Pokemon XD In-Game Tier List (2024)

What is an in-game tier list?

In-game tier lists rank the obtainable Pokemon in terms of their efficiency in usefulness in clearing the main story campaign of the game. In the case of this game, clearing the story is defined as defeating Greevil for the first time in Citadark Isle. The efficiency of a playthrough is defined by the length of real time needed to complete the game.

What are the tiers?

There are six main tiers and one tier reserved for Pokemon that cannot justifiably be ranked, listed in order of relative usefulness:

-S Tier
-A Tier
-B Tier
-C Tier
-D Tier
-E Tier
-F Tier
-Untiered

A Pokemon is considered untierable if it comes from an outside event, cannot be obtained during the main story, or is only obtainable during the final boss fight or in postgame.

Pokemon are ranked based on the following criteria:

• Availability: When the Pokémon can be first found. Earlier Pokémon (i.e. anything captured before/during Phenac City) will more than likely rank higher due to Shadow Pokémon mechanics.
• Typing: What is the Pokémon's typing and how useful it is in the game. More useful typings tend to rank higher.
• Stats: What their base stats are like and how they contribute to a team. Pokémon with better stats for in-game runs tend to rank higher.
• Movepool: What the Pokémon's movepool is like and how it contributes to a team. Pokémon with wider and more useful movepools tend to rank higher.
• Major Battles: How the Pokémon fares against key match-ups in the game. Pokémon who perform better against more major battles tend to rank higher
• Other: Other aesthetics like abilities, EXP curve, can slightly contribute to a Pokémon's tiering as well. Note that a Pokémon's physical appearance has no impact on its tiering!

Basically, Pokémon who are ranked higher in the tier list tend to be found earlier in the game (or at a higher level), can win more match-ups from the game's various trainers (including the Admins), and have stronger movepools (usually starting out with good moves and getting good level-up moves or making good use of the available TMs). They may have other useful qualities, such as more useful abilities, faster growth, or self-healing moves.

Note that the tier descriptions are simply guidelines, they are not intended to be hard and fast rules.

Eeveelutions will be ranked separately.

Current Rankings

See the next post.

Discussion Guidelines

Format the write-up for your submission as follows. Make sure to use Ruby and Sapphire sprites.

[IMG]<Sprite URL>[/IMG][B]NameAvailability:[/B] When does this Pokémon become available? Is it easy or hard to catch?[B]Stats:[/B] Describe how a Pokémon's stats make it excel. Is it a deadly sweeper or a strong wall? Discuss why you would use this Pokemon thank to its stats.[B]Typing:[/B] Discuss this Pokémon's typing in a sentence or two. Is its STAB efficient or not, does it have any great resistances or glaring weaknesses?[B]Movepool:[/B] Describe this Pokémon's movepool in a few sentences. Does it have many effective movepool options from purification and through level up? Is it over-reliant on TMs to function?[B]Major Battles:[/B] Describe how the Pokémon handles the major opponents throughout the game. Notable opponents and battles include Admins and battles against various (named) members of Cipher that are notably difficult.[B]Additional Comments:[/B] Discuss any miscellaneous information not covered in other sections here. Factors such as experience growth, abilities, and other lesser characteristics can be discussed here, as well as (opportunity) cost - does it require constant healing, highly sought-after TMs (eg Earthquake), or expensive Game Corner items, for example? The entry can be wrapped up here as well.

Write well. The goal is to eventually update the tier list on-site, so make these something you can be proud of.

Feel free to dispute and discuss other users submissions, but please, no flaming. Normal forum rules apply here. Finally, this is not the place to talk about the games in general.

This will be done in a few phases. First, initial tiering and placing, then writing up the entries, then finally reviewing placings and write-ups. Then we will attempt to get it on-site.

Resources

Obtainable Pokemon + Locations:
https://www.serebii.net/xd/pokemon.shtml
https://www.serebii.net/xd/trade.shtml
https://www.serebii.net/xd/pokespot.shtml

Current Tier List
https://www.smogon.com/ingame/guides/xd_ingametiers

Movesets upon Purification (scroll down a bit to find Pokemon XD)
https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/List_of_Shadow_Pokémon

Purification Rates (courtesy of MellowBusiness)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1l66_53jv0Sr8IlUDpmmzJ4if4dr8gcnPNfASsML4UvI/edit#gid=0