Hi, here's my (still pretty early given how new the tier is) power rankings so far! I think I have a few unique thoughts about the meta and maybe there's a thing or two you could learn from it, so I'd appreciate a read!
S Tier
Nothing much that needs to be said here that nobody else hasn't already said, it's STAB being boosted by the Electric Terrain it sets itself is insane. Not quite Kyogre level, but it's also fast as hell. Specs is CRIMINALLY underrated for how good it is, Electro Drift/Draco/Overheat hits literally the entire tier and you still have a free moveslot for Volt Switch or U-Turn. Definitely the best set imo. Cm Parabolic sets are good, but a little bit overrated, as they usually have to choose between trying to beat Ting-Lu or Treads, not to mention being walled by the right Blissey set (or just tera ground blissey). Scarf Sets are decent utility but still kinda cucked by Bundle. I think the meta will develop towards trapping as time passes as people realize that Dugtrio can trap this thing relatively easily, only need a few percent damage to guarantee a kill (even through Tera). On the other hand, it's own Volt Switch or U-Turn combo forms an excellent pair with Bundle as well as trappers like Gothitelle, which is sure to become more common in the future. Honestly, Miraidon may be a bit too much to handle when Home comes out and we will have to dedicate more team slots to checking Arceus, Zacian-C, etc, but at the moment when it's possible to run Ting-Lu + other pseudo-checks and revenge killers, it's not overbearingly troublesome.
Koraidon loses the boost to its STAB that it Miraidon gets which does make him worse, but he somewhat makes up for it with his insane coverage. He also fits better on pure HO teams in my opinion, as the sun that he sets enables Flutter Mane and makes Bundle weaker, both of which are big boosts to those team structures. He has a more comfortable time fitting Swords Dance and Flame Charge together on one set, meaning he doesn't have to choose between boosting Speed or Attack as much as Mirai does. Stomping Tantrum is a heavily underrated coverage option that allows Korai to break past one of its most solid checks in Skeledirge (without the need to run Lefties Sub shenanigans), so I expect to see it more as the meta develops. Scarf sets are also really good on balances in my opinion, as the U-Turns that he can get allow for offensive teammates to take advantage of slow mons like Skeledirge and Scream Tail, and his high Speed allows some nice revenge kills on random stuff.
A+ Tier
An absolute staple for any team outside of HO, Corviknight keeps its place high on this list not just because it's basically the only good Defog user in the whole tier, but also because it manages to role compress checking a lot of dangerous threats into one mon. With a bit of Special Defense investment (96 Special Defense EVs with Leftovers guarentees a 3HKO from Shadow Ball), Corviknight makes for a really solid check to LO Flutter Mane, with the added bonus that Mirror Armor prevents Shadow Ball drops; even teching for Corviknight with Mystical Fire will only cause Flutter Mane to lose Special Attack instead! The bit of Special Defense investment and Leftovers also proves useful against Bundle, letting you comfortably taking mostly anything outside of Specs Hydro Pump. This still leaves 160 Def EVs with an Impish nature to give Corviknight solid Defense, letting it just barely check Jolly Chien-Pao as well as take on Treads. It's specific typing also gives it a lot of under-appreciated utility, being one of the only Ground-resists in the whole tier, and its Steel-type gives it a lot of random utility against mons. Most people have started running it this gen with Rocky Helmet and Body Press/U-Turn, but Iron Head is not to be underestimated as it destroys Flutter Mane. Even Drill Peck and Brave Bird are useful, as they still hit Flutter Mane hard while also acting as potentially useful Flying-type coverage against Great Tusk, so Corviknight's moveset is pretty customizable depending on your team's needs. It is true that Gholdengo is a pain in the ass for it, but Gholdengo does have it's own problems, and pairing Corviknight with Treads or Great Tusk is pretty reasonable.
This mon is one that likes to get shit on a lot, but I have one word for anyone that doubts me when I rank it this high: MIRAIDON. Yeah, your team with only Iron Treads as your sole Miraidon switch-in is bad when it just dies instantly to Overheat. Clodsire? Specs Draco into another just kills it (and Clodsire itself is easily trappable by Dugtrio).
Ting-Lu is the only good switch-in to the most powerful mon in the tier which instantly makes it really high on this list. In addition to this, Ting-Lu is actually just a beast defensively; 155/125/80 bulk with its ability just straight up makes it bulkier than Giratina, which is crazy. His defensive movepool is also quite good, coming with Ruination and Spikes means Ting-Lu is not passive at all, to not even mention that he still has base 110 attack Earthquakes to throw out. Of course, Ting-Lu's big flaw is that it doesn't have reliable recovery, forcing it to rely on Leftovers and Protect stalling. It can't even viably run Rest given that Electric Terrain will block it, and its reliance on Lefties makes Ting-Lu vulnerable to Toxic Spikes. Still, the mere fact that Ting-Lu can hard into Miraidon is too good to pass up on for any balance team; you also have to consider that Miraidon needs to throw out choice-locked Draco Meteors or Overheat to dent Ting-Lu, meaning that Ting-Lu in combination with another pseudo-check such as Treads or Blissey is pretty reliable, not to mention how he pairs well with Wish passers such as Scream Tail or Dacsbund. Ting-Lu's other utility movepool is relatively unexplored as well; with some Speed investment, Taunt becomes a very useful tool to keep hazards up against Corviknight switch-ins (who, by the way, their Defog that Ting-Lu attracts can be used to give powerful teammates like Chi-Yu a switch-in opportunity. Additionally, Ting-Lu's utility against Screens Teams is quite good, given that it is relatively free to set up some Spikes against Grimmsnarl without fear of being Taunted and can Ruination or even Whirlwind the incoming switch-in. Sure, he doesn't love taking a Play Rough if Grimm is packing it, but just being able to even get a spike vs. that type of playstyle can win you the game. Overall just a really solid mon that is hard to avoid when you make literally any non-HO team.
A crazy good mon with great stats and an amazing stab combo in Ghost/Fairy, resisted by nothing in the tier. Life Orb sets with Shadow Ball and Moonblast provide great breaking power and can revenge kill Koraidon and other mons easily if the sun is shining. Calm Mind and Psyshock are typically the last options to nail Blissey, but it wouldn't surprise me if Thunderbolt sets began popping up as a method to hit mixed defenses Corviknight. Its main limiting factor is simply that Shadow Ball's 80 power limits the breaking power, allowing stuff like the aforementioned mixed defenses Corviknight to exist. Specs looks alright, but I really think Flutter is the type of mon who wants to be switching moves a lot. Not much more to say, a fantastic mon that works great on both HOs and balances as a breaker and revenge killer.
This mon is like a crazy combination of Weavile and Galarian Darmanitan put together, he's nuts. Chien-Pao is probably the breaker in the tier with the most utility right now. Most people are familiar with the Life Orb SD set, which if given a chance to set-up can even straight-up one shot some Corviknights. It's good on HO but not amazing on balanced builds due to needing a rare chance to set-up, in addition to being Rocks weak, Spikes/TSpikes vulnerable, taking LO and Rocky Helmet recoil, etc. Non-HO structures are where Band really shines, functioning both as a fantastic breaker and revenge killer, giving it utility no one else has. Corviknight needs literally like 3% on it for Jolly Band sets to 2HKO without even using Terra. Ice Shard and Sucker Punch are great and strong revenge killing and cleaning options, both of which are runnable on Band which gives you maximum coverage against random teras. The fact that Ice Shard alone revenge kills Korai, Mirai, and Flutter Mane in one slot is just insane. Meanwhile, Brick Break can nail any strange Ice/Dark resists like Kingambit while also breaking screens. Chien-Pao works best when paired with momentum options like Corv, Mirai, or Korai's U-Turn to get in. Overall just an amazing mon that cannot be underestimated, it breaks and revenge kills everything.
A Tier
I don't know why some people were disappointed with it upon release, this thing is SICK. Ice/Water and access to Freeze Dry provides a STAB combo that is unresisted by everything in the tier (except the FC signature, Thick Fat Azumarill!). To top it off, it gets access to Flip Turn and a speed stat of 136 which just barely outspeeds Mirai, Korai, Flutter, and Chien-Pao, which also gets boosted in Terrain, giving amazing revenge killing utility. Heavy-Duty Boots sets are fun since they can make an easy momentum core with Miraidon and rid Bundle of its annoying Rocks weakness. I like those sets the best with Taunt by far, since their damage output can be quite disappointing, so preventing recovery on Corv or Blissey can be huge. My preferred set, though, is Specs, as it gives amazing breaking power, and helps Bundle's 124 Special Attack give it the extra boost it needs to sweep whole teams. Seriously, certain teams just straight up lose to Specs Freeze Dry or Hydro Pump, and Bundle as a whole is just a nightmare to reliably check in builder without Blissey. Compared to the A+ offensive mons, I think Bundle lacks some of the power and inability to be trapped by Dugtrio that Flutter Mane has, while Chien-Pao breaks fatter teams better and has better revenge killing abilities with priority.
The best Korai check you can run currently. Unaware is just such a broken ability, and Skele's access to WoW and reliable recovery makes him a fantastic user of defensive tera. Outside of checking Korai he's also notably the best check to Iron Valiant. He's not too passive either, since Torch Song and Hex can do some good damage, especially with some boosts or in Sun, and against weakened teams it makes Skele a wincon. I think Roar sets are highly underrated, especially as stuff like those SubLefties Korai sets are becoming more popular, and the combo of Unaware + Roar is a great panic button against stuff like that Stored Power Ostrich. Skele's flaws are that he enables some hard-to-check switch-ins off of Korai's U-Turn, and its hard to run Skele without also being weak to Great Tusk or Chi-Yu.
Defensive sets are ass but offensive sets are pretty beast, Headlong Rush and CC hit pretty much everything you want to hit. Access to Rapid Spin gives Tusk a great utility option, securing your squad better against Gholdengo or Glimmora teams, while Knock Off can smack those Air Balloon Gholdengos and greatly nerf stuff like Corviknight. If he gets his Attack boosted from the Sun, he's an absolute nightmare to switch into, and Rapid Spin's speed boost can even make him a great potential wincon.
Extremely strong mon that is massively underappreciated in the current metagame; Chi-Yu absolutely
DEMOLISHES the vast majority of teams right now, thanks to most squads simply having 0 checks to it. Seriously, in the Sun Chi-Yu unironically hits harder that Kyogre does; Specs will usually straight up one shot Koraidon switch-ins, which are a lot of team's sole Fire-resist. This isn't even a hard scenario to create either, as Chi-Yu can come in quite easily from Korai's U-Turn, and stuff like Corviknight or Skele can also be easy chances to come-in. The only reason that I don't rank it higher is that he's slow for Ubers current standards, and as such he doesn't do as well against HO teams. Chi-Yu only has two (sorta three) checks in the current meta: Umbrella Blissey, Dacsbund, and getting trapped by Dugtrio.
Speaking of Dugtrio, he's unironically great in the current metagame! Very underrated at the moment too. Trapping Miraidon is just an amazing ability to have, and he can Tera Ground to give him the extra power against trapped mons freaking out and popping their own tera. Since Dugtrio also runs Scarf, he makes for a good option against HO teams as well, despite trappers normally being bad options against offense. Dugtrio's reliability in trapping Miraidon allow you to run mons like Tusk and Clodsire much more reliably, especially since Miraidon typically needs to lower its own stats with Draco or Overheat to break first. Duggy's not seeing much use now due to people disliking trapping and not being used to tera with it, but I see Duggy as a mon that will see much more use as the meta develops over time; trapping is just too good to ignore.
A- Tier
Screens are just too valuable to hyper offense to ignore Grimmsnarl. They give offensive teams the chance to set-up against any random mon much more easily, especially in our current tera metagame, and Grimm is by far the best setter of them. Parting Shot is a cool new move that Grimm has, which allows you to get a lot of momentum, but I prefer Play Rough to smack Dark-types who may try to block your set-up. I put Grimm this high because I think offense is pretty damn good right now, and they're hard to ignore especially when tera (which inherently favors offense) allows so many dangerous set-up sweepers.
Insert wahhh mana loves Blissey quote here. Listen here fucko, Blissey, while a bit passive, quite simply just has insane role compression. She's prolly the only good Iron Bundle switch-in in the whole tier, and while Flip Turn is annoying, it doesn't do that much damage, and you at least have a mon that can take a Specs Hydro to face. Did I mention that Umbrella Blissey is one of the only good switch-ins to Chi-Yu in the entire tier? Also, Blissey can take on Flutter Mane quite well, although it depends on the set. Blissey ALSO functions as one of the better ways to deal with CM Parabolic Charge Miraidon sets, taking them on through Calm Mind sets or Tera Ground. She also has access to Rocks and Healing Wish, which are great options on balance squads to get some momentum or revive a dangerous sweeper such as Chien-Pao. For stall teams (which are definitely still viable), Blissey is literally the only cleric in the entire game, making her and integral part of those squads too.
Seriously this mon is so fucking stupid rofl, the ability is downright broken but it wouldn't be so good if he didn't also have the perfect combination of movepool and stats to top it off. Seriously, this fuck has access to EVERY hazard and his own signature Rapid Spin clone which also poisons, not even to mention that he has base 130 Special Attack (FOR WHAT REASON??). Currently I think he's definitely the best HO lead as it's almost impossible for this guy to not at least get 1 toxic spike down before he goes, and Mortal Spin prevents opposing pokemon from setting their own hazards against you (technically it can be blocked by Steel-types, but this also allows Glimmora to just sit there and spam more Spike layers or just hit shit for free). Power Gem and Earth Power are great neutral coverage options and hit stuff like Treads pretty nicely, while Memento or Explosion can be used to prevent Corv's Defog. Glimmora is kinda hard to run outside of pure HO imo, as he has no real defensive utility, but it's something to try in the future, especially as so many important mons in the tier are weak to Toxic Spikes.
A decent mon defensively that provides the best hazard control options in the tier thanks to its Steel/Ground typing giving immunity to Toxic Spikes and a 4X resist to Stealth Rock. EQ/Knock Off/Rocks/Rapid Spin lets you spin comfortably even on Gholdengo and provides Knock Off and Rocks support in one slot, which is quite nice. As a defensive option, the Special Defense or Speed boost you get in Terrain is pretty good and it makes opposing Miraidons have to guess between throwing out Draco to hit other mons or Overheat to hit Treads, and thus it makes your whole squad a lot safer vs. Mirai (as long as you use Treads in combination with other checks!). Treads can also work well enough against Flutter Mane since the Special Defense investment will be useful against it. Treads teams tend to be quite weak against Bundle as having likely 2 or 3 Water-weak pokemon such as Ting-Lu or Skeledirge is pretty hard to cover with the rest of your teammates.
Probably my most controversial placement yet, I think this lil dog is actually very solid due to two very important reasons. The first is that Dacsbund is probably the most reliable Korai switch-in at the moment, as Steel-type coverage is rare thanks to most Korai teching for Skeledirge, and its immunity to Fire-type moves makes it very hard for Korai to just power through with SD like Korai can vs Scream Tail. The second reason is
CHI-YU. Do you like losing to Chi-Yu? I don't like losing to Chi-Yu! This dog eats whatever Chi-Yu has to throw at it, literally eating tera Fire Overheat in Sun from Specs Chi-Yu and taking 0 from it, which is amazing. Dacsbund's pure Fairy-typing also gives it a resistance to Chi-Yu's Dark Pulse, so it really is just a great check to it overall. In terms of being passive, Dascbund definitely is a bit passive, but he has higher attacking stats than Scream Tail does, making Play Rough hit not that weak. Dacsbund also has a base 115 defense Body Press to throw around, which is significantly stronger than Corviknight's Body Press and can smack some switch-ins like Treads for good damage. Rocky Helmet is also a viable option to run on your item slot, and the Wish support Dascbund provides can get your Ting-Lu back to good HP. Dacsbund flaw in comparison to Scream Tail is that Scream Tail checks Great Tusk much better thanks to getting the defense boost in sun, and Scream Tail also has access to good utility moves with Stealth Rock, Twave or Perish Song.
Scream Tail is pretty passive but it has a big niche as by far the best check to Great Tusk in the tier. He also comes in and
usually checks Korai (although you can occasionally be cheesed) which gives you great role compression. I actually think Perish Song is a good option on it as it prevents Ting-Lu from setting hazards on you (you can switch over to Corv and Defog on the countdown Ting), and it will limit Korai and other mons from just sitting there and setting up in your face, but Rocks are of course always good. Rocky Helmet gotta be the best item to help you not be so passive. Overall I think this mon is hella underused rn which is why Great Tusk is breaking teams left and right.
I think Valiant is a pretty good HO sweeper, Booster Energy gives you easy Speed and SD + Spirit Break/CC breaks most of the tier bar Skeledirge and some other things like Pex. Tera Fairy can give you the power to beast through neutral defensive mons like the above Fairy-types. Your last moveslot is fairly flexible, Knock Off can be good as a way to at least cripple Skeledirge before switching out, while Shadow Sneak can prevent Flutter Mane in sun from revenge killing you.
Shadow Tag is actually broken and nobody is using Goth rn due to their distaste for it, but it will become used on higher level tour games down the road as it can trap most defensive mons easily. I'm not rating higher ATM since HO is quite good but I expect to see Goth go even higher in the future.
B+ Tier
A great option for HO teams, especially as its the only good offensive TSpikes absorber for them to run (outside of your own Glimmora). Agility Sets with Fiery Dance/Sludge Wave and Booster Energy are pretty good; after an Agility you outrun the whole tier and are resistant to Chien-Pao's Ice Shard. Needs some support if you want to get past Ting-Lu or Blissey.
I unironically think this thing is pretty good, its physical bulk is massive and its pure water-typing means its one of the few things that can comfortably switch into Great Tusk without toooooo much issue. Thanks to Unaware and Curse, Dondozo can actually just BODY offensive teams if/when Mirai is gone. No joke, I've won games where Dondozo has swept a whole team from 30% by just sitting there and setting up Curses while healing up with only Protect + Lefties. Earthquake is your best coverage option and it does a neat 50% to Mirai switch-ins, which is not bad at all. This mon has the same flaw as Ting-Lu which is not having reliable recovery, so he requires support such as T-Spikes absorption or Duggy trapping Mirai to function well. If you can manage that, then you'll get access to a very strong all-rounder unaware physical wall and potential wincon with curse.
Passive as FUCK since it lost Knock Off and Scald. Pex is still good though, Rocky Helmet + Regenerator can get the job done in a Knock Off-less meta and it provides a good check to Korai and Chien-Pao and Valiant and a lot of other things. Toxic Spikes are also just good so absorbing/setting them can be amazing depending on the matchup. Pex's ground weakness is definitely a major drain on it, letting stuff like Great Tusk go ham.
A good defensive mon, it's usually hard outclassed by Ting-Lu but it has a role on hard stall or when paired with Dugtrio to secure the Miraidon match-up. Clod absorbing T Spikes is really quite useful, and access to Toxic itself is a rare and useful move. Hard walls CM Parabolic Mirai which Ting can sometimes lose against. Clod unfortunately is completely vulnerable to Dugtrio, unable to do significant damage to hit and getting one shot by Earthquake.
An underrated HO lead that has a niche thanks to it having a fast Taunt, Spikes, Icy Wind, and a really good ability in Cursed Body (which has an over 50% chance of happening between two hits). Froslass notably can anti-lead Glimmora; while its not always reliable, Cursed Body can block Mortal Spin spam which lets you set up a Spike and keep it up, while Lass's special attacks and Taunt will prevent Glimmora from laying down its own hazards. Depending on their set though, you will occasionally just die to like Poison + Power Gem, so the whole MU can be a guessing game. Froslass being a Ghost-type also stops Rapid Spin from the elephants, definitely a nice trait to have.
B Tier
+
+
I think this is the best combination of Sand mons, Hippo can check Korai thanks to its massive physical bulk and setting sand which removes Orichalcum Pulse's boost. Garganacl is a beast in the sheets, it can check Flutter Mane reliably and its special bulk in sand is just insane. His ability is actually borked too, a complete immunity to status in addition to a Ghost resist is pretty damn good, not to mention he also has access to Recover. Houndstone just does Last Respects things, can be a bit gimmicky in the Ubers tier since Korai's sun will prevent your Sand Rush from being usable, but otherwise it can be extremely dangerous when some mons are down. It may be a good idea to pack a tera normal on a lot of your teams just so you at least have an option against a rampaging Houndstone.
Idk it just seems like it has pretty bad 4MSS, it can be pretty strong in Sun though it tends to get revenge killed easily. Tera Flying is a somewhat popular set since it can take advantage of Bpress/U-Turn Corvs, which is decent. No strong thoughts on this guy yet.
This mon looks so terrible holy shit, literally banana ice cream man. The ability is borked though! Gholdengo can struggle against Treads or Tusk teams which can Knock Off its Air Balloon then EQ it, so it's not great at preventing their spin. For defensive utility, it doesn't really do anything, so it can also be a not-very-useful-mon against HO. It can absolutely wreck havoc on unprepared balances though. I view this mon as pretty fishy at the moment, but it may end up being extremely good or really bad and I can't decide which yet!
Moody is broken and just autowins some games, even against offense. The only reason moody was legal in past gens was due to Glalie being absolutely terrible. With the right boosts it can be rly hard to deal with without phazing tbh, Leech Seed gives it great stalling ability.
B- Tier
Usually just a worse Chien-Pao IMO, its ability means you have to awkwardly get its normal form in the game first which can be annoying. In theory it breaks everything but half the time it comes out in Sun, and at other times you may be taking a billion % from Wave Crash or Rocky Helmets. I think Band Liquidation sets are the best and they are OK. Having a 60 BP priority move is at least pretty useful against HO, so you do have some general use against breaking balances and revenging offense.
Terra is pretty annoying for it. I never liked Ditto, it always seemed MU fishy to me, but the meta leaning offense with big dragons of course gives it a decent niche.
Weird mon, very hard for some teams without stuff like Toxic or Roar to deal with. You know what it's gonna do every time and can plan accordingly though. Kinda fishy mon.
C+ Tier
Awesome looking mon! It's low Speed and reliance on Sucker Punch are big factors limiting it. Truthfully, Supreme Overlord is a really damn good ability, but Kingambit has to rely on throwing out attacks that are at most 85 base power and without good neutral coverage. I think it has a place on some HO squads as a last mon, not just because of Supreme Overlord, but because it has good defensive bulk and type which can work well in screens and be useful against Flutter Mane and Ditto.
Potentially very dangerous but hard loses to Rocky Helmet Corv lmao. It also generally has a very hard time ever setting up. Tidy Up is an amazing move though!
Fast and ignores screens which is cool but it just seems eh
C Tier
Unironically I think it's barely viable, it's typing is OP and its special bulk is near-Magearna level. Gigaton/Knock/Rocks/Twave makes for a decent specially defensive set that can switch into Flutter Mane and Bundle pretty comfortably.
Just kinda mid stall mons.
I don't know guys, this thing doesn't seem that good? I guess it occasionally pops off hard, but most of the time you know exactly what its gonna do when it comes in, and it doesn't threaten shit. On Screens I'd rather use another sweep or suicide lead.
OK that's it for now may update later!
Ceruledge
Pawmot
Masquerain
Maushold
Slither Wing
Clodsire / Quagsire
Brute Bonnet
Dudunsparce
Slowking / Slowbro
Baxcalibur
Garchomp
Tyranitar
Wo-Chien
Armarouge
Meowscarada
Pelipper
Blissey / Chansey
Cloyster
Orthworm
Azumarill
Breloom
Iron Jugulis
Iron Hands
Palafin
Sandy Shocks
Spidops
Iron Thorns
Arboliva
Haxorus - (Mold Breaker is funny and it's seen some AG usage.)
Matchup fish
