XY UU Viability Ranking Thread

[Limitless]

UU Viability Ranking Thread (thanks PKGaming)

Welcome to the official UU Viability Rankings topic. You should know the drill by now; In this thread, we as a community will rank every single usable Pokemon into "tiers." In this thread, you're encouraged to post your thoughts and opinions on the various Pokemon that are usable in UU and what tier they should fall under. It's about time the UU subforum joined in on the action!

The general idea of the topic is to rank each UU pokemon under "rankings" that go in descending order. Since this is a general tier list, everything is lumped together. There won't be any segregation between offense & defense threats.

Note that the overall tier list is in alphabetical order.

MUST READ

..okay. Since it's apparent that everyone will want their "favorites" moved up until nothing exists in any rank below C, I'm going to try to introduce some objectivity into these proceedings.

S Rank: Reserved for Pokemon who can sweep or wall significant portions of the metagame with little support, and Pokemon who can support other Pokemon with very little opportunity cost ("free turns"). Also the home of Pokemon who can easily perform multiple roles effectively, increasing their versatility and unpredictability. If the Pokemon in this rank have any flaws, those flaws are thoroughly mitigated by their substantial strengths.

A Rank: Reserved for Pokemon who can sweep or wall significant portions of the metagame, but require some support or have some flaws that prevents them from doing this consistently. Supporting Pokemon in this rank may give opponents free turns or cannot create free turns easily themselves, but can still do their job most of the time.

B Rank: Reserved for Pokemon who cannot sweep through or wall significant portions of the metagame, but can properly fulfill a given offensive/defensive niche. Support Pokemon in this category have flaws that prevent them from doing their job or are setup bait for dangerous sweepers. Pokemon who are partially outclassed by a Pokemon in A or S Rank, but are otherwise very dangerous, may also fall into this category.

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 are simply not very effective in the current metagame.

PRELIMINARY XY UU Ranking tier list V.1

(Bold = officially ranked)

S Rank:
Reserved for Pokemon who can sweep or wall significant portions of the metagame with little support, and Pokemon who can support other Pokemon with very little opportunity cost ("free turns"). Also the home of Pokemon who can easily perform multiple roles effectively, increasing their versatility and unpredictability. If the Pokemon in this rank have any flaws, those flaws are thoroughly mitigated by their substantial strengths.

Heracross

Hydreigon

Slowbro

Victini


A Rank:
Reserved for Pokemon who can sweep or wall significant portions of the metagame, but require some support or have some flaws that prevents them from doing this consistently. Supporting Pokemon in this rank may give opponents free turns or cannot create free turns easily themselves, but can still do their job most of the time.

A+ Rank

Aerodactyl (Mega)

Ampharos (Mega)

Blastoise (Mega)

Crobat

Haxorus

Jirachi

Lucario

Mew


A Rank

Absol (Mega)

Alakazam

Blissey

Chandelure

Infernape

Krookodile

Mienshao

Nidoqueen

Shaymin

Swampert


A- Rank

Alomomola

Azelf

Forretress

Froslass

Granbull

Nidoking

Sableye

Suicune

Tornadus


B Rank:
Reserved for Pokemon who cannot sweep through or wall significant portions of the metagame, but can properly fulfill a given offensive/defensive niche. Support Pokemon in this category have flaws that prevent them from doing their job or are setup bait for dangerous sweepers. Pokemon who are partially outperformed by a Pokemon in A or S Rank, but are otherwise very dangerous, may also fall into this category.

B+ Rank

Aggron (Mega)

Aromatisse

Donphan

Dugtrio

Empoleon

Entei

Florges

Hippowdon

Roserade

Sharpedo

Starmie

Umbreon

Virizion


B Rank

Arcanine

Celebi

Cobalion

Darmanitan

Gligar

Honchkrow

Houndoom (Mega)

Kyurem

Noivern

Porygon-Z

Raikou

Rhyperior

Rotom-C

Rotom-H

Snorlax

Whimsicott

Yanmega


B- Rank

Abomasnow (Mega)

Amoonguss

Chesnaught

Cloyster

Escavalier

Fletchinder

Flygon

Galvantula

Gastrodon

Hitmonlee

Kingdra

Machamp

Magneton

Meloetta

Metagross

Qwilfish

Reuniclus

Shuckle

Slowking

Stoutland

Tentacruel

Toxicroak

Zoroark


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 completely eclipsed by a Pokemon in the above ranks.

C Rank

Aerodactyl

Avalugg

Banette (Mega)

Blastoise

Braviary

Cacturne

Chatot

Cinccino

Cofagrigus

Cresselia

Ditto

Doublade

Drapion

Druddigon

Durant

Exploud

Feraligatr

Ferroseed

Goodra

Gorebyss

Heliolisk

Jellicent

Jolteon

Milotic

Mismagius

Omastar

Porygon2

Scrafty

Shedinja

Sigilyph

Slurpuff

Tangrowth

Togetic

Trevenant

Tyrantrum

Vivillon

Weezing

Xatu

 

[Delibird is Amazing]

which gourgeist is b rank? there are 4 you know.

 

[trc]

Can someone elaborate on why Hawlucha is good? I haven't used it yet, so I just want to know what causes it to be at such a high ranking when it was originally thought to be an underwhelming mon.

 

[PumpHead]

I believe Mega Aerodactyl should be moved to B+ or A- due to it's ability to be an amazing late game sweeper, after everything has been worn down by hazards and other Pokemon. It's insanely fast at 150 base speed (even outspeeding Mega Manectric) and has a strong 135 base attack stat with Tough Claws boosting it. Mega Aerodactyl also has good coverage in EdgeQuake, Aerial Ace, the Elemental Fangs, Crunch, and Aqua Tail, even. Running a good coverage spread can dominate weakened teams.

 

[Ash Borer]

Can someone elaborate on why Hawlucha is good? I haven't used it yet, so I just want to know what causes it to be at such a high ranking when it was originally thought to be an underwhelming mon.

it basically destroys all offense at +2 because of the high power of its STAB which get good coverage, and its ridiculous speed after unburden. Sub Liechi kind of lets it get +1/+2 without much trouble, and it runs adamant with little regrets so its a bit stronger than it looks. UU lacks aegislash, and all the priority users that gave hawlucha way too hard of a time in OU

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Hi just wanted to point out that Dusclops and Gastrodon are spelled incorrectly. (Ernesto edit: Thanks! I already fixed that)

Also, Hawlucha is a really good late game cleaner. Although Flying Gem is absent right now, Power Herb Sky Attack still provides Hawlucha a powerful attack to activate Unburden with. Fighting and Flying STAB together provide near unresisted coverage aside from Zapdos, and with a Swords Dance boost and the high Base Power of its moves means Hawlucha can pull off a late game sweep without much trouble at all. It's a fairly one dimensional Pokemon and has flaws like its frailty but it's a really good Pokemon otherwise.

I want to see Kyurem and Escavalier on the list here, I'll nom them for a ranking once I can get a bit more playtesting experience.

 

[Delibird is Amazing]

Gen 5 uu viability rankings

>porygon2 is b rank
>dusclops is e rank

Gen 6 uu viabilty rankings

>porygon2 is c+ rank
>dusclops is b- rank

knock off affected both of them how did dusclops suddenly rise 3 ranks while porygon drops 2 sub ranks?

 

[Mazz]

knock off affected both of them how did dusclops suddenly rise 3 ranks while porygon drops 2 sub ranks?

I'm curious as to why Dusclops makes this list in the first place, as it was already such a terrible Pokemon to begin with in BWUU, and as Delibird is Amazing mentioned, the Knock Off buff absolutely destroys Dusclops. With the inclusion of the new Fairy-typing, Mega-Banette, Jellicent, and new Fighting-type stops, Dusclops loses any viability it had last generation. No longer is the tier swamped by it's Fighting-type population, as there's more than plenty to stop their influence. Porygon2 on the other hand isn't as beaten by Knock Off (losing Bisharp to OU helps this a lot), since it isn't 2x weak to it. With Weavile and Bisharp 'temporarily' gone, I could see Porygon2 maintaining its C+ ranking or moving to B-, as it doesn't have as many Knock Off threats to fear. It's still bulky as all hell too, and could maybe even pull off a viable RestTalk set due to the new Sleep Mechanics and act as a status buff.

 

[viol and bass]

Zygarde isn't on the list. I think there's little question it's some sort of A if not S. Its best set is SubCoil, which from my experience can set up extremely easily and prove very difficult to deal with. It's enormously bulky on both ends. Most Scalds, Giga Drains, and other weak special moves don't break its subs, while HP Ice from the likes of Mega Manectric will never come close to KOing. Many weak physical moves don't break its subs even before Coil, and after a Coil or two, very few physical moves do; Foul Play and Seismic Toss never will. It can't be phazed because it is faster than essentially every phazer and moves first with Dragon Tail (fairies are destroyed by Earthquake after Coil while Zygarde can easily take Moonblasts). With Spikes and Stealth Rock, or even without, Zygarde can wear down entire teams very easily. What counters/checks it? Bulky waters with Ice Beam and faster dragons; however, these are not easy to bring in because they can be forced out with Dragon Tail. It can also run other very viable sets such as Dragon Dance or a more offensive Coil set with Stone Edge or ExtremeSpeed, and these sets do very well against the offensive teams that SubCoil has more trouble dealing with.

A? S?

 

[Kadabrium]

Nominating venomoth for at least A- rank.
Yes sleep powder is nerfed and its speed still sux, but with the meta being so stally this thing basically sets up on everything without a SE move, even mega blastoise, nidoking (fewer run fire moves thanks to fairies), and choice locked hydreigon and chandelure.
And when it gets a free switch in you basically have to guess its gonna quiver dance or sleep powder, and making the wrong move means either it gets to +2 or your check is put to sleep.

 

[Limitless]

I just want to preface that I haven't finished adding all the Pokemon yet. I will hopefully have it all finished by tonight. As for moving Pokemon around in different ranks, again, it was hard to create the initial list when not all the Pokemon were added yet. I will have the first preliminary list finished by tonight, after which I will respond to all of the suggestions for rank editing.

 

[The Avalanches]

Where can I find the UU Banlist?

 

[bobbyvaporeon]

Nominating Reuniclus for A-/A.
Reuniclus is so damn good in the current metagame, with both it's Calm Mind and Trick Room sets decimating unprepared teams. Wrecks Suicune, Chesnaught, and Keldeo.

 

[Arkian]

Where can I find the UU Banlist?

Here. Next time, use this thread.

 

[Kingpoleon]

Nominating:
Dusclops(?), Tyrantrum for C Rank.
Reuniclus, Empoleon, Haxorus for A.
Florges for S.
Malamar for B-.
Escavalie for B.
These are just the ones I've tested out a little(10-15 games). Malamar is the one I need to argue the most for, as it has an amazing niche, but not good enough stats to be B. Sticky Web Shuckl+Malamr+Ghost taunted practically guarantees a sweep against 1315ish and below.

 

[The Avalanches]

Here. Next time, use this thread.

Thank you

 

[UnicornDemon]

Hawlucha should be moved down to A- stays in S tier.
Chesnaught should be moved down to B+.
Chansey should at least be A+.
Reuniclus should be moved up to A+.
Heliolisk should be moved down to C+.
Ambipom and Delphox should both be moved down to D.

These are just my opinions. I don't have fancy explanations or anything- I just wanted to put it out there. Feel free to delete this post.

*Edit. I've changed my mind about Hawlucha. My eyes have been opened. Never have I been so wrong.

 

[aidbail45]

Nominating Gardevoir for B rank. Its new fairy typing helps it out a lot, and despite losing its mega form (which would be S rank anyways) it still is a great choice scarf user and support pokemon, with STAB Psychic/PsyShock and Moonblast and its amazing support movepool. Unfortunately it is a bit slow even with a choice scarf and its physical defense is awful, but with the right support it definitely pulls its weight.

 

[RowDog]

I'd like to nominate Doublade for probably B Rank. It has such amazing Defence with an Eviolite and if it is given the chance to set up a couple of SDs it can become quite a threat that can poke many holes. It can also very reliably check Hawlucha as well as quite a few other Pokemon with its niche typing. Though it is greatly crippled by no form of recovery and poor Special Defence.

 

[radianthero156]

i found hawlucha to be quite underwhelming; having played both with it and against it, it ended up being countered by a lot of stuff (zapdos, ghosts that arent gourgeist, etc) and it kind of lacks power, failing to OHKO the likes of pert, hippo. personally i think it's B+

also, diggersby is not on the list and it's at least as threatening as hawlucha, i think it should be around B

 

[Ununhexium]

Nominating Dusknioir for C- or D rank. Its lack of a viable STAB move makes it nearly impossible to use aside from a bulky attacker? It does have will o wosp though which is always nice.

 

[XZ2H3000]

i found hawlucha to be quite underwhelming; having played both with it and against it, it ended up being countered by a lot of stuff (zapdos, ghosts that arent gourgeist, etc) and it kind of lacks power, failing to OHKO the likes of pert, hippo. personally i think it's B+

I disagree, hawlucha is a late game cleaner, it usually attacks while a team is weakened. While it's attack is decent, it has SD, and all his main STABs have high base power (Acro, Sky Attack, HJK), and after unburden it outspeeds everything on the tier, including scarfers (with Adamant it gets 630 after unburden) so it can very easily afford to use adamant, heck, even though it's frail, it can afford to uninvest in speed and invest in HP, because, even uninvested, it's 272, 544 after unburden, which still outspeeds a lot of the tier (just as an example, jolly max speed deoxys-s hits 504, again just an example), and with the extra bulk, it still is quite frail, but it can allow him more setup opportunities. And after boosts it's power does improve (duh) and keep in mind it's a late game cleaner, just to throw out there:

+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha High Jump Kick vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 237-279 (56.4 - 66.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha High Jump Kick vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Swampert: 283-334 (70 - 82.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

+2 252+ Atk Hawlucha Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 211-249 (53.5 - 63.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

This are just some examples, while yes, most are 2HKO's, that means these pokémon can't switch in, and again, Lucha is a late game cleaner, so a lot of these pokes will probably be weakened.

Also, Lucha fares well against many of the tier top walls:

Chansey: Murdered by HJK

Chesnaught: Murdered by Flying STAB

Florges: Acrobatics OHKO's

Celebi: Killed by Flying STAB

I could go on, and on, but Hawlucha is definitely a threat, exceling at its job, benefitting from the UU metagame, it fits fine where it is at S at the moment

 

[nkhlshnd99]

Nominating meloetta for A- rank. It can sweep through many teams thanks to its great mixed attacking stats. Having serene grace to make psychic & shadow ball's secondary effects occur more often is great too. There is also that small chance that relic song will put them to sleep.

 

[Limitless]

Can someone elaborate on why Hawlucha is good? I haven't used it yet, so I just want to know what causes it to be at such a high ranking when it was originally thought to be an underwhelming mon.

Most of the other posters already told you, but none of them really mentioned the Red Card Substitute set, which is really what makes it broken.

Also, in regards to how I'm going to be editing the rankings from now on, I'm going to be looking at the arguments both on here and IRC. Very rarely will I ever respond outright, unless I feel like the posts are completely missing the point. In the early stages, I won't be publically stating every change I make, as there will surely be many. However, once the list becomes more concrete, I will start announcing every change I make.

Lastly, make sure that all of your posts explain why you are nominating a change. If I see a post stating simply nominations, it will be deleted. This is not a thread for spamming nominations of unsupported ideas. This thread is a reference for team building and thoughtful discussion.

 

[Plat]

Nominating meloetta for A- rank. It can sweep through many teams thanks to its great mixed attacking stats. Having serene grace to make psychic & shadow ball's secondary effects occur more often is great too. There is also that small chance that relic song will put them to sleep.

Not to mention that Meloetta is one of the few pokemon that can really run assault vest viably since Meloetta rarely runs any non damaging moves anyways. It has great special bulk and can morph into a mon with great mixed bulk with the use of relic song. This also really helps it switch forms effectively, which can't be understated.