Castform secured, our Rival beaten and Fly HM acquired! Let's stop at the Fortree City, grab your TM Hidden Power, and teach Sleep Talk via move tutor if you wish. Our first re-evaluation round has [Linoone](https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-rs/264.shtml), [Nosepass](https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-rs/299.shtml), [Sceptile](https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-rs/254.shtml) and [Spinda](https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-rs/327.shtml)! Let's correct their positions.

Thanks again for good discussion. Next update will be coming on Saturday due to real life, and our second round of re-evaluation will have Volbeat Sableye, Ninjask and Swellow. Have a safe Thursday, and have a good one! Enjoy the read. 

**Last round voting results:**

**Kecleon D- Tier**: Kecleon has a high Base 120 Special Defense. Combined with a respectable Base 90 Attack, it can take a special hit and fire back with a physical move. Also, its movepool is wide, most notably it can learn TMs like Ice Beam, Flamethrower/Fire Blast, and Thunderbolt.  
  
Kecleon's main flaw is its signature ability, Color Change. While changing its typing to match the last move it was hit by seems useful, it is not that great with 40 base speed. Changing types means it loses STAB on its Normal-type moves, so Return STAB will be weaker than it should be. Furthermore, Kecleon's base stats outside of Special Defense and Attack are low. Like mentioned, 40 Speed guarantees it moves last in fights, and it is physically frail. And because those elemental TM coverage moves run off a Base 60 Special Attack, they rarely deal enough damage to OHKO or even 2HKO.

**Tropius E+ Tier**: Its main value comes from its ability to learn a wide variety of HM moves, including Fly, Strength, Rock Smash, Cut, and Flash. In combat, its Chlorophyll ability doubles its speed in sunlight, allowing it to spam Solarbeams.  
  
Tropius suffers from low base stats, with no stat reaching 100 and its offensive stats sitting at Base 68 Attack and 72 Special Attack. Grass/Flying is a weak defensive typing for the late game, with a 4x weakness to Ice. Once you reach the water routes, Juan, Glacia, and Wallace, Tropius is easily destroyed by Ice-type moves. It also lacks the status moves or recovery needed to function effectively as a defensive wall. Also its HM availability don't really help for upcoming water routes.

**Castform D Tier**: Castform's viability centers around Weather Ball, when weather is active, it doubles in power, changes type, and receives STAB from its ability, creating pretty good move. Rain build (Rain Dance, Weather Ball, Thunder, Ice Beam) provides accurate Thunders and boosted Water-type attacks and Ice Beam for coverage, while Sun sets can utilize Solarbeam.  
  
Castform's flat Base 70 stats across the board make it just mediocre. It has to waste a turn setting up weather, which is risky given its low bulk. Also Castform would love to have extra moveslots, and is outperformed by faster/stronger Pokémon executing similar strategies.

**Re-evaluation contenders:**

* **Volbeat**
* **Sableye**
* **Ninjask**
* **Swellow**

**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](https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/tmhm.shtml) (Check availability here)

Big thanks to BIGJRA for sharing [this script](https://github.com/BIGJRA/emerald-unit-analysis/tree/main/templates) that tracks every Pokémon's learnset (including TMs and Tutors) in the exact order you obtain them in-game! Check it out!

**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](https://mucksw.github.io/Feebas-Tile-Calculator/)), 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):** Demand far more effort than they are worth. They require heavy TM investment and constant babying just to achieve mediocre results.

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

Community in-game tier list: Re-Evaluation Round 1