[DISCUSSION] Reborn Monotype Viability Rankings

[Noir]

I'll probably work on Ghost or Rock as soon as I get the time.

Reserve Cofagrigus, Chandelure, Dusknoir, Gengar (if you want to put it in there) since it's already in Poison, Golurk, and Trevenant.

[Revman]

I'll probably work on Ghost or Rock as soon as I get the time.

Reserve Cofagrigus, Chandelure, Dusknoir, Gengar (if you want to put it in there) since it's already in Poison, Golurk, and Trevenant.

Sure thing friendo, but Gengar was taken out in Episode 15 was it not? Also, it doesn't matter if a Pokemon's done for one type as it may be better for another such as how in competitive Pokemon Water would appreciate Lanturn more than Electric would due to Lanturn having Volt Absorb/Heal Bell as Electric mightn't need it as much due to it being another Weakness to Ground, being outclassed by Rotom-W in handling Ground types and not needing Volt Absorb as a type.

[Mimmu]

Yanmega Flying A-S Rank

Yanmega is an extraordinary sweeper for flying types. It has the 2nd highest Sp.Attk of all in Reborn viable Flying Types and is thanks to to speed boost faster than any other (except for Ninjask). Additionally to its great Stats, its movepool gives access to a solid special Rock-Type Move, covering 3 of its 5 weaknesses, and two strong STAB moves. As for its 4th slot you can use Hypnosis to cripple your opponent or rather HP Ground(/Grass) to cover the rest of yanmega's weaknesses.
Tbh this thing saved me when going against Luna. Her Tyranitar is a real nightmare but Yanmega might just be its weakness. ~


Charizard Flying S Rank

While Charizard might be your first Pokemon in this monotype-run it is also one of the best you'll get. Good Typing combined with solid speed, sp.Attk and a great movepool makes this thing a hard hitting special attacker, especially in double battles. Heatwave is definitely your best choice as a Fire STAB. Air Slash and Air Cutter are both viable Flying STABs. While Air Cutter will hit both opponents in doubles I prefer the stronger Air Slash since you already have Heat Wave. As for 3rd and 4th slot you can choose between Dragon Pulse, HP Grass and Ancient Power. While I recommend having HP Grass to cover your weaknesses, having Dragon Pulse and Ancient Power is great in its own way. Dragon Pulse is a strong move hitting quite everything normal and Ancient Power provides great coverage and the chance to boost your stats by 1stage, making Charizard even more powerful.


Crobat Flying A Rank

Crobat is a great Pokemon for a Flying Mono. Since it has a good bulk and solid sweeping abilities combined with an ok-movepool it can be your allrounder and get you out of any complicated situation. Its hard hitting STABs Acrobatics and Cross Poison guarantee solid physical damage output but a special Crobat is also possible (might even be the better option) with Nasty Plot, Air Slash, Venoshock, Giga Drain. As for the physical one I'd recommend having Confuse Ray to cripple your opponent and Bite to fend off Psychics. While many might have Rain Dance to support other members on your team(?) or to at least weaken Charlotte's Team, there is absolutely no need for Rain when you have Archeops at least in Charlotte's case.


Emolga Flying B-A Rank

Emolga is a great Pokemon to have since it has an immunity to electric types thanks to its ability and a rare typing. Its movepool is amazing and allows making a hardhitting special or even physical flying rat or a supportive one. Nuzzle, Electroball, Discharge, Air Slash, Roost, Acrobatics, Iron Tail, Voltswitch, Encore, HP Ice/Grass and Light Screen. I went with Nuzzle, Acrobatics, Voltswitch and Electroball since I didn't want to breed, but the possibilities are great with this one.


ok that's all for now. Butterfree and Staraptor will be in the next one ~

[Another Felix]

Pachirisu Electric A Rank (Debatable)

Yes, while this Pokemon is pretty weak overall, it's still one of the few bulky Electric types available, and very early on no less. This thing is available to the player almost immediately after leaving the Grand Hall, and it works wonders as a support Pokemon. Nuzzle to paralyze, which is a blessing against most trainers other than Julia (And I'd assume Terra, but haven't reached her yet. Not even close). Charm or Tail Whip to lower attack or defense respectively, which due to the relatively bulky nature of Pachirisu, helps it get a few off. It's actually how I was finally able to beat Florinia's Cray Diddy. And the Arceus granted move that makes me love this thing even more... Super Fang. Flat 1/2 health gone in a single turn. Combined with Nuzzle, this opens up many kills against tanks. It might take a while for it to get the move, but by Arceus is it useful.

Exploud Normal A Rank

I haven't done a Normal monorun, but this is theorizing from my regular playthrough

Boomburst. Need I say more? OK. Whismur is available very early on, and it proves its worth quickly. This guy and its unevolved forms all have a surprisingly high Special Attack. And it learns a lot of powerful moves, especially one early game. There's the aforementioned Boomburst, which it doesn't get until fully evolving, but it's 140 base power, 100 accuracy, and Normal type STAB, which makes it deadly for anyone without Soundproof ability. And surprisingly, the move Uproar is a beast early game. It may lock you into the move for a few turns, but it's still really powerful for that stage in the game. 90 base power, 100 accuracy, and again STAB, and very few Pokemon actually have the ability Soundproof, so it's pretty dang useful. There are probably better Normal types to use later in-game, but early on (except against Julia's Voltorb if they have Soundproof), Whismur and Loudred can really pull their weight.

[Noir]

Okay, let's get to work. Correct me on Calm Mind, though, if it's not available.

Cofagrigus

Ranking: S

Ability:Mummy

Moves: Shadow Ball, Hidden Power Bug/Fighting/Fire, Will-O-Wisp, Curse, Toxic Spikes, Nasty Plot, Calm Mind, Trick Room, Curse.

Cofragrigus takes a pretty important role on a Ghost monorun as the best physical tank amongst all Ghosts. Complementing its pretty nice 58/145/105 bulk is Will-O-Wisp that allows it to cripple a lot of attackers, as well as it's ability Mummy, that renders Pokemon that are ability reliant, such as Medicham, useless. It also has access to Toxic Spikes, ironically, for status support; beyond this Cofagrigus also can go on the offensive with a Calm Mind, Nasty Plot, or Trick Room set to support the commonly slow distribution of Ghosts. As one of the early-game Ghosts, if not the earliest Ghost you can find apart from Banette/Gourgeist, this is a must-have for every serious mono-Ghost team.

Dusknoir

Ranking: A

Ability: Pressure
Moves: Shadow Punch, Shadow Sneak, Brick Break, Ice Punch, Fire Punch, ThunderPunch, Will-O-Wisp, Pain Split, Trick Room, Curse.

Dusclops would be a superior choice if Eviolite was available for the contender of bulky Ghost type. Dusknoir's niche is it's more tanky nature in which it can act both as an offensive force and a defensive pivot. One of it's main niches is it's best ability to utilize Trick Room, and it's Attack and movepool is not that appealing as one might think but it's enough to merit some good damage and it's mixed bulk also merits a spot on teams. It can also provide good Trick Room support as well as semi-reliable recovery in Pain Split, as well as the quintessential Will-O-Wisp. However, Dusknoir is limited by it's low HP stat and unappealing stat distribution that leaves it outclassed both offensively and defensively, leaving it stuck with a single niche; regardless, Dusknoir sets up Trick Room the most efficiently, but has it's other jobs done better by a lot else.

Jellicent

Ranking: S

Ability: Water Absorb/Cursed Body

Moves: Recover, Water Spout, Surf, Ominous Wind, Shadow Ball (debatable), Sludge Wave, Acid Armor, Rain Dance, Hidden Power Grass/Electric.

Jellicent stands as perhaps the most efficient special wall amongst all Ghost types due to it's access to optimum Special bulk and Recover. Basically, this thing rarely, if not never, dies, and combats both sides of weather very well, meaning it's good against Charlotte and against Rain or Water-based teams due to Water Absorb. While Jellicent brings a Grass/Electric weakness to the run, this isn't that big of a hassle as it's pros outweigh the cons. Jellicient can provide even an offensive role with Water Spout, although with E15, it is one of the sad Ghost types that cannot learn Shadow Ball. It can fix its physical bulk with Acid Armor as well, as well as function in Trick Room which makes up for its lackluster speed in utilizing Water Spout.

Chandelure

Ranking: S

Ability: Flash Fire/Infiltrator

Moves: Flamethrower, Shadow Ball, Overheat, Hidden Power Grass/Fighting, Will-O-Wisp, Pain Split, Trick Room, Heat Wave, Calm Mind.

Obviously when you think about "powerful Ghost-type Special nuke", Chandelure comes to mind. With a massive 145 base Special Attack and an unparalleled STAB combination, chances are what you see apart from a Blissey or a very powerful Special wall will be blown up. Adding more power it can set up Calm Mind if it wants, as well as other utility in Will-O-Wisp, Pain Split and Trick Room. Due to Flash Fire, Chandelure's also pretty decent against Charlotte, and can utilize Heat Wave to scorch through things in double battles. An offensive force any Ghost run would appreciate, it does have it's cons such as it's bad defensive typing as well as being a relatively late-game grab. Nonetheless, there is no other more powerful glass cannon that rivals it in power.

Golurk

Ranking: A

Ability: Iron Fist/No Guard

Moves: Shadow Punch, Earthquake, DynamicPunch, Gyro Ball, Mega Punch, Phantom Force. (Help me add tutor moves in there, if there's any you're aware of)

Golurk is unique in that it also possesses a very nice STAB combination in addition to No Guard that allows it to abuse Dynamicpunch for confuse hax. As such, Golurk's medicore movepool doesn't matter that much due to it's Dual STAB covering most of anything anyways. Having two abilities in Iron Fist and No Guard it provides a very solid physical attacking option for your team better so than Dusknoir can, although not all is peaches for Golurk due to the weaknesses it has and lackluster Speed, although it can devastate with Trick Room support.

[SoraFalcon]

Rock Mono

Pokemon: Golem

Ability: Sturdy

Moveset: Stone Edge,Earthquake,Stealth Rock,Explosion/Rock Polish

Rank: A

Analysis: Despite the fact this thing gets destroyed by Water/Grass pokemons this thing can still pack a punch when not against an unfavorable match-up. This thing can obliterate Aya and Serra and Charlotte and Ciel and Bennett which are 5 of Reborn's Leaders that are quite powerful. Even though Aya's field outright lowers the power of Earthquake, but it took down 3 of Aya's pokemons and I think that is pretty amazing. As for Stealth Rock it helped me a bunch against Serra and will soon help me against Charlotte and Ciel ( Fire and Flying Type ). Not only that, if in case you think you are gonna die, you can use Explosion to what I say is a Kamikaze Attack ( Suicidal Attack ). This move helps a lot especially against a Gym Leader whose type is not favorable against yours ( Aya's Dragalge and Tentacruel ). His Stone Edge comes in pretty handy as one of the rather strongest Rock Physical moves which completely outright destroys these Gym Leaders. Even with Field Advantage Golem can just outright take out 2 or more and if not at least 1 pokemon thanks to sturdy. With the power of his high base attack stat he shatters anyone and if you want to go for the sweep you can choose to go Rock Polish. Golem can take lots of physical hits but when it comes to special attack he ain't so great that's why I conclude that he is an A rank.

Edited June 10, 2015 by SoraFalcon

[Vinny]

Considering the amount of activity in this topic, I'll go ahead and pin it.

Keep the good work everyone, and as long as the OP keeps updating the guide, it will stay pinned~

[Metatyph]

Alright, I got to a point far enough in-game to somewhat comfortably write up analyses for some Ice-types. Here they are.

Note: This is all taking into account that Abomasnow will be setting up Hail, so no 'mons listed here will have manual setups. This can be changed for personal preferences and stuffs. Yeah.

Abomasnow (S or A+-Rank) (Inject)
Ability: Snow Warning
Moves: Icy Wind/Blizzard, Wood Hammer/Razor Leaf, Ice Shard, Swagger/Mist
Items: Icy Rock/Icicle Plate
Reasoning: Hail support is one of the things Ice monoruns appreciate a lot. Hail deals chip damage, neuters Leftovers recovery on some important battles, and ensures Blizzard hits 100% of the time, whilst also crippling some opposing weather-based teams, most notably Charlotte's gym team. Snover learns Icy Wind, which is a strong STAB early-game. The Speed-reducing effect also carries Snover all the way to mid-game, where it will eventually evolve into Abomasnow. I personally recommend that Snover is kept unevolved until lv41 (it starts evolving at lv40), as it learns Blizzard early that way. 100% accurate Blizzard will carry you all the way through mid-game and end-game, with its huge base power, with the only drawback pretty much being the low PP. Wood Hammer and Razor Leaf are pretty much just up to preference. Razor Leaf has decent power, while Wood Hammer trades survivability for raw power. Ice Shard is a reliable priority STAB move, which helps picking up KOs on weakened 'mons and chipping damage before you get KOd yourself. Swagger and Mist are the filler moves here, Mist being a way to cancel out fields temporarily, and Swagger is an easy and cheap gamble button. Icy Rock extends Hail time, while Icicle Plate powers up Abomasnow's main Ice-type STABs, though I personally find Icicle Plate is better utilized on another Pokemon. Abomasnow's typing is also great for the first few gyms, with it resisting Julia's Electric-type STABs and doing work against Rini's Grass-types, in which Icy Wind can reliably 3HKO Ferrothorn and Cradily (outside of Recover, of course). It struggles against Shelly's Bug-types, though Icy Wind is still capable of 2HKO-ing her Yanmega, and crippling her relatively fast team. One other drawback it suffers from is its relatively high evolution level (lv40), which means it's stuck with its LC stats for quite a while.

Walrein (S-Rank) (Inject)
Ability: Thick Fat
Moves: Brine, Blizzard/Frost Breath, Rest, Snore/Swagger
Items: Icicle Plate/Leftovers?
Reasoning: Early on, and even later on, Fire-types completely rip through Ice-types. The only thing that stops them from leaving Ice-types with absolutely no chance is, well, Thick Fat Walrein. Walrein effectively resists Fire type attacks, with the combination of a secondary Water typing and Thick Fat's halving effect, which makes Ice-type damage (e.g. from Serra) laughably ignorable. Walrein also sports considerable amounts of bulk, making it your main switchin option regardless. Spheal comes with a decent starting movepool, even including a basic Water-type STAB in Water Gun, and gets a higher-powered alternative in Brine early on at level 17. Powder Snow is a basic Ice-type STAB, which can be traded with Aurora Beam at lv21, and Blizzard or Frost Breath at lv49 or post-Serra, respectively. Frost Breath will help against boosting enemies, which I believe Noel's Clefable is. Spheal gets Rest and Snore at lv31, which serves as a form of recovery and way to deal damage while asleep, respectively. Swagger can be used in place of Snore if you prefer to have the rolls in place of (actually somewhat underwhelming, but still constant) damage. Walrein provides Ice-type runs with one of the only sources of Water-type attacks, and further beefs them up with STAB. I have yet to find Leftovers, so I settled with Icicle Plate on Walrein, but I've been liking the extra damage output. Walrein's downfalls come mainly early-game, as its partial Water typing means it struggles against the first two gyms, Julia's Electric and Rini's Grass. Other than that, however, Walrein is a valuable asset to Ice runs, due to its ability to take hits and punish hard, and being one of Ice's only good Fire-type (and Steel, to an extent) switchins.

Vanilluxe (B-Rank)
Ability: Ice Body
Moves: Ice Beam, Avalanche, Acid Armor/Freeze-Dry, Mirror Shot
Items: Icicle Plate
Reasoning: Vanilluxe's first form, Vanillite, is obtained fairly early on, available right after Julia's gym with a little internal clock tinkering. I forgot the exact price, but Vanillite isn't exactly costly, which makes it a great addition to your one-man army team. Vanilluxe has okay stats all around; okay bulk, pretty strong offenses, a slightly awkward but not exactly slow speed tier too. It also gets an okay movepool, even with a STAB move that hits Water-types, something that does not come by easily in an Ice mono. Avalanche hits extremely hard if Vanilluxe can manage to take a hit, which isn't very hard. Ice Beam is, of course, a mandatory, consistent STAB move that also bypasses, Avalanche's negative priority. Freeze-Dry is a STAB move that hits Water-types super effectively, something that Ice monoruns sometimes has trouble with. Mirror Shot is a Steel-type attack, which is handy when battling Serra. Vanilluxe, however, has some things that hold it back. One thing I noticed was that Vanilluxe's Ice Beam is noticeably weaker than the other STABs that other 'mons carry, such as Abomasnow's Blizzard, Mamoswine's Earthquake, and Walrein's constantly critting Frost Breath, which means it needs to be able to take a hit before dealing out great damage with Avalanche. This also ties in directly to its other weakness, the lack of a secondary STAB. This makes Vanilluxe's relatively high Special Attack seem not as significant when compared to the other 'mons.

Mamoswine (A or S-Rank)
Ability: Snow Cloak/Thick Fat
Moves: Ice Shard/Ice Fang, Earthquake, Mist/Ice Fang, Thrash/Blizzard/Rock Tomb
Items: Icicle Plate/Life Orb
Reasoning: Swinub can be obtained at the cave below Shade's gym; not as early as I hoped it would be, but better slightly late than almost never. Mamoswine is a very helpful Pokemon for Ice monoruns. For one, it sits at a nifty speed tier (base 80) and sports a great 130 Attack stat, paired with a 100% accurate 100 base power STAB attack in Earthquake, and a reliable 40 base power STAB priority move in Ice Shard. Of course, one can opt to run the 65 base power Ice Fang if they wish to have more power in place of priority and perfect accuracy. Mist is another move that temporarily cancels out field effects, and Thrash is just a big source of damage output. Though not exactly a Special Attacker, Mamoswine can run Blizzard to take advantage of Abomasnow or Aurorus' Hail. Mamoswine also can abuse two viable abilities: Snow Cloak, for the luck factor, and Thick Fat, as a Fire-type sponge and killer. Both abilities can be put into good use, and the choice depends on the player's style, really. Though Mamoswine doesn't get any Rock-type moves via level-up, Rock Tomb is available as an item in the water treatment plant, making a pseudo-EdgeQuake combination possible. However, as it is, Mamoswine doesn't exactly support the team in most ways, and rather exerts support from its teammates. All in all, however, Mamoswine is perfectly capable of hitting quite hard, and is surely a must to consider when playing Ice monoruns.

Beartic (B or B+-Rank)
Ability: Snow Cloak
Moves: Icicle Crash, Blizzard, Superpower, Aqua Jet
Items: Icicle Plate

Reasoning: Beartic gets something that Mamoswine can't get through level-up: Icicle Crash. It also gets Superpower and Aqua Jet via Heart Scale tutor, which are pretty useful moves to have, really. Superpower especially comes in play in Noel's battle, not really OHKOng anything barring Cincinno (which, well, gets flinched anyways), but still perfectly capable of revenge killing. There really isn't much to say about Beartic, really, it's just a linear Pokemon that hits hard with hard-hitting moves (//shuffles Mega Kangaskhan beneath a rug). Aqua Jet can be slightly underwhelming, though it is one of the few sources of Water-type attacks an Ice monorun is able to get. That said, however, Beartic is very slow, sitting at a 50 base speed tier, and its bulk isn't exactly amazing. It also lacks a secondary STAB, which is a shame, as STAB Aqua Jet or Superpower sounds great.

Please un-reserve the rest of the 'mons I write up about, as I didn't actually manage to get good enough specimens for the run.

Edited June 11, 2015 by Metatyph

[LeafAlcor]

Ability: Overcoat

Rank: C- (Ground Type)

Item: N/A

Moves: Struggle Bug, Rock Blast, Bug Bite, Attract/Captivate/Hidden Power

Why: Wormadam-Sandy has a good defence stat of 105 making it a reasonably bulky physically as well as having a good typing for a ground monotype (Bug/Ground), which combined with its ability overcoat makes it a menace to the usually dangerous grass types by taking only neutral damage from their STAB attacks and being immune to the common powder based moves on opposing bug and grass types (bye bye spore spammers); it has bug bite STAB to strike back against grass types and rock blast to slow down the physically frail ice threats (like Serra) and a semi decent doubles assistance move in the form of Struggle Bug (thanks Shelly) as well as attract and captivate to cripple opponents offence. However despite these helpful little niches Wormadam has quite a few noticeable shortcomings that set it back to only low C rank or even high D rank those being, low stats: having a sub par health stat of 65, Wormadam needs very high defences to make up for this which it got in physical defence but its special defence is only an average 85 coupled with its pitiful speed of 35 one or two hits from a decent special attacker in later game will make short work of it (as well as having rather poor offensive capabilities of 79 attack and 59 sp attack), additionally despite having one or two decent moves majority of Wormadam's viable movepool come from TM's (which are sadly limited in Reborn) or are exclusive to its trash cloak form. Overall Wormadam is a decent bug type option for ground monotypes in early game that can help support in double battles and counter difficult grass type pokemon trainers such as Florinia's gym and Ferns earlier battles, but's usage becomes more of a rare rotation as an occasional counter to pesky grass types due to its lack of speed, offence, special bulk and limited movepool.

Edited June 10, 2015 by LeafAlcor

[Ninjarisu]

Pachirisu Electric A Rank (Debatable)

Yes, while this Pokemon is pretty weak overall, it's still one of the few bulky Electric types available, and very early on no less. This thing is available to the player almost immediately after leaving the Grand Hall, and it works wonders as a support Pokemon. Nuzzle to paralyze, which is a blessing against most trainers other than Julia (And I'd assume Terra, but haven't reached her yet. Not even close). Charm or Tail Whip to lower attack or defense respectively, which due to the relatively bulky nature of Pachirisu, helps it get a few off. It's actually how I was finally able to beat Florinia's Cray Diddy. And the Arceus granted move that makes me love this thing even more... Super Fang. Flat 1/2 health gone in a single turn. Combined with Nuzzle, this opens up many kills against tanks. It might take a while for it to get the move, but by Arceus is it useful.

I myself am doing a electric mono run, and while pachirisu is a great pokemon I really fine little to no use with it. Towards mid to late game lowering a stat by one doesnt help out at all and most electric types are special so tail whip becomes useless. Even charm doesnt help electric types too much because they are almost all too frail. You are must better off using Pachirisu until the 5th gym at most. Emolga nuzzles faster and paralysing is something all your pokemon can do, which leaves super fang as its only good move and if your in a gym battle they will potion it away and even if they dont, Pachirisu has nothing good that will take away the other half before they do potion

Edited June 11, 2015 by Ninjarisu

[Revman]

Yanmega Flying A-S Rank

Yanmega is an extraordinary sweeper for flying types. It has the 2nd highest Sp.Attk of all in Reborn viable Flying Types and is thanks to to speed boost faster than any other (except for Ninjask). Additionally to its great Stats, its movepool gives access to a solid special Rock-Type Move, covering 3 of its 5 weaknesses, and two strong STAB moves. As for its 4th slot you can use Hypnosis to cripple your opponent or rather HP Ground(/Grass) to cover the rest of yanmega's weaknesses.

Tbh this thing saved me when going against Luna. Her Tyranitar is a real nightmare but Yanmega might just be its weakness. ~

Charizard Flying S Rank

While Charizard might be your first Pokemon in this monotype-run it is also one of the best you'll get. Good Typing combined with solid speed, sp.Attk and a great movepool makes this thing a hard hitting special attacker, especially in double battles. Heatwave is definitely your best choice as a Fire STAB. Air Slash and Air Cutter are both viable Flying STABs. While Air Cutter will hit both opponents in doubles I prefer the stronger Air Slash since you already have Heat Wave. As for 3rd and 4th slot you can choose between Dragon Pulse, HP Grass and Ancient Power. While I recommend having HP Grass to cover your weaknesses, having Dragon Pulse and Ancient Power is great in its own way. Dragon Pulse is a strong move hitting quite everything normal and Ancient Power provides great coverage and the chance to boost your stats by 1stage, making Charizard even more powerful.

Crobat Flying A Rank

Crobat is a great Pokemon for a Flying Mono. Since it has a good bulk and solid sweeping abilities combined with an ok-movepool it can be your allrounder and get you out of any complicated situation. Its hard hitting STABs Acrobatics and Cross Poison guarantee solid physical damage output but a special Crobat is also possible (might even be the better option) with Nasty Plot, Air Slash, Venoshock, Giga Drain. As for the physical one I'd recommend having Confuse Ray to cripple your opponent and Bite to fend off Psychics. While many might have Rain Dance to support other members on your team(?) or to at least weaken Charlotte's Team, there is absolutely no need for Rain when you have Archeops at least in Charlotte's case.

Emolga Flying B-A Rank

Emolga is a great Pokemon to have since it has an immunity to electric types thanks to its ability and a rare typing. Its movepool is amazing and allows making a hardhitting special or even physical flying rat or a supportive one. Nuzzle, Electroball, Discharge, Air Slash, Roost, Acrobatics, Iron Tail, Voltswitch, Encore, HP Ice/Grass and Light Screen. I went with Nuzzle, Acrobatics, Voltswitch and Electroball since I didn't want to breed, but the possibilities are great with this one.

ok that's all for now. Butterfree and Staraptor will be in the next one ~

I kinda disagree with Crobat being A for Flying so I'm gonna rank him as B since as you said Flying gets Archeops for Charlotte and Crobat doesn't have a very stellar move set and attacking stats which I'd consider to be a minor shortcoming. Initially I disagreed with Charizard but Flying gets nothing else for Steel since Cheeky Landos Landorus isn't in game neither is Talonflame, Moltres or Gliscor.

Okay, let's get to work. Correct me on Calm Mind, though, if it's not available.

Cofagrigus

Ranking: S

Ability:Mummy

Moves: Shadow Ball, Hidden Power Bug/Fighting/Fire, Will-O-Wisp, Curse, Toxic Spikes, Nasty Plot, Calm Mind, Trick Room, Curse.

Cofragrigus takes a pretty important role on a Ghost monorun as the best physical tank amongst all Ghosts. Complementing its pretty nice 58/145/105 bulk is Will-O-Wisp that allows it to cripple a lot of attackers, as well as it's ability Mummy, that renders Pokemon that are ability reliant, such as Medicham, useless. It also has access to Toxic Spikes, ironically, for status support; beyond this Cofagrigus also can go on the offensive with a Calm Mind, Nasty Plot, or Trick Room set to support the commonly slow distribution of Ghosts. As one of the early-game Ghosts, if not the earliest Ghost you can find apart from Banette/Gourgeist, this is a must-have for every serious mono-Ghost team.

Dusknoir

Ranking: A

Ability: Pressure

Moves: Shadow Punch, Shadow Sneak, Brick Break, Ice Punch, Fire Punch, ThunderPunch, Will-O-Wisp, Pain Split, Trick Room, Curse.

Dusclops would be a superior choice if Eviolite was available for the contender of bulky Ghost type. Dusknoir's niche is it's more tanky nature in which it can act both as an offensive force and a defensive pivot. One of it's main niches is it's best ability to utilize Trick Room, and it's Attack and movepool is not that appealing as one might think but it's enough to merit some good damage and it's mixed bulk also merits a spot on teams. It can also provide good Trick Room support as well as semi-reliable recovery in Pain Split, as well as the quintessential Will-O-Wisp. However, Dusknoir is limited by it's low HP stat and unappealing stat distribution that leaves it outclassed both offensively and defensively, leaving it stuck with a single niche; regardless, Dusknoir sets up Trick Room the most efficiently, but has it's other jobs done better by a lot else.

Jellicent

Ranking: S

Ability: Water Absorb/Cursed Body

Moves: Recover, Water Spout, Surf, Ominous Wind, Shadow Ball (debatable), Sludge Wave, Acid Armor, Rain Dance, Hidden Power Grass/Electric.

Jellicent stands as perhaps the most efficient special wall amongst all Ghost types due to it's access to optimum Special bulk and Recover. Basically, this thing rarely, if not never, dies, and combats both sides of weather very well, meaning it's good against Charlotte and against Rain or Water-based teams due to Water Absorb. While Jellicent brings a Grass/Electric weakness to the run, this isn't that big of a hassle as it's pros outweigh the cons. Jellicient can provide even an offensive role with Water Spout, although with E15, it is one of the sad Ghost types that cannot learn Shadow Ball. It can fix its physical bulk with Acid Armor as well, as well as function in Trick Room which makes up for its lackluster speed in utilizing Water Spout.

Chandelure

Ranking: S

Ability: Flash Fire/Infiltrator

Moves: Flamethrower, Shadow Ball, Overheat, Hidden Power Grass/Fighting, Will-O-Wisp, Pain Split, Trick Room, Heat Wave, Calm Mind.

Obviously when you think about "powerful Ghost-type Special nuke", Chandelure comes to mind. With a massive 145 base Special Attack and an unparalleled STAB combination, chances are what you see apart from a Blissey or a very powerful Special wall will be blown up. Adding more power it can set up Calm Mind if it wants, as well as other utility in Will-O-Wisp, Pain Split and Trick Room. Due to Flash Fire, Chandelure's also pretty decent against Charlotte, and can utilize Heat Wave to scorch through things in double battles. An offensive force any Ghost run would appreciate, it does have it's cons such as it's bad defensive typing as well as being a relatively late-game grab. Nonetheless, there is no other more powerful glass cannon that rivals it in power.

Golurk

Ranking: A

Ability: Iron Fist/No Guard

Moves: Shadow Punch, Earthquake, DynamicPunch, Gyro Ball, Mega Punch, Phantom Force. (Help me add tutor moves in there, if there's any you're aware of)

Golurk is unique in that it also possesses a very nice STAB combination in addition to No Guard that allows it to abuse Dynamicpunch for confuse hax. As such, Golurk's medicore movepool doesn't matter that much due to it's Dual STAB covering most of anything anyways. Having two abilities in Iron Fist and No Guard it provides a very solid physical attacking option for your team better so than Dusknoir can, although not all is peaches for Golurk due to the weaknesses it has and lackluster Speed, although it can devastate with Trick Room support.

Turns out Calm mind isn't in game, I'll just remove that from your analysis'. I'll add every other aspect though, thanks again for some super solid analysis especially acknowledging that Ghost is monstrously strong in Trick room.

Alright, I got to a point far enough in-game to somewhat comfortably write up analyses for some Ice-types. Here they are.

Note: This is all taking into account that Abomasnow will be setting up Hail, so no 'mons listed here will have manual setups. This can be changed for personal preferences and stuffs. Yeah.

Abomasnow (S or A+-Rank) (Inject)

Ability: Snow Warning

Moves: Icy Wind/Blizzard, Wood Hammer/Razor Leaf, Ice Shard, Swagger/Mist

Items: Icy Rock/Icicle Plate

Reasoning: Hail support is one of the things Ice monoruns appreciate a lot. Hail deals chip damage, neuters Leftovers recovery on some important battles, and ensures Blizzard hits 100% of the time, whilst also crippling some opposing weather-based teams, most notably Charlotte's gym team. Snover learns Icy Wind, which is a strong STAB early-game. The Speed-reducing effect also carries Snover all the way to mid-game, where it will eventually evolve into Abomasnow. I personally recommend that Snover is kept unevolved until lv41 (it starts evolving at lv40), as it learns Blizzard early that way. 100% accurate Blizzard will carry you all the way through mid-game and end-game, with its huge base power, with the only drawback pretty much being the low PP. Wood Hammer and Razor Leaf are pretty much just up to preference. Razor Leaf has decent power, while Wood Hammer trades survivability for raw power. Ice Shard is a reliable priority STAB move, which helps picking up KOs on weakened 'mons and chipping damage before you get KOd yourself. Swagger and Mist are the filler moves here, Mist being a way to cancel out fields temporarily, and Swagger is an easy and cheap gamble button. Icy Rock extends Hail time, while Icicle Plate powers up Abomasnow's main Ice-type STABs, though I personally find Icicle Plate is better utilized on another Pokemon. Abomasnow's typing is also great for the first few gyms, with it resisting Julia's Electric-type STABs and doing work against Rini's Grass-types, in which Icy Wind can reliably 3HKO Ferrothorn and Cradily (outside of Recover, of course). It struggles against Shelly's Bug-types, though Icy Wind is still capable of 2HKO-ing her Yanmega, and crippling her relatively fast team. One other drawback it suffers from is its relatively high evolution level (lv40), which means it's stuck with its LC stats for quite a while.

Walrein (S-Rank) (Inject)

Ability: Thick Fat

Moves: Brine, Blizzard/Frost Breath, Rest, Snore/Swagger

Items: Icicle Plate/Leftovers?

Reasoning: Early on, and even later on, Fire-types completely rip through Ice-types. The only thing that stops them from leaving Ice-types with absolutely no chance is, well, Thick Fat Walrein. Walrein effectively resists Fire type attacks, with the combination of a secondary Water typing and Thick Fat's halving effect, which makes Ice-type damage (e.g. from Serra) laughably ignorable. Walrein also sports considerable amounts of bulk, making it your main switchin option regardless. Spheal comes with a decent starting movepool, even including a basic Water-type STAB in Water Gun, and gets a higher-powered alternative in Brine early on at level 17. Powder Snow is a basic Ice-type STAB, which can be traded with Aurora Beam at lv21, and Blizzard or Frost Breath at lv49 or post-Serra, respectively. Frost Breath will help against boosting enemies, which I believe Noel's Clefable is. Spheal gets Rest and Snore at lv31, which serves as a form of recovery and way to deal damage while asleep, respectively. Swagger can be used in place of Snore if you prefer to have the rolls in place of (actually somewhat underwhelming, but still constant) damage. Walrein provides Ice-type runs with one of the only sources of Water-type attacks, and further beefs them up with STAB. I have yet to find Leftovers, so I settled with Icicle Plate on Walrein, but I've been liking the extra damage output. Walrein's downfalls come mainly early-game, as its partial Water typing means it struggles against the first two gyms, Julia's Electric and Rini's Grass. Other than that, however, Walrein is a valuable asset to Ice runs, due to its ability to take hits and punish hard, and being one of Ice's only good Fire-type (and Steel, to an extent) switchins.

Vanilluxe (B-Rank)

Ability: Ice Body

Moves: Ice Beam, Avalanche, Acid Armor/Freeze-Dry, Mirror Shot

Items: Icicle Plate

Reasoning: Vanilluxe's first form, Vanillite, is obtained fairly early on, available right after Julia's gym with a little internal clock tinkering. I forgot the exact price, but Vanillite isn't exactly costly, which makes it a great addition to your one-man army team. Vanilluxe has okay stats all around; okay bulk, pretty strong offenses, a slightly awkward but not exactly slow speed tier too. It also gets an okay movepool, even with a STAB move that hits Water-types, something that does not come by easily in an Ice mono. Avalanche hits extremely hard if Vanilluxe can manage to take a hit, which isn't very hard. Ice Beam is, of course, a mandatory, consistent STAB move that also bypasses, Avalanche's negative priority. Freeze-Dry is a STAB move that hits Water-types super effectively, something that Ice monoruns sometimes has trouble with. Mirror Shot is a Steel-type attack, which is handy when battling Serra. Vanilluxe, however, has some things that hold it back. One thing I noticed was that Vanilluxe's Ice Beam is noticeably weaker than the other STABs that other 'mons carry, such as Abomasnow's Blizzard, Mamoswine's Earthquake, and Walrein's constantly critting Frost Breath, which means it needs to be able to take a hit before dealing out great damage with Avalanche. This also ties in directly to its other weakness, the lack of a secondary STAB. This makes Vanilluxe's relatively high Special Attack seem not as significant when compared to the other 'mons.

Mamoswine (A or S-Rank)

Ability: Snow Cloak/Thick Fat

Moves: Ice Shard/Ice Fang, Earthquake, Mist/Ice Fang, Thrash/Blizzard/Rock Tomb

Items: Icicle Plate/Life Orb

Reasoning: Swinub can be obtained at the cave below Shade's gym; not as early as I hoped it would be, but better slightly late than almost never. Mamoswine is a very helpful Pokemon for Ice monoruns. For one, it sits at a nifty speed tier (base 80) and sports a great 130 Attack stat, paired with a 100% accurate 100 base power STAB attack in Earthquake, and a reliable 40 base power STAB priority move in Ice Shard. Of course, one can opt to run the 65 base power Ice Fang if they wish to have more power in place of priority and perfect accuracy. Mist is another move that temporarily cancels out field effects, and Thrash is just a big source of damage output. Though not exactly a Special Attacker, Mamoswine can run Blizzard to take advantage of Abomasnow or Aurorus' Hail. Mamoswine also can abuse two viable abilities: Snow Cloak, for the luck factor, and Thick Fat, as a Fire-type sponge and killer. Both abilities can be put into good use, and the choice depends on the player's style, really. Though Mamoswine doesn't get any Rock-type moves via level-up, Rock Tomb is available as an item in the water treatment plant, making a pseudo-EdgeQuake combination possible. However, as it is, Mamoswine doesn't exactly support the team in most ways, and rather exerts support from its teammates. All in all, however, Mamoswine is perfectly capable of hitting quite hard, and is surely a must to consider when playing Ice monoruns.

Beartic (B or B+-Rank)

Ability: Snow Cloak

Moves: Icicle Crash, Blizzard, Superpower, Aqua Jet

Items: Icicle Plate

Reasoning: Beartic gets something that Mamoswine can't get through level-up: Icicle Crash. It also gets Superpower and Aqua Jet via Heart Scale tutor, which are pretty useful moves to have, really. Superpower especially comes in play in Noel's battle, not really OHKOng anything barring Cincinno (which, well, gets flinched anyways), but still perfectly capable of revenge killing. There really isn't much to say about Beartic, really, it's just a linear Pokemon that hits hard with hard-hitting moves (//shuffles Mega Kangaskhan beneath a rug). Aqua Jet can be slightly underwhelming, though it is one of the few sources of Water-type attacks an Ice monorun is able to get. That said, however, Beartic is very slow, sitting at a 50 base speed tier, and its bulk isn't exactly amazing. It also lacks a secondary STAB, which is a shame, as STAB Aqua Jet or Superpower sounds great.

Please un-reserve the rest of the 'mons I write up about, as I didn't actually manage to get good enough specimens for the run.

Awesome, some great analysis for a type that not many people dared to take on, I really appreciate it and I'm sure every aspiring Mono Ice runner will too! I'll add these changes as soon as I can since the OP has hit its character limit.

tfw I was told it would but didn't listen halp

[Vinny]

Went ahead and removed some posts in the first page to help the OP.

It's not a permanent delete though, and if I can find a better solution, I'll restore them~

[LeafAlcor]

Went ahead and removed some posts in the first page to help the OP.

It's not a permanent delete though, and if I can find a better solution, I'll restore them~

just a suggestion but why not increase the character/word cap on OP threads that become pinned, since they are already being prioritized as important or commonly used threads anyway it seems a tad silly to have limits like those imposed on them and if they are pinned they are likely being monitored already, in this particular case especially since this threads OP will have most of its content under spoiler tags (im aware this is something probably only Ame can do but it might be worth mentioning to her )

[Vinny]

(im aware this is something probably only Ame can do but it might be worth mentioning to her )

I think that's the case. We'd need an administrator to raise/remove the word cap. Either that or I don't know how to do it.

I'll ask her/Ikaru about it, but for now... This is the temporary solution~

[Revman]

Awesome as, thanks Vinny u da bes

Also to everyone else following the thread currently, the new Ice analysis' and LeafAlcor's Ground suggestion has been added, sorry for the hold up! As well as that, I'm working on a Bug team in game at the moment and I've got a few additions I'll be making soon.

Edit: Expect a complete trashing of Spinarak/Ariados for both Bug and Poison; thing is complete garbage, never have I used a worse Pokemon. A Pokemon that gets no good STAB, literally Poison Sting/Leech Life is what you live off of until Level 40ish when it gets Pin Missile and can't even take half of Julia's Voltorbs health with any of its moves is a Pokemon you shouldn't be using in any circumstance.

Anyway I'll save my ranting for the analysis haha

[ArthurZH]

Incoming water analyses:

Qwilfish - A Rank

I would like more opinions on this if possible, as I alone might be lacking in using this mon in water monos.

Qwilfish is an interestingly strong Pokemon. Despite having 95 Base attack, it gets Poison Jab, Aqua Tail, Toxic Spikes, Spikes and the coveted Destiny Bond. Destiny Bond helps against certain OP Bosses or PULSE Pokemon, and even helps to take a Pokemon down assuming you're faster than it, which is entirely possible with Swift Swim Qwilfish. It also gets Intimidate, if you prefer the attack drop. However, it's availability late game makes people stop and consider if they really want to go to the mountain, fish an average of 5 times to get a Qwilfish, only to be dissapointed with it's IVs and proceed to find a better one for the rest of the day. The availability makes me put it at A Rank, considering that you can get better options which do better (Read: Swanna for Grass Type Coverage, Sludge Wave Clawitzer or Swampert for Fairy Coverage/Poison move as a whole).

Lapras - A Rank

Another A Rank Pokemon, nicely deserved because of a few reasons, including majestic bulk, HydraRest, Perish Song, naturally learning Ice Beam via level up, and Freeze Dry / Dragon Dance as potential Egg Move. It can do the roles of several mons, including acting as a fantastic water counter with Water Absorb/Freeze Dry, run a physical Ice Shard/Waterfall/DragonDance/Bulldoze set, be a Perish Song mon to force AI switches at the 3rd turn after Perish Song is used, and most importantly, as a counter to Ciel as a whole. (I 2HKO her Noivern despite being 15 levels under it, and it managed to tank a boomburst....boosted from field, yes). Downsides include not actually having Rest to abuse Hydration Rest Combo, lack of any other moves not ice/water type and having a weakness to fighting, rock, grass, electric etc, making it's bulk not so majestic after all.

Can we have more analyses? I'd greatly love some, am doing some mono-runs, looking for shit to use anyway.
But nice job we have guys :3

[Revman]

Lapras - A Rank

Another A Rank Pokemon, nicely deserved because of a few reasons, including majestic bulk, HydraRest, Perish Song, naturally learning Ice Beam via level up, and Freeze Dry / Dragon Dance as potential Egg Move. It can do the roles of several mons, including acting as a fantastic water counter with Water Absorb/Freeze Dry, run a physical Ice Shard/Waterfall/DragonDance/Bulldoze set, be a Perish Song mon to force AI switches at the 3rd turn after Perish Song is used, and most importantly, as a counter to Ciel as a whole. (I 2HKO her Noivern despite being 15 levels under it, and it managed to tank a boomburst....boosted from field, yes). Downsides include not actually having Rest to abuse Hydration Rest Combo, lack of any other moves not ice/water type and having a weakness to fighting, rock, grass, electric etc, making it's bulk not so majestic after all.

Okay, added Lapras but since we're both pretty apprehensive about Qwilfish for A rank, I'm gonna wait for a bit and think about it or wait until someone else gives some input for it. Thanks for Lapras tho

[Another Felix]

How do I catch Emolga?

[Revman]

How do I catch Emolga?

http://www.pokemonreborn.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=6802 Check this thread under "Gen 5"

[LeafAlcor]

Long overdue - Camerupt for ground type (been looking forward to this one )

Ranking: S

Ability: Solid Rock

Item: Any recovery item really (or air balloon)

Moves: Lava Plume/Eruption, Yawn, Earth Power/Earthquake, Amnesia

Why: Camerupt has an above average physical and special attack of 100 and 105 respectively, although either attacking type is reasonably viable for camerupt due to all its viable fire STAB moves being special i prefer this set, Camerupt is an amazing support for any and all ground monotypes as it is the only ground type that is also a fire type (with the exception of primal-groudon which will obviously never be available) making it the unrivaled best grass counter for ground types, additionally its available level up moves are excellent, being able to manipulate sleep status on any opponent with yawn while also building special bulk with amnesia, after one amnesia even a special water type attack would be hard pressed to KO Camerupt, it also gains further bulk through the ability Solid Rock which removes one quarter of all super effective damages to it, dulling the edge on all the most dangerous moves to it, Camerupt also gains the use of Lava Plume or Eruption both powerful moves and field breakers to boot (namely grassy and forest fields) Eruption favors a higher power but lava plumes power doesnt decrease with hp and has a high chance to burn the opponent/s (30%) giving it further bulk against the enemy, it also gains valuable STAB in the form of Earthquake and Earth Power, EQ is among the most common ground moves having 100 bp and being able to target everyone at once, while Earth Power favors special attackers and has the added benefit of ignoring the debuff of Aya's wasteland field. Overall Camerupt is the only available fire type to a ground mono, has extremely useful STAB moves and can circumvent or destroy many field effects that are dangerous to ground types making it a must-have for any ground monotype and therefore well worthy of S rank despite a low speed and 4x weakness to water.

Edited June 14, 2015 by LeafAlcor

[BLACKOUT]

A few weeks ago I decided to do a mono run while waiting for Episode 15. I used a random number generator to generate the number of the type I was gonna use ( I counted the numbers of types down serebii"s type chart) and I got Fighting. It's been pretty fun! I will do an analysis of my team in the coming days, especially since the fighting section is looking pretty lonely at the moment

[ArthurZH]

Aite, Qwilfish's a B-Ranker. It's not as bulky as one might thought it'd be, but it's pros such as Swift Swim Poison Jab, Intimidate support, Perish Song helps. If you'd edit shit, I'd be grateful

[Revman]

Long overdue - Camerupt for ground type (been looking forward to this one )

Ranking: S

Ability: Solid Rock

Item: Any recovery item really (or air balloon)

Moves: Lava Plume/Eruption, Yawn, Earth Power/Earthquake, Amnesia

Why: Camerupt has an above average physical and special attack of 100 and 105 respectively, although either attacking type is reasonably viable for camerupt due to all its viable fire STAB moves being special i prefer this set, Camerupt is an amazing support for any and all ground monotypes as it is the only ground type that is also a fire type (with the exception of primal-groudon which will obviously never be available) making it the unrivaled best grass counter for ground types, additionally its available level up moves are excellent, being able to manipulate sleep status on any opponent with yawn while also building special bulk with amnesia, after one amnesia even a special water type attack would be hard pressed to KO Camerupt, it also gains further bulk through the ability Solid Rock which removes one quarter of all super effective damages to it, dulling the edge on all the most dangerous moves to it, Camerupt also gains the use of Lava Plume or Eruption both powerful moves and field breakers to boot (namely grassy and forest fields) Eruption favors a higher power but lava plumes power doesnt decrease with hp and has a high chance to burn the opponent/s (30%) giving it further bulk against the enemy, it also gains valuable STAB in the form of Earthquake and Earth Power, EQ is among the most common ground moves having 100 bp and being able to target everyone at once, while Earth Power favors special attackers and has the added benefit of ignoring the debuff of Aya's wasteland field. Overall Camerupt is the only available fire type to a ground mono, has extremely useful STAB moves and can circumvent or destroy many field effects that are dangerous to ground types making it a must-have for any ground monotype and therefore well worthy of S rank despite a low speed and 4x weakness to water.

Sorry 'bout the wait, it is done; thanks for contributing!

My bug analysis should be going up over the next few days, apologies for the lack of posting; Work, School and my boy Roy in Smash 4 have taken up like 99% of my spare time. Expect more contributions soon!

[superpika1]

Venusaur

Ranking: A+ or S-

Ability: Chlorophyll

Item: Black Sludge

Moves: Leech Seed, Sleep Powder, Petal Dance/Double-Edge/Hidden Power Fire/Giga Drain (egg move), Growth/Nature Power

Why: Venusaur learns two great moves for stalling purposes in a Grass monorun, Leech Seed and Sleep Powder. With this strategy, Venusaur can slowly chip away at the foe's health while maintaining a relatively high health. In addition, Venusaur also has access to Chlorophyll allowing for a speedy Sleep Powder. With Chlorophyll, Venusaur can also run an offensive set with Growth. The primary weakness with Venusaur is that it has a hard time dealing with Grass types if it does not have Hidden Power Fire. If Venusaur had access to Sludge Bomb, it would definitely be in S rank.

Exeggutor

Ranking: B

Ability: Chlorophyll

Item: TwistedSpoon/Rose Inscense

Moves: Extrasensory, Sleep Powder, Leaf Storm/Seed Bomb, Nature Power/Trick Room/Explosion

Why: Exeggutor has an above average Attack stat of 95 relatively high Special Attack stat of 125. This Special Attack stat tends to be used more often due to a wider Special moveset. However, physical attacks such as Explosion can be quite helpful as well. In addition, Exeggutor has a pretty solid HP and Def stat. However, what sets Exeggutor back are its low Sp Def and Speed stats, and 4x weakness to Bug, often causing it to be outspeed and OHKOed with a Bug Buzz. Chlorophyll is used over Harvest because there are not much berries Exeggutor can take advantage of, and Chlorophyll can sometimes be helpful in outspeed Poison types and hitting them with Extrasensory.

Edited June 17, 2015 by superpika1

[Revman]

Venusaur

Ranking: A+ or S-

Exeggutor

Ranking: B

Awesome as, thank you for those; very insightful

Also as a note to the rest of the thread, I've added 2 more Analysis' for bug. Sad thing is the same thing that happened to Crawdaunt's spoiler tag happened to Beautifly's why does that even happen tho like wth man so it's gonna be a tiny bit fugly, I'll try fix it a bit later on. I'll probably do Yanmega, Escavalier, Heracross (When I get it) and Vivillon tomorrow.