Rambling at Pokemon That Are Good But Not The Best

I’ve rambled before about how we often expect too much when it comes to the Pokemon we catch in Pokemon Go, that it doesn’t matter if they’re not perfect, if they’re lacking in a stat or if they’re not shiny. But I’ve never really looked at Pokemon in a species way. I mean, we’ve got all these different species of Pokemon all categorized into tier lists based on how good they are, and with more and more Pokemon being released, so may more are ignored or kicked off their thrones to make space for better Pokemon.

For example, Groudon was always considered the best ground type, but is now having to fight for its place at the top of the Ground Type chain, being pressured by Excadrill, a little mole with metal claws. In the future, Landorus will come and kick the shit out of both Groudon and Excadrill, leaving them both in a distant second place. And lumbering behind them after all this time? Sure, Rhydon and Rhyperior are fine, but name another strong ground type. Swampert and Torterra are better off in their own respective water and grass types.

But speaking of those two starters, the starters all have the exact same issues. No one really cared about Chimchar day because Infernape is an inferior Torchic in most ways. No one really cared much about Cyndaquil because Charizard is generally considered better than Typhlosion (but also because shiny Cyndaquil kinda looks like a turd with legs because the fire on it only appears when attacking). Venusaur is still coasting on being one of the best grass attackers, but there’s a bunch of grass types coming soon, like Serperior and Verizion, who will probably upset the apple cart further.

Some types though have gone uncontested for a long time, and will probably remain uncontested forever. Mewtwo happily sits at the top of the Psychic type throne and hasn’t ever not been at the top, apart from before he was released and the only psychic types around were Mr Mime and the Abra family. In fact, technically, Mewtwo is one of the best Normal type attackers simply because of its insanely high attack stat and the fact that it knows Hyper Beam.

On the other hand, Machamp has reigned supreme as best fighting type since the start of Pokemon Go, and is only due to lose his title when more generation 5 Pokemon come along, but never really had much competition until PvP came along and introduced lower leagues, where Medicham can shine. Tyranitar has always been a steady, reliable rock and dark type, but the only other readily available dark types are Houndoom, Mightyena and Sableye (who never get a high enough CP to use) and Honchkrow, which hasn’t even been around for very long. Darkrai only just entered the fray, but struggles because he’s only appeared once in raids and can’t even be traded.

Then there’s Dragon types, which have been fighting among themselves for ages, with Rayquaza currently being the best and watching as the Generation 5 Dragons stare at him from the distance, waiting for their time to strike. But the weird thing is that most dragon types are good – Dragonite and Salamence are both just a little bit worse than Rayquaza these days.

And really, the same is true for most types. Sure, Typhlosion isn’t as good as Charizard and Blaziken is better than Infernape, but all of them are solid Pokemon. Heck, all the starters are strong, solid Pokemon! And even though Machamp is still super strong and pretty common, using a Breloom or a Makuhita isn’t the worst thing you can do.

My point is, don’t throw out that high CP Aron or Rhydon or whatever just because it’s not the best and hasn’t got perfect stats. Keep it, because you’ll find it useful one day.