Mienshao should still be A+. His scarf set doesn't get outclassed by Infernape because his HJK (even if not Reckless) is extremely powerful and can often clean up once the resists are weakened and Ghosts are gone. Regenerator also allows Shao to take weak or resisted priority (most notably Honchkrow's Sucker Punch at +1) and still be healthy enough late game to check other shit or clean up. The Life Orb sets does get competition from Infernape whose coverage on both spectrums is amazing, but Mienshao still has Knock Off to break Ghosts and Psychics easily as well as providing utility. It is just great as usual.
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XY UU Viability Ranking Thread
- Thread starter Limitless
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With the additions of Blissey and Hydreigon, Mega Houndoom is going to fall all the way down to A- rank. I believe it could fall even further, but we'll keep an eye on it. Mienshao is moving down to A rank.
The next two Pokemon up for discussion are Victini and Mega Aerodactyl.
The next two Pokemon up for discussion are Victini and Mega Aerodactyl.
i said do sunfish you (BAN ME PLEASE)
I think Mega Aerodactyl should move to A+, if not stay at A. There's the obvious fact that it checks most of the drops (well unless youre running BP luke or w/e), but there's more to it than that. Stone Edge / Aqua Tail / Crunch covers a wide portion of the meta, and then the last slot can be catered to w/e. It has the bulk / typing to switch into a fair amount of the metagame, while, like Victini, still having the ability to check a wide range of the metagame. It also has a wide range of support to go into the last moveslot, letting it serve a pretty good amount of roles, whether it being able to clear hazards that it would normally be set-up bait for, preventing said hazards and status from flying its way (making it a great answer to Mew and non-ice fang / rock slide hippo), or reliable recovery which lets it switch in multiple times and not get worn down due to Stealth Rock.
i'll also edit this post later as to why Victini should stay A+ as well.
I think Mega Aerodactyl should move to A+, if not stay at A. There's the obvious fact that it checks most of the drops (well unless youre running BP luke or w/e), but there's more to it than that. Stone Edge / Aqua Tail / Crunch covers a wide portion of the meta, and then the last slot can be catered to w/e. It has the bulk / typing to switch into a fair amount of the metagame, while, like Victini, still having the ability to check a wide range of the metagame. It also has a wide range of support to go into the last moveslot, letting it serve a pretty good amount of roles, whether it being able to clear hazards that it would normally be set-up bait for, preventing said hazards and status from flying its way (making it a great answer to Mew and non-ice fang / rock slide hippo), or reliable recovery which lets it switch in multiple times and not get worn down due to Stealth Rock.
i'll also edit this post later as to why Victini should stay A+ as well.
I think Victini should be S-Rank. As the best band user in the tier atm, it has extremely good wall-breaking capability using its signature move V-Create. But while that set is great and absolutely decimates any team that isn't ready for it, it gets better you when you start to use its mixed sets. If you played last gen you know how it works, use V-Create on something you can switch in on (in this gen Florges) and when they go for their switch in you go for the appropriate coverage the following turn(which varies as Tini's movepool is crazy large). Since the meta is less centralized around Victini this gen you don't see things that are meant to be a complete stop to this like Snorlax. And for those who say that it can only wall break, use the Mixed OTR set with V-Create/Bolk Strike/Grass Knot. It still is able to wall break like a fully speed ev'd MixTini would but with the ability to sweep late game with setting up Trick Room. I know my argument seems like the ever popular one from last gen, that you can't predict its set so its broken, but I'm not saying that. It's just one of the best.
Honestly I don't think the new drops necessarily usurped or downplayed Victini's role or effective of sets that I agree it should stay in its current rank. MAero I think has been catching on lately and does handily deal with the recent threats and I can definitely see this moving up A+ simply because it has become even more relevant in checking the new threats.
Jeez Maero definitely needs to go up to A+ as it checks the entire metagame while simultaneously being stall's best/(only) choice to cover NP ape and Sub Chandelure in one slot. Slight 4MSS, no SD, and SR weakness are the only things keeping it from pillaging the tier but at the same time that 4MSS is made up for sheer versatility it can bring to a team.
The downsides to this prehistoric beast, however, are a weakness to Stealth Rock, susceptibility to being revenge killed and having some common weaknesses in Water, Ice, Electric, Rock and Steel. Nevertheless, Mega Aerodactyl has become a ton more useful in UU thanks to the new drops and its versatility.
Mega Aerodactyl for A+/S.
(florges and mianshao for A+ for better color synergy).
Joking aside, I cant see why victini would not be A+, as It is THE most versatile pokes in the tier, not to mention that STAB V-create still hurts like a bitch.
Mega Aero has been getting better and better for a long time, and the new drops only cemented it as a rock solid mon in the meta, as it can easily revenge kill alakazam, a feat both mianshao and infernape has issues with. A+ for sure.
Joking aside, I cant see why victini would not be A+, as It is THE most versatile pokes in the tier, not to mention that STAB V-create still hurts like a bitch.
Mega Aero has been getting better and better for a long time, and the new drops only cemented it as a rock solid mon in the meta, as it can easily revenge kill alakazam, a feat both mianshao and infernape has issues with. A+ for sure.
Jacks0n
formerly grassycow
View attachment 15890 Mega Aerodactyl for S | This might seem like a drastic change but I really think this should happen. Mega aerodactyl has amazing speed and great attack as well as an awesome defensive and offensive typing that lets it check a huge portion of the meta. Some of these are but not limited to are alakazam, infernape, heracross, lucario, victini, mienshao, honchrow (w/o boosts), nidoking, roserade, shaymin, celebi, crobat and vivillion. That is just pokemon in the A rank's. Mega aerodactyl also has great sets such as a bulky roost taunt one, it can be tailored to run stealth rock, an all out attacking moveset w or w/o roost and even a hone claws set. Higher on the ladder its really quite versatile and its insanely good speed, great attack, the fact that it cleans so well and checks a huge, and I mean huge portion of the meta which will just expand if torn t isn't banned makes it an S pokemon IMO.
Looking at MAero, I totally agree with S Rank, even though it is a bit of a jump. Let's just look at its matchups.
S Rank:
Alakazam Just obliterates it, with Aerial Ace and Stone Edge both cleanly OHKOing, and SashZam barely 2HKOing.
Blissey Aerodactyl can 2HKO with Stone Edge after SR and prior damage, meaning Blissey can't switch in.
Infernape EQ and Aerial Ace OHKO, and no move Infernape packs can OHKO (in the case of Scarf or Sash).
Slowbro Loses because Slowbro OP.
A+ Rank
Heracross Anything except Scarf Moxie gets shrekt, and Scarf with no boosts can't OHKO with Stone Edge.
Hydreigon Aerodactyl can take one hit from a Scarf set, but sadly can't OHKO. Can kill with some prior damage though.
Lucario Dies to one EQ, and Bullet Punch cannot OHKO without an SD (even with SR)
Mew Can't really switch, because Stone Edge 2HKOs after SR and Leftovers.
Victini Everything barring Scarf is outsped and killed.
So, as long as you scout for scarfs and sashes, Aerodactyl can beat everything in S and A+ 1v1 barring Hydreigon and Slowbro . I believe that is enough for S Rank.
S Rank:
A+ Rank
So, as long as you scout for scarfs and sashes, Aerodactyl can beat everything in S and A+ 1v1 barring Hydreigon and Slowbro . I believe that is enough for S Rank.
Yep.
Mega Aerodactyl is being moved up to A+ rank, while Victini is staying in A+ rank. The next two Pokemon up for discussion are Darmanitan and Forretress.
Forry goes in, does some hazards control, and gets out. That was his job before the drops, thats still been his job after the drops, and he hasn't really gotten any better or worse at that job since. None of the drops do what he does, and they don't make the metagame favor another pokemon that does the same job as Forry. I see no reason to move him out of A rank, he's got a simple job and he does it well.
Darmanitan for B-
There is less reason to use Darmanitan now with all the other powerful physical and faster Fire-Types in the tier. Don't get me wrong, Darmanitan has good coverage and already hits insanely hard right of the back but having to rely only on a powerful STAB that kills you most the time seems not be really smart. Comparing to other physical Fire-Types.
Victini: Faster, hits similary hard with V-Create, Insanely large coverage on both attacking sides, has U-Turn like Darm.
Infernape: Faster, Secondary STAB, U-Turn, can boost both attacking stats to dangerous highs, large coverage on both attacking sides, priority.
Entei: Faster, Bulkier, while it does not hit as hard it makes up for it with a great move called Sacred Fire, has Priority.
Forretress for A
Not much has changed for Forre. I believe with all the physical attackers running around, it has a much better time to spread hazards around or spinning around.
There is less reason to use Darmanitan now with all the other powerful physical and faster Fire-Types in the tier. Don't get me wrong, Darmanitan has good coverage and already hits insanely hard right of the back but having to rely only on a powerful STAB that kills you most the time seems not be really smart. Comparing to other physical Fire-Types.
Victini: Faster, hits similary hard with V-Create, Insanely large coverage on both attacking sides, has U-Turn like Darm.
Infernape: Faster, Secondary STAB, U-Turn, can boost both attacking stats to dangerous highs, large coverage on both attacking sides, priority.
Entei: Faster, Bulkier, while it does not hit as hard it makes up for it with a great move called Sacred Fire, has Priority.
Forretress for A
Not much has changed for Forre. I believe with all the physical attackers running around, it has a much better time to spread hazards around or spinning around.
Jacks0n
formerly grassycow
View attachment 15916 Darmanitan to drop to A- Ok, wth, darmanitan is not in the very least whatsoever in the wildest dreams of the wildest possibilities a B- poke 0.o. Seriously tho, with a flare blitz more powerful than victini and its decent speed that can be fixed with a choice scarf that makes it a huge threat, not B- in the least. The reason it should drop a rank is nape, which now outspeeds it, just one scarfer that now outspeeds it. It is not at all bad, whatseover and is still a great choice, its fine in A-.
View attachment 15917 Forretress to drop to A- I think forretress's problem is that on offencive teams it loses too much momentum. I think something like froslass is a much better choice on offencive teams. It is also set up bait to two of the new drops in infernape and luc, its still good IMO but not A rank.
View attachment 15920Sableye for A/A+ Why the hell hasn't this happened yet!? Sableye is so, so, so very good in UU. Sableye is the best stall breaker in UU, better than mew IMO as well as having the highly coveted ability in prankster which gives it priority healing and status moves. Sableye also comfortably takes on lucario and alakazam. It is simply an amazing stall breaker, has great recovery and stops a lot of top threats. Easy A+ IMO.
View attachment 15917 Forretress to drop to A- I think forretress's problem is that on offencive teams it loses too much momentum. I think something like froslass is a much better choice on offencive teams. It is also set up bait to two of the new drops in infernape and luc, its still good IMO but not A rank.
View attachment 15920Sableye for A/A+ Why the hell hasn't this happened yet!? Sableye is so, so, so very good in UU. Sableye is the best stall breaker in UU, better than mew IMO as well as having the highly coveted ability in prankster which gives it priority healing and status moves. Sableye also comfortably takes on lucario and alakazam. It is simply an amazing stall breaker, has great recovery and stops a lot of top threats. Easy A+ IMO.
grassycow i agree with your other points but you're overstating Sableye as a whole. I don't really think that Sableye outclasses Mew tbh. Sure, it has Prankster Taunt, but that's only really more effective than Mew in the case of leads faster than it, such as lass and Azelf, as Mew outspeeds a large portion of the common hazard users in the tier anyway and handles them much better. Sableye's also not as good as Mew because it just flat out loses to two of the most common walls in the tier, Florges and Aromatisse, who Mew beats 1 on 1 unless they're using Toxic (granted it takes like 3 years for Mew to beat Aromatisse but still). While Sableye does have an arguably better defensive typing, its bulk is just piss poor compared to Mew, as Sableye generally has a very hard time with special attackersr such as Infernape, Shaymin, and NP Lucario. Sure, Sableye can handle physical attackers /somewhat/ better due to Prankster, but the fact that Mew can handle physical attackers only a little bit worse, and doesn't have to worry about being taken advantage of from both attacking sides at the cost of a little bit less speed makes it better than Sableye. Really, the only advantages of using Sableye over Mew is winning against common leads and fast stallbreakers, namely Mega Aerodactyl.
I'm not opposed to Sableye moving up; in fact, I think A- or maybe even A is good for it, but A= is just too much for a Pokemon that has much more noticeable flaws than Mew.
I'm not opposed to Sableye moving up; in fact, I think A- or maybe even A is good for it, but A= is just too much for a Pokemon that has much more noticeable flaws than Mew.
Yeah Sableye is getting more use than ever. It's a stop to Blissey, can counter and wall Alakazam and even kill him, there's the standard fighting attacks it can pivot and threaten to priority burn anything physical (or just use Knock off and see what falls off), defiantly move him to A range though A+ might be too much.
Jacks0n
formerly grassycow
Yeh lol, A- is probably better.
Sableye and Aromatisse up to A- should've been done a while ago. I know we're gonna get there and all but we should do it now ;o
Darm to stay A or drop A- Almost everybody uses Victini or Entei over Darm, and with the increased ubiquity of priority, that Flare Blitz recoil has become a lot more dangerous to him in other offense vs offense games, while still having no way to get past Slowbro aside from the suicidal Belly Drum.
Forry down to A- The increased offensive momentum of the tier makes the annoying ass bagworm cry, even though I still rage about it every night before I go to sleep
Darm to stay A or drop A- Almost everybody uses Victini or Entei over Darm, and with the increased ubiquity of priority, that Flare Blitz recoil has become a lot more dangerous to him in other offense vs offense games, while still having no way to get past Slowbro aside from the suicidal Belly Drum.
Forry down to A- The increased offensive momentum of the tier makes the annoying ass bagworm cry, even though I still rage about it every night before I go to sleep
Yep. I also moved Aromo up to A- rank.
Both Darmanitan and Forretress are moving down to A- rank. The next two Pokemon up for discussion are Honchkrow and Nidoking.
A superpower from Nidoking actually 2hkos blissey after rocks most of the time, but it can't really run megahorn and superpower at the same time or it loses out on stuff like crobat that icebeam hits, or the ability to set up hazards. Drop it to A- definitely, but I don't know if I'd be dropping it further.
Im pretty sure only nidoqueen gets superpower.
0- Atk Life Orb Nidoqueen Superpower vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blissey: 341-403 (47.7 - 56.4%) -- 30.5% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery.
Maybe queen should go up, while the king drops.
Honchkrow should drop too, it's frail as hell, and has a very hard time dealing with Ape and lucario.
A- for honchkrow and nidoking.
I think the peoples up there did a good enough job explaining why Nidoking should be A-, but it sure as hell shouldn't be any lower, because if Blissey is taken out it is still that monstrous wallbreaker. Honchkrow did meet checks in the form of Lucario and Infernape, and with all the new offensive threats its lack of bulk is really hurting it. A- for that too.
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