Resource SV National Dex UU VR

[Arishem]

Quick Post about the upcoming VR -

The council has been working hard on additional preparations for some of our most valuable resources as of late. We thereby recognize that the VR is largely misrepresentative of the tier’s current state right now, and with NDPL nearing the end of its course, as well as the recent Kartana suspect having concluded too, it is in our primary interest that the metagame continues to remain in top shape in spite of these immense shifts. For the moment, we hope to prioritize the VR so as to increase transparency before any additional course of action takes place.

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With the release of the Teal Mask DLC. Mega Tyranitar cements itself as arguably the most perfect offensive presence around, having attained the sheer utility of Knock Off at a more heated time and at a more intense hour. Since then, we have not only continued to oversee its collation of traits excelling on offense, but on bulkier teams as well with its opportunities behind enabling other threats having increased dramatically for it as a whole. Suffice to say, we are utmost certain on insisting that Mega Tyranitar has single-handedly become the new face of the entire tier, and is bound to have a much more serious grasp on the viability of other Pokemon as things continue for it.

/ /
Another key component of the new metagame has also given rise to common balance structures supplemented by Regenerator, now aided by the overarching presence of Wish Alomomola, which gained the slow pivoting of Flip Turn this time around. This shift also notably affects the viability of other Pokemon as well, in addition to forcing various adaptations on several old ones – to such an extent, the metagame has begun to favor key Pokemon with more resilient qualities at their disposal, such as Court Change on Cinderace, which has since shifted to a bulkier variant with Will-O-Wisp to boot, and Spikes on Skarmory. Conversely, we’ve also begun to notice an increase in specific wallbreakers able to act similarly as well, such as Pivot Thundurus and Choice Band Galarian Zapdos, now able to more freely leverage their unmatched long-term power in these recurring conditions.


Other key aspects to follow include the introduction of several new breakers, namely the Ogerpon forms, but these additions are more tertiary to the general direction of the metagame if anything. Though the impact they continue to bring by themselves is notable on an individual scale.


On another note, provided the next tiering shifts aren’t set to change the meta in any significant way. I personally intend to make the following nominations:

from S -> A+
from New -> A-/A
from B+ -> A-
from C+ -> B/B+
from C+ -> B
from B+ -> B
from UR -> B-

 

[Lupla]

Supporting what Arishem also said, there are a few mons that have been content with how the meta has been progressing and others that didn't, some of the main examples are:



I already talked about Iron Hands and i'm doing it again, having notable marks in the meta once again by taking advantage of nearly everything that has been popular up until now. The buffs to M-Tyranitar, Alomomola, Ceruledge, the raise in more Cinderace, Meowscarada, Iron Moth and SpDef Hippo and then the October drops introducing the Ogerpons has been hugely benefitial in how many things it's able to check or setup in a game, the tools it has are nearly perfect for what's being popular despite things like M-Venusaur or Bulky Cinderace being ocassional annoyances. HO has also started to pick it up thanks to not only being an amazing setup sweeper on it's own but also gives them a valuable tank when facing opposing HO and sometimes being the one decider for the entire matchup.


Electrics in general have been on a good spot as the abundance of good Grass types has scared out most of them away. Zeraora is probably the best non-scarf speed control you can get and while it's power leaves something to be desired at times, it's able to do just enough to keep up when needed to alongside good coverage and utility options in Knock Off, Toxic, Grass Knot or Close Combat. Thundurus-Therian on the other hand has a great defensive typing paired with an amazing extra immunity thanks to Volt Absorb, sharing most of what Zeraora has in terms of offensive movepool and utility at the cost of the speed. You can check out replays for them in their sprites (Except Iron Hands but you'll probably find that anywhere in NDPL or smth).



Speaking of good Grasses, M-Venusaur is certainly one of those, even with how common M-Ttar is that makes Sand really good you really can't pass how good of a defensive and offensive demon this mon can be. Being a good way to force switches with Leech Seed and amazing coverage in Sludge Bomb and Earth Power alone (HP Fire, Knock Off and Giga Drain are also options) makes it really difficult to properly switch into it due to how easy it can rack up passive damage. The defensive trades are nothing to scoff at either, a valuable Grass, Water, Fairy, Electric resist that's neutral to Bug, Poison, Fire, Ice (Thanks to Thick Fat) and a good absorber of Knock Off in a meta full of Wellspring, Iron Hands, Meowscarada and other things it's able to check off bulk alone such as Aegislash, Iron Moth or Cinderace. It isn't a perfect answer to everything given how some of them have options to play around it since M-Venusaur itself suffers from lack of passive recovery and vulnerability to hazards but it's certainly one of the winners right now.



Many of these have really been given the short end of the stick with how time passed. Latios used to be an amazing wallbreaker that fell off post-tera and almost never seen after that, Slowbro having one of the toughest competitions in Alomomola who often outshines it due to pure Water being a better type in general since it lacks the crippling Bug and Dark weaknesses, Sandy Shocks is an interesting case as it's actually been doing alright yet it's probably not gonna move from where it was, enjoying the Mola meta before October and looking to be a rising star just to have that hope be destroyed in a few days due to the Ogerpons and Ursaluna dropping which nearly killed it's viability but managed to keep up thanks to Scarf sets. All of these (and probably a few others) really have been unspectacular and unless a miracle happens 2 days later as of right now it doesn't really seem like it's gonna change.



There's a few more i could argue for rises or drops altho i'm either skeptical about their exact placements or just don't have much to say about them:

From New to B
From B+ to A-
From B to A-/B+
From B to B+
From B- to B
From Unranked to C+


From A- to B+
From B+ to B/B-
From B+ to B-
whatever their rank is to Unranked

 

[Arishem]

Well well... council just got back from some extremely tedious tiering and NDPL games. Thus, our long-awaited VR Update is finally here!

Rises
from A+ -> S
from A- -> A
from A- -> A
from A- -> A
from B+ -> A-
from B+ -> A+
from B+ -> A-
from B -> B+
from B -> A-
from B -> A-
from B- -> B
from B- -> B
from C+ -> B+
from C -> C+
from C -> C+


Drops
from S -> A+
from A+ -> A
from A+ -> A
from A -> A-
from A -> B-
from A- -> B+
from A- -> B+
from B+ -> B-
from B+ -> B
from B+ -> B-
from B+ -> B
from B+ -> B
from B -> B-
from B -> B-
from B -> B-
from B- -> C
from B- -> C+
from B- -> C
from B- -> C
from B- -> C+
from C+ -> C

The following Pokemon have also been unranked as a result -


Additions
from New -> C
from New -> A-
from New -> B
from New -> A-

from UR -> B-
from UR -> C+
from UR -> C+

was put up for a vote too, but the council since decided that it would be far too early to warrant giving it a proper ranking, so it will be abstained from the VR for now. We may come back to revisit this Pokemon soon, however.

---

Sticks and stones just broke my bones, and organizing this update took everything else out of me. So I will be leaving some of these nominations to questions in the meantime, ask away, but do so civilly.

 

[jawsome274]

Well well... council just got back from some extremely tedious tiering and NDPL games. Thus, our long-awaited VR Update is finally here!

Rises
from A+ -> S
from A- -> A
from A- -> A
from A- -> A
from B+ -> A-
from B+ -> A+
from B+ -> A-
from B -> B+
from B -> A-
from B -> A-
from B- -> B
from B- -> B
from C+ -> B+
from C -> C+
from C -> C+


Drops
from S -> A+
from A+ -> A
from A+ -> A
from A -> A-
from A -> B-
from A- -> B+
from A- -> B+
from B+ -> B-
from B+ -> B
from B+ -> B-
from B+ -> B
from B+ -> B
from B -> B-
from B -> B-
from B -> B-
from B- -> C
from B- -> C+
from B- -> C
from B- -> C
from B- -> C+
from C+ -> C

The following Pokemon have also been unranked as a result -


Additions
from New -> C
from New -> A-
from New -> B
from New -> A-

from UR -> B-
from UR -> C+
from UR -> C+

was put up for a vote too, but the council since decided that it would be far too early to warrant giving it a proper ranking, so it will be abstained from the VR for now. We may come back to revisit this Pokemon soon, however.

---

Sticks and stones just broke my bones, and organizing this update took everything else out of me. So I will be leaving some of these nominations to questions in the meantime, ask away, but do so civilly.

what does munki even do. like i can see a reason for each of these new additions but munki seems like extreme pursuit bait for choiced sets and none of its stabs are really spammable at all with both of them having common immunities and resists, just seems like a worse zam who already aint that great, and pivot sets ig could do stuff but we already have plenty of good pivots and while a u turn that has a 30% toxic chance does sound a little appealing i dont see how thats all too great when you have toxic immunities like aegislash and glowking - two of the best pokemon in the tier - who can come into it quite safely. even if you can deal with those, its not wowing anybody with its speed tier, it doesnt have a shit ton of common resistances, and its bulk is nothing to write home about

 

[Arishem]

what does munki even do. like i can see a reason for each of these new additions but munki seems like extreme pursuit bait for choiced sets and none of its stabs are really spammable at all with both of them having common immunities and resists, just seems like a worse zam who already aint that great, and pivot sets ig could do stuff but we already have plenty of good pivots and while a u turn that has a 30% toxic chance does sound a little appealing i dont see how thats all too great when you have toxic immunities like aegislash and glowking - two of the best pokemon in the tier - who can come into it quite safely. even if you can deal with those, its not wowing anybody with its speed tier, it doesnt have a shit ton of common resistances, and its bulk is nothing to write home about

U-turn + Future Sight in conjunction with the paring alongside Pursuit Bisharp, which has been seeing more use on bulkier teams lately and can also remove both Aegislash and Galarian Slowking for it. Toxic Chain also becomes decently threatening on account of common absorbers like Tapu Fini, Iron Treads, and Mega Venusaur being threatened by coverage and / or future sights, while targetting key defensive staples like Hippowdon, which can beneficial in the long-run when stacked.

Other than that, you are mostly better off using Latios and Alakazam as purely offensive Psychics, which makes the niche minimal for now.

 

[Niadev]

While Cinderace suspect is still going on, we have decided to do a mini VR slate for the new mons and some minor shifts.

Newly Ranked:

Hide

Aegislash - New -> A+
Hydrapple New -> B
Pecharunt - New -> C+
Rotom-Wash - New -> A
Sinistcha - UR -> C
Ting-Lu - New -> A+
Toxapex - New -> A

Rises:

Hide

Mega Latios - D* -> A-
Enamorus - A- -> A
Cinderace - A+ -> S-

* - Was NDUU by usage but hadn't been ranked yet, though there was a prevailing belief following the DLC it should be ranked as you can see from this VR shift. It was only technically D rank.

Drops:

Hide

None!

The following Pokemon were voted on to rise from Unranked but did not receive sufficient support to be ranked, and thus remain Unranked:

Metagross
Quaquaval
Zarude

Reasonings

Mega Latios - Generally speaking, Mega Latios is regarded as superior to the Soul Dew Latios set and is just as effective as base. Its higher bulk and defensive utility allow it to effectively make use of Flip Turn, distinguishing itself from its base and Mega Latias. This lets it act more effectively as a pivot while still being very powerful in its own right, especially with post buff Luster Purge. However, it has the distinct flaw of being a mega, meaning it cannot be used simultaneously with Mega Tyranitar or Mega Venusaur, which kept it from being the same rank as base.

Pecharunt - Pecharunt synergises well with common balance staples such as Skarmory and Celesteela, checking common physical breakers that threaten them, while Parting Shot allows it to pivot in breakers and sweepers more effectively than Toxapex. An NP Z set with status + Hex was brought up for having the distinct advantage of having the bulk to actually spread status unlike Gengar.

Sinistcha - While screens falling off following the Light Clay ban have hurt it, the Calm Mind Grassium set remains effective sometimes, and it can spinblock Excadrill.

Hydrapple - Though Mega Venusaur is generally the superior grass type, Regenerator + its typing means that Hydrapple is a more effective and reliable answers to water types such as Rotom-Wash. The main sets brought up were NP + Draco Z and Assault Vest.

Toxapex - While it is by far the closest thing to a reliable Cinderace check defensively (Zen Headbutt says hi), and it can effectively handle Iron Moth as long as you don't bump into Psychic variants, it struggles to check much else reliably due to most offensive threats hitting it neutrally or worse with STABs or carrying coverage that does significant damage to it, and it only really fits on Balance, Stall or Semi Stall due to its passivity. Worse, it gets abused by common offensive threats such as Latios and its mega, Iron Hands and Excadrill. Undoubtedly an effective mon, but these factors keep it out of A+, and there was some sentiment that it should drop if Cinderace gets banned.

 

[Pubo]

im suffering to get reqs (again) so i will leave some VR takes

Rises

(A+ to S-)

Ok this might be a bit polemic but Iron Hands has everything needed to be a S- Pokemon at this moment. Bulky Offenses being filled with Ting-Lu + Celesteela + Water Resistance (usually Rotom-W / Mega Venusaur / or AV Tang because Gren is nasty) (these cores are also super weak to something Nasty, but im not sure who........ maybe they are scared of Thunders?) makes Choice Band sets super threatening, basically nothing really switch into this guy besides Buzzwole and Mega Venusaur (not hard to chip the latter considering Spikes are everywhere). Mega Latias and Latios are usually one right prediction from death since Ice Punch does a lot. For example, M-Latias is not really an amazing check because Ice Punch does 67% at least and Psyshock does no damage. Both Mega and regular Latios can't really eat Ice Punch, but they re enough threatening to KO Hands, unlike Mega Latias. I think SD sets are a bit less annoying right now since you can't really find good setup chances in a metagame with Latios, Mega Latios, Thundy, and Alakazam here and there. Buzzwole is by far the best check, but i don't think you re facing this guy as often since Meow ban. Mega Tyranitar is still the best Pokemon here, but Hands can solidify itself as the second one pretty easily, especially if Latios leaves the tier.

Calcs

252+ Atk Choice Band Iron Hands Ice Punch vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Latias-Mega: 244-288 (67.2 - 79.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
8 SpA Latias-Mega Psyshock vs. 92 HP / 0 Def Iron Hands: 218-258 (46.1 - 54.6%) -- 54.3% chance to 2HKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Iron Hands Ice Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Latios-Mega: 284-336 (94.3 - 111.6%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Latios-Mega Luster Purge vs. 92 HP / 0 SpD Iron Hands: 498-588 (105.5 - 124.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Iron Hands Wild Charge vs. 248 HP / 124 Def Buzzwole: 175-207 (41.9 - 49.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Buzz can just heal / switch to any Ground . Iron Hands takes only around 10% of recoil, so it might be able to overwhelm Buzzwole eventually if you Knock Off it with something else and stack hazards.

252+ Atk Choice Band Iron Hands Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Tangrowth: 211-249 (52.3 - 61.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after 1 layer of Spikes

252+ Atk Choice Band Iron Hands Wild Charge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 225-265 (57.1 - 67.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Choice Band Iron Hands Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 219-258 (52.1 - 61.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

A- to A
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
| 4 | Thundurus-Therian | 51 | 30.36% | 64.71% |


It's that time of the year for every UU tier, is Thundurus-T broken? Probably, especially after the last 2 (and maybe 3) bans buffed this guy like crazy. Cinderace and Meow (rip) were solid revenge killers and threaten it easily and well... they re gone. Latios is the second best way to deal with this guy now and Mega Latias is by far the best check. Unfortunately, Thundurus-T loves the Lu + Steela cores, and every defensive core is one Nasty Plot away from death. Nasty Plot Fightinium Z breaking power is one of the most absurd things we have currently, with only a few Pokemon being able to deal with it reliably (Mega Latias, Mega Latios, and.... SpD Clefable? ). Boots sets are also solid, but right now Thundurus Incarnate is much better since its faster than 350. Also, is kinda crazy to think that this guy have a 70% Win Rate for the first round, and 64.71% overall...

B???? to A- (or B+ but this guy is good...)

| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
| 14 | Alakazam | 18 | 10.71% | 66.67% |

NP Sash is amazing as RK or cleaner and being faster than the common 350 benchmark is super valuable. Z or Life Orb still have value to cook Tyranitar or be more threatening overall, but i usually have more sucess with Sash to be safe against Booster Moth or Greninja. Greninja dropping hurts this guy a bit.... but not if you run Sash (and hit Focus Blast).


Drops



| 19 | Victini | 12 | 7.14% | 33.33% | B+ to B (or even B- tbh)

Errrrr.... Victini? Why you should use this guy instead of Moth? Weak to Tyranitar, slower than Boost Moth, Rocks weak.... there's no reason to run this guy over Zam or Latios with both being much more effective at this moment.

| ?? | Gengar | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | C to UR

We don't have Gengar stats because.... well, nobody used him! Gengar is really hard to fit on teams or build around right now from my experience. Speed tie with Latios and Moth is terrible since Gengar can't take hits and if you really need a stallbreaker, just run Thundurus-T! I feel really bad for this but man, Gengar sucks until we ban Mega Tyranitar, Latios, Moth, and MAYBE this guy can shine.... a bit.

| ??2 | Munkidori | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | C to UR (hmmm monke )

Another Dark weak Pokemon with 0 usage? Future Sight pivot is interesting on paper, but you probably noticed that Munki sucks against the common Lu + Celesteela cores. Being weak to Mega Tyranitar AND Pursuit does not help either, and its Speed tier is far from good at this moment. I really don't know what is keeping this guy on C.

| ??3 | Cyclizar | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | C to UR

Mom can i get Miraidon? But son, we have Miraidon in home....

Not really the same roles but c'mon, why are you using this guy?

 

[Runo]

B+ -> A-
A quality reason to use Victini over Iron Moth is definitely its Boots pivot sets with Encore since its typing and natural bulk lets it switch into and take advantage of threats like Clefable and Mega Latias and shut them down with Encore. It's also great at captializing off common entry hazard setters such as Ting-Lu and Hippowdon by locking them into Stealth Rock and Spikes so it can essentially force switches for teammates or for its own gain by freely being able to spam its powerful V-Creates with little punishment. In addition to V-Create, it's other high power coverage option in Bolt Strike / Fusion Bolt also makes it pretty tough to switch into (far harder to switch into than Iron Moth anyways) since bulky Water-types like Slowbro and Tapu Fini don't respond to Bolt Strike well.

Will-o-Wisp variants instead of Encore can also be sweet to punish other potential switch-ins such as Mega Tyranitar and Gastrodon. Toxic has good potential to do similar things against threats like Latios as well.

Iron Moth can do kinda similar things as mentioned here but it isn't as potent of a pivot since it lacks the better typing and bulk to pull it off as well, which I think is the advantage Victini has over it despite it being slower.

-‐‐‐‐‐‐

As for the other nominations, I can definitely see where they're coming from but I think people should make an attempt to try out Munkidori at the very least before judging.

 

[Lupla]

Hello everyone! Doing another post to do a small announcement that we are gonna be working on a new Viability Rankings update!

Unfortunately this also means the Iron Hands suspect is gonna be delayed (lost the count already) but we already needed some time with Iron Boulder anyway so we're making some use out of the time we got alongside the next round of ND UU Winters including drops. That aside this post was made in order to keep everyone aware of the current situation and encourage anyone to do some VR noms, whether it'd be raises, drops or an unranked nom anything will be good to keep in mind. And with that, see you guys later

 

[coral fan]

not been playing this tier for long so take with a grain of salt

UR -> C+
stayed UU by usage for a reason, very good wincon for HO especially with Fightinium Z, with Axel it can break through Amoong/Latias/Sinsistcha and Z allows it to break through physdef guys that are neutral to fighting such as Rotom, Celesteela, Skarm and Hands. not as easy to fit as Keldeo but the SD set is an effective & common enough wincon for it to be ranked somewhere between C- and B

New -> A
very good mon that also runs SD Z-move but has alternate options in Band & Booster. has 4MSS and low immediate power so can be easily revenge killed but is definitely viable, does not require support & fits on most teams.

UR -> B+
both battle bond and protean are good, priority shirukens help vs Boulder/Aero/Drill/Speed-Moth, has coverage to hit Amoong/MVenu/Fini/Keldeo if wanted, can function as a spiker, has many different viable sets including Z moves to break, seems to be common on ladder so even if i'm wrong about its viability it should be ranked D at worst.

 

[Lupla]

Looks like we've finished voting early so...Viability Rankings update live! After probably the Cinderace meta (somewhere like that) we have been able to organize things to represent what the meta is right now.

Raises

Spoiler

From A+ to S
From A- to A
From A- to A
From B+ to A-
From B to B+
From B to B+
From B to B+
From B to B+
From B to B+
From B to B+
From B- to B
From B- to B
From B- to B
From C+ to B-
From C+ to B-
From C+ to B-
From C+ to B-
From C+ to B-
From C to C+
From D to C
From UR to C+
From UR to C
From UR to C
From New to A
From New to A
From New to C+

Drops

Spoiler

From A+ to A
From A to A-
From A to A-
From A to A-
From A to A-
From A to A-
From A- to B+
From A- to B+
From B+ to B
From B to B-
From B to B-
From B to B-
From B to B-
From B to C+
From B to C+
From B to C
From B- to C+
From B- to C+
From B- to C+
From C+ to C
From C+ to UR
From C to UR
From C to UR
From C to UR
From C to UR

What would be the next best thing after a King? A God of course! Jokes aside Iron Hands has always been one of the best pokemon in the tier for a very long time and now's the time for it to be right alongside M-Tyranitar as one of the titans of the tier. It's been said multiple times what makes it so good so i'll limit myself by saying that how amazing it is at tanking nearly anything and striking back just as hard with both Swords Dance and Choice Band sets.




These two are similar to each other in that they've been really effective at their roles yet their rises have been slow. Celesteela is one of the premier mixed walls around with it's amazing defensive typing and good stats, often being really difficult to take down as most pokemon don't like taking on a Leech Seed that Celesteela is capable of spamming endlessly for chip damage and recovery while offensive variants on HO take that defensive profile in order to setup and tear holes in the opposing team.


M-Venusaur also has similar trades but it's mostly notable in it's capability to check a lot of things at once such as Iron Hands, Iron Moth, Clefable, Tapu Fini, Rotom-Wash, Slowbro, Keldeo and more. It's so impactful that it's one of the reasons pokemon like Celesteela or Iron Moth run coverage for it as well as the recent raise of other threats like Alakazam or Gapdos. The only real drawbacks it has are in the amount of moves it wants to use and the presence of M-Tyranitar cutting through Synthesis recovery.




Gapdos was always a really good pokemon that was really only held back of greater heights due to it's average 100 speed tier when faster threats like Cinderace, Thundurus-Therian or Latios were around. Those times have changed and, while Choice Scarf is a really good speed control option that's capable of doing good damage, it's Choice Band that's taking the spotlight this time with it's amazing wallbreaking capabilities agaisn't the most common BO squads that consist of pokemon like Ting-Lu, Rotom-Wash, Celesteela, M-Venusaur or Clefable that it absolutely destroys with just one right move (and always having a fail safe in U-Turn and Knock Off).




I really have to talk about this huh...
So turns out when you completely throw out the idea of sweeping and instead you focus on wallbreaking as much as you can so that an actually good pokemon can finish the job was the better plan all along. Haxorus only has power, it lacks a lot of what makes an offensive pokemon good in this meta but it has barely enough in order fulfill it's role as a powerhouse that will force damage if given the opportunity, not as consistent as other options in this role like SD Iron Hands, DD M-Tyranitar or even Regular Tyranitar while also competing with fellow Dragon Salamence, it's found a place at the end of the day.




Greninja is our third type-changing starter who's actually having a 2nd trip in this tier after leaving post-beta, it used to be extremely overwhelming back when Drizzle was around as it was able to easily snowball out of control in a meta with not much defensive backbone and Greninja itself having a really good speed tier. Now we don't have Drizzle allowed anymore and things have settled down significantly, Greninja is still a good pokemon but it's far from the same demon it once was due to not having the power necessary to truly replicate it's snowball effect as 103 Special Attack isn't gonna cut it. Despite that it remains as a threat worth keeping in mind thanks to it's versatility (Choice Specs, Life Orb and Choice Scarf sets) and it's speed tier still being one of the best ones around, being able to threaten pokemon like Alakazam, Victini, M-Tyranitar, Aegislash and potentially being a revenge killer to Sand Rush Excadrill or Booster Energy Iron Moth is nothing to scoff at, even when it's bad matchups into bulky resists like Clefable, Tapu Fini or M-Venusaur as well as tanky neutral targets in Iron Hands and Celesteela are really common it manages to find a good place.


"As Ferropalmas fought the fraud of technology, Iron Fraud, he opened his domain. Iron Fraud shrunk back in fear and Ferropalmas said, 'Stand proud Iron Fraud, you're strong (not)'"

Leaving the Fraud Allegations aside, Iron Boulder has had a diminishing career the moment it was released, from being a potential broken that OU couldn't handle to dropping to UU and not even starting on A+. I've explained quite a bit in my post but to put it simple, Booster Energy sets aren't strong enough and are mostly relegated as decent speed control in HO while both Choice Band and Z-Crystals have proven to be the better items of choice for Boulder to find great results.


M-Swampert is unfortunately left alone, there's no drizzle and the presence of other good megas like M-Tyranitar and M-Venusaur (last one also being an amazing answer to it) means it doesn't really achieve much and it's relegated to either Rain Dance sets on HO or some form of bulky pivot on BO that's just a bulkier Regular Swampert without passive recovery.




I'll limit the drops to these two as this post is too long. M-Latias has gotten the short end of the stick this time around due to it's bad matchups into a lot of common threats (Most notably Greninja, Iron Boulder, M-Tyranitar and Aegislash) and despite it's great defensive profile, it suffers from reliably checking what it's supposed to as both Iron Hands and Iron Moth can still overwhelm it really easily (Hands isn't even that afraid of Psyshock) while agaisn't BO it really dislikes how great and prominent Ting-Lu and Celesteela are.


Latios left the tier yet Regular Latias has found itself dropping even further, this might be a bit wrong but it's also understandable given how many of the same issues that M-Latias suffers from are also applicable to Regular as well. It's able to keep up with CM sets using Z-Crystals as Latios isn't here anymore to outclass it but it has massive moveslot syndromes and it lacks the necessary power to muscle through teams the way Latios did (and needless to say, Choice Scarf sets are bad).


---

And there's that, if anyone has a question about any of these changes then you can ask in here for me or anyone else to respond. With that out of the way, have a nice day everyone!