I though it was already C-Rank... Anyways, agreeing now. Also Foresight+Spin guarantees a spin so that warrants some too.wartortle is the best defensive spinner in the tier and actually has good synergy with many of the stealth rock weak pokemon, such as charizard or articuno. it can be physically or specially defensive depending on which pokemon you need it to beat. scald is a great move for hitting the spin blockers in the tier; golurk, haunter, drifblim, and even misdreavus all dislike switching into it because they either take a huge amount of damage from it or risk being crippled by status. wartortle can beat missy by simply spamming scald and burning it. additionally it has a lot of options such as haze and seismic toss that prevent it from being useless even after it spins away rocks. i think it should be moved up to c rank.
I use arbok more than I use muk, but you do forget some important aspects that make curse muk just as viable. First off, muk has better bulk even if arbok has intimidate (which does not work on regirock). Second, muk's sticky hold ability is nice, but it's poison touch ability deserves to be mention too since it's easy to fake sticky hold anyway. Poison touch along with muk's great bulk can really help you deteriorate muk's counters through the game to come back at the end and sweep. Poison'ing some stuff nearly 50% of the time with it's main stab (20% with other moves + 10% freeze on ice punch) can also let him nab some important 2hko'es without having to boost. For example, a max att +0 poison jab + 1 poison turn + shadow sneak will ko standard gardevoir making it very hard for her to switch-in. Arbok certanly does more damage at +0, but he has to rely on gunk shot's accuracy (which isn't even perfect after 1 coil) and then go for the sucker punch and hope gardy is standard and doesn't run sub or hope to win a speed tie. This substitue/s-punch problem is not something arbok only faces against gardy but against plenty of other threats like charizard, swoobat and simipour. After a boost, arbok is definately better most of the time, but against offensive teams that won't let you set up, muk can often be a better option. Muk also has the capacity to hit misdreavus better (unless you run aqua tail on arbok but muk can still get poison touch hax) which can make it better vs stall teams too since it's usualy the only counter stall teams run for both poison boosters. Muk also lives a rain boosted hydro pump from ludi while arbok can only sucker punch.I feel Arbok and Muk are too different to compare. Here is what I believe they should be compared to:
Muk = Snorlax of NU: His good special bulk and power enable him to take on just about any special attacker without SE STAB and pummel them with strong moves with good coverage. Even his CB sets and Curse sets share similiarities with Snorlax.
Arbok = Durant of NU: It starts off with innaccurate STAB, which isn't helped by its easily exploitable stats (like Durant). However, give it the chance to boost and it would have fixed its power issues and more importantly its accuracy issues in a single move. It can then proceed to wreak havoc on the opponent with adequate coverage and an acceptable speed stat.
However, I see two problems with Muk. The first is its STAB choice: Poison Jab isn't too strong but reliable while Gunk Shot is powerful but inaccurate. It cannot get the best of both worlds like Arbok can, which reduces his effectiveness. And then there's the speed, which Golurk and Psychics can easily outpace. Curse of course does nothing to resolve this issue, as its lack of reliable recovery means it cannot weather powerful assaults for too long, which would be before it can really get its sweep going. Arbok sits at a good speed tier, where it has a fighting chance against Gardevoir and Braviary while outspeeding Samurott and Ludicolo and has stronger priority in Sucker Punch than Muk's somewhat laughable Shadow Sneak.
While Muk has Sticky Hold to ease Curse setups, Curse isn't too viable in this metagame right now with all the powerful dangerous threats. Curse Muk also has to choose between bulk and power (CB Muk has slightly less of this dilemma). Arbok has the more universally useful Intimidate and Shed Skin, which allow him to setup on weaker physical threats and walls respectively. Arbok gets dangerous after setting up once; Muk needs a couple of boosts before Poison Jab starts dealing noteworthy damage (I still think CB Muk is better in this metagame).
I'd be okay with that.stuff bout grumpig to C
Banette to D, Simisear for C and Gardy to S I'm all okay with, but I'd actually like to push for Simisage to bump up to B (yeah, even beyond Simipour!!). Sub + 3 attacks with Overgrow is really awesome, and it holds several cool niches. For one, it doesn't really have much competition as a Grass-type; Serperior exists, yes, but it's not nearly as strong and doesn't have the coverage that Simisage has. It's slightly faster, but the only important things it outruns are: Rapidash, Kadabra, and Tauros (Jumpluff too if you're afraid of Encore I guess). Sawsbuck also exists but they perform different roles, and Simisage actually really easily beats Haunter too, which is becoming a very dominant threat in this meta. Simisage gets many set-up opportunities, whether it's on something like Alomomola or Golem or Golurk or w/e, and pairs really well with most Normal-types because it owns all the usual resists.banette to D, simisage/sear to C, gardy to S
Ayup. Definitely agree.Golbat to C
Okieee.Dodrio to D
I'm ok with Lapras / Relicanth / Huntail. Golem is definitely not on a downfall, and Custap Explosion is certainly good enough to have a niche. It's our best "suicide lead" while still maintaining plenty of utility for faster offensive teams, and it's one of the few SR leads that can actually beat Ludicolo etc. Arbok.. I don't think it's really C. It has the ability to sweep stuff after a single boost, and just the fact that Ground-types exist shouldn't be a deterrent. Musharna's popularity slows it down somewhat, but honestly Arbok can beat almost all Ground-types if they're slightly weakened. If other people agree with ya they can shoot me down, but I don't think we need to drop it right now.Golem to B, Arbok to C, Lapras to C, Relicanth to C, Huntail to D
Mmkay.Octillery to D
I'm okay with this. Slaking is abysmal in the sense that even though it's incredibly strong, you simply can't afford to give your opponent absolutely free turns to do whatever they want. It isn't an even trade whatsoever, and you have a giant disadvantage by using Slaking instead of something like Kangaskhan or Tauros.Slaking to E