Pokemon Platinum In-Game Tier List

[Venusaur]

Smogon has a Platinum in-game tier list in the article section, but I feel it could be improved and ordered. One of their ranking points is the ability to learn HMs, and another is the ability to heal itself, which are both relatively minor, IMO.

Link: http://www.smogon.com/ingame/misc/dpp_plat_ingametiers

Tier List

High Tier:

Chimchar

Starly

Piplup

Gastly

Gible

Houndour

Machop

Rotom

Scyther

Turtwig

Abra

Giratina

Middle Tier:

Shinx

Azelf

Cranidos

Bronzor

Bidoof

Buizel

Croagunk

Froslass

Gallade

Gardevoir

Jolteon

Magikarp

Marill

Meditite

Pikachu

Ponyta

Shellos

Vaporeon

Low Tier:

Bonsly

Budew

Buneary

Drifloon

Electabuzz

Geodude

Girafarig

Glaceon

Gligar

Hoothoot

Magnemite

Mesprit

Psyduck

Uxie

Wingull

Wooper

Zubat

Bottom Tier

Absol

Aipom

Barboach

Burmy

Carnivine

Chansey

Cherubi

Chingling

Combee

Duskull

Espeon

Feebas

Finneon

Flareon

Glalie

Goldeen

Heracross

Hippopotas

Kricketot

Leafeon

Lickitung

Magmar

Mantyke

Mime Jr.

Munchlax

Nosepass

Onix

Pachirisu

Porygon

Remoraid

Rhyhorn

Riolu

Shieldon

Skorupi

Sneasel

Snover

Spiritomb

Swablu

Swinub

Tangela

Tentacool

Togepi

Tropius

Umbreon

Unown

Wurmple

Yanma

The first thing I would suggest is probably moving Azelf out of High, and finding points to split the tiers into more categories, like Upper Middle and Lower Middle.

Edited June 7, 2011 by Venusaur

[General Horace]

What is this I don't even.

[Grace]

This list needs ordering, badly. But, for the time being, here are my thoughts on specific pokemon (from top to bottom, only some):

Holy crap the Smogon article was full of flaws. I will be addressing that below.

(Also, I'm not considering ability to learn HM's, that's just stupid.)

HIGH TIER: (you missed Cranidos on the list)

Abra: Yes, it's good, but it can be a pain to catch. That aside, I don't think that's too big of an issue. It's lack of a stellar moveset might drop it down later, but the moveset is passable.

Azelf: The only downside is that it comes late. It can set up and easily sweep anything until the end of the game. You might say that it's defenses aren't good enough for that, and I can only say "X Items".

Bidoof: Get this thing the fuck out of High. Without HM's, it's only substandard. While with Simple and X Items, it can be a terror, that's too costly as it needs them in every battle in lategame. Drop it to Mid (lower Mid) or lower.

Buizel: It's fast, I'll give it that. It also has decent Attack. But it's moveset sucks balls, all the way to the end, from when you get it. No stellar TM's, and coverage can only be achieved with low BP moves. Drop it to Mid.

Gastly: Pretty much dead weight until its moveset starts picking up. Not bad otherwise, probably could stand to drop a bit.

Gible: DROP IT NOW! If Pokemon like Aipom and Heracross are being penalized for being hard to capture, this needs to drop like a brick. If Pokemon like Espeon are being penalized for being hard to evolve, drop it further. It comes fairly late, and takes until Lv48 to evolve to Garchomp. Whilst the GAR is kickass, It takes far more effort than Espeon, which you could theoretically get before Gym 3, but more likely around Gym 5/6, still before you can even get Gible. Espeon contributes longer, and still beats it for some time. Gible needs to drop, badly.

Giratina: It's stats are great, but it's moveset isn't fantastic. Might drop a little, depends.

Houndour: Being able to evolve to Houndoom immediately helps, but its moveset is pretty substandard. Needs to drop.

Rotom: Its moveset isn't great, and its stats will falter later on. Probably better off in Mid.

Scyther: Technician is nice, but can't take advantage of it enough. And its movepool is fairly shallow. Drop to Mid.

Shinx: Shallow movepool might see it drop to Mid, and maybe its low Speed as well.

So that's it for now, I might weigh in on the lower tiers later. Any Pokemon I didn't mention, I'm fine with where they are.

[Shadow Mir]

Gastly: Pretty much dead weight until its moveset starts picking up. Not bad otherwise, probably could stand to drop a bit.

It doesn't help that it needs TMs. ...And from what I'm seeing, its level up moveset is pretty bad aside from Shadow Ball.

Edited June 7, 2011 by Metal King Slime

[Smiley Jim]

Gible: DROP IT NOW! If Pokemon like Aipom and Heracross are being penalized for being hard to capture, this needs to drop like a brick. If Pokemon like Espeon are being penalized for being hard to evolve, drop it further. It comes fairly late, and takes until Lv48 to evolve to Garchomp. Whilst the GAR is kickass, It takes far more effort than Espeon, which you could theoretically get before Gym 3, but more likely around Gym 5/6, still before you can even get Gible. Espeon contributes longer, and still beats it for some time. Gible needs to drop, badly.

You know right that you can get Gible before you enter Hearthome in Platinum? That's because there's no rocks blocking the way into that cave. You must be thinking of D/P. And you get TM26 in the same cave as Gible, so he's not lacking in a strong STAB move, either. And while Lv48 sounds like a long ways off, you will likely be nearing Lv50 by the time you reach Victory Road anyway.

I think he's pretty good where he is.

Edited June 7, 2011 by darkandroid125

[Grace]

You know right that you can get Gible before you enter Hearthome in Platinum? That's because there's no rocks blocking the way into that cave. You must be thinking of D/P. And you get TM26 in the same cave as Gible, so he's not lacking in a strong STAB move, either. And while Lv48 sounds like a long ways off, you will likely be nearing Lv50 by the time you reach Victory Road anyway.

I think he's pretty good where he is.

Really? Oh. I retract that statement then. Then its fine where it is.

[Venusaur]

Tried to add some ordering, with Chimchar at the top of Top. Some of the more undeserving High tiers got dropped to the top of Middle, and Abra and Giratina are now at the bottom of High, at least for now.