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When the MMX saw the Zygarde in front of it, it laughed. But, it did not know it was the no guard zygarde. Does Zygarde things, except can OHKO you if it wants. Everyone loves a good Zygarde. Tanky, takes hits. You're probably bored of the Zygarde explanations from the other posts. It does the same thing. Notable changes do include rocks because hazards are really cool. Spectral thief is to remove stat boosts from opponents. Improofed by Audino and Celesteela.
I don't actually know who made the first harvest slaking, but they were evil. For those who live under a rock, Harvest gives you your berry back once you eat it 50% of the time (and 100% of the time in sun but what the fuck is a weather). Some genius decided to exploit this by using Crystal Free Z-Moves like a psychopath. This lets Leppa berry regenerate infinite moves under the terms and conditions the item is not removed. Cool set. Anyway, Sunsteel Strike is your attacking move of choice. I chose the baby version over Searing Sunraze Smash because I don't want to wait for my attack to regenerate through the berry. It's weaker, but applies more pressure in the longer run in my honest opinion. Recover is a healing move. Enough said. I opted for Substitute because it's annoying. Sub basically forces you to break multiple healthbars, which isn't very nice to deal with. Also stops some utility options like Will-O Wisp, Toxic, and Imposter. Improofed by itself, Celesteela and Zygarde (sometimes).
also this is really uncompetitve in my opinion
The more the merrier, as they say. 2 no guards are very funny. Greninja's more blatantly obvious though. Greninja gets its kills by doing basic white boy stuff. Sing->Gastro->Sheer Cold. Pursuit is there when you know you can force progress through that as well. You can honestly just click it instead of Sheer Cold if you want. Sash is for that stray Moonblast that will catch you off guard. Improofed by the wonder guards, due to resisting Pursuit. Watch out for sleep though.
what's a team by me without celesteela. it's a solid mon that fits nicely into places. It's the improof centre of a lot of the team. Encore helps that a lot. Encore lets me be annoying by locking you into Shell Smash or your other useless move, letting me get some free mobility or a sneaky beak blast. Beak blast is a funny move. Celesteela doesn't even have a beak, so I like to imagine it sets itself on fire while using this move. Strong attack that does a lot to MMX, potentially burning it. Watch out for stray V-Creates. Strength sap is interesting because Celesteela gets worn down easier than other options, at the cost of its other benefits. Strength sap eases the physical mon. I gave my Wonder Guarders max attack to help me heal more. U-turn is a pivot move that lets me hit a few key mons, such as Hoopa and Meloetta. Also hits Ashgren which helps for chip vs imposter. Improofed by the wonder guards.
You've heard enough about Audino. Yada yada good bulk yada yada debatable best mon in the meta yada yada good typing. Shed shell is for those pesky Shadow Taggers. Helps me waste their likely Z move by switching another bulky mon in. Spectral Thief lets me steal them boosts. Roost is a healing move. Audino is not a bird, so it normally cannot roost. However this is Pure Hackmons so it does not care. Defog is also another thing Audino cannot do in real formats. There's not really much to talk about, it's just a great move. Improof doesnt really matter on this mon, but if you're REALLY struggling, go into Slaking.
Muk is a weird mon. It's got a great defensive typing, except it's weak to ground. I chose Muk over another mon because I already had Celesteela to cover the ground immunity along with Audino for Fissure (le improof). Muk also fits the criteria of a Pursuit resist for my Greninja. Darkinium Z is a cool item. This gives Muk 2 options. It can either go for a kill it probably shouldn't with Z-Knock Off, or get your mons a brand new start with Z-Parting Shot. Z-Parting is way stronger than it should be, to be honest. It's kinda funny how it works. Knock off on its own is a good move. Removes offensive items off offensive mons, removes defensive items off defensive mons, it's an alright attacking move as well. Shore Up is the basic healing move that everybody uses because it's "TeChNiCaLlY tHe BeSt" even though weather isn't real. Please start using different healing moves before you get curbstomped by Imprison + Shore Up MMX or some random BS strat someone will cook up. Parting shot cripples attacking stats and lets me switch. Aromatherapy is for those stray burns, sleeps, paras or anything in between that slips through the team. Improofed by Audino and itself.
In conclusion: Thanks for reading this and I hope you check out the team, because I haven't. Seriously, I haven't tested this. I just made this because scary hackmons woooo random no guard funny. Also I put a funny font but it doesnt load on Smogon so I'm sad. Anyway, take care and Happy Halloween.
When the MMX saw the Zygarde in front of it, it laughed. But, it did not know it was the no guard zygarde. Does Zygarde things, except can OHKO you if it wants. Everyone loves a good Zygarde. Tanky, takes hits. You're probably bored of the Zygarde explanations from the other posts. It does the same thing. Notable changes do include rocks because hazards are really cool. Spectral thief is to remove stat boosts from opponents. Improofed by Audino and Celesteela.
I don't actually know who made the first harvest slaking, but they were evil. For those who live under a rock, Harvest gives you your berry back once you eat it 50% of the time (and 100% of the time in sun but what the fuck is a weather). Some genius decided to exploit this by using Crystal Free Z-Moves like a psychopath. This lets Leppa berry regenerate infinite moves under the terms and conditions the item is not removed. Cool set. Anyway, Sunsteel Strike is your attacking move of choice. I chose the baby version over Searing Sunraze Smash because I don't want to wait for my attack to regenerate through the berry. It's weaker, but applies more pressure in the longer run in my honest opinion. Recover is a healing move. Enough said. I opted for Substitute because it's annoying. Sub basically forces you to break multiple healthbars, which isn't very nice to deal with. Also stops some utility options like Will-O Wisp, Toxic, and Imposter. Improofed by itself, Celesteela and Zygarde (sometimes).
also this is really uncompetitve in my opinion
The more the merrier, as they say. 2 no guards are very funny. Greninja's more blatantly obvious though. Greninja gets its kills by doing basic white boy stuff. Sing->Gastro->Sheer Cold. Pursuit is there when you know you can force progress through that as well. You can honestly just click it instead of Sheer Cold if you want. Sash is for that stray Moonblast that will catch you off guard. Improofed by the wonder guards, due to resisting Pursuit. Watch out for sleep though.
what's a team by me without celesteela. it's a solid mon that fits nicely into places. It's the improof centre of a lot of the team. Encore helps that a lot. Encore lets me be annoying by locking you into Shell Smash or your other useless move, letting me get some free mobility or a sneaky beak blast. Beak blast is a funny move. Celesteela doesn't even have a beak, so I like to imagine it sets itself on fire while using this move. Strong attack that does a lot to MMX, potentially burning it. Watch out for stray V-Creates. Strength sap is interesting because Celesteela gets worn down easier than other options, at the cost of its other benefits. Strength sap eases the physical mon. I gave my Wonder Guarders max attack to help me heal more. U-turn is a pivot move that lets me hit a few key mons, such as Hoopa and Meloetta. Also hits Ashgren which helps for chip vs imposter. Improofed by the wonder guards.
You've heard enough about Audino. Yada yada good bulk yada yada debatable best mon in the meta yada yada good typing. Shed shell is for those pesky Shadow Taggers. Helps me waste their likely Z move by switching another bulky mon in. Spectral Thief lets me steal them boosts. Roost is a healing move. Audino is not a bird, so it normally cannot roost. However this is Pure Hackmons so it does not care. Defog is also another thing Audino cannot do in real formats. There's not really much to talk about, it's just a great move. Improof doesnt really matter on this mon, but if you're REALLY struggling, go into Slaking.
Muk is a weird mon. It's got a great defensive typing, except it's weak to ground. I chose Muk over another mon because I already had Celesteela to cover the ground immunity along with Audino for Fissure (le improof). Muk also fits the criteria of a Pursuit resist for my Greninja. Darkinium Z is a cool item. This gives Muk 2 options. It can either go for a kill it probably shouldn't with Z-Knock Off, or get your mons a brand new start with Z-Parting Shot. Z-Parting is way stronger than it should be, to be honest. It's kinda funny how it works. Knock off on its own is a good move. Removes offensive items off offensive mons, removes defensive items off defensive mons, it's an alright attacking move as well. Shore Up is the basic healing move that everybody uses because it's "TeChNiCaLlY tHe BeSt" even though weather isn't real. Please start using different healing moves before you get curbstomped by Imprison + Shore Up MMX or some random BS strat someone will cook up. Parting shot cripples attacking stats and lets me switch. Aromatherapy is for those stray burns, sleeps, paras or anything in between that slips through the team. Improofed by Audino and itself.
In conclusion: Thanks for reading this and I hope you check out the team, because I haven't. Seriously, I haven't tested this. I just made this because scary hackmons woooo random no guard funny. Also I put a funny font but it doesnt load on Smogon so I'm sad. Anyway, take care and Happy Halloween.
As I said I would in the PH room earlier, I have made it back to 1600s with this team. No Guard Zygarde was actually very useful in some cases, and in one battle it got 2 KO's (and could've easily got 4 if the opposing MMX didn't wake up turn 1, since all my opponent had left other than that was a burned Gyarados which had mega evolved).
Please start using different healing moves before you get curbstomped by Imprison + Shore Up MMX or some random BS strat someone will cook up.
Gyarados-Mega @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 255 HP / 255 Atk / 255 Def / 255 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Parting Shot
- Spikes
- Pursuit
- Shore Up
MGyarados is a relly important pokémon in the team : it can Pursuit trap many dangerous mons like MGengar Sludge Wave and switch in on Photon Geyser.
It is the pivot of the team, and threat imposter, which the team is weak to, with Spikes.
The Darkinium Z is ABSOLUTE NEEDED it can switch in on tricks to avoid losing Doublade's Eviolite, MAud’s Shed Shell and Zygod’s Safety Goggles.
Audino-Mega @ Shed Shell
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 255 HP / 255 Def / 255 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Defog
- Aromatherapy
- Shore Up
MAud is the best WGer in the whole game and fits very well with Doublade.
With the Shed Sehll, which it must not lose, it’s possible to not run it with a pivot move and run both hazards and defog.
The Aromatherapy, finally it a must have on almost every non-hyper-offense teams.
Doublade, with the eviolite, is one of the most bulky mon (physically), more than aggron mega.
It resists both physical moldy moves and is immune to fighting and trap.
Sturdy, Magic Coat and ghost type makes it one of the best anti No Guard mon and will improof Kartana.
WoW and Spectral Thief makes Doublade one of the best Set-Up Sweeper check (except PDon).
It can switch in on Sunsteel threating MAud and vice-versa.
Magic Coat is globally usefull on any teams without MBouncer.
This is a really classic Zygod set, I'm using Goggles to avoid being hit by Spore (including bounced Zyg’s Spore).
TWaves and Spore are really useful to "improof" PDon (this is almost impossible, even MSlowbro loses half of its HPs on a TWaves +2 252+ Atk Mold Breaker Groudon-Primal Thousand Arrows vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 195-229 (49.4 - 58.1%) -- 98.4% chance to 2HKO). I use Spore over DBond to make Zyg working many times.
Kartana @ Focus Sash
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 255 HP / 255 Atk / 255 Def / 255 SpD / 255 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Power Whip
- Sunsteel Strike
- Shell Smash
- Fissure
No Guard Kart is really strong with both STABs and Fissure : Power Whip can OHKO MSlowbro (+2 252+ Atk Kartana Leaf Blade vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 390-462 (98.9 - 117.2%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO) (the damage calc is done with Leaf Blade but Power Whip is just BETTER) only Doublade Sturdy and Celesteela can check it.
It can easily sweep in late game if opposing checks and imposter have been weakned/eliminated.
The Focus Sash helps it to Set-Up and makes Kart able to tank a Fissure from opposing imposter.
This MBreaker set is really strong : Thousand Arrows is enough to hit all mons : no pure bug/grass mons are regulary used.
And Ice Beam 2HKO Zygod (252 SpA Groudon-Primal Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Zygarde-Complete: 328-388 (51.5 - 61%) -- guaranteed 2HKO) Spore helps to sweep but many WGs are runed Safety Goggles so don’t use it if you don’t know yet the opponent’s item, you may lost the set up by a Spectral Thief.
This team is really good but kinda weak to imposter because of lack to PDon improof and lack pp stall capacities.
If you have any thoughts or questions about this team I'd be glad to know.
time for the scariest thing this halloween https://pokepast.es/2cd36c3d60ee6dfa
now the easy-to-pilot team that got me to #1 on ladder has been released to the public
have fun fighting the funy monke in your ladder games lmao
full rmt coming later if i feel like it
Gyarados-Mega @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 255 HP / 255 Atk / 255 Def / 255 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Parting Shot
- Spikes
- Pursuit
- Shore Up
MGyarados is a relly important pokémon in the team : it can Pursuit trap many dangerous mons like MGengar Sludge Wave and switch in on Photon Geyser.
It is the pivot of the team, and threat imposter, which the team is weak to, with Spikes.
The Darkinium Z is ABSOLUTE NEEDED it can switch in on tricks to avoid losing Doublade's Eviolite, MAud’s Shed Shell and Zygod’s Safety Goggles.
Audino-Mega @ Shed Shell
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 255 HP / 255 Def / 255 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Defog
- Aromatherapy
- Shore Up
MAud is the best WGer in the whole game and fits very well with Doublade.
With the Shed Sehll, which it must not lose, it’s possible to not run it with a pivot move and run both hazards and defog.
The Aromatherapy, finally it a must have on almost every non-hyper-offense teams.
Doublade, with the eviolite, is one of the most bulky mon (physically), more than aggron mega.
It resists both physical moldy moves and is immune to fighting and trap.
Sturdy, Magic Coat and ghost type makes it one of the best anti No Guard mon and will improof Kartana.
WoW and Spectral Thief makes Doublade one of the best Set-Up Sweeper check (except PDon).
It can switch in on Sunsteel threating MAud and vice-versa.
Magic Coat is globally usefull on any teams without MBouncer.
This is a really classic Zygod set, I'm using Goggles to avoid being hit by Spore (including bounced Zyg’s Spore).
TWaves and Spore are really useful to "improof" PDon (this is almost impossible, even MSlowbro loses half of its HPs on a TWaves +2 252+ Atk Mold Breaker Groudon-Primal Thousand Arrows vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 195-229 (49.4 - 58.1%) -- 98.4% chance to 2HKO). I use Spore over DBond to make Zyg working many times.
No Guard Kart is really strong with both STABs and Fissure : Leaf Blade can OHKO MSlowbro (+2 252+ Atk Kartana Leaf Blade vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 390-462 (98.9 - 117.2%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO) only Doublade Sturdy and Celesteela can check it.
It can easily sweep in late game if opposing checks and imposter have been weakned/eliminated.
The Focus Sash helps it to Set-Up and makes Kart able to tank a Fissure from opposing imposter.
This MBreaker set is really strong : Thousand Arrows is enough to hit all mons : no pure bug/grass mons are regulary used.
And Ice Beam 2HKO Zygod (252 SpA Groudon-Primal Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Zygarde-Complete: 328-388 (51.5 - 61%) -- guaranteed 2HKO) Spore helps to sweep but many WGs are runed Safety Goggles so don’t use it if you don’t know yet the opponent’s item, you may lost the set up by a Spectral Thief.
This team is really good but kinda weak to imposter because of lack to PDon improof and lack pp stall capacities.
If you have any thoughts or questions about this team I'd be glad to know.
I must question the validity of using Sturdy Doublade when you already have 2 WGs. I get that it improofs Kart, but I feel that the Kart is moreso a justification for using Sturdy Doublade than a set actually needed on the team. I'd say to either switch the Doublade for smth else or another set like Bounce and Coat than either change the Kart set to be improofed by Gyara or (more likely) switch Kart. Alternatively, you could switch Gyara to either some other mon or a different set like Bounce and PHeal.
Kart sux on balance anyways so it's probably best to just not run it here. Use Solg instead if you want that role on Balance or (probably the better option) use something different with how unreliable No Guard sweepers usually are
I also don't like PDon here, it feels like a last minute addition that is really not needed for the team and the only improof is conserving a Sash on Kart which is extremely unreliable for a team this defensive.
I don't think this team is very good and I believe it shouldn't be a sample. Could work with some major retooling, but I mean pretty damn major.
In conclusion this team is 6-0'd by Golisopod, smh completely unusable.
I must question the validity of using Sturdy Doublade when you already have 2 WGs. I get that it improofs Kart, but I feel that the Kart is moreso a justification for using Sturdy Doublade than a set actually needed on the team. I'd say to either switch the Doublade for smth else or another set like Bounce and Coat than either change the Kart set to be improofed by Gyara or (more likely) switch Kart. Alternatively, you could switch Gyara to either some other mon or a different set like Bounce and PHeal.
Kart sux on balance anyways so it's probably best to just not run it here. Use Solg instead if you want that role on Balance or (probably the better option) use something different with how unreliable No Guard sweepers usually are
I also don't like PDon here, it feels like a last minute addition that is really not needed for the team and the only improof is conserving a Sash on Kart which is extremely unreliable for a team this defensive.
I don't think this team is very good and I believe it shouldn't be a sample. Could work with some major retooling, but I mean pretty damn major.
In conclusion this team is 6-0'd by Golisopod, smh completely unusable.
I see what you mean and ty for the answer, however I think No Guard is usable on balance to force the oppo on using their WG and gain some momentum and Kart seems to be really good for rhod role, I'll see what I can change following your post.
I see what you mean and ty for the answer, however I think No Guard is usable on balance to force the oppo on using their WG and gain some momentum and Kart seems to be really good for rhod role, I'll see what I can change following your post.
I must question the validity of using Sturdy Doublade when you already have 2 WGs. I get that it improofs Kart, but I feel that the Kart is moreso a justification for using Sturdy Doublade than a set actually needed on the team. I'd say to either switch the Doublade for smth else or another set like Bounce and Coat than either change the Kart set to be improofed by Gyara or (more likely) switch Kart. Alternatively, you could switch Gyara to either some other mon or a different set like Bounce and PHeal.
Kart sux on balance anyways so it's probably best to just not run it here. Use Solg instead if you want that role on Balance or (probably the better option) use something different with how unreliable No Guard sweepers usually are
I also don't like PDon here, it feels like a last minute addition that is really not needed for the team and the only improof is conserving a Sash on Kart which is extremely unreliable for a team this defensive.
I don't think this team is very good and I believe it shouldn't be a sample. Could work with some major retooling, but I mean pretty damn major.
In conclusion this team is 6-0'd by Golisopod, smh completely unusable.
Hey it's been several months since the last update to the VR and with the many new discoveries this format has made since then. The metagame had also been given rep through a Hackmons Premier League, allowing us to further solidify what Pokemon do and don't stand out in the meta, although I personally don't think it was the most reliable source to showcase the state of the metagame, especially with how I felt a couple of the Pokemon had unusually high or low winrates. Additionally, I believe I've also also advanced a bit in this metagame personally, even out out of my way to reach a new peak on ladder: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/pure-hackmons-zenith-mode-1747-elo-93-9-gxe-1-elo-gxe.3754177/. With all that being said, I have a lot of new thoughts about the viability rankings, what can be said about them, and what changes I believe could be made.
Buckle up because I have a lot to say.
First thing's first, I have a really big take about the current S and S- level Pokemon based on what I've been able to consistently experience in throughout the entire six years of Gen 7 Pure Hackmons development. From when I revived this metagame in mid 2018 up to this day. It has only had a ladder for less than a year so far, which mostly just solidified what I think the top tiers of this metagame are from this point forward. At this point, given everything, I cannot comprehend the state of the metagame ever deviating from what I'm about to claim as I feel any possible discovery left would be for rather niche Pokemon and strategies that would mildly affect these Pokemon at most.
S rank
Chansey
Mega Mewtwo X
Wonder Guard
Audino-Mega
Zygarde-Complete
S- rank
Blissey
My take is that I think this metagame is mostly "solved" in the way that the definitive top tiers are set in stone and are realistically never changing from this point regardless of any new discoveries. These are it. These are the metagame's definitive S tier Pokemon. No more, no less. Anything and everything that could be used to make these Pokemon less relevant can be covered up for to prevent these Pokemon from ever truly falling off in performing at their definitive roles as well as they normally do. This has also been shown in the metagame, where these Pokemon are holding up regardless of what's being thrown at them.
Experts consider Chansey to be the best Pokemon of the metagame. However, I don't want the viability rankings to be in viability order. I've learned that arguments could be made for any of Chansey, Mega Mewtwo X, or Zygarde-Complete to be this metagame's #1 Pokemon and the teams both Mega Mewtwo X and Zygarde-Complete are most dominant in largely depend on the archetype. Zygarde-Complete carries balance teams and stall teams better than Mega Mewtwo X imo, while Mega Mewtwo X does well enough on its own and otherwise in offense or Hyper Offense teams to be on Zygarde-Complete's level. Both of these Pokemon take insane amounts of consideration on the builder, shut out the majority of the game by themselves, and require dedicated methods of being handled in a game, especially for Zygarde-Complete.
Chansey fits in more archetypes and is overall more useful for the unique role of scouting your opponent's sets. Chansey can also just work as a support Pokemon to eliminate any one particular threat you want, given the target has a move to take them down. More teams can fit in Chansey than they could Zygarde-Complete or Mega Mewtwo X, but the reason I don't consider Chansey on a higher rank than them is due to the effectiveness Chansey has independently. Chansey cannot hardcarry your teams to victory on the level your premier offense Pokemon or walls can. Chansey is just there to serve as a back up for when your most critical Pokemon are struggling. Chansey punishes opposing Pokemon effectively under this case, but under many circumstances, it a Pokemon that has to be carried for it. The quality of one's Chansey depends on one's team. If Chansey is in a bad team, it's not gonna make it very far on its own in high level gameplay. Zygarde-Complete and Mega Mewtwo X are better at saving bad teams, but it is more difficult to run a bad team if you're running these Pokemon anyway.
Blissey is largely the same case as Chansey but, the reason I Blissey at S- instead of S is because despite Blissey being useful to a degree incredible enough to still strongly consider in each and every game you see it in, the disadvantages it has over Chansey are enough to be gamechanging in many circumstances. As an Imposter user, Chansey is able to use Eviolite to gain extra defenses as well as bluff Eviolite for use of different items. Bluffing Eviolite can create psychological effects on top tier players that Blissey would not be as efficient at doing, so opposing players become more willing at making riskier plays against Chansey under the assumption that it is Eviolite. As an Innards Out user, Chansey's base 5 lower Defense matters significantly as there is a much more wider range of moves Chansey can get KOed by as opposed to Blissey. Stuff such as Ice Shard Kartana or low Attack U-Turn Wonder Guards for example. Think about it this way: Blissey has 10 higher HP, but nearly double the defense of Chansey. Chansey becomes are more noteworthy Innards Out user because you would rather not have that double defense. The defense makes a far bigger difference in the gameplay than 10 health. That being said the 10 HP does have its own niches if both Chansey and Blissey are at full HP. Blissey could use max HP Imposter to KO Innards Out Chansey will still surviving and can use max HP Innards Out to fully OHKO a Chansey that's transformed via Imposter. Blissey is not completely outclassed and on its own, still serves as one of the most useful Pokemon this metagame has to offer, making it still in the S range.
Wonder Guard is still an insanely dominant ability in the metagame, much like Gen 6, to the point where the ability itself is as definitive as the S level Pokemon on its own. I've made the Wonder Guard viability rankings and set Wonder Guard to S in the first place in order to portray just how important Wonder Guard is to the metagame. Removing the Wonder Guard viability rankings leaves there being no longer any indication that, out of the many abilities in the metagame, Wonder Guard is nigh mandatory to run on almost any team you build. I also believe this ability alone carries a Pokemon so far up that their more individual qualities are ignored just by having Wonder Guard unless they are not a great Wonder Guard. In ORAS, Wonder Guard is S+ rank level. However, the reason I don't make this the same case in USUM is due to the metagame allowing for more substitutes for the ability. Hyper Offense can run by much more smoothly in this game without Wonder Guard than in ORAS. Innards Out can work as a decent substitute against No Guard Pokemon or wildly powerful Pokemon carrying offense moves. Incredibly bulky Pokemon with Sturdy such as Doublade, Zygarde-Complete, and Mega Steelix can not only be more justifiable to use in teams, but in some cases, be better solutions to handling specific Pokemon your team needs help defeating than literally any Wonder Guard. These Sturdy Pokemon are better with Sturdy than with Wonder Guard themselves because one of the most major keys to a being great Wonder Guard is to avoid being weak to OHKO moves. If people ran No Guard better or better teams in general, Alolan Muk would be mid. The same cannot be said as effectively for any Wonder Guard surrounding its rank or above.
Let me give you the tl;dr
- Best type combination a Wonder Guard could possibly have for the game. Its weaknesses are not only workable around, but have to be worked around regardless of if you're running Mega Audino or not. The only real exception here are hyper offense teams. Sunsteel Strike is the best attack move in the game, but Mega Audino is eating up almost any attacker who lacks Sunsteel Strike or isn't extremely powerful as a Sunsteel Strike attacker.
- Mega Audino's competition is not taking Sunsteel Strike very well either nor can really do much back against those Pokemon... especially when the Pokemon like to run coverage directly targeting them anyway. This also creates more iffy situations where it becomes more of a guessing and scouting game because with Mega Audino you at least know more about when to switch out and are able to make better plays. With other Wonder Guards you think you might be safe until you suddenly get one-shotted by super effective bug-type/fighting-type/electric-type/fire-type/ground-type/fairy-type coverage, etc.
- Mega Audino's competition are Pokemon with extra weaknesses that force them to be less consistent as it's much easier for offense Pokemon in general to run coverage for them. This has especially been going on recently for the Bug-type weak Wonder Guards, Meloetta, Mega Slowbro, and Hoopa-Unbound.
- Mega Audino does the best job a Wonder Guard could do in the meta, better than anyone else. It acts as support (defogger, hazards setter, cleric, etc) and it pivots with very low speed in attempt to put your teammate in a more advantageous situation than the opponent. It also has very low attack, enabling it to chip opposing Innards Out users better.
- You can't try to do anything extra to hardcounter Mega Audino, unlike how you can with the rest of this metagame's Wonder Guards. This metagame has already been trying its best for years to hardcounter the Pokemon, especially during eras where Searing Sunraze Smash and Sunsteel Strike were everywhere and in eras where more special attackers ran Sludge Wave or Sludge Bomb. Despite all of that, this Pokemon never fell off. If this doesn't confirm anything I'm saying, nothing will ever confirm anything about Pokemon viability.
I'm gonna try to make the rest of these more brief because this post is already getting very long. If you want more detailed explanations let me know.
Changes Rises Slaking (and not Regigigas): A -> A+
Huge Power FakeSpeed is incredible in the metagame, proving itself to be one of the best sets around. Alongside this, Harvest sets with Slaking have been discovered, proving themselves to be difficult for the ladder to deal with. Under these two factors, Slaking has proven itself to be one of the metagame's top threats. The reason Regigigas isn't up here is due to evidence signaling the HP difference mattering. Having significantly base 150 HP means Slaking can run Innards Out and work around opposing Innards Out without getting screwed over as much as Regigigas. Regigigas's rank is still to be kept in A due to the really good effectiveness it has as its own Pokemon. Regigigas can be used either to tank special moves better or as a personal preference over Slaking, and the liabilities of using Regigigas over Slaking exist, they are not very frequently present. Especially not enough to drop Regigigas a significant amount. Instead, I believe Slaking's extra merits push it to A+ on its own. In other words, we should not be putting Pokemon who perform at A rank level a C rank when they perform at A rank level. This would be disingenuous on the viability rankings. Solgaleo: A- -> A
I believe Solgaleo is on a higher level from Dusk Mane due to the sheer versatility Solgaleo can run in its sets. It can be a proper Huge Power, No Guard, it can work Innards Out better than Lunala due to the variety of other abilities it runs, enabling Innards Out to make a more proper surprise factor. Solgaleo can be defensive and run Prankster Haze Destiny Bond, as a Mega Mewtwo X improof, and can even be ran as a potential Fur Coat wall. It's pretty good for being versatile and about nearly as effective as MMY and Ash Greninja imo. Solgaleo had a very poor record in Hackmons Premier League but looking back in the replays I really believe its low winrate was the result of poor teambuilding, poor Solgaleo set, or poor use of the Solgaleo in the games it was in. I do not believe Hackmons Premier League accurately reflected Solgaleo's viability in the metagame. Gyarados-Mega: B+ -> A-
More development has been made on non Wonder Guard Mega Gyarados, leading to Shadow Tag and Magic Guard sets being utilized more and having useful niches in stopping some of the most major threats in the metagame. Shadow Tag can threaten Wonder Guards and Choice Band MMX, Magic Guard can threaten Innards Out Chansey. Mega Gyarados can also do a myriad of things while cushioning the effectiveness of Mold Breaker moves with its typing. Pikachu: B -> B+
Given the right support Pikachu becomes an absolute beast, destroying non-immune walls to moves it's transformed into with greater ease thanks to its Light Ball. Pikachu also doesn't take much more damage than its targets much of the time because of it and can overpower Pokemon with boosted stats well enough to be more useful than probably any other Pokemon in this subrank. Fitting Pikachu into a team is difficult, especially since it needs Tailwind support, but this is not a bad Pokemon by any means. Pheromosa: C -> B+
Pheromosa has proven to be scary through HPL and as shown on the ladder. Its speed tier allows the Pokemon to outspeed almost anything while its Atk and STABs allow this Pokemon to perform effective damage against offense threats and defense threats alike, a decent amount of the time. It doesn't sweep like Deoxys-Attack but I believe it could make a better use than it overall as a breaker and pivoter. It still has a lot of the same liabilities as Deoxys-Attack though and is more dependent on matchup than higher ranks. Alolan Muk: UR -> B (potentially higher)
Alolan Muk, through ladder and HPL, has shown to be a proper use on teams with other abilities. Much of Alolan Muk's perks come from the immunities of its type combination more than anything else, so it can run abilities like Mold Breaker or Sturdy just fine. Mawile @ Mawilite: UR -> B-
I've been recommended to try this Pokemon out as an original idea. It was given Simple + Mawilite with Extreme Evoboost, Sunsteel Strike, Power Trip, Ice Shard, then a teammate to support this Pokemon against its weaknesses. It's viabl and much better than anything that's left in the C rank. It outright overpowers Gyaradosite Gyarados while having a better type combination for STAB and defenses.
Drops Mewtwo Mega Y: A+ -> A
MMY is not a bad Pokemon, but not as great as the A+ giants. It's the jack of all trades, master of none, as it doesn't really have anything that helps it consistently land KOs against the Pokemon it wants to when trying to sweep. If it tries to break, maybe Shadow Tag + CFZs can work, but the CFZs only have 1 PP each. Outside this, MMY can run a large variety of sets but generally does not know what it wants to focus on most. They can all do something decent but not much more than that. Similar to Ash Greninja except I believe MMY has more versatility while Ash Greninja has more consistent sets. Lunala: A- -> B- or C
Most overrated Pokemon in the game by far and is barely any good in high level gameplay if I'm being real with you. Lunala has to juggle between trying to set up, trying to maintain its HP, and trying to do damage. It's too bulky to properly sufficient use as a sack in many cases. If your opponent knows how to play around Innards Out, this Pokemon is useless more often than not. This Pokemon never fell off. It was never really great to begin with. It only worked because the game of playing around Innards Out was less known. People kept insisting so heavily on using it despite that. I ran this Pokemon day 1 on ladder and abandoned it because it was underwhelming in an environment where top tier players stood. Since then I spent months battling Lunala many times over only for it to not be consistent against any team I use. In addition, it has proven to lack success in HPL, it has proven to lack success on ladder, as players have heavily tilted ranks off the use of Lunala, even two Lunala in one team. It looks great on paper and will do fine against those new to playing Innards Out. Against experienced players? This Pokemon is quite bad most of the time and should stop being promoted. Outside Innards Out, everything Lunala does is outclassed by some Pokemon. Offensively, Dawn Wings is better because it does more damage, is still surprisingly bulky, and the speed difference is irrelevant for this case as Lunala has almost no significant speedcreeps it wants and Dawn Wings can still outspeed Deoxys-Speed after a Shell Smash. Defensively? refer to Pokemon higher up on the viability rankings. Wonder Guard on Dawn Wings for example has much better defensive merits than an Innards Out Lunala, as you can use it straightforwardly to block specific attacks, set up, and sweep. Lunala struggles with juggling too many eggs in one basket and fails much of the time. This drop may come off as harsh due to how many teams it's been used on but to be honest, it's baffling how many teams used this Pokemon and this should serve as a great warning to use it much more sparingly. If you want an Innards Out that can get hit by Ghost-type moves, Ring Target Chansey/Blissey is your best choice. Rayquaza-Mega: A- -> B+
Mega Ray has fallen off due to the lack of great STABs or speed tier. It can trap opposing Pokemon and hit them hard but it's not as great at doing so as Primal Groudon or Mega Mewtwo Y, who either carry super good STAB type moves or very high speed and higher offenses. Mega Ray is also easier to take advantage of and revenge kill because of all this. It's no longer used as often in a high level playing field and it's less of a threat overall. With that being said, I think it still carries its own niches over being able to trap MMX and Zyg-C in order to OHKO them. That's bound to be useful in plenty of games but nothing too big or too dire for most teams. Deoxys-Attack: A -> B+
Special Photon Geyser sweepers aren't great. Especially when they're as frail as a wet sheet of thin paper. Deoxys can be played around by any U-Turn + priority combination in a team much of the time. Deoxys's main set, the Magic Guard set, can have its Photon Geyser taken from Mega Audino at +2, then be forced to 1 HP by a U-Turn from Mega Audino, only for Deoxys-Attack eventually being dropped before it could do much. This Pokemon can be explosive but never too consistent for its paper thin defenses as a sweeper. Yveltal: B+ -> B (possibly lower)
I'm not too sure what this Pokemon is supposed to do but its presence in the metagame hasn't been able to hold up to the level of B+ Pokemon. I think it has potential to still be usable with surprise gimmicks like Huge Power, Gale Wings, Triage, or Prankster. Yveltal on its own doesn't have too many liabilities and the Dark-type helps it out a lot, but I don't think it stands out as a Pokemon. Alolan Marowak: B -> B- (possibly C)
I've tried out this Pokemon and have ran calcs. Needless to say I'm not convinced this is on the level of Mega Banette. I'm sorry. The niche Mega Banette has is to OHKO tons of high tier ghost-weak threats in the metagame with Choice Band Shadow Sneak. Alolan Marowak cannot make those KOs, rendering it a much more difficult time against Mega Mewtwo X as it's unable to OHKO with Shadow Sneak. This by itself is a critical flaw if we're trying to compare Alolan Marowak to Mega Banette. Otherwise it's just a very slow V-Create breaker who does a bit more than Mega Mewtwo X and Primal Groudon but has minimal reasons to ever be used over Mega Banette, Primal Groudon, or Mega Mewtwo X in this metagame. The idea is that it's a lategame cleaner, but it's not well-designed to be one at all. It's a Pokemon designed more to break. It's not great at setting up nor is it doing sufficient damage with Sunsteel Strike, so if it's your main cleaner in the game by depending on V-Create, Spectral Thief, or Sunsteel Strike of all things with its very low speed, there is an issue with your team. The fact Mega Banette can OHKO major threats of the game with Shadow Sneak or otherwise hit harder with the right predicts when using coverage when necessary places Mega Banette infinitely higher than Alolan Marowak. Even with slightly different roles, Mega Banette's role is surely more valuable to use for winning in this game and comes with less significant liabilities. I've heard arguments that the main thing it has over Mega Banette is not being forced to run band. Personally? I think being able to switch between moves is not a great merit when the Pokemon is too slow to outspeed almost any mon and it lacks the strength to properly use priority moves to make up for it. Marowak demands immense support to get what it wants while not being able to guarantee it as effectively as Pokemon in higher ranks. I don't think it warrants a B rank for this. C -> D
In retrospect this Pokemon is very bad and should only ever be used to mildly hold back counters to Primal Groudon spam. If you try anything else, you will be disappointed either through the lack of damage output as a sweeper (consistently failing to KO MMX at x2) or through suffering a range of priority ice shards, super effective U-Turns, and heavy hits from many neutral-hitting moves as a frail No Guard attacker. Shedinja was the only reason I didn't suggest to put this Pokemon in D rank last time. D -> UR
This Pokemon is unviable. It forces extreme amounts of supports for teammates to the extent of which it actively suppresses what the team is able to do against the biggest threats in the metagame, only for the Shedinja itself to struggle dealing with this metagame's many wonder guards, mold breaker moves, and otherwise ghost-types. Having it on a team is a liability to your whole team in medium letalone high level gameplay. Shedinja is not only unviable, but it forces the whole team it's in to be unviable for high level gameplay in order to cater its own needs.
VIABILITY RANKINGS
Welcome to the Pure Hackmons Viability Rankings. This is one of the many resources made to help players determine what can be considered viable in the metagame. These rankings are placed in alphabetical order. Anyone is free to put their thoughts on any Pokémon and debate on whether or not they need a rank change as long as they are reasonable. Provide clear evidence for reasons why a Pokémon should have a change in rank, and be civil about it. We want what we can believe to be closer to fact than subjective opinions.
S Rank S
Chansey
Mewtwo-Mega-X
Wonder Guard
S Rank S
Audino-Mega
A Rank A+
Meloetta
Slowbro-Mega
A
Greninja-Ash
Muk-Alola
Necrozma-Dawn-Wings
Oranguru
Slaking
A-
Arceus
Gyarados-Mega
Hoopa-Unbound
Kartana
Regigigas
B Rank B+
Celesteela
Groudon-Primal
Ferrothorn
Kyogre-Primal
Mewtwo-Mega-X
Umbreon
B
Bisharp
Gardevoir-Mega
Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Houndoom-Mega
Magearna
Mewtwo-Mega-Y
Scizor-Mega
Type: Null
B-
Cresselia
Gengar-Mega
Sableye-Mega
Swampert-Mega
C Rank
Blissey
Chansey
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane
Pheromosa
D Rank
Aggron-Mega
Lopunny-Mega
Steelix-Mega
Zygarde-Complete
S-
Blissey
A Rank A+
Doublade
Gengar-Mega
Groudon-Primal
Slaking
Steelix-Mega
A
Diancie-Mega
Greninja-Ash
Kartana
Mewtwo-Mega-Y
Regigigas
Solgaleo
A-
Gyarados-Mega
Lopunny-Mega
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane
Slowbro-Mega
B Rank B+
Aggron-Mega
Celesteela
Deoxys-Attack
Metagross-Mega
Muk-Alola
Necrozma-Dawn-Wings
Necrozma-Ultra
Pikachu
Pheromosa
Rayquaza-Mega
Type: Null
B
Banette-Mega
Deoxys-Speed
Kyogre-Primal
Kyurem-Black
Yveltal
B-
Arceus
Articuno
Cresselia
Gardevoir-Mega
Giratina
Giratina-Origin
Guzzlord
Heracross-Mega
Lugia
Lunala
Marowak-Alola
Mawile @ Mawilite
C Rank
Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Ho-Oh
Registeel
Tyranitar-Mega
D Rank
Avalugg
Froslass
Groudon @ Red Orb
Sceptile-Mega
Blacklist - Do not discuss putting these on the VR Any pure Fire-type for their Burn Up sets.
Pure Fire-types in the metagame don't stand very well as Wonder Guards as they for the most part are outclassed by other possible Wonder Guards such as Primal Groudon and Alolan Muk for having similar but less weaknesses, and usually higher defensive stats. However, the main strategy of a Pure Fire-type Pokemon with Wonder Guard is to utilize the move Burn Up, a move that removes a Pokemon's Fire-type after successfully hitting. With many viable Wonder Guards in the metagame, these types of Pokemon should find it hard to be able to successfully hit an attack, and even if they do, they can still be forced to switch either by phazing or by matchup, causing them to have to redo their main strategy. It is also worth noting that the ability of Wonder Guards to carry four moves in this metagame is a gift. Most of them use their four moves in order to support, recover themselves, boost stats, inflict status, and/or throw hazards. Their type combination is good enough to handle on their own without the absolute need to provide a move to get rid of their type. Pure Fire-type Pokemon who follow the Burn Up strategy can also struggle more heavily against Mold Breaker/Turboblaze/Teravolt Pokemon or Pokemon that have Photon Geyser or Moongeist Beam, making the entire point of the strategy lose any value it had.
Post to stack on explanation: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/pure-hackmons.3656851/page-3#post-8375359
This post is very huge so I'll explain the changes for Wonder Guard in a tl;dr
Alolan Muk has been largely successful but its success is dictated by forming a core with either multiple more consistently good Wonder Guards, such as Meloetta, Mega Audino, Mega Slowbro, or Normal-types such as Arceus, Regigigas, Slaking. Meloetta was raised to accommodate for this and because it requires more niche less consistently great answers to deal with over Alolan Muk. Meloetta is similar to Mega Audino in most ways but can take Sunsteel Strike slightly better and can take Sludge Wave/Sludge Bomb moves used to target Mega Audino instead. Its main problem is being weak to Dark-type and especially Bug-type, which are extremely common and more difficult to consistently deal with as they're used for utility and pivoting. They are often also out of nowhere, bringing more of a surprise factor, and Meloetta is unable to have as many cover ups for these weaknesses. Lots of other high tier wonder guards share Meloetta's weaknesses as well, making it difficult for Meloetta to synergize with teams as well as Mega Audino could. This doesn't drop Meloetta below A+ as even Mega Slowbro faces many of the same issues as Meloetta and I don't think the Wonder Guards lower on the viability rankings are much if any better at this.
(This also means I'm not recommending Alolan Muk to rise up in the rank)
Oranguru was made separate from Meloetta as it's been deemed that Meloetta's advantages in bulk outweigh Oranguru's lower speed, leading for Meloetta to be better overall. Oranguru's main niche over Meloetta is also really just... underspeeding Meloetta. Meloetta is slow enough to underspeed any other Pokemon it and Oranguru both could and want to.
I believe Alolan Muk's success itself comes from facing lower quality teams as most teams generally have not a good reason to lack Thousand Waves (on defensive sets), Sunsteel Strike (offense teams), or an alternate Alolan Muk answer at all. Alolan Muk also can't handle Moongeist Beam very well without running Safety Goggles and way too many players running No Guard are not running Fissure, in an environment perfectly fine for it. I've been running Fissure more lately and trolling the game with the move, leading me to discover newfound success that has me believe Fissure is almost as good if not as Sheer Cold. Fissure + coverage can deal with plentiful ranges of Pokemon, including Flying-types.
Offense Wonder Guards have largely fallen off due to their reliance on improofing themselves (mostly) and lacking sufficient damage. Otherwise, they are more reliant on getting the right matchup, which can be better dealt with by non-WG powerhouses.
Hoopa-U in particular fell off really hard for all the aforementioned reasons.
Slaking is made separate from Regigigas because the HP differences matter for Innards Out.
That's all I have to say. I tried to not make this post too long. Let me know if you have any questions. I think perhaps maybe more Pokemon could be added in the future but I haven't seen them around very much yet.
Double-posting here because I want to point out how I discovered what the best Wonder Guard in Gen 7 Pure Hackmons was in the first place, based on my understanding of what Wonder Guard does, what it's used for in the metagame, and how answering it works. It is by nature an extremely overcentralizing ability that doesn't do anything outside make the Pokemon only faint to very specific moves. It is also the central force of the metagame and the key balancing factor to Pure Hackmons formats overall.
[13:52:44] #Ransei:I don't think I've ever posted this anywhere in the threads
[13:52:49] #Ransei:or I don't remember if I did
[13:53:06] #Ransei:but you know how I figured out what the best Wonder Guard Pokemon in the Gen 7 metagame was?
[13:53:13] tl the legend:no
[13:53:42] #Ransei:I thought about thinking, what if the metagame tried to target and answer a specific Wonder Guard as hard as it possibly could
[13:53:49] #Ransei:which Wonder Guard would still hold up the most
[13:54:00] #Ransei:after being met with a metagame that hardcounters them
[13:54:36] #Ransei:this is why the severity of weaknesses is important
[13:54:49] Afox4567:Well by that definition muk sucks
[13:54:53] #Ransei:exactly
[13:56:50] #Ransei:because realistically speaking
[13:57:07] ISAcandy:slowbro is good purely because it can stand MMX photons
[13:57:09] #Ransei:proper teams should always be prepared for the most dominant wonder guards in the metagame's phase
[13:57:36] #Ransei:if mega slowbro is dominating, there should be more mega slowbro answers
[13:57:53] #Ransei:if alolan muk is dominating, who's to say we should not run thousand arrows, thousand waves, sunsteel strike?
[13:57:59] #Ransei:and spore
[13:58:03] #Ransei:and even shadow tag
[13:58:09] #Ransei:and fissure!
[13:58:12] #Ransei:even fissure with moldy moves!
[13:58:29] +Lag=bad:ok but hear me out
[13:58:38] #Ransei:if mega audino is dominating, we should keep spamming sunsteel strike and poison moves!
[13:58:55] #Ransei:mega audino has survived eras of searing sunraze smash spam.
[13:59:03] +Lag=bad:eevoboost, geist, fissure/ground/bug move, belch leppa Mgar
[13:59:51] #Ransei:every wonder guard has a set of weaknesses and can be answered
[13:59:54] #Ransei:but the question is
[14:00:01] #Ransei:whose weaknesses can be patched up the most?
[14:00:02] +Lag=bad:how well can it play around that
[14:00:09] +Lag=bad:yeah
[14:00:15] #Ransei:that was my entire point
[14:00:23] +Lag=bad:and a good point it is
[14:00:29] #Ransei:because in the long run
[14:00:30] #Ransei:[13:57:09] #Ransei: proper teams should always be prepared for the most dominant wonder guards in the metagame's phase
Heya again! Me again, after a four day break. Probably a bit too soon to ask, but is my team gonna work as a sample team? If you're wondering where the team is, it was in page 5 near the end. Thanks!
Heya again! Me again, after a four day break. Probably a bit too soon to ask, but is my team gonna work as a sample team? If you're wondering where the team is, it was in page 5 near the end. Thanks!
Hey Spamton! We were actually finishing a response as you posted this, lol. Sorry for the delay! We decided to not end up adding this to our list of sample teams, for a couple reasons. After using the team on ladder for a bit we think it has a few serious flaws, mostly regarding the movesets of the Pokemon. The lack of a moldy move like Sunsteel Strike on Regigigas seriously hurts it in my opinion, and means it's walled by most Wonder Guard users. The moveset for Primal Groudon is largely redundant because of the MMX moveset. Additionally, this team has a few cores that it really struggles against. Wonder Guard Slowbro + Mega Audino/Meloetta is a nightmare for this team, as Searing Sunraze Smash from Primal Groudon can't reliably OHKO Mega Audino or Meloetta (SSS has a 50% chance to OHKO +Def Mega Audino at full HP), without chipping them first, assuming they don't even run Shed Shell which is a common item on both. The necessary chip is also hard to get because of the lack of entry hazards on the team. Fur Coat Doublade and Mega Steelix also gives the team a hard time, as the only thing that can reliably break them is Necrozma-Dawn-Wings, since even in the case of Mega Steelix, Pdon's V-create has less than a 50% chance to 2HKO. And relying on Moongeist Beam users to break Wonder Guard cores is infamously unreliable because of the quantity of great Moongeist Beam absorbers.
The team also has no good way to deal with Harvest Slaking, which is a top threat right now.
Additionally, the Imposter-proof for MMX is not very reliable, as it depends on Zygarde hitting a Will-O-Wisp and being close to full HP. This also means the team is somewhat weak to MMX in general, although not too terribly because of STAG Pdon.
I also disagree that this team has a good matchup into stall. On the contrary, I think it has quite a mad matchup into it, for some of the reasons I stated above. Common Wonder Guard cores give this team a rough time, and some Pokemon like Zygarde and Regigigas are often close to useless in such a matchup. Pdon helps, but most competent stall teams spam Shed Shell, so at that point you are just relying on your opponent bringing a bad stall team which is obviously not great.
In your good matchups section, you put a heavy emphasis on Regigigas being the one who makes the matchup favorable, especially in the Psyspam and HO sections. However I think this is somewhat diluted by the fact that the opponent can simply switch out into most Wonder Guard users and nullify Regigigas completely.
Overall, after using the team for a bit, we think that although the team has some good ideas (huge power fakespeed regigigas is underexplored in the meta right now imo), ultimately the pieces do not synergize very well with each other, which makes the team feel somewhat clunky to use.
Hey Spamton! We were actually finishing a response as you posted this, lol. Sorry for the delay! We decided to not end up adding this to our list of sample teams, for a couple reasons. After using the team on ladder for a bit we think it has a few serious flaws, mostly regarding the movesets of the Pokemon. The lack of a moldy move like Sunsteel Strike on Regigigas seriously hurts it in my opinion, and means it's walled by most Wonder Guard users. The moveset for Primal Groudon is largely redundant because of the MMX moveset. Additionally, this team has a few cores that it really struggles against. Wonder Guard Slowbro + Mega Audino/Meloetta is a nightmare for this team, as Searing Sunraze Smash from Primal Groudon can't reliably OHKO Mega Audino or Meloetta (SSS has a 50% chance to OHKO +Def Mega Audino at full HP), without chipping them first, assuming they don't even run Shed Shell which is a common item on both. The necessary chip is also hard to get because of the lack of entry hazards on the team. Fur Coat Doublade and Mega Steelix also gives the team a hard time, as the only thing that can reliably break them is Necrozma-Dawn-Wings, since even in the case of Mega Steelix, Pdon's V-create has less than a 50% chance to 2HKO. And relying on Moongeist Beam users to break Wonder Guard cores is infamously unreliable because of the quantity of great Moongeist Beam absorbers.
The team also has no good way to deal with Harvest Slaking, which is a top threat right now.
Additionally, the Imposter-proof for MMX is not very reliable, as it depends on Zygarde hitting a Will-O-Wisp and being close to full HP. This also means the team is somewhat weak to MMX in general, although not too terribly because of STAG Pdon.
I also disagree that this team has a good matchup into stall. On the contrary, I think it has quite a mad matchup into it, for some of the reasons I stated above. Common Wonder Guard cores give this team a rough time, and some Pokemon like Zygarde and Regigigas are often close to useless in such a matchup. Pdon helps, but most competent stall teams spam Shed Shell, so at that point you are just relying on your opponent bringing a bad stall team which is obviously not great.
In your good matchups section, you put a heavy emphasis on Regigigas being the one who makes the matchup favorable, especially in the Psyspam and HO sections. However I think this is somewhat diluted by the fact that the opponent can simply switch out into most Wonder Guard users and nullify Regigigas completely.
Overall, after using the team for a bit, we think that although the team has some good ideas (huge power fakespeed regigigas is underexplored in the meta right now imo), ultimately the pieces do not synergize very well with each other, which makes the team feel somewhat clunky to use.
The thing is, adding Sunsteel to Gigas would solve so many of these issues, but then the Gigas would not be improofed at all. And I can't really see how to add Sunsteel without having to hope Will o Wisp to hit and have Zygarde at full HP
The thing is, adding Sunsteel to Gigas would solve so many of these issues, but then the Gigas would not be improofed at all. And I can't really see how to add Sunsteel without having to hope Will o Wisp to hit and have Zygarde at full HP
The thing is, adding Sunsteel to Gigas would solve so many of these issues, but then the Gigas would not be improofed at all. And I can't really see how to add Sunsteel without having to hope Will o Wisp to hit and have Zygarde at full HP
Yes, it's quite the conundrum, and it results from the lack of synergy I mentioned in the final paragraph. You would have to alter the structure of the team itself in order to accommodate the changes that would make it more viable, hence why we chose not to add it as a sample team.
That's not to say your team is bad! I picked up quite a few wins with it, myself. However because of the aforementioned issues we have with the team it isn't going to be a sample team.
Yes, it's quite the conundrum, and it results from the lack of synergy I mentioned in the final paragraph. You would have to alter the structure of the team itself in order to accommodate the changes that would make it more viable, hence why we chose not to add it as a sample team.
That's not to say your team is bad! I picked up quite a few wins with it, myself. However because of the aforementioned issues we have with the team it isn't going to be a sample team.
Very interesting team, mind if I...........apprehend it?
Wait also what is Searing Shot doing on MMX, why not Sacred Fire? It has 0 SpA EVs.
But it has 0 SpA EVs.
Go ahead! I shared it for a reason. Searing Shot is there because it does more damage to Fur Coat Doublade and Mega Steelix, allowing MMX to 2HKO them with ease. It's worse against Celesteela though, so it could be an issue if you run into some stall team.
I have a team that I wish to submit as a sample because we don't have much BO representation in the samples. A lot of the replays are from an old (and bad) version of the team. I have posted this team here before but I'm going to go more in depth with it.
Double Huge Power + Water Bubble Greninja BO Huge power pheromosa is able to threaten a large portion of the meta with its combination of STAB first impression and fast u-turn. Pheromosa was chosen specifically over heracross due it it's extra speed helping against psyspam as well as fakespeed sets. Pursuit lets it take advantage of the pressure it applies against key mons like meloetta, mmy, deo-a and slowbro by either killing them or forcing a 50/50 once pursuit is revealed. Sunsteel is there for all purpose breaking, but that isn't really what pheromosa's role is so it doesn't see as much use.
Steelix is the prankhaze mon for this team. Steelix has good role compression due to acting as a physical wall, and a set up stopper. I used to have bounce celesteela here but swapped it because it's bad. Steelix is good into many mmx sets, and also improofs pheromosa. Destiny bond is a last ditch effort against special sweepers, such as ndw.
Groudon has amazing offensive synergy with pheromosa, with very few mons being able to wall both of them. I opted for choice band because pdon is the wallbreaker on this team, so I want it to be as hard to wall as possible. Ice shard helps against zygarde and rayquaza, but also just against set up sweepers in general.
Slowbro is one of the best wonder guard mons in the meta, and also happens to be the best improof for groudon. U-turn and stealth rocks help it to break sash, and just make progress in general. Aromatherapy on it because I don't like putting aroma and defog on the same mon. Min attack EVs lets slowbro hit the sweet spot of always failing to ohko innards out chansey with u-turn, and min speed lets it slowpivot better than any other common wonder guard due to its abysmal speed stat of 30. Slowbro is also one of the best mmx walls in the entire game.
Rounding out the offensive core is water bubble ash greninja. Bubble greninja is great at moving before pdon and steelix and killing them with water shuriken. It also just allows it to kill various offensive mons once they've been chipped. Oceanic operetta is a one time use delete anything you want button, and moongeist lets it break through wonder guards that would usually wall it, as well as outspeed and ohko mmx. Icicle spear fails to kill innards chansey with one hit as well as helping to break through rare spdef zygardes.
Probably the best wonder guard in the tier. Darkinium Z + parting shot allows it to help keep pheromosa alive, which will be taking life orb chip, as well as bring back a weakened pdon or greninja if those are more useful in the matchup. Knock off was added to help with the ndw matchup after ransei showed how bad it was. Dark Z knock off allows it to ohko a weakened ndw, while also providing general utility such as removing items from chansey or doublade. It also acts as a knock absorber for moldy knock. Audino has notoriously incredible synergy with slowbro. Audino acts as the improof for greninja as well. Replays: VS ransei #1 (loss, old version) VS guysmash (win, old version) VS ransei #2 (win, current version) VS ransei #3 (win, current version)
I have a team that I wish to submit as a sample because we don't have much BO representation in the samples. A lot of the replays are from an old (and bad) version of the team. I have posted this team here before but I'm going to go more in depth with it.
Double Huge Power + Water Bubble Greninja BO Huge power pheromosa is able to threaten a large portion of the meta with its combination of STAB first impression and fast u-turn. Pheromosa was chosen specifically over heracross due it it's extra speed helping against psyspam as well as fakespeed sets. Pursuit lets it take advantage of the pressure it applies against key mons like meloetta, mmy, deo-a and slowbro by either killing them or forcing a 50/50 once pursuit is revealed. Sunsteel is there for all purpose breaking, but that isn't really what pheromosa's role is so it doesn't see as much use.
Steelix is the prankhaze mon for this team. Steelix has good role compression due to acting as a physical wall, and a set up stopper. I used to have bounce celesteela here but swapped it because it's bad. Steelix is good into many mmx sets, and also improofs pheromosa. Destiny bond is a last ditch effort against special sweepers, such as ndw.
Groudon has amazing offensive synergy with pheromosa, with very few mons being able to wall both of them. I opted for choice band because pdon is the wallbreaker on this team, so I want it to be as hard to wall as possible. Ice shard helps against zygarde and rayquaza, but also just against set up sweepers in general.
Slowbro is one of the best wonder guard mons in the meta, and also happens to be the best improof for groudon. U-turn and stealth rocks help it to break sash, and just make progress in general. Aromatherapy on it because I don't like putting aroma and defog on the same mon. Min attack EVs lets slowbro hit the sweet spot of always failing to ohko innards out chansey with u-turn, and min speed lets it slowpivot better than any other common wonder guard due to its abysmal speed stat of 30. Slowbro is also one of the best mmx walls in the entire game.
Rounding out the offensive core is water bubble ash greninja. Bubble greninja is great at moving before pdon and steelix and killing them with water shuriken. It also just allows it to kill various offensive mons once they've been chipped. Oceanic operetta is a one time use delete anything you want button, and moongeist lets it break through wonder guards that would usually wall it, as well as outspeed and ohko mmx. Icicle spear fails to kill innards chansey with one hit as well as helping to break through rare spdef zygardes.
Probably the best wonder guard in the tier. Darkinium Z + parting shot allows it to help keep pheromosa alive, which will be taking life orb chip, as well as bring back a weakened pdon or greninja if those are more useful in the matchup. Knock off was added to help with the ndw matchup after ransei showed how bad it was. Dark Z knock off allows it to ohko a weakened ndw, while also providing general utility such as removing items from chansey or doublade. It also acts as a knock absorber for moldy knock. Audino has notoriously incredible synergy with slowbro. Audino acts as the improof for greninja as well. Replays: VS ransei #1 (loss, old version) VS guysmash (win, old version) VS ransei #2 (win, current version) VS ransei #3 (win, current version)
This team feels like it has a very significant weakness to shadow tag. With no shed shells on any defensive pokemon, and two of the three wallbreakers running choice items, shadow tag can just take heavy advantage of your team, ripping apart your defensive core. Msteelix also has no way to take advantage of the switches it forces, meaning your opponent can control the flow of the game much more easily than your team can. I also can't see where the bulky part comes in besides Pdon, given greninja and pheromosa's propensity to fold to any non-resisted move.
252 Atk Greninja-Ash Icicle Spear (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Zygarde-Complete: 252-300 (39.6 - 47.1%) -- approx. 3HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Greninja-Ash Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Zygarde-Complete: 544-640 (85.5 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
I cannot for the life of me see why icicle spear would be good.
252 Atk Slowbro-Mega U-turn vs. 252 HP / 0- Def 0 IVs Chansey: 958-1128 (136 - 160.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
This is not a good calc for slowbro, especially when you need it to improof Pdon, if you run 0atk evs/ivs, you get a much more favorable result-
0 Atk 0 IVs Slowbro-Mega U-turn vs. 252 HP / 0- Def 0 IVs Chansey: 597-703 (84.8 - 99.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
All in all not a bad team, I would just suggest going over it with someone to try and patch up some of these weaknesses.
Really? This does everything a sample team should do.
This team
1) Introduces new players to the metagame, showcasing the best of Pokemon available. It pieces together all the S rank range Pokemon and forms a great core with them.
2) Carries Pokemon that are appealing for new players to run as well as an appealing team archetype. I've learned these are surprisingly important.
3) Has Imposter, allowing players to see sets and understand more of what's being used in the higher fields of this metagame
4) Is mostly really easy to use and the mistakes can be learned from over time.
5) Is highly flexible. Players can easily get away with using the team as is or they can make small adjustments throughout for how they see fit, and it'll go by just fine. The team isn't 100% perfect as is, but deciding to make changes is a great step in the learning process. Otherwise players should still not have much difficulty reaching 1500s, 1600s, or so. Some have made 1700s with year old outdated team of mine iirc.
6) Is more effective and viable in this metagame than most if not every single one of our current sample teams, if I'm being honest. It even has a record to show for it.
7) People tend to prefer using my random teams on ladder more than almost all of these samples, which should say something, especially when my teams don't tend to get put up as samples. I think Zenith Mode would make a better choice than any other team I carry though... especially when my other teams tend to be high difficulty.
Really? This does everything a sample team should do.
This team
1) Introduces new players to the metagame, showcasing the best of Pokemon available. It pieces together all the S rank range Pokemon and forms a great core with them.
2) Carries Pokemon that are appealing for new players to run as well as an appealing team archetype. I've learned these are surprisingly important.
3) Has Imposter, allowing players to see sets and understand more of what's being used in the higher fields of this metagame
4) Is mostly really easy to use and the mistakes can be learned from over time.
5) Is highly flexible. Players can easily get away with using the team as is or they can make small adjustments throughout for how they see fit, and it'll go by just fine. The team isn't 100% perfect as is, but deciding to make changes is a great step in the learning process. Otherwise players should still not have much difficulty reaching 1500s, 1600s, or so. Some have made 1700s with year old outdated team of mine iirc.
6) Is more effective and viable in this metagame than most if not every single one of our current sample teams, if I'm being honest. It even has a record to show for it.
7) People tend to prefer using my random teams on ladder more than almost all of these samples, which should say something, especially when my teams don't tend to get put up as samples. I think Zenith Mode would make a better choice than any other team I carry though... especially when my other teams tend to be high difficulty.
This ladder is normally like that at times, regardless of what's being ran. You can run into a bad matchup on low ladder, be unaware of the sets, and not acknowledge a wincon until it's too late. Usually these are solved by the next game you play against them, and if you're carrying a good team, the team still consistently does a great job in most games, making it very far.
Also this team carries some of the biggest low ladder shenanigan-proof sets in the metagame, so losing against that shouldn't be too frequent.
This ladder is normally like that at times, regardless of what's being ran. You can run into a bad matchup on low ladder, be unaware of the sets, and not acknowledge a wincon until it's too late. Usually these are solved by the next game you play against them, and if you're carrying a good team, the team still consistently does a great job in most games, making it very far.
Also this team carries some of the biggest low ladder shenanigan-proof sets in the metagame, so losing against that shouldn't be too frequent.
I am here, and I have a VR. It hasn't been too long since my last VR. But since than not only have many of my opinions changed, but hpl happened and I think that was a great showcase of the format as well.
Unfortunately, much of what hpl showcased is that gen 7 is not as good as I'd thought. For quite a while I've always thought of the ladder being so weird as kinda separate from the meta. With many ladder players running a bunch of garbage you could never predict or prepare for so you often just get a bad MU against it and lose. Though recently I've come to a really annoying realization: a lot of those strats aren't bad.
Gen 7 is probably the PH format where you have the most freedom in teambuilding and that has shown itself to be far more of a curse than a blessing. This makes it often incredibly difficult to predict anything and forcing you to prepare for way too much stuff. Because of this combined with how volatile the meta can be even outside of this and it becomes very MU reliant to an extent I hadn't realized before. Innards Out especially gets a shout out as quite easily the worst single element of the format and one of the worst elements in any PH format.
There are still many elements of this meta that I like, but unfortunately I struggle to call this a "good meta" like I have in the past. I've found myself getting incredibly frustrated with the meta recently and idk if I care enough about this meta to want to continue being as involved with it as I have been in the past anymore.
Before I get on to the VR itself I wanted to clarify a few decisions I made.
I considered making a separate No Guard VR, but I feel that No Guard is in a far different place in gen 7 than gen 6. Unlike in gen 6 where when you use a No Guarder you're using a No Guarder, in gen 7 you'll often just have sweepers that toss No Guard on as a nice offensive option so idt the separation is necessary. I also considered making separate VRs for some other abilities (specifically Innards, Prankster and Magic Bounce) but I'd rather this be close to the official VR's formatting so decided against it.
Unlike my last VR, this VR is not ranked within tiers. I felt it was just kinda pointless. Idt you need much beyond a general idea of a Pokemon's viability from a VR unless it's for a very optimized meta. Understanding The actual roll of the Pokemon tends to be more important and while having a VR is useful, going as specific as ranking every Pokemon individually is just not really nessesary.
I've revised this quite a lot over the last couple of weeks and feel pretty confident over most of these placements. I plan to make a follow up post explaining a few more divisive placements, but otherwise I don't believe there's too much more to explain. So onto the VR proper.
Reminder: This VR is ranked alphabetically within subranks, not by viability. S Tier S+
I've finally decided to write my VR follow up I promised. Probably shoulda done this a while ago but now is better than never. I won't go over the whole VR here just placements I see as divisive. With me approaching a month removed from that VR and hearing other's opinions for it, a couple of my opinions have shifted a bit, but so I'll mention that when relevant.
Standard VR
in A: I'd move this to A- in retrospect, starting off strong I know. My thought process was that is the 2nd best No Guard in my eyes. Slightly worse than though they're incredibly close. But has a couple other sets, mainly Water Bubble but also sometimes Magic Guard if you really really hate PDon Spam. The thing is, using Water Bubble more I've realized it's pretty damn niche. Definitely not good enough to justify an entire tier between these 2 Pokemon. It's still pretty underused though, people should run the No Guard set more.
in A: Another one my opinion has kinda shifted on, I really shouldn't have waited so long to do this lol. When I made this VR, my opinion on Harvest sets were a lot lower than they are now. I've seen the light, Harvest is stupid and really good. I'd probably move this to A+.
in A: it brought me great sadness moving this down to A from my A+ placement in my last VR, but it's not as good as or . Even with that, I still have it higher than most people lol. The fact it's weaknesses are generally a lot more rare than Steelix or Doublade's weaknesses is really good. Alongside it's STAB on Scald being useful and the slow pivoting being exceptional (though tying with ). But the increased vulnerability to entry hazards and the inability to stomach a Moongeist combined with competition with it's WG sets keep it from the A+ tier.
in A-: Opinions on MRay have been shifting more and more negative since I started playing the tier, but I think it still fits in A-. has the 2nd best STag set in the format, and it's only a hair worse than . The ability to consistently OHKO 2 of the best Pokemon in the format alongside just having really good offensive stats and the immunity to grounded hazards (most notably Webs) is great stuff. While both and can run certain things to deal with , the most common sets for both do not run these things. It's also absolutely worth noting that due to it's Flying type, is probably the best user of Arena Trap since opposing Imposters can't come in and reverse trap it.
in Prison: idk a jury found it guilty can't argue with that. The jury was 1 person large and was just me so I guess I could explain. There is practically 0 reason to ever use over . Not only is it's Special bulk generally less impactful than 's physical bulk, but (more notably) the HP difference not only allows to potentially run Innards sets but also survive opposing Innards better. The difference in bulk is small enough to not really matter to the point of and together, but this HP difference actually makes an impact and it's an impact that has no alternative draw to make up for. With all of this said, it also didn't really feel accurate to rank significantly lower than so it's in Prison instead. In retrospect, I'd leave it UR. "Viability" implies a reason to use the Pokemon and has none.
in B+: This is the best Psychic Surge lead, and I think Psychic Surge is a pretty decent archetype. should be on most Psychic Surge teams and if you're not than you kinda need a good reason. So for being probably the single best Pokemon on this archetype, a B+ ranking is warrented. Can run No Guard stuff too but that's more niche and didn't majorly play into this ranking.
in B: Probably the 3rd best Magic Guard user. It's STAB Combo is really good and it's stats are good enough. I have basically nothing else to say tbh, borders between B and B- but probably better than what's in B-.
in B: RIP Lunala post hpl. I still don't think it's quite as bad as some people are saying. It's still probably the best Innards Sweeper and Innards Sweepers are still decent on more offensive teams. With STAB Moongeist and Lunalium-Z it's still fine enough, but it falls short a lot leaving you just wanting / who are so much more consistent.
in C: Mold Breaker set is funny, otherwise what the hell does this do? No one runs it and I barely see any reason to run it. Mold set keeps it from dropping any lower though.
in D: but worse.
WG VR
in Prison: The extra SpDef matters even less and 's higher Defense matters more. The HP difference still matters here too not just 'cause of Innards but also since Wish is used a lot on WG . Ironically despite this, I'd actually still rank here in like C tier unlike the standard VR. is better at using Strength Sap due to it's lower HP. Who runs Strength Sap? No one, but it's something at least.
in B-: This thing sucks. It's Sunsteel is terrible, it's typing is mediocre, it's pretty slow and it's really predictable. No one has used this since Cats and Rabbits and I don't really like that team in the modern meta anyways.
That's about all I care to talk about. I would talk on for the Standard VR but I've never run it and feel like I need a more informed opinion to talk in depth on it. I'll just say it didn't impress me in hpl like it did so many others and leave it there.
Oh also, is probably good enough to be ranked, it's fine.
I've finally decided to write my VR follow up I promised. Probably shoulda done this a while ago but now is better than never. I won't go over the whole VR here just placements I see as divisive. With me approaching a month removed from that VR and hearing other's opinions for it, a couple of my opinions have shifted a bit, but so I'll mention that when relevant.
Standard VR
in A: I'd move this to A- in retrospect, starting off strong I know. My thought process was that is the 2nd best No Guard in my eyes. Slightly worse than though they're incredibly close. But has a couple other sets, mainly Water Bubble but also sometimes Magic Guard if you really really hate PDon Spam. The thing is, using Water Bubble more I've realized it's pretty damn niche. Definitely not good enough to justify an entire tier between these 2 Pokemon. It's still pretty underused though, people should run the No Guard set more.
in A: Another one my opinion has kinda shifted on, I really shouldn't have waited so long to do this lol. When I made this VR, my opinion on Harvest sets were a lot lower than they are now. I've seen the light, Harvest is stupid and really good. I'd probably move this to A+.
in A: it brought me great sadness moving this down to A from my A+ placement in my last VR, but it's not as good as or . Even with that, I still have it higher than most people lol. The fact it's weaknesses are generally a lot more rare than Steelix or Doublade's weaknesses is really good. Alongside it's STAB on Scald being useful and the slow pivoting being exceptional (though tying with ). But the increased vulnerability to entry hazards and the inability to stomach a Moongeist combined with competition with it's WG sets keep it from the A+ tier.
in A-: Opinions on MRay have been shifting more and more negative since I started playing the tier, but I think it still fits in A-. has the 2nd best STag set in the format, and it's only a hair worse than . The ability to consistently OHKO 2 of the best Pokemon in the format alongside just having really good offensive stats and the immunity to grounded hazards (most notably Webs) is great stuff. While both and can run certain things to deal with , the most common sets for both do not run these things. It's also absolutely worth noting that due to it's Flying type, is probably the best user of Arena Trap since opposing Imposters can't come in and reverse trap it.
in Prison: idk a jury found it guilty can't argue with that. The jury was 1 person large and was just me so I guess I could explain. There is practically 0 reason to ever use over . Not only is it's Special bulk generally less impactful than 's physical bulk, but (more notably) the HP difference not only allows to potentially run Innards sets but also survive opposing Innards better. The difference in bulk is small enough to not really matter to the point of and together, but this HP difference actually makes an impact and it's an impact that has no alternative draw to make up for. With all of this said, it also didn't really feel accurate to rank significantly lower than so it's in Prison instead. In retrospect, I'd leave it UR. "Viability" implies a reason to use the Pokemon and has none.
in B+: This is the best Psychic Surge lead, and I think Psychic Surge is a pretty decent archetype. should be on most Psychic Surge teams and if you're not than you kinda need a good reason. So for being probably the single best Pokemon on this archetype, a B+ ranking is warrented. Can run No Guard stuff too but that's more niche and didn't majorly play into this ranking.
in B: Probably the 3rd best Magic Guard user. It's STAB Combo is really good and it's stats are good enough. I have basically nothing else to say tbh, borders between B and B- but probably better than what's in B-.
in B: RIP Lunala post hpl. I still don't think it's quite as bad as some people are saying. It's still probably the best Innards Sweeper and Innards Sweepers are still decent on more offensive teams. With STAB Moongeist and Lunalium-Z it's still fine enough, but it falls short a lot leaving you just wanting / who are so much more consistent.
in C: Mold Breaker set is funny, otherwise what the hell does this do? No one runs it and I barely see any reason to run it. Mold set keeps it from dropping any lower though.
in D: but worse.
WG VR
in Prison: The extra SpDef matters even less and 's higher Defense matters more. The HP difference still matters here too not just 'cause of Innards but also since Wish is used a lot on WG . Ironically despite this, I'd actually still rank here in like C tier unlike the standard VR. is better at using Strength Sap due to it's lower HP. Who runs Strength Sap? No one, but it's something at least.
in B-: This thing sucks. It's Sunsteel is terrible, it's typing is mediocre, it's pretty slow and it's really predictable. No one has used this since Cats and Rabbits and I don't really like that team in the modern meta anyways.
That's about all I care to talk about. I would talk on for the Standard VR but I've never run it and feel like I need a more informed opinion to talk in depth on it. I'll just say it didn't impress me in hpl like it did so many others and leave it there.
Oh also, is probably good enough to be ranked, it's fine.
1. Why is MZam the best psysurge setter? MMY is stronger generally, and has better bulk. If it's a speed thing then Deoxys-Speed should fall under good as well. Unless it's more a general of both, but MZam can't tank physical hits well at all compared to the other 2.
2. Ho-Oh being D is weird, it's better than everything else in that tier by far.
3. Why is Pheromosa so low? I'd warrant an easy B or B- for it due to its power and flexibility.
4. What the FUCK does Incineroar do on WG? Seems like a worse MGyara sweeper for physical, and a Fire/Dark is better as MDoom.
Solgaleo: A- -> A
Gyarados-Mega: B+ -> A-
Pikachu: B -> B+
Pheromosa: C -> B+
Mawile @ Mawilite: UR -> B-
Mewtwo Mega Y: A+ -> A
Lunala: A- -> B- or C
Rayquaza-Mega: A- -> B+
Deoxys-Attack: A -> B+
Yveltal: B+ -> B (possibly lower)
Alolan Marowak: B -> B- (possibly C)
C -> D
D -> UR
Any pure Fire-type for their Burn Up sets.
Steelix is the prankhaze mon for this team. Steelix has good role compression due to acting as a physical wall, and a set up stopper. I used to have bounce celesteela here but swapped it because it's bad. Steelix is good into many mmx sets, and also improofs pheromosa. Destiny bond is a last ditch effort against special sweepers, such as ndw.
Groudon has amazing offensive synergy with pheromosa, with very few mons being able to wall both of them. I opted for choice band because pdon is the wallbreaker on this team, so I want it to be as hard to wall as possible. Ice shard helps against zygarde and rayquaza, but also just against set up sweepers in general.
Slowbro is one of the best wonder guard mons in the meta, and also happens to be the best improof for groudon. U-turn and stealth rocks help it to break sash, and just make progress in general. Aromatherapy on it because I don't like putting aroma and defog on the same mon. Min attack EVs lets slowbro hit the sweet spot of always failing to ohko innards out chansey with u-turn, and min speed lets it slowpivot better than any other common wonder guard due to its abysmal speed stat of 30. Slowbro is also one of the best mmx walls in the entire game.
though they're incredibly close. But 
. Even with that, I still have it higher than most people lol. The fact it's weaknesses are generally a lot more rare than Steelix or Doublade's weaknesses is really good. Alongside it's STAB on Scald being useful and the slow pivoting being exceptional (though tying with 
and 
in Prison: idk a jury found it guilty can't argue with that. The jury was 1 person large and was just me so I guess I could explain. There is practically 0 reason to ever use 
in B+: This is the best Psychic Surge lead, and I think Psychic Surge is a pretty decent archetype. 
in B: Probably the 3rd best Magic Guard user. It's STAB Combo is really good and it's stats are good enough. I have basically nothing else to say tbh, borders between B and B- but probably better than what's in B-.
who are so much more consistent.
in C: Mold Breaker set is funny, otherwise what the hell does this do? No one runs it and I barely see any reason to run it. Mold set keeps it from dropping any lower though.
in D: 
in B-: This thing sucks. It's Sunsteel is terrible, it's typing is mediocre, it's pretty slow and it's really predictable. No one has used this since Cats and Rabbits and I don't really like that team in the modern meta anyways.
is probably good enough to be ranked, it's fine.