BH Balanced Hackmons Resources Thread

[Tea Guzzler]

(Thanks to Varrio for the art)​

Hi! This thread is the BH thread for resources/resource discussion ONLY, general metagame discussion should be redirected to the main BH thread. This thread is specifically for if you want to bring up any VR nominations, possible sets for the SmogDex (or Setpedia), if you've found any errors in the content here, or if you would like to see any new resources that we can work on.

What's Here?
- Viability Rankings
- Speed Tiers
- Resource Hub

What else is there?
- Other Metagames Discord
- Chat Room on Pokemon Showdown!
- Main BH Thread
- Setpedia

 

[Tea Guzzler]

Viability Rankings
(Current as of Oct 17, 2024)​

Sorted within ranks.

S
Imposter (Eviolite, Heavy-Duty Boots, Covert Cloak)

A
A+
Audino-Mega (Ice Scales, Fur Coat)
Arceus-Ghost (Magic Guard, Fur Coat)
Eternatus (Magic Guard, Unaware, Mold Breaker)

A
Arceus-Fairy (Fur Coat, Ice Scales, Pixilate)

A-
Greninja-Ash (Sniper, Sheer Force)
Blissey (Magic Guard, Regenerator)
Celesteela (Regenerator, Fur Coat, Well-Baked Body)

B
B+
Flutter Mane (Normalize, Mold Breaker, Immunity Abilities)
Necrozma-Ultra (Magic Guard, Sheer Force)
Garchomp-Mega (Tough Claws, Sword of Ruin, Speed Boost)
Zamazenta (Fur Coat)
Chansey (Magic Guard)
Dialga-Origin (Regenerator, Ice Scales, Unaware)

B
Blaziken-Mega (Desolate Land, Mold Breaker, Tinted Lens)
Gardevoir-Mega (Pixilate)
Sceptile-Mega (Magic Guard)
Kyogre-Primal (Regenerator, Magic Guard, Fur Coat)
Miraidon (Magic Guard, Fur Coat)
Alakazam-Mega (Beads of Ruin, Psychic Surge)
Arceus-Ground (Ice Scales)
Ho-Oh (Ice Scales, Magic Guard)

B-
Yveltal (Magic Guard, Fur Coat)
Arceus-Electric (Fur Coat, Ice Scales)
Lucario-Mega (Tough Claws, Magic Guard)
Solgaleo (Primordial Sea, Regenerator, Well-Baked Body)
Swampert-Mega (Ice Scales, Regenerator)
Arceus-Steel (Levitate, Well-Baked Body, Primordial Sea)
Arceus-Water (Fur Coat, Ice Scales)
Koraidon (Magic Guard, Mold Breaker, Fur Coat)
Ting-Lu (Regenerator, Fur Coat)
Lunala (Ice Scales)
Arceus-Fighting (Fur Coat)

C
C+
Magearna (Primordial Sea, Levitate, Well-Baked Body)
Melmetal (Levitate, Regenerator, Fur Coat)
Giratina (Prankster, Regenerator)
Slowbro-Mega (Regenerator)
Palkia-Origin (Fur Coat, Magic Guard)
Meloetta (Ice Scales, Prankster)
Kyurem-White (Refrigerate)
Registeel (Primordial Sea, Regenerator)

C
Muk-Alola (Regenerator)
Iron Valiant (Pixilate)
Deoxys (Sheer Force)
Aerodactyl-Mega (Magic Guard)
Lopunny-Mega (Magic Guard)
Arceus-Fire (Magic Guard)
Steelix-Mega (Regenerator)
Dondozo (Fur Coat)
Kyurem-Black (Sword of Ruin, Mold Breaker, Magic Guard)
Hoopa-Unbound (Hustle)
Zacian-Crowned (Intrepid Sword)
Blacephalon (Adaptability)

C-
Gholdengo (Magic Bounce, Levitate)
Arceus-Rock (Rocky Payload)
Zacian (Fur Coat, Ice Scales)
Nihilego (Sand Stream)

D
Pikachu (Imposter)
Ampharos-Mega (Magic Guard)
Pheromosa (Tough Claws)
Clodsire (Magic Bounce, Ice Scales)
Altaria-Mega (Fur Coat)
Ursaluna (Magic Guard)
Landorus-Therian (Good as Gold)
Iron Hands (Fur Coat)
Arceus-Dark (Ice Scales, Fur Coat)
Arceus-Poison (Fur Coat)
Arceus (Ice Scales)
Giratina-Origin (Magic Guard)
Ferrothorn (Regenerator)
Shuckle (Magic Guard, Ice Scales, Fur Coat)
Aegislash (Well-Baked Body, Levitate)

Old VRs

14 Aug 24 - 17 Oct 24:
S
Imposter (Eviolite, Covert Cloak, Heavy-Duty Boots)

A
A+
Eternatus (Magic Guard, Unaware, Mold Breaker)

A
Arceus-Ghost (Magic Guard, Fur Coat, Simple)
Arceus-Fairy (Fur Coat, Ice Scales, Pixilate)
Audino-Mega (Ice Scales, Fur Coat)

A-
Celesteela (Regenerator, Fur Coat, Well-Baked Body)
Greninja-Ash (Sniper, Sheer Force, Tinted Lens)
Necrozma-Ultra (Sheer Force, Adaptability)
Blissey (Magic Guard, Regenerator)

B
B+
Flutter Mane (Flare Boost)
Sceptile-Mega (Magic Guard)
Garchomp-Mega (Tough Claws)
Alakazam-Mega (Beads of Ruin, Psychic Surge)
Kyogre-Primal (Regenerator, Magic Guard)
Arceus-Ground (Ice Scales)
Dialga-Origin (Regenerator, Ice Scales)

B
Lucario-Mega (Tough Claws, Magic Guard)
Lunala (Ice Scales, Simple, Fur Coat)
Arceus-Electric (Fur Coat, Ice Scales)
Blaziken-Mega (Tinted Lens, Tough Claws, Desolate Land)
Ho-Oh (Ice Scales, Magic Guard)
Miraidon (Magic Guard, Fur Coat)
Meloetta (Ice Scales, Prankster)

B-
Gardevoir-Mega (Pixilate)
Swampert-Mega (Regenerator, Fur Coat, Ice Scales)
Arceus-Water (Fur Coat, Ice Scales)
Solgaleo (Primordial Sea, Regenerator, Well-Baked Body)
Koraidon (Sword of Ruin, Magic Guard, Mold Breaker)
Lopunny-Mega (Magic Guard)
Arceus-Fighting (Fur Coat)
Ting-Lu (Regenerator, Fur Coat)

C
C+
Giratina (Prankster, Regenerator)
Palkia-Origin (Speed Boost, Magic Guard)
Magearna (Primordial Sea, Levitate, Well-Baked Body)
Kyurem-White (Refrigerate)
Muk-Alola (Regenerator)
Slowbro-Mega (Fur Coat, Regenerator)
Melmetal (Regenerator, Fur Coat)
Kyurem-Black (Sword of Ruin, Mold Breaker)
Yveltal (Magic Bounce, Magic Guard)
Steelix-Mega (Regenerator)
Zamazenta (Fur Coat)

C
Arceus-Fire (Magic Guard)
Arceus-Poison (Fur Coat)
Blacephalon (Adaptability)
Registeel (Primordial Sea, Regenerator)
Chansey (Magic Guard, Regenerator)
Dondozo (Fur Coat)
Zacian-Crowned (Intrepid Sword)

C-
Iron Valiant (Pixilate)
Altaria-Mega (Fur Coat)
Zacian (Fur Coat, Ice Scales)
Deoxys (Sheer Force, Psychic Surge)
Aegislash (Well-Baked Body)
Arceus (Ice Scales)
Landorus-Therian (Good as Gold)
Ogerpon-Hearthflame (Desolate Land)

D
Nihilego (Sand Stream)
Gyarados-Mega (Magic Guard)
Necrozma-Dawn-Wings (Simple)
Pikachu (Imposter)
Gholdengo (Magic Bounce, Levitate)
Ampharos-Mega (Magic Guard)
Pheromosa (Tough Claws)
Clodsire (Magic Bounce, Ice Scales)
Ursaluna (Magic Guard)
Iron Hands (Fur Coat)
Arceus-Dark (Ice Scales, Fur Coat)
Beedrill-Mega (Teravolt, Sword of Ruin)
Giratina-Origin (Simple)
Metagross-Mega (Regenerator, Primordial Sea)
Ferrothorn (Primordial Sea)
16 May 24 - 14 Aug 24:
S
Imposter (Eviolite, Covert Cloak, Spooky Plate)

A
A
Greninja-Ash (Sniper, Primordial Sea, Tough Claws)
Arceus-Ghost (Fur Coat, Simple, Magic Guard)
Alakazam-Mega (Beads of Ruin, Psychic Surge)
Eternatus (Magic Guard, Unaware, Teravolt)

A-
Arceus-Fairy (Fur Coat, Ice Scales, Pixilate)
Audino-Mega (Ice Scales, Fur Coat, Magic Bounce)
Flutter Mane (Flare Boost, Beads of Ruin, Adaptability)

B
B+
Arceus-Ground (Ice Scales)
Necrozma-Ultra (Sheer Force, Adaptability)
Garchomp-Mega (Adaptability, Tough Claws)
Blissey (Magic Guard, Regenerator)
Celesteela (Regenerator, Fur Coat, Primordial Sea)
Miraidon (Magic Guard, Fur Coat, Regenerator)

B
Lucario-Mega (Tough Claws, Magic Guard)
Ho-Oh (Ice Scales, Magic Guard, Desolate Land)
Koraidon (Teravolt, Magic Guard, Tough Claws)
Kyogre-Primal (Regenerator, Magic Guard)
Slowbro-Mega (Fur Coat, Regenerator)
Lunala (Simple, Ice Scales, Fur Coat)
Yveltal (Fur Coat, Magic Bounce, Magic Guard)

B-
Steelix-Mega (Regenerator)
Swampert-Mega (Regenerator, Fur Coat, Ice Scales)
Blaziken-Mega (Tinted Lens, Tough Claws, Desolate Land)
Dialga-Origin (Regenerator, Magic Guard, Wandering Spirit)
Palkia-Origin (Speed Boost, Magic Guard)
Arceus-Water (Ice Scales, Fur Coat)
Kyurem-Black (Sword of Ruin, Teravolt)
Ting-Lu (Fur Coat, Regenerator)
Solgaleo (Regenerator, Primordial Sea)
Gardevoir-Mega (Pixilate)
Registeel (Primordial Sea, Regenerator)
Zacian (Fur Coat, Ice Scales)

C
Dondozo (Fur Coat)
Meloetta (Ice Scales, Regenerator, Prankster)
Arceus (Ice Scales)
Arceus-Electric (Fur Coat, Ice Scales)
Arceus-Fire (Magic Guard)
Sceptile-Mega (Magic Guard)
Giratina (Regenerator, Prankster)
Zacian-Crowned (Intrepid Sword)
Arceus-Fighting (Fur Coat)
Kyurem-White (Refrigerate, Dragon's Maw)
Arceus-Poison (Fur Coat)
Magearna (Primordial Sea, Levitate)
Blacephalon (Adaptability)
Deoxys (Sheer Force, Psychic Surge, Magic Guard)
Melmetal (Regenerator, Fur Coat)

D
Chansey (Magic Guard, Ice Scales)
Altaria-Mega (Fur Coat)
Gyarados-Mega (Magic Guard)
Nihilego (Sand Stream, Ice Scales)
Zamazenta (Fur Coat)
Arceus-Dark (Ice Scales, Fur Coat)
Iron Valiant (Pixilate)
Beedrill-Mega (Teravolt, Sword of Ruin)
Iron Hands (Fur Coat)
Necrozma-Dawn-Wings (Simple)
Metagross-Mega (Regenerator, Primordial Sea)
Pikachu (Imposter)
Giratina-Origin (Simple, Magic Guard, Magic Bounce)
Buzzwole (Fur Coat)
Pheromosa (Tough Claws)

11 Feb 24 - 16 May 24:
S
Imposter (Eviolite, Covert Cloak, Spooky Plate)

A
A
Arceus-Ghost (Fur Coat, Simple, Magic Guard)
Arceus-Fairy (Fur Coat, Ice Scales)

A-
Arceus-Ground (Ice Scales)
Greninja-Ash (Sniper, Primordial Sea, Tough Claws)
Necrozma-Ultra (Sheer Force)
Eternatus (Teravolt, Unaware, Magic Guard)
Alakazam-Mega (Beads of Ruin, Psychic Surge)
Miraidon (Magic Guard, Fur Coat)

B
B+
Flutter Mane (Beads of Ruin, Flare Boost, Pixilate)
Garchomp-Mega (Adaptability, Tough Claws)
Audino-Mega (Fur Coat, Magic Bounce, Ice Scales)
Celesteela (Fur Coat, Regenerator, Well-Baked Body)
Slowbro-Mega (Fur Coat, Regenerator)

B
Ho-Oh (Ice Scales, Magic Guard, Fur Coat)
Lucario-Mega (Tough Claws, Magic Guard)
Lunala (Simple, Ice Scales, Fur Coat)
Blissey (Magic Guard)
Steelix-Mega (Regenerator)
Kyogre-Primal (Regenerator, Ice Scales, Magic Guard)
Yveltal (Fur Coat, Magic Bounce, Magic Guard)
Arceus-Water (Fur Coat)
Dialga-Origin (Regenerator, Magic Guard)
Swampert-Mega (Regenerator, Fur Coat, Ice Scales)

B-
Gardevoir-Mega (Pixilate)
Koraidon (Teravolt, Magic Guard, Tough Claws)
Dondozo (Fur Coat, Prankster)
Registeel (Regenerator, Primordial Sea)
Kyurem-Black (Sword of Ruin, Teravolt)
Palkia-Origin (Speed Boost, Magic Guard)
Ting-Lu (Fur Coat, Regenerator, Magic Bounce)
Arceus-Poison (Fur Coat)
Giratina (Regenerator, Prankster)
Solgaleo (Regenerator, Well-Baked Body)

C
Blacephalon (Adaptability)
Zacian (Fur Coat, Ice Scales)
Blaziken-Mega (Desolate Land, Triage)
Gyarados-Mega (Magic Guard)
Arceus (Ice Scales)
Meloetta (Ice Scales)
Deoxys (Sheer Force)
Kyurem-White (Refrigerate, Dragon's Maw)
Zacian-Crowned (Intrepid Sword)
Magearna (Primordial Sea, Levitate)
Iron Valiant (Pixilate)
Necrozma-Dawn-Wings (Simple)
Chansey (Magic Guard, Ice Scales)

D
Arceus-Fire (Magic Guard)
Giratina-Origin (Simple, Magic Guard, Magic Bounce)
Melmetal (Fur Coat)
Sceptile-Mega (Magic Guard, Beads of Ruin)
Altaria-Mega (Fur Coat, Ice Scales)
Victini (Fur Coat)
Rayquaza (Aerilate)
Beedrill-Mega (Teravolt, Sword of Ruin)
Dragapult (Normalize)
Nihilego (Sand Stream, Ice Scales)
Pheromosa (Tough Claws)
Pikachu (Imposter)
Reshiram (Desolate Land)
Metagross-Mega (Regenerator, Well-Baked Body)
Arceus-Dark (Ice Scales)
Ferrothorn (Regenerator)
Scizor-Mega (Regenerator)

6 Dec 2023 - 11 Feb 2024:
S
S
Chansey (Imposter - Eviolite, Covert Cloak, Spooky Plate)

S-
Mewtwo-Mega-X (Magic Guard, Sheer Force, Mold Breaker)

A
A+
Diancie-Mega (Pixilate)

A
Arceus-Poison (Fur Coat, Ice Scales)
Miraidon (Fur Coat, Magic Guard)

A-
Arceus-Fairy (Ice Scales, Fur Coat)
Arceus-Ghost (Fur Coat, Simple)
Kartana (Sword of Ruin, Mold Breaker)

B
B+
Celesteela (Regenerator, Fur Coat, Primordial Sea)
Eternatus (Mold Breaker)
Garchomp-Mega (Adaptability, Sword of Ruin, Mold Breaker)
Ho-Oh (Fur Coat, Ice Scales, Magic Guard)
Yveltal (Fur Coat)

B
Arceus-Ground (Ice Scales)
Deoxys-Attack (Psychic Surge, Magic Guard, Sheer Force)
Dialga-Origin (Regenerator, Magic Guard)
Kyogre-Primal (Regenerator)
Kyurem-Black (Sword of Ruin, Mold Breaker)
Steelix-Mega (Regenerator)

B-
Audino-Mega (Magic Bounce, Ice Scales, Regenerator)
Lunala (Simple, Fur Coat, Ice Scales)
Swampert-Mega (Regenerator, Ice Scales, Fur Coat)

C
Arceus-Fire (Fur Coat)
Arceus-Water (Ice Scales, Fur Coat)
Blacephalon (Adaptability)
Blissey (Magic Guard, Imposter)
Flutter Mane (Normalize)
Giratina (Prankster, Regenerator)
Greninja-Ash (Sniper, Tough Claws)
Necrozma-Ultra (Adaptability, Sword of Ruin)
Palkia-Origin (Speed Boost)
Registeel (Primordial Sea, Regenerator)
Slowbro-Mega (Fur Coat, Soundproof, Prankster)
Toxapex (Regenerator, Fur Coat, Ice Scales)
Zacian (Fur Coat, Ice Scales)

D
Beedrill-Mega (Mold Breaker, Sword of Ruin)
Dragapult (Normalize)
Ferrothorn (Regenerator)
Gardevoir-Mega (Pixilate)
Kyurem-White (Refrigerate)
Necrozma-Dawn-Wings (Simple)
Nihilego (Ice Scales)
Pheromosa (Sword of Ruin)
Pikachu (Imposter)
Scizor-Mega (Regenerator)
Shuckle (Ice Scales, Fur Coat)
Solgaleo (Regenerator, Ice Scales, Fur Coat)
Victini (Regenerator)
Zacian-Crowned (Intrepid Sword)

15 Nov 2023 - 6 Dec 2023: https://pokepast.es/eb89bbf446ef8072

"Old meta":
Paste of old sets here: https://pokepast.es/22dc928f2d37a714
S Rank
Chansey (Imposter - Eviolite)

A Rank
A+
Arceus-Ghost (Fur Coat, Simple)
Koraidon (Sword of Ruin, Mold Breaker)

A
Arceus-Fairy (Ice Scales, Fur Coat, Pixilate)
Groudon (Fur Coat, Mold Breaker)
Zacian (Ice Scales, Fur Coat)

A-
Flutter Mane (Flare Boost, Pixilate)
Dialga-O (Ice Scales, Regenerator)
Blissey (Imposter - Covert Cloak)

B Rank
B+
Eternatus (Fur Coat, Mold Breaker, Regenerator)
Ting-Lu (Regenerator)
Chansey (Ice Scales, Prankster)
Palkia-O (Simple, Speed Boost, Mold Breaker)

B
Arceus-Ground (Ice Scales, Fur Coat)
Arceus-Water (Fur Coat)
Iron Bundle (Refrigerate)
Arceus-Poison (Fur Coat, Ice Scales)
Corviknight (Prankster, Primordial Sea)
Enamorus (Pixilate)
Dondozo (Prankster, Fur Coat)

B-
Arceus-Fire (Desolate Land)
Arceus-Steel (Ice Scales, Fur Coat)
Rayquaza (Aerilate)
Zamazenta-C (Fur Coat, Well-Baked Body)

C Rank
Hoopa-U (Tough Claws, Sheer Force)
Giratina (Fur Coat, Prankster, Magic Bounce)
Giratina-O (Fur Coat, Prankster)
Dragapult (Normalize)
Pikachu (Imposter - Light Ball)
Palafin-H (Sniper, Magic Guard)
Ursaluna (Sword of Ruin)
Gholdengo (Speed Boost, Fur Coat)
Hisuian Goodra (Ice Scales, Regenerator)
Iron Valiant (Pixilate)
Landorus-T (Guts)
Magearna (Well-Baked Body, Ice Scales)

D Rank
Kyogre (Ice Scales)
Arceus-Flying (Aerilate)
Arceus-Rock (Fur Coat)
Calyrex-Ice (Sword of Ruin)
Clodsire (Ice Scales)
Blissey (Imposter - Spooky Plate)
Mewtwo (Mold Breaker)
Zacian @ Rusted Sword (Intrepid Sword)
Zoroark-Hisui (Liquid Ooze)
Arceus-Grass (Ice Scales)
Meloetta (Ice Scales)
Regieleki (Hadron Engine)
Toxapex (Prankster)

 

[Tea Guzzler]

Role Compendium
Last Updated 1st December 2024

Since everything in BH gets everything, this post will focus around good and common users of the listed option. These are sorted according to their VR position, but keep in mind that a Pokemon higher than another in overall viability might not be higher in a specific role.​

1. Utility
Anything can run utility moves and get value out of them, so this section is specifically consistent / good options.
Entry Hazards:
Spikes:
Stone Axe: Anything with
Toxic Spikes: No standout user

Entry Hazard Removal:
Rapid Spin:
Mortal Spin:
Tidy Up:
Knock Off: Anything with

2. Offense
Wallbreakers:
Physical:
Special:
Mixed:

Choice Item users:
Choice Band:
Choice Specs:
Choice Scarf:

Setup sweepers:
Physical Setup: Anything with Tidy Up
Special Setup:
Mixed Setup: No standout Pokemon

3. Defense
Walls:
Physical walls:
Special walls:
Regenerator/RegenVest:
Prankster:

4. Pivots
Offensive:
Defensive: Anything with (might be on non- sets too)

 

[Tea Guzzler]

Speed Tiers
(Current as of 1st December 2024)
Key Speed benchmarks are bolded.​

Speed	Sprite	Pokemon	Base Speed	EVs	IVs	Nature	Stat Boost
618		Zacian, Zamazenta	138	252	31	Positive	+1
612		Ho-Oh, Kyogre-Primal	90	252	31	Positive	+2
607		Koraidon	135	252	31	Positive	+1
594		Yveltal	99	252	31	Neutral	+2
586		Lunala	97	252	31	Neutral	+2
566		Garchomp-Mega	92	252	31	Neutral	+2
558		Arceus	120	252	31	Positive	+1
558		Ho-Oh, Kyogre-Primal	90	252	31	Neutral	+2
548		Regieleki	200	252	31	Positive	+0
538		Eternatus	130	252	31	Neutral	+1
508		Arceus	120	252	31	Neutral	+1
492		Blaziken-Mega	100	252	31	Positive	+1
483		Lunala, Solgaleo	97	252	31	Positive	+1
475		Kyurem-B, Kyurem-W	95	252	31	Positive	+1
469		Blacephalon	107	252	31	Neutral	+1
466		Garchomp-Mega	92	252	31	Positive	+1
463		Landorus-T	91	252	31	Positive	+1
459		Ho-Oh, Kyogre-Primal	90	252	31	Positive	+1
448		Blaziken-Mega	100	252	31	Neutral	+1
445		Yveltal	99	252	31	Neutral	+1
441		Pheromosa	151	252	31	Positive	+0
439		Lunala, Solgaleo	97	252	31	Neutral	+1
438		Aerodactyl-Mega, Alakazam-Mega, Deoxys	150	252	31	Positive	+0
434		Zacian-Crowned	148	252	31	Positive	+0
427		Sceptile-Mega	145	252	31	Positive	+0
424		Garchomp-Mega	92	252	31	Neutral	+1
421		Dragapult	142	252	31	Positive	+0
421		Landorus-T	91	252	31	Neutral	+1
418		Ho-Oh, Kyogre-Primal	90	252	31	Neutral	+1
412		Zacian, Zamazenta	138	252	31	Positive	+0
405		Flutter Mane, Koraidon, Lopunny-Mega, Miraidon	135	252	31	Positive	+0
399		Greninja-Ash	132	252	31	Positive	+0
394		Eternatus	130	252	31	Positive	+0
392		Necrozma-Ultra	129	252	31	Positive	+0
372		Arceus, Palkia-O	120	252	31	Positive	+0
364		Iron Valiant	116	252	31	Positive	+0
358		Swampert-Mega	70	252	31	Neutral	+1
355		Lucario-Mega	112	252	31	Positive	+0
344		Blacephalon	107	252	31	Positive	+0
339		Arceus, Palkia-O	120	252	31	Neutral	+0
335		Nihilego	103	252	31	Positive	+0
331		Iron Valiant	116	252	31	Neutral	+0
328		Blaziken-Mega, Gardevoir-Mega	100	252	31	Positive	+0
326		Yveltal	99	252	31	Positive	+0
323		Lucario-Mega	112	252	31	Neutral	+0
317		Kyurem-B, Kyurem-W	95	252	31	Positive	+0
313		Blacephalon	107	252	31	Neutral	+0
311		Garchomp-Mega	92	252	31	Positive	+0
309		Landorus-T	91	252	31	Positive	+0
306		Dialga-O, Ho-Oh	90	252	31	Positive	+0
305		Nihilego	103	252	31	Neutral	+0
299		Blaziken-Mega, Gardevoir-Mega	100	252	31	Neutral	+0
297		Yveltal	99	252	31	Neutral	+0
293		Lunala, Solgaleo	97	252	31	Neutral	+0
289		Kyurem-B, Kyurem-W	95	252	31	Neutral	+0
284		Altaria-Mega, Hoopa-Unbound	80	252	31	Positive	+0
283		Garchomp-Mega	92	252	31	Neutral	+0
281		Landorus-T	91	252	31	Neutral	+0
279		Dialga-O, Giratina, Ho-Oh, Kyogre-Primal, Meloetta	90	252	31	Neutral	+0
263		Lunala, Solgaleo	97	252	31	Negative	+0
259		Altaria-Mega, Hoopa-Unbound	80	252	31	Neutral	+0
239		Swampert-Mega	70	252	31	Neutral	+0
229		Magearna	65	252	31	Neutral	+0
221		Celesteela	61	252	31	Neutral	+0
209		Blissey	55	252	31	Neutral	+0
199		Audino-Mega, Chansey, Iron Hands, Registeel, Ursaluna	50	252	31	Neutral	+0
199		Blaziken-Mega	100	252	31	Neutral	-1
189		Ampharos-Mega, Ting-Lu	45	252	31	Neutral	+0
186		Ho-Oh	90	252	31	Neutral	-1
169		Dondozo	35	252	31	Neutral	+0
167		Melmetal	34	252	31	Neutral	+0
166		Dialga-O, Giratina, Kyogre-Primal, Meloetta	90	0	0	Negative	+0
149		Blaziken-Mega	100	252	31	Neutral	-2
148		Altaria-Mega	80	0	0	Negative	+0
127		Ting-Lu	45	0	0	Negative	+1
121		Magearna	65	0	0	Negative	+0
114		Celesteela	61	0	0	Negative	+0
112		Aegislash	60	0	0	Negative	+0
103		Blissey	55	0	0	Negative	+0
94		Audino-Mega, Chansey, Iron Hands, Registeel	50	0	0	Negative	+0
85		Ampharos-Mega, Ting-Lu	45	0	0	Negative	+0
67		Dondozo	35	0	0	Negative	+0
65		Melmetal	34	0	0	Negative	+0
58		Slowbro-Mega, Steelix-Mega	30	0	0	Negative	+0
40		Clodsire	20	0	0	Negative	+0
13		Shuckle	5	0	0	Negative	+0

 

[Tea Guzzler]

Resource Hub​

This post aims to pool together some important resources, mostly aimed at newer players, into one place to make things easier and save people having to dig through old threads. Near the start, most of this stuff will be last-gen, however the ideas and process haven't significantly changed. Plan is for this to expand over time as Gen 9 versions of the guides / new suggestions for guides begin appearing.

- Differences between BH and standard tiers
- Imposter in Balanced Hackmons (Article)
- Teambuilding Guide
- Dealing with Cheese: Gen 9 Edition
- Move Selection (Gen 8)
- Minor EV Optimizations
- Wallbreaking Guide
- Introduction to SV BH (Article)

 

[Codename C.A.T]

first noms

Low -> Mid
Hear me out on this one. It's no secret that the #1 Pokemon at the moment is Zacian Crowned(unless you count Arceus as one Pokemon for some reason?). The best set on Zacian is easily Gorilla Tactics, which becomes a behemoth for anything to stop if you aren't an Arceus Fire. But what if you want that Arceus slot for something else? Maybe you really need Fairyceus or Ghostceus for your team. You could be experimenting with more niche typings, like Electric or Ground. What do you do then? Just roll over and die? Well, no, because there's a few options. The first one, and the most common, is Fur Coat Dondozo. This is a great Zacian answer that doesn't take much from Magical Torque, but it has a few very notable issues. It's vulnerable to Spikes, can't be used alongside Prankster Dondozo(also a great Pokemon you'd want on many teams), and is demolished by Hoopa Unbound's Grass Knot. These aren't enough to make it unviable, of course not, it just makes them less ideal as a Zacian answer. Your next option would be Fur Coat Groudon, which really isn't ideal as you sorta just die to Glacial Lance. You can answer Headlong variants pretty well, and you're a good blanket check, but not answering Glacial Lance Zacian is a big deal, as it's one of the best options for the 4th slot. Finally, we have Fur Coat Moltres, the center of this post.
Fur Coat Moltres is genuinely a great Pokemon. It's the best Zacian counter in the game to my knowledge, crushing Gorilla Tactics and spreading Paralysis with ease. It also acts as a check to one of the most threatening setup sweepers in the tier, Hoopa Unbound, as it isn't threatened by its Grass Knots or Wicked Blows and can cripple it with a Nuzzle. Finally, it has STAB Torch Song, allowing it to snowball to surprising effectiveness. This isn't to say it's flawless, though. While it can blanket check most of the physical meta, it's pretty awful against the special meta, unlike FC bozo. Both get demolished by Miraidon, Moltres loses hard to most PH VQDs(even the physical ones), and it's ruined by Palk-O. With all that said, there's one thing I haven't mentioned: its Flying typing. Flying gives Moltres not just a Ground immunity, but an immunity to Spikes. This makes it surprisingly more resilient against strong physical attackers that would be hitting around the 30s. With a Spike down, the other FCs would be near death at that range and forced to burn a Recover. But Moltres? It just freely clicks Nuzzle or Torch Song or U-Turn and makes progress or gains momentum in some way. Obviously, it'll have to heal at some point, but it won't be burning through those oh so limited 8 Recovers nearly as fast as the others. All of this, to me, makes it worth putting Moltres in Mid instead of Low.

Other, much shorter nom:
Gorilla Tactics, Mold Breaker, Well-Baked Body, Sword of Ruin, Natural Cure
Good anti-PH tech with Knock Off that also beats Paralysis much more easily than regular Zacian. I've been using this alongside Moltres wow who would've thought and it's been really effective from what I've seen of it, and I think beating PH alone makes it deserve some kind of mention.

 

[Akira 153]

Unrated -> Mid or Low - Ice Scales
Ice scales clodsire has proven to be a very consistent check to a large amount of special attackers in the tier because of it's unique typing. It's a ground that isn't weak to grass allowing it to check many Miraidon and Eternatus sets. At the same time, it's able to check Pixiburst users, which are usually great partners for Miraidon since they can take down Ting Lu. It also resists two common statuses in Paralysis (through nuzzle) and Poison (from toxic or mortal spin). I've used it on my sample team and found it to be a super consistent Ice Scales user, especially in direct comparison with Ting Lu, its main competitor as a defensive ground type given Groudon's special frailty and Groundceus's opportunity cost issues.

Low -> Unrated
Theoretically, Muk-A acts as a check to ghost types that isn't weak to Fairy (or in prior generations, Gengar's poison moves). However, that neutrality isn't enough now that Flutter Mane can use a STAB pixilate boomburst. Also, outside of ghosts, it's defensive utility is extremely limited, with meager physical bulk and no useful resistances against popular special attackers like Miraidon and Palkia-O. Ghosts are also severely less powerful as breakers since they lost Moongeist Beam, so many Ice scales users can easily check them.

 

[Fish Gaming]

Mewtwo @ Twisted Spoon
Ability: Psychic Surge
Tera Type: Psychic / Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Expanding Force
- Torch Song
- Nasty Plot
- Strength Sap

Add this to the setpedia for Mewtwo

 

[Tea Guzzler]

Mewtwo @ Twisted Spoon
Ability: Psychic Surge
Tera Type: Psychic / Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Expanding Force
- Torch Song
- Nasty Plot
- Strength Sap

Add this to the setpedia for Mewtwo

Cheers for the suggestion, but can you provide reasonably evidence of this working? I'm not just going to add sets to the setpedia without any proof that they actually work. This is even more important for mons like Mewtwo, which are already on the fringe of viability, thus can't really slip into usefulness without optimal sets.

 

[Tea Guzzler]

ok some VR noms now that poison heal is gone (using actual tiers)

S
does basically anything you want it to. band, setup, defensive, utility, this guy does it all. far enough above the other stuff to be worthy of sole S.

A+
the big specially offensive mon, gets to click buttons and most stuff drops long-term if you play it right. not rated as highly as zacian due to the defensive profile not really being present and generally lower autonomy (largely due to regenvest).

infernal parade is broken and spooky judge is broken

decent set variety and does both main things it wants to (click v-create in sun, wall commpn phys attackers) very well. unique niche of being fire by default bumps this up, as does balanced atk and spa meaning it can spam v-create without caring for fc dozo and don.

A
even despite losing poison heal, pixilate sets are just so good, from the big mixed damage to unknockable plate to the strong priority and set versatility.

imposter does imposter things, as always. not rating A+ because, whilst it still is good at doing what it does best (being an anti-offense tool), additions like covert cloak, tera, and the return of judgment don't help it immensely. will never realistically drop below A but there's too much running around that just blasts through it and improofing defensive stuff is pretty easy.

A-
bog standard fur coater. you know what this does. not being rated super highly compared to other tiers, like natdex, as dondozo simply existing places arceus-water under a heavy opportunity cost. much better speed and special profile are good though.

flexible and can set up on a lot of stuff, but blades just doesn't do a whole lot of damage. also a special wall that loses to big special breaker in palkia, so only really works as "haha i set up in front of miraidon"

veeeeery few long-term checks to this if you bring good support like knock and ceaseless, however it can occasionally get hardwalled by random mons like scales arceus and boosting sets (ie. what you want on every single set) are really annoying to improof.

ranking these together since they do basically the same thing (goodra has higher bulk and lower speed, dialga has higher hp, spa and def). these are probably the best blanket special checks in the current meta, fitting the bill as special wall on basically ever team needing one. the best special attackers in the tier being dragon (thus bullied by draco and dtail) and, in miraidon's case, choice-locked also boosts these.

B+
flexible and can set up on a lot of stuff, but blades just doesn't do a whole lot of damage. also a special wall that loses to big special breaker in palkia, so only really works as "haha i set up in front of miraidon"

very bulky and has a very useful defensive type. suffers from passivity issues but has a valuable enough role and toolset to mostly make up for this, works both as prankster and fur coat. very much enjoys physical anti-water coverage being pretty bad.

B
normalize, pixilate, and beads/adapt are all good offensive tools. mostly carried by high base speed and good STAB combo, though held back by it's lack of defensive utility and hatred of -atespeed, zacian, and (for normalize) revdance and ability shield.

enamorus is the most offensive spinner, trading a lot of bulk for fairy/flying, not taking the arceus slot, and a mindless item choice in life orb v-create that OHKOes zacian. lower bulk is also useful for hitting imp harder, though only offensive teams are likely to get much benefit from this.

unmatched offensive capability but very little defensive utility (even despite the pretty good spdef), needs very specific improofs, and difficult to set up.

ursaluna is a complete delete button and has very valuable priority, but needs a significant amount of team support to make it work and also suffers from needing to predict basically every single time it hits the field.

B-

etern hasn't really gotten worse, it's just that the dragons around it have mostly gotten better. miraidon and zacian simply existing contribute a large amount to it not really being that good. most of what's keeping this relevant is the high HP gambit, which nukes common special walls like goodra and clodsire.

fat, passive wall of bulk, same as it was last gen. typing is still a liability and core + spectral being missing gives it a lot of grief, though little compares to its raw mixed bulk.

very good defenses (higher physdef than giratina and dondozo) and provides a valuable electric immunity, however it still lacks a lot of resistances besides electric and many attackers carry coverage for it (grass knot hoopa-u, steam eruption miraidon) or just beat it outright (palkia-o, zacian). being forced to defensively tera because you loaded something unfavourable is never ideal. also passive.

basically the same as ting-lu, slower + fairy resistance but has similar passivity issues, same issues with common threats that can occasionally autowin, and physical bulk is decent but not great.

C
flying is generally bad and this hates the competition it faces from other arcs, included in which is pixilate arc-fairy.

lo aerilate is basically the same as it was last gen, except the meta is less hospitable to it with overall higher bulk and flying being less valuable. the most common special walls not being weak to v-create doesn't help much either, spin on this gives up power but makes it a slightly worse enamorus instead of something completely different.

very good statline but physical water just isn't very good, especially with tera meaning you can't just get away with fishing for fur coat arceus-fire or moltres. sniper sets are ok but surging strikes is just a very annoying attack to use, rip rend

fringe zac-c check, thanks to being the best fire-type immune to ground, however does its job well and actually has a STAB type that can be used to hit the thing you're walling. people will eventually start running dstorm and then Codename C.A.T will begin to cry however.

D
scales arc-grass is a very fringe spdef option, it technically has a great spdef profile (grass is very good right now as a spdef typing) but is all of passive, bad physically (grass is always bad physdef) and eats the arc slot.

both of these are regenvests you only use if your team hard loses to every ghost in existence. they aren't good enough to justify outside of this, and even against ghosts, they've probably brought multiple knocks for this reason.

unnecessary fairy weakness, grounded, fighting STAB isn't really that good. just use enamorus.

base mewtwo will likely always be bad. specs eforce didn't do enough last gen so definitely won't this gen, and we have more dark-types this time around.

i overrated this thing AF lol, this is basically useless. dies to everything, does nothing, should probably be UR

 

[Storm Eagle]

I agree with these VR nominations for the most part, however I think I will make some separate nominations based off that

very flexible mon that does basically everything you want it to do well. doesn't mind losing thousand arrows as much it minds the rest of the tier getting bulkier, although blades still blasts anything that isn't arceus or bulkier.

A -> A-: Groudon is in theory a great defensive mon, but the prominence of mixed attackers means it's defensive sets leave much to be desired in practice. Even with Tidy Up I don't think defensive Groudon is great, and it checks very little in practice. Groudon as a result is a very niche defensive option and should be treated as a breaker or cleaner.

veeeeery few long-term checks to this if you bring good support like knock and ceaseless, however it can occasionally get hardwalled by random mons like scales arceus and boosting sets (ie. what you want on every single set) are really annoying to improof.

B+ -> A-: I discovered a Palkia-Origin and Desolate Land Zacian-Crowned core which is extremely potent. This core alone is insane enough to warrant that A- rank as boosting sets are completely free. With Terastal, Beads QD Palkia-Origin is effectively only walled by base Chansey as it regularly breaks even Ice Scales Arceus with Terastal after a boost.

+1 252+ SpA Lustrous Globe Beads of Ruin Tera Water Palkia-Origin Steam Eruption vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Ice Scales Arceus: 223-263 (50.2 - 59.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

flyceus is a decent non-passive removal option mostly held up by the unknockable plate, good bulk, and spikes immunity (as opposed to arc-fairy's much better typing). flying isn't particularly valuable though and it faces a lot of competition both as hazard removal and as an arceus.

B -> B-: Flyceus is just weird as fuck to me not gonna lie. Like it's a jack of all trades, master of none kind of mon. Offensively it was mediocre during PH meta, but it lost PH. Defensively it doesn't have any really good resists besides Ground, but even then I think Groudon and Ursaluna still give it problems regardless with coverage. I think the only real saving grace is that it doesn't need to worry about Glacial Lance being in the metagame, but it's still very much afraid of a lot of the meta regardless of the set. Not to mention, there's a big opportunity cost in using a specific Arceus form, and typically something more specialized is going to be more favorable in most situations.

ursaluna is a complete delete button and has very valuable priority, but needs a significant amount of team support to make it work and also suffers from needing to predict basically every single time it hits the field.

B -> B-: Even during PH meta this thing just was incredibly painful to use. Base 50 speed is fucking horrendous enough that even after a Shift Gear it doesn't outspeed Flutter Mane or Miraidon. There's a reason ladder dropped this thing like a rock. With Slaking here, I see even less reason to use it as well, since Slaking is just better even without the Ground STAB. I don't think Ursaluna has anything over Slaking defensively since neither really want to take special hits.

fat, passive wall of bulk, same as it was last gen. typing is still a liability and core + spectral being missing gives it a lot of grief, though little compares to its raw mixed bulk.

B- -> B: I will not tolerate this Gira disrespect!! It loses to the 2 most prominent breakers as well as Flutter Mane, but wins vs basically everything else in the metagame. With proper Knock Off support, Infernal Parade is good especially post PH ban, and Giratina just makes a good Prankster same as past gens. It benefits arguably the most of any mon from defensive Terastal, which has won more than a handful of matchups for me.

still has a good defensive profile like last gen + got a new STAB in triple arrows, however this meta does not take kindly to defensive steel-types and its offensive profile is basically absent this time around. bst was also nerfed + anchor shot removed lol

B- -> D: I have yet to see Zama-C used successfully even once in any sort of manner. Every single time it is used, regardless of set, it dies quickly despite its bulk and doesn't have a particularly imposing presence offensively. Now that's very presumptuous to nom it 2 spots lower saying that, but during the suspect test it was a huge liability. Everything that outspeeds it hurts it big time, and I don't think it can viably threaten Flutter Mane since it doesn't have a spammable Steel-type coverage move any more and I'm not sure even offensive sets would want to use Gigaton Hammer over coverage. It's not hard any more to check Zama-C, and it really can only work on niche team archetypes. Ground and Fire coverage being everywhere is incredibly painful for it, it's as offensively powerful as Arceus without the benefits of Arceus, and it's defensive profile is lame as fuck in this meta.

very good statline but physical water just isn't very good, especially with tera meaning you can't just get away with fishing for fur coat arceus-fire or moltres. sniper sets are ok but surging strikes is just a very annoying attack to use, rip rend

C -> B: Toxic turns Palafin from a mediocre mon to a reasonably good one. Palafin lures in Dondozo, which it can then poison, and various other physical walls don't particularly like it for the same reason, and/or being weak to Surging Strikes. Using Palafin as a stallbreaker rather than a wallbreaker is its main potential, and should be judged on the former, rather than the latter. Yes, Palafin is legitimately good at stallbreaking. Frequently I would have matches where opponents would struggle to deal with it when used properly.

Palafin-Hero @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Sniper
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wicked Blow
- Surging Strikes
- Strength Sap
- Toxic

Here's the set I use frequently. It can likely be tuned and worked upon.
D/UR: This seems to reek of new toy syndrome, and probably isn't actually that good compared to Moltres. Past the first week or two of BH, I have not really seen it used. Does that mean it's not viable? Could not tell you, but it's unlikely to be super remarkable in any fashion.
D: Under almost no circumstances would I recommend Regieleki to anyone but a seasoned BH veteran. It is frail as glass and it hits about as hard. Most players would much rather just use Miraidon as that is not only easier to use, it's just better outside of mixed sets. Mixed sets worked last gen with Arceus being gone, with Arceus here now I don't think mixed sets work nearly as well outside of OHKOing Zacian-C. Regieleki is viable on paper, but next to no one is going to have an easy time using it, which I would nominate it for a low rank due to this.
UR: Enamorus-T is an unmon. Only mentioning it because it was mentioned in the OP post.
Arceus-Electric: B: LuciShrimp has proven to me that even without PH, it can still work. Galvanize is underrated.
Koraidon: D: Koraidon sucks and doesn't have a niche, and almost always ends up awkward as fuck in any given scenario. It's tanked by any Fur Coat user easily and the one possible use it might have had in Poison Heal is gone. Even with PH it wasn't great. The only reason I didn't nominate it for UR is because I think someone might theorymon a passable set for it, but in its current state it might as well be UR.
D/UR: Iron Valiant is just a weird as fuck mon because you use it then wonder why you're not just using Flutter Mane instead. Really, why would you use this over Flutter Mane? It's a mixed attacker, but it doesn't outspeed Arceus and unlike Arceus it doesn't really seem to benefit from that mixed attacking stat very much, meanwhile it's readily forced out or knocked out by pretty much anything. On paper it isn't bad, but it's directly outclassed and it has a really unfortunate typing, speed tier, and overall bulk.

Other nominations I agree with as I said, and I'm unsure on the remaining mons like Calyrex-I.

 

[Chessking345]

S
Chansey (Imposter) | Imposter
Its Imposter. It defines the meta. While it is early into the meta I think its reasonable to say that among all the recent metas the current meta is the most friendly for utility Imposter. Imposter-proofing is extremely challenging, especially considering Spirit Shackle is blocked by Covert Cloak.
Zacian-Crowned | Gorilla Tactics, Sword of Ruin, Orichalcum Pulse, Pixilate, Well-Baked Body, Flash Fire, Desolate Land, Good as Gold, Magic Bounce, Ice Scales, Levitate, etc.
Its Zacian-Crowned. It defines the meta. Its the fastest viable mon while being the best breaker (Calyrex-S flashbacks). Its very hard to justify not running one, even if you don't want to run offensive Zacian-C you should run a utility one because it just compresses so much roles.

S-
I don't think anything is worthy of S- rn.
Blissey (Imposter) | Imposter
Covert Cloak Imposter is the strongest Imposter right now.

A+

Arceus-Ghost | Fur Coat, Simple, Normalize, Regenerator, Teravolt, Beads of Ruin, Good as Gold, etc.
Arceus-Ghost is incredibly threatening, insanely easy to fit on teams, offers role compression, and dictates very specific checks. Sets ranging from offensive ability Judgment to defensive ability Judgment to defensive ability Infernal Parade are all extremely good.
Miraidon | Hadron Engine, Fur Coat
Strongest special damage output, basically forces Electric-immunes, has its issues with a few hard to bypass threats.
A

Arceus-Fairy | Pixilate, Ice Scales
Fantastic role compression. Strong wallbreaker + spinner + best priority. Unfortunately 4mss + Zacian-C.

Arceus-Fire | Fur Coat, Orichalcum Pulse, Prankster
Excellent Zacian-C check, non-passive.
Groudon | Fur Coat, Ice Scales, Gorilla Tactics
Decently flexible, defensive sets can cover either spectrum while offensive sets can also be good. Very useful Electric-immunity thats not Imposter.

A-

Dialga-Origin | Ice Scales, Regenerator
Excellent special sponge. Fighting and Ground special moves either are too weak or never hit. 150 SpA + potential Adamant Crystal means the damage output is extremely good so stuff don't just setup on you.
Slaking | Fur Coat, Gorilla Tactics, Magic Guard, ?
Should be a fairly flexible pick similar to Groudon. Extra speed and less weaknesses is very useful, since you can afford Adamant and still outspeed at +1, while Fighting-type is pretty negligible in this meta breaking wise.

B+

Arceus-Ground | Fur Coat, Ice Scales
Groudon with better stats defensively but high opportunity cost.

Arceus-Water | Fur Coat, Prankster
Excellent physical catch-all that comes with an unfortunate opportunity cost when this role is more or less easy to replace.
Dondozo | Fur Coat, Prankster
Excellent physical catch-all that is just a little too passive.
Eternatus | Dragon's Maw, Fur Coat, Beads of Ruin
Very dangerous wallbreaker through the threat of Final Gambit. Also has excellent bulk and a useful Poison-immunity.

Palkia-Origin | Beads of Ruin, Adaptability, Fur Coat, Primordial Sea
Extremely dangerous breaker that is annoying to improof.

B
Flutter-Mane | Beads of Ruin, Pixilate, Normalize
Dangerous special wallbreaker taking advantage of its excellent STAB combination. However, its very vulnerable due to poor bulk and high reliance on item.
Hoopa-Unbound | Tough Claws
Very dangerous setup breaker. However very slow before setup and predictable.
Moltres | Fur Coat, Prankster
Very solid Zacian-C check that isn't passive because Fire STAB breaks Tera Sub pretty consistently.
B-
Clodsire | Ice Scales
Its Electric-immune that doesn't die to Grass-moves which are actually reasonable common. You also have a neat Fairy-resistance which can help against some stuff. Passive.

Enamorus | Pixilate
Decent alternative to Arceus-Fairy. Also has a Ground-immunity which can be helpful.
Rayquaza | Aerilate, Gorilla Tactics, Adaptability
A potent mixed attacker that also provides a great Ground-resist while not taking up the Arceus slot. Good source of removal too thanks to immunity to Spikes.
Ting-Lu | Ice Scales, Misty Surge
Its bulkier than Groudon and also has a neat perk of being immune to Prankster, but being forced out by Zacian-C feels bad.

Ursaluna | Gorilla Tactics, Ice Scales
A potent wallbreaker and priority-user while also offering a Electric-immunity. It can also play a defensive role decently, offering a Ghost-immunity over Grounds.

C

Arceus-Dark | Fur Coat, Prankster, ?
Decent Ghost-resist that can also heavily threaten Ghosts back.

Arceus-Electric | ?
Decent Electric and Flying resist actually, also resists Steel but that isn't very relevant.

Arceus-Flying | Aerilate
Sturdy Ground-immune and solid hazard removal. Doesn't do much else.
Bellibolt | ?
I did not get bribed by sevag. This is a direct replacement for Arceus-Electric that doesn't use the valuable Arceus slot while also providing a really slow pivoting.
Giratina | ?
Normal immunity. Loses to literally everything. Infernal Parade doesn't make this that less passive.
Giratina-Origin | ?
A notably stronger alternative to Giratina since you die to the top threats anyways.

Goodra-Hisuian | Regenerator
A very situational alternative to Dialga-O, the speed drop isn't actually very significant because there lacks relevant mons between 90 and 60, so something like 248 EV Dialga-O will get a lot of the slow pivots anyways. In fact extra speed for Dialga-O actually helps against the dangerous Hoopa-U by U-turning on it.
Koraidon | Serene Grace?
Triple Arrows spammer.
Kyogre | Fur Coat
For when you want a Water-type with reasonable offensive potential. Scald breaks Sub.
Mewtwo | ?
I have Mewtwo very optimistically ranked here because it has the tools to be extremely dangerous, notably since Psychic is actually not terrible offensively and it has access to the coveted STAB Lumina Crash.
Palafin-Hero | Gorilla Tactics, Sword of Ruin, ?
Water is not a great offensive type. Otherwise see Kyogre.
Zamazenta | Serene Grace?
An alternative to Koraidon, always outspeeding Miraidon and no Dragon weaknesses is nice.
Zamazenta-Crowned
Not D because Slaking is back and Triple Arrows is a funny move.

D

Arceus-Grass | Ice Scales
Idk why you wouldn't use Dialga-O.

Arceus-Steel | Levitate, Well-Baked Body
V-create and Precipice/Headlong are everywhere. You can only pick one to be immune to (No, Air Balloon WBB is not it).
Calyrex-Ice | ?
I have yet to find a purpose for this offensively since Ice isn't very good offensively. Could be UR.
Regieleki | Hadron Engine, ?
Fastest mon. Also the only viable mon faster than Zacian-C. Thus it has a small niche.
Skeledirge | Fur Coat
Fringe defensive purpose with a Ghost-type to be immune to annoying Triple Arrows and Population Bomb stuff.
Volcanion | Levitate, Fur Coat
Fringe defensive purpose with 4x resist to Fire and Steel, useful against the high BP V-create and Gigaton Hammer.

 

[Tea Guzzler]

some noms

A- -> A: opulse is generally really annoying to wall without specific options (most of which only fit on fat, like fc dozo or etern), because unsurprisingly opulse v-create cooks literally anything. choice band, solar beam and earth plate are all good options that can choose the checks they want to destroy and running into the wrong one leaves you with basically just evio imp to stave it off (you can even opt for psea steel improof to limit the amount healed by synth, although this only goes so far). fur coat is also a decent bulky setup option against offensive teams since it beats enamorus if not parad and gets to toxic past FC stuff, though being ground-weak limits how far this goes.

A- -> A: similar to the above, it's just really annoying to beat this. STAB pop bomb is obviously massive, which makes guts and magic guard sets arguably the best fat destroyers in the meta rn (especially given these generally can't fit arc-ghost, offensive slaking's biggest problem), and gorilla tactics obviously exists to just click buttons if you want a more braindead damage dealer. fur coat is also excellent as all you really need is body slam to harass physical attackers, meaning you can opt to run ceaseless / toxic / knock / etc to annoy would-be switchins like arc-ghost and cloak pivots. this is just an all-around good mon.

B- -> B: this mon genuinely causes carnage. the only consistent answers to it are scales arc forms / fc arc-fire, as zacian still gets spun/sapped on and has to play the lottery of being immune to v-create or headlong. for teams without a scales arc, your counterplay is to predict right and bring something in on the weaker phys move that can scare it out, and if you guess wrong then your special wall is probably gone and the demon arceus in the back has easy cleanup. i've found that a reliable option is to have another hazard remover in the back, such as groudon, so fat teams and dedicated hazard stack can't just easily overwhelm it (as enam is a wallbreaker first and remover second).

UR -> D: while corv isn't great, it's also not terrible. its main niche is through being the only steel/flying, meaning it's immune to one of the currently-best fat destroying combos in ground attack + mortal/toxic, and offers some additional nice resists like fairy and normal. however, this is basically the extent of its viability, as the bulk is middling by BH standards (you need +spdef to not be 2HKOed by enam boomburst) and fat teams generally won't want a prankster that sits around and does nothing for most of the game.

UR -> D: i suppose i should probably acknowledge this despite how much i dislike it, prank and scales chansey are usable options if you want significant security against fully-special attackers like palkia-o and miraidon, and giving next to nothing from sap is also cool. this is basically the extent of its usefulness, as it's ultra passive / hates knock / stops you from using imp chansey and reliance on it as a special wall is asking for enam to roll up and click the physical move.

----------------------------------

S- -> A/A-: i don't really think cloak imp is honestly that good. the majority of things that are going to have a move blocked by cloak (zac-c torque, slaking body slam, regenvest nuzzle) generally carry something else that beats cloak, most commonly knock, and there's not a lot in the meta that relies entirely on moves beaten by cloak to improof. it probably has the most significant impact into fatter teams but these are almost definitely carrying prep for it with status moves and additional knock, so the extent you benefit from this is questionable at best.

A+ -> A/A-: specs miraidon is undoubtedly powerful, especially given tera, however i don't think it's defining enough to be in A+. only one common set, predictable, hassle to get in, hates every spdef wall resisting / being immune to electric and also has the regular specs issues (made worse by the reliance on dragon energy when you can't heal).

B -> B-: dialga-o is in my experience almost strictly better. the spdef gain is marginal and in return you lose spatk and the option for adamant crystal and the reduced speed for slow pivoting helps into exactly other base 90s. don't really see much point in using this, could see it falling further.

C -> D: i haven't seen anyone use these in the past month. if you want -atespin or -ate breaker, enamorus or arc-fairy are almost strictly better because of fairy. flying hits nothing relevant SE and significantly less neutrally than fairy does.

C -> D: this is just weak to far too much to be an option on all teams except TTTech's stalls. parade does not fix its issues with passivity nor does it make gira-o viable.

C -> D: there is massive opportunity cost in bringing an arceus that beats only some variants of arceus-ghost (simple just bullies, normalize says hi if you aren't running revdance or dread judge) and basically no other special attacker. outside of being a special wall, it does about as little as you'd expect.

C -> UR: there's so many better options for the arceus slot, you might as well pick one that's not weak to basically everything relevant (just use dia-o for scales).

C/D -> UR: nobody has really used these and been successful. they are all almost entirely outclassed by other options and contribute very little to the average team, elelki/korai in particular work for cheese only and it's not even good cheese because cloak simply exists. m2 / zama-c / arc-normal have also seen literally 0 use so i don't know how they got on the VR in the first place (like cmon who cares if m2 has crash and psysurge, it has next to 0 use, this is supposed to be representative not theoretical)

 

[Tea Guzzler]

We have a new VR update! I'll go through some of the big changes:
D -> A+ - Zacian-C being legal basically invalidated anything Koraidon wanted to do. Now that it's gone (without the need for Rusted Sword at least), Koraidon has become a powerful and centralizing offensive Pokemon thanks to Gorilla Tactics and good STAB options in CC and Glaive Rush.

UR -> B - Arceus-Poison's niche comes from being a compounded Fighting and Fairy resist, giving it an important role in checking Koraidon.

UR -> B - Corviknight's niche comes from its typing, making it the only Pokemon naturally immune to Ground and Poison. This helps immensely in dealing with the Toxic Ground-types in Groudon and Arceus-Ground that have been cropping up lately, and as a bonus it also blocks Mortal Spin.

D -> B- - Choice Band sets excel at causing huge amounts of damage thanks to sun-boosted V-create. It has good bulk and can Terastallize out of its relatively poor defensive typing.

B- -> D - No Zacian-C to check means that its Fairy resist is of little value, especially given Pixilate Boomburst users out-damage it. Corviknight is almost objectively better if you want a bulky Flying-type.

S -> C - Zacian-C's ban means that the only way to access it is via Zacian @ Rusted Sword, which is a huge cost. No ability or item is a huge price to pay for 30 Attack and 10 Speed (the latter of which is only relevant for Dragapult), and its Steel-typing becomes a less clear-cut benefit due to the inability to run an immunity ability.

 

[Tea Guzzler]

some noms because i don't agree with some of the stuff here

A -> A+ - this mon is absurdly flexible and increasingly hard to check. ground is phenomenal for attacking, great physial bulk, versatile, best tidy up user, only consistent answer is corviknight which is a testament to how good it is, also the best physical fur coater which is huge.

B -> B+ - cursed nom but this probably deserves being ranked higher than flutter mane and arc-psn. obviously has nearly unbreakable special bulk, has pretty big passivity issues but status moves can mostly mitigate this, nullifying sap is also huge in this meta and chansey is usually easier to slot on a team than an ooze user. only consistent way to handle most of the special stuff in a single slot. mostly held back by the fact that these passivity issues do exist, it hates ting-lu's presence (you either outspeed with pshot or let yourself get knocked/statused with TP), isn't completely secure against a notable amount of attackers, and prevents you from running imp chansey.

-------------

(cloak) A+ -> B - yoo you know all the moves this switches into safely? like nuzzle, and, uhhh.... nuzzle? this isn't even good anymore. nuzzle and mortal spin are the only relevant moves this thing blocks and in exchange you're giving up eviolite, which is a very big ask. it also doesn't help that blocking nuzzle is of little value when most things using it are regenvest and most mortal users (like groudon) carry ways around you like wisp or knock anyway. i really don't see how you can justify this over eviolite in the majority of cases.

A- -> B - a predominantly fur coat mon with subpar physical bulk that still gets whacked hard by koraidon gigaton (instantly drops to moldy, takes 70+ from SoR), hates the uptick in toxic to handle fur coaters, and just gets tossed about by speed-boosting slaking.

B+ -> B - this is still usable but i don't really see it as B+ material this far into the meta. its passivity is a notably heavy drawback for something that doesn't block sap well and has a good amount of substitute fur coaters.

B- -> D - who is using this? one base speed is cool and all but the chances that you're actually getting it in front of the bikes is low, and otherwise its just all-around not very good. has little usage to back it up.

C -> D - niche of checking arc-ghost is almost completely gone due to the sharp decline in arc-ghost's usage. there are better options for checking both simple and nasty plot.

-> UR - these have all seen at most one significant use (the majority have 0 use) and are theorymons at best. there is 0 reason for them to be on a VR that is based on actual viability, not theoretical. justifying their placement with "oh but there hasn't been a chance for people to use them yet" also gets the idea of a VR completely backward - a pokemon needs to see usage in order to be on the VR, not be on the VR to see usage. imo these being ranked is actively misleading and should be avoided at all costs. pokemon need results to be ranked because this is supposed to be a set of viable mons that ARE good, not mons that are potentially usable.

 

[Fish Gaming]

some noms because i don't agree with some of the stuff here

A -> A+ - this mon is absurdly flexible and increasingly hard to check. ground is phenomenal for attacking, great physial bulk, versatile, best tidy up user, only consistent answer is corviknight which is a testament to how good it is, also the best physical fur coater which is huge.

B -> B+ - cursed nom but this probably deserves being ranked higher than flutter mane and arc-psn. obviously has nearly unbreakable special bulk, has pretty big passivity issues but status moves can mostly mitigate this, nullifying sap is also huge in this meta and chansey is usually easier to slot on a team than an ooze user. only consistent way to handle most of the special stuff in a single slot. mostly held back by the fact that these passivity issues do exist, it hates ting-lu's presence (you either outspeed with pshot or let yourself get knocked/statused with TP), isn't completely secure against a notable amount of attackers, and prevents you from running imp chansey.

-------------

(cloak) A+ -> B - yoo you know all the moves this switches into safely? like nuzzle, and, uhhh.... nuzzle? this isn't even good anymore. nuzzle and mortal spin are the only relevant moves this thing blocks and in exchange you're giving up eviolite, which is a very big ask. it also doesn't help that blocking nuzzle is of little value when most things using it are regenvest and most mortal users (like groudon) carry ways around you like wisp or knock anyway. i really don't see how you can justify this over eviolite in the majority of cases.

A- -> B - a predominantly fur coat mon with subpar physical bulk that still gets whacked hard by koraidon gigaton (instantly drops to moldy, takes 70+ from SoR), hates the uptick in toxic to handle fur coaters, and just gets tossed about by speed-boosting slaking.

B+ -> B - this is still usable but i don't really see it as B+ material this far into the meta. its passivity is a notably heavy drawback for something that doesn't block sap well and has a good amount of substitute fur coaters.

B- -> D - who is using this? one base speed is cool and all but the chances that you're actually getting it in front of the bikes is low, and otherwise its just all-around not very good. has little usage to back it up.

C -> D - niche of checking arc-ghost is almost completely gone due to the sharp decline in arc-ghost's usage. there are better options for checking both simple and nasty plot.

-> UR - these have all seen at most one significant use (the majority have 0 use) and are theorymons at best. there is 0 reason for them to be on a VR that is based on actual viability, not theoretical. justifying their placement with "oh but there hasn't been a chance for people to use them yet" also gets the idea of a VR completely backward - a pokemon needs to see usage in order to be on the VR, not be on the VR to see usage. imo these being ranked is actively misleading and should be avoided at all costs. pokemon need results to be ranked because this is supposed to be a set of viable mons that ARE good, not mons that are potentially usable.

I hard disagree with Mewtwo to UR. I've been advocating for it since the initial calyrex-s ban, and it's unironically one of the best special attacker sin the tier. Psychic Surge Expanding Force is a very underrated niche Mewtwo can pull off very well, and it definitely deserves better.

Also you meant to put chansey for the cloak slot, right? You were talking about eviolite, but you picked blissey.

I'd prolly put Iron Bundle in UR, I see no use for it on the VR atm. also was there ever a reason Enamorous-T was ranked?

 

[Tea Guzzler]

I hard disagree with Mewtwo to UR. I've been advocating for it since the initial calyrex-s ban, and it's unironically one of the best special attacker sin the tier. Psychic Surge Expanding Force is a very underrated niche Mewtwo can pull off very well, and it definitely deserves better.

Also you meant to put chansey for the cloak slot, right? You were talking about eviolite, but you picked blissey.

I'd prolly put Iron Bundle in UR, I see no use for it on the VR atm. also was there ever a reason Enamorous-T was ranked?

mewtwo is just not good thanks to psychic being frankly the worst type that sees any "use" in the meta. being completely farmed by every relevant special wall is not a trait that's desirable for a special attacker, and 130 is an awkward speed tier where you can't outrun +spe arc with modest but also get outran by the bikes. every other relevant special attacker is significantly better as they actually threaten walls.

cloak slot is meant to be bliss. most of the explanation is about "why would you ever use this instead of eviolite", and on the VR itself cloak is blissey.

 

[Fish Gaming]

mewtwo is just not good thanks to psychic being frankly the worst type that sees any "use" in the meta. being completely farmed by every relevant special wall is not a trait that's desirable for a special attacker, and 130 is an awkward speed tier where you can't outrun +spe arc with modest but also get outran by the bikes. every other relevant special attacker is significantly better as they actually threaten walls.

cloak slot is meant to be bliss. most of the explanation is about "why would you ever use this instead of eviolite", and on the VR itself cloak is blissey.

Psystrike is the strongest psychic move, and it targets physdef. Also I agree 130 is a very awkward tier, which is why I didnt say for it to go up from where it currently is in C.

 

[Tea Guzzler]

Psystrike is the strongest psychic move, and it targets physdef. Also I agree 130 is a very awkward tier, which is why I didnt say for it to go up from where it currently is in C.

psystrike is not the strongest move. expanding force outdamages it by a heavy margin in psyterrain which is the only ability you want to run on m2, and even lumina crash is better than psystrike in this case. psystrike targeting physdef is meaningless when its damage is still reduced by ice scales, which halves special damage as opposed to doubling spdef, and it also gets reduced by fur coat which doubles defense. psychic type itself is bad and is largely why mewtwo is unviable, as the only good tools it has are themselves psychic type. ting-lu, dialga-o, arceus, chansey, and imposter all largely bully it (and tera only helps against scales arceus, which almost always comes paired with ting-lu anyway).

 

[Akira 153]

Gorilla Tactics -> Guts
Don't really think it should budge from C tier, but now that tactics is gone, I'm gonna justify why it should stay there. Guts Lando-T is a shockingly good set at handling many of the most annoying mons to fit counters to. With Tidy Up as a setup move, it effectively checks Ting Lu (not perfectly as getting pivoted on and taking burn chip hurts, but well enough for how annoying the mon is to check). As well as checking the Toxic Ground-Types that are so obviously powerful given the rise of Corviknight. It also boasts significant power and can fit a free slot for options like Toxic to slam fat fur coaters, Glacial Lance to scare Imposter out and threaten Ground resists or any other coverage move to harass counters like Corviknight (Albeit running an electric move would lead to being hardwalled by Imposter).

 

[Chessking345]

This is something around my personal VR at this point (prior to CEdge ban) in the meta since several big changes have happened since the last official update. This is purely just for fun because we just had a significant meta affecting ban happen that can affect several placements AND it hasn't been long since Mirai ban. S-B ranks are roughly ordered within tier, skipped D.

S Rank

S
Chansey (Imposter - Eviolite): We all know what this does. Absolute king of the meta, scouts everything, checks setup sweepers, can force Tera, and heavily punishes lax improofing.

S-

Blissey (Imposter - Covert Cloak, other items): This is where I would put Imposter Blissey if Chansey was not in the meta (or maybe Chansey is S+ and this is S hmm)

A Rank

I think there isn't a clear A+ rank because I think Imposter currently is so much better than the rest without Mirai to bridge the gap.
A+

Zacian (Ice Scales, Fur Coat, Pixilate): I rank Zacian this high purely because of how splashable it is.
Koraidon (Sword of Ruin, Mold Breaker, Fur Coat): Pretty strong and easy to use breaker that can be highly effective if given a little support and the right buttons are clicked.
Arceus-Ghost (Fur Coat, Simple): Ghostceus remains as one of the best Fur Coat users and one of the easiest to fit checks to Slaking. Sap blocking this isn't actually that easy because this can always just run Recover since Nasty Plot gives enough power against Imposter.

Slaking (Guts, Magic Guard, Fur Coat): One of the most potentially threatening mons in the meta right now. I want to say that its underexplored and so are its checks.

A

Ting-Lu (Regenerator, Prankster): The momentum machine. Switches into basically every defensive mon to scout and do whatever from there.
Groudon (Fur Coat, Mold Breaker): Despite how overused this mon is, it always feels more underwhelming than on paper because its gets worn down so easily to status or just racked up chip damage. Also does absolutely nothing if opponent has a Corv.
Arceus-Fairy (Ice Scales, Fur Coat, Pixilate): Zacian but getting to use Moonblast is very useful because you don't just get Sapped. Special setup variants can also be dumb.

A-

Flutter Mane (Flare Boost, Pixilate, Hadron Engine): Very dangerous and pairs well with other special attackers because of how annoying it can be to Chansey. The 55/55 physical bulk is a huge let down though.

Eternatus (Mold Breaker, Regenerator, Hadron Engine): Eternatus doesn't really have much to wall with FC anymore, but its offensive sets remain as dangerous as ever when many special walls are Fairy-type or just get blown by Dragon move.
Dialga-O (Ice Scales, Regenerator): The special blanket check that often ends up being a bit too passive and vulnerable to some meta thing.

B Rank

B+

Enamorus (Pixilate): Enamorus is actually very strong... if you actually use it as a wallbreaker and use spin for speed boost or emergency removal.

Palkia-O (Simple, Speed Boost, Mold Breaker): Palk, despite having 0 set variety and requiring a lot of team support, can still be very effective. It can force switches, clean late game, help double pressure special walls.

Arceus-Water (Fur Coat): Waterceus remains as consistent as ever as a physical wall with non-passive potential. Special Water STAB is very notable for smacking Groudon.

Corviknight (Prankster, Primordial Sea/Well-Baked Body): Corv forms the 2nd half of the Poison-immune duo with Dialga-O and can do some very unique stuff no other mon can.

Chansey (Ice Scales, Prankster, Innards Out): Chansey is the premier sapblocker rn and warps a part of the meta around it. Its also the special wall for special mons to try to bypass one way or another.

Arceus-Ground (Ice Scales, Fur Coat): Despite not having the best matchup into 2-3 of the special attackers, Groundceus serves as a very good special wall into some Hadron Engine users, while still being the versatile Ground-type. It notably can threaten Flutter Mane quite well with its Blades.
Dondozo (Prankster, Fur Coat): Dondozo still is the fattest physical wall out there and one of the most reliable catch all answers to Koraidon.

B
Arceus-Poison (Fur Coat): Arceus-Poison is probably the best Fairy resist there is and comes with a Poison immune.

Rayquaza (Aerilate): Flying resists don't really exist since Corv has 0 bulk so you just run a move for Dialga and you are big.

Iron Bundle (Refrigerate): Iron Bundle has a ton of opportunities to fire off attacks because it outspeeds a lot of stuff.

B-

Arceus-Fire (Fur Coat): Fireceus hasn't been great in a while. Its typing is much less useful now and more serves as a hinderance when it becomes hard to retaliate against Imposter.

Zamazenta-C (Fur Coat, Well-Baked Body): Zama-C's unique niche as far as I can tell is its a Normal resist that actually hits Normal super effectively, making it a very strong check to Slaking. Steel-typing is also very useful as a Dragon-resist that has enough bulk and isn't a Fairy.

C Rank

Some of these are hypothetical

Arceus-Flying (Fur Coat, Aerilate)

Arceus-Steel (Ice Scales, Well-Baked Body, Fur Coat)

Calyrex-I (Sword of Ruin, Refrigerate)

Clodsire (Ice Scales, Misty Surge)
Dragapult (Normalize, Adaptability)
Giratina (Prankster, Magic Bounce)
Giratina-O (Fur Coat)

Hoopa-U (Tough Claws, Sheer Force)

Kyogre (Fur Coat)

Landorus-T (Guts)

Meloetta (Regenerator)
Pikachu (Imposter - Light Ball)

Ursaluna (Sword of Ruin)

Zacian @ Rusted Sword (Intrepid Sword)

 

[Tanny89k]

UR -> C/D
LO Pixilate sets can use Collision Course to reliably OHKO Dialga-O and non-Imp Chansey from full, something other Fairies can scarcely manage. Attack is good enough for LO PixiSpeed to OHKO certain fast breakers outright (e.g. Koraidon) or with either a bit of chip or Tera Fairy (e.g. Flutter Mane), alleviating its Speed issues slightly. Stealth Rock resist is nice post Ceaseless ban. Still has its usual issues (competition from other Fairies, bad Speed tier, struggles to find its way in, etc.), but it's definitely way better than it was pre Zac-C ban.

Calcs

252 SpA Life Orb Pixilate Iron Valiant Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Arceus-Ghost: 235-278 (52.9 - 62.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Life Orb Iron Valiant Collision Course (133.3251953125 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Dialga-Origin: 398-468 (98.5 - 115.8%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Life Orb Pixilate Iron Valiant Extreme Speed vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Flutter Mane: 231-273 (73.5 - 86.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Life Orb Iron Valiant Collision Course (133.3251953125 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Slaking: 447-530 (88.6 - 105.1%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO

 

[LuciShrimp]

UR -> C (Fur Coat)

As I mentioned in the BH main thread, Rockceus does fill a valuable niche in the current metagame. It's by no means top tier, but I think it is worth putting on the lower end of the VR, considering the Slaking hardwalling potential. I don't want to double-post entirely, you can check the main thread for a more in-depth description.

 

[Tea Guzzler]

some noms

A -> A+ / S-: this mon is nuts right now. if you don't have one of a very specific list of hard walls you just lose, and running these hard walls means an inherent weakness to other common physical attackers (namely koraidon) unless you want to go double fur coat. the utility it provides as a toxic groudon check, regenvest ting-lu switchin, and hazard removal option is also stellar.

B -> A-: similarly strong to slaking but not on the same level. flutter's main benefit is being the fastest setup mon you feasibly want to run, with a neutral-or-better matchup into most spdef mons. innate status immunity, and huge killpower with tera astral. specs runs into chansey but is still a consistent damage option as you more reliably 2HKO non-chansey spdef walls with hazards. ranking it below stuff like zac and etern feels odd.

B -> B+: notice with almost all of these special attackers i'll be specifying "has no good way around chansey". this thing is completely passive and may take a hit if bounce resurfaces (it's had time to so far but hasn't made too grand an appearance), often relying on parting shot to actually pressure things, but its insurmountable special bulk is undeniable and the pool of special attackers that can directly beat it is basically limited to toxic users (giving up moveslots + no instant impact), enamorus (needs to be v-create + tera fire/spikes or headlong + tera ground + spikes), and valiant (niche + tera poison or fairy bullies it)

B- -> B: naturally with a rise in flutter and the continued dominance of koraidon, bundle rises to prominence thanks to its speed. its damage falls behind the competition but isn't bad per se, as it still threatens 2HKOes on most things in the meta, it just needs more chip to do so. usually this is on a special-spam structure as something that can pressure flutter but can still do damage, as there's nothing else viable that fits this role. still has no good way around chansey (explosion only does 78 max) and imposter is just a prediction game though.

C -> B-: by no means is this consistent but its one of the better "support" options for slaking. gear/wicked/v-create/sap gives it dangerous longevity and nukes every slaking answer spare the rocks (which i think are bad). the best entry point i've seen for this mon is hardswitching into prankster guys and grabbing the free shift gear, as almost no prank mons have the space to run attacks.

================

A -> A-: undeniable offensive threat but is wildly inconsistent, as stuff like scales zacian / chansey being reasonably common significantly dents its viability, and it has to choose between breaking defensive stuff like scales dialga / arc with simple or not being offensively scared out with speed boost. improofing is also basically only chansey.

A- -> B+ / B: no opulse significantly dents this thing's viability. +2 v-create notably misses out on multiple OHKOes on stuff like arc and don without opulse, and the imp issues are still as pronounced as ever. fc is a relic of early meta and doesn't really have a place in current, as the specific resist set isn't really all that valuable when all the relevant stuff has options other than v-create.

A- -> B+: hasn't taken as big a tumble as arc-fire but miraidon being gone notably hurts this thing's viability. if i'm honest i just don't see why you wouldn't run arc-fairy here, as both can do the cm tera poison thing but fairy isn't locked down to judgment (so can run items that aren't plate), can actually hit non-tera enamorus, and matches better into palkia and bundle. fc is also largely irrelevant because groudon is basically the same mon but doesn't take arc slot.

A- -> B+: scales is the only good set bc it outruns the scary stuff like flutter and bundle, which it can actually somewhat wall. fur coat has much worse relative bulk and doesn't beat the main thing you want it to as not being hit with koraidon gigaton is a challenge.

B+ -> B: similar to arc-fire, relic of an old meta whose resist set isn't really wanted or needed in current meta. innately passive, doesn't resist common attackers, opportunity cost of not having another arc, best mon in the meta doesn't care about scald burns. notably also toxic fodder if it tries to wall groudon.

B- -> C: its main goal is to beat guts slaking. wbb is not good in this regard as tera normal facade just outright 2HKOes, fur coat only works if the slaking is wicked blow (unless you fancy commiting tera rock lol). can work alongside fc gira to have a relatively safe core against it, but this is the extent of this thing's viability.

B- -> C: hates ghosts becoming more popular in order to check slaking (who is just objectively better than it now), support for getting through rock types and zamac is much easier by just using koraidon. being the only strong priority in the tier is useful tho.

C/D -> UR: never should have been ranked in the first place but 0 reason to use these without tactics. guts lando-t exists i guess but why would i use this over guts slaking if i wanted a damage dealing hazard remover that beats toxic groudon

C/D -> UR: i get i'm nuking the entire D tier but who tf is actually using these. these mons do fuck all well and nobody uses them (see post#14). the only mon you can make a case for staying is pult but normalize has to jump through far too many hoops to be at all viable. a compromise could be changing D tier to something like "DNU" tier, which would list all the mons that people would think are viable but are actually ass (like eleki), bc at least we can justify placing guys with 0 usage and 0 niches here.

 

[Tea Guzzler]

We have a VR update! I'll go over the most drastic changes.

Rises:

Slaking has become a dominant metagame force thanks to Guts, which allows it to tear through any non-Normal resist, while also acting as a source of entry hazard removal and a switch-in to RegenVest Ting-Lu and Toxic Groudon. The overwhelming difficulty in checking it warrant its high placement. this aged well lol

Flutter Mane is similarly a strong offensive presence thanks to its Speed and status immunity with Flare Boost, which also gives Astral Barrage immense wallbreaking power, especially with Tera Ghost.

Zacian is the only viable Pokemon that outspeeds both Flutter Mane and Iron Bundle, making its Ice Scales sets some of the most reliable answers to them. Fur Coat sets can also mid-ground many physical attackers like Koraidon.

Zamazenta-C has risen to prominence thanks to being the fastest "reliable" Slaking check. Fur Coat sets can beat Wicked Blow variants, allowing a teammate like Giratina to handle V-create variants for maximum security. lmao this does nothing now

See the above. Arceus-Steel can also run Ice Scales to help against Flutter Mane and Iron Bundle.

Gholdengo exists as a niche Koraidon check. Speed Boost can be offensive while Imposter-proofing Koraidon (although it doesn't actually wall enemy Koraidon thanks to the Choice Band), and Fur Coat is mostly safe from its attacks.

Drops:

Palkia-O's overall inconsistency has hindered its role as a wallbreaker, and it additionally doesn't like the high promenance of walls like Chansey and Zacian (that inherently beat it) being used to handle other offensive threats like Iron Bundle and Flutter Mane. It also has to make the choice between reliable wallbreaking with Simple and not being chased out by offensive threats with Speed Boost.

Miraidon's removal kills this thing's main niche. It can still do regular Ice Scales Arceus stuff, but other types are usually better and Ground is a pretty poor typing for a special wall right now.

Orichalcum Pulse's removal kills this thing's main niche. Desolate Land simply misses too many important ranges for +2 V-create to be on the same level as before, and Fire is a pretty poor typing for a physical wall right now.

These have both shifted down a rank due to Stone Axe's increased presence, hindering their main niche as Flying-type wallbreakers that can also remove entry hazards.