Pokémon X & Y In-game Tier List Discussion (MkII)

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Colonel M, don't forget that for a mere Bunnelby, you have access to a Lv10 Jolly Farfetch'd in Santalune with a perfect speed IV and boosted exp. If anything, it outcompetes butterfree.
 
Reserving Gengar.
'cause I'm feeling like a ghost and it's what I hate the most
*Edit:

Haunter (with trade)
Availability:
Route 14 (rare)
Stats: Gengar is already a fast special-attacker and Mega-Gengar is just faster and stronger. Poor defenses though, so it's kill or be killed.
Typing: The Steel nerf means that Ghost/Poison is one of the best STAB combos in-game. While Gengar is too frail to take a hit, immunity to fighting, ground, and normal will work in your favor.
Movepool: Shadow Ball at 33 and Sludge Bomb with Focus Blast via TM is all Gengar needs. You can round it out with Hypnosis, Confuse Ray, Dark Pulse, Thunderbolt, Energy Ball, Dazzling Gleam, Toxic, or Will-o-wisp. Venoshock can sub for Sludge Bomb before Route 19, but nearly all these moves are available around the time you catch it.
Major Battles: Mega-Gengar has no truly bad match-ups after you get it, and is useful for the remainder of the game (be careful with Lysandre's Mega-Gyarados though).
Additional Comments: Gengarite is in Laverre City, right after you catch Haunter. The only thing holding Mega-Gengar back is Haunter showing up late.

this time I might just disappear
 
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Its_A_Random

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Colonel M pestered me and pestered me to move Caterpie down to D so I am going to do it... One minute after this post.

I will update entries soon enough I swear.

EDIT: Done within a minute of this post.
 

Its_A_Random

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This is now fully updated and revived/bumped/necro'd/whateveryoucallit. If anyone wants to help out with write-ups and you have some knowledge of some of the Pokémon available please reserve and make a contribution.

Alternatively if you do not agree with the tiering of some mons do post.

Reserving Clamperl, no trade Onix, and Shuckle. Time to finish the fail brigade.


Clamperl
Availability:
Route 12, 30% (Good Rod).
Stats: Average physical bulk, mediocre offenses, terrible speed and special bulk.
Typing: Water-typing offers decent coverage and is decent defensively. Not that great for major battles however.
Movepool: Clamperl has a barren level-up movepool and only Normal-, Water-, and Ice-type coverage. Shell Smash is decent but it comes too late to be useful.
Major Battles: Clamperl does not do well in any major battle due to its poor bulk and pittiful offenses that rely on an item to be of any real potency.
Additional Comments: Deep Sea Tooth is useful for allowing it to deal damage and Deep Sea Scale is useful for allowing it to have some bulk. Neither item allow it to be good enough to take it off the bottom of the list however.


Onix (w/o Trade)
Availability:
Glittering Cave (3D area), Rare.
Stats: Great physical bulk but everything else is poor.
Typing: Rock/Ground-typing—while decent offensively—is terrible defensively with a whole host of weaknesses that are omnipresent in XY.
Movepool: Decent with great STAB and Normal-type coverage by level up and a decent array of TM's it can learn to become more useful.
Major Battles: It walls the odd Pokémon or two but its pitiful offenses do not help it deal damage back. Outside of those exceptions, Onix struggles everywhere.
Additional Comments: Eviolite turns it into a more competent physical wall. Sturdy is preferred so it actually does not roll over the majority of the time. Irrespective, Onix is a terrible choice in XY.


Shuckle
Availability:
Route 18 / Terminus Cave, 5-10% (Rock Smash)
Stats: Incredible bulk but non-existent offenses and speed.
Typing: Rock/Bug-typing is not useless defensively but not useful. Offensively it is irrelevant since Shuckle is not taking things out quickly enough to matter.
Movepool: It has a solid defensive movepool and its offensive movepool is decent. Too bad Shuckle cannot take full advantage of its offensive coverage. Shuckle can come knowing Power Trick which can fix its offensive issues at the cost of losing to any physical attacker.
Major Battles: Shuckle can put up a fight with any of the remaining battles outside of Wilkstrom but does not have the power to do much unless Power Trick shenanigans are being used.
Additional Comments: Sturdy is the only useful ability Shuckle gets so that should be used. While not terrible in any sense, it is too weak offensively and henceforth, too inefficient to even be a remotely decent choice in XY.
 
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Tomy

I COULD BE BANNED!
I'll reserve Vileplume then.



Oddish (Vileplume)
Availability:
Route 6, 30%.
Stats: Vileplume has a great Special Attack, good mixed bulk, average Attack and a terrible Speed.
Typing: Grass/Poison can either be a gift or a curse. Vileplume has the edge against many common types, like Water, Fairy and Grass. However, her weaknesses to types like Fire and Flying can be troublesome.
Movepool: Venoshock is Vileplume's go-to-go's move for a long time, as your best Grass Move is Absorb. Later in the game, she'll have access to Mega Drain, Grass Knot, Sludge Bomb, Energy Ball and Petal Dance. Coverage-wise, she has few options, Dazzling Gleam being the most important one. Vileplume learns the Powders by herself too. Sunny Day can fix her speed issues if she has Chlorophyll.
Major Battles: Excellent against Ramos, Valerie, and Siebold. She can help against almost everyone else, but stay away from Wulfric, Malva and Wilkstrom. She fares well against team Flare.
Additional Comments: The Leaf Stone is found on Route 8, so you can have Vileplume rather early in the game. Vileplume is pretty consistent and she can be a solid choice, as she's mainly let down by a terrible Speed and her lack of a powerful Grass move early and mid-game.
 
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Its_A_Random

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Taking Espeon, Umbreon, and Zoroark.


Eevee (Espeon)
Availability:
Route 10, 5-20%.
Stats: Espeon is a strong special attacker with great speed to back it up. Elsewhere it is average.
Typing: Psychic-typing is not very useful overall in major battles but is very useful for the many Black Belts and Battle Girls that roam in XY.
Movepool: Espeon learns powerful Psychic-type moves and reliable recovery by level-up that serve it well and learns useful coverage by TM's such as Dazzling Gleam and Shadow Ball to help deal with Pokémon that hit it super effectively.
Major Battles: It destroys Korrina and fares decently against the remaining gym leaders. Team Flare varies and it does not have that bad a matchup against any of the Pokémon League.
Additional Comments: Espeon is hampered by the fact that it must be caught at level 19 and evolve at level 20 in order to be immediately useful. The opportunity cost is that the player must make roughly 20,000 steps on average for Eevee to be happy enough to evolve at this level.


Eevee (Umbreon)
Availability:
Route 10, 5-20%.
Stats: Umbreon is incredibly bulky but offensively, it is mediocre.
Typing: Dark-typing as a whole is is not very useful because there are a lot of Pokémon that can hit it super effectively in XY. Offensively it is very average.
Movepool: Umbreon has a very shallow movepool that consists of average Dark-type moves and Moonlight by level up and a plethora of Dark- and Normal-type moves by TM. Dig and Shadow Ball round out its coverage.
Major Battles: Umbreon loses to Korrina and Valerie while it wins to Olympia. Elsewhere it ranges from average to mediocre.
Additional Comments: Umbreon as a whole suffers from a bad stat distribution for in-game and a terrible movepool. The fact that it cannot hit very hard at all makes Umbreon a bad choice for XY.


Zoroark
Availability:
Route 20 / Pokémon Village, 5-10%.
Stats: Zoroark boasts solid offensive capabilities that assist it in dealing lots of damage and great Speed to back it up. It suffers from being very frail however.
Typing: For what is left in the game, Dark-typing is not particularly useful but not a liability.
Movepool: Zoroark learns strong Dark-type moves by level up and boasts decent coverage from TM's such as Flamethrower and Dig that allow it to be of some use in the Pokémon League.
Major Battles: Given what is left in the game, Zoroark does a fairly decent job given the right moves but its frailty means it is unlikely to take out any remaining major battle on its out outside of AZ.
Additional Comments: Zoroark is not a bad Pokémon and Illusion is incredibly useful for fooling the AI. The issue with it however is that it simply comes too late in the game to be of major use.
 
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Its_A_Random

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Double posting / taking Druddigon, Lickitung, and Skarmory. Three end-gamers that should be easy to write up.


Druddigon
Availability:
Victory Road, 20%.
Stats: Slow bulky attacker with high Attack.
Typing: Dragon-typing is decent for the last part of the game. It is a boon for several matchups but others can take advantage of its typing.
Movepool: Druddigon carries a wide attacking movepool with lots of high powered moves that complement its strong physical attack.
Major Battles: Druddigon will never fail to leave its mark in any match in the Pokémon League, even against Drasna where it takes any attack and smashes any one dragon in return with Outrage. Gardevoir and Aurorus to an extent from Diantha are its only terrible matchups.
Additional Comments: Both abilities work well for it and either way, they assist Druddigon in being a decent endgame choice.


Lickitung
Availability:
Victory Road, 15%.
Stats: Above average bulk and average offenses. It is also quite slow.
Typing: Normal-typing is not very helpful since it offers nothing but a Ghost-type immunity which is relevant in the Pokémon League.
Movepool: Its level up movepool is shallow with only Normal-, Grass-, Steel-, and Rock-type coverage but its TM movepool is very wide with heaps of coverage to work with.
Major Battles: Lickilicky is bulky enough to make a contribution in any of the battles in the Pokémon League and having very few weaknesses helps its cause. It is too slow to make too many contributions however.
Additional Comments: Lickitung is reliant on a Heart Scale to learn Rollout to evolve.


Skarmory
Availability:
Victory Road, Outside.
Stats: Solid physical bulk, average power, speed and special bulk.
Typing: Steel/Flying-typing is solid defensively and decent offensively with several matchups it can take advantage of.
Movepool: Skarmory's movepool is great in terms of support and it has decent offensive coverage consisting of Steel-, Flying, and Normal-type moves, as well as Rock Slide, X-Scissor, and Night Slash.
Major Battles: Malva aside, Skarmory can make a decent contribution in all of the remaining matches. It does not have the power to solo any of the encounters however.
Additional Comments: Sturdy is superior to prevent it from dying in one hit.
 
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Sandile
Availability:
Reasonably early in the game; at Route 9
Stats: The Sandile line is prety consistant throughout their evolutionary line, in that they have high attack stats and decent speed stats. Krookodile is also acceptable when it comes to bulk, although Sandile and Krokorok are slightly fragile. It is worth mentioning that Intimidate makes Sandile effectively bulkier on the physical side than it looks.
Typing: Ground/Dark is unique to the Sandile line, and brings multiple advantages and disadvantages. Ground/Dark is pretty good coverage, and with early access to Bulldoze and Theif immediately upon capture, Sandile basically comes packages with decent [For the game's stage] duel STABs. However, while Sandile's typing is good for offense, it is rather lacklustre for defense. Sandile has 6 weaknesses, and only 4 resistances [Although he has 2 immunities].
Movepool: As mentioned in the typing section; Sandile effectively comes packaged with 2 Base 60 STABs, giving Sandile an acceptable amount of power for that phase of the game. Which is good, because Sandile's level-up movepool is awful until Lv 28; where it picks up Crunch surprisingly early. Beyond this, Sandile will mostly be reliant on TM's. However, as a physical attacker, and with good STAB coverage, Return, Dig and even Rock Tomb are decent coverage options which come at acceptable points. Earthquake comes either at Lv54, or just before the E4, and Dragon Claw and Brick Break are lategame TM options.
Major Battles:
Grant - Amaura is dangerous; as Refrigerate Take Down will likely OHKO. However, Sandile can destroy Tyrunt, due to resisting Bite and Rock Tomb, and Intimidate cutting it's attack; while making it very hard for Tyrunt to flinch it due to Bulldoze
Korrina - Being weak to fighting, Sandile's main purpose here is Intimidate. Better than nothing.
Ramos - The sad thing is Ramos is enough of a joke that Krokork might actually be able to beat Jumpluff or Weepingbel despite the type disadvantage. Also he's enough of a joke that someone else should be able to handle it
Clemont - Sweeps
Valerie - You can crush Mawile; who only had Dark-type attacks and is weak to Ground. Mr.Mime and Sylveon beat you, although a Moxie Sandile can deal heavy damage to Mr.Mime with Crunch.
Olympia - You sweep
Team Flare - Ground and Rock coverage wrecks Team Flare
Lysandre - Pyroar and Honchkrow are fodder. Gyarados and Meinshou beat you.
Wulfric - You actually can't do much here

Malva - Earthquake. Talonflame is OHKO'ed by Rock Tomb. You can Crunch Chandelure if you want.
Wikstrom - Earthquake
Dransa - Dragon Claw, although Noivern might outspeed you and hurt.
Seibold - Stay away
Diantha - You can destroy Tyrantum and Gourgeist. If you have Moxie, you can actually sweep after Tyrantum or Goltergheist from the Moxie boost, since M.Gardevoir comes out last and you should be able to OHKO Aurorus at +1 and Goodra at +2 with D-Claw.

AZ - You sweep.

Additional Comments: Intimidate is the better option for the majority of the game, due to a lack of large rosters in this game. However, Moxie can do more in those battles with multiple enemies. For example, you can get a lot of damage off on Mega Gyarados at +1 [Due to Intimidate], making it easier for you to deal with it. Diantha can actually be swept abusing the fact that M-Gardevoir comes out last, and Goodra would not be the response to Krookodile if Aurorus is still up. Both have pros and cons.

I'd actually say Sandile deserves B; not C. It wrecks quite a few fights.
 

Colonel M

I COULD BE BORED!
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Reserving Magikarp.


Magikarp
Availability:
Route 3, Route 22, Parfum Palace (Fish with Old Rod), Common
Stats: Magikarp is a Pokemon that starts with atrocious stats until evolving into Gyarados. Gyarados excels in Attack and Special Defense with an average Speed and HP stat. Gyarados is often seen as a Pokemon that can hit very hard and take hits.
Typing: Magikarp starts as a Water-type until it becomes Gyarados which adds Flying to its typing. Gyarados trades becoming more vulnerable to Electric- and Rock-type moves for neutrality to Grass-type attacks and adding Fighting- and Bug-type to Water-type's well-rounded resistances.
Movepool: Magikarp is unable to learn any attacks until it evolves into Gyarados. As Gyarados it is able to learn Dragon Rage at Level 23 and Bulldoze through TM. Gyarados eventually learns Ice Fang and Aqua Tail to compliment Bulldoze. Eventually Gyarados learns Rain Dance naturally as well as Dragon Dance to make it an effective sweeper lategame.
Major Battles: Once evolved Gyarados does fairly well against many gym leaders barring Clemont and Grant. Team Flare only threatens Gyarados with Electrike and Manectric. Once Gyarados has Dragon Dance few bosses can stop it in its tracks from sweeping lategame teams. Watch out for Dragalge and Clawitzer late game.
Additional Comments: Intimidate is a great ability as it gives Gyarados extra durability and utility for the team. Though cursed with a slow EXP growth Lucky Egg helps alleviate some of that problem and, with training, Gyarados decimates most of its competition mid-to-lategame.
 
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Its_A_Random

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Yeah I should update this soon. Anyhow did write-ups for Fearow and Dratini.

Fearow
Availability:
Victory Road, Outside.
Stats: Decent Attack, decent Speed, middling elsewhere.
Typing: Normal/Flying-typing is no liability in the last part of the game but it is not great offensively considering what is left.
Movepool: Fearow coming with Drill Run and Drill Peck on capture is a boon and it learns some decent physical moves by TM. Its coverage outside of Drill Run is barren however.
Major Battles: Fearow at the very least can put in work against Wilkstrom and Malva with Drill Run though its inability to OHKO targets means it will not be soloing anything.
Additional Comments: Fearow is a bad in-game choice due to it coming at the end of the game and not having much to offer.


Dratini
Availability:
Route 21, 5%.
Stats: At full evolution, Dragonite is a very powerful bulky attacker with a large physical attack stat. Base 80 Speed is troubling however.
Typing: Dragon/Flying-typing offers it a strong offensive typing for the last part of the game and is decent defensively though several Pokémon can hit it super effectively.
Movepool: Dragonite comes with a massive movepool with huge coverage. It can be taught what it needs to help put work in the last few battles.
Major Battles: Dragonite can put in serious work against Wilkstrom, Malva, and Drasna without too much issues. It can also do work against the other two members of the league but has issues.
Additional Comments: You can catch it as a Dragonair with the Super Rod for 5% and it can come as high as level 55 for an easy Dragonite.
 

Its_A_Random

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Updated.

Also five bucks says the rest of the posts on this page will be made by me. Anyhow going to do Shedinja for now.


Shedinja
Availability:
Route 6, 10%.
Stats: Slow, OHKOed by everything that bypasses Wonder Guard, has decent Attack.
Typing: Bug/Ghost-typing—while irrelevant defensively due to Shedinja's typing—offers great neutral STAB coverage being only resisted by Normal-types with a Bug-type resistance.
Movepool: Shedinja suffers from a lack of a high BAP STAB move until Shadow Claw and X-Scissor in Glittering Cave and Azure Bay. Its main coverage is reduced to Dig.
Major Battles: Every important trainer you face has at least one method to take out Shedinja. Grant, Olypmia, Wulfric, and Malva can take out Shedinja with any Pokémon. The best way to use it is to come in on those who cannot take out Shedinja and take them out.
Additional Comments: Shedinja is good for walling certain Pokémon but suffers from a bad experience growth curve early and being OHKOed easily by random attacks, making it really difficult to raise.

EDIT: lol karx you know what I mean -_-
 
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One thing that should be mentioned on both Azurill and Budew: as No Egg Group Pokemon they have 3 perfect IVs at minimum, giving them a serious stat advantage above and beyond other Pokemon in the same area.

I'll try and dew (hah) Budew, just give me a little while; it's been a while since I've actually played through the story of XY and it wasn't exactly my favorite anyway. Gonna look over an FAQ real quick to refresh my memory.
 

Budew
Availability: Route 4, in the red flowers; while Roselia is available on Route 7 it's best to catch a Budew.
Stats: All of Budew's evolutions excel in SpA and SpD, with Roserade having a decent 90 Spe as well - also, because Budew's a No Egg Group Pokemon, it immediately starts with 3 perfect IVs. With a Shiny Stone available on Route 12, it can reach its final evolution at a pace consistent with other Pokemon.
Typing: In X/Y, both sides of Grass/Poison is highly relevant, and with Fennekin/Charizard and Azurill/Squirtle, it forms a classic FWG trio with benefits.
Movepool: As Budew, it has a limited movepool, with Mega Drain and (via TM09 on Route 6) Venoshock. When it evolves into Roselia (via Happiness), it has few moves outside of Grass/Poison; the two worth noting are Shadow Ball and Dazzling Gleam, giving it very broad coverage mid/late game. Grass Whistle and Stun Spore provide utility in catching Pokemon as well. While it doesn't learn moves by levelup as Roserade, it has no important moves (outside Petal Dance at 37) to learn after 25 (Giga Drain), so evolving soon after getting the stone poses no disadvantages.
Major Battles: Budew and beyond has an advantage in 4 out of 7 gyms after its appearance, while having a disadvantage in 2. Also, if Fennekin is chosen, Budew ruins both of your rival's starters with Grass/Poison. Against Team Flare, Budew's mostly neutral to at a slight disadvantage, and best on the sidelines during a Lysandre fight - on the other hand, as one of the best early Poison types, it's ruinous against the many Fairy-types random trainers have. During the E4 challenge, Roserade is neutral/disadvantage in two and an advantage in two (provided it has Dazzling Gleam), and with its full set of coverage moves Roserade can sweep Diantha flawlessly.
Additional Comments: Both Poison Point and Natural Cure are decent, with Poison Point being more helpful paired with Venoshock. Its main advantages over other Pokemon of its typing are early availability, high stats where it needs them (SpA/SpD/Spe), and 3 perfect IVs. Bulbasaur especially suffers in comparison, as it lacks Giga Drain and coverage moves in Shadow Ball and Dazzling Gleam.
 

Its_A_Random

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Not really an epic bump but I guess this could be a shameless plug to get more write-ups or something.

However I did recently do a run with X, however I experimented with Exp. Share but only battled mandatory trainers only fighting optionals I failed to avoid or to grind (with Exp. Share off) to get a new mon "up to scratch" with the rest of the team and never once did I feel overleveled in the slightest, with second gym in early 20's, third gym late 20's, fourth gym early 30's, fifth gym late 30's, sixth gym late 30's, seventh gym early 40's, last of Team Flare late 40's, eighth gym early 50's before hitting the 60's just in time for E4. I was also playing Set mode. Some tidbits:
  • Slow Exp. group mons are massive lead huggers because they level up so slowly to the point where they get used lots.
  • Fast Exp. group mons level up too fast and find themselves "level away" to the point where they do not see much usage.
That said on that run I used Roserade (Lv 62 end), Blastoise (Lv62 end), Aerodactyl (Lv63 end), Sawk (Lv63 end), Garchomp (Lv62 end), and Klefki (Lv66 end).
  • Roserade (I got the Route 7 Horde Roselia) did not really do much and struggled to OHKO a lot of things and its frailty did not leave much room to set up (typically through Growth). Could not even solo Siebold... Was a Poison Point variant. Moveset: Giga Drain/Growth/Sludge Bomb/Dazzling Gleam
  • Blastoise did not do much and competition for mega slot with Aero meant it spent most of the time surfing. On the other hand, when it did mega, it did show a lot of potential and was actually quite good. Moveset: Surf/Dark Pulse/Two crappy HM's.
  • Aerodactyl being a lead hugger + mega meant it got a lot of use. Also a Rock Head variant. S-Ranking was justified though I did not get Bulldoze until before Clemont meant it was a dud against Grant and it did not outright beat Korrina but once it was able to mega, it took off. Never failed to 2HKO anything at worst (except Avalugg who destroys it with Avalanche lol) and cleaned trainers up. Bonus points for living a Heliolisk Thunderbolt outside of Electric Terrain and a Barbaracle Stone Edge from full health. Moveset: Crunch/Earthquake/Rock Slide/Fly.
  • Sawk got fairly decent usage. Was a Sturdy variant. I had experience with it from a recent White run and it never let me down here either. A-Ranking was fairly justified though it tended to run into a lot of advantageous mons... Also Low Sweep is quite a cool move that really helps I guess? Moveset: Bulk Up/Brick Break/Low Sweep/Rock Slide.
  • Garchomp got a lot of usage though a lot was as an Eviolite Gabite (which could take quite a few hits) evolving just in time for Lysandre part three. B-Ranking was justified for it imo as it was an otherwise strong mon that comes at a somewhat late time but not super amazing. When it became Garchomp it became a powerhouse that cleaved through several lategame opponents like the final rival fight and most of the E4. Moveset: Crunch/Dragon Claw/Rock Slide/Earthquake.
  • Klefki was the last to join and honestly did nothing much but provide a useful switch-in for something like a Gyarados Outrage. Hits like a pansy and it leveling away did nothing to stop that. It was good for finishing up Wulfric's Avalugg I suppose. Otherwise it did nothing of note. Final moveset: Dazzling Gleam/Foul Play/Torment/Mirror Shot.
I guess it does call into question the legitimacy of the Exp. Share ban especially when it is only "broken" when you go around beating every single trainer but IDK. I mean the main reason was objectivity but when you can achieve said objectivity at a faster rate than having it off then... We should still assume like levels though.

I suppose I can do write-ups of Gible and Klefki? I will look at the Budew entry above but one thing of note is that direct comparisons to other Pokémon in entries is a no-go. Too bad the writer has not been on since early May... :|

But yeah let us try to get this thing rolling again. Hopefully.
 

Colonel M

I COULD BE BORED!
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The Exp Share would promote more towards an efficient run - this helps counterbalance a lot of issues of plowing through the game and fighting only a few trainers and mandatory ones.

I did see on Roserade you didn't get Petal Dance (that or removed it). It is a big move for Roserade because the 120 base power is stunning.
 

Its_A_Random

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Yeah that was probably my issue with Roserade; that I decided to stick with Giga Drain for sustain and evolve it as soon as I got the Shiny Stone as opposed to waiting until I got Petal Dance around the time of Clemont. That extra 45 BAP I suspected would have REALLY helped, but c'est la vie.

Anyhow I have now added definitions for each rank to each tier. These descriptions are currently rough but aim to add some sort objectivity and explain what Pokémon in that tier tend to have but are only meant to be used as a guide and are meant to be sort of taken with a grain of salt similar to Viability Rankings threads (as in, "Oh Magikarp fits the matchup-based description, move to B"). For reference:

Description Guides said:
S-Tier: Reserved for Pokémon who possess the highest levels of efficiency of the available options in the Pokémon X & Y versions. Pokémon in this tier are able to OHKO or 2HKO an overwhelming majority of opponents, limiting the amount of attacks used against them, and possess minimal reliance on items to help assist them defeat opponents at like levels. These Pokémon typically show up before the late-game and any flaws they have are absolutely made up by their advantages.

A-Tier: Reserved for Pokémon whose efficiency in terms of completing the game is considered to be very high. Pokémon in this tier are able to OHKO or 2HKO a lot of opponents and are not very reliant on items to succeed, but either have some visible flaws that hurt their efficiency or have their usefulness counterbalanced by a late arrival.

B-Tier: Reserved for Pokémon whose efficiency in terms of completing the game is considered to be high. Pokémon in this tier are able to OHKO or 2HKO a fair chunk of opponents and may have a bit of item reliance to assist in sweeping opponents. These Pokémon are still very useful but either have several visible flaws holding them back or come fairly late.

C-Tier: Reserved for Pokémon whose efficiency in terms of completing the game is considered to be moderately high. Pokémon in this tier are able to OHKO or 2HKO a reasonable portion of opponents but are matchup-based enough to need some item reliance to assist in sweeping some opponents. These Pokémon are useful but either have several visible flaws holding them back or barely make up for their late arrivals.

D-Tier: Reserved for Pokémon whose efficiency in terms of completing the game is considered to be average. Pokémon in this tier are able to OHKO or 2HKO a small amount of opponents and tend to be matchup-based enough to need item reliance to assist in sweeping a few opponents. The usefulness of these Pokémon are typically counterbalanced by many visible flaws or are useful Pokémon that come very late.

E-Tier: Reserved for Pokémon whose efficiency in terms of completing the game is considered to be low. Pokémon in this tier are generally only able to OHKO or 2HKO specific opponents and suffer from being matchup-based, generally relying on items to assist in sweeping several opponents. These Pokémon either have flaws that outshine its strengths or are otherwise decent Pokémon that come too late to be of any major use.

F-Tier: Reserved for Pokémon who possess the worst efficiency of those available in Pokémon X & Y irrespective of their availability. These Pokémon outright lose a lot of 1v1 matchups at like levels unless they are assisted with significant item support. The flaws of these Pokémon completely mask whatever advantage they could possibly have and hence, should never be considered seriously for an efficient run-through of Pokémon X & Y.
I suppose they can be improved on and possibly ported to other tier lists but yeah. I will get to Garchomp and Klefki entries soon.

Also anyone object to me moving Bidoof to D? It was only in C based on HM Slavery stuff and we should honestly rate Pokémon on contributions to battles, especially when only Surf (iirc) is needed to win the game.

Also a recommendation that we are considering similar levels for major battles and when using Exp. Share in runs to fight as few optional trainers as possible to stop overlevelling.
 

Its_A_Random

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I am the doppelposter.


Gible
Availability:
Route 13, 20%.
Stats: Gible's stats lend itself towards a powerful, bulky physical attacker with enough speed to outrun most of the game as a Garchomp.
Typing: Dragon/Ground-typing lends itself to a lot of good matchups against major battles with a few bad ones, as well as offering good offensive coverage and plenty of resistances.
Movepool: Instantly coming with Dragon Claw before evolution as well as Bulldoze TM (later upgraded to moves like Dig and Earthquake) leaves it with good coverage from the outset and also offers Rock-type coverage and eventually, Dark-, Poison-, and decent Fighting-type coverage. Flamethrower provides a decent special option if needed.
Major Battles: Gible boasts a strong matchup against Clemont, most of Team Flare, and most of the Pokémon League, as well as ripping through Serena/Calem's last fight depending on starter. It is also able to chip in against Valerie and Wulfric despite an overall terrible matchup.
Additional Comments: Gabite really appreciates an Eviolite as it greatly improves its ability to take on several opponents with its increased bulk and greatly reducing any dud periods it would have. Its arrival in Route 13 (between Lv26 and Lv28) may necessitate some grinding to get it up to par upon capture.


Klefki
Availability:
Route 15, 10%.
Stats: Klefki is best seen as a jack of all trades, master of none, with decent bulk, average speed, and half decent offences.
Typing: Steel/Fairy-typing is stellar defensively and gives it a lot of useful resists against many lategame opponents, and offensively gives it super effective coverage against several critical opponents.
Movepool: Klefki's movepool is barren offensively with its attacking movepool basically consisting of Play Rough/Dazzling Gleam, Mirror Shot, Foul Play, and Psychic/Psyshock in the endgame. Klefki's support moves are not very good either though blocking Full Restore recoveries with Heal Block is an option. Calm Mind is a decent setup move.
Major Battles: Through its typing, Klefki can come in against many major opponents and not take much damage though average offences mean it will not be doing much in response. It does fairly well against Wulfric, Drasna, and Diantha, but Malva is a dud matchup.
Additional Comments: Klefki benefits from being in the fast Exp. Group, reducing initial grind time and allowing it to get better level-up moves faster.
 
So maybe this sounds like blasphemy, but... I'm not entirely sure about Aerodactyl in S-rank. Don't get me wrong, based purely on battle performance I have no problem with it; it's amazing and as a mega was a complete MVP on a Y run I had. Buuuut... my contention comes from it's availability. If this is based on efficiency, you're not going to have a lot of fun smashing rocks over and over in the hopes of finding an Old Amber. I don't know the exact percentages, but what I do know is that I spent ages and ages and ages just smashing all the rocks in the place, mostly uncovering nothing or a wild Pokémon, exiting and entering again, until finally I got... a hard stone. It took me so long to find an Old Amber I simply can't consider Aerodactyl to be among the absolute best Pokémon in the game from an efficiency standpoint - talking of efficiency, it's also in the slow exp gain group; so assuming we don't have exp share it's a bit of a pain to train.
Talking of efficiency in terms of being able to obtain something, should Riolu and Korrina's Lucario be split? One's extremely hard to run into in the wild and one's given as a gift; not to mention they have different strengths and advantages as listed in the OP. I realize the ORAS in-game tier list recently removed the distinction between Poochyena and Pokénav Poochyena, but I firmly believe that significant differences in availability both in what point of the game you get it and how rare it is is a much bigger distinction than one move.
 
Riolu isn't the only Pokemon whose viability depends considerably on how you catch and start training it. It seems to me that we simply tier the more viable variant each time, and the most efficient choice takes precedence above inferior choices.
 
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