OK so this is just for the starting episode
I get it now
Also: The following is assuming
no passwords, including that for the Motonari and Motochika event
Top Tier
- High Atk / HP / Speed
- Movement range of 4
- 5* Brave Bird, hits multiple targets
- Intimidate / Vanguard
- Flying-type
- Only matches up badly against Cragspur and Valora
- Easy to obtain through Muneshige or a few people in Aurora
- Starly is a disappointing start
- Above average stats
- 4* Aqua Tail, hits multiple targets
- Intimidate
- Flying-type
- Only matches up badly against Dragnor
- Fairly easy to obtain Magikarp in Fontaine
- Magikarp will be extremely tedious to raise up, so a significant dud stage
- Very high Atk
- Decent other stats
- 4* Superpower (with side-effect, however)
- Can push other Pokemon, so useful in flag battles
- Easy to obtain through Yoshihiro as Gurdurr
- Very powerful in all evolutionary stages (no dud stage)
- Comes a cropper against Chrysalia, Illusio, Avia, Viperia, and Spectra, but extremely powerful against the rest
- Very high Atk
- High HP / Speed
- 5* Fire Blast with huge range
- Easy to obtain in Ignis (through warriors)
- Darumaka is very strong in its own right
- Evolves fairly quickly
- Only matches up badly against Fontaine, Cragspur, and Dragnor
- Strongest early-game Grass-type
- Levitate
- Available almost immediately
- Average all-around stats
- 2* Vine Whip is disappointing
- Much much weaker after the first half of the game
- High Atk / HP
- Movement range of 4
- 5* Hydro Pump
- Presence of Gyarados and Empoleon makes it less attractive, but it is arguably the strongest single Eeveelution
- Very high Speed
- High Atk
- Vanguard / Sprint
- Movement range of 4
- 4* Thunderbolt
- Probably the best Electric-type in the game, but there's a lot of other decent options in this category
- High Atk / Def / Speed
- Life Force
- Instinct, if that appeals to you
- Movement range of 4
- 4* Leaf Blade
- Best Grass-type by a fair way, but by the time you get Leafeon, Grass-types have all but lost their usefulness
- High Atk / Def
- Movement range of 4
- The only even vaguely decent Ice-type in the first episode, but comes extremely late. Demolishes Dragnor, though
- Icy Wind is disappointingly weak
High Tier
- Average all-around stats
- 5* Thunder (but a tad prone to missing)
- Long-range but can't attack close-up targets
- Rather easy to pin against a wall
- Easy to obtain through Ginchiyo or basically anybody in Violight
- High overall stats
- 4* Psycho Cut (decent range)
- Conqueror
- Easy to obtain through Kenshin
- Instant Gallade - no dud previous stage
- Somewhat poor against Yaksha, Valora, and Spectra
- Stronger and bulkier than Luxray
- 5* Thunder
- Relatively easy to obtain in Violight
- A lot slower than Luxray (so Thunder misses quite a lot)
- Mareep is terrible
- High Speed
- 5* Volt Tackle
- Relatively easy to obtain in Violight
- Very frail, especially after using Volt Tackle
- Lowered movement range after attacking can leave it unable to hit an opponent right next to it
- Pichu is terrible
- High Atk / HP / Def
- 5* Hydro Pump with great range
- Steel-type so resists everything
- Only Water-type bar Vaporeon that seriously gives Gyarados competition
- Easy to obtain in Fontaine
- Pretty slow
- Piplup is fairly terrible until it evolves, but Prinplup is decent
- High Speed
- 4* Discharge, hits multiple targets
- Compoundeyes
- Relatively easy to obtain in Violight
- In all honesty probably my favourite Electric-type bar Jolteon
- Frail as heck
- Joltik is both weak offensively and frail as heck
- Very high Atk / HP
- High Speed
- 4* Drill Run (requires run-up, however)
- Pretty much the best Ground-type around
- Steel-type so resists everything
- 100% Zekrom counter, 100% Rayquaza bait
- Evolves pretty late on and can't touch anything in Avia
- Drilbur is pretty strong itself but I dislike 2-turn attacks and the fact that it dies to everything
- High Atk
- Movement range of 4
- Fire Fang has low power output
- Pretty outclassed by Darmanitan
- High Atk / Speed
- Movement range of 4
- Instinct, if that appeals to you
- Psybeam has low power output
- Gallade / Gardevoir / Alakazam are generally better
- High HP / Def
- Movement range of 4
- Assurance has low power output (unless it is used to hit a Pokemon for a second time, in which case it is quite good)
- Low Atk
- Only really decent Dark-type available, but I'd rather use Krookodile in theory
Mid Tier
- Same stats as Gallade
- 4* Psychic - same strength as Psycho Cut but with different range
- Instinct, if that appeals to you
- Relatively easy to obtain through Kanetsugu or a bunch of people in Illusio
- Only Mid tier because, really, why use this when Gallade exists
- Only early-game Ground-type attacker
- High HP
- Evolves fairly quickly
- Slow as they come (so often misses)
- Mud Bomb is disappointingly weak
- Wooper is just disappointing in all respects
- High Def
- Easy to obtain through Yoshimoto
- Slow, but not as slow as you'd like for Gyro Ball
- High Link means higher Speed which means weaker Gyro Ball um
- Well, Pineco is alright as a Bug-type.
- Only early-game Ice-type attacker
- Can obtain in Fontaine, or by capturing that warrior in Chrysalia
- 5* Blizzard, hits multiple targets
- Very high HP
- Pathetic movement range
- Blizzard always misses (very slow)
- High HP / Speed (weirdly)
- 4* Aqua Tail
- Easy to get in Fontaine
- Oshawatt is pretty bad, honestly
- In all honesty, greatly inferior to Gyarados and Empoleon, but a good self-contained Pokemon
- Very high HP
- 5* Fire Blast with huge range
- Can obtain in Ignis or through Yukimura
- Pathetic movement range
- Fire Blast always misses (very slow)
- Same as Gardevoir, but higher offences to weaker defences
- Life Force
- Instinct, if that appeals to you
- Abra is almost as bad as Magikarp
- 5* Hi Jump Kick
- Easy to obtain through Kunoichi or anybody in Pugilis
- Very high Def
- Shed Skin
- Pretty average other stats
- If HJK misses you're pretty stuffed (and Scrafty is very slow)
- Generally inferior to Conkeldurr
- High Atk / Def
- 4* X-Scissor - Can hit large number of targets
- Steel-type so resists everything
- Difficult to obtain - Link with it in Lv3 Sky Garden in Chrysalia
- Honestly the difficulty of obtaining it is probably the biggest thing holding it back
Low Tier
- Decidedly average all-around stats
- Why use this when Gallade / Gardevoir / Alakazam exist
- Easy to obtain through Aya
- Only mid-game Ice-type besides maybe Sealeo
- High Atk / HP
- 4* Icicle Crash (always misses, as it's pretty slow)
- Pathetic movement range
- Easy to get in Ignis
- High Atk / Speed
- 4* Flamethrower with long range
- Pathetic movement range
- Very high Speed
- High Def
- Requires Lv2 Ranch to obtain in Greenleaf
- Leaf Storm is pretty bad
- Damage output not enough to justify harsh Atk drops from Leaf Storm
- Shame really
- Very high Speed
- Easy to obtain in Greenleaf
- Leaf Storm is pretty bad
- Damage output not enough to justify harsh Atk drops from Leaf Storm
- Shame really
- Very high Atk / HP
- 5* Rock Wrecker (as bad in this game as it is in mainstream games)
- Poor Speed, so misses all the time
- Pathetic movement range
- Can't hit anything close to it, very easy to back into a corner
- Oh it is so indescribably awful aaa
- Requires leveling up of Cragspur / Valora facilities to obtain
- Very high Def
- Rubbish Atk / Spe / HP
- Rock Slide is decent I guess, but Bastiodon isn't hurting anything with it
- Pathetic movement range
- Slower but bulkier than Staraptor
- High Atk / HP
- Movement range of 4
- Very high likelihood of not being able to evolve Rufflet with early-game warriors since a rather high link percentage is needed
- If you wait until Avia, it comes far too late
- Can't hurt Flying-types (at all)
- Sky Drop is pretty weak
- Eclipsed entirely by Staraptor
- Honestly the only reason you would use it is Rufflet is pretty good if you can grab a warrior from Violight who uses it.
- Decent Bug-type, I guess
- Skips the whole weak-early-bug stage (no Weedle or Kakuna in this game, for some odd reason)
- Twineedle is weak once you get further on in the game
- Yeah it is pretty bad - only use if you have no other Bug-types at all
- High Atk / Speed
- Good overall stats
- Vanguard
- Difficult to obtain - Link with it in Lv3 Valley in Chrysalia
- Fury Cutter. What the hell were they thinking? This one move single-handedly makes Scyther terrible. Oh well, at least there's Scizor.
Dire Beyond Imagination Tier
- This needs no explanation.
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That's all for now.