How to Get Mandibuzz in Pokemon Black 2
Name: Aron
Availability: Middle. It can be located in the Mistralton Cave, which can be accessed by surfing east of Route 6.
Stats: Aron is a slow physical attacker with amazing Defense and good Attack, but its Special Defense and Speed are lacking.
Typing: Aron maintains its Rock/Steel typing throughout its evolutionary line. It's a very hit-or-miss typing, meaning that it either takes huge damage from an attack or it completely shrugs it off.
Movepool: While it lacks a powerful Rock-type STAB move, it gets access to the reliable Iron Head upon capture and the less reliable Iron Tail soon afterwards. Protect, which Aron learns naturally, helps it scout for an opponent's super effective move. Bulldoze, learned by TM, not only provides a useful coverage move but can also slow down a dangerous opponent. Although Metal Sound doesn't directly benefit Aron, it can allow a teammate to blow through a strong wall.
Major Battles: Aron performs well against Skyla and Drayden's gyms, but struggles against some of the Pokémon they use. It can handle entire waves of Team Plasma grunts if needed, as well as keep Zinzolin's Weavile in check.
Additional Comments: Sturdy is the preferred ability, because it guarantees that Aron can get a crucial attack off even in unfavorable matchups. Be aware that Mold Breaker ignores it, however.
Name: Baltoy
Availability: Middle. Baltoy has a 100% chance to appear in the Relic Castle, but be aware that it only appears in Volcarona's room.
Stats: Baltoy has quite underwhelming stats overall, with even its Self-Destruct having an unimpressive damage output. Evolution gives it much better bulk and decent attacking stats, but it's still quite slow.
Typing: Ground/Psychic means that Baltoy has five weaknesses, but these are somewhat balanced out by its two immunities (by virtue of its Levitate ability) and four resistances.
Movepool: Baltoy is going to learn moves such as Extrasensory, Self-Destruct, and Cosmic Power (the latter of which works very well after it evolves) by level-up, while it gets a reliable Ground STAB early on by using the Bulldoze TM.
Major Battles: Baltoy is dead weight in most battles until it evolves, and even then it has to deal with a type disadvantage in the final gym. However, it does well against some opponents such as Colress and Marshal.
Additional Comments: Baltoy pairs well with Psychic-types, because it covers both of their weaknesses and it appreciates having its opponent poisoned.
Name: Basculin
Availability: Mid Game, Route 6, 70% (Surf)
Stats: Basculin has good Speed and offensive stats, allowing it to be a decent mixed attacker. Its defenses are poor, however.
Typing: Water is a good offensive and defensive type. There are plenty of regular trainers with Water-weak Pokemon out there, though it isn't as useful against stronger trainers.
Movepool: Basculin starts with Surf, and it learns Aqua Tail fairly early. Combine that with Adaptability and you have a Pokemon capable of 1-2HKOing most Pokemon you encounter effortlessly. Basculin also gets Blizzard/Ice Beam, Double-Edge, and Crunch, but it will be using its STAB moves most of the time.
Major Battles: Unfortunately, Water isn't particularly helpful against the last Gym Leaders. Basculin's better match-ups are against Shauntal and Grimsley since both carry Water-weak and/or frail Pokemon on their teams. It can also take down Iris's Archeops and Aggron.
Additional Comments: You should always use Adaptabilty on Basculin because it provides it with impressive sweeping potential against regular trainers.
Name: Buizel
Availability: Late Game, Route 14
Stats: It has very bad stats as a Buizel. When it evolves, it gets decent Atk, SpA and Spe. It still can't take hits, however.
Typing: Water is a good offensive and defensive typing with few enemies resisting it and its weaknesses are uncommon.
Movepool: It comes with Aqua Tail. Floatzel also gets Ice Fang and Crunch from the move relearner. You can also teach it Surf, Low Kick, and Waterfall.
Major Battles: Assuming Aqua Tail, Ice Fang and Crunch, Floatzel can be useful against Drayden, Shauntal, Caitlin and Iris. If taught Low Kick, it can even fight Colress (not Magnetons) and Grimsley.
Additional Comments: You should always wait until Buizel learns Aqua Tail before evolving it as it learns it very late as a Floatzel.
Name: Cottonee
Availability: Early. In Black 2, Cottonee can be caught in Castelia City, while it can be obtained from an in-game trade for a Petilil (which appear in the same location) in White 2.
Stats: Cottonee has average stats except for its notable Speed.
Typing: Cottonee is stuck with the Grass type, meaning that many attacks will hit it super effectively.
Movepool: Cottonee's movepool is what makes it into the ultimate support Pokémon. Whether it's slowing down a speedster with Stun Spore, stacking residual damage on a wall with Poison Powder, or Charming an opponent's off-the-charts Attack stat down to zero, Cottonee always has something to offer. Relatively early access to Giga Drain means that it can hold its own when it needs to, and it even learns a good coverage move in Hurricane if you evolve it.
Major Battles: Cottonee doesn't have too many good gym matchups because of its bad typing, but it completely dunks on Clay and Marlon. Even if Cottonee can only get one attack off before it is KO'd, that attack can lead to very helpful consequences for its teammates.
Additional Comments: The traded Cottonee grows quickly, so it's relatively low-maintenance even though it won't be getting many KOs. Cottonee can evolve with a Sun Stone from Nimbasa City, but be aware that it loses access to most of its moves after it evolves. It does best with slow breakers like Tepig and Remoraid.
Name: Cubchoo
Availability: Late-Mid Game, Route 7, 25% (Winter only)
Stats: Before it evolves, Cubchoo is frail and slow, although its offenses are decent. It becomes much bulkier as a Beartic. Base 110 attack is very good but base 50 Speed isn't good late-game.
Typing: Ice is a great offensive type. Super-effective coverage on Dragon-types is rare and Beartic can provide that. On the other hand, Ice is one of the worst defensive types because it only resists itself and it's weak to Fire, Rock, Fighting, and Steel.
Movepool: Decent. Its movepool isn't that good before evolving, but it learns Icicle Crash right after evolving, guaranteeing it access to a powerful physical STAB. Superpower can be relearned by Beartic with a Heart Scale. It gets goodies like Dig, Shadow Claw, and Rock Slide from TMs.
Major Battles: Beartic is decent against Skyla's gym, although only 1 of Skyla's Pokemon is actually weak to Ice. It's very good against Drayden and it should be able to survive at least one super effective hit. It isn't that helpful against Marshall, but the other Elite 4 members carry at least 1 Pokemon weak to Icicle Crash, and it can work well against Iris's Dragons.
Name: Deerling
Availability: Mid Game, Route 6, 30%
Stats: 100 Attack and 95 Speed makes Sawsbuck a good physical attacker.
Typing: Normal/Grass grants STAB on key moves such as Return and Horn Leech, but struggles against Fighting- and Flying-types.
Movepool: Return and Horn Leech are Sawsbuck's main attacks, and it also gets Jump Kick and Megahorn for added coverage.
Major Battles: Clay and Marlon are pretty simple battles, while Skyla is a big no-no. In the Elite 4, it performs decently against Grimsley and Caitlin due to Jump Kick and Megahorn, but keep it away from Shauntal and Marshal.
AC: It's recommended to use the gift Deerling due to Serene Grace's superior usability. The initial issue of no Grass moves can be fixed by tutoring Seed Bomb, which can tide until Horn Leech. 2 ways: either as a gift from the Weather Institute (which comes with its Hidden Ability of Serene Grace) or a normal encounter at 30%.
Name: Ducklett
Availability: Mid Game, Marvelous Drawbridge (shadow)
Stats: Ducklett has horrible stats until it evolves into Swanna, who possesses decent Atk, SpA and Spe.
Typing: Water and Flying STAB is almost unresisted in the game.
Movepool: Shallow. However, Ducklett comes with Bubblebeam and can be instantly taught Fly. You also get the Surf HM not long after obtaining it. You can teach it Ice Beam late-game to have coverage against Dragon-types.
Major Battles: Fails horribly against Clay due to Ducklett's horrid stats. Takes down Iris's Dragon-types easily with Ice Beam. It also doesn't hit hard enough to sweep Marshall. Average in most battles.
Additional Comments: Ducklett's stats are horrible and it will get KOed back most of the time. While Swanna has decent stats, it still lacks power, especially if it doesn't hit the opponent Super Effectively.
Name: Dwebble
Availability: Early-Mid Game, Desert Resort, 10%
Stats: The Dwebble line focuses on defense, although Dwebble's Attack is decent too.
Typing: Bug/Rock is a neat offensive type that covers 6 types super effectively. Steel-types wall it, but these can be covered by other moves.
Movepool: Dwebble starts with Smack Down and gets Bug Bite soon after. Rock Slide at level 29 is excellent, and it learns X-Scissor later on too. It can learn Dig, so Dwebble can achieve fantastic coverage right from the start.
Major Battles: Dwebble can contribute against Elesa and Clay but a full sweep is unlikely. Skyla's Swoobat and Grimsley's Liepard should be easy to deal with.
Ferroseed
Name: Ferroseed
Availability: Middle. Ferroseed is a common sight in Chargestone Cave.
Stats: Although the Ferroseed line's high defenses and low Speed are obvious, the Thorn Seed Pokémon is more powerful than it might appear.
Typing: The sturdy Grass/Steel typing means that as long as you keep Ferroseed away from Fire-type moves, it should do fine.
Movepool: Unfortunately for Ferroseed, it's stuck with only Steel-type moves and the weak Pin Missile until evolution, meaning that although it can take hits, it often can't do much damage in return. Ingrain and Iron Defense are good support moves that strengthen Ferroseed's longevity; for example, after a few uses of Iron Defense, even most Fighting-types can't break through Ferroseed. Despite its bad coverage, Ferroseed starts with Gyro Ball, which usually has very high power due to its nonexistent Speed. After it evolves, Ferroseed's bad coverage is remedied when it gets access to Bulldoze.
Major Battles: Ferroseed does okay against the sixth gym, but it can't get past Swanna and Skarmory. It does very well in the two remaining gyms, however, and it completely stops most Plasma grunts as well as Zinzolin's entire team. Even the Champion carries many Pokémon that can't hurt Ferroseed.
Additional Comments: Metal Claw will miss.
Name: Frillish
Availability: Middle. It can be found in most bodies of water as soon as you have access to Surf.
Stats: Although slow, Frillish can take a few hits, but it's fairly weak. After evolution, though, its power and bulk significantly increase.
Typing: Frillish and its evolution sport the impressive typing of Water/Ghost. Due to the rarity of its weaknesses in the game, most attacks directed at Frillish will be hitting it for neutral or resisted damage. Additionally, it has helpful immunities to Normal, Fighting, and possibly Water, depending on its ability.
Movepool: Since Frillish is caught in the water, you can teach it Surf as soon as you capture it, serving as both a way to traverse the sea and as a powerful Water-type STAB move. Recover, which is known upon capture, can be used instead of expensive healing items; for major battles, though, you'll want to bring items that can heal more than half of Frillish's HP in a single turn. For Ghost STAB, Frillish is stuck with the unreliable Ominous Wind and the weak Hex until you find the Shadow Ball TM in Reversal Mountain. Coverage moves are unnecessary because Frillish can hit most Pokémon neutrally with its STAB moves.
Major Battles: Frillish has neutral matchups in most major battles, making them simply a test of strength; however, it should be kept away from Grimsley. Although it has to watch out for his Weavile, Frillish can take on both of Zinzolin's Cryogonal easily because of its high Special Defense and resistance to Ice Beam. It can easily beat common Normal- and Poison-types used by Team Plasma grunts.
Additional Comments: Either ability works fine for Frillish. The Shadow Ball TM can be found behind the Strange House. Since Audino learns only Normal-type damaging moves by level-up, Frillish completely walls it.
Name: Gligar
Availability: Late Game, Route 11, 15%
Stats: Gligar comes with impressive Physical bulk that can help it tank physical attacks easier, and an above average Attack and Speed stats to boot. Its special bulk is rather average, and its Special Attack is forgettable.
Typing: Ground/Flying gives it unfortunate weaknesses to Water and Ice, but it gets two useful immunities to Electric and Ground, and just three resistances. Offensively it is no slouch, with very broad coverage and key Super Effective coverage.
Movepool: Gligar comes with a broad movepool that gives it great offensive potential, getting the Elemental Fangs, Acrobatics, Swords Dance, U-turn, X-scissor, and Sky Uppercut from its Level-up movepool, as well as Bulldoze, Dig, and Rock Slide from its TM movepool.
Major Battles: It fares poorly against Marlon and Zinzolin, but Gligar can handily take on Marshal and Caitilin, as well as do a good job against Colress. Gligar can do a decent job in all the other major battles left in the game.
Additional Comments: Unless you can put up with Gligar until the endgame before getting the Route 11 Razor Fang, you can find its evolved form (Gliscor) at the same point in the game as Gligar in shaking grass, albeit at a 5% Encounter rate.
Name: Gothita
Availability: Route 5, 30% chance in tall or long grass [Black 2].
Stats: Its best stat is Special Defense, but it also boasts a base 95 stat in Defense and Special Attack. Unfortunately, it suffers from a base 65 Speed.
Typing: Pure Psychic-typing isn't bad, but Team Plasma runs a lot of Dark-types and it's weak to two of the Elite Four members.
Movepool: Gothorita learns Psychic at a relatively early Level 39, so its best STAB move is already available once it reaches its final stage. Gothitelle can also get Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, and Energy Ball for type coverage.
Major Battles: Gothitelle is neutral to all four gym leaders after it, but Charge Beam will come in handy against Marlon. However, Gothitelle is weak to two members of the Elite Four (Shauntal, Grimsley) while only being super-effective against one (Marshal). Try to keep Gothitelle out of matches with Team Plasma - the Grunts use a lot of Dark-types, everything the Shadow Triad uses has a type advantage over Gothitelle, and it's weak to half of Ghetsis' team.
Additional Comments: Unfortunately, Frisk is just awful as an ability because almost no trainers stick items on their Pokémon.
Name: Growlithe
Availability: Early Game, Virbank Complex, 20% (Inside)
Stats: Overall very good. Its Attack and Special Attack are equally usable, and it's fairly fast too. Its also quite bulky, with good HP and average defenses.
Typing: Fire is a decent type in this game. It hits a good amount of Pokemon for super effective damage, but it's weak to Water, Ground, and Rock, all of which are very easy to tke advantage of.
Movepool: Poor overall. It learns nothing useful by level, except for STAB moves and Crunch; Extremespeed is cool, but isn't very useful. To get its best physical STAB, Flare Blitz, you have to keep it as a Growlithe until level 45, which sucks. It can't learn Wild Charge, its best supplemental coverage, until Victory Road, at which it's pointless. Thunder Fang is available, but is a rather poor move in general.
Major Battles: It can be a good asset against Roxie, and it destroys Burgh and Colress. Other than those two, it doesn't do particularly well against any other important trainers, but it's only really useless versus Drayden and Marlon.
Name: Joltik
Availability: Late-Mid Game, Chargestone Cave, 39% (1F)
Stats: Decent Special Attack, high Speed. Don't let it take too many hits.
Typing: Bug/Electric makes it neutral to Ground, but gives him a weakness to Rock. Its offensive STABs hit many things quite well.
Movepool: You're going to be limited Volt Switch, and Electroweb at first, but later it gets Charge Beam. Signal Beam can also work late-game, but overall its movepool is shallow.
Major Battles: Grinds cleanly through Skyla, but faces trouble with Drayden. It can wreck Marlon with STAB Thunder. Against the Elite 4, it can handle Grimsley and Caitlin with Signal Beam/Thunder depending on the Pokemon.
Name: Karrablast (With trade)
Availability: Karrablast is found on Route 6.
Stats: Karrablast has unimpressive stats apart from decent Attack. After it evolves, it becomes a bulky tank with very high Attack but low Speed.
Typing: Bug is a mediocre typing overall, but Karrablast gains the impressive Steel subtype after it evolves. This allows it to resist most hits thrown at it and only leaves it with one weakness to Fire.
Movepool: Karrablast is stuck with only the weak Fury Cutter and, later, the stronger Bug Buzz that unfortunately comes off its lower Special Attack. Once it gets access to the X-Scissor TM on Route 7 and learns Iron Head by level-up, however, it really starts to get going. Karrablast can be taught Rock Smash by TM to help it beat Steel-types, which likely can't deal much damage in return.
Major Battles: Karrablast is forced to rely on mediocre moves until the 6th gym, but from that point on it does very well. It doesn't have very many bad matchups.
Additional Comments: Unlike Shelmet, which needs to be evolved only after it learns Yawn, there is no downside to evolving Karrablast immediately after capturing it.
Name: Klink
Availability: Late-Mid Game, Chargestone Cave, 24% (1F)
Stats: Klink suffers from low speed until it hits its final form, but it does make up for very decent bulk. Its attacking stats are competent, though unspectacular.
Typing: Steel-typing blesses Klink with many resistances and an immunity to Poison-types, but three weaknesses to common types in the game leave it much to be desired.
Movepool: Klink is a case where its movepool is so shallow, yet so precise. It is gifted with its signature Shift Gear and Gear Grind by level-up which grants it amazing sweeping capabilities as well as the ability to pierce Sturdy and Focus Sash, and it is complemented by Electric and Normal coverage. Wild Charge can come in handy as well for the end-game.
Major Battles: Klink handles Skyla very well, while Marlon, Zinzolin, Caitilin, Grimsley, and Shauntal are all handled by Klink to a degree, especially once it gets Shift Gear.
Name: Koffing
Availability: Early Game, Virbank Complex, 15% (Inside)
Stats: Koffing's major traits lie in its exceptional Defense stat, which allows it to tank hits a lot on the physical side. It has okay mixed attacking stats, an average HP and Special Defense stat, but its Speed is mediocre.
Typing: Poison in an okay typing, with three resistances and a sole weakness to Psychic (Levitate takes out its Ground weakness). Offensively it is average, only hitting Grass-Types super effectively.
Movepool: Average. Its level-up movepool is mainly physical Normal and special Poison moves, but it has great TM coverage from Ghost, Electric, and Fire moves, allowing it to hit Steel-types and other types super effectively lategame.
Major Battles: Koffing has no super bad matchups besides Caitilin and Skyla. Otherwise, it can handle Burgh very well and tank a lot of physical attackers, but in general, it is only average in most matchups.
Additional Comments: Clear Smog can be used to help you in a pinch against several set-up attackers in the game, particularly against several Clefairy and Iris' Haxorus.
Name: Magby
Availability: Early Game, Virbank Complex, 25% (Inside) [Black 2]
Stats: The Magby line has above average Attack, Special Attack, and Speed, but also mediocre defenses.
Typing: Fire is an acceptable offensive type, and the coverage against Steel-types in particular is appreciated.
Movepool: Its level-up movepool is limited to STAB and Faint Attack. Flame Burst at level 22 is nice for early power, and Lava Plume and Flamethrower replace it later. Magmortar learns some cool moves, although Thunderbolt arrives too late to see a lot of use. ThunderPunch from the move relearner can be used in the meantime.
Major Battles: Does well against Roxie and Burgh, and is very good at dealing with Colress, the Shadow Trio, and Zinzolin. It deals with Skyla's Swoobat and Skarmory nicely, but most of the other gym leaders are strong against Fire and there aren't many Elite 4 Pokémon that stick out as being countered by Magmar or Magmortar.
Additional Comments: Magby's main problem comes from late evolutions. Magmortar is very good but Magmarizer comes too late for Magmortar to have much of an effect.
Name: Mandibuzz
Availability: Middle. Mandibuzz is a stationary encounter on Route 4; it appears only on Thursdays [Black 2].
Stats: Mandibuzz is very bulky, but its attacking stats and Speed are only average.
Typing: Dark/Flying typing leaves Mandibuzz with few weaknesses. It's walled by Steel-types, however.
Movepool: Mandibuzz starts out with Nasty Plot but doesn't really get anything to use with it; you can tutor it Dark Pulse and Heat Wave to fix this at the cost of BP. Foul Play can be tutored instead if you want to use a more defensive set. Later, it learns Air Slash and Dark Pulse by level-up.
Major Battles: Mandibuzz loses in the fourth gym and suffers from the prevalence of secondary types that resist its moves, such as Steel and Dark, in the fifth one. After that, though, it starts to do okay, although its attacking stats start to get underwhelming at this point.
Additional Comments: Mandibuzz is guaranteed to have Weak Armor, which helps it sweep but reduces its walling capabilities. It synergizes well with Fighting-types.
Name: Maractus
Availability: Early. It can be found in the Desert Resort with a 10% encounter rate.
Stats: Maractus has impressive Attack and Special Attack stats, but it has only average defenses and mediocre Speed.
Typing: A pure Grass typing holds Maractus back because of many weaknesses; in addition, lots of Pokémon resist its STAB moves.
Movepool: Maractus's best moves are learned through level-up, removing the need to hunt for Shards or TMs. It gets a great STAB move at Level 26 in Giga Drain, but what really sets it apart from other Grass-types is Acupressure at Level 29. Although luck-based, Acupressure can allow Maractus to sweep through any Trainer in the game provided it's well-trained enough. Synthesis, which Maractus knows upon capture, can help get through long routes without the need for healing items. Sucker Punch is useful to beat weakened opponents by getting around Maractus's low Speed, but it isn't very powerful.
Major Battles: Maractus comes at just the right time. It can handle Elesa's entire Gym by itself, although it is recommended to have Giga Drain by the time you battle the Gym Leader. Clay and Marlon can be beaten just as easily, but the two gyms in between them are more difficult: Maractus is weak to Flying-type moves, and it can't set up on Drayden due to Dragon Tail. Despite having its STAB moves resisted, Maractus can handle Colress with Acupressure, because none of his Pokémon can quickly defeat it.
Additional Comments: Water Absorb is the recommended ability for Maractus because it can synergize with a Pokémon that knows Surf in Double Battles. Although raising a Maractus can be exhausting at times, it can be very fun to use.
Name: Mareep
Availability: Early Game, Floccesy Ranch, 10%
Stats: It may be fairly slow, but it has a powerful 115 base Special Attack as Ampharos, and respectable defenses.
Typing: Electric is a decent typing, with only one weakness, and a handful of resistances. Electric is also pretty good offensively, with few things resisting it.
Movepool: It learns almost everything it needs by level-up. A powerful STAB move in Discharge and a decent coverage move in Signal Beam. You could also teach it Focus Blast for additional coverage.
Major Battles: It's not very useful against Burgh, Elesa, Clay, or Drayden. On the other hand, it destroys Skyla and Marlon.
Name: Metang
Availability: Late Game, Giant Chasm
Stats: Metang has decent Def and SpD which can be augmented with Eviolite. It gains great Attack and Def with decent SpA and SpD as a Metagross. It also has usable Spe.
Typing: Steel / Psychic is an incredible defensive typing with only 2 weaknesses and Fire is uncommon.
Movepool: Huge movepool. It comes with Meteor Mash and Psychic and can be taught Bullet Punch, Zen Headbutt and Hammer Arm by move relearner. You can also teach it Iron Head (for a no-miss STAB), Ice Punch, Bulldoze and Shadow Ball.
Major Battles: It is useful against Kyurem, Ghetsis, Marshall, Caitlin, Grimsley and Iris. If taught Shadow Ball, it can do a job against Shauntal as well.
Additional Comments: Metang should evolve one level after you catch it and from there it can beat almost everything. However, its availability and low catch rate counts against it.
Name: Mienfoo
Availability: Late Game, Route 14
Stats: Decent Atk when you get it. Great Atk and Spe when it evolves.
Typing: Fighting is a great STAB that hits many enemies such as Team Plasma and Colress Super Effectively. Unfortunately, Flying is a common-type in-game and Ghost and Psychic are both used by Elite Four members.
Movepool: Comes with Drain Punch and will eventually learn Jump Kick (very soon) and High Jump Kick (around Elite 4). Acrobatics and Rock Slide gives you some coverage to hit Fighting and Flying types.
Major battles: Average in battles against Drayden and Marlon. It can beat Team Plasma and Grimsley but loses horribly to Caitlin and Shauntal. If taught Acrobatics, it can be put in work against Marshall although it won't hit hard enough to sweep before being KOed back.
Additional Comments: I would say Inner Focus is a better ability in-game as you don't flinch from Fake Outs. While Regenerator is great, you should have enough Hyper Potions in-game.
Name: Numel
Availability: Late Game, Reversal Mountain [White 2].
Stats: It has very bad stats but gains a lot of Atk and SpA when it evolves. It is still very slow.
Typing: Fire / Ground is a great Offensive typing but bad defensive typing with few common resists and common weaknesses.
Movepool: Use the move relearner to teach it Lava Plume and you should be set. It gets a lot of good moves such as Earth Power, Lava Plume, Rock Slide and Earthquake. You can also teach it Bulldoze.
Major Battles: It is useful against Colress and Hugh. It doesn't shine anywhere else. Keep it away from Marlon.
Additional Comments: It should evolve about 1 or 2 levels after you get it. You can also catch Camerupt which can be found in the same area.
Name: Onix (With trade)
Availability: Early-Mid Game, Relic Passage, 20% (Dust Cloud)
Stats: Onix has massive Defense and decent Speed, but its other stats are horrible. When it evolves, its Attack, HP, and Special Defense improve significantly, in exchange for Speed.
Typing: Rock/Ground has six weaknesses, including 4x weaknesses to Water and Grass, but its Normal and Fire resistances, and Electric immunity are quite useful. It becomes Steel/Ground after evolving, gaining a ton of resistances in exchange for its Fire resistance.
Movepool: Wide. Onix's access to STAB Dig helps make up for its low Attack early on. It also gets Strength and STAB Rock-type attacks, providing it with good coverage. Steelix has wide coverage between its STAB moves, Crunch, Double-Edge, and the elemental fangs.
Major Battles: Onix is a great counter to Elesa, but doesn't do well against Burgh and Clay. Steelix can beat most of Skyla's and Drayden's teams, but hates Swanna and Flygon. Aside from Marshall, it can contribute against the Elite 4.
Additional Comments: You have the option of evolving Onix right away (Magnemite can hold Metal Coat) or waiting until Chargestone Cave. If you choose to wait, give Onix Eviolite to boost its defenses.
Name: Pansage
Availability: Early. It can be found in shaking grass in Lostlorn Forest with a 10% chance to appear.
Stats: Pansage starts with unremarkable stats, but it gets impressive attacking stats and Speed after it evolves.
Typing: A pure Grass typing means that Pansage will face many type disadvantages, but the few types it can hit super effectively are relatively common.
Movepool: Pansage starts with all the moves it needs: the reliable Seed Bomb and the helpful Leech Seed. However, it can use lots of TMs to cover certain opponents; for example, Acrobatics helps Pansage do well against Bug- and Grass-types, which resist Pansage's STAB.
Major Battles: Despite its relatively low stats, Pansage can do well in the fourth and fifth gyms by virtue of its typing. Leech Seed helps it survive for a long time, meaning that it gets many chances to use Seed Bomb instead of wasting its turn on a healing item. Pansage faces bad matchups in the next two gyms, but it can provide Leech Seed support for the rest of the team.
Additional Comments: The Leaf Stone is hidden in Lostlorn Forest. Use the Dowsing Machine to look for it.
Name: Pansear
Availability: Early. It has a 10% chance to appear in shaking grass in Lostlorn Forest.
Stats: Pansear has average stats all around, but its Attack, Special Attack, and Speed become more impressive after it evolves.
Typing: Mono-Fire typing means that although Pansear will often be hit super effectively, it has a type advantage against many opponents as well.
Movepool: Pansear starts with the weak but usable Flame Burst complemented by the potent Yawn. Although Pansear makes a bad Yawn user because of its unreliability against strong opponents, its high Speed after evolution gives it a reason to hold onto the move. Pansear gets access to many TMs, such as Acrobatics and Work Up, so you can teach it moves to suit your needs.
Major Battles: Pansear does okay around the time you get it, but its power starts to drop off around the fifth or sixth gym. At that point, the best it can do is try to survive a hit and use Yawn before it faints. Once it evolves, it starts to pull its weight in other battles, but it suffers in the two remaining gyms due to type disadvantages.
Additional Comments: The Fire Stone, needed to evolve Pansear, can be found in Lentimas Town.
Name: Pawniard
Availability: You get Pawniard considerably late in the game as you have to reach Ocepluid City first, which is the city of the seventh gym.
Stats: Pawniard's good Attack and physical Defense are pretty good and its Speed is decent at best. Its other stats, however, are mediocre.
Typing: Pawniard's typing resists a total of 9 types in total although most of those types are rather rare, it also can take out common types as well such as Psychic- and Rock-types. Although it resists all these moves, Pawniard is weak to three common types which are Fighting, Ground, and Fire.
Movepool: Pawniard has powerful STAB moves that go well with its Attack stat, it also has great coverage which can hit other Pokemon outside its usual targets which might help your team in dire situations.
Major Battles: Pawniard fares somewhat well against the seventh gym as it resists Dragon-type moves with its good Defense stat, although it needs to watch out for coverage moves like Flamethrower which can be run on some of the Dragon-types. Bisharp does very well in the Elite Four as it can help take out most of Shauntal and Caitlin's team thanks to its powerful Dark-type moves although again it needs to watch out for powerful coverage from the likes of Chandelure, Reuniclus, and Metagross. Bisharp fares quite poorly against the champion as all of her Dragon-types can take Bisharp out with strong coverage moves, and even though you think it can take out Lapras, it has powerful special attacks that hit its weak Special Defense, the only Pokemon Bisharp can take out reliably is Archeops.
Additional Comments: You get Pawniard considerably late but it makes a nice addition to your team as a powerful physical with great typing that can greatly help you when taking out the Elite Four, just be careful not to exploit Pawniard's common weaknesses and Special Defense as it will surely have to be careful for that when taking out strong opponents.
Name: Pelipper
Availability: Late. Pelipper can be commonly found in grass on Route 13.
Stats: Pelipper has mostly mediocre stats, only possessing decent physical bulk.
Typing: Pelipper's Water/Flying typing honestly isn't that bad, granting it several useful resistances at the cost of only two uncommon weaknesses.
Movepool: Pelipper can run many different moves to some success. It can set up with Stockpile if needed, run a stall set with Protect alongside status support, or utilize the HMs Surf and Fly alongside Roost to fill the role of a bulky attacker. However, keep in mind that its low Special Defense often holds it back.
Major Battles: Pelipper struggles in the eighth gym, taking lots of damage from moves such as Starmie's Psychic or Jellicent's Ominous Wind, while not being able to do much back. After that, though, it can serve as a decent stop to physical attackers such as Ghetsis's Bouffalant, even being able to eat a super effective Rock Slide or two if needed. Despite its low Special Attack, it can pose a threat by fishing for Scald burns.
Additional Comments: If nothing else, Pelipper can serve as a decent HM utility Pokémon because of its access to both Surf and Fly.
Name: Piloswine
Availability: Late. Piloswine is a common encounter in the Giant Chasm. It can be found in both the grass and the surrounding cave.
Stats: Piloswine is strong and has decent Speed; it isn't held back by low bulk, either. It has high stats all around except for its terrible Special Attack.
Typing: Piloswine's Ice/Ground typing gives it a few weaknesses. However, it's very good offensively, hitting nearly every opponent neutrally and many super effectively.
Movepool: The coveted Earthquake is only a couple of levels away from when Piloswine is captured, but Piloswine doesn't have a better physical Ice STAB than the disappointing Ice Fang; special moves, such as Blizzard, are usable if you don't want to spend a Heart Scale. Piloswine can learn many Rock-type moves from TM for even more coverage.
Major Battles: Piloswine has some bad matchups, but some good ones as well. A type advantage over Dragon-types is important at the point in the game Piloswine is obtained, and beating Colress is no small matter either. However, it struggles with a weakness to Fighting in the Elite Four.
Additional Comments: Although it requires a lot of effort to get, a Choice Scarf massively benefits Piloswine because it allows it to move before threatening opponents such as Hydreigon; the item also has postgame use.
Name: Psyduck
Availability: Early Game, Floccesy Ranch, 10%
Stats: Relatively good as a Psyduck with good Special Attack. Its stats become more solid when it evolves, gaining better Speed and mixed offense potential.
Typing: Water is a good typing. Has both good and bad match-ups, which makes relatively balanced.
Movepool: Psyduck learns mostly Water- and Psychic-type moves, although the Water-type ones come with high power. Surf and Zen Headbutt will be its main offensive moves towards the end of the game. Can be tutored Ice Punch as well. Can also be taught Dig.
Major Battles: Psyduck will have problems with Elesa. Clay and his Gym will prove to be easier for Psyduck do deal with, but it can have trouble with Excadrill. Later in the game, Drayden and Marlon can be difficult, but Ice Punch can help.
Name: Roggenrola (With trade)
Availability: Roggenrola can be found in the Relic Passage, accessible from the Castelia Sewers. Alternatively, an evolved Gigalith is obtainable from an in-game trade for an Emolga on Route 7.
Stats: Roggenrola has impressive Attack and Defense, but it's slow and it has low Special Defense.
Typing: A Rock typing means that Roggenrola can completely wall some opponents, but it falls flat against others.
Movepool: Despite having to rely on the fairly weak Smack Down until it learns Rock Slide by level-up, Roggenrola can hit fairly hard. It has access to Bulldoze by TM, which can provide helpful super effective coverage against foes, but its extremely low Speed means that it will often be outrun even after it's lowered the opponent's Speed. The traded Gigalith has immediate access to Rock Slide, so it can deal lots of damage right from the get-go.
Major Battles: Roggenrola has only a neutral matchup against the third gym because of the prevalence of the Sewaddle family, while it struggles in the fourth gym due to its low Special Defense and has a type disadvantage in the fifth. It completely destroys the sixth gym, though, even bypassing Skarmory with Smack Down into Bulldoze, and it does relatively well after that.
Additional Comments: The traded Gigalith has an Adamant nature, giving it even more firepower. This, in addition to the time it is available and the bonus experience it gets, means that it might not be worth training up your own Boldore instead of waiting to get the Gigalith.
Name: Sawk
Availability: Late Game, Route 23, 25% (Black 2) - 5% (White 2)
Stats: Incredibly powerful with workable Speed. Average but not terrible defenses.
Typing: Fighting-typing gives it favorable matchups against many types, but is also resisted by many, increasing reliance on coverage moves. Its Dark and Rock resistances can be of mild benefit.
Movepool: If it doesn't already come with the obscenely strong Close Combat, it only needs one level to learn it, so it can put in work immediately after you get it. It doesn't learn any worthwhile level-up moves at that point though, so it needs TMs or tutors to diverge from its current moveset, such as the Brick Break and Rock Slide TMs and Ice Punch from the Driftveil move tutor.
Major Battles: While it can thrash Grimsley quite easily as well as dispose of Iris's Hydreigon, Lapras and Aggron, it has awkward if not outright bad matchups against Caitlin and Shauntal while being vulnerable to Archeops. Close Combat's defense drops can also make its neutral matchups shaky, further warranting the use of coverage moves.
Additional Comments: While Sawk isn't a bad Pokemon to pick up, there are way more powerful Fighting-types one can access before it, most of which offer an additional typing and STAB as well as actually contribute early- or mid-game. If you do choose to use Sawk, go for one with Sturdy.
Name: Sewaddle
Availability: Early Game, Route 20, 35%
Stats: Solid overall. It has high Attack, with enough Speed and bulk to get by.
Typing: Grass/Bug provides some useful coverage, but also resisted by 4 types. It's also a lousy defensive typing.
Movepool: Bug Bite at level 8 gives it a good STAB move early on, and X-Scissor and Leaf Blade give it power late game. Unfortunately, its movepool outside of its STABs is poor and provides mostly unhelpful coverage. Swords Dance is available for sweeping.
Major Battles: Sewaddle's best match-ups are against Clay, Marlon, Burgh, Caitlin, and Grimsley. It can contribute against all of these, but must be wary of its weaknesses. Sewaddle does well against Team Plasma's Dark-types, but tends to struggle a bit against their Poison-types.
Additional Comments: Swadloon evolves into Leavanny with high happiness. Although this means that you can't predict when it will evolve, it should evolve fairly early.
Name: Skarmory
Availability: Late Game, Reversal Mountain, 15% (Double Grass)
Stats: Skarmory possess fantastic physical defense and workable Attack and Speed.
Typing: From a defensive standpoint, 9 resistances and 2 immunties in exchange for 2 weaknesses is nothing short of amazing. Offensively though it doesn't cover as much, though Steel at least hits Rock-types that resist Flying.
Movepool: Adequate. It starts off with Steel Wing as its best move, though it can be quickly replaced with the much better Iron Head from Driftveil's move tutor. Skarmory is one of those Flying-types that actually needs Fly for good STAB, but it makes use of it decently. Other options include X-Scissor and Night Slash via level up, and Rock Slide and Swords Dance via TM.
Major Battles: Skarmory's Dragon resist allows it to perform marvelously against Drayden and later Iris. It also wastes literally every Plasma Grunt you see after obtaining Skarmory, and does well in the Elite 4 provided you avoid Thunder/bolts and Fire Blasts.
Name: Skorupi
Availability: Late Game, Reversal Mountain, 30% (Outside)
Stats: Good. It's fairly fast, has solid defenses, and a decent attack stat. Nothing exceptional, though.
Typing: Skorupi is Poison/Bug, but shortly after you catch it, it will evolve into Drapion, which is Poison/Dark type. Poison/Dark is a good defensive typing with decent offensive presence.
Movepool: Fairly shallow. It gets nice STAB moves in Crunch and Cross Poison. It also learns the elemental fangs, but those are fairly weak, and its only other usable moves are X-scissor and Dig.
Major Battles: As a Dark-type, it fares well against Shauntal, Caitlin, and Marlon's Jellicent. Because of it's poor coverage, however, it doesn't do particularly well against any other important trainers.
Name: Snivy
Availability: Starter
Stats: Snivy is very fast with base 113 Speed at the end, and has quite good bulk as well. Its offenses are average, though they can be worked around.
Typing: Grass is not that great, as it is resisted by many common types found in the game. It also comes with five weaknesses which hurts, but resistances to Water, Ground, and Electric are quite helpful.
Movepool: Below average. Coil, Leaf Blade, and Giga Drain are its best level-up moves, while the TM pool is rather shallow and not really worth looking into, apart from Return. Its tutor movepool is not any better.
Major Battles: Snivy does very well against Clay, Marlon, and Caitilin (with Coil), but does terribly against Roxie, Burgh, and Skyla. Everywhere else it is rather average, but it is not dead weight.
Name: Solosis
Availability: Early-Mid Game, Route 16, 30% [White 2]
Stats: Solosis, all the way up to Reuniclus, has a huge base Special Attack. They are also fairly bulky, but incredibly slow.
Typing: Psychic is ok offensively being able to hit Fighting- and Poison-types super effectively. Defensively, it's subpar, being able to resist Fighting-type but being taken out by Ghost-, Dark-, and Bug-types, which all have significant trainers in-game.
Movepool: You'll mainly want to aim for Recover, Psyshock, and eventually Psychic. For TMs, you'll mainly want to look for Shadow Ball. Signal Beam is available as a move tutor move.
Major Battles: Solosis won't do well against most Gym Leaders. It can take on Marlon, Caitlin, and Marshal with relative succes. Especially against Marshal. Solosis will have an advantage against most Team Plasma Grunts though.
Additional Comments: You should always go for Magic Guard.
Name: Spheal
Availability: Late. It can be found by surfing in Undella Bay in winter.
Stats: Spheal has solid bulk and decent attacking stats, but it has an only average Speed stat.
Typing: Water/Ice means that Spheal doesn't have many weaknesses. Additionally, it hits most opponents for neutral damage with its STAB moves.
Movepool: Spheal starts out with Aurora Beam, and, by TM, Surf. It gets Rest, meaning that it's less reliant on items, and it also gets Hail to chip down opponents while healing Spheal.
Major Battles: Spheal can 2HKO most Pokémon in the seventh gym because of its type advantage. It finds itself walled in the eighth, but it can take many hits in return. It matches up poorly against Marshal and Colress, but it does decently in other battles, standing out against the Champion.
Additional Comments: You can use the Blizzard TM to give Spheal access to a very strong move that complements Hail well. However, it has low PP, so it's not very useful outside of major battles.
Name: Tangela
Availability: Late. Tangela is found in the grass on Route 13.
Stats: Tangela has decent attacking stats and it's very bulky physically. However, it is slow and vulnerable to special attacks.
Typing: Tangela has lots of weaknesses, but it's fortunately found at a point where most of them are nowhere to be seen.
Movepool: Tangela starts with the weak Mega Drain and the even weaker Knock Off, but a few levels patch up its movepool. Giga Drain does lots of damage while keeping Tangela healthy, and Ancient Power provides coverage against many Pokémon that hit Tangela super effectively. Stun Spore provides good team support. Natural Gift could be used in combination with a Berry, but unless you plan to develop Join Avenue, its limited use means that it's only suited for important battles.
Major Battles: Tangela does pretty well. It easily beats Marlon if it's evolved, and from then on its worst matchup is against Colress; everything else is neutral. Tangela can survive an attack from Ghetsis's Hydreigon and stop it with Stun Spore, and it does very well against Marshal because all of his Pokémon hit physically.
Additional Comments: Tangela can only evolve if it learns Ancient Power, so don't decline to learn it.
Name: Timburr
Availability: Early-Mid Game, Relic Passage, 20%
Stats: On one hand, you have an incredible Base 140 Attack, with impressive physical bulk to boot. On the other hand, it is very slow with average special bulk.
Typing: Fighting-type allows it to hit a lot of Pokémon super effectively, and gives it a few resistances, but leaves it weak to Psychic- and Flying-types, both of which are common.
Movepool: Below Average. You do not get a strong, reliable STAB until Hammer Arm at level 45. On the other hand, it gets Bulk Up and Rock Slide as useful level-up moves, as well as Bulldoze, Dig, and Payback from TMs. Thunderpunch and Ice Punch stand out from its tutor movepool.
Major Battles: It does well against Clay and Grimsley, but other than that, it is pretty unspectacular. Keep it away from Skyla and Caitilin, however.
Name: Trapinch
Availability: Early-Mid Game, Desert Resort, 5% (Desert)
Stats: Trapinch is very strong, but frail and slow. Once it gets to be Flygon, however, all of it's stats are respectable, with high Speed and Attack.
Typing: Ground is a solid typing, but having some common weaknesses makes it have a hard time. As Vibrava and Flygon, its secondary Dragon-type removes some of them, while it provides a great secondary STAB.
Movepool: Sadly, it can't get Earthquake during the main story unless you keep it as a Trapinch until level 55. Dig or Earth Power serve as decent substitutes, though, and it learns Dragon Claw by level. It gets nice coverage moves like Fire Blast and Rock Slide. You can also use it for Fly.
Major Battles: It does really well against Elesa. It can also do work against Skyla with Rock Slide, while Dragon Claw helps against Drayden. Its Ground-type moves will be helpful against most of Team Plasma.
Name: Venipede
Availability: Early Game, Route 20, 20% (Double Grass)
Stats: Venipede doesn't stand out in any category before evolving. As Whirlipede, it gains solid defenses in exchange for some Speed. When it evolves to Scolipede, it carries 112 Speed and 90 Attack.
Typing: Bug/Poison provides decent, albeit redundant, coverage. The type has a few nasty weaknesses, but 4x Fighting- and Grass-type resistances are useful.
Movepool: Venipede doesn't start out with much but it quickly learns Poison Tail and Bug Bite. Scolipede gets Megahorn via the move relearner. Dig is learnable as Scolipede and is useful for coverage against Poison- and Steel-types.
Major Battles: Scolipede can contribute against most important trainers thanks to its Speed, but the fact that every Gym Leader and Elite 4 member has at least 1 super effective move against Bug/Poison hurts it.
Name: Volcarona
Availability: Late-Mid Game, Relic Castle, Stationary
Stats: Excellent 135 SpA, with a good 100 Speed.
Typing: Has annoying weaknesses that can be taken advantage of easily, such as Rock and Water. A x4 resistance to Grass isn't very useful, but a Fighting resist works.
Movepool: Signal Beam can be tutored immediately to fix its horrible movepool, and it gets Fire Blast and Giga Drain for coverage. Fly works as utility.
Major battles: Does basically nothing against Skyla and Marlon, and doesn't have the physical bulk to take hits well for Drayden. Shines pretty nicely against Zinzolin and Colress though, but is mediocre against the Elite 4 in general.
Additional Comments: While initially seeming strong and overlevelled, Volcarona is put down by his bad movepool, forcing it to rely heavily on the inaccurate Fire Blast.
Name: Zangoose
Availability: Late-Mid Game, Route 7, 5%
Stats: Zangoose's high Attack and good Speed are ideal for an efficient playthrough.
Typing: Normal has wide neutral coverage which makes it ideal for regular routes, but lacks super effective coverage.
Movepool: Very Wide. Zangoose has Return and Frustration for easily accessible STAB, and Close Combat and Shadow Claw cover all the types that resist Normal. X-Scissor, Rock Slide, Aerial Ace, and the elemental punches are viable alternatives for coverage.
Major Battles: Zangoose is very effective at sweeping through Team Plasma grunts using its STAB. Its performance against other trainers depends on its moveset. ThunderPunch is good for Skyla and Marlon; Ice Punch deals with Drayden; Shauntal and Caitlin are weak to Shadow Claw; and Grimsley can be dealt with using Close Combat. Ice Punch and Close Combat cover all of Iris's Pokemon.
Name: Zebstrika
Availability: Late-Mid Game, Route 7, 20%
Stats: Zebstrika is one of the fastest Pokemon in Unova, and it also has decent 100/80 offensive stats.
Typing: Electric is a very useful offensive type late game because Water- and Flying-types are pretty common.
Movepool: Zebstrika's main problem is its thin movepool. It has decent STAB options, but other than that it is limited to Flame Charge, Signal Beam, Strength, and Bounce.
Major Battles: Zebstrika does well against Skyla and Marlon, and this is the main reason why you would want to use it. It also has some use against certain Elite 4 Pokemon, although it isn't going to sweep any of the Elite 4 members.
Name: Zubat
Availability: Early-Mid Game, Castelia Sewers, 45%
Stats: Zubat has average stats across the board. Golbat has above average Speed and average everywhere else. Crobat, though, has ridiculously high Speed and slightly above average Attack.
Typing: Defensively, weak to Rock, Ice, Electric, and Psychic, while resisting Poison and having a double resist to fight, grass, and bug. Offensively, it is strong against Grass, Bug, Fight, while being resisted by Steel and Rock.
Movepool: Decent, although mostly off of its weaker offensive stat in the late game. It also lacks a physical Poison STAB until after your 5th gym badge. Its only good physical STAB moves are Fly, Acrobatics, and Cross Poison. It can also use Return and Bite, plus a few tutor moves.
Major Battles: Annihilates most Bug-types in the Castelia City gym and is a good choice against Marshall, but is easily defeated by Elesa and Caitlin, and Colress's Steel-types. It can pull its own weight against other trainers, but it won't be a star.
How to Get Mandibuzz in Pokemon Black 2
Source: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/pok%C3%A9mon-black-2-and-white-2-in-game-tier-list-mark-iii.3584891/