Having recently replayed Pokémon Sword to completion, I decided to return to and finally complete Pokémon Scarlet, as well as finish the endgame bits I missed in Pokémon Violet. I posted an article ranking all of the Pokémon generations in 2024, and now that I have finished both of generation 9’s games I can revise my list to bump them from 8th place to 7th. High praise, I know.
With my Scarlet and Violet experiences under my belt, and because I recently ranked my favourite Sword and Shield Pokémon (limited to those I used in my games), I figured why not do the same for the latest numbered generation. Without further ado, these are my six favourites added in the ninth gen!
6) Klawf
Klawf is an absolute unit and essentially carried the first three quarters of my Scarlet playthrough. Unfortunately its usefulness trailed off in the later stages of the game, particularly against the last badge of each of the three story paths and post game, but until then had been a highly reliable component of my team. I swapped it out when my Pupitar eventually evolved into Tyranitar, so with my Rock base covered with an even more powerful Rock / Dark type, Klawf found itself forced into early retirement. An absolute must-use in any trainers early adventure!
Moves – X Scissor, Rock Slide, Guillotine, Giga Impact
5) Miraidon
I always make a point of using the box Legendary in whatever new Pokémon game I am playing, and Miraidon emulates one of my favourite existing Legendary’s typing, Zekrom’s Electric / Dragon. There was a lot to like when Miraidon was eventually available for battle. I rarely found myself in a match-up where Miraidon didn’t hit first, and thanks to its Hadron Engine ability setting up Electric Terrain, its signature move Electro Drift was frequently a one hit KO. I’m a big fan of Miraidon’s design as well, and think Violet has one of the most eye-catching boxes we’ve seen in many years.
Moves – Power Gem, Electro Drift, Mirror Coat, Tera Blast
4) Grafaiai
I say all the time that Poison is my Pokémon type of choice, and was more than a little annoyed at myself that Grafaiai managed to fly completely under my radar until my second playthrough. I do think it looks like it should be a middle evolution as opposed to a final form, but owing to it lasting the entire run of my time with Scarlet since finding it early on, its effectiveness means I now understand why Grafaiai did not warrant a further evolution. Its ability, Poison Touch, meant that even in the rare instances I wasn’t using a Poison type move, it could still inflict the status condition on its opponent. I always particularly appreciated this when using U-turn due to a bad match-up, poisoning the rival Pokémon on Grafaiai’s ejection.
I’ve never liked using Normal type Pokémon so I wasn’t sure I’d stick with Grafaiai once I learned of its Poison / Normal typing, especially as I didn’t have it learn any Normal moves, but regardless of that it transpired to be a valuable part of my team.
Side note: I still have no idea how to correctly pronounce Grafaiai.
Moves – Poison Jab, U-turn, Gunk Shot, Knock Off
3) Revavroom
To continue extolling the virtues of my favourite type, Poison Pokémon don’t get better in generation 9 than the Steel / Poison Revavroom. Designing a Pokémon to essentially mirror Christine, a haunted Plymouth Fury from the 1983 film of the same name, is an absolutely wild concept I am so happy to see worked out positively.
In battle it’s a fast and fairly bulky poisonous beast I had a blast using, despite the fact I had no intention originally of keeping it on a team where Clodsire was already the resident Poison representation. Keeping its pre-evolved form Varoom around purely to get it through levels and sending it out to take damage while I healed other party members, it quickly became a staple after evolving, remaining on my Violet team for the rest of the run.
Moves – Poison Jab, Iron Head, Gear Shift, Spin Out
2) Meowscarada
I really hate the design of this Pokémon, but having used all three starters introduced in Scarlet and Violet, I think Meowscarada is easily the best of them in battle. Poor HP stat aside, using four different types of physical attacking moves meant it was rare I found myself in a situation where it couldn’t be effective. It confidently countered Dragon types, which otherwise would have swept my entire team, and its signature move Flower Trick always landing a critical hit was a lot more useful than the signature moves learned by its fellow starters, Skeledirge and Quaquaval. I wanted to like both of them more than Meowscarada at first, but didn’t by the end of my adventures.
Grass / Dark is such a potent combination, shared by Cacturne and Shiftry from generation 3, who were among my favourites of that generation too.
Moves – U-turn, Play Rough, Flower Trick, Night Slash
Best Pokémon of Generation 9 – Koraidon
As I said above, I always use the box Legendary for the game I’m playing, and it has been a long time since my first battle with any such Legend has made as big a first impression (outside of the story) as Koraidon. Where Violet’s Miraidon immediately worked well within my existing team, Koraidon could have succeeded at replacing my team, as immediately after it became accessible (way, way too late in the game), I never needed anything else.
Moves – Flamethrower, Collision Course, Dragon Claw, Tera Blast
Those are my picks! Let me know what your favourite Scarlet & Violet Pokémon is in the comments, and I will be back with more Pokémon themed rankings in the future; as well as a list of what I want to see from the recently announced generation 10 games, Winds and Waves, so will catch you then. Thanks for reading!
Written and edited by Alexx.
There’s No Safety in Silence.