my vr and a disorganised jumble of my thoughts on the meta that is probably both needlessly long and lacking in detail
if you want my letter rankings, 'very good / threatening' and 'good / threatening' are both A rank and go down from there.
i used the system i did as i think it allows me to show what i think of the meta better
flygon
==========
best mon in the tier.
ground typing is invaluable and flygon is easily the least flawed of the grounds
scarf is great, probably the most slappable mon in the tier. amazing speed tier
dd is great, very threatening
band/lo are good but not on the same level
bulky defog is so easy to slap on team, great glue
reuniclus
==========
av is fucking incredible and reun's best set. fsight is insane, the defensive utility is excellent. works in tandem w flygon to have great counterplay to electrics
cm is good, i think lo thunder is its best set because haze milo is so good atm.
knock off on mguard reun (usually w out cm) is very cool and allows it to use its outlasting potential to the fullest. great on spikes builds
necrozma
==========
ban it. its like bw sceptile on steroids. guess the set wrong or lose.
many set up opportunities thanks to good bulk and prism armour
milo helps w checking but cant switch in w much ease. another mon milo checks better w out flame orb
Nohtori
each set is good. cm, dd, automise, pherb rocks are the best. sd and tr are cool. dd iron defence is heat and good
crobat
==========
its so fucking good. max attack is the way to go on crobat. its so good at getting momentum and brave bird stings alot and it uturns on what it doesnt
heavily contributes to grass types sucking, even gets u turn chip on electrics, great enabler, great hazard control
super fang is good when paired w something to take advantage of what it chips
i wanted to put this in s as its so meta defining imo but the 3 mons above it are just better and far more versatile
meta
==========
ridiculusly high scl winrate, however winrate is a flawed statistic
cosmic power is the most threatening individual set in the tier
rocks sets are great w toxic or bullet punch last.
you could probably forgo eq for both moves on the right team. shuca is an option to really mess w certain checks
milo
==========
best bulky water in the tier
haze is the best set tho
refresh ib is cool as a volc check that still does bulky water stuff nvm refresh is dead
being able to check most reun, cp meta, nido and help w alot of necros is invaluable
flame orb is a matchup fish hoping for very specific hos and doesnt allow u to do what milo is so good at / does it worse
nidoqueen
==========
best rocker in the tier, tho it is closely followed by meta and regi
mandates av reun on alot of builds and those that dont are often forced to make predictions just to stay in the game
4 attacks is very threatening and
sub is good for trading
great pseudo stop to xurk. if ur team has some offence / doesnt make games go too long it is fine as a counter measure
volcanion
==========
incredible mon that heavily abuses the decline in gastro and exploits bulky waters very well
defog is nice on offensive teams tho subtox
fire spin is a decent tool to reliably remove / force heavy damage onto stuff like gastro tho it relies too much on matchup for my liking
togekiss
==========
very good and takes advantage of decrease in raikou and increase in mowtom but to me its just not the most threatening sweeper. still a great mon but not a+ imo
mimikyu
==========
disguise makes this mon incredibly reliable
sd, dual ghost, drain punch is far and away the best coverage
power whip is cool for bulky waters / fucking quag
mimishark is a great combo and provides great defensive utility for offence (more utility than defense)
golisopod
==========
i disagree w C0nfiden1 0yster (evil name) about the rise of crobat hurting it. its main spiking competition roserade hates bat more and pod can threaten it w knock off and liquidation
spikes are good but need fairly specific structures built around them
w ant leaving less stuff runs protect so this can click first impression quite freely
great vs teams that use flygon> a flyer teams that have been picking up in scl
starmie
==========
good volcanion check and spinner
offensive is also good
mowtom
==========
my highest ranked grass type on this list. rather than hating being in on crobat, this mon just volt switches out
trick+grass coverage makes its volt switch v hard to block
covers holes in ur team very nicely
suicune
==========
good. use it
i prefer sub sets but rest is good aswell
roserade
==========
gives crobat incredibly free entry, for easy momentum. rise of crobat hurts this mon. very hard for it to keep up its spikes
stun spore best last move
grass types suck. straight up losing momentum if they ever get crobat in on u is terrible.
toxicroak
==========
milo is great so croak should in theory be good but it gets hampered by crobat p badly
alot of 'crobat cripplers' like stun spore rose also abuse bulky waters so it kinda has role overlap.
knock off pod is an exception to the above rule and probably the best partner
diancie
==========
diamond storm pp is too low and doesnt hit very hard and flyings can often stall it out
not great as a rocker w flygon hitting it hard
feels like an A rank mon when diamond storm gets raises
dhelmise
==========
great vs more defensive teams but requires too precise plays vs offence for my liking
incredible role compression, its so easy to slap on teams but often doesnt pull its weight
pair w a cleric to be able to throw into scalds more easily
chande
==========
walls cp meta
choise sets best
high maintenance but actually very good if u can trick a hdb from their umb/incin
celebi
==========
cringe
gweezing
==========
still good on stall, which as a playstyle apreciates mons that 6-0 it like np bi being p rare
spatack investment is good to actually kinda pressure reun into recovering w sludge bomb on the switch
levitate is good because flygon is great
porygon2
==========
seems like it could be good. needs more exploration. sensei put it high so im inclined to agree w him
rain
==========
got worse w skewda leaving and i think its back to being cheese.
hurricane noivern is actually a big threat in rain
--> B-
grass type that doesnt hate being in on crobat
spikes and has twave to punish bat
decent defensive utility
had decent scl usage
--> C
sort of fills the shoes of rhyperior
rank guzzlord and ban necro. ty for reading