[DISCUSSION] Reborn Monotype Viability Rankings

[Revman]

PSA: This topic has been turned into the DISCUSSION topic for the new "Project Reborn Monotype Viability Rankings" topic. So, keep the discussion here. The other topic is where the list will be located now. Thank you all for understanding.

- Vinny

Hello, friends! Whilst playing Reborn with a bunch of my friends over at the Sora League on Pokemon Showdown, some of us decided it would be a good idea for us to do monotype run-throughs. And of course it has been both a challenge AND a heap of fun. Because of my new found love for Monotype running through Pokemon games, I thought it would be a fun idea to do a form of Viability ranking for the Pokemon on each Monotype in Pokemon Reborn! Since I did a run through of Poison, I'll do as much for Poison as I can and of course I will be accepting suggestions for any other Pokemon from any type. As this thread progresses I will more than likely rank Monotypes in Reborn as an entirety to help any aspiring Mono runners for Reborn. This will be mainly community driven and contributed since I won't be able to every single Pokemon for every single type myself, hell I'll be lucky to get all of Poison done myself haha, so I'll need as much help as I can get!

If you are at any point wondering where to catch any of these wonderful Pokemon, you can check out this thread Monotype Pokemon Availability Guide for information on how to obtain them!

Please note that this is NOT a Canon Pokemon Game Monotype analysis/ranking, if you wish to see a Canon Competitive Pokemon Game Monotype viability ranking, please visit Smogon University's forums.

Edit: Due to a few people commenting about it, these rankings will be incorporating mechanics from Episode 15 and 15 alone; this means no breeding from previous Episodes like 12 where breeding partners for certain Pokemon hadn't been taken out.
Also, before you all ask, no I don't expect everyone's Pokemon reviews to be as indepth as mine although it'd definitely be appreciated, I just enjoy getting very technical and indepth with my reviews of Pokemon. Anyone who does submit a review successfully will of course be fully credited! Also please remember that all of these placements and are contestable, with the right amount of evidence, I can be convinced to change a Pokemon's placement based on whether you think it's too good/bad for a certain rank. All Pokemon listed which are of the same type/rank are not listed in any order, for example: if both Blaziken and Ninetales are listed for S Tier Fire but Blaziken comes first on the list, that doesn't inherently make Blaziken a more viable Pokemon.

The meaning of each Rank is as follows:

S Rank:

These Pokemon are unparalleled on a team; bordering on broken-ness for their type, being able to preform whatever role it is the Pokemon is meant to preform with almost 0 downside whether it be Offensively or Defensively. These Pokemon need no support or very little in order for them to slot into your team and can fulfill a ton of roles for your team or one exceptionally well whilst even providing some utility themselves. Comparatively to other Pokemon on their type, there is no other Pokemon which should be used over it. When playing, these Pokemon should definitely be used.

A Rank:

These Pokemon may have qualities similar to S Tier Pokemon but require more support from their team mates due to short comings in stats, abilities, secondary typing or movepool but still have very good offensive or defensive utility. More often than not, these Pokemon should always be considered.

B Rank:

These Pokemon have a few shortcomings which make them not as good as Pokemon from the previous tiers, this means that it may take a turn or two and/or some support from other Pokemon in your party in order for them to truely shine, whilst not bad these Pokemon have flaws which may be problematic for some circumstances.

C Rank:

These Pokemon have flaws which make them not as good as Pokemon from the other tiers above, this may be due to an unfortunate ability, secondary typing, speed/attack stat or movepool. These Pokemon may or may not have a useful niche which can work in a certain circumstance and can offer some useful utility to your team but sacrifices a slot on your team.

D Rank:

These Pokemon in most circumstances are a waste of a Team Slot and are completely outclassed by another Pokemon in its type or are inexplicably crippled by the lack of moves available to it in Reborn. These Pokemon should seldom be considered for a spot on your team.

E Rank:

Complete trash, never useful in any circumstance in which it is legally obtainable and constantly outclassed in every fashion. Do not use.

To suggest a Pokemon for a specific Rank, just comment on this thread or PM me a review of a specific Pokemon which looks something like this:

Ninetales (Fire) for S Rank

Ability: Drought
Moves: Flamethrower/Flame Burst, Extrasensory, Nasty Plot, Dark Pulse/Hex/Will O Wisp/Confuse Ray/Solarbeam/Energy Ball when implemented
Item (If applicable): Heat Rock
Why: Ninetales is a Pokemon which is an absolute must for any Fire team due to its immediate power and the unique ability to change the Weather to Sun upon the switch for 5 or 8 turns depending on whether or not it holds a Heat Rock which powers its Fire Type moves up 1.5x whilst weakening Water moves 0.5x for it and all of its team mates. This move set aims to give Ninetales as much coverage as possible so it can set up and leave massive holes in which ever Pokemon is unlucky enough to face it. Flamethrower is your main move of choice, receiving a nice 1.5x boost in the sun but Flame Burst is also a logical move to use in order to turn fields like Grassy Field and Forrest Fielding into Blazing Terrains for your other Pokemon. Extrasensory is used as basic coverage and helps you hit Pokemon such as Infernape, Blaziken and other threatening Fighting types for Double Damage. Nasty Plot helps set your Special attack up and your last move comes down entirely to what you want for your team. Dark Pulse can be used as further coverage and will help sort any problems Ninetales has against Flash Fire Chandelure, Will O Wisp will cripple physical attacks and Confuse Ray is good for praying for confusion hax. However, upon the implementation of Solarbeam it is HIGHLY recommended that you disregard all other suggested moves for the final slot for it, if Energy Ball is released first then that works as well so Ninetales can handle Water types.

If you wish to reserve a certain Pokemon for a certain type, please comment on this thread or message me personally and I'll add your choice to the list of reserved Pokemon.

Reserved Pokemon:

Fighting: Gallade, Medicham(Sky Runner)

Current release: Episode 15

[kirlial]

This seems like a good thread! I'm in the middle of a grass monotype and some Pokémon definitely shine in it.

I'd say Lilligant is an A rank, I'd say. Moveset: Quiver Dance, Petal Dance, Sleep Powder, Leech Seed.

It's already pretty quick and with a quiver dance it should be able to outspeed most Pokémon. Use a sleep powder and then you have time to get a few more Quiver dances off and leech seed will be able to help it recover damage. With the ability Own Tempo, Petal dance becomes very lethal and if Lilligant has any time to set up then it can sweep through teams. Even before it learns Petal Dance, Giga drain will be a potent alternative too. I only rate it A rank because it doesn't naturally learn any non-grass moves so any type that resists grass will still cause it plenty of trouble, plus it takes a few turns to set up.

Jumpluff's probably a B rank, it's part flying status will make it practically a necessity against any bug types and it learns acrobatics naturally which is very strong. It's most notable stat is it's speed though, so it's a useful support for quickly setting up Leech Seed, Sleep Powder, Poison Powder or Stun Spore, whichever's your preference. It's fully evolved pretty early too, so it'll definitely be good in the earlier parts of the game though it's fragile and I found my Serperior became faster than it too.

That's all for now though I may add more later. I also found Ludicolo useful with it's awkward typing giving it some resistance to Fire and Ice but I see he's already been mentioned with the water monotype. I haven't got to the point in the game for whimiscott and abomasnow but I expect they'll be awesome too.

[Noir]

Please, by all means go right ahead contribute as much as you can! In terms of rankings, moves will be for an ideal cicrumstance regarding every possible move regardless of breeding as long as it's legally possible.

As a note, Pokemon will be ranked on how good they are assuming everything that can be bred/tutored etc is. So Drain Punch Toxicroak would bump him up from being like normally D-C Tier to like a high B or A on Fighting

Normally, I'd disagree with you but the point you made about Archeops being able to mop up Blake and Charlotte is indeed compelling and would make it a logical choice against him. Gonna add him to S now.

By "legally possible", I'm going to assume that breeding from episode 12 is not factored in?

Have some Poison rankings:

Nidoking: S Rank

Ability: Sheer Force

Moves: Earth Power, Sludge Wave, Flamethrower, Surf, Sucker Punch, Shadow Ball, Shadow Claw, Megahorn.

Nidoking sits at S Rank due to Sheer Force alongside a very plentiful movepool that isn't even pre-episode 13 reliant to breed with. If factored into the equation, it would have a lot of viable moves to go with. With Life Orb now accessible, Nidoking can boast the benefit of dealing 30% more damage without the recoil. Although it has more of an attack inclined movepool, going Special Attacking is the general way of playing the Poison type, although mixed sets are always welcome. Sucker Punch is also great against faster opponents. It's offensive prowess really lacks drawbacks, and if you really want something that can wreck things, Nidoking and it's nearly unresisted dual STAB combination can help you out tons.

Dragalge: A- Rank

Ability: Adaptability

Moves: Dragon Pulse, Hydro Pump, Sludge Wave, Hidden Power Ground/Fire/Fighting, Surf, Sludge Bomb.

There's aren't a lot of good Poison types out there, so Dragalge is a pretty fortunate case. The Poison Dragon stands out in that it can both be a defensive pivot and an offensive force courtesy of it's pretty solid movepool that isn't heavily TM reliant and Adapability. The extra boost helps a lot with it's Dual STAB being Dragon Pulse and Sludge Bomb/Sludge Wave (the latter is recommended for spread damage, but some perhaps use Sludge Bomb for the Poison chance), and it has options such as Hidden Power of choice and Hydro Pump that cement a decent attack role on teams as well as against the more toxic fields. I'll say it isn't S due to it's low Speed, though, unless Trick Room is opt to rectify it, so it's vulnerable to being ganged on in double battles despite having one of the more powerful Sludge Waves in the game (especially against a particularly robotic idiot that tends to spam Earthquake on you late game) as well as bad allergies to Ground and Psychic moves, which means it's role is pretty daunting mid-late game.

Amoongus: A Rank

Ability: Regenerator

Moves: Spore, Toxic, Giga Drain, Rage Powder, Synthesis, Hidden Power Fire/Ground/Fighting, Stun Spore.

Amoongus isn't something you'd think would fit into A Rank, but Amoongus is an outstanding team supporter and courtesy of Regenator and good bulk, is generally nearly impregnable, especially if you're rooting for a simultaneous Nuzlocke run. Due to the lack of Sleep Clause in the game you can put two opponents to Sleep and get away with it. While Sleep is the best status you still have Toxic and Stun Spore as options. To make it more annoying, Synthesis and Giga Drain can both heal it for a portion of its health which makes it more resillient. Finally, Rage Powder is pretty signature to Amoongus in that it forcing single target moves to attack it, which can be nice if you want to shield a teammate from a dangerous matchup provided it isn't multihit. That said, it's still A due to the fact that it doesn't have a lot to reliably dish back out to opponents and is thus reliant on teammates with heavy offensive presence although its utility complements that perfectly.

[Courtesy]

I like this thread. Once I finish my bug monotype I'll report what I felt about them.

[kirlial]

Cool, I'll probably pass on Ludicolo for now, but perhaps later.

I still think Lilligant qualifies as A rank. You noted above that A ranks may require support when used. Lilligant can't crush everything like an s-rank because of its drawbacks but it's still really devastating and a very valuable member of a grass team.

Hmm... not certain what the best moveset for a jumpluff would be, but I prefer Acrobatics, Stun Spore, Leech Seed and I'm not too picky with the last move. Bullet seed for another attack would be a safe option though.

[AndrewErblak]

Having just done I got some Pokemon worth mentioning with Fire.

Arcanine S Rank:

Moves: Flare Blitz, Extreme Speed, Close Combat/Crunch/Bulldoze/Agility

Why: A pure Fire type Pokemon that has a lot of bite. Unless you pick a physical attacker like Torchic and Chimchar you will lack a physical fire type. Being able to be picked up as early as after the 2nd Gym by finding the missing Police Force members as a Growlithe the Legendary Pokemon can be the wall breaker you really need. With an exceptional move pool without having to breed Close Combat onto it. Add the ability that it can also be defensive and crippling pivot with the ability Intimidate lowering foe's attack by one stage on switch in. It is a must have for running a Fire Mono.

Typhlosion S Rank:
Moves: Eruption/Lava Plume, Nature Power, HP Rock/Ground/Electric, Solarbeam (When able)

Why: All those who battled Charlotte know the pure power that is Eruption Typhlosion on a favorable field. But one of the things that helps this Pokemon most is its ability to be bought on the 7th Street Market for 9 Red Shard. As fields will not always favor the use of its other moves using Nature Power can help you gain an extra edge over the opposing Pokemon.

Charizard A Rank:

Moves: Air Slash, Flame thrower/Heat Wave, HP Ice/Electric, Solarbeam (When able)

Why: As a starter it is solid, but the lack of Special Flying STAB via level up is underwhelming, requiring a Heart Scale to get Air Slash. What saves it is the Hidden Ability of Solar Power, making it paired with a Ninetales with Drought deadly. The Flying typing makes it immune to moves like Earthquake and not be affected by some fields like Swamp field. What makes it A rank is the crippling x4 weakness to Stealth Rock and Rock moves.

[Revman]

I still think Lilligant qualifies as A rank. You noted above that A ranks may require support when used. Lilligant can't crush everything like an s-rank because of its drawbacks but it's still really devastating and a very valuable member of a grass team.

The A ranking states that it has a shortcoming, I wouldn't call having one move that's walled by 6 types a shortcoming, it's more of a crippling draw back. If it had Earth Power and Flamethrower available to it, I'd change my mind but imo it's no better than B rank at best.

Have some Poison rankings:

Nidoking: S Rank

Ability: Sheer Force

Moves: Earth Power, Sludge Wave, Flamethrower, Surf, Sucker Punch, Shadow Ball, Shadow Claw, Megahorn.

Nidoking sits at S Rank due to Sheer Force alongside a very plentiful movepool that isn't even pre-episode 13 reliant to breed with. If factored into the equation, it would have a lot of viable moves to go with. With Life Orb now accessible, Nidoking can boast the benefit of dealing 30% more damage without the recoil. Although it has more of an attack inclined movepool, going Special Attacking is the general way of playing the Poison type, although mixed sets are always welcome. Sucker Punch is also great against faster opponents. It's offensive prowess really lacks drawbacks, and if you really want something that can wreck things, Nidoking and it's nearly unresisted dual STAB combination can help you out tons.

Dragalge: A- Rank

Ability: Adaptability

Moves: Dragon Pulse, Hydro Pump, Sludge Wave, Hidden Power Ground/Fire/Fighting, Surf, Sludge Bomb.

There's aren't a lot of good Poison types out there, so Dragalge is a pretty fortunate case. The Poison Dragon stands out in that it can both be a defensive pivot and an offensive force courtesy of it's pretty solid movepool that isn't heavily TM reliant and Adapability. The extra boost helps a lot with it's Dual STAB being Dragon Pulse and Sludge Bomb/Sludge Wave (the latter is recommended for spread damage, but some perhaps use Sludge Bomb for the Poison chance), and it has options such as Hidden Power of choice and Hydro Pump that cement a decent attack role on teams as well as against the more toxic fields. I'll say it isn't S due to it's low Speed, though, unless Trick Room is opt to rectify it, so it's vulnerable to being ganged on in double battles despite having one of the more powerful Sludge Waves in the game (especially against a particularly robotic idiot that tends to spam Earthquake on you late game) as well as bad allergies to Ground and Psychic moves, which means it's role is pretty daunting mid-late game.

Amoongus: A Rank

Ability: Regenerator

Moves: Spore, Toxic, Giga Drain, Rage Powder, Synthesis, Hidden Power Fire/Ground/Fighting, Stun Spore.

Amoongus isn't something you'd think would fit into A Rank, but Amoongus is an outstanding team supporter and courtesy of Regenator and good bulk, is generally nearly impregnable, especially if you're rooting for a simultaneous Nuzlocke run. Due to the lack of Sleep Clause in the game you can put two opponents to Sleep and get away with it. While Sleep is the best status you still have Toxic and Stun Spore as options. To make it more annoying, Synthesis and Giga Drain can both heal it for a portion of its health which makes it more resillient. Finally, Rage Powder is pretty signature to Amoongus in that it forcing single target moves to attack it, which can be nice if you want to shield a teammate from a dangerous matchup provided it isn't multihit. That said, it's still A due to the fact that it doesn't have a lot to reliably dish back out to opponents and is thus reliant on teammates with heavy offensive presence although its utility complements that perfectly.

Awesome as, I agree with all of those! I was gonna do Dragalge myself but you pretty much wrapped up everything I had in mind aside from running Toxic on it so I'll just add that to your analysis.

Charizard A Rank:

Moves: Air Slash, Flame thrower/Heat Wave, HP Ice/Electric, Solarbeam (When able)

Why: As a starter it is solid, but the lack of Special Flying STAB via level up is underwhelming, requiring a Heart Scale to get Air Slash. What saves it is the Hidden Ability of Solar Power, making it paired with a Ninetales with Drought deadly. The Flying typing makes it immune to moves like Earthquake and not be affected by some fields like Swamp field. What makes it A rank is the crippling x4 weakness to Stealth Rock and Rock moves.

I kinda disagree with Charizard being A-Rank since no Solarbeam, I'm gonna list this as B rank until Solarbeam is released.

[AndrewErblak]

I kinda disagree with Charizard being A-Rank since no Solarbeam, I'm gonna list this as B rank until Solarbeam is released.

'

Fair Enough, SolarPower was the only think that really kept it from B when typing it up

[Mimmu]

Gourgeist Grass S (evtl A) Rank

Gourgeist is a Defensive Must-Have in a Grass Run. Going with Leech Seed,Will-o-Wisp,Protect,Phantom Force this thing can stall out any physical opponent without losing any HP at all. Although its special side is rather weak compared to the physical one it still will be able to take down anything that can't hit it super effectively. Knowing how Grass Type might be the hardest Run in Reborn there is no Pokemon that is absolutely broken but still, Gourgeist is close.

Ludicolo Grass A (evtl S) Rank

Ludicolo is quite useful in beating Cal (and actually any Fire Type) with Rain Dance, Ice Beam/Icy Wind,Giga Drain, Scald/Surf and Swift Swim it can hit hard while outspeeding anything. Stab Water Type Attacks in a rainy weather are more than useful in a Grass Mono run) While it is hitting hard it also has good defenses making it possible to use Rain Dance even when being outsped by the opponent. Additionally the Rain will make it quite hard for fire Pokemon to take out your entire team.

Roserade Grass S Rank

While there are quite good Grass Mons to counter other types (Gourgeist Bug and Ludicolo Fire) Roserade is a Sweeper like no other Grass Mon. With high Sp. Attk and Speed this thing can even hit hard with not effective moves. While it may have a quite Grass-Type heavy movepool there are possibilities to change this. Sludge Bomb, Shadowball, Extrasensory or even Weather Ball in combination with Ludicolo's Rain. Also HP Rock or Fire in combination with it's technician ability are 90BP attacks making it able to anihilate Bugs, Flying, Fire Types or even other Grass Types. Roserade is a Pokemon to get you through any tricky situation. ~

[Revman]

Gourgeist Grass S (evtl A) Rank

Gourgeist is a Defensive Must-Have in a Grass Run. Going with Leech Seed,Will-o-Wisp,Protect,Phantom Force this thing can stall out any physical opponent without losing any HP at all. Although its special side is rather weak compared to the physical one it still will be able to take down anything that can't hit it super effectively. Knowing how Grass Type might be the hardest Run in Reborn there is no Pokemon that is absolutely broken but still, Gourgeist is close.

Ludicolo Grass A (evtl S) Rank

Ludicolo is quite useful in beating Cal (and actually any Fire Type) with Rain Dance, Ice Beam/Icy Wind,Giga Drain, Scald/Surf and Swift Swim it can hit hard while outspeeding anything. Stab Water Type Attacks in a rainy weather are more than useful in a Grass Mono run) While it is hitting hard it also has good defenses making it possible to use Rain Dance even when being outsped by the opponent. Additionally the Rain will make it quite hard for fire Pokemon to take out your entire team.

Roserade Grass S Rank

While there are quite good Grass Mons to counter other types (Gourgeist Bug and Ludicolo Fire) Roserade is a Sweeper like no other Grass Mon. With high Sp. Attk and Speed this thing can even hit hard with not effective moves. While it may have a quite Grass-Type heavy movepool there are possibilities to change this. Sludge Bomb, Shadowball, Extrasensory or even Weather Ball in combination with Ludicolo's Rain. Also HP Rock or Fire in combination with it's technician ability are 90BP attacks making it able to anihilate Bugs, Flying, Fire Types or even other Grass Types. Roserade is a Pokemon to get you through any tricky situation. ~

MAJOR EDIT: Gourgeist doesn't get Will O Wisp since no TM, gonna drop him to A since it still gets Pain Split.

Gonna give Ludicolo A because he's really good but not incredible.

And as for Roserade, I've used one and I wholeheartedly agree; S it is.

Edit again: Roserade doesn't get Sludge Bomb since no TM, but I don't think it needs Sludge Bomb to be S since Hidden Power hits at 90 and Extrasensory can be bred on with the addition of Shadow Ball to up its coverage.

[Mimmu]

well you can get both via ep12 breeding so I put it in there ~

[Courtesy]

I don't know how to rate it, but I do want to talk about a bug monotype champion to me.

Kriketune is incredibly important to a bug monotype run, because it's incredibly powerful and flexible as an early game sweeper.

It can learn Cut, which no other bug prior to that point can, and it has Fury Cutter, Focus Energy, Sing, and Struggle Bug as available skills all before you fight Florina, many before even Julia.

This means Kricketune can single-handedly wipe most of the pre-cory content, and it can even wipe out everything Cory plays: right until he sends out Crobat, which will use Venoshock and one-shot it

Kricketune continues to perform very well at least up till just past Shelly, consistantly taking out 3 or 4 pokemon before it gets burst down itself. Just sing>Focus Energy>Fury Cutter and you're good to go with just a bit of luck. Cut will be your fourth move if it's an HM slave, if you find something else to fill the HM's purpose though: keeping Struggle Bug makes it a pretty good support in double battles.

I'd call it a B rank sweeper for the early game: while it handles everything slower than it by not even letting it start up it's moves, it suffers from very low defenses and the fact that Fury Cutter can miss. Fury Cutter is also very poor for general combat purposes due to it's low PP, in comparison to how frequently the move must be used. However it's a very solid sweeper in the early game, can learn HM's required to progress, and can be received without fighting more than 3 trainers. (Cain, Victoria, 1 random trainer blocking the way). It's also a kricketune, so what's not to love???

If you continue trying to use it into the late game, it can add some quality performance with Destiny Bond too, but honestly it's performance falls off once better bugs are available. It's undeniably a beast in the early game however.

[Lord Chespin]

Um, if I may contribute my two cents...

Meowstic (Both male and female) - A Rank

Regardless of what gender you get, this Vulcan kitty cat is a terror on the battlefield. The male gets light screen, reflect, charm, yawn (from breeding) and the ability prankster, making it a godsend for most major battles (especially against a certain Garchomp and Ditto with a god complex) as it can set up dual screens, then switch out or deal some damage with psychic or psyshock. The female, on the other hand, gets the awesome ability competitive (which boosts its special attack every time one of its stats is lowered) and has a godly level-up moveset, with great attacking moves such as psyshock, charge beam, shadow ball, signal beam (which, by the way, can decimate Luna despite Meowstic's type disadvantage) and, of course, psychic. All of this allows it to function as a great sweeper, especially in the early game with charge beam from Julia's TM. Admittedly, they aren't without their flaws; their bulk could stand to be a little better, and their meh 83 base special attack is kind of lackluster (although that can be remedied with a few charge beams). Despite this, however, they're still incredibly effective; in my main run, I got a female Meowstic for the fight against Corey and she's still pulling her weight on the team way into Episode 15. If you want a reliable team member who can either bolster your defenses or come in like a wrecking ball, Meowstic is the 'mon for you. Heck, you might as well get one of each gender, since they're so radically different.

[Revman]

well you can get both via ep12 breeding so I put it in there ~

Sorry for the confusion, just editted the OP to reflect that this is currently Episode 14 only.

Um, if I may contribute my two cents...

Meowstic (Both male and female) - A Rank

Regardless of what gender you get, this Vulcan kitty cat is a terror on the battlefield. The male gets light screen, reflect, charm, yawn (from breeding) and the ability prankster, making it a godsend for most major battles (especially against a certain Garchomp and Ditto with a god complex) as it can set up dual screens, then switch out or deal some damage with psychic or psyshock. The female, on the other hand, gets the awesome ability competitive (which boosts its special attack every time one of its stats is lowered) and has a godly level-up moveset, with great attacking moves such as psyshock, charge beam, shadow ball, signal beam (which, by the way, can decimate Luna despite Meowstic's type disadvantage) and, of course, psychic. All of this allows it to function as a great sweeper, especially in the early game with charge beam from Julia's TM. Admittedly, they aren't without their flaws; their bulk could stand to be a little better, and their meh 83 base special attack is kind of lackluster (although that can be remedied with a few charge beams). Despite this, however, they're still incredibly effective; in my main run, I got a female Meowstic for the fight against Corey and she's still pulling her weight on the team way into Episode 15. If you want a reliable team member who can either bolster your defenses or come in like a wrecking ball, Meowstic is the 'mon for you. Heck, you might as well get one of each gender, since they're so radically different.

I'll bet that Meowstic-Female can be a really good sweeper but I'm not sure what I should rank it, maybe if you give a slightly more detailed analysis I can take a stab at it? (Moves, Ability, how it's used, how it helps its team etc). I'll give Meowstic-Male A Tier since due to prankster it can always set Misty Terrain or a Screen which as you said yourself can be pretty helpful against the boss Pokemon in this game.

I don't know how to rate it, but I do want to talk about a bug monotype champion to me.

Kriketune is incredibly important to a bug monotype run, because it's incredibly powerful and flexible as an early game sweeper.

It can learn Cut, which no other bug prior to that point can, and it has Fury Cutter, Focus Energy, Sing, and Struggle Bug as available skills all before you fight Florina, many before even Julia.

This means Kricketune can single-handedly wipe most of the pre-cory content, and it can even wipe out everything Cory plays: right until he sends out Crobat, which will use Venoshock and one-shot it

Kricketune continues to perform very well at least up till just past Shelly, consistantly taking out 3 or 4 pokemon before it gets burst down itself. Just sing>Focus Energy>Fury Cutter and you're good to go with just a bit of luck. Cut will be your fourth move if it's an HM slave, if you find something else to fill the HM's purpose though: keeping Struggle Bug makes it a pretty good support in double battles.

I'd call it a B rank sweeper for the early game: while it handles everything slower than it by not even letting it start up it's moves, it suffers from very low defenses and the fact that Fury Cutter can miss. Fury Cutter is also very poor for general combat purposes due to it's low PP, in comparison to how frequently the move must be used. However it's a very solid sweeper in the early game, can learn HM's required to progress, and can be received without fighting more than 3 trainers. (Cain, Victoria, 1 random trainer blocking the way). It's also a kricketune, so what's not to love???

If you continue trying to use it into the late game, it can add some quality performance with Destiny Bond too, but honestly it's performance falls off once better bugs are available. It's undeniably a beast in the early game however.

I like the way you think, ranking it for its usefulness early game; yeah I think that'll work. I'll write that down in its analysis section. Thanks~

[Noir]

Awesome as, I agree with all of those! I was gonna do Dragalge myself but you pretty much wrapped up everything I had in mind aside from running Toxic on it so I'll just add that to your analysis.

Reading your edits, I kinda disagree that Dragalge functions effectively as a bulky stall Pokemon at all. It's kit is solely made for bulky offense -- it doesn't have the tools to actually facilitate effective stall unlike Pokemon such as Amoongus. While Toxic's a nice option still, I wouldn't say it'd be good for "stalling", when Dragalge can just break through most of what it needs to instead of slowly waiting for the Toxic to take it's toll. Toxic Spikes are also an option although perhaps hazards aren't the most favourable thing when it comes to walkthroughs.

You could put Roserade on the S list as well, although I suppose it's more of a Grass Pokemon than a Poison one.

Also, more Toxic rankings:

Toxicroak: S Rank

Ability: Dry Skin

Moves: Cross Chop, Drain Punch, Poison Jab, Sucker Punch, Bullet Punch, Nasty Plot, Sludge Bomb/Sludge Wave, Shadow Ball, Hidden Power Grass, Vacuum Wave.

Toxicroak is a generic offensive Poison type that can go through both sides of the spectrum. It can run an all out offensive set or a Nasty Plot set, although the former is more reliable. Toxicroak's Fighting typing that is effective against Steel types in tandem with Dry Skin that gives it a Water immunity and passive healing in rain, giving it great sustain alongside Drain Punch. With stats very similar to Nidoking's, Toxicroak unfortunately doesn't reach it's league or coverage or power with the lack of Bulk Up/Swords Dance (unless pre-13 breed) and Nasty Plot sets are completely outclassed by the Drill Pokemon's Special Attacks. Generally, Dry Skin does give it a bonus over Nidoking, but Toxicroak just can't hit as hard although it makes up for it with the ability to abuse it's attack better, as well as the sustain Drain Punch/Dry Skin provide. There isn't a particular drawback in using Toxicroak -- it's just that Nidoking covers more and with more power as well, but having Toxicroak on your team means your attacker is more resillient, and of course, a Water immunity is greatly appreciated.

Edited June 4, 2015 by YagamiNoir4896

[Revman]

Reading your edits, I kinda disagree that Dragalge functions effectively as a bulky stall Pokemon at all. It's kit is solely made for bulky offense -- it doesn't have the tools to actually facilitate effective stall unlike Pokemon such as Amoongus. While Toxic's a nice option still, I wouldn't say it'd be good for "stalling", when Dragalge can just break through most of what it needs to instead of slowly waiting for the Toxic to take it's toll. Toxic Spikes are also an option although perhaps hazards aren't the most favourable thing when it comes to walkthroughs.

You could put Roserade on the S list as well, although I suppose it's more of a Grass Pokemon than a Poison one.

Also, more Toxic rankings:

Toxicroak: S Rank

Ability: Dry Skin

Moves: Cross Chop, Drain Punch, Poison Jab, Sucker Punch, Bullet Punch, Nasty Plot, Sludge Bomb/Sludge Wave, Shadow Ball, Hidden Power Grass, Vacuum Wave.

Toxicroak is a generic offensive Poison type that can go through both sides of the spectrum. It can run an all out offensive set or a Nasty Plot set, although the former is more reliable. Toxicroak's Fighting typing that is effective against Steel types in tandem with Dry Skin that gives it a Water immunity and passive healing in rain, giving it great sustain alongside Drain Punch. With stats very similar to Nidoking's, Toxicroak unfortunately doesn't reach it's league or coverage or power with the lack of Bulk Up/Swords Dance (unless pre-13 breed) and Nasty Plot sets are completely outclassed by the Drill Pokemon's Special Attacks. Generally, Dry Skin does give it a bonus over Nidoking, but Toxicroak just can't hit as hard although it makes up for it with the ability to abuse it's attack better, as well as the sustain Drain Punch/Dry Skin provide. There isn't a particular drawback in using Toxicroak -- it's just that Nidoking covers more and with more power as well, but having Toxicroak on your team means your attacker is more resillient, and of course, a Water immunity is greatly appreciated.

Fair call there, I'll change that then. Although Toxicroak is really good, I think the lack of Bulk up/SD would keep it out of S but that's just me. I'll take another read of it tomorrow but I think it should be A until Bulk Up/Swords Dance.

[LeafAlcor]

excellent thread idea im starting a ground mono run on the side now (despite it being almost 1am insomnia for the win) and ill contribute some suggestions when i get settled in

[Noir]

Fair call there, I'll change that then. Although Toxicroak is really good, I think the lack of Bulk up/SD would keep it out of S but that's just me. I'll take another read of it tomorrow but I think it should be A until Bulk Up/Swords Dance.

While I'd usually keep it out of S, the lack of reliable Dual type Pokemon that helps cover some weakness apart from say Nidoking, Scolipede and Tentacruel probably merits it's usefulness on a monotype very highly, especially considering it's the best physical Poison we have as well. Befitting one of the criteria in a monotype, nothing exactly should disincline you from using a Toxicroak given the options, moreso it's pros; having Fighting STAB on a Poison mono run and a Water immunity is something no other Poison type boasts, even individually.

Edited June 4, 2015 by YagamiNoir4896

[Lord Chespin]

I'll bet that Meowstic-Female can be a really good sweeper but I'm not sure what I should rank it, maybe if you give a slightly more detailed analysis I can take a stab at it? (Moves, Ability, how it's used, how it helps its team etc). I'll give Meowstic-Male A Tier since due to prankster it can always set Misty Terrain or a Screen which as you said yourself can be pretty helpful against the boss Pokemon in this game.

Okay, sure thing!

Meowstic Female is a pretty good sweeper. It has two great moves in psychic and psyshock, allowing it to hit both physically defensive and specially defensive Pokémon alike pretty darn hard. It also has a godly level-up movepool and TM compatibility list, with great coverage moves in magical leaf, shadow ball, signal beam, and dark pulse. It even gets charge beam to help it set up! Its ability, competitive, is pretty awesome too, as it raises its special attack two stages every time one of its stats is lowered, meaning that in double battles one of its partners can purposely lower its stats to just raise its power further. It also gets infiltrator, which is useful to get through light screen (kind of ironic that the female's great at getting through walls, while the male's good at building them). I t functions best as a sweeper, and it can take out Corey, Shade (despite the type disadvantage), Kiki, Aya, Randomus (with shadow ball and signal beam), Luna (with signal beam), and Sampson. Its biggest flaw is probably that it only has a meh 83 special attack, but that can be remedied pretty easily with a few charge beams. All in all, a great, albeit slightly weaker than ideal, sweeper with great coverage that doesn't disappoint.

[Revman]

Okay, sure thing!

Meowstic Female is a pretty good sweeper. It has two great moves in psychic and psyshock, allowing it to hit both physically defensive and specially defensive Pokémon alike pretty darn hard. It also has a godly level-up movepool and TM compatibility list, with great coverage moves in magical leaf, shadow ball, signal beam, and dark pulse. It even gets charge beam to help it set up! Its ability, competitive, is pretty awesome too, as it raises its special attack two stages every time one of its stats is lowered, meaning that in double battles one of its partners can purposely lower its stats to just raise its power further. It also gets infiltrator, which is useful to get through light screen (kind of ironic that the female's great at getting through walls, while the male's good at building them). I t functions best as a sweeper, and it can take out Corey, Shade (despite the type disadvantage), Kiki, Aya, Randomus (with shadow ball and signal beam), Luna (with signal beam), and Sampson. Its biggest flaw is probably that it only has a meh 83 special attack, but that can be remedied pretty easily with a few charge beams. All in all, a great, albeit slightly weaker than ideal, sweeper with great coverage that doesn't disappoint.

Cool, I think you make some decent points but due to its Special stat and the need to set up with Charge Beam I'm gonna rate Meowstic Female B because of its lackluster Special Attack and non existent bulk. Thanks!

While I'd usually keep it out of S, the lack of reliable Dual type Pokemon that helps cover some weakness apart from say Nidoking, Scolipede and Tentacruel probably merits it's usefulness on a monotype very highly, especially considering it's the best physical Poison we have as well. Befitting one of the criteria in a monotype, nothing exactly should disincline you from using a Toxicroak given the options, moreso it's pros; having Fighting STAB on a Poison mono run and a Water immunity is something no other Poison type boasts, even individually.

I agree with the Fighting STAB part, that's true; Poison does appreciate Drain Punch in a mono run for Steel/Rock types and for coverage. However I really don't think that Poison particularly needs a Water immunity. For instance, Poison has Venusaur, Vileplume and Dragalge in Reborn, all of which completely laugh off any Water attacks on either attacking spectrum. (Phys/Special) Gonna have to agree to disagree with you on S rank, I think Drapion can function just fine if not better as a Physical attacker for Poison in Reborn due to Hone Claws, any of the Fangs as coverage and knock off utility if you choose to use it. Another thing about Toxicroak is that it can't learn Ice Punch without Tutor or Earthquake without TM so until it either gets set up in Bulk Up/Swords dance or more coverage made available to him, that's what will hold him back from being a top ranking Poison type threat. Gonna list Toxicroak as A Rank.

[Omega_Ra1der]

Ahem, never tried a mono in reborn but Camerupt for S-rank in fire. S if with charizard, A, if start with Blaziken.

Camerupt coverage will object charizard weaknesses and it can be sweeper with amnesia, Earth power and back-up flame burst, making it one of the most powerful fire types in reborn if used correctly. To make more viable, you can get it as a numel before/after Julia. If you started with Blaziken, this thing still can cover flying with rock slide.

[Revman]

Ahem, never tried a mono in reborn but Camerupt for S-rank in fire. S if with charizard, A, if start with Blaziken.

Camerupt coverage will object charizard weaknesses and it can be sweeper with amnesia, Earth power and back-up flame burst, making it one of the most powerful fire types in reborn if used correctly. To make more viable, you can get it as a numel before/after Julia. If you started with Blaziken, this thing still can cover flying with rock slide.

Camerupt's non existent speed and poor typing make it an unwise choice if you already have a big weakness to Water and offers nothing aside from Earth Power that Typhlosion doesn't (E R U P T I O N S P A M B O I S). Camerupt's typing alone drops him down to C rank at best although he can be used as a niche tank of sorts and as a Pokemon that can handle rock types using Earth Power, but even then he's out classed in that role too by Fire/Fighting types like Blaziken or Infernape. If you can write a proper analysis for Camerupt I'll give him a look in a few hours and put it up.

tl;dr Due to glaring Weaknesses, poor speed and average at best bulk, Camerupt isn't even close to being S Rank

[Fumble]

Ooh, this could be nice. I'll post here with some results of my old Dark Mono later.

BTW, I don't think one post will be enough to fit every ranking. There's a ton of Pokemon, and you may get an error if you go above the limit that one post can take. And there will be al lot of posts to delete if a mod deleted all the posts til your second one... Maybe you should make another thread just for the rankings and have this the suggestions for rankings thread? If you make a new thread, you should have one post per type. Anyways, hope you take ny suggestion into consideration!

[ArthurZH]

Further Anaylses on other mons:

1) Clawitzer - B+ Rank

Clawtizer might not be fast and have a bad typing, but it can do one thing very well - it can hit very very hard. Water Pulse/Aura Sphere/Dark Pulse/Dragon Pulse hits quite a large number of things, including several Pokemon which are detrimental to water, most notably Ferrothorn. It's downside includes poor speed, somewhat mediocre bulky/typing and the fact that you need to take forever to catch one with decent IVs and Nature. I suggest perhaps a B or a B+ Rank for Aura Sphere coverage as well as it's ability to hit mons hard.

2) Azumarill - S Rank

Azumarill is a good Pokemon. The pros of it include being a traded mon ingame, allowing fast growth hence easily levelling up, a good defensive typing which allows you to swap in to Dragon Types, and an ridiculously good movepool of Waterfall/Play Rough/Superpower. If it fancies you, you can breed Belly Jet onto Azumarill via Poliwhirl with Belly Drum > Marill, Random Water mon available with Aqua Jet including Golduck/Kabutops > Marill, then breed the Marill. Azumarill helps against leaders including: Kiki (Play Rough), Noel (Superpower), Luna (Play Rough AND Superpower), Samson (Play Rough AND Superpower) and also helps against the bad matchup vs dragons. Literal only downfall is speed.

3) Empoleon - C Rank

Sorry to Empoleon fans out there, but I'd like to say Empoleon has a horrible movepool. Unless you are running Physical Empoleon with Metal Claw/Waterfall/Drill Peck/Filler, I really don't see how you can survive with it. It gets one type of special move - Water ones, including bubblebeam, brine, etc. It also has no special steel moves or better steel STAB physical moves, Lack of Toxic/Roar also hinders it's ability to cripple/phaze the opponent. It's one good thing is.....idk, Defiant boosts? Some form of bulk? Perhaps as a death fodder while u heal your whole roster to full health? Maybe so.

4) Lanturn - B Rank

Lanturn in water monotypes serve the role of stopping bulky waters such as Gyarados or to try and hit water Pokemon hard, simultaneously stopping some electric types who can do some damage to your whole team. However, you will be unable to hit electric types hard. In other words, you have to think of more ways to stop Electric type Pokemon from using other moves to kill you. That's where Lanturn fails to do, and is outclassed by Water/Ground types. Furthermore, as Ludicolo is available more earlier and resists water x4 compared to Lanturn (which is x2 unless you count water absorb) and Ludicolo also has passive recovery, I would say that to a certain extent Ludicolo outclasses Lanturn. Pros of Lanturn, however, include discharge spamming opponents in double battles assuming your partner is using a ground type and of course, the additional electric STAB as a whole. This makes it a better choice than Swampert or Ludicolo in checking Gyarados....and Mantine.....?

Female Gallade san, I also edited my Whiscash Analysis, but tbh I don't have much to add on to it. Also, Swampert's still available as a starter, so I'd appreciate it if you could upload that to the main post.

[Revman]

Ooh, this could be nice. I'll post here with some results of my old Dark Mono later.

BTW, I don't think one post will be enough to fit every ranking. There's a ton of Pokemon, and you may get an error if you go above the limit that one post can take. And there will be al lot of posts to delete if a mod deleted all the posts til your second one... Maybe you should make another thread just for the rankings and have this the suggestions for rankings thread? If you make a new thread, you should have one post per type. Anyways, hope you take ny suggestion into consideration!

Hmmm, I get your point but I think it's the analysis themselves which matter the most, don't you think? I'm sure the other 3-4 posts after the OP won't greatly affect the point of the thread. I would create a separate thread but I kinda want everything to be in one place so people don't have to go looking for where to suggest sets/Pokemon and where the actual rankings are; even with links people can be pretty lazy haha though I do appreciate your concern!

As for your Dark Mono run, I'd love to hear about which Pokemon you think work best and what don't and why~

Further Anaylses on other mons:

1) Clawitzer - B+ Rank

Clawtizer might not be fast and have a bad typing, but it can do one thing very well - it can hit very very hard. Water Pulse/Aura Sphere/Dark Pulse/Dragon Pulse hits quite a large number of things, including several Pokemon which are detrimental to water, most notably Ferrothorn. It's downside includes poor speed, somewhat mediocre bulky/typing and the fact that you need to take forever to catch one with decent IVs and Nature. I suggest perhaps a B or a B+ Rank for Aura Sphere coverage as well as it's ability to hit mons hard.

2) Azumarill - S Rank

Azumarill is a good Pokemon. The pros of it include being a traded mon ingame, allowing fast growth hence easily levelling up, a good defensive typing which allows you to swap in to Dragon Types, and an ridiculously good movepool of Waterfall/Play Rough/Superpower. If it fancies you, you can breed Belly Jet onto Azumarill via Poliwhirl with Belly Drum > Marill, Random Water mon available with Aqua Jet including Golduck/Kabutops > Marill, then breed the Marill. Azumarill helps against leaders including: Kiki (Play Rough), Noel (Superpower), Luna (Play Rough AND Superpower), Samson (Play Rough AND Superpower) and also helps against the bad matchup vs dragons. Literal only downfall is speed.

3) Empoleon - C Rank

Sorry to Empoleon fans out there, but I'd like to say Empoleon has a horrible movepool. Unless you are running Physical Empoleon with Metal Claw/Waterfall/Drill Peck/Filler, I really don't see how you can survive with it. It gets one type of special move - Water ones, including bubblebeam, brine, etc. It also has no special steel moves or better steel STAB physical moves, Lack of Toxic/Roar also hinders it's ability to cripple/phaze the opponent. It's one good thing is.....idk, Defiant boosts? Some form of bulk? Perhaps as a death fodder while u heal your whole roster to full health? Maybe so.

4) Lanturn - B Rank

Lanturn in water monotypes serve the role of stopping bulky waters such as Gyarados or to try and hit water Pokemon hard, simultaneously stopping some electric types who can do some damage to your whole team. However, you will be unable to hit electric types hard. In other words, you have to think of more ways to stop Electric type Pokemon from using other moves to kill you. That's where Lanturn fails to do, and is outclassed by Water/Ground types. Furthermore, as Ludicolo is available more earlier and resists water x4 compared to Lanturn (which is x2 unless you count water absorb) and Ludicolo also has passive recovery, I would say that to a certain extent Ludicolo outclasses Lanturn. Pros of Lanturn, however, include discharge spamming opponents in double battles assuming your partner is using a ground type and of course, the additional electric STAB as a whole. This makes it a better choice than Swampert or Ludicolo in checking Gyarados....and Mantine.....?

Female Gallade san, I also edited my Whiscash Analysis, but tbh I don't have much to add on to it. Also, Swampert's still available as a starter, so I'd appreciate it if you could upload that to the main post.

Okay, I added everything you've analyzed thus far. One change I made was to put Empoleon in D due to the fact I can't think of a singular circumstance I'd ever want to use it on a Reborn in game Water Mono without Scald, Toxic, Roar, Ice Beam or Defog. Thanks for your efforts!