[WIP] Pokemon Reborn In-Game Viability Ranking (Updated for Episode 15)

[Via]

Here's a proposal for Tyrunt/Tyrantrum for A+ rank.

Availability: 8 Badges

Movepool: Fantastic

Comments: Tyrunt is held back because you get it relatively late in the game, and because it can only get Dragon Dance through breeding. However, Tyrantrum's stats, movepool, and ability are very good. Strong Jaw can be used for the Elemental Fangs and Crunch, but Rock Head is generally better as you can have a recoil-less Head Smash. Other notable moves Tyrunt learns include Earthquake and Dragon Claw. Earthquake in particular is nice, as we don't have the TM yet. Tyrunt matches up fairly against the gym leaders so far, such as the Charlotte and Ciel (Dragon Dance + Head Smash (!)). Rock/Dragon isn't the best typing, but it's workable in Reborn, especially considering how rare good dragon types are.

And here's one for Aipom/Ambipom for B- rank.

Availability: 2 Badges

Movepool: Okay

Comments: Aipom is fairly weak when you first get it, but with Technician + Double Hit as an Ambipom, you have an 157.5 BP attack. Aside from that, though, it doesn't have that many redeeming qualities. Its stats are okay -- good speed, decent attack, average health. However, its defenses are terrible and you'll find that later in the game Ambipom won't be hitting as hard. Normal type is terrible offensively, and Ambipom just won't cut it anymore.

[sound of silence]

Don't see a rank for flabebe's line anywhere so I'll offer up my experiences with it.

Flabebe/Floette/Florges

Availability: Just after the 7th gym (requires a floral charm to find)

Movepool: Above average. Has STAB Moonblast, Wish, 2 different field terrain changing moves and access to Nature Power via TM early. Also gets Grass Knot TM which makes it more useful vs Terra.

Difficulty to acquire/Grind: Bad. It's very easy to miss it as there is nothing to suggest you ever need to acquire a floral charm when going through adventurine woods. Additionally being available to capture at level 20 while your team is in the mid 50's makes it a serious pain to grind up.

Notable Boss battles where it shines: Luna and Samson make it worth your while due to that lovely STAB moonblast. Can put in some work vs Radomus if you can avoid metagross wailing on you. Has the special defense to at least tank a boosted hit from either Charlotte or blake and set up a more advantageous weather. Extremely useful vs Terra due to either changing her field or using the glitch field to drop a powerful grass knot. Some use vs Ciel due to her noivern and M-altaria.

Major selling points wrapped up: Base 150 something Special defense makes it an incredible special tank while having the special attack + Fairy typing to deal good consistent damage combined with wish support make it a great team player. While it's HP and Defense aren't appealing, you do acquire it at a point of the game where getting EV berries and EV training items are in easy supply, so dumping all EV's to HP is not too difficult. Unlike its competition in Clefable, Sylveon and Gardevoir, it is nowhere near as RNG reliant as Clefable is, nor at a point in the game where grinding is majorly infuriating. Sylveon is still outclassed due to a lack of hypervoice and having to soft-reset for wish off the eevee event, while being a better option in terms of a tank compared to gardevoir who needs breeding/set-up turns to get the most out of its typing.

Cons: Asides from being stupidly hard to find, Florges does require a shiny stone that you may wish to use on someone else, and is very limited in use against any team heavy in steel, poison or fire types. It can be very disappointing to have it take heavy damage from physical attacks it resists.

Overall Rank: B+ or A-. I'm not fussed which it gets, but what it offers should at least put it somwhere in that area despite the competition for the fairy slot.