Lower Tiers PU Viability Rankings

[Magnemite]

I'm not going to outright oppose the idea right now because I like the thought behind it, but there's a lot of issues with actually carrying it out. The first is that there are a ton of mons on the viability rankings, so actually carrying this out would take forever between writing up the descriptions, making sure they're actually accurate, and implementing them. There's also the issue of clutter. I don't want this thread to get cluttered, but making a new thread isn't very practical because there are already a ton of similar threads, so not only would there be overlap but the thread would also likely get lost among the many similar threads. Similar information to what would be implemented here is already included in the analyses as well.

What I will do is include a link to all of the PU analyses in the op of this thread, as that accomplishes a similar goal to this one while taking all of two minutes to do.

edit: it seems this isn't possible because of the way the dex lists PU Pokemon, so nevermind

 

[MaroGod]

Persian to C+
Persian has became very underwhelming. "cough" always was "cough" Its main set is a Nasty Plot which although not completely garbage is no where near enough to keep it B-

Its frailty is off the charts which makes it increasingly difficult to pull off a Nasty Plot and without +2 its attacks are nothing more but mozzie bites. Yes it has an amazing speed stat but with Scarf, Priority and something that can easily eat up its hits on almost every single team Persian is easily the worst B- pokemon bard Whirlipede.

 

[ManOfMany]

Persian to C+
Persian has became very underwhelming. "cough" always was "cough" Its main set is a Nasty Plot which although not completely garbage is no where near enough to keep it B-e

Its frailty is off the charts which makes it increasingly difficult to pull off a Nasty Plot and without +2 its attacks are nothing more but mozzie bites. Yes it has an amazing speed stat but with Scarf, Priority and something that can easily eat up its hits on almost every single team Persian is easily the worst B- pokemon bard Whirlipede.

This has been overdue for a long time, Persian deserves even worse than C+. Not only is its Nasty Plot set bad, it is pathetically outclassed by Nasty Plot Raichu, because Persian forces far less switches, has less power, and is not immune to T-wave. It is even outclassed by Calm Mind + Psychic Swoobat, because Swoobat has actual resistances to speak of and a buffer in Calm Mind, allowing it to set up much easier. Meanwhile, Persian's Fake Out set is just bad.

Move this down. It definitely does not deserve to be higher than Gogoat, and Rampardos on the rankings.

 

[trc]

I do think Persian should move down to C+ because I think it is worse than all of the Pokemon in B- rank, mainly because it is really frail but it doesn't get many opportunities to set up primarily because it doesn't force any Pokemon out, and I think that is the main comparison to be made with Raichu as balance breaker with NP. Persian really just doesn't get setup opportunity that often because it's too weak initially to threaten neutral targets and it doesn't hit anything SE with its STAB. It does have its own merits such as better Speed, but with Serperior left and Swoobat not particularly relevant,all this really means is tying with Floatzel and not other Raichu, and Raichu with NP is such a fantastic balance breaker that is really offered is a mostly irrelevant speed tier, a mostly irrelevant different coverage set, and a different set of resistances which hardly matter in the long run. I agree with a drop to C+.

 

[tom holland]

I'm nominating Raticate to move up from D rank to C- Rank.

C Rank: Reserved for Pokemon that are mediocre in the PU 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. These Pokemon exert a below average presence in the metagame.

Ahh, the evolution of rattata. It may seem underwhelming, but hear me out.

• Raticate is known as a cleaner for its guts facade set, allowing it to effectively 2hko nearly everything in the tier that doesn't resist it, and u-turn out for momentum on the predicted switch to the opponent's raticate counters.
• Raticate faces a lot of competition as a normal type breaker/cleaner with stoutland and ursaring, however where it differentiates itself is in its priority, better immediate speed, and access to u-turn.
• Raticate also has more power than both stoutland and ursaring, which may be surprising to you and may have not even known that. In fact, Raticate has a 93.4% chance to 2hko resttalk poliwrath after stealth rock damage, while stoutland is 77% and ursaring is a measly 22.7%. This means that raticate can effectively break slightly better than both stoutland and ursaring if you are just focusing on power.
• So the positive traits are that raticate has u-turn momentum to switch out of its counters, it has better initial speed until ursaring protects, and it has access to priority in sucker punch or quick attack. These traits however DO also come with negative traits.

252 Atk Guts Raticate Facade (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Poliwrath: 186-220 (48.4 - 57.2%) -- 93.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Stoutland Return vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Poliwrath: 181-214 (47.1 - 55.7%) -- 77% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Ursaring Facade (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Poliwrath: 171-202 (44.5 - 52.6%) -- 22.7% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

• Raticate has poor coverage, with its only coverage moves to hit steel types being rock smash and flame wheel, which are not viable enough to merit on raticate.
• Raticate is also very frail and can die to many things and get picked off with scarfers, priority or simply faster things such as kadabra and simisage.
• Raticate gets worn down very quickly from enrtry hazards, and toxic/flame orb, which makes it very difficult to stay alive the entire midgame-endgame.
  
• Raticate still does face competition from the more used ursaring and choice band stoutland, even though it does have traits that differentiates itself.

252+ Atk Pawniard Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Raticate: 162-192 (64.5 - 76.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after burn damage

In conclusion, raticate deserves C- rank because it is very viable with the right support, but it has many flaws holding it back too. It also DOES face competition from Ursaring and Stoutland on teams. However, it's greater power, momentum, and priority merits it a spot on teams, and it is good enough to be considered C- rank, where things like Cherrim, Illumise, and Swoobat currently are.

 

[MZ]

I'm nominating Raticate to move up from D rank to C- Rank.

C Rank: Reserved for Pokemon that are mediocre in the PU 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. These Pokemon exert a below average presence in the metagame.

Ahh, the evolution of rattata. It may seem underwhelming, but hear me out.

• Raticate is known as a cleaner for its guts facade set, allowing it to effectively 2hko nearly everything in the tier that doesn't resist it, and u-turn out for momentum on the predicted switch to the opponent's raticate counters.
• Raticate faces a lot of competition as a normal type breaker/cleaner with stoutland and ursaring, however where it differentiates itself is in its priority, better immediate speed, and access to u-turn.
• Raticate also has more power than both stoutland and ursaring, which may be surprising to you and may have not even known that. In fact, Raticate has a 93.4% chance to 2hko resttalk poliwrath after stealth rock damage, while stoutland is 77% and ursaring is a measly 22.7%. This means that raticate can effectively break slightly better than both stoutland and ursaring if you are just focusing on power.
• So the positive traits are that raticate has u-turn momentum to switch out of its counters, it has better initial speed until ursaring protects, and it has access to priority in sucker punch or quick attack. These traits however DO also come with negative traits.

252 Atk Guts Raticate Facade (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Poliwrath: 186-220 (48.4 - 57.2%) -- 93.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Stoutland Return vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Poliwrath: 181-214 (47.1 - 55.7%) -- 77% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Ursaring Facade (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Poliwrath: 171-202 (44.5 - 52.6%) -- 22.7% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

• Raticate has poor coverage, with its only coverage moves to hit steel types being rock smash and flame wheel, which are not viable enough to merit on raticate.
• Raticate is also very frail and can die to many things and get picked off with scarfers, priority or simply faster things such as kadabra and simisage.
• Raticate gets worn down very quickly from enrtry hazards, and toxic/flame orb, which makes it very difficult to stay alive the entire midgame-endgame.
  
• Raticate still does face competition from the more used ursaring and choice band stoutland, even though it does have traits that differentiates itself.

252+ Atk Pawniard Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Raticate: 162-192 (64.5 - 76.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after burn damage

In conclusion, raticate deserves C- rank because it is very viable with the right support, but it has many flaws holding it back too. It also DOES face competition from Ursaring and Stoutland on teams. However, it's greater power, momentum, and priority merits it a spot on teams, and it is good enough to be considered C- rank, where things like Cherrim, Illumise, and Swoobat currently are.

But why should we move it up? This isn't sarcastic, I legitimately don't see any reasons for raising raticate. I read the whole thing, and it basically lists everything we already know about it. Isn't being outclassed a good reason for leaving it in D, along with other outclassed things like Kricketune, Lairon, and Chimecho lairon (fine trc .-.)? Like your reasoning here is literally "it has traits that differentiate itself" when the same posts admits it's outclassed and doesn't do a good job of differentiating itself, which is why it's D in the first place. So I guess tldr; cool story bro.
Also we don't actually move things up based on the rank descriptions, they're just sorta guideline thingies added for fluff, so don't really need to cp them every time you make a nom

 

[trc]

Huntail is currently in E rank, yet is is a threatening sweeper that can trouble certain teams a lot. Yet, I understand why it is in E rank; if there are Pokemon that completely outclass even a great Pokemon, its viability can be reflected in a low ranking in these rankings because regardless of its true potential in a match, it carries the massive burden of the opportunity cost of not running the Pokemon which outclasses it, which completely hinders its viability and gives it its rank. However I am going to argue that Huntail is not suitable for E rank, which implies that it has literally no niche, which I contest.

It has a higher Speed than Carracosta which allows it to outspeed far more both pre- and post-setup, yet unlike Barbaracle it is able to easily beat Pokemon like defensive Tangela. It can also setup on a few slightly different things that Carracosta / Barbaracle dislike setting up on. Yes, that's it. Yes, that's a minor niche, but all I am asking for is for Huntail to be in at least D rank, to show that it does not have 0 worth on a team over other alternatives.

Also I feel like certain Pokemon could be misleading, so I kind of want to have like notes next to Pokemon with low rankings due to being outclassed, yet still threatening in a game, but you could make a case for every unviable Pokemon being outclassed so that probably wouldn't work.

 

[tom holland]

Megazard I personally don't understand why we would have rank descriptions without using them at all, that makes no sense my friend. I said that it has qualities which differentiates itself for a team slot, yes, and it is very true for the fact it has sucker punch uturn quick attack and more power. It's just the simple fact that there are three viable normal wall breakers in the tier I was pointing out that makes it hard to actually make the cut ALL the time. This goes the same for water type attackers like simipour, golduck, Poliwrath, and floatzel. If that wasn't clear I'm sorry I will be more specific next time. I said "it faces competition", not "it is outclassed" which are two different things. I did not contradict myself, I was stating a simple fact that I thought was easy to comprehend.

I still firmly believe raticate deserves C- rank because of its strong qualities. it differentiates itself from Stoutland and Ursaring, but still does have competition from them, just like all kinds of things in this tier, including the offensive water type example.

Also as for what trc nominated, I completely agree, as I used many different variations of huntail and it does have the small niche of being able to set up on a variety of different pokemon, being immune to burn is nice too.

 

[MZ]

Agree with Huntail, just getting that out of the way.
Ztstaffo I'd disagree with Raticate if you had actual reasoning too, I've tested it and it's fine in D. I only went after the post because you had no argument really and that was simpler. It has nothing to do with you, simply disagreeing with the nom. After rereading I still see nothing you bring up that wasn't patently obvious, so I guess I'll discuss why I don't think rat should rise since I don't have any arguments to address other than some competition versus outclassed semantics. First off, its only good niche is priority. The extra attack really isn't important considering how it matters in practice and u-turn doesn't give it shit over the others, as they're really easy to double with (as is rat) and it doesn't patch up any of its issues (in fact I believe the main way rat should distinguish itself is scarf, which gets use out of pivoting, has more speed than stout, and still hits hard with hustle). But honestly, I don't feel that strong priority gives it a c- niche, it's more of a d niche because it's this one thing that you'll use if your team is ridiculously slow and absolutely needs the priority over running Ursaring, which is like never. It's a breaker, and the priority makes it a little less susceptible to revenges from weakened faster threats but that's about it.
As far as rank description goes, don't ask me, I know it's counterintuitive. But they're just fluff, really subjective when discussing a closer case like this and don't actually need to be used. We just have them because wdm put them there but they don't get any consideration when discussing changes.

 

[Magnemite]

I can kill the rank descriptions if you guys want, I never once took them into consideration when running the rankings and therefore it's misleading to have them there, plus I never liked them anyway.

 

[tom holland]

While I do understand what you are saying with the U-turn not really being a huge niche, perhaps you haven't considered this perspective. U-turn allows raticate to effectively deal small chip damage as it switches to wither down its counters slowly, unlike just regular switching. Coupled with stealth rock and/or spikes, the momentum you grab while still dealing chip damage allows you to effectively break down your counters, such as making tangela lose damage every time it switches Into raticate thanks to u-turn+hazards, even though it has crazy bulk and Regenerator. The small damage u-turn grants instead of just switching may seem small, but it adds up and can turn 3hkos into 2hkos for your teammates. U-turn also has slightly less risk than plain switching. Not to mention u-turn can form a nice Volturn core ^^.

U-turn chip damage leads me into my next topic of raticates superior damage output by a few percentages. You say the damage doesn't matter in practice, however the ability to 2hko a rest talk Poliwrath most of the time seems very relevant, considering that re stalk Poliwrath is a pain for most physical attackers raticate can break through it for them, while Stoutland and Ursaring can't guarantee that for you. There are other situations where this event occurs as well, I will find them when I can but I am about to go to sleep. The small damage output bonus probably isn't so obvious compared to my other examples, which is why I shared it, and many games come down to damage rolls in pokemon, and this pokemons power prevents some of them in some circumstances, which seems like a relevant fact to present to everyone.

I'm sorry if you think I was saying random knowledge that people know about raticate, but I am just very thorough and try to make sure I say everything I can about the the viability of a pokemon so anyone who is uninformed will be be informed, as there ARE new users and guests that view this thread sometimes. Repeating common facts like those will give them more knowledge about pu that they didn't know, which makes my post at least important to those people. Informing people about PU is ultimately the goal of almost every project in the PU Subforum, right? ^^

I think I have substance to my argument, as these niches plus the priority we both can agree on are relevant enough to push raticate to C- imo. Honestly I guess it really just depends on what you all think is relevant or not, but one thing I have learned from pokemon is that the smallest things can really make a difference, whether you figure that out through losing to a low damage roll, or not getting that extra damage on a Probopass with uturn to get through its sturdy with simipour. I've been in mental pain by it all, so every little thing I try to take into consideration.

Magnemite yes please get rid of them if they aren't being considered anyways, since I have tried to use them the past two times lmao

 

[Magnemite]

2 AM update because tier shift is tomorrow and it slipped my mind this morning. I'm not really that awake rn so I won't post reasoning but most of these have some in the thread.

Gogoat from C+ to B
Linoone from B- to B
Seviper from D to C
Rotom-F from A- to B+
Hypno from B- to C+
Golem from A- to B+
Swanna from B to B+
Gourgeist-XL from A- to B+
Gourgeist-S from B+ to B
Mightyena from A- to B+
Rapidash from A+ to A
Persian from B- to C+
Gastly from D to unlisted
Lairon from D to unlisted
Lampent from D to unlisted
Sliggoo from D to unlisted

 

[Mistress Remilia]

Remove Poliwrath, Aurorus, Carracosta, Torterra & Pawniard.
Barbaracle for S+ because no Poli
Mightyena should probably go back to A- if not higher.

 

[Magnemite]

Removed everything that rose, rip

This new meta is gonna be crazy even without drops so please don't post random first impressions without at least a couple days worth of playing experience. If you make random theorymon posts before you get a chance to play around with the new meta, I'll just delete your post.

 

[Cheryl.]

I think it's time, now that PoliLord is gone, that this hidden gem, this monster of the sea, this pokemon, shall get ranked.

Carvahna for D rank

Carvahna @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVS: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Protect
- Waterfall
- Destiny Bond / Ice Fang
This is the lord known as Carvahna. With Speed Boost, it can boost his speed to very high levels in just a few turns, and it doesn't have to run a speed boosting nature because of that, so it can best use his 90 attack. With Life Orb, he's pretty powerful, securing 2HKOS on many pokemon like Roselia thinking they can switch in on it. Sadly, Carvahna has no bulk whatsoever, so it can't come in on ANYTHING, meaning it has to come in after a slow U-Turn or Volt Switch or when a teammate has fainted. It also has to Protect to get a safe Protect off, and it's weak to priority. But it has some utility in the form of Destiny Bond, which can be very useful as he dies to pretty much any attack, so he can take another life as well. However, if you want more coverage, you can use Ice Fang. The reason why it wasn't ranked before was mostly because of Poliwrath being everywhere, but now I think Carvahna has some potential in PU and should get ranked.

 

[cityfolk]

I'd like to nominate Krokorok to move from D to C- or C.

In this shift, Krokorok lost 2 of its biggest checks in Poliwrath and Torterra. Before the shifts happened, it was outclassed as a dark type/knock off user by Pawniard and as an offensive ground type by Torterra. Now that Pawniard, Poliwrath, and Torterra (and Aurorus although it's irrelevant to this mon) are gone, it has a lot more breathing room to attack and reason to be used.

The set I have found to be most effective is an offensive Choice Scarf set, which can make use of Moxie as a sweeper, or use (the ability I prefer) Intimidate to weaken physical opponents. With Pawniard leaving, Psychic & Ghost types became a little more effective, but now Krokorok and can threaten them with Pursuit trapping and a strong, spammable Knock Off.

Although I'd rather run scarf, Krokorok can also run an anti-lead set with access to Taunt and Initimidate, and can even set Stealth Rocks of it's own. I think this thing has more of a niche than other D-Rank mons, such as Tropius, and should be higher.

I'd also like to nominate Solrock to move from C+ to B-.

I've seen discussion of this throughout the viability ranking thread several times, but I don't think it ever rose. It just lost three huge checks in Poliwrath, Pawniard, and Torterra. This thing is a great check to Stoutland, Piloswine, Rapidash (without Megahorn), Arbok (if it runs EQ > Aqua Tail), Articuno, and more. It's able to cripple physical attackers with Will-o-Wisp, so that they do even less to Solrock, with it's already good defense. It also isn't passive with STAB Stone Edge or Zen Headbutt. It has a great matchup against almost every hazard remover, outspeeding and hitting Armaldo, Pelipper, Avalugg, Torkoal, for super effective damage. It has a good matchup against other Stealth Rock setters, especially with Torterra out of the picture, since they're usually physical and struggle to hurt Solrock. It has reliable recovery in Morning Sun (although only 8pp).

This thing is underrated and I believe it should move up, with many of the things that threatened it gone.

EDIT: Solrock, while it can burn Armaldo, probably still doesn't like taking Knock Off/X-Scissor.

 

[MZ]

Agreeing with krok (as always) but I also want to highlight that one of our best ghost checks just left, along with 3 potential sr users (rox pawn was underrated) while we're likely too (yes, theorymon I know) see a spike in Tangela and gourgeist as smash checks and torterra replacements somewhat. And I'm also basing the rise on non scarf unlike the original cityfolk because scarf is awful :S

 

[Anty]

I dont want to dive into the higher tiers since the change wasnt too long ago, but lower tiers have a few issues imo. Also just bc something has lost a few checks doesnt mean its a lot better (generally) as pretty much every mon has gained some way or another. Krokorok has a poor matchup vs most of the high ranks, but then again d-rank is pretty trashy so im not too bothered where it goes.

Metang to C+/B-
This has shown itself to be worth a team slot in PUPL. Although it does lack recovery, it has solid bulk and an amazing defensive typing, as it can switch into mons like stoutland, roselia, and jumpluff, while also being a check to both smashers (though can have difficulty RK'ing them w/o grass knot), and it is also one of the best psychic counters in the tier as none use shadow ball, and metang can pursuit. This could be best compared to gabite, though it has less of an offensive, it checks more mons, so it shouldnt be too far away from it. The main reason why i love this is because it will always do something when playing due to how many mons it checks.

Noctowl to C
This is underrated rn. Its special bulk is actually amazing:
252 SpA Kadabra Psychic vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Noctowl: 102-121 (25.2 - 29.9%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
252 SpA Kadabra Psychic vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Pelipper: 126-148 (39 - 45.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
It can also defog like peli does and switch into rose better as not only is it immune to the rare sleep powder, but it can also roost w/o fearing giga drain. It is quite passive and unlike pelipper cannot threaten anything trying to take advantage with a burn, so you have to chose whirlwind/toxic in the last slot. It also has a bad physical defense unlike pelipper, however it can stall out zebby w/ life orb recoil which is nice.

Octillery to E
Simipour exists lol.
Seriously the extra 7 special attack isnt worth the loss of speed, and it doesnt even have much more bulk than simi for it to be worth using. Its better coverage lets it get past politoed ?_? Yeah trick room isnt enough to keep this out of e-rank imo

 

[Turtwig523]

Very true Persain is bad and a very Frail pokemon and the worst sweeper ever in B-.This Pokemon is trash its worst then trash it is fast with scarf but does that matter. Nasty Plot set on this thing sucks cause base 65 Special Attack does not help it and never gets OHKOs. Raichu and Misdrivous is a way better Nasty Plot sweeper than that thing.I think this thing deserves to be in C+.

 

[Magnemite]

Floatzel from A to A+ I doubt anyone will disagree with this as Floatzel only has one common switch-in in defensive Roselia with others like Politoed being a lot less common. Floatzel is also the face of Water spam in the tier at the moment which is getting pretty popular. Overall a fantastic mon in the current meta that's easily A+.

Duosion from B+ to A- There's only one Dark-type in the tier now and it's not very common, meaning that it can more easily run Acid Armor and also has a much easier time sweeping. This thing is really bulky and sets up on a lot of common mons. It's also a really clutch mon as it can sweep weakened teams really easily and completely turn games around, as seen in this replay.

Things I want to see discussed:

Smashers to S
Politoed rising somewhere, probably in the B ranks
Mightyena rising back to A-
Is anything else (Pilo, Simipour, etc) worthy of being S rank?

 

[Raiza]

sigh I crashed, wanted to post this like a while ago
That replay is OBVIOUSLY flawed as I didn't have Encore on my Kadabra for some reasons and didn't crit you once with Shadow Ball cmon man...
ok but seriously, jumping in to discuss about some arguments, and to add that I approve the Duosion rise, while I also wanted to state that Duosion also puts a ton of pression on the opponent, because it is able to set up on a such big plethora of Pokemon in the tier and it also being able to run sets such as Acid Armor which steamrolls through the opposing team if unprepared(rise of a popular Dark-type such as Pawniard is even better is in this case), so the opponent has to play hella careful to not give opportunities to set up or he is basically boned, while of course you can take advantage of it.

I'll go swiftly through the other argurments, not really talking about Politoed as I didn't use / didn't face it a lot, but in my opinion B or B- is alright I guess? Acts as a kind of Poliwrath replacement with more meh typing and lacks other things such as Circle Throw but w/e Pawniard is also gone so that's some progress. Also this is the bane of Rain teams, which I see getting better and better(tbh Rain in still not that amazing), if running a defensive set, which also checks Water-type spam, and Politoed can also performs offensive sets so there's that. I'm not sure about giving the Shell Smash dynamic duo the fattie S, I mean they benefit a lot from this tier shift and it is pretty clear, we also talked about that a lot in the np thread, but the set up chances these two guys find are still pretty uncommon / clutch at least, so most of the times you'll have to roll a Memento user along with one of them to allow them to succeed. If they setup though they become lethal, to provide proof, in the game against Magnemite I would've basically swept him but I got baited by his Simipour, which wasn't Choice Scarf, but still I was lucky to find basically the only opportunity to set up on his Stoutland locked in Return. If there was a S- rank it would've fit perfectly for these two, but since there isn't, at the end I'm ok with putting them in S rank(or at least, Carracosta should definitely rise to A+).
Ok so apart all of this, I don't see any Pokemon at the moment worthy of the S rank, especially because the metagame stil has to settle a bit so we don't exactly know what is actually REALLY strong apart from the Smashers and Water-type spam but in a really generic way because Poliwrath is gone, but STILL we also have to see if Politoed is able to fare off well against them. I don't think other things such as Piloswine are deserving too, like it now has less competition as a Ground-type Stealth Rock setter and the rise of Poliwrath was good because Piloswine struggled against it, but yeah I don't really see a substantial improvement regarding things such as Piloswine.

 

[ManOfMany]

I'm going to make nominations for all the water types.

Floatzel to A+
Agree with Anty's nom, Floatzel is just really good right now, being both extremely fast and very hard to switch into. One thing I think is interesting is that Floatzel can run both special AND physical sets (yes, a physical set set is viable now). The advantages of a physical Choice Band set is that you get the 100% accuracy Waterfall with a bonus flinch rate, and you get to lure Floatzel's conventional counters like Clefairy and Roselia. Meanwhile, counters to the physical set such as Tangela and Gourgeist absolutely hate being Switcheroo'd, which is a great trade-off. It also gets the advantage of a powerful CB Return to cleanly eliminate other Floatzel and Simipour. Here's a nice replay of it putting in work.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/pu-256263861

Politoed to B-
Overall a Solid pokemon that puts a stop to water spam. Fairly bulky on both sides and not easy to switch into without a dedicated special wall or Rose. My favorite sets are Leftovers 3 Attacks + Encore, which can annoy stuff like Lickilicky and Gogoat, and Offensive Assault Vest (AV always sounds bad, but it beats water spam and Ninetales so it has merit)

Lapras to B-
Puts a stop to Water Spam similar to Politoed but has more offensive presence and struggles less with Grass Types. Also has a very threatening Cro set that became viable with the departure of Poliwrath (Curse, Rest, Sleep-Talk, Avalanche) that sets up on its conventional counters like Lickilicky and Clefairy. I encourage you to try out this set- it sounds gimmicky but Avalanche hits hard when it goes last, and its immunity to crits due to Shell Armor makes it very hard to take down. Here's a replay of it winning a tournament

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/pu-255706316 (Excuse the fact that I'm using Pidgeot, I just wanted a Dodrio with Defog)

Pelipper to B
Unlike other waters, this definitely got worse with the shift. Why? Simipour now runs HP Electric instead of Grass Knot, Golduck now runs HP Electric instead of Psychic. Also, Poliwrath left, and walling Poliwrath and Defogging on it was one of the main reasons to use Pelipper. Still should be a slot over Lapras and Politoed for the support it provides.

Golduck to A- maybe?
There's no denying that Golduck got better with Poli's departure, due to facing less competition as a Rain Dance sweeper. Also Croduck isn't Garage anymore. Still, it feels like A- may be too high for a somewhat niche pokemon that wouldn't be chosen on most teams over a faster special attacker like Ninetales or Simipour.

 

[BulbaSword]

Mightyena from B+ to A- With 2 solid checks in poliwrath and pawniard moving to NU there are less switch ins to mightyena on the average PU team. Pawniard moving up also makes in the premier dark type in the tier, which most teams are unprepared for in the current state of the meta. To summarize it's pretty straightforward that when 2 of the best checks for a mon move up, it becomes more viable.

also bulbasword is a cute user

 

[Magnemite]

Politoed from C- to B/B+

This is probably being overhyped a bit but it's really good. It hard counters Floatzel and Golduck and hard checks Simipour, which nothing else in the tier can do nearly as well, and has really good bulk in general. The best sets in my opinion are 3 attacks Encore and Specs. Idk what else to say about this but it's good now that it has more of a niche.

 

[Froggyboy]

Frillish to Unranked: Mightyena more popular, plus Poliwrath leaving means there is little reason to use Frillish now. I guess it can check Golduck, but Simipour beats it with Grass Knot or HP Electric, and Politoed hard walls it.

Purugly to B: Lost competition in Pawniard, plus Fake Out on T-Spike teams is pretty cool. Personally, I felt it was pretty underrated, but now there is more reason to use it now that it is the only viable Defiant mon in the tier.