Almost Any Ability XY Viability Rankings

[Monte Cristo]

approved by Arcticblast

art by Andrew ^_^

AAA Viability Rankings

​

What Is AAA?
Almost Any Ability OU is what it might imply: it's a variation of the OverUsed tier where any Pokemon can have almost any ability! They are still bound to their movesets, typing, and still must follow the EV restrictions. Ubers are banned, just like in regular OU; being able to have any ability is the only thing that changes. You'd be surprised (or not, seeing Balanced Hackmons exists), however, at how interesting and creative people can be in such a tier.

Banlist
But with every tier comes bans, so here are the forbidden ones:
Ubers, Kyurem-Black, Slaking, Simple, Regigigas, Archeops, Prankster Smeargle, Contrary, Fur Coat, Huge Power & Pure Power, Speed Boost, Imposter, Sturdy Shedinja, Shadow Tag & Arena Trap, Aerilate, Parental Bond and last but definitely not least Wonder Guard
Everything else, though, is up for your wild imagination to contemplate. And, yes, Drizzle and Swift Swim are legal here. (STANDARD OU CLAUSES ARE IN EFFECT)

Welcome to the official AAA Viability Rankings topic. You should know the drill by now; In this thread, we as a community will rank every single usable Pokemon into "tiers." In this thread, you're encouraged to post your thoughts and opinions on the various Pokemon that are usable in AAA and what tier they should fall under. It's about time the OM subforum joined in on the action, and AAA's the perfect way to do it!

The general idea of the topic is to rank each OU pokemon under "rankings" that go in descending order. Since this is a general tier list, everything is lumped together. There won't be any segregation between offense & defense threats.

• EX: Weavile can be ranked in S tier as an offensive threat, Mew can be ranked under S as supportive threat and Skarmory can be can also be ranked in A tier as a defensive threat. These are just examples.

Note that the overall tier list is in no particular order.

Below are the definitions of each rank, and they should be read be anyone that wants to participate in the discussion of Pokemon's ranks in OU:

S Rank: Reserved for Pokemon that are amazing in the OU metagame. These Pokemon are usually able to perform a variety of roles effectively, or can just do one extremely well. Their use has low risk involved and high reward exerted. Pokemon in this rank have very few flaws that are patched up by numerous positive traits.

A Rank: Reserved for Pokemon that are fantastic in the OU metagame, and can sweep, support, or wall significant portions of the metagame. These Pokemon require less support than most others to be used effectively and have few flaws that can easily be overlooked when compared to their positive traits.

B Rank: Reserved for Pokemon that are great in the OU metagame. These Pokemon have more notable flaws than those above them that affect how they function in the tier. Their positive traits still outshine their negatives, but they require a bit more team support to bring out their full potential.

C Rank: Reserved for Pokemon that have notable niches in the OU metagame, but have just as many notable flaws that prevent them from being effective. Pokemon in the C tier often require significant support to be effective. Pokemon from this rank tend to face a lot of competition with the more commonly used Pokemon.

D Rank: Reserved for Pokemon that are mediocre in the OU metagame, but are viable enough to justify their use on select teams. These Pokemon are either usable but have no real niche, or are only capable of doing their specific task and fail at doing anything more than that. Pokemon from this rank have multiple crippling flaws that prevent them from being successful a majority of the time, and are often severely outclassed because of it.

AAA XY Ranking Tier List

S Rank: Reserved for Pokemon that are amazing in the metagame. These Pokemon are usually able to perform a variety of roles effectively, or can just do one extremely well. Their use has low risk involved and high reward exerted. Pokemon in this rank have very few flaws that are patched up by numerous positive traits.

• Top S Rank

Keldeo

Suicune

• Mid S Rank

Victini

Bisharp

Cresselia

Mew


A Rank: Reserved for Pokemon that are fantastic in the OU metagame, and can sweep, support, or wall significant portions of the metagame. These Pokemon require less support than most others to be used effectively and have few flaws that can easily be overlooked when compared to their positive traits.

• High A Rank

Charizard (Mega-Y/Mega-X)

Garchomp

Gyarados (Mega)

Tyranitar /

Tyranitar (Mega)

Heatran

Latias

Latios

Terrakion

Zapdos

Hippowdon

Mawile (Mega)

Celebi

• Mid A Rank

Ferrothorn

Pinsir (Mega)

Aegislash

Gengar

Landorus-T

Scizor (Normal)

Chansey

Skarmory

Florges

Staraptor

Porygon 2

Kyurem

Venusaur (Mega)

Slowking

Greninja

• Low A Rank

Breloom

Manaphy

Mandibuzz

Rotom-W

Landorus

Excadrill

Scizor (Mega)

Heracross (Mega)

Lucario


B Rank: Reserved for Pokemon that are great in the OU metagame. These Pokemon have more notable flaws than those above them that affect how they function in the tier. Their positive traits still outshine their negatives, but they require a bit more team support to bring out their full potential.

• High B Rank

Garchomp (Mega)

Gardevoir (Mega)

Gliscor

Manectric (Mega)

Medicham (Mega)

Scolipede

Slowbro

Mamoswine

• Mid B Rank

Amoonguss

Vaporeon

Wobbuffet

Chesnaught

Conkeldurr

Gothitelle

Raikou

Tornadus-T

Thundurus-I

Dragonite

Thundurus-T

Togekiss

Haxorus

Exploud

• Low B Rank

Aerodactyl (Mega)

Alakazam (Mega)

Ampharos (Mega)

Crawdaunt

Rhyperior

Volcarona

Azumarill

Sylveon

C Rank: Reserved for Pokemon that have notable niches in the OU metagame, but have just as many notable flaws that prevent them from being effective. Pokemon in the C tier often require significant support to be effective. Pokemon from this rank tend to face a lot of competition with the more commonly used Pokemon.

• High C Rank

Aggron (Mega)

Alakazam

Blastoise (Mega)

Ditto

Entei

Espeon

Klefki

Krookodile

Rotom-H

Sharpedo

Shuckle

Smeargle

Starmie

Zygarde

Diggersby

Kingdra

Absol (Mega)

Omastar

• Mid C Rank

Banette (Mega)

Blissey

Dugtrio

Escavalier

Goodra

Gourgeist-Small

Houndoom (Mega)

Infernape

Magnezone

Salamence

Seismitoad

Tangrowth

Tornadus

Umbreon

• Low C Rank

Gastrodon

Hawlucha

Ludicolo

Reuniclus

Roserade

Talonflame

Clefable

D Rank: Reserved for Pokemon that are mediocre in the OU metagame, but are viable enough to justify their use on select teams. These Pokemon are either usable but have no real niche, or are only capable of doing their specific task and fail at doing anything more than that. Pokemon from this rank have multiple crippling flaws that prevent them from being successful a majority of the time, and are often severely outclassed because of it.

Cloyster

Sableye

''CONCLUSION REACHED'' POKEMON: Pokemon in this list have reached a conclusive ideal ranking, so unless the metagame changes towards them or there is something about them that hasn't been said, discussion about them is disallowed.

• Weavile

Rules

• Post intelligently. Posts like "I think pokemon X should be in this tier" will not be tolerated
• No flaming
• Usage statistics may be used to support an argument or a claim, but don't base your ENTIRE argument around them. For example, you can't just say "Pokemon X shouldn't be this tier because they aren't used that often!"
• No talk about editing the OFFICIAL Smogon tier lists.
• PKGaming is amazing. This is an undisputed fact.

Happy posting ♪♪

 

[Ranger Mike]

Ok even with the aerialate ban noivern should be at least c rank as no guard was never bad, just never really hit that hard. It is a decent wallbreaker and requires some support eg fire types to get rid of weavile. But what team does not have that problem?

 

[Jaguar360]

Zygarde should be moved up to B rank IMO. While it has a 4x Ice weakness in a Weavile-dominated meta, its Coil sets are still great, and it can get around Weavile with Extremespeed if it has enough boosts. Zygarde makes great use of Poison Heal, Suction Cups, Magic Bounce, Magic Guard, Mold Breaker, Refrigerate, Pixilate and more and is very hard to get past by attacking alone.
Zygarde @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Atk / 120 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Coil
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail/Stone Edge
- ExtremeSpeed
This is the set that I've used most with Zygarde and it's basically a buffed version of normal Zygarde, setting up and killing things with Earthquake + Extremespeed while healing each turn with Poison Heal. Dragon Tail is used for phazing and damaging switch-ins, but Stone Edge can be used over it for better coverage, hitting things like Skarmory and Togekiss. Any of the above abilities can be switched in there with Leftovers to hit more specific threats. It is much more than a C+ Pokemon.

 

[Monte Cristo]

So I have 3 things that might not be that well agreed on so I'm making them as seperate nominations (sorry for double post but yeah, that's my reasoning)

• 
  Keldeo for S Rank

Keldeo is one of the tiers best utility checks while also being one of the best wallbreakers. It's ability slot lets it be sticky hold or intimidate as a utility pivot into many things such as weavile, victini and mew. Keldeo can also use Protean, Drizzle or Adaptabillity to break through some of AAAs toughest stall teams. Keldeo is unpredictable despite it's common 4 moveslots. If you put keldeo on your team, set depending on team, it will surely put in work and glue your tam from being torn into bits by top threats. It's also a lot better now without the threat of aerilate eveywhere.

• 
  Manaphy for A/A+ Rank

Manaphy is amazing right now. 100 all around bulk is great in AAA as we have learned from the almighty mew, and Manaphy uses it well. Manaphy can either use the Mold Breaker, Tinted Lens or Prankster sets to great success. imo prankster is the best set, as it's actually a prankster that doesn't conflict with mew like florges, Manaphy can use an offensive prankster set to block set up sweepers such as SD weavile and DD Mega Charizard X. Manaphy can also use tail glow mold breaker in order to break through some of it's biggest problems: water absorb and unaware, this can make it a terrifying monster in seconds ripping through stall and offense. Tinted Lens is just to break bulky waters and grasses, it also lets you run sub tail glow cause free move slots.

 

[Arhops]

I think since Keldeo is pretty much the best counter out there for Weavile, I think we should move Poliwrath to C rank since "Pokemon from this rank tend to face a lot of competition with the more commonly used Pokemon." But it still does have a niche over Keldeo since it get Circle Throw and Keldeo doesnt.

 

[Da Pizza Man]

I would like to nominate Rhydon for A+ rank. With evolite and certain abilities that let it heal its quite a good wall, being able to take many neutral hits on the physical side and actualy some SE hits, I would say S if it wasnt for its horrible typing.

 

[Snaquaza]

I think we should make Rhydon A+ rank. With evolite and certain abilities that let it heal its quite a good wall, being able to take many neutral hits on the physical side and actualy some SE hits, I would say S if it wasnt for its horrible typing.

I've experienced Regirock to be better than Rhydon, while it has about the same bulk the lack of a Ground typing is great for absorbing random Grass and Water attacks (esp the AssVest or Sand set) and fighting Weavile is awesome. Regirock A+, Rhydon A

Edit: While Houndoom-Mega is pretty easily revenged as it's quite frail and doesn't have a great defensive typing, it does decently against Weavile and Drought --> Solar Power is very dangerous. At least B-Rank In my opinion

 

[asterat]

ok, it looks like you blatantly copied half of the lower ranks from OU. Alakazam should be low A because of sheer force.

252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Alakazam Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Cresselia: 182-216 (40.9 - 48.6%) -- 12.5% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery (this includes max SpD cress. PH cress loses ~70% of the time without an activated orb)


252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Alakazam Psychic vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 294-347 (82.1 - 96.9%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

staraptor for high a imo, gale wings is just crazy with that sort of attack

there's lots of stuff that needs to be moved around because you copied this, but you'll move them around on your own so I'll let you do that.

 

[Snaquaza]

ok, it looks like you blatantly copied half of the lower ranks from OU.

He even copied :

• "PKGaming is amazing. This is an undisputed fact."

 

[Monte Cristo]

He even copied :

• "PKGaming is amazing. This is an undisputed fact."

no user PK Gaming is just really amazing :]. also I did copy half of the lower ranks but that's because 90% of them are correct aside from some minor nitpicks. idk why this so looked down upon :/

 

[Ranger Mike]

So I have 3 things that might not be that well agreed on so I'm making them as seperate nominations (sorry for double post but yeah, that's my reasoning)

• 
  Manaphy for A/A+ Rank

Manaphy is amazing right now. 100 all around bulk is great in AAA as we have learned from the almighty mew, and Manaphy uses it well. Manaphy can either use the Mold Breaker, Tinted Lens or Prankster sets to great success. imo prankster is the best set, as it's actually a prankster that doesn't conflict with mew like florges, Manaphy can use an offensive prankster set to block set up sweepers such as SD weavile and DD Mega Charizard X. Manaphy can also use tail glow mold breaker in order to break through some of it's biggest problems: water absorb and unaware, this can make it a terrifying monster in seconds ripping through stall and offense. Tinted Lens is just to break bulky waters and grasses, it also lets you run sub tail glow cause free move slots.

As funny as it is I have been using pressure on manaphy, it trades bulk for speed with suicune to become the almighty CROPHY BOW DOWN TO IT BOW DOWN. But seriously pressure manaphy is amazing it's speed tier is vital, still has REALLY good bulk, and it has more powerful scalds right off the bat iirc.

 

[asterat]

ph slowking is god- b+.

As clearly demostrated by below replay, pikachu is quite strong. A+ tier if not S.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/almostanyability-130776805

 

[yikes]

ph slowking is god- b+.

As clearly demostrated by below replay, pikachu is quite strong. A+ tier if not S.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/almostanyability-130776805

What ability

 

[Jorgeliasabud]

Nobody have ever taught about Sand Rush/Swift Swim Ursaring?

Ok, it loses some important offensive power, but 130 base it's still very good, and Ursaring gets fast, it's major drawback get's nulified by it's ability, should be at least C rank.

 

[AWailOfATail]

What ability

Well return is SE against Celebi soooo refrige

 

[Talpr0ne]

ph slowking is god- b+.

As clearly demostrated by below replay, pikachu is quite strong. A+ tier if not S.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/almostanyability-130776805

Why on earth aren't you running Extreme Speed on Refridgerate Pikachu anyway lol.

 

[Zewwok]

Because then you can't run volt tackle

 

[Talpr0ne]

Because then you can't run volt tackle

Yes this really stinks but it's not like you don't have access to Wild Charge anyway.
Also Knock Off is a good attack to have on your Pikachu and it's legal with Volt Tackle(or Extreme Speed, for that matter).

 

[Monte Cristo]

Kl4ng and I are planning on revamping these viability rankings soon, hold tight (we already had a discussion about it, I just need to edit the OP)

 

[BobTheTeamBuilder]

Wow. Gale Wings + Band + Adamant Staraptor is absoulutley insane. Sheer Force + Sash work very well on G-Gar and Kazam, so they should definetly be A rank. :D

 

[xJownage]

Yet Band braviary gets no attention. gale wings band braviary is where its at. so much powerrr.

Entei at high C? i think not. Serene grace makes it an amazing flinch abuser and it also has access to a 100% burn move, sacred fire. Severely underrated, especially against stall.

 

[Monte Cristo]

Yet Band braviary gets no attention. gale wings band braviary is where its at. so much powerrr.

Entei at high C? i think not. Serene grace makes it an amazing flinch abuser and it also has access to a 100% burn move, sacred fire. Severely underrated, especially against stall.

yeah this s yet to be fixed, thanks for reviving this tho

 

[motherlove]

Theses are a few sets that i've used quite a bit.

Azelf, sheer force + life orb
I know sheer force + LO has been mentioned before but the thing with azelf is that he can efectively run a special, phisical or mixed set while having a lot of moves to go with (psychic, zen headbutt, thunderbolt, flamethrower, KOCK OFF, punches...) his speed tier also let's him outspeed the pokemon like latios, gengar, thunderus... I bolded knock off because this move let's him cripple stall while also giving him good coverage.

a few calcs

252 Atk Life Orb Sheer Force Azelf Zen Headbutt vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Chansey: 426-503 (60.5 - 71.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (assuming his item is knocked off)
4 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Azelf Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Skarmory: 356-421 (106.5 - 126%) -- guaranteed OHKO
4 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Azelf Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Alomomola: 497-585 (93 - 109.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Life Orb Sheer Force Azelf Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 184+ Def Gliscor: 354-416 (100 - 117.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Life Orb Sheer Force Azelf Zen Headbutt vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mega Venusaur: 361-429 (99.1 - 117.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
4 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Azelf Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Suicune: 237-281 (58.6 - 69.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Poison Heal

Another set i often use is PH snorlax

Hide

Snorlax @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Facade
- Protect
- Power-Up Punch
- Earthquake

Adamant works too

his hp stat is so high you don't really need to invest so you can invest in attack. Snorlax can tank pretty strong special moves, but the main perk of this set is that his high attack + stab facade makes it hard to switch into for pokemon without defensive investment. And ppunch let's you get passed suicune/ferrothorn/chansey if they don't have unaware (unaware suicune is still manageable). All in all, snorlax is just fun to use.

Another thing i want to add is eviolithe doublade. While not being as good as the other 2 i mentionned, doublade can find a place in a team.
First of all, he gets recovery via regenerator alowing him to be a good hit and run pokemon. 350 attack being high enough to do corect damage on most pokemon
Great phisical bulk (better than 252/252+ skar, mandibuzz or hippodown)
His typing lets him block most (all?) gale wing users.
He has priority in shadow sneak wich is usualy good in end game or to rk a pokemon.
Also a thing i like with doublade is that in a meta where weavile is everywhere, doublade can easily switch on a predicted fake out/return, take 55-65% on the knock off and ohko with sacred sword/gyroball. Okay he loses his item but with regenerator he can still rk or wall gale wing users and if weavile is a threat to your team, well now he's dead (people usualy like to stay in in front of doublade.)
You could use doublade to lure some dark attack on your justified pokemon too
another pokemon doublade can switch on is latios. doublade 2hkoe's latios with shadow sneak while latios can't 2hko him and again regenerator let's him come back another time.
Doublade can also switch on ferro to deal decent damage (252+ Atk Doublade Sacred Sword vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 114-136 (32.3 - 38.6%)) while it doesn't seem like much, ferro will usualy be a big part of your opponent's defensive core and the fact that you can come in every time will let you keep doublade at max health with regenerator

 

[OLD GREGG (im back baby)]

I have a couple of sets that I feel are viable, that I would like to share.

First off is my FlinchLax set. It can come in at the right time and screw a lot of strategies up. This set makes good use of Snorlax's natural bulk and has stall written all over it. With precise timing it shuts down most Weaviles. Watch out for the Low Kick and you are good to go! Definitely RAGEQUIT worthy. I believe this set could sneak Snorlax in to at least Mid C rank or even higher. Being able to paralyze and flinch to faint anything without a ghost typing comes in handy.

FlinchLax (Snorlax) @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Atk / 100 Def
Impish Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Body Slam
- Headbutt


The other set I would like to share is my Gengar set. This thing is a serious wall breaker, has amazing coverage and power, and even Blissey will be switching out in fear of the amazing sheer force of this set's Sludge Bomb. I call this set: Hits Like Truck.


Hits Like Truck (Gengar) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest/Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Energy Ball
- Psychic


I think Gengar could move up a rank, considering it will 3HKO most Blissey variants off the boost from Sheer Force + Life orb combo with just Sludge Bomb alone, not considering Wish + Lefties.
It out speeds a lot of of High A ranks and OHKO's or 2HKO's.

I run a modest nature because I use it in tandem with Sticky Web. Without Web support I would suggest Timid nature.

 

[EV]

Remember, this thread should be about ranking viable threats in AAA, not posting sets you think are viable. Old_Gregg maybe you can provide some insight into how those two Pokemon fit into the rankings. Should they move up? Move down? Basically, what are you trying to prove with those sets?