Ryota Mitarai
Shrektimus Prime
(side note: I should probably elaborate on my stance in regards to that. I have updated OP with it to be more detailed)Edit: so because the USUM just ignores you when you change the system time and I'm on day right now, I don't think I can get Rattata tonight so my logs (I plan to post after I beat Hapu) might not be for a few days unless there's a way around this. Plus, this may also stall me getting Bulbasaur cuz I think it doea this for the date, too. Boy am I glad SwSh did away with this nonsense and just let you change the date.
I am posting about two things. First is about my current run. I'd have posted it along with more runs, but I want to fit in my nominations in this slate. Second is about the slate itself.
Here are my nominations first:
Zorua -> potentially B-tier (but not higher)
My estimates on Zorua didn't match what I actually experienced. Zorua managed to perform better in matchups that I thought were bad. In addition the UN matchup, Zorua can beat Araquanid by using Bounce then Z-Bounce while disguised as Bug-resistant Pokemon. It can fool Guzma's Golisopod and spam Fake Tears so Snarl can OHKO and always outspeeds and OHKOs Masquerain with Z-Bounce (even at -1). It can even copy Ribombee's stats with Psych Up and OHKO it with Z-Bounce (however, you need to disguise as a Poison-type or Steel-type and hope you aren't attacked in the first two turns). At the E4, it can sweep Molayne (you need to disguise as a Ghost-type or something that triggers Dugtrio's Sucker Punch and hope Klefki doesn't break Disguise) and Acerola and can contribute against Olivia #2. Against Hau, you can disguise as a Fighting-type, set up two NPs and then a Z-Sunny Day (for a Speed boost) and then spam Flamethrower (with other moves being used as needed).
All in all, Zorua definitely exceeded my expectations. I do not mind putting it in B-tier for now. However, I strongly object to anything higher; even if it's effective when disguised as the correct teammate, efficiency isn't only about speed; it's also about something being natural and I think expecting the player to constantly bring around Pokemon that are good Illusion partners is a bit too specific and complicated to warrant a higher tier. Not to mention that, even with that, Zorua is still bad in a lot of matchups, like Normal Totem, Hala, Lurantis, Marowak, Togedemaru, Mimikyu, and Kommo-o (can Psych Up there and Z-Bounce, but doesn't win). I think B is a fair compromise for now, but I'd appreciate if more people that have used it more thoroughly can share their experience with it.
Drifloon -> D
Drifloon's biggest weaknesses are Fluctuating growth rate and Gust being its only Flying STAB for a while (upgraded to Fly and Acrobatics through TMs). Drifloon's Fluctuating group makes it hard to grind later on and I had to use it for majority of route cleaning to keep it on par with the rest of the team. Despite being a Flying-type, Gust being its only STAB for a while, coupled with unimpressive offensive stats, means that it cannot abuse what is possibly the most broken type in this game. Drifloon is useful for Hala, can beat Lurantis if evolved (Hex then Z-Gust), and also wins against Ribombee with Psych Up + Z-Fly (loses to Kommo-o with same strat, funnily enough). It is pretty bad for Guzma due to Golisopod's Sucker Punch and later on Pinsir's Stone Edge and Throat Chop, so you mostly get kills rather than sweeps.
All in all, Drifloon is not particularly strong and is hard to grind. Having a weak Flying STAB for a while, coupled with not very high offensive stats, contribute to its particular lack of strength. I think D is fair ranking for Drifloon, in spite of early availability. At most you could consider Aftermath support, but I rarely found myself needing it.
Machop (No Trade) -> C
Machoke beats Lurantis (Work Up + Z-Fire Punch) and Olivia (both fights), just like Machamp. However, Machoke is unable to OHKO Togedemaru with +1 Z-BB (unlike Machamp) and, all in all, lacks a lot of the power and bulk that Machamp has. C-tier is good for it, given Mchoke is useful for Olivia, Lurantis, and Molayne (and Togedemaru, albeit not a win).
Mareanie -> E
Mareanie has two major issues: availability and performance. Availability-wise, it's an SOS-exclusive Pokemon, so you have to chain it. There are several caveats to that:
1) in order to not deal with rare Corsola, you need to go for a bubble spot in Melemele Sea from Hau'Oli side (35%). Therefore, whenever you don't get a Corsola, you have to restart your game
2) most Corsola will have Recover, making SOS chaining harder
3) you want to get a Mareanie with Merciless and you are unlikely to have a way of knowing the ability instantly, so either you go out of your way to confirm it or you just catch it, check it, and restart if wrong ability.
out of 12 successful calls, I had around 4 appear. I had unsuccessful ones too. While I could have optimized myself better (by bringing an Electric move, for example), you have to stop at this point and realize that trying to optimize to catch something with reasonably low effort is just a sign of incredible inefficiency
as for performance, it's not that it's incredbly bad as much as that its success is based on inefficient strategies. Mareanie generally relies on Toxic at level 21 and Merciless (mostly Venoshock) to beat opponents early on. When it evolves into Toxapex, it gets Baneful Bunker, which allows it to toxic stall opponents. Toxapex is scarily effective at beating some Totems, though. It beats Kommo-o and Ribombee, for example, and can contribute significantly to Mimikyu. I won't elaborate too much unless asked, but most of those rely on Baneful Bunker + Venoshock + toxic stalling. At the E4, it's harder for it to do that, because a lot of them are immune to Poison in general and because Toxic stalling everything takes too much time and too many resources to be worth it.
All in all, it's inefficient to obtain and relies on inefficient strategies to beat opponents. It's not F-tier, because Toxapex can actually beat some key opponents or otherwise contribute majorly to them, but it should not be higher than E due to the amount of ineffciency it comes with.
Anorith -> D (somewhat generous, just like most of the other fossils)
Anorith is good for Guzma, Ribombee, Kahili to an extent, and Nanu to an extent. Erratic is both a curse and blessing, as it makes grinding Anorith early on awful, but later on, Armaldo becomes easy to train to the point I didn't have to give it Rare Candies at all. Needless to say, I think this one should also be D-tier, because I don't think it's inherently worse enough than the others to warrant a lower tier, though it's def not the best one. However, it does have some route cleaning capabilities due to diverse movepool.
Sandshrew -> maybe D
Sandshrew is good for Olivia, Kahili to an extent, Acerola to an extent, and Ribombee. It doesn't have the same amount of good matchups like Vulpix, although Sandslash does sweep Olivia, while Ninetales doesn't do much there at all. Regardless, Sandshrew is good for only two matchups and partially good for other two, the rest being mostly "Sandslash can kill something here". I think D is possible for it, though maybe Vulpix could also drop. Vulpix will be given two asterisks for this reason. It is good to note that +2 Z-Iron Head from Sandshrew can OHKO Mimikyu if you pull that off.
My estimates on Zorua didn't match what I actually experienced. Zorua managed to perform better in matchups that I thought were bad. In addition the UN matchup, Zorua can beat Araquanid by using Bounce then Z-Bounce while disguised as Bug-resistant Pokemon. It can fool Guzma's Golisopod and spam Fake Tears so Snarl can OHKO and always outspeeds and OHKOs Masquerain with Z-Bounce (even at -1). It can even copy Ribombee's stats with Psych Up and OHKO it with Z-Bounce (however, you need to disguise as a Poison-type or Steel-type and hope you aren't attacked in the first two turns). At the E4, it can sweep Molayne (you need to disguise as a Ghost-type or something that triggers Dugtrio's Sucker Punch and hope Klefki doesn't break Disguise) and Acerola and can contribute against Olivia #2. Against Hau, you can disguise as a Fighting-type, set up two NPs and then a Z-Sunny Day (for a Speed boost) and then spam Flamethrower (with other moves being used as needed).
All in all, Zorua definitely exceeded my expectations. I do not mind putting it in B-tier for now. However, I strongly object to anything higher; even if it's effective when disguised as the correct teammate, efficiency isn't only about speed; it's also about something being natural and I think expecting the player to constantly bring around Pokemon that are good Illusion partners is a bit too specific and complicated to warrant a higher tier. Not to mention that, even with that, Zorua is still bad in a lot of matchups, like Normal Totem, Hala, Lurantis, Marowak, Togedemaru, Mimikyu, and Kommo-o (can Psych Up there and Z-Bounce, but doesn't win). I think B is a fair compromise for now, but I'd appreciate if more people that have used it more thoroughly can share their experience with it.
Drifloon -> D
Drifloon's biggest weaknesses are Fluctuating growth rate and Gust being its only Flying STAB for a while (upgraded to Fly and Acrobatics through TMs). Drifloon's Fluctuating group makes it hard to grind later on and I had to use it for majority of route cleaning to keep it on par with the rest of the team. Despite being a Flying-type, Gust being its only STAB for a while, coupled with unimpressive offensive stats, means that it cannot abuse what is possibly the most broken type in this game. Drifloon is useful for Hala, can beat Lurantis if evolved (Hex then Z-Gust), and also wins against Ribombee with Psych Up + Z-Fly (loses to Kommo-o with same strat, funnily enough). It is pretty bad for Guzma due to Golisopod's Sucker Punch and later on Pinsir's Stone Edge and Throat Chop, so you mostly get kills rather than sweeps.
All in all, Drifloon is not particularly strong and is hard to grind. Having a weak Flying STAB for a while, coupled with not very high offensive stats, contribute to its particular lack of strength. I think D is fair ranking for Drifloon, in spite of early availability. At most you could consider Aftermath support, but I rarely found myself needing it.
Machop (No Trade) -> C
Machoke beats Lurantis (Work Up + Z-Fire Punch) and Olivia (both fights), just like Machamp. However, Machoke is unable to OHKO Togedemaru with +1 Z-BB (unlike Machamp) and, all in all, lacks a lot of the power and bulk that Machamp has. C-tier is good for it, given Mchoke is useful for Olivia, Lurantis, and Molayne (and Togedemaru, albeit not a win).
Mareanie -> E
Mareanie has two major issues: availability and performance. Availability-wise, it's an SOS-exclusive Pokemon, so you have to chain it. There are several caveats to that:
1) in order to not deal with rare Corsola, you need to go for a bubble spot in Melemele Sea from Hau'Oli side (35%). Therefore, whenever you don't get a Corsola, you have to restart your game
2) most Corsola will have Recover, making SOS chaining harder
3) you want to get a Mareanie with Merciless and you are unlikely to have a way of knowing the ability instantly, so either you go out of your way to confirm it or you just catch it, check it, and restart if wrong ability.
out of 12 successful calls, I had around 4 appear. I had unsuccessful ones too. While I could have optimized myself better (by bringing an Electric move, for example), you have to stop at this point and realize that trying to optimize to catch something with reasonably low effort is just a sign of incredible inefficiency
as for performance, it's not that it's incredbly bad as much as that its success is based on inefficient strategies. Mareanie generally relies on Toxic at level 21 and Merciless (mostly Venoshock) to beat opponents early on. When it evolves into Toxapex, it gets Baneful Bunker, which allows it to toxic stall opponents. Toxapex is scarily effective at beating some Totems, though. It beats Kommo-o and Ribombee, for example, and can contribute significantly to Mimikyu. I won't elaborate too much unless asked, but most of those rely on Baneful Bunker + Venoshock + toxic stalling. At the E4, it's harder for it to do that, because a lot of them are immune to Poison in general and because Toxic stalling everything takes too much time and too many resources to be worth it.
All in all, it's inefficient to obtain and relies on inefficient strategies to beat opponents. It's not F-tier, because Toxapex can actually beat some key opponents or otherwise contribute majorly to them, but it should not be higher than E due to the amount of ineffciency it comes with.
Anorith -> D (somewhat generous, just like most of the other fossils)
Anorith is good for Guzma, Ribombee, Kahili to an extent, and Nanu to an extent. Erratic is both a curse and blessing, as it makes grinding Anorith early on awful, but later on, Armaldo becomes easy to train to the point I didn't have to give it Rare Candies at all. Needless to say, I think this one should also be D-tier, because I don't think it's inherently worse enough than the others to warrant a lower tier, though it's def not the best one. However, it does have some route cleaning capabilities due to diverse movepool.
Sandshrew -> maybe D
Sandshrew is good for Olivia, Kahili to an extent, Acerola to an extent, and Ribombee. It doesn't have the same amount of good matchups like Vulpix, although Sandslash does sweep Olivia, while Ninetales doesn't do much there at all. Regardless, Sandshrew is good for only two matchups and partially good for other two, the rest being mostly "Sandslash can kill something here". I think D is possible for it, though maybe Vulpix could also drop. Vulpix will be given two asterisks for this reason. It is good to note that +2 Z-Iron Head from Sandshrew can OHKO Mimikyu if you pull that off.
===
here's the slate:
Yungoos -> C
Alolan Meowth -> D
Noibat -> D
Surskit -> C
Salandit -> B (two asterisks)
Natu -> D
Caterpie -> C
Squirtle -> B
Goldeen -> E (will be retested in the future)
Spheal -> D
Omanyte -> D
Turtonator -> D
Komala -> D
Gastly (Trade and No Trade) B -> C (merge, two asterisks)
Alolan Diglett -> C
Psyduck -> C (two asterisks)
Grovyle -> D
Amaura -> D
Alolan Vulpix -> C (two asterisks)
Sandygast -> D
Zorua -> B
Drifloon -> D
Machop (No Trade) -> C
Mareanie -> E
Anorith -> D
Alolan Sandshrew -> D
Alolan Meowth -> D
Noibat -> D
Surskit -> C
Salandit -> B (two asterisks)
Natu -> D
Caterpie -> C
Squirtle -> B
Goldeen -> E (will be retested in the future)
Spheal -> D
Omanyte -> D
Turtonator -> D
Komala -> D
Gastly (Trade and No Trade) B -> C (merge, two asterisks)
Alolan Diglett -> C
Psyduck -> C (two asterisks)
Grovyle -> D
Amaura -> D
Alolan Vulpix -> C (two asterisks)
Sandygast -> D
Zorua -> B
Drifloon -> D
Machop (No Trade) -> C
Mareanie -> E
Anorith -> D
Alolan Sandshrew -> D
Inkay is going to stay C-tier for now, I think the concerns raised about it are reasonable enough to prevent a rise to B-tier, though a test can convince me otherwise.
Sandygast was slated due to receiving a good amount of discussion, though I can always change its tier if something interesting is discovered about it.
Gengar and Haunter will for now be merged into one tier. They will be dropped to C (they were actually there in my initial draft of the OP, but I decided to be more generous) and be given two asterisks for now, as I feel they have a lot of issues for B-tier right now. Always happy to be convinced with a test of the opposite though.
e: results come in tomorrow (GMT+2 here), perhaps Sunday, depending on how busy I am.
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