Platinum In-Game Tier List

[Colonel M]

Okay let's think about this seriously for a moment here.

You have no problem training Gyarados and teaching it Earthquake despite having 10-17 levels of needing to be switched.

Then when it comes to Gible you have an issue training it roughly 10 levels or less by teaching it STAB Earthquake, have at least Dragon Rage for a 2HKO most of the time, but deny Earthquake on Gible because you can teach it to Gligar...?

Where the fuck is the consistency in your argument? For fucks sake Magikarp ALSO HAS A SLOW LEVELING SPEED JUST LIKE GIBLE!

God fucking damn Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Goddamn whorebag. Can we please, PLEASE, keep on a railroad without hyping it up?

[grandjackal]

You have no problem training Gyarados and teaching it Earthquake despite having 10-17 levels of needing to be switched.

10 you say? He could probably evolve earlier than I anticipated. However, I'm not disputing at all that switching in and out sucks, especially when you can't do anything in particular. However, this problem only exists for like 1 gym.

Then when it comes to Gible you have an issue training it roughly 10 levels or less by teaching it STAB Earthquake, have at least Dragon Rage for a 2HKO most of the time, but deny Earthquake on Gible because you can teach it to Gligar...?

Suppose I should explain myself. Gligar prefers Earthquake over Gible because it's faster than Gible and Gabite. Gyarados prefers itover both because it has good enough speed on top of hitting hard enough to not care about STAB, and eliminates both types of mons that would give it problems. The point I'm trying tomake is that Gible/Gabite merely seems like a generic choice for Earthquake when you have plenty better, especially since he doesn't get anything worthwhile until Dragon Claw. It's 80 STAB power sure, but Gabite's attack is astonishing to the point he one shots things with it anyways.

Where the fuck is the consistency in your argument? For fucks sake Magikarp ALSO HAS A SLOW LEVELING SPEED JUST LIKE GIBLE!

Magikarp comes at a time when at most you only want two mons anyways, and has access to the forest as to absorb EXP off the Chansey trader, so he can at least BS his way to earning the exp he needs. Gible's slow and indurable, which proves to be problematic for his leveling speed as well as Magikarp generally having no real threatening attack. Also unlike Gible, at least that slow leveling speed is rewarded by giving us something that is actually great. Gyarados actually does well enough against most of Gardenia's gym (Roserade stops him short), and he is hands down one of the best mons to destroy Fantina, one of the more troublesome gyms. He nearly one shots Mismagius, something I have trouble imagining any other mon doing. Gible can do none of these things. To further his coverage, Gyarados gains stuff like Ice Fang and Aqua Tail (Which I have on the way to Pastoria), while Gabite just has Dragon Claw.

Suppose to shorten my argument, both suck to level and both level slow, but at least Gyarados is well worth the effort.

God fucking damn Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Goddamn whorebag. Can we please, PLEASE, keep on a railroad without hyping it up?

I have, I'm just explaining that competition exists in this game, something you seem keen on ignoring. If Magikarp won't rise which is perfectly reasonable, I would request Gible stop being so insanely overrated and have him drop to around the same level.

EDIT: I am currently using Croagunk, and I would like to mention some notable things about it.

-Dry Skin is AWESOME, especially for it's join time. Joins basically at the water gym with an entire route of rain to train in (you can always Fly back). Revenge hits hella hard if your enemy is willing to use an actual attack (kind of annoying, seeing as the AI seems to be weird and WANT to hit you with a water move even though you absorb it. Proof being: Crasher Wake's Floatzel wasted all his Brine on it, hen switched to Aqua Jet). As stated, he can one on one with Floatzel (Wish he would hit with Crunch, seeing as he resists it and is 3HKOd, and he can Revenge back). By the time the whole ordeal of Pastoria is done, he'll have caught up in levels and be right in your team.

-It's starting movepool however, I gotta address as it's kinda ass. Coverage is nice, but they're all either weak (Faint Attack, Pursuit), inaccurate (Mud Bomb), or have a rather unwelcome gimmick (Revenge). No TMs really help it, cause it's stats are a bit meh. Not bad, just meh.

I'm hoping once I get Poison Jab, it'll start to pick up from there a bit more. He's not bad especially with Dry Skin, butI kinda want more out of him.

Edited May 5, 2012 by grandjackal

[Shadow Mir]

10 you say? He could probably evolve earlier than I anticipated. However, I'm not disputing at all that switching in and out sucks, especially when you can't do anything in particular. However, this problem only exists for like 1 gym.

Considering that Roark uses Stealth Rock and has a Cranidos with Pursuit... I'd say it's actually worse than you're letting on. Let's just say that's not one place where I'd be trying to switchgrind a Magikarp.

Magikarp comes at a time when at most you only want two mons anyways, and has access to the forest as to absorb EXP off the Chansey trader, so he can at least BS his way to earning the exp he needs. Gible's slow and indurable, which proves to be problematic for his leveling speed as well as Magikarp generally having no real threatening attack. Also unlike Gible, at least that slow leveling speed is rewarded by giving us something that is actually great. Gyarados actually does well enough against most of Gardenia's gym (Roserade stops him short), and he is hands down one of the best mons to destroy Fantina, one of the more troublesome gyms. He nearly one shots Mismagius, something I have trouble imagining any other mon doing. Gible can do none of these things. To further his coverage, Gyarados gains stuff like Ice Fang and Aqua Tail (Which I have on the way to Pastoria), while Gabite just has Dragon Claw.

Suppose to shorten my argument, both suck to level and both level slow, but at least Gyarados is well worth the effort.

I'm not seeing why you think Magikarp being able to train in Eterna Forest helps it when it comes out to splitting exp with another Pokemon or letting Cheryl do all the dirty work (not something I'd count on with Egg Bomb having only 75 accuracy and Chansey having abysmal attack). Either way, it's inefficient as fuck.

[grandjackal]

Considering that Roark uses Stealth Rock and has a Cranidos with Pursuit... I'd say it's actually worse than you're letting on. Let's just say that's not one place where I'd be trying to switchgrind a Magikarp.

It only sucks for Cranidos, which I didn't bother try doing switchleveling Magikarp for. Perfectly fine otherwise.

I'm not seeing why you think Magikarp being able to train in Eterna Forest helps it when it comes out to splitting exp with another Pokemon or letting Cheryl do all the dirty work (not something I'd count on with Egg Bomb having only 75 accuracy and Chansey having abysmal attack). Either way, it's inefficient as fuck.

This is true, but I'malready admitting that Magikarp's earlygame is non-existent. This just speeds up the process of which he escapes the suckitude.

Croagunk evolved by Celestic.

[eclipse]

I had Croagunk on my endgame team, and thought it was awesome, but I also thought it was Just Me. Notes on its movepool:

- Croagunk's one and only Fighting move it learns naturally is Revenge. It does learn Brick Break, if you're willing to hold onto it for that long. You can Move Tutor Vacuum Wave, but why would you do that?

- It'll learn Sucker Punch, which is hilarious against Psychics.

- You can Move Tutor Thunderpunch on it for even more lulz against Water Pokemon. It also deals with its Flying weakness, too (assuming you can get a hit in)

- It learns Ice Punch but no Fire Punch. Not that it really needs Fire Punch (unless Bugs are that big of a deal; everything else can be covered by a different element)

- It learns Rock Slide/Stone Edge/X-Scissor via TM, if you feel it's worth it

- You can make it Bounce.

- Since I'm rather silly when it comes to moves, I gave mine Rock Climb.

[grandjackal]

One thing I noticed is that Toxicroak is VERY similar to Infernape, just the difference is movepool and typing. If mine wasn't a Careful nature, it would probably have perfectly usable Sp Atk. I bring that up because it can learn Shadow Ball of all things, which would be a nice replacement for Sucker Punch. I mean, Toxicroak is fast enough as it is. Sucker Punch works off physical which is better for him sure, but 5PP is not a lot to work with, not to mention it requires the enemy to attack, something I've learned is not guaranteed in this game.

My main issue with Toxicroak is that while it's good, his movepool is a bunch of annoying gimmicks. Was happy to get Poison Jab, now I don't have to deal with that stupid shit anymore. Definitely giving it Brick Break though, totally forgot about that. I'm sick of Revenge as it is.

So, next stop is Snover who I'll probably force feed my Rare Candies to evolve it ASAP. This leaves one last slot which I'm contemplating of leaving for a Bibarel as an HM whore, then using Giratina for the E4. Thoughts on who should actually fill the final slot of this super epic team?

[eclipse]

Toxicroak also learns Nasty Plot later in life. . .and Sludge Bomb. How convenient.

[dondon151]

i tried using NP toxicroak once and it wasn't really good

[BBM]

Ingame or postgame/competitively?

[Smiley Jim]

- About Gible and Gyarados:

I'm siding with Colonel M here. Yeah, Gible has 4-7 levels of suck before he gets going(He's caught at Lv17-20, and evolves into Gabite at Lv24. However, Magikarp has like 15 levels of suck, depending on where you caught it. On top of that, they are both in the slow exp group. Honestly, I'd rather put up with Gible's 7 levels of suck than Magikarp's because Gible can actually fight(Dragon Rage 2HKO's like everything at that point in the game, and EQ is a good all around attack.), while Magikarp is stuck with Splash for 10 levels(assuming a Lv5 catch), and even with Tackle, it is doing shit damage thanks to its attack being as bad as Shuckle's, which means that you have to bait and switch for 15 levels, which is inefficient since it wastes time and your battling mon takes chip damage or gets a stat drop/status condition each time it switches in. Also, you say that Magikarp can get exp off the Chansey trainer? I can just as easily get Gible EXP from the Kadabra trainer(granted, it's an optional place, while Eterna Forest is not, but I'm not assuming you skip most content here). Yeah, Gible and Magikarp are staying where they are at. Now, if this were HGSS and you could catch Gyarados at Lv30, I'd vouch for him to be in SS, but here, no.

And before you say Gligar>Gabite because it's faster, remember that Gabite has 82 base speed. This is slightly faster than Staravia's 80 spd, who is in SS. Also, Gible has something called a level up movepool(Faint Attack before Fantina is cute, but Gible gets his strongest level up attacks before Gligar does(if you hold off evolution until Lv27, Gabite has Dragon Claw 4 levels before Gligar/Gliscor has Slash))

- About Croagunk

I don't really have much comment on it, to be perfectly honest. I really haven't put much thought into it, so I wouldn't know what to tell you all. I'll have to actually use Croagunk to give you an honest opinion, but let's just say its good, and I'll put it in B, above Cranidos.

Edited May 6, 2012 by Mercenary James

[dondon151]

Ingame or postgame/competitively?

this is an in-game topic

toxicroak doesn't have the bulk to set up reliably and it doesn't hit particularly strong after setting up. poison's type coverage is nonexistent and the only special fighting type moves available to toxicroak are vacuum wave and focus blast, both of which have huge drawbacks

you're much better off just going with something like 4 attacks and using X items to set up a sweep.

[Shadow Mir]

I think Bronzor could stand to move down. I know it's a defensive champ, but its offense, on the other hand...

[grandjackal]

Fair enough the thoughts on Magikarp, but I still thin Gible is an overrated piece of shit.

Anyways, I think for my next playthrough I'mma try out Cranidos since he is just in B tier without any real thinking. Might as well try him out. Still going out to give Snover a shot, who I think will be a lategame mon you stuff with a ton of Rare Candy.

Other mons I should try out? I am just addicted to Platinum at the moment, so anything's cool to me. Gonna try Jolteon as well.

[Grace]

I think Bronzor could stand to move down. I know it's a defensive champ, but its offense, on the other hand...

Agreed. 24/24/23 offenses before evolving? No frickin' way that getting anywhere near Lv33 required for evolution in any decent timeframe. It evolves and gets 89/79/33 offenses, and even that's not that good. And don't get me started on its movepool.

[eclipse]

Marill, please? I was never patient enough to train the thing.

[grandjackal]

Marill, please? I was never patient enough to train the thing.

Ahh yes, perfect! I've been meaning to test out Marill since Emerald, but never got around to it because Emerald sucks. Need a water type anyways.

Now just some lategame mons...

[dondon151]

marill's actually not that bad

except ice punch is a fucker to get

but double-edge and waterfall is like perfect neutral coverage except against empoleon

Edited May 6, 2012 by dondon151

[grandjackal]

All the more reason to give it a spin!

Hmmm...Might try Azelf next time. Just need one last lategame mon.

[dondon151]

marill's level up movepool is also kind of balls; bubblebeam is not terrible at L18 but it comes off an unboosted spatk stat

as dumb as it sounds you'll probably prefer defense curl + rollout until you get waterfall, return, or double edge =/

EDIT: i'm retarded, you get marill at ~L23, so it should already have bubblebeam

Edited May 6, 2012 by dondon151

[grandjackal]

Toxicroak with Brick Break and Poison Jab feels like a less coverage Infernape, since looking at both side by side they're damn near identical statistically. Basically it's nfernape, but comes a lot later and isn't as useful.

As for Abomasnow, I can verify that you can have enough Rare Candies to evolve it on the spot. However, the fact it hasn't been with you for a lot of the adventure kinda stands out, because statistically it's a tad below average. It's speed namely I wish was better. I'm also not too sure about it's typing vs the upcoming raid on Galactic, since a lot of their mons can find ways to hit super effectively, which is annoying since Abomasnow is kinda slow. But that's just theorizing, still have to try it on the field.

EDIT: Ya know what? I'm just gonna do a stat breakdown.

A Naive level 41 Abomasnow has 63 Speed. That is awful at this point in the game. Outside of that though, he doesn't look bad. If he had an Atk+ nature, his attack is easily in the hundreds, though with a +Sp Atk nature he can put stuff like Ice Beam and Blizzard to greater use. 136 HP and defenses around the 80s is also not bad. Basically the only thing that significantly sucks about him is his Speed and his unfortunate typing on top of it. Way I see it, anything he's good against he's REALLY good against, and anything he's bad against he's REALLY bad against. No real middle ground for him. It's just kinda unfortunate you have him for not that long. I think he has his perks, but he's not super impressive.

Wood Hammer though is the most satisfying move to hit anyone with without question. Just hit the button and RRRRR! It is DEAD.

Edited May 6, 2012 by grandjackal

[Espinosa]

If we rate some things based on utility, why not raise some sleepers? They help us out with catching wild Pokemon, which can take surprisingly long without save states, especially if you're picky concerning their stats.

[eclipse]

I don't think this is the "look for the perfect Ralts" tier list.

[BBM]

If we rate some things based on utility, why not raise some sleepers? They help us out with catching wild Pokemon, which can take surprisingly long without save states, especially if you're picky concerning their stats.

Most non-legendary pokemon aren't really that difficult to catch. And yes, Sleep is the most effective, but if a pokemon is in red and has any status conditions on it all, one or two Ultra/Dusk Balls are normally enough. And most pokemon have some sort of status inflicting move. As for legendary pokemon... it's a crapshoot no matter what.

Edited May 7, 2012 by BigBangMeteor

[Espinosa]

I don't think this is the "look for the perfect Ralts" tier list.

Still, some things take awfully long to get inside a Pokeball, and if you happen to have a sleeping move on something, you make the catching process a lot more efficient. Which is the key word for tier lists, I think.

[Smiley Jim]

Still, some things take awfully long to get inside a Pokeball, and if you happen to have a sleeping move on something, you make the catching process a lot more efficient. Which is the key word for tier lists, I think.

Ok, while I will admit that putting a Mon to sleep will make it easier to catch, taking a look at the potential sleepers, it's really not all that pretty(mostly D and E tier shit), and I am not willing to place something up higher just because it can inflict sleep. Especially if said Pokemon has a massive period of suck before(or sometimes even after)it gets said sleep move and/or learns the sleep inducing move late. And honestly, Sing and Hypnosis aren't very accurate(and half their users blow anyway), and only 2 Pokes in the Sinnoh Dex can learn Sleep Powder(Roselia's line, and Tangela's line, and neither are all that impressive, on top of 75% chance being a 1 in 4 chance of doing jack shit.).

Have a nice day.

Edited May 7, 2012 by Mercenary James