Pro Nuzlocker Ranks Every Encounter For A Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen Nuzlocke!

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So you want to try your hand at nuzlocking? Maybe challenge yourself further with mid to low-tiered Pokemon? Well this tierlist is here to show you exactly what the best encounters are for FireRed and LeafGreen in order of obtainability to determine the best from the worst.
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[@ChaoticMeatballTV]

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[@smoky5555555]

I have a great idea for you... How about doing a Fire Red 56:38 hardcore Nuzlocke only with your F tier Pokemon... It will be interesting for sure

[@loudwhispre9406]

Idk what drugs you're taking, but Charmander NEVER 2HKO's Onix. I gave a level 14 Charmander max attack IVs, Adamant nature, and 252 Attack EVs (which you would never get that many Attack EVs without overleveling). I also gave the level 14 Onix a Defense lowering nature, 0 IVs in HP and Defense, and Metal Claw does 33.3% to 42.4% to Onix. If I drop the EVs from Charmander to make things more realistic, Metal Claw deals 24.2% to 30.3%. You don't even 3HKO. To guarantee a 3HKO with this mythical perfect Charmander vs this equally mythical worst possible Onix, you'd need 176 Attack EVs. Mankey gives 1 Attack EV, so you'd need to kill 176 Mankey. You don't have enough experience to not overlevel by doing this. The literal only reason Brock is possible with Charmander is because Brock's AI won't let him pick Rock Tomb if your Charmander is slower than Onix. But once you drop to low enough HP, where Rock Tomb is a guaranteed KO, he's guaranteed to click it and you lose. With an average Charmander vs an average Onix, you have about 3-5 turns of being alive. You will be faster with Charmander because you killed over 100 Pidgey and Rattata to get to level 14. Your Speed has a ton of EVs in it, so now you're faster than Onix, so Brock will pick Rock Tomb. A God-Mander with 31 IVs in HP and Defense, as well as a Defense boosting nature takes 43.5% minimum from a neutral natured 0 Attack IV Onix's Rock Tomb. 3 Tackles later, Onix will always see the kill with Rock Tomb and you lose. But you won't have a perfect Charmander. So instead of dying in Rock Tomb > 3 Tackles > Rock Tomb, you die in 2 Rock Tombs, gg, Charmander F tier. Moving on from your Charmander propaganda, you really need to re-evaluate your tierlist. Not only do you completely disregard how good Fearow and Butterfree are, you completely disrespect the early game encounters. You won't have any backups or replacements until after the 2nd gym, so all your early encounters have to be good. Also, Squirtle is an S tier encounter. It learns Surf and Ice Beam by HM/TM, and Bite by level up. Bite is one of the few Dark type moves in Gen 3, so it's good vs Misty, the hardest gym leader in the game because she has the strongest Pokemon relative to your own team. You have a guaranteed win vs her. Also, Surf and Ice Beam is basically perfect coverage in just a single Pokemon, leaving the rest of your encounters plenty of leeway to be terrible encounters. You're also on some kind of drugs if you rate Parasect highly for using Spore when it has a 4x weakness to Fire AND Flying. Meanwhile, Butterfree is faster than Parasect, has 97% accurate Sleep Powders thanks to Compound Eyes, and is a better attacker since it learns Psybeam and unlike Parasect, isn't WEAK to the thousands of Poison types in FRLG. You've got all of the Rocket Grunts, you've got Pokemon Tower, you've got Koga, Erika's whole gym is full of Grass/Poison type trainers, Agatha, Giovanni's 2 Nidos, seriously, there are a thousand different Poison types that Parasect is going to get outsped by and damaged heavily, while Butterfree will likely outspeed all of them and use Sleep Powder. Your tierlist is just completely wrong from start to finish and I'd direct anyone looking for advice on FRLG nuzlockes to look literally anywhere else.

[@owenaspinall2046]

Butterfree may have fast sleep powder, but it still isn't 100% accurate. 1/40 is about the chance of a crit+some secondary effects, which is entirely possible and should be played around. Also Blastoise does almost nothing with surf ice beam that other water types like Tentacool, Lapras, Seadra, Dewgong, and some version exclusives like Slowbro, Starmie, and Golduck can't also do. Bite is also non-stab against Misty, which is definitely not a guaranteed win if you get water pulse confusion. I don't think Charmander is F tier, because if you do set up some strategy with sand attack normal types or harden bugs or Mankey, then you can beat Brock, and then your encounters should let you beat Misty with some kind of team effort. From there Charizard is pretty good, but I think it still goes in C tier for its bad early game. His tier list is ultimately still good enough aside from the mistakes that you pointed out that you could use this as a guide if you ignored everything he said about Charmander.

[@loudwhispre9406]

@@owenaspinall2046 First off, Butterfree going first and missing is less likely to happen than Parasect getting crit and dying because it's typing sucks. So there's that. Second off, Blastoise doing what any water type can do is actually important because to get a good water type, you have to use a Good Rod, Super Rod, or use Surf, and there's a massive chance you get weak Horsea or Goldeen by doing this, instead of any of the actually good Water types like Starmie or Tentacruel. Having a guaranteed Water type in the early game is important. Third off, with the exception of Ivysaur, Wartortle is the best answer to Misty's Starmie. Its best attack into Starmie is Bite, which always outdamages Starmie's Swift or Water Pulse. Tackle or Water Gun will do nothing to Starmie so there goes your precious STAB. Use super effective Bite with your bulkiest Pokemon, Wartortle and shut up about how it's weak and not STAB. Your other options are weak, not STAB, AND they're neutral or resisted. So shut up about how Bite isn't all that special. The only move that ever outdamages Wartortle's Bite is Ivysaur's Razor Leaf, but if you pick Squirte to not struggle with all the Poison or Flying types in the mid game, you obviously don't have Ivysaur. JFC internet people are dumb. Gyarados from Mt. Moon Pokemon Center is just a budget Wartortle in that it resists Water Pulse and uses Bite to beat Starmie. But unlike Wartortle, Gyarados has Intimidate. And you might think that's better, because you can weaken Swift from Starmie. But now that Swift is weaker than Water Pulse, Starmie is ONLY going to use Water Pulse, instead of randomly choosing between the two. And now you have even more chances to get hit by confusion and lose, whereas with Wartortle, Water Pulse and Swift do equal damage to it unless you waste a turn with Withdraw, so you get hit by Water Pulse half as often as Gyarados and risk confusion less of the time. There's also Persim berries from the berry master's house so you can risk one instance of confusion, unlike Gyarados, who will likely take multiple instances of confusion because it's never getting hit by Swift.

[@owenaspinall2046]

@@loudwhispre9406 Wartortle is a range between water pulse and swift, but Ivysaur can always bait swift even if its IVs and nature are off, because you can correct that with special defense EVs. Gyarados can also bait swift if you use its intimidate on Staryu. Plus the guaranteed Gyarados can be your answer to the poison and flying types in the early game that you mentioned. Basically, my argument is that Ivysaur+Gyarados is better than Wartortle+Gyarados. I do admit to Butterfree being being significantly better than Parasect though.

[@kylelundgren5133]

What moves are you going to give garodos? Your obviously going to give it earthquake. Which is the TM Giovanni gives you? Then you have the choice of secret power. Return. Pray and hope YouR rng linesup and you hp flying/ghost, or Double edge along with being super reliant on intimate and dragon dancing to do anything.

[@samward7922]

>Charmander in A tier >brain dead

[@Odlaw91]

The Geodude line in D tier? I respect you as a content creator, but damn, that's a bad take. Sure he's not the best into late game, but a defensive rock/ground type is busted in Kanto where coverage moves are few and most pokemon have one or two normal moves in their learnset. It's also a great pivot around any potential exploders, like the Koffing or Voltorb lines, which can seriously mess you up if you don't have a resist. My Golem, John Quincy Adams, pretty much carried me through the midgame of my most recent Leaf Green run. Couldn't have asked for a better physical tank (until the Elite 4, where I reluctantly swapped him out for Ford the Slowbro)

[@maninthetrenchcoat5603]

Did you name your encounters in order of the Presidents? Geodude could've been the 6th encounter.

[@Odlaw91]

@@maninthetrenchcoat5603 Yes, all my pokemon were named after US Presidents. Roughly in order, but not 100%. My Final team was Washington, William Henry Harrison, Lincoln, Taft, FDR and Ford

[@tasorodri]

Yeah, i Think he went WAY overboard with ranking Geodude low, how the fuck is it close to caterpie, like it's crazy 🤣

[@maninthetrenchcoat5603]

@@Odlaw91 Did you go out of order so you could name Snorlax Taft?

[@Odlaw91]

@@maninthetrenchcoat5603 It's possible... He was the roundest president...

[@celowein]

The Mr Mime disrespect is unreal! yeah if you're playing with trades, Alakazam is clearly better. But if not, Mr Mime will out-last Kadabra 100%. It also learns Magical Leaf for some reason, which is great coverage in Kanto. PLUS it has the trade stat boost, which is extremely helpful when you get it at a lower level. Will likely outlevel your badges midgame it's so efficient.

[@BookofConke]

Overpowered support movepool also, Sub, Baton Pass, Calm Mind, Encore.

[@owenaspinall2046]

The problem with Charmander is that, like other commenters pointed out, you can't solo Brock without unrealistic EVs, IVs, and pretty good luck, but there is one pokemon that you can get that trivializes Brock aside from the starters: Mankey. If you do the math, the probability of getting Mankey on route 22 with dupes clause and catching all your encounters is about 80%. For reference, this is about the same accuracy as stone edge, which is notoriously unreliable, and failure is more than 3 times as likely as a critical hit.

[@Psycho_Raged]

I think Bulbasaur is the best starter because of Misty I don't think you're guaranteed a counter for her. Venasaur definitely does fall off more than Blastoise later on.

[@lumineinfinitussilverkagat8094]

Gyarados is a guaranteed soft counter for Misty since let's face it that is the best Route 4 encounter but you're right there's no absolute guarantee for say Oddish or Bellsprout, you have really high odds especially if you delay the battle until after you do Nugget Bridge and go past the Rocket Grunt that gives you dig but if your luck is really bad you'll miss out on a grass type for Misty and probably won't have Pikachu as a back up option also yeah I just did a Nuzlocke where I picked Venusaur and while it is my favorite after Koga I had a hard time finding use for it outside of using Sleep Powder so another Pokemon could set up

[@ironman1458]

@@lumineinfinitussilverkagat8094 Venusaur definitely falls off later but thats not why you choose them. Carries you hard through the early game, even pretty good vs Surge. To me the early game is the most important cause later on you have enough encounters to shore up any weaknesses. And as you said sleep powder is almost universally helpful so still provides something atleast later on. Charmander is basically the opposite, weaker early but by gym 4 probably a little more useful. Because of metal claw in this game its a little closer imo it probably comes down to preference but I personally still prefer Bulbasaur for the guarenteed early game carry its just the easiest way imo cause I find the early game tends to be harder than lategame for nuzlocke

[@lumineinfinitussilverkagat8094]

@@ironman1458 True, how well the early game goes can make or break the entire run and Bulbasaur will always get you to the mid game with with little to no losses. Charmander while it struggles with Brock and Misty does great against the regular trainers up until the Elite Four where I feel it has the worst performance of the Kanto starters, Squirtle is great all round and definitely has the best performance in the Elite Four…but is competing with a lot of great water types

[@mazharsiddiqi7288]

7:05 I don't believe Starmie has Confusion in FRLG at all for Misty It's Water Pulse, Swift, Recover and Rapid Spin

[@antoinepolnareff8970]

Yes, I think he failed in that aspect

[@G1nger519]

I believe water pulse can confuse In gen 3

[@mazharsiddiqi7288]

@G1nger519 it can but he was talking about moveset and not effect Guess because Water Pulse and Confusion have the same secondary effect of confusion he got the two mixed up

[@mamutepeq]

Fearow is much better than Pidgeot. While with Pidgeot you have to evolve Pidgey to Pidgeotto at lv18 and be stuck using Pidgeotto until lv36, with Fearow you can just evolve Spearow at lv20, and it has better speed, attack, and moves than Pidgeot anyway. Not to mention that Spearow is already as strong as Pidgeotto with 60 attack and only one point slower with 70 speed, so it can do good damage in the early game right away.

[@Unotuchable]

I'd have probably put Guts Raticate in the B tier, it's surprisingly effective as a heavy hitter although very frail.

[@ToaArcan]

I will say that one of the original Nuzlocke comics, Pettyartist, took Butterfree to the Elite Four. She ran Psychic/Sleep Powder/Dream Eater/Aerial Ace, and it worked out pretty much perfectly. After all, half the point of the challenge was to force the player to make the best of what they got, including using things they'd either avoid or box.

[@antoinepolnareff8970]

Believe me, Charmander isn't gonna even 4 hit KO geodude and Onix. Even with EV on how they work at low level. He is no nearly as good as It seems when you prove him

[@jacobgiron96]

And there is no way Charmander outspeeds Onix at -1 speed after a rock tomb, you can put all the EVs you want, that's not gonna happen

[@chillycharizard5985]

As someone who has, quite recently used Charmander to Solo Brock, no. You are wrong, Geodude almost always takes 3 metal claws and Onix takes about 5 if you don't get an attack boost. But that doesn't matter because Onix has like a 90% chance to go for Rock Slide on the first move, nearly Killing you and lowering your speed enough so it outspeeds you next turn, when it definitely kills you. Don't get me wrong, it's possible, just with a lot of resets that I personally don't find to be worth it.

[@Lavamites25]

Do you mean rock throw instead of rock slide? Rock slide for gym 1 would be bonkers. Would almost make up for the fact that its an onix.

[@R0cky505]

@@Lavamites25 it’s Rock Tomb

[@chillycharizard5985]

I did mean rock tomb, same story though

[@mightywaranvil2912]

Charizard just plain has it bad in terms of Kanto's Gyms (Although Erika gets soloed) but at least can cover every other major boss Pokémon that's not Rock or Water.

[@chillycharizard5985]

@@mightywaranvil2912 Yeah, Charizard is a benchwarmer, barring Erika, Blue, Koga, and Lance, in my experience

[@kabirdang1346]

Misty’s starmie doesnt have confusions

[@ivanbluecool]

First going through each game as one giant nuzlocke now ranking the encounters. Now that's what I call great service

[@turtlesandwich77]

​@Cosmic's Universe have you played SM and USUM? One of those games at a time is a drag, all 4 consecutively could probably be used as torture in Guantanamo Bay

[@deninogamingmc4534]

@Cosmic's Universe I believe he is still in the middle of making those fours. Playing one is already exhausting, imagine 4 consecutively

[@sambosung350]

@Cosmic's Universe he’s definitely jus taking a break maybe read the community page before making assumptions? You seem to have found this post easily enough.

[@vreeze33]

I'm surprised paras is so high with spore while caterpie is much lower despite having a much faster compoundeyes sleep powder once it evolves which is almost as accurate as spore.

[@LAZERAK47V2]

Soooo, niche use for Rattata if you get unlucky (like, really unlucky) and catch one with Run Away and *then* encounter a Dugtrio. You can actually bring it in and escape the fight. It will save your team. But *SUPER* niche.

[@michaelbrown7455]

But Gyarados....

[@alinderman19]

starmie does not have confusion in fr/lg, moveset is rapid spin, swift, recover, and water pulse

[@owenaspinall2046]

Moveset is recover surf and 2 of psychic/thunderbolt/ice beam

[@davidcollins1]

Yes wanted to say this

[@pyrosianheir]

@@owenaspinall2046 Misty's Starmie, not yours.

[@dominicmurphy8986]

Mr Mime feels a bit undersold for no-trade runs especially. Since its stats and nature are fixed it can be a great trade for an abra with low stats and/or a bad nature. No opportunity cost at all. And, It has enough distinguishing features to not be objectively inferior to kadabra anyway. It starts off with substitute which is great utility and can be used to play around other pokemon/AI. Other move bonuses over kadabra include access to magical leaf, one of the best grass moves in gen 3 without needing to use an actual grass type and Thunderbolt. Plus, some neat utility, in baton pass and encore. While frail, having 30 more defense and 50 more SpD is helpful. And 100 SpA and 90 Spd (+Timid) is still good enough for almost every threat you would bring it in on.

[@davidcollins1]

I hate the constant Beedrill slander. Hes not great, but he is a FE mon with secret power, brick break, twinneedle, and whatever else. Great for misty, helps w/surge, good for eirika, and a fast one can slap sabrina. Better than f for sure

[@rjante2236]

Yeah, C Tier seems more fair

[@davidcollins1]

@@rjante2236 go pack go

[@probablyseth3565]

You underrate Butterfree, compound eyes and sleep powder is pretty busted. Also Rattata with guts is pretty amazing, may actually help your poor charmander beat brock even though hyper fang is resisted. I'm not going to lie I think it's very based that Charmander got that A spot, Bulbasaur dies late game hard, and Blastoise can be replaced by nearly any water type, meanwhile Charmander is the best fire type you're going to get in this challenge and he catches up on a lot of kills mid to late game. I will say that you're overhyping him since he does not beat Brock as easy as you say, if you don't get a Mankey it's going to be a struggle. I say B tier for all starters and that's my hot take.

[@pokecasual6027]

Charizard above the other 2 for nuzlocke purposes is interesting. Possibly guts ratatta c tier is odd. Weedles great for Misty specifically. F would indicate something had no use at all.

[@rawbebaba]

I always start with Charmander, not just because he's a cool ass fire breathing dragon but because there's no substitute fire type. Flareon? I mean sure shadow ball is redemptive since you can finally take advantage of attack. You wanna try and keep a Growlithe alive untill it becomes almost Charizard? Idk.

[@sockmonkeyjg]

Hmmm I disagree with charmander being a tier as with a few bad roles for encounters he becomes a burden and honestly fire types suffer greatly in first gen I am all in on squirtle squad

[@R0cky505]

Nidoking is base 92 attack in Gen 3, not 102. Just wanted to correct that.

[@Hedgehogdillema]

I usually respect your opinion but I feel like this list just has so many wrongs.The fact you brought up “opportunity cost” doesn’t sit well with me, to me you look at it way to speedrun based. The whole fun for me in nuzlockes is dealing with the hand your dealt, I can understand that you don’t see it this way but lowering some Pokemon to lower tiers even though they are great encounters on their own just is wrong.

[@owenaspinall2046]

I think the only times he used opportunity cost is when you could guarantee a pokemon that is better than the one being rated. With frlg's limited pokemon and many routes, there are dozens of pokemon that you can guarantee with proper routing.

[@maninthetrenchcoat5603]

You're really underselling Butterfree here. It's way better than Parasect. Compound Eyes makes Sleep Powder 97.5% accurate, and its way faster than Parasect. It's also a great answer for Poison types if you don't get Abra immediately. Parasect provides no offensive utility that others can already do better.

[@irishrunner27]

and access to (non stab) psychic attacks isnt something to ignore either

[@maninthetrenchcoat5603]

​@@irishrunner27 Yeah. That's why I said it's an answer to Poison types.

[@SuaveRenegade]

My argument for Bulbasaur being A tier is that in the early game your option are extremely limited. Bulbasaur gives you that early game edge until you make it to Lavendar town and the game opens up. The amount of rock and water type trainers and Lt. Surge in the game make it dangerous to choose either Squirtle or Charmander. Choosing Bulbasaur gives you time to build up your team so you have the opportunity to choose different pokes later on. Does he solo the whole game? Absolutely not, but he secures the player the first third of it and that value cannot be understated.

[@defaultusername1145]

How does charmander run into problems early game? It gets metal claw and with geodude not knowing a rock move and onixes attack stat being lower than sentret you really have no problems there and with a guaranteed garados by misty which knows bite and walls her entire team you really don’t have to worry so by the end you have venasuar which stalls out late game and charzard which has a much better typing and does much better late game

[@SuaveRenegade]

@defaultusername1145 Exactly my point. Onix is fast. A single crit rock tomb kills charmander. Charmander doesn't one shot Onix with metal claw if you're using a level cap. To secure victory early in Kanto, you need to supplement Charmamder's weaknesses with either a double-kick nidoran or low kick mankey for Brock, and, as you said, a Gyarados for Misty. Bulbasaur does not have this issue. With strengths and resistance to the game's first 4 gyms. Choosing Bulbasaur almost guarantees you a safe nuzlocke experience for the first half of the game. I see the value in that being at least A-tier.

[@defaultusername1145]

@@SuaveRenegade what’s the consequence of losing to the 1/32 crit rock tomb? You lose 30 minutes at most getting back to that point and beat him second try it’s not like your 10 hours into a nuzlocke where you would be in a better chance of losing at that point if you picked bulbasuar and if you did pick bulbasuar you are probably gonna want a garados anyway and how is it an issue to get a garados it’s a 100% encounter rate, below the level cap, and completely safe to use

[@SuaveRenegade]

@@defaultusername1145 You're missing my point. Maybe someone doesn't want to commit to the burden of raising a magikarp from level 5 to 20. Maybe they want their water type for the run to be Lapras or Slowbro. I'm saying that by choosing Bulbasaur your options are less restricted and its not like Bulbasaur suddenly becomes helpless in the late game. Stab Sludge Bombs and petal dances make it an absolute powerhouse as Venusaur. All of the Starters are good. But under nuzlocke conditions I almost always pick Bulbasaur because I like to mix things up with the remaining five slots in my party. I love Gyarados, its maybe my favorite pokemon in Generation 1. But I can admit using it every single time gets old, especially when both Lance and your rival at the end both use it as well, unless you pick Charmander.

[@defaultusername1145]

@@SuaveRenegade okay? That doesn’t make bulbasuar the strategical better choice just the reason you like picking him and once you get a garados for misty that doesn’t mean you have to use him for the rest of the run if you don’t want to. Also this is a nuzlocke not a normal run so if your goal is to win than you really should be using garados instead of slowbro or lapras and the difference between charzard and Venasuar late game is typing if you choose charmander you will have plenty of grass/poison options whereas if you pick bulbasuar your fire type options are extremely limited

[@TheGodOfInsanty]

This is probably cringe, but whatever. Really wish this wasn't about opportunity cost, just rate the pokemon off themselves. There's always a chance that you're gonna get Pikachu as your encounter, and maybe i happened to miss abra (because... You know... It runs away instantly every time...) So let me use drowzee. I wanted to know how each pokemon was on its own merit. Oh well. The phrase "opportunity cost" makes me shake and piss

[@Br0oham]

Considering this is tiered for nuzlockes it makes sense that opportunity cost is so heavily emphasized. Play whatever you want, but if you do a nuzlocke and want a good fire type you'll likely not start with Bulbasaur, go for Flareon, then Meowth, Bellsprout and Koffing on your only Vulpix routes. Like if you want to, sure, but it's going to treat you terribly in a Nuzlocke. Anything B tier and above is good and worth a team slot, and will treat you well. Play literally anything on a standard save file, but in a nuzlocke Abra and Jynx will be the best Psychic types, and anything in A that can learn Psychic will be the best Psychic users. But Drowzee is a good Psychic type - I used one one playthrough and it carried me _way harder_ than I expected it to

[@zyggybaranowski6852]

It's these "pro" Pokemon creators. They don't play the game just for fun. Casual playthroughs are treated the same as competitive games. They mentally cannot approach the games as the average person would. Perfect example: butterfree. Can easily beat the game with a Butterfree till the end. But meatball can only see "bug = bad" .

[@bjrn2010]

Great video! Rankings are thought through and backed up by great arguments.

[@brandongauger4050]

You should nuzlock this game with the worst possible team. That would be very entertaining

[@d4c_reznor470]

I've been seeing these tier lists all over reddit. Nice to see it covered on KZbin

[@josephhollon4786]

Rattata gets guts and facade

[@chillycharizard5985]

Yeah, he underrated the ratpill

[@EHNB3]

Is facade not locked behind the post game in fire red and leaf green?

[@turtlesandwich77]

​@@EHNB3 it is, also Guts not guaranteed you could get Run Away which is basically reset-worthy

[@chillycharizard5985]

@@EHNB3 Guts Return does plenty of work

[@chillycharizard5985]

@@turtlesandwich77 fair

[@lumineinfinitussilverkagat8094]

I just finished a Hardcore Nuzlocke about a week ago and in Beedrill's defense it did carry it's weight up until Sabrina. Twin Needle does good damage against Misty's Starmie and doesn't have to worry about it's psychic weakness since Starmie doesn't have Confusion in FRLG although I think Water Pulse can be a 2-3 hit depending on the damage rolls (my Beedrill lived on 5 HP before taking out Starmie) and in Koga's gym it can handle most of the jugglers and their psychic types before they can use any psychic moves on it (the only one I didn't use Beedrill on was the juggler with the lv.38 Hypno) it also did ok in Erika's gym since even against the grass/poison types it was doing enough damage and it tanked any poison moves they had. I didn't have it in my party all the time and yeah Butterfree is always better but I think Beedrill is at least in the same tier

[@maninthetrenchcoat5603]

Beedrill can probably be moved up one tier. But it and Butterfree are no where near the same level.

[@lumineinfinitussilverkagat8094]

@@maninthetrenchcoat5603 not saying that they should be side by side in the same tier, more like Beedrill is at the very end of it while Butterfree is higher up

[@maninthetrenchcoat5603]

@@lumineinfinitussilverkagat8094 I'd put Butterfree in B-Tier.

[@lumineinfinitussilverkagat8094]

@@maninthetrenchcoat5603 for me Butterfree would be either bottom of B tier or top of C tier. Beedrill would be closer towards the end of C tier.

[@anthonycarey9932]

Love the content! Keep it up!

[@Psycho_Raged]

Weedle line goes into Misty very well because of the move twinneedle at the cap.

[@Chefvonbreezy]

Ah man you’re hating a mr mime hard. If you don’t play with trade evolutions than mr mime is far bulkier than kadabra. Base 65 defense and base 120 special defense with barrier or screens, access to fast encore, also learns calm mind, recycle, trick, substitute. Like that’s some good shit. I would take the +60 base stats all day.

[@toxickandy9669]

The timing on this video, just as I was starting a playthrough of fire red

[@knightgaming4884]

I really think that Fire Red and Leaf Green are the best remakes as they were the most successful in replacing the originals I mostly see people taking about FRLG whenever their experience in the Kanto region is asked

[@FratFerno]

Impressive memory with the base stats!

[@peternicholas3719]

I like Butterfree better than Parasect. Compoundeyes Sleep Powder is just as good as Spore imo

[@Tamorak]

Which major battle does Charizard beat again? It's the worst one because it's neutral or you have better options for everything, the one gym it does beat you also have guaranteed Aero and is also the gym you can throw away if needed all of your other birds in the Pidgy/Spearow/Duduo line. Squirtle and Bulbasaur beat gyms 1 and 2, Bulbasaur is a good check for gym 3. Squirtle always gets outclassed because of the water types that are available, and you have a guaranteed Lapras at midgame which always outclasses it. Even if you lose Lapras, it's at a low cost because you just give one of the 5 other water types you pick up Surf and your Ice Beam TM since Lapras learns it by level up. I truly think in a vacuum that Bulbasaur is the worst of the 3 starters, but the early game, the dex, and the utility for the late game as pivot potential Bulbasaur is the best starter in the game for Gen1. Gen 1 favors grass types so much, even if you had the option of Gen 2 starters instead of Gen 1 starters Chicorita would be the best option and Chicorita is the worst starter in the entire franchise. Magnamite is also S tier. There's very few fire type trainers in the game, almost nothing has fighting or ground coverage on them. It resists most things, and specifically Erika, Koga, Agatha can't touch it, and it always beat Gyrados for Lance and Champion. Most trainers that you run into throughout the game also can't touch it. Magnaton is probably the most broken mon in FR/LG simply due to the fact the game is not built to handle steel types. Nidoqueen is basically A tier, and is right next to King. The stat difference isn't that huge, and they're basically version exclusive. If you're playing LG, it's one of the best encounters in the game. I also don't understand why you state opportunity cost for some, but not others. The big 3 in the game is Magnaton, Snorlax, Lapras. But Hitmonlee is in B tier, despite you give up the best water and ice type in the game for it, and Hitmonchan is in D tier despite you give up the best water and ice type, and a fighting type that completely outclasses it.

[@owenaspinall2046]

Silph Co is different from Saffron

[@lolidemon3163]

If ur doing lvl clause and doing gyms kmin order no way u have aerodactyl (assuming thats wat u mean by aero), and how are u getting magnemite before erika let alone koga (bc iirc its only a power plant encounter and no brainer bc u need koga's gym badge, and aerodactyl is only available post koga who is the 5th gym leader, erika being the 4th)

[@owenaspinall2046]

@@lolidemon3163 You could theoretically fight Koga at Erika's level cap, though even without Aerodactyl you get like 5 pokemon that can nearly solo Erika. Also the Magnemite line doesn't need to be before Erika to be s tier.

[@VillainousWarlord]

please more of this, it's more interesting than the ten thousandth playthrough that we know you can easily beat.

[@michaelbrown7455]

This tier list is a C tier. Geodude, Spearow, Caterpie, Zubat, and Bulbasaur are so underappreciated. Bulba carries early game even if it is useless during late game. Kadabra will always disappoint when it dies to tackle. Dragon Rage Dratini is OP. Onix is a hell of a pivot, way wayyyy better than relying on Paras Spore lol

[@kayoh9364]

Mr. Mime. The only psychic type which is worth a negative number of psychic types.

[@VerryLongName]

When are they gonna release this game on the switch retro gba? I don’t want to bootleg it but have been jonesing to do hardcore nuzlockes on these gen 3 vanilla games

[@ChaoticMeatballTV]

Honestly knowing Game Freak they probably don't want to release older games because they'll outshine the newer, less -polished titles. Sure, they did Gens 1/2 but they're nostalgia bait and bad lol

[@NuzlockeJoe]

I better see my boy gengar at the very top, or there’s gonna be a fight!

[@hworld9832]

It’s me It’s me It’s CMB love the wrestling reference, saw a comment from you on a wrestling video so knew you were a fan but this is cool.

[@luciocentenaro7240]

Bro forgot that rattata has guts

[@Bear0601]

The Mr. Mime slander is crazyyy lmao. Mr. Mime is a way safer Pokemon than Alakazam with its higher defenses, better support moves, while still hitting very hard. Alakazam likely still goes higher with its absurd speed and sp.attack, but Mime is still great

[@imbullying6336]

Oooooo, I see you sneaking in a CGB intro.

[@blakeschwab7518]

i used to only do nuzlocke occasionally because i didnt use rare candies, but after using them theyre really fun without the constant grinding. fire red is a good game to learn on ,its pretty easy. good list, i mostly agree. i personally ban snorlax and gyrados because theyre free encounters and extremely op. i do disagree on bedrill, i think its d personally. twinneedle is good for misty but i do always dump it after misty.i will say hypno is a good counter to alakazam with its good special bulk psychic resistance and acess to shadow ball.

[@shovanrahman1111]

And Meditate to boost its attack by one stage whenever used. It also gets Brick Break for decent coverage as well.

[@TheTrueShiny]

Did he put charazard in a I thought this guy was smart

[@maninthetrenchcoat5603]

He put Butterfree in D. What's that say?

[@TheTrueShiny]

C at best for butterfree

[@maninthetrenchcoat5603]

@@TheTrueShiny As long as it's above Paras. Low-Mid B for me.

[@TheTrueShiny]

Makes sense

[@sockmonkeyjg]

@@TheTrueShiny compound eyes and sleep powder is pretty useful, plus butterfree is surprisingly strong to mid game

[@rjante2236]

I'mma keep it real with you, chief: I heavily disagree with a lot of these placements.

[@lillywalker8464]

I did a leaf green nuzlocke as my first and only nuzlocke so far, my hall of fame team was pidgeott, jolteon, lapras, hitmonlee, Ninetales, and sandslash, my dead box contained a rattata, butterfree, geodude, ivysaur, kadabra and then the pidgeot and sandslash died in the champion fight

[@mrdrtac0718]

You should nuzlock fire red with the Pokémon you rated D and F

[@FrankiePhoenix]

Great judgement on all of this, it felt very fair and all had good reasons. I looked at D tier and thought "I could totally do a run with only these pokemon". F tier are pokemon I never actually bothered to use except for Mimen 😅 A tier I end up using at least a few in every run I do. Such a solid listing.

[@krullachief669]

WHen I saw that the title was "Encounter Tier List" I deadass thought you meant trainer encounters and which ones were the absolute worst and otherwise were general run killers to be avoided at all costs.

[@ChaoticMeatballTV]

Actually, a trainer tierlist would be quite the funny but sort of detailed video that I think people would get a kick out of...

[@krullachief669]

@@ChaoticMeatballTV Ballin

[@kaitogirldraws]

I don't really understand why abra is an S tier. I get it's amazing, but this is not a regular gameplay tierlist, its a NUZLOCKE tierlist. What Abra means is you've probably missed an entire encounter, cuz you're probably not going to catch it.

[@ChaoticMeatballTV]

That's why I indicated waiting until you've obtained Diglett for potential Arena Trap to ensure this doesn't happen. Not to mention, it's a better Pokemon to get above anything else in Celadon so there's no point to put it lower than S.

[@kaitogirldraws]

@@ChaoticMeatballTV I personally wouldnt try and fish a pokemon with a certain ability, for this it might just not work. Also I wouldn't personally get an abra over other pokemon, really. I dont really get the "give calm mind to kadabra" (I cant get trades so im stuck with kadabra) mostly because it's frail as heck and it will probably not endure more than one hit, if it even endures one hit at all. I get it, the power is nothing to scoff at, its very strong, but I would not risk the intense prepping to get it, plus the anxiety to make it not faint throughout the entire game, because saying it's frail is a bit of an understatement... if it was Alakazam it might be different tho, who knows. Never was able to get them trades

[@AnyThingWorx]

I’m here to dispel this nonsense. “Well Charmander is good actually.” It’s not. Your main focus of criticisms of Bulbasaur’s line were that it doesn’t do well mid game, while that’s true, you ALSO mentioned that Charmander getting bodied by Misty “didn’t matter because you have a variety of encounters, while the EXACT same argument can be applied to Bulbasaur except even better because its usefulness devolves during the mid-game, not the second gym battle. “Metal Claw two shots the Onix is 100000% false. Unless you get an attack boost and your attack is very high from EV training, which you cannot do efficiently because of the lower levels that’s you’re at and you break level cap because of it, Onix’s defense is base 180 compared to Charmander’s 52, and only Charmanders with a plus Speed nature as well as decent IVs out speed an Onix at neutral speed. Under zero circumstances does Charmander our speed an Onix at minus 1, and its getting easily two shot by Rock Tomb. Charizard learning Dragon Claw means absolutely nothing considering then abundance of Water Types that can dispel Ice Beams to destroy Lance. Dragon Claw means nothing other than for Dragon Types, and its base 84 attack stat does not support its wide array of coverage moves well when they can be used on more deserving Pokémon. Charizard is not bad, but it is under zero circumstances an A-Tier encounter, and it’s insanely worse than Squirtle and Bulbasaur. Charizard apologists need to stop with this rewrite and accept that it’s the worst starter in the game. Period.

[@newtonnicholas4836]

I'm just starting my first fire red playthroug

[@zalkarkazakbaev6691]

Will in future something like that video? But other games?

[@aceamv8735]

Nidoking has 92 base attack before gen 6

[@redringneck907]

Cool list imma do a nuzlocke only using mons in c and below

[@melaniesmall6330]

SO the ratatta ice beam/thunderbolt was news to me, and now i need to run a dragonslayer raticate set. if i ever finish my ongoing FR nuzlocke cause im bad lmao

[@bulbaboy01]

Before this starts I just hope Bulbasaur gets ranked high

[@TheMS991]

Starmie doesn't actually have confusion, so mankey not as bad as you think for Misty. I still wouldn't likely use it, but still.

[@Ferretfiend18]

Hello I saw this on stream, so I am just here to engage with the algorithm

[@damianrolland2001]

Ah yes, back when charmander got metal claw

[@kentaroyamaguchi7519]

Arent you continuing nuzzlocking all games?

[@rawbebaba]

25:49 yeah that's why you should have Butterfree in the S tier.

[@AntoineLavoisier]

You should do a nuzlock just using your A tier and then one for F tier.

[@rawbebaba]

Compound eyes butterfree = easy button on any nuzlocke.

[@Olimick98]

This is pretty bad. Wrong about charmander being able to beat first gym, 4 times weak to rock fully evolves, raticate is really good with guts, spearow much better than Pidgey, and Butterfree is really good early game. I actually took it to the elite four once and it did great! The list overall has so many inaccuracies. Inexperience

[@bethsilverpilchik9097]

do more franchise-locke where is it

[@houraisheperd9721]

You can do better, my guy.

[@GumboDeluka]

Talks about EV training your Charmander but puts Rattata in C tier without bringing up Guts ability. Goofy ahhhh L tierlist

[@lolidemon3163]

Pre toxic/flame orbs, hard to consistently get a status on a guts mon

[@GumboDeluka]

@@lolidemon3163 that is not even slightly true. It's not as convenient sure but isn't hard to get a status condition, you are probably just a brain rotted individual who thinks fighting a weedle for 60 seconds to get poisoned takes too long.

[@Bear0601]

@@lolidemon3163Using contact moves on poison point nidorans or letting Weedles poison sting you are very consistent and easy way to status your Pokemon

[@pyrosianheir]

Gotta disagree with Fearow being almost better than Pidgeot. Drill Peck alone is nowhere near enough imo to overcome Pidgeot's better stats. Edit:Honestly, there's a lot of these that are weird and I disagree with. Which, part of this is opinion vs opinion, so fair, but also.... There's SO much chance to which encounters you get. Sure, some of them - Starter, the fossils, Lapras, anything in Celadon or by trade, Snorlax - that are fixed but there's still a lot more that are just down to a roll, unless you're super diligent about dupes, which can require luck on another route in the first place for some of that. So, emphasizing opportunity cost as much as you did is maybe misplaced. I don't think it shouldn't be counted at all, but it seems to have a bit too much weight on the scales here. Especially with some easy-to-get mons like Meowth or Sandshrew where they're mid-C at WORST, because they can do a lot of work for you. Both are on routes where you can't easily have dupes claused your way into whatever you'd say is the best encounter, and so you could readily have both, with none of the things you list as being better than them.

[@owenaspinall2046]

FRLG has so little variety that you can actually dupe for what you want most of the time

[@lolidemon3163]

Eh fearow has 1 less speed and less bulky than pidgeot but has better movepool and better attking stats

[@Bear0601]

I agree with Fearow being better tbh. Pidgeot has to rely on a weak fly while Fearow gets the much stronger drill peck. Plus Pidgeots stats are way too balanced. It doesn’t have the offenses to deal enough damage or the bulk to tank hits while Fearow can actually deal damage with its higher attack stat

[@tasorodri]

There's quite a few bad placements here ngl.

[@makepr]

how vaporeon aint a tier is beyond me, one of the best spesial walls to handle 6th gym

[@maninthetrenchcoat5603]

Opportunity cost for Scyther I guess.

[@ChaoticMeatballTV]

Lapras does the same thing but better, and you can get that before Sabrina.

[@Vitioche]

would see the wole series inc. gen 1 & 2

[@bitzibaerlie]

Now you are perfectly set up for an F Tier Hardcore Nuzlocke. :P

[@patricklynch4074]

Brother i like you and your content a lot but there's So much here thats just objectively wrong. Lemme say again, objectively. You didnt pick a mon i love or anything, i dont mean subjectively. You say multiple things that are just factually incorrect. The most egregious of which: 252+ Atk Charmander Metal Claw vs. 0 HP / 0- Def Onix: 57-68 (31.6 - 37.7%) -- 91.2% chance to 3HKO This is with max iv attack char and min iv defense and hp onix This might be the most incorrect encounter tier list ive ever seen and i say this as a fan of your content

[@patricklynch4074]

also misty doesnt get psychic attacks

[@officialnickg8483]

Hey kept saying “with your very real Gameboy advance”, is it weird if I actually am nuzlocking on my Gameboy? 😂

[@wickederebus]

Biggest forehead move. Do a run using only A rank mons and their Evos.

[@rawbebaba]

Oddly enough brooks mons special defense is so bad you can just use ember

[@billyfaulk6789]

FYI… i.e., “In other words” e.g., “for example”

[@rahuhe4102]

did you forget the Trade for Jynx in Celadon City?

[@ChaoticMeatballTV]

Jynx (which is in Cerulean City, not Celadon) is covered later on in the video since you can't get Poliwhirl, the material needed for trading until later on.

[@rahuhe4102]

@@ChaoticMeatballTV I must've missed it

[@gofglida4155]

Why is bulbasaur not in A?

[@pyrosianheir]

Because it does fall off when you get into the mid to late game.

[@KylarTyphlosion]

My very real Microsoft game boy advance

[@sunnyc1732]

weedle F tier? *laughs in Erica hard counter*

[@AnyThingWorx]

Almost two months later and this is the perfect example of how a lack of knowledge and actual gameplay experience can make a terrible tier list

[@davidciszewski7497]

I wish you finish the nuzlock series where you complete every game without repeating. You were last at alpha sapphire and omega ruby and was so cool that you were almost completed

[@ChaoticMeatballTV]

I've made posts about it multiple times, it'll come when I decide I feel like dealing with Alola. Those games blow lmao

[@davidciszewski7497]

@@ChaoticMeatballTV those games totally blow.

[@tysmith211]

For the algorithm

[@firenbrim3791]

Please go back to nuzlocking all Pokémon games

[@timdoe8895]

Bro its crazy we have to do this in 2023 but no. Charmander has always been the worst starter early game. I myself have used it several times and while ev grinding does make it easier not only is that an embarrassingly bad reason for it being better but it also doesn't even guarantee the win. It's just bad especially compared to the fact that it either needs to be specially trained for the very first gym in a normal nuzlocke run but it also is just useless against Misty when both bulbasaur and squirtle handle them both with relative ease. Get over you childhood bias and just be honest dude it isn't good and almost every other option is a better option. early grass and bug types get smashed by fearow and pidgeotto anyway so charmander is actually just useless until it becomes a charizard and by that point you won't even need it. I've used the lizard 3 times and every time has played out the same its the only c tier starter. bro skipped to the end because i just couldn't watch this after that terrible Charmander segment and just no. This is not a good list.

[@CompagnoPietro]

Paras is overrated. It should be a hard D tier.

[@ermini3]

Lol you put cubone and marokwak in F tier Thick club item found in 5% of cubone and marowaks DOUBLES THE ATTACK STAT on marowak and cubone makes him op he has 160 attack Do some research first

[@Seth_Hezekiah]

Weedle is good for misty. D tier not E

[@KemalKocXXX]

This felt lowkey biased