Alright, this week has been crazy with work so this is not nearly as elaborate as I'd hoped it'd be but I did my best. And yes I literally don’t believe in an S rank UU mon currently, meaning a mon that is totally meta defining/centralizing warps multiple other important mons and team structures toward/around it and can run multiple sets. Not here. This is mostly DLC mons and recent drops with some old standbys updated for the meta.
NOMS
A+
Pancham is king of the hill in UU as it's the best glue mon in the tier. Pancham is one of the few mons that can put down our tanks as well as live and RK after some of our more dangerous boost mons have set up with it's great bulk for an offensive mon. It is the only fighting type with pivot access in the tier and it has coverage to make work of almost anything, though right now it is pretty much forced to run drain, knock and zhb to deal with opposing panch and croagunk. Currently there is a Pancham speed creep war going on in the meta and there isn't a surefire way to tell if the opposing Panch is running 12, 13, or 14 speed (11 and 15 sets are a bit more obvious). So in spite of a somewhat predictable moveset, Panch can still surprise and is always a significant threat, knocking shit around and just powering through teams with drain punch.
A/A+
Super dangerous mon that can 6-0 unprepared teams. As cottonee usage has fallen, this thing has an easier time setting up. Pancham is really the only safe switch in. The hazard stack set has been less popular but is also a huge annoyance. Weak armor still seems unexplored in the current meta.
A
Stats-wise a cut above the majority of the tier fast and strong both physically and specially with respectable defenses. Psychic type is better than it's been in a while rn, and yet Pony-G still has a tough time coming and getting started in a lot of games because of knock off spam. Physical has been seeing more play as a hard Stunky counter and with more coverage options but ZHB is a mediocre and somewhat unreliable primary stab attack. Dazzling gleam isn't great in the tier rn so special is pretty much always psychic and mystical fire. Mixed however is easy to run w these stats and HHP or wild charge as coverage. Utility and defensive sets are still somewhat unexplored bc this thing is mostly being deployed as an offensive answer to Panch and Croa or as a life orb cleaner.
A
Sandshrew is an excellent glue mon that can function as a powerful physical attacker, or a decent physical defender with spin support. While it has some decent coverage options, it pretty much always prefers to run a variation on an offensive sweeper set or a defensive hazard set, with some combination of earthquake, knock off, rapid spin, swords dance and stealth rock. Even despite this level of predictability, few things switch in easily here, and under sand this guy can wreak havoc on teams. Sandshrew works great on both weather and non weather teams, as it doesn't necessarily need a sand rush boost to do it's job, but it does have to be careful of defensive grass and water types and as well as faster special attackers that can revenge against it's paltry spdef stat.
A
King Stunky has lost his crown with the drops but he is still a major threat with the crazy number of excellent sets this thing can run. Life orb, evio, physical, nasty plot, mixed, berry juice, utility, even scarf if ur a freak, Stunky p much does it all. Dark/Poison typing is also still extremely clutch. It absolutely hates the rise of Sandshrew, Pancham and the heaven-sent Pony G which have together knocked it from it's S tier perch. Don't sleep Stunky can still win games.
A-/A
Almost always a threat and a great cleaner, not to mention a good Meowth deterrent, poison stab is still great in the tier and +2 vacuum wave goes brr. Ghosts are somewhat on the rise atm and shadow ball access makes this thing even more potent in addition to being a one time switch in to Pancham though you have to be wary of ZHB. Physical/bulk up hasn't been explored much, we've seen some mixed sets w knock. Does have to be careful around things with surprise psychic coverage as it can't eat psychic from anything. Between this thing, Skrelp and Stunky, Cottonee usage has dropped significantly.
A
Great fat water wall w lots of utility tricks, wisp hex and strength sap are still as annoying and hard to deal with as ever and most of our best special attackers can't do much to this thing. Hard countered by helio only.
A
Probably the best tank in the tier, also great at stopping most of the setup sweepers. A bit of a momentum suck however in a tier that is still heavily HO biased.
:meowth-kanto: A
The best revenge killer in the tier, and a painful lead to deal with. Not a lot of answers to this thing.
A-
I hate this thing, it’s ruining and cheesing my beautiful tier. Very few things live +6. Make sure you have an answer on your team. Thankfully we have a few things that can stick it to Ziggy so it doesn’t always win. I expected more screens spam when this thing dropped, along with some of the other set ups sweepers but so far that hasn’t been the wave as much. We’ll see how it evolves.
A-
Adaptability just kills shit in this tier. Slow and and hurt by the current ground spam meta trend. Can go physical or special and can be decently bulky. Flip turn is a big help. Max speed frailer sets w flip turn should probably be played more often on vortex teams.
A-
Cotton falls off a bit with the additional poison mons in the tier giving it a bad day. Prankster nerf against opposing dark mons also makes Stunky more or less a free switch in as d gleam never does more than 30%. Still Cottonee is one of the best utility mons in the tier and is excellent glue on many teams that appreciate it’s support w knock off, status and set up enabling.
A-
Probably the best scarfer in the tier, has fallen off a little because of sandshrew / sand picking up some traction as well as fight spam now being a viable thing. Still, the faster pace of UU means most teams appreciate a fast pivot and hello’s offensive output can clean up effectively late game .
A-
becomes a little redundant on teams that may prefer sandshrew, but great utility in spin, rocks and more niche options like magic coat or weather setting, I addition to it’s typing and offensive coverage keep this thing as an excellent anti-meta check in tier.
:pumpkaboo-small:A-
I’m not gonna rank all pump’s as I haven’t thought about it super carefully but I wanna talk about smol right now. Specifically pump-small physical life orb. As Joltage has shown in his beloved Youtube videos, little lo pump is super potent in UU atm. With flame charge and poltergeist, little pump can sweep teams. Poltergeist hits hard, bullet seed denies subs and shadow sneak cleans. I’m not putting it higher because it’s still a ghost, it gets knocked and then it’s kinda done. If played carefully Pump has the tools to really capitalize on the current meta.
A-
A-/B+
Even with a useless ability, Oddish is still pretty tough to deal with in UU though it doesn't prefer the little bit of shine that hail has gotten post DLC. Great defensive typing sleep powder and strength sap access and above average stats make this a great option for a lot of teams that previously had to pick between the both excellent but very specific mons of budew and cottonee. I think Oddish wants to go a bit faster here than the defensive set that became dominant in LC OU. It’s still gonna be slower than bud and cott but it has more offensive and defensive prowess than either.
B+/A-
Surprisingly flexible mon that can be a dangerous attacker, can be played tanky or as a utility/pivot mon. Can run max bulk and live a +6 zig e speed. Can get decently fast for the tier but doesn't necessarily need it. Burns shit. Less speedy water types are not necessarily safe with electric and grass coverage. Can also be run special as invented by KSG last week. Held back by brutal stealth rock weakness and tricky typing which can be a boon offensively but pretty vulnerable defensively.
B+/A-
Originally had thought of this as a solid mid or even low B tier mon, but Joltage’s anti-lead set convinced me that baby sand croc can really put in work. The moxie scarf set is lackluster among other sweeping/cleaning options in the tier, but intimidate + taunt + rock, unique typing as well as pretty good speed and respectable offensive prowess makes this thing an under the radar threat.
B+/A-
Little yellow bug is finally getting his time to shine. Joltik can be surprisingly tanky with evio, can be a great scarfer and pivot around, and it can nab early ko’s with life orb. Electric/bug is an undervalued typing and has some crucial meta advantages in the tier at the moment, though it still has to be played carefully around poisons and ground mons with rock coverage. It’s fast with a better spa stat and defensive typing than helioptile, though it unfortunately doesn’t have such an easy time with
who has, fortunately for Joltik, become way less dominant post dlc. It’s ability to come in and out of the field as a pivot is also hindered by rocks so it needs some team support. Nonetheless the stab combo and giga drain/energy ball is pretty wide coverage, and it’s typing allows it to switch into things like pancham on occasion. With a swarm boost bug buzz can really put the hurt on unsuspecting mons.
B+
Snover is a hard one to rank on it’s own, as it is really most effective in tandem with A-shrew. It does have a few niche options but mostly it is seen running scarf or icy rock and clicking blizzard. We’ve seen a few more evio/life orb sets recently as well as some people attempting physical. At the end of the day snover is currently the crucial hail setter to enable that weather archetype and has decent offensive prowess with it’s stab combination, but dies pretty fast due to it’s awful defensive typing.
B+
Growlithe has a lot of similarities with Larvesta as a fire mon that can be run offensively or defensively, w respectable bulk and decent offensive prowess as a physical or special attacker along with some utility options in wisp, covet roar and snarl. Mono fire typing means it has a little bit of an easier time coming in and doesn’t get rolled over as quickly by rocks. It isn’t quite as strong as vesta however, and lacks pivoting and coverage on the special side. Probably deserved A- pre DLC, but hurt in viability by new ground and waters. Still an undervalued pick imo.
B+
Bad defensive typing makes alola shrew less preferable than it’s kantonian brother, but this thing can still put in serious work and makes hail viable, aurora veils support can turn a game around and stab ice and stab iron head also slaps in addition to knock off and rapid spin support it can provide.
B/B+
Fat beast w/ wish passing ability, curse press and knock off, as well as untapped special offensive potential and crazy coverage. Can also vanish weather. Hates the presence of panch and croa and has a hard time fitting on most team archetypes in any of the above functions bc of it.
B
Less great fat water with some interesting tricks. Teleport is probably better on paper than in practice so far, but there's still a ton of exploration to be done with this mon given it's wild ass gen 1 move pool. Held back bc it's probably the third or fourth best bulky water, can't really hit that hard against other fat mons and knock off spam means it can't really do it's job that well for very long. Still fblast and other weird coverage options are probably undervalued atm in the tier.
B
Another option for a defensive water mon, but with the same mixed typing as Skrelp has a hard time lasting as long as it would like to as spin support. Has some interesting offensive options as it can happily run physical mixed or special, but it's respectable stab combo is outclassed by Skrelp. Some combination of utility support sort of makes it a poor mans Sandshrew, however this one suffers a bit from 4MSS. Probably underexplored particularly w t spikes but currently less splashable than it seems like it could be on paper. I could see it rising in the future.
B
Sizzlipede is often overshadowed by Larvesta. This thing really only needs one set with a variable item (evio or scarf imo): fire lash/knock/power whip/leech life. It’s a surprisingly potent lead that plants it’s feet and just trades with way more mons than you expect it to because fire lash (sometimes in combo w knock off) is kind of op. As with larval fire moth, stealth rocks own you, but I say resist the temptation to run boots. Sizz is a purely offensive mon it’s not switching in and out that much and it wants to kill as many things as possible. I
B/B-
Zorua has a decent niche in UU as it can convincingly Illusion bluff several important mons with it's widened movepool. Access to a surprisingly strong stab knockoff makes this thing almost always capable of putting in respectable work. It can effectively run life orb or choice scarf and can really turn momentum quickly. It's still pretty frail and ultimately a mon that lives on it's own ability gimmick. Nonetheless it can be a respectable pivot, cleaner or revenge killer on the right teams.
B-
An interesting flavor option for the Meowth/Mincinno normal type rk/sweeper role, lo bun actually hits stupidly hard with a few of the tricks Meowth has plus some of it's own, but no technician, feint, knock, u turn and no double edge so for a high bp stab move it has to either use the unreliable last resort or megakick. It also unfortunately can't hit a life orb number meaning it's time on the field is more limited than coin cat.
B/B-
I been on the Rowlet train since pre-dlc and though the influx of strong poison type attackers and the rise of hail certainly doesn’t help the little owl, I think Rowlet is being slept on somewhat. This thing can get bulky. It can swords dance up and crush your fighting mons with brave bird or dual wingbeat. It gets defog, it gets roost, it gets sucker punch, it gets knock off, it gets shadow sneak (which unfortunately it cannot run concurrently with roost). You can nasty plot giga drain. Mixed is plausible. Rowlet has plenty of options but it is painfully slow and has an extremely defensively vulnerable typing. For this reason I may be overrating it a bit but I think Rowlet is neglected and can be worked into certain team archetypes and provide good utility and surprising offensive pressure.
B-
Mighty little Cubone has the ability to totally wreck teams, but as everyone knows it's hard for this thing to get going and manage more than a 1v1 without speed control due to it's bad speed and inability to supplement it's solid base base defense but lackluster special bulk due to thick club, and it's vulnerable defensive typing so serious team support is required. Theoretically decent potential on webs or trick room but we haven't seen it in action much yet..
B-
Golett can finally run a threatening scarf set with Poltergeist, Dynamic Punch and your choice of elemental punches and/or drain punch. Unfortunately you die to pretty much anything, so the potential here is kinda low. An evio set has more slightly more longevity but Golett still dies fast and loses it’s breaking power pretty quickly by investing into defenses and remains painfully slow.
B-
Psyduck can be a decent defensive mon and nullify weather teams with Cloud 9, or it can be a dangerous swift swimmer with both physical and special options. Duck suffers from 4MSS and serious competition as a water mon in a meta where water spam is viable but typically prefers a more convincing defensive water type to go alongside a pivot or more offensively dangerous water. Psyduck remains pretty unexplored here and has some potential but it’s def a niche pick.
B-/C+
I’m mad bc morelull has criminally been C rank in the viability ranking when pre dlc it should’ve been B/B+ at the least. This thing was one of our best defensive mons with crazy spore/sap utility and the only viable thing w stab moonblast in the tier. Unfortunately as with sister cot, Morelull’s viablility has been damaged badly by more poison steel and ice mons in the tier as well as speed creep making it’s slow defensive self even less relevant. Nonetheless once it’s checks are cleared it can be quite difficult to break morelull, this thing is capable of winning games. Don’t sleep.
B-/C+
Sand castle has respectable stats and a good move pool. Unfortunately ghost ground is just kind of a shitty typing and this thing has a hard time getting much done before it drops dead. While it requires some team support this guy can throw rocks and throw out some decently strong attacks before it gets knocked or washed away. Super niche pick but I want to see it explored more.
C+/B-
In a tier with limited options for flying types, Fletch has interesting potential w Gale Wings priority. Unfortunately Fletch is weak and frail, suffers somewhat from 4MSS and if it wants to get much mileage out of Gale Wings or function effectively as a defogger, has to wear HDB. It's also not very fast without priority. This makes it pretty 1 dimensional and hard to find openings. It's also hard for this thing to kill much without a swords dance boost. That being said it can function as a decent cleaner within certain team structures but the accuracy of Dual Wingbeat and the aforementioned flaws make this thing sadly unreliable.
C+
Man I wrote an essay about Rockruff pre-dlc. This mon has five abilities and almost all of them actually have something to offer. As the fastest unboosted rock type in the tier with a respectable attack stat, not to mention just a cute ass mon, you gotta hope Ruff can do something. Sadly while it’s evo was blessed with powerful coverage this gen in addition to it’s signature priority rock attack, little murder dog has a hard time murdering much. One of the niches I had imagined was as a steadfast anti-meowth lead which may still have a tiny bit of cache in a tier where meowth has less reason to run water pulse. Ruff either forces Meowth out or gains a Steadfast speed boost after tanking a resisted fake out. Either scenario allows Rockruff to either throw rocks or swords dance boost to begin a sweep. Though an SD boosted Ruff can dole out respectable damage, this is hampered by the fact that it has to rely on Stone Miss or Rock Slide for stab. Sucker punch, iron head, and zen headbutt are decent coverage options. An Own Tempo set can abuse thrash without worrying about confusion. Overall it’s a little hard to justify using this thing as it has few set up opportunities and gets put down pretty easy by the big bads of the tier.
C+
Horsea has the highest spa stat of all UU water mons (sadly tied w unviable sobble and wailmer) and the second highest defense stat after Krabby, along with decent speed- on paper it may seem to have the potential to be a decent swift swim sweeper. Unfortunately horseas low hp stat and pitiful special bulk along less favorable coverage vs mantyke, arrokuda, psyduck and goldeen make it probably the lesser choice on rain teams, though rain has fallen out of favor int he meta and seahorse seems to be unexplored at the moment.
C
Fomantis is a bootleg Snivy that can either run choice scarf and just click Leaf Storm and try to sweep unprepared or mismatched teams, or it can run Life Orb and try to take advantage of sun by boosting up with Leaf Storm and letting off powerful Weather Balls. It does get defog but using defog with this thing is tricky and requires prediction given it's frailty and lackluster defensive typing.
C/C-
Similar to Cubone, Azurill has the potential to claim lives (though not nearly with as much authority as the bone orphan) but is held back by a pitiful speed stat and nonexistent bulk. The requirement to run juice on the BD set makes this thing pretty 1 dimensional and relegated to being a trick room sweeper. It may have a miniscule niche as a knock off > double edge / aqua jet cleaner but this is clearly outclassed by Meowth and others.
C-/Unranked
Clauncher has had 0 usage in LPL so far and with good reason. As a water type it's outclassed in pretty much all capacities except in potential damage output. Unfortunately without an auto terrain setter Megalauncher boosted Terrain Pulse is an even harder gimmick to set up. Bearing that in mind, Clauncher has decent stats and access to some interesting moves; it has some unexplored possibilities as a defensive mon or even as a surprise physical attacker, but these sets are pretty much outclassed in all cases.
C-/UR
In a pre IoA meta, Petilil might have had a niche as a defensive grass type w some interesting utility options in entrainment, healing wish, healing bell/aromatherapy, covet and stun spore. Sadly there’s little reason to run this thing over oddish, bud or cott given how tough it is for grass types these days.
Archen
Carvanha (OU by Usage as well)
Farfetch'd-Galar
Scorbunny
Shellder
Wingull
You can discuss the tier here, or in the LCUU Discord!
C to B Mostly outclassed by Bulbasaur, but any sun sweeper with Weather Ball shouldn't be this low.
still exists in the tier. This isn't going to be particularly impactful
an actual coverage option at least, so that's neat. I don't think anything else is particularly interested in using it tho
), 
