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Pokémon Reborn In-Game Tier List


Truly Deceptive

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What with the new changes in the types of Pokémon available in the game, I've decided to create a tier list of my own detailing the usefulness of the Pokémon that are presently attainable.

S Rank:

Torchic/Combusken/Blaziken

Availability: Starter Pokémon

So, with Pokémon Reborn beginning as it does, you think you're given a fair opportunity to roll with any Pokémon you want; right?

WRONG!

Amongst an overwhelming number of the game's fanbase, Torchic is accepted as perhaps the best starter the game provides, if not the best Pokémon outright. The game can be insanely difficult with only a Water-type in the beginning, and potentially a Pansear to accommodate its weakness to Grass-types, which are so common throughout the game that it can be completely overwhelming. The prevalence of Grass-types, Flying-types, Poison-types, and Bug-types throughout the game also makes it difficult for Grass-type starters to deal with, given their typically low offensive stats.

That's enough of a digression into why Fire-type starters are usually favored over those of other types. Naturally, with Speed Boost and an excellent Fire/Fighting type coverage, Torchic is one of the most preferred Starter Pokémon. Although Speed Boost might not appear as if it's that big a deal to have at the beginning of the game, it can prove to be a lifesaver as the game progresses, especially when coupled with Blaziken's insane 120 Attack stat, precluding the opportunity for other Pokémon to afflict much damage upon it in the first place.

Chimchar/Monferno/Infernape

Availability: Starter Pokémon

An excellent mixed attacker with fantastic damage on both sides of the metagame. Iron Fist is really only useful for Mach Punch throughout the game (unless you plan to have other moves bred onto it), but a priority attack with increased power can prove to deal a remarkable extent of damage, and it's a move that it receives upon its initial evolution incredibly early in the game, at level 14. Its blistering statistics in Attack, Special Attack, and Speed, especially coupled with its diverse movepool, make it arguably the best starter in the game.

Froakie/Frogadier/Greninja

Availability: Starter Pokémon

Water-types are horribly disadvantaged in the beginning of the game, with horrid weaknesses to the types of the first two Gym Leaders in the game, and the commonplace Grass-types thereafter. Froakie is the exception. Considering the removal of Gyarados as of late, Froakie outclasses virtually every Water-type in the game, and Protean has a fantastic use in changing Froakie's type to better resist its foes' attacks. Although its attacks are ofttimes thought of as weak, there aren't many stronger attacks in the game in general, and its stats and ability permit it to mete out a high measure of damage in several types (namely Water, Normal, Dark, and Rock).

Bunnelby/Diggersby

Availability: 2 Badges

With Huge Power, it deals immense damage. Its movepool is versatile, containing decent Normal-type and Ground-type STAB moves initially, and it learns Double Kick upon reaching level 20, at which point it also evolves. It gains Dig later on at level 37, followed by Bounce for pesky Fighting-types and Grass-types at level 42, and its movepool is consistently useful thanks to its powerful attacks (you can also use a Heart Scale to give it Swords Dance, Hammer Arm, and Agility early). It gains Earthquake at level 57 and Hammer Arm at level 60. It's available quite early (shortly after the 2nd Gym); it can be found in the Beryl Graveyard or in Rhodochrine Cave.

A Rank:

Turtwig/Grotle/Torterra

Availability: Starter Pokémon

Turtwig is widely regarded by a great deal of people as the best Grass-type starter in the game. Its offensive stats are high, its typing is great, and its movepool is immense. It does well against the first Gym Leader, and retains its utility throughout the game. It's amazing if you want the game to be a bit of a challenge, but you should give due consideration to its quadruple weakness to Ice-type attacks. Although you'll eventually encounter some opposing Pokémon with insane advantages against it, you'll probably have a balanced team once you reach that point in the game, if you find a good Water-type. Good luck with that.

Ralts/Kirlia/Gardevoir/Gallade

Availability: 0 Badges

Ralts is accessible very early on in the game. Initially, it only knows Growl, so you have to raise it by swapping it out with a stronger Pokémon in the beginning. Even afterwards, once it gains Confusion, its weak stats have a tendency to be overestimated by some people (including myself). On the other hand, its stats gradually become more and more useful throughout the game as it evolves. Its movepool is also great, with Magical Leaf as a Kirlia and Psychic later on, and Moonblast if you care to spend a Heart Scale on it as a Gardevoir while it's young. It can also be bred with other Pokémon to receive moves such as Will-O-Wisp and Shadow Ball (or even Shadow Sneak from Shuppet, although why anyone would want to evolve it into Gallade is beyond me). In a summation, it grows to be an excellent Pokémon, although leveling it is always a colossal pain in the ass.

Magnemite/Magneton/Magnezone

Availability: 3 Badges

Great movepool, good offensive stats (despite its low speed), good defense, and you'll probably already have something to balance it out that can take care of Fire-types and Ground-types on your team. Oh, wait; you won't. Its STAB is remarkable, and it can be caught early on in the game (quite conveniently, immediately prior to facing the 4th Gym Leader; the first two Gym Leaders have types that resist it, which foretells that it might be even more useful later on, once people reach the Water-type and Flying-type Gyms). It's great if you need a good Electric-type attacker to balance out a team.

Gastly/Haunter/Gengar

Availability: 4 Badges

This thing is an absolute monster. It wrecks anything that doesn't resist its STAB typing that stands in its way (that is, as a Gengar). It isn't obtained until later on in the game (after defeating the 6th Gym Leader you meet, even though you only get 4 badges), from an insanely difficult side-quest. Even with a limited moveset (hell; even with only Shadow Ball), it can take care of about half the things you'll face. If you ask me, Amethyst shouldn't have made the Linkstone available until much later, so that we'd have to stick with Haunter.

B Rank:

Mudkip/Marshtomp/Swampert

Availability: Starter Pokémon

It's a jack-of-all-trades Water-type Pokémon; it has good stats for tanking on both sides, despite being somewhat slow. Its movepool is quite diverse, consisting of remarkably strong Water-type moves that rely on Attack and Special Attack (Muddy Water serves as a reliable surrogate for Surf, learned at level 39; it wreaks chaos amongst non-resistant Pokémon on opposing teams), Earthquake at level 52, Endeavor at level 61 (if you think that gimmicky move could prove to be useful at some point on it), Hammer Arm at level 69 (or upon evolution, if you'd like to use a Heart Scale), and Ice Beam (if you cared to breed for it). Unlike most of the other Water-type starters, it actually stands a chance against Julia. Keep in mind that it has a quadruple damage weakness against Grass-type attacks; also, it's nigh-useless against Florinia and in the recurring matches against Fern.

Noibat/Noivern

Availability: 0 Badges

It's surprisingly useful, despite its pitiful stats in its unevolved form. It holds its own for the initial part of the game, and it's a godsend in the fight against Florinia. It's reliant upon Gust for levels 11-23. Although its Attack stat is awful, Bite and Wing Attack have such high Base Power that, should you care to use them, it hardly even matters. Noibat learns Air Cutter (which, for that point in the game, is excellent) at level 23. It learns Roost at level 27, which serves to make it more useful if you're intent on leveling it all the way to level 48, its point of evolution; it's a lovely move in those battles in which you run out of healing items (sadly, as you progress, its underwhelming stats become terrible in relation to what you face; on the other hand, if you do keep its level high, you could already have a Noivern once you reach Gastly, or even Kiki, which would be absolutely glorious).

Abra/Kadabra/Alakazam

Availability: 8 Badges

It's got fantastic offensive stats, and it has a great offensive movepool, but, by the time you reach it in the game, you'll probably already have a Gardevoir. It also has a wonderful ability (Magic Guard, of course). It used to be available quite early, and Kadabra proved to be good competition with the Gardevoir line, but then it got removed. It was added later, and, now, there's little reason to use it unless your team isn't already full. Yep; looks like Amethyst shouldn't have made the Linkstone accessible until much, much later; oh, well. On the other hand, if you do have room on your team for some reason (or, regardless, decide that you want to use it, anyways), then it's excellent.

C Rank:

Charmander/Charmeleon/Charizard

Availability: Starter Pokémon

It has a decent movepool and average stats, although its quadruple weakness is terrible. It's quite useful early on, against the numerous Grass-types and Bug-types. Dragon Rage at level 16 (immediately followed by evolution into Charmeleon) is amazing, and makes the first parts of the game a breeze, but, then, its usefulness tends to steadily decline. It can get moves like Dragon Claw, Flare Blitz, Air Slash, or Shadow Claw, if you care to spend a Heart Scale on any of them.

Cyndaquil/Quilava/Typhlosion

Availability: Starter Pokémon

It has a limited movepool and the same stats as Charizard, although with a better typing. It learns Eruption way too late, at level 74.

Totodile/Croconaw/Feraligatr

Availability: Starter Pokémon

Its movepool is alright, save for the lack of an actually useful Water-type move until it learns Aqua Tail at level 63. Ice Fang is useful, but it's difficult to defeat the first two Gym Leaders with it nonetheless.

Tepig/Pignite/Emboar

Availability: Starter Pokémon

Its offensive stats are pitiful, and, while Fire/Fighting isn't a bad type combination, it's simply outclassed by the other two Fire/Fighting starters. Its movepool is decent, but its Speed is low. It makes the game more challenging, at least.

D Rank:

F Rank:

More will be added later, and you're always free to post suggestions; I'll take into account everything substantive that anyone may have to say.

Edited by Truly Deceptive
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I like this tier list (Gyarados R.I.P.) but shouldn't Alakazam be at least B tier? Offensively it's a monster (like Gengar) the only drawback is that you get it too late but hey you can always grind (like i did for Metagross and Tyrantrum)

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Blaziken is pretty overrated. Due to the lack of life orb/swords dance, blaziken frequently fails to outright 1hko a foe, and will get worn out quickly due to lacklaster defenses. Reliance on recoil moves also makes him poor at going through random fodder you encounter along the way.

Greninja suffers from an aweful movepool due to the lack of decent TMs to make good use of protean. Without all the TM moves, it's lackluster at best.

Infernape is significantly better than the other 2, being powerful, reliable, and not TM dependent.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Diggersby:

+ Avaliable after second gym.

+ Insanely powerful (especially when EV trained with decent IVs)

+ High powered and accurate dual stabs with good neutral coverage.

+ (Barely) fast enough to outspeed most threats with speed EV investments.

- Takes a while to find one with good IVs and huge power, and even longer to EV train one. (looking at a few hrs of effort)

- Not that great if not properly EV trained.

- Gets completely screwed over by haunter/gengar due to lack of TMs for coverage.

On my main playthrough, I was lucky enough to find an adamant diggersby with 30 att and 28 speed IVs. After EV training, it OHKO almost anything that doesn't resist it. Bulky resists typically gets 2hko'd, while less bulky ones dying in 1 hit anyways. Being able to actually outspeed almost everything helps too. (Hey, the AI pokemon apparently have terrible IVs and EVs...)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Azumarill:

+ Avaliable after second gym.

+ Significantly stronger than the water starters, often able to 1hko the foe.

+ Bulky, can take quite a beating.

+ Good stab combination.

- Breeding aqua jet won't happen anytime soon, combined with unsalvageably low speed causes it to almost always tank a hit before striking back.

- Unreliable accuracy, while 90% isn't bad, it isn't reliable enough given reborn's difficulty curve and the fact that you are constantly getting hit.

- Takes ages to evolve from the useless azuril due to being friendship evolution before you get a bicycle or enough cash to keep giving it haircuts.

- Stuck with only one stab for quite some time, as play rough won't be avaliable until lvl 50.

Edited by Hally
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Blaziken is pretty overrated. Due to the lack of life orb/swords dance, blaziken frequently fails to outright 1hko a foe, and will get worn out quickly due to lacklaster defenses. Reliance on recoil moves also makes him poor at going through random fodder you encounter along the way.

Greninja suffers from an aweful movepool due to the lack of decent TMs to make good use of protean. Without all the TM moves, it's lackluster at best.

Infernape is significantly better than the other 2, being powerful, reliable, and not TM dependent.

you can't be more wrong about Blaziken. It got Bulk up by level up, and Bluk up is good enough for him, after one boost, max atk blaziken still OHKO anything with STAB High Jump Kick (195 base Atk counting STAB) and Flare Blitz (180 base). AND you think it can't learn Sword Dance?? don't make me laugh, you just don't know how to teach him Sword dance :v :v, and it ONLY need life orb for UBER pokemons, not in-game mediocre pkms. and for Greninja is the same issue. you just don't know how to teach him good move without TMs, I CAN get greninja with this moveset: Hydro Pump/ Ice Beam/ Dark Pulse/ Extrasensory- is that powerful enough??? or even Infernape without elemental punch is not that good.

and you don't know how Azumaril can get BOTH AQUA Jet AND WATERFALL. so the "90% acc" doesn't matter :v. and i think your Diggersby don't have Return too, am i right?? :)

all of this required breeding. so if you want a powerful pokemon, don't say something like:"it's so late to get this pokemon, so it's not worth". it's ridiculous. you want something--> you have to give much effort to get it.

Edited by gutten_tag
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I'll consider moving Abra up, but it really does take too much time to get that far into the game.

Blaziken is pretty overrated. Due to the lack of life orb/swords dance, blaziken frequently fails to outright 1hko a foe, and will get worn out quickly due to lacklaster defenses. Reliance on recoil moves also makes him poor at going through random fodder you encounter along the way.

Greninja suffers from an aweful movepool due to the lack of decent TMs to make good use of protean. Without all the TM moves, it's lackluster at best.

Infernape is significantly better than the other 2, being powerful, reliable, and not TM dependent.

I agree, but the point I was trying to make is that Blaziken's held in high regard for good reason; it does do high damage without taking much in exchange, even if it is only notorious due to all the excessive hype. I prefer Infernape over any of the other starters myself. Additionally, Greninja does only begin with Water-type and Normal-type moves, but it's certainly better than any of the alternatives, and it's still quite effective (certainly worthwhile) even dealing neutral damage between the two; what's exceptionally good about it is that it's reliable throughout the game, can avoid facing as much damage as it would otherwise have to take, and ends up being remarkably strong when it was already a capable Pokémon to begin with (and it's going to have even more use seeing how Gyarados has been removed).

I also heard that the Azurill event has been altered.

I'll take Diggersby into consideration; I've never used it myself.

Edited by Truly Deceptive
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this needs to be edited but if you remember in peridot, if you get a bibarel you can trade it for an abra. Unless it was changed in episode 11, that needs to be edited. Plus the linkstone can be retrieved after shelly, or after Aya.

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this needs to be edited but if you remember in peridot, if you get a bibarel you can trade it for an abra. Unless it was changed in episode 11, that needs to be edited. Plus the linkstone can be retrieved after shelly, or after Aya.

Yeah; the Abra in the trade has been replaced by Litleo (what's really screwy is that you get a Linkstone itself before you get the opportunity to capture any of the Pokémon with whom it's actually used).

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Yea, the event was changed from Abra to Litleo.

Blaziken is pretty overrated. Due to the lack of life orb/swords dance, blaziken frequently fails to outright 1hko a foe, and will get worn out quickly due to lacklaster defenses. Reliance on recoil moves also makes him poor at going through random fodder you encounter along the way.

I agree that Blaziken is overrated, even though I used it. But Blaziken can oko many pokemon with High Jump Kick itself. Bulk Up is a fine replacement for Swords Dance, which can be breeded onto Blaziken, and you definetely don't need a Life Orb as most of the pokemon you're facing aren't top-notch quality pokemon. And to be honest, I don't see why you need to kill random fodder when you just run away from them..

Edited by ~Derpy Simon
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Missing one HJK means you probalby lost your blaziken. The sheer number of random battles you fight in a playthrough makes HJK misses more annoying than ever. I prefer brick break over HJK for the reliability, but brick break requires swords dance for sufficient power, bulk up often falls short of the 1hkos. It takes far too long to breed the swords dance and brick break onto your torchic (and hope it has good IVs.) I really don't believe it's worth all that time spent if you are not doing a specific challenge.

If you don't mind all the HJK miss induced soft-resets, you probably don't even need a setup move. Frequently resetting in a playthrough doesn't feel S rank worthy in my opinion.

I honestly consider infernape to be much better than blaziken for playthroughs.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As for breeding a froakie with a good movepool... well, by the time you get that done and train up your new greninja; you'd probably beat luna already if you simply went with chimchar as your starter instead.

EDIT: by random fodder, I mean all the random trainer battles you encounter along the way. There aren't many outside of reborn city, but I don't think that's a trend to stay. Restarting random trainer battles because blaziken missed a HJK is just too annoying.

Edited by Hally
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Froakie doesn't need a good movepool to be bred with; it gains progressively stronger moves as you play through the game (albeit very slowly). Furthermore, its strength coupled with its ability is fantastic. In fact, its strength in Attack and Special Attack in addition to its excellent Speed is good on its own.

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Froakie is pretty underwhelming until the shade gym, and fails pretty badly at luna. I just don't feel it's S rank worthy, as the level up moves just aren't strong enough against all the opponents you come up against.

Edited by Hally
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Froakie is pretty underwhelming until the shade gym, and fails pretty badly at luna. I just don't feel it's S rank worthy, as the level up moves just aren't strong enough against all the opponents you come up against.

That is an excellent point.

That is, if you're using it on its own. It still handles a considerable extent of the adversaries you'll encounter overall, even if it does have trouble against Gym Leaders and bosses. It prevails against nearly all of the opposing Pokémon you face, and, as I'd mentioned earlier, all the Water-type starters are nigh-useless against the Gym Leaders in the beginning. Froakie's the only one that can still be useful even then (mainly with Quick Attack), and it gets even better throughout the game.

Edited by Truly Deceptive
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I guess I'm just spoiled too much by diggersby, which handles pretty much everything except for the gengars and super high level special pokemons. I do feel greninja (with just level up moves) is a step down from infernape though, in terms of what it can handle.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Also, how will double battles be dealt with? Some gyms are double battle gyms, and there will be more doubles in the future from the sounding of pledge move changes.

Flygon + diggersby works extremely well in doubles, but flygon is mediocre at best in singles; how will pokemon like flygon be rated.

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Is there anything special about this one over mine? It is a lot less filled out, and mine is still updated to the current episode. I havnt done anything recently because of the forums bugging out and my computer crashing, but i will be replacing it relatively soon.

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Also, how will double battles be dealt with? Some gyms are double battle gyms, and there will be more doubles in the future from the sounding of pledge move changes.

I have some problems with this tier listing thread already (such as no mention of Dragon Rage making Charmeleon wipe the floor with the first two gyms -no contest- in roughly 7 turns, can almost guarantee Ralts not being 0-badge-available, etc), but I wanted to make a quick point that the implementation written for the pledge moves allows for single battles and double battles to use them in a similar fashion and doesn't imply increased amount of double battles per se.

So, with Pokémon Reborn beginning as it does, you think you're given a fair opportunity to roll with any Pokémon you want; right?

I'm also not sure why anyone would think this ... or why there's a need for a second tier list at all, but I digress.

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'twas a joke made in jest.

...but kind of a shame that it does tend to be the case (Water-type starters just can't win, and some Pokémon are shamefully outclassed).

Oh; also, I'd completely forgotten about Dragon Rage Charmeleon. Thanks for reminding me.

Edited by Truly Deceptive
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...but kind of a shame that it does tend to be the case (Water-type starters just can't win, and some Pokémon are shamefully outclassed).

Not sure I agree with this either (Mudkip is great, Oshawott does well in BW2 and holds its own in BW1, and Reborn allowing for Protean Froakie lets it run circles around the AI. Additionally Bulbasaur and Turtwig are great, and Chespin is decent as well).

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Yeah, there really is no point to this thread, seeing as we already have a tier list thread that works well enough and is much more comprehensive in the number of pokemon it covers.

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(Water-type starters just can't win, and some Pokémon are shamefully outclassed)

im using swampert and i can say that pokemon save me a lot of times, and totally owns gym leaders like the first one, aya, and cain can´t touch you with him

Edited by Reiko
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Yeah, there really is no point to this thread, seeing as we already have a tier list thread that works well enough and is much more comprehensive in the number of pokemon it covers.

Khey wasn't here for a while (@Khey: I understand the situation completely though. Forums went down for a while, and most people bar Vinny has a life, so there's that too), and as you may or may not know: Old topics gets replaced by updated ones.

I'm not going to lock this topic, but Khey's list does have a lot of info already. On the worse case, i could change this into a discussion topic and pin a topic just for the tier list, much like RD's Reborn guide.

But i'll see what we can do about that in the future

and by future i mean next week since i have to tests. So yeah ^^

Edited by Vinny953
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Khey wasn't here for a while, and as you may or may not know: Old topics gets replaced by updated ones.

I'm not going to lock this topic, but Khey's list does have a lot of info already. On the worse case, i could change this into a discussion topic and pin a topic just for the tier list, much like RD's Reborn guide.

But i'll see what we can do about that in the future

and by future i mean next week since i have to tests. So yeah ^^

Fair enough. You're a mod and I'm not so you know better than me how stuff works around here. I'll trust you to do whatever's best.

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  • Veterans

RIP Crobat He used to be a A MURDERER now he is still good but his rather late accesibility makes him a bit less usefull id say A tier

Here is why He has a great moveset with oves such as acrobatics Confuse ray Poison fang and Others With breeding he can become a good specialy offensive pokemon because he can get Nasty plot that way

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Khey wasn't here for a while (@Khey: I understand the situation completely though. Forums went down for a while, and most people bar Vinny has a life, so there's that too), and as you may or may not know: Old topics gets replaced by updated ones.

I'm not going to lock this topic, but Khey's list does have a lot of info already. On the worse case, i could change this into a discussion topic and pin a topic just for the tier list, much like RD's Reborn guide.

But i'll see what we can do about that in the future

and by future i mean next week since i have to tests. So yeah ^^

I think that would be an excellent idea. :)

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