u/Awkward-State-2364

As we leave Mt. Pyre, you probably should grab Giga Drain TM as well. We go towards Safari Zone this time, (though we need Pokéblock first to enter) and on South East we have following encounters: Dodrio, Girafarig and Xatu! We also have Raichu, but alongside it we have Pikachu. You might be wondering, why? This was brought up when we did tier list for Platinum, Pikachu has its own use thanks to Light Ball doubling Pikachu's Special Attack in Gen 2-3. Only in Gen 4 and onward it buffed both attack stats. Pikachu has 5% chance to carry light ball, with CompoundEyes that raises to 20%, and with Static pokemon in front encountering Pikachu raises to 50% I believe, so pick your poison. And we have 5 pokemons today which is a lot but I justify it by having Pikachu and Raichu, which play out very similiarly. Golduck will join later. How good are our encounters?

Thanks again for good and fun discussion. I really enjoy going through each comment and analyses for each mon, thank you one more time keeping these posts alive and fresh. Enjoy the read!

Last round voting results:

Banette E+ Tier: Banette is glass cannon, unfortunately lacks the speed required to fire the cannon. Its one saving grace is a Base 115 Attack stat, and because Ghost-type moves are physical in Generation 3, it can deal good damage with a STAB Shadow Ball. It performs solidly against Tate and Liza's Psychic-types and can put a dent in Phoebe's Ghost-types in the Elite Four, while also offering niche utility options like Will-O-Wisp and Curse.

Banette has combination of bad Speed and nonexistent bulk. Having Shuppet around until it evolves at Level 37 is a chore because it is weak and frail. Even after evolving, it still has the Base 65 Speed and bad defenses, meaning it almost always moves last in boss fights and is forced to take a hits, easily getting OHKOd or 2HKOd. Also, it doesn't learn its best STAB move until Level 48, so you have to burn the Shadow Ball TM on it during the midgame just to make it usable.

Dusclops D- Tier: Dusclops is marginally more useful than its counterpart Banette because it can actually survive a hit. It has good Base 130 in both Defense and Special Defense, giving it fine bulk that guarantees it will survive long enough to fire off a Will-O-Wisp, Curse, or Confuse Ray. This makes it a reliable support Pokémon that helps with difficult bosses that the team is otherwise struggling to defeat.

Dusclops has sadly awful Base 25 Speed, a highly passive stall playstyle, and of course missing its evolution, Dusknoir. Base 25 Speed means it will move second against every single Pokémon in the game, and its defenses are undermined by a pathetic Base 40 HP stat. Offensively, it is not very strong because without evolution, it is stuck with a Base 70 Attack stat that results in mediocre damage even with the Shadow Ball TM. Since it doesn't hit as hard, it is almost always better to use passive stall strategies with Will-O-Wisp and Curse, which again is not very ideal for normal playthrough.

Chimecho E- Tier: Chimecho has few redeeming qualities like fast leveling rate, and having a respectable Base 95 Special Attack stat. You can teach it Calm Mind, Psychic, and Shock Wave to act as a setup sweeper.

Chimecho has sadly awful level up movepool, and stats that make it far too fragile to actually set up. Castform is outclassed by every other Psychic type in the game. Also, its movepool is awful since it learns Psychic only at level 46, meaning you have to buy a TM from the Game Corner for midgame. While it relies on Calm Mind to deal meaningful damage, a Base 65 Speed and poor defensive bulk ensure it rarely survives long enough to sweep.

Ninetales E+ Tier: Ninetales is at least very self-sufficient, learns Flamethrower at 29 before evolving with a Fire Stone. Since it doesn't require any highly contested TMs to function, it is good Flamethrower spammer with excellent Special Defense and Speed, allowing it to put in decent work against Sidney's Grass-types and Glacia's Glalies in the Elite Four.

Ninetales just joins little bit too late to your team. The main issues are Hoenn's water routes, and the fact that it cannot learn Solarbeam in Generation 3. Bringing a pure Fire-type into the final stretch is just not ideal, Tate & Liza has Claydol and their rock types resist Fire, then there is Juan and Wallace with their Water-types, Drake's Dragons also resist Fire, and Glacia's Thick Fat Sealeos. Also, its mediocre Base 81 Special Attack fails to hit hard against neutral targets, and without Grass-type coverage to fight back against the water types, Ninetales will be spamming Flamethrower and Will-O-Wisp only.

Re-evaluation contenders:

• Vigoroth
• Milotic

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Big thanks to BIGJRA for sharing this script that tracks every Pokémon's learnset (including TMs and Tutors) in the exact order you obtain them in-game! Check it out!

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good. This also applies for Feebas, but remember that to actually find the correct tile where Feebas is can take an hour.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Mediocre and outclassed. They clear regular route trainers just fine, but struggle to make a significant impact in many major boss fights due to a combination of average stats, poor matchups, or late availability.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): Demand far more effort than they are worth. They require heavy TM investment and constant babying just to achieve mediocre results.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.

We beat Winona, and get Aerial Ace TM, and now we can also use Fly, which makes traveling so much easier. As we go down Route 120, remember to grab some free Zinc along the way, and finally at Route 121 (there is also another hidden Zinc), we can find Shuppet! Normally I would continue towards Lilycove City, but we might as well put other eerie pokemons alongside Banette, so let's visit Mt. Pyre first with encounters such as Dusclops, Chimecho and Ninetales! Remember to pick Spell Tag and TM30 for Shadow Ball as well. Anyway, how good are our new encounters?

Thanks again for good discussion. We had plenty of discussion regarding Milotic how it should be evaluated, so I will let you guys choose since this is community list, do you want to treat Milotic like others we have, or should Milotic be punished for that Feebas tile hassle? Milotic will either way have a re-evaluation, so even if it sits at middle of B, just know that is not its permanent placement (unless it lands there again).

Also, I wanted to add picture of my 23 year old Milotic that I caught as a Feebas in 2003, during my first playthrough in Pokémon Ruby (and still remaining there). I had no idea that it was that rare back in the day as a kid, me and my dumb luck. Can't complain, I had pretty solid moveset for that time! Should have leveled it up more though. Anyway, enjoy the read!

Last round voting results:

Ludicolo C+ to D+: Ludicolo is fantastic for the first 30 minutes and late game, but so awful to use in the middle. Lotad serves as a great early encounter and is great for the first gym, Roxanne. Once you finally acquire the Water Stone to evolve it into Ludicolo, it is a versatile late-game mon with access to Surf, Ice Beam, and Giga Drain, alongside a strong defensive typing weak only to Flying, Bug, and Poison that performs spectacularly against Juan, Drake, and Champion Wallace.

Unfortunately Ludicolo evolves with Water Stone, which isn't a big issue in most games but for some reason, Water Stone is locked behind the Dive HM. So after beating 1st gym, you have to use Lombre all the way to Gym 7, who has sad 340 Base Stat Total, which makes it weak for the next 6 gyms. It doesn't help that Lombre doesn't learn any new water or grass moves during midgame, so you have to rely on Bullet Seed TM and Secret Power just to keep it somewhat functional, and once you beat Norman, it can finally dishout okay damage with STAB Surf to clear route trainers but that's it.

Milotic B Tier: Milotic is pretty amazing Water type, provided you have the patience to actually get one. It has massive Special Defense, solid HP, and a great Base 100 Special Attack, making it a wall that hits hard. Its pure Water typing is fantastic for the late game, and it has natural access to Recover, allowing you to stall out almost any opponent. Hand it the Surf HM and the Ice Beam TM, and it easily sweeps through Winona, Tate & Liza, Drake, and Sidney, while running a Toxic and Recover, or Hydro Pump for extra damage.

Milotic is one of the hardest pokemon to catch, which brings down its viability for playthrough. Finding Feebas requires fishing on six randomly generated tiles across the Route 119 river, which is big time sink even when optimized with a lead Gulpin, and once caught, and after that you must blend specific berries (Kelpsy/Chesto) into Pokéblocks to max out its Beauty stat before it can evolve, in Lilycove City. Aside from its awful acquisition, Milotic has shallow movepool with almost zero coverage outside of Surf, Ice Beam, Toxic, and Recover, so fights can be tedious against opposing Water-types.

Absol B Tier: Absol doesn't need any investment really from the point you catch it. It has very good Base 130 Attack stat. Better yet, it learns Swords Dance at Level 26, meaning you can catch it on Route 120 and start doubling its Attack. It also learns Shadow Ball which helps a lot, sweeping Tate & Liza, and of course easily sweeps through Phoebe's team, and other E4 members by utilizing Taunt to block their status moves.

As many of you said, Dark type moves are special so Absol can't use its 130 Base Attack to use with its STAB. Instead, it has to rely on TMs like Shadow Ball, Return, and Aerial Ace to deal physical damage, while running a special or mixed set with Calm Mind is far less efficient due to its mediocre Base 75 Special Attack. Also, Absol is quite frail and has only Base 75 Speed, which causes issues against Drake and Wallace because it cannot reliably outspeed or take hits very well.

Re-evaluation contenders:

• Vigoroth
• Milotic

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Big thanks to BIGJRA for sharing this script that tracks every Pokémon's learnset (including TMs and Tutors) in the exact order you obtain them in-game! Check it out!

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good. This also applies for Feebas, but remember that to actually find the correct tile where Feebas is can take an hour.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Mediocre and outclassed. They clear regular route trainers just fine, but struggle to make a significant impact in many major boss fights due to a combination of average stats, poor matchups, or late availability.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): Demand far more effort than they are worth. They require heavy TM investment and constant babying just to achieve mediocre results.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.

...and Ludicolo (C Tier) for re-evaluation! At Route 119, we can fish for Feebas, which can be a big hurdle if you don't know where to start. Luckily we have technology nowadays. Just put Lileep/Gulpin/Grimer at first slot so you have easy time fishing. Also, you get naturally 12 beauty berries in the game that will be perfectly enough to get Milotic in Lilycove City. You can find 6 Kelpsy Berries at Route 115 (need Surf) that are mandatory for Milotic at this point, and 4 Chesto Berries you can find at Route 116 (behind Cut trees) and 2 more at Route 121 when arriving from west. So acquiring Milotic can be simple if you know what you're doing and you know the game. Blindly going? Probably not.

Another pokemon in the spotlight is Absol! Which can be harder to find surprisingly, since it has 8% encounter rate, but we don't care about that. How good are our new encounters, and Ludicolo?

Thanks again for good discussion. I didn't expect every pokemon to get higher but they did, but not very much. Let's continue the civil discussion, enjoy the read.

Last round voting results:

Golem C+ to B- Tier: Golem's performance stretch from Gym 3 to Gym 6 is amazing, evolving into Graveler at Level 25 and becoming Golem after with a trade. With massive Attack and Defense stats, it is great for Wattson, Flannery, Norman, and is fantastic against Winona as long as you avoid her Pelipper. Also, it learns Earthquake naturally, saving you from burning TM on it.

Golem falls off a massive cliff the second you reach Lilycove City and the water routes. It has Base 45 Speed and Base 65 Special Defense, meaning it moves last in almost every battle and must take a hit before it can dish one out. This is not great, where the entire second half of the game is swamped with Water-types and special attackers, and its Rock/Ground typing gives it a 4x weakness to Water and Grass, meaning a single Surf or Water Gun from anything will OHKO it.

Seviper D to C- Tier: Seviper is ready to go when you catch it. It has a very solid Base 100 in both Attack and Special Attack right out of the box. Also, it has very wide TM movepool, including Flamethrower, Giga Drain, and Earthquake, while naturally learning Crunch early on to provide a fantastic niche for taking on Phoebe's Ghost-types in the Elite Four.

Seviper is held back by its awful bulk, mediocre Speed, and the poison typing It is very frail with a Base 60 in HP, Defense, and Special Defense, alongside a slightly too slow Base 65 Speed that prevents it from functioning as a reliable sweeper. It often fails to outspeed opponents, it will take hits it doesn't really want to take. Also, its level up movepool is quite barren outside of Poison Tail, Crunch and Glare, meaning you have to use TMs on it that could otherwise be utilized on faster, stronger Pokémon.

Seaking E to E+ Tier: Seaking has a couple of minor redeeming qualities, including availability as early as Petalburg City with the Old Rod, and a decent Base 92 Attack stat. Being a pure Water-type grants solid defensive resistances and thanks to that can use HM Surf, making it functional for getting through the story.

The early game training arc with Goldeen is awful. Goldeen/Seaking does not learn a single Water-type move naturally until Waterfall at Level 41. So you have quite bad water type from early game to mid game until you unlock the Surf HM. Also Goldeen doesn't evolve until a Level 33. Even when it does evolve, its Base 65 Special Attack means its Surfs barely leave a dent in lategame enemies, and it also lacks its physical coverage move (Megahorn) from FireRed/LeafGreen.

Cradily E to E+ Tier: Cradily has unique Rock/Grass typing, and great defensive stats give it fine staying power in the late game, filling a bulky stall role quite well similar to Swalot but with much better defensive stats. It actually performs surprisingly well against Tate and Liza in Gym 7, as its Grass typing neutralizes the standard Rock weakness to Earthquake while allowing it to hit three out of four of their Pokémon for super effective damage with Giga Drain.

But as we know, Cradily has slow evolution curve and not very impressive movepool, beginning with the Lileep. Lileep is weak and slow, requiring a massive amount of experience to finally evolve, often necessitating the use of the Exp. Share or Day Care to avoid actually battling with it. Also, even after evolving, its movepool remains underwhelming as it heavily relies on attacks like Ancient Power and Giga Drain, both of which suffer from very low base PP. Because it lacks raw offensive power and Speed, it is forced into a slow, defensive playstyle that is not ideal for playthrough.

Re-evaluation contenders:

• Vigoroth

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Big thanks to BIGJRA for sharing this script that tracks every Pokémon's learnset (including TMs and Tutors) in the exact order you obtain them in-game! Check it out!

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good. This also applies for Feebas, but remember that to actually find the correct tile where Feebas is can take an hour.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Mediocre and outclassed. They clear regular route trainers just fine, but struggle to make a significant impact in many major boss fights due to a combination of average stats, poor matchups, or late availability.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): Demand far more effort than they are worth. They require heavy TM investment and constant babying just to achieve mediocre results.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.

2nd round is done, and we have our 80% of 3rd round! Golem (C+ tier), Seviper (D Tier), Seaking (E tier) and Cradily (D Tier) taking the spotlight today! Let's rerank them! Ludicolo will join Feebas and Absol tomorrow, trying to keep 4 pokémon per round at max.

Thanks again for good discussion! There was little bit talk of Vigoroth and Illumise for re-evaluation, but I haven't added them to the list yet, would like to hear more opinions regarding them.

Also just want to something about Ninjask vs Flannery, call it cope if you want, but I battled against Flannery multiple times, because I wanted to see exactly how inconsistent this "gimmick" really is. I have done it with Ninjask before so I can't be imagining things. I ran 55 back to back matches against Flannery using this strategy: Sacrifice a lead to bait Overheat (dropping Numel's Sp. Atk), bring in an Brave Ninjask, set up 3 Swords Dances, and sweep with Dig whilst holding Soft Sand. Out of those 55 matches, I won 43 times. That is a 78% win rate. Let's look at the 12 losses: 3 were lost to straight-up critical hits on Ninjask. 8 were lost because Nume hit with Overheat+Take Down 3 times in a row through accuracy checks. Some fights Ninjask walked away with full HP because of Flannery's AI fumbling with Sunny Day and Magnitudes. 3 swords dances and you sweep. And honestly, you can probably make this strat 100% consistent, just sacrifice two Pokémon to Overheat first. I completely agree that Nincada is rough in the early game, just like Magikarp, but claiming Ninjask's performance is inconsistent just isn't true if you actually play to its strengths. Swords Dance setup is a valid playthrough strategy. This probably won't change anyone's mind, but for me, I can sleep finally in peace as Ninjask's strongest soldier, Ninjask will always be great in my heart. Rant over.

Anyways, thanks again for joining in the discussion, enjoy the read!

Last round voting results:

Volbeat D to E+ Tier: Volbeat's saving grace is its access to Signal Beam and Tail Glow. Signal Beam is arguably the single best Bug-type move in the game, providing a good STAB attack, while Tail Glow its Special Attack by two stages. With TMs like Shock Wave and Thunderbolt Volbeat can actually deal respectable damage.

Unfortunately, Volbeat base stats are so miserable that it requires that setup just to function at a baseline level. It has a sad Base 47 Special Attack, meaning using special attacks without Tail Glow is a waste of a turn. Having to spend turns setting up Tail Glow with only mediocre bulk means Volbeat takes lot of damage before it can even start attacking. Also, its pure Bug typing offers no defensive utility for the mid to late game, leaving it with rough matchups against Flannery, Winona, and many more.

Sableye D to D- Tier: Dark and Ghost provides Sableye with zero weaknesses and three immunities to Normal, Fighting, and Psychic. It is nice combination for few gym battles, free win against Brawly, great against Norman, and an immune to Tate and Liza's Psychic type moves.

Unfortunately, its awful base stats turn it into dead weight. It shares the sad Base Stat Total as Delcatty at 380, and outside of its three immunities, it possesses no other resistances. It will just take so much damage. Offensively, its bad stats mean it struggles to deal meaningful damage as the game progresses. At least Fake Out (yay chip damage) and Night Shade will do some damage.

Ninjask D Tier (no change): Ninjask had quite divided votes. Let's start with the positives, Ninjask is decent for Norman, Tate & Liza and Juan. Once it learns Baton Pass, it becomes support Pokémon for the Juan/Elite Four, able to pass Speed and Attack boosts to your choice of sweeper.

Unfortunately many noted Nincada's early game. Using a Pokémon with weak stats and a miserable movepool reliant on Fury Swipes or Cut during the early Gyms is definitely not ideal. Also, Ninjask's Base 160 Speed is just overkill for a playthrough, and its frailty means that if it doesn't secure an OHKO after a Swords Dance in late game, it will almost certainly be taken out in a single hit.

Swellow B+ to A- Tier: Swellow is very reliable and fast from start to finish that will always outspeed opponent. As an early route bird, it provides utility right away in Gym 2, and by the midgame, it gains access to the Return TM to hit hard with its STAB bonus. However, Swellow's bread and butter is its Guts ability. If you pre-poison or burn Swellow before a boss fight and hand it the Facade TM, which doubles in power when statused, it just becomes hydrogen bomb capable of OHKOing pretty much anything that doesn't resist it.

Unfortunately you still have to do extra work for the Guts gimmick in the late game and its struggles against bulky defensive types. Managing the Guts status by getting poisoned or burned by wild Pokémon and healing HP between fights can be tedious for a playthrough, and if you choose not to use the strategy, its Base 85 Attack falls off against bulkier foes. Also, it gets walled by Rock and Steel-types, Steel Wing TM is just not enough.

Re-evaluation contenders:

• Ludicolo

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Big thanks to BIGJRA for sharing this script that tracks every Pokémon's learnset (including TMs and Tutors) in the exact order you obtain them in-game! Check it out!

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot) or has absurd capture method (like Feebas), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Mediocre and outclassed. They clear regular route trainers just fine, but struggle to make a significant impact in many major boss fights due to a combination of average stats, poor matchups, or late availability. They might require heavy investment or a massive late-game spike to finally show their worth.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): Demand far more effort than they are worth. They require heavy TM investment and constant babying just to achieve mediocre results.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.

Next re-evaluation round brings us Volbeat, Sableye, Ninjask and Swellow to the table! Let's give these another look!

Thanks again for good discussion! We also had more ideas for re-evaluations, Golem, Seviper, Seaking and Cradily, which I have added to the list. I also mentioned Ludicolo so I have also added to the list, but please if you think these should not be re-evaluated, drop a comment. We also had couple comments for Minun and Plusle being too high, but haven't added them to the list, let me know if they should be re-evaluated as well.

Tomorrow will be third re-evaluation day, and last one for the middle part, and continue with next encounters (Feebas & Absol). You can still suggest pokemon for re-evaluation and we might have round before final re-evaluation, or they will join during the final one. Thanks again for joining in! Enjoy the read.

Last round voting results:

Sceptile B to C+ Tier: Sceptile is considered the weakest of the starters for a playthrough, despite having high Speed and a strong Special Attack. Treecko handles Roxanne's gym early on. Once it reaches Level 29, it learns Leaf Blade, finally having a move that can deal fine damage. It also benefits from lategame TMs like SolarBeam, Dragon Claw (allowing it to handle Elite Four Drake's Dragon-types in some extent).

Like most grass types, mid game is horrible. After Roxanne, Grovyle struggles from Level 16 to 29 with weak moves like Absorb and Pursuit. During this stretch, it faces poor matchups against Wattson, Flannery, Norman, and Winona. Even after learning Leaf Blade, it doesn't provide much for gym battles after Flannery, only Screech support. Leaf Blade's 70 Base Power can feel underwhelming compared to the 90+ BP attacks used by other pokemons.

Linoone C+ to B+ Tier: Linoone is a low maintenance Normal-type that offers utility right from the start of the game. Zigzagoon evolves early at Level 20. Access to a fast STAB boosted Headbutt allows Linoone to outspeed opponents and fish for flinches. Beyond combat, its Pickup ability constantly generates free items to help fund TMs. In the late game, Linoone can use Belly Drum at Level 53 alongside a Sitrus Berry and a high Base 100 Speed to sweep the Elite Four.

Linoone suffers from a damage drop off between the mid game and before belly drum. After Headbutt, it doesn't really learn any new moves (except Slash, but that's not really an upgrade), causing its damage to drop against bulkier foes. While TMs like Return can help this, Linoone can feel underwhelming during the mid/late game until it learns Belly Drum. It still very great pokemon to use from start to finish.

Nosepass E- to F Tier: Nosepass is considered one of the worst Pokémon in the game for sure. Available in Granite Cave, its only niche is using Thunder Wave and Rollout against Flannery, but outside of that, it provides little value.

Nosepass is hindered by poor stats, a lack of its later evolution, and bad late game matchups. Aside from a Base 135 Defense, its stats are weak. A Base 30 HP and Base 30 Speed really eundermine its physical bulk, while its Base 45 Attack and Special Attack make it struggle offensively. Pure rock typing is just bad for the game, especially late game.

Spinda E- to F Tier: Spinda is one of the worst Pokémon in the game. While it has a wide TM movepool and utility moves like Hypnosis and Teeter Dance, its low stats make it unviable for a normal playthrough.

Spinda has atrocious base stats, which are Base 60 across the board. With a Base Stat Total of only 360, it lacks the offensive power to get good usage of its TM movepool and has terrible bulk. Also, its Base 60 Speed puts it at a big disadvantage, and its Normal typing offers zero defensive resistances. It easily gets outsped and destroyed by late gamee bosses, making it dead weight basically on any team.

Re-evaluation contenders:

• Golem
• Seviper
• Seaking
• Cradily
• Ludicolo

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Big thanks to BIGJRA for sharing this script that tracks every Pokémon's learnset (including TMs and Tutors) in the exact order you obtain them in-game! Check it out!

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot) or has absurd capture method (like Feebas), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Mediocre and outclassed. They clear regular route trainers just fine, but struggle to make a significant impact in many major boss fights due to a combination of average stats, poor matchups, or late availability. They might require heavy investment or a massive late-game spike to finally show their worth.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): Demand far more effort than they are worth. They require heavy TM investment and constant babying just to achieve mediocre results.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.

Castform secured, our Rival beaten and Fly HM acquired! Let's stop at the Fortree City, grab your TM Hidden Power, and teach Sleep Talk via move tutor if you wish. Our first re-evaluation round has Linoone, Nosepass, Sceptile and Spinda! Let's correct their positions.

Thanks again for good discussion. Next update will be coming on Saturday due to real life, and our second round of re-evaluation will have Volbeat Sableye, Ninjask and Swellow. Have a safe Thursday, and have a good one! Enjoy the read.

Last round voting results:

Kecleon D- Tier: Kecleon has a high Base 120 Special Defense. Combined with a respectable Base 90 Attack, it can take a special hit and fire back with a physical move. Also, its movepool is wide, most notably it can learn TMs like Ice Beam, Flamethrower/Fire Blast, and Thunderbolt.

Kecleon's main flaw is its signature ability, Color Change. While changing its typing to match the last move it was hit by seems useful, it is not that great with 40 base speed. Changing types means it loses STAB on its Normal-type moves, so Return STAB will be weaker than it should be. Furthermore, Kecleon's base stats outside of Special Defense and Attack are low. Like mentioned, 40 Speed guarantees it moves last in fights, and it is physically frail. And because those elemental TM coverage moves run off a Base 60 Special Attack, they rarely deal enough damage to OHKO or even 2HKO.

Tropius E+ Tier: Its main value comes from its ability to learn a wide variety of HM moves, including Fly, Strength, Rock Smash, Cut, and Flash. In combat, its Chlorophyll ability doubles its speed in sunlight, allowing it to spam Solarbeams.

Tropius suffers from low base stats, with no stat reaching 100 and its offensive stats sitting at Base 68 Attack and 72 Special Attack. Grass/Flying is a weak defensive typing for the late game, with a 4x weakness to Ice. Once you reach the water routes, Juan, Glacia, and Wallace, Tropius is easily destroyed by Ice-type moves. It also lacks the status moves or recovery needed to function effectively as a defensive wall. Also its HM availability don't really help for upcoming water routes.

Castform D Tier: Castform's viability centers around Weather Ball, when weather is active, it doubles in power, changes type, and receives STAB from its ability, creating pretty good move. Rain build (Rain Dance, Weather Ball, Thunder, Ice Beam) provides accurate Thunders and boosted Water-type attacks and Ice Beam for coverage, while Sun sets can utilize Solarbeam.

Castform's flat Base 70 stats across the board make it just mediocre. It has to waste a turn setting up weather, which is risky given its low bulk. Also Castform would love to have extra moveslots, and is outperformed by faster/stronger Pokémon executing similar strategies.

Re-evaluation contenders:

• Volbeat
• Sableye
• Ninjask
• Swellow

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Big thanks to BIGJRA for sharing this script that tracks every Pokémon's learnset (including TMs and Tutors) in the exact order you obtain them in-game! Check it out!

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot) or has absurd capture method (like Feebas), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Mediocre and outclassed. They clear regular route trainers just fine, but struggle to make a significant impact in many major boss fights due to a combination of average stats, poor matchups, or late availability. They might require heavy investment or a massive late-game spike to finally show their worth.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): Demand far more effort than they are worth. They require heavy TM investment and constant babying just to achieve mediocre results.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.

We have finished fishing around Mauville's turfs and continue forward to Route 119! Here we can catch Tropius, and also Kecleon (though it is just easier to catch as a static encounter). We have to beat Team Aqua's ass in the Weather Institute, and by doing so, we get Castform as a gift which holds Mystic Water, very nice buff to our Surf users! How good are our encounters?

Thanks again for good discussion! We will have re-evaluation next round, so drop comments you want to see again voted for! We will have 2 rounds of it due to amount of pokemons that were brought up. Enjoy the read.

Last round voting results:

Wailord C Tier: Wailord learns Water Spout, simple as. With Base 90 Special Attack, Water Spout is amazing move that handles slower teams. If you delay Wailmer's evolution by one level, it learns Water Spout early, providing a good move for Tate & Liza. Also, its Base 170 HP is high, it can use the move tutor's Double-Edge quite well.

Wailord's main issues are late evolution and a Speed stat that works against its best move. Catching a Wailmer with the Good Rod requires training it to Level 40, though waiting for the Super Rod to catch one at higher level skips this phase. Water Spout deals damage based on Wailord's current health. Because Wailord has a Base 60 Speed and low Base 45 Defenses, it often takes damage before it can attack, weakening its primary move.

Crawdaunt C- Tier: Crawdaunt shares a good Water/Dark typing with Sharpedo, Crawdaunt just has much lower speed. Crawdaunt functions as a physical setup sweeper. It learns Swords Dance, it has a solid Base 120 Attack stat alongside physical TM coverage moves like Brick Break, Sludge Bomb, Return, and Aerial Ace. When combined with its immunity to Psychic, it helps with Tate & Liza's Gym. It also performs decently against Sidney and Glacia if it sets up a few Swords Dances safely.

Unfortunately Water and Dark are special type moves, Crawdaunt gets no physical STAB to take advantage of its high Attack stat. Also, its Base 55 Speed and low Special Defense make it not as great in the late game. It just takes too much damage due to its slowness.

Sharpedo A- Tier: Despite being a glass cannon, Sharpedo's Water/Dark typing gives it a good defensive profile with immunities to Psychic and resistances to Ghost, Water, and Ice. Offensively, it has good damage. It learns Crunch at Level 22, so it gets both of its best STAB moves about instantly. With the Surf HM and the Ice Beam TM, its Base 95 Speed and Special Attack allow it to outspeed and knock out portions of Winona, Juan, Sidney, and Drake's teams.

Sharpedo has quite low bulk and, and of course the STAB moves will always come as special attacks. Both Water and Dark are special movesn, Sharpedo uses its Base 95 Special Attack for its primary STAB moves, leaving its Base 120 physical Attack stat meaningless unless you use Return or Earthquake. Also, its defenses are low. If Sharpedo fails to knock out an opponent, it will be getting knocked out. Still, being a fast glass cannon is great for playhtrough.

Whiscash B- Tier: Whiscash has a self sufficient movepool. While other Ground-types compete for the Earthquake TM, Barboach learns the move at Level 31 (if you delay its evolution by one level). Combined with HM Surf and the Ice Beam TM, it can hit the game for neutral or super effective damage. With a single weakness to Grass (which is non existent in the game), Whiscash has good defensive utility.

Whiscash's main are its underwhelming stats and availability window. Outside of a solid Base 110 HP, Whiscash's stats hover in the 60-80 range. Its Base 60 Speed and 78/76 offenses mean it often fails to OHKO. Also, you cannot catch a Barboach until you receive the Good Rod, Whiscash misses the Gym battles where its typing is useful (Roxanne, Wattson and Flannery).

Re-evaluation contenders:

• Linoone
• Nosepass
• Sceptile
• Spinda
• Volbeat
• Sableye
• Ninjask

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Big thanks to BIGJRA for sharing this script that tracks every Pokémon's learnset (including TMs and Tutors) in the exact order you obtain them in-game! Check it out!

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot) or has absurd capture method (like Feebas), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Mediocre and outclassed. They clear regular route trainers just fine, but struggle to make a significant impact in many major boss fights due to a combination of average stats, poor matchups, or late availability. They might require heavy investment or a massive late-game spike to finally show their worth.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): Demand far more effort than they are worth. They require heavy TM investment and constant babying just to achieve mediocre results.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.

As we clear our sidequest from New Mauville and get Thunderbolt TM, we have another fishing tour! We get the Good rod on Route 118, where we can instantly fish for Carvanha (also grab Sitrus berries here, they are amazing for major battles). Route 110 has Wailmer for us, Route 111 for Barboach and Route 117 has Corphish, so around Mauville City you can get each one. Cool! How good are our water pokemons for Emerald?

Thanks again for good discussion, there were plenty this time! We haven't had re-evaluation round yet, just due to having it for single pokemon doesn't make sense to me, or I could throw it with other pokemons that are voted for, but I added short section of re-evaluation canditates below voting results, which has Linoone there. I am thinking that if we get 3 or 4 canditates we'll have the re-evaluation round, or like I said, we could vote for Linoone again during normal round alongside new encounters. Anyways, enjoy the read!

Last round voting results:

Wigglytuff E Tier: Wigglytuff's redeeming qualities are its high Base 140 HP stat and a wide TM movepool. You can catch a Jigglypuff after obtaining Surf and evolve it with a Moon Stone. If you use TMs (Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, Shadow Ball, or Brick Break), Wigglytuff can hit various targets and provide utility with moves like Light Screen.

Despite having high HP, its actual defensive stats are low (Base 45 Defense and 50 Special Defense), meaning it takes lot of damage from attacks. Also, its Base 45 Speed guarantees it will move second in boss fights. Offensively, its Base 70 Attack and 75 Special Attack mean that even when you use TMs on it, it rarely secures knockouts. Its levelup movepool is weak if you evolve it immediately. If you wait for Jigglypuff to learn STAB moves like Body Slam or Hyper Voice, you need to train it Level 34 or higher. Not worth it.

Magneton A+ Tier: If you need a Pokémon to just sit on the field and click Thunderbolt, there is no better option than Magneton. The Electric/Steel typing is just amazing, 12 resistances and an immunity to Poison. It does so well in many Gym matchups, like Winona, Juan, Glacia, Wallace, and portions of Sidney and Phoebe's teams. And its high Base 120 Special Attack lets it hit harder than Manectric. You also catch a Magnemite in New Mauville at the same time you receive the Thunderbolt TM, it requires little investment to start handling Hoenn's Water and Flying types.

Magneton still has flaws, like its movepool, availability and weakness to Ground-types. Magneton is very one dimensional. Outside of Electric STAB, it doesn't really learn anything. If an opponent resists Electric, Magneton struggles. And being Magneton, it's kryptonite is 4x weakness to Ground, so it has to avoid pokemons like Tate & Liza's Claydol, Winona's Altaria, and Wallace's Whiscash. Also, its Base 70 Speed and low HP mean it can't always outspeed thus will get worn down.

Electrode B+ Tier: Electrode is easy to add to your team. You can catch Voltorb in New Mauville around 25 level, so it requires little grinding to evolve into Electrode at Level 30. Electrode has high Speed so it is one of the fastest Pokémon in the game, it can hold the Macho Brace (which doubles EV yield but halves Speed) and still go first. Also, Electrode has an unique utility among Electric-types: Explosion and Self-Destruct. As we know, in gen 3 these half opponents defenses when used, allowing Electrode to take down basically anything that doesn't resist normal type moves.

Electrode is kind of like weaker version on Manectric. Base 140 Speed is more than needed for a standard playthrough, you do not need to be that fast to outspeed everything. Since its stats are dumped into Speed, Electrode has mediocre Base 80 Special Attack. Unlike Magneton or Manectric, Electrode will fail to secure knockouts on bulky Water-types using Thunderbolt. Additionally, like other electric types, Electrode doesn't learn any meaningful coverage moves.

Re-evaluation contenders:

• Linoone

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Big thanks to BIGJRA for sharing this script that tracks every Pokémon's learnset (including TMs and Tutors) in the exact order you obtain them in-game! Check it out!

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot) or has absurd capture method (like Feebas), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Mediocre and outclassed. They clear regular route trainers just fine, but struggle to make a significant impact in many major boss fights due to a combination of average stats, poor matchups, or late availability. They might require heavy investment or a massive late-game spike to finally show their worth.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): Demand far more effort than they are worth. They require heavy TM investment and constant babying just to achieve mediocre results.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.

Fossils revived, and Sandslash leveled up, we defeat Norman easily. After beating Norman, we get Surf HM which means we can go back to Route 115 to catch Jigglypuff! Once again one of my favorites, no wonder I love Emerald, it has so many great pokémons available. It also has TM01 for Focus Punch, I haven't really used this TM in playthrough, but I think it has lot of potential. Anyway, if we continue to Mauville, Wattson gives us a sidequest, to visit New Mauville and run an errand, we get Thunderstone and Thunderbolt TM, but most importantly, we can get Magneton and Electrode! How good are our new encounters?

Thanks again for good round of discussion. Me and other 2 Cradily fans are sad, but I can see Cradily's training arc being its demise, oh well, at least Suction Cups should give more utility soon... Also Claydol got enough D tier votes, so it bumped to higher tier, though at the last spot, but still, it is there! Armaldo took its place in E+. Lets keep up the good discussion, really enjoy reading everyones comments! Enjoy the summaries!

Last round voting results:

Sandslash C- Tier: Sandslash is a solid physical tank that has alright midgame, but it is unfortunately hindered by lategame layout. Sandslash is easy to train. Sandshrew evolves into Sandslash at Level 22, meaning you get a fully evolved Pokémon with a Base 100 Attack and 110 Defense around the time you face Norman. You can also use strategies like Defense Curl into Rollout to clear some midgame fights.

Sandslash has a poor levelup movepool and bad lategame Gym matchups. Sandslash learns few moves naturally. It peaks with the Slash at Level 24, meaning it relies on TMs like Dig and Earthquake to have STAB. By the time you catch Sandshrew, you have already missed the Gyms where Ground-types are useful (Wattson and Flannery). Once you hit the late game, Hoenn's water routes take over, and Sandslash's low Special Defense is not great into the Water and Ice-type attacks used by late game opponents

Cradily E Tier: Cradily has a unique Rock/Grass typing that removes Rock's weakness to Water. It has solid bulk, it can sit in front of opponents and stall them down using a combination of Toxic, Confuse Ray, and Giga Drain.

Training and acquiring Cradily is a slow experience. You don't get the Root Fossil until after Gym 4, at which point you receive a Level 20 Lileep. Lileep's base stats are poor (Base 41 Attack, 61 Special Attack, and 23 Speed), meaning it requires babying. It doesn't evolve until Level 40, meaning you have to train it for a large portion of the game. Also, its natural movepool is weak. It learns no Grass-type attacks by levelup, and its best Rock type move is Ancient Power at Level 43. You have to rely on TMs like Giga Drain to deal STAB damage. Cradily's passivity makes it slow to use in a standard playthrough. It lacks reliable recovery (Recover is an Egg move, and Ingrain traps you in battle), and because it lacks an offensive presence, the fights are slow.

Armaldo E+ Tier: Unlike Lileep, Anorith has usable stats the moment you revive it. With a solid Base 95 Attack and 75 Speed, it can hold its own in the midgame. Additionally, because it naturally learns Protect at Level 31, it serves as a reliable counter to Norman's Slaking by stalling out its Truant turns (though any pokemon with Dig can do it). If you are willing to use TMs on it (like Earthquake and Brick Break), Armaldo has a high Base 125 Attack stat to hit hard.

Unfortunately Armaldo has quite many drawbacks, a weak typing, and awful training arc for example. Just like Cradily, you receive Anorith at Level 20 and must train it to Level 40 to evolve. Upon evolving into Armaldo, it loses 30 points of Speed, turning from a reasonably fast attacker into a slow physical tank. Also, Rock/Bug is a weak offensive typing. There are few Bug-type attacks in the game (Fury Cutter is its primary option), and its best Rock-type STAB for most of the game is Ancient Power. And because it becomes slow upon evolution, it won't have great time in the late game filled with water types, or special attackers in general. For example it struggles against Juan, Glacia, and Champion Wallace, making the long training arc feel like a waste of time.

Tier promotions:

Claydol E+ => D-

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Big thanks to BIGJRA for sharing this script that tracks every Pokémon's learnset (including TMs and Tutors) in the exact order you obtain them in-game! Check it out!

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot) or has absurd capture method (like Feebas), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Mediocre and outclassed. They clear regular route trainers just fine, but struggle to make a significant impact in many major boss fights due to a combination of average stats, poor matchups, or late availability. They might require heavy investment or a massive late-game spike to finally show their worth.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): Demand far more effort than they are worth. They require heavy TM investment and constant babying just to achieve mediocre results.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.

We have secured few catches in the desert, and TM for Sandstorm, very cool! We can get Mirage Tower appear by leaving and coming back to desert multiple times, it will appear surely! Anyway, better have your Mach Bike ready as you gotta go fast! In the tower itself we can find Sandslash. At the top floor we can choose between Root Fossil and Claw Fossil, both very exciting options, I love Cradily's design and is also one of my fav ones. Armaldo is pretty cool too. How good are our encounters?

Thanks for good discussion once again. Let me know in the comments if you have ideas for re-evaluation (meaning if you think Pokemon should be voted again that is in the list), if not, then we will skip re-evaluation round for now. Claydol ended up in E+ once again, just like in B2W2 list, and was the only one in there, I wonder if the same thing happens here or if something else ends up in E+. Also, I wonder if anyone else has done "Desert mons only" run in the game? Thanks again, lets keep the good talk! Enjoy the read.

Last round voting results:

Flygon D- Tier: Catching a Trapinch midway through the game leaves you with a Pokémon that has a low Base 10 Speed, meaning it always moves last, at least 100 attack helps. Because its other defenses are also low, it requires babying. At Level 35, it evolves into Vibrava, but drops in Attack to Base 70. You must then train this middle evolution to Level 45 to get Flygon, so more babying.

By the time you get Flygon, there are few matchups left in the game, and its stats aren't strong enough to carry it. Flygon's Ground/Dragon typing leaves it with a 4x weakness to Ice. At Level 45, you face Juan, Glacia, Wallace (and some have just ice moves as coverage moves), which carry Ice-type moves that easily defeat Flygon. Dragon and Dark-type moves (like Dragon Claw and Crunch) are special attacks, meaning Flygon must use them off its Base 80 Special Attack. Its physical side relies on the Earthquake TM, as it gets limited physical STAB naturally. It also lacks Dragon Dance to act as a setup sweeper. Definitely not the best environment for Flygon, but can perform alright when you throw TMs at it.

Cacturne D Tier: Cacturne is yet another example of the Hoenn Special, having high base stats in both Attack and Special Attack, while leaving Speed and bulk low. Its matchups against Gym 7 and Phoebe helps its performance. Xatu lacks Flying-type moves and Claydol's Earthquake is resisted by Grass. It walls Lunatone, Claydol, and Xatu, and hits them with Faint Attack or Needle Arm, just watchout for Solrock's Flamethrower.

Cacturne's viability depends on those specific matchups. Outside of them, it is quite bad. Also it would be quite nice mixed attacker with Grass and Dark as STAB moves, but since Grass and Dark are special moves, you have to rely on Return for physical damage. Its special movepool is weak, unless you use the Solarbeam TM on it, it doesn't learn a STAB move with a Base Power higher than 60. And, Grass/Dark is a weak defensive typing, giving Cacturne six weaknesses. Having low Base 55 Speed and low defenses, it moves second and takes lot of damage before doing its thing. Shiftry performs a similar role better, and having Chlorophyll to patch up its speed.

Claydol E+ Tier: Claydol, the Clay Doll Pokémon (I still can't believe Claydol's name, very creative), looks like it should be a defensive tank, but damn it struggles to be one. The main niche Claydol has is as a utility lead. With access to Light Screen, Reflect, and Explosion, you can use it to set up defensive screens for your team before blowing yourself up to deal damage. It also has a good TM movepool (learning Ice Beam, Shadow Ball, and Solarbeam), which can be used to patch your team weaknesses, or more importantly Claydol's weaknesses, if you are willing to spend those contested TMs on it of course.

Claydol's training arc is awful, and the payoff is low. Baltoy has an Attack stat lower than Onix and must be trained with the Exp. Share all the way to Level 36. When it finally evolves, Claydol has a Base 70 Attack and Base 70 Special Attack. Its levelup movepool is weak, it lacks Earthquake, it doesn't get Psychic naturally, and it cannot learn Calm Mind to boost its damage. Also, its defenses are hindered by a Base 60 HP stat and a typing that is a disadvantage in the late game. Ground/Psychic makes it weak to Water, Ice, Dark, Ghost, and Bug. Notice those types? Claydol is weak to almost every single Elite Four member.

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Big thanks to BIGJRA for sharing this script that tracks every Pokémon's learnset (including TMs and Tutors) in the exact order you obtain them in-game! Check it out!

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot) or has absurd capture method (like Feebas), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Mediocre and outclassed. They clear regular route trainers just fine, but struggle to make a significant impact in many major boss fights due to a combination of average stats, poor matchups, or late availability. They might require heavy investment or a massive late-game spike to finally show their worth.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): Demand far more effort than they are worth. They require heavy TM investment and constant babying just to achieve mediocre results.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.

We cleared both routes, and Meteor Falls is next location. There we have Solrock (which might have Sun Stone with them), and also Moon Stone so we can finally evolve Skitty... After this we have to backtrack little bit and climb up to Mt. Chimney. We have to kick Team Magma's ass and Maxie's too. After doing so, make sure to grab the Meteorite so you can bring it back to the guy from Fallarbor Town to get Return TM, very big upgrade for our physical attackers and normal types. In Jagged Pass, we can get our hands on Grumpig, and finally at Lavaridge Town, we can get a Wynaut egg. How good are these encounters?

Thanks again for good discussion. Good talk regarding Skarmory, and little bit of debate on Swellow too. Let's keep it up and enjoy the read.

Last round voting results:

Spinda E- Tier: Spinda has a fun and wide movepool. It has access to Teeter Dance to confuse targets, learns Hypnosis for sleep support, and gets STAB on Return alongside decent coverage TMs. Unlike Delcatty, it does not require a Moon Stone, what you catch is what you get.

What you get is weak in battle. Spinda has a Base 60 in every single stat. This means it is too slow to outspeed targets, too frail to survive a hit, and too weak to deal meaningful damage. Its stats are low, attempting to use status moves like Teeter Dance or Hypnosis usually results in Spinda getting knocked out before it can move. It has no resistances, no winning matchups against Gym Leaders, and is outclassed by other Normal-types (not named Delcatty) in the game.

Skarmory B Tier: Skarmory is one of the best physical walls available. Skarmory has a high Base 140 Defense paired with the great Steel/Flying typing. This gives it 9 resistances and 2 immunities. It doesn't need to evolve, and absorbs physical hits well. It has okay damage with STAB Steel Wing or Fly/Aerial Ace, combined with Toxic.

Unfortunately Skarmory is held back by its passivity and weak matchups against special attackers. While its Base 80 Attack isn't terrible, Skarmory has a weak STAB movepool. Relying on low Base Power moves like Steel Wing, Aerial Ace, or Fly means Skarmory struggles to get quick KOs, turning many battles into slow fights. Also, while it walls physical attackers, its low Base 70 Special Defense leaves it vulnerable to special attacks. It gets shut down by Flannery, and it struggles against the late-game Water-type specialists (Juan, Wallace, and Glacia) whose special attacks easily punch through it.

Altaria D+ Tier: While Altaria looks cool and is the earliest Dragon-type you can have, it requires investment for little payoff. Altaria naturally learns Dragon Dance at Level 40. Having access to one of the best setup moves in the game without needing breeding or TMs is a great thing to have. Paired with its solid Special Defense, it has the bulk to set up a few Dragon Dances and attempt a sweep. Its Dragon-typing also gives it defensive utility compared to standard birds.

Altaria's main flaw is its lack of offensive firepower and a slow training arc. Training a Swablu is not fun. It doesn't evolve until Level 35, so you are forced to train a weak bird for the mid game. Even after it evolves, Altaria's offensive stats are a Base 70 Attack and Special Attack. Even after setting up with Dragon Dance, it fails to secure knockouts because its strongest physical moves are Fly, Earthquake or Return. (If you want a physical sweeper, Gyarados does the same thing better.) Also, its Dragon-typing becomes a liability in the late game, since there is lot of ice type moves flying around.

Seviper D+ Tier: Unlike Muk, Weezing, and Swalot, Seviper is a single stage Pokémon. It has a great Base 100 Attack and Base 100 Special Attack without having to grind. It has a good natural movepool (learning Crunch and Glare early on, though latter is bit inaccurate) and can use TMs like Sludge Bomb, Flamethrower, Giga Drain, and Earthquake. With those TMs, Seviper functions as a mixed attacker that mows down standard route trainers.

Seviper suffers from a common issue in Hoenn, good offenses hindered by low speed and fragile bulk. Base 65 Speed is too slow for a Pokémon this fragile. With 73/60/60 defensive stats, Seviper cannot take hits well, and because it can't outspeeds all Gym leaders, it gets knocked out before it can move. It struggles against Tate & Liza, and it lacks the STAB required to hit hard enough against bulky late game mons. Building its mixed attacking sets requires using contested TMs that are often better spent on other Pokémon.

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Big thanks to BIGJRA for sharing this script that tracks every Pokémon's learnset (including TMs and Tutors) in the exact order you obtain them in-game! Check it out!

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot) or has absurd capture method (like Feebas), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Mediocre and outclassed. They clear regular route trainers just fine, but struggle to make a significant impact in many major boss fights due to a combination of average stats, poor matchups, or late availability. They might require heavy investment or a massive late-game spike to finally show their worth.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): Demand far more effort than they are worth. They require heavy TM investment and constant babying just to achieve mediocre results.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.

As we leave the Fiery Path, we can rest at someone's grandma's house to heal our team, as we continue to Route 113. There we have Spinda with its million different possible spot patterns, and Skarmory. We reach Fallarbor Town, where there is move re-learner, cool concept for the game, I wish they did more with this like in Gen 4 starters, only Blaziken has "unique" Fire Punch there available. Anyway, as we continue, make sure to grab TM for Dig and Roar on Route 114, and there we have our 2 final encounters, Swablu and Seviper! How good are these encounters?

Thanks again for good discussion. Professional Magcargo haters in the comment section for sure, and I ain't lying, I am not fan also of Magcargo, definitely a mon for challenge runs, nothing else. Let's keep up the good discussion, and enjoy the read!

Last round voting results:

Machoke C Tier: Machoke has a respectable Base 100 Attack stat and a great Fighting type movepool. Even as a middle evolution, it has the traits that make Fighting-types valuable. With access to the Bulk Up TM, it can set up and help with Norman’s Gym just as well as fully evolved Pokémon. It can even hold its own against Elite Four Sidney and Glacia.

Machoke isn't as good as Machamp, just due to stats. Sure, its Attack is good, but its bulk is mediocre, and its Speed is low. It shares same weaknesses as Machamp, but it is just slower and frailer version.

Machamp A- Tier: Fighting-types are valuable in Emerald, and Machamp is not any different from others. Machamp is often compared to its Gen 3 counterpart, Hariyama. While Hariyama has high HP, Machamp has slightly higher Attack, slightly better Speed, and more balanced overall defenses. Machamp's greatest advantage is its better natural movepool. Hariyama relies on the negative priority Vital Throw for most of the game, Machamp has moves like Karate Chop, Low Kick, Seismic Toss, and Revenge. With the Bulk Up TM, Machamp easily sweeps Norman, Sidney, and standard route trainers.

Unfortunately, there are small drawbacks, like slightly delayed availability and better ability. Hariyama's Thick Fat ability gives it great defense against Flannery's Fire-types and Glacia's Ice-types, Machamp has Guts. Sure, Guts is a great offensive ability, it just doesn't provide the same resistances that make Hariyama a reliable tank in these battles. Also, Machop isn't caught until after the third Gym. This means it misses out on the Wattson fight where Hariyama shines. Also its Speed stat isn't still the best .

Magcargo F- Tier: Magcargo is arguably the single worst Pokémon in Emerald. Slugma has a Base Stat Total of 250, making it weaker than Poochyena and yet it requires you to train it all the way to Level 38 before it evolves. After that grind, Magcargo's stats are poor. It has a Base 30 Spee, and its Base 120 Defense is hindered by a Base 50 HP stat, meaning it still can't take a hit.

Every aspect of Magcargo's utility in the game is a drawback. Its Fire/Rock typing is a poor typing to have. It has 4x weaknesses to both Water and Ground. It misses the Winona fight where its Rock-typing would have been useful, and instead evolves right in time to face Tate & Liza's Earthquake spamming Claydol. From that point forward, the rest of the game consists of water routes, Juan, Elite Four and Champion Wallace. As u/inumnoback put it: "Don’t use it. Don’t catch it. Don’t even look at it. It’s a lost cause, and it deserves to rot in the Fiery Path for all eternity."

Torkoal C Tier: Torkoal has some edges over Camerupt, such as being ready instantly when you catch it, no need to evolve. Its high Base 140 Defense makes it a great physical wall, as it can tank quite well Norman's Gym, and in general shrugging off physical hits in neutral matchups. Also, it has a great levelup movepool for a Fire type. Having Body Slam at Level 20, Flamethrower at Level 30, and Curse allows it to deal good damage in the mid game without eating up TMs. The White Smoke ability is a nice bonus, preventing its Attack from being dropped by Intimidate users.

Torkoal is held back by two major factors, the Hoenn region itself, and its low Speed. While it puts in great work against Flannery, Norman, and Winona's Skarmory and Tropius, it struggles in the late game. It has bad matchups against Tate & Liza, Juan, Wallace, Drake. Defensively, its Base 70 Special Defense and HP mean it will take big damage from special attackers. It has a low Base 20 Speed. Torkoal is guaranteed to move last in almost every battle, meaning it will always take a hit before it can attack or set up a Curse.

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Big thanks to BIGJRA for sharing this script that tracks every Pokémon's learnset (including TMs and Tutors) in the exact order you obtain them in-game! Check it out!

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot) or has absurd capture method (like Feebas), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Mediocre and outclassed. They clear regular route trainers just fine, but struggle to make a significant impact in many major boss fights due to a combination of average stats, poor matchups, or late availability. They might require heavy investment or a massive late-game spike to finally show their worth.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): Demand far more effort than they are worth. They require heavy TM investment and constant babying just to achieve mediocre results.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.

We're at Fiery Path, and we still have some pokemons to catch here. We have Machoke/Machamp, Magcargo and Torkoal. How good are our encounters before Route 113?

Thanks again for good discussion. I always question why is Muk throwing some gang signs or flipping the bird? Perhaps that's the reason for being Poison type. Anyways, let's keep up the good pace and enjoy the read.

Last round voting results:

Nosepass E- Tier: Nosepass is Gen 3's Onix basically, looks tanky, but it is actually borderline useless. Nosepass at least one redeeming quality: it learns Thunder Wave. It can be fine para spreader against certain Gym Leaders (like Norman and Winona). It also learns Rock Slide by level up. There were mentions about cheesing some fights with Double Team, Thunder Wave, and Rollout, but it is so slow, and not really worth the effort.

Nosepass has pretty awful stats. It has 135 Defense and 90 Special Defense, but only 30 HP. Basically its defenses goes to waste due to its HP, it will take just so much damage in return, especially considering pure Rock typing, which is an awful defensive typing with multiple common weaknesses. Offensively, it is very bad too. Its Base 45 Attack and Special Attack are just sad. And its Base 30 Speed guarantees it will take damage before every single turn. Also you have to do backtracking, meaning you have to go out of your way just to catch one of the worst pokemons in the region.

Camerupt C+ Tier: If you didn't pick Torchic as your starter, Camerupt is the second best Fire-type available. Camerupt has great natural movepool and offensive stats. It has a great Base 100 Attack and 105 Special Attack, allowing it to function as a mixed attacker. While Numel takes a little bit of babying at first, it quickly learns Magnitude to help with the Fire types scattered around the Mt. Chimney. Upon evolving, it learns Rock Slide at Level 33 (a godsend for Winona) and gets Earthquake naturally at Level 37, saving you a TM. Paired with the Overheat or Flamethrower TMs, Camerupt has some of the best STAB and coverage in the game.

Camerupt is a great example of Hoenn offensive pokemon, great offenses, but low Speed and poor Defenses. It is also so slow, Camerupt will be taking a hit before almost every attack. While its bulk is okay, it gets worn down on longer routes. Being a Fire/Ground type gives Camerupt a 4x weakness to Water. Once you defeat Winona and hit the ocean, Camerupt. doesn't have many good matchups left. Dead weight against Tate & Liza, Juan, and Champion Wallace, and it can even struggle against Glacia.

Muk D+ Tier: While Muk has decent stats on paper, Hoenn is just not built for Muk. Muk has great Base 105 Attack, Special Defense, and okay defensive typing with only two weaknesses. Muk can function as a bulky staller using Minimize and Acid Armor. Offensively, its access to Sludge provides a spammable STAB move with a 30% poison chance, and it can hit fairly hard once you obtain the Sludge Bomb TM after Gym 5. It also has quite large movepool, Thunderbolt, Fire Blast, Brick Break, Dig, Explosion so it can patch some weaknesses if your team has some.

Unfortunately Grimer doesn't evolve into Muk until Level 38. You will be babying Grimer for a massive portion of the mid-game. It also doesn't help that the next gym is 7th Gym as a Muk, it has matchup against Tate & Liza. Poison is a bad offensive typing in the game. If you want a bulky Poison-type on your team, Gulpin is available earlier and evolves 12 levels sooner into Swalot.

Weezing C Tier: If you want to use a Poison-type in the game, Weezing is decent choice. Weezing got blessed by Levitate ability. By removing its Ground-type weakness, Weezing is left with only a single weakness to Psychic, turning its great Base 120 Defense into a solid physical wall since Ground moves can't touch it. Weezing has a good TM movepool. It has a good Base 85 Special Attack, allowing it to fire off Flamethrower and Thunderbolt for coverage. And Explosion is also great since it can take another pokemon out with it.

Despite being a clear upgrade over Muk, Poison is still not very good typing in the game. Evolving at Level 35 is slightly better than Muk's Level 38, it still means you are stuck using Koffing for a large portion of the game. Much like Muk, its next gym is Psychic gym, which is not great. Also to make Weezing good, you have to invest some TMs like Flamethrower and Thunderbolt.

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Big thanks to BIGJRA for sharing this script that tracks every Pokémon's learnset (including TMs and Tutors) in the exact order you obtain them in-game! Check it out!

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot) or has absurd capture method (like Feebas), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Mediocre and outclassed. They clear regular route trainers just fine, but struggle to make a significant impact in many major boss fights due to a combination of average stats, poor matchups, or late availability. They might require heavy investment or a massive late-game spike to finally show their worth.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): Demand far more effort than they are worth. They require heavy TM investment and constant babying just to achieve mediocre results.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.

As we go deeper in the cave, we can find Makuhita, Sableye and Aron. As we catch these too, we can deliver letter to Mister Steven and get Steel Wing TM from him, and we can backtrack to get exp share as well. Good stuff! After we have cleared the cave, most of us probably hit the 2nd gym and defeat Brawly, but there is also option to go for Route 110 to catch more pokémons before 2nd gym. Anyways, how good are our cave encounters?

Thanks again for good discussion. Remember that in this tier list, we are judging these Pokémon based on a standard playthrough with soft level caps, so extreme grinding strats (like farming Rare Candies with 5 Zigzagoons before the second gym) fall outside our definition of practical and reasonable investment. Little bit shorter round for our cave 'mons. Enjoy the read!

Last round voting results:

Crobat B Tier: Crobat's greatest asset is its combination of Base 130 Speed and a very early evolution. In the mid to late game, it outspeeds everything and firing off fast Confuse Rays, Toxic, and can use good offensive TMs like Shadow Ball and Sludge Bomb. It is good as a fast pivot and route clearer.

Unfortunately, despite having a 4x resistance to Fighting, it is quite useless against Brawly because it doesn't learn Wing Attack until Level 21, forcing it to rely on Astonish (unless you over level by 2 levels Brawly's ace). Also, Poison is considered the worst offensive typing, as there are zero Grass specialists to take advantage of it. And its Base 90 Attack is only okay, its lack of offensive power begins to show in the late game, where it often fails to OHKO bulkier threats using Sludge Bomb, Fly or Aerial Ace. While it has slightly better bulk than Swellow, it lacks the nuke potential of Swellow's Guts + Facade combo, making it slightly less valuable overall. Pretty much defines the B tier.

Golem C+ Tier: Golem is great from gym 3 to 6. As a Geodude, it is the only reliable non-Marshtomp answers to Wattson's gym. From there, it continues to put in massive work against Flannery, Norman, and Winona. Golem has naturally powerful STAB movepool, its early access to Magnitude, the classic Defense Curl + Rollout combo, and the fact that it naturally learns Earthquake via level-up (saving you a contested TM). Thanks to its better stats compared to Graveler, Golem's physical bulk allows it to shrug off almost any physical attack thrown its way during the mid-game.

Unfortunately, 7.8/10, too much water. Golem hits the wall the second you reach Lilycove City and the ocean routes. Having two 4x weaknesses to Water and Grass makes it bad in the late game. It is incredibly slow, meaning it will almost always take a hit before attacking, and because almost everything in the late game carries a Water-type move (Juan, Wallace, and ocean route trainers), Golem will simply be outsped and OHKO'd. Its awful Special Defense also means it struggles against late-game special attackers even if they don't have super-effective moves.

Graveler C- Tier: Graveler is about identical to Golem, even if you cannot trade to get Golem, Graveler is still a great 'mon for a portion of the game. Just like its evolution, Graveler arrives right when you need it most. It solves quite well the mid-game, walling Wattson's Electric-types and matching up beautifully against Flannery, Norman, and Winona. Also its natural movepool is great, Magnitude and Rock Throw early on, and nice combo of Defense Curl + Rollout. It also naturally learns Earthquake, which is always a massive boon for any playthrough.

Everything that makes Golem completely unviable in the late game applies to Graveler, but the issues are magnified by its lower Base Stats. Once you defeat Winona and hit the water routes, Graveler's usefulness falls off a cliff. Its bad special defense and 4x weaknesses to Water and Grass make it unusable against Tate & Liza, Juan, Wallace, and of course against the ocean trainers. Graveler is stuck with worse stats, it is slower than Golem and lacks the same physical/special bulk that allows Golem to occasionally survive neutral hits.

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Big thanks to BIGJRA for sharing this script that tracks every Pokémon's learnset (including TMs and Tutors) in the exact order you obtain them in-game! Check it out!

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot) or has absurd capture method (like Feebas), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Mediocre and outclassed. They clear regular route trainers just fine, but struggle to make a significant impact in many major boss fights due to a combination of average stats, poor matchups, or late availability. They might require heavy investment or a massive late-game spike to finally show their worth.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): Demand far more effort than they are worth. They require heavy TM investment and constant babying just to achieve mediocre results.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.

Our fishing trip is over and we finally arrive to Granite Cave. This round reminds me a quite bit from typical cave, with Crobat, Graveler and Golem. How good is our fan favorite bat and absolute GOATed rock in gen 2?

We had great discussion regarding old rod encounters, keeps me motivated doing these posts. Gyarados sure took the spotlight, understandably so due to no physical/special split. Personally I would put Gyarados on A+/A, but there is good point of view why Gyarados isn't as great as I like to think. Still, ended up in A-, next to blaziken and Kadabra by 0,01 score (both Blaziken and Kadabra has exact same score). Thanks again for everyone for excellent discussion and insights! Let's keep up the good discussion with our first wave of cave mons! This might be shorter round as well, we'll see.

Last round voting results:

Gyarados A- Tier: Gyarados isn't broken like it is in Generation 4, it is still an incredibly good thanks to a amazing stat distribution and one of the best abilities in the game, Intimidate. Gyarados has great bulk. Combining Intimidate with its great natural bulk, an immunity to Ground, and good resistances, makes it one of the safest pivot Pokémon in the game. While Magikarp is annoying to train, many pointed out that you get the Old Rod and the Exp. Share very early, meaning you can easily evolve it into Gyarados by Gym 2 or 3. In the midgame, it relies on physical Normal-type moves like Strength, Return, Thrash, and Dragon Rage to chunk enemies. Its best value unlocks in the Elite Four. Teaching Gyarados Earthquake, combined with its access to Dragon Dance at Level 50, it can sweep elite four.

Gyarados was held back from the top of the A-Tiers due to the lack of the physical/special split. All Water-type moves are Special in this generation, Gyarados's has bad Base 60 Special Attack which makes its STAB Surf mediocre. It is forced to rely on non-STAB physical moves for damage. Also, Gyarados's movepool is quite empty without TMs, and its Electric-type weakness renders it useless against Wattson, and it doesn't learn its best setup move until Level 50, meaning you play 95% of the game without it.

Seaking E Tier: Like Gyarados and Azumarill, Seaking is a physical attacker (with Base 92 Attack) in a generation where all Water-type moves are Special. However, unlike Gyarados (Base 125 Atk + Intimidate) or Azumarill (Huge Power + massive bulk), Seaking simply does not have the stats to overcome this hurdle. The nicest thing you could say about Seaking is that pure Water is a great defensive typing, and the combination of the Surf and Ice Beam TMs allows literally any Pokémon to be somewhat functional.

The early game training arc with Goldeen is awful. Goldeen/Seaking does not learn a single Water-type move naturally until Waterfall at Level 41. So you have quite bad water type from early game to mid game until you unlock the Surf HM. Also Goldeen doesn't evolve until a Level 33. Even when it does evolve, its Base 65 Special Attack means its Surfs barely leave a dent in lategame enemies, and it also lacks its physical coverage move (Megahorn) from FireRed/LeafGreen.

Tentacruel B Tier: Tentacruel can pretty comfortably shrug off Special Attacks in the game while outspeeding most opponents. While it has a rough start, its first major power spike comes exactly when you need it, learning Bubblebeam at Level 25 just in time for Flannery. From the mid-game onward, it has has quite versatile TM movepool. It gets moves like Surf, Ice Beam, Sludge Bomb, Giga Drain or lean into its bulk with utility sets using Toxic and Barrier to patch up its weak physical Defense. It performs very reliably in the Elite Four, acting as a sturdy, fast Special Attacker that rarely gets OHKO'd.

Unfortunately Tentacruel has bad early game, very bad early game. Tentacool does not learn a Water-type move until Level 25, so you are spamming Acid most of the time in early game. Its Poison typing also has a Psychic weakness, so it's quite bad against Tate & Liza. Also its Base 80 Special Attack is good, not great, meaning it sometimes narrowly misses out on OHKOs.

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Big thanks to BIGJRA for sharing this script that tracks every Pokémon's learnset (including TMs and Tutors) in the exact order you obtain them in-game! Check it out!

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot) or has absurd capture method (like Feebas), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Mediocre and outclassed. They clear regular route trainers just fine, but struggle to make a significant impact in many major boss fights due to a combination of average stats, poor matchups, or late availability. They might require heavy investment or a massive late-game spike to finally show their worth.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): Demand far more effort than they are worth. They require heavy TM investment and constant babying just to achieve mediocre results.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.

First badge is ours! We have defeated Roxanne, and we have Rock Tomb TM to use, which is pretty bad due to its accuracy. We save Peeko and get to visit Dewford Town (and we find Miracle Seed thanks to HM Cut access), where we are gifted an Old Rod! We can fish for Magikarp and Tentacool in the town, and we can also backtrack to Petalburg City for Goldeen. How good are our water encounters right after Rock type specialist?

Thanks again for good discussion, poor Delcatty, straight to the bottom, just like in B2W2. I enjoyed going through each ones comment once again, it really keeps me motivated doing these posts. Also as u/iamkira01 stated regarding Vigoroth, directly below Linoone, great prediction! Let's keep up the good discussion, enjoy the read.

Last round voting results:

Vigoroth C+ Tier: Vigoroth has great mid game and setup potential. With a solid Base 90 Speed and 80 Attack, it outpaces a lot of Hoenn's roster. Its true claim to fame is its access to a support and setup moveset, Encore, Bulk Up, and Slack Off. Vigoroth can lock an opposing Pokémon into a harmless move using Encore, spam Bulk Up to boost its Attack and Defense, heal off any chip damage with Slack Off (though many prefer running 2 damaging moves), and then sweep using STAB Return or coverage moves like Shadow Ball, Brick Break.

Despite its fun niche, Vigoroth is held back by its stats and the early game as Slakoth. Just like its older brother, getting Vigoroth requires training Slakoth up to Level 18. Once you reach the late game, Vigoroth's Base 80 Attack and frail Special Defense really start to show their limits. While the Encore/Bulk Up strategy is theoretically great, it is much slower and requires more turns to snowball compared to other setup sweepers. It was frequently compared to Linoone. While Vigoroth has a much better mid game presence, it lacks Linoone's out of battle utility from Pickup and doesn't have a late game nuke equivalent to Linoone's Belly Drum.

Kadabra A- Tier: Even if you lack the means to trade for an Alakazam, Kadabra is still an incredibly powerful Pokémon that pulls its weight. Its biggest advantage remains its Level 16 evolution. Having a massive 120 Base Special Attack and 105 Base Speed just in time for the second Gym makes it a perfect early game sweeper. It functions almost identically to its evolution for the first half of the game, clearing out regular route trainers and tearing through Water centric routes with the Shock Wave TM. Because it shares Alakazam's STAB levelup movepool (Confusion, Psybeam, Psychic), it rarely struggles to find a button that deals massive damage.

Kadabra was debated against Gardevoir, and Kadabra falls just slightly short for a few distinct reasons. First is its physical frailty. While Alakazam and Gardevoir has just enough stats to occasionally survive a hit, Kadabra is made of paper. This makes it very difficult to use on Set Mode, as you can rarely switch it in safely against an attack. Second, unlike Alakazam or Gardevoir, Kadabra does not learn Calm Mind by level-up, it is reliant on the TM to set up in the late game. And as we know with Alakazam, its coverage is inferior to Gardevoir's. While Gardevoir gets the Thunderbolt TM, Kadabra is stuck relying on the 60 Base Power Shock Wave.

Alakazam S- Tier: You can catch an Abra before Gym 1, and it evolves into Kadabra at just Level 16. Trade it, you suddenly have a fully evolved Alakazam before you even face Gym 2. Having a Pokémon with a 135 Base Special Attack and 120 Base Speed while the rest of the region is still using unevolved mons is just curbstomp. It outspeeds and OHKOs practically everything. Also its level up movepool is amazing: it naturally learns Confusion, Psybeam, Psychic, Recover, and Calm Mind. With the Shock Wave TM to handle Water-types, Alakazam effortlessly solos a massive portion of the game.

Alakazam missed out on a unanimous S Tier for three distinct reasons, its initial training phase, its shallow coverage, and a few brutal late-game matchups. First, Abra is helpless. It only knows Teleport, meaning you are forced to switch-train (or just use Exp. Share) it until Level 16 (though you can grab the Thief TM in Slateport to give it an attacking move). Second, the Elemental Punches (Fire, Ice, Thunder Punch) are locked behind the post-game Battle Frontier tutors in Emerald, Alakazam kind of does not have any coverage. Outside of Psychic-type moves and Shock Wave (which is only 60 BP), it has no offensive coverage. Its physical frailty and Psychic typing mean it hits a brick wall in the Elite Four against Sidney and Phoebe, and it struggles in the Tate & Liza double battle.

Exploud C Tier: Whismur line is a classic Normal-type that functions strictly as a versatile "TM Sponge" for your team, like many other normal types in the franchise. Exploud has perfectly balanced mixed offenses (91 Attack / 91 Special Attack). Since it is Normal type, it has access to a diverse TM movepool. You can customize Exploud to fill whatever gap your team has, slapping on moves like Flamethrower, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, or Brick Break. Its signature ability, Soundproof, also earned a lot of praise for providing valued immunity to moves like Supersonic and Roar.

Exploud suffered in the rankings due to its late evolution, sluggish speed, and awful natural learnset. The fact that you do not get Exploud until Level 40 is criminal. By the midgame, Loudred begins taking massive damage. The line relies on very weak natural STAB moves (like the 50 BP Uproar or 65 BP Stomp) for a massive chunk of the game, unless you invest TMs. Also, despite having a great HP stat, its poor Defenses and slow Speed mean it almost always takes a massive hit before it can attack, causing it to get worn down very quickly in battles.

Delcatty F Tier: Delcatty has zero redeeming qualities for a playthrough. With a Base Stat Total of 380, it is outclassed by several first-stage unevolved Pokémon. While it has a very wide TM movepool, giving TMs to Delcatty is a complete waste, as it lacks the offensive stats to actually deal meaningful damage with them. The nicest thing anyone could say about it was that it can learn Sing and Secret Power to spread status conditions, or use Faint Attack to bypass Juan's evasion tactics, or maybe use Assist to do something.

Now drawbacks... where do we even begin? You catch Skitty, and it can't help with in any fight. Unlike other Stone Evolutions that give you a good early game power spike (like Nidoking or Clefable), Skitty's evolution is delayed because the Moon Stone is locked away until you reach Meteor Falls. Yu evolve it around Level 25, the rest of your team will have already matched or surpassed Delcatty's stats. It simply cannot take a hit, it cannot deal damage, and it has no favorable matchups against any major boss in the game.

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Big thanks to BIGJRA for sharing this script that tracks every Pokémon's learnset (including TMs and Tutors) in the exact order you obtain them in-game! Check it out!

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot) or has absurd capture method (like Feebas), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Mediocre and outclassed. They clear regular route trainers just fine, but struggle to make a significant impact in many major boss fights due to a combination of average stats, poor matchups, or late availability. They might require heavy investment or a massive late-game spike to finally show their worth.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): These Pokémon have combination of weak stats, bad typing, very late availability, or extremely limited movepools that make them difficult to use effectively.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.

We have cleared the forest and all we have left is Route 116 encounters. There we have Delcatty, Kadabra/Alakazam and Exploud! Also Vigoroth joins in as it plays differently than Slaking. How good are our final pokemons just before 1st gym?

Thanks again who joined in the voting and discussion. Delcatty is one of my all time favorites but it is really sad to see how bad it is. Also we vote for both Kadabra and Alakazam due to trading. With trading, you either have access to Alakazam or not. If you have access, then great, it takes one minute to evolve Kadabra into Alakazam, if you don't have access to trading, then act as Alakazam doesn't exist in the game. Anyways, let's continue with good and civil discussion and enjoy the summaries!

Last round voting results:

Breloom A+ Tier: Many of you consider Breloom to be the best Fighting-type in the game, outclassing most of the region's physical attackers thanks to its Base 130 Attack stat and great early game utility. As Shroomish, it has quite good early game. Having access to Absorb, Stun Spore, and Leech Seed by Level 10 gives it an amazing matchup against Roxanne and decent utility against Brawly. However, the true magic happens at Level 23 when it evolves into Breloom, perfectly timed to sweep Wattson's team thanks to Bulk Up TM. Giving Breloom the Bulk Up TM turns it into a premier sweeper. Combining Bulk Up with Leech Seed allows it to easily set up on passive Pokémon and outright solo Gym Leaders like Norman, Juan, and Elite Four Glacia.

Breloom has also flaws. Unfortunate Speed stat, its physical frailty, and the fact that its Grass typing is useless in the late game. Because of the Generation 3 mechanics, all Grass-type moves are Special. With a sad Base 60 Special Attack, Breloom cannot reliably use moves like Giga Drain for damage, meaning it plays like a pure Fighting-type that happens to have Grass-type weaknesses. It has 4x weakness to Flying, meaning it gets destroyed by Winona. Its mediocre Base 70 Speed means it sometimes takes a hit before attacking unless using Mach Punch. And it has poor matchups against Tate & Liza, Phoebe, and Drake.

Slaking B+ Tier: Slaking's viability can be broken down into three distinct phases due to evolutions. Slakoth is miserable due to its ability, awful early Gym matchups, and the Slow experience group. Vigoroth is a mid-game power spike, it loses Truant, has great Speed, and can abuse the Encore + Bulk Up combo to sweep. Slaking is basically tactical nuke. With a Base 160 Attack and 150 HP, Slaking deletes practically anything in front of it. It has great synergy with Hyper Beam (since the recharge turn overlaps with its loafing turn) and it has surprisingly good Base 95 Special Attack which allows it to use moves like Ice Beam and Thunderbolt.

There are few things holding Slaking down in this list, the early game and the mechanics of Truant specifically on a Set Mode. Playing on Set Mode changes how good Slaking is. In Shift Mode, you can get a KO and immediately switch out to avoid the Truant turn. In Set Mode, getting a KO means Slaking must stay in and take a free hit from the opponent's next Pokémon on its loafing turn, or take a hit while switching out. While its bulk allows it to soak this damage better than almost anything else in the game, it still forces a clunky stop and go playstyle.

Ninjask D Tier: Ninjask is the king of the Baton Pass strategy. With its Speed Boost ability giving it a free Speed stage at the end of every turn, combined with learning Swords Dance by level up, Ninjask's role is to survive just long enough to pass stat boosts to a slower, bulkier teammate. With Baton Pass, Ninjask can kinda break the late game, enabling your other Pokémon to easily sweep Juan and the Elite Four.

Unfortunately the misery begins with Nincada. It is in the erratic experience group, meaning it requires a high amount of EXP to level up early on. It has terrible stats, and its Ground/Bug typing does nothing for it against early Gyms. Once it finally evolves, Ninjask has awful defenses. It is so fragile that finding a safe turn to actually set up a Swords Dance is incredibly difficult. if the opponent breathes on it, it faints. Ninjask suffers from an awful offensive movepool, forcing you to invest contested TMs like Aerial Ace, Dig, Return and Shadow Ball just to give it passable damage. And the biggest hurdle, it doesn't naturally learn Baton Pass until Level 45, meaning for 90% of the game, it is just a fragile Bug-type relying on TMs.

Shedinja C- Tier: Shedinja's entire existence revolves around its signature ability, Wonder Guard, which makes it immune to any direct attack that isn't Super Effective. It is capable of cheesing certain major boss fights. If the opponent lacks a move to hit it, Shedinja simply wins by default. Thanks to this, Gym Leader Juan and a massive portion of Champion Wallace's team are useless. Also if you delay Nincada's evolution to Level 25, Shedinja inherits Swords Dance, allowing it to set up for free on Pokémon that cannot touch it.

Shedinja suffers from the most extreme drawbacks of any Pokémon in the game. It is locked at 1 HP, meaning it dies instantly to anything that can hit it in any form. It isn't just Super Effective moves you have to worry about. Shedinja is KO'd by any form of passive damage, weather, status conditions (Poison, Burn, Confusion), Leech Seed, and Spikes. This makes it hard to use against regular route trainers, as a random Poochyena with Bite or a Zubat with Supersonic will delete it. Majority of the mid game and Elite Four, Shedinja is an active liability that is forced to sit on the bench as an empty Poké Ball. And just like Ninjask, it forces you to endure the awful process of training a Nincada.

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Big thanks to BIGJRA for sharing this script that tracks every Pokémon's learnset (including TMs and Tutors) in the exact order you obtain them in-game! Check it out!

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot) or has absurd capture method (like Feebas), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Mediocre and outclassed. They clear regular route trainers just fine, but struggle to make a significant impact in many major boss fights due to a combination of average stats, poor matchups, or late availability. They might require heavy investment or a massive late-game spike to finally show their worth.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): These Pokémon have combination of weak stats, bad typing, very late availability, or extremely limited movepools that make them difficult to use effectively.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.

As we continue and help Wally to catch his own Ralts, we get to Route 104! There we can encounter pokemons like Pelipper, Swellow and Azumarill! How good are our early game birds in this gen, and is Azumarill as great as in Black2/White2?

Thanks again for good discussion. I think placements are going fairly well so far, even though I personally disagree with some placements but hey it's a community tier list so there will be always placements that don't sit right personally. If you also think some placement doesn't look right, please leave a comment and I'll add the vote to that pokemon's tally, and maybe it will get later on re-evaluation! Thanks again to everyone who joined in in the discussion or read the post.

Last round voting results:

Ludicolo C+ Tier: Ludicolo has pretty great late game payoff. Once you finally get your hands on a Ludicolo, its Water/Grass typing is uniquely fantastic in Hoenn, having very few weaknesses. With Rain Dance, Swift Swim, Surf, Ice Beam, and Giga Drain, a fully evolved Ludicolo becomes an amazing sweeper against Juan and Elite Four.

The reason Ludicolo was dragged down into C Tier is its long and painful early and mid game phase. For some god forsaken reason you cannot obtain a Water Stone until after the 7th Gym. This means you are forced to drag Lombre through roughly 80% of the game. Lombre has a sad Base Stat Total of 340, is frail and slow, and suffers from a shallow level-up movepool (not even learning a Water-type move naturally until Surf after Gym 5). For the vast majority of the playthrough, you are relying on weak moves like Bullet Seed or finite TMs just to stay relevant.

Shiftry C+ Tier: Seedot handles Roxanne thanks to the Bullet Seed TM. However, Shiftry's potential unlocks in late game as a Chlorophyll sweeper. Once equipped with the Sunny Day and Solarbeam TMs, its excellent 100 Attack and 90 Special Attack stats allow it to handle Tate & Liza, Juan (though Kingdra always causes issues), Elite Four Phoebe, and Champion Wallace. It also has a highly flexible TM movepool, learning moves like Shadow Ball, Brick Break, and Aerial Ace.

Sadly Seedot starts with Bide (at least this can be fixed about instantly with Bullet Seed TM), and Nuzleaf is incredibly frail. From Gym 2 (Brawly) all the way through Gym 6 (Winona), the Seedot line is a dead slot on the team. Its Dark/Grass typing is a double-edged sword that leaves it vulnerable to the Fighting, Fire, and Flying types that are the middle of the playthrough. Outside of the Solarbeam setup, you are relying on underpowered STAB moves like Faint Attack (60 BP) and Giga Drain (60 BP with only 5 PP).

Gardevoir A Tier: Once this Pokémon gets rolling, it is one of the most reliable and dominant sweepers in the game. The best thing for Gardevoir is early access to its best moves. At just Level 26, it has both Psychic and Calm Mind. Having access to a 90 Base Power STAB move and the best special setup move in the game this early is just insnae. Once it fully evolves at Level 30, it has a 125 Special Attack and 115 Special Defense. Add the Thunderbolt TM to its arsenal, and Gardevoir becomes a nearly unstoppable late game sweeper. It can sweep Brawly, Flannery, Winona, Juan, and Champion Wallace. Also its Trace ability can cheese Tate & Liza by copying Claydol’s Levitate, cool!

To earn all that sweeping power, you have to endure a training arc. Ralts is physically frail Pokémon that has to rely on the Confusion for a massive chunk of the early game. Many compared Kirlia to Kadabra, while Abra evolves and becomes instantly strong at Level 16, Kirlia feels like dead weight until it hits Level 26. Also it is very frail physically so it can't really take physical damage, and with 80 Speed it gets outsped from time to time.

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot) or has absurd capture method (like Feebas), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Mediocre and outclassed. They clear regular route trainers just fine, but struggle to make a significant impact in many major boss fights due to a combination of average stats, poor matchups, or late availability. They might require heavy investment or a massive late-game spike to finally show their worth.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): These Pokémon have combination of weak stats, bad typing, very late availability, or extremely limited movepools that make them difficult to use effectively.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.

We continue towards Route 102 (I know Wingull is also available, but Wingull will join next round alongside Marill and Taillow) and we have some grass types this time! Ludicolo, and very rare Shiftry! We also have fan favorite Gardevoir! How good are our 3 stage evolution line mons? Let's hear it!

Thanks again for good discussion. Linoone definitely took spotlight last round due to belly drum shenanigans. Thanks again for everyone who joined in! Let's have a civil discussion once again.

Last round voting results:

Mightyena D- Tier: It is universally agreed that its saving grace is its ability: Intimidate. Getting a free Attack drop on the opponent just by switching in provides excellent utility throughout the entire playthrough, boosting the physical bulk of your entire team basically. Aside from its ability, it has very early evolution at Level 18. While its Gym matchups are generally quite poor, it does have a few moments to shine. Later in the game, its Dark typing gives it an edge against Tate & Liza and Elite Four Phoebe.

Unfortunately, because all Dark-type moves are classified as Special attacks in this generation, Mightyena cannot utilize its passable Base 90 Attack stat for its STAB moves like Bite and Crunch. Instead, it is forced to rely on its Base 60 Special Attack to deal STAB damage. If those moves were physical, they would help a lot, especially with access to Howl. To deal physical damage, it relies on contested TMs like Shadow Ball, Return, and Dig, or it has to waste turns setting up with Howl. Even with these tools, its mediocre stat spread leaves it both too frail to take hits and too slow to reliably sweep.

Linoone C+ Tier: Linoone is somewhat bizarre experience because it serves two different roles depending on the stage of the game: an early-game money maker due to Pickup, and a late-game tactical nuke. Its ability, Pickup, provides good passive value throughout the playthrough by generating free items (which can be sold to fund Game Corner TMs), and it naturally serves as a fantastic HM user. However, its true claim to fame is its endgame strategy. If you delay its evolution and keep it as a Zigzagoon, it learns Belly Drum at Level 41 (instead of Level 53 as Linoone). By combining a +6 Attack boost from Belly Drum with its great Base 100 Speed, STAB Return, and the Shadow Ball TM to handle Ghosts, Linoone is famously capable of completely soloing Gym Leader Juan and the entire Elite Four.

Linoone's placement is heavily weighed down by the fact that it is functionally dead weight in major battles for the first 80% of the game. Before it gets Belly Drum, it relies entirely on a mediocre Base 70 Attack stat and terrible physical bulk. It gets eaten alive by early and mid-game bosses like Roxanne, Brawly, and Wattson (wish for Headbutt flinches). Furthermore, its Belly Drum strategy requires you to commit two highly contested TMs (Return and Shadow Ball) to a Pokémon that won't use them effectively until the very end of the game. Linoone is quite unique Pokémon that spends the vast majority of the playthrough acting as a mediocre Pickup/HM slave, before magically transforming into an Elite Four sweeper at the final hour.

Beautifly E Tier: Beautifly is a textbook early game bug that exists purely for the honeymoon phase of the first few routes, before falling off a cliff. Its only true saving grace is its extremely early evolution at Level 10, which temporarily gives it much higher stats than the unevolved Pokémon you face in the early game. Its peak in an Emerald playthrough is against Gym Leader Brawly. Thanks to a 4x resistance to Fighting-type moves and early access to STAB Gust, Beautifly can wall and defeat the second Gym essentially by itself. It also gets natural access to Giga Drain and Morning Sun, and learns Psychic via TM, giving it some theoretical coverage.

Once you leave Dewford Town, Beautifly becomes useless for the rest of the game. Bug/Flying is a horrendous typing, and when combined with a frail stat spread of 60 HP / 50 Defense / 50 Special Defense and a Base 65 Speed, Beautifly gets one shot by everything. Even in Gym 1, where its Absorb should be useful, Roxanne's Nosepass will easily OHKO it. By the time you reach Wattson, Beautifly is dead weight.

Dustox D Tier: While Dustox suffers from many of the same early game bug issues as Beautifly, Dustox has a defensive niche that gives it a more usage. Just like Beautifly, it evolves early (Level 10) and walls Gym Leader Brawly with its 4x Fighting resistance. However, Dustox's claim to fame is its ability to stall Gym Leader Norman. Because it naturally learns Protect by level-up and has access to Poison Sting, it counters Norman's Slaking.

Outside of its specific stalling niches, Dustox is still an incredibly passive Pokémon that struggles against the natural pacing of a standard playthrough. Dustox has embarrassing offensive stats. It is essentially a pure wall, relying on Dustox to clear out standard route trainers is a slow process. After Norman, it falls off hard. It is essentially a poor man's Shuckle.

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot) or has absurd capture method (like Feebas), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Mediocre and outclassed. They clear regular route trainers just fine, but struggle to make a significant impact in many major boss fights due to a combination of average stats, poor matchups, or late availability. They might require heavy investment or a massive late-game spike to finally show their worth.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): These Pokémon have combination of weak stats, bad typing, very late availability, or extremely limited movepools that make them difficult to use effectively.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.

First round is done! This round we have route 101 'mons, such as Mightyena, Linoone, Beautifly and Dustox! How good are our early game critters? Let's hear it!

Thanks everyone who joined in the discussion. We had good discussion regarding each mon, many different opinions but also one very unanimous. Also, just a reminder that you can vote for previously voted mons and I will add each new vote to the tally. We will also have a re-evaluation round when we are in the middle of the game, and one at the end. Basically re-evaluation means that previous votes won't be calculated and instead they will have new voting round from zero. Thanks again for good discussion and let's keep it up!

Last round voting results:

Sceptile B Tier: The community was heavily divided on this one, with some players swearing by its fast Speed and others saying it is one of the most frustrating starters to use in the entire series. Let's start with the positives, it has incredible Base 120 Speed and solid 105 Special Attack (and okay 85 attack). While it has a notoriously bad level-up moveset for most of the early game, defenders pointed out that giving it the Bullet Seed TM (boosted by the Miracle Seed) right after Petalburg Woods gives it a reliable tool to get by. Sceptile’s true power spike happens at Level 29 when it finally learns Leaf Blade, though next boss battles don't really care about this. It shreds through the Water-type routes and has highly favorable matchups against Gym Leaders Tate & Liza and Juan.

Sceptile's placement was dragged down significantly by its terrible early-to-mid-game training arc and its physical frailty. Relying on a 10 Base Power move (Bullet Seed) or a 20 Base Power move (Absorb) until nearly the 6th Gym is a miserable experience. Because it is so frail, it struggles against mid-game bosses like Wattson, Flannery, Winona, and Norman's Slaking. Furthermore, while its Grass typing should dominate a region overflowing with Water-types, major late-game Water-types often carry secondary typings or Ice-type moves that counter Sceptile (such as Tentacruel, Gyarados, and Pelipper). Sceptile in the end is late-game mon that demands you suffer through a painful early-game movepool and frailty to unlock its true potential.

Blaziken A- Tier: If you want to use a Fire-type in Hoenn, Blaziken is undeniably the best option in the entire game, outclassing slow alternatives like Camerupt, Torkoal, and Magcargo. It has great mixed offensive stats (Base 120 Attack and 110 Special Attack), which allow it to hit like a truck from both sides of the spectrum. It has a fantastic early-to-mid game presence, it has access to Bulk Up, turning it into a physical sweeper. Between TMs like Brick Break and Overheat, its raw damage output is just amazing.

Blaziken's placement is held back by the Hoenn region's endgame layout and its own mediocre defensive stats. Many noted that after Gym 5 (Norman), the game becomes hostile to Fire-types. Once you hit the ocean routes, Blaziken faces a gauntlet of awful matchups. It gets destroyed by Tate & Liza, Juan, and Champion Wallace, and it struggles against Elite Four members Phoebe and Drake. Its slightly underwhelming Speed and lack of bulk, means it takes a heavy hit from time to time before it can move. Blaziken is still king of Fire-types in Hoenn with great offensive stats and early-game utility.

Swampert S Tier: Swampert is arguably the single best standard Pokémon you can use in an Emerald playthrough. It is the gold standard for what makes a Pokémon plug and play. It has one of the best typings, Water/Ground. Because it only has a single weakness to Grass and Hoenn lacks a Grass-type Gym Leader or specialists at all, Swampert naturally matches up well against almost the entire game. Offensively and defensively, it is built like an absolute tank. It trivializes the early-to-mid game, soloing Roxanne, Flannery, and most importantly, Wattson. Its movepool is perfection. It gets STAB Mud Shot early, naturally learns Earthquake by level-up, uses Surf well, and can be taught the Ice Beam TM very early (from the Game Corner) to bully Winona and Elite Four Drake.

Swampert’s flaws are practically nonexistent and highly situational. The only notable hurdles mentioned by the community are a slightly rough matchup against Rival 3 on Route 110, Tate & Liza and Champion Wallace's Ludicolo.

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot) or has absurd capture method (like Feebas), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Usable from start to finish without a complex strategy, but they are strictly inferior to higher-tier options due to a combination of average stats, late availability, a shallow movepool, or need to setup for multiple turns.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): These Pokémon have combination of weak stats, bad typing, very late availability, or extremely limited movepools that make them difficult to use effectively.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.