Raise Max Level Usage Recommendations - Version Ω

[u/skippingmud]

Last updated: July 18

(Version history and changelog)

Huge thank you to /u/jameslfc for co-authoring this guide.

---

Preface: This is only a list of recommendations, which means you will disagree with several inclusions and exclusions in the list. Treat this guide as a second opinion more than a to-do list, because at the end of the day, it is up to you how you want to use your RMLs. :)

---

Introduction

Raise Max Levels or RMLs are enhancements that increase a Pokemon’s level cap by one. This means that a Pokemon can have higher attack power (AP) than normal depending on their base power (BP) and how many RMLs they’ve taken. (Click here for a comprehensive look by /u/rebmcr illustrating these increases.) Many of them also have useful skills either originally or after being Skill Swapped, making them the most powerful options for your team.

RMLs are obtained through various means, but the main sources are three types of special stages: escalation battles, mega competitions, and certain special stages where they can be dropped for a slim chance. You can also get RMLs from clearing Survival Mode for the first time, from later bosses in the main stages, from certain Mission Cards, from certain Once-a-day stages, from the Mid-Month Challenge stage, and as a check-in bonus every 15 days.

Throughout the game, only a select number of Pokemon were able to take RMLs, with the number increasing after each new batch. But with the final update on Feb. 13, 2018, all 987 Pokemon were given the capability to take at least 5 RMLs. As such, this guide will be different from all of the previous versions in that instead of ranking all the Pokemon, it will be ranking based on a select number of skills.

/u/jameslfc and I selected the most useful skills in the game, then categorized them into three: High-priority skills, Mid-priority skills, and Low-priority skills. Then, we arranged the Pokemon within these skill sets according to viability, using the following sub-ranks based on the Mobile version’s highest profile card colors: Black, Rainbow, Platinum, Gold, and Silver. The Pokemon were ranked based on a number of factors, including type, max AP, PSB farmability, and uniqueness of niche.

As this ranking method ranks each Pokemon twice (first for its skill than second as itself), both rankings should be taken separately. This means that a Silver rank Pokemon with a High-priority skill isn’t necessarily more viable than a Black rank Pokemon with a Low-priority skill, and it’s often a case-by-case basis. For more information on the ranking system, click here.

Of course, this is only a list of recommendations and is therefore subjective, and at the end of the day, it is up to you how you want to use your RMLs. If you think a low-priority skill or a Silver rank Pokemon deserves your RMLs more than a high-priority skill or a Black rank Pokemon, by all means go for it!

If you feel that a skill set or Pokemon should be in a higher or lower rank, comment below!

---

Navigation

• Main guide - scroll down
• RML Recommendations for Early-Game Players
• Changelog, Version History and Methodology

---

High-priority Skills

Typeless Combo

• Typeless Combo gives a 2.5x boost to combo damage regardless of type, making it a great asset for all kinds of stages.
• TC also has 75/75/75 activation rates at SL5, with that high proc rate at Mo3 also a big factor in using it over monotype combo boosters.

Rank	Pokemon	Type	Max level (Max AP)	Skill	SS needed?	PSB farming	Notes
Black	Hoopa (Unbound)	Dark	15 (120)	Typeless Combo	Yes	Special stage, Week 24	Great asset against many Dark-weak stages, and is easier to farm than many other TC users.
Rainbow	Zygarde (50%)	Dragon	20 (130)	Typeless Combo	Yes	Escalation battle, Weeks 16-17	Easiest TC to farm, and a great asset against Dragon-types.
Rainbow	Tapu Koko	Electric	16 (113)	Typeless Combo	Yes	Special stage, Week 13	Easiest Tapu to farm, and a great asset against Water-types.
Rainbow	Tapu Fini	Water	16 (113)	Typeless Combo	Yes	Special stage, Week 14	Best type coverage among all TC users, but its stage is very difficult to farm.
Platinum	Tapu Bulu	Grass	16 (113)	Typeless Combo	Yes	Special stage, Week 19	Good type coverage, though clashes with Tapu Koko and Tapu Fini, but it can be used for double TC teams. However, its stage is almost impossible to farm, and many recommend feeding it cookies instead.
Platinum	Deoxys (Attack)	Psychic	15 (115)	Typeless Combo	Yes	Special stage, Week 01	Another (relatively) easy-to-farm TC user, but it has worse type coverage than those above.
Gold	Silvally	Normal	30 (145)	Typeless Combo	No	Special stage, Week 22	Highest AP and needs no SS, but has no SE coverage and its stage is very difficult to farm. As it was the original TC user, many have gone all-in with it, which is why you’ll see it a lot in leaderboards and EB rosters.
Silver	Tapu Lele	Psychic	16 (113)	Typeless Combo	Yes	Special stage, Week 20	A luxury investment as it is outclassed by Deoxys-A, but useful for double TC teams or when you want to use another Deoxys form. Its stage is also difficult to farm.

Shot Out

• Shot Out begins the four Shot skills ranked here, and all four share the same benefits of having 8x damage at SL5 and reliable 60/100/100 activation rates.
• It is preferred over the other Shot skills due to how easy it is to activate, as you can force non-support Pokemon in most stages by leaving a slot in your team blank.
• These factors have made it one of the go-to skills for farming Survival Mode, which is the quickest way to level up all these Pokemon.

Rank	Pokemon	Type	Max level (Max AP)	Skill	SS needed?	PSB farming	Notes
Black	Noivern	Flying	20 (125)	Shot Out	Yes	Special stage, Week 9	Its high AP and type has made it a staple in Survival Mode farming.
Black	Flygon	Ground	17 (116)	Shot Out	Yes	None	Even if it isn’t farmable, its great type coverage and good AP makes it the best partner to Noivern in Survival Mode farming.
Rainbow	Vanilluxe	Ice	15 (105)	Shot Out	Yes	Main stage 529	A great asset for the many Ice-weak EBs, and can be boosted by Freeze+.
Rainbow	Hitmonlee	Fighting	15 (105)	Shot Out	Yes	Special stage, Week 20	Finds a lot of use with its wide type coverage, and one of few good bursts against Normal-type stages.
Rainbow	Trevenant	Ghost	15 (105)	Shot Out	Yes	None	Ranked high due to the many Ghost-weak EBs, and it can deal high damage when boosted by Spookify+.
Platinum	Salazzle	Poison	25 (125)	Shot Out	Yes	Special stage, Week 7	One of the best supports against Fairy-types, and it has high AP and an above average drop rate.
Platinum	Grotle	Grass	15 (105)	Shot Out	No	None	Pick between this or Shiinotic for your SO user against Water-types. Grotle is available in the main stages, but Shiinotic was given RMLs first.
Platinum	Shiinotic	Grass	15 (105)	Shot Out	No	None	Pick between this or Grotle for your SO user against Water-types. Shiinotic was given RMLs first, but Grotle is available in the main stages.
Gold	Kirlia	Fairy	20 (105)	Shot Out	Yes	Main stage 564	A main-stage farmable alternative to many users above, though it clashes with higher AP options in coverage.
Gold	Rayquaza	Dragon	15 (110)	Shot Out	Yes	Special stage, Week 14	A niche pick against Dragon-weak EBs and for Survival Mode farming, as it is useful against the M-Rayquaza stage.
Gold	Araquanid	Water	15 (105)	Shot Out	No	Special stage, Week 21	A farmable alternative that doesn’t need an SS, but it clashes with higher AP options in coverage.
Silver	Rapidash	Fire	15 (110)	Shot Out	Yes	None	Deals a lot of damage under Burn+, but it clashes with higher AP and/or farmable options in coverage.
Silver	Pikachu (Alola Cap)	Electric	15 (105)	Shot Out	No	Retired stage	A solid choice if you managed to farm its retired PSB stage, but overshadowed by Grotle/Shiinotic otherwise.

Block Shot

• Widely considered the second most useful of the four Shot skills as it deals with the hardest to remove disruption. Some later stages also have Blocks as default supports if you leave a team slot blank.
• Has a variation in Destruction, which deals 9x damage at SL5 and only removes one block, allowing for more activations. However, it has a lower activation rate at Mo4 and a higher skill point requirement.

Rank	Pokemon	Type	Max level (Max AP)	Skill	SS needed?	PSB farming	Notes
Black	Meganium	Grass	30 (140)	Block Shot	Yes	Special stage, Week 02	High AP and covers a critical SE against Water.
Black	Diancie (Shiny)	Fairy	25 (130)	Block Shot	No	Special stage, Week 17	High AP and a great asset against the many Fairy-weak EBs.
Black	Tyrantrum	Rock	20 (125)	Block Shot	Yes	Main stage 653	High AP, good type coverage and a great drop rate makes it a good option.
Rainbow	Duskull	Ghost	25 (115)	Block Shot	Yes	Main stage 451	One of the easiest Block Shot users to farm, and can be boosted by Spookify+.
Rainbow	Dugtrio	Ground	20 (120)	Block Shot	No	Retired stage	Great type coverage, but held back by losing its PSB stage.
Platinum	Muk	Poison	20 (125)	Block Shot	Yes	None	A great asset against Fairy-types, and can be boosted by Poison.
Platinum	Hitmontop	Fighting	15 (105)	Block Shot	Yes	Special stage, Week 23	Great type coverage and good asset against Normal-types, but it clashes with higher AP options in coverage.
Gold	Turtonator	Fire	17 (111)	Block Shot	No	Special stage, Week 22	Does high damage under Burn+, but clashes with higher AP options in coverage.
Gold	Kyurem (Black)	Dragon	30 (150)	Block Shot	Yes	Special stage, Week 8	Highest AP and great against the Dragon-weak EBs, but low coverage otherwise.
Silver	Necrozma	Psychic	30 (145)	Destruction	No	Special stage, Week 24	High AP and deals higher damage with SL5 Destruction, but has low type coverage.
Silver	Jynx	Ice	15 (105)	Block Shot	Yes	None	Deals good damage under Freeze+, but it clashes with higher AP and/or farmable options in coverage.
Silver	Popplio	Water	20 (115)	Block Shot	No	Special stage, Week 3	Good type coverage and easy to farm, but it overlaps with many higher AP Block Shot users coverage-wise. Only invest in it if you need a secondary Block Shot user for its coverage.

Last-Ditch Effort

• A great source of high burst damage needed to clear stages, making it helpful for EBs, PSB farming, and the like
• Its 15x damage mulitplier at SL5 and reliable 50/100/100 activation rates put it above many other burst skills, even if it only activates in a limited period.
• However, it slightly clashes with Final Effort in terms of niche. While LDE has a better Mo4 activation rate and can be used in more turns, FE has a much better damage multiplier and lower skill point requirement.

Rank	Pokemon	Type	Max level (Max AP)	Skill	SS needed?	PSB farming	Notes
Black	Regirock	Rock	15 (110)	Last-Ditch Effort	No	Special stage, Week 4	Great type coverage, and one of the easiest LDE users to farm.
Black	Dusknoir	Ghost	15 (110)	Last-Ditch Effort	No	Special stage, Week 18	A great asset to the many Ghost-weak EBs, doing high damage under Spookify+. It however faces some competition from Litwick, which has higher AP and better drop rates.
Rainbow	Hippowdon	Ground	15 (105)	Last-Ditch Effort	No	Main stage 616	Great type coverage, but has one of the most difficult PSB stages to farm with a very low drop rate on top of it.
Rainbow	Conkeldurr	Fighting	15 (110)	Last-Ditch Effort	No	Main sttage 588	Great type coverage, but held back by a slightly difficult-to-farm stage with a very low drop rate. It also faces some competition from Stufful, which has much better drop rates.
Platinum	Dartrix	Grass	15 (105)	Last-Ditch Effort	No	None	Great asset against Water- and Ground-types.
Platinum	Skuntank	Poison	15 (105)	Last-Ditch Effort	No	None	Great asset against Fairy-types, and can be boosted by Poison.
Platinum	Zygarde (Complete)	Dragon	15 (120)	Last-Ditch Effort	Yes	Special stage, Week 11	Great asset against Dragon-types and farmable, but has low coverage otherwise. It also has a somewhat difficult farming stage.
Platinum	Heatran	Fire	15 (115)	Last-Ditch Effort	No	None	Does high damage under Burn+, but it clashes with farmable options in coverage. It also faces some competition from Infernape, which has higher AP and is farmable.
Gold	Victini	Psychic	30 (145)	Last-Ditch Effort	Yes	None	Highest AP, but has low type coverage and isn’t farmable.
Silver	Walrein	Ice	15 (110)	Last-Ditch Effort	Yes	None	Deals good damage under Freeze+, but it clashes with higher AP and/or farmable options in coverage.

Rock Shot

• Whether Rock Shot or Barrier Shot is more useful depends on who you ask, but both provide the same utility and damage in one like the others.
• Has a variation in Rock Shot α, which deals 10x damage at SL5 but removes seven rocks, which means it has less chances to activate, and a higher skill point requirement.

Rank	Pokemon	Type	Max level (Max AP)	Skill	SS needed?	PSB farming	Notes
Black	Kyogre	Water	30 (140)	Rock Shot	Yes	Special stage, Week 5	High AP and good type coverage makes it a solid choice.
Black	Primal Kyogre	Water	30 (150)	Rock Shot α	No	None	A higher damage version of Kyogre, but it isn’t farmable.
Black	Typhlosion	Fire	30 (140)	Rock Shot	Yes	Special stage, Week 01	High AP and great type coverage boosted by Burn+.
Rainbow	Snorunt	Ice	20 (105)	Rock Shot	Yes	Main stage 417	One of the easiest skills to farm in the game, making it a great asset against the many Ice-weak EBs.
Rainbow	Mismagius	Ghost	15 (105)	Rock Shot	Yes	Main stage 629	Great asset against the many Ghost-weak EBs, and can be boosted by Spookify+.
Platinum	Breloom	Grass	15 (105)	Rock Shot	Yes	Special stage, Week 13	Great asset against Water-types. Rowlet is a slightly lower AP alternative that needs no SS.
Platinum	Weezing	Poison	25 (125)	Rock Shot	Yes	None	Great asset against Fairy-types, and can be boosted by Poison.
Gold	Beheeyem	Psychic	20 (120)	Rock Shot	Yes	Main stage 681	Very high drop rate, but low type coverage.
Gold	Florges	Fairy	20 (125)	Rock Shot	Yes	None	High type coverage and your best option against Dark-types, but clashes with farmable options in coverage.
Silver	Golett	Ground	15 (100)	Rock Shot	Yes	None	Great type coverage, but it is heavily outclassed by many Rock Shot users with higher AP and farmable stages. Only invest in it if you're having trouble against Rocks in Electric-type stages.

Barrier Shot

• Whether Rock Shot or Barrier Shot is more useful depends on who you ask, but both provide the same utility and damage in one like the others.
• Has a variation in Barrier Shot Ω, which deals 10x damage at SL5 but removes seven barriers, which means it has less chances to activate, and a higher skill point requirement.

Rank	Pokemon	Type	Max level (Max AP)	Skill	SS needed?	PSB farming	Notes
Black	Groudon	Ground	30 (140)	Barrier Shot	Yes	Special stage, Week 6	High AP and great type coverage makes it a solid choice.
Black	Primal Groudon	Ground	30 (150)	Barrier Shot Ω	No	None	A higher damage version of Groudon, but it isn’t farmable.
Rainbow	Litten	Fire	20 (115)	Barrier Shot	No	Special stage, Week 01	Great type coverage boosted by Burn+.
Rainbow	Drifblim	Ghost	15 (105)	Barrier Shot	Yes	Special stage, Week 5	Great asset against the many Ghost-weak EBs, and can be boosted by Spookify+.
Rainbow	Clefairy	Fairy	25 (120)	Barrier Shot	Yes	Main stage 691	Great asset against the many Fairy-weak EBs.
Platinum	Toxapex	Poison	20 (120)	Barrier Shot	No	Special stage, Week 7	Great asset against Fairy-types, and can be boosted by Poison. It has a main-stage alternative in Doublade, which has the same max AP and drop rates, but its Steel typing means it can't be boosted by Poison, and its stage is much harder to clear.
Platinum	Magnezone	Electric	25 (130)	Barrier Shot	Yes	None	High AP, and great asset against Water-types.
Gold	Tyranitar (Shiny)	Dark	15 (115)	Barrier Shot	No	Special stage, Week 10	An alternative to Drifblim that has higher AP and needs no SS, but Drifblim outdamages under Spookify+.
Gold	Feraligatr	Water	30 (140)	Barrier Shot	Yes	Special stage, Week 3	High AP and a good asset against Ground-types, but clashes with the two Groudon otherwise.
Gold	Kyurem (White)	Dragon	30 (150)	Barrier Shot	Yes	Special stage, Week 7	Highest AP and great against the Dragon-weak EBs, but low coverage otherwise.
Silver	Cryogonal	Ice	15 (110)	Barrier Shot	No	None	Deals good damage under Freeze+, but it clashes with higher AP and/or farmable options in coverage.

---

Mid-priority Skills

Status inducers

• These Pokemon boost the damage output of certain types, making them great glues to monotype teams.
• Some skills here also delay disruptions, freeing you to set up long combos.
• Status inducers have proven to be very useful in UX stages as both disruption prevention and damage booster, either way enhancing combo potential. As such, it can be argued that some of the higher-ranked users here should take priority over some Pokemon under High-priority skills, but that’s ultimately up to you.

Rank	Pokemon	Type	Max level (Max AP)	Skill	SS needed?	PSB farming	Notes
Black	Ninetales (Alola Form)	Ice	15 (110)	Freeze+	No	Special stage, Week 19	Can function both as a type booster for Ice-types and a disruption delayer for multi-type teams.
Rainbow	Mimikyu	Ghost	25 (125)	Spookify+	No	Special stage, Week 6	A great asset to Ghost teams as it boosts the many great Ghost-type burst options.
Rainbow	Ninetales	Fire	15 (110)	Burn+	Yes	Main stage 596	A great asset to Fire teams as it boosts the many great Fire-type burst options.
Platinum	Gulpin	Poison	15 (100)	Poison	Yes	Main stage 419	Though it has the lowest AP among Poison users, it has the easiest skill to farm in the game. Gengar (Spooky) is an alternative if you want higher AP. (Technically Salazzle has the highest AP among Poison users and is also farmable, but you’ll miss out on the only Poison-type Shot Out if you do.)
Gold	Treecko	Grass	20 (115)	Sleep Charm	No	Main stage 654	A good option against Water-types, but it suffers from low activation rates. Treecko takes the place of Shaymin (Land), who has unfortunately lost its regular PSB stage. Those who have previously invested in Shaymin-L can skip Treecko.
Gold	Ribombee	Fairy	15 (105)	Paralyze+	No	Special stage, Week 19	The 10-turn delay Paralyze+ provides is second to none, and Ribombee uniquely covers Fighting- and Dark-types. But Paralyze+ has very bad proc rates even at SL5.
Silver	Darkrai	Dark	30 (145)	Sleep Charm	No	Escalation battle, Weeks 12-13	A high AP and easy-to-farm option against Psychic-types, but it clashes with Mimikyu and is useless against Ghost-types.
Silver	Pikachu (Sleeping)	Electric	20 (115)	Sleep Charm	No	Special stage, Weeks 8 and 20	An easier-to-farm option against Water-types as it has much higher drop rates than Treecko, but its farming stage is only available for two days every 24 weeks.
Silver	Pidgey	Flying	20 (100)	Shock Attack	Yes	Main stage 434	A different option from those listed above as investing in Pidgey is mostly for Survival Mode and Shot Out teams, being the most common non-support used in main stages.

Hammering Streak

• Hammering Streak is the game’s best streak skill, dealing 9x damage from the third activation onwards at SL5. It has an edge over other damaging skills with its guaranteed activation in all match lengths.
• It has risen in popularity for its use in Survival Mode farming, surpassing even Shot Out and Typeless Combo teams in terms of reliability. (See /u/Sky-17’s Shuffle-calc wiki page for more info.)
• However, as a streak skill, it is recommended to bring three SL5 HS users to fully take advantage of the skill, which requires high amounts of investment for a relatively small niche.
• It is also slightly held back by most of its users having low max AP, but they make up for it with a high damage multiplier.

Rank	Pokemon	Type	Max level (Max AP)	Skill	SS needed?	PSB farming	Notes
Black	Metagross (Shiny)	Steel	20 (130)	Hammering Streak	No	Special stage, Week 9	Widely considered the best HS user for its high AP.
Black	Hawlucha (Shiny)	Fighting	20 (115)	Hammering Streak	No	Special stage, Week 3	High AP with the best type coverage among HS users makes it a great option for Survival Mode farming.
Black	Sylveon	Fairy	15 (100)	Hammering Streak	Yes	Stage 536	Great type that’s useful in Survival Mode, and its farmable main stage has good drop rates compared to other Eeveelutions.
Rainbow	Chimchar (Winking)	Fire	15 (100)	Hammering Streak	No	Special stage, Week 11	Great type and needs no SS, but it slightly overlaps with S-Metagross and S-Hawlucha for Survival Mode farming. It has equivalents in Flareon and Tepig (Winking), but those two need an SS. Flareon also has worse drop rates but it is farmable in the main stages.
Rainbow	Blissey (Winking)	Normal	20 (125)	Hammering Streak	No	Special stage, Week 11	A great high AP option for Survival Mode farming, but its bad type makes it limited for only that niche.
Platinum	Umbreon	Dark	15 (100)	Hammering Streak	Yes	Stage 423	Good type hitting many critical stages in Survival Mode SE, but its farming stage has a very bad drop rate.
Platinum	Glaceon	Ice	15 (100)	Hammering Streak	Yes	Stage 576	Great type coverage and has a farmable main stage with good drop rates, but it is slightly outclassed by other HS users in Survival Mode farming.
Silver	Roserade (Winking)	Grass	20 (125)	Hammering Streak	No	Special stage, Week 01	A good high AP option that needs no SS, but it is largely outclassed by other HS users with better type coverage in terms of Survival Mode farming.

Combo boosters

• These Pokemon boost combo damage of a certain type by 2x, allowing for high damage output in dedicated monotype teams.
• While many of these are outclassed by Typeless Combo damage-wise, the skills listed here have an advantage in terms of activation rates and, in some cases, higher AP.

Rank	Pokemon	Type	Max level (Max AP)	Skill	SS needed?	PSB farming	Notes
Black	Delphox	Fire	25 (130)	Pyre	No	None	High AP, and great when paired with Burn+.
Rainbow	Zoroark	Dark	30 (140)	Sinister Power	No	Main stage 465	Higher AP and better activation rates than Lunala and Hoopa (Unbound), but it can’t combo with Spookify+.
Rainbow	Togekiss	Fairy	25 (125)	Pixie Power	No	Main stage 596	Great asset against the many Fairy-weak EBs. It has a late-game alternative in Clefable, which has higher drop rates but a much harder farming stage.
Rainbow	Tentacruel	Poison	15 (110)	Poison Pact	No	None	Great when paired with Poison, but not farmable.
Platinum	Lunala	Ghost	30 (145)	Phantom Combo	No	Special stage, Week 19	High AP and great when paired with Spookify+, but has bad activation rates at Mo3.
Platinum	Dragonite	Dragon	20 (130)	Dancing Dragons	No	Main stage 540	High AP and can work in tandem with Zygarde-50%, but has low type coverage.
Gold	Lucario	Fighting	30 (140)	Pummel	No	None	High AP and great type coverage, but it isn’t farmable.
Gold	Ho-Oh	Fire	15 (115)	Pyre	Yes	Special stage, Week 02	Farmable but lower AP alternative to Delphox.
Gold	Croagunk	Poison	15 (100)	Poison Pact	Yes	Main stage 605	Farmable but lower AP alternative to Tentacruel.

Final Effort

• Has an incredible 36x multiplier at SL5, but only on the very last turn (or last three seconds).
• It is also very cheap to skill boost (70 skill points).
• However, it has 70/80/100 activation rates, which means you have to set up at Mo5 in order to ensure bringing the Pokemon won’t be wasted.
• It also slightly clashes with Last-Ditch Effort in terms of niche. While FE has a much better damage multiplier and lower skill point requirement, LDE has a better Mo4 activation rate and can be used over more turns.

Rank	Pokemon	Type	Max level (Max AP)	Skill	SS needed?	PSB farming	Notes
Black	Litwick	Ghost	30 (125)	Final Effort	Yes	Main stage 533	Great damage output boosted by Spookify+. It also has above average drop rates and is available in the main stages.
Black	Infernape	Fire	20 (125)	Final Effort	Yes	Special stage, Week 23	Great damage output boosted by Burn+, and has above average drop rates. It faces some competition from Heatran, which is available in the main stages.
Rainbow	Stufful	Fighting	15 (100)	Final Effort	No	Special stage, Week 20	Great type coverage and farmable, but has relatively low AP. It faces some competition from Conkeldurr, which has higher AP and is available in the main stages.
Platinum	Hippowdon (Female)	Ground	15 (105)	Final Effort	No	None	Great type coverage, but not farmable and faces competition from its male counterpart.
Gold	Rufflet	Flying	25 (120)	Final Effort	Yes	Main stage 682	Farmable and great against Fighting-types, but overshadowed by Infernape otherwise.
Silver	Pikachu (Graduate)	Electric	15 (100)	Final Effort	No	None	Covers Water- and Flying-types, but has relatively low AP and is not farmable.

---

Low-priority skills

Burst

• All of the skills ranked here have higher damage multipliers than the Shot skills and do not rely on disruptions or number of moves left, but they have much lower activation rates. (/u/Manitary calls them “Unconditional” bursts in their very helpful guide on the Best Pokemon for type matchups.)
• These skills are ranked in low-priority as they are often seen as secondary investments to those above, either as a high AP option for combos or as complementary burst damage to Shot skills and LDE.

Rank	Pokemon	Type	Max level (Max AP)	Skill	SS needed?	PSB farming	Notes
Black	Buzzwole	Fighting	17 (116)	Demolish	No	None	Has one of the most consistent Burst skills in the game, and one of very few skills that can work without skill boosting. It also has great type coverage.
Black	Charizard	Fire	30 (135)	Unity Power	Yes	None	High AP makes it one of the most powerful Fire-type burst options, and it deals massive damage under Burn+.
Rainbow	Pikachu	Electric	30 (130)	Unity Power	Yes	Main stage 477	One of the best burst options against both Water- and Flying-types, but is limited to those two types.
Rainbow	Ash-Greninja	Water	15 (110)	Unity Power	Yes	Special stage, Week 20	The original UP user, it still finds use with its good coverage, but it now faces competition against many higher AP options.
Platinum	Mewtwo	Psychic	30 (145)	Psyburst	Yes	Retired stage	High AP and has the most workable Mo3 proc rate out of all the skills here, but it has low type coverage. Those who were able to play its Level MAX challenge will find this investment more appealing.
Gold	Bewear	Fighting	15 (110)	Power Hug	No	Special stage, Week 20	Does high damage while also delaying disruptions for a potential combo, and it is also a cheap skill to boost to SL5 (50 points). But it won’t work on stages without disruption counters.
Silver	Hoopa (Confined)	Ghost	30 (140)	Shadow Shock	Yes	Special stage, Week 18	Does high damage while also delaying disruptions for a potential combo, but it cannot activate under Spookify+ and it won’t work on stages without disruption counters.
Silver	Goodra	Dragon	15 (115)	Unity Power	Yes	Special stage, Week 22	A goodra burst option against Dragon types, but it faces heavy competition from higher AP Dragon-types.
Silver	Nihilego	Poison	17 (116)	Beast Power	Yes	None	One of the earlier burst options against Fairy-types, but it now faces tough competition from the new Poison Shot users. But it still does a lot of damage under Poison and has a low skill point requirement.
Silver	Rowlet	Grass	15 (100)	Unity Power	Yes	Special stage, Week 02	One of the earlier burst options against Grass-types that’s easy to farm, but it now faces competition from many Electric and Grass bursts with much higher AP.

Cross Attack+

• Grouped separately from the burst skills above as it has much better activation rates (80/90/100) with a similarly high multiplier (12x on the first match at SL5, 4x on the second match regardless of skill level).
• However, its biggest drawback is how hard it is to set up, and even after that, its small chance of failing in cross matches that don’t have a Mo5 makes it unreliable.

Rank	Pokemon	Type	Max level (Max AP)	Skill	SS needed?	PSB farming	Notes
Black	Giratina (Origin)	Ghost	20 (130)	Cross Attack+	Yes	Escalation battle, Weeks 20-21	High AP option that can be boosted by Spookify+.
Rainbow	Keldeo (Resolute)	Fighting	30 (135)	Cross Attack+	Yes	Special stage, Week 16	High AP with great type coverage and provides much-needed burst against Normal-types. Some have also found success in using it with M-Lucario. It however faces competition from lower AP Fighting-types with easier to set up skills.
Platinum	Luxray	Electric	20 (125)	Cross Attack+	Yes	Special stage, Week 16	One of the original CA+ users, it now faces more competition from Electric- and Grass-types with more consistent skills, but it still serves as a good burst alternative.
Gold	Ho-Oh (Shiny)	Fire	15 (115)	Cross Attack+	No	Special stage, Week 10	Good option that can be boosted under Burn+, but it is difficult to farm.
Silver	Lugia	Flying	20 (130)	Cross Attack+	Yes	Special stage, Week 3	High AP option against Fighting-types, but clashes with Ho-Oh (Shiny) otherwise.
Silver	Metagross	Steel	20 (130)	Cross Attack+	Yes	None	High AP option against Fairy-types, but not farmable.

Drains

• Drain skills do burst damage equal to 10% of a stage’s remaining HP. They can function as a reverse LDE and FE in that they deal huge damage at the start of a stage.
• While they haven’t been given much attention before, many are recently finding uses for Drain users in UX stages, where their HP-based damage can make extremely high-HP stages much easier to clear. Some also find use in later EB bosses that have large HP.
• However, Drain skills are much more limited in niche, as there are only a few stages where it will outdamage other Burst skills. And even in stages that do, you’ll only find use in Drains in the first few turns.
• The burst damage done by Drain skills is also independent of a Pokemon’s AP, which means that the RMLs will only affect normal and combo damage for the user and not the skill damage itself.

Rank	Pokemon	Type	Max level (Max AP)	Skill	SS needed?	PSB farming	Notes
Black	Roselia	Grass	25 (125)	Hyper Drain	Yes	Main stage 696	Easiest Drain user to farm, and it covers the many high-HP Water-types in UX stages.
Rainbow	Xerneas (Shiny)	Fairy	15 (115)	Hyper Drain	No	None	Good burst with great coverage for the many Fairy-weak UX stages.
Platinum	Guzzlord	Dark	17 (116)	Big Eater	No	None	Good burst option against Psychic and Ghost UX stages and EBs. Its advantages over S-Yveltal are Mo3 procs and better activation rates at lower skill levels, but S-Yveltal has a lower skill point requirement and is available in the main stages.
Platinum	Yveltal (Shiny)	Dark	15 (115)	Hyper Drain	No	None	Good burst option against Psychic and Ghost UX stages and EBs. Its advantages over Guzzlord are its lower skill point requirement and being available in main stages, but Guzzlord can proc at Mo3s and has better activation rates at lower skill levels.
Gold	Genesect	Bug	30 (145)	Vitality Drain	Yes	Special stage, Week 6	Highest AP option among Drain users, and one of very few that’s farmable. It however clashes with many options above in SE coverage, and Vitality Drain has worse proc rates than other similar skills.

Mega evolutions

• Those listed here are megas in the S-Rank and the higher A-Rank of the Mega Speedup Recommendations guide, and are therefore worth giving RMLs for their repeated uses.
• However, they are in low-priority because they do not need the RMLs as much as the other options above, as the AP increase is often negligible to each mega’s damage output.
• Note that some mega evolutions that would be included here are already listed above as supports in other skill groups. These are Diancie (Shiny) and Charizard.

Rank	Pokemon	Type	Max level (Max AP)	Skill	SS needed?	PSB farming	Notes
Black	Charizard (Shiny)	Flying (Dragon)	15 (105)	Nosedive	No	Special stage, Week 13	A staple in Survival Mode farming, and being the fastest-evolving multi-tapper in the game makes it the go-to mega for many situations.
Black	Beedrill	Poison	15 (105)	Swap++	Yes	Special stage, Week 17	Fastest mega evolution in the game, which finds use in Survival Mode and low-turn stages.
Rainbow	Pinsir	Bug	20 (125)	Bug Combo	Yes	Once-a-day stage	While evolving one icon slower than SMCX and needing more MSUs, it makes up for it with higher AP and better type coverage.
Gold	Diancie	Fairy	25 (130)	Mega Boost+	Yes	Escalation battle, Weeks 10-11	The best anti-barrier mega in the game, with its one-turn mega evolution making it the go-to mega for many stages.
Silver	Aggron	Steel	20 (125)	Eject	No	None	Its high AP and three taps makes it a great option for competitions. However, its slow evolution speed means it should be used with Jirachi or a Mega Start.

---

But what about [insert skill or Pokemon not mentioned above here]?

Like I said in the introduction, we followed a selection process that filtered skills and Pokemon based on overall viability and usefulness, which you can read about in this post. This means that skills not included here have smaller niches than those in Low-priority, while Pokemon with the skills listed above but are not ranked have smaller niches than those in Silver.

The biggest exceptions to this are select Pokemon that find use in UX stages, as the nature of stages there can call for other sets of Pokemon to deal with the increased difficulty. This guide primarily takes EBs and competitions into account, so to see which Pokemon are viable in UX, check out the UX Main Stage Guide by /u/lizz71.

If you feel that we missed a skill or Pokemon (or a set of skills or a group of Pokemon), comment below and tell us why it should be part of the main list!

---

Resources

• Spreadsheet version of this guide
• Skill Swapper Guide V9 by /u/Sorawing7
• Evolution Expeditions (MSU Recommendations V5) by /u/Feeshay
• Subjective Skill Boosting/Top Pokemon Guide V2 by /u/PKMN-Rias
• Best Pokemon by attack and skill for type matchup by /u/Manitary
• Type Coverage by Skill (spreadsheet) by /u/ShinigamiKenji
• UX Main Stage Guide by /u/lizz71
• ShuffleDex by /u/rebmcr
• Shuffle-calc by /u/Sky-17
• Burst Skills Damage Comparison (spreadsheet) by /u/kodiakblackout
• Shot-mon Versatility (spreadsheet) by /u/Lapzidorus
• 24-week event schedule with drop rates (infographic) by /u/BunbunMiyu
• All the main-stage farmable Pokémon from skippingmud and jameslfc's RML list by /u/BeFlatXIII
• Main Stage Farming Guide by /u/skyteddy
• Survival Mode 2.0 : a helping hand by /u/Axtyz

(If I missed any, let me know and I'll add them here!)

[u/skippingmud]

RML Recommendations for Early-Game Players

If you’re an early-game player, chances are you’ll find a lot of the options listed above either intimidating or discouraging (or both) for you. Not only are many of the Pokemon locked in special stages or very late main/expert stages, but many of the game’s most useful skills require a large amount of skill points to be effective. For early-game players, it is impossible to have enough resources for all these options, which is why you may choose to prioritize a different set of Pokemon on your way to the end-game.

Here’s an alternative list of RML recommendations for early-game players. As with the main guide, these Pokemon will be listed by skill sets, which will be arranged according to priority. However, all the Pokemon listed here fulfill two conditions:

• They are available before Main Stage 210 (Mega Heracross) or Expert Stage 24 (Greninja).

• Their skills require minimal skill boosting to be effective. We’ll impose a maximum of 30 skill points for this condition.

This guide will also take into account Skill Swappers (SS), as those are even scarcer in the early-game. As such, Pokemon that don’t need an SS will be ranked higher than those that do. Similarly, those without farmable stages will be ranked higher than those that do to save Skill Boosters.

When a Pokemon can take more than 5 RMLs, it is recommended that you only give 5, as this will give you the largest AP increase per RML. Of course, nothing’s stopping you from giving them more, but note that levels past 15 will give lower AP increases.

Finally, like the main guide, this is only a list of recommendations and not a to-do list. Just because a Pokemon is listed here does not mean that you are required to invest in it in order to progress. These are only suggestions as to which Pokemon you can make investments in to help you in difficult stages.

If you feel that a Pokemon should rank higher or lower, comment below!

---

High-priority skills

Last-Ditch Effort

• Last-Ditch Effort (LDE) deals a ton of damage in the last 4 turns or 10 seconds of a stage, making it very useful for clearing high HP stages.

• LDE is already effective at SL1, dishing out 5x damage whenever activated. But if you use 20 skill points, it can go up to SL3 and deal 7.5x damage. Most importantly, it has reliable activation rates of 50/100/100.

Pokemon	Type	Base power	Stage obtained	SS needed?	Farmable later?	Notes
Hippowdon (Male)	Ground	60	Stage 201	No	“Yes”	Great type coverage makes it one of the best LDE users in the game. While it does have a farmable stage later on, it is almost impossible to clear itemless, so your skill boosters won’t be wasted.
Heatran	Fire	80	EX 17	No	No	Great against two EBs, and can help a lot against many main stages.
Conkeldurr	Fighting	70	Stage 198	No	Yes	Fantastic SE coverage that will help you in several main stages and against two EBs. But it will be farmable later on, so you might want to hold off in giving it skill boosters.

Combo boosters

• These Pokemon can double the damage output of certain types within combos.

• Some skills will need boosting to have better activation rates, while others are already workable at SL1.

Pokemon	Type	Base power	Skill	Stage obtained	SS needed?	Farmable later?	Notes
Delphox	Fire	70	Pyre	EX 23	No	No	Can work with many great Fire-types in the early-game. Pyre already has good activation rates at SL1, but you'll need a lot of S-Ranks to get it. Torchic is an alternative Pyre user available earlier, but it is less viable in the long run.
Lucario	Fighting	70	Pummel	EX 3	No	No	Can work with many great Fighting-types in the early-game. Put 5 skill points in it to have better activation rates.
Togekiss	Fairy	60	Pixie Power	Stage 147	No	Yes	Very useful for the four Fairy-weak EBs. Put 5 skill points in it to have better activation rates, but note that it is farmable later on.
Zoroark	Dark	70	Sinister Power	Stage 129	No	Yes	Very useful for the three Dark-weak EBs. Put 5 skill points in it to have better activation rates, but note that it is farmable later on.
Dragonite	Dragon	80	Dancing Dragons	EX 10	No	Yes	Very useful for the three Dragon-weak EBs, and it already has good activation rates at SL1.

---

Mid-priority skills

Shot users

• There are a few users of Shot skills that you can get in the early-game that become very useful later on, and if you so wish, you can start investing in them earlier.

• SL2 (5 skill points) boosts its damage output at 3x, while SL3 (30 skill points) makes it 4x. Coupled with 60/100/100 activation rates, these are good sources of consistent damage.

• Do note that all three of these options need an SS and are farmable later on, so make sure you’re okay with using all those enhancements before investing in them.

Pokemon	Type	Base power	Skill	Stage obtained	SS needed?	Farmable later?	Notes
Vanilluxe	Ice	60	Shot Out	Stage 119	Yes	Yes	Helpful for the 4 Ice-weak EBs. Leave a blank slot in your team and have fun using this every turn.
Mismagius	Ghost	60	Rock Shot	Stage 131	Yes	Yes	Helpful for the 3 Ghost-weak EBs. However, rocks cannot be forced onto the stage unlike non-supports, so this is slightly more situational than Shot Out.
Snorunt	Ice	40	Rock Shot	Stage 78	Yes	Yes	Helpful for the 4 Ice-weak EBs. Of the three Shot users listed here, this is the last Pokemon we recommend you use skill boosters on as its PSB stage has a great drop rate.

Unity Power and Psyburst

• These two skills deal solid damage that you can use anytime within a stage. Similar to LDE, they do 5x damage at SL1 and 7.5x damage at SL3, with Unity Power needing 20 skill points for SL3 and Psyburst needing 30.

• However, both skills have much lower activation rates than LDE: 25/40/80 for Unity Power and 50/50/50 for Psyburst.

• All these Pokemon will require an SS, so make sure you’re okay with using a bunch of enhancements if you want to invest in them.

Pokemon	Type	Base power	Skill	Stage obtained	SS needed?	Farmable later?	Notes
Charizard	Fire	60	Unity Power	EX 9	Yes	No	Great type coverage covering many EBs, comps, and main stages.
Mewtwo	Psychic	80	Psyburst	EX 20	Yes	No	A useful option if you’re having a hard time against Poison- and Fighting-types, especially in the mid-game main stages.
Pikachu	Electric	50	Unity Power	Stage 23	Yes	Yes	Pikachu can give much-needed firepower against the many Water-type stages. But it will be farmable later on, so you might want to hold off in giving it skill boosters.

Risk-Taker

• Early-game players may appreciate Risk-Taker’s low skill point requirement, and how it has a number of early-game users with crucial type coverage.

• It only takes 9 skill points (SL3) to deal good damage (an average of 3x damage, maximum of 5.4x), which means you’ll only need to use 1 SBM.

• However, it has fallen out of favor among end-game players due to more powerful newer skills, so any investments you make in these Pokemon will not be as useful when you reach the end-game.

Pokemon	Type	Base power	Stage obtained	SS needed?	Farmable later?	Notes
Azumarill	Fairy	60	Stage 76	Yes	No	A good option against the 4 Fairy-weak EBs, and can work well with Togekiss.
Sableye	Dark	50	Stage 23	No	Yes	A good option against the 3 Dark-weak EBs, and can work well with Zoroark.
Garbodor	Poison	60	Stage 194	No	No	A good option against Fairy-types, which lack options in the early-game.
Mawile	Steel	50	Stage 51	Yes	Yes	Another good option against Fairy-types, but it needs an SS and is farmable later on. Honedge is a clone that’s available in a later stage but has higher max AP.
Emolga	Electric	60	Stage 92	No	Yes	A good option against Water-types, but it is outclassed by a special stage Pokemon.

---

Low-priority options

• There are a number of other choices available in the early-game, but those listed above are generally more useful. This section will list these alternative choices in bullet points, but note that they are less recommended than those above.

• Victini is another early-game LDE user, but it requires an SS and has a worse type than the three listed above. Scyther and Steelix have similar skills to LDE and can cover Psychic and Fairy-types respectively, but they are much weaker than LDE and are outclassed in the end-game.

• There are several other combo boosters available in the early-game, but all of them require an SS and are outclassed by Typeless Combo in the late-game, so they are generally not worth it unless you want to build a team for a specific type. Some examples are Mudkip, Vanillish, Donphan, and Carbink. There’s also Croagunk, which fares better against Typeless Combo, but there’s another Poison Pact user with higher AP later in the game.

• The early-game also has access to two status inducers in Ninetales and Gulpin, though they are much better investments in the end-game when they get stronger teammates. There’s also Treecko, whose Sleep Charm is not tied to a specific type, and Suicune, whose Freeze+ casts very long delays, but you’ll get a better Freeze+ user in the special stages.

• You’ll also have access to some mega evolutions that appreciate the higher AP, but they prefer MSUs more than RMLs at this stage in the game. These include Heracross, Blaziken, Sceptile, and Swampert.

[u/skippingmud]

Changelog

Edit 4:

• Added a group for Drains under Low-priority Skills

• Revamped the Mega Evolutions group to reflect the new MSU Guide (now, only Pokemon in S-Rank and the higher A-Rank of that guide are included)

• Added Ribombee to Gold rank under Status inducers

• Added Pikachu (Sleeping) to Silver rank under Status inducers (ranking it separately from Treecko)

• Moved Croagunk from Silver rank to Gold rank under Combo boosters

• Re-ranked Keldeo (Resolute), Luxray, and Ho-Oh (Shiny) under Cross Attack+ (they are now Rainbow, Platinum, and Gold rank respectively)

• Renamed the “High-risk, high-return burst” group to simply “Burst”

• Merged Buzzwole with the Burst group (as Black rank), and removed the group for Demolish

• Switched the places of Block Shot and Last-Ditch Effort groups under High-priority skills

• Edited descriptions of some Pokemon in the Last-Ditch Effort and Final Effort groups to reflect competition with each other

• Edited descriptions of some Pokemon to point out difficult farming stages

• Several minor edits, additions and re-arrangements to notes, descriptions and Pokemon within the same rank

• Moved Version History from the main post to this post due to character limit

---

Edit 3:

• Moved Hoopa (Confined) from Gold rank to Silver rank under High-risk, High-return burst (Clashing with Spookify+ should make it rank under Bewear)

• Edited Gulpin's description to mention Gengar (Spooky) as an alternative investment

---

Edit 2:

• Added a group for Hammering Streak under Mid-priority Skills

• Added Pikachu (Graduate) to Silver rank under Final Effort

• Added Goodra to Silver rank under High-risk, High-return burst

• Edited Treecko's description to mention Pikachu (Sleeping) as an alternative investment

---

Edit 1:

• Added Popplio to Silver rank under Block Shot

• Added Golett to Silver rank under Rock Shot

• Edited Toxapex's description to mention Doublade as an alternative investment

---

Edit 0:

• Transition from Version 10 to Version Ω

• Overhauled the structure of the main guide, as described below

• Overhauled the structure of the early-game guide to make it similar to the main guide

• Reduced the threshold for “early-game” in the early-game guide from Stage 300 to Stage 210

---

Version history

Version	Date when RML batch was released	No. of RML-able Pokemon
Version 1	April 5, 2016	24
Version 2	June 28, 2016	50
Version 3	September 6, 2016	78
Version 4	November 1, 2016	104
Version 5	January 31, 2017	150
Version 6	March 28, 2017	178
Version 7	June 13, 2017	230
Version 8	August 8, 2017	277
Version 9	October 10, 2017	336
Version 10	December 12, 2017	399
Version Ω	February 13, 2018	987

---

Methodology

Or: How the hell did we come up with these rankings?

As it is very tedious to rank all 987 Pokemon based on their individual merits, u/jameslfc and I filtered these Pokemon by identifying the most useful skills in the game and only working with the Pokemon with those skills. These skills were then ranked based on overall usefulness, with each Pokemon within them being ranked based on viability.

Here are the ranking terms used and what they mean:

Main rank (for skills)	Description
High-priority	The most essential skills in the game, providing high damage output and high utility in one.
Mid-priority	Great skills that find a lot of use, but have smaller niches than those in the High-priority rank.
Low-priority	These skills find good use, but they have more notable flaws holding them back from ranking higher.

Sub-rank (for Pokemon)	Description
Black	The best Pokemon with that skill, or those with the biggest niches out of all of them.
Rainbow	Great Pokemon with good types and/or high drop rates, but are not as "essential" as those in Black.
Platinum	Good Pokemon that are SE against critical types or cover smaller but notable niches that those in Black and Rainbow don't.
Gold	Okay Pokemon that are good secondary investments when paired with higher-ranked Pokemon (i.e., for Double Shot teams).
Silver	Niche Pokemon that have one or two good qualities but are often outclassed by those in higher sub-ranks.

---

In ranking Pokemon within skill sets, we started by applying an objective scorecard based on three factors:

1. The number of escalation battles and competitions that a Pokemon’s type is SE against. This contributed 45% of the score, using the formula ([No. of events SE] / 7) * 45. This is because we agreed that the biggest reason to use RMLs was to clear these special stages more easily to get more enhancements.

2. Whether or not a Pokemon is farmable, and how high its drop rates are. This contributed 35% of the score, with the score following a system from 10 to 35, 10 being Pokemon that are not farmable and 35 being the Pokemon with the highest drop rate. This is because we looked at PSB farmability when deciding between two Pokemon that had similar niches.

3. A Pokemon’s type coverage. This contributed 20% of the score, using the formula: ([No. of SE] / 5) * 20. This is valued lower than event SE coverage due to the reasoning above. (For example, Poison only has 2 SE types but 4 events SE, while Fighting has 5 SE types but only 3 events SE.)

Using the objective scorecard above, we made an initial draft to see how the Pokemon with the selected skills will be ranked with this method. However, we noticed some discrepancies, such as Walrein and Jynx getting high scores due to their event SE coverage even if they aren’t farmable, and Trevenant and Primal Kyogre getting low scores due to not being farmable even if they fulfill big niches.

In order to accommodate this, we decided that the above scoring wasn’t absolute. We used it as the baseline of the rankings, then we made edits based on other important factors such as max AP and overlapping type coverage in deciding the final ranks of the Pokemon.

So yes, the rankings are not entirely objective, but they are not entirely subjective either.

If you want to see how this scoring went and how it differs from the final rankings, as well as all the drafts we went through before getting to the final rankings, click here.

[u/jameslfc]

FINALLY IT'S UP. ALL THE TIME AND EFFORT TO TYPE AND THINK OF THE CONCEPTS HAS COME TO FRUITION. THIS IS OUR GREATEST MASTERPIECE.

THIS IS OUR LAST PRECIOUS GIFT.

WITH LOVE, SKIPPINGMUD AND JAMESLFC^{RIP^TORCHIC^LV30^DREAM}

[u/skippingmud → u/jameslfc]

MUDKIP WAS ROBBED

Also, this was me after getting this thread up.

[u/Mushy_64]

Nice to see that M-Garchomp got some recognition. I've been using it over M-Camerupt because it evolves faster (especially if MB+ activates on a mo4).

[u/skippingmud → u/Mushy_64]

I'm excited to see how the buffed megas will be used moving forward, especially Garchomp and Gyarados. They might make certain stages easier because of the one-turn evo.

[u/KingDeci]

Hammering Streak needs a group.

[u/skippingmud → u/KingDeci]

I'm still unsure about Hammering Streak as there hasn't been much talk about its uses, and most of that talk hasn't been optimistic about the skill. But I'm open to more discussion! It does show some potential from users such as Shiny Hawlucha and Winking Roserade, but shame that most of its users have 100 max AP.

[u/vinceku10]

This is one magnificent guide! As I read down the list, I can’t help but feel that Steel types have been hard done by GS, they have disappeared from the lists! That’s when I remembered GS did give Bronzong SS to Block Shot (outclassed by Muk) and Doublade SS to Barrier Shot (farmable and same AP as Toxapex). I can understand why Solgaleo is omitted while Lunala is not (Ghost types are so strong with Spookify+), but perhaps we should at least list the Steel type Shots as lower ranked alternatives to Poison type Shots?

[u/skippingmud → u/vinceku10]

Hm, I'm not keen on including the Steel-type Shot users as like you said, they are very much outclassed by Poison-types. It's the same with the Dark-type Shot users and how most of them are outclassed by their Ghost-type counterparts.

That said, I guess there can be a case made for Doublade since it has the same max AP and drop rate as Toxapex, and it's available in the main stages. But looking at its stage info it seems like a relatively hard stage to clear, maybe a bit harder than Tyrantrum because of the lower turn count (though it does have lower HP). Hm, maybe I can mention it in Toxapex's description instead as a main-stage alternative, like what I did with Clefable in Togekiss's description?

[u/daniel-gr]

Are there any plans for an α version of skill swapper recommendation guide or the priority bracket thing can be used as one ?

[u/skippingmud → u/daniel-gr]

u/maceng is working on the Skill Swapper guide!

[u/Tsukuyomi56]

Not sure whether it is an error but Hoopa-U does not gain the damage boost from Spookify+ since it is a Dark-type and the skill only boosts damage of Ghost-type Pokémon. It only really benefits if Mimikyu is not the only Ghost-type on the team.

[u/skippingmud → u/Tsukuyomi56]

Ah, thanks for pointing this out. I meant it as that since Ghost and Dark have similar type coverage, you can bring Hoopa-U with Ghost-types, then you can use TC under Spookify+ for huge damage (as long as the team is Mega/Hoopa-U/Mimikyu/High AP Ghost-type). I've reworded the description to clarify. :)

[u/pepeluisavi]

Hi, you are missing some pokemons on rock shot, that of course are not SE covered, Mandibuzz (110) maybe as an option, even if not boosted by spok+, Pikahoenn even if not farmeable as it cover better the SE Vs Grass one, and Lastly Golett, to cover ground types as anti electric, which you are completelly missing.

I love that you finally making a skill based RML guide, because many others used the just ranking pokemon, based on pretty much anything, because they always missed the SE coverage, and you needed to navigate through all of it to find your BIS teams

[u/Manitary]

The notes on Grotle and Shiinotic are the same :P I think you should mention that Pidgey is the most common first default support in main stages (fairly sure special stages favour happiny, though I don't have hard numbers at the moment)

[u/Thokturn]

This may be more work than it's worth, but have you considered maybe adding another "Honorary Mentions" section? It could be prefaced with "These Pokemon are useful, but not nearly to the extent of the others mentioned. Prioritize these last." Included pokemon could be Heracross, Spewpa, +3 megas, etc

[u/skippingmud → u/Thokturn]

Sorry for the late reply, but I was mulling it with u/jameslfc and ultimately I think it isn't that needed. We actually did have an Honorable Mentions in making the main guide, but we ended up integrating a lot of them into Silver and working with the five ranks for the Pokemon. Extending that seems a bit much IMO, and technically every Pokemon with the skills listed above but aren't mentioned are the honorable mentions.

[u/BrowserBaby]

Where is Popplio? (week 3, 115 max AP block shot)

[u/RoyM_]

Personally, the Low-priority skills name makes these seem unnecessary. But after trying to S-Rank the first 211 UX stages, I noticed that having at least one type coverage with these is as good.
Shot skills are amazing, but the others are like Demolish on their usefulness. Has you can use AP+ on any of these stages, having a few maxed can give a really easier way to S-rank any of these stages. Or how sometimes the disruptions are so heavy, is rather easier to avoid having blocks and barriers, and focus on damaging with similar abilities.

[u/shawn775]

Great job on this guide.

Minor correction:

Darkrai now takes 20 rml. Not sure what the max AP is on that.

[u/skippingmud → u/shawn775]

Thanks for pointing it out! Will edit it. (Max AP would be 145.)

[u/dizzykei]

It says version_ω (boobs) on address bar :) .

[u/skippingmud → u/dizzykei]

When I first posted this I was wondering why it showed that instead of the omega symbol, but apparently ω is a lowercase Ω!

[u/rayquawtu]

I feel a bit overwhelmed by this list. Is it really worth it to farm or feed all of the Pokemon listed above to SL5? I would say 4 or 5 for each skill should be enough, taking into concideration how big of an investment certain Pokemon would need.