Resource National Dex Viability Rankings (Pre Tera Ban)

[HunterNeverHere9]

ngl yall hating on my son the buffs banette has been getting over generations has to be studied big stab move and sd + encore are good buffs. Encore imo is the reason you can even use this guy in ou to begin with. Banette also is a very good hazard blocker outside of it being a ghost type due to it having a very powerful move people never mention infestation + encore makes banette into a trapper even with the limited turns of trapping 165 attack and 110 bp stab is more then enough to get the trap so if you try and get a defog off thinking ur safe sure u get the defog but now you lost ur corv lando zap molt etc and the banette still has destiny bond + encore to stop set up. I havent played much at all since the zama ban which banette was a good answer to it but during that time the darks either had to trade with the banette or had to get it lower and finish it off with priority. So the issue is booster energy/terrain seed mons but worst case you still get the trade or force them into a status move and get a free switch. I do want to mention scizor has its a really good answer to the non willo variants but really fast banette still should be able to trade/prevent set up. This mon is super fucking niche and shouldnt just be slapped on to any team and there are better megas but banette has a role that no other mon can do what banette does only thing that comes close is iron valiant. PEOPLE OF NATDEX you should at least try and use mega banette. Yall think he is a destiny bond merchant in reality he is an encore merchant get into the gen 9 banette mind set not the gen 6 banette mind set!!!

wasn't hated on to begin with but was experimented with a lot. It has electivire syndrome, 4mss and smth I like to call honchkrow syndrome. Honchkrow syndrome is when X Mon is extremely fucking good on paper but in practice fails due to the insane number of checks. Electivire syndrome due to poltergeist(it's main stab) fails when the target is holding an item(where ppl are running booster and knock literally everywhere in this meta) and 4mss bc holy shit; poltergeist, shadow sneak, willo, encore, dbond, sd, taunt(maybe) like holy fuck. Also who tf runs infestation? You'd get threatened out by literally everything you try to trap or get voltturn'd on

 

[Vladimir Capuchin]

Lfg tangoat

Glory to big stall!

 

[It’s that breloom guy!]

UR -> C-/C
“Great, another gimmick mon being nominated for VR.”
No. Breloom is not a gimmick mon. Breloom serves an entirely unique role in the national dex ou meta with its own winning and losing matchups, and a form of handling (some) of its losing matchups. As Thatbreloomguy, I feel it is my job to show you all why breloom is an actual viable mon in ou and not just a silly gimmick.
I plan on giving a completely unbiased analysis on this pokemon, and I plan to do what the youngins’ call “yapping.” In national dex, breloom is RU, and its base stat total of 460 is the dictionary definition of MID. but brelooms role allows it to slowly wear down teams and snowball especially once its checks are gone (which sometimes he can rid of himself). Breloom’s main set has been dubbed by the community as ‘subspore,’ containing the moves spore, substitute, focus punch, and leech seed. This set runs toxic orb and poison heal to gain 1/8 of your health each turn, meaning once leech seed is up you heal 1/4, allowing you to spam substitute and whittle an opponent down (in dire situations of course, there is usually a better way to handle that bad of a matchup, or you could spore your opponent). The most optimal EV spread (which I made) is 144 speed EVs, jolly nature, and the rest in HP and defense. This allows it to outspeed 56 speed lando, and pretty much any other mon it would usually need to.

Matchups!!!
One of the most important components to making a pokemon viable in ou is seeing how it interacts with the other meta members of the tier. Breloom is an interesting case as it does have many bad matchups, but it’s good matchups snowball, as I mentioned earlier and will explain later. It is also worth mentioning that smogon is fake and won’t let me place a spoiler (most likely my internets fault), so they will be listed without a spoiler making this nomination look even longer than it already is.
Bad matchups :(
Hatterene - if your opponent has hatterene, do not send out breloom until it is dead. It magic bounces you status and quad resists focus punch. I need not say more.
sinistcha - same idea as hatterene unfortunately. Luckily, hardly anyone uses sinistcha (sorry medasus) or hatterene (sorry ironmonkey808), so while this is a problem for breloom, it isn’t necessarily everywhere.
iron crown - tachyon breaks sub and then hits you, psychic noise doesn’t care about sub and kills you anyways. Doesn’t switch into a spore or focus punch well though, so that’s always a plus.
tapu koko - tapu koko? More like, tapu nono, because electric terrain blocks spore! Still doesn’t want to switch into any focus punches though, and in order to run breloom you’re gonna want some form of terrain control.
Tapu lele - psychic move YOWCH, but I mean if you have a sub up you can spore it and leech seed it and substitute again and whatnot
mega Sableye and tangrowth - stall takes another victim

I could list poor matchups all day, but it’s all made better with the good matchups.
Good matchups YIPPEE
Landorus Therian - now introducing, the literal best pokemon in ou! Breloom comes in on landorus, outspeeds and spores. Or substitutes, because uturn is a roll to break it. Freely switches in on earthquakes or toxic, and just kinda does stuff, especially since if they don’t want to sleep they gotta hard switch.
H**tran - had to censor his name, he’s too oppressive to be spoken fully. The pivot god himself, h**tran, can not handle breloom at all. You outspeed and spore, substitute, focus punch and start wreaking havoc. They Tera grass? Try and substitute first to bait the Tera, they’re infinitely more likely to miss a magma storm than you are to run out of hp before it misses.
Ferrothorn - this one might be a stretch, only do it if it’s needed, you can stall out pp on gyro ball and start focus punching it, or if it teras you can drain it with leech seed.
Samurott-hisui - if you’re above 1400, you take any attack can spore and continue from there. Otherwise, it might be running aerial ace. I have learned this from experience, the low ladder experience.

wow those matchups are horrific, breloom doesn’t seem good, why in the world would you use it over like ogerpon wellspring or something idk
why you would use it over ogerpon wellspring or something idk
I lied, you can totally still use ogerpon, ogerpon is broken. The reason why you would use breloom over something else is to get an advantage state no other pokemon can provide. If you get breloom in safely on one of these good matchups, you can snowball quickly. This is something I’ve said multiple times already, but I never explained it, so let me explain. Once you get a substitute up, suddenly the majority of bad matchups become tolerable. Most teams lack the ability to break through breloom once it has a substitute, as it can put to sleep essential team members, break through even resists with focus punch, and heal more than you lose with leech seed. Replays will be provided later showing how breloom can whittle down entire teams with its unmatched advantage state. But first, I’m going to list team members.

good team members for the loomer
Toxapex - good synergy, if breloom is in trouble Toxapex can switch in unless your opponents name is Mr. John Psychic Type, and breloom can reliably switch in on landorus if it comes out against pex since uturn is risky if pex has rocky helmet.
Iron crown - actual definition of ‘if you can’t beat em join em,’ because while being a bad matchup for breloom, it’s also a lovely teammate and a reliable friend. Fighting a psychic type? AV crown. Fighting a fairy type? AV crown. Girlfriend cheated on you broke up with you and kicked you out of the house and you need a place to stay? AV crown, but in reality I know the majority of you don’t have girlfriends. Also something about momentum and volt switch, clean switches into breloom are amazing.
Tapu lele - insert second if you can’t beat em join em joke here, tapu lele is terrain control, breloom likes that, also with scarf it’s good speed control and can clean up after breloom puts the opponents team in a bad position.
Rillaboom - terrain control. More passive healing. Uturn momentum. Do we get the point? Only downside is common weaknesses and type overlap with grass.

damage calcs
here is me realizing the many, MANY damage calcs I had about 2 weeks ago have been deleted, and I have to waste more time redoing the calcs. This has nothing to do with breloom, I just hate my life. On a brighter side smogon is letting me put spoilers again.

Calcs

• 0 Atk Landorus-Therian U-turn vs. 252 HP / 112 Def Breloom: 73-87 (22.5 - 26.8%) -- 34.3% chance to 4HKO
• 0 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 112 Def Breloom: 78-93 (24 - 28.7%) -- 97.9% chance to 4HKO
• 252 Atk Wellspring Mask Ogerpon-Wellspring Superpower vs. 252 HP / 112 Def Breloom: 157-185 (48.4 - 57%) -- 91.8% chance to 2HKO
• 252 Atk Wellspring Mask Ogerpon-Wellspring Power Whip vs. 252 HP / 112 Def Breloom: 117-138 (36.1 - 42.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
• 252 Atk Wellspring Mask Ogerpon-Wellspring Ivy Cudgel vs. 252 HP / 112 Def Breloom: 97-115 (29.9 - 35.4%) -- 29.5% chance to 3HKO
• I totally forgot to list ogerpon in the good matchups, that matchup is good
• 252 Atk Black Glasses Sharpness Samurott-Hisui Ceaseless Edge vs. 252 HP / 112 Def Breloom: 89-105 (27.4 - 32.4%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
• 252 Atk Sharpness Samurott-Hisui Razor Shell vs. 252 HP / 112 Def Breloom: 84-100 (25.9 - 30.8%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
• +2 252 Atk Black Glasses Sharpness Samurott-Hisui Ceaseless Edge vs. 252 HP / 112 Def Breloom: 177-208 (54.6 - 64.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

this isn’t near all the calcs I had but I’m too lazy to redo them all I’ve already rewritten this essay of a nomination like twice. Anyways, what does zendaya’s only hit song and something I need to provide to prove breloom is good in high ladder play have in common? The word replay.
replays in high ladder woohoo ig
Please welcome my good pal spookycooke/smallspooks who helped get these replays!
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2163760186-ymky0hphj7blhmyrfrrvbza2f5qcac7pw
This first replay is more mid ladder, sorry for false advertising, but it proves a point and the rest of the replays are high ladder
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2163942143
Corvclod core is overrated, embrace breloom
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2163984709
I don’t remember what happens in this one I just know breloom wins

conclusion:
Breloom is the GOAT, and by goat I mean mid but still more viable in national dex than one initially assumes and deserves to be in the viability rankings. C would be cool but beggars can’t be choosers C- is fine.

special shoutout to ironm0nk3y808, he tried to help by promoting breloom on hyper offense, apparently it like 2hkos corv or something idk, other pokemon do hyper offense better though, nobody else can subspore quite like breloom.

update - apparently darkrai might get banned, which breloom also struggles with sometimes so uh yeah breloom is even better now vote breloom for president

 

[FLAREfofo]

What happened to Zard X, bro was fine wit gouge in the meta for a while, now he's unranked. Dd or sd scale shot are still solid sets, and it often beats the fires that would try to check Zard y.

 

[Moyashi]

What happened to Zard X, bro was fine wit gouge in the meta for a while, now he's unranked. Dd or sd scale shot are still solid sets, and it often beats the fires that would try to check Zard y.

I’d argue it was never really “fine” when gouging arrived. It was already fairly specific and not the most common before it came, but gouging kinda just does a much better job. Gouging is generally more versatile with access to both Tera and Z crystals, the latter of which make for a Mon that is nigh guaranteed a kill at minimum. It’s much easier to support than ZardX to boot.

 

[Sami]

I’d argue it was never really “fine” when gouging arrived. It was already fairly specific and not the most common before it came, but gouging kinda just does a much better job. Gouging is generally more versatile with access to both Tera and Z crystals, the latter of which make for a Mon that is nigh guaranteed a kill at minimum. It’s much easier to support than ZardX to boot.

Additionally, Mega Charizard X takes up a mega slot that could've been used for Mega Scizor on HO teams instead. The only real upside to Mega Charizard X is the higher speed stat outspeeding Scarf Tapu Lele and Urshifu after a boost, but this is minor compared to Protosynthesis, access to Tera or Z-Moves and the better bulk of Gouging Fire.

 

[sh0shin]

the eternal zard x problem of needing rocks off the field most of the time :( I want to believe but man it's a lot easier to run boots + defensive tera or z gouging

 

[about15gals]

to B-/B

many of the points i made in my last post still stand but since rai just got banned this tier has a generically fast specs breaker-sized hole in it that base latios can fix

levitate is good for spikes immunity

flip turn is broken

draco is funny and does damage

 

[Kyo]

to B-/B

We're working on another voting slate currently. As Latios is unranked, please edit some replays into your post within the next few days to support this nomination. We typically ask for 3 or more decent replays for consideration.

 

[Moyashi]

Well guess I'll drop some noms before I forget

A -> A+
This mon just keeps chugging along with zero signs of slowing down. The defensive profile it brings to offense is invaluable, and it being threatening in return is awesome. The things it checks in one slot is really nice, and being able to form pivoting cores through its Volt Switch with other mons (cough Lando cough), and It's also very disruptive to slower teams through its use of Psychic Noise, gives it value and use in a wide range of situations. Also CM sets are strong wincons still, although sometimes fishy if lacking the right moves. That's just a side though. This mon is a big part of the meta and deserves to rise.

B+ -> A-
Feels a good bit better with the more broken threats (Zama, Darkrai) removed and the general speed tier lowering which allows SD+Scale Shot to be more effective. Classic rocks sets are still good, and more defensive/utility sets still have solid merit.

B+ -> A-
Hazard stack offense good and Ham is a strong part of that. Customizable, efficient at generating progress, and surprisingly strong because of its high power moves thanks to Sharpness. Easy to underestimate how much damage it can do directly because of its relatively modest attack stat, but it's good. Great into LandoCrown which is very desirable. Not much else to say.

B -> B+
Brings a very unique profile to offensive structures with both strong offense and a useful defensive profile in certain match ups. Does feel a tad pidgeonholed into TB Ground because of Heatran existing, but generally this isn't the worst thing when it's able to blow through weakened teams with stabs+TB Ground late game. Good mon and I'm glad to see it getting recognized.

B+ -> B
Kart just isn't very consistent and it's not hard to see why. Offense packing fat threats like Gouging/Raging is bad enough as it makes Scarf unreliable and prone to giving free set up for both dragons, but it also just... doesn't check all that much it feels like.

B -> B-/C+
This mon just stinks honest to goodness. I know it has some ardent fans out there, but it's so inconsistent. Can't run non CB sets because Glide becomes too weak to revenge kill reliably, and also offense just tends to have too many things that aren't bothered by Glide. Very minimal defensive utility (and what utility there is tends to be flimsy like getting 2HKOd by Wellspring Power Whip), and it's just a mediocre at best grass that really should've dropped to UU ages ago.

B -> B-
Not that great tbh, checks MLop, MMedi and scarf Shifu but that just U-Turns so you don't even check it that well. Also annoying item conundrum (helmet leaves you easier to overpower with hazards, HDB means it doesn't punish phys attackers like it should). Just doesn't do much right now.

 

[thebestever543]

Well guess I'll drop some noms before I forget

A -> A+
This mon just keeps chugging along with zero signs of slowing down. The defensive profile it brings to offense is invaluable, and it being threatening in return is awesome. The things it checks in one slot is really nice, and being able to form pivoting cores through its Volt Switch with other mons (cough Lando cough), and It's also very disruptive to slower teams through its use of Psychic Noise, gives it value and use in a wide range of situations. Also CM sets are strong wincons still, although sometimes fishy if lacking the right moves. That's just a side though. This mon is a big part of the meta and deserves to rise.

B+ -> A-
Feels a good bit better with the more broken threats (Zama, Darkrai) removed and the general speed tier lowering which allows SD+Scale Shot to be more effective. Classic rocks sets are still good, and more defensive/utility sets still have solid merit.

B+ -> A-
Hazard stack offense good and Ham is a strong part of that. Customizable, efficient at generating progress, and surprisingly strong because of its high power moves thanks to Sharpness. Easy to underestimate how much damage it can do directly because of its relatively modest attack stat, but it's good. Great into LandoCrown which is very desirable. Not much else to say.

B -> B+
Brings a very unique profile to offensive structures with both strong offense and a useful defensive profile in certain match ups. Does feel a tad pidgeonholed into TB Ground because of Heatran existing, but generally this isn't the worst thing when it's able to blow through weakened teams with stabs+TB Ground late game. Good mon and I'm glad to see it getting recognized.

B+ -> B
Kart just isn't very consistent and it's not hard to see why. Offense packing fat threats like Gouging/Raging is bad enough as it makes Scarf unreliable and prone to giving free set up for both dragons, but it also just... doesn't check all that much it feels like.

B -> B-/C+
This mon just stinks honest to goodness. I know it has some ardent fans out there, but it's so inconsistent. Can't run non CB sets because Glide becomes too weak to revenge kill reliably, and also offense just tends to have too many things that aren't bothered by Glide. Very minimal defensive utility (and what utility there is tends to be flimsy like getting 2HKOd by Wellspring Power Whip), and it's just a mediocre at best grass that really should've dropped to UU ages ago.

B -> B-
Not that great tbh, checks MLop, MMedi and scarf Shifu but that just U-Turns so you don't even check it that well. Also annoying item conundrum (helmet leaves you easier to overpower with hazards, HDB means it doesn't punish phys attackers like it should). Just doesn't do much right now.

I agree with a lot of this, especially Garchomp which has gone under the radar since everyone is fixated on Landorus. I think B- Slowbro is an unfair take. Trick room sets being played on ladder have gone unnoticed in the tour scene. They are pretty solid at offering a way out against gouging from winning when Landorus gets too low. Slowbro can take +1 Z from gouging and setup trick room to make revenge killing it easier. Also worth noting, scald + psychic noise is really good into a lot of things. Most notably, pex if you run speed for it but other things like thorn and anything carrying leftovers honestly. Compared to its competitors, I think it adds unique offensive capabilities for your team, good anti-meta and a good way out against stupid sweepers in a meta where it’s difficult to check all of them defensively. For these reasons I think it’s a fine B tier mon.
+1 252+ Atk Gouging Fire Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 216+ Def Slowbro: 324-382 (82.2 - 96.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

 

[Nish the Great]

I agree with a lot of this, especially Garchomp which has gone under the radar since everyone is fixated on Landorus. I think B- Slowbro is an unfair take. Trick room sets being played on ladder have gone unnoticed in the tour scene. They are pretty solid at offering a way out against gouging from winning when Landorus gets too low. Slowbro can take +1 Z from gouging and setup trick room to make revenge killing it easier. Also worth noting, scald + psychic noise is really good into a lot of things. Most notably, pex if you run speed for it but other things like thorn and anything carrying leftovers honestly. Compared to its competitors, I think it adds unique offensive capabilities for your team, good anti-meta and a good way out against stupid sweepers in a meta where it’s difficult to check all of them defensively. For these reasons I think it’s a fine B tier mon.
+1 252+ Atk Gouging Fire Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 216+ Def Slowbro: 324-382 (82.2 - 96.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Seconding for TR slowbro, can screw offense up badly and futureports vs defence/stall. It’s main problem imo is it’s a physical water resist that’s especially weak to pon but it pairs well with stuff like rbolt anyways

 

[Kin+ak (✧∇✧)]

From UR to C


Glastrier is one of the Best TR mons of the tier and if TR was Better as a whole I'd nom It higher than C. Its great stats are often ignored Because of its very bad speed, but it is just unconventionally minmaxed. It has a great bulk for an offensive mon and an above average attack for a Pokémon that does not take up The Mega Spot. its weakness to rocks is not worth looking at as TR teams Most of The time Carry a hatterene with them. As of The set, Because not all sets are equally good, this is The best that I've found in current Meta:

Glastrier @ Loaded Dice
Level: 100
Brave Nature
Tera Type: Electric:electric:
Ability: Chilling Neigh
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
IVs: 0 Spe
- Icicle Spear
- High Horsepower
- Tera Blast
- Swords Dance

Tera Electric is currently The best Tera for Glastrier, offering free turns On The somewhat common Steel-type attackers that want to threaten The Horse. Tera Blast Electric also is a very useful tool for

+2 252+ Atk Tera Electric Glastrier Tera Blast (80 BP) vs. 4 HP / 252+ Def Alomomola: 518-612 (109.7 - 129.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+2 252+ Atk Tera Electric Glastrier Tera Blast (80 BP) vs. 248 HP / 184+ Def Corviknight: 458-540 (114.7 - 135.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Both of which are common counters to physical attackers, and Pokémon On whom it is easy to setup a swords dance either when facing them Or On switch-in, guaranteeing yet another attack boost.

The Ice-Electric-Ground Combo is by the way only resisted by Rotom-H and Balloon Magnezone, both unsignificant in the tier. Its bulk also lets it take big hits outside of Trick room, digging more holes until Switch out

252 Atk Great Tusk Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Glastrier: 314-372 (77.9 - 92.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Tera Electric Glastrier: 282-332 (69.9 - 82.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

This leads me to Think that Glastrier's great efficiency in practice makes it worthy of the VR, especially in the same rank As Manaphy, Tapu Bulu Or Hydreigon


Glastrier Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2189319833-icw64cciiu9e0kyykgq93yigpsojf6apw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2189314604-n9t78mgci5h7gvpw4j6pi3w26jr8fl8pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2189316153-qb5jbnwo8fyc45skwqkz4oujoigibb0pw

 

[Kyo]

New VR update, now with contributions from seth!

New:
None

Rises:
Ogerpon-Wellspring: A+ -> S-
Iron Crown: A -> A+
Dragonite: A- -> A
Garaganacl: A- -> A
Iron Valiant: A- -> A
Garchomp: B+ -> A-
Samurott-Hisui: B+ -> A-
Zapdos: B+ -> A-
Iron Moth: B -> A-
Serperior: B -> B+
Iron Treads: C+ -> B-
Clodsire: C -> C+
Glimmora: C -> C+
Victini: C -> C+
Primarina: C- -> C

Drops:
Gliscor: A+ -> A
Heatran: A+ -> A
Slowking-Galar: A+ -> A
Lopunny-Mega: A -> A-
Swampert-Mega: A- -> B+
Tornadus-Therian: A- -> B+
Weavile: A- -> B+
Kartana: B+ -> B
Latios-Mega: B+ -> B
Mawile-Mega: B+ -> B
Dondozo: B- -> C+
Kommo-o: B- -> C+
Venusaur-Mega: B- -> C+
Rotom-Wash: B- -> C
Ogerpon: C+ -> C
Pecharunt: C+ -> C
Skeledirge: C+ -> C
Celesteela: C -> C-
Tapu-Bulu: C -> C-
Tapu-Fini: C -> C-
Greninja-Ash: C- -> UR

Lot of high-tier threats moving ranks in this update, check out the full voting doc here.

 

[Gottycatcheymall]

damn i called a lot of these on my vr

 

[Kin+ak (✧∇✧)]

New:
None

It Was dumb anyways

 

[Kadiro]

I dont get it, why is kartana so mid?? I always thought that, at least, the scarf set would be good in any metagame ever

 

[Sami]

I dont get it, why is kartana so mid?? I always thought that, at least, the scarf set would be good in any metagame ever

Raging Bolt and Gouging Fire abuses Choice Scarf locked into Leaf Blade extremely hard, as well as other Pokemon like Kyurem, Iron Crown and Dragonite. There are better speed control options like Urshifu-R or Tapu Lele that either have pivoting to avoid these bad situations from happening or don't struggle against those threats in particular (barring Iron Crown), while Kartana still struggles somewhat against Steel types.

 

[Dahness]

I dont get it, why is kartana so mid?? I always thought that, at least, the scarf set would be good in any metagame ever

as sami said, you got stuff like rbolt and gfire abusing the hell out of the poor thing, it also has an insanely tough matchup against zapdos,corviknight, yard, and also can have a bit of a tough time against crown.The meta is hella powercrept rn, so any speed control outside of lele and shifu is gonna always make ur team lack in that department

 

[It’s that breloom guy!]

New:
None

well can’t say I didn’t try

 

[Sputnik]

Couple of things

A- -> A

I'm very high on Mega Diancie right now. This Pokemon has multiple things going for it that make it quite threatening right now. It does very well in this offensive metagame due to its useful speed tier and the fact that many Pokemon struggle to set up on it directly. Its coverage is great for the metagame as well, but what really sets it up for success is its access to both Spikes and Stealth Rock. This makes it a good option to slot on many offenses, especially the Spiker variant, as Spikes are (in my opinion) completely fucking broken right now. The SubEndeavor set is also a very good hyper offense lead, which is a very useful role right now. Breakers that hit hard and fast are extremely useful at the moment, and Mega Diancie's utility as a hazard setter is just icing on the cake, as is its ability to deny hazards against many common Stealth Rock and Spikes users if you play it intelligently and either pivot it in or get a double switch. This is a meta that rewards aggressive play like that anyway in my opinion. Really good mon.

B+ -> A
I...hate this mon. We have several dangerous sweepers and wincons, sure, but a lot of them are at least semi-predictable. Waterpon is gonna SD. Gouging is gonna DD, Raging Bolt is gonna Calm Mind, etc. I know a lot of these can run different items, and subtly different movesets, but the general theory of these Pokemon is generally the same. This is not the case with Kyurem. Tera and new additions like Loaded Dice and Scale Shot have turned this into a multi-faceted threat that can run multiple different things. It can run 3a Dragon Dance. It can run Specs. It can run SubRoost, or SubTect, or maybe even SubRoostTect idk. It can run SubDD, RoostDD, and SubRoostDD. 3a Dragon Dance can run Tera Ground or Tera Fire. There are mixed sets that can run every mix of physical and special moves you can think of. You could probably kill offense with Scarf if you really wanted to. I've seen Loaded Dice, Heavy-Duty Boots, Z Moves, Weakness Policy, Leftovers, you name it. Some of these are "worse" than other sets (DD+3a is the best set overall imo) but if you guess wrong, even for one turn, you can just lose. Especially with Tera. Fitting a counter for every set onto your team is exceedingly challenging, and its good speed tier and threat profile means that it can find opportunities against many teams, especially since Landorus-T and Gliscor are on every other team and then some. Put some respect on his name; this mon is broken.

 

[Sami]

Grass-types are cool, but not these two in my opinion.


B -> B-/C+

Really not liking this Pokemon right now. Grassy Terrain feels awkward to play with since adding a Ground-type becomes a bigger nuisance due to the weakened Earthquake, meaning that, for example, your own Landorus-T can no longer reliably beat Gouging Fire, which it needs to check on behalf of Rillaboom, because it doesn't deal enough damage to threaten it, while the latter can just boost against it before nuking. Rillaboom's Grassy Glide even with Tera Grass (which is a major commitment) doesn't pick up any major KOs even against hyper offense builds which use Pokemon like Iron Moth, Raging Bolt, Dragonite and Iron Crown, and Tera Steel users like Urshifu-R, which completely invalidates this form of priority. Combine this with Rillaboom's mediocre defensive utility (it doesn't usually have enough bulk to withstand Rain or even Ogerpon-W for very long) and it's difficulty breaking defensive cores including Zapdos, Corviknight and Ferrothorn, and this Pokemon just feels underwhelming in a lot of categories. Even if it has solid synergy with Gouging Fire, Kartana and Raging Bolt, I'd rather use the aforementioned Kartana or Ogerpon-W to fit such a role, while those two offer more in terms of breaking power, speed and defensive utility.


B- -> C+

I haven't seen this mon in a very long time, and when I do see it, it doesn't do much. I'd rather use Ogerpon over it, since Defiant is much more reliable at punishing Landorus-T than Triple Axel is, and not being quad-weak to U-Turn is very useful in that exchange (since Meowscarada basically dies if it doesn't hit all three axels). If you're running hazards instead, aka what differentiates it from Ogerpon besides the speed (which is circumvented by Tera Grass anyways), then breaking through targets like Zapdos and Tornadus-T becomes a chore, and while Ogerpon doesn't do the best against them, it at least has more firepower in Ivy Cudgel than compared to Flower Trick; speaking of, is a pretty mediocre move considering the only Pokemon to boost it's defense resists it anyways, while also outspeeding Meowscarada, which it and many other offensive threats do. I haven't seen it much, it doesn't seem to do anything notable compared to Ogerpon, which it, Glimmora and Kommo-O feel better to use than Meowscarada.

 

[Sami]

UR --> C-

 I mean, Gouging Fire'e gone now, and like, that was the main thing holding it from being viable, and even then it was still on the VR when Gouging Fire was around, and its not like it doesn't have any advantages compared to Gouging, since it still outspeeds Scarf Lele and Urshifu after Dragon Dance, and base Charizard is still useful to setup on Ground-types like Landorus-T or Gliscor. I'm just saying chat, he might be back...

 

[Mimikyu Stardust]

Brambleghast
UR - > B

If you have not been following NDPL so far, I am currently 5-0 in the tournament by week 5, and 3/5 of those wins are with Brambleghast Tailwind teams. This is something that i originally loaded as a joke because... its tailwind and i just wanted to dick around for 1 week, but then it won. again. and again. and it dawned on me that the only pokemon on the viability rankings that can tank a hit after 1 layer of hazard or kill it first beforehand are......

Weavile

Torkoal

Tangrowth

Hydreigon

Dragonite

Do tell if i missed anything but these are pretty much the only 5 pokemon who can live Life Orb Tera Ghost Poltergeist/Power Whip from full after 1 layer of hazard under tailwind, even pokemon like physdef ferro, archaludon, physdef mega scizor DIES to it. Coming from SV OU, brambleghast is terrible because its too easy too wall, with stuff like kingambit being everywhere, zamazenta and the fact that fat balance isnt complete trash, you don't really have to prepare againts it to do well vs it, not to mention the fact that tera is much more valuable so having a dedicated tera sweeper in brambleghast isn't too wise, however.... those issues that it face in SV OU, doesn't really exist in NDSV OU

To explain what Brambleghast actually does, its an extremely strong physical attacker with the best stab move in current gen OU. As i've mentioned before only 5 pokemon in the entire VR (+ bisharp) can wall poltergeist + power whip. Priority moves are usually an issue but brambleghast also has an insanely strong shadow sneak that can comfortably 2hko physdef invested raging bolt and urshifu rapid strike WITHOUT hazards.

Of course you need to run it with tailwind, while in the replays below i use dedicated tailwind teams, you don't really have to do that, plenty of pokemon can run tailwind and corviknight is already a great pokemon in current meta with the ability on either side of the defenses, just run laggin tail for that slow u-turn and you can claim 1 free kill with brambleghast. Bramble also has an oddly great defensive typing, it hard walls zapdos, resist raging bolt, lando-t, gliscor, ogerpon-wellspring, urshifu and blocks rapid spin so getting it in isnt as hard as one might think, and if you have a pivot its that much easier.

Here are the replays:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nationaldex-791556
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nationaldex-793278
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nationaldex-794436

in all of those games bramble FARMED hard, now one might say that i got a good matchup or that their team is not prepared for brambleghast. To reiterate, ONLY 5 pokemon in the entire VR can live ONE hit after hazards comfortably, if not then they just die, so using bramble with spikes support just negates that. Another thing is, OU doesn't really have ghost resist, banette and ceruledge are not that good of pokemon and theyre much easier to handle with something like landorus due to their middling power, brambleghast not only has higher power and defensive typing, but speed too because of tailwind. Not to mention, the fact that you NEED to prepare for it lest you just die, means that the pokemon is so strong that you need to specifically carry counter measures for it unless you want to lose.

Oh and if ur thinking "Just run booster spam, it can't use poltergeist then lol" well for one booster spam isnt that good in ND OU, and two, just run tera blast, u only need 3 moves on this thing anyways and since you almost always tera, just run tera blast as a secondary stab for booster spam, and you still ohko p much everything. Rapid Spin, Spikes and Strength Sap are nice but you really don't need utility when you can just kill everything in 2 turns.

So yea running this on full tailwind or semi tailwind with corv + spikes is honestly an extremely viable strategy, definetly better than iron boulder.


oh also mini nom UR -> C. u dont need torn for it but on full tailwind its really good, so i think it deserve a low rank on the vr + good speed tier for ogerpon and also really strong hurricanes.

 

[unglitchedlatios8]

View attachment 492220
Lovely VR art by Gravity Monkey
​

Viability Rankings

Welcome to the first edition of the Generation 9 National Dex Viability Rankings! In this thread, we as a community, overlooked by a unique council, will attempt to rank every viable Pokemon in various ranks. Please be encouraged to post your thoughts on the viability of Pokemon in this thread!

Ranks

Pokemon will be ranked in descending order; there is no divide in viability inbetween ranks. There is no differentiation in offensive and defensive Pokemon. Toxapex may be A+ for its defensive utility, while Hydreigon may be A+ for its capabilities as a wallbreaker.

VR Council

The VR Council is made up of respected and active users in National Dex. They will have the final say on where Pokemon get ranked. Here is the current VR Council:

• Kyo
• hidin
• Solaros & Lunaris
• ChrisPBacon
• seth
• peap
• sealoo
• Lameflame
• omarsgarciav

S Rank

S
Landorus-Therian

S-
Ogerpon-Wellspring

A Rank

A+
Ferrothorn
Iron Crown
Raging Bolt
Tapu Lele
Urshifu-RS

A
Dragonite
Garganacl
Gliscor
Heatran
Iron Valiant
Medicham-Mega
Slowking-Galar
Tapu Koko
Toxapex
Volcarona

A-
Archaludon
Barraskewda
Charizard-Mega-Y
Diancie-Mega
Garchomp
Iron Moth
Lopunny-Mega
Pelipper
Samurott-Hisui
Tyranitar-Mega
Zapdos

B Rank

B+
Alomomola
Great Tusk
Kyurem
Ogerpon-Cornerstone
Scizor-Mega
Serperior
Swampert-Mega
Tornadus-Therian
Ursaluna
Weavile

B
Clefable
Corviknight
Hawlucha
Kartana
Latias-Mega
Latios-Mega
Mawile-Mega
Rillaboom
Slowbro
Ting-Lu

B-
Cinderace
Iron Boulder
Iron Treads
Meowscarada
Tangrowth

C Rank

C+
Blissey
Ceruledge
Clodsire
Dondozo
Glimmora
Kommo-o
Moltres
Venusaur-Mega
Victini

C
Chansey
Excadrill
Grimmsnarl
Hatterene
Hydreigon
Manaphy
Ogerpon
Pecharunt
Primarina
Ribombee
Rotom-Wash
Skarmory
Skeledirge
Torkoal

C-
Celesteela
Cresselia
Enamorus
Gyarados-Mega
Hippowdon
Hoopa-Unbound
Iron Hands
Sinistcha
Tapu Bulu
Tapu Fini
Volcanion


Guidelines

There are some guidelines to keep in mind before posting here. We want to foster intelligent discussion, not unfounded arguments. Please keep these things in mind:

• Posts like "I think X Pokemon should be in Y Rank" will be deleted; make sure to back your opinion with facts and an actual analysis of the metagame.
• Adding onto the above, I would simply like to point out that, while usage stats may be used to support your argument, they should not be the basis of your argument. Saying something along the lines of "X Pokemon is not used often, so it should drop" or "X Pokemon is used very often, but it isn't ranked very high, it should rise" are not valid arguments.
• You shouldn't merely state the obvious things either. We know that Galarian Darmanitan has access to a very strong STAB Icicle Crash combined with good coverage options. We are far more interested in knowing what meta trends may favor Galarian Darmanitan.
• Replays are mandatory to support a nomination if a Pokemon is Unranked.
• This is not the place for personal attacks. Not everyone agrees on the viability of Pokemon, and that is no reason to attack them. Any posts that do attack users will be swiftly deleted and met with an infraction.
• This is not the thread to talk about suspect tests. One liners also have no place here. Both will be deleted and may be met with an infraction on repeated offense.

Barraskewda sdouldn't be in A- rank.Barraskewda is highly repetitive to floatzel and Basculegion. Both floatzel and Basculegion have a way much higher-powered wave crash compared to Barraskewda's liqiudation. The only advantage of Barraskewda is the mere speed and attack advantage.
First, the speed.
By comparing the speed of Barraskewda, floatzel , and Basculegion(speed IV 31):
Barraskewda 252speed3(under rain there is no need for +speed nature)-371(under rain 742)
Floatzel 252speed-329(under rain 658）
Basculegion 252+speed-255(under rain 560)
Compared with other fast pokemon:
+1speed 252+speed greninja-565
+2speed ceruledge 252+speed-590
quark drive 22+speed iron boulder-571
252+speed choice scarf tapu koko-591
252+speed choice scarf weavile-523
252+speed choice scarf tapu lele-475
quark drive 252+speed iron valiant-546
+1 252+speed dragonite-426

from above we can see that there is little threats that have speed above 600. The slight speed boost doesn't actually show many response. Floatzel and Barraskewda basiclly have the same speed compared to others:faster.Only Basculegion is slightly slower taht actually makes a difference.

Next, the attack boost VS wave crash:
252+ Atk Choice Band Tera Water Floatzel Wave Crash vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mew in Rain: 554-654 (162.4 - 191.7%)
252 Atk Choice Band Tera Water Basculegion Wave Crash vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mew in Rain: 530-624 (155.4 - 182.9%)(why not +Atk explained before)
252+ Atk Choice Band Tera Water Barraskewda Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mew in Rain: 440-518 (129 - 151.9%)
Very easily explained how wave crash is stronger than the attack boost

Another problem is that barraskewda is actually frailer.
Barraskewda has a bulk of 61/60/51
floatzel has a bulk of 85/55/50
Basculegion has a bulk of 120/65/75

having a better bulk means being able to survive more hits and do more damage. There is no restriction on that floatzel and basculegion must use wave crash. Better bulk also can help to not be OHKOed by priority moves better

Finally the typing. Both Barraskewda and floatzel are pure water, while basculegion is a water and ghost type. So what we are comparing is how a ghost type benefits more. You get a fighting and normal immunity. This is very good at preventing priority moves such as Extreme Speed and Mach Punch

By comparing how Barrasweda is to floatzel and Basculegion, it is ovious Barrasweda shouldn't be in A- when Floatzel and Basculegion isn't even on the list.

Last word: if you don't agree with me, yo can discuss friendly-don't be mean: I did a lot of comparision to get to this.