ORAS Tier List V2.0

[Colonel M]

Who tf disturbs my slumber.

Aight fam we'll look at tier list changes and writeups should be looked over soon. Please feel free to chip in everyone.

Okay a couple things:

Absol to B

Don't think Absol is as good as I thought it was - joins a tad too late and just a tiny bit too frail.

Numel to B

A tad too slow and some of the gym matchups kind of wash away quickly.

Nothing else outside of maybe Mawile stands out for me. Mawile I think could go B since it has a pretty whack backtrack and requires training (not to mention a poor gym matchup at Flannery too).

 

[Karxrida]

Was bored, wrote this up.

Groudon

Groudon
Availability: Late (Cave of Origin, Story Event)
Stats: Groudon has a strong stat spread. It has superb Attack and Defense, above average Special Attack, and decent Special Defense and Speed. Primal Groudon's Attack and Defense are even higher, and it also gets a major boost to Special Attack that allows it to utilize some coverage moves more effectively.
Typing: Ground is a decent offensive typing due to being super effective against five types, but it doesn't have much in the way of defensive utility due to only providing an immunity to Electric and resistances to Rock and Poison. Primal Ground's Ground/Fire typing improves its offensive prowess with secondary STAB, grants several more resistances, and the Water immunity provided by Desolate Land leaves it with a sole weakness to the easily-covered Ground.
Movepool: Groudon comes with Lava Plume, Rest, Precipice Blades, and Earthquake, and it can be taught several useful TMs such as Bulk Up, Solar Beam, Fire Blast, Stone Edge, and Rock Polish. While Bulk Up and Solar Beam are part of Groudon's level-up movepool, it is more convenient to teach them to it via TM.
Major Battles: Primal Groudon easily defeats Wallace due to its Water immunity. Against Wally, it handily beats his Roselia and Magneton with STAB attacks and has no problem overpowering everything else purely on stats. While is lacks any particular advantage against the members of the Elite Four, it can brute force its way to victory between its high stats and coverage moves. Primal Groudon is strong versus Steven, as half of his Pokémon are weak to Primal Groudon's STAB attacks and the other half have no way of dealing meaningful damage.
Additional Comments: Primal Groudon should be used at all times, as it does not count as a Mega Evolution for the "1 Mega per battle" limit. The stat boosts provided are also well worth the loss of Groudon's item slot.

Couldn't remember the deal with Stone Edge's availability so I didn't list it, but I'm pretty sure you can grab Rock Polish without going too far out of the way. Would have mentioned Dragon Pulse for Drake, but I don't remember its availability, either.

Also, I don't think Slakoth is mentioned anywhere in the tier list. DHR said it was C on the last page.

 

[Ondore]

Stone Edge can be purchased (30,000) at the Lilycove Dept Store.

 

[Karxrida]

Ralts (Gallade)

Ralts (Gallade)
Availability: Early (as Ralts), Late (Dawn Stone)
Stats: Gallade has high Attack and Special Defense stats, with passable Speed and low Special Attack. Its HP and Defense are less than stellar, so it will likely take a large amount of damage from neutral physical hits.
Typing: Fighting/Psychic provides little defensive utility, as it only resists Rock and Fighting while also being weak to Flying, Ghost, and Fairy (though none of these are particularly common). It is much better offensively, providing solid neutral and super effective coverage.
Movepool: Gallade has a colorful movepool, naturally learning coverage like Leaf Blade and Night Slash while also getting strong STAB in Close Combat. It learns several of its best moves at Level 1, so it can be taken to the Move Relearner to instantly have its desired moveset for the final battles.
Major Battles: A Gallade-bound Ralts will likely not evolve until very late into the game, so it has little to contribute for most of the run. However, its typing does give it advantages during the endgame, being strong against Sidney, Glacia, and many of Steven's Pokémon.
Additional Comments: While Gallade is by no means a bad Pokémon, the Dawn Stone required for its evolution can only be obtained as a random prize from Super Secret Training - which requires getting a fully EV'd Pokémon - or waiting until endgame. Because of this, Ralts will probably be forced to hold off its evolution and stay as a Kirlia for a majority of the game, turning it into a liability for most of the run.

Kyogre

Kyogre
Availability: Late (Cave of Origin, Story Event)
Stats: Kyogre has a strong stat spread. It has superb Special Attack and Special Defense, above average Attack, and decent Special Defense and Speed. Primal Kyogre's Special Attack and Special Defense are even higher, and it also gets a major boost to Attack (though it isn't very useful).
Typing: Kyogre's Water typing leaves it with only two weaknesses to Grass and Electric, which are predominately Special moves that target its high Special Defense. Water is a strong STAB offensively due to its high amount of neutral targets (bolstered by the 50% boost provided by Drizzle/Primordial Sea) and its synergy with Ice Beam.
Movepool: Kyogre's movepool is not as wide as Groudon's, but it doesn't really need much. It comes already knowing Origin Pulse, a strong STAB move (though replacing/supplimenting it with the more accurate Surf should be considered), and it also has Ice Beam for coverage. These are rounded off by Thunder, which is very strong and always 100% accurate thanks to Drizzle/Primordial Sea. Kyogre can also learn Calm Mind to boost its already high Special Attack and Special Defense.
Major Battles: Kyogre easily beats Wallace due to its high Special Defense, a resistance to Water, and access to Thunder to defeat his Water-types. It doesn't have any particular advantage against Wally, Sidney, or Phoebe, but it is able to brute force its way to victory with its high stats. Glacia's Ice Pokémon have difficulty hurting Kyogre due to its Ice resistance, Drake's Dragon Pokémon fall to Ice Beam, and many of Steven's Pokémon are weak to either Water or Ice.
Additional Comments: Primal Kyogre should be used at all times, as it does not count as a Mega Evolution for the "1 Mega per battle" limit. The stat boosts provided are also well worth the loss of Kyogre's item slot.

Wrote these up at 2 in the morning because I couldn't sleep, so there might be some errors.

 

[IcyMan28]

I'll take the starters.

Treecko

Treecko
Availability: Early (Starter Pokemon)
Stats: As a starter pokemon, Treecko is blessed with a high base stat total relative to many of the game's pokemon. Speed is the standout stat for its evolutionary line, which is coupled to above-average special attack and passable attack. This comes at the expense of average HP and special defense as well as low defense, making it rather frail at times and unlikely to survive particularly strong or super-effective hits. As Mega Sceptile, its blistering speed climbs even further and its special attack rises to match it. It also gains a considerable jump in attack which lets it take advantage of its physical movepool.
Typing: Treecko is a pure Grass-type all the way up through its evolution into Sceptile, at which point it can acquire the Dragon-type through mega evolution if desired. This is a mixed bag that leaves it with fairly common weaknesses in Bug, Flying, and Poison, but it also allows Treecko to function well against Team Aqua and many of the water-types faced in the later stages of the game. Dragon-typing as Mega Sceptile is quite useful as it sports good neutral coverage against most foes.
Movepool: Treecko's movepool is actually rather expansive for a Grass-type. Most notably, keeping Treecko in its base stage until level 21 gives it access to Giga Drain, a strong move that runs off the line's higher offensive stat and provides a bit of longevity. Leaf Blade is acquired as Grovyle at Lv 23 and provides a strong physical grass-type option, and Sceptile learns Dual Chop upon evolving at level 36 for use in its base and Mega Forms. Leaf Storm is available via move tutor as soon as Grovyle evolves for a powerful grass-type nuke. Finally, TMs can expand coverage using moves like Dig / Earthquake, Hidden Power, Focus Blast, and Dragon Claw.
Major Battles: Treecko's typing is its major shortcoming for most of the major battles and the reason for its presence in A rank rather than S. Although it shines against Roxanne with its speed and early Mega Drain access, it falls off for the coming gyms as either its low defense or type disadvantage hold it back against Brawly, Flannery, Norman, and Winona. Even Wattson can overpower Grovyle due to Magneton's resistance to grass and high SpA. However, Treecko can provide utility via coverage (Dig vs. Flannery, Dual Chop as secondary STAB for Winona's gym, etc) and has a super-effective matchup against the final two gyms. Though it does not have a particularly effective matchup against any of the E4, its high stats allow it to face off well against most of its members and it really only truly struggles with Steven and his steel-types.
Additional Comments: Treecko's early availability, good stat spread, great movepool, and access to mega evolution make it a solid choice for the majority of the game. Unfortunately, Treecko's frailty and occasionally insufficient power hold it back from being a top-tier threat like its starter companions. Still, pairing Treecko with bulkier pokemon that make up for these weak points allows it to truly shine, offering a strong choice throughout the game and making it well-suited to its A-rank.

Torchic

Availability: Early (Starter Pokemon)
Stats: As the game's fire-type starter, Torchic is also blessed with an above-average stat spread. Its offensive stats steadily climb as it evolves and allow Torchic to knock out most pokemon in one or two hits. This is a key feature as it not only speeds gameplay but also prevents Torchic (and eventually Blaziken) from taking too much damage, as its low defenses cannot sustain much. Its speed is decent enough, allowing it to outspeed much of the game although it will find itself unable to best some of the faster pokemon in the game. Mega Blaziken raises all of its stats, sharpening its offensive stats and providing it with additional speed both via a stat increase and the Speed Boost ability.
Typing: Despite being a tropical region, Hoenn has relatively few fire-type choices, placing a premium on choosing Torchic early on. Alone, fire is a good offensive type that also offers resistances to the early-game bug- and grass-types, but evolution into Combusken takes it a step further and adds a second stellar offensive type in Fighting. This grants Torchic and its evolutions fantastic neutral coverage throughout the game with decent defensive utility. Furthermore, most of the type's weaknesses are less prevalent until the later stages of the game, where teammates can help pick up the slack.
Movepool: The Torchic line's expansive movepool complements its offensive stats nicely. Ember is upgraded into Flame Charge, Fire Pledge, and Blaze Kick through regular gameplay, and Double Kick is a solid move until it begins to lose strength near evolution to Blaziken. Blaziken has access to its strongest moves via move tutor immediately upon evolving, granting it frighteningly powerful STABs in Flare Blitz and High Jump Kick. It also has access to Brave Bird, boosting moves in Bulk Up and Hone Claws, and additional coverage via Rock- and Ground-type TMs as needed.
Major Battles: Thanks to its high offenses and good typing, the line is useful for many of the game's major battles. Though Torchic struggles against Roxanne, Combusken's access to Double Kick allows it to breeze through. It also functions well against Wattson and Norman while having success against Flannery with the Dig TM. Blaziken has poor matchups against gyms 6-8 in theory, but can often be of use as the secondary typings of its opponents leave them at least neutral to Blaziken's high-powered STABs. It is effective against team Magma and Aqua for the same reasons, as well as their frequent use of the Dark-type. Finally, Blaziken has a good matchup against the E4 and champion, only wavering a bit against Drake as his Dragon-types are either faster or have strong secondary types.
Additional Comments: Early availability, very strong offensive stats and typing, and access to Mega Evolution to patch up its few weak points make Torchic a force to be reckoned with and a solid choice for gameplay. This is true to the extent that Blaziken can often power through seemingly disadvantageous matchups on sheer power alone. Mega Blaziken turns this to an eleven and will make short work of its opponents. These traits combined firmly cement Torchic's place as an S-tier choice.

Mudkip

Availability: Early (Starter Pokemon)
Stats: Mudkip distinguishes itself from the game's plethora of water-type pokemon with a well-rounded stat spread and strong offensive presence. Unlike the glass-cannon approach of the other two starters, this line has considerable bulk at the cost of speed. Mudkip, and eventually Swampert, can knock most opponents out in one to two hits thanks to great attack and above-average special attack, but is also capable of taking a blow or two for itself or a teammate if necessary. Mega Swampert adds to these strengths, with a significant boost to its attack and even greater bulk. It's ability, Swift Swim, even allows it to make up for its low speed via Rain Dance. Overall, Mudkip is a very balanced pokemon with few glaring weak points.
Typing: Mudkip is the water-type starter for the Hoenn region, and gains the ground type upon evolution into Marshtomp. This is superb typing that leaves it with great offensive coverage and TM access while producing a lone weakness to grass that is easily accounted for with teammates. Combined with its well-balanced stats, this allows the Mudkip line to distinguish itself from the plethora of water-types in the region and easily pull its weight on any team.
Movepool: Water and Ground alone provide good coverage against most enemies, which this line easily takes advantage of and complements with Rock and Ice coverage. The line also has access to Fighting-type attacks, although they are a bit redundant. Normal gameplay provides Marshtomp with strong options in Water Pledge, Bulldoze, Dig, and Rock Slide along the way. Swampert ultimately gains access to Waterfall, Earthquake, and the coveted Ice Beam by the end of the game. Access to Rain Dance allows Mega Swampert to not only boost its water-type moves, but also to activate Swift Swim. This turns it into a powerful and fast tank that steamrolls the opposition.
Major Battles: Mudkip, and ultimately Swampert, has great bulk and a typing that is not easily exploited, making it a solid option for nearly all major battles. By typing and level-up movepool alone, it fares well against half of the gyms and is able to put in strong work against those that remain. It is the only starter that fares well against both Groudon and Kyogre and its matchup against the E4 and champion, especially as Mega Swampert, is very strong.
Additional Comments: Mudkip's early availability, strong power and bulk, and access to Mega Evolution make it a very strong choice. Moreso than the other starters, it manages to both fight on its own and operate as a team player, using its typing and bulk to support frailer members of the team. Its strong natural movepool requires little outside assistance and is well equipped for major battles along the way. Finally, its ability to mega evolve heightens these strengths and patches up its only weakness, speed, if you should opt to pair it with Rain Dance. For these reasons, Mudkip is a prime choice for a team slot and well-deserving of its S rank.

 

[Karxrida]

Zigzagoon

Zigzagoon
Availability: Early
Stats: As the early route mammalian Pokémon of Hoenn, Zigzagoon is not particularly powerful before or after evolution. While it sports high Speed, all of its other stats are subpar.
Typing: Pure Normal typing doesn't give Zigzagoon much defensively, as it only grants a Ghost immunity while being saddled with a Fighting weakness. It does provide Zigzagoon with a decent STAB that hits many types neutrally, with its Tackle being decently strong during the earliest parts of the game.
Movepool: Zigzagoon has a very varied movepool that provides it with a large amount of options, such as Thunderbolt and Shadow Ball. While its low stats prevent it from using said options effectively, it is able to learn 4 HMs (Cut, Surf, Strength, and Rock Smash) once it evolves into Linoone to make it an ideal HM mule.
Major Battles: Zigzagoon doesn't have any advantages during any major battles. It actually struggles to do much against them early on, as it is walled by Roxanne's Rock-types and weak to Brawly's Fighting-types.
Additional Comments: Zigzagoon is not much of a fighter, but it does provide some useful utility between its capacity to learn 4 HMs and the free items it provides with its Pickup ability.

 

[Karxrida]

Latios

Latios (Omega Ruby)
Availability: Mid-game (Gift Pokémon from Story)
Stats: Latios sports high Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed with passable Attack and okay Defense. Mega Evolution grants boosts to most of Latios's stats to varying degrees, with the lion's share going to Attack and none going to Speed.
Typing: Dragon/Psychic is a decent defensive typing, though it has its issues. It provides 6 resistances (Fire, Water, Electric, Grass, Psychic, Fighting), but it also gives Latios a weakness to the somewhat prevalent Dark-types that Team Aqua and Team Magma both carry. Offensively, Dragon/Psychic is a very strong combinations of STABs that have good neutral coverage, only walled by the occasional Steel-type.
Movepool: Latios comes with two STABs in Luster Purge and Dragonbreath, though Luster Purge's low PP is an annoyance. Taking it to the Move Relearner will allow it to remember Dragon Dance, which can potentially be utilized while Mega Evolved with Zen Headbutt (learned at Level 41) and Latios's other physical coverage. Draco Meteor can be learned later on from a Move Tutor at Sootopolis, granting a powerful Dragon STAB nuke. Latios's TM and HM movepool is quite diverse, granting various coverage options such as Earthquake, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, Steel Wing, and Grass Knot. Its capacity to learn all three Water-type HMs (Surf, Waterfall, and Dive) gives it utility as an endgame HM mule along with some more coverage.
Major Battles: Latios's use against important battles is mixed. It is capable of dealing with Winona's Altaria with its Dragon STAB while its typing and coverage gives it an edge against the Rival, Tate and Liza, Wallace, and many of Wally's Pokémon. However, it also suffers against many of the Elite Four for the same reason: Sidney has Dark-types, Phoebe has Ghost-types, Glacia has Ice-types, Drake has Dragon-types (which can go either way for Latios), and Steven has several Steel-types. Latios is weak to many of them, though its aforementioned coverage alleviates this somewhat.
Additional Comments: Latios's high stats (which include 3 guaranteed perfect IVs), free availability, immediate access to it Mega Stone, and HM movepool make it very valuable in spite of some notable flaws.

Need second opinions on this one. I used Latios and it helped a ton during the E4, but I know its typing is kind of a turnoff there.

 

[Roseguardin]

Latios

Latios (Omega Ruby)
Availability: Mid-game (Gift Pokémon from Story)
Stats: Latios sports high Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed with passable Attack and okay Defense. Mega Evolution grants boosts to most of Latios's stats to varying degrees, with the lion's share going to Attack and none going to Speed.
Typing: Dragon/Psychic is a decent defensive typing, though it has its issues. It provides 6 resistances (Fire, Water, Electric, Grass, Psychic, Fighting), but it also gives Latios a weakness to the somewhat prevalent Dark-types that Team Aqua and Team Magma both carry. Offensively, Dragon/Psychic is a very strong combinations of STABs that have good neutral coverage, only walled by the occasional Steel-type.
Movepool: Latios comes with two STABs in Luster Purge and Dragonbreath, though Luster Purge's low PP is an annoyance. Taking it to the Move Relearner will allow it to remember Dragon Dance, which can potentially be utilized while Mega Evolved after learning Zen Headbutt at Level 41. Latios's TM and HM movepool is quite diverse, granting various coverage options such as Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, Steel Wing, and Bulldoze. It is notably capable of learning all three Water-type HMs (Surf, Waterfall, and Dive), giving it use as an endgame HM mule.
Major Battles: Latios's use against important battles is mixed. It is capable of dealing with Winona's Altaria with its Dragon STAB while its typing gives it an edge against the Rival, Tate and Liza, Wallace, and many of Wally's Pokémon. However, it also suffers against many of the Elite Four for the same reason: Sydney has Dark-types, Phoebe has Ghost-types, Glacia has Ice-types, Drake has Dragon-types (which can go either way for Latios), and Steven has several Steel-types. Latios is either weak to or has difficulty damaging all of them, giving it little chance to shine during the final strech.
Additional Comments: Latios's high stats, free availability, immediate access to it Mega Stone, and HM movepool make it very valuable despite having some notable flaws.

Need second opinions on this one. I used Latios and it helped a ton during the E4, but I know its typing is kind of a turnoff there.

Mention Draco Meteor and Earthquake as alternate options in TM/HMs, Earthquake is Latios' only way to hit most Steel-types super effectively and if you are using its Mega it deals decent damage. Draco Meteor is an alternative STAB that can take out opponents if Latios' other moves can't hit it hard enough. Both are late-game though. Also in typing, mention its immunity to Ground-type moves through Levitate, which is always handy to have especially in double battles.

EDIT: also Calm Mind if you're fine with running 3 attacks, although a lot of the time set-up isn't usually needed with Latios

 

[Kurona]

Is Ice Beam not worth mentioning? If you're taking the detour to the Sea Mauville it can be a very good alternative for Dragon STAB before you get Meteor (and possibly even after if you just care about hitting Drake and don't like the spa drop) that hits the same and more targets for SE damage and is far more usable than Dragonbreath. I found it useful myself.

 

[Karxrida]

Mention Draco Meteor and Earthquake as alternate options in TM/HMs, Earthquake is Latios' only way to hit most Steel-types super effectively and if you are using its Mega it deals decent damage. Draco Meteor is an alternative STAB that can take out opponents if Latios' other moves can't hit it hard enough. Both are late-game though. Also in typing, mention its immunity to Ground-type moves through Levitate, which is always handy to have especially in double battles.

EDIT: also Calm Mind if you're fine with running 3 attacks, although a lot of the time set-up isn't usually needed with Latios

Site is being weird and not saving my edits, but I've taken note of your suggestions and will add them later.

Is Ice Beam not worth mentioning? If you're taking the detour to the Sea Mauville it can be a very good alternative for Dragon STAB before you get Meteor (and possibly even after if you just care about hitting Drake and don't like the spa drop) that hits the same and more targets for SE damage and is far more usable than Dragonbreath. I found it useful myself.

I don't think the Ice Beam detour is worth it in general unless you have a Swampert on your team and are playing Omega Ruby (Kyogre comes with it in Alpha Sapphire), and I can't see justifying it pre-Sootopolis solely for Latios. The only thing between getting Dive and reaching Sootopolis is the Underground Cavern, where Ice Beam isn't too useful for when you're just fighting Magma Grunts. I'm also pretty sure you can also nuke Drake through Draco's Special Attack drops if you really want to, especially with some CM setup on Shelgon.

 

[Nelson Tangela]

Latios

Latios (Omega Ruby)
Availability: Mid-game (Gift Pokémon from Story)
Stats: Latios sports high Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed with passable Attack and okay Defense. Mega Evolution grants boosts to most of Latios's stats to varying degrees, with the lion's share going to Attack and none going to Speed.
Typing: Dragon/Psychic is a decent defensive typing, though it has its issues. It provides 6 resistances (Fire, Water, Electric, Grass, Psychic, Fighting), but it also gives Latios a weakness to the somewhat prevalent Dark-types that Team Aqua and Team Magma both carry. Offensively, Dragon/Psychic is a very strong combinations of STABs that have good neutral coverage, only walled by the occasional Steel-type.
Movepool: Latios comes with two STABs in Luster Purge and Dragonbreath, though Luster Purge's low PP is an annoyance. Taking it to the Move Relearner will allow it to remember Dragon Dance, which can potentially be utilized while Mega Evolved after learning Zen Headbutt at Level 41. Latios's TM and HM movepool is quite diverse, granting various coverage options such as Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, Steel Wing, and Bulldoze. It is notably capable of learning all three Water-type HMs (Surf, Waterfall, and Dive), giving it use as an endgame HM mule.
Major Battles: Latios's use against important battles is mixed. It is capable of dealing with Winona's Altaria with its Dragon STAB while its typing gives it an edge against the Rival, Tate and Liza, Wallace, and many of Wally's Pokémon. However, it also suffers against many of the Elite Four for the same reason: Sidney has Dark-types, Phoebe has Ghost-types, Glacia has Ice-types, Drake has Dragon-types (which can go either way for Latios), and Steven has several Steel-types. Latios is either weak to or has difficulty damaging all of them, giving it little chance to shine during the final strech.
Additional Comments: Latios's high stats, free availability, immediate access to it Mega Stone, and HM movepool make it very valuable despite having some notable flaws.

Need second opinions on this one. I used Latios and it helped a ton during the E4, but I know its typing is kind of a turnoff there.

I'd mention Grass Knot as a coverage move. It has its uses.

Grass Knot TM comes shortly after you get Latios and doesn't require a detour.
It is your strongest move against Tate & Liza (100 base damage against Solrock and Lunatone).
It is your strongest move against Wallace's Milotic. (100 base damage)
It is your strongest move against Glacia's Walrein. (100 base damage)
It is your strongest move against Steven's Claydol. (100 base damage)


I'd probably also mention that it comes with three guaranteed perfect IVs, which is a noteworthy advantage compared to other available Pokémon.

 

[Karxrida]

Bagon

Bagon
Availability: Late
Stats: Bagon and Shelgon don't have any particularly strong stats, though they aren't necessarily horrible considering how they are both unevolved Pokémon. Salamence has very high Attack and Special Attack, good Speed, and decent Defense and Special Defense.
Typing: Dragon is a strong offensive and defensive type. It is neutral against most other Pokémon and only resisted Steel- and Fairy-types, which are rare, while providing resistances to Fire, Water, Electric, and Grass. While it is weak to Ice, Fairy, and other Dragons, none of these types are particularly common. Once Bagon fully evolves into Salamence it becomes part Flying, giving it another STAB to work with while also providing a Ground immunity and resistances to Bug and Fighting, though this comes at the cost of a double Ice weakness, a normal weaknesses to Rock, and negating its Electric resistance.
Movepool: Bagon and its evolutions learn a decent selection of TMs, such as Flamethrower (also learned naturally), Fire Blast, Earthquake, Aerial Ace, Stone Edge, Brick Break, and Shadow Claw, while also getting Draco Meteor from the Move Tutor in Sootopolis. Salamence can also learn Fire Fang and Thunder Fang if taken to the Move Relearner.
Major Battles: Salamence can take out Wally's team between its typing and abusing some coverage moves learned from TMs. For the Elite Four, it provides no real advantage against Sidney and Phoebe, loses to Glacia, and is sink-or-swim against Drake due to Dragon being weak against itself. Salamance is able to function against Steven with thanks to its coverage mgoes despite being at a type disadvantage to most of his Pokémon, but it is not the most optimal choice.
Additional Comments: While Bagon becomes very strong upon evolving into Salamence, it is not worth the investment due to how late it is obtained, the babying required to get it to evolve, and how small its advantages are in the final battles.

Luvdisc

Luvdisc
Availability: Late
Stats: Luvdisc has overall horrible stats outside of a decent Speed.
Typing: Water is a decent defensive typing. It leaves Luvdisc with only two weaknesses to Grass and Electric while granting resistances to Water, Fire, Ice, and Steel. It also provides a good neutral STAB that synergizes well with Luvdisc's ability to learn Ice attacks.
Movepool: Luvdisc only learns Water- and Nomarl-type moves to damage foes with, alongside some Status moves like Sweet Kiss. It can also learn Ice-type attacks via TM, giving it some more coverage.
Major Battles: Luvdisc provides no real advantage against any major battles.
Additional Comments: Luvdisc is a horrible Pokémon due to its low stats and late availability. You should only catch it for the Heart Scales it may be holding.

Wobbuffet

Wobbuffet
Availability: Mid-game (Wynaut egg or Safari Zone)
Stats: Wobbuffet has extremely high HP, but its other stats are terrible.
Typing: Psychic provides resistances to Psychic and Fighting, while also granting weaknesses to Ghost and Bug. While Psychic is a decent offensive type with strong neutral coverage, Wobbuffet is unable to attack directly and thus cannot abuse it.
Movepool: Wobbuffet will only ever be able to learn 4 moves: Counter, Mirror Coat, Safeguard, and Destiny Bond. If hatched from the Wynaut egg, it also gets Splash, Charm, an Encore. These let it excel at its specialized role as a counterattack abuser, but said role is far less efficient than straight-up attaching.
Major Battles: Wobbuffet doesn't have any particularly strong match-ups during major battles due to its reliance on counterattacking.
Additional Comments: Don't use Wobbuffet. It is extremely inefficient and a resource sink due to its counterattack gimmick.

 

[Karxrida]

Colonel M Slakoth is still missing in the OP.

Regice

Regice
Availability: Late
Stats: Regice has an exceptionally high Special Defense stat, alongside good HP, Special Attack, and Defense. Its Attack and Speed stats are subpar, though it doesn't really need its Attack stat since its best moves are Special.
Typing: Ice provides a sole resistance to itself, which is useful for Glacia, but also saddles Regice with 4 weaknesses to Fire, Rock, Fighting, and Steel. Ice is very decent offensively for in-game, hitting many trainers for neutral damage while also hitting 4 types for super effective damage (Flying, Grass, Ground, and Dragon).
Movepool: Regice gets a number of interesting options between its level-up and TM movepools, though the only things of note are Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Focus Blast, Charge Beam, and Rock Polish. Ice Beam + an Electric move + Focus Blast provides extremely good coverage, though Focus Blast's low accuracy and PP need to be noted.
Major Battles: Regice's typing, stats, and movepool allow it to take on Wallace, Glacia, and Drake. While it struggles severely against Steven and his Rock- and Steel-types, its coverage moves and bulk prevent it from being completely worthless. Regice's match-ups against other important trainers are generally neutral.
Additional Comments: Regice comes far too late and requires too much backtracking to justify its marginal advantages over some of the final fights, especially since it has issues against Steven.

 

[sumwun]

I understand that egg moves and the exp. all make most Pokemon a lot better. However, instead of having the tiers range from not efficient to very efficient, you could have the tiers range from very efficient to almost ideal, so that the "too many Pokemon in high tiers" problem is lessened. I think that more accurately reflects each evolution family's in-game performance.

 

[Colonel M]

Colonel M Slakoth is still missing in the OP.

Regice

Regice
Availability: Late
Stats: Regice has an exceptionally high Special Defense stat, alongside good HP, Special Attack, and Defense. Its Attack and Speed stats are subpar, though it doesn't really need its Attack stat since its best moves are Special.
Typing: Ice provides a sole resistance to itself, which is useful for Glacia, but also saddles Regice with 4 weaknesses to Fire, Rock, Fighting, and Steel. Ice is very decent offensively for in-game, hitting many trainers for neutral damage while also hitting 4 types for super effective damage (Flying, Grass, Ground, and Dragon).
Movepool: Regice gets a number of interesting options between its level-up and TM movepools, though the only things of note are Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Focus Blast, Charge Beam, and Rock Polish. Ice Beam + an Electric move + Focus Blast provides extremely good coverage, though Focus Blast's low accuracy and PP need to be noted.
Major Battles: Regice's typing, stats, and movepool allow it to take on Wallace, Glacia, and Drake, but it also struggles severely against Steven and his Rock- and Steel-types. Its other match-ups against important trainers are generally neutral.
Additional Comments: Regice comes far too late and requires too much backtracking to justify its marginal advantages over some of the final fights, especially since it has issues against Steven.

F Tier.

Ill add it tomorrow. Probably can hang around D or C.

 

[Karxrida]

I understand that egg moves and the exp. all make most Pokemon a lot better. However, instead of having the tiers range from not efficient to very efficient, you could have the tiers range from very efficient to almost ideal, so that the "too many Pokemon in high tiers" problem is lessened. I think that more accurately reflects each evolution family's in-game performance.

By eggs moves I presume you mean moves you can get from DexNav.

We decided not to take DexNav into account for the most part because it is too random (usually) on top of being a time sink. EXP Share is similar in how we didn't account for it, plus it also cannot salvage certain things (e.g. Luvdisc) anyway. If you do use EXP Share, it also does not automatically break the game if you avoid optional field battles so you don't end up overleveled.

I don't believe there's a problem with having a lot of Pokémon in higher tiers. S only has 4, A has 15, and the rest of the ranks are have more than that. I also don't entirely get your reorganization suggestion, plus it's probably too late for that anyway.

 

[Magcargo]

Surskit

Surskit
Availability: Early
Stats: Surskit's stat spread is rather miserable at first glance, even after evolution. It is saddled with poor Defense, Speed, and Attack, while only having average Special Attack, Special Defense, and HP. However, upon evolution, Surskit gains Intimidate and eventually Quiver Dance, both of which improve its durability and offensive capabilities.
Typing: Surskit's typing before evolution is fairly decent. Though it has crippling weaknesses to Rock- and Electric-type moves, it also comes with nice resistances to Water- and Fighting-type moves, while also having a decent offensive STAB. After evolving, it loses its resistance to Water-type attacks, but gains a resistance to Grass- and Bug-type moves, which is nice in certain matchups.
Movepool: Before evolution, Surskit's movepool is terrible, relying on the weak Bubble and Struggle Bug to deal damage. However, its movepool after evolution is wide, with it learning a variety of powerful special moves like Shadow Ball, Bug Buzz, Air Slash, and Blizzard. It also has access to one of the best boosting moves in the game in Quiver Dance.
Major Battles: Surskit's performance in major battles is mostly poor, though it can contribute in most of them in some way or another. Against Wionna and Watson, it does terribly due to its typing. Roxanne and Flannery are fairly poor matchups for Surskit as well, though its access to Water-type moves means it isn't complete dead weight. Against Brawly and Norman, Surksit's performance is mostly average, while against Tate, Liza, and Wallace, Surskit actually performs pretty well. Surskit's performance against the Elite Four is mostly average; though it does well against Sidney, it does terribly against Glacia and Steven, and only performs semi-decently against Phoebe and Drake. Against team Aqua and Magma, Surskit's performance is mostly decent, though it must watch out for Zubat that grunts usually carry.
Additional Comments: If possible, try using the DexNav to obtain Surskit on the earlier routes. Its extremely low 1% encounter rate makes it a pain to catch otherwise.

 

[Karxrida]

I just c/p'd the Typing section from Luvdisc because I can't be bothered to rewrite a Water-type analysis again.

Clamperl

Clamperl (No trade)
Availability: Late
Stats: Clamperl has an overall bad stat spread, with no good stats besides an average Defense. Its below-average Special Attack can be salvaged if it holds a Deep Sea Tooth, which doubles the stat's value.
Typing: Water is a decent defensive typing. It leaves Clamperl with only two weaknesses to Grass and Electric while granting resistances to Water, Fire, Ice, and Steel. It also provides a good neutral STAB that synergizes well with Clamperl's ability to learn Ice attacks.
Movepool: Clamperl starts out with four moves (Clamp, Water Gun, Whirlpool, and Iron Defense) and gets exactly one level-up move (Shell Smash, at Level 50). Its TM movepool is nothing to write home about, getting Ice-type attacks that are the standard fare for Water-types and nothing else of note.
Major Battles: Clamperl provides no real contribution to any major battles.
Additional Comments: If you are dead set on using Clamperl, just hope you find one holding a Deep Sea Tooth or Deep Sea Scale and evolve it. Even with a Deep Sea Tooth boost and access to Shell Smash, its stats are too low to bother using.

 

[Magcargo]

Skarmory

Skarmory
Availability: Mid-game
Stats: Skarmory's stat spread is fairly decent. It has amazing Defense and decent Attack, Special Defense, and Speed. Its Special Attack and HP are low, however. Despite its Special Bulk being overall unimpressive, its good typing and Sturdy still allow it to take most Special Attacks reasonably well.
Typing: Skarmory's typing is amazing. While it has 2 crippling weaknesses to Fire and Electric, it resist many common types such as Normal, Ground, Poison, and Grass to compensate. Its STAB coverage isn't the best, but its passable for a majority of the game.
Movepool: Skarmory's movepool is decent enough, getting fairly powerful STAB moves in Steel Wing and Fly, recovery in Roost, boosting moves in Swords Dance and Hone Claws, and a sizable amount of coverage moves such as Shadow Claw and Rock Tomb. It also learns a decent number of HMs, namely Fly, Cut, and Rock Smash.
Major Battles: Skarmory's typing and high Defense allow it to do well in nearly every major battle in the game. It will struggle against Flannery and Wallace, but it does great against every other Gym leader. Against the Elite Four, Skarmory does great against Drake, Glacia, Sidney, and Steven, only struggling somewhat with Phoebe. Skarmory mostly obliterates Wally, though it will struggle against his Magneton and Gallade. Team Aqua and Team Magma's barrage of Poison-type Pokemon are easy for Skarmory to handle, but it will struggle against Numel.
Additional Comments: If you intend to use Skarmory, give it a boosting move like Swords Dance. It will go a long way in improving its otherwise meager damage output.

 

[Karxrida]

Magcargo I'd talk about Sturdy somewhere in Skarm's analysis. You also mentioned Defense twice in the stats section.

 

[Magcargo]

Magcargo I'd talk about Sturdy somewhere in Skarm's analysis. You also mentioned Defense twice in the stats section.

Fixed.

Absol

Absol
Availability: Late
Stats: Absol's stat spread is lopsided. It has amazing Attack, average Speed and Special Attack, and low HP, Defense, and Special Defense. Mega Evolution gives Absol a significant boost to its Attack, Special Attack, and Speed, making it a much more potent and versatile attacker.
Typing: Absol's Dark-typing grants it resistances to Dark-, Ghost-, and Psychic-type attacks, all of which are common in the later half of the game. Offensively, Dark has very few notable Pokemon resisting it and most Pokemon that do resist it will take a large amount of damage from Slash or Psycho Cut.
Movepool: Absol's movepool is wide. It gets access to a wide variety of powerful physical attacks such as Night Slash, Slash, and Psycho Cut, useful special moves such as Fire Blast, Blizzard, and Thunder, and an amazing boosting move in Swords Dance.
Major Battles: Absol performs well in the remaining battles. It does amazingly against Tate and Liza thanks to its typing and performs competently against Wallace. Absol can mostly sweep Wally, Sidney, Phoebe, and Glacia's teams if it has a Swords Dance boost, though it will struggle against Drake and Steven to some degree. Against Team Aqua and Team Magma, Absol does very well thanks to its Dark resistance and access to Psycho Cut, allowing it to easily destroy the Poison Pokemon present on a majority of grunts
Additional Comments: Try catching an Absol with Super Luck. When using a move with a high critical hit rate such as Night Slash, Absol will have an amazing 50% to increase its damage output. Additionally, make sure to get the Absolite from the Safari Zone. All that's needed to get it is that Acro Bike and the stat increases help Absol quite a bit in a lot of matchups, though Absol will perform decently enough without its Mega Stone.

 

[Karxrida]

Additional Comments: Try catching an Absol with Super Luck. When using a move with a high critical hit rate such as Night Slash, Absol will have an amazing 50% to increase its damage output. Additionally, try getting the Absolite in the Safari Zone, though Absol will do just fine without it.

I'd rewrite this part. iirc Absolite is literally just lying around and the Safari Zone is a super short detour, but the way you word it makes it sound like the Mega Stone is harder and/or more time-consuming to get than it is.

Regirock

Regirock
Availability: Late
Stats: Regirock sports an exceptionally high Defense stat with decent HP, Attack, and Special Defense. Its Special Attack and Speed are low, however.
Typing: Rock is a decent offensive type, as the types that resist it aren't very common in-game. On the other hand, it is also not very good defensively; Water-types are ubiquitous on the way to Victory Road and Rock's own resistances won't come up much in the late game.
Movepool: Regirock's movepool gives it some interesting options due to its ability to learn Electric-type attacks, but its low Special Attack prevents it from using any of them. It does get decent TM coverage in Brick Break, Earthquake, and Stone Edge, while also getting Rock Polish for a setup move to patch its bad Speed stat. If you don't mind the stat drops, Regirock also naturally learns Superpower and Hammer Arm if you need a Fighting move stronger than Brick Break, though Hammer Arm requires a visit to the Move Relearner.
Major Battles: Regirock should avoid Wallace at all costs, as it is weak to Water and has no real way of hitting back. It can take on Wally's Altaria with Rock moves and Magneton with Earthquake, but it should also avoid his Roselia and Galladde. Regirock's Elite Four match-ups are generally neutral, but it has a slight edge over Drake's Salamence. Against Steven it doesn't do much overall outside of Armaldo, which is weak to Rock.
Additional Comments: Regirock comes too late to justify grabbing it, especially since it is lacking in positive match-ups for the final fights.

 

[SaberSeven]

Okay so I am going to break down each and every individual Pokemon in S / A atm. Maybe some in B.

Meditite - Meditite is the last one. I left this one last because I haven't thoroughly tested Meditite and I'm not sure if anyone really has.

- It has access to Elemental punches via Move Tutor. These help Medicham in a couple situations (Claydol, Froslass, Salamence).
- Meditite learns HJK when it is captured (>28).
- Zen Headbutt is also accessed via Move Tutor to help Medicham bypass some obstacles (Poison-types in particular).
- Mega Evolution is very drool-worthy.

On paper, Meditite sounds really close to S. Though frail Meditite and (Mega) Medicham hit really damn hard and STAB HJK should score a lot of OHKOes. Mega Medicham easily cruises through Sydney and some of Steven while having options to go around Glacia and Drake. The practice, more or less, is never using it. It's really late though too.

For now, I rule it A based on theorymon. If anyone has used Meditite please speak up. Using Medicham near the E4 doesn't count either.

I just completed a run using Meditite and it runs through the portion of the game that you get it like a truck as expected. You get it after you beat Winona at Mt. Pyre which is pretty late in the game, but after a little bit of babying up, it becomes one of the most reliable wallbreakers on your team. The Mega Stone it gets about immediately when you get it is a BIG bonus too augmenting its attacking prowess. And as stated, move tutor access to the elemental punches + Zen Headbutt are also a boon for our fighting friend. Here's a runthrough of some of the major battles that Meditite gets featured in.

May/Brendan: Appropriate coverage move runs through their team. Swampert may be iffy with HJK
Magma/Aqua Hideout: punch or headbutt the Golbats, kick the field to kingdom come
Tate & Liza: Rock type neuters the Psychic typing resistance to fighting so HJK either OHKOs or comes very close.
Maxie/Archie: HJK Mightyena, Zen Headbutt Muk & Golbat if applicable. HJK Camerupt/Sharpedo
Wallace: Thunder Punch everything
Wally: You OHKO everything bar the Mega Gallade (which comes close) with the right coverage move, but the Magneton has Sturdy so keep an eye out for that.
Sidney: High Jump Kick
Phoebe: Don't bother with this one
Glacia: High Jump Kick everything but the Froslasses. If you have Fire Punch, hit them with that.
Drake: Ice Punch everything but the Kingdra. From the Medicham I was running, I came thisclose to an OHKO with HJK, but I was Lax. Adamant may do the job though.
Steven: Kicked everything to kingdom come, but the Mega Metagross who took the hit with about 40-50% health remaining and OHKO'd me with Giga Impact (Flygon to the rescue though)
May/Brendan (Final): Appropriate coverage move mows through their team.

At the end of the day, here's my verdict with Meditite

+ Access to elemental punches upon evolution
+ Immediate access to Medichamite
+ Pure Power makes it a NUKE
+ Immediate access to High Jump Kick
+ Has a solid matchup vs almost every major battle it has ahead of it.

- Somewhat frail
- HJK recoil can be catastrophic
- Arrives a little late in the game
- Will require a little bit of grinding to catch up to your team.

Overall, Meditite has a case for S, but would be fine in A.

 

[Hugin]

I’m about to start a grass-only run of Omega Ruby. Are there any grass types that people still have questions on? Otherwise, I’ll just stick to whatever catches my eye.

 

[Author_Pendragon]

Seedot?