>>Tier 1<<
- still the most warping pkmn in the tier. fantastic stats and typing make it extremely difficult to ohko, with bulky spreads even making it hard to kill with even a double up. incorrectly guessing when meta will protect or boom can lose the game instantly
- definitely creeping up on metagross imo, stab tbolt is as powerful as always and similarly to meta it has fantastic typing/stats making it an easy inclusion on most teams. just enough tools to keep you guessing asw. hp grass + dp gives you perfect coverage, twave is amazing vs people who drop lum, sub is scary, agil is cool, i still like salac bp
- toolbox pkmn. very useful immunities to eq and normal with barely good enough stats to be bulky if you want. can be customized to do whatever your team needs whether it be an all out attacker, bulky support, or something in-between. will rarely dominate a game but v splashable
- fat as hell, excellent at trading damage. not too much to say about it you more or less know what it'll do every game but that doesn't make it any easier to play around
>>Tier 2<<
- probably the first and potentially most controversial ranking? but imo aero is #5. it's taken the spot as fastest viable pkmn being an excellent gatekeeper of big threats like dd tar and cm kou. it's definitely frail but can take one neutral hit which is usually all you need, sometimes it can be a bit weak and locking into a move is punishable but the value it's speed brings to a team in a metagame as fastpaced as this is enough to outweigh its shortcomings for me
- dd is very scary! give it a turn or two and you might just lose! held back a bit by poor typing and low speed but it's not hard for your second slot to create an opportunity for ttar whether it be through pressuring the other side or support like screens or fake out. sand stream is also an excellent ability. ive tried to make mixtar work it can do things but it's p bad
- lower on this guy than I was in latias meta, feel like he lost a really good natural partner. still very powerful though with a good speed stat and intim utility, will always have a place in the upper ranks
>>Tier 3<<
- pensive emoji. the rise of aero is unkind to raikou, its major eq weakness is very noticeable these days. still good speed/power/coverage with potential to run over a team but much harder to sweep with than before. I still find it to be the most threatening mon in t3 under the right conditions
- great check to phys guys like meta/tar/aero, tbolt immune water is great despite it being easier for zap to use grass without latias. 3a tect is still great and counter is a cool pick as well. I don't use pert as much as I used to but still good, demands plenty of respect
- not the strongest guy around but quite difficult to take down if you cant pelt it with thunderbolts. can snowball offensively with calm mind or serve as a valuable defensive piece depending on what the game demands
- goodbye latias, hello celebi! giga psy fire is excellent coverage leaving one slot open for your choice of a support move, or you can lean into the support angle and drop coverage if you really want to. good check to the most prominent special attackers
- fast pkmn that kills gengar and hydro pump is powerful. I only like it in the lead slot but I like it quite a bit there despite hydro inconsistencies. has a lot of options for it's last 2 slots, have experimented with anything from sub tect to boltbeam to dual screens. dual screens is my favorite set on it rn, feels very strong on teams that lean into HO
- has intimidate and kind of checks metagross with overheat, helping hand is sick. hp grass/fighting gives it non zero presence. never been my favorite mon but definitely worth using, being a fire that isn't weak to tbolt is great for challenging lead metagross
- stab tbolt is very spammable + ground is very spammable = lightning rod is marowak is pretty decent. good partner for stuff like cune and gyara and whatever else dislikes fighting electrics. can be underwhelming at times because it's stats are dogshit but if you fully bulk it out it's good enough. stop using sd with speed LMAO just be fat and maybe a little strong as a treat and go 3a tect or 2a tect psong
>>Tier 4<<
- overrated imo! picking between hidden powers is annoying and overreliant on marowak goobage to setup. intimidate is good as always but it just doesn't feel bulky or powerful enough to me to make up for requiring marowak if you want consistent setup. still very capable of sweeping when you do get it going so it ranks right outside of t3 for me
- demon set is unfortunately proven to be capable of winning but is far too inconsistent to be any higher. mandates gengar removal and needs to dodge a million crits while not being an immediate threat. interested in nondenom sets
- rain is ok, kingdra is the strongest swift swimmer. typing is very good making it annoying to take down, anglerfish leaned into that strength with an interesting lead set during advpl that I enjoyed
- fake out and grass stab is cool, similarly good typing to kingdra but doesn't do as much damage
- slightly biased placement but he's strong and fun. not ohkod by much so can be used to just trade damage with cb or try to get cooking with sd. I like it with screens
- shortlived time as the tiers most used grass type with the ban of latias and rise of celebi. speed stat still gives it a niche as tied for fastest real pkmn behind aero, grass coverage is v valuable for some teams and so is outspeeding +1 ddtar
- cool lead, can live basically anything and rock/eq/boom/superpower is sick coverage
- intim good, mixmence can go super bulky and be decent at trading damage with it's coverage options but zap and gar prevent it from being a top threat. dd is also usable but there's no ability to redirect gengar ice punch and has similar flaws to dd gyara
- strong special guy who ohkos metagross. always held back by the existence of zapdos and generally bad top tier matchups outside of meta, though gars dropping tbolt is nice for it. appreciates marowak
- can sit around and just win if you eliminate strong phys attackers and dodge boom. not my cup of tea but similarly to registeel has been proven to be capable of winning
- solar beam is worse than hydro pump but chloro pkmn have explosion so sun is viable
- fake out and explosion
>>Tier 5<<
- fastest mon alive, tbolt good, boom good. difficult to justify but fun pick for HO teams to check aero. performed well in advpl :3
- fast with plenty of options but rarely the first choice for anything. kind of like a dry starmie which has its upsides like tbolt neutrality but it's just pretty mediocre
- calm mind cheeser, can work with skill swap gar. maybe some non cm sets are viable but haven't tried them myself
- worthless piece of shit offensively but can click rain dance or sunny day for full weather teams
- good support toolkit for enabling DDers
- fake out and strong normal stab with the usual coverage that normal types have, very usable but middling stats hold it back
- stronger than kang but slower and frailer
- can defeat normal types and ddtar, has fake out and stuff. kinda just shit tho stats aren't good enough and cross chop is unreliable
- interesting follow me user
- meme pick that doesn't really work but arena trap eq is funny nonetheless and technically can create some fucked up situations
- steelix phase is over, kinda good at taking on electrics and it's a normal resist that kinda munches eq but it's just so fucking weak and the spdef is so bad
- ice beam is kind of good? decent stats and has explosion but never fails to disappoint, very rarely if ever is it worth running regice as a special check instead of snorlax