Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon In-Game Tier List

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Stellar

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Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon In-Game Tier List
S
Hawlucha
Magnemite
Oricorio


A
Bounsweet
Gastly
Grimer

Litten
Magikarp
Mudbray
Popplio

Zubat

B
Abra
Cutiefly
Dewpider
Ekans

Feebas
Furfrou
Grubbin
Inkay

Mareep
Mawile

Murkrow

Necrozma
Pikipek
Ralts
Rowlet

Salandit
Smoochum

C
Bagon
Beldum
Larvitar

Sandyghast
Zorua

D
Larvesta
Noibat


E
Poipole

Rufflet - ED
Roggenrola - A
Eevee (Jolteon) - AA
Remoraid - BC
Flabebe - CE
Honedge - B
Xurkitree - CD
Pichu - B
Fomantis - DE
Houndour - BD
Nihilego - C
Slowpoke - E
Sandile - C
Mareanie - CC
Mimikyu - AB
Amaura - CD
Snorunt - DE
Chinchou - CD
Electrike - C
Castform - E
Fletchinder - C
Swinub - C
Lileep - DD
Palkia - BC
Dialgia - BC
Barboach - BC
Vulpix - CB
Absol - D
Gible - D
Charmander - C
Mantine - CD
Buneary - C
Stufful - A
Treeko - CB
Corsola - DE
Skrelp - D
Clauncher - D
Mime Jr - B
Togedemaru - A
Tyrunt - B
Wingull - A
Morelull - C
Sandshrew - B
Turtonator - CD
Happiny - C
Partner Pikachu - C
Kabuto - D
Umbreon - E
Ralts - C
Cottonee - C
 
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Stellar

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is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Researcher Alumnusis a CAP Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
I’d like the first topic of discussion to be developing an S tier.

Hawlucha probably doesn’t need much discussion... so what else would be in S?
 
I believe common consensus is that Oricorio is if not S tier, very close. 93 Speed is pretty high for alolan standards, moveset is acceptable (gets Acrobatics, flying Z crystal and roost very early) and the ability to change typing is pretty useful allowing you to adapt it to specific trainer / team comps very easily.
Also hilariously stomps Totem Ribombee due to Dancer, as extra note.
 

Raidx

Banned deucer.
First time posting in an in-game tier list thread so pardon me, but I believe Magnemite should probably be atleast A rank for a plethora of reasons.

1. Typing. Electric/Steel is one of the best typings in the game overall and being getting an Electric STAB in Thunder Shock (weak but not useless) early on is incredibly handy. Being immune to Poison as well as resisting like a million other typings is pretty crazy. Resists Normal mons ins Ilima's trial as well as being super useful in Lana's trial due to it's typing alone is a huge plus. Note, I didn't use Magnezone against totem Ribombee, so idk how it fares against that particular totem.

2. Availability. Magnemite is available incredibly early in the game (Trainers' School) so you don't have to wait till mid-late game to acquire such a mon.

3. Stats. Magnemite has base 95 Special Attack which means even though earlier on it only has Thunder Shock for Electric STAB, it'll still do great damage, more than enough to suffice. It's other stats are pretty lackluster, I'll admit that but the fact that it's Special Attack is so high for a non-evolved mon paired with its typing is just huge.

4. Evolves decently early. This should probably go with the "availability' section but eh. Magnemite evolves into Magneton (who is also fucking amazing) at level 30 which isn't bad at all. Unlike Pokemon like Noibat for example which evolves into Noivern somewhere in the 40s, Magnemite evolves at 30 so you don't have to carry it around relying on Exp. Share to evolve it.

5. Sturdy. With Sturdy, Magnemite/Magneton are pretty much unkillable at full HP which let's you live shit that you otherwise would just faint to. Not much else to say about that.

Magnemite obviously has its flaws. Low Speed, weak to Ground (particularly Dig), and limited movepool. But if you ask me Magnemite's pros definitely exceed its done by a long shot, thus warranting at least A+ rank.

I'd like to nom another mon as well, Zorua. However since I'm on mobile atm I'll elaborate more on this Pokemon later.
 
(Have only beaten Lusamine at Aether so far, but I think I have a decent feel for some initial thoughts)

Mudbray: This horse is amazing. Hefty base Attack stat, High Horsepower at level 24. Respectable Defences, and Stamina. It's basically impossible for it to lose against neutral physical attackers 1v1, and can sweep relatively easilly. Downside of low speed and slighlty above average potion consumption are slight knocks, but I still feel it's a solid A rank.
Magnemite: Easy mode. Mon is great and reliable. Earlier evolution to Magnezone is an option now (Blush Mountain) if you want your eviolite for something else, and its just so powerful for the game so far. A Rank(+)
Cutiefly:
Seems frail to me, even though it's fast and decently powerful once it evolves. Feels like a B rank to me.
Popplio: Similarly to Cutiefly, it's low speed and mediocre defences meant this hasn't been the powerhouse I was expecting. Might still be A rank, but I'd not feel confident in this placement. The removal of early game scald hurts a lot.
Salandit: I was lucky to get a female first time, but even then, has been pretty underwhelming. Seems to miss a lot of KOs, and doesn't take hits well at all. B/C Rank.

The other member of my team is currently a Metang (with Eviolite), which is a tank, but not very efficient. Unless Metagross is fantastic, would be happy to put this at C Rank.
 
Some useful references
-Charjabug, Magneton & Nosepass all evolve at Blush Mountain now
-Crabrawler can evolve on your first visit to tapu village since the elevator area has a patch of grass
-Said patch of grass also has more common snorunts and such.
-I don't believe you can evolve into Glaceon there, however
-Can get a ditto (well, 5 of them) in konikoni. mostly relevant in case breeding is important to a pokemon for whatever reason
-scald is no longer at brooklet hill
-SOS mechanics changed so you need an adreneline orb to reliably SOS farm
-After beating Olivia, you can get a hypno and bewear out of events on melemele. unsure if they get preset IVs
-Totem pokemon you get as gifts come with preset (usually hidden) abilities. I believe they all get 3 guaranteed 31 IVs as well. I think some of these should be considered when talking about pokemon, since totem stickers are fairly easy to come by unlike zygarde cells.
-The totem marowak from Kiawe's trial holds a Thick Club which you can steal and keep after the battle.
-Zygarde is post game
 
I don't really know much of how it works... well, what about Event Rockruff? Will it be separated from regular Rockruff? How will it be decided, especially that it has different Fang in each version?

Also, with the Mantine Surf, You can get access to Drill Runner, which is pretty powerful, although dicey if you are just hoping for the critical hits. And sadly it won't learn Stone Edge until either it reaches Lv48 or you get to buy the TM at 4th Island, which is pretty far (which makes it jarring when Hau gives you its Lycan-Z at 3rd island while my DuskRoc was still Lv30, so far from Stone Edge, compared to AloRai-Z (if you held from evolving Pikachu until Thunderbolt) and Primarina-Z which is available to use immediately).
The frailty though... unless you face something it resists, you'll have to stock a lot of items.

Happy Hour helps to boost money along with Amulet Coin, but at expense of it tanking hit or get KOed. Although 1M money by 4th island tho....
Also, the evolving requirement may put people off too. I should've had evolved her before second Grand Trial had it not still been noon. And I don't know how it feels to have to evolve it at very early morning in real life for Ultra Moon players.

-I don't believe you can evolve into Glaceon there, however
I haven't tested it, but I heard people say you can, now.
 
I haven't tested it, but I heard people say you can, now.
I gave Eevee a Rare Candy when I first got to the early Lanakila patch, sadly it did not evolve into Glaceon.

Anyways, I kept track of when you could first get each Totem mon as I played, so here's that plus some thoughts on how they compare to the normal version. Keep in mind all Totem mons have 3 perfect IVs and a fixed (sometimes hidden) ability:

Can find the 20th sticker in Heahea City to get
:
Gumshoos (US): Comes with Adaptability, which I'd argue as the best ability choice because unlike Strong Jaw it boosts Z-moves as well. You lose out on Melemele Island availability, but honestly Yungoos seems pretty bad for the entirety of it, so I'm not even sure I'd say this loss of availability is a bad thing. I'm pretty sure Z-Last Resort Adaptability Gumshoos can OHKO both Araquanid and Lurantis, though idk what the stance on move tutors will be. I think the Totem Gumshoos is better either way, though.

Raticate (UM): Comes with Thick Fat, which destroys the only credible niche this thing has (Hustle Z-moves). Not worth it.

Can find 40th sticker in Route 8 to get:
Marowak (US): Comes with Rock Head, which doesn't pay off until endgame (Flare Blitz) while the loss of Lightning Rod hurts versus Togedemaru and Guzma's Vikavolt. But, coming at level 25 does get around Marowak's infamous issue of not being able to learn Shadow Bone before the move relearner, which gives it a much stronger STAB earlier on. It's also ensured to be a Fire-type by Lurantis which obviously makes the match-up significantly better (normal Cubone evolves at level 28, unlikely without exp share - though I'm not sure what the policy on exp share ended up being). The only downside is losing a solid match-up versus the (enemy) Totem Marowak, but even with that in mind I think using the Totem Marowak is much better than a normal Cubone.

Araquanid (UM): Outside of better IVs this doesn't have any advantage over catching a Dewpider. And given that using the Totem means you don't have a Dewpider for Marowak (a good match-up for one of the hardest fights), I don't think this is worth using.

Can find 50th sticker at start of Malie City (Before Hau) to get:
Lurantis (US): Similar to Gumshoos/Yungoos. Using this instead of Fomantis means you lose out on about an island's worth of availability, but Fomantis' contributions on Akala Island seem pretty sketchy. It has a bad match-up versus every Totem fight, only rising up to an okay match-up versus Olivia. Despite the apparent type advantage, Anorith and Lileep are prepared for Grass-types and Lycanroc outclasses Fomantis pretty bad stat-wise. The big advantage is that Lurantis also comes at level 30 despite evolving at 35. Again, not sure what exp share policy is but without I was only at ~27 when reaching Malie City, which would be a lot more time to spend with Fomantis if I was using one. Overall I'd rather run with the Totem Lurantis.

Salazzle (UM): Unlike Fomantis, a normal Salandit actually has pretty good match-ups versus the Totems it's available for, though it isn't too useful for Olivia (might be able to 1v1 Lileep with Dragon Rage?). However, the big advantage of using the Totem version is that it means you don't need to find a female Salandit. Coming slightly before normal evolution level is also nice. This is the one I'm most split on, idk which is better to use.

Can find 70th sticker at Route 15 (After Totem Mimikyu) to get:

Togedemaru (US): The loss in availability is fairly small (Togedemaru is found at Blush Mountain) and Sturdy is a much better ability than Iron Barbs generally, so it comes down to how much you value having Togedemaru for the Totem Mimikyu fight. And to be fair, while it can't solo the fight, having the option to hurt Mimikyu with Iron Barbs recoil, break Disguise+Lum with Nuzzle, or hit it hard with Steel Z-moves gives it a pretty good match-up here. But overall, I think the long-term benefits of the better IVs and Sturdy of the Totem version win out.

Vikavolt (UM): Huge availability loss for a Pokemon that's generally good during those earlier times. Not worth it at all.

Can find 80th sticker by Po Town to get:
Mimikyu
: There's not any notable fights between the Thrifty Megamart and Po Town, so given that the Totem version has better IVs and gets around hunting for a 5% encounter, this is easily worth using.

Ribombee/Kommo-o can't be gotten until postgame, so not going to bother commenting on them.
 
Wasn't Popplio S-tier for SM? What drops it down?
Scald no longer available early game severely hurt the viability of Popplio Araquanid and Wishiwashi.

I don't really know much of how it works... well, what about Event Rockruff? Will it be separated from regular Rockruff? How will it be decided, especially that it has different Fang in each version?
.
I think Lycandusk (hence, specifically event rockruff) should be A.

Availability not even a issue considering it's a gift (though, not forever), Rock typing is pretty decent for early game as it resists most of the things thrown at you, expecially if you picked Popplio as you'd have Fire based moves on Ilima and Litten the teacher in the school.

Lycandusk also differently from most Alolan Pokemon has a solid speed tier, and Though Claw Crunch / Brick Break (comes pretty early) / Thrash / whicever Fang you got it with, on top of Stab rock tomb / rock slide kills most non boss things in 1shot while also severely damaging / threatening 1HKO on boss pokemon that are weak to them.

It's just a horrible shame that you are locked out of Accelrock until E4.
 
oh boi we need to discuss some things first before we start ranking Pokemon:

- Are Tutor Moves fair game? They are incrdibly easy to obtain in this game. Hnestly they are comparable to "out-of-your-way" TM's
- Exp Share yes/no? Tending o yes because I was never overleveled in the game
- Shift or Set Battle Style? Especially in this game due t Enemues carrying vrazy moveset coverage, this one might be important
- Zoroark: Due to its niche invalidating Necrozma..., well the whole Nec. fight, how does it affect Ranking?
 
My opinion on those:

- Tutor moves that are available on first two tutors (which you unlock as soon as you get Surf after Mele Mele) should definitely be fair game. Potentially also the ones on Akala since you get there fairly early either ways. You are forced into doing at least one Mantine trip anyway, and it only takes a minute or two for a lap. So if a single move tutor makes a poke stupidly good (say, early Giga Drain on grass types) I'd think it's fair to include it.
- Exp share: Honestly speaking, USUM is balanced about you using both Shift and Exp Share. The level curve takes a HUGE step after you reach Akala, and if you aren't using exp share, you will end up both underleveled and extremely punished if you swap a Pokemon midway, basically forced to rely on luck.
- Battle Style: After having run the main story with 3 psychic types and a dark and ghost type, I can tell you that Sucker Punch, Pursuit, Bug coverage are *EVERYWHERE* so for example running a Alakazam or Gengar would just get it 1shot constantly if you are running Set (I personally was so happy about the Timid Abra I caught, only to bench Alakazam at level 26 because it was getting oneshot every other battle). I feel that again, USUM is balanced around you using Shift set. If we want to consider Set battle style, most Psychic and Ghost types would terrifyngly suffer in viability due to being demolished by Pursuit for most of the early game.
- Zoroark, and to some extends, Malamar: those 2 Pokemon have a lot in common as in they aren't spectacular on their own, but do allow to beat boss fights easier due to their Ability. I feel both could be eligible for an A rank due to extremely easy and early availability and the strenght of the abilities if exp share is considered used (it's not punishing at all for example to have a deadweight Inkay/Malamar from 20 to 39 if you can just have it there soak exp, but it's terrifyngly bad if you can't). Though Zoroark includes you to actually be running a Fighting Type in your team to abuse the Ability properly.
 

Merritt

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I don't really know much of how it works... well, what about Event Rockruff? Will it be separated from regular Rockruff? How will it be decided, especially that it has different Fang in each version?
Going off what usually happens, the event version won't be tiered. Victini wasn't tiered in BW, Torchic wasn't in XY, Beldum wasn't in ORAS, and so on. Normal Rockruff should be fair game however.
 
My opinion on the Pokemon I used during the whole story up to beating the Elite Four.

- Decidueye: Decidueye seems to be in a fairly similar spot as it was in SM, in that it struggles with how much Ghost/Dark coverage is there in Alola, but outside of that it can pull its weight quite well. It at least can do fairly well against Ultra Necrozma, with Sinister Arrow Raid and Sucker Punch to 2HKO it (assuming you take away its Defense boosts) while Necrozma has nothing to hit it super-effectively. Not many differences compared to how it felt like in SM so I'm considering the same rank it has in the SM In-Game Tier thread, B.
- Arbok: If you can get one with Intimidate, it can provide a surprising amount of support given the relative scarcity of special attackers in the game. After softening the enemy's blows with Intimidate (and potentially making them frailer with Screech), its access to Glare is also a valuable trait, and it has okay coverage between its poison STAB and Bite/Crunch. It actually has no bad matchup against most Totem Pokemon (as it can work as a supporter) and actually turns Ribombee into a joke as it Hazes turn one. Shortly before the Ultra Necrozma fight, it gets to learn Haze - paired with the Focus Sash you get on Poni Wilds, it works as an alternative to Topsy-Turvy. Arbok, however, suffers from its very average stats and the fact it learns literally no good physical Poison attacks until you get the Poison Jab TM, which is after the entirety of Mount Lanakila is opened - until that, it has to stick to Venoshock and Sludge Bomb/Wave. B at most, I'd say. It's pretty good at what it does but it's not what you'd normally want to do in a story playthrough.
- Braviary: I knew raising a Rufflet would be difficult but it exceeded my expectations on how much of a pain it is. Rufflet actually starts off pretty well, with solid stats all across, good moves in Wing Attack and Hone Claws and you get TMs for Roost and Rock Tomb shortly after it becomes available, it easily sweeps Hala, and it has fine matchups against the Totem Araquanid and Lurantis. But then you realize the weight of waiting 43 freaking levels for it to evolve... its good stats start to lag behind up to becoming bad by the time you get to Poni (which is still around 10 more levels before evolving) and you need to use Z-Moves with it just so it can deal something resembling good damage - at this point Rufflet gets OHKOed by pretty much any decently strong neutral attack (such as Guzma's Masquerain's Air Slash) and is outsped by a lot of Pokemon, while Rufflet's movepool has practically nothing new for it (you are stuck with Slash and Aerial Ace until you beat Lusamine, and you can only get Brave Bird with the Move Relearner). Once it evolves it can hold its own again, but you are already near Mount Lanakila once it happens (unless you did a lot of pampering) so it doesn't compensate, and it's not at the same level as when it was a freshly-caught Rufflet. E tier, if at best. Not gonna use it to clear a story ever again.
- Hawlucha (not the traded one): It's somewhat worse than the traded one for obvious reasons (randomized IVs and nature, have to check for Unburden, and lacks the traded experience boost) but it's still a damn good choice for the main story. It is particularly benefited by the early Rock Tomb TM as it means it has a good matchup with every Totem Pokemon up to Mimikyu (although Togedemaru is annoying). Great Speed, powerful moves... it's only hampered by a bad defensive typing and its frailty. Disregarding the issues I had by deciding to use a -Atk Hawlucha, I can see why everyone thinks it can reach S. It pulled a lot of weight despite that terrible Calm nature.
- Salamence (caught as Bagon): Bagon is nothing special. Like most physically attacking Dragons, it has a problem in that it has no good physical Dragon STAB until the late thirties. It does, however, boast good coverage and it can tank quite well as Shelgon. It didn't do much against Totem Pokemon, though I already forgot if it was because it had a bad matchup or because I felt I didn't need it (overlapping with my Kommo-o, I assume). No further than B, perhaps C like it is in the SM thread.

I also had a Kommo-o but since I used it as a breedject since I got access to the first Pokemon Center, I won't say anything else about it.
 
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Starmie and Absol are way too frail. They were getting one shot killed constantly. Relying on Bubblebeam for most of the game was also a pain.
 
Starmie and Absol are way too frail. They were getting one shot killed constantly. Relying on Bubblebeam for most of the game was also a pain.
That kind of iterates on what I was mentioning earlier: the omnipresence of dark and bug coverage (which i suspect is there specifically to discourage relying on Malamar) makes psychic dark and certain ghost types extremely painful to use due to just being 1shot by coverage often enough, and basically impossible to swap as well.
 

Raidx

Banned deucer.
Extending on my Zorua nom, I think Zorua / Zoroark should be atleast B rank due to Illusion, it's high speed and attacking stats, but mostly Illusion. With Illusion you can easily trick the AI into thinking you're a different Pokemon and take huge advantage of that. For example, against Dexio on Poni Island who uses all Psychic types, you can disguise Zoroark as Arbok and essentially get a free turn off of it because he will attack with a Psychic move (which Zoroark is immune to), resulting in an easy (well easier) win. Also against Ultra-Necrozma, if Zoroark is disguised as a type weak to Psychic, Necrozma will spam Photon Geyser until it runs out of PP, meaning you can spam Night Slash and fish for crits while taking literally 0 damage. Not sure if this is a good enough reason to warrant for B rank, but those 2 cases i listed above are pretty important to the story so I figured they were good examples. On another note, Zoroark has great attack, special attack, speed and a decent movepool consisting of Night Slash, Grass Knot, Night Daze, Flamethrower (kinda late tho), U-turn among a few others. Zoroark is more useful during the later half of the game instead of the majority of the game, which is another reason why I didn't rank it any higher. Like I said in my earlier post I'm new to these in-game tier lists so sorry if these are a bit off :p
 
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Wanted to chime in on things I've noticed while playing USUM. Note: I just arrived at Poni Island, team is around 48-49.

Exp Share/Rainbow Beans: I fed my team one rainbow bean each once I unlocked pelago, and I turned on exp share after Guzma 1 because my team was about 4 levels below his mons at the time. During this time, even with fighting all random trainers + no mon swapping, I was at level for Lusamine and Guzma in Aether Foundation. I feel like exp share should be included if only because of the level disparity and the difficulty of later fights, if you aren't using the Zoroark/Malamar cheese methods with the big baddie. I am not sure how I would be able to proceed or stay on level without it.

Psychic & Ghost Types: These two types are severely hurt in USUM. The important trainers and fights (esp Guzma) will wreck even a decent team, due to their EVs and IVs. General frailty of psychics in particular knocks them down a peg in my opinion, and everything from level 1 seems to carry a dark type move to destroy most ghosts and psychics.

Now on with my team thus far:

Gyarados - A rank at least. I don't think it's quite good enough for S, but Intimidate + typing really helps. It learns what it needs to, having Dark + Water + Ice coverage is extremely nice in game, and it can learn Aqua Tail from BP on evolution, as well as Bounce if you need a flying nuke. Later, it can set up with Dragon Dance and potentially sweep.

Gigalith - A rank for me. Early availability and after a trial it would suck at, but you need a trade to make it work. Rock overall is a great typing in USUM, and Gigalith has great physical bulk + Sturdy if you need to fire off an extremely powerful Z move. It learns Iron Defense to cheese Kahili and Bulldoze/EQ/Superpower to cover steel types. It's a bit slow but so is everything else in Aslowla. Fun fact: Guzma's Masquerain doesn't have water coverage, so it murders it well.

Jolteon - A rank, but I could see it going S rank tbh. Along with Magnezone and Oricoro, Jolteon is one of the best electric types, and it is one of the fastest mons in Alola. Thanks to BP tutors, it has more coverage options like Shadow Ball and Signal Beam. It is so great for beating a ton of fights simply due to its speed. It is physically frail but thanks to its speed you can pick and choose what it fights. I could see this working well with Drizzle Pelipper. Unfortunately it misses out on the water trial but it's available for the grass one with Signal Beam. Lots of important mons are easy pickings for it as well.

Decidueye - B rank. Typing leaves a bit to be desired early game. It does OK on the first trial, can't fight the second or third, does ok on grass, and is meh against Olivia. Once it evolved, I felt a special set was better than physical. I've been running Shadow Ball/Giga Drain/Sucker/Toxic. Nothing too special about it honestly, and it seems to be the same as in Sun/Moon.

Alolan-Muk - A rank. Typing is great in game, poison touch is great for the totems in particular. Excellent user of eviolite, dark/poison/rock coverage is pretty phenomenal throughout. It also learns Rock Polish + elemental punches if you need more coverage. Bulk starts to wear off around or before Po Town when it should be evolving.

Last slot has been open on my team for a while. I was considering several options like Turtonator, Ninetails-A, and Noivern, but I haven't decided on anything.
 
Jolteon - A rank, but I could see it going S rank tbh. Along with Magnezone and Oricoro, Jolteon is one of the best electric types, and it is one of the fastest mons in Alola. Thanks to BP tutors, it has more coverage options like Shadow Ball and Signal Beam. It is so great for beating a ton of fights simply due to its speed. It is physically frail but thanks to its speed you can pick and choose what it fights. I could see this working well with Drizzle Pelipper. Unfortunately it misses out on the water trial but it's available for the grass one with Signal Beam. Lots of important mons are easy pickings for it as well.
Going to comment on this because I use Jolteon myself and had a lot of fun. I can confirm its fun with Drizzle Pelipper, having used both myself, however I feel that Jolteon is more of an A Rank rather than an S. The availability hurts it. You have to rely on a 5% chance to encounter it or baby it from Level 1 via the Egg you are given. Upon evolution its still mediocre as it doesn't get a good STAB until Level 37 (Discharge), with Thundershock and TM Charge Beam being your best options. While it is awesome after getting Discharge, and then Thunder(bolt) and Thunder Wave, I feel like its bad availability holds it back from S Rank because it doesn't completely destroy the game upon Level 37, so I don't think it makes up enough for its shaky start. It still has trouble with some fights afterwards.
 
Going to comment on this because I use Jolteon myself and had a lot of fun. I can confirm its fun with Drizzle Pelipper, having used both myself, however I feel that Jolteon is more of an A Rank rather than an S. The availability hurts it. You have to rely on a 5% chance to encounter it or baby it from Level 1 via the Egg you are given. Upon evolution its still mediocre as it doesn't get a good STAB until Level 37 (Discharge), with Thundershock and TM Charge Beam being your best options. While it is awesome after getting Discharge, and then Thunder(bolt) and Thunder Wave, I feel like its bad availability holds it back from S Rank because it doesn't completely destroy the game upon Level 37, so I don't think it makes up enough for its shaky start. It still has trouble with some fights afterwards.
I can agree with all of those points; however, I must have gotten lucky with my Eevees because I caught three of them while going through the game. Is it really 5% in USUM?
 
I can agree with all of those points; however, I must have gotten lucky with my Eevees because I caught three of them while going through the game. Is it really 5% in USUM?
According to this Serebii page, yes. This seems consistent with my own experiences trying to capture it too.
 
Mimicking others, I'll commend on the Pokes I used for my playthrough (all caught in game, will skip over Lycandusk and Naganadel since they do not count).

- Decidueye: the typing is solid for the early game, not being weak to bug and resisting fighting is very strong for the first part of the game, but it severely suffers having only Pluck and Razor Leafs as Stabs for.... way too long if you are using an Atk version. The new Olivia pokemon though severely hurts its viability mid game. Early Gigadrain tutor on the other hand... Once evolved, turning into a ghost type, so losing rock weakness and 4x ice while maintaining not weakness to bug and gaining a neutral to poison was great. Differently from most ghost types it's bulky enough to take a hit or non stab sucker punch (there's plenty of those) so I'd give it B or A at most as well.

- Alakazam: I caught a timid Abra by pure luck for pokedex with one of the Ultraballs given by one of the story quests, decided to give it a go. Exp share easily gets it to 16 and I istantly trade evolved it, thinking a 3rd stage Poke at level 16 would be great right? It wasn't. Far too squishy, with devastatingly bad coverage until way later in the game and as I mentioned, bug / dark coverage everywhere, EXPECIALLY pursuit early. I gave up after level 25 or so. Not giving it more than B sadly, even with trade, squishy Psychic types get punished too hard and Kadabra/Alakazam lack the base coverage to actually abuse the speed / power they get early.

- Ralts>Gardevoir: was my replacement for Alakazam (which at least had the use of syncing the ralts for me), available on the second isle via QR. Differently from it, it's not weak to dark/bug and has acceptable base coverage and stab to not be deadweight between Kirlia and Gardevoir levels. I cannot say about the potential Gallade use, but I believe shiny stone is available way later in the game so i'd not consider it a real option. Gardevoir itself is very good with way stronger typing, less disastrous bulk and not getting 1shot by every other dark coverage. I'd give it A but it really requires you to actually be on the right island and day to catch it.

- Beldum>Metagross: it's obviously caught way later in the game but it's very very good if you give it Eviolite while it's in Metang state since it's just extremely bulky. Does require investing into Iron Head tutor if you want a accurate steel stab but gets solid coverage from TMs as well. Metagross also notably isn't weak to any of Necrozma's moves and in fact resists everyone of them so can be used for Toxic or Twave without needing a Sash. What vote should it get though since it's available WAAAAY late in the game (though not really rare)?

- Toucannon: good early but loses further and further in goodness going forward, with Beak Blast not really impressive outside of massive Z-nuke. Too slow, average typing, gets very solid coverage though. B? Why get this thing when you can just use Hawlucka instead basically.

- Malamar: my baby. I loved it, Contrary is *SO* stupidly good in most boss fights where there's a constant spam of debuffs, on top of stab Foul Play available istantly (seriously, 95 BP at level 8?). As I mentioned often enough though, it's pretty bad on its own due to the omnipresent bug coverage, but can tank things and kill things, and if you are using Exp share it won't really be a issue to have those "deadweight" levels all the way to 39 or so. Considering it basically autowins Necrozma fight and allows to cheese / defeat totems way more easily due to Contrary and/or TT, on top of having basically 1v6d a couple fights on TRR for me... I'd give it A if Exp share is on. Not S cause the deadweight between 20 and 39 or so is huge.
 
I don't get the sudden Oricorio hype at all. Its stats may be okay the moment you get it but get only worse as the game progresses. Its movepool is extremely shallow with Revelation Dance coming far too late, and it actually gets worse since S/M because Acrobatics is available only two islands later. It's got nothing going for it, and the type changes are but a gimmick with no offensive versatility to accompany the defensive type changes. Seems like a C at best. It's complete dead weight in a run without Exp Share.

I used these guys on my only run so far, with my approximate tierings:
Hawlucha - S
Zorua - B at best
Smoochum - A/B
Remoraid - B/C
Mawile - A/B, probably latter

The traded Hawlucha was a baller, as everyone here would agree. Relied on him a lot and he overlevelled, kicking ass until the end.

Zorua was mediocre to okay throughout, with no good moves (including dark-type STAB) for a long time. It speaks volume when I used it for flying-weak targets with Z-Bounce much of the time.

Smoochum/Jynx was actually good with Choice Specs, but couldn't take physical hits very well. You basically get an inaccurate Ice Beam from the tutor after the 2nd trial, too.

Remoraid was disappointing. Complete crap before evolution with no defence and nothing to compensate for it, and Octillery failed to win its good matchups by being 2HKO'd by just about any real threat.

I liked Mawile, surprisingly, despite its lack of mega evolution. It's got a great typing, and Intimidate let it weaken difficult opponents in an Exp Share-less run when my team couldn't handle it, but it's slow and it has a long period of lacking an effective STAB move which is a big deal. I was thankful to its contributions against the last two trials - Kommo-o and Ribombee. Hardly optimal though, and Magnemite is much better most of the time.
 
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