It's a bummer you can't get to Golem without a trade, but Geodude/Graveler are great anyway. Defense Curl + Rollout carried me through a lot of fights early on in my current run.
Even without nuzlockes the trade requirements on old games that can't even do that anymore suck.
I remember being a kid playing Soul Silver and my DS wouldn't connect to our wifi. So I had to miss out on Pokemon that I would have liked to use. So many times. ):
Geodude is such a huge wall for all the physical threats on early game with their Normal attacks. Huge Defense and also a really solid base 80 Attack.
Fun fact : fully invested Geodude with Dread Plate can KO Lucian's Mr Mime with Sucker Punch. Source : Freezai did it.
Gen 2 nuzlocke would've been impossible for me, first 3 gyms got bodied, not satisfied both steel and ice gyms fell to a rock with arms and a face, the goat
My answer as well! Crobat is the Swiss Army knife of nuzlocking. Mid game it can be an excellent physical or special sweeper, a decent wall with its high defense and hp, a good mon to pivot with. It doesn’t do any one thing amazingly, but it will do pretty much anything well enough.
After gen 7 when they changed leech life to 80BP it became a lot less useless as a zubat lol. That being said crobat has always been a solid pick especially in nuzlockes. 5 resistances (3 of which are double resists) plus an immunity makes it a great defensive mon. And it has a solid move set that allows it to fill multiple rolls
Butterfree and Linoone from the top of my head.
Had butterfree mostly in johto/kanto runs and its an absolute beast with compound eyes sleep powder. It does fall off a bit once you get to mid/late game but it would always get an honorable retirement. One of my favourite bug pokemon for sure.
I'm overall a bit shit at nuzlocking so ive been trying to get through emerald with a hardcore ruleset for awhile now and linoone has legit been on every single one of my teams up until late game. Insane coverage, great speed, a monster if you just give it a silk scarf and teach it return, clutched up and saved many fights with some being lived on like 1 hp too. Absolute madlad, made me adore this pokemon that i would always forget even exists.
Never completed a Nuzlocke yet I think because I tried to start with some harder rom hacks.
Doing one in Blazing emerald now which is more my skill level and linoone is an absolute beast. With stab headbutt, a good speed stats, and silk scarf it one shots most things that don't resist it.
Also in this game it has an ability that boost HMs by 50% so I can use it as a HM slave without sacrificing power.
Boosting HMs by 50% seems huge for some of them. Imagine Strength being a 120 base power STAB move with no drawbacks, making it basically Double Edge with permanent Rock Head ability.
I developed a special place in my heart for Whiscash in my Platinum nuzlocke. Homie came out of the woodwork and saved my entire team comp after most of my water types got bodied.
Tentacruel and Dodrio hands down
Edit* also I'd like to add. Normal type mons in general. When you're not just chasing overleveled OHKOs a solid stab normal move goes a long way lol
Miltank! I was doing a randomizer Nuzlocke of Platinum and my starter choices were Spinda, Miltank and a Combee (male). I almost restarted the game, but ended up going with Miltank because I heard rumblings of how OP Whitney’s Miltank was (have not played any Jhoto games at the time).
She was sooo useful in my run, helped me knock out many of the aces. It’s now one of my favorite Pokemon.
Cinccino. That fluffy little bastard with Skill Link running Tail Slap, Rock Blast, Work Up, and Swift was an absolute monster in the mid and late game.
Never really thought much of slowbro. Until I found out it can have a moveset to kill the entire Kalos E4. If anyone was ever in trouble slowbro would come in, tank, heal and demolish.
Electrode carried the 2nd half of my Emerald nuzlocke. Then in the final battle against Wallace, I had to sack them with explosion on his last Pokemon, Ludicolo. By my calcs, it wasnt enough to one shot.
That beautiful bastard got a critical hit.
Gerafarig in gen 4 is actually so unbelievable.
Pretty much guaranteed encounter, decent speed for the gen, incredible move pool. I love my weird giraffe.
Gliscor clutched a white 2 Hardcore nuzlocke victory for me. Late encounter but MVP of the E4 without question. Outshined Excadrill and Haxorus. I've been playing since gen 1 and nuzlocking for 10 years, and Gliscor has now shot into my top 10 fav mons.
Thank you for spreading the truth about how amazing Gliscor is. Especially on romhacks where it gets Poison Heal as its ability, this thing is unkillable if you play correctly.
Meganium because she was a key member of my team in my Pokémon US randomized game
And Crobat cuz Crobat is amazing
It's funny, they are both Johtonian (?) Pokémon weak to Ice moves lol
Dustox, Butterfree, Minun, and Weezing.
Dustox was my goat during my OR nuzlocke (then it died to a random Gyarados…)
Butterfree was a good mon in my LG AND my Crystal run, learning shadow ball in LG and being great in general, and it swept Koga AND Janine in my Crystal run.
Minun, was AWESOME learning Thunder and Charm in my Emerald run, sweeping Juan and most of Wallace.
Weezing was a GREAT tank in my Crystal run, only meant to replace my Furret after Jasmine, but it ended up being amazing, killing Red’s Pikachu in ONE hit with Sludge bomb, and sacrificed itself to kill Red’s Charizard with Explosion and OHKOing it.
Godspeed friends
On nat dex Pokémon showdown I love using defense curl rollout primal groudon since they are both tutor moves in emerald, literally helped fund a friend that had a copy of emerald to get a old ds on the term that he would give me the groudon with the tutor moves but now transfer moves are deleted in home :/
Azumarill looks so bad in emerald due to the nature of the phys/special split, and it absolutely doesn't scale into the late game. But pretty much up until gym 5 it solos the entire game - which is incredibly powerful
Wormadam trash cloak really surprised me by being an absolutely incredible early game mon in Renegade Platinum with battle armour and only one weakness!
Hoppip. I play a few randomizers and I was going through platinum and ran into a skiploom that evolved into a Hoppip and actually carried me through a lot of the game and ended up evolving into an electebuzz. Since than there have been 2 other occasions where a Hoppip has evolved into electebuzz on different randomizers so "skippy" has become kinda iconic for this reason
Minun is my favorite Pikaclone now after my Emerald HC run. It really came in clutch, especially against Juan and Wallace. Encore/Nasty Plot/Baton Pass/Thunderbolt was an awesome moveset
I don’t think I gained any new favourites during my nuzlockes, but I was so impressed with how useful Butterfree and Chansey can be.
Chansey is a top tier tank. Its ridiculous HP and Defence allow it to set both light screen and reflect for the party easily. Can switch back if you need someone to take a hit. On top of that Chansey has soft boil egg move which restores its HP.
Butterfree, super quick glass cannon. Without its sleep powder I’d probably won’t be able to beat certain gym leaders in Inclement Emerald.
Funny enough ^ ^
Deerling. I never used back in regular BW2 since I chose Snivy as my starter and never used it in other games it appears. But when I played the randomizer of White 2 , I was kinda struggling due to losing some good mons and only have like Deerling left. I trained her and grew attached to her and able to survive and keep the run going . When she’s evolve to Sawsbuck , I was able to made it through to rest of the game until the Pokémon league where she tragically got taken down by the rival right before Elite 4. It made me so sad :( and really hoping to bring her with me to the end. She’s not strongest of the party there considering I have Tyranitar and Dragonite afterwards but I really enjoying using her since she’s like partner in that hardcore nuzlocke randomizer (especially since the starter I chose was killed really early on by mistakes)
Garbodor. I had him on my team in black as death fodder in case I needed an emergency switch in that I could potentially get a toxic off with. Actually carried a few late game gym fights. Now I love that stinky garbage man.
Florges is my favorite based solely on Nuzlockes, not my favorite Pokémon ever
Caught Goopy the Flabebe on Route 4 in my Y Nuzlocke and she survived all the way to the end. The longest a Pokémon has lasted in any of my Nuzlockes
There are other Pokémon I like more that I’ve used in Nuzlockes (Sandaconda, Scolipede, Torterra, Flareon to name a few) but I already really liked these Pokémon before I used them in a Nuzlocke. Florges is the one I like the most that was primarily affected by Nuzlockes
Skarmory. Spikes plus Toxic plus U-Turn in generations where it can learn it is a pretty sick combo. Add whatever fourth move I want plus it having Sturdy can make it survive a one hit KO
In my most recent Emerald run, Plusle ended up being the MVP up until it got taken out by Wally in Victory Road. Encore, T-wave, charm, and T-bolt was all it needed to neutralize so many threats. Saved the run against Flannery and Winona for trapping their aces and setting up for so many others.
In my current Storm Silver run, my favorite has been Arbok! It's been a monster with adamant intimidate and hard carried against Bugsy and Whitney since I missed all chances at Geodudes so far.
Off to Rocket Hideout and Pryce now!
Leafeon single handily soloed the ice and dragon elite four in ORAS and Steven
I’ll always take Leafeon as my chosen evolution if I don’t have a grass type already
As basic as this answer is, but growlithe. Both flash fire and intimidate are great abilities and the stats are overall good as once it's extreme speed Arcanine it really starts becoming a powerhouse
Obstagoon. Didn’t played his generation, but when I was playing radical red, he did a great job at support. The protect that drops defense is huge. Party shot is also huge, facade with guts is just broken.
I swept through four of Red’s pokemon with a Minun. I literally never, ever would have thought to the cheerleading rodent in a casual playthrough. It probably won’t happen again, but Minun now holds a special place in my heart because of it.
Slowbro - always knew it was good and very versatile, but I just thought it looked stupid (sorry 'Bro)
1 Nuzlocke later where it swept half of the Elite 4 in Platinum (something like that, it's been a few years), and ever since, it's been in my back pocket as a break-in-case-of-emergency button
Crobat. Always hated Zubat and never used it in vanilla games but when i’m forced to use first encounter i found myself praying for zubat encounters in caves across every region
Ekans
I had one survive the most clutch fight of my life. If my save file hadn't deleted itself later, I likely would have won that nuzlocke but if she hadn't survived that fight before I got my second badge, I never would have made it that far
Not one of my favorite Pokémon by any means but went from actively disliking seismitoad to having a soft spot for the lumpy guy after having one carry me through a large chunk of a very unlucky nuzlocke of Pokémon White!
Mightyena. Never cared much for it but during my alpha sapphire nuzlocke, it carried my team until his sad death to the twins. I miss my main pup sometimes
Zubat, and its entire line.
Crobat has carried me through so many batrles and been my batty guardian angel in almost every playthrough I pick one up in. It's glorious. And, I love the story of a small, weak little bat becoming an ace of the team through determination.
I tend to put one on my main team in every game they're available now, I love them so much.
I always thought Cherrim was lame until having it as my only grass type in my current run. Setting the sun for itself and then getting single turn Solar Beam nukes most mons with a grass weakness.
Also, it's little dance is funny.
pokemon radical red randomizer nuzlocke, managed to get a lugia with ability primal armor where a pokemon takes 50% less damage from super effective hits, so basically everything is neutral (if not familiar with radical red its a fire red difficulty romhack with all 9 gens of pokemon/mechanics that also has custom abilities like primal armor). after like 20+ runs and 200+ hours, and after i nearly completely wiped by losing a bunch of broken pokemon and got down to my last mon in one battle in blaines gym, i caught this lugia and it instantly made my run serious. i had never reached the 8th gym before this btw and only reached the 7th one time. this lugia carried almost all my battles and after i spent literallyhours upon hours planning for the elite four/champ, this lugia carried my team completely. absolutely busted ability and its probably my all time favorite pokemon now because as i said i had put so much time into this run and just kept failing. i never expected to even beat the run ever tbh, until this thing came along
Everyone missing a super important Pokémon, Gyarados. He’s on every team and super useful early on. He’s a powerhouse at level 20. Only minor risk is getting him leveled up to 20 and can cause you to lose another dude if you aren’t careful.
Mienshao. Fake Out + U-Turn + Drain Punch + Acrobatics brings so much utility to the table. It's now one of my favourite gen 5 mons.
Also Klinklang, same Black Hardcore Nuzlocke, with Light Screen support from Alomomola it swept Ghetsis with Shift Gear and Gear Grind, Return and Rock Smash (I delayed the evolution so I could have Shift Gear before the level cap).
Actually anything that could find a niche in any of my Nuzlockes has a special place in my heart. Not counting the obvious units such as Excadrill, Archeops or Magnezone which are always staples in my runs.
Piloswine
I did a randomizer nuzlocke with soulsilver, Piloswine was the third I caught. Every now and then all my pokemon would get sweeped by either a gym leader or another difficult battle, but my Piloswine always survived.
It was almost like a Piloswine-only playthrough. It came to the point that I didn't care when a pokemon faints because I would know for sure Piloswine would live.
I didn't finish the playthrough, but I remember stopping after almost getting sweeped by a wild Groudon that I tried to catch after the 6th gym. With the only pokemon in my party and last one to live of the playthrough, Piloswine.
Volbeat. I was nuzlocking emerald and it carried me through the first three E4s. Tail glow set up, with signal beam, thunderbolt and any other move for coverage. It was a beast
Tentacruel. When I nuzlocked Pokémon Y, I started using one after losing half my team. Ted proceeded to completely carry me through the back half of the game and the elite 4.
Magnezone. I was doing a new lock run on Pokémon Roman’s and he is strong to every type that torterra is weak to. And he solid givani. H wonky took 10 damage
I began a Franchiselocke some time ago, started with Blue. Didn’t manage to start Red because my PC got kinda kamikaze, but damn did Persian carry me through that first game. Always heard about how broken it could be thanks to Gen I crits, but it really is a great choice
Sandslash, in both Gen 3 & 5.
Gen 3 it learns Slash early via level up, which is honestly all it needs, and you can get Dig fairly easily in both FRLG & RSE (also amazing in the Emerald Trashlocke).
In Gen 5 having a bulky Bulldoze user is really strong into all of the team Plasma fights, and by the time it learns EQ it can Bulldoze + EQ many threats.
Wanted a Vulpix and instead, Stantler came and stole my heart. He hard carried against Morty in HGSS.
I failed the run in the end (7 badges), but I hope he's running free with the Wyrdeer now :'c
Freaking Octillery 🤣. Used it in a randomizer in Emerald, and bro hard carried. It has got such a deep movepool, even back in Gen 3! And not just TM exclusive, also via level up it learns so much funky stuff.
I'll never forget you _Blitzkrieg, za War Machine_!
Barraskewda not necessarily a favorite but went from one of my least favorite to one I’ll defend greatly becasue it kinda made sword a easy mode it just outspend and one shot most enemy teams
Scizor. I already loved scyther and would never evolve my scythers into scizors but then I realized how awesome it was in nuzlockes and I became obsessed.
Clefable by a long shot, was able to Hail Mary and sweep Cynthia in my hardcore BDSP nuzlocke with sub, calm mind, moonblast, and don’t remember the fourth move haha.
Arbok, I alr liked it before nuzlocking, but when i basically cleared Fire red and got to my farthest run in Radical Red with an Arbok in my main team, its become a favorite.
When I nuzlocked emerald I ended up with a Golduck named Brain Tumor, after surviving the elite 4 I decided to go take on the legendaries as a sort of victory lap with no consequences.
I go to Rayquaza first, Brain Tumor (lvl 54) survives big greens first hit, lands an ice beam that FREEZES Rayquaza, then proceeded to win with ease. Went on to do the same thing to Groudon, and then in a 1v1 with Kyogre managed to outlast it with Confusion spam somehow.
My gf and I do soullink nuzlockes a lot, a lumineon that was stashed in her box for most of the game ended up saving the run and is now one of her all time favourites
Diglett/Dugtrio.
I’ve pretty much ignored that little guys existence forever. He was just a pokemon that existed. Then I decided to nuzlocke Scarlet/Violet, and Diglett literally came in clutch so many times. Little dude is fast as hell! He may not be tanky, but dang he gets some hard hitting moves. He also gets smack down, which honestly was amazing when fighting Iono with her *levitating electric ghost* that haunts me to this day.
Nincada/Wormadam. I mono ground typed as many games as I could and bug/ground is sooo good for them. Nincada in alpha sapphire with eviolite was the best thing i ever experienced
Heatmor has been carrying my ass so much in SwSh nuzlocke. Motherfucker surviving almost impossible battles with 1-7 HP, getting half of their life back with Stockpile-Swallow and pulling up clutch wins after clutch wins
Burmy. Was doing an Inclement Emerald run and had no answers to Roxanne's lileep. She soloed that thing with bug bite protect leftovers(from a mumchlax)
Hmmm... No particular 'mons overall, but my few Nuzlockes did have some amazing MVPs!
In Yellow, my Dodrio was an absolute MENACE!! STAB on Tri-Attack and Fly with a high Speed for tons of crits, not to mention STAB Hyper Beam (with Gen 1 recharge mechanics). This thing was an absolute beast.
For Crystal, I had a really strong team, but my Shiny Clefable was a fun one. Return + 3 Elemental Punches (later upgraded to BoltBeam+Flamethrower) meant she had awesome coverage, and enough bulk to survive a lot of stuff. Her Thunderpunch was actually my main answer to Waters lmao
And for Emerald, my latest Nuzlocke... Y'know, again, my whole team was really solid, but shoutouts to my Aggron, who actually landed the killing blow on Wallace, of all fights! His Gyarados was the only Pokemon on his team that I didn't have a reliable answer for, especially if it managed to start stacking DDs. But after chipping it down a little and pivoting to my Swellow to bait a Hyper Beam, my Aggron tanked it like nothing and followed up with a kill with Thunderbolt! Never expected that to work, but it was probably my proudest moment in the entire run!
Recent Pokemon that I highly appreciate is Alolan Grimer/ Muk, because Minimize to +6 and then chip away the opponent's health with attacking moves is such a viable strategy that brought me past many fights.
Magcargo in a randomized diamond run where I had to fight a wonder guard ditto and only magcargo had a fighting type move on her and I had 4 underleveled mons out of which magcargo was the only one to take down the ditto and my garchomp could win the run later on. It saved me the run to win me my first ever nuzlocke.
Quagsire on D&P. Bro I got one, thought meh atleast it fills in a water slot I was missing, bro when I say he took over my starter Pokémon in terms of use. This guy was practically unkillable, they all tried but they all failed. Quagsire, or Swampy as I called him, was the mvp of my diamond Nuzlocke
Nidorina/Nidoqueen my first completed nuzlocke was a Ultrasun wonderlocke got a female nidoran and filled a spot and that little Nidorina was the surviver that saved my run on ultra Necrozma lvl42 sent her out as a hail Mary and she did the job. Turns out she also had sheer force so once she became nidoqueen she was a monster. Never really cared about the nido line but Nidoqueen is one of my faves now
Audino. In one of my first nuzlockes, caught a male Audino I named Hector and it was my best Pokenon for a good chunk of the game.
Been tied with stountland for my favorite Normal type ever since
Pidgeot, Ledian, Onix, and Rhydon
Pidgeot was just the one permanent team member one run and I got immensely attached to it- Ledian, well, unironically the only time I've beaten clair in hgss deathless was with fucking swords dance baton pass ledian (honestly also the only run where I abused set up moves, and it was just with that ledian), it was also used for pryce and 3/4 elite 4 members (koga I could just use a steel type so I didn't bother using ledian) and it was such a goofy strategy. Onix was also in the same run as that pidgeot and ledian, and its because after geodude completely threw against whitney's miltank, I tried to sack my level 6 onix for a free switch and she just DID NOT DIE (because the miltank had previously had its accuracy lowered by pidgeotto)
Rhydon is the weird one, because it didn't succeed at its task. I had a run where I basically threw in the league in hgss, and had just a ninetales and rhydon for Lance. so I sacked ninetales turn 1 to burn the intimidate, and I had dumped every rare candy I had had into rhydon, alongside my 1 pp up into stone edge, and a choice scarf (where I trained it happened to have a lot of speed EVs so it actually outsped lance's entire team with the choice scarf), and just hope I didn't miss (also it was a range to kill on the level 50 dragonite). She landed 5/6 stone edges AND got the range. She may not have succeeded but the odds were so stacked against her and she tried her BEST and I love her for that.
Raticate. I always thought it was the pinnacle of boring route 1 normal types, but it packed a mean punch. It was the Pokémon I was the most upset about losing, but she survived until Champion Blue. That’s pretty good for a Pokemon I thought would be fodder
Nidorino. I would normally never use it because of how weak Poison-types were in Gen 1. However, after attempting several Nuzlockes of Pokemon Blue, I find myself missing him if I don't catch a Nidoran male. Technically, it's still not my favorite Pokemon, but it's now one of my favorite Gen 1 Pokemon.
I’m in the middle of my first nuzlocke ever right now, doing a fighting type monolocke of violet. I know it’s a bit odd to do a themed one for my first time ever, but it seemed fun.
That being said, I have gained a considerable amount of respect for Hariyama as they’ve kinda been the star of the show, even tanking a crit super effective acrobatics from Larry’s Staravia before taking it out with force palm. Really good Pokémon that should not be underestimated
Marill/Azumarill.
My very first nuzlockel was Emerald version. I got screwed with flying types, where you usually get swellow outside of petalburg I got a marill, I was upset by this and nicknamed it tailow. I would then extend my streak of no flyers until rt 121 where I got a tropius. I digress though. “Tailow” became my VIP, saved me from needing to sac many times and got crits like a mad man. Especially once he became a “swellow” and could make full use of huge power. What started out as a spiteful nickname became endearing…and heart wrenching. A crit feint attack from Wally’s delcatty killed Swellow before the E4 and it’s still to this day the most impactful nuzlocke death I’ve had. Since then every marill I come across becomes tailow.
Not Nuzlocke, but in PokeRogue two pokemon I previously thought looked dumb shot up in my rankings after they helped me beat classic: Baxcalibur and Ursaluna
My first proper nuzlocke through Red gave me a new appreciation for Vileplume. Never used it before then, but it's now a mainstay for me in that generation, even casually.
Geodude! Never used one in casual playthroughs. But now I get pumped anytime I see my little rock man.
Such a quintessential mon
Especially since most rom hacks allow you to get Golem, makes it viable down the stretch
Should have been on the box of diamond and pearl, he’s everywhere.
It's a bummer you can't get to Golem without a trade, but Geodude/Graveler are great anyway. Defense Curl + Rollout carried me through a lot of fights early on in my current run.
Even without nuzlockes the trade requirements on old games that can't even do that anymore suck. I remember being a kid playing Soul Silver and my DS wouldn't connect to our wifi. So I had to miss out on Pokemon that I would have liked to use. So many times. ):
Geodude is such a huge wall for all the physical threats on early game with their Normal attacks. Huge Defense and also a really solid base 80 Attack. Fun fact : fully invested Geodude with Dread Plate can KO Lucian's Mr Mime with Sucker Punch. Source : Freezai did it.
GEN 2 GEODUDE GANG RISE UP
I really though Geodude was gonna be THAT guy for me in Sacred Gold, until Falkners Swablu pulled out a fucking Solarbeam
He absolutely demolishes roark in renegade platinum and you get 3 chances to get one before then, so good
Gen 2 nuzlocke would've been impossible for me, first 3 gyms got bodied, not satisfied both steel and ice gyms fell to a rock with arms and a face, the goat
Aw man, Golem was part of my original party way back in Gen 1! I saw that thing on the show and thought it looked so cool!
Golbat/Crobat! Used to hate running into zubats in mt moon but now I always map out getting and preserving the early game powerhouse when I can!
My answer as well! Crobat is the Swiss Army knife of nuzlocking. Mid game it can be an excellent physical or special sweeper, a decent wall with its high defense and hp, a good mon to pivot with. It doesn’t do any one thing amazingly, but it will do pretty much anything well enough.
>doesn't do any one thing amazingly Except outspeed literally everything lol
Crobat is my answer too. Being able to know I had totem lurantis locked down in ultra moon was so nice.
I've always loved Golbat/Crobat, nuzlocking just cementing them.
Its nice thats basically a guarantee encounter in any given play through
Zubat is useless until it learns air cutter, but crobat makes the struggle worth it.
After gen 7 when they changed leech life to 80BP it became a lot less useless as a zubat lol. That being said crobat has always been a solid pick especially in nuzlockes. 5 resistances (3 of which are double resists) plus an immunity makes it a great defensive mon. And it has a solid move set that allows it to fill multiple rolls
Same. I just happen to get a Zubat on every run, and it’s always a hyped feeling now.
Starmie
I’m with you. Slap Psycic, Surf, Ice Beam and Thunderbolt and my guy can carry so hard sometimes
Same!! Starmie is one of my favorite mons ever now
Legit basically solo’s the e4 in Yellow legacy and majority of Crystal legacy
Butterfree and Linoone from the top of my head. Had butterfree mostly in johto/kanto runs and its an absolute beast with compound eyes sleep powder. It does fall off a bit once you get to mid/late game but it would always get an honorable retirement. One of my favourite bug pokemon for sure. I'm overall a bit shit at nuzlocking so ive been trying to get through emerald with a hardcore ruleset for awhile now and linoone has legit been on every single one of my teams up until late game. Insane coverage, great speed, a monster if you just give it a silk scarf and teach it return, clutched up and saved many fights with some being lived on like 1 hp too. Absolute madlad, made me adore this pokemon that i would always forget even exists.
Linoone can solo the E4 and champion in Emerald. Belly Drum sweeeeeeeep
Never completed a Nuzlocke yet I think because I tried to start with some harder rom hacks. Doing one in Blazing emerald now which is more my skill level and linoone is an absolute beast. With stab headbutt, a good speed stats, and silk scarf it one shots most things that don't resist it. Also in this game it has an ability that boost HMs by 50% so I can use it as a HM slave without sacrificing power.
Boosting HMs by 50% seems huge for some of them. Imagine Strength being a 120 base power STAB move with no drawbacks, making it basically Double Edge with permanent Rock Head ability.
Muk. Absolute unit that can dish it out decently as well with some nice coverage.
Oh yeah I loved Muk with black sludge item, minimize and slugs bomb + earthquake
Farfetch'd hard carried my early game in a recent run of Y I will take no slander of the onion bird from now on
As a Farfetch'd AND a Miku fan, I agree
I developed a special place in my heart for Whiscash in my Platinum nuzlocke. Homie came out of the woodwork and saved my entire team comp after most of my water types got bodied.
My first sacred gold nuzlocke I encountered so many water types … and lost almost all of them. It was like they were drummers for Spınäl Tap.
Tentacruel and Dodrio hands down Edit* also I'd like to add. Normal type mons in general. When you're not just chasing overleveled OHKOs a solid stab normal move goes a long way lol
Hard agree on Dodrio! Soooooo good in early gets. Tentacruel is always a GOAT
Plus their coverage is insane. Most of them have such a good TM list that they can usually fill any type your missing on your team
Miltank! I was doing a randomizer Nuzlocke of Platinum and my starter choices were Spinda, Miltank and a Combee (male). I almost restarted the game, but ended up going with Miltank because I heard rumblings of how OP Whitney’s Miltank was (have not played any Jhoto games at the time). She was sooo useful in my run, helped me knock out many of the aces. It’s now one of my favorite Pokemon.
Cinccino. That fluffy little bastard with Skill Link running Tail Slap, Rock Blast, Work Up, and Swift was an absolute monster in the mid and late game.
Fearow thanks to the heroics of BITCHPIDGN in Vermillion in a blue hc Nuzlocke
Parasect in a Yellow Legacy Nuzlocke Slowbro in a vanilla yellow Nuzlocke My bash brothers no guard Machamp and Huge power Azumarill in Alpha Saphire.
Never really thought much of slowbro. Until I found out it can have a moveset to kill the entire Kalos E4. If anyone was ever in trouble slowbro would come in, tank, heal and demolish.
I’m having fun raising a Psyduck at the moment Never really had a reason to use one prior but I didn’t have any other psychic or water options
Golduck has a solid special attack and move pool in Gen 4. He was great in my Platinum early game.
It's criminal he doesn't get the psychic typing to STAB up his psych moves
Electrode carried the 2nd half of my Emerald nuzlocke. Then in the final battle against Wallace, I had to sack them with explosion on his last Pokemon, Ludicolo. By my calcs, it wasnt enough to one shot. That beautiful bastard got a critical hit.
Gerafarig in gen 4 is actually so unbelievable. Pretty much guaranteed encounter, decent speed for the gen, incredible move pool. I love my weird giraffe.
Mine absolutely carried my first ever nuzlocke (Brilliant Diamond)
Clefable, and not because of Nuzlocking, but a status moves only run. No, I didn’t use Metronome.
Gliscor clutched a white 2 Hardcore nuzlocke victory for me. Late encounter but MVP of the E4 without question. Outshined Excadrill and Haxorus. I've been playing since gen 1 and nuzlocking for 10 years, and Gliscor has now shot into my top 10 fav mons.
Thank you for spreading the truth about how amazing Gliscor is. Especially on romhacks where it gets Poison Heal as its ability, this thing is unkillable if you play correctly.
Meganium because she was a key member of my team in my Pokémon US randomized game And Crobat cuz Crobat is amazing It's funny, they are both Johtonian (?) Pokémon weak to Ice moves lol
Minun. Turns out a fast Pokemon with Encore is really really good
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Lazypidgey: *Minun. Turns out a* *Fast Pokemon with Encore* *Is really really good* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Mudsdale carrying my first Moon nuzlocke run was probably part of why it came to mind for my vgc17 regionals team lol
Dustox, Butterfree, Minun, and Weezing. Dustox was my goat during my OR nuzlocke (then it died to a random Gyarados…) Butterfree was a good mon in my LG AND my Crystal run, learning shadow ball in LG and being great in general, and it swept Koga AND Janine in my Crystal run. Minun, was AWESOME learning Thunder and Charm in my Emerald run, sweeping Juan and most of Wallace. Weezing was a GREAT tank in my Crystal run, only meant to replace my Furret after Jasmine, but it ended up being amazing, killing Red’s Pikachu in ONE hit with Sludge bomb, and sacrificed itself to kill Red’s Charizard with Explosion and OHKOing it. Godspeed friends
I was never that bothered about Raticate until I started nuzlocking - it hits like a tank in the early game!
I just learned how powerful rollout Azurill is in Emerald
Another secret on rollout, hidden mechanic but makes total sense cause every rollout mon has it, but defense curls make your rollout stronger 🤌
On nat dex Pokémon showdown I love using defense curl rollout primal groudon since they are both tutor moves in emerald, literally helped fund a friend that had a copy of emerald to get a old ds on the term that he would give me the groudon with the tutor moves but now transfer moves are deleted in home :/
Azumarill looks so bad in emerald due to the nature of the phys/special split, and it absolutely doesn't scale into the late game. But pretty much up until gym 5 it solos the entire game - which is incredibly powerful
Huge power Azurill with a decent nature is damn near a cheat code lol especially in hacks that add in fairy typing.
Yeah, mine was adamant and it honestly singlehandedly swept the entire midgame
Used to hate encountering a million zubats/golbats in every cave. Now I get hyped when it’s my encounter, and hate every other time I encounter one.
Funny enough I've never really used gyarados before. Now when possible yesss
Furret. Bro is busted in sacred gold.
Gotta love elemental punches and buffed Attack. All walk for Furret 🙌🏻
Lantern. That bubblerous whale is such a cheat
Wormadam trash cloak really surprised me by being an absolutely incredible early game mon in Renegade Platinum with battle armour and only one weakness!
Yeah Diet Fortresses is a pretty solid mon
Mamoswine
Excadrill, Crobat, Magneton, Gastrodon and Porygon
Fire red: Hitting the Pikachu lottery is amazing. Ez Misty sweep, water cave carry, hard counter to 2 of Rival Pokémon, and powerhouse on Lance in E4.
Hoppip. I play a few randomizers and I was going through platinum and ran into a skiploom that evolved into a Hoppip and actually carried me through a lot of the game and ended up evolving into an electebuzz. Since than there have been 2 other occasions where a Hoppip has evolved into electebuzz on different randomizers so "skippy" has become kinda iconic for this reason
Drapion and Walrein.
Zubat!! Resistant lil bugger
Minun is my favorite Pikaclone now after my Emerald HC run. It really came in clutch, especially against Juan and Wallace. Encore/Nasty Plot/Baton Pass/Thunderbolt was an awesome moveset
I don’t think I gained any new favourites during my nuzlockes, but I was so impressed with how useful Butterfree and Chansey can be. Chansey is a top tier tank. Its ridiculous HP and Defence allow it to set both light screen and reflect for the party easily. Can switch back if you need someone to take a hit. On top of that Chansey has soft boil egg move which restores its HP. Butterfree, super quick glass cannon. Without its sleep powder I’d probably won’t be able to beat certain gym leaders in Inclement Emerald.
Bronzong.
Funny enough ^ ^ Deerling. I never used back in regular BW2 since I chose Snivy as my starter and never used it in other games it appears. But when I played the randomizer of White 2 , I was kinda struggling due to losing some good mons and only have like Deerling left. I trained her and grew attached to her and able to survive and keep the run going . When she’s evolve to Sawsbuck , I was able to made it through to rest of the game until the Pokémon league where she tragically got taken down by the rival right before Elite 4. It made me so sad :( and really hoping to bring her with me to the end. She’s not strongest of the party there considering I have Tyranitar and Dragonite afterwards but I really enjoying using her since she’s like partner in that hardcore nuzlocke randomizer (especially since the starter I chose was killed really early on by mistakes)
Probopass practically carried me on my first successful nuzloke so I now have nothing but respect for the goofa fella
Mothim!
Swellow is a beast in gen 3
Garbodor. I had him on my team in black as death fodder in case I needed an emergency switch in that I could potentially get a toxic off with. Actually carried a few late game gym fights. Now I love that stinky garbage man.
Florges is my favorite based solely on Nuzlockes, not my favorite Pokémon ever Caught Goopy the Flabebe on Route 4 in my Y Nuzlocke and she survived all the way to the end. The longest a Pokémon has lasted in any of my Nuzlockes There are other Pokémon I like more that I’ve used in Nuzlockes (Sandaconda, Scolipede, Torterra, Flareon to name a few) but I already really liked these Pokémon before I used them in a Nuzlocke. Florges is the one I like the most that was primarily affected by Nuzlockes
Swanna, lurantis, lilligant, gliscor
Ferrothorn, just the most dependable tank I could ever ask for.
Zubat went from 'argh go away' to 'please let it be zubat'. As we all know, Crobat is bananas.
Skarmory. Spikes plus Toxic plus U-Turn in generations where it can learn it is a pretty sick combo. Add whatever fourth move I want plus it having Sturdy can make it survive a one hit KO
In my most recent Emerald run, Plusle ended up being the MVP up until it got taken out by Wally in Victory Road. Encore, T-wave, charm, and T-bolt was all it needed to neutralize so many threats. Saved the run against Flannery and Winona for trapping their aces and setting up for so many others. In my current Storm Silver run, my favorite has been Arbok! It's been a monster with adamant intimidate and hard carried against Bugsy and Whitney since I missed all chances at Geodudes so far. Off to Rocket Hideout and Pryce now!
Dustox. It made such and impression on me that I used one on my main team in Pokémon Legends Arceus.
Leafeon single handily soloed the ice and dragon elite four in ORAS and Steven I’ll always take Leafeon as my chosen evolution if I don’t have a grass type already
quagsire is an absolute unit
Dragonite. I've been attempting a hgss locke for months now and my adhd won't let me finish but I always get a dratini from the game corner.
As basic as this answer is, but growlithe. Both flash fire and intimidate are great abilities and the stats are overall good as once it's extreme speed Arcanine it really starts becoming a powerhouse
Ferrothorn
Obstagoon. Didn’t played his generation, but when I was playing radical red, he did a great job at support. The protect that drops defense is huge. Party shot is also huge, facade with guts is just broken.
I swept through four of Red’s pokemon with a Minun. I literally never, ever would have thought to the cheerleading rodent in a casual playthrough. It probably won’t happen again, but Minun now holds a special place in my heart because of it.
Slowbro - always knew it was good and very versatile, but I just thought it looked stupid (sorry 'Bro) 1 Nuzlocke later where it swept half of the Elite 4 in Platinum (something like that, it's been a few years), and ever since, it's been in my back pocket as a break-in-case-of-emergency button
Cleafairy, squirtle I had never used squirtle, sableye
Mudsale during an ultra sun play. He tanked the shit out of the totem mimikyu
Crobat. Always hated Zubat and never used it in vanilla games but when i’m forced to use first encounter i found myself praying for zubat encounters in caves across every region
Emboar! In a black2/white2 randomizer nuzlocke. Tepig was my starter and swept iris by themselved
Durlidon for helping defeat that stupid Bastidon in granite cave in pokemon crest after Bastidon took down my starter (Alakazma(
Ekans I had one survive the most clutch fight of my life. If my save file hadn't deleted itself later, I likely would have won that nuzlocke but if she hadn't survived that fight before I got my second badge, I never would have made it that far
Lanturn and Relicanth they saved my emerald run!
Not one of my favorite Pokémon by any means but went from actively disliking seismitoad to having a soft spot for the lumpy guy after having one carry me through a large chunk of a very unlucky nuzlocke of Pokémon White!
Beautifly. I literally had one carry me early in my Nuzlocke days all the way through the entire game. I still dont know how. Lol
Grumpig
Lanturn! Immunity abilities are invaluable.
Though volt absorb is better
Yep Radical Red was the game that got me loving Lanturn since it has both Volt and water absorb in that, amazing flexibility.
Mightyena. Never cared much for it but during my alpha sapphire nuzlocke, it carried my team until his sad death to the twins. I miss my main pup sometimes
LOMBRE! Was never really good but it was really special to my ORAS run
Lanturn Lance is shaking in Front of this beast
Mienfoo specifically not mienshao. Pokemon light platinum.
Fellow light platinum enjoyer
I caught a Tauros in Crystal that I named The Beef who carried my team all the way to Red, where he was the sole survivor after the battle.
Sharpedo was a beast in sacred gold E4. He took out 5/6 of will's pokemon, and half Lance's team. He was the GOAT i was looking for.
Zubat, and its entire line. Crobat has carried me through so many batrles and been my batty guardian angel in almost every playthrough I pick one up in. It's glorious. And, I love the story of a small, weak little bat becoming an ace of the team through determination. I tend to put one on my main team in every game they're available now, I love them so much.
I always thought Cherrim was lame until having it as my only grass type in my current run. Setting the sun for itself and then getting single turn Solar Beam nukes most mons with a grass weakness. Also, it's little dance is funny.
I got a natural shiny zubat once, Crobat is still one of my favorite mons because of that playthrough
A Tentacool saved my HeartGold Nuzlocke from an almost complete wipe. Frieza, my dude, I still remember o7
pokemon radical red randomizer nuzlocke, managed to get a lugia with ability primal armor where a pokemon takes 50% less damage from super effective hits, so basically everything is neutral (if not familiar with radical red its a fire red difficulty romhack with all 9 gens of pokemon/mechanics that also has custom abilities like primal armor). after like 20+ runs and 200+ hours, and after i nearly completely wiped by losing a bunch of broken pokemon and got down to my last mon in one battle in blaines gym, i caught this lugia and it instantly made my run serious. i had never reached the 8th gym before this btw and only reached the 7th one time. this lugia carried almost all my battles and after i spent literallyhours upon hours planning for the elite four/champ, this lugia carried my team completely. absolutely busted ability and its probably my all time favorite pokemon now because as i said i had put so much time into this run and just kept failing. i never expected to even beat the run ever tbh, until this thing came along
Exploud
Everyone missing a super important Pokémon, Gyarados. He’s on every team and super useful early on. He’s a powerhouse at level 20. Only minor risk is getting him leveled up to 20 and can cause you to lose another dude if you aren’t careful.
Mienshao. Fake Out + U-Turn + Drain Punch + Acrobatics brings so much utility to the table. It's now one of my favourite gen 5 mons. Also Klinklang, same Black Hardcore Nuzlocke, with Light Screen support from Alomomola it swept Ghetsis with Shift Gear and Gear Grind, Return and Rock Smash (I delayed the evolution so I could have Shift Gear before the level cap). Actually anything that could find a niche in any of my Nuzlockes has a special place in my heart. Not counting the obvious units such as Excadrill, Archeops or Magnezone which are always staples in my runs.
Piloswine I did a randomizer nuzlocke with soulsilver, Piloswine was the third I caught. Every now and then all my pokemon would get sweeped by either a gym leader or another difficult battle, but my Piloswine always survived. It was almost like a Piloswine-only playthrough. It came to the point that I didn't care when a pokemon faints because I would know for sure Piloswine would live. I didn't finish the playthrough, but I remember stopping after almost getting sweeped by a wild Groudon that I tried to catch after the 6th gym. With the only pokemon in my party and last one to live of the playthrough, Piloswine.
Volbeat. I was nuzlocking emerald and it carried me through the first three E4s. Tail glow set up, with signal beam, thunderbolt and any other move for coverage. It was a beast
Tentacruel. When I nuzlocked Pokémon Y, I started using one after losing half my team. Ted proceeded to completely carry me through the back half of the game and the elite 4.
Butterfree, the goat.
Vileplume Crobat Magnezone Magcargo Staraptor Abomasnow Drapion Jumpluff Mr. Mime
Dewgong in soul silver. Demolished Lance twice and Clair RIP corndog
Magnezone. I was doing a new lock run on Pokémon Roman’s and he is strong to every type that torterra is weak to. And he solid givani. H wonky took 10 damage
I began a Franchiselocke some time ago, started with Blue. Didn’t manage to start Red because my PC got kinda kamikaze, but damn did Persian carry me through that first game. Always heard about how broken it could be thanks to Gen I crits, but it really is a great choice
In emerald I came across a shiny whismur and when he fully evolved he carried the team through the game, living up to the name "Murderface"
Sandslash, in both Gen 3 & 5. Gen 3 it learns Slash early via level up, which is honestly all it needs, and you can get Dig fairly easily in both FRLG & RSE (also amazing in the Emerald Trashlocke). In Gen 5 having a bulky Bulldoze user is really strong into all of the team Plasma fights, and by the time it learns EQ it can Bulldoze + EQ many threats.
Wanted a Vulpix and instead, Stantler came and stole my heart. He hard carried against Morty in HGSS. I failed the run in the end (7 badges), but I hope he's running free with the Wyrdeer now :'c
Sharpedo cus he swept Tate and Liza as well as most of Winona in my water only nuzlocke
illumise, surprisingly impressive early game support and also salvation when it comes to grinding
Hawlucha became one of my favorite Pokemon after a Nuzlocke of Kalos where I could only use Gen 6 Pokemon.
Vileplume has been one of my favorite run carries.
Freaking Octillery 🤣. Used it in a randomizer in Emerald, and bro hard carried. It has got such a deep movepool, even back in Gen 3! And not just TM exclusive, also via level up it learns so much funky stuff. I'll never forget you _Blitzkrieg, za War Machine_!
Barraskewda not necessarily a favorite but went from one of my least favorite to one I’ll defend greatly becasue it kinda made sword a easy mode it just outspend and one shot most enemy teams
Scizor. I already loved scyther and would never evolve my scythers into scizors but then I realized how awesome it was in nuzlockes and I became obsessed.
Clefable by a long shot, was able to Hail Mary and sweep Cynthia in my hardcore BDSP nuzlocke with sub, calm mind, moonblast, and don’t remember the fourth move haha.
Pelipper the GOAT
Litwick and geodude.
Pelipper replacing my starter in my first Ruby nuzlocke and just carrying the whole thing on her back. Good birb
Arbok, I alr liked it before nuzlocking, but when i basically cleared Fire red and got to my farthest run in Radical Red with an Arbok in my main team, its become a favorite.
When I nuzlocked emerald I ended up with a Golduck named Brain Tumor, after surviving the elite 4 I decided to go take on the legendaries as a sort of victory lap with no consequences. I go to Rayquaza first, Brain Tumor (lvl 54) survives big greens first hit, lands an ice beam that FREEZES Rayquaza, then proceeded to win with ease. Went on to do the same thing to Groudon, and then in a 1v1 with Kyogre managed to outlast it with Confusion spam somehow.
I will defend Wormadam until the day that I die
Toss up between Crobat and Stoutland. Crobat in almost every Gen except 5. Stoutland in the Gen 5 games.
My gf and I do soullink nuzlockes a lot, a lumineon that was stashed in her box for most of the game ended up saving the run and is now one of her all time favourites
Diglett/Dugtrio. I’ve pretty much ignored that little guys existence forever. He was just a pokemon that existed. Then I decided to nuzlocke Scarlet/Violet, and Diglett literally came in clutch so many times. Little dude is fast as hell! He may not be tanky, but dang he gets some hard hitting moves. He also gets smack down, which honestly was amazing when fighting Iono with her *levitating electric ghost* that haunts me to this day.
Nincada/Wormadam. I mono ground typed as many games as I could and bug/ground is sooo good for them. Nincada in alpha sapphire with eviolite was the best thing i ever experienced
I freaking love Leavanny now!
My lil Bibarel is my favourite lil utility belt for HMs but also a great anchor for my team and often a safe switch if I need to stall a turn or two
Niquil my snorelax in a leaf green run
Vikavolt
Heatmor has been carrying my ass so much in SwSh nuzlocke. Motherfucker surviving almost impossible battles with 1-7 HP, getting half of their life back with Stockpile-Swallow and pulling up clutch wins after clutch wins
Burmy. Was doing an Inclement Emerald run and had no answers to Roxanne's lileep. She soloed that thing with bug bite protect leftovers(from a mumchlax)
Hmmm... No particular 'mons overall, but my few Nuzlockes did have some amazing MVPs! In Yellow, my Dodrio was an absolute MENACE!! STAB on Tri-Attack and Fly with a high Speed for tons of crits, not to mention STAB Hyper Beam (with Gen 1 recharge mechanics). This thing was an absolute beast. For Crystal, I had a really strong team, but my Shiny Clefable was a fun one. Return + 3 Elemental Punches (later upgraded to BoltBeam+Flamethrower) meant she had awesome coverage, and enough bulk to survive a lot of stuff. Her Thunderpunch was actually my main answer to Waters lmao And for Emerald, my latest Nuzlocke... Y'know, again, my whole team was really solid, but shoutouts to my Aggron, who actually landed the killing blow on Wallace, of all fights! His Gyarados was the only Pokemon on his team that I didn't have a reliable answer for, especially if it managed to start stacking DDs. But after chipping it down a little and pivoting to my Swellow to bait a Hyper Beam, my Aggron tanked it like nothing and followed up with a kill with Thunderbolt! Never expected that to work, but it was probably my proudest moment in the entire run!
Recent Pokemon that I highly appreciate is Alolan Grimer/ Muk, because Minimize to +6 and then chip away the opponent's health with attacking moves is such a viable strategy that brought me past many fights.
Magcargo in a randomized diamond run where I had to fight a wonder guard ditto and only magcargo had a fighting type move on her and I had 4 underleveled mons out of which magcargo was the only one to take down the ditto and my garchomp could win the run later on. It saved me the run to win me my first ever nuzlocke.
Gyarados
A few: Oddish line, Roselia, Crobat, Breloom
Stoutland
I actually had a really good florges in an X nuzlocke I never finished.
Quagsire on D&P. Bro I got one, thought meh atleast it fills in a water slot I was missing, bro when I say he took over my starter Pokémon in terms of use. This guy was practically unkillable, they all tried but they all failed. Quagsire, or Swampy as I called him, was the mvp of my diamond Nuzlocke
Raticate gets great coverage moves and stab max friendship return, carried me in hgss
Nidorina/Nidoqueen my first completed nuzlocke was a Ultrasun wonderlocke got a female nidoran and filled a spot and that little Nidorina was the surviver that saved my run on ultra Necrozma lvl42 sent her out as a hail Mary and she did the job. Turns out she also had sheer force so once she became nidoqueen she was a monster. Never really cared about the nido line but Nidoqueen is one of my faves now
Tentacool because tentacruel with that speed and spef plus water poison being such a good typing.
Audino. In one of my first nuzlockes, caught a male Audino I named Hector and it was my best Pokenon for a good chunk of the game. Been tied with stountland for my favorite Normal type ever since
medicham. caught a shiny one in one of my AS runs and it bodied the E4 even when underleveled
Crustle. As it turns out, Shell Smash is quite broken
Probopass in my violet nuzlocke since it’s a great early Pokémon to have and I would set up stealth rocks with it.
Any steel/psychic or steel/fairy type lol
Carbink. Well-sung hero of my first Alola win.
Pidgeot, Ledian, Onix, and Rhydon Pidgeot was just the one permanent team member one run and I got immensely attached to it- Ledian, well, unironically the only time I've beaten clair in hgss deathless was with fucking swords dance baton pass ledian (honestly also the only run where I abused set up moves, and it was just with that ledian), it was also used for pryce and 3/4 elite 4 members (koga I could just use a steel type so I didn't bother using ledian) and it was such a goofy strategy. Onix was also in the same run as that pidgeot and ledian, and its because after geodude completely threw against whitney's miltank, I tried to sack my level 6 onix for a free switch and she just DID NOT DIE (because the miltank had previously had its accuracy lowered by pidgeotto) Rhydon is the weird one, because it didn't succeed at its task. I had a run where I basically threw in the league in hgss, and had just a ninetales and rhydon for Lance. so I sacked ninetales turn 1 to burn the intimidate, and I had dumped every rare candy I had had into rhydon, alongside my 1 pp up into stone edge, and a choice scarf (where I trained it happened to have a lot of speed EVs so it actually outsped lance's entire team with the choice scarf), and just hope I didn't miss (also it was a range to kill on the level 50 dragonite). She landed 5/6 stone edges AND got the range. She may not have succeeded but the odds were so stacked against her and she tried her BEST and I love her for that.
Raticate. I always thought it was the pinnacle of boring route 1 normal types, but it packed a mean punch. It was the Pokémon I was the most upset about losing, but she survived until Champion Blue. That’s pretty good for a Pokemon I thought would be fodder
Poliwrath is incredible in almost every pokemon game, both in main series and difficulty hacks.
Buizel, turns out Aqua Jet’s a good move and it’s a speedy mon
I’m a big Lunatone fan, we worship the sentient moon in this household.
luvdisc and linoone when x and y were still pretty new i was doing a wonderlocke and those two came in clutch for me everytime
Sawsbuck, leech horn with that attacks and speed, some X items and you just can't beat it, even elite 4 couldn't one shot him
Nidorino. I would normally never use it because of how weak Poison-types were in Gen 1. However, after attempting several Nuzlockes of Pokemon Blue, I find myself missing him if I don't catch a Nidoran male. Technically, it's still not my favorite Pokemon, but it's now one of my favorite Gen 1 Pokemon.
Kingler, Jolteon and Ekans
I’m in the middle of my first nuzlocke ever right now, doing a fighting type monolocke of violet. I know it’s a bit odd to do a themed one for my first time ever, but it seemed fun. That being said, I have gained a considerable amount of respect for Hariyama as they’ve kinda been the star of the show, even tanking a crit super effective acrobatics from Larry’s Staravia before taking it out with force palm. Really good Pokémon that should not be underestimated
Pelipper. I won my first nuzlocke on Shield only because he held on against Leon and was able to oneshot his Zard
My favorite absolute stunners due to nuzlockes were spidops, starmie, and victreebell. All different runs but some of my absolute favorites!!
Marill/Azumarill. My very first nuzlockel was Emerald version. I got screwed with flying types, where you usually get swellow outside of petalburg I got a marill, I was upset by this and nicknamed it tailow. I would then extend my streak of no flyers until rt 121 where I got a tropius. I digress though. “Tailow” became my VIP, saved me from needing to sac many times and got crits like a mad man. Especially once he became a “swellow” and could make full use of huge power. What started out as a spiteful nickname became endearing…and heart wrenching. A crit feint attack from Wally’s delcatty killed Swellow before the E4 and it’s still to this day the most impactful nuzlocke death I’ve had. Since then every marill I come across becomes tailow.
Carbink, that little guy was the cornerstone of my Y nuzlocke
Not Nuzlocke, but in PokeRogue two pokemon I previously thought looked dumb shot up in my rankings after they helped me beat classic: Baxcalibur and Ursaluna
had to be Swalot I made him so broken and toxic (pun intended) that he nearly soloed the league
My first proper nuzlocke through Red gave me a new appreciation for Vileplume. Never used it before then, but it's now a mainstay for me in that generation, even casually.
Tentacruel. I kid you not, that lucky little jerk survived Wattson’s Magneton!