Pokémon X & Y In-game Tier List Discussion (MkII)

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DHR-107

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Give me solid evidence as to why it's the best by a wide margin and then i might believe you.
So far this thread has failed to do that.
(Colonel M: I tested. Delphox can't tank a Power gem or an earthquake)
I don't know what calcs you were doing (assuming 15IVs [I think E4 have 30's? I don't remember]) or what you were testing... Probopass doesn't even have Earthquake...

Probopass is Lv 63 and Delphox is Lv 60 for these calcs. Granted, you aren't exactly doing shit back, but Delphox can Calm Mind (as its way faster), Calm Mind again, heal, Calm Mind again -> Death to Probo

0 SpA Probopass Power Gem vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Delphox: 90-108 (53.2 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Probopass Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Delphox: 68-82 (40.2 - 48.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

If you Calm Mind up Vs Klefki (as Colonel M said)...

0 SpA Probopass Earth Power vs. +3 0 HP / 0 SpD Delphox: 28-34 (16.5 - 20.1%) -- possible 5HKO
0 SpA Probopass Power Gem vs. +3 0 HP / 0 SpD Delphox: 36-44 (21.3 - 26%) -- 1.7% chance to 4HKO
+3 0 SpA Delphox Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Probopass: 112-133 (66.6 - 79.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Delphox is more than fine in this matchup.

As for the other two starters: Chespin fails to make a huge impression at most points in the game. It's reasonable against Viola simply because of Rollout, Can take on Tyrunt but not Amuara, does okay vs Korrina, can resist and go toe to toe with Ramos (but Acrobatics hurts), it does well vs Clemont, and outright loses to the final 3 gym leaders (all hit super effectively). So so performance in the E4 too. Beats Seibold and does reasonably against Wikstrom, but doesn't really touch Drasna or Malva. It also loses most matchups with Flare as they prefer Fire/Poison types, but it can hit the Dark types with STAB later in the game.

Froakie starts off very frail, struggling with the gym he should be SE against (Grant), gains Surf after Korrina (which it painfully needs), outright loses to both Ramos and Clemont, will likely lose vs Valerie, beats Olympia and then does okay vs Wulfric. Greninja pulls Froakie up the order somewhat with a larger movepool expansion and being able to learn Ice Beam. It's base coverage with just Dark Pulse/Surf/Ice Beam let's it beat everything in the E4 apart from Siebold (where it also holds its own). It's issue lies in the midgame however, where Frogadier does not really help in a lot of situations.

EDIT: So IAR has told me that E4's have 25 and Diantha has 30 for IVs. Makes a little bit of difference to the calcs (around 7~10hp). Nothing massive though (thats 25 for Probo and staying at 15 for Delphox)
 
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Colonel M

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Give me solid evidence as to why it's the best by a wide margin and then i might believe you.
So far this thread has failed to do that.
(Colonel M: I tested. Delphox can't tank a Power gem or an earthquake)
With 0 HP IVs, 0 SpD IVs, and a -SpD nature, Delphox would have to be Level 49 to be OHKOed by Power Gem from Probopass.

You are not going to sit and tell me that Delphox will be Level 49 at that point. That is utter nonsense.

NEVERMIND THAT DELPHOX WOULD SURVIVE AFTER A CALM MIND UNLESS POWER GEM CRIT AGAINST DELPHOX.

tl;dr - Delphox is fine against Probopass. For fucks sake I am ignoring anything on Delphox not surviving Probopass Power Gem unless it is by crit. If you're not setting up against Klefki (which barring Torment which you can play around nets you at least 2-3 Calm Minds easy) You Are Doing It Wrong.<tm>

Case closed. Delphox remains at A or B.
 

Its_A_Random

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What I want to know, and am interested in ATM is whether or not it's early-mid game as a Braixen is bad enough so as to drop it to B. When I tested it a long time ago without Exp. Share, it was pretty unspectacular and made me question a little as to whether or not it was worth an A. It has a solid endgame yes but I feel that the Braixen period is more or less the make or break bit. Maybe I might need to do another run but ehhh...

On one hand you have Ralts who has a terrible early-mid game until it evolves around Gym 4 and starts ripping through stuff and that is B solely on that early phase. On the other hand you have Magikarp which is rubbish-tier until it evolves and starts ripping through stuff and that is A. Keep in in mind that Braixen does not Evolve until typically around Gym 5/6 and that these are comparisons which may or may not be valid in terms of bad until evolution. So yeah. Is the Braixen period bad enough to drop Fennekin to B or not?

Also idk why people are still arguing whether or not it should go to D when I ruled it out on the previous page lol.
 
I think Braixen seems to be not very good by stats / typing / moves in mid game, but at the moment, you fight Korrina with Unstabbed Psybeam, Ramos with powerful fire Stabs and you can help against Clemont and you should evolve between Clemont and Valeria. Then, after, it's easy.

For me,
Fennekin is A
Chespin is B (or A-)
Froakie is C (or B-)
 

Tomy

I COULD BE BANNED!
Give me solid evidence as to why it's the best by a wide margin and then i might believe you.
So far this thread has failed to do that.
(Colonel M: I tested. Delphox can't tank a Power gem or an earthquake)
I like the fact that you're quoting my post, but, in the other hand, you're not providing any answer to the arguments and questions other members had made.
Imo, the only zones in the game where Braixen struggles are Grant's Gym and Reflection Cave. Gym-wise its mid-game is actually good. Bad against Grant, but from Korrina until the end it won't be deadweight by any means (unlike Frogadier and Quilladin). Fennekin should stay in A.
 

Colonel M

I COULD BE BORED!
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Short answer: Probably fine to remain in A.

Long answer: Though VV made some pretty awful reasons on why Delphox is D, I cannot deny that he is somewhat right on other circumstances on at least consideration of B Tier. On the other hand there are other mons like Bulbasaur that it is actually close to in usefulness.

- Bulbasaur has roughly the same gym advantages as Fennekin does.
- Ivysaur is an okay phase but Venusaur is a huge power spike - much like Delphox is for Braxien.
- Both perform decently in the Elite 4.
- Both have their pros and cons versus some matchups that Team Flare has.

The Mega Evolution is the only thing that really helps Venusaur trump Fennekin in a debate one-on-one for example. But even going back to Roserade - it's a great Pokemon, but it is hindered to be a Roselia for a while until STAB Petal Dance hits the stage.

Being honest I'm going to support keeping Fennekin A at the end of the day. I will open up to being a potential B (because, in fairness, there are reasons to knock it down there). It is a borderline A / B scenario, but even some like Sawk could be argued for that too. Sawk is very strong, but it also is a Pokemon that has average steam against some Gym matchups (Valerie and Olympia shred it, Korrina's Hawlucha laughs at it, and Clemont's Emolga is a so-so match-up). So honestly considering a lot of A Pokemon have flaws that come along with them... I think I'm going to say Fennekin A.
 
Reserving Nidoking for now. Just picked up a copy of X a few days ago and have been having a blast!

Edit: Finally finished! Apologies for any mistakes, I'mpposting from my phone.

Edit #2: Been a long while since anyone's posted here, so I'll clean up this post myself

Edit #3: Fixed it again after reading through previous reviews :P



Nidoran-M
Availability:
Route 11 as either Nidoran-M (horde encounter) or Nidorino (uncommon in X, rare in Y).
Stats: Good 102/85 offenses and decent 81/77/75 defenses are offset by a meh 85 Speed.
Type: Nidoking's Poison/Ground typing gives it 5 resists to Poison, Fighting, Fairy, Rock, and bug along with a relevant Electric immunity while being weak to 4 common late game types.
Movepool: His level up movepool is shallow save for Earth Power at 43. Fortunately its access to TMs more than make up for this, with immediate access to Dig and Poison Jab after reaching Shalour City. Later on Nidoking gets Earthquake, Sludge Bomb, Stone Edge, Thunderbolt, Flamethrower/Fire Blast, Ice Beam, as well as Cut, Surf, and Strength if needed.
Major Battles: Nidoking proceeds to destroy every other gym up to Olympia through a combination of typing and movepool. Just make sure to watch out for Gogoat's Bulldoze and Valerie's Mr. Mime. He also does well against the multitude of Poison types in Team Flare, though it'll need Rock Tomb/Thunderbolt to hit the random Golbats. He begins to fall out at Olympia's gym as his weaknesses become more common throughout the end game and is forced to sit out most of the Elite Four and Diantha.
Additional Notes: You can find a Moon Stone in Reflection Cave to evolve into Nidoking as soon as you catch it. Sheer Force goes a long way to improving Nidoking's effectiveness, provided you're willing to invest the time and energy in fighting Horde battles.
 
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Two suggestions:

Gengar

Gengar should be lower. It has good coverage but appears too late in the game. It is useless against Olympia and hits almost nothing on the elite 4 super-effectively. It can do little against Diantha. Its bulk is poor and most pokemon have STAB attacks not Normal or Ghost. It cannot safely switch in on SET mode.

Bidoof

Bidoof should be higher. Bidoof has decent bulk and decent attack. Bibarel learns an unprecedented number of HMs and it can learn almost any TM. Bidoof evolves early and levels quickly. Bidoof/Bibarel is not necessarily a Pokemon with one good niche, but a jack-of-all stats used to remedy any weaknesses the team has. Its BST is a bit low, but quick leveling does fix that.
 

Its_A_Random

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Two suggestions:

Gengar

Gengar should be lower. It has good coverage but appears too late in the game. It is useless against Olympia and hits almost nothing on the elite 4 super-effectively. It can do little against Diantha. Its bulk is poor and most pokemon have STAB attacks not Normal or Ghost. It cannot safely switch in on SET mode.
Okay I think this is a little misinformed and underestimates Gengar here and I am going to show you why (Do remember you get a Gengarite in Laverre):

0 SpA Mega Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Sigilyph: 152-180 (120.6 - 142.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 SpA Mega Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Slowking: 114-134 (76.5 - 89.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Mega Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Meowstic: 138-164 (100 - 118.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

And this is a level 44 neutral Mega Gengar with 16 IV's and no EV's across the board. Slowking only OHKO's 50% of the time with Psychic. "Useless against Olympia" is anything but really.

Useless against the Elite Four?

vs. Siebold:
0 SpA Mega Gengar Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Clawitzer: 134-158 (75.2 - 88.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Mega Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Starmie: 186-218 (113.4 - 132.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 SpA Mega Gengar Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Gyarados: 240-284 (115.3 - 136.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 SpA Mega Gengar Energy Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Barbaracle: 264-312 (143.4 - 169.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

And that is level 60 with same investments.

Here are some other E4 Pokémon with same conditions (Two Malva Three Diantha):
0 SpA Mega Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Chandelure: 174-206 (106 - 125.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 SpA Mega Gengar Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Talonflame: 158-188 (82.2 - 97.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Mega Gengar Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Hawlucha: 170-200 (88 - 103.6%) -- 25% chance to OHKO
0 SpA Mega Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Gourgeist-Average: 192-228 (107.2 - 127.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 SpA Mega Gengar Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mega Gardevoir: 126-150 (66.3 - 78.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

The long and short of it is that next to nothing in the E4 is not at least 2HKOed by Mega Gengar (Goodra and Probopass being notable exceptions), and that is being generous with calcs so damages will generally be higher in reality. You are underestimating Gengar in the E4 by a fair margin. Set mode is irrelevant for tiering.

Bidoof

Bidoof should be higher. Bidoof has decent bulk and decent attack. Bibarel learns an unprecedented number of HMs and it can learn almost any TM. Bidoof evolves early and levels quickly. Bidoof/Bibarel is not necessarily a Pokemon with one good niche, but a jack-of-all stats used to remedy any weaknesses the team has. Its BST is a bit low, but quick leveling does fix that.
Bidoof is not worth higher than C, let's be honest. It's early game growth and HM compression is the main reason it is in C in the first place to be honest, and it is probably more likely to drop than raise. Do you really see Bidoof on the same plane than you see Gardevoir, Xerneas, Tyrunt, the Nidos, or even Hawlucha? I personally do not.
 

Its_A_Random

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Aaaaand back to scheduled dormant regular programming.

Let's change that for the 48959565678956079869th time.


Sudowoodo
Availability:
Route 20, Uncommon (Horde Only).
Stats: Decent physical offense and defense, very slow, not really good on the special side of things.
Typing: Rock-typing is at least somewhat useful in the endgame as it provides an advantage against a few encounters but has a few bad match-ups as well.
Movepool: Sudowoodo gets access to a few decent Rock-, Dark-, and Fighting-type moves by level-up as well as Wood Hammer through a Heart Scale, and has a TM movepool which only gives it extra Ground-type coverage, still gives it decent moves to learn.
Major Battles: Despite its typing, Wulfric is not a good matchup due to Hail, Abomasnow, and Avalugg's monstrous physical bulk, and Siebold and Wilkstrom are little better for Sudowoodo. It possesses one good matchup against Malva and even then, it needs items to succeed.
Additional Comments: Sturdy is generally better, but Rock Head gives Wood Hammer no recoil, making it an option. Irrespective, Sudowoodo only comes at Lv25 when your party is normally in the early 50's, meaning it will take a long time to get it up to par for little return.


Scyther
Availability:
Route 21, 10%.
Stats: Scyther is geared towards a fast, competent physical attacker. Evolution sees it forfeit a lot of speed for higher attack and better bulk.
Typing: Bug/Flying-typing during the endgame is not a very stellar typing but at least helps with the Victory Road trainers. Evolution to Scizor eliminates a lot of weaknesses and helps in some situations, but isn't too much better outside of resists.
Movepool: Scyther learns a fair few Bug-, Normal-, Dark-, and Flying-type attacks by level-up, and evolution adds Steel-type coverage. TM wise, it is much the same save the addition of Fighting-type coverage though evolution gives it access to Acrobatics which Scyther does not learn. Also gets Swords Dance which allows it to set up.
Major Battles: Though effective in Victory Road and select Pokémon from the final rival battle, Scyther and Scizor mostly struggle during the Pokémon league with select Pokémon from Diantha being their only good match-ups.
Additional Comments: Technician is the superior ability since Scyther and Scizor tend to rely on low BAP moves. The choice as to whether to evolve it or not comes down to if the drop in speed is worth the better typing and natural bulk, but does not generally matter much in the grand scheme of things.

I will probably look at the rest of the endgame Pokémon soon, and I will get onto work on shortening that Nidoking entry sooner or later.
 
I hope this isn't a stupid question, but was the missing description under some Pokemon intentional? For example, Charizard X, Budew, and Bulbasaur all have no description whatsoever, only being above Charizard Y and Fennekin, respectively, in your second post regrding S and A ranks. I didn't see in your post anywhere that there was a reason for it, so I wanted to notify.

Also, I'm believing this discussion will copied smogon.com/ingame after enough or all Pokemon obtainable are ranked, correct? What I mean is that there are a couple wikis like this for Black and White, HGSS, etc. all located under smogon.com/ingame, such as http://www.smogon.com/ingame/misc/bw_ingametiers
 

DHR-107

Robot from the Future
is a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Pokemon Researcheris a Smogon Media Contributor
Orange Islands
I hope this isn't a stupid question, but was the missing description under some Pokemon intentional? For example, Charizard X, Budew, and Bulbasaur all have no description whatsoever, only being above Charizard Y and Fennekin, respectively, in your second post regrding S and A ranks. I didn't see in your post anywhere that there was a reason for it, so I wanted to notify.

Also, I'm believing this discussion will copied smogon.com/ingame after enough or all Pokemon obtainable are ranked, correct? What I mean is that there are a couple wikis like this for Black and White, HGSS, etc. all located under smogon.com/ingame, such as http://www.smogon.com/ingame/misc/bw_ingametiers
Yes it, simply means they have not yet been completed. Problem with lists like these is they take an inordinate amount of time to complete. It will hopefully end up on the site when it has been completed, but as and when that will happen is not really a fixed timeframe. XY has a lot of Pokemon to talk about/discuss and then write up. It is no small endeavour.
 
I know this thread is effectively dead, but it bothers the hell out of me to see it incomplete. As such, I'll be reserving Kangaskhan.

EDIT:
After actually catching one for once, I changed my mind to Snorlax!

EDIT THE 2ND:
Gonna take the opportunity to reserve Lapras as well!

EDIT THE 3rd!!: Also reserving Mega Charizard X

Last Edit (I swear!): Finally done! I will never use such a Fighting weak team again. Reflection Cave and Victory Road were absolute nightmares!


Lapras:
Availability:
Received as a gift from the Pokemon Breeder at the beginning of Route 12 (can only be obtained after earning the 3rd gym badge). Alternatively it can be found rarely on Route 12 and Azure Bay by Surfing.
Stats: Good 130/80/95 bulk and acceptable 85/85 offensive stats. Slow 60 Speed is a letdown.
Typing: Water/Ice is rather poor defensively. Being 4x resistant to Ice and immune to Water (thanks to its ability) comes in handy later on, but its glaring weaknesses to the common Fighting-, Rock-, Electric-, and Grass-types hurt its usefulness.
Movepool: Lapras's biggest advantage over its other Water-type brethren is its immediate access to STAB Ice Beam after a scant 2 levels, allowing it to actually be useful at the next gym. Surf is Lapras's other go-to move, though it learns Hydro Pump later on as well if you need the additional power. Thunderbolt or Thunder rounds out her coverage, letting Lapras fight Water types. The last slot can be taken up by Psychic for additional coverage; Body Slam for utility; or Strength/Waterfall.
Major Battles: Ice Beam wrecks Ramos, though Lapras will fail to OHKO Gogoat while it can threaten with Grass Knot. She then sits out Clemont and does very little to Valerie and Olympia due to Light Screen and their Pokemon's naturally high Special Defense. Lapras does well at the 8th gym, but can't scratch his Abomasnow. Things perk up for Lapras against Lysandre (as long as you avoid Mienshao and Mega Gyarados) and at the Elite Four, destroying Malva, Drasna, and Siebold (beware of Barbaracle). Sadly Lapras has no chance against Diantha as all of her mons save Mega Gardevoir have supereffective coverage against her.
Additional Notes: Lapras has a lot of immediate advantages over the other Water-types, namely not needing to backtrack and STAB Ice Beam out of the gate. But her painfully average stats just can't cash in on them. If you didn't choose Froakie or Squirtle, Lapras makes a good 3rd option. Just don't expect her to always pull through for you.


-~-

Snorlax:
Availability:
Route 7 via story event. It will always be level 15.
Stats: Excellent 165/110 Special bulk and 110 Attack makes Snorlax a terror for most special attackers in the game. On the other side of the coin, Snorlax is abysmally slow and has a barely there 65 Defense and Special Attack.
Typing: Normal is meh, being immune to only Ghost and weak to the multitude of Fighting-types littered throughout the game.
Movepool: Snorlax starts out with STAB Chip Away/Return, Bulldoze, Rock Tomb, and Power-Up Punch early on. Later in the game it'll get Earthquake, Rock Slide, Crunch, and Brick Break. It can also learn Surf, Strength, and Rock Smash if needed.
Major Battles: Snorlax sits out Grant and Korrina, but basically pulls its generous weight at every gym after that. Only Valerie's and Wulfric's physically defensive Mawile and Avalugg will give it trouble, respectively. Snolax won't do much to Wikstrom, but fares well against the others (just watch out for Siebold's Clawitzer and Barbaricle, who can both tank a hit and counterattack with supereffective coverage). It also handles Diantha's Aurorus, Gourgeist, Goodra (watch for Focus Blast), and Mega Gardevoir.
Additional Notes: Thick Fat is the preferred ability, giving Snorlax 2 resists to Fire and Ice attacks. You'll also need to stock up on healing items, as it will almost always go last.

-~-

Charmander [X]:
Availability:
Lumiose City (as a gift from Professor Sycamore).
Stats: Ridiculous 130 Attack and Special Attack backed by 110 Defense when Mega evolved, as well as a decent 100 speed. HP and Special Defense are mediocre.
Typing: Fire/Dragon makes MegaZard X neutral/resistant to Electric and Water respectively in exchange for new weaknesses to Ground- and Dragon-type attacks.
Movepool: Dragon Rage is great for leveling up, OHKOing or 2HKOing anything it hits. Fire Fang/Flame Burst give Charmander some STAB power as well, while Hone Claws/Swords Dance/PUP gives it a boost in power. Dig and Rock Tomb offer coverage. Late game MegaZard X gets Earthquake, Stone Edge, Dragon Claw, and either Fire Blast or Flare Blitz (use a Heart Scale for the latter). It can also learn Fly, Cut, Strength, or Rock Smash if needed.
Major Battles: Charmander/Charmeleon doesn't do much against Grant or Korrina (unless you grind to Charizard for the latter), but after that every gym is your bitch. Team Flare fares little better, though you may want to avoid Lysandre's Gyarados, as it knows Outrage. The Elite Four will struggle to do anything to you save for Siebold and maybe Drasna. Only Diantha's Tyrantrum and Mega Gardevoir should give you any trouble in the final fight.
Additional Notes: MegaZard X is almost unfair in how absurdly powerful it is. Few, if any battles will give you trouble once you evolve it. Remember to prioritize contact moves to benefit from its Tough Claws ability.

-~-​

And finally, while I know I didn't reserve it, I also used Ferrothorn in this playthrough, so I figured I might as well do it as well:


Ferroseed:
Availability:
Reflection Cave, drops from the ceiling from levels 15 to 17.
Stats: Ferroseed has good defenses, but otherwise little else. When it evolves into Ferrothorn at 40, it becomes much bulkier with a respectable Attack stat as well. Its horrifically slow, however, and will always go last.
Typing: Grass/Steel is very solid defensively, giving Ferrothorn several resistances to common types like Fairy, Water, Electric, and an immunity to Poison. The trade-offs are weaknesses to Fire and the ever present Fighting-types.
Movepool: Nonexistent (save for Curse, Hone Claws, and Gyro Ball) until you evolve it into Ferrothorn, where it learns Power Whip and Iron Head. Bulldoze should be used as its final coverage move, as it lets it take on Wikstrom.
Major Battles: Can't do much against Korrina, Ramos, or Clemont. By the time you reach Valerie, it should be evolved and ready to take down the remaining 3 gyms. Doesn't do as well against Team Flare, who often carry Houndoom, Scrafty, and Toxicroak late game, and only performs well against Lysandre's Gyarados. The Elite Four is a mixed bag for Ferrothorn; Wikstrom's Aegislash cancels out any Curse boosts, Siebold's Clawitzer carries Aura Sphere and is bulky enough to tank a Power Whip, and Noivern can fry it with Flamethrower. It otherwise does well against all of their other Pokemon. Ferrothorn can dismantle Diantha's team once Hawlucha and Goodra are down.
Additional Notes: Ferrothorn isn't useful until it evolves, so expect to be leading with it until then.
 
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Huh, I thought I was gonna be the one to give this thread a Wake-Up Slap
I decided towards the end of summer break to play through Kalos at least one more time before Sun & Moon fully takes over.

Credit EDIT: Its_A_Random I noticed under the list of write-up credits that you miscredited me for writing up Flareon and Zangoose (I wrote up Jolteon, which is currently uncredited). Credit should go to Tomy for those two entries.



Nidoran♀
Availability:
Nidoran♀, Route 11, Common (Horde only); Nidorina, Route 11, 5%
Stats: A strong starting balance of power and bulk that make up for its mediocre 76 Speed gradually loses its effectiveness as the game progesses.
Typing: Ground/Poison typing as Nidoqueen is great defensively and decent offensively. While this typing has poor type matchups and has trouble against coverage moves in the lategame, it provides plenty of solid matchups during the midgame.
Movepool: Nidorina and Nidoqueen's shallow level-up movepool is covered by its wide range of easy-to-access TMs. This includes reliable dual STAB by Shalour City, Hone Claws, Thunderbolt, and Ice Beam. Other viable moves include Superpower, Earthquake, and Fire Blast, among others. It is a decent HM slave, too, with access to Surf, Strength, Cut, and Rock Smash.
Major Battles: It excels against Korrina, Ramos, Clemont, and Valerie. Its defensive typing and TM coverage also give it good matchups against Team Flare, Malva, and Wilkstrom, but its mediocre offensive stats and speed cause it to struggle for most of the lategame.
Additional Comments: Sheer Force Nidoran♀ is a excellent ability to pick up but is too rare to justify catching, especially since wild Nidorina are guaranteed both three flawless IVs and the option to combine Poison Point with the TM, Venoshock. The first Moon Stone is found in Reflection Cave, which is conveniently located next to Route 11.

--------

Staryu
Availiability:
Route 8, 30% (Good Rod)
Stats: Great as a fast special attacker but is mediocre in the rest of its stats.
Typing: Water/Psychic typing fully evolved provides strong STAB, but Starmie learns no Psychic STAB until endgame. Defensively, it has about as many unfortunate weakness as useful resistances.
Movepool: HM Surf provides Staryu with great Water STAB upon capture, and as a Starmie, Hydro Pump may be taught by the Move Relearner if stronger STAB is desired. Starmie can only learn STAB Psychic/Psyshock at the endgame from TMs. Starmie makes up for this loss with good coverage moves, including Grass Knot, Thunderbolt, Dazzling Gleam, and Ice Beam/Blizzard. It may learn HM Waterfall if necessary.
Major Battles: Starmie has no clear favorable matchups on typing alone bar Malva, and it is does not prove its value until after Valerie. After Valerie, Starmie's coverage moves allow it to battle a large number of Pokémon. With coverage, its most notable matchups include Drasna, Siebold, and most of Team Flare.
Additional Comments: Natural Cure is preferrred over Illuminate as the latter becomes a detriment in the long run of a playthrough. A Water Stone is found on Route 8's cliff (Strength required) and at the Stone Emporium, granting Staryu the opportunity to evolve upon capture. Slow EXP growth is an issue for leveling up, but this issue does not affect its movepool due to its reliance on TMs and the Move Relearner.
 
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Almost done with my latest run through of X. Gonna take the opportunity to reserve Bulbasaur, Golett, and Goomy!

EDIT:
And done!



Bulbasaur
Availability:
Lumiose City (gift from Professor Sycamore)
Stats: Venusaur is designed to be a Special Tank, with middling stats save for its Special Attack and Special Defense. As Mega Venusaur, everything save its Speed gets a major boost, allowing it to hit hard both physically and specially, as well as becoming tankier.
Typing: Grass/Poison is solid in game, giving Venusaur several key resistances to Fighting-, Fairy-, and Water-types, at the cost of being weak to Psychic and Flying. Mega Venusaur also gains the Thick Fat ability when it Mega Evolves, making it neutral to Fire- and Ice-type attacks.
Movepool: Bulbasaur starts with Razor Leaf, Sleep Powder, and Venoshock until it evolves into Venusaur, where it learns Petal Dance. Its movepool is otherwise barren save for Sludge Bomb and Earthquake. It can learn Cut, Rock Smash, and Strength if needed.
Major Battles: Bulbasaur sits out Grant and Olympia, but otherwise does well in all other battles. Just don't put it up against Ramos's Jumpluff, Valerie's Mr. Mime, or Lysandre's Honchkrow. It also performs outstandingly against all of the Elite Four, save for Drasna.
Additional Notes: Venusaur more than earns its place as the best Grass-type in the game. The only thing holding it back is its relatively poor movepool, and even then it gets what it needs, when it needs it.


Golett
Availability:
Route 10, ranging from levels 19-21
Stats: You'll be stuck with Golett's unimpressive stats for the majority of the midgame until it evolves. Golurk's impressive attack and decent defenses are let down by its poor speed, ensuring it almost always goes 2nd. Its Special Attack is also unusable.
Typing: Unique Ghost/Ground typing both helps and hinders Golurk, giving it weaknesses to the common Dark-, Water-, and Grass-type moves but also making it immune to Electric- and Fighting-types.
Movepool: Golett comes with Shadow Punch and quickly learns Magnitude for its main attacks throughout the game. If you hold off evolution until 45, you can also learn Earthquake much earlier. Golurk can learn Stone Edge/Rock Slide and Power-Up Punch/Hammer Arm for coverage. Strength, Rock Smash, and (surprisingly) Fly can be taught for utility.
Major Battles: Golett can't do anything to Grant or Ramos, being too slow and weak to their Pokemon's coverage, but makes up for it by being nigh untouchable against Korrina and Clemont. Golurk decimates Valerie and Olympia with Earthquake and Shadow Punch, though will need to be switched out to heal its injuries. Wulfric and Siebold are write-offs, but performs decently well against Wikstrom and Malva (barring Aegislash and Chandelure, respectively).
Additional Notes: Iron Fist is required for Golurk, as it improves its Power-Up Punch and Hammer Arm attacks, and Klutz prevents it from holding Eviolite.


Goomy
Availability:
Route 14, most commonly in the shallow water
Stats: Goodra is all but immune to most non-supereffecive Special Attacks thanks to its impressive 150 Special Defense, and can fire back with its above average Attack and Special Attack, but can't take physical hits nearly as well. It's Speed is average.
Typing: Being pure Dragon gives Goodra useful resistances to Water, Fire, Electric, and Grass but is weak to Ice, Dragon, and the new (and depressingly common) Fairy-types.
Movepool: Expansive, to say the least. Goomy learns Muddy Water and Dragon Pulse naturally (at 42 for the latter should you decided to hold off evolution) as well as Aqua Tail and Power Whip as Goodra. It can be further customized for whatever battle thanks to its impressive TM compatibility, including Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Sludge Bomb, Fire Blast/Flamethrower, Earthquake, and Rock Slide.
Major Battles: Goomy does next to nothing against the next 3 gyms, being flat out weak to 2 of them. Things improve for it against the Elite Four, where it performs admirably against all of them. Goodra's titanic Special Defense is particularly useful against Drasna, whos 'mons are generally special based and will struggle to even 2HKO.
Additional Notes: Sliggoo can't evolve into Goodra unless it levels up where its raining; rainy weather caused by Rain Dance will not evolve it.
 
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Doing one last run through of X before Sun/Moon drops.


Rhyhorn
Availability:
Found in the 3D area of Glittering Cave from levels 16 to 17.
Stats: Rhydon's the textbook definition of a physical tank: its HP, Attack, and Defense are excellent, but are let down by his awful Special stats and poor speed.
Typing: Rock/Ground is a powerful combination offensively, but at the cost of being weak to several common types including Water-, Grass-, and Fighting-types.
Movepool: Rock Blast and Bulldoze/Dig let Rhyhorn get off to a great start. Rhydon learns both Stone Edge and Earthquake naturally and can also learn Poison Jab, Megahorn, and Hammer Arm for coverage. Finally, Cut, Surf, Strength, and Rock Smash can be learned if needed.
Major Battles: As a general rule, Rhyhorn/don can tank any physical attack that isn't Grass- or Water-type thanks to Eviolite, but can fall to even neutral special attacks, making him a decent match-up against Korrina even with the weakness. Conversely, it does poorly against Clemont due to his pokemon's special type coverage despite his type advantage. His only real bright spot is against Malva, whose pokemon lack the power and coverage to dent him.
Additional Notes: You can pick up a Protector in the Lost Hotel shortly after Valerie, but Rhyperior's stats are only slightly better than Rhydon's. More importantly you lose out on Eviolite, which is crucial to Rhydon's success.

EDIT: Didn't even notice that this post was made on my account's first year anniversary! Lucky me :)
 
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Tagging for Emolga.


Emolga
Availability:
Route 10, tall grass and yellow flowers, 5% chance each. Levels 19-20.
Stats: Emolga is incredibly fast with 103 base Speed and base 75 in its attacking stats, but its defenses are frail.
Typing: Electric/Flying is a good combo that gives it just two weaknesses (Rock, Ice) and one immunity (Ground).
Movepool: Emolga is a good mixed-attacker option with Acrobatics and Electro Ball at lower levels, with access to Thunderbolt and Volt Switch later on. If you need, you can detour back to Connecting Cave after beating Grant to grab Aerial Ace, which is a good physical option until you get Acrobatics at Level 30 or in Coumarine City. Electro Ball is particularly useful with Static to maximize the speed difference.
Major Battles: Emolga is very strong against Korrina and Ramos due to its Flying-type, but isn't very useful against the last four Gym Leaders. It gets redemption against Siebold when you reach the Elite Four. In addition, Emolga is super-effective against three of Lysander's four Pokémon.
Additional Comments: Once you get Acrobatics, Emolga should not be holding an item to maximize its power from that move. Static can also be useful in a a pinch if you get lucky.
 
I'll tag for Ziggy.

Name: Zigzagoon
Availability:
Route 2, 15% chance. It cannot break out of a Poké Ball thrown at it on this route.
Stats: Zigzagoon's highest stat is Speed at 60 until it becomes Linoone, where it becomes at least usable. Mostly 70s across the board, but it does have a 100 base Speed stat as Linoone.
Typing: Normal-typing gives it only one weakness; unfortunately, it is super-effective against nothing.
Movepool: The only move that isn't a Normal-type move that it gets through level-up is Play Rough, and along with Double-Edge, you can't teach it to Linoone until you hit the Move Relearner in Dendemille Town. Every level-up move it has except for Play Rough and Fling is Normal-type. You can teach it Return or Dig to augment its moveset, or just use it for HMs.
Major Battles: Linoone has a type advantage over one boss character - Drasna. And that's if you teach it Play Rough, which does not have STAB and runs off Linoone's base 70 attack. There are much better options to use here.
Additional Comments: Pickup is at least useful for item farming.

EDIT: I'll take Budew while I'm at it.

Budew
Availability:
Route 4. 10% chance in either colour of flowers.
Stats: Roselia has great Special Attack, but Roserade is extremely strong here with 125 Special Attack and 105 Special Defense. The only downside is that its physical Attack and Defense, as well as HP, are on the weak side.
Typing: Grass/Poison helps to neutralize Bug-types and Ground-types. Unfortunately, it still has four weaknesses, and three of them (Psychic, Ice, and Fire) are used by Gym Leaders or Elite Four members.
Movepool: Roselia has access to a good pool of Grass-type special moves to take advantage of its 100 Special Attack, including Giga Drain and Petal Dance. Unfortunately, the only good Poison-type attack it has is Sludge Bomb, which isn't obtained until after Team Flare has been defeated. Make sure you have the level-up moveset you want before evolving to Roserade. It cannot learn any new level-up moves once you do so.
Major Battles: Roselia is a good choice to take on Ramos and Valerie. For best results, pair Toxic Spikes (which you should have by now as a level-up move) or Toxic with Venoshock, which doubles in power against a poisoned opponent. Just be careful of Valerie's Mawile; this strategy won't work on it because it's Steel-type. Roserade is also useful against Siebold.
Additional Comments: Budew needs to have high friendship to evolve, and it can only do so during daylight. In addition, you're going to need a Shiny Stone to get Roserade.
 
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Nearly one year since the last post, eh?

Here are four more Pokémon XY in-game analyses.
Also, here's the current list of Pokémon that need write-ups:
EDIT: This list has been moved to the next page on a different post of mine
EDTI 9-25-2018: write-up fix-ups

Confirming that Starly is B-rank and Vaporeon is C-rank.
Starly does what one would expect a Normal/Flyer with Close Combat to do.
Vaporeon can easily rely on Aurora Beam (and Rock Smash for Grant's Amaura) until it has access to Surf. Fire-, Rock-, Ground-, and Team Flare's Pokémon are easy to dispatch. I, however, find it struggling to quickly take out faster opponents and most Water-types in general. Water-types, interstingly, don't faze Vaporeon that much either (Water Absorb), so I end up playing a slow Acid Armor+Toxic stall game against Siebold.

Houndour puts in enough work to be moved up into C-rank. The struggle to level up early on is rough, with Grant and Korrina being matchups Houdour has no business with. It does, however, always get a chance to shine by sweeping through your Rival, which happens periodically (you'll need a Speed O-Power if he/she has the Water-type starter). It gets Fire Fang and evolves into Houndoom at just the right time, that being Ramos's gym. From there, it can hold its own with its good attacking stats and Speed, and it has little trouble with the final three gym leaders and Wikstrom. Houndour's main downside is its reliability on type matchups to succeed: it'll clean through most Pokémon weak to its attacks but will struggle against those that hit its weaknesses.
For the record, I kept Howl on my Houndoom until I cleared through Olympia. One can, however, make the transition to Nasty Plot before defeating her, especially since TM Snarl is already available and TM's Flamethrower and Fire Blast are both within Anistar City.

Axew, I think, should be a B-rank. (It might be C-rank) It goes on a tear when it becomes a Haxorus, and even before then, it has the potential to sweep both Clemont and Valerie (because the Mawile lead does little to Axew aside from Iron Defense to neutralize Dragon Dance and damage it with Crunch). Its general damage output is usually in the 2HKO range with or without a Dragon Dance boost, and its early coverage TM's in Dig, Poison Jab, Return, and X-Scissor made it rather flexible in matchups. Speed and bulk are concerning, although it reaches a good base Speed as Haxorus.

One last thing. I just want to comment on how nice Farfetch'd is up until Cyllage City. I don't how it fairs at Grant or past that point, but the very early game is a breeze to go through using Farfetch'd, making it quicker to get to the event of capturing any early-mid game Pokémon.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Axew
Availability:
Connecting Cave, 10%
Stats: Axew is high in Attack, low in Sp. Attack, and average in all other stats. When fully evolved, its Speed becomes above average, and its Attack reaches an exceptional base 147.
Typing: Dragon typing provides STAB with excellent neutral coverage and some handy resistances. However, it leaves Axew very vulnerable to Fairy- and Ice-types.
Movepool: Axew has a great offensive movepool, with good physical Dragon STAB and Dragon Rage from the start, a healthy number of TM options for adjustable coverage, and Dragon Dance at Level 32 to make it an effective sweeper. If needed, it can learn Cut, Rock Smash, Strength, or Surf (Surf learnable only by Haxorus).
Major Battles: Most major battles involve either using Dragon Dance to sweep or dealing heavy damage when boosting isn’t reliable. Opponents Axew can set up on with little support include Clemont, Valerie, and Malva.
Additional Comments: Mold Breaker is Axew’s must-have Ability for breaking Sturdy Pokémon. Raising Axew is difficult due to its late evolution levels and Slow EXP growth, so having it keep the Eviolite until it fully evolves is highly recommended for its success.



Starly
Availability:
Route 11, 5% (Horde only) for Starly; Route 11, 20% for Staravia
Stats: Great Attack and high Speed.
Typing: Normal/Flying provides strong STAB options and an immunity to Ground-types. It is generally useful throughout the game, though it should be mindful of Rock-and Electric-types.
Movepool: Frustration, Return and Aerial Ace are available STAB options from TM’s when caught, alongside TM Thief. Close Combat, learned when Staravia evolves at Level 34, gives Staraptor much needed type coverage, and Brave Bird at Level 49 provides powerful Flying STAB. Staraptor can use HM Fly if desired.
Major Battles: It performs well against Korrina, Ramos, and Team Flare. Generally, it can support its teammates with Intimidate or with high damage dealt by Brave Bird and Close Combat.
Additional Comments: Reckless Starly from Horde encounters is available, trading great defensive utility in Intimidate for extra power. However, Reckless is only applicable to two of Starly’s moves, both of which are not learned for quite a while after capture.




Eevee (Vaporeon)
Availability:
Route 10, 20% (Yellow Flowers, for Level 19-20 wild Eevee)
Stats: Though lacking in Speed, Vaporeon has a remarkable HP stat, backed by good Sp. Defense to tank hits and high Sp. Attack to hit back.
Typing: Vaporeon Water typing is decent offensively and defensively, but its two weaknesses to Grass and Electric are apparent when at Ramos and Clemont’s gyms.
Movepool: It is very limited in offensive options: it has zero Water STAB options available until HM Surf, it needs to evolve from Eevee by Lv. 20 to learn Aurora Beam, and its few good attacking TM’s all appear late into the adventure. Acid Armor, learned at 29, turns Vaporeon into a more reliable wall. TM Rock Smash is a one-time viable offensive option for Grant’s Amaura. If needed, it can learn Dig, Strength and Waterfall.
Major Battles: Vaporeon can beat Grant in spite of its lack of Water STAB to use against him. Its other great matchups include Malva and Team Flare, and its Aurora Beam gives it an edge against Ramos’s Jumpluff and Drasna. Vaporeon is not very effective at Clemont’s gym and is in a slow stalemate versus Siebold and Water-types in general.
Additional Comments: Purchasing a Water Stone from the Stone Emporium is necessary in order to evolve Eevee before it faces Grant. If Vaporeon is not to be used against him, you can use the Water Stone at Route 8 instead (Strength required).



Houndour [X]
Availability:
Route 10, 20%
Stats: Houndour has good Speed with decent Attack and high Sp. Attack, allowing it to transition from physical attacker early game to special attacker late game.
Typing: Dark/Fire typing provides great neutral coverage and a handy immunity to Psychic-type attacks. In spite of its four weaknesses to common attacking types, it stands out among other Dark-types for not being weak to Fairy.
Movepool: Houndour relies solely on physical STAB and Howl until progressing to Dendemille Town. As a Houndoom, it learns Nasty Plot and Thunder Fang from Madam Reminder and learns Crunch at a very late Level 56. Its Special movepool consists of late game TM’s. TM’s Will-O-Wisp and Snarl are support options—the latter also being Houndoom's first available special STAB move—that provide defensive buffers for setting up Howl and Nasty Plot boosts.
Major Battles: If Houndour can boost with Howl or Nasty Plot for a sweep or has the type advantage, then it will perform very well. It performs against your Rival, Valerie, Olympia, Wulfric, and Wikstrom. Houndour is ineffective against Grant, Korrina, and Siebold.
Additional Comments: Slow EXP growth hinders Houndour’s progress to learning its first Fire-type move, Fire Fang, which Houndour can wait four levels to learn before evolving.
 
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cityscapes

Take care of yourself.
is a Tiering Contributoris a Community Contributor Alumnus
Nearly one year since the last post, eh?

Here are four more Pokémon XY in-game analyses.
Also, here's the current list of Pokémon that need write-ups:
EDIT: crossing out Pokémon on the list with entries when said entries are made
B-Tier
-----------
Abra
Xerneas [X]
Yveltal [Y]
_________________
C-Tier
-----------
Absol
Bidoof
Binacle
Drifloon
Hariyama
Haunter (w/o Trade)
Kangaskhan
Machop
Miltank
Pansear
Scraggy
Shellder [Y]
Solosis
Tauros
Tentacool
Venipede
Zubat
__________________
D-Tier
Aron [X]
Bagon
Chatot
Clamperl (Gorebyss)
Clamperl (Huntail)
Corphish
Cryogonal
Cubchoo
Ducklett
Durant
Dwebble
Electrike [Y]
Farfetch'd
Floatzel
Geodude (w/ Trade)
Goldeen
Golett
Goomy
Gulpin
Gurdurr
Heatmor
Hippopotas
Inkay
Kecleon
Litleo
Litwick
Lombre
Lunatone
Mantyke
Mareep
Nincada
Oddish (Bellossom)
Panpour
Pansage
Pawniard
Phantump (w/ Trade)
Piloswine
Poliwag (Politoed)
Poliwag (Poliwrath)
Psyduck
Quagsire
Relicanth
Remoraid
Rotom
Sableye
Shelmet (w/ Trade)
Skorupi
Smoochum
Snover
Snubbull
Spoink
Spritzee (w/ Trade) [Y]
Stunfisk
Stunky
Swablu
Swirlix
Taillow
Ursaring
Weedle
Whismur
Woobat
___________________________
E-Tier
Alomomola
Ariados
Audino
Barboach
Burmy (Wormadam Sand Cloak)
Burmy (Wormadam Trash Cloak)
Carbink
Carnivine
Chingling
Dunsparce
Eevee (Glaceon)
Ekans
Electrode
Exeggcute
Foongus
Geodude (w/o Trade) [is this necessary?]
Hoppip
Illumise
Larvitar [Y]
Liepard [Y]
Masquerain
Mawile
Mightyena [X]
Minun
Nosepass
Qwilfish
Roggenrola
Sandslash
Scyther
Skitty
Slowpoke (Slowbro)
Slowpoke (Slowking)
Slugma
Sneasel
Spritzee (w/o Trade) [Y]
Swirlix (w/o Trade) [X]
Torkoal
Trubbish
Vanillite
Volbeat
Wailmer
Watchog
Wingull


Confirming that Starly is B-rank and Vaporeon is C-rank.
Starly does what one would expect a Normal/Flyer with Close Combat to do.
Vaporeon can easily rely on Aurora Beam (and Rock Smash for Grant's Amaura) until it has access to Surf. Fire-, Rock-, Ground-, and Team Flare's Pokémon are easy to dispatch. I, however, find it struggling to quickly take out faster opponents and most Water-types in general. Water-types, interstingly, don't faze Vaporeon that much either (Water Absorb), so I end up playing a slow Acid Armor+Toxic stall game against Siebold.

Houndour puts in enough work to be moved up into C-rank. The struggle to level up early on is rough, with Grant and Korrina being matchups Houdour has no business with. It does, however, always get a chance to shine by sweeping through your Rival, which happens periodically (you'll need a Speed O-Power if he/she has the Water-type starter). It gets Fire Fang and evolves into Houndoom at just the right time, that being Ramos's gym. From there, it can hold its own with its good attacking stats and Speed, and it has little trouble with the final three gym leaders and Wikstrom. Houndour's main downside is its reliability on type matchups to succeed: it'll clean through most Pokémon weak to its attacks but will struggle against those that hit its weaknesses.
For the record, I kept Howl on my Houndoom until I cleared through Olympia. One can, however, make the transition to Nasty Plot before defeating her, especially since TM Snarl is already available and TM's Flamethrower and Fire Blast are both within Anistar City.

Axew, I think, should be a B-rank. It goes on a tear when it becomes a Haxorus, and even before then, it has the potential to sweep both Clemont and Valerie (because the Mawile lead does little to Axew aside from Iron Defense to neutralize Dragon Dance and damage it with Crunch). Its general damage output is usually in the 2HKO range with or without a Dragon Dance boost, and its early coverage TM's in Dig, Poison Jab, Return, and X-Scissor made it rather flexible in matchups. Speed will be of concern, though, until it fully evolves.

One last thing. I just want to comment on how nice Farfetch'd is up until Cyllage City. I don't how it fairs at Grant or past that point, but the very early game is a breeze to go through using Farfetch'd, making it quicker to get to the event of capturing any early-mid game Pokémon.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Axew
Availability:
Connecting Cave, 10%
Stats: Axew is high in Attack, low in Sp. Attack, and average in all other stats. When fully evolved, its Speed becomes above average, and its Attack reaches an exceptional base 147.
Typing: Dragon typing is provdes STAB with excellent neutral coverage and some handy resistances. However, this typing leaves Axew very vulnerable to Fairy- and Ice-types.
Movepool: Axew has a great offensive movepool, with good physical Dragon STAB and Dragon Rage from the start, a healthy number of TM options for adjustable coverage, and Dragon Dance at Level 32 to make it an effective sweeper. If needed, it can learn Cut, Rock Smash, Strength, or Surf (Surf learnable only by Haxorus).
Major Battles: Most major battles involve either using Dragon Dance to sweep or dealing heavy damage when boosting isn’t reliable. Opponents Axew can set up on with little support include Clemont, Valerie, and Malva.
Additional Comments: Mold Breaker is Axew’s must-have Ability for breaking Sturdy Pokémon. Raising Axew is difficult due to its late evolution levels and Slow EXP growth, so having it keep the Eviolite until it fully evolves is highly recommended for its success.


Starly
Availability:
Route 11, 5% (Horde only) for Starly; Route 11, 20% for Staravia
Stats: Great Attack and high Speed.
Typing: Normal/Flying provides strong STAB options and an immunity to Ground-types. It is generally useful throughout the game, though it should be mindful of Rock-and Electric-types.
Movepool: Frustration, Return and Aerial Ace are available STAB options from TM’s when caught, alongside TM Thief. Close Combat, learned when Staravia evolves at Level 34, gives Staraptor much needed type coverage, and Brave Bird at Level 49 provides powerful Flying STAB. Staraptor can use HM Fly if desired.
Major Battles: It performs well against Korrina, Ramos, and Team Flare. Generally, it can support its teammates with Intimidate or with high damage output from Brave Bird and Close Combat.
Additional Comments: Reckless Starly from Horde encounters is available, trading great defensive utility in Intimidate for extra power. However, Reckless is only applicable to two of Starly’s moves, both of which are not learned for quite a while after capture.



Eevee (Vaporeon)
Availability:
Route 10, 20% (Yellow Flowers, for Level 19-20 wild Eevee)
Stats: Though lacking in Speed, Vaporeon has a remarkable HP stat, backed by good Sp. Defense to tank hits and high Sp. Attack to hit back.
Typing: Vaporeon Water typing is decent offensively and defensively, but its two weaknesses to Grass and Electric are apparent when at Ramos and Clemont’s gyms.
Movepool: It is very limited in offensive options: it has zero Water STAB options available until HM Surf, it needs to evolve from Eevee by Lv. 20 to learn Aurora Beam, and its few good attacking TM’s all appear late into the adventure. Acid Armor, learned at 29, turns Vaporeon into a more reliable wall. TM Rock Smash is a one-time viable offensive option for Grant’s Amaura. If needed, it can learn Dig, Strength and Waterfall.
Major Battles: Vaporeon can beat Grant in spite of its lack of Water STAB to use against him. Its other great matchups include Malva and Team Flare, and its Ice-type coverage gives it an edge against Ramos’s Jumpluff and Drasna. Vaporeon is not very effective at Clemont’s gym. It walls yet is walled by Siebold and Water-types in general.
Additional Comments: Purchasing a Water Stone from the Stone Emporium is necessary in order to evolve Eevee before it faces Grant. If Vaporeon is not to be used against him, you can use the Water Stone at Route 8 instead (Strength required).


Houndour [X]
Availability:
Route 10, 20%
Stats: Houndour has good Speed with decent Attack and high Sp. Attack, allowing it to transition from physical attacker early game to special attacker late game.
Typing: Dark/Fire typing provides great neutral coverage and a handy immunity to Psychic-type attacks. In spite of its four weaknesses to common attacking types, it stands out among other Dark-types for not being weak to Fairy.
Movepool: Houndour relies solely on physical STAB and Howl until progressing to Dendemille Town. As a Houndoom, it learns Nasty Plot and Thunder Fang from Madam Reminder and learns Crunch at a very late Level 56. Its Special movepool consists of late game TM’s. TM’s Will-O-Wisp and Snarl are support options—the latter also being Houndoom's first available special STAB move—that provide defensive buffers for setting up Howl and Nasty Plot boosts.
Major Battles: If Houndour can boost with Howl or Nasty Plot for a sweep, then it will perform very well. It can best do this against your Rival, Valerie, Olympia, Wulfric, and Wikstrom. It can also fight well when it has the type advantage and the ability to take a hit. That being said, this also makes Houndour ineffective against Grant, Korrina, and Siebold.
Additional Comments: Slow EXP growth hinders Houndour’s progress to learning its first Fire-type move, Fire Fang, which Houndour can wait four levels to learn before evolving.
hi

i want to collaborate on this thing so we don't end up doing the same mons. how about from now on you start with the higher ranked mons and go down, and i can do the opposite?

anyway here's what i've got so far
Name: Abra
Availability: Early. Abra is an uncommon encounter on Route 5. Be aware that if given the chance, Abra will immediately escape the battle with Teleport.
Stats: Abra has very high Special Attack and Speed, with decent Special Defense to back it up. Its Defense stat is awful, however.
Typing: Abra's Psychic typing puts it at a disadvantage against the common Dark-types, but it hits its share of targets super effectively as well.
Movepool: With Teleport as its only initial move, Abra is near useless until it gains an evolved form and with it a STAB move in Confusion. After that, Abra learns support moves such as Miracle Eye and Reflect as well as stronger STAB moves in Psybeam and, at level 38, Psychic. The Charge Beam TM on Route 13 can give Abra a good matchup against common Water-types such as Pelipper. Abra can use the Dazzling Gleam TM, obtained in the sixth gym, to hit Dark-types super effectively. Calm Mind from the seventh gym can help Abra set up on special attacks and sweep entire teams.
Major Battles: Abra can't do anything in the second gym besides getting a single attack off before being KO'd due to its pathetic physical bulk. In contrast, it can OHKO most Pokemon in the third gym, and Eviolite can help Abra get through the fourth gym if it cannot be evolved into Alakazam. It can take care of most of Team Flare's Poison-types, and it can even sweep Lysandre by setting up Calm Mind and Reflect on Mienshao, then OHKOing Mega Gyarados with Dazzling Gleam.
Additional Comments: Moves such as Taunt can be used to prevent Abra from using Teleport, making it easier to catch. Even without Taunt, Abra can still be caught by immediately throwing a Poke Ball at it, but this method is more time-consuming due to the 2/3 chance that Abra will break out of the Ball and flee from battle.

Name: Axew
Availability: Early. Axew is a rare encounter in Connecting Cave.
Stats: Axew has high Attack, but its other stats are mediocre. Evolution increases all of Axew's stats, giving it impressive Speed and decent bulk while pushing its Attack stat through the roof.
Typing: Axew's Dragon typing leaves it weak to decently common Fairy-type and Dragon-type attacks, but it gives it very useful resistances to types like Fire and Water as well.
Movepool: Axew starts out with the insanely powerful Dragon Rage, which gives it the ability to OHKO or 2HKO all foes before they start to get higher HP stats later on. It has no shortage of strong attacks, with Dual Chop, and Dragon Claw and Outrage later on, providing solid and almost unresisted STAB. Coverage TMs such as Dig and Rock Smash can help it beat even more foes. Axew can use setup moves, including Dragon Dance (by level-up) and Swords Dance (by TM) to beat whole teams at once.
Major Battles: Axew initially struggles in the second and third gyms due to its relatively low stats and weakness to Amaura's Take Down. After that, its Grass and Electric resistances, as well as evolution, really help it out in the next two gyms. Axew has bad type matchups against two of the lategame gyms, but it can make up for this in other ways–for example, its sheer power and its Fire resistance help it beat Team Flare almost singlehandedly. It does well in the Elite Four, too: it resists two of their types, and it can sweep Drasna if allowed to set up a Dragon Dance.
Additional Comments: Axew first evolves at level 38.

Name: Ralts (Gallade)
Availability: Early. Ralts has a 5% chance to appear in the tall grass on Route 4. Only male Ralts can evolve into Gallade, though.
Stats: Ralts has low stats overall but decent Special Attack and Special Defense, which it retains through its first evolution. Gallade has impressive Speed and Special Defense along with a tremendous Attack stat.
Typing: Ralts and Kirlia's Psychic/Fairy typing can be a hindrance at times, but it has its advantages as well. For example, Fighting-types like Machop deal barely any damage to Ralts with their STAB moves while Ralts can hit them super effectively in return. After Ralts's second evolution, its Fairy type is replaced with Fighting, granting it impressive neutral coverage with its STAB moves.
Movepool: Ralts starts out with only the weak Confusion, which means that it won't be doing much damage against most foes. Magical Leaf hits Water-, Rock-, and Ground-types super effectively, but the move itself is unimpressive. After it evolves into Gallade, though, Ralts can make use of its newfound Attack stat to utilize powerful moves such as Swords Dance, Low Sweep, and Rock Tomb by using TMs. Later on, it can learn strong attacks such as Leaf Blade by Move Reminder, Psycho Cut, and the incredible Close Combat.
Major Battles: Ralts generally does poorly before it hits its strong final evolution, with a notable exception to this being the Shalour Gym: with its type advantage, along with an Eviolite boosting its bulk, Ralts can take on almost every Pokemon in the Gym despite its low Defense stat. Gallade can sweep the sixth Gym Leader by setting up Swords Dance on Mawile and using the Poison Jab TM, and it does very well against Team Flare's abundance of Poison- and Dark-types.
Additional Comments: If you plan on using Gallade, make sure not to let Kirlia evolve by level-up; this will instead cause it to evolve into Gardevoir. Instead, a Dawn Stone from using Surf on Route 3 is necessary.

Name: Yveltal [Y]
Availability: Late. Yveltal is located in the Secret HQ.
Stats: Yveltal has impressive stats all around, with its HP and attacking stats standing out.
Typing: Yveltal's Dark/Flying typing isn't the best defensively, but it hits most foes for neutral damage with its STAB moves alone.
Movepool: Yveltal starts out with all it really needs—a powerful Dark STAB in Dark Pulse boosted even further by Yveltal's ability, and a Flying STAB in Oblivion Wing that can sustain Yveltal in long routes or battles. However, it can also learn other useful options: Hurricane from the Move Reminder serves as an extremely powerful (but inaccurate) Flying STAB, Roost from TM heals Yveltal more reliably than Oblivion Wing (although it doesn't deal damage), and Foul Play boosted by Dark Aura does tremendous damage to foes with high Attack such as Haxorus. Yveltal can use the Fly HM decently, but in battle it generally has better options.
Major Battles: Yveltal has a very good matchup in the final Lysandre fight thanks to his Pokemon's frailty, allowing it to sweep without taking lasting damage thanks to Oblivion Wing's recovery. It has a type disadvantage against Wulfric due to its Ice weakness, but its impressive power and bulk means that it can usually take at least one Pokemon down with it. After that, Yveltal doesn't really run into any bad matchups apart from Diantha's Mega Gardevoir, so it can take care of most of the late game by itself.
Additional Comments: Yveltal can be instantly added to your party when it is caught, allowing you to bring six Pokemon into the Secret HQ while still being able to use Yveltal in the imminent fight against Lysandre.

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Name: Binacle
Availability: Early. Binacle can be found by using Rock Smash on stones in Route 8 and Ambrette Town.
Stats: Binacle has good Attack backed up by decent bulk and Speed. Although evolution gives Binacle a good boost to its power and bulk, its Speed stat starts to fall behind in comparison to many foes.
Typing: Water/Rock gives Binacle many weaknesses to types such as Grass, Electric, and Fighting, but it offers many resistances as well to Normal, Fire, and others.
Movepool: Binacle's movepool starts out lackluster, but buying a couple of TMs for it patches that up. Bulldoze/Swords Dance/Rock Tomb after the second Gym is very good and Rock Polish at level 24 gives it major sweeping capabilities by allowing it to boost its Speed as well as its Attack. After evolving and giving a Heart Scale to the Move Reminder, Binacle can do both at once with Shell Smash, a move that lowers its defenses but sharply boosts its attacking stats and Speed. It also gains access to a strong Water STAB in Razor Shell.
Major Battles: In major battles, Binacle begins with a rocky start. Although it can take Amaura's Refrigerate Take Down and hit back with Bulldoze, it faces three bad Gym matchups after that in the forms of Korrina, Ramos and Clemont. After that, most of its matchups are neutral, but Binacle can power its way through if it has evolved and is at a decent level. Another thing worth noting is that Binacle has a very good matchup against most of Team Flare, so it can put in work even in the mid-game.
Additional Comments: The Swords Dance and Bulldoze TMs can be bought in Lumiose City at a price of 10,000 Pokedollars each. Rock Smash, which is needed to find Binacle, is given to you in Ambrette Town.

Name: Kangaskhan
Availability: Early. Kangaskhan is an uncommon encounter in Glittering Cave.
Stats: Kangaskhan has decent bulk and Speed, highlighted by an above average Attack stat.
Typing: Kangaskhan's pure Normal typing means that most of its matchups are neutral.
Movepool: As soon as it is caught, Kangaskhan can utilize TMs to get a great starting moveset of Strength/Fake Out/Shadow Claw/Rock Smash or Bulldoze. This set allows Kangaskhan to take on nearly any foe with its powerful STAB and amazing coverage. If Strength is unneeded, Kangaskhan can use Return as a stronger STAB option later on. Kangaskhan can use more powerful coverage moves later in the game, such as Dig, Endure + Reversal, and Earthquake.
Major Battles: Unfortunately, Kangaskhan faces two bad gym matchups in a row, with Grant's Rock-types resisting its STAB moves and Korrina's Fighting-types dealing tons of damage to it with their super effective attacks. Kangaskhan can circumvent the former of these to some extent with TMs: Rock Smash deals 4x super effective damage to Amaura, while Bulldoze is more powerful and negates Rock Tomb's Speed drop. After this, for the most part Kangaskhan's matchups are neutral, with the outcome depending simply upon which Pokemon is stronger.
Additional Comments: In the postgame, after you upgrade the Mega Ring in Anistar City, Kangaskhan can Mega Evolve using the Kangaskhanite in Glittering Cave. Strength can be forgotten using the Move Deleter in Dendemille Town.

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Name: Carvanha
Availability: Middle. Carvanha can be fished with a Good Rod on Route 22. Sharpedo is also available with a Super Rod on the same route, but the low level it comes at, as well as its low encounter rate of 5%, make it an inefficient choice.
Stats: Carvanha has high attacking stats and decent Speed, but its defenses are very low.
Typing: Carvanha is weak to five types defensively, but it has good offensive coverage and it resists common types such as Fire.
Movepool: Carvanha's movepool starts out extremely underwhelming, relying on Ice Fang to deal any damage at all. However, in the space of only a few levels, it learns powerful attacks such as Assurance, Aqua Jet and Crunch. Additionally, Carvanha can make use of both Surf and Waterfall due to its high mixed offenses. Strong STAB moves are really all Carvanha needs to be effective.
Major Battles: Carvanha struggles in earlier major battles due to its unfortunate type matchups against Gyms. It starts to do better later on, though; most of Team Flare's Pokemon have their attacks resisted by Carvanha, and it can take on the seventh Gym and three Elite Four members. However, Carvanha's poor defenses and only average Speed make it a bad safety net against troublesome foes.
Additional Comments: Carvanha's Rough Skin ability can come in handy, and equipping it with a Rocky Helmet from the Route 9 gate further increases the chip damage per hit.

Name: Cryogonal
Availability: Late (Frost Cavern)
Stats: Cryogonal has very low Attack and Defense, but its high Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed make up for this.
Typing: Cryogonal's pure Ice typing leaves it with many weaknesses, but it has good offensive coverage as well.
Movepool: Cryogonal starts out with a strong, reliable STAB move in Ice Beam. Blizzard can be taught by TM, but its low accuracy and PP make it an unreliable choice. Reflect and Light Screen are useful to support the team, while Recover and Acid Armor help Cryogonal itself, although they can cause battles to drag on. Freeze-Dry from the Move Reminder is very useful against Water-types; most are special attackers, so Cryogonal takes insignificant damage from their attacks while hitting them super effectively in return.
Major Battles: Against Lysandre, Cryogonal can beat Honchkrow and hit Gyarados hard with Freeze-Dry. Cryogonal resists Wulfric's Ice-types' STAB moves, but its STAB moves are resisted as well, making it an inefficient choice. In the Elite Four, Cryogonal should not be used against Malva or Wikstrom, but if using Freeze-Dry it can do well against Siebold and Drasna.
Additional Comments: cryogonal is excellent

Name: Litwick
Availability: Late. Litwick is a rare encounter in the Lost Hotel.
Stats: The Litwick line has average bulk and Speed, with its great Special Attack standing out.
Typing: Litwick's Ghost/Fire typing is good defensively, with five weaknesses but more than as many resistances. Offensively, it only misses out on a tiny group of Pokemon, hitting everything else for at least neutral damage.
Movepool: Litwick starts out with the powerful but unreliable combination of Inferno + Hex. Shadow Ball, a more efficient Ghost STAB, can be learned by using the TM from Terminus Cave or by level-up. Fire Blast from the Anistar City Poke Mart provides a more accurate Fire-type STAB move, but misses out on Inferno's 100% burn chance. Will-O-Wisp from Route 13 can burn opponents to power up Hex, but it deals no damage. Calm Mind from TM allows Litwick to set up and potentially sweep.
Major Battles: Litwick does well against many opponents thanks to its useful typing. It hits the two remaining Gym Leaders' Pokemon super effectively with its STAB moves, and it completely sweeps Wikstrom. However, its Team Flare matchup is a bit sketchy because of its Dark weakness.
Additional Comments: Litwick's second evolution requires a Dusk Stone to attain. This can be found in Laverre City. Be aware that using the Dusk Stone will cut off Litwick's level-up movepool, preventing it from learning new moves it would normally get at level increases. Curse at level 45 and Shadow Ball at level 53 are the two moves Litwick learns around this time, so keep them in mind when deciding when to evolve it.

Name: Nincada
Availability: Early. Nincada is an uncommon encounter from the tall grass on Route 6.
Stats: Nincada is a slow, weak Pokemon, so it usually will not be of much help. After it evolves at level 20, its Speed stat rises to insane levels while its Attack gets a useful buff as well.
Typing: Bug/Ground is an interesting typing, but Nincada is too weak to really take advantage of it. After it evolves, its type changes to Bug/Flying, giving it a different set of matchups.
Movepool: Nincada's movepool is nothing special, but it gets the moves it needs. Aerial Ace and Bug Bite serve as strong STAB moves, while Dig gives great coverage against Rock- and Steel-types. Swords Dance boosts Nincada's Attack stat to impressive levels, allowing it to become a very effective sweeper due to its inability to get outsped. Later on, Baton Pass is an incredible boon for Nincada because if it's in a bad matchup, it can pass the Speed boosts accumulated through its ability (not to mention any Attack boosts from Swords Dance) to a teammate. Protect can be used in conjunction with Baton Pass to give Nincada a free +1 Speed against a strong foe.
Major Battles: Nincada is of absolutely no help in the second gym, but it trivializes the third one, even bypassing Rock Tomb Machoke by setting up on Mienfoo. Ramos's Jumpluff can pose a threat to Nincada with STAB Acrobatics, although it doesn't appreciate Nincada's faster STAB Aerial Ace. Most of Nincada's matchups after that depend on whether it can set up on an opposing Pokemon, so it can perform very well with users of support moves like Charm, Struggle Bug, and Snarl backing it.
Additional Comments: The Dig and Swords Dance TMs are available in the Lumiose City Poke Mart, while the Aerial Ace TM can be located by using Strength in Connecting Cave.

Name: Oddish (Bellossom)
Availability: Early. Oddish appears in the tall grass on Route 6.
Stats: Oddish has all-around decent stats, but its Speed falls behind after evolution while its other stats increase.
Typing: Oddish's Grass/Poison typing gives it weak offensive coverage, but it also has some useful resistances to types such as Grass, Fairy, and Fighting. After evolving into Bellossom, Oddish sheds its Poison typing to become a pure Grass-type.
Movepool: Oddish is unfortunately stuck with Mega Drain and Acid as attacking moves for lots of the game, but it can learn useful support moves such as Stun Spore, Sleep Powder, and Moonlight. Evolving into Bellossom prevents Oddish from learning more of these support moves, but it opens the door to more powerful attacking options such as Leaf Storm and Leaf Blade from the Move Reminder. Giga Drain is learned only by Oddish and Gloom, but it comes very late at level 47. Bellossom learns Leaf Storm and Petal Blizzard naturally later if you don't have a spare Heart Scale.
Major Battles: Oddish has good matchups in every Gym up to the sixth one thanks to its typing. It can also dodge its bad matchup against the seventh Gym by using a Sun Stone to shed its disadvantageous Poison subtyping with evolution. However, it suffers a type disadvantage against the final Gym as well as three Elite Four members. Team Flare is also a dangerous opponent for Oddish, although it can beat some foes such as miscellaneous Mightyena and Lysandre's Mega Gyarados.
Additional Comments: A Sun Stone can be found as early as Route 13, although it is advised to keep Oddish's Poison typing until after the sixth Gym.

Name: Panpour
Availability: Early. Panpour has a 5% chance of appearing in Santalune Forest.
Stats: Panpour's stats are decent but nothing special. After it evolves, it gains high Attack, Special Attack and Speed. This allows it to outspeed and deal lots of damage to foes before it gets hit back.
Typing: Panpour has a useful pure Water typing, leaving it weak to only Grass and Electric while giving it offensive advantages against common types such as Rock and Fire.
Movepool: Panpour's early-game movepool is disappointing, as Water Gun is its only STAB option until level 22. After that, though, it gets access to the powerful Scald, and it can use TMs and HMs such as Surf and Acrobatics to deal lots of damage.
Major Battles: Panpour can deal tons of damage to Grant's Amaura with Scald and threaten to burn Tyrunt. It can contribute in the third gym, but falls flat in the two after that due to its type disadvantage (although in the Grass Gym, it can deal some damage in the process with Acrobatics). Most of Panpour's late-game matchups are neutral, but its ability to dismantle Team Flare's Fire-types, as well as its good matchup against Wulfric thanks to its Ice resistance, is notable.
Additional Comments: The Water Stone can be bought early in Lumiose City, but keep in mind that Panpour's level-up movepool is mostly lost if it is evolved, so make sure to learn any important moves first.

Name: Sableye
Availability: Early. Sableye's habitat is Reflection Cave.
Stats: Sableye has average stats all around.
Typing: Sableye's Dark/Ghost typing is very useful, giving it three immunities while leaving it with only one weakness to Fairy. However, its offensive coverage is somewhat redundant.
Movepool: Sableye can use the Shadow Claw TM in Reflection Cave to gain a good Ghost-type STAB move. Later on, Shadow Sneak and Knock Off give it a decent priority move and a strong Dark-type STAB move, respectively. The Rock Smash and Low Sweep TMs give Sableye a way to hit Normal- and Dark-type foes, which resist Sableye's STAB but most likely can't do much in return. Will-O-Wisp, which is found on Route 14 in the form of a TM, is helpful to lower the Attack stat of dangerous foes. Snarl from the Lost Hotel can lower their Special Attack while dealing some damage.
Major Battles: Sableye walls almost every Pokemon in the third Gym, only fearing coverage moves such as Machoke's Rock Tomb. The next two Gyms are neutral matchups for it, meaning that it isn't particularly useful but it's not dead weight either. Sableye makes up for a bad matchup against the sixth Gym with an extremely good one in the seventh Gym, and at a decent level it can all but solo every Psychic-type there, especially with Snarl. It can also put in work against strong opponents with Will-O-Wisp, trivializing foes such as Mightyena, Scizor, and Gyarados. However, its low stats at that point mean that it risks being OHKOed without a good amount of experience.
Additional Comments: Keen Eye is the preferred ability for Sableye, because it increases the accuracy of Will-O-Wisp while not giving it the hindrance of Stall. The Snarl TM in the Lost Hotel can only be accessed by learning every roller skating trick from Lumiose City.

Name: Snover
Availability: Late. Snover is an uncommon encounter on Route 17.
Stats: The Snover line has high mixed offenses and good bulk, but its low Speed can hold it back.
Typing: Snover's Ice/Grass typing is a mixed bag. Offensively, it has good coverage, only walled by Steel- and Fire-types. However, Snover has one of the worst defensive typings in the game, packing weaknesses to almost half the types in the game.
Movepool: Snover has a good movepool. It starts with the powerful Wood Hammer, and the Blizzard TM can be bought in Anistar City. Ice Shard helps Snover pick off weakened foes without having to take a hit first. Focus Blast by TM allows Snover to hit Steel-types super effectively, although it risks taking a super effective hit in return. Niche options such as Swagger, Icy Wind, and Grass Whistle are available from the Move Reminder, but each one requires a Heart Scale to learn.
Major Battles: Thanks to Abomasnow's stat boosts from Mega Evolution, it can hold its own in most fights, even against foes with super effective moves such as Olympia's Sigilyph. Lysandre's Gyarados can pose a threat thanks to its powerful Iron Head and Intimidate weakening Wood Hammer, though. Additionally, Fire-type foes such as Malva's team are a near-unwinnable matchup for Snover due to its 4x Fire weakness. On the other hand, Snover does very well against Siebold thanks to its Grass typing, and it can take a strong attack from Diantha's Mega Gardevoir and retaliate with powerful physical attacks.
Additional Comments: Snover evolves into Abomasnow at level 40. After that, it can use the Abomasite, given to you by the Abomasnow in Frost Cavern, to Mega Evolve.

Name: Weedle
Availability: Early. Weedle appears in Santalune Forest in X, while it can be found on Route 3 in Y.
Stats: Weedle has all-around low stats initially. Its first evolution gives it a boost to its Defense stat, while its Attack and Speed increase after evolving again.
Typing: Weedle's Bug/Poison typing leaves it weak to common types such as Flying and Psychic. On the other hand, the abundance of Fairy-types in the region means that it has its fair share of good matchups as well.
Movepool: Weedle starts out dealing more damage with the poison inflicted by Poison Sting than with the move itself. Once it evolves into Beedrill, it gets a decent Bug-type STAB attack in Twineedle, but it really starts to get rolling after the Poison Jab and Swords Dance TMs in Lumiose City. Swords Dance helps Beedrill break through bulkier Pokemon by increasing its Attack, while Poison Jab is an impressively strong Poison-type STAB move. Later on, Beedrill learns more interesting moves; Toxic Spikes, for example, can help against strong opponents by poisoning their grounded Pokemon as they switch in, Endeavor can be used at low HP to cripple a slow foe, and Pin Missile is an unreliable but potentially very powerful Bug-type STAB move.
Major Battles: Weedle falls flat in the first two Gyms, but it performs very well in the two afterward, with its double Fighting resistance helping it easily take even Hawlucha's Flying Press. Its low stats start to hold it back late-game, but its quick growth rate somewhat makes up for this. Bad type matchups such as Malva, Siebold, and most of Diantha's team prevent Beedrill from contributing that much late-game, however.
Additional Comments: Both the Swords Dance and Poison Jab TMs cost 10,000 Pokedollars, so be prepared to save up money for them.

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Name: Burmy (Wormadam-Sandy)
Availability: Early. Burmy is available as an uncommon encounter on Route 3.
Stats: Burmy's stats are underwhelming except for its decent Defense. After evolution, it becomes a bulky physical tank capable of dishing out strong hits in return. It is very slow, however.
Typing: Burmy's pure Bug typing isn't very useful due to its many weaknesses and bad coverage, but Wormadam's Bug/Ground dual typing gives it a more reliable STAB as well as resistances to key types such as Poison and Electric.
Movepool: Burmy's only move until Level 10 is the useless Protect, and even once it learns Tackle it struggles to inflict damage due to the move's low power and lack of STAB. Bug Bite at level 15 hits fairly hard, though, and Hidden Power at level 20 can potentially allow Burmy to beat certain types of Pokemon. After evolution, Burmy can gain a Ground-type STAB move in the form of Bulldoze from the Lumiose City Poke Mart, and its level-up movepool contains useful coverage moves such as Rock Blast and Psybeam.
Major Battles: Burmy offers no help whatsoever against Viola, but an evolution and a Bulldoze TM can help it do well against Grant and Korrina. After that, Burmy beats Ramos, Clemont, Olympia, and Wikstrom handily with its STAB moves, but it has to watch out for some threatening Pokemon along the way, such as Grant's Amaura and Ramos's Jumpluff. Team Flare is a mixed bag for Burmy—it can handle Poison- and Dark-types, but its Fire weakness can impede it.
Additional Comments: Only female Burmy can evolve into Wormadam. Burmy's cloak can be changed to sand by sending it into battle in places like beaches and caves, but remember that it permanently keeps its cloak once it evolves. Burmy has the best cry in the game.

Name: Burmy (Wormadam-Trash)
Availability: Early. Burmy has a 10% chance to appear on Route 3.
Stats: Burmy has bad stats all around, but its bulk and power increase significantly upon evolution. It remains very slow, though.
Typing: Burmy's Bug typing is more of a hindrance than anything else. Despite what its name would lead you to believe, Wormadam-Trash's Bug/Steel typing is actually very useful both defensively and offensively.
Movepool: Burmy fails to remotely threaten any foes until it learns Bug Bite at level 15, but after evolving its movepool isn't half bad. STAB Mirror Shot at level 26 requires lots of grinding to get before the second gym, but it hits very hard. Later, it can learn stronger STAB moves, such as Iron Head by level-up and Struggle Bug by TM. Burmy also gets access to Psychic-type moves such as Confusion and Psybeam by level-up, helping it more easily beat Pokemon like Croagunk.
Major Battles: As long as the opposing Pokemon doesn't know any Fire-type moves, Burmy can usually pull its weight once it evolves. It can take on Gym Leaders such as Grant, Valerie, and Ramos easily, and even Diantha's Mega Gardevoir is no match for it.
Additional Comments: Burmy's cloak can be changed to Trash Cloak form by sending it into battle in most buildings (however, the Cyllage Gym is a notable exception to this, instead yielding the Sandy Cloak form). The only reasonable place to change Burmy into its Trash Cloak form before the second gym is the Battle Chateau, meaning that evolving it may require some backtracking. Alternatively, if you change Burmy into its Trash Cloak form on the way to Cyllage City and only give it experience using the Exp. Share, you can evolve it with no backtracking necessary at the cost of anything Burmy might offer in battle. Burmy evolves at level 20, and only female Burmy evolve into Wormadam.

Name: Dunsparce
Availability: Early. Dunsparce is a rare encounter on Route 3, having only a 5% chance to appear.
Stats: Dunsparce has high HP, but low Speed. Its other stats are good early game, but they become less impressive later on.
Typing: Dunsparce's pure Normal typing means that most of its matchups are neutral. It doesn't hit anything super effectively with its STAB moves, but only one type–Fighting–can hit it super effectively in return.
Movepool: Dunsparce starts out with the amazing combo of Defense Curl + Rollout, allowing it to sweep nearly everything early-game. Its stats start to become underwhelming later, but the multitude of support moves it gains, such as Roost, Glare, and Yawn, prevent it from being dead weight.
Major Battles: Defense Curl + Rollout allows Dunsparce to sweep the first two Gym Leaders with no problem at all. However, the third Gym is Fighting-type, which means that Dunsparce can't sweep unless it is overleveled. After that, it starts to need more support to sweep due to foes' higher attacking stats. However, Dunsparce itself is a great supporter around this time because of status moves such as Glare and Yawn.
Additional Comments: Rollout will miss.

Name: Ekans
Availability: Late. Ekans appears in hordes on Route 13.
Stats: Ekans has decent stats overall with an emphasis on Attack.
Typing: Ekans has a pure Poison typing, leaving it with only two weaknesses and some useful resistances to types like Grass, Poison, and Fairy.
Movepool: Ekans has a good movepool. Poison Jab from TM gives it a good STAB move once it's caught, and it can learn interesting coverage moves such as Crunch and Dig. Glare paralyzes almost any foe, even if it is Ground-type. Bulldoze helps Ekans beat opposing Poison-types and slow down Electric-types, which are immune to Glare. Coil increases Ekans's Attack, Defense, and accuracy, opening up possible sweeping options, but it comes very late.
Major Battles: Ekans requires a lot of grinding to get up to pace with the rest of the game, but if provided this grinding it does very well against the sixth Gym. Ekans's Team Flare matchup is mostly dependent on whether or not it has Intimidate, because this can make a pivotal difference against physical attackers such as Mightyena, Houndoom, and Gyarados. Ekans doesn't have particularly good matchups in the Elite Four, but it can potentially do well if it has Coil.
Additional Comments: Intimidate is the preferred ability for Ekans, but it can be difficult to get because of Ekans's tendency to appear only in hordes.

Name: Electrode
Availability: Late (Lost Hotel)
Stats: Electrode is very fast, but its other stats are mediocre.
Typing: Electrode's Electric typing is more of a hindrance than anything else, because while it only has one weakness to Ground, Electrode only hits two types super effectively with its STAB moves.
Movepool: Thunderbolt, Electro Ball, Self-Destruct, and Hyper Beam are really all Electrode gets to deal damage. Charge from the Move Reminder gives Electrode a Special Defense boost and increases the power of its next Electric-type move, which can help against specially oriented foes. Thunder Wave from Route 10 slows down a foe, assisting Electrode's teammates or boosting the power of its own Electro Ball. Unfortunately, Electrode's more interesting options, such as Explosion and Mirror Coat, come too late to be of much use.
Major Battles: Nearly all of Electrode's matchups are neutral, meaning that its low stats will often let it down. Its high Speed stat helps it against foes such as Gyarados and Chandelure, however; the former is dismantled by Thunderbolt, and the latter does not appreciate a Thunder Wave.
Additional Comments: Because wild Electrode know Self-Destruct, it is advised to immediately use powerful attacks and items such as Quick Balls instead of slowly weakening Electrode.

Name: Illumise
Availability: Early. Illumise is an uncommon encounter on Route 7.
Stats: Illumise has bad Attack and Defense, but good Special Attack and Special Defense. However, its lack of evolution means that its stats become less impressive later on.
Typing: Illumise unfortunately has many weaknesses to types like Fire and Rock, holding it back. Many types resist its STAB moves, but it hits the common Grass-, Dark-, and Psychic-types super effectively.
Movepool: Illumise may not be strong enough to take on most foes, but it can make up for this in other ways. Charm and Struggle Bug hinder foes by lowering their Attack and Special Attack respectively, while Struggle Bug is surprisingly powerful in itself. Wish is useful for healing Illumise or its teammates. Encore locks the foe into its last move, which can be incredibly useful for a teammate that would normally be wary of a super effective attack. Bug Buzz, learned later on, gives Illumise a needed power boost. Flash and Sweet Scent can be used for field utility, but Illumise generally values all of its moveslots to do its job.
Major Battles: Unless it is overleveled, Illumise usually can't do anything besides one or two Charm attacks against Grant. However, for the most part it can stall its way through every other Gym Leader due to the lack of super effective STAB moves aimed at it. Illumise needs to watch out for Team Flare's Fire-types, but it can take on their Dark-types with ease. Faster Pokemon like Jumpluff are Illumise's biggest weakness, so make sure you're prepared for them.
Additional Comments: Illumise is a surprisingly good Pokemon because of how much work it can put in, but the effort required to level it up and the tedious strategy to which it lends itself make it an inefficient choice.

Name: Mawile
Availability: Early. Mawile is an uncommon encounter in Glittering Cave.
Stats: Mawile's stats are fairly average even at the time you catch it, and they only get worse in comparison after that. Its Attack stat is decent, though.
Typing: Steel/Fairy is amazing defensively, giving Mawile an advantage against a huge number of foes. Even if Mawile has lower stats than an opposing Pokemon, its resistances can often help it still win.
Movepool: The Swords Dance TM can turn Mawile into a formidable sweeper, and Bite along with Rock Smash provide reasonable coverage. Later on, Mawile learns more useful Dark-type attacks such as Feint Attack, Crunch, and Sucker Punch. Mawile starts to put in work late-game when it gets access to strong physical STAB moves in the forms of Iron Head and Play Rough. Baton Pass can be an invaluable asset when Mawile walls the foe but can't do much back, because it can easily allow a teammate to sweep by passing Attack boosts from Swords Dance.
Major Battles: Mawile does best in battles where its resistances come into play, including the Grass, Fairy, Psychic, and Ice Gyms. In these matchups, it can potentially sweep by setting up with Swords Dance while its resistances prevent it from taking much damage. After this, Mawile still has a few good matchups, resisting two of the Elite Four's types and being able to demolish Diantha's Aurorus, Tyrantrum, Hawlucha, and Mega Gardevoir with its super effective STAB moves. Something worth noting is the fact that even in a bad matchup, Mawile can still hinder physical attackers thanks to its Intimidate ability.
Additional Comments: Make sure to catch a Mawile with Intimidate—this ability is instrumental to Mawile's usefulness in-game.

Name: Qwilfish
Availability: Late. Qwilfish appears on Route 8, but it requires a Super Rod to catch.
Stats: Qwilfish has mostly mediocre stats but decent Attack.
Typing: Water/Poison is a decent typing overall, giving Qwilfish a good amount of favorable matchups. It provides good offensive coverage, too.
Movepool: Poison Jab, learnable through the TM in Lumiose City, provides Qwilfiish with a good Poison-type move early on. Aqua Tail by level-up serves as a powerful Water-type STAB move. Hydro Pump by TM and Surf by HM can be used as well, but they are generally weaker because of Qwilfish's lower Special Attack. The Move Reminder provides Qwilfish with interesting utility options such as Destiny Bond, Minimize, and Toxic Spikes. Thunder Wave by TM deals no damage, but it can be useful to slow down threatening foes before removing them with strong attacks or Destiny Bond.
Major Battles: Qwilfish has a good matchup against the Ice Gym and two Elite Four members, but it struggles outside of that because of its relatively low stats. It needs a significant amount of experience to avoid the OHKO from Lysandre's Mega Gyarados, and it puts in no work in the seventh Gym. However, its typing can be very useful in miscellaneous battles.
Additional Comments: The Thunder Wave TM is on Route 10 and requires Strength to access. The Move Reminder is in Dendemille Town.

Name: Wingull
Availability: Early. Wingull can be found in hordes on Route 8.
Stats: Wingull's stats are average all around. After it evolves, its Defense stat gets a useful boost, but its offenses become underwhelming later in the game.
Typing: Wingull's Water/Flying typing is useful in-game for many reasons. It comes with only two weaknesses to Electric and Rock (the latter of which is hit super effectively by Wingull's Water-type attacks) while providing impressive neutral coverage and granting Wingull STAB on the HMs Fly and Surf, meaning that it can serve as both a decent fighter and a good HM user.
Movepool: Wingull starts out with only weak STAB moves in Water Gun, Wing Attack, and later the stronger Water Pulse. After evolution, it learns the interesting combination of Stockpile + Swallow + Spit Up, and later on it gets very powerful STAB moves in Hydro Pump and Hurricane, which can be used if your team has no need for the HMs it can offer. Thanks to its good STAB combo, Wingull has no need for coverage moves.
Major Battles: Wingull struggles in the second Gym, but it can take on the third one almost by itself thanks to its good type matchup. The fourth Gym features Pokemon that are weak to Wingull's Flying STAB but can hit back with powerful special Grass-type moves. Against Ramos, Wingull can beat Jumpluff thanks to its good physical bulk. After its bad matchup in the fifth Gym, Wingull's matchups are mostly neutral. Worth noting is its good performance against Team Flare, because Wingull has both a helpful Fire resistance and good enough Defense to take hits from foes like Mightyena.
Additional Comments: Honey or Sweet Scent are good ways to reliably find Wingull, because it only appears in hordes.

"bop space dash" -tltl
 
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hi

i want to collaborate on this thing so we don't end up doing the same mons. how about from now on you start with the higher ranked mons and go down, and i can do the opposite?
Sure thing, makes playing thru XY a little smoother on my end. My pace on these entries is gonna slow down soon probably, either from burn out or deciding to pick up Ultra Sun.
______________________________
EDIT 9-25-2018: cleaning up entries


Bidoof
Availability:
Route 3, 20%
Stats: Attack and Speed are decent for the early game but are mediocre afterward.
Typing: Normal/Water typing provides wide neutral type coverage from good STAB options. Bibarel is weak to three consecutive Gyms; its resistances are those of the last Gym and three Elite 4 members.
Movepool: Bidoof’s main draw is its ability to learn four HMs as a Bibarel, as well as Rock Smash and Dig, making for a great HM slave. Offensively, it starts with only Tackle but gradually builds up its movepool with TMs such as Return, Bulldoze, and Thunder Wave, as well as Superpower at Level 48. TM Charge Beam and Curse, learned at Level 53, provide usable yet unreliable setup options.
Major Battles: If leveled up quickly, Bidoof can defeat Viola. With Bulldoze and its item support, it can hold its own versus Grant. The next three gyms all defeat it easily due to type advantages. By this point of the game, though, Bibarel can focus on being a designated HM slave and stop leveling up. Also, its usefulness in most battles is limited for the rest of the game due to its mediocre stats.
Additional Comments: With the ability Simple, Bidoof makes stat boosting more efficient, which in turn lets Bidoof hold its own in battle.

Agree with C-rank. Easy access HM slave that can put in work before it stops getting used at the third gym.


Scraggy
Availability:
Route 5, 35% (Horde only)
Stats: Solid Attack stat, with high defenses that make up for Scraggy’s below-average Speed.
Typing: Dark-Fighting typing is great offensively. Scraggy struggles against Fighting- and Flying-types and is in no position to battle Fairy-types unprepared.
Movepool: Scraggy starts with Low Kick and learns Faint Attack at Level 9. As it levels up, it learns Payback, Hi Jump Kick, and Crunch, all before evolving. It has side options in Poison Jab, Power-Up Punch, Low Sweep, and Dig, along with Bulk Up, Stone Edge and Dragon Claw for the endgame. It can learn Strength if necessary.
Major Battles: Scraggy has a great matchup against Grant and Wulfric. It also matches well against Team Flare’s Dark-types and the seventh gym’s Psychic-types. It struggles against Korrina and Valerie, though it can set up on the latter's Mawile easily. Using Bulk Up while facing the appropriate Pokémon lets Scraggy do well versus all of the Elite Four and Diantha.
Additional Comments: Scraggy has three useful abilities. Moxie lets it clear through opponents easier, and both Shed Skin and Intimidate pair well with Scraggy’s bulk.

Agree with C-rank. Would be B-rank if it weren't for Fairy-types and the commonly seen Fighting and Flying attacks. Always a pleasure to have the powerful Hi Jump Kick, as well as see it sweep with Bulk Up and X Speed when possible.


Solosis
Availability:
Reflection Cave, 20%
Stats: Very high Special Attack and very low Speed from Solosis to Reuniclus. Solosis is frail, even with Eviolite equipped, but Reuniclus is quite bulky thanks to significantly improved defenses and a high base 110 HP.
Typing: Psychic typing is overall okay. It gives Solosis an edge against the many Fighting-types but leaves it weak to the also common Dark-types.
Movepool: Solosis starts with Hidden Power, Charm, and Light Screen. It is at worst two levels away from learning Recover, followed by STAB Psyshock the next level after, Future Sight at Level 31, and Psychic at Level 39. It must wait until it fully evolves into Reuniclus before learning TM Grass Knot and HM Strength. It gets other nice TMs like Thunder, Focus Blast, Trick Room and Calm Mind.
Major Battles: Solosis does well against Korrina, other Fighting-types, and Poison-types. It does not perform significantly anywhere else until Anistar City, when it has access to its coverage moves and Calm Mind. It can use Trick Room to sweep Lysandre and Calm Mind to set up on Wulfric and Drasna.
Additional Comments: Solosis benefits more from Magic Guard than from Overcoat.
Okay with C-rank. Reuniclus performs well enough late game, but the Solosis phase was a real struggle. It can get OHKO'd from strong neutral hits, even with the Eviolite equipped. Duosion was all right, though, since it could tank hits better.

Zubat
Availability:
Connecting Cave, 30%
Stats: Zubat is unimpressive all-around. Golbat has above-average Speed and average stats everywhere else. Crobat has a swift base 130 Speed along with an above-average Attack.
Typing: Poison-Flying typing lets it wall Grass-, Bug-, Fighting-, and Poison-types as well as give it an immunity to Ground and being poisoned. It fairs poorly against Rock- and Steel-types.
Movepool: Zubat starts with Wing Attack and TM Venoshock. Acrobatics at Level 30 is its best attack. It gets Return, Roost, U-turn, and Sludge Bomb from TMs, as well as TM Toxic to power up Venoshock. As a Crobat, it has X-Scissor for coverage, Fly for utility and Cross Poison from Madam Reminder for physical Poison STAB.
Major Battles: Once evolved, Crobat matches up well against Korrina, Ramos, and Team Flare’s Fighting- and Poison-types. It is also a full stop to Valerie’s Sylveon and Diantha’s Hawlucha. Its high Speed lets it deal quick chip damage when needed. However, its thin movepool and typing cause Grant, Clemont, and Wikstrom to be its worst matchups.
Additional Comments: Hasten the happiness evolution process into Crobat by capturing Zubat in a Luxury Ball, which is available from the scientist on Floor 2F of Sycamore’s Lab.
Agree with C-rank. Luxury Ball was so helpful that I get Crobat at Level 23, as in right after it evolved into Golbat. Acrobatics was usually enough to 2HKO most opponents. Perfect Accuracy Toxic was nice, working well with Crobat's decent bulk, typing, and Venoshock. There isn't anything it does to Steel-types, still.
Using Taunt, Diantha's Hawlucha cannot touch Crobat, so for fun I took the time to use Battle Items to see if Crobat would sweep Diantha. It worked, but +6 X-Scissor didn't OHKO Tyrantrum (thank goodness for X-Defense to tank Head Smash).


I was readying an entry for Kangaskhan, too, but since that's done, oh well.
I would add Power-Up Punch to its Movepool section. This move combined with Kangaskhan's bulk was enough to clear half of the gyms as well as Wikstrom and the Rival. This alone was enough for me to consider raising Kangaskhan to B, as it's overall more noteworthy than a C-Tier.
 
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cityscapes

Take care of yourself.
is a Tiering Contributoris a Community Contributor Alumnus
10 writeups = 1 analysis imo :^)

Name: Alomomola
Availability: Late. Alomomola is available in Azure Bay, but it requires a Super Rod to encounter.
Stats: Alomomola has excellent HP and decent Attack and Defense. Its other stats leave lots to be desired, though.
Typing: Alomomola has a good typing, leaving it with only two weaknesses for which both Gyms have already been completed upon its capture.
Movepool: Aqua Jet and Wake-Up Slap are Alomomola's starting attacks, but both are very weak. Alomomola can utilize moves like Wish, Protect, Toxic, and Soak to become a very effective staller, but this strategy causes battles to drag out. Surf and Waterfall can be put to good use by Alomomola, but the former comes off its weaker Special Attack stat.
Major Battles: Alomomola has no real bad matchups, but the only real work it can put in is inflicting toxic poison on foes, healing teammates with Wish, and using weak attacks. It does well against Malva's Fire-types, though.
Additional Comments: Although Alomomola can put in lots of work, its lack of offensive presence holds it back.

Name: Ariados
Availability: Late. Ariados drops from the ceiling in Terminus Cave.
Stats: Ariados has good Attack, but its other stats are subpar.
Typing: Bug/Poison is okay defensively, giving Ariados many weaknesses but some resistances to types like Fairy, Grass, and Fighting. On the other hand, it provides poor offensive coverage.
Movepool: Poison Jab by TM and Pin Missile by level-up provide decent STAB moves, and Dig helps Ariados against Steel-types such as Klefki. Sticky Web by level-up offers useful support against important opponents by lowering their Pokemon's Speed, but Ariados is generally too slow to take advantage of this itself without setting up Agility.
Major Battles: Ariados can contribute in the final Gym if given a bit of experience. In the Elite Four, Ariados can help by setting up Sticky Web and knocking out miscellaneous foes with Dig or a STAB move. Be aware that Malva's lead can easily KO Ariados, but it can set up Sticky Web in all other major battles.
Additional Comments: Ariados drops from the ceiling, so it can only be encountered in designated spots.

Name: Audino
Availability: Early. Audino has a small chance to jump out of the grass patches on Route 6.
Stats: Audino is impressively bulky, but its attacking stats and Speed leave lots to be desired.
Typing: Audino's Normal typing unfortunately means that nothing is weak to its STAB moves. However, Fighting is its only weakness.
Movepool: Audino naturally learns several decent STAB moves, including Secret Power and Take Down. Return can be used later for more power. It can learn many special moves by TM, including Thunderbolt, Fire Blast, and Surf. Calm Mind and Charge Beam open up possibilities for Audino to sweep, while Dig and Power-up Punch provide early-game coverage moves.
Major Battles: Audino needs coverage moves to contribute anything in the second Gym, and the third is even worse for it. It doesn't suffer any bad matchups after that, but its passivity holds it back until the Calm Mind TM after the seventh Gym. Audino struggles against Lysandre's Mienshao, but it performs well against his other Pokemon. After that, it can potentially sweep opponents like Malva with Calm Mind.
Additional Comments: Regenerator is the preferred ability for Audino, because it allows it to recover health without the need for healing items. There are not many ways to tell the ability of a wild Audino, though.

Name: Barboach
Availability: Late. Barboach can be fished with a Good Rod on Routes 14 and 19.
Stats: Barboach has a high HP stat, but low Speed. Its other stats are average.
Typing: Water/Ground is a very good typing for Barboach. It only leaves it with one weakness to Grass, and it gives it the upper hand against common types like Electric, Fire, and Rock.
Movepool: Barboach can put the Bulldoze TM and Surf HM to very good use, getting STAB on both and being able to outspeed foes after using Bulldoze. Earthquake at level 45 serves as a more powerful STAB move. If needed, Barboach can use the Waterfall HM to assist in the field.
Major Battles: Barboach does well against Team Flare's Fire- and Poison-types, and it has a good type matchup against two Elite Four members. All of its remaining Gym matchups are neutral.
Additional Comments: Barboach requires the Good Rod, which can be found in Coumarine City, to catch.

Name: Carbink
Availability: Early. Carbink is an uncommon encounter in Reflection Cave.
Stats: Carbink has low Speed and attacking stats, but impressive bulk.
Typing: Carbink's Rock/Fairy typing gives it weaknesses to Steel, Ground, Grass, and Water, but it also grants resistances to types like Normal, Fire, and Bug.
Movepool: Carbink is unfortunately stuck with a lackluster movepool. Its powerful STAB moves, like Moonblast, come very late, forcing it to rely on weak moves such as Ancient Power for much of the game. However, Carbink can support its team with Reflect, and the Dazzling Gleam TM from the sixth Gym is a welcome power boost for it.
Major Battles: Carbink doesn't have many good matchups early-game except against Team Flare. Later on, it can take on the eighth Gym and two Elite Four members, but it loses to the other two. Carbink performs best against foes that can't hit it super effectively.
Additional Comments: Thanks to Carbink's relatively high ratio of defenses to HP, it doesn't require expensive healing items.

Name: Carnivine
Availability: Late. Carnivine can be found on Route 14.
Stats: Carnivine is slow, but it has passable bulk. It's attacking stats aren't bad either.
Typing: Carnivine's Grass typing riddles it with weaknesses to types like Fire, Flying, and Bug, but it gives it useful advantages against Rock-, Water-, and Ground-types as well, the latter an extremely good matchup for Carnivine thanks to its Levitate ability.
Movepool: Carnivine's movepool is where it really struggles. Leaf Tornado and a Dark-type attack are its only real options until Power Whip at level 50. Even TMs give it only support options like Toxic, Infestation, and Swords Dance. A Stockpile + Swallow + Spit Up combination can be used because of a lack of better options, but it takes a while to set up.
Major Battles: Carnivine underperforms in many major battles because of its disadvantageous typing. In Gyms, its STAB moves are generally unresisted, but the Ice-types in the final Gym hit it super effectively. Carnivine does well against one Elite Four member but fails to contribute much against the other three.
Additional Comments: Carnivine isn't really a bad Pokemon once it learns Power Whip. However, its shallow movepool and unhelpful Ability cause it to be uninteresting.

Name: Chingling
Availability: Early. Chingling can be found in Reflection Cave or in the grass outside it.
Stats: Chingling and its evolved form have decent stats all around, with an emphasis on Special Attack.
Typing: Chingling's Psychic typing gives it three weaknesses, but it isn't without advantages as well.
Movepool: Chingling is stuck with only weak attacks in the forms of Confusion and Uproar for much of the game. After evolving, it gets a strong STAB move in the form of Extrasensory at level 46, and later Gyms provide it with the useful moves Dazzling Gleam and Calm Mind. Support options like Heal Bell and Healing Wish can also be helpful.
Major Battles: Chingling does well against the third Gym because of a good type matchup as well as the Eviolite giving it a useful boost to its bulk. However, even the Eviolite doesn't help it in subsequent fights, where its stats are simply too underwhelming to keep up. Evolution gives Chingling a needed stat boost, but it isn't enough to help Chingling overpower strong opponents such as the Elite Four.
Additional Comments: High Happiness is necessary for Chingling to evolve, so keeping it in your party helps it evolve at a lower level and have access to more moves.

Name: Dugtrio
Availability: Middle. Dugtrio is a common encounter on Route 13.
Stats: Dugtrio has high Speed and decent Attack, but its other stats are very mediocre.
Typing: Dugtrio can hit many foes super effectively with its STAB Ground-type attacks.
Movepool: Dugtrio can obtain good coverage early on with Bulldoze + Rock Tomb. It gets other STAB moves by level-up, including Sand Tomb, Magnitude, and later the strong Earthquake. Sucker Punch is useful against faster foes.
Major Battles: Dugtrio can sweep the fifth Gym with a bit of experience under its belt. After that, its low bulk and inadequate Attack stat can let it down against strong foes, but it can slow them down with Rock Tomb or Bulldoze so a teammate that would normally be outsped can land a hit first.
Additional Comments: Either Ability works fine for Dugtrio. A useful boon Dugtrio offers is the ability to escape from almost any wild Pokemon thanks to its impressive Speed stat.

Name: Eevee (Glaceon)
Availability: Eevee can be found on Route 10.
Stats: Eevee has average stats all around. After it evolves into Glaceon, Eevee's Special Attack increases along with its bulk, but its Speed and Attack stats remain mediocre.
Typing: Eevee's pure Normal typing is bad in early Gyms but decent outside of that. After it evolves, it gains many weaknesses because of its Ice typing, but its STAB moves hit many late-game foes super effectively.
Movepool: Eevee has a decent level-up movepool, which consists of progressively more powerful STAB moves such as Quick Attack, Swift, and Take Down, as well as supportive options including Baby-Doll Eyes and Charm. After it evolves, Eevee can't use any of these moves very well because of its different typing and emphasis on special attacks, but it can utilize TMs like Frost Breath from the Frost Cavern, Blizzard from Anistar City, and Ice Beam from the final Gym as powerful STAB moves. Unfortunately, Eevee is lacking in coverage save for Dig, which comes off its weaker Attack stat.
Major Battles: Eevee suffers from a type disadvantage in the first Gym in which it can be used. After that, it can pull its weight to some extent with Eviolite along with decently powerful Normal-type attacks. After it evolves, Eevee does well against Drasna's Dragon-types, but its attacks are resisted by the other three members of the Elite Four.
Additional Comments: Thanks to its strong Ice-type attacks, Eevee isn't that bad of a Pokemon once it evolves; however, it significantly holds back its team in the mid-game before evolution. Adaptability is the more useful of Eevee's abilities, because Eevee needs the extra power it provides, but Run Away can be useful on slower teams.

Name: Exeggcute
Availability: Middle. Exeggcute appears on Route 12.
Stats: Exeggcute has good Defense. After it evolves, its stat distribution focuses more on Special Attack. Exeggcute is held back by its poor Speed, though.
Typing: Exeggcute's Grass/Psychic typing gives it many weaknesses. Its offensive typing is useful against foes like Water-types, but it isn't the best.
Movepool: Exeggcute has a good movepool. Stun Spore and Sleep Powder early on are a big help against dangerous foes, and access to two decent STAB moves in Confusion and Bullet Seed further helps its case. However, in the midgame it doesn't learn any more useful moves until Wood Hammer at level 37 after evolution. The Move Reminder grants Exeggcute access to Psyshock after it has evolved, and the Energy Ball TM in Route 20 gives it another reliable STAB move.
Major Battles: Exeggcute performs well for three consecutive Gyms after it is caught, but its matchups after that are more questionable. It does horribly against Team Flare, and three of its Elite Four matchups are hopeless. Even in Exeggcute's good matchups, it needs a fair amount of experience to take the hits it needs to, and many foes can deal lots of damage to Exeggcute with super effective attacks before it can move.
Additional Comments: Exeggcute evolves using a Leaf Stone, which can be bought in Lumiose City.

Name: Foongus
Availability: Mid- to late-game, Route 15 or Route 16.
Stats: Except for its dismal Speed, Foongus has decent stats all around, with its HP being particularly high.
Typing: Foongus has a few weaknesses because of its Grass/Poison typing, but with them come useful resistances to types like Fighting, Grass, and Fairy.
Movepool: Giga Drain, which Foongus learns early on, is a good all-purpose STAB move. However, the rest of Foongus's movepool leans not towards offensive strategies but instead towards defensive ones. Toxic and Synthesis, for example, are useful against foes with less offensive presence; however, they cause battles to drag on. Foongus can use the Sludge Bomb TM from Route 19 as a Poison-type STAB move. Spore at level 50 is amazing for incapacitating strong foes, but it requires that Foongus be kept from evolving until it learns the move.
Major Battles: Past the sixth Gym, neither of Foongus's two remaining Gym matchups are in its favor. Foongus can put in work by taking care of Team Flare's many Mightyena, and many miscellaneous Pokemon fail to break it. In the Elite Four, Foongus can put in work against Siebold, but it has to watch out for Starmie's Psychic-type moves.
Additional Comments: Be sure to pick up the Eviolite in Shalour City, because the boost to Foongus's bulk can be useful.

Name: Geodude (No Trade)
Availability: Late. Geodude and its evolved form, Graveler, can be found in Route 18 or Terminus Cave.
Stats: Geodude has good physical bulk and Attack, but mediocre specially based stats and low Speed.
Typing: Geodude's Rock/Ground typing helps it endlessly wall some foes, like physical Normal-types, but renders it completely helpless against Grass- and Water-types. Offensively, it provides impressive coverage.
Movepool: Luckily, Geodude has no shortage of good STAB moves. Attacks like Rock Blast, Dig, Magnitude, and Rock Tomb help it hit nearly any foe hard. Geodude eventually learns the very powerful Earthquake and Stone Edge, but these come very late.
Major Battles: Geodude's Ice weakness holds it back in the final Gym, but at the same time its Rock-type attacks hit super effectively as well. Geodude does decently against Malva and Wikstrom, but its Steel weakness, as well as its low Special Defense and Speed, hold it back in these matchups. Sturdy means that it can usually take down at least one of these foes with it.
Additional Comments: Sturdy is necessary for Geodude, because it gives it a chance against fast, frail foes. Items like Eviolite and Hard Stone help Geodude perform better.

Name: Hoppip
Availability: Early, Route 7
Stats: The Hoppip line has average stats all around except for its blazing Speed.
Typing: Hoppip has tons of weaknesses because of its Grass/Flying typing. Offensively, Grass/Flying isn't the best, but it helps Hoppip hit some foes super effectively.
Movepool: Hoppip's movepool provides it with numerous useful options. It can put Sleep Powder to good use thanks to its high Speed stat, and if given the opportunity it can sweep with Swords Dance, Bullet Seed, and Acrobatics. Stun Spore can slow dangerous foes that Hoppip can't handle without the risk of them waking up. Unfortunately, Hoppip doesn't learn any attacks more powerful than Bullet Seed and Acrobatics, with Giga Drain not boosted by Swords Dance and Bounce weaker than Acrobatics with no item.
Major Battles: Hoppip doesn't do very well in the second Gym; it's not strong enough to threaten to KO opposing Rock-types before evolution, and it takes massive damage in return. It can still help with Stun Spore, though. Hoppip's matchup in the third Gym is better with an evolution, a super effective attack in Aerial Ace, a boosting move in Swords Dance, and an Eviolite backing it up. The rest of Hoppip's Gyms are mostly neutral matchups for it. Hoppip struggles against Team Flare because Fire-types, Poison-types, and Intimidate Mightyena are prevalent.
Additional Comments: Either Ability is fine for Hoppip.

Name: Larvitar (Y)
Availability: Late. Larvitar and Pupitar, its evolved form, appear on Route 18 and in Terminus Cave.
Stats: Larvitar is a well-rounded Pokemon, with its only shortcomings being its unimpressive Speed and slightly subpar Special Attack. Worth noting is the fact that it gains the Sand Stream ability upon its second evolution, giving a helpful boost to its Special Defense.
Typing: Larvitar's Rock/Ground typing is useful against foes like Normal- and Fire-types, but it falls flat against Water- and Grass-types among others. After it evolves into its final form, it sheds its Ground typing in favor of a Dark one, changing its set of matchups.
Movepool: Larvitar can use the TMs for moves like Bulldoze, Dig, and Rock Tomb as STAB moves, and it naturally learns Dark-type moves like Crunch for its evolution. Its movepool gets a big improvement upon evolving into Tyranitar, with attacks like Ice Beam providing excellent coverage.
Major Battles: Larvitar is practically dead weight in the final Gym unless it is given enough experience to evolve into Tyranitar, removing its Ice weakness. Larvitar only has one outright good matchup in the Elite Four, but its high stats can help it muscle past Drasna's Dragon-types, and it can use coverage moves to take down one or two of Wikstrom's Pokemon.
Additional Comments: Larvitar has three shortcomings: it comes too late, it requires lots of experience to evolve, and its Speed stat is low. Besides that, though, its incredible battle prowess is not to be overlooked.

Name: Liepard (Y)
Availability: Late, Route 15 (Y only)
Stats: Liepard's offensive stats are decent, and it has good Speed. Its defenses are below average.
Typing: Pure Dark typing doesn't land super effective hits on many foes, and it gives Liepard weaknesses to common types like Fairy.
Movepool: Liepard doesn't have access to strong attacks until it learns Night Slash at level 43. Before that, it can utilize Nasty Plot + Snarl to do decent damage. Hone Claws provides physical setup, although slow, and U-turn and Play Rough are good coverage moves.
Major Battles: Liepard can perform pretty well against the seventh Gym thanks to Snarl dealing super effective damage while decreasing the power of coverage moves like Dazzling Gleam. However, Liepard's relatively low stats and weak STAB coverage mean that it rarely contributes outside of that.
Additional Comments: Limber is the preferred Ability for Liepard, but neither one is really that useful.

Name: Masquerain
Availability: Masquerain can be found by using Surf on Route 3.
Stats: Decent stats all around, with an emphasis on specially based stats.
Typing: Bug/Flying is somewhat of a hindrance for Masquerain because of its poor offensive coverage and many weaknesses.
Movepool: Two of Masquerain's best moves, Quiver Dance and Bug Buzz, come very late. However, a Heart Scale or two can fix this problem, because Masquerain can also access these moves through the Move Reminder. Masquerain can also use a few TMs for well. Scald and Shadow Ball provide some coverage, while Struggle Bug can act as a discount Bug Buzz.
Major Battles: Masquerain does best in the seventh Gym, and its matchups are mostly neutral outside of that. Unfortunately, it does poorly against the Elite Four because two of their types resist Bug.
Additional Comments:

Name: Mightyena (X)
Availability: Late, Route 15 (X only)
Stats: Mightyena has middling stats for the most part, with its Attack being the highest of the six.
Typing: Mightyena's Dark typing doesn't hit many foes super effectively, but it's almost unresisted.
Movepool: Mightyena requires tons of experience to learn its best attack, Crunch, but it can also have early access to the move thanks to the Move Reminder. Unfortunately, its coverage is rather limited, with Dig, Rock Smash, and Return being its best options.
Major Battles: Mightyena's low defenses mean that it often struggles in major fights, but Crunch can help it almost solo the seventh Gym thanks to its Psychic immunity and super effective STAB. Past that, it can deal with miscellaneous foes like Wikstrom's Aegislash.
Additional Comments: Intimidate is by far the better Ability for Mightyena, because it allows it to weaken any physical attacker purely by switching in on it.

Name: Minun
Availability: Early, Route 5
Stats: Minun has good Speed and decent Special Defense, but its other stats are average at best.
Typing: Minun's Electric typing leaves it with only a single weakness, but its STAB moves hit only two types super effectively.
Movepool: During the early-game period where Minun would normally be useful, its lack of attacks other than Quick Attack before level 15 mean that it weighs down the team until then. Thunderbolt from the fifth Gym is Minun's main attack, because it gets a STAB boost on top of an impressive base power. While Minun learns many support moves like Nasty Plot, Baton Pass, Thunder Wave, and Charm, its offensive movepool is very lacking, featuring only Grass Knot for coverage.
Major Battles: Because of its less interactive typing, Minun doesn't really have any good or bad type matchups. This is more of a curse than a blessing for it, because it can't usually win in simple tests of strength because of its low stats. On the other hand, Minun's passable bulk, high Speed, and lack of weaknesses help it cripple most foes with moves like Thunder Wave and Charm.
Additional Comments:

Name: Nosepass
Availability: Middle, Route 10 (Horde Encounter)
Stats: Nosepass has good physical bulk, but it does poorly against special moves. Evolution fixes that issue; however, it still leaves Nosepass with low attacking stats and Speed.
Typing: Nosepass's Rock typing helps it wall foes like Normal-types, but it has many weaknesses. Evolution adds a Steel typing, leaving it 4x weak to Ground and Fighting but giving it more resistances.
Movepool: Nosepass gains a powerful STAB move early on in Rock Blast, and it learns Power Gem later on. While it learns some useful coverage and utility moves like Thunder Wave, Thunderbolt, Earth Power, and Dazzling Gleam, it can only learn a Steel-type STAB through the Move Reminder.
Major Battles: Nosepass has a bad matchup against the third and fourth Gyms, but it can put in work with Sturdy + Thunder Wave. If evolved, it can take on the fifth Gym thanks to its increased Special Defense, and it performs well in the remaining three Gyms thanks to its Steel typing. Nosepass does well against Team Flare grunts because none of their Pokemon can significantly damage it save for Scraggy, but its low attacking stats prevent it from taking them out quickly.
Additional Comments: Nosepass evolves when leveled up on Route 13. Sturdy is the better ability for Nosepass, because it allows it to survive at least one hit from any foe.

Name: Roggenrola
Availability: Early, Reflection Cave
Stats: High Attack and great physical bulk, but low Special Defense and abysmal Speed.
Typing: Roggenrola has lots of weaknesses because of its Rock typing, but at the same time it has several resistances as well.
Movepool: Roggenrola has no shortage of strong STAB moves: Rock Blast, Smack Down, and Rock Slide are examples of viable attacks Roggenrola learns naturally. Bulldoze from TM gives Roggenrola a good coverage option. Explosion has tremendous power, allowing Roggenrola to take down almost any foe that doesn't resist it, but it KOs Roggenrola too.
Major Battles: Roggenrola has no shortage of bad matchups, unfortunately. The first two Gyms encountered after it is caught have favorable type matchups against it, and many important opponents after that have Pokemon that target Roggenrola's lower Special Defense. However, Roggenrola takes on Team Flare well thanks to its strong attacks and high Defense.
Additional Comments: It is recommended to catch a Roggenrola with the Sturdy ability. Sturdy helps Roggenrola survive even a strong super effective hit to retaliate with its own attack.

Name: Sandslash
Availability: Late, Route 18 and Terminus Cave.
Stats: Sandslash has well-rounded stats with particularly high Attack and Defense.
Typing: Sandslash's Ground typing is lackluster defensively, but it hits many foes super effectively.
Movepool: Sandslash's strongest attack is Earthquake, and if caught at or above level 46 it starts with the move. Swords Dance raises Sandslash's Attack, helping it sweep teams by setting up on nonthreatening foes. Coverage moves like Aerial Ace and Rock Tomb ensure that Sandslash's moves are unresisted.
Major Battles: Sandslash does poorly in the final Gym because all the foes can hit it super effectively, but it does well against two Elite Four members because their Pokemon are weak to Earthquake. It needs to be at a decent level to perform well, though, because its bulk is below average overall.
Additional Comments: The biggest thing holding Sandslash back in-game is just how late it's found. Barely any foes are left for Sandslash to take on.

Name: Scyther
Availability: Late, Route 21 (Rare)
Stats: Scyther has high Attack and Speed. Evolution improves its Defense and Attack at the cost of its Speed.
Typing: Scyther's Bug/Flying typing provides poor offensive coverage and has many weaknesses. However, evolution replaces its Flying subtype with a much more useful Steel one, leaving it with a harsh but singular weakness to Fire.
Movepool: Scyther starts with a strong STAB move in X-Scissor. It can increase its Attack using the Swords Dance TM, and the Aerial Ace TM provides it with a Flying-type STAB move. After it evolves, it has many options, including Iron Head at level 50 and Bullet Punch and Metal Claw from the Move Reminder.
Major Battles: Scyther's usefulness in the final Gym depends on whether or not it can evolve; if it can, it can sweep through the whole thing with its STAB Steel-type moves. In the Elite Four, Scyther does poorly against Malva and Wikstrom, but it performs decently well against the other two as well as the Champion.
Additional Comments: If trading is inaccessible so Scyther can't evolve, it is highly recommended to hunt for one with Technician to boost the power of Aerial Ace. Thanks to Scizor naturally learning Iron Head, it has greater viability without Technician; however, it is still the recommended ability thanks to the boost it gives to Bullet Punch.

Name: Skitty
Availability: Early, Route 4
Stats: Decent stats all around, but they start to fall off later on.
Typing: Pure Normal typing is bad for Skitty, because no foes are weak to its STAB moves. However, only three types resist its attacks.
Movepool: Skitty has quite an expansive movepool. Double Slap is a decent STAB move, and later on stronger options like Return and Double-Edge are available, although the latter requires that Skitty not be evolved until the late game. TMs like Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Dig, and Thunder Wave can also be used.
Major Battles: Unfortunately for Skitty, it is unable to contribute against Grant because the Dig TM is unavailable until after the Gym; its type matchup against Korrina is similarly bad because her Fighting-types can easily take it out with their super effective attacks. If evolved, it can put in work against the next few Gyms, but after that its relatively low stats start to let it down.
Additional Comments: The Normalize ability hinders Skitty by preventing it from getting around Pokemon that resist its STAB moves. Because of this, it is recommended to use a Skitty with Cute Charm.

Name: Slowpoke (Slowbro)
Availability: Middle, Route 12 and Azure Bay
Stats: Slowpoke outspeeds nothing, but it has an impressive HP stat. Evolution turns it into a physical tank that can hit hard with special attacks.
Typing: Slowpoke's Water/Psychic typing is good enough offensively, but it's held back by five crippling weaknesses.
Movepool: Slowpoke's early movepool is mostly confined to Surf and Confusion, but as access to TMs increases, its movepool expands to an impressive degree. Brick Break, Grass Knot, Calm Mind, Fire Blast, and Dig are just a few examples of the massive amounts of TMs Slowpoke can learn. Slack Off helps it recover its health, and Psychic is a very strong attack.
Major Battles: Slowpoke is useless against the fourth and fifth Gyms because of its low stats before evolution and its type disadvantage. After this, though, it starts to really get going: many physical attackers, including Valerie's Mawile and Lysandre's Mienshao, can't do much damage to Slowpoke, and after the seventh Gym it can take advantage of this by setting up with Calm Mind.
Additional Comments: Although Slowpoke definitely pulls its weight late-game, it requires a lot of patience to support initially.

Name: Slowpoke (Slowking)
Availability: Middle. Slowpoke can be found on Route 12 or in Azure Bay by surfing.
Stats: Slowpoke starts out as a slow physical tank, but Slowking specializes in taking and dishing out special attacks.
Typing: Water/Psychic has a few weaknesses, but also gives Slowpoke its share of useful resistances to types like Fire, Steel, and Fighting.
Movepool: Unlike its physically defensive counterpart, Slowking's movepool is more focused on offense. Nasty Plot at level 36 turns it into an immediate threat, and Slowking learns strong STAB moves like Psychic and Surf. It can learn coverage moves like Power Gem and Blizzard to take out frail foes after surviving a hit.
Major Battles: Slowking only does well in Gyms if it has already evolved, because its stats before evolution are generally too low for it to contribute meaningfully. After it evolves, though, it can do well in most major battles thanks to the fact that its weaknesses are rarely seen later on in the game.
Additional Comments: A King's Rock, which is needed to evolve Slowpoke, is obtained in Lysandre Labs. However, wild Pokemon like Hawlucha and Poliwhirl also have a chance of carrying it, meaning that with patience Slowpoke can be evolved as soon as it is caught.

Name: Slugma
Availability: Middle, Route 13 (Rock Smash)
Stats: Slugma has decent Special Attack, and after evolving its Defense becomes good as well. However, its Speed is horrible and its Special Defense is mediocre.
Typing: Slugma's Fire typing is average overall. It gains a Rock subtype after it evolves, leaving it with many more weaknesses but greatly improving its offensive coverage.
Movepool: Slugma gains progressively stronger Fire-type moves as it levels up, culminating in Lava Plume at level 38. It also learns Rock-type attacks like Ancient Power, which should be kept because they gain STAB after Slugma evolves. After Slugma's evolution, it gains the incredible Shell Smash, which helps it outrun and deal major damage to many foes at the cost of its defenses. Earth Power and Yawn, which are accessible for Magcargo through the Move Reminder, are usable but unnecessary options. Overall, Slugma only needs its STAB moves and Shell Smash to succeed.
Major Battles: Slugma needs to watch out for coverage moves in the fourth Gym like Gogoat's Bulldoze, but it performs well outside of that. It struggles in the fifth Gym because of its bad Special Defense. However, it does very well in the remaining Gyms thanks to Shell Smash and the type advantages it has. Sometimes Slugma can sweep late-game, but super effective coverage moves are common at that point.
Additional Comments: Either ability works well for Slugma, although if given the choice Flame Body is the more useful of the two.

Name: Sneasel
Availability: Late, Route 17
Stats: Sneasel has good Attack and Speed, but low defenses.
Typing: Sneasel's Ice/Dark typing is bad defensively, but Sneasel can hit many foes super effectively thanks to it.
Movepool: Sneasel's best attacks are Dark-type moves like Beat Up and Feint Attack. It can use Ice-type moves to hit some foes super effectively, but save for Ice Shard they come off its much lower Special Attack. Sneasel can use coverage moves like Brick Break, Dig, and Poison Jab, and Swords Dance gives it a helpful Attack boost.
Major Battles: Sneasel doesn't do that well in major battles, because its Attack is insufficient to OHKO most Pokemon without a super effective STAB move. Without significant amounts of experience, the best it can do is outspeed and 2HKO a foe while avoiding the OHKO in return, and even that can be difficult because of Sneasel's low bulk and numerous weaknesses.
Additional Comments: The thing that really holds Sneasel back is its inability to evolve during the main story because of Razor Claw's unavailability.

Name: Spritzee (No Trade)
Availability: Early, Route 7 (Y)
Stats: Spritzee has well-rounded stats except for its low Speed.
Typing: Spritzee's Fairy typing is advantageous both defensively and offensively.
Movepool: Spritzee can play the role of either a bulky supporter or a Calm Mind sweeper. A Fairy-type STAB move like Draining Kiss or Moonblast is a must. Charm, Confide, Aromatherapy, and Trick Room are examples of ways Spritzee can support the team, although they are inefficient choices. Coverage moves like Energy Ball, Thunderbolt, and Psychic can be used on offensive builds to hit more foes super effectively, although Thunderbolt is the only one that comes before the seventh Gym.
Major Battles: Spritzee does decently against Grant thanks to its average stats, and it reaches its high point at Shalour City—not only does it have a type advantage against the Gym there, but it also receives an extremely useful item in Eviolite. After that, Spritzee can still contribute thanks to the bulk it has with Eviolite, putting it at a level similar to many fully evolved Pokemon, but its lack of offensive presence means that most battles with it will be slow.
Additional Comments: Thanks to Spritzee's lower HP stat, it doesn't require many items to heal.

Name: Swirlix (No Trade)
Availability: Early, Route 7 (X)
Stats: Swirlix has decent stats all around.
Typing: Swirlix has a pure Fairy typing, which is useful in-game.
Movepool: Swirlix's movepool is unfortunately disappointing for a large part of the game. Fairy Wind and Round are its best attacks until Draining Kiss at level 31, and the good TMs it can learn, like Flamethrower and Thunderbolt, come too late to be of much use. Later on it can put in some work with Play Rough.
Major Battles: Swirlix does poorly against Grant because of how weak its attacks are, but a type advantage along with an Eviolite helps it against Korrina. After that, though, its weak movepool and relatively low stats prevent it from doing much.
Additional Comments: this should legit be f. at least spritzee gets early game cm + draining kiss

Name: Torkoal
Availability: Late, Route 18
Stats: Torkoal has fairly well-rounded stats. Its high Defense stands out, but so does its terrible Speed.
Typing: Torkoal has more resistances than it has weaknesses, and its Fire typing isn't bad offensively either.
Movepool: Torkoal starts with a reliable STAB move with a useful burn chance in Lava Plume. Other STAB moves like Flamethrower, Heat Wave, and Inferno are available through level-up or the Move Reminder. Bulldoze, Earthquake, and Rock Tomb through TM provide type coverage, and Shell Smash increases Torkoal's Speed and attacking stats but still leaves it outsped by many threats. Will-O-Wisp helps against physical attackers by dealing damage every turn and decreasing the power of their moves.
Major Battles: Torkoal has a good matchup against Wulfric and Wikstrom, but it should be kept away from Drasna and Siebold. It can perform well against pretty much any physical attacker by withstanding even a super effective hit and retaliating with its own attacks.
Additional Comments: Torkoal does better in major battles than in routes like Victory Road, because its low Speed holds it back in such a setting.

Name: Trubbish
Availability: Late, Lost Hotel and Pokemon Village (trash cans)
Stats: Trubbish has average stats all around, and even after evolving none of its stats are really that bad.
Typing: Trubbish's Poison typing has relatively few interactions with other types. It does best against Grass- and Fairy-types, but besides that it has some useful resistances like Fighting.
Movepool: Trubbish has a relatively shallow movepool, having only Dark- and Normal-type attacks available through TM for the most part. Sludge Bomb, which Trubbish starts with, is a very good STAB move all around. Gunk Shot has low PP and is inaccurate, but it packs lots of power. Stockpile and Swallow allow Trubbish to recover its health. After Trubbish evolves, it gains access to other options like Thunderbolt, Toxic Spikes, and Psychic.
Major Battles: Trubbish has an unfortunate typing for the time it is obtained—the seventh Gym contains Psychic-types that hit it super effectively, and after that its matchups are neutral at best. However, Trubbish offers a useful late-game tool in Toxic Spikes, which it can usually set up thanks to its good typing and bulk.
Additional Comments: Trubbish does best in dungeons like the Team Flare HQ, because its decent stats give it an edge against many foes.

Name: Vanillite
Availability: Late, Frost Cavern. Vanillite appears exclusively in hordes.
Stats: Vanillite has decent stats with especially good Special Attack.
Typing: Vanillite's Ice typing is bad defensively but good offensively.
Movepool: Vanillite's movepool is quite shallow, with only Ice- and Normal-type attacks except for the odd move like Mirror Shot. Ice Beam at level 36 is a very reliable STAB move, with good power, guaranteed accuracy, and decent PP. Freeze-Dry, learned through the Move Reminder, is weaker than Ice Beam, but it has the benefit of hitting Water-types super effectively.
Major Battles: Vanillite does well in the eighth Gym because it resists Ice-type moves and can hit their users back with Mirror Shot. It falls flat against two Elite Four members, but handles the other two with Freeze-Dry and Ice Beam.
Additional Comments: Vanillite is mainly held back by how late it comes in-game and how much effort it takes to get it to a good level. If given this effort, though, it can definitely put in work.

Name: Volbeat
Availability: Early, Route 7
Stats: Volbeat has decent stats all around.
Typing: Bug typing is unfortunate offensively because many types resist it. Defensively it provides a couple useful resistances against types like Fighting.
Movepool: Volbeat's claim to fame is Tail Glow, which quadruples its Special Attack stat after just two uses. Good special moves like Thunderbolt, Bug Buzz, Struggle Bug, and Dazzling Gleam are useful to OHKO different foes after a boost. Volbeat can utilize moves like Brick Break, Aerial Ace, and U-turn, which come off its higher Attack, but save for Power-Up Punch it has no way of boosting its power.
Major Battles: Volbeat does well in the third and fourth Gyms, although it has to watch out for super effective moves like Jumpluff's Acrobatics. After that, though, it struggles due to its lack of resistances. This makes it harder for Volbeat to sweep because of the damage it takes while setting up. However, with enough experience or a supporter backing it up, Volbeat can still Tail Glow its way past even the toughest opponents.
Additional Comments: Be sure to pick up the Struggle Bug TM from the Lumiose City Poke Mart.

Name: Wailmer
Availability: Middle. Wailmer appears in Ambrette Town, Cyllage City, and the route connecting it. However, it requires Surf to find.
Stats: Wailmer has a very large HP stat, with average stats outside of that.
Typing: Wailmer's Water typing leaves it with only two weaknesses and three types weak to it.
Movepool: Wailmer starts out with a solid STAB move in Surf. At level 34, it learns Water Spout, which has much more power than Surf but requires that Wailmer be kept healthy. Bounce, Blizzard, Ice Beam, and Bulldoze provide coverage for Wailmer, although the former three come quite late. Wailmer can use the Waterfall HM if needed, dealing less damage than Surf but providing the team a way to bypass waterfalls.
Major Battles: Wailmer contributes almost nothing against the fifth Gym. Most of its other matchups are neutral, with its resistance to Ice being particularly notable. In general, Wailmer performs best against foes either slower than it or unable to deal major damage, because it can hit them very hard with STAB Water Spout.
Additional Comments: The Blizzard TM can be bought in Anistar City.

Name: Watchog
Availability: Late, Route 15
Stats: Watchog's stats are slightly subpar all around.
Typing: Watchog's Normal typing is disadvantageous because it doesn't give it any good type matchups.
Movepool: Watchog starts out with only Hyper Fang to deal damage, but Dig from TM and Low Kick and Crunch from the Move Reminder patch up its coverage somewhat. Hypnosis and Confuse Ray give Watchog a shot at beating more powerful Pokemon. Miscellaneous TMs including Grass Knot, Thunderbolt, and Flamethrower are also viable options.
Major Battles: Watchog doesn't do well in major battles because of its disappointing stats and typing. However, its wide array of coverage moves can help it take down foes like Siebold's Gyarados and Wikstrom's Scizor and Probopass. In a neutral matchup, though, Watchog usually won't come out on top.
Additional Comments: Unfortunately, Watchog simply comes too late to be of much use.
 
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cityscapes

Take care of yourself.
is a Tiering Contributoris a Community Contributor Alumnus
happy holidays everyone

Name: Aron (X)
Availability: Late, Route 18. Lairon, Aron's evolved form, is available at higher levels so it is advised to catch Lairon instead of Aron.
Stats: Aron has low Speed but high Attack and Defense.
Typing: Aron has two harsh weaknesses to Fighting and Ground, but it can take lots of physical hits from most foes without such moves.
Movepool: Aron starts out with a strong STAB move in Iron Tail, and the addition of Bulldoze or Dig by TM helps it hit almost all foes neutrally. Rock Slide, found in Couriway Town, hits Flying-, Bug-, and Fire-types very hard thanks to STAB.
Major Battles: Aron's typing and stats help it a lot, giving it the edge against Wulfric, all Elite Four members except Siebold, and the Champion.
Additional Comments: Level 44 Lairon, which can be caught in the red flowers, know Iron Head upon capture. Although it is weaker than Iron Tail, its perfect accuracy and flinch chance make it a more reliable choice.

Name: Bagon
Availability: Early, Route 8 (5%)
Stats: Bagon's stats initially give it the role of a slow physical tank, but after it evolves into Salamence, it becomes an amazing fast mixed attacker.
Typing: Dragon typing gives Bagon useful resistances like Fire and Water. It only hits itself super effectively, though.
Movepool: Bagon starts with decently powerful moves like Rock Tomb, Aerial Ace, Headbutt and Bite. Shelgon learns stronger attacks in Zen Headbutt and Dragon Breath, but that's nothing compared to Salamence. Immediately after its second evolution, Bagon learns an incredibly useful STAB move in Fly, and it can utilize TMs like Earthquake and Flamethrower to make sure no Pokemon escapes its wrath.
Major Battles: Bagon does well in the fourth and fifth Gyms: its helpful resistances, as well as an Eviolite backing up its bulk, allows it to take many hits and dish some back in return. It starts to fall off after that until its second evolution, which does extremely well against nearly every remaining opponent.
Additional Comments: Bagon is rare and has a relatively low catch rate, so make sure you come prepared when trying to catch it.

Name: Bergmite
Availability: Late, Frost Cavern
Stats: Bergmite has amazing Defense and fairly high Attack as well, but its horrible Speed and lackluster Special Defense means that it does poorly against special attackers.
Typing: Bergmite's Ice typing gives it lots of weaknesses, but thanks to its incredible Defense it can usually survive a super effective hit or two from physical attackers.
Movepool: Avalanche and either Bulldoze or Earthquake serve as strong attacks that are practically unresisted. They are all Bergmite really needs, so it has free moveslots to use moves like Curse and Recover.
Major Battles: Although its typing is a major hindrance against the Elite Four, Bergmite can still take on foes that hit its stronger Defense stat. It does very well in routes, keeping itself healthy with Recover and keeping tons of opposing Pokemon in check. Worth noting is the fact that Bergmite does extremely well against Drasna thanks to Avalanche being able to OHKO many of her Pokemon.
Additional Comments:

Name: Bunnelby
Availability: Early, Route 2
Stats: Average stats all around.
Typing: Bunnelby's Normal typing unfortunately denies it any outright good matchups (although bad ones are somewhat rare as well). Evolution adds a Ground subtype to it, fixing this issue by allowing it to hit five types super effectively with its STAB moves.
Movepool: Bunnelby has a good movepool. Double Slap and Take Down are decently powerful STAB moves. Dig provides coverage against Rock- and Steel-types, and it gains STAB after Bunnelby evolves. Earthquake later on is a very powerful Ground-type move. Bunnelby can hit pretty much any Pokemon super effectively with its STAB moves alone, so it doesn't really need any coverage.
Major Battles: Bunnelby struggles in the second, third, and fourth Gyms because of type disadvantages and its mediocre stats before evolution. However, it comes back with a vengeance in the fifth Gym, hitting all of its foes super effectively and carrying an immunity to their Electric-type attacks. It does well against the Poison- and Fire-types often carried by Team Flare, and its Ground-type attacks hit the Pokemon of two Elite Four members.
Additional Comments: Bunnelby has its ups and downs, but for the most part it's a pretty reliable Pokemon to have.

Name: Chatot
Availability: Middle, Route 12 and Azure Bay (grass and yellow flowers)
Stats: Chatot has okay stats all around, with Special Attack and Speed being especially prominent.
Typing: Normal/Flying is okay, giving Chatot a few weaknesses but also providing it advantages against types like Ghost, Fighting, and Grass.
Movepool: Chatot starts out with its potent signature move, Chatter. Thanks to Chatter's guaranteed confusion, it helps Chatot disrupt foes as well as deal damage to them. Hyper Voice via Move Reminder is a strong Normal-type STAB move, while Fly can be used for transportation. Substitute from Anistar City can be used to take advantage of confused foes.
Major Battles: Chatot does very well in the fourth Gym, but all it can contribute in the fifth one is lingering confusion from Chatter. Chatot's low defenses hold it back later on, although it can pick off foes with disadvantageous typing or luck.
Additional Comments: Chatot ultimately struggles due to its mediocre stats, but that doesn't mean it can't contribute with Chatter.

Name: Clamperl (Gorebyss)
Availability: Gorebyss can be obtained in two ways: evolved from Clamperl using the Deep Sea Scale in Azure Bay, and directly caught using a Super Rod on Route 12 in Y. Clamperl is also found on Route 12 through fishing using the Good Rod.
Stats: Clamperl and Gorebyss have decent stats, with especially good Defense and Special Attack. However, their HP and Speed are underwhelming.
Typing: Pure Water typing is good both offensively and defensively.
Movepool: Clamperl naturally learns only weak STAB moves; it eventually gets the amazing Shell Smash, but that requires that it not be evolved until level 50. TMs and HMs provide the bulk of its movepool, with Surf, Blizzard, Ice Beam and Psychic all being powerful options.
Major Battles: Clamperl struggles in the fourth and fifth Gyms, but it does all right after that. It does notably well against Team Flare, with the ability to take attacks from physical attackers like Mightyena and retaliate with strong special attacks.
Additional Comments: The Good Rod can be obtained in Coumarine City, and the Super Rod on Route 16.

Name: Clamperl (Huntail)
Availability: Clamperl can be fished up with a Good Rod on Route 12, while Huntail is available with a Super Rod in X if trading is inaccessible.
Stats: Clamperl is a tank with decent Special Attack, while Huntail is a powerful mixed attacker with good Defense.
Typing: Thanks to its Water typing, Clamperl has only two weaknesses, and it hits three types super effectively.
Movepool: Clamperl should be evolved immediately, because outside of the practically unreachable Shell Smash its movepool is completely barren. Surf and Dive are powerful mid-game moves for Huntail, and Crunch, Blizzard, Ice Beam and Rock Tomb provide coverage. Huntail's coverage moves come relatively late, though, meaning that it struggles against foes not hit neutrally by its STAB moves until then.
Major Battles: Huntail's Water typing holds it back in the fourth and fifth Gyms, but outside of that it provides it with matchups that are neutral at worst. In particular, Huntail does well against the Elite Four and Team Flare.
Additional Comments: The Deep Sea Tooth, which evolves Clamperl when it is traded holding the item, can be found in Azure Bay by surfing.

Name: Corphish
Availability: Middle, Route 3 and Parfum Palace (Fishing, Good Rod)
Stats: Corphish has mediocre speed and decent bulk. Its highlight is its impressive Attack.
Typing: Corphish's Water typing is overall decent. After it evolves, it gains a Dark subtyping, leaving it with three more weaknesses but giving it nearly perfect offensive coverage.
Movepool: Corphish starts with Surf by HM, and it can use TMs like Dig, Rock Tomb, Aerial Ace, and Swords Dance to improve its battling prowess. After Corphish's early evolution, it can look forward to a strong Dark-type STAB in Night Slash. Later on, it can use even more powerful STAB moves in Crabhammer, Waterfall, Crunch, and Knock Off.
Major Battles: Corphish does shakily in the period directly after it's caught, with all Gyms up to the sixth hitting it super effectively. However, it comes back full force in the seventh Gym, hitting the Psychic-types there extremely hard and avoiding their own barrages thanks to its Dark typing. Its good matchups don't stop there, either—it does well against the final Gym, Team Flare, and three of the Elite Four.
Additional Comments: Corphish requires a lot of patience, but it does not let its team down in the late game.

Name: Cubchoo
Availability: Late, Frost Cavern. Cubchoo is available only in low-level horde encounters, but its evolved form, Beartic, can be found at higher levels.
Stats: Cubchoo has good bulk and high Attack, but its Speed stat is abysmal.
Typing: Cubchoo's Ice typing hits many foes super effectively, but it leaves Cubchoo with many weaknesses as well.
Movepool: If Cubchoo is caught evolved, it starts out with one of the best Ice-type moves in Icicle Crash. Cubchoo can use TMs like Dig and Brick Break for coverage; alternatively, it can relearn the extremely powerful Superpower. Swords Dance raises Cubchoo's attack, helping it against slower, bulkier foes.
Major Battles: Cubchoo does well against the final Gym if given Brick Break or Superpower, and it can take on Drasna's Dragon-types. However, its low Speed holds it back later on, because some foes are strong enough to 2HKO it before it can OHKO back.
Additional Comments: Cubchoo is held back a lot by its Speed and disadvantageous defensive typing, but its bulk and Attack help it out a lot.
 
Another small update from me, but at least everything in the current B-Tier is written! That just leaves the C- and D-Tiers.


Xerneas [X]
Availability:
Team Flare Secret HQ, forced encounter
Stats: Impressive stats all around, with outstanding HP and offensive stats.
Typing: Pure Fairy typing, which is very good both offensively and defensively. It should still be wary of Steel- and Poison-types.
Movepool: Xerneas starts with its best move in Moonblast for powerful STAB, alongside Geomancy for a potent boosting move. Alternatively, Calm Mind can be used to boost stats if Geomancy's two-turn duration is too inconvenient. Xerneas also learns a wide number of TMs, including Focus Blast, Psychic, and Psyshock which cover anything resistant to Moonblast.
Major Battles: Starting with the final Lysandre battle, Xerneas should be able to sweep through, although it might take significant damage from Pyroar. It generally performs well for the remainder of the game. Xerneas does struggle against Wikstrom, but setting up on his Klefki helps Xerneas power through his team.
Additional Comments: Xerneas may be added to your already full party upon capture, ready for the final battle against Lysandre

Not much to say aside from always worrying that Lysandre's Pyroar will crit Xerneas and ruin the Geomancy sweep I desire.

Pansear
Availability:
Santalune Forest, 10%
Stats: Simisear has high Speed with above average Attack and Special Attack. With Pansear's middling stats, evolving it sooner than later is more beneficial to its performance.
Typing: Fire typing is worthwhile long term, giving it notable type coverage and more resistances than weaknesses.
Movepool: Flame Burst at Level 22 is Pansear's strongest STAB until Anistar City until or Level 34 (it's not a level-up move for Simisear, however). If desired, Sunny Day helps with the lack of power. TMs provide enough coverage and support moves for a flexible moveset. Cut, Dig, and Rock Smash are learnable if desired.
Major Battles: Pansear is more matchup-based, with good matchups on Viola (watch for Surskit), Ramos, Wulfric, and Wikstrom. Its good Speed and good movepool also let it back up its teammates. It should avoid Grant and Siebold, though it can KO Siebold's Barbaricle with a Grass Knot.
Additional Comments: There is a free Fire Stone at Route 9, and it is recommended to use it once Pansear learns Flame Burst.

C-Tier is a solid yes. A matchup-based Fire-type that's very good at what it does and can cover for a teammate's failed KO thanks to high Speed.
Flame Burst being its strongest STAB 'til Flamethrower only bothered me when neutral hits were 3HKOs and not 2HKOs. Of its TMs, Sunny Day, Will-O-Wisp, Shadow Claw, and Focus Blast ended up being Simisear's most useful secondary moves. Power-up Punch, Low Sweep, Acrobatics, and Dig also had their moments of usefulness. Grass Knot didn't prove useful, as Water-types were typically to light to be OHKO, and Rock-types would have Sturdy and simply KO back with their STAB moves. Flame Charge wasn't really needed since Simisear could outspeed most threats anyway.

Machop
Availability:
Glittering Cave, 30%
Stats: Excellent base 130 Attack coupled with decent bulk and unfortunately below average Speed.
Typing: Fighting typing is great STAB for a couple of gyms and much of Team Flare. It struggles against the common Flying- or Psychic-types.
Movepool: Among its many level-up STAB moves, its starting move Low Sweep is Machop's most useful because it alleviates its Speed issues. It also gets a few useful TMs, including Poison Jab, Bulk Up, and Earthquake. Strength, Rock Smash, and Dig are learnable if desired.
Major Battles: Its best efforts are seen at Grant and Wulfric's gyms and against Team Flare's numerous Dark-types, plus it can also setup on Valerie's Mawile. It struggles in Olympia's gym and against most Flying-types like Team Flare's Golbat.
Additional Comments: Both Guts and No Guard are usable abilities for Machop. The latter comes with the bonus of dealing a potent yet perfectly accurate Dynamic Punch (during the endgame).

I was hoping that using Machamp would convince me that Machamp was actually s a B-Tier Pokémon, but no, it's a C-Tier. Having some of the best physical power you can get as early as it gets is great, but what kept it in C-Tier for me was its below average Speed and only decent defenses. It started to not take physical hits well at all towards the late game, though the Lonely nature likely had something to do with that. It tanked Special hits all right. I had Low Sweep for the entire game and even preferred using it over Cross Chop. Low Sweep's Speed-lowering effect meant that 2HKOs from a 100 Acc. move were effectively the same to me as an OHKO from an 80 Acc move (I'm implying, of course, that I used a Guts Machop and not No Guard).

Farfetch'd
Availability:
Route 22, 10%; Santalune City, In-game trade (Bunnelby)
Stats: Base 65 Attack is Farfetch'd's highest stat, meaning it loses its robustness as soon as past the second gym.
Typing: Normal/Flying provides strong STAB options and an immunity to Ground-types. It has poor matchups against Rock- and Steel-types.
Movepool: Farfetch'd gets Aerial Ace at Level 9, with Return and Swords Dance quickly after for a potent early-game moveset. It later gets better Flying STAB in HM Fly and Acrobatics via TM or Level 37. Aside from Poison Jab, Night Slash and HM Cut, it doesn't learn anything else noteworthy.
Major Battles: It is arguably the best Pokémon for Viola's gym. Additionally, it can hold its own against Korrina, Ramos, and Fighting-types of Team Flare. However, its low base stats mean it will usually fail to do anything significant in any other major battle.
Additional Comments: The in-game traded Farfetch'd has both a Jolly nature and a flawless Speed IV.

So, I tried Farfetch'd for the whole run. Yeah, it should stay at D-Tier. Most definitely an E-Tier if not for it being the absolute most useful pick for running through Viola's gym. Inability to OHKO without Swords Dance starts to really show sometime after Grant, and inability to take hits even decently well starts some time after Valerie. The boosted EXP made it keep up very easily with the rest of the team, though it's not like I was even using it that much. Actually, it was more interesting to me that it could consistently sweep the Rival with items used.

Others with already written analysis:
Blastoise was good at what it did, and that was tank hits. Admittedly, I wish it had better Water STAB, though maybe I just overestimated the effectiveness of Mega Launcher + Water Pulse. B-Tier.
Pinsir also a good B-Tier. A reliable Bug-type once it gets X-Scissor, which is actually only a few levels away. Great Attack stat, good Speed, and decent coverage, too. Also bonus points for Storm Throw saving me time getting through Valerie's Mawile's Iron Defenses when I was ready to sweep through.
 
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