is RP a good indication of which Pokémon is better?

[candid wharf]

I know there’s lots if factors in what makes a Pokémon good depending on your strategy, but from a beginners perspective, what’s the main factors to help decide which Pokémon to use? Is RP a decent guide at least initially?

[lavish mist]

I'd say yes, as RP determines the strength of the berry your Pokémon brings you back. Though you should also pay attention to the sub skills: some can turn a "bad" ranked Pokémon to a decent ranked one

If you're relying on cooking more than berries, RP is less an indicative factor imo

[candid wharf]

So does that mean rp doesn’t factor in the berry findings sub skill?

[lavish mist]

Nope! Only the sub skill and the nature will determine at what rate your Pokémon is finding berries

Imagine you have a nature deboosting berry finder, but have berry finder S, the two kinda counterbalance each other to give your Pokémon the berry finding rate with no influencing nature/skills

(Someone please correct me if I'm wrong)

[bleak cave]

I am confused by what's being said here. Your pokemons level (not the RP) determines the strength of the berries the Pokémon finds. (And the base strength of each berry, so the Pokémon type). Similarly level gives a small boost to speed, but most speed will come from evolutions, subskills and nature

BFS does not make a pokemon more likely to find berries, but each time it does find berries it finds ine extra. You could argue that counteracts SoH down nature, but they are two very different mechanisms

As for RP; it's not a great indicator, because the player base disagrees a bit with its priorities, but its not terrible. It really likes skillups, though, which is good for skill mons and a bit questionable for everyone else

Like these two are probably my best two mons. Slaking has gotten skill seeds

But basically RP is a derived stat, not a dictating one. I says how strong the game thinks your mon is, but it doesn't use the RP to determine what the mon finds

[obsidian dragon]

This is all completely wrong

RP indicates overall contribution of the pokemon to the team. That means points in every way but also some stuff that doesnt directly translate, like extra sleep experience

The Sleep EXP Bonus subskill increases RP a lot for example