Hi everyone, as I was spending much time in the postgame of Emerald, I got inspired by this smog article to make a (much more exhaustive) Gen III version to postgame utility pokemon.
Some quick notes before starting with the list:
- Some roles could also be fulfilled by legendary pokemon, but I tried not to use them for this list.
- For simplicity, I only mention fully evolved pokemon, even if some of the roles could also be fulfilled by their pre-evos as well without having to evolve them first.
- Most abilities with field effects only got their additional effects in Pokemon Emerald, so some of the things I'll be talking about are not valid for R/S or FR/LG.
Catcher
The first two mons I want to talk about are Breloom and Parasect - the only mons to get both False Swipe and Spore (except Smeargle, which I will talk about later). They both have their pros and cons: Breloom is faster and stronger but has to stay unevolved until Level 54 to get Spore, while Parasects main advantage is it's faster Leveling Rate compared to Breloom.
They both have the disadvantage of only getting False Swipe as an egg move and needing to run Substitute to prevent Effect Spore from inflicting an unwanted status.
/ 
Breloom / Parasect @ Silk Scarf / Leftovers
Effect Spore
- Spore
- False Swipe
- Substitute
- Swords Dance / Stun Spore
The next three are the air force of catchers: they all have the advantage of getting Fly in addition to False Swipe which allows for a faster travel to the desired pokemon and is especially handy if you're trying to catch multiple pokemon in different places in one session.
While Altaria and Farfetch'd in theory both get a sleeping move in addition to False Swipe, keep in mind that both combinations require event moves: Altaria only gets False Swipe from Pokemon Box (not too hard to get), while Farfetch'd only gets Yawn from an NYPC event (probably not feasible for most players). Fearow has the strongest vanilla False Swipe of the three, but no attack-boosting move. In addition, it only gets False Swipe as an egg move and it doesn't really have any other useful moveset options outside of False Swipe and Fly. Keen Eye on Farfetch'd and Fearow lowers the encounter rate, which can also come in handy, they also both get STAB on False Swipe, while Altaria has the better defensive typing in most cases.
Altaria @ Silk Scarf / Leftovers
Natural Cure
- Sing
- False Swipe
- Fly
- Rock Smash / Dragon Dance
Farfetch'd @ Stick / Leftovers
Keen Eye
- False Swipe
- Fly
- Yawn / Swords Dance
- Cut
Fearow @ Silk Scarf / Leftovers
Keen Eye
- False Swipe
- Fly
- Thief
- Secret Power
Marowak has the strongest unboosted False Swipe thanks to Thick Club. It also gets Sing if you purify it in XD and Lightning Rod can be useful for Pokenav RNG manipulation. Dig is there to provide a reliable STAB and get out of caves after having caught something.
Marowak @ Thick Club
Lightning Rod
- Sing / Strength / Rock Smash
- False Swipe
- Dig
- Swords Dance
Mawile and Zangoose are the only two mons to get both Taunt and False Swipe. Taunt is the only reliable strategy against Roar/Whirlwind users that can be combined with False Swipe (Soundproof, Suction Cups, Ingrain and Imprison mons all don't get False Swipe). Together with a trap-passing Umbreon, this provides the only consistent approach to catch FR/LG roamers that doesn't involve Smeargle / Masterball.
Zangoose is considerably stronger and gets Thunder Wave, while Mawile has access to Sing (but only if you purify it in XD), and is the only thing that can run Sweet Scent and False Swipe on the same set, which can be very useful for RNG'ing (Parasect gets both Sweet Scent and False Swipe, but can't run them at the same time, due to Gen3 breeding mechanics).
Mawile @ Silk Scarf / Leftovers
Intimidate
- Sing / Swords Dance
- False Swipe
- Sweet Scent
- Taunt
Zangoose @ Silk Scarf / Leftovers
Immunity
- False Swipe
- Thunder Wave
- Taunt
- Swords Dance
Umbreon
Synchronize
- Mean Look
- Baton Pass
- Taunt
- Cut / Flash
As the only Ghost pokemon with access to False Swipe, Shedinja is the only way to reliably gets things with recoil moves down to 1HP (the most relevant one being Emerald Kyogre). Keep in mind that it can only learn Swords Dance if you evolve Nincada on Level 25.
Shedinja @ Silk Scarf
Wonder Guard
- False Swipe
- Swords Dance
- Cut
- Flash
Smeargle gets every move so it can fulfill most prevoiusly mentoined roles by itself, but it can be tedious to use because of its abysmal stats. There are a plethora of moveset options for Smeargle: Swords Dance helps with its low attack, Mean Look traps Roamers, Ingrain prevents phazing, Substitute gives it pseudo-bulk, Sweet Scent can be used for RNG, Conversion 2 can give it Ghost-typing against recoil users and Fly can be used for fast travelling.
Smeargle @ Silk Scarf
Own Tempo
- Spore
- False Swipe
- Swords Dance / Mean Look / Ingrain / Substitute / Sweet Scent / Conversion 2 / Fly
- Swords Dance / Mean Look / Ingrain / Substitute / Sweet Scent / Conversion 2 / Fly
If you wanna be special and not use False Swipe, the most reliable way to get something to 1HP is using Subsitute to get to 1HP yourself and then Endeavor. Luckily, there are two pokemon that get Endeavor as well as a Sleep-inducing move, altough they are both horribly slow: Dunsparce and Sunflora.
Dunsparce @ Salac Berry
Serene Grace
- Substitute
- Endeavor
- Yawn
- Glare / Dig / Strength / Rock Smash
Sunflora @ Salac Berry
Chlorophyll
- Substitute
- Endeavor
- Grass Whistle
- Cut / Flash
Hatcher
Breeding is one of the most important post-game acitivities in pokemon and since Pokemon Emerald, the steps needed for hatching eggs can be cut in half by having a Flame Body / Magma Armor pokemon as the first in your party (it is a common misconception that it can be in any spot, that only became true in later generations, also the effect only works on an egg in the second party slot). Luckily, some additional utility can be gotten out of these mons: Camerupt gets Strength, Rock Smash and Dig, while Explosion can help to get the full share of experience points to a weaker pokemon against something that gives a particular high amount of experience (secret base training comes to mind). Magmar, while outclassed as an HM Slave, can use its decent speed, offensive stats and movepool to reliably and quickly sweep the Elite 4, which is the fastest way of generating money in all Gen 3 games. Slugma/Magcargo don't provide any additional utility compared to Camerupt and Magmar, but Slugma is the easiest Flame Body / Magma Armor mon to catch if you don't need anything special.
Camerupt
Magma Armor
- Strength
- Rock Smash
- Dig
- Explosion / Earthquake
Magmar @ Amulet Coin
Flame Body
- Flamethrower
- Thunder Punch
- Psychic
- Hidden Power Dragon
Breeder
High IV Dittos are essential for easier breeding success. If you're playing on retail, RNGing a 3/4 IV Ditto in Emerald in the Desert Underpass is probably the best you can do with a reasonable success rate and you might also want to consider covering different natures to pass with an Everstone. On emulator, you can use Teachy TV RNG in FR/LG to get Dittos with perfect IVs for every Hidden Power in Cerulean Cave without too much effort (natures for Everstone are not really needed due to how easy RNG manipulation is on emulator). A high IV male Smeargle is also a nice asset to have, as it can learn every move and there are many pokemon in the Field Egg Group.
Swimmer
With the amount of Water in Hoenn, it's a good idea to always have something in your team that can carry you over (or under) it. Since most Water pokemon learn all Water HMs, my recommendations will mostly be based on either Abilities or other useful moves they might have.
Lanturn and Starmie both get Illuminate, which doubles the wild encounter rate. This might seem annoying at first, considering the long water routes in Hoenn, but the good part is that you can turn on and off this ability at will by having the Illuminate mon in the first slot or somewhere else. Doubling the encounter rate on purpose is very handy when you're EV training by beating wild pokemon. It also helps when looking for pokemon with low encounter rates in a specific area.
/ 
Lanturn / Starmie
Illuminate
- Surf
- Dive
- Waterfall
- Flash
Dragonite is the only non-legendary pokemon to get Fly as well as all three Water HMs.
Dragonite
Inner Focus
- Fly
- Surf
- Waterfall
- Dive
Intimidate lowers the encounter rate when the mon is in the first party slot, which helps to traverse the long water routes in Hoenn with as few intermissions as possible. Gyarados gets Intimidate as well as all 3 Water HMs, in addition to a useful fourth HM in Strength that also provides perfect Water+Normal coverage.
Gyarados
Intimidate
- Surf
- Dive
- Waterfall
- Strength
Another good candidate for a Water HM Slave is Octillery, as it gets Suction Cups, which doubles the success rate when fishing, which can come in handy considering the rather tedious fishing mechanics in Emerald. It also gets Thief to steal items from these fished pokemon (especially important for Heart Scale farming with Luvdiscs).
Octillery
Suction Cups
- Surf
- Dive
- Waterfall
- Thief
The next two mons are a bit of a special case, as they don't really provide any additional utility due to their Ability or moveset. Instead, they are useful because they have to be used in a specific important post-game quest in emerald: the Sealed Chamber puzzle. If one of the two required mons already fulfills the role of a Water HM slave you don't need to bring an extra one.
/ 
Wailord / Relicanth
- Surf
- Dive
- Waterfall
- Rock Smash / Strength
Airplane
Next to Surf, the most important post-game HM is Fly. It is essential to always have something capable of flying on your team to quickly get to different places. But what other utility can those flying mons provide?
The first three pokemon I want to talk about were already covered in the "Catcher" part: Altaria, Farfetch'd and Fearow.
Altaria @ Silk Scarf / Leftovers
Natural Cure
- Sing
- False Swipe
- Fly
- Rock Smash / Dragon Dance
Farfetch'd @ Stick / Leftovers
- False Swipe
- Fly
- Yawn / Swords Dance
- Cut
Fearow @ Silk Scarf / Leftovers
- False Swipe
- Fly
- Thief
- Secret Power
The next two mons stand out by the sheer amount of field moves they can learn. This makes them very versatile in fitting different roles your team might need.
Tropius
Chlorophyll
- Fly
- Sweet Scent
- Cut / Strength / Flash / Rock Smash
- Cut / Strength / Flash / Rock Smash
Dragonite
Inner Focus
- Fly
- Surf
- Waterfall / Dive / Strength / Rock Smash / Cut
- Waterfall / Dive / Strength / Rock Smash / Cut
My last three recommendation for a flying mon are all here because of their ability: Intimidate as well as Keen Eye lower the encounter rate if the pokemon is in the first slot of the party. Salamence gets three other HMs, while Pelipper learns the very useful Fly/Surf combination and Noctowl has Fly and Flash in addition to Hypnosis which can help with the occasional catching.
Salamence
Intimidate
- Fly
- Cut
- Strength
- Rock Smash
Pelipper
Keen Eye
- Fly
- Surf
- Thief
- Secret Power
Noctowl
Keen Eye
- Fly
- Flash
- Hypnosis
- Secret Power / Thief
Pickup
Pickup is a very useful ability, as it provides free items and is the only way to get unlimited amounts of certain items (especially the Earthquake TM and PP Up come to mind).
The most well-known Pickup user is Linoone, due to its availability early in the game. It also got the best HM coverage, because it learns Surf.
Linoone
Pickup
- Cut
- Strength
- Rock Smash
- Surf
Aipom is a solid choice as well, because it has the fastest learning rate of all Pickup mons, so it will take the least amount of time to get it to a high enough level where it will start to pick up rare items.
Aipom
Pickup
- Cut
- Strength
- Rock Smash
- Secret Power
The last option that isn't completely outclassed by the other two is Meowth, as it learns Pay Day, which can provide the additional benefit of gaining some extra money when going out to Pickup farm.
Meowth
Pickup
- Pay Day
- Cut
- Flash
- Secret Power
Thief
The thief makes your life easier when trying to get held items from wild pokemon. Compound Eyes boosts the chances that wild pokemon you encounter hold items and Thief can then be used to steal them. The two pokemon that have access to this combination are Butterfree and Yanma. They both work practically the same utility-wise, both only learn Flash from the HMs, but they both have some moves that might be useful for the occasional catching (when encountering a shiny while item farming for example). Butterfree has the more reliable sleep move in Sleep Powder, but Yanma gets Sonic Boom, which can work as a (very) poor mans False Swipe when needed.
Butterfree
Compound Eyes
- Thief
- Flash
- Sleep Powder
- Secret Power
Yanma
Compound Eyes
- Thief
- Flash
- Hypnosis
- Sonic Boom
Charmer
The charmer is a pokemon with Cute Charm, which helps finding pokemon of a specific gender, mostly for breeding. All charmers are nearly identical, I can't even make a recommendation based on gender rate, since they all have the same. They all get Sing to assist with catching and some useful HMs. The only minor difference is that Delcatty gets Rock Smash as a third HM move, while Clefabe and Wigglytuff learn Seismic Toss which might help with lowering a pokemons HP in a calculated manner to catch it.
Delcatty
Cute Charm
- Sing
- Strength
- Flash
- Rock Smash
/
Clefable / Wigglytuff
Cute Charm
- Sing
- Seismic Toss
- Strength
- Flash
Synchronizer
Synchronize increases the chance of encountering a wild pokemon with the same nature as the Synchronize mon if it is in the first party slot. While it's probably more efficient to just catch one for every nature and then use them when needed, I'll still be going over any additional utility one might be able to squeeze out of them.
Gardevoir gets Memento, which allows it to quickly faint itself, so that you can start with another pokemon while still having Gardevoir in the first party slot (and still getting the benefits of Synchronize). Additionaly, Hypnosis helps when catching the synchronized pokemon and Teleport gets you back to the last town quickly.
Gardevoir
Synchronize
- Memento
- Flash
- Teleport
- Hypnosis
Xatu provides the most mobility with Fly and it also has Night Shade for semi-reliable HP lowering when catching something.
Xatu
Synchronize
- Fly
- Flash
- Night Shade
- Psychic / Thief
Umbreon, as already mentioned under Catchers, can perform trap-passing, which doesn't necessarily help with its job as a Synchronizer, but is more like a second role it can fulfill besides it.
Umbreon
Synchronize
- Mean Look
- Baton Pass
- Taunt
- Cut / Flash
Fisherman
There are two abilites that increse the sucess rate of fishing: Suction Cups and Sticky Hold. Since the main use of fishing in the post-game of Emerald is the amassing of Heart Scales, Octillery and Muk, the only pokemon with the aforementioned abilities that also get Thief, are the best candidates. Octillery has the additional benefit of also getting the 3 Water HMs, while Muk gets Memento, which similarly as in Gardevoirs case, allows it to quickly faint itself, which then lets you start with a different mon (maybe a catcher?) in the second slot, while still keeping the additional fishing success rate from Sticky Hold.
Octillery
Suction Cups
- Surf
- Dive
- Waterfall
- Thief
Muk
Sticky Hold
- Thief
- Memento
- Strength
- Rock Smash
Antenna
Lightning Rod doubles the rate of Pokenav calls you get. This might sound useless at first, but it apparently helps when performing retail RNG in Emerald (I've never done that myself, so I can't go into more detail). Nevertheless, here are the Lightning Rod mons and the utility roles they can fulfill:
Rhydon has the best HM compatibility of all antenna mons, especially Surf is very handy. Other than HMs, Dig is also a decent option to run.
Rhydon
Lightning Rod
- Cut
- Strength
- Surf
- Rock Smash
Marowak was already talked about in the "Catcher" part.
Marowak @ Thick Club
Lightning Rod
- Sing / Strength / Rock Smash
- False Swipe
- Dig
- Swords Dance
Manectric can perform the role of an Elite 4 cleaner, with its good Speed and Special Attack (I haven't actually calced if HP Ice is needed).
Manectric @ Amulet Coin
Lightning Rod
- Thunderbolt
- Crunch
- Hidden Power Ice
- Strength / Flash
Some quick notes before starting with the list:
- Some roles could also be fulfilled by legendary pokemon, but I tried not to use them for this list.
- For simplicity, I only mention fully evolved pokemon, even if some of the roles could also be fulfilled by their pre-evos as well without having to evolve them first.
- Most abilities with field effects only got their additional effects in Pokemon Emerald, so some of the things I'll be talking about are not valid for R/S or FR/LG.
Catcher
The first two mons I want to talk about are Breloom and Parasect - the only mons to get both False Swipe and Spore (except Smeargle, which I will talk about later). They both have their pros and cons: Breloom is faster and stronger but has to stay unevolved until Level 54 to get Spore, while Parasects main advantage is it's faster Leveling Rate compared to Breloom.
They both have the disadvantage of only getting False Swipe as an egg move and needing to run Substitute to prevent Effect Spore from inflicting an unwanted status.
/ Breloom / Parasect @ Silk Scarf / Leftovers
Effect Spore
- Spore
- False Swipe
- Substitute
- Swords Dance / Stun Spore
The next three are the air force of catchers: they all have the advantage of getting Fly in addition to False Swipe which allows for a faster travel to the desired pokemon and is especially handy if you're trying to catch multiple pokemon in different places in one session.
While Altaria and Farfetch'd in theory both get a sleeping move in addition to False Swipe, keep in mind that both combinations require event moves: Altaria only gets False Swipe from Pokemon Box (not too hard to get), while Farfetch'd only gets Yawn from an NYPC event (probably not feasible for most players). Fearow has the strongest vanilla False Swipe of the three, but no attack-boosting move. In addition, it only gets False Swipe as an egg move and it doesn't really have any other useful moveset options outside of False Swipe and Fly. Keen Eye on Farfetch'd and Fearow lowers the encounter rate, which can also come in handy, they also both get STAB on False Swipe, while Altaria has the better defensive typing in most cases.
Altaria @ Silk Scarf / Leftovers
Natural Cure
- Sing
- False Swipe
- Fly
- Rock Smash / Dragon Dance
Farfetch'd @ Stick / Leftovers
Keen Eye
- False Swipe
- Fly
- Yawn / Swords Dance
- Cut
Fearow @ Silk Scarf / Leftovers
Keen Eye
- False Swipe
- Fly
- Thief
- Secret Power
Marowak has the strongest unboosted False Swipe thanks to Thick Club. It also gets Sing if you purify it in XD and Lightning Rod can be useful for Pokenav RNG manipulation. Dig is there to provide a reliable STAB and get out of caves after having caught something.
Marowak @ Thick Club
Lightning Rod
- Sing / Strength / Rock Smash
- False Swipe
- Dig
- Swords Dance
Mawile and Zangoose are the only two mons to get both Taunt and False Swipe. Taunt is the only reliable strategy against Roar/Whirlwind users that can be combined with False Swipe (Soundproof, Suction Cups, Ingrain and Imprison mons all don't get False Swipe). Together with a trap-passing Umbreon, this provides the only consistent approach to catch FR/LG roamers that doesn't involve Smeargle / Masterball.
Zangoose is considerably stronger and gets Thunder Wave, while Mawile has access to Sing (but only if you purify it in XD), and is the only thing that can run Sweet Scent and False Swipe on the same set, which can be very useful for RNG'ing (Parasect gets both Sweet Scent and False Swipe, but can't run them at the same time, due to Gen3 breeding mechanics).
Mawile @ Silk Scarf / Leftovers
Intimidate
- Sing / Swords Dance
- False Swipe
- Sweet Scent
- Taunt
Zangoose @ Silk Scarf / Leftovers
Immunity
- False Swipe
- Thunder Wave
- Taunt
- Swords Dance
Umbreon
Synchronize
- Mean Look
- Baton Pass
- Taunt
- Cut / Flash
As the only Ghost pokemon with access to False Swipe, Shedinja is the only way to reliably gets things with recoil moves down to 1HP (the most relevant one being Emerald Kyogre). Keep in mind that it can only learn Swords Dance if you evolve Nincada on Level 25.
Shedinja @ Silk Scarf
Wonder Guard
- False Swipe
- Swords Dance
- Cut
- Flash
Smeargle gets every move so it can fulfill most prevoiusly mentoined roles by itself, but it can be tedious to use because of its abysmal stats. There are a plethora of moveset options for Smeargle: Swords Dance helps with its low attack, Mean Look traps Roamers, Ingrain prevents phazing, Substitute gives it pseudo-bulk, Sweet Scent can be used for RNG, Conversion 2 can give it Ghost-typing against recoil users and Fly can be used for fast travelling.
Smeargle @ Silk Scarf
Own Tempo
- Spore
- False Swipe
- Swords Dance / Mean Look / Ingrain / Substitute / Sweet Scent / Conversion 2 / Fly
- Swords Dance / Mean Look / Ingrain / Substitute / Sweet Scent / Conversion 2 / Fly
If you wanna be special and not use False Swipe, the most reliable way to get something to 1HP is using Subsitute to get to 1HP yourself and then Endeavor. Luckily, there are two pokemon that get Endeavor as well as a Sleep-inducing move, altough they are both horribly slow: Dunsparce and Sunflora.
Dunsparce @ Salac Berry
Serene Grace
- Substitute
- Endeavor
- Yawn
- Glare / Dig / Strength / Rock Smash
Sunflora @ Salac Berry
Chlorophyll
- Substitute
- Endeavor
- Grass Whistle
- Cut / Flash
Hatcher
Breeding is one of the most important post-game acitivities in pokemon and since Pokemon Emerald, the steps needed for hatching eggs can be cut in half by having a Flame Body / Magma Armor pokemon as the first in your party (it is a common misconception that it can be in any spot, that only became true in later generations, also the effect only works on an egg in the second party slot). Luckily, some additional utility can be gotten out of these mons: Camerupt gets Strength, Rock Smash and Dig, while Explosion can help to get the full share of experience points to a weaker pokemon against something that gives a particular high amount of experience (secret base training comes to mind). Magmar, while outclassed as an HM Slave, can use its decent speed, offensive stats and movepool to reliably and quickly sweep the Elite 4, which is the fastest way of generating money in all Gen 3 games. Slugma/Magcargo don't provide any additional utility compared to Camerupt and Magmar, but Slugma is the easiest Flame Body / Magma Armor mon to catch if you don't need anything special.
Camerupt
Magma Armor
- Strength
- Rock Smash
- Dig
- Explosion / Earthquake
Magmar @ Amulet Coin
Flame Body
- Flamethrower
- Thunder Punch
- Psychic
- Hidden Power Dragon
Breeder
High IV Dittos are essential for easier breeding success. If you're playing on retail, RNGing a 3/4 IV Ditto in Emerald in the Desert Underpass is probably the best you can do with a reasonable success rate and you might also want to consider covering different natures to pass with an Everstone. On emulator, you can use Teachy TV RNG in FR/LG to get Dittos with perfect IVs for every Hidden Power in Cerulean Cave without too much effort (natures for Everstone are not really needed due to how easy RNG manipulation is on emulator). A high IV male Smeargle is also a nice asset to have, as it can learn every move and there are many pokemon in the Field Egg Group.
Swimmer
With the amount of Water in Hoenn, it's a good idea to always have something in your team that can carry you over (or under) it. Since most Water pokemon learn all Water HMs, my recommendations will mostly be based on either Abilities or other useful moves they might have.
Lanturn and Starmie both get Illuminate, which doubles the wild encounter rate. This might seem annoying at first, considering the long water routes in Hoenn, but the good part is that you can turn on and off this ability at will by having the Illuminate mon in the first slot or somewhere else. Doubling the encounter rate on purpose is very handy when you're EV training by beating wild pokemon. It also helps when looking for pokemon with low encounter rates in a specific area.
/ Lanturn / Starmie
Illuminate
- Surf
- Dive
- Waterfall
- Flash
Dragonite is the only non-legendary pokemon to get Fly as well as all three Water HMs.
Dragonite
Inner Focus
- Fly
- Surf
- Waterfall
- Dive
Intimidate lowers the encounter rate when the mon is in the first party slot, which helps to traverse the long water routes in Hoenn with as few intermissions as possible. Gyarados gets Intimidate as well as all 3 Water HMs, in addition to a useful fourth HM in Strength that also provides perfect Water+Normal coverage.
Gyarados
Intimidate
- Surf
- Dive
- Waterfall
- Strength
Another good candidate for a Water HM Slave is Octillery, as it gets Suction Cups, which doubles the success rate when fishing, which can come in handy considering the rather tedious fishing mechanics in Emerald. It also gets Thief to steal items from these fished pokemon (especially important for Heart Scale farming with Luvdiscs).
Octillery
Suction Cups
- Surf
- Dive
- Waterfall
- Thief
The next two mons are a bit of a special case, as they don't really provide any additional utility due to their Ability or moveset. Instead, they are useful because they have to be used in a specific important post-game quest in emerald: the Sealed Chamber puzzle. If one of the two required mons already fulfills the role of a Water HM slave you don't need to bring an extra one.
/ Wailord / Relicanth
- Surf
- Dive
- Waterfall
- Rock Smash / Strength
Airplane
Next to Surf, the most important post-game HM is Fly. It is essential to always have something capable of flying on your team to quickly get to different places. But what other utility can those flying mons provide?
The first three pokemon I want to talk about were already covered in the "Catcher" part: Altaria, Farfetch'd and Fearow.
Altaria @ Silk Scarf / Leftovers
Natural Cure
- Sing
- False Swipe
- Fly
- Rock Smash / Dragon Dance
Farfetch'd @ Stick / Leftovers
- False Swipe
- Fly
- Yawn / Swords Dance
- Cut
Fearow @ Silk Scarf / Leftovers
- False Swipe
- Fly
- Thief
- Secret Power
The next two mons stand out by the sheer amount of field moves they can learn. This makes them very versatile in fitting different roles your team might need.
Tropius
Chlorophyll
- Fly
- Sweet Scent
- Cut / Strength / Flash / Rock Smash
- Cut / Strength / Flash / Rock Smash
Dragonite
Inner Focus
- Fly
- Surf
- Waterfall / Dive / Strength / Rock Smash / Cut
- Waterfall / Dive / Strength / Rock Smash / Cut
My last three recommendation for a flying mon are all here because of their ability: Intimidate as well as Keen Eye lower the encounter rate if the pokemon is in the first slot of the party. Salamence gets three other HMs, while Pelipper learns the very useful Fly/Surf combination and Noctowl has Fly and Flash in addition to Hypnosis which can help with the occasional catching.
Salamence
Intimidate
- Fly
- Cut
- Strength
- Rock Smash
Pelipper
Keen Eye
- Fly
- Surf
- Thief
- Secret Power
Noctowl
Keen Eye
- Fly
- Flash
- Hypnosis
- Secret Power / Thief
Pickup
Pickup is a very useful ability, as it provides free items and is the only way to get unlimited amounts of certain items (especially the Earthquake TM and PP Up come to mind).
The most well-known Pickup user is Linoone, due to its availability early in the game. It also got the best HM coverage, because it learns Surf.
Linoone
Pickup
- Cut
- Strength
- Rock Smash
- Surf
Aipom is a solid choice as well, because it has the fastest learning rate of all Pickup mons, so it will take the least amount of time to get it to a high enough level where it will start to pick up rare items.
Aipom
Pickup
- Cut
- Strength
- Rock Smash
- Secret Power
The last option that isn't completely outclassed by the other two is Meowth, as it learns Pay Day, which can provide the additional benefit of gaining some extra money when going out to Pickup farm.
Meowth
Pickup
- Pay Day
- Cut
- Flash
- Secret Power
Thief
The thief makes your life easier when trying to get held items from wild pokemon. Compound Eyes boosts the chances that wild pokemon you encounter hold items and Thief can then be used to steal them. The two pokemon that have access to this combination are Butterfree and Yanma. They both work practically the same utility-wise, both only learn Flash from the HMs, but they both have some moves that might be useful for the occasional catching (when encountering a shiny while item farming for example). Butterfree has the more reliable sleep move in Sleep Powder, but Yanma gets Sonic Boom, which can work as a (very) poor mans False Swipe when needed.
Butterfree
Compound Eyes
- Thief
- Flash
- Sleep Powder
- Secret Power
Yanma
Compound Eyes
- Thief
- Flash
- Hypnosis
- Sonic Boom
Charmer
The charmer is a pokemon with Cute Charm, which helps finding pokemon of a specific gender, mostly for breeding. All charmers are nearly identical, I can't even make a recommendation based on gender rate, since they all have the same. They all get Sing to assist with catching and some useful HMs. The only minor difference is that Delcatty gets Rock Smash as a third HM move, while Clefabe and Wigglytuff learn Seismic Toss which might help with lowering a pokemons HP in a calculated manner to catch it.
Delcatty
Cute Charm
- Sing
- Strength
- Flash
- Rock Smash
/Clefable / Wigglytuff
Cute Charm
- Sing
- Seismic Toss
- Strength
- Flash
Synchronizer
Synchronize increases the chance of encountering a wild pokemon with the same nature as the Synchronize mon if it is in the first party slot. While it's probably more efficient to just catch one for every nature and then use them when needed, I'll still be going over any additional utility one might be able to squeeze out of them.
Gardevoir gets Memento, which allows it to quickly faint itself, so that you can start with another pokemon while still having Gardevoir in the first party slot (and still getting the benefits of Synchronize). Additionaly, Hypnosis helps when catching the synchronized pokemon and Teleport gets you back to the last town quickly.
Gardevoir
Synchronize
- Memento
- Flash
- Teleport
- Hypnosis
Xatu provides the most mobility with Fly and it also has Night Shade for semi-reliable HP lowering when catching something.
Xatu
Synchronize
- Fly
- Flash
- Night Shade
- Psychic / Thief
Umbreon, as already mentioned under Catchers, can perform trap-passing, which doesn't necessarily help with its job as a Synchronizer, but is more like a second role it can fulfill besides it.
Umbreon
Synchronize
- Mean Look
- Baton Pass
- Taunt
- Cut / Flash
Fisherman
There are two abilites that increse the sucess rate of fishing: Suction Cups and Sticky Hold. Since the main use of fishing in the post-game of Emerald is the amassing of Heart Scales, Octillery and Muk, the only pokemon with the aforementioned abilities that also get Thief, are the best candidates. Octillery has the additional benefit of also getting the 3 Water HMs, while Muk gets Memento, which similarly as in Gardevoirs case, allows it to quickly faint itself, which then lets you start with a different mon (maybe a catcher?) in the second slot, while still keeping the additional fishing success rate from Sticky Hold.
Octillery
Suction Cups
- Surf
- Dive
- Waterfall
- Thief
Muk
Sticky Hold
- Thief
- Memento
- Strength
- Rock Smash
Antenna
Lightning Rod doubles the rate of Pokenav calls you get. This might sound useless at first, but it apparently helps when performing retail RNG in Emerald (I've never done that myself, so I can't go into more detail). Nevertheless, here are the Lightning Rod mons and the utility roles they can fulfill:
Rhydon has the best HM compatibility of all antenna mons, especially Surf is very handy. Other than HMs, Dig is also a decent option to run.
Rhydon
Lightning Rod
- Cut
- Strength
- Surf
- Rock Smash
Marowak was already talked about in the "Catcher" part.
Marowak @ Thick Club
Lightning Rod
- Sing / Strength / Rock Smash
- False Swipe
- Dig
- Swords Dance
Manectric can perform the role of an Elite 4 cleaner, with its good Speed and Special Attack (I haven't actually calced if HP Ice is needed).
Manectric @ Amulet Coin
Lightning Rod
- Thunderbolt
- Crunch
- Hidden Power Ice
- Strength / Flash
I hope you enjoyed this guide, feedback and further suggestions are highly appreciated.
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