Resource Monotype Viability Rankings [April 2025]

[roxie]

My guy you can't put something on a VR rankings if its banned... (chien pao)

sorry i was coping that it was gone ill remove it perhaps..

 

[Heatranator]

In the Doc, it seems you missed putting the ice types in, as the normal types are there and everything after them is moved up one space.

Though this should be an ice type smh.

 

[roxie]

In the Doc, it seems you missed putting the ice types in, as the normal types are there and everything after them is moved up one space.
View attachment 634903
Though this should be an ice type smh.

Ice

S Rank

Ninetales-Alola

Kyurem

B Rank

Cloyster

Froslass

Mamoswine

Sandslash-Alola

Weavile

C Rank

Avalugg

Glastrier

Frosmoth

D Rank

Articuno

Cetitan

Piloswine

done quickly by me, should be good now ty

 

[Pengairxan]

No S rank Poisons? I'll start work on Amoonguss and Alolan Muk's essays I guess.
Also it lists me saying that Pecharunt should be A for Poison when I said that for Ghost.
And lastly rip Ethereal, Fez is unranked period (get on your own essay you coward) BUT DELPHOX IS RANKED WE'RE SO FUCKING BACK!

 

[roxie]

No S rank Poisons? I'll start work on Amoonguss and Alolan Muk's essays I guess.
Also it lists me saying that Pecharunt should be A for Poison when I said that for Ghost.
And lastly rip Ethereal, Fez is unranked period (get on your own essay you coward) BUT DELPHOX IS RANKED WE'RE SO FUCKING BACK!

Lol I think Poison is in a weird place and mainly with Chien Pao, Baxcalibur, and Ursaluna being the sequence of Pokemon being banned is like the big question we have to reevaluate. Tournament vs Ladder usage is something to account for which is kinda why the rankings can be fluctuating a lot because in actual team tournaments people are going to prep for a range of typings and on ladder its pretty much against randomized 18-typings so the philosophies can be different with such low usage. MPL and the upcoming MLT will be a good way to observe the typing more however

 

[ImprobableBlob]

liking the steel changes for the most part, though I don't think arch deserves to be up with the other s tier mons (and not even voting on revavroom is sadness)

 

[Pengairxan]

Alright, y'all knew this was coming. As someone who too many hours and games on this type I need to do the thing.
UR -> D
I'm just making sure this didn't get missed, same thoughts as last time. I guess all of those remain the same thoughts, just wanted to bring this one up most since its still the least explored and I think it has potential. It just needs a good player to really show this thing off.
Now onto the actual content.
B -> A
When I said that Toxapex wasn't S, I didn't think it would be thrown to B. Its still has an amazing defensive profile with well, all the good that comes with it. I might of not highlighted that enough but its easily the best Rocky Helmet user of the type since unlike Pecharunt, it has Regenerator to make not running boots more manageable. Its the only good hazer we have since the rest aren't able to stick around as long since they lack the longevity of Pex since their recovery is limited to Sludge + Painsplit, or are Clodsire and struggle to fix Haze into an already incredibly packed moveset. Yes all the problems I did highlight still exist but its also still Toxapex, its still the CEO of Bigstall itself. And its still deserves to be A.
It might even be S, turns out Toxic into Gouging Fire is amazing and I might of been a heathen tempted by TSpikes all this, whoops.

A -> S
In shorter news, you aren't dropping without a really good reason. Even with Overqwil being a good mon, Alolan Muk still is a special tank and still finds that utility in helping in Ghost and Psychic matchups where you need it too most. And as one of two mons in Poison with Knock Off that actually wants to run the move/be put on teams, you're not dropping this. This is probably the A Rank that surprised me most.

A -> S
Here I am, my third time now advocating for an S Rank for this amazing ally. Hopefully the last time to, but you never know.

We all know what Amoonguss does for Poison. A Ground neutrality, Spore support, Regen makeout sessions with Toxapex, the basics that been said before and I'm not sure what to add on. Amoonguss finds use in nearly every game it appears in as more than just a sack option. The only Type you truly wish you had a different mon for is Fire and that isn't really Amoonguss's fault, that just Fire being weird and quirky and running Fire attacks on every mon. And even then, it can take a Gouger Fire Earthquake and can threaten with the power of Spore. This then leads every other type has a mon Amoonguss can come in on and do work against. Stuff like Iron Boulder (Psychic) and Alolan Sandslash are nothing more than a good slot for Amoonguss to slide on in and create some havoc in its favor as they're regularly not running STAB to threaten Amoonguss. And once Amoonguss is in, something will be going to sleep no matter what (unless its Steel or Ghost, but even then, a Ghold being forced in to not be slept can be played as an entry into Gengar or Iron Moth getting some nice entry points don't you think?)

There is no alternative, to this mighty mushroom. While there may be reasons to drop it, one type it struggles into immensely isn't good enough for me not to say it isn't S tier.

 

[boomp]

UR -> B on dragon. Great Role compression in hazard removal + pivoting makes it a decent pick for dragon teams. Its speed tier is nice to just natually take out Iron Valiant + an ground immunity is crucial for Dragon comps right now. I think Noivern Defog its way to B.

 

[Neko]

Hi, we did some cleaning in the summer to remove D-ranks, to improve this resource. We'll cover other ranking noms after MPL, so please share your thoughts on possibly inaccurate rankings in the VR.

With these, the following Pokemon are now UR:
Bug
There's not much use to it other than cheesing Fighting ang getting a free sleep, but considering Bug's mediocre entry hazard removal + Volcarona can tech to cheese Fighting, it lost its niche.

Dragon
Not useful at all due to his big brother's existense + Hisuian Goodra.

Electric
There is very little reason to deviate from the big 7 (Rotom-forme, Zapdos, Sandy Shocks, Regieleki, Raging Bolt, Iron Hands, Pawmot), making most D rankers virtually obsolete.

Sandy Shocks is the better entry hazard setter
Someday it will get the correct set to propel it to relevance, but right now just use Iron Hands for Ice coverage.
Defog isnt really that needed with Elec considering you can choose to stack your own hazards, Quiver Dance sets are hard to pull off due to its unimpressive bulk.
Though Electric has no shortage of paradox Pokemon, boosting opposing Iron Valiant and Iron Moth to unmanageable levels is more of a liability than getting a beefier Iron Hands.
No Electric terrain, no ranking
Give it back, give HP Ice back ;-;
Blunder Policy Blizzard is cooking, but its unreliable and Rotom-W is more splashable anyway.

Fairy
Use Primarina instead
Use Klefki or Ninetales-A for screens or use Iron Valiant for phys.
Webs Fairy isnt really what Fairy needs right now.

Fighting
Its set back by its not so stellar speed nowadays, and Fighting's restricted amount of slots.


Fire
Use Ceruledge, Ogerpon-H, or Gouging Fire to beat Kingambit.

Flying
Gliscor has Stealth Rock, Mandibuzz is a bulkier Dark-type.
There's unfortunately no demand for Kilo, considering Tornadus-T is fast enough, and double Ground builds are common enough that Volt Absorb isnt that useful anymore.
RainFlying isnt that viable anymore with Balance Flying being the main archetype.

Ghost
Use Brambleghast for Rapid Spin, Sinistcha for offense
Sun Ghost isnt really useful, and it endangers you to Gouging Fire so not so nice.

Grass
Use Ogerpon-H. Sun grass also isnt desireable due to powering up Gouging Fire.

Ground
Use Great Tusk for Choiced attacker

Normal
Due to Normal's massive 5 mon syndrome (Ditto, Ursaluna, Terapagos, Hisuian Zoroark, Blissey (or Smeargle)), there is very little reason to have an extended list of D rankers for this type.

Dampening Ursaluna's attacks isnt really great, and Braviary can sort of deal with Ground moves
Give back shed tail.
Zoroark-H outclasses as a Fighting-type check, and Relic Song is hard to pull off
Trick Room with only Ursaluna isnt really great.
Use Zoroark-H
Use Zoroark-H + Braviary

Psychic
Use Deoxys-S as an entry hazard lead
Use Indeedee-M
Use Armarogue
Use Slowbro or Slowking-G
Use Slowbro

Steel
Use Kingambit
Unfortunately its too slow nowadays. No one really replicates what it does, but whatever it does Steel isnt really in need of it due to having priority in Kingambit already.

Water
Cope with offense on dealing with Kyurem, you have Urshifu, Walking Wake, and Keldeo. Empoleon also provides much more while being an F-Dry resist.
The lack of Teleport makes Slowbro just a momentum sink in Water.

This is all for the D rank update, op will be updated soon. We hope to hear feedback from these changes!

 

[Pengairxan]

VR rank updates?
More like a chance for me to ramble on some more. Teehee.
Psychic
A -> S
As Psychic's second fastest Pokemon, there isn't really a good reason to not be running this. There is very few Pokemon that can outspeed this naturally and if it decides to go for an SD Set onto teams without a scarfer it can cause major issues. Plus being able to check Greninja, Meowscarada, and Roaring Moon in one slot is nothing to scoff at, especially on a type that really needs a mon that can check them.
UR -> D
I think this is a case of no one used this because Armarogue existed but Delphox does offer superior traits over Armarogue. Notably Delphox is more immediately threatening thanks to its superior speed allowing it to get the jump on threats such fast Heatran, Archaludon, Gholdengo, and Lokix (If Psychic Terrain is up). It also has Encore allowing it to notably check Kingambit by removing its Sucker Punches or allow a fellow teammate to check Gambit by locking it into not Sucker Punch, or just stall a mon out of PP of some move because it can.
S - > A
I think Deoxys-s's hazard stacking capabilities are great, don't get me wrong, but thats all it has going for it. Its offensive capabilities entirely rely on its speed tier and good coverage but its best is coverage that other threats also get and they provide far more offensive fire power. And even Dexoys's hazards stacking isn't perfect since Deo-s is likely not going to stick around for any amount of time, its going to die and most types eventually have a way to get some form of hazard removal in and click it safely.
Flying
B -> C
After weeks of using this mon, I've just gotta be honest, I think this mon is too violate to be B. Its reliance on inaccurate moves to do anything of note by default makes it an inherent risk to use. If you want to check the Ogerpons and Iron Valiant (your main targets BTW) you best hope you can hit a Hurricane. To check Steels you gotta hope Heat Wave is on point and you can't even dent Heatran or Empoleon anyway. Yes its bulky and also has Knock and U-turn, but Flying has plenty of other bulky Knock + U-turn threats as well if you're desperate.
B -> A
Allowing for Flying to hazard stack comfortably along with being able to much more relably check physical Ice- and Rock-types like Weavile, Mamoswine, Meowscarada, Kleavor, and Iron Boulder than Corviknight is very good. Also it checks Gambit far more reliably than Corviknight and comes with the ability to phaze which are nice bonuses.
Water
UR -> D
Regenerator Scald that is worth a damn, that is the main thing. Slowbro also comes with the nice utility of TWave allowing for it slow down something that it survives a hit from such as Choice Scarf Meowscarada or the Ogerpon formes allowing for a different teammates such as Greninja, Keldeo, and Physically Bulky Tentacruel to have an easier time removing them.

 

[TheWyvernKing]

Hi, we did some cleaning in the summer to remove D-ranks, to improve this resource. We'll cover other ranking noms after MPL, so please share your thoughts on possibly inaccurate rankings in the VR.

With these, the following Pokemon are now UR:
Bug
There's not much use to it other than cheesing Fighting ang getting a free sleep, but considering Bug's mediocre entry hazard removal + Volcarona can tech to cheese Fighting, it lost its niche.

Electric
Give it back, give HP Ice back ;-;

Ghost
Use Brambleghast for Rapid Spin, Sinistcha for offense

These are the main mons I saw which I have disagreements with. I'll also add and for Dark, which are seriously underrated mons.
To start with and , while I haven't been as active recently I made a super fun and pretty solid dark team about 2 weeks back with a Tyranitar+Overqwil backbone and Crawdaunt. For a team that effectively had 2 unranked mons and a C VR mon, it was capable of being reliable not only at 1600s but into the 1700 elo range and was overall a consistent and solid team. TTar+Overqwil is a solid backbone into Fire, with TTar consolidating TWave with the usual rocks setting+Hslam for Hatt, Overqwil answering Ogerpons and still having spikes, and if we're being truthful - while may be largely outclassed by Ting Lu, it's still a solid mon that would likely be B/A tier in a tingless meta. Main difference being ability to get rid of sun, rock coverage, Twave, and higher speed/attack.

is also a mon that's been heavily underrated since the start of the gen, and many of my favorite teams have used it. It's not a mon that I see as inferior to Hamurott either, even though it doesn't have ceaseless edge or sacred sword. The power of Band + Adaptability off it's skyhigh attack not only makes it one of the premiere stallbreakers in the tier and capable of 2hkoing even the bulkiest mons, but with hazard stack + band AJet it's a phenomenal lategame cleaner or revenge killer as well. It's probably one of the most punishing pokemon you can bring in on a correct prediction with a double switch, and I think Dark has enough forced switches and reliable pivots to bring it in to make it well worth it's slot on a team. Maybe it comes down to user preference, but I never feel that crawdaunt is an inferior mon or option when I use it, and considering Viability Rankings are about what's viable after all - Crawdaunt is frankly a mon I have far too much success with to be unlisted.

I'm not nearly as opinionated on, but bring up solely because even though it's largely outclassed, it's ability to UTurn I think is pretty underrated. This mostly goes for neutrals to be fair, but in conjunction with strong wallbreakers I think Decidueye is able to consolidate a few different roles into one to act as a decent defensive pivot. I don't see it as necessary for D tier, but it's not like it's an unusable mon or mon without a niche really. Another mon I'll just mention really quickly is , I was kinda meming a bit back and made a decidueye+HPhlo team way back and even when I use the team today I have surprisingly good results. The Synergy of Specs Eruption + U Turn/defog Decidueye can catch alot of neutral matchups off guard, and it ends up being one of those mons that I think would get it's own footnote in a How TO Ghost book, as it's frankly an underrated mon that far outclassed Chandelure as an offensive Ghost/Fire with a few solid options and surprisingly usable speed stat in this meta. That being said you'd never realistically bring either to a tour match unless you're 1 up in a bo3 lmao.

For electric, I made a team kinda as a meme last week with sub+protect+cm pressure raikou + subroost pressure Zapdos - mimicking the Gen 5 Elec with a similar build, and honestly it did surprisingly well. The team had obvious flaws that you'd expect of an elec - one wrong prediction or turn of hax against you and you can end up super doomed. That being said, Raikou was a mon that had people rage quit, calling me a noob, and getting ultra mad because they ended up losing to it. Realistically I think dropping protect will still be fine, with sub/cm/tbolt/scald probably being super solid as well. But mono attacking Raikou is honestly super solid all the same. I started off with only discharge, which kinda obliterated alot of neutrals like fighting in the end game. Scald ended up becoming the preference there for the burn + ohkoing Treads at +1 making steel far more favorable. Either way I think Raikou is a pretty fun and underrated mon that definitely has viable builds with it.

This mon should always have a spot on Bug VR imo. Frankly I think you kinda misunderstand the point of Vivillon. It's not a mon you pick for the fighting mu. I'm still of the opinion that the best Volcarona build is bulkvolc, but even if you opt for Offensive Volcarona you still would want to consider a secondary special attacker for a number of reasons. It helps alleviate pressure from Volcarona to answer ID or BU sweepers, which I think you can pretty easily imagine becoming a huge threat when outside of Volc bug is severely lacking in special options. It kinda comes down to Galv, Frosmoth, Vivi, and I guess Ribombee and Vikavolt. Frankly, even though Vikavolt is C rank, I see far more justification to use Ribombee (D rank) and Vivi on bug than I would Vikavolt. Sleep Cheese + Sash cheese isn't as wanted as a stopgate to powerful setup sweepers in Gen 9 with powerful First Impression options, but still Vivi's ability to gain momentum with sleep and help keep off hazards as a potential anti lead can't be understated when Bug as a type thrives and depends on gaining momentum.

 

[R.para ti]

What your though of ring target metagross or iron ball golurk to beat muk and weezing?

 

[Ethereal Sword]

Those items affect the user, not the target. So Ring Target removes Metagross's immunities.

 

[R.para ti]

Those items affect the user, not the target. So Ring Target removes Metagross's immunities.

With trick

 

[Neko]

VR updates
maroon is stepping down from the VR team, thankie for all the help you do in Monotype

And now for the actual VR update
(Fairy) D->C
Nominated by: VR Team
Tinkaton's ability to break Fairy mirrors and utility in Stealth Rocks, Knock Off, and Mold Breaker Encores for Gholdengo is great.

(Dragon) D->B
Nominated by: VR team
An alternative Choice Specs user for Dragon teams seeking to end the Steel matchup by just spamming Hydro Pump. It also has useful traits such as pivoting in Flip Turn and having Flamethrower. Latios outclasses it against certain threats, most notably Clodsire and Iron Hands, and Levitate, but Walking Wake has a niche if you want to have a catgon in your team.

(Ice) D->C
Nominated by: VR team
Budget Baxcalibur with its Belly Drum set. Underrated, or unrated because Ice is niche to begin with. Still, its ability to break through Corviknight without being forced out by Choice Scarf users due to its access to Ice Shard is super nice.

(Steel) A->B
Nominated by: VR Team
Skarmory takes its job as a Ground-type immunity due to Skarm's better synergy with the entry hazard stacking core Steel teams have.

(Flying) B->A
Nominated by: VR Team
Landorus-T rises due to its huge usage nowadays on Flying teams seeking for a way to not get owned by Raging Bolt and Ogerpon formes. Usually boasting a Choice Scarf set, it differentiates itself from Enamorus with its ability to grab momentum with U-turn.

(Flying) A->B
Nominated by: VR Team
The loss of strong special attackers like Ursaluna-B and the flexibility of AV Torn-T + Corviknight combo has caused Flying teams to look for more offensive team mates, and Articuno is not one of those.

(Bug) C->D
Nominated by: VR Team
This pokemon isnt really used, Galvantula or Araquanid are just better. Because no one actually uses it, the VR team felt it apt to just not recommend it.

(Poison) B->A
Nominated by: Pengairxan

Its still has an amazing defensive profile with well, all the good that comes with it. I might of not highlighted that enough but its easily the best Rocky Helmet user of the type since unlike Pecharunt, it has Regenerator to make not running boots more manageable.

(Poison) A->S
Nominated by: Pengairxan

Even with Overqwil being a good mon, Alolan Muk still is a special tank and still finds that utility in helping in Ghost and Psychic matchups where you need it too most. And as one of two mons in Poison with Knock Off that actually wants to run the move/be put on teams, you're not dropping this

(Poison) A->S
Nominated by: Pengairxan

We all know what Amoonguss does for Poison. A Ground neutrality, Spore support, Regen makeout sessions with Toxapex, the basics that been said before and I'm not sure what to add on.

(Dragon) D->BC
Nominated by: boomp

Great Role compression in hazard removal + pivoting makes it a decent pick for dragon teams. Its speed tier is nice to just natually take out Iron Valiant + an ground immunity is crucial for Dragon comps right now.

(Psychic) A->S
Nominated by: Pengairxan

As Psychic's second fastest Pokemon, there isn't really a good reason to not be running this. There is very few Pokemon that can outspeed this naturally and if it decides to go for an SD Set onto teams without a scarfer it can cause major issues

(Psychic) S->A
Nominated by: Pengairxan

I think Deoxys-s's hazard stacking capabilities are great, don't get me wrong, but thats all it has going for it. Its offensive capabilities entirely rely on its speed tier and good coverage but its best is coverage that other threats also get and they provide far more offensive fire power.

(Flying) B->A
Nominated by: Pengairxan

Allowing for Flying to hazard stack comfortably along with being able to much more relably check physical Ice- and Rock-types like Weavile, Mamoswine, Meowscarada, Kleavor, and Iron Boulder than Corviknight is very good. Also it checks Gambit far more reliably than Corviknight and comes with the ability to phaze which are nice bonuses

(Dark) UR->D
(Dark) UR->D
Nominated by: TheWyvernKing

TTar+Overqwil is a solid backbone into Fire, with TTar consolidating TWave with the usual rocks setting+Hslam for Hatt, Overqwil answering Ogerpons and still having spikes, and if we're being truthful - while may be largely outclassed by Ting Lu, it's still a solid mon that would likely be B/A tier in a tingless meta. Main difference being ability to get rid of sun, rock coverage, Twave, and higher speed/attack.

is also a mon that's been heavily underrated since the start of the gen, and many of my favorite teams have used it. It's not a mon that I see as inferior to Hamurott either, even though it doesn't have ceaseless edge or sacred sword. The power of Band + Adaptability off it's skyhigh attack not only makes it one of the premiere stallbreakers in the tier and capable of 2hkoing even the bulkiest mons, but with hazard stack + band AJet it's a phenomenal lategame cleaner or revenge killer as well.

(Electric) UR->D
Nominated by: TheWyvernKing

Raikou was a mon that had people rage quit, calling me a noob, and getting ultra mad because they ended up losing to it. Realistically I think dropping protect will still be fine, with sub/cm/tbolt/scald probably being super solid as well. But mono attacking Raikou is honestly super solid all the same. I started off with only discharge, which kinda obliterated alot of neutrals like fighting in the end game.

Thats all for now, thank you for sharing your thoughts. The op will update in a bit

Have fun discussing!

 

[lukesmith849]

Alright, y'all knew this was coming. As someone who too many hours and games on this type I need to do the thing.
UR -> D
I'm just making sure this didn't get missed, same thoughts as last time. I guess all of those remain the same thoughts, just wanted to bring this one up most since its still the least explored and I think it has potential. It just needs a good player to really show this thing off.
Now onto the actual content.
B -> A
When I said that Toxapex wasn't S, I didn't think it would be thrown to B. Its still has an amazing defensive profile with well, all the good that comes with it. I might of not highlighted that enough but its easily the best Rocky Helmet user of the type since unlike Pecharunt, it has Regenerator to make not running boots more manageable. Its the only good hazer we have since the rest aren't able to stick around as long since they lack the longevity of Pex since their recovery is limited to Sludge + Painsplit, or are Clodsire and struggle to fix Haze into an already incredibly packed moveset. Yes all the problems I did highlight still exist but its also still Toxapex, its still the CEO of Bigstall itself. And its still deserves to be A.
It might even be S, turns out Toxic into Gouging Fire is amazing and I might of been a heathen tempted by TSpikes all this, whoops.

A -> S
In shorter news, you aren't dropping without a really good reason. Even with Overqwil being a good mon, Alolan Muk still is a special tank and still finds that utility in helping in Ghost and Psychic matchups where you need it too most. And as one of two mons in Poison with Knock Off that actually wants to run the move/be put on teams, you're not dropping this. This is probably the A Rank that surprised me most.

A -> S
Here I am, my third time now advocating for an S Rank for this amazing ally. Hopefully the last time to, but you never know.

We all know what Amoonguss does for Poison. A Ground neutrality, Spore support, Regen makeout sessions with Toxapex, the basics that been said before and I'm not sure what to add on. Amoonguss finds use in nearly every game it appears in as more than just a sack option. The only Type you truly wish you had a different mon for is Fire and that isn't really Amoonguss's fault, that just Fire being weird and quirky and running Fire attacks on every mon. And even then, it can take a Gouger Fire Earthquake and can threaten with the power of Spore. This then leads every other type has a mon Amoonguss can come in on and do work against. Stuff like Iron Boulder (Psychic) and Alolan Sandslash are nothing more than a good slot for Amoonguss to slide on in and create some havoc in its favor as they're regularly not running STAB to threaten Amoonguss. And once Amoonguss is in, something will be going to sleep no matter what (unless its Steel or Ghost, but even then, a Ghold being forced in to not be slept can be played as an entry into Gengar or Iron Moth getting some nice entry points don't you think?)

There is no alternative, to this mighty mushroom. While there may be reasons to drop it, one type it struggles into immensely isn't good enough for me not to say it isn't S tier.

S -> A

Was just looking at the poison rankings there and came across the justifications for Muk-Alola being S tier, and from the teams I've built I really don't see it. I'm probably a fair bit less experienced so would love to hear any counter points, but I think Muk is a great tool, but far from essential (I believe Pex is far more deserving of S, would have a much harder time building a poison mono team without pex than without muk).

I dropped Muk-Alola from my team a while back in favour of Clodsire as my special tank. I think Muk is great in terms of coverage against ghost and psyhcic, it also shoulders a lot of the weight against normal and steel if you run drain punch, but I feel that it doesn't put in a lot of work against many other teams.

The rest-sleeptalk set I don't like on a mon this slow and without defensive setup, it feels very inconsistent and I don't think it's bulky enough to justify sleep talking to hit a knock off or drain punch/poison jab, 2/3 of the time. Rest-sleeptalk sets feel inconsistent at the best of times and this one feels like it doesn't output enough to make up for the inconsistency.

The three attacks plus protect set is better, as I said above, nice coverage and it sticks around long enough to do damage with it and threaten plenty of offensive mon, but it felt like it didn't have enough of an offensive presence to justify less utility, I've seen it do less than half to a flutter mane.

I preferred three attack plus clear smog, gave it more utility and a reason to be on the team rather than a special tank and the occasional good matchup with its coverage, but even at that I felt like by the time that it clear smogged anything boosted it took too much damage for it to be worth it, it's a job far better handled by haze pex or unaware clod.

Obviously the biggest reason to use muk is that it can knock, and it survives long enough to guarantee being able to knock, which we only really get from okidogi and tentacruel otherwise on a poison team, and I already feel like okidogi is generally just a worse muk in many respects, and that tentacruel doesn't do any of what it does well enough to justify putting on a team. But since taking muk off and not having any knock off on my team, I can't say that I feel I'm missing it at all, I feel that anywhere you particularly want rid of an item, most poison teams handle well enough anyway, and when I had Muk I don't think I got all that much use out of knock when it wasn't SE, otherwise I was clicking drain punch to stay around when it was tanking, or poison jab to get the most damage out of it if it was against something more frail.

Still think Muk-Alola is a great pick for most poison teams, it still pains me to know that I have a salazzle on my team over this thing just because it covers the weaknesses the rest of my team doesn't better, but I don't see it as S, it's not essential like amoonguss and toxapex.

I also believe clod should be B, pex should be S, moth should be B, and fez should be D, but don't quite have the energy to fully justify those now.

 

[TheWyvernKing]

View attachment 655561 S -> A

Was just looking at the poison rankings there and came across the justifications for Muk-Alola being S tier, and from the teams I've built I really don't see it. I'm probably a fair bit less experienced so would love to hear any counter points, but I think Muk is a great tool, but far from essential (I believe Pex is far more deserving of S, would have a much harder time building a poison mono team without pex than without muk).

I dropped Muk-Alola from my team a while back in favour of Clodsire as my special tank. I think Muk is great in terms of coverage against ghost and psyhcic, it also shoulders a lot of the weight against normal and steel if you run drain punch, but I feel that it doesn't put in a lot of work against many other teams.

The rest-sleeptalk set I don't like on a mon this slow and without defensive setup, it feels very inconsistent and I don't think it's bulky enough to justify sleep talking to hit a knock off or drain punch/poison jab, 2/3 of the time. Rest-sleeptalk sets feel inconsistent at the best of times and this one feels like it doesn't output enough to make up for the inconsistency.

The three attacks plus protect set is better, as I said above, nice coverage and it sticks around long enough to do damage with it and threaten plenty of offensive mon, but it felt like it didn't have enough of an offensive presence to justify less utility, I've seen it do less than half to a flutter mane.

I preferred three attack plus clear smog, gave it more utility and a reason to be on the team rather than a special tank and the occasional good matchup with its coverage, but even at that I felt like by the time that it clear smogged anything boosted it took too much damage for it to be worth it, it's a job far better handled by haze pex or unaware clod.

Obviously the biggest reason to use muk is that it can knock, and it survives long enough to guarantee being able to knock, which we only really get from okidogi and tentacruel otherwise on a poison team, and I already feel like okidogi is generally just a worse muk in many respects, and that tentacruel doesn't do any of what it does well enough to justify putting on a team. But since taking muk off and not having any knock off on my team, I can't say that I feel I'm missing it at all, I feel that anywhere you particularly want rid of an item, most poison teams handle well enough anyway, and when I had Muk I don't think I got all that much use out of knock when it wasn't SE, otherwise I was clicking drain punch to stay around when it was tanking, or poison jab to get the most damage out of it if it was against something more frail.

Still think Muk-Alola is a great pick for most poison teams, it still pains me to know that I have a salazzle on my team over this thing just because it covers the weaknesses the rest of my team doesn't better, but I don't see it as S, it's not essential like amoonguss and toxapex.

I also believe clod should be B, pex should be S, moth should be B, and fez should be D, but don't quite have the energy to fully justify those now.

Unironically I didn't even realize Amoonguss was listed as S till I saw this, gonna propose first off:

S-->A/B, yeah this thing is nowhere near needed in my opinion. When there were no ground immunes besides haunter at the start of the gen obviously you needed an Amoong, but since then I've seen more poison teams than not go without it. Weezing-Galar covers the incoming ground attacks already, and while it may seem intuitive to have an extra ground neutral, Amoong comes across as a dead weight so so often. I know Penga may argue for it but end of the day the only use I really see for it is a slightly better ground/water matchup, a mon that resists both ground + steel which may be useful for non choice exca and iron treads, and the ability to use Worry Seed on Gliscor. That being said, Amoong is so passive it ends up feeling like a deadweight in alot of matchups. More importantly though, I'd argue the slot which Amoong takes on a team almost always feels wasted on it. If we imagine a poison team to be (fighting/poison), geezing, pex, and a psy immune as staples, amoong would be fighting with glowking, iron moth, salazzle, glimm, clodsire, and even running double poison/fighting. Those alternates I find so much more utility and purpose for on a Poison team than Amoong would. Iron Moth and Salazzle both help with Ghold, salazzle with bulky steels and poison, moth blasts through problem mons especially in the fly, Glowking has perfect synergy with Moth while checking Lando and acting as an amazing pivot, clod provides unaware + answers problem mons like raging bolt, Okidogi smurfs the steel while Sneasler provits speed control and a useful offensive pivot.

Maybe there's something I'm missing but Amoong simply doesn't fill the requirements for S Rank. Many don't go for it, it's not a staple or needed backbone, and in turn many avoid it for other useful mons which frankly I think makes the most sense when building poison right now considering all the top threats which Amoong frankly does nothing against. Especially considering the fact that mons such as Pex and Geezing are ranked lower than this, I believe Amoonguss needs to drop.

now for the original poster who was asking why Muk-Alola is S. The easiest answer is because A-Muk is the single best option you have to not get blasted by Specs Luster Purge Latios, obliterated by Espathra, decimated by Specs Shadow Ball Flutter, not to mention Hoopa-U, Specs Greninja, etc. Even though there technically are other dark/poisons, with Overqwil being the second most viable, Overqwil as a comparison has nowhere near the special defense of Alolan-Muk. If you run it physically defensive to make use of intimidate so it can answer Gallade fairly well, you end up completely unable to answer Flutter Mane and even get an OHKO roll from a single Moonblast. Any Poison team without a dark mon is super sketchy, and I'd argue is completely giving up on not just the Psy mu, but becomes completely incapable of answering a number of top threats such as the afformentioned Latios and Flutter Mane. Even though it primarily answers special attackers, its presence alone means that physical attackers such as Choiced Iron Boulder need to think twice before clicking Zen Headbutt. I don't see it as helping simply in the ghost and psy, it fully makes the dragon matchup not an autoloss because there really isn't anything else that can reliable answer Latios otherwise.

The short answer is that Dark mons have always been considered needed on Poison monos, and A-Muk is simply put the best and most reliable option.

One proposal but should go to S tier. Essential immunity to ground + dragon, hazard removal, will o wisp, the mon is a staple on the type. Even if you want to run Fezandipiti, I find more purpose there still in Weezing-Galar over regular Weezing - which while usable for a few things, ultimately is nowhere near it's galar counterpart. Being immune to both Dragon and Ground is just too useful to ignore and frankly I'd seen more people drop Pex than I have of people dropping Geezing.

 

[lukesmith849]

Unironically I didn't even realize Amoonguss was listed as S till I saw this, gonna propose first off:

S-->A/B, yeah this thing is nowhere near needed in my opinion. When there were no ground immunes besides haunter at the start of the gen obviously you needed an Amoong, but since then I've seen more poison teams than not go without it. Weezing-Galar covers the incoming ground attacks already, and while it may seem intuitive to have an extra ground neutral, Amoong comes across as a dead weight so so often. I know Penga may argue for it but end of the day the only use I really see for it is a slightly better ground/water matchup, a mon that resists both ground + steel which may be useful for non choice exca and iron treads, and the ability to use Worry Seed on Gliscor. That being said, Amoong is so passive it ends up feeling like a deadweight in alot of matchups. More importantly though, I'd argue the slot which Amoong takes on a team almost always feels wasted on it. If we imagine a poison team to be (fighting/poison), geezing, pex, and a psy immune as staples, amoong would be fighting with glowking, iron moth, salazzle, glimm, clodsire, and even running double poison/fighting. Those alternates I find so much more utility and purpose for on a Poison team than Amoong would. Iron Moth and Salazzle both help with Ghold, salazzle with bulky steels and poison, moth blasts through problem mons especially in the fly, Glowking has perfect synergy with Moth while checking Lando and acting as an amazing pivot, clod provides unaware + answers problem mons like raging bolt, Okidogi smurfs the steel while Sneasler provits speed control and a useful offensive pivot.

Maybe there's something I'm missing but Amoong simply doesn't fill the requirements for S Rank. Many don't go for it, it's not a staple or needed backbone, and in turn many avoid it for other useful mons which frankly I think makes the most sense when building poison right now considering all the top threats which Amoong frankly does nothing against. Especially considering the fact that mons such as Pex and Geezing are ranked lower than this, I believe Amoonguss needs to drop.

now for the original poster who was asking why Muk-Alola is S. The easiest answer is because A-Muk is the single best option you have to not get blasted by Specs Luster Purge Latios, obliterated by Espathra, decimated by Specs Shadow Ball Flutter, not to mention Hoopa-U, Specs Greninja, etc. Even though there technically are other dark/poisons, with Overqwil being the second most viable, Overqwil as a comparison has nowhere near the special defense of Alolan-Muk. If you run it physically defensive to make use of intimidate so it can answer Gallade fairly well, you end up completely unable to answer Flutter Mane and even get an OHKO roll from a single Moonblast. Any Poison team without a dark mon is super sketchy, and I'd argue is completely giving up on not just the Psy mu, but becomes completely incapable of answering a number of top threats such as the afformentioned Latios and Flutter Mane. Even though it primarily answers special attackers, its presence alone means that physical attackers such as Choiced Iron Boulder need to think twice before clicking Zen Headbutt. I don't see it as helping simply in the ghost and psy, it fully makes the dragon matchup not an autoloss because there really isn't anything else that can reliable answer Latios otherwise.

The short answer is that Dark mons have always been considered needed on Poison monos, and A-Muk is simply put the best and most reliable option.

One proposal but should go to S tier. Essential immunity to ground + dragon, hazard removal, will o wisp, the mon is a staple on the type. Even if you want to run Fezandipiti, I find more purpose there still in Weezing-Galar over regular Weezing - which while usable for a few things, ultimately is nowhere near it's galar counterpart. Being immune to both Dragon and Ground is just too useful to ignore and frankly I'd seen more people drop Pex than I have of people dropping Geezing.

S
I still believe Amoonguss is S, definitely not B, I find it pretty much essential for water, electric and ground matchups, running spore and stomping tantrum it's also one of the only poison mon that holds up against a steel team without being built specifically to deal with steel (corrosion salazzle, corrosion glimmora, specs moth). Not to mention regenarator pivoting with toxic stall still being one of the most consistent win cons for any poison team, and there's no better duo for that than SpDef amoonguss and Def toxapex, who cover each other's weaknesses well and can recover/synthesis on turns they expect the switch to be read. I can't see any poison teaming putting up a fight against a water team without amoonguss and/or pex, and their synergy with regenerator is too good to pass up having them together imo.

S?
I see your point about needing muk-alola for psychic, psychic is definitely my current team's weakest match up, and I'm sure there are plenty of psychic teams that are unbeatable as long as they're played right against my current build, but I still feel muk is underwhelming against nearly every mon except the few that is there specifically to deal with, and I've had greater success across the board since dropping it even if it does pull me back a fair bit against ghost and psychic. I'll accept that maybe it is S now though having given it more thought, as while I might be doing better in random matchups without it, I definitely think there are on meta psychic teams that would have me dead to rights before turn 1 without my opponenet misplaying.

A->S
I agree with Geezing, can't see ground or dragon being handled without it, I think the things that hold it back from being S are that there are plenty of matchups where it will contribute nothing, it's good as a ground and dragon pivot, but if you aren't being targeted by ground or dragon moves, you have it for burning, fairy coverage and hazard clear. I feel that will-o-wisp doesn't come up all that often, and inaccuracy plus weezing's low speed make it hard to utilise, I feel its main use case is to use it when you're predicting a switch to a physical attacker, rather than actually ever using it to burn the mon in front of you. Fairy coverage is great, and the confusion chance often helps out, but there are plenty of battles where it'll do nothing. Defog and poison teams don't mix all that well, most poison teams will have toxic spikes or spikes somewhere, and I think in most game states when there are hazards on your side, there are worse hazards on your opponents sides, you know tox spikes are never going to hurt you as is, webs are barely seen in this meta, rocks will hurt moth fez an salazzle, but they're generally not a huge issue, you could comfortably run a poison team without hazard clear. All that said, yes, completely agree, the immunities are too good to ignore, the fairy coverage is too essential to lose, and it has some utility otherwise, even if it's all a bit niche and inconsistent, geezing will do nothing for you plenty of battles but you'll also do nothing without it in a good few.
Although for more good justification against Geezing being S check out Pengairxan 's post from February, tldr the stuff it does well it doesn't always quite accomplish, so I don't think keeping it in A is entirely unreasonable.

A->S
You mentioned pex as well, for the same reasons as amoonguss, with the regen pivot, it's too good not to use, I find it more essential than any of the others in S. It's the best physical tank (aside pecharunt maybe), it has recover, it can hold black sludge, it can switch out for regenerator, this thing doesn't go down easily, and if you give it toxic infestation it doesn't need to do anything else other than stick around. It's great to pivot into almost any physical attack, there's very little that'll drop it below 50 in one turn, and once it's in against anything it's tanking, it can either toxic stall, or take rocky helmet hits and regen faster than the opponent can take it down. I don't think I've built a poison team as long as this thing has existed without it being the MVP, and it holds true in the current meta, I'd honestly attribute most of poison's viability to toxapex, I don't know how you're running without it. Pengairxan dropped it to A a while back mentioning it was too passive, and that everything it does is covered by overqwil, pecharunt, geezing and amoonguss, but when we're talking toxic stall or rocky helmet tanking, and giving freedom to switch plenty, passive is fine. And while all its utility is covered by other mon, this one fits it all in one slot and does it all so well, and with nice synergy with nearly any poison team you could dream up. Pex is the pinnacle of poison mono, it shouldn't be in A.

 

[TheWyvernKing]

View attachment 655943 S
I still believe Amoonguss is S, definitely not B, I find it pretty much essential for water, electric and ground matchups, running spore and stomping tantrum it's also one of the only poison mon that holds up against a steel team without being built specifically to deal with steel (corrosion salazzle, corrosion glimmora, specs moth). Not to mention regenarator pivoting with toxic stall still being one of the most consistent win cons for any poison team, and there's no better duo for that than SpDef amoonguss and Def toxapex, who cover each other's weaknesses well and can recover/synthesis on turns they expect the switch to be read. I can't see any poison teaming putting up a fight against a water team without amoonguss and/or pex, and their synergy with regenerator is too good to pass up having them together imo.

I mean it's definitely not essential for the water, pex/glowking with the rest of team support are solid enough there, and frankly I don't know how much Amoong is changing in the Elec. Raging Bolt is the #1 threat to worry about and aside from Spore, Amoong won't be able to answer in a meaningful enough way to make a difference. If Raging Bolt wasn't in the conversation then Poison straight up wouldn't have a problem with Elec, Amoong or no amoong, so when I think of answering Elec better with Poison it really amounts to having a solid way to deal with Raging Bolt which Amoong really isn't. The last type you mentioned was Ground, where the biggest threat is Lando I. Maybe if no other types existed, it was just Ground I had to deal with, I'd put Amoong on the team, but when it comes to role compression it just makes way more sense to me to use pokemon like Iron Moth and Glowking together so I have 2 checks to Lando-I and hope it's a choiced Excadrill which I can play around. If Drill is not choiced, Poison will lose anyhow Amoong or no Amoong unless they misplay.
I'll also point out that stomping tantrum amoong isn't really the most useful thing in the steel either. You do literally 20% to Gholdengo with Stomping Tantrum, and since it's immune to spore you kinda just become setup fodder, all of this is made worse by the fact that Gholdengo is one of the most difficult pokemon for poison to answer. Amoong is also too passive to do much with Stomping to the rest of Steel, so mons like Gambit can just setup in your face, birds sit on you, even if it's offensive tran you do only like 60%. As a contrast, even though you said Glimmora and Salazzle are only used for steel - that's really not the case. Glimmora brings both hazard control and stealth rocks, not to mention rock typing is super useful since Poison tends to struggle with fire and lacks flying resists, it's not seen too much anymore but glimm has a couple of different sets that let it multitask while still delivering Corrosion Toxic for mirror mu and steel types. Salazzle not only brings corrosion toxic, it's also a mon that can help deal with Gholdengo - something super important to consider for the Steel and Ghost mus, Encore offers great utility, helping prevent setup sweepers like Raging Bolt from going in on your team if you make correct plays, and especially if you use it with an air balloon it can be used to force out threats and pokemon such as Gliscor or Lando which maybe doesn't solve the issue but helps delay and bring momentum back into your favor.

Last thing before I forget, but Amoong is definitely a dead weight in a TON of matchups. Flying and Fire are both problem mus that Amoong simply does nothing in, and when you consider the slot that Amoong is taking, you ultimately end up with a mon that you really don't need for it's apparent beneficial matchups while simultaneously providing zero benefit for many problem matchups Poison faces.

 

[Pengairxan]

Alright, so I've been reading this, rereading this, catching the flu (which sucks) and hopefully sorting this out, here I go.

A
While I mostly agree with the stuff that is being said there is one thing that I think stands out.

Last thing before I forget, but Amoong is definitely a dead weight in a TON of matchups. Flying and Fire are both problem mus that Amoong simply does nothing in, and when you consider the slot that Amoong is taking, you ultimately end up with a mon that you really don't need for it's apparent beneficial matchups while simultaneously providing zero benefit for many problem matchups Poison faces.

I could easily say the same for Galarian Weezing matchups such as Steel which just boils down to "clicking Defog and acting as a Ground immunity once I guess" and Fire being "I exist for the sole purpose of eating Gouging Fire's outrage/Earthquake and basically nothing else"
But the bigger issue is a lot of Galarian Weezing's best matchups on paper end up being a bit more risky than intended. Ground should be great because of its Ground immunity but Lando just effortlessly scares it just by clicking Gravity or even just two hitting it with Sludge Wave, same story with Sandy Shocks. If there is an Archaludon or Latios in front of you, are you going to try risking your Dragon immunity to their other STAB which does an immense amount of damage or OKHOs in Latios's case. And even in matchups where Geezing is good or provides utility, it can just be easy to exploit with any Fire-type as they can just go "Hi, I'm in now" and click buttons (see Fire-types like Volcarona and Ceruledge)

S
This was already sorted (I hope) but TL:DR Overqwil is great, huge fan of it myself, but Alolan Muk is always just going to be the default. Generally speaking I only go to Overqwil once I go "Okay, I've got multiple special tanks on here already I can afford to drop AMuk for Overqwil's traits" And with the other special walls, I generally want a reason to include them in the first place so Alolan Muk is just the go to overall.

S

Hopefully the last time to, but you never know.

How Naive I was.
First off, I know comparing to past generations isn't standard but I think it bears saying, Since generation 6, a Grass-type has been S rank with generation 8 continuing this trend with Amoonguss being in S Rank despite Crobat AND Galarian Weezing existing.
This will remain to be the case today and tomorrow and the years going forward.
Amoonguss's main role. Outside of two matchups(?) in Water and Ground, its never the main player but instead always a supporter to allow the main player(s) to handle it. Without it random ass threats would become an issue we couldn't handle. I use it to check a bunch of stuff from stuff you expect like Iron Boulder, Ogerpon-W and Iron Valiant to more wacky things you wouldn't expect to soft check foes like Flutter Mane, Dragapult, and Dragonite. While yes you could argue that there are better checks to these guys, Amoonguss can always just scout to see what we're eating since its bulk is good enough.
Also never count the Ground matchup out, right now Ground is generally considered a top 5 type so having an actual Ground neutrality that can threaten stuff back is great, especially since Landorus, the most popular Ground-type, can just click Gravity to invalidate Galarian Weezing entirely. The only true bad matchup for Amoonguss is Fire which is fair but other S rank threats have matchups they just detest, see something like Heatran into Ground or Gliscor into Ice.
I also don't believe Amoonguss has a particularly bad matchup into Flying, more so it just has a bad matchup into Gliscor (which is the case for a majority of the type) and once Gliscor is removed it does a lot better as it can soft check a bunch of stuff like Enamorus, Gyarados, and Dragonite, which is great when the actual check is chipped down too much to actually handle them or is dead.

A
Pex still just primarily offers the role of fat wall with regen. Its great, I love it and use it a lot personally but its generally when I'm getting more experimental with my teams its generally the first to go. Of course sometimes that bites me back in the ass but sometimes it doesn't. Its the best at the roll it does end up playing but its a roll that isn't the most high demand thing in the world.

 

[lukesmith849]

A
Pex still just primarily offers the role of fat wall with regen. Its great, I love it and use it a lot personally but its generally when I'm getting more experimental with my teams its generally the first to go. Of course sometimes that bites me back in the ass but sometimes it doesn't. Its the best at the roll it does end up playing but its a roll that isn't the most high demand thing in the world.

This all seems very fair, I would still argue that pex is the most solid pick on every poison team, it never does nothing in any matchup. Save for maybe the occasional psychic team it's always going to completely wall something it's against, and it's great for pivoting into, and the absolute best for stalling. I understand that maybe it doesn't feel as essential as the others because it's not dealing the damage as much, but I feel that so many matchups are near guaranteed to quickly overrun poison without a pex to keep threats in check. Even in losing positions I've seen pex claw back a victory just through sheer tankiness and regeneration using toxic infestation to take down two or three mon at the end of a battle. I see the points about it not being essential because it doesn't exactly feel like anything is unwinnable without it, but I just see pex as the foundation of a poison mono team, it's the bread and butter that I see as the best physical tank option for every build, I think any team I could ever conceive without it would be a team consciously trying to build around not using it, not a viable team that doesn't want it

 

[TheWyvernKing]

S

How Naive I was.
First off, I know comparing to past generations isn't standard but I think it bears saying, Since generation 6, a Grass-type has been S rank with generation 8 continuing this trend with Amoonguss being in S Rank despite Crobat AND Galarian Weezing existing.
This will remain to be the case today and tomorrow and the years going forward.
Amoonguss's main role. Outside of two matchups(?) in Water and Ground, its never the main player but instead always a supporter to allow the main player(s) to handle it. Without it random ass threats would become an issue we couldn't handle. I use it to check a bunch of stuff from stuff you expect like Iron Boulder, Ogerpon-W and Iron Valiant to more wacky things you wouldn't expect to soft check foes like Flutter Mane, Dragapult, and Dragonite. While yes you could argue that there are better checks to these guys, Amoonguss can always just scout to see what we're eating since its bulk is good enough.
Also never count the Ground matchup out, right now Ground is generally considered a top 5 type so having an actual Ground neutrality that can threaten stuff back is great, especially since Landorus, the most popular Ground-type, can just click Gravity to invalidate Galarian Weezing entirely. The only true bad matchup for Amoonguss is Fire which is fair but other S rank threats have matchups they just detest, see something like Heatran into Ground or Gliscor into Ice.
I also don't believe Amoonguss has a particularly bad matchup into Flying, more so it just has a bad matchup into Gliscor (which is the case for a majority of the type) and once Gliscor is removed it does a lot better as it can soft check a bunch of stuff like Enamorus, Gyarados, and Dragonite, which is great when the actual check is chipped down too much to actually handle them or is dead.

Right but you don't need it in order to be fine in either water or ground though, for the MLTTS tour for example I used nothing but poison and never lost once to Water and won the majority of Ground despite the fact I had no amoonguss. Sure the mushroom can make some sequences easier in those matchups, and sure there are a number of pokemon it can soft check, but end of the day it amounts to a helpful crutch you can 100% do without. Saying Amoonguss is S tier for Poison is like saying Training Wheels are needed to ride a bicycle. I thought Moong was needed at first when I started playing poison this gen, but soon realized it was not at all necessary for the majority of games. I don't think an S tier mon is something so easily replaced, and which frankly I do not see on majority of poison teams at high level of play.

 

[Showl]

Hello,

As I was interested in checking Psychic VR's, I thought it was a nice time to propose some changes in it.

(Psychic) A->S
The more I use Psychic, the more I feel like Espathra is the core of the type this gen. Despite a midling bulk at first glance, its access to speed boost and CM makes it a surprisingly fearsome Stored Power user. It trades bulk and levitate of Latias for Speed boost and priority immunity under Psychic Terrain which is more than a fair deal. Thanks to the great team support options the type offers (Psychic terrain, walls, status, hazard stacking, slow pivoting) it can easily set up and proceed to claim victory. Although limited, its movepool has what it needs, namely a fairy move to beat dark mons and roost for recovery.

(Psychic) B->A
Similarly to its role last gen, indeedee is there for setting up terrain and ghost immunity. And it's more than handy in the current metagame. With deadly priority for psychic everywhere, psychic terrain is an essential part of psychic playstyle and so is the ghost immunity that lets the Indeedee/Hatterene/Glowking core shut down both Dragapult and Flutter Mane, arguably two of the most feared mon's for the type. Access to Healing wish is also a nice tool to give a 2nd chance to sweep to one sweeper.

(Psychic) A->B
After the hype effect of getting it back, we soon realized its shortcomings in this gen. Its ability to hazard stacking and setting up walls makes it a decent pick for such teams, but in this HO metagame, it has many issues to perform its role with its minimal bulk and a speedtier easier than ever to reach for scarfers. Definitely not a top pick for Psychic right now.

(Psychic) C->A
One of the best mon Psychic can afford to run right now. Its ability to punish many types against which Psychic has trouble against makes it an invaluable asset. Steel, ghost, dragon, dark, elec, bug. MU's where it is a significant boon are numerous. Unsurprisingly, just as in Fighting, its best set is the AV set that let it hold moves and retaliate with its flawless movepool.

(Psychic) C->B
A great spdef wall for Psychic. Its ability to remove tspikes from the field is very appreciated in a type that is more than ever grounded and who does not possess any viable hazard control besides hatterene, weak itself to poison moves. Its great bulk combined with its excellent defensive typing and access to regenerator and slow pivoting make it the prime choice for absorbing special hits and keeping the momentum.

(Fighting) B->S
Similarly to its role in Psychic, Gallade in Fighting is there to help securing MU's such as Ghost/Poison/Dragon and of course provide Fighting with a Psychic neutrality much appreciated. Rare are the MU's where Gallade doesn't play an active role. Greninja/Lando-I/Volcarona/Latios/Dragapult/Flutter Mane, the list of threats for Fighting against which Gallade wins the interaction is endless. Last but not least, it is also an important component for mirrors by holding moonblast from Valiant, OS-ing Okidogi. A staple in every Fighting team.

 

[lavarina]

After rotting my brain with LLT for a good two weeks and touching digital grass..

A -> S (Grass)
I've seen this mon be game enders how great its bulk is along with recovery. The fact that it's faster than Iron Hands and Metagross but slower than everything else makes it able to utilize its Strength Sap perfectly. I've had it 1v1 Gourging Fire and Sneasler (if i'm lucky) a couple of times too. I've also seen someone use a Substitute set, making it almost untouchable against most opponents. Obviously it has its flaws since it does nearly nothing to Ice, Ghost (unless your opp let you set up Calm Minds for some reason), and maybe Poison stall, but you can almost never go wrong with putting this guy in your team. I might be singing its praises a little too much but it has honestly done so much for me that I'm surprised its not S-tier with how valuable it is.

 

[Ethereal Sword]

Ok, here we go.


Fezandipiti (Fairy): UR -> C

TLDR: If you are looking for a bulky pivot, Fezandipiti is the best option on Fairy, bar none.

Introduction
Fezandipiti is a Poison/Fairy type Pokemon introduced this generation during DLC 1. Its typing gives it a very useful resistance to Fairy and a 4x resistance to Fighting, but also leaves it with a dreadful weakness to Ground. Its stats are fairly mediocre across the board, with it most notably having an excellent 125 Special Defense. As with all of the Loyal Three, it has the ability Toxic Chain, giving every hit a 30% chance of inflicting Toxic. This is notable because out of the Loyal Three, Fezandipiti alone has access to multi-hit moves, vastly elevating the probability of activating Toxic Chain. The best attack for this purpose, Beat Up (6 hits), will be able to inflict Toxic 88% of the time.

In terms of setup moves, Fezandipiti has access to Calm Mind, Nasty Plot, and Swords Dance. Fezandipiti has reliable recovery in Roost, access to U-Turn, both physical and special STAB options, and coverage moves like Heat Wave and Technician-boosted Icy Wind. Fezandipiti's lackluster offensive stats (91 Atk and 70 SpA) do impede its sweeping capabilities, however. There are simply much stronger setup sweepers on Fairy.

This indicates that we should look toward Fezandipiti's defensive capabilities instead, and it is here where Fezandipiti carves out a notable niche for itself. Fezandipiti has bulk, reliable recovery, and a pivoting move. No other Fairy type has all three. Only Comfey comes close, but its 51/90/110 defenses are a far cry from Fezandipiti's 88/82/125 stats. Aside from these three traits, everything else is bonus, but as we will see, Fezandipiti has a lot of bonuses.

Fezandipiti's Role on Fairy Teams
Currently, the most commonly used special tank is Assault Vest Primarina. In fact, as of last month, 16 percent of Primarinas on Fairy ran Assault Vest. Yet this set makes quite little sense. In running AV Primarina, not only are you forgoing the possibility of running one of the best setup sweepers on Fairy (Calm Mind Primarina), you are also getting essentially a worse version of Fezandipiti. No reliable recovery and the inability to use Heavy-Duty Boots severely limit the longevity of Primarina throughout a battle.

Yet the prevalence of this set does indicate Fairy's need for a special tank in the first place. Threats like Specs Dragapult are notably difficult for Fairy to handle. Not many Pokemon have the natural bulk to be able to switch into it (especially since Dragapult can ignore screens), least of all the Pokemon that you actually want on the field doing damage. Aside from the aforementioned AV Primarina, your options essentially boil down to full SpD Clefable (a never-seen set) and Florges (a never-seen mon), both of which are extremely passive. Or you could simply do this:

252 SpA Choice Specs Dragapult Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Fezandipiti: 102-120 (26.8 - 31.5%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

In fact, Fezandipiti is a get out of jail free card against many special attackers:

252 SpA Choice Specs Greninja Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Fezandipiti: 142-168 (37.3 - 44.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Flutter Mane Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Fezandipiti: 126-148 (33.1 - 38.9%) -- 99.9% chance to 3HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Iron Moth Overheat over 2 turns vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Fezandipiti: 310-367 (81.5 - 96.5%) -- not a KO
252 SpA Enamorus Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Fezandipiti: 124-148 (32.6 - 38.9%) -- 99.4% chance to 3HKO

Fezandipiti's role is now clear. It easily switches into otherwise threatening attacks, then easily pivots out into your own threats like Flutter Mane and Iron Valiant - Pokemon that do not want to be the ones tanking the attacks. Importantly, Fezandipiti will rarely win the game by itself - it is a support Pokemon. Fairy has enough Pokemon that will win the game by themselves; Fezandipiti lets them come in safely and effortlessly.

Aside from just being a pivot (which only really requires Roost and U-Turn), Fezandipiti can benefit the team in other ways. Fezandipiti removes Toxic Spikes, is immune to poison itself, can spread Toxic via Beat Up (or Toxic), can deal damage with Gunk Shot, and can support the team with moves like Taunt or Tailwind. It also has a spectacular interaction with Ceruledge - since Beat Up activates Weak Armor on every hit, Fezandipiti can easily OHKO Ceruledge from full even if it has a Sash.

Sets
We are now ready to construct a basic Fezandipiti set:

Fezandipiti (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Toxic Chain
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Beat Up / Toxic
- Roost
- U-turn
- Gunk Shot / Taunt / Spite / Tailwind

Max HP and SpD investment makes Fezandipiti extremely bulky on the special side. Heavy-Duty Boots is very useful on a type without good hazard removal options (Fezandipiti should not be run with Weezing-Galar, another Poison type). This set is perfectly serviceable and will let Fezandipiti do what you want it to do - whenever a scary attack is coming from the opponent, you simply click the button to switch to Fezandipiti and the threat is nullified.

However, Fezandipiti is a Pokemon that benefits enormously from specialized EV spreads. The right EVs will allow Fezandipiti to flip many interactions. I'll spare the details and just provide here one of the best spreads I found.

Fezandipiti (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Toxic Chain
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Atk / 16 Def / 160 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 16 Spe
- Beat Up
- Roost
- U-turn
- Gunk Shot

This set will live a weather-boosted Ivy Cudgel from Ogerpon-H and Ogerpon-W, and then OHKO it in return. We set the Speed to 219 to get a slow U-Turn while never being outsped by Azumarill or Kingambit. Remaining EVs are dumped into SpD.

Team Options
The most common Fairy archetype currently is Screens Klefki. The goal is to get in your threats "safely" by putting two screens in front of them and calling it a day. Since Fezandipiti fulfills that role here, we don't need to emphasize screens so much. Therefore, Fez Fairy should not be considered a variant of standard Fairy, but rather a different archetype altogether, with different favored matchups and different game plans. This is not to say that Fez Fairy is Screens-less, but rather that you don't need screens up to be effective.

The most obvious teammates are Flutter Mane and Iron Valiant, since they are the Pokemon that Fezandipiti is trying to get in safely. There is substantial flexibility in the other three spots, though I have been quite partial toward Tinkaton, who offers great support options in Stealth Rock, Knock Off, and Encore. Klefki remains a solid choice, but again you don't need to run Screens necessarily, and Switcheroo sets are perfectly serviceable here. If you really want screens, another option is Ninetales-Alola, who can set up Aurora Veil. Using Ninetales-Alola saves time by only needing one screen, it interferes with weather teams, and has a better offensive presence than Klefki. Both Primarina and Azumarill are good choices, and at least one should be run (though Azumarill may want screens). Enamorus provides a valuable Ground immunity and is a good Scarfer, but it can be hard to fit.

Note that Beat Up damage is dependent on the base Atk stats of each (non-fainted, non-statused) Pokemon. Each hit of Beat Up has a base power of Base ATK/10+5; in practice, this ends up being around 80 BP in total.

Conclusion
Fezandipiti has been overlooked for far too long. The fact remains that Fezandipiti is simply not on the radar of most players despite being the perfect solution to so many of Fairy's issues. The amount of utility Fezandipiti provides as a wall, pivot, status absorber, and status spreader is unparalleled among - let alone unranked mons - but all Fairy Pokemon.

I'll conclude with a replay that encapsulates everything that Fezandipiti does:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9monotype-2025635065?p2
In one battle, Fezandipiti knocks out Ceruledge, switches into Flutter Mane, brings Valiant in safely (getting a kill), switches into Spectrier, inflicts Toxic and stalls out Spectrier, switches into Flutter Mane again, brings my own Flutter in safely (getting another kill), and knocks out the opposing Flutter Mane at the end. Not bad for an unranked mon.

Thanks for reading.