Resource VGC 2018 Viability Rankings

[Netherious]

Approved by blarajan, header stolen from the last one, initial rankings taken from Demantoid 's SM BSD rankings

Welcome to the VGC viability ranking project. In this project, we will "tier" every Pokemon based on usefulness. An initial tier list has already been made; if you think something should be moved up or down, post in this thread with your reasoning on why, and the change may be enacted, but please make sure you have a proper understanding of the current metagame before doing so. Bad/basic posts will be deleted, and repeated offenses may be punished by infraction. However, asking questions about why certain Pokemon are ranked where they are is acceptable.


S-Rank

Reserved for the very best Pokemon in the VGC metagame. These Pokemon are usually able to perform a variety of roles effectively, or can just do one extremely well. Their use has low risk involved and high reward exerted. Pokemon in this tier have very few flaws that are patched up by numerous positive traits.

S

Incineroar

Landorus-T

A-Rank

Reserved for Pokemon that are outstanding in the VGC metagame and can handle various field positions effectively or support multiple win conditions. These Pokemon require less support than other Pokemon to be used effectively and have few flaws that can be overlooked when compared to their outstanding traits.

A+

Cresselia

Kartana

Mega Metagross

Snorlax

Tapu Fini

Tapu Koko


A

Amoonguss

Mega Charizard Y

Mega Kangaskhan

Porygon2

Tapu Lele

Zapdos

A-

Celesteela

Gastrodon

Mega Gengar

Heatran

Nihilego

Mega Salamence

Mega Tyranitar


B-Rank

Reserved for Pokemon who are great in the VGC metagame. These Pokemon have more notable flaws than of those above it that affects how they function in the tier. Their positive traits still outshine their negatives, but they require a bit more team support to bring out their full potential. Their niches are often slightly smaller than those that are in A and S rank, which leads them to face some competition for a teamslot.

B+

Aegislash

Braviary

Ferrothorn

Gothitelle

Kommo-o

Ludicolo

Mega Mawile

Milotic

Politoed

Tapu Bulu

B

Araquanid

Bisharp

Clefairy

Mega Gardevoir

Mega Manectric

Mimikyu

Pelipper

Raichu

Mega Venusaur

B-

Accelgor

Azumarill

Mega Blaziken

Mega Charizard X

Drifblim

Excadrill

Rotom-H

Mega Scizor

Tyranitar

Volcarona

Whimsicott

Xurkitree

C-Rank

Reserved for Pokemon that have notable niches in the VGC metagame, but have just as notable flaws that prevent them from being effective. Pokemon in the C tier often require significant support to be effective in VGC. C rank Pokemon tend to find themselves outclassed by Pokemon in the above tiers, and face a lot of competition for a team slot.

C+

Gyarados

Mega Gyarados

Hitmontop

Oranguru

Smeargle

Stakataka

Staraptor

Thundurus-T

Togekiss

C

Mega Aerodactyl

Mega Camerupt

Greninja

Mega Latias

Mega Lopunny

Mudsdale

Pheromosa

Rotom-W

Scizor

Suicune

Mega Swampert


C-

Mega Blastoise

Gigalith

Marowak-A

Naganadel

Nidoking

Nidoqueen

Persian-A

Scrafty

Togedemaru

Torkoal

Venusaur




D-Rank

Reserved for Pokemon that are generally bad in the VGC metagame, but are decent enough to justify their occasional use on some teams. These Pokemon are either usable but have no real niche, or are only capable of doing their specific task and fail at doing anything more than that. Their niche is often so tiny, that they are not worth using the majority of the time.

D

Arcanine

Blacephalon

Hawlucha

Hydreigon

Lurantis

Malamar

Ninetails-A

Primarina

Terrakion

Virizion



Eevee-Rank

Reserved for specific hard setups that're just tough to classify under any of the above rank. These Pokemon can snowball very quickly out of control if not stopped early on or specifically teched for, but have inherent major flaws stopping them from taking over the metagame by force.

Blissey

Chansey

Eevee

 

[Pyritie]

I grabbed the SM BSD rankings to start off with, since the two metagames are almost identical. The only differences I know of are mega kang not having PuP and zapdos not having static. I moved Lando-T to A+ and mega kang to A to start off with. Some of the rankings can be cleaned up later, but this should be an ok starting point for discussion.

 

[Maltrab]

If Kang is moving to A, I'd move Mega Metagross to A as well for the following reasons.

1. 110 Base speed (faster than Kartana, A-Ninetales, Terrakion, Garchomp, Mega Kang, Zapdos, Mega Zard, non scarf Lando-T, Lele, etc)
2. Hits fairies like Lele and Bulu for super effective damage (Ohko's most Lele)
3. Immune to intimidate before it mega evolves
4. Has Ice Punch for coverage so that it can hit Lando-T
5. Pairs extremely well with Lele who blocks Mega Kang's Sucker Punch and gives Zen Headbutt a nice boost.
6. Also fits with Rain since it removes MegaMeta's fire weakness.
7. Steel will always be a fantastic typing, giving Mega Metagross resistances to Fairy, Rock, Steel, Ice, Grass, Flying, Normal, Dragon, and an immunity to Poison.

 

[Pyritie]

Some initial points for discussion:

• Where should
  
  Naganadel go?
• Where should
  
  Stakataka go?
• Where should
  
  Blacephalon go?

EDIT: Our first ranking updates will be some time this weekend.

 

[FamousDeaf]

Some initial points for discussion:

• Where should
  
  Naganadel go?
• Where should
  
  Stakataka go?
• Where should
  
  Blacephalon go?

I'd moving the new pokemon:

• Naganadel is B
• Stakataka is A-
• Blacephalon is B

I am still not 100% sure if I am on point for them, it's still bit early metagame. Naganadel is typically tailwind support with Snarl/Sludge Bomb/Flamethrower/Tailwind on some teams, it's more offensive tailwind user than Suicune which it's big plus but it has a poor matchups vs Mega Metagross team and Cresselia/Stakataka team. Stakataka can hit pretty hard with Gyro Ball in Trick Room and it can set up Trick Room by itself, the typing is pretty awful defensive. Landorus-T, Stomping Tantrum Mega Metagross, Low Kick Tyranitar, Low Kick Mega Kangaskhan, Heatran and etc. I am not clear on what's best item and set for Blacephalon, like I said it's early metagame and probably should wait for the metagame develop.

 

[Ashtray]

Some initial points for discussion:

• Where should
  
  Naganadel go?
• Where should
  
  Stakataka go?
• Where should
  
  Blacephalon go?

Honestly feel both Blacephalon and Naganadel will struggle and can’t see them higher than B or B- rank.

• Naganadel gets outclassed as an offensive Tailwind setter by Mega-Mence which atm seems like its only niche.
• Incredibly frail and imo needs the Z-Crystal to pose any kind of initial threat, which leaves it open to be outplayed and OHKOed.

Stakataka is pretty solid though and in what little testing I’ve done it puts a lot of work under TR with Bulu being a fantastic partner for it, perhaps A rank.

Might as well state the obvious, Landorus-T should be S Rank, for the following reasons:

• The Choice Scarf set is still very good, and arguably the best scarfer in the format.
• The addition of Z moves made it even better, allowing it to deal with most of it so-called counters (i.e. Z-Fly for Bulu).
• And for all the offensive presence it possesses, it can also take advantage of its ground immunity and Intimidate to act like glue for many teams sometimes even running an Assault Vest set (252 SpA LO Koko’s Dazzling Gleam is a 3HKO on 252 HP Lando and can turn it into a 4HKO by adding 36 SpD EVs i.e).

 

[0verloud]

Hey I'm still really bad at VCG, but, don't you think Amoongus should be moved to at least A-? Keep in mind Spore got an inadvertent verf via Koko's+Fini's terrain, and psyspam (Mega Meta+Lele). Not to mention the fact that mega Mence is back. Rain is prominent, which helps him if you're not setting it up, but Hurricane Pelipper still exists, which knocks out a chunk of Amoongus's health. Let's also not forget steels such as Mawhile, Flamethrower Celesteela, and of course heatran.

tl;dr, Amoongus lost half of it's main abilities in the spore nerf, although rage powder is still annoying, although probably not as threatening as it once was.

Edit: Peliper Calcs

252+ SpA Pelipper Hurricane vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Amoonguss: 200-236 (90.4 - 106.7%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO​

 

[Maltrab]

Some initial points for discussion:

• Where should
  
  Naganadel go?
• Where should
  
  Stakataka go?
• Where should
  
  Blacephalon go?

I propose C+ for Naganadel, B- for and B for Stakataka

C+ for Naganadel: Extremely fast but extremely frail. Can't snowball out of control because it get's speed boosts instead of SpA. Has a nice niche in beating the Tapus, Mega Mence, and has a way to hit Steels in Fire Blast but it still can't take hits and has no way to deal with Heatran. Also, as Ashtray said, it needs it's Z-Crystal to really do big damage.

B- for Blacephalon: Fast and frail like Naganadel but I give it a B- ranking because it could be decent as a scarfer since it can OHKO Lando-T with HP Ice. Also has a niche as a one time Z-Nuke with Mind Blown (the only use Mind Blown has) or Never Ending Nightmare,

252 SpA Blacephalon Never-Ending Nightmare (160 BP) vs. 220 HP / 92+ SpD Cresselia: 206-246 (92.3 - 110.3%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO

B for Stakataka: If you want to put this in B- with the other TR mons like Conk and Gigalith, I can understand that. I just think Stakataka deserves B tier because Gyro Ball hits for at least 109 BP on anything with base 50 speed or more. In addition, it can set up it's own Trick Room which gives it a nice little trick that other Trick Room attackers don't have. Again, I agree with Ashtray with Bulu being a fantastic partner, giving it recovery and reducing the damage of EQ.

 

[Sabbio]

Hey I'm still really bad at VCG, but, don't you think Amoongus should be moved to at least A-? Keep in mind Spore got an inadvertent verf via Koko's+Fini's terrain, and psyspam (Mega Meta+Lele). Not to mention the fact that mega Mence is back. Rain is prominent, which helps him if you're not setting it up, but Hurricane Pelipper still exists, which knocks out a chunk of Amoongus's health. Let's also not forget steels such as Mawhile, Flamethrower Celesteela, and of course heatran.

tl;dr, Amoongus lost half of it's main abilities in the spore nerf, although rage powder is still annoying, although probably not as threatening as it once was.

Edit: Peliper Calcs

252+ SpA Pelipper Hurricane vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Amoonguss: 200-236 (90.4 - 106.7%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO​

I agree. There's little to no reason to prefer Amoongus over Ferrothorn as a bulky grass type, except if you are in need of redirection. Its niche as an anti-Trick Room mon is now only marginal: besides walling all the tapus, which is not a bad feature by any means, it now falls short being seldom a dead weight if Misty/Electric terrain is active. Comparing Amoongus to Ferrothorn in fact, at least if the latter is taunted it doesn't hit like a wet noodle and can run, unlike the first, a lot more moves and sets.
Amoongus is A- for me, if not B+.

 

[Pyritie]

besides walling all the tapus, which is not a bad feature by any means

Besides lele, of course

Another useful thing amoonguss can do is use Clear Smog to deal some chip damage and immediately clear stat changes of the non-steel-type target. Redirection is amoonguss' main niche, but I feel you are underselling it a lot. It doesn't have any x4 weaknesses like ferrothorn does, and it can passively heal itself through regenerator. It has a few other funny tricks like After You to help out in trick room.

Besides both being slow grass types, amoonguss and ferrothorn don't really have anything else in common.

 

[Sabbio]

Besides lele, of course

Another useful thing amoonguss can do is use Clear Smog to deal some chip damage and immediately clear stat changes of the non-steel-type target. Redirection is amoonguss' main niche, but I feel you are underselling it a lot. It doesn't have any x4 weaknesses like ferrothorn does, and it can passively heal itself through regenerator. It has a few other funny tricks like After You to help out in trick room.

Besides both being slow grass types, amoonguss and ferrothorn don't really have anything else in common.

Maybe I am. I have a team which is still undergoing of testing that features NP Naga, CM Fini and Amoongus for redirection; I'll try to bring Amoongus more often and I'll se how it fares.
Thinking about it, Stakataka really enjoys Amoongus' redirection support, being able to eat stomping tantrums, earth powers and fighting-type moves. Maybe I'll try it out too with Shuca TR Stak.

 

[Adamant Zoroark]

I'm not entirely convinced Sylveon deserves a rank higher than C+. Not only is it pretty easy to check and/or counter (you have Heatran, Aegislash, and Ferrothorn like before, and now the addition of Stakataka, Celesteela, and Kartana), Throat Chop's distribution drastically improved in USUM (and, unlike M-Mence, Sylveon probably isn't going to get to fire off a Hyper Voice before Throat Chop hits). In VGC17, only two mediocre-at-best Pokemon got it: Incineroar and Weavile. Now, some examples of Pokemon which now learn Throat Chop include Hydreigon, Scrafty, and Hariyama, all of which are otherwise completely decimated by Pixilate Hyper Voice, and, in the case of Scrafty and Hariyama, Aerilate Hyper Voice (thus giving them potential motivation to run it).

I'm likely underselling Sylveon and overselling Throat Chop, but it's also most likely too early to tell, given that most of the Pokemon with Throat Chop literally only JUST had it added to their movepools and most would rather run other Dark-type STAB or coverage (*cough* Knock Off), but regardless, if I were running Sylveon in VGC18, I'd seriously consider running Moonblast as back-up STAB even on non-Specs sets, just in case of the occasional Throat Chop, which restricts its coverage.

There's also the fact that everything I mentioned is most likely why Sylveon is sitting in B- after comfortably sitting in the A-ranks in VGC 2015, so you can disregard this if you please.

I'm also going to second Landorus-T for S-rank, or, at the very least, a serious contender for S-rank. Again, too early to tell for sure, but much like in VGC 2015, I highly doubt there will be a single team where you can say, "Yeah, but what's Landorus-T doing here?" Landorus-T just has so many potential sets (Choice Scarf, AV, Z-Fly, etc), all of which it can do extremely well, not to mention just how much utility Landorus-T has thanks to Intimidate and U-turn. A rise to A- might be in order for Milotic as well, given that we'll likely be seeing everyone and their dog running Landorus-T in VGC18 (and, if anything, Milotic has gotten even better against Landorus-T than it was in VGC15 thanks to Adrenaline Orb)

 

[ck49]

Another Pokemon that's missing is Kommo-o. I've only faced one so far so it's hard to say where it goes. I think it's probably C+, since the description fits it perfectly. "Reserved for Pokemon that have notable niches in the VGC metagame, but have just as notable flaws that prevent them from being effective. Pokemon in the C tier often require significant support to be effective in VGC."

Another Pokemon that's missing is Hitmontop. Again, haven't actually seen one but I have no reason to believe it isn't good, especially given the Wide Guard buff.

Some other thoughts:

I haven't seen Snorlax be too effective. It's got serious 4mss going on because of Stakataka forcing it to run High Horsepower. Its also easy to get rid of it's recovery given how common Knock Off and Bug Bite are. Having the same weakness as Kang (and Ferrothorn/Heatran/TTar) also limits it.

Pelipper should probably be B tier. Is it really better than Politoed? I think it's team dependent and I don't know why it's up higher.

Bulu should be A-. It's a lot better this year imo. There is way more Earthquake flying around and it's also a fantastic rain counter. It also has better partners in Stakataka, Heatran, and Mega-Gengar. It still has the same problems as in 17, but its strengths make it more viable.

Finally this may just be because of teams I've tested but it looks like Muk-A is really good. Then again, I have been running Bulu so that may be why.

 

[Prof. Almeida]

Alolan Muk, for everything I observed the past year and in the beginning of this meta, it's really good. Like B- good, at least. It's a solid counter for every Tapu, has knock off to deal with Snorlax/P2 and a few more and it is a pain to remove from the field with pinch berry.

I see Tapu Koko being outclassed by Zapdos, and Bulu getting more viable with its terrain to reduce Landorus' quakes.

Naganadel doesn't need the Z-Crystal and iirc, a 252/252 timid set increases SAtk, and even with fewer IVs in SAtk, it still get the boost. So after first kill, this thing wrecks like Miley Cyrus' ball and can even remove from the field things that would harm it. And if you want to go for speed Boosts, after one boost, only Scarf Greninja is faster than it. I think it has a solid place in the B Range.

Hitmontop should have a B- rank. It packs a strong fake out + intimidate combo with Wide Guard and other support abilities, while being able to rack up some KOs with Close Combat.

 

[skies]

Alolan Muk, for everything I observed the past year and in the beginning of this meta, it's really good. Like B- good, at least. It's a solid counter for every Tapu, has knock off to deal with Snorlax/P2 and a few more and it is a pain to remove from the field with pinch berry.

I see Tapu Koko being outclassed by Zapdos, and Bulu getting more viable with its terrain to reduce Landorus' quakes.

Naganadel doesn't need the Z-Crystal and iirc, a 252/252 timid set increases SAtk, and even with fewer IVs in SAtk, it still get the boost. So after first kill, this thing wrecks like Miley Cyrus' ball and can even remove from the field things that would harm it. And if you want to go for speed Boosts, after one boost, only Scarf Greninja is faster than it. I think it has a solid place in the B Range.

Hitmontop should have a B- rank. It packs a strong fake out + intimidate combo with Wide Guard and other support abilities, while being able to rack up some KOs with Close Combat.

Not familiar with VGC whatsoever, but Timid 252 Spe Naganadel hits 190, while its Special Attack only hits 179. Therefore, Beast Boost will trigger a Speed boost. So no, it does not raise Special Attack unless you run Timid 172 EVs with 30 IVs, hitting 178 Speed, a point lower than 179, or a Modest nature of any kind which will raise Special Attack. Not sure the viability of either, but the underlined claim is false. Just a heads up!

(p.s. I may have missed something incredibly obvious, so feel free to delete this post if this is the case!)

 

[Pyritie]

Pelipper should probably be B tier. Is it really better than Politoed? I think it's team dependent and I don't know why it's up higher.

Pelipper has:
- Tailwind
- An awesome second STAB and a good move to use with it (hurricane)
- A ground immunity (good if you want to use it next to mega swampert!) and a grass neutrality
- Other useful moves like wide guard, roost, knock off, and u-turn (and seed bomb for some reason if you hate gastrodon???)

Politoed has:
- access to focus blast to give it an all-out-pummeling to smack ferrothorn with
- no x4 weakness
- Some useful moves like perish song, hypnosis, encore, haze, and helping hand
- better bulk

I think pelipper is better in general. Rain's an offensive archetype and pelipper can be used more offensively than politoed can, thanks to its great coverage from its two STABs. That being said, politoed is much better being a supporter.

 

[Sabbio]

Pelipper has:
- Tailwind
- An awesome second STAB and a good move to use with it (hurricane)
- A ground immunity (good if you want to use it next to mega swampert!) and a grass neutrality
- Other useful moves like wide guard, roost, knock off, and u-turn (and seed bomb for some reason if you hate gastrodon???)

Politoed has:
- access to focus blast to give it an all-out-pummeling to smack ferrothorn with
- no x4 weakness
- Some useful moves like perish song, hypnosis, encore, haze, and helping hand
- better bulk

I think pelipper is better in general. Rain's an offensive archetype and pelipper can be used more offensively than politoed can, thanks to its great coverage from its two STABs. That being said, politoed is much better being a supporter.

I believe Pelipper to be a one-dimensional 'mon, being really good in dedicated rain teams, whereas Politoed is a much better support to teams like rain room, which use rain more defensively than anything.
Therefore, I believe toad to be more splashable, which makes it in general more appealing than Pelipper.

 

[Robyn]

In my opinion, Ferrothorn should be increased to A and Koko should be decreased to A
Ferrothorn is simply an excellent Pokémon right now, walking rain, beating all 4 Tapu most of the time (barring fightinium Lele memes), and eating through teams that don't have an outright counter.

Koko, on the other hand, is not doing as well as it did in 2017, as it struggles to deal with many common threats. I personally am seeing people opt for things such as mega manectric over Koko, and Raichu over support koko (not shocking). Is Koko a good mon, especially on rain? Yes. Is it A+? No.

 

[0verloud]

Besides lele, of course

Another useful thing amoonguss can do is use Clear Smog to deal some chip damage and immediately clear stat changes of the non-steel-type target. Redirection is amoonguss' main niche, but I feel you are underselling it a lot. It doesn't have any x4 weaknesses like ferrothorn does, and it can passively heal itself through regenerator. It has a few other funny tricks like After You to help out in trick room.

Besides both being slow grass types, amoonguss and ferrothorn don't really have anything else in common.

Yeah, Regenerator is good, and clear smog can remove intimidate drops off your own mon, but I still think it's A- Worthy

 

[paoisd]

im new to vgc but i feel like mega kangaskhan should move up. from my experience on the ladder everyone is using it and with strong returns/double edges fake outs and sucker punches i see why. im not sure though i'm still new to this

 

[Sabbio]

im new to vgc but i feel like mega kangaskhan should move up. from my experience on the ladder everyone is using it and with strong returns/double edges fake outs and sucker punches i see why. im not sure though i'm still new to this

While indeed strong, it lost the ability to learn PuP, thus it's now unable to set up to +2, which was REALLY big back in 2015. Moreover, while used to be a darn bulky mon back then, with the introduction of z moves it gets bopped really quickly by some common ones, like Lele's or Politoed's. Another thing is the Parental Bond nerf, which def hurted big momma, and that's why a lot of them run Double-Edge now, which chips her down rather steadly.
Therefore, while indeed very strong and very bulky, Kanga does not completely overshadow almost all the other megas as much as it did back then.

 

[Prof. Almeida]

Mega Kanga is still good, but nowhere near as dominant. The nerf on Parental Bond and the lack of PuP leveled her with other Megas.

Mega Mence, Mega Swampert, Mega Zardy, Mega Metagross, just to mention a few, are as good as Kanga, if not better, right now. The reason why she's still on many teams is that people are still used to CHALK shenanigans and are trying to find a new CHALK. Since 14, she was the best Mega in all years she was available, so habits are tough to break.

I also THINK Thundurus should be a little worse, like C+. The nerfs to Paralyze and Prankster, and the addition of Koko, hurt it a lot.

 

[Sabbio]

Mega Kanga is still good, but nowhere near as dominant. The nerf on Parental Bond and the lack of PuP leveled her with other Megas.

Mega Mence, Mega Swampert, Mega Zardy, Mega Metagross, just to mention a few, are as good as Kanga, if not better, right now. The reason why she's still on many teams is that people are still used to CHALK shenanigans and are trying to find a new CHALK. Since 14, she was the best Mega in all years she was available, so habits are tough to break.

It's still a solid mega nontheless, expecially in TR if you need a versatile Fake Outer; moreover, its ability to flinch Aegi and other ghost-types pre-mega is not to be underestimated, expecially in dedicated TR teams.
This meta is definetively MegaGross' plaything though, expecially with Stomping Tantrum avaiable to it.

I also THINK Thundurus should be a little worse, like C+. The nerfs to Paralyze and Prankster, and the addition of Koko, hurt it a lot.

I honestly do not know why Thundy is even ranked myself...

 

[Maltrab]

It's still a solid mega nontheless, expecially in TR if you need a versatile Fake Outer; moreover, its ability to flinch Aegi and other ghost-types pre-mega is not to be underestimated, expecially in dedicated TR teams.
This meta is definetively MegaGross' plaything though, expecially with Stomping Tantrum avaiable to it.



I honestly do not know why Thundy is even ranked myself...

Thundy can still perform the roll of fast and strong Electric Attacker. It's typing is a bit better thank Koko's and is less reliant on Terrain, and it has a better move pool. Thundy-T performs this role better in all honesty but if you need something faster than base 101, Thundurus will perform just fine. Is it outclassed by Koko and Thundy-T in this? Yes. Does this mean it is a bad Pokemon? No, not at all.

I think the following Pokemon will need to be ranked as well once we figure out where Naganadel, Stakataka, and Blacephalon go.

Mega Charizard-X
Raichu (Kanto)
Rhyperior (I think it should be ranked and would like to open it up for discussion)
Mega Manectric
Togedemaru

_________________

don't double-post

 

[Sabbio]

I think the following Pokemon will need to be ranked as well once we figure out where Naganadel, Stakataka, and Blacephalon go.

Mega Charizard-X
Raichu (Kanto)
Rhyperior (I think it should be ranked and would like to open it up for discussion)
Mega Manectric
Togedemaru

Mega Mane is a personal favourite, I'd even rank it B, but I may be biased. It works as a really good glue, offering two amazing support abilities in intimidate and lightning rod. Moreover, while in singles OU it's shunned for its low general damage output, if you have enough speed control you mau even run a modest nature, which makes a lot of difference damage-wise pre-mega, in my experience.
I believe it to be a really interesting anti-meta Pokèmon, as it's able to check the almost omnipresent Koko, outspeeds and does some solid damage to MegaGross, Ferro and Steela while supporting the team and keeping intimidate momentum if already mega'd. It complements bulky waters like Fini and Suicune very well, as it ca scare out grasses like the aforementioned Ferro and Kartana, which I'm not seeing as much as in VGC17 but its still a notable threat.