Idk, I find that scrappy ends up being useful in a large amount of battles I have. Misdreavus, Dusclops, Dusknoir, Haunter, and Gourgeist (6 with sheddy) are all fairly common, and Stoutland is the only one out of the three normal types to get crunch as well. The best Tauros can do is pursuit, and Bouffalant just has to hope stone edge hits and does a lot.
You forgot about Crunch Ursaring btw, and don't include the Dusks because they overlap entirely with Misdreavus / Gourgeist, so you might as well scratch them off the list.
Lemme provide you with an analogy real quick:
Intimidate is not just a defensive ability, it allows the Pokemon to check physical attackers. For the record, Tauros's Defense stat is not shabby at all, and I don't see why Tauros makes any less use of the ability than Stoutland; if anything Tauros can use it more efefctively since it heavily weakens priority attacks which are commonly used against Tauros due to its high speed, whereas some priority users can use their stronger attacks against Stoutland.
They aren't very good reasons though. Stoutland by itself is not bad, but the problem is that it faces severe competition should it try anything else. Scrappy is okay but it's not like the other Normal-types (including itself!) have absolutely no way to circumvent most of the tier's Ghosts via other means. Again, the likes of Tauros and Ursaring don't even have to be Choice Banded to start hitting super hard and can bypass other physical walls such as Tangela and Avalugg, unlike Stoutland. Stout's best niche over other Normal-types is outspeeding everything in the tier bar Ditto (and Cloud Nine Golduck LOL), and it needs Hippo's help to do so.
Normally I'd say that the weather inducer can be classified in a different category from the weather abusers (aka BW Politoed) since it alone defines the playstyle. However, since Stoutland is the sole Sand sweeper, and Hippo and Stoutland are the ONLY things in the tier that define Sand and practically need each other, grouping them together is logical, and serves as a clear indicator on how viable the Sand playstyle is in PU as a whole.
I believe you conveniently ignored its niche as a normal type that doesn't just give Gourgeist, Misdreavus, or Dusclops/noir a free willo every time it comes in and avoids all the problematic 50-50's of hitting the ghost or killing what's currently out with facade/return/rock climb which. I pointed out. Only Ursaring and Stoutland can consistently deal with the defensive ghost types, and Stoutland can't be played around by just switching in between Misdreavus and Poliwrath until it dies to poison, and is also much faster than Ursaring. Stoutland also can get past Avalugg with Superpower after rocks, although Tangela is an issue (but tbh Tauros is gonna miss two fire blasts anyway). Perhaps my judgement is skewed from using Stoutland really successfully outside of sand too much, but I see a real niche here.
Look, I pointed that out long ago that I get what you're saying: spammable Normal-type STAB galore right? The problem is that Rock-types are much more prevalent than Ghost-types in PU (and Haunter is going to get slaughtered by fast Normal-types anyway), meaning the appeal of CB Returning everything is somewhat diminished; Stoutland is still going to have predict substantially, especially considering the threat level of PU Rock-types. If this were a Ghost-heavy meta, then Scrappy Stoutland would seem more appealing. CB Return doesn't even 2HKO Gourgeist (and cough Dusclops) anyway.
Ursaring can punish pivot switches with Swords Dance and wreck almost anything that tries to switch in afterward. Quick Feet Ursaring is also stronger and faster than Stoutland, can switch moves (particularly, being able to boost) and isn't bothered by burns (albeit at the cost of HP), while Guts Ursaring outspeeds the slow Pokemon that it needs to break anyway (there are only a handful of notable Pokemon Stoutland outspeeds that Guts Ursa doesn't, some of can only be KOed with coverage moves or not at all). Stoutland needs Stealth Rock to bypass Avalugg, unlike the other Normal-types which can overwhelm Avalugg with special attacks or boosting moves, which also applies to other targets such as Tangela and Gourgeist.
Just running calcs for the lazy folks:
Sorry but no.
Yes, I know, and it is still an amazing Pokemon, even without Musharna, I was simply saying it has lost a big niche with Mush being banned.
I mean Musharna could literally set up on non SD Sneasel ?.? So I dont think it was put in S rank for that reason, lep was saying that Sneasel was an S rank mon regardless of Musharna. And its biggest niche is what lep stated, not checking mushy.
Alright then, I haven't laddered or used either Pokemon much so I shouldn't make assumptions like that xD
I would say Leavanny having the greatest offensive presence among the Sticky Webbers (not saying much :/ ) is what puts it at its spot, which is not even really that high. Leavanny's Leaf Storm can take down / pressure popular Stealth Rock leads or anti-leads such as Piloswine, Golem, and Rampardos, while also allowing it to hit hard in general (particularly against Rapid Spinners such as Avalugg and Wartortle, which Kricketune cannot stop). Its high speed means that Leavanny is by no means pressured to lead in order to set up Sticky Web, as it can set up Web against a larger variety of opponents even with its Sash broken.
SmashPass alone is what puts Huntail so high just saying; no one uses a pure Smash Huntail. Huntail's good physical bulk also allows it to set up on most physical attackers too, which is helped by its low (initial) speed.A- ---> B+/B
While Shell Smash in PU may be a great selling point, generally there's no reason to use Huntail over Carracosta/Barbaracle (mainly Carracosta but I won't get into the whole Carra/Barbaracle argument). Even with Shell Smash, its coverage is pretty bad (just like Crunch and Ice Fang/Beam for coverage other than obligatory Return), and for now, Smash + Sucker Punch is illegal, making one of the only niches it would have invalid. Honestly, there's no reason to use Huntail other than SmashPass, which with low speed and bad SpD, common special attackers, as well as phazers (Throh is kinda common and viable), just use the two premier Smashers, Carracosta and Barbaracle, and thus I think Huntail should go down 1/2 ranks.
My points (which are probably invalid and bad)
