I've done some more write-ups! Not as many this time - GS playthroughs have been slower, what with USUM and other things providing a distraction, and they may become slower still.
Note that
this is for Gold/Silver only. Crystal changes the viability of a couple of these, mainly Shellder and Exeggcute.
My next run-through will test the Weedle, Tentacool, Vulpix, Snubbull and Jynx lines.
Drowzee
Comparisons between Drowzee and Abra are inevitable since they function in similar ways, both being pure Psychic-types with access to a strong typing to get STAB on and great coverage with the elemental punches. But obviously Abra blows Drowzee out of the water in most respects. The main issue I had with Drowzee is that it's very weak prior to evolution. Drowzee is quite weak and slow, easily the weakest member of my team at that point, and often failed to KO stuff even with super-effective hits. It also has a relatively slow initial grind.
I found that Drowzee started to take off when it evolved (level 26). It started to become more reliable at KOing stuff and of course its coverage against important trainers is exceptional. As an advantage over Abra, its physical attack is equal to its special one and it can therefore make some use of physical attacks to extend its versatility. Technically I consider this point mostly moot because its special move pool is more luxurious and already provides it with plenty of coverage, but Shadow Ball does at least allow it to swat away opposing Psychics, particularly an opposing Abra/Kadabra!
I notice that Boxwood has made a comparison between Hypno and Nidoqueen, and I actually don't think that this is unreasonable – they do play somewhat similar roles and are similar in power and speed (Nidoqueen technically wins in this regard, but not by much). However, I don't really agree that they are similar in efficiency for one simple but very important reason: growth rates. While Hypno (in the Medium-Fast group) requires less total experience than Nidoqueen (Medium-Slow) to reach level 100, Nidoqueen actually grows much faster through-out the lower levels, and certainly faster across the range of levels that Pokemon will be at throughout a standard playthrough of GSC. This gives it an easier initial grind (grinding a Nidoran-F is much easier than grinding a Drowzee, believe me) and also helps itself and it team mates in the long run. That's without mentioning the evolution to Nidorina, who is more capable than Drowzee is. I would also argue that access to Double Kick gives it a leg up since it helps against the first gym it'll be able to participate in (Nidorina is hardly beating Miltank but can work against the rest of the gym), although this argument could be countered by Drowzee having an edge against Morty's gym, where Nidorina is essentially useless – I personally consider the Normal gym to be the more important of the two gyms though. Of course, Drowzee is perhaps safer against some of the other Johto gyms too.
I would say its current placement in C tier is probably justifiable.
Dunsparce
Dunsparce is a swarmer which complicates its acquisition. But in Dunsparce's case its status as a swarm Pokemon is especially important.
Normally we can just say: "well, we can use the DST trick to get around that so that shouldn't be a huge problem." But in this instance, it's not that simple. Part of the problem is that to do the DST trick, you first need to get the appropriate phone number. In Dunsparce's case, said phone number is found on Route 33, after Union Cave and well after Dunsparce is first acquired, so you would first need to skip past Dark Cave and progress through the game until you reached Hiker Anthony, get the phone number, and then walk all the way back to New Bark Town to do the trick. From there, you then need to go to Dark Cave to catch Dunsparce, and then you'll need to grind a level 4 Dunsparce for 10 or so levels to get it going. That's some investment!
Alternatively, you could try your luck and hope to encounter a Dunsparce without a swarm, which might pay off but is a huge gamble. Out of interest, I decided to test methods. When using the non-Swarm method, I was very fortunate and managed to find one in about 10 minutes. I was less fortunate when I failed to catch it due to a badly-timed crit, and then I spend over an hour to find the next one which I did catch. If anything, this experience demonstrated well just how risky attempting to catch Dunsparce in this way is to you time. By comparison, the more grindy swarm method took about 40 minutes from getting Anthony's phone number to having Dunsparce at a good level for battling. I consider the DST trick route to be superior just because it's more reliable and so should be taken into account when considering its availability in tiering, but that is a lot of time at that point in the game (I could very well be on the way to Ecruteak and beyond by then had I not bothered).
As far as battling performance is concerned, Dunsparce is actually decent. Early-game, it happens to benefit from its combination of high bulk and STAB Rage – it was able to beat Faulkner and Bugsy with this method and it even managed to sweep Whitney by itself (note that this isn't reliable because it depends on Dunsparce accumulating lots of Rage boosts from Clefairy's Double-Slap, but it was still amusing to observe). Later on, it can use Headbutt and Return for a more reliable option, with Dig to cover almost everything that resists it, and it happens to work ok as a route sweeper with some match-up utility, although it is a bit slow.
Ultimately though, I consider Dunsparce to be one of the worst Normal-types, possibly on par with Togepi, simply because of its availability issues: too much time and effort involved to get it, and with insufficient pay-off.
Exeggcute
This thing is killed by the horrid initial grind it's forced to go through. A wild Exeggcute literally only has Barrage for attacking options at the start and the amount of time it took to get this to level 19 for Confusion is absurd. I think this alone is enough to keep it in the lower tiers because nothing it could do can really make up for the time you lose to get it going. It's ok on routes once it gets Confusion but its power definitely starts to lag later on in Johto and will stay that way until it evolves.
To give credit where it's due, Exeggcute can do some cool stuff in selected match-ups. Its various supporting moves (mainly Leech Seed and Reflect) definitely softened up Whitney's Miltank and it even managed to stall Clair's Kingdra to death with Leech Seed (resists Water and can tank Hyper Beam to take advantage of the recharge turns – for some reason it refused to use Dragonbreath). It also has a good match-up against Chuck's Poliwrath. So, um, enjoy those perks should you choose to use this piece of crap.
There's a very interesting situation going on with Exeggcute. Pickernicker Gina, The Day Care, National Park, and Route 35 are all within the greater Goldenrod Area, making this little scenario possible. Since we're less focused on the clock/time, perhaps Exeggcute should be given a bit of a boost. I guess by the same token, Espeon should be too. But then again, moving from D-tier to C-tier is A LOT different from moving from C-tier to B-tier, so it's not exactly hypocrisy on my end. Plus, it probably takes about the same amount of time to get the egg move and level up the Exeggcute as it does to just evolve Eevee into Espeon, so yeah.
- If playing Crystal, Exeggcute can be found at a 20% rate by headbutting in Route 35, which is the route directly below National Park, which happens to be the area where you can find Sunkern at a 20% rate as well. So far so good.
- Eggy and Sunkern are breeding buddies, and the Sunkern you catch comes with Mega Drain right away, since it is level 14. You'd get a male Kern and a female Eggy, then put them in the place and hatch an Exeggcute that knows Mega Drain and with access to dual STABs as soon as level 19. This would improve the usability of Eggy greatly, and also mitigate it's bad level-up learnset to a degree.
- You can also take the Sunkern and (parent) Eggy out of the Day Care, letting you place your newly hatched level 5 Eggy in there and walk around a bit or doing other stuff until it gains 5-10 levels. Should only take 10-15 minutes tbh.
- In the meantime, you have your homegirl Gina 10 feet from the Day Care ready with those Leaf Stones. You'll almost certainly get a call from her for a stone within the time you are hatching, especially when you factor in the fact that you are not doing it all in one sitting, and playing between different days, as I've become aware this is a mainly casual thing. Getting Gina to trigger isn't too frustrating with the daylight svings exploit. You'll need to walk back to New Bark, but who cares when those valuable steps will go towards either hatching your egg or leveling up your fresh new Eggy; it's a win-win.
- When it's all said and done, you'll have an Exeggutor with dual STAB, leech seed, and hypnosis before you acquire your 3rd badge. Pretty impressive power at that point in the game (it's got some decent matchups down the road too). You can even use it to beat Miltank; Leech + Sleep do the job as it is, but you don't even need to since she's so easy to kill with your starter. Being able to kill Miltank isn't that much of a "postitive" for a pokemon, if a positive at all, so I'm just going to disregard it completely. So anyway, the total breeding/hatching/training process takes about 3 hours, give or take.
Obviously Mega Drain isn't the greatest move out there, but between the STAB and 125 base attack from Exeggutor, that move is hitting just shy of Gengar's Giga Drain, which is very powerful. 10 PP hurts Mega Drain quite a lot (Why is it only 10 when the move is so weak? Lol) , but when you think about it, that's only 5 PP less than many of the great moves in the game. It's not good, but it's not atrocious either.
*Realized this might sound weird to be talking so much about getting Mega Drain when I was just criticizing Karate Chop earlier. Believe me I know the move isn't good. I mean, of course Exeggutor is actually a better pokemon than Machamp, but that's besides the point. The niche is that good grass types are really rare in the game and they provide key resistances/advantages. You basically have Egg, Meganium, and nothing else. One of those requires using your starter slot. Plus if you choose the Cyndaquil, you can easily find a water mon for your team and complete the coveted FireWaterGrass core; pretty much unbreakable as far as in-game goes. So that's why I felt like mentioning stuff about grass moves on Eggy.
I 100% understand that Exeggcute still sucks, regardless of how nifty and cool his access to extremely early breeding may be. Just making that clear.
I find this idea intriguing, but I would not recommend it. Too much set up involved in my opinion, and ultimately I don't think it properly addresses the main problem with Exeggcute, which is the immense time involved in getting it going.
Goldeen
Goldeen is a fairly generic Water-type. It does the usual Water/Ice/Normal thing that most Water-types are able to do and it is OK on its own merits, but at the same time it is difficult to justify selecting it over the many other Water-types that exist in this game. The only thing Goldeen has to distinguish itself is its above average attack…and very few moves to use it with.
There are two ways in which you could obtain and use the Goldeen line. The first way is to fish it up early with the Old Rod. Goldeen can be found in the ponds in Union Cave which is awfully convenient, especially when you take its relatively high catch level into account. It really can just be added to a team with little potential time cost compared to some of the other options that are available to you at this point, which can only be a plus.
This sounds decent on paper: it has Peck as a default move which sets it up nicely for Bugsy's gym, and then it gets Horn Attack pretty early for a decent Normal attack (it can't learn Headbutt). But in practice it is underwhelming. UnSTABed Peck from 67 Attack is not the greatest option for attempting a Bugsy sweep, and its match-ups against Whitney and Morty aren't impressive either. Horn Attack is probably roughly equivalent to Quilava's Headbutt in damage output which won't allow for too many OHKOs on routes.
Another problem with the Old Rod method is Goldeen's late evolutionary level of 33 – Goldeen probably won't be evolving until around the 7th gym/Goldenrod Rocket Encounter, depending on team size.
The other method for using the Goldeen family (and in my opinion the superior one) is to treat it like you would Tentacool and just wait until wild Seaking can be caught. Seaking is first obtainable by Surfing on the ponds on Route 42 which is literally next door to Ecruteak City (i.e. no huge side-track involved to get it) and it is found at a minimum of level 20 and as high as level 24, which means it'll need little to no grinding. From there it can learn Surf immediately and it'll have Horn Attack from 92 Attack to at least fend of opposing Waters (it can't get Ice Punch but can settle for Icy Wind eventually). This method basically avoids the Goldeen phase in exchange for later acquisition, which doesn't mean much since Goldeen isn't doing much during that time in the first place. It also has the same advantage as the Old Rod method of requiring little time investment.
Seaking is just decent. Its underwhelming Special Attack hurts it a bit but otherwise it can still do ok just spamming Surf where appropriate while occasionally turning to Horn Attack/Return and Icy Wind for coverage. Personally, I would say that Goldeen/Seaking is probably comparable to something like Mantine, who is obtainable at roughly the same time and also has similar issues with standing out among the overcrowded Water-type gang (Mantine offers comparatively stronger Surfs but is far worse than Seaking at taking down opposing Water-types and is in a slower experience growth group). So probably wherever Mantine ends up being tiered, Goldeen can just go in that tier too (as is the case currently).
Natu
This isn't too good. The main thing bringing it down is its move pool, which contains no Psychic moves prior to the Elite 4, and very limited options to utilise its good Special Attack. It's stuck with Peck and Night Shade initially which is simply inadequate (the fact that Night Shade is legitimately its strongest attack at times is depressing). It also requires a back-track to obtain, although this is arguably offset by its high catch level.
The only thing that stops Xatu from being complete trash is that its physical attack is usable. Xatu will eventually get Fly and it might have access to the Swift TM too. This allows it to work like an inferior Spearow/Pidgey without the STAB boost on Normal (and it actually has more Attack than Pidgeotto and Noctowl, and is only slightly behind Pidgeot in this regard). Of course, it will get access to Psychic eventually and that gives it an interesting role compression niche, although by then it only has Kanto ahead of it and it's hard to appreciate this niche at that point in the game (fwiw it also gets Giga Drain and SolarBeam).
It's definitely nearer to the lower end of the tier list. It just takes too long to get a good move set on it, but it is solid during the post-game.
Nidoran-F
Very good Pokemon. Well rounded stats, grows quickly, and has a wide move pool to give it offensive versatility. It's really easy to slap this on to a team since it's readily available and grows fast, and its move set can be mixed and matched to suit the team, so it'll pretty much fit in any playthrough.
Nidoran-F obviously faces competition for a team slot from its male counterpart, but it must be said that the differences between them are even less than in RBY. Nidoran-M's advantage back then was Horn Attack over Scratch for the early routes, but the existence of Double Kick from the start and the Headbutt TM nullifies this. Nidoran-M still beats it in stat distribution, although I consider this to be irrelevant most of the time – may as well just use whichever one you find first.
There are criticisms to be made about Nidoran-F. It lacks good STAB throughout Johto, and there is that back-track for the Moon Stone, but that is less than 5 minutes for the return trip so I don't care about that much. More concerning to me is its shaky defensive typing for match-ups, with its Water and Ice weaknesses hurting it somewhat against Chuck, Pryce and Clair, and its Psychic weakness giving it problems against Will. That's on top of its awful showing against Morty. Clearly Johto match-ups aren't its strong point, although it is excellent against Jasmine and has Double Kick to assist against the Goldenrod gym. It can also work against Koga and Bruno to an extent.
Looking at the current tier list, I view the Nidos as borderline A/B tier Pokemon. On the one hand, they are among the easiest and most convenient Pokemon to use, with minimal time and resource cost, but I also think they have issues with Johto match-ups that bring them down a bit.
Onix (with trade)
This section will probably be quite long, but there are a lot of issues to discuss that are related to Onix and the best way to utilise it that I feel obliged to bring up.
There are two ways to go about obtaining Onix: the in-game trade one in Violet City and a wild-caught Onix in Union Cave. At first glance, the in-game trade Onix is clearly superior because it arrives slightly earlier and of course gets boosted experience. This point in particular is a huge asset for a Pokemon obtained so early in the game.
But there is one very important reason why you might want to use a wild-caught Onix instead: obedience. The outsider Onix will stop obeying you properly from the moment its level goes above 10, and it'll stay that way until you beat Bugsy. This can make using Onix a pain and is especially relevant at this point in the game since it prevents Onix from being as good of a counter to Bugsy as it could have been (although I would say it is still advantageous overall). Onix also becomes an even worse choice for Faulkner since Rock Throw is learned well above the level 10 cut-off for obedience. Catching a wild Onix allows you to avoid the obedience problem, and it also makes Onix a more reliable counter to Bugsy, which makes it a considerable option.
Thankfully, the obedience problem is temporary and will almost certainly never rear its head again, so there is a pay-off in the long run. Personally, I still think the in-game trade Onix is far superior despite the obedience problem. It's important to note that Onix will often beat things it could already beat anyway since it still walls them – it's just that it will take a bit longer than normal because it'll randomly use the wrong move or will skip turns for a while. But once you get past Bugsy, the issue is completely behind you and the boosted experience is there for the taking.
There is one other issue that needs to be discussed as it relates to Onix's viability: evolution.
Onix needs a Metal Coat to evolve. There are two guaranteed Metal Coats in GSC, but both are post-game, with the one on the S.S. Aqua being the earliest one. This is obviously problematic for Onix because Onix is rather weak, and being stuck in that form for the whole of Johto is pretty bad. Consider that Onix is a Rock- and Ground-type, and also consider previous assertions by various people about Geodude dropping off slightly during the second half of Johto. You're in for a rough time.
There is one other option available to get around this, but it isn't a great one: obtain Metal Coat from a wild Magnemite encounter. Magnemite is obtainable at roughly the time that Onix's typing starts to become less useful, so it seems reasonable to evolve it right there if that option is available. Unfortunately, finding a Magnemite with a Metal Coat is no easy task. Magnemite has a 20% encounter rate on Route 38, but only a fraction of those hold a Metal Coat. The odds of finding one with Metal Coat are probably less than the 1% chance of encountering a Snubbull on the same route outside of a swarm (the odds can be increased slightly using the Repel Trick).
Now, you could try grinding for Metal Coat right away, but keep in mind that you will not have any way to know if a Magnemite has a Metal Coat just by looking at its sprite, and as far as I know, you will have no access to Thief or any other methods to screen for this. Therefore, you will be required to catch each Magnemite you encounter, and if you don't get it you'll have to reset and try again. This will be very time consuming and is exacerbated by the fact that Magnemite has a flee chance, albeit a relatively low one. If you do go this route, it may be wise to bring some Fast Balls (these Balls are glitched but Magnemite happens to be one of the 3 Pokemon for which the catch rate boost is applied).
A more sensible approach (and the one that I took) would be to at least wait until the Thief TM is obtained from the Mahogany Rocket Hideout and then using that to check for Metal Coat. This approach is more time-efficient and the fleeing problem is resolved as well. It means having to use Onix unevolved for a little bit longer but Onix will still be useful for the Rocket Grunts at least (you don't have to challenge Pryce right away either, assuming you want to use Steelix there). Note that the Thief approach is still very time-consuming though. In this particular attempt, it took just over 2 hours which is just awful.
I am of the opinion that trying to get an early Metal Coat is simply not viable. The amount of time that you are risking is too great, and the pay-off is…just ok. Steelix is certainly stronger than Onix and does better in selected match-ups, but at the same time it still has troubles in other match-ups (Poliwrath, Kingdra) and is also burdened with awful Speed, and prior to Earthquake it's move pool is a bit bare. And so with that in mind, I think it is only reasonable to assume that someone using an Onix in an efficient run will probably be using an Onix for the entirety of Johto and will then have Kanto to use Steelix if the option to trade is available.
From there, it's just a question of how much we penalise Onix if it can't be traded, given that Steelix will only have its advantage during the post-game. I suppose a tier difference is justifiable depending on how much weight is given to performance in Kanto. It's worth noting that Onix does have some use in some Kanto match-ups, including against Lt. Surge, Janine and Blaine, but Steelix will do better against Sabrina and others (but worse against Blaine) and probably has more use overall.
Now in regard to how Onix performs in Johto (aside from the obedience thing), obviously it shares a lot in common with Geodude and mostly performs the same role, excelling during the first half of Johto (where it can use its resistance to wall a lot of trainer Pokemon) but dropping off towards the end of it. Onix's damage output is noticeably worse than Geodude’s though. In this particular run-through, my level 18 Onix actually failed to OHKO Bugsy's Scyther with Rock Throw by a sliver of health which was depressing (Onix ultimately lost because it chose to disobey my commands for the rest of the battle). Onix also has a slightly worse move pool than Geodude since it gets Rock Throw slightly later and lacks Magnitude (Dig is its strongest STAB for Johto assuming no evolution). One advantage Onix does have is better Speed; Onix is not a Speed demon by any means but it is noticeable when Onix is able to out-speed random Gastlys and such when Geodude cannot. Mostly Onix is inferior to Geodude though, and its tiering will inevitably have to reflect that.
Ultimately I think Onix has a lot of flaws, with the main one being its mediocre damage output, but I think the ace-in-the-hole that saves it from the bottom tiers is its boosted experience. It's a godsend for a Pokemon like Onix that has to be more selective in its opponents, and of course it's great support for team mates since less battle time for Onix means more experience available for them. It also does decently during early Johto and will be able to do something against Team Rocket later on.
Scyther (no trade)
Scyther is a fairly straight forward Pokemon and is actually pretty good. Its move pool is a bit lacking but it has good Attack and Speed and is a great route sweeper.
Scyther is highly similar to Heracross. Both are Bug-types that have limited options but carry enough power to function just fine with Headbutt. Scyther is a little weaker than Heracross and arrives just a bit later, but compensates with more Speed and, most importantly, an actual STAB option in Johto in Wing Attack at level 30, which gives to better match-ups against Chuck and Bruno.
Ultimately, I consider the two Bugs to be interchangeable and I think they should rank side-by-side on the tier list – I don't think one is better than the other and it's basically just a case of picking your poison.
Just a note about Scizor: evolving Scyther comes with the same problems that I outlined in Onix's section, but in this case it isn't as big of a problem. Scizor has certain perks over Scyther but it doesn't represent a clear improvement, and if anything, you just lose the STAB boost on Wing Attack along with some Speed, just to gain some extra resistances for Kanto match-ups and a bit more Attack. If we must have separate entries for traded and untraded Scyther then so be it, but these too will just end up in the same tier.
Shellder
A reminder here that I'm talking solely about Gold and Silver, not Crystal. Shellder is an excellent example of a Pokemon where this distinction matters.
This is because Shellder is among the shittiest of the mid-game Waters in GS. It is slow and weak, and it is extremely vulnerable to special attacks – even non-STABed Bites from Golbat can 2HKO it easily. Its main move pool is basically the default Water/Ice move pool, with which it has 45 Special Attack to use these moves, and it doesn't have much of anything to distinguish itself with, aside from perhaps its very good physical defence.
As a mid-game Water-type, Shellder is in a privileged position despite its flaws. It comes at level 20 with the Good Rod and so requires little grinding and costs little of your time to add to your team, and it has access to STAB Surf right away. It also comes with Aurora Beam which makes up for the lack of Ice Punch somewhat, and it has the usual good match-ups against Steelix and Piloswine.
Its attributes as a mid-game Water-type probably make it "better" than many of the other "bad" Pokemon by default. It's just so weak though – far worse than any of the other Water-types I've tested thus far. An easy low tier.
Spearow
I've noticed that Spearow has made to jump into S tier and I'm actually glad that it did. I agree that it belongs with the big boys. I won't say too much about Spearow other than to say it is by far the best Normal in the game, Kenya or not. I tested both and consider each of them to be excellent, and if you really wanted to you could possibly use both in a single playthrough (using early-game Spearow to assist a Totodile with Grass-types and then dump it for Kenya, for example).
Sudowoodo
This is definitely an interesting Pokemon. I would say that it's definitely in the upper half of the tier list. It misses out on the first half of Johto but makes up for this with its catch level being unusually high for a non-Rod Pokemon. It also has an expansive move pool. STAB Rock Slide at level 28 is amazing in GSC, but it also has Low Kick, Headbutt and Dig as default options (along with the elemental punches, but it can't use them too well).
Sudowoodo's main flaw is probably its awful Speed which leads to it accumulating chip damage on routes, although it is decently strong and is bulky enough to take some hits. It'll appreciate healing item support regardless. Sudowoodo's match-ups are also a bit hit-and-miss: Chuck and Clair are bad but it can contribute against Jasmine and Pryce, and it does well against Team Rocket and Koga.
The thing that gets me the most about Sudowoodo is that it gives Graveler some serious competition for a team slot during the time in which it is available. Geodude obviously beats it in the availability category and benefits for Ground STAB, but Sudowoodo is far less vulnerable later on in Johto because of its lack of 4x weaknesses, and it also benefits from a better STAB option in Rock Slide earlier on (Graveler will get Earthquake eventually). There may be something to the idea of using Geodude during the first half of the game where it's at its best, and then dumping it for Sudowoodo later on.
Wooper
I mentioned this in a previous post but I'm sort of uncertain about how to best use this.
Wooper is available very early and it is tempting to catch it then with Union Cave coming up. Wooper is indeed useful for these opponents and is a nice partner for Cyndaquil for this reason. But beyond this Wooper starts to feel a bit weak. It doesn't seem to do enough damage with its STABs (prior to Dig at least) and Slam is ass, and it's also pretty slow. It only really takes off when it evolves at level 20, with Headbutt and Ice Punch provide only a slight improvement in the meantime.
Because of this, it makes me wonder if it's better to just wait until Quagsire is catchable in the wild and use it that way instead. It's sort of hard to say because Wooper is slightly weak at times early-game and it would be convenient to skip this period if possible, but at the same time it does work well as an early-game partner for Cyndaquil (removes Rocks) and Chikorita (beats Fires) and it'll evolve eventually and be much better as a result.
It should be said that Quagsire is awesome. Water/Ground is an excellent typing, giving it plenty of resistances and few weakness, while also giving it great types to receive STAB on. Between Surf, Dig and Ice Punch, Wooper is not lacking in moves, and Earthquake at level 35 is incredible. The only "flaws" that Quagsire has are low Speed and a lack of Water and Ice resistances (mainly matters against certain Dragons with particular coverage moves, but the Electric/Thunder Wave immunity could be seen as good compensation).
As far as Wooper's tiering is concerned, I am starting to become less convinced it deserves to be ranked above the other Water-types (bar Totodile of course). Up to this point I considered Wooper to be a clear second to Totodile as far as viable Waters are concerned, mostly because of its availability, typing and "early" STAB Earthquake, but at this point I see Wooper as being at a similar level as the likes of Lapras, Tentacool (wild Tentacruel), Psyduck (wild Golduck) and Qwilfish, and probably some others that I've forgotten. Technically this would still make it 2nd to Totodile, but just level with other Waters and not 2nd outright. This would still be a decently high ranking for Wooper, but I do think the gap between Totodile and Wooper is more pronounced that I previously believed.
Been playing Gold recently and didn't realize until I got to Tohjo falls that Feraligatr doesn't learn Waterfall. This isn't really a bad thing for it since it learns enough HMs as it is and it wants Ice Punch, but posting since
GGFan mentioned it.
The funny thing is that a lot of the "good" Water-types lack Waterfall. Quagsire, Lapras and Tentacruel all miss out on it, for instance.
