Pokémon Colosseum In-game Tier List

Champion Leon

Banned deucer.
Yes, the Houndoom is seen in Realgam Tower as Karixrida noted in the OP. While we are on the subject, it is encountered so far into the lategame that it should probably be ranked Bottom Tier unless you absolutely need something to take Shadow Rushes from Tyranitar and the like. Even then there are better Pokemon for doing so that also appear in Realgam Tower anyways. Having the choice of Typhlosion or Entei beforehand would still be a massive viability hit even if it was available earlier.
I mentioned because I didn't see it ranked, (and it's speed is pretty close to Typhlosion) not because it wasn't listed in the location. It can also have Flash Fire, which both other Fire types mentioned lack, right, which makes its fire moves stronger (you could even have a teammate use a fire move to boost it). Anyways no worries. Just a quick thought.
 
I'll rank a few mons

Sudowoodo
Availability:
Pyrite Cave: Miror B.
Stats: It has great Attack/defense and average HP, but awful speed, special attack and below average sp. defense
Typing: Rock is good offensively but pretty bad defensivly. Since it's very slow it will often go 4th in the turn which means it can typically get hit twice. It's weaknesses are plentiful as attacking moves in Colosseum.
Movepool: Movepool is okay. It comes with rock slide and low kick, which have its uses throughout the game, but block is fairly useless and its too slow to take advantage of flail. The only other moves it learns are faint attack (which is trash due to its trash sp. attack) slam (lmao) and Double-Edge (which is a good move, but comes at 57, just a little bit too late of Evice unless you do a lot of offset grinding)
Major Battles: Dakim 1&2's normal pokemon will butcher Sudowoodo with EQ spam, while mostly resisting its STAB as well especially since it might not be purified (round 1), but it does decent against Entei, resisting fire blast. It can't do a lot against Venus 1 or 2 and will most likely get hit by her annoying status moves, as well as getting hit super effectively against most of her moves but sometimes outspeeds her Steelix and sometimes can live its Earthquake. Ein 1&2 is a Rain Dancing Toxic staller but can have some success due to half of Ein's team in both battles being flying type. Miror B 2 doesn't appericate you stealing his Shadow Sudo, so don't even bother. Gonzap relies on bulky offense (mostly) and can hit sudowoodo effectively with all of his pokemon. Nascor is mostly Special based with some confusion moves but Sudowoodo doesn't apperciate getting hit on the special side. Some of those moves are SE as well. Evice typically hits too hard for poor Sudo due to Evice relying on self stat boosting, but has a good matchup against Salamence and his Shadow Tyranitar.
Additional Comments: Sudowoodo wont be doing much for any of the major battles as nearly all of them exploit its crippling weaknesses. It also has 10,000 points in the shadow gauge so it takes quite a while to purify. It does help a bit with capturing shadow pokemon as shadow rush is a physical move and your options for physically defensive pokemon are fairly scarce, and it does come pretty early in the game.
Overall I'd put it in Low or D tier due to its poor showing in all major battles as well as taking a long time to purify, but it's not completely useless like Aipom.

Foretress
Availability:
Shadow PKMN Lab: Cipher Peon Vana
Stats: Fantastic defense state, decent enough attack stat, below average special attack and special defense.
Typing: Bug/Steel is an interesting typing. Immue to poison, only weak to fire, and resists 10 typings. But Foretress can't use its typing offensively without Hidden Power for reasons stated below.
Movepool:It's level up movepool is terrible. Since Colosseum adopts RS level up movepool it is incapable of learning Zap Cannon. All it comes with are normal moves and only learns spikes and double edge while leveling up in Colo. You wont be using Rapid Spin ever, but at least it comes with protect and gains explosion when purified. This means its extremely reliant on TMs but at least its TM movepool is pretty decent. It can learn things like toxic, Dual Screens, and even EQ. It also learns giga drain, which has its uses against SE targets. Explosion, which for the explosion turn only pre Gen 5, also lowered the opposing Pokemons (and your partners) defense by half, which means unless its severly lowered level, it will KO anything that doesn't resist it or is boosted by reflect/defense raising moves. You'll most likely be relying on Hyper Beam on offense unless you get a really good STAB hidden power.
Major Battles: Dual Screens and Exploding have its use in all of its attending battles. Just be careful against Dakim 2 because he also utilizes Sunny Day strats.
Additional Comments: 6,000 points in the shadow gauge means it takes some time to purify, but not too long and but it does come pretty late.
Overall I would put it in Low or on the very bottom edge of C tier. It does require babying if you get a cruddy hidden power (which is very likely) but dual screens and 500 BP explosions are nothing to laugh at. Getting rid of two problematic Pokemon while Protect TMs are cheap, plentiful and everyone can learn it means you aren't sacrificing much.

Meditite/Medicham
Availability:
Pyrite Cave: Rider Twan
Stats: Meditite/Medicham's defensive stats are pretty average, with its hp and offenses being below average and its speed is above average but its main draw is its ability Pure Power. Medicham might have a base 60 Attack stat, but it actually has a whopping equivalent 174 base attack if fully invested or 123 if RNG happens to hate you. a pseudo-123 base attack is still great and hits plenty hard. It's speed stat is 80, which isn't all too fast, but will still outspeed the majority of the Pokemon in the game.
Typing: Fighting/Psychic is good offensivly and average defensively. it's resistances are fairly common in Colo and its weaknesses only really show up around some bosses.
Movepool: High Jump Kick, High Jump Kick, HIGH JUMP KICK!! Its really all Medicham needs, it even comes with it when its a Meditite. Even Pokemon that resist fighting moves get chunked fairly hard. But it does get Shadow Ball via tm for unresisted coverage (though you'll have to go a bit out of the way for it) , calm mind, if you REALLY wanna use it for special attacking, and can learn dual screens for some support. Teaching it Focus Punch might be overkill and has risk involved, but if you can land it, it will decimate anything that it hits. Psych Up is actually pretty handy in Colo as the Cipher Leaders like to boost their stats, but other than that it's not all that useable since your own Pokemon dont have access to many boosting moves themselves, unless you're a dirty flipping steroid abusing X item chugging commie
Major Battles:Miror B is not familar with the dancing style of the Cancan, so demonstrate it to him. He doesn't even hit all that hard due to his moves anyway. Medicham doesn't have much to fear from Dakim 1. Just kick him in the nads for revenge for being one of the very few characters in the entire series to inflict Human on Human violence on your friend. Venus 1 gets cnt punted, just watch out for Banette though. Roundhouse kick Ein in the face when his flyers are down, though if he gets a rain dance up, his swift swimmers will typically outspeed and OHKO Medicham unless you have a Light Screen up. Dakim 2 is mostly the same as Dakim 1 but he does have a Claydol this time around which can be pretty bothersome. Venus 2 removes her Banette so you don't have to worry about potential immunities and her new pokemon are typically weaker on the physically defensive side. You'll outspeed most of them anyway. Ein 2, like Ein 1 is troublesome as he has some fast pokemons that will typically outspeed and OHKO, and has fliers as usual but he also has a Rhydon. Rhydon is simply free to Medicham, but Medicham won't take offense if you bench it for this battle. Medicham does pretty well against Gonzap resisting his fighting moves and hitting his dark types super effectively too. It can do well against Nascor but try to keep it away from his Gardevoir, Xatu, and Dusclops (unless you have Shadow Ball). Evice's Slaking is free to a kicking if you have protect (and if Slowking isn't out at the same time), can psych up Scizor's/Machamp's SD/Bulk Up or even Silver Wind if you're lucky enough, but try to keep it away from Salamence. Shadow Tyranitar gets bodied, typically.
Additional Comments: Overall I would put Meditite in High tier or A. It comes barreling out of the gate with HJK and hits hard from the beginning. Even though it evolves at level 37, its only 4 levels away since its caught at level 33, which will be 2-3 due to the purification process. It also has 5,000 points of shadow gauge, which is higher than the beginning shadow mons, but not by much so it should take maybe a half hour at the most to deplete its gauge. Medicham just hits ludicrously hard to pass up and fairs well against most major battles, though it is a bit luck reliant if you rely on HJK due to its 90% accuracy. You won't miss a lot, but when you do, it literally will hurt and can mean the difference between you or the enemy being KO'd. Even if you don't teach it other typings of moves, its pretty similar to Espeon as it can just use its STAB to maim most encounters in the game. Depending on how others feel, I might even consider it for Top or S. The only thing that's really stopping me from doing so is that unlike Espeon, the things that can potentially OKHO it for the most part can outspeed it.
 
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Fireburn

BARN ALL
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I think putting Flaaffy at Top is overselling it a bit. It should be noted that it doesn't get Thunderbolt until after purification, which means it is stuck with Thundershock (or Shadow Rush off low Attack) as its best attacking move until Skrub 1 which is kind of lame. That's means its early-game performance is actually fairly weak, though it instantly improves dramatically once you can purify it. Still a solid enough mon all-around but putting it at Top is a bit too generous imo (especially since Fluted Raikou is a legitimate competitor for late-game if your team isn't keeping up exactly with boss levels).

High is also far too generous to Skiploom - fast Sleep Powder is very useful, but its also not perfectly accurate and Jumpluff's offense is even worse than Umbreon. Seriously, STAB Mega Drain off base 55 SpA is chip damage to anything not named Graveler. Earthquake immunity is nice, but that also brings 4x Ice/Fire/Flying weaknesses, which are common attack types used by lategame foes. Ranking it High for Sleep Powder by itself is giving it far too much credit.

I also agree with using letters since there is a fair bit of nuance in how the mons should be ranked, even if there aren't that many to actually put on the list.
 
Is snagging assistance of any relevance to where a mon is ranked? I think Flaffy granting early Thunder Wave and having decent bulk earns it a few points there in the lead up to when Fluted Raikou arrives for competition. Since every Shadow Pokemon has Shadow Rush, they all can potentially proc Static as well for what that's worth.

I also think that Ampharos has enough time before Raikou shows up to pull its weight after its weak early game, as the only major battle before it can purify is Mirror B., who sucks for basically everyone anyway, followed by the Mt. Battle Gauntlet, The Under, and the Shadow Pokemon Lab before Raikou happens.

Also, random fact, evidently Venus's Suicune will have Hydro Pump over Surf if you take until Deep Colosseum to snag it. Do any other trainers have moveset differences if you Snag their Pokemon later? Don't know if there would be any cases of this affecting placement, but can't hurt to ask I guess.
 

Karxrida

Death to the Undying Savage
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
I think putting Flaaffy at Top is overselling it a bit. It should be noted that it doesn't get Thunderbolt until after purification, which means it is stuck with Thundershock (or Shadow Rush off low Attack) as its best attacking move until Skrub 1 which is kind of lame. That's means its early-game performance is actually fairly weak, though it instantly improves dramatically once you can purify it. Still a solid enough mon all-around but putting it at Top is a bit too generous imo (especially since Fluted Raikou is a legitimate competitor for late-game if your team isn't keeping up exactly with boss levels).

High is also far too generous to Skiploom - fast Sleep Powder is very useful, but its also not perfectly accurate and Jumpluff's offense is even worse than Umbreon. Seriously, STAB Mega Drain off base 55 SpA is chip damage to anything not named Graveler. Earthquake immunity is nice, but that also brings 4x Ice/Fire/Flying weaknesses, which are common attack types used by lategame foes. Ranking it High for Sleep Powder by itself is giving it far too much credit.

I also agree with using letters since there is a fair bit of nuance in how the mons should be ranked, even if there aren't that many to actually put on the list.
Noted. I'll switch over the rankings later today (need to play the new Metroid first) and drop Skiploom to B.

Gonna let you guys debate Flaaffy for a bit more before potentially moving it.

Is snagging assistance of any relevance to where a mon is ranked? I think Flaffy granting early Thunder Wave and having decent bulk earns it a few points there in the lead up to when Fluted Raikou arrives for competition. Since every Shadow Pokemon has Shadow Rush, they all can potentially proc Static as well for what that's worth.

I also think that Ampharos has enough time before Raikou shows up to pull its weight after its weak early game, as the only major battle before it can purify is Mirror B., who sucks for basically everyone anyway, followed by the Mt. Battle Gauntlet, The Under, and the Shadow Pokemon Lab before Raikou happens.

Also, random fact, evidently Venus's Suicune will have Hydro Pump over Surf if you take until Deep Colosseum to snag it. Do any other trainers have moveset differences if you Snag their Pokemon later? Don't know if there would be any cases of this affecting placement, but can't hurt to ask I guess.
We end at credits like other tier lists, so catching everything isn't mandatory since we don't go fight the doppelgänger. Thus, anything that helps catch Shadow Pokémon won't make a huge impact on tiering, though it's still worth noting. T-Wave is at least still a good support option on its own.

I have absolutely no idea what moves change from later Snaggings.
 

Fireburn

BARN ALL
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
Also, random fact, evidently Venus's Suicune will have Hydro Pump over Surf if you take until Deep Colosseum to snag it. Do any other trainers have moveset differences if you Snag their Pokemon later? Don't know if there would be any cases of this affecting placement, but can't hurt to ask I guess.
I think Suicune is the only one, and that switch only happens postgame so it doesn't seem like it would affect anything.
 

Karxrida

Death to the Undying Savage
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
I switched over to the Letter format, moved Skiploom down to B, and added Skarmory to E since it has enough marginal use in the final battles to dodge an F placement. Other Pokémon placements are roughly the same as before (e.g. Hitmontop is now C).

More updates to come later.
 
Granbull time!

Availibility: Shadow Pokemon Lab: Cipher Peon Remil. A bit of a mid-late encounter being the 5th out of seven shadow encounters in the area.
Stats: Nice 90 base HP, with an amazing 120 base attack and decent enough 60 base special attack/special defense. Defense is 75 and a slow 45 base speed. Comes with Intimidate so it can be pretty physically bulky at times.
Typing: Normal. It's, well, normal.
Movepool: Granbull's movepool is pretty varied. Comes with Bite (when purified) scary face, roar, and strength. While it levels up it learns take down at 49 and crunch at 61 but crunch will most likely be seen post game. In terms of TMs, it can get a wide variety of coverage such as focus punch/brick break, iron tail, solarbeam, thunderbolt/thunder, EQ, shadow ball, flamethrower/fire blast and sludge bomb. If you do happen to use its special movepool, try to stick with fire blast and/or thunder.
Major Battles: it misses out on Miror B, Dakim and Venus 1, but comes around just in time for Ein 1. Its STAB will hit all of Ein's Pokemon pretty hard, and Intimidate can do well against his fliers, and since Ein utilizes rain dance it could use thunder too. Doesn't really excel in the battle but isn't dead weight either. Dakim 2 adds Sunny Day strats to his EQ spam. Granbull can do well against the EQ spam due to Intimidate but has trouble with the Sun as it hits its weaker special defense. If it has fire blast, you can OHKO his Forretress with it. Miror 2 is similar to Ein 1, just with exchanging toxic with leech seed. Does well against his physical attackers like loudred and Armaldo but doesn't like his special attackers like Ludicolo and Golduck. Due to being slow, and that all of her Pokemon can hit Granbull on the special side, it would prefer to be benched this battle and is susceptible to her parafuse+attract spam but can hit all of them plenty hard due to her pokemon all having a weaker physical defense stat. Ein 2 exchanges some of his pokemon for electric types and a Rhydon. Typical rain dance+toxic strats. If you have EQ and Thunder, Granbull can do some stuff but like Venus 2, wouldn't mind being absent. Gonzap can fall pretty ez due to being heavy on the phsical side. Granbull can be hit super effectively by brick break/submission but nothing a few intimidates can't handle and can hit super effectively right back with its own brick break or sludge bomb. Won't really like fighting Hariyama tho. Roar finally comes to use in the final battles due to Nascour's and Evice's tendency to boost their own stats tho it has a worse matchup against Nascour due to most of his Pokemon being specially based.
Additional Comments: Granbull is caught pretty late, but not too late to use and has 6,000 points of shadow gauge. If you want to teach it return, you could use about a dozen or two Vivid Scents to get return hitting hard in a quick amount of time.
Overall I'd put it in C tier with the rest of the intimidators due to its average showing in all attending major battles and being fairly TM reliant, but its expansive movepool both on the attacking and supportive side, edges it out on being one of the better Pokemon to use in a playthrough, despite its availability. It is slow, which means it'll typically be last in moving, but has the bulk to offset it in most situations.
 
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Champion Leon

Banned deucer.
Granbull time!

Availibility: Shadow Pokemon Lab: Cipher Peon Remil. A bit of a mid-late encounter being the 5th out of seven shadow encounters in the area.
Stats: Nice 90 base HP, with an amazing 120 base attack and decent enough 60 base special attack/special defense. Defense is 75 and a slow 45 base speed. Comes with Intimidate so it can be pretty physically bulky at times.
Typing: Normal. It's, well, normal.
Movepool: Granbull's movepool is pretty varied. Comes with Bite (when purified) scary face, roar, and strength. While it levels up it learns take down at 49 and crunch at 61 but crunch will most likely be seen post game. In terms of TMs, it can get a wide variety of coverage such as focus punch/brick break, iron tail, solarbeam, thunderbolt/thunder, EQ, shadow ball, flamethrower/fire blast and sludge bomb. If you do happen to use its special movepool, try to stick with fire blast and/or thunder.
Major Battles: it misses out on Miror B, Dakim and Venus 1, but comes around just in time for Ein 1. Its STAB will hit all of Ein's Pokemon pretty hard, and Intimidate can do well against his fliers, and since Ein utilizes rain dance it could use thunder too. Doesn't really excel in the battle but isn't dead weight either. Dakim 2 adds Sunny Day strats to his EQ spam. Granbull can do well against the EQ spam due to Intimidate but has trouble with the Sun as it hits its weaker special defense. If it has fire blast, you can OHKO his Forretress with it. Miror 2 is similar to Ein 1, just with exchanging toxic with leech seed. Does well against his physical attackers like loudred and Armaldo but doesn't like his special attackers like Ludicolo and Golduck. Due to being slow, and that all of her Pokemon can hit Granbull on the special side, it would prefer to be benched this battle and is susceptible to her parafuse+attract spam but can hit all of them plenty hard due to her pokemon all having a weaker physical defense stat. Ein 2 exchanges some of his pokemon for electric types and a Rhydon. Typical rain dance+toxic strats. If you have EQ and Thunder, Granbull can do some stuff but like Venus 2, wouldn't mind being absent. Gonzap can fall pretty ez due to being heavy on the phsical side. Granbull can be hit super effectively by aerial ace but nothing a few intimidates can't handle and can hit super effectively right back with brick break or sludge bomb. Won't really like fighting Hariyama tho. Roar finally comes to use in the final battles due to Nascour's and Evice's tendency to boost their own stats tho it has a worse matchup against Nascour due to most of his Pokemon being specially based.
Additional Comments: Granbull is caught pretty late, but not too late to use and has 6,000 points of shadow gauge. If you want to teach it return, you could use about a dozen or two Vivid Scents to get return hitting hard in a quick amount of time.
Overall I'd put it in C tier with the rest of the intimidators due to its average showing in all attending major battles and being fairly TM reliant, but its expansive movepool both on the attacking and supportive side, edges it out on being one of the better Pokemon to use in a playthrough, despite its availability. It is slow, which means it'll typically be last in moving, but has the bulk to offset it in most situations.
Wanted to give credit for the time, effort, and research for this work.
Also, I think we should consider the fact 2 v 2 makes things so different, I like how you emphasized Intimidate.
 
I stand by my earlier assesment that Umbreon should be at least high, not mid. If I had my way, Umbreon would be top too, but I can see why people want it lower than that. I can't understate how amazing the combination of Confuse Ray + Taunt is, seriously. Basically every single boss fight in this game likes to set up in some way, which is what makes them all quite difficult, and Umbreon has two different ways to prevent them from doing that. Confuse Ray actively punishes some bosses for setup too, namely Gonzap and Evice. I literally had Umbreon out from the beginning of the Evice fight to the end of it, and thanks to it tanking everything and shutting down his setup, I had... I think 2 faints that whole fight? And yes, I went into that fight with a team of 50s, I didn't overlevel at all. Confusion luck also turned Gonzap 2 into a joke for me, though Gonzap 1 was still a pain because I had to keep redoing it because I kept critting Skarmory, though that wasn't really Umbreon's fault. And all 3 Venus fights were all smooth as butter because I kept preventing her Pokémon from attacking instead of letting her prevent mine from attacking.

TL;DR:
+ Obtained at beginning of game
+ Ludicrous mixed bulk
+ Very good at weakening Pokémon for catching
+ Shuts down most bosses singlehandedly
+ Eventually can heal itself
- Weak damage output

I found Umbreon to be the best support Pokémon in the game other than Ampharos, and the glue that kept my team together. Incredibly underrated support Pokémon.
 
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HotFuzzBall

fuzzy-chan \(ㆁヮㆁ✿)
is an Artist
I stand by my earlier assesment that Umbreon should be at least high, not mid. If I had my way, Umbreon would be top too, but I can see why people want it lower than that. I can't understate how amazing the conbination of Confuse Ray + Taunt is, seriously. Basically every single boss fight in this game likes to set up in some way, which is what makes them all quite difficult, and Umbreon has two different ways to prevent them from doing that. Confuse Ray actively punishes some bosses for setup too, namely Gonzap and Evice. I literally had Umbreon out from the beginning of the Evice fight to the end of it, and thanks to it tanking everything and shutting down his setup, I had... I think 2 faints that whole fight? And yes, I went into that fight with a team of 50s, I didn't overlevel at all. Confusion luck also turned Gonzap 2 into a joke for me, though Gonzap 1 was still a pain because I had to keep redoing it because I kept critting Skarmory, though that wasn't really Umbreon's fault. And all 3 Venus fights were all smooth as butter because I kept preventing her Pokémon from attacking instead of letting her prevent mine from attacking.

TL;DR:
+ Obtained at beginning of game
+ Ludicrous mixed bulk
+ Very good at weakening Pokémon for catching
+ Shuts down most bosses singlehandedly
+ Eventually can heal itself
- Weak damage output

I found Umbreon to be the best support Pokémon in the game other than Ampharos, and the glue that kept my team together. Incredibly underrated support Pokémon.
I feel that support Pokemon as a whole are massively underrated in both Colosseum and XD tbh... Anyways aside from that, I agree that Umbreon should be ranked in A (or Top in regards to this user) due to the reasons that have been stated. Amazing bulk, weaker damage output (it is a double edged sword since Umbreon can easily whittle down Shadow Pokemon), plus utility through Confuse Ray and Taunt (and I guess Snatch?) is great. Also Umbreon with Taunt is amazing against Ein's Toxic/Rain Dance Spam combo, Umbreon can Taunt one of his mons (typically Golbat) and the other mon can be potentially punished for using Toxic on Umbreon due to Synchronize. Shame it doesn't get Helping Hand (I mean it could if there was a Move Reminder :c).
 
I stand by my earlier assesment that Umbreon should be at least high, not mid. If I had my way, Umbreon would be top too, but I can see why people want it lower than that. I can't understate how amazing the conbination of Confuse Ray + Taunt is, seriously. Basically every single boss fight in this game likes to set up in some way, which is what makes them all quite difficult, and Umbreon has two different ways to prevent them from doing that. Confuse Ray actively punishes some bosses for setup too, namely Gonzap and Evice. I literally had Umbreon out from the beginning of the Evice fight to the end of it, and thanks to it tanking everything and shutting down his setup, I had... I think 2 faints that whole fight? And yes, I went into that fight with a team of 50s, I didn't overlevel at all. Confusion luck also turned Gonzap 2 into a joke for me, though Gonzap 1 was still a pain because I had to keep redoing it because I kept critting Skarmory, though that wasn't really Umbreon's fault. And all 3 Venus fights were all smooth as butter because I kept preventing her Pokémon from attacking instead of letting her prevent mine from attacking.

TL;DR:
+ Obtained at beginning of game
+ Ludicrous mixed bulk
+ Very good at weakening Pokémon for catching
+ Shuts down most bosses singlehandedly
+ Eventually can heal itself
- Weak damage output

I found Umbreon to be the best support Pokémon in the game other than Ampharos, and the glue that kept my team together. Incredibly underrated support Pokémon.
Been really busy with school work this week (of course the very week this thread goes up), but as Co-runner of this thread I'd like to weigh in specifically on Umbreon (the others I will try to get to later). Personally, I believe Umbreon is worthy of A tier. Its damage output isn't great, but in a 2v2 battling environment this doesn't matter nearly as much as a typical pokemon game because your ally can deal damage. Umbreon's support ability is near unmatched between Toxic (it's the best user), Confuse Ray, setting up weather (yes pokes like Entei can do it themselves, but they want all 4 moveslots typically whereas Umbreon I found to have an extra moveslot that doesn't get used if you don't give it a weather move), and other moves like Taunt and Moonlight later in the game. Expanding on the weather point, Umbreon does make great use of it because you can set it up with Umbreon and have your ally take advantage of it the same turn like with my Meganium's Solarbeam in my last playthrough this summer.

However, perhaps the single greatest asset to Umbreon is its bulk. For whatever reason, the game AI seems to be programmed to not attack bulky pokes unless it's the only poke left or they have a super effective move (which is rare in Umbreon's case because bug and fighting moves are far and few between). In boss fights, this is crucial. There were countless tough fights, namely Evice and Nascour, where the AI let Umbreon sit there and continue to throw out Toxics and Confuse Rays while occasionally throwing out a Sunny Day or Bite. Why the AI is programmed like this I don't know, but it lets Umbreon become one of the best pokemon available in boss fights. The fact that they don't attack you makes it inherently tougher to take down.
 

Tomy

I COULD BE BANNED!
I totally agree. I had Espeon / Umbreon / Croconaw / Entei / Ampharos / Misdreavus in my most recent playthough, and Umbreon was a near-unbreakable wall. Slap Toxic on it and you have a stalling behemoth. It isn't OHKO things anytime soon, but in some difficult fights it can really pull its own by surviving everything you can possibly throw at him (especially where, in a 2vs2 environment, the ally can deal massive damage). Umbreon should definitely be A-tier IMO.

About Flaaffy. Well, I'm on the fence about it. It's a one-trick pony (Spam Electric attacks and Light Screen if needed) but it excels at it, with STAB Thunderbolt coming off from an amazing SP.ATK with decent mixed bulk, and it doesn't need TM support. But with the major Earthquake spam in the later portion of the game, I really had the impression it was being knocked out a lot. I'm fine with either S or A, honestly.
 
Just a small reminder that for these lists we should be considering supportive/defensive viability too because Doubles is played very differently than Singles. typically in the mainline games, hyper offense is the way to go due to the singles format and there are much less stally tactics seen in the maingame. The AI in the Gamecube games are also different than the main series in that they more often then not employ actual strategy. You could even look at certain aspects of Smogon's own Singles and Doubles meta where Deoxys-A for example in singles will never leave Ubers, while in doubles it hangs around UU. Hyper Offense isn't everything in the Gamecube games as the AI do love to gang up on your frailer pokemon in general. Also speaking of doubles, babying Pokemon is also much less of an issue than in mainline games due to the 2v2 aspect so unless the Pokemon is terrible *cough*Ledian*cough*, babying is not that bad of an offset due to the other Pokemon in the spot being an offensive powerhouse. Yes, Espeon is arguably the best Pokemon to used in the game, but even Espeon with its high special attack does fail to secure OHKO's unless its overleveled, and can be frail on the physical side so it's no stranger to being double targeted, so unlike in singles ingame format, supportive and defensive Pokemon do have great use in the ingame of Colosseum.

Anyways I'd like to nominate a few Pokemon.
Quagsire: I think Quag should go in A tier due to its great level up movepool, which makes it so you don't have to use many one off or hard to obtain TMs on it, early encounter with a small shadow gauge a decent enough special attack stat to abuse SE hits, good natural bulk, and a good showing in all major battles, except for Miror B.

Plusle: Some may thing Plusle is outright garbage due to it being obtained at a low level of 13, and that Minum is absent from the game so it technically doesn't have an ability, but don't forget, it's the only Pokemon in the entire game prior to Postgame that receives bonus EXP due to it having a different OT when obtained. So it doesn't take long for it to catch up to your team, as well as it will most likely outlevel your team later on too. It also has an absolutely fantastic level up movepool for doubles with some great moves such as Helping Hand, Fake Tears, Encore, T-Wave, and Quick Attack to snag a few KOs at low percentages, though its TM movepool leaves much to be desired (though it does gain Light Screen), especially since many of Colo's TMs are either Postgame or simply missing in the game in general. I personally had quite a fun time using Plusle when I finally gave it the time of day, and it surprisingly held up well and even bodied Nascour hard in one of my playthroughs. I'd nominate Plusle for B tier due to it taking babying, but it does make up for it when you take the time aside for the Pokemon for its ability to secure crucial KOs with either Helping Hand, Fake Tears or Quick Attack as well as it having Encore that is useful against the more status oriented major battles, and its fast level up rate with it being a "traded" Pokemon.

Slugma: I'd nominate Slugma for E tier. If you saw my analysis for Sudowoodo earlier in the thread, it shares nearly all the same flaws with its rock brethern with some of the flaws being multipled such as being 4x weak to both water and ground, which there are plenty of in this game. As with Sudowoodo it has bad matchups against all of the major battles. It does have some usefulness due to it naturally having both yawn and flamethrower but it also learns its only two level up moves far too late when it needs to and its typically too slow and frail to take advantage of the two good moves it actually has. The only reason it's not F tier imo is because its an early encounter and even with its big flaws, its still infinitely more useful than anything in F tier.

Swablu: I love Swablu and Altaria, one of my favorite Pokemon ever. I was pretty ecstatic when it got a mega in ORAS. Anyways, my love for Swablu aside, I would like to nominate it for B tier. You catch it pretty early, it doesn't take long to purify and only evolves two levels after you get it. When it evolves, it also gains the elusive (for Colosseum standards) Dragon/Flying typing, which does come in handy against the weather teams you will probably face against as well as being immune to the EQ spam you will encounter many times throughout the game. But the main reason why I'm nominating it for B is that it's pretty good at any role you give it. You could make it a pure defensive pokemon/status absorber with its bulk and a great ability in Natural Cure, you could make it a good support mon with moves like sing, dragonbreath, perish song and being the second fastest pokemon you can obtain that can learn safeguard. You could even sweep with Dragon Dance as it has enough bulk to use 2-3. Dragon Dance also makes Swablu/Altaria one of the literal handful of Pokemon that you can obtain that can actually boost one of their offensive stats, at least before the Post Game. Sadly, just because its good at everything, Altaria is not great or fantastic at any of the things it can do. It's not going to be sweeping teams like Espeon with little to no support, or absorbing all the hits to heal up your backrow with items like Umbreon, but its a nice and well rounded fillermon.
 

HotFuzzBall

fuzzy-chan \(ㆁヮㆁ✿)
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Just a small reminder that for these lists we should be considering supportive/defensive viability too because Doubles is played very differently than Singles. typically in the mainline games, hyper offense is the way to go due to the singles format and there are much less stally tactics seen in the maingame. The AI in the Gamecube games are also different than the main series in that they more often then not employ actual strategy. You could even look at certain aspects of Smogon's own Singles and Doubles meta where Deoxys-A for example in singles will never leave Ubers, while in doubles it hangs around UU. Hyper Offense isn't everything in the Gamecube games as the AI do love to gang up on your frailer pokemon in general. Also speaking of doubles, babying Pokemon is also much less of an issue than in mainline games due to the 2v2 aspect so unless the Pokemon is terrible *cough*Ledian*cough*, babying is not that bad of an offset due to the other Pokemon in the spot being an offensive powerhouse. Yes, Espeon is arguably the best Pokemon to used in the game, but even Espeon with its high special attack does fail to secure OHKO's unless its overleveled, and can be frail on the physical side so it's no stranger to being double targeted, so unlike in singles ingame format, supportive and defensive Pokemon do have great use in the ingame of Colosseum.

Anyways I'd like to nominate a few Pokemon.
Quagsire: I think Quag should go in A tier due to its great level up movepool, which makes it so you don't have to use many one off or hard to obtain TMs on it, early encounter with a small shadow gauge a decent enough special attack stat to abuse SE hits, good natural bulk, and a good showing in all major battles, except for Miror B.

Plusle: Some may thing Plusle is outright garbage due to it being obtained at a low level of 13, and that Minum is absent from the game so it technically doesn't have an ability, but don't forget, it's the only Pokemon in the entire game prior to Postgame that receives bonus EXP due to it having a different OT when obtained. So it doesn't take long for it to catch up to your team, as well as it will most likely outlevel your team later on too. It also has an absolutely fantastic level up movepool for doubles with some great moves such as Helping Hand, Fake Tears, Encore, T-Wave, and Quick Attack to snag a few KOs at low percentages, though its TM movepool leaves much to be desired (though it does gain Light Screen), especially since many of Colo's TMs are either Postgame or simply missing in the game in general. I personally had quite a fun time using Plusle when I finally gave it the time of day, and it surprisingly held up well and even bodied Nascour hard in one of my playthroughs. I'd nominate Plusle for B tier due to it taking babying, but it does make up for it when you take the time aside for the Pokemon for its ability to secure crucial KOs with either Helping Hand, Fake Tears or Quick Attack as well as it having Encore that is useful against the more status oriented major battles, and its fast level up rate with it being a "traded" Pokemon.

Slugma: I'd nominate Slugma for E tier. If you saw my analysis for Sudowoodo earlier in the thread, it shares nearly all the same flaws with its rock brethern with some of the flaws being multipled such as being 4x weak to both water and ground, which there are plenty of in this game. As with Sudowoodo it has bad matchups against all of the major battles. It does have some usefulness due to it naturally having both yawn and flamethrower but it also learns its only two level up moves far too late when it needs to and its typically too slow and frail to take advantage of the two good moves it actually has. The only reason it's not F tier imo is because its an early encounter and even with its big flaws, its still infinitely more useful than anything in F tier.

Swablu: I love Swablu and Altaria, one of my favorite Pokemon ever. I was pretty ecstatic when it got a mega in ORAS. Anyways, my love for Swablu aside, I would like to nominate it for B tier. You catch it pretty early, it doesn't take long to purify and only evolves two levels after you get it. When it evolves, it also gains the elusive (for Colosseum standards) Dragon/Flying typing, which does come in handy against the weather teams you will probably face against as well as being immune to the EQ spam you will encounter many times throughout the game. But the main reason why I'm nominating it for B is that it's pretty good at any role you give it. You could make it a pure defensive pokemon/status absorber with its bulk and a great ability in Natural Cure, you could make it a good support mon with moves like sing, dragonbreath, perish song and being the second fastest pokemon you can obtain that can learn safeguard. You could even sweep with Dragon Dance as it has enough bulk to use 2-3. Dragon Dance also makes Swablu/Altaria one of the literal handful of Pokemon that you can obtain that can actually boost one of their offensive stats, at least before the Post Game. Sadly, just because its good at everything, Altaria is not great or fantastic at any of the things it can do. It's not going to be sweeping teams like Espeon with little to no support, or absorbing all the hits to heal up your backrow with items like Umbreon, but its a nice and well rounded fillermon.
Playing through Colosseum again but, this time I'm forcing myself to use the more "rarely seen" mons. Anyways...

Plusle - I used Plusle this time around but, I have to admit it isn't as meme-y as I initially thought it was. Plusle is essentially like Est (you'll understand this reference if you play Fire Emblem) since it has the potential to be pretty useful but, it comes at a low level and there's a mon (Flaaffy) that's available earlier that can pull off something similar. Anyways, I would say Plusle should be ranked E (C-D ranks will be a stretch but, I probably wouldn't cause a scene if it gets placed in either one) since it requires a lot of baby sitting and a better option through Flaaffy comes much earlier. Plusle also doesn't help in too many major battles after you obtain, I found that it struggled against both Dakim (both times) and Venus (first time only, though it wasn't too useful against Venus the second time but it wasn't dead weight) and is really only useful against Ein just because you can use his Rain Dance against him. Also Raikou is available soon which proves to be a lot better for obvious reasons. Though on the flip side, Plusle being much faster than Ampharos is a huge benefit to keep in mind since being able to utilize faster Light Screens and Thunder Waves can be pretty useful, also access to Helping Hand is decent as well. As of now, the set I'm using is Thunderbolt / Light Screen / Thunder Wave / Helping Hand (yeah I don't think I'm gonna teach it Thunder lol).

Swablu - I also disagree with Swablu's ranking here since I see it as more of a C-D rank (maybe E but, I don't think it's that bad) mainly due to competition with Vibrava which also has an equally as good typing as it. Vibrava is obviously a lot better overall (better offenses primarily) but, Altaria has benefits of resisting both Surf/Earthquake, Dragon Dance, and also being available earlier. Other than that, I still find Vibrava a lot more superior despite being available much later. Also adding on that Altaria pretty much slaps Ein since Safeguard and being able to resist Electric (though it has to worry about Rhydon) is pretty solid.

As for my own nomination,

Sneasel - HORRIBLE. Honestly though, I'm trying so hard to make this mon work (so far I have needed to invest TMs to it in order for it to be some what useful, and because of that I feel obligated to continue using it). The moveset I'm using right now is Shadow Ball / Slash / Brick Break / Screech. Anyways, Sneasel probably would be 10x better if both of its primary STABs were physical, which they are not so it is very difficult for Sneasel to utilize its amazing offensive potential (I mean it has fantastic attack and speed). Sneasel is also terrible as a support mon since Umbreon does it much better since Umbreon actually learns support moves (Taunt and Confuse Ray) naturally and has significantly better bulk while Sneasel needs those TMs and has paper bulk. So yeah I'm nominating Sneasel for F rank because it sucks, needs way too much support to do anything (even then, not being able to utilize its STABs already puts Sneasel at a severe disadvantage), and isn't really useful in any of the major boss fights in the game.
 

Karxrida

Death to the Undying Savage
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
So at first I was really confused as to why you guys kept mentioning Brick Break, but I did some research and discovered that my guide book lied to me about it being unavailable. That's been rectified in my list.

Anywho, update time:
A
Suicune
Quagsire
Umbreon

B
Meditite

C
Granbull

D
Sudowoodo

E
Plusle

F
Sneasel

Suicuine, Quag, and Meditite were placed based on Fireburn's list on the first page + some Quag discussion. Suicune also comes a bit too late to be S even if it's a great Time Flute candidate and has the strongest Surf in the game.

Went A for Umbreon based on general feedback.

Granbull is C based on Mellow's post. It's probably the best Intimidator since it has good Attack (which lets it do damage with Shadow Rush before purifying), but it also comes kind of late.

I disagree on the notion that Plusle is comparable to Est because Plusle's statline never gets good (if anything this game's Est is Remoraid), but it avoids F just because of its support options.

Sneasel is garbage.

I'd like a little more Swablu talk and maybe some Flaaffy S vs. A discussion.

I also want to hear thoughts on Remoraid. The gun fish has really good coverage but comes under-leveled (20 when you're fighting early/mid-30s), so I'm leaning on E for it.
 
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Playing through Colosseum again but, this time I'm forcing myself to use the more "rarely seen" mons. Anyways...

Plusle - I used Plusle this time around but, I have to admit it isn't as meme-y as I initially thought it was. Plusle is essentially like Est (you'll understand this reference if you play Fire Emblem) since it has the potential to be pretty useful but, it comes at a low level and there's a mon (Flaaffy) that's available earlier that can pull off something similar. Anyways, I would say Plusle should be ranked E (C-D ranks will be a stretch but, I probably wouldn't cause a scene if it gets placed in either one) since it requires a lot of baby sitting and a better option through Flaaffy comes much earlier. Plusle also doesn't help in too many major battles after you obtain, I found that it struggled against both Dakim (both times) and Venus (first time only, though it wasn't too useful against Venus the second time but it wasn't dead weight) and is really only useful against Ein just because you can use his Rain Dance against him. Also Raikou is available soon which proves to be a lot better for obvious reasons. Though on the flip side, Plusle being much faster than Ampharos is a huge benefit to keep in mind since being able to utilize faster Light Screens and Thunder Waves can be pretty useful, also access to Helping Hand is decent as well. As of now, the set I'm using is Thunderbolt / Light Screen / Thunder Wave / Helping Hand (yeah I don't think I'm gonna teach it Thunder lol).
HotFuzzBall could you weigh in with how easy or difficult it was to train Plusle? The way I see it is that both Plusle and Remoraid would be extremely difficult to use because of their low levels (although I admit I've always been scared away from using them for pretty much that reason). Both Plusle (Level 13) and Remoraid (Level 20) are obtainable alongside Level 30 Shadow Pokes, which puts them considerably farther behind the level curve. Also, considering there are no wild pokemon, there is a fixed/finite amount of experience to get. Obviously combined with starting way behind, this seems like it would be a huge issue.
 

HotFuzzBall

fuzzy-chan \(ㆁヮㆁ✿)
is an Artist
HotFuzzBall could you weigh in with how easy or difficult it was to train Plusle? The way I see it is that both Plusle and Remoraid would be extremely difficult to use because of their low levels (although I admit I've always been scared away from using them for pretty much that reason). Both Plusle (Level 13) and Remoraid (Level 20) are obtainable alongside Level 30 Shadow Pokes, which puts them considerably farther behind the level curve. Also, considering there are no wild pokemon, there is a fixed/finite amount of experience to get. Obviously combined with starting way behind, this seems like it would be a huge issue.
Mellow pretty much covered almost everything. Plusle is the only Pokemon in the game that receives boosted EXP since it is technically a "traded" Pokemon, so it gains exp quite fast. It was actually not too difficult to train Plusle since you get the exp share from Agate Village, which is right after you obtain Plusle. After I finish defeating Skrub, I trained Plusle till like level 28 at dual square/Pyrite Town (trainers are rematchable), then I would train Plusle alongside other shadow Pokemon (to purify them) until it reaches like level 35 (I believe I battled all the trainers once), afterwards I believe 2 battles (I feel like it was just 1 battle though) with Rogue Cail brought Plusle to level 38 (which was around the level of the rest of my team). So yeah, I did have to separately train Plusle before I progressed on with the story. It wasn't hard at all, it was just busy work tbh.
 
Mellow pretty much covered almost everything. Plusle is the only Pokemon in the game that receives boosted EXP since it is technically a "traded" Pokemon, so it gains exp quite fast. It was actually not too difficult to train Plusle since you get the exp share from Agate Village, which is right after you obtain Plusle. After I finish defeating Skrub, I trained Plusle till like level 28 at dual square/Pyrite Town (trainers are rematchable), then I would train Plusle alongside other shadow Pokemon (to purify them) until it reaches like level 35 (I believe I battled all the trainers once), afterwards I believe 2 battles (I feel like it was just 1 battle though) with Rogue Cail brought Plusle to level 38 (which was around the level of the rest of my team). So yeah, I did have to separately train Plusle before I progressed on with the story. It wasn't hard at all, it was just busy work tbh.
Ah yes I forgot that it counts as a "traded" pokemon and that Duel Square is rematchable. Definitely not efficient and even less so with Remoraid.

To add something else here, I would actually advocate for Stantler in B tier. There are only 3 normal types that really viable and Stantler is at least the second best. Basically Granbull hits harder, but Stantler is faster. They both get Intimidate support, which I think is currently being underestimated (basically Granbull should prob also be B tier but I haven't used it yet). Lowering both opp's attack stat is great in boss fights like Gonzap and Evice and Stantler also gets access to support moves like Hypnosis, Confuse Ray and both screens and coverage moves like Shadow Ball and EQ (also gets special moves like Psychic and Tbolt through Mt. Battle but that's much more meh and less efficient). For reference, I think my final moveset was Return / Hypnosis / EQ / Confuse Ray. Stantler worked much better for me than I thought it would when I resumed my like 10-year-old playthrough from The Under. I needed a new poke because my childhood self wasn't very smart with leveling lol and this thing did the job well.
 
I think putting Flaaffy at Top is overselling it a bit. It should be noted that it doesn't get Thunderbolt until after purification, which means it is stuck with Thundershock (or Shadow Rush off low Attack) as its best attacking move until Skrub 1 which is kind of lame. That's means its early-game performance is actually fairly weak, though it instantly improves dramatically once you can purify it. Still a solid enough mon all-around but putting it at Top is a bit too generous imo (especially since Fluted Raikou is a legitimate competitor for late-game if your team isn't keeping up exactly with boss levels).
I will also echo sentiment that Flaaffy is a little too high in S tier right now. It's only viable attacking moves are Tbolt/Thunder and Brick Break (although you will probably want to give that to another poke), which is underwhelming despite having useful utility moves like Light Screen, Rain Dance and Thunder Wave. Another thing with Flaaffy is the ground weakness hurts it in a doubles based game, considering EQ spam is probably one of the better strategies to utilize. This promptly forces you to run Protect on Flaaffy in order to avoid your own EQ (or the opponents) every other turn. Lastly, it is very slow, so almost every time you will have to eat at least one hit before hitting back. TLDR; Flaaffy fits better in A because of shallow movepool, ground weakness and bad speed
 
I also want to hear thoughts on Remoraid. The gun fish has really good coverage but comes under-leveled (20 when you're fighting early/mid-30s), so I'm leaning on E for it.
I used Octillery and even though it has a nice level up movepool, as well as it naturally learning Ice Beam, it's strongest STAB is only Octazooka due to no HMs being available. (doesn't make much sense that many of the early game shadows had TM access when purified, but then they screwed over Mantine and Remoraid with no surf/waterfall) its only advantageous match up is Dakim 1 and Miror 2 if the Ludicolos are taken care of. I can't see it being higher than E tier either.

Also i'd nominate Heracross for D tier. It does come rather late but it can handle the final battles well and is the fastest fighting type you have available. If you take the time to raise it to 53 (which is only 8 levels from when you get it and is fairly easy to obtain due to the Colosseums) it gets Megahorn which absolutely bodies Evice's Slowking. But yeah, its late encounter hurts it the most but it's not a detriment to your team like many E-F tier pokemon are.
 

Karxrida

Death to the Undying Savage
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
I used Octillery and even though it has a nice level up movepool, as well as it naturally learning Ice Beam, it's strongest STAB is only Octazooka due to no HMs being available. (doesn't make much sense that many of the early game shadows had TM access when purified, but then they screwed over Mantine and Remoraid with no surf/waterfall) its only advantageous match up is Dakim 1 and Miror 2 if the Ludicolos are taken care of. I can't see it being higher than E tier either.

Also i'd nominate Heracross for D tier. It does come rather late but it can handle the final battles well and is the fastest fighting type you have available. If you take the time to raise it to 53 (which is only 8 levels from when you get it and is fairly easy to obtain due to the Colosseums) it gets Megahorn which absolutely bodies Evice's Slowking. But yeah, its late encounter hurts it the most but it's not a detriment to your team like many E-F tier pokemon are.
Octazooka being Remoraid's/Octillery's strongest STAB isn't a huge issue since Surfs are going off of 47.5 BP due to Gen III spread reduction, but otherwise yeah it's definitely kind of garbage.

D seems kind of high for Heracross. While it can fire off powerful Shadow Rushes and you can potentially lulz your way past stuff with Guts and Thunder Wave abuse, it's still an endgame Pokémon that you have to invest in to use effectively. At least Skarmory has the typing to be utilized as a wall without needing purification despite only being usable for literally 6 fights.
 

Karxrida

Death to the Undying Savage
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
Flaaffy has been moved down to A due to general consensus.

Raikou has been added to A and Furret had been added to B, both based on Fireburn's list on the first page.

I know MellowBusiness advocated for Forretress at C, but I've placed it in D since it's just a one-trick Explosion pony. Fainting constantly tends to eat up time and resources to get revived.

Went with D for Qwilfish. It's the latest and probably worst of the early game Surf users.

Remoraid has been added to E due to coming severely underleveled. It avoids F because it's not horrible if you bother to train it.

Gonna sit on raising the Normal-type Intimidators and ranking Heracross for now. I'd like more opinions on those.
 

Fireburn

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Heracross is worthless if you don't use a Time Flute on it. There isn't enough game left for it to both be purified AND get to Megahorn. E or F tier, no reason at all to use it over any of the other Fighting-types.

Stantler is better overall than Granbull due to availability, better Speed, and Hypnosis to assist in Snags. Stantler should be ranked higher, probably C and D respectively.
 

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