Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon In-Game Tier List

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You learn it at lv. 40, by which point you fight only 1/2 Totem battles and Necrozma. The latter outspeeds and OHKOs your Crobat before it can use the move. It probably doesn't have the impact you're arguing for.
Yeah, this is possibly true... I was only able to haze Ultra Necrozma with a Focus Sash. However, the two totem battles that you DO have Haze for are the two hardest, and they both require Haze more than any other totem save possibly Mimikyu. And before you get Haze, Crobat's typing and movepool are excellent.

I'm not sure how to quote multiple posts, so let me just respond to Taistelu, who refuted my argument of Poipole to C. You made some solid points, and I think I agree with you. Revising my Poipole nom from C to E.
 
I went over my team in the in-game team thread so I feel I can weigh in on 6 Pokemon at the very least.

Oricorio: Definitely S, wouldn't mind it going A given Hawlucha is just straight up amazing but I digress. Oricorio has useful boons over it (better overall typing(s), coverage options with nectar / Icy Wind, Feather Dance), and while I didn't abuse a lot of these, I still felt Oricorio-Pom-Pom pulled its weigh all game. Flyinium truly makes it amazing thanks to early Air Cutter and it has a great matchup vs a lot of the game. Nectars can also be abused as you get Electric / Fire at least once while passing through the meadows, giving you good defensive typings and coverage options and allowing you to swap back if need be.

Grimer: A's fitting but I don't feel as strongly on this one. The period between getting Crunch / evolving to Muk at 38 makes Grimer seriously feel like dead weight. I even used both Quick Claw and Eviolite in my item-less run and it wasn't cutting it. Sans that stagnating period, Muk is really solid and carries its weight pass that, having a great typing for all the Skull Grunts and Ultra Necrozma.

Rowlet: Yea B is fine for this. SD being moved from Malie City to post-game really sucks for it (truly felt like a C rank mon when I used it as a physical attacker) and you should go the special route. It gets Giga Drain by tutor now and its movepool at the end as a Decidueye pushes the Nasty Plot bit quite well.

Salandit: Conflicted on this one. Getting one is a pain given its gender ratio, and babying Salandit is probably one of the worst things lol. It basically is using Dragon Rage until it gets Flame Burst / evolves which is so close together. Good matchup against Lurantis (as a Salandit) and Togedemaru when evolved is big points. Salazzle itself is a pretty consistent Pokemon and gets the moves it needs alongside Nasty Plot to sweep reliably. My main question would be: Is the ally Salazzle Salandit can now summon (unlike SM) hard to obtain?

If yes, easily B, as it bypasses its main hurdles of being hard to obtain and baby. If no, then it's a question of "is the babying worth it?" and I'd be fine with C. I think it is a much stronger candidate for B though, in a similar vein to Ralts.

Stufful: No discussion on this? A in my eyes. Comes early on, Brick Break TM is right there to use on it, can use STAB All-Out Pummeling from the get-go, evolves early (27 iirc) and now gets Breakneck Blitz from Take Down, and Fluffy is an amazing ability. Gets a diverse coverage movepool and things like Ice Punch / Thunder Punch that allow it to go through some things it shouldn't go through without Z-Crystals. Fighting-type means it resists a lot of stuff in-game, and its Elite Four matchup is improved with the inclusion of Molayne. If Drain Punch was an earlier tutor this would be even more insane than it already is and maybe S.

Dewpider: I really, really like Araquanid but I look at A and it is out of place, so I see it as a strong B. Losing Scald hurts quite a bit since its Hydro Vortex nukes (while still having oomph) are only one time use and the extra power / burn utility helped it not be too reliant on Crystals. Regardless, very early game-mon, comes with Waterium Z (essentially OHKOes everything with Z-Bubble Beam), Bug / Water is a fantastic typing, it has fantastic bulk with a recovery move (Leech Life) that helps longevity, and Liquidation at 57 (or move tutor if you don't get it by then) makes it an OHKO machine. Mirror Coat is also a nice perk that is often not mentioned, and can abuse it to KO things it can't easily with some of the free healing points.
It doesn't seem too hard to get Salandit to call out a Salazzle, and Ultra Moon players do have the option to gather 50 Totem Stickers for a 3IV totem-sized Salazzle that comes at level 30. It's too late for Totem Lurantis, but it is in time to help against Totem Togedemaru.

I can see Stufful being helped by the improved encounter rate, and the Hau'oli City mall has a level 28 Bewear one can catch after Olivia's trial if desired.

Granted, I didn't use either of these, so I can't really comment on how well they actually perform.

I can definitely agree with Grimer being A. Comes super early, Dark/Poison is stupid good defensively, and has the bulk to take hits in the early game. It does start to weaken near the end of Akala, but Eviolite gives it more bulk until it can evolve. (and by the time even that is starting to not be enough it's close to evolving)

Popplio is definitely A. The lack of Scald sucks, but it learns Icy Wind, so it's not all bad. As a Primarina, it can solo Hapu, provided one grabs Energy Ball when in Lush Jungle to get Mallow and Lana's petals for Mina's trial. Its lack of Speed and Defense do hurt it.
 
Poiple... yes, that thing should remain in E. Get it super late, underleveled, and it won't evolve into something useful until right before the Elite 4... Yeah, this thing is hot garbage in-game. Just don't get it.

Dragalge down to D. By the time you grab this thing, it has only ONE good matchup against the rest of the game, and that's Totem Ribombee. Otherwise, it struggles to do much of anything with its middling stats, and being an island 4 mon means it just appears far too late... I like its design, but it just SUCKS trying to use. The fact it actually can work against Totem Ribombee is the only reason I'm not throwing it down to E.

Clawitzer in D as well, though maybe C can work for it. Unlike Dragalge, it actually hits pretty hard, and has a much better matchup against Totem Kommo-o, Hapu, and the Elite 4 thanks to its actually powerful moves and coverage boosted by Mega Launcher. The lateness again is what really hurts it, but it can lay down quite the hurting if need be.

Mime Jr for B. Unlike poor Ralts, you start off with Confusion AND you can use it to blow up Hala, which gives Mime Jr a great advantage. evolving very early on into Mr. Mime gives a massive boost in power and speed, and lets Mr. Mime wreck havok, especially when pairing Confusion up with an early Signal Beam until you get Psybeam, and then Psychic once you get to island 3. With Filter, Mr. Mime can more easily live certain hits (though keep it away from Totem Mimikyu), and you can always expect to be able to contribute SOMETHING to a fight. The problem for Mr. Mime, however, is that the game just doesn't like Psychic types, and even with Fairy typing helping it out, it still suffers against the horde of dark/ghost/bug coverage and the harder hitting Totems.
 
The team I used overall, as you'll see, has 3 dark types in it. Bug and fairies were a pain in the ass, but overall we pulled through fine.

Popplio (Primarina) No more Scald early means I had to surf around a bit to get enough BP for Water Pulse, but once it did get that and Bubblebeam it managed to hold it's own until evolving. It'll handle Totem Marowak fine providing you play around Detect. As Primarina, it practically hits like a fire hose, and by the time it evolves it's a solid member with high Sp. atk and decent bulk to actually save my ass in some of the clutchest moments I've had (Giovanni post game) A rank

Grubbin (Vikavolt): Thanks to an earlier evolution this time around, I'd say this bug is much more useful. Being stuck as a Charjabug was problematic for the most part, but after Blush Mountain this thing rained lightning from above. Signal Beam tutor provided enough stab until you relearn Bug Buzz and with it learning Tbolt right away after evolving it basically fried everything that it hit. Of course, I can't not mention the in game Choice Specs you get in Tapu Village. Equipped with that Vikavolt practically one-shotted everything that didn't resist Electric. The only thing bad I have to say about it is that since it's so slow, you have to take a hit most of the time first (For some reason my Vikavolt was surprisingly tanky against most neutral hits, but moving after your opponent can be a pain sometimes) B rank, maybe A

Zorua (Zoroark): Being able to use it early for once since BW2 was what made me place it on the team, and to be honest it's kind of a mixed bag. The fact that the most reliable Dark type STAB I have to use is Faint Attack really misses out on a lot of KOs, and this thing either needs to KO or be killed back, since it literally can't take hits for shit. Lack of good coverage until the right TMs are obtained also brought it down a bit. Had to rely on the Exp Share quite a bit to bring it up to date with the rest of the team. I also want to bring out the fact that it was Zoroark that dealt the final blow to Ultra Necrozma however, managed to cheese it to repeatedly spamming Photon Geyser as he's disguised as Salazzle. Overall C rank, maybe B if you're lucky

Murkrow (Honchkrow): Another Dark type, came due to the fact that I'd liked a flying type on the team. Unlike Zorua, Murkow held it's own rather well with the early Flynium Z and Scope Lens boosted crits. Haze also came in Handy if the Totem Mons are getting too nasty, and it's just fast enough to outpace most of the other pokemon you come across. However, the biggest gripe I have with it is that you're stuck with a Murkrow until Poni Island where you get the Dusk Stone, and it's bulk is only slightly better than Zorua's. Also while it's attack is good, it's isn't great enough to kill things as much as I'd like. Once it becomes a Honchkrow however, the Super Luck really kicks in as, with the Scope Lens equips, Night Slash crits nearly 100% of the time. B rank

Salandit (Salazzle): She's supposed to be the bastion that stood against fairies so my dark types can live peacefully, and despite it being frail as well she actually did her job very well since we needed a fire type badly and the fact that most of my team barring Zoroark was rather slow. As a Salandit she kinda fell flat a few times due to how frail she was, the level up moveset was good enough to last her until the TMs came in. She carries herself well enough with just Venoshock and Flamethrower until you get stronger poison type moves. Just keep her away from Ground types and she'll do fine. B rank or A rank

Larvitar (Tyranitar): Ahhh, this magnificent beast. For the first time in forever (HGSS i believe) we finally can use this terrifying monster at a fairly early point in the game. All this sounds good on paper, until it actually gets put into application. As a puny Larvitar it does get Rock Slide to start off, but being small, frail and slow doesn't do it many favors. I had originally wanted to grind it up on the second trial on Akala (you can get it as early as after Lana because you can access Diglett Tunnel's earliest part by then) , but woe is me, the Totem Marowak had Brick Break. Getting the Bulldoze TM helps a bit, but the poor thing had to leech off the EXP share quite a bit until it became a Pupitar. By then, you'll have Eviolite making you a bit tankier, but you still got a good 25 levels until the monster is unleashed. Meanwhile, you're here trying to level up slowly, much slower than the rest of the team. I didn't get my Ttar until right before Ultra Necrozma, but when the time comes that it does evolve however, it will start bringing the pain. It basically steamrolls through Acerola and Kahili on it's own, and is tanky enough to shrug off just about anything that isn't a fighting type attack and kill them back. Overall C rank, maybe even D for how much effort it takes to reach the final evolution stage
 
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Punchshroom

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This is something I thought about in Sun & Moon as well, but I'm not sure why people don't try to take advantage of a certain exploit that can be used to encounter female Salandit easier. You're gifted an Eevee egg in Paniola Ranch, which you can spend ~3-4 minutes running around in circles with Tauros in that fenced area (even less time if you have Roto Hatch) to hatch a MALE Eevee. Right after you complete Kiawe's trial, you get access to Poke Pelago before you enter Dividing Peak Tunnel, which you (should) have at least one Rainbow Bean to evolve that Eevee into a MALE CUTE CHARM Sylveon, thus increasing the odds of finding a female Salandit. Although this comes at the cost of obtaining Salandit after Kiawe's trial as opposed to before, this should be a insignificant factor as Salandit is unlikely to help in the trial anyway, and you can still get slightly stronger Salandit before Mallow's trial. Alternatively, you can have Salandit SOS for a Salazzle before Kiawe's trial, but it's considerably difficult to attempt so since you're trying to endure against Dragon Rages and/or Smog poison all the while. On the other hand, Ultra Moon has the option of scooping up a Totem Salazzle right off the gate, though it would be after Mallow's trial but should still be in time for Sophocle's trial.

As for Salandit's performance in-game, it more than easily pulls its weight enough to be considered at least B. Its Speed + Dragon Rage or even Firium Z Ember allows it to solo most matchups until it gets Flame Burst, it gets TM09 Venoshock from Konikoni, and then it gets Nasty Plot shortly before evolving, and of course it gets TM36 Sludge Bomb in Shady House & Flamethrower by level-up, meaning its power never really drops off, and it shouldn't have much trouble in the majority of neutral trainer matchups.

In terms of important fights, it's probably ideal to use the Sylveon trick to get the female Salandit easier, rather than trying to slog through for a female Salandit or SOS for a Salazzle only for it to not do much against Totem AloWak anyway.
- Salandit still wipes the floor with Mallow's trial, and if you're cheeky you can even get some extra EXP in by pissing off the Fomantis and Comfey before u engage Lurantis. The trial is even easier for Salandit than in Sun & Moon if Lurantis only manages to summon Comfey, though you may want to invest in a X Special Attack to quickly break out of the healing lock or even try Sweet Scent + Smog to try poisoning both Pokemon and whittling them down that way. There's no real danger to Salandit in this fight other than Kecleon.
- Salandit is likely unable to stand up to Plumeria's Globat, and her Salandit also has Dragon Rage as well as better IVs than yours.
- Salandit can Inferno Overdrive Anorith (though beware of being slower), or if it's really ballsy it can Toxic (if it has it) + Venoshock the Lileep while tanking with Eviolite, but other than that it should sit Olivia out.
- Lol sit out the Nihilego fight unless u have Hidden Power Ground
- Salandit isn't actually very good against Hau, especially if you picked Decidueye (since there's no Grass-type for you to wallop). It can beat Noibat but anything beats Noibat lol. Even if you have Nasty Plot or even are a Salazzle at this point, Hau's high IV Raichu/Tauros would most likely stop your sweep.
- Should be a Salazzle at this point, you can end the Totem Togedemaru fight on turn 1 with a nice Inferno Overdrive to the face. Easily one of Salazzle's biggest highlights.
- It's also one of the few Pokemon that (should) outrun Guzma's Masquerain and beat it without much issues. 4x resisting First Impression can allow Salazzle to take down Golisopod as well should it have Emergency Exited out beforehand.
- The Totem Mimikyu fight is usually against Salazzle's favor since Mimikyu would likely outspeed and outdamage it. Salazzle could act as a backup attacker after breaking its Disguise though, forcing Mimikyu to use its weaker STAB in Shadow Claw, which you'd hopefully survive and retaliate with Inferno Overdrive. However, if Salazzle does outspeed Mimikyu, it can Toxic Mimikyu (albeit needing to do so twice) and have the rest of the team stall it out.
- Salazzle should be able to handle Plumeria's Golbat this time, though her own Salazzle most likely still holds the advantage due to Dragon Pulse + better IVs.
- In the 2nd Guzma fight, if you can force the Golisopod to Emergency Exit out and set up Nasty Plot on his Masquerain/Pinsir, you should be able to clean sweep him. Just make sure you actually outspeed his Pokemon however; that Pinsir may have enough IVs to stop the sweep.
- Gladion's Golbat has Acrobatics unlike Plumeria's, meaning it's not as much of a free Nasty Plot, not to mention the risk of Zoroark outspeeding you. You can 1v1 the Type: Null though, especially with a Z-Move.
- Salazzle can Nasty Plot against Nanu's Sableye and beat his Krokorok, though his Alolan Persian would likely stop it in its tracks.
- Won't be beating Totem Kommo-o on its own anytime soon, but it can dispatch of the Scizor easily enough or perhaps Acid Downpour the Noivern.
- Salazzle can Z-Flamethrower or Z-Fire Blast Dusk Mane Necrozma, though if it doesn't KO it risks death from Zen Headbutt. Don't fight Dawn Wings Necrozma :/
- The only ways Salazzle is going to be useful in the Ultra Necrozma fight is with Focus Sash + Toxic or if you have a Zoroark in your party, though these apply for every Poison-type.
- Mina's Trial has you fighting Mina herself, Ilima, Mallow (Ultra Sun) / Lana (Ultra Moon), Kiawe, and Sophocles (Ultra Sun) / Nanu (Ultra Moon). Salazzle pushes Mina over while it can Z-Move Ilima's Gumshoos and set up on his Smeargle (if he opts to that). In Ultra Sun, it can crush Mallow and beat both of Sophocle's Electric/Steels, especially since the Magnezone lacks Sturdy. In Ultra Moon, Salazzle can still beat Lana's Cloyster, whereas its matchup against Nanu is pretty much the same as before. Kiawe is largely unfavorable since Arcanine has ExtremeSpeed while Talonflame and Marowak can stop Salazzle.
- Another one of Salazzle's true shining moments; you make absolute mincemeat out of Totem Ribombee, though it may be wiser to attack it immediately so that it summons Blissey instead of the otherwise annoying Pelipper. Also keep in mind that the Ribombee has Occa Berry, so it is wiser to use Poison moves against it instead of Fire.
- The final Gladion fight would be easiest if you chose Popplio since you'd fight Grass Silvally, and hardest if you picked Litten (though you don't need Incineroar and Salazzle on the same team anyway so you shouldn't have this issue). Your best opportunity for a Nasty Plot is against is Lucario, but once again there's the risk of Zoroark outspeeding you.
- Mount Lanakila has a surprising number of Bug- and Fairy-type users (as well as a Vanilluxe user aka free Nasty Plot), and some of the Black Belts have Bewear and Crabominable which Salazzle can roast. Salazzle especially does well against the final double battle, KOing every Pokemon except the Tyranitar.

Pokemon League:
- Salazzle can solo Molayne, though beware of his Thunder Wave Klefki, Sturdy Magnezone (which thankfully lacks TWave), and the risk of a faster Alolan Dugtrio.
- Unlike in the first fight against Olivia, Salazzle lacks the ability to solo anything on her team this time.
- Acerola provides a turn 1 Nasty Plot sweep opportunity, but Banette's Shadow Claw hurts a ton and Salazzle may risk being revenged/Confuse Rayed by Froslass. If Banette foolishly Screeches you, you're pretty much home free, but save your Firium Z for Palossand to be safe.
- Kahili is a tough one; Braviary is simply too strong for Salazzle to beat 1v1 without Z-Moving, Toucannon has Rock Blast, Mandibuzz has Bone Rush, and Hawlucha has a very real likelihood of outspeeding. Your best shot at doing work is Nasty Plotting vs Oricorio (hopefully without being Teeter Danced) and blast her slower Flying-types, though you'll likely need to Z-Move Mandibuzz unless you've Nasty Plotted twice.
- Hau is no pushover this time. Choosing Popplio would give you the easiest matchup (Leafeon), and even then you have 3 likely faster Pokemon in Alolan Raichu, Tauros, and Noivern which can all potentially stop you. You can still toast Crabominable though.

Verdict: Salazzle has mild availability issues but they're much easier to work around in Ultra Sun & Moon than in Sun & Moon. Ultra Moon gifts a Totem Salazzle while Ultra Sun gives Salazzle better trial leader matchups in Mina's trial. All in all, I'd say Salazzle's typing, Speed, power, and access to Nasty Plot should place it in at least B, especially if Popplio is chosen.
 
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Andy Snype

Mr. Music
Gastly for A: Night Shade and fast Speed for something relatively early (if you're reading this, you can easily find someone to help evolve for trade) helps poop on things but Night Shade is invaluable when it is the option to usually 3HKO the totem. Hypnosis is available pretty early if you use Gastly regularly. Shadow Ball isn't available until right before Acerola trial and being forced to use physical moves isn't a good thing with that attack stat as options.

Larvitar for B imo. For where it comes at the point it does, Rock Slide is good enough and even tacking Rockium Z to it is pretty powerful for some minor leveling against normals. But as Pupitar it actually performs ok. Without checking to see if I could enter DT early enough to find it for Kiawe, I got it at the presumed normal point right after clearing Mallow, but with access to STAB Bulldoze (emphasizing the Speed lowering, especially during Totem matches or tougher matches), it's pretty helpful and also comes right before the Olivia fight. Togedemaru was harder than I expected because it had Iron Head, but I did not consider using Eviolite at this point, so I can't say how bad it actually could have been and won against it anyway.

Smoochum for B. Sing is okay and Psychic is nice but until you beat Araquanid, it's not doing anything except Singing. Frost Breath is nifty to have with its crits and helpful for cases where you really need supereffective Ice damage. Once it gets Psychic by clearing Nihilego, then you can actually do something with Smoochum/Jynx without relying on Frost Breath, and while you do have Confusion, against ice-resists, confusion is just eh when it comes to damage, but that Psychic-type coverage is good against the Skull grunts.

Noibat for F. Evolves very late and deals horrible damage. Dragons are just bad for PvE, and I say this having grinded Bagon in Sun (should've grinded for Salamence).

Popplio is fine where it is in A. Priority is very nice and actually helpful in getting some clears. Fairy and Water are helpful typings to have in the mid-game.

While I have an Ampharos on my team, it actually felt really lackluster for when I needed it as a Mareep. Flaaffy didn't feel bulky enough to take use in battles you'd think it'd be useful. It really only felt good to have for one-time Cotton Spore and Thunder Wave. I guess it's somewhere in low-B/low-C?


I've just cleared Acerola's trial and am trying to hunt the Psychium Z, but for midgame, I expect Jynx and Pupitar to shine some more with expected Po Town and also to pull their weight in Aether Foundation. Gengar's been doing the carrying, even more than Primarina.
 
Just finished up the game. Here's my team and how I'd rate them:

Cutiefly - B tier : Cutiefly wrecked house early on, but it had some troubles mid 2nd island until it evolved. After evolving it was a powerful team member, but i had issues with the number of steel and poison types about. It's moveset isn't too diverse, but Bug Buzz, Draining Kiss/Dazzling Gleam and Psychic will do you nicely, and quiver dance later on allowed me to sweep Hau's whole team in the final battle. Until then, Stun Spore is OK.

Murkrow (Super Luck) - B tier - Murkrow is a beast throughout the first island and half the second, but it's pitiful defences start to be a problem after that - he kills things in one hit a lot, but he also dies in one hit if they survive. Getting a dusk stone from PokePelago was painful, but once obtained, Honchkrow was beast for the rest of the game. His high HP makes him surprisingly survivable, and dark + flying coverage gives him some decent match-ups. Haze is also how I beat Ultra Necrozma, in tandem with quick claw. Finally, early scope lens +super luck gives him lots of power and helps with defence boosting opponents to boot. If his mid-game wasn't so bad he'd be higher, but Honchkrow was one of my best for sure.

Smoochum - C tier - This is a tough one to rate. At various points in the game Smoochum and Jynx were my powerhouses. Fairly early Psychic and Forst Breath are nice, and Jynx was my heaviest hitter on my team. The problem was she was frequently too slow to outspeed the stuff she was effective against, and neutral physical hits killed her reliably. Most flying types outsped her for a start, and I had a few too many fighting types survive a Psychic and counter attack to defeat her. She's too fragile, and for my team I found myself going to Ribombee ahead of Jynx more often than not.

Lileep - D tier - Cradily is another tough one to rank because whilst it was my most consistent performer (highest levelled team member at the end), it really wasn't all that great, it just filled weaknesses my team had. Arriving ahead of the rock kahuna is nice, but her Lileep and Anorith make your Lileep not that great, and it's too late for both the water and fire trials. It's typing gives it very few resistances too, and level 40 evolution is hard work. It also has a fairly bad level up movepool, and I was rocking Giga Drain, Brine and Rock Tomb for some time until better TMs arrived. Solid performer, but too much work for what you get out of it.

Sandygast C tier - On the face of it, Palossand would seem to have all the same issues as Cradily. It arrives too late for the fire trial, evolves at a high level (42) and has a weak level up movepool. It's also quite slow and has a good few weaknesses. However, I actually found it to be a very strong team member, soaking up physical hits and dealing good damage with bulldoze even as a Sandygast. It handled the electric trial single-handedly, as well as soloing both Molayne and Olivia in the Elite 4 for me. I'd rate him higher if he didn't arrive so late and evolve so late, because the final outcome feels worth it.

Togedemaru - A tier - yeah, no joke. Togedemaru was filler for my team to help cover some weaknesses, but he ended up being far and away my best pokemon. He's easy to find, arrives at a decent level, comes with Nuzzle pre-learned and only a few levels from getting Zing Zap, and also right next to the beach where he can be taught Iron Head and Zen Headbutt by the tutors. He turns up right before the fairy type Mimikyu, and has a good match-up vs Plumeria, Guzma, some of Lusamine's pokemon, the fairy type trail and plenty more. Steel/Electric is just as amazing on Togedemaru as it is on Magnezone despite some weaker defences, and his high speed and attacks means he tends to end battles faster too, especially as you get both the steel and electric Z-Crystals right before you can catch him.. Iron Barbs was also a super handy ability to boot, securing kills on a few pokemon who narrowly avoided a OHKO from Iron Head or Zing Zap. I feel he might be overlooked, but Togedemaru is a seriously excellent team member who was basically my best from the moment I caught him until the end of the game. I'd genuinely have rated him S tier if it wasn't for him arriving on the third island, he really is that good.
 

Colonel M

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Not completely sold with Mawile's ranking. While I wouldn't call it necessarily a bad Pokemon, we're looking at something that has no STABs throughout a good portion of the game unless you tutor Iron Head. Even then, it has maybe... twoish decent matchups with Totems? Kommo-o and Ribombee I guess as well. It just doesn't really strike me as an A Rank Pokemon in-game, but I'm willing to be proven wrong.

As an aside:

- I used both Tyrunt and Larvitar in-game, and have to say Tyrunt wasn't too bad. The Dragon-typing is a double-edged sword, but it helps a lot since it neutralizes Grass- and Water-type moves. Wasn't too shabby with Eviolite and has a tolerable movepool to make use of everything. Tyrantrum wasn't too bad either, but I also want to point out that Tyrunt was a Pokemon that I found to be rather average in most situations but had some instances where it could do okay in field fights - sadly in totem fights Tyrunt misses its opportunity against Alolan-Marowak.

B Rank IMO. It definitely is justified a tier above Larvitar IMO.

Some random mons I can probably help rank:

- D Rank. This is not a Pokemon you will ever use long-term, but it's not bad in a couple of fights. Early Wing Attack is nice to have too which makes it stronger than some mons like Spearow fora short time. Definitely good for Hala, maybe for Araquanid and Lurantis for chip.

- B Rank. Salazzle isn't too bad. It's frail, but it can get the job done against some of the fights.

- C at best. Needs a lot of tutor support to be tolerable, and Dragonbreath off of 40 / 60 SpA is pretty bad. Late evolution for Mence certainly does not help its case. Even Larvitar is tolerable with it having usable STABs off its correct attacking stat.

- No Trade B, Trade A. Alakazam is pretty nice, and if you detour for the Psychium Z you can cause some royal hurt. Earlyish TwistedSpoon isn't too bad either. Remember - it gets Confusion when hitting Level 16, so the only bad period is from Abra -> Kadabra.
 
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I think mawile is being oversold as well. Granted i haven't played usum but we're talking bout competing with stuff like bewear, mudsdale and primarina here. Even the broken mega mawile in oras is only a rank so yeah. Even b rank seems kinda iffy with the potential candidates like salazzle and ribombee but i have little experience so whatever lol
 
I think the big seller point of Mawile is the typing: Fairy/steel is insanely good, ground coverage is actually quite scarce, so is fire, it can easily be found with Intimidate which is a big plus for USUM, has the coverage to work well (you get early access to both Iron Head and Elemental Punches tutors), and it has okay base stats while, say, Ribombee needs a quiver dance before it can do things well (Moonblast being a egg move so you'd be stuck with Dazzling Gleam as best fairy stab doesn't help), and Salazzle has disastroys bulk and bad typing and also really wants that Nasty Plot to be up to be able to 1v6, while Mawile is quite independant.

I think B tier is fine. A is likely pushing it too far though since it's still very slow so doomed to take hits outside of Sucker Punch (which being non stab and without Huge Power, doesn't really hit as hard)
 

Colonel M

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For faint

Wingull - A Rank. Loss of Scald sucks a bit, but mid game also bring Choice Specs. Specs boosted Water Pulse with Drizzle does quite a bit, and Air Cutter is at least passable. Still a solid Pokemon that lost and gained things with the transition.
 
As the person who suggested Mawile to A rank... I feel it's best if I come to its defense. Now yes, the lack of fairy and steel STAB early on can be annoying... but it's not like it needs either for island 2. Just a moveset of Bite/Brick Break/Rock Tomb/ Filler covers you until you can get iron head on island 3 (and Focus Punch for possible nuking purposes with Fightinium Z). As Worldie said above, the combination of defensive typing and ability, along with decently okay stats means Mawile's unlikely to drop in one hit, and it makes for a solid debuffer against all of the physical Totems, and can definitely hold its own against Totem Lurantis, Totem Togedemaru, Totem Mimikyu, Totem Kommo-o, and Totem Ribombee. Yes, the first isn't exactly a favorable matchup, but it's going to be doing jack all to you, while you can just buff up and blow past it (There's very little reason not to use either the Roto Boosts or X items, the later which were factored in to give Popplio S tier in S/M). These are why I asked for it to be in A tier, but I won't be too upset if it drops to B...

As for other nominations...

Morelull to C tier. This is the definition of a one trick pony, and its tricks get old really fast. Poison/Flying/Steel/Fire/Ice are not weaknesses you want, and poison moves, especially when going against Team Skull, are EVERYWHERE. If you don't get a good HP, you are stuck with grass moves until you get Sludge Bomb and Moonblast very late, and that doesn't help at all against Totem Kommo-o, who just one shots you anyways. Once you get Spore, Giga Drain, and Strength Sap, Morelull can become quite the lulsy debuffer against certain targets, but that's easier said than done, and Spore is a really solid move regardless.

Cutiefly to B is something I agree with. As a Cutiefly, it's weak and fragile, and needs to be babied a bit, but if you evolve it before Totem Lurantis, you absolutely cheese the hell out of it, and have one of the fastest mons in the game. Pollen Puff nukes rather early on, and you can give it Psychic to better handle Team Skull. with Stun Spore, you can lock down and cripple foes as a suicide lead of sorts, and Dazzling Gleam gives it a fighting chance against Totem Kommo-o, if you outspeed. Also handles Nanu rather easily, which is always a good thing.
 
After beating both games with two different teams, I thought I'd go ahead and share my thoughts on some of the Pokemon I used in those games that haven't been talked about much (if at all).

Larvesta: With Volcarona being my favorite Pokemon of all time, I made sure I used one on my team when I played the game for the first time. Unfortunately, I can't recommend using it at all. You can't get a Larvesta until after getting Machamp Shove, and its chance of appearing is 1%. On top of that, its catch rate is low, it doesn't evolve until Level 59 (personally, I was almost at the end of the main adventure by that point), and until it evolves, its stats are terrible. Once it does evolve, it turns into a full-blown monster, but the amount of time it takes to get it there just isn't worth it IMO. Nomination: E

Vulpix: All of this is anecdotal, but personally, I found it to be a huge asset to my team. Being able to get the Choice Specs in the same location is great for rectifying its otherwise-lackluster Special Attack, and having access to Extrasensory helps out against Team Skull and other Poison-type Pokemon that can be a pain once Vulpix evolves. If you have the patience to SOS for a Vulpix with Snow Warning and hold off on evolving it until Level 42, you can also fire off perfect-accuracy Blizzards or set up Aurora Veil to support the rest of your team, both from a Base 109 Speed stat. Of course, it can be a nuisance to get such a Vulpix, and it's still a dead weight against Molayne and will only get you so far against Olivia, which is why I'm not nominating it any higher, but besides that, it's a pretty reliable Pokemon that can get the job done most of the time. Nomination: B

Sandshrew: Pretty good overall, and much easier to get than a Snow Warning Vulpix, but Sandshrew doesn't get nearly as many toys to play around with as its Ultra Sun alternative does. However, it does still have a couple of things going for it. It doesn't need a Choice Band to have a decent Attack stat, it has access to STAB Iron Head and Icicle Crash, it has a respectable movepool to choose from, and it even gained access to Drill Run or Aqua Tail through the Ula'Ula Island move tutor to enable it to counter Fire-types. While its low Speed stat and pair of 4x weaknesses can be problematic, Sandshrew is still a solid alternative to Vulpix for Ultra Moon players, so I'm nominating it for the same rank. Nomination: B

Beldum: It has a solid movepool and outstanding stats once it becomes a Metagross, but it took until the Vast Poni Canyon for mine to get to that point, and Metang isn't much to write home about. Also, its catch rate is 3. Factoring all of that in, I'd recommend a different Steel-type instead, but since Metagross is excellent at the end of the main adventure, I'm nominating it for C instead of my original D. Nomination: C
 
Larvesta: With Volcarona being my favorite Pokemon of all time, I made sure I used one on my team when I played the game for the first time. Unfortunately, I can't recommend using it at all. You can't get a Larvesta until after getting Machamp Shove, and its chance of appearing is 1%. On top of that, its catch rate is low, it doesn't evolve until Level 59 (personally, I was almost at the end of the main adventure by that point), and until it evolves, its stats are terrible. Once it does evolve, it turns into a full-blown monster, but the amount of time it takes to get it there just isn't worth it IMO. Nomination: E
Seconding this nomination.
Outside of just being hard to get and coming way late, Larvesta requires almost Abra levels of babying to evolve so it can be useful for the last few major fights of the game. Its levelup movepool is also pretty barren, and you won't have access to a lot of its best moves until Move Reminder on Mount Lanakila. Granted, once it gets the right tools, it's a borderline unstoppable force against basically everyone bar Olivia, but it evolves so late that it doesn't end up providing much return for the huge investment required to get it to that point. If Exp. Share is enabled, I might be willing to bump this thing up as far as D, but for now, I'm also nominating Larvesta for E.
i still love him tho
 
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Don Honchkrorleone

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Since I just finished Ultra Sun, I'm giving my overall thoughts based on my team (as all except for the starter and Mudbray are still discussion points):

- A lot of people already talked about Popplio and it's already ranked, so I'll be brief. I agree with A. Especially after becoming Primarina. Earlier is also good, with a choice between a strong Bubblebeam and/or Water Pledge as STAB, and solid coverage in Icy Wind and Echoed Voice/Disarming Voice. I just wish it got Moonblast earlier, as well as stronger coverage (by the time you have Primarina, you'll also probably have Psychic though).

- Event Lycanroc-D was pretty good if not for the stupid evolution method, meaning that if you don't want to screw your 3DS' internal clock for whatever reason you need to program yourself to evolve it. It came on a solid level 10 at early game with decent moves in Bite and Fire Fang (I suppose Thunder Fang is a bit worse but still passable). Once it evolves it learns Thrash, which is an easy move to spam against trainers, as are Fire Fang, Crunch and Brick Break. Rock Tomb and Rock Slide for STAB are good, especially counting the relatively early Rockium Z that you get, too bad they aren't boosted by Tough Claws so their raw power may be a bit weak against bulkier mons. Stone Edge can be kinda late. Its best asset is probably its Speed, since every other Pokémon from Alola is a darn slug, and fast powerful attacks are Lycanroc-D's specialty. Either A or B for me is fine, but may this thread survive past January 10th I'd remove it, unless they release it again.

(with Skill Link) - Toucannon wasn't on my plans at all and I just caught it and left on the back, hence I caught mine right before Paniola Town, but it proved so useful that I got to E4 with it. Let's all admit, Flying is a broken type in-game, and in the early-to-mid game is even better for the birds. Toucannon also evolves pretty early at 14 (Trumbeak) and 28 (Toucannon). Z-Pluck and Brick Break for coverage + Roost are serviceable till it evolves and spam Z-Beak Blast like no one else. I managed to OHKO totem Araquanid with the Z-move, and evolved and OHKOed Mallow with Z-Beak Blast. The moveset I ended up beating the game with was Roost/Beak Blast/Drill Peck (strong, accurate and immediate flying move that didn't have negative priority)/Bullet Seed (Skill Link Bullet Seed is strong af and saved my ass against Water-types). Only problems with Toucannon are its bad speed (and mine was worse since it was Brave) and the fact that as the game progressed it became progressively worse, depending on Z-Beak Blast to OHKO stuff. I'd give it a B. I still haven't got Return, but it's probably better with it.

(with Stamina) - Not a lot to talk. It's really good. Is easy to find and it'll come with a good STAB in Bulldoze. Early Double Kick and Rock Tomb are great, so is REALLY early High Horsepower. Heavy Slam is excellent at 34 giving it even more coverage. Made Socrates, Molayne and Olivia his bitch. Stamina and good bulk makes it really durable. A is deserved, not only S because it's horribly slow.

- If not for its ass Speed, Araquanid would be borderline broken. Araquanid was truly my MVP since the very moment I caught it as a Dewpider. Z-Bubblebeam either OHKOed or 2HKOed everything in the game that didn't resist or had a high Special Defense. Early Bug Bite was serviceable but Leech Life wasn't that far to get, and it generally needed only (Z-)Bubblebeam. Kiawe couldn't touch it, and I used Aqua Ring just for fun as I knew he couldn't. Was also good against Ribombee trial (by that point it had Liquidation already), sponging a +2 Bug Buzz and retaliating with a Hydro Vortex + Liquidation; and Leeching the summoned Blissey (I heard that Pelipper could also be summoned, but it wasn't for some reason). It has great special bulk too (though not enough to sponge UNecrozma's Power Gem...), and Leech Life is a good move to have that heals it a bit, and with its bulk Araquanid generally triumphed even the sturdiest opponents. As far as other moves go, it had really no other option. I kept Aqua Ring till it got Mirror Coat, it also gets Lunge, which is nice I guess but I only used the Water move and Leech Life, so I took it off when I got Scald. And along with its terrible Speed, Liquidation is REALLY late, but when it gets, oh boy. I'd say A, but I'd understand high B with the plenitude of Water-types to choose from.

- Wow! No one talked about poor silly turtle dragon, and I can, in theory, understand why. It comes relatively late and isn't really common, doesn't have the best stats, doesn't especially help against any trial (though mine crushed Molayne alongside Mudsdale, and was helpful in Lanakila), loses to UNecrozma's Dragon Pulse... But I didn't find it to be a bad Pokemon at all. In fact, it was kinda decent. It comes with Flamethrower which means by the time it's caught it's already with a powerful Inferno Overdrive. I taught it Charge Beam and Venoshock for coverage till it got to 41 with Dragon Pulse (and it got Shell Smash at 37, which it can kinda set up easily with its respectable bulk and decent type defensively). Z-Shell Trap is also really good at a 200 BP. Turtonator managed to get a Smash against Hau's Crabominable and later returned to kill his Leafeon. But I admit that, if you really NEED a Fire-type, it's hard to justify Turtonator over Salazzle (I guess females are rare), Arcanine or even Torkoal or Houndoom, and even the Scan starters. I'd say Dragon Pulse is good spammable move due the lack of fairies, and those except Primarina if you start with Rowlett don't really like the Fire STAb anyway. All that though makes it either C or D, with myself leaning towards the former but accepting the latter.

Also consider that all these Pokémon except Primarina are on the Medium Fast group, meaning they'll probably level up a bit faster and may end up overleveled on the E4 battle, as happened on my case.

 

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Just chiming in on the Larvitar discussion... I don't see it in the upper half of the tiers, to be honest. The Pupitar period is just too mediocre. It pulls some 3HKOs and 4HKOs with its actually-pretty-decent moveset (mine currently has Rock Slide/Bulldoze/Brick Break/Crunch, the latter a recent upgrade from Payback), but being in the Slow Exp. group really hurts it. I used it as a lead through most of Aether Paradise and now Poni Island, and with the Exp. Share on it is constantly outlevelled by the rest of the team. Other team members like Jynx or Lampent easily keep up with its levels, even though I barely use them. Pupitar is also KO'd cleanly by any opposing Water- or Grass-type move, and having four other weaknesses don't help it either. Shed Skin is kind of nice, though, it has helped me on a surprising number of occasions. Still, it hits too weakly and faints too easily to be worth all the experience points you'll be pouring into it.

Happiny feels like a C to me. Encountering one is a bit of a chore (it's an SOS encounter in some places on Melemele), and it needs the Oval Stone to evolve. Said stone are held by 50 % of all Happiny, so it's a coin toss whether or not your freshly caught specimen will hold one. If not, you have to catch another, or try your luck with Thief. However, once the Oval Stone is obtained, it will probably evolve super quickly. I think I had Blissey by the second trial (although that might have been a side-effect of all the time spent looking for Oval Stones). Blissey only has a single passable offensive stat in her Sp.Atk, but her movepool is wider than her waistline. Echoed Voice is early STAB (very spammable too, as its Base Power keeps rising when you use it), Hidden Power will have its uses almost no matter what type you get, Psychic is good coverage, and there are a wide variety of other TM or tutor moves to use. Just stay far away from its offensive level-up moves, and you'll be good. Blissey won't be sweeping enemy teams, but she doesn't need to either. She can just sit there taking hits, maybe using Charm to ensure the opponent can't attack her from her weak angle, recover HP with Softboiled and generally whittling down foes. Just keep her away from the physically-oriented Totems, especially those with Leech Life. For instance, witching Blissey in on Totem Araquanid will toast Blissey, and Araquanid will be back to full HP.

That traded Hawlucha is an S if I ever saw one. I hardly ever use it, but Exp. Share keeps it a steady eight levels above Pupitar. It learns a wide variety of moves, is lightning fast, and with the traded Exp. boost it gains levels like nobody's business. It can do great work with the Flyinium-Z, or without it if you opt for Acrobatics.

I don't think my play style lends itself very well to tiering, but I hope those general observations are valid and can be helpful.
 
Happiny feels like a C to me. Encountering one is a bit of a chore (it's an SOS encounter in some places on Melemele), and it needs the Oval Stone to evolve. Said stone are held by 50 % of all Happiny, so it's a coin toss whether or not your freshly caught specimen will hold one. If not, you have to catch another, or try your luck with Thief. However, once the Oval Stone is obtained, it will probably evolve super quickly. I think I had Blissey by the second trial (although that might have been a side-effect of all the time spent looking for Oval Stones). Blissey only has a single passable offensive stat in her Sp.Atk, but her movepool is wider than her waistline. Echoed Voice is early STAB (very spammable too, as its Base Power keeps rising when you use it), Hidden Power will have its uses almost no matter what type you get, Psychic is good coverage, and there are a wide variety of other TM or tutor moves to use. Just stay far away from its offensive level-up moves, and you'll be good. Blissey won't be sweeping enemy teams, but she doesn't need to either. She can just sit there taking hits, maybe using Charm to ensure the opponent can't attack her from her weak angle, recover HP with Softboiled and generally whittling down foes. Just keep her away from the physically-oriented Totems, especially those with Leech Life. For instance, witching Blissey in on Totem Araquanid will toast Blissey, and Araquanid will be back to full HP.
You might be overselling Happiny. Most of the totems are physical based or have a physical move. It won't be doing anything to Gumshoos/Faticate or Hala, Araquanid could just use it as a life source via Leech Life, Alolawak uses Flame Wheel, Lurantis will beat it with any of its moves. The only thing it can do to Olivia is wall her Lileep. Guzma is a 50/50 (walls Masquerain effortlessly, but gets destroyed by Golisopod), Togedemaru beats it, Mimikyu beats it, it's decent against Nanu but unless it gets a good hidden power, it won't be doing much back, Lusamine is another 50/50, Kommo-o along with Ultra-Necrozma is a flat no. It does very well against Ribombee and can toxic stall it for free, but needs to watch out for Pelipper's seed bomb. E4+Hau is another 50/50.
It's rare to find, takes A LOT of babying to evolve to Blissey as 35 base sp.attack is pretty sad, even for early game, and has a poor showing in most of the totem battles. not to mention you can't even trade for one like you could in SM. I can't see it being above D or whatever the second lowest tier due to its factors but it does wall 90% of the special attackers and has reliable recovery early one which is a nice thing to have.
 

Merritt

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After having done another run of the game, I figured I'd put down my thoughts on my latest team.

Litten is all around ok - I got really lucky and got Adamant which was nice but Litten always felt like it was just kinda there, particularly lategame. It was never bad, and it was surprisingly bulky at times, but it never really wowed me. Fire Punch as a tutor is nice as Incineroar, a bit of a power upgrade from Fire Fang and doesn't miss, and its movepool was never terrible or anything, but maybe I was just using everybody else more which is why Litten didn't stand out at all. Probably an A rank because it's a good mon for basically the entire game but it didn't impress me.

Rockruff-Dusk: N/A. More seriously, I didn't use this on my first run and Rockruff was really very useful. Purposefully stopped playing once it got to level 24 and woke up at 5 in the morning to feed it a rare candy, which was annoying, but Tough Claws Thrash is absolutely stupid off its high attack. I wish this thing could be ranked but unfortunately event mon ect ect.

I got a Rash Zorua and man, what a terrible natural special movepool. Round and Hidden Power (Dragon) until Shadow Ball was terrible, and Flamethrower was insanely late. It made a good specs user at the very end when I got Night Daze from the league reminder, but it wasn't as fun to use as I had hoped. Baiting psychic attacks was fun though and cheesing Ultra Necrozma by 2HKOing with Foul Play and taking Photon Geyser cannot be understated. Definitely a high C rank, but a C rank nonetheless.

Hawlucha is a broken Pokemon. I decided to not go for the ingame trade one and even then Hawlucha was still chugging along on its murderous rampage almost the entire game. I never really felt the need to ever use anything other than its STABs and Hawlucha never really fell off either - the only point at which I started feeling like it was less useful was right at the end from Necrozma on, but until that point Hawlucha was either the MVP or could be counted on for basically whatever I needed. S rank easily.

I decided to try out Grovyle and it was just kinda there all game. It worked fine, Giga Drain tutor was nice, and probably physical would have worked better if I hadn't gotten a Bold one and decided to try out special. It took out basically everything weak to grass without trouble but it was frail and its movepool was terrible specially and only marginally better physically from what I've seen. It was very specialized but it was good at what it did. Probably a C rank with an edge towards B.

I have never used Mimikyu before this run. Not in the several runs of SM or in the first USUM run. The low encounter rate and seemingly bad movepool warned me away from being interested in it. When it was my first encounter in the supermarket trial site I decided why the hell not and grabbed it.

Mimikyu is one of the most fun Pokemon I have used in any game. Its movepool was pretty sparse until Play Rough at level 46, but Disguise is so amazingly good that whenever I didn't know exactly who I was going to lead with I just defaulted to Mimikyu, which lead to fairly high leveling for the little ghost mon - enough that I actually got to level 45 before Nanu and decided to toss it a Rare Candy to get Play Rough.

Mimikyu destroyed Nanu, despite Persian flinching three times in a row with Dark Pulse, and continued its rampage of destruction for the rest of the game. As Hawlucha started to become less of a dominant force, Mimikyu picked up the slack and then some. A free hit in almost every single battle is amazingly good, and also worth noting is that Mimikyu has exclusive access to a Fairy-type Z move following Nanu's Grand Trial if you head back to the megamart at night. As you might expect, Totem Kommo-o does not take a 190 BP Fairy-type STAB move, even with Roseli Berry.

Another fun thing is something I also learned for the first time when fighting Ribombee - after failing to crit with Shadow Claw twice and then being KOed by the +4 Dazzling Gleam I decided to see if I could chip it down with my only priority in Shadow Sneak before resetting through Revives. I learned at this point that a revive also restores your disguise. While Ribombee was the only time that this came into play this still seems like a very useful thing for difficult fights when necessary considering how many free revives the game shoves down your throat.

In short, Mimikyu comes fairly late and starts off with a somewhat lackluster movepool, but once it gets to Play Rough is able to offer something in almost every fight. I can't see this thing any lower than B almost purely on availability, although I think you might realize that I'm a little biased after the run I had.
 
Re: Grubbin: It might be more efficient to catch a Blush Mountain Charjabug at level 29-30. Its contributions before then are minor (basically just Lurantis/Togedemaru unless you overleveled for moves), and catching the level 30- Charjabug ensures it evolves in time to learn Bug Buzz, meaning you don't have to tutor Signal Beam. You also skip the Grubbin phase entirely, which is good because the Grubbin phase sucks ass. It's a bit behind on levels but Vikavolt is powerful enough that that shouldn't be much of an issue (especially with Bug Buzz).

I'll post more thoughts when I finish the game.
 
I’ll defend Larvitar under the assumption that Exp. Share is fair game in USUM (which there was discussion of earlier but not really consensus? So not sure). Yeah, it’s only moderately useful as Pupitar and it won’t evolve into Ttar until late unless you grind it. But with HM slaves no long a necessity, I didn’t find it a burden to just drop it into a slot on my team that I wasn’t really using anyway and let it soak up experience. It has the huge advantage of being found very early in this game, so you don’t have to completely derail yourself once you catch it to grind out a bunch of levels all at once in order for it to be useful. The only bit of catching up I did in order to keep it on par with the rest of my team was saving a couple Rare Candies to bump it straight from 58 to 60 and evolve it.

Once I got through the effort of evolving it, Ttar was easily the MVP of my team for the rest of the game. It’s just so stupidly bulky especially on the Special side (more special bulk than Mantine with the sand boost factored in) that it takes neutral and even super effective hits it should have no business taking. It also obviously has strong offensive prowess and easy access to all the STAB/coverage it needs in Stone Edge, Crunch and EQ. It definitely picks up its slack growth-wise, going from an exp leech to an active participant or even the main attacker in most battles after it’s obtained.

I think its ability to tear through late game and serve as an emergency backup in major battles with its ability to eat pretty much any neutral hit and fire back a massive attack in return makes it a good candidate for B, even with its bad availability.
 
I’ll defend Larvitar under the assumption that Exp. Share is fair game in USUM (which there was discussion of earlier but not really consensus? So not sure). Yeah, it’s only moderately useful as Pupitar and it won’t evolve into Ttar until late unless you grind it. But with HM slaves no long a necessity, I didn’t find it a burden to just drop it into a slot on my team that I wasn’t really using anyway and let it soak up experience. It has the huge advantage of being found very early in this game, so you don’t have to completely derail yourself once you catch it to grind out a bunch of levels all at once in order for it to be useful. The only bit of catching up I did in order to keep it on par with the rest of my team was saving a couple Rare Candies to bump it straight from 58 to 60 and evolve it.

Once I got through the effort of evolving it, Ttar was easily the MVP of my team for the rest of the game. It’s just so stupidly bulky especially on the Special side (more special bulk than Mantine with the sand boost factored in) that it takes neutral and even super effective hits it should have no business taking. It also obviously has strong offensive prowess and easy access to all the STAB/coverage it needs in Stone Edge, Crunch and EQ. It definitely picks up its slack growth-wise, going from an exp leech to an active participant or even the main attacker in most battles after it’s obtained.

I think its ability to tear through late game and serve as an emergency backup in major battles with its ability to eat pretty much any neutral hit and fire back a massive attack in return makes it a good candidate for B, even with its bad availability.
The issue is, getting to Tyranitar takes a long, LONG time, and in most playthroughs, it's not getting there until you get to Necrozma or afterward. Until then, you are stuck with a Pupitar who is torn apart and slaughtered by how hideously mean the game is to it. Almost ever major fight in the game is stacked against Pupitar, even if you grab it right after dealing with Totem Araquarid. Even the totems it SHOULD hold the advantage over, like Marowak and Ribombee, can dent it hard and kill it before it can kill them back. Then you add in how slow Pupitar is, and the fact it WILL need healing after almost every fight because grass/steel/water/ice/fighting coverage (and later Fairy/Bug) are everywhere, and with all the enemies being perfect IV's and EV's... Pupitar has a miserable time existing, even with Eviolite helping it. I tried making it work in my UM playthrough, and it kept getting nuked and obliterated even in matchups it had on paper. Keeping it in C is ideal here.
 
I would like to nominate Partner Cap Pikachu for C rank.
Cap Pikachu normally is only distributed via a QR code during the I Choose You movie event, but said QR code is the same as all others, and its renewable too. It also doesn't seem to expire either. The reason why I vote for C is because you can get it at the Pikachu Valley (which is an extremely tiny detour, thats on the path anyway) when you scan the QR code, and you also get Pikashunium Z if you talk to the girl Pika all the way in the righthand corner with it in your party. It comes at level 21, a higher level than any wild Pokemon you've encountered and the moves Thunderbolt, Quick Attack, Thunder, and Iron Tail. But the main reason to use it is that it comes with a different OT, which lets it level up very quickly, and it's Z-Crystal, which turns Thunderbolt into a 195+STAB nuke with a 50% crit ratio. Since you won't have many Z-Crystals at that point, Pikachu is one of the best recipients to use Z-Moves atm. It can decimate Totem Araquanid, will do decently against Totem Alolawak due to being "overleveled" and can at the very least paralyze Totem Lurantis, but won't be doing much else. It can fair well against Olivia due to Iron Tail and it's Z-Crystal, and can solo Guzma, but after that is when it's usefulness ends for reasons being 1. it's a Pikachu, and 2. it can't evolve so you can (will) box it at that point for better Pokemon.
 
From my experience, pseudo-legendaries like Tyranitar are generally very hard to use in-game because 1) they evolve at very high levels, 2) they usually don't appear until late in the game, and 3) their stats and movepools are pretty bad until they evolve into their final forms. Granted, Larvitar can be found earlier than some other pseudo-legends in other games, but it's still not doing much as a Larvitar, or even as a Pupitar. I tried using one back in Gen VI, and Giratina93's experience with it in UM was similar to mine in that game. Personally, I'd take Rockruff or Mudbray over Larvitar any day.

Another couple nominations (since I'm posting something anyway):
Kabuto: Sadly, as tough as pseudo-legends have it in-game, Fossil Pokemon often don't seem to have it much better. In Kabuto's case, the earliest you can get one is by reviving a Dome Fossil bought in Konikoni City, and its only access to a STAB attack is by teaching it Smack Down via TM23 until it learns Aqua Jet at Level 31. Not to mention, since it's revived at Level 20, it will likely take a lot of babying to get it caught up with the rest of your team. It also doesn't evolve until Level 40, so you'll be stuck with an overall-mediocre Pokemon through most of Ula'Ula and possibly into Poni Island until then. Like pseudo-legends, once Kabuto evolves into Kabutops, it becomes substantially more useful (I was able to tear through the Vast Poni Canyon and Mina's trial with it after it did), but it took way too long and was pretty useless until then. Nomination: D

Umbreon: Similar to Volcarona, Umbreon is another one of my all-time favorite Pokemon (what, you think it's my avatar for nothing?). I've been able to get Umbreon to work well for me in HGSS and B2W2, so I wanted to see if I could make it work effectively in a 3DS game as well. I actually kind of cheated by PokeBanking one over to my Ultra Sun copy to teach it Foul Play before sending it back to use in my Ultra Moon playthrough. Foul Play 1-2KO's nearly everything that's not resistant to Dark, so it served me remarkably well. However, going by its utility outside of Foul Play (which it normally wouldn't be able to get until the post-game), Umbreon is just awful. Its offenses are too low to be able to do much damage to anything, and its only options to take advantage of its Defenses are Baby-Doll Eyes and Moonlight (the latter learned at Level 33). It can learn Helping Hand or Heal Bell for support moves, but the small amount of Double Battles and ability to use Pokemon Refresh to cure Status conditions makes both of those moves redundant for in-game purposes. To put it bluntly, unless you can find a way to get Foul Play onto an Umbreon before the Elite Four, there's no point in using it. You have access to many other Dark-types prior to Umbreon in USUM, so use a Zorua or Murkrow instead. Nomination: E
 
From my experience, pseudo-legendaries like Tyranitar are generally very hard to use in-game because 1) they evolve at very high levels, 2) they usually don't appear until late in the game, and 3) their stats and movepools are pretty bad until they evolve into their final forms. Granted, Larvitar can be found earlier than some other pseudo-legends in other games, but it's still not doing much as a Larvitar, or even as a Pupitar. I tried using one back in Gen VI, and Giratina93's experience with it in UM was similar to mine in that game. Personally, I'd take Rockruff or Mudbray over Larvitar any day.

Another couple nominations (since I'm posting something anyway):
Kabuto: Sadly, as tough as pseudo-legends have it in-game, Fossil Pokemon often don't seem to have it much better. In Kabuto's case, the earliest you can get one is by reviving a Dome Fossil bought in Konikoni City, and its only access to a STAB attack is by teaching it Smack Down via TM23 until it learns Aqua Jet at Level 31. Not to mention, since it's revived at Level 20, it will likely take a lot of babying to get it caught up with the rest of your team. It also doesn't evolve until Level 40, so you'll be stuck with an overall-mediocre Pokemon through most of Ula'Ula and possibly into Poni Island until then. Like pseudo-legends, once Kabuto evolves into Kabutops, it becomes substantially more useful (I was able to tear through the Vast Poni Canyon and Mina's trial with it after it did), but it took way too long and was pretty useless until then. Nomination: D

Umbreon: Similar to Volcarona, Umbreon is another one of my all-time favorite Pokemon (what, you think it's my avatar for nothing?). I've been able to get Umbreon to work well for me in HGSS and B2W2, so I wanted to see if I could make it work effectively in a 3DS game as well. I actually kind of cheated by PokeBanking one over to my Ultra Sun copy to teach it Foul Play before sending it back to use in my Ultra Moon playthrough. Foul Play 1-2KO's nearly everything that's not resistant to Dark, so it served me remarkably well. However, going by its utility outside of Foul Play (which it normally wouldn't be able to get until the post-game), Umbreon is just awful. Its offenses are too low to be able to do much damage to anything, and its only options to take advantage of its Defenses are Baby-Doll Eyes and Moonlight (the latter learned at Level 33). It can learn Helping Hand or Heal Bell for support moves, but the small amount of Double Battles and ability to use Pokemon Refresh to cure Status conditions makes both of those moves redundant for in-game purposes. To put it bluntly, unless you can find a way to get Foul Play onto an Umbreon before the Elite Four, there's no point in using it. You have access to many other Dark-types prior to Umbreon in USUM, so use a Zorua or Murkrow instead. Nomination: E
Not that it would change a ton, but Kabuto does learn Rock Tomb via TM, which you would already have from Wela Volcano Park. And you can move tutor Water Pulse, which you’ll have the Z-Crystal for already to tide you over until you get aqua jet. It’s still not terribly fast or strong until evolving, though.
 
Haven’t posted in a bit, but I just finished my second run through of USUM and thought I’d way in on my teams:

Poplio - pretty much agree with this thing’s tiering. In both playthroughs I ran around after getting tauros ride for 10 mins or so to get water/grass/fire pledge for my starter; which greatly lessens the pain of losing early game scald. A

Ralts - Available through island scan on the first island. Didn’t take long to find at all. It gets stab moves pretty early on (in the form of confusion at level 4 **edit** it won’t have confusion due to island scan egg move overwriting it, and disarming voice at 11), but is sort of stuck with draining kiss until dazzling gleam tm (lack of good fairy stab seems to be a theme in USUM). It gets Calm mind at 24 and psychic via tm or by level up at 30. It can run charge beam and screens via tms, or has decent coverage from signal beam, shock wave, icy wind from tutors. Outside of its coverage and decent level-up Movepool, though, it’s pretty well useless until at least evolving into Kirlia. It’s simply too weak as a ralts compared to even Mr. Mime or Kadabra around the same point. It can’t take a hit at all. Kirlia did decently against Totem Araquanid and even evolved into Gardevoir just before Olivia. It was able to set up a couple calm minds against anorith and psychic its way through the whole fight (it doesn’t take a rockium Z very well without a reflect up, though). It does decently throughout the mid-late game but it’s physical bulk and not overly high speed stat hold it back from sweeping and taking the plethora of neutral dark/bug hits. Mine also often got knocked out by team skull poison things if it didn’t outspeed. Doesn’t do anything against Marowak, togedamaru or Mimikyu. It’s a toss-up for Kommo-O (it has flash cannon, which mine took and returned an OHKO with a +1 draining kiss). Didn’t use it against Necrozma but I don’t think it could take any hit without x items, so that’s a no go. Does decently in the E-4, but overall I wasn’t as impressed by it as in previous games. C+

Murkrow - this guy did great for me. He hits very hard early game, gets access to the lovely flyinium Z and once you get the scope lens he’ll crit a ton. His speed tier is great right up until mid/late game, but he won’t take hits too well. He can go mixed too, which is okay for a icy wind (via tutor) or tms like calm mind, psychic, shadow ball. I also found Psych Up to be occasionally useful for Totems who boosted their stats. He really starts to fall off late game if you don’t get the dusk stone ASAP from poke Pelago. I got mine around the electric trial and found honchkrow actually took hits pretty well with his decent hp stat. He still outspeeds some things but definitely misses murkrow’s speed tier. Once you get access to night slash you’ll be constantly hitting crits and 105 BP neutral hits that ignore stat changes are nothing to laugh at coming off honchkrow’s great attack. He did great in quite a few trials (Normal trial, Hala, Araquanid, Lurantis, Marowak, even Kommo-O) but suffers pretty hard in a few as well (togedemaru, mimikyu, ribombee, Olivia). Overall he performed very well as both a murkrow and a honchkrow. I’d put it in B

How are we tiering SOS chained Salamence/Volcarona? I used one in each of my playthroughs. It never took me more than 40 minutes to find either (Salamence actually only took about 20 encounters to find a bagon and 10 minuets of calling to get Salamence). But I recognize that this could easily take 1-2 hours. If we dock them a tier or two for availability they still destroy the game once you get them.

Salamence - Very low availability, with a 1% chance to be called by Bagon on route 3, which also has a 1% encounter rate to begin with. You can’t have bagon call for Salamence until you get adrenaline orbs (which is after the third trial, but I traded a few over from Ultra Sun via gts after the first trial). Assuming you wait until after Kiawe for adrenaline orbs I’ll say it’s early/mid game availability. It has to use dragon breath/bite/brick break/rock tomb for a while, as it doesn’t get a flying move until aerial ace on the second island. It can use iron tail and aqua tail from tutors, but it’s probably better off without them. Intimidate is absolutely increadibly useful in game. I won’t go too much more into detail just in case we don’t tier these, but this thing never ever suffered in game and was by far my team’s power house from the end of the first island all the way to the E-4. It outspeeds and wrecks everything. Assuming we dock it a tier or two for availability I’d put it in - A/B

Volcarona - it’s available in lush jungle after getting machamp shove. So fairly late. But it’ll be much stronger than anything you have at this point. It’s encounter method is the same as Salamence, so it takes a while to find one. Once you get it you can tutor signal beam and giga drain, as well as TM fire blast. It won’t get quiver dance until the move relearner, which really hurts it. It held its own very well for the rest of the game but also doesn’t particularly cheese any of the upcoming totems/fights (apart from ribombee). I won’t go too much into detail until I know whether or not we’re tiering these SOS encounters, but I’d probably put Volcarona in C due to pretty late and rare availability, and lack of reliable stabs until flamethrower/bug buzz via late tm/move relearner.

I also used Mawile and didn’t find it nearly as good as this list suggests. It does have access to intimidate and okay power for early game but it doesn’t take special hits very well and gets nothing for decent stab until iron head. I dumped mine for a klefki at thrifty megamart (which was absolutely invaluable thanks to prankster). It just missed out on quite a few KO’s. I often used mine to heal up my other team members, which was useful but could probably have been done by any steel type. I’d put it in C+/B

I’ll post about a few more of my team members when I have time in the next few days.
 
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