With Pokémon Sword and Shield releasing in December, The Pokémon Company has slowly started to release more information about the games, including, most importantly, the Pokémon that will be joining us on our journeys this time around. Of course, not all Pokémon are created equal, and it’s only fair that we rank them all and make the bottom half feel bad about themselves before we even have the game in our hands. Here is the definitive ranking of every Pokémon revealed for Shield and Sword as of now.
12 Scorbunny
Scorbunny is simply the most boring Pokémon that's been revealed so far. Fire type starters usually follow a very fiery and sporty archetype that Scorbunny seems to slot into very nicely. The mold is just not being broken at all here. He's a fast boi that leaves a fiery trail in his wake, it doesn't feel very original. If this Pokémon ends up as fire/fighting God help the Pokémon Company. No more of that.
11 Eldegoss
Eldegoss is only this low on the list due to its inferiority to its pre-evolution. Gossifleur, as we’ll get into later, is fantastic. Beautiful weave, fantastic yellow buret, no one comes close. Eldegoss is a… cotton ball? The definition of a glo-down. The healing Pokémon is certainly still cute, but doesn’t even come close to its pre-evolution. It does gain a fancy little dress when evolving though, so that’s certainly something.
10 Drednaw
Chomp chomp. Drednaw, the Big Boy Bitey Man—not an official category, by the way—Pokémon is a brand new water/rock type from the Galar region. The jaw of Drednaw is said to be incredibly powerful enough to bite straight through iron. Unfortunately, Drednaws are known to be so problematic that they’re often found to be too hard to train, resulting in them being released by their trainers. We do know that the Pokémon will be used by gym leader Nessa though.
9 Impidimp
Impidimp is the Pokémon we know the absolute least about on the list so far. This dark/fairy type was revealed at E3 and looks very mischievous. His pink and purple color scheme and lil baby wings are reminiscent of someone like Sableye, and he seems to be one that will receive one or two evolutions into some sort of a much less cute monster, but only time will tell.
8 Gossifleur
As previously mentioned, this lil one-foot-tall icon has style for days. Besides the killer outfit, this Pokémon is known for being quite the little healer, with its pollen having natural effects that can cure ailments. For a weight clocking in below five pounds, quite a lot of heavy lifting is being done here.
7 Sobble
The perpetual sad boi hey-there-fellow-Millenials Sobble. This water Pokémon is one of the three starters of the Galar region. According to The Pokémon Company, this Pokémon will cry or turn invisible when threatened, which is literally the only tactic one should ever use when dealing with conflict. Unfortunately, smiling is not something we see from this creature often, so hopefully their trainers treat them with all the love in the world. They deserve it.
6 Zamazenta
You, you certainly are doing your best… aren’t you Zamazenta? The inevitable middle child of the main legendary trios, Zamazenta has a shield built into its face. Shockingly, that means Zamazenta is the box legendary of Pokémon Shield. If we’re being completely realistic here—realistic about the giant wolf that has a shield in its face—isn’t everything about Zamazenta counterintuitive? If the shield is your face… doesn’t that mean you’re still taking the attacks straight to the face? Nevermind.
5 Yamper
Do we know anything at all about this Pokémon? No, not really. Do we know that it is a corgi? Yes, we do. Do we know that we will all feature at least six of this Pokémon in our party when the game releases? Absolutely. This electric boy features an ability called Ball Fetch, which collects the first failed Pokéball thrown out. Completely useless for competitive, but adorable, so it’s absolutely okay.
4 Zacian
Oh, and here's the third consecutive dog of the list. And this one is armed! Zacian is the counterpart to Zamazenta, and he carries a sword around in its mouth at all times, which brings up many questions that no one has the time for. Anyway, this big boi is based on a wolf, just like Zamazenta, and has the same color scheme as its counterpart, making them the most similar legendary pair we’ve ever had in series history. Too bad neither of them are that good in terms of design.
3 Grookey
The best representative of the starter trio, we have the grass type Grookey. This monkey-like Pokémon can often be found carrying sticks around with him in order to practice his real dreams of playing the drums and being in a band. We’re going to force him to fight for his life as a career instead, but it’s good to have dreams, we guess. Grookey is cute, upbeat, and fun. He seems to buck some of the tendencies that starter Pokémon often follow, and he’s already the best of the three grass monkeys we have in the Pokémon world, which honestly isn’t saying much. However, he easily takes the cake as the best starter of the Galar region.
2 Corviknight
Hello, my very, very large and terrifying taxi. This 7’ 3’ monster is now the absolute queen of the steel/flying types, goodbye Skarmory. The Pokémon is said to function as a taxi for the Galar region. Who doesn’t like a taxi that constantly looks like you’ve done nothing but disappoint it your entire life? Ultimate ride Pokémon, Tauros could never be. In the Galar region, there is only one that is superior to this armored truck of a taxi.
1 Wooloo
Is there anything negative that you can say about Wooloo? You can try, but you’ll be breaking the law. Wooloo is an adorable sheep-like Pokémon that rolls away from any and all problems it encounters. Yes. Absolutely. All in. According to its description, Wooloo is a Pokémon that crave stability. The relatability. This fantastic, fluffy little Pokémon easily takes the cake as the best that that Galar region has to offer so far.