Salamence A -> A+
i'm just about certain salamence is the best mega evolution of the format, boasting superior bulk, speed, and comparable power to mega kangaskhan with a better ability pre-mega in intimidate. not only that, mence also has the ability to run many different sets including DD, DD with roost, all-out physical, mixed with double edge+hyper voice, or pure special, whereas kangaskhan really only runs 2 sets, and both of them offer the same coverage. mence just does so many things and its popularity has definitely risen over the last few weeks
comparison of power:
252 Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Double-Edge vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Kangaskhan: 144-171 (79.5 - 94.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Kangaskhan: 151-178 (83.4 - 98.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Gengar A+ -> A
gengar has fallen out of favor recently as the anti-lead pokemon of the format; its numbers are now about an even split between focus sash and gengarite. still though, gengar is extremely threatening with perish song and many teams aren't able to appropriately deal with it, and no matter how much of a "gimmick" you think perish trap is, you can still certainly lose to it if you aren't prepared.
Talonflame A+ -> A
talonflame really does not appreciate the shift from vgc 14 to 15 introducing a heap of new bulky waters into the metagame, nor does it appreciate landorus being the most popular non-mega evolution. talonflame simply has poor matchups against a lot of the metagame as well, like heatran, landorus-t, suicune, rotom-wash, mega-salamence, so on. it even has trouble with pokemon it should be able to ohko with flare blitz like bisharp and aegislash due to their ability to use sucker and king's shield respectively. looking past all that, talonflame also defeats itself via recoil 18.5% of the time according to global link stats. still talonflame is the only thing in the game with gale wings and has a very nice support movepool including taunt, will-o, tailwind, and quick guard, so i don't think it should be immediately discounted
Arcanine A- -> A
arcanine occupies a very interesting niche; being able to debuff from both ends of the spectrum with combinations of snarl, intimidate, and will-o-wisp. arcanine has to compete with rotom-h and heatran for the role of defensive fire type but with snarl/intimidate specifically means that it stands out on its own as being good enough for the job. not to mention it also has semi reliable recovery in morning sun, which is unique to it
I gotta say, I am actually thirding most of these. Salamence has lately developed into being a very big threat. It is now number 7 on the pokemon-gl statistics, and it has almost never been in top 12 before. I am aware of that this is a lot due to the fact that the japanese sand core with special Salamence and T-Tar+Excadrill (Also because Cybertron used that core in a team). However, if this is so popular that it gives Mence so much usage on Battle Spot, it must certainly be good. Mence has that thing with how it is difficult to predict the set, especially as an even physical-special split on a team is not ordinary in VGC.
Gengar has indeed fallen, the lead set Cybertron used is really not used as much nowadays, and is not really amazing. Mega Gengar is really dangerous though, as both PerishTrap and DisableEncore can give you a loss if you are unprepared. Gengar is very good, but not A+ anymore.
Talonflame could also easily drop to A rank. It is indeed true that the appearance of bulky waters and Landorus-T in the VGC 15 metagame has hurt it. With Intimidates and Scalds and Rock Slides all around the block, it has a tough time getting to do much. It does have priority Tailwind, but there is way better Tailwind setters out there, like Zapdos, Togekiss, and Suicune. Bulky Pokemon are better as they won't just get a Fake Out+super effective hit to get them sent straight out turn one. It does still have a rather powerful priority Brave Bird, which is really nice to deal with Conkeldurr and Mega Venusaur. But then you find out, Adamant Mega Mence does that even better with Return, which has no recoil. Talonflame can also pack a variaty of different moves, like WoW, Quick Guard, and Taunt to suit slightly different roles. Gale Wings BB and some variation in its sets makes Talonflame A, but the trends of VGC 15 compared to 14 makes it drop below A+.
Arcanine is one of those mons that go from being this wierd niche thing to be one of the most talked about, and interesting Pokemon in the meta. It is extremely (No E-Speed pun intended) versatile, capable of playing two very different and very good roles. The most popular would be the bulky set, which is one of the best sets out there to cripple hard hitting mons on both the physical and special side. It faces competition from Entei in this role, but the possibility for recovery and/or priority makes Arcanine be the bulky Fire-type of choice for most people (although I must admit I am more of an Entei person). Bulky Arcanine actully has some versatility in itself, having the possibility of being physical or special. The second way to run Arcanine, offensive with a Choice Band or Life Orb, also works very well. It has a major offensive pressure, and can catch people expecting bulky Arcanine off guard. Some people also like to run a hybrid between these two, with a Life Orb set with one move from the bulky set like WoW or Snarl, and the rest offensive. So even if the opposing Arcanine uses Close Combat, or takes LO recoil, it could still throw a WoW at you when you least expect it. Arcanine is a really great mon overall, definetly A rank for me.
Bisharp A --> A-
Now, to make this post even longer, I suggest we move Bisharp down to A-. There is simply no denying that Bisharp is not what it used to be early in the meta. It has fallen from fourth to like elleventh on the pokemon-gl statistics, and sees almost no use by top players in tournaments. Bisharp used to be the go-to way to beat Sylveon, and also to stop Initmidate from being a problem. Sylveon is easily dealt with by many things, such as Aegislash, Heatran, Arcanine, and Entei. Heck, it even dies to a spread Hyper Voice. It is one of few things that can deal with Initmidate, but Initmidate can be played around, and many teams only have one or two physical attackers anyways (at least mine do usually). Also, the main Intimidate threat is Landorus-T. Leading of with special attackers that can beat Landorus is a way to beat it, you can't really have a team nowadays without an Ice-type move. Lando can easily be EV'd to survive +1 LO Sucker Punch. Who says it has to stay in on a Sucker Punch anyways? Just switch out with Landorus-T, and have its teammate start racking up damage on Bisharp. Bisharp is also allergic to burns, they just render him useless. The only thing I would use Bisharp for, is to have a good way to deal a ton of damage to Cress in one hit, although I prefer Hydreigon to do that work for me tbh. Bisharp is still somewhat of a threat, but the metagame is slowly moving away from Bisharp, so send it down to A-.
Edit: 400th post, yay ^_^