Pokemon Crystal Ratings

[Espinosa]

Tyrogue

Because Eevee wasn't enough, generation 2 introduces another very customizable Pokemon with three possible evolutions. Fewer by 2 compared to Eevee and all three are fighting-types but... surely you're happy you can customize it to your liking? Well, not really, you shouldn't be.

Tyrogue evolves at lv. 20, which is early enough, and which Hitmon it becomes depends solely on how its attack and defence stats compare to one another. It's hardly all that customizable, really, when the ways in which you can influence these stats are pretty limited. You could decide which Pokemon to avoid for stat experience (iirc this is what pre-gen 3 EVs are called) and you could feed it Irons and/or Proteins to take it the way you like. It also appears that only one Hitmon is good, but more on that later.

The biggest problem Tyrogue has, though, is its availability. There's the odd egg out of which it will come out at lv. 5, underlevelled, but workable assuming it does come out. And then there's the lv. 10 Tyrogue you get as a gift way too late in the game, requiring Waterfall. Do you want to train a lv. 10 Pokemon when you're about to head for Victory Road? A rhetorical question really. It's a far better idea to choose between the Hitmons already evolved, like you do in Kanto in RBY/FrLg.

And then you look at its bases and shout: 35 in every base stat. It starts it with Dizzy Punch, which is about all you need until you reach lv. 20 (you'll probably be switching it out for experience anyway), and then many things are possible. If it's Hitmonlee... really, you should be proud because your efforts paid off. 120 base attack (!) is good enough for anybody who is about to launch a career as a user of the same old Strength, Return and Headbutt moves, but what's really remarkable about Lee is Hi Jump Kick learnt as early as L26. It's got only 85 BP and not 130, but it's still really unique in a generation where fighting types have all sorts of issues, the main one being the absence of a fighting-type STAB. It's great for the ice-type gym, excellent against Karen, and could have situational use in other places. Mostly, Hitmonlee is fast enough and has very good offence for OHKOing things on your way to places. It also tanks special hits, as do the other Hitmons, but watch out - it's physically frail. Hi Jump Kick's recoil damage is very low so at least you don't have to worry about that.

Other Hitmons aren't recommended, though Hitmontop gets Counter which could help against Kingdra, and probably Lance as well. Hitmonchan gets Mach Punch, which is better than nothing, giving up some speed and attack for more physical durability, while Hitmontop gets even more defence without any decent STAB at all. Dig and Rock Smash is the coverage it gets.

The availability hardly allows any efficient use of Tyrogue, but Hitmonlee is good if you can get it.

Rating: 2.5/10

[Espinosa]

Smoochum

The other odd Pokemon egg you might as well wait a little to get evolved instead of relying on luck to get the right thing to hatch (the other being Igglybuff, and I guess Tyrogue is a poor option from an efficiency standpoint no matter how you get it). Except unlike Jigglypuff, Jynx comes quite a bit later.

Let's first see what Smoochum's contributions could be assuming it does pop out of the odd egg. With 85 base spec atk and 65 base speed, it has the perfect offensive stats (for a baby Pokemon) to go first in most cases and OHKO a lot of enemies. It'll take the Ice Punch TM no doubt, which will remain its strongest ice-type move until the end of the game, and Jynx is probably the best Pokemon for it all things considered. Confusion comes at L21, probably appropriate for Morty, and just very useful for those Rocket encounters at any given point.

Jynx as an evolution is available at L30, but it's up to you whether you want to seize the opportunity immediately for much better speed and some special bulk, or wait until L37 when it learns Psychic, because that's a great move for Kingdra (against whom pretty much any strong neutral attack will do), Koga and Bruno, and puts Jynx dangerously close to Alakazam's exceptional domination in this game. The odd egg Smoochum never gets Lovely Kiss however (no move relearner in the maingame here) and is stuck with Sing for its sleeping move.

But most likely you don't want to bother with the odd egg at all, and yet you still want something that gets STAB on ice-type moves for Clair and Lance. In that case, you wait until Ice Path, where Jynx comes very underlevelled. Though it might seem like the right Pokemon for Clair's gym, it struggles there at its low level, especially knowing how many Seadras and Horseas - whom you can't hit super-effectively - you'll find when you face the cooltrainers inside the gym. You'll pump your Jynx with Rare Candies if you want it well-trained for the key battles, and even then it's stealing experience from the rest of your party who would probably prefer not to share it with a ~L22 newcomer.

Ice Path!Jynx's other problem is also the complete lack of any Psychic-type STAB, as Psychic and Dream Eater (yeah I know) TMs are not available until postgame. Psychic typing coupled with Ice Punch and accurate sleeping in Lovely Kiss makes Jynx do neat things endgame nevertheless, like switching into Xatu and Exeggutor who hit almost everybody very hard, and quickly dispose of them. It's also a tremendous Pokemon to help fight against Lance's Dragonites, probably the best counter period, outspeeding and OHKOing them with ease.

As we can see, either way to get Jynx is not without several problems, but the Ice Path one could be seen as considerably more desirable in an efficient run, perfectly handling certain threats assuming it gets good training.

Rating: 7.5/10

[Espinosa]

Magby

Related to Elekid and Smoochum since all three are baby forms of similar Pokemon from RBY. What's similar about them again? They're all humanoids with access to Psychic I think (which they can't boast of in-game in GSC). Magmar is no longer available in Ecruteak's tower, which is a big loss to mourn, so if you want a better fire-type than Quilava that still misses out on helping in Sprout Tower and Bugsy's gym, look no further.

The Odd Egg problem has already been described many times in previous ratings, and is quite a handicap indeed. Again, how good is Magby if we get one?

Pretty darn good, I gotta say. Fire Punch and Thunderpunch are two buyable TMs it wants to have right off the bat, and high physical attack (better than its special stat before evolution into Magmar at L30) makes it a good user of Dizzy Punch or Headbutt. Its offensive bases aren't far from Nidoqueen, which may not say a whole lot but is still impressive for a baby Pokemon. While Quilava 2HKOs Glooms with Ember, little Magby hits hard and covers a lot of common types with the two punches alone, saving Dizzy Punch KOs for things like Zubats and Rattatas. One could say Quilava is still better due to immediate availability not reliant on luck, and I wouldn't have anything to defend Magby with. Yeah, the odd egg sucks huh?

It gets even better when Magby evolves. Offensive stats are at their highest, and you have Flamethrower (and free Sunny Day for powering yourself up) to look forward to before the E4. Typhlosion doesn't get Flamethrower on time and stares at Magmar with envy. Magmar and Typhlosion are terribly similar in how they function though.

Great Pokemon whom you still wish you could pick up evolved in Burnt Tower.

Rating: 4.5/10

[Espinosa]

Elekid

Okay, we're done with baby Pokemon after this, thank god. Everything I've already said about the odd egg is topical when we speak about Elekid.

Elekid/Electabuzz actually benefit from the addition of the odd egg in the Crystal version of the game as it elevates them from non-existence during maingame due to at least a presence of some kind. With the Mareep line gone and Pichu being terrible for a long time, Elekid really shines compared to the few other electrics in the game (out of whom Lanturn is probably the best).

Somewhat similar to what I said earlier about Smoochum and Magby, but these bases are really good for a baby form. 95 base speed is something most evolved Pokemon would want to steal away, and the offence is also great. Elekid is another great 'puncher', with all three elemental punches available to it (Magmar gets 2, Jynx - 1) for some really neat coverage. If it's not OHKOing, you could use Headbutt to maybe flinch something, and then finish it off with a second attack.

Elekid could postpone its evolution from L30 to L41, so as to learn Thunderbolt for the E4, but it's up to you whether 11 levels of waiting are something you should tolerate for a +20 BP STAB move. Probably Electabuzz will achieve better things in those 11 levels with higher base stats then the changes Thunderbolt access will make once it does have it. Thunderbolt access is rare enough to point out this option, though.

What else can be said? Light Screen and Screech could provide some support to the team, and it could use Strength, Return or even Iron Tail to take advantage of its good physical attack base.

Rating: 5/10

[Espinosa]

Machop

Machop is always a fighting-type worth considering, so how good is it in this game? First of all, while you could wait until Mt Mortar where you can catch an underlevelled Machop that already knows Karate Chop, the more appealing choice would be to catch an Abra (or two, because Abra is just so damn rocking in this generation's games) and trade it for a Machop in Goldenrod's Department Store. Its IVs are crap, as you would expect from every in-game trade prior to FR/LG, but it's a Machop you get early and one that will grow at an accelerated rate.

Most importantly though, it's a Machop that comes on time for Whitney's gym, where, while probably not OHKOing Miltank, it can greatly contribute to whatever strategy you're able to pull off with resources you have available (if you have a flier, provoke Milty to use Rollout and switch Machop in, easily getting 2 Karate Chops since Rollout starts weak and you resist it; or paralyse it and KChop it twice).

Karate Chop is all Machop will need for a while, and you could give him extra coverage with Dig or Headbutt (later Strength or Return), if you like, as these moves will be appreciated. Evolution at L28 is a bit late and you'll be taking lots of hits until then with low speed and defences, but the traded Machop should get there in no time at all. After that, there's L34 Vital Throw and L43 Cross Chop - a natural learnpool many would envy in this game.

While I didn't draw much attention to trade evolution being an option when I rated Abra and Geodude, I do think that the accessibility of Machamp plays a big role in whether you should decide to use it or not (Kadabra is a colossal glass cannon either way, and Graveler can do most things Golem is supposed to be be doing without you really noticing the difference). The increase in attack is very noticeable, and you can actually start using special moves like the elemental punches with greater confidence, as well as endure more special hits on your own.

Lategame, Machamp wishes it had a good rock-type move for those fliers, like maybe Rock Slide or whatever, but there are always the normal-type moves, and Earthquake could help it here and there.

Rating: 8 (7) out of 10

[Espinosa]

Cubone

Machop isn't the only Pokemon you can get in the very city of Goldenrod. Game Corner offers some prizes if you have a coin case and are liberal with how you spend your money, in Crystal giving you the chance to own Abra, Cubone and Wobbuffet. We've talked about Abra at length already, and since it's only lv. 5, you're best catching the one in the wild with a Great Ball than buying coins for one. Now Cubone is unique to the Crystal version, as it was completely absent in GS until postgame.

Cubone has competition when it comes to being a pure ground-type to be trained, competing with Phanpy and Sandshrew, but most likely the dual-typed Geodude and Wooper. What does it offer? Its base attack is rather unimpressive (50/80 as Marowak), it struggles to get hold of good coverage moves (no Rock Slide or anything) and it's very slow, even after it evolves. It also costs money; enough money to buy 5 elemental punching moves to be precise.

Cubone has a good reason to be depressed now, but the benefits of using one are also there. Its level is high enough (L15 before Whitney is very good, and it has Growl + high defensive to tank her Miltank) and it starts with Headbutt and Bone Club, meaning there are two common TMs it doesn't have to fight for with others (Headbutt and Dig that is). Bone Club is something of an inaccurate Dig that doesn't take a turn to charge, learn to love it because Cubone is the sole user. It also learns Bonemerang at L25, which is remarkable as it has the same power as Earthquake, but only a 90% accuracy (you roll for a chance to crit with it on two occasions though). EQ comes late and others wouldn't mind using it (though E4 is full of fliers) so Cubone is definitely a winner here.

Evolution into Marowak at L28 isn't too far away and grants Cubone better offence as well as amplifying its durability. As a ground-type, it isn't terribly vulnerable to many of the common moves used against you, but isn't the best defensive type either (good for facing those Weezings though), since electric type moves are a rarity in general.

What about Thick Club some may ask? This held item doubles Wak's physical attack stat giving it the most crushing offensive potential in the game, but it's only found (rarely) on Cubones and Marowaks in the wild. Would've been a great help if you could get it more easily.

Rating: 7/10

[Scarlet]

Yeah, Pidgey does deserve a higher score than a mere 5. Even though it doesn't get quite as powerful moves as Spearow, STAB Wing Attack and Fly will do the job quite nicely against anything you'd want to use it against, and it can be used against nearly everything, considering it also gets STAB Normal moves and has few weaknesses - even when it doesn't hit super-effectively, it can OHKO many enemies simply due to sheer overleveledness. That, and it's actually pretty bulky if it does end up taking hits for whatever reason.

I also strongly disagree with Cyndaquil only getting a 7. As far as I'm concerned, you're giving it way too much crap for being stuck with a 40 power STAB move for midgame. If anything, the problem is Ember only being learnt at Lv12, although considering Cyndaquil will be your starter and thus not have much competition for experience, you should still be able to nab it before you really need it.

After that, it's "just" 40 base power until you aquire Flame Wheel, but you should take note that you can nab a free Charcoal for Cyndaquil to hold quite early in the game, which, although the boost is modest, ensures that Cyndaquil will OHKO pretty much anything ever due to also being overleveled.

Now, I'm not a Pokémon expert by any means, but I just recently finished a Crystal run with only Cyndaquil and Pidgey as my combat Pokémon (as well as a base level Suicune for the E4) and pretty much the only thing they couldn't OHKO were high-level rock types (as well as that one trainer-owned Corsola, bleh). Stat Exp goes a long way, especially when enemies in this game are such a low level all the time.

I don't think I've used a single healing item in that run, not even against the E4.

That considered, I'm actually questioning the relevance of these ratings if we assume a small team is used, as that way pretty much any Pokémon that doesn't suck real bad will be able to steamroll through the game as if it was nothing simply by virtue of being completely overleveled. Does it really matter if we do 5 times an enemy's HP as damage or 10 times?

Maybe it'd be better to assume a full team of six Pokémon, as that way the levels won't be as inflated and each Pokémon's personal strengths and weaknesses actually start to matter. Even if it isn't completely "efficient".

Edited October 16, 2012 by Scarlet

[Espinosa]

83/75/70 is pretty average bulk, okay but nothing to write home about. I do agree that I rated Pidgey too low, though it's a while until it becomes Pidgeot and picks up in offence. Wing Attack and Fly come kinda late to be enjoyed, but you do have Swift and Return until then (if you catch a lv. 2 Pidgey and use it in every gym, it's sure to build up friendship at a steady enough pace).

Charcoal only boosts damage by 10% (before gen IV) which is kind of trivial, though I'm not denying it could make a difference every once in a while. There's definitely a merit in Cyndaquil, such as its nice start (things that resist fire aren't as common as things that resist grass earlygame), its performance against more than a half of the game's gyms, and finally its power as Typhlosion with Fire and Thunder punches. It's just it has a rather poor phase that lasts longer than one would want to, and since it's your starter you can't just skip it by catching it later.

None of the starters really have a spectacular start. Totodile waits for Water Gun until lv. 13, Cyndaquil waits for Ember until lv. 12, Chikorita gets the more powerful Razor Leaf at lv. 8, but has to fights lots of poisons, bugs and fliers earlygame and just goes downhill from there. If you catch a Spearow, you'll find it's doing the best in the game's earliest stages due to Peck hitting bugs and Bellsprouts super-effectively, and pretty much anything with a normal-type STAB like Rattata or Teddiursa will also outperform your starter for the first 10 or so levels.

I think that even with 'efficiency' being a central theme, I'd like to assume a full team of Pokemon, like 4 Pokemon and 2 HM slaves or something like that. You're absolutely right that sticking to just one or two mons results in seeing OHKOs all over the place.

On that note, I modified some ratings:

Geodude 9 -> 8.5

Cyndaquil 7 -> 7.5

Rattata & Sentret 7.5 -> 7

Pidgey 5 -> 6.5

Chikorita 5.5 -> 6

Nothing big really, besides Pidgey getting a more fair treatment.

[Espinosa]

Wobbuffet

Another difficult one to rate, and I guess also to use effectively. Costs a fortune to get at lv. 15, but comes at an appropriate time (before Whitney) if you have 30K to spare. You could catch one in the wild before Clair, alternatively.

Counter, Mirror Coat and Destiny Bond are all Wobbufet needs for taking anything down assuming he survives the attack, and with huge base HP, it can safely switch into any major threat besides Houndoom.If anything is causing your team trouble, Wobbuffet will hardly fail, given that you bothered to train him and there lies your problem. If your Wobbuffet doesn't get by solely by stealing experience with Exp Share (a presence hard to praise), it will either be underlevelled or forced to gain experience slowly by waiting until the opposition hits it hard enough for double damage to matter. Even Quilava with Ember will score KOs much faster, you will find (okay, I'm probably complaining about Quilava too much by now). It also gets no exp when it successfully uses Destiny Bond.

When used in abundance, Wobbuffet will find it detests being impeded by status moves, Counter and Mirror Coat hit rates being messed with because of accuracy falls, and just in general relying on the opposition to hurt itself. If kept on Exp Share life support, it's eating up a lot of exp to not lag behind in level.

Overall, it should be clear what Wobbuffet can achieve in a game where setup moves aren't too common - switch in against a normally tough enemy who specialises in either physical or special moves, or who is pronouncedly more skilled at one type (the AI in this generation mostly opts to use the strongest move, unlike other generations where its behaviour is less predictable or less exploitable for Wob). Will and Bruno can't hurt it much (mostly anyway), and it's useful in other places too.

Rating: 5/10

[Espinosa]

Yanma

A Swarm Pokemon that otherwise has a 1% chance of being encountered in the wild. Sharing Butterfree and Scyther's typing, Yanma is sadly noticeably worse than either of these and its rarity is the only thing that's special about it.

There's really not a single area where Yanma excels. Not one. Its speed is its only good stat, and it's got nothing that could help put it to an advantage, besides Supersonic and Double Team. Special attack is its highest offensive base, at 75, but with the exception of Solarbeam, the Thief TM is the strongest special move it'll ever learn, even if you include egg moves. Its STABs are both physical, but Wing Attack comes late at L37 and isn't hurting much going off a 65 base. Screech can help it (try to) lower somebody's defence, learnt at L43 if you're still somehow training one. It doesn't sleep or put up screens. Perhaps the best use for Yanma is flinch mooks with Headbutt (one will hardly ever be enough) and Swagger/Detect the harder enemies if you have absolutely nothing else to switch in against them. Pretty mortifying for Yanma.

Generation 3 gave Yanma Hypnosis and later it got both an extended learnpool, an evolution and an excellent ability, but generation 2 did nothing to make Yanma even a bit usable.

At the point it becomes available, its bases are nothing impressive and it is underlevelled, with none of its abilities contributing much of substance. As time passes, its 45/45 defences make it difficult for Yanma to survive and do something poor. Giving it the same rating as Hopip.

Rating: 2/10

[Espinosa]

Nidoran M

About time we got to another good one. 30% encounter rate during Swarms just outside Goldenrod, but most likely you'll go into National Park to catch yours without bothering to wait for a swarm.

It's underlevelled indeed, but so are the surrounding trainers, and with Double Kick at L12 it's perfect to take it to Whitney's gym to train against the normal-types there. It should evolve into Nidorino in no time at all. The game is very nice to Nidorino after Sudowoodo is out of the way, giving you both the Surf HM (Nidoking's Surf isn't any stronger than that of Gyarados or Seaking, but it's still a great coverage move) and a Moon Stone. With a little trip back to your home town, you have a Nidoking with beastly bases right off the bat.

The Nidoroyals are sometimes overhyped as ultimate Pokemon to use, mostly in the first generation, and of course, they're not without their problems. One is the lack of a good STAB option since Poison Sting and Mud-Slap are all it gets until the lategame Earthquake TM. It doesn't learn either Dig or Sludge Bomb in this generation of games, which is quite a loss. Boltbeam coverage is also gone, but you can employ all three elemental punches, as well as Surf and Shadow Ball and any normal-type move of your choice if you so please.

Nidoking's offensive bases are his best - 92/85/85 are very good in spite of the aforementioned lack of STAB moves, and also his typing that leaves it vulnerable to some key opponents, like Poliwrath, Kingdra, all of Will's Pokemon (good luck OHKOing anything with Shadow Ball there), any dragon that runs a water or ice type move. You could try attacking Jynx with Iron Tail though, assuming you taught it. So, Nidoking's extensive coverage helps it in mook battles but may not be enough against major opponents, especially ones that can strike its weakness.

I talked too much about areas where Nidoking underperforms, but that's not because Nidoking is a bad Pokemon by any means, rather arguing with the idea that it should be top of everything. Double Kick Nidorino is a good Pokemon to use against Whitney, Nidoking with Surf should handle Morty, Primeape can't hurt it much thanks to its poison-typing, and it's quite good against Jasmine if we assume you taught it Fire Punch. Avoiding Pryce is a good idea even if you come with Thunder and Fire punches (okay, Seal isn't a huge problem), and you could switch into the electric Dragonair, immune to Thunderbolt and Thunder Wave (it can still hurt you and paralyse you with Dragonbreath though). Poison/ground typing makes it ideal for all of Koga's and Bruno's Pokemon (you resist both Machamp's Cross Chop and Rock Slide, which otherwise grant it impressive coverage) and it could EQ or Surf Houndoom after taking a Flamethrower. The elemental punches are helpful against Lance but watch out for moves you're weak to. Aerodactyl and the electric Dragonite are definitely good matchups for Nidoking though.

Essentially everything I said about Nidoking is applicable to Nidoqueen as well, except she gets Body Slam instead of Thrash, making her more likely to run out of PP in Rocket spots where you have to attack a lot to progress the story. Do remember that Thrash now lasts one turn shorter than before, however. Nidoqueen has nearly the same balanced stats, just with more emphasis on defence; of course, in general we agree that higher offensive stats are superior, but the difference isn't that big. I'll go ahead and rate both since Nidoqueen can't possibly get any extra accolades aside from what has already been said.

Ratings:

Nidoking - 9/10

Nidoqueen - 8.5/10

[Espinosa]

Sunkern

Available to players who've come to train to National Park, Sunkern sports terribad bases of 30 in every single stat. However, things aren't that bad, as you can evolve it with the Sun Stone you get from the Bug-Catching Contest straight away (you might need some luck with that though), at which point it will have very respectable offence with Growth, Mega Drain and 105 base special attack (slightly higher than Victreebel's!).

Sunflora misses out on Razor Leaf because it learns it at lv. 10, whereas you can catch only lv. 14 Sunkerns in Crystal, which is a shame because it could use some extra strength. Nevertheless, Mega Drain will do the job against the numerous waters and grounds until you acquire Petal Dance at L31. Sunny Day is learnt naturally (I honestly don't see much use for this move in this game) and could be used in combo with the Solarbeam TM if you please. As we can see, just by virtue of its learnpool, Sunflora has a noticeable advantage over other grass-type competitors.

Sunflora's stats... could be better, really. It's essentially a special Sudowoodo with less coverage and a worse typing. Physical hits hurt it pretty badly and it will be taking plenty of those with 30 base speed. With 75 base attack, you could try your hand at attacking physically as well, but Sunflora's composition leaves it with a very shallow movepool of Cut, Sludge Bomb and Return (no Strength sadly), but you could put one of these on your moveset anyway. Return is particularly desirable because you'll probably want it to hurt those endless Koffings and Zubats in some way.

In the E4, Sunflora wishes it could be dual poison to tank some of the Pokemon there more effectively. Taking neutral damage from Psychic though, it's pretty good against Slowbro who can be quite a tank.

Not spectacular, but not as bad as some paint it to be. Could use some support powder moves, but this problem wasn't solved until next gen.

Rating: 4.5/10

[MacLovin]

Just wanted to point out that Elekid is probobly the best of the egg mons.

If you load it with the punches, it can get a few lvls easily.

Dodou Bird Trainer(near miltank farm)

Hoppip+Skiploom trainer(near miltank farm)

And Olivine HArbor trainers and some pidgeys in the lighthouse.

By then, it should be capable of assisting in the ocean, with stab TPunch.

[Espinosa]

Yeah, agreed on that. Even without Thunderbolt, Electabuzz fights fantastically well, but the odd egg seriously hinders it from an efficiency standpoint. If Elekid were available in the wild, I'd rate him higher than Jynx. Smoochum(Jynx) and Jigglypuff are still higher on my list because they can be accessed and put to good use without bothering with the odd egg.

Scyther

One of the Bug-Catching Contest exclusives, Scyther has very high base stats, and he definitely needs those because his learnpool is not impressive at any stage of its existence. Taking a TM for Headbutt seems like a reasonable investment as you're unlikely to rely on the Fury Cutter TM (one of two STABs Scyther will ever get).

False Swipe, Agility... The first level-up move you really need is probably Wing Attack, which will be Scyther's strongest attack until/if you fully power its friendship, and still good against specific common types used by trainers. It's difficult to say if you'll reach lv. 30 by Chuck; mainly depends on team size and order of routes for your journey. Swords Dance at L42 is very timely for a sweep against many of the endgame trainers, including Will and Bruno (Onix might be an obstacle though, so set up on Hitmonlee or something). With 110 attack and 105 speed, Scyther has the right stats for a sweep, which very few Pokemon can boast of before the addition of moves like Calm Mind and Bulk Up with wide availability in other games.

There's also the option to trade-evolve Scyther into Scizor if you have a Metal Coat. You get a very useful defensive typing (no more fear of rock-type moves is nice), more attack and defence at the expense of some speed (as well as STAB on Wing Attack). L30 also happens to be the level when Scizor learns Metal Claw, which is stronger than Wing Attack when used by Scizor. It could be argued that Scizor's lower speed makes it less suitable for sweeping, but Agility can be retained on its moveset (alongside Swords Dance, Return and Metal Claw), allowing it to set itself up while tanking resisting hits (it takes Xatu's Psychics just fine with good special bulk), and unlike Scyther, Scizor won't scream like a little girl at the sight of Forretress, Onix or Aerodactyl.

Scizor should definitely be considered alongside keeping Scyther unevolved; however, the main problem is using Thief on wild Magnemites to obtain a Metal Coat prior to postgame, which is indeed detrimental to efficiency.

Scyther (or Scizor) shouldn't disappoint, trade evolution assumed or not.

Rating: 8.5/10

[MacLovin]

Rare Candy, Daycare

Scyther's that good?

Guess normal moves+flying/metal stab is good here.

Looking forward to PINSER.

[Espinosa]

Pinsir

Heracross's long-lost brother from the 1st generation of Pokemon games, Pinsir is the second Pokemon to be exclusive to Bug-Catching Contest. Compared to Scyther, it lacks the crippling weaknesses given to the latter by its flying typin, and has more attack and defence than speed, with its speed being sufficient to outspeed mostly anything in-game.

Besides Fury Cutter, Pinsir finds itself in a situation where it also doesn't get STAB (or decent coverage movepool), though the same can be said about Scyther until lv. 30 or Heracross until the Earthquake TM. Dig, Earthquake and Shadow Ball are all unavailable to Pinsir, but it appreciates learning Submission at lv. 37, which it might enjoy employing for, say, Karen's Umbreon, before possibly being screwed over by confusion and accuracy drops. You won't get it on time for Pryce, though.

Pinsir will find itself relying on normal moves, like Strength, Headbutt and Return, to get most of its kills, and you might as well teach it a couple of those to run out of PP less quickly. Swords Dance is learnt at L43 and could possibly see some use in the E4, though opponents like Houndoom and Aerodactyl who are faster and threaten you with OHKOs ruin your attempts to sweep due to Pinsir's speed, which is below the standards of good speed for E4 (the only time in the game where speed matters, you could say).

Pinsir has less special defence than Heracross, but lacks weaknesses to psychic, or Scyther's electric and ice weaknesses, making its pure bug typing a good one in some situations, for example when facing Will or the dragon elementalists. 100 base phys defence keeps it durable.

Rating: 8/10

[Espinosa]

Sudowoodo

A battle you can't really avoid, Sudowoodo is encountered at a high of 20 at a time where rock-type Pokemon's main contributions have been nearly exhausted (with Falkner, Bugsy and Whitney defeated). The gyms to come aren't made particularly easy by having Sudowoodo around, though lacking the rock type's usual complementary ground type, Sudowoodo is more comfortable than Graveler in Pryce's gym, though failing to wall dragon elementalists' electric-type moves later on.

If you do catch Sudowoodo, outside of being slow there's little to complain of. High attack, high defence, good movepool. Rock Throw and Low Kick provide it with great coverage (for Rival battles especially), and it could take Dig, and later on Earthquake, though it will lack the STAB to make better use of these moves. Elemental punches are an option, but with 30 base special attack it seems like the least reasonable thing to do. Strength seems more useful, and you're probably never maxing Return's damage unless you take it to the postgame (comes too early to be caught with a Friend Ball and is too high-levelled to max happiness by virtue of existing and gaining levels).

Sudowoodo's unique quality is its possession of Rock Slide (L28), unprecedented by any other maingame Pokemon besides inefficient paths like breeding. Rock Slide access is its advantage over Graveler/Golem, allowing it to nuke the flying (and to some extent also bug) types ubiquitous during your Elite Four challenge. Though Sudowoodo's base stat total is depressingly low, losing to Dragonair and just barely beating the starters' second tier forms, you will find that Sudowoodo still has a good allocation of the base stats he does get. Keep him away from water and fighting types though, as well as Steelix, and don't count on him taking many special moves when fighting the likes of Will.

Rating: 8/10

[Espinosa]

Vaporeon

In original G/S/C Bill's Eevee is given to you at lv. 20, which is the same level as Sudowoodo, so you could immediately evolve it and put it to good use if you don't want to wait for the friendship evolution. In the remakes, Eevee comes at lv. 5, which makes it less efficient but I guess allows you to evolve by friendship at a lower level (since the increase in friendship is tied to frequency and number of level-ups). They made Kenya the Spearow available at lv. 20 instead in the remakes, as if to compensate for that underlevelled Eevee.

Water Stone and a 95 BP STAB are available to Vaporeon almost immediately (I'd probably wait until Morty is defeated so that I don't have to go through Mt Mortar to fetch fat fisherman's phone number), making it very appealing as far as eeveelutions go, though somewhat of a water-type.

Vaporeon's bases are allocated in a way that emphasises tankiness (especially in HP, but also special defence) as well special offence, which is great because it becomes a user of Surf, Bite and Aurora Beam (slightly stronger than Icy Wind though you could go for that one anyway to outspeed your victims when used, in spite of the power loss). 65 base speed isn't too hot but is generally good enough for most battles, and physical defence isn't bad either so you could take a Hyper Beam or two (I guess we should establish that dragonslaying with Aurora Beam/Icy Wind is Vap's selling point).

Surf is just strong, and Bite could be used to try flinching Exeggutor or Slowbro to death, since it targets the weaker of their defences. When hitting neutrally, Surf is more powerful though.

Rating: 9/10

[Espinosa]

Flareon

Another nearly immediate option for your Eevee, Flareon is an unfortunate eeveelution that is constantly blamed for having no moves. This may be true for competitive battling where Flareon should expect to fight off all sorts of Snorlaxes and Blisseys, but how bad is it for in-game purposes? Not too shabby, I'd say.

Unlike Vaporeon, Surf (or its fire-type closest equivalent - Flamethrower) is unavailable to Flareon when its existence begins, and probably remains unavailable to it for good unless you continue your game after the Elite Four (learnt at L52). Its base stats are high when it comes to dishing out damage of the mixed kind and it could be given Headbutt to show those mooks not to mess with a mon of 130 base attack. It can't touch the ghosts in Morty's gym (aside from Mud-Slap which might not be an entirely bad idea) and once you get Shadow Ball it becomes the best user of this move most likely, since Ho-Oh isn't there like it is in Gold. Iron Tail is your prize for overpowering Jasmine and helps Flareon deal overkill damage to fragile ice-types for which Fire Spin (L36) is too weak, and it is good in Pryce's gym for this very reason (Pryce's Pokemon also don't run any water or ground type moves this time around). Bite (L30) is superficial when Shadow Ball was seemingly just made for Flareon, but can be an inferior replacement for more or less the same purposes (nailing the occasional ghosts and psychics), or could fill one of your moveslots as Flareon just doesn't have anything else that'd be good for it. Smog and Leer learnt at the same levels Kadabra learns Psychic and Reflect in this gen is more or less just humiliation to Flareon's learnset, but others suffer from the same issue.

Flareon can't HM slave or learn Dig, so if you teach it Return, don't expect it to max the damage any time soon. This is why Shadow Ball is very much appreciated on its set (countless normals with access to it have equally powerful STABs aside from facing ghosts). There is also the option of Fire Blast via the Game Corner TM, a very expensive investment that may not be worth all the money spent on it, but it's there and it gives Flareon a very powerful STAB that it will otherwise have no alternative for whatsoever.

Flareon's endgame is similar to that of Typhlosion of Magmar, except with less speed and Thunderpunch but with more Iron Tail and Shadow Ball. It's exceptionally good against Will, possibly OHKOing some of the more frail Pokemon while tanking Psychics with high special defence (a trait all eeeveelutions until Leafeon in gen 4 share). Fire Spin, if you still have it, may not be enough to OHKO Forretress when facing Koga so react accordingly. It could also switch into Houndoom, resisting its stronger STAB and not being terribly afraid of the other one, but it'll only have, like, Headbutt and Return to strike back. Lance it does rather poorly against. 65 base speed is not hot at this stage but, just like in Vaporeon's case, it should be enough until then.

Rating: 8/10

[Espinosa]

Jolteon

Now here's the Eeveelution that really has no moves! Evolved on the spot (pretty much), Jolteon actually takes a step back from being plain old Eevee, losing its STAB for normal-type moves for special attack it doesn't need and excessive speed. Jolteon's big problem is its lack of electric-type move in its natural learnset until L52, where it would learn Thunder. The Thunder TM is still an expensive option in Game Corner, deciding whether Jolteon deserves to exist or not, and may not be worth the investment, though Jolteon puts it to good use, being one of the two Pokemon likely to outspeed Lance's Aerodactyl, for example.

Without the Thunder TM, Jolteon is lacking offensive options, which is a great shame when you have 110 base spc. atk. With 65 base physical attack, it's a poor user of normal-type moves (Headbutt, Return), Iron Tail and Shadow Ball TMs and the two strange moves it learns by level-up - Pin Missile and Double Kick. It might not be a bad idea to postpone Eevee's evolution until lv. 30 so that Jolteon has Bite, which works perfect with its high speed and makes it somewhat threatening for Will and whatever other Psychic-types you encounter. Thunder Wave at lv. 42 could serve as an accurate support move for the last trainers you face in the game.

Jolteon has the stats to be good but it's found itself in the wrong game, sadly. At least it can exist in Crystal.

Rating: 5/10

[MacLovin]

Continue?

Also, Machop should be higher.

Machoke is still decent later on, barring SE sp attacks.

[Espinosa]

8 is high enough for a Pokemon with speed and coverage issues, and whose main typing is fighting (with poison types still being terribly common). Elite Four isn't kind to Machoke/Machamp.

Haven't updated this for a while, but there's more breathing room nowadays for me to write more here.

Espeon

Ah, one of the two newly introduced eeveelutions. Eevee is acquired at a low level of friendship, and that's something you can't fix by having the right Apricorns, which actually matters a lot for Espeon and Umbreon as you can't evolve Eevee for a while otherwise. And guess what, Eevee doesn't mind, as an early evolution into Espeon would only mean the loss of its STAB for readily available normal-type moves until lv. 36, when Psybeam is learnt. In fact, Espeon will be more than happy to utilise Bite it can learn only as Eevee (it gets Swift at lv. 30 otherwise).

Of all the Eeveelutions, Espeon's stat spread is possibly the best of them all. You don't need Jolteon's overkill speed in-game, or Umbreon's bulk when you can't do much of substance with it. Vaporeon could be faster, and Flareon has many of the above problems plus a very high phys attack stat that doesn't have a STAB to complement it. Espeon's stats are just the right ones, with 130 base special attack to make its Psybeam and Bite attacks very menacing indeed. You will hardly need anything else.

As a psychic-type, how does Espeon compare to others of the same type, namely Abra, whom we currently have on the top of the ratings list? For one, it gets Psybeam as its strongest move for a while, which isn't nearly as good as Kadabra/Alakazam having Psychic, but it should still do for Koga/Bruno. A lack of a psychic STAB makes it useless in Chuck's gym however, where Espeon has good stats to tank hits and strike back... if it had a super-effective move, that is.

Bite does have the niche of allowing the player to switch into a psychic-type (Will is a tough elite four member, let's face it) but compared to Kadabra's elemental punch access, the base power of 60 doesn't cut it. There's flinchhax to rely on though. Finally, I guess you could mention Espeon being sturdier in terms of HP and defence, but not by a whole lot, and Kadabra is actually better at soloing while tanking Hyper Beams from Lance when it has learnt Reflect, something Espeon doesn't get.

Besides existing for less time than Abra, it has to wait for a long time until it can fully evolve, and God forbid should you be playing at night when that happens (to be outlined below). That's quite a bit of time spent as a mediocre unevolved Eevee, when Kadabra would be slaying stuff right off the bat.

I believe Espeon, while definitely useful, pales in comparison to Vaporeon and doesn't really have much to offer to a player hesitating to use Abra.

8.5/10

[Espinosa]

Umbreon

Time for us to put an end to the Eeveelution rating series (I was stuck in the middle for a while).

Umbreon combines most of the worst qualities of different Eeveelutions. Much like Jolteon, it wishes it had stayed Eevee to enjoy STAB normal-type moves which are far more easily available than the expensive Thunder TM and, not unlike Espeon, it has to spend some time as Eevee whether it wants or not (it probably does though).

What's unique about Umbreon can be summed up in one sentence: dark-typing and 95/110/130 base defences. The bases are interesting enough because you don't have any other Eeveelutions that would be dedicated to one function to the same extent, e.g. all attacking. Flareon can attack mixed but is slow. Jolteon and Espeon are fast and hit things hard when they have their special STABs but have the special defence base attached to them (a trademark of all Eeveelutions before gen 4). Umbreon was designed consistently for the purposes of taking lots of hits.

Umbreon is your only dark-type in Johto outside of Sneasel. Murkrow is absent until postgame, as is Houndour, with Tyranitar being something you're probably never seeing. An immunity to psychic-type moves isn't terribly wanted most of the time, but it is very helpful against Will, whose Pokemon are either fast and pack powerful STAB Psychics or compensate with stall techniques and great bulk for their lack of speed, and are weak to such attack types that you may not be carrying at all. Umbreon switches into any of Will's Pokemon and patiently wears them out with Faint Attack. Running off its 60 base special attack and having 90 base power with STAB factored in, it won't send anyone screaming but Umbreon has nothing to fear as it sits there and tries to hit things as they persistently inflict insignificant damage or attempt to status your black Eevee.

Then you have those glorious defensive bases. Umby can sure take a hit huh? Just don't let him see Bruno and he'll survive any attack. The question is, what's it doing when it does survive an attack? Curse is postgame, as is Toxic, and were those available, they'd still lead to very slow victories. But Umbreon doesn't get any of those, instead learning Confuse Ray at lv. 30, a level when your Eevee is quite far away from evolving unless you've been riding your bicycle back and forth, or manipulating the clock to get haircuts (i.e. tool-assisting yourself for the cause).

One move Umbreon can indeed claim and make good use of is Swagger TM. Use it against the few special attackers that exist (Houndoom is one, and you could try Slowbro if it's been pumping itself up with Amnesia and you've got nothing to lose since it might be a reset either way) or try your luck with others that WILL benefit from +2 attack. After all, Umbreon is only weak to fighting and bug (bug is underrepresented to say the least), and should be able to take any other attack.

Umbreon won't exist for long enough, and when it does, it will slow you down. Do you want that? Maybe if you have an unreasonable fear of Will...

4/10

[Espinosa]

Koffing

You've got plenty of new Pokemon to catch (if you so desire) once you're in Ecruteak, with options to go west or east, pick up Surf and Strength HMs and a Good Rod. A large portion (yes!) of Johto becomes open to you. First of all, we probably want to challenge Morty so that Surf can be used outside of battle, so let's head to Burnt Tower. There's only one new Pokemon family in there, as Magmar is gone in Crystal.

Koffing seems okay defensively, resisting the common grass and poison-type moves and having a high defence base to do so. Sludge is learnt at L21 and Sludge Bomb TM shouldn't wait much longer after that, and it's essential if you want to be using Koffing. Its coverage is sadly very poor - being a giant ball leaves it no normal-type options besides Return, so make sure to catch it with a Friend Ball. Rollout is not an entirely bad option since there's not much you could put on it, same goes for Thief (for the occasional ghost or psychic).

Koffing evolves late at lv. 35, improving greatly upon evolution. You can circumvent those 20 levels of waiting by just catching a Weezing pre-evolved in Burned Tower B1F; however, it is 59 times rarer compared to Koffing and also harder to capture (your Friend Ball(-s) could miss...). It's your choice, but it's very much worth considering because those bases are quite high.

Base speed could be a bit higher (it's at 60 as Weezing), but 90 base attack should be sufficient to OHKO a lot of things with Return and Sludge Bomb. With an 85 base spec. attack, you wish you had something better than Thief though, as Fire Blast and Thunder are very expensive options, and Zap Cannon doesn't come until postgame and tends to miss a lot. Probably you're not investing into any of the two TMs, as Fire Blast has only 5 PP and Thunder is inaccurate. Evolving doesn't resolve Weezing's physical movepool issues either.

Facing other people's Koffings and Weezings can be very annoying due to Selfdestruct, Smokescreen and poison procs; however, for your own needs this is generally unsatisfactory. You may occasionally blow it up against a tough gym leader and have somebody else get the exp with Exp Share, and it updates SD to Explosion at lv. 44, so it has some merit in the E4 as well. Overall, its coverage is rather poor, but its typing lets it tank the likes of Chuck and Bruno fairly well, and it does a good enough job against mooks.

5/10

[Espinosa]

Magnemite

West of Ecruteak you have a lot of new normal-types to catch, some quite good. But there's one new Pokemon that received an upgrade to its typing since generation 1, and it is a change that is very welcome - Magnemite has gone from being just another generic electric-type (not terribly distinguishable from Electrode, Raichu or Electabuzz) to a dual electric/steel type. Certainly, the emergence of the steel-typing comes with its negative consequences - Magnemite now fears ground-type moves even more than before (they aren't too common however), and they also have a newfound weakness to fighting and fire type moves. The good news is that the number of resistances is far bigger in comparison - 11 (+ an immunity to poison), including the ubiquitous normal-type moves everything has.

So we see that Magnemite has great staying power thanks to its typing alone. Can it attack? For a while, quite well indeed. 95 base special attack is excellent for an unevolved Pokemon, and Thundershock will be easily OHKOing things weak to it, and perhaps more given a level advantage. You only have to wait until lv. 21 to learn Thunder Wave too, which is a nice support move, one you might employ when trying to catch a particularly strong wild Pokemon (or to have better chances of not wasting your hard-earned Apricorn balls). However, this is where the fun ends. Even though Magneton will have an even more impressive sp. atk. base upon evolution, its movepool issues aren't remedied unless you make the expensive investment in the Thunder TM. Without Shock Wave, Charge Beam, let alone any other electric-type options players are used to accessing with ease in other games, Magnemite is stuck with its little Thundershock for good. It's not exactly horrible, as Magneton's Thundershock will still outdamage, say, Nidoking's Thunderpunch, but Nidoking has a whole lot of other options available. Magneton's vocabulary doesn't have the word 'coverage' in it. There's Screech and Tri Attack learnt naturally (do hang on to Tri Attack because you don't have any other "coverage"), there's Rollout and Return, but they're poor choices when we are dealing with STABless 60 base attack. The Swift TM could be put to use if you still have it, because Magnemite learns it whereas its evolved form does not.

As an electric type that tanks hits well (and once evolved, it should be outspeeding plenty of things with ease), Magnemite is never quite at risk of finding itself without application, but in spite of its high special attack, it will chip away at things slowly. It can face Morty if you don't mind the statuses spammed, as well as Pryce's water-types, possibly Clair's Kingdra. Stay away from Jasmine and Chuck however, though it might be tempting to attack that Poliwrath super-effectively. E4 is a time for Magneton to shine - plenty of fliers and not many can hit it effectively. Switch into Xatus, Crobats and Aerodactyls to your heart's content. For major battles, it's rather important if you invested into the Thunder TM, as it will hit three times as hard if you compare it to Thundershock, giving Magneton unreliable but a powerful and long-lasting offensive option over its only mediocre one. Using Magnemite longterm (and you're probably not catching it just to watch it overpower the waters on your way from Olivine to Chuck) essentially implies making that investment.

Rating: 6/10