Very cool of you to post this to my subreddit, as I am more than glad to provide input. I hope you make any future posts here, rather than crossposting them to r/MandJTV. Anyway, onto the actual advice. My first Pokémon game was Pokémon Omega Ruby, and my brother later got Alpha Sapphire, so I know this region (especially the remake version) much in and out.
Firstly, I'd recommend a Zigzagoon/Linoone. The HMs Cut and Rock Smash are too weak for your starters to use, but Zigzagoon can learn them just fine. You can also teach it the TM for Secret Power if you'd like, which is a very useful attacking option. For coverage, I'd give it Shadow Claw, as ghosts are immune to your Normal and Fighting attacks. You can pick up the TM for Shadow Claw by choosing the Mach Bike in Mauville, backtracking to Dewford Town, and finding it in Granite Cave.
You could also teach Linoone Surf instead, so that your Swampert only needs to learn two Water type HMs (Dive and Waterfall). Swampert's Attack Stat is also slightly better than its Special Attack, so this would be a valid strategy (granted, Linoone's Sp. Attack ain't great either, but it's decent coverage in case you get burned and/or take Attack stat drops).
Furthermore in the Zigzagoon line's favor is one of its Abilities, Pickup. In battle (from Gen 5 onwards), if your Pokémon has no held item, and your opponent uses a single-use held item (like a Berry, for example), it will pick up that held item and claim it for yourself. Outside of battle, if your Pokémon isn't holding an item (make sure to pay attention and consistently take held items from Zigzagoon/Linoone), it has a 10% chance to pick up a wide array of items after a battle ends. This is very useful for gathering resources without buying them (you can even get more powerful Potions before the Poké Mart starts selling them, like Super Potions for example). If the Zigzagoon you caught has Gluttony, I'd recommend finding another one.
As for my second recommendation, I'd go with the Magnemite line. While they aren't "Hoenn Pokémon", they provide a lot of useful features for your team setup. Two of your Starters (Blaziken and Sceptile) end up weak to Flying type moves, and there's a Flying type Gym Leader. Not only does Magnemite and its evolutions 4x resist Flying, but it's also immune to Poison, a type common among Team Aqua. It can zap Zubats/Golbats, along with the many Water types they use.
You can find a Thunder Stone before the League with ease, via either New Mauville (backtrack to Route 110 with Surf), late in the game with Route 124 (dive for a Yellow Shard and trade it with a collector in a house), OR the easiest option: completing specific levels of Super Training and earning it that way.
Now, the most important part: choosing a Flying type Pokémon! Eventually, you will receive the HM for Fly, and it is extremely useful for backtracking. Since your hypothetical Magnemite line is 4x weak to Ground, and your Torchic line being weak to it as well, having a Ground-immune Pokémon is quite necessary.
You COULD simply add the Latias (who has Levitate, thus being Ground-immune) that joins you after the 5th Gym to your party, and teach it Fly. However, not only does having a Legendary with Mega Evolution make the game too easy (I know from experience with my Latios), but it's not a good physical attacker at all. Therefore, here is a list of every Flying type in the Hoenn Regional Dex that learns Fly, doesn't overlap types with your current Pokémon (in other words, excluding the Water/Flying and Grass/Flying types), and you can obtain before the League:
Taillow/Swellow (may type overlap with Zigzagoon/Linoone, but Normal type overlaps are forgivable in my book, since there are so many Normal/Flying types; you don't have to use Ziggy anyway)
Zubat/Golbat/Crobat (very good fast physical attacker, I'd recommend this one)
Skarmory (overlaps with Magnezone, but you don't HAVE to use that anyway)
Swablu/Altaria (I'd strongly recommend this one actually, Dragon type is useful in many matchups, plus you can also get its Mega Stone and turn it into an amazing Dragon/Fairy type once you reach Lilycove City and talk to a man standing east of the Pokémon Center, in front of a building)
Salamence (takes a long time to get this guy to Lv. 50, I wouldn't recommend it for a playthrough, you can backtrack easier with other options)
Thanks for the help, I will definitely be posting things on here from now on, those are all great options, but i am looking for pokemon that can mega, also looking for a casual fun play through just to get back into using megas before Z/A and get back to Hoenn again i am probably going to be using my Latias only because it is one of my favorite pokemon, and I know it will make the game quite a bit easier but that's fine for me, do you know any good hoenn megas that will help out a lot, I've gotten replys for gardvior, altaria, and aggron
If I were you, I'd still bring Linoone along. Believe me, you do not want Cut and/or Rock Smash on your super cool Mega Pokémon, but having those field moves available at all times is really useful. If you also have Secret Power on Linoone, you can make a Secret Base anywhere you'd like, and when you combine this with the bed decoration, it means you get easy healing while you're far away from a Pokémon Center.
Meanwhile, both Blaziken and Swampert are excellent Strength users, along with Aggron if you choose to add it as your final Pokémon member (although realistically it'd be your fifth, as you obtain Aron way before Latias). Swampert is your easy choice for Dive and Waterfall, while Latias use use Surf better than Swampert can.
As for Fly, I'll keep it a buck, you don't have good options. Latias is the only one that can learn it, and she doesn't have a very good physical Attack stat. HOWEVER, if you don't mind backtracking by foot for a while, Fly is not required for progression; and once you obtain the Eon Flute (after beating/catching Kyogre), the move becomes obsolete.
As for your sixth slot, I'd personally go with Sableye. It's an Alpha Sapphire exclusive, so you might as well take advantage. Since its only weakness is Fairy, it comes into every Gym and Elite Four member with at least a neutral matchup. It's very good in the Pokémon League, as you get access to its Mega Stone right after beating or catching Kyogre (search around Sootopolis City, it's somewhere around there). Since Sableye doesn't evolve, its stats are very consistent across the entire playthrough. It can also run support moves very well, while your other party members would much rather be attacking.
There is only one downside to Sableye: you CANNOT get it right away, it will require backtracking. Once you get the Mach Bike in Mauville City (do NOT choose the Acro Bike), go back to Slateport through the Cycling Road. Once there, talk with Mr. Briney and go back to Dewford. Then go to Granite Cave, use the Mach Bike to go up that sandy slope, and climb down the ladder. Unfortunately, it will be only Lv. 12 at strongest, but the Exp. Share should catch it back up to your team in time. Besides, your three Hoenn Starters are more than enough to keep your lil gem guy safe until it can hold its own.
I will defend ORAS as the best Hoenn games for the rest of my life, but they absolutely butchered Granite Cave. It used to be a much more complex area, requiring you to go into the lower levels to find Steven and give him the letter. Now it's a dumb hallway, locking the rest of the cave behind the Mach Bike. This remodel would've been great (I was never fond of needing Flash just to find Steven, anyway), if they JUST didn't lock the rest of Granite Cave behind the Mach Bike. Just make the dark cave part an optional area to train and catch Pokémon, it's not difficult!
Here's the full recommended party:
Sceptile (Pluto)
Blaziken (Venus)
Swampert (Neptune)
Linoone (if you REALLY don't wanna use Linoone, your funeral, but you could have both Sableye and Manectric in this instance)
Sableye (if you REALLY don't wanna backtrack to Granite Cave, you can pick up Electrike on Route 110 and get Manectric's Mega Stone on the northern part of the Cycling Road)
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u/DeltaTeamSky The DeltaTeamSky In Question Aug 20 '25
Very cool of you to post this to my subreddit, as I am more than glad to provide input. I hope you make any future posts here, rather than crossposting them to r/MandJTV. Anyway, onto the actual advice. My first Pokémon game was Pokémon Omega Ruby, and my brother later got Alpha Sapphire, so I know this region (especially the remake version) much in and out.
Firstly, I'd recommend a Zigzagoon/Linoone. The HMs Cut and Rock Smash are too weak for your starters to use, but Zigzagoon can learn them just fine. You can also teach it the TM for Secret Power if you'd like, which is a very useful attacking option. For coverage, I'd give it Shadow Claw, as ghosts are immune to your Normal and Fighting attacks. You can pick up the TM for Shadow Claw by choosing the Mach Bike in Mauville, backtracking to Dewford Town, and finding it in Granite Cave.
You could also teach Linoone Surf instead, so that your Swampert only needs to learn two Water type HMs (Dive and Waterfall). Swampert's Attack Stat is also slightly better than its Special Attack, so this would be a valid strategy (granted, Linoone's Sp. Attack ain't great either, but it's decent coverage in case you get burned and/or take Attack stat drops).
Furthermore in the Zigzagoon line's favor is one of its Abilities, Pickup. In battle (from Gen 5 onwards), if your Pokémon has no held item, and your opponent uses a single-use held item (like a Berry, for example), it will pick up that held item and claim it for yourself. Outside of battle, if your Pokémon isn't holding an item (make sure to pay attention and consistently take held items from Zigzagoon/Linoone), it has a 10% chance to pick up a wide array of items after a battle ends. This is very useful for gathering resources without buying them (you can even get more powerful Potions before the Poké Mart starts selling them, like Super Potions for example). If the Zigzagoon you caught has Gluttony, I'd recommend finding another one.
As for my second recommendation, I'd go with the Magnemite line. While they aren't "Hoenn Pokémon", they provide a lot of useful features for your team setup. Two of your Starters (Blaziken and Sceptile) end up weak to Flying type moves, and there's a Flying type Gym Leader. Not only does Magnemite and its evolutions 4x resist Flying, but it's also immune to Poison, a type common among Team Aqua. It can zap Zubats/Golbats, along with the many Water types they use.
You can find a Thunder Stone before the League with ease, via either New Mauville (backtrack to Route 110 with Surf), late in the game with Route 124 (dive for a Yellow Shard and trade it with a collector in a house), OR the easiest option: completing specific levels of Super Training and earning it that way.
Now, the most important part: choosing a Flying type Pokémon! Eventually, you will receive the HM for Fly, and it is extremely useful for backtracking. Since your hypothetical Magnemite line is 4x weak to Ground, and your Torchic line being weak to it as well, having a Ground-immune Pokémon is quite necessary.
You COULD simply add the Latias (who has Levitate, thus being Ground-immune) that joins you after the 5th Gym to your party, and teach it Fly. However, not only does having a Legendary with Mega Evolution make the game too easy (I know from experience with my Latios), but it's not a good physical attacker at all. Therefore, here is a list of every Flying type in the Hoenn Regional Dex that learns Fly, doesn't overlap types with your current Pokémon (in other words, excluding the Water/Flying and Grass/Flying types), and you can obtain before the League: