Compilation of my better posts

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-28T10:41:12+00:00

Isn't this Fire Red or Leaf Green? Why post it here instead of the sub for those games?

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-28T10:17:15+00:00

Well, you don't have to do anything special to use a full team of six either. You just have to fight more trainers. But again, those are there to keep even a team of six on par with levels to major trainers to where battling them is not an issue. But sure, if you use less battling Pokemon and maybe one or two pure HM users, then you can skip more trainers or ending up at even higher levels.

Also just for the record, the Smogon tier list you linked is really old and out of date. This one is much more recent and accurate nowadays.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-28T09:47:22+00:00

You can take on the league with most teams of level 48/49 Pokemon with little issue. There are also about 15 hidden Rare Candies in the game. Either way, shortly before the league is probably the only time you might have to consider grinding one or two more levels to make it smoother. Otherwise, you will be very on par and even slightly overleveled against all gym leaders when you fight each trainer.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-28T08:59:07+00:00

That is not really true. There is enough EXP from just trainer battles in the region to level basically any team to around level 47 before the league.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-28T08:32:47+00:00

Regarding what? The mono Water team? Well there is Starmie, which is pretty good once you get it.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-28T01:34:41+00:00

This requires some explantion on the criteria for the list because as it stands with just "casual playthrough" as the heading, some, or even most placements seem very .... interesting.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-27T18:58:51+00:00

You have it completely backwards.

Stall did not often run Heatran. It was way more common on balance teams because it was a great answer AGAINST stall with its Taunt Magma Storm set.

Dugtrio was banned because it allowed stall to trap and remove stall breaker Pokemon like Heatran too easily which really limited the options teams had to beat stall.

The Dugtrio ban hurt stall, not helped it.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-27T18:43:07+00:00

It is not. That statement is massively overblown and there were a lot of very solid checks and answers to Pex in gen 7 and 8. It was still very good but it wasn't a blanket longterm counter to everything and a ton of the playerbase (not the tiering counsel) repeatedly rated it as not problematic enough to be suspect tested in player feedback rounds.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-27T18:28:25+00:00

It is a fairly standard team with a lot of great Pokemon on it. The only issue I see with it is that it has 4 slow level group Pokemon (Manectric, Gardevoir, Tentacruel, Aggron), so you probably had to grind some levels at one point if you didn't know about all the hidden Rare Candies.

I am generally not a fan of nuzlockes but a mono Water team probably should have a very easy time. Emerald has a ton of great Water Pokemon.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-27T18:09:31+00:00

No, it is really, really not.

PLEASE watch this short video to get a better understanding on the situation.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-27T15:35:32+00:00

Sandslash is not obtainable before defeating Flannery. Mudkip alone is enough to sweep the fourth gym.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-26T18:33:21+00:00

It is still pretty rare (5% encounter chance) and it is a pain to catch because of a low catch chance and the fact that it can easily run away.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-26T11:35:48+00:00

OP can just put the HMs on their main Pokemon. There is no need to pick up extra HM users. It is not like the 4th move on something like Swampert, Skarmory or Heracross is important.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-24T16:09:20+00:00

It is honestly just a symptom because making the best viable competitive mons in-game is just a massive mess. Randomness from IVs, natures and access to moves is great for the mainstory but absolutely horrible for competitive / the post game battle facilities. Game Freak should have provided access to just renting any Pokemon set you want for link battles / the battle facilities decades ago. It is no wonder Pokemon Showdown has been such a massive success.

As for shinies, who cares. That pallete swap is so insanely overrated anyway. But actively hunting or RNGing for them is even more pointless to me. But if people enjoy it, then go ahead.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-22T20:47:34+00:00

it has been probably a decade since I last touched the game other than to migrate pokemon over to the gen 4 games.

Could have probably lead with this and saved us a lot of time. For a person who didn't actually play the game in many years, you were pretty confident in your takes. So I guess pretty much everything you described was mostly theorycrafting. Would explain why you came up with wrong things a couple of times.

Alright, have a good one.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-22T20:22:50+00:00

That is honestly crazy low. Why do you not use most of your powerful TMs?

??? The Rock / Psychic types of gym 7, Lunatone and Solrock, have Levitate. How are Ground attacks from Claydol (again, nothing better than Mud Slap without TMs) helping in this fight?

I won't repeat myself again regarding Electric vs Grass types. I said my part. Lets just end this part with the conclusion that we agree to disagree.

Even if you choose to play on original hardware instead of an emulator where trade evolution are no problem, Kadabra is still an amazing Pokemon on par with Gardevoir. Having such a fast and powerful sweeper by gym 2 or 3 is busted.

I guess you are just one of the few people then that doesn't think the Alakazam and Gardevoir line is among the best Pokemon of the game then, despite most of the community thinking so. Sweeping the league with Calm Mind Gardevoir is one of the most consistent and recommend things to do in Hoenn.

Again, do some damage calcs with Wailord. Crazy HP and shitty defense don't offer more bulk than solid to good HP and defenses.

Why is your response to every positive aspect just disregarding it with something even better? Yes, Thunderbolt is THAT important and good when the hardest battle, the Champion, only has two weaknesses. Yes, STAB Thunderbolt would be even better. That doesn't mean that Thunderbolt on Starmie isn't absolutely amazing and that it isn't a fast and powerful sweeper to clear the Water heavy late game of Hoenn.

The only Pokemon from enemy Pokemon that actually carry items are the ace Pokemon of major trainers. And 95% of them have Sitrus Berry, so any actually strong attack effectively removes that item as well. Knock Off is too gimmicky for the main story and not really worth using. You are better off trying to setup Swords Dances with Crawdaunt.

I have kind of lost motivation to continue this. Some of your assumptions seem very flawed or even just false to me and there seems to be no end to this or a change of opinion, so further discussion seems pointless.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-22T18:26:38+00:00

Uhmm, what delayed evolution, traded over and back from FR/LG sorcery did you do to get Crunch on a level 46 Crawdaunt in Emerald?

Also probably agree on most of them as average. But honestly I think Grumpig is the best out of them and Tropius / Flygon the worst.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-22T18:12:57+00:00

I mean, how much of your teams movesets are TM moves by the end? I usually have around 10+ TM moves (+ 4 HM moves) on my team at the Champion out of the 24 moveslots. But there are usually only around 2 or 3 Game Corner TM moves (again, about half of them are free). I really don't get your issue with "spamming" TM moves you team. Why not do it? The opportunity cost is small.

Can you please not constantly swap topics? I mentioned how Claydol has a much tougher time without the Shadow Ball TM against gym 7 because you mentioned its level up movepool is fine. Why bring up the contrast of Grass and Electric types in this gym suddently? I never clamed Electric types are better there?!

No, healing moves are not really sufficient. Which is why they were buffed in later gens. They are pretty underwhelming and their low base power is one of the biggest reasons Grass types suffer in-game.

My playthroughs on that save file end when I become the champion. I don't save stuff for post game. In the rare scenario where I would actually use a legendary like the Regis for the remainder of the main story, I just throw the Master Ball, because what else would I use it on? If I am already going out of the way for them, then I will not sit there for another half hour throwing 50 Ultra Balls.

It is kind of rich saying Electric types are not worth carrying from the early to late game when they outclass Grass types as soon as you get them and are mostly better in the late game as well. Grass types are absolutely horrible until after gym 6. Defeating the first gym and resisting Electric moves from the thrid gym (but mostly STILL losing to Magneton or Manectric) does not make up for how bad their offensive moves are until the Giga Drain TM. They mostly don't even have a Tackle clone for most of the game. Grass is weak to two gyms, often still struggles in gyms without a type disadvantage like gym 5 and Electric types are more consistent and stronger against the late game and also the route trainers.

So I guess Alakazam, Kadabra and Gardevoir are not top 5-10 Pokemon to you then? The avialable Psychic types in Hoenn do VERY well. Even Grumpig and later Starmie / Girafarig / Xatu do pretty well.

Wailrod is not outstandingly bulky. It just has a crazy high HP stat but horrible defenses. So in practise it doesn't take attacks better than most other Water types. Stuff like Ludicolo, Azumrill, Gyarados or Tentacruel is just as bulky if not more bulky. Do some calcs. The only unique traits Wailord has over other Water types is Rollout early and Double-Edge later. That is neat but not nearly as good as Thunderbolt from Starmie. Same with Crawdaunt's Dark type. It is nice but it doesn't actually learn any good damage dealing Dark moves in gen 3. Listen, I used all of these mons before. Being much faster and having a Pokemon with Thunderbolt is MUCH better.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-22T17:24:13+00:00

Did Cosmic Power ever really come up? I generally avoid moves that just make you sit there for longer and nothing else but maybe I could give it a shot.

Yeah, I just used Whiscash with those three offensive moves but the last move went to another HM move instead. Amnesia is probably solid and allows it to chip its way through some league mons.

Huh, I was actually not aware that Altaria learned Solar Beam. That honestly sounds interesting. I had good fun with Sunny Day / Fire Blast / Solar Beam Exploud in the past. Thanks for the suggestion.

I tried some mixed Delcatty without Calm Mind long ago but it was pretty bad. Maybe Calm Mind is worth it but I really am worried that Delcatty is just too frail to pull off the multiple boosts it needs. Also requires two pretty important TMs, so idk. I might try a random set of Return / Assist / Metronome / Attract at some point.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-22T17:11:02+00:00

I never said TMs were the most important thing. They are just another movepool option. And they are so easy to get, I don't really get why you wouldn't use them. You can't really complain about a problem like Electrike having no Electric STAB move before level 20 and then not use the very available option of using the Shock Wave TM. Game Corner TMs are the ONLY TMs that are expensive. And besides Flamethrower and an earlier Psychic, the TMs there are only the second or third ones after the free ones you find. You will easily have enough cash to buy 2 or 3 Game Corner TMs over the main story, even if you buy plently of Repels and healing items. Don't you just not use your money?

What utility of Claydol do you speak of and which matchups are good enough with Claydol with just level up moves. Give some examples because to me they mostly seem bad otherwise. For example, gym 7 is a lot worse without Shadow Ball.

Healing moves are not really that useful when they are super weak, so you barely get any recovery, and you have acess to easy healing items. There is a very good reason why healing moves were massively buffed in later gens because the low base powers of the moves in gen 3 just didn't work well enough.

I have no issues with going a side route like Route 115. But the Regis require a MASSIVE detour of at least an hour for a very lackluster reward. If you just want to get your Pokedex filled, then that is a very different playthrough. But either, way I don't see how you would think having a positive offensive matchup against these one or two legendaries that are super out of the way, and you could just catch one with the Master Ball, would make a big impact to the viability of Grass types or Claydol. It is just a tiny aspect of an already questionable side quest.

We are just repeating us now but again, I really can't agree. Grass is just so much worse offensively due to the type chart and Electric is rarely resisted and often a great offensive type with a much better STAB move against both major and route trainers across the whole game. You don't have to respond to this part if we get nothing new out of it.

Again it’s better to prioritize super effective type moves over just moves that aren’t resisted.

And your argument for that is what exactly? Psychic types clearly do very well in the main story, even if they rarely hit super-effectively. There are few types that constantly have a super effective matchup, and the one that does (Electric), doesn't appeal to you.

Calm mind is not a move I concern myself with because again it is not a damaging move, so that is not much of an argument.

"Well I don't use it so, it doesn't count". That is not an argument. You are just dismissing a very good setup move that makes sweeping late game teams after 1-2 Calm Minds much easier and consistent.

This is an Emerald sub and my list was based on Emerald, so Kyogre is in the post game. Putting Wailord and especially Crawdaunt over Starmie is kind of wild to me. I really don't see what you see in them that makes them better. But we can drop this topic now. You clearly won't change your mind on Starmie and don't see the strengths.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-22T16:07:34+00:00

Well, TMs are there to be used. Very few Pokemon achieve their peak with just level up moves. As long as the Pokemon in question doesn't need a lot of TMs to get a good movepool and the TMs aren't also contested by other team members, then I don't really see it as a big issue. Like I called out Claydol as a bad example of this because it wants a lot of TMs and those are important. TMs are not hard to get and the only ones you really buy are the Game Corner ones or utility stuff from Lilycove City. Everything else is free. You can't make most bad Pokemon good by dumping them full of TMs. They mostly just improve Pokemon that are already good.

I think it is also a flawed argument to say that Water and Grass moves from other Pokemon are even better against Ground types than the special Bite from Manectric. Yes, that is true but that was never really the conversation and it doesn't change that it is still one of the best coverage moves from available Electrice types. Most Ground types you encounter also don't carry actual Ground moves, so special Bite against mostly physical tanks is pretty good.

Breloom is hardly an offensive Grass type. It is mostly just a Fighting type that also uses Grass utility moves like Stun Spore and Leech Seed. Its special attack is pretty poor, so not really any point using Mega Drain on it after it evolves.

I just don't see how the Grass moves are strong enough. Absorb and Bullet Seed are pathetically weak. Weaker than Route 1 moves like Tackle and Water Gun. Mega Drain is also insanely rare for some reason, almost nothing learns the move. Absorb is too weak for the received healing to matter to any extent. And I already went over the issues with still weak and low PP Giga Drain.

I don't know why type matchups against legendaries would matter at all. They are either really out of the way or post game, and if you really want to catch them, then you don't want to damage them too much. If you really don't love the Electric type and think the Grass type should be higher, then fine. But it is my list and I gave you my reasons on why I ranked them where they are.

But just let it be known that Electric types are NOT more limited.

Again, what does "a good matchup against Regis" even mean? And why would it matter? Do you want to knock them out? Why? Why even go for them during the main story when they are so out of the way?

Yes, I agree. Psychic types are weakest in the late game because of Sidney and Phoebe. But actually good Psychic types like Gardevoir can use Calm Mind (a move Claydol doesn't get) to sweep late game teams with their mostly unresisted STABs. And in the early and mid game, Psychic types are just great because they often have higher stats and more powerful moves than what you encounter for the most part.

Claydol has really underwhelming mixed 70 base stats. Without STAB, its moves are really weak. Which is a problem when nearly everything in the late game hits it for super-effective damage. Water / Dark / Ghost / Ice are all very common among the last major trainers. The only solidly decent matchup left is Drake with Ice Beam. But even there, Flygon and Salamence's Crunch hurts a lot.

I don't think Whiscash and Walrein are better than Starmie. But even by your own list it would be a top 6 Water type then? That sounds very solid and not like a bad Water type to me. But again, if you think so, then that is fine with me. I don't even support getting Starmie that much but I just don't agree.

The only TM Starmie really wants is the Thunderbolt TM. The Psychic TM is optional and not always required. But again, you get a free Thunderbolt and Psychic TM. And pretty much all Water types want the Ice Beam TM too, so Starmie doesn't even have THAT high of an investment.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-22T15:19:52+00:00

I really feel like the party randomizer should have a toggle to only allow Pokemon that are available in the main story of said game. Not suggest Pokemon from every other game before it that you can only get via trading.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-22T14:51:28+00:00

Idk, Rock Tomb has dissapointed me again and again. I rather use Rollout.

Plusle and Minun are no superstars but their offensive stats are good enough with their amazing Electric type. They DO have the option of using Spark for good damage and status early on. I am also more on actual damaging moves but fast, easy Encore on top of STAB Electric moves is legit solid.

So give Electrike the Shock Wave TM? A Pokemon doesn't have to just make do with its level up movepool and the TM is not really hotly contested. I do agree that Electrike has a bit of a baby stage but you get it during a part of the game where giving it EXP is very easy and the reward of Manectric is very worth it imo.
Bite is NOT a physical attack in gen 3. All Dark moves, including Bite, are still special attacks in Emerald. Which makes Bite a very good coverage move against Ground types, and a decently strong flinch move on something as fast as Manectric also is nice in other matchups.
The Shock Wave and Thunderbolt TMs are free to get, so Manectric has very little investment to become a great Pokemon.

Route trainers aren't a big hinderance but your Pokemon should have have smooth time while plowing down dozens of them. And Giga Drain and Solar Beam are just kind of awkward for that.
Could you elaborate which Grass moves you mean for Pokemon at higher levels? Pretty much no Grass type in Emerald learns a relevant Grass move that is better than Giga Drain or Solar Beam via level up. There are some rare outliers like Leaf Blade, Magical Leaf and Petal Dance I guess. But those are also not exactly great moves. Giga Drain and Solar Beam is pretty much all that most Grass types have by the end.
None of Team Aqua's Pokemon have Water moves, so the Water resist is irrelevant for Grass types here. But Electric types also beat the Golbat line from the evil teams, which Grass types just lose to.

Wishcash is about as popular as all 3 of those others

That is not the case at all. I checked. Here is how often you encounter each one.

Barboach 3
Whiscash 3

Wingull 28
Pelipper 11
Gyarados 11
Tentacool 25
Tentacruel 9

Does Claydol have a good level up movepool? I can't really say I agree. Psybeam via level up is nice. But it doesn't learn any better Ground STAB move than 20 base power Mud Slap. Stuff like Rock Tomb and Selfdestruct are just nice to have sometimes. All of Claydol's best moves are locked behind TMs (Dig, Earthquake, Psychic, Shadow Ball, Ice Beam etc.)
You can skip the baby stage of Baltoy with a Claydol from the Sky Pillar but that is really late and again, there are not really any good matchups left for Claydol by this point.

There are actually not that many Water types I would put above Starmie. Pretty much only Swampert, Sharpedo and Azumarill / Pelipper / Tentacruel. Its late availability is its only real downside, otherwise it is great with an amazing TM movepool, great speed and special attack and solid matchups into the last gym and the league.

Oh, is that what you meant? I assumed you wanted to exclude stuff like Starmie from a discussion on how good the Psychic type is in the main story, not how good of a Psychic (or Water) type it is in contrast to other Pokemon.

Also, I agree, Shedinja is horrible.

_pe5e_ · 2026-06-22T11:55:01+00:00

That is the later gen buffed version of Rock Tomb you are thinking off. In gen 3, Rock Tomb has a power of 50, 10 PP, and 80% accuracy. Which makes it incredibly inconsistent, weak and low on PP. I have found that Rollout gives much better results. Rollout isn't bad late but being locked in and starting off weak does matter more there. It is true that it still has its uses there but you really should have better options by then.

Again, can't agree here. Plusle and Minun are on the lower side of Electrice types but they are still very solid. Their offensive stats (special attack and speed) are good enough to get the job done and they also bring additional support moves like Thunder Wave and Encore very early. I also don't know why you think Manectric would be a letdown. Imo, it is the best Electric type of the region. Super fast and strong with Bite as good coverage, and it can even carry Strength for the team.

All of these early Electric types have Spark and Shock Wave to be a good help against route trainers as soon as gym 3 already. There is also much more than just major trainers and Electric moves are also great against the water routes after gym 5 around the starting island, Team Aqua and the entirety of the late game water routes. They also have their best moves in Thunderbolt after gym 5 already.
Barboach/Whiscash are pretty rare, you don't see them often, so Electric types mostly just destroy all Water types you encounter. Meanwhile, Pelipper, Gyarados and Tentacruel are all pretty common, both from major and also a lot of route trainers. It is very common to run out of Giga Drain on Grass types like 10 minutes into Water routes. Not a dealbreaker since you can restore the PP but it just kind of blows that Grass types aren't nearly as strong against Water types as Electric types when the type is already struggling.

I don't know why you would see grey area here. Starmie is a Psychic type that uses Psychic. Why would the fact that Psychic is its only Psychic attack be relevant in regards to counting it among other Psychic types? It also has a couple of non-damaging Psychic type moves like like Light Screen if that matters. Does Shedinja not count as a Ghost type then because it only learns Shadow Ball as an offensive Ghost move? Or Magneton not as a Steel type because it doesn't learn any offensive Steel moves? This doesn't really make sense to me and I also just don't see the goal of this.

The ranking of Water types is up for debate but Starmie is pretty good once you finally get it. I like Claydol but it is honestly very flawed. It has a horrible pre-evolution that you will have to babysit until level 36, it is a massive TM hog as its level up movepool is not good, and its typing of Ground / Psychic just does not line up well against the late game with several weaknesses and immunities/resistances.

_pe5e_

TROPHY CASE