Rate of the Week V3: Week 4

[Enki]

Rate of the Week
​

Welcome to Rate of the Week! This is a project that looks to bring quality individual rates into the spotlight and recognizes the hard work of unbadged raters. Here's how it will work:

• Each week, official Team Raters will be paying close attention to the RMT forum and reading the rates posted in their respective tiers. They will then shortlist a few which will be in contention for the Rate of the Week award.
• From the pool of shortlisted rates, one will be chosen which most exemplifies the qualities of an excellent rate. That rater will be the winner for that particular tier!
• A post will be made by an official TR who specialises in that tier, explaining how and why the particular rate won. This will allow aspiring raters to gain an idea of what constitutes high-quality rates, and hopefully incorporate those aspects into their own rates.
• There will be multiple winners every week, one from OU and a couple from other tiers depending on the quality of the rates posted. We hope that in this way we can expand rating activity in less popular tiers, while maintaining a weekly OU winner.
• Official Team Raters are eligible to win, but not more than once. Unbadged raters can win the award multiple times.

So what's in it for the winners? Well, they will earn a place in the Hall of Fame, which will be kept in the OP of every thread, and their rates will be announced on social media. Also, after gaining 3 places in the Hall of Fame, a rater can be eligible to earn room voice in the RMT room on PS! on the condition that they've shown an interest in getting involved. Winners also earn more consideration for the Ladybug

and Team Rater

badges.

We hope that this project will encourage people to put more effort into their rates and become better and more experienced raters, which will consequently increase the quality as well as the quantity of rates in the forum. Good luck to you all!

Hall of Fame

Week #1 - Toon Linked (OU)
Week #2 - Nedor (OU), Arifeen (UU)
Week #3 - Fireburn (Ubers), Do A Bibarel (UU)
Week #4 - AM (OU), Raiza (PU), Kiyo (NU)

 

[MZ]

This week's PU winner is Raiza! He made a pretty cool rate which covered a lot of interesting options. He begins by talking about how the team faces issues from strong physical attackers like Mightyena, Golem, and Stoutland, and follows it up by changing Drifblim to Gourgeist-XL. He then backs this up by explaining how Gourgeist actually complements the team well despite fitting a totally different role and being a second Grass-type.

After that, he goes on to make a few set tweaks by giving Dodrio Knock Off and Simipour Superpower and Hidden Power Electric, and goes over why these different coverage moves fit the team better. Finally, he suggests that Grumpig run a lesser seen bulkier EV spread to better support Gourgeist and more reliably take on threatening Fire- and Ice-type attackers.

Thanks to his unique changes and helpful set fixes, Raiza has earned himself a spot in the Hall of Fame! Congratulations!

 

[Tricking]

This week's OU winner is AM! He made a concise and immediate rate with a good format. He starts pointing out that there's basically no need to run to run 30 Speed IVs on defensive Landorus-T, as it doesn't provide an effective advantage against opposing Landorus-T while leaving it in great difficulty against opposing Rotom-Wash. After optimizing Landorus-T's EVs spread to survive Latios' Draco Meteor at full HP, AM suggests to replace U-Turn with Knock Off; this unusual change, although losing a good utility move, allows Landorus-T to weaken switch-ins, which otherwise would heavily threaten the team, by removing their items. This is particularly helpful against the likes of Keldeo, Garchomp, and other bulky Pokemon in general that prevent Garchomp from sweeping the opposing team, as well as helping deal with Gengar, which can easily put a number on the team.

Finally, after noticing a glaring weakness to bulky Will-O-Wisp Talonflame, AM suggests to replace a great utility move like Thunder Wave for the rare Thunderbolt. This change actually provides a good lure against Talonflame without changing the team structure a lot, as well as dealing with Skarmory, one of the most common Spikes setter in the tier, which can be very annoying for the rest of the team.

Thanks to his helpful rate that further improves a solid team, AM has earned himself a spot in the Hall of Fame. Congratulations!

 

[Blast]

This week's NU winner is Kiyo! His rate provides solid suggestions that both improve the team's overall standing and develop synergy to better suit a certain playstyle. By changing Lapras to a Choice Specs set and optimizing Archeops's and Magmortar's coverage, he's able to form a very strong offensive core that put lots of pressure on nearly any defensive core in the tier. This goes hand-in-hand with his suggestion to change Sawk to a Choice Scarf set. As explained in the rate itself, the team should generally aim to play aggressively, using its numerous powerful wallbreakers to pave the way for either Sceptile or Sawk to sweep. With the set changes Kiyo provides, this becomes much easier.

He also includes more unorthodox changes such as offensive Stealth Rock Archeops and physical Defog Skuntank, which are normally uncommon but are necessary support for the team given the team's heavy weakness to entry hazards and the lack of a Stealth Rock setter.

With all of that in mind Kiyo has earned himself a spot in the Hall of Fame, congrats!