ORAS In-game Tier List - Read Post #324 (2024)

What is an in-game tier list?

In-game tier lists rank Pokémon on their usefulness and efficientness throughout an in-game playthrough (from the start of the game to the first viewing credits).

What are the tiers?

In this in-game tier list there will be 5 tiers. If there is need for new tiers, though, they will be created. The current tiers are:
S-Rank
A-Rank
B-Rank
C-Rank
D-Rank
E-Rank
Untested

Why is a Pokémon in a certain tier?

A Pokémon's rank is decided by these 6 factors:
Availability - How early is the Pokémon found? Does it require considerable backtracking or HM moves? The earlier you find a Pokémon, the better they are in this category. Pokémon that require considerable backtracking and/or HM moves are generally lower than other Pokémon.

Typing - What is the Pokémon's typing? How good is it in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire? The better a Pokémon's typing for Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the higher the rank.

Stats - What are the Pokémon's stats? How good are they for efficient in-game runs? The better a Pokémon's stats for in-game runs, the higher they will be ranked. This is probably the most important category, as it can override the rest of the categories if the stats are good enough (e.g Groudon and Kyogre) but can also cripple Pokémon (e.g Luvdisc). Defensive Pokémon are generally ranked lower than offensive Pokémon, as they are less efficient.

Movepool - What moves does the Pokémon get? Pokémon with a wider range of useful moves are generally ranked higher than Pokémon with shallower movesets.

Major Battles - How does the Pokémon fare in major battles, such as Gym Leaders, fights against your rival and criminal team admins/leaders? The better a Pokémon does against these major fights, the higher they are ranked.

Other - Other aspects of a Pokémon. Examples are megas, primal reversions or abilities which can play a small role in a Pokémon's placement. Occasionally a random "other" thing solely dictates a Pokémon's rank (e.g Slakoth is bottom tier solely because of Truant. If it didn't have Truant, it would probably be high or top).

For further tiering guidance, please read post #324.

What Pokémon are being excluded from this tier list?

If a Pokémon is any of the below criteria, they will be excluded from this tier list:

• They come from an event

• They cannot be caught until post game

• They are not available for capture in Omega Ruby or Alpha Sapphire

Furthermore, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire introduced the PokéNax Plus. This has a handy feature of letting you find Pokémon at a higher level than the others in that area, Pokémon with their Hidden Ability, or for their first moveslot to have a random egg move instead of what it should be. Excluding the forced Poochyena early on in the game, Pokémon with egg moves will not be tiered. This is because a good egg move, for many Pokémon, will make them a much higher tier than what they are right now. If you talk about Pokémon being a certain rank because of an egg move or Hidden Ability, I will ask one of OI's lovely moderators to delete your post.

Everything else will be ranked, though. Even the worst of the worst, fully-evolved-but-should-really-be-LC sh*tmons.

The Tier List Itself:

When starting a new discussion over a Pokémon placement, please use this formatting (not necessary, though):

<B2/W2 Sprite of Pokémon> (all sprites can be found here: http://sprites.pokecheck.org/?gen=3&)
Availability:
Typing:
Stats:
Movepool:
Major Battles:
Other:

Click to expand...

(These aren't the official writeups, it just gives some structure to your nominations).

And finally, a couple of final guidelines to follow:

• Unlike with Viabilitiy Rankings, we DO NOT base a Pokémon's ranking by comparing it with other Pokémon. Ralts (Gardevoir) is not Bottom Tier because Abra (Alakazam) does its job better -- in fact, Ralts (Gardevoir) is ranked in S-Rank with Abra (Alakazam)! Pokémon are ranked based off of their OWN merit, not how the shape up compared to the rest of the Pokémon.

• Try not to factor leaving Exp. Share on when nominating. This is because the increase in growth over time means you could easily out-level other opponents by at least 10 levels later in the game, and of course Pokémon are going to do a better job against something when they are that much higher. This causes a bias that means everything gets tiered higher, and I want a more accurate reflection on its performance. You could try to extrapolate though.

• Super Training and Pokémon Amie are inefficient, and will not be considered.

• We will assume that all Pokémon have a 100% encounter rate thanks to the new feature on the DexNav for now. As I play through the game I will make a spreadsheet of all trainers and their Pokémon, which will give us a clear picture of where this new mechanic will be handy.

• Battle items (X Attack, X Defense, etc.) ARE allowed and may be considered when tiering.

I have said these rules elsewhere in the OP, but I will reiterate them here as they are very important:

• DexNav Pokémon do not count. Egg moves, Hidden Abilities and unnaturally high levels are all ignored in this tier list. The exception to this rule is the forced Poochyena near the start of the game, as it is forced, and the fang is not random. If you chose Mudkip, Poochyena will have Fire Fang, if you chose Treecko, Poochyena will have Thunder Fang, and if you chose Torchic, Poochyena will have Ice Fang. This even takes the randomness out of this encounter.

• Only Pokémon native to the Hoenn region will be considered.

And... Well, that's about everything! Enjoy this thread, and follow the rules! ^_^

Thank you, Lucchini, for creating a compendium of useful info pertaining to ORAS here.