Resource RU Viability Ranking: ORAS Edition

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1# Poison Fang has the same power and furthermore a 50%(!) chance to badly poison. That's awesome
2# my point is basically: Whatever ranking Tyrantrum has, Outrage pushes it one rank up (B+ -> B), except that was done already :>
 
Malamar for C or C+

People here seem to believe that Pokemon is useless. Sure the Scarf set is literally trash and should never be used in this tier, but the Sleep Talk set is viable and, in my personal experience, quite good.


Malamar @ Leftovers
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Superpower
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Its bulk is fairly decent. Sure it won't be able to wall Moltres, but it can take on CM Reuniclus effortlessly. This set isn't meant to be a dedicated wall anyway. With this set Malamar is really hard to kill after it gets a Superpower off, which allows it to keep spamming that move until it's able to snowball the opposite team.

I have a team with this thing that has done really well on the ladder. I have some replays to prove its viability:

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ru-189899398
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ru-189922994
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ru-189928450
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ru-192815045

It obviously isn't a Pokemon you can fit in any team, but with proper team support it's quite a threat.
 
Xatu for b or b+

Xatu didn't gain much in oras but it got one thing it always wanted a special flying stab and in oras xatu got one in air slash. The fun doesn't stop there xatu has magic bounce which is hard to come by in ru and even higher tiers due to low distribution. Sub calm mind roost stored power/air slash/psyshock can be effective if you remove dark types

Xatu@leftovers
Abilty: magic bounce
evs: 248 hp (252 on cartridge) 224 speed 32 special attack
Moves:
Calm,mind
Roost
Substitute
Stored power/air slash/psyshock

With this ev spread and timid you outspeed base 90s with +speed natures and max speed. 248 hp gives a sr number and the rest are dumped into special attack. Substitute allows you to set up on weak attackers like alomomola defensive cresselia non knock off gligar amoongus without foul play/hp ice and non shadow ball jellicent. Calm mind boosts your special attack and special defence. Roost lets you recover lost hp and stalls weak attackers. Stored power gets stronger with each calm mind so it is the main option. Air slash provides flying stab and stings after a boost or two. Psyshock helps xatu win calm mind wars but struggles with physical walls. All in all this is not the best calm minder but stall has alot of trouble as stored power's strength boost allow it to muscle past walls after setting up
 

Mew2

Sex is overrated
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Xatu for b or b+

Xatu didn't gain much in oras but it got one thing it always wanted a special flying stab and in oras xatu got one in air slash. The fun doesn't stop there xatu has magic bounce which is hard to come by in ru and even higher tiers due to low distribution. Sub calm mind roost stored power/air slash/psyshock can be effective if you remove dark types

Xatu@leftovers
Abilty: magic bounce
evs: 248 hp (252 on cartridge) 224 speed 32 special attack
Moves:
Calm,mind
Roost
Substitute
Stored power/air slash/psyshock

With this ev spread and timid you outspeed base 90s with +speed natures and max speed. 248 hp gives a sr number and the rest are dumped into special attack. Substitute allows you to set up on weak attackers like alomomola defensive cresselia non knock off gligar amoongus without foul play/hp ice and non shadow ball jellicent. Calm mind boosts your special attack and special defence. Roost lets you recover lost hp and stalls weak attackers. Stored power gets stronger with each calm mind so it is the main option. Air slash provides flying stab and stings after a boost or two. Psyshock helps xatu win calm mind wars but struggles with physical walls. All in all this is not the best calm minder but stall has alot of trouble as stored power's strength boost allow it to muscle past walls after setting up
I highly disagree with this nomination; Xatu never needed a flying STAB, his major issues are his stats and his poor tying giving you a horrible weakness to Stealth rocks and Knock off. Now into the Sub CM set you posted, I feel it's really ineffective because it's incapable of damaging Dark types like Spiritomb and Drapion which can easily Pursuit trap you not to mention that it's completely outclassed by CM Sigilyph who has higher stats and access to Magic Guard. Now if we talk about Xatu's niche in RU, I think he's rather ineffective for B+ rank because he is forced out by most of the hazard users of the tier like Rhyperior (Stone Edge has a good chance to one shot Max HP/ Def Xatu), Omastar (Ice Beam 2HKOes 248/8 spread) and Cobalion (who can simply Volt Switch out or hit hard with a STAB Iron Head). In conclusion I think it's better to keep Xatu at B- rank. Now into more interesting stuff:

Why am I not S?

With M-Doom's banish from the RU tier, Cress has even less checks and therefore her viability greatly increases; countering M-Lopunny, arguably the best pokemon in the tier, without changing her main set is an amazing feature, however, she does not only counter M-Lopunny, she counters a great amount of top tier threats with ONE set like Mega Sceptile, Choice Scarf Moltres, CB Drudiggon, non CB Rhyperior, Mega Pidgeot, Hitmonlee and more. Not only that but she brings a lot of support to her team with options like Dual Screens, Thunder Wave / Toixc and even the unorthodox Lunar Dance. But that's not it folks because Cresselia can also sweep through unprepared teams with her dangerous Sub CM set which increases her Special Defense to even more dangerous levels as well as her Special Attack to make her a formidable opponent. Aside from that, Cresselia doesn't require much support; hazard removal isn't really necessary because she posses Levitate, making her neutral to Stealth Rocks and immune to every other type of hazard as well as ground type attacks. If you heavily disagree with this nom (which I don't see how) please be sure to tell me because I don't see how this thing doesn't fit in S rank being able to hold her ground against every playstyle in the tier as well as easily providing support to her entire team.
 
I highly disagree with this nomination; Xatu never needed a flying STAB, his major issues are his stats and his poor tying giving you a horrible weakness to Stealth rocks and Knock off. Now into the Sub CM set you posted, I feel it's really ineffective because it's incapable of damaging Dark types like Spiritomb and Drapion which can easily Pursuit trap you not to mention that it's completely outclassed by CM Sigilyph who has higher stats and access to Magic Guard. Now if we talk about Xatu's niche in RU, I think he's rather ineffective for B+ rank because he is forced out by most of the hazard users of the tier like Rhyperior (Stone Edge has a good chance to one shot Max HP/ Def Xatu), Omastar (Ice Beam 2HKOes 248/8 spread) and Cobalion (who can simply Volt Switch out or hit hard with a STAB Iron Head). In conclusion I think it's better to keep Xatu at B- rank. Now into more interesting stuff:

Why am I not S?

With M-Doom's banish from the RU tier, Cress has even less checks and therefore her viability greatly increases; countering M-Lopunny, arguably the best pokemon in the tier, without changing her main set is an amazing feature, however, she does not only counter M-Lopunny, she counters a great amount of top tier threats with ONE set like Mega Sceptile, Choice Scarf Moltres, CB Drudiggon, non CB Rhyperior, Mega Pidgeot, Hitmonlee and more. Not only that but she brings a lot of support to her team with options like Dual Screens, Thunder Wave / Toixc and even the unorthodox Lunar Dance. But that's not it folks because Cresselia can also sweep through unprepared teams with her dangerous Sub CM set which increases her Special Defense to even more dangerous levels as well as her Special Attack to make her a formidable opponent. Aside from that, Cresselia doesn't require much support; hazard removal isn't really necessary because she posses Levitate, making her neutral to Stealth Rocks and immune to every other type of hazard as well as ground type attacks. If you heavily disagree with this nom (which I don't see how) please be sure to tell me because I don't see how this thing doesn't fit in S rank being able to hold her ground against every playstyle in the tier as well as easily providing support to her entire team.
Agreed. If you dont have A Strong Dark type to get rid of her she can just Tank hits like a boss or sweep your team with the cm set.
 

phantom

Banned deucer.
I could see Cresselia in S rank even though I don't really think it's that hard to deal with, although its ability to check well over half the meta is pretty phenomenal and it is something that influences teambuilding in that you need a specific check to it and other CM Psychics, but as of now, its colossal bulk gives it more utility than the others; however, it really only works on balance/semi-stall in my experience. I'm not too sure, but I think it can move up given how kind the meta is to it atm.

Mega Sharpedo should move up to S as well, Strong Jaws crunch is very difficult to wall, and Strong Jaws Poison Fang can even screw over would-be checks such as Aromatisse and SpD Alomomola thanks to the Poison chance. I think the most defining feature though is its bulk because no more is it 2HKOed by resisted priority attacks nor does it die to a soft breeze, so Aqua Jet isn't as compulsory as it used to be, and instead Mega Shark can afford to run coverage such as the aforementioned Poison Fang to limit its pool of checks.
 

Holiday

on my best behavior
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As said above, both Mega Sharpedo and Cresselia should be moved to S-Rank. Mega Sharpedo requires little effort to completely destroy teams (protect then spam STAB or Coverage.) and Cresselia used to be banned lol. It's incredibly bulky and can sweep teams that lack pokemon such as Punishment Skuntank and (ironically) Mega Sharpedo.

Edit: this is what it says about S Rank pokemon "Reserved for Pokemon who can sweep or wall significant portions of the metagame with little support, and Pokemon who can support other Pokemon with very little opportunity cost ("free turns"). Also the home of Pokemon who can easily perform multiple roles effectively, increasing their versatility and unpredictability. If the Pokemon in this rank have any flaws, those flaws are thoroughly mitigated by their substantial strengths."

Mega Shark sweeps about 4/5 of the metagame and Cresselia walls at least 90% of it.
 

atomicllamas

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I definitely support Cresselia and Mega Sharpedo for S rank as they are definitely two of the meta defining Pokemon at the moment.

I have a couple nominations of my own:

Escavalier up to A -- Escavalier is really good in RU right now, not only does it counter Mega Abomasnow, but it is also one of the better switch-ins to Mega Glalie, Dragalge, and Mega Sceptile (counters Dragalge and Mega Sceptile w/o HP Fire, checks varients with HP fire), it can also take a hit from Mega Sharpedo and KO back (obviously). This makes Escavalier an excellent "glue mon" for offensive teams which tend to struggle with these threats (especially bulky offense). On top of these threats it also beats Sub CM Meloetta, Sub CM Cresselia, and CM Reuniclus, which are three pokemon that I usually focus a dedicated slot on for dealing with especially on Stall or Balance, meaning that Escavalier fits on basically every team style in RU. It obviously has flaws such as a 4x weakness to Fire, but HP Fire's are pretty easy to see coming if someone switches in something that Escavalier normally beats, and its typing is really good aside from this one weakness. The nice thing about Escavalier is that aside from its ability to check top meta game threats as shown above, its also a freaking nuke so thats pretty cool.

Omastar up to B+ -- I never really understood why Omastar was ranked lower than Accelgor in the first place (personally I'd rather use something w/ both hazards if I were going to suicide lead), but ORAS has actually been pretty kind to Omastar. First, Mega Abomasnow and Hitmonlee have become far less common, two Pokemon which were some of the best for limiting Omastar to one hazard (lee could even HJK, then spin and prevent all hazards if you didn't switch to Doublade). On top of this, SS Omastar has recently become more viable (well viable at all actually, Spirit pointed this out and me and GlassGlaceon are in the process of making a pro af SS Oma team), as Scarf Moltres (which often doesn't run HP Grass) and Mega Pidgeot (often doesn't run HP Grass) afford SS Omastar plenty of set up opportunities. At the very least I don't see how this could be a rank lower than Accelgor, when at least imo their lead sets are about equal.

I guess thats all for now n_n
 
Accelgor is ranked higher because of Encore, and because Final Gambit allows it to deny Rapid Spin and Defog users for a turn, and give a switch-in to an appropriate counter/check to your opponent's Spinner/Defogger.

It's true that Omastar can set up both Spikes and SR, but it can't keep them on the field as well as Accelgor can.
 

aVocado

@ Everstone
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Accelgor is ranked higher because of Encore, and because Final Gambit allows it to deny Rapid Spin and Defog users for a turn, and give a switch-in to an appropriate counter/check to your opponent's Spinner/Defogger.

It's true that Omastar can set up both Spikes and SR, but it can't keep them on the field as well as Accelgor can.
That's debatable actually, seeing as Omastar can threaten all 3 of the most common defoggers which are Gligar, Golbat, and Shiftry with Ice Beam. It can also use Scald agains Skuntank with a chance of burning it. Hitmonlee might be a problem, but same as Skutank it risks getting burned. And I believe that Stealth Rock in general is more viable than spikes stacking, and Omastar provides both.

What I question however, is the viability of HO/spikes stacking in general. I gotta admit I haven't seen much of them at all on the ladder, as everyone prefers bulky offense thanks to ORAS bringing us toys like Dragalge, Pangoro, and new megas, which in return have increased the usage of Registeel and Bronzong who counter Dragalge/some of the megas, and HO has been lost in all this. I haven't used it though, and I'm speaking about what I've seen on the ladder.
 

atomicllamas

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Accelgor is ranked higher because of Encore, and because Final Gambit allows it to deny Rapid Spin and Defog users for a turn, and give a switch-in to an appropriate counter/check to your opponent's Spinner/Defogger.

It's true that Omastar can set up both Spikes and SR, but it can't keep them on the field as well as Accelgor can.
Except Omastar beats all relevant defoggers barring maybe SpD Golbat (and it does it without killing itself), if you are playing someone that knows what they are doing they can roost with Gligar as you final gambit then come back in later at full and defog. Plus you can switch to a ghost to prevent spinning. While its true Accelgor prevents hazard clearing marginally better, I think access to Stealth Rock more than makes up for the slight increase in thinking it takes to keep hazards up.

Spikes stacking offense is still super viable, as it tends to outspeed all the threats you mentioned for bulky offense, while still having the tools to beat stall.
 
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Except Omastar beats all relevant defoggers barring maybe SpD Golbat (and it does it without killing itself), if you are playing someone that knows what they are doing they can roost with Gligar as you final gambit then come back in later at full and defog. Plus you can switch to a ghost to prevent spinning. While its true Accelgor prevents hazard clearing marginally better, I think access to Stealth Rock more than makes up for the slight increase in thinking it takes to keep hazards up.

Spikes stacking offense is still super viable, as it tends to outspeed all the threats you mentioned for bulky offense, while still having the tools to beat stall.
Tho, remember that they are different typing and many pokemon can set up on omastar while its harder to set up in Accelgor!!
 

Molk

Godlike Usmash
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Alrighty, made some updates :]

Malamar added to C+ rank
Cresselia moved up to S rank
Sharpedo (mega) moved up to S rank
Pidgeot (mega) moved up to A+ rank
Jellicent moved up to C+ rank


Gonna wait on Escavalier and Omastar a little, same with Probopass because idk wtf that's supposed to do honestly.

If you disagree with any of the changes made, just say so :)
 
I feel Weezing should drop since it lost its niche at being able to wall mega Lopunny.
Also, I nominate Eelektross for B+ rank for its capability to check/counter Moltres, Fletchinder, Mega Pidgeot, and Mega Sharpedo.
 

boltsandbombers

i'm sorry mr. man
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I feel Weezing should drop since it lost its niche at being able to wall mega Lopunny.
Also, I nominate Eelektross for B+ rank for its capability to check/counter Moltres, Fletchinder, Mega Pidgeot, and Mega Sharpedo.
I agree with moving up eelektross, but I don't agree with saying that it checks mega sharpedo. Sure, it can take one hit at a decent amount of hp and KO back, but it's not switching into 2 crunches or waterfalls. I mean, you can say that about a lot of pokemon that can take one hit and KO back.
Also, while Eelektross checks one of the new threats in Mega Pidgeot, it is bothered by Mega Sceptile as it cannot just Volt Switch out freely due to lightningrod. Even with an AV, it certainly wont appreciate a +1 attack from Mega Sceptile and it also gets smacked really hard by the SD variants.
 
| Move Up To A | Slowking is actually pretty good right now. It's been very easy to put this mon on my teams despite how it is becoming somewhat harder for it to comply with the rise of Dark-types, and for one good reason. The plethora of special attackers (read: S rank) in the tier are usually stopped by Slowking (the assault vest variant). Slowking's ability to beat Mega Sceptile (at full health) with Ice Beam, ability to check Cresselia not behind a Substitute, being a counter to Moltres, and stopping Mega Pidgeot without a damn is really useful. I get that Slowking's life is harder in the current environment but it does one job and it does it best.
 

Expulso

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I agree with moving up eelektross, but I don't agree with saying that it checks mega sharpedo. Sure, it can take one hit at a decent amount of hp and KO back, but it's not switching into 2 crunches or waterfalls. I mean, you can say that about a lot of pokemon that can take one hit and KO back.
Also, while Eelektross checks one of the new threats in Mega Pidgeot, it is bothered by Mega Sceptile as it cannot just Volt Switch out freely due to lightningrod. Even with an AV, it certainly wont appreciate a +1 attack from Mega Sceptile and it also gets smacked really hard by the SD variants.
Eelektross should be running Hidden Power Ice in this mega; the ability to lure in and KO Sceptile is incredibly useful, especially for offensive teams, and it also does significant damage to Gligar. Really, Volt Switch is the only necessity, and then you need 3 out of Giga Drain, Flamethrower, HP Ice, Knock Off, Thunderbolt, and the absolutely hilarious HP Water Aqua Tail duh lol
 
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boltsandbombers

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Eelektross should be running Hidden Power Ice in this mega; the ability to lure in and KO Sceptile is incredibly useful, especially for offensive teams, and it also does significant damage to Gligar. Really, Volt Switch is the only necessity, and then you need 3 out of Giga Drain, Flamethrower, HP Ice, Knock Off, Thunderbolt, and the absolutely hilarious HP Water
Good points. HP Water? You're better off using Giga Drain if you want to hit Rhyperior imo, not really sure what that hits.
 
Eh, if I want to hit rupt I'd throw on Aqua Tail and go with a Quiet nature.
I'm not saying HP water is a good idea, but thats why somebody would run it.
Eelektross also gets knock off, and looking at the rankings right now I think its more deserving of an A- Rank. It has a slow volt switch, decent 85/80/80 bulk, can run effective physical, special, and mixed sets, and has Coverage that make everything in the tier bar Gallade envious. The cherry on top though, is how it has no weakness thanks to levitate.
 
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