(approved for posting by DHR-107)
Welcome to the Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon in-game tier list! The goal of this list is to tier every Pokemon available in USUM under one of the tiers, ranging from S-tier, the highest one, and F-tier, the lowest one. The main factor under which each Pokemon is tiered is called efficiency. A Pokemon that is efficient provides faster and easier solutions to major fights, which include Totem Pokemon, Kahunas, Guzma, Ultra Necrozma, the Elite Four, and the final fight against Hau, than ones that are considered inefficient. Thus, Pokemon in higher tiers, such as S and A, are considered very efficient, while ones in lower tiers, such as D and E, are not considered very efficient.
What are the tiers?
This list is using 7 tiers:
There are 6 factors that determine a Pokemon's tier in this list:
Other things to keep in mind:
Trading
Trading for this list is considered only for the purposes of evolving Pokemon (like Kadabra and Haunter) and not to receive outside help. In order to accomodate to players that do not have access to trading, Pokemon that evolve by trade will get a Trade and a No Trade ranking
The list treats each Pokemon as if the reader has already decided to use it and thus wants to see how it's going to perform. This means that we won't penalize a Pokemon for being worse than another one. For example, Pikipek is not going to be C-tier because Hawlucha is better. If two Pokemon deserve to be the same tier, they will be the same tier. Similarly, there is no "opportunity cost" when faced with a choice between some Pokemon. For example, Rowlet is not going to be ranked lower because it prevents you from using the better Popplio and Litten.
The list assumes that the Exp. Share is on. Unlike in XY and ORAS, Exp. Share does not break the game at all. In fact, because bosses use good IVs and EVs, outleveling them is necessary to be on par with their strength. If you want to share your experience with a Pokemon from a run with the Exp. Share off, please make it clear that you had it turned off. Note that non-participants only get 50% of the received Exp., so you may wanna use all of your Pokemon from time to time.
It is important to note that, even though Exp. Share is considered in this list, Pokemon that are too weak to participate in fights (including ones against route trainers) and thus rely on the Exp. Share to get most of their Exp. for most of the game will still rank lower. Thus, Bagon is not going to be ranked high because you can just turn the Exp. Share on and only use it once it evolves into a Salamence. On the other hand, if a Pokemon needs the Exp. Share for, say, only 2-3 levels, it won't be much of an issue.
Team size
I am not going to actively push for a particular team size, as Exp. Share allows you to run even teams of 6 Pokemon viably. However, it is easier to overlevel with fewer members due to the fact they will be used more often and thus will get the full portion of Exp. But if you need a number, assume 5-6 members.
Time-based events
Manipulating the clock to trigger time-based events (where possible) is allowed and is not going to affect negatively any Pokemon's ranking.
A Pokemon being available only at specific times of the day/week is not considered a negative, mostly to not complicate tiering more than it already is. Regardless, it's not really a downside if you adjust your gaming schedule so that you can obtain it (cause, really, saying that [X Pokemon] is C-tier if you are not playing on Monday sounds a bit dumb)
Pokemon Refresh, Festival Plaza, and Poke Pelago
Pokemon Refresh can be used to get the Exp. boost, though the other effects (higher chance of landing critical hits, a chance to avoid moves, and a chance to survive an attack that would KO you) are not considered for the purposes of this list. If you want to test, it is highly recommended to just stick to two hearts so you can get the boosted Exp. and not have the other effects intervene in your testing
Poke Pelago and Festival Plaza are not considered for the purposes of this list. Beans from Poke Pelago are still a fair game, this is mostly refering to the Pokemon and items you get from there
Levels for the Elite Four
Realistically speaking, you could get all of your Pokemon up to level 68 with usage of every single Rare Candy you can obtain. Since that level is too high and not the easiest to reach, appropriate max levels for the Elite Four can range from around 60 to around 65, assuming you fight most trainers that are not too out of your way and use Exp. Boost from Pokemon Refresh.
(note: I don't mind you playing either by fighting optional trainers or fighting only the mandatory ones. However, I do have a slight preference for the former, so if you can do that, I would be happy if you played this way. But again, I am not going to force anyone to play in any way they don't want to. Keep in mind that the obligatory trainers are not a lot, so expect to be horribly underleveled and constantly OHKOed or 2HKOed).
X Items and Roto Loto
X Items aren't banned, but are highly discouraged when evaluating a Pokemon's ranking. This is because a huge amount of Pokemon would benefit from an X Item against certain bosses and will make this list more inconsistent and I'd rather keep it as consistent as possible. They should be a fair game for Ultra Necrozma, though.
Roto Boosts fall in the same category as X Items. The other Roto powers largely depend on when you use them; if you, for example, use a Roto Bargain at Seafolk Village to buy the expensive TMs, I probably wouldn't bat an eye, because it is reasonable to have it at that point if you were playing the Roto Lotos consistently. I'd personally discourage from the usage of Roto Exp., though, just so you don't end up inflating a Pokemon's actual performance.
In addition, the list doesn't count a second Z-Move that is used as a result of the Rotom Dex allowing you to use one again as a positive, so please don't use this in your tests
===
What is (not) being tiered?
The following Pokemon will be tiered:
Other Useful Resources
Pokemon Ultra Moon encounter table (features SOS slots)
Pokemon Ultra Sun encounter table (features SOS slots)
Pokemon USUM In-Game Tier List v1 (previously hosted by Stellar)
In-Game Tips and Tricks (has useful information, such as a list of move tutors, ways to obtain fast money, evolution stone locations, and etc. The article has info for both SM and USUM)
Google Doc with Rare Candy locations (there are around 20 that you can reasonably obtain before the post-game, you can obviously pick less if you want some more reasonable E4 levels)
Trainer data (features EVs, IVs, moves, levels, and natures of trainers, though lacks data on Totems)
Totem data (features EVs, IVs, moves, levels, and natures of Totem Pokemon, Nihilego, and the Necrozma fights)
===
Tips when posting:
Welcome to the Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon in-game tier list! The goal of this list is to tier every Pokemon available in USUM under one of the tiers, ranging from S-tier, the highest one, and F-tier, the lowest one. The main factor under which each Pokemon is tiered is called efficiency. A Pokemon that is efficient provides faster and easier solutions to major fights, which include Totem Pokemon, Kahunas, Guzma, Ultra Necrozma, the Elite Four, and the final fight against Hau, than ones that are considered inefficient. Thus, Pokemon in higher tiers, such as S and A, are considered very efficient, while ones in lower tiers, such as D and E, are not considered very efficient.
What are the tiers?
This list is using 7 tiers:
- S-tier
- A-tier
- B-tier
- C-tier
- D-tier
- E-tier
- F-tier
There are 6 factors that determine a Pokemon's tier in this list:
- Availability - This is how early a Pokemon becomes available and how hard it is to encounter and catch (read: encounter and catch rate). Pokemon that come early and are easy to find and catch tend to rank higher.
- Typing - A Pokemon's typing can be a crucial factor that determines its performance for the game. Pokemon with better typing tend to rank higher. An example of a good type is Flying due to early Flyinium Z and the high amount of Flying-weak bosses.
- Stats - A Pokemon's stat distribution is crucial for its success. Does the Pokemon have a stat distribution that complements its movepool and typing? Pokemon whose movepool favors its typing and movepool tend to rank higher. Note that the game is predominantly physical, so Pokemon that deal with physical attackers tend to rank higher than ones that deal with special attackers.
- Movepool - Movepool consists of a Pokemon's level up, TM, and tutor learnset. Pokemon that learn good moves that complement its stats and typing early tend to rank higher. If a Pokemon needs multiple tutor moves to be good or needs to rotate them in order to defeat as many major opponents as possible, it may be knocked down in ranking.
- Major Battles- Refers to the Pokemon's performance. If a Pokemon has good stats, movepool, and typing, it will likely perform well in more matchups and thus rank higher. Having a good matchup against Ultra Necrozma counts as a positive. In general, a Pokemon also ranks higher if it beats a major opponent than if they merely assist against them (such as with dual screens or other tactics).
- Lusamine and most Hau fights are not considered, as they do not have to be won to advance through the game.
- Gladion is also not considered, because there's only one fight with him that is of any relevance (you don't even have to win the second fight) and, at this point, it becomes a bit pointless to really consider him relevant enough to change a Pokemon's tier
- Plumeria is not considered, as she appears only for two fights, one of which isn't really that difficult. Like Gladion, there's little point in considering her, as she shouldn't really be able to change a Pokemon's tier
- The Nihilego at the Aether Paradise is not considered for a Pokemon's tier, because it will sooner or later flee from the battle itself, thus anything that can live for long enough is "good" for it (obviously, OHKOing it is preferred, but it's still not relevant enough to warrant attention)
- The Necrozma fight at the Altar is also not considered, as I don't think it's relevant enough to change a Pokemon's rank, same deal with Ultra Recon Squad
- I don't look for the Trial Captains from Mina's trial either, because the trial is a bit different per version and the game is already long enough with the current bosses.
- As a whole, I don't look for those fights above when evaluating a Pokemon's tier. You can mention them or something, but don't expect them to be significant enough to change a Pokemon's tier.
- Other factors - Anything else not covered above, like abilities and experience groups, can affect a Pokemon's rank, both positively and negatively.
Other things to keep in mind:
Trading
Trading for this list is considered only for the purposes of evolving Pokemon (like Kadabra and Haunter) and not to receive outside help. In order to accomodate to players that do not have access to trading, Pokemon that evolve by trade will get a Trade and a No Trade ranking
- If a Trade and No Trade Pokemon end up in the same tier after tiers are more or less settled, provided they do not perform differently enough, they will be merged in one entry. If there are any differences, those can be mentioned in their write-up. The same rule applies to Pokemon with other reasons for branching; for example, if both of Rockruff's evolutions have similar contributions and end in the same tier, they will be merged into one to reduce clutter.
- Note that Phantump may be an exception to the general rule, because you can obtain a Phantump from an in-game trade, which will cause it to evolve. How it will be dealt with (whenever they are gonna be merged, separated as Trade and No Trade, or have different formatting) will be decided once we establish how both perform.
- Rhyhorn (QR) is another exception to this rule. It won't get a Trade and a No Trade rank, because the Protector cannot be obtained before the post-game, so it will just be tiered as a Rhydon.
The list treats each Pokemon as if the reader has already decided to use it and thus wants to see how it's going to perform. This means that we won't penalize a Pokemon for being worse than another one. For example, Pikipek is not going to be C-tier because Hawlucha is better. If two Pokemon deserve to be the same tier, they will be the same tier. Similarly, there is no "opportunity cost" when faced with a choice between some Pokemon. For example, Rowlet is not going to be ranked lower because it prevents you from using the better Popplio and Litten.
- Comparing Pokemon to make a point clear is fine. Basing a Pokemon's tier off another Pokemon's performance is what you really should be avoiding.
The list assumes that the Exp. Share is on. Unlike in XY and ORAS, Exp. Share does not break the game at all. In fact, because bosses use good IVs and EVs, outleveling them is necessary to be on par with their strength. If you want to share your experience with a Pokemon from a run with the Exp. Share off, please make it clear that you had it turned off. Note that non-participants only get 50% of the received Exp., so you may wanna use all of your Pokemon from time to time.
It is important to note that, even though Exp. Share is considered in this list, Pokemon that are too weak to participate in fights (including ones against route trainers) and thus rely on the Exp. Share to get most of their Exp. for most of the game will still rank lower. Thus, Bagon is not going to be ranked high because you can just turn the Exp. Share on and only use it once it evolves into a Salamence. On the other hand, if a Pokemon needs the Exp. Share for, say, only 2-3 levels, it won't be much of an issue.
Team size
I am not going to actively push for a particular team size, as Exp. Share allows you to run even teams of 6 Pokemon viably. However, it is easier to overlevel with fewer members due to the fact they will be used more often and thus will get the full portion of Exp. But if you need a number, assume 5-6 members.
Time-based events
Manipulating the clock to trigger time-based events (where possible) is allowed and is not going to affect negatively any Pokemon's ranking.
A Pokemon being available only at specific times of the day/week is not considered a negative, mostly to not complicate tiering more than it already is. Regardless, it's not really a downside if you adjust your gaming schedule so that you can obtain it (cause, really, saying that [X Pokemon] is C-tier if you are not playing on Monday sounds a bit dumb)
Pokemon Refresh, Festival Plaza, and Poke Pelago
Pokemon Refresh can be used to get the Exp. boost, though the other effects (higher chance of landing critical hits, a chance to avoid moves, and a chance to survive an attack that would KO you) are not considered for the purposes of this list. If you want to test, it is highly recommended to just stick to two hearts so you can get the boosted Exp. and not have the other effects intervene in your testing
Poke Pelago and Festival Plaza are not considered for the purposes of this list. Beans from Poke Pelago are still a fair game, this is mostly refering to the Pokemon and items you get from there
Levels for the Elite Four
Realistically speaking, you could get all of your Pokemon up to level 68 with usage of every single Rare Candy you can obtain. Since that level is too high and not the easiest to reach, appropriate max levels for the Elite Four can range from around 60 to around 65, assuming you fight most trainers that are not too out of your way and use Exp. Boost from Pokemon Refresh.
(note: I don't mind you playing either by fighting optional trainers or fighting only the mandatory ones. However, I do have a slight preference for the former, so if you can do that, I would be happy if you played this way. But again, I am not going to force anyone to play in any way they don't want to. Keep in mind that the obligatory trainers are not a lot, so expect to be horribly underleveled and constantly OHKOed or 2HKOed).
X Items and Roto Loto
X Items aren't banned, but are highly discouraged when evaluating a Pokemon's ranking. This is because a huge amount of Pokemon would benefit from an X Item against certain bosses and will make this list more inconsistent and I'd rather keep it as consistent as possible. They should be a fair game for Ultra Necrozma, though.
Roto Boosts fall in the same category as X Items. The other Roto powers largely depend on when you use them; if you, for example, use a Roto Bargain at Seafolk Village to buy the expensive TMs, I probably wouldn't bat an eye, because it is reasonable to have it at that point if you were playing the Roto Lotos consistently. I'd personally discourage from the usage of Roto Exp., though, just so you don't end up inflating a Pokemon's actual performance.
In addition, the list doesn't count a second Z-Move that is used as a result of the Rotom Dex allowing you to use one again as a positive, so please don't use this in your tests
===
What is (not) being tiered?
The following Pokemon will be tiered:
- Any Pokemon in the Alola Pokedex that can be obtained before becoming Pokemon Champion
- Any Pokemon that can be obtained through QR scanning before becoming Pokemon Champion. You can find QR codes on the Internet for this purpose. Partner Cap Pikachu will also be tiered, as it's obtained through QR scanning as well. Note that QR availability is not considered a negative; the list assumes that the reader has already decided to use the Pokemon in question and is willing to obtain them through any means as soon as possible.
- Any Pokemon that can be obtained only after becoming a Pokemon Champion , such as Type: Null, or that can only be obtained by transferring it from another game.
- Pokemon that can only be obtained through events, like Marshadow.
- Pokemon from wormholes (excluding UBs). While the Legendary ones tend to be powerful, regardless of what you get, it will just bloat the list with stuff that no one is really going to use. And most of the non-Legendary ones wouldn't rank high anyways.
Other Useful Resources
Pokemon Ultra Moon encounter table (features SOS slots)
Pokemon Ultra Sun encounter table (features SOS slots)
Pokemon USUM In-Game Tier List v1 (previously hosted by Stellar)
In-Game Tips and Tricks (has useful information, such as a list of move tutors, ways to obtain fast money, evolution stone locations, and etc. The article has info for both SM and USUM)
Google Doc with Rare Candy locations (there are around 20 that you can reasonably obtain before the post-game, you can obviously pick less if you want some more reasonable E4 levels)
Trainer data (features EVs, IVs, moves, levels, and natures of trainers, though lacks data on Totems)
Totem data (features EVs, IVs, moves, levels, and natures of Totem Pokemon, Nihilego, and the Necrozma fights)
===
Tips when posting:
- Standard forum rules apply. Most importantly, be respectful when communicating with other people. It's okay to disagree with certain nominations, but flaming them or being obnoxious about it is not going to help you.
- Remember that this is a list for Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon and not for Sun and Moon. Therefore, please do not base your rankings solely off experience from those games. Comparing experiences from both games to make a point clear is fine, just avoid nominations like "Wishiwashi to S because it was a monster in SM!"
- When nominating a Pokemon, try to be a little bit more specific as to what it does exactly. For example, "Passimian is awesome because it learns Bulk Up and Close Combat naturally!" is not actually that convincing, because it could still be bad even then. Saying something like "Passimian is able to defeat X, Y, and Z with natural Bulk Up and Close Combat, making it awesome!" is a lot more convincing.
- Keep discussions to tiering Pokemon. This thread is not for general discussion of the games and other similar things.
- The list is currently not officially accepting write-ups. You can use a write-up to present your nomination, but when the time comes to write up Pokemon, you will still be expected to submit your write-up (and hopefully edit any information that may have been proven or disproven by the time we reach the phase)
- If you want to know when the list is going to be considered ready for write-ups, I would say somewhere when everything that would be ranked C and above has been used thoroughly enough once or twice (preferably twice for more complicated cases), be it from me or other people, till we reach a consensus on them. D and below can get away with one test and I will be dealing with this mostly (as a "pet project", if you want to put it that way) just to make sure nothing is heavily misplaced, though you are free to help there as well, if you wish to.
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- seeing this guy in A rank got me excited to use it, but as with most tier lists that have Zubat in A I think this is being overrated a bit. It's quite a solid support pokemon and is notable for just ohkoing Araquanid with SSSS but doesn't exactly win any other mus. Even against Lurantis the inability to ohko turns the mu into a massive slugfest where you won't exactly lose but take way too long to be efficient. Also doesn't totally sweep Hala which is unfortunate but expected cuz Crabrawler is bullshit. Feeling B rn but idk, it could surprise me.
- Munchlax is a neat little find and a strong mon at that. While it's only obtainable after the major battles of Melemele have been completed, it starts off strong in Akala with Z-Last Resorts galore. It gets overwhelmed by Marowak but is capable of ohkoing Araq and Lurantis and even performs pretty well vs Olivia with Brick Break. Satisfied with this guy thus far
- for an S rank, Mudbray doesn't have the strongest of starts, struggling against every totem in Akala (even Marowak overwhelms it too quickly). Normally I'd be suspect of an S rank based on this alone, but USM is a very hard game, and I've been told that Mudsdale absolutely dominates the second half of the game, so I'll hold my breath. Even now Mudbray did very well against Olivia (I opted not to get Mudsdale but if you want a stronger mu against her Lileep by all means go for it) and outside of major battles the broken ability, great stats and excellent movepool (having a pseudo-eq at 24 is insane) have made it feel very strong. Excited to see how it performs post-Akala.
- rather mid, honestly. Does pretty alright vs Araq and Olivia but absolutely turns off for the other fights. Also needs a couple tutor moves so have fun with that. Overall it's competent enough but not that strong either, like a C tier rn.
- had my dude for all of five minutes but not bad. Kinda slow to kill cuz it lacks a strong STAB at this point (whoever thought this thing shouldn't learn Smart Strike needs to get shoved in a locker fr), resigned to 3hkoing Olivia's rocks with Brick Break. Shadow Sneak is neat for picking off faster opponents but otherwise there's not much else to say. Hopefully will have a more informed opinion soon.
