The RU Viability Ranking Thread

atomicllamas

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I would like to propose moving Crawdaunt down to high or mid C.

It's just not fast enough in the current meta to be effective. After one dragon dance, Jolly Crawdaunt reaches a speed of 343, still out sped by all positive nature base 108's and above, and outsped by neutral nature base 125's. This doesn't even include all the common choice scarf users that reside above Crawdaunt's mediocre 55 base speed. Crawdaunt can be revenge killed with ease by some of the current RU heavy hitters (Sceptile, Rotom, Galvantula, and Accelgor to name a few common ones).

This doesn't even account for the fact that Crawdaunt's 63/85/55 defenses make setting up incredibly hard to begin with.

While it does hit super-freaking hard, thanks to adaptability and a base 120 attack, its high attack isn't very well utilized in RU, especially with the hyper offensive teams running around making set up/getting a move off a pain.

I have never seen someone use the choice band set, but I can't imagine it getting more than one KO per match, and if I wanted a wall breaker I'd go with something like Moltres or Durant.

C-Rank: "Reserved for Pokemon that have notable niches in the RU metagame, but have just as notable flaws that prevent them from being top tier threats. Pokemon in the C tier often require significant support to be as effective as higher ranked Pokemon in RU. C rank Pokemon tend to face a lot of competition with the more commonly used Pokemon."

I feel this description fits Crawdaunt far better than the B-rank description does.

(Sorry if this is bad formatting, I am relatively new)
 

Molk

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Ok, update time!


Updates said:
Moved Crawdaunt down from low B rank---> top C rank

Added Pinsir to top C rank

Added Gurdurr to mid C rank

Added Marowak to mid C rank

Added Flareon to low C rank
About Crawdaunt: Although all my experiences using Crawdaunt have been pretty positive, i think placing it in top C rank is totally reasonanle, although some people may or may not disagree with me from things said on irc. As atomicllamas mentioned, Crawdaunt is still rather slow after a Dragon Dance, and while its perfectly capable of sweeping most teams (especially defensive balance/stall/bulky offense), it often has trouble with being revenge killed by these faster threats, all of which are somewhat common. As mentioned Crawdaunt's bulk isnt too amazing either, and it has a lot of trouble finding an opportunity to switch in and set up these days, especially with that typing giving it weaknesses to Bug, Electric, Fighting, and Grass, all of which are pretty common in RU in some shape or form. Its still not all bad for Crawdaunt though, if it can get that crucial chance to switch in and get a Dragon Dance up it poses a significant threat, and with careful play, Crawdaunt can use Substitute to help protect itself against potential revenge killers at least in the short term, giving it more time to do damage even if something like Scarf Rotom-C is on the opposing team. Furthermore, pretty much none of the things that outrun Crawdaunt after a Dragon Dance can switch into it safely, which means Crawdaunt can still nab at least one KO if the player using it has some good prediction skills, so its not like Crawdaunt is a horrible Pokemon or anything because i moved it down to C rank, it just needs a bit more team support to function as well as Pokemon in higher ranks. Although remember, if enough of you strongly disagree with this change, i could easily move Crawdaunt back up to low B rank as long as you guys can back up your arguments, likewise, if you think Crawdaunt should be mid or even low C instead of top C, i could do that as well as long as theres some good reasoning behind it =).

EDIT: added Vigoroth to untested!
 
Proposing to move Cinccino to Mid A Rank. Cinccino is a very good revenge killer and late-game sweeper. It's also unique and effective in that it can break Focus Sash users like Smeargle which is always useful, and can get past Substitute users which is especially important because of hail abusers like Walrein. Cinccino can be a great Choice Scarf user as well, because it outspeeds most other common Choice Scarf users as well as Accelgor. I feel that these traits are very important in the current metagame and Cinccino has become quite common in ladder and tournament play because of this.
 
Nominating Rhydon for Low A-Rank
Rhydon is an amazing pokemon in RU and deserves to be Low A-rank for several reasons. Thanks to a sky-high base 130 attack and amazing coverage with just its 2 STAB moves, you Rhydon is going to be an offensive threat espicially since it has megahorn for tangrowth. While it does have a poor base speed of 40, it can be remedied slightly with Rock polish, which turns rhydon into a speedy threat. Thanks to its amazing 105/120/45 defenses, which can further be boosted by eviolite, rhydon has the highest physical defense in the game. Because it is super bulky on the physical side, it can invest more of its EVs in special defense to tank moves like moltres's hp grass. However, rhydon is one of those pokemon you can custimize your EV spread with, meaning that it can run any spread and still be effective.​

Obviously rhydon has some flaws, such as two 4x weaknesses, but its pros more than make up for them and thus, make it fit for A-Rank.​
 
I might as well nominate Snover to be upgraded to Low A.

Hail is a really powerful playstyle that only Snover can bring to the table, and while it itself may not be too good, so many Pokemon, like Glaceon, Rotom-F, and Walrein, wouldn't be as high as they are without support from Snover. While its stats are rather unspectacular, Snover has done its job when its sent out, which is set up the hail. Some Pokemon, like Escavalier and Emboar, are rising in usage because hail is such a dangerous thing to face, and they can check common hail abusers. Snover has definitely impacted the tier with hail, and I think that it should be booted up to Low A rank.
 
I just... can't see Rhydon above B-Rank to be honest. Those two flaws are very large, and makes a lot of Pokemon hit it for a heck of a lot of damage. A big thing to consider is that when Rhydon gets hit, the HP it lost is gone for good. Also, its weaknesses are extremely common in the tier - if you look at S-Rank, a lot of the best Pokemon in the tier just flat out beat it, or at least do irreparable damage.

I know this isn't the standard EVs but all the KOs are around the same

OHKO
0 SpAtk Slowking Scald vs 252 HP/0 SpDef Eviolite Rhydon: 104.35% - 123.19% (Guaranteed OHKO) (You got Megahorn to deal with Slowking but Slowking has Regenerator and Slack Off to make up for the HP loss)
252 SpAtk Life Orb Sceptile Giga Drain vs 252 HP/0 SpDef Eviolite Rhydon: 168.12% - 197.1% (Guaranteed OHKO)
252 SpAtk Rotom-C Leaf Storm vs 252 HP/0 SpDef Eviolite Rhydon: 237.68% - 281.16% (Guaranteed OHKO)
252 SpAtk Life Orb Moltres Hidden Power Grass vs 252 HP/0 SpDef Eviolite Rhydon: 116.91% - 138.16% (Guaranteed OHKO)

Irreparable harm
4 SpAtk Entei (-SpAtk) Hidden Power Grass vs 252 HP/0 SpDef Eviolite Rhydon: 50.24% - 59.9% (2 hits to KO)
252 Atk Choice Band Escavalier (+Atk) Iron Head vs 252 HP/0 Def Eviolite Rhydon: 61.59% - 72.46% (2 hits to KO)
252 Atk Druddigon (+Atk) Earthquake vs 252 HP/0 Def Eviolite Rhydon: 31.4% - 37.2% (3-4 hits to KO) (With a Choice Band this could be a 2HKO)

Again, Rhydon cannot heal itself, so its resilience is mildly negated by this. Considering how common its weaknesses are in the metagame (notably Grass which is EVERYWHERE), Rhydon should stay at high B imo. The power it packs doesn't make up for it quite enough to be ranked in A, because its weaknesses are extremely common. (there's also High-A stuff like SD Gallade and HC Durant which do a ton of damage)
 

ScraftyIsTheBest

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I agree with DC, Cinccino should definitely go to Mid A-Rank. The cutie is obscenely powerful and has decent coverage, so it can wreck. Furthermore, its multi-hits make it an excellent anti-lead, destroying Smeargle, Snover, and Scolipede with relative ease. Sub-breaking is also a plus, making it a great stop to SubSplit Rotom-F and SubProtect Glaceon and Stallrein. Cinccino can also sweep teams using its amazing Speed and power after Steel-types are gone, which can be done via Magneton or Gallade. Overall, Cinccino is an awesome Pokemon in RU and deserves Mid A.

Snover I could see in Low A simply because it commands a playstyle. What it brings to the table is the ability to throw nasty Blizzards, and a bunch. It makes ice-types all the more viable. Top B or Low A, either is good by me.

As for Rhydon, I'm torn. Rhydon has really awesome bulk and power, plus incredible STAB coverage. Rhydon also sets up SR well, checks threats such as Entei and Bouffalant excellently. It also has offensive roles in CB and LO which it pulls off with really good ease. It has two very bad weaknesses though. I could see it in either Top B or Low A, but either way Top B is as low as it should go.
 

Molk

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Because there was a brief period of inactivity since my last update and now where pretty much no nominations were made, i'm going to wait an extra 2 days or so before making the next update, just letting you guys know =). (i'll probably be removing some pokemon from untested).

As for Rhydon, like the other users who've posted, i'm pretty damn torn on where Rhydon should go tbh. On one hand its proven to be absolutely amazing for me, checking various top threats with ease because of its bulk, setting up Stealth Rock easily, and making its presence known offensively with a strong Edgequake+Megahorn coming off of an Amazing base 130 Attack stat, but on the other hand those flaws are definitely there and do hold Rhydon back somewhat. At the moment i totally agree with ScraftyIsTheBest that Rhydon is easily top B rank minimum, but i can see where people such as Swamp Rocket are coming from when they say Rhydon should stay where it is.

By the way, is it okay if i move Sandslash to D- rank? I simply dont understand what people see in it these days, pretty much every Sandslash i've faced in the past month since Nidoqueen left the tier has accomplished little to nothing during the match, rarely even pulling a spin off if i have some sort of Ghost-type such as Rotom, Misdreavus, or Spiritomb. Even if i dont have a Ghost-type, i always end up pressuring it to the point where it dies without getting a Rapid Spin off, or i simply reset Stealth Rock and/or my other hazards a few turns after if it ever gets to somehow spin. Although some people would say Sandslash is a good physical wall, it really never seems to wall much of anything from my experience, it has a complete lack of reliable recovery which means it gets worn down really quickly, and the majority of common physical attackers such as CB Entei, Druddigon, Escavalier, Waterfall Kabutops, and Gallade can still muscle through it even with Sandslash's good physical bulk thanks to incredibly powerful STAB moves and super effective moves. As for its ability to use SR+spin in one teamslot, i've tried Sandslash myself on a few occasions and i always found myself simply using a different Stealth Rock setter and an outright better spinner such as Kabutops or Cryogonal every single time, and i never, ever looked back. There are a few other things that make Sandslash pretty mediocre in my opinion, but i think this is enough to justify moving it back down to D rank at the moment, if you want me to elaborate i'll bring up some other points in a reply.
 

Mack the Knife

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Because there was a brief period of inactivity since my last update and now where pretty much no nominations were made, i'm going to wait an extra 2 days or so before making the next update, just letting you guys know =). (i'll probably be removing some pokemon from untested).

As for Rhydon, like the other users who've posted, i'm pretty damn torn on where Rhydon should go tbh. On one hand its proven to be absolutely amazing for me, checking various top threats with ease because of its bulk, setting up Stealth Rock easily, and making its presence known offensively with a strong Edgequake+Megahorn coming off of an Amazing base 130 Attack stat, but on the other hand those flaws are definitely there and do hold Rhydon back somewhat. At the moment i totally agree with ScraftyIsTheBest that Rhydon is easily top B rank minimum, but i can see where people such as Swamp Rocket are coming from when they say Rhydon should stay where it is.

By the way, is it okay if i move Sandslash to D- rank? I simply dont understand what people see in it these days, pretty much every Sandslash i've faced in the past month since Nidoqueen left the tier has accomplished little to nothing during the match, rarely even pulling a spin off if i have some sort of Ghost-type such as Rotom, Misdreavus, or Spiritomb. Even if i dont have a Ghost-type, i always end up pressuring it to the point where it dies without getting a Rapid Spin off, or i simply reset Stealth Rock and/or my other hazards a few turns after if it ever gets to somehow spin. Although some people would say Sandslash is a good physical wall, it really never seems to wall much of anything from my experience, it has a complete lack of reliable recovery which means it gets worn down really quickly, and the majority of common physical attackers such as CB Entei, Druddigon, Escavalier, Waterfall Kabutops, and Gallade can still muscle through it even with Sandslash's good physical bulk thanks to incredibly powerful STAB moves and super effective moves. As for its ability to use SR+spin in one teamslot, i've tried Sandslash myself on a few occasions and i always found myself simply using a different Stealth Rock setter and an outright better spinner such as Kabutops or Cryogonal every single time, and i never, ever looked back. There are a few other things that make Sandslash pretty mediocre in my opinion, but i think this is enough to justify moving it back down to D rank at the moment, if you want me to elaborate i'll bring up some other points in a reply.
I agree 100%.
 

mkizzy

formerly kenny
I definitely agree with you Molk, honestly Sandslash can't really do much, not even its main job (spinning in most cases.) It fails to beat all of the relevant spin blockers such as Missy, Rotom, Tomb, and even Dusknoir who isn't regarded as a good mon. Sandslash doesn't have reliable recovery, preventing it from running an effective defensive set, while just being plain outclassed by Kabutops offensively. No need to have Sandslash just because of 'more teamslots because rapid spin + sr' when having two seperate mons for that that work effectively is better than having one dead weight mon (Sandslash, in this case.) Both Kabutops and Cryogonal are better spinners, and I even have an easier time fitting them on teams than Sandslash. All in all, Sandslash is definitely not a Pokemon that belongs in C-rank.
 

Molk

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kk, time for some updates

Updates said:
Moved Cinccino up from low A rank ---> Mid A rank

Moved Snover from top B rank ---> low A rank

Moved Sandslash from low C rank ---> D rank

Added Kadabra to mid C rank

Removed Zweilous from Untested
Removed Muk from Untested
Removed Throh from Untested
I'm so damn conflicted on where Rhydon should go ;-;, also, i think i ended up removing another mon from untested, but i totally forgot what it was, i'll edit its removal in if and when i remember what it was lol.


Anyways, after testing it out a bit, i think Vigoroth deserves a spot in at least mid C rank. Its a pretty underrated mon with quite a few perks that help it stand out from the rest of the Normal-type crowd. With Eviolite equipped, Vigoroth has the equivalent of 80/145/105 defenses, which is more than enough for Vigoroth to take multiple hits throughout the match, a fast Slack Off further augments this, letting Vigoroth quickly heal off any significant damage its taken over the course of the match in just one turn, making Vigoroth an incredibly resilient Pokemon overall. Because of this resilience, Vigoroth makes an excellent user of Bulk Up, slowly boosting its stats until its ready to sweep while using Slack Off to restore any damage the opponent has done. The set i used on Vigoroth while testing it out was Taunt+Bulk Up, and thats by far its best set imo. While sacrificing the ability to hit certain Ghost-types looks bad at first, Taunt is quite hard to pass up on Vigoroth, letting it stop any Pokemon who might want to phaze, set up on, or cripple Roth with status right in their tracks, making Roth much harder to deal with in the long run despite its coverage handicap. Vigoroth does have its flaws of course, because of the coverage handicap it pretty much requires Pursuit support to function to its full effectiveness, and if roth chooses to run another coverage move such as Earthquake or Night Slash to cover the Pokemon return can't, it sorely misses Taunt, giving it a good case of 4mss to deal with :/. Vigoroth's also pretty vulnerable to moves such as Knock Off and Trick because of its reliance on Eviolite, these moves remove its precious stone, and thus strip Vigoroth of a significant amount of bulk, with TrickScarf even locking Vigoroth into the same move, effectively stopping it cold even if it had enough bulk to take on the rest of the opposing team after its Eviolite was removed. Nonetheless, Vigoroth is a pretty cool Pokemon imo, and while it does have some somewhat significant flaws, i think it definitely deserves a spot in Mid, if not Top C rank after testing it out, although i'll consider putting it lower if you guys disagree.
 

atomicllamas

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Murkrow is one of the pokemon currently residing in the untested tier. I believe that Murkrow could be low to mid C rank. With eviolite it is the bulkiest prankster abuser on which ever side you decide to invest in. Murkrow is also the only prankster abuser in the tier with access to instant recovery in the form of roost.

It can abuse prankster in a multitude of ways. Like Liepard it can annoy your opponent to death with Swagger/Foul Play/Thunderwave. Given the same EVs Murkrow is always bulkier than Liepard and has access to roost, possibly making Murkrow the Superior choice. It can still use substitute if you want to avoid status/block the attack, but it will miss the leftovers recovery. I have used both the Perish Trapper set and the Featherdance/Stallbreaker set listed on smogon, and had moderate success with both. The perish trapper set is nice, but it is hard to get both the mean look and the perish song off without dying. It does, however, destroy walls, and open up huge holes for your sweepers. Perish song can also prevent a set up sweeper from plowing through your whole team. FeatherDance allows Murkrow to be extremely bulky on both sides, and can spread paralysis/toxic with ease. Priority taunt is also a wonderful asset on any support pokemon and can stop certain dedicated leads (Smeargle, Qwilfish, Support Uxie) from getting up their hazards/statusing your pokemon.

Murkrow also has access to tailwind, sunny day, and rain dance, but Volbeat is the better weather setter and faces competition from Whimsicott as a tailwind setter.

Murkrow does have some flaws that prevent it from being extremely dangerous. Unlike other prankster abusers it can't use leftovers, which means that Murkrow's health can dwindle away faster than one would think. Even after eviolite Murkrow's bulk is pretty average (still better than the other prankster abusers). Major 4mss. While it probably has the widest range of options of any of the prankster abusers, it doesn't necessarily excel at any of them.
 

Molk

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K, time some more updates (even though the discussion here is really slowing down :[)

Recent Updates said:
Added Vigoroth to mid C rank

Added Murkrow to low C rank (although i see Murkrow as more of a D rank Pokemon tbh :/)

Added Lickilicky to top C rank

Added Rapidash to mid C rank
Also, going to make another nomination of my own! =).



Nominating Alomomola for top B rank

Damn Alomomola, i can't believe there was a time where i used to have you in D rank.....wow

So anyways, Alomomola has really made a name for herself recently in RU as one of the, if not the best Wishpasser in the entire tier, possessing a massive base 165 HP stat, Alomomola has the largest Wish in the Entire tier, capable of fully healing pretty much offensive Pokemon in one go and healing 60%+ of the HP of pretty much every defensive Pokemon in the game. Unlike Wishpassers, Alomomola also has the advantage of Regenerator, which prevents her from being worn down from repeated Wishpassing and gives her a form of passive recovery that allows her to focus less on using Wish to restore her own hp and focus more on healing her teammates with her massive Wishes. Aside from passing these huge Wishes, Alomomola has proven herself as a very capable physical wall as well, having physical bulk rivaling Tangrowth's and a good defensive typing in Water that helps her check many of RU's physical attackers with ease, including Entei, Emboar, Absol, Feraligatr, most Druddigon and Hitmonlee among many others, slowly wearing them down with Toxic damage while keeping herself healthy with a combination of Wish and Protect, the latter of which lets her stall for Toxic damage more effectively and also makes her good at scouting choiced Pokemon. These days Alomomola has become a very familiar face on RU stall teams, at least for me, being on pretty much every stall team i use or play against just because of her sheer utility and how well she pairs with many of the tiers other defensive threats such as Roselia and Amoonguss. Alomomola can be used on certain forms of offense too, acting as a pivot to take the attacks her teammates can't while using her Wish to heal them up, making them much harder for the opponent to deal with. Overall, while mola does suffer from a few flaws such as low offensive presence, i think her incredible positive traits make her more than worthy of top B rank. Its okay if you disagree though.
 
I gotta agree with this, I have used Alomomola, mainly on stall although it can function well on Balance with the ability Regenerator and passing huge Wishes making it extremely hard to kill off. Alomomola does have pretty much no offensive presence but the sheer utility it provides to a team coupled with great bulk and defensive typing more than outweigh this. As Molk said Alomomola has the ability to wall some of the top tier Physical threats and can even afford to run a spread of 4 Hp/252 Def/252 Sdef which still gives it giant wishes but makes it much harder to kill on the Special side.

Alomomola is definitely on par with other Pokemon in the top B rank such as Braviary, Bouffolant, Feraligatr, Hitmonlee and Steelix and definitely deserves a spot there.
 
(even though the discussion here is really slowing down :[)

Nominating Alomomola for top B rank
Regarding the first sentence, it is kinda sad. I ladder often so when I try to this thread was always the place I went to for help with team building. That said, discussion slowing down could mean that people are becoming more and more content with the current state of the list, meaning only a few minor changes (and any possible drops) need to be taken into account. It's probably a good thing in the end because it means our meta is stable enough where things aren't wildly fluctuating on a daily basis.

In order to contribute something actually useful. I agree that Alomomola should be moved up, but I'm kinda split between high and mid, tbh. Clearly her lack of offensive presence (worse than Munchlax against neutral targets) hurts her, but she is a decent physical wall and an AMAZING wishpasser. As a wall, she does receive competition from Qwilfish and Poliwrath, but it's more a question on what role the team needs as opposed to being directly outclassed. As a wishpasser, Alomomola is unparalleled. Between Wish and a subsequent Regenerator healing when she switches out, Mola can heal a total of 445 HP in two turns (assuming max HP). For an extreme comparison, even a Blissey's Wish only heals 357, although that all goes to the Wish target. Add in her nice defensive typing, and she'll probably find more opportunities to pass a Wish than Clefable, except maybe in Hail where immunity to hazards and hail damage really comes in handy. Clefable does tend to try and pass against special attackers as opposed to physical ones, but considering Clefable sits in Mid B, it would make sense to at least raise Mola to that.

Since the support provided by her Wishes is so great, what it comes down to for me is how badly does her lack of offense hurt her. According to the tier definitions, the positives outshine the negatives, but the flaws are more notable. It certainly applies to Mola, considering spikers like Roselia, Ferroseed, and Qwilfish all take crap damage from Waterfall and are immune to Toxic, so there's essentially a free layer of Spikes. Steelix gets a special mention as a Stealth Rock user in that despite being weak to Water, he is only 7HKOed at best by Waterfall. In addition, threatening Pokemon like Jynx and Sceptile can come in on anything but Toxic and freely set up a Sub to help them sweep, since Mola can't break the Subs with Waterfall. She's so weak Waterfall isn't even a guaranteed 2HKO on standard Smeargle with a clear field.

All things considered, I see her fitting in a level with Roselia, Misdreavus, and Clefable, but I can also see her fitting in a tier with Rhydon, Steelix, and Bouffalant. I just did a calc after writing this showing Mola doing more damage to a neutral target than Dusknoir's Shadow Punch given the same EV spread, so it's not all bad. Also, hazards aren't always free against Mola since many users of Stealth Rock won't like taking a Toxic, and Waterfall does decent damage to frailer/4x weak ones like Aerodactyl and Rhydon. So I guess I'll lean more towards Top B Rank with the other guys, although I do see Mid as a suitable option as well.
 

ScraftyIsTheBest

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Just popping in the say that I agree with moving Alomomola up to Top B-Rank. It's an incredible Wish supporter thanks to its massive HP, which allows it to throw massive Wishes to your team, making it a great team player. Alomomola is weak and can be set up on, but it doesn't really need to stay in for long, it just needs to get in on something that can't touch it, throw up a Wish, and go to proper teammates. Many Pokemon love the Wish support it provides. It needs teammates, but it helps the teammates it works well with, particularly Roselia, Spiritomb, and Steelix. It pairs up excellently with Druddigon and Escavalier too, as they wreck shit with CB, but are easy to wear down, but Mola has great synergy and passes massive Wishes to them allowing them to wreck more shit. Mola also walls a lot of top physical attackers such as Absol, Entei, and Emboar. Top B-Rank for sure.

By the way I might test Sawk and Serperior soon so I'll be back sometime to nominate them for a rank.
 

Molk

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So..... i just made an update yesterday so i'm not going to be making any changes such as Alomomola to top B rank just yet, but i've added another Pokemon to untested that i think probably deserves a rank in this metagame!

Update said:
Added Torkoal to Untested


Torkoal might not seem like much as first, having very good defensive stats but an odd defensive typing as well as an abysmal Speed stat, but i think its a decent enough Pokemon to stand out from the crowd and deserve a spot on this list, probably D rank at the very least. To start things off, Torkoal has access to Rapid Spin and from what i've seen of it it does a better job as a spinner than things like Sandslash and Hitmonchan, with Smashkoal being able to 2HKO all the RU spinblockers at the very worst with a boost under its belt. While an absolutely terrible base 20 Speed might make a Shell Smash set seem completely unviable, +2 Modest Torkoal still has just enough Speed to outrun neutral natured Kabutops and Gallade, which is more than enough for Torkoal to accomplish its spinning role and possibly punch some holes into slower teams imo, especially given it has more than enough bulk to set up a Shell Smash against various physical attackers. Defensive Torkoal could have some utility as well, having access to some great support moves such as the aforementioned Rapid Spin, Stealth Rock, Will-O-Wisp, and Yawn. Otherwise, Torkoal's amazing physical bulk and Fire-typing would make it a decent check to various threatening physical attackers such as Entei, Escavalier, and Emboar, among others. Sadly, Torkoal is still far from a top tier Pokemon even with these positive qualities, it suffers a lot from being a grounded Rapid Spinner with a weakness to Stealth Rock and a lack of reliable recovery, meaning it'll get worn down quickly if it has to spin more than once over the course of the match. Also, while Fire provides Torkoal with some nifty resistances and a good STAB, it also makes Torkoal weak to common moves such as Scald, Earthquake, and Stone Edge, limiting its effectiveness as a defensive Pokemon and making it somewhat harder to set up a smash, especially given Torkoal's abysmal Speed stat. Nonetheless, i think Torkoal probably has a decent niche in RU, and it probably deserves at least D rank here in the end.
 
I'm going to make an oddball move and nominate Aerodactyl for Top B-Rank or Low A-Rank. Due to how common cincino and fire types are, areodactyl has a major niche of checking these pokemon. Thanks to a blazing 130 speed and great 105 attack, aerodactyl will be hitting fast and hard. While its rock/flying type gives it some unfortunate weaknesses, it does give our prehistoric friend resistences to normal, ground and fire, three important types in RU. Aerodactyl also can run a lead set, but thats generally ineffective in the metagame. However, it can still set up stealth rocks and taunt opposing leads. Overall, aerodactyl's speed and power make it Top B-Rank.

Here are some other changes that I think should be done, but I don't have time to explain.
Whimsicott-------> D-Rank
Electivire--------> Top C-Rank
Galvantula-------> Top B-Rank
Magmortar-------> Low A-Rank
Misdreavus-------> Top B-Rank

Golurk-------> Top B-Rank
Klinklang----> Top B-Rank
Crawdaunt------> Low B-Rank.
I highly doubt anybody will agree with these changes, but most of the changes I'm trying to make reflect the viability of these pokemon in the current metagame.
 

Molk

Godlike Usmash
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kk, time for the full updates =).


Updates said:
Moved Alomomola from low B rank ----> top B rank

Added Eelektross to top C rank

Added Cradily to mid C rank

Moved Aerodactyl from mid B rank ----> top B rank

Pokemon in need of more discussion:
Magmortar
Golurk
Klinklang
Electivire
Galvantula
Whimsicott
Misdreavus
Crawdaunt
Remember that none of these changes are permanent, if you disagree with any of the recent changes i made here feel free to post a reply as to why the Pokemon should be moved to a different rank =).

Regarding Magcargo 2's other changes (already moved Aero): I haven't used the majority of the Pokemon mentioned too recently (i used some of them when queen was around, but the meta's changed a bit since then so their viability might've changed a bit) but i can definitely throw my support behind Golurk moving up to top B rank. Its a pretty underrated Pokemon imo, and its one of my favorite Stealth Rock setters in the new metagame. One of my favorite things about Golurk is that it can somewhat serve to fill the void that Nidoqueen left on certain teams because of its similar typing, sharing resistances/immunities to Bug, Rock, Electric, Fighting, and Poison with the former RU monster, while also bringing some new things to the table, such as an immunity to Normal-type moves, and a neutrality against Ground- and Psychic-type Attacks, meaning Golurk can even check several Pokemon Nidoqueen couldn't during her period in RU. Outside of providing a check to many of the things Nidoqueen checked with its valuable Ground/Ghost typing, and ability to set Stealth Rock, Golurk's massive base Attack stat, good STAB, and great coverage options make it quite the offensive juggernaut, with CB Golurk being able to 2HKO pretty much every Pokemon available in the tier at worst with the exception of Tangrowth, and even then, Tangrowth sure doesn't enjoy a CB Iron Fist Ice Punch to the face. All in all, i've been really impressed with Golurk recently, and i'd be happy to move up it up to top B rank.

By the way, i'm now allowing discussion on the top/mid/low placements of D rank Pokemon! So be sure to post if you have any thoughts on the Pokemon currently in D rank! =).
 
D-Rank is kinda small so here is what I think

TOP
Gothorita - It traps some foes somewhat well. Never ran into one before so this is mostly theory.
Linoone - Definition of High risk high reward. It can sweep entire teams but it needs a ridiculous amount of support to do so.
Sandslash - It's kinda bad but it sometimes gets the job done with Rapid Spin and Stealth Rock. It also beats some Ghost-types fairly easily, such as Rotom, but most of the others do already.
Whimsicott - It is not D-Rank right now, but I support it dropping down. It accomplishes very little, if not nothing, important at the moment, usually providing only a Stun Spore or maybe a Leech Seed before it dies. It is extremely easy to eliminate from the match and just really doesn't feel like it does much at all right now. It having such a low weight in the usage stats (ie much lower than everything else) also shows that people just are not really sure what to make of Whimsicott at the moment.

MID
Articuno - Requires a lot of support for a Pokemon that is supposed to be defensive, but it does... OK against some foes I guess? Offensive set is really niche (ie not great) too.
Dusknoir - Call me crazy but it is actually a pretty decent spinblocker. It is somewhat unreliable, but a bit more reliable than others at beating Kabutops, and it still beats Cryogonal. Otherwise fairly run-of-the-mill ghost and it is pretty weak.
Golem - It's pretty good at what it does, but what it does (Custap with STAB QuakeEdge) is very niche and there are a lot of other cutsapers out there.
Ninjask - It's Ninjask, need I explain?

LOW
Audino - What does this thing even do? I'm serious.
Glalie - Literally the definition of "small niche." Its a spiker that works only in hail for some teams.
Natu - Well, I mean, if you need Magic Bounce that badly, you got Natu.
 

ScraftyIsTheBest

On to new Horizons!
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Just popping in to say that I agree with moving Golurk up to Top B-Rank. He's a good SR setter that can set up well for the team. He also can spinblock, even if not that well but overall it can keep opposing spinners at bay with its moves. I love CB Golurk as well, he packs a lot of power that allows him to smash shit like a boss. He is a really good Pokemon overall, definite Top B.

I also agree with Swamp-Rocket's list, though I'm torn on Whimsicott and Dusknoir could be either Mid or Low D-Rank.

Also, add Scraggy to Untested. Molk has proven it is viable before.
 

Molk

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Audino - What does this thing even do? I'm serious.

Audino happens to play a role similar to Clefable and Lickilicky in RU as a bulky, Normal-type Wishpasser, and although it recieves a ton of competition the two of them in this role, it has some important attributes that help it seperate itself from them and earn itself a spot in D rank, most notably Regenerator. Regenerator is pretty much the perfect ability for a Wishpasser imo (although admittedly, Clefable's Magic Guard is the better ability for a Pokemon overall), allowing Pokemon that have the combination (such as Alomomola) to focus less on using their Wishes to heal themselves and a bit more on healing their teammates, passively recovering a significant amount of health every time they pass a Wish to a teammate. Aside from Regenerator, Audino has other unique traits that help it stand out from Clefable and Lickilicky, having a bigger Wish and more physical bulk than Clefable while having some cool movepool options such as Trick Room and Dual Screens over Lickilicky (as well as the aforementioned Regenerator, which seperates it from both). I'm not really sure where i'd put Audino in D rank at the moment, but these unique traits make me lean towards mid D rank at the moment, although i can understand arguments for both placing it higher and lower.
 

atomicllamas

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I'm going to disagree with Whimsicott being moved down to D, although the sub seed set is horrific, its other sets do certain things well. Access to Prankster, in combination with taunt and encore make Whimsicott a great switch in to set up sweepers, such as Gallade, Crawdaunt, and Klingklang, as well as stopping lead Smeargle in its tracks (watch out for magic guard), which are good things to have a response to. Whimsicott also has access to priority stun spore and tailwind to stop a fast sweeper from destroying a weakened/slow team and U-turn so it doesn't completely destroy momentum. Whimsicott is also the overall bulkiest prankster user in the tier, only facing competition from Murkrow who can only be bulkier on one side with max investment. Whimsicott is also one of the best three sun setters in the tier, although I personally prefer Liepard or Uxie. Priority Memento gets rid of Whimsicott when it is no longer valuable to your team and allows something else to set up.

Whimsicott isn't great, but it deserves to be higher than D rank.
 

Texas Cloverleaf

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Can't say much on this medium but whimsicott is the best sun supporter in the tier bar none in terms of consistently getting sun up, preventing opponent disruption. And giving a teammate set up in the form of Memento. In my opinion the sun support combined with the standard support set makes Whimsi a solid C Pokemon.
 


Seems I'm developing some sort of tradition in backing ScraftIsTheBest with underrated Fighting-types... last one was Medicham. This one's Scraggy.

Ok, so just to start off it needs to be said that Molk has gone 25-0 (possibly higher idk) with a Scraggy team on the ladder and comfortably secured himself the #1 spot. Sure Molk's a great battler but he wouldn't reach that high if he were using a liability on his team now would he? So here's why I'm going to nominate Scraggy for Low B Rank.

There's really not a Pokemon quite like it in RU. Despite its below average stats, I cannot stress enough just how much they don't matter in comparison to its typing (unresisted STAB combination and not half bad defensively), movepool (130 BP STAB move, super effective STAB to kill the Ghosts immune to HJK, two amazing boosting moves, and a solid STAB move that also restores HP) and abilities (all three are brilliant to be honest, but Shed Skin generally has the most utility. Intimidate can help you to set up, whereas the Moxie snowball effect is really cool on paper but sort of not that necessary in practise).

One thing really has to be said about Scraggy: it is one of the most amazing stallbreakers in the tier. Pokemon such as Alomomola are utter setup fodder who cannot hope to outdamage it with Toxic and Waterfall before Shed Skin and Drain Punch's healing kicks in, especially considering the fish's massive HP stat. Spiritomb's strongest STAB moves are quadruply resisted and Scraggy shrugs off Will-o-Wisp thanks to Shed Skin. Steelix and Slowking are weak to its STAB moves and defensive spreads fail to damage Scraggy enough with their STAB moves, especially considering the boost from Eviolite. Cryogonal instantly folds to one of Scraggy's Fighting-type moves and the defensive spread really cannot damage it enough with Ice Beam, and the damage dealt is just healed off by Drain Punch. Stall's best bet is to try and put Scraggy to sleep, but it's nearly always backed up by a teammate that can deal with Tangrowth / Amoonguss / Lilligant such as Emboar. And even then even putting Scraggy to sleep is unreliable considering Sleep Powder's accuracy and Shed Skin.

In short, it fairs up really well against Stall, but how about the more common offensive playstyle? This isn't quite as easy for the little reptile considering its going to have to take considerably harder hits while setting up, and even when it has set up a Dragon Dance, at best it can only hope to tie with a mx Speed Sigilyph, or in other words is still outsped by any other Choice Scarf user in the tier. However, offensive teams do not like taking High Jump Kicks at all, so in many cases Scraggy doesn't even need to set up.

It really is an incredibly unique little Pokemon that can be used as a really solid insurance against stall that is not dead weight against offense either. Not a top tier Pokemon, but its advantages outweigh its disadvantages in my opinion and thus should be placed in Low B Rank.
 

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