With all the different Pokémon available in the Hoenn region, which ones are the most useful in the Nuzlocke challenge? We’ve attempted to answer that question with this tier list, ranking most of the Pokémon in the region (legendary Pokémon and Pokémon obtainable only in Ruby or Sapphire are not included) according to their viability. This tier list takes into account each Pokémon’s usefulness and power, but does not consider how easy or difficult the Pokémon is to obtain, rather ranking the Pokémon based on their strength if you’re able to obtain them in your playthrough. It also does not take into account at what level the Pokémon evolves, as for this list we consider only the strength of the fully-evolved form. Below is our tier list, followed by a description of each tier and what characteristics we look for in those Pokémon. We hope you find it useful. Happy Nuzlocking!
Note: This is version 3 of the tier list, updated December 2022. We’ve given more credit to Pokémon which learn Encore, such as Plusle, Minun, and Illumise, upgraded Shedinja to S-tier due to its ability to completely wall matchups with proper planning, and made other tweaks and adjustments based on experience and feedback.
S-tier: These Pokémon have excellent typing, stats, and movepools, and have good matchups against important opponents in both the early and the late-game. They are capable of single-handedly clearing portions of the game, regardless of team composition. They have few significant flaws, and should be used without question if the player can obtain them. These Pokémon are the star of an effective team, and the rest of the team members should be chosen to support and compliment them.
A-tier: These are strong Pokémon with great typing, stats, and movepools, who can provide good offensive and defensive presence to a team. They have generally good matchups against important opponents in either the early or the late-game. They may not be as individually dominant as an S-tier Pokémon, but they are powerful core members of a balanced and effective team.
B-tier: These are useful Pokémon with generally good typing and stats, but they may have a shallow movepool, be lacking in a key stat, or simply be outclassed by a similar Pokémon in a higher tier. Many B-tier Pokémon provide either good offensive or defensive presence, but not necessarily both. They may have good matchups against important opponents, but may also have severe weaknesses to common or dangerous foes. They are useful for fulfilling a specific role, and can find a place on an effective team, despite one or two significant flaws.
C-tier: These are Pokémon that may have reasonably good stats, typing, and movepools, but may also be lacking in two of these categories. These Pokémon typically have somewhat limited usefulness, but can be valuable in the right situation. Many of these Pokémon have stats that do not compliment their typing well, lack important moves in their type, or are only useful for a limited section of the game, but a thoughtful player can build around their significant flaws and include one or two of these Pokémon on an effective team, provided the player does not ask too much of them.
D-tier: These Pokémon have generally poor stats or typing or are crippled by a bad ability or other severe weakness. These Pokémon offer little to a team, and should be avoided unless no other options are available, or a player desperately needs a Pokémon of a particular type for a difficult battle. Effective teams will generally not use these Pokémon, except in very specific, limited roles.
E-tier: These Pokémon are prohibitively bad, having poor stats, typing, and movepools. They should be replaced as soon as possible, and players should avoid using them, even in situations where they have a type advantage. These Pokémon will not be found on effective Nuzlocke teams.
That concludes our Hoenn Nuzlocke tier list. Do you agree with our rankings? Tier lists aren’t an exact science, so share your thoughts with us and others in the comments! If you’re planning on starting a Nuzlocke run of Pokémon Emerald, take a look at our Pokémon Emerald Nuzlocke Guide and Tips for all the information you need to complete the run efficiently.
Do you like generation three, but but prefer the Kanto region? Check out our Pokémon FireRed/LeafGreen Nuzlocke Tier List, or our ranking of the FireRed and LeafGreen starter Pokémon. For more tier lists in different generations, head to our Nuzlocke tier lists index for more Pokémon rankings, and be sure to check out Nuzlocke University’s Guides and Articles section for more tier lists, tips, rankings, and other content!
Nuzlocke University 
DOdrio should be at least c tier. STAB drill peck and incredible speed, meh defense and poor special stats
However it is a.good pivot against ground and grass types/moves.
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Please move all trade evolutions down one slot. they are only that good if you trade them, but not bad if you dont
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Am I blind, or is Medicham missing?
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After looking around more, there’s only Emerald pokemon here, and others like Zangoose and Lunatone are missing. Wouldn’t be a problem if the title didn’t specify “Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald Tier List” instead of just “Pokemon Emerald Tier List”.
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Hi, you’re correct! It would be more accurate to name this post as a Pokémon Emerald tier list, due to the exclusion of the Ruby and Sapphire obtainable Pokémon. I’ll make the change soon in a future update.
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I think that Slaking’s placement is incorrect. Despite having a literal garbage ability, Slaking is an absolute powerhouse that can easily solo most big fights. For example, I had a Slaking in a hardcore emerald Nuzlocke and it was essential to winning the run. It not only was bulky and used yawn to help with encounters, it also could abuse giga impact/silk scarf to OHKO anything that didn’t resist. There was only one exception to this, being Wallace’s Milotic who only survived because I put it to sleep with yawn so I could heal up.
In other words, while I respect your location, I would put Slaking into A tier, because of its 670 base stats, the worst being special defence which is not really a problem because there aren’t many special threats in Emerald, and all fighting moves are physical. Furthermore, it can use Shadow Ball with its 160 attack stat to deal serious damage to opponents who are ghost type or rock type.
During the midgame, Vigoroth is also good as it creates a soft counter to Norman’s Slaking(remember that monster, only beatable by cheesing it?) due to yawn and encore. Vigoroth also has vital spirit instead of Truant, and it really only dies to very strong moves like Overheat(looking at you, Flannery).
The biggest problems with Slaking, in my opinion, are his ability and his defensive Normal typing. But in the 7th gym in particular, using skill swap on Slaking and letting it spam Shadow ball is always a strong option for double battles.
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Is this from a Hardcore perspective or a standard three-heals-per-battle perspective? I think Illumise and Minun should be higher due to their access to Encore, and Wobbuffet should be ranked higher (if you can heal in battle) because it really only sucks if you don’t know how to use it. Slaking also doesn’t need to be so low just because of Truant. Not a lot of trainers run Protect except on Torkoal, Armaldo, Dustox, and Volbeat, who get it by levelup. Shedinja I feel is also being dumped on. They are a great Pokémon and could be considered banworthy due to their pivotability in certain boss battles. Salamence should be lower. Sure it’s a great lategame Pokémon to have, but it shows up extremely late (after Juan) and evolves at level 50. By that point you’d already have something better and you’d just be using it for style points.
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I think sharpedo should move up to B tier. The lack of physical stab sucks but special attack EVs are easy to come by training against spindas and slugmas with macho brace. It’s basically a guaranteed encounter with dupes clause and with taunt and crunch learned through level up plus surf it can destroy Tate and Liza and easily beat Juan’s kingdra 1v1, two of the most challenging late games battles, and put in a lot of work against Phoebe as well.
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Where are the Regis? I know some people are weird about legendaries but most trios are no better than the best mons otherwise available, and the Regis are pretty low on the list of trio members power-wise.
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milk
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This list is horrendous, whoever made this has clearly never played through Emerald and it shows. Looking at this I would think the ranks are basing mons on how popular they are.
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Shedinja should be E tier, not S tier. Shedinja is absolutely worthless the majority of the game, and worthless for almost every important fight. Since Brawly’s ace is 19, it’s not available until after the fight. Wattson’s Voltorb has rollout, his Magnemite and Magneton have supersonic and Shedinja is one hit in confusion from KOing itself. It’s movepool is terrible, and every single gym battle until Juan completely walls out Sheinja. Flannery is fire type, Norman has feint attack to counter Shedinja, Winona is flying type, team magma has fire and dark types, team aqua has dark types and Archie has a Sharpedo. Every E4 has moves to KO Shedinja. There is literally no reason to use Shedinja over literally anything else. Not to mention the fear of trying to grind it as anything that can hit it kills it, anything with poison powder, it can’t go in the desert.
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