Gen 5 The OU Viability Ranking thread

[ElectivireRocks]

Nominating Meloetta for B rank.
She's a versatile and unpredictable pokemon who can distinguish herself from Jirachi and Celebi thanks to her unique perks.

She's arguably the best Alakazam counter in the game (the best Zam can do is using Focus Miss, which isn't going to do much against Aria forme, and unlike Chansey/Blissey Meloetta isn't completely crippled by the rare TrickScarf) and fares well against other relevant threats such as Gengar and Latias.

She can support with Heal Bell, stop CM users with her excellent special bulk and Perish Song, spread paralysis with Serene Grace Thunders and thanks to Relic Song and Close Combat Tyranitar will think twice before switching in.
She even gets U-Turn so when in doubt you can just use that to keep momentum on your side. She's definitely a viable pokemon in OU.

 

[Manectrifier]

Nominating Meloetta for B rank.
She's a versatile and unpredictable pokemon who can distinguish herself from Jirachi and Celebi thanks to her unique perks.

She's arguably the best Alakazam counter in the game (the best Zam can do is using Focus Miss, which isn't going to do much against Aria forme, and unlike Chansey/Blissey Meloetta isn't completely crippled by the rare TrickScarf) and fares well against other relevant threats such as Gengar and Latias.

She can support with Heal Bell, stop CM users with her excellent special bulk and Perish Song, spread paralysis with Serene Grace Thunders and thanks to Relic Song and Close Combat Tyranitar will think twice before switching in.
She even gets U-Turn so when in doubt you can just use that to keep momentum on your side. She's definitely a viable pokemon in OU.

I don't think Meloetta deserves B-Rank, as it is completely outclassed by Jirachi (and to a certain extent Celebi too). Jirachi counters Zam. Jirachi can win 1vs1 against Tyranitar. Jirachi counters Latias. Jirachi can win against Gengar (depending on sets). Jirachi can spread paralysis with Serene grace thunders. The only thing Jirachi lacks is Heal bell, which isn't too much of a deal anyways.

Now, for things that Jirachi is better at: Better defensive typing (checks dragons), good stab move (Iron head). No 4mss (Meloetta wants relic song, cc, thunder, psychic/psyshock, u-turn, perish song, heal bell, while Rachi only needs iron head, body slam, wish and protect). Reliable recovery (wish + protect).

In the end, Meloetta can be unpredictable, but it is hopelessly outclassed by Jirachi.

C Rank: Reserved for Pokemon who can be effective given the right support, but either have crippling flaws that prevent them from consistently executing their strategy or are typically inferior to Pokemon in the above ranks.

 

[DarkBlazeR]

I think there's a fine line between something that is viable and something that is worth using. Really, anything that has even the smallest niche could be considered viable. Whilst I'm not implying that Meloetta isn't viable, I'm saying that it really doesn't have that much going for it in OU. I honestly don't see why you'd want to use it for its defensive capabilities over Celebi or Jirachi - both of them have incredibly useful resistances to some of the most common moves in OU, and in general have more support options to boot. Celebi actually learns all of the utility moves you mentioned (Heal Bell, Perish Song, plus paralysis from Thunder Wave), but also has reliable recovery and more resistances. Even Mew has more to offer in the form of a SR lead set and a WispTaunt set. Meloetta doesn't really have anything unique apart from Relic Song (which is honestly a terrible gimmick) and its typing. I think maybe a Calm Mind/Psychic/Shadow Ball/Focus Blast set could have some potential, but otherwise it doesn't stand out much amongst the crowd. Sure, it does well against other Psychics and Ghosts, but that isn't as useful as, say, being able to take Draco Meteors/rain boosted Hydro Pumps. The lack of any form of recovery other than Leftovers + Protect/Rest is probably the main reason that Meloetta doesn't receive much usage. I think C-rank seems fair given the few niches it does have, but B-rank is really pushing it in my opinion.

 

[Hemp Man]

Honestly, Empoleon is the only true counter to Gyarados:

Empoleon can't really switch into Earthquake varaints of Gyarados though.

 

[ElectivireRocks]

I think there's a fine line between something that is viable and something that is worth using. Really, anything that has even the smallest niche could be considered viable. Whilst I'm not implying that Meloetta isn't viable, I'm saying that it really doesn't have that much going for it in OU. I honestly don't see why you'd want to use it for its defensive capabilities over Celebi or Jirachi - both of them have incredibly useful resistances to some of the most common moves in OU, and in general have more support options to boot. Celebi actually learns all of the utility moves you mentioned (Heal Bell, Perish Song, plus paralysis from Thunder Wave), but also has reliable recovery and more resistances. Even Mew has more to offer in the form of a SR lead set and a WispTaunt set. Meloetta doesn't really have anything unique apart from Relic Song (which is honestly a terrible gimmick) and its typing. I think maybe a Calm Mind/Psychic/Shadow Ball/Focus Blast set could have some potential, but otherwise it doesn't stand out much amongst the crowd. Sure, it does well against other Psychics and Ghosts, but that isn't as useful as, say, being able to take Draco Meteors/rain boosted Hydro Pumps. The lack of any form of recovery other than Leftovers + Protect/Rest is probably the main reason that Meloetta doesn't receive much usage. I think C-rank seems fair given the few niches it does have, but B-rank is really pushing it in my opinion.

Relic Song isn't a gimmick in the least, in fact it allows her to beat virtually anything that tries to counter Aria forme, Tyranitar being the prime example. Don't assume that ghosts stop it cold because if she's not running Relic Song and they try to switch in they're going to be hit hard. The very fact your opponent is forced to guess whether she's running a pure Aria forme set or a Relic Song one makes it viable.
That set is notoriously difficult to counter as it's like fighting two pokemon at once.

As I said, she handles the likes of Gengar and Alakazam much better than than Celebi and she has better special bulk than Jirachi and doesn't have its annoying ground and fire weaknesses, meaning that she fares better against threats like Heatran and Infernape.

Celebi and Jirachi are overall more useful and that's why they're A-rank, but if you need something more specific that Meloetta can do she's a viable option. B-rank seems appropriate for her.

 

[HabibsHotDogs]

On the topic of weavile, I'm surprised people are only looking at it as a pursuit trapper.. It makes an AWESOME auxiliary sweeper with an SD set, just pair it up with buddies like breloom and Keldeo and set up on forced switches.. theres not a lot of common scarfers that like taking a +2 ice shard, scarfed Keldeo and terrakion are the only "common" faster pokemon who don't mind +2 ice shard. (Latios, Landorus, faster Jolteon, Garchomp, Salamence and faster Venusaur hate taking +2 ice shards)

Also there is the non SD set with no pursuit.. Not relying on pursuit trapping threats in awkward 50/50's unlocks Weaviles other bag of tricks, like being able to completely maul offensive teams with ice punch/low kick/ night slash coverage in the late game with a back up ice shard. Weavile has a niche of beating a lot of various cores too.. Jellicent, heatran and celebi are all common constituents of cores that don't like Weavile.

The things holding back weavile are obviously its big 4 nemesis', in order:

1. Scizor
2. Keldeo
3. Skarmory
4. Jirachi

All of these are extremely common unfortunately.. and hence why weavile is B lol, unlike Keldeo's counters they don't share a common weakness but I know weavile + gothitelle can be a decent combo to get rid of the first 3.

PS: It really is a shame ice teams aren't very common, Weavile has traditionally been the best pokemon to run through an ice team from my experience as it 2hkoes nearly every common hail abuser or weakness coverer

 

[DarkBlazeR]

Relic Song isn't a gimmick in the least, in fact it allows her to beat virtually anything that tries to counter Aria forme, Tyranitar being the prime example. Don't assume that ghosts stop it cold because if she's not running Relic Song and they try to switch in they're going to be hit hard. The very fact your opponent is forced to guess whether she's running a pure Aria forme set or a Relic Song one makes it viable.
That set is notoriously difficult to counter as it's like fighting two pokemon at once.

As I said, she handles the likes of Gengar and Alakazam much better than than Celebi and she has better special bulk than Jirachi and doesn't have its annoying ground and fire weaknesses, meaning that she fares better against threats like Heatran and Infernape.

Celebi and Jirachi are overall more useful and that's why they're A-rank, but if you need something more specific that Meloetta can do she's a viable option. B-rank seems appropriate for her.

Thing is, Relic Song takes up a turn to use - which means that if you mispredict with it, you will have wasted a turn. Sure the occasional sleep chance helps, but in general I find that the mixed set tends to underwhelming in the long run. Often you simply don't have to the chance to switch forms to abuse certain attacks, and without Life Orb, mixed Meloetta lacks overall power, which means that Life Orb + sandstorm + hazard damage wear it down very quickly.

I don't see why C-rank is a bad thing - we've got some great 'mons down there such as Cresselia and Sharpedo for example. I can see why it could be considered borderline B/C rank, though simply because of how little usage it gets in OU, it's hard to pinpoint its true viability. Meloetta is difficult to fit onto a team since it has such a specific role, and in a metagame with so many dangerous threats lurking around every corner, niche Pokémon have a more competition for a teamslot than ever before. For now I'm going to stick with C-rank, but if you can show me some replays where Meloetta really pulled its weight for its team, I may reconsider that claim.

 

[scorpdestroyer]

I agree that Meloetta's Relic Song set is its biggest niche and able to beat out counters to the CM set such as Ttar and pink blobs and sets it apart from Jirachi and Celebi. I think Meloetta's ability to beat out said threats, as well as Gengar and Alakazam, give it a good reason to be used over Rachi and Celebi. If anybody realises, Meloetta's Aria forme has a much higher special attack and special defense stat than Jirachi and Celebi. This means it can score much more KOs while being able to tank Focus Blasts pretty well. I think these strengths allow Meloetta to be placed in B-rank.

@HabibsHotDogs: You're missing the point. The point is that Weavile is so frail it can hardly set up on anything bar a choice locked Psychic or smth which is never seen due to everyone's fear of Tyranitar. Any reasonably powerful hit, even resisted ones, are going to kill Weavile, and those that don't bring it down to such low HP that Life Orb recoil is going to finish Weavile off. If Weavile does get that boost off, remember that Weavile's couters, including the four you mentioned, are extremely common, along with the fact that it gets worn down by residual damage easily. And if I'm going to use Weavile without Pursuit, why would I use it over something else in the first place? If I want to beat that core, I might as well use Tyranitar or Kyurem-B or something, who can beat the core far more easily than Weavile since it doesn't need to set up and can afford to take a hit. If I'm in need of Ice Shard and not Pursuit, why should I use Weavile over Mamoswine? Like what people said before me, Weavile's real niche is if someone needs Pursuit trapping and dragon killing in one teamslot, or if they absolutely need to beat Starmie, Lati@s and the like.

 

[DoABarrelRoll]

1. Mamoswine always loses to Lati@s if they took no prior damage.

252 Atk Life Orb Mamoswine Ice Shard vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Latios: 205-244 (68.1 - 81.06%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Latios Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mamoswine: 450-530 (124.65 - 146.81%) -- guaranteed OHKO


On the other hand, Weavile can smash Lati@s with Night Slash for the OHKO or Pursuit them.



2. Mamoswine gets wrecked by Terrakion. Weavile can rape the non-Choice Scarf variants with Low Kick.


3. Mamoswine is setup fodder for Ferrothorn. Weavile can 2HKO Ferro with Low Kick. Oh yeah, and Weavile beats the Ferrocent core.



4. Mamoswine is beaten by faster threats that Weavile can destroy, such as Starmie, Tornadus(especially in rain) and YacheChomp.


5. Mamoswine can't revenge kill Dragonite effectively without stealth rock. Weavile can(252 Atk Life Orb Weavile Ice Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Multiscale Dragonite: 315-374 (97.52 - 115.78%) -- 81.25% chance to OHKO)


The point is that Weavile is not outclassed by Mamoswine as an Ice Shard user. And if you're using Weavile as a Swords Dance sweeper, you need a new job.



Therefore, I support Weavile for B or B+ rank.

And Gyara should stay B+, sure, it's dangerous if it manages to set up a substitute, but Skarmory laughs at +1 Waterfall and can set up on it all day long, it's weak to stealth rock, it doesn't have a stellar speed(Yeah, the same could be said for Kingdra, but at least it can use a ChestoRest set thanks to its dragon typing) and Bounce is easy to play around. Gyara never really worked for me, tbh.

 

[ciaranroy]

[/B]And Gyara should stay B+, sure, it's dangerous if it manages to set up a substitute, but Skarmory laughs at +1 Waterfall and can set up on it all day long, it's weak to stealth rock, it doesn't have a stellar speed(Yeah, the same could be said for Kingdra, but at least it can use a ChestoRest set thanks to its dragon typing) and Bounce is easy to play around. Gyara never really worked for me, tbh.

You're using it wrong. Through its good bulk and great defensive typing, it can almost guarantee a Dragon Dance, and maybe more if its behind a sub. I don't think you quite understand how hard it is to revenge. And saying that Skarmory beats it is like saying Blissey beats Landorus, Thundurus-T, and pretty much every other special attacker. Terrakion doesn't have a great time against Skarmory either. Just because it didn't work for you doesn't mean it doesn't work. And, under rain, Skarmory can't switch in. Definitely deserves A- if not more.

 

[Smilodon]

Supporting Gyarados for A-rank. Unlike many high-ranked sweepers, Gyarados is really versatile : you keep a good counter to Dragon dance one, and it's sleep talk + roar + thunder wave, and he phases you 5 time before you can kill it, raking entry hazard damage. You send a reliable phazer that can tank a hit, like Skarmory, and dang, taunt, and one free dragon dance (unless you want to KO with brave bird, but that might let him DD again, and then sweep the entire team).

Moreover, it's the only offensive counter to both Landorus-I (except the rare SE user) and Keldeo, which make it interesting for offensive teams who want to avoid being swept by these two threats.

 

[DarkBlazeR]

One interesting thing in Gyarados' favour at the moment is that the most common Scarf users right now (Keldeo/Jirachi) don't typically carry a SE move against it, which means that many teams often struggle to deal with a +1 Gyarados without some kind of dedicated counter like Protect Ferrothorn or Thunderbolt Rotom-W. Lets not forget that Gyarados also has a rather underrated Moxie Scarf set, which can easily sweep unprepared teams in the rain once Water resists have been weakened.

 

[Punchshroom]

1. Mamoswine always loses to Lati@s if they took no prior damage.

252 Atk Life Orb Mamoswine Ice Shard vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Latios: 205-244 (68.1 - 81.06%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Latios Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mamoswine: 450-530 (124.65 - 146.81%) -- guaranteed OHKO


On the other hand, Weavile can smash Lati@s with Night Slash for the OHKO or Pursuit them.

Weavile can't switch in either, meaning Latiod would've Dracoed something to death. At that point, Mamo would survive the subsequent hit anyway.

2. Mamoswine gets wrecked by Terrakion. Weavile can rape the non-Choice Scarf variants with Low Kick.

Weavile doesn't OHKO while getting wrecked by pretty much anything Terra does; Mamo at least survives Choiced Stone Edge and EQs back. Weavile is also setup fodder for CM Keldeo while Mamo threatens Keldeo into attacking if you want to use that logic.

3. Mamoswine is setup fodder for Ferrothorn. Weavile can 2HKO Ferro with Low Kick. Oh yeah, and Weavile beats the Ferrocent core.

This is easily one of your more ridiculous statements. Never have I seen a Weavile triumph over Ferro due to being walloped by Ferro's STAB, OHKOed by Gyro Ball in fact.

4. Mamoswine is beaten by faster threats that Weavile can destroy, such as Starmie, Tornadus(especially in rain) and YacheChomp.

Weavile loses to most everything able to survive a single hit. You know, things like Hippowdon, Politoed, Volcarona, Ferrothorn, even Ninetales. Basically most everything that isn't hit SE by Weavile's STABs (and even then Hippo could tank it) can beat Weavile, which makes it hard justifying Weavile's use despite its numerous positive matchups.

5. Mamoswine can't revenge kill Dragonite effectively without stealth rock. Weavile can(252 Atk Life Orb Weavile Ice Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Multiscale Dragonite: 315-374 (97.52 - 115.78%) -- 81.25% chance to OHKO)

True, but Weavile faces a different problem: priority, and considering its frailty and SR weakness, Weavile might end up not putting a scratch on Nite while Mamo can at least survive to Ice Shard it (and break Multiscale).

The point is that Weavile is not outclassed by Mamoswine as an Ice Shard user. And if you're using Weavile as a Swords Dance sweeper, you need a new job.

Therefore, I support Weavile for B or B+ rank.

Weavile can beat everything weak to its STABs but loses to everything that isn't. That kind of inconsistency makes B-Rank a shaky proposition despite its unique niche.

And Gyara should stay B+, sure, it's dangerous if it manages to set up a substitute, but Skarmory laughs at +1 Waterfall and can set up on it all day long, it's weak to stealth rock, it doesn't have a stellar speed(Yeah, the same could be said for Kingdra, but at least it can use a ChestoRest set thanks to its dragon typing) and Bounce is easy to play around. Gyara never really worked for me, tbh.

The ease in which Gyarados can set up is astonishing, not many can claim to set up in the face of threats such as Landorus-I, Keldeo, Scizor, Volcarona, Heatran and more. Some Gyara run Taunt over Substitute as well to stop mons like Skarm, so even they aren't full stops to Gyara all of the time.

 

[victinivcreate1]

Gyarados for A-Rank. That thing is so damn bulky. I made a bulky DD set a few months ago made to avid 2HKOs from Sheer Force Lando/Specs Keldeo and my oh my I would literally get to +3 Atk and +3 Speed and sweep thru teams. Here's the set

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Intimidate
Careful
EVs: 248 HP/60 Def/200 SpD
-Dragon Dance
-Ice Fang
-Waterfall
-Outrage

The EVs give Gyarados roughly 393 HP/313 Def/314 SpD (factoring in Intimidated poke). Unless pitted against electric or rock attacks, Gyarados will be avoiding 2HKOs/OHKOs from most moves.

For example

252+ SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Secret Sword vs. 248 HP / 60 Def Gyarados: 128-151 (32.56 - 38.42%) -- 2.93% chance to 3HKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Sludge Wave vs. 248 HP / 200+ SpD Gyarados: 133-157 (33.84 - 39.94%) -- 34.72% chance to 3HKO

252 SpA Life Orb Latios Draco Meteor vs. 248 HP / 200+ SpD Gyarados: 224-265 (56.99 - 67.43%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (2 DMs will fail to 2HKO)

+1 252+ Atk Life Orb Lucario Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 60 Def Gyarados: 211-248 (53.68 - 63.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (defense drop so Waterfall will be bringing on the pain)

+2 252 SpA Life Orb Volcarona Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 200+ SpD Gyarados: 197-232 (50.12 - 59.03%) -- 75.39% chance to 2HKO (I OHKO back with Waterfall)

This things bulk is absurd and I know there are a myriad of other Gyarados sets. It belongs in A. Its very good in the current meta.

 

[-Sparkbeat-]

I support Gyarados for A-Rank as well. Like others have said, it can set up on many of the most deadly scarfers and sweepers in the meta. Another fantastic thing is its versatility. It can preform as a nice anti-stall Pokemon with Taunt and can run a solid physical wall set while maintaining some offensive presence with Waterfall. Another great thing for Gyarados is the amount of rain in the meta, which means most of the time his Waterfalls will be boosted even further. He also has two fantastic abilities in Intimidate to give more set-up opportunities and Moxie to make sweeping easier. But to me the thing that makes Gyarados an A-Rank threat is the fact that he resists the two most common priority attacks, Bullet Punch and Mach Punch. Heck, even the unexpected Scarfdos can make a fantastic late game sweeper with an immediate +1 to Speed and Moxie to boost his Attack. All in all, Gyarados is a highly underestimated Pokemon that has enough bulk to sweep, and this metagame suits him extremely well.

 

[DoABarrelRoll]

@Punchshroom: You said Weavile doesn't OHKO terrakion. Well...

252 Atk Life Orb Weavile Low Kick (120 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Terrakion: 354-416 (109.25 - 128.39%) -- guaranteed OHKO


Most Keldeo are Choice Scarf/Specs variants. Only 21% of all Keldeo ran Calm Mind in April. And even if it's a Calm Mind variant, Keldeo will probably just go for the kill(252 SpA Keldeo Surf vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mamoswine: 468-552 (129.63 - 152.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO) Weavile is indeed setup fodder for Keldeo, but Mamo doesn't fare much better.



About the Weavile vs Ferro argument, Gyro Ball is actually not too common on Ferro now because Power Whip is necessary to deal with Keldeo( especially the Choiced sets locked into a water-type attack or Hidden Power Ice/Ghost), Politoed(the offensive variants without Focus Blast) and some bulky water-types that Ferro IS SUPPOSED to beat.
252 Atk Life Orb Weavile Low Kick (100 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Ferrothorn: 213-252 (60.51 - 71.59%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Life Orb Mamoswine Superpower vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Ferrothorn: 270-320 (76.7 - 90.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(I think the 252 HP / 252 SDef spread is better now, since Haxorus is pretty rare.)

Of course Mamo can deal more damage to specially defensive Ferrothorn, but after that Mamo's def will be at -1 and Ferro can OHKO it with Power Whip.

They both lose, however, if Ferro packs Gyro Ball.



Hippowdon beats Weavile only if Weavile lacks Ice Punch, but Night Slash is more common, so I guess you're right. Agreed with Politoed and GB Ferrothorn. Disagreeing with Volcarona, Night Slash 2HKOes it, and Stealth Rock exists. Defensive Ninetales beats Weavile, indeed.



About Dragonite, both Mamo and Weavile can take a +1 ExtremeSpeed(as long as Stealth Rock is not in play.)

 

[TUO]

just a quick thing, I have not seen a single team that has used Durant effectively, it also has a hard time differentiating itself from other wallbreakers while Hustle gives it slight unreliabiltity, I would like to see it go down to D-Rank

 

[Ojama]

I think there is a huge problem about the A Rank. While I do agree that Salamence is A- I absolutely don't about Alakazam, Gengar, Volcarona and Dragonite. These guys should be AT LEAST A Rank, and in my opinion a few of them should be A+.

Alakazam is one of the most threatening Pokemon in OU and shouldn't be underrated. It is extremely fast and has a broken ability known as Magic Guard. It clearly has only a few counters, Scizor and Jirachi. Just look at the A+ Rank, only Scizor and Jirachi can counter it, other ones like Hippowdon and Celebi can be considered as checks. In addition, Alakazam has Signal Beam which means Celebi is absolutely not a safe check. Hippowdon is 2HKO'd if it's not Careful, the rest is either OHKO'd or easily 2HKO'd (and can be OHKO'd after Stealth Rock). The A Rank is a joke for Alakazam.

Dragonite is monstrous, especially in the current Metagame. I can't imagine that it is A-, the Choice Band Set is just amazing. It has great resistances, a strong priority move and a powerful STAB that almost OHKO everything. Gengar should definitely be A Rank, the SubSplit Set is extremely scary but once more you're underestimating it. It is extremely fast and powerful, and only has a few real counters. In addition, its Ghost Type helps a lot in the current Metagame, so does its Ability, since both Keldeo and Landorus-I are in 99.9% of the Teams. It even has WoW to Stallbreak and help stuff like Reuniclus and Alakazam.

Volcarona is probably the most threatening Pokemon after a Quiver Dance, you only need a Spinner. It has now access to Giga Drain and Roost which allows it to recover itself (Modest +1 LOVolcarona OHKOs Terrakion and Keldeo with Giga Drain and has like 65% of chance to OHKO them with Leftovers). I would say A+ Rank...

Thundurus-T should be A- in my opinion. I know it's extremely strong but we all know how hard it is to set up with it. It is not really bulky and kinda slow and depending on what you run (Focus Blast or Agility/Nplot) you'll be walled by something. I have been extremely disappointed by Thundurus-T when I used it...

I think some of the A+ Rank should be A Rank but I might be wrong so let's end this post here.

 

[Vemane]

Just for the record, even scizor falls to hpfire sash zam (which is completely viable with that empty fouth moveslot)

 

[Dark Fallen Angel]

The only two things holding Gyarados back in terms of sweeping are its base speed (which unfortunately makes Gyarados slower than a lot of threats even after a Dragon Dance boost, but that can be solved by a Substitute) and the fact that it is weak to Stealth Rock. However, it is an excellent Pokémon nowadays because it can setup on top threats like Keldeo and Sheer Force Landorus. Also, people are stopping to use Rock- and Electric-type attacks on pokémon that do not receive STAB for them; for example, most Fighting-types are now forgoing Stone Edge for Ice Punch. This is a good thing for Gyarados, as it means that it can more easily avoid these moves and scout for the opponent's set. A-Rank for him

Oh, and as of a note: People usually run Moxie on Gyarados because the fact that it increases attack as a Pokémon is killed is appealing. However, Intimidate is an equally useful ability that I do not know why people do not use more, since it gives more setup opportunities and even lets Gyarados counter some physical threats like Scizor.

 

[Lork]

for gyarados i use the ev spread that outruns base 130s after one DD. it is a monster once a dd or two has been laid down. intimidate for extra utility and set up opportunities.

 

[HUARGH]

I don't support Gyarados for A- rank. It has a stealth rock weakness and the only real STAB it has is waterfall (I haven't seen anyone use bounce). Additionally, it is archetypically something that should switch into waters but due to scald this is hardly an option and STAB hydro pump under rain hits so hard it hardly matters. Intimidate is pretty good though.

 

[ElectivireRocks]

I'm against Gyarados being moved to A rank because, as said above, Waterfall is its only reliable attack.

Ice Fang is pathetically weak, Bounce is telegraphed, Stone Edge is inaccurate and Earthquake, while a nice attack, is not very useful when all the common electric types in OU are immune to ground. It's also somewhat redundant with Waterfall since that combo is resisted by Dragonite, Lati@s, Rotom-W, Celebi and Salamence among other things.

Add the low base speed, SR weakness and a severe case of 4MSS and it seems pretty clear to me that it needs a significant amount of support to be successful in OU.

 

[Sam]

I'm against Gyarados being moved to A rank because, as said above, Waterfall is its only reliable attack.

Ice Fang is pathetically weak, Bounce is telegraphed, Stone Edge is inaccurate and Earthquake, while a nice attack, is not very useful when all the common electric types in OU are immune to ground. It's also somewhat redundant with Waterfall since that combo is resisted by Dragonite, Lati@s, Rotom-W, Celebi and Salamence among other things.

Add the low base speed, SR weakness and a severe case of 4MSS and it seems pretty clear to me that it needs a significant amount of support to be successful in OU.

I'm going to assume that you've either never used Gyarados much, or just used it incorrectly.

My preferred two moves are Waterfall and Bounce, and they get fairly good neutral coverage together. Doesn't really matter if Bounce is telegraphed too much, so are a lot of moves from mons in OU. It's still an incredibly powerful attack with a nice secondary effect that not much would want to switch in to. It might not have the best supereffective coverage, but that isn't as important considering the next point.

Gyarados is able to set up with ease. With Intimidate, it has incredible bulk. It also happens to have one of the best defensive typings. It's able to take on some of the biggest threats in OU such as Scizor, Keldeo, Landorus-I among others. Combined with access to one of the best boosting moves in the game, Gyarados is able to patch up most of its weaknesses with its strengths, which are VERY strong.

Overall, Gyarados does not need much support. It only has one relatively common switch in (Rotom-W), which can actually be overcome with the sub set if it's a defensive Rotom anyway. Gyarados is A-rank for sure.

 

[MQJinx]

Nominating Smeargle for D-Rank. It is generally outclassed by Ferrothorn (heck, even Crustle gives it competition) as a hazards supporter, but it can Spore, SmashPass, Taunt, Ingrain, phaze, paralyze, Magic Coat (Deoxys-S), and can even sacrifice itself to reduce the power of foes. It is Taunt bait, though, and being rather slow and the weather wars don't help, either.