Gen4 PU VR Update!
Now that the Classic is done, I am doing what I promised and updating the Gen4 VR to better reflect the current metagame. Here are the changes:
Victreebel A+ to S
Rhydon S to A+
Electabuzz A to A+
Misdreavus A to A+
Golduck from A+ to A
Kadabra from A+ to A
Pelipper from B+ to A
Metang A- to A
Glalie A to A-
Rapidash A to A-
Articuno B to A-
Mr. Mime B+ to A-
Sableye A to A-
Xatu B to A-
Bellossom A to A-
Relicanth A- to B+
Dragonair B to B+
Marowak from B to B+
Murkrow from B- to B
Tangela from B- to B
Lopunny B+ to B
Quagsire from B+ to B
Politoed C+ to B-
Voltorb added to C+
Furret added to C
"Boy Akir that sure is a lot!" It sure is! That is why this time I'm putting the reasoning down in hides.
edit: forgot to mention that Murkrow, Marowak, Tangela, and Quagsire also moved around
I don't expect to touch this for a while, but going into the future I do want to see more discussion over Roselia. I've been thinking a lot about the mon, but I want more opinions.
Now that the Classic is done, I am doing what I promised and updating the Gen4 VR to better reflect the current metagame. Here are the changes:
Victreebel A+ to S
Rhydon S to A+
Electabuzz A to A+
Misdreavus A to A+
Golduck from A+ to A
Kadabra from A+ to A
Pelipper from B+ to A
Metang A- to A
Glalie A to A-
Rapidash A to A-
Articuno B to A-
Mr. Mime B+ to A-
Sableye A to A-
Xatu B to A-
Bellossom A to A-
Relicanth A- to B+
Dragonair B to B+
Marowak from B to B+
Murkrow from B- to B
Tangela from B- to B
Lopunny B+ to B
Quagsire from B+ to B
Politoed C+ to B-
Voltorb added to C+
Furret added to C
"Boy Akir that sure is a lot!" It sure is! That is why this time I'm putting the reasoning down in hides.
- Victreebel is in an incredibly good spot at the moment. The Swords Dance set is the best wallbreaker in the tier, and the Chlorophyll set is one of the best sweepers in the tier. Mixed is also surprisingly potent, and Choice Scarf is a good surprise set for some decent KOs. The main things going for Victreebel at the moment are its versatility and its splashability. Victreebel is one of the best sweepers and the best wallbreaker at the same time, and it's nearly impossible to tell which set it is until Victreebel reveals what it is...usually by setting up the set, which means you have to immediately react to it. Also considering the fact that both of the sets have completely different sets of checks/counters, that means that the best way to deal with Victreebel is to take a gamble as to what it is and pray that you guessed correctly. Combine all of that with the fact that Victreebel can be casually thrown on to a wide variety of teams and still produce results and you have a mon that is the most threatening thing in the tier. Deserving of S imo.
- Usually in Gen4 PU, attackers are expected to either set up or have some form of utility in order to be popular. Electabuzz has neither, and it doesn't need to because of how difficult it is to deal with. There are very few mons that can reliably switch in on Electabuzz, and with good speed and good coverage Electabuzz is arguably the best AoA mon in the tier...only really rivaled by Purugly, who is also A+.
- Misdreavus has a Nasty Plot set that is the best special wallbreaker in the tier, and a Scarf set that is both effective while still providing a ton of utility to a team. Nasty Plot has extremely few walls that can beat it, and I feel like that is enough to warrant it. The Choice Scarf set also has grown in popularity due to the sheer amount of utility it provides while still being a good revenge killer. Trick, Memento, a fast Will-o-Wisp, Destiny Bond...the list goes on. There is also the fact that Misdreavus is immune to Ground, which is a blessing in a tier where Rhydon and Spikes are particularly potent.
- I waited for people to adjust to Pelipper, and some people did, but none of it was really effective enough to dissuade Pelipper from rising. A Water mon that also checks Waters with good coverage, recovery, and a fairly slow U-Turn makes Pelipper a great gluemon for a lot of teams.
- Metang is one of the more reliable tanks at the moment, being able to set Stealth Rocks and have ok bulk to take a few hits while doing it. Metang also has good power and coverage to remain an offensive threat at the same time. What really sells Metang, however, is the Steel typing. With this, Metang has a huge amount of resistances such as Normal, Psychic, an immunity to Poison, and so on that lets it checks huge threats like Muk, Mr. Mime, and Purugly. All of these things means that Metang is an easy mon to throw on a team. Provides Stealth Rocks while also being bulky enough to be reliable and having enough offensive prowess to pull its weight.
- Articuno is a very potent mon at the present stage of the metagame. Articuno is absurdly bulky with offensive stats to match. In fact, Articuno's stats are so solid that the Subroost set is a good wincon just because it is so difficult to dislodge at times. I did consider putting Articuno in A, however its splashability was what ultimately stopped me. In order to get the most out of Articuno, you basically have to base your team around it. Of course the weakness to Stealth Rocks is also a huge factor. Doesn't matter how bulky you are if you lose 50% of your health every time you come in.
- Mr. Mime is a Psychic mon, and Psychic is an incredibly good offensive type in the metagame. Lack of Dark and Steel mons means that Psychic is an easy attack to lock into for the Choice Scarf set, and Mime also has Focus Blast to deal with coverage. Mime also gets Healing Wish to heal back up a lot of the bulky threats in the tier for your team and Trick to cripple opposing walls, so there is plenty of utility options too. Nasty Plot and AoA are also very good sets.
- Xatu is in a similar boat to Mime: Psychic is good, and Xatu is Psychic. Xatu does have several assets that seperate it from Mime though, most notably Heat Wave and U-Turn. Xatu can therefore run a good Choice Scarf set, but with Roost Xatu can also run a good CM set as well. A versatile mon that is effective in what it does.
- Dragonair is extremely scary once it is set up. Realistically the only reliable switchin is Metang, but at +2 even Metang can be iffy. With 1 Dragon Dance, Dragonair hits like a truck with Outrage, which is nearly unresisted in the tier, and has Aqua Tail to hit some of the more physically bulky mons like Rhydon and Metang. Combine that with Extremespeed to bop Scarf mons, and you have a solid wincon. The only downside to Dragonair is that ideally you need 2 Dragon Dances in order to win, and that can be a lot to ask. In fact, 1 Dragon Dance can be difficult to get. Dragonair is not bulky, and without any dances it is also weak.
- Politoed is a reliable Water check. It has Encore and Perish Song too, so it has decent utility while still being decently powerful. Decent mon.
- Way to go Rhydon, you finally did it. The metagame is based heavily around beating Rhydon at the moment. If you can creep Rhydon, you do. If you can lure Rhydon, you do. Every team has a switchin specifically for Rhydon. There are a lot of arguments to be made that the fact that Rhydon has this much of an impact means that it is S, but that would assume that Rhydon is still effective. Rhydon is just not as effective as it once was, and a lot of people are moving on to other Stealth Rocks mons. Definitely still prepare for Rhydon though, as we prepare so much for a reason.
- It says a lot that Golduck is one of the best counters to Sun, to the point where I push it constantly, and a strong scarf mon AND a good wallbreaker with SubCM and it is still rarely used. The reason? It's actually pretty hard to put on a team. Golduck is not very splashable and doesn't provide much utility beyond what it uses itself. Because of this, most people prefer other scarfers or other wallbreakers. Still a great mon, but not quite as good as the new A+.
- Kadabra still hits like a truck, but its bulk is just too much of a burden to overcome. Kadabra is also a special wallbreaker that fails to break many special walls, like Lickilicky. It can push through with Encore, but then you don't have Substitute to help with the offense matchup. If Kadabra had 5 moveslots it would be better, but for now it just is not as effective as the other A+ mons.
- People prefer using Cacturne over Glalie. Because of the meta favoring the Cactus a lot at the moment, people would rather go with that over Glalie. More cactus = less reason to have a dedicated lead to Spikes. Outclassed as a Spikes setter, but still a great lead.
- Fire is just not that great of a type in Gen4 PU, so the fact that Rapidash even gets to A- says a lot about it. What it really comes down to is that Rapidash struggles to beat a lot of very common mons like Poliwrath and Pelipper, so the metagame does not favor poor Rapidash at all at the moment. The utlity is still really nice, and so is the speed, but Rapidash just is not as effective as it has been.
- Sableye is still a very good mon, but the metagame currently does not favor what Sableye provides. Sableye does have really good resists and immunities, but Sableye is so borderline to being bulky that a good number of neutral hits can 2HKO Sableye no problem. What's left is a mon that relies on resists that are just not in high demand at the moment.
- Bellossom has fallen far, but that's just how it goes. Bellossom does not really check any Waters anymore, at least not reliably, and there are other gluemons that can provide similar support better. There is also the fact that Bellossom is not very strong in on itself, so you are left with a mon that is a momentum sink that only provides okay support.
- Relicanth is a bulky mon that has no recovery. So while Relicanth's resists to Normal and Flying are appreciated, Relicanth just hates chip damage so much. Relicanth does have some really cool calcs going for it, like how LO Rhydon can 3HKO, but that requires Relicanth to not have any chip damage at all. Would be better if it had some recovery...then it would probably be one of the best mons in the tier. Rock Polish is also a difficult sweep to pull off, since it is stopped by mons like Poliwrath and Gastrodon and those mons are only on every team.
- Why use Lopunny when you can use Purugly? Encore is neat and so is Jump Kick, but not breaking the 105 benchmark and being fairly weak means that Lopunny cannot escape Purugly's shadow.
- Voltorb is the best lead Rain has, so I placed it with Onix. Voltorb is very fast for a lead too, so the Taunt + RD + Explosion is a very good start to a match. The only thing keeping Voltorb from being higher is how Rain is just not that great.
- Furret is a cool lead with some calcs going for it. Good speed and ok enough power means that Furret works as a pretty good Antilead that also has U-Turn.
- Actually just click this so Chrisloud can explain these mons.
edit: forgot to mention that Murkrow, Marowak, Tangela, and Quagsire also moved around
I don't expect to touch this for a while, but going into the future I do want to see more discussion over Roselia. I've been thinking a lot about the mon, but I want more opinions.
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