I want to argue Rhyperior for A Rank. While it might not seems not that good with its poor speed stat and bad typing, Rhyperior has an extremely high attack near the level of Darmanitan's, coupled with near perfect coverage between its STABs, making it quite an offensive threat. In the other hand, it has solid defensive stats, letting it wall a major part of the metagame. It is actually quite versatile unlike what people usually think. In my opinion, there are six viable sets Rhyperior can use, each ccapable to sweep or wall a major part of the UU metagame.
The first and most used set is the tank set on site with max attack investment and lefties as items. This set is probably the best physical tank in UU, capable to take all except 4X effective physical moves and retaliate with an attack stat of 140. It also brings stealth rock support, which is essential to every good team. It can even take an untrusted LO Heracross' Close Combat and had a chance to OHKO back with Stone Edge after rocks. This means that virtually no physical attackers can beat it one on one. It can even punch holes in teams lacking a dedicated physical wall. Between its dual STABs, there is only a few pokemon that can switch in safely. It can use Megahorn in the last slot to naim Slowbro, but I think that Dragon Tail has mire utility. With Dragon Tail, Rhyperior can be an emergency stop to stat uppers. It can even be used predicting a counter switching in, forcing it to take more hazard damage, making it easier to get past its counters. Overall, Tank Rhyperior is an excellent supporter and. Mid-game pivot for teams.
Specially defensive set is hyped recently. It is really goof as an anti-meta pokemon. It checks the popular Raikou and Zapdos lacking hp grass (and water lol), taking even boosted hp ice with ease his and hits back with SE STAB respectively. It still acts as a good check to many physical attackers such as Arcanine and Flygon. It fits the definition of walking a majority of the tier perfectly.
Physically defensive Rhyperior is actually really uunderrated. With base 110 base HP and 130 base defense fully invested, Rhyperior walls nearly any physical attacker with ease. For example, ScarfedMoxieCross fails to even 2HKO physically defensive Rhyperior. unlike most walls, this guy isn't setup bait even uninvested with near flawless coverage conning off such a high attack stat. Physically defensive Rhyperior walls huge part of the metagame while doing more than that.
CB Rhyperior, though being mentioned several times before, is quite underused. Again, I am stressing the strength of dual high base power STAB moves with such good coverage. The combination of power and bulk of Rhyperior is unmatched in UU, thus making it an excellent CB user. With such great coverage and even Megahorn to beat Slowbro, CB Rhyperior can sweep through the entire UU metagame with minimal support.
The Rock Polish set of Rhyperior is quite forgotten. It is quite a good lategame sweeper nonetheless. The only thing stopping Rhyperior from being S Tier is its pitiful speed stat. The one turn setup without boosting its power is bad, but RP Rhyperior is meant to act like Sharpedo. It maybe still outsped by common scarfers like MoxieCross, but its bulk sepetrates it from Sharpedo, enabling it to survive a close combat and OHKO back. It is even more powerful and has better coverage than Sharpedo. The only thing Sharpedo has over Rhyperior is Speed Boost making it near impossible to rrevenge. But Rhyperior is better in other aspects.
SubSD is a set I always want to try. Well, I don't lime to theorymon, but I think that it definitely worths trying since it could break stall without much trouble. Not sure of its effectiveness though.
With the sets above, I think its bulk, power and versatility makes Rhyperior a good pokemon. It should be a solid A Tier pokemon.
By the way, my post arguing Kabutops for B Tier is ignored lol (I gave up raising it to A even it is really good).
The first and most used set is the tank set on site with max attack investment and lefties as items. This set is probably the best physical tank in UU, capable to take all except 4X effective physical moves and retaliate with an attack stat of 140. It also brings stealth rock support, which is essential to every good team. It can even take an untrusted LO Heracross' Close Combat and had a chance to OHKO back with Stone Edge after rocks. This means that virtually no physical attackers can beat it one on one. It can even punch holes in teams lacking a dedicated physical wall. Between its dual STABs, there is only a few pokemon that can switch in safely. It can use Megahorn in the last slot to naim Slowbro, but I think that Dragon Tail has mire utility. With Dragon Tail, Rhyperior can be an emergency stop to stat uppers. It can even be used predicting a counter switching in, forcing it to take more hazard damage, making it easier to get past its counters. Overall, Tank Rhyperior is an excellent supporter and. Mid-game pivot for teams.
Specially defensive set is hyped recently. It is really goof as an anti-meta pokemon. It checks the popular Raikou and Zapdos lacking hp grass (and water lol), taking even boosted hp ice with ease his and hits back with SE STAB respectively. It still acts as a good check to many physical attackers such as Arcanine and Flygon. It fits the definition of walking a majority of the tier perfectly.
Physically defensive Rhyperior is actually really uunderrated. With base 110 base HP and 130 base defense fully invested, Rhyperior walls nearly any physical attacker with ease. For example, ScarfedMoxieCross fails to even 2HKO physically defensive Rhyperior. unlike most walls, this guy isn't setup bait even uninvested with near flawless coverage conning off such a high attack stat. Physically defensive Rhyperior walls huge part of the metagame while doing more than that.
CB Rhyperior, though being mentioned several times before, is quite underused. Again, I am stressing the strength of dual high base power STAB moves with such good coverage. The combination of power and bulk of Rhyperior is unmatched in UU, thus making it an excellent CB user. With such great coverage and even Megahorn to beat Slowbro, CB Rhyperior can sweep through the entire UU metagame with minimal support.
The Rock Polish set of Rhyperior is quite forgotten. It is quite a good lategame sweeper nonetheless. The only thing stopping Rhyperior from being S Tier is its pitiful speed stat. The one turn setup without boosting its power is bad, but RP Rhyperior is meant to act like Sharpedo. It maybe still outsped by common scarfers like MoxieCross, but its bulk sepetrates it from Sharpedo, enabling it to survive a close combat and OHKO back. It is even more powerful and has better coverage than Sharpedo. The only thing Sharpedo has over Rhyperior is Speed Boost making it near impossible to rrevenge. But Rhyperior is better in other aspects.
SubSD is a set I always want to try. Well, I don't lime to theorymon, but I think that it definitely worths trying since it could break stall without much trouble. Not sure of its effectiveness though.
With the sets above, I think its bulk, power and versatility makes Rhyperior a good pokemon. It should be a solid A Tier pokemon.
By the way, my post arguing Kabutops for B Tier is ignored lol (I gave up raising it to A even it is really good).