Why are Poilwrath and Poilwhirl in the same tier in gen 1?

Question

I was looking around in the Gen 1 metagame, and noticed that Poilwrath and it's pre evo are in the same tier, and BLs are in gen 1, so why is this the case?

Comments

You'll probably get a better answer if you ask here: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/rby-nu-hub.3679758/

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The information there seems not up to date, so it didn't really give me any anwsers.

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You can ask them for up to date answers.

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Most recent usage for Gen 1 NU (the tier they're in): https://gatrstats.net/2024-02/gen1nu

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My guess is that Poliwrath is held back by its slow speed that causes it to get outspeed by many common mons like Nidoking and by being Fighting-type, which makes it weak to psychic. Apparently the Polis are so good in NU that it's common to run both of them on the same team.
Here is a link to RBY NU's smogon thread where you can read about the Poli's place in RBY NU and why there are so good there.
Link: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/rby-nu-hub.3679758/

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I already linked that exact thread, and OP already posted there.

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Well i know that Special Attackers or during then high Special users were the meta back then due Psychic type being absolutely broken. They both are in the not used tier due to fighting type being somewhat a major liability.

Answer 1

Poliwhirl's lack of a psychic weakness and higher speed makes it better as a lead and revenge killer, and its fast hypnosis can scare opponents and force switches even if you don't use the actual move. Poliwrath is stronger in all of the other stats, which makes it better at switching into attacks and checking offensive Pokemon like Charizard and Nidoking. It's also better at using counter and winning 1v1s against other water Pokemon, such as Blastoise and Kabutops.
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