Pokemon Gen 1 Tier List: A-Tier
Part 1: Start drinking
I’ve had old school Pokemon on the brain for a few months. Today’s the day to finish getting it in writing. These monsters are excellent choices for your end-game Stadium team, but won’t dominate the game. Reference my previous B-tier and S-Tier posts in the footnotes.1
Trades, Rocks and a Fighter
Let’s start with some final forms that are locked behind trade evolutions. You need a GameBoy link cable to evolve Machamp and Golem. What I said about the basic forms of Machoke and Graveller in B-tier apply here. The final forms benefit from an extra 100 stats.
Machamp is a fighting type with 505 base stats. That’s with a whopping 130 attack, followed by 90 HP, 80 defense and lastly 65 special.
Machamp hits like a truck with physical attacks, notably it’s STAB Submission or Low Kick. Submission hits harder but is less accurate and takes 25% recoil damage. Let’s go through Machamp’s learn set.
Machop evolves to Machoke at level 28, which can then be evolved to Machamp. At this point it has already learned Karate Chop, Low Kick, and Leer. It learns Focus Energy at level 36, Seismic Toss 44, and Submission at 52.
TM options for Machamp include Mega Kick, Body Slam, Take Down/Double-Edge, Hyper Beam, Dig/Earthquake, Fissure, Fire Blast, Double Team, Rest, Rock Slide and Strength.
You could run a defensive option like Rest or Double Team. I like all-out offense. Here’s a Machamp build for you:
Normal attack: Karate Chop → Mega Kick, Body Slam, or Hyper Beam
Fighting: Low Kick or Submission
Ground: Dig/Earthquake (vs Poison, Fire, Electric)
Flex TM: Rock Slide vs flyers, etc.
Golem has 485 base stats, leading with 130 defense and 110 attack. The rock/ground type is resistance against normal attacks like Lance’s Hyper Beam. It benefits from STAB Earthquake and Rock Slide.
Geodude can evolve to Graveler starting at level 25, which can then evolve to Golem. Golem will already have learned Tackle, Defense, Rock Throw, and Self-destruct. It learns Harden at level 29, Earthquake at 36, and Explosion 43.
TM options are similar to Machamp and Graveler: Mega Kick, Body Slam, Take Down/Double-Edge, Hper Beam, Submission, Seismic Toss, Dig/Earthquake, Fissure, Double Team, Fire Blast, Rest, Rock Slide and Strength.
Rock Slide is a one-time use TM but you get Earthquake for free. And you can blow Golem up in a pinch. Here’s the standard build:
Normal: Tackle → Body Slam, Hyper Beam, etc.
Earthquake
Rock Throw → Rock Slide
Self-Destruct → Explosion
Now check out the more offensive rock/ground option Rhydon. Catch Rhyhorn in Safari Zone. It’s 345 base stats are weaker than Graveller and Onix. It evolves to Rhydon late in the game at level 42. The Cinnebar Pokemon Mansion or Victory Road are great places to train and evolve Rhydon before the Elite Four.
Rhyhorn starts with the 65 power Horn Attack. It learns Stomp at level 30, Tail Whip 35, Fury Attack 40, Horn Drill 45, Leer 50 and Take Down 55. The relevant move here is Horn Drill, which Rhydon learns later at 48.
Rhydon needs TMs for its core move set. It has the same base 485 base stats as Golem, but with 130 attack, 120 defense, 105 HP and a low 45 special. It hits harder and is therefore preferred for Stadium teams. And it doesn’t need access to trade hardware.
Rhydon’s TM options include: Mega Kick, Horn Drill/Fissure, Body Slam, Take Down/Double-Edge, BubbleBeam/Water Gun/Surf, Ice Beam/Blizzard, Hyper Beam, Submission, Seismic Toss, Thunderbolt/Thunder, Dig/Earthquake, Double Team, Fire Blast, Rest, Rock Slide, and Strength.
That’s an impressive list including some surprise special attacks. Given its low special I recommend to stick to physical attacks.
Horn Drill and Fissure are 30% accurate one-hit KO memes. Horn Drill can hit flyers, while Fissure can strike digging monsters. It can be the right play vs self-healers like Alakazam.
Here’s a quick build:
Normal attack: Horn Attack → Stomp → Body Slam or Hyper Beam
Ground: Dig/Earthquake
Rock Slide
Flex: Horn Drill, Submission, or other TM
Special Tactics
Here’s a hodge-podge of special attackers from electric to psychic and ghost. Let’s start with the runner-up to best electric type behind Zapdos: Eevee evolution Jolteon.
Jolteon is widely beloved. Electric smokes water and flying. It’s great in Seafoam Islands, Lorelei, and vs Lance and the rival. And also Stadium!
Jolteon is impressive. It has the edge on the B-tier electrics Raichu and Electabuzz in terms of stats.
SmithPlays’ simulations showed that water type Vaporeon is more useful over the course of a play-through than electric. Think Surf and Ice Beam.2
To evolve Jolteon, first pick up Eevee from the Celadon City Mansion. Then give it a Thunder Stone. I ran Jolteon in my Red team after first clearing the Elite Four with Zapdos.
Jolteon has the same 525 base stat total as it’s fellow Eevee-lutions. Jolteon tilts towards 130 speed and 110 special with comparatively low HP attack and defense.
It gets an interesting learn set that varies a bit between Red/Blue and Yellow. It starts with Tackle and Sand-Attack. In Red/Blue, Jolteon learns Quick Attack at 27, ThunderShock 31, Tail Whip 37, Thunder Wave 40, Double Kick 42, Agility 44, Pin Missile 48, and Thunder 54.
In Yellow Jolteon learns Sand-Attack at 8, ThunderShock 16, Quick Attack 23, Double Kick 30, Pin Missile 36, Thunder Wave 42, Agility 47, and Thunder 52.
Pin Missile is a multi-attack bug move with 14 base power and 85% accuracy, striking from 2-5 times. Double Kick is a fighting move that hits twice for 30 power each and 100% accuracy.
These are useful options against psychic and rock/ice types. Though Jolteon is held back by it’s relatively low attack stat. And rocks often have strong defense.
Good TM options for Jolton include Body Slam, Take Down/Double-Edge, Hyper Beam, Thunderbolt, Double Team, Reflect, Swift, Rest, and Substitute.
You can get by with ThunderShock or Thunder. But the Thunderbolt TM is the top electric attack. Here’s a Jolteon build:
Electric attack: ThunderShock → Thunderbolt or Thunder
Normal: Quick Attack → Hyper Beam, Body Slam or Swift
Switch Hit: Pin Missile or Double Kick
Defense: Thunderwave, Agility, or Double Team
Hypno is a bulky psychic type who puts its opponents to sleep. I tried both Hypno and Kadabra in my Red team and preferred Hypno for the end-game. Catch the base form Drowzee in all versions on Route 11. Evolve to Hypno starting at level 26.
Hypno has 483 base stats, tilted towards its 115 special and 85 HP. Its attack and defense are better than Kadabra, but it’s notably slower with only 67 speed.
Drowzee starts strong with Pound and Hypnosis. It learns Disable at level 12, Confusion 17, Headbutt 24, Poison Gas 29, Psychic 32, and Meditate 37.
Hypno learns it’s last few attacks a bit later: Poison Gas 33, Psychic 37, and Meditate 43. Meditate is a move shared with Hitmonlee which increases the user’s attack.
The gems are Hypnosis and Psychic. Sleep attacks are broken both for trainer fights and for catching wild monsters. Psychic hits like a truck and can reduce enemy special.
TM options for Hypno include Mega Kick, Take Down/Double-Edge, Hyper Beam, Submission, Seismic Toss, Double Team, Reflect, Dream Eater, Rest, Thunder Wave, Psywave, Tri Attack and Substitute.
Dream Eater is picked up from the sleepy guy west of Viridian City. You have to Cut your way in. To hit with Dream Eater the opponent needs to first be asleep. This is a 100 base power psychic attack that heals the attacker for half the damage dealt. The psychic STAB bonus makes Hypno the harder hitter compared to Gengar.
Alakazam’s Recover is the more reliable self-heal, but Dream Eater is a flavorful pick. Here’s the Hypno build:
Normal attack: Pound → Headbutt → Body Slam or Hyper Beam
Hypnosis
Psychic
Flex/Defense: Dream Eater or other TM
Next comes the bizarre and powerful ice/psychic Jynx. Game Freak cleaned up her Mr. Popo black-face look in Gen 2. I’ll skip the rant, but she’s based on Japanese mythology and pop culture. You can read more on Wikipedia.3
Jynx would be excellent as a pure ice type. The psychic dual type is icing on the cake. In Red/Blue you can trade a Poliwhirl (caught off Good Rod near the Power Plant) for Jynx in Cerulean City. It’s a great trade and as an outsider she gains 50% more XP.
In Japanese Blue you catch her in Seafoam Islands. Yellow players need to trade from another version.
Jynx has 455 base stats like the B-Tier fighters. Her spread tilts heavily towards 95 special and speed with a low defense of 35. The ice type sucks defensively
Jynx starts with Pound and Lovely Kiss. She learns the basic ghost attack Lick at 18, Double Slap 23, Ice Punch 31, Body Slam 39, and Blizzard at 58.
Lovely Kiss is a 75% accurate sleep attack. This is tied with Sleep Powder for the second-best sleep attack. Ice Punch is an intermediate ice move with 100% accuracy at 75 power. This early STAB attack is ~3/4 the power of Ice Beam. Then you want to upgrade to Blizzard or Ice Beam.
TM options for Jynx include Mega Kick, Take Down/Double Edge, BubbleBeam/Water Gun, Ice Beam/Blizzard, Hyper Beam, Submission, Seismic Toss, Psychic, Double Team, Reflect, Bide, Psywave, Rest and Substitute.
The reason I rate Jynx so highly is she can solo clear Giovanni, Bruno, Agatha and Lance. She resists enemy psychics for the Sabrina fight and the rival’s Alakazam. Then puts them to sleep and attacks with STAB ice moves or Body Slam.
I ran Jynx in my Blue team with the free STAB Blizzard and Psychic TM. You could run alternative TMs. Here’s my build:
Normal: Pound → Body Slam, etc.
Lovely Kiss
Ice Punch → Blizzard or Ice Beam
Psychic or flex TM
Haunter → Gengar is again locked behind a trade evolution. Gengar is impressive but lacks STAB attacks as a ghost/poison type. It’s got 500 stats, leaning towards 130 special and 110 speed. ItsHP, attack, and defense are relatively low.
Gengar starts with Lick, Confuse Ray and Night Shade. It learns Hypnosis at 29 and Dream Eater at 38. Lick is a physical move which sucks with low attack.
Gengar’s TM options are a bit better than Haunter: Mega Kick, Toxic, Body Slam, Take Down/Double-Edge, Hyper Beam, Submission, Seismic Toss/Psywave, Mega Drain, Thunderbolt/Thunder, Psychic, Self-destruct/Explosion, Double Team, Rest, Substitute and Strength.
It’s nice to have options for physical attacks, particularly Explosion which halves the opponent’s defense. Night Shade, Seismic Toss, and Psywave all do damage relative to your level. Psywave is more variable. I prefer special attacks.
The moves to hang on to are Hypnosis and combo Dream Eater. Night Shade and Confuse Ray are nice to get for free, but don’t synergize with special. Branch out from there with your choice of TMs.
More Damn Fish
There’s a lot of animals in the sea. That inspired the Pokemon creators with many water mons. With access to the excellent and free Surf TM, these are great choices for your end-game team.
I’ll make a few honorable mentions to the B-tier waters including Tentacruel, Poliwrath and Golduck. Tentacruel has the highest base special of any water type for a hard-hitting Surf/Hydro Pump.
If you pick up Amnesia Psyduck from clearing Pokemon Stadium you can rapidly crank up Golduck’s special. Poliwhirl learns Amnesia via level up, but Poliwrath has a relatively low base special.
And I may have been unfair to Seadra. It’s got a base special of 95 and speed of 85. Golduck has 80 base special by comparison but is more bulky. I’m thinking of revising Seadra to B-tier.
Check out the final starter and the champion of speed runs: Commander Blastoise. Recruit Squirtle from Professor Oak in Red/Blue. Or in Yellow from Officer Jenny in Vermillion City after receiving the Thunder Badge from Surge.
What makes Blastoise so effective is that you get it in the early game. The stats for a Pokemon raised up from low level are very strong. But it is outclassed by higher-end dual water types like Starmie and Slowbro.
Evolve to Wartortle starting at level 16, then Blastoise starting at 36. Blastoise has 530 base stats leaning towards its defense of 100. It’s a thicc boi.
Squirtle starts with Tackle and Tail Whip. It learns Bubble at level 8, Water Gun 15, Bite 22, Withdraw 28, and Hydro Pump 42.
Wartortle will learn attacks slightly later: Bite 24, Withdraw 31, Skull Bash 39 and Hydro Pump 47. Then Blastoise is later still: Skull Bash 42 and Hydro Pump 52.
The last important learned move is Bite. After that you will use TMs. Blastoise’s options include: Mega Kick, Body Slam, Take Down/Double-Edge, Bubble Beam, Ice Beam/Blizzard, Hyper Beam, Submission, Seismic Toss, Dig/Earthquake, Fissure, Double Team, Reflect, Rest, Surf and Strength.
Here’s your end-game Blastoise build:
Normal: Tackle → Bite → Body Slam/Hyper Beam
Water: Bubble → Water Gun/Bubble Beam → Hydro Pump/Surf
Ice Beam/Blizzard
Flex TM: Dig/Earthquake vs electric/poison, etc.
Next let’s look at the final Eevee evolution and the best pure water type Vaporeon. Vape Nation evolves from Eevee with a Water Stone. I recommend to stay away from Reddit threads about Vaporeon. Long story short people are weird.
Vape gets the same 525 base stats as fellow Evee-lutions, focused towards it’s massive 130 HP and 110 special with comparatively low attack defense and speed.
In Red or Blue, Vaporeon starts with Tackle and Sand Attack. It learns Quick Attack at 27, Water Gun 31, Tail Whip 37, Bute 40, Acid Armor 42, Haze 44, Mist 48, Hydro Pump 54.
In Yellow Vape learns Water Gun at 16, Quick Attack 23, Bite 30, Aurora Beam 36, Haze and Mist at 42, Acid Armor 47, and Hydro Pump 52.
There are some interesting options there. In Yellow Aurora Beam is a 65 power ice type attack. That isn’t nearly as powerful as Ice Beam or Blizzard, but it’s nice as a free pick up.
Acid Armor is an attack shared with poison-type Muk which boosts the user’s defense by two steps. The basic defense raising attacks like Harden aren’t impressive. But Acid Armor doubles the effect, allowing Vaporeon to max it’s defense stat in three turns. It’s worth considering for high physical damage fights like Lance.
Vape’s TM options include Body Slam, Take Down/Double-Edge, BubbleBeam/Water Gun, Ice Beam/Blizzard, Hyper Beam, Double Team, Reflect, Swift, Rest, Substitute and Surf.
I’d pick up TM09 Take Down while you’re in Celadon. Then teach Water Gun or Bubblebeam TM if you have it left over from the early game. Here’s a build:
Normal: Tackle → Take Down/Quick Attack → Body Slam/Hyper Beam
Water: Water Gun/BubbleBeam → Surf/Hydro Pump
Ice: Aurora Beam → Ice Beam/Blizzard
Defense: Acid Armor, etc.
One more fish: the humble Magikarp is caught on the Old Rod or purchased from a scammer in the Pokemon Center before Mt. Moon.
And it evolves to the most useful Pokemon in the game: the mighty Giga-Chad Gyarados at level 20. Diglett’s Cave is a great spot to train. Gyarados is nuts because of how early you can get a fully evolved Pokemon.
The G has a whopping 540 base stat spread, leading with 125 attack and 100 special. Water/flying is an odd type, as it can’t learn any flying moves and takes 4x damage from electric. But it cancels out water’s weakness to grass.
Magikarp starts with the useless Splash, and learns Tackle at level 15. Gyarados learns Bite at 20, Dragon Rage 25, Leer 32, Hydro Pump at 41 and Hyper Beam 52.
Bite and Dragon Rage (which always deals 40 damage) are great in the mid-game. Upgrading to Surf/Hydro Pump and Hyper Beam is awesome.
Gyarados TM choices include Body Slam, Take Down/Double Edge, Water Gun/BubbleBeam, Ice Beam/Blizzard, Thunderbolt/Thunder, Double Team, Reflect, Fire Blast, Rest, Surf and Strength.
Here’s the build:
Tackle → Bite → Hyper Beam
Water Gun/BubbleBeam → Surf or Hydro Pump
Ice Beam/Blizzard
Flex TM
That’s all for today. More Pokemon or whatever next week homies. Live free.
