SS UU's Legends: Where Are They Now?

• Noivern @ Heavy-Duty Boots
• Ability: Infiltrator
• EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
• Timid Nature
• - Draco Meteor / Hurricane
• - Flamethrower
• - U-turn / Hurricane / Taunt
• - Roost

In the past, this bat was the best Pokémon SS UU had to offer. No matter what kind of team you were building, chances are you wanted a Noivern on it, and if not, you needed very good reasons to avoid using it. Its Draco Meteor + Flamethrower combination was strong for revenge killing and destroying offense teams, while its decent bulk and access to Roost gave its teammates respite against annoyances like Cobalion and Zarude. Sadly, Noivern's had its wings clipped as of late. It's still a great choice for a lot of teams thanks to its blistering Speed and ability to revenge kill a lot of fast Pokémon like Thundurus-T, Azelf, and Zygarde-10%, but it faces pretty stiff competition from Salamence, which is bulkier and stronger while still being quite quick. It's also easily walled by Pokémon like Nihilego, Chansey, and Primarina that it didn't have to contend with before. Nevertheless, Noivern is still viable in SS UU and certainly could be doing a lot worse—it's doing well in RU despite facing strong competition in Flygon, so it's had a pretty good Generation 8 so far!

There's an old adage among UU players that goes something like this:

"Three things in life are inevitable; death, taxes, and Glowbro crit wars."

And indeed, there is truth to it. A large period of time in SS UU in the months leading up the the Crown Tundra's release was defined entirely by Galarian Slowbro setting up Calm Mind in front of each other and hoping they crit the opponent's one with Scald before they did the same. There was a dearth of checks; Dark-types like Zarude and Incineroar couldn't damage it significantly, while offensive Ground-types were lacking and feared its Scald immensely—not to mention it could pack a Colbur Berry or Shuca Berry to further shield itself from them. The playerbase was clamoring for a ban, but Galarian Slowbro avoided the chopping block due to being on the cusp of a new DLC release wherein the UU council intended to free all of UUBL anyway. These days, Galarian Slowbro still gets up to its usual Calm Mind tricks and can occasionally be soon busting out its old Assault Vest set too, acting as an effective check to Pokémon like Nihilego and Salamence. It's also infamous for its "QCQD" set—a combination of Quick Claw and its Quick Draw ability gives it a 44% chance to move first on any given turn, which can be lethal after it sets up a Nasty Plot and unleashes its incredible coverage. All things considered, while it's not the world-destroying menace it once was, Galarian Slowbro is still in a pretty good spot!

Keldeo has been the butt of many jokes over its time in UU. Somehow, despite consistently being "broken" in the eyes of many a community member, Keldeo is pretty rarely seen doing much at all. Despite this, Keldeo was one of the biggest threats in the builder for a long, long time; it was part of the reason every team needed incredibly sturdy Water-resistant Pokémon, lest they get rinsed by its nuclear Hydro Pump. In that sense, Keldeo was often the architect of its own demise; it was so strong that teams had to prepare for it to the point where it actually wasn't worth bringing it most of the time. There's always something keeping Keldeo from dominance; first it was Noivern and Celebi's prominence, and then Slowbro and Slowking, and nowadays there's a whole host of Pokémon that it hates to see like Primarina, Amoonguss, Tangrowth, Salamence and Slowking. While it used to be a titan that you had to keep in mind at all times, nowadays it's not much more than a lingering thought; it's still decent, and in the right matchup it can be devastating, but Keldeo just doesn't really cut it much anymore.

The light-eating legend had a bit of a quiet start to Generation 8, being seen as just a decent Pokémon that ran a cool Stealth Rock set. That was until dual screens teams started popping up and took the meta by storm, using a whole host of sweepers like Incineroar, Barbaracle, and Linoone to obliterate everything in the metagame, but none were quite as lethal as Necrozma. Between its hilarious bulk, Prism Armor, and a movepool spanning the entirety of the cosmos, Necrozma was truly a nightmare to prepare for. Its signature Dragon Dance set was almost enough to get it banned, and the Grassy Seed set that popped up for about two weeks before Grassy Surge Rillaboom shot up to OU was absurdly broken, but eventually the metagame shifted as the Isle of Armor DLC was released. It wasn't long before Necrozma came back with a vengeance, though, setting Stealth Rock up for the terrifying dual screens teams that littered the meta again. Its new tool in Meteor Beam just made preparing for it even more daunting. Eventually, Light Clay was banned and Necrozma fell out of favor, dropping to RU. It's still a decent Pokémon in UU, though, being able to sweep a lot of teams with its Calm Mind set that popped up a lot during the recent Buzzwole-centric metagame, and the Stealth Rock set with Meteor Beam still works on hyper offense teams that need a strong and quick start.

• Rhyperior @ Leftovers
• Ability: Solid Rock
• EVs: 252 HP / 16 Atk / 240 SpD
• Adamant Nature
• - Stone Edge
• - Earthquake
• - Stealth Rock
• - Swords Dance / Megahorn / Toxic

This armored armadillo is one of the most honest Pokémon ever conceived—what you see is what you get where Rhyperior is concerned. Slow, bulky, hits like a truck, and gets Stealth Rock up like no other. This was true across the entirety of the generation. Rhyperior was incredibly popular early on as it was one of the few Pokémon that could keep the lethal Obstagoon at arm's length for a period of time, but it retained a lot of popularity after the badger was banned, too. Being able to check Incineroar and Noivern pretty well was great, and absolutely nothing wanted to Defog in front of it, so one way or another its Stealth Rock was staying on the field. Even throughout the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra metagames, Rhyperior persisted; despite recently dropping to RU, it's still a very strong choice in UU. It's still very difficult to Defog in front of it, as popular choices Salamence and Mandibuzz want nothing to do with it; Excadrill is hardly eager to take it on either. On top of that, it's quite hard to switch into, given typical Ground-immune Pokémon like the aforementioned birds can't take Stone Edges and most other bulky defensive Pokémon like Amoonguss and Primarina don't appreciate its Earthquake. Rhyperior's great coverage has also always been very nice for it, letting it lure in Pokémon like Zarude and Celebi and tear through them with Megahorn. While it doesn't find as many opportunities to switch in these days, it can still check Moltres, Nihilego and Salazzle quite well, so it's not in a horrible spot at all.

It's said that Roserade's hands inflict a different type of poison from the other; one acts slow, one acts quick, and both are killer. Early on in SS UU, it proved this easily—its Life Orb set was one of the most terrifying wallbreakers in the tier. Its Sludge Bomb was a nightmare to switch into given the dearth of good Steel-types; Doublade was obliterated by Leaf Storm, and while Bronzong and Escavalier could handle its attacks quite well, it would just Spike as they came in and let its partner Incineroar nail them with a free attack. It was also one of the best Pokémon for punishing the suffocating Milotic + Umbreon core early on, since neither handled its STAB combination well at all and it would force them to take Spikes damage, as no hazard removers could switch into it. Roserade held strong throughout the Isle of Armor metagame but fell off quite quickly when the Crown Tundra rolled around, somehow tumbling all the way to PU. It was quickly banned, of course, as that tier had been using Roselia just days prior! Some time later, the stars aligned and Roserade met a partner it would come to cherish for months, Buzzwole. Buzzwole + Roserade Spikes teams came to dominate the metagame, with some players considering the previously unviable Roserade to be the single best Pokémon in the tier; Roserade would completely dominate all of the physically bulky Pokémon that could handle Buzzwole like Primarina and Tapu Bulu, while Buzzwole made a mockery of Zygarde-10% and Zarude that made Roserade's life tough. Sadly, stardom went as quickly as it came, as Buzzwole rose to OU and sent Roserade spiraling into the abyss of unviability once again. It's not all bad; Roserade still has some applications, being a great Primarina and Amoonguss check and laying the Spikes that are as good as ever, but it's a shadow of a former self without its beloved bodybuilding bug buddy.

Chandelure's hilariously high Special Attack stat let it settle very well into a wallbreaking role in early SS UU. Its go-to Choice Specs set was made super lethal following the removal of Pursuit from the game, while its classic Calm Mind sets still made a lot of strong appearances, notably making use of Flame Charge for the first time in its history. Ghost-resistant Pokémon were not common at all; Milotic was the closest thing the tier had to one, and that couldn't take two Shadow Balls if Stealth Rock was on the field. Pokémon HOME brought Incineroar, which seemed to be a knock on the chandelier's viability until it started running a Toxic + Hex set that capitalised on how obvious it was that Incineroar would switch into it - it would afflict the cat with status, Protect to stall out an extra turn of damage, and then nail it for a huge chunk of its HP with Hex next time it came in. It'd later pull this same trick with Taunt to frustrate Chansey, although it hated not being able to run its beloved Choice Specs. Chandelure stayed strong until Aegislash entered the tier, at which point it became quite niche. It's still incredibly lethal—it's much faster than Aegislash and quite a bit stronger owing to the raw power of Fire Blast, but its Stealth Rock weakness and lacking versatility cripple it a fair bit, as well as the fact that Chansey now roams the tier.

Anyone who's ever laddered UU in any generation knows that if your opponent has a Darmanitan, there is approximately a 100% chance they will lead with it and click U-turn. Circumstances don't matter, it's going to happen. Fortunately for Darmanitan, it also has a hilariously powerful Flare Blitz, and the early metagame didn't have a whole lot that could handle that over the course of a game, especially with the advent of Heavy-Duty Boots. With these, Darmanitan could U-turn and dodge checks Rhyperior, Gigalith, and Milotic all day, letting its best friend Roserade force them to switch so it could set up Spikes. This would in turn have these checks take even more damage later on when they had to switch into Darmanitan, making for a very synergistic pairing. These days. Darmanitan is not too common on its own, but it does see a lot of usage alongside Torkoal and Venusaur on sun teams. Its Flare Blitz gets jacked up to nuclear levels in sun, turning basically everything to ash. Sun teams have been on the rise lately, so Darmanitan is seeing quite a bit of use as a result.

This unassuming bee fly is actually one of the more storied Pokémon of SS UU, essentially dictating the ebb and flow of Sticky Web offense's place in the metagame. In the early stages of the metagame, where absurd offensive threats like Mamoswine, Haxorus, and Obstagoon were roaming the tier, Ribombee was one of the best Pokémon UU had to offer; its Sticky Web support was invaluable in supporting these teammates, and it threatened the most common Defog user in Noivern thanks to its STAB Moonblast and blistering Speed tier. Eventually, despite Sticky Web offense being weakened over time, players began experimenting with a Heavy-Duty Boots set that allowed Ribombee to take advantage of its great Speed tier and decent coverage to act as a good pivot; it could force out the dominant Noivern and use it as an opportunity to pivot into a teammate for free, and acted as a good offensive check to other threats like Terrakion and Keldeo. These days, Ribombee struggles a little bit as a Sticky Web setter because of the presence of Excadrill, which freely switches in and removes Ribombee's hazard with Rapid Spin. That said, Ribombee can work around that with its teammates' help, and Sticky Web offense remains a viable option in tournament play today. Ribombee could be doing much worse.

• Umbreon @ Leftovers
• Ability: Inner Focus
• EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
• Calm Nature
• - Foul Play
• - Yawn / Toxic / Heal Bell / Taunt
• - Wish
• - Protect

A butt of many a joke in the UU Discord, Umbreon is certainly a Pokémon with a unique history. It started off the generation phenomenally; it was by far the bulkiest Pokémon in UU, and not many Pokémon learned Toxic, which made up for its lack of Heal Bell until Pokémon HOME's release. In addition to this, its amazing bulk, Wish + Protect combination, and filler move Yawn allowed it to act as a great way to play around the Dynamax-powered threats that were roaming the tier at the time. Later on, its speedy Taunt set was a nightmare for offensive and defensive teams alike, frustrating the likes of Milotic, Bronzong, and Doublade. It fell off over time, but thanks to a strange group of dedicated Umbreon fans, it never fell out of the meta completely. During the Isle of Armor metagame focused on Galarian Slowbro, Umbreon popped up alongside it as something that could handle the likes of Krookodile and Mamoswine. It was also the best Jirachi counter in the tier when the wishing star was roaming the tier. Throughout both DLCs, Umbreon has remained a viable pick, switching up its EV spread and moveset to match whatever needed it to handle. Its unique talents let it switch into the likes of Zygarde-10%, Gyarados, and Mamoswine with a physically defensive spread, giving it a place on balance and stall teams. While it has certainly gotten worse over time, Umbreon has, whether the community likes it or not, remained part of the metagame in some way for the entirety of the generation.

Longtime UU legend Krookodile was originally thought to be a Pokémon that would hate the removal of Pursuit from Generation 8... and it was, but that didn't send it tumbling down to RU like we thought it would. Instead, Krookodile branched out from its typical Choice Scarf set in the Isle of Armor metagame, acting as either a reliable Stealth Rock setter or a fierce wallbreaker with Choice Band, taking advantage of the new toy it received in Close Combat to obliterate greedy Zarude and destroying everything else with its STAB moves. Once the Crown Tundra DLC released, Krookodile shifted back to its Choice Scarf set out of necessity; Alakazam and Zeraora were destroying the tier, and the familiar crocodile was one of the few ways to stave the two off in a single slot. It continued to do well even after both departed UU, but it has sadly fallen off in recent months; Excadrill gives it huge competition as a Ground-type in general, and the rise of Mandibuzz and Amoonguss has made Krookodile's life quite hard. It's still a decent Stealth Rock user, though, and Choice Band sets have been seeing some recent exploration once again. Who knows what the future holds for this timeless UU Pokémon?

Crawdaunt's nuclear Knock Off has always been enough to send most foes running in terror, but there was no time where this was more true than in early SS UU; its victims were completely at the mercy of its ludicrous power, and there was a dearth of switch-ins. To put things into perspective, you can count the number of Pokémon Crawdaunt was incapable of OHKOing on one hand. Yeah. It's not really a surprise to anyone that it got banned; its poor Speed tier holding it back wasn't enough to stop this auto-kill button from destroying the metagame. Crawdaunt would not get its next chance until the Crown Tundra metagame. The addition of Slowking was incredible for Crawdaunt; not only is it Crawdaunt's favorite prey, but Crawdaunt also appreciates Slowking bringing it in for free on opposing Slowking with Teleport. It has been the bane of many a Slowking since, dominating them with its powerful Knock Off and having the tools necessary to destroy less comfortable switch-ins like Hydreigon and Zarude. Sadly, the presence of Amoonguss, Tangrowth and Primarina has been very tough on Crawdaunt, and its poor Speed tier and bulk are more painful now than ever. It's still a good wallbreaker, though, and teams that disrespect it are sure to feel the wrath of its big, meaty claws.

The team player cat defined an entire iteration of SS UU with its classic combination of Knock Off and Toxic, making it a great defensive Pokémon in its own right and also a strong progress maker. Despite investing completely in its defenses, it was very difficult to switch into—the only Pokémon that resisted Fire and Dark was, well, Incineroar, so nothing really wanted to take its STAB attacks at all given it wasn't weak even without investment. All this combined let it act as a great pivot throughout a game, checking the likes of Zarude, Necrozma, and Reuniclus with ease. It also had a brutal Swords Dance set that could completely destroy defensive and offensive teams alike thanks to the incredible coverage provided by Flame Charge, Knock Off, and Close Combat. Incineroar sadly did not retain much viability after the Crown Tundra DLC was released—until recently, that is, when its light touched sun teams. Sporting a Shuca Berry to check overzealous Excadrill and providing an ever-useful Ghost resistance to help in the fight against Aegislash, Incineroar no longer resides in the shadowy places of unviability. It may not be the superstar status it had before, but never count out this cat's ability to claw back up the viability totem. Long live the king!

Celebi has always been one of those Pokémon with the stats and movepool to essentially do whatever it wants. In early SS UU, it had a lot of options; between its lethal Nasty Plot set, its powerful all-out attacking set, and its reliable specially defensive Stealth Rock set, Celebi was pretty easy to fit on all kinds of teams. The dominance of Noivern and Incineroar was a blessing in disguise, as it was one of the best lures to those Pokémon; Noivern couldn't withstand repeated Psychics, and Incineroar was not appreciative of a Life Orb Earth Power. It was still decent in the Isle of Armor metagame, but Zarude's prominence was really tough for it—Celebi could lure it with Pollen Puff and take it out, but it was pretty difficult because one wrong move could spell doom for the pixie. It could chip it down with Aura Sphere and U-turn as well, with the combination of Aura Sphere + Colbur Berry also letting Celebi lure and beat Bisharp, but overall the arrival of Zarude was just a huge blow to Celebi's viability. The Crown Tundra DLC was seemingly the nail in its tiny coffin, as power creep had just caught up too much—don't cry, though, as it turned out we weren't cutting onions just yet. Celebi has recently seen some development as a great answer to Pokémon like Thundurus-T, Excadrill, Primarina, and Slowking that can reliably set up Stealth Rock and provide great pivot support. It's a small niche, and Celebi is far from a staple of the tier, but it's doing fine overall.

Boom boom boom boom, I'm tearing up UU, let's Overdrive together, from now until I Shift Gear... or something like that, I don't really remember how the song goes. Toxtricity was one of the most powerful wallbreakers early SS UU had to offer, being one of those rare Pokémon whose main attack isn't actually a STAB move. Nothing could really take the combination of Boomburst, Overdrive, Volt Switch, and Sludge Bomb save for the adorable yet highly niche Togedemaru and later Palossand when it released, making Toxtricity effectively unparalleled as far as power went. Its Shift Gear set was also very popular on dual screens teams, being pretty hard to revenge kill thanks to its resistance to common priority options like Machamp and Pangoro's Bullet Punch. Toxtricity sadly fell out of favor during the Crown Tundra metagame, much like many others. The prominence of Aegislash was a huge blow to its Boomburst-spamming nature, and the recent drop of Excadrill hasn't done it any favors either. This range of immunities to all of its attacks makes it reluctant to run its beloved Choice Specs, but other items either make it too weak or, in the case of Life Orb, ruin its longevity. These days, Toxtricity is a bit more low key, but it's still viable! It can struggle to set itself apart from better Electric-types, most notably Thundurus-T, but it has one specific niche over them. With a mixed Shift Gear set that runs Drain Punch and some Attack EVs to OHKO Excadrill and break past Chansey, it can theoretically blow past a weakened team with its mighty Boomburst. It doesn't work out too often in practice, but it's a niche nonetheless.

• Golisopod @ Heavy-Duty Boots
• Ability: Emergency Exit
• Shiny: Yes
• EVs: 232 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Spe
• Adamant Nature
• - First Impression
• - Leech Life / Spikes
• - Liquidation
• - Knock Off

At one point in time, Mamoswine turned most of the tier to chalk with its STAB attacks. Not much resisted both, and anything that did either was too frail to take them comfortably like Araquanid, or was Bronzong and therefore weak to Knock Off. This applied to all but Golisopod, a very physically bulky Pokémon that could tank Mamoswine's STAB attacks with ease and nail it with a powerful First Impression. This wasn't all it did, though; its Knock Off support was great to nail Noivern and clip its wings by removing the Heavy-Duty Boots it so relied on, and Spikes were very valuable too. It could also check the highly dangerous Necrozma and Reuniclus with its powerful Bug STAB. It retained some popularity even after Mamoswine was banned until the Isle of Armor DLC released, at which point it dropped to RU; it wasn't seen again until recently, where it gained some popularity as a Pokémon that could offensively check Zarude, Zygarde-10% and more while providing Spikes support. It sees some scattered usage nowadays thanks to this niche; it's not amazing, but it does its job decently enough.

• Gigalith @ Leftovers
• Ability: Sand Stream
• EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
• Careful Nature
• - Stealth Rock
• - Stone Edge
• - Earthquake
• - Toxic

Gigalith was a surprisingly solid Pokémon early on in the meta. It had a friendly rivalry with fellow bulky Rock-type Rhyperior, a fight Gigalith often won thanks to its superb special bulk in sand allowing it to much more comfortably handle the likes of Noivern, Gardevoir, and most importantly Chandelure. Its meaty base 135 Attack stat helped ensure it wasn't passive, and very little wanted to switch into its combination of Stone Edge, Earthquake, and Toxic. Sadly, things took a turn for the worse once the Isle of Armor came around—Gigalith's worst nightmare came true, and Tyranitar dropped to UU. It didn't stay, but that was the nail in the coffin for our sandy hero until recent times. Excadrill dropped to UU for the first time since it released all the way back in Generation 5, and with it came players experimenting with sand teams featuring the mole. Gigalith is the only automatic sand setter that's legal in UU (unless you count Hippopotas...) and thus was an automatic pairing, and it turns out it's not too shabby in its own right; it can handle Pokémon like Salamence, Nihilego and Hydreigon quite well. Sadly, sand teams are shaky at best, so Gigalith doesn't see much usage, but it's certainly got its place.

Galarian Weezing was one of the most popular Pokémon in UU for a period of time early on, and it's not too hard to see why. Its unique yet amazing typing gave it the capability to answer the extremely dangerous Pangoro, Golisopod, and Zarude, aided by its amazing physical bulk. This role as a wall was what it stuck to for the most part. When the tier was in its earlier stages, though, it actually ran an offensive set! Between its serviceable Special Attack stat and phenomenal coverage, Galarian Weezing was often very difficult to switch into; resident special walls Umbreon and Milotic could handle its attacks but hated Sludge Bomb poisoning, while Doublade, the most common Steel-type, wanted nothing to do with Fire Blast. Even the very bulky Bronzong couldn't withstand repeated Fire Blasts, making Galarian Weezing a huge threat that still retained its great defensive utlity thanks to its natural bulk and support moves like Defog and Aromatherapy. These days, Galarian Weezing is an option seen occasionally on stall to counter the otherwise nightmarish Conkeldurr while having some utility against other threats such as Zarude and good role compression between Aromatherapy and Defog. It isn't much, but it's honest work.

• Mimikyu @ Life Orb
• Ability: Disguise
• EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
• Jolly / Adamant Nature
• - Swords Dance
• - Shadow Claw
• - Play Rough
• - Shadow Sneak

Run from it, dread it... destiny's still disguised. After unsurprisingly dropping out of OU, Mimikyu found itself making a splash in UU as a strong pick on hyper offense teams. Its ability to spinblock wasn't that necessary given the tier's general lack of spinners, but what it did have was a ridiculously good offensive typing and an ability that let it act as a safety net against threats its team could otherwise find pretty difficult to handle, such as Choice Scarf Krookodile and Keldeo. What's more, it could sweep teams at the drop of a hat thanks to its STAB attacks being entirely unresisted; this, combined with Swords Dance, made it highly threatening on all sorts of hazard stacking offenses. Mimikyu is a much more niche option these days due to its relatively lacking offensive presence; base 90 Attack just doesn't cut it when your STAB moves are so weak, leaving Mimikyu unable to even reliably 2HKO Pokémon like Celesteela and Amoonguss after a boost. Aegislash generally takes its role as a result, but Mimikyu has a niche thanks to its good Speed tier putting it above the likes of Krookodile and Excadrill, alongside Disguise being as useful as ever.

Ah, Haxorus, the tier's best Ground-type. That's only partially a joke; when Haxorus was first terrorizing UU, the tier had one single Flying-type in Noivern, meaning Haxorus's Mold Breaker Earthquake was usually entirely free. The only other Ground-resistant Pokémon you were likely to run into were Golisopod and Tsareena, so Haxorus's combination of Dragon Claw and Earthquake was enough to beat the entire tier. Combine that with a hilarious Attack stat, very good Speed relative to the tier, and a Choice Band, and you've got one threatening dragon on your hands. What really set Haxorus apart was the emergence of its Dragon Dance + Protect set on dual screens teams, letting it boost up and destroy every single Pokémon in UU with its two-move coverage, avoiding revenge killing from the likes of Golisopod and First Impression Flygon. Haxorus ended up being the second Pokémon suspect tested in UU after Mamoswine was banned, removing one of its most reliable revenge killers and truly sending Haxorus over the edge. Nowadays, Haxorus languishes in RUBL. It still sees some sporadic use on hyper offense teams as a dedicated stall killer, but it's not even too good at that because of Skarmory's presence. This former titan has definitely taken a huge hit.

• Mudsdale @ Leftovers
• Ability: Stamina
• EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
• Impish Nature
• - Stealth Rock
• - Earthquake
• - Body Press / Smack Down
• - Toxic

Check out honse! Mudsdale was definitely not a Pokémon anyone in the UU community was thinking about at all, but in the Isle of Armor metagame, it made its mark and then some. Being one of the only semi-reliable answers to most Jirachi sets was good enough on its own, but Mudsdale also dominated the incredibly threatening Lycanroc-D at the same time. This was enough to let it receive a modest placement on the Viability Rankings, but Mudsdale was far from done yet; it took over the tournaments scene for some time, acting as one of the most common Stealth Rock users and receiving huge amounts of usage. It was just very reliable despite its much lower tiering placement, filling the Hippowdon-shaped hole in many a UU player's heart. While it fell off during the Crown Tundra metagame's initial stages, it has recently seen some experimentation again, acting as a solid answer to the likes of Excadrill, Nihilego, and Zygarde-10% while being a difficult Stealth Rock user to switch into, letting it keep the hazard up quite well. It also received Body Press this generation; it always had Close Combat as good Fighting-type coverage, but Body Press pairs incredibly well with Stamina and lets Mudsdale pummel greedy Zarude. Mudsdale is certainly one of the more unexpected arrivals on this list, but no UU player will tell you it doesn't deserve it.

Sylveon finally found itself in a generation without its arch-rival Florges to compete with it, and as soon as it dropped to UU it made the most of this newfound spotlight by becoming one of the best Pokémon in the tier. Being a hard counter to the ever-dominant Noivern and the closest thing UU had to a Haxorus answer were both incredible traits on their own, but Sylveon was also one of the only Pokémon that could tank STAB attacks from Pangoro. These traits, alongside its ever helpful Wish support, made it the best bulky Fairy-type in the tier—but Sylveon wasn't beholden to only serving defensive roles. Its Choice Specs set was incredibly lethal, packing the potential to 2HKO every single Pokémon in UU without fail by clicking the correct coverage moves. It also had a very strong Calm Mind set that fit excellently on Sticky Web offense, providing a form of counterplay to the Noivern that would terrorise these teams otherwise. Sadly, time has not been so kind to the fairy fox; it's still fringe viable on teams that really need a Fairy-type that's not weak to Zarude's STAB attacks, but that is a highly niche application that doesn't set it apart much from the overall much better Primarina. It's just far too weak to new Pokémon like Nihilego and Excadrill to be worth using most of the time. Nowadays, Sylveon languishes in NU—it's pretty good there, though, so that's something!

Very early on, when SS UU was in its infant stages, not many Pokémon learned Toxic. Milotic was not one to complain here; while it missed the move itself, it didn't miss being afflicted by it, and it used its hilarious bulk to wall the vast majority of the tier in its early stages. Pokémon like Noivern, Doublade, and Golisopod couldn't really hurt it much at all, while defensive Pokémon like Vaporeon and Bronzong struggled to even outdamage its Leftovers. An entire early stage of the metagame was defined by teams comprised of Milotic and a bunch of other bulky Pokémon like Galarian Weezing and Umbreon, with a Noivern tacked on to act as a response to opposing fast threats the team couldn't wall forever. These Pokémon were so difficult to break that Machamp eventually rose from RU solely because it could pivot into Scald and obliterate something the following turn. A lot of Pokémon would run bizarre sets to handle Milotic's dominance, like Umbreon running Taunt with a lot of Speed EVs, or other Milotic running Imprison. Once Pokémon HOME released and most Pokémon got Toxic back, Milotic started to fall off; the newfound dominance of Roserade and its Spikes didn't help much, but Milotic was still a solid choice, notably being one of the best Pokémon to take on the classic Incineroar + Noivern core. This also allowed it to tap into its other ability, Competitive; being able to switch into Noivern's Defog or Incineroar's Parting Shot and nab a huge Special Attack boost was huge, making Milotic quite terrifying for most other Pokémon... except Milotic itself, of course. Nowadays it's very, very fringe viable, being the only bulky Water-type with access to instant recovery. This theoretically allows it to check Pokémon like Salamence and Moltres and turn them into momentum with Flip Turn. It doesn't see much usage, but it's something.

Once a powerful offense killer, Heliolisk has really seen better days. There wasn't much by way of Electric-type competition back then; while its frailty still held it back, it was a great threat that could pivot all day with Heavy-Duty Boots and be one of the most annoying Pokémon in the tier, checking threats like Cobalion, Keldeo, and Golisopod with its great Speed tier. Most notably, in UU's early stages, its Dry Skin ability allowed it to switch into and turn Milotic into free momentum; this was a trait entirely unique to Heliolisk at the time. It retained viability throughout the Isle of Armor metagame, although it was quite niche due to facing stiff competition from Rotom-W and Toxtricity. It was notable for being one of the most dangerous Pokémon on rain teams when Drizzle was briefly allowed, though; so dangerous that Drizzle was very quickly banned, largely because of how little could handle Life Orb Thunder and Weather Ball from Heliolisk. These days, Heliolisk is still a niche option on rain and sun teams thanks to Dry Skin and Solar Power; the former provides it with great longevity and an immunity to opposing Water-type attacks from the likes of Keldeo and Azumarill, while the latter boosts its power significantly and allows it to 2HKO most of the tier! It's also been theorized to have some use in place of Thundurus-T for teams that are very weak to Belly Drum Azumarill, but not much has come of it. Its niche is very specific now, so it sees very little use. It could be worse, though.

Obstagoon's mighty Facade tore through early SS UU with ease, 2HKOing at worst every Pokémon that didn't resist it, save for Avalugg. What's more, it was one of the few Pokémon with access to Knock Off before Pokémon HOME released, giving it even more utility and offensive presence. It also got Close Combat to obliterate the few Pokémon that could withstand those two moves, cleaving Cobalion, Rhyperior, and Gigalith with ease. Its poor longevity was its main issue; despite great bulk, constantly taking chip damage from Stealth Rock, sand, and its burn was a big issue for the goon. It was quickbanned in the early stages of the tier and freed during the Isle of Armor metagame, where it settled into a role as an amazing wallbreaker. While it originally used its classic set of Facade, Knock Off, Close Combat, and Switcheroo, it eventually began using a RestTalk set with just its STAB moves; this allowed it to completely dominate stall teams and remedied its longevity problem. Nowadays, power creep has hit Obstagoon a little bit too hard, and it has fallen out of favor; it still hits like a truck, but the presence of Pokémon like Tangrowth, Amoonguss, Cobalion, and Skarmory makes its life hard, alongside its Speed tier being a little too poor nowadays and strong competition from Conkeldurr.

For some time, this elephant was ridiculed by the UU playerbase, who struggled to make it work despite it seemingly having all the tools it needed to succeed. It was also something of a joke on the ladder, as during the Dynamax metagame, many less experienced players would lead with it on the first turn and waste their Dynamax to set up Copperajah's Steelsurge Spikes, making them very disadvantaged later in the game. Before long, however, it began to see some tournament usage with alternative movesets and EV spreads that let it take the metagame by storm. Copperajah's bulk is quite poor naturally, but when invested it's a sight to behold; it could avoid 2HKOs from lots of super effective moves like Noivern's Flamethrower, and its amazing coverage coupled with its good natural power and 120 BP STAB Heavy Slam against pretty much everything in the tier ensured it wasn't passive at all. It continued its dominance throughout all of the pre-DLC and Isle of Armor metagames before finally falling into unviability after the Crown Tundra DLC released; it still has all the good traits it had before, but they're now completely outdone by the likes of Jirachi, Excadrill, and Celesteela, meaning Copperajah doesn't have much of a place in the tier at all. On the bright side... it's doing great in NU!

• Pangoro @ Choice Band
• Ability: Scrappy
• EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
• Adamant Nature
• - Close Combat
• - Knock Off
• - Bullet Punch
• - Gunk Shot / Iron Head

This kung fu panda used to be elite in UU as one of the most powerful wallbreakers the tier had to offer, picking up where Crawdaunt had left off as an overwhelmingly powerful Knock Off user that could completely destroy the entire tier with the right prediction. Galarian Weezing and Sylveon were destroyed by a well-timed Iron Head, and other common Dark-resistant Pokémon like Incineroar and Cobalion certainly did not want anything to do with Pangoro's nuclear Close Combat. This led to a very dangerous prediction game essentially every time Pangoro was on the field, a battle its user won more often than not due to the relatively safety of its STAB attacks; even into teams with a common core of Pokémon like Doublade and Incineroar, Pangoro did not need to predict, as Scrappy allowed its powerful Fighting-type STAB moves to obliterate every Ghost-type in UU. It also had the neat side effect of blocking Intimidate, a buff Generation 8 bestowed upon it. Pangoro fell off during the Isle of Armor metagame as power creep caught up with it a bit too much; it was theoretically useful to do a lot of damage to Galarian Slowbro, but the Colbur Berry set was so common and punishing that Pangoro wasn't very good at it. Sadly, it isn't viable these days, languishing in NUBL after a sad but deserved fall from grace.