Resource SS OU Viability Rankings

[Clementine]

art by tiki | VR OP credit goes to PK Gaming | thread run by Clementine​

Welcome to the third official (first post-DLC 2) SS OU Viability Rankings thread. In this thread, we as a community will be ranking every single usable Pokemon into "tiers." You're encouraged to post your thoughts and opinions on the various Pokemon that are usable in OU and what tier they should fall under. Posts in this thread will be taken into account when deciding rank changes.

The general idea of the topic is to rank each OU Pokemon under "rankings" that go in descending order. Since this is a tier list for the entire metagame, everything is lumped together. There won't be any segregation between offense, defense, and supportive presences in the metagame within this thread. For example, Slowbro can be ranked in the A+ tier as a supportive presence, Spectrier can be ranked in the A+ as an offensive presence, and Toxapex can be ranked in the A+ tier as a defensive presence. While these three examples can also be found in the initial rankings, the viability of Pokemon and their roles within the metagame can and will change over time, so we will be sure to keep an open mind to this as well and adjust the thread accordingly during each update.

Finally, there will be a council of experienced players who will discuss and vote on the ranking of Pokemon. Depending on how the metagame is developing, we could update the thread every couple of weeks or every month+. Please note that your posts still very much matter and will be factored in to what we discuss and the discussions themselves. This thread is nothing without the posters and every informed opinion that is shared is considered a valuable contribution in my eyes, so do not hesitate to post if you know the metagame well and understand the forum rules. The council will consist of the following users:

• Clementine

SS OU Ranking Tier List

S Rank:

S Rank

Landorus-Therian

S- Rank

Dragapult

Heatran

Melmetal

Weavile

A Rank:

A+ Rank

Clefable

Ferrothorn

Garchomp

Kartana

Slowking-Galar

Tapu Lele

Tornadus-Therian

Urshifu-R

Zapdos

A Rank

Buzzwole

Dragonite

Rotom-Wash

Slowbro

Tapu Koko

Toxapex

Tyranitar

Volcanion

A- Rank

Barraskewda

Blacephalon

Corviknight

Excadrill

Gastrodon

Ninetales-Alola

Pelipper

Rillaboom

Slowking

Tapu Fini

Victini

Volcarona

B Rank:

B+ Rank

Arctozolt

Blaziken

Magnezone

Moltres-Galar

Seismitoad

Zapdos-Galar

Zeraora

B Rank

Aegislash

Blissey

Cloyster

Crawdaunt

Hawlucha

Hippowdon

Hydreigon

Mew

Nidoking

Scizor

Skarmory

B- Rank

Bisharp

Celesteela

Nihilego

Reuniclus

Tapu Bulu

C Rank:

C+ Rank

Dracozolt

Gengar

Jirachi

Kingdra

Kommo-o

Mandibuzz

Regieleki

Rotom-Heat

Suicune

Swampert

Tangrowth

Thundurus-Therian

Torkoal

Venusaur

C Rank

Conkeldurr

Cresselia

Keldeo

Mamoswine

Marowak-Alola

Latias

Latios

Terrakion

C- Rank

Avalugg

Azumarill

Alakazam

Amoonguss

Blastoise

Cobalion

Darmanitan

Ditto

Glastrier

Hatterene

Haxorus

Moltres

Necrozma

Omastar

Polteageist

Porygon2

Primarina

Quagsire

Shedinja

Shuckle

Togekiss

Toxtricity

Xatu

Zarude

Rules - Updated as of 11/30/2020

• Post intelligently. Posts like "I think pokemon X should be in this tier" will be deleted and infracted if it is a repeat issue. Expand on your opinion with actual analysis showing understanding of the metagame and perhaps bringing a unique perspective to the conversation.
• Absolutely no flaming, personal attacks, or general idiocy will be tolerated. Part of this is under moderator discretion and please know that posting in this thread is a privilege, not a right. You'll get warned initially if it is not something overly malicious, but harsher punishments can and will come with repeated behavior or severe offenses.
• Usage statistics may be used to support an argument or a claim, but don't base your ENTIRE argument around them. There needs to be more substance than just this. For example, you can't just say "Pokemon X shouldn't be this tier because they aren't used that often!"
• When nominating a Pokemon to move from one rank to another, do not merely list its obvious qualities such as stats, typing, movepool, etc. If you think a Pokemon deserves to rise or drop, explain what has changed in the meta to cause such Pokemon to get better or worse. I can assure you that the VR Council already knows the obvious qualities and we are far more interested in understanding why you believe it has increased or decreased in viability.
• Unrelated discussion such as talk of (potential) suspects and unproductive one liners that do not greatly contribute to discussion will be deleted. If this becomes a recurring issue for any particular user, then it could lead to an infraction. If you are unsure where to post something, feel free to start a conversation with me on here or discord. Moreover, if you have a general question, then odds are it belongs in the SQSA, not here.
• Being OU by usage alone does not guarantee a ranking. We touched on usage not being the sole reason behind viability of anything before, but this is very true here as a lot of things accumulate ladder usage despite not being the best option. Do not mistake the correlation between usage and viability as stronger than it actually is. If you have any further questions about this, please start a conversation with me on here or discord instead of posting it in this thread.
• When new Pokemon, items, abilities, and/or anything else relevant to the OU metagame are released, please hold off on discussing the ranking of the new Pokemon or the rankings of Pokemon that are impacted by these developments until there is approval to discuss the matter by an OU Moderator in this thread.
• Failure to follow these rules after warning(s) will result in an infraction or possibly a ban depending on the severity of the offenses.
• If you are nominating a Pokemon to be ranked (meaning it was previously unranked), then you need to provide replays of it being used in the metagame and you also should go out of your way to be as thorough as possible in explaining why it has a niche in the metagame (Example of GOOD UR Nomination) -- a vast majority of nominations have been of poor quality historically and we reserve the right to revoke nomination privileges from thread posters at any point in time. If you are in doubt, then feel free to start a conversation with me on here or discord prior to nominating a Pokemon and I will give you honest feedback on the post.

Blacklisted Pokemon: All posts regarding these Pokemon will be deleted (or nominations of these Pokemon will be removed)

• None (for now)

I am hoping for a productive discussion to take place in this thread throughout the generation. I am looking forward to seeing the metagame develop in front of our eyes; I find this to be a very cool prospect and it is one of the main reasons why I elect to run this thread. With this said, I am still only one person and our moderation team only consists of so many people, so try not to make our lives too hard here...post intelligently, lurk before commenting if you are new, and do not expect everything to be moderated super closely 24/7. We are all volunteering our time and effort to maintain threads like these, so we expect a certain degree of respect and understanding of this.

 

[Tungdil]

It looks like my comment is the first nomination.

Corviknight

A- to A
I think the VR doesn't reflect the importance of Corviknight. It's a solid check to dangerous threats like and . Besides being arguably the second-best Defogger in the tier.

Gengar

C+ to B-
It's a niche pick, but if you compare stats with 's, you'll see that is better. Moreover, the Poison type adds a lot of useful resistances. The difference between the two of course is that Gengar has a bad ability. But in my opinion, it should gain more attention, mainly the Choice Scarf set.

The C- sub ranking is a mess, I suggest removing some Pokemon.
, , C- to UR. I can't see these three surviving a tier full of U-Turns, Earthquake, and Close Combat. And I never see them anyway.

 

[cyberacc]

It looks like my comment is the first nomination.



A- to A
I think the VR doesn't reflect the importance of Corviknight. It's a solid check to dangerous threats like and . Besides being arguably the second-best Defogger in the tier.


C+ to B-
It's a niche pick, but if you compare stats with 's, you'll see that is better. Moreover, the Poison type adds a lot of useful resistances. The difference between the two of course is that Gengar has a bad ability. But in my opinion, it should gain more attention, mainly the Choice Scarf set.

The C- sub ranking is a mess, I suggest removing some Pokemon.
, , C- to UR. I can't see these three surviving a tier full of U-Turns, Earthquake, and Close Combat. And I never see them anyway.

Corviknight should move nowhere. The Mon is at most a must have on Stall teams and is one of the most exploitable walls in the tier. Its' terribly prone to chip, its' Body Press is mostly used to revenge Weavile and Lele can and will at any point click either Future Sight or just brute force it with Stealth Rock up. The Mon is good but with how modern SwSh plays it is nowhere near the value it was back during CG. Most good teams are often built to do Corviknight's job without having to be Corviknight, offense and balance would much rather fit another Steel type that dosen't have the propensity for passivity that Corviknight so regularly forces.

Gengar brings a whole litany of issues to the builder that Blacephalon makes up for with raw damage and intimidating stabs or by completely flipping the match in the favour of the user with its hard to account for sets. The power it brings is lackluster, the speed tier is entirely moot due to the benchmark sitting at 350, the targets it tricks are not nearly as good as the ones that Blacephalon nails and the job it does is done better by any of the ghosts sitting higher up in the VR, and the VR itself already has a litany of issues I take offense to. Gengar forces you to run away from every single Knock off in the tier, while being weak to Future Sight, forces you to slot more partners to make up for its weaknesses, does negligible damage to what it is supposed to kill (and often fails to do) and the output you get for the effort in teambuilding is not at all worth the dedication required. At most you see it as an arbitrary "need poison stab that is not GKing 6th that might also revenge kill Pult". The Mon has its uses but B- it most certainly has not earned.

 

[Delibird Heart]

Hey everyone, been a while since I posted about gen 8. I return this time to attend to an unfinished business I had going on with this Viability Ranking thread; Right before Scarlet & Violet dropped, I made a big nom on the old VR thread, which was set to get a last slate before it was closed, which sadly never happened. So I'm here now to nom this mon again.

Sandaconda : UR -> C-/C

I'm not gonna go too indepth right there because I already went to great length explaining why I think why conda can be a good pick in SS ou on the old VR thread, so I'll simply write a short explanation of what it does, then give you links to all the previous posts.

The set I wanna talk about is mostly this one :

Sandaconda @ Leftovers
Ability: Shed Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Glare
- Stealth Rock
- Rest

Sandaconda's biggest boon is having access to Glare, a very spammable 100% accurate status move that paralyzes the opponent, and due to being a normal type move, also works on ground types. While electric types can still block it, out of all the viable electric types in gen 8 (Zeraora, Koko, Magnezone, Rotom and Zapdos) only two of them (Zapdos and Rotom) can stay in on Sandaconda, as the other three fear Earthquake. This move is very strong and was part of why Zygarde had to go.

Secondly, Sandaconda's defensive profile is very decent (72/125/70), and allows it to function as a blanket check to a lot of offensive mons in the tier, paralyzing those it can't outright beat or force out. While his physical defense is higher, you prefer to invest in special defense, similarly to its bigger cousins Lando-T and Hippowdon, as mono ground matches up better against most special threats than physical ones (Rilla, Weavile and Urshifu can all hit you with extremely powerful stabbed super effective moves), though his naturally high physdef still allows it to put in work versus some other mons. All in all, it's a defensive rocker that can spread paralysis and checks Heatran, Volcarona, Tapu Koko, Zerarora, Slowking-Galar, Tyranitar, Excadrill, Dracozolt, and to a lesser extent Blacephalon and Dragapult.

Last but not least, while conda lacks the reliable recovery offered by Slack Off, he does have a tool to restore health and avoid losing to chip : Rest + Shed Skin. While not the most reliable, it gives you some longevity, and allows you to freely absorb status and sit on status-reliant defensive mons such as Ferrothorn, Clef, the aforementioned defensive ground duo, Corviknight, Tornadus-T, Chansey/Blissey which have no real way to harm you.

Sandaconda's other ability Sand Spit is also worth mentioning. When combined with an Eject Button, it can allow Sandaconda to serve as a secondary sand setter for an aggressive sand team, getting sand up and switching out to your Excadrill in one turn on a predicted pivot move or weak attack.

If you want to see the full length of the original discussion that this nomination spanned, I invite you to read these posts:
A replay compilation featuring Sandaconda being successfully used in mid-high elo play
original nom
answering subsequent arguments against the nom
another post going more indepth about why sandaconda should be considered

Another thing worth noting is that I peaked #8 on the ladder right before the end of the gen (and climbed back to #5 after getting back into the gen lately) while exclusively using a Sandaconda team (link to the rmt and proof of peak) and while that is not in itself proof that the mon is good, it just adds foundation to my claims.

Thanks for reading, have a nice day :)

 

[NeonJolteonWasUsed]

A+ -> S-

This Ranking has been a long time coming for me, and I've wanted to gush about how much I love Zapdos for a while now, so I figured I'd finally get my thoughts down and how I think Zapdos has officially cemented itself as the biggest bird in the current Sword and Shield Metagame. if you don't count Landorus which, is a Flying type, but is it really a BIRD?...really makes you think...

I won't go TOO in depth on more obvious things, as I'm sure you're all very aware of what already makes Zapdos A+ worthy.

The more I think about Zapdos, the more I find myself saying "what can't this Pokemon do?" Even its admittedly fairly bad Defog set can dictate the turn flow of entire games by its mere presence, let alone 3 Attacks, and the more Recent Toxic 2 Attacks, and niche Specs sets. Something very important to also note is that Solo Melm Bulky Offenses tend to have quite a bit trouble into this thing, which have been becoming increasingly more common going off of the last few weeks of SSPL, and not just because of its annoying offensive presence, but indirectly as well because of how reliant they can be on Melmetal scaring things out to keep it alive and from getting statused, the mere existance of Zapdos allows you to play a lot less afraid into those kind of teams because of just how easy it is to fall back on into most Melmetal sets and force a dead turn with Paralysis, swinging the game back in your favor.
Even in matchups where it's not checking much of anything (which is very rare might I add) Static is such a nice looming threat to have for punishing random U-Turns that tend to get thrown around trigger happy in such a tier so focused on positioning, all while having a Pivot Move of its own that isn't punishable by contact, and cannot be blocked by the top grounds long term is massive in both progress making and momentum shifting.

I'd be hard pressed to tell you a team where I have not at least considered Zapdos multiple times in building, and even when I have used it, I have hardly if ever found a game where Zapdos felt like a sub-optimal team option with just how often there's still something it can do on a game to game basis in a way that's so much more dynamic than most of the Pokemon in A+ can muster, whether that be punishing a stray U-Turn, chipping down and through Grounds, posing its own offensive Threat, or assisting in positioning around specific threats no other Pokemon can boast to check with such efficiency as it, Zapdos has earned, and deserves a spot among the big leagues up in S-.

 

[pulsar512b]

promised a long post, happening

first, low-hanging fruit. get this unusable shit out of here
-> UR

none of these are at all really usable, at least the rest of C/C- I can kinda see.

now to go through and pass judgement on each mon from the top down
S -> A+/A
It's just not S worthy. It's only really running spd and sd and while both of those sets are good, it's worse than the mons in S- and A+ and some of A.

S- -> S+/S

This mon is just insane. modest specs pult is arguably the single best mon in the tier, even ignoring it's potential to run DD or mixed twave hex sets. Most of it's answers are only barely avoiding 2hkos from modest pult, and a single spd drop can spell disaster. Meanwhile, it's also very fast and it's typing has a surprising amount of incidental defensive utility which is key for many offenses.

A+ -> A


This often struggles to actually check what it's supposed to check i(eg Weavile and Dragapult) in my experience. It's obviously still very good, but I don't really think it's quite deserving of A+. This is definitely the nom i'm least certain about.

A -> B+

This mon has taken a hell of a beating with the rise of tapu lele, the persistent existence of future sight, and just meta trends always beating it down. Nowadays, I think it's only really great on stall- you can kinda make it work on balance but you kinda always end up having to accept an awful future sight matchup which isn't really tenable.

A -> A-

I think this is just a little worse than most of the rest of A. It's not like worlds worse or anything, but it's not on the same level as something like koko or ttar or buzzwole.

A- -> B
It's still decent enough, but it just doesn't really fit on teams anymore. There are many better things that do it's job.

B+ -> A-

While hail has been adapted to over time, I still think arctozolt has immense breaking power. It absolutely shreds offense in general almost singlehandedly.

B+-> A-/A

This mon can singlehandedly win a ton of matchups almost on preview. In particular, with the adaption to blaze kick cc protect lefties sets that give it a lot more longevity, I think it got a lot better. It also has surprising defensive utility vs grasses and Weavile. This SPL replay is a great example.

B+ -> C+

This mon is just bad. It only fits on rain, and it's not really super good there either.

B -> C

Struggles to come in, no defensive utility, is often mostly deadweight in most non-stall matchups.

B -> C+

Really is just not that good even on HO. Most teams nowadays can naturally handle it, especially with Melmetal being one of the top mons and absolutely hosing it. I'm guessing this is a remnant from pre-king's rock ban.

B -> C+

Similarly, this is a remnant from pre-kyurem ban. Occasionally it can still give nice role compression, but I don't think that at all justifies such a high placement.

B- -> C

This mon is simply bad. It's mostly outclassed by weavile, can't really break through the many physical walls in the tier, and is embarrassingly slow.

B- -> C+

Can't remember ever seeing this. Probably not awful or anything but hasn't really been seen at all for something like a year.

think thats most of my thoughts, probably missed a couple.

quickly reviewing the other noms: would not move corv, zapdos, or gengar. most likely to move corv. sandaconda is bad but I guess you could technically argue for it to be C-. I don't think that's right.

 

[Delibird Heart]

-> UR

Can't really speak for the other C-> UR noms as I haven't used these mons in a while/ever, but I really disagree with this. Prim is a very strong specs user with very few switchins (psychic for pex) and a nice bulk which lets it at least trade in more offensive matchups while putting in overtime work against fatter teams. It can also run subcm draining kiss which, while matchup fishy, is noteworthy, and I don't think I've ever seen anyone else use it but for me AV prim puts in insane work, boosting it's already amazing spdef.

Haxorus is also at least notable as a decent stallbreaker thanks to mold breaker.

now to go through and pass judgement on each mon from the top down
-> A+/A
It's just not S worthy. It's only really running spd and sd and while both of those sets are good, it's worse than the mons in S- and A+ and some of A.

S- -> S+/S

This mon is just insane. modest specs pult is arguably the single best mon in the tier, even ignoring it's potential to run DD or mixed twave hex sets. Most of it's answers are only barely avoiding 2hkos from modest pult, and a single spd drop can spell disaster. Meanwhile, it's also very fast and it's typing has a surprising amount of incidental defensive utility which is key for many offenses.

Agree with both of these, nothing to add. Lando is really not that hard to deal with at all, it's just pretty good at its job but doesn't put in overwhelming work in most games. Pult is imo a top 2/3 mon in the tier and definitely deserving of at least S.

A+ -> A


This often struggles to actually check what it's supposed to check i(eg Weavile and Dragapult) in my experience. It's obviously still very good, but I don't really think it's quite deserving of A+. This is definitely the nom i'm least certain about.

Disagree with this, imo clef is literally the face of SS OU. It's on almost every team with insane flexibility, from sr to cm to knock to sticky barb trick to twave to lo offensive to wish tp+aroma to all the inbetweens/mixes between these sets. It doesn't have the raw stats to be a hard defensive check to a lot of mons, but Imo its unparalleled utility is what makes it shine. It might even be deserving of S.

B+ -> A-

While hail has been adapted to over time, I still think arctozolt has immense breaking power. It absolutely shreds offense in general almost singlehandedly.

B+-> A-/A

This mon can singlehandedly win a ton of matchups almost on preview. In particular, with the adaption to blaze kick cc protect lefties sets that give it a lot more longevity, I think it got a lot better. It also has surprising defensive utility vs grasses and Weavile. This SPL replay is a great example.

Agree with both. LO arctozolt straight up ends some teams as soon as hazards go up. Dealing over half to melmetal with a physical move is no small feat. Meanwhile blaziken can fuck up teams very hard if it gets one turn of set up, which is facilitated by the balloon sets it often runs. Once it gets going, you often need some good predicts and upwards of 2 sacs to stop it (unless you happen to have the perfect counter, Azu).

No opinion on the rest of noms, but good post, nice to see some people still care about this meta :)

 

[Slowpoke Fan]

B -> C

Struggles to come in, no defensive utility, is often mostly deadweight in most non-stall matchups.


B- -> C

This mon is simply bad. It's mostly outclassed by weavile, can't really break through the many physical walls in the tier, and is embarrassingly slow.

I respect the lobster quite a bit more than the chess piece - its breaking power is genuinely absurd and neither Pokemon is really outspeeding anything notable (I guess Tyranitar is big, but you can aqua jet that anyways). I am not sure where either of them should be ranked in the VR, but I generally think that Crawdaunt is better than Bisharp by a subtier or two.

As for some other Pokemon that have not been mentioned yet:

S- -> A+

Still a fantastic piece to have on every team if you can fit it on, but I think it thuds into a lot of things due to steel being a very lacklustre offensive typing + it not always carrying coverage for its checks since it likes fitting protect + a status move on its moveset. The lack of reliable recovery also hurts it when a lot of what it checks can basically come in over and over again to wear it down. While Heatran also suffers from the same issue, it really punishes you whenever it hits the field unless you have something like Gastrodon/Hydreigon/Slowking that can comfortably take hits from it while recovering themselves when needed (which is not exactly common, SPD ground types like Landorus-Therian and Garchomp or water types that have sketchy recovery like Rotom-Wash and Tapu Fini are typically what most teams fit on to stave off the frog), so its lack of reliable recovery hurts it a tad less in my opinion. Flame body sets with DEF investment also eat into Melmetal's defensive role on teams to me, so I think there should be a distinction between the two in the VR.

C+ -> B- or B

Just a menace in rain - even Pokemon that resist both of its STABs can be worn down by said STABs or its coverage in hurricane (which hits fairly hard with a choice specs equipped), and those Pokemon tend to not have reliable recovery (e.g. Ferrothorn, Tapu Fini, Primarina). Pokemon neutral to one or both of its STABs need massive special bulk to withstand it, with max SPD Gastrodon taking 68.3 - 80.5% from a choice specs hydro pump in rain if it is not running storm drain. I certainly respect it significantly more than 'rain staples' in the VR like Seismitoad, and believe that the frog dropping to the C tier should be accompanied by the dragon ascending to the ranks of B.

A -> A+

Simply synergises incredibly well with some of the best offensive threats in the tier - it can strengthen electric type coverage from the likes of Dragapult and Urshifu (or even more niche options such as Nidoking) to reliably push through some of their checks while being a strong offensive Pokemon in its own right with an incredible speed tier and terrain-boosted STAB. Its access to an unblockable u-turn makes it incredibly easy to pivot in said threats to take advantage of terrain while roost allows it to last in longer games unlike its cousins, while being both an offensive and defensive check to possibly the best flying type in the tier (Tornadus-Therian) is also very valuable.

 

[cyberacc]

I can understand and agree with most of the posts above so I won't comment on their input aside from "yep, true". Will mostly raise some concerns and highlight mons I think are blatantly misplaced. Us coming up with personal VRs can come later, SS is a bit in the spotlight and the VR is pretty bad. We can start highlighting good and underrated slots at a later point, right now let's fix the "wtf" listings.

A -> A- This thing is not at all a hard A slot. It consistently underperforms a lot and is mostly used as a cool "ah ha I set up on your offense to turn the tempo into my favor!" Retort. The defensive sets all suck and it regularly does boom-zip nada into bulky offense let alone stall. I will say that 3 attack variants are under utilized and could bolster its' A placement but right now we only see it as a natural inclusion on Koko Ferro spikes. Oh and its' practically a free double switch in for Zolt hail. That's bad.

A -> A- I agree fully with pulsar on it being sort of misplaced in hard A but I do appreciate its' weird existence in SS. I think defog sets are... Bad, they're just bad. But it's a really cool melmetal check that can practically burn whatever it wants and also likes messing with Sand. Neat mon but not an A hitter for me.


A- - > B+ Victini is fucking awesome. Really really cool mon to use. But have you actually tried building with Victini recently let alone use it? I have and its' absurdly specific for the output you get to the point where its' rare both on ladder and in tourney. It has immense potential still but I really do not see how it can sit in hard A-, until we find a Blaziken lightning in a bottle build situation we sort of have to drop it down the rankings.

B+ -> B .. Meh? This thing has been sparse lately ever since Kyurem ban since a) most stalls get the option of going two birds pretty freely now and b) most teams at the moment have incredibly resilient Electric punishes that Zone dosen't appreciate at all. It dosen't trap anything super useful anymore since everyone sort of realized how shit it is to rely on Corviknight as the obligatory steel. Its' still useful but stacking things that like Corviknight or Ferrothorn being gone isn't super relevant at the moment or the foreseeable future.


B -> B- This overtakes Bisharps' spot. Mediocre, bland, boring are the only words I have for this thing. On top of the asinine level of builder work you have to go to make this thing put in the work its' supposed to its becoming quite clear that it is the worst thing available in the OU builder while still being usable. Everyone who has some modicum of experience using this thing in modern SS can probably attest to how unimpressive it is.

 

[Smashburn]

promised a long post, happening

first, low-hanging fruit. get this unusable shit out of here
-> UR

none of these are at all really usable, at least the rest of C/C- I can kinda see.

I don't disagree with many of these but I think that Latios, Latias, and Moltres still need kept on the table. Moltres is definitely not on top but it has a select niche it occupies, as does Latios and Latias. They are prepared for fairly preemptively but certain teams need to keep them in mind.

S -> A+/A

It's just not S worthy. It's only really running spd and sd and while both of those sets are good, it's worse than the mons in S- and A+ and some of A.

Considering that Landorus is one of three viable ground-types in this tier, and remains its best superglue, this feels hasty. Lando still has some flaws, but they don't outweigh its benefits even if they are select.

S- -> S+/S

This mon is just insane. modest specs pult is arguably the single best mon in the tier, even ignoring it's potential to run DD or mixed twave hex sets. Most of it's answers are only barely avoiding 2hkos from modest pult, and a single spd drop can spell disaster. Meanwhile, it's also very fast and it's typing has a surprising amount of incidental defensive utility which is key for many offenses.

Modest Dragapult is a recent invention and a monster of its own, really. Basically every check barely dodges the 2HKO bar Blissey and SpD Clefable, which doesn't guarantee it isn't Choice Banded or DD. It will definitely take getting used to but I personally wouldn't put it above where it is. Really getting pushed to its limits, though.

A+ -> A

This often struggles to actually check what it's supposed to check i(eg Weavile and Dragapult) in my experience. It's obviously still very good, but I don't really think it's quite deserving of A+. This is definitely the nom i'm least certain about.

Clefable is a monster and a heinous criminal; I simply can't downplay its versatility and ability to smash unprepared teams. Regardless, it has its flaws and it does sometimes struggle to check Weavile, Dragapult, and the like. We have also seen an uptick in the usage of Victini, Melmetal, and Slowking-Galar, which has made it generally less reliable. However, Clefable is supposed to be played with more support for that reason. I don't think it is a clear-cut drop if it's a drop at all.

A -> B+

This mon has taken a hell of a beating with the rise of tapu lele, the persistent existence of future sight, and just meta trends always beating it down. Nowadays, I think it's only really great on stall- you can kinda make it work on balance but you kinda always end up having to accept an awful future sight matchup which isn't really tenable.

Damn this went straight from the boiler to the ice bucket challenge. I don't think I would go this far, considering that places Toxapex among some of the tier's most unreliable. It might not be the most amazing or favorable-by-trend considering some of the tier's recent offensive shifts, but it's uncontestably one of the greats still. I don't think it's worth dropping further than it is right now.

A -> A-

I think this is just a little worse than most of the rest of A. It's not like worlds worse or anything, but it's not on the same level as something like koko or ttar or buzzwole.

A- -> B
It's still decent enough, but it just doesn't really fit on teams anymore. There are many better things that do it's job.

B+ -> A-

While hail has been adapted to over time, I still think arctozolt has immense breaking power. It absolutely shreds offense in general almost singlehandedly.

B+-> A-/A

This mon can singlehandedly win a ton of matchups almost on preview. In particular, with the adaption to blaze kick cc protect lefties sets that give it a lot more longevity, I think it got a lot better. It also has surprising defensive utility vs grasses and Weavile. This SPL replay is a great example.

B+ -> C+

This mon is just bad. It only fits on rain, and it's not really super good there either.

B -> C

Struggles to come in, no defensive utility, is often mostly deadweight in most non-stall matchups.

B -> C+

Really is just not that good even on HO. Most teams nowadays can naturally handle it, especially with Melmetal being one of the top mons and absolutely hosing it. I'm guessing this is a remnant from pre-king's rock ban.

B -> C+

Similarly, this is a remnant from pre-kyurem ban. Occasionally it can still give nice role compression, but I don't think that at all justifies such a high placement.

B- -> C

This mon is simply bad. It's mostly outclassed by weavile, can't really break through the many physical walls in the tier, and is embarrassingly slow.

B- -> C+

Can't remember ever seeing this. Probably not awful or anything but hasn't really been seen at all for something like a year.

Grouping all of these so I can quickly adjust some of them and make my own noms.

A -> A+
I agree with Slowpoke Fan on this one. I think Koko has a lot going for it right now, its speed is very convenient offensively with Modest Dragapult going around as well.

A -> A-
I'm not informed enough to agree or disagree, but I think trends haven't been working for its benefit recently.

A -> B
I'm also not very informed on Slowking, but I don't know if I would drop it that far even if I was.

B+ -> A-
I don't know if I'd suggest that Arcozolt is synonymous with Alolatales in the builder. Hail is good, but it has a limited success pool and it's pretty matchup dependent.

B+ -> A-/A
Blaziken was already lightning in a bottle after rain decreased in usage, but things have naturally balanced themselves out. We've seen Urshifu-R with Aqua Jet more, in addition to Dragapult, Volcanion, Dragonite, Slowbro, and the omnipresent Landorus and Garchomp. This was probably one of my least favorite replays out of SPL. AKG lost the game turn 6 after dropping momentum to Defog in front of Landorus knowing Blaziken could double. He also had some extraordinarily bad luck after two SpD drops, but the mismanagement of turn 6 made me cringe so hard knowing he had other answers he could ration.

B+ -> B
B -> C
Washtom, Slowbro, Slowking, Gastrodon, Clefable, Dragonite, Dragapult, Rillaboom all seeing continued usage at the top level... yikes. Seismitoad is not as good as it once was even for rain. Crawdaunt is almost rain exclusive but it has other fair applications even if they are limited, and it's definitely not C worthy.

B ->B-
How is this ahead of Bisharp. Literally how. The stupid metal bug can't even do it's job half the time, at least Bisharp can occasionally do something when Buzzwole doesn't exist.

B -> B-
Agreed but less harshly, a lot of continued usage from its checks and stuff has really deteriorated it post gen.

B- -> C+
Agreed, even if this thing was the most potent thing in C+ I would still agree. It just isn't as applicable as it used to be especially with Dragapult floating around often.

B- -> C

This mon is simply bad. It's mostly outclassed by weavile, can't really break through the many physical walls in the tier, and is embarrassingly slow.

B- -> B