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GSC In-Game Tier List Mk. IV
- Thread starter Random Passerby
- Start date
- Status
Log time! Again, not as detailed as I'd like them to be because I got no PC rn.
1st Gym ~ 2nd Gym
Wooper is slow. Mud-Slap ain't strong. Needs lots of switch-grinding. Very underleveled since it comes at Lv. 4.
Lv. 8 Wooper is available near Swift TM.
Doesn't really matter tho. It's easy to get levels off the Hikers in Union Cave. Avoids significant backtrack too.
Once caught up, Wooper can hit fairly hard, especially with Slam. But it's slow, frail and Water Gun is underwhelming against mons that aren't weak to it.
Cyndaquil evolved at Bugsy's Gym.
All members were at Lv. 14 before facing Bugsy, so the level curve already looks troublesome.
1st Gym ~ 2nd Gym
Wooper is slow. Mud-Slap ain't strong. Needs lots of switch-grinding. Very underleveled since it comes at Lv. 4.
Lv. 8 Wooper is available near Swift TM.
Doesn't really matter tho. It's easy to get levels off the Hikers in Union Cave. Avoids significant backtrack too.
Once caught up, Wooper can hit fairly hard, especially with Slam. But it's slow, frail and Water Gun is underwhelming against mons that aren't weak to it.
Cyndaquil evolved at Bugsy's Gym.
All members were at Lv. 14 before facing Bugsy, so the level curve already looks troublesome.
Attempt 1 - Wooper got outsped by Metapod. 
I want to dump this mon right now.
It got outsped by Kakuna too.
Kakuna at +1 Def eats Slams like Scooby Snacks. Just use Water Gun.
Got poisoned on the first Poison Sting. *Bleep*. There goes my sweep.
Water Gun does the same damage as Slam against +1 Def. That's... Horrible.
R3 - Wooper Vs Scyther.
Slam did between 25~30%... On a crit.
This doesn't look good at all. Water Gun does like, 10%.
Lv. 14 Wooper just can't handle Bugsy *at all.* it struggled against the cocoons for crying out loud.
Attempt 2 - Good lawd, Spearow is ignorant.
2HKO Metapod and Kakuna, 3HKO Scyther. Scyther outspeeds, but Spearow tanked a Crit 3rd Fury Cutter. Just a complete rout. This mon looks legit unstoppable early-game.
Attempt 3 - Quilava 2HKOs Metapod, but it got a String Shot in.
It's interesting how the cocoons can do just enough to disrupt a sweep.
Quilava vs Scyther is a 4HKO with Ember. It could be just a bad roll though.
Scyther moving first is a problem because it can stack Fury Cutters.
Level up off Scyther allowed Quilava to clinch the OHKO on Kakuna. Between it and a held Berry, no threat outside of a Crit Cutter.
Attempt 4 - Exactly the same. Doesn't look like Quilava can 3HKO. Scyther does outspeed without String Shot.
Attempt 5 - Using Wooper vs the Cocoons and Quilava vs. Scyther.
Water Gun is a 4HKO on both. Embarrassing.
R3 - Quilava vs Scyther.
Quick Attack is dangerous. 15 dmg. (29/44). Bugsy's AI is dumb and goes for Fury Cutter tho. Still... 3HKO vs 4HKO and it's not how you'd expect for Quilava.
I want to dump this mon right now.
It got outsped by Kakuna too.
Kakuna at +1 Def eats Slams like Scooby Snacks. Just use Water Gun.
Got poisoned on the first Poison Sting. *Bleep*. There goes my sweep.
Water Gun does the same damage as Slam against +1 Def. That's... Horrible.
R3 - Wooper Vs Scyther.
Slam did between 25~30%... On a crit.
This doesn't look good at all. Water Gun does like, 10%.
Lv. 14 Wooper just can't handle Bugsy *at all.* it struggled against the cocoons for crying out loud.
Attempt 2 - Good lawd, Spearow is ignorant.
2HKO Metapod and Kakuna, 3HKO Scyther. Scyther outspeeds, but Spearow tanked a Crit 3rd Fury Cutter. Just a complete rout. This mon looks legit unstoppable early-game.
Attempt 3 - Quilava 2HKOs Metapod, but it got a String Shot in.
It's interesting how the cocoons can do just enough to disrupt a sweep.
Quilava vs Scyther is a 4HKO with Ember. It could be just a bad roll though.
Scyther moving first is a problem because it can stack Fury Cutters.
Level up off Scyther allowed Quilava to clinch the OHKO on Kakuna. Between it and a held Berry, no threat outside of a Crit Cutter.
Attempt 4 - Exactly the same. Doesn't look like Quilava can 3HKO. Scyther does outspeed without String Shot.
Attempt 5 - Using Wooper vs the Cocoons and Quilava vs. Scyther.
Water Gun is a 4HKO on both. Embarrassing.
R3 - Quilava vs Scyther.
Quick Attack is dangerous. 15 dmg. (29/44). Bugsy's AI is dumb and goes for Fury Cutter tho. Still... 3HKO vs 4HKO and it's not how you'd expect for Quilava.
Attempt 1 - Spearow 3HKOs Gastly with Peck. Got hit with Hypnosis once, but had an Awakening lying on the bag.
Swift 2HKOs Zubat. Bite does 9 dmg in return. (31/40HP)
Croconaw is a problem. Swift 5HKOs.
It used Rage, so I'm taking that chance to soften it with Leer.
No dice. It went back to Water Gun and KOd Spearow. The held Berry barely bought some time. Reset.
Attempt 2 - Wooper's Mud-Slap 2HKOs Gastly and helps to neuter Hypnosis. It does get outsped by the ghost, so if it hits turn 1, you're borked.
Crit Bite from Zubat does 17 dmg (29/46HP left) Slam is a 3HKO (Ironically, I got a crit too.)
Croconaw is *definitely* a problem. 17 dmg on Water Gun. Mud-Slap does nothing. Sweep not possible outside extreme hax. Reset.
Attempt 3 - Ember 2HKOs Gastly. Hypnosis hit Turn 1, Lick Paralyzed Turn 2.
Ok game, I see you.
Croc's Water Gun smokes Quilava. 23 dmg. No surprises there. Reset.
Attempt 4 - Teamwork makes the dream work!
R1 - Wooper vs Gastly, Hypnosis missed Turn 1. Landed a Mud-Slap.
Hypnosis hits on Turn 2.
So let's do some quick math. Iirc, all status moves by the AI have a 25% accuracy penalty in this game. Including Leer and the like. Will confirm this later.
Then Hypnosis has a 60% hit rate.
Then Gastly was at -1 Acc because of Mud-Slap.
And it still hit. Bullshit!!!
R2 - Quilava vs Zubat.
Ember 3HKOs. Got a crit on the 2nd one tho. We take those.
R3 - Quilava and Spearow vs Croconaw.
Got a Leer off with Quil. Water Gun put me straight in the yellow tho. (23/47HP)
Berry kicked in. Got another Leer. Swap to Spearow and hope for the best...
17 dmg on the switch. Good lord.
I do not have the tools to beat this fool 1v1.
Swift vs -2 Croc is a 3HKO. Now I get why Croc is S-Tier. Got Leer'd.
It got Scratch. 20 dmg at -1. This is gonna be close...
Swift clinches the win. Phew. That was *ugly.*
Nothing I had handled Croc well *at all.*
Swift 2HKOs Zubat. Bite does 9 dmg in return. (31/40HP)
Croconaw is a problem. Swift 5HKOs.
It used Rage, so I'm taking that chance to soften it with Leer.
No dice. It went back to Water Gun and KOd Spearow. The held Berry barely bought some time. Reset.
Attempt 2 - Wooper's Mud-Slap 2HKOs Gastly and helps to neuter Hypnosis. It does get outsped by the ghost, so if it hits turn 1, you're borked.
Crit Bite from Zubat does 17 dmg (29/46HP left) Slam is a 3HKO (Ironically, I got a crit too.)
Croconaw is *definitely* a problem. 17 dmg on Water Gun. Mud-Slap does nothing. Sweep not possible outside extreme hax. Reset.
Attempt 3 - Ember 2HKOs Gastly. Hypnosis hit Turn 1, Lick Paralyzed Turn 2.
Ok game, I see you.
Croc's Water Gun smokes Quilava. 23 dmg. No surprises there. Reset.
Attempt 4 - Teamwork makes the dream work!
R1 - Wooper vs Gastly, Hypnosis missed Turn 1. Landed a Mud-Slap.
Hypnosis hits on Turn 2.
So let's do some quick math. Iirc, all status moves by the AI have a 25% accuracy penalty in this game. Including Leer and the like. Will confirm this later.
Then Hypnosis has a 60% hit rate.
Then Gastly was at -1 Acc because of Mud-Slap.
And it still hit. Bullshit!!!
R2 - Quilava vs Zubat.
Ember 3HKOs. Got a crit on the 2nd one tho. We take those.
R3 - Quilava and Spearow vs Croconaw.
Got a Leer off with Quil. Water Gun put me straight in the yellow tho. (23/47HP)
Berry kicked in. Got another Leer. Swap to Spearow and hope for the best...
17 dmg on the switch. Good lord.
I do not have the tools to beat this fool 1v1.
Swift vs -2 Croc is a 3HKO. Now I get why Croc is S-Tier. Got Leer'd.
It got Scratch. 20 dmg at -1. This is gonna be close...
Swift clinches the win. Phew. That was *ugly.*
Nothing I had handled Croc well *at all.*
a) uh-huh. That's what happens when you fight all trainers and don't have another party members to give experience to. Obviously won't be factoring much into my assessment of its ranking. Edit: to be clear, I fought wilds up to lv 7, then only trainers from there.
b) hit the B button too fast, oops
Yeah, I ran into the same problem. Hit Lv. 9 (after beating the Gym Trainers first) in the middle of Sprout Tower.
Naturally, I just backtracked and ran the Gym tests at Lv. 9 then ran them again at Lv. 11 (Post-Tower).
It's all good tho, if you're not taking that matchup into account there's no problem.
I'm p sure in the almost two decades since I first got Gold the lowest level I've ever been at for Falkner in dozens of casual runs is 11. Seems reasonable to expect an average person to be no lower than that too.
It is, but I can't tell aegon the unlikely that he's going overboard and then not say anything when you post a log at Lv. 15.
Besides, for the purposes of testing, it's better to test first at an even level to get a real feel for a mon's performance and then optionally test them again with the extra levels.
Yea there always tends to be one or two spots in each of the games where the Leader really shouldn't factor much into a ranking, just structurally. Falkner is pretty irrelevant for GSC with the exception of the Bugs and Chikorita. Can make similar arguments for Pryce, Erika in FRLG, and Winona in RSE. At least where Falkner is concerned the leader of Sprout Tower is even higher leveled than Pidgeotto but is also likely to be done first due to the plethora of Bellsprout free experience, so I don't consider it unreasonable to have a wide spread of levels for this stage of the early game. A two mon team would sit level 12 or 13 and even that is grossly overleveled by normal conventions, but structurally its fairly unavoidable, so I would argue that intentionally challenging him with a level 9 party is actually harming the test conditions as the average player won't ever fight him under those same conditions. There's always some room for flexibility in the early game in any case, as there is a large degree of variance in when someone will add additional members to their team. In many ways this is why we rely on the collection of tests for the thread leader to make their placement, to account for these variances.
I did a run where I got to the Elite 4 with Sandshrew, Drowzee, Scyther and Meowth, I'm starting a new run but figured I'd give my thoughts on them up to this point.
I think people will disagree but I feel like Drowzee could move up a tier. My log isn't meant to say that you need to use all these items for Drowzee to be a good Pokemon because Drowzee isn't soloing the game. It allows you to overcome whatever problem your team has without resorting to leveling on wild Pokemon. The cost of these items is fine unless you want multiple Game Corner TM's. A lot of people don't like x items but you can also can beat a pokemon 1v1 and then use a potion to beat another. It's either the best C or one of the worst B tiers and it feels closer to B to me.
Sandshrew starts off amazing. Mud Slap is actually a good move when it's super effective STAB at that point in the game and Swift is closeby. It beats every trainer in Union Cave by itself, although 10 PP means you'll be returning the Pokemon Center outside of it a couple times if it's your only Pokemon as it was mine. From there it has an easy time against Bugsy at 16, being able to Defense Curl a couple times Metapod then using a couple Sand Attacks to prevent Scyther from stacking Fury Cutter. A lower level should be fine as well, just needing more Defense Curls and Sand Attacks.
The second rival fight is less kind to it though. Ghastly is fine if you use the prz berry or just get lucky but Croconaw 2HKOs. You can beat it with mud slap and then using potions to fish for misses but it's not a good time. Swift is a 4HKO. You're also slower than Zubat so you can deal with confusion and flinches. However if you chose Chikorita, I imagine the fight would be fine, but then you'd have chosen Chikorita.
Sandshrew was level 19 at Whitney, only gaining 1 level since the rival to kill some things that were too strong for my new Pokemon. It's route clearing is still great. You beat Whitney with a Defense Curl and then 2 Rollout hits on each Pokemon. You really only need the first Rollout to hit on Whitney though, unless you get very unlucky to have Rollout stopped and Miltank to heal.
Sandslash was 23 for the third Rival, which might be considered over leveled but right after I'd be fighting Morty with a 25 Gengar, so I consider this fine. Zubat and Magnemite are no problem and Haunter will Curse you taking 25% from you when you Dig. Even though I'm 3 levels higher I'm still slower than Haunter. What really impressed me was Croconaw. Water Gun is a 4HKO and Dig is a 3HKO while you get to move first. This is the first time that Sandslash did something notably better than Geodude.
Morty can go one of two ways for Sandslash. If you're 25 you're faster than the first two ghosts but slower than the last two while one shotting all of them.. This means if you give it your mint berry you sweep Morty while being at level. If you're even one level below however it's a lot worse. You're slower than all but Ghastly so you'll be dealing with Curse from Haunter while using a two turn attack, needing to switch out. You now miss the KO on Gengar and while an X Speed and X Attack could fix this you would also need potions to deal with the Curse Damage when using Dig.
I'm pretty sure if it didn't evolve it wouldn't handle the trainers on the way to Cianwood but it still remains a good route pokemon, with few of these even using their water moves. I was level 27 for Chuck who was Sandslashes first real problem. Primape was a 4HKO with Strength, but outside of Karate Chop crits barely damages back. You could easily use it to set up X items for Poliwrath but X items won't save you from Poliwrath. Without them Strength is a 5 or 6HKO while Surf takes you down from full. If you have no alternatives could use the X item strategy and something else to finish Poliwrath off, but this is not a good showing for Sandslash. I can't make an argument for it being underleveled because I took a detour and went to clear all the trainers on the way to Lake of Rage and the Rockets but wasn't willing to go to Union Cave of find the trainers on the way to Cianwood that I missed.
I was at 28 for Jasmine who is a good match for being 8 levels below Steelix. You can use the Magnemites to set up 6 Defense Curls and X attacks. Without them Dig 9HKO's Steelix when including her Hyper Potion and Iron Tail 2HKO's you.
Pryce at 29 is luck dependant. You need to hit 3 Rollouts on Seal who 4HKO's you without getting an Icy Wind speed drop on it's two chances to attack. You one shot the rest even with an attack drop.
At Sandslash will not be contributing to the Clair fight, and even if you get a few levels from wild Pokemon 3/4 have water or ice coverage with no way to tell which one doesn't. This is definitely the worst gym for Sandslash.
The second rival fight is less kind to it though. Ghastly is fine if you use the prz berry or just get lucky but Croconaw 2HKOs. You can beat it with mud slap and then using potions to fish for misses but it's not a good time. Swift is a 4HKO. You're also slower than Zubat so you can deal with confusion and flinches. However if you chose Chikorita, I imagine the fight would be fine, but then you'd have chosen Chikorita.
Sandshrew was level 19 at Whitney, only gaining 1 level since the rival to kill some things that were too strong for my new Pokemon. It's route clearing is still great. You beat Whitney with a Defense Curl and then 2 Rollout hits on each Pokemon. You really only need the first Rollout to hit on Whitney though, unless you get very unlucky to have Rollout stopped and Miltank to heal.
Sandslash was 23 for the third Rival, which might be considered over leveled but right after I'd be fighting Morty with a 25 Gengar, so I consider this fine. Zubat and Magnemite are no problem and Haunter will Curse you taking 25% from you when you Dig. Even though I'm 3 levels higher I'm still slower than Haunter. What really impressed me was Croconaw. Water Gun is a 4HKO and Dig is a 3HKO while you get to move first. This is the first time that Sandslash did something notably better than Geodude.
Morty can go one of two ways for Sandslash. If you're 25 you're faster than the first two ghosts but slower than the last two while one shotting all of them.. This means if you give it your mint berry you sweep Morty while being at level. If you're even one level below however it's a lot worse. You're slower than all but Ghastly so you'll be dealing with Curse from Haunter while using a two turn attack, needing to switch out. You now miss the KO on Gengar and while an X Speed and X Attack could fix this you would also need potions to deal with the Curse Damage when using Dig.
I'm pretty sure if it didn't evolve it wouldn't handle the trainers on the way to Cianwood but it still remains a good route pokemon, with few of these even using their water moves. I was level 27 for Chuck who was Sandslashes first real problem. Primape was a 4HKO with Strength, but outside of Karate Chop crits barely damages back. You could easily use it to set up X items for Poliwrath but X items won't save you from Poliwrath. Without them Strength is a 5 or 6HKO while Surf takes you down from full. If you have no alternatives could use the X item strategy and something else to finish Poliwrath off, but this is not a good showing for Sandslash. I can't make an argument for it being underleveled because I took a detour and went to clear all the trainers on the way to Lake of Rage and the Rockets but wasn't willing to go to Union Cave of find the trainers on the way to Cianwood that I missed.
I was at 28 for Jasmine who is a good match for being 8 levels below Steelix. You can use the Magnemites to set up 6 Defense Curls and X attacks. Without them Dig 9HKO's Steelix when including her Hyper Potion and Iron Tail 2HKO's you.
Pryce at 29 is luck dependant. You need to hit 3 Rollouts on Seal who 4HKO's you without getting an Icy Wind speed drop on it's two chances to attack. You one shot the rest even with an attack drop.
At Sandslash will not be contributing to the Clair fight, and even if you get a few levels from wild Pokemon 3/4 have water or ice coverage with no way to tell which one doesn't. This is definitely the worst gym for Sandslash.
I'd like to say that if the game ended at Morty I'd consider Sandshrew a very strong A rank Pokemon, or S rank if the rival has Cyndaquil. It was great for clearing all routes and all major battles except the second Rival's Croconaw and needing to be at level for Gengar. It does need the Mud Slap, Swift and Dig TM's, but I think the ground ones are fair for a ground type to need and you actually don't need Swift to beat Bugsy, it would just take a few more turns. It evolves before it feels like it's falling off which is great. After Morty it loses to Poliwrath, beats Jasmine in a very long fight with a few items if you need it to and as favored but luck dependant to be Pryce while offering nothing against Clair. It's bad against Will, doesn't handle Koga's status well but beats a few of his pokemon and is great against Bruno but bad against Lance. Sandslash at level 37 sweeps Bruno with 3 X Attacks and 0 Potions.
Something I'd be interested about if I were to finish the run is how Sandslash handles Red. I would think it could beat Pikachu and Snorlax naturally but with X items I wonder how well Rollout would do. Overall it's definitely a B rank Pokemon
Something I'd be interested about if I were to finish the run is how Sandslash handles Red. I would think it could beat Pikachu and Snorlax naturally but with X items I wonder how well Rollout would do. Overall it's definitely a B rank Pokemon
Drowzee is not a good Pokemon in the beginning. Learning all the punches and headbutt with it's equal strength offenses sounds good, but your stab move until after the Elite 4 being confusion You won't beat route trainers after catching even with full health unless you use Hypnosis, which feels awful to use in minor battles.
At level 20 Drowzee does ok against Whitney. Clefairy is a 4HKO but you're faster so it's fine with Hypnosis. It's not going to beat Miltank without s x items as confusion is a 6HKO and Rollout is a 3HKO. You can support your team though by having Drowzee Hypnosis and then switch out or if you have no other option buy the x items.
At 22 Drowzee did great in the third rival battle. Zubat, Magnemite and Haunter are all no problem and you 4HKO Croconaw who 4HKO's back with Bite. It's an easy sweep unless for some reason Croconaw only uses Bite, but you can use Hypnosis if you really want.
Morty is fine outside Gengar which OHKO's you. If you had no other options you could win with X items and super potions, but with curse this would take a lot of items.
On the way to Chuck before evolving Drowzee continues to be slow on routes before it evolves. It takes hits well but is slow so the chip damage adds up. In one fight my level 24 Drowzee failed to 1HKO a level 17 Grimer
Drowzee evolves and is a level 26 Hypno against Chuck. Primape is doing <10 damage with rages so even 5 hit Fury Swipes can be shrugged off. This makes it a great chance to use an X speed and X accuracy. Hypno 4HKO's Poliwrath and is 3HKO back so you definitely want to use Hypnosis. You don't need the x items if you use awakenings hit your Hypnosis.
As a level 27 Hypno if you hit your Hypnosis on Steelix, ideally with an X accuracy on a Magnemite you'll be fine. You will to heal paralysis before beating the second Magnemite. Fire Punch will 2HKO magnemites and 3HKO Steelix while Iron Tail 2HKO's back. An x special to need one less hit on everything can also be used to speed up the fight.
A tlevel 28 Hypno is great against Pryce, Seel does 6 damage with Icy Wind and is a 2 shot, Dewgong does 16 with Aurora Beam (6HKO) while being a 3HKO. Piloswine is a 3HKO and can 4HKO if it hits all of it's Blizzards but it's a pretty easy sweep, needing 1 Hypnosis or Potion.
For the forth rival Hypno was level 32, 2HKOing Sneasel and Golbat and 3HKOing Feraligatr. They all hit back for 5HKOs. Magnemite is a 1HKO and so is Haunter when it curses. You sweep without items or Hypnosis thanks to Haunter being last.
Being level 33 at Clair Dragonairs are 2HKO's while only 5HKOing back. Kingdra does 55/107 with Hyper Beam and 45 damage with surf making. I didn't write it down but I'm pretty sure Hypno 5 or 6HKO's which makes it a long but easy win with Hypnosis 2 Potions and a Full heal or a few X items and a Full Heal.
At level 36 Hypno beats the Elite 4, I had Sandslash beat Bruno but Hypno could have, it just would have needed 2 more items. I used 1 full heal, 2 x accuracy, 6 hyper potion, 2 full restore, 5 x speed, 18 x special , 1 x defend and 3 x atk
At level 20 Drowzee does ok against Whitney. Clefairy is a 4HKO but you're faster so it's fine with Hypnosis. It's not going to beat Miltank without s x items as confusion is a 6HKO and Rollout is a 3HKO. You can support your team though by having Drowzee Hypnosis and then switch out or if you have no other option buy the x items.
At 22 Drowzee did great in the third rival battle. Zubat, Magnemite and Haunter are all no problem and you 4HKO Croconaw who 4HKO's back with Bite. It's an easy sweep unless for some reason Croconaw only uses Bite, but you can use Hypnosis if you really want.
Morty is fine outside Gengar which OHKO's you. If you had no other options you could win with X items and super potions, but with curse this would take a lot of items.
On the way to Chuck before evolving Drowzee continues to be slow on routes before it evolves. It takes hits well but is slow so the chip damage adds up. In one fight my level 24 Drowzee failed to 1HKO a level 17 Grimer
Drowzee evolves and is a level 26 Hypno against Chuck. Primape is doing <10 damage with rages so even 5 hit Fury Swipes can be shrugged off. This makes it a great chance to use an X speed and X accuracy. Hypno 4HKO's Poliwrath and is 3HKO back so you definitely want to use Hypnosis. You don't need the x items if you use awakenings hit your Hypnosis.
As a level 27 Hypno if you hit your Hypnosis on Steelix, ideally with an X accuracy on a Magnemite you'll be fine. You will to heal paralysis before beating the second Magnemite. Fire Punch will 2HKO magnemites and 3HKO Steelix while Iron Tail 2HKO's back. An x special to need one less hit on everything can also be used to speed up the fight.
A tlevel 28 Hypno is great against Pryce, Seel does 6 damage with Icy Wind and is a 2 shot, Dewgong does 16 with Aurora Beam (6HKO) while being a 3HKO. Piloswine is a 3HKO and can 4HKO if it hits all of it's Blizzards but it's a pretty easy sweep, needing 1 Hypnosis or Potion.
For the forth rival Hypno was level 32, 2HKOing Sneasel and Golbat and 3HKOing Feraligatr. They all hit back for 5HKOs. Magnemite is a 1HKO and so is Haunter when it curses. You sweep without items or Hypnosis thanks to Haunter being last.
Being level 33 at Clair Dragonairs are 2HKO's while only 5HKOing back. Kingdra does 55/107 with Hyper Beam and 45 damage with surf making. I didn't write it down but I'm pretty sure Hypno 5 or 6HKO's which makes it a long but easy win with Hypnosis 2 Potions and a Full heal or a few X items and a Full Heal.
At level 36 Hypno beats the Elite 4, I had Sandslash beat Bruno but Hypno could have, it just would have needed 2 more items. I used 1 full heal, 2 x accuracy, 6 hyper potion, 2 full restore, 5 x speed, 18 x special , 1 x defend and 3 x atk
Drowzee is one of the best Pokemon at using X items, allowing it to beat everything, even underleveled. It has Hypnosis and great bulk to set them up as well as great coverage to sweep once it is set up. At first it's poor on routes but once it evolves that problem goes away. This makes it great at carrying bad teams through the game
Scyther clears all of Whitney's trainers without healing then beats Whitney with Fury Cutter, killing Miltank with two hits while Rollout only does 40%. Scyther beats Morty's Ghastly and Haunters with switches to clear curse but is 1HKO by Gengar. It did outspeed Gengar so you could chip at it with Awakenings or just switch out once slept to something else that can finish it.
Without grinding wilds you won't be 30 for Chuck meaning no Wing Attack so you 5HKO with Headbutt and Surf 2HKO's back. You can get a couple Leers off Jasmine's Steelix to support a Ground or Fighting type but you probably want a Special attacker to beat it. At level 29 I swept Pryce with Fury Cutter thanks to Seel being to weak, still outspeeding everything with a speed and attack drop. You probably can't take 2 speed drops though. Scyther can't beat a single Dragonair but can get a leer or two on Kingdra depending on your level.
Without grinding wilds you won't be 30 for Chuck meaning no Wing Attack so you 5HKO with Headbutt and Surf 2HKO's back. You can get a couple Leers off Jasmine's Steelix to support a Ground or Fighting type but you probably want a Special attacker to beat it. At level 29 I swept Pryce with Fury Cutter thanks to Seel being to weak, still outspeeding everything with a speed and attack drop. You probably can't take 2 speed drops though. Scyther can't beat a single Dragonair but can get a leer or two on Kingdra depending on your level.
Scyther has great stats but bad moves. It won't win major battles but supports team mates by either chipping down problematic pokemon. I feel like it would have more value once it gets Swords Dance and evolves but will test it to see. It doesn't need Return because it has the speed to get Headbutt flinches.
Meowth is not worth posting a log for. At level 16 is gains 4 levels clearing Morty's trainers, needing to heal once. At 22 it beats all except Gengar who outspeeds, and one shots with Dream Eater but you win with Awakenings and switching to clear Curse. After that it's worthless until Pryce where it can beat the first two Pokemon and it can take down one of Clair's Dragonair. It's one of the worst C Ranks, but still deserves the rank. I actually don't think it would be that bad with Headbutt because I would be able to let it chip then faint without weakening Return.
I think people will disagree but I feel like Drowzee could move up a tier. My log isn't meant to say that you need to use all these items for Drowzee to be a good Pokemon because Drowzee isn't soloing the game. It allows you to overcome whatever problem your team has without resorting to leveling on wild Pokemon. The cost of these items is fine unless you want multiple Game Corner TM's. A lot of people don't like x items but you can also can beat a pokemon 1v1 and then use a potion to beat another. It's either the best C or one of the worst B tiers and it feels closer to B to me.
Wait, you can get Oddish before the rival fight? I always thought he stopped you from going to the forest, I must've looked pretty dumb lol (also that matchup is arguably a big advantage Bellsprout had over Oddish since Croconaw is very tough).
Btw you could always test Bellossom since that's generally overlooked, but I guess getting the Sun Stone and lack of STAB on Sludge Bomb are annoying.
Also have you tried Raince Dance on Poli? It really helped against Morty, being basically able to sweep in 7 turns with a Mint Berry (KO Gastly, put Haunter to sleep, set RD, KO Haunter, 2HKO Gengar and KO the second Haunter on rolls). Pretty cool if you ask me.
I had fun on the water routes, OHKOing the frailer mons like Tenta or Horsea with Quilava's Return and the bigger things (Starmie, Seaking, Gyarados) with Bel's Sludge Bomb. Quil definitely doesn't require Dig after Morty, only casually helping against Koffings in the Hideout. Pidgeotto's Return is stronger than the unSTAB ones but it's still not strong enough to KO fatter mons like Cruel, which means it'll have problems against Chuck.
All my mons are at level 30 without detours (I did Hideout -> Lighthouse -> water routes) so I guess having four Medium Slow really helps here. I'll edit this post later with the three consecutive gym fights.
So let me get this straight.
Drowzee starts off being unable to do basic route clearing unless you resort to Hypnosis after dumping cash on Headbutt and Punches.
Then it gets smoked by Whitney and Morty's Gengar (Gengar being able to OHKO it outright.).
Then it's still weak at route clearing with level and type advantages, it also loses to Chuck's Poliwrath. After evolving.
It also gets smacked around by Jasmine's Steelix, though you should've done Pryce first at that point to bump up your levels a bit. That's way too low.
Then it does pretty well until this.
And then there's this.
And you still advocate for it to get bumped up?
A performance like this would warrant a mon getting kicked down, not brought up, are you kidding me? Lmao
Yeah the Rival doesn't stop you from entering the forest until after you either talk to Kurt or after you clear Slowpoke Well, one of the two idr precisely. No problems getting to Ilex Forest right when you get to Azalea. I'll consider Bellossom, definitely an option - almost of a mind that Gloom might be better solely for the Poison typing. I did try Rain Dance on Poli at first! Quite liked it actually, but I don't see space for it once I evolved to Poliwhirl, current set is Surf / Ice Punch / Headbutt / Hypnosis and all carry clear use.
You can go into the forest before the Well. The Farfetch'd puzzle and Cut HM aren't available until after you clear the Well which also triggers the Rival fight
Hypno beats Chuck's Poliwrath, you just just put it to sleep because you survive two hits from it. I forgot to include it in my post but I tested it at level 30 against Jasmine and it was able to 2HKO, so it wins that matchup too. I actually did try Pryce first, but found Sandslash was just barely not able to get kill Seel with third hit of Rollout and I was close to leveling. I decided to go Jasmine to get a level off the Magnemites and get the hit needed to 2HKO Steelix.
At level 33 Hypno beats the level 40 Kingdra with a Hyper Potion or two depending on Hypnosis luck. A 36 Hypno can solo the Elite 4 with a lot of items. I don't know why you're saying these are negative points for a pokemon to be B tier.
This. That said, I really gotta ask...what do y'all consider ''overleveled''? I don't think a 2-level difference should be bad.
It's relative to the gym leader for me, I could tell you precisely for any RSE gym leader just off of experience of having run it many times. Most gyms ought not to have enough XP to be more than one or two levels higher at most, but sometimes you'll have plenty of xp available to overlevel (e.g. Winona, Erika)
That would be why.
It's hard to figure out. Is Hypno putting in work or are the "1 full heal, 2 x accuracy, 6 hyper potion, 2 full restore, 5 x speed, 18 x special , 1 x defend and 3 x atk" distorting results?
It makes sense that you needed all that stuff to sweep them with a Lv. 36 Hypno when the E4 caps at Lance's Lv. 50 DNite, but it just makes your test a murky blob of inconclusiveness.
Any thoughts about my mini-nominations? A few things I'd like to note: I think I could've beaten Falkner handily with Ember but I just didn't have it this time and wasn't sure if y'all would be chill with me grinding the extra level needed (being L11 and all) in the wild. It also seems that Quilava can beat Whitney with Fury Cutter and/or Rollout, albeit it's not the most reliable of matchups and may require an X-Speed or a Gold Berry to clinch the win and perhaps some Super Potion support. Quilava also does decently against Morty with Mint Berry and Dig (I'd presume Rollout isn't bad either, you can set it up on Gastly and mine outpaced Gengar so speed wasn't an issue) though maybe one or two Super Potions might be appreciated. Being able to reliably cheese one of the toughest Rival matchups, even if not S-Tier due to the setup involved, should still count in his favor for sure.
Phanpy is terrible against Bugsy and okay against the Rival 2 (Mud-Slap, Flail, and item support needed tho) but can basically roll Whitney over and is capable of beating Morty, though not reliably and falls to Rival 3. Granbull does worse against Whitney and better against Morty. I'd say they should fall no lower than C and rise no higher than B, though leaning towards B for both of them. Phanpy does have a bit of a rough patch earlier in the game due to the abundance of Grass and Water-types, whereas Snubbull for a route-buster and a Morty-buster isn't all that consistent in boss battles.
Phanpy is terrible against Bugsy and okay against the Rival 2 (Mud-Slap, Flail, and item support needed tho) but can basically roll Whitney over and is capable of beating Morty, though not reliably and falls to Rival 3. Granbull does worse against Whitney and better against Morty. I'd say they should fall no lower than C and rise no higher than B, though leaning towards B for both of them. Phanpy does have a bit of a rough patch earlier in the game due to the abundance of Grass and Water-types, whereas Snubbull for a route-buster and a Morty-buster isn't all that consistent in boss battles.
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Fwiw, I don't think it's necessarily uncommon to be a few levels above Falkner. Even though Sprout Tower is technically optional in these games, there's no real reason to skip it (you need all the exp you can get in these games tbh) nor is there a point to hold off on it until after the gym. Most everything at this point also fits either under the Fast or Medium-Slow exp groups, the latter of which is actually the fastest-growing group early on and includes the starters. Combine that with teams generally being like 2 mons at this point due to the lack of options, and it's not particularly difficult to hit the Violet Gym with lv 11-12 mons
Lv 15 Cynda is pushing it a bit, but ik I've done runs before where I've had Quilava before Falkner w/o even trying.
Lv 15 Cynda is pushing it a bit, but ik I've done runs before where I've had Quilava before Falkner w/o even trying.
The Elite 4 is where I stopped the run because I knew I had to grind my team and decided I didn't want to finish it and drag Persian across Kanto to clear routes and do nothing in major battles. I just posted that because it was surprising that it could do that, not that it should affect the ranking.
It beats Polywrath, it beats Steelix, it beats Piloswine and it beats Kingdra if your Hypnosis hits while never needing to level up on wild even with how experience starved gen 2 is. I don't think anything in B rank can do that and a lot of A rank can't either.. If it weren't for the Drowzee phase, which is 2 gyms I would be asking for A rank.
Random Passerby, thoughts on the Daycare?
And...time for another update.
It's after you clear the Well. Silver makes reference to you defeating the Rockets.
And...time for another update.
Maru....
Granbull (L31): Return OHKOs Seel. Return 2HKOs Dewgong unless he uses Rest - which just makes him a sitting duck (dugong?) - and you tank even two Aurora Beams without much damage. Return 2HKOs Piloswine. Granbull outpaces everyone except Dewgong here. Easy, easy win. A-Tier at minimum, possibly even S. Piloswine just uses Mist on two of my tries and on the third uses Fury Attack for a pitiful amount of damage.
Granbull is that good, yes.
Donphan (L31): Set up with a Guard Spec. so Icy Wind doesn't lower my speed. This is important, given that Donphan otherwise outsped all three Pokemon, tank Seel's Ice-type attacks and only go into the yellow after taking about three of them, and build up a Rollout strong enough to one-shot Dewgong and Piloswine when they appear. At least, this was the case the first two times. The third time, Dewgong somehow outpaced me and floored me with Aurora Beam :( Would've said B-Tier but the possibility for Dewgong to outpace you - and Rollout being a high demand TM as well as somewhat risky with its accuracy - make it a C-Tier matchup. Definitely winnable, just hardly guaranteed.
Quilava (L31): Set up with a Guard Spec. so you not only avoid being slowed down by Icy Wind but also don't get screwed over by Headbutt flinching you and shutting down your Fury Cutter sweep once you're slower. Then I used Fury Cutter to hack through Pryce's Seel and Dewgong in quick succession. Seel and Dewgong are hilariously weak, Seel especially, and can't do much of anything to Quilava - even Headbutt only does a slight amount of damage, with Dewgong's only taking like 20 HP from you. Neither has any Water-type moves and you tank their Ice-type attacks, so you're good here.
Piloswine only gets 2HKOed by Fury Cutter even after going through Dewgong (who himself is 2HKOed). While Fury Cutter was good enough to take all three down the first two times regardless, I'd recommend using Flame Wheel instead to finish the frosty pig off - it's more accurate than Fury Cutter and 2HKOes just like a boosted Fury Cutter does. Although my HP dipped into the yellow by the time Piloswine comes out (who hit me with Blizzard for very little damage, missed a Blizzard, or tried to set up Mist for some reason), I was able to 2HKO with Flame Wheel and/or Fury Cutter. While the pig also has Fury Attack, he never used it on me for some reason - it can both do more or less damage than Blizzard according to calcs, it just depends on the number of he hits he gets in, and three hits are only slightly stronger than the resisted Blizzard.
While I DIDN'T need a Potion of any kind on any of my three tries, having a Super or Hyper Potion in reserve is a good idea - it is possible to lose this matchup if you miss Fury Cutter, for instance, or Piloswine wants to Fury Attack (something I learned on my fourth try).
Verdict? I'd say A. While you have a solid shot at winning this matchup without any item interference other than the Guard Spec (and you don't need Fury Cutter if you can use Rollout instead - the need for those two TMs is why this is not a S), having a Hyper Potion guarantees a safe win.
Overall, Granbull seems to live up to her B-Rank, while Donphan comes across as more of a C-Rank and Quilava a high B-Rank that literally has only two matchups that are problematic so far and neither is even all that bad (ally support clears one and the other is winnable with luck).
Granbull (L31): Return OHKOs Seel. Return 2HKOs Dewgong unless he uses Rest - which just makes him a sitting duck (dugong?) - and you tank even two Aurora Beams without much damage. Return 2HKOs Piloswine. Granbull outpaces everyone except Dewgong here. Easy, easy win. A-Tier at minimum, possibly even S. Piloswine just uses Mist on two of my tries and on the third uses Fury Attack for a pitiful amount of damage.
Granbull is that good, yes.
Donphan (L31): Set up with a Guard Spec. so Icy Wind doesn't lower my speed. This is important, given that Donphan otherwise outsped all three Pokemon, tank Seel's Ice-type attacks and only go into the yellow after taking about three of them, and build up a Rollout strong enough to one-shot Dewgong and Piloswine when they appear. At least, this was the case the first two times. The third time, Dewgong somehow outpaced me and floored me with Aurora Beam :( Would've said B-Tier but the possibility for Dewgong to outpace you - and Rollout being a high demand TM as well as somewhat risky with its accuracy - make it a C-Tier matchup. Definitely winnable, just hardly guaranteed.
Quilava (L31): Set up with a Guard Spec. so you not only avoid being slowed down by Icy Wind but also don't get screwed over by Headbutt flinching you and shutting down your Fury Cutter sweep once you're slower. Then I used Fury Cutter to hack through Pryce's Seel and Dewgong in quick succession. Seel and Dewgong are hilariously weak, Seel especially, and can't do much of anything to Quilava - even Headbutt only does a slight amount of damage, with Dewgong's only taking like 20 HP from you. Neither has any Water-type moves and you tank their Ice-type attacks, so you're good here.
Piloswine only gets 2HKOed by Fury Cutter even after going through Dewgong (who himself is 2HKOed). While Fury Cutter was good enough to take all three down the first two times regardless, I'd recommend using Flame Wheel instead to finish the frosty pig off - it's more accurate than Fury Cutter and 2HKOes just like a boosted Fury Cutter does. Although my HP dipped into the yellow by the time Piloswine comes out (who hit me with Blizzard for very little damage, missed a Blizzard, or tried to set up Mist for some reason), I was able to 2HKO with Flame Wheel and/or Fury Cutter. While the pig also has Fury Attack, he never used it on me for some reason - it can both do more or less damage than Blizzard according to calcs, it just depends on the number of he hits he gets in, and three hits are only slightly stronger than the resisted Blizzard.
While I DIDN'T need a Potion of any kind on any of my three tries, having a Super or Hyper Potion in reserve is a good idea - it is possible to lose this matchup if you miss Fury Cutter, for instance, or Piloswine wants to Fury Attack (something I learned on my fourth try).
Verdict? I'd say A. While you have a solid shot at winning this matchup without any item interference other than the Guard Spec (and you don't need Fury Cutter if you can use Rollout instead - the need for those two TMs is why this is not a S), having a Hyper Potion guarantees a safe win.
Overall, Granbull seems to live up to her B-Rank, while Donphan comes across as more of a C-Rank and Quilava a high B-Rank that literally has only two matchups that are problematic so far and neither is even all that bad (ally support clears one and the other is winnable with luck).
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Lmao I actually never tried that and it's the game I played the most, it must've been because Silver roflstomped once when I was a kid and then I decided to never again go west before being sufficiently leveled. Go figure.
And yea I considered Ice Punch but realized that for a long while it wouldn't be necessary since you're hitting everything with Surf (and Return for Water-types) and for E4 Dragons/Grasses you prolly want Blizzard since low SpAtk. Definitely an option, tho.
Anyway, onto the run:
Pidgey (level 11 - 12): 3HKOs opposing Pidgey with Gust while taking 5/32 damage from Tackle. After leveling up it sits at 19 Speed, meaning it ties with Pidgeotto. Both Gusts are 5HKOs so whoever moves first wins (a held Berry undos the damage from Pidgey). Doable especially with Sand-Attack, but hard.
Cyndaquil (level 13): Pidgey lives an Ember and Mud-Slaps, which can be annoying. However, it's only 5HKOed by Pidgeotto's Gust while Ember 3HKOs meaning you should win most of the time, especially with a Berry.
Best course of action is probably leading with Pidgey and then beating Pidgeotto with Cynda.
Cyndaquil (level 13): Pidgey lives an Ember and Mud-Slaps, which can be annoying. However, it's only 5HKOed by Pidgeotto's Gust while Ember 3HKOs meaning you should win most of the time, especially with a Berry.
Best course of action is probably leading with Pidgey and then beating Pidgeotto with Cynda.
Quilava (level 17 - 18): OHKOs Metapod and Kakuna with Ember and levels up. Ember seems to be a positive roll to 2HKO Scyther even without Charcoal, while it does very little damage back with Quick Attack.
Pidgey (level 15 - 16): Gust 2HKOs Metapod and Kakuna and 3HKOs Scyther. Be careful of poison, you might want to hold a berry. Note that after String Shot you're slower than Kakuna even after leveling up. Scyther's Quick Attack doesn't do enough so you should be fine.
Poliwag (level 15): Water Gun 3HKOs Metapod and Kakuna, you'll want to put the second one to sleep. It seems to be a 10HKO on Scyther so it's very unlikely you'll be able to win here.
Bellsprout (level 15): With Sleep Powder plus Growth it's actually doable but it'll take a long time. +6 Vine Whip leaves Metapod in red and 3HKOs Kakuna, both can be brought down with Wrap to preserve PP. Scyther takes very little damage still so it needs to be put to sleep and wrapped. I ended up beating it after 5, which is impressive.
Pidgey (level 15 - 16): Gust 2HKOs Metapod and Kakuna and 3HKOs Scyther. Be careful of poison, you might want to hold a berry. Note that after String Shot you're slower than Kakuna even after leveling up. Scyther's Quick Attack doesn't do enough so you should be fine.
Poliwag (level 15): Water Gun 3HKOs Metapod and Kakuna, you'll want to put the second one to sleep. It seems to be a 10HKO on Scyther so it's very unlikely you'll be able to win here.
Bellsprout (level 15): With Sleep Powder plus Growth it's actually doable but it'll take a long time. +6 Vine Whip leaves Metapod in red and 3HKOs Kakuna, both can be brought down with Wrap to preserve PP. Scyther takes very little damage still so it needs to be put to sleep and wrapped. I ended up beating it after 5, which is impressive.
Quilava (level 17): Ember 2HKOs Gastly which can put you to sleep or para you with Lick (might wanna give it a berry). Croconaw comes in and 3HKOs with Water Gun, while Ember doesn't even 4HKO with a burn and Tackle does less. Zubat might live two Embers but it's a favorable roll, only thing it can do is confuse you.
Bellsprout (level 15): Vine Whip 3HKOs Croconaw, better put it to sleep or it'll hurt you with its physical moves. You need +3 to 2HKO Gastly, and it's faster so it can Lick or Hypnosis you before you put it to sleep. Zubat might actually be more annoying than Scyther because of Bite and Supersonic, but the strategy is the same. You need to be at +4 to OHKO Croconaw.
Pidgey (level 15 - 16): Gust 3HKOs Gastly while it outspeeds and puts you to sleep. It can't actually touch you so it'll keep spamming Spite. Zubat is 2HKOed by Pink Bow Swift apparently, although it's also faster and can confuse you. Croconaw takes very little damage from your moves and it'll end up beating you.
Poliwag (level 15): Outspeeds and 3HKOs Gastly with Water Gun, you can put it to sleep so it doesn't para you. Zubat is only 4HKOed so you definitely want to sleep it. Croconaw takes no damage so it's pointless.
Bellsprout (level 15): Vine Whip 3HKOs Croconaw, better put it to sleep or it'll hurt you with its physical moves. You need +3 to 2HKO Gastly, and it's faster so it can Lick or Hypnosis you before you put it to sleep. Zubat might actually be more annoying than Scyther because of Bite and Supersonic, but the strategy is the same. You need to be at +4 to OHKO Croconaw.
Pidgey (level 15 - 16): Gust 3HKOs Gastly while it outspeeds and puts you to sleep. It can't actually touch you so it'll keep spamming Spite. Zubat is 2HKOed by Pink Bow Swift apparently, although it's also faster and can confuse you. Croconaw takes very little damage from your moves and it'll end up beating you.
Poliwag (level 15): Outspeeds and 3HKOs Gastly with Water Gun, you can put it to sleep so it doesn't para you. Zubat is only 4HKOed so you definitely want to sleep it. Croconaw takes no damage so it's pointless.
Weepinbell (level 21): Vine Whip is a bad roll to 3HKO Clefairy and appears to be a 6HKO on Miltank (didn't have enough PP but it lived one at +0 and two +2). Sleep Powder and Growth twice, you 2HKO Clefairy and comfortably 3HKO Miltank so you only have to hit the two powders and you can win in green. Needs 5 boosts to OHKO Clefairy and Miltank lives a +6 hit so no point in boosting more than twice. Note that Weepinbell is female.
Victreebel (level 21): Now MS Vine Whip 3HKOs no problem Clefairy but Miltank lives four hits. +1 2HKOs Clefairy and barely 3HKOs Miltank, which means you need one less turn to set up.
Quilava (level 20 - 21): Headbutt and Ember 3HKO Clefairy. Miltank's first Rollout does 1/4 health and Stomp does around 40% while Ember falls short of a 4HKO, meaning you need a lot of Smokescreen luck to win.
With Fury Cutter, you need four hits to KO Clefairy so Smokescreen helps to not get too weakened by Doubleslap (also you might want to get the Gold Berry from the Machop trade, I didn't). Miltank lives the fifth Fury Cutter, so if you were weakened you can die of two Rollouts. I could barely live both with a Berry. It might be advisable to Headbutt Clefairy first so that Fury Cutter needs only three hits and also you can flinch. When you take Metronome into account you realize there's too much luck involved, I only managed to sweep twice (and Clefairy missed a Toxic and Miltank missed Rollout).
With Rollout Clefairy is 3HKOed and Miltank dies to hits four and five, so it's obviously much cleaner. Unfortunately, you still rely on hitting every hit and Clefairy not weakening you enough so that Miltank 2HKOs you, also a Stomp flinch can be lethal. Note that Quilava was male but Miltank never used Attract.
It was Saturday so I decided to go get a Gold Berry at the Bug-Catching Contest. The first mon that appeared was a lv. 13 Pinsir which won me the second price #fail. I finally got it with a lv. 13 Butterfree. With it you can definitely survive three Stomps but you still rely on it not flinching/missing to win. The other strategies are pretty much the same except obviously better, but it consumes all my willpower.
Pidgeotto (level 20 - 21): Pidgeotto swiftly (heh) 2HKOs Clefairy and levels up, unfortunately Miltank is too fat and does too much with Rollout and Stomp (3HKO). You'd need too much luck with Sand-Attack since Pink Bow Swift is apparently a roll to 5HKO, not very reliable. I eventually won in red with three consecutive Stomp misses. Pidgeotto was female.
With a Gold Berry Pidgeotto can live an extra hit from Tank, unfortunately without Pink Bow you no longer 2HKO Clefairy and the cow is still too strong and bulky.
Poliwag (level 20): Pink Bow Headbutt 3HKOs Clefairy, you wanna put it to sleep to win unscathed. Miltank comes in and 2HKOs with Stomp, which wins (30% flinch chance + 40% miss chance = 58%) over half of the time. If you can put it to sleep, you're still only 7HKOing it so it has enough time to wake up and Milk Drink to negate your damage. Doubt this is winnable.
So ultimately, the only one that can reliably beat Whitney is Weepinbell. Good to know I guess.
Victreebel (level 21): Now MS Vine Whip 3HKOs no problem Clefairy but Miltank lives four hits. +1 2HKOs Clefairy and barely 3HKOs Miltank, which means you need one less turn to set up.
Quilava (level 20 - 21): Headbutt and Ember 3HKO Clefairy. Miltank's first Rollout does 1/4 health and Stomp does around 40% while Ember falls short of a 4HKO, meaning you need a lot of Smokescreen luck to win.
With Fury Cutter, you need four hits to KO Clefairy so Smokescreen helps to not get too weakened by Doubleslap (also you might want to get the Gold Berry from the Machop trade, I didn't). Miltank lives the fifth Fury Cutter, so if you were weakened you can die of two Rollouts. I could barely live both with a Berry. It might be advisable to Headbutt Clefairy first so that Fury Cutter needs only three hits and also you can flinch. When you take Metronome into account you realize there's too much luck involved, I only managed to sweep twice (and Clefairy missed a Toxic and Miltank missed Rollout).
With Rollout Clefairy is 3HKOed and Miltank dies to hits four and five, so it's obviously much cleaner. Unfortunately, you still rely on hitting every hit and Clefairy not weakening you enough so that Miltank 2HKOs you, also a Stomp flinch can be lethal. Note that Quilava was male but Miltank never used Attract.
It was Saturday so I decided to go get a Gold Berry at the Bug-Catching Contest. The first mon that appeared was a lv. 13 Pinsir which won me the second price #fail. I finally got it with a lv. 13 Butterfree. With it you can definitely survive three Stomps but you still rely on it not flinching/missing to win. The other strategies are pretty much the same except obviously better, but it consumes all my willpower.
Pidgeotto (level 20 - 21): Pidgeotto swiftly (heh) 2HKOs Clefairy and levels up, unfortunately Miltank is too fat and does too much with Rollout and Stomp (3HKO). You'd need too much luck with Sand-Attack since Pink Bow Swift is apparently a roll to 5HKO, not very reliable. I eventually won in red with three consecutive Stomp misses. Pidgeotto was female.
With a Gold Berry Pidgeotto can live an extra hit from Tank, unfortunately without Pink Bow you no longer 2HKO Clefairy and the cow is still too strong and bulky.
Poliwag (level 20): Pink Bow Headbutt 3HKOs Clefairy, you wanna put it to sleep to win unscathed. Miltank comes in and 2HKOs with Stomp, which wins (30% flinch chance + 40% miss chance = 58%) over half of the time. If you can put it to sleep, you're still only 7HKOing it so it has enough time to wake up and Milk Drink to negate your damage. Doubt this is winnable.
So ultimately, the only one that can reliably beat Whitney is Weepinbell. Good to know I guess.
Pidgeotto (level 21 - 22): Haunter outspeeds and Curses, meanwhile Gust doesn't do enough to kill it. Switch out of Magnemite. If you put it to sleep you can 2HKO it with Mud-Slap. You outspeed and two-shot Zubat, watch out for Supersonic. Croconaw doesn't get 3HKOed by Swift but also doesn't do much with Water Gun so you win if healthy enough. You also outspeed. Return does get the 3HKO although Zubat still lives.
Poliwag (level 21 - 22): Poliwag outspeeds and can put Haunter to sleep or 3HKO with Surf, since Curse allows you to kill it and switch out (do watch out for Lick para). You 2HKO Magnemite while living one Thundershock. Zubat is also 2HKOed but can Supersonic. Croconaw is too bulky unfortunately, although putting it to sleep can help weaken it. You basically have to hit a bunch of Hypnosis to have a good matchup.
Weepinbell (level 22 - 23): Haunter outspeeds and can Curse. If you manage to put it to sleep you need three Growths to 3HKO, and even then if it wakes up and Spites it's GG. Better avoid this. If it sets up on Croconaw it OHKOs at +3 (2HKOs at +1) and 2HKOs Magnemite. You also outspeed which is cool. Avoid Zubat, you need +5 to 3HKO and it's too annoying.
Quilava (level 22 - 23): Outspeeds and 3HKOs Haunter, if it Curses you can then KO and switch out unscathed. Dig does like 3/4 but watch out for Lick para. If you put Croconaw to sleep, Headbutt 3HKOs it after a Defense drop (I gave it Rock Smash because Furret doesn't learn it fsr). Water Gun 3HKOs back so be careful. Zubat lives two Charcoal Embers amazingly but Magnemite is obviously OHKOed.
Poliwag (level 21 - 22): Poliwag outspeeds and can put Haunter to sleep or 3HKO with Surf, since Curse allows you to kill it and switch out (do watch out for Lick para). You 2HKO Magnemite while living one Thundershock. Zubat is also 2HKOed but can Supersonic. Croconaw is too bulky unfortunately, although putting it to sleep can help weaken it. You basically have to hit a bunch of Hypnosis to have a good matchup.
Weepinbell (level 22 - 23): Haunter outspeeds and can Curse. If you manage to put it to sleep you need three Growths to 3HKO, and even then if it wakes up and Spites it's GG. Better avoid this. If it sets up on Croconaw it OHKOs at +3 (2HKOs at +1) and 2HKOs Magnemite. You also outspeed which is cool. Avoid Zubat, you need +5 to 3HKO and it's too annoying.
Quilava (level 22 - 23): Outspeeds and 3HKOs Haunter, if it Curses you can then KO and switch out unscathed. Dig does like 3/4 but watch out for Lick para. If you put Croconaw to sleep, Headbutt 3HKOs it after a Defense drop (I gave it Rock Smash because Furret doesn't learn it fsr). Water Gun 3HKOs back so be careful. Zubat lives two Charcoal Embers amazingly but Magnemite is obviously OHKOed.
Poliwhirl (level 25 - 26): Outspeeds everything bar Gengar. Gastly is OHKOed most of the time, both Haunter are 2HKOed and Gengar is 3HKOed. With rain you OHKO the first Haunter and 2HKO Gengar, which spams Hypnosis. The second Haunter can live in red so it's not a full sweep, but good enough. If you get put to sleep Dream Eater 2HKOs so you might wanna have a Mint Berry.
Poliwhrath (level 25 - 26): Now the first Haunter is a speed tie and the second is faster, however Surf leaves the first one in red and guaranteed KOs the second in the rain. Again, a Mint Berry can make the difference in the Gengar fight.
Quilava (level 26): Ember 2HKOs Gastly and the first Haunter while 4HKOing Gengar, who puts you to sleep and 2HKOs with Dream Eater. With Dig you OHKO Gastly and the first Haunter and 2HKO Gengar, which means that when holding a Mint Berry you win 64% of the time (not counting that Gengar might Mean Look fsr). The second Haunter lives in red. Only Gengar outspeeds.
Pidgeotto (level 26): Gust 2HKOs Gastly and the first Haunter so you might have to switch out because of Curse. Even with a Mint Berry it's hard to beat Gengar because it's not 3HKOed by Gust and Dream Eater does a ton. Mud-Slap is too weak to do anything but the accuracy drop might help. Hypnosis kept hitting me though so not sure it's worth it. The second Haunter lives two Gusts but can't do anything back. Only Gengar outspeeds.
Weepinbell (level 25 - 26): The Gastly actually speed ties which is pretty sad. You 2HKO at +2 and OHKO at +4. Don't really wanna test this further.
Victreebel (level 25 - 26): At +3 you still don't OHKO Gastly but do 2HKO Haunter. You need +4 to 3HKO Gengar, however. With a Mint Berry it's technically doable since lack of MiracleSeed doesn't affect the benchmarks. The second Haunter is 2HKOed but it's a speed tie (and it can Spite). Overall a painful matchup but at least it's better than Bugsy.
Note that Gengar never used Shadow Ball, even tho it might've 2HKOed my frailer mons. That's prolly by design.
Poliwhrath (level 25 - 26): Now the first Haunter is a speed tie and the second is faster, however Surf leaves the first one in red and guaranteed KOs the second in the rain. Again, a Mint Berry can make the difference in the Gengar fight.
Quilava (level 26): Ember 2HKOs Gastly and the first Haunter while 4HKOing Gengar, who puts you to sleep and 2HKOs with Dream Eater. With Dig you OHKO Gastly and the first Haunter and 2HKO Gengar, which means that when holding a Mint Berry you win 64% of the time (not counting that Gengar might Mean Look fsr). The second Haunter lives in red. Only Gengar outspeeds.
Pidgeotto (level 26): Gust 2HKOs Gastly and the first Haunter so you might have to switch out because of Curse. Even with a Mint Berry it's hard to beat Gengar because it's not 3HKOed by Gust and Dream Eater does a ton. Mud-Slap is too weak to do anything but the accuracy drop might help. Hypnosis kept hitting me though so not sure it's worth it. The second Haunter lives two Gusts but can't do anything back. Only Gengar outspeeds.
Weepinbell (level 25 - 26): The Gastly actually speed ties which is pretty sad. You 2HKO at +2 and OHKO at +4. Don't really wanna test this further.
Victreebel (level 25 - 26): At +3 you still don't OHKO Gastly but do 2HKO Haunter. You need +4 to 3HKO Gengar, however. With a Mint Berry it's technically doable since lack of MiracleSeed doesn't affect the benchmarks. The second Haunter is 2HKOed but it's a speed tie (and it can Spite). Overall a painful matchup but at least it's better than Bugsy.
Note that Gengar never used Shadow Ball, even tho it might've 2HKOed my frailer mons. That's prolly by design.
Holy shit I didn't remember the first gym battles were two consecutive guys with level 27 Hitmons, it was a bad idea to lead with Quilava. I ended up getting to 31 but had to switch train.
Quilava (level 31): Apparently Primeape is a roll to 2HKO with Charcoal Flame Wheel, so you might take a lot of damage. It likes to Leer tho so you can also beat it unscathed. Then comes Poliwrath, which can put you in red at -1 with Dynamicpunch if it hits or put you to sleep. Return appears to be a 4HKO back—3HKO if Rock Smash drops Def. I wish I'd kept Smokescreen to see if it can take advantage of the innacurate moves because once I actually swept without taking damage since it kept missing Hypnosis. Why it didn't use Surf is beyond me, Crystal AI I guess (the one time it used it it put me in red). Not gonna count it as a positive matchup but lol.
Poliwrath (level 30): Primeape outspeeds but doesn't do much, you 2HKO with Surf. You're faster than the opposing Poliwrath but only 4HKO with Pink Bow Return, meaning to have a shot at winning the mirror you need to hit two Hypnosis. Dynamicpunch 3HKOs (2HKOs after a Leer) so the other guy needs luck too. Winnable matchup but you should prolly switch out if you get Leer'd/confused.
Victreebel (level 31): Outspeed and OHKO Primeape and outspeed and 2HKO Poliwrath with Poison Barb Sludge Bomb. You might not even need to use Sleep Powder. Easily the best matchup I've seen in this test, counting Quilava against Bugsy.
If for some reason you didn't pick up Sludge Bomb, +1 MiracleSeed Vine Whip almost 2HKOs Primeape (left in red) and 2HKOs Wrath, so you win even then. Amazing tbh.
Pidgeotto (level 30 - 31): Primeape is faster and can Leer or hit you hard, if it does I suggest switching out. Return cleanly 2HKOs. After leveling up, Return 3HKOs Poliwrath on a roll and you outspeed, while Dynamicpunch does around 50 damage. Sand-Attack can help. Overall it's winnable but the Primeape matchup is not too good, also Return missing the 3HKO on Wrath can be annoying when he spams Hypnosis and D-punch. Like I said before, not getting Wing Attack is sad.
Quilava (level 31): Apparently Primeape is a roll to 2HKO with Charcoal Flame Wheel, so you might take a lot of damage. It likes to Leer tho so you can also beat it unscathed. Then comes Poliwrath, which can put you in red at -1 with Dynamicpunch if it hits or put you to sleep. Return appears to be a 4HKO back—3HKO if Rock Smash drops Def. I wish I'd kept Smokescreen to see if it can take advantage of the innacurate moves because once I actually swept without taking damage since it kept missing Hypnosis. Why it didn't use Surf is beyond me, Crystal AI I guess (the one time it used it it put me in red). Not gonna count it as a positive matchup but lol.
Poliwrath (level 30): Primeape outspeeds but doesn't do much, you 2HKO with Surf. You're faster than the opposing Poliwrath but only 4HKO with Pink Bow Return, meaning to have a shot at winning the mirror you need to hit two Hypnosis. Dynamicpunch 3HKOs (2HKOs after a Leer) so the other guy needs luck too. Winnable matchup but you should prolly switch out if you get Leer'd/confused.
Victreebel (level 31): Outspeed and OHKO Primeape and outspeed and 2HKO Poliwrath with Poison Barb Sludge Bomb. You might not even need to use Sleep Powder. Easily the best matchup I've seen in this test, counting Quilava against Bugsy.
If for some reason you didn't pick up Sludge Bomb, +1 MiracleSeed Vine Whip almost 2HKOs Primeape (left in red) and 2HKOs Wrath, so you win even then. Amazing tbh.
Pidgeotto (level 30 - 31): Primeape is faster and can Leer or hit you hard, if it does I suggest switching out. Return cleanly 2HKOs. After leveling up, Return 3HKOs Poliwrath on a roll and you outspeed, while Dynamicpunch does around 50 damage. Sand-Attack can help. Overall it's winnable but the Primeape matchup is not too good, also Return missing the 3HKO on Wrath can be annoying when he spams Hypnosis and D-punch. Like I said before, not getting Wing Attack is sad.
I realized when I went back to the Lighthouse that I'd left a couple trainers so I leveled up a bit. Also I went to get the Mystic Water.
Poliwrath (level 31): Magnemite lives the MW Surf in red and can paralize or hit you hard, same with the second one. Steelix is brought to a quarter HP. If you put the first Magnemite to sleep and set up rain you OHKO everything. Solid matchup provided they don't wake up early.
Quilava (level 31): Magnemite drops to Flame Wheel, then comes Steelix which is 2HKOed and does around half with Rock Throw. The second Magnemite goes the same way. Good matchup as expected.
Victreebel (level 32): Back to Sleep + Growth shenanigans. You need to be at +3 to 2HKO everything so better hope for a long sleep or a T-Wave miss. Steelix does around half with Iron Tail so prolly use Hypnosis again. Sweep is possible but like Morty it takes a while. Eh matchup, Vine Whip's lack of power is showing.
Pidgeotto (level 31): What am I gonna do about this bird? Horrid matchup, worse than expected. Mud-Slap only 3HKOs (!!) the Magnemite, thankfully they can't hit a Thunderbolt. Steelix takes nothing from anything and Iron Tail does over three quarters, so don't even bother.
Poliwrath (level 31): Magnemite lives the MW Surf in red and can paralize or hit you hard, same with the second one. Steelix is brought to a quarter HP. If you put the first Magnemite to sleep and set up rain you OHKO everything. Solid matchup provided they don't wake up early.
Quilava (level 31): Magnemite drops to Flame Wheel, then comes Steelix which is 2HKOed and does around half with Rock Throw. The second Magnemite goes the same way. Good matchup as expected.
Victreebel (level 32): Back to Sleep + Growth shenanigans. You need to be at +3 to 2HKO everything so better hope for a long sleep or a T-Wave miss. Steelix does around half with Iron Tail so prolly use Hypnosis again. Sweep is possible but like Morty it takes a while. Eh matchup, Vine Whip's lack of power is showing.
Pidgeotto (level 31): What am I gonna do about this bird? Horrid matchup, worse than expected. Mud-Slap only 3HKOs (!!) the Magnemite, thankfully they can't hit a Thunderbolt. Steelix takes nothing from anything and Iron Tail does over three quarters, so don't even bother.
Poliwrath (level 32): Return 2HKOs Seel and by a little doesn't 3HKO Dewgong (it does with Pink Bow), who you wanna put to sleep. Piloswine can actually live a Mystic Water Surf but it doesn't do anything back. If you use DynamicPunch it OHKOs Dewgong. Good matchup either way.
Quilava (level 32): Return 2HKOs Seel and 3HKOs Dewgong (2HKOs after a Defense drop). Piloswine lives a Flame Wheel in yellow but doesn't do much damage. Fury Cutter isn't very good because it can get wasted by Rest and Dewgong lives the fifth hit (also speed ties after an Icy Wind). Rollout is obviously better minus the accuracy, the fourth hit OHKOs Dewgong and the fifth KOs Swine so the only issue is if Gong wins the speed tie and flinches you. It's still good without it, anyway.
Victreebel (level 32): Sludge Bomb OHKOs Seel and 2HKOs Dewgong, who does less than half with Aurora Beam. Piloswine can live two Vine Whips (more like Vine Weeps amirite) and does a fuckton with Blizzard if it hits, so you want to put it to sleep. With Sleep + Growth you need four to OHKO Dewgong and three for Piloswine so prolly not worth it.
Pidgeotto (level 31 - 32): Return 2HKOs Seel and it comfortably lives the Icy Wind, however you prolly wanna switch out to erase the speed drop. Dewgong is only 3HKOed and 2HKOs back, so you need Sand-Attack to have a shot. Return appears to be a roll to 3HKO Pilo, which OHKOs with Blizzard. It actually has a shot because of accuracy, but overall not a very good matchup.
Quilava (level 32): Return 2HKOs Seel and 3HKOs Dewgong (2HKOs after a Defense drop). Piloswine lives a Flame Wheel in yellow but doesn't do much damage. Fury Cutter isn't very good because it can get wasted by Rest and Dewgong lives the fifth hit (also speed ties after an Icy Wind). Rollout is obviously better minus the accuracy, the fourth hit OHKOs Dewgong and the fifth KOs Swine so the only issue is if Gong wins the speed tie and flinches you. It's still good without it, anyway.
Victreebel (level 32): Sludge Bomb OHKOs Seel and 2HKOs Dewgong, who does less than half with Aurora Beam. Piloswine can live two Vine Whips (more like Vine Weeps amirite) and does a fuckton with Blizzard if it hits, so you want to put it to sleep. With Sleep + Growth you need four to OHKO Dewgong and three for Piloswine so prolly not worth it.
Pidgeotto (level 31 - 32): Return 2HKOs Seel and it comfortably lives the Icy Wind, however you prolly wanna switch out to erase the speed drop. Dewgong is only 3HKOed and 2HKOs back, so you need Sand-Attack to have a shot. Return appears to be a roll to 3HKO Pilo, which OHKOs with Blizzard. It actually has a shot because of accuracy, but overall not a very good matchup.
It's nearly 2:30 AM here so I'll have to edit my thoughts later.
EDIT: Now that aegon mentions it, it does make sense for Silver to be post Slowpoke Well since he talks about it (or rather, wouldn't make sense otherwise) but I just never considered the possibility lol.
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More logs. Let's take a look at Early Spearow vs Kenya this time.
Now the fun begins.
Conclusion
With roughly 900~1k EV differences per stat, the Early Spearow will always have the advantage when it comes to raw stats, a difference that will only grow larger as it gets more EVs per level up at the cost of leveling up at a slower rate.
More importantly, Spearow utterly routs both Falkner and Bugsy, despite being underleveled at Bugsy, allowing you the advantage of not needing a dedicated counter to them, which frees your team composition a bit, especially if you pick Chikorita.
Therefore, the trade-off between faster level ups vs better EVs and contribution time/matchups is fair and there should be no distinction between Spearow and Spearow (Kenya).
Ilex Forest having Lv. 5~7 mons is hilarious game design.
Offloaded an X Attack, an X Defend and an X Accuracy at Azalea's Mart because I was worried about my bag space. Got the Free Charcoal while I was at it. 11500 -> 12500.
Haven't been using up money since I burned through the starting 3k on Potions at Cherrygrove.
That means you can get up to 4 Punches in Goldenrod if you're stingy enough without counting the Route 34 trainers.
Saved the Free Headbutt TM for Snubbull to test whether or not it could pull its weight from the jump.
The whole Ilex Forest got 1 trainer.
What a waste.
Grabbed the Sweet Scent TM for some extra money. Not that I'll really need it, but it's right there.
Got Snubbull before the 1st trainer of R34. Lv. 10.
For reference, the rest of my team is: Spearow (14), Wooper (15), Quilava (16).
Medium-Fast group is hot garbage.
Snubbull can in fact pull its weight from the jump with Headbutt, it hits obscenely hard and actually takes hits fairly well, but it's extremely slow. Stray hits, Leers and especially flinch moves like Bite are a concern. Scary Face does mitigate the issue, but keeping both Scary Face and Charm hurts Bull's coverage.
Grabbed the Odd Egg for kicks, but sadly won't get a shiny. It is a Smoochum though, but considering how long it'll take to hatch and how it got 0 IVs on every stat, no deal unless someone really wants it tested.
Dodged some trainers to heal Headbutt's PP, grabbed some TMs and the basement items at the Dept. Store, and Togepi hatched as I got out of the Store.
Let's take a look to remember that Wooper can learn Ice Punch but Quilava can't learn Fire Punch. Excellent design, Game Freak.
Got the Bike, had to backtrack a bit because Kenya needs a free slot in the party. Got Kenya.
Offloaded an X Attack, an X Defend and an X Accuracy at Azalea's Mart because I was worried about my bag space. Got the Free Charcoal while I was at it. 11500 -> 12500.
Haven't been using up money since I burned through the starting 3k on Potions at Cherrygrove.
That means you can get up to 4 Punches in Goldenrod if you're stingy enough without counting the Route 34 trainers.
Saved the Free Headbutt TM for Snubbull to test whether or not it could pull its weight from the jump.
The whole Ilex Forest got 1 trainer.
What a waste.
Grabbed the Sweet Scent TM for some extra money. Not that I'll really need it, but it's right there.
Got Snubbull before the 1st trainer of R34. Lv. 10.
For reference, the rest of my team is: Spearow (14), Wooper (15), Quilava (16).
Medium-Fast group is hot garbage.
Snubbull can in fact pull its weight from the jump with Headbutt, it hits obscenely hard and actually takes hits fairly well, but it's extremely slow. Stray hits, Leers and especially flinch moves like Bite are a concern. Scary Face does mitigate the issue, but keeping both Scary Face and Charm hurts Bull's coverage.
Grabbed the Odd Egg for kicks, but sadly won't get a shiny. It is a Smoochum though, but considering how long it'll take to hatch and how it got 0 IVs on every stat, no deal unless someone really wants it tested.
Dodged some trainers to heal Headbutt's PP, grabbed some TMs and the basement items at the Dept. Store, and Togepi hatched as I got out of the Store.
Let's take a look to remember that Wooper can learn Ice Punch but Quilava can't learn Fire Punch. Excellent design, Game Freak.
Got the Bike, had to backtrack a bit because Kenya needs a free slot in the party. Got Kenya.
Now the fun begins.
SPEAROW
KENYA
Obviously, the Early Spearow does have the advantage against a freshly obtained Kenya, and btw, I hope those IVs aren't fixed.
But what about a Kenya that actually had a chance to catch up with the team?
To test that, fortunately I had a freshly caught Snubbull to assist me. Of course, the Exp. Groups differ, so I had to account for that and make sure the Exp. would be enough to test both Spearow at Lv. 15.
The Exp/EV sources were the R34 trainers and all of the Underground trainers besides the Magnemite dude.
Spearow - Post R34
Snubbull - Post R34
Plug that Exp and EVs into Kenya...
Kenya - Post R34
To help visualize the difference, I'll show direct stat comparisons.
Early Spearow - Kenya
HP: 43 - 40
Atk: 29 - 24
Def: 19 - 17
SpA: 17 - 19
SpD: 17 - 19
Spe: 32 - 28
Happiness: 136 - 115
With the exact same IV's, the difference isn't as tremendous. But again, I don't know if Kenya's IVs are fixed.
KENYA
Obviously, the Early Spearow does have the advantage against a freshly obtained Kenya, and btw, I hope those IVs aren't fixed.
But what about a Kenya that actually had a chance to catch up with the team?
To test that, fortunately I had a freshly caught Snubbull to assist me. Of course, the Exp. Groups differ, so I had to account for that and make sure the Exp. would be enough to test both Spearow at Lv. 15.
The Exp/EV sources were the R34 trainers and all of the Underground trainers besides the Magnemite dude.
Spearow - Post R34
Snubbull - Post R34
Plug that Exp and EVs into Kenya...
Kenya - Post R34
To help visualize the difference, I'll show direct stat comparisons.
Early Spearow - Kenya
HP: 43 - 40
Atk: 29 - 24
Def: 19 - 17
SpA: 17 - 19
SpD: 17 - 19
Spe: 32 - 28
Happiness: 136 - 115
With the exact same IV's, the difference isn't as tremendous. But again, I don't know if Kenya's IVs are fixed.
Conclusion
With roughly 900~1k EV differences per stat, the Early Spearow will always have the advantage when it comes to raw stats, a difference that will only grow larger as it gets more EVs per level up at the cost of leveling up at a slower rate.
More importantly, Spearow utterly routs both Falkner and Bugsy, despite being underleveled at Bugsy, allowing you the advantage of not needing a dedicated counter to them, which frees your team composition a bit, especially if you pick Chikorita.
Therefore, the trade-off between faster level ups vs better EVs and contribution time/matchups is fair and there should be no distinction between Spearow and Spearow (Kenya).
I can't help but notice that your Spearow has god-tier IVs, with max HP, attack, speed and a very high defense stat. How do you think that impacts your analysis?
I can't help but tell my secret.
Always catch male mons if you're running physical sets in GSC. Granted, I don't usually get this lucky.
Still, Spearow is currently ranked as an S-Tier, so this might actually help my testing.
After all, I do intend to see if it's truly worthy of being called S-Ranked.
Training only three Pokemon at the time (I have yet to pick up Horsea/Seadra, who sadly starts at a maximum level of L24), I can confirm that a three-Pokemon team has an easy ride in Johto. I kinda wonder whether this was intentional on Game Freak's part, maybe they expected us to catch the other three from Kanto instead (and Kanto's levels are pretty low, making it somewhat believable the new mons could catch up if through switch training)?
Interestingly, even the Nintendo-approved strategy guide seems to endorse a team size of 4 (forgot if it was for Johto or the entire game).
Interestingly, even the Nintendo-approved strategy guide seems to endorse a team size of 4 (forgot if it was for Johto or the entire game).
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