USM NU Sets Viability Rankings

[banks]

approuve par Hootie
format based off Colonel M's ver

amazing banner by the amazing T-Lukke

hi. this nu sets viability rankings. in this thread, we as a community will rank every pokemons usable set into which tier of the viability ranking they individually fall under. In this thread, you're encouraged to post your thoughts and opinions on the various set rankings for each pokemon. posts in this thread will be taken into account when deciding rank changes.

you can also check out the NU Role Compendium for more info

terminology
​

all-out attacker - means every move used on this pokemon is an offensive move. there are no setup moves, utility moves, nor support moves
offensive - usually incorporates Pokemon that are offensively-oriented; however, may have some utility with them (i.e. taunt, intimidate) or setup moves
utility - varies from pokemon to pokemon, but basically these pokemon are not often offensive based and, even if they are, usually support the team more often than sweep. such examples are laying entry hazards, wish pass, or using u-turn / volt switch. This can sometimes be known as pivot as well
defensive - are basically pokemon that are more defensively-oriented


S Rank:

S​

Slowbro​

Assault Vest: S​

Defensive: A+​

Calm Mind + Toxic: A​

Calm Mind + Block: A-​

​

Incineroar​

Offensive Swords Dance: S​

Iapapa Berry Pivot: A+​

Assault Vest: B-​

​

A Rank:

A+​

Decidueye​

Offensive Swords Dance Z-Move: A+​

Offensive Life Orb Attacker: A+​

Defenisve Utility Defog: A-​

​

Diancie​

Defensive Stealth Rock: A+​

Choice Specs: A+​

Offensive Calm Mind / Stealth Rock: A+​

​

Passimian​

Choice Scarf: A+​

Choice Band: A-​

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Sneasel​

All-Out Attacker Choice Band: A+​

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Steelix​

Stealth Rock Utility: A+​

​

​

A​

Audino-Mega​

Defensive Utility (Wish): A​

Offensive 3 Attacks + Healing Wish: B​

Calm Mind: B-​

​

Guzzlord​

All-Out Attacker Z-Move: A​

Choice Specs: A​

Assault Vest: B+​

​

Hariyama​

Assault Vest: A​

Toxic + Protect: B​

Guts + Flame Orb: B​

​

Heliolisk​

All-out Attacker Life Orb / Z-Move / Expert Belt: A​

All-out Attacker Choice Specs / Scarf: A-​

​

Klinklang​

Offensive Setup Sweeper: A​

​

Medicham​

All-Out Attacker Life Orb: A​

Choice Scarf: B+​

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Whimsicott​

Life Orb Offensive: A​

All-Out Attacker Choice Specs: A​

SubSeed: B​

​

​

A-​

Braviary​

Sub + Bulk up: A-​

Choice Scarf: A-​

Offensive Bulk Up Z-Move: A-​

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Garbodor​

Defensive Utility Spike Setter: A-​

Offensive Utility Spike Setter: B-​

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Palossand​

Defensive Utility Stealth Rock: A-​

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Rhydon​

Bulky Offensive Stealth Rock: A-​

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Rotom​

Hex Offensive Utility: A-​

Choice Scarf Utility: A-​

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Sceptile​

All-Out Attacker Life Orb: A-​

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Slowking​

Assault Vest: A-​

Offensive Trick Room: A-​

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Xatu​

Defensive Utility (magic bounce): A-​

​

​

B Rank:

B+​

Aromatisse​

Offensive Trick Room: B+​

Defensive Utility: B-​

​

Comfey​

LO + CM: B+​

Choice Specs: B​

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Dhelmise​

All-out Attacker Choice Band: B+​

Offensive Synthesis: B+​

Offensive Rapid Spin + Rest: B+​

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Ferrossed​

Defensive utility hazard setter: B+​

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Piloswine​

Stealth Rock Offensive Utility: B+​

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Scrafty​

Chople Berry + Dragon Dance: B+​

Bulk Up + Rest: B+​

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Sigilyph​

Offensive Defog: B+​

All-Out Attacker Life Orb: B+​

Cosmic Power: B​

​

Type: Null​

Defensive Swords Dance + Iron Defence: B+​

Defensive RestTalk Pivot: B+​

​

Vaporeon​

Defensive Utility: B+​

Offensive Z-Celebrate: B​

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Vivillon​

Offensive Quiver Dance: B+​

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Vileplume​

Defensive: B+​

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B​

Blastoise​

Defensive utility Rapid Spin: B​

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Cryogonal​

Defensive Utility Hazard Remover: B​

Offensive Utility Hazard Remover: C-​

​

Delphox​

Choice Scarf: B​

Offensive Calm Mind: B​

Wish + Protect: C+​

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Druddigon​

Stealth Rock Defensive Utility: B​

Offensive Sheer Force: C+​

​

Hitmonlee​

All-Out Attacker: B​

Offensive Curse + White Herb: B-​

Choice Scarf: B-​

​

Houndoom​

Choice Scarf: B-​

Offensive Nasty Plot: B​

All-Out Attacker Life Orb: C+​

​

Magmortar​

Offensive 3 Attacks + Z-Move: B​

Assualt Vest: B-​

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Malamar​

Bulky Offensive Rest + Sleep Talk: B​

Offensive Z-Happy Hour: B​

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Miltank​

Defensive Utility Stealth Rock: B​

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Omastar​

Offensive Shell Smash: B​

Offensive Utility Spikes: B-​

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Pyukumuku​

Defensive: B​

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Torterra​

Bulky Offensive utility Stealth Rock: B​

Offensive Swords Dance / Rock Polish: B-​

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Silvally-Steel​

Defensive Utility Pivot: B​

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Togedemaru​

Choice Scarf: B​

Utility: B​

Choice Band: C+​

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Vikavolt​

Bulky Offensive Roost Z-Move: B​

All-out Attacker Choice Specs: B-​

Agility: C+​

​

B-​

Absol​

Offensive Swords Dance: B-​

All-out Attacker Life Orb Pursuit: B-​

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Aerodactyl​

All-out Attacker Choice Band: B-​

Offensive Life Orb Attacker: B-​

Sub + Toxic Roost Utility: C+​

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Cinccino​

All-Out Attacker: B-​

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Gallade​

Offensive Swords Dance Z-Move: B-​

Offensive Choice Scarf: C+​

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Kabutops​

Offensive Swords Dance Z-Move: B-​

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Mismagius​

Offensive Nasty Plot Z-Move: B-​

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Probopass​

Bulky Offensive utility Stealth Rock: B-​

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Quagsire​

Defensive Utility: B-​

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Samurott​

Offensive Swords Dance: B-​

Offensive Special Life Orb: B-​

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Sandslash-Alola​

Stealth Rock / Rapid Spin Utility: B-​

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Scyther​

Choice Scarf: B-​

Offensive Swords Dance: B-​

​

​

if you have any suggestions / changes / input you would like to post, please do so ! i encourage discussion here, and if any changes on the viability rankings occur, i will change it accordingly here too.

 

[neomon]

some stuff that I'd like to nom/ see discussed

3atks megadino > A-/B+ (obv this things niche is healing wish, but its a waste of an audino imo)
cm slowbro > A- (now everything kinda runs toxic, esp other bros this is really awkward)
icicle plate ice cream > A-/B+ (am i the only one thats happy when its not specs ice cream)
defensive aroma > c+ (while yeah, it resists fighting, we have plenty good fighting resists, defensive just gets outclassed by audino in every way)
work up cinc >c+/ maybe not even list it it sux
AoA doom > B/B- (this might just be my general unliking of life orb but LO doom in general gets worn down way too easily, and with neither amazing speed and lackluster bulk, and losing the ability to break stall, not doing very significant damage when trapping xatu, and getting worn even more when doing so just makes this set something that I'd hardly consider when making a team)

 

[MultiAmmiratore]

I think double dance rhydon should be listed, it has a STAB edge-quake combo,
It lost a great check in seismitoad and has a good bulk for setupping even vs offensive teams.
Probably it is worth of B/B+

 

[Yoshi]

Lmao no posts in a while, so lemme make some.

(Calm Mind) -> B+
I think this set is pretty mediocre right now, oftentimes I find myself just wanting to run the standard Wish set because it beats what I want this set to but better with defensive synergy. Unless I REALLY needed Mega Audino as well as an offensive mon, I wouldn’t use this set.

(Add Life Orb + Z-Move)
LO Virizion has shown loads of merit as of late, since it gives Virizion automatic high damage output rather than having to set up an SD, so I feel the SD set should be split into two different sets. LO being A, and Z move being A-. Z as of late has shown less promise because against some teams it does absolutely nothing.

(Remove Assault Vest/Rank it much lower)
I don’t see Assualt Vest doing a lot in this meta, and I don’t even know why it was ranked in the first place tbh. Prove me if I’m wrong though.

That’s all I have for now, I’m sure there’s more I could go over but right now I’m on phone so typing is hard.

 

[banks]

hey! i finally got around to giving this a massive massive update, removing and adding old and new mons, changing rankings and sets due to metagame changes over time and so on.

i encourage any discussion, nominations or questions to be posted in this thread, and i will make sure that this stays updated after vr changes / drastic metagame changes

 

[kay]

Venu - should have a LO set in A+/S

Incineroar- Bulk pivot I'd honestly put at the same rank as SD, but A- is totally under selling it. Split difference in A imo. Also put AV in A-

Steelix - Add 3 sets. Offensive rocks (a+), Defensive Sp.d rocks (a), Special rocks (A-).

Audino-Mega - both offensive sets should be B.

Guzzlord - AV should be B+ as its notably worse then other sets, but not by a lot and has a lot of justification to running in this meta.

Hariyama - Defensive lefties is so so much better then AV. Offensive toxic + Protect isn't really a set as they've basically traded all atk evs in place for def evs. Defensive lefties > AV > flame orb > BD

Heliolisk - Specs is the best set, followed by LO, then by Scarf and Zmove. There shouldn't be only 1 set here

Passimian - CB is a lot worse then scarf so it should be bumped down to the same viability as Zmove

Toxicroak - Scarf should be added to A-

Delphox - Scarf is the worst set by far. Drop under wish and CM

Garbodor - Offensive is still fine, either rank equal to defensive or 1 tier below.

Rest looks fine!

 

[asa]

very little i saw that didn't get touched on in the above post, but

- Steelix needs to have a Curse set added as well, probably ranked at A, though I could potentially see A+ too.
- Swords Dance Sceptile should be added, more than likely a subrank below the special attacking variant.
- I feel like Bulk Up + Rest Scrafty could possibly be ranked the same as the Dragon Dance set.
- Also kind of want to see Swords Dance Scyther ranked down to, like, C, but not 100% sure.

 

[banks]

done a general update for new metagame, will have another big update after tier shifts, so stay tuned

also still any posts or discussions are encouraged !

 

[ceal]

This is more nitpicky than an actual nomination or anything but OP asks for general input so I hope this isn't off topic.

I feel like a lot of the names for the sets are more super long-winded and complicated than they are helpful or descriptive. For example "Stealth Rock Bulky Offensive Utility" as a description for Piloswine just feels clunky. "Stealth Rock" and "Utility" both being mentioned feels redundant as aside from rocks Pilo doesn't offer a lot of utility to a team besides Ice Shard I guess and its ability to switch into things, but by that logic anything that could switch into a lot of stuff could be described by "utility". Calling the set "tank" would describe the set a lot better, given most people understand what a tank is (something that can take hits well and deal lots of damage in return) while only using four letters instead of five words. Also referring to a choice specs set as "All-Out Attacker Choice Specs" seems redundant as well since most specs mons don't really run anything else than like Switcheroo/Trick and are by nature all-out attackers. I understand if this is kinda subjective, and this issue doesn't ruin the vr or anything but I feel as if making the set names more concise would make them easier to comprehend and would cause less confusion.

PalossandDefensive utility Stealth Rock: B

SceptileAll-Out Attacker Life Orb: B+

VileplumeDefensive: B

These pokemons' sets are ranked rather low for them being their only sets and the mons themselves being ranked in A, A-, and B+ respectively.

 

[banks]

got a sick banner thanks to the talented T-Lukke, thanks a ton for this, also gave this a slight update so here it is

updates: (as an fyi, "ur" here means anything below b-, so absol was c+ on vr but now it's appearing on vr thread)

rises:

ur -> b- | sets added: offensive swords dance b- / all-out-attacker life orb pursuit b-

b+ -> a- | sets added: sub + bulk up a- / choice scarf a- / offensive bulk up z-move a-

b- -> b | sets added: offensive calm mind z-move b / choice scarf b- / wish + protect c+

b+ -> a- | sets added: defensive utility spike setter a- / offensive utility spike setter b-

a- -> a | sets added: hex defog utility a / choice scarf a / choice specs a-

b -> b+ | defensive utility b+ / offensive z-celebrate b

drops:

b+ -> b | sets added: stealth rock defensive utility b / offensive sheer force c+

a- -> b+ | sets added: offensive stealth rock utility b+

b- -> ur (c+)

new pokemon:

-> b- | sets added: all-out-attacker choice band b- / offensive life orb roost b- / sub + toxic roost utility c+

-> a+ | sets added: offensive swords dance z-move a+ / offensive life orb attacker a+ / defensive utility defog a-

-> b+ | all-out-attacker choice band b+ / offensive synthesis b+ / offensive rest + rapid spin b+

-> b- | defensive utility b-

also a lot of small changes with ranking of sets throughout, but would take me too long to actually post every one

also i would 100% appreciate it if there was discussion about the rankings of these sets, there's a lot of new drops and a lot of changes within the vr thread and i've been doing this solo, so any opinions would be very much appreciated !

 

[Skelos]

b- -> b | sets added: offensive calm mind z-move b / choice scarf b- / wish + protect c+

wishtect is a much better set than scarf atm. being choice locked to certain moves lets a lot of top tier threats take advantage easily of delphox namely incin, diancie, and decidueye. this is true for most scarfers but they do better at dealing with their checks, let alone passimian uturn on them etc. there's just so many drawbacks for delphox being choice locked especially it's pursuit weak.

wishtect on the other hand lets you deal with vanilluxe better and even check the likes of medicham. toxic is also great bcs delphox invites incineroar, guzz, diancie, waters most of the time and tox lets you whittle down or even eliminate these threats.

 

[Eliwi]

Why is Vanilluxe there? It is banned now, so it must disappear from this viability ranking

 

[Finchinator]

Why is Vanilluxe there? It is banned now, so it must disappear from this viability ranking

I removed it. Relax, it just has not been updated since.

 

[Eliwi]

Oh ok