Guides & opinions
Builds, strategies and tips written by players. To add one, open a starter and use the write a guide button.
Latest guides
Zeraora
Zeraora, a Mike Tyson level puncher.
Zeraora is an excellent carry for the whole run. It hits hard, has unmatched speed and godlike coverage. Even if its mega exists, it doesn't needs it to work well (although this is a very big boost). It needs Ice punch, if you don't have it, Zeraora isn't a viable full-run carry.
Beldum
Metagross, Snowballing Sweeper of Classics.
With full unlocks, Beldum is an excellent starter pick for Classic, from Wave 1 to 200. It operates as an immediate physical sweeper at all points in the game.
Jimothy Bigglesworth·18 days agoClassic · Full Unlocks▲ 2
Heracross
Heracross sweep
my favorite pokemon in pokerogue, explained in classic without unlocks helped me finish getting all the pokedex to the end of the game
Ayner·21 days agoClassic · No Unlocks▲ 0
Rotom
rotom-washimg nachine :DDDDD
Can carry you through your entire run. Except Meowscarda, lord help you if you don't have a fire mon....
eclipse1408·23 days agoClassic · No Unlocks▲ -1
Weedle
Weedle : the not-so-weak Glass Bazooka
(Preface, I will mainly talk about Mega-Beedrill, because although base Beedrill is usable, it needs the mega to work properly. Also although this guide is mainly for classic, it can also work for inverted challenge, where M-Beedrill is far stronger, in that case ignore the remarks on its typing) Beedrill Mega, often seen as the "worst mega" (OK only in vgc), today I want to put it on the spotlight. Admittedly, it isn't perfect, and isn't able to carry 100% of the run, but I believe that with the good tools and support, it can wreak havoc.
Marshadow
Marshadow : full-run carry guide
Marshadow can easely carry the whole run. The combination of fantastic typing, excellent stat spread, incredible moveset and passive/ability that superboost them makes it one of the best options for it. Marshadow is already strong without all of his aresnal, but with everything unlock, it's stupidly powerful.
Buneary
Buneary / Lopunny - A Late Game Monster
One of the best mid-to-late game Normal-types available. Once evolved, Fake Out combined with heavy STAB moves virtually guarantees KOing non-resistant, non-boss Pokémon. It remains a reliable cleaner late in runs even without its Mega Stone.
BruceKicklee·25 days agoClassic · Full Unlocks▲ 0
Shellder
Shellder Gen 1 Carry Classic Mode
Shellder (and its evolution, Cloyster) is one of the premier early to mid cost hyper carries in PokéRogue. Built around the combination of Skill Link, multi hit moves that deal insane samage, and Shell Smash, it tears through Classic mode bosses that are weak to ice especially Rayquaza, and Eternatus by breaking through health bars and triggering flinch/freeze/crit chances on every single strike.
Robert Schmucker·27 days ago▲ 0
Axew
Axew (Classic, full unlocks)
It's great, and I recommend this build for classic or challenges. Ability: Mold Breaker (Recommended) / Unnerve Passive: Sharpness (Highly recommended) Moveset: Dragon Dance, Dragon Claw, Cross Poison (Recommended) / Stone Axe, Bitter Blade Nature: Adamant When you're just starting as an Axew, you don't have Dragon Dance or Dragon Claw. I highly recommend just spamming First Impression as your main priority move. When you can learn Dragon Claw, replace First Impression and spam Dragon Claw instead. Can't hit something for at least neutral, use the coverage moves Bitter Blade and Cross Poison / Stone Axe. When you get Dragon Dance, replace either Cross Poison or Stone Axe, depending if you want firepower or utility with rocks. The strategy with Haxorus in later stages of the game in the harder rival fights, evil teams, Elite Fours, and champions is to Dragon Dance whenever you think you can survive the counterattack. For example, you know that Ivy will open with her starter and would Terastallize immediately if she stays in. You can use that to safely Dragon Dance, as their main STAB is resisted by your Dragon typing. Do not Dragon Dance if you know your opponent has a coverage move that can hit you super effectively or hard specially. Afterwards, sweep the entire team and you are good to go. For Eternatus, the main idea is to hit immediately to trigger stage 2, and use support Pokémon like Smeargle to put the boss to sleep so your Haxorus can safely Dragon Dance.
Ng Kah Meng·27 days agoClassic · Full Unlocks▲ 2
Iron Boulder
Iron Boulder: Hit (surprisingly) fast and hit hard.
Iron Boulder hits hard because of 120 base STR and Sharpness, and activating its Quark Drive makes it OHKO most enemies. But Boulder also hits fast at 124 base SPD, and Quark Drive is even more generous to this stat, so Jolly nature can very much decide how you play Boulder.
Dom Kovell·27 days agoClassic · Full Unlocks▲ 0Latest opinions & tips
VERY overrated pokemon when you consider what it has without unlocks. With unlocks it's great, but without it's really not, especially for its cost. Technician is only useful for the early part of the game, or if you have egg moves. Having a 60 power priority move (shadow sneak + technician) is ok, but with 125 speed it hardly seems necessary. No setup moves is kinda rough for having 125 atk. IF you can steal some boosts with Spectral Thief, sure, but without that you have no setup moves. The typing also isn't great for classic.
He is good top skip the First Rounds
With a good typing and great stats, Metagross is a high tier menace in Classic, with or without unlocks. Without unlocks, Metagross is a ball of stats with consistent damage and immunity to stat drops that only struggles in the earliest levels due to Beldum's awful level up pool, and often needs a bit of support against special attacking Fire types. With unlocks, Metagross is constantly boosting its stats with Psyshield Bash, Meteor Mash, and Shift Gear to make for an incredible sweeper. It just wants a Wide Lens or two, as its best moves tend to only be 90 accuracy.
Wonder Guard alone makes the Nincada line a high tier option in all formats. As the single strongest ability in Pokémon, just having a Shedinja creates a free win condition against many opponents if all threats able to damage it are removed. Magic Guard and Shell Smash also makes using it far more consistent in Classic, despite its horrible stats. Nincada's evolution properties and Wonder Guard also make it possibly the single best mon for fusion, since it allows for the cloning of any mon and can build the most untouchable tanks in the entire game.
Araquanid's an insanely strong option for Classic, especially with unlocks. With its insane ability Water Bubble, Araquanid hits shockingly hard with its Water STAB options despite mediocre offensive stats, and Tinted Lens makes those Water STABs almost always the correct option. Araquanid's strong typing and solid bulk compliment its access to Bouncy Bubble and Leech Life to make it a bulky attacker with a lot of staying power. Its big weakness is Speed, but Silk Trap and Aqua Jet help compensate. Due to its strong match into Fire types, Araquanid is also a top tier in Mono-Bug.
With full unlocks, Galvantula is a bit of a beast in Classic. Wildbolt Storm with 100 accuracy and boosted by Transistor and Quiver Dance makes for a great spread sweeping option against most non-Ground mons. Galvantula hits a key speed tier to outpace most threats in the game, comes with good speed control options through paralysis and Sticky Web, and its deceptively decent typing generally lets it survive long enough to Quiver, especially with Parabolic Charge for recovery. Galvantula is particularly useful into Mono-Bug runs, as it checks most Flying types that the type struggles against.
Prankster on a .25 cost will always make for a good support option in Classic. Though its underwhelming stats prevent it from being incredibly useful in conventional damage or tanking, Ariados comes with several stat control options like Sticky Web, Screech, Parting Shot, Strength Sap, or its signature Toxic Thread. Moves like Leech Life, Sucker Punch, Poison Jab, or Night Shade also allow it to be surprisingly solid into select matchups. By no means a top tier, but can provide good utility if used properly.
Underrated Cost 1 (or .25 with full unlocks) mon for decent support options in Classic. Though usable in a few matches, its real value is in providing decent support utility as a cheap Honey Gather, and can help DoT/Stall teams with Fake Out and Silk Trap. Not a mon that sees much play in sweeping, but can provide good value for its low cost.
Sentret w/ full unlocks is the perfect support mon for Classic. At 0.25 points, the value is ridiculous: Pickup, Fake Out, Helping Hand, Nuzzle... Even Frisk can help you check an ability on an opposing mon to help you decide whether to catch it. Fake Out + Extreme Speed/Sucker Punch is a surprising amount of prio damage that can finish off the last health bar of a speedy boss. Overall I find myself taking this gym sock almost every run as the value is just too crazy to pass up. (Aipom and Zigzagoon have similar utility but are 0.5 cost instead)
With full unlocks this is simply the best 0.25 cost in the game. Water Bubble + Quiver Dance + Splishy Splash sweeps 90% of the entire run, with Freeze Dry for coverage and Oblivion Wing for sustain. Admittedly much less useful against the final boss, but that's truly the only spot in the run that it doesn't hard carry.
Don't bother with Grass STAB (Leaf Blade). Sharpness-boosted Bitter Blade is strong enough to just mash once boosted, and Lurantis likes having all 3 contrary moves to boost with.
Absolute garbage. Basically a worse steelix, which is a rare find.
Without unlocks would mean no form changes. Stuck with a slow 600 BST mixed attacker for 8 cost.
I guess this project didn't even last a week before meme voters started ruining it
Spheal absolutely belongs in SSS tier and anyone who disagrees is simply afraid of peak perfection.
One of my favorite pokemons. Too bad it got nerfed, with its old passive (Sharping), combined with beast boost, it hitted like nothing else in the game.
Qwilfish is surprisingly good for a Water type. Spamming Fishious Rend does crazy damage, it heals well and stays alive forever. Mid to late game is where it really shines, especially as a staller thanks to Toxic Debris and Baneful Bunker.
Whismur struggles heavily in the early game due to its terrible base stats and lack of early Normal-type coverage moves. It reaches a solid power spike in the mid game once it evolves into Exploud and gets access to Punk Rock-boosted Boomburst, making wave clearing smooth for a stretch. However, its mediocre stats cause it to fall off hard in the late game, making it virtually useless in the final 20 waves where end-game scaling takes over.
One of the most busted mons available, especially with full unlocks but can do a very good job without. He can run a lot of sets, with the elemental punchs, drain punch.. My personal set is Power-up Punch (boosted by both ability and passive, even stronger if you can find a multi lens), bonemerang, triple axel and a ghost Stab (shadow sneak at the start, then shadow punch and spectral thief.) He can solo a classic run with ease, only striggling a bit against eternatus. If you search a mon that can carry a mono fighting or ghost team, or a 7g team, he will perfectly do the job.
(screw 600 character limit, or not being able to separate opinions by modes) Not good for late Endless accounts. If it's your first legendary though, not *unusable* as carry. Outclassed by later game stuff as its spread has immunities to it and Dialga has nearly zero lategame utility, but it does have a great matchup into most wave 50s as well as 250, so it is at the very least more worth considering than most other "random" legendaries like Zacian or Miraidon. Still, the moment you unlock an actually great carry like Kyogre, Groudon or HA Regigigas, you should not look at Dialga ever again.
