ITT I Rate Pokemon Platinum

[Sublime Manic]

I gave both the same score because Buizel's earlygame is worse than Shellos's. Once Surf arrives, Floatzel is superior due to a more expansive movepool. I'll probably drop Shellos by half a point to not sound like a hypocrite.

Here's the thing about that: Golbat is weak to Mismagius's Psybeam. However, I may have underestimated Golbat's bulk a little bit. I'll mention that in the ratings.

Thanks for pointing that out.

I thought you were referring to their entire line as a whole when you said, that, so my bad on that one.

I'd actually forgotten Mismagius had Psybeam. However, a super-effective Psybeam would be the equavalent of a 130 BP attack. STAB Shadow Ball is a 120 BP attack, anyway. I'd imagine Golbat's 75/75 defenses are taking the Psybeam better than Luxio's 60/49 defenses are taking the Shadow Ball.

[Espinosa]

IMHO if you penalise Munchlax for being a rare honey tree encounter, you should penalise Heracross to the same extent. After all, Hera has the same 1% likelihood of being on a non-Munchlax tree as Munchlax does on the trees where he is capable of appearing.

[Sublime Manic]

Heracross has a 5% appearance rate, not the same 1% as Munchlax.

[Espinosa]

Heracross has a 5% appearance rate, not the same 1% as Munchlax.

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Honey#Pok.C3.A9mon

3,5% on Munchlax trees, 1% on the rest.

[Sublime Manic]

http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-dp/location/214.shtml#platinum

So I guess it depends on your source.

[Smiley Jim]

Drifloon/Drifblim

Type: Ghost/Flying

Ability(s): Unburden/Aftermath

The last of the Valley Windworks mons, Drifloon is a bit different from the others in that he's not a random encounter, but is a stationary target. Every Friday after routing Team Galactic in the Valley Windworks, this little bastard will spawn near the entrance to the building and can be caught much like any other legendary. While the fact that he can only be caught on a certain day can be off-putting, remember that one can change the date on the (3)DS, so this little detail is negligible.

Anyway, Drifloon comes at a fairly high base level of 15, which while a severe downgrade to his level in D/P, is still slightly higher than anything else you can find at this point in the game and doesn't really face any issues with being underleveled. The Lost Woods and a grass gym at the end of the tunnel also help his joining situation, though Gust does start to lose steam after around Maylene's gym. By then, evolution and the Fly HM both become a thing, with the former happening at Lv28 and the latter coming right after the Maylene fight.

As for Drifloon's ghost typing, the typing isn't really strong defensively, but it has immunities to normal and fighting, which can come in handy, especially in the Maylene fight, as well as a bug resistance, which makes him boss against Aaron. As well, ghost has effectiveness on ghost and psychic, giving Drifblim an offensive advantage in the Lucian fight, but he is a poor option against Fantina due to a lack of ghost STAB until Lv32 and even if he did, Migmagius OHKO's him.

Drifblim's stats are very similar to Wailord's, having a titanic 150 HP stat and usable 80/90/80 offenses. Like Wailord, the high HP is offset by paper thin defenses. This means that while Drifblim can take hits if needed, he's not going to start tanking hits like, say, Tangrowth or Garchomp. In regards to coverage, he really doesn't get much outside of Thunderbolt and Psychic, though getting those two moves in and out of themselves is still quite good.

Not as good statwise as Gengar, but has a better start than him.

6.5

[Smiley Jim]

@Espinosa and Sublime Manic:

If you are wondering where I get my encounter information from, I generally go on Serebii as it has a readily accessible Pokearth that is easy to navigate and requires less surfing to get where I need to go.

That being said, the reason Hera got that high a score to begin with is that he can be found on any trees, whereas Munchlax can only be found on 4/21 trees. I do not think that the data found on Bulbapedia will significantly lower his score. Probably a point or so at absolute maximum.

[Smiley Jim]

Buneary/Lopunny

Type: Normal

Ability(s): Run Away/Klutz(Buneary), Cute Charm/Klutz(Lopunny)

After dealing with the space goons in the Valley Windworks, the player is granted access to the Lost Woods. While it certainly isn't as maze-like as the actual Lost Woods are in OoT, there are three new Pokemon families obtainable in the grass here, two of which are not exactly new when this game was released, but are still first available here.

One of these is Buneary, which is yet another normal type that you can collect on your journey. Now, we've seen quite a few normal types before this point, so what makes her so special? For starters, she comes one level away from getting Frustration, which has 102 BP in her hands due to a base friendship rating of 0. This, in combination with her 66Atk/85Spe bases means that you have a serious nuke at this point in the game. Now, of course, happiness increases as you keep using the Pokemon in question, and as Buneary's happiness increases, Frustration's power begins to wane (as an example, at ~150 happiness, Frustration's BP is comparable to Quick Attack.). By the time Buneary reaches the threshold required for evolution, Frustration will only have a BP of 14, only 4 points better than CONSTRICT.

Speaking of evolution, Buneary is a friendship evolution, but as previously mentioned, she has a base happiness of 0. Even with the soothe bell being available right after leaving the woods, she's not exactly evolving early. In fact, I'd probably go so far as to say that she's evolving by Veilstone on average. Evolution gives Lopunny an only decent 76Atk/105Spe offensive parameters, but it also gives her some pretty nice bulk, particularly that 96 Sp. Def, which can allow her to take a few neutral special attacks if needed.

I don't think that we need to go over what Lopunny's movepool looks like, as like with many normals, it's pretty wide. One of her more interesting moves is Lv23 Jump Kick, which is basically a more powerful Brick Break that causes crash damage if it misses (Lopunny can't learn Brick Break anyway.). This gives her a solid option to use against steel types in a pinch. She can also get the elemental punches through the Route 212 tutor if you are so interested.

While we're on the topic of Buneary, I feel we should talk a little about Klutz. What this ability does is that it ignores the fact that she is holding an item. That is, Buneary having this ability cannot gain the effects of items like plates or the Shell Bell. However, Klutz does not ignore the effects of items that affect Pokemon growth, so stuff like the Macho Brace and Soothe Bell will still work as intended. The Amulet Coin will also function as normal.

Also, despite being looking like (and being based on) a Playboy rabbit, Lopunny has a gender ratio of 1 male to 1 female. So, same story as Ralts, except even more disturbing.

6.5

Edited December 21, 2013 by General James

[Smiley Jim]

Hoothoot/Noctowl

Type: Normal/Flying

Ability(s): Keen Eye/Insomnia

The second entry to the list of things you can find in the Lost Woods is Hoothoot, also known as 'that shitty owl from the gen II games'. And like in Johto, Hoothoot can only be found at night. However, is he as useless as he was all the way back in Gold, Silver, and Crystal?

Taking a quick look at Hoothoot's stats and one can see that unlike the other earlygame birds, he is specially oriented. While 50 base attack as Noctowl is very depressing, 76 special attack is actually decent, and it helps that he gets special STAB in this generation. The evolution itself happens at Lv20, at which point he becomes somewhat bulky on the special end with 100HP/96SpD.

On the topic of special STAB, how's Noctowl making use of it in this generation? For starters, Air Slash is learned at Lv32, a little too late for the Maylene fight, but still early enough. Before then, he can make use of Uproar for ok consistent damage. The Swift tutor is a decent upgrade to your normal type STAB, but the tutor you need is found in fucking Snowpoint, so that is out. Other than that, he gets a lot of moves that are characteristic of psychic Pokemon, such as Lv22 Confusion and Lv42 Extrasensory, as well as the TM for Shadow Ball.

One cool niche that Hoothoot has over his kin is Hypnosis. Learned at only Lv5 (so you'll have it at base), it can be helpful for catching legendary Pokemon that you may encounter later in the game (I'm looking at you, Giratina), and it obviously has use in incapacitating stronger enemy Pokemon, but Noctowl neither has the speed nor the physical bulk to be an effective sleeper in the later boss fights, and Hypnosis's 60% accuracy certainly doesn't help.

While he is certainly an improvement relative to his GSC self, Hoothoot isn't really strongly recommended over something like Starly.

3.5

Edited December 21, 2013 by General James

[Smiley Jim]

Gastly/Haunter/Gengar

Type: Ghost/Poison

Ability(s): Levitate

Caught in the same place as Buneary and Hoothoot, Gastly has some of the best offensive stats found ingame, and a vast movepool, but cursed with a slow start. You're still tempted to catch one, right?

One thing that really hasn't changed is that Gastly's start is fucking atrocious. Starting at Lv13, he has to deal with having Lick as his single offensive move until Lv15 when he gets Night Shade. However, while Night Shade does offer consistent damage, Gastly's offense doesn't become noticeable until Lv33's Shadow Ball. While this isn't as atrociously bad as it is in GSC, the wait before you finally get proper STAB is a long one indeed.

Evolution will most likely happen around when you reach Hearthome, though if Haunter is as far as you can evolve him, all you really get is a meager base stat buff. No real changes to movepool besides Shadow Punch, which you really shouldn't be using. At the very least, your SpA/Spe are quite high at 115/95, and you still have access to Shadow Ball and Thunderbolt, so not evolving is not nearly as crippling as it is in earlier games.

So what if we do the trade evolution, then what? For starters, Gengar's stats become quite formidable with a massive 130 special attack coupled with 110 speed. He also gains access to Focus Blast, which pairs nicely with Shadow Ball (Ghost/Fighting gives peerless type coverage as of Gen VI) and gives him a very powerful, albeit inaccurate move to use against dark and steel types. As for anything else, he also gets Giga Drain, Sludge Bomb, and Psychic, as well as a cocktail of physical moves he has no business using.

Gengar requires a somewhat large amount of effort on the player's part to exist, but the potential he has exceeds that of the other obtainable ghost types. However, Gastly isn't really contributing early on, especially as the Hearthome Gym owns him.

7.5 (6 without trade option)

Edited December 21, 2013 by General James

[Smiley Jim]

Meditite/Medicham

Type: Fighting/Psychic

Ability(s): Pure Power

Route 211/Mt. Coronet time, and once again, let's start with one of the better entries. Meditite is another fighting type obtainable to the player. However, what sets him apart from Monferno, Machop, and Heracross is his psychic typing. Psychic typing is a mixed curse for Meditite; while it neutralizes his weakness to psychic and allows him to hit Maylene's party harder, it nulls his resistances to bug and dark while giving him a ghost weakness (making him even worse against Fantina than he already is.)

Another thing he has going for him is Pure Power, which flat out doubles the user's attack stat. This is good because Meditite's attacking stats just suck (60 apiece as Medicham), and he would be a complete joke otherwise. However, this ability singlehandedly turns Cham into one of the most offensively potent Mons in the game, sporting an effective attack stat on par with monsters like Rampardos, while having none of the speed (base 80) issues that Rampy has. Durability still kind of sucks at 60 HP and 75/75 defenses.

Starting at Lv13, Meditite's start isn't all sunshine and daisies, as he's running Confusion off a rather mediocre (READ: bad) special attack stat, not getting any physical STAB until Lv29 when he gets Force Palm (the real fun begins at Lv32, when he gets Hi Jump Kick). The lack of natural physical STAB until around when you reach Veilstone is crippling indeed, so one may want to invest in the Brick Break TM or the Rock Smash HM until this happens. The good news is that, after Veilstone, strong physical moves are easier to come by, seeing as the Route 212 tutor gives not only the elemental punches (though Medicham gets these without the tutor), but also Zen Headbutt, which is Cham's only available physical psychic STAB (Psycho Cut is an egg move, and we are not breeding.)

Evolution to Medicham comes quite late at Lv37, around when you face Byron. The timing is pretty good, as after defeating Saturn and Mars at Lakes Valor and Verity, respectively, we enter iceland. On top of the usual increase to stats, he can also get the elemental punches through relearner, which is helpful as the tutors are quite expensive.

Overall, Meditite hits like a goddamn monster truck, but has a somewhat middling start before the Brick Break TM is available (Rock Smash's 40 BP can only take you so far).

7

Edited February 24, 2014 by James the Salamander

[Smiley Jim]

Chingling/Chimecho

Type: Psychic

Ability(s): Levitate

Another psychic type you can get on Route 211, Chingling can be best described as a poor man's Abra. Which, I will admit, isn't saying a whole hell of a lot. The first thing that you'll notice compared to his evolution's performance in RSE is that he is a LOT easier to find, with a 15% encounter rate, not to mention that his availability is better.

Chingling starts off at Lv15 with STAB Confusion right off the bat, which sounds like a good trade when you consider that Abra is helpless until he evolves. Problem is that Abra evolves quite early (well, he will certainly be evolved before arriving in Eterna City, anyway), and Kadabra's stats completely eclipse Chingling's (so do Abra's, for that matter). While Chingling's SpA is decent for an unevolved mon, his other stats are average to bad. And even after evolution (it's a happiness evo, so slap the soothe bell on him and use him diligently.), Chimecho's stats are quite poor for an evolved Pokemon, with 95 SpA being his only remotely serviceable stat.

Chimecho's movepool isn't anything special. While he does get Confusion right off the bat, he's stuck with it until Lv46 when he gets Extrasensory (and no, I do not consider Psywave to be an upgrade). This is ass considering Alakazam gets the superior Psychic 6 levels earlier, and getting Psybeam much earlier to curb this wait. His coverage is basically the same as Alakazam's, minus the ability to use Focus Blast, so he isn't knocking anyone's heads off here.

I suppose having Levitate access is kind of cute, considering that Earthquake is heavily spammed during the lategame, but does it make up for the loss in stats compared to Alakazam or Gardevoir/Gallade? Fuck no.

One thing I can say is that we've learned something today: Chimecho did not need a baby form. No, what he really needed was a fucking evolution. Hopefully, Gen VI will grant us that wish, but for now, I'm going to give him a...

2

Edited February 24, 2014 by James the Salamander

[Smiley Jim]

Bronzor/Bronzong

Type: Steel/Psychic

Ability(s): Levitate/Heatproof

The first steel type you will likely encounter, Bronzor can be caught on Route 211 at the fairly high level of 16. As I already mentioned in Steelix's rating, steel is an excellent defensive typing, sporting 11 resistances and only 3 weaknesses, and in Bronzor's case, is only weak to one type regardless of ability, courtesy of psychic typing neutralizing his fighting weakness. It also helps that Bronzor is quite the behemoth defensively, with 57/86/86 bulk being completely ridiculous for a first form with the steel typing reinforcing this, giving him 8 resistances and up to 2 immunities(Protip: Levitate is superior to Heatproof in almost every way).

While Bronzor is good defensively, I can't say the same for his offense, which is rock bottom with 24 in either attacking stat. Getting Extrasensory at only Lv19 helps, but even with that, Bronzor is hitting like an anorexic bitch. Not helping is that he's extremely slow, and while evolution at Lv33 puts his attacking stats to a more respectable 89/79, his speed barely improves, though this isn't such a big handicap due to having 116/116 defenses and Lv38 Gyro Ball feeding off a low speed stat.

As a steel type, Bronzor has fairly good matchups in the boss fights, though I will admit that he's not doing much in those fights before evolution due to having offensive stats comparable to fucking Kricketot. Still, he does have offensive advantages against Maylene and Candice, while maintaining a good defensive game against them and Byron(you may want to teach Bronzong Earthquake for the latter). He still maintains good matchups against the elites, minus either Flint or Bertha, depending on ability, and is a great check to Garchomp if he has Levitate. His performance against Lucian is especially notable as he packs a 4x resistance to psychic and has access to Shadow Ball(though I'm pretty sure Gyro Ball would hit Zam and Espeon harder.)

While I'm on the topic of Levitate, I'd like to talk about his other ability, Heatproof. What this ability does is that it halves the damage inflicted by fire moves as well as burns. In the hands of Bronzong, it turns his fire weakness into a neutrality, giving him some use against Flint(especially with rain support effectively giving him a fire resistance), but otherwise, Levitate is the superior ability as that gives Bronzong an immunity instead of a neutrality.

Kind of bad offensively before evolution, but is one of THE best tanks that Sinnoh has to offer.

5.5

[Ronman5]

Next up one of James fav pokemon The garchomp family

Probally high like most dragons....... and early evoloution to gabite whats not to ask for

[RJWalker]

Heatproof is a nice fake out in competitive battles since every opponent expects Bronzong to have Levitate. Alas, the AI doesn't fall for it.

[Smiley Jim]

Cleffa/Clefairy/Clefable

Type: Normal

Ability(s): Cute Charm/Magic Guard

Time to enter Mt. Coronet itself, and while most of the cave network is inaccessible to the player until much later in the game, what is accessible are some new Pokemon, Cleffa being one of them. Now, I could go on and on about how grossly overrated Clefable is in FR/LG due to her relatively early availability, immediate Moon Stone evolution, and a very broad TM movepool. Evolution is a bit of a pain in the ass as I'll get to later, but the main concern is dealing with her baby form.

Showing up at either morning or night at Lv13(albeit quite rarely), what kind of contribution is Cleffa providing to the party at this point? Until her first evolution(a happiness based one) is triggered, Combee level offense with slug like speed and sub par durability is what. As you can probably guess, Cleffa isn't providing anything meaningful to the party at this point, as her primary focus is on evolution. And even with Soothe Bell having ridiculous availability, evolution likely won't come until you reach Hearthome(be thankful Cleffa starts with 140 happiness).

Once Cleffa does evolve, you'd think it'd be just a simple matter to use a moon stone to trigger her final evolution to Clefable, right? FUCK NO! Moon stones are a colossal pain in the ass to obtain, as there are no easily accessible stones in this game. Like, at all. The only way to obtain moon stones in this game is to either dig them up in the underground(note that moon stones are among the rarest items found there) or farm them off wild Cleffas/Clefairies. The latter is a slightly easier way to find moon stones. Emphasis on slightly. We're still looking at a 5% chance of finding one on something that only has a 10% spawn rate at night or in the morning, basically equating to a 1/200 chance of obtaining a moon stone. Not good. And the prospect of Clefairy without evolution is not a very good one.

So we go to high hell and back to get a moon stone, now what? After all the shit you went through to get one, you'd be surprised to find that Clefable is actually decent statwise, sporting 95 HP with 73/90 defenses making her somewhat specially durable, and her offense isn't too bad either, with 85 SpA being high enough to make use of her broad special movepool, which includes, but isn't limited to: Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, Psychic, Shadow Ball, and Focus Blast. While Normal STAB is certainly welcome, the only special STAB she gets is Hyper Beam, with everything else running off her inferior 70 attack. She wishes she were faster though, as 60 speed isn't exactly fleet of foot here.

Another cool thing that Clefable has is Magic Guard, a wondrous ability that negates any and all residual damage. This is quite useful on Routes 216 and 217, as she takes no damage from Hail, something no other Pokemon that joins before this stage can boast. It also stops Clefable from being worn down by things like Leech Seed and poison, among other things.

Clefable would've likely been decent if she joined as Clefairy and moon stones could be found more readily. As it is right now, the double whammy of 'shitty baby form' and 'hard to get evolutionary item' kind of dooms her in the end.

2.5

[Smiley Jim]

Nosepass/Probopass

Type: Rock, Rock/Steel(Probopass)

Ability(s): Sturdy/Magnet Pull

The second and last Pokemon to be found in the Mt. Coronet caves at this point in the game, Nosepass is another alternative to Geodude if you want to try 'something different'(because, let's be honest here. Geodude is the superior option, though that isn't saying much.) The good news is that Nosepass boasts very solid bulk, with 90 SpD being really high for a rock type in general. The bad news? Piss poor attacking stats and sluglike speed is what. Even with Rock Throw access at base, Nosepass is very hard pressed to cause anything more than a minor nosebleed. With offensive stats this atrociously bad, how can Nosepass possibly contribute to a team?

The one thing Nosepass has in his favor is a very early evolution, being a location based evo. In his case, Nosepass evolves if he gains a level while in the interior of Mt. Coronet. And Mt. Coronet happens to be where Nosepass is found. Now put two and two together. The evolution itself grants Probopass steel typing, giving him a better set of resistances to make use of his bulk, which is now at a rather solid 60/145/150, but most importantly, his special attack becomes respectable at 75. Shame his attack didn't go up as high.

The steel typing granted by evolution really goes a long way towards improving Mario's boss performance, resisting the STAB attacks of Fantina, Candice, Aaron, and Lucian while being roughly neutral on Gardenia, Volkner, and Flint. However, Steel/Rock typing still isn't that great defensively, as Byron's Steelix, as well as Maylene and Bertha's entire teams are now hitting him for quadruple damage, and Wake isn't very kind to him either, electric attack access or no.

Offensively, Probopass is quite unique for a rock type. His special attack is higher than his attack by a full 20 points, but he learns his best special moves late. While he does get Power Gem through level, it's gotten at Lv49. That is too fucking late as that's not happening until we reach Victory Road. Instead, our lovable rocky Jewish stereotype must make due with Rock Throw and later Lv31 Rock Slide for his primary STAB throughout most of the game. The Flash Cannon TM exists if you want a special STAB earlier than Lv49, but even that is only available after Byron(not to mention that Steel is awful offensive typing). He also gets quite a few electric moves through level and TM, including natural Discharge... at Lv55. Yeah, you're better off using the Thunderbolt TM, as Discharge shows up far too late to be of any use outside the elites, if he even gets to Lv55 in the first place. An honorable mention goes to Earth Power, which is gotten at Lv79(and the tutor is postgame). A shame too, seeing as it would've helped Mario against Volkner. Thanks, Trollfreak.

A specially offensively oriented rock type is a nice concept, too bad there like no special rock moves, and Mario paid the price. Hopefully Trollfreak will grant Probopass some more special rock STAB in Gen VI, as well as some fairies for his steel STAB to smite.

4

Edited July 24, 2013 by General James

[Magical CC]

If Medicham is that good, I guess Gallade must be around 8 at least?

[HeoandReo]

If Medicham is that good, I guess Gallade must be around 8 at least?

I don't think Dawn Stones are really easy to find in Platinum, though. I'm pretty sure the first one comes around Pastoria City, which is quite a while to go to. He can probably gain some levels against Maylene thanks to type advantage, and Ralts' midgame is a little stronger thanks to higher special attack. Both can run something like Zen Headbutt/fighting STAB/other stuff for a good chunk of the game IIRC.

[a.f.k.a. Howard Hughes]

sucks i cant recall what he gave to gallade. btw Have you scored the mons after dusclops already james?

[HeoandReo]

Just taking a look at some of the other ratings, I'm tempted to make a case for Buizel going up a bit, mostly because the lack of STAB is made up for a bit for having a lot of coverage that hits super-effective on lots of things. Crunch comes right on time for Fantina, and Brick Break/Dig hits Lucario and Byron hard. Pretty much nothing resists the Dark/Fighting combo, and even without STAB coming off of 105 attack is pretty good. The only other coverage option Shellos really has over that is Rock, and even then Ice arguably obsoletes it.

Only thing is that it's a bit of an opportunity cost to give him all those TMs, so I understand if that's the case. Both can hit pretty hard on both physical and special sides of the spectrum, so it's basically bulk vs. speed.

[Smiley Jim]

Rotom

Type: Electric/Ghost

Ability(s): Levitate

Remember that old mansion that we passed on our way to Eterna City? Yeah, we're going back there, and there's only one new Pokemon to be found here. Rotom can be caught at a high level of 20 if the player talks to the telly in the second room at night, and at a time when the contributions of both his types are still to come. His type combination is rather interesting, being electric/ghost, his greatest contributions are in Maylene and Wake's gyms, though he isn't particularly bad in Volkner's gym either. He also has Levitate, giving him an immunity to ground, which can come in handy during some of the more questionable boss bights.

Once you catch your Rotom, there's really not much to complain about, really. While his special attack and speed aren't the greatest in the world, 95SpA/91Spe is more than serviceable for the maingame, though he is a little on the frail side, and the weakness to dark(a fairly common attack type in this game) does not help. And he really can't complain about movepool either, as Shock Wave is gotten only 2 levels after capture, giving him a strong midgame attack, with Lv29 Ominous Wind following suit(though Ominous Wind is learned too late for the Fantina fight). He can later upgrade to Thunderbolt and Shadow Ball, respectively, after the Pastoria Gym.

While Rotom is already quite good on his own, if the player has the secret key, he is able to get access to Rotom's appliance forms. Regardless of which appliance Rotom possesses, his stats will greatly improve, notably increasing his bulk. The base form's 50/77/77 bulk is quite frail, but Rotom-A's 50/107/107 bulk will go a long way to avoiding fluke 1-2HKO's later on in the game. Also, he gains 10 more special attack in exchange for 5 less speed. The other big change is that Rotom will gain a new move depending on which appliance he possesses. Overheat in particular is effective against Byron, Candice, and Aaron while smoking Lucian's Bronzong. Blizzard also gets a mention as with it, Rotom is actually capable of OHKOing Cynthia's Garchomp even with a 10 level deficit. Granted, he needs the NeverMeltIce to do it, but that is still an admirable feat. Sadly, all this will not be factored into the rating, as the secret key Wi-Fi event has long since expired, but it is still worth a mention.

In a nutshell, Rotom is kind of like FE9's Mordecai: strong when you first get him, but peters out when enemy stats start to catch up to him. He's still good lategame, just not in the top 10.

7.5

[Smiley Jim]

Togepi/Togetic/Togekiss

Type: Normal, Normal/Flying(Togetic/Togekiss)

Ability(s): Hustle/Serene Grace

Oh god, another bad one coming up. You get the egg from Cynthia after clearing Team Galactic from Eterna City, and if Togepi hatched right away, at Lv1(egg levels were reduced in the generational shift), he'd still be VERY underleveled. But no! You gotta run around with the egg for 10 egg cycles until it fucking hatches. This equates to either cycling around Eterna City for 2560 steps, or continuing the game's natural progression and having him even MORE underleveled when he finally hatches? What kind of shit is this?

Even if Togepi came at a decent level, he'd still contribute very little to a team. While he can take a fair bit of punishment, he learns absolutely no damage dealing moves through level until Lv33's AncientPower, and even if he did, 20/40 attacking stats would ensure his damage output is shitty. The Secret Power TM can give him something to hit with, but even with a somewhat early friendship evolution, 40 base attack is worse than what Bidoof has. 80 base SpA is substantially higher, but he doesn't have access to any special moves until the player has access to Veilstone. Good lord. And 40 base speed? Fuck it. Fuck it to hell.

So Togetic is pretty useless for most of his existence(honorable mention goes to being able to Magic Leaf Wake's team), and while he was finally given an evolution in this gen, the item you need to trigger evolution(a shiny stone) is at the very end of Iron Island. This is very late considering how much of a burden he was until that point. However, the evolution itself is very appreciated, giving Togekiss a MASSIVE boost in stats over his previous form, including some more bulk, and most importantly, a +40 boost to SpA/Spe. Another important change that comes from evolution is that Togekiss gets both Air Slash and Aura Sphere from the relearner, giving him an excellent offensive game. Other special moves of note include Flamethrower, Grass Knot, Shadow Ball, and Psychic.

With these new tools, how does Togekiss fare against the remaining bosses? For starters, Aura Sphere inflicts massive damage towards every single one of Byron's Pokemon, and it is also effective on all of Candice's team minus Froslass. While he stacks rather poorly against Volkner, he really starts to show his worth against the elites, as he hits 4/5 of Aaron's party super effective and is immune to Bertha's favorite move(Earthquake). He's also a good option against Lucian due to a high SpD buffer preventing him from being 2HKO'd unless they get a SpD drop. Gallade doesn't want to face Air Slash, either.

Togekiss is pretty awesome, but the ends do not justify the means. Still, he's not in as bad a spot as he was in GSC.

3.5

Edited July 27, 2013 by General James

[Smiley Jim]

Gligar/Gliscor

Type: Ground/Flying

Ability(s): Sand Veil/Hyper Cutter

Ok, Route 207/Wayward Cave time, and there's only two new Pokemon to be found in this area, both of whom are ground typed. Gligar can be caught in the grass at an average level of 17 on Route 207 once the player clears Cycling Road. Unfortunately, Gligar starts out quite unimpressive, knowing four very unhelpful moves at base, and practically demands the Earthquake TM to be of any use to the player. Thankfully, said TM is found in the cave on this route, so Gligar has a very strong STAB right from the get go. Evolution also comes somewhat early, the razor fang being found as a hidden item on Route 214.

With all the available ground types in the game ready to take advantage of an early EQ TM, what makes Gliscor special? For starters, he has additional flying typing, which lets him no sell enemy Earthquakes lategame as well as giving him an extra edge against Maylene, being not only resistant to fighting, but also being neutral to rock (Gliscor being a defensive behemoth certainly helps too). He also holds advantages against Byron, Volkner, Aaron, and Flint thanks to this typing, and can even take on Lucian's Gallade and Cynthia's Lucario, but he wants nothing to do with Crasher Wake or the snow laden routes. Cyrus is also an ass to Gliscor, 3 of his team being immune to his primary STAB and Weavile simply owning him in one hit.

While Gliscor's attack is rather modest compared to other ground types, STAB Earthquake still hurts off 95 base attack, and Lv34 Swords Dance helps to close any offensive gaps between him and his competition. And he's certainly bulky enough to make use of it, with 125 defense being among the highest of all flying types (only Lugia and Skarmory have higher), though he shouldn't be setting up against special attackers he doesn't resist, as 75/75 special bulk is less than adequate for that sort of thing. And unlike a lot of other ground types, he's fast too, with 95 speed.

Gliscor's level up movepool is fairly bad, the only moves of note that he gets other than SD are Lv31 Night Slash and Lv42 X-Scissor. However, the moves he can get through TM and relearner are quite a bit more useful. Notably, he can pick up Aerial Ace from Route 213, giving him his only flying STAB (can't learn Fly), as well as the elemental fangs. Ice Fang in particular is quite useful as it allows him to take down Cynthia's Garchomp faster should you have him take it on. Endgame, he can pick up Stone Edge for almost totally unresisted coverage alongside EQ.

It's a bit of a shame that Gligar is a bit underrated on Smogon's Platinum ingame tier list, because he's actually quite a bit better than they give him credit for. You don't fuck with natural Swords Dance+good durability.

8

Edited November 25, 2013 by General James

[Smiley Jim]

Gible/Gabite/Garchomp

Type: Dragon/Ground

Ability(s): Sand Veil

Gible is like Bagon if he had significantly better availability and had access to a 100 BP STAB move immediately after capture.

The only new Pokemon to be found in the Wayward Cave, Gible is a little bit different in that he's not found on the first floor, but the basement. This basement can be found by searching the area under the Cycling Road track until you find a secret entrance to the cave. If you remember playing D/P, this entire area was barricaded until after the sixth gym, but in Platinum, the player can enter this secret basement on the first visit to the cave. This gives Gible an early availability that the other pseudo legends wish they had.

Caught at Lv19 on average, Gible already comes with Dragon Rage, which is ridiculously powerful for this point in the game as most enemy Pokemon will be dropped in the red by its 40 HP damage, if not outright killed in one hit. Also helping his case is the Earthquake TM found in the same cave, and it pretty much has Gible's name written on it with permanent felt. He also evolves at the low, low level of 24, fairly early by pseudo legend standards. Unfortunately, his final evolution to Garchomp doesn't come until near the end of the game, as the evolution is triggered at Lv48.

Comparing him to Gliscor, Gabite has noticeably worse stats, but 90Atk/82Spe is still more than sufficient for the midgame, and getting Dragon Claw at Lv33 (around the same time the Aerial Ace TM is available) certainly helps his case, giving him a more effective secondary STAB than his rival. He is notably worse defensively, though. His performances against the gym leaders is more or less the same as Gligar's as well, though he is a bit worse against Maylene due to a lack of fighting resistance (granted, Earthquake still kills Lucario all the same), but has a slightly better Wake game due to being neutral against water (do not fight Floatzel, as it has Ice Fang). So Gabite's boss performance is above average, and he's not even fully evolved yet.

And what if he is? Enter Garchomp, a monster of a Pokemon so strong that he was banned from OU play. The first thing you'll notice upon evolution is that his bulk greatly improves from a rather mediocre 68/65/55 to a meaty 108/95/85, giving him plenty of wiggle room in case you need to set up with him. More importantly, though, his attack becomes a monstrous base 130, with 102 speed literally being icing on the cake. He also gets a few new toys to play with, such as Crunch (Lv48), Fire Fang (relearner), and Swords Dance (buy at game corner for $80,000, easily affordable by endgame).

The elite four is where Garchomp truly shines, being effective against Flint, as well as being bulky enough to set up Swords Dances against the other three elites. In the final showdown with Cynthia, he can feasibly take on any one of her Pokemon except her own Garchomp (and even that can be beaten if you use an X Speed), being able to kill all of Spiritomb, Lucario, Roserade, and even Milotic in one hit with a +2 Earthquake (you need an earth plate to guarantee the KO on Milotic, and you are not setting up on it, lest you get OHKO'd by Ice Beam), while 2HKOing Togekiss with Dragon Claw.

Has an above average midgame, starts to lag a little later on when stronger Pokemon become available, then becomes top tier around when you reach Sunyshore.

8.5

Edited November 25, 2013 by General James