Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon In-Game Tier List

[R_N]

Now that I've finished the main game + Episode RR, I'm regrettably nominating my boy Metagross for C-tier.

Availability - This is, admittedly, where Metagross hurts the most. Beldum isn't available until the third island, doesn't fully evolve until around the Aether Foundation, and can be a bit of a nuisance to catch, but on the bright side, its encounter rate isn't bad at all for a pseudo-legend at 20%.

Movepool - Metagross' levelup movepool is good on its own, with access to two crazy strong STABs in Meteor Mash and Zen Headbutt, STAB priority in Bullet Punch, and strong coverage in Hammer Arm when it evolves. Unlike in SM, however, it also gets access to Iron Head, Thunder Punch, and Ice Punch through Move Tutor right off the bat, not to mention Brick Break, Rock Slide/Tomb, Bulldoze, and Psychic through TM for the midgame, and in the postgame, it gets Earthquake. It can even use Corkscrew Crash as of the very area it's found in. Having this many options means you can basically tailor Metagross' moveset to patch up any holes in your team comp, and depending on the moveset you choose to run, you can trust Metagross to hit pretty much anything that's put in front of it hard.
Typing - On its own, Steel is pretty incredible in-game (see: Magnemite in pretty much any game it's in). While Psychic doesn't do it many favors and renders it vulnerable to the many random Dark-type moves thrown around this game (hello, Guzma's Ariados...), it does notably make Metagross resistant to Ultra Necrozma's entire moveset, which is really helpful.

Stats - You don't need me to tell you that Metagross' stats are awesome. It sports a monstrous Attack and Defense stat along with passable Special Attack and Special Defense and a semi-beefy HP stat to boot, thus letting it rip and tear through most things easily and even play with some special coverage options like Sludge Bomb and Shadow Ball if you so choose. Even as a Metang, with Eviolite, it becomes a godlike physical tank, and can eat some special hits, too. However, it is slow, meaning it'll have to take a hit most of the time and may eat through your healing items rather quickly as a result.
Major Battles - ...this is kind of a 50/50. As far as the totems it's available for, Metagross/Eviolite Metang is pretty good overall; the only one it 100% loses to is Totem Mimikyu, which wins 1v1 by virtue of Disguise. Otherwise, it can hit Togedemaru and Kommo-o super-effectively (provided you have the TM for Bulldoze, which you absolutely should) while only taking neutral damage at worst from both, and utterly blows away Totem Ribombee with Corkscrew Crash. As for trainers, it notably rips through Olivia's team and can go 1v1 with most of Kahili's, Lusamine's, and Guzma's mons without much of a problem (along with potentially Giovanni's, if we're counting that). However, it does lose pretty hard to Nanu, Hapu, Acerola, Molayne, and Hau (and doesn't do too well against the RR admins for the most part, either). But what I think sets Metagross apart from most other mons is its ability to singlehandedly invalidate the entire Ultra Necrozma fight, a feat that, to my knowledge, most other available mons struggle to achieve.

TL;DR, although Metagross has some availability issues, evolves super late, and is pretty inconsistent against the game's major battles, its movepool, typing, and stats I feel are good enough to justify catching a Beldum on Mount Hokulani, which is why I nominate it for C.

I don't think the availability & "late" evolution are as debilitating as you think it is.
It's on the third island, true, but there's a fair chunk of game left. First off, obviously, the entire remainder of Island 3 is pretty long including the Skull section (not that that's...very hard...but its there), the Aether follow up, and then the chunk of Poni island and finally victory road. And you'll probably be a metagross by around Aether raid which isn't too outlandish.
Its battle performance is probably more relevant than it, is all I'm putting forth

 

[HotFuzzBall]

Some more noms now that I'm at Olivia on UM:

Mawile: S rank. Unless the bulk magically falls off at some point in the game, I can't see how Mawile can be lower than S. Amazing typing, comes after Hala, comes with Intimidate. Early Sucker can fix speed issues and snag kills on Ghosts and Psychics. Can learn early Iron Head from BP on top of Ice or Thunderpunch for more coverage. Not enough Ground or Fire types in game to affect its viability.

Gyarados: S rank. I was leaning A but honestly, the bulk, movepool, and Intimidate pushes it to the top. Can learn Bounce via BP for a Flying stab (or Z move) for Lurantis, learns Bulldoze, Dragon Dance, early Ice Fang. Slogging around a Magikarp is worth it if you picked Rowlet or Litten at the start.

Magnemite: S rank, no questions asked.

Furfrou: A rank (for now). Furfrou has really surprised me. It's coverage is crap (mine has Bite/Headbutt/Sand Attack/Baby Doll Eyes), but the bulk has been surprisingly good. Fur Coat really helps against all the totems and it is faster than most things in Alola. It might fall off at some point but it's definitely a solid mon.

Murkrow: B rank, possibly C. Does really well on the first two islands thanks to good stats and early Z move. I feel its bulk will suffer a lot on the last two until the Dusk Stone. You would want to evo it at 55 though to get Sucker and Night Slash, meaning you are carrying around a Murkrow for 95% of the main game. Movepool is interesting; it can learn Heat Wave and Icy Wind, and a special set isnt horrible as it has equal SpA and Att until it evolves. Haze has been hit or miss for me. It's poor bulk means it may die before getting a Haze off.

Arbok: C rank. I think we can actually tier the in-game trade and a caught Ekans as the same, since the in-game trade happens right before Lurantis, which is when your Ekans should be evolving anyway. It's typing is ok, but its movepool is meh, and all I've used it for is Intimidate swapping and healing others up. I haven't been that impressed with is so far.

ok...

So this isn't a shit post.

Chinchou - I'd put it in C/D rank, leaning closer to D tbh. The lack of Scald early kinda sucks but, it is still pretty effective in my run. Chinchou can evolve pretty early depending on what level you catch it at (ideally you'd want to catch one that's below lvl 20 for Electro Ball but, you can teach it Shock Wave for 4 BP if you catch a higher lvled one). Chinchou's movepool is pretty bland early on since it doesn't get any good Water-stab until Hydro Pump (stuck with Bubblebeam for a while) or Scald/Surf TMs in Poni, though Lanturn does learn Discharge at 37 so I guess that's pretty good (though you are stuck with Shock Wave / Electro Ball for a bit). However, Chinchou does make boss battles easier since it gets Confuse Ray and Thunder Wave to cause a bunch of shenanigans, Volt Absorb also allows Lanturn to laugh at totem Togedemaru. Lanturn is also decently bulky (though it doesn't hit too hard), combined with its 2 weaknesses makes it pretty handy. Though the downfall of Lanturn is the fact that it is a Water-type that is weak to Ground, so using it against Olivia or Hapu can be risky.

 

[Taistelu]

I used Chinchou for a bit but eventually dropped it (just after Togedemaru Totem), because its really not that good and I found its bulk wasn't great enough so D is probably more appropriate, but I can't comment if it improves later on. Anyway...

I finished up my 2nd run of USUM so I'll make a noms for a few Pokemon I'm fairly comfortable with for now.

Manectric - C Tier. The availability isn't particularly good, as its only found halfway through the 3rd island, but with a 20% encounter rate and a lot of grass it isn't too hard to find. Its movepool is bland. By Level Up you get Electric/Normal moves (in fact nothing after Discharge (and I guess Bite could be useful for ghost trial wild Pokemon) is really worth using in its level up pool) and... Bite, although you can get Signal Beam via Tutor and later on Flamethrower via Vast Poni Canyon TM for Coverage. You can also teach it Volt Switch which is a cool move Its stats are nothing too special, having a fast Speed and decent Special Attack but its bulk. As for matchups, Thunder Wave is nice to deal with Totems and that boss, although only 105 base speed means you can be outsped turn one, which hurts its usefulness as a fast T-Waver. Despite that I still used it fairly often during fights though. I don't think its bad enough to warrant D Tier since its useful since you get it, but it doesn't stand out anywhere so it can't get higher ranks.

Castform - DOWN TO THE DEPTHS OF...F Tier (or whatever the worst rank is). This Pokemon has absolutely awful availability. It's found in a lot of places but getting it is a nightmare. It's a weather SOS, and if you want a Castform during the one tiny portion of the game you could trick yourself into thinking it did something you'll need to go for a 1% rain SOS in Lush Jungle. I've never seen it rain in Lush Jungle, so you'll have to get your own rain Pokemon. Its movepool consists of good options like Weather Ball, the elemental 110 BPs and Hurricane. If only everything else about this Pokemon wasn't completely awful. Stats are abysmal, 70 in everything means you have no hope of dealing damage outside of Weather - which you need to set up every single time you want Castform to do something. If you're not KOed by the time you've set up your weather, then you'll probably be KOed on the next turn, meaning you'll do nothing to Pokemon with a decent speed stat. I could go on but the point is obvious. Castform is awful.

Some more noms now that I'm at Olivia on UM:

I think its best to wait until a bit later on to comment, especially for higher ranks like S/A since really good early game Pokemon can fall off badly. Lots of stuff is still NFE at that point.

 

[philiptsmithii]

Earlier, someone posted about Crobat to A, and I think someone refuted their argument. I'd like to support a high ranking for Crobat. Despite having middling stats aside from speed, it's a very solid team player. A combination of its early evolution (my Golbat evolved into Crobat at level 23, which is easy to do as the game gives you a Soothe Bell early on and Roto-Friendship is a thing), surprisingly good bulk in practice, and access to a few certain moves make it much better in practice than on paper. It gets an early Supersonic Skystrike and solid dual stab upon learning Cross Poison at evolution, along with TMs for Leech Life and U-Turn. Later, the TM for Acrobatics bolsters its average attack.

You might think that these traits embody more of a B or C level mon, but at level 40, it gets access to one of the best moves for an USUM in-game run: Haze. Having a fast Pokemon with Haze allows it to mitigate the aura boosts of late-game totems and Ultra Necrozma. Granted, I used a Focus Sash to Haze Ultra Necrozma, but a Focus Band or Quick Claw could do the trick too if you don't want to use a valuable one-use item for an in-game run. Totem Ribombee can only hit Crobat for not-very-effective damage; my Crobat was at least 5 levels lower than Ribombee and had more than half of its HP left after a +2 Dazzling Gleam. After using Haze, it was then able to OHKO it with super effective STAB. For what it's worth, it can easily play the same trick on Totem Kommo-O, although that's a much more manageable fight overall.

So, Crobat is a great Pokemon in the early and mid-game, but its power starts to taper off a little later. However, just as this is happening, it gains access to Haze, making it a phenomenal supporter in all of the game's most challenging fights. It switches from an offensive Pokemon to a support Pokemon, and is useful from the moment it learns Wing Attack at level 13 to the very end of the game.

EDIT: For what it's worth, I think learning Haze should be a serious consideration for ranking any Pokemon highly. I would argue it's the single most valuable move in this game.

 

[Tamar_Jaeger]

Let me contribute by talking about my in-game team for my first playtrough:

Magnezone - Easy mode. Everyone already said everything, I agree with S rank.

Alolan Muk - The MVP of my team. It may lack a bit in speed but makes up for it twicefold in bulkyness. Since my team was missing a fighting type I gave it Brick Break for coverage and together with Crunch, Gunk SHot and Rock Slide was able to sweep like half the game. I had to make an effort not to use it to lvl up other members of my team. Personally I would rank it into S, but A+ would also be fine since a tier list should be objective and not subjective.

Araquanid - Losing Scald early hurts it but still performs well. Although later in the game (around the time you get to Poni) the low speed really hurt it and the bulk starts to lose its value (at least for me). In the endgame and the E4 it still hits really hard but thanks to the low speed goes 2nd tha majority of the time and always takes damage and therefore won't be able to sweep entire teams without potions (unlike the previous mentioned Magnezone or Muk). I would rank it into A- or B+.

Gardevoir - Island Scan mon, not sure if it counts for ranking. Only gets Psychic STAB at lv30, until then it basically is like a dead weight. After that Gardevoir has it's places to shine, but is too frail most of the time; if no one-shotting the enemy it will mostly take a lot of damage if not fainting by the returning damage. In USUM Gardevoir took a really big blow in effectiveness and is not beast like back in ORAS anymoe. I would rank it in B.

Talonflame - Good speed, but that's it. Bad bulk, for fire coverage I needed to use Firium Z to reliantly kill anything, same for flying coverage. Although it learns acrobatics, not having an item hurts it more. I would rank it C.

Mamoswine - Another Island Scan mon. You can only evolve it to Mamo right before E4, until then it's an eviolite sucker. Simply having the Ice type hurt it more than I expected. As Piloswine it has relative good Attack but bad Speed. It had some good moments, but that were because of earthquake, other ground types like Mudsdale of Flygon would have done the same if not better. Also, the Ice STAB attacks are not really worth it for the story playthrough. My rank for it is C.

I will be starting my 2nd playthrough today. Gonna try out Growlithe/Arcanine in it, I am kinda curious how it will perform.

 

[emanresu15]

Any ideas for how viable Houndoom, Golurk, and Alolan Ninetales are for in-game teams? Going through Ultra Sun and considering a few version exclusives.

 

[Stellar]

I'm going to go through this thread on Sunday and then post preliminary rankings for Pokémon that have been discussed. Keep at it!

 

[Giratina93]

Possibly last batch from me before the preliminary rankings...

Lileep to D tier. I actually like Lileep and Cradily, but once again, they just don't work this game. Every totem once you get it has a SE move to blow it up, it's slow and weak to far too much stuff, and you need the Rotom boosts and X items to make it do its job efficiently. Mine was Modest nature, and it STILL hit far too weak. It can sort of toxic stall stuff, but that's hardly an efficient way to play, especially with every major fight having SE coverage against you. On the flip side, early Giga Drain+ Ancient Power is strong STAB at the start, but that's as good as it gets unless you want to go mixed.

Palkia and Dialga for B tier, but I can see it being C. Now, being available so damn late, and having a bad matchup against Totem Ribombee (For Palkia, Dialga can actually stand up against it) is not the best thing in the world, but good god if you give it the Lustrous Orb (or Adamant orb), and slap a few TM's like Flamethrower and Surf for Palkia for example onto it... you have a monster at your beck and call, a decently fast, decently bulky and HARD HITTING AS HELL monster. It devastates everything in its wake, and can effortlessly solo the Elite 4 with its powerful moves and coverage. (Dialga, lesso because Steel/Dragon + coverage isn't quite as potent as Water/Dragon+coverage, and its slower speed means its more likely to get outsped and hit hard by the coverage moves the Elite 4 packs). No matter which version you're playing, though, you have a pretty solid weapon on your hands.

Barboach for B-C tier. You can get one reasonably early on as a trade, and with solid moves through level up and Icy Wind via tutor, even Bounce if you want to try fishing for paralysis, it can hold its own against Totem Marowak, Olivia, Totem Togedemaru, a little bit of Nanu, Totem Kommo-o, and Hapu, or at least slow them down to enable someone else to then pick up the slack easier. Its overall power is lackluster, but it offers a decent typing and okay stats to fill in a decent enough niche if you didn't go with the water starter.

Alolan Vulpix for C tier. You can get it at Tapu Village, and you'll get your main STABS up and running early... and that's the only redeeming feature about this thing. Dazzling Gleam upon evolving is nice, but Ninetales is weaksauce and struggles to kill even super effective things with it. Mimikyu doesn't care and blows you up, Guzma's Pinsir and Golisopod crumple you, Lusamine's team crumples you, Kommo-o outspeeds and one shots you, and it just gets worse, especially with Molayne replacing Hala in the Elite 4, thus rendering one of the few good matchups it had into a liability (Though it does fair okay against Kahili). Otherwise, super effective coverage against it is everywhere, and given all the perfect EV's and IV's the enemies have, don't be surprised if Ninetales gets outsped and one shot by something it should outspeed..

 

[philiptsmithii]

I'll get a couple last minute rankings in, too:

Gastly to A tier, or possibly B. Early-game Gastly is much improved this time around; access to Round and Giga Drain via TM and Move Tutor, respectively, allow it to use its excellent special attack much earlier than it's been able to in the past. It still holds its own by the time it's a Haunter, and you can immediately evolve it. I love Haunter so I kept mine unevolved until around level 42 if I recall correctly, and it still performed very well, so I would assume Gengar would be even better for the midgame. It also gets a great coverage option in Psychic. Once you get to Poni, though, it becomes a bit too frail. Sure, it can hit hard, but base 110 speed only get you so far in a game where every boss fight seems to have 31 Speed IVs. And it doesn't hit hard enough to support itself in the lategame. The only thing my Gengar did in the Elite Four was faint. But don't let that be the takeaway--for the early game, mid game, and even parts of the lategame, Gengar is an excellent Pokemon.

Mareanie to C. Getting one is tough, and you only have a 50% chance of getting one with Merciless, which you basically need. 100% crit BP 130 Venoshock is nice, but it doesn't QUITE make up for Toxapex's mediocre special attack. Its bulk is great, but it's held back by its low HP more than it wants to be. My Muk had about the same overall special bulk as my Toxapex, but Muk has better defensive typing, coverage, power, and utility, while also being much easier to get. Don't let that sell Toxapex short, though... several times in my playthrough, I used this mon to tank hits while I revived the rest of my team when I was in a tight situation.

Speaking of which, now that I've beaten the Elite Four, let me reiterate my support for Alolan Grimer to S. It was my MVP throughout the entire game. Minimize compounded with amazing coverage and bulk along with very good Attack made it a highly reliable mon. It performed extremely well against the Elite Four. Read my earlier post for more.

Salandit to C. Getting a girl is a pain, but it's otherwise an above average mon. Bad bulk but surprisingly good defensive typing along with access to Flame Burst and later Flamethrower by level-up, not to mention Sludge Bomb/Wave by TM, leave it performing decently overall while never really excelling. It's held back by how hard it is to obtain, though.

Crobat to A, but I've already talked about that in an earlier post.

Poiple to B or maybe C. Yeah, it's a lategame mon that only evolves right before the Elite Four, but it performs JUST well enough as a Poiple to justify a spot on the squad. And then when it evolves, it becomes an absolutely insane powerhouse. EASILY the MVP of my E4 team. Any other Pokemon obtained that late and with such a late evolution would be D, E, or F by any other metric... but Naganadel is just insane.

 

[Gokuzbu]

Absol for D. It comes quite late in the middle of the 3rd island and doesn't become immediately useful as you got a tough Guzma fight coming up. Play Rough Mimikyu destroys it. It won't survive anything done by Ultra Necrozma, Kommo-O has drain punch, and Ribombee has a grand old time with it. It has a terrible matchup for so many important fights after you get it. However, it helps against Faba, Acerola, and Nanu can't do too much to it. The problem is Absol is frail, and not fast enough to make use of its gigantic attack. Mine had a speed boosting nature and still rarely went first. There are bug moves everywhere and even strong neutral hits do 50% or more. With Super Luck and Scope Lens; Night Slash, Psycho Cut and Stone Edge will always critical hit which is fun. You just don't live long enough to see it. I don't recommend Absol really.

 

[MellowBusiness]

Any ideas for how viable Houndoom, Golurk, and Alolan Ninetales are for in-game teams? Going through Ultra Sun and considering a few version exclusives.

Houndoom aint hot. It's heavily reliant on its physical stat with fairly low base power moves until level 50 and it has pretty poor match ups against most of the major battles. It wasn't completely useless as it can do well against Guzma as long as his golosipod is out of commission. Incineroar is the better Fire/Dark as its much bulkier and hits harder during most of the game and a better movepool. The only time it really gets to shine is during the Elite 4 as it finally gets access to Nasty Plot so for that reason only I'd put Houndoom in E tier.

 

[emanresu15]

Houndoom aint hot. It's heavily reliant on its physical stat with fairly low base power moves until level 50 and it has pretty poor match ups against most of the major battles. It wasn't completely useless as it can do well against Guzma as long as his golosipod is out of commission. Incineroar is the better Fire/Dark as its much bulkier and hits harder during most of the game and a better movepool. The only time it really gets to shine is during the Elite 4 as it finally gets access to Nasty Plot so for that reason only I'd put Houndoom in E tier.

Ya, looking at the movepool of Houndoom, I was worried that would be the case. Guessing Magmortar, Arcanine, and Incineroar are the good Fire types?

Also, are any Ground types besides Mudsdale good? Trying Dugtrio but it's a bit frail for my taste

 

[Giratina93]

Ya, looking at the movepool of Houndoom, I was worried that would be the case. Guessing Magmortar, Arcanine, and Incineroar are the good Fire types?

Also, are any Ground types besides Mudsdale good? Trying Dugtrio but it's a bit frail for my taste

Sandgeyst can work, but tends to be a bit of a potion hog. aside from that, Digglett, mudsdale and Larvitar, your best bet is in the desert, which is after Mimikyu, so the mons there may come later than you'd like, but the likes of Krokorok and Eviolite Trapinch perform decently enough, though not necessarily good. (especially if you make the mistake of evolving into Vibrava too early)

 

[Lucchini]

EDIT: For what it's worth, I think learning Haze should be a serious consideration for ranking any Pokemon highly. I would argue it's the single most valuable move in this game.

You learn it at lv. 40, by which point you fight only 1/2 Totem battles and Necrozma. The latter outspeeds and OHKOs your Crobat before it can use the move. It probably doesn't have the impact you're arguing for.

 

[Gokuzbu]

Ya, looking at the movepool of Houndoom, I was worried that would be the case. Guessing Magmortar, Arcanine, and Incineroar are the good Fire types?

Also, are any Ground types besides Mudsdale good? Trying Dugtrio but it's a bit frail for my taste

Magmarizer is only a 5% chance to find but I can still recommend the family. You can do just fine with an Eviolite Magmar. In fact Magmar is a bit faster. Magby having 3 perfect IVs is pretty nice.

Anyone use Flareon? Wonder what that's like. You get the fire stone at the daycare now which is handy.

 

[Stellar]

Here is a preliminary list of Pokémon based on tiering suggestions from this thread.
I only ranked things that had multiple votes and a general consensus.
For now, I'm ranking them by the base form, but I'll probably update that later.
There is a list of Pokémon that need further discussion at the end of the post.

S

Hawlucha

Magnemite

Oricorio

A

Grimer

Magikarp

Mawile

Mudbray

Popplio

B

Ekans

Inkay

Murkrow

Ralts

Rowlet

Zorua

C

Larvitar

D

Noibat

Pokémon in need of discussion

Cutiefly - B
Salandit - BCC
Beldum - CCB
Litten - AB
Rufflet - E
Bagon - BCD
Roggenrola - A
Eevee (Jolteon) - AA
Abra - B
Pikapek - B
Smoochum - AB
Remoraid - BC
Flabebe - C
Mareep - B
Bounsweet - AB
Sandygast - CD
Honedge - B
Xurkitree - CD
Pichu - B
Fomantis - DE
Houndour - B
Nihilego - C
Furfrou - BA
Poipole - EBC
Necrozma - A
Crobat - ABA
Slowpoke - E
Sandile - C
Feebas - BAB
Mareanie - CC
Mimikyu - A
Amaura - CD
Snorunt — DE
Chinchou - CD
Electric - C
Castform - E
Dewpider - AB
Fletchinder - C
Swinub - C
Lileep - D
Palkia - BC
Dialgia - BC
Barboach - BC
Vulpix - C
Gastly - ABA
Absol - D
Gible - D
Charmander - C

 

[Kurona]

Not on the discussion list but because this is one of the two Pokémon I used not currently ranked... I used Mantine because I love Mantine and it's somewhere between okay and blargh. You can get it at a fairly high level for the point you are in the game if you take the time to backtrack to Hao'uli right after getting the fishing rod, and it can immediately evolve too because you get Remoraid at the same island with the same method (granted, also requires a bit more backtracking). This means you get it at a much more conveniently high level than it's available at on Route 8 and means it can solo the fire trial. Beyond that, it's... up and down. Its big selling point is its special bulk; it's a very safe bet to switch out to against a strong special attacker and could get a few decent shots in as well. Unfortunately, especially as a decent special flying STAB only comes around Po Town; the flying-type is a huge detriment more than anything else to its ability to wall stuff which is especially notable against Olivia. Compound this with having to deal with Water Pulse/Bubblebeam until you get the Scald TM on the fourth island and you've got a Pokémon who isn't hitting very hard unless you're using Z-moves and hence whose success is almost entirely dependent on tanking hits which is hurt by its secondary typing.
All in all I'd say either C or D. It's not as bad as you might expect; but its flaws are very, very apparent.

I would back up Mareep for B. It's just a strong special attacker and decent Thunder Wave user. In my experience it finds itself largely in neutral situations where unfortunately due to a very low speed stat it's taking a fair amount of hits; but will hit back very very hard. And naturally when it gets a good matchup, it gets a really good matchup. Low speed, lack of coverage and okay-but-not-amazing defensive stats are enough to hit it down from A to B though.

Magmarizer is only a 5% chance to find but I can still recommend the family. You can do just fine with an Eviolite Magmar. In fact Magmar is a bit faster. Magby having 3 perfect IVs is pretty nice.

You get a free Magmarizer in Seafolk Village; the same boathouse you get Aerodactyl.

 

[CTNC]

Nominating Flabebe for E. I don't know enough about the in game tiers to be sure about the exact rank, but if Lavitar is C, then Flabebe is D at best. It had low stats other than Special Defence until it evolves into Florges, it doesn't get a Stab better than Fairy Wind until the Dazzling Gleam TM on the last Island or the unlikely Level 46 Moonblast, and it needs a Shiny Stone from on the last island to evolve. Because it's stuck with Fairy Wind for Stab, you'll mostly be using the coverage of Giga Drain, Hidden Power, and Psychic.

Here's my in game experience with Flabebe. When I caught it had weak offense and weak defense. After I got to the second island and taught it Giga Drain it was okay, but it didn't take long for me to think, "It will be better after evolution." For five levels, it was better. After that I was thinking, "It will be better after evolution." Five Levels later, I found out where you find the Shiny Stone is and my hopeful delusions were shattered. For the first time in a play though, I punt kicked a Pokemon into the box.

 

[Giratina93]

Necrozma... I'd have to put it at B or C. Yes, it absolutely wrecks face... But you get it RIGHT before you enter the Elite 4, and to use a mon this powerful when you only have five major battles left, all in the same place? I'm sorry, but that's not A tier, even if it steamrolls the Elite 4. Nevermind you also have to go and grab Lunala/Solgaleo to get Necrozma to be at full power, and that's just an extra hurdle which, although easy, still eats up time. It's stupid powerful, as broken as the Primals were in ORAS, but the fact you can only use Necrozma so damn late in the game means it should be nowhere near A tier. At least with the Wormhole Legendaries, you can theoretically use them against Necrozma, and then against Totem Ribombee and Hapu, and against Gladion.

 

[LimaBean]

Furfrou to B Furfrou is a tanky pokemon with fur coat that can easily deal with the totem pokemon. Through my ingame experience, the silk scarf item was obtained very early in hauli city and it learns headbutt at level 12. To deal with totem pokemon, such as; raticate/gumshoos, lurantis and toge (to an extent), it can reduce damage output to them with baby doll eyes and then use tail whip to weaken them for other pokemon to sweep. It just requires a bit potion spam.
Gastly to B+ In my opinion gastly deserves to be rank due to gimmicks such as curse and hypnosis which are alright at best against totem pokemon or tricky situations. Curse may be used against totem pokemon as they are bulky and hard to take down. Gastly does not get any good moves until it evolves to haunter which gets shadow ball in its 30's and evolite doesn't seem to make it that bulky. Gengar with specs wrecks late game.
Buneary to C Friendship is very easily obtained in the game duemassages on akala island so you can get a lopunny quite easily. It gets return quite early due to evolution and jump kick early on too. Norm/fighting moves are only walled against ghost pokemon and normal and fighting crystals are obtained quite early. Silk scarf as mentioned before is obtained quite early.

 

[Blitz]

I went over my team in the in-game team thread so I feel I can weigh in on 6 Pokemon at the very least.

Oricorio: Definitely S, wouldn't mind it going A given Hawlucha is just straight up amazing but I digress. Oricorio has useful boons over it (better overall typing(s), coverage options with nectar / Icy Wind, Feather Dance), and while I didn't abuse a lot of these, I still felt Oricorio-Pom-Pom pulled its weigh all game. Flyinium truly makes it amazing thanks to early Air Cutter and it has a great matchup vs a lot of the game. Nectars can also be abused as you get Electric / Fire at least once while passing through the meadows, giving you good defensive typings and coverage options and allowing you to swap back if need be.

Grimer: A's fitting but I don't feel as strongly on this one. The period between getting Crunch / evolving to Muk at 38 makes Grimer seriously feel like dead weight. I even used both Quick Claw and Eviolite in my item-less run and it wasn't cutting it. Sans that stagnating period, Muk is really solid and carries its weight pass that, having a great typing for all the Skull Grunts and Ultra Necrozma.

Rowlet: Yea B is fine for this. SD being moved from Malie City to post-game really sucks for it (truly felt like a C rank mon when I used it as a physical attacker) and you should go the special route. It gets Giga Drain by tutor now and its movepool at the end as a Decidueye pushes the Nasty Plot bit quite well.

Salandit: Conflicted on this one. Getting one is a pain given its gender ratio, and babying Salandit is probably one of the worst things lol. It basically is using Dragon Rage until it gets Flame Burst / evolves which is so close together. Good matchup against Lurantis (as a Salandit) and Togedemaru when evolved is big points. Salazzle itself is a pretty consistent Pokemon and gets the moves it needs alongside Nasty Plot to sweep reliably. My main question would be: Is the ally Salazzle Salandit can now summon (unlike SM) hard to obtain?

If yes, easily B, as it bypasses its main hurdles of being hard to obtain and baby. If no, then it's a question of "is the babying worth it?" and I'd be fine with C. I think it is a much stronger candidate for B though, in a similar vein to Ralts.

Stufful: No discussion on this? A in my eyes. Comes early on, Brick Break TM is right there to use on it, can use STAB All-Out Pummeling from the get-go, evolves early (27 iirc) and now gets Breakneck Blitz from Take Down, and Fluffy is an amazing ability. Gets a diverse coverage movepool and things like Ice Punch / Thunder Punch that allow it to go through some things it shouldn't go through without Z-Crystals. Fighting-type means it resists a lot of stuff in-game, and its Elite Four matchup is improved with the inclusion of Molayne. If Drain Punch was an earlier tutor this would be even more insane than it already is and maybe S.

Dewpider: I really, really like Araquanid but I look at A and it is out of place, so I see it as a strong B. Losing Scald hurts quite a bit since its Hydro Vortex nukes (while still having oomph) are only one time use and the extra power / burn utility helped it not be too reliant on Crystals. Regardless, very early game-mon, comes with Waterium Z (essentially OHKOes everything with Z-Bubble Beam), Bug / Water is a fantastic typing, it has fantastic bulk with a recovery move (Leech Life) that helps longevity, and Liquidation at 57 (or move tutor if you don't get it by then) makes it an OHKO machine. Mirror Coat is also a nice perk that is often not mentioned, and can abuse it to KO things it can't easily with some of the free healing points.

 

[Marxman]

Zubat: A
Available early. Great defensive typing. Decent offensive typing and movepool. Evolves super early. Haze is great. Lacks power and coverage, but not too bad.

Salandit: C
Good offensive and defensive typing. Movepool is okay. Lacks power until Nasty Plot at 32. Terrible bulk despite the good typing. Catching a female can be a bitch.

Houndour: D
Abysmal bulk. Relies entirely on weak physical moves until very late. Typing isn't great. It does get Nasty Plot and Flamethrower around the E4 though, which can be nice.

Larvitar: D
Available pretty early, and has Rock Slide right away. Despite good Edgequake coverage (Bulldoze TM), lacks power and bulk until Pupitar at 30. Even after it evolves it struggles mightily with low speed, poor defensive typing, and poor offensive capabilities. I have not gotten to Tyranitar yet, but this thing has been a burden on my team so far.

 

[Taistelu]

Agree with most of the "Pokemon in need of discussion" but

Poipole - EBC

Well, I agree with E, but B and C is completely overselling it. You get it at Level 40 after the Necrozma fight, which is going to be at least ten levels below your current party. It's useless until the Elite 4 as it can only evolve then via relearning Dragon Pulse and then it becomes useful! But it isn't a game breaker after that point and struggles with a fair few E4 Pokemon so I can't imagine how it could be anything above D. Should be E.

Castform - E

Is this the lowest rank or will there be an F Rank?

Anyway, nominating Corsola for D/E Tier. Good availability although requires a small amount of backtracking if you want to get it early as possible with a fairly good defensive typing for Alola and slightly above average defenses to compliment it, but you have a sad 55 ATK and 65 SpATK, and with the loss of early Scald hurts how much damage you can actually do. It doesn't get high power moves fast enough (first STAB one being Power Gem at Level 41 then TM Scald). It has OK matchups throughout Alola, but its low speed and poor offenses means it can't really deal with anything alone.

Spinda can drop to the lowest rank lol. Would be fun to use in a hard run though.

 

[Worldie]

Going over Toucannon, I used it until level 50 or so when I just banked it to replace with Naganadel.

It's... meh. While in similar fashion of Oricorio/Hawlucka you get early roost/z fly, it's way slower, with a signature move that requires to go 2nd so it's often just a Z move sponge. Does get Drill Peck though iirc which is an accurate phisical flying stab as well.
Normal Stab is okay and you can Z Giga Impact if you really feel like it but it often drops on the lines of "Why am I using this and not just a better flier?"

I'd think even B is far too generous considering it's just outshined by basically any other flier. I'd propose C unless we really want to just value the fact that it's available everywhere, but being so slow in a game with perfectly trained boss fights just doesn't work, it basically never got anything done for me till I just benched it after Necrozma.

 

[The Chaotician]

I thought I’d wait until there was a general consensus on some of the better in-game Pokemon before I added my own opinion. I feel that I’ve managed to balance types pretty well, but perhaps not done so well on physical/special offense. I struggled a little vs. Totem Marowak, but otherwise matched the other major bosses well. I have to say that I lost a fair amount of enthusiasm for the game, but the team building process has been an enlightening one and I’m happy to say I’m back on board.
I’ve jest reached Olivia on Akala island, so I have a fair way to go, but there are some early insights to share from my team:

Rowlet -> Dartrix: I’ve started every other Gen 7 playthrough with Popplio, so I wanted a drastic change from the norm. Got wrecked by Hau’s Pikachu early on, but has proven very useful where needed particularly vs. Hala, and Totem Araquanid/Lurantis. Lack of Ghost typing (currently) means it often plays second fiddle to Hawlucha. Agree with B Ranking.

Rockruff -> Lycanroc (Dusk): I understand that events aren’t being ranked, but the point I’d like to raise is that in UM especially, it’s a far better pick than a regular Rockruff. The difference in Speed vs. Lycanroc Midnight is noticeable. Not as useful vs. Totem Marowak as I’d hoped (it has Brick Break) but otherwise has early access to decent STAB in Rock Tomb and Thunder Fang for coverage. Agree with UR Ranking.

Hawlucha: Not much to say other than it excels in the battles that matter. Early access to Bounce and Brick Break are huge. Agree with S Ranking.

Alolan Grimer: I used one during my original SM playthroughs, and it’s just really solid. Its typing alone means it’s useful as a safety blanket in most scenarios so far, and access to Fire Punch on Melemele island enforce these points even further. Agree with A Ranking.

Mudbray: Early access to bulldoze is the primary reason that I managed to power through Totem Marowak. Being able to hit it and its Salazzle buddies simultaneously threw the fight in my favour. I’ve since replaced Bulldoze with High Horsepower now that my team has started to become a little more rounded. Stamina is more clutch that I thought. Early access to Rock Tomb on other team members makes the Speed issue much more manageable. Agree with A Ranking.

Grubbin -> Charjabug: At the time of writing, this is the only member of my team that doesn’t have a rank. I was taken by surprise given that its status as another middle stage generic bug. Charge Beam access for Totem Araquanid is extremely useful, and while it uses the lower attacking stat, Bug Bite was handy vs. Totem Lurantis. It’s also surprisingly bulky, but near deadweight against Marowak. Currently, I feel the Grubbin line is worthy of at least a B ranking, if not an A rank. I have no experience of using Vikavolt yet so I can’t really comment any further.