucky to find one on the first island, and camping for it is highly inefficient.

Stats: For a (potentially) early game mon, Crabrawler has pretty good stats. 82 attack and 63 speed are more than solid for the first island, but begin to falter by the third island. It's bulk is also sub-par, and while an Eviolite helps, you're going to be stuck with it for a LOOOONG time. As Crabominable, it gets even slower, but hits like a dump truck. Alas, this is horribly offset by...

Typing: Pure fighting is alright. Crabrawler packs a few decent resistances and a few annoying weaknesses, but it works... until Crabominable ruins everything by becoming Ice/Fighting, making it weak to a lot more stuff, and thanks to that slow speed and frailty, it WILL be hurting before it can fire off a hit.

Movepool: Crabrawler comes packing with Rock Smash, which if you got Iron Fist, is quite nice. Brick Break out the gate in the first trial makes Crabrawler pretty good... for the first trial, then things just start hating it. Lack of priority hurts, though it gets nice coverage in Crabhammer and Stone Edge and a few somewhat decent dark moves. As Crabominable, Ice Punch is solid, as is Ice Hammer from move tutor... too bad both of those are at the end of the game.
Major Battles:
Totem Normal: Raticate gets one-shot. Gumshoos MIGHT live a hit and call for help before dying.
Hau: Pikachu is going to be hitting you hard with Electroball, and as a Raichu, don't even bother. Eeveelutions are also trouble due to their bulk, and until you get Crabhammer, even the fire starter is going to give you trouble
Hala: Crabrawler is going down before it can get through all three mons, especially Hala's own Crabrawler.
Gladion: Zubat is NO, Type Null is doable, but Crabrawler is going to be hurting, Sneasel is doable, and Lucario... be careful. Silvally's type change hurts Crabrawler more than helps it out, and it won't be enjoying the pain.
Totem Wishiwashi: NO
Totem Salazzle: NO
Totem Lurantis: NO
Plumeria: NO
Olivia: Okay, this is doable, but if Nosepass paralyzes you, you're going to have a bad time. Also, Boldore lowering your accuracy sucks.
Molayne: Only Dugtrio is doable. The others are NO.
Totem Vikavolt: Crabrawler is not breaking through this by himself, and Spark hurts too much.
Guzma: Golisopod's gonna make the initial cut, which kills the crab instantly. Later on, Masquerain singly handedly ruins any attempt to solo Guzma.
Totem Mimikyu: NO
Team Skull: Crabrawler does... okay here, but any Golbats and Haunters are dangerous to deal with.
Nanu: On paper, this is Crabrawler's fight. In practice, you do squat to Sableye, Krokorok cripples your attack and nukes you hard with EQ, and Persian... You CAN beat it with Crabrawler, but only if Crabrawler's healthy.
Team Aether: Psychic types galore= dead crab. Most everything else tends to be too bulky for Crabrawler to reliably handle.
Lusamine: Not a single good matchup here. All her mons rip the crab apart.
Hapu: If the previous fights didn't cement how bad Crabrawler's bulk and offenses had become, this fight will. Crabrawler can only break through Dugtrio, and that's after taking heavy damage. Everything else is NO.
Totem Kommo-o: RIP crab, outbulked and outmuscled again.
Elite 4: Finally, Crabominable gets to take center stage... and proceed to suck horribly. Hala obliterates you, Kahili obliterates you, and you are not soloing either Olivia or Acerola (Though Crabominable does get to wreck Passoland and a few of Olivia's mons one on one.)
Kukui: Crabominable's only good matchups arguably are Snorlax, Decidueye, and Lycanroc, All of which hit you hard anyways. Otherwise, Braviary nukes you, Magnezone nukes you, Ninetails nukes you, and two of the three starters nuke you.

Additional comments: Crabrawler's biggest crippling weakness is the fact its evolution is locked right at the gates of the Elite 4. If you could access it before that point, arguably around the middle of the third island when you do pass by there, I could see it rising up to C or even B rank with the sheer firepower it gets, but because of the Mount Lanikaka evolution requirements, it's only really good at the start of the game... and then just keeps faltering and stumbling into limbo, and by the time it finally evolves, it's too late to salvage.
I agree with D rank having used it in-game. I feel D as opposed to E-rank (where it's currently ranked) because
- It's very good for the first island and still good for the second island
- I didn't find it's availability that hard to get. It probably depends whether you want to play 12 hours a day and finish the game asap, or take your time and say play 1-2 hours a day. If you're the latter, it shouldn't be a problem to get before the first trial. If you want to stall time, do stuff on Festival Plaza.

One thing to consider is that it's great against most things in the first two islands. It beats most stuff a neutral type match-up against it due to the raw power of Brick Break. Fightinum Z being one of the earliest Z Crystals you get, along with Crabrawler's high Attack power relative to second island, and Brick Break's good base power for the Z boost, make it a strong Z Crystal user for this island - you'll be one-shotting most things. It also gets TMs Thief and Rock Tomb early on which is awesome as coverage for Fighting STAB and has enough power for the first two islands against most trainers (the 2nd island Totems are notable exceptions). The Speed lowering effect of Rock Tomb is also helpful in game, especially considering it's relatively fast for the first island and is speed is still ok for the second island.

It's main weakness isn't its availability; it's the fact that it's viability plummets once you hit the third island. It'll reach the babying stage by Aether Foundation since it no longer has the strength to go head-to-toe with pretty much anything with a neutral match-up and will even lose to some stuff with a type advantage because its stats are subpar by now. This is even with Eviolite which doesn't do enough for its bulk. Even as Crabominable it still sucks because slow + many weaknesses.

Major Battle (my thoughts)
Totem Normal: Win
Hau: Brick Break's raw power makes Crabrawler quite effective against Hau initially against Pikachu and the starters (first and second stage). It falls short once Pikachu evolves, and it becomes deadweight when the starters reach their final evolution.
Hala: Crabrawler should beat any of his Pokemon 1v1 unless his own Crabrawler outspeeds yours.
Gladion: If you have Rock Tomb, Zubat loses. Type Null depsite being Normal-type is tricky due to its high base stats, but it's always tricky the first time as nothing compares to its stats. Type Null will always 2HKO Crabrawler so you absolutely need to get the OHKO with Pulverising Pummel if Crabrawler wants to solo it (Brick Break will not OHKO). Crabrawler is relatively good against it since it can actually deal decent damage. It'll never beat Silvally though thanks to the type change. Once he gets Sneasel, you'll only be able to take out one Pokemon on the team with Crabrawler, but fortunately Sneasel/Weavile are good candidates (you'll need Eviolite to survive Weavile though). Lucario will OHKO with Corkscrew Clash; don't try it.
Totem Wishiwashi: You can deal major damage with Pulverising Pummel but it isn't winning 1v1. Can be helpful for wearing it down though.
Totem Salazzle: NO
Totem Lurantis: NO
Plumeria: Can beat Salandit the first time thanks to Rock Tomb but that's about it.
Olivia: Fairs well. Beats all her Pokemon 1v1. Lycanroc's Z move will deal major damage but not quite OHKO Crabrawler whilst you'll OHKO with Pulversing Pummel. Any prior damage means you risk being KOed though. And you can only OHKO the other Pokemon with a Z-move; else you 2HKO with Brick Break. So you have to choose between either both Nosepass and Boldore, or just Lycanroc.

By this point it's weaknesses really show.

Molayne: Dugtrio is doable. The others are NO.
Totem Vikavolt: NO.
Guzma: You could potentially try it against Ariados with Rock Tomb but be careful; you do not want to feed it to Fell Stinger. Fails terribly against everything else on this team.
Totem Mimikyu: You can Thief the Lum Berry on turn 1 but that's about it.
Team Skull: Okish against the Normal-types but its Speed will mean it'll require constant healing. By this point your fully evolved Pokemon would be putting in better work against said Normal-types
Nanu: Sadly depressing despite against dark-types. Sableye walls you, Krokorok cripples your attack; Persian win thanks to Fur Coat.
Team Aether: This is when Crabrawler trully reaches the babying stage. It sucks here.
Lusamine: Not a single good matchup here. All her mons rip the crab apart.
Hapu: If the previous fights didn't cement how bad Crabrawler's bulk and offenses had become, this fight will. Crabrawler can only break through Dugtrio, and that's after taking heavy damage. Everything else is NO.
Totem Kommo-o: RIP crab, outbulked and outmuscled again.
Elite 4: Finally, Crabominable gets to take center stage... and proceed to suck horribly. Hala obliterates you, Kahili obliterates you, and you are not soloing either Olivia or Acerola (Though Crabominable does get to wreck Passoland and a few of Olivia's mons one on one.)
Kukui: Crabominable's only useful against Snorlax since it outspeeds and you should OHKO it on its weaker side with Hammer Arm. Everything else it loses against - it can't take a Z-power starter move.


My suggestion with Crabrawler is that if you get it, use it for the first island, consider keeping it for the second island, and deposit it no later after beating Olivia. Still, the stuff in E-rank is bad for the entire game, and Crabrawler isn't bad for the entire game - it's great early game.
 
Tagging for Mudbray.

Mudbray
Availability:
Routes 4, 6, 12, Blush Mountain and Paniola Ranch. 20% chance for Routes 4, 6, and Blush Mountain, 30% for Route 12, and 50% for Paniola Ranch.
Stats: Mudbray has excellent 100 base Attack even before evolving, and 75 Defense paired with Stamina boosts gives it very strong physical bulk. As a Mudsdale, it becomes almost indestructible on the physical side thanks to 100 base Defence and Stamina, and can hit incredibly hard with 125 base Attack. Unfortunately, Mudbray's Special bulk isn't that great and it has very low Speed.
Typing: A pure Ground-typing is very useful, particularly with the Electric trial. Unfortunately, its three main weaknesses in Ice, Grass and Water are all mostly special-focused and target its lower, unboostable 85 Special Defense.
Movepool: Mudbray gets High Horsepower, a slightly worse clone of Earthquake that only targets one opponent, at a very early Level 24. It also gets Heavy Slam at Level 34, just a few levels after evolving, which hits very hard thanks to Mudsdale's 920-kilogram weight. Other level-up moves like Stomp and TMs like Rock Tomb or Low Sweep are useful for coverage.
Major Battles: Mudbray can usually one-shot Totem Salazzle with Bulldoze - the main hazard with it is coming in safely with Flame Burst. Rock Tomb allows it to function well against Totem Vikavolt, and Heavy Slam will completely eliminate Totem Mimikyu, but keep Mudsdale away from Mallow's trial. Mudsdale will take out Olivia easily, and is very useful against Kukui.
Additional Comments: Stamina is always preferable. Take the extra time to look around to find a Mudbray with Stamina, as it is always better than Own Tempo. Since Stamina almost completely eliminates confusion damage, there is no need to prevent confusion.
 
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I'd like to advertise one of my personal favorites that I'm using in a Nuzlocke right now. Even if I have beasts like Primarina and Magneton, this guy puts in just as much work.

Lillipup for at least B-tier

Availability: Right at the start of Akala Island. Wonderful place for it since Hala's first match is behind you. It evolves a few levels later and becomes the big boy a short time into the 3rd island.

Stats: Very balanced, which I like. It has particularly high Attack and, while its speed lacks a tad as Herdier, it's more than passable by Alola standards. Surprisingly bulky as well!

Typing: Mono-Normal isn't the greatest; it has no resistances and it has no supereffective STAB coverage. However, it only has 1 weakness to deal with in Fighting.

Movepool: This thing gets Take Down at level 15. A 95 bp STAB coming from a comparatively high Attack stat is deadly early-game and, when powered up with Normalium-Z, your Scottie dog hits with the force of a hydrogen bomb. It also gets Crunch early on, which I find to be vital to its viability. Admittedly, it doesn't have too much past that in offensive options (Wild Charge, I think, and Play Rough much later game), but normal/dark isn't bad coverage. It also gets really weird and really cool support options like Baby-Doll Eyes and Thunder Wave.

Before the important battles section, I really need to give special attention to Intimidate. Intimidate is such a good ability to have in this game because the amount of physical attackers present is insane. Every Totem from Lurantis onward is a physical attacker (yes, even Vikavolt) and they get crippled by a devastating Intimidate + Baby-Doll Eyes combo. This will be taken into account when determining its viability against certain battles.

Important Battles:
Hau 1: Meh.
Gladion: Intimidate crippled Zubat, but you may need a few Baby-Doll Eyes to make Null weak enough to deal with.
Wishiwashi: Not a good idea, Wishiwashi does too much damage for Herdier to handle.
Salazzle: Not too great either, but if you're feeling brave you might be able to nuke it with a Z-Take Down and maybe score an OHKO because of how frail Salazzle is.
Lurantis: Now we get into the good stuff! Intimidate+Baby-Doll Eyes cripples it utterly. Just watch out for Castform.
Plumiera: Damage output is high enough to deal with both of her 'Mons on both fights.
Olivia: Dog cannot eat rocks.
Hau 2: Raichu is still an issue, but now you can Crunch it! The other two are subjective.
Vikavolt: Poor thing only gets physical attacks, so Intimidate hurts it bad. With the right plays you can solo this with Stoutland.
Guzma: In the first two fights, both of his Pokémon are physical attackers. Laugh at them. In the third fight Masquerain can cause issues, but Stoutland should have enough bulk to take it on.
Mimikyu: Stoutland is really good at playing team support here. Intimidate and Baby-Doll Eyes immediately water down Mimikyu's crazy damage output and it can crunch Haunter and Gengar (it's very possible for it to be fast enough to do so before a Hypnosis). Slap a Chesto Berry on it before the fight, as Normalium-Z is useless.
Team Skull in general: They're all either physical attackers or Drowzees, pretty much. Or Salandit, which is frail.
Nanu: Don't remember this fight too well, but I know that Stoutland can't do all too much.
Lusamine: Stoutland can't do much, but an Intimidate on Bewear is welcome.
Hapu: Stoutland might enter a stalemate with her Mudsdale, but it as well as her other 'mons can be cripped by Intimidate for your other 'mons to not be threatened by.
Kommo-o: I don't know if Stoutland can get Play Rough by this point. If it can't, bad news for Stoutland. If it can, dogs beat dragons.
Hala: N O .
Olivia: N O .
Acerola: Immune to Ghost and can fire back with Crunches. Surprisingly useful!
Kahili: Wild Charge does serious damage to everything on her team except maybe Skarm. She also has a lot of vulnerable physical attackers.
Kukui: Not recommended; too many Pokémon resist him.

Overall, Stoutland has very balanced stats and a fantastic ability, coupled with a solid movepool and a nuke button that can last the entire game. However, there are a lot of matchups that Stoutland struggles with, especially against Special attackers he can't cripple. Despite this, Stoutland can handle some of the game's most notorious threats by dropping them to -1 or -2 attack before they can move, making Stoutland very much a team player. It's meant to be used in conjunction with other Pokémon that would normally struggle, and Stoutland can allow them to flourish. I love this dog and so should you. Best pure Normal type in the game in my opinion.
 
Thoughts on my team after playing through with set battle style, no exp share and no grinding (though catching everything new, which I did, somewhat amounts to grinding now that it gives exp):

Rowlet: Overall it feels mid to upper-mid, similar to Treecko in terms of how much it carries it's weight through the game. As soon as it evolves into Dartrix it becomes extremely tanky and single-handedly took down totem Wishiwashi despite the constant Alomomola healing. After that it doesn't fare too well in major battles until Guzma, taking down Golisopod every time after swords dancing with pluck / acrobatics (as Decidueye). Swapping Flying for Ghost as Decidueye was definitely a net loss though and forced me to rearrange my team composition as I went in unspoiled. Dark and Ghost attacks are everywhere and Decidueye usually just failed to one-shot bulky ghost-weak mons with Spirit Shackle while being outsped by frailer ones it would have. It was invaluable against Lusamine's Milotic however, and Swords Dance and Grass Knot give it utility late-game. Mine was Timid, so Grass Knot ended up being my main late-game damage move, killing several things in the E4 like Bewear and Palossand along with Hapu's Mudsdale.

Grubbin: Advocating a rise from D-tier to C-tier / Mid. Yes, it spends 90% of the game as Charjabug, but it puts in work all the way until the end of Ula'ula essentially. After soloing the Moon normal totem trial with Grubbin's Bug Bite, Charjabug soon learns Bite, Spark, then Crunch by level-up, along with getting access to the Thunder Wave TM all around the same time. This amount of coverage with a solid attack stat and bulk for most of the game make it an outstanding route-cleaner and catch-all answer (I will note that mine was Hasty). It also makes for the perfect eviolite user, as it doesn't have much competition for it mid to late game as it waits to evolve deep in Poni, and with this my Charjabug essentially soloed Lurantis and took down Hau's Raichu every encounter with little trouble. For a good chunk of the mid-game (essentially the entirety of Akala) Charjabug was my MVP. Once you get to Ula'ula it starts dropping off in performance, and never really picks up again even after evolution. Against the E4 if it didn't get one-shotted it normally would survive with just enough HP to take a chunk off with T-bolt or flee with Volt Switch. T-wave gives a bit of utility, and teaching Bug Buzz through the move-relearner is worthwile, but at this stage it largely becomes a glory (glass) cannon.

Mudbray: Definitely no lower than high, Mudbray was the most consistent member of my team. As has been mentioned, catching one with Stamina is absolutely worthwhile, as it allows it to solo fights it otherwise has no business winning. It soloed the Electric Trial as a Mudbray despite levitate, for instance, and essentially soloed Mimikyu as well, both thanks to Stamina. Learning Double-Kick naturally and eventually Superpower by move-relearner essentially allow it to become an answer to Normal types thanks to Stamina, such as against Gladion, and it can fulfill a similar role against physical Flyers with Rock Tomb > Rock Slide through TM. Having Bulldoze immediately is excellent, but getting High Horsepower as early as it does is just insane considering it's attack. Very often, especially against strong special attackers, it would just survive an attack thanks to good HP and Special Defense, especially compared to past common Rock and Ground types, and KO in return (against the Champion's Incineroar Flare Blitz, for instance). I should note that mine was Adamant, however.

Salandit: I went in unspoiled and trained a male to level 40 before finally giving in to see what was going on, but it surprisingly did pretty well even up to that point (the male was Mild). Dragon Rage takes everything down in two hits until Ula'ula essentially, and since Salandit outspeeds almost everything and will normally just survive neutral STAB attacks, it makes it relevant in almost every battle for a good while. It can't take down Lurantis on its own due to Trumbeak, but it can sweep through everything Guzma has other than Golisopod and several of Lusamine's team. It gets Flame Burst fairly quickly though at which point it can start OHKOing things weak to it, and sludge bomb comes mid Ula'ula iirc. After going back and training a Timid female it went on to rival Mudsdale as the team MVP, ending up sweeping half of Kahili's team after a couple Nasty Plots as Skarmory spikes and almost always providing a clutch revenge killer with Fire Blast. Surrounded by such slow Pokemon, Salazzle's speed really gives it a sense of reliability. The quad bug, grass and fairy resists are very useful as well. I would say a solid high, no lower, and this is with my experience of not getting Salazzle until Aether Paradise infiltration.

Bruxish: Definitely deserves to be ranked higher, lower-mid at the very least, but I would argue for mid. You do get it somewhat late when fishing in Ula'ula, and it is somewhat rare (20% encounter on bubbling fishing spots, 1% otherwise), but I caught mine just before the Ghost Trial and it quickly caught up to become at least as useful as Decidueye. It can't really contribute to the Ghost Trial unfortunately due to the weakness and not being fast enough to outspeed, but mine essentially soloed Po Town - the constant rain gives it psuedo adaptability, it comes with Aqua Jet and a (potentially, mine did) Strong Jaw boosted Bite, and learns Aqua Tail just in time in order to take advantage of its high attack, with Crunch coming soon after. The Psychic TM provides a strong STAB until it learns Psychic Fangs, at which point it can OHKO things that it hits neutrally thanks to STAB+Strong Jaw+85 BP off 105 attack (as well as Hala's Hariyama and Crabominable). Bruxish's endgame moveset of P-fangs / Crunch / Aqua Tail / Aqua Jet is entirely self-sufficient by lvl up, which is less important now that TMs are infinite use, but still nice for those just running through quickly that miss TMs. It's coverage makes it an ideal route cleaner combined with it's good attack and speed, and it retains utility even when outsped thanks to Aqua Jet. Admittedly, it shines more in being an efficient route cleaner than in major fights (against most of the E4 it will get one strong hit off before dying), and particularly became a disappointment in the postgame, but it does not belong alongside Finneon, Spinarak and Yungoos.

Alolan Sandshrew: I didn't catch it as soon as it was available and held off on evolution until the E4 so I probably have a skewed perspective, but it seems somewhat high honestly considering it joins fairly late, is still quite slow and has two (admittedly predictable) 4x weaknesses. The Steel typing + Ice STAB is amazing of course, and it shines against the Dragon Trial, Lusamine's Clefable, the Fairy Captain, and Kahili. Mid is reasonable, but the alphabetical formatting for the tiers as they currently exist puts it somewhat higher than the average, so maybe C tier?

I also used a Carbink until mid-game and despite only bringing it in when necessary (and thus it being consistently underleveled) it served me extremely well, needing no babying whatsoever, with Rock Tomb lowering speed and both Reflect and Light Screen (the latter being a purchased TM) making it ideal for major battles. Considering how early it comes (At the end of Melemele, fairly common encounter in Ten-Carat Hill) and how insanely bulky it is for that stage of the game, I definitely recommend moving it up a tier or two along with Bruxish. Lower-mid sounds reasonable considering I assume it loses much of it's usefulness in the late-game.
 
I just finished my second run, with a team of: Primarina, Misdreavus, Typhlosion, Leafeon, Bewear and Togedemaru.

Typhlosion isn't currently ranked at the moment, but I would put him in B. You can get it on route 3 via the island scan, which at most takes 5 minutes to do. It gets the special egg-move double kick, which becomes obsolete after two levels of catching Cyndaquil (quilava learns brick break).

It's movepool throughout the whole game is absolute shit. It has to rely on flame wheel until the mid level 40s. I kinda lucked out and got HP grass for it, so that was nice, but other than that it's only somewhat good moves until level 50 are brick break and wild charge. After it gets lava plume, and even later on burn up, though, Typhlosion gains a massive power boost, OHKO'ing many elite four pokemon.

Overall, I would say that the Cyndaquil line can be described as: 'a slightly worse grow lithe'. Everything (except for availability) about cyndaquil is worse than Growlithe, but he still functions well enough to earn a spot in B.


I think it's absurd how Leafeon started out in D, lower than umbreon. Yeah it's movepool is bad, but Leafeon hits everything it's supposed to hit really hard. You can get it as early as lush jungle, which is right before Olivia. My leafeon swept Olivia's entire team twice, tanking a Z-stone edge from Lycanrock along the way.

It's stats are amazing, while it's typing and movepool are lackluster but not entirely unusable. Sure, Leafeon isn't perfect, but he deserves to B in the B tier.


I would also like to suggest that Togedemaru goes up from C to B. If he wasn't available so late, I would even put him in A, he really was that useful. He really surprised me with how strong he was.

It's typing is obviously god-tier. It resists a lot while only having three weaknesses. It's stats are juuust good enough to be a serious threat. Very fast pokemon with a strong, reliable physical electric moves are basically none-existent outside of Togedemaru, giving him a nice niche.

It's movepool is shallow, but Togedemaru gets everything he needs at just the right time. Zing Zap is an amazing move, and it can paraflinch when combined with Nuzzle. Nuzzle is great for catching pokemon, obviously. It also gets fell stinger for some epic unexpected sweeps, spiky shield to scout for coverage moves and for double battles, poison jab to deal with fairies, and u-turn to pivot out to say misdreavus, which does great damage to a nuzzled pokemon whit hex.
 
Not to ding Typhlosion specifically, but now that I think of it, all the Island Scan mons, when they do get tiered, should be bumped down a tier or two from where they would be because each one is only available on a specific day. Want a Marill, but it's the day after it would be available? Either you're going to have to wait an entire week, or go tinker with your 3DS's time settings and possibly screw up any other time based events you got going on in the game, both which are not very viable. Sure, you can get A Island Scan mon if you just don't care... but there's always the chance that not only will it be weaker than the rest of your team depending on the day, but it might even be in an area you can't get to in an hour, thus wasting time and forcing you to do it once you've cleared said island, which again gives you an underleveled mon to work with, sometimes hideously underleveled.
 

DHR-107

Robot from the Future
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Orange Islands
Just curious, why is Froslass "unavailable"? You can get a Dusk Stone off a Level 2 Isle Aphun if you're patient.
Considering it needs a Dawn stone that might be a little bit difficult... But same thing applies. Basically its not available until post game without abusing Pelago a lot.
 
Typhlosion isn't currently ranked at the moment, but I would put him in B. You can get it on route 3 via the island scan, which at most takes 5 minutes to do. It gets the special egg-move double kick, which becomes obsolete after two levels of catching Cyndaquil (quilava learns brick break).

It's movepool throughout the whole game is absolute shit. It has to rely on flame wheel until the mid level 40s. I kinda lucked out and got HP grass for it, so that was nice, but other than that it's only somewhat good moves until level 50 are brick break and wild charge. After it gets lava plume, and even later on burn up, though, Typhlosion gains a massive power boost, OHKO'ing many elite four pokemon.

Overall, I would say that the Cyndaquil line can be described as: 'a slightly worse grow lithe'. Everything (except for availability) about cyndaquil is worse than Growlithe, but he still functions well enough to earn a spot in B.
Typhlosion/Quilava isn't actually stuck with Flame Wheel for that long. Assuming you get it early and build friendship, which happens naturally, it learns Flame Pledge (80 BP) from the tutor for free. You can get it as soon as you unlock Charizard to fly back to the starting island.
 
I lucked out personally; when I got to Ula'ula and caught my first Snorunt I immediately evolved it into Froslass. I'd been doing a lot of Pelago trying to evolve my Misdreavus and got a Dawn Stone out of the deal instead.

Still, Froslass is pretty bad, even if you get it early. It's fast but doesn't hit nearly hard enough, and will go down in a single super-effective hit. Better than Glalie as an in-game Ice-Type, but still terrible.
 
Typhlosion/Quilava isn't actually stuck with Flame Wheel for that long. Assuming you get it early and build friendship, which happens naturally, it learns Flame Pledge (80 BP) from the tutor for free. You can get it as soon as you unlock Charizard to fly back to the starting island.
I didn't know that, so my bad.

Even still, growlithe is still better overall so I don't think that Typhlosion deserves to be in A.
 
Froslass has 80/80 offenses, which really isn't impressive. That said, this reminds me of another mon we have in A tier with 1 whole point more in its ATK stat - Talonflame.
I still don't understand this, for the record. With such middling stats, why is this thing so high on the list?
 
Acrobatics and high speed, mostly. I think it's a bit overtiered but I haven't used it enough to really comment.
Acrobatics spam is extremely good and on its own probably would be enough to take Fletchling into A tier, but the bigger problem is that it's outclassed. Zubat is available an island earlier, will be fully-evolved before you even have a chance to catch a Fletchling, has higher stats across the board, has better defensive typing, and Talonflame can't put its better offensive typing to use since it doesn't get any notable Fire moves until you reach the move tutor. I haven't used Talonflame either, but on paper the only thing it appears to get over Crobat is Swords Dance, and with X Attack being +2 now and the viability rankings presuming full item usage that's a minor niche at best.

So yeah, Fletchling should probably go to B rank. Acrobatics spam is great, but Zubat does it better.
 

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So yeah, Fletchling should probably go to B rank. Acrobatics spam is great, but Zubat does it better.
This is a point that has been discussed in several in-game tier lists (if not all?) in the past. Our policy is that outclassing or being outclassed should not affect tier placement in itself. The fact that Zubat is better should not affect Fletchling's rating; for all intents and purposes Fletchling is rated as if Zubat does not exist. And vice versa, of course.
 
Typhlosion/Quilava isn't actually stuck with Flame Wheel for that long. Assuming you get it early and build friendship, which happens naturally, it learns Flame Pledge (80 BP) from the tutor for free. You can get it as soon as you unlock Charizard to fly back to the starting island.
For the record, you don't even need Charizard to go back, you can take the ferry back to the first island whenever you want.
 
Isn't Fletchling literally the worst abuser of STAB Acrobatics in the game? Since it's a fire type, you're not likely to have another fire type on your team, meaning by relying on Acrobatics, you are giving up on both the flying and the fire type Z move.
Not to mention that it still only has 81 attack, so I'm willing to bet that something like Toucannon hits significantly harder even without Acro.
If outclassing isn't an argument, then IMO Toucannon should at least be raised to the same tier.
 
Well, Toucannon will hit harder with Beak Blast once it evolves, but that means going last and tanking hits, so there are reasons to use Talonflame over Toucannon. And Fletchinder's Acrobatics hits way harder than Trumbeak's Pluck in the mid-game. Talonflame is still way outclassed as an Acrobatics user by Archen and Zubat though - and arguably even by Primeape.
 
Primeape lacks the STAB to hit harder with it. He's still a lot better because of earlier availability and things like early Cross Chop though - how long does it take Fletchling to get a good fire STAB? Not until the end of the game.

Anyway, for somebody who joins in the middle of the second island, access to Acrobatics is no longer anything special considering that Fly + Sharp Beak has about the same power as Acrobatics without an item. Fly + Expert Belt allows you to hit things' flying-type weakness effectively while also powering up other SE moves. It makes Archen a beast tbh.
 
Alolan Raichu to A.

Pichu is a complete asshole when it comes to evolving, but do it as fast as possible. Pikachu gets Electro Ball at Lv 13, which sweeps A LOT in Alola. Everyting is slow. Psychic is a great STAB move that can come in handy against Hala in the E4. Thunderbolt is hard to get. You need a Lv 43 Pikachu, OR you relearn it, OR you get the TM... which is post-game. Relearning is the best option. In Seafolk Village, you can show someone your Raichu and you get the Aloraichium Z. This move... whoops ass. 180 BP. If they tank it, they'll get paralyzed. ALL. THE. TIME. Great Z-move if you don't wanna use Specs. The last move is personal preference. Nuzzle if you don't have the Z-crystal, Fake Out for support, Volt Switch for momentum, or Grass Knot (or wait for a Surf event or something) for coverage against Ground. Raichu is great, Pikachu is as strong as your starter, but the HUGE drawback... you gotta evolve the Pichu. Well, there's Refresh and a Soothe Bell on Route 3...
 
http://www.serebii.net/index2.shtml

A brand new patch has been released for the Generation VII Pokémon games. This patch brings the game up to Version 1.1 and provides a few updates. The patch is 296 blocks to download. These patches are required to go online on your games and required to participate at official events. This patch fixes the previously announced glitch with the moves Z-Parting Shot and Z-Memento on Battle Spot and a glitch in regards to the winner of a game if Rocky Helmet knocks the opponent out when you're knocked out. It also fixes the glitch where a Pokémon wouldn't learn a move when it evolved such as with Kadabra and Confusion

Time to dust off the viability rankings, seems we might see some major shifts, especially if Marowak actually gets Shadow Bone now.
 

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