Ah yes, the gentleman who wanted Gallade in ORAS to rise.
*Clears throat*.
Why is Fennekin at A?
-It doesn't do sh*t against most gyms and E4
- Fennekin has a lead over the first, third, fourth, fifth, somewhat sixth, and eighth gym. What do you mean it doesn't do shit against most gyms?
The Elite 4? Well it doesn't even do horrid there either. Calm Mind at least neutralizes Malva and Wikstrom's mons are all weak to Fennekin. It even does okay against Diantha.
Fennekin to C, possibly D rank. It sucks and nobody should use it ever except to challenge themselves.
C or D? You're fucking joking right?
-Almost EVERY other Fire-type can do its job better
Aside from maybe Charmander I completely disagree.
- Fletchling isn't a bad Pokemon but it will be running Ember off its lower SpA until Flame Charge arrives. Once we get to Talonflame it is alright, but Fletchinder isn't too hot of a mon. Aside from Aerial Ace via TM that's about all you have.
- I don't think I have to go into huge detail on Simisear.
- Litleo isn't bad but it's cursed with a late evolution and has more gym disadvantages. What also doesn't help is that the majority of its attacks are running off of its weaker Attack stat. Hyper Voice is pretty late to be honest.
- lolFlareon
- SLugma is garbage
- Litwick isn't necessarily horrid but it's really late in the game at this point. Litwick is really bad and Lampent isn't writing good stories either. Chandelure is good but requirement of a Dusk Stone means the evolution is pretty late too.
So let's see... there's... only one better Fire-type right? Yeah. Only one.
A lot of the Pokemon get into quirky situations with rival battles (Chespin kind of slides free but it's mainly because Calem gets Jolteon. Still, Flareon is pretty garbage enough with Fennekin.
Its movepool is fine.
Another Fire-type move is kind of late but it learns Psybeam in return at levels faster than freaking Kadabra. By the time Kadabra gets Confusion Braixen and Fennekin can possibly get Psybeam (Level 18 and 17, respectively). Psyshock at Level 34 helps bust through a lot of the higher SpD Pokemon and then Mystical Fire will carry Fennekin until it gets a good FIre-type move.
Sort of. It's bad against Houndoom and not a candidate against Poochyena, but it beats the Poison-types easier. Not a great mon against Flare, but adequate.
Froakie to A
-Does good against most gyms and E4
Froakie is actually mediocre-to-bad against most gyms.
- It's not great against Viola. Fennekin does better.
- It's mediocre against Grant. Tyrunt takes neutral damage from Froakie's STAB. It's good against the gym trainers. It does okay against Grant. Nothing special.
- No performance advantage against Korrina.
- Frogadier needs Acrobatics against Rammos and even then it is bad news.
- Terrible against Clemont.
- If it gets to Greninja it actually can do mediocre against Valerie. Mawile is no threat, but Mr. Mime and Sylveon have STAB Dazzling Gleam.
- Does alright against Olympia.
- Wulfric isn't really a victory for Greninja.
Its gym leader performance screams mediocrity.
The Elite 4 performance? Better at least. Much more effective here.
-Removes the need for a Water-type to be caught early on(RIP Azurill)
Fennekin removes the need for a Fire-type to be caught early on (RIP Litleo).
Like a Fennekin player can use Squirtle or Bulbasaur just fine. Just like the Froakie player probably would pick up Charmander or Bulbasaur. There are a lot of good Water-types in this game. The same can't really be said for Fire-types.
-Does great in rival battles
Actually it's pretty crummy. It doesn't "beat" Meowstic until after it is a Greninja and Shadow Ball / STAB Dark Pulse is available (latter is really late). Furthermore, Vaporeon is likely more of a dead-end for Greninja than Flareon is for Delphox. Like are you kidding me? How is Greninja beating that much more in rival battles? Because Absol?
The movepool variety doesn't really happen until Greninja.
Frogadier has access to Acrobatics and Bounce. Aside from that, it's so-so. Dig and Rock Tomb help, but the real problem is Frogadier wants access to an earlier Ice-type move to beat out Rammos and earlier Dark Pulse to actually do well against Olympia - among other things.
-Great VS Team Flare. Only problem's they'll give you is Electrike
If you don't pack Acrobatics or Aerial Ace Toxicroak can give a headache. Especially as Greninja since you would need Extrasensory to KO (which is too little too late).
Froakie to A rank. It's a lot better than you give it credit for.
I think you really undermime Froakie being a mediocre Pokemon. Its gym performance screams mediocrity with no real advantages even in types it should have advantages in, and some of Greninja's gravy moves are super late in the game.
Chespin to A or B
-Does decent against gyms/E4
- Horrible vs Viola
- Meh against Grant. Quillidan will always lose to Amaura and Tyrunt kind of doesn't really mind Quillidan's attacks.
- Doesn't do anything really against Korrina. Loses to Hawlucha for sure.
- Does what against Rammos again? Probably a really bad matchup just because it faces Jumpluff and Weepinbell. Both have SE moves against Quillidan. Does nice against Gogoat though.
- At least resists moves in Clemont's gym. Bad against Emolga.
- Chesnaught suffers a disadvantage against Valerie for sure. Only one Chesnaught beats reliably is Mawile.
- Definitely loses to Olympia. Only advantage is against Slowking.
- Somewhat loses to Wulfric. Abomasnow and Chesnaught can get close in Speed and Chesnaught is playing against moves that Chesnaught doesn't really want to take head-on.
Against the Elite 4 it's bad against Malva and Drasna. I wouldn't really call it stellar against Siebold because Starmie kind of wrecks your shit but it does okay against the others (Clawitzer hurts though). Does decently against Wikstrom at least up to Aegislash. I wouldn't call Chesnaught great against Diantha but it does "okay".
[qoute]-Does great in rival battles[/quote]
Kind of. It does okay against Jolteon and Absol, but it's bad against Meowstic for the most part and still loses to Delphox pretty hard.
Starting movepool is kind of rough. You're stuck with Vine Whip and Pin Missile. You eventually get Needle Arm to help. Hammer Arm is kind of late so you're stuck with TM Fighting-type moves for a while. Adequate movepool. Nothing is super late except Rock Slide and Stone Edge.
-It doesn't do good VS Team Flare. Or should I say, Gulpins n' Golbats.
Also horrible against Houndours and co.
Chespin to B, maybe A rank. It's pretty good.
Maybe B at best, but I doubt it. I think once again you're highly overstating Chespin as a Pokemon and not realizing it has critical flaws - bigger than Froakie's even.