You love them, you hate them, and you can’t help but want to make one yourself when you see them. Below is this writer’s own tier list on the new Gen VIII Pokémon that have been officially revealed. Plan to see an updated version of this article when the games are fully released.
Here is the link to the tier maker used in this article, though there are others. Just beware of spoilers when you search! We want you to rank the officially revealed Pokémon so far, so we can get a feel of which Pokémon of Galar appeal to a wide audience and which are universally agreed as… ew.
Note: the rankings in this article are purely the judgments of the author, and you are in full right to disagree (or agree), especially down in the comments! These rankings are based on what has been officially revealed, not considering leaks, rumors or unofficial sources.
S Rank – LOVE
- Starting off right away is everyone’s favorite sheep. Mareep who? Seriously though, just when you thought Wooloo couldn’t get any more adorable, you find out they roll!
- Corviknight is so intimidating, imposing, and really captures the regional-bird vibe with a great twist
- A hilarious and creative use of the industrial era fashion, along with the smoke-stacks. Galarian Weezing is top notch
A Rank – Very Good. Many Pokémon fall in to this rank, so let’s move fast.
- Yamper truly embodies the newer style of Pokémon, and he really is a Very Good boy
- Drednaw and its Gigamax form both capture the older style of Pokémon really well. It looks like it could easily fit in with Gen I Pokémon, and that’s a good thing
- Galarian Zigzagoon and Linoone feel like they are living their best life, their true life, in the Galar region
- Polteageist is a more cute ghost type, but a welcome one. It conjures up a sort of Beauty & The Beast vibe, and its name is quite creative
- Impidimp is up this high as a meme, but really that is what this PokÉmon is all about. It’s got a fanbase already, and that has grown even more since the 24-hour chime stream
- Rolycoly is one of the Pokémon that ignite hopefulness for its future. It does have a similar feeling to Geodude, with a lot more attitude than something like Roggenrola
- Galarian Ponyta looks exactly as expected to, though the lack of a Fairy typing is surprising. Still, it looks great!
B Rank – Good. Another large group, these ones are generally well designed but not my favorites, or could have done better.
- Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble. These three have really climbed in the rankings, as most starters do. At first, all of them were much lower. Looking at them now though, they are all good designs
- Morepeko is an interesting twist on the Pika-clone of this generation. Not my taste, but it does look more interesting than some past generations
- Zamenzenta and Zacian are interesting enough legendaries. The sword in the mouth is a bit odd, but I would put them about the middle of the pack compared to past box-art legends
- Sirfetch’d is hilariously good. Its leek is just so long! A surprising design and they did well to give an old Pokémon some well deserved attention
- Eldegoss is quality. Much appreciation for the big poof, the spreading of seeds, etc
- Cramorant is the new man’s Pelipper. Gulp Missile seems like an interesting ability, and It’s easy to look forward to using this Pokémon. But… its design isn’t anything particularly special. That’s not to say it’s bad, but it could be better
C Rank – Meh/Okay. These ‘mons are just not anywhere near favorites. Either not fitting personal taste, or could have been better.
- Alcremie isn’t necessarily bad, just not the tastiest of the Galar Pokémon flavours. The Gigantmax form is a bit cooler with just how large and grand it is, and it is cool that you can find different varieties of Alcremie
- Gossifluer feels similar to many other feminine-plant types we have seen in the past. It just doesn’t do enough to excel beyond those
D Rank – Dislike and nothing can be done about it.
- Obstagoon was an interesting concept on paper but fails to deliver. Behaving like a human and a general distaste for humanoid Pokémon places this one way down low
- Duraladon is the first one of the new reveals that got an audible “no way that is a Pokémon”. There are just so many cooler ways a Steel/Dragon Pokémon could have been done.
Overall that’s the list! Comment down below with your thoughts about these rankings and feel free to make your own! Once again, here is the link to the specific one used above. Whilst you’re here why not give us a follow on Twitter and come join our Discord for constant Pokémon chat!
First!
I find your dislike of Obstagoon disappointing.
Reposting this since for some odd reason it came up as a comment edit??? Feel this needs to be said
Just throwing it out here
This is more TPC than Gamefreak
It’s really apparent
Gigantamaxes? Wild area? What do those things have in common?
They’re incredibly marketable.
With that leak about them fucking up the model transferring and how long programming that buggy ass wild area to work must have taken… think about how much time was used on everything else. Now think of how much TPC constricted them. You know why GF’s morale is so low? Cause they’re being thrown into a a shitty situation where they’re being blasted with criticism that should be aimed at TPC.
Wanna know who to blame? Blame the heads. Blame the CEOs, blame the people profiting from the countless amount of merch that’s coming out of these games. If you put pressure on a water balloon, you’ll get wet, if you put this amount of pressure on a company like Gamefreak? You’ll get half baked games. Sure, they ain’t blameless, but this is your reason. This is why things are how they are. This is why the next games are probably gonna have the full dex, but still be barebones and buggy and empty
Thank you for coming to my ted talk
Ooohhh a downvote, wonder who it was. :0
I’m just bein’ realistic here. We gotta face the problem and there’s no use tweeting #fuckgamefreak on every post they make because nobody’s getting helped by that. Turning a blind eye is also helping nobody either, I’m just simply saying who’s at fault here.
I wonder how far in is the apple items are
Live stream if anyone is interested
Spoilers, of course.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6RR-Cqz8-8
Huh, they’re getting far more loose with Fire coverage this Gen. Shiftry got Heat Wave, most Fairies in the game got Mystical Fire, and Galaritan gets to enjoy being both the only Ice with a ton of fire coverage and being the only Ice/Fire
Galarian Weezing is absolutely bottom tier garbage design
This ignores evos I know about and obviously those I don’t.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/da7b923a7b3457be4ee0565fa1b0706c33712629f16d13655142cd5072bddfc0.jpg
I prefer Mareep to Wooloo btw.
https://despazito.tumblr.com/post/189016211083/
Don’t buy these fucking games. Just don’t. There’s so many amazing games out right now and many more coming out so soon. Please dont fuckin tell the Pokémon Company you’re fine being sold a game that only gets worse year after year
I hatw the fact that maybe this gen will sell more in one week than smash…. honestly this is not ok :/
I already pre-ordered it before we found out about half these problems… not being able to catch higher level pokes is truly a disappointment and the graphics and all look INCOMPLETE clearly they showed the polished parts in the trailers which is just friggin cheap. If your game is literally INCOMPLETE then let your buyers know. I hope people figure it out after launch and sales drop, then they take a breather before gen 9 (I think they’re already got good work in on Sinnoh remakes but they could still save it I guess) and think about their design choices etc. now that they’re on the switch. I definitely will not be trigger-buying the next games and I’m going to try and be less involved because I’m too emotionally affected by SwSh. I’m kinda glad they’re gonna be out soon, good or bad I can MOVE ON
Animal Crossing is coming at least. That looks great
Only the Pokemon fans can save Pokemon.
I think whoever is responsible for the games being in this state, needs to learn a lesson and that only happens when sales figures come through, cos money speaks louder than all the ranting and raving on social media.
Yer! I cern’t wait ter gur campin’ wif hum.
https://twitter.com/shiftposting/status/1194034179337531392
I never thought a modern Star Wars game would look better than Pokemon, but honestly Fallen Order actually seems like the better made game. But I try not to buy story based single player games like that at launch just cause I personally dont replay them much and would rather wait for in depth reviews and maybe a sale
Lets talk TOXTRICITY
This mon’s been rapidly soaring into popularity among pretty much everyone and has some especially fun stuff to work with.
Toxtricity
Type: Poison/Electric
Ability: Punk Rock (use this)/ Plus (Useless)/ Technician (Good but lacks moves for this)
HP: 75
Attack: 98
Defense: 70
Special Attack: 115
Special Defense: 70
Speed: 75
Base Stat Total: 502
Some notable moves: Sludge Wave/Bomb, Overdrive, Poison Jab, Gunk Shot, Drain Punch, Shift Gear, Boomburst, Nuzzle, Toxic, Fire Punch, Snarl, volt switch
Pros:
+ Excellent special attack and a decently high attack stat allow for it to use a large variety of offensive sets. It can be a hard Pokemon to predict if used right.
+ Punk Rock is an insanely strong ability, turning Overdrive into thunder with no drawbacks, snarl into a dark special version of lunge, and making Boomburst a terrifying move that can easily break down walls that would otherwise resist its stab. Also it gets technician, which is niche but cool.
+ Speaking of, Poison/Electric has a lot of offensive benefits because it only really gets resisted by ground types and certain dual type combos, but also works very well as a defensive type, only needing to fear psychic and ground type attacks (The prior of which tend to be relatively scared of Snarl)
+ A lot of coverage moves and options that work wonderfully alongside its offensive stats
+ It has shift gear. That move is INSANE
+ Depending on its set it can break the infamous Ferro/Pex core, OHKO Gyarados, threaten Tyranitar after a +1 boost to attack, and even make the likes of Corviknight have second thoughts. It’s an incredible anti-meta Pokemon
Cons
– 75 speed is pretty rough and lets it get outsped by a lot when it lacks speed boosts or a choice scarf. Considering it’s not super bulky (Around average, maybe) and is meant to play offensively, this is rough.
– Due to its lower speed, its 75/70/70 bulk becomes a lot worse due to how many threats are able to outspeed it and kill/weaken it. Any faster mon with super effective moves is immediately a threat.
– Ground types wall every move it uses, and steel can do so as well if your moveset is not adequately equipped for them.
Overall this Pokemon is quite good. It has a lot of offensive potential and can easily defeat a lot of threats. Shift gear in specific can make it an absolutely horrifying Pokemon to go up against. However due to its average bulk and lower speed, you may need to play more cautiously with it. It can sweep teams if its walls are not present, but will function more often than not as a cleaner if its counters are present. All in all UU or OU. Do not sleep on Toxtricity, it is a threat.
Shift Gear is a strange one, cos it boost attack and speed, while this thing has a higher special attack
Im still confused about its form. Male/female or what?
Oh! And if any of y’all happen to have a mon you guys want me to look over next, gimme a heads up!
Just leave it to Gen 8 ones please
Earthen is pained… spent entire day outside in the pouring sleet pushing carts that were frozen solid
I very much would just like to play the game, regardless of any criticism that is ever present, because once you start playing a Pokémon game you probably won’t be able to put it down, catching and managing a team is just addictive and I’m sure that the wild area will be fun to just lose yourself in, I am fighting off all the negativity and there’s a astronomical amount of it now
Can Pokémon learn from animal crossing?
Alright I think I finally have my team down just need some opinions on one thing
Inteleon
Appletun
Indeedee
Toxtricity
Grimmsnarl
Boltund/Mr. Rime
So which one? I know I’d have two psychic types, but Boltund is monotype, so I’d still have the same amount of type coverage over all
Also, if I get lucky and find a Cufant I’ll use that, but I’m not going to actively search
Mr Rime is creepy so go with Boltund
Choose based on apperance, this game’s a cakewalk outside raids anyways
Another streamer struck by the Nintendo Ninjas.
Just re-iterating
Y’all know no matter how much Gamefreak wants to change, this isn’t all them right? TPC has a lot of the strings in their hands.
G-Max lapras was really a no-brainer. They could’ve played up it’s pleiosaur origins and the Loch Ness monster cryptid which is in the UK, and yet they went with…whatever it is
Popping in just to say I’m still excited for these games. Yes I’ve seen the evos (haven’t seen full dex so please no spoilers) and yes I still love all three starters. Still choosing sobble! All that said some fans in the community need to cool it. Saw last week that apparently people tried to combat A thank you gamefreak hashtag with a F*ck you gamefreak hashtag. Is that really the point we’ve come to in this community? Look I get being upset with some of the decisions but to go this far with it is just insane. And to try and tell people what to do as well is insane too. Really if the franchise has you this upset you can always take a break from it. Heck I’ve done it with the wwe recently. They kept making choices that annoyed me and I finally got fed up. Haven’t watched a full episode in weeks and only keep up through looking at results online. Watching AEW much more and loving it. And doing this has definitely helped my mental health. I do hope wwe will do something soon though to bring me back in. All that said wanted to share this sobble picture that my youngest niece drew for me. I’m quite impressed with how good she did.
Anyway will probably not be on much until I actually get the game Friday and start playing. Can’t wait!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5d25055dac89072e1e9298225f15229cc876ea6025075cf16183fc7e8f4d7098.jpg
Are Naggynedel and The Butter Geek off PJN due to spoilers?
Huge thing I missed!! Apparently only Amped Up Toxtricity gets shift gear! The other form gets magnetic flux!!!
Kinda unfair if you ask me
@fairyforgetful:disqus Hopefully this shows up clear! lol But here’s Locke Bronson (I came up with that monstrosity of a last name but bear[bare?] with me). Thanks for being a character in the comic book!!
COMIC BOOK UPDATE: I’m doing it digitally and there’s a bit of a learning curve so pages may come out a bit later than I wanted. Apologies for the delay.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/06c56d57fb91b903134f23f66099891552b167ed1e296aa0641aea97cdd92775.jpg
Love it!
Glad you do!
Kinda disappointed we haven’t gotten a pokemon based on the Black Shuck. Maybe it’ll be added as a mythical? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/298a8c0e44b9c781e10bbd3de8e2f9465993b831b8ad93425666145ab2dbd203.jpg
So i really hope Ash at least catches some Galar mons while he’s on this escapade
I mean seriously the season will be awfully droll is Ash is restricted to merely Pikachu and I know they’ll at least give him Galar Pokemon just to push the game
Grookey is easily the most Ash kinda Pokemon of the three
Rookidee also is a very likely capture because the rule is Ash always has a flying pokemon for recon (Pikipek was the truly only exception)
Now the rest of the Galar dex just doesn’t feel very Ash since he prefers all around pokemon with a fair amount of speed and power, nothing too extravagant or edgey
Pikipek was the exception because of Rowlet tbf
I want Ash to have Dragapoult. I could see Drednaw but most of Ash’s defensive Pokemon don’t get enough shine. Snorlax was the one they did justice. Maybe they’ll give him as Galarian form this time around. I could see him with Sirfetch’d
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!