Project SV PU Personal Viability Rankings

[UberSkitty]

OP shamelesly stolen and adapted from Ren-chon in NU

(here's the link)​

Due to subjectivity with tiering, people will have differing opinions on where Pokemon land on the viability rankings. In lower tiers, new meta trends can shape how the tier is played and how Pokemon are viewed as new, viable threats, or as strictly flavor-of-the-month Pokemon. In teambuilding, each person has an individual view on how certain Pokemon blend into the meta and carve niches for themselves in a dynamically shifting metagame. With this thread, Everyone can share their own personal viability rankings and provide some insight into their thought processes on where you think the Pokemon should fall.

Rules:

1. No shitposting :)
2. Please make some comments on your list, especially if you have some controversial placements. We'd love to hear what you have to say!
3. Use tiermaker to create your list. If you see a pokemon that's not longer in the tier just don't rank it.
   1. Feel free to add or remove more ranks to your list as you need.
4. You can comment on your own rankings and other users too, but let's keep it cordial; if someone ranked highly a Pokémon you think has no place in the tier, that just means you guys have different views on the meta. You can talk about why you don't agree with it, but don't go too far.

Click on the Chansey for the link!

 

[Shaneghoul]

Here's my list to kick things off! I haven't played a crazy amount of the tier so the ranks from B+ down are probably pretty (very) dicey! I added in a broken rank for the Pokemon that I think are currently unhealthy in the tier, namely Oricorio-Pa'u, Haunter and Houndoom. In S rank I have Perr and Gogoat as I think they're the most splashable Pokemon in the tier and just really consistent regardless of what team they end up on. A+ is a little bare but I do think Mag, Crab and Skunk really separate themselves from the Pokemon below them. Again, you know exactly what you're getting from them and they'll consistently perform well. A and A- are kind of a toss up because I feel like I need more experience with a lot of these to properly placement but I'm fairly comfortable with the placing for now. The B ranks are just a massive toss up it's really hard to tell with a lot of these Pokemon if they're actually good or not, and some of these placements are based off of my experiences with these Pokemon in previous generations.

Not the most comprehensive list and I'd love to give more of a fleshed out analysis if I could but I definitely need to play more to do so. Mainly just wanted to get this up to give an example for a first post. Happy posting everyone and I can't wait to see what you all come up with!

 

[Magnemite]

updated 3/20

i don't think much of my list is too far out of the ordinary but i'll explain some of the more unconventional placements:

so i totally get having jumpluff in b or something like that, but some of these lists have it in the same rank as obviously unviable stuff and i really don't get it. sure it can be kind of deadweight in some matchups where they have a vigoroth or something, but fast sleep + u-turn is just really good, and it has a good set of other moves including by far the best recovery move in the game to make up for its inability to run boots, memento which is always good in setup sweeper heavy metas like these, as well as the ability to revenge a good number of weakened offensive mons thanks to its amazing speed and ability to hit through subs. i haven't used it yet, but it can also run sd to decent effect with tera finally letting sd sets beat steels. it's not lighting the world on fire but i really don't see how you can put a mon with so many different things going for it in the same tier as random gimmick mons like it is on so many of the lists in this thread.

most people seem to agree on this but for the uninitiated: camerupt is really just not very good. i get that it looks appealing in a meta with so many good electrics, but it can't even beat them reliably due to tera existing, and its bulk is just so bad for a slow pokemon that is vulnerable to all hazards and has a mediocre defensive typing. sure it can take hits from stuff like houndoom pretty well if you go max spdef but it will just get worn down and without special attack investment it does such little damage. being an sr setter that actively begs quaxwell to switch into it does not do it any favors. it's not useless but i just find it to never be a mon that accomplishes much of anything.

zweilous is a really nice mon. evio sets completely wall non-tera fight houndoom which is the vast majority of houndoom as well as just checking random other things thanks to its great bulk and typing. it faces a lot of competition as a bulky dragon tail user but it's so much less passive than all of them thanks to hustle and its huge attack stat. scarf is also a pretty solid cleaner that can catch steels off guard with stomping tantrum and bluff being a defensive set with dragon tail because it forces a decent number of switches and what else are you using in the last slot anyway. good mon overall.

glimmet is a really nice hazard setter (as long as they don't have a hattrem lol then it's complete deadweight). it's the only mon in the tier (besides sudowoodo) to get sr and spikes at the same time and is surprisingly effective at setting them. its ability is extremely nice to punish random u turns and things like crabominable or lycanroc clicking their strong stab moves, has a nice set of resistances and decent bulk with eviolite which let it come in on a fair few things and set hazards, and probably most importantly is not completely passive at all. its base 60 speed is enough to sneak in some extra hazards against a lot of slower mons, it has 105 base special attack so it can actually damage things a bit without investment, and has access to toxic, memento, and explosion to stop it from being setup fodder. it can be a liability in certain matchups but most of the time it will get multiple hazards up in a game in a meta where it is very easy to prevent removal just by running misdreavus or drakloak.

speaking of drakloak, this mon really surprised me with how good it is. it's a bulky-ish spinblocker with dragon tail and the ability to hit quaxwell pretty hard, making it a very easy inclusion on hazard stack teams, it has an amazing base 102 speed which outspeeds most of the biggest offensive threats in the meta, and it has a surprisingly good movepool with options like u-turn, twave, wisp, etc. unfortunately it hits like a wet noodle especially if you go with a more defensive spread and while it has dragon tail to somewhat mitigate that, it's really not going to be doing much damage to anything with decent bulk. overall though spinblocker with dragon tail in a meta with no good defoggers is really just an incredible set of traits that makes it at the very least a great contributor on certain teams.

finally, slaking is in the b ranks for way too many of these lists for me to not talk about it. i was going to just talk about it here but i think it makes more sense to make a separate post in the np thread, so here's a link to that: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...ricorio-quickban-post-60.3717212/post-9542839

old

objectively correct list

idk if there's anything particularly controversial on here, except maybe vigoroth and jumpluff but i posted my thoughts on those in the np thread. i tried to put things in order within each tier, but i didn't put a huge amount of thought into that part. all the s tiers besides maybe lilligant are pretty broken, especially magneton imo

 

[asa]

i've been less big on letter/number ranks for dumb reasons, but yeah

don't click

The placements within my tiers here aren't firm (besides the actual first three, IMO), and you could probably convince me that Crabominable is better than Skuntank. Beyond that, I think the Pokemon in my top tier are both consistent and the most devastating/impactful in a game, whether offensively, defensively, or both. Those five also have a bit more going for them to me, be it additional utility, versatility, etc.. I ranked the other Pokemon using the same criteria, though I think it applies to each tier's stuff less and less the further you go down (besides the "these guys just do one thing" tier, I wasn't quite sure how to rank them fairly).

mar 12 edit:

Made some changes to my original list after using some different Pokemon and just playing and watching more. There were a bit too many Pokemon in the tier underneath the top five imo, some of which didn't really deserve it looking back. I think the Pokemon left in "very solid" are very close to the top five in terms of (some combination of) threat level, consistency, useful utility, versatility, and volatility and really aren't held back by much. A lot of the Pokemon I moved down to "pretty good" have some pretty notable flaws that I think plague them somewhat often or are more reliant on proper team support than the ones higher up. In less important news, Slaking is no longer dead last because it definitely does more than anything currently below it (still kinda trash, though).

 

[Pabloaram]

My personal tier list:
Ban list: Broken mon that compress team building a lot. Few checks that are beaten by diferent Tera-type/Blast. Any QD outside of Lilligant need to go ASAP
S Tier: Meta defining mons. Both Crab and Indeedee-F can be suspect/banned but still are too good and they help the tier more often that destroying it
A Tier: Great mons overrall.
B Tier: Good mons. Weather could be toxic sometimes.
C Tier: Niche Mons. Outclassed or small enought niche. Only reason Kricketune exist in C bc he is the only Full Evolved Sticky Web Setter Still Trash

 

[Hera]

The objectively correct tier list. I will not take criticism.

I think other tier lists are sleeping on some mons, specifically, everything I put in A- tier (besides the last 3 mons). Pawn is absolutely goated and Tera Flying has singlehandedly won me games, Oricorioss love to Tera Ground in front of it, only for me to laugh in its face and +2 Sucker Punch it to death. There are a lot of As and S ranks but that's because I think this meta is really offensive right now and there are a ton of brokens and semi-brokens running around, all of them around the same level of viability. "But why Cact?" hazards stack is broken in this meta and Cact is the best and most threatening Spiker imo, teams without a grounded Poison autolose to its/Skuntank's TSpikes, mixed breaker sets are a menace, etc. I also didn't see the point in adding a brokens tier because everything from A and above can easily become broken with Tera so I really don't see the point in singling out specific mons since Tera both enables them and can destroy them (also we should quickban Tera and suspect once the tier settles down, I am a huge Tera defender in general but it is not fun to watch standard revenge kills and sequences be ruined in a tier where games end in 20-25 turns and every turn matters. The overwhelming influence it has on the game, the mindgames it forces, and the number of mons it breaks just isn't enjoyable at this point, but I really would like to look at it again in a bulkier meta if it does get banned).

Inb4 someone asks about Vigroroth that mon lowkey sucks, autoloses to TSpikes, needs like 6 moves to actually be effective, wants max speed but also max bulk, wastes your Tera, is a huge commitment in teambuilding that basically mandates you build your team around it, loses to anti-setup measures like no one's business, and the worst part is no one is actually prepping for it so it looks better than it actually is. It's decent into offensive teams that don't run Falinks but absolutely crumbles to any balance/defensive team that preps for it. It's good at what it does but something I really wouldn't use rn.

 

[Perla]

I'm seeing too many Tropius in the UR tier, while every time I see that annoying sub/leech seed set, I cry

 

[Stories]

meow

 

[Chloe]

hi i am here to anger some people with my takes that are backed with a lot lot lot lot of playtesting; ill just mention the ones i think people will be mad at:

- viv broken: feels so gross to play against, tera ground sets are a pain in the ass to deal with if played correctly and i genuinely think the tier would be a lot better off without it.

- quaxwell / lilligant in s: quaxwell is virtually a necessary mon in my eyes; best removal in the tier; walls so much of the tier. love this silly little duck. lilligant is almost broken but not quite there imo. sleep powder quiver dance, same shit that makes viv over the top in my eyes but no compound eyes or coverage pre tera.

- squawk in b+, overrated AF mon, there are much better breakers at similar power levels that don't have a tough time living for two turns. sr chip, burn chip, brave bird chip, rough skin/helmet chip. this thing just doesn't last long enough for me to ever want to build around it imo.

- tinkatuff > perrs, i don't think perrs has enough longevity; tinkatuff generally seems like a better defensive steel; the presence of encore and knock benefit it a ton. these tiers arent like ordered completely but i did intentionally put tink before perrs.

- flapple is not amazing, feels awkward and generally the only set i ever wanna run is specs which is also mid af.

- shroodle unranked. i don't wanna run it ever on weather teams, there are better setters, and otherwise it is just a garbage mon

- eiscue unranked. bad sweeper, never worth using, loses to any competent player.

i will justify anything in the pu disc just tag me and yell at me.

 

[Haffling]

ranks

in order~ish
alot of this is just my own exp with the mons
(Edit Time: im low iq did not read)
Broken rank:
Pau is just pushed too far by tera to the point where you can't deal with it without using tera of your own or switching to a herb pau. haha, Doom clicks moves, not only are doom choiced sets stupid, its np sets go wild. Tera grass, ground, or even dark(tera dark can even run sucker punch to significant effect, base 90 atk ain't awful once tera boosted) Pyroar is the lesser of the 2 fires but its choiced sets are still redonculous. Mag hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be, still broken thought. Mag switch-ins are like camel and Pincurchin and they get wrecked(kid) by tera blast. Haunter is pain, why did they give it focus blast, so like our only check to it is Skuntank and it cant take more than 3 focus blasts even with full investments(specs) also all the Broken rank mons (barring Mag) are faster than 85% of mons in PU. All these guys n gals gotta go

S rank:
Well, Well, Well who would have guessed that tera makes qd mons that cant touch Steel-types good, both also having access to Sleep powder also allows them to get more set-up opportunities. Overall both Vivi and Lilli are strong sweepers that need to be accounted for in the builder. Crabrawler really hits hard with a massive 399 atk+ stat few pokemon are able to come in on its stab moves, Assault Vest takes its bulk to the next level, and when combined with tera crab can stick around for quite some time in games, it also has its roll in tr teams. Perr is just overall a super solid offensive and defensive pokemon in the tier rn, my personal fav set atm is av.

A+ rank:
Squawk is a silly, silly pokemon, you hit things and they die, once you tera normal you 3hko all steels even with full def investment(guts set) Gogoat is just a powerhouse, bulk up sets, cb sets, and av sets it got em all, it uses tera excellently. Skuntank got so much going for it, great typing, set versatility, t-spikes(both setting and absorbing them) The Rat, with our only defensive ground being the camel, and seeing as the Rat is surfing it falls upon pincurchin do deal with the Rat(raichu is great do use) The Duck, our best non-broken hazard control, it feels way to bulky for what it is, and it can even do funny moxie sweeps at times.

A rank:
Deedee is a good choice user, summoning p terrain is also p neat, but it struggles with our steel-types. tera helps with this to an extent but I still don't find it all that difficult to handle. Mis is superb, easily our best spin blocker, and a status-spreading machine, along with sub, pain split shenanigans. Vig being good in an early meta shocker, vig is defo being overshadowed by a lot of the broken mons rn tho. Gabite is cool sd/rest sets are scary to deal with at times, d tail for phasing is great. Frost as long as you hit blizzard this thing is gonna put in work, np sets or trick choice utility/true are as solid as ever. The bell pepper boyz, great sun abusers and imo strong choice users(outclassed by broken fires atm)

A- rank:
Flapple, imo no need to be cute with this mon just go lo and spam moves and get kills if you miss you miss, I like mixed draco as spa move. Hatt is solid spreading paras with nuzzle is great in this meta and can h wish back any needed teammates. Now falinks I can see being in B+ tbh but it has done well in all my games with it so it got into A-. Tinkatuff is a good pokemon, encore and t wave help punish set up sweepers that would try and set up on it, and it sets up rocks with no worrys(mold breaker).

gonna leave it there, just know that i think mons in B+ are worth running on most teams, and mons in B- are more niche and only really go in teams that need them(B being in the middle of that) C is a mess.

Delibird rank:

If you or a loved one has ever thought about using Delibird on a competitive pokemon team seek your nearest doctor/hospital for medical assistance

 

[Melons-N-Soda]

(This was mainly made before Baile got banned, my opinions haven't changed much since though)

UR: Kricketune I was close to ranking in D but looking at the tier, Webs doesn't seem great. Rest are basically outclassed by higher tiered mons (Hypno/Goth by Grumpig, Greedent by Oinkologne, Pikachu by Raichu, Zweilous by Flapple etc.) or whose niche isn't very valuable.

D: Tropius is a one trick pony who can be annoying for newer players but quite easy to play around otherwise. In general that describes quite a few things here, that or they're niche mons whose niche CAN be valuable. (Pincurchin hard walling Magneton, Hippo disrupting weather, Sliggoo blocking Vivillon and Lilligant etc.)

C: Alright mons for the most part, just face competition or are relatively niche.

B: I might be harsh putting Flapple and Gogoat here and not higher but it is what it is.

A: Crab I think is good but I find it relatively easy to play around even discounting bozos like Pyroar/Doomer. Camel's probably the mon that I feel least strongly being here, but its our one 'bulky' Ground worth some merit plus the Grass-types don't immediately crap on it so there's that.

S: Grumpig I feel is just a generally good glue, whether it be more 'bulky' sets and even NP has value. Mag and Perrserker are more self-explanatory though, Mag could be bumped up to Stupid tier but eh.

 

[TTK]

I have also done away from the lettering system (idk it just doesn't really fit for me rn in such an early stage of the meta that could just get its head turned on itself in April or w/e) but regardless, I do think this is pretty goddamn accurate viability rankings. I won't say too much about my reasonings for my placements, this video here explains it (Edit: seems that we have to explain a bit so I'll do some picks from my tier list that I want to explain)

: what's stopping me from putting Cacturne from the "good options"? Well Cacturne's flaws are just overall larger than its positives. On paper, it's a good anti-offensive mon, our dark resists kinda suck and +2 Sucker is very dangerous and it has both spikes under its belt. Only issue is Cacturne has zero defensive utility, no speed and super reliant on Sash when Spin can get blocked kinda easily. Slow breakers idt generally benefit in this meta rn despite the fact Cacturne can easily beat our defensive staples.

: Now Persian is my definition of underrated and I honestly believe Fake Out + Last Resort is its best set. I love running uturn and just being a useless pivot when I can just tera normal and proceed to ohko everything and threaten offence with a 144bp fake out (tera normal technician ×2 stab silk scarf).

 

[dorilo78a]

Probably very wrong with how early in the meta we are, but with how little I played I think it could be fine?

 

[UberSkitty]

Made an updated VR Maker! Click the Skitty for the link:

I decided to group together some of the similar ranks together since a bunch of their mons could go in either. Even then there are some mons I'm indecisive about:

While not great on their own, they're the second best hazard removers we have, so it's hard to say where exactly to put them.
Def great mons, but haven't been used too much recently which kinda lowers their impacts on the metagame.
idk which is better

Also copied and edited some rank descriptions from the UU VR:

Rank Descriptions

S: The best of the best Pokemon, being extremely splashable and versatile, having high consistency, and shaping the tier’s development. Their dominance has a notable effect on teambuilding and the dynamics of the tier, between Quaxwell being by far the best hazard remover and Misdreavus being a staple on hazard stack teams. Lilligant is kinda theorymonning with the recent Vivillon ban.
S-/A+: idk if I'd have any S- mons tbh, but figured I'd squeeze it in anyway. Great and metagame defining mons that have exceptional prowess and should be accounted for and considered while building. This includes the top glue mons (like Skuntank and Gabite) and large offensive threats (like Houndoom and Basculin)
A: These mons have similar traits to the A+ mon but may be held back due to performance or usage.
A- and B+: These are Pokemon that still have an impactful role in the metagame and should still be accounted for, but lack the consistency and/or potency to be ranked any higher. Some have one defining set/niche (Falinks and Hattrem) while others are simply great glue options (Camerupt and Pincurchin)
B: Generally the lowest ranking of Pokemon considered impactful to the tier, these Pokemon operate decently within the metagame but have enough notable flaws to keep them from being tier staples. A lotta the weather abusers (like Beartic and Leafeon) and niche hazard removers (like Carkol and Dartix) are here too.
B-: Pokemon in these ranks are without a doubt viable, but have noticeable flaws and restrictions that limit splashability and usage in the tier while not being too consistent either. Pokemon that are staples found in niche but viable playstyles reside here, like weather setters.
C+ and C: These Pokemon have roles in the metagame that are generally outclassed for the most part, but still have enough relevance and usefulness in the metagame to warrant a ranking.
C-: Mons with a very specific niche/role/gimmick, including some mons I'm 50/50 about being UR (like Corvisquire and Sliggoo).
UR: Just the options on the VR maker that don't have enough of a niche to justify using. I don't have much experience with a lotta them though, so I could easily stand corrected. I've seen some of the mons (like Stantler and Seviper) put in work, but still find them outclassed.

Older Explanations (outdated)

S is pretty standard, filled with mons considered to be broken. Oricorio and Vivillon are what I find to be the largest threats at the moment, with their infamous Quiver Dance alongside stuff like great abilities, tera, and being faster than many would-be-Scarfers. Haunter, Houndoom, and Magneton don't have a specific single move/ability/whatever that puts them over the edge, but with their typings, diverse movepools, and relatively high stats, they can be hard to handle. This is furthered by Haunter's immunity to Normal moves (creating problems for mons like Extreme Speed Dragonair and Body Slam Vigoroth), and somewhat of a lack of voltblockers, even less so when considering longevity and tera coverage, makes Magneton really hard to deal with defensively.

I considered Lilligant, Vigoroth, and Crabominable for S rank (aka broken), but felt it was getting too crowded up there, and they're simply the lesser threats. Not to say they aren't amazing mons ofc, being in A+. Lilligant is the third Quiver Dance user, with Sleep Powder and near-unresisted Grass and Rock coverage (seriously tera Rock Lilligant is much better than Fire), and I do think will be banned following the other two. Lilligant can also run Choice Scarf or Specs, especially since it is one of the few Healing Wish users, which is a move very appreciated atm. Crabominable has amazing stab coverage, and is able to take most hits and heal back the damage with its hard-hitting Drain Punch. Vigoroth's set remains the same as the other PU gens that it was banned in, being able to tank Special Attacks, has reliable recovery, and can sweep with Bulk Up if given the chance.

For one thing, I know that Indeedee sprite is male, but it was the only one on the VR maker I was using (used a "rank every mon" maker cuz a couple of mons were missing from the given maker). Either way, Indeedee-F is a great Choice Scarf or Specs mon, with its Psychic Terrain-boosted Psychic attacks and great movepool, being another of the few Healing Wish users. Also not dying to priority like Sucker Punch is pretty cool. Pyroar, while having a lotta competition with Houndoom, has that damn high Speed stat, being the fastest Scarf mon in the tier (bar the occasional Scarf Raichu). I'm gonna go out on a limb and say most people were surprised how solid Quaxwell ended up being, since outside of being the top hazard remover (you're not using Defog Oricorio), it can both take a lotta hits and deal a decent amount of damage. And can't forget that sexy Moxie+Rapid Spin boost combo.

Gonna get a little less specific from here on cuz I'm getting lazy. I am another person that prefers Tinkatuff over Perrserker, it's just such a better glue mon for those times you realize you forgot to add Stealth Rock to your almost-finished team. I think Frostom is slightly better than Fantom with its great coverage even without tera, although Fantom's typing is much better defensively, especially with the rise of Tera-Fighting (as opposed to Tera-Ground) Oricorio and Vivillon. People always forget about Pincurchin, only thinking of it as that mediocre Electric Terrain setter. However, it's taken a different role in this meta with Lightning Rod making it a great bulky voltblocker, especially with Recover and Spikes/Toxic Spikes.

Now onto the B tiers, starting with B+. I don't find Camerupt to be inherently good, but it makes for such a solid glue mon as a bulky voltblocking SR setter, even being the main reason Magneton and Frostom often run Tera Water. I don't have much experience with Falink's No Retreat set, but with it being the only fully evolved Fighting mon outside of the very slow Crabominable, I find it to also make for a decent Scarfer, even if on the relatively slower side. Golduck has a bunch of sets, my personal favorite being Blunder Policy Hypnosis+Nasy Plot, but is really notable for being both a Rain Abuser with Swift Swim and a Sun check with Scarf Cloud Nine. Misdreavus is good, but it can be hard to find reason to use many of its potential sets over Haunter, so it'll benefit from Haunter's inevitable ban.

I struggled with deciding on some mons between B and B+, especially weather mons, which B rank ultimately ended up with most of. I do wanna give a s/o to Scovillain, who was the first mon I built around in SV PU, with a fun non-Sun related set in Eject Pack+Overheat and Leaf Storm. Some others like Sawsbuck and Electrode can also run sets unrelated to weather. Outside of weather, there are just some solid mons held back by a flaw or two, like Flapple's Hustle and Luxray's competition with Squakabilly. Rabsca also sits in B solely cuz of Revival Blessing, but still, it's Revival Blessing.

B- is generally were the niches begin, and again where I'm iffy between it and C mons. I've had fun with a couple of them though, like AV Swalot and Slaking, Fling+Pickpocket Sneasel, and the surprisingly decent Dunsparce. Speaking of Slaking, despite my hatred of it as a PU player, the lack of mons like Stoutland and Kangaskhan have ultimately made it a usable mon. Mudbray is a very underrated mon atm, with me getting destroyed by Haffling's Tera Ghost set. idk how to feel about Fletchinder atm, since I expected it to get better as a Defog option with the ban of Fire Oricorio, but it still hasn't seen much usage. Not being able to hold Eviolite really sucks. A lotta Prankster mons are sitting around here too, between Murkrow, Morgrem, and surprisingly usable Shroodle. There are a few on-paper checks to top mons, like Slowpoke and Mareanie resisting Crabominable's stabs. Bramblin funnily enough walls Vivillon and Oricorio (after Tera), with Wind Rider making it immune to Hurricane.

 

[Shaneghoul]

Love the enthusiasm and all the posts we've had so far. Just posting a quick reminder to please add some form of explanation to your tier lists, as outlined in the rules in the OP. We'd love to hear what you have to say about your placements and a list with a description is much more meaningful than one without. Thanks, and happy posting!

 

[Joebama0321]

My Poopy Opinions

SV PU has been a fun metagame to play and with that comes a lot of baller mons to mess around with in the tier. That being said, I'm just gonna go through, reiterate some points, and name off some potentially weird picks.

Top Tier

Pretty much what everyone has been talking about with these mons. Don't really think I need to elaborate on these noms outside of the fact they're stupid and run the tier with an iron fist.

High Tier

A+
None that should really be a shocker to anyone. All of these mons have a lot going for them in the tier and are just generally great. While I have seen arguments for Haunter and Magneton being a bit over the edge (understandably so unlike another mon I'll be talking about), you can definitely keep them under control easier compared to the stinky top tier mons. As for everything else, they're just cool mons that are either flexible and/or really strong with what they can do. Special shout out to the Gogoat for genuinely being a dope mon in the tier.
The Middle A Tier
Crabominable is by far the most overrated mon in the tier. Sure it can hit hard and has decent bulk, but it's everything else falls flat in comparison. Crab has an awful defensive typing which means it heavily relies on Tera to become that meta-defining threat that it is claimed to be. Also while it's not the end of the world, it doesn't help that Crab has a middling speed tier which means even GTA 6 will be completed before we see Crabominable outspeed something. QuaxTank is such a good defensive core that gets rid of hazards and can generally take on a majority of the tier (Haunter bros be coping rn). The Rotoms and Raichu are the best electrics in the tier but Fan is probably the weakest of the bunch since its matchups are weaker compared to Frost and Raichu. Gabite is one of the few hazard setters that punishes the most popular hazard removers in the tier in Quaxwell and also fairs nicely versus the top dogs of the metagame. Camerupt and Lilligant should be self-explanatory so I'mma move on.
A-
Flapple is such a baller mon in the tier right now. Hustle with DDance, Band, or Scarf does very considerable damage and while I haven't experimented with Ripen sets, I would assume they're alright but probably miss out on the power that Hustle provides. I can see a fair amount of stuff emerge from Falinks but clicking No Retreat then proceeding to smack stuff is pretty cool. The Thick Fat users in Oinkologne and Grumpig eat up a lot of what Houndoom and Pyroar can throw their way. Grumpig is the better of the two but Oinkologne can be useful if you worried about Houndoom clicking Dark Pulse versus you.

Middle Tier

B+ (Just Me Gushing Over Banette)
If you couldn't tell from my unprofessional blobs of info, I am definitely not the sharpest player of PU in the shed; however, I will die on the hill that Banette is being slept on. In a tier dominated by a lot of HDB and Eviolite users, Knock Off is a great tool to have to make sure their longevity gets cut. There are only two good users of Knock Off in the tier both of which is coincidentally in this tier and while Tinkatuff is objectively better than Banette, I believe Banette has a couple tricks up its sleeve that can make it worth using. 115 base attack is a good offensive stat to have and with a Band, it dishes out some great damage overall so by no means is it going to deliver a weak Knock Off and the priority options it has means it can kind of get around its rather mid speed tier. Banette also has a solid defensive typing that allows it to switch in fairly easily like with Quaxwell clicking Rapid Spin, which is further boosted by Insomnia to get in easy against a Vivillon clicking Sleep Powder. Now yeah, these aren't traits that can make a top tier meta defining threat especially since its other stats can be a bit underwhelming and maybe I'm just being biased with this, but I think Banette has a fair amount to offer in this tier as a strong wallbreaker that hinders the longevity of everything around it.
The Middle B Tier And B-
Combining these two because I doubt there's any picks that people will really disagree with. Some mons have cool tools like Rabsca with Revival Blessing and Hattrem with Magic Bounce that put them at that middle of the road tier. Stonjourner has potential to be a baller pick but its roles are done better by other Pokèmon in the tier, namely Midnight Lycanroc for offensive sets and Carkol and Gabite for defensive hazard setters. Fletchinder could be cool as well I guess but again, just a lot of better hazard removers. B- is rather lame minus the fact that Kricketune may genuinely have the tiniest of tiny niches in the world because of how it can set up an alright hazard.

Low Tiers

Doubt these needs elaboration

 

[Karoshi]

My personal (bad) opinions. Tiers are not ordered and is based on my janky playstyle and empirical evidence. Take everything with a grain of salt.

Quiver Dance is a bit too much for this metagame. Even if you don't run it yourself pretty much every user is going to have to be in the forefront of team building to counter. Great tier is Pokemon that can fit onto any team, Good Tier is Pokemon that are decent but wont work on all teams. Might be overselling/underselling Pokemon in those two tiers, but good choices either way.

Niche tier is Pokemon I can see a reason to run the Pokemon, even if that reason small or irrelevant most scenarios (ex. Kricketune is a bad mon but has the ability to set up Sticky Web). Bad Pokemon are usable but really shouldn't be as they do not aid in making a good core, being a centerfold to the team or win games. ZU is self explanatory and have not ran or ran into anyone playing the last four.

 

[hotdog.png]

View attachment 498514

I have also done away from the lettering system (idk it just doesn't really fit for me rn in such an early stage of the meta that could just get its head turned on itself in April or w/e) but regardless, I do think this is pretty goddamn accurate viability rankings. I won't say too much about my reasonings for my placements, this (my soon to be video) here explains it (Edit: seems that we have to explain a bit so I'll do some picks from my tier list that I want to explain)

: what's stopping me from putting Cacturne from the "good options"? Well Cacturne's flaws are just overall larger than its positives. On paper, it's a good anti-offensive mon, our dark resists kinda suck and +2 Sucker is very dangerous and it has both spikes under its belt. Only issue is Cacturne has zero defensive utility, no speed and super reliant on Sash when Spin can get blocked kinda easily. Slow breakers idt generally benefit in this meta rn despite the fact Cacturne can easily beat our defensive staples.

: Now Persian is my definition of underrated and I honestly believe Fake Out + Last Resort is its best set. I love running uturn and just being a useless pivot when I can just tera normal and proceed to ohko everything and threaten offence with a 144bp fake out (tera normal technician ×2 stab silk scarf).

I’ve used ( but not created ) a move set for “ Scarecrow Pizza “ ( a shiny Cacturne ) and it was pretty useful. Tera Fairy, Swords Dance, Sucker Punch, it was good on my teams in both NU and PU.

 

[AstilCodex]

Inspired by TTK's vid. These are my thoughts so far!

Also, Mons I have used that aren't in the tier list
Raboot > B+
Sudowoodo > C
I just think its strange they aren't there.

 

[WilhelmTheOkay]

View attachment 498958

My personal (bad) opinions. Tiers are not ordered and is based on my janky playstyle and empirical evidence. Take everything with a grain of salt.

Quiver Dance is a bit too much for this metagame. Even if you don't run it yourself pretty much every user is going to have to be in the forefront of team building to counter. Great tier is Pokemon that can fit onto any team, Good Tier is Pokemon that are decent but wont work on all teams. Might be overselling/underselling Pokemon in those two tiers, but good choices either way.

Niche tier is Pokemon I can see a reason to run the Pokemon, even if that reason small or irrelevant most scenarios (ex. Kricketune is a bad mon but has the ability to set up Sticky Web). Bad Pokemon are usable but really shouldn't be as they do not aid in making a good core, being a centerfold to the team or win games. ZU is self explanatory and have not ran or ran into anyone playing the last four.

Hello, can I ask why you have Murkrow as Great but Shroodle as bottom 3 in the tier?

 

[55Miniben]

So before you get the pitchforks out, I want quiver dance banned because Oricorio Pau will get the chopping block soon and the other quiver dancers have sleep powder which is just a luck based mess. Then wii will have to rely on an NFE 4x weak to stealth rocks or something from LC for defog.

Other than that the names in brackets are mons which should be in the VR.

Also Grumpig and Hypno are in A Because they have good speed, special bulk and psych up to Ctrl c, Ctrl v quiver dance boosts.

 

[5Dots]

I personally think Houndoom and all the Quiver Dancers are not very healthy for the tier, esp. Oricorio-Pau. It constrains all sorts of builds with how it can flip matchups with Terastalzation and how fast it is after one quiver dance. Vivillion isn't as fast but it gets a more accurate Sleep Powder and Hurricane to compensate, though it's harder to fit Terastalization. Lilligant is basically more powerful the Pau and has Sleep Powder but is slower than both of them and relies on Tera more.

 

[SingleAye]

Definitely haven't gotten to play the tier as much/as optimally as I'd like, and I've definitely been messing around more than finding the best options, but my general concept:

As a note, I'm often a little loose on my tiering, so almost any of these mons going up or down a tier would also make sense to me.

Boowomp: Mons that I don't consider healthy for the metagame. The Quiver Dancers aren't insane but any of them stealing a turn with tera, and two of them with sleep powder, makes them a nightmare to handle where the tools don't feel too available.

Top tier: Mons that I'd consider format-defining, or close to it, either because they're naturally strong or just work well given the current "meta."

Good: Mons that make for good glue, role compression, and generally handle many of the problems a team would face. Usually need a little support, but they run with it once they do.

Fine: Mons that absolutely have their applications, and usually also rely on those applications while being underwhelming otherwise. I'd still recommend using many of these on a lot of teams though!

Meh: Mons with very specific applications and/or are outdone by the mons above them. You can still use them and be fine, you'll just be setting yourself back.

Misery: Mons that I couldn't recommend using outside of very, very specific reasonings, mostly because other mons do their jobs and then some and more dynamically.

Overall I think the tier is pretty easy to use anything in. A good combo of physical and special attackers, breakers, sweepers, walls and tanks, and utility. The QD sweepers are about the only issues I see, but otherwise the tier is very diverse and there are a TON of different ways to approach teambuilding imo. Very interested to see how this tier keeps going.

Please please please Squawkabilly be good I love Swellow at home so so much please bro please

 

[procorphish]

Quaxwell

Starting with the Quaxwell tier, this mon to me is easily the best pokemon in the tier as it the most consistent hazard remover and capable of eating any sort of physical attack with an eviolite (as well as special attack for that matter). Access to moxie means you're also able to become a serious threat after a couple rapid spins and brave bird allows you to break through grass types like gogoat and lilligant switching in hoping to set up on you. Encore is another amazing option over brave bird, This pokemon belongs on every team, a team without this pokemon is incomplete. The great tusk of PU.

S tier

S tier is composed of Haunter and Houndoom which are strong pokemon which get access to nasty plot allowing them to sweep through bulkier teams or cleaning late game thanks to their above average speed. Not to mention they both have access to support moves like trick and taunt respectively as well as priority in sucker punch. Oricorio obviously belongs in this tier with its quiver dance set, great ability and even access to defog, terastalization is especially powerful on this pokemon thanks to revelation dance as well. Lastly i want to talk about Zweilous, an insanely underrated pokemon, capable of beating all special set up sweepers and forcing them out with dragon tail, this pokemon is seriously amazing and its only held back by its ability Hustle.

A+

The A+ tier sees the first few good hazard setters in Glimmet and Dugtrio, the second of which also has a monstrous speed for the tier while Glimmet is able to set up both spikes and rocks and is only held back by a mediocre speed. Skuntank has strong stabs, priority and access to toxic spikes. Lilligant is pretty much a better vivillion thanks to own tempo + petal dance and just by being faster than it as well as not being forced to run boots. Falinks is great both as a banded attacker or with No Retreat. Crabominable has amazing bulks and a couple different good sets. Rotom-frost has access to a great offensive typing and a strong pivot moves, only held back by blizzard's accuracy and hazards. Don't know why Drakloak wasn't included, both banded and specs sets are deadly thanks to its speed, only held back by not having darts but it's one of the best tera abusers with a powerful tera blast ghost.

A

I want to justify the placement of some pokemon in A tier such as flapple who is able to run an interesting ripen set with sitrus berry, dragon dance and tera blast making for one of the best dd users in the tier. Cacturne is a good spikes setter with access to leaf storm and sucker punch, similarly to what meowscarada is doing in OU but obviously less efficiently. Gogoat is limited by having to run either rock slide or earthquake in one of its slots, other than that its a solid bulky pokemon and a good check to Quaxwell. Misdreavous is a bulkier Haunter with access to calm mind, draining kiss, will-o-wisp and pain split and as such is a better spin blocker. Camerupt is a good hazard setter which is also able to cripple Quaxwell on the switch. Pyroar is basically a faster houndoom which is best ran with choice items and hits hard while Ampharos is able to do the same thing as Zweilous with a resttalk dtail set as well as having static. Raboot is also in this tier thanks to libero and choice band or choice scarf sets.

A-

Pawniard's placement in A- might be a bit overrated but access to sd + sucker will always make it scary at team preview. Frogadier is a good spike setter with a nice speed tier allowing it to be faster than Haunter, Oricorio, Houndoom, and Skuntank; torrent boosted surf hits hard and u-turn allows you to pivot on stuff like cacturne and quaxwell. Golduck has a lot of potential as a rain abuser even tho setting up rain dance isn't too easy in this tier. Hattrem has the unique ability of being able to repel hazards and invalidating certain team archetypes as well as having access to amazing support moves in nuzzle and healing wish. Carkol is actually really good lol, sets up hazards, great bulk, has access to spin, only held back by its typing but works as an alternative to quaxwell. Jumpluff can be annoying if set up in the right situation, both with swords dance + acrobatics or with leech seed + substitute sets, only held back by mediocre stats.

B+ and B

Most pokemon in the lower tier are pretty much worse versions of some of the mons in the above tiers such as tinkatuff whose only special attributes compared to other hazard setters are mold breaker and knock off. The same can be said about banette which has access to knock off and will-o-wisp, Grumpig has access to thick fat and future sight, Wugtrio has amazing speed like its counterpart but lacks stealth rocks. Lumineon could work under rain, speaking of which voltorb is able to set it up reliably thanks to its speed and access to volt switch. Toedscool is another spinner but has a hard time because of its poor physical defense and a quad weakness to ice. While dunsparce can sit around and click roost, glare and headbutt if the opponent's ghost type has mysteriously left the field. A similar role is played by Sawsbuck. As much as i want Stonejourner to be good, there are better hazard setters and a pure rock typing is just ass, loaded dice and scarf sets can be good tho in certain situations tho you'd rather use Lycanroc.

B-

As for thee niche category, Glalie has a unique combination of freeze dry + spikes, Kricketune can set up webs, Seviper has access to glare, coil and a decent coverage, Shroodle has prankster + knock off. These pokemon aren't great but can work as "gimmicks", or in the case of glalie if you really needed that combination of moves.

UR

Unranked is reserved for Sunflora whose stats are just kind of ass, delibird whose stats are just kind of ass, Stantler which doesn't do anything other normal types don't do better, Eiscue whose stats are kind of ass, and Tropius who is like maybe deserving of B- but it really doesn't work in practice as well as you'd want it to.

IDK

Other mons i just don't know where to rank, for example dragonair seems like it could work with dragon dance + espeed, Zorua's illusion could be fun to play around, and Sliggoo's defenses are quite high with an eviolite. These mons have potential but i just wouldn't know where to rank them rn.

 

[tom holland]

S rank
the s rank for me consists of brokens+quaxwell. To elaborate, quaxwell is our best and nearly only viable removal, and stuff like Missy spikestack is really strong, and those teams build with quaxwell in the forefront of their mind. Pau and Viv are broken and almost always worthwhile to use in competitive play rn imo. Idk if magneton is broken or not yet personally, but it definitely feels stupid with its set variety, and it's always naturally finding a place on my squads I build. To me, these are the best of the best, and what many teams build around or with regularly.

A+ rank
Crab might be S idk

The offensive fire types are great, but not broken once again imo. Definitely prominent to a point where they should be prepped for on every team which is why they are A+ rank, but with so many strong special attacker options to build around and a lack of removal to allow them to easily go without HDB, they are not S material for me.

Camel is our best ground type for the electric-infested tier, and a great rocker.

Haunter could be S, but I'm not confident on it either. I need to use it more or watch more replays of it. Has huge set variety and definitely needs to be accounted for on every team.

A rank
as you have probably noticed im skipping some things so this isnt a novel. I'll discuss some hot takes.

Tink is A rank for me bc knock off distribution is limited and it can bypass hattrem. It may have 0 attack but knock+twave is enough to keep it from draining momentum.

Raichu is really strong due to its coverage+speed+nasty plot. Easily a top electric type, just has competition from other strong electric types above it.

Golduck is great both in rain/semi-rain and as a standalone. A huge sleeper threat that can 6-0 unprepared teams or weakened teams.

Indeedee is strong, has healing wish, and sets up Psychic terrain. I think Psychic terrain has unexplored potential.

A- rank
Vigoroth is really good and ive seen great use of it in kickoff. Maybe could go higher, but feels a little one dimensional.

Leafeon is great, maybe the best sun sweeper (yes better than scovillain). Also has a niche outside of sun as a bulky cleric, but not as prominent as the sun set imo. It is reliant on Tera though in the sun, and if it weren't for it having two niches, it would be B+.

B+
Sneasel is a slept on sweeper. Tera ground set is the way to go, and with proper support it can pop off. However, again it is Tera reliant, and it also has a SR weakness.

Weather Abusers that aren't as premiere as golduck/leafeon are here because weather is really solid at the moment.

B
Fraxure and Dragonair are the two good dragon nfes to sweep with. Fraxure i have seen ised effectively with DD sets, and dragonair has a strong niche with choice band espeed spikestack teams, as well as bulky dd espeed sets.

I have not used persian but ive seen good players use it so im guessing it is useful as a revenge killer. Probably Tera normal fake out for the fake technician boost?

everything below B are things that have a small niche but are either outclassed, or the niche is not prominent enough to make it higher.

Shroodle is viable in this meta but is very matchup dependant, hence the C ranking.