(WIP) Let's Go In-Game Tierlist

Worldie

Worldie

Doubt is what I do
Hello!

having passed 30 hours invested in the game and closing on the postgame, I wanted to propose to also make a ingame tierlist for this game.

Even though the game has few ways to "break" it, namely candies and the option to 2v1 the game if you so please, I still think that there's a lot of degrees of effort required between mon choices.

This is the ranking rules we should be using:

- Any item provided by the ingame story allowed. This means X-Items, Potions, TMs
- No Co-op. Playing Co-op basically breaks the entire game including gyms and even catching legendaries to some degrees, bar the handful double battle fights.
- No trades aside for evolve, and as well no trades from Go: you only get the latter in Fuschia anyway, and besides by that point you are already able to catch those mons in the wild either ways
- Alolan forms are allowed: they are infinite ingame trades, so there's no real reason to avoid them. They also get the non-OT experience bonus by default.
- Trades from "Go" aren't considered: all non-legendary mons are available already by that point of the game or shortly after (except A-Exeggutor, rip palm), and obviously trading in a Mewtwo already breaks the game.
- Up to debate: Candies are allowed. Even though every Pokemon can theoretically obtain 1200 BST purely from candies, the amount of investment requirement varies immensely per Pokemon. Making a Caterpie capable of 1v6 the game will require significantly more grinding to the point it's barely even saving time, while obviously candying up a Charizard or Blastoise will provide much more significant results. You also only get so many candies "normally", and some, expecially Spatk and Atk candies, tend to be particularly scarce.

LEGEND
[G] = Gift
* = Uncommon spawn (less than 5%)
[RS] = Available as a Rare Spawn
[In] = Interactable encounter
[T] = In-game trade
[P] = Only found in Let's Go Pikachu
[E] = Only found in Let's Go Eevee


Pallet Town: Pikachu [P], Eevee [E]
Route 1: Pidgey, Rattata, Oddish [P], Bellsprout [E]
Route 22: Spearow, Nidoran♀, Nidoran♂
Route 2: Caterpie, Weedle
Viridian Forest: Pikachu*, Bulbasaur [RS]

<==GYM 1 - ROCK==>

Route 3: Sandshrew [P], Mankey [P], Ekans[E], Charmander [RS]
Route 4: Magikarp [G], Psyduck*
Route 5: Chansey [RS]
Mt Moon: Zubat, Geodude, Paras, Clefairy*, Onix*
Cerulean City: Bulbasaur [G], Alolan Rattata [T]
Route 24: Venonat, Meowth [E], Charmander [G], Squirtle [RS]

<==GYM 2 - WATER==>

Route 5: Growlithe [P], Vulpix [E], Jigglypuff, Abra*
Vermillion City: Squirtle [G], Persian [P][G], Arcanine [E][G], Alolan Geodude [T]
Diglett's Cave: Diglett
Route 11: Drowzee, Mr. Mime*

<==GYM 3 - ELECTRIC==>

Route 10: Krabby
Rock Tunnel: Machop, Rhyhorn, Cubone, Kangaskhan*
Lavender Town: Alolan Diglett [T]
Route 7: Porygon [RS]
Celadon City: Alolan Sandshrew [P][T], Alolan Vulpix [E][T]

<==GYM 4 - GRASS==>

Pokemon Tower: Gastly
Saffron City: Alolan Raichu [T], Hitmonlee/Hitmonchan [G], Porygon [G]
Route 12: Farfetch'd, Snorlax [In]
Route 14: Tauros*, Scyther* [P], Pinsir* [E]
Fuschia City: Alolan Marowak [T]
Route 18: Doduo

<==GYM 5 - PSYCHIC==>
<==GYM 6 - POISON==>

Route 19: Magikarp, Tentacool, Staryu, Lapras [RS]
Route 21: Tangela
Route 22: Poliwag
Seafoam Islands: Slowpoke, Seel, Jynx, Shellder, Articuno [In]
Route 10 again: Dratini*
Power Plant: Grimer [P], Koffing [E], Magnemite, Voltorb, Electabuzz, Zapdos [In]
Cinnabar Island: Alolan Grimer [P][T], Alolan Meowth [E][T], Omanyte/Kabuto [G], Aerodactyl [G]
Pokemon Mansion: Magmar, Ditto

<==GYM 7 - FIRE==>
<==GYM 8 - GROUND==>

Route 23: Exeggcute
Victory Road: Moltres [In], Hitmonlee [RS], Hitmonchan [RS]
Indigo Plateau: Alolan Exeggutor [T]

<==ELITE 4==>


I believe the biggest argument to a Pokemon's viability in the game would be the amount of babysitting it requires: with exp-share perma enabled, you can effectively carry around lower level mons and level them up without hassle as you don't actually battle to level, but there's still difference between a Pokemon that can be used right away and a poke that requires significant amount leeching experience or significant candy investment to be usable.
 
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Proposed so far:
I only went down to D because I can't really see other "levels" of utility in the game.

Those Pokemon are already powerful as they are, both stat and moveset wise, do not require any candy investment to be a solid addition to the team and candy commitment just further improves their ability to beat entire sections of the game on their own
Aerodactyl
Kabuto
Starter Eevee
Starter Pikachu
Zapdos

Those Pokemon can take on lot of challenges are they are, but might be suffering from limited moveset, fall off late game, or require candy investment in order to make up for not optimal stats
Alolan Rattata
Alolan Vulpix
Clefairy
Nidoran F
Nidoran M
Squirtle

Those Pokemon have good matchups against some gyms or sections of the game, but suffer from limited movepool or bad stats, and require significant candy investment to take matchups they can't overpower due to type or level advantage, or they come so late in the game that there's not much reason to use them over what you already have at that point.
Articuno
Bellsprout
Charmander
Omanyte
Weedle

Those Pokemon lack good matchups in the game, and even significant candy investment doesn't make them able to carry their weight more than a few specific parts, and often fail to 1hko enemies they have type advantage against before taking damage, or come so late in the game that they are significantly underleveled and require lot of babysitting.
Alolan Exeggutor
Geodude
Rhyhorn

Those Pokemon are sadly just bad. Even a significant candy investment doesn't really allow them to pull their weight even in favorable matchups, due to lack of stats and/or moveset to defeat enemies. Don't use those.
Caterpie
Jigglypuff
Rattata
 
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Preliminary lists (Hopefully I am not forgetting any):

Availability ordered by Gym

Pewter
Pokemon: Starters, Pidgey, Rattata, Bulbasaur, Oddish (P), Bellsprout (E), Weedle, Caterpie, Pikachu, Nidoran (both), Mankey (P)

Cerulean
Pokemon: Jigglypuff, Charmander, gift and wild Charmander, gift Bulbasaur, Spearow, Ekans, A-Rattata, Zubat, Clefairy, Paras, Geodude, Chansey, Vulpix (E), Growlithe (P), Magikarp (gift), Sandshrew (P), Abra, Onix

Vermillion
Pokemon: gift Squirtle, Drowzee, A-geodude

Celadon
Pokemon: Kangaskhan, Rhyhorn, Psyduck, Diglett, Machop, Cubone, Porygon, A-Vulpix (E), A-Sandshrew (P)

Fuschia / Saffron / Cinnabar (you can freely access all 3 once you obtain Tea from Brock and the Pokeflute and due to lack of wild pokemon level they can basically be done in any order)
Pokemon: Basically everything else except the ones below. (includes gift fossils, Porygon, Lapras, Hitmons, Eevee, the stationary Snorlax, Zapdos and Articuno)

E4
Pokemon: Meowth (E), A-Meowth (E), Exeggcute, A-Exeggutor, Moltres. Note you also get the kanto starters megas before Giovanni.

Postgame so not subject to ranks:
Pokemon: Mewtwo, everything that was gift only also available wild

List of TMs location to be added later: https://www.serebii.net/letsgopikachueevee/tms.shtml


I could use a bit of help sorting the Availability list, I'm not that good at reading the spawn list properly :x
 
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Used the same format as another in-game tier list.

LEGEND
[G] = Gift
* = Uncommon spawn (less than 5%)
[RS] = Available as a Rare Spawn
[In] = Interactable encounter
[T] = In-game trade
[P] = Only found in Let's Go Pikachu
[E] = Only found in Let's Go Eevee


Pallet Town: Pikachu [P], Eevee [E]
Route 1: Pidgey, Rattata, Oddish [P], Bellsprout [E]
Route 22: Spearow, Nidoran♀, Nidoran♂
Route 2: Caterpie, Weedle
Viridian Forest: Pikachu*, Bulbasaur [RS]

<==GYM 1 - ROCK==>

Route 3: Sandshrew [P], Mankey [P], Ekans[E], Charmander [RS]
Route 4: Magikarp [G], Psyduck*
Route 5: Chansey [RS]
Mt Moon: Zubat, Geodude, Paras, Clefairy*, Onix*
Cerulean City: Bulbasaur [G], Alolan Rattata [T]
Route 24: Venonat, Meowth [E], Charmander [G], Squirtle [RS]

<==GYM 2 - WATER==>

Route 5: Growlithe [P], Vulpix [E], Jigglypuff, Abra*
Vermillion City: Squirtle [G], Persian [P][G], Arcanine [E][G], Alolan Geodude [T]
Diglett's Cave: Diglett
Route 11: Drowzee, Mr. Mime*

<==GYM 3 - ELECTRIC==>

Route 10: Krabby
Rock Tunnel: Machop, Rhyhorn, Cubone, Kangaskhan*
Lavender Town: Alolan Diglett [T]
Route 7: Porygon [RS]
Celadon City: Alolan Sandshrew [P][T], Alolan Vulpix [E][T]

<==GYM 4 - GRASS==>

Pokemon Tower: Gastly
Saffron City: Alolan Raichu [T], Hitmonlee/Hitmonchan [G], Porygon [G]
Route 12: Farfetch'd, Snorlax [In]
Route 14: Tauros*, Scyther* [P], Pinsir* [E]
Fuschia City: Alolan Marowak [T]
Route 18: Doduo

<==GYM 5 - PSYCHIC==>
<==GYM 6 - POISON==>

Route 19: Magikarp, Tentacool, Staryu, Lapras [RS]
Route 21: Tangela
Route 22: Poliwag
Seafoam Islands: Slowpoke, Seel, Jynx, Shellder, Articuno [In]
Route 10 again: Dratini*
Power Plant: Grimer [P], Koffing [E], Magnemite, Voltorb, Electabuzz, Zapdos [In]
Cinnabar Island: Alolan Grimer [P][T], Alolan Meowth [E][T], Omanyte/Kabuto [G], Aerodactyl [G]
Pokemon Mansion: Magmar, Ditto

<==GYM 7 - FIRE==>
<==GYM 8 - GROUND==>

Route 23: Exeggcute
Victory Road: Moltres [In], Hitmonlee [RS], Hitmonchan [RS]
Indigo Plateau: Alolan Exeggutor [T]

<==ELITE 4==>

EDIT 1: Added Rare Spawns. Left out Legendary Birds + Dragonite as Rare Spawns, since they can be pretty much anywhere, and are extremely rare.
 
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Damn that's a neat list.

I would include rare spawns in the availability, maybe noted as such and still included if they become common spawns later on (es, Onix in Mt Moon who is common in Rock Tunnel), because honestly they aren't THAT rare. I've ran into almost all the rare spawns at least once in those 32 hours it took me to clear the main story. Considering you aren't speedrunning, it's legitimate to expect to spend some time in the areas to level up mons so the chance to run in a rare spawn isn't to exclude.
Plus, with the fact you hear them spawning, you would be able to look for them.

I do recall my surprise seeing some of those... es when I ran into a Porygon near Saffron and was like "wait why is this here!"

As for Saffron, I would say that it is fine there, because namely you can't get there until you clear team rocked hideout anyway, and it's higher level than Erika but about same as Koga as well.
It also has as requirement to have a level 45 poke, with Koga's gym requiring 50 registered mons, and the two things are likely to get enabled very closely.
 
I've put a little over 30 hours into Let's Go Eevee now. I beat the game, completed my pokedex and managed to beat two of the post game big bosses (might try for the third later, but the master trainers are hard!).

Overall the game can be very easy if you have the right team, but a lot of pokemon have horrid level up movepools and will have to rely heavily on TMs to make it through the game. I used around ten pokemon on my journey, dropping a few here and there, but in the end I think my team was pretty solid.

Eevee (early)
Final moveset:
Double Edge
Bouncy Bubble
Sizzle Slide
Freezy Frost

Eevee is absolutely godly in Let's Go, at least the one you get at the start of the game. It has amazing stats and a great movepool thanks to the move tutors. Eevee is very versatile and you can use any combination of attacks to fit your team's needs. You get Eever at the start of the game and it has no bad matchups except for maybe Bruno. Eevee's special moves are used for type coverage as the rest of my team had a pretty good handle on other types. Double Edge is for stab although Veevee Volley is probably the better option.

Eevee has solid match ups against pretty much every major trainer thanks to it's special moves. Pure normal is really good in Kanto due to the lack of steel types and fighting types running around. I would recommend it for the highest tier possible just due to it's early encounter, its wide movepool and excellent stats.

Nidoking (early)
Final moveset:
Earthquake
Poison Jab
Thunderbolt
Ice Beam

Nidoran can be caught before the first gym and pure poison isn't too bad of a typing in the early game. You can get a moon stone before the second gym and the dig TM shortly after. A fully evolved pokemon with a 80 BP stab attack is crazy good in the early game. Nidoking can take on every gym barring Saffron and Viridian by himself. He can also hold his own against most of the elite four although Lorilei. He can learn just about any TM and can be a physical attacker, special attacker or go mixed. The only downside to Nidoking is that its best stab attacks come late into the story.

Nidoking does has some common weaknesses to water, ground and psychic which is probably what holds it back the most. It's incredibly versatile with its moveset and its stats are pretty great as well. Other than your starter, Nidoking is probably the best pokemon in the early game. I would recommend it to a high tier.

Alakazam (earlyish)
Final Moveset:
Psychic
Calm Mind
Shadow Ball
Dazzling Gleam

Abra comes right after the second gym, but it is a rare spawn so you might have to search for awhile. Luckily, abra comes at a fairly high level so it will evolve pretty quickly into Kadabra. Kadabra has good match ups against the gyms in Celadon and Fuschia. If you have the Shadow Ball TM, it's great in Saffron as well. It also steam rolls team rocket and their plethora of poison pokemon. It has a decent match up against the elite four, but it dominates Bruno and Agatha. Really it's such a good pokemon you only need psychic and shadow ball. I used dazzling gleam maybe once or twice and never had the opportunity to set up calm mind.

This biggest hurdle will be getting your Kadabra to evolve into Alakazam. I evolved mine right before taking on the Fuschia gym. Kadabra is a massive glass cannon unless you pump a ton of candies into it. Alakazam is a nuke and might be the only pokemon you need once it evolves. Its weak to three types, none of which are prevalent in the game. The only thing that resists psychic is psychic types themselves, so just hit them with Shadow Ball. Alakazam is definitely high tier with the only downsides being its low spawn rate as an Abra and its trade evolution.

Kadabra could be a good mid-high tier pokemon. It's the closest thing to alakazam you'll get in the main game without trading, but it needs more attention than other fully evolved pokemon.

Gengar (mid)
Final Moveset:
Shadow Ball
Mega Drain
Thunderbolt
Sludge Bomb

Ghastly comes a little later in the game, shortly after finishing up the events in Celadon city. It comes at a decent level compared to the rest of your pokemon and will quickly evolve into Haunter. Like Kadabra, Haunter will only evolve through a trade so prepare for some comparisons.

Gengar has an even match up in Fuschia and Cinnabar gyms. Saffron is more of a gamble since you can hit everything with a stab shadow ball, but super effective moves run rampant. Don't even bother using Gengar in the final gym. The lack of Levitate in this game just brings back memories of the good ole days. Gengar has a good match up against most of the elite four and champion. Team Rocket doesn't pose much of a threat although they do run a ton of dark type attacks on their pokemon.

Haunter kind of sucks. It's a lot like Kadabra with its good special attack, but poor defenses. Gengar is certainly better thanks to it's higher speed and special attack. If I had to do my playthrough over I would have dropped Gengar since it covers a lot of the same pokemon as Alakazam, but Gengar (and by extension Haunter) do have the upper hand in the movepool department. I was struggling towards the end of the game with four moves lot syndrome with Gengar. I ended up going for more water coverage and its dual stabs in the end. Gengar is a high tier pokemon for sure, but Haunter is mid tier at best. It's defenses are just too poor.

Dragonite (mid)
Final Movepool:
Outrage
Fire Blast
Earthquake
Waterfall

For some reason I keep using the Dratini family in pokemon games. Dratini can be caught after getting the surfboard (I can't remember the proper name), but you'll have to make a detour towards the power plant and its under leveled by at least 10-15 levels. Did I mention it has incredibly slow growth and a low spawn rate?

Dratini does evolve quickly into Dragonair, but from there it's a slog. The best gym matchup is cinnabar since dragon resist fire and you can hit back with surf or waterfall. Every other gym is an even field although you'll likely struggle since Dragonair's stats are lacking compared to your fully evolved pokemon. Lorelei is a no go and Lance might even prove to be a pain with his no-dragons packing dragon moves.

Dragonite, on the other hand, might be the single strongest non-legendary in the game. All of its stats are great, its movepool is vast and you even get to ride it once you finish the game. But getting to level 55 is going to require a lot of work. I caught Dratini shortly after the Fuschia gym and began training it. It didn't catch up to the rest of my party until after the final gym. Even after going through victory road, dragonair was still around level 53. You can save up your rare candies and quickly level it up, potentially all the way up to its evolution. It just isn't worth the effort in the end. Only train a Dratini for the challenge, not the results. Definitely around mid-tier.

Kabutops (mid)
Final Moveset:
Mega Drain
Waterfall
Aqua Jet
Rock Slide

Kabuto comes much earlier in Let's Go than previous games and it comes at a great a level as well. Once you get access to surf, you can swim over to cinnabar and grab Kabuto at level 44. It only needs one level to evolve and comes with Aqua Jet and Rock Slide as stabs from the start. It has pretty good TM compatibility and even gets Swords Dance if you want to sweep through teams.

I didn't add Kabuto to my team until late into the game, but it genuinely surprised me. It has a great match up against the Cinnabar gym and a decent match up in Viridian (just watch out for earthquakes). The elite four won't bother it too much, but watch out for Bruno's fighting types. While I didn't use it against team rocket, I'm sure it would do a good job given its resistances to normal and poison types.

Kabutops doesn't really have any downsides outside of common weaknesses to ground, grass and fighting. It does have a solid set of resistances, however. With its high defense stat, you can wall a lot of pokemon as well. You'll have to go out of your way if you want it early, but it comes at a reasonable level compared to the rest of Cinnabar so waiting until then wouldn't be a big issue. You will have to decide if you want Kabutops fairly early in the game, however. It's a long term commitment. I recommend it for high tier.

Outside of my main six I used a few others. They are:

Venasaur: I used it until it evolved. Bulbasaur/Ivysaur have to rely on vine whip until level 31 when it gets razor leaf and then petal dance when it evolves. It comes very early and has decent match ups against the early gyms, but its movepool is so poor, you're better off using other grass types.

Charizard: Like venasaur, Charizard is stuck with Ember for a very long time as its main fire type stab. Flamethrower and Fire Punch are available as TMs, but they come around the mid-game, at which point you should have discarded most moves below 50BP, especially those that are your main stab. Charizard does have decent TM options and does well against the Celadon gym, but its embarrassing level up movepool was enough for me to drop it after it evolved.

Blastoise: It comes right before two of the worst gyms it could go up against, but you can teach it Scald right away for a powerful stab. It has access to some decent moves as well. It's probably the best of the kanto starters in the game, but I ended up dropping it since water types are a dime a dozen in Kanto.

Tauros: It comes right before you reach Fuschia city and it packs some powerful normal type attacks early on. I wanted Tauros to be my physical nuke and blast through anything that my team wasn't able to cover. Tauros has good match ups for the entire game except for Bruno. Its stats are good overall. The biggest drawback is you'll be relying heavily on it's normal stabs and weak elemental attacks running off a poor special attack. Earthquake comes very late and you'll have missed your best opportunities to use it by then. It just doesn't have very many good physical moves to use. It ended up dropping right at the end of my journey for Kabuto.

I would also like to throw out that Zapdos and Articuno are probably high tier. They have amazing stats and come pretty early by comparison. I didn't have any issues catching them either. So far my team has held up pretty well in the postgame. Most of the trainers have variety on their teams, but I was able to steam roll some of the gym leader rematches with Nidoking and Alakazam.
 
Alright, I updated the OP.

Tiers should account for how much candy investment a Pokemon will need to "git gud".
S tier mons basically mean "this Poke is already strong without investment and investing candies make it even more capable of taking unfavorable matchups", while a F tier mon would basically mean "even if you invest the full 1200 AV into this mon it'll still be terrible"

Those are my first proposals for this list accounting on what I've been using myself.
For reference, this was my final team:

1543237765556.png


- Starter Eevee: S tier
Undoubtedly almost gamebreaking, it's kinda mediocre at the very start though that's somewhat irrelevant as you have to catch Oddish/Bellsprout anyway for the first gym requirements, but once you reach Cerulean and get access to the first tutored moves, it's perfectly capable to defeat most matchups as long as it outspeeds. Does kinda fall off late game due to lack of raw power without investment, but still maintains solid party utility expecially in being able to remove the stupidly omnipresent Toxic.

- Bellsprout: B tier
Starts useful, but it's stuck in low BP stabs until you get Mega Drain / Sludge Bomb / Poison Jab TMs (actually a case for almost all grass types). Victreebell learns Power Whip at 54 but it's a long way with medium BP stabs on a Poke that's not particularly fast and has no real way to hit Poison types. Doesn't help the fact that it's weak against a number of the gyms and even in Misty's case both her mons are faster and can hit it with Psychic attacks.

- Caterpie: D tier
I was so demoralized when I noticed it DOES NOT learn Confusion when evolving: only way to get Confusion is to either catch an already evolved Butterfree (both rare and particularly hard to catch with Poke Balls that early in the game) or use the move relearner in post game which ... I mean, you'd just teach it Psychic.
Sadly terrible, you get Gust and.... powders, which all grass types get anyway.

- Weedle: B tier
What you'd really expect from the Beedrill family really: starts very good, gets usable stabs by leveling up, falls off mid-late due to low BPs. Sadly Beedrillite is in Postgame, so no way to patch that up unless you really go out of your way investing candies in the bee. The typing also doesn't help as it has unfavorable matchup against basically the entirety of the gyms.

- Rattata: D tier
Low damage, bad movepool, overally bad stabs. It's fast but doesn't really damage much.

- Alolan Rattata: A tier
Now, this one instead. It's as fast as its Kanto counterpart, but gets very early access to stab Crunch and Sucker Punch, learns Dig and U-turn as well. Being the only Dark Type available until WAAAAY later (and other one being A-grimer which is LGP only) means it actually has strong matchup vs psychic/ghost types, can deal with poison types and Magnemite relatively well, and will actually outspeed most of them too, while packing particularly damaging Double Edges and Crunch. You also get Headbutt as main stab for some time right away. Being traded, it also gets the bonus experience which results in faster leveling on a Pokemon that's already on a fast leveling curve.
Its only weak point is the 4x weakness to fighting: all fighting types that it cant 1hkod with Headbutt or Double Edge will demolish it right away. Dark/Normal/Ground is a combination that almost no gen 1 pokemon can deal with, and realistically the only Gym I had it struggle against was Koga due to Muk and Weezing having very high defense and not caring much of unstabbed Dig (plus, Muk have Protect and often Moonblast)

- Jigglypuff: D tier, C at best
I've tried my hardest to make this one work. I love the pink ball of fluff. But really, even though it has strong coverage options via TMs and can learn Dazzling Gleam and TriAttack as stabs relatively early from TMs, it just... doesnt' do any damage, even with investment. Plus it's slow.
Don't use Jigglypuff =(

- Geodude and Ryhorn: C tier
Rock/ground types have a bit of utility in resisting Poison and being immune to Electric, but in reality they're all slow (except Onix which I didn't try out), you don't get Earthquake TM until way later in the game, and also suffer from being particularly slow unless you massively invest speed candyes. They also obviously get demolished by the grass and water types and lot of trainer Pokemon do have fighting coverage to hit them despite the defense... and even Normal and fire types from trainers in this game often have Outrage or other coverages to hit them.

- A-vulpix: B tier, maybe A
I actually didn't even try the Kanto Vulpix cause I love the Alolan version. It's strong, and at the point you get it you can use it right away to murder Erika. It comes with already learned Ice beam, and you already have Dazzling Gleam TM at that point, so you can evolve it right away. Gets the traded boost, so levels faster, and it's actually fast even though it somewhat lacks Spatk but makes up with having some of the best offensive stabs in game. Sadly, both Koga and Blaine's gyms murder it, but it holds its own against basically everything else.
Lack of possibility to learn a Psychic coverage is quite detrimental as it leaves it basically helpless against Poison types (so, basically anything involving Team Rocket) but does learn Dark Pulse which makes its matchup vs Psychic types and Sabrina quite solid.

- Zapdos: A tier if not S
You can catch Zapdos right as you get Surf (so after obtaining PokeFlute essentially). This mon is used in speedruns for a reason: fast, high damage, gets both a electric special stab and flying phisical one. I'd propose S if it didn't come this late and you also didn't have to actually fight a +1 level 50 birdie that is very angry at you in order to capture him, but can't deny it's strong and is likely going to murder everything that doesn't resist the stabs, which is almost everything except Giovanni's Gym and Bruno's pokemon. Was part of my final team as well.

- Articuno: B tier
It's bulkier and slower than Zapdos, and you get him at about the same time. In its case you get Ice Beam + Fly as stabs which aren't terrible, but lacks the raw power of the 125 spatk of Zapdos. Plus, you also obviously have to kill it first in same way. It doesn't get the same favorable matchups but still pulls its weight against Giovanni and part of E4.

- Omanyte: B tier
Comes at level 44, you can istantly evolve into Omastar with a rare candy and teach it Rock Slide + Scald + Ice Beam right away.
Good, but not too fast and a dangerous 4x grass plus weakness to electric. Easily dispatches Blaine but has actually issues against Giovanni and E4 due to weakness to Ground and neutrality to Water, while lacking immediate power against Pokes not weak to water due to lower attack to match Rock Slide.

- Squirtle: A tier
It's good. You already have Scald when you get him, you get the various TMs you need for Blastoise in midgame, and Blastoise being able to also learn Dark Pulse and Dragon Pulse on top of having passable phisical damage gives it favorable or neutral matchup against... basically everything that isnt Electric or Grass type. You also get Mega Blastoise before Giovanni which significantly increases its bulk and damage

- Charmander: B tier
Don't be me: get PHISICAL charmander, not special. Special charmander is locked behind Ember and... that's it, until very later when you get Dragon Pulse and Flamethrower TMs. For some forsaken reason, Charizard only learns Flamethrower after 50 and Air slash after 60.
On other hand, Phisical charmander gets access to a lot of neat tools: fire / thunder punch midgame, wing attack when evolving and fly shortly after, Earthquake, Rock slide, and you get access to both megas so you can also use Charizard X for increased raw attack before Giovanni. Sadly really lacks power midgame when you're stuck on ember and unstabbed Thunder Punch / Dig.
 
Maybe this is premature of me, because I lack a Switch and Legs Go by extension, but I take one look at the mon availability lists, and I see something which absolutely should be irrevocably cemented in stone before anything else is done:

Alolan Exeggutor to E.

Now on paper, this thing sounds like it would be absolutely amazing. Grass/Dragon, in a game where Fairies can be counted on one hand, swarming with poison/ground/water types for you to prey on, and it gets a stupidly good movepool where you can run virtually whatever you want from a mix of Outrage/Earthquake/Psychic/Mega Drain/Sludge Bomb/Dragon Pulse/Flamethrower/Iron Tail/Superpower and just have something for nearly anything. That sounds goddamn AMAZING...There's just one very small, minor issue preventing Alongutor from being A or S tier....

YOU GET THE GODDAMN THING AT THE VERY END OF THE GAME, AND IT'S UNDERLEVLEED!

Level 46 with the only trainers left at that point being the Elite 4 is inexcusable, and its starting moveset (Barrrage/Hypnosis/Confusion/Stun Spore) is terrible. You NEED to slap TM's on this thing for it to even function, and even then... your first trainer is LORELI, whose ice types will straight up destroy you. The only mon of hers you can safely take down is Slowbro, and even then, you're taking some hefty damage back from Psychic. Bruno's much better, but you cannot safely sweep him, because the Hitmonchan packs Ice Punch to murder you. All of Agatha's team packs supereffective moves against you, so if you don't one shot them with Psychic or Earthquake, you are dead. And Lance... don't even bother. Your rival has four pokemon which prey on Alongutor's horrendous defensive typing (Three in PLGE)... Just don't bother. It's not worth it. You only have five trainers left, and by this point, whatever team you have is several levels and numerous candies ahead of whatever Alongutor has to offer.
 
I'd like to suggest Clefairy as at least A tier. Catch it in Mt. Moon and then just let it sit and leech exp until lv 28 when it learns moonblast. Then evolve it. Gets access to Thunderbolt from Lt Surge for two 90+ BP moves. Also gets shadow ball, psychic, ice beam, and more. I wound up using it more than my starter Pikachu once I got to around the mid 30s.
 
Both Nidos are A tier (Nidoking is arguably S tier). You start with 50 pokeballs and can have 90+ before your second rival battle. That means you can easily chain 31+ Nidos and find one that's Adamant/Jolly/Naive/Hasty/Lonely/Naughty/Mild/Rash in under an hour with great IVs.

The investment saves lots of time later as the Nidos have great utility for the entire playthrough. The health/mighty candies help too, and your chain makes it easy to find a Bulbasaur or even a shiny in Viridian Forest.

This really is the easiest instance before Celadon where you can catch a great IV pokemon with a useful nature.
 
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Aerodactyl is S tier. As Cinnabar is accessible as soon as your starter can surf, you can get Aerodactyl before Silph Co./Koga. It solos Gary and gyms 5-7. That said, it's worthwhile saving any mighty candies for boosting Aerodactyl.

Remember to set Jolly nature and soft reset for max Att/Spd, and something else not SpAtt, so you will only need 2 bottle caps for competitive battling.

Coming at L44, Aerodactyl is the easy way to get past the L45 requirement in order to enter Saffron gym. If you've been avoiding trainers to increase difficulty, this saves a lot of grinding.

Rock Slide/Fly/Crunch/Roost will be your staple until TM Earthquake, with Rest over Roost to beat Koga's Toxic/Protect SPAM.

Zapdos is also accessible at the same time as Aerodactyl, but requires a detour, and is more difficult to catch. However, both should be comfortably S tier.
 
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McGrrr said:
Aerodactyl is S tier. As Cinnabar is accessible as soon as your starter can surf, you can get Aerodactyl before Silph Co./Koga. It solos Gary and gyms 5-7. That said, it's worthwhile saving any mighty candies for boosting Aerodactyl.
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McGrrr said:
Zapdos is also accessible at the same time as Aerodactyl, but requires a detour, and is more difficult to catch. However, both should be comfortably S tier.
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Zapdos is definitely used in some of the speedrun routes, no disagreement it's super strong (also gets strong matchup against basically the entire game on top of just having a significant BST advantage)

I believe Aerodactyl tends to have a lack of power compared to, say, Kabutops which you get at same time though, as well as lacking an accurate stab? Does the lack of damage make up for having bad offensive moves? (you're basically locked out of Earthquake until done with all 8 gyms, too)
 
Worldie said:
I believe Aerodactyl tends to have a lack of power compared to, say, Kabutops which you get at same time though, as well as lacking an accurate stab? Does the lack of damage make up for having bad offensive moves? (you're basically locked out of Earthquake until done with all 8 gyms, too)
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Yes, Aerodactyl wishes it had 10 more base attack and a stronger STAB, but reliable recovery goes a long way as compensation. It doesn't sweep the E4, but neither does anything else at sensible levels. The speed runs all use X items, so by that metric, Aerodactyl just needs an X Attack and it's ready to go (no X Speed required).

With all of that said, Jolly Aerodactyl with max Att/Spd is easy to obtain, comes at a great level, immediately has a useful moveset, and pulls its weight in key battles. That speed tier also makes it a very able backup in any situation. I beat the E4 with just Aerodactyl, Eevee, and Nidoking on my 5th play through (all under levelled).
 
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McGrrr said:
Both Nidos are A tier (Nidoking is arguably S tier). You start with 50 pokeballs and can have 90+ before your second rival battle. That means you can easily chain 31+ Nidos and find one that's Adamant/Jolly/Naive/Hasty/Lonely/Naughty/Mild/Rash in under an hour with great IVs.

The investment saves lots of time later as the Nidos have great utility for the entire playthrough. The health/mighty candies help too, and your chain makes it easy to find a Bulbasaur or even a shiny in Viridian Forest.

This really is the easiest instance before Celadon where you can catch a great IV pokemon with a useful nature.
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The entire game can be beaten in just over 3 hours. Spending an hour to get one Pokemon is a time sink, not a timer saver.
 
Worldie said:
Spoilers: this applies to literally every Pokemon game, an ingame tierlist is not about speedruns.
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An ingame tier list does not assume a speedrun, but it does assume an efficient playthrough. Spending an hour to catch one Pokemon with negligible advantages (if any) over Pokemon who do not require any time investment (starter Eevee, Kaputops, etc) is the antithesis of efficiency.

From the ingame tier list introduction, which I noticed you conveniently left out of your OP:

Don't confuse an efficient run with a speed run. Speed runs are often segmented and recorded with luck manipulation through resets; these runs aim for the absolute fastest in-game time, but the real time spent on them is usually much more. An "efficient" run simply assumes that you want to play through in a relatively short amount of real time.
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Source: https://www.smogon.com/ingame/guides/rby_ingametiers
 
IOS said:
Spending an hour to catch one Pokemon with negligible advantages (if any) over Pokemon who do not require any time investment (starter Eevee, Kaputops, etc) is the antithesis of efficiency.
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No one is forcing you to chain for a 4 IV Nidoran. They're perfectly fine as they come, but it certainly is the earliest occasion that you can easily chain for a decent almost perfect IV Pokemon. +6 in the Pokedex is great, and Nidoking/Queen are super useful against Surge if you're under-levelled due to efficient play. You can also catch the Nidos on route 10, where they come at level 24 with a lure, which is perfect for the next section of the game before fossil access. Poison resistance, STAB Dig, and respectable bulk really help in the tougher Rocket battles.

Alolan Dugtrio: A tier

You can trade for this in Lavender Town, but soft resetting for Jolly/Adamant can be annoying. Alolan Diglett comes at level 25 and it evolves immediately. STAB Dig coupled with poison immunity is great for Rocket Hideout and the Pokemon Tower. Duggy is especially useful against Archer and Giovanni if your starter is under-levelled. Level 35 Earthquake arrives quickly due to boosted experience gain, but Rock Slide comes much later. Duggy pulls its weight in gyms 5-8 and sweeps Agatha, but only really beats a few other E4 Pokemon.
 
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Surprised no one has mentioned Oddish yet. You can catch it right at route 1, it’s first primary attack is Absorb (and Liquid Ooze isn’t a thing), and both it and Acid are special in a part of the game where people think Growl is an effective strategy. Also it has the type advantage for the first two gyms.
 
ItalianBaptist said:
Surprised no one has mentioned Oddish yet. You can catch it right at route 1, it’s first primary attack is Absorb (and Liquid Ooze isn’t a thing), and both it and Acid are special in a part of the game where people think Growl is an effective strategy. Also it has the type advantage for the first two gyms.
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Gloom and Vileplume are both pretty bulky too, but they have a real problem with damage. Having only Acid for a secondary STAB until way late (Sludge Bomb comes just when Vileplume's typing is its least useful) really hurts and with all the Poison types in the game it really spends a lot of time just...sitting there. Its early game is great, but it falls off hard since it doesn't do much against Koga, Sabrina, Blaine, Lorelei's Jynx or Lapras, Agatha, Lance.
 
Been replaying Let's Go Eevee and am currently at the midpoint in the game in the rocket hideout.

Current Team:
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Some self-inposed challenges
  • Limited Grinding outside of Trainer Battles (I do catch certain Pokemon here and there, but I never did any catch combos outside of 1 section in the game)
  • No Candies outside of the Eevee Candies you get occasionally from coach trainers
  • Battle Style is Set
Current thoughts on every member I've used so far:

  • Absolutely busted
  • Huge movepool between early STAB Headbutt, Dig, signature moves, etc.
  • Cleans through most trainers effortlessly
  • Typing is actually a huge boon since it lets gives it mostly neutral matchups across the board. This is pretty good combined with its good coverage.
  • Destroyed Brock's Onix w/ Tail Whip + Double Kick, Misty's Starmie w/ its Electric move, and Lt. Surge w/ Dig, though you'll need to be careful with the latter two since they have really strong moves.

  • Pikachu is pretty bad early on. Thundershock is WAY too weak and its defense are too low.
  • Didn't even do that well against Misty since Thundershock was so weak.
  • Gets significantly better once it gets Dig though since it becomes a passable switch-in to the route 11 electric-types and their Magnemites / Electrodes
  • Dig is also really good vs Lt. Surge's Voltorb and Magnemite, though Pikachu can't really deal with Raichu.
  • Becomes better once it gets Thunderbolt and can do some work vs Route 10 / Rock Tunnel trainers
  • If you stealth the route 7 / 8 trainers and go to Celadon, get the tea, and go to Saffron, you can get evolve Raichu and get Alolan Raichu a bit earlier than you are suppose to.
  • HUGE power boost, Raichu grows 6 levels and you can get Psychic in Saffron City. He completely dominates the rival fight in lavender town, as well as the route 7 / 8 trainers.
  • Since I didn't grind much, it stayed a Metapod for Brock
  • Metapod stage was really miserable and it took a while for it to get out of it.
  • Butterfree is pretty decent though
  • Typing + Gust + Decent Special Attack makes is fantastic for dealing with Grass / Fighting / Ground type trainers in the early routes + Rock Tunnel
  • Gets Psybeam early on, letting it deal with poison types as well
  • Sleep Powder + Quiver Dance is pretty awesome in most trainer battles, though Sleep Powder's accuracy is pretty damn bad.
  • If you can, try stealthing the trainers in Route 8 & go to Celadon to buy Psychic / Shadow Ball. This drastically improves its damage output and lets it perform pretty decently vs most of the trainers here.
]
  • Catching 50 pokemon is a hassle
  • Using Special Charmander, so I decided to not evolve it until level 36 to get Flamethrower lol
  • Mostly has been useless, though Dragon Rage / Seismic Toss have still been great for damage.
  • Diglett is too frail. I need to burn Lt. Surge's Raichu with Eevee before it could even switch in.
  • Doesn't counter electric-types too well since Voltorb / Magnemite just 2hko it with Sonic Boom
  • Alolan Dugtrio hasn't been much better despite its better typing and I'm considering replacing it.
 
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Beat the game yesterday. I ended up ditching Butterfree and Diglett in the ends since their performance wasn't cutting by Koga's Gym / Silph Co. I tried using a couple of other mons as the last member of the team like Tangela and Hitmonchan, but neither ended up working out. In the end, I decided to go with Exeggutor, Tentacruel, and Magneton since I thought they would have the best type synergy with my current party and they all came at a pretty high Level.

The Elite 4 ended up being really challenging. I tried fighting them using Jrose11's mindset (no healing mid battle, no saving between members) and I got whooped by them the first time around. Loreli and Bruno aren't too bad, but Agatha and Lance are pretty difficult. It also didn't help that I didn't buy any healing items and didn't use my Rare Candies so I was underleveled. Still, I was able to make it to the Champion, but his Mega Pidgeot destroyed me with BS Air Slash Flinches (though I think I would have lost either way). Fighting them a second time went much smoother thanks to the power boost from the Rare Candies, but I still got rekt by Mega Pidgeot. My initial Strategy was to use Toxic + Rest on Tentacruel, but the Champion actually uses full restores and has good AI (he actually switches his Pokemon) so that ended up not working out after Tentacruel fainted. I ended up having to stall out Pidgeot by hitting it with a Sappy seed and repeatedly switching between Magneton and Charizard (the damage Pidgeot was doing to them with Air Slash / Heat Wave was actually the same amount that they healed back with Leech Seed funnily enough). Overall a really frustrating battle.

Also Sleep Powder sucks. In almost every battle where I led off with sleep powder, it would miss (sometimes even twice) and give the opponent free turns to whittle down my mons.

Anyways that's enough rambling. Here are my final ratings:
  • Ends up falling off by Koga's Gym since the enemies have better stats, speed isn't good enough, and an unSTABed Psychic / Mega Drain just don't deal enough damage. Still, its contributions in the early and mid-game make it better than D-Tier IMO
  • Early on, its great thanks to its diverse, high BP coverage
  • Power falls off a bit by endgame due to higher stats of fully evolved Pokemon, but its utility with moves like Sappy Seed and Sizzly Slide still make it a really valuable and great team member
  • Despite it being useless for me as a Charmander, I still recommend waiting until level 36 to evolve it. The midgame isn't as challenging as the endgame and Charmander gains boosted EXP for being an unevolved Pokemon so you don't need to use it for it to keep on pace with the rest of your Pokemon
  • Payoff is massive. By Silph Co. Charizard gets access to Dragon Pulse, Roost and Will-O-Wisp, giving it good coverage, longevity, and Utility
  • After Blaine, Charizard gets not one but TWO mega evolutions which are useful in different scenarios. This makes it even better in Standard Trainer Battles
  • By far the best and most useful Pokemon during the Elite 4 thanks to a fast Wisp, Roost, and High Defenses, making it great vs some of the bigger threats like Dragonite, Pidgeot, etc.
  • Starts overleveled and gets boosted EXP for being a traded Pokemon, which is pretty OP. You don't even have to use it in battle and it'll still be ahead of your current party by 6 - 7 levels. I had to stop using it for a while since it was ahead of my party by nearly 10 levels at one point.
  • STAB Thunderbolt / Psychic combination is pretty good neutral coverage & gives it a good matchup vs Koga
  • High Speed it really useful, letting it get the jump on Pokemon like Agatha's Gengar and Lance's Gyarados and OHKO them
  • Only issue with it is that even though it was overleveled and had a modest nature, its power and bulk can be a little underwhelming (It couldn't even OHKO the Champion's Slowbro with Thunderbolt).
  • Despite being located in Route 23, you can actually get it as soon as you beat the 6th gym since the grass its in becomes accessible by that point.
  • Evolve it immediately since it already knows Sleep Powder and Leech Seed and you can teach it Psychic / Mega Drain via TM
  • Its speed is kinda bad, but its good enough to get the jump on the poison-types commonly found in the late game like Weezing and Muk
  • Really good at standard trainer battles since Leech Seed / Mega Drain keep it topped off while still damaging the enemy
  • Despite having a boatload of weaknesses, its good bulk still lets it survive some super effective attacks.
  • Does OK vs some of the Elite 4's Pokemon, but its boatload is a huge nuisance. Does pretty badly vs Blaine and while its useful for Giovanni's Rhydon and Dugtrio, it doesn't do too well vs the Nidos
  • Really good speed and great movepool on top of great Special Defense should make it great, but being weak and in the Slow Exp group really hurt it. By the Elite 4, I had to use 8 Rare Candies on it before it was on par with the rest of my team.
  • Bad Physical defense and Mediocre Special attack makes it a pretty shaky Fire-type switch it. The Champion's Rapidash 3HKO's it with Flare Blitz, while it ended up only 3HKOing it back with Scald (and this is with a modest nature...)
  • To its credit, it is really good against Blaine and was able to wall the a long of the E4's Pokemon like Lapras, and Mega Pidgeot, so its not terrible.
  • That typing is great, but its speed and bulk just aren't good enough. Most neutral resisted attacks still ended up 3HKOing it most of the time.
  • Thankfully, its really Strong. STAB Thunderbolt and Flash Cannon still 2HKO most standard trainer's monsters.
  • Was extremely important in the Champion battle since I could switch between it and Mega Charizard Y to help deal with Mega Pidgeot
 
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