Pokemon Gen 1 Tier List: B-Tier Continued

My original big old B-tier post was too damn long. This post will bring us home.

Ghosts and Psychics

Finally we reach the first ghost and psychic types. I’m covering these in the same post as the top of the fire and grass/poison types. This is a testament to how overpowered ghosts and psychics are.

Alakazam and Gengar are both locked behind a trade evolution, which you won’t have access to on an emulator. You need some hardware to evolve these bad boys. Let’s start with the intermediate forms of Haunter and Kadabra.

You can catch the ghost/poison Gastly and Haunter in the Lavender Town Pokemon Tower. Gastly evolves to Haunter starting at level 25. Haunter has a 405 base stat total heavily tilted towards special and speed. Remember special affects both offense and defense in Gen 1.¹

Gastly starts with Lick, Confuse Ray, and Night Shade. It learns Hypnosis at level 29 and Dream Eater at 38. TM options for Haunter include Mega Drain, Psywave, Thunderbolt/Thunder, Double Team, Toxic and Self Destruct/Explosion.

That is a light learn set and unspectacular stat total. Lick is a physical attack which sucks. Night Shade does damage equal to level as Seismic Toss. So what makes Haunter any good?

The status change options for one. Confuse Ray and Toxic are both OK, and Hypnosis is a solid 60% accurate sleep attack. With Haunter’s high speed you will often get the drop on your opponent. Then follow up with with Dream Eater or Thunderbolt.

Ghost types are immune to normal and fighting attacks. Like Bruno’s Machamp Submission and Lance’s Hyper Beams. The high special makes it soak special attacks well too and dish out solid damage. And Night Shade deals consistent damage equal to Haunter’s level against high-special foes.

Haunter/Gengar are dominant against Koga, Bruno, Agatha’s poisons, and Lance. Watch out for ground attacks from Giovanni. Sabrina’s psychics and the rival’s Alakazam are scary, but Haunter’s high special is helpful on defense.

Speaking of Alakazam check out it’s kid brother Kadabra. Kadabra is in the middle. It has a base stat total of 400, heavy on speed and special like Haunter.

Abra starts with meme moves Teleport and Kinesis (Yellow only). Evolve to Kadabra precisely at level 16 to learn Confusion.

Kadabra then learns Disable at level 20, Psybeam 27, Recover 31, Psychic 38, and Reflect 42. It hits like a truck with those psychic attacks. Reflect and Recover are great defensive options.

You could use Kinesis in Yellow to increase Kadabra’s attack. It’s such a low base attack I wouldn’t bother. Though normal attacks can be useful for the psychic mirror. Your TM options include Mega Kick, Body Slam, Take Down/Double Edge, Submission, Seismic Toss, Dig, Double Team, Thunder Wave, Psywave, and Substitute. I roll with a learn set like this:

1. Confusion → Psybeam

2. Psychic

3. Defense: Recover or Reflect

4. TM for the psychic mirror matchup like Thunderwave or Seismic Toss

Despite having low stats, psychic types like Kadabra have no real weakness. Bug moves are super effective, but the only real threat is Pin Missile from Jolteon. Psychics are even immune to Haunter’s Lick. To counter Psychic you need to either tank it with high special defense, or out speed it and fire a big physical attack.

Mr. Mime is the other psychic I put in B-tier. You trade an Abra for it on Route 2 in Red/Blue, or Clefairy in Yellow. You can access this area through Diglett’s cave, or head back to Viridian City and Cut through to the northeast.

Mr. Mime has a higher 460 base stat total. It’s a bit more bulky than Kadabra but slower and with less special. And as an outsider Mime gains experience 50% faster.

Mime has a defensive learn set, starting with Confusion and Barrier. It learns Light Screen at level 15, Double Slap 31, Meditate 39 and Substitute 47. It doesn’t learn Psychic from level ups so you need to use a TM.

Mime’s TM learn set is impressive: Mega Kick, Take Down/Double Edge, Body Slam, Hyper Beam, Submission, Seismic Toss, Solar Beam, Thunderbolt/Thunder, Psychic, Double Team, Thunder Wave, and Psywave.

Mime is a solid defensive option vs the glass cannon Kadabra. Picking up Thunderbolt or Thunder is an interesting choice. But it doesn’t compete with the top tier psychics.

The Top Fire Types

Charizard and Arcanine are the best fire types, with an honorable mention to Ninetales. Originally Arcanine was going to be a legendary Pokemon. But they decided to keep a trio of birds and demoted the good dog from legendary status.

Catch Growlithe in Red along Route 7 from Celadon City to Saffron, or in the Cinnebar Island Pokemon Mansion in Yellow. Hit it with a fire stone to evolve to Arcanine after it learns Flamethrower.

Arcanine has a well-rounded stat total of 555, heavy on attack. It won’t learn any more moves after evolving. Growlithe sucks ass for Elite Four runs.

Growlithe starts with Bite and Roar. It picks up Ember at 18, Leer 23, Take Down 30, Agility 39, and Flamethrower 50. It’s a solid move set, but Flamethrower comes late in the game.

Interesting TMs Arcanine can learn include Body Slam, Double-Edge, Hyper Beam, Dig, Fire Blast, and Swift. It gets strong coverage of fire, normal, and ground attacks with Agility for a status boost.

Charmander is the first starter of Red/Blue in this tier list. In Yellow pick up Charmander on Route 24. Evolve to Charmeleon starting at level 16, then Charizard at 36.

I ran Charmander as my starter in Red. It has a challenging early game against Brock and Misty. I recommend to run Butterfree vs Brock. Then Oddish, Bellsprout, or Pikachu are killer against Misty. Charmeleon hits its stride in the mid-game.

Note Charizard is a fire/flying like Moltres. This gives it different defenses than pure fire types like Arcanine or Ninetales. The immunity to ground is nice. But it adds vulnerabilities to electric, rock and ice. Charizard’s stat spread is a balanced 534 leaning towards speed.

Charmander starts with Scratch and Growl. Then it picks up Ember at 9, Leer 15, Rage 22, Slash 30, Flamethrower 38, and Fire Spin 46. Charmeleon learns Slash later at 33, and Flamethrower 42. Then Charizard gets Flamethrower at 46. You have a trade-off of how soon you want to get the superior stats vs learning Charizard’s premier moves Slash and Flamethrower.

Charizard has great TM choices: Swords Dance, Mega Kick, Body Slam, Double-Edge, Hyper Beam, Submission, Seismic Toss, Dig/Earthquake, Fire Blast, and Fly. Here’s a quick build:

1. Scratch → Slash, Body Slam or Hyper Beam

2. Dig or Earthquake (vs poison, rock, electric)

3. Ember → Flamethrower or Fire Blast

4. Fly or Swords Dance

V for Venom

The top grass/poison types round out the B-tier. In Gen 1 Venusaur has better defense than Victreebel. But the Bellsprout line learns Growth and Sleep Powder earlier, and Victreebel has more speed and attack. Both of these seriously out class C tier grass types like Vileplume or Tangela.

For a quick refresher, Sleep Powder is tied with Jynx’ Lovely Kiss for the second best sleep attack at 75% accuracy. That’s ahead of the 60% accurate Hypnosis, and behind Parasect’s 100% accurate Spore.

Then Growth boosts the user’s special stat by one stage. This affects both your power and defense against special attacks. My previous post mentioned how nutty Poliwrath’s Amnesia is for raising special by two stages.²

The grass/poison type has a killer early game from Brock through Lt. Surge. It slows down in the mid-game, then comes back strong in the late-game for the Seafoam Islands, Giovanni and Bruno.

An advantage of the grass/poison type is the resistance against poison attacks from early Weedle to late-game Koga and Agatha. A pure grass-type like Tangela Gen 2 Meganium would be vulnerable to poison.

But grass attacks are weak against poisons. Grass/poison has a disadvantage in its vulnerability to fire, psychic, and ice-attacks. Leave this type on the bench vs Sabrina and Blaine. Watch out for Ice Beam from Lorelei and the rival’s Blastoise.

Bulbasaur is a starter Pokemon in Red and Blue. I picked Bulbasaur for my Blue game. Yellow players can get Bulbasaur in Cerulean City if Pikachu has a friendship score of 147 or higher.

Bulbasaur evolves to Ivysaur starting at level 16, then Venusaur at 32. Venusaur gets a stat total of 525 tilted towards special. It’s a tanky fella who is difficult to one-hit KO with either physical or special attacks.

Bulbasaur starts with Tackle and Growl. It picks up Leech Seed at level 7, Vine Whip 13, PoisonPowder 20, Razor Leaf 27, Growth 34, Sleep Powder 41, and SolarBeam 48.

Ivysaur learns its attacks later: PoisonPowder 22, Razor Leaf 30, Growth 38, Sleep Powder 46, SolarBeam 54. Then Venusaur is later still: 43 Growth, 55 Sleep Powder, and 65 SolarBeam.

Vine Whip and Leech Seed work great early on. You want the high-critical strike chance attack Razor Leaf as your bread and butter grass attack. Unfortunately critical strikes ignore status boosts, so to combo with Growth you would need switch to Mega Drain or SolarBeam.

Venusaur’s main challenge is that it doesn’t learn Sleep Powder until level 55, at which point you will already be farming the Elite Four. So Bulbasaur fans need a different Pokemon to sleep enemies. Solid choices include Butterfree, Bellsprout/Oddish, Paras, Drowzee and Haunter.

Venusaur’s TM options include Swords Dance, Toxic, Body Slam, Hyper Beam, Take Down/Double Edge, Mega Drain, SolarBeam, Double Team, and Reflect. My recommended learn set is:

1. Grass attack: Vine Whip → Razor Leaf or Mega Drain/Solar Beam

2. Status Change: Leech Seed → Sleep Powder

3. Normal attack: Tackle → Body Slam, Double-Edge or Hyper Beam

4. Combo/Stat Boost: Toxic (with Leech Seed), Growth, or Swords Dance

The unassuming Bellsprout can be caught in Blue version starting on Route 5, or Yellow version on Route 12. It evolves to Weepinbell starting at level 21, which evolves to Victreebel with a Leaf Stone.

Victreebel has a stat total of 480, tilted towards both attack and special. It hits harder than Venusaur with physical attacks like Body Slam.

Bellsprout starts with Vine Whip and Growth. It learns Wrap at 13, PoisonPowder 15, Sleep Powder 18, Stun Spore 21, Acid 26, Razor Leaf 33, and Slam 42. Weepinbell learns Stun Spore later at 23, Acid 29, Razor Leaf 38, and Slam 49.

Acid has base power of 40. That’s your only STAB poison attack option. The important pick ups are Sleep Powder or Stun Spore plus Razor Leaf. Victreebel will not learn attacks after it evolves, so learn Razor Leaf first or use TMs.

Wrap kills enemies slowly. But when you out-speed the opponent they won’t get a chance to respond. And paralyzing enemies with Stun Spore reduces their speed by half. The Wrap + Stun Spore combo can cheese hard fights.

Victreebel’s TM options are similar to Venusaur: Swords Dance, Toxic, Take Down/Double Edge, Body Slam, Hyper Beam, Mega Drain, SolarBeam, and Reflect.

Why is Victreebel so strong? Weepinbell can learns your choice of Stun Spore or Sleep Powder earlier, and a choice of Wrap or Acid. Then you can leverage its higher attack with Swords Dance to for heavy hitting physical attacks. Here’s a Victreebel build:

1. Vine Whip → Razor Leaf, Mega Drain or SolarBeam

2. Swords Dance or Growth

3. Wrap → Acid → Body Slam or Hyper Beam

4. Sleep Powder or Stun Spore

What Starter Should You Pick?

Squirtle is the best by the numbers. But pick whatever you want. All of the starters are useful for a playthrough, but not competitive picks for an end-game Stadium team.

Don’t sweat the starter

Let’s go through the quick pro’s and con’s of each starting with Bulbasaur:

• Strong early game against Brock, Misty, and Surge

• Con: Slows down in mid-game gyms until Seafoam Islands and Giovanni

• Tied for best grass/poison with Victreebel

• Decent against Lorelei, strong vs Bruno. Weaker against Agatha and Lance.

• Con: Outclassed by psychic types, most notably grass/psychic Exeggutor

While Bulbasaur has a quick early game, Squirtle is most frequently used for speed runs. This is because of it’s consistent performance throughout the game. You can switch to a stronger water type later.³

• Squirtle has a strong early game against Brock

• Wartortle clears Surge with Dig TM and Erika with Ice Beam

• Blastoise is useful against late-game gyms and Elite Four fights

• Con: There are better water types later in the game like Starmie

On the other hand Charizard is a best-in-class fire type.

• Con: Charmander has a slow early game vs Brock and Misty

• It does well in mid to late-game gyms with Dig TM

• Tied with Arcanine for best fire type

• Con: Is outclassed by other flyers, most notably Articuno and Zapdos

• Con: Fire attacks are super effective in only two elite four fights - Lorelei’s Jynx and the rival’s Exeggcutor or Venusaur

That’s all for today folks. Hope you enjoyed the memes!

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3. SmithPlays: Best Gen 1 Pokemon