i love reccomending they go from ur to ur
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Resource SV OU Indigo Disk Viability Ranking Thread - (update on post #1101))
- Thread starter Shaymin Sky
- Start date
Credit to the VR team due, the D rank has almost everything that ought to be in it!
Honestly I fuck with Gapdos.
Zapdos-Galar @ Leftovers
Ability: Defiant
Tera Type: Poison/Flying
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 240 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Thunderous Kick
- Brave Bird
- Knock Off
- Substitute/Bulk Up
(EV spread lets Gapdos Sub up on Hex Pecha after clicking Tera Poison while outspeeding Iron Crown)
Pretty underrated on Ting-Lu + Pecha squads that need a way to to punish Defog Corv. Fighting/Flying is great defensively and offensively in this meta, being immune to Spikes, neutral to rocks, and having several useful resistances/immunities to Fighting, Ground, and Dark. It also has decent natural bulk, so it can be used to check things like AoA Zamazenta without needing to swap into Crunch. The speed tier is nice for stuff like Crown, Kyurem, and Tusk.
Having Knock lets you cripple checks like Zapdos, Molt, Corv, Dozo, and Ghold with hazard support. Punishes Lando/Gliscor squads very hard due to being able to Sub up on them and punishing Lando via Defiant. Fucks up Stall pretty hard to since Thunderous Kick + Knock messes with a ton of Stalls. Bulk Up Tera Poison can just win games vs bulkier teams, but I like the consistency of Sub-Three Attacks.
Lefties Sub + Tkick + BB + Knock is literally exactly the other set I was interested in trying lol this thing has no business being UR
just chiming in 2 drop some forbidden tech that featured on some of the hottest & most successful of the thousands of ho teams i brewed in g8
sub salac+bulk up+acro+kick.
Sounds good, but even with Tera getting through Ghold will be hard without Knock. Same for Kanto Zapdos (this one wont be solved even with Knock, but removing Boots is cool). The set I used in my last Wcop is Sub, BU, Kick, Knock, forgetting Fly Stab and using Tera Fire to get protection against Infiltrator Wow Pult, Moltres and Fairy types. It was not a HO team though (item: Lefties), so the building mentality is different.
Been playing a lot so here is a rant. Lots of usable stuff that I didnt bother to list, but they are somewhere in there. Is there a world where D tier is removed or reworked somehow? Think we are too deep into the generation and a lot of Pokemon can technically do something, but them being in the VR might give wrong ideas. That is in combination with the used once in tour -> VR idea which I also dont really like as its often used without much care. For example, Pincurchin was used in SPL with Attribute vs Mimikyu. Despite Mimikyu losing, and even if Attribute could have won either way, Mimikyu's team performed fine and Raging Bolt got flinched in the turn it burned Tera. Ranting aside here are some of my thoughts
S
S-
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+ / C
Unsure
Both are great, with Kingambit enjoying Pecharunt's presence and being able to try to check Tera Fairy Roost Roaring Moon, or at least forcing it to Tera. Think both are S or S- one way or another.
B+ guys ()
Think the B+ guys are just in B+ due to the way I structured this. If I were to be more lenient then half of them would be in A-. I am not as high on Scizor as other people as I find its lack of longevity a bit troublesome. Life Orb sets often feel like a one time deal while Choice Band is forced to U-turn a lot in fear of Gliscor, Landorus-T, Zapdos coming in to steal momentum. I find Clear Amulet okay, the lack of power while also not being strong is a weird middle ground of the worse of two sets. Weavile is really scary now that they are running more Low Kick and Life Orb.
These guys are fucked up lol, they feel really good into balances while being able to trade with offensive teams. They have spaces to set up too, between Ting-Lu and Ogerpon-W in the case of Apple, and Great Tusk, Landorus-T among others for Manaphy. Tornadus-T I find less overwhelming thanks to Garganacl, Raging Bolt, yet its rather annoying to handle. Imo Manaphy is just waiting for a big display.
C+ / C ()
All kinda matchup dependent or very specific Pokemon. Iron Hands remains a great on paper guy that can fall flat even when you dont expect it, as we saw in SPL as it loaded into Unaware Clef. Tea Cup is very scary for bulky teams that either cant hit it very hard or have limited priority, like this random example. Greninja still has a great speed, can clean up offenses at times, with Gunk Shot / Tera Poison being neat options into Primarina, Wellspring, Rillaboom, and scare Blissey out or force it to waste Soft-Boiled PP. Cresselia is a threat, and Calm Mind sets like this one are scary for teams lacking Encore; it greatly enjoys checking Zamazenta, Great Tusk, sometimes Iron Valiant, Raging Bolt and Iron Moth, it does well into bulky teams, and likes Kingambit opting for Air Balloon as it will have an easier time chipping it down. Unfortunately Ogerpon-W is still really rough for Cress thanks to SD and the SpDef boost from Tera, on top of Encore of course, as are physical attackers that overwhelm it quickly such as Kyurem, Dragonite, Roaring Moon, and Kingambit. Still, teams like the one here are Cress lunch.
Ribombee is still a fine setter. As Araquanid anti-leads develop, Ribombee might just be the most consistent at getting Webs up, even if it cant do much else. Speaking of Araquanid, as everyone expects Surf and Custap Berry, other options like Lunge, Mental Herb, and max Defense are cool alternatives. Mental Herb in particular is great against Deoxys and Landorus-T offenses that rely on Taunt to patch up their heavy weakness to Webs.
Unsure ()
I have no idea where to put these guys cause I havent seen enough of them. Skeledirge is the one I have seen the most of, and despite its individual mertis, it often finds itself competing for a slot with Pecharunt and Sinistcha, while struggling with a lot of the top threats like Raging Bolt and Kyurem, and feeling Tera reliant at times.
Cool mon. While I dont use Stall myself, Nasty Plot Pecharunt feels really strong into Gliscor only Ground stall teams, as they either have to win PP stall wars with Toxapex or pray Blissey doesnt hit itself right away. Clodsire just shuts it down.
More rambling ()
Zamazenta struggles a bit more thankfully due to Pecharunt of course, while Roaring Moon is at its best thanks to bulky sets and just Dragon Dance using Tera Fairy, Ground, and sometimes Flying and Ghost. Iron Crown feels weird, yet gaining several openings in the game thanks to Pecharunt is great; imo its also one of the few pokemon that invite Ting-Lu in that can actually chip it for its teammates, unlike lets say Iron Moth which at times only chips it for ~35 and dies.
S
S-
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+ / C
Unsure
Both are great, with Kingambit enjoying Pecharunt's presence and being able to try to check Tera Fairy Roost Roaring Moon, or at least forcing it to Tera. Think both are S or S- one way or another.
B+ guys (
)Think the B+ guys are just in B+ due to the way I structured this. If I were to be more lenient then half of them would be in A-. I am not as high on Scizor as other people as I find its lack of longevity a bit troublesome. Life Orb sets often feel like a one time deal while Choice Band is forced to U-turn a lot in fear of Gliscor, Landorus-T, Zapdos coming in to steal momentum. I find Clear Amulet okay, the lack of power while also not being strong is a weird middle ground of the worse of two sets. Weavile is really scary now that they are running more Low Kick and Life Orb.
These guys are fucked up lol, they feel really good into balances while being able to trade with offensive teams. They have spaces to set up too, between Ting-Lu and Ogerpon-W in the case of Apple, and Great Tusk, Landorus-T among others for Manaphy. Tornadus-T I find less overwhelming thanks to Garganacl, Raging Bolt, yet its rather annoying to handle. Imo Manaphy is just waiting for a big display.
C+ / C (
)All kinda matchup dependent or very specific Pokemon. Iron Hands remains a great on paper guy that can fall flat even when you dont expect it, as we saw in SPL as it loaded into Unaware Clef. Tea Cup is very scary for bulky teams that either cant hit it very hard or have limited priority, like this random example. Greninja still has a great speed, can clean up offenses at times, with Gunk Shot / Tera Poison being neat options into Primarina, Wellspring, Rillaboom, and scare Blissey out or force it to waste Soft-Boiled PP. Cresselia is a threat, and Calm Mind sets like this one are scary for teams lacking Encore; it greatly enjoys checking Zamazenta, Great Tusk, sometimes Iron Valiant, Raging Bolt and Iron Moth, it does well into bulky teams, and likes Kingambit opting for Air Balloon as it will have an easier time chipping it down. Unfortunately Ogerpon-W is still really rough for Cress thanks to SD and the SpDef boost from Tera, on top of Encore of course, as are physical attackers that overwhelm it quickly such as Kyurem, Dragonite, Roaring Moon, and Kingambit. Still, teams like the one here are Cress lunch.
Ribombee is still a fine setter. As Araquanid anti-leads develop, Ribombee might just be the most consistent at getting Webs up, even if it cant do much else. Speaking of Araquanid, as everyone expects Surf and Custap Berry, other options like Lunge, Mental Herb, and max Defense are cool alternatives. Mental Herb in particular is great against Deoxys and Landorus-T offenses that rely on Taunt to patch up their heavy weakness to Webs.
Unsure (
)I have no idea where to put these guys cause I havent seen enough of them. Skeledirge is the one I have seen the most of, and despite its individual mertis, it often finds itself competing for a slot with Pecharunt and Sinistcha, while struggling with a lot of the top threats like Raging Bolt and Kyurem, and feeling Tera reliant at times.
Cool mon. While I dont use Stall myself, Nasty Plot Pecharunt feels really strong into Gliscor only Ground stall teams, as they either have to win PP stall wars with Toxapex or pray Blissey doesnt hit itself right away. Clodsire just shuts it down.
More rambling (
)Zamazenta struggles a bit more thankfully due to Pecharunt of course, while Roaring Moon is at its best thanks to bulky sets and just Dragon Dance using Tera Fairy, Ground, and sometimes Flying and Ghost. Iron Crown feels weird, yet gaining several openings in the game thanks to Pecharunt is great; imo its also one of the few pokemon that invite Ting-Lu in that can actually chip it for its teammates, unlike lets say Iron Moth which at times only chips it for ~35 and dies.
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8 Malignant chain PP is downright easy for any stall to PP stall (with or without clod), especially if you swap Corv and take 2 at once for free & because Blissey can natural cure, Pex literally has haze to wipe its boosts, Gliscor cannot be statused, and Dondozo all run RestTalk. Without MChain it's goobed by Blissey. Clod is actually used on stall and semi-stall to wall gholdengo, glimmora, iron moth, some ironpress zama etc. Basically it functions as redundancy for Blissy and Dozo.
Cool mon. While I dont use Stall myself, Nasty Plot Pecharunt feels really strong into Gliscor only Ground stall teams, as they either have to win PP stall wars with Toxapex or pray Blissey doesnt hit itself right away. Clodsire just shuts it down, as it shuts down.
of course, it does totally wall NP Pech. but this argument is not relevant to Clod on stall bc basically everything on Stall sans stuff like Alo and Amoonguss wall the shit out of Pech. They do not need Clod in order to be good into NP Pech.
My pov is very specific from spamming NP Pecha just so this makes sense.
Toxapex can defo win, like I mentioned, but it might run out of Recover or Haze PP while trying to do so. Not great for Pecha but it can win once a while. The issue vs non Pex or PhysDef Pex comes from this interaction: Pecharunt clicks NP as Blissey switches in -> Pecharunt clicks NP again as Blissey Calm Minds. Now if Pecharunt's Malignant Chain confuses Blissey, Blissey will be taking poison chip / hitting herself / wasting a lot of PP. Next time it will have to come out vs a Pecharunt already at +4. You can try to switch in Corviknight, but do you really want to risk taking a Shadow Ball? Same for Dondozo and Gliscor. These 3 Pokemon are often tasked with dealing with physical attackers, not with Pecharunt. So once you chip them, partners like Kingambit get scarier. Finally, this set has Tera Blast for Blissey as well, which also hits Corviknight for neutral. I know this sounds specific but do keep in mind ladder does like to run non Clod / Lu stalls, so the scenario come up a lot.
I like Clodsire in general, dont think its B- alone from dealing with a very particular set lol, just highlighting one of its qualities based on the stuff I have been using.
This isn’t correct, really. In fact Pecharunt has an annoyingly strong MU into many non-Clodsire Stall teams hugely because of the high chance of Malignant Chain to proc, and how confusion can effectively stallbreak. It rarely eats up all of its Malignant Chain PP unless you play actively around it, by which point it can start pelting you with Shadow Ball or even worse, Hex. Blissey nor Dondozo want anything to do with it on average and Gliscor can be beat 1v1, hugely because of the interaction pipeline highlighted by Setsu. You can play around it but it will usually cost a couple of resources in the process.
Ok hot take incoming.
There is a pokemon that has been consistently ranked very high and seems almost immune to dropping However, it has become overrated and the meta is not kind to it.
That's right, Raging Bolt for A rank. Check out the SPL data for our once proud dinosaur.
An unimpressive 18th in usage with an abysmal 31% win rate, even less without the mirror. In my opinion the main problem is that he doesn't hold up his end of the bargain defensively, mainly that switching into ogerpon makes him a lot less threatening. As your main water resist, he usually doesn't have boots or recovery, and if forced out is even worse the second time around. He stacks ice weaknesses with ground types and other dragons, is vulnerable to hazards, and isn't particularly fast. And oh yeah, Ting-Lu is approaching S rank status.
As a perpetual A+ ranker some might feel he could never drop due to his raw power but that isn't reflective of the current metagame.
Like most strong mons, he will only be overrated until he becomes underrated, but right now he is not playing up to his A+ status at all.
Bonus argument: garganacl and weavile, who tie it in usage, have 60% win rate. And they are A and A- currently
There is a pokemon that has been consistently ranked very high and seems almost immune to dropping However, it has become overrated and the meta is not kind to it.
That's right, Raging Bolt for A rank. Check out the SPL data for our once proud dinosaur.
An unimpressive 18th in usage with an abysmal 31% win rate, even less without the mirror. In my opinion the main problem is that he doesn't hold up his end of the bargain defensively, mainly that switching into ogerpon makes him a lot less threatening. As your main water resist, he usually doesn't have boots or recovery, and if forced out is even worse the second time around. He stacks ice weaknesses with ground types and other dragons, is vulnerable to hazards, and isn't particularly fast. And oh yeah, Ting-Lu is approaching S rank status.
As a perpetual A+ ranker some might feel he could never drop due to his raw power but that isn't reflective of the current metagame.
Like most strong mons, he will only be overrated until he becomes underrated, but right now he is not playing up to his A+ status at all.
Bonus argument: garganacl and weavile, who tie it in usage, have 60% win rate. And they are A and A- currently
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Strongly second the Raging Bolt nom, and I daresay drop Landorus-T as well for similar reasons.
Ting-Lu and Great Tusk being so excellent makes it much harder to put Landorus on a team, and its stats while not as atrocious as Raging Bolt's, are still pretty dissapointing, this checks out when you only really want to be using it as your ground on Offense. Definitely not up there alongside the other A+ Pokemon (exluding already covered fraud Iron Moth)
Ting-Lu and Great Tusk being so excellent makes it much harder to put Landorus on a team, and its stats while not as atrocious as Raging Bolt's, are still pretty dissapointing, this checks out when you only really want to be using it as your ground on Offense. Definitely not up there alongside the other A+ Pokemon (exluding already covered fraud Iron Moth)
calling lando’s stats disappointing is wild
But to prevent this from being a one-liner, I agree with dropping
. Tera Ground is more common, Ting-Lu and Tusk are the top mons of the meta, and Bolt needs to Tera in order to beat Tusk (even then its taking like 60% from HLR and dying to whatever else swaps in). Still good, but its clear Raging Bolt lost its thunder.Also drop
to B+. That mon is on fraud timing and 90% of teams have a Moth check either on purpose or by accident.
I think Iron Treads could be nominated a little higher into potential low A territory. It has a very nice MU vs Pecharunt, and is extremely good in the role compression it carries, adding a fairy resist, a raging bolt check, a rocks setter and a spinner all at once. In a meta that is somewhat known for being fairy weak, having a spinner that doesn't instantly flop to them is super nice.
Personally nominating
for S+. Now when you think of broken pokemon tusk probably isnt the first thing to come to mind. Thats because tusk isnt a broken pokemon. Tusk is just good. Skyhigh usage rate, insane utility, saving the tier since it was introduced. You could call this thing the tyranitar of gen 9. When we look back on gen 9, i think the mon who will stand apart from all others, as the definitive gen 9 pokemon, will be great tusk.
S+ is usually really reserved for things you make yourself worse not running...
Aside from the weird ttar analogy (it’s more comparable to something like LandoT in previous gens with its splash ability and role compression), as Hydreigon said S+ is really reserved for Pokémon that are so good and effective that you’re making your team worse for not running it. Tusk is very good, no arguments there, but it’s not S+ worthy and likely won’t ever be. There all all sorts of teams that get by fine without running Tusk.
Anywho
A+ -> SKing. One of the most influential Pokémon in the tier and incredibly effective and splashable, with highly effective progress making capabilities between hazards and Ruination while also blanket checking a massive amount of things.
A+ -> A-most people agree it’s not an A+ Mon anymore, but imo it stopped being one a while ago and only has gotten worse with time. Lu being a top 3 minimum Mon (realistically top 2), on top of so many good grounds and options for mid ground play vs if that the average team will have makes it less consistently imposing, as if it’s forced out once the threat level is significantly reduced without Booster backing it. Not that great of a water check in practice either despite the typing, and it’s not as easy to build with as it would seem sometimes. It still CAN be threatening, but I find that it’s nowhere near A+ and frankly, I don’t think it’s as threatening or consistent as what’s in A right now and definitely at a low point atm.
A+ -> B+Kinda fraud right now ngl. Again Lu usage and viability are near the top which alone is bad enough but it’s also too reliant on Fiery Dance boosts to break, as without that it often comes up short. Absorbing TSpikes is no longer special either and it’s not hard to account for this Mon just by having a good team.
A- -> A/A+Very good Mon that’s having its breakout success. Physical buffer, pivot, status spreader, it’s very efficient and has been for a while. It’s long due for a rise.
A -> A+Hugely dominant and frankly broken Mon at this point with more depth to its game that’s made it a nightmare to account for and handle as of late between various Tera types and bulky sets with roost. Tera Fairy is excellent, Tera ground is great (and loves Rilla being nonexistent), and there’s more my sleep deprived brain is forgetting.
A- -> B+Feels very underwhelming lately. Lead sets don’t do anything remarkable, with TSpikes being so commonly absorbed or ignored and there are several leads who match up well into it which hamper its usability. Non lead sets also just don’t stand out to me, especially not next to all the stuff that’s currently A- alongside it.
-> B- Mediocre grasses that have increasingly dwindling usage in the tier (both ladder and tournament, latter of which they almost don’t exist at all). Limited to no defensive use, underwhelming offensively and very awkward to build with for very minimal reward (if any).
A Man can dream damnit. Ok but fr yeah i see what yall saying. I would say aside from boots spam (which can also run tusk just for its checks and utility) usually a team without tusk wouldnt mind adding tusk. i wouldnt say inherintly worse without it, but no team is upset about having a tusk on it. Tusk really should be S rank though, a mon like tusk comes along once every few years. Tusk will definitley be an ou staple for years and gens to come. Easily my favourite competitive mon.Aside from the weird ttar analogy (it’s more comparable to something like LandoT in previous gens with its splash ability and role compression), as Hydreigon said S+ is really reserved for Pokémon that are so good and effective that you’re making your team worse for not running it. Tusk is very good, no arguments there, but it’s not S+ worthy and likely won’t ever be. There all all sorts of teams that get by fine without running Tusk.
Anywho
King. One of the most influential Pokémon in the tier and incredibly effective and splashable, with highly effective progress making capabilities between hazards and Ruination while also blanket checking a massive amount of things.
most people agree it’s not an A+ Mon anymore, but imo it stopped being one a while ago and only has gotten worse with time. Lu being a top 3 minimum Mon (realistically top 2), on top of so many good grounds and options for mid ground play vs if that the average team will have makes it less consistently imposing, as if it’s forced out once the threat level is significantly reduced without Booster backing it. Not that great of a water check in practice either despite the typing, and it’s not as easy to build with as it would seem sometimes. It still CAN be threatening, but I find that it’s nowhere near A+ and frankly, I don’t think it’s as threatening or consistent as what’s in A right now and definitely at a low point atm.
Kinda fraud right now ngl. Again Lu usage and viability are near the top which alone is bad enough but it’s also too reliant on Fiery Dance boosts to break, as without that it often comes up short. Absorbing TSpikes is no longer special either and it’s not hard to account for this Mon just by having a good team.
Very good Mon that’s having its breakout success. Physical buffer, pivot, status spreader, it’s very efficient and has been for a while. It’s long due for a rise.
Hugely dominant and frankly broken Mon at this point with more depth to its game that’s made it a nightmare to account for and handle as of late between various Tera types and bulky sets with roost. Tera Fairy is excellent, Tera ground is great (and loves Rilla being nonexistent), and there’s more my sleep deprived brain is forgetting.
Feels very underwhelming lately. Lead sets don’t do anything remarkable, with TSpikes being so commonly absorbed or ignored and there are several leads who match up well into it which hamper its usability. Non lead sets also just don’t stand out to me, especially not next to all the stuff that’s currently A- alongside it.
Mediocre grasses that have increasingly dwindling usage in the tier (both ladder and tournament, latter of which they almost don’t exist at all). Limited to no defensive use, underwhelming offensively and very awkward to build with for very minimal reward (if any).
As much as current meta trends are not favorable for Raging Bolt and Iron Moth, I do feel they have some underexplored adaptations to cope (especially Raging Bolt). Let me elaborate:
Raging Bolt hates the omnipresence of Ting Lu, the more frequent stacking of ground types, and the downtrend of HO; the most common booster energy set also does not appreciate the dominance of hazards. It is at its weakest when the usual 50/50 of “hit the ground with a dragon pulse” vs “hit the dpulse read with a tbolt/tclap” is too easily handled with the same switch-in (usually the aforementioned Ting Lu).
That said, its kit features the previously-explored-but-underutilized Fairy/Ice Tera Blast (the former being more generally useful thanks to the superior defensive typing and extra damage on Zamazenta, Kyurem, Darkrai, bulky Roaring Moon, Weavile, CM IVal, and Walking Wake, while the latter can be used on the boots pivot set to threaten Clodsire and Gliscor while volt switching on Blissey in order to secure the stall matchup). With booster spatk, tera blast 2HKOs Ting Lu without the need for calm mind, turns any Great Tusk into a memory (even favorably rolling to OHKO the non-set 252/252+ spdef Tusk), and has a chance to OHKO max HP Zama.
Raging Bolt also has access to the incredibly rarely seen (for some reason) Roar/Dragon Tail. I prefer Roar as I don’t want to fuck around with fairy switch-ins/random tera fairy shutting down any value this adaptation generates. The idea is fairly straightforward: why mess with electric vs dragon move 50/50s when you can just hazard chip the switch-in and altogether demotivate switching at all? Ting Lu loves running leftovers to heal off the 15% it takes from super effective moves just to brag—that no longer feels so great if it not only comes in on hazards to block Raging Bolt’s progress, but is also immediately forced out. Hazards do the same amount of damage whether you’re Ting Lu or Hitmonchan. You also can’t be whirlwinded by Ting Lu if you click Roar on the same turn. Another layer is added to checking whatever move you click, where roar covers any switch-in bar the rare Okidogi (Guard Dog) and Kommo-o (Soundproof), you generally make progress against your most common nemesis, and the stay-in that best answers you clicking roar can be exploited with whatever coverage you’re running alongside Roar. I’ve most successfully made use of this set as a boots pivot on hazard stack, with roar/tclap/pulse/voltswitch, but bulky lefties CM/roar/tclap/pulse and sub/roar/tclap/pulse both seem viable from my testing as well (the main issue being that they’re more hazard vulnerable whilst being most useful with hazard support). Obviously you also want a knocker that can land knock on some of the special walls you’d like to hit—boots Wake, knock Darkrai, and Deo-S are great partners, pickpocket Tink threatens to steel Blissey’s boots any time it clicks stoss while hard walling Clodsire if balloon is intact, and niche options like Torn-T are worth exploring as long as they run sets that can threaten Gliscor and possibly Clef.
Iron Moth ironically has more underutilized options but less room to grow in viability. The most important of these, in my eyes, is Toxic. After all, this is yet another mon that is quite unhappy to see a Ting Lu on the opposing team, and doesn’t really appreciate seeing a Blissey either. Toxic is crippling to Ting Lu lacking RestTalk, while RestTalk Ting Lu is significantly less threatening to the type of team Iron Moth is generally featured on. Glowking, meanwhile, sees less usage thanks to its competition with Pecharunt for a teamslot, and while both are totally down to see toxic, only one threatens to cripple Iron Moth while comfortably taking hits from it, and it’s not Pecharunt. It’s better than Substitute into a number of soft checks as well, like Moltres, Roar Zama, spdef Dozo, Dragonite, and Roaring Moon (although you often have dgleam, tera + DD is often extremely threatening if not immediately game winning against Moth-friendly builds). And finally, even if Blissey can natural cure away a Toxic, you force out any Blissey lacking seismic toss before taking any significant damage while dealing significant damage to Blissey’s common teammates sans Clodsire and Toxapex (if this is your top concern, you can slot Psychic over dgleam as your coverage).
Also worth mentioning briefly are Overheat, Meteor Beam, Agility, and Acid Spray. Overheat need not solely be reserved for booster spatk/specs Moths/Moths on sun, you can cash in a fiery dance boost on a speed Moth to blow up a would-be check, outdamaging twice-as-effective non-stab coverage up to 97.5 BP. This lands you your kill on AV Crown that fiery dance misses even at +1, and significantly more damage to Glowking. Of course, it does put an end to your ability to apply speed-boosted pressure (if applicable). Agility sees some use on webs booster spatk Moths, and deserves some respect for what it can do to many offensive teams given the chance to boost. Power Herb Meteor Beam sacrifices speed for some extra power (thanks to being able to max out spatk EVs) and a guarantee of the first boost—would recommend using on webs, possibly alongside agility to help with Cinderace, if you’re gonna run this at all. Finally Acid Spray has a niche for helping break fat, but is only better than Toxic against bulky poison types like Clodsire and Toxapex. Psychic is mandatory coverage alongside it meaning you’re either vulnerable to RM even without tera or lacking strong poison stab coverage.
Raging Bolt hates the omnipresence of Ting Lu, the more frequent stacking of ground types, and the downtrend of HO; the most common booster energy set also does not appreciate the dominance of hazards. It is at its weakest when the usual 50/50 of “hit the ground with a dragon pulse” vs “hit the dpulse read with a tbolt/tclap” is too easily handled with the same switch-in (usually the aforementioned Ting Lu).
That said, its kit features the previously-explored-but-underutilized Fairy/Ice Tera Blast (the former being more generally useful thanks to the superior defensive typing and extra damage on Zamazenta, Kyurem, Darkrai, bulky Roaring Moon, Weavile, CM IVal, and Walking Wake, while the latter can be used on the boots pivot set to threaten Clodsire and Gliscor while volt switching on Blissey in order to secure the stall matchup). With booster spatk, tera blast 2HKOs Ting Lu without the need for calm mind, turns any Great Tusk into a memory (even favorably rolling to OHKO the non-set 252/252+ spdef Tusk), and has a chance to OHKO max HP Zama.
Raging Bolt also has access to the incredibly rarely seen (for some reason) Roar/Dragon Tail. I prefer Roar as I don’t want to fuck around with fairy switch-ins/random tera fairy shutting down any value this adaptation generates. The idea is fairly straightforward: why mess with electric vs dragon move 50/50s when you can just hazard chip the switch-in and altogether demotivate switching at all? Ting Lu loves running leftovers to heal off the 15% it takes from super effective moves just to brag—that no longer feels so great if it not only comes in on hazards to block Raging Bolt’s progress, but is also immediately forced out. Hazards do the same amount of damage whether you’re Ting Lu or Hitmonchan. You also can’t be whirlwinded by Ting Lu if you click Roar on the same turn. Another layer is added to checking whatever move you click, where roar covers any switch-in bar the rare Okidogi (Guard Dog) and Kommo-o (Soundproof), you generally make progress against your most common nemesis, and the stay-in that best answers you clicking roar can be exploited with whatever coverage you’re running alongside Roar. I’ve most successfully made use of this set as a boots pivot on hazard stack, with roar/tclap/pulse/voltswitch, but bulky lefties CM/roar/tclap/pulse and sub/roar/tclap/pulse both seem viable from my testing as well (the main issue being that they’re more hazard vulnerable whilst being most useful with hazard support). Obviously you also want a knocker that can land knock on some of the special walls you’d like to hit—boots Wake, knock Darkrai, and Deo-S are great partners, pickpocket Tink threatens to steel Blissey’s boots any time it clicks stoss while hard walling Clodsire if balloon is intact, and niche options like Torn-T are worth exploring as long as they run sets that can threaten Gliscor and possibly Clef.
Iron Moth ironically has more underutilized options but less room to grow in viability. The most important of these, in my eyes, is Toxic. After all, this is yet another mon that is quite unhappy to see a Ting Lu on the opposing team, and doesn’t really appreciate seeing a Blissey either. Toxic is crippling to Ting Lu lacking RestTalk, while RestTalk Ting Lu is significantly less threatening to the type of team Iron Moth is generally featured on. Glowking, meanwhile, sees less usage thanks to its competition with Pecharunt for a teamslot, and while both are totally down to see toxic, only one threatens to cripple Iron Moth while comfortably taking hits from it, and it’s not Pecharunt. It’s better than Substitute into a number of soft checks as well, like Moltres, Roar Zama, spdef Dozo, Dragonite, and Roaring Moon (although you often have dgleam, tera + DD is often extremely threatening if not immediately game winning against Moth-friendly builds). And finally, even if Blissey can natural cure away a Toxic, you force out any Blissey lacking seismic toss before taking any significant damage while dealing significant damage to Blissey’s common teammates sans Clodsire and Toxapex (if this is your top concern, you can slot Psychic over dgleam as your coverage).
Also worth mentioning briefly are Overheat, Meteor Beam, Agility, and Acid Spray. Overheat need not solely be reserved for booster spatk/specs Moths/Moths on sun, you can cash in a fiery dance boost on a speed Moth to blow up a would-be check, outdamaging twice-as-effective non-stab coverage up to 97.5 BP. This lands you your kill on AV Crown that fiery dance misses even at +1, and significantly more damage to Glowking. Of course, it does put an end to your ability to apply speed-boosted pressure (if applicable). Agility sees some use on webs booster spatk Moths, and deserves some respect for what it can do to many offensive teams given the chance to boost. Power Herb Meteor Beam sacrifices speed for some extra power (thanks to being able to max out spatk EVs) and a guarantee of the first boost—would recommend using on webs, possibly alongside agility to help with Cinderace, if you’re gonna run this at all. Finally Acid Spray has a niche for helping break fat, but is only better than Toxic against bulky poison types like Clodsire and Toxapex. Psychic is mandatory coverage alongside it meaning you’re either vulnerable to RM even without tera or lacking strong poison stab coverage.
If I am using Iron Moth on webs (and this is just my opinion) I am going to use special attack booster energy. While it doesn't give as much of an initial boost as meteor beam it doesn't take away a moveslot and Iron Moth already hits like a truck even with only a 1.3x boost instead of a 1.5x boost. Aside from that slight increase in power and the potential coverage meteor beam provides (which isn't much and it can only be used once anyway) I see no other advantages meteor beam provides that booster energy special attack doesn't (you can even use rock tera blast for rock coverage though that is probably isn't good).
-> A+An astounding 73% winrate while being 13th in usage in SPL is absolutely insane. This is significantly higher win:usage ratio than many Pokemon in A /A+ such as Iron Valiant, Kyurem, Slowking-Galar, Landorus-T, Darkrai, and Raging Bolt. When we watch the SPL replays, it becomes quite easy to see why Corviknight players are consistently winning. Corviknight provides stability in unstable times: Its physically defensive Iron Defense set is able to steal many games - arguably even moreso than the likes of Kingambit - with its powerful defensive profile and pressure earning it setup oppurtunities against the tiers most dangerous threats such as Kingambit, Great Tusk, Gliscor, certain Zamazenta variants, certain Dragonite variants, Roaring Moon, Ogerpon-W, Pecharunt, Lokix, and far more. While it is not entirely iron clad against the entire metagame, the mere fact that it is able to check such a vast portion of the metagame WHILE also being immune to entry hazards gives it a high amount of value, which the tiers best players are taking note of. Its presence is so notable, that we are seeing players bring otherwise unviable Pokemon such as Magnezone in tournament just to trap it.
I believe it is high time that Corviknight's ranking properly reflect what its usage and winrate so plainly show. A+ minimum.
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B- -> CI haven't seen one of these things in ages. What does it even do? Stop Iron Moth, Rilaboom, and Corviknight, I guess. Almost every proper OUmon is well equipped to beat this thing, and the ones that aren't are usually partnered with something that can, not to mention all of the other below-OU stuff that can take it out.
I did say it was niche lol
The main benefit is that you’re not locked into cashing in your boost on your first switch-in. Besides that, it gives you a oneshot on Cinderace, Moltres, Dragonite if multiscale is broken even by 1hp (or if already at +1 from fiery dance it’s a roll through multiscale—the most practical implication this actually has is that fiery dance into meteor beam kills, whereas booster fiery dance into dazzling gleam is an unlikely roll without the fiery dance boost even on no-bulk sets), Zapdos, Araquanid, and Kyurem, all of which live any booster spatk hit. That includes rock tera blast, btw, unless you’re Moltres or Cinderace.