Rate of the Week

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IronBullet

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Rate of the Week
Co-Hosted by Enki

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. 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 week!
  • A weekly post will be made by Enki or me 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.
  • 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 Rater of the Week Hall of Fame which will be kept in this thread. Winners also earn more consideration for the Ladybug
and Team Rater
badges.

The project will start next week, i.e. the week starting 22nd June. The winner of the week will be announced on every Sunday. 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 - Albacore (OU): Looking at the rate we can see that he has put a great deal of effort into it. The rate has an incredible amount of detail; even its minor suggestions have been backed up by solid reasoning and show a great understanding of the metagame. For example, Albacore suggested making Clefable more special defensive, a simple suggestion which goes a long way towards dealing with troublesome threats such as Thudurus and Kyurem-B. He also suggested Leftovers over Rocky Helmet on Excadrill, another seemingly minor change that actually makes a great deal of difference as it allows Excadrill to check special Mega Altaria more reliably.

In the second half of the rate, Albacore clearly pointed out the team's main weaknesses in Altaria and Gardevoir, and made effective suggestions in Talonflame, Klefki, and Skarmory, while making sure to address the pros and cons of each and back them up with good reasoning.

Albacore's rate exhibits good metagame knowledge, excellent reasoning, and suggestions that may seem small but improve the team a good deal. These are all qualities that aspiring raters should look to incorporate into their rates. Overall, Albacore's rate was the best one of the week, and has earned him a place in the Hall of Fame. Congrats!

Week #2 - Hairy Toenail (UU): HT's rate starts off with a solid suggestion to make Mega Beedrill Jolly instead of Adamant, which is extremely important in the current UU metagame as it outspeeds Scarf Chandelure and +1 Jolly Feraligatr. He also backs it up with good reasoning by saying that the power difference is not too noticeable as Mega Beedrill will be looking for a quick U-turn to build up chip damage most of the time.

In the second half of the rate HT highlights an important factor to consider when building spike stacking teams, which is how Defog works counterproductively when the team is focussed around spike stacking. So, he has suggested replacing Defog on Empoleon with Stealth Rock, an excellent suggestion considering how Xatuxx's sweepers force a lot of switches. SR is also extremely useful for CB Tyrantrum as it allows it to turn certain 2HKOs into clean OHKOs.

The final suggestion of Drain Punch over Spiky Shield patches up a key weakness to the team in Curselax, which might otherwise be an huge problem.

Hairy Toenail's rate is overall very well structured, shows good metagame knowledge, and provdes some solid suggestions for improving Xatuxx's team. He has therefore won the award for this week, welcome to the Hall of Fame!

Week #3 - ss234 (RU): This week's winner is ss234! Due to the equally high quality of both his RU rates and their different styles, we have decided to declare both as winners for this week. Congrats!

In the first rate, ss234 helps Senpai's stall team by changing Flygon's EV spread. Changes in EV spreads can be as important as changes in Pokemon, and they are very important to keep in mind when building and rating. With a bulkier EV spread, Flygon can take on Mega Houndoom, who is a major threat to the team, much more comfortably. The said fix does not change Flygon's other defensive capabilities much as it is still able to outspeed other important threats such as Jolly Scrafty, Defensive Drapion, Jolly Tyrantrum, and most Kabutops.

In the second rate, ss234 points out EonX's weaknesses to a few threats like Pursuit Houndoom and Cobalion due to his reliance on Delphox to check them, which isn't the most reliable option. He states, however, that any change would compromise the team's ability to deal with other threats, which shows an important quality of a good rater in that they should know when not to make changes too. He then makes an excellent suggestion to replace Togetic with Aromatisse, seeing as they both have similar roles, but Aromatisse provides notable advantages in that it is not SR weak, doesn't depend on Eviolite, has Aroma Veil to render Taunt Jellicent useless, all of which increase its walling potential considerably. It can also use Wish to heal Bronzong, which lacks reliable recovery.

Week #4 - DaAwesomeDude1 (VGC): In his VGC rate, we see that the first part is focussed on making the team more efficient in order to take on certain threats more easily. He suggests changing Landorus-T's EV spread in order to tank crucial hits from Bisharp, Zapdos, and Thundurus, which are all important threats, and suggests changing Rotom-W's EV spread to one more accustomed to its particular role in the team. He also proposes replacing the Choice Scarf on Landorus-T with a Choice Band, turning it into a dangerous wallbreaker capable of breaking past Mega Kangaskhan and Aegislash. He backs up this change with solid reasoning by saying that with two Tailwind users on the team, Landorus-T is not likely to need a Scarf the majority of the time.

In the second part of the rate, he proposes switching out Bisharp for Heatran. Seeing as the team has a huge weakness to Ice-types and Ferrothorn, this change makes a lot of sense. It also makes the team a lot more solid against dangerous Steel-types such as Metagross, and more cohesive as a whole seeing as Heatran works very well with Togekiss, Latios, and Rotom-W.

Overall, DaAwesomeDude1 points out the team's weaknesses and suggests efficient changes that go a long way towards improving the team. His excellent rate has earned him a spot in the Hall of Fame, congrats!

Week #5 - Lord Outrage (Ubers): In his Ubers rate, we can see that he first clearly outlines the major threats that the team faces, such as Extreme Killer Arceus, DD Mega Salamence, Arceus Ghost, and the Latis. He goes on to state what exactly the basic problem of the team is, which is that the inclusion of both Ho-Oh and Deoxys provides nothing defensively against the various physically powerful threats in Ubers.

He then provides several efficient suggestions that go a long way towards patching the team up towards the previously mentioned threats. Thunder Wave over Roar on Primal Groudon allows it to paralyze the Latis, while the replacement of Deoxys-A with Charti Berry Yvetal solidifies the team against Stone Edge Arceus, Arceus Ghost, and Salamence. It also provides a secondary check to the Latis. Lastly, Recover over ExtremeSpeed on Arceus Ground is a neat suggestion that gives it more staying power and allows it to check Primal Groudon more reliably.

His efficient suggestions along with the excellent structure and formatting of the rate has earned Lord Outrage a spot in the Hall of Fame. Congrats!

Week #6 - Christo The Gr8 (UU): Christo's UU rate is an ideal example of a well-structured and formatted rate that suggests very efficient changes without moving away from the focus of the team. He backs up Vapo's suggestion of Dazzling Gleam on Shaymin which allows it to destroy Hydreigon, a major threat to the team. However instead of replacing Earth Power, Christo provides solid reasoning for replacing Psychic, pointing out that it is mainly only used for hitting Crobat which is handily countered by Doublade. Hydro Pump over Scald on Mega Blastoise makes sense seeing as this team is very offensive in nature and would enjoy the extra damage output, while the suggestion of a bulkier EV spread is also important as it allows Blastoise, the team's main Fire resist, to check threats like Choice Band Entei more effectively.

Lastly, Christo suggests replacing Gligar with Nidoqueen. He reasons this change by pointing out that Gligar doesn't have much of a role other than setting up Stealth Rock, and doesn't contribute anything to the team offensively. Nidoqueen retains Gligar's ability to check Fighting-types effectively while packing a much bigger punch. It also synergises extremely well with Hydreigon, which can pivot out of Fairies attempting to switch in and give Nidoqueen an opportunity to come in and threaten the opponent.

Week #7 - Perennial (OU): Perennial's OU rate is excellently structured and contains effective and well-reasoned suggestions. He first recommends using Latios over Scizor, seeing as the team has a huge weakness to Mega Charizard Y and is likely to lose a Pokemon every time it is on the field. Keldeo also poses a huge threat, as nothing on the team enjoys taking a Scald, especially if Stealth Rock is up. Latios provides the team with an answer to the above threats and is also a faster and more reliable user of Defog than Scizor, which is important as hazard control is crucial to the team's success. Perennial points out that Scizor struggles against common SR users such as Garchomp and Heatran, and can potentially find it hard to get a Defog in due to its low Speed. He also reasons that losing Scizor's Steel typing is not that big of an issue as Metagross is still there to check Fairies.

The downside of introducing Latios is that it makes the team very vulnerable to Bisharp, which can potentially nab a Swords Dance by coming in on Latios's Defog. In order to patch up this weakness, Perennial suggests using Choice Scarf Keldeo instead of Scarf Kyurem-B as a revenge killer. He explains that this allows the team to retain a fast Pokemon to check threats like Mega Lopunny and Manectric, while addressing the Bisharp issue and also gaining a check to Weavile, which is troublesome without Scizor. Keldeo also has a resistance to SR, which lessens the pressure that the team faces from entry hazards. Keldeo also provides the team with an important Fire resistance, which alongside Latios solidifies the team against the likes of Heatran.

Lastly, Perennial makes two small suggestions to improve the team's overall performance. He suggests Stone Edge over Knock Off on Landorus-T in order to hit Talonflame, which is one of Volcarona's biggest obstacles, and Hammer Arm over Earthquake on Metagross to allow it to hit Ferrothorn, which otherwise walls it.

Week #8 - King UU (UU): In King UU's UU rate, we see that the first part is clearly focused on outlining the basic problem the team faces. The team's core consists of Pokemon with similar wallbreaking roles but not much offensive synergy between them, which puts a lot of pressure on Mega Swampert and Slurpuff in terms of dealing with faster threats and more defensive teams.

His suggestions of Cobalion and Cresselia provide the team with a solid backbone that helps in dealing with offensive teams while also giving the team's wallbreakers a better platform. He reasons the replacement of Nidoqueen by stating that it's too slow to be effective on a team without tailwind support and its role overlaps with others on the team. Cresselia provides the team with Screens and Lunar Dance support that significantly improves Swampert's and Slurpuff's chances of successfully pulling off a sweep. Cresselia also improves the team defensively, as it is a solid check to Dragon-types, particularly Kyurem, which the team struggled with before, along with other fast sweepers like Infernape and Azelf. Cobalion provides the team with SR and useful paralysis support seeing as the team is rather slow, and also gives the team an additional check to Dragon-types. Cobalion also provides the team with some much-needed speed; its 108 base Speed stat and typing means that it is an effective check to common offensive threats such as Hydreigon, Mamoswine, and Krookodile.

Lastly, King UU makes a small suggestion to replace Gyro Ball on Doublade with Iron Head, reasoning that the ability to hit slower Pokemon, such as Mega Abomasnow and Reuniclus, harder is important for this team, and that Iron Head can mostly hit anything that Gyro Ball hits just as well with a Swords Dance boost.

Week 9 - bludz (OU): bludz's OU rate is concise and provides well-reasoned, solid suggestions. He starts off by pointing out the team's major weakness to Latios, which troubles the team immensely with its STAB moves. The first change he suggests is to replace Zapdos with specially defensive Skarmory, which gives him a great Latios switch-in while also dealing with Fairies.

He then suggests replacing Landorus-T with bulky Garchomp, which provides the team with a decent Bisharp check, while still being able to perform Landorus-T's defensive duties. This change does make the team more vulnerable to Excadrill, but Azumarill is already a solid enough check, while his previous suggestion of Skarmory mediates this too. This is an excellent example of separate suggestions having great synergy with each other, and I encourage aspiring raters to take note. Toxic Garchomp also provides the team with a secondary check to non-Ice Fang Mega Gyarados, and prevents Mega Altaria from setting up.

His final suggestion is to switch Kyurem-Black for Serperior. Seeing as Mega Charizard X is plagued by bulky Waters and Grounds, Serperior helps the team greatly as it can take advantage of such switch-ins. It is also a more solid check to Water-types in general than Kyurem-Black as it lacks a SR weakness and mitigates the vulnerability to Dragons that appeared in the team with the addition of Landorus-T. He recommends running Taunt on Serperior to help the team's matchup against more defensive playstyles, and reasons that even though this change opens the team up more to Heatran, it's already covered well enough by Azumarill, Garchomp, and Hawlucha.

Week 10 - Tricking (OU): Tricking's rate has concise and efficient suggestions and is well-formatted. All the suggestions have been backed up by good reasoning and display a solid understanding of the metagame. Tricking starts off by suggesting a couple of changes to Hoopa's moveset to allow it to break through bulky cores more easily. Psyshock over Psychic puts a much bigger dent in Tornadus-T, while Drain Punch destroys Chansey and Tyranitar.

He then proposes switching out the current Gyarados set for a more offensive Dragon Dance version. He reasons this change by stating that DD Gyara makes an effective partner for Hoopa by being able to deal with faster threats that threaten Hoopa, such as Mega Manectric and Mega Lopunny, after a boost. In order to make up for the loss of Gyarados' defensive ability, Tricking suggests Hippowdon over Scolipede. The addition of Hippowdon makes the team a lot more solid against Mega Manectric, which was a huge threat previously, and forms a solid core alongside Mega Gardevoir and Excadrill. Hippowdon's access to Stealth Rock and Sandstorm, along with its ability to naturally check Electric-types, mean that Excadrill can now afford to run a more offensive set while still retaining its ability to spin.

With the addition of Sand Rush Excadrill as an effective revenge killer, Raikou is no longer required to run a Scarf. Tricking suggests running Assault Vest on it instead in order to to check various threats to the team, including Tornadus-T, Celebi, Hoopa, and Mega Metagross. Finally, he recommends a minor tweak to Gardevoir's moveset and EVs to better suit it for the current metagame.

Week 11 - fleggumfl (OU): In his rate, he starts out by reasoning that Scarf Keldeo is preferable over Jellicent as the latter doesn't really fit on an offensive team such as this, while Keldeo provides the team with a good offensive check to the likes of Scizor, Mega Lopunny, Mega Gyarados, and Belly Drum Azumarill, all of which the team struggled with previously. It also prevents Mega Charizard X from completely having its way with the team at +1.

He next recommends a Bulky Garchomp set over Conkeldurr in order to better combat contact attackers, which Weavile struggles heavily against. It also retains Conkeldurr's ability to check Mega Lopunny, and additionally can utilise Stone Edge to defeat Flying-types, especially Mega Charizard Y. This relieves the need for Heatran to run Rock Slide, which fleggumfl recommends replacing with Solar Beam in conjunction with Power Herb in order to better deal with bulky Water-types.

He then proposes replacing Rotom-W with Latias. The former is no longer needed with Garchomp countering physical attackers, and Latias importantly provides a great check to Keldeo and Mega Charizard Y in case Garchomp is too weakened to handle it. Finally, he suggests a couple of small changes in Poison Jab over Pursuit on Weavile and Pursuit over Earthquake on Mega Metagross. He reasons this by stating that Mega Metagross is generally the more reliable Pursuit user of the two, as it can more easily switch into the likes of Latias. Poison Jab allows Weavile to smash Clefable, which can otherwise be quite a headache for the team to deal with if it carries Thunder Wave.

Week 12 - YABO (UU): In YABO's rate, we can see that while the team looks solid, YABO points out two key issues with the team: a redundancy of bulky Water-type checks in Heliolisk, Vaporeon, and Reuniclus, and the fact that the team utilises a suicide lead alongside two Pokemon that are easy fodder for Defog users. The team also has a slight vulnerability to Curse Snorlax.

YABO's first suggestion is to replace Heliolisk with Toxicroak, which provides the team with a way to better deal with Curselax while also retaining Heliolisk's ability to check Water-types. Heracross is also an alternative that YABO suggests the team can utilise to defeat bulky Waters while also providing the team with an additional Ground resist to better deal with Krookodile. The next suggestion is a rather unorthodox one, but it provides the team with a more offensive option than Reuniclus, while also making the team a lot more solid against Flying-types and Dragons, which the team currently struggles a lot against. Trick Room Bronzong makes an excellent late-game cleaner, especially after powerful wallbreakers like Mega Sharpedo and Mamoswine have done some damage. It also insures the team against Slurpuff, which can otherwise achieve an easy sweep after a Belly Drum.

His final major suggestion is to replace Vaporeon with either Whimsicott or Slurpuff to solidify the team against Dragons such as Hydreigon, and also to maintain the offensive nature of the team. Slurpuff provides the team with an excellent win condition that can sweep late-game when its counters are weakened, while Whimsicott is a more conservative choice that also retains Vaporeon's ability to check Water-types.

Lastly, he makes a minor suggestion to bump up Crobat's Speed to reach an important benchmark so that it can outrun +1 Feraligatr or Azelf depending on how many Speed EVs are invested.
 
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This week's winner is Albacore! Looking at the rate we can see that he has put a great deal of effort into it. The rate has an incredible amount of detail; even its minor suggestions have been backed up by solid reasoning and show a great understanding of the metagame. For example, Albacore suggested making Clefable more special defensive, a simple suggestion which goes a long way towards dealing with troublesome threats such as Thudurus and Kyurem-B. He also suggested Leftovers over Rocky Helmet on Excadrill, another seemingly minor change that actually makes a great deal of difference as it allows Excadrill to check special Mega Altaria more reliably.

In the second half of the rate, Albacore clearly pointed out the team's main weaknesses in Altaria and Gardevoir, and made effective suggestions in Talonflame, Klefki, and Skarmory, while making sure to address the pros and cons of each and back them up with good reasoning.

Albacore's rate exhibits good metagame knowledge, excellent reasoning, and suggestions that may seem small but improve the team a good deal. These are all qualities that aspiring raters should look to incorporate into their rates. Overall, Albacore's rate was the best one of the week, and has earned him a place in the Hall of Fame. Congrats!
 
This week's winner is Hairy Toenail!

HT's UU rate starts off with a solid suggestion to make Mega Beedrill Jolly instead of Adamant, which is extremely important in the current UU metagame as it outspeeds Scarf Chandelure and +1 Jolly Feraligatr. He also backs it up with good reasoning by saying that the power difference is not too noticeable as Mega Beedrill will be looking for a quick U-turn to build up chip damage most of the time.

In the second half of the rate HT highlights an important factor to consider when building spike stacking teams, which is how Defog works counterproductively when the team is focussed around spike stacking. So, he has suggested replacing Defog on Empoleon with Stealth Rock, an excellent suggestion considering how Xatuxx's sweepers force a lot of switches. SR is also extremely useful for CB Tyrantrum as it allows it to turn certain 2HKOs into clean OHKOs.

The final suggestion of Drain Punch over Spiky Shield patches up a key weakness to the team in Curselax, which might otherwise be an huge problem.

Hairy Toenail's rate is overall very well structured, shows good metagame knowledge, and provdes some solid suggestions for improving Xatuxx's team. He has therefore won the award for this week, welcome to the Hall of Fame!
 
This week's winner is ss234! Due to the equally high quality of both his RU rates and their different styles, we have decided to declare both as winners for this week. Congrats!

In the first rate, ss234 helps Senpai's stall team by changing Flygon's EV spread. Changes in EV spreads can be as important as changes in Pokemon, and they are very important to keep in mind when building and rating. With a bulkier EV spread, Flygon can take on Mega Houndoom, who is a major threat to the team, much more comfortably. The said fix does not change Flygon's other defensive capabilities much as it is still able to outspeed other important threats such as Jolly Scrafty, Defensive Drapion, Jolly Tyrantrum, and most Kabutops.

In the second rate, ss234 points out EonX's weaknesses to a few threats like Pursuit Houndoom and Cobalion due to his reliance on Delphox to check them, which isn't the most reliable option. He states, however, that any change would compromise the team's ability to deal with other threats, which shows an important quality of a good rater in that they should know when not to make changes too. He then makes an excellent suggestion to replace Togetic with Aromatisse, seeing as they both have similar roles, but Aromatisse provides notable advantages in that it is not SR weak, doesn't depend on Eviolite, has Aroma Veil to render Taunt Jellicent useless, all of which increase its walling potential considerably. It can also use Wish to heal Bronzong, which lacks reliable recovery.
 

IronBullet

Astronomy Domine
is a Top Tutor Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
This week's winner is DaAwesomeDude1!

In his VGC rate, we see that the first part is focussed on making the team more efficient in order to take on certain threats more easily. He suggests changing Landorus-T's EV spread in order to tank crucial hits from Bisharp, Zapdos, and Thundurus, which are all important threats, and suggests changing Rotom-W's EV spread to one more accustomed to its particular role in the team. He also proposes replacing the Choice Scarf on Landorus-T with a Choice Band, turning it into a dangerous wallbreaker capable of breaking past Mega Kangaskhan and Aegislash. He backs up this change with solid reasoning by saying that with two Tailwind users on the team, Landorus-T is not likely to need a Scarf the majority of the time.

In the second part of the rate, he proposes switching out Bisharp for Heatran. Seeing as the team has a huge weakness to Ice-types and Ferrothorn, this change makes a lot of sense. It also makes the team a lot more solid against dangerous Steel-types such as Metagross, and more cohesive as a whole seeing as Heatran works very well with Togekiss, Latios, and Rotom-W.

Overall, DaAwesomeDude1 points out the team's weaknesses and suggests efficient changes that go a long way towards improving the team. His excellent rate has earned him a spot in the Hall of Fame, congrats!
 

IronBullet

Astronomy Domine
is a Top Tutor Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
This week's winner is Lord Outrage!

In his Ubers rate, we can see that he first clearly outlines the major threats that the team faces, such as Extreme Killer Arceus, DD Mega Salamence, Arceus Ghost, and the Latis. He goes on to state what exactly the basic problem of the team is, which is that the inclusion of both Ho-Oh and Deoxys provides nothing defensively against the various physically powerful threats in Ubers.

He then provides several efficient suggestions that go a long way towards patching the team up towards the previously mentioned threats. Thunder Wave over Roar on Primal Groudon allows it to paralyze the Latis, while the replacement of Deoxys-A with Charti Berry Yvetal solidifies the team against Stone Edge Arceus, Arceus Ghost, and Salamence. It also provides a secondary check to the Latis. Lastly, Recover over ExtremeSpeed on Arceus Ground is a neat suggestion that gives it more staying power and allows it to check Primal Groudon more reliably.

His efficient suggestions along with the excellent structure and formatting of the rate has earned Lord Outrage a spot in the Hall of Fame. Congrats!
 

IronBullet

Astronomy Domine
is a Top Tutor Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
This week's winner is Christo The Gr8!

His UU rate is an ideal example of a well-structured and formatted rate that suggests very efficient changes without moving away from the focus of the team. He backs up Vapo's suggestion of Dazzling Gleam on Shaymin which allows it to destroy Hydreigon, a major threat to the team. However instead of replacing Earth Power, Christo provides solid reasoning for replacing Psychic, pointing out that it is mainly only used for hitting Crobat which is handily countered by Doublade. Hydro Pump over Scald on Mega Blastoise makes sense seeing as this team is very offensive in nature and would enjoy the extra damage output, while the suggestion of a bulkier EV spread is also important as it allows Blastoise, the team's main Fire resist, to check threats like Choice Band Entei more effectively.

Lastly, Christo suggests replacing Gligar with Nidoqueen. He reasons this change by pointing out that Gligar doesn't have much of a role other than setting up Stealth Rock, and doesn't contribute anything to the team offensively. Nidoqueen retains Gligar's ability to check Fighting-types effectively while packing a much bigger punch. It also synergises extremely well with Hydreigon, which can pivot out of Fairies attempting to switch in and give Nidoqueen an opportunity to come in and threaten the opponent.

Christo's excellent rate has earned him a spot in the Hall of Fame, congrats!
 

IronBullet

Astronomy Domine
is a Top Tutor Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
This week's winner is Perennial! His OU rate is excellently structured and contains effective and well-reasoned suggestions. He first recommends using Latios over Scizor, seeing as the team has a huge weakness to Mega Charizard Y and is likely to lose a Pokemon every time it is on the field. Keldeo also poses a huge threat, as nothing on the team enjoys taking a Scald, especially if Stealth Rock is up. Latios provides the team with an answer to the above threats and is also a faster and more reliable user of Defog than Scizor, which is important as hazard control is crucial to the team's success. Perennial points out that Scizor struggles against common SR users such as Garchomp and Heatran, and can potentially find it hard to get a Defog in due to its low Speed. He also reasons that losing Scizor's Steel typing is not that big of an issue as Metagross is still there to check Fairies.

The downside of introducing Latios is that it makes the team very vulnerable to Bisharp, which can potentially nab a Swords Dance by coming in on Latios's Defog. In order to patch up this weakness, Perennial suggests using Choice Scarf Keldeo instead of Scarf Kyurem-B as a revenge killer. He explains that this allows the team to retain a fast Pokemon to check threats like Mega Lopunny and Manectric, while addressing the Bisharp issue and also gaining a check to Weavile, which is troublesome without Scizor. Keldeo also has a resistance to SR, which lessens the pressure that the team faces from entry hazards. Keldeo also provides the team with an important Fire resistance, which alongside Latios solidifies the team against the likes of Heatran.

Lastly, Perennial makes two small suggestions to improve the team's overall performance. He suggests Stone Edge over Knock Off on Landorus-T in order to hit Talonflame, which is one of Volcarona's biggest obstacles, and Hammer Arm over Earthquake on Metagross to allow it to hit Ferrothorn, which otherwise walls it. Welcome to the Hall of Fame, Perennial!
 

IronBullet

Astronomy Domine
is a Top Tutor Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
This week's winner is King UU!

In his UU rate, we see that the first part is clearly focused on outlining the basic problem the team faces. The team's core consists of Pokemon with similar wallbreaking roles but not much offensive synergy between them, which puts a lot of pressure on Mega Swampert and Slurpuff in terms of dealing with faster threats and more defensive teams.

His suggestions of Cobalion and Cresselia provide the team with a solid backbone that helps in dealing with offensive teams while also giving the team's wallbreakers a better platform. He reasons the replacement of Nidoqueen by stating that it's too slow to be effective on a team without tailwind support and its role overlaps with others on the team. Cresselia provides the team with Screens and Lunar Dance support that significantly improves Swampert's and Slurpuff's chances of successfully pulling off a sweep. Cresselia also improves the team defensively, as it is a solid check to Dragon-types, particularly Kyurem, which the team struggled with before, along with other fast sweepers like Infernape and Azelf. Cobalion provides the team with SR and useful paralysis support seeing as the team is rather slow, and also gives the team an additional check to Dragon-types. Cobalion also provides the team with some much-needed speed; its 108 base Speed stat and typing means that it is an effective check to common offensive threats such as Hydreigon, Mamoswine, and Krookodile.

Lastly, King UU makes a small suggestion to replace Gyro Ball on Doublade with Iron Head, reasoning that the ability to hit slower Pokemon, such as Mega Abomasnow and Reuniclus, harder is important for this team, and that Iron Head can mostly hit anything that Gyro Ball hits just as well with a Swords Dance boost. His efficient suggestions along with the excellent structure and formatting of the rate has earned King UU a spot in the Hall of Fame. Congrats!
 

IronBullet

Astronomy Domine
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This week's winner is bludz! His OU rate is concise and provides well-reasoned, solid suggestions. He starts off by pointing out the team's major weakness to Latios, which troubles the team immensely with its STAB moves. The first change he suggests is to replace Zapdos with specially defensive Skarmory, which gives him a great Latios switch-in while also dealing with Fairies.

He then suggests replacing Landorus-T with bulky Garchomp, which provides the team with a decent Bisharp check, while still being able to perform Landorus-T's defensive duties. This change does make the team more vulnerable to Excadrill, but Azumarill is already a solid enough check, while his previous suggestion of Skarmory mediates this too. This is an excellent example of separate suggestions having great synergy with each other, and I encourage aspiring raters to take note. Toxic Garchomp also provides the team with a secondary check to non-Ice Fang Mega Gyarados, and prevents Mega Altaria from setting up.

His final suggestion is to switch Kyurem-Black for Serperior. Seeing as Mega Charizard X is plagued by bulky Waters and Grounds, Serperior helps the team greatly as it can take advantage of such switch-ins. It is also a more solid check to Water-types in general than Kyurem-Black as it lacks a SR weakness and mitigates the vulnerability to Dragons that appeared in the team with the addition of Landorus-T. He recommends running Taunt on Serperior to help the team's matchup against more defensive playstyles, and reasons that even though this change opens the team up more to Heatran, it's already covered well enough by Azumarill, Garchomp, and Hawlucha. Congrats bludz, welcome to the Hall of Fame!
 

IronBullet

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This week's winner is Tricking! His rate has concise and efficient suggestions and is well-formatted. All the suggestions have been backed up by good reasoning and display a solid understanding of the metagame. Tricking starts off by suggesting a couple of changes to Hoopa's moveset to allow it to break through bulky cores more easily. Psyshock over Psychic puts a much bigger dent in Tornadus-T, while Drain Punch destroys Chansey and Tyranitar.

He then proposes switching out the current Gyarados set for a more offensive Dragon Dance version. He reasons this change by stating that DD Gyara makes an effective partner for Hoopa by being able to deal with faster threats that threaten Hoopa, such as Mega Manectric and Mega Lopunny, after a boost. In order to make up for the loss of Gyarados' defensive ability, Tricking suggests Hippowdon over Scolipede. The addition of Hippowdon makes the team a lot more solid against Mega Manectric, which was a huge threat previously, and forms a solid core alongside Mega Gardevoir and Excadrill. Hippowdon's access to Stealth Rock and Sandstorm, along with its ability to naturally check Electric-types, mean that Excadrill can now afford to run a more offensive set while still retaining its ability to spin.

With the addition of Sand Rush Excadrill as an effective revenge killer, Raikou is no longer required to run a Scarf. Tricking suggests running Assault Vest on it instead in order to to check various threats to the team, including Tornadus-T, Celebi, Hoopa, and Mega Metagross. Finally, he recommends a minor tweak to Gardevoir's moveset and EVs to better suit it for the current metagame.

Overall, Tricking has suggested efficient changes that improve the team a good deal. His excellent rate has earned him a spot in the Hall of Fame, congrats!
 

IronBullet

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Sorry for missing this last week! Had my thesis submission on Tuesday so I was really busy with that.

This week's winner is fleggumfl! In his rate, he starts out by reasoning that Scarf Keldeo is preferable over Jellicent as the latter doesn't really fit on an offensive team such as this, while Keldeo provides the team with a good offensive check to the likes of Scizor, Mega Lopunny, Mega Gyarados, and Belly Drum Azumarill, all of which the team struggled with previously. It also prevents Mega Charizard X from completely having its way with the team at +1.

He next recommends a Bulky Garchomp set over Conkeldurr in order to better combat contact attackers, which Weavile struggles heavily against. It also retains Conkeldurr's ability to check Mega Lopunny, and additionally can utilise Stone Edge to defeat Flying-types, especially Mega Charizard Y. This relieves the need for Heatran to run Rock Slide, which fleggumfl recommends replacing with Solar Beam in conjunction with Power Herb in order to better deal with bulky Water-types.

He then proposes replacing Rotom-W with Latias. The former is no longer needed with Garchomp countering physical attackers, and Latias importantly provides a great check to Keldeo and Mega Charizard Y in case Garchomp is too weakened to handle it. Finally, he suggests a couple of small changes in Poison Jab over Pursuit on Weavile and Pursuit over Earthquake on Mega Metagross. He reasons this by stating that Mega Metagross is generally the more reliable Pursuit user of the two, as it can more easily switch into the likes of Latias. Poison Jab allows Weavile to smash Clefable, which can otherwise be quite a headache for the team to deal with if it carries Thunder Wave.

fleggumfl's efficient suggestions along with the excellent formatting of the rate has earned him a spot in the Hall of Fame. Congrats!
 

IronBullet

Astronomy Domine
is a Top Tutor Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
Just a note that this will be the last Rate of the Week for this edition. We're expanding it to include more tiers in order to hopefully bring more attention to lower tiers while maintaining at least one OU winner every week. Stay tuned for the revamp starting next week!

This week's winner is YABO! In his UU rate, we can see that while the team looks solid, YABO points out two key issues with the team: a redundancy of bulky Water-type checks in Heliolisk, Vaporeon, and Reuniclus, and the fact that the team utilises a suicide lead alongside two Pokemon that are easy fodder for Defog users. The team also has a slight vulnerability to Curse Snorlax.

YABO's first suggestion is to replace Heliolisk with Toxicroak, which provides the team with a way to better deal with Curselax while also retaining Heliolisk's ability to check Water-types. Heracross is also an alternative that YABO suggests the team can utilise to defeat bulky Waters while also providing the team with an additional Ground resist to better deal with Krookodile. The next suggestion is a rather unorthodox one, but it provides the team with a more offensive option than Reuniclus, while also making the team a lot more solid against Flying-types and Dragons, which the team currently struggles a lot against. Trick Room Bronzong makes an excellent late-game cleaner, especially after powerful wallbreakers like Mega Sharpedo and Mamoswine have done some damage. It also insures the team against Slurpuff, which can otherwise achieve an easy sweep after a Belly Drum.

His final major suggestion is to replace Vaporeon with either Whimsicott or Slurpuff to solidify the team against Dragons such as Hydreigon, and also to maintain the offensive nature of the team. Slurpuff provides the team with an excellent win condition that can sweep late-game when its counters are weakened, while Whimsicott is a more conservative choice that also retains Vaporeon's ability to check Water-types.

Lastly, he makes a minor suggestion to bump up Crobat's Speed to reach an important benchmark so that it can outrun +1 Feraligatr or Azelf depending on how many Speed EVs are invested. Overall, YABO's thoughtful suggestions along with the excellent formatting of the rate has earned him a spot in the Hall of Fame. Congrats!
 
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