Approved by Birkal
Hello, everyone! This is an idea I've had for a while, especially when I started doing Nuzlockes. After I caught a Pokémon, I would either have to figure out how good it was on my own, or attempt to make sense of the in-game analysis with the obvious restriction of possible death. An example would be Abra in Red/Blue - while amazingly fast and specially bulky, and also a Top Tier in game Pokémon, if you misplayed it at all against a physical user it would die almost instantaneously. This is most definitely an issue in a Nuzlocke, when you are attempting to beat the game without losing too many Pokémon. This means strategies that are extremely beneficial in normal play, such as bait-and-switch grinding and sacking Pokémon for healing, are actually very risky and unreliable, as one wrong move could easily spell the death of your beloved starter, or perhaps the end of the sweeper you need to take down Whitney reliably.
But what am I saying, you probably know this. The only reason you'd be very interested in this thread is if you like Nuzlocke Runs, and are familiar with the concept!
So without further ado, I present to you: the Nuzlocke Tier: Black 2/White 2 edition!
I'll begin with what we should be looking for (help from others would be nice: PM me if you have a suggestion that I should take into consideration).
General Format:
Pokémon:
Tier: (Bottom/Low/Mid/High/Top)
Possibility of Capture:
Survivability:
Summary:
Important Battle Match-Ups:
Cheren:
Roxie:
Burgh:
Elesa:
Clay:
Skyla:
Drayden:
Marlon:
Corless:
Ghetsis:
Final Rival Battle:
Shauntal:
Grimsley:
Marshal:
Caitlin:
Iris:
Current Tiered For Comparison
Here are all of the Pokémon that need tiering! Essentially, the entire Unova Pokédex, save for Victini, Tornadus, Thundurus, Reshiram, Zekrom, Landorus, Kyurem, Keldeo, Meloetta, and Genesect. Also Munna, Glaceon, Leafeon, Archen, Tirtouga, Cryogonal, Tympole, Stunfisk, Slakoth, Corphish, Igglybuff, Lickitung, Yanma, Tropius, Carnivine, and Larvitar (who are not present until post-game). Completed analyses will be HIDE tags, and actually contain the analysis. All others are up for grabs!
Snivy
Tepig
Oshawott
Patrat
Purrloin
Pidove
Sewaddle
Sunkern
Lillipup
Mareep
Psyduck
Azurill
Riolu
Dunsparce
Audino
Pansage
Pansear
Pokémon: Panpour
Tier: Mid
Chance of Capture: Low
Survivability: High
Availability: Midgame
Summary: Panpour is a low risk, high reward capture. While only available in shaking grass in Lostlorn Forest, the other options are also fairly strong, with alternatives such as the other monkeys, Emolga, Audino, or even a Vespiquen. If you are lucky enough to capture it, you’re in for quite a treat - Panpour is one of the best Water-types in the game. When it evolves into Simipour, its stats are amazing for an in-game Pokémon - high Speed, Attack, and Special Attack to abuse the good movepool it gets in-game. Additionally, it comes near Clay, where it can get great beginning training with little risk of dying. Water Stones are also easily available in caves, meaning you can evolve Panpour easily. With its moveset, it can remain a powerhouse through the entirety of the game.
Important Battles:
Cheren: N/A
Roxie: N/A
Burgh: N/A
Elesa: Avoid using Panpour, the chance of it dying here is high. If worse comes to worse, teach it Dig for coverage.
Clay: If evolved, Panpour can be a powerhouse with its Water-type moves. Can usually OHKO the opponents, and can usually take a hit without dying.
Skyla: Can use its strong coverage and Speed to destroy her. Surf can destroy her gym, aside from Swanna.
Drayden: If it has access to Ice-type moves, use them. Simipour is fast enough and strong enough to take on his team, but still needs to watch out for Haxorus.
Marlon: Surprisingly, Simipour does fairly poorly. Losing the option of STAB or supereffective moves really hurts Simipour, and he must depend on Acrobatics.
Corliss: Struggles with Magneton and Klinklang with their Electric attacks, but can usually fare well with Brick Break and Crunch/Bite.
Ghetsis: Can do very well with supereffective coverage. Can almost guarantee a OHKO on Hydreigon with Ice Beam if trained enough.
Final Rival Battle: Can fare well against most of his Pokémon with supereffective coverage.
Shauntal: Struggles without Crunch/Bite, but with it it does great. Can OHKO Chandelure.
Marshal: Acrobatics can do great damage, but struggles with the high Defense.
Grimsley: Brick Break can be great, but needs to watch out for Scrafty’s Hi Jump Kick.
Caitlin: Similar to Shauntal. Needs Bite/Crunch to be successful.
Iris: If fast enough, can do major damage to all of her Pokémon with Ice Beam/Blizzard. Can even take down Lapras well with Brick Break.
Venipede
Koffing
Pokémon: Magnemite
Tier: High
Possibility of Capture: medium-high (25% walking inside Virbank Complex)
Availability: early game
Survivability: very high/godly based upon ability
Summary: A bulky Steel-type pokémon with many resistances, few weaknesses, one immunity and avaible early game. It's just all you need for a Nuzlocke. If you're lucky your Magnemite has Sturdy, furtherly increasing his survivability. Its damage output is totally disappointing, but its bulk, typing and access to Thunder Wave is wonderful!
Probably it will end up with a moveset like TWave/Charge Beam/TBolt/Flash Cannon or something similar, like Signal Beam (tutor) or Magnet Rise (somewhat gimmick but still removes one weakness). I don't recommend going with Gyro Ball since nature, EV random training and maybe TWave really hinder its damage.
The evolution to Magneton is not super quick but lvl 30 isn't so high, and it can evolve again to Magnezone really early since at this point you will be at Nimbasa or Driftveil, definitely not far away from Chargestone Cave.
Thunderbolt is unfortunately avaible only late game (Victory Road) but Spark/Electro Ball/Discharge/Charge Beam can still do a good job.
Important Battle Match-Ups:
Growlithe
Magby
Elekid
Rattata
Zubat
Grimer
Woobat
Roggenrola
Onix
Timburr
Drilbur
Skitty
Buneary
Cottonee
Petilil
Cleffa
Vaporeon
Flareon
Jolteon
Espeon
Umbreon
Sandile
Darumaka
Basculin
Trubbish
Pokémon: Minccino (Hidden Grotto)
Tier: High
Possibility of Capture: High
Survivability: Mid
Summary: You can be sure that you will catch him because Bianca will take you to the Hidden Grotto when you go to Route 5, but he can be tedious with Sing, DoubleSlap and Encore (be careful if you want to deal damage and then status him, because if he's faster you can get encored and KO him!).
He's pretty frail at the beginning, but upon reaching lvl31 -only to get Wake-Up Slap- you can evolve him into Cinncino, increasing his bulk to 75/60/60 (not so much but he can take one hit and survive) and making him able to relearn Bullet Seed and/or Rock Blast at PWT, near to the next city. You really want him to evolve because you get something like double base attack and half more defenses.
Skill Link is the only reason for the tier, a really good reason honestly! You can go all-out attacker with STAB Tail Slap, Bullet Seed, Rock Blast and Wake-Up Slap or Sing + 3 attacks but in a Nuzlocke 55 accuracy is somewhat you want to avoid.
He's quite fast and can work as a lead to quickly OHKO wild pokémon not resisting his multi-hit moves.
Below I will be talking about Cinccino since you can evolve him when you want and surely at most at lvl31 since after that he doesn't learn any interesting move.
Important Battle Match-Ups:
Clay: Krokorok is a clean OHKO with Bullet Seed at lvl31. Sandslash is more resistant so watch out from Bulldoze speed drop and check the HP lost (he shouldn't 2HKO but be careful). Excadrill is really more resistant and hits pretty hard and I hope Cinccino won't be your best choice
Skyla: Rock Blast OHKOes Swoobat and Swanna, at most 3HKOes Skarmory. Steel Wing doesn't do too much damage and you can heal so it's not threatening
Drayden: It's not the best gym for Cinccino. He at least need 2 hits to KO something and they hit hard with Dragon Tail (or Revenge from Druddigon)
Marlon: Bullet Seed 3 times and get your badge
Colress: Wake-Up Slap doesn't hit hard enough, and hoping to Sleep+Slap 3 Fighting-weak pokémon in a Nuzlocke is very risky. He can still 2HKO Beheeyem with Tail Slap
Ghetsis: Seismitoad is a clean OHKO with Bullet Seed, depending on his level he can 1-2HKO Eelektross with Tail Slap. Toxicroak has chances to OHKO with Brick Break so you don't want to try the KO with Tail Slap
Final Rival Battle: Rock Blast for Unfezant and Bullet Seed for Simipour are almost certainly OHKO if he's at their level or more (55+).
Bullet Seed on Samurott and Tail Slap on Simisage/Simisear are risky because the first carries Revenge and the monkeys Brick Break
Shauntal: Drifblim and Chandelure have high chance to be OHKOed (watch out: Fire Blast is a OHKO), avoid Cofagrigus (bulk + Mummy) and Golurk (Brick Break)
Grimsley: Wake-Up Slap can miss the OHKO on Bisharp and Liepard depending on his level, and if Night Slash crits you can be in trouble. Avoid the other two.
Marshal: nope.
Caitlin: you can 2HKO all of his team with Tail Slap, and OHKO Sigilyph with Rock Blast. I'd try to KO Musharna before he gets Reflect up (Chesto Berry can work, but also switch out + Awakening) and to avoid Reuniclu's Focus Blast
Iris: Aggron and Lapras are 2HKOed with the appropriate move and can't OHKO him back, Archeops is OHKOed with Rock Blast provided you hit first (if it has 31IV 0EV Cinccino has no problem outspeeding). The dragons 2HKO at most Cinccino so it's not safe to stay in.
Braviary (Lv 25)
Mandibuzz (Lv 25)
Volcarona (Lv 30)
Sandshrew
Dwebble
Scraggy
Maractus
Sigilyph
Trapinch
Yamask
Klink
Budew
Gothita
Solosis
Combee
Emolga
Heracross
Pinsir
Blitzle
Buizel
Zorua (N's)
Ducklett
Karrablast
Shelmet
Deerling
Foonguss
Pokémon: Castform
Tier: Low
Chance of Capture: Low
Survivability: Lower Mid
Available: Midgame
Summary: Castform is an unfortunate Pokémon. Its gimmick requires you to use a turn up setting up the weather, and it’s not the bulkiest of Pokémon. Despite this, however, Castform can be a fairly good Pokémon based off of its expansive movepool. It has access to many great coverage moves and a wide number of Water, Ice, Fire, and Electric moves to supplement its Normal-type coverage. In addition, Castform can change its type, but as stated before it has to spend a turn using a weather move. Consider it to be a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. With its coverage, it can be specifically tailored with TMs to be supereffective against certain foes - however, in some cases even supereffective coverage won’t help it in scoring a OKHO. It also has to deal with possible death when it doesn’t get the OHKO. Essentially, Castform is alright when you get it and only gets worse.
Important Battles:
Cheren: N/A
Roxie: N/A
Burgh: N/A
Elesa: N/A
Clay: Performs reasonably well against Krokorok, and can be used against Palpitoad, but can get OHKO’d by Excadrill.
Skyla: Will get outsped and OHKO’d by Unfezant and Swoobat, but can OHKO Swanna and Skarmory with Electric and Fire moves if not outsped.
Drayden: Will probably get outsped by Flygon and Haxorus, but can inflict reasonable damage on Druddigon with Ice-type moves.
Marlon: Can hurt his Pokémon with Electric-type moves, but struggles with Marlon’s neutral coverage on itself.
Corliss: Can do damage with Fire-type moves, but may get OHKO’d by any of his Pokémon.
Ghetsis: Definitely won’t be doing much. Will probably get wrecked by any of his Pokémon.
Final Rival Battle: Can perform reasonably well against their monkey, but outside of that will probably get OHKO’d. Can beat Serperior if Sunny Day is used.
Shauntal: Will get OHKO’d by most Pokémon, may be able to deal with Chandelure in Rain.
Marshal: Will most definitely get OHKO’d.
Grimsley: Can deal with Liepard, but even that is a stretch. Will get destroyed by Scrafty.
Caitlin: Struggles with her powerful Psychic-type attacks. Cannot deal with Focus Blast at all.
Iris: If outsped, it WILL get OHKO’d. Try to boost its Speed so it can score an OHKO or two with Blizzard under Hail. Can only take on Lapras with Thunder in Rain.
Nosepass
Aron
Baltoy
Joltik
Ferroseed
Tynamo
Frillish
Amomomola
Axew
Zangoose
Seviper
Elegym
Litwick
Heatmor
Durant
Cubchoo
Skorupi
Skarmory
Numel
Spoink
Drifblim
Shuppet
Wingull
Lunatone
Solrock
Absol
Tangela
Mienfoo
Gligar
Pawniard
Cobalion
Terrakion
Virizion
Shuckle
Mantyke
Remoraid
Corsola
Staryu
Wailmer
Lapras
Spheal
Swablu
Vulpix
Bronzor
Sneasal
Delibird
Vannillish
Piloswine
Ditto
Metang
Seel
Throh
Pokémon: Sawk
Tier: Mid
Possibility of Capture: Mid
Survivability: Mid
Summary: Despite being a complete dick to even encounter in W2 (5% in shaking grass FTW), Sawk is a great filler for the endgame portion if you have some very big gaps in your team. Coming instantly with Close Combat (a very important move to beat the shit out of Audinos for quick gridning purposes, while being a generally strong move in general) and 1 Heart Scale away from Bulk Up, Sawk can be capable of dishing out some serious damage, while Sturdy gives it some interesting options such as the ability to safely run things like Macho Brace Payback against Caitlin, or Reversal as a form of last ditch offense (and a strong STAB that doesn't murder defenses). Sawk is also compatible with the Ice Punch tutor, which gives it some form of use against Iris outside of whacking half her team with CC (which is also mostly why it's definitely not Low tier). Sawk's versatility with Sturdy makes him one of the best Pokemon to use for endgame, and having a guaranteed survival at 100% HP from any attack is one of the best things that can happen in a Nuzlocke.
Important Battle Match-Ups:
Final Rival Battle: While Sawk has dubious use against Unfezant (Rock Slide, but type matchup says hi), he has immense contribution against Bouffalant, who packs a rather strong STAB Head Charge. He can have use against the monkeys/starters given if he has the appropriate punch, but is generally not recommended (outside of a random CC nuke if you feel gutsy), especially when their STAB attacks are further powered up by a held item.
Shauntal: Generally not recommended for use, even though Macho Brace Payback is a valid option. Aftermath from Drifblim, Flame Body from Chandy and Mummy from Cofagrigus all have a shot at screwing Sawk over. Useful against Golurk, but anything with a good grass attack/surf probably has a better chance against him anyway.
Grimsley: CC is capable of landing OHKOs on everything except maybe Scrafty who doesn't even pose a threat to Sawk. The only thing you really need to watch here is Fake Out + Aerial Ace from Liepard, which ironically is the only time where Inner Focus is more useful than Sturdy. Beware of Attract too.
Marshal: A rather iffy choice for this battle as Sawk lacks any form of type advantage against Marshal, making him a rather risky choice. Close Combat hits like a truck but against Throh and Conkeldurr it's a risky choice. Mienshao has Bounce, so stay away. Sawk vs. Sawk is workable, but ensure that you're at least of a higher level.
Caitlin: While Sawk may seem like an odd choice for this battle, Sawk can use Macho Brace Payback to some extent (it's still outrunning Musharna and Reuniclus sadly, but it should be able to use full power against Goth). If you plan to use it on Sigilyph, beware of Air Slash, which fucks you over no matter what you do (Sturdy can make you flinch, Inner Focus can make you die). Again, being of a higher level works here, but try not to be too high, or Sawk won't be able to be useful against Gothitelle. In the very least, don't make Sawk your main offense here.
Iris: Sawk is a hero. This battle is mainly why Sawk isn't in Low: Sawk's type advantages against Aggron, Lapras and Hydreigon are very helpful in this battle. Sawk is capable of landing a nice OHKO with Black Belt Close Combat on these three, with the added bonus of being faster than the former two. Ice Punch Sawk can help clean up house, although beware that Mold Breaker Haxorus negates Sturdy.
Bouffalant
Druddigon
Pokémon: Golurk
Tier: Low
Chance of Capture: Low
Survivability: Mid
Availability: Endgame
Summary: Golurk comes SO late in the game, in Victory Road. Even then its only a 30% chance to catch it (the other 70% is Banette). Golurk, if caught though, can perform well endgame. Effective against two of the four Elite Four and even able to hold its own against Iris if given the proper movepool. In order to be effective, however, it must be able to be trained.
Important Battles:
Cheren: N/A
Roxie: N/A
Burgh: N/A
Elesa: N/A
Clay: N/A
Skyla: N/A
Drayden: N/A
Marlon: N/A
Corliss: N/A
Ghetsis: N/A
Final Rival Battle: Can be effective against the rival’s Emboar, Bouffalant, and Unfezant due to passable defenses and STAB attacks.
Shauntal: One of the two Elite Four that Golurk struggles against. Her supereffective Ghost-type attacks cause Golurk much pain.
Marshal: Is resistant against essentially every single attack they can throw at Golurk, besides the odd Payback or Ice Punch.
Grimsley: Shouldn’t be used in this battle. Will get OHKO’d by the supereffective Dark-type attacks for sure.
Caitlin: Can do some serious damage with Shadow Punch, but needs to be wary of Shadow Ball on some Pokémon.
Iris: Can be very effective, except against Lapras. Using Ice Punch, it can take down many of her Pokémon.
Pokémon: Zweilous
Tier: Bottom
Possibility of Capture: Low
Survivability: Poor
Summary: Zweilous comes late game and doesn't evolve until level 64. It has decent stats, especially Attack, but beyond that it lacks any sort of defensive typing for the important battles it is around for besides arguably Caitlin and Shauntal. Its ability, Hustle, is also a risk considering a miss for Zweilous could potentially mean a fatal hit. All in all, a bad Pokémon that comes late. Unless you're strapped for Pokémon or absolutely need a physical Dark/Dragon type, don't put Zweilous into your team's rotation.
Important Battle Match-Ups:
Cheren: N/A
Roxie: N/A
Burgh: N/A
Elesa: N/A
Clay: N/A
Skyla: N/A
Drayden: N/A
Marlon: N/A
Corliss: N/A
Ghetsis: N/A
Final Rival Battle: Can perform decently against the rival's Serperior, if you chose Oshawott. Will probably be OHKO'd by all other Pokémon's Bug, Fighting, and Ice type moves, but even has to watch out for Dragon Tail on Serperior.
Shauntal: Needs to watch out for Cofagrigus's Will-o-Wisp and others' Focus Blast.
Grimsley: Can perform well against Pokémon without a type advantage (Scrafty).
Marshal: Will get OHKO'd for sure.
Caitlin: Needs to watch out for Focus Blast again.
Iris: Will get outsped and OHKO'd by her superior Dragon-types.
Nuzlocke Tiers:
Black 2/White 2 Edition!
Black 2/White 2 Edition!
Hello, everyone! This is an idea I've had for a while, especially when I started doing Nuzlockes. After I caught a Pokémon, I would either have to figure out how good it was on my own, or attempt to make sense of the in-game analysis with the obvious restriction of possible death. An example would be Abra in Red/Blue - while amazingly fast and specially bulky, and also a Top Tier in game Pokémon, if you misplayed it at all against a physical user it would die almost instantaneously. This is most definitely an issue in a Nuzlocke, when you are attempting to beat the game without losing too many Pokémon. This means strategies that are extremely beneficial in normal play, such as bait-and-switch grinding and sacking Pokémon for healing, are actually very risky and unreliable, as one wrong move could easily spell the death of your beloved starter, or perhaps the end of the sweeper you need to take down Whitney reliably.
But what am I saying, you probably know this. The only reason you'd be very interested in this thread is if you like Nuzlocke Runs, and are familiar with the concept!
So without further ado, I present to you: the Nuzlocke Tier: Black 2/White 2 edition!
I'll begin with what we should be looking for (help from others would be nice: PM me if you have a suggestion that I should take into consideration).
General Format:
Pokémon:
Tier: (Bottom/Low/Mid/High/Top)
Possibility of Capture:
Survivability:
Summary:
Important Battle Match-Ups:
Cheren:
Roxie:
Burgh:
Elesa:
Clay:
Skyla:
Drayden:
Marlon:
Corless:
Ghetsis:
Final Rival Battle:
Shauntal:
Grimsley:
Marshal:
Caitlin:
Iris:
Current Tiered For Comparison
...
Magnemite
Mincinno
Mincinno
Panpour
Sawk
Sawk
Castform
Golurk
Golurk
Zweilous
Here are all of the Pokémon that need tiering! Essentially, the entire Unova Pokédex, save for Victini, Tornadus, Thundurus, Reshiram, Zekrom, Landorus, Kyurem, Keldeo, Meloetta, and Genesect. Also Munna, Glaceon, Leafeon, Archen, Tirtouga, Cryogonal, Tympole, Stunfisk, Slakoth, Corphish, Igglybuff, Lickitung, Yanma, Tropius, Carnivine, and Larvitar (who are not present until post-game). Completed analyses will be HIDE tags, and actually contain the analysis. All others are up for grabs!
Snivy
Tepig
Oshawott
Patrat
Purrloin
Pidove
Sewaddle
Sunkern
Lillipup
Mareep
Psyduck
Azurill
Riolu
Dunsparce
Audino
Pansage
Pansear
Pokémon: Panpour
Tier: Mid
Chance of Capture: Low
Survivability: High
Availability: Midgame
Summary: Panpour is a low risk, high reward capture. While only available in shaking grass in Lostlorn Forest, the other options are also fairly strong, with alternatives such as the other monkeys, Emolga, Audino, or even a Vespiquen. If you are lucky enough to capture it, you’re in for quite a treat - Panpour is one of the best Water-types in the game. When it evolves into Simipour, its stats are amazing for an in-game Pokémon - high Speed, Attack, and Special Attack to abuse the good movepool it gets in-game. Additionally, it comes near Clay, where it can get great beginning training with little risk of dying. Water Stones are also easily available in caves, meaning you can evolve Panpour easily. With its moveset, it can remain a powerhouse through the entirety of the game.
Important Battles:
Cheren: N/A
Roxie: N/A
Burgh: N/A
Elesa: Avoid using Panpour, the chance of it dying here is high. If worse comes to worse, teach it Dig for coverage.
Clay: If evolved, Panpour can be a powerhouse with its Water-type moves. Can usually OHKO the opponents, and can usually take a hit without dying.
Skyla: Can use its strong coverage and Speed to destroy her. Surf can destroy her gym, aside from Swanna.
Drayden: If it has access to Ice-type moves, use them. Simipour is fast enough and strong enough to take on his team, but still needs to watch out for Haxorus.
Marlon: Surprisingly, Simipour does fairly poorly. Losing the option of STAB or supereffective moves really hurts Simipour, and he must depend on Acrobatics.
Corliss: Struggles with Magneton and Klinklang with their Electric attacks, but can usually fare well with Brick Break and Crunch/Bite.
Ghetsis: Can do very well with supereffective coverage. Can almost guarantee a OHKO on Hydreigon with Ice Beam if trained enough.
Final Rival Battle: Can fare well against most of his Pokémon with supereffective coverage.
Shauntal: Struggles without Crunch/Bite, but with it it does great. Can OHKO Chandelure.
Marshal: Acrobatics can do great damage, but struggles with the high Defense.
Grimsley: Brick Break can be great, but needs to watch out for Scrafty’s Hi Jump Kick.
Caitlin: Similar to Shauntal. Needs Bite/Crunch to be successful.
Iris: If fast enough, can do major damage to all of her Pokémon with Ice Beam/Blizzard. Can even take down Lapras well with Brick Break.
Koffing
Pokémon: Magnemite
Tier: High
Possibility of Capture: medium-high (25% walking inside Virbank Complex)
Availability: early game
Survivability: very high/godly based upon ability
Summary: A bulky Steel-type pokémon with many resistances, few weaknesses, one immunity and avaible early game. It's just all you need for a Nuzlocke. If you're lucky your Magnemite has Sturdy, furtherly increasing his survivability. Its damage output is totally disappointing, but its bulk, typing and access to Thunder Wave is wonderful!
Probably it will end up with a moveset like TWave/Charge Beam/TBolt/Flash Cannon or something similar, like Signal Beam (tutor) or Magnet Rise (somewhat gimmick but still removes one weakness). I don't recommend going with Gyro Ball since nature, EV random training and maybe TWave really hinder its damage.
The evolution to Magneton is not super quick but lvl 30 isn't so high, and it can evolve again to Magnezone really early since at this point you will be at Nimbasa or Driftveil, definitely not far away from Chargestone Cave.
Thunderbolt is unfortunately avaible only late game (Victory Road) but Spark/Electro Ball/Discharge/Charge Beam can still do a good job.
Important Battle Match-Ups:
- Roxie: Poison Gym = profit! The highest risk is taking non-STAB not very effective Tackle/Assurance/Pursuit
- Burgh: Here they can't still touch it. Struggle Bug is really annoying but at this point it probably has Thunder Wave to gain free turns and Sonicboom so it's only a matter of time and little healing
- Elesa: It would have a chance if it wasn't for Volt Switch to Motor Drive Flame Charge Zebstrika. It's the only reason you can't use it in this gym with some success
- Clay: nope.
- Skyla: another free experience and gym badge, the only neutral-hitting move is Swanna's Bubblebeam
- Drayden: Revenge and Earth Power are a bit threatening, but Haxorus hasn't any Ground move so you can get in Magnezone and TWave him
- Marlon: Water moves hit neutrally but Thunder Wave grants time for healing and it still can use his STAB
- Corliss: Magnezone resists to ALL of his pokémon's moves, but can do little in return aside from Thunder Waving his whole team. Remarks: keep it at good health to switch into his Magnezone (you probably don't want it to Explode in the face on one of your other pokémon), remember that it can only deal acceptable damage against Metang and Klinklang, also don't be a setup bait for Beheeyem
- Ghetsis: it walls to no end Cofagrigus and Hydreigon, but also has no chance against the others
- Final Rival Battle: Unfezant is a piece of cake. The monkeys carry Brick Break but their attack stats isn't that high:
lvl55 Brick Break vs lvl 55 0/0 Magnezone: 35.22% - 41.51%, and this is with a equal level, not trained Magnezone; you probably don't want to stay on Simisear's Flamethrower, though. Bouffalant carries EQ, if you have sturdy you can PP stall with potions...or use another pokémon. Between the three starters the only manageable is Serperior, since Samurott carries Revenge - Shauntal: Drifblim is walled hard, Cofagrigus' WoW doesn't hurt but is annoying for the required healing. Don't stay in vs Golurk/Chandelure
- Grimsley: Stay in vs Liepard (you can't use Attract, bastard!) and Bisharp, switch out vs Scrafty and Krookodile
- Marshal: nope.
- Caitlin: Musharna is annoying only because of Yawn (if you have Signal Beam go for the 2HKO, otherwise TWave and switch out to something more threatening), Reuniclus has Recover and Focus Blast so he's no-no, Sigilyph is hard walled, Gothitelle can setup Calm Mind so be careful
- Iris: unfortunately it can only go out safely against Archeops, maybe Lapras if Surf doesn't hit hard enough but Sing is annoying, and if it has Sturdy and Magnet Rise it can fight against Aggron. Hydreigon carries Flamethrower (2HKO), also Druddigon does (Sheer Force + LO = 2HKO too), and Haxorus has Mold Breaker + Earthquake, it has a chance only if he previously set up Magnet Rise vs Aggron.
Magby
Elekid
Rattata
Zubat
Grimer
Woobat
Roggenrola
Onix
Timburr
Drilbur
Skitty
Buneary
Cottonee
Petilil
Cleffa
Vaporeon
Flareon
Jolteon
Espeon
Umbreon
Sandile
Darumaka
Basculin
Trubbish
Pokémon: Minccino (Hidden Grotto)
Tier: High
Possibility of Capture: High
Survivability: Mid
Summary: You can be sure that you will catch him because Bianca will take you to the Hidden Grotto when you go to Route 5, but he can be tedious with Sing, DoubleSlap and Encore (be careful if you want to deal damage and then status him, because if he's faster you can get encored and KO him!).
He's pretty frail at the beginning, but upon reaching lvl31 -only to get Wake-Up Slap- you can evolve him into Cinncino, increasing his bulk to 75/60/60 (not so much but he can take one hit and survive) and making him able to relearn Bullet Seed and/or Rock Blast at PWT, near to the next city. You really want him to evolve because you get something like double base attack and half more defenses.
Skill Link is the only reason for the tier, a really good reason honestly! You can go all-out attacker with STAB Tail Slap, Bullet Seed, Rock Blast and Wake-Up Slap or Sing + 3 attacks but in a Nuzlocke 55 accuracy is somewhat you want to avoid.
He's quite fast and can work as a lead to quickly OHKO wild pokémon not resisting his multi-hit moves.
Below I will be talking about Cinccino since you can evolve him when you want and surely at most at lvl31 since after that he doesn't learn any interesting move.
Important Battle Match-Ups:
Clay: Krokorok is a clean OHKO with Bullet Seed at lvl31. Sandslash is more resistant so watch out from Bulldoze speed drop and check the HP lost (he shouldn't 2HKO but be careful). Excadrill is really more resistant and hits pretty hard and I hope Cinccino won't be your best choice
Skyla: Rock Blast OHKOes Swoobat and Swanna, at most 3HKOes Skarmory. Steel Wing doesn't do too much damage and you can heal so it's not threatening
Drayden: It's not the best gym for Cinccino. He at least need 2 hits to KO something and they hit hard with Dragon Tail (or Revenge from Druddigon)
Marlon: Bullet Seed 3 times and get your badge
Colress: Wake-Up Slap doesn't hit hard enough, and hoping to Sleep+Slap 3 Fighting-weak pokémon in a Nuzlocke is very risky. He can still 2HKO Beheeyem with Tail Slap
Ghetsis: Seismitoad is a clean OHKO with Bullet Seed, depending on his level he can 1-2HKO Eelektross with Tail Slap. Toxicroak has chances to OHKO with Brick Break so you don't want to try the KO with Tail Slap
Final Rival Battle: Rock Blast for Unfezant and Bullet Seed for Simipour are almost certainly OHKO if he's at their level or more (55+).
Bullet Seed on Samurott and Tail Slap on Simisage/Simisear are risky because the first carries Revenge and the monkeys Brick Break
Shauntal: Drifblim and Chandelure have high chance to be OHKOed (watch out: Fire Blast is a OHKO), avoid Cofagrigus (bulk + Mummy) and Golurk (Brick Break)
Grimsley: Wake-Up Slap can miss the OHKO on Bisharp and Liepard depending on his level, and if Night Slash crits you can be in trouble. Avoid the other two.
Marshal: nope.
Caitlin: you can 2HKO all of his team with Tail Slap, and OHKO Sigilyph with Rock Blast. I'd try to KO Musharna before he gets Reflect up (Chesto Berry can work, but also switch out + Awakening) and to avoid Reuniclu's Focus Blast
Iris: Aggron and Lapras are 2HKOed with the appropriate move and can't OHKO him back, Archeops is OHKOed with Rock Blast provided you hit first (if it has 31IV 0EV Cinccino has no problem outspeeding). The dragons 2HKO at most Cinccino so it's not safe to stay in.
Mandibuzz (Lv 25)
Volcarona (Lv 30)
Sandshrew
Dwebble
Scraggy
Maractus
Sigilyph
Trapinch
Yamask
Klink
Budew
Gothita
Solosis
Combee
Emolga
Heracross
Pinsir
Blitzle
Buizel
Zorua (N's)
Ducklett
Karrablast
Shelmet
Deerling
Foonguss
Pokémon: Castform
Tier: Low
Chance of Capture: Low
Survivability: Lower Mid
Available: Midgame
Summary: Castform is an unfortunate Pokémon. Its gimmick requires you to use a turn up setting up the weather, and it’s not the bulkiest of Pokémon. Despite this, however, Castform can be a fairly good Pokémon based off of its expansive movepool. It has access to many great coverage moves and a wide number of Water, Ice, Fire, and Electric moves to supplement its Normal-type coverage. In addition, Castform can change its type, but as stated before it has to spend a turn using a weather move. Consider it to be a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. With its coverage, it can be specifically tailored with TMs to be supereffective against certain foes - however, in some cases even supereffective coverage won’t help it in scoring a OKHO. It also has to deal with possible death when it doesn’t get the OHKO. Essentially, Castform is alright when you get it and only gets worse.
Important Battles:
Cheren: N/A
Roxie: N/A
Burgh: N/A
Elesa: N/A
Clay: Performs reasonably well against Krokorok, and can be used against Palpitoad, but can get OHKO’d by Excadrill.
Skyla: Will get outsped and OHKO’d by Unfezant and Swoobat, but can OHKO Swanna and Skarmory with Electric and Fire moves if not outsped.
Drayden: Will probably get outsped by Flygon and Haxorus, but can inflict reasonable damage on Druddigon with Ice-type moves.
Marlon: Can hurt his Pokémon with Electric-type moves, but struggles with Marlon’s neutral coverage on itself.
Corliss: Can do damage with Fire-type moves, but may get OHKO’d by any of his Pokémon.
Ghetsis: Definitely won’t be doing much. Will probably get wrecked by any of his Pokémon.
Final Rival Battle: Can perform reasonably well against their monkey, but outside of that will probably get OHKO’d. Can beat Serperior if Sunny Day is used.
Shauntal: Will get OHKO’d by most Pokémon, may be able to deal with Chandelure in Rain.
Marshal: Will most definitely get OHKO’d.
Grimsley: Can deal with Liepard, but even that is a stretch. Will get destroyed by Scrafty.
Caitlin: Struggles with her powerful Psychic-type attacks. Cannot deal with Focus Blast at all.
Iris: If outsped, it WILL get OHKO’d. Try to boost its Speed so it can score an OHKO or two with Blizzard under Hail. Can only take on Lapras with Thunder in Rain.
Aron
Baltoy
Joltik
Ferroseed
Tynamo
Frillish
Amomomola
Axew
Zangoose
Seviper
Elegym
Litwick
Heatmor
Durant
Cubchoo
Skorupi
Skarmory
Numel
Spoink
Drifblim
Shuppet
Wingull
Lunatone
Solrock
Absol
Tangela
Mienfoo
Gligar
Pawniard
Cobalion
Terrakion
Virizion
Shuckle
Mantyke
Remoraid
Corsola
Staryu
Wailmer
Lapras
Spheal
Swablu
Vulpix
Bronzor
Sneasal
Delibird
Vannillish
Piloswine
Ditto
Metang
Seel
Throh
Pokémon: Sawk
Tier: Mid
Possibility of Capture: Mid
Survivability: Mid
Summary: Despite being a complete dick to even encounter in W2 (5% in shaking grass FTW), Sawk is a great filler for the endgame portion if you have some very big gaps in your team. Coming instantly with Close Combat (a very important move to beat the shit out of Audinos for quick gridning purposes, while being a generally strong move in general) and 1 Heart Scale away from Bulk Up, Sawk can be capable of dishing out some serious damage, while Sturdy gives it some interesting options such as the ability to safely run things like Macho Brace Payback against Caitlin, or Reversal as a form of last ditch offense (and a strong STAB that doesn't murder defenses). Sawk is also compatible with the Ice Punch tutor, which gives it some form of use against Iris outside of whacking half her team with CC (which is also mostly why it's definitely not Low tier). Sawk's versatility with Sturdy makes him one of the best Pokemon to use for endgame, and having a guaranteed survival at 100% HP from any attack is one of the best things that can happen in a Nuzlocke.
Important Battle Match-Ups:
Final Rival Battle: While Sawk has dubious use against Unfezant (Rock Slide, but type matchup says hi), he has immense contribution against Bouffalant, who packs a rather strong STAB Head Charge. He can have use against the monkeys/starters given if he has the appropriate punch, but is generally not recommended (outside of a random CC nuke if you feel gutsy), especially when their STAB attacks are further powered up by a held item.
Shauntal: Generally not recommended for use, even though Macho Brace Payback is a valid option. Aftermath from Drifblim, Flame Body from Chandy and Mummy from Cofagrigus all have a shot at screwing Sawk over. Useful against Golurk, but anything with a good grass attack/surf probably has a better chance against him anyway.
Grimsley: CC is capable of landing OHKOs on everything except maybe Scrafty who doesn't even pose a threat to Sawk. The only thing you really need to watch here is Fake Out + Aerial Ace from Liepard, which ironically is the only time where Inner Focus is more useful than Sturdy. Beware of Attract too.
Marshal: A rather iffy choice for this battle as Sawk lacks any form of type advantage against Marshal, making him a rather risky choice. Close Combat hits like a truck but against Throh and Conkeldurr it's a risky choice. Mienshao has Bounce, so stay away. Sawk vs. Sawk is workable, but ensure that you're at least of a higher level.
Caitlin: While Sawk may seem like an odd choice for this battle, Sawk can use Macho Brace Payback to some extent (it's still outrunning Musharna and Reuniclus sadly, but it should be able to use full power against Goth). If you plan to use it on Sigilyph, beware of Air Slash, which fucks you over no matter what you do (Sturdy can make you flinch, Inner Focus can make you die). Again, being of a higher level works here, but try not to be too high, or Sawk won't be able to be useful against Gothitelle. In the very least, don't make Sawk your main offense here.
Iris: Sawk is a hero. This battle is mainly why Sawk isn't in Low: Sawk's type advantages against Aggron, Lapras and Hydreigon are very helpful in this battle. Sawk is capable of landing a nice OHKO with Black Belt Close Combat on these three, with the added bonus of being faster than the former two. Ice Punch Sawk can help clean up house, although beware that Mold Breaker Haxorus negates Sturdy.
Druddigon
Pokémon: Golurk
Tier: Low
Chance of Capture: Low
Survivability: Mid
Availability: Endgame
Summary: Golurk comes SO late in the game, in Victory Road. Even then its only a 30% chance to catch it (the other 70% is Banette). Golurk, if caught though, can perform well endgame. Effective against two of the four Elite Four and even able to hold its own against Iris if given the proper movepool. In order to be effective, however, it must be able to be trained.
Important Battles:
Cheren: N/A
Roxie: N/A
Burgh: N/A
Elesa: N/A
Clay: N/A
Skyla: N/A
Drayden: N/A
Marlon: N/A
Corliss: N/A
Ghetsis: N/A
Final Rival Battle: Can be effective against the rival’s Emboar, Bouffalant, and Unfezant due to passable defenses and STAB attacks.
Shauntal: One of the two Elite Four that Golurk struggles against. Her supereffective Ghost-type attacks cause Golurk much pain.
Marshal: Is resistant against essentially every single attack they can throw at Golurk, besides the odd Payback or Ice Punch.
Grimsley: Shouldn’t be used in this battle. Will get OHKO’d by the supereffective Dark-type attacks for sure.
Caitlin: Can do some serious damage with Shadow Punch, but needs to be wary of Shadow Ball on some Pokémon.
Iris: Can be very effective, except against Lapras. Using Ice Punch, it can take down many of her Pokémon.
Pokémon: Zweilous
Tier: Bottom
Possibility of Capture: Low
Survivability: Poor
Summary: Zweilous comes late game and doesn't evolve until level 64. It has decent stats, especially Attack, but beyond that it lacks any sort of defensive typing for the important battles it is around for besides arguably Caitlin and Shauntal. Its ability, Hustle, is also a risk considering a miss for Zweilous could potentially mean a fatal hit. All in all, a bad Pokémon that comes late. Unless you're strapped for Pokémon or absolutely need a physical Dark/Dragon type, don't put Zweilous into your team's rotation.
Important Battle Match-Ups:
Cheren: N/A
Roxie: N/A
Burgh: N/A
Elesa: N/A
Clay: N/A
Skyla: N/A
Drayden: N/A
Marlon: N/A
Corliss: N/A
Ghetsis: N/A
Final Rival Battle: Can perform decently against the rival's Serperior, if you chose Oshawott. Will probably be OHKO'd by all other Pokémon's Bug, Fighting, and Ice type moves, but even has to watch out for Dragon Tail on Serperior.
Shauntal: Needs to watch out for Cofagrigus's Will-o-Wisp and others' Focus Blast.
Grimsley: Can perform well against Pokémon without a type advantage (Scrafty).
Marshal: Will get OHKO'd for sure.
Caitlin: Needs to watch out for Focus Blast again.
Iris: Will get outsped and OHKO'd by her superior Dragon-types.
