Resource ORAS OU Viability Ranking Thread V3 - Read Post 3451 Page 139

[bludz]

I agreed with most of it, but Psyshock is really a nice secondary STAB for specially-bulky mon who can't take physical attack as much well, it's useful on stuff like Chansey and Sylveon, especially Calm Mind Sylveon.

(There is 2 versions of Sylveon and I don't know which one to choose)

252 SpA Mega Gardevoir Psyshock vs. 240 HP / 0 Def Sylveon: 222-262 (56.7 - 67%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Mega Gardevoir Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 240+ Def Sylveon: 150-177 (38 - 44.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 SpA Mega Gardevoir Psyshock vs. 4 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 207-244 (32.2 - 38%) -- 95.8% chance to 3HKO

While it doesn't do extraordinary damage it'll certainly do more to them than a Hyper Voice directly to their sky-high special defense. And it's only has 10 less base power than Psychic, so I don't think you're missing too much.

Uh yeah Mega Diancie has base 160 Attack and Diamond Storm so it can hit the other end of the spectrum too. It even has stuff like Sharpen which while you may laugh at allows it to cleanly 2HKO Chansey even with only 4 EVs invested into attack. I've also played around with stuff like 72 Atk / 252 SpA / 184 Spe with a +Atk nature on RP sets so you can smack things like Clefable running standard EVs. This mixed presence is actually stronger on Diancie's end because Rock has much better coverage than Psychic.

 

[Gabidou99]

Uh yeah Mega Diancie has base 160 Attack and Diamond Storm so it can hit the other end of the spectrum too. It even has stuff like Sharpen which while you may laugh at allows it to cleanly 2HKO Chansey even with only 4 EVs invested into attack. I've also played around with stuff like 72 Atk / 252 SpA / 184 Spe with a +Atk nature on RP sets so you can smack things like Clefable running standard EVs. This mixed presence is actually stronger on Diancie's end because Rock has much better coverage than Psychic.

I'm sorry but I never mentioned Diancie's secondary STAB, I was talking about Psyshock alone. While Diancie's Rock coverage is really great, Psyshock is still a good coverage/Mixed move for Gardevoir like I mentioned above. I also forget to mention it also work well on more mons, such as Mega Charizard Y, Quiver Dance users, pretty much every Calm mind users that doesn't resist Psyshock, etc...

 

[Radio_Active]

M-Garde does not deserve A+, however, I think an A rank would be appropriate. One problem I find with M-Garde is that it cannot switch in. Sorry for the short reply, do not know what to say s everything else has been said.

 

[bludz]

I'm sorry but I never mentioned Diancie's secondary STAB, I was talking about Psyshock alone. While Diancie's Rock coverage is really great, Psyshock is still a good coverage/Mixed move for Gardevoir like I mentioned above. I also forget to mention it also work well on more mons, such as Mega Charizard Y, Quiver Dance users, pretty much every Calm mind users that doesn't resist Psyshock, etc...

My bad I was still in comparison mode.

Yeah Gardevoirs secondary STAB is great for what it does not gonna argue with that

 

[Srn]

I'm not really buying into the Gardevoir is better than Diancie thing - in fact I think it's nonsense. In a metagame where speed kills, that difference in speed is HUGE. Plus, Diancie has actual mixed attacking prowess (inb4 people say Psyshock) and a better secondary STAB.

The other thing I think that kinda prevents Gardevoir from rising is that unlike some other Megas, it doesn't really check a ton of things by virtue of its typing alone. Okay it checks Latios, Thundurus and many special attackers based on its SpDef, but does not check basically any physical attacker which outspeeds it (ahem fast Chomp pretending to be Tank gets kills on this thing). "Doesn't anything lose to things that outspeed it bludz?" Not necessarily if it has the bulk or typing to take a hit. Gardevoir is actually frail as shit on the defensive side.

Let's go back to the Mega Diancie comparison. Okay, Diancie's defenses aren't all that great either and its Rock typing doesn't do it favors certain times but others it does. It is an effective check to Talonflame, Mega Charizard X (!), and Tornadus-T based on its secondary typing. The extra speed lets it beat out Keldeo, fast Garchomp, Charizard, every other base 100 mon as well as Manectric before mega evolving (Gardevoir can't stop it from Volt Switching out) and Mega Pinsir. Okay, Diancie isn't a fan of Bullet Punch (neither is Gardevoir) or Aqua Jet, and it doesn't stomach Mach Punch as well but it stands up pretty nicely to Brave Bird and Fake Out. It also takes less damage from neutral priority hits because of better bulk.

There is no denying that Mega Gardevoir's Hyper Voice is significantly more powerful than Mega Diancie's Moonblast. It also has plenty of counterplay for switch-ins which are pretty scarce. But for example Metagross can switch into Mega Gardevoir before mega evolving and force it out, whereas it cannot do so to Mega Diancie without Bullet Punch. This is just one example of how the speed tier makes a big difference.

There's a lot of talk about how Gardevoir doesn't really have switch-ins, but Diancie doesn't exactly have a ton of them either. I mean realistically speaking Diancie has nearly as few switch-ins as Gardevoir if you consider all possible sets for both, while it's certainly a bigger threat to offense. Garde's matchup against slower playstyles IS better, but Diancie is still no cake walk for them, plus we have 2 S rank pokemon who don't take up a mega slot and already obliterate fat stuff. I'm not saying there's no reason to use Gardevoir if you can use Hoopa or Manaphy, but they hurt its viability more than Diancie's. With Manaphy at its peak in effectiveness and Hoopa's complete disregard for almost anything slower, this certainly tips the scale on the Mega slot opportunity cost.

Just a puny nitpick; if gardevoir traces lightning rod from manectric it can block volt switch and from there a +1 mega gardevoir is gonna kill some shit. :]

Well that aside its important to remember that while m-garde and m-diancie both dont have much great switch-ins, mega gardevoir doesn't have great switch-ins with just 3 moveslots (hyper/psy/focus) but mega diancie needs 4 (diamond/moonblast/hp fire/epower) to really cover all the bases. And mega diancie has tons of other shit it'd rather do than 4 attacks, like protect, calm mind, rock polish, hell i saw sharpen in this discussion somewhere to screw chansey that's kinda cool. On the other hand, what few switch-ins mega garde has (sdef skarm, rachi, zor, meta) are all screwed by wisp. Garde can cover practically EVERY slower mon bar chansey this way, and it can use cm+psyshock or taunt to get past chansey so that's not safe in the first place either.

Also without protect, diancie is a lot more limited on how it can use its speed, it needs to set up vs something that's weak or can only hit resisted; garde's speed tier on the other hand doesn't matter much before or after mega.

regardless I think diancie and garde should stay where they are.

 

[MikeDawg]

Diancie reduces its switchin amount because of its speed. Some balance offense mons are relatively free to switch in on gard because they are only going to take one hit. The pool of mons that outspeeds and switches into diancie is much smaller, so they will often times need to take 2 hits. Diancie has more staying power as well for this reason.

Just a note.

 

[Baharoth]

Diancie reduces its switchin amount because of its speed. Some balance offense mons are relatively free to switch in on gard because they are only going to take one hit. The pool of mons that outspeeds and switches into diancie is much smaller, so they will often times need to take 2 hits. Diancie has more staying power as well for this reason.

Just a note.

And which mons would that be? The only relevant mons between base 100 and base 110 are chomp, pinsir and keld/terra and not one of them can switch into any of gardes moves. Other base 100s like Cele/Mew/Manaphy can at most hope for a speed tie, usually they aren't even max speed and if they are they will lack the bulk to tank a hit from Garde comfortably. The only balance mons i can think of that can tank a hit and aren't slower are AV Raikou and Tornadus-T and both outspeed Diancie as well.

Garde is alot harder to safely switch into imo. To stop Diancie you can just use Cele/Mew with some sdef investment, Hippo with a little extra sdef or some steeltype depending on its coverage move. As Srn pointed out Diancie can't afford to go with hp fire + earthpower not to mention that using hp fire means it loses the ability to tie with latios/gengar turning them into checks (in latis case only if diancie is damaged or lati runs surf but still). Diancies better Matchup against offense is also excaggerated imo because of how few mons are between them. Most things on offense will outspeed both of them anyway and Garde compensates her lack in speed with her special bulk which allows her to take on things like Keldeo, Thundurus, the Latis, Starmie, Manetric and so on. Imo thats more valuable than outspeeding 4 mons of whom 2 aren't exactly common and 1 runs bulky sets like 80% of the time. And the last one is Keldeo who needs specs hydro + prior damage to even beat Garde.

If we just consider their effectiveness as a wall/balancebreaker Garde is far superior imo and if Diancie couldn't do anything else i would say it has to be one rank below Garde. However, with access to rock polish Diancie can turn into a very potent sweeper which imo justifies to keep her in A at least for now since that set can be very effective against offense and is still far from helpless against stall/balance.

/edit just realized that diancie is in A+... in that case i'd say either raise Garde or drop Diancie. They are at least even.

 

[TPP]

Just curious, but is Mega Gardevoir going to A+ added to the discussion list?

Anyways, I'm gonna focus this post about Mega Gyarados.

It's a great sweeper that's often forgotten, and the drop to A isn't unreasonable. Due to the rise of Weavile, the usage of mons that check it such as Azumarill, Mega Scizor, and Keldeo have all gone up, and sadly all 3 of those check Mega Gyarados. It also faces major competition from Mega Altaria and Mega Zard X as Dragon Dance users, since Gyarados is the only one that doesn't have a good recovery option outside of Rest. The lack of recovery is a major flaw, as setting up with it is much harder when compared to Zard X and Mega Altaria. With setup sweepers, you want to set up kill, or at least be able to recover so you can kill, but Gyarados can't do that. Another mon that can give it competition is Feraligatr. Feraligatr can essentially run the same set (Dragon Dance, Waterfall, Crunch, Ice Fang(for Gyarados)/ Ice Punch (for Feraligatr)) and it doesn't take the mega slot. With the exception of Crunch (Gyarados gets stab with it while Feraligatr doesn't), Feraligatr actually does more damage due to Sheer Force + Life Orb, despite having 50 less attack. As a water type it faces a lot of competition, and as a Dragon Dance user it faces even more, and with the meta adapting to Weavile more (raising the usage of mons that Gyarados hates) really make it seem less useful in the meta. One sad thing I found out while writing this, was that Mega Gyarados can't even 1HKO Hippo at +1 while Feraligatr can :( Mega Gyarados to A

Vs. Skarm

252+ Atk Life Orb Sheer Force Feraligatr Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 121-142 (36.2 - 42.5%) -- 93.6% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Mold Breaker Mega Gyarados Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 93-111 (27.8 - 33.2%) -- 89.4% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery

Vs. Hippo

+1 252+ Atk Life Orb Sheer Force Feraligatr Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 144+ Def Hippowdon: 439-517 (104.5 - 123%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+1 252+ Atk Mold Breaker Mega Gyarados Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 144+ Def Hippowdon: 342-404 (81.4 - 96.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

 

[Machi]

To stop Diancie you can just use Cele/Mew with some sdef investment, Hippo with a little extra sdef or some steeltype depending on its coverage move.

The problem with packing those checks are that the current meta is rather adverse in so much that you have Hoopa-U and Manaphy at their heyday, packing those checks aren't as easy. Evidently, this has had a positive effect not just for MDiancie but MLop and other fast offensive mons which Mew/Celebi/Hippowdon usually helped to keep in check.

 

[Dragongroudon9]

Hey guys, I was looking through rankings and noticed something that I don't get. So I am going to make this post.​

---> C+​

Honestly, I don't understand why this is B-. It spins and sets up Tspikes. That's about it, and I know how scarce this combination is, but the fact that Tenta gets set up on by about half if not more of all of the set up sweepers in OU minus Haze is not helping its case. And if it runs Haze, it gives up a move slot meaning it gets beat by something else. I will admit that it gets good utility, but it cannot use all of it without getting beat by something important. It honestly has a hard time switching in to a lot of things in OU. People are over hyping this being the counter to Azu (and yes, people are doing this). It is 3HKO by a banded PR with rocks up, and it doesn't get access to reliable recovery. I will give it credit for walling non Tbolt Clefs, as long as it has Acid Spray/Haze to deal with it. It has a bad case of 4mss, and gets beat by every electric type in OU, every water type with recovery, and almost every psychic type. The only reason I would use this over any other hazard remover/tspike setter is because it can do both at the same time, which is impressive but it can be dead weight sometimes (more often than not imo). Well this is my post about the bad mon of Tenta, I am missing a lot of things and I know this, I just wanted to make a quick post about it.

 

[Swagodile]

Excadrill should probably drop too. Without sand up, it's very easily outsped. Running Rapid Spin means giving up Swords Dance. It gives Garchomp/Lando-T/Hippo free switch-ins, and if it tries to spin against any of them (or Heatran), it's gonna get hit hard and die.

Starmie can handle all of the mons listed above, so if it's being nominated for a drop, then Excadrill should definitely drop from A+.

 

[AM]

Excadrill should probably drop too. Without sand up, it's very easily outsped. Running Rapid Spin means giving up Swords Dance. It gives Garchomp/Lando-T/Hippo free switch-ins, and if it tries to spin against any of them (or Heatran), it's gonna get hit hard and die.

Starmie can handle all of the mons listed above, so if it's being nominated for a drop, then Excadrill should definitely drop from A+.

? ._.
?? .__.
??? .___.

You do realize that Exca under sand is going to pose an insane threat right? And with SD all those switchs in you stated are short term if not moot by the time it clicks SD. No the logic of Starmie dropping isn't even close to Excadrill cause Excadrills constraint to offense is kind of huge while underselling it tremendously. I don't think I need to elaborate any further honestly.

 

[bludz]

Guess I'll just piggy back that building with Excadrill doesn't apply as much of a team constraint as you might think either. Firstly, either of the two viable sand setters is likely to be your rocker and Excadrill can spin so that relieves 2 constraints on teambuilding right away. With two viable sand setters (and a couple different sets Ttar can run) the builds can vary a decent amount even if you're going to be stacking a water weakness. Yeah you're going to end up with things like Ferrothorn and Latis (an excellent option if you forgo Rapid Spin and even if not) on those teams a fair amount but the only strict requirement is the sand setters which once again offer you an alright amount of variety. Compared to Rain teams where it's fairly linear and the entire team revolves around that aspect, Sand offense can take a bunch of different shapes and forms with plenty of viable megas - Zard Y, Zard X bluffing Zard Y, Mega Chomp, Mega Gardevoir, etc...

 

[INSANE CARZY GUY]

I'm not sure how I feel about tentacruel

I run mixed bulk and the last 8 evs to special attack and have it vested to eat that thunder from a switch in

Scald, gig drain, rapid spin, acid stray help me avoid getting set up on with respectable bulk. It's biggest problem as a spinner is rough skin or iron barbs and psyshok

It's just so many decent options and possible Stat adjustability it's hard to find its best use

But really I just needed someone who could spin and suck up t-spikes if nothing else

 

[BlazeLatias]

A bit confused by the above post but why are you running vest tenta? you lose on t spikes which is one of the main niches tentacruel has as a spinner. Honestly though I do feel like tenta should drop(at the same time however going bellow where It is now is pushing it because tenta is not that bad) because as one of the above posts stated all tentacruel ever does is set t spikes,spin and tank a few hits. I guess he annoys clef with acid spray which is nice for stall as cm clef is really annoying but I feel like as a t spike setter dragalge is better because of how its a huge threat offensively while still setting spikes and beating clef,keldeo and a lot of other things tenta also walls. As a defensive spinner it can't lose to clef unlike defensive starmie but even then defensive starmie has more things going for it such as speed and recovery. I don't really care if it rises or drops but I think in the end it should drop. It can spin and set spikes which is definitely nice and he gets nice utility in knock off,t spikes, spin so really in the end i feel like it should drop but at the same time going below b ranks is just too low.

 

[Vert]

tentacruel is fine in b- in my opinion. when you really look at it, tentacruel isn't as bad as the garbage in c+ rank. toxic spikes is pretty anti-metagame right now because the rise of offensive teams means toxic spikes can basically turn every grounded set up sweeper into a limited threat which really helps. it can spin and check clefable (+volcarona) with acid spray which is a nice niche to pair with it. you can also fish burns on things like mega venusaur which isnt very great, but hey, it's something. obviously, tentacruel is garbage in every other way necessitating wish support and being 3hkoed by specs secret swords and 2hkoed by banded play rough n stuff, but it is a nice early game check to get toxic spikes up. i hate this thing, even though i use it on one of my stall teams, but the one major thing tentacruel has is consistency which a lot of c+ 'mons lack.

also, tentacruel isn't part of the discussion slate so i'll drop that. weavile should move to a+ in my opinion. weavile wears down its checks very easily. max def clefable and azumarill lose to poison jab. klefki loses leftovers and thus becomes a limited check. keldeo can only switch in twice with rocks up (or you can be legit and run return which hits azumarill too). low kick is good as always. swords dance lets you kill some slower teams. the only argument i can see for it not rising up is the stealth rock weakness, life orb recoil and passive damage making you easy to take advantage of, priority (think m-zor), and finally it being checked / being mediocre based off the moveset you desire. this is more of a personal opinion so don't quote me, but at the end of the day, the decision goes to the council (but they make good decisions so no worries here n_n)

also wtf are you guys talking about. i should be s+ rank. i am more broke than mega mence nigggaazzz

 

[power]

While I am undecided on whether Weavile should move up, I'll play devil's advocate.

Weavile can wear down its checks easily, but it wears itself equally fast. Between SR and LO recoil, it loses over 1/3 of its health before keldeo/azu forces it out. weavile is also incredibly frail and vulnerable to all forms of priority. Additionally, it aggravates some of HO's weaknesses to pokemon that already are well known for shitting on offense, such as mmane, mlop, and sand rush exca. Finally SD has neither low kick nor pjab, meaning your opp doesn't have to guess whether they should switch in ttar or azu, for example.

 

[Martin]

OK, as this thread died, I'll just post some brief opinions on the slate.

Mega Altaria S -> A+: Personally, I'm completely neutral on this. Altaria is a dominant force with debatably the most incentive for use out of any mega, and it can be slapped onto almost any team without any real drawbacks. However, it does have Garchomp syndrome in that respect, so it is questionable as to whether that is enough to keep it in S.

Mega Gyarados A+ -> A: This thing is a monster. It is easily one of the most threatening DDers in the meta atm; personally, I think it is definitely a step above anything which is in A atm, and I honestly don't think it should move down

Heatran A+ -> A: This thing is so freaking splashable; seriously, I see this thing one one in every two or three teams; usage isn't a good argument, but the reason for that usage is: Heatran can easily fill a role on pretty much any team in the meta due to its stellar typing (immune to all /common/ passive damage aside from leech seed (if you want techicalities, it is also hurt by hail, Curse and all variants of Wrap barring Fire Spin and Magma Storm), stellar movepool (access to great utility options in SR, Taunt, Roar and Magma Storm (although imo the latter isn't that good in the current meta), great offensive moves to take advantage of including Fire Blast, Earth Power, Flash Cannon, Stone Edge/Ancient Power, Hidden Power and Power Herb Solar Beam) and variety of viable sets it can run, including ones which let it beat some of its common checks (Air Balloon allows you to switch in on grounds and beat them with the respective coverage move (fire blast for exca, HP Ice for any others barring Hippo - which you are better off not coming in on unless you know its full PhysDef), Power Herb allows you to beat Azumarill 1v1 with Solar Beam), which allows it to be greatly customised towards the team's needs. I'd compare this thing to Garchomp and M-Alt all day when it comes to splashability, and I can't see it ever dropping personally.

Mega Alakazam A -> A+: I've not used or seen this thing much, so I won't comment.

Weavile A -> A+: Completely neutral on this. Its dominant in the meta atm, but the fact that it falls flat v.s. bulkier teams may hold it back (although a number of people feel its time for the move, so idc what happens with this).

Starmie A -> A-: I have a lean towards no based on the fact that its offensive set can currently rip portions of the metagame apart completely due to its great speed tier resulting in it forcing so much out to eat an analytic-boosted hit, only for it to be able to outpace most things on the following turn anyway. A common switch-in for this is AV Torny-T, but even that takes a minimum of 62.2% from an analytic-boosted Ice Beam, leaving it at a big HP defecit when it switches out again. I understand that the rise of things like Weavile and Manectric hurts it, but I personally think it is a step above things like Serp and Rachi in the meta's current state.

Smeargle D -> Unranked: This shitmon can go and die in a hole for the cancer it caused before the new BP clause was implemented. Good riddance is all I have to say.

 

[lonlyboysh]

Mega Altaria S -> A+
Disagree. MAlt still remains as not only a top-tier threat as a wallbreaker but also as a wall, capable of defeating the other mons in S rank except for Clef. While offensively it is outclassed by Zard X, defensively it is still better with its great Dragon/Fairy typing.

Mega Gyarados A+ -> A
Agree. Mega Gyarados falls as good DDancer. Sure, its good, but it is largely outclassed by superb DDancers by the name of Zard X and MAlt. Cant say much that hasnt been said already, really.

Heatran A+ -> A
Strongly Disagree. This mon is still awesome today. Don't prepare for Heatran and you can get terribly walled by the core of the Earth. The mere fact that everybody is prepared for Heatran means that it is that good. Don't think otherwise just because it has a x4 weakness to Ground.

Mega Alakazam A -> A+
Strongly Disagree. M-Zam is like an F1 car on a sports car race. Sure its speedy and so nice to seen on paper. But on practice, you'll soon regret that it cant turn properly. It is terribly frail and will fall to even strong neutral physical hits with a terrible typing defensively, leaving it vulnerable to bulkier mons including walls such as Ferrothorn (that has a chance to OHKO via Gyro Ball which even +252 SpA Modest M-Zam can't with Focus Blast).

Weavile A -> A+
Disagree. While the top 2 most popular mons are x4 weak to ice (Garchomp and Landorus), its frailty and x4 weakness to fighting, together with being weak to fire and steel (two really common types), makes it not that worthy to use.

Starmie A -> A-
Strongly, vehemently, definitely Agrees. While having base 115 speed in OU is above average, its frailty makes it very easy to KO. It also loses to alot of hazard setters such as Ferrothorn, Clefable and Chansey. IMO, the only thing thats keeping it in A is the popularity of Garchomp and Landorus-T with its LO boosted Ice Beams (which is not STAB, btw); though be warned, a scarfed Landorus-T will do 70-85% damage with a U-Turn, which leaves it highly susceptible to be revenge killed afterwards.

Also, it is largely outclassed by the bulky Excadrill, which has a great defensive typing with steel. It'll even live most non-STAB SE special attacks (such as Physical M-Altaria's Fire Blast), among others. I like to pair it with an Air Balloon to maim or OHKO opposing mons.

Smeargle D -> Unranked
Agree. Don't really care that much about this Van Gogh. Its SW+SR set is largely outclassed by Shuckle, and when you are outclassed by a rock with tentacles, you've got some badly needed rethinking needed. THOUGH there might be another viable set for smeargle out there hiding in the deep dark shadows of the future, but keep it off OU for now.

 

[Martin]

Starmie A -> A-
Strongly, vehemently, definitely Agrees. While having base 115 speed in OU is above average, its frailty makes it very easy to KO. It also loses to alot of hazard setters such as Ferrothorn, Clefable and Chansey. IMO, the only thing thats keeping it in A is the popularity of Garchomp and Landorus-T with its LO boosted Ice Beams (which is not STAB, btw); though be warned, a scarfed Landorus-T will do 70-85% damage with a U-Turn, which leaves it highly susceptible to be revenge killed afterwards.

Also, it is largely outclassed by the bulky Excadrill, which has a great defensive typing with steel. It'll even live most non-STAB SE special attacks (such as Physical M-Altaria's Fire Blast), among others. I like to pair it with an Air Balloon to maim or OHKO opposing mons.

I'm sorry, but did you say that bulky Excadrill outclasses Starime? Bulky Exca pales in comparison to Starmie as Exca is a poor spinner on the whole due to it having a poor matchup v.s. a lot of common rocks setters. Seriously, bulky Exca is, while certainly not bad, a waste of Exca's potential on most teams. Running SpD means that you lose out on a lot of offensive power and the ability to check sand offense. It also loses out on its decent speed tier. Not to mention that it is such a horrible comparison to Starmie seeing how utility Starmie takes advantage of its amazing speed tier and access to Scald, Natural Cure and RELIABLE RECOVERY (Excadrill wishes it had that so badly) wheras Exadrill takes advantage of its typing and access to Mold Breaker to take on certain threats.

Also, what your post implies is that bulky Starmie is what should be what its rank is based on, but the set which is best in the meta atm is its offensive set due to its better matchup v.s. offense in an offensive metagame as opposed to the bulky set's better matchups in a more balanced or defensive metagame. If you are going to judge it, judge it on that set - which has far less reason to drop than the defensive set does. Also, I hate the way that you seem to think the only reason this thing is in A is because of Garchomp and Lando despite the fact that its speed tier allows it to outpace and force out a huge portion of the metagame, with that huge offensive presence being the reason it is ranked where it is. (imo Starmie's best sets are those which run Recover>Spin and another hazard remover (e.g. Defog+H-Wish Latias) simply because it makes it so much harder to ware down)

As a side note, I'm going to say now that any defensive 'mon holding an Air Balloon is doing something horribly wrong, and in Exca's case the bulky set loses out on vital turn-by-turn recovery if it opts to not run Leftovers, which hinders its ability to reliably check anything due to its lack of any other form or recovery.

 

[Radio_Active]

Mega Alakazam A -> A+
Strongly Disagree. M-Zam is like an F1 car on a sports car race. Sure its speedy and so nice to seen on paper. But on practice, you'll soon regret that it cant turn properly. It is terribly frail and will fall to even strong neutral physical hits with a terrible typing defensively, leaving it vulnerable to bulkier mons including walls such as Ferrothorn (that has a chance to OHKO via Gyro Ball which even +252 SpA Modest M-Zam can't with Focus Blast).

Yes, it turns badly, but then, with practice, you learn to drift with it. M-Ala is supposed to be run on Offense, which creates strong offensive pressure. This means it switches in easily, and also, Encore is really good for [Insert Stally mon not called M-Sab] here. Also, M-Ala has no switchins except for M-Sab. Yes, it may have about 2001 checks but checking is easy. Really, it should go to A+. also its not that frail, it can take a M-Sabs Shadow Ball for example.

 

[Puralux]

Yes, it turns badly, but then, with practice, you learn to drift with it. M-Ala is supposed to be run on Offense, which creates strong offensive pressure. This means it switches in easily, and also, Encore is really good for [Insert Stally mon not called M-Sab] here. Also, M-Ala has no switchins except for M-Sab. Yes, it may have about 2001 checks but checking is easy. Really, it should go to A+. also its not that frail, it can take a M-Sabs Shadow Ball for example.

No. Mega Alakazam can 2hko every non-boosted viable type of Mega Sableye with Dazzling Gleam, from Sdef to Def. The only way i see Mega Sableye winning is if he is already on the field at full health and begins spamming calm mind.

252 SpA Mega Alakazam Dazzling Gleam vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Mega Sableye: 158-186 (51.9 - 61.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Mega Alakazam Dazzling Gleam vs. 252 HP / 0+ SpD Mega Sableye: 178-210 (58.5 - 69%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Mega Alakazam Dazzling Gleam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mega Sableye: 194-230 (63.8 - 75.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Mega Alakazam Dazzling Gleam vs. 252 HP / 96 SpD Mega Sableye: 180-212 (59.2 - 69.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

The only mons which i think are the best counter to every possible version of mega alakazam are Chansey and SDef Mega Scizor (The last one maybe not if rocks are up and needs to switch in a focus blast).

 

[Flygonial]

Mega Altaria S -> A+
Disagree. MAlt still remains as not only a top-tier threat as a wallbreaker but also as a wall, capable of defeating the other mons in S rank except for Clef. While offensively it is outclassed by Zard X, defensively it is still better with its great Dragon/Fairy typing.

Mega Gyarados A+ -> A
Agree. Mega Gyarados falls as good DDancer. Sure, its good, but it is largely outclassed by superb DDancers by the name of Zard X and MAlt. Cant say much that hasnt been said already, really.

Heatran A+ -> A
Strongly Disagree. This mon is still awesome today. Don't prepare for Heatran and you can get terribly walled by the core of the Earth. The mere fact that everybody is prepared for Heatran means that it is that good. Don't think otherwise just because it has a x4 weakness to Ground.

Mega Alakazam A -> A+
Strongly Disagree. M-Zam is like an F1 car on a sports car race. Sure its speedy and so nice to seen on paper. But on practice, you'll soon regret that it cant turn properly. It is terribly frail and will fall to even strong neutral physical hits with a terrible typing defensively, leaving it vulnerable to bulkier mons including walls such as Ferrothorn (that has a chance to OHKO via Gyro Ball which even +252 SpA Modest M-Zam can't with Focus Blast).

Weavile A -> A+
Disagree. While the top 2 most popular mons are x4 weak to ice (Garchomp and Landorus), its frailty and x4 weakness to fighting, together with being weak to fire and steel (two really common types), makes it not that worthy to use.

Starmie A -> A-
Strongly, vehemently, definitely Agrees. While having base 115 speed in OU is above average, its frailty makes it very easy to KO. It also loses to alot of hazard setters such as Ferrothorn, Clefable and Chansey. IMO, the only thing thats keeping it in A is the popularity of Garchomp and Landorus-T with its LO boosted Ice Beams (which is not STAB, btw); though be warned, a scarfed Landorus-T will do 70-85% damage with a U-Turn, which leaves it highly susceptible to be revenge killed afterwards.

Also, it is largely outclassed by the bulky Excadrill, which has a great defensive typing with steel. It'll even live most non-STAB SE special attacks (such as Physical M-Altaria's Fire Blast), among others. I like to pair it with an Air Balloon to maim or OHKO opposing mons.

Smeargle D -> Unranked
Agree. Don't really care that much about this Van Gogh. Its SW+SR set is largely outclassed by Shuckle, and when you are outclassed by a rock with tentacles, you've got some badly needed rethinking needed. THOUGH there might be another viable set for smeargle out there hiding in the deep dark shadows of the future, but keep it off OU for now.

Like one of your previous posts, I don't disagree with everything you've said, but your post has its fair share of points that really irritate me. Saying that Mega Gyarados is outclassed by 'Zard X and Mega Altaria is pretty unfair when the three of them only use one common coverage move, has different checks and counters, and doesn't share a single STAB with either. If that was ever a reason for it to drop, it would have done so sooner, and you haven't brought up anything that's really changed in the meta that's more hostile for it. The rest has already been brought up.

 

[JBC]

Alright, I'm hesitant to post this, but this is my opinion.

Mega Altaria S -> A+ - Neutral
Now this one I'm kind of neutral. It's very easy to use imo but isn't overwhelming to face. Personally, it's just not on par with a S Pokémon on one side, but it is on the other. I'm not sure.
Heatran A+ -> A - Disagree
No. It's very splashable and can fit a variety of roles. Just please no...it's very good.

Smeargle D -> Unranked - Disagree (jk)
smeargle iz 2 op he can rek nubs no unrnk





BAN IT PLEASE

Starmie A -> A- - Agree
I was previously against this though now I agree. It's a very weird Pokemon, I find it hard to use but also can provide a decent amount of power. Imo it just can be challenging to be an offensive Pokemon and spinner and I personally think the defensive sit is underwhelming.

Mega Gyarados A+ -> A - Agree
Honestly, it's a good Pokemon, but I really don't think it's on par with Mega Scizor, Azumarill, or Heatran. Those three are just easier to use and more splashable imo, and the latter two don't require a Mega slot. Overall, I'm not keen on Mega Gyarados in A+.

 

[Dratios]

Here's my two cents on some of the current discussion slate:

Mega Altaria S -> A+: Disagree
Mega Altaria is still an omnipresent threat in the ORAS OU metagame. It can switch in on essentially any of Hoopa-U's attacks (save Gunk Shot) and KO it then and there. Not to mention it can run Cotton Guard, too. It just has a lot of options that are easily customizable to what your team needs. Both the special and the physical sets are vicious, not to mention that you can run mixed w/ Draco Meteor, etc. Heck, I ran Sing on it on a joke team once and it actually ended up doing things. TL;DR Malt beats Gunk Shot-less Hoopa-U, which is a valuable niche, therefore it shouldn't drop.

Mega Alakazam A -> A+: Agree
Super-speedy attackers are getting more and more valuable in the meta. It partners pretty well with physical Hoopa-U, being able to remove Mega Lopunny from the equation while Hoopa can break down Chansey for M-Ala. I think it's deserving of A+. (I'll likely be adding more later.)

Weavile A -> A+: Agree
Again, speedy attackers are good. While it doesn't partner as well with Hoopa-U, its powerful priority and STABs, not to mention a degree of customizability (Low Kick, Poison Jab, Iron Tail (it has a niche in a guaranteed 2HKO on PhysDef Clefable), even X-Scissor if you're really scared of Hoopa-U.) Not to mention it beats Scarf Lando-T, which is rising in viability due to a powerful U-turn OHKOing the Hoopla. Definitely want this to move up.

Smeargle D -> Unranked: Agree
This thing is trash. Throw it back to the drawing board.