Project SV NU Personal Viability Rankings Discussion

[Ac1D]

This meta is about to get shaken up again in a few days, so I thought I'd put my final personal VR together just for fun. I'll be giving explanations for some mons that I want to touch on. (NONE OF THIS IS ORDERED)

Between its ability to wall almost everything, threatening Toxic on other bulky walls and provide Wish support, it's really damn good. With Tera Poison especially it becomes really annoying as it turns its common weaknesses into resistances and makes Toxic 100% accurate. Love using it but hate playing against it.

Both amazing fighting types at the moment. Flamigo has an insane STAB combination and can pivot (also has recovery if you want that), whereas Aqua Tauros has an incredible ability in Intimidate, is faster, and has a solid defensive typing. These two are amazing Choice item users and Aqua Tauros can even go the setup route with Bulk Up. Definitely the most defining fighters right now.

Might be wondering why it's in A+ instead of S, but it's just mainly down to what I define as an S rank mon. I see S ranks as mons who are very good at what they do and are very splashable. Toxtricity is certainly very strong, but it's quite slow and not that bulky, which in my opinion offsets it to the point where it is not an S rank pokemon as sometimes you would rather have a faster breaker. In my opinion, a pokemon does not have to be S rank to be considered "broken".

It's probably because I'm a noob but I still hate playing against this guy. It was definitely overshadowed by Snorlax (cuz he's fat lol) so it's usage has been quite low recently, but it's still a very threatening bulky wincon. Notably it has more reliable recovery than Snorlax and also has higher speed as well as a higher chance to cause paralysis with Body Slam, which can be used to speed creep many mons after they have become paralysed. It can also flip the script only physical walls with it's Calm Mind variant. It is far more vulnerable to status than Snorlax is, meaning you have to play more carefully with it but it is often very deadly. I'd probably put it higher, but it has dipped a lot in usage so I'll leave it in A for right now.

I honestly think it is very possible that these two coexist together because of their difference in roles. Alolan Decidueye is a lot more threatening offensively because of it's very strong STAB move in Poltergeist, where it can Tera Ghost too boost its power while also powering up it's strong priority in Shadow Sneak. Hisuian Decidueye however has solid defensive merit, with its crazy signature move Triple Arrows and Knock Off resistance. It notably checks mons like Brute Bonnet and Copperajah very well, which Alolan Decidueye can struggle to do.

I'm ngl I thought this mon was complete trash , but I have been playing on the high ladder against this mon and it's very annoying. Now that stuff like Piloswine and Glastrier are a lot less common it can utilise it's defensive typing much better while also spreading burns making it a pretty solid Defog mon. Don't use Perish Trap though it sucks.

"omg is this guy still coping with conda, give it a rest". Listen just hear me out. Sandaconda is not an amazing pick my any means right now as it is very exploitable with Rest and invites a lot of very threatening mons in easily, making Stealth Rock users such as Palossand more ideal. HOWEVER, there is one thing that Sandaconda has which is really important. It is one of the only mons in this tier which has a 100000-0 matchup against Umbreon (provided it has Coil obviously) as it doesn't care about status and Umbreon is not hitting it hard at all with Foul Play. As a Coil user in general it is still quite decent, maybe even a bit overlooked but obviously very specific.

In terms of notable NFEs not on here:
Duraludon -> A-
Rhydon -> A-
Porygon2 -> idk but maybe B- or smth

Probably a lot to disagree with as I am definitely overrating and underrating a lot of mons but who cares lol. If you got any additional questions hit me up in NU discord or if you see me in the PS room. S/O to WilhelmTheOkay as always for making this.

 

[Shengineer]

I agree with a lot of what Ac1D_13 said with his rankings, I also thought it would be funny to mention that the best team Shagg51 and I each came up with independently uses all five of the S-tier mons, plus Tsareena the best spinner. Good removal is so hard to come by in this meta, and that always feels like my biggest constraint when buliding a team. Also, I'm particularly fond of Umbreon and its ability to wear down its foes while keeping its team healthy, I find it difficult to build a team without one.

 

[WilhelmTheOkay]

Not sure of I should keep making these but I’ll at least do this one given how much the tier has changed.

New Tiermaker

lmk if anything should be added

 

[Lucario]

ty WilhelmTheOkay for the tiermaker :D
Everything is ordered within their respective rank

Pre-Terrak Ban

This is a very fun meta

e: Terrak and Intel got banned, so my list updated a bunch, here's the new version.

 

[Jeremopolis]

Here is a list from my perspective as a casual, low ladder player who only started playing gen 9 NU at the beginning of december. I pilot offense mainly so that has influenced my placements i'm sure. I am enjoying the meta a lot now that rain and the shell smashers are gone. Here are the specific new mons i want to touch on:

Most of the time I fight this thing i have had a flash cannon duraladon on my team, so it gets oneshot provided it has not used calm mind yet. But the times duraladon is dead this thing is almost always going to get at least one kill, depending on their luck with diamond storm. It's a snail so it's vulnerable to revenge killing from almost anything, but lucky defense boosts from diamond storm can make it really tough to handle, and nigh impossible to oneshot even without any boosts- while it threatens quite a bit. I don't think it needs banned, but the setup from calm mind and/or diamond storm can be very obnoxious so i would understand if it ended up banned.

This guy is really strong without being insufferable or unkillable. If it's physical, it's probably going to live a hit, strength sap, and then wall. Even if whatever physical mon it switched into leaves, the sludge bombs chunk for a suprisingly high amount. Just an overall great mon that handles a lot of top physical threats unless they stock a specific move for it like zen headbutt on pauros.

Three new special attackers who are all quite good. All three of these mons are very powerful and have enough variation with their sets that when one switches in, you can't always know exactly what move it will click, or what item it might have, without any of them being unkillable or unwallable. I would include glowbro in this group, but quick draw sets, while managable, are quite annoying, so i don't think he is as healthy as these three.

He's everywhere, and it makes sense. Very splashable, very versatile, while not being fast, bulky, or powerful enough to be overpowered in my opinion. I hope he sticks around.

I don't see the fuss about this guy, this may just be low ladder/myself not knowing how to abuse him to full extent. Even after a bulk up i don't think he threatens to OHKO many things neutrally, meanwhile he is still threatened to be 2 hit ko'd by many things. I understand the snorlax comparison (who I have barely seen) but he feels more like a sidegrade rather than an upgrade due to worse typing. Maybe it's just the kind of teams i'm using or poor teams i put him on, but i don't see the cries to ban him as warranted.

This is another mon I wouldn't be surprised to see banned honestly, due to the power that comes from booster energy and dragon dance. However even after a single boost he is not unwallable nor unable to be revenge killed. I also have simply not seen as many since the rain ban, he could still be crazy.

Really solid. Threatens powerful brave birds while being fast enough to not make scarf nigh-mandatory like flamigo. Not to say he is a direct upgrade however, I see him as a sidegrade with enough differentiating him from flamigo to be worth using or considering.

I have been seeing more scarf boar recently, and with scarf he outspeeds all unscarfed/ unboosted mons besides jolteon and electrode- and the flare blitz damage is powerful. Access to knock off and sucker punch are also welcome. Definitely flawed and vulnerable but the power has to be respected and I would not be surprised to see more experimenting with him. The extra power gained compared to fire pauros is worth the speed drop in my opinion.

*Edit*

Forgot this guy since he has been out a little longer than the jan 1st tier shift mons. I love him. I personally don't really like the iron press set, i love him as a general special threat. I find whenever I send him out people just start playing worse, eating lots of OHKO draco meteors or flash cannons when they want to switch in a fairy. I could honestly write an essay on how much I enjoy this mon. He is powerful both offensively and defensively with utility to boot, by far my favorite rocks setter in the tier.

 

[Pika134]

Here is my tier list of the current metagame.

 

[Shadow Crystal]

My thoughts of the current meta. Some might be Hot takes but these are mine thoughts of the meta rn. Everything till A+ is arranged in order.

Some takes are

Melo is still cracked as it was last month imo. Its simply too good at its role thanks to its versataility and incredible movepool. Last Month I mainly ran CM sets but this month I truely came to appreciate how amazing support melo are. offensive AV Melo is my favorite utility set but boots, bulky AV are great aswell.It almost never feels useless. Offensive sets are great aswell. Special shotouts to sub CM melo which is my favorite melo set in general. (U can EV it so gligar eq doesnt break sub!)Specs and scarf are cool aswell.

Mon is Cracked aswell. It is extremly versataile and extremely good at its role. Either is a great entry hazard setter or a devestating sweeper thats nigh unbreakable or just a great specs breaker. Trick Room gained a great boost mainly due to dian.

This might be a hot take but baile is better than Sensu imo. Having a solid copper matchup pre tera is something sensu can only dream of. Fire in general is a great typing in general. Baile can thus utilise other teras (usually defensive) like Ground and Fairy a lot better than Sensu.

Offensive Ninetales is a criminally underrated set. Boots NP and scarf are extremly useful game to game. Scarf even packs healing wish for more support.

Check some CB reckless calcs.

Mon is absolutely amazing. Specs is just toxtricity but bulkier (A bit tamer aswell but fairy actually hits mons for super effective damage). (Easily lives specs fire blast from chandy) Support sets are great aswell thanks to wishing partners like copperajah and goodra.

Imo the best mon rn. Incredibly hard to NOT use on a team from classic scarf to Choice band to Dragon Dance. I have even heard about mixed and even special flygon sets not sure how great they are but they cant be bad.

The best removal rn imo. Simply extremly consistent with amazing flexibility in its moveset. Struggles with 4MSS sometimes so it cant be higher but it will do something extremly useful always thanks to its great damage output and great utility movepool.

Why did this fall to PU? It simply volts all over the opponent and is a superb revenge killer due to this reason. It chips down checks like Copperajah and Gligar repeatedly by spamming its stabs till they are weakened.

Better this month than Last month imo. Cloud Nine is now useful for the sun matchup. But Alt is one of the absolute best answers to Tauros-Aqua available which is HUGE(Thats why run Hurricane not Brave Bird). It also has an OKish gligar and Copperajah matchup so it can decently defog. Some Setters like Pallosand are nightmare though.

People are sleeping on this mon rn. Its still insanely good.

 

[Lucario]

Nobody has posted for current meta, so here's my take for the meta post H-Lilli, Drago, and Suicune. Everything is loosely ranked within each tier.

March 11th version

New version:

 

[Diamonds_realm]

Thought I'd give making my own PVR a shot, tiers are somewhat ordered not perfectly ADHD brain kinda went places anyway here's my list

 

[Be13costa]

The possible questions people might have.

I don't think sun is amazing thats why 9tails and Venu are just good, manual rain is just ok at best thats why Kingdra that only works there is mid. Terrain in the other hand is really good.

Munkidori is my biggest disappointment of all drops.

And Incineroar to me is the most underrated atm.

There are mons like G Brow, Scrafty, Inteleon that are being less used because they are not new in the tier but they are still really good.

 

[Shengineer]

Do get it twisted - this IS the end all be all list of NU rankings. The Pokemon are not ordered within each tier, just alphabetically. If you have any problems with my list, I hope you get swept by an

S Tier

Armarouge
Gyarados
Lycanroc-Dusk
Mienshao

A+ Tier

Infernape
Krookodile
Mew
Necrozma
Slowbro

A Tier

Avalugg
Brambleghast
Cloyster
Diancie
Dragalge
Muk-Alola
Reuniclus
Rhyperior
Rotom-Heat
Tsareena

A- Tier

Cetitan
Klefki
Magnezone
Milotic
Munkidori
Oricorio-Pom-Pom
Quagsire
Swampert
Talonflame
Typhlosion-Hisui
Vaporeon

B+ Tier

Brute Bonnet
Flygon
Galvantula
Gastrodon
Iron Thorns
Minior
Ninetales
Overqwil
Porygon-Z
Raikou
Slowbro-Galar
Sylveon
Thundurus
Torterra
Toxtricity
Umbreon
Venusaur

B Tier

Bellibolt
Chandelure
Chansey
Drednaw
Espeon
Florges
Goodra
Hitmonlee
Inteleon
Lucario
Noivern
Registeel
Vileplume

B- Tier

Ambipom
Bronzong
Copperajah
Duraludon
Gligar
Golurk
Grimmsnarl
Incineroar
Kilowattrel
Kingdra
Meloetta
Mudsdale
Scrafty
Smeargle
Tatsugiri
Tauros-Paldea-Aqua
Tentacruel

C+ Tier

Abomasnow
Arcanine
Basculegion
Delphox
Emboar
Exeggutor-Alola
Flamigo
Gallade
Hitmontop
Oricorio-Sensu
Rotom-Mow
Sandslash-Alola
Sceptile
Staraptor

C Tier

Altaria
Bastiodon
Charizard
Coalossal
Decidueye-Hisui
Froslass
Glastrier
Grafaiai
Heracross
Jolteon
Lanturn
Lycanroc
Palossand
Pawmot
Qwilfish
Sandslash
Scream Tail
Snorlax
Tornadus
Toxicroak
Whimsicott
Wo-Chien

Oh, you made it this far? Here's the method of how I made this post!
1) Used the /ds command to paste a list of all NU, PUBL, and PU Pokemon
2) Pasted this list to ChatGPT to put the names into a .csv
3) Typed the ranking for each mon in the column next to the name
4) Uploaded the spreadsheet back to ChatGPT and instructed it how to format the ranks and the little pictures

 

[LessThanThreeMan]

Left this here as an archive, new post here.

April PVR Record

April Update! As before the tiers aren't ordered and weather/terrain setters are ranked based on how I see the play style more so than the viability of the individual mon. There is a significant drop off between B+ and B and things get more niche from there. Duraludon may need to move up but I just haven't really seen it in this meta.

March PVR Record

A couple things to note here: tiers are not ordered, and I ranked weather/terrain setters based on where I see the playstle. Thwacky by itself is not A-, but it enables grassy terrain which I think is really good. There are some pokemon in B+ that I wasn't sure how to rank, namely Typhlosion-H, Rotom-H, Rotom-C, Scrafty and Magnezone. I'm a little unsure of Incineroar as well. To get a more accurate rating on these I think I would need to use them more in this meta. Chandelure is an underrated wallbreaker right now and I think CM 3 attacks with boots or colbur berry is really good into a lot of current balance cores. Muk-A takes a lot from +1 fire blast. I think infernape is one of the best mons we have right now. Mienshao may be the best scarfer, but nape is a close second (being a good scarfer and faster than mienshao is a niche by itself) and I really like mixed nape. It really wishes it could have 5+ moves, but still solid nonetheless. SD/NP are a little awkward because I don't think it has great 3 move coverage especially when you want priority too. Krook would probably be A+ if it was a little faster. Flygon is still really good I think and it does the same things it always has. Sure it's slower than mienshao which is the scarfer to outspeed, but it still checks a lot of teambuilder boxes especially for balanced teams. It does have more competition though, and DD will likely be the main set moving forward. I think an Armarouge ban is inevitable and I think after that Psychic Terrain will be much less good. Sure we have espeon but I think the unburden mons are... just ok. The meta has adapted to the standard substitute terablast fly Gyarados, (which is still really good) but that doesn't mean it doesn't have options to get around a lot of its checks. A lot of balance teams tend to use an iron press mon to boost alongside gyara and taunt shuts a lot of that down for example. Munkidori may be better than I am rating it but ive really only seen scarf and its just been ok. I think Thundurus-I is the best of the fast electric types still. It isn't the fastest but it is fast enough and has a lot of coverage options that the others don't have. More I need to explore there I think! Sawsbuck is actually ok on sun in my experience and it helps fill the void liligant-h left when it got banned. Not amazing but enough good enough that I put it on here as a niche pick. I'll probably wind up coming back to and updating this in the near future but this is what I think right now!

 

[Pika134]

So after playing the new meta here is my personal tier list

S Tier

Flygon
Slowbro
Mienshao
Lycanroc-Dusk

A+ Tier

Cloyster
Krookodile
Infernape
Muk-Alola
Diancie
Dragalage
Noivern

A Tier

Brambleghast
Mew
Registeel
Sylveon
Talonflame
Lucario
Rhyperior
Gastrodon

A- tier

Inteleon
Copperajah
Vileplume
Ninetales
Swampert
Quagsire
Tsareena
Venusaur
Reuniclus
Scrafty

B+ tier

Magnezone
Mudsdale
Vaporeon
Thundurus
Iron Thorns
Porygon-Z
Slowbro-Galar
Tentacruel
Incineroar
Milotic
Oricorio-Pom-Pom

B tier

Avalugg
Chansey
Florges
Goodra
Gallade
Pawmot
Klefki
Galvantula
Smeargle
Overqwil
Raikou
Kingdra
Typhlosion-Hisui

B- tier

Torterra
Drednaw
Umbreon
Munkidori
Rotom-Heat
Kilowattrel
Flamigo
Ambipom
Brute Bonnet
Bellibolt
Cetitan
Tornadus
Chariazard

C+ tier

Grimmsnarl
Thwackey
Toxicroak
Heracross
Toxtricity
Sceptile
Houndstone
Salazzle
Meloetaa
Golurk
Tarous-Paldea-Aqua

C tier

Basculegion
Bronzong
Chandelure
Arcanine
Rotom-Mow
Scream Tail
Gligar
Abomasnow
Indeedee-F
Zoroark

 

[Diamonds_realm]

My updated PVR for April

S+

Slowbro

S

Lycanroc-Dusk
Mienshao

A+

Cloyster
Flygon
Krookodile
Mew
Muk-Alola

A

Brambleghast
Diancie
Dragalge
Reuniclus
Rhyperior
Talonflame
Thundurus

A-

Avalugg
Chandelure
Feraligatr
Gallade
Galvantula
Infernape
Klefki
Lucario
Ninetales
Noivern
Porygon-Z
Quagsire
Registeel
Swampert
Venusaur
Vileplume

B+

Brute Bonnet
Copperajah
Gastrodon
Magnezone
Oricorio-Pom-Pom
Rotom-Heat
Scrafty
Sylveon
Torterra
Typhlosion-Hisui

B

Basculegion
Cetitan
Incineroar
Iron Thorns
Munkidori
Toxtricity
Tentacruel
Vaporeon
Umbreon

B-

Abomasnow
Bellibolt
Charizard
Espeon
Exeggutor-Alola
Florges
Gligar
Houndstone
Inteleon
Kilowattrel
Kingdra
Meloetta
Milotic
Minior
Mudsdale
Raikou
Rotom-Mow
Slowbro-Galar
Tsareena

C

Arcanine
Bronzong
Duraludon
Flamigo
Glastrier
Golurk
Goodra
Grimmsnarl
Hitmonlee
Pawmot
Salazzle
Sandslash-Alola
Sceptile
Smeargle
Thwackey

 

[Lucario]

Hello, it's me again

I decided to make a tier list with the Pokemon on the VR, you can find it here. And with that, here's my new ranking.

 

[Shengineer]

Here's my personal VR I spent about 15 minutes on. There's probably a bit of innacuracy with my rankings but this is how I felt on this particular day. Anything A- or above is ordered from best to worst within each tier, this does not apply to B+ or lower. A few notable observations:

Although we have very strong mons in the A+ tier, they do not deserve to share a tier with Slowbro as he is the top dog by far. Many mons that have fallen down the list are a direct result of this fact like Avalugg and competing water types, while others have risen due to their synergy with Slowbro or their ability to pressure him (Magnezone in particular).

Talonflame might just be the best supportive mon in the tier. It is the best user of Defog (which it doesn't even have to run), can pressure switches with Will-o-wisp, maintain momentum with U-turn, and just has extremely useful resistances and immunities. Flame body is excellent at punishing top-tier mons that want to click their own U-turn for free.

Weather in general feels like a potent archetype, and I think the most potential lies with HO teams that use weather as part of their plan, without going all-in.

 

[Diamonds_realm]

My Final PVR before we see what May has in store tomorrow.

 

[Lucario]

The tier list has been updated with shifts! It also features a crowd of UR Pokemon that have some vague niche that could be ranked if you really wanted.

my pvr

 

[Pika134]

Here is my personal tier list of the current metagame

 

[Phantomistix]

The tier is extremely top heavy, and there are at least 2-3 mons I'd like to see banned ASAP. Namely Lucario, which I have been very vocal about, as well as Lycanroc-Dusk and Oricorio-Pompom. I can't see a meta where they fit in without being too strong for the tier to handle. As it stands, I also think Feraligatr and Mienshao are very problematic, but I believe that is more so due to their answers also having to hold up to Lucario and Lycanroc, and these mons are very easy to fit together, especially alongside our other pivots, Flygon and Munkidori, the latter of which does especially well to draw in mons that the brokens can easily abuse.

 

[Serviperhater]

I don’t know how to get the image thing working but I’m just going to send the link.
https://x.com/serviperhater/status/1809050162179780735
vaporeon is the biggest winner of the shifts. it’s currently the best water resist (immune) after slowbro leaving and with all its useful traits it’s got the biggest move up in the rankings. toxicroak is ranked pretty high because it’s been underrated for forever in the tier but with the new shifts it got even better. cresselia is super over prepared for currently so it’s kinda only a rank. deoxys-d has impressed me a lot. it’s hazard setter set is amazing, demon deo-d is super cool, and finally it’s calm mind set are all amazing additions to the tier and gets a lot done. cinncino is the third best new drop super good againist offense and super cool in general. breloom is a little overhyped currently but it’s pretty good. aquaranid doesn’t need to run focus sash and hits like a truck so B tier. indeedee is mid tbh currently. that’s about it if you got any questions hit me up.

 

[Shagg51]

Finally getting around to posting a VR of my own! I think the meta currently is… interesting to say the least. I quite like it at times (and I vastly prefer it to the meta we had over the past 3 months), but there are some aspects that I am not a huge fan of. Even so, I’ve been enjoying it for the most part. Anyway, onto the VR(I will talk about what I find unique in my vr or things that I just have a lot of thoughts about). Keep in mind that my VR isn’t ordered.

I swear stored power is fun to play against and balanced.

still a hard hitter with a ton going for it. It’s stab coverage hits the tier just right and it’s other options like night slash pack quite the punch. With how popular vileplume is right now, I don’t see it getting worse anytime soon.

both the defensive set and the rock polish set are amazing. The defensive set provides you with a solid incineroar switch in as well as a strong physical wall and rock setter, while the rock polish set is genuinely horrifying and steals games on a regular basis (seriously. USE IT! Its amazing!)

insane scarfer and sweeper for a meta that lacks a super splashable steel. Spreading toxic is also really nice for the user, and really obnoxious for the opponent.

my favorite rock setter in the meta atm. It’s very bulky, strong and has everything you need in 4 moves. Simply amazing.

the departure of slowbro and the introduction of two bulky stored power sweepers (one of which usually taking the role of a hazard setter in fairness) make vaporeon a clear winner of this month’s shifts. Not much else to say. Its just really good.

specs is downright horrifying. To make matters worse, it has just enough coverage to body everything other than steels(which have to worry about Tera blast). The scariest specs user if you ask me.

bulky rock setter with knock and whirlwind? I definitely appreciate it in a meta like this! Good at warding off set up sweepers and generating hazard chip on hazard stack teams!

my favorite Pokémon and one that I think is quite good. On top of being a solid spinner, disruptor and pivot, it’s a vileplume counter that many physical attackers would love to have. Aside from doing poorly against something like a hazard stacking Deoxys defense, and also just having poor physical bulk, I’d say it’s quite good.

really fun and solid alternative to chandelure, and I really like infernal parade, but getting stumped by incineroar without Tera is a massive pain.

potential demon rn. It has the same flaws as before, but a lot of things that gave it trouble departed the tier and it’s brave birds feel much more threatening as a result. I suggest you check out Birdbrain103’s nomination for more! (https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/nu-viability-rankings.3738305/post-10176546)

seems to be a good choice for hazard stack teams, making mons like talonflame and incineroar think twice about preforming their usual antics. It also helps they thundurus left, leaving the slot for an electric flying type open.


a fairly unique spinner I tried with some ladder success. It’s a fairy resistant spinner capable of setting up spikes, which I find interesting. Not much more to say unfortunately.

I have heard some very good things about it, but I never see or use it, so I won’t speak on its viability.

 

[LessThanThreeMan]

September Update

August Update

1. I like to rank weather/terrain setters by their play style not their individual viability (same with weather abusers)
2. Some things I think have potential to rise: Inteleon, Toxicroak, and heracross.
3. Breloom and Iron Thorns both feel like A rank level mons, but I put them in B+ because I'm having trouble fitting them onto teams. Dragalge is a similar story. I think it is a very good mon, but doesn't seem to fit in as well as it used to.
4. These are not ordered within ranks.
5. Spent more time with Iron Thorns and while I previously really enjoyed it in the past shift, I feel like I can't make a functional team with it in the current meta. I'm not even sure what changed so drastically but the mon seems to be much worse than I initially thought.

 

[PowerOfMemes]

I've been sitting on this for a while before sending it out, but now, I'm confident in my opinions on the meta and its 'mons.

2 pvr worthy mons + ranking

B-
Since we have poor hazard removal options at the moment (yes, our only real and reliable entry hazard controllers for balance are Talonflame, Tsareena, and Alolan Sandslash—don't let anybody tell you otherwise), I believe Hisuian Decidueye should be added. Beyond using Defog, it also can force progress with Knock Off while having a spammable STAB in Triple Arrows alongside its Scrappy, making it annoying to switch in to at times. It also provides teams with a check to multiple common threats and walls like Flygon, Lycanroc-D, Basculegion, Vaporeon, Inteleon, Swampert, Copperajah, Rotom-C, Tsareena, Scrafty, Gastrodon, Umbreon, Wo-Chien, Registeel, and Avalugg.

B-
With how easy it is to stack Ground-type weaknesses in this meta, Weezing provides a Ground-type immunity and Fighting-, Fairy-, and Grass-type switch-in in one. Talonflame could also provide this alongside hazard control however Weezing's bulk alongside the ability to easily run moves like Taunt and Will-O-Wisp to stop Wish from Vaporeon or excessive set up attempts from Flygon and Lycanroc-D makes it different enough from Talonflame to at least warrant a spot on the personal viability ranking options. It also checks offensive Pokemon like Toxicroak, Mienshao, Breloom, Scrafty, and Tsareena while being able to bring down walls such as Alolan Muk, Sylveon, and Quagsire to low HP if not kill them out right.

 

[Shengineer]

Hi everyone, just wanted to make a quick post regarding my current opinions on the meta and a few notable trends I've seen.


Lukewarm take: Incineroar is currently an S-tier mon. I simply find myself including the fire cat on nearly EVERY team I make, simply because it can tick SO many boxes at once. Incineroar provides Intimidate, a bulky pivot, a breaker (with SD), and a crucial dark typing which is ever important in the current meta (looking at you, Deoxys). Many people who I've expressed this sentiment to had a similar response of "yeah, I could see a good case for Incin being S tier."


This thing just switches into so many neutral attacks and immediately applies pressure. If you don't know the set, there is always the threat that it will set up on you late game and you have to manage your resources very carefully. Hazards sets, teleport pivot, and stallbreaker (taunt + night shade +psynoise) are all incredible on this mon too, and I see it so much on ladder for good reason. I don't think its totally unmanageable, but it does seem to find its way onto so many different builds from its sheer versatility. Whether this thing ends up banned or not, I don't really care. I think a meta with it and without it would both be enjoyable for me to play (in the mean time I will continue to run Incineroar).


Not gonna lie, plume has kind of been a letdown lately. Too many breakers that can easily exploit it, and it can't even switch into attacks you'd want your physical wall to take (50% chance to get 2HKO by banded Flygon EQ, for example). You still sometimes find those matchups where it's an unkillable demon, but those have felt few and far between. Also, I believe its primary job was to counter the ever present Mienshao, who has also fallen off a little bit.


God help us, all these sweepers and breakers are a bit of a headache. If I had to remove one in particular, it might be Feraligatr. Everything else feels like there is some form of reliable counterplay, at least. Cloy gets blown up specially and struggles vs Steels, Lucario is sad vs ghosts (Typhlosion hype!!), and Gallade can be pressured pyhysically while being somewhat slow, although it is kinda impossible to switch into. Gatr has enough bulk and an incredible defensive typign that it getting setup turns is inevitable, it's just very hard to find counterplay to, especially when many of these are stacked together on the same HO team. I think something should be done, just removing one of these threats should holpefully make dealing with the others more manageable. However, I also agree that the meta needs proper time to develop and to give lower tier mons a shot to counter it. Maybe Houndstone is so back (?)


Somehow this feels like the best Steel in the tier. Not sure now we got to this point, but I suppose all the Flygon spam and dealing with threats like Cloyster and Diancie are quite good attributes to have. Setup movesets demand a response from your opponent, which you can get momentum off of one way or another.


Scarf Intel is one of the few things keeping me sane right now. It smahes +2 Cloyster and +1 Cinccino, and it's nice to be able to threaten other scarfers to keep your momentum. With offense being so good, it's nice to have a strong anti-offense mon on your side. Scope Lens and specs are also good, just make sure you have an answer to the Water immunes somewhere on your team and this lizard will take you far.


Thunder bird is very good as a fast pivot, with competitive to abuse doubles to Incineroar, strength sap from Plume, and most importantly defog from Talonflame. I've found success with it on hazard stack teams, and it's good at chipping ground types like Flygon and Swampert for teammates that struggle with them.


We should rank this mon. Fast encore is good, nasty plot tera fairy dkiss is stupid, utility sets are (probably?) good. Im too lazy to gather replays so Im just going to mention it here. I achieved great success with it on my Toxtricity BO team (shoutout to Toxt, gotta be one of my favorite breakers). Maybe B-? I will continue to use it and find the limits of its viability.

-> S+