Pokémon X & Y In-game Tier List Discussion

[Xdogking]

My final 4 team member reviews:

Doublade / Honedge (note that I never evolved into Aegislash)

Hide

Doublade - S
Availability: Honedge is found before the second gym and is decently common.
Stats: Doublade has very good Attack and breathtaking Defense. Its other stats are very poor, but Doublade has ways of making up for it. When given the Eviolite, its Defense becomes redonk and Special Defense becomes passable.
Typing: Steel/Ghost is a hell of a defensive type. 3 common Immunities and 9 Resistances is very impressive. Its STAB has nice coverage now that Fairy Types are abundant, but the numerous Steel resistant Normal types and Steel types resist it.
Movepool: Doublade's movepool does not disappoint. It comes with Swords Dance, allowing it to immediately keep pace with your most likely higher leveled team. It doesn't come with STAB, but Shadow Sneak and Shadow Claw become available soon. Along with STAB, it gets many useful ascending coverage moves: Fury Cutter, Aerial Ace, Night Slash, and the holy gift that is Sacred Sword. Fighting notably gets perfect neutral coverage with its Ghost STAB and gets many SE hits.
Major Battles: The only gym that Doublade doesn't resist is Electric. All of the others can either be muscled through with its superb defense or torn apart with SE STAB and coverage moves. In the E4 and Team Flare, it can take on anything that is not Fire Type with little care.
Additional Comments: If Steel type didn't get the defensive nerf Doublade would be beyond divine. For now, it's just regular divine.

Aurorus / Aumara

Hide

Aurorus - C
Availability: Aumara is given to the player shortly before the second gym.
Stats: Both have high HP, low Speed, and average offense/defense stats.
Typing: This is one of Aurorus's weak points. Before I get to that, know that Ice/Rock is brilliant offensively: It hits 7 types Super Effectively and only Steel resists both. However, there is a reason Rock/Ice moves but not Pokemon find their way into OU: they are terrible defensively. It has 6 weaknesses, including crippling 4x weaknesses to Steel and Fighting.
Movepool: Aurorus's ability is a nice, turning Normal moves into Ice-Type STAB. Its Take Down, and much later Hyper Beam, are good at taking down enemies that are not weak to Ice. In addition to STAB, Aurorus gets Thunderbolt after gym 5 to get the famous BoltBeam coverage. It doesn't have many options, but its limited moves are very good.
Major Battles: I solo'd the 2nd gym leader with Aumara. However, after that Aurorus is rather mediocre. It can damage most of the gym Pokemon, but the problem is that they can deal just as much damage in return with SE STAB or coverage moves. You are much better off using a Pokemon that is SE, but doesn't take SE damage. Does well against Dragon E4, but pretty poorly against the rest.
Additional Comments: Well, Aurorus is a beautiful species. Sadly, its defensive typing means that it has to OHKO in order to be useful. This is very nice in minor battles, but its offensive presence isn't enough to be safe in major battles. And in this game of options, you have to do well in those battles to stand out.

Goodra / Goomy

Hide

Goodra - C
Availability: Goomy is available in its lowest stage shortly after the 5th gym. Note that to evolve Sliggoo into Goodra, there has to be natural rain on a route. This is mostly random and I went days with a Sliggoo, unable to evolve.
Stats: Goomy is trash. Its Special Defense is its highest stat, and that is average when you get it because the rest of your team will be evolved. You will most likely have to switch train it 10 levels to evolve it because it hits like wet cardboard. Sliggoo is a much needed improvement, with usable offenses and wonderful defenses when Eviolite boosted. Goodra's stats are very good. 90/70/150 Defenses is very good, you will take little damage from even SE special hits. Your 100 and 110 offensive stats are very good, but almost underwhelming on a pseudo-legend.
Typing: Dragon isn't unstoppable anymore because of Fairy, but it still has good neutral coverage and a nice number of resistances.
Movepool: Goodra gets Dragon and Water moves level up, which nets you solid neutral coverage. Goodra has a fantastic learnset of coverage moves; Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Muddy Water, Earthquake, Power Whip, and more. My only complaint is the lack of Surf; Muddy Water is acceptable, but the accuracy and ability to traverse water are missed.
Major Battles: The only gym Goodra isn't disadvantageous in is the 7th. Goodra fairs very well against Team Flare when not in the Goomy state, boasting impressive defenses and Water moves to destroy the fire types. Goodra can carry coverage moves to be SE on all 4 of the Elite 4, and can take on a few of the Champion's pokes.
Additional Comments: Goodra is wonderful. If you didn't have to deal with Goomy and finding rain, I would probably give it A rank. But it isn't good enough to warrant the intense babying it takes to get one.

Xerneas

Hide

Xerneas - A
Availability: Xerneas is a mandatory capture at the end of the Team Flare plot. It is exceptionally easy to capture - I threw exactly one Dive Ball.
Stats: As expected of a box legendary, they are incredible. 126/95/98 Defenses mean that even SE hits aren't likely to deal intense damage. 131/131/99 Offenses are exceptional.
Typing: It is pure Fairy. This means you are the anti-meta: weak only to rare offensive types and can take down Dragon, Fighting, and Dark with ease.
Movepool: Comes with Geomancy and Moonblast. This by itself destroys a lot. You also get very useful coverage moves level up like Megahorn, Night Slash, and Horn Leech. Its moveset can be expanded further by TMs, but honestly Moonblast is enough against anything not Poison, Fire, or Steel.
Major Battles: Sadly, it isn't around for very many major battles. It can eat Lysandre (minus Pyroar) and doesn't struggle at all against the 8th gym. It can beat the Dragon and Water E4 members as well as contribute to the Champion fight.
Additional Comments: Xerneas kicks ass but it comes too late. I can't give it S rank in good conscious if it can only fight 1 of the 8 gyms.

 

[IOS]

Some fun calculations for Bunnelby:

-It gets a 90 BP STAB in Takedown at Level 15? Good, right? Well, turns out it can't reliably OHKO Zubat's unless it has a 5 level advantage as Diggersby. Keep in mind, at this stage in the game, Diggersby is supposed to be in its prime. It just evolved, has a 90 BP STAB before just about anyone else, and...this is the result.

-After a STAB Dig, leaves Manectrics alive with a 5 level advantage, and won't get a guaranteed OHKO unless it has an 8 level advantage

-After a Swords Dance, only has a 50% chance of OHKOing Golbats with Rock Tomb Take Down and a 5 level advantage

And this just keeps getting worse and worse, I don't know how on earth this got proposed for B-tier earlier.

EDIT: And just as a note, for all past and future calculations, I assume neutral nature and 16 IVs across the board for both the attacking and defending Pokemon. I'll add 10 EVs to each stat earlygame, 20 EVs midgame and 30 EVs lategame to account for EVs from trainer Pokemon fought throughout the game.

 

[Lord Jesseus]

"With Rock Tomb"
That's not really fair is it? Take Down does more damage than SE Rock Tomb.

Not that I think Diggersby is worth using.

 

[IOS]

"With Rock Tomb"
That's not really fair is it? Take Down does more damage than SE Rock Tomb.

Not that I think Diggersby is worth using.

Good catch, although the calculation took Take Down into account anyways when figuring out the max damage possible vs. Golbat (I use Honkalculator and just fill in the values manually)

 

[DHR-107]

This is why I was calling into question the ability for Diggersby to be B tier... Just by looking at its stats and movepool I can work out that it really is not going to be that good. Pickup at the start is really useful yes, but its not enough to bump it that many tiers when you dont gain anything other than a fairly weak evolved mon out of it.

Keep in mind that the mega evolution animation takes about the equivalent of three turns of combat. That adds up quickly, and should be taken into consideration.

I'd like to think that the tier lists don't care either way about animations and the like. If a mon is good, its good regardless of whether animations are on or off, and it should not be a factor in terms of that particular mons strengths or weaknesses.

 

[Gokuzbu]

I think the payoff is well worth waiting for with Gardevoir. It is far above C rank.

 

[Its_A_Random]

Just going to post quickly that "efficiency" in terms of this tier list will be based on time, or how fast can you get through the game in real world time. Just thought I would make a clarification on that, since it is relevant to mega mons.

Also just pointing out that the mega evolution animation does have a shortened version of that animation where it just shows the mon mega evolving and that is it. That is if it was not pointed out already...

 

[Raikaria]

Raikaria great post. To the point and lots of info there. Surprised to see Swanna so high after its very mediocre capabilities in Gen 5 though.

Thank you. I feel Swanna is so high because unlike Gen 5; where it comes rather late [4 badges]; Ducklett comes after the 1st badge, and has some pretty powerful attacks for that point. It's great against Team Flare, and shines in a few battles as well even lategame; unlike B/W, such as Malva. The only point Swanna felt like dead weight on my team was in the Electric Gym. Admittedly it was a pusedo-physical tank, while the rest of my team leaned special; so it was very valuable on my team for taking on powerful physical attackers; so I may have over-valued it a little; but in the same vein; running Feathdance/Roost meant I wasn't running Rain Dance/Hurricane; so I was losing a lot of potential power.

Also just pointing out that the mega evolution animation does have a shortened version of that animation where it just shows the mon mega evolving and that is it. That is if it was not pointed out already...

That still adds up if you're Mega-Evolving every time you use the pokemon. For example; Venusaur not needing to Mega Evolve to OHKO stuff with STAB Petal Dance while Charizard at the same point would probobly have to Mega Evolve for OHKO's due to massive BP differences is a point. Charizard has to wait until 47 for Flamethrower; and it still loses out by 30BP to Petal Dance; 15 levels later. In fact, Charmelon gets Flame Burst, 70BP, at the same time Venusaur gets... Venusaur and Petal Dance. For speeding through the game, Venusaur is noticeably better than Charizard; since Venusaur can output far more damage without Mega Evolveing [And much more even when it does]; for a large period of the game.

This is why I would say Charizard would be A-Tier; while Venusaur would be S. A lack of reliance on Mega Evolution. [That and Razor Leaf/Petal Blizzard butchering Hordes]

Look at past Gen's In-game lists. S-Tier is reserved for pokemon like Scyther in HG/SS; or Mudkip in R/S/E; that are powerhouses throughout the entire game. The S-Tier is also very small. Like the F-Tier is reserved for pokemon that are completely useless.

A lot of the S-suggestions I've seen, like Charizard and Delphox; are not that strong. I've already explained Delphox in my previous post, and hopefully this one explains why Charizard isn't S either. They're A-Tier. Not S. I'm not sure on Honedge; I've not actually used one yet!

Anyway; here's some more; includeing an example of an F-Tier:

Liepard - F; maybe someone can make a case for E. Maybe.
Availability: Available on Route 15; in Y only.
Stats:
64/88/50/88/50/106

Liepard is frail and fast, with passable attacking stats.
Typing: As a pure Dark type, Liepard's typing is not too notable; although it does come shortly before the Psychic Gym.
Movepool: Awful. Liepard is caught between Lv 34 and 36; and as such would have the following movepool:
Fake Out; Hone Claws; Assurance; Slash

That's... awful. And it gets Night Slash at 43. Liepard gets almost no coverage moves, and although it gets Nasty Plot, it gets no special moves at all by leveling up. It gets Play Rough now though! [At Lv 58]

This isn't like Swanna's offense which is saved by powerful moves accessed early like Surf. Liepard's offensive stats are average at best, and it's movepool is awful.

Major Battles:
Olympia - I'd say good, but Liepard probobly isn't OHKO'ing anything here, and is taking massive damage from the coverage moves.
Wulfric - Bad; it's not going to beat anything here.

Team Flare - Awful. It's outclassed by their other Dark-types.

Rival - Loses to everything bar possibly Meowstic

Malva - Gets OHKO'ed by everything except maybe Torkoal, who it can't hurt. Might do some damage to Chandelure.
Wikstrom - Useless
Dransa - Gets OHKO'ed
Seibold - Might be able to hurt Starmie
Diantha - Might beat Goltergheist. Maybe.

Additional Comments: Prankster isn't available in-game since there isn't a Horde. Version exclusivity, arriving late in the game, bad stats and an equally bad movepool makes Liepard completely useless in-game. I was bottom-tier in B/W when it was available instantly [It was so bad I called for it to have it's own tier below bottom called 'Purrloin Tier'!]; it's arguably even worse in X/Y. X certainly got the better side of the deal with Mightyena. [Although you'd probobly use neither]. Why on earth would you use this thing when there's already been pokemon like Absol, Scraggy and Sandile; and Pawniard is nearby?

Combee/Vespiquen: - D Tier; may push into C for a utility in the notes
Availability: Route 4; very common; note Vespiquen requires a female.
Stats:
Combee: 30/30/42/30/42/70
Vespiquen: 70/80/102/80/102/40

Combee is useless. Vespiquen is a slow tank.

Typing: Bug/Flying is a pretty awful typing, leaving Vespiquen weak to many types, and with a nasty x4 weakness to Rock. Unfortunetly; there is a large portion not long after catching Vespiquen with Rock types.

Movepool: Vespiquen's movepool at first seems underwhelming; but in actuality; it is surprisingly good. Vespiquen's movepool gives it several options to take, such as an attacker with Roost or Heal Order; more of a tank with Defend Order; Heal Order and attacking moves; or a wall to hide behind as you potion.

Vespiquen's movepool also carries some potent moves, such as Acrobatics [Rare for Bug/Flying]; Attack Order; Power Gem and even Sludge Bomb for Fairies.

However, Vespiquen lacks good moves for quite a period. Defend Order is move tutor, and Attack Order has been pushed back to Lv 45.

Major Battles:
Grant - Useless due to a x4 weakness
Korrina - Very powerful; as it x4 resists fighting. Flying Press is Nutural, but you should have Heal Order and Toxic by this point.
Ramos - A complete joke for Vespiqen.
Clemont - Not useful.
Valerie - Vespiqen can Toxicstall, but this isn't exactly efficient.
Olympia - Vespqien can rip this gym apart; although it may have difficulty with Siligylph
Wulfric - Not that useful

Team Flare - A mixed bag. Bad against the fire-types and Bats, but beats the Darks.

Rival - Beats Meowstick, Absol and Froakie line.

Malva - Useless
Wikstrom - Useless
Dransa - Bad, since three of her team resist bug.
Seibold - Beats Starmie
Diantha - Beats Goltergheist; Hawulutcha [Spelling], and can even fight with Mega Gardevoir. [Although it may not win]

Additional Comments: Combee comes with Sweet Scent; allowing you to trigger Hordes on demand. Combined with a pokemon which can attack multiple foes at the same time; and this allows you to power level, with or without the EXP.Share; [Bait and Switch]. This utility can greatly speed up training new captures, and is particularly notable when looking for Horde-only encounters as well as in areas with high EXP Hordes, such as Route 8's Zangoose/Serviper Hordes, and Route 12's Tauros/Militank Horde, as well as Victory Road.

Vespiqne's power curve is weird due to it's movepool. Combee starts off useless, then it gets a large power spike upon becoming Vespiquen due to stats and STAB Bug Bite. Then it falls off, only to come back when it gets Attack Order; just in time for Olympia; then it falls off again. [Although this time is due to bad type matchups]

If you are lucky enough to get TM Acrobatics without having to wait for the right question; Vespiquen is far stronger throughout the entire game; due to STAB Acrobatics. This is not taken into account with the tiering, however.

===
I'm currently working on a run where I'll be giving Carbink and Mantine a spin. I'm paricually interested in Mantine, since you catch it as a Mantyke, and therefor it is certain to have 3 perfect IV's.

I'm unsure what else I will be testing at this point; although since I found a Shiny Gulpin, that's likely to get a good run.

 

[Lucchini]

Not sure if I'm happy about this one tier list suddenly becoming one of speedrunning. I do like the option of discussing whether some Pokemon with access to MEvos are better than others without the evos (such as Venusaur/Charmeleon cited above), but not so much because of the time it takes to mega-evolve but rather because you can potentially have a full team of mega Pokemon, so there is some competition going on to be the one.

IMHO since you're not taking damage or putting yourself at risk during the mega-evolution, it shouldnt be punished as 'inefficient'. After all, we did not punish RBY Dig-users for inefficiency because of the move taking two turns (though the competition for the TM was big).

 

[Raikaria]

The problem is in Gen 1:
- Dig was the 2nd best Ground-type attack, Earthquake was also rare and only 1 per game; and late. Movepools in general sucked and any good coverage was great
- There were a lot less pokemon to tier. We have to be quite a bit harsher now with this much variety.

 

[magickmissile]

Bulbasaur/Ivysaur/Venusaur/Mega Venusaur: - S Tier
Availability: Shortly after the 1st badge
Stats:
Bulbasaur: 45/49/49/65/65/45
Ivysaur: 60/62/63/80/80/60
Venusaur: 80/82/83/100/100/80
M.Venusaur: 80/100/123/122/120/80

Venusaur is a slow tank with the ability to unleash solid attacks on both sides of the spectrum, although it leans towards the special side [Except in it's Mega Form; where it's defense is higher physically]

Typing: Grass/Poison isn't the world's greatest typing; but it's solid. Gets a lot stronger with Thick Fat.

Movepool: Venusaur's movepool isn't wide, but it is exceptionally useful. Due to early access to PoisionPowder and Venoshock, Bulbsaur/Ivysaur almost immediately gets a Base 65 STAB; which becomes a Base 130 STAB on a poisoned target. This is simply unmatched power in the early game, as the only other pokemon capable of STAB Boosted Venoshock at this point have far less sp.atk [Gulpin and Beedrill. Roselia is unlikely to be obtained without grinding for happiness at this point.]

When it comes to Grass STAB there are 3 main options, Petal Dance; Grass Pledge and Petal Blizzard.


Major Battles:
Grant - Can deal with Amaura; but will lose to Tyrunt
Korrina - Depends if it has evolved or not. Evolved, it can rip through the gym. Unevolved; it's still solid, but probobly won't sweep. Featherdance is great here
Ramos - Sweeps
Clemont - Very strong. Can sweep if it has Bulldoze.
Valerie - Venoshock
Olympia - Can beat Slowking
Wulfric - Can MegaEvolve and win.

Team Flare - Poor, due to weakness to fire.

Rival - Average; and sytarter-dependant.

Malva - Has to sit out
Wikstrom - Sits out, unless it knows Earthquake/Bulldoze
Dransa - Not useless, as it can get off Venoshocks.
Seibold - Sweeps
Diantha - Not that useful in this fight, unfortunetly. Usefulness varies based on moveset, from 'Useless' to 'Can possibly beat one or two'.

Additional Comments: This thing is stupid. I'd actually say it's better than Squirtle and Charmander, simply because of the raw power behind it's STAB moves early. Having STAB Venoshock and the means to trigger it's boost before it even evolves is just stupid. And Petal Dance isn't much better.

My Venusaur literally never even got down to red HP at any point in the game

Also, Razor Leaf for murdering early hordes to powerlevel, and Petal Blizzard for later ones.

PoisonPowder + Venoshock takes two turns (same as using Venoshock twice) and requires the use of a fairly inaccurate move on the first turn. I'm not sure how efficient that is, since now it's more like a Solar Beam that misses a lot. I guess you get the poison damage, but you're giving up another move slot for a poison move instead of something like Sleep Powder or Stun Spore. Grass/Poison coverage is pretty eh, and doesn't hit a whole lot SE, so you'll want Bulldoze too (Ground is its only real coverage outside STAB). It doesn't get Dig, so you're using Bulldoze until Earthquake, which comes right before the E4. You're also using Venoshock until Sludge Bomb, which isn't available until after the seventh gym. These are coming off a base 83 attack and base 100 SpA, which isn't great (Mega is better, but it looks like the consensus is moving toward penalizing things that need to go Mega). Petal Dance by level 32 IS pretty great, but Grass is resisted by so much that you'll be stuck using underpowered coverage moves a lot. I'm not saying it's bad, I'd consider it an A based on my own experience just for the raw power of Petal Dance and the usefulness of putting things to sleep. I can't see it as S, though.

 

[Raikaria]

True, Poison Powder isn't perfectly accurate, but for that early in the game when it's rare to even see 60BP it's insane to have BP65 STAB with the potential to be a BP130 + Poison Damage

And then you can throw on options like Return, and Sleep Powder.

There's not much that Venusaur can't take on with Petal Dance in the midgame period. The gyms in that period are either weak to Poison anyway; or Neutral to Petal Dance and can't withstand it.

It's certainly a lot better than Charizard being stuck with Flame Burst until Lv 47; yet people are saying that's S-tier when it has to Mega-Evolve to OHKO almost anything that's not SE. Venusaur OHKO's most neutral hits with Petal Dance without Mega Evolveing.

Mega Evolution is only a slight factor anyway. But it does slow things down seeing the animation every time, and you can't skip it; so it is a downside to efficiency hen you have to Megaevo every fight.

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

PoisonPowder + Venoshock takes two turns (same as using Venoshock twice) and requires the use of a fairly inaccurate move on the first turn. I'm not sure how efficient that is, since now it's more like a Solar Beam that misses a lot. I guess you get the poison damage, but you're giving up another move slot for a poison move instead of something like Sleep Powder or Stun Spore. Grass/Poison coverage is pretty eh, and doesn't hit a whole lot SE, so you'll want Bulldoze too (Ground is its only real coverage outside STAB). It doesn't get Dig, so you're using Bulldoze until Earthquake, which comes right before the E4. You're also using Venoshock until Sludge Bomb, which isn't available until after the seventh gym. These are coming off a base 83 attack and base 100 SpA, which isn't great (Mega is better, but it looks like the consensus is moving toward penalizing things that need to go Mega). Petal Dance by level 32 IS pretty great, but Grass is resisted by so much that you'll be stuck using underpowered coverage moves a lot. I'm not saying it's bad, I'd consider it an A based on my own experience just for the raw power of Petal Dance and the usefulness of putting things to sleep. I can't see it as S, though.

I disagree with most of this statement. I used Toxic+Venoshock Venusaur for a while (until I dropped Venusaur from my lineup) and the thing is Venoshock from Mega Saur is stupidly strong. It never failed to OHKO its target. You seriously underestimate the power Venusaur has if you think it needs another coverage move because the only thing it's failing to hit neutrally with its coverage is Steel, and everything else Venusaur can outright kill, while also tanking anything that hits it with ease. Saying that you give up Sleep Powder and Stun Spore isn't really relevant because my opinion Poison is always the best powder for in game purposes, as the residual damage let's you wear down big opponents who could otherwise trouble you (with Sleep being second for Pokemon catching purposes and Paralysis being a terrible choice almost always). There really aren't that many things that resist grass in the main line of games which means that Seed Bomb / Razor Leaf / Petal Dance is more often than not a legitimate option, and Venoshock is resisted by even less, particularly with Fairies in the mix where you might not even need to Poison them.

 

[Raikaria]

Not to mention Steel is handled by Bulldoze; so Venusaur is only not hitting Levitating steels or Skarmory for Neutral with three moves.

I've got more to write up later; including my own opinions on some previously discussed pokemon.

 

[CBManBearPig]

Name: Scraggy - B Tier
Availability: After the 1st gym on Route 5 in Hordes (Uncommon)
Stats: Excellent attack right off the bat, above average defenses, but low speed.
Typing: Exceptional coverage with STAB attacks, resisted only by Fairy types. But its typing, while granting it resistances to types such as Rock and Psychic, curses it with weaknesses to Fighting, Flying, and a 4x weakness to the new Fairy type attacks, which are more common than Scraggy might like.
Movepool: Learns Brick Break and Payback, two useful STAB moves, relatively early, at level 20 and 23, respectively. These attacks should serve it well until it learns Hi Jump Kick at level 31 and Crunch at level 38, right before it evolves. Afterwards, it does not learn any exceptionally worthwhile moves, including TMs, other than Rock Slide, which is a TM acquired late in the game. HM-wise, Scraggy learns Strength and Rock Smash.
Major Battles:
- Gym #2 - Grant (Rock): Very useful. Brick Break will wreck the gym, especially Grant's Amaura.
- Gym #3 - Korrina (Fighting): Weak. All of Korrina's pokemon can hit Scraggy super-effectively, while Scraggy can not do much in return.
- Gym #4 - Ramos (Grass): Average. Ramos' Jumpluff and Weepinbell resist Brick Break while Payback does average damage.
- Gym #5 - Clemont (Electric): Useful. While it is ineffective against his Emolga, Magneton and Heliolisk are hit quite hard by Hi Jump Kick.
- Gym #6 - Valerie (Fairy): Awful. Scraggy can't deal any major damage while any Fairy-type attack will severely wound if not 1HKO him.
- Gym #7 - Olympia (Psychic): Useful. Scraggy should be evolved by now, and while Scrafty is beaten by her Sigilyph, Slowking and Meowstic take massive damage from Crunch.
- Gym #8 - Wulfric (Ice): Very Useful. Hi Jump Kick murders Wulfric's entire team.
- Elite Four #1 - Malva (Fire): Useful. His Pyroar and Chandelure are hit hard by Hi Jump Kick and Crunch, respectively, but Talonflame can beat Scrafty easily.
- Elite Four #2 - Wikstrom (Steel): Useful. While Scrafty must be careful around Klefki and to a lesser extent Scizor, his STAB attacks pack a wallop Probopass and Aegislash
- Elite Four #3 - Drasma (Dragon): Weak. 3/4 of Drasma's pokemon resist Hi Jump Kick while Crunch does only average damage.
- Elite Four #4 - Siebold (Water): Useful. Barbaracle and Starmie lose to Scrafty's STABs, but Gyarados and Clawitzer can deal some hefty damage to him.
- Champion - Diatha: Useful. Scrafty lays down some serious hurt on Tyrantrum, Aurorus, and Gorgeist, however, Scrafty loses badly to Hawlucha and Gardevoir.
Additional Comments: Moxie is a fantastic ability and Scraggy/Scrafty pulls it off well, especially during fights where he has a type advantage. Also, Scraggy levels up relatively quickly. He evolves sort of late at level 39. Overall, Scraggy is useful more often than not and its STABs pack a punch, but its weaknesses haunt him more often than you might think.

 

[Majestic Electric]

Fennekin (Delphox) = A-Tier

Availability: Starter Pokemon / If the player chose Froakie, Shauna will give you an Egg post-game.

-Typing: With the addition of Fairy-types, Fire mons have become more useful. Being able to resist Fairy moves is very nice, and as it evolves, Fennekin gets better. When it evolves into Delphox, it becomes Fire / Psychic (Hell yeah! No more Fire / Fighting!). Being weak to Water, Dark, Ghost, Rock, and Ground is a letdown, though.

-Stats:
Just like the Fire starters of old, Fennekin and its evos have fairly well-rounded stats, especially on the special side. It's fairly fast and makes for pretty good special sweeper.

-Movepool: Fennekin's movepool consists mostly of offensive Fire and Psychic attacks and support moves like Will-O-Wisp. It has its first Fire-type attack as soon as you get it, and it has access to Grass Knot as well.

-Major Battles: Fennekin is fairly strong against nearly all the Gym Leaders, with the only one really giving it trouble being Gym #2 (Rock). Team Flare's mons are mostly Poison or Dark-types, so Fennekin can easily dismantle them due to its fairly high speed. Fennekin can also single-handedly take out the Steel user of the E4 but it can't do too much to the other three unfortunately.

-Other: Magician is an interesting ability, but it seems more like a gimmick than anything else. Blaze (like all Fire starters) is pretty useful if your in a bind and need some more 'oompf.

 

[Raikaria]

Note: This one will focus mainly on why Charizard isn't S like people have suggested. If his Mega Forms were not so powerful; especially late; I'd even have suggested B. Also, remember this comes at the cost of Venusaur and Blastoise.

Charmander/Charmelon/Charizard/Charizard X: - A Tier

Charmander/Charmeleon/Charizard/Charizard Y: - A Tier
Availability: Gift from Professor Sycamore
Stats:

Charmander: 39/52/43/60/50/65
Charmeleon: 58/64/58/80/65/80
Charizard: 78/84/78/109/85/100
[Estimated]
MegaCharizard X: 78/130/111/130/85/100
MegaCharizard Y: 78/104/78/159/115/100

Charizard is a fast special attacker with acceptable bulk and physical attack. MegaCharizardX changes into a mixed attacker, with good physical bulk, while MegaCharizardY focuses more on the special side, both on offense and defense.

Typing: Pure Fire is a pretty good typing, both on the offense, and above average on defense with the addition of Fairy. Fire/Flying is actually somewhat redundant on the offense, only gaining coverage on Fighting-types, and some navigation around types Charizard shouldn't be fighting in the first place, and arguably is worse than pure fire on defense, due to Thunderbolts and random Rock moves being a lot more common than random ground attacks. Fire/Dragon is exceptional offensively; and solid on the defense, although being weak to Rock, Ground, Dragon and Fairy is pretty dangerous.

Movepool: By level-up, Charizard's movepool is pretty poor; bordering on awful. Until Lv 28, Charmeleon has to make do with Ember and Dragon Rage; which doesn't scratch fairies and quickly falls off, especially with evolved wilds. [Lv 17 is pushing it for OHKO'ing anything with Dragon Rage]. At Lv 28, it learns Fire Fang, which is not much better than Ember due to running off Charmeleon's lower Atk stat. It takes until Lv 32 for Charmeleon to learn an acceptable special STAB; in Flame Burst; at the same time Venusaur gets Petal Dance; and Blastoise would have Surf; making Charmeleon a lot weaker than his counterparts mid-game.

It takes until Lv 47 for Charizard to learn Flamethrower; after which there is nothing of note. However, Charizard has a good TM pool, and when reaching the move re-learner, has access to Flare Blitz; Heat Wave; Air Slash and Dragon Claw, a potential massive power spike for either Charizard lategame.

Major Battles:
Grant - Has minor use due to Dragon Rage.
Korrina - Poor. Hawlucha can use Rock Tomb [Although I'm not 100% if this one knows it; I recall several in-game which did], and Charmelon lacks any good attacks at this point, so gets out-muscled.
Ramos - Destroys the Gym.
Clemont - Poor; due to weakness to Electric. Charizard X fares better due to Dragon-typing; however.
Valerie - Charizard Y outperforms X here; but both are average at best due to movepool issues; despite resistance to Fairy.
Olympia - Average
Wulfric - Rips apart

Team Flare - Fairly bad; due to bad movepool most of the game, on top of coverage mainly being Shadow Claw and Fire/Normal until the final showdowns.

Rival - Acceptable. Great if they pack Chesnaught

Malva - Poor; Charizard Y is an outright handicap.
Wikstrom - Sweeps
Dransa - Charizard X gets killed. Charizard Y/Base can't do much
Seibold - Keep away from him. Charizard X may get some work done with Dragon Claws, however.
Diantha - Charizard Y can do major work here. Charizard X is weaker, however, and will get OHKO'ed by Mega Gardevoir.

Additional Comments: Taking Charizard likely means that you've not taken Fennekin; who is probobly the best Kalos starter. Charizard is very powerful lategame; but is awful in the midgame; and becomes heavily reliant on his Mega Evolution to keep up with what Blastoise and Venusaur can do with their much, much better STAB moves. Charizard realy shines in the lategame; however; when his movepool issues vanish thanks to the Move Re-learner. This is the main reason why Charizard is A Tier. It has a lot of power Mega-Evolved, but has to do so literally every battle; slowing things down a lot. Plus Y's Drought animation; and the fact X will mainly be using the 2-turn Fly or the weak Fire Fang for the Tough Claws bonus most of the game.

Honestly if you could skip Mega Evolution's animation, I might consider putting him at S simply for the sheer stats of the MegaEvos addressing movepool issues without slowing down combat; but that's not the case.

As a note; Charizard without his Mega Evolutions would be B-Tier. He is a lot better for them; as they address his midgame movepool. Seriously; his movepool is just awful in the midgame.

Inkay/Malamar: B Tier
Availability: Route 8 is the soonest
Stats:

[Estimated]
Inkay: 53/54/53/37/46/45
Malamar: 86/92/88/68/75/73

Inkay and Malamar are both somewhat bulky physical attackers

Typing: Psychic/Dark is a very strange typing. It carries 2 weaknesses, to Fairy and to Bug [x4], and 1 immunity to Psychic, and nothing else. However, it is a brilliant offensive type, especiaslly with Steel no longer resisting Dark; making Psychic/Dark a STAB combination only resisted by other Dark-types [And this gets fixed later]

Movepool: Inkay's movepool saves it from the relative average-ness of it's stats. It comes out of the box with Foul Play; a BP 95 STAB; which uses the opponent's attack stat. Inkay can easily keep this move for the whole game, especially as it gets perfect coverage with only three attacks anyway; and it is obscenely powerful for the earlygame. This move can also be used in tandem with Swagger; which doubles the opponent's attack stat and causes confusion; this giving them only a 50/50 chance to hit you, while Foul Play's damage is doubled. Psywave; while unreliable; is a good option against defensively inclined pokemon ealrygame that Foul Play+Swagger would not be too powerful against.

This is the basis of Inkay's movepool for a while; although one may elect to pick up Hypnosis or Psybeam. Payback is an entirely optional move, and can be taught viva TM before you would likely learn it by level anyway. Inkay also learns the screens; lessening it's bulk issues.

Inkay is interesting in that fact that it does not slowdown learning moves after evolution. In addittion not too long after evolution; at Lv 39; Malamar learns Psycho Cut; giving it a physical Psychic STAB. Night Slash comes at 46; giving Malamar another option for a STAB; if it wants to use it's own attack stat but not re reliant on going 2nd.

However; the real kicker is at Lv 48 [Or the Re-learner]; when Malamar learns Superpower. Not only does this give Malamar a BP 120 attack to hit the only type the resists it's STAB combination; but Malamar can have the ability Contrary, so Superpower increases it's stats instead of decreasing.

Overall, Inkay starts out with an incredibly powerful STAB that can carry it through to it's lategame moves with ease; despite not learning too many good attacks in the middle. Due to having perfect coverage with three attacks, Inkay is also free to run a support move; such as Reflect; Light Screen; Swagger or Hypnosis.

Did I mention it has a wide special movepool; like Thunderbolt and Flamethrower that it can use to fill the 4th slot?

Major Battles:
Grant - If picked up below Lv 15; Reflect is very useful here. Foul Play wrecks Tyrunt.
Korrina - Can deal good damage with STAB Psybeams. Can use Topsy-Turvy to mess with Power-Up Punch. Reflect again is a godsend if caught with it.
Ramos - Psybeam beats Weepingbel. Foul Play can handle Gogoat. Jumpluff is better left to something else.
Clemont - Average; struggles against Magneton.
Valerie - The only boss battle in the game Malamar has to sit out
Olympia - Absolutely destroys. Why doesn't she have a Malamar as her ace; by the way; hen you have to fight a Meowstic to get in anyway?!
Wulfric - Superpower sweep; by the time Avullug is out you're already too strong.

Team Flare - Can't hurt Dark-types without Superpower or Return. Good against everything else they run; especially as it leans physical.

Rival - Destroys Meowstic, can handle Absol with Foul Play; beats 2/3 starters; beats Flareon with ease and does OK against the other Eevees, but Altaria isn't a puhsover.

Malva - Acceptable. Can OHKO Chandelure.
Wikstrom - Sweeps with Superpower, Ageislash gets Foul Play'ed or Dark STAB of choice.
Dransa - Can beat the seahorse and Druggidon
Seibold - Destroys Starmie; can deal with Gyarados and Barbuncle.
Diantha - Tyrantum is destroyed, as is Hawlucha and Goltergheist. It can put up a fight against Goodra and Aurourus, but cannot fight Mega Gardevoir.

Additional Comments: Contrary is the superior ability, but Malamar is still decent even without it, just Swagger+Foul Play everything.

 

[skies]

Pancham: B - Tier
Availability: Before visiting Parfum Palace. Uncommon.
Stats: Pancham has a stupidly high base Attack of 82, which is huge, as it is caught at Level 10. It also has relatively good HP and Defense. Its other stats are lacking, especially it's Speed.
Typing: Pancham's Fighting typing is great, as there is only one Psychic trainer, and only one Fairy specialist. THere are no Flying Specialties it must struggle with.``
Movepool: Its movepool is great! It learns very many Fighting STAB moves through level up, while also learning a great move relatively soon after it evolves: Parting Shot. It is just as useful in-game to cripple an important Pokemon.
Major Battles: (GREAT!) (Good) (Neutral) (Bad) (horrible) [EXPLANATION]
Santalune City (Unavailable)
Grant [Both of Grant's Pokemon are weak to Fighting and are easily OHKOed]
Korrina [It can take on Mienfoo and Machoke decently well, but Hawlucha really murders it]
Ramos [It is utterly destroyed by Jumpluff, but it does decently against Gogoat, and being neutral with Weepinbell]
Clemont [Emolga really gives it problems, but when it is out of the way you can pretty much sweep him]
Valerie [By now it should be evolved, making it 4x weak to Fairy, it will get murdered by the Gym]
Olympia [It really only needs to worry about Air Slash from Sigilyph, but other than that it can handle the Gym thanks to it's Dark-typing]
Wulfric [By now it will probably know Hammer Arm, meaning gg to Wulfric]

Malva [It can take on Pyroar and Torkoal relatively well, but it gets destroyed by Chandelure and Talonflame]
Wikstrom [Despite being Steel-Type, it handles Pangoro very well. Scizor and Klefki take it on, but Aegislash and Probopass will both fall]
Drasna [This battle is pretty meh. It is neutral against all the other Pokemon bar Altaria, while they all just kind of battle it out until we have a winner]
Siebold [Clawitzer, Gyarados, and Barbaracle give it trouble, despite the latter's weaknesses. It all depends on if you have some investment to allow it to survive]

Diantha [It can easily take on Gourgeist, Auororus, Tyrantrum, and Goodra, but Hawlucha will murder it and it stands 0 chance against Gardevoir]

Additional Comments: It gets two great abilities. Other than that there isn't much that needs to be said.

 

[sickweare]

I'm going to try another useful member of my team.

Nidoking: B-tier
Availability: Early-Mid, before the third gym (Uncommon on Route 11) as Nidorino; Horde battles on Route 11 (as Nidoran M)
Stats: 81/102/77/85/75/85
It's a good physical attacker, especially with the upgraded attack, with the ability to go mixed. It has useful speed in-game.
Typing: Poison/Ground which is rather good on both the offensive and defensive. It has good STABs to take down fairies, grass, steel, fire, rock, electric, and poison types, and resists many common attacks including the fairies running around.
Movepool: Absolutely fantastic. It has access to poison jab and bulldoze via TM rather early (although Nidorino will have to wait for a moon stone to learn Bulldoze). As Nidoking, it learns many coverage TMs you get in-game including Rock Tomb, Power-Up Punch, and Thunderbolt. It can serve as an excellent HM slave should you want one as it learns Surf, Strength, Rock Smash, and Cut (okay I know Rock Smash isn't an HM but still). Its level up movepool as Nidorino is pretty dreadful, and Nidoking only learns Earth Power and Megahorn via level-up, Megahorn providing rather bland coverage when you have access to such a variety of TMs. Earthquake comes very late in the game, so unless you want to go out of your way for that, you can stick with Earth Power.

Nidoking truly shines at learning a wide variety of moves in-game and using them strongly with good offensive stats.

Major Battles: Nidoking is useful in many battles, but especially depending on what TMs you teach him.
Korrina: He does okay as he resists the fighting type attacks, but as a Nidorino he isn't exactly up to par when it comes to attacking
Ramos: He does excellent, as he destroys the grass types with Posion Jab
Clemont: He does exceptional, destroying Magneton and Heliolisk with Bulldoze, but Emolga may be annoying to take down
Valerie: He does excellent once again, as his poison attacks will destroy Sylveon and Mr. Mime, and his ground attacks will take care of Mawile. He must be wary of Mr. Mime being rather fast, though, and Intimidate from Mawile is annoying.
Olypmia: He does poorly, not being able to do well against any of her Pokemon.
Wulfric: He can take care of Abomasnow, but will struggle with the other two (unless he has flamethrower for Avalugg)

Team Flare: He does well against them, besides the bats.
Lysandre: Average. He can take on Gyarados and Honchkrow if you have Thunderbolt. Otherwise he's only really useful for Pyroar.

Malva: Can KO all but Talonflame with Earthquake (if you have it) or Surf (as long as you don't have Rivalry)
Wilkstrom: Destroys his team outside of Scizor (unless you run flamethrower)
Dracona: Can take on Dragalge with EQ, but that's about it, unless you taught it Ice Beam
Siebold: Does poorly

Champion: Does very well with his STABs, taking on Tyrantrum, Auroros, and Gardevoir (you will likely outspeed it but be wary)

Additional Comments: It requires some babying as a Nidorino, and has a rather poor level-up movepool, but Nidoking is still as solid as ever, and deserves a spot on your team if its great Poison/Ground typing and expansive TM/HM movepool is appealing to you. Also, Poison Point is way better than Rivalry, however if you can get Nidoran M in a horde there is a small chance it will have its DW ability Sheer Force.

 

[Steamroll]

Torchic: A-tier

Availability: Gift via special event w/ Blazikenite item, requires internet connection.

Stats: (Normal) 80/120/70/110/70/80 (Mega) 80/160/80/130/80/100
Torchic/Combusken/Blaziken are incredibly strong mixed attacking pokemon with middling speed. Mega Blaziken is just overkill, and with its monster Attack stat basically anything it touches will be knocked out if it isn't a resisted hit.

Typing: Fire is an average offensive type early in the game, where the only benefits are that it'll crush Bug and Grass-types. With the acquiring of Fighting-type upon evolution Combusken/Blaziken can really come out to shine, with Fire/Fighting moves giving great coverage against Steel, Rock, Ice, and Dark. Defensively this pokemon should stay away from Water, Flying, and Psychic, and Ghost-types, but its STAB coverage means that most pokemon can be handled with the other STAB attack in most cases. Another important note is that Blaziken takes a neutral hit from Fairy-type moves, which can come in handy in case the rest of the team is not fit to take on Fairies.

Movepool: Torchic's movepool is rather dense early game, only having Ember to rely on, but it really develops well later on in the game. Learning Double Kick and having access to moves like Flame Charge, Shadow Claw, Power-Up Punch, and Return mean that Combusken and in a sense Blaziken can get along fine on its TM movepool until you get to the move relearner. This is where Blaziken comes to take the throne of overkill in XY, where it will be able to learn Flare Blitz and High Jump Kick. With these two incredibly powerful moves coupled with Shadow Claw every type combination is covered neutrally, and the fourth slot is just a move of choice depending on what you prefer. Blaziken also can learn Brave Bird, Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Protect and a few other decent moves, but with the previous 3 moves Blaziken doesn't have much need for the others. Having Flamethrower, Flame Charge, or Fire Blast will help so that Blaziken doesn't suicide spamming Flare Blitz, especially in its Mega forme.

Major Battles:
Gym leaders:
-Viola: Easy fight, Ember spam at will and this fight should be in the bag.
-Grant: Stay away from Tyrunt, Amaura should be handled well with Double Kick / Ember / other STAB moves you may have taught it.
-Korrina: This is a challenge for Combusken, as Hawlucha and Machoke each have methods of dealing with it (Flying Press and Rock Tomb, respectively) while Combusken's best attack is its STAB, since Peck is pathetically weak without STAB. It would be best to use other mons in this fight.
-Ramos: Have fun, Combusken should have this fight easy with its Fire attacks. With the EXP Share mechanics if you've evolved it into Blaziken, it'll be an absolute slaughter.
-Clemont: Emolga may pose a problem with its speed, but Magneton and Helioisk should be easily handled with a Super-Effective attack.
-Valerie: Mawile should be easily dispatched with a Flare Blitz (if you relearned it). Mr. Mime will pose a problem since it does pack Psychic, but if you run Shadow Claw you should outspeed and knock it out. Sylveon should be dispatched with another Flare Blitz, but be careful for its powerful Dazzling Gleam.
-Olympia: Blaziken should stay away from this fight. Its only means to hit her pokemon hard is Shadow Claw, and Sigilyph and Meowstic outspeed Blaziken without a boost. Slowking will be able to live Shadow Claw, and Sigilyph can also if it does not crit.
-Wulfric: All Ice-types, pick a Fire move or High Jump Kick and have a ball. Probably the most threatening thing about this fight is that Blaziken can suicide if Flare Blitz is used, and Avalugg will easily KO back if it lives Blaziken's physical attacks.

Elite Four:
-Malva: Handles Chandelure with Shadow Claw and can knock out Pyroar with a Fighting move. Stay away from Talonflame.
-Wilkstrom: Have fun, Blaziken's STAB attacks will easily dispatch all of Wilkstrom's pokemon.
-Drasna: Stay away from this fight, Blaziken's STABs are resisted and all her pokemon will dispatch Blaziken quickly.
-Siebold: Stay away from this fight, Clauncher, Starmie, and Gyarados will make quick work of Blaziken. Barbacle is really the only pokemon Blaziken can take on with its Fighting moves.
-Champion Diantha: Avoid Hawlucha due to Flying Press, Goodra because Goodra, and Gardevoir because it will Mega evolve and will kill with Psychic. Tyrantrum, Aurorus, and Gourgeist should be handled easily with Blaziken's STABs, but care should be taken against Tyrantrum due to its Rock STAB attacks.

Rival / Friends:
-Serena/Calem: Meowstic will outspeed at first, so packing Protect for this fight will be best. After Meowstic is taken care of the rest of her pokemon are easily beatable. Fenniken and its evolution will be the most challenging unless Blaziken has Shadow Claw.
-Tierno, Trevor, and Shauna: Shauna's starter (if it isn't Chespin), and Trevor's Talonflame will be the most threatening opponents to face. Tierno can be handled with good move selection and Shauna's Goodra should go down to a neutral physical hit (cough... HJK).

Team Flare:
-Admins: Considering they never have more than 2 pokemon on them and that they are mostly Fire-types, Blaziken will have no issue with them as long as it sticks away from its Fire attacks.
-Lysandre: Crazy bastard that he is, Blaziken should not have much trouble fighting him. Mienshao uses Bounce, and Blaziken has no available means to take care of normal Gyarados bar Rock Tomb of all moves. Mega Gyarados, however can be dispatched easily with a High Jump Kick even if Blaziken's attack has been lowered due to Intimidate. If you Mega-evo Blaziken it should be even easier to take care of all his pokemon bar Mienshao due to the aforementioned Bounce.

Other trainers:
-Sycamore: Stay away from Squirtle/Blastoise and Charmander/Charizard. Bulbasaur/Venusaur will be dispatched with a strong Fire attack.
-AZ: Stay away from this fight. Blaziken will be knocked out by Torkoal, Golurk, and Sigilyph with their STAB attacks, and Blaziken's only respectable means to fight them is Shadow Claw

Additional Comments: Since Torchic is a gift pokemon it will be registered under Nintendo's Trainer ID 'XY.' This means that Torchic will have a much faster growth rate compared to pokemon caught in the game. Torchic has access to Speed Boost thanks to the event, which remidies Torchic/Blaziken's middling speed stat. If you are still worried about faster pokemon, using Protect in one of the four moveslots will remove any worries (TM17 is given out fairly early in the game).

 

[Stellar]

First post says that we aren't tiering Torchic, so not sure how useful that post is going to be...

 

[Lou Cypher]

Aerodactyl: A Tier

Availability: Rock Smash rocks in Glittering Cave until you find Old Amber. Aerodactylite given to you directly after.

Stats:
Normal: 80/105/65/60/75/130
Mega: 80/135/85/70/95/150
It's a blisteringly fast physical attacker, and it's stats show for it. By having access to an early-game Mega Evolution, it becomes even more physically powerful, with contact moves recieving extra juice with its new ability.

Typing: Aerodactyl's problem has never really been its typing. In-Game, Rock/Flying is more then decent enough, having an immunity, 4 resistances of which normal is very common in-game, and 4 weaknesses, most of which can be covered through its movepool. It's defenses however aren't the best - they're serviceable at best, so keep it away from stuff that can hit its weakness and has the defenses to toughen out its attacks. Upon mega-evolution it does become a good deal bulkier, but it's still not a tank by any stretch of the imagination.

Movepool: Mixed bag. After the second gym you get Rock Tomb as a good STAB, and after Shalour City Fly awaits which has enough power to carry you as a main attack, but it lacks any truly powerful attacks until later. It can however patch its flaws with various other moves, it'll get Crunch, Iron Head, Bulldoze, Aerial Ace and the Elemental Fangs throughout the journey either through TM, natural level up or move relearner, but Rock Slide and Earthquake have to wait until much later. A lack of 100% accuracy STAB moves with more then 60 power is also not the best. It packs enough power to cope with that, though.

MAJOR BATTLES:
Grant: At this point in the game, Aerodactyl lacks a strong move. He can pick off his weakened Pokemon no troubles, but don't rely on him.
Korrina: Snag up the Aerial Ace TM in Connecting Cave and suddenly Aerodactyl breezes through.
Ramos: Fly, Fly, Fly, oh, I'm done already?
Clemont: Emolga can't handle Rock Tomb very well, and the others will fall to Bulldoze. However, Magneton has Sturdy and is likely to retaliate with an OHKO. Aerodactyl can take a hit from Emolga, so the others he can win. Not the safest bet though.
Valerie: A neutral battle, this. Aerodactyl has the initiative, so it's likely to at least give you a quick advantage.
Olympia: He has Crunch, which gets Tough Claws boosted, making him a potent weapon against her. Outruns all her Pokes and utterly destroys them.
Wulfric: As long as Rock Tomb decides to not miss, this is a breeze. If it does miss, Aerodactyl becomes a popsicle.

Elite Four:
Malva gets hit by Earthquakes and Rock Slides all day long. If you Mega Evolve, she stands no chance at all. Torkoal might survive a hit but unless it gets lucky, it won't do enough in return to be troubling.
Wilkstrom has high defenses, so this is not Aero's day. However, much like the Valerie fight, Aerodactyl can easily come in and nab a kill, so he does his part there.
Drasna's Pokemon are not particulary strong. Altaria is Aero fodder and Dragalge will fall to an Earthquake, but Druddigon is a surprisingly tough cookie and Noivern MIGHT outspeed (though, if you mega evolved, that's no issue). In general, this battle favors Aerodactyl.
Siebold can terrorize Aerodactyl, but he can act as a safeguard here against Gyarados with a well timed Rock Slide. Best to keep him away though.

Diantha's Hawlucha will fall to your Flying STAB. Tyrantrum can't handle Earthquake very well, and Aurorus falls to a Rock move, or Iron head, if you have it. Gourgeist also falls to a Fly. Goodra is a threat and you might want to switch to something else. Gardevoir really doesn't handle a Mega-Iron Head. At all.

Rival:
Calem/Serena: Meowstick hates Crunch. Absol has poor defenses and will lose to Aerodactyl. Jolteon and Flareon are both trumped, avoid Vaporeon. Same goes for the starters, Aero will beat Delphox and Chesnaught, but will fall to Greninja. Altaria is Rock fodder as always, and Clefable falls to Iron Head. Easy.

Team Flare:
A good chunk of Team Flare's pokemon is handled really well by Aerodactyl. Barring misses, Aerodactyl can take all of them on mano-a-mano and win without much issues. If you lack Bulldoze however, the Manectrics might pose a bit of a threat. But even then...
Lysandre, however, is a slightly different story. Pyroar, Mienshao and Honchkrow are all Aerodactyl-weak, sure (It's hilarious to see Mienshao high jump kick while Aerodactyl flies), but Gyarados is Gyarados which makes a 1-ptero-sweet a bit of a tall order.

Sycamore: Much the same as with your rival. Hit Zard and Saur with Rock/Flying respectively, stay away from Blastoise. Nothing new there.
AZ: Honestly, at this point your levels should trump him so much, Aerodactyl should one-shot his entire team.

All in all, using Aerodactyl will make things rather easy on you. He fills in as your taxi, deals more-then-decent damage, and has just the right movepool to hit what needs be hit. Once you get to the Move Relearner/Deleter, you can make him carry a HM if the situation calls for it until you can delete it again, and you get Iron Head which does deal with a few notable things (Mega Gardevoir being the main one here). Using him feels like cheating against Team Flare.
However, a few things keep him away from S-Tier for me. For one, it can take surprisingly long to find an Old Amber. Two, his early movepool is a bit lacking. Three: ACCURACY. And finally, due to Mega Evolution + Pressure triggering + Fly being a 2-turn-move, he's not going to be the fastest speedrunner. Still, it's hard to find such power and speed combined in the game to begin with, leave alone as early as you do with your pre-2nd-gym-Aerodactyl.

 

[KnightoftheWind]

Haunter (with trading) - A-Tier

-Availability: First encountered on Route 14, on the way to the 6th gym. Rare encounter.
-Typing: Ghost / Poison. Pretty good offensive type, can hit most Pokemon for neutral damage with its STABs alone and is especially good against Psychic-types and Fairy-types. Immunity to three types helps out defensively.
-Stats: Gengar is very fast and very powerful in its standard form. Mega Evolution only accentuates its positive traits.
-Movepool: Learns Shadow Ball at level 33. If it doesn't have Shadow Ball right when you catch it, it doesn't take much training to get it up to level 33. You should have the Venoshock and Thunderbolt TMs by time you first encounter Haunter, and should be taught right away. Later on, you can obtain the TMs for Focus Blast, Sludge Bomb and Dazzling Gleam. Overall, Gengar has amazing type coverage.
-Major Battles: Completely mops the floor with Valerie and Olympia. Decent match-up with Wulfric. Isn't quite so hot against the Elite Four. It can take down select Pokemon like Malva's Chandelure and Wilstrom's Aegislash, but it can't exactly reliably sweep through a team. Diantha can be a pain for Gengar as well. While it can hit Gourgeist and Gardevoir for super-effective damages with both STAB moves, Gourgeist knows Shadow Sneak and Gardevoir's high level and Mega Evolution can leave it to survive an attack and strike back with Psychic, meaning it is risky to use Gengar.
-Other: Right after Route 14 is Lavarre Town, where you can obtain a Gengarite from a Hex Maniac. You do not want to pass up on this Mega Stone. The main reasons why Haunter isn't S-Tier is that you can't one until somewhat late into the game, and it's a rare encounter to boot. Otherwise, you don't want to pass up on one.

 

[Animorph]

Absol - B-Tier

Availability: Route 8 (Third Pokemon in Coastal Kalos Pokedex), relatively easy find

Stats: Absol's another "fast" sweeper, and suffers the opposite problem of Hawlucha - it has massive attack, but medicore speed. This is fixed with the Absolite, but isn't available until post-game.

Typing: Dark type is my favourite type - it boasts an Immunity to Psychic (which I love). However, its defensive typing is terrible. Coupled with the fact that its frail, it relies on priority moves a lot to win fights at times.

Movepool: Amazing. Absol learns SO MANY type coverage moves, its insane. It's got type coverage against everything its weak against because of that.

Major Battles:

Gym Battles
Grant - Risky. Can easily lose due to lack of defenses.
Korrina - KEEP AWAY.
Ramos - Likely sweep, but must watch out for Jumpluff's Acrobatics.
Clemont - Not the best choice (read as: ground type with rock attacks). Still able to beat the team.
Valerie - KEEP AWAY.
Olympia - Easily solos the gym.
Wulfric - At this point, Absol should easily have Sucker Punch, and can easily KO everything but Avalugg.

Elite Four & Champion

Malva - Works well against Chandelure - OK against everything else.
Wikstrom - Great against Aegislash, should watch out against Klefki and Scizor.
Drasna - Pretty good, I guess.
Siebold - Great vs. Starmie, OK against everything else.
Diantha - Should watch out Hawlucha (and to a lesser extent Gardevoir), but should do well agasint everything else.


Team Flare

Not that great, as Team Flare uses almost exclusively dark & poison types.

Rival

Always one-shots enemy Meowstic with its STAB Dark attacks, and can one-shot Delphox without trouble as well.

Additional Comments: What Absol lacks in terms of typing he more than makes up by easily KO'ing entire teams with its ability to and its movepool. It also works great with Hawlucha, making a very solid offensive core. Add Aegislash and you'll have no problems.[/quote]

 

[IOS]

Team Flare

Not that great, as Team Flare uses almost exclusively dark & fire types.

I'm nitpicking, but they use almost exclusively dark & poison types.

I'm curious if you used Swords Dance on either Hawlucha or Absol throughout the game?