Battle Spot Singles Viability Rankings

Pyritie

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On Mega Ampharos: I've been playing around with him, and he has a lot of tricks up his sleeve.
Agility is another trick. Sure, trick room is nice, but trick room is also easy to stall out. Agility lasts until ampharos itself switches.

Power Gem is also "ok" coverage but I agree that focus blast is more important to hit steels with.
 
On Mega Ampharos: I've been playing around with him, and he has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. A monstrous Special Attack stat, coupled with great overall bulk and a terrible Speed tier, make it super abusable under Trick Room, and possibly the best Special Trick Room attacker in this metagame. However, there are a lot of flaws that hold him back from being anywhere above B+ tier. First and foremost, if you want a high Special Attack stat, you're better off looking at Mega Gengar and Mega Alakazam, both of whom have higher Special Attack stats. Ampharos's coverage is subpar as well, and while its STABs are pretty neat (Electric is really important nowadays for killing Suicune and Dragons are everywhere), it doesn't have many other options, aside from Focus Blast and a Hidden Power (in testing, I opted for Ice). Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it absolutely needs Trick Room to even be remotely good. While being bulky, ultimately, it gets screwed over by commonplace threats (i.e. Kang and Chomp) outside of Trick Room, and even in Trick Room, it has some trouble with special walls.

Speaking of Mega Alakazam, what do you guys think he should be ranked?
It has power gem and signal beam, apart from focus blast.
 
It has power gem and signal beam, apart from focus blast.
The problem with these coverage moves is that Mega Ampharos REALLY suffers from four-moveslot syndrome. Power Gem's super redundant, as it doesn't hit anything notable that it doesn't already deal with using Bolt-Pulse-Blast. As far as Signal Beam goes, it only notably hits Grass- and Psychic- types, because Dark already gets hit by Blast for SE. Even then, HP Ice is a better option that also hits most Ground-types super hard. And even with that, it STILL gets walled by common Grass-types i.e. Venusaur-M. So, I should rephrase: it has tons of coverage options, but none are too good.

Agility is another trick. Sure, trick room is nice, but trick room is also easy to stall out. Agility lasts until ampharos itself switches.

Power Gem is also "ok" coverage but I agree that focus blast is more important to hit steels with.
Yeah Agility is a thing, but Scarf Ground-type mons like Garchomp and Landorus-T still screw it over.
 
The problem with these coverage moves is that Mega Ampharos REALLY suffers from four-moveslot syndrome. Power Gem's super redundant, as it doesn't hit anything notable that it doesn't already deal with using Bolt-Pulse-Blast. As far as Signal Beam goes, it only notably hits Grass- and Psychic- types, because Dark already gets hit by Blast for SE. Even then, HP Ice is a better option that also hits most Ground-types super hard. And even with that, it STILL gets walled by common Grass-types i.e. Venusaur-M. So, I should rephrase: it has tons of coverage options, but none are too good.


Yeah Agility is a thing, but Scarf Ground-type mons like Garchomp and Landorus-T still screw it over.
Power gem is very nice for volcarona.
 

DragonWhale

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Politoed: B

Unique and excellent ability, good bulk and typing that supports it, and a great support movepool makes this pokemon a centerpiece of rain team archetypes and can even hold its worth in said team. However, like rain sweepers that require Politoed to be good, politoed requires rain sweepers to have a reason to be used, and therefore along with other flaws like lack of offensive presence and lacking speed makes me feel like B is where this belongs.

Kingdra: B/B-

With the ability to demolish in rain and capability to do some work outside of it, I think Kingdra deserves B. However, due to the lack of accuracy in the main offensive moves, Draco Meteor drops hindering sweeps, being forced to get locked to get important KOs, and requiring rain support to function to it's full capability, I say Kingdra should not be higher than B

Kabutops: C+

It gets a lot of competition from fellow swift swimmer kingdra, but Kabutops holds its own thanks to being the best swift swim physical attacker, resistance to talonflame, and access to priority. However, it's main offensive moves are lacking in BP compared to Kingdra's, and the physically oriented metagame causes more physical walls (with rocky helmet) to appear in front of Kabutops, hindering it even further compared to its rival. Combine this with subpar accuracy of its rock type moves, Kabutops belongs in C+ imo

Mega Ampharos: C+/B-

Ok, this thing has the same defenses as Zapdos pre-mega and has Zekrom typing and ability when it mega evolves, but mega evolution is a high price to pay for a team. The coverage itself is really good but let's face it, the highest BP including STAB that this thing has is 135BP, unless you decide to run the inaccurate Thunder. If this thing can nuke with Draco Meteor then I will change my mind, but at the end of the day the best Dragon type move this thing gets is Dragon Pulse with its measly 85BP. Coverage is somewhat limited, but most people run Focus Blast (consistency!) or Agility for a somewhat situational opportunity to sweep. This thing is a destroyer under Trick Room, but then again that would mean it requires some form of support from the other members. Is it a scary pokemon to face? Yes. Is there a better mega that can work for the team? I'd say usually the answer would be yes. Therefore I think Ampharos should be C+, maybe B- at best.
 
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What does everyone think of Entei? It saw quite a bit of usage last season, was either lefties, CB, or AV, and was defined by its use of Sacred Fire. It also has EdgeQuake coverage with Bulldoze, and it also has Subsitute, Toxic, and Protect, and there were a couple ones running Flame Charge.
 
What does everyone think of Entei? It saw quite a bit of usage last season, was either lefties, CB, or AV, and was defined by its use of Sacred Fire. It also has EdgeQuake coverage with Bulldoze, and it also has Subsitute, Toxic, and Protect, and there were a couple ones running Flame Charge.
Its only really viable set was a CB wallbreaker, and granted, it was actually quite good. However, it took a huge blow in viability this season with the loss of Extreme Speed. Without a priority attack, it's mostly outclassed by Talonflame. However, it does have a nice niche in being able to spread burns like wildfire, and it has EdgeQuake coverage (although, Bulldoze is, like, bad.) I'd put it at about C+, but that's just me. Also, doesn't almost every mon have Sub, Toxic, and Protect? xD

I'll also leave this here, a List of Mega Pokemon that are Unranked:

Alakazam
Medicham
Banette
Absol
Garchomp
Abomasnow
Audino
Sceptile
 
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cant say

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What does everyone think of Entei? It saw quite a bit of usage last season, was either lefties, CB, or AV, and was defined by its use of Sacred Fire. It also has EdgeQuake coverage with Bulldoze, and it also has Subsitute, Toxic, and Protect, and there were a couple ones running Flame Charge.
Last season = no pentagons = Extreme Speed was available to it

Before that, Entei saw basically no use and will drop off again this season now that the pentagon rule is back...
 

ethan06

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List of Mega Pokemon that are Unranked:

Alakazam
Medicham
Banette
Absol
Garchomp
Abomasnow
Audino
Sceptile
Of these, I'd probably only put Sceptile, Alakazam, Medicham and Abomasnow above D rank. Mega Garchomp is essentially a worse Garchomp in most ways thanks to the speed drop and loss of Rough Skin, Audino's only real use is as a cleric or a niche Calm Minder and there are definitely better options for both (and dedicated clerics aren't even that good!), Banette is stupidly strong but also slow and frail (it needs max HP and SpD to take 70% from Sylveon's Hyper Voice ;c ), and then there's Absol. Mega Absol seriously redefines frail and is a master of barely missing OHKOs (and getting invariably OHKOed in return) and has the issue of being really slow, and therefore vulnerable, for the first turn it's out.

As for the others-

Mega Medicham's Hi Jump Kick is one of the strongest attacks in the game and it outspeeds every variant of Kangaskhan except for Jolly 252 Spe, with which it speed ties. Has a nice typing but struggles with its borderline speed tier, and isn't that amazing as a wall-breaker due to Mega Slowbro's existence. B-

Abomasnow has a positive matchup versus Garchomp and is one of the best megas on Trick Room, with its powerful Blizzards levelling a good portion of the meta. Still, its typing is garbdicks defensively, and it dies to a lot of things immediately if TR isn't up and it isn't significantly invested in bulk (and even then it's obliterated by a lot of things). Probably C or C+ but no higher.

Alakazam is an interesting one - as ProjectTitan313 mentioned above, Alakazam is in a similar boat to Absol in that it's frail and fast but often misses out on crucial KOs. However, what sets Alakazam apart and makes it so volatile is it's blistering speed and it's ability, Trace. 150 Speed means that Alakazam can run a Modest nature and still outspeed max Spe base 130s (read: Mega Gengar). With the damage boost from the nature and a wide enough movepool to be able to easily OHKO the things it needs to, Alakazam can be used to pick off Pokémon like Mega Gengar, non-Scarf Garchomp, Rotom-W, Mega Venusaur and Mamoswine with ease. Trace helps a lot against some of these: Thick Fat allows Alakazam to revenge kill Mamoswine easily while only taking ~25% from an Ice Shard; Tracing Parental Bond vs. Kangaskhan can be very useful if you can outplay Sucker Punch or it simply doesn't have it (as is becoming more and more the case nowadays); coming in on Heatran's Fire moves for absolutely free; and, perhaps most importantly, being able to completely anti-lead and counter Blaziken by remaining faster than it no matter how many boosts it gets (and outspeeding Adamant non-mega Blaziken even at +1). On top of that, Modest Megazam's only two guaranteed slots are Psychic/Psyshock and Protect; the other two can be customised based on what your team needs. Hidden Power [Ice] bops Landorus-T, Garchomp, Gliscor, Dragonite and Mega Salamence with ease, with Trace easing Zam's matchup against Lando-T, Dragonite and Salamence in particular; Energy Ball deals with Rotom-W, Azumarill, Slowbro and Mega Gyarados, as well as the odd Hippowdon and Swampert - it also makes Alakazam's matchup to rain a lot happier; Focus Blast is inaccurate as hell, but deals with Ferrothorn and Heatran really well when it hits; and Disable/Encore synergise really well with Protect for screwing up random mons; and Taunt can be used for anti-Prankster utility if Thundurus and Klefki are an issue. Don't use Shadow Ball or Dazzling Gleam they're both awful. Unfortunately, for all of Alakazam's toys and all its versatility, it's still hard-countered by Aegislash and Cresselia (Shadow Ball is awful because it only does like 30% to both of them) and has massive frailty issues if it's matched up against priority. However, as a toolkit and utility check it's amazing. B+

Sceptile is another blisteringly fast mega whose power can sometimes leave much to be desired, but it has its niches over other, similar Pokémon such as Serperior and Latios. Firstly, it's stupidly fast - 145 isn't quite as dumb as Alakazam, so you need to run Timid, but you do get the jump on Mega Lopunny and Mega Manectric as well as the 130 crew so it's worth the power drop. Secondly, Lightning Rod and Leaf Storm make Sceptile potentially a lot more powerful than Alakazam despite having 30 fewer points in Special Attack. The higher base power on Leaf Storm helps a lot with nailing KOs, and being able to potentially boost your Special Attack by coming in on a Thundurus or Rotom-W is awesome. Speaking of Rotom-W, Sceptile completely walls it so it makes a good partner to Talonflame. Aside from that, it does all the things you'd want and expect a Grass-type attacker to do so there isn't much else here to say - Dragon Pulse is a neat secondary STAB but it's not incredibly strong and doesn't gain you any significant coverage except against other Dragons (Sceptile is p good against Garchomp and Salamence incidentally) and the Ice weakness is a little worse than usual but it's manageable - I'd put this at either B+ or A-.
 

Jibaku

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Last season = no pentagons = Extreme Speed was available to it

Before that, Entei saw basically no use and will drop off again this season now that the pentagon rule is back...
Not quite. In Season 11, five 2100+ rating teams used Entei. Also, Entei made it to top 50 in last season's Battle Spot Special.

In any case, Entei is one of the tankier fire types out there, being able to check threats such as Aegislash, Gengar, Thundurus (to an extent), Mega Charizard Y, Volcarona, and Rotom-H. . It lost ExtremeSpeed moving past Season 12, but the core reason to use Entei (Sacred Fire, tanky fire type) remains. Hardcountered by Rest Suicune but oh well. I'd say around B. Maybe B-, but definitely higher than C+ at the very least.
 


Tornadus-T Rank C+ --> Rank B

What makes you think that Tornadus-T deserves B?


Well I did read Pearl's comment stating that Tornadus-T does deserve a much higher rank than C+. So I did took that in consideration months ago and started experimenting more with it. There's many possible sets to run on this thing with a large offensive movepool, excellent Speed and Special Attack, decent Attack, and much better bulk than its terrible incarnate forme. Tornadus-T can really be an excellent pivot with U-turn + Regenerator, allowing it to break Focus Sash Pokemon such as Breloom and switch into a Pokemon that is immune to Spore etc. It also helps you scout moves that foe might have. Tornadus-T can provide utility in Knock Off, removing items from annoying Pokemon such as Cresselia, Porygon2, Suicune, Sylveon, Choice Specs, Choice Band, Leftovers, Eviolite, and Choice Scarf Pokemon. Pretty much every Pokemon that isn't carrying a mega evolution stone, which can give you the advantage later-game. I did find Icy Wind to be rather useful for Speed control. It helped me check Mega Salamence, Garchomp, and Landorus-T. This is given if Timid Tornadus-T is Life Orb with max Special Attack. Having Heat Wave in getting rid of Ferrothorn. Sludge Bomb / Sludge Wave in checking Fairy-types such as Sylveon, Clefable, and Mega Gardevoir. It's main STAB move Hurricance using to hit pretty much every type par Rock, Steel, and Electric-types. I also see Assault Vest come in handy surviving Sylveon's Choice Specs Hyper Voice, STAB Electric moves from Raikou, etc. This would also help with U-turn + Regenerator.


More Pokemon I'd like to bring up for discussion:

Tyrantrum

Liepard


Porygon-Z


Ditto


Goodra


Azelf


Arcanine


Milotic


Galvantula


Zoroark


Mienshao

Slurpuff

Avalugg

Ambipom



 
Yay avalugg! My favourite poke. And a counter (!) to the two most common pokemon on battlespot: garchomp and mega kanghaskan, and a great deal of the other physical attacking mons too thanks to its gigantic defense stat and solid hp. It is pretty slow, but with recover he can recover damage back and this low speed helps with making avalanche a 120 base power stab ice type move. Along with a pretty good attack stat this pokemon can be very offensive too. It also has a niche to deal with special attacking mons with sturdy and mirror coat altough that will be a one for one trade. Its best item is rocky helmet wich is very nice for switching in a fake out from mega khan cause that will deal more damage to khan himself then on avalugg. B- for me cause it also has some major flaws of course.
 
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Mega Camerupt to C/C-

One of the best possible STAB combinations, with the movepool and attacking stats to deal a lot of damage, good bulk with a nice defensive typing, and a somewhat useful ability pre-mega evolution, too. It's also great under Trick Room, a and beats lots of common Pokemon like Talonflame, Volcarona, Gengar(well, maybe), Blaziken, Serperior, Thundurus, and Aegislash. Obviously it has problems against lots of Pokemon like Garchomp and Rotom-W, but even most of these will take a lot of damage if you manage to get an attack in thanks to Sheer Force and good moves, that's why I think a D is too low for this guy.

Milotic to C/C-

Milotic is pretty close to Vaporeon in viability, I think: same type, slightly better ability, worse bulk overall, and slightly less SpA. It also has reliable recovery(which Vaporeon only has when running Protect with Wish, killing two move slots,) as well as some interesting moves like Mirror Coat, Coil, Light Screen, and Magic Coat.

Armaldo to B-/C+

Armaldo is really good-I don't know why it isn't more popular. I use it with an Assault Vest(the extra SpD is a huge boon, and Armaldo doesn't really care for Status category moves thanks to its great offensive move pool), though I can think of a few other sets that would be reasonable to use. With an Assault Vest, you can reliably check Gengar, and break a possible sub with Rock Blast. Speaking of Rock Blast, it ruins things like Talonflame, Mega Charizard Y, Volcarona, Thundurus, Mega Salamence, and a few others. The other three moves I use are Earthquake(great for Heatran, non-sub Mega Gengar, so you don't need to risk a miss with Rock Blast, Bisharp, Aegislash without an item, or when it might use King's Shield, Mega Mawile, Blaziken, and some other stuff, Knock Off for its great utility and power, demolishing Eviolite users and things weak to Dark alike, and Aqua Jet, mainly for its priority.

Regice to C/C-

I'm sure some people remember me advocating for Regice to be ranked. It has really good coverage, ice STAB is great and takes care of the plethora of Dragons and other Pokemon weak to it, though you may need paralysis/Trick Room support so you can OHKO them before they OHKO you, or Reflect so you can survive their attacks. Thunderbolt, or Charge Beam, can be very useful for Pokemon like gyarados, and completes the famous BoltBeam coverage. Focus Blast is useful for a lot of Pokemon like Kangaskhan, Tyranitar, Bisharp, and plenty of other Pokemon, though it's accuracy means you shouldn't always use it, even when it's the stronger move. Lastly, I like Ancientpower for the ubiquitous Talonflame, as well as its ability to deal with things like Mega Charizard Y. That probably sounds silly, but Mega Charizard Y's Fire Blast in the sun is a guaranteed 2HKO against 252/0 Assault Vest Regice after Stealth Rock-it's a 3HKO if you have Light Screen on your side, effectively allowing Regice to check the strongest special attacker in the game, even when it's using a super-effective STAB move boosted by the sun. That should give you an idea of how little damage AV Regice takes from Suicune's uninvested Scald, or its +6 Scald, for that matter. Even so, physical attackers are more common than special ones which is the only reason I'm only suggesting Regice be ranked somewhere around a C.
 
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Armaldo to B-/C+

Armaldo is really good-I don't know why it isn't more popular. I use it with an Assault Vest(the extra SpD is a huge boon, and Armaldo doesn't really care for Status category moves thanks to its great offensive move pool), though I can think of a few other sets that would be reasonable to use. With an Assault Vest, you can reliably check Gengar, and break a possible sub with Rock Blast. Speaking of Rock Blast, it ruins things like Talonflame, Mega Charizard Y, Volcarona, Thundurus, Mega Salamence, and a few others. The other three moves I use are Earthquake(great for Heatran, non-sub Mega Gengar, so you don't need to risk a miss with Rock Blast, Bisharp, Aegislash without an item, or when it might use King's Shield, Mega Mawile, Blaziken, and some other stuff, Knock Off for its great utility and power, demolishing Eviolite users and things weak to Dark alike, and Aqua Jet, mainly for its priority.

Regice to C/C-

I'm sure some people remember me advocating for Regice to be ranked. It has really good coverage, ice STAB is great and takes care of the plethora of Dragons and other Pokemon weak to it, though you may need paralysis/Trick Room support so you can OHKO them before they OHKO you, or Reflect so you can survive their attacks. Thunderbolt, or Charge Beam, can be very useful for Pokemon like gyarados, and completes the famous BoltBeam coverage. Focus Blast is useful for a lot of Pokemon like Kangaskhan, Tyranitar, Bisharp, and plenty of other Pokemon, though it's accuracy means you shouldn't always use it, even when it's the stronger move. Lastly, I like Ancientpower for the ubiquitous Talonflame, as well as its ability to deal with things like Mega Charizard Y. That probably sounds silly, but Mega Charizard Y's Fire Blast in the sun is a guaranteed 2HKO against 252/0 Assault Vest Regice after Stealth Rock-it's a 3HKO if you have Light Screen on your side, effectively allowing Regice to check the strongest special attacker in the game, even when it's using a super-effective STAB move boosted by the sun. That should give you an idea of how little damage AV Regice takes from Suicune's uninvested Scald, or its +6 Scald, for that matter. Even so, physical attackers are more common than special ones which is the only reason I'm only suggesting Regice be ranked somewhere around a C.
Armaldo isn't used much because it's really medicore. I think you're overrating Armaldo a bit too much there. The fact that it has only two not-so-great resistances (Normal & Poison), average bulk, and actually minds all kinds of status does not make for a B-/C+ pokemon. Its physical movepool is pretty good, but Armaldo lacks in power without a boosting move or item. It also has quite terrible matchups against the top 12; It only checks Talonflame and Thundurus. It sometimes fails to even do that. There are far more useful checks to those two. Armaldo doesn't have a great certain niche that gives merit for people to use it at all in this metagame. I'd consider D rank for this pokemon, leaving it unranked is a good idea too.

Regice isn't that great either. It has pretty lackluster matchups against the top 12, and it doesn't have a certain niche that would make people want to use it either. It does a great job at checking Thundurus, but it struggles to take out a lot of other pokes because of that average base 100 SpA stat. Like you said, being slower doesn't help it against dragons either and running trick room just for Regice isn't a good idea. Lack of reliable recovery for a pokemon with 200 base SpD sucks too. I'd say it belongs in D rank as well, C- if you want to be kind. Just want to mention that AV Regice would lose to Suicune because Suicune can Rest off your Thunderbolts and possibly set up Calm Mind too, whereas Regice can't heal because it's AV.
 
Armaldo isn't used much because it's really medicore. I think you're overrating Armaldo a bit too much there. The fact that it has only two not-so-great resistances (Normal & Poison), average bulk, and actually minds all kinds of status does not make for a B-/C+ pokemon. Its physical movepool is pretty good, but Armaldo lacks in power without a boosting move or item. It also has quite terrible matchups against the top 12; It only checks Talonflame and Thundurus. It sometimes fails to even do that. There are far more useful checks to those two. Armaldo doesn't have a great certain niche that gives merit for people to use it at all in this metagame. I'd consider D rank for this pokemon, leaving it unranked is a good idea too.

Regice isn't that great either. It has pretty lackluster matchups against the top 12, and it doesn't have a certain niche that would make people want to use it either. It does a great job at checking Thundurus, but it struggles to take out a lot of other pokes because of that average base 100 SpA stat. Like you said, being slower doesn't help it against dragons either and running trick room just for Regice isn't a good idea. Lack of reliable recovery for a pokemon with 200 base SpD sucks too. I'd say it belongs in D rank as well, C- if you want to be kind. Just want to mention that AV Regice would lose to Suicune because Suicune can Rest off your Thunderbolts and possibly set up Calm Mind too, whereas Regice can't heal because it's AV.
252 SpA Mega Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 212 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Armaldo: 67-81 (37.8 - 45.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ Atk Armaldo Rock Blast (3 hits) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Gengar: 84-102 (61.7 - 75%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

As you can see, Armaldo checks another of the top 12, and is a counter if Mega Gengar isn't hiding behind a sub. 252 SpA LO Gengar 3HKOs, too, assuming an Assault Vest, of course. It also doesn't care too much about paralysis and poison, which are 2 of the five statuses. Saying it minds getting frozen, burned, or put to sleep isn't a huge argument against it, since lots of Pokemon hate getting one of those statuses. I can't argue it's resistances suck, but I'd rather have few weaknesses AND resistances then a lot of each. I'd like to hear what more people have to say about Armaldo's viability in BSS before giving up on it(and I probably won't stop using it unless it starts to do worse in battles.)

Regice is another matter. For starters, even I have to say it has no real niche. I think it's a good Pokemon, but it fails to distinguish itself(for instance, like with priority.) It deals with a decent number of the top 12, but certainly not all of them, and even the ones it beats will rough it up a bit before it KOs them. I think you've convinced me it should be a D rank.

Do you have an opinion on my other two nominations, or should I assume you agree?
 
252 SpA Mega Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 212 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Armaldo: 67-81 (37.8 - 45.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ Atk Armaldo Rock Blast (3 hits) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Gengar: 84-102 (61.7 - 75%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

As you can see, Armaldo checks another of the top 12, and is a counter if Mega Gengar isn't hiding behind a sub. 252 SpA LO Gengar 3HKOs, too, assuming an Assault Vest, of course. It also doesn't care too much about paralysis and poison, which are 2 of the five statuses. Saying it minds getting frozen, burned, or put to sleep isn't a huge argument against it, since lots of Pokemon hate getting one of those statuses. I can't argue it's resistances suck, but I'd rather have few weaknesses AND resistances then a lot of each. I'd like to hear what more people have to say about Armaldo's viability in BSS before giving up on it(and I probably won't stop using it unless it starts to do worse in battles.)

Regice is another matter. For starters, even I have to say it has no real niche. I think it's a good Pokemon, but it fails to distinguish itself(for instance, like with priority.) It deals with a decent number of the top 12, but certainly not all of them, and even the ones it beats will rough it up a bit before it KOs them. I think you've convinced me it should be a D rank.

Do you have an opinion on my other two nominations, or should I assume you agree?
Gengar can just wisp armaldo though
 
252 SpA Mega Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 212 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Armaldo: 67-81 (37.8 - 45.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ Atk Armaldo Rock Blast (3 hits) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Gengar: 84-102 (61.7 - 75%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

As you can see, Armaldo checks another of the top 12, and is a counter if Mega Gengar isn't hiding behind a sub. 252 SpA LO Gengar 3HKOs, too, assuming an Assault Vest, of course. It also doesn't care too much about paralysis and poison, which are 2 of the five statuses. Saying it minds getting frozen, burned, or put to sleep isn't a huge argument against it, since lots of Pokemon hate getting one of those statuses. I can't argue it's resistances suck, but I'd rather have few weaknesses AND resistances then a lot of each. I'd like to hear what more people have to say about Armaldo's viability in BSS before giving up on it(and I probably won't stop using it unless it starts to do worse in battles.)

Regice is another matter. For starters, even I have to say it has no real niche. I think it's a good Pokemon, but it fails to distinguish itself(for instance, like with priority.) It deals with a decent number of the top 12, but certainly not all of them, and even the ones it beats will rough it up a bit before it KOs them. I think you've convinced me it should be a D rank.

Do you have an opinion on my other two nominations, or should I assume you agree?
If you want a more reliable check to Talonflame, Thundurus, and Gengar, as well as Blaziken (without HP Ice), Aegislash, and Salamence (to an extent); as well as is a really good mon in general, just use Scarf Garchomp.
 
Garchomp lacks some things that Armaldo has that would benefit it greatly(Knock Off, Rock Blast, priority, and no 4x weaknesses,) but I have to admit it's still better overall-if I didn't think that, I'd be nominating Armaldo for S rank. Even so, the two are different enough you can't just write off Armaldo as an inferior Garchomp(like Flygon obviously is)-you can use them together(they even have decent synergy-Garchomp takes rock type attacks easily.) Armaldo also fares much better against Porygon2(I realize that's not in the top twelve, but still.)
 

Jibaku

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A few things to consider about Armaldo:

What does it truly offer that other Pokemon can't? It doesn't have a unique set of resistances, and being a rock type that doesn't resist flying puts tremendous strain in teambuilding. A similar mon with very little resistances is Mamoswine, but Mamoswine is at least one of the best Electric checks in the game, granting him synergy with mons like Salamence. He also checks a handful of other mons and his STAB combination is amazing. On the other hand, Armaldo resists only Normal and Poison (two types that aren't really great offensively). It's a rock type that doesn't resist Flying and still suffers from common rock type weaknesses like Water and Steel., and it can't get past Grass types without using its Bug STAB. Most importantly, as a slow attacker, Armaldo must be tasked to check certain offensive threats. But what does it check?

Garchomp beats it, Kangaskhan beats it, Gengar burns it and doesn't care (ps: burned 5 hit Rock Blast is a 3HKO on max HP Mega Gengar). Thundurus sure, but Mamoswine does that too. Blaziken does too much damage, Talonflame 2HKOes with CB BB and destroys it with Swords Dance BB. It's not threatening Lando-T and Salamence straight up destroys it 1v1 with the help of Intimidate (plus Armaldo needs at least 4 shots of Rock Blast to take it down in subsequent encounters. But Salamence can OHKO Armaldo after SR damage). I guess it can beat the Charizards 1v1, and can check Volcarona to some degree. I guess beating Moody is something somewhat special too. But its use is way too specialized (basically you're going to use it if you need a Moody counter and someone that can duel the charizards. That's assuming you get a lucky Rock Blast roll or else it'll just 2HKO you with Outrage), that 99% of the time Mamoswine Rhyperior or Tyranitar will just outperform it. Armaldo not being weak to Fighting is nice I guess, but it's only good vs Blaziken, because Breloom/Conk/Lucario will still dumpster it (and Mega Lopunny if lacking Superpower).

Armaldo's lack of weaknesses is one selling point. Except that some of the strongest mons in the game already have low # of weaknesses (mostly Kangaskhan, but also Rotom-W, Mega Mawile, etc), and they offer more, such as having more resistances or in Kangaskhan's case, just straight up absurd amounts of power. Armaldo lacks defining resistances and his offensive presence is not even good. Basically you're going to have to convince me to find a team where Tyranitar, Mamoswine, Rhyperior, or Mega Kangaskhan can't do its job better (maybe a mono Bug team??).
 
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Hmm, my Armaldo has been doing quite well for me, so this is actually kind of puzzling. Rock/Bug is kind of awkward, since it doesn't keep the fire and flying resistances of a pure rock type, which is a huge loss, and Armaldo is definitely too slow for it's own good. Maybe I just got caught up in the novelty of using it. I also think the item I use(Assault Vest), is clouding my judgement. That item is just amazing, and can make a lot of Pokemon really good. Still, better to stick it on something that doesn't rely on it so heavily-I might be doing okay in battles with AV Armaldo, but give it Lefties or a Life Orb and it's completely hopeless. I guess I'll agree that Armaldo should remain unranked-even if it was given a rank, it's still not gonna get used anyways.
 
Hmm, my Armaldo has been doing quite well for me, so this is actually kind of puzzling. Rock/Bug is kind of awkward, since it doesn't keep the fire and flying resistances of a pure rock type, which is a huge loss, and Armaldo is definitely too slow for it's own good. Maybe I just got caught up in the novelty of using it. I also think the item I use(Assault Vest), is clouding my judgement. That item is just amazing, and can make a lot of Pokemon really good. Still, better to stick it on something that doesn't rely on it so heavily-I might be doing okay in battles with AV Armaldo, but give it Lefties or a Life Orb and it's completely hopeless. I guess I'll agree that Armaldo should remain unranked-even if it was given a rank, it's still not gonna get used anyways.
Do you have any replays of armaldo performing particularly well? Perhaps that could persuade us more. If you could show some replays of armaldo doing well in good, competitive battles that would definitely help your argument.
 
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/battlespotsingles-294302498

Unfortunately this is the only battle with Armaldo I saved, I'll do some more with it to show why I even brought up Armaldo in the first place. This battle probably isn't the best example, since I get quite lucky, and totally mess up entering Gengar(it was a really weird set, and I never used it after that battle. Although, considering Gengar didn't get to use a single move, it's like I never used it anyways.)
 

cant say

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Omastar68 do you play in-game on Alpha Sapphire or Omega Ruby? And if so; what's your general ranking? We consider the in-game meta the 'real' one, and even then, if you're playing at a low rank then Armaldo can probably do some work against the less experienced players. This probably explains why you feel so strongly about him whereas we're having trouble understanding why he's so good.
 

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