Most of the oricorio hype is for similar purposes of Hawlucka ones: it's available early, gets roost + Zmove also very early, and differently from like, large majority of alolan dex, it actually has a solid speed tier rather than being outsped and taking constant damage.
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Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon In-Game Tier List
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I have a question: I used some Bank mons for myself(<- not aviable for ranking obviously!!) but I noticed something: There is a Trade Pokemon aviable exactly where I switched some Bank Mons:
Trevenant.
If someone used it: Does it has its hidden ability? I beat Ultra Necrozma with Will-O-Wisp + Leech Seed + 50% Berry healing. It was great.
Edit:
JYNX SUCKS with no EXPShare and Set Options. Mine had crazy coverage but random Sucker Punches, Pursuits etc. WRECK it (Mine had Aqua Pulse, Grass Knot Psychic and Frost Breath)
Also I have an idea: if a Pokemon is completly reliant on using nearly each match a Z-Move(in the sense of even against random trainer, think of "Level 1 Explosion" to get the point across) I would immeadiately rank the pokemon one subrank down
E.g. "Normalium Z Regirock with Explosion is B- not B"
I just say this for one simple, but annoying reason: The goddamn animation wastes time.
Now usually we don't watch a lot for efficiency but can I be honest? Imagine if you would have to use for each Battle 1 Z-move. It would add on so much crazy time it is ridiculous.
Trevenant.
If someone used it: Does it has its hidden ability? I beat Ultra Necrozma with Will-O-Wisp + Leech Seed + 50% Berry healing. It was great.
Edit:
JYNX SUCKS with no EXPShare and Set Options. Mine had crazy coverage but random Sucker Punches, Pursuits etc. WRECK it (Mine had Aqua Pulse, Grass Knot Psychic and Frost Breath)
Also I have an idea: if a Pokemon is completly reliant on using nearly each match a Z-Move(in the sense of even against random trainer, think of "Level 1 Explosion" to get the point across) I would immeadiately rank the pokemon one subrank down
E.g. "Normalium Z Regirock with Explosion is B- not B"
I just say this for one simple, but annoying reason: The goddamn animation wastes time.
Now usually we don't watch a lot for efficiency but can I be honest? Imagine if you would have to use for each Battle 1 Z-move. It would add on so much crazy time it is ridiculous.
I believe the in game trade trevenant has natural cure.
If you disable animations the wasted time is very low. And you waste less time than when having to take another turn after that.
Don't forget the early Z-Flyium ! It makes our little bird MUCH stronger ! And the Water totem is Bug/Water, so Flying type is a must ! Our Electric/Flying bird is so strong for Hala, Araquanid, Lurantis !
So does Hawlucha. Does Oricorio win in any kind of relevant matchup Hawlucha does not win in? I can't think of any.
So I know there was arguing over island scans last time (for...no real reason), but I really think we should count them this time. The 5 special QR codes from SM still work here, meaning you can feasibly get 2 a day and even if you just went for one it's now literally twice as fast.
The selection of Pokemon is also overall more solid too, I think, mostly because its like half starters
And excitable_boy reminded me of some other things to keep in mind so
I am going to put forward the argument that Crabominable might be a downgrade. Like, the extra defensive stats are great don't get me wrong, and crabrawler was nevre going to win a race, but the ice type does *literally nothing good* for it and makes it very hard to switch in to anything. Spoiler alert: it will probably not be ranking high.
The selection of Pokemon is also overall more solid too, I think, mostly because its like half starters
And excitable_boy reminded me of some other things to keep in mind so
SO I'm holding off on fully judging most of my pokemon until beating the game, but, uh, man. Crabominable.
I am going to put forward the argument that Crabominable might be a downgrade. Like, the extra defensive stats are great don't get me wrong, and crabrawler was nevre going to win a race, but the ice type does *literally nothing good* for it and makes it very hard to switch in to anything. Spoiler alert: it will probably not be ranking high.
This is going to be a huge post because I am going to reply to a bunch of questions I have seen asked throughout the thread, and give some thoughts on the Pokemon I used during the run of US I did.
XP Share I would agree with YES. Consider this with your tiering. With it on I was barely keeping pace with the levels of opponents, and I only ended up overlevelled right towards the end of the game.
Shift or Set is down to personal preference, but I think we should always lean Shift. In USUM, it doesn't really matter because everything has seemingly insane coverage.
We treat Zoroark the same as any other Pokemon. It does have a fantastic niche in being able to beat on Ultra Necrozma easily which will help out its ranking.
I also used Araquanid/Incineroar/Palossand/Shiinotic and Lycanroc Dusk (Alongside Oricorio Pom Pom). Araquanid was great at nuking things and put in work throughout the game, I'd probably lean B?A for it because its movepool is worse for the loss of Scald early on. Bubblebeam with the Water Bubble ability is still retardedly powerful even off you're rather lacking Special Attack. Infestation is also great with the changes to trapping moves as well.
Incineroar was actually pretty "okay". Tanked hits left and right which he had no right in taking (random Earthquakes and Stone Edges etc) and slapped back with powerful moves of his own. I totally forgot Fire Punch existed from the Tutors (Fire Fang and Flame Charge worked for the most part). Kinda annoying he gets slow when he evolves, but Darkest Lariat ignoring stat changes helped out a bunch.
Shiinotic was hilarious. It was both fantastically good and awfully terrible at the same time. I'm not sure I have ever trained a Pokemon like it. Strength Sap lets you entirely wall Physical attackers while healing off all the damage you've taken, then you can send them to sleep with Spore and then just Giga Drain/Moonblast them to death. However one huge issue is its speed. Even in Alolan terms, Shiinotic is slow as molasses. You WILL be moving second, and it took me off guard many times when it did invariably move first! Lots of weaknesses for Grass which don't help it, and quad poison weakness is not great in a game filled with the Zubat/Ekans lines. Probably lower down on the ranking, but it definitely had niches.
Palossand was just "OK" as well. I traded over an egg so I could use it early, but regretted that decision when all the dark moves appeared. Ranking it from its "true" place at Hano Beach (which is still relatively early) doesn't help all that much. You stone wall Olivia with it, but apart from that it's no overly helpful. Evolves late and doesn't have that good of a moveset. Which sucks because I absolutely love its design. The only noteworthy thing mine really did was tank Photon Geysers after using an X Special Def in the ultra Necrozma fight and eventually land a Toxic.
Whilst Lycanroc D isn't going to be tiered, I feel its almost similar enough to rank it alongside normal "Day" forme. Stats are very similar, the only difference is ability. Which... To be honest doesn't get procced that often as you spam Rock Slide everywhere anyway. I feel it might have been better because I felt like I only used it when I was in trouble and needed something fast to grab a quick KO. Probably didn't give it as much use as it deserved.
It's still likely very solidly A Rank, it just loses the ridiculousness of Scald from Lv 15 onwards. It does however gain Icy Wind which could be a lot of fun and helps out with debuffing. Debuffing is very important I found within USUM and can easily change the tide of matches far more often than I have seen in other games.
Nope. This is a totally new list for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. Different mon availability and a vastly (at leas tin terms of levels) different story are the reasons for this
Tutor moves are entirely fair game. BP is an "Easy" grind with Mantine Surf (even being terrible gets you 4-10 BP per run). I would say they are even easier to get than the "difficult" TMs.
XP Share I would agree with YES. Consider this with your tiering. With it on I was barely keeping pace with the levels of opponents, and I only ended up overlevelled right towards the end of the game.
Shift or Set is down to personal preference, but I think we should always lean Shift. In USUM, it doesn't really matter because everything has seemingly insane coverage.
We treat Zoroark the same as any other Pokemon. It does have a fantastic niche in being able to beat on Ultra Necrozma easily which will help out its ranking.
Oricorio is fast and decently powerful. The lacking of Acrobatics is more than made up for by the early access to Flynium Z. It absolutely stomps 3 totems and does plenty of work vs some of the others too. Feather Dance is a brilliant move for it, often outspeeding and negating the powerful attacks from Totems in particular; but often helping out in other tough spots. Air Slash is more than powerful enough to carry you to Revelation Dance (which I admit really does help) and you do get Hidden Power (mine was Water, so YMMV). From what I have heard from other users, Smoochum isn't that great simply because of its frailty and the sheer number of Pursuit/Bug/Other Dark Move users in the earlier sections of the game. Whilst I can only rank Sandygast from where it is captured, I was ending up in a lot of matches (even with its comparitively good physical bulk) being trapped by Pursuit incredibly often.
Agreed. Oricorio really stood out on my team and keeping it even as its default "Pom Pom" style gives you Electric/Flying typing which is extremely good defensively.
Probably not. Hawlucha is outright one of the best Pokemon in the game. Gets more speed, but its moves are actually slightly weaker than Oricorio's. Bounce at 32 vs Air Slash at 36 seems to be the biggest difference, both give fantastically powerful Super Sonic Sky Strikes early on with 60BP Attacks in Aerial Ace/Wing Attack and Air Cutter. Flying Press seems to be the biggest positive for Hawlucha, having a strong fighting type mixed attack which bonks on a considerable number of foes.
I also used Araquanid/Incineroar/Palossand/Shiinotic and Lycanroc Dusk (Alongside Oricorio Pom Pom). Araquanid was great at nuking things and put in work throughout the game, I'd probably lean B?A for it because its movepool is worse for the loss of Scald early on. Bubblebeam with the Water Bubble ability is still retardedly powerful even off you're rather lacking Special Attack. Infestation is also great with the changes to trapping moves as well.
Incineroar was actually pretty "okay". Tanked hits left and right which he had no right in taking (random Earthquakes and Stone Edges etc) and slapped back with powerful moves of his own. I totally forgot Fire Punch existed from the Tutors (Fire Fang and Flame Charge worked for the most part). Kinda annoying he gets slow when he evolves, but Darkest Lariat ignoring stat changes helped out a bunch.
Shiinotic was hilarious. It was both fantastically good and awfully terrible at the same time. I'm not sure I have ever trained a Pokemon like it. Strength Sap lets you entirely wall Physical attackers while healing off all the damage you've taken, then you can send them to sleep with Spore and then just Giga Drain/Moonblast them to death. However one huge issue is its speed. Even in Alolan terms, Shiinotic is slow as molasses. You WILL be moving second, and it took me off guard many times when it did invariably move first! Lots of weaknesses for Grass which don't help it, and quad poison weakness is not great in a game filled with the Zubat/Ekans lines. Probably lower down on the ranking, but it definitely had niches.
Palossand was just "OK" as well. I traded over an egg so I could use it early, but regretted that decision when all the dark moves appeared. Ranking it from its "true" place at Hano Beach (which is still relatively early) doesn't help all that much. You stone wall Olivia with it, but apart from that it's no overly helpful. Evolves late and doesn't have that good of a moveset. Which sucks because I absolutely love its design. The only noteworthy thing mine really did was tank Photon Geysers after using an X Special Def in the ultra Necrozma fight and eventually land a Toxic.
Whilst Lycanroc D isn't going to be tiered, I feel its almost similar enough to rank it alongside normal "Day" forme. Stats are very similar, the only difference is ability. Which... To be honest doesn't get procced that often as you spam Rock Slide everywhere anyway. I feel it might have been better because I felt like I only used it when I was in trouble and needed something fast to grab a quick KO. Probably didn't give it as much use as it deserved.
I'm unsure why one would rate Zorua hard to catch: it's not a rare spawn, you get even ULTRABALLS thrown at you from one of the storyquests there, you even start with 35k $ so you can just afford 30000 Pokeballs anyway.
The fact that you start with 35k $ is just a insanely big boon since you can easily drown in Pokeballs and slam them at wild pokes.
Spoiler: i ran into a wild abra, wanted it for Pokedex and the quest who wants to see one, just threw it a Ultraball right away.
Best and most effortless Timid Sync i ever got.
Okay, having cleared the game... Let's knock a few things off their perches.
Zorua could probably be in B tier. I had a Modest one, which sounds amazing... except it doesn't get any good special attacks until Grass Knot and then Snarl up by the electric totem. Until then, I hope you enjoy spamming Feint Attack, then Night Slash. Granted, it CHEESES the hell out of Necrozma if you have a poison as well... but with most of its toys being late game oriented, especially special dark stab that's good... I can't see it in A.
Arbok for B or A. If you grab one with Intimidate, you are set for a great debuffer, especially against the physically oriented Totems. Acid Spray and Glare help it lock down and cripple foes, making it easy for others to help as well. Just don't expect it to solo most fights.
Mawile for A as well. See Arbok, only it replaces more lockdown options for better offenses, and a glorious defensive typing. Pair the two up, and aside from EQ spammers, the enemy is going to have a miserable time if they are physical attackers. Also shits on the Kommo-o, Mimikyu, and Ribombee totems, which is always a good thing.
Florges for C tier, maybe lower. Having Shiny Stones be locked until Vast Poni Canyon is dumb, and it really hurts Floette, though its shallow movepool doesn't do it any favors either. It's too weak to handle the totems, the numerous poison and steel types are painful for it to handle, all the totems have ways to mangle it, and it hits like a wet tissue bag until it evolves... I actually dropped this thing, and I rarely drop mons. This was just that bad.
Gyarados for A tier, maybe even S. The loss os Scald really hurts Gyarados, since it can't easily take down Totem Marowak with Waterium Z, but there's still Water Pulse it can get, and more importantly, BOUNCE. Flyinium Z Bounce is hilarious and downright disgusting. It easily blows up so many things, intimidates them further, or if you go Moxie, can snowball out of control (Though that's a rarity given the low number of mons on a team until late game.)This is definitely the lowkey broken button of USUM, and I support it fully.
Ampharos for B. As a Flaffy, it does pretty well against Totem Araquarid, and gets plenty of decent moves such as Power Gem and Signal Beam for coverage. Moderately bulky and helping to bring some lock down, it's just a solid team member that you can rely on for eating hits and dishing them back. Mine was actually surviving blows from Necrozma, and helping to lock it down with Discharge paralysis, so there's that...
Zorua could probably be in B tier. I had a Modest one, which sounds amazing... except it doesn't get any good special attacks until Grass Knot and then Snarl up by the electric totem. Until then, I hope you enjoy spamming Feint Attack, then Night Slash. Granted, it CHEESES the hell out of Necrozma if you have a poison as well... but with most of its toys being late game oriented, especially special dark stab that's good... I can't see it in A.
Arbok for B or A. If you grab one with Intimidate, you are set for a great debuffer, especially against the physically oriented Totems. Acid Spray and Glare help it lock down and cripple foes, making it easy for others to help as well. Just don't expect it to solo most fights.
Mawile for A as well. See Arbok, only it replaces more lockdown options for better offenses, and a glorious defensive typing. Pair the two up, and aside from EQ spammers, the enemy is going to have a miserable time if they are physical attackers. Also shits on the Kommo-o, Mimikyu, and Ribombee totems, which is always a good thing.
Florges for C tier, maybe lower. Having Shiny Stones be locked until Vast Poni Canyon is dumb, and it really hurts Floette, though its shallow movepool doesn't do it any favors either. It's too weak to handle the totems, the numerous poison and steel types are painful for it to handle, all the totems have ways to mangle it, and it hits like a wet tissue bag until it evolves... I actually dropped this thing, and I rarely drop mons. This was just that bad.
Gyarados for A tier, maybe even S. The loss os Scald really hurts Gyarados, since it can't easily take down Totem Marowak with Waterium Z, but there's still Water Pulse it can get, and more importantly, BOUNCE. Flyinium Z Bounce is hilarious and downright disgusting. It easily blows up so many things, intimidates them further, or if you go Moxie, can snowball out of control (Though that's a rarity given the low number of mons on a team until late game.)This is definitely the lowkey broken button of USUM, and I support it fully.
Ampharos for B. As a Flaffy, it does pretty well against Totem Araquarid, and gets plenty of decent moves such as Power Gem and Signal Beam for coverage. Moderately bulky and helping to bring some lock down, it's just a solid team member that you can rely on for eating hits and dishing them back. Mine was actually surviving blows from Necrozma, and helping to lock it down with Discharge paralysis, so there's that...
I've been using Lycanroc Dusk this go around (Fire Fang) and there is one, very critical difference: instead of accelrock, it gets thrash. You don't get accelrock until the move relearner.
Thrash, with Tough Claws especially, is quite good, but the lack of a 100% accurate rock move that always moves first was something I longed for.
Would it be worth the 3-5 minute run back to Melemele to make use of the Shock Wave or Electroweb tutors? Seems like a solid investment to me.
Magmar with the eviolite was pretty decent. Good speed tier and can use both physical and special moves well. It has Flame Burst right out of the box which is nice. Psychic and Brick Break are solid coverage from TMs. You can also move tutor Thunderpunch for pesky waters. I don't know whether you are better off catching a Magby (3 perfect ivs) but I just caught Magmar straight up it was the first SOS. Flame Body is amazing and activated pretty often for me.
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I guess I'll talk about the Pokémon I used in my casual run of Pokémon Ultra Moon. I already discussed them at length here so I'll just summarise and give some ranking.
Popplio: A/S - Lack of early-game Scald hurts but it is incredibly reliable throughout the game and rarely lets you down in battle. Leaning towards A but not ruling out S.
Inkay: B/C - Okay Melemele, awful Akala, okay after evolution. Has some really important traits in the form of Contrary and Topsy Turvy (Totems/UN) as well as early Foul Play, but its typing is awful given the omnipresence of Bug-type coverage and no resistances and its average bulk does not help. Contrary + Superpower is nothing special, especially given Superpower's 5 PP. Leaning towards C, maybe even D.
Noibat: D - Modest 31 SpA variant, Noibat starts out alright but then it becomes bad fast. Flyinium Z and Choice Specs help it occasionally contribute, but the lack of bulk and subpar speed really set it back until it finally evolves during Poni where it can contribute with some Specs Meteor / Air Slash spam which can help it secure KOes you would not expect. Nothing spectacular, D because Noibat phase is bad and lasts a long time, especially without Exp. Share.
Ekans / Traded Arbok: C - Great for debuffing with Intimidate/Glare/Screech/Acid Spray and even Haze. Good team player, not very great as an attacker and is unlikely to beat most things one on one though using Bite as a fourth move all the way did not help. Strong for Totem fights and debuffing random things to aid setups.
Steenee: A/B - Steenee phase is below average, but Tsareena is a really great Pokémon (if only its speed wasnt so middling), especially with Queenly Majesty allowing you to take on enemies other Grass-types would struggle against (Guzma's Golisopod for example). Grass/Fighting/Flying Coverage is all you really need mostly, high Attack stat allows you to plough through most things without much in issues. Leaning towards A, but Steenee phase could drop it to B.
Sandygast: C/D - It was okay, but it was rather underwhelming, mostly due to its typing defensively, lots of Dark-type coverage, low speed, and its special offence not having enough oomph. Its ability isnt too useful either. Either C or D works, I don't mind.
Popplio: A/S - Lack of early-game Scald hurts but it is incredibly reliable throughout the game and rarely lets you down in battle. Leaning towards A but not ruling out S.
Inkay: B/C - Okay Melemele, awful Akala, okay after evolution. Has some really important traits in the form of Contrary and Topsy Turvy (Totems/UN) as well as early Foul Play, but its typing is awful given the omnipresence of Bug-type coverage and no resistances and its average bulk does not help. Contrary + Superpower is nothing special, especially given Superpower's 5 PP. Leaning towards C, maybe even D.
Noibat: D - Modest 31 SpA variant, Noibat starts out alright but then it becomes bad fast. Flyinium Z and Choice Specs help it occasionally contribute, but the lack of bulk and subpar speed really set it back until it finally evolves during Poni where it can contribute with some Specs Meteor / Air Slash spam which can help it secure KOes you would not expect. Nothing spectacular, D because Noibat phase is bad and lasts a long time, especially without Exp. Share.
Ekans / Traded Arbok: C - Great for debuffing with Intimidate/Glare/Screech/Acid Spray and even Haze. Good team player, not very great as an attacker and is unlikely to beat most things one on one though using Bite as a fourth move all the way did not help. Strong for Totem fights and debuffing random things to aid setups.
Steenee: A/B - Steenee phase is below average, but Tsareena is a really great Pokémon (if only its speed wasnt so middling), especially with Queenly Majesty allowing you to take on enemies other Grass-types would struggle against (Guzma's Golisopod for example). Grass/Fighting/Flying Coverage is all you really need mostly, high Attack stat allows you to plough through most things without much in issues. Leaning towards A, but Steenee phase could drop it to B.
Sandygast: C/D - It was okay, but it was rather underwhelming, mostly due to its typing defensively, lots of Dark-type coverage, low speed, and its special offence not having enough oomph. Its ability isnt too useful either. Either C or D works, I don't mind.
I am curious where people are going to tier Larvitar. Relatively early game but much like any other pseudo the thing evolves late and so you are going to be stuck with Pupitar for a while.
Abra is A tier for sure. Available early and Psychic STAB is hardly a bad thing. Only thing that hurts it is lack of coverage moves.
Abra is A tier for sure. Available early and Psychic STAB is hardly a bad thing. Only thing that hurts it is lack of coverage moves.
I completely forgot about that somehow despite how much I used Mantine Surf, my bad. I don't think its enough to shift Jolteon's ranking however. Jolteon is only 5 BP above Charge Beam, 60 BP is still fairly weak to be carrying around for all that time.
Jolteon doesn't learn Electroweb.
I'll post thoughts on what I used on my 1st run soon. I'm doing a 2nd run now so I can hopefully comment on those at some point.
Regarding Larvitar, I'd have to say B tier, maybe C for it. It does great against Nihilego, and with Eviolite arguably against Hau's Raichu and Team Skull stuff, but... otherwise, it struggles until it becomes a Tyranitar in the final moments of the game. The totem it should have an easy time against, Togedemaru, flinch locks and kills it with Iron Head, Mimikyu and its WoW buddies maim it, Guzma's Goliso one shots it, Kommo-o beats it up, etc. It's just a big slow punching bag that can hit sorta hard, and needs a lot of healing.
And I cannot agree with Abra in A tier, even if you trade it to be an Alakazam. There is so much dark and bug coverage (and ghost to a lesser extent), that Abra STRUGGLES to make any relevant headway in the game. All of the totems just shit on it until you get to Kommo-o, and its lack of coverage means it's hard walled by Raticate and Togedemaru no matter what. If Abra doesn't one shot things, it WILL fold and die, and given how so many enemies have full EV's and at least decent IV's... It's a rough battle. I'd say, along with Larvitar, B tier, lower if you cannot trade and are stuck with a Kadabra.
My run of Ultra Sun was a bit unconventional since I transferred a Curse Ho-Oh from VC Gold and a Jangmo-O breedject before starting, but I can still talk about the "normal" things I used:
Popplio: Still a solid starter despite losing early Scald, since Water Pulse tutor makes up for it somewhat. Icy Wind is a nice addition to help support the team and get nice early coverage. I also lucked out and got Hidden Power Electric which still made it solid at dealing with early Waters. Its performance when it evolves into Primarina is comparable to what it was in SM, although Totem Kommo-O is no longer a free win for it. It can sometimes take a hit from Ultra Necrozma if its sufficiently leveled. I'd still give it A rank.
Bulbasaur: A solid choice if you want a Grass-type. Giga Drain tutor and Venoshock TM give it solid early STAB options and it can use Normalium Z with Take Down or Double-Edge to crush things that resist its admittedly easily walled STABs. Early Sleep Powder is also amazingly handy in many fights, though Grassy Terrain overwriting Leech Seed is kind of a bummer. In terms of major fights it does reasonably well vs all the kahunas and the early totems barring Marowak, though it loses a bit of steam as the game progresses. It's also only obtainable via Island Scan on Sunday, but its the first island so this isn't hard to manipulate if you want it. I'd rank it wherever Rowlet ends up, it seems to be about as effective.
Honedge: Another Island Scan only mon which is a little awkward, but it joins just before Olivia at a good level and can take Eviolite to become a great tank, and it can easily withstand a lot of the Ghost/Dark coverage the game throws since its mostly physical. Relies on TMs for good moves until relearner is available, but between Brick Break + Shadow Claw TMs and Iron Head tutor its got what it needs. Eviolite Doublade is quite bulky and has enough Attack to do damage, and it can easily carve through normal Trainers until the Dusk Stone on Poni Island, though it has no strikingly good matchups against midgame bosses barring maybe Guzma's Masquerain. Where it really shines is endgame: Aegislash has great stats and can 1v1 Ultra Necrozma without resorting to cheese, has a great matchup vs Totem Kommo-O, can solo Totem Ribombee with ease, and matches up very well against 3/4 of the Elite Four, especially once the relearner gives access to Swords Dance and King's Shield. Might be worth B rank, it joins a tad late but requires no grinding and is a generally solid contributor that really shines in endgame.
One thing that makes Island Scan a touch easier is using special QR codes that give 20 pts - they are easy to find w/ Google and if you play your cards right you can easily get 2 Island Scan mons in one day w/ clock manip.
Mudbray: Mine was -Def so I frequently felt it lacking in a lot of places despite Stamina. Even so, its not that hard to use and has a very solid level movepool, including 95 BP STAB at Level 24. I was rather bothered by its poor Speed - it guzzles Potions more than most other things so it can be resource intensive. Despite its Nature it was very helpful against the post-Akala Totems thanks to Stamina and powerful attacks. Ended up benching it after Totem Kommo-O for Xurkitree since my team needed more help against birds, but its probably better if you take the time to get one without a nature that lowers its bulk. I'd say A rank for this, its strong and solid and good in the important fights, but the awful Speed is really annoying.
Xurkitree: You can get infinite UBs so I guess this should be ranked? Dunno where I'd put this, I caught it mostly just to wreck Kahili and it did so with terrifying efficiency. Otherwise it wasn't all that spectacular. C or D rank most likely, it at least comes high leveled.
e: This post assumes Island Scan mons are fair game, which they should be - its easy to do and there is a good selection.
Popplio: Still a solid starter despite losing early Scald, since Water Pulse tutor makes up for it somewhat. Icy Wind is a nice addition to help support the team and get nice early coverage. I also lucked out and got Hidden Power Electric which still made it solid at dealing with early Waters. Its performance when it evolves into Primarina is comparable to what it was in SM, although Totem Kommo-O is no longer a free win for it. It can sometimes take a hit from Ultra Necrozma if its sufficiently leveled. I'd still give it A rank.
Bulbasaur: A solid choice if you want a Grass-type. Giga Drain tutor and Venoshock TM give it solid early STAB options and it can use Normalium Z with Take Down or Double-Edge to crush things that resist its admittedly easily walled STABs. Early Sleep Powder is also amazingly handy in many fights, though Grassy Terrain overwriting Leech Seed is kind of a bummer. In terms of major fights it does reasonably well vs all the kahunas and the early totems barring Marowak, though it loses a bit of steam as the game progresses. It's also only obtainable via Island Scan on Sunday, but its the first island so this isn't hard to manipulate if you want it. I'd rank it wherever Rowlet ends up, it seems to be about as effective.
Honedge: Another Island Scan only mon which is a little awkward, but it joins just before Olivia at a good level and can take Eviolite to become a great tank, and it can easily withstand a lot of the Ghost/Dark coverage the game throws since its mostly physical. Relies on TMs for good moves until relearner is available, but between Brick Break + Shadow Claw TMs and Iron Head tutor its got what it needs. Eviolite Doublade is quite bulky and has enough Attack to do damage, and it can easily carve through normal Trainers until the Dusk Stone on Poni Island, though it has no strikingly good matchups against midgame bosses barring maybe Guzma's Masquerain. Where it really shines is endgame: Aegislash has great stats and can 1v1 Ultra Necrozma without resorting to cheese, has a great matchup vs Totem Kommo-O, can solo Totem Ribombee with ease, and matches up very well against 3/4 of the Elite Four, especially once the relearner gives access to Swords Dance and King's Shield. Might be worth B rank, it joins a tad late but requires no grinding and is a generally solid contributor that really shines in endgame.
One thing that makes Island Scan a touch easier is using special QR codes that give 20 pts - they are easy to find w/ Google and if you play your cards right you can easily get 2 Island Scan mons in one day w/ clock manip.
Mudbray: Mine was -Def so I frequently felt it lacking in a lot of places despite Stamina. Even so, its not that hard to use and has a very solid level movepool, including 95 BP STAB at Level 24. I was rather bothered by its poor Speed - it guzzles Potions more than most other things so it can be resource intensive. Despite its Nature it was very helpful against the post-Akala Totems thanks to Stamina and powerful attacks. Ended up benching it after Totem Kommo-O for Xurkitree since my team needed more help against birds, but its probably better if you take the time to get one without a nature that lowers its bulk. I'd say A rank for this, its strong and solid and good in the important fights, but the awful Speed is really annoying.
Xurkitree: You can get infinite UBs so I guess this should be ranked? Dunno where I'd put this, I caught it mostly just to wreck Kahili and it did so with terrifying efficiency. Otherwise it wasn't all that spectacular. C or D rank most likely, it at least comes high leveled.
e: This post assumes Island Scan mons are fair game, which they should be - its easy to do and there is a good selection.
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Been lurking in this thread for some time, and I'd like to share my experiences and reflect some universal sentiments.
Oricorio: I was not planning on having this on my team for so long, but it carries its weight in gold for the first two islands. Outspeeding Totem Lurantis after its +2 boost was huge so I could get off a Feather Dance and wear it down with Air Slash. I can't say if its worth using beyond the first half of the game, though I wish I had it around for the final totem to abuse its Dancer ability. If this thing isn't S-rank, its definitely high-A worth.
Popplio: I used Rowlet in the original SM. Popplio, despite USUM being more difficult, actually was stronger than Rowlet. It tanks hits like a champion after it evolves, and having a base 126 SAtk is noticeable. It was able to cheese many fights just with its Z-move alone, and was tanky enough to get up Toxic + Z-move if I couldn't defeat a boss in a few turns. Definitely high A-rank, like others are saying.
Pichu: It's solid for early game. Then it's garbage. By the time it evolves into Pikachu, however, you should be close to getting the Thunderstone. You can evolve into A-Raichu right away and have a Pokemon in its early 20's with STAB Psychic and a very nice speed tier. That alone did wonders against the plethora of Poison types in the game, and could also set up Zoroark nicely (resisting Ghost/Dark). Raichu does fall off late-game, as I only really used it for Thunder Wave and Volt Switch shenanigans. B-tier at best.
Zorua: Only really has niche uses to cheese fights with Psychic types - which this game does not have many of. As others said, being able to cheese U-Necrozma (which my roommate tells me was pretty rough without a cheese method) was HUGE and does make for a very efficient, easy fight. Zorua does not do much other than this, as you have either faster or harder hitting Pokemon that can do the same job. Its nice that it comes so early, thought, but I probably rather would have had Magnemite from that area. C/B tier.
Noibat: Solid early, but falls off very, very fast. Its evolution comes WAY too late - Noibat is dead weight until then, and even then, Noivern is okay at best. I really only kept it around because I like Noivern, but if I were to run this game again, I definitely would have replaced it. D?C tier.
Fomantis: As usual, too slow, too poor of a typing, and doesn't offer anything that another Grass couldn't (Rowlet, Stenee, island scan starters). It learns its good moves (Leaf Blade) pretty early for a grass type, but it evolves a bit too later for any use. If it evolved 10 levels earlier, it could actually do something for some part of the game. D-tier, if not E.
Houndoom: Is caught somewhat late, but comes nearly on-par with your team, has solid stats, and can make use of the Fire Z-crystal if nothing else does. A shame it didn't learn Flamethrower until level 50 - you have to make do with Fire Blast or the Z-move until then. If it helps make a point - I found Houndoom to be the superior Dark type over Zoroark for most of the game, except during the few Illusion cheese encounters. B-tier.
Nihilego: I hear this and Xurkitree are the easiest to find. Its availability kinda sucks, but it was very nice to have for the Elite 4 (walls half of the Ghost; cleans the Flying by itself). C-tier for availability reasons. I'm hesitant to even rank this
'mon because it comes so late but it was indeed usable.
Oricorio: I was not planning on having this on my team for so long, but it carries its weight in gold for the first two islands. Outspeeding Totem Lurantis after its +2 boost was huge so I could get off a Feather Dance and wear it down with Air Slash. I can't say if its worth using beyond the first half of the game, though I wish I had it around for the final totem to abuse its Dancer ability. If this thing isn't S-rank, its definitely high-A worth.
Popplio: I used Rowlet in the original SM. Popplio, despite USUM being more difficult, actually was stronger than Rowlet. It tanks hits like a champion after it evolves, and having a base 126 SAtk is noticeable. It was able to cheese many fights just with its Z-move alone, and was tanky enough to get up Toxic + Z-move if I couldn't defeat a boss in a few turns. Definitely high A-rank, like others are saying.
Pichu: It's solid for early game. Then it's garbage. By the time it evolves into Pikachu, however, you should be close to getting the Thunderstone. You can evolve into A-Raichu right away and have a Pokemon in its early 20's with STAB Psychic and a very nice speed tier. That alone did wonders against the plethora of Poison types in the game, and could also set up Zoroark nicely (resisting Ghost/Dark). Raichu does fall off late-game, as I only really used it for Thunder Wave and Volt Switch shenanigans. B-tier at best.
Zorua: Only really has niche uses to cheese fights with Psychic types - which this game does not have many of. As others said, being able to cheese U-Necrozma (which my roommate tells me was pretty rough without a cheese method) was HUGE and does make for a very efficient, easy fight. Zorua does not do much other than this, as you have either faster or harder hitting Pokemon that can do the same job. Its nice that it comes so early, thought, but I probably rather would have had Magnemite from that area. C/B tier.
Noibat: Solid early, but falls off very, very fast. Its evolution comes WAY too late - Noibat is dead weight until then, and even then, Noivern is okay at best. I really only kept it around because I like Noivern, but if I were to run this game again, I definitely would have replaced it. D?C tier.
Fomantis: As usual, too slow, too poor of a typing, and doesn't offer anything that another Grass couldn't (Rowlet, Stenee, island scan starters). It learns its good moves (Leaf Blade) pretty early for a grass type, but it evolves a bit too later for any use. If it evolved 10 levels earlier, it could actually do something for some part of the game. D-tier, if not E.
Houndoom: Is caught somewhat late, but comes nearly on-par with your team, has solid stats, and can make use of the Fire Z-crystal if nothing else does. A shame it didn't learn Flamethrower until level 50 - you have to make do with Fire Blast or the Z-move until then. If it helps make a point - I found Houndoom to be the superior Dark type over Zoroark for most of the game, except during the few Illusion cheese encounters. B-tier.
Nihilego: I hear this and Xurkitree are the easiest to find. Its availability kinda sucks, but it was very nice to have for the Elite 4 (walls half of the Ghost; cleans the Flying by itself). C-tier for availability reasons. I'm hesitant to even rank this
'mon because it comes so late but it was indeed usable.
Nominating Murkrow for B tier.
It's a solid mon, it's main selling point being the Dark/Flying coverage, dark resistance and it's able to use roost and most of all has instant access to HAZE which counters the totems and the general stat debuffing tactics of most fights.
It has a middling speed tier which is still faster than most Alola mons and the only issue with it in game is the need for a Dusk Stone to evolve it which can be a bit RNG with Pelago.
It's still a well rounded pickup for a team that needs a flying or dark type and I had a good experience using it in my UM run through.
It's a solid mon, it's main selling point being the Dark/Flying coverage, dark resistance and it's able to use roost and most of all has instant access to HAZE which counters the totems and the general stat debuffing tactics of most fights.
It has a middling speed tier which is still faster than most Alola mons and the only issue with it in game is the need for a Dusk Stone to evolve it which can be a bit RNG with Pelago.
It's still a well rounded pickup for a team that needs a flying or dark type and I had a good experience using it in my UM run through.
Historically, a mon's scarcity in terms of encounters hasn't really affected their placement in tier listings, since it's still possible for someone to run into even a 5% encounter within a few tries. It's only when there's extra strings attached like being a weather SOS mon, or being a 1% of a 1% in SOS chaining that it begins to hamper their placement. Heck, my first UB encounter in the wormholes was Guzzlord, the least common one, simply because I flew as far in as possible.
That said, none of the UB's should be ranked all that high. By the time you get them, you only have Gladion, Victory Road, and the Elite 4 left to handle, and you most likely have mons almost as high level as them that are loaded up with EV's already. Plus, they don't quite cheese the E4 like SOlgaleo and Lunala did in S/M, or the Primals in ORAS. Xurk handles Kahili obviously, and Nihilego does to a lesser extent as well, but otherwise, I definitely see the UB's in general hanging around C tier or lower, give or take an exception (Guzzlord probably being lower due to its mediocre stats and not having too much fun with all the coverage the Elite 4 throws at it.)
On Pichu line, holding up Pikachu actually helps it though. I don't get Psychic, but it helps that she doesn't get wrecked by more than half the people in Alola with their nabbit coverage and things. Light Ball + Discharge in particular helped me beating Totem Mimikyu. And holding it up from evolving helps you to not get stuck with Thundershock for the rest of the story line, the thing I learnt the hard way after my Moon run. And it paid off as I evolved it once it gets Thunderbolt (I forgot where the TM is anyway) and Alorai-Z is available.
... actually, if it requires Light Ball, yeah, you may reduce its rank. That thing is rare isn't it?
... actually, if it requires Light Ball, yeah, you may reduce its rank. That thing is rare isn't it?
I'd like to nominate Furfrou to at least B. It comes very early in Hau'oli City and its stats are extremely good for such an early encounter. Baby-Doll Eyes at level 9 and Headbutt at level 12 with its ability trivializes Gumshoos/Faticate (though you really shouldn't be having any problems with them in the first place unless you're rolling mono-psychic), but Hala can give it some trouble due to crithax. Can learn Charge Beam so it can potentially do decent enough against Araquanid. Baby Doll Eyes makes Alolawak ez pz, Lurantis is a non-issue and can either stall out Olivia or beat down her Lycanroc with Grass Knot. By the time Togedemaru rolls around, it should have charm so it can turn it into a joke. It can do fine against Guzma's golisopod but has trouble with his Masquerain. More Charm spam makes Mimikyu the Pikachu it always wanted to be and can slap it with Iron Tail, but its partners can burn Furfrou. Guzma 2&3 are more of the same as last time. It doesn't really want to fight Kommo-o but if you still have Baby Doll Eyes, you can lower its attack a bit before Furfrou bites it. It can get a sucker punch or two off of Ultra-Necrozma but thats about it. Doesn't really excel nor suck against Ribombee, but can slap Hapu with little difficulty. Has a good showing against the E4 due to them being mostly physical based and it learning dark moves for Acerola.
Furfrou's main deal is its 102 speed, being faster than a good chunk of Alola and its combination of Cotton Guard, Charm/Baby Doll Eyes, and Fur Coat turn all non fighting physical attackers into jokes to the point where it can recover more HP form lefltover than any of them can deal damage back. It can struggle against special attackers, but it has decent enough special bulk to only get bopped by the strongest special attackers.
I'll also nominate Poipole to E. It comes at level 40 when your team will be at level 50-55 which sucks a lot, but it does at least resist Ribombee and it sadly can't evolve until just before the E4 because it needs Dragon Pulse learned, which it can only get via move tutor before the postgame, but when its a Naganadel it has good snowballing potential with its good offensive movepool, nasty plot, and a pseudo speed boost. It can set up on one of each of the E4 trainers Pokemon and then sweep the rest of them with its continuing speed increases. It's not completely useless so it just edges out of being F for this very reason.
Necrozma is an easy A for many reasons. Caught at a higher level than the E4, can take a short detour after catching it to catch Solgaleo/Lunala to make it Dusk Mane/Dawn Wings, immediately comes with Ultranecrozium Z so it can become Ultra-Necrozma. Its wide movepool, ability, and variety between three different forms makes the E4 ez.
Furfrou's main deal is its 102 speed, being faster than a good chunk of Alola and its combination of Cotton Guard, Charm/Baby Doll Eyes, and Fur Coat turn all non fighting physical attackers into jokes to the point where it can recover more HP form lefltover than any of them can deal damage back. It can struggle against special attackers, but it has decent enough special bulk to only get bopped by the strongest special attackers.
I'll also nominate Poipole to E. It comes at level 40 when your team will be at level 50-55 which sucks a lot, but it does at least resist Ribombee and it sadly can't evolve until just before the E4 because it needs Dragon Pulse learned, which it can only get via move tutor before the postgame, but when its a Naganadel it has good snowballing potential with its good offensive movepool, nasty plot, and a pseudo speed boost. It can set up on one of each of the E4 trainers Pokemon and then sweep the rest of them with its continuing speed increases. It's not completely useless so it just edges out of being F for this very reason.
Necrozma is an easy A for many reasons. Caught at a higher level than the E4, can take a short detour after catching it to catch Solgaleo/Lunala to make it Dusk Mane/Dawn Wings, immediately comes with Ultranecrozium Z so it can become Ultra-Necrozma. Its wide movepool, ability, and variety between three different forms makes the E4 ez.
You actually get gifted one in game, I can't remind WHERE (might be at the hotel with pikachus where you also get Pikanium Z?) but you definitely get gifted one.
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