Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon In-Game Tier List

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From what i've been seeing b ranks seem a mess. Like comparing araquanid/salazzle and furfrou just doesn't seem right for me. I think the b ranks rn has higher standards than the one in original sm so some stuff needs to drop

And thus

Furfrou to c

Absolutely inefficient choice that can help cheesing through totems but is not very useful otherwise. And it can only help cheesing and can rarely do the job by itself (not a huge deal for totems but for like most in game trainers r u rly gonna cheese through all of them) Mons like arbok and malamar r better choices for cheesing while not sucking ass against other trainers esp late game. Early avaliability and totem matchups do grant it niches but c should represent it well esp with b's standards.

Other things that could maybe use a drop

Bounsweet to b (ok it has better move tutors but sucks ass in the pre evo stage and power whip is end game meaning zen headbutt is the only rly new move)

Feebas to c (extremely tiresome backtracking and rare fisihing spot; milotic is awesome thou)

Stufful should be added to a rank. Very bulky and hits hard ; eating everything physical even stuff like totem kom o's drain punch. Doesn't have the best totem match ups but it's fantstic against trainers, kahunas, rivals and stuff which should compensate for it. Also can use many different coverage moves with z crystals should u have a need for it.
 
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Here are newly nominated Pokémon with multiple votes. I will add them to the OP shortly.

A
Bounsweet
Gastly
Litten
Zubat


B
Abra
Cutiefly
Dewpider
Feebas

Furfrou
Grubbin
Mareep
Mawile
Necrozma
Pikipek
Salandit
Smoochum


C
Bagon
Beldum
Sandyghast
Zorua


D
Larvesta


E
Poipole


Rufflet - ED
Roggenrola - A
Eevee (Jolteon) - AA
Remoraid - BC
Flabebe - CE
Honedge - B
Xurkitree - CD
Pichu - B
Fomantis - DE
Houndour - BD
Nihilego - C
Slowpoke - E
Sandile - C
Mareanie - CC
Mimikyu - AB
Amaura - CD
Snorunt - DE
Chinchou - CD
Electrike - C
Castform - E
Fletchinder - C
Swinub - C
Lileep - DD
Palkia - BC
Dialgia - BC
Barboach - BC
Vulpix - CB
Absol - D
Gible - D
Charmander - C
Mantine - CD
Buneary - C
Stufful - A
Treeko - CB
Corsola - DE
Skrelp - D
Clauncher - D
Mime Jr - B
Togedemaru - A
Tyrunt - B
Wingull - A
Morelull - C
Sandshrew - B
Turtonator - CD
Happiny - C
Partner Pikachu - C
Kabuto - D
Umbreon - E
Ralts - C
Cottonee - C

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As you can probably see, B is pretty big, so we will either have to relocate some PKMN or create a sub-tier.
I have a few more pokes to write up when I have time but I can say that I found roggenrola to absolutely be A (with evolution to gigalith). Mine evolved right before Kiawe and it was so solid even before that. With sturdy it even got a good hit off on araquanid before it called in help.

I also used rufflet and it performed well, but I’m not sure if my insight will be helpful for tiering since I waited until I had adrenaline orbs to hunt for a Hustle rufflet. Aerial ace hustle was great. It of course did start to drag around the mid-late 40’s until it FINALLY evolved a bit before necrozma. It pulled its weight until maybe just before the 4th island.

I’ll also weigh in on klefki and nosepass (I like steel and rock types!)
 
B is definitely too high a placement for Feebas. You have to trade it in order for it to evolve, and it has the exact same chance of appearing at Brooklet Hill as Dhelmise does at Seafolk Village (10% in bubbling spots, 1% normally). I don't see what makes that worthy of B tier as much as D or E.

Also, when it comes to SOS battles, I think we're overrating a lot of Pokemon because of them. The thing is that SOS battles are extremely RNG-based, so you could find the Pokemon you're looking for in short order, or you could spend whole hours trying to get such a Pokemon to appear. If the Pokemon has a reasonable chance to appear, I can understand, but for a Pokemon like Volcarona, whose pre-evolution can't be obtained until towards the end of the main adventure, has a 1% encounter rate, a low chance of calling for a Pokemon in the first place, and a 1% chance that the Pokemon which appears will be its evolution (not to mention has a very low catch rate of 15), you can probably assume you'll have to spend a whole afternoon if you want to get one to appear. And that's assuming you're okay with it if it happens to have an Adamant or Impish nature. That's why I nominated Larvesta for E. Yes, it's a great Pokemon if you have the patience to get through all of that. Yes, it can help your team out towards the end of the game. But with the hell you have to put yourself through to get one, you could just as well have an Arcanine, Salazzle, Ribombee, Vikavolt, or Houndoom (in Ultra Sun), to name a few, all of whom can also get the job done and are a lot less of a headache to obtain.

And yes, I know I'm guilty of that myself - I mentioned SOS'ing for a Snow Warning Vulpix in my nomination for that Pokemon, but the difference there is that Vulpix has a fairly high chance of calling for help and Hidden Abilities are not too uncommon (plus, it's not hard to determine when you've found one if it wasn't previously hailing before it appeared). So I can understand bumping a Pokemon up a tier if a better version of it can be found with a moderate amount of SOS battling. I'm just not on board with this thing of taking a Pokemon with an asininely low chance of appearing in an SOS battle and nominating it for top tiers just because it's really strong once you finally get it. Realistically, that statement could be applied to nearly every other Pokemon in this game once they're fully evolved as well.
 
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I'd rank Ultra Beasts due to how easy they are to get (less so for the uncommons are Guzzlord, but still should be ranked). The common variety ones especially aren't much effort. They come late, but so do other Pokemon we tier. As for Legendaries, the RNG and annoyance to get means I think it would be OK keeping them unranked, due to inflating the list as said and due to many of them being D and below (probably).
 

Punchshroom

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Stellar Btw, Bounsweet should be replaced with Steenee, since Bounsweet isn't catchable in-game much like Snubbull isn't, and the SM in-game tier list ranked just Granbull.

Hada Yaba I believe that Steenee's access to Flyinium Z + Bounce from Heahea Beach's move tutor and later Ula'ula's Zen Headbutt move tutor as Tsareena gives it significantly better trainer matchups (most notably against Team Skull grunts). Access to High Jump Kick and Power Whip shortly before the E4 gives it some oomph. With that said, Tsareena has rather mediocre Totem matchups outside of Mimikyu where it can Trop Kick to neuter it, so I can see some arguments to move it down.

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If Rufflet had Hustle for a natural ability, then its early-game performance up until after Totem Lurantis would actually be commendable enough for D. Unfortunately it doesn't, so you're better off using literally any other bird available in Melemele, including the likes of Pikipek and Murkrow. E Rank.

This mon comes with several, several problems. The first being that it requires backtracking to Melemele Island without Charizard Glide in order to get it optimally (before Kiawe's trial), which is already annoying. The next issue is that despite its colorful movepool, its attacks are not that powerful at all to be able to grab KOes left and right. Finally, the biggest hurdle is that upon evolution, its Speed slows to a crawl and it'd be outsped by a ton of things, taking damage before it attacks and rarely even OHKOing most foes.

Like most of the other in-game specially offensive Water-types, Remoraid is stuck with a 65 BP STAB until Poni Island's Scald, but its poor Speed outweighs the advantages of its colorful but frankly weak coverage moves leading to that point. Among the sheer plethora of Water-types available, there are faster, stronger options, and even similarly slow choices such as Dewpider, Slowpoke, and Wishiwashi have considerably greater advantages as a whole. I consider Remoraid to just be very lackluster; D Rank, if not C.

The sheer irony of Flabebe is that Ultra Sun has the earlier Shiny Stone from Malie City (which only comes AFTER defeating Nanu, go figure), but Ultra Sun also has Cottonee which has an even earlier Sun Stone in Blush Mountain so....yeah. Its movepool is devoid of any good STAB moves, or even any good attacking moves for that matter. Even if you wanted a Fairy-type tank, Sylveon is available earlier, is much easier to obtain, and has a better movepool. Even on its own merit, Flabebe doesn't really accomplish much with its extremely limited movepool aside from just tanking hits and Wishing (and it's not like other mons can't tank either), which is the epitome of inefficient. E Rank from me.

Cottonee's power certainly leaves much to be desired, making it a suboptimal choice for clearing Trainer battles, though it does at least get a rather early Giga Drain. However, its Prankster moves such as Leech Seed, Stun Spore, Charm, etc., are massive assets to have in important fights, especially the Totem battles, meaning that even an underleveled Cottonee can come in clutch. I'd consider it C Rank.

There's no disputing giving Togedemaru's high ranking here; some may even argue it for S Rank as its Speed makes it more efficient than Magnemite while Nuzzle outdoes Thunder Wave (especially since it breaks Mimikyu's Disguise simultaneously). The Iron Head move tutor is literally just around the corner and is one of the cheapest moves there, not to mention its synergy with Nuzzle. Its typing is glorious, making short work of many in-game trainers, Totems Mimikyu & Ribombee, and of course is one of the few Pokemon that can stand up to Ultra Necrozma without Disguise or Focus Sash cheesing.
 
B is definitely too high a placement for Feebas. You have to trade it in order for it to evolve, and it has the exact same chance of appearing at Brooklet Hill as Dhelmise does at Seafolk Village (10% in bubbling spots, 1% normally). I don't see what makes that worthy of B tier as much as D or E.
I can see the argument for encounter rates, but 10% isn't terribly awful especially when you can just go back and forth between hill and route to keep making the earliest bubbling spot appear. A bit of a frustrating timesink but I don't think one big enough to decide a rank drop, especially not one as drastic as that.
As for trading, we just consider that the same as any Kadabra or Haunter -- we assume that if you can trade, you're able to do it ASAP. So that's no downside in the slightest, and the only detriment here would be when you get the Prism Scale - in this game that's been moved to Kal'ae bay, so there's a bit of backtracking to consider but you can access it as soon as you can access Brooklet Hill itself. We'd make a distinction for Feebas (no trade), but I think we can all agree that would go to the murkiest depths of E.

Sorry if this seems nitpicky; rest of the post was top-notch and I agree with it.
 
I can see the argument for encounter rates, but 10% isn't terribly awful especially when you can just go back and forth between hill and route to keep making the earliest bubbling spot appear. A bit of a frustrating timesink but I don't think one big enough to decide a rank drop, especially not one as drastic as that.
As for trading, we just consider that the same as any Kadabra or Haunter -- we assume that if you can trade, you're able to do it ASAP. So that's no downside in the slightest, and the only detriment here would be when you get the Prism Scale - in this game that's been moved to Kal'ae bay, so there's a bit of backtracking to consider but you can access it as soon as you can access Brooklet Hill itself. We'd make a distinction for Feebas (no trade), but I think we can all agree that would go to the murkiest depths of E.

Sorry if this seems nitpicky; rest of the post was top-notch and I agree with it.
Milotic's move pool is still pretty shallow, and the physical moves aren't doing much with its base 60 Attack stat, so I could see it dropping to C. I admit I've never actually used it in a play through, so perhaps it can do just enough to justify B.
 
Milotic's move pool is still pretty shallow, and the physical moves aren't doing much with its base 60 Attack stat, so I could see it dropping to C. I admit I've never actually used it in a play through, so perhaps it can do just enough to justify B.
True -- I'm not arguing it's particularly good, just that needing to trade is negligible and a 10% encounter rate which you can easily control isn't damning.
 
Milotic's move pool is still pretty shallow, and the physical moves aren't doing much with its base 60 Attack stat, so I could see it dropping to C. I admit I've never actually used it in a play through, so perhaps it can do just enough to justify B.
I did use milotic and it felt very B. It hit a little less hard than primarina but it outspeeds a decent amount of things. Also for encountering it you can save in front of bubbling spots and soft reset to get the encounter. Not sure if that’s anymore efficient than just walking in and out of the route, though.
 
I've just completed the game and would like to share my thoughts on the Mons I used. I haven't posted on Smogon before but I've been playing Pokemon since the beginning and I have been following this page religiously. Alright, here we go:

Oricorio - S-rank - for sure. It's already been ranked and talked about at length, so I won't say too much. One thing that cannot be overstated however is how useful feather dance is against the totems.

Lycanroc-dusk - It's looking like this isn't going to be ranked. For what it's worth, I would put it at A-rank, simply because it's a very fast, hard-hitting in-game sweeper (also Thrash is stupidly good for when you get it).

Arcanine - A-rank - Growlithe makes it easy to get one of the best in-game abilities - Intimidate. This makes it amazing against many of the totems and other boss fights (which are often physical attackers). Aside from that, it comes super early (before the first totem), the fire stone comes within a reasonable time frame (Diglett Cave/Konikoni City), it's generally good in most major match-ups and it has versatile stats (as Arcanine) and some nice move-pool options. It can go as an all out attacker or it can support the team with snarl and eventually will-o-wisp (although this requires back-tracking) . Extremespeed is also very useful for picking off anything faster (which admittedly is not that much in Aslowla). Arcanine's only real downsides are a slow experience curve and a slight lag in Growlithe's performance mid-game. Recommend going mixed and evolving after you learn flamethrower, which is shortly after Growlithe's stats start dropping off.

Wishiwashi - B rank - Most Water types seem to suffer from the lack of the Scald TM at Brooket Hill, and Wishiwashi is certainly no exception. It's a mixed bag this time. It comes early and it still has ridiculous stats for that part of the game (once you do a small amount of babying to get to level 20 of course). The main problem though is it's movepool is poor. It relies on Brine/Water Pulse until U-turn, Bulldoze and Aqua Tail later on, and then (finally) Scald, Ice Beam and Hydro Pump on the 4th island. The game is also more difficult this time, and these factors combined mean that Wishiwashi really lags behind until it gets its best moves (schooling does stop a lot more this time, especially on the 3rd and 4th islands). In fairness, it's best moves do revitalise it in time for the Elite Four. However, given its issues and the competition it has from other good in-game water types, I believe it is solidly in the B-tier this time.

Bewear - B Tier - This may raise eyebrows. Used this until I swapped it for Dhelmise on Poni Island. Bewear's a solid pokemon to use on the routes and between it's stats, ability, movepool and an instant strong fighting Z move, it has a lot going for it. It comes early enough as a Stuffal on route 8 and you can get a fully evolved one from the Hau'oli City Mall after you've beaten Olivia. Why not A rank? Simple. Because it sucks against most boss fights. It's only good match-ups pre-Elite Four are Olivia and Nanu. It's only going to be a Stuffal against Lurantis (and therefore not strong enough). It looses to totems Togedemaru (it has bounce) and Mimikyu and appears to lose to Kommo-o and Ribombee too, as well as Ultra Necrozma, Faba, Guzma and some of Lusamine's Pokemon (my Bewear did actually manage to beat Milotic in a pinch, but only because Hydro Pump missed twice... I'm not sure this is consistent enough to recommend... ). It does seem to do quite well against at least Molayne and Olivia at the Elite Four however so that could potentially balance things out. I can see why others would put Bewear at A (and in fairness, players on this forum will have used it all the way through the game, unlike myself), but for me, B.

Comfey - C tier - Comfey makes for an interesting if unconventional in-game choice. You get it in the Lush Jungle, unfortunately at a fairly low encounter rate. It has a very interesting ability in Triage. Giving priority to Giga Drain, Draining Kiss and Synthesis is very useful, particularly in conjunction with toxic later on. Comfey is very fast but unfortunately, it doesn't hit that hard and it's coverage is poor. It's otherwise solid bulk is somewhat undermined by it's low hit points. You are also unlikely to get draining kiss until the move relearner just before the elite four (the only way to get it beforehand is catching it at level 18 or breeding for one, and the later is simply not worth it). This means that you won't get a good fairy STAB until dazzling gleam later on. Comfey generally has to pick it's fights carefully (particularly with poison types/moves being everywhere). That said, in it's good match-ups (such as Nanu), it is really good. I loved Comfey's playstyle, and it's a really intriguing pokemon that I found fun to use. It's definitely not the most efficient pokemon out there, but you could use worse.

N.B. Comfey is incredible to use in the RR episode. Beat Palkia, Yveltal and Hydreigon all by itself!! It also helped against Groudon, Kyogre and Reshiram with toxic-stalling. Being a fast user of toxic was generally helpful all game.

Dhelmise - D tier - I swapped Dhelmise in for Bewear as I loved it's design, and I wished to create a Fire/Water/Grass core. Dhelmise has many issues that hold it at bay. You can catch one at a fishing spot at Seafolk Village, which is the first place you go to on Poni Island. Dhelmise can also vary wildly in their level, from a very low level to around the current level of your team. You may need to catch multiple Dhelmise and/or do significant level grinding for it to catch-up. Overall, it's availability is terrible. Once you get over that however, it's anchors aweigh!! Dhelmise is really tanky and has a great attack stat, with a strong physical movepool for it to abuse. It's plain sailing against Hapu and whilst it doesn't have many other match-ups of note, it can contribute against most of the remaining Pokemon (it's only really dead in the water against Kahili and Accerola (and Ultra-Necrozma as well, but the vast majority of mon's struggle there)). For me, the availability issues mean that Dhelmise can go no higher than the D tier. Despite that, it's solid once you finally get it. By the end of the game, it won me over hook, line and sinker (all anchor puns were intended). :)

Also, I did at one point toy with the idea of swapping Wishiwashi for Palkia near the end of the game. I couldn't encounter it however despite several hours of trying, and I took the courageous decision to give up. I believe that any wormhole legendaries that are not easily accessible (such as Palkia) should be no higher than D or E tier, purely on their availability. There's no doubt that they will wreck the game once you have them, but getting the one you want (unless it is a more common legendary such as Nihilego) is a total nightmare.
 
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-Just finished Mina's trial on my second run through and I second Growlithe to A. Very early availability, phenomenal ability and a great learnset. Starting at 17 it gets an increasingly powerful Fire move every 4-7 levels, all of which Growlithe can take advantage of thanks to its equal Att and SpA stats. It also gets Take Down at 23 (I had it hold Normalium-Z earlier on to give it a neutral nuke against Fire resists) and Reversal at 19, which is situational but has come in handy occasionally. I think it's worth waiting until 45 to evolve it - the later level are definitely a slog but I've found it worthwhile to have Crunch and Flare Blitz, and I haven't found myself regretting missing Extremespeed.

-Fletchling (used this on my first complete run through) to C or maybe even D. You're stuck with Peck and Flame Charge as your STABs for half the game until you get the Acrobatics TM on the 3rd island, and then you don't get an upgrade to your Fire STAB until you can Heart Scale for Flare Blitz (Fire Blast is an option, I guess, but low accuracy, low PP and running off the weaker of TF's already low offensive stats isn't great). Combine that with flimsy defenses and a wasted Speed stat for this game and I was very underwhelmed.

-Makuhita (also from my first run through) to C. Early availability, early Brick Break TM and early evolution are all points in its favor but I found it fell off pretty fast after that. You're basically stuck with Brick Break as your STAB since CC and Superpower are really bad for major battles. Since most major battle teams are monotype-ish, you'll likely be relying on Hariyama to fight multiple mons in a row and won't want to keep switching it out to reset its stats. CC/Superpower both having low PP also makes them bad for route clearing. Finally, his high-HP bulk build does help him take hits but it also makes him a huge potion hog.
 
(btw, Dhelmise got changed to 35% at bubbling spots; not sure that changes much)

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Just finished the game so I'll post thoughts on the mons I used. I didn't use EXP Share but I did feed everyone a Rainbow Bean for boosted EXP and I grinded a bit at the end.

Popplio - A: I think everything's already been said about this. I actually didn't even bother to get Water Pulse and it was still a good fallback option for like everything up to Lurantis. Lategame's really good, though it is a bit slow, which is more noticeable with boss trainers' EVs.

Lycanroc-Dusk - N/A: It's worth noting that Thrash hits harder on neutral targets than Stone Edge does, and getting Thrash at 25 is really good. That said, the unreliability of all its moves really sucked in the endgame, and it's pretty frail and gets OHKOed by random things somewhat often. Based on my experience it would be somewhere around A or B if it were to be ranked (early Rockruff is really good, and evolution is a huge boost).

Grubbin - B/C: With EXP Share off this was really painful. It didn't hit lv. 19 (Acrobatics) for Hala or evolve for Araquanid. I'm assuming it's much better if you have EXP Share on. Early Vikavolt was nice, and mine even had HP Bug so I didn't have to bother with Signal Beam, but it's too slow to outspeed basically anything in the lategame. There's not that much Fire/Rock coverage late, so it's not really a big deal, but it can drain lots of healing supplies on routes and such (Roost can alleviate this somewhat but it requires a moveslot). Energy Ball is a detour but it's useful enough that it's probably worth getting for a lot of other mons too.

Salandit - B: I lucked out with an SOS Salazzle but Salandit doesn't play that much differently in major battles (I think? Someone should check if Salandit OHKOes Togedemaru) until it evolves. It also gets more powerful moves whenever its power starts to fall off, and its speed is really helpful for boss fights and such. B for availability mainly.

Mimikyu - A: I caught a Mimikyu at the Megamart but it's probably better to use the totem since it doesn't actually miss anything important (It does miss Shadow Sneak until Move Relearner, but my Mimikyu didn't have Shadow Sneak either). Mimikyu comes with the only Fairy-type Z-move you'll have until after Ribombee, which is nice for Kommo-O and Necrozma, though it probably won't learn Play Rough until after Nanu. Mimikyu is basically an idiot-proof panic button for pretty much everything from the moment you get it (and it helps that Aether has a lot of Psychics), especially against trainers with 1 or 2 mons. Disguise also refreshes on Revive usage which is nice for Toxic cheesing bosses I guess (incidentally, Mimikyu is itself a great Toxic user). The only issues I saw with Mimikyu was a slight lack of power, but with Mimikyu 3HKOes are usually enough anyways.

Jangmo-O - C/D: This is probably D-Rank, but I write C/D because Larvesta is currently D-Rank and I don't think these two should be ranked together. Jangmo-O comes a couple Rare Candies away from Kommo-O, which gives you a moveset of Clanging Scales/Sky Uppercut/Dragon Claw right away, then Move Relearner gives Close Combat, Dragon Dance, and Outrage. Kommo-O requires very little babying from the moment you get it, though it is pretty useless against the next 3 bosses. Its E4 matchups are pretty good, though, and its bulk with Dragon typing lets it take hits from a lot of things (for instance, it tanks Hau's Decidueye/Incineroar and runs through Olivia's team).

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Re: legendaries: In the SM thread Solgaleo/Lunala were put in B because of the number of major battles left from when you get them. In USUM there's the same number of battles, but Solgaleo/Lunala are now a detour instead of a forced encounter, and Molayne is harder for the legends than Hala was in SM. Necrozma also requires Solgaleo/Lunala to be effective, so it should probably be ranked with Solgaleo/Lunala.

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Re: trade vs. no trade: There's things like Huntail, Gorebyss, Slowking, Politoed, and Gengar available via SOS that should probably be ranked. Granted all of them except Gengar iirc are 1% so they'd probably go in E (and Haunter is itself extremely difficult to SOS), but if we're ranking Larvesta based on SOS Volcarona we should probably also rank stuff like Slowking (no trade).
 
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(btw, Dhelmise got changed to 35% at bubbling spots; not sure that changes much)

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Just finished the game so I'll post thoughts on the mons I used. I didn't use EXP Share but I did feed everyone a Rainbow Bean for boosted EXP and I grinded a bit at the end.

Popplio - A: I think everything's already been said about this. I actually didn't even bother to get Water Pulse and it was still a good fallback option for like everything up to Lurantis. Lategame's really good, though it is a bit slow, which is more noticeable with boss trainers' EVs.

Lycanroc-Dusk - N/A: It's worth noting that Thrash hits harder on neutral targets than Stone Edge does, and getting Thrash at 25 is really good. That said, the unreliability of all its moves really sucked in the endgame, and it's pretty frail and gets OHKOed by random things somewhat often. Based on my experience it would be somewhere around A or B if it were to be ranked (early Rockruff is really good, and evolution is a huge boost).

Grubbin - B/C: With EXP Share off this was really painful. It didn't hit lv. 19 (Acrobatics) for Hala or evolve for Araquanid. I'm assuming it's much better if you have EXP Share on. Early Vikavolt was nice, and mine even had HP Bug so I didn't have to bother with Signal Beam, but it's too slow to outspeed basically anything in the lategame. There's not that much Fire/Rock coverage late, so it's not really a big deal, but it can drain lots of healing supplies on routes and such (Roost can alleviate this somewhat but it requires a moveslot). Energy Ball is a detour but it's useful enough that it's probably worth getting for a lot of other mons too.

Salandit - B: I lucked out with an SOS Salazzle but Salandit doesn't play that much differently in major battles (I think? Someone should check if Salandit OHKOes Togedemaru) until it evolves. It also gets more powerful moves whenever its power starts to fall off, and its speed is really helpful for boss fights and such. B for availability mainly.

Mimikyu - A: I caught a Mimikyu at the Megamart but it's probably better to use the totem since it doesn't actually miss anything important (It does miss Shadow Sneak until Move Relearner, but my Mimikyu didn't have Shadow Sneak either). Mimikyu comes with the only Fairy-type Z-move you'll have until after Ribombee, which is nice for Kommo-O and Necrozma, though it probably won't learn Play Rough until after Nanu. Mimikyu is basically an idiot-proof panic button for pretty much everything from the moment you get it (and it helps that Aether has a lot of Psychics), especially against trainers with 1 or 2 mons. Disguise also refreshes on Revive usage which is nice for Toxic cheesing bosses I guess (incidentally, Mimikyu is itself a great Toxic user). The only issues I saw with Mimikyu was a slight lack of power, but with Mimikyu 3HKOes are usually enough anyways.

Jangmo-O - C/D: This is probably D-Rank, but I write C/D because Larvesta is currently D-Rank and I don't think these two should be ranked together. Jangmo-O comes a couple Rare Candies away from Kommo-O, which gives you a moveset of Clanging Scales/Sky Uppercut/Dragon Claw right away, then Move Relearner gives Close Combat, Dragon Dance, and Outrage. Kommo-O requires very little babying from the moment you get it, though it is pretty useless against the next 3 bosses. Its E4 matchups are pretty good, though, and its bulk with Dragon typing lets it take hits from a lot of things (for instance, it tanks Hau's Decidueye/Incineroar and runs through Olivia's team).

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Re: legendaries: In the SM thread Solgaleo/Lunala were put in B because of the number of major battles left from when you get them. In USUM there's the same number of battles, but Solgaleo/Lunala are now a detour instead of a forced encounter, and Molayne is harder for the legends than Hala was in SM. Necrozma also requires Solgaleo/Lunala to be effective, so it should probably be ranked with Solgaleo/Lunala.

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Re: trade vs. no trade: There's things like Huntail, Gorebyss, Slowking, Politoed, and Gengar available via SOS that should probably be ranked. Granted all of them except Gengar iirc are 1% so they'd probably go in E (and Haunter is itself extremely difficult to SOS), but if we're ranking Larvesta based on SOS Volcarona we should probably also rank stuff like Slowking (no trade).
I think it was mostly agreed that the SOS chained mons probably weren’t going to be tiered due to how hugely inefficient they are. I had a lot of luck with my Salamence but in reality for larvesta the time taken to SOS for it (especially given that I needed to skill swap magic guard onto it so that it wouldn’t keep killing itself with take down, and how infrequently it would call for help when using a synchronizer instead of intimidate/pressure/unnerve) could be better spent simply grinding it up 18 or so levels to evolution.

Likewise for things like slowking or gorebyss/huntail you could more easily use a compound eyes Pokémon like butterfree to thief their evolution items. Although hawlucha are a bit less common to bump into than elekid, if I remember correctly. And gorebyss/huntail are probably not too tough to get if you save in front of a bubbling spot and soft reset (35% encounter rate from clampers SOS at bubbling spot). I thiefed with a butterfree for electrizer which took about 5-10 mins and gave me a very powerful fully evolved Pokémon right at level 31. I really need to get around to reviewing a few more pokes I used. Zzz
 
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(btw, Dhelmise got changed to 35% at bubbling spots; not sure that changes much)

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Just finished the game so I'll post thoughts on the mons I used. I didn't use EXP Share but I did feed everyone a Rainbow Bean for boosted EXP and I grinded a bit at the end.

Popplio - A: I think everything's already been said about this. I actually didn't even bother to get Water Pulse and it was still a good fallback option for like everything up to Lurantis. Lategame's really good, though it is a bit slow, which is more noticeable with boss trainers' EVs.

Lycanroc-Dusk - N/A: It's worth noting that Thrash hits harder on neutral targets than Stone Edge does, and getting Thrash at 25 is really good. That said, the unreliability of all its moves really sucked in the endgame, and it's pretty frail and gets OHKOed by random things somewhat often. Based on my experience it would be somewhere around A or B if it were to be ranked (early Rockruff is really good, and evolution is a huge boost).

Grubbin - B/C: With EXP Share off this was really painful. It didn't hit lv. 19 (Acrobatics) for Hala or evolve for Araquanid. I'm assuming it's much better if you have EXP Share on. Early Vikavolt was nice, and mine even had HP Bug so I didn't have to bother with Signal Beam, but it's too slow to outspeed basically anything in the lategame. There's not that much Fire/Rock coverage late, so it's not really a big deal, but it can drain lots of healing supplies on routes and such (Roost can alleviate this somewhat but it requires a moveslot). Energy Ball is a detour but it's useful enough that it's probably worth getting for a lot of other mons too.

Salandit - B: I lucked out with an SOS Salazzle but Salandit doesn't play that much differently in major battles (I think? Someone should check if Salandit OHKOes Togedemaru) until it evolves. It also gets more powerful moves whenever its power starts to fall off, and its speed is really helpful for boss fights and such. B for availability mainly.

Mimikyu - A: I caught a Mimikyu at the Megamart but it's probably better to use the totem since it doesn't actually miss anything important (It does miss Shadow Sneak until Move Relearner, but my Mimikyu didn't have Shadow Sneak either). Mimikyu comes with the only Fairy-type Z-move you'll have until after Ribombee, which is nice for Kommo-O and Necrozma, though it probably won't learn Play Rough until after Nanu. Mimikyu is basically an idiot-proof panic button for pretty much everything from the moment you get it (and it helps that Aether has a lot of Psychics), especially against trainers with 1 or 2 mons. Disguise also refreshes on Revive usage which is nice for Toxic cheesing bosses I guess (incidentally, Mimikyu is itself a great Toxic user). The only issues I saw with Mimikyu was a slight lack of power, but with Mimikyu 3HKOes are usually enough anyways.

Jangmo-O - C/D: This is probably D-Rank, but I write C/D because Larvesta is currently D-Rank and I don't think these two should be ranked together. Jangmo-O comes a couple Rare Candies away from Kommo-O, which gives you a moveset of Clanging Scales/Sky Uppercut/Dragon Claw right away, then Move Relearner gives Close Combat, Dragon Dance, and Outrage. Kommo-O requires very little babying from the moment you get it, though it is pretty useless against the next 3 bosses. Its E4 matchups are pretty good, though, and its bulk with Dragon typing lets it take hits from a lot of things (for instance, it tanks Hau's Decidueye/Incineroar and runs through Olivia's team).

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Re: legendaries: In the SM thread Solgaleo/Lunala were put in B because of the number of major battles left from when you get them. In USUM there's the same number of battles, but Solgaleo/Lunala are now a detour instead of a forced encounter, and Molayne is harder for the legends than Hala was in SM. Necrozma also requires Solgaleo/Lunala to be effective, so it should probably be ranked with Solgaleo/Lunala.

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Re: trade vs. no trade: There's things like Huntail, Gorebyss, Slowking, Politoed, and Gengar available via SOS that should probably be ranked. Granted all of them except Gengar iirc are 1% so they'd probably go in E (and Haunter is itself extremely difficult to SOS), but if we're ranking Larvesta based on SOS Volcarona we should probably also rank stuff like Slowking (no trade).
They’re actually slightly better than that. Clamperl evos are about 12% from bubbling spots (35% chance of encountering Clamperl, 35% chance of it SOSing one of the two), Gengar is 9% (30%/30%) and Slowking is 4% (20%/20%). Politoed is the only 1% SOS-only on that list.

If we’re ranking Larvesta and Bagon based on an insane .01% chance to get their fully-evolved SOSs (and Volcarona comes a point where you only have 1 Island left, although there are a bunch of lategame major battles remaining) then I think it’s fair to rank the above mons. I found a Slowking yesterday in maybe 20 minutes; I gave up trying to find Larvesta after 2 hours, never mind waiting for it to SOS a Volcarona while slowly killing itself with Take Down.
 
I've beaten UM and I'm sitting in Lanakila in US, so I'll give some thoughts on my 10 team members from the two games:

NOTE: I use Exp. Share and Affection's exp. boost, but this game's level curve is actually built to accommodate them, and major fights can actually be difficult.

Popplio: Agree with A
I don't really have much original to say here, but I'll say it anyway. Game Freak really dicked over Primarina with the changes from SM. Loss of early Scald hurts midgame, and Kommo-o is just a dick in general. However, it still puts in work with a nuke of a Z-move, great STABs, and good (if rarely used) coverage moves in Psychic/Shadow Ball and priority in Aqua Jet for missed OHKOs. Also worthy of note is that after a defensive X item or two, Primarina can turn most of Winged Dragon of Ra's moves into 3HKOs, and learns Toxic.

Grubbin: Agree with B
Exp. Share makes Grubbin less painful, and Charjabug is much more workable with the evolution change. The Signal Beam tutor is nice for a special Bug move after evolving, and Volt OHKOed basically everything I sent it out on with just it's STABs, though it's basically guaranteed to take a hit doing so, even in Alola. Energy Ball and Air Slash were good pinch coverage, if (again) rarely used.

Noibat (Traded "Noinoi"): Agree with D
I got lucky with HP Dragon, so it was at least able to let me make a 1% evil, 99% dead weight meme until it evolved, which was on the tail end of Aether Paradise (thanks to trade exp). I didn't use it much because I like even levels across the team, but it hit hard when I did use it (after evolution, of course). Level 48 is a lot farther away than it feels at level 20...

Cubone (Marowak-Alola): B w/ Thick Club, B/C without
A mon that really wanted earlier move relearner, because they didn't fix Shadow Bone's learn level. Fire Punch tutor is really nice, and coverage is decent (Brick Break on something immune to normals is nice), but power was a bit lacking without Thick Club.

Larvitar: Agree with C
Got KOed a lot before evolving into That, especially because I didn't pick up Eviolite. However, it was MVP of Rainbow Rocket and Sandstorm chip helped on Winged Dragon of Ra. Hits like a truck, but it's definitely work to get there.

Now for my US team:
Litten: Agree with A
I went for Fire Punch over Flare Blitz, as I don't like recoil and getting max Rotom affection (and the second Z-move) doesn't take long to get (I had it on Ula'Ula Beach). Incineroar was the MVP of Winged Dragon of Ra, as Power Gem doesn't hit particularly hard after even one X Sp. Def., and an SE 195 BP Z-move is helpful, lol. Hits hard, gets Leech Life to save on potions, and has nice STABs.

Wimpod: B
Wimpod doesn't come too far from level 30 on Route 8, and you can have somewhere around 4 or 5 candies by that point (more if you use affection). You could easily have Golisopod before Lurantis with minimal grinding, and the thing hits like a truck. Emergency Exit is kind of annoying, TBH, but First Impression is nice, Leech Life is great, and Liquidation, while late, is awesome too.

Magnemite: Agree with S
Whether you go for Eviolite Magneton or Magnezone, it hits hard, has pretty good STABs, and takes hits from the AI like it's nothing. It's movepool is pretty shallow (my coverage moves were Signal Beam and Tried Attack), but that's what teammates are for.

Stufful: A
Great STABs. Customizable coverage. Incredible ability (Fluffy). Stellar Attack AND bulk. Return is a great option (you get it late enough to be close enough to Take Down/Thrash to justify it over them), Brick Break/Hammer Arm covers Normal resists, and it gets Shadow Claw and Payback for Ghost types. The tutors give it all 3 punches, letting it cover whatever your team needs.

Vulpix-Alola: B/C
Hits hard enough for me, but I can see why its power is lacking for people. Specs might be an option--trainers that are weak to Ninetales are typically entirely weak/neutral to the same move. Coverage movepool is shallow (I ran Extrasensory along with Hex if I got freeze RNG), but again, that's what teammates are for.

I was going to use Golett, but I got to Haina Desert, remembered it was an SOS encounter, and said 'fuck that'.

As for Necrozma, it comes so late no form should be above D. Dusk Mane has a good matchup on Olivia and resists Molayne over the other two forms, which don't get much at all in the E4, despite coming at a high level. I vote DM to D and the other two to E.
 
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Cubone (Marowak-Alola): B w/ Thick Club, B/C without
A mon that really wanted earlier move tutor, because they didn't fix Shadow Bone's learn level. Fire Punch tutor is really nice, and coverage is decent (Brick Break on something immune to normals is nice), but power was a bit lacking without Thick Club.
It is my understanding though that you can thief Thick Club from totem Marowak, which would potentially boost viability of Marowak himself
 
I think it was mostly agreed that the SOS chained mons probably weren’t going to be tiered due to how hugely inefficient they are. I had a lot of luck with my Salamence but in reality for larvesta the time taken to SOS for it (especially given that I needed to skill swap magic guard onto it so that it wouldn’t keep killing itself with take down, and how infrequently it would call for help when using a synchronizer instead of intimidate/pressure/unnerve) could be better spent simply grinding it up 18 or so levels to evolution.

Likewise for things like slowking or gorebyss/huntail you could more easily use a compound eyes Pokémon like butterfree to thief their evolution items. Although hawlucha are a bit less common to bump into than elekid, if I remember correctly. And gorebyss/huntail are probably not too tough to get if you save in front of a bubbling spot and soft reset (35% encounter rate from clampers SOS at bubbling spot). I thiefed with a butterfree for electrizer which took about 5-10 mins and gave me a very powerful fully evolved Pokémon right at level 31. I really need to get around to reviewing a few more pokes I used. Zzz
I meant like ranking Huntail (no trade), Gorebyss (no trade), Slowking (no trade), Politoed (no trade), and Gengar (no trade) separately since they're essentially SOS-only Pokemon (and we do rank Mareanie). Tbh for Slowking it's kinda debatable whether it's faster to SOS it or find a King's Rock and then trade (ditto for Huntail/Gorebyss)
 
They’re actually slightly better than that. Clamperl evos are about 12% from bubbling spots (35% chance of encountering Clamperl, 35% chance of it SOSing one of the two), Gengar is 9% (30%/30%) and Slowking is 4% (20%/20%). Politoed is the only 1% SOS-only on that list.

If we’re ranking Larvesta and Bagon based on an insane .01% chance to get their fully-evolved SOSs (and Volcarona comes a point where you only have 1 Island left, although there are a bunch of lategame major battles remaining) then I think it’s fair to rank the above mons. I found a Slowking yesterday in maybe 20 minutes; I gave up trying to find Larvesta after 2 hours, never mind waiting for it to SOS a Volcarona while slowly killing itself with Take Down.
I don't think we should rank them based off of it, because A) SOS is a pain in the ass in a playthrough and B) it doesn't really change the mon's availability much (things that would otherwise need babying for other evos are ready to evolve or close to it anyway). It'll certainly be worth noting in write-ups if/when those happen, but I don't think they make much of a difference at all when it comes to ranking them.
 
It is my understanding though that you can thief Thick Club from totem Marowak, which would potentially boost viability of Marowak himself
As well as the fact that in Ultra Sun you can get an underleveled Totem Alolan Marowak, which even with the effort to get the necessary Stickers is far and away better than getting one the old-fashioned way because it actually has good STABs without the need of tutors, especially Shadow Bone which is otherwise unavailable until right before the Elite Four.

Ultra Moon players are screwed without trading, though, getting an underleveled Totem Salazzle instead, which while conveniently skipping the 'get a female Salandit' and 'train a Salandit until Level 33' parts, is not as convenient.
 
I finished Mina's trial, since that's close to the end of the game I think that's a good time to weigh in and spark some discussion about Pokemon that aren't tiered. Here's my opinions on:

Bulbasaur (B) - Available via Island Scan on Route 2, comes at lv. 10, and right next door to the move tutor that teaches Giga Drain and Synthesis. This thing becomes a tanky powerhouse very early on, and greatly aids in catching (as well as bosses) seeing as it gets Sleep Powder and Stun Spore early. And if it's not strong or tanky enough for some reason, it comes with Grassy Terrain and learns Growth before lv. 20. Also consistently useful throughout the came because it makes catching so much easier. On the offensive, it hits hard and is one of the faster Pokemon in Alola.
What holds it back from A-tier is that it doesn't match up well against any of the totems on its own, and Sludge Bomb, its best secondary move, is found in Po Town. That does make it better, and able to solo Lusamine, but it also comes very late. It learns Double-Edge before that, and if you still have Growth, you hit hard enough from both sides, but physical moves from Venusaur will always be underwhelming. Mono-grass for so much of the game is kind of sucky.

Vaporeon (B) - You get the Water Stone on Route 8, and Eevee can be caught at a decently high level on Route 6. Evolve it at or before lv. 16, and you get Water Pulse, and then Aurora Beam at 20, making a really strong teammate for so early in the game. Even if you miss out on Water Pulse, that can be fixed with a quick trip to the Move Tutor. It's so bulky (especially with Acid Armor) and has high SpA, so it does well in several big matchups even when it can't hit super effectively. It becomes even more valuable in the late-game when you get the TM for Scald.
Lacking a good ice move isn't that big an issues because there were so few things I can remember that are weak to ice; the ones that were, Aurora Beam did just fine. Mono-water is pretty alright, only feeling like a handicap against Ultra Necrozma.
For all the praise, I'd stick it in B because, as good as it is, it isn't a sweeper that can solo many things and despite holding its own against Totems and Kahunas, there are way more efficient picks. Having the Water Stone only available after Kiawe kinda blows, too.

Now, I disagree with the Abra ranking, I think it's a solid D. Bullet point reasons:
- Has no moves (literally) before evolving into Kadabra
- Alakazam can be gotten quickly, but for a while, his only two attack moves will be Psybeam and Charge Beam. Anything he doesn't kill will kill him, or deal a lot of damage.
- Everything has Bite or Crunch, even random trainer mons
- can't switch into anything
- Almost entirely reliant on TM moves for a good moveset. To this end, you will be pretty much going mono-Psychic until you find Shadow Ball in the second half of the game.
- Even if you get an early Alakazam, he gets progressively less useful as the game goes on, and less self-sufficient
- Not necessary or even good against any totems or major bosses
- EVERY time you try to find a use for him that isn't killing a Poison-type, he dies
Zam is only good for style points, imo
 
Milhau5 could give Bulbasaur Venoshock. Get it from Konikoni, unfortunately after Lurantis, but it at least gives you a STAB move that can be powered up by Poisonpowder possibly. Not enough for a tier raise, but at least you've got it.
 
(btw, Dhelmise got changed to 35% at bubbling spots; not sure that changes much)

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Just finished the game so I'll post thoughts on the mons I used. I didn't use EXP Share but I did feed everyone a Rainbow Bean for boosted EXP and I grinded a bit at the end.

Popplio - A: I think everything's already been said about this. I actually didn't even bother to get Water Pulse and it was still a good fallback option for like everything up to Lurantis. Lategame's really good, though it is a bit slow, which is more noticeable with boss trainers' EVs.

Lycanroc-Dusk - N/A: It's worth noting that Thrash hits harder on neutral targets than Stone Edge does, and getting Thrash at 25 is really good. That said, the unreliability of all its moves really sucked in the endgame, and it's pretty frail and gets OHKOed by random things somewhat often. Based on my experience it would be somewhere around A or B if it were to be ranked (early Rockruff is really good, and evolution is a huge boost).

Grubbin - B/C: With EXP Share off this was really painful. It didn't hit lv. 19 (Acrobatics) for Hala or evolve for Araquanid. I'm assuming it's much better if you have EXP Share on. Early Vikavolt was nice, and mine even had HP Bug so I didn't have to bother with Signal Beam, but it's too slow to outspeed basically anything in the lategame. There's not that much Fire/Rock coverage late, so it's not really a big deal, but it can drain lots of healing supplies on routes and such (Roost can alleviate this somewhat but it requires a moveslot). Energy Ball is a detour but it's useful enough that it's probably worth getting for a lot of other mons too.

Salandit - B: I lucked out with an SOS Salazzle but Salandit doesn't play that much differently in major battles (I think? Someone should check if Salandit OHKOes Togedemaru) until it evolves. It also gets more powerful moves whenever its power starts to fall off, and its speed is really helpful for boss fights and such. B for availability mainly.

Mimikyu - A: I caught a Mimikyu at the Megamart but it's probably better to use the totem since it doesn't actually miss anything important (It does miss Shadow Sneak until Move Relearner, but my Mimikyu didn't have Shadow Sneak either). Mimikyu comes with the only Fairy-type Z-move you'll have until after Ribombee, which is nice for Kommo-O and Necrozma, though it probably won't learn Play Rough until after Nanu. Mimikyu is basically an idiot-proof panic button for pretty much everything from the moment you get it (and it helps that Aether has a lot of Psychics), especially against trainers with 1 or 2 mons. Disguise also refreshes on Revive usage which is nice for Toxic cheesing bosses I guess (incidentally, Mimikyu is itself a great Toxic user). The only issues I saw with Mimikyu was a slight lack of power, but with Mimikyu 3HKOes are usually enough anyways.

Jangmo-O - C/D: This is probably D-Rank, but I write C/D because Larvesta is currently D-Rank and I don't think these two should be ranked together. Jangmo-O comes a couple Rare Candies away from Kommo-O, which gives you a moveset of Clanging Scales/Sky Uppercut/Dragon Claw right away, then Move Relearner gives Close Combat, Dragon Dance, and Outrage. Kommo-O requires very little babying from the moment you get it, though it is pretty useless against the next 3 bosses. Its E4 matchups are pretty good, though, and its bulk with Dragon typing lets it take hits from a lot of things (for instance, it tanks Hau's Decidueye/Incineroar and runs through Olivia's team).

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Re: legendaries: In the SM thread Solgaleo/Lunala were put in B because of the number of major battles left from when you get them. In USUM there's the same number of battles, but Solgaleo/Lunala are now a detour instead of a forced encounter, and Molayne is harder for the legends than Hala was in SM. Necrozma also requires Solgaleo/Lunala to be effective, so it should probably be ranked with Solgaleo/Lunala.

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Re: trade vs. no trade: There's things like Huntail, Gorebyss, Slowking, Politoed, and Gengar available via SOS that should probably be ranked. Granted all of them except Gengar iirc are 1% so they'd probably go in E (and Haunter is itself extremely difficult to SOS), but if we're ranking Larvesta based on SOS Volcarona we should probably also rank stuff like Slowking (no trade).
Thanks for pointing the change in Dhelmise's encounter rate. I'll change my post accordingly. You're right in that it won't change it's ranking.
 
I understand the late availability of scald hurts Popplio and Wingull badly, but does it even hurt Gyarados enough for it to lose its S tier status? Gyarados's special attack is so weak that ice fang is usually stronger than scald. On the topic of S tier differences, why is Oricorio so much better now than it was in SM?
Also, I think Feebas should be listed with a (trade) next to it just for clarity.
 
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