>>58012911 (OP)You encounter Riolu before the first gym. It's pretty much baggage until level 15 where it finally learns a decent STAB move in Force Palm, but if you grind for it a little bit it'll lay waste to Cheren's team. If you manage to get Lucario before Roxie she won't be able to do a thing to it. This encounter is basically easy mode.
An unusual suggestion is Venipede. Since they can be found at level 10 in these games, they have access to the Defense Curl + Rollout combo, which it didn't have in BW. This makes it GREAT for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th gyms.
Virbank complex is home to some amazing encounters. Elekid and Magby are decent but take a while to get going and of course require trading to get fully evolved, but Growlithe and Magnemite are even better and don't require as much investment. they're both great at combating Roxie and they won't fall off in terms of strength as the game progresses.
The desert encounters are reliable as always; Sandile, Scraggy, Darumaka, you get the gist. But B2W2 throws in a fully evolved Mandibuzz/Braviary for good fun and they're very easy to slot into a team.
Starmie is your best bet for a water type in these games, Boltbeam is just too damn good to pass up.
Shelmet can now be found right outside of Driftveil City and can be evolved immediately as long as you can trade. Speaking as someone who's done it before, it's GREAT. It gets access to grass moves for coverage and learns Final Gambit later on, which is always fun and reliable. Coming off of a base 80 HP stat isn't too bad.
