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Resource Scarlet and Violet RU Indigo Disk Viability Rankings
- Thread starter Ampha
- Start date
B+ -> A- I think that Ape is extremely viable in the current meta, and also extremely easy to slot on to teams with very little opportunity cost. It works great as a Special Attacker, Physical Attacker, Choice User, and is also the best mixed attacker in the tier now that Hoopa is gone. It matches up extremely well into a vast majority or the tiers staples. Hippo doesn’t want to come in on a potential Grass Knot, Moltres doesn’t want to get bodied by a Stone Edge, and everything else doesn’t love strong STAB CCs or FBs x 3. This is all without mentioning Blaze, which can tear through checks if the moment is right. Adding on to all of this, Ape has incredible supportive utility for teams as well. Switcheroo and U-Turn allow you to easily gain momentum in a match. Finally, Ape also has priority too, in conclusion, Monke Good.
A- -> A Empo is by far the best bulky water in the tier right now, and is also in contention for being our best special wall. Empo provides very solid bulk to a team, along with so much utility, and can very easily overcome its own checks with moveset variations. Does Volc wall your Empo set, just switch out one of your moves for Knock and now Volc is set on a timer. The sheer amount of utility it provides is reason enough to put it in A rank with Fezandipiti, both of which are excellent defensively. However, Empo doesn’t have to be a passive option, as it can easily run Roost + 3 Attacks and become a decent breaker as well, putting pressure on unprepared teams. Empo fits a ton of compression into one of the best type combinations in the game, and I think is far and above a great candidate for a solid A ranking.Side Note, both of these benefit heavily from tera, which isn’t much of a surprise as essentially everything does, but definitely something to consider.
Alright, pre week 1 RUPL VR noms. Rules are the same as usual, i sing praise or take a fat shit over some of the mons and say why their good or bad, if you disagree i'm right your wrong + my dad could beat up your dad. First though, the new drops, namely Jirachi and Barraskewda.
-> A / A+
Jirachi dropping caused quite the fanfair, and for good reason. We finally have a high-end steel that doesn't lose to a fucking gardevoir not named empoleon, and that was quite a treat. Unfortunately, it's not quite as good as i was hoping, but it's still excellent. Wish passing is an amazing boon, CM sets are very good, coverage with thunder/grass knot/ aura sphere gives CM sets good depth vs things like hippo cobal and moltres. Meteor beam sets can be run when you want to pretend your a necrozma and snipe rotom heats out of the sky. Iron head scarf sets.. are shit. Helmets are everywhere and contact punishers like moltres also are a common presence, I wouldn't run scarf on jirachi i'd rather run almost anything else on it. More niche sets like Doom Desire, encore, its a fantastic steel on Rain alongside Forretress since it both pivots, lays them up and gets the accuracy boost on thunder for the juicy 60% para rate. Speed tier is good, soft checks leaves with a dice roll and god holding your hand for a slam para, checks enam-t quite nicely, but also brings about the Covert Cloak Covenant, with members like Fezandipiti, Cress and more spearheading the faction. Overall, very solid, very good mon.
-> A-
Barraskewda dropping was met with less joy than Jirachi and that's a crazy thing to say. "Rain is gonna be so annoying!" they said. "It'll be broken!" they said. Well... they were wrong.. kinda. It's excellent on rain, but thankfully the tier already has a good amount of anti-rain tools like Hippo weather wars, tera gotchas like rhyperior, moltres and fezandipiti, and natural rain checks like Volcanion, suicune and Wo-chien. What barraskewda does besides this, is imo, more valuable. Absolutely foddering the core of Cyclizar/Hippo/Molt like its a full course meal. This thing is very solid on Bulky Offenses and Offense, the downside is well, it's about as durable as a wet sock, and it's defensive utility amounts to being a soft check to opposing rain by just outspeeding their swift swimmers with jolly and picking your nose for every other scenario. It comes in on jack shit safely without balls of titanium but my god when it comes in it does the lords work. Empoleon teams wants to die, Noivern teams arent safe from catching an ice fang, amoonguss and okidogi risk psychic fang, and slowbro risks catching a crunch. Solid anchor.
Now for the others.
B+ -> A+
Rhyperior has taken off like no tommorow with it's traits being extremely compatible with the overall meta. It's arguably a top 3 rocker in the tier, it's an amazing partner for pokemon like Cobalion because it means your cobalion doesn't have to run rocks itself, which opens it up a ton for other shit it wants like taunt, volt switch, cm etc. That isn't all though, it's bar none the best 1 for 1 merchant in the entire tier, rhyperior with tera can practically trade itself for anything it wants, and it's power means it can beat ALOT of things with just edgequake. Despite appearances, Rhyperior can actually obliterate every ground type in the tier not named flygon. It eats hippowdons for breakfast, Swampert is liable to get smashed by a +2 quake even with max max def it takes 65%, Gastrodon straight dies to a +2 EQ. Palossand takes over 55% from a +2 quake, and all of these pokemon are slower with a meager bit of investment. AND this damage is achieved by just running adamant and a whopping Sixteen (16) attack evs. Uninvested Krook fucking dies to a quake after spikes WITH intimidate, and who cares about flygon he sucks. It's got set variety too, megahorn can melt wo-chiens and leaves, Heat crash can handle those 2 while also smashing chesnaught into dust. Rock polish exists so that's a fun unexplored meme, fuck it forget heat crash you can run SR temper flare and just, choose to OHKO chesnaught from full with a 150bp temper flare. If all this wasn't enough, with tera it can reverse thundurus-t, anything on rain and i do mean anything. And rock/ground provides useful boosts vs moltres naturally as a nice counter since wisp moltres fucking blows. And to top ALL of this off, it's a proud leader of the Custap Club. It's performance in RULT playoffs sees it at 8th in usage, it's almost never dead weight and always brings high returns on it's offers. If not A+, then A.
C -> B-
Now this may seem like a large jump, especially for a mon practically unused in every previous RU. However, palossand has a distinct amount of tricks up it's sleeve that lets it have it's own specific archetype. It's the tiers best spin blocker vs the best spinner and most common mon in the tier, Cyclizar. Palossand spike stack is an archetype that has seen a decent amount of use in RULT, and in ssnl where even if it doesn't win, it shows just how good palossand is at forcing options down for the opponent. Usually paired with Deo-D, it forms an excellent hazards core to keep hazards up, while also not being dead weight itself. It's got reliable recovery in shore up, being the only ground besides hippowdon and gastrodon to have recovery. It's the only ghost with recovery that isn't trash ass pain split, and that's a big thing. Tier shifts have helped it too, since it does quite well into Jirachi, Zarude and Hoopa-U's ban helped it alot, and it's clicks with Scorching Sands&Hex does the job quite well. It's a one trick pony, but I think it has a large enough niche and tournament presence, above even things like Gatr and Conk, to put it up to B-
B- -> C+
Put it next to Ninetales.
B -> B+ / A-
Noivern has seen a return to form with the realization that it's traits are quite good in the meta still. It's a dragon faster than Cyclizar, which is already a huge boon for it already. It's a check to a good amount of pokemon, such as Volcanion, Infernape, and can revenge kill a plehtora of mons like Thundurus-T, Cobalion and more. It scored solid usage in RULT, outplacing pokemon like Gengar, and tying with Reuniclus. I'd argue it's a more splashable salamence, which trades raw stats for a better speed tier, and access to U-turn. I think it might be straight up better than mence, but it seems people still aren't ready for that conversation. What I will say, is Specs Boomburst Noivern is still a decent set this thing can pilot, Jirachi and Rhyperior be damned. It's got set variety with options like Taunt, super fang, hurricane, and switcheroo memes. It's a good for any team that doesn't need Cyclizar's specific talents, namely spinning and emergency checking ghosts and thundy-t. It's undersold at B, and I think many will agree with me on this.
A- -> B+
This thing is so fucking fraudulent man LMAO. This thing is bad as a dragon dancer, stonewalled by hippowdon and now Rhyperior can check it on a bucketload of squads, it's weak stabs suck for it, and it's a momentum drain alot of the time. Of course it's not bad, mixed draco sets are good at sniping hippo and it can run away with games if you let it, but are we really calling this thing A- material? It's side-grade noivern in alot of scenarios, and Noivern is a far bigger team player than mence is. You can make an argument that specs sets or extremely agressive special sets are good, but to me they are momentum drains, and again, bring less for a team than Noivern does. Sure, a DD mence will always be scary if your caught lacking on your checks, but there's alot of mons that fuck with each specific mence set that it can feel like a burden more than you'd like it to be, especially from a pokemon like Salamence. This one may be more biased than the rest but alot of my building, i'd usually prefer to slap a noivern on that a salamence on, and I really think that matters a lot.
UR -> C / C+
This thing has managed to carve out a niche as a setup sweeper with some valuable defensive utility. For the latter, it's resume includes being a check to Iron Leaves, unconditionally. This is already a large claim considering how annoying it is and most mons require to burn tera against it, but this thing doesn't. It's 4x fighting resist allows it to check things like choice locked Terrakion, call out CC conkeldurrs, and IDBP cobalion. What it does is function as a snowballing psychic type. A niche not truly unique, but Tinted lens Esper wing gives it the benefit of being a speed boosting snowballing psychic type, able to setup on and abuse non roar empoleon, eats knock from cyclizar with ease, and mops other things like Moltres. Esper Wing allows for a variety of setup opportunities other psychic types can't reach for, and the unique defensive utility is praiseworthy. For those who strictly follow the "requires a replay for all UR to ranked noms, yeah yeah here's a replay for you.
B -> B+ / A-
Everything people thought mew would be, is what Cresselia is like i swear. CM is so diabolically good, and the annoyance by hippowdon is alleviated by superior bulk, generally good recovery with some caveats, and an actual non-worthless ability !! CM snowballs against a surprising amount of teams, setting up on a ton of common things like Cyc, Cobal without taunt, Moltres, no ww hippo (which is becoming more common since ppl realized letting in the best birds in the tier for free blows), fezandipiti (with covert cloak), Noivern, special mence, and far more. It's tera is quite diverse aswell, with me personally fancying tera Electric, as it resists jirachi iron head, while still being immune to EQ. And boosting an optional pick over moonblast, aka tbolt. In exchange for admitting you'll never kill a Krookodile or wo-chien worth a shit unless you lay up a tspike, you nail Empoleon, Jirachi, and bisharp for more reliable damage. This thing runs away with SO many games, it's so good. Please give it a whirl, I swear you'll be well inbursed for the time.
A- -> B / B+
Fraud. I regret calling this mon busted as fuck and complaining about it's unban this is budget necrozma on it's best days. I've seen takes of "oh its busted" "if people use this thing it's nuts!" yeah IF people use it. Nobody uses this thing and wowie I wonder why. This thing has competition out the ass, and even with mew's variety, every other psychic has a draw to use it over this. H-Braviary has it's speed boosting schtick and iron leaves checking niche, Cresselia has levitate cm and absurd obesity to snowball, Reuniclus has magic guard, Jirachi has a steel typing and more utility thats worth a damn (no , Necrozma has dragon dance and meteor beam, paired with far better stats for the job it tries to do. And mew has jack of all trades, master of fucking nothing, shit it's not even a veteran it's a novice in a stolen uniform. When you use it it's probably decent but like, it's not A- material even with that being said. DD sets are weak as shit and bad versions of Necrozma, NP sets are bad versions of a hero called azelf with a smidge of twave support, and you can probably curate a set that performs something better or unique to the others but it's fucking mew that's not impressive. Like gee you sure showed me with your sub bulk up throat chop leech life tera bug mew. Maybe once it gets off its ass and hopefully does something worth a damn during RUPL I'll rescind my statement but for now it's among the 3 heavenly frauds alongside salamence and the rats. If i want a spikes HO lead im using froslass or custap forretress you can't change my mind.
Jirachi dropping caused quite the fanfair, and for good reason. We finally have a high-end steel that doesn't lose to a fucking gardevoir not named empoleon, and that was quite a treat. Unfortunately, it's not quite as good as i was hoping, but it's still excellent. Wish passing is an amazing boon, CM sets are very good, coverage with thunder/grass knot/ aura sphere gives CM sets good depth vs things like hippo cobal and moltres. Meteor beam sets can be run when you want to pretend your a necrozma and snipe rotom heats out of the sky. Iron head scarf sets.. are shit. Helmets are everywhere and contact punishers like moltres also are a common presence, I wouldn't run scarf on jirachi i'd rather run almost anything else on it. More niche sets like Doom Desire, encore, its a fantastic steel on Rain alongside Forretress since it both pivots, lays them up and gets the accuracy boost on thunder for the juicy 60% para rate. Speed tier is good, soft checks leaves with a dice roll and god holding your hand for a slam para, checks enam-t quite nicely, but also brings about the Covert Cloak Covenant, with members like Fezandipiti, Cress and more spearheading the faction. Overall, very solid, very good mon.
Barraskewda dropping was met with less joy than Jirachi and that's a crazy thing to say. "Rain is gonna be so annoying!" they said. "It'll be broken!" they said. Well... they were wrong.. kinda. It's excellent on rain, but thankfully the tier already has a good amount of anti-rain tools like Hippo weather wars, tera gotchas like rhyperior, moltres and fezandipiti, and natural rain checks like Volcanion, suicune and Wo-chien. What barraskewda does besides this, is imo, more valuable. Absolutely foddering the core of Cyclizar/Hippo/Molt like its a full course meal. This thing is very solid on Bulky Offenses and Offense, the downside is well, it's about as durable as a wet sock, and it's defensive utility amounts to being a soft check to opposing rain by just outspeeding their swift swimmers with jolly and picking your nose for every other scenario. It comes in on jack shit safely without balls of titanium but my god when it comes in it does the lords work. Empoleon teams wants to die, Noivern teams arent safe from catching an ice fang, amoonguss and okidogi risk psychic fang, and slowbro risks catching a crunch. Solid anchor.
Now for the others.
Rhyperior has taken off like no tommorow with it's traits being extremely compatible with the overall meta. It's arguably a top 3 rocker in the tier, it's an amazing partner for pokemon like Cobalion because it means your cobalion doesn't have to run rocks itself, which opens it up a ton for other shit it wants like taunt, volt switch, cm etc. That isn't all though, it's bar none the best 1 for 1 merchant in the entire tier, rhyperior with tera can practically trade itself for anything it wants, and it's power means it can beat ALOT of things with just edgequake. Despite appearances, Rhyperior can actually obliterate every ground type in the tier not named flygon. It eats hippowdons for breakfast, Swampert is liable to get smashed by a +2 quake even with max max def it takes 65%, Gastrodon straight dies to a +2 EQ. Palossand takes over 55% from a +2 quake, and all of these pokemon are slower with a meager bit of investment. AND this damage is achieved by just running adamant and a whopping Sixteen (16) attack evs. Uninvested Krook fucking dies to a quake after spikes WITH intimidate, and who cares about flygon he sucks. It's got set variety too, megahorn can melt wo-chiens and leaves, Heat crash can handle those 2 while also smashing chesnaught into dust. Rock polish exists so that's a fun unexplored meme, fuck it forget heat crash you can run SR temper flare and just, choose to OHKO chesnaught from full with a 150bp temper flare. If all this wasn't enough, with tera it can reverse thundurus-t, anything on rain and i do mean anything. And rock/ground provides useful boosts vs moltres naturally as a nice counter since wisp moltres fucking blows. And to top ALL of this off, it's a proud leader of the Custap Club. It's performance in RULT playoffs sees it at 8th in usage, it's almost never dead weight and always brings high returns on it's offers. If not A+, then A.
Now this may seem like a large jump, especially for a mon practically unused in every previous RU. However, palossand has a distinct amount of tricks up it's sleeve that lets it have it's own specific archetype. It's the tiers best spin blocker vs the best spinner and most common mon in the tier, Cyclizar. Palossand spike stack is an archetype that has seen a decent amount of use in RULT, and in ssnl where even if it doesn't win, it shows just how good palossand is at forcing options down for the opponent. Usually paired with Deo-D, it forms an excellent hazards core to keep hazards up, while also not being dead weight itself. It's got reliable recovery in shore up, being the only ground besides hippowdon and gastrodon to have recovery. It's the only ghost with recovery that isn't trash ass pain split, and that's a big thing. Tier shifts have helped it too, since it does quite well into Jirachi, Zarude and Hoopa-U's ban helped it alot, and it's clicks with Scorching Sands&Hex does the job quite well. It's a one trick pony, but I think it has a large enough niche and tournament presence, above even things like Gatr and Conk, to put it up to B-
Put it next to Ninetales.
Noivern has seen a return to form with the realization that it's traits are quite good in the meta still. It's a dragon faster than Cyclizar, which is already a huge boon for it already. It's a check to a good amount of pokemon, such as Volcanion, Infernape, and can revenge kill a plehtora of mons like Thundurus-T, Cobalion and more. It scored solid usage in RULT, outplacing pokemon like Gengar, and tying with Reuniclus. I'd argue it's a more splashable salamence, which trades raw stats for a better speed tier, and access to U-turn. I think it might be straight up better than mence, but it seems people still aren't ready for that conversation. What I will say, is Specs Boomburst Noivern is still a decent set this thing can pilot, Jirachi and Rhyperior be damned. It's got set variety with options like Taunt, super fang, hurricane, and switcheroo memes. It's a good for any team that doesn't need Cyclizar's specific talents, namely spinning and emergency checking ghosts and thundy-t. It's undersold at B, and I think many will agree with me on this.
This thing is so fucking fraudulent man LMAO. This thing is bad as a dragon dancer, stonewalled by hippowdon and now Rhyperior can check it on a bucketload of squads, it's weak stabs suck for it, and it's a momentum drain alot of the time. Of course it's not bad, mixed draco sets are good at sniping hippo and it can run away with games if you let it, but are we really calling this thing A- material? It's side-grade noivern in alot of scenarios, and Noivern is a far bigger team player than mence is. You can make an argument that specs sets or extremely agressive special sets are good, but to me they are momentum drains, and again, bring less for a team than Noivern does. Sure, a DD mence will always be scary if your caught lacking on your checks, but there's alot of mons that fuck with each specific mence set that it can feel like a burden more than you'd like it to be, especially from a pokemon like Salamence. This one may be more biased than the rest but alot of my building, i'd usually prefer to slap a noivern on that a salamence on, and I really think that matters a lot.
This thing has managed to carve out a niche as a setup sweeper with some valuable defensive utility. For the latter, it's resume includes being a check to Iron Leaves, unconditionally. This is already a large claim considering how annoying it is and most mons require to burn tera against it, but this thing doesn't. It's 4x fighting resist allows it to check things like choice locked Terrakion, call out CC conkeldurrs, and IDBP cobalion. What it does is function as a snowballing psychic type. A niche not truly unique, but Tinted lens Esper wing gives it the benefit of being a speed boosting snowballing psychic type, able to setup on and abuse non roar empoleon, eats knock from cyclizar with ease, and mops other things like Moltres. Esper Wing allows for a variety of setup opportunities other psychic types can't reach for, and the unique defensive utility is praiseworthy. For those who strictly follow the "requires a replay for all UR to ranked noms, yeah yeah here's a replay for you.
Everything people thought mew would be, is what Cresselia is like i swear. CM is so diabolically good, and the annoyance by hippowdon is alleviated by superior bulk, generally good recovery with some caveats, and an actual non-worthless ability !! CM snowballs against a surprising amount of teams, setting up on a ton of common things like Cyc, Cobal without taunt, Moltres, no ww hippo (which is becoming more common since ppl realized letting in the best birds in the tier for free blows), fezandipiti (with covert cloak), Noivern, special mence, and far more. It's tera is quite diverse aswell, with me personally fancying tera Electric, as it resists jirachi iron head, while still being immune to EQ. And boosting an optional pick over moonblast, aka tbolt. In exchange for admitting you'll never kill a Krookodile or wo-chien worth a shit unless you lay up a tspike, you nail Empoleon, Jirachi, and bisharp for more reliable damage. This thing runs away with SO many games, it's so good. Please give it a whirl, I swear you'll be well inbursed for the time.
Fraud. I regret calling this mon busted as fuck and complaining about it's unban this is budget necrozma on it's best days. I've seen takes of "oh its busted" "if people use this thing it's nuts!" yeah IF people use it. Nobody uses this thing and wowie I wonder why. This thing has competition out the ass, and even with mew's variety, every other psychic has a draw to use it over this. H-Braviary has it's speed boosting schtick and iron leaves checking niche, Cresselia has levitate cm and absurd obesity to snowball, Reuniclus has magic guard, Jirachi has a steel typing and more utility thats worth a damn (no , Necrozma has dragon dance and meteor beam, paired with far better stats for the job it tries to do. And mew has jack of all trades, master of fucking nothing, shit it's not even a veteran it's a novice in a stolen uniform. When you use it it's probably decent but like, it's not A- material even with that being said. DD sets are weak as shit and bad versions of Necrozma, NP sets are bad versions of a hero called azelf with a smidge of twave support, and you can probably curate a set that performs something better or unique to the others but it's fucking mew that's not impressive. Like gee you sure showed me with your sub bulk up throat chop leech life tera bug mew. Maybe once it gets off its ass and hopefully does something worth a damn during RUPL I'll rescind my statement but for now it's among the 3 heavenly frauds alongside salamence and the rats. If i want a spikes HO lead im using froslass or custap forretress you can't change my mind.
Agree with most of the points above (except salamence, that is decent), but I do want to nominate a few mons to rise/fall.
-> C/C+
Not a huge jump but imo, lucario is super underrated rn. The main sets of course are sd+e-speed, choice band and np, which in itself are great sets, however lucario can mix and match its moves to an extreme degree. It can go bulk up+special move (my favourite one), agility+3A and bullet punch+sd. There is more that I am most likely missing, but lucario is a swiss army knife of coverage, the only thing holding it back is competition as a steel+fighting type from cobalion. However, access to priority and more coverage brings it a valuable niche in the tier.
-> B+/A-
Been using gyarados lately, and I know this may seem weird, but I think its a really, really good mon in the tier. The set I have personally been liking is dd, t-wave and 2A. Most people switch in a counter for gyarados because they expect it to start dd'ing, but t-wave means that something like id deo-d, or some other mon like grass types, actually get insanely crippled by t-wave. From here, it can either switch to a teammate or start a sweep with the defensive answer crippled. It also has nice defensive utility for the tier with it being able to soft check a lot of physical attackers and its good natural bulk helping it in a lot of matchups. Cobalion can only use volt switch against it since stone edge is weakened (not even a 2hit ko at -1) and it resists its stab moves. This is amazing for playing around cobalion. E-quake at +1 2hit kos id cobalion if they switch into it and if not, then gyarados can t-wave. Taunt is another option, but I find t-wave is superior. Overall, a really amazing mon in the tier.
-> C/C+
Not going to talk about this one for long, but inteleon is basically a special version of barra with a little less speed but a lot more power. Specs scald's absolutely shalack most things in the tier and can provide team support with burns. Meanwhile, it can flip turn out of bad matchups (or u-turn, but imma stick with my water move, thank you very much) which still does good damage (it can 4hit ko physically defensive moltres lmao) which is good for chip. Once the opponent is weared down, it can click its powerful special moves to obliterate the enemy. Should try it out, its really good.
-> B/B-
I'm sorry, but breloom is not the stuff rn. It's power is amazing, but it doesn't have enough traits in other areas to account for this. Poison heal is an amzing ability (as gliscor has shown) but breloom doesn't have the longevity to abuse it. But that's not the main reason why you use breloom, its for technician boosted moves with cb or sd. Outside of mach punch, breloom isn't too threatening. Again, its bulk is mediocre, but its speed really holds it back. Grass+fighting is good offensively, but bad defensively, so it not going first hurts it a lot. Even something like specially defensive empoleon surf (though I doubt it would be able to use surf, but this is just to show how bad it is defensively) has a chance to 3hit ko. Cyclizar rapid spin most of the time 4hit kos. RAPID SPIN, you know, the move that is used to remove hazards, i.e. it's main use is not to do damage. Breloom should have an amazing matchup against cyclizar, but it has to be careful coming in. This mon has one thing, and that's power, but when it is countered by most flying types not named enam-t because they outspeed it, resist its stabs and destroy it, you know its bad. The only reason why its not nominated for lower is cb mach punch, that's a really good tool. At least chesnaught has good stats and utility movepool.
-> B+/B-
Slither wing on paper is really amazing mon. Great bulk, amazing power and unique moves no other fighting type has, such as morning sun, flare blitz (infernape has it, but others don't), will-o-wisp and priority in first impression. However, in practice, slither wing is outclassed by most other fighting types. This is mainly because there secondary typings are better than slither wing's, who has to use bug stab. Hitting psychic types is nice, but most of the other fighting types have ways around them. Cobalion can volt switch out of the matchup, terrakion hits them hard with rock stab, mienshao has knock off or u-turn for them, okidogi is threatened more by them but also has knock off, gapdos has flying stab and infernape has fire stab. Since none of them are lacking in power (cobalion has id+bp for power), that means that they strictly ouclass it in most ways. It's speed stat also holds it back, due to bug+fighting being awful defensively and other fightings being faster, besides okidogi who has lots of other good traits. That leaves the utility, which if you are going to be using a will-o-wisp recovery mon, use moltres. It doesn't have much besides first impression that other mons can't replicate, and a downgrade in viability is fair.
-> C/C+Not a huge jump but imo, lucario is super underrated rn. The main sets of course are sd+e-speed, choice band and np, which in itself are great sets, however lucario can mix and match its moves to an extreme degree. It can go bulk up+special move (my favourite one), agility+3A and bullet punch+sd. There is more that I am most likely missing, but lucario is a swiss army knife of coverage, the only thing holding it back is competition as a steel+fighting type from cobalion. However, access to priority and more coverage brings it a valuable niche in the tier.
-> B+/A-Been using gyarados lately, and I know this may seem weird, but I think its a really, really good mon in the tier. The set I have personally been liking is dd, t-wave and 2A. Most people switch in a counter for gyarados because they expect it to start dd'ing, but t-wave means that something like id deo-d, or some other mon like grass types, actually get insanely crippled by t-wave. From here, it can either switch to a teammate or start a sweep with the defensive answer crippled. It also has nice defensive utility for the tier with it being able to soft check a lot of physical attackers and its good natural bulk helping it in a lot of matchups. Cobalion can only use volt switch against it since stone edge is weakened (not even a 2hit ko at -1) and it resists its stab moves. This is amazing for playing around cobalion. E-quake at +1 2hit kos id cobalion if they switch into it and if not, then gyarados can t-wave. Taunt is another option, but I find t-wave is superior. Overall, a really amazing mon in the tier.
-> C/C+Not going to talk about this one for long, but inteleon is basically a special version of barra with a little less speed but a lot more power. Specs scald's absolutely shalack most things in the tier and can provide team support with burns. Meanwhile, it can flip turn out of bad matchups (or u-turn, but imma stick with my water move, thank you very much) which still does good damage (it can 4hit ko physically defensive moltres lmao) which is good for chip. Once the opponent is weared down, it can click its powerful special moves to obliterate the enemy. Should try it out, its really good.
-> B/B-I'm sorry, but breloom is not the stuff rn. It's power is amazing, but it doesn't have enough traits in other areas to account for this. Poison heal is an amzing ability (as gliscor has shown) but breloom doesn't have the longevity to abuse it. But that's not the main reason why you use breloom, its for technician boosted moves with cb or sd. Outside of mach punch, breloom isn't too threatening. Again, its bulk is mediocre, but its speed really holds it back. Grass+fighting is good offensively, but bad defensively, so it not going first hurts it a lot. Even something like specially defensive empoleon surf (though I doubt it would be able to use surf, but this is just to show how bad it is defensively) has a chance to 3hit ko. Cyclizar rapid spin most of the time 4hit kos. RAPID SPIN, you know, the move that is used to remove hazards, i.e. it's main use is not to do damage. Breloom should have an amazing matchup against cyclizar, but it has to be careful coming in. This mon has one thing, and that's power, but when it is countered by most flying types not named enam-t because they outspeed it, resist its stabs and destroy it, you know its bad. The only reason why its not nominated for lower is cb mach punch, that's a really good tool. At least chesnaught has good stats and utility movepool.
-> B+/B-Slither wing on paper is really amazing mon. Great bulk, amazing power and unique moves no other fighting type has, such as morning sun, flare blitz (infernape has it, but others don't), will-o-wisp and priority in first impression. However, in practice, slither wing is outclassed by most other fighting types. This is mainly because there secondary typings are better than slither wing's, who has to use bug stab. Hitting psychic types is nice, but most of the other fighting types have ways around them. Cobalion can volt switch out of the matchup, terrakion hits them hard with rock stab, mienshao has knock off or u-turn for them, okidogi is threatened more by them but also has knock off, gapdos has flying stab and infernape has fire stab. Since none of them are lacking in power (cobalion has id+bp for power), that means that they strictly ouclass it in most ways. It's speed stat also holds it back, due to bug+fighting being awful defensively and other fightings being faster, besides okidogi who has lots of other good traits. That leaves the utility, which if you are going to be using a will-o-wisp recovery mon, use moltres. It doesn't have much besides first impression that other mons can't replicate, and a downgrade in viability is fair.
: C -> B-/BThis might seem like a huge rise but hear me out. Diancie is a naturally good defensive pokemon with its ability to check top tier mons like Moltres, Thundurus-T, Zoroark-Hisui, Salamence and Cyclizar in Particular. Speaking of cyclizar Diancie as a hazard setter haa a great matchup into cyclizar which is very important.
A common sentiment is why not Hippowdon instead? The answer is for the following reasons:
Diancie for one doesnt necessarily need to compete ith hippo. Infact hippo can be a great partner as it checks major nuisances like revavroom and cobalion.
Diancie being able to reliably set up stealth rocks means ur hippo can forgo sr and be able to run both roar and stone edge. However it can also run Spikes if u have a stealth rock hippowdon. Both of them form a beautiful core with each other.
Diancie loves hippo not only because of their amazing defensive profile together but also because of benefiting immensly from hippowdon's Sand. The bulk is so good. For instance Offensive Empoleon's Surf is a roll to two shot with surf to standard specially defensive Diancie. Specs zoroark's shadow ball is a 5 hit ko.
Another beautiful aspect of Diancie is its signature move Diamond Storm. Diamobd Storm turns several iffy matchups like Powerwhip cyclizar into easy exchanges. Power whip goes from a 3 hit ko to a 6 hit ko aswell as completly shifting its cobalion matchup. (Iron head is a roll to 3 hit ko at +2..admittingly a very likely roll but a +2 body press does almost double the damagd back and forces a tera.)
Defensive Diancie is also really versataile. For instance if cobalion thinking it will get free Iron defense will get hammered by an Encore. If they predict encore and taunt a Diancie it will get Moon blasted to its face which heavily dents cobalion compared to its fairy type competition fezandipity. (Moonblast is very likely to 3 shot).
However these are defensive Diancie's traits.
Lets go to offensive Diancie next.
The best offensive Diancie set imo is OTR diancie with a simple set of meteor beam moonlast trick room and earth power with any desired tera (preferably ground or steel for baloon revavroom)
Though a bit weak uninvested once its fully invested Diancie becomes an absolute beast once it gets its setup going.
+1 252+ SpA Diancie Meteor Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Hippowdon: 118-140 (28 - 33.3%) -- 0.1% chance to 3HKO
+1 252+ SpA Diancie Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Hippowdon: 189-223 (45 - 53%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
With slight chip specially defensive hippowdon drops (or u r tera fairy for that insane +1 moonblast calcs (vroom still isnt switching in either way so its a fine-ish trade))
Also hippo has to be roar to beat dian which has became a lot less common lately in favour of stone edge which is great for Dian.
OTR completly flips offense matchup massively. Its calcs on paper arent as interesting but u will feel the effect of these calcs in practice more.
Diamond storm CM diancie is also very decent aswell. Though its annoyed that it has to run tera poison(more common)/steel for fezandipity and okidogi more. If u cm as a cobalion switches in u r very likely to win the exchange because of how much d kiss heal.
Because of all the points mentioned above I think Diancie should rise to B-/B. Its leagues better than mons like Foretress, H-Typhlosion,and Tentacruel who resides its rank rn. Its frankly insulting.
Its even better than mons residing above it like incineroat, base thundurus, Venusaur, Floatzel, munkidori and even Registeel. Its better than almost every B- mon except for maybe Yanmega who should rise itself anyway.
Hell I would say its better than mons like Glowbro and Raikou.
Yes it has issues like lack of reliable recovery outside of leftovers and maybe draining kiss on cm sets aswell as at times passivity issues which is why I am not nominating it any higher for now.
https://tiermaker.com/create/viability-ranking-rarelyused-march-2024-17069371
Not an opinion but i think this template will be nice for the community
Not an opinion but i think this template will be nice for the community
Also not an opinion, but I think it would be a good idea to keep track of, on the main VR post, when it was last updated so that new players know just how old the VR is. I'm pretty sure that other VRs do that and not everyone knows to look at the bottom right of the post, so I think it would just be a good quality of life thing.
Below are my ideas on the May VR - Cyc, Jirachi and Thundy-T (soon to be banned hopefully) all dominate the meta and there are a lot of options in the A+ to A- range to pick from / account for in the builder. Feel free to make your own list as well using this link.
(B+ and below are organized alphabetically)
(B+ and below are organized alphabetically)
VR Update time!
-> A+
-> A-
S- -> S
A -> A+
A- -> A+
A- -> A
B+ -> A-
B -> B+
B- -> B
B- -> B+
C -> B-
UR -> C
S -> A+
A -> A-
A- -> B+
B+ -> B
B -> B-
B- -> C+
C+ -> C
C -> UR
We won't be doing reasonings this time but in case you have any questions, we would gladly answer them in here or #vr-discussion on RU server!
-> A+ -> A- S- -> S A -> A+ A- -> A+ A- -> A B+ -> A- B -> B+ B- -> B B- -> B+ C -> B- UR -> C S -> A+ A -> A- A- -> B+ B+ -> B B -> B- B- -> C+ C+ -> C C -> URWe won't be doing reasonings this time but in case you have any questions, we would gladly answer them in here or #vr-discussion on RU server!
Why did Gengar fall? Haven't played with it a lot but wouldn't it like jirachi being such a good mon on non choice locked sets?
Why did Gyarados fall? I honestly thought it should have rose cause the dd+t-wave+2A set destroys a lot of teams, but even the conventional set looks pretty good.
Why did Araquanid fall? Sticky web teams are ... alright, but the choice band set has popped up a bit more that deals insane damage (even gets listed on the april statistics).
Why did Gyarados fall? I honestly thought it should have rose cause the dd+t-wave+2A set destroys a lot of teams, but even the conventional set looks pretty good.
Why did Araquanid fall? Sticky web teams are ... alright, but the choice band set has popped up a bit more that deals insane damage (even gets listed on the april statistics).
I can't say for gengar, because I voted for a stay in A, but for the other 2, Slowbro stocks are in rise for gyarados case and if i'm being honest here, it was already mid and not that good pick imo, the drop to B fits better
As for Araquanid, I don't think its a overall good mon for RU and its diffcult to fit on teams, and again, Slowbro being on rise means it has difficult to break things or trying doing its job, the drop was deserved imo
Can someone explain to me why intelion is so high? I feel like I don't see him around enough to justify that tiering and when I do he's not that big of a threat besides the fact he has big spatck and ice beam which isn't super common in RU rn
Of the B+ mons on my list, Inteleon is probably the one I'd be most willing to see drop to B. I think it still offers a unique Water type slot with all kinds of upside as a naturally fast Special Attacker that can fish for burns, crits or turnspam.
What made Wo-Chien rise so much? Is it just because of a lack of dark types in the tier and the dominance of psychic types like Jirachi, Slowbro and Reuniclus?
Wo-Chien has always been good in RU, but yes a big reason is the lack of Dark types now, the Psychic types being really good and Rain being a relevant meta option. Wo covers a lot of slots in one mon.
Why did Diancie not rise? I feel like it's a good support Mon with a solid defensive profile and formes beautiful cores with top tiers like hippowdon and cyclizar. It also checks some top tiers like moltres thundurus-T and cyclizar to name a few.
It also can run a solid offensive set with stuff like calm mind dkiss (with diamond press usually but u can run iron press fine too) with teras like poison to set up all over okidogi and even gapdos or fairy for stronger dkiss..
It also can run a solid offensive set with stuff like calm mind dkiss (with diamond press usually but u can run iron press fine too) with teras like poison to set up all over okidogi and even gapdos or fairy for stronger dkiss..
I’m new to the tier, but in short, Wo-Chien has good matchups into Iron Leaves, Thundurus-T, Psychics, Rain, and Rhyperior while providing utility with Knock.
The Best Viability Ranking to ever exist
Raikou is listed as both B rank and B-
Seems its trying to convince everybody to use it
Seems its trying to convince everybody to use it
Well, with Thundurus-T banned, I think it's time I properly tear into the VR. Bluntly speaking, I think the shifts were bad there's no 2 ways about it. Multiple mons dropped who shouldn't, and multiple mons who should've rose didn't. First I'll cover the mons who dropped / rose who didn't deserve it, then get into actual noms.
-> B+
This should not have dropped. At all. Slowbro and Reuniclus are both just, not answers to it. U turn on CB/Scarf sets are easy ways to get in psychic hunters like Crawdaunt, which is a great partner for it. NP Sets can outright nuke things with zero remorse, as a +2 GK OHKOs slowbro with zero strings attached. Meanwhile Specs is an absolute NUKE and does a batshit amount of damage to just about anything, 2 tapping slowbro with specs overheat + tera fire is huge, and other calcs I can't be assed to go grab but just trust me on this one put him back where he was. Switcheroo/Knock can be used to cripple checks like Slowbro, Moltres, etc and lets hazards handle your woes.
-> B/B+
I don't know why this dropped either. Before, it was a solid offensive check to Thundurus-T, and was able to break past Cyclizars with CM Aura Sphere, while bodying Rhyp, Rotom-Heat and Hippo with scald. Now, Thundurus-T is gone, and now it's primary competition is... Thundurus-I which it still checks. Imo, i don't think it should've dropped before, but I think it deserves to rise for the reasons that the primary broken electric is done stealing it's job. Also checks Jirachi like a professional.
-> B-
You would think that Reuniclus and Slowbro's rise would have enticed people to use this pokemon more, but what do I know. Wish sets aren't the only thing you can use, as things like FP Moonlight Taunt Tox are a good way to force progress, even with weather stuffing moonlight. Wishtect fp tox is an eternal slowbro check, and while this blanks into okidogi as long as your fine with that you're off to the races with this thing. Rise it back. Ghost resists that stick around are more scarce than a good Ubisoft title come on now.
Now for the others
-> A
This pokemon gets the job done. Fantastic steel with reliable recovery, can check punks like Basc-F (who I'll get to soon) and alot others. It's utility is massive, knock SR flip turn pivoting you name it it's got it. GK let's it check Volcanion in an emergency, and it's gotten better with Thundurus-T's departure. It also hits surprisingly hard if your willing to pump some EVs and maybe a nature into sp att, and is especially good if they get cocky with their waters, teams like Basc-F + Cyclizar can struggle to switch into 3A empoleon quite a bit. It's good, it should've rose before but that's fine just raise it now.
-> A
This thing is a bonafide nuke. CB Sets saw a surge in W2 RUPL, and it definitely does not feel like the VR was voted on with that in mind even if it actually released after week 2. Scarf sets also saw a slight jump, with it's surprise factor and great natural bulk letting it soft check a swath of things. Toxic chain is just poison touch but better in every virtual way, and Fighting/Poison/Dark coverage is a bastard to switch into, especially with last move often being psychic fangs. Realistically a well played Okidogi should net 2 kills a game nearly no exceptions. This thing is a demon, and I think people realized how silly CB Okidogi is on paraspam teams.
-> UR
-> C+
Nicheless garbage. Slowbro hits this thing like a brick wall and there's nothing it can do about it. The best you can cough up is a mixed tera electric special tera blast for slowbro, and that's quite the cost when I can load Blastoise or Drednaw and get that value back in spades. No really tell me what this thing's niche is? Setting up on grounds? As if blastoise isn't doing that shit already. Drednaw packs a +2 Crunch that can OHKO slowbro at +2 without any fuss and that man sitting at UR right now tell me where the niche is. It doesn't even have an HO niche because it lost both explosion and rapid spin AND pin missile. If I want an HO water type I have Blastoise, Gyarados, Drednaw, Feraligatr (lol), and Basculegion for that tell me why I should respect this trash. You know what? I'm Nomming Drednaw in it's place, every reason Cloyster was ranked before, Drednaw should take its place. It's eating slowbro's for lunch, with a clean OHKO after rocks or without rocks and Tera dark. Hell if you think you don't need the OHKO you can dance with Tera electric on it instead, foddering Jirachi and using electrics as setup fodder. It's niche vs blastoise is it's ability to hit harder than Blastoise, and tera dark crunch being an absolute demon vs a plethora of things like Gastrodon. Blastoise is better there's no spinning it, but Drednaw actually has a niche unlike Cloyster. I don't have any replays but just, you guys know what Drednaw does cmon now.
-> A-
Quality. Among our best offensive waters, this things offensive reach is incredible. Agility, Agility WP, Scarf, Specs, and Swift Swimmer gives this thing a plethora of sets that while usually packing the same stuff, plays very differently and changes what can check it. Innovations like Hex on paraspam let's it muscle past things like Empoleon with some help, which is usually a good check to it. Speaking of paraspam, this thing is among it's best teammates, as Cyclizar is disappointingly frequently the primary vanguard vs this thing mowing team teams, and is just bait for 2 ice beams, even with Assault Vest. Being a ghost can let it be a spinblocker on webs teams, which is a valuable niche as Mimikyu is often a paperweight in some matchups, this thing rarely doesn't pose a threat to teams. This thing is definitely better than everything in B+ except maybe Krookodile, who I'll also be getting to.
-> A-
Rise it again. It's an incredibly solid rocker than provides good utility and is very nice as a ghost resist and knock spammer, as the tier becomes somewhat infested by psychics. Gunk shot let's it cover Enam-T, and its large pool of sets from Scarf, to Sash SR, CB, rocks 3A, and BU leaves alot of room for experimentation and set variety. Taunt let it block Hippowdon nicely, and Intimidate is always a nice utility when things like Iron leaves exist that almost always force a tera without recourse. I don't have a ton to say about it it's just incredibly solid.
-> A
Put it right next to Iron Leaves and Revavroom as HO's favorite criminals. This thing is really silly, and I think it teeters the line of acceptability and onto broken territory. Tera blast Grass let's it cheat past things like Gastrodon, while giving setup opportunities vs things like Electrics. Speaking of electrics, you could run tera electric too, sacrificing Gastrodon specifically and sniping Volcanion while boasting a twave immunity (you see a trend yet...). This thing can run a ton of teras, Tera Ghost hits slowbro and Volcanion just fine while providing immunity to Mach punch Conkeldurr and Espeed Enteis, and lets you set up on fighting types instead. On most if not all occasions, a late game blastoise should win bar an emergency tera. This also assumes the Blastoise is even forced to tera to begin with, as you can opt for Dark pulse over Tera blast and sacrifice ever beating Gastrodon for a lack of tera reliance. It's really silly, and its a cornerstone on HO and offense alike.
-> A-
Slowbro is not the only psychic type to start an upswing, as Necrozma adores Hippowdon falling off a bit. DD Necrozma hits like a freight train, DD Photon and 2 of Knock EQ X-Scissor and Moonlight for it's last slots. Meteor beam Necrozma is also a good set, and is a good SR setter for HOs using froslass as their lead over Kleavor. It's also phenomenal on sticky webs, and other sets like Bulky DD with a litany of teras provides an exceptional sweeper and bulky wincon.
Conkeldurr i've nommed for an entirely different reason. Say hello to our 2nd best hazard removal
Defog Conk manages to remove hazards vs pretty much every setter except Necrozma Hippowdon and Jirachi, and that also applies to spikes aswell to an extent. Of course, guts is still one of our best breakers in the tier, and Thundurus-Ts departure is another pokemon it didn't rlly like, so that's a boon for it. I think defog conk is actually incredible, and whenever you don't need cyclizar to bandaid your teams middling defensive backbone but need removal, give conk a try. It's actually really good at the job.
-> UR
Either put thwackey back on or take this off they are both worthless without each other. We only tier the sweeper above the setter if the sweeper is good enough to justify and Grafaiai certainly isn't! Doubling so if we sent thwackey to UR last shift.
-> B+/A-
Our Thundurus-T replacement has arrived and who could've seen this coming. People were actually using this thing before as it did Thundurus-Ts pivot gig slightly better thanks to the speed and phys attack, but now with Thundurus-T gone it's entire mantle is just gonna be taken up on with this guy. Will he be broken? Idk, maybe? Is he good now though? absolutely. Everything we had thundurus-T up in A+ for, we can now start applying to Thundy-I.
-> UR
-> Lower.
Keep falling.
-> B-
Scarf PZ is actually a great breaker, and Tera ground tera blast is an exceptional gotcha for steels like empoleon and Jirachi. Tera blast being basically the same as tri attack means you can click it with impunity, and then tera after they switch their steel in. Great way to remove jirachi and other steels for teammates, and being a Ground-Type version of PZ is great in its own right, as Ground/Ice is fantastic coverage, and trick is always a nice utility in CM psychic meta.
-> B/B+
-> B+
I called Palossand out to B- before, and that was achieved.. but it seems I was too modest. This thing is very good, and basically blocking hazard removal from pmuch the entire tier besides Conk (i love you), is a huge niche, and I think B tier is where it should stay for rn for the same reasons as before. Gastrodon has been upswinging lately as a quality ground that actually checks all the electrics nobody likes, especially with Therian gone. It's an extremely annoying spiker that blocks off so many mons with an absurd amount of ease. Clear smog lets it fuck with slowbro/reuni which is great, and as usual EP/IB is annoying to switch into, and it kept scald so. Use it. And raise it.
-> B+
I've sung Noivern's praises more than enough, but A-Muk has been on the rise for it's efficacy of checking Reuniclus/Slowbro, and being a staple on stall teams, which have seen a slight uptick in usage. Cobalion being on a downward trend is another boon for it, as knocking into Cobalion isn't exactly something you want to do more than once, especially since alot of times you can't control you doing it (resttalk). Protect 3A is solid aswell, with stabs + clear smog completely stuffing reuniclus for the entire game, which is a huge asset to have on a team. Slowbro is slightly messier, and it's why i prefer resttalk to tect3a, but poison touch provides a lot of leeway in handling mons, and lets you have a shot at crippling it's switchins like Krook. As for Cresselia, Tera poison Cress is quite painfully our best Enam-T check in the tier... and it's support set with Scarf Lunar Dance has seen some usage in RUPL now aswell, and it's utility at taking atleast 1 of anything is as valuable on HO as ever. CM Sets are deadly too.
-> Stay in S
I've seen alot of talk on that Cobalion has fallen off and that it doesn't belong in the S ranks, and I have to say I don't actually think I agree. I think this thing is still amazing, and it's simply Enam-T syndrome of having a fairy so insanely warping that having a fake steel feels unaffordable (as if Enam-T even loses to any steels in the tier anyways). Specs sets are excellent breakers vs any team without a gastrodon, and Thundurus-T leaving means an extremely common soft-check to it has disappeared, even if Thundy-I will take up the mantle, it's not a volt immune so that's more than fine. CM Sets are great, IDBP sets are kinda meh but they are solid, and SD sets that use either X-Scissor or Tera blast can cleave past slowbro with minor fuss. It's not at the same heights it was before, but I think it's still worthy of being called an S rank Pokémon.
This should not have dropped. At all. Slowbro and Reuniclus are both just, not answers to it. U turn on CB/Scarf sets are easy ways to get in psychic hunters like Crawdaunt, which is a great partner for it. NP Sets can outright nuke things with zero remorse, as a +2 GK OHKOs slowbro with zero strings attached. Meanwhile Specs is an absolute NUKE and does a batshit amount of damage to just about anything, 2 tapping slowbro with specs overheat + tera fire is huge, and other calcs I can't be assed to go grab but just trust me on this one put him back where he was. Switcheroo/Knock can be used to cripple checks like Slowbro, Moltres, etc and lets hazards handle your woes.
I don't know why this dropped either. Before, it was a solid offensive check to Thundurus-T, and was able to break past Cyclizars with CM Aura Sphere, while bodying Rhyp, Rotom-Heat and Hippo with scald. Now, Thundurus-T is gone, and now it's primary competition is... Thundurus-I which it still checks. Imo, i don't think it should've dropped before, but I think it deserves to rise for the reasons that the primary broken electric is done stealing it's job. Also checks Jirachi like a professional.
You would think that Reuniclus and Slowbro's rise would have enticed people to use this pokemon more, but what do I know. Wish sets aren't the only thing you can use, as things like FP Moonlight Taunt Tox are a good way to force progress, even with weather stuffing moonlight. Wishtect fp tox is an eternal slowbro check, and while this blanks into okidogi as long as your fine with that you're off to the races with this thing. Rise it back. Ghost resists that stick around are more scarce than a good Ubisoft title come on now.
Now for the others
This pokemon gets the job done. Fantastic steel with reliable recovery, can check punks like Basc-F (who I'll get to soon) and alot others. It's utility is massive, knock SR flip turn pivoting you name it it's got it. GK let's it check Volcanion in an emergency, and it's gotten better with Thundurus-T's departure. It also hits surprisingly hard if your willing to pump some EVs and maybe a nature into sp att, and is especially good if they get cocky with their waters, teams like Basc-F + Cyclizar can struggle to switch into 3A empoleon quite a bit. It's good, it should've rose before but that's fine just raise it now.
This thing is a bonafide nuke. CB Sets saw a surge in W2 RUPL, and it definitely does not feel like the VR was voted on with that in mind even if it actually released after week 2. Scarf sets also saw a slight jump, with it's surprise factor and great natural bulk letting it soft check a swath of things. Toxic chain is just poison touch but better in every virtual way, and Fighting/Poison/Dark coverage is a bastard to switch into, especially with last move often being psychic fangs. Realistically a well played Okidogi should net 2 kills a game nearly no exceptions. This thing is a demon, and I think people realized how silly CB Okidogi is on paraspam teams.
Nicheless garbage. Slowbro hits this thing like a brick wall and there's nothing it can do about it. The best you can cough up is a mixed tera electric special tera blast for slowbro, and that's quite the cost when I can load Blastoise or Drednaw and get that value back in spades. No really tell me what this thing's niche is? Setting up on grounds? As if blastoise isn't doing that shit already. Drednaw packs a +2 Crunch that can OHKO slowbro at +2 without any fuss and that man sitting at UR right now tell me where the niche is. It doesn't even have an HO niche because it lost both explosion and rapid spin AND pin missile. If I want an HO water type I have Blastoise, Gyarados, Drednaw, Feraligatr (lol), and Basculegion for that tell me why I should respect this trash. You know what? I'm Nomming Drednaw in it's place, every reason Cloyster was ranked before, Drednaw should take its place. It's eating slowbro's for lunch, with a clean OHKO after rocks or without rocks and Tera dark. Hell if you think you don't need the OHKO you can dance with Tera electric on it instead, foddering Jirachi and using electrics as setup fodder. It's niche vs blastoise is it's ability to hit harder than Blastoise, and tera dark crunch being an absolute demon vs a plethora of things like Gastrodon. Blastoise is better there's no spinning it, but Drednaw actually has a niche unlike Cloyster. I don't have any replays but just, you guys know what Drednaw does cmon now.
Quality. Among our best offensive waters, this things offensive reach is incredible. Agility, Agility WP, Scarf, Specs, and Swift Swimmer gives this thing a plethora of sets that while usually packing the same stuff, plays very differently and changes what can check it. Innovations like Hex on paraspam let's it muscle past things like Empoleon with some help, which is usually a good check to it. Speaking of paraspam, this thing is among it's best teammates, as Cyclizar is disappointingly frequently the primary vanguard vs this thing mowing team teams, and is just bait for 2 ice beams, even with Assault Vest. Being a ghost can let it be a spinblocker on webs teams, which is a valuable niche as Mimikyu is often a paperweight in some matchups, this thing rarely doesn't pose a threat to teams. This thing is definitely better than everything in B+ except maybe Krookodile, who I'll also be getting to.
Rise it again. It's an incredibly solid rocker than provides good utility and is very nice as a ghost resist and knock spammer, as the tier becomes somewhat infested by psychics. Gunk shot let's it cover Enam-T, and its large pool of sets from Scarf, to Sash SR, CB, rocks 3A, and BU leaves alot of room for experimentation and set variety. Taunt let it block Hippowdon nicely, and Intimidate is always a nice utility when things like Iron leaves exist that almost always force a tera without recourse. I don't have a ton to say about it it's just incredibly solid.
Put it right next to Iron Leaves and Revavroom as HO's favorite criminals. This thing is really silly, and I think it teeters the line of acceptability and onto broken territory. Tera blast Grass let's it cheat past things like Gastrodon, while giving setup opportunities vs things like Electrics. Speaking of electrics, you could run tera electric too, sacrificing Gastrodon specifically and sniping Volcanion while boasting a twave immunity (you see a trend yet...). This thing can run a ton of teras, Tera Ghost hits slowbro and Volcanion just fine while providing immunity to Mach punch Conkeldurr and Espeed Enteis, and lets you set up on fighting types instead. On most if not all occasions, a late game blastoise should win bar an emergency tera. This also assumes the Blastoise is even forced to tera to begin with, as you can opt for Dark pulse over Tera blast and sacrifice ever beating Gastrodon for a lack of tera reliance. It's really silly, and its a cornerstone on HO and offense alike.
Slowbro is not the only psychic type to start an upswing, as Necrozma adores Hippowdon falling off a bit. DD Necrozma hits like a freight train, DD Photon and 2 of Knock EQ X-Scissor and Moonlight for it's last slots. Meteor beam Necrozma is also a good set, and is a good SR setter for HOs using froslass as their lead over Kleavor. It's also phenomenal on sticky webs, and other sets like Bulky DD with a litany of teras provides an exceptional sweeper and bulky wincon.
Conkeldurr i've nommed for an entirely different reason. Say hello to our 2nd best hazard removal
Defog Conk manages to remove hazards vs pretty much every setter except Necrozma Hippowdon and Jirachi, and that also applies to spikes aswell to an extent. Of course, guts is still one of our best breakers in the tier, and Thundurus-Ts departure is another pokemon it didn't rlly like, so that's a boon for it. I think defog conk is actually incredible, and whenever you don't need cyclizar to bandaid your teams middling defensive backbone but need removal, give conk a try. It's actually really good at the job.
Either put thwackey back on or take this off they are both worthless without each other. We only tier the sweeper above the setter if the sweeper is good enough to justify and Grafaiai certainly isn't! Doubling so if we sent thwackey to UR last shift.
Our Thundurus-T replacement has arrived and who could've seen this coming. People were actually using this thing before as it did Thundurus-Ts pivot gig slightly better thanks to the speed and phys attack, but now with Thundurus-T gone it's entire mantle is just gonna be taken up on with this guy. Will he be broken? Idk, maybe? Is he good now though? absolutely. Everything we had thundurus-T up in A+ for, we can now start applying to Thundy-I.
Keep falling.
Scarf PZ is actually a great breaker, and Tera ground tera blast is an exceptional gotcha for steels like empoleon and Jirachi. Tera blast being basically the same as tri attack means you can click it with impunity, and then tera after they switch their steel in. Great way to remove jirachi and other steels for teammates, and being a Ground-Type version of PZ is great in its own right, as Ground/Ice is fantastic coverage, and trick is always a nice utility in CM psychic meta.
I called Palossand out to B- before, and that was achieved.. but it seems I was too modest. This thing is very good, and basically blocking hazard removal from pmuch the entire tier besides Conk (i love you), is a huge niche, and I think B tier is where it should stay for rn for the same reasons as before. Gastrodon has been upswinging lately as a quality ground that actually checks all the electrics nobody likes, especially with Therian gone. It's an extremely annoying spiker that blocks off so many mons with an absurd amount of ease. Clear smog lets it fuck with slowbro/reuni which is great, and as usual EP/IB is annoying to switch into, and it kept scald so. Use it. And raise it.
I've sung Noivern's praises more than enough, but A-Muk has been on the rise for it's efficacy of checking Reuniclus/Slowbro, and being a staple on stall teams, which have seen a slight uptick in usage. Cobalion being on a downward trend is another boon for it, as knocking into Cobalion isn't exactly something you want to do more than once, especially since alot of times you can't control you doing it (resttalk). Protect 3A is solid aswell, with stabs + clear smog completely stuffing reuniclus for the entire game, which is a huge asset to have on a team. Slowbro is slightly messier, and it's why i prefer resttalk to tect3a, but poison touch provides a lot of leeway in handling mons, and lets you have a shot at crippling it's switchins like Krook. As for Cresselia, Tera poison Cress is quite painfully our best Enam-T check in the tier... and it's support set with Scarf Lunar Dance has seen some usage in RUPL now aswell, and it's utility at taking atleast 1 of anything is as valuable on HO as ever. CM Sets are deadly too.
I've seen alot of talk on that Cobalion has fallen off and that it doesn't belong in the S ranks, and I have to say I don't actually think I agree. I think this thing is still amazing, and it's simply Enam-T syndrome of having a fairy so insanely warping that having a fake steel feels unaffordable (as if Enam-T even loses to any steels in the tier anyways). Specs sets are excellent breakers vs any team without a gastrodon, and Thundurus-T leaving means an extremely common soft-check to it has disappeared, even if Thundy-I will take up the mantle, it's not a volt immune so that's more than fine. CM Sets are great, IDBP sets are kinda meh but they are solid, and SD sets that use either X-Scissor or Tera blast can cleave past slowbro with minor fuss. It's not at the same heights it was before, but I think it's still worthy of being called an S rank Pokémon.
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So, also going to nominate a few mons to rise (and fall) in the viability rankings
-> B/B+
With Thundurus Therian leaving, other electric types have to take its place and I believe magnezone is the best of the bunch. Yes, it isn't a fast electric, but it is the most powerful electric, with choice specs boosted analytic boosted attacks doing major damage. It can also dominate most steel types if it chooses magnet pull. It is also the most defensive of the electric types, as electric/steel having tons of resistances, giving it many opportunities to get in and do damage. AV sets are also nice, being able to take a lot of special hits (even super effective ones sometimes), and this creates a really dynamic mon that can fill a lot of roles on a team.
-> B/B+(or A-)
With the best electric type gone from the tier, and with the others being good, but not as good, gyarados is going to be enjoying it today. This frees up its tera a lot, as tera ground while good, it was forced to use in order to take it on. I also believe that the DD+t-wave+2A set is by far the best, able to cripple the opposing team and threaten a sweep. Gyarados is a mon that can be good defensively and offensively, checking lots of keys mons such as hippo, empoleon, barra and more, and threatening a sweep with DD.
-> A+/S-(or S)
Jirachi I think is the premier steel type in the tier, as it accomplishes a lot of roles in the tier. It is a defensive beast, an annoying paraspammer, a good scarfer and a snowballing sweeper all in one mon. Most of the time, it can fill a few of these roles in one set, for example a more defensive calm mind set can wall things early on while still acting as a late game wincon. There is a reason why many mons tech tera electric and its due to this wish making machine (though I don't believe its broken).
-> A-/A
Bisharp feels like its the premier revenge killer and lategame sweeper of the tier. Now, why? Isn't it outclassed in this role by a ton of mons like terrakion and even cobalion. Well, I would say no. And that's because it is a revenge killer that is hard to revenge kill. Aside from fighting types, (and not all fighting types like terrakion) not much really can take boosted sucker punches and iron heads. This is a huge threat that you need to deal with and even fighting types can struggle against a tera flying bisharp. For example, a banded gapdos cc does 41% max. That is a powerful hit it just eats up. You are also able to tera dark if you desire more power, though that is a lot more niche.
-> C/C+
I have been experimenting more with galvantula in the tier and I have to say, it is pretty damn good. It's speed tier is great, speeding tieing both cobalion and terrakion, while outspeeding many base 100s and 105s. It also is a good offensive threat if you keep it around, stab thunders and bug buzz's hurt a lot of the tier hard, with it being really threatening to the psychic duo of reun and slowbro. Overall, just a good mon.
-> C+/B-
Still think this thing is the best sticky web user, but its also a dangerous threat. It can do massive damage with liquidations that decimate most targets. This is mainly since I think that galvantula is better, so araquanid should always be a rank higher.
-> S/S-
While I do believe that cobalion has fallen off a bit, I don't think its by much. It's still a very versatile mon that can accomplish a lot of things on a team, but with the introduction of jirachi and other steel types getting better as stuff like more offensive empoleon is being explored. It's gone from the meta mon to one of the meta mons. You also have to consider it next to cyclizar, who it is not really comparable in its use/warping effect to at all. I think I small downgrade is fair.
-> A-/B+
Don't get me wrong, salamence is a good mon, but it doesn't feel like a A- mon. The main things it has is 1. DD mence, 2. Special attacker mence and 3. Defensive mence. All these are not bad, but they all lack something.
DD mence is a great mon, but it feels hard to get in and the powerful physical walls of the tier make it struggle to sweep effectively (since they are usually combined to cover large portions of the meta). This means it has to pick and choose its coverage, which isn't ideal. Other physical attackers feel like they don't have this problem.
Special attacker mence is prob its best set, but it feels like you are trying to do something that enam-t and other special attackers already excel at. It does have its perks, but it feels like it would do better with other mons in that role.
Defensive mence can be annoying to deal with, but it feels like it doesn't contribute as much. Other mons like cobalion or hippo feel better at this role.
And that's what I believe mence's main issue is, it feels outclassed. Why would I try to use mence in order to fill multiple roles when I could use multiple mons to fill said roles and have a better time. Of course, mence is still great in these areas, and some teams it feels like without mence they would not function. But this specificity and being outclassed by other things makes it feel like a B+ rank mon. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
-> D/UR
What the hell does this thing do? No genuinelly, if somebody can answer what it does that even other C rank mons can't do, I'd love to know. If I'm going to be using a boosting psychic type that is bad, espeon is literally 6 spots down on the VR. At least it has magic bounce... The only thing it has is stored power shenanigans... Which can be done by cresselia (who is much bulkier) and mew (who has a diverse movepool including reliable ways to hit dark and steel types) much, much better. Don't see a use for this thing, so let's put it out of its misery.
I would also rank
(C rank) and 
(C+ or B- rank) but I don't have enough good replays. 
I also see what you did here. Very funny.
-> B/B+With Thundurus Therian leaving, other electric types have to take its place and I believe magnezone is the best of the bunch. Yes, it isn't a fast electric, but it is the most powerful electric, with choice specs boosted analytic boosted attacks doing major damage. It can also dominate most steel types if it chooses magnet pull. It is also the most defensive of the electric types, as electric/steel having tons of resistances, giving it many opportunities to get in and do damage. AV sets are also nice, being able to take a lot of special hits (even super effective ones sometimes), and this creates a really dynamic mon that can fill a lot of roles on a team.
-> B/B+(or A-)With the best electric type gone from the tier, and with the others being good, but not as good, gyarados is going to be enjoying it today. This frees up its tera a lot, as tera ground while good, it was forced to use in order to take it on. I also believe that the DD+t-wave+2A set is by far the best, able to cripple the opposing team and threaten a sweep. Gyarados is a mon that can be good defensively and offensively, checking lots of keys mons such as hippo, empoleon, barra and more, and threatening a sweep with DD.
-> A+/S-(or S)Jirachi I think is the premier steel type in the tier, as it accomplishes a lot of roles in the tier. It is a defensive beast, an annoying paraspammer, a good scarfer and a snowballing sweeper all in one mon. Most of the time, it can fill a few of these roles in one set, for example a more defensive calm mind set can wall things early on while still acting as a late game wincon. There is a reason why many mons tech tera electric and its due to this wish making machine (though I don't believe its broken).
-> A-/ABisharp feels like its the premier revenge killer and lategame sweeper of the tier. Now, why? Isn't it outclassed in this role by a ton of mons like terrakion and even cobalion. Well, I would say no. And that's because it is a revenge killer that is hard to revenge kill. Aside from fighting types, (and not all fighting types like terrakion) not much really can take boosted sucker punches and iron heads. This is a huge threat that you need to deal with and even fighting types can struggle against a tera flying bisharp. For example, a banded gapdos cc does 41% max. That is a powerful hit it just eats up. You are also able to tera dark if you desire more power, though that is a lot more niche.
-> C/C+I have been experimenting more with galvantula in the tier and I have to say, it is pretty damn good. It's speed tier is great, speeding tieing both cobalion and terrakion, while outspeeding many base 100s and 105s. It also is a good offensive threat if you keep it around, stab thunders and bug buzz's hurt a lot of the tier hard, with it being really threatening to the psychic duo of reun and slowbro. Overall, just a good mon.
-> C+/B-Still think this thing is the best sticky web user, but its also a dangerous threat. It can do massive damage with liquidations that decimate most targets. This is mainly since I think that galvantula is better, so araquanid should always be a rank higher.
-> S/S-While I do believe that cobalion has fallen off a bit, I don't think its by much. It's still a very versatile mon that can accomplish a lot of things on a team, but with the introduction of jirachi and other steel types getting better as stuff like more offensive empoleon is being explored. It's gone from the meta mon to one of the meta mons. You also have to consider it next to cyclizar, who it is not really comparable in its use/warping effect to at all. I think I small downgrade is fair.
-> A-/B+Don't get me wrong, salamence is a good mon, but it doesn't feel like a A- mon. The main things it has is 1. DD mence, 2. Special attacker mence and 3. Defensive mence. All these are not bad, but they all lack something.
DD mence is a great mon, but it feels hard to get in and the powerful physical walls of the tier make it struggle to sweep effectively (since they are usually combined to cover large portions of the meta). This means it has to pick and choose its coverage, which isn't ideal. Other physical attackers feel like they don't have this problem.
Special attacker mence is prob its best set, but it feels like you are trying to do something that enam-t and other special attackers already excel at. It does have its perks, but it feels like it would do better with other mons in that role.
Defensive mence can be annoying to deal with, but it feels like it doesn't contribute as much. Other mons like cobalion or hippo feel better at this role.
And that's what I believe mence's main issue is, it feels outclassed. Why would I try to use mence in order to fill multiple roles when I could use multiple mons to fill said roles and have a better time. Of course, mence is still great in these areas, and some teams it feels like without mence they would not function. But this specificity and being outclassed by other things makes it feel like a B+ rank mon. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
-> D/URWhat the hell does this thing do? No genuinelly, if somebody can answer what it does that even other C rank mons can't do, I'd love to know. If I'm going to be using a boosting psychic type that is bad, espeon is literally 6 spots down on the VR. At least it has magic bounce... The only thing it has is stored power shenanigans... Which can be done by cresselia (who is much bulkier) and mew (who has a diverse movepool including reliable ways to hit dark and steel types) much, much better. Don't see a use for this thing, so let's put it out of its misery.
I would also rank
(C rank) and (C+ or B- rank) but I don't have enough good replays. I also see what you did here. Very funny.
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I wanted to make an in-depth post about a lot of changes I would make, but ultimately decided to not do it due to my way of ranking mons being very different to the official one. (you can find my VR in the Personal VR thread)
So instead, I will focus only on what the 2 important ones are:
A+ > S
Not much to say about this one. This is by far the 2nd most popular Pokemon after Cyclizar in RUPL, it fits in literally any team, from HO to Balance to Stall and Jirachi will always have something to bring. It can set Rocks, Wish/Healing Wish, Doom Desire/Future Sight, it spreads paralysis like no one else in the tier through Body Slam and Thunder Wave and enables entire playstyles just through that alone, it has Encore for slow CM foes, it can be Choice Scarf, Calm Mind + any attack+Tera type you need to beat something specific, it is even the best support Rain could ever dream of, and it will consistently yield results. It is most definitely worthy of S rank and I don't think anyone would disagree.
A- > A/A+
both Choice and Bulk Up sets have seen a lot of usage in RUPL and everyone agrees that it is a top tier Pokemon. Every single team loses to some combination of Tera, EV spread and Taunt/Substitute Bulk Up Okidogi can use, period. And even if it does not autowin, a Pokemon with solid bulk, attack stat, Poison/Fighting coverage, Knock Off and a 30% chance to poison on every move will always make progress in every battle. Okidogi definitely deserves to rise imo.
So instead, I will focus only on what the 2 important ones are:
A+ > SNot much to say about this one. This is by far the 2nd most popular Pokemon after Cyclizar in RUPL, it fits in literally any team, from HO to Balance to Stall and Jirachi will always have something to bring. It can set Rocks, Wish/Healing Wish, Doom Desire/Future Sight, it spreads paralysis like no one else in the tier through Body Slam and Thunder Wave and enables entire playstyles just through that alone, it has Encore for slow CM foes, it can be Choice Scarf, Calm Mind + any attack+Tera type you need to beat something specific, it is even the best support Rain could ever dream of, and it will consistently yield results. It is most definitely worthy of S rank and I don't think anyone would disagree.
A- > A/A+both Choice and Bulk Up sets have seen a lot of usage in RUPL and everyone agrees that it is a top tier Pokemon. Every single team loses to some combination of Tera, EV spread and Taunt/Substitute Bulk Up Okidogi can use, period. And even if it does not autowin, a Pokemon with solid bulk, attack stat, Poison/Fighting coverage, Knock Off and a 30% chance to poison on every move will always make progress in every battle. Okidogi definitely deserves to rise imo.
Honestly Dogi has been lowkey kinda busted, people probably just didn't notice intially because stuff like hoopa-unbound and thundurus-T were down here along with previously broken pokemon that overshadowed it initially. Lowkey this mon might be on the radar for action as it is quite the menace that some teams just cannot deal with. Yeah dogi needs to be nommed to A+ I think, especially since one of its most popular offensive checks in iron leaves has been banned, I definitely think this is easily a top mon and genuinely could be banned for how difficult it is for some teams to deal with. Wouldn't be surprised to see action after the enamorus suspect because as said this mon feels too good to make progressI wanted to make an in-depth post about a lot of changes I would make, but ultimately decided to not do it due to my way of ranking mons being very different to the official one. (you can find my VR in the Personal VR thread)
So instead, I will focus only on what the 2 important ones are:
Not much to say about this one. This is by far the 2nd most popular Pokemon after Cyclizar in RUPL, it fits in literally any team, from HO to Balance to Stall and Jirachi will always have something to bring. It can set Rocks, Wish/Healing Wish, Doom Desire/Future Sight, it spreads paralysis like no one else in the tier through Body Slam and Thunder Wave and enables entire playstyles just through that alone, it has Encore for slow CM foes, it can be Choice Scarf, Calm Mind + any attack+Tera type you need to beat something specific, it is even the best support Rain could ever dream of, and it will consistently yield results. It is most definitely worthy of S rank and I don't think anyone would disagree.
both Choice and Bulk Up sets have seen a lot of usage in RUPL and everyone agrees that it is a top tier Pokemon. Every single team loses to some combination of Tera, EV spread and Taunt/Substitute Bulk Up Okidogi can use, period. And even if it does not autowin, a Pokemon with solid bulk, attack stat, Poison/Fighting coverage, Knock Off and a 30% chance to poison on every move will always make progress in every battle. Okidogi definitely deserves to rise imo.