For you newer Pokemon fans, HMs (Hidden Machines) were TMs (Technical Machines) that helped you travel around the different regions. If you wanted to cross water, you needed a Pokemon that learned the Surf HM. If you wanted to move boulders, you needed a Pokemon that learned Strength. And if you wanted to cut down trees, you needed a Pokemon that learned Cut.
Cut is not the strongest HM out there. It could actually be considered the weakest with a base power of only 50 and no secondary effects. However, it is absolutely necessary if you want to progress through a Pokemon game released before Generation 7 or find any hidden items. So let’s see which Pokemon are a cut above when it comes to Cut!
10 Kricketune
Kricketune is not a particularly good Pokemon. While its stats and move selection leave a lot to be desired, it more than makes up for it with a cool design and one of the best cries in the series.
Kricketune is the perfect example of the type of Pokemon you want to teach Cut. You encounter it early on, it evolves quickly so it can deal some good damage, and it can learn a decent amount of HM and status moves. You probably won't keep it on your team for a long time, but it will be helpful while it's there.
9 Dragonite
Dragonite is the complete opposite of Kricketune since it evolves at a very high level and is actually good. The first Pseudo Legendary, Dragonite has an incredibly high Attack stat and a movepool that utilizes it. But it's that movepool that makes Dragonite a great HM Pokemon overall.
Dragonite can learn a whopping seven HMs, making it perfect for exploring regions in the post-game. Basically, give Dragonite every move that hasn’t been taught to your other team members. This is definitely not the best way to utilize Dragonite, but it is still an interesting option.
8 Charizard & Empoleon
Your starter is more than likely going to stick around on your team for the entire game, so why not make it your HM Pokemon? Both Charizard and Empoleon are two of the best options for the starters. Charizard can learn Cut, Fly, Strength, and Rock Smash with Dig added if you'd like to use it. Empoleon is similar, except that it learns all of the Water HMs instead of Fly.
While both of these Pokemon can be useful this way, this is not the best way to utilize Charizard or Empoleon. But if you want to focus on Pokemon other than your starter, this is not the worst way to go.
7 Nidoking & Nidoqueen
Nidoking and Nidoqueen are great HM Pokemon in general. On top of Cut, they can learn Strength, Surf, and Rock Smash. On top of this, you are very likely to run into Nidoran Male and Female early on in your journey, and it’s fairly easy to obtain a Moon Stone to eventually evolve them into their final forms.
Nidoking and Nidoqueen would be higher on this list except they aren’t able to use Cut in every generation. For some reason, they only began to learn Cut in the third Generation. If they learned it in the first two Generations, they’d be much higher.
6 Kingler & Crawdaunt
When people think of Cut, claws and blades usually come to mind. However, pincers are just as effective at cutting down trees as those previous items. Take, for example, Crawdaunt and Kingler.
Crawdaunt and Kingler are both great options when it comes to using Cut as well as a bunch of other HMs. However, these crustaceans separate themselves by focusing most of their utility on the water. Kingler can learn Cut, Surf, Strength, Whirlpool, and Rock Smash while Crawdaunt can learn the same moves as well as Waterfall. Your preference lies in the slightly different stat spreads, accessibility in the game you're playing, and which design you like more.
5 Farfetch'd
Until it got its regional form and evolution in Sword & Shield, Farfetch'd wasn't a particularly good Pokemon. Its stats aren't particularly impressive, and there are a lot of Pokemon with the same typing that are just better. While that means it isn't useful competitively, it makes it perfect for a Cut user.
Farfetch'd can learn Cut as well as another HM: Fly. These both work great for Farfetch'd since it gets a STAB boost for both of these moves. Instead of Cut only having 50 base power, it now has 75 base power. While that still isn't necessarily great, it does make it the strongest Cut on this list so far. Also, it is one of the only Pokemon that learns Cut by level-up. The other is the Ultra Beast Kartana.
4 Parasect
Parasect is basically a better version of Kricketune. Yes, it does take longer to evolve Paras into Parasect, and it's still technically not a good Pokemon, but Parasect is perfect as a Cut user.
In addition to Cut, Parasect learns Rock Smash, another weak HM. Parasect can also learn Dig which is another useful move outside of combat that brings you back to the last PokeCenter you used. But the real kicker is Spore: a status move that puts the opponent to Sleep with 100 percent accuracy. Even though Parasect is incredibly slow, these moves make it a perfect fit for this position.
3 Sandslash
Of all the Pokemon on this list, Sandslash is the one that really looks like it can use the move Cut with those massive claws at the end of its arms. And it uses those claws to great effect, making Sandslash one of the best Pokemon for traveling on land.
Sandslash can learn every single HM that is helpful on the land: Cut, Strength, Rock Smash, and Rock Climb (in the fourth Generation). It can also take full advantage of these moves with its solid 100 base Attack stat. The icing on the cake is that it can also learn Dig to transport you back to PokeCenters until you get the ability to use Fly. Really, Sandslash is a horribly underrated Pokemon when it comes to HM usage.
2 Samurott
It was mentioned earlier that you really shouldn't teach your starter Cut, especially if you want them to be on your team for the entire game. However, there is an exception to this rule: Samurott. With its stat spread and movepool, it actually becomes one of the best HM Pokemon in the game.
Samurott's attacking stats are both decently high, meaning physical and special attacks will hit for decent damage. On top of this, Samurott has access to six different HMs: Cut, Surf, Strength, Rock Smash, Waterfall, and Dive. Add on some more great utility moves like Dig and Secret Power and you have one of the most useful overworld Pokemon out there.
1 Early Route Rodents
When it comes down to it, the best Cut users are usually located right outside your hometown at the very beginning of your journey. That's right, those first-route rodents are without a doubt the best Cut users in Pokemon. Whether it's Rattata, Sentret, Zigzagoon, Bidoof, Patrat, or Bunnelby, you really cannot go wrong teaching them Cut.
That doesn't mean that there are a few standouts. Linoone is the fastest and can use the Pick Up ability to find items, Diggersby gets access to Huge Power which doubles its Attack stat, and Bibarel has access to more HMs than any other Pokemon with eight. They also all receive that STAB bonus to make Cut even stronger. Really, teaching Cut to any other Pokemon would be a mistake.