Except Infernape is horribly frail, so the OHKO on him is not anything to write home about. A resisted OHKO on Terrakion or Garchomp would be huge, but the Pokémon in question is already a wet paper bag.
So Slowking for C rank!Slowking should be C Rank. It has three very viable sets, the defensive, the TR, and the Specs set. It fares excellent against one of the most popular playstyle, rain offense, is a very good special wall, and has a certain level of versatility.
With the TR set it can shield many offensive teams from the threat that is Scarf Keldeo, serve as a pivot for special attacks that it resists, and finally act as an ok late game sweeper, pretty similar to Reuniclus. It can even wallbreak if it uses NP.
The defensive set on the other hand is capable of walling even the most powerful special attackers in OU, such as Specs Keldeo in rain, LO Lat@s, Tornadus-T, and Sheer Force Landorus, can preserve momentum unlike most walls due to Regenerator, and spread status like a boss with Scald and T-Wave. Its biggest downfall is its vulnerability to Pursuit trapping, which is why it belongs in C Tier.
Finally the NP set can fire off immediatley powerful attacks, breaking through balanced and offensive teams with its coverage and even annoying stall teams due to Trick. It can also find plenty of switch-in opportunities due to its good natural bulk, the ability to invest in HP, and Regenerator, which allow it to serve as a defensive tool too.
The problem with Abomasnow is that he's both fragile and slow, which is not a good thing in a metagame where fast, heavy hitters usually prevail. Just comparing him with other weather inducers isn't enough. You have to see how he fares against the whole metagame. And with priority users like Scizor and Breloom running around in the metagame, Abomasnow can't survive alone. Therefore, he needs bulky team support that can take down these threats, which is difficult in a hail team, but is possible in anti-weather. Yes, he's the only effective hail inducer in OU, but he needs significant support to last long.Firstly, I'd like to nominate Abomasnow for B-Rank, if not A-Rank (though the latter unlikely). It is the summoner of its own weather; hail. Abomasnow is the crux of any hail team, to spam Blizzards, etc. The fact that it is a summoner of weather itself also makes it a great check to Tyranitar and Politoed alike, neutering their weather and just smashing them. Of course, his shit typing makes that rather hard, which is why I say "check". Same with the mighty Hippo, who gets chills from Blizzard. Also, CB Aboma can smash Ninetales with EQ or Focus Punch. Abomasnow has great STAB's too, and they provide great coverage. His mixed attacking stats are nice to do some real good, and his stats overall allow him to fulfill the role of a weather killer with CB, or a Mixed Attacker, or even a SubSeeder. While he's not the best Pokemon ever, and is slow, yes. But his hail summoning shit and being a good weather killer and mixed attacker should get him up some. But that's just what I think.
It's a disgrace that a pathetic nine tailed fox sits in the A-Rank while a mighty abominable snowman gets the C-Rank.
I disagree with you. Empoleon doesn't need Spikes, a spin-blocker, and Gothitelle to pull off a sweep. I just said that it would be an idea I'd recommend. All it really needs is SR (pretty much a necessity for every team), something that can weaken Blissey (which isn't exactly common these days, so this could be ignored with almost no repercussions), rain (Politoed can act as a wallbreaker or defensive pivot that can help Empoleon and some other teammates sweep, so no, it isn't useless), and a teammate that can beat whatever Empoleon's coverage move cannot cover (bulky waters if Ice Beam is being run, and dragons / Grass-types if HP Grass is being run).Those calcs are not that impressive. Toxicroak, Slowking, Blissey, Chansey, Rotom-w and Celebi will ko you before you ko them. Or worse, paralize you and spam recover moves until you are fully paralized, and then ko you. Tentacruel beats you with a burn or if it has Protect. Not to mention the other things you mentioned that Empoleon will never get past, as well as revenge killers. Oh, and you have to keep rain up, and it only works once. Now lets look at the tier descriptions:
C Rank: Reserved for Pokemon who can be effective given the right support, but either have crippling flaws that prevent them from consistently executing their strategy or are typically inferior to Pokemon in the above ranks.
D Rank: Reserved for Pokemon who have a small niche in the current OU metagame, but have very noticable flaws that make them more trouble then their worth the majority of the time.
(Toxic)Spikes, Gothetelle support, rain support, a spinblocker, and checks to the rest of the metagame is simply too much to fit in one team. Empy could be effective with the right support, but the team probably wouldnt win alot. As for the defensive set, ive never tried it or played against it, so it probably isnt that great. I dont see how it isnt outclassed by Ferrothorn. Empy for D tier.
I'd like to put this argument by Ojama on the table again as it seems like it was rather ignored.I personally think that Garchomp, aka Chomper, should be S Rank because it's one of the most threatening Pokemons of the game. We shouldn't forget that it was Uber before getting unbanned recently. Garchomp has now access to Aqua Tail which allows it to be very effective in Rain and to hit Lando-T / Gliscor without using Outrage and getting locked on it then (and so being RKable).
The SubSD Salac is absolutely horrible to face, it's able to decimate an entire team with very little team support. It also works very well as an SRer, a Bander and a Scarfer (especially in the current metagame). It's only real counter is Skarmory (that gets 2HKO'd by Aqua Tail in Rain from CBChomp) and it isn't that much used in the current metagame. It's also faster than the famous Landorus which is an extremely important point in my opinion. I won't even talk about it's bulk for such an amazing sweeper... (it's ability is really cool too).
Keldeo should be S-Rank as well seeing how it's able to destroy 95% of the Metagame with Secret Sword + Hydropump. It only has a few counters that are 2HKO'd by Hidden Power Ghost from the Specs and easily trap'd by Tyranitar, maybe Keldeo's favorite teammates. It has the same bulky as Terrakion but it resists to priority moves like BPunch / IShard which is very positive. As I just said it, it only needs a very little team support (Politoed or Tyranitar are enough) and is probably the best sweeper of the tier with Landorus. Definitely an S-Rank.
I'd like to counter this argument by saying "NUH-UH."Nominating Breloom for Uber...er, I mean, S-Rank. It is the quintessential sleep abuser, as it instantly puts pressure on the opposing team with its amazing STAB coverage after it puts something to sleep. Because of the change in sleep mechanics from Gen IV to Gen V, the sleep counter resets each time you switch in a sleeping Poke, which means that putting a Poke to sleep essentially kills it, as you cannot hope for it to wake up in a metagame as fast as this one. Switching in a counter (like Celebi, Amoonguss, Latias, etc) to take the sleep and just sit there doesn't usually work either, because all those Pokes are potential set-up fodder and/or Pusuit bait.
That's not all, though. Breloom is broken because it is able to force catch-22 scenarios. Let's say Breloom comes in on a slower Rotom-W that you need to keep awake in order to counter a Gyarados in the wings. You switch in Politoed to take the Spore, but it Swords Dances instead and then uses Mach Punch to kill Politoed. Now you're down a Poke, have to deal with a +2 Breloom, and may have to deal with it putting something else to sleep either now or later in the match. It's just a horrible Pokemon for the metagame and needs to go.
Just saying, but referencing usage stats to back up your arguments is a pretty bad idea. The most annoying teams I've had the pleasure of facing use Breloom + Pursuit Trapper. In any case, you don't need to run Pursuit with Breloom; just something to set up on a sleeping Celebi/Latias/Amoongus.Also, Celebi, Latias, and Amoongus work fine as counters. Breloom is rarely, if ever, seen with Tyranitar. In fact, Breloom's most common partner capable of learning Pursuit, as of January, is Weavile, at a measly 0.572%. Breloom is certainly a threat to be aware of, but he's hardly S-tier, and not even close to being banworthy.
I'll like to add to this by saying that with Natural Cure, Roserade is excellent at switching into Scalds because it doesn't fear being burned. This makes her an even better switch-in to Water-types than Ferrothorn.Might as well use this opportunity to nominate Roserade for C-rank. Her Toxic Spikes destroy teams that don't have Tentacruel or Venusaur and her Poison-Typing prevents Tentacruel's from ruining yours. Sleep Powder is akin to a free knockout with BW mechanics. Her special bulk allows her to range from shaky revenge checking to hard countering various threats: Keldeo, Rotom-W, Politoed, Gastrodon, Magnezone, Thundurus, Jellicent, Jolteon. Her typing is even applicable to check one physical threat: Breloom. To top it off, her 125 SpA, the same as Tornadus-I and Hydreigon, allows her to hit hard enough to prevent set up.
She is held back thanks to living the life of Grass-Type coverage, shitty recovery, and most importantly, by the gross speed creep present in OU.
Hell, I'd say her niche is strong enough to be B-rank, but if I can't even push Keldeo to S-rank, then I'm not gonna bother for Rosey.
Keldeo may not have the best STABs here, but they aren't downright terrible, still have incredible coverage, and are extremely powerful. What it lacks on coverage, Keldeo makes up for sheer power. For example, 5 of the Pokémon that you cited, Latios, Gyarados, Salamence, Starmie, Dragonite, still take a lot of damage from rain-boosted Water-type attacks, despite the resistance (the latter needs Multiscale broken, however), and may be 2HKOed if they do not have investiment in Special Defense. Without rain it is not that easy to wall as you may think. There are a lot of Pokémon, like Slowbro and Scizor, that cannot take non-Rain-boosted Hydro Pumps. Slowbro is a rare threat, but despite the resistance, it is 2HKOed by Hydro Pump boosted by Specs. Scizor is 2HKOed (OHKOed if boosted by Specs) even outside rain, and on rain I don't even need to say what happens with him. Anything not packing a resistance to Hydro Pump and not named Chansey or Blissey will be 2HKOed at worst by unboosted Hydro Pump. The latter two are even manageable with Secret Sword. Keldeo is still very powerful. Also, more often than not Icy Wind and Hidden Power are sufficient in terms of coverage. Finally, the new Expert Belt Keldeo can get past its would-be counters, like Specially Defensive Celebi. I still agree that Keldeo should be S-Rank.Keldeo doesn't belong in S-rank.
Its dual STABs are actually rather mediocre, being resisted by Celebi, Jellicent, Lati@s, Gyarados, Dragonite, Salamence, Starmie, Toxicroak, Venusaur and Tentacruel.
Its coverage moves are downright awful. Hidden Power and Icy Wind, seriously?
Without rain it's extremely easy to wall, and even with rain up it has a hard time getting past Water Absorb/Storm Drain users.
It's a top A-rank pokemon, but nothing more.