BW Ranking: Hardest Fights in Black & White Pokemon

BW Ranking: Hardest Fights in Black & White Pokemon

Table of Contents

• S+ Overview
• #1: Excadrill
• #2: Cinccino
• #3: Crustle
• #4: Lilligant
• #5: Haxorus
• #6: Conkeldurr
• #7: Krookodile
• A+ Overview
• #8: Emboar
• #9: Stoutland
• #10: Serperior
• #11: Unfezant
• #12: Sawk
• #13: Throh
• A Overview
• #14: Virizion
• #15: Ferrothorn
• #16: Musharna
• #17: Audino
• #18: Mienshao
• #19: Durant
• #20: Darmanitan
• #21: Simisage
• #22: Carracosta
• #23: Simipour
• #24: Scolipede
• #25: Gigalith
• #26: Scrafty
• #27: Archeops
• B Overview
• #28: Terrakion
• #29: Cobalion
• #30: Samurott
• #31: Tornadus
• #32: Chandelure
• #33: Thundurus
• #34: Leavanny
• #35: Sawsbuck
• #36: Beheyem
• #37: Amoongus
• #38: Bouffalant
• C Overview
• #39: Zebstrika
• #40: Seismitoad
• #41: Bisharp
• #42: Cryogonal
• #43: Druddigon
• #44: Accelgor
• #45: Emolga
• #46: Reuniclus
• #47: Golurk
• #48: Zweilous
• #49: Galvantula
• D Overview
• #50: Watchog
• #51: Liepard
• #52: Sigilyph
• #53: Eelektross
• #54: Jellicent
• #55: Swanna
• #56: Vanilluxe
• #57: Braviary
• #58: Cofagrigus
• #59: Escavalier
• E Overview
• #60: Alomomola
• #61: Basculin
• #62: Klinklang
• #63: Whimsicott
• #64: Garbodor
• #65: Gothitelle
• #66: Stunfisk
• #67: Mandibuzz
• #68: Simisear
• #69: Maractus
• #70: Swoobat
• #71: Beartic
• #72: Heatmor
• #73: Larvesta

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Across this list, you’ll likely hear me speak on a few very specific fights. This is a newer way of doing rankings where we focus on the more difficult fights of the game in order to see who can help out the most when it really matters. I personally consider the difficult fights of BW to be: Lenora, N3, Elesa, Clay, Skyla, Drayden, the Elite 4, and the N-Ghetsis back-to-back, with a bit of extra attention given to those who can deal with Burgh’s Leavanny, Cheren’s Emboar, and Bianca 5 in Tepig playthroughs specifically.

When looking at the game like this, I found you could essentially split the encounters of the game into two main parts: those that find use by Skyla and those that have to wait until Drayden to have a shot. Since Surf only becomes available after Skyla and several other Pokemon aren’t found before then or in a state with above Cutiefly tier stats, this second category consists of 31 of these games’ 73 possible encounters, not even counting Zekrom and Reshiram. To account for this, A and B tier were split into two parts: those who could only excel in one of the two halves, and those who could excel in both.

A bit of extra context I should give is that good TMs in BW are a bit of a rarity, especially in coverage and set-up moves, so those who naturally learn better moves will naturally do better. Another thing, all of the late-game threats except one can be exploited beaten with Substitute, as Dragon Tail doesn’t force a switch with Substitute, a bulky enough Grass Type will take less than 25% from Throh’s Bulldoze and Klingklang’s Thunderbolt, and the AI in these games love to spam status moves on a Substitute for some reason, including N’s Klinklang’s with Metal Sound, Grimsley’s Scrafty with Sand Attack, Shauntal’s Cofagrigus with Will-o-Wisp and especially Ghetsis’s Cofagrigus with Toxic. It’s not a stretch to say that Ghetsis will use Toxic on a Substitute 10 times in a row, so the best way to deal with him is usually just sacc whatever you have as your lead and swap to something that has Substitute and set-up. If I ever say something sweeps one of these late-game bosses, it’s probably because of this. It’s a bit RNG dependent as the enemies will sometimes decide to go hyper-offense mode, so those who can sweep without this will be given more credit. If it ever feels like Caitlin seems a bit more important than anyone else, this is also why.

Lastly, Level-Caps, Set Mode, No EVs, 15 IVs in everything, Neutral Natures, Pinwheel Clause, Gems and Trade-Evolutions are assumed and the extra items from Nimbasa’s Battle Subway are given a minimal but still apparent amount of attention.

S+ - For those that excel beyond excelling, being available early, abundant, dominate a majority of major fights in their games doing what nobody else can do better.

#1: Excadrill - Not only can you ensure you get this right after the first gym, not only does it do great against every challenging gym fight, not only does it excel against the E4, but it has such an amazing moveset in a game where TMs before post-game are very limited. It can take a retaliate from Watchog pretty well and also has Mud-Slap to devalue Hypnosis while 2-shotting Watchog with Dig, it can defeat either the Emolgas or the Zebstrika on Elesa’s team, Bulldoze doesn’t actually hit during Dig so it’s actually pretty good against Clay, and then gets Swords Dance to easily solos Skyla, Drayden, Shauntal, potentially Grimsley, and Ghetsis, while also putting in a ton of work against Caitlin’s and N’s team, usually beating 2 members of their teams but getting to 3 in the right circumstances.

#2: Cinccino - The best way I can describe Cinccino is that it’s like if Swellow got incredible coverage. While you can’t ensure that you get Minccino if you don’t have a Purrloin yet, you still have a 78% chance of adding one to your team in time for Clay. Technician is truly a gift in the early game, letting it utilize Swift to chip Elesa’s Emolgas and use Wake-Up-Slap (60 BP in gen 5) and Grass Knot to sweep Clay’s whole team, then getting Rock Blast to deal with Skyla. Even if you get Cute Charm instead, you can still use that to manipulate what gender of Axew you get (this is both a real mechanic and very impactful). Later on, it gets to take advantage of being one of the fastest in the game by also getting Encore, letting it shut down Drayden’s Fraxure, who always sets up with Dragon Dance and goes for Dragon Tail after seeing a kill. Anything it Encores is pretty much useless to do anything but watch as it begins to spam Work-Up. With this strategy, it becomes the 3rd best Pokemon in the E4, dealing with 10 of the 16 Pokemon there. Any Psychic or Ghost type will always bait Shadow Ball from Cofagrigus and Caitlin’s team, while having a Fighting type other than Emboar beat Grimsley’s Scrafty will always bait Switch AI into sending out Liepard and going for Fake Out. It even comes in at the very end to solo Ghetsis most consistently out of anything in the game, as his Cofagrigus always goes for Protect after landing Toxic and Cinccino is one of the few fast enough to outspeed his Hydreigon.

S - From early to late game, will consistently stay on your team and deal with multiple major threats.

#3: Crustle - I didn’t expect to see Crustle up this high either, but it really shined every time it came out. It’s the only thing that can set up Stealth Rocks against Elesa to punish her constant pivoting, which is especially useful since Dwebble gets Shell Armor, can always take 2 Volt Switches, and always baits Volt Switch alongside Audino. Beyond that, it helps with N3, deals with Clay’s Krokorok, sweeps Skyla after evolving and Drayden after getting Shell Smash. It then goes on to be the 2nd best performer in the E4, sweeping 3 entire members of the E4 with substitute Shell-Smash, including Caitlin while being safe from crit, something nearly impossible to do without Choice Band/Scarf/Specs. As if that wasn’t enough, it’s also one of the best leads against N/Ghetsis in White by Destroying Reshiram and Sweeping Ghetsis. Why has no one ever talked about how good this little guy is?

#4: Lilligant - While the lack of Leftovers in Black and White usually hurts the bulky, defensive Pokemon the most, it’s also the sole reason Lilligant didn’t make it into the S+ tier. Literally ANY of the fights in this game Lilligant can solo with the one condition that it usually needs to land a sleep powder, and Leftovers is just what gives it a second, third, sometimes even fourth chance if it misses. Access to Quiver Dance by Elesa (if you give it an Exp. Share and edge its experience bar so it levels up after Emolga) allows it to set up as much as it needs, taking heavy advantage of Leech Seed and Synthesis. Everything in this game can be at least two-shot by +6 Giga Drain, with Substitute providing the one-extra-hit you need. You probably will want a good hidden power type to deal with Drayden, but I actually found myself trying out HYPER BEAM and considering it to be not too bad. I’d ask you to never sleep on Lilligant, but that’s Lilligant’s choice more than yours.

#5: Haxorus - Normally, I wouldn’t put something you get this late into the game nearly this high, But Haxorus potentially trivializes every fight after this point. There are 3 slightly different versions of Haxorus, with Masc Rivalry being the Best, Femme Rivalry being the worst, and Mold Breaker being the one in the middle that can deal with Sturdy. Even Negative Rivalry Fraxure can easily sweep Drayden/Iris (genders match trainers). Here’s how it happens: enter the e4 with both Dragon Dance and Swords Dance with TMs to cover the other two moves. On Shauntal, Rivalry doesn’t matter since you just steal Cofagrigus’s mummy, so open with Substitute as it goes for Will-o-Wisp, use Swords Dance into spamming Dragon Claw, with Non-Mold Breakers needing a Rawst Berry to avoid Flame Body. On Grimsley, open with Substitute as Scrafty goes for Sand Attack. Everyone should be able to get off a Dragon Dance here, but Mold Breaker and Femme Rivalry might fail due to also needing a Swords Dance after this to ensure a kill on Scrafty with Expert Belt Brick Break, Masc Rivalry only needs a dragon dance. On Caitlin, you should’ve leveled up on the other two to have at least a 110 speed to outspeed Sigilyph, so just Swords Dance, hope you don’t get crit (or have a focus sash) and use X-Scissor and Shadow Claw. Marshal’s Throh should always open with Bulldoze, which does less than 25% to Haxorus, and won’t start going for Stone Edge until Haxorus is at half. Mold Breaker excels the most here, as it can simply go Sub-DD Sub-SD and sweep, while the Rivalries want to do Marshal last out of hope of leveling up enough to Outspeed Mienshao’s 112 Speed, Masc so it can Sub-SD Sub-Sweep to deal with Sawk’s Sturdy and Femme to try Sub-SD Sub-SD Sitrus Berry Sub-Sweep. Haxorus with Expert Belt is also the best lead bar-none against N-Ghetsis. N always Opens Fusion Flare/Bolt unless it sees an immunity (including Flash Fire and Lightning Rod, even though they have Turboblaze/Terravolt), giving Haxorus the opportunity to set up D-Dance and then Substitute now that it sees the kill with Hyper Beam/Giga Impact. Masc Rivalry Substitutes here to deal with Carracosta, Mold Breaker and Femme Rivalry Dance again, and Femme Rivalry has to sub out to let something else deal with Carracosta (N always sends it out last here). After this, all three can Substitute and Dance, Dragon Claw, and Brick Break away to finish off strong.

#6: Conkeldurr - If you get a Munna or Pansear to yawn and take the Intimidate, Timburr can deal with Lenora’s whole team. By getting to be a Conkeldurr by Elesa, it can easily take Zebstrika and sometimes the Emolga too, It solos Clay by merit of being a Fighting type not weak to Ground, does just as well against Drayden, I found it worked out surprisingly well on Skyla and Marshal thanks to Bulk-Up/Rest, destroys Grimsley, and deals with a few members of N-Ghetsis very well.

#7: Krookodile - It doesn’t matter if you roll Intimidate or Moxie, Krookodile will be one of your best encounters either way, and with its high prevalence in 3 different encounter locations, you’ve got an 82% chance of encountering at least one. Even as a Sandile, it can still deal with any 2 members of Elesa’s team, takes out most of Clay’s thanks to Bulldoze not hitting during dig, deals with Skyla’s team pretty well, can sweep Drayden (though you probably want to delay its evolution for Earthquake on the E4), is one of the few Pokemon capable of dealing with Caitlin, sweeps shauntal, and is one of the best leads for the N/Ghetsis fights, walling Zekrom and one-shotting Reshiram with Ground Gem, and taking care with a few members of Ghetsis’s team, especially with Moxie. Once you get this thing, I’m not sure there’s any reason to take it off of your team.

A+ - Reliable, puts in effort that makes your run significantly easier, join your team early and are still doing what they can by the end.

#8: Emboar - Emboar is incredible in the early game and one of the best answers against Lenora. Even Elesa and Skyla have routes that can be solved with Flame Charge, Defense Curl and Rollout, although these can risk a loss. If you Thief a Persim Berry off of Tympol it can even deal with Clay and his Swaggering Krokorok. Unfortunately, Emboar really falls off in the late game, only being able to contend with a few of Grimmsley’s members before the N/Ghetsis fight where it makes its grand return. Emboar is also a massive gambler, relying on either not missing Rollout or not getting crit during rest in order to remain alive and useful.

#9: Stoutland - One of the few and absolutely the earliest Intimidate user (half the time), can take three Retaliates from Lenora’s Watchog, evolves very early in the game of late evolutions, gets Work Up and all the elemental fangs, Does great against N3, Clay, and Skyla in the midgame while still helping out against Elesa’s Zebstrika. It remains a strong choice in the late game by Soloing Drayden, Shauntal and Ghetsis with Substitute strats, while serving as an Intimidate pivot against N and Grimsley.

#10: Serperior - In a game without Leftovers or many set-up TMs, Coil and Leech Seed are that much more powerful. Servine is oddly good against Lenora, being able to set up with Growth and take a Retaliate from Watchog, can tank Zebstrika’s Flame Charge with Eviolite, beats Clay’s Palpitoad and Krokorok while setting up seeds on Excadrill. It easily sweeps all of Drayden, Marshal, Grimsley, Ghetsis, and sometimes N if you can get it out against Klinklang, all of which require Substitute, while also dealing with Shauntal’s Jellicent and Golurk. The conditions in which it succeeds aren’t the most consistent and sometimes rely on AI.

#11: Unfezant - So I don’t actually remember Unfezant doing this well, but according to my notes, It trivializes N3, beats Burgh’s Leavanny if you don’t have a counter for it yet, solos Skyla, Drayden, Shauntal and Ghetsis by merit of being something with set-up that walls Cofagrigus, and can beat multiple members of Grimsley’s team. Apparently, it can solo Clay if you get the underleveled Unfezant on Route 6 or Lostlorn forest. I’m genuinely shocked it gets to be this high up.

#12: Sawk - With a Yawner, Sawk will easily solo Lenora, with Chesto Berry covering for Hypnosis and Sturdy covering for crit Retaliate. It takes down Elesa’s Zebstrika pretty well, and, just like its red brother, solos Clay, Drayden and Grimsley. It’s not as good against N but it completely sweeps Ghetsis with Sub-Bulk Up on Cofagrigus. In White, this is an encounter you can easily ensure you get.

#13: Throh - The best early game encounter against Lenora. It can get an early status to avoid Hypnosis and boost Guts (this requires getting paralyzed by a trainer’s Cottonee’s Stun Spore or poisoned by a trainer’s Venipede’s Poison Sting) and can take a crit Retaliate. It sticks around to do well against Elesa’s Emolga, sweeping Clay, walling Drayden with Sub-Bulk Up, soloing Grimsley and dealing with N’s team extremely well. It’s not the best Pinwheel encounter but it’s the easiest to ensure you get (in Black at least).

A: For those that only really excel on one half of the game, but are go-to encounters whenever you get to use them.

#14: Virizion - Virizion’s capture location is apparently its own place called Rumination Field, so there’s no need to make a third Pinwheel Clause addition. With Work Up/Sacred Sword/Giga Drain/Substitute, it sweeps Drayden, most of Shauntal’s team, and Ghetsis. Thanks to being a fast Grass type, it can also use Substitute in front of N’s Klinklang or Marshal’s Throh to sweep them as well, and it lastly can swap into Scrafty’s Crunch to Justified sweep the rest of his team. It puts in so much work at the very end

#15: Ferrothorn - Even in a game that barely supports defense-oriented teams, Ferrothorn still shows off that it’s not impossible. From the minute you get it, it shouldn’t leave your team, even against Skyla while it’s still a little Ferroseed. It completely walls everything after that, with the exception of Marshal. This is something you can use to your advantage, as putting Rocky Helmet on it and pairing it with Golurk will cause Marshal’s team to slowly whittle down itself, going for Payback, Grass Knot (contact moves), and Jump Kick. It even finds use in walling Ghetsis’s Cofagrigus, as using Substitute and Curse will allow you to chain kills on Cofagrigus and Hydreigon before coming back later to beat Seismitoad.

#16: Musharna - There’s two different types of Musharna in BW, The guaranteed Musharna in the Dreamyard’s rustling grass and the Munna that risks you getting Patrat or Purrloin instead. The Munna is so much better due to getting a vastly superior moveset of Yawn, Psychic, Moonlight and Calm Mind. Yawn lets so many Pokemon set up against Lenora’s Herdier while being able to take crit Bite, it can somehow solo Elesa with Moonlight, Eviolite and a single Defense Curl, as well as Skyla through the same method. It’s also a hell of a bulky pivot against Clay, even as a Munna, and can punish Excadrill for trying to go for Hone Claws. Despite everyone on Drayden’s team having dark coverage, Musharna’s high defense massively helps it against them. It’s one of the best early game encounters to get but unfortunately falls off for late game.

#17: Audino - Rustling grass is a way to get fully evolved Pokemon earlier than you should like level 20 Stoutland and Unfezant, picking it up is a pathway to so many more encounters. Even beyond that, it’s always a good thing to bring as a support to every fight, swapping in, setting up Light Screen, maybe a Growl or Toxic before swapping out and healing with Regenerator. You won’t regret picking it up.

#18: Mienshao - One of the best Pokemon to bring to the E4 and beyond. Drain Punch, U-Turn and Regenerator give this thing so much more survivability than you’d really expect. It can put in decent enough work on Caitlin and Marshal with U-Turn and Acrobatics before forgetting U-Turn to learn Substitute to sweep Grimsley and sometimes Shauntal and Ghetsis, I found that sometimes Cofagrigus would just opt for Psychic, more often on Shauntal, but to what extent I’m not sure. With Shauntal, there’s no risk in trying so I’d suggest at least giving it an attempt. It can also deal with half of N’s team, sometimes all in a single fight.

#19: Durant - Absolutely an E4 bring if you manage to find it on Victory Road. It can beat Shauntal’s Cofagrigus and potentially Chandelure if you roll Swarm instead of Hustle, 3 members of both Caitlin’s team and Grimsley’s team, and the first two members of Marshal’s. It then can beat either Vanilluxe or Archeops on N’s team, risking crit, and then bait in Zoroark to beat it too. Afterwards it walls Ghetsis’s Cofagrigus to beat it and comes back later to deal with either Bouffalant or Bisharp. Its most significant addition is just how well it deals with Caitlin, who has so little counters to it that I would honestly suggest routing for it if you don’t have an encounter yet.

B+ - Midgame threats, finding a bit of use in one half and a significant amount in the other, some of the first things you go to when you need someone to fill a position/niche.

#20: Darmitan - Darmanitan’s performance is so dependent on whether or not you chose to grind for the power items like Choice Band and Life Orb in Nimbasa’s Battle Subway. It can solo Skyla, but only with Choice Scarf. It can sweep Drayden with Life orb, risking a rock slide miss. Even without these items, it still puts in decent work against every Single fight you can use it in, with the exception of Clay. However, it’s one of the few Pokemon that has a really good matchup against Caitlin, but only sometimes. I was testing with Mid-IVs and No EVs, and I found that Charcoal Flare Blitz Darmanitan would have to get a highroll to get a kill on Musharna and Gothitelle and would speed-tie Sigilyph if you leveled it up on Reuniclus. If you’re naturally using this thing on enemy trainers, it will probably do much better thanks to having a few EVs. Other than that, it can deal with any non-Krookidile member of Grimsley’s team, takes out a few members of N’s team and finally gets to use Belly Drum against Ghetsis.

#21: Simisage - Getting a Simisage in Black and White is very risky, as there’s absolutely better choices in all locations you can find it. It will sometimes pay off, however, as Simisage can take on Elesa’s Zebstrika and most of Clay’s team, sweeping through it if Krokorok opts for Swagger instead of Torment. Somehow, it comes back in the late game to have an excellent case for being an E4 bring, dealing with a few members of Shauntal and Grimsley’s team and then sub-sweeping Marshal by resisting the Bulldoze that Throh loves to spam and having Acrobatics, while also sticking around to be pretty good in the N/Ghetsis fights.

#22: Carracosta - While a defensive core doesn’t work as well in BW as it does in most games, Carracosta serves as a great member of this, working well alongside Rocky Helmet Ferrothorn. Outside of that, it still does pretty well on N3, Clay, especially Skyla and comes back all the way in the end to be one of the best leads against N/Ghetsis thanks to walling Reshiram, who always opens with Fusion Flare if the Target isn’t immune and sweeping Ghetsis with Shell Smash.

#23: Simipour - Getting a Simipour in Black and White is very risky, as there’s absolutely better choices in all locations you can find it. It puts in great work against Clay with Scald and Grass Knot, can actually sweep on Skyla if you give it a Sitrus Berry, and supposedly sweeps Drayden with Work Up/Blizzard? I tested this about 10 times and the only time it failed was when I ran out of Blizzard PP, but it still doesn’t feel right to say. It can still deal with a member of Marshal’s and Grimsley’s team in the E4, as well as Shauntal’s Golurk.

#24: Scolipede - Here we have a very interesting case, Scolipede is one of the only two Pokemon in this game that learns Baton Pass, which should be pretty impactful since stat-boosting moves are a rarity outside of Work-Up. This is still a double-edged sword, though, as Scolipede also only learns Iron Defense and Agility, with Iron Defense not being able to be remembered once forgotten. It also begs the question of how useful it can be if something is still dead to crit? It baits Swagger from Krokorok which it can properly utilize with a Persim Berry stolen from a Tympole, It can get both an Iron Defense and an Agility off against Swoobat while risking crit twice, it gets counter-set-up on by Drayden’s Fraxure, who has Dragon Dance and Dragon Tail, it can survive a Stone Edge from Marshal’s Throh while risking the 1 in 10 chance it both hits and crit. With Caitlin, I found that if you lead a pre-damaged Scolipede to Swarm Range and give it Silver Powder, it could beat her first two with X-Scissor and potentially the second two if you level up and have a good enough attack afterwards (112). It can really do anything it wants against Grimsley’s Scrafty after setting up Substitute but isn’t much use after that. This doesn’t sound like much, but I did find a few ways throughout the game that Baton Pass was useful for, like helping Fire types take on Clay and Psychic types against Marshal.

#25: Gigalith - With its high defense and Mud Slap, Roggenrola is one of the best counters to Lenora’s Watchog, easily taking crit Retaliate and making Hypnosis much more inconsistent. It stays relevant by Trivializing N3, taking out Elesa’s Emolgas, Hard-Walling Skyla and meeting its end by setting up Stealth Rocks on Marshal to break Sawk’s Sturdy (Nothing in Gen 5 gets Spikes by level-up and only Gigalith and Crustle get Stealth Rock). Having Gigalith also means you can ensure your chances of getting an Axew in Mistralton Cave.

#26: Scrafty - Scrafty does a few things in the early game, dealing with Leavanny, Clay, and a few members of Bianca 5. However, It’s probably the worst Fighting type for dealing with Clay (still pretty good). It can solo Drayden but only if it has Moxie, it can solo Caitlinn if it has Moxie and Reuniclus’s Focus Blast missed and Sigilyph’s Air Slash doesn’t flinch or crit, but still deals with her later two members without that, it’s one of the 20 or so Pokemon that solos Shauntal and beats Grimsley’s Krookidile, making it a really good E4 bring while also being a great N/Ghetsis bring.

#27: Archeops - In the early game, Archeops is a great lead against a lot of gym leaders. It makes light work of N3, just like Carracosta, can take out 1 Emolga on Elesa’s team while risking crit, can deal with Clay’s first two if Krokorok opts for Swagger against it, beats everyone except Swanna on Skyla’s team, easily deals with Bianca 5’s Serperior even after Coil, and takes a chunk out of Drayden before get D-Tailed. Its one contribution to the E4 is that if you bring Gigalith to set up rocks against Marshal, then it can sweep with Flying Gem Acrobatics. I guess I also found that Choice Band Archeops Crunches 3 members of Shauntal’s team it would otherwise miss the kill on.

B - Those that can really only find significant success in the later half of the game, or prove expensive to go for over options higher on the list, but still leave an undeniable impact on the run

#28: Terrakion - Slightly better than Cobalion by merit of outspeeding and one-shotting Caitlin’s Sigilyph and also being able to set up Swords Dance behind a substitute against Ghetsis before sweeping his team. It also does the Justified swap on Scrafty and can chain kill on Vanilluxe and Zoar ark before coming back to beat Klinklang.

#29: Cobalion - It can Solo Drayden by using Work Up while Fraxure dances and Grimsley by switching into Scrafty’s Crunch, which can be baited by a Psychic or Ghost type. Outside of that, it doesn’t really do much but help out with some threats on N’s and Ghetsis’s team (Vanilluxe, Klinklang, Zoroark Cofagrigus, Bisharp). Unfortunately for Cobalion, Virizion just does its job so much better.

#30: Samurott - Would you believe me if I told you Samurott is easily the best starter in B2W2? There is just So little that Samurott finds use in before E4 in base BW, only really getting to deal with N’s Darumaka, either of Skyla’s first two members and Clay’s team, risking crit if you don’t have a Choice Scarf. If you decide to delay Dewott’s evolution until E4, you can get both Encore and Swords Dance for them, but Samurott is still too slow to outspeed even Bisharp. It can deal with Caitlin if you can somehow predict Gothitelle’s Calm Mind, will usually take out at least a member of Marshal’s team, and since Ghetsis’s Cofagrigus always goes for Protect after landing Toxic, it can Encore that and then sweep, risking a crit from Hydreigon.

#31: Tornadus - Can deal with the potential threat of Cheren’s Emboar, will sweep Marshal by going Flying Gem Acrobatics on Throh, Air Slash on Sawk, hoping it either flinches or Stone Edge doesn’t crit (~93%), Acrobatics until Marshal stops healing, Air Slash on Conkeldurr, and Acrobatics on Mienshao. It can also beat ¾ of Grimsley’s team with Brick Break and Grass Knot, either Shauntal’s Golurk or Jellicent with Grass Knot, and both Ghetsis’ Seismitoad and Bisharp.

#32: Chandelure - I’m so disappointed by Chandelure’s performance, it lands a kill on Fraxure before missing it on Druddigon and risking death to crit Night Slash, and even if you don’t get crit, Haxorus outspeeds and kills with Assurance. It can technically wall Cheren’s Emboar by merit of being immune to Fire and Fighting, it doesn’t do anything against Marshal since everything there tanks an attack and returns a brutal Stone Edge, It takes down Reuniclus on Caitlin’s team before getting outsped and Shadow Balled by Sigilyph, risking crit, and always missing the kill on Musharna and Gothitelle even with Expert Belt (Choice Specs can secure it), before it returns a Shadow Ball. This is honestly when you send in Cinccino. It always gets outsped and one-shot by Shauntal’s own Chandelure and always misses the kill on her Jellicent as well (Again Specs, again Cinccino). After that, it deals with Grimsley’s Bisharp, but only if you don’t pivot it in on Night Slash, and deals with N’s Vanilluxe and Klinklang. Same case for Cofagrigus and Bisharp on Ghetsis’s team. Totalling all that up, that is a guaranteed way of dealing with… 10 Pokemon. Chandelure beats 10 significant Pokemon across all of BW.

#33: Thundurus - Beats either Shauntal’s Golurk with Grass Knot or Jellicent with Discharge, one of Caitlin’s members with Crunch, ¾ of Grimsley’s team before it fails to land a kill with Brick Break on Bisharp after Intimidate, and 2 of Marshal’s team members: Mienshao and either Throh or Conkeldurr. I forgot to write down how for Iast one and I’m not exactly sure how, Extrasensory I think? Anyways it can go on to beat both Ghetsis’s Bisharp and Seismitoad.

#34: Leavanny - Leavanny isn’t technically a Pokemon you find in the late game, but it does very little until then. Namely, it takes out Burgh’s own leavanny, can beat the first two members of Clay’s team (but always causes the AI to send in Excadrill first) and is one of the best counters for Bianca 5. In terms of the late game, It can do the thing every physical attacker can do in late game where it sweeps Shauntal and Ghetsis by using substitute an setting up while the AI spams status moves while also helping against grimsley and one-shotting Caitlin’s Reuniclus with Bug Gem or Swarm (this is significant, trust me). Unfortunately, being weak to Stone Edge means the Bulldoze trick on Marshal doesn’t work.

#35: Sawsbuck - Even as a Grass type, it doesn’t do the best against Clay and doesn’t really find use until Drayden, where it sets up alongside Fraxure and sweeps his team. After doing nothing else for a while, it joins the exclusive club of Pokemon that can Sub-sweep Ghetsis, though it does need to level up before fighting Bisharp.

#36: Beheyem - It has the same issues as Reuniclus against Marshal, but by merit of being the only Psychic type with Calm Mind and Recover before post game, it serves as one of the very few counters to Caitlin.

#37: Amoongus - It deals with a few members on Clay’s team and then you delay its evolution until the E4 so it can learn Spore and counter Marshal. It doesn’t sound like much, but it REALLY hard counters Marshal, probably the most consistently out of anything in the game, at least singlehandedly. Spore is still pretty useful after this, even if Amoongus itself isn’t in the spotlight.

#38: Bouffalant - Puts in a ton of work against Drayden, is both strong and bulky enough to use Megahorn on Caitlin, especially if you bait Reuniclus into using Energy Ball on a Sap Sipper Bouffalant. Similar story for Grimsley, it can 1v1 a few different members of N/Ghetsis if you really need it to .

C+ - For those that can’t pitch-in very much in major fights, either due to lack of appearance or performance, but can still find their own times to shine.

#39: Zebstrika - Zebstrika’s claim to fame is that it’s the only competent Electric type for a pretty long while. It can beat everything on Elesa’s team with Return and Shock Wave and then go on to Solo Skyla. Other than that, I guess it can beat Burgh’s Leavanny and Bianca’s Simipour.

#40: Seismitoad - There are a lot of better encounters in Pinwheel Forest, but It can help out against Zebstrika and Excadrill. If you get it as an encounter later in the game, around Route 8, it will at least be serviceable, pivoting into a few big threats like Golurk and Bisharp

#41: Bisharp - Even as a Pawniard, it can deal with a few of the weaker members of the E4, like Cofagrigus, Musharna, Liepard and, very ironically, Bisharp. If you delay its evolution by two whole levels, it gets Iron head to better deal with Vanilluxe, Archeops, Klinklang, Cofagrigus again, and Bisharp again.

#42: Cryogonal - Cryogonal is both barely strong and bulky enough to sweep Drayden with Ice Beam and serve as a great stall-mon with Recover, Acid Armor and Toxic.

#43: Druddigon - Druddigon is always just a bit bulkier and a bit stronger than you really expect. For that reason, it can help out just a bit with Drayden, Grimsley and Shauntal and offer help against 4 of the 12 Pokemon in the N/Ghetsis fights.

#44: Accelgor - Sweeps Drayden in the funniest way possible: by spamming Me-First in front of his Dragon-Tail spamming team. Outside of that, I found that it can beat a single member of Caitlin’s team with Bug Gem Bug Buzz and deals with half of Grimsley’s team, Krookidile and Liepard, by outspeeding and One-Shotting.

#45: Emolga - This actually has a case for being an E4 bring and I really hate that. It’s faster than all the Earthquake/Bulldoze users and gets encore and acrobatics to deal with them before setting up Light Screen and potentially volt-switching out. I detest how much use I found in it, its only use before that was how it was one of the competent Electric types you found before Skyla.

#46: Reuniclus - Reuniclus is the first of the Pokemon in BW that takes way too long to evolve (of which there are many). Despite this, it somehow finds use against Skyla by merit of being bulky and having Rock Tomb and can pitch in against Drayden despite his entire team having Dark coverage. It should be good against Marshal, but after beating down Throh and taking ~30% from Payback, Mienshao will always come in after anything else goes down and use U-Turn to eradicate 55% of Reuniclus's Health, meaning you have to pivot around that with Reuniclus. You can theoretically run Rocky Helmet to deal with Sawk’s Sturdy, as long as it doesn’t opt for Stone Edge, but Conkeldur’s Stone Edge (which is faster) will deal around 80% if it crits, so I guess it can deal with Marshal’s Bert and Ernie. Similarly, everyone on Caitlin’s team except her own Reuniclus is faster and has Shadow Ball, meaning even your own Shadow Ball falls behind.

#47: Golurk - If I can be real, this thing is near-useless outside of being a really good partner for Ferrothorn. It has a 50% chance of having a less than useless ability and can’t really take advantage of being a Ghost type by merit of only having Shadow Punch as a physical stab. I at least found that it could serve as a pretty good lead against N/Ghetsis by using Ground Gem to Earthquake the legendary dragon and then deal with both Cofagrigus and Bouffalant.

#48: Zweilous - Zweilous Joins the exclusive tier of “How tf are you not useless” alongside Pawniard and Rufflet by Soloing Shauntal, thanks to Mummy taking away Hustle, while also dealing with both of Caitlin’s last two.

#49: Galvantula - Galvantula is saved from being useless for no reason other than it being a Bug type in a region with 2 E4 members weak to bug. It’s too weak to deal with Skyla as a Joltik and finds absolutely no use outside of taking earthquake from Grimsley’s Krookidile and outspeeding to get a kill with Bug Buzz, potentially chaining that into a kill on Liepard, and how it can take out Caitlin’s Reuniclus with Bug Gem Bug Buzz and chaining that into a kill on her Sigilyph. You have to delay Joltik’s evolution to the E4 to do this btw.

C - For those that find the most use in either the Dupes Clause or pivoting in to chip and debuff, maybe defeating a lesser opponent before switching back out.

#50: Watchog - One of the two Pokemon in this game to get baton pass and it really doesn’t get to use that well. It can help out a tiny bit against Elesa’s Emolgas and Skyla’s Swoobat. Unfortunately, Work up and Substitute are simply too common in this game, it can get to +2 on Shauntal but has no other real use in the E4. It’s one of the most common encounters in the game so it's at least a dupe.

#51: Liepard - There are several locations where Purrloin and Liepard are possible captures, most of which are also locations where you can find high value Pokemon like Cinccino and Munna. Outside of just being a dupe, it can surprisingly sweep Shauntal with Nasty Plot and Shadow Ball.

#52: Sigilyph - If you chose Snivy then Sigilyph can deal with Cheren’s somewhat threatening Emboar. Other than that, it’s too frail for Caitlinn and is very IV dependent against Marshal. It can usually beat Throh with Psychic Gem but will sometimes miss kill on Conkeldurr, not outspeed Mienshao, or not be able to take Sawk’s Stone Edge after Sturdy.

#53: Eelektross - It has enough coverage in Grass Knot, Brick Break and Rock Slide that I guess you can use it if you really have nothing else in the late-game left and were also unlucky enough to find it.

#54: Jellicent - It deals with Cheren’s Emboar, can maybe land a Will-o-Wisp (75% Accuracy) on one of Marshal’s team members, and will beat Shauntal’s Cofagrigus and Golurk. It doesn’t even bait Shadow Ball correctly on Caitlin since Gothitelle will be prompted to come out and use Thunderbolt.

#55: Swanna - Sadly, still a Ducklett at that time, Swanna can’t take the unanimous Water/Grass/Fighting type W of being good against Clay, as Bubblebeam 3-Shots the Excadrill with Rock Slide. It can use Feather Dance to debuff the dancers on Drayden’s team and deal with a few members of Marshal’s if you like gambling against Stone Edge critting.

#56: Vanilluxe - Vanillish is somewhat useful against Skyla and Drayden, but it’s pretty risky to use without Choice Specs on the latter as +0 Dragon Tail deals like 75% to it. After that, it can use Mirror Coat on Caitlin or N, not much else.

#57: Braviary - I wish I could call Braviary useless with its level 54 evolution but Rufflet can somehow solo Drayden with Hone Claws and Return.

#58: Cofagrigus - Getting Cofagrigus means you didn’t get Sandile at the best place to find it, but it’s not really useless either. It can deal with Skyla’s Swoobat, Will-o-Wisp Bianca’s Stoutland and beat her Musharna. After that it can get rid of Drayden’s Rivalry and Rough Skin to make his team easier to deal with, but that ends the list of things that make it not useless.

#59: Escavalier - If you decide that you can evolve Escavalier before Skyla, it does pretty good on her. Otherwise it’s just a bulky pivot, even with Swords Dance, though it does help out a lot against Bianca 5 if you chose Tepig.

D - Pretty much useless, or at least outperformed enough by several others.

#60: Alomomola - It can come in and use Toxic and Wish a few times, maybe Light Screen. I checked this thing against nearly every major threat and there was barely any time it could both take 2 hits or get a significant defensive set-up, just use Audino instead.

#61: Basculin - Basculin isn’t technically useless, as it can easily deal with Clay and Skyla, but in order to have it by that point, you would need to trade away your Minccino. It also doesn’t really do much after you’re able to acquire it normally.

#62: Klinklang - I’m honestly shocked Klinklang is this low, as I though being a Steel type with better Dragon Dance would clean up the later game, but between Gear Grind being inaccurate, the fact that you have to delay Klink until E4 to use it, and everything in the late game having incredible coverage while Klinklang has basically none, I never really found any way to use it.

#63: Whimsicott - I hear so many people say Whimsicott is underrated in Black/White, can someone explain this to me? No matter if I was using the offensive set with Growth/Shadow Ball/Hurricane or the defensive set with Leech Seed/Cotton Guard/Synthesis, it never seemed to do much. The most I found it could do was handle a few members of Clay’s team as well as Elesa’s Zebstrika (but only as a Cottonee with Eviolite). Having Whimsicott also means you either chose not to trade it away for a Lilligant or that you willingly chose to give away your Lilligant for it.

#64: Garbodor - The trash heap’s usefulness starts and ends with it being the only thing in this game to get Toxic Spikes. Who can you use it against? Well, most of Elesa’s and Skyla’s teams are flying, Clay’s Excadrill is a Steel type, you’re letting Fraxure get two Dragon Dances off by setting up T-Spikes on it, Caitlin’s Reuniclus will unalive you for trying, and both Reshiram and Zekrom have Psychic flinching moves. So the answer is 3 of the 4 E4 members who maybe have a collective 3 Pokemon you can reasonably stall out. The only place you can get it, you could also repel manip for Solosis/Gothita, Liepard or Minccino. I don’t think it has much use.

#65: Gothitelle - Its one use is catching it on one of Route 16/5 so you can get Minccino on the other. This is a good time to mention that across all of BW, only 1 major trainer has a poison type and it's Burgh’s Whirlipede.

#66: Stunfisk - If you have had such a brutal run that you only have 6 or 7 Pokemon left by the time you reach N/Ghetsis, then I guess Stunfisk can help out by dealing with both Archeops and Klinklang on N’s team and Eelektross of Ghetsis’s. Otherwise, do not use this thing.

#67: Mandibuzz - Doesn’t get to be saved like Braviary does, this one actually is just useless.

F - Not only are they useless, but you are actively hurting yourself by picking them up and putting them on your team.

#68: Simisear - Getting a Simisear in Black and White is very risky, as there’s absolutely better choices in all locations you can find it. There’s also very little it can even do successfully. By merit of being a Fire type, it can technically deal with N’s Vanilluxe or Klinklang, but the Flamethrower TM being post game means it relies on Fire Blast or Flame Burst for damage. It can technically Yawn on Lenora’s Herdier but the Munna that’s also a Dreamyard encounter does that job so much better.

#69: Maractus - It can sometimes do well against Clay if Krokorok doesn’t ruin it and Excadrill doesn’t get flinches with Rock Slide. Given you can repel manip around it in Desert Resort, I really wonder why you would ever choose it over Sandile and Dwebble.

#70: Swoobat - Swoobats best argument is that it can solo Burgh. Taking it, no matter the location, means giving up something better that you could have used repel manipulation to get around.

#71: Beartic - It’s hilarious how much nothing Beartic does. When the Dragon Gym carries Revenge on a singular Pokemon there, it’s a lot bigger of a problem when you can’t one-shot it with Icicle Crash. If you somehow have no more easy encounters on Twist Mountain, I’m so serious, just change your game’s season off of winter and repel manip for the 1% Cryogonal, even Woobat can help you get an Axew in Mistralton Cave.

#72: Heatmor - This thing is an active detriment to the game it’s in. If it wasn’t for this thing, you could get a Mienfoo in Dragonspiral tower and a bird on Route 10 to ensure your chance of getting a Fraxure on Victory Road but nope! This thing just had to be 9x as likely and ultimately useless.

#73: Larvesta - Lmao