Personal VR+Explanations
Post-HPL I think some spots on the current 7PH Vr need to be changed to reflect the current meta, also I want to share somehot takes general thoughts on the viability and roles of certain mons.
Ordered by viability within ranks, WG vr coming soon if i care enough. (i wont)
Edit:added c tier, also gave diancie, ndm and gyarados higher placements cuz i felt i ranked them too low before.
S TIER
S+ Rank
1. Chansey
Previously underestimated this mon, but after buiding more teams with both eviolite imposter and innards out, yeah its a clear #1 in the meta. Both imp and innards fundamentally change how you play the game to play around them, and one wrong sack to innards/letting an improof get chipped too much can cost you the entire game. Imp especially is strong for doing so many things at once, like scouting, rkilling, stallbreaking, and even sometimes sweeping, and so many powerful mons are heavily limited by being hard to improof (pure power shell smash mons, cfz spammers, mold breakers).
prankster will never be real tho
S Rank
2. Zygarde-Complete
This thing is a level above MMX imo because it is less matchup-reliant and forces sweepers to run coverage specifically for it. Any sweeper that can't 2hko zyg can be shut down through prankster, and prankster itself has a lot of set diversity to wall even more mons, like reflect/willowisp for physical attackers or uturn to heavily damage dark-types. Mbounce sets are also strong for how hard they shut down defensive mons while still being good into offensive mons, and i feel like other abilities have a lot of room to be explored like pheal or arena trap.
S- Rank
3. Mewtwo-Mega-X
MMX has fallen off a bit recently imo, its shortcomings are becoming much more apparent in the current meta. Sometimes I am happy seeing this mon in team preview, lmao. Offensive stag mons, faster/priority attackers, most physical walls, and imposter all can force it out, and it struggles between choosing a 4th coverage move or priority. It also can be kinda useless in certain matchups depending on its set and it faces competition from pure power mons that have more defensive utility like pdon or kart. Still a super threatening breaker tho with lots of ability to overcome its counters as coverage gets more optimized, and stag/banded pure power sets are cool.
4. Blissey
I do think this has some use cases over chansey, mainly as an innards that takes special hits better and can take down opposing imposter blissey, but yeah its basically stuck in limbo. Offbrand chansey is still crazy strong when compared to the rest of the meta tho.
also it has that one weird innards sweeper set that i lost to on ladder once so surely it must be real
A TIER
A+ Rank
5. Slaking
Monke stocks are at an all-time high. Though the old fakespeed set hasn't seen much usage as of late and is worse off with the decline in hyper offense's viability, 2 new sets have been popularized through HPL that i feel give slaking an almost top-tier spot in the meta. (I almost gave it S- lmao) The first is less impactful, the shell smash huge power set: smash, espeed, sunsteel, coverage or hazards. It is a powerful lategame cleaner that can overcome prankster zygarde with +2 extreme speeds, and it still has some of the same revenge killing utility along with some added breaking power. However, of course what gives slaking the top spot in A tier is its harvest set. Steel moldy move+50% healing move+evoboost is insane on its own, being very hard to stop once set up without some kind of physdef wall or plan after a prankster mon uses haze. Its fourth slot is very customizable to beat its checks: nature's madness/guardian of alola beats imposter, breaks through prankster mons easier, and counters innards, taunt shuts down counterplay like whirlwind, toxic, or innards chansey and helps with stallbreaking, while substitute buys turns to get back leppa berry, aids in prediction, and blocks some status moves/powerful attacks like crits and ohkos. Being both a super powerful wallbreaker and a strong revenge killer gives slaking a top spot imo.
6. Gengar-Mega
Still a great sweeper and revenge killer and the best moongeist user in the game. Kinda dependent on coverage to break specific moongeist walls, but is an immense threat in the lategame and to more offensive teams. Pbond, magic guard, no guard, etc. are all very tough to play around in their own right.
7. Groudon-Primal
Pdon spam is a lot less scary nowadays (and aerobees builds in general) but pdon is still a powerful sunsteel attacker with stab vcreate, a good typing, and massive bulk. Without a slowbro or zygarde, this thing becomes insanely terrifying. Stag or mold breaker sets are also very strong as well.
A Rank
8. Steelix-Mega
Better fur coat mon than doublade imo. Walls any physical attacker that isn't carrying special coverage or is named pdon/MMX. (and it still walls some mmx lmao) Item slot flexibility also helps, you can do stuff like run rocky helmet to punish repeated sunsteels or uturn or lefties to increase your bulk even further. Also has usable special bulk in a pinch and a super slow speed tier to help with pivoting. Prankster and mbounce sets are good on the right team, tho nothing special.
9. Mewtwo-Mega-Y
This mons a strange case because all of its sets are like B+ tier, but it just has so much set diversity it can fit on a wide variety of teams and be unpredictable from team preview. Special photon isn't all that good in current meta hence the drop to A, but MMY is still a fast attacker with high set diversity. Noteworthy sets include scarf stag for being able to outrun and ohko most offensive mons (even some at +2, like pdon) with cfzs and offensive innards for being the 3rd best innards user in the meta behind the pink blobs imo.
10. Slowbro-Mega
I think this mon's fur coat set is a better MMX check than doublade for also walling ground move/fire move variants and it has the huge bonus of hardcountering pdon instead of losing to it, tho megabro is a bit worse against a lot of other common attackers so doublade still has that niche. Bug, grass, and electric coverage being more common hurts it as well. What makes it slightly better than doublade in my eyes is being able to better run other abilities like prankster and magic bounce and the fact that it bluffs wg.I almost brought a water bubble one to HPL, dont ask
11. Doublade
Honestly pretty much an inbetween of steelix and slowbro, but its role as an mmx wall puts it closer to megabro in building imo. Personally I prefer megabro because pdon is just that important a mu to cover but it really it goes either way (if ransei cooked 10% harder with the sturdy and huge power sets theyre trying to make work it moves up a spot)
A- Rank
12. Ash-Greninja
This thing hasn't been used seriously as a non-wg in a while, but it is strong as a gastro acid/sing no guard mon. It can switch in on and outrun most offensive mons thanks to its moldy move resists and speed tier and it also bluffs wg which is nice. Its other sets aren't that good imo, water bubble is too weak to revenge kill anything that isnt super frail or pdon and magic guard sets have fallen to the wayside as spam ho gets less common.
13. Lopunny-Mega
Lopunny is slightly better than ashgren at no guarding thanks to a rocks resist and its uturn resistance/spectral immunity/better bulk making it not as threatened by the passive wgs it forces in, but it doesn't have any sets besides no guard so ashgrens just that little bit stronger. Another placement where it really just goes either way.
14. Diancie-Mega
Not a mon ive used myself that much, but ive seen it work. Fake out+espeed pixilate is weaker now for simiar reasons as slaking, but its shell smash pixilate set can be very scary in lots of matchups. Do think it can run different sets well tho like the magic guard sweeper i brought to HPL, a lot of experimenting can be done with this mon i feel.
15. Kartana
Kart is a very threatening wallbreaker and its high HPL usage and winrate speaks to that. The strongest sunsteel in the game combined with a secondary stab that hits water types make it makes it hard to wall long-term, and its typing has some good utility with a spore immunity and sunsteel resist. However it struggles to hit zyg-c, pdon, and fur coats hard enough sometimes, which is why i think no guard is such a strong ability on it to ohko those mons. Awful special bulk and middle-of-the-pack speed also hold it back a lot. Still a strong mon tho.
16. Deoxys Attack
Even tho i am deoxys spam guy this mon does have its shortcomings. Its physical sets are only really useful on ho or psysurge, otherwise you would just prefer mmx because fighting stab and bulk matter a lot over just 20 base speed. Special magic guard sets can be very good on offensive teams to give insurance against sweeps and clean lategame, tho they do suffer a lot from the meta being hostile to special photon rn. Limited in where it can be used, but very strong when it does work.
Prison
17. Regigigas
Forever just mid slaking, unfortunate. Got a bit worse due to not bluffing the super-threatening harvest set, but still better on specific teams when you need the extra special bulk.
18. Solgaleo
Solgaleo goes to prison for fraud. Its pure power sets are nothing special, just being slightly worse NDMS due to a small but noticable drop in power. Prankster/fur coat works on offense as a blanket check to both physical attackers and special photon, but ghost, dark, and fire weaknesses hold it back a lot and prevent it from being a strudy wall. It also stacks weaknesses with a lot of offensive mons like mmx, kartana, and pdon which hold it back as a reliable defensive switchin. Solgaleo's REAL FRAUDULENT ACTIVITY is the innards set, however. Ive heard claims that bluffing innards makes solg a better offensive mon, but innards is just a bad set. It has 2 more base attack than excadrill and a worse secondary stab, it isn't doing the "sweeper" part of innards sweeper well. It also fails at being an effective innards mon because its bulk and resistances prevent it from koing what it wants to. Its like lunala (awful mon btw) but worse. Solgaleo, take your 14% HPL winrate AND WEEP.
no guard seems pretty cool tho may try it out
B TIER
B+ Rank
19. Necrozma-Dusk-Mane
Honest Solgaleo. Its pure power sets are just kartanas that trade lots of attack and speed for a nuke button and bulk, also can be used on psysurge. Kinda like the Necrozma-Ultra to Kartana's MMX in a way, worse for a lot of sets but can do z-move pure power and harvest stuff.
20. Rayquaza-Mega
Overall just mid. Stag sets are reliable trappers due to strong mixed offenses and ohkoing zyg-c with soulblaze, and aerilate sets are good into frail offensive mons but not much else. Mold breaker sweeper sets could be good tho and not a low ladder gimmick, soulblaze seems like a terrifying nuke.
21. Type: Null
Only really used on stall, which seems odd. Its a good enough special wall on its own, i feel like you can run it on balance or maybe even offense as a slow pivot mbounce mon and it would work well. Underused.
22. Necrozma-Ultra
MMX with a nuke button. Good pure power shell smash mon, also strong on psysurge. Worse attack stat hurts it a lot tho, and it can only really run one item.
23. Gyarados-Mega
Underexplored as a non-wg imo, basically every attacker has coverage for it anyways so you really don't need wg. Defensive stag sets like the one eyeos uses seem to be really strong into certain teams, and mold knock off and hazards are always nice to have. Bounce and pure power also seem usable enough.
B Rank
24. Deoxys-Speed
Scarf no guard is a funny revenge killer that can outspeed and ohko stuff at +2 it really shouldnt, and it is the best comaphazer in the meta. Mold breaker hazard leads like seen on ladder could actually be good on non-psysurge non-spam ho though, its a very reliable hazard setter.
25. Yveltal
A mbounce mon that does mbounce things and threaten stuff with stab knock off. Decent special wall, unfortunately shares weaknesses with zygarde so a lot of mons have coverage for it.
26. Celesteela
Good defensive solg alternative which trades stats for less weaknesses, being better into hazards, and improofing stuff like mold pdon or fissure no guards. Can't really check much longterm though.
27. Alakazam-Mega
Best psysurge setter, just doesnt have anything else going for it outside of that besides some weird no guard stuff maybe.
28. Kyurem-Black
Ice type fakespeeder, breaks through zyg-c easier than diancie and it can revenge kill gengar. Rocks weakness hurts but hey at least youre immune to sheer cold.
29. Heracross-Mega
Super challenging to play around in the right circumstances, first impression is a monster wheter its banded stag trapping bug weak mons or huge power forcing out stuff. Definitely becomes a lot less threatening if a mon resists the move or it is the second turn out tho, poor defensive typing and speed really hurt it. Triage also exists.
30. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish
FISH FISH FISH FISH FISH FISH FISH FISH FI
Mold sweeper that struggles to find setup opportunities vs more offensive teams, but has a solid defensive profile and high damage output once set up. Water bubble probably has some merit over ashgren, the power difference is quite large.
31. Banette-Mega
Band shadow sneak user that can also wallbreak with sunsteel, good cuz half the offensive metas weak to ghost. Kinda competes with scarf pbond gengar now that i think about it.
32. Aggron-Mega
Mostly outclassed by steelix, better attack, lack of a water weakness, and ice neutrality helps occasionally but you really want stab twaves and/or steelix's better slow pivoting and spdef 95% of the time.
B- Rank
33. Pheromosa
Cscl has showen me the light, this mon can do things. No guard is threatening because so many wgs are weak to bug, and stag is a good set cuz of good mixed offenses and speed. Unfortunately it has no defensive utility and has some power issues.
34. Pikachu
Pikachu archetypes are underrated imo, the x2 attack from light ball destroys many improofs and paralysis moves arent that hard to fit on your defensive mons. You do have to build your entire team around the mon tho.
35. Lunala
HPL has shown that this mon only really works against ladder. (unless if you're akreis, then it doesnt even work on ladder) Struggles to be an effective innards because lots of mons can play around it with weak attacks, chip damage, or taking advantage of its high bulk, but it at least can force out offensive mons with the threat of stab moongeist. Can't really break past any of its walls effectively even with coverage, but hey at least its better than innards solg. The one no guard lunala in HPL was also funny.
36. Marowak-Alola
Like banette but better at wallbreaking and taking on sunsteel attackers due to stab vcreate and a sunsteel resist, unfortunately misses out on certain ranges tho and is rocks-weak.
37. Articuno
Alright role compression on offensive teams that helps keep hazards off and improofs certain no guards. Suprisingly effective into more defensive stuff. Limited defensive utility outside of checking no guard tho.
38. Arceus
Type: null but fast, can also do perish trap stuff. Doesn't really wall anything tho, mainly just checks them which makes it hard tofit on teams as a defensive mon.
39. Metagross-Mega
Don't know what this does better than NDM besides be faster, which isnt useful except for harvest occasionally or mid stag sets i guess.
40. Muk-Alola
Mon needs more experimenting, but it seems like a solid moongeist/special photon wall and mold knock user. May have a niche over yveltal as a bouncer due to its lack of common weaknesses (besides ground, tho that isnt really run on special attackers). Really hurt by not having wg tho.
41. Lugia
Good photon wall and mbouncer with cool neutralities to bug and fairy and a ground immunity, walling photon unfortunately just isn't in high demand rn. Could improof stuff like certain mmx variants or no guard mmy.
42. Cresselia
Never seen this used seriously but it seems more fundementally solid then other stuff in this tier so i guess it fits here. Mixed wall with fur coat is my guess, looks to be a counter to both physical and special photon but nothing else.
43. Gardevoir-Mega
Decent enough magic guard user, stab light of ruin is a great asset. Competes with diancie and deoxys-attack tho.
44. Giratina-Origin
Offensive innards with too high bulk to be a good innards user and too low offenses to threaten much. Kinda hurts to be lunala (mid incarnate) but more mid.
45. Necrozma-Dawn-Wings
Tinted lens moongeist+photon seems scary on paper but idk how you would improof it or find lots of setup opportunities, to be fair nobody knows what to do with this mon lmao. Just stick to wg.
C TIER
C+ Rank
46. Best HPL Team
Mixed wall that unfortunately loses to any anti-steel type coverage. Could fit on offense as a prankster solg alternative, also could see use as a check/improof to special mold breakers if they become more common.
47. Gyarados @ Stone
Really effective at catching people off guard with evoboost sets like illusion or bounce, just easy to anticipate the suprise and play around it. Actual embodiment of mid ladder. Also see some use for it on stall teams as an mbounce mon that can turn into a mold breaker knock off/spikes user if needed for a certain matchup.
48. Ho-oh
Really unique defensive typing that walls lots of common coverage moves, but rocks weakness makes it really hard to fit on teams and even with its bulk it loses to any really powerful attacker. Challenging to break for defensive teams tho, especially if defensive mguard.
49. Sceptile-Mega
Imfamous for being the pdon spam benchwarmer, prob the best HO magic guard support in general besides kart due to high speed, spore immunity, and good enough special attack to deal some damage, could also be a decent enough no guarder. I do prefer innards out blissey as an HO support tho due to being able to directly switch into stuff and ko it instead of relying on a sack to get it in safely.
50. Giratina
Defensive mon that walls almost nothing due to its many weaknesses, very little reason to run it over zyg-c because everything that threatens zyg besides weak ice moves also threatens tina. Its few benefits of stab spectral and ghost curse do let it perform better against defensive mons and discourage offensive mons from switching in tho, so it can be a good enough mbouncer.
C Rank
51. Blacephalon
Cool magic guard sweeper with a powerful stab mind blown, stats are a bit weak tho and its limited on what coverage it can run without being outclassed by gengar or mixed pdon tho.
52. Guzzlord
Innards chansey alternative that can do niche innards sweeper things, but much easier to play around due to higher bulk/resistances, also its main draw of being able to ko special attackers is kinda limited by resisting moongeist and common special coverage.
53. Kyurem-White
Seems like a decent enough innards sweeper, sunsteel weakness helps and it can threaten zygarde with stab ice or dragon moves. 170 special attack helps for coverage but lack of a stab moldy move kinda hurts it. Also could be a pretty threatening mold breaker shell smash mon, just doesn't really have the defensive profile or immediate power to set up on stuff not named zygarde.
54. Darmanitan-Zen
Like blacephalon but even worse offensive stats. Photon+mind blown+light of ruin is a better combo than the same with moongeist tho, and it does have usuable enough bulk.
55. Excadrill
Yay another mid innards sweeper. Has glaring power issues and too many resistances to be good 99% of the time, but i see it being decent enough in the lategame and it does have low enough bulk to make innards work.
C- Rank
56. Meloetta
Could see use as a non-wg, prankster seems like an alright special check and bounce would help it answer spore users better.
57. Mawile @ Stone
Simple evoboost into huge power. Quite hard to find a setup opportunity and it can only set up once, but has great breaking power otherwise. Unfortunately forced out by imposter tho.
58. Tyranitar-Mega
Like gyarados but with an atrocious defensive typing instead of a strong one. See very little reason to run this, it has barely any other benefits.
59. Audino-Mega
Similar reasons as meloetta but worse cuz it benefits more from wg and gengar can use stab to heavily damage it making it worse off in that mu.
60. Zekrom
Weakest atespeed that cant do much outside of that but hey at least you can boost it with terrain and it beats slowbro, celesteela, and pogre.
61. Dialga
Like other steel type harvest users but with stab soulblaze, better special attack, and no ghost weakness. Also could run sets like registeel if you really tried.
62. Regice
Articuno but trades a critical fissue immunity for more spdef to take on stuff like some mmy and gengar. A bit better than avalugg imo cuz it actually can defensively check a few things insteed of just taking 70% from sunsteels.
63. Avalugg
Walls sheer cold mons and nothing else. At least its a pretty slow pivot.
64. Diancie
Wanted to end with something that actually has a cool niche in my eyes. Sand stream smooth rock can enable your team to heal 66% from shore up and chip down offensive mons. Sand also gives it really good spdef, that coupled with no common special attacking weaknesses makes it a good check for stuff like gengar. Better defenses and lower speed over mega diancie let it wall stuff better and slow pivot respectively. I guess its only usable on sand stall which isnt even real but hey at least its a staple there.
Post-HPL I think some spots on the current 7PH Vr need to be changed to reflect the current meta, also I want to share some
Ordered by viability within ranks, WG vr coming soon if i care enough. (i wont)
Edit:added c tier, also gave diancie, ndm and gyarados higher placements cuz i felt i ranked them too low before.
S TIER
S+ Rank
Previously underestimated this mon, but after buiding more teams with both eviolite imposter and innards out, yeah its a clear #1 in the meta. Both imp and innards fundamentally change how you play the game to play around them, and one wrong sack to innards/letting an improof get chipped too much can cost you the entire game. Imp especially is strong for doing so many things at once, like scouting, rkilling, stallbreaking, and even sometimes sweeping, and so many powerful mons are heavily limited by being hard to improof (pure power shell smash mons, cfz spammers, mold breakers).
prankster will never be real tho
S Rank
This thing is a level above MMX imo because it is less matchup-reliant and forces sweepers to run coverage specifically for it. Any sweeper that can't 2hko zyg can be shut down through prankster, and prankster itself has a lot of set diversity to wall even more mons, like reflect/willowisp for physical attackers or uturn to heavily damage dark-types. Mbounce sets are also strong for how hard they shut down defensive mons while still being good into offensive mons, and i feel like other abilities have a lot of room to be explored like pheal or arena trap.
S- Rank
MMX has fallen off a bit recently imo, its shortcomings are becoming much more apparent in the current meta. Sometimes I am happy seeing this mon in team preview, lmao. Offensive stag mons, faster/priority attackers, most physical walls, and imposter all can force it out, and it struggles between choosing a 4th coverage move or priority. It also can be kinda useless in certain matchups depending on its set and it faces competition from pure power mons that have more defensive utility like pdon or kart. Still a super threatening breaker tho with lots of ability to overcome its counters as coverage gets more optimized, and stag/banded pure power sets are cool.
I do think this has some use cases over chansey, mainly as an innards that takes special hits better and can take down opposing imposter blissey, but yeah its basically stuck in limbo. Offbrand chansey is still crazy strong when compared to the rest of the meta tho.
also it has that one weird innards sweeper set that i lost to on ladder once so surely it must be real
A TIER
A+ Rank
Monke stocks are at an all-time high. Though the old fakespeed set hasn't seen much usage as of late and is worse off with the decline in hyper offense's viability, 2 new sets have been popularized through HPL that i feel give slaking an almost top-tier spot in the meta. (I almost gave it S- lmao) The first is less impactful, the shell smash huge power set: smash, espeed, sunsteel, coverage or hazards. It is a powerful lategame cleaner that can overcome prankster zygarde with +2 extreme speeds, and it still has some of the same revenge killing utility along with some added breaking power. However, of course what gives slaking the top spot in A tier is its harvest set. Steel moldy move+50% healing move+evoboost is insane on its own, being very hard to stop once set up without some kind of physdef wall or plan after a prankster mon uses haze. Its fourth slot is very customizable to beat its checks: nature's madness/guardian of alola beats imposter, breaks through prankster mons easier, and counters innards, taunt shuts down counterplay like whirlwind, toxic, or innards chansey and helps with stallbreaking, while substitute buys turns to get back leppa berry, aids in prediction, and blocks some status moves/powerful attacks like crits and ohkos. Being both a super powerful wallbreaker and a strong revenge killer gives slaking a top spot imo.
Still a great sweeper and revenge killer and the best moongeist user in the game. Kinda dependent on coverage to break specific moongeist walls, but is an immense threat in the lategame and to more offensive teams. Pbond, magic guard, no guard, etc. are all very tough to play around in their own right.
Pdon spam is a lot less scary nowadays (and aerobees builds in general) but pdon is still a powerful sunsteel attacker with stab vcreate, a good typing, and massive bulk. Without a slowbro or zygarde, this thing becomes insanely terrifying. Stag or mold breaker sets are also very strong as well.
A Rank
Better fur coat mon than doublade imo. Walls any physical attacker that isn't carrying special coverage or is named pdon/MMX. (and it still walls some mmx lmao) Item slot flexibility also helps, you can do stuff like run rocky helmet to punish repeated sunsteels or uturn or lefties to increase your bulk even further. Also has usable special bulk in a pinch and a super slow speed tier to help with pivoting. Prankster and mbounce sets are good on the right team, tho nothing special.
This mons a strange case because all of its sets are like B+ tier, but it just has so much set diversity it can fit on a wide variety of teams and be unpredictable from team preview. Special photon isn't all that good in current meta hence the drop to A, but MMY is still a fast attacker with high set diversity. Noteworthy sets include scarf stag for being able to outrun and ohko most offensive mons (even some at +2, like pdon) with cfzs and offensive innards for being the 3rd best innards user in the meta behind the pink blobs imo.
I think this mon's fur coat set is a better MMX check than doublade for also walling ground move/fire move variants and it has the huge bonus of hardcountering pdon instead of losing to it, tho megabro is a bit worse against a lot of other common attackers so doublade still has that niche. Bug, grass, and electric coverage being more common hurts it as well. What makes it slightly better than doublade in my eyes is being able to better run other abilities like prankster and magic bounce and the fact that it bluffs wg.
Honestly pretty much an inbetween of steelix and slowbro, but its role as an mmx wall puts it closer to megabro in building imo. Personally I prefer megabro because pdon is just that important a mu to cover but it really it goes either way (if ransei cooked 10% harder with the sturdy and huge power sets theyre trying to make work it moves up a spot)
A- Rank
This thing hasn't been used seriously as a non-wg in a while, but it is strong as a gastro acid/sing no guard mon. It can switch in on and outrun most offensive mons thanks to its moldy move resists and speed tier and it also bluffs wg which is nice. Its other sets aren't that good imo, water bubble is too weak to revenge kill anything that isnt super frail or pdon and magic guard sets have fallen to the wayside as spam ho gets less common.
Lopunny is slightly better than ashgren at no guarding thanks to a rocks resist and its uturn resistance/spectral immunity/better bulk making it not as threatened by the passive wgs it forces in, but it doesn't have any sets besides no guard so ashgrens just that little bit stronger. Another placement where it really just goes either way.
14. Diancie-MegaNot a mon ive used myself that much, but ive seen it work. Fake out+espeed pixilate is weaker now for simiar reasons as slaking, but its shell smash pixilate set can be very scary in lots of matchups. Do think it can run different sets well tho like the magic guard sweeper i brought to HPL, a lot of experimenting can be done with this mon i feel.
Kart is a very threatening wallbreaker and its high HPL usage and winrate speaks to that. The strongest sunsteel in the game combined with a secondary stab that hits water types make it makes it hard to wall long-term, and its typing has some good utility with a spore immunity and sunsteel resist. However it struggles to hit zyg-c, pdon, and fur coats hard enough sometimes, which is why i think no guard is such a strong ability on it to ohko those mons. Awful special bulk and middle-of-the-pack speed also hold it back a lot. Still a strong mon tho.
Even tho i am deoxys spam guy this mon does have its shortcomings. Its physical sets are only really useful on ho or psysurge, otherwise you would just prefer mmx because fighting stab and bulk matter a lot over just 20 base speed. Special magic guard sets can be very good on offensive teams to give insurance against sweeps and clean lategame, tho they do suffer a lot from the meta being hostile to special photon rn. Limited in where it can be used, but very strong when it does work.
Prison
Forever just mid slaking, unfortunate. Got a bit worse due to not bluffing the super-threatening harvest set, but still better on specific teams when you need the extra special bulk.
Solgaleo goes to prison for fraud. Its pure power sets are nothing special, just being slightly worse NDMS due to a small but noticable drop in power. Prankster/fur coat works on offense as a blanket check to both physical attackers and special photon, but ghost, dark, and fire weaknesses hold it back a lot and prevent it from being a strudy wall. It also stacks weaknesses with a lot of offensive mons like mmx, kartana, and pdon which hold it back as a reliable defensive switchin. Solgaleo's REAL FRAUDULENT ACTIVITY is the innards set, however. Ive heard claims that bluffing innards makes solg a better offensive mon, but innards is just a bad set. It has 2 more base attack than excadrill and a worse secondary stab, it isn't doing the "sweeper" part of innards sweeper well. It also fails at being an effective innards mon because its bulk and resistances prevent it from koing what it wants to. Its like lunala (awful mon btw) but worse. Solgaleo, take your 14% HPL winrate AND WEEP.
no guard seems pretty cool tho may try it out
B TIER
B+ Rank
19. Necrozma-Dusk-ManeHonest Solgaleo. Its pure power sets are just kartanas that trade lots of attack and speed for a nuke button and bulk, also can be used on psysurge. Kinda like the Necrozma-Ultra to Kartana's MMX in a way, worse for a lot of sets but can do z-move pure power and harvest stuff.
Overall just mid. Stag sets are reliable trappers due to strong mixed offenses and ohkoing zyg-c with soulblaze, and aerilate sets are good into frail offensive mons but not much else. Mold breaker sweeper sets could be good tho and not a low ladder gimmick, soulblaze seems like a terrifying nuke.
Only really used on stall, which seems odd. Its a good enough special wall on its own, i feel like you can run it on balance or maybe even offense as a slow pivot mbounce mon and it would work well. Underused.
MMX with a nuke button. Good pure power shell smash mon, also strong on psysurge. Worse attack stat hurts it a lot tho, and it can only really run one item.
23. Gyarados-MegaUnderexplored as a non-wg imo, basically every attacker has coverage for it anyways so you really don't need wg. Defensive stag sets like the one eyeos uses seem to be really strong into certain teams, and mold knock off and hazards are always nice to have. Bounce and pure power also seem usable enough.
B Rank
Scarf no guard is a funny revenge killer that can outspeed and ohko stuff at +2 it really shouldnt, and it is the best comaphazer in the meta. Mold breaker hazard leads like seen on ladder could actually be good on non-psysurge non-spam ho though, its a very reliable hazard setter.
A mbounce mon that does mbounce things and threaten stuff with stab knock off. Decent special wall, unfortunately shares weaknesses with zygarde so a lot of mons have coverage for it.
Good defensive solg alternative which trades stats for less weaknesses, being better into hazards, and improofing stuff like mold pdon or fissure no guards. Can't really check much longterm though.
Best psysurge setter, just doesnt have anything else going for it outside of that besides some weird no guard stuff maybe.
28. Kyurem-BlackIce type fakespeeder, breaks through zyg-c easier than diancie and it can revenge kill gengar. Rocks weakness hurts but hey at least youre immune to sheer cold.
Super challenging to play around in the right circumstances, first impression is a monster wheter its banded stag trapping bug weak mons or huge power forcing out stuff. Definitely becomes a lot less threatening if a mon resists the move or it is the second turn out tho, poor defensive typing and speed really hurt it. Triage also exists.
30. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FishFISH FISH FISH FISH FISH FISH FISH FISH FI
Mold sweeper that struggles to find setup opportunities vs more offensive teams, but has a solid defensive profile and high damage output once set up. Water bubble probably has some merit over ashgren, the power difference is quite large.
Band shadow sneak user that can also wallbreak with sunsteel, good cuz half the offensive metas weak to ghost. Kinda competes with scarf pbond gengar now that i think about it.
32. Aggron-MegaMostly outclassed by steelix, better attack, lack of a water weakness, and ice neutrality helps occasionally but you really want stab twaves and/or steelix's better slow pivoting and spdef 95% of the time.
B- Rank
Cscl has showen me the light, this mon can do things. No guard is threatening because so many wgs are weak to bug, and stag is a good set cuz of good mixed offenses and speed. Unfortunately it has no defensive utility and has some power issues.
Pikachu archetypes are underrated imo, the x2 attack from light ball destroys many improofs and paralysis moves arent that hard to fit on your defensive mons. You do have to build your entire team around the mon tho.
35. LunalaHPL has shown that this mon only really works against ladder. (unless if you're akreis, then it doesnt even work on ladder) Struggles to be an effective innards because lots of mons can play around it with weak attacks, chip damage, or taking advantage of its high bulk, but it at least can force out offensive mons with the threat of stab moongeist. Can't really break past any of its walls effectively even with coverage, but hey at least its better than innards solg. The one no guard lunala in HPL was also funny.
Like banette but better at wallbreaking and taking on sunsteel attackers due to stab vcreate and a sunsteel resist, unfortunately misses out on certain ranges tho and is rocks-weak.
37. ArticunoAlright role compression on offensive teams that helps keep hazards off and improofs certain no guards. Suprisingly effective into more defensive stuff. Limited defensive utility outside of checking no guard tho.
38. ArceusType: null but fast, can also do perish trap stuff. Doesn't really wall anything tho, mainly just checks them which makes it hard tofit on teams as a defensive mon.
39. Metagross-MegaDon't know what this does better than NDM besides be faster, which isnt useful except for harvest occasionally or mid stag sets i guess.
Mon needs more experimenting, but it seems like a solid moongeist/special photon wall and mold knock user. May have a niche over yveltal as a bouncer due to its lack of common weaknesses (besides ground, tho that isnt really run on special attackers). Really hurt by not having wg tho.
41. LugiaGood photon wall and mbouncer with cool neutralities to bug and fairy and a ground immunity, walling photon unfortunately just isn't in high demand rn. Could improof stuff like certain mmx variants or no guard mmy.
42. CresseliaNever seen this used seriously but it seems more fundementally solid then other stuff in this tier so i guess it fits here. Mixed wall with fur coat is my guess, looks to be a counter to both physical and special photon but nothing else.
43. Gardevoir-MegaDecent enough magic guard user, stab light of ruin is a great asset. Competes with diancie and deoxys-attack tho.
44. Giratina-OriginOffensive innards with too high bulk to be a good innards user and too low offenses to threaten much. Kinda hurts to be lunala (mid incarnate) but more mid.
45. Necrozma-Dawn-WingsTinted lens moongeist+photon seems scary on paper but idk how you would improof it or find lots of setup opportunities, to be fair nobody knows what to do with this mon lmao. Just stick to wg.
C TIER
C+ Rank
46. Best HPL TeamMixed wall that unfortunately loses to any anti-steel type coverage. Could fit on offense as a prankster solg alternative, also could see use as a check/improof to special mold breakers if they become more common.
47. Gyarados @ StoneReally effective at catching people off guard with evoboost sets like illusion or bounce, just easy to anticipate the suprise and play around it. Actual embodiment of mid ladder. Also see some use for it on stall teams as an mbounce mon that can turn into a mold breaker knock off/spikes user if needed for a certain matchup.
48. Ho-ohReally unique defensive typing that walls lots of common coverage moves, but rocks weakness makes it really hard to fit on teams and even with its bulk it loses to any really powerful attacker. Challenging to break for defensive teams tho, especially if defensive mguard.
49. Sceptile-MegaImfamous for being the pdon spam benchwarmer, prob the best HO magic guard support in general besides kart due to high speed, spore immunity, and good enough special attack to deal some damage, could also be a decent enough no guarder. I do prefer innards out blissey as an HO support tho due to being able to directly switch into stuff and ko it instead of relying on a sack to get it in safely.
50. GiratinaDefensive mon that walls almost nothing due to its many weaknesses, very little reason to run it over zyg-c because everything that threatens zyg besides weak ice moves also threatens tina. Its few benefits of stab spectral and ghost curse do let it perform better against defensive mons and discourage offensive mons from switching in tho, so it can be a good enough mbouncer.
C Rank
51. BlacephalonCool magic guard sweeper with a powerful stab mind blown, stats are a bit weak tho and its limited on what coverage it can run without being outclassed by gengar or mixed pdon tho.
52. Guzzlord Innards chansey alternative that can do niche innards sweeper things, but much easier to play around due to higher bulk/resistances, also its main draw of being able to ko special attackers is kinda limited by resisting moongeist and common special coverage.
53. Kyurem-White Seems like a decent enough innards sweeper, sunsteel weakness helps and it can threaten zygarde with stab ice or dragon moves. 170 special attack helps for coverage but lack of a stab moldy move kinda hurts it. Also could be a pretty threatening mold breaker shell smash mon, just doesn't really have the defensive profile or immediate power to set up on stuff not named zygarde.
54. Darmanitan-ZenLike blacephalon but even worse offensive stats. Photon+mind blown+light of ruin is a better combo than the same with moongeist tho, and it does have usuable enough bulk.
55. ExcadrillYay another mid innards sweeper. Has glaring power issues and too many resistances to be good 99% of the time, but i see it being decent enough in the lategame and it does have low enough bulk to make innards work.
C- Rank
56. MeloettaCould see use as a non-wg, prankster seems like an alright special check and bounce would help it answer spore users better.
57. Mawile @ StoneSimple evoboost into huge power. Quite hard to find a setup opportunity and it can only set up once, but has great breaking power otherwise. Unfortunately forced out by imposter tho.
58. Tyranitar-MegaLike gyarados but with an atrocious defensive typing instead of a strong one. See very little reason to run this, it has barely any other benefits.
59. Audino-Mega Similar reasons as meloetta but worse cuz it benefits more from wg and gengar can use stab to heavily damage it making it worse off in that mu.
60. ZekromWeakest atespeed that cant do much outside of that but hey at least you can boost it with terrain and it beats slowbro, celesteela, and pogre.
61. DialgaLike other steel type harvest users but with stab soulblaze, better special attack, and no ghost weakness. Also could run sets like registeel if you really tried.
62. RegiceArticuno but trades a critical fissue immunity for more spdef to take on stuff like some mmy and gengar. A bit better than avalugg imo cuz it actually can defensively check a few things insteed of just taking 70% from sunsteels.
63. AvaluggWalls sheer cold mons and nothing else. At least its a pretty slow pivot.
64. DiancieWanted to end with something that actually has a cool niche in my eyes. Sand stream smooth rock can enable your team to heal 66% from shore up and chip down offensive mons. Sand also gives it really good spdef, that coupled with no common special attacking weaknesses makes it a good check for stuff like gengar. Better defenses and lower speed over mega diancie let it wall stuff better and slow pivot respectively. I guess its only usable on sand stall which isnt even real but hey at least its a staple there.
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A+ --> S
C --> B+
UR --> D/C
A+ --> A-
A- --> B
D --> UR
(Any VIABLE pokémon)
