I'm going to post about my in-game team.
Fennekin - A Tier, possibly B
Availability: Starter
Stats: It has decent Speed, and its Special Attack is really good. Its Special Defense is nice as well, although its physical stats leave a bit to be desired. Overall, its stats are really nice for getting through the game, and Blaze is always better than nothing.
Typing: It's weak to Water, Ground, and Rock early on. This means that it's useless against Grant and any Fishermen you meet, but other than that it's an amazing early-game typing. The only thing that lets it down is Viola's Surskit. It also has resistances to SIX types, which is awesome. When it evolves into Delphox, it gets two more resistances, loses the Bug resistance (lol like that matters), and gets weaknesses to Dark and Ghost, which are somewhat common types late-game, especially against Team Flare. Its STABs have amazing coverage throughout the game though.
Movepool: It gets Ember. And Flame Charge. And Fire Spin. And no other Fire-type STAB until you evolve into Delphox. There's also zero Fire-type TMs early-game (and you can't afford Sunny Day the first time you get to Lumiose). It does get Psybeam but it's unSTABed and is just as weak as Ember. By the time you get to Korrina, though, Psyshock will probably be enough to pull you through.
Major Battles: It struggles against four Gym Leader's mons: Surskit, Amaura, Tyrunt, and Slowking. Otherwise the gyms are cakewalks for this guy. Grant also comes conveniently in the Braixen stage where you have no powerful moves, and by the time you get to Korrina it's likely you'll have Psyshock or be within a couple levels of it. It doesn't like most of Team Flare, and it has bad matchups against your Rival (Absol, Meowstic resists Psychic, Altaria later, Greninja). But you do force her to use Flareon! It can deal with a lot of the E4, like Wikstrom and Drasna's Dragalgae, but keep him away from Siebold.
Additional Comments: Delphox steamrolls the gyms due to his excellent matchups against him. He is, however, slightly underwhelming early-game thanks to Surskit and Grant, as well as having no good STAB moves to use. Once you get to Korrina however it's smooth sailing.
Fletchling - B Tier
Availability: Route 2. It's the earliest thing you can find.
Stats: It has decent stats early-game, but later it struggles to keep up stat-wise. However, it does have very powerful attacking moves, so that's a plus. Also it outspeeds everything you will find in-game.
Typing: Normal/Flying is great early-game since you get STAB Tackle, which is way better than Peck unless you're against Viola. Later, Fire/Flying leaves it with Peck and Ember, which is sub-optimal until you get stronger STABs, but is a decent defensive typing. It's a double-edged sword though, as he is a piece of shit in the last two Sky Battles thanks to Stone Edge Flygon+Baton Pass Ninjask, and Aerodactyl (I needed X-Defends for the last one, and I overleveled him by 20 levels...)
Movepool: Once you evolve you have Peck and Ember as STABs, which is really bad. The Aerial Ace TM is rather late for Fletchinder, so it spends a lot of time being useless. Although, it is right after Grant, and if you're using him against Grant you are retarded. Flame Charge is decent for mid-game, although at that point you have Aerial Ace already. Once you get to Coumarine City, you get Fly, and Roost is nice too. Move rememberer gives him Flare Blitz and Brave Bird, and it gets Acrobatics, which is awesome in-game.
Major Battles: Unless you somehow evolved it already, it owns Viola. It also beats Korrina and Ramos easily, and it resists Valerie's STAB. Keep far away from Grant and Clemont, and Olympia has a Slowking...It beats Wulfric, though you might want to use Flamethrower for that match since Avalugg exists. It's pretty good against Team Flare, since its Fly hits them quite hard, especially as a Talonflame against their Scraggies early on. In the E4, you can try Wikstrom, although Probopass beats you (lol).
Additional Comments: It's a really good Flying-type, and those are always useful because of Fly. Its typing is also decent defensively in-game, although you might need another Flier for Sky Battles due to the Stone Edgers late-game.
Flabébé - C Tier
Availability: Route 4, which is right after Santalune Gym.
Stats: Holy shit that Special Defense lol. Even as a Floette it's pretty damn bulky with Eviolite. Diantha's Goodra 3HKOes Eviolite Floette with Fire Blast. Everything else is weaker. Its Special Attack is also awesome.
Typing: Fairy is nice for a large portion of the game. Then random Sawks and Machamps start having Poison Jab...but it can stomach them and OHKO back.
Movepool: It's movepool is ATROCIOUS. It starts with Tackle, Vine Whip, and Fairy Wind. It gets nothing noteworthy until lv. 20, when you are already Floette, and you finally learn Wish...which is not that good in-game. lv. 25 gives you Magical Leaf, which is an actual decent attack, but it has the same power than Fairy Wind. It then gets support moves and Grass-type moves until lv.
46 as a Floette, when you FINALLY get Moonblast. 51 gives you Petal Dance, and 58 Solar Beam. If you evolve it...then I don't know if it even learns any of these moves. As for TMs, it gets...Dazzling Gleam. And Hidden Power.
Major Battles: It does okay against Grant thanks to Magical Leaf and SE STAB on Tyrunt. Against Korrina it has a type advantage but we all know how hard Fairy Wind hits her. You cannot do anything to Ramos or Clemont thanks to how pitifully weak you are. Valerie is also a big no-no. At Olympia, if you FINALLY have Moonblast, you can do something...lower her Special Attack. Her mons have Calm Mind, and even Florges can't break those guys. Against Wulfric it takes down Avalugg...lol. Against Team Flare it's really nice due to them using Dark and Fighting mons a lot, but stay away from Toxicroak. Florges can actually take down half of Lysandre's team. Against the E4...you have horrible matchups all around, unless you Petal Dance Siebold or something, but Gyarados has Dragon Dance...It could do something to Drasna, but Dragalgae hurts it and I don't think Moonblast OHKOs her mons.
Additional Comments: Even though I used EXP. Share, it was STILL horribly weak. Just stay away from this thing.
Squirtle - B Tier
Availability: Lumiose City, from Professor Sycamore, immediately after Santalune Gym.
Stats: They are defensively-inclined, although Mega Blastoise has amazing stats overall, especially its Base 135 Special Attack. It's not too fast though.
Typing: Water, which is the most-useful in-game typing thanks to Surf and Waterfall. It gets STAB Water Pulse, which is boosted by Mega Launcher, and has amazing neutral coverage. It also only has two weaknesses, Electric and Grass.
Movepool: You are stuck with Water Gun as an STAB until lv. 28, and if you're not using EXP. Share that's after Grant. It gets Return by TM, which will be its best attack until Water Pulse at lv. 28. Then you get Aqua Tail at 32 and Skull Bash at 36. You get Surf by HM, and as Blastoise you get Hydro Pump late-game and Dark Pulse by TM late-game, although for Lumiose->Grant->probably Geosenge you are pitifully weak, and when you beat Korrina you get Surf and that's it until lv. 60 or after Snowbelle Gym.
Major Battles: Does reasonably well against Grant, although you might have to grind a bit for Water Pulse at lv. 28 if you're not using EXP. Share. Korrina sets up on you with Power-Up Punch, so avoid her, and obviously stay away from Ramos and Clemont. Once you get to Valerie, you're already lv. 40 or so if you haven't been using the EXP. Share, and although you might struggle to break Sylveon, you can reasonably beat her. For Olympia you have Surf and Bite, which aren't the best moves to be using, and you may lack power, although you would probably be fine. You should avoid Wulfric's Abomasnow, but other than that you're fine. After you get the ability to use Waterfall outside of battle, get the Dark Pulse TM, and also teach it Ice Beam, so it can actually have coverage. It's not too bad against Team Flare thanks to the Fire-types. In the Elite Four, you can own Drasna with Ice Beam, crush Malva, and take down some of Wikstrom's Pokemon, like Probopass and Aegislash, the latter with Dark Pulse.
Additional Comments: If you don't mind having Water Gun as your only STAB for 18 levels this guy is for you. He does well later in the game, but really struggles earlier.
Riolu - S-Tier
Availability: As early as Route 22, albeit a bit rare. You also get one from Korrina as a gift later.
Stats: Lucario is a very powerful mixed attacker. Base 110+ stats are nothing to scoff at. Mega Lucario has 145/140/112 offensive stats, with Adaptability too. Its defenses may lack a bit but if you play it right you will never need to take a hit with this thing.
Typing: Fighting is a very good offensive type despite the Fairies. Steel adds a defensive typing and allows it to take some hits, although you may never need to let it do so. Too bad it gets no good Steel STAB...
Movepool: Riolu starts with Quick Attack and soon gets Force Palm at lv. 15. At that point you should evolve, so you get Lucario stats, unless you want to wait until lv. 30 for Reversal (not worth it). You can evolve whenever since it evolves by happiness, so you should have a Lucario at Grant and should be able to laugh at him. It gets Power-Up Punch via TM and Bone Rush at lv. 29, and also learns Swords Dance. Once you get the Lucarionite, Force Palm is all you need until Aura Sphere at lv. 42, which will carry you through the rest of the game. Calm Mind is at lv. 47 if you need it (hint: you don't), and Close Combat at 55, Dragon Pulse at 60, and Extremespeed at 65 are all quite overkill.
Major Battles: Struggles against Viola, but laughs at Grant. Do not use it against Korrina, as it is weak to her STAB. After you get Mega Evolution, you can literally solo the rest of Kalos with this guy--he kills Ramos, not even minding Weepinbell thanks to Power-Up Punch and Bone Rush, destroys all of Team Flare with Bone Rush and Force Palm, can Bone Rush Clemont to death (it might even be able to beat Emolga with Aura Sphere in Mega form!), does the same to Valerie and Olympia, and laughs at Wulfric. Against the E4 watch out for Malva and her Talonflame, but otherwise it can cruise through her too. Siebold only has Gyarados for him to fear, and it laughs at Wikstrom, especially since Bone Rush is non-contact. Drasna may be a bit tough thanks to Altaria and Noivern, but I OHKOed my Rival's Altaria with a +2 Mega Close Combat...so...
Additional Comments: At least use the gift one from Korrina if you don't feel like catching a Riolu.
