C-Rank
Name: Chinchou
Availability: Chinchou can appear underwater on Routes 124 and 126 with a 30% chance at levels 20 to 30.
Stats: Aside from its amazing HP, Chinchou has unimpressive stats. Its Defense and Speed in particular are slightly below average.
Typing: The combination of Water and Electric hits 5 different types for super effective damage, most notably the Water-types infesting the stage of the game Chinchou is obtained in and is resisted by Grass- and Dragon-types. Defensively, the weakness to Ground is annoying for most endgame battles, but Lanturn's 5 resistances are generally effective.
Movepool: If caught at level 25 or higher, Chinchou starts with Spark and can be immediately taught Surf. Stronger Electric-type STAB attacks—Thunderbolt and Thunder—are only available via TMs. Its only noteworthy coverage option is Ice Beam, but Lanturn makes a great use of it, as it provides perfect neutral coverage alongside its STAB moves. Confuse Ray and Thunder Wave are optional level-up moves that are able to disrupt foes.
Major Battles: Lanturn provides valuable help against the Water-type Gym Leader and the whole Elite Four, usually defeating certain targets or outright sweeping the whole team with some item support. Despite having a type advantage over both Champions, Lanturn can struggle against both due to its average Special Attack and their access to Ground- and Grass-type coverage.
Additional Comments: It is highly recommended to catch Chinchou at level 26 or higher to evolve it immediately. While Chinchou joins at a level that will generally put it behind existing team members, it is able to easily feed on the many Water-type trainers in the endgame.
Name: Doduo
Availability: Doduo can be found in Area 3 to the northwest in the Safari Zone, which requires a Mach Bike, with a 15% chance at levels 27 to 29, and Dodrio can be found with a 5% chance at level 29 or 31. Doduo can also be found in other parts of the Safari Zone at a 10% chance at level 25 or 27 without needing a Mach Bike.
Stats: Dodrio has high Attack and Speed but low bulk.
Typing: A Normal / Flying typing frankly does not offer good advantages at this point in the game, especially when its weaknesses become more common.
Movepool: Tri Attack is the main Normal-type STAB move of choice, since Dodrio is unlikely to build Return to maximum power or even outdamage Tri Attack without substantial investment or sidetracking. Fly is Doduo's chosen Flying-type STAB attack, while Hyper Beam is recommended to let Dodrio capitalize on its power and potentially minimize its bulk issues by KOing foes when it otherwise might have taken damage instead. Steel Wing is the only coverage option of note Doduo has access to. Nothing else is worth running, though Taunt can be useful to shut down some foes like Emerald Phoebe's lead Dusclops.
Major Battles: Dodrio is a good route cleaner, but its main role in fights is primarily to weaken neutral targets with Tri Attack into Hyper Beam's KO range. If it cannot accomplish this against certain foes before it gets KOed itself, consider them bad matchups for Dodrio. This is to say that Dodrio has middling success against some or most of Winona's, Sidney's, Wallace's or Juan's, and Drake's teams, but it is likely going to be outmatched against Tate & Liza, Phoebe, Glacia, and the Champion.
Additional Comments: Drill Peck is the best Flying-type move available in the game, which Doduo can learn at level 37 compared to Dodrio's significantly later level 47. However, Drill Peck doesn't offer much over Tri Attack and Fly in the long run to warrant being stuck as a Doduo for at least 6 levels longer than usual, so don't be tempted by this. It is also recommended to reach Lilycove City after catching Doduo / Dodrio if you intend to use it to fight Winona so that you can cut back on further backtracking by simply flying to Lilycove City.
Name: Geodude (Trade)
Availability: Geodude can be found on the first floor of Granite Cave with a 10% chance at levels 6 to 9.
Stats: Very high Defense, excellent Attack, and bad Speed and Special Defense.
Typing: Geodude's typing is fantastic offensively, providing perfect neutral coverage and super effective STAB attack against a significant portion of the early- and mid-game battles. Defensively, a Rock / Ground typing is solid until the player hits Lilycove City, and then, it is pretty bad for the tail end of the game.
Movepool: Geodude gets access to really good early STAB moves in Magnitude and Rock Throw, which upgrade to Rock Blast and Earthquake much later on via level up. Strength is a fairly reliable option to avoid Magnitude's variable power, and Selfdestruct or Explosion in the endgame are effective at forcing a mutual KO, but for the most part, Golem can just use its STAB moves.
Major Battles: Geodude struggles with Brawly, but it is amazing against Wattson, Flannery, Norman, and Winona. After getting past Lilycove, Golem falls off heavily with average-to-bad matchups against the last two Gyms and most of the Pokémon League due to its poor Speed and Special Defense holding it back.
Additional Comments: Geodude is able to quickly gain levels early-game due to strong STAB moves and many advantageous matchups, but it struggles against route trainers once the player hits the water routes in the endgame, which can lead to it falling behind in level without specifically correcting for it.
Name: Gulpin
Availability: Gulpin can be found in Route 110 with a 15% chance at levels 12 to 13.
Stats: Good HP and defenses but average power and mediocre Speed.
Typing: A Poison typing is nice for a good matchup against Brawly's team, but its usefulness wanes as the game progresses as Psychic- and Ground-type attacks become more common.
Movepool: STAB Sludge at level 14 as Gulpin and Body Slam at level 26 as Swalot are fairly powerful attacking options at their respective points in the game and make up for Gulpin's and Swalot's low base Attack stats. Bullet Seed and Shock Wave can be used as momentary coverage options until you get the Ice Beam and Sludge Bomb TMs for Swalot's main coverage option and STAB attack. It has rare utility moves such as Yawn, Amnesia, Encore, and even Toxic by level up, which it needs at least one of to fully make use of its potential, with Yawn generally being the most useful.
Major Battles: Swalot's performance in important fights is significantly dependent on its movepool. Gulpin isn't going to fare well against Wattson's Steel-types, though Amnesia and poison could potentially allow it to take on Manectric. Yawn and Encore can disrupt Norman's Slaking, though Swalot is unlikely to beat the entire team on its own. Ice Beam lets Swalot contribute against Winona and Drake, though it must be wary of Earthquakes. Amnesia is key in allowing Swalot to sweep Flannery's and Glacia's teams by setting up on the right target, such as Slugma and level 50 Glalie, with Yawn, Toxic, or Encore making the fight even easier, though beware of Magnitude from Emerald Flannery's Numel. Amnesia Swalot can handle Champion Wallace's Tentacruel as well as Ludicolo—especially if Swalot has Liquid Ooze—and Amnesia + Toxic even gives Swalot the potential to take on Wallace's Milotic. Swalot will be a liability against Tate & Liza, but otherwise, it can at least contribute to most fights with Yawn.
Name: Lunatone
Availability: Lunatone can be found in Meteor Falls in Sapphire with a 20% chance at levels 14 to 18.
Stats: Lunatone has excellent Special Attack, workable bulk, and average Speed. Bad Attack holds it back from utilizing its decent physical options.
Typing: Rock is a useful defensive typing for the battles immediately after Lunatone can be caught, but it provides additional issues for itself towards the end of the game where Psychic-types also struggle, compounding its defensive woes. Offensively, Rock provides little to Lunatone due to poor Attack and fairly weak STAB attacks, but Psychic is a solid neutral attacking option for most of the game.
Movepool: Lunatone's level-up movepool is good, with solid early-game options in Confusion and Rock Throw and an early Hypnosis easing major fights. Lunatone also learns Psychic by level up rather than demanding purchase of an expensive TM. The Ice Beam TM provides useful coverage for Lunatone, and it's capable of utilizing Shadow Ball to hit specific targets like Tate & Liza super effectively despite its Attack stat. Calm Mind allows Lunatone to attempt sweeps in the endgame, though its type matchup can make this somewhat tricky without item support.
Major Battles: Lunatone has favorable type matchups against Flannery, Norman, and Winona, and it can provide solid damage against Tate & Liza with Shadow Ball and Ice Beam. The Water Gym and most of the Pokémon League are difficult for Lunatone, with only Drake being a good matchup if Lunatone is given Ice Beam.
Name: Numel
Availability: Numel can be found on Route 112 with a 75% chance from at levels 14 to 16.
Stats: Numel has very bad Speed and mediocre defenses but decent attacking stats that become good after it evolves. The Speed and bulk issues mean it needs item support to fight multiple Pokémon in a single battle, however.
Typing: Offensively, a Fire / Ground typing is very good, letting Numel hit most Pokémon with just its STAB moves, but defensively, it's a hinderance. This issue becomes prominent in the endgame, where Water- and Ground-type attacks become fairly common.
Movepool: Camerupt has a fantastic level-up movepool with good early STAB moves in Magnitude and Ember, which later upgrade to Rock Slide and Earthquake. The Flamethrower, Fire Blast, and Overheat TMs provide a needed power boost over Ember, as the late Eruption can be difficult to use considering Camerupt's horrible Speed. Strength is a decent coverage option, and Amnesia can allow Camerupt to set up against special attackers in rare cases. Note that Numel choosing to wait to evolve until level 35 to get a slightly earlier Earthquake means that it will have to get Rock Slide from the move reminder, while evolving immediately at 33 will not cost a Heart Scale.
Major Battles: Numel matches up well against Flannery, only fearing her Emerald Numel lead. Norman and Winona are difficult until Numel evolves for Rock Slide and a significant power spike. Tate & Liza are tough due to their aces resisting both of Camerupt's STAB types and generally being able to outmuscle it. The Water Gym is horrific for Camerupt, and the Pokémon League is generally difficult for it to do well in due to its low Speed and middling bulk, though it can usually take out a Pokémon or two from each member bar Wallace.
Additional Comments: If a Numel with particularly high Speed can be obtained via good IVs, a boosting nature, and some EV assistance, then it's able to leverage its offensive power much more effectively, since it no longer needs to take constant attacks. The necessary investment in finding a good Numel and giving it much-needed EVs is not insignificant, however.
Name: Pikachu
Availability: Pikachu can be found in the southern areas of the Safari Zone with a 15% chance at level 25 or 27.
Stats: Pikachu has high Speed but lackluster stats everywhere else. Offenses improve upon evolution or equipping the Light Ball item, though it is very rare.
Typing: An Electric typing has great use against Winona, the upcoming water routes, and Water-type trainers such as Juan, Wallace, and Glacia.
Movepool: A level 25 Pikachu comes with Thunder Wave and learns Thunderbolt in 1 level, whereas a level 27 Pikachu already comes with Thunderbolt but needs to be taught Thunder Wave at the move reminder, so take your pick on which is more valuable for you. As an Electric-type, Pikachu's movepool is pretty sparse, but it does get Brick Break and Light Screen to improve its coverage and utility. Because Pikachu doesn't need anything from its level-up movepool that can't be taught by TM, it is advised to evolve it immediately after learning Thunderbolt.
Major Battles: A quick backtrack lets Raichu grind for experience against Winona's Gym and take out everything except for Winona's Altaria. Raichu can fry most of the Water-types of Juan, Wallace, and Glacia and use Light Screen to help buffer hits better. Thunder Wave can help to neuter Drake's Salamence, while Brick Break has some mild use against Glacia's Light Screen Glalie as well as Sidney in general.
Additional Comments: While Pikachu does not need the Thunderbolt TM, it is still necessary to travel through New Mauville to acquire the Thunderstone, unless you're lucky enough to catch a Pikachu holding a Light Ball, though it is only a 5% chance. One can also manipulate Pikachu's nature with the Pokéblock feeder, with dry Pokéblocks in particular increasing the likelihood of Special Attack-boosting natures.
Name: Psyduck
Availability: Psyduck can be found by surfing in the Safari Zone with a 95-100% chance at levels 20 to 35. Golduck can be found by surfing in Area 3 with a 5% chance at levels 25 to 40.
Stats: Golduck's decently high Special Attack, good Speed, and sufficient bulk leave no gaping issues aside from a slight lack of initial power.
Typing: A pure Water typing has no major problems with the endgame and no significant defensive issues. The large number of Water-type foes in late-game routes can be annoying though, as Golduck's STAB moves will generally be resisted.
Movepool: Psyduck's level-up movepool is pretty barren, with only access to the weak Confusion providing any sort of unique coverage. TMs and HMs give access to a limited but incredibly functional pool of Surf, Ice Beam, and eventually Calm Mind to let Golduck act as a strong setup sweeper for late battles. The lack of a way to hit Water-types for good neutral damage is frustrating though. Golduck is also a master of HM usage, being able to learn every HM outside of Cut and Fly, making it a strong utility option.
Major Battles: A high enough leveled Psyduck that immediately evolves into Golduck can take down Winona if given the Ice Beam TM. Tate & Liza are good matchups for Golduck due to the secondary typings of their Pokémon. It has no advantage in the Water Gym aside from resisting Water-type moves, but it is capable of sweeping with enough Calm Mind boosts and item support. The Elite Four and Champion are also fairly solid matchups for Golduck, as it can set up with Calm Mind and sweep most of them, though any Water-type can take time to muscle through.
Additional Comments: Psyduck has pretty bad stats, so it's strongly recommended to utilize Repels to catch one that can evolve immediately.
Name: Skarmory
Availability: Skarmory can be found on Route 113 with a 5% chance at level 16.
Stats: Skarmory has incredibly high Defense, which lets it take most physical attacks without trouble. The rest of its stats are fairly average, though its special bulk starts to fall off towards the end of the game.
Typing: Steel / Flying is weak to only the special Fire- and Electric-types, letting Skarmory not have to worry about strong super effective physical attacks that could break through its physical bulk. Steel is a strong defensive typing in general for Hoenn, though offensively, both Steel and Flying are held back by low Baser Power on their moves.
Movepool: Skarmory's movepool is not great. Air Cutter is a functional STAB move until it's replaced by Fly or Aerial Ace, but Steel Wing isn't learned until level 32 unless the TM is used, and otherwise, Skarmory is stuck with Secret Power as its only viable attacking move. Its bulk makes it a viable user of Toxic, but this is by nature a very slow and often Potion-heavy strategy. Rock Smash, Fly, and Cut are fairly useful utility options.
Major Battles: Skarmory is useless against Flannery. Norman, Winona, and Tate & Liza generally lose to Skarmory due to its resistances and bulk letting it chip away at their teams. TheWater Gym isn't favorable, on the other hand, due to Skarmory's low damage output and weaker special bulk. The Pokémon League is decent for Skarmory on the whole even if it's slow, since it resists all of their STAB types bar Wallace, though it needs to be aware of coverage moves. Skarmory in general will take a lot of time to win fights due to low offensive power, and it can be a bit of a potion hog due to how many hits it'll take.
Name: Solrock
Availability: Solrock can be found on the first floor of Meteor Falls with a 20% chance at levels 14 to 18 in Ruby and Emerald.
Stats: None of Solrock's stats are particularly incredible or unusably bad. Its Attack is pretty good, while its Special Attack is low, though it tends to be outpaced in the endgame.
Typing: The combination of Rock and Psychic hits 6 different types for super effective damage and is only resisted by Steel-types and the Baltoy line. Solrock has many weaknesses but only the Water, Dark, and Ghost ones are particularly dangerous. Resistances to Flying, Fire, Normal, and Psychic and a Ground immunity due to Levitate are helpful against multiple major battles.
Movepool: Solrock starts with Confusion and Rock Throw, both of which eventually get replaced by Psychic from the Game Corner and Rock Slide at level 37. Solrock has access to convenient physical coverage in the form of Shadow Ball and Earthquake. On the special side, it is able to learn Calm Mind, Solarbeam, and Fire-type coverage; however, its low Special Attack makes those moves weak until it sets up multiple Calm Mind boosts. At level 31, Solrock gets Cosmic Power, (comma) which can increase its tanking potential, though this is fairly slow and item heavy.
Major Battles: Immediately after capture, Solrock has a series of favorable matchups against the closest Gym Leaders. It reliably beats Flannery and Winona; however, Norman's Dark-type coverage can be troublesome. In the endgame, Solrock provides good support against Tate & Liza with Rock Slide as well as Shadow Ball, but it's useless against Juan or Wallace. In the Pokémon League, it is simply deadweight against every foe without heavy setup.
Name: Spoink
Availability: Spoink can be found in Jagged Pass with a 20% chance at levels 20 to 22.
Stats: Spoink is only strong enough to defeat a few regular trainers until it evolves. Grumpig's high special stats and good Speed make it an effective tank in many major battles as long as you watch out for physical attacks.
Typing: Psychic is not an outstanding offensive typing, as the remaining major battles have foes that resist Psychic more often than they are weak to it. Defensively, Psychic-types struggle with several endgame foes due to Dark- and Ghost-type moves.
Movepool: Spoink comes with Psybeam and can immediately learn Shock Wave. Grumpig learns no stronger coverage move than Shock Wave and consequently has trouble with Psychic-resistant foes. Spoink learns Psychic at level 34 as opposed to Grumpig's 37, so it can be worth waiting a couple extra levels to evolve. Grumpig can learn Calm Mind via TM, which lets it set up on most special attacking foes and sweep.
Major battles: The unevolved Spoink can beat some of Flannery's team one-on-one and is mostly deadweight against Norman. Once evolved, Grumpig can use Psychic and Shock Wave to brawl on even footing with Winona. Grumpig is not helpful against Tate & Liza unless you teach it Shadow Ball, which Grumpig does not otherwise use to any great effect due to abysmal Attack. Calm Mind lets it sweep the last Gym and Glacia's Pokémon—except Explosion Glalie—but Grumpig's typing makes it worse against Sidney, Phoebe, and Steven. Grumpig can beat several of Drake's and Wallace's Pokémon one-on-one and has the ability to set up on them with item support.
Additional comments: A female Spoink with Thick Fat will have a much easier time setting up against both last Gym and Glacia's Pokémon.
Name: Treecko
Availability: Treecko is obtained at level 5 as one of the potential starters received on Route 101 at the beginning of the game.
Stats: The Treecko family has strong Special Attack and can outspeed nearly everything. Their physical Attack is generally below average, and their defenses are mediocre.
Typing: The Grass typing starts good, but it gradually gets worse as opponents use more Fire- and Steel-type Pokémon. Past Lilycove City, the Grass typing is good offensively but struggles defensively against major battles, as both Water-type Pokémon and Ice-type attacks become much more common.
Movepool: Treecko's movepool is its biggest downside. Until you get the third badge and the Strength HM, its strongest attack is Bullet Seed, and Sceptile never learns anything more immediately powerful than Leaf Blade. The Treecko family can learn Rock Tomb, Dig, Strength, Brick Break, or Dragon Claw to cover various Grass-resistant foes.
Major Battles: Treecko can usually solo Roxanne just by spamming Bullet Seed, but Brawly, Wattson, Flannery, and Winona are all difficult matchups. Sceptile gets better against the last two Gyms' Grass-weak Pokémon. Its matchups against Norman, Sidney, and Drake strongly depend on knowing Dig, Brick Break, and Dragon Claw, respectively, but Sceptile will generally not sweep any of them without significant support from items.
Name: Tropius
Availability: Tropius can be found on Route 119 with a 9% chance at levels 27 to 29.
Stats: Low offensive stats and Speed mean Tropius has difficulty sweeping, slows down the game, and uses a lot of potions.
Typing: Tropius's weakness mainly to Ice but also Fire and Flying becomes increasingly prominent near the end of the game. However, it's often useful against Water-type foes without Ice-type coverage.
Movepool: Tropius is one of only two unevolved Pokémon that learn Rock Smash, Fly, and Strength. Combined with its good availability for using all three—of which only Rock Smash was needed before Tropius is available—and pairing with the many Water-types that can learn the remaining mandatory HMs Surf, Waterfall, and Dive, this makes Tropius one of the best HM users in the game. It can also learn Cut, Flash, and Sweet Scent if you want. If using Tropius in battle, then its main STAB attack is still Fly, though Razor Leaf and Magical Leaf or a combination of Solarbeam and Sunny Day can let it combat late-game Water-types.
Major Battles: Tropius can beat several of Tate & Liza's and Sidney's Pokémon one-on-one and can help against the last Gym, but it struggles to contribute much else in battles. Tropius is generally unable to contribute offensively against most of the Pokémon League without significant investment.
Name: Voltorb
Availability: Voltorb can be found in New Mauville with a 50% chance at levels 22 to 26 or from static encounters at level 25.
Stats: Voltorb has excessively high Speed and in return has average Special Attack, subpar bulk, and terrible Attack. There are very few Pokémon that have any chance of outspeeding Voltorb, but its power output means it'll probably take hits anyways.
Typing: An Electric typing is fairly good for the second half of Hoenn due to the large number of Flying- and Water-types in both the route trainers' teams and major fights, and there isn't a huge number of Ground-types to worry about.
Movepool: Like most Electric-types in Hoenn, Voltorb has a very narrow movepool. Coming with Spark is fine, and Voltorb can be taught Thunderbolt via TM pretty much immediately after being caught for a good STAB option, but the movepool outside of that is incredibly barren. Selfdestruct and later Explosion are really the only other options worth considering, since their raw power makes up for Electrode's low Attack to be able to snag otherwise impossible neutral KOs.
Major Battles: It makes quick work of Winona and the Water gym and is decent against Tate & Liza as well, aside from being vulnerable to Emerald's Claydol. The Pokémon League is generally fine for Electrode, and while it won't usually sweep due to its lacking Special Attack, it can pick up a KO or two against most members besides Drake.
Additional Comments: Electrode is technically obtainable directly in the basement of New Mauville, but a 1% chance to encounter it means that it's generally a worse time investment compared to spending a half dozen levels as Voltorb.
Name: Zigzagoon (E)
Availability: Zigzagoon can be found on Route 101 with a 10% chance at level 2 or 3.
Stats: Zigzagoon has high Speed and not much else of note. Once it evolves into Linoone, it wields a passable Attack stat relative to its acquisition and even higher Speed, but Linoone's damage will eventually lag behind as the game progresses.
Typing: A pure Normal typing doesn't provide much offensively or defensively outside of decent STAB attacks, but it also doesn't come with many drawbacks due to having only one weakness to somewhat uncommon Fighting-type attacks.
Movepool: Zigzagoon obtains a very strong STAB option in Headbutt at level 7, allowing it to do good damage immediately despite its unimpressive Attack stat. It doesn't get much else of note naturally outside of Belly Drum; while this might allow sweeps as Linoone, this option comes very late. Zigzagoon and Linoone may also be taught a large number of TMs for better coverage, with Linoone also being capable of learning 4 of the game's 8 HMs.
Major Battles: Zigzagoon has no outright good matchups during important fights, especially in the early parts of the game. It is walled by Roxanne's team, gets easily KOed by Brawly's Fighting-types, and struggles against Wattson's team, which has two Steel-types that are also impenetrable. While bad matchups are less common after Wattson, Linoone's inability to deal damage as the game goes on makes it a terrible pick in the vast majority of situations. It can still contribute to the last legs of the game if Belly Drum is used, but the move is still learned incredibly late and does not help against the final battle against Steven's Rock- and Steel-types. Zigzagoon is probably best utilized as an early-game route cleaner when Headbutt is still doing high damage.
Additional Comments: Emerald Zigzagoon's battle performance is largely identical to that of Ruby and Sapphire, and it is ranked lower due to the severe nerfs applied to Pickup. However, it still might be worth consideration, since Pickup remains moderately useful despite the nerfs.
Name: Zubat
Availability: Zubat can be found in B2F of Granite Cave with a 30% chance at levels 10 and 11 or at a lower level on higher floors.
Stats: Zubat has Amazing Speed, good Attack, and respectable bulk after evolution.
Typing: Zubat's typing grants many 4x resistances, which helps early-game, but weaknesses to Psychic, Ice, and Rock become more pronounced towards the endgame.
Movepool: Due to Zubat's incredibly weak level-up moves early on, the Steel Wing TM is needed to let it competently fight on its own until it learns Wing Attack at level 21, while the Sludge Bomb TM is mandatory to achieve maximum damage output in mid- to late-game sections. All other moves it learns are helpful but not necessary. Note that even with Steel Wing, Zubat struggles against Rock-types, and Crobat is incapable of beating almost any Steel-type.
Major Battles: Zubat can take on Brawly—albeit very slowly—due to its 4x resistance to Fighting and does decently at route sweeping, but it otherwise has average-to-terrible matchups against all other major battles, usually faltering against their ace Pokémon, especially those that are resistant or immune to Sludge Bomb. Crobat's role tends to be relegated to tossing out fast and strong attacks that can beat weaker trainers, KOing one or two of the major battle trainer's Pokémon, or potentially annoying tough foes with its fast Confuse Ray.
Additional Comments: Zubat is also available at Meteor Falls up to a more manageable level 20, skipping most of the early-game grind, but the drawback is being stuck with the mediocre Golbat stage for longer due to lacking friendship gains.
D-Rank
Name: Aron
Availability: Aron can be found in Granite Cave with a 40% chance at levels 10 to 12.
Summary: Aron has high Defense and Attack stats and good mid-game matchups, but low Speed, a Water weakness, and a late evolution hold it back.
Name: Baltoy
Availability: Baltoy can be found on Route 111 with a 24% chance at levels 19 to 21.
Summary: Baltoy has good bulk, but a poor late-game typing and somewhat low power prevent it from clearing battles quickly.
Name: Oddish (Bellossom)
Availability: Oddish can be found on Route 110 with a 10% at level 13.
Summary: Bellossom has access to solid bulk, decent power, and strong utility moves like Sleep Powder, but poor coverage and a bad start hold it back. The Sun Stone isn't available until Mossdeep City unless stolen at low odds from a wild Solrock in Ruby or Emerald.
Name: Corphish
Availability: Corphish can be found on Route 117 using the Good Rod with a 20% chance at levels 10 to 30.
Summary: Great Attack but no STAB boost for those moves, leaving Corphish with only its good Special Attack to use with Surf. Low Speed and lacking bulk are problems when it's acting like most standard Water-types.
Name: Geodude (No Trade)
Availability: Geodude can be found in Granite Cave with a 10% chance at levels 6 to 9.
Summary: Fantastic in early- to mid-game sections, but Geodude falls off horribly after Winona and never recovers.
Name: Girafarig
Availability: Girafarig can be found in Area 1 and Area 2 of the Safari Zone with a 20% chance at levels 25 and 27.
Summary: Very average stats. Girafarig has no exceptional matchups, but it is a decent Calm Mind sweeper in the endgame with physical Normal-type coverage.
Name: Grimer
Availability: Grimer can be found in Fiery Path with a 2% chance at level 14 in Emerald and Ruby. In Sapphire, it can be found with a 25% chance at levels 15 and 16.
Summary: Good Attack and very solid bulk especially after evolution, but Grimer has very poor Speed. Raw STAB-boosted power and effective special coverage let it brawl effectively in neutral matchups, but the late evolution level drags it down.
Name: Koffing
Availability: Koffing can be found in Fiery Path with a 25% chance at levels 15 and 16 in Emerald and Ruby. In Sapphire, it can be found with a 2% chance at level 14.
Summary: Solid mixed coverage via TMs and high Defense, but Koffing has otherwise average stats. No exceptional matchups and falls off hard in mid-game sections until it evolves.
Name: Lotad
Availability: Lotad can be found on Route 102 with a 20% chance at levels 3 and 4.
Summary: Lotad has a horrible movepool and stats until after getting the Surf HM and fully evolving after the 7th gym. The typing is great and works very well in the endgame, but the journey there is bad.
Name: Machop (No Trade)
Availability: Machop can be found in Fiery Path with a 15% chance at levels 15 and 16.
Summary: Good in mid-game sections, but Machoke can't quite leverage itself in the endgame due to the stats not being high enough to make use of its decent movepool.
Name: Poochyena
Availability: Poochyena can be found on Route 101 with a 45% chance at levels 2 to 3 in Emerald or a 10% chance in Ruby and Sapphire.
Summary: Poochyena has bad stats once you reach mid-game sections, and its movepool doesn't do it any favors, though Intimidate helps. Incredibly early availability lets it use a level and EV advantage to try and make up for it though.
Name: Seviper
Availability: Seviper can be found on Route 114 with a 9% chance in Emerald at levels 15 and 17. In Sapphire, it can be found with a 19% chance at levels 17 to 19.
Summary: Good offensive stats and movepool, but Seviper is held back by below average Speed and bulk.
Name: Shuppet
Availability: Shuppet can be found on Route 121 with a 30% chance in Emerald and Sapphire at levels 26 and 28. In Ruby, it can be found inside of Mt. Pyre with a 10% chance at levels 25 to 29.
Summary: A one trick pony of hitting hard with Shadow Ball, but Shuppet can branch out a bit with special coverage. Low bulk hinders its neutral matchups.
Name: Spheal
Availability: Spheal can be found in Shoal Cave with a 50% chance at levels 26 to 32.
Summary: Late evolution, but Spheal can hit fairly hard with its STAB attacks once it gets there. Arrives too late and needs even more time for its evolution to really carry a team.
Name: Swablu
Availability: Swablu can be found on Route 114 with a 40% chance at levels 15 to 17.
Summary: Relies on Secret Power until it finally evolves. Swablu evolves somewhat late and only really becomes a setup sweeper at level 40. Solid coverage via TMs but only after it evolves.
Name: Torkoal
Availability: Torkoal can be found in Fiery Path with an 18% chance at levels 14 to 16.
Summary: Workable movepool and offenses and incredible Defense, but Torkoal is held back by terrible Speed and a mediocre typing for Hoenn.
Name: Trapinch
Availability: Trapinch can be found in the desert part of Route 111 with a 35% chance at levels 19 to 21.
Summary: Relies on Dig until it evolves to Flygon, and Trapinch is still pretty bad in the Vibrava stage. The Flygon evolution is incredibly late, and while Flygon is solid for the endgame, it's a struggle to get there.
Name: Wailmer
Availability: Wailmer can be found on Route 110 using the Good Rod with a 20% chance at levels 10 to 30.
Summary: Wailmer is an incredibly average Water-type, though the late evolution level and very slow Speed are a bit of a pain.
E-Rank
Name: Cacnea
Availability: Cacnea can be found in the desert section on Route 111 with a 6% chance in Emerald at levels 20 and 22 or a 20% chance in Ruby and Sapphire at levels 19 to 21.
Summary: Cacnea has good offensive stats, but low weak moves hold it back from carrying through. Subpar Speed and defenses hold it back further from doing much unless with type advantage.
Name: Castform
Availability: Castform is given to the player at level 25 in the Weather Institute.
Summary: Castform has slightly low stats and needs at least two turns to have any effective offense. Provides some team weather support if desired and is free at least.
Name: Clamperl (Gorebyss)
Availability: Clamperl can be found underwater in seaweed on Route 124 or 126 with a 65% chance at levels 20 to 35.
Summary: Gorebyss is pretty powerful but a somewhat basic Water-type attacker. Main issue is coming so late and needing to complete a time-consuming side quest for the evolution item.
Name: Duskull
Availability: Duskull can be found inside Mt. Pyre with a 100% chance at levels 22 to 29 in Ruby or on the summit with a 13% chance at levels 26 to 30 in Sapphire and Emerald.
Summary: Duskull is incredibly passive, but it not totally helpless thanks to Shadow Ball. High Defense and Special Defense, but low HP means its bulk isn't actually unbreakable.
Name: Kecleon
Availability: Kecleon can be found as a stationary encounter on Route 120 at level 30.
Summary: Kecleon is uninspiring due to low Speed, though it makes a decent attacker. Tragically, it can't fully utilize its great special TM options due to low Special Attack, and Color Change means it sometimes doesn't have a usable STAB.
Name: Lileep
Availability: Lileep can be restored from the Root Fossil at Devon Corporation in Rustboro City at level 20.
Summary: Lileep evolves incredibly late and levels up slowly due to how passive it is. Has functional offenses after it evolves, but this is late, and it won't win any battles particularly fast.
Name: Mawile (R)
Availability: Mawile can be found in Granite Cave with a 20% chance on B2F at levels 10 to 12 in Ruby.
Summary: Mawile's stats are good for when it's obtained, but it falls off around mid-game sections. Intimidate is basically its only relevance, aside from Mawile using its Steel typing to absorb a couple hits and do a bit of chip damage.
Name: Minun
Availability: Minun can be found on Route 110 with a 15% chance at level 13 in Emerald and Ruby. In Sapphire, its encounter rate is 2% at levels 12 and 13.
Summary: Minun is a standard Hoenn Electric-type with no coverage. Stats besides Speed fail to hold up well in the endgame, but Minun has some interesting support tools in Encore and Charm.
Name: Natu
Availability: Natu can be found in Area 4 of the Safari Zone, which requires the Acro Bike, with a 15% chance at levels 27 and 29, and Xatu can be caught with a 5% chance at levels 29 and 31. Natu can also be caught at lower levels elsewhere in the Safari Zone without the Acro Bike.
Summary: Natu is a basic Psychic-type attacker with good Speed. Poor movepool that eats through TMs, but Xatu is functional enough for the endgame if needed.
Name: Nincada (Ninjask)
Availability: Nincada can be found on Route 116 with a 20% chance at levels 6 and 7.
Summary: Nincada evolves slowly, outspeeds everything, and does not deal much damage at all. Swords Dance helps Ninjask a bit, but it's too frail to set up much. Baton Pass is a funny choice for the endgame though.
Name: Nincada (Shedinja)
Availability: Nincada can be found on Route 116 with a 20% chance at levels 6 and 7. Shedinja requires a Poké Ball in the bag and an empty party slot when Nincada evolves into Ninjask.
Summary: Shedinja either wins completely or absolutely fails to do anything. Can be a wincon against Wattson and the 8th Gym and can sometimes just checkmate every Pokémon remaining in some major battles, but you must either know exactly what coverage moves every foe has or you should expect unpleasant surprises.
Name: Nosepass
Availability: Nosepass can be found in Granite Cave by using Rock Smash on the breakable rocks in B2F with a 30% chance at levels 10 to 20.
Summary: Nosepass is terrible to encounter, has bad offensive potential, and sports bulk that isn't actually that great because of horrible HP. Rollout has it do functional damage against a couple mid-game battles, but it's pretty horrible after that point. Good Flannery and Winona matchups with Rollout are the only thing keeping it from the F-tier.
Name: Phanpy
Availability: Phanpy can be found in Area 4 of the Safari Zone with a 30% chance at levels 27 and 29.
Summary: Donphan does plenty of damage with Earthquake once it gets it at level 49 or via TM. Strength isn't enough to cut it against the remaining major battles, and it's not very good against the Pokémon League.
Name: Plusle
Availability: Plusle can be found on Route 110 in Sapphire with a 15% chance at level 13. In Emerald and Ruby, its encounter rate is 2% at levels 12 and 13.
Summary: Plusle is Minun but stronger. No coverage moves like basically all Electric-types, but Encore's helpful, and Electric is a good typing. Its frailty holds it back a lot though and is fatal when it fails to OHKO a foe.
Name: Regice
Availability: Regice can be found in Island Cave on Route 105 as a static encounter at level 40 after completing the puzzle in the Sealed Chamber on Route 134.
Summary: An absolute pain to encounter, but Regice has stats that kind of make up for it. Ice Beam and Thunderbolt from TMs give it plenty of coverage for the endgame, but they definitely don't make up for its very late arrival and extremely involved obtainability.
Name: Roselia
Availability: Roselia can be found on Route 117 with a 30% chance at level 13 to 14 in Ruby and Sapphire.
Summary: Roselia has decent moves and a fairly good matchup against Wattson's Gym battle after it's caught. Too bad its stats are insufficient for the endgame, leaving it a fighter against Water-types and little else.
Name: Sableye
Availability: Sableye can be found in Granite Cave with a 20% chance at levels 9 to 12 in Sapphire and Emerald.
Summary: Sableye destroys Brawly but is then bad for the entire rest of the game besides laughing at Norman through a very slow fight. No weaknesses is cool if you ignore the lack of stats, but you can force it to win a few fights late-game with enough time investment.
Name: Sandshrew
Availability: Sandshrew can be found on Route 113 with a 25% chance at levels 14 to 16 in Ruby and Sapphire. In Emerald, it can be found on Route 111 with a 35% chance at levels 19 to 21.
Summary: Sandshrew has decent Attack and Defense, but it has absolutely no moves to leverage those stats until it gets to late-game TMs. It's basically worse Donphan in the endgame and Donphan's already pretty bad, though Sandslash should have a level advantage.
Name: Seedot
Availability: Seedot can be found on Route 102 with a 20% chance in Ruby and Sapphire at levels 3 and 4. In Emerald, it can be found with a 1% chance at level 3.
Summary: Seedot has bad stats until it evolves into Shiftry, with Bullet Seed as its only decently powerful move for a very long time, but it is alright when it finally gets to the end of the game. The in-game trade Seedot has horrific stats and becomes disobedient early enough that Roxanne can be a problem and is generally not worth using despite the experience boost.
Name: Skitty
Availability: Skitty can be found on Route 116 with a 2% chance at levels 7 to 8.
Summary: Skitty is early and has a fairly wide utility movepool, but the bad stats mean it's still only going to trade for a single KO in most major battles.
Name: Snorunt
Availability: Snorunt can be found in the ice room of Shoal Cave with a 10% chance at levels 26 to 30.
Summary: Snorunt has unusably bad stats until it evolves kind of late after also coming pretty late. Glalie is sort of alright against the Elite Four, but it's only just worth the investment it takes to get there. At least it learns Ice Beam without a TM.
Name: Vulpix
Availability: Vulpix can be found on the Exterior of Mt. Pyre with a 20-30% chance at levels 25 to 29.
Summary: Vulpix's got Flamethrower, and that's about all it's got going for it. Bad matchups against the remaining Gyms and insufficient power to do particularly well against the Pokémon League make it a bad option overall.
Name: Whismur
Availability: Whismur can be found in Rusturf Tunnel with a 100% chance at levels 5 to 8 or at a lower chance on Route 116.
Summary: Whismur spikes from bad to decent immediately after evolving into Loudred, then continuously gets worse until its late final evolution. Exploud is no prize either, but it has fun coverage to make up for average stats.
Name: Wurmple (Beautifly)
Availability: Wurmple can be found on Route 101 with a 45% chance at levels 2 and 3. It is also possible to catch a Silcoon in Petalburg Woods with a 10% chance at level 5.
Summary: Wurmple's early evolution means that Beautifly has good early-game stats and functional early-game moves, and it annihilates Brawly. It then proceeds to be bad for the entire rest of the game unless invested into heavily.
Name: Wurmple (Dustox)
Availability: Wurmple can be found on Route 101 with a 45% chance at levels 2 and 3. It is also possible to catch a Cascoon in Petalburg Woods with a 10% chance at level 5.
Summary: The early evolution means that Dustox has good early-game stats—though defensively inclined—alongside decently useful early-game moves, and it rips apart Brawly's team. It's then bad for pretty much the entire rest of the game, aside from being able to shut down Norman's Slaking due to Protect.
F-Rank
Name: Anorith
Availability: Anorith can be restored from the Claw Fossil at Devon Corporation in Rustboro City at level 20.
Summary: Anorith has workable immediate stats if given Rock Tomb, but a very late evolution and poor scaling outside its Attack mean that it doesn't contribute well at any point.
Name: Bagon
Availability: Bagon can be found in the furthest back room on the second floor of Meteor Falls after obtaining Waterfall with a 25% chance at levels 25 to 35.
Summary: Bagon comes with an incredibly late arrival and needs a bunch of grinding to become Salamence. If you do grind it up then it'll be great, but that's a long time for not much left to do.
Name: Chimecho
Availability: Chimecho can be found on the summit of Mt. Pyre with a 2% chance at level 28.
Summary: Chimecho has a low encounter rate and brings an incredibly average Psychic-type attacker in exchange. Yawn is interesting to make setting up Calm Mind easier, but it's definitely not worth the trouble to find it.
Name: Clamperl (No Trade)
Availability: Clamperl can be found underwater in seaweed on Route 124 or 126 with a 65% chance at levels 20 to 35.
Summary: If you do the side quest and give Clamperl a DeepSeaTooth, it actually hits kind of hard. A shame that it's still bad.
Name: Clamperl (Huntail)
Availability: Clamperl can be found underwater in seaweed on Route 124 or 126 with a 65% chance at levels 20 to 35.
Summary: Huntail is a very basic but slow Water-type attacker, and the side quest takes a while. Its Attack is a good bit higher than Gorebyss, but Huntail has no particularly useful physical attacks to make up for it.
Name: Corsola
Availability: Corsola can be found on Route 128 using the Super Rod with a 15% chance at levels 30 to 35.
Summary: Corsola has bad offensive stats, low defensive potential, and no good reason to use it. A Rock typing grants Corsola nothing over almost every other Water-type, and Calm Mind isn't even particularly good on it.
Name: Feebas
Availability: Feebas can be found in 6 random water tiles on Route 119 with a 50% chance at levels 20 to 25.
Summary: Milotic is great! Too bad you'll spend ages on finding a Feebas and blending up enough Pokéblocks to evolve it.
Name: Goldeen
Availability: Goldeen can be found in Petalburg City using the Old Rod with a 30% chance at levels 5 to 10.
Summary: It's a really early encounter, but that's all it's got going for it. A bad movepool and poor stats mean means that it has no real advantage for coming so early on, and it's not particularly good even after it gets Surf and evolves.
Name: Horsea (Trade)
Availability: Horsea can be found on Route 134 using the Super Rod with a 15% chance at levels 25 to 30.
Summary: Kingdra's stats are good, and it's a solid but not incredible late-game Pokémon, but it comes very late. It also requires that you find a 5% drop rate (20% with Compoundeyes) Dragon Scale on a wild Horsea, making it more a problem of obtaining it than anything else.
Name: Horsea (No Trade)
Availability: Horsea can be found on Route 134 using the Super Rod with a 15% chance at levels 25 to 30.
Summary: Aside from having a paper towel for special bulk, Seadra's a decent special attacker. It's also very late and has no decent matchups besides Drake, whose Pokémon do a ton of damage back if they survive Ice Beam or outspeed Seadra.
Name: Illumise
Availability: Illumise can be found on Route 117 with an 18% chance at levels 13 and 14 in Ruby and Emerald or a 1% chance in Sapphire.
Summary: It's really bad. Encore is neat, and Illumise can use some special TMs but doesn't make particularly good use of any of them.
Name: Jigglypuff
Availability: Jigglypuff can be found on Route 115 with a 10% chance at levels 24 and 25.
Summary: It's Skitty but as a mid-game Pokémon instead of an early-game find. The movepool is wide, but there are no stats to back it up.
Name: Luvdisc
Availability: Luvdisc can be found on Route 128 using the Super Rod with a 40% chance at levels 30 to 35.
Summary: It's abysmal. Water-types are generally usable by default, but Luvdisc is really pushing it.
Name: Mawile (E)
Availability: Mawile can be encountered in Victory Road B2F in Emerald with a 5% chance at levels 42 and 44.
Summary: The absolute last Pokémon available before postgame, and it's horrible. Intimidate and a Steel typing make it vaguely usable against Phoebe and Sidney but that's it.
Name: Regirock
Availability: Regirock can be found in the Desert Ruins on Route 111 as a static encounter at level 40 after completing the puzzle in the Sealed Chamber on Route 134.
Summary: The stats are good, and the movepool is mostly there, but it doesn't have any particularly good matchups. The time sink of obtaining Regirock is definitely not worth it.
Name: Registeel
Availability: Registeel can be found in the Ancient Tomb on Route 120 as a static encounter at level 40 after completing the puzzle in the Sealed Chamber on Route 134.
Summary: A Steel typing is good, but Registeel is a very slow sweeper with Curse that chugs Potions and doesn't hit hard without multiple boosts. Completing the game slowly when obtaining it is already a huge time investment and is not a good aspect.
Name: Relicanth
Availability: Relicanth can be found underwater in seaweed on Routes 124 and 126 with a 5% chance at levels 30 to 35.
Summary: Hard to catch, its typing doesn't do anything useful for it, and its Special Attack is unusably low. Does pretty well against Glacia at least.
Name: Rhyhorn
Availability: Rhyhorn can be found in Area 3 of the Hoenn Safari Zone with a 30% chance at levels 27 and 29.
Summary: So, imagine if Graveler was only obtained right before almost every trainer in the game that started using Water-types. Rhydon's actually really strong if you hand it the TMs it needs but evolves late, and feeding that experience to Rhyhorn is awful. It's good against Winona if you backtrack though.
Name: Slugma
Availability: Slugma can be found in Fiery Path with a 10% chance at level 15.
Summary: Slugma's moves are mostly good, but the stats are absolutely horrible. It evolves pretty late and is impossibly bad in late-game sections.
Name: Spinda
Availability: Spinda can be found on Route 113 with a 70% chance at levels 14 to 16.
Summary: Spinda's got low stats for the time it comes and never gets any better. It can use some disruptive options, but it will never really shine at any point.
Name: Surskit
Availability: Surskit can be found on Route 102 at level 3 with a 1% chance in Ruby and Sapphire.
Summary: Surskit is rare, and there's no payoff for that rarity. Until it gets BubbleBeam, it's got absolutely nothing, and after it gets BubbleBeam, it's still got nothing of value to add. Intimidate is a good ability, but there are plenty of Mightyena that aren't 1% encounters.
Name: Volbeat
Availability: Volbeat can be found in Sapphire on Route 117 with an 18% chance at levels 13 and 14 or a 1% chance in Emerald and Ruby.
Summary: Volbeat's usable Attack for early-game sections means it can use Signal Beam for Bug-type damage after being babysat a dozen levels. Too bad Bug-type damage is almost never useful. Tail Glow is a funny move, but even at +2, Volbeat's Special Attack falls short and is a waste of good TMs.
Name: Wynaut
Availability: Wynaut hatches at level 5 from the Egg obtained next to the Lavaridge hot springs.
Summary: So Wobbuffet is actually decent for major battles because you can often predict the AI, but it chugs healing items to do it and is an absolute monster to try and level up. Getting a Wobbuffet from the Safari Zone is easier to deal with than the Egg, and losing Encore and Charm isn't too bad.
