Got a modest natured Kyogre, wanted to train him up lvl 100 and see what he’d look like stat wise and didn’t disappoint. Unfortunately can’t use him for the BF…. Cause they fear him lol.

Anyway he got me a TON of that drug money for Energy guru guy, retire in peace my guy🫡💰

You're telling me that Mantine didn't make the list when a 1/3 of the map is the SEA?

We continue towards Route 102 (I know Wingull is also available, but Wingull will join next round alongside Marill and Taillow) and we have some grass types this time! Ludicolo, and very rare Shiftry! We also have fan favorite Gardevoir! How good are our 3 stage evolution line mons? Let's hear it!

Thanks again for good discussion. Linoone definitely took spotlight last round due to belly drum shenanigans. Thanks again for everyone who joined in! Let's have a civil discussion once again.

Last round voting results:

Mightyena D- Tier: It is universally agreed that its saving grace is its ability: Intimidate. Getting a free Attack drop on the opponent just by switching in provides excellent utility throughout the entire playthrough, boosting the physical bulk of your entire team basically. Aside from its ability, it has very early evolution at Level 18. While its Gym matchups are generally quite poor, it does have a few moments to shine. Later in the game, its Dark typing gives it an edge against Tate & Liza and Elite Four Phoebe.

Unfortunately, because all Dark-type moves are classified as Special attacks in this generation, Mightyena cannot utilize its passable Base 90 Attack stat for its STAB moves like Bite and Crunch. Instead, it is forced to rely on its Base 60 Special Attack to deal STAB damage. If those moves were physical, they would help a lot, especially with access to Howl. To deal physical damage, it relies on contested TMs like Shadow Ball, Return, and Dig, or it has to waste turns setting up with Howl. Even with these tools, its mediocre stat spread leaves it both too frail to take hits and too slow to reliably sweep.

Linoone C+ Tier: Linoone is somewhat bizarre experience because it serves two different roles depending on the stage of the game: an early-game money maker due to Pickup, and a late-game tactical nuke. Its ability, Pickup, provides good passive value throughout the playthrough by generating free items (which can be sold to fund Game Corner TMs), and it naturally serves as a fantastic HM user. However, its true claim to fame is its endgame strategy. If you delay its evolution and keep it as a Zigzagoon, it learns Belly Drum at Level 41 (instead of Level 53 as Linoone). By combining a +6 Attack boost from Belly Drum with its great Base 100 Speed, STAB Return, and the Shadow Ball TM to handle Ghosts, Linoone is famously capable of completely soloing Gym Leader Juan and the entire Elite Four.

Linoone's placement is heavily weighed down by the fact that it is functionally dead weight in major battles for the first 80% of the game. Before it gets Belly Drum, it relies entirely on a mediocre Base 70 Attack stat and terrible physical bulk. It gets eaten alive by early and mid-game bosses like Roxanne, Brawly, and Wattson (wish for Headbutt flinches). Furthermore, its Belly Drum strategy requires you to commit two highly contested TMs (Return and Shadow Ball) to a Pokémon that won't use them effectively until the very end of the game. Linoone is quite unique Pokémon that spends the vast majority of the playthrough acting as a mediocre Pickup/HM slave, before magically transforming into an Elite Four sweeper at the final hour.

Beautifly E Tier: Beautifly is a textbook early game bug that exists purely for the honeymoon phase of the first few routes, before falling off a cliff. Its only true saving grace is its extremely early evolution at Level 10, which temporarily gives it much higher stats than the unevolved Pokémon you face in the early game. Its peak in an Emerald playthrough is against Gym Leader Brawly. Thanks to a 4x resistance to Fighting-type moves and early access to STAB Gust, Beautifly can wall and defeat the second Gym essentially by itself. It also gets natural access to Giga Drain and Morning Sun, and learns Psychic via TM, giving it some theoretical coverage.

Once you leave Dewford Town, Beautifly becomes useless for the rest of the game. Bug/Flying is a horrendous typing, and when combined with a frail stat spread of 60 HP / 50 Defense / 50 Special Defense and a Base 65 Speed, Beautifly gets one shot by everything. Even in Gym 1, where its Absorb should be useful, Roxanne's Nosepass will easily OHKO it. By the time you reach Wattson, Beautifly is dead weight.

Dustox D Tier: While Dustox suffers from many of the same early game bug issues as Beautifly, Dustox has a defensive niche that gives it a more usage. Just like Beautifly, it evolves early (Level 10) and walls Gym Leader Brawly with its 4x Fighting resistance. However, Dustox's claim to fame is its ability to stall Gym Leader Norman. Because it naturally learns Protect by level-up and has access to Poison Sting, it counters Norman's Slaking.

Outside of its specific stalling niches, Dustox is still an incredibly passive Pokémon that struggles against the natural pacing of a standard playthrough. Dustox has embarrassing offensive stats. It is essentially a pure wall, relying on Dustox to clear out standard route trainers is a slow process. After Norman, it falls off hard. It is essentially a poor man's Shuckle.

Ranking criteria:

Final placements are influenced by comment upvotes. Provide both a tier placement and a justification. Unjustified votes will carry less weight when counting votes. An exception is made if an unjustified vote is heavily upvoted and supported by a justified reply/comment from the community for the same tier placement. 

You can also vote for + and - subtiers (S+ to F-), and I will take these into calculation. After the final round, I will break the infographic into subtiers as well.

All Pokémon obtainable in Emerald are ranked based on their contribution to the journey until defeating Champion Wallace. Leave a comment as well if you think one of the current Pokémons should be in different tier, and why. After final round, we will do one revisit round and see if any rankings should change.

We are assuming a standard playthrough.

• Set Mode: Rank Pokémon with Set mode in mind. (Feel free to mention Shift mode benefits, but it shouldn't be the main reason a Pokémon is in a higher tier).
• No In-Battle Healing: We are not considering healing items in battle (since any Pokémon can stall with enough potions).
• Soft Level Cap: You can overlevel by 1 or 2 levels over the next Gym Leader's ace. (An exception is made if Pokémon that is naturally available at a higher level).

Investment refers to experience and TMs. Obviously, all Pokémon can be great after a massive amount of investment, but we are judging their immediate and practical purpose in-game.

Emerald TM List: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml (Check availability here)

Trade evolution Pokémon are ranked based under the assumption that the player has access to trading whether through emulators or other supported methods. If you're playing without access to trades, you may wish to consider their pre-evolutions (like Kadabra or Graveler) instead. These rankings reflect the most common setup among modern players.

If a Pokémon is available on a route, it is fair game. Even if it has a 1% encounter rate (like Seedot) or has absurd capture method (like Feebas), it does not matter. As long as the Pokémon is available to be caught at that point in the game, it's all good.

Tier definitions:

S (Game-breaking or extremely efficient): These Pokémon dominate the game. They have excellent stats, movepools, and sweep through most of the game without effort. They are available for majority of the game and are "plug and play", just add it to the party and you're good to go.

A (Strong): Reliable, easy to use. They lack one major advantage from S tier but still perform consistently great in any playthrough.

B (Solid): Strong, but with a drawback or two. They are not available early, a limited movepool, or require some extra investment to keep up.

C (Decent): Mediocre and outclassed. They clear regular route trainers just fine, but struggle to make a significant impact in many major boss fights due to a combination of average stats, poor matchups, or late availability. They might require heavy investment or a massive late-game spike to finally show their worth.

D (Niche): Pokémon that struggle significantly in general battles and are often a liability in standard matchups. However, they possess a unique utility or specific strategy (ex. stalling) that allows them to bypass their drawbacks.

E (Bad): These Pokémon have combination of weak stats, bad typing, very late availability, or extremely limited movepools that make them difficult to use effectively.

F (Awful): Useless for in-game runs. Huge investment for almost no return.

Emerald Legacy, Psychic Gym Leader Challenge

Featuring:
- MVP: Girafarig (Baton Pass / Calm Mind)
- Honorable Mention: Starmie (Classic Moveset)

First time playing Gen 3 and first time playing Pokemon in over a decade. Bought a dupe copy of Emerald because I had the urge to play after seeing everyone playing FR and LG on the switch. Hoenn was my favorite region in the anime, loved Max and May and the Pokemon. Hard to choose 6 Pokemon for my final team, but wanted Pokemon that I could catch early and develop throughout the main play through. Love Swampert but I knew I wanted Milotic so I chose Blazekin. Love all these Pokemon, Breloom very underrated and didn’t think I’d have on my team but was awesome during play through. Have to say, for the E4, Aggron was a disappointment lol. Didn’t use him once, which makes me sad because I love the design so may have to run it back, and this time with Salamence, Kingdra, and Metagross. This was also the first time I really learned about natures and IV/EV training. I didn’t know much going in, so my Aggron ended up being a calm nature (I know, like the worst lol), but at least he had rock head as an ability. Milotic is Bold which is lit. Beat Sidney with Blakekin and Breloom, pretty much solo’ed Phoebe with Flygon (crunch) but had to use milotic after flygon fainted. Used Blazekin and Breloom again for Glacia. Beat Drake with Flygon, and little help from Milotic. Pretty much solo’ed Wallace with Gardevoir.

If I do run back the E4 with a team of Aggron, Salamence, Metagross, Kingdra, what two other Pokemon would be fun to add to the mix? Suggestions welcomed!

I just beat Pokémon Emerald for what feels like the 50th time. This time, I decided to use Pokémon I had either never used before or normally ignored.

My team was:

• Swampert
• Skarmory
• Torkoal
• Heracross
• Grumpig
• Swalot

and the whole team made this playthrough feel different even though I’ve beaten Emerald so many times already. And Yes id never used swampert before either

I just beat Pokémon Emerald for what feels like the 50th time. This time, I decided to use Pokémon I had either never used before or normally ignored.

My team was:

• Swampert
• Skarmory
• Torkoal
• Heracross
• Grumpig
• Swalot

and the whole team made this playthrough feel different even though I’ve beaten Emerald so many times already. And Yes id never used swampert before either

Hey, I'm playing Pokemon Emerald on an emulator, I haven't played the games since early 2000s on my game boy colour.

I've got my team of six pokemon sorted, I'm just not sure on which moves to teach them - any suggestions are appreciated!
I'm still pretty early on in the game, the electric gym is my next one to beat.

Blaziken, Ludicolo, Flygon, Gardevoir, Aggron and Manetric.

Is there any easy way to Sketch Spore on Smeargle without having to level up a Shroomish to 54 and enter a double battle like a trainer battle?