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Resource SV PU Viability Rankings

:Galvantula: UR -> B
Yeah it's whatever. Frail, decent but limited speed tier, kinda weak when not clicking Thunder, coverage issues, it's certainly threatening but other elec options tend to provide just as much. Sticky web is mediocre.

RISES :
:arcanine: A- -> A
Curse sets are good again, with Rhydon being played less and its other checks being arguably easier to abuse.

:snorlax: B+ -> A-
It's now an established presence in the metagame, recognized as a threat of its own while blanket checking so much in one slot. Took Dudunsparce's slot as the bulky normal of choice.

:shaymin: B -> B+
Much better without Goodra in its way, less coverage issues. It can have trouble against some teams that stack grass resists and is a bit RNG dependant but otherwise, this mon is both hard to switch into and hard to threaten back with decent defensive utility.

:lanturn: B- -> B
Interesting defensive profile that allows it to answer important mons such as Salazzle and Rotom-Heat, it kinda replaced Goodra for this. Provides an electric immunity in a world where most Ground types don't feel great to use as volt blockers. It has decent progress making tools and some cool options, but most of the time you're gonna go for Scald + Volt Switch. It feels bad to use against mons it can't threaten back and it's heavily reliant on Sleep Talk turns, which prevents it from rising higher, but it's more established as a balance staple now.

:sceptile:C+ -> B-
Specs sets have been cool for a while and like Goodra being gone, the great speed tier being the main argument.

DROPS :
:milotic: S -> A+
One could have thought it would get better without Goodra but it dislikes the rising offensive grasses even more. Weirdly passive against things that don't mind taking a burn which get more common. Has to recover too often in a relatively more offensive metagame. Phazing capabilities are slightly less needed, so other defensive mons are a bit more favored now. A good mon once again, but I don't feel like it's at the top of the meta.

:salazzle: S -> A+
It never felt like an S rank mon for me and Toxic sets got worse since Balance is spamming Snorlax and Lanturn now. Still good but not that meta defining.

:Avalugg-hisui: A -> A-
Lugg-h fat structures are much weaker without Goodra, you usually have to resort to Lanturn which is not ideal.

:ninetales-alola: A- -> B+
Biggest potential man ever. Offensive sets's flaws are more and more apparent as time goes on. NP is a huge tera hog, it doesn't do much if you don't commit tera and the payoff is not even that worth most of the time. It struggles heavily into big spedef walls such as the rising Snorlax. It doesn't find that many setup opportunities because of a relatively mediocre defensive typing and weak damage output. It still has a good amount of positive matchups and can work nicely under the right circumstances but it's not worthy of A- imo.
Specs is alright, but hazard removal is getting worse without Espeon in the tier so it's harder to make it work. It's also the reason why we don't see dedicated snow cores as much now, even though they can still be deadly.

:hitmonlee: B- -> C+
Used to be ranked mostly for Grassy Terrain, which is pretty much dead with shifts, so it should be ranked with Indeedee-F since it can only work there now. C+ is fine for Psychic Terrain.

:Oricorio-Pau: C+ -> C/UR
Unless you wanna make a case for Pa'u still being usable as a standalone mon with Kee Berry or offensive sets or something (I wouldn't), this mon is dead without Thwackey and Espeon to make it work. I don't believe in Grookey Terrain.

:Alcremie: C -> UR
This one should be obvious. It was already fringe and rarely seen when we had Grassy Terrain, Kee Berry sets aren't worth.

Edit since I forgot this one:
:abomasnow: C -> UR
Very little reason to ever use it over Alolatales. Double setter only makes sense on full snow which is barely viable. Eject pack + veil is something that it can do, but Alolatales does so much more. It also isn't really worth as a standalone offensive mon.
 
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rises

:porygon2: B -> A-/A this mon is lowkey unkillable and forces a lot of progress through tera, status, or hitting pretty hard with download boosts. offensive sets with charge beam or agility are also very underappreciated.

:lanturn: B- -> B+ it's pretty annoying to deal with for most special pivots and has seen lots more usage lately since goodra's absense. it serves as a nice midgame blanket check to a lot of special mons as well as being the best heattom counter since goodra left

:indeedee-f: C+ -> B- i think psy terrain is still fairly underrated, and while the dark types in the tier are quite strong i still believe psyterrain to be worth using. indeedee having healing wish and screens do let it help out a bit, but it often does feel deadweight-y as a terrain setter which sets it back a bit.

:sceptile: C+ -> B+ specs sets are great on it, the speed tiers rly good for the current meta and offensive sets on archetypes like ho i think are underexplored. it's able to compete with most of the tier with specs alone, and setup sets on terrain are pretty fine as well.

:tauros: C+ -> B- i think tauros is a great breaker, but the typing and speed tier keep me from wanting it to raise much higher. slower than the good scarfers or just slower than faster mons/vulnerable to hazards and prio makes it a bit lacking outside of its great offensive utility.

:galvantula: NEW -> B- it's just vikavolt with a speed stat so im just putting it the rank above, it has like little to no impact in the tier rn imo

:decidueye-hisui: A- -> A the defensive sets are great and the bulk / type profile lets you get away with a lot in builder. triple arrows is also a broken move

drops

:avalugg-hisui: a -> a- i think the shifts were a net positive for lugg, but it has become a lot harder to pull off the balance structures it defined the last meta with due to the rise of espeon, even though the ho lead sets appreciate it being gone. i rate it slightly lower since it's harder to fit and fulfill the role it had on balance before.

:dipplin: c+ -> UR i think this mons so bad tbh, it's just a passive phasing bot that loses to any special attacker and needs way too much support for me to ever think is worth it when other tera wincons can accomplish so much more without being pigeonholed into a mid role at best.

:oricorio-pau: C+ -> UR idk anyone that uses this

:muk: C -> UR same as above

:trevenant: C -> UR p much outclassed besides natural cure but even if u want anti-meta theres better choices for you
 
:Bellossom: UR -> C+
MU fish that can autowin against some teams under the right circumstances, just like it did in ZU. Has a lot of flaws, like being extremely slow (still being outsped by most scarfers after two QDs), weak, tera dependant with a mediocre base typing, limited coverage, susceptibility to trick, encore and phazing...
But with the right structure, it can be deadly because QD + Strength Sap is such a broken combo, making it basically impossible to KO. It does require several turns before becoming an actual threat. Both Acid Spray and Sludge Bomb have merits in overcoming its counters.
People tried to make it work, with middling results until now. It definitely likes Espeon and Goodra being gone, since they blocked Strength Sap and had ways to 1v1 it. It just won a (serious) PUCL game, where it solo won as soon as the Florges was baited into tricking its Scarf into something else. This should be enough to consider ranking it.

Another quick nom :
:Vikavolt: C+ -> C
Not strictly outclassed by Galvantula, more power and slow pivoting can be worth sometimes, but it definitely has more competition for the Sticky Web lead slot, which is already a mediocre archetype to begin with.
 
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Our latest VR update is in! The voting can be found here. The shifts are as follows:

New

:Galvantula: Galvantula NEW -> B-

Rises

:Arcanine: Arcanine A- -> A
:Decidueye-Hisui: Decidueye-H A- -> A

:Snorlax: Snorlax B+ -> A-

:Porygon2: Porygon2 B -> B+
:Shaymin: Shaymin B -> B+

:Lanturn: Lanturn B- -> B
:Sceptile: Sceptile C+ -> B

:Bellossom: Bellossom UR -> C
:Hattrem: Hattrem UR -> C
:Scovillain: Scovillain UR -> C
:Volbeat: Volbeat UR -> C

Drops

:Salazzle: Salazzle S -> A+

:Avalugg-Hisui: Avalugg-H A -> A-

:Ninetales-Alola: Ninetales-A A- -> B+

:Hitmonlee: Hitmonlee B- -> C+

:Dipplin: Dipplin C+ -> C
:Vikavolt: Vikavolt C+ -> C

:Abomasnow: Abomasnow C -> UR

See you at the next update!
 
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:lurantis:
C rank to B-
what did you expect from me? with the departure of guno, glowbro, altaria and friends, lurantis has become a much better removal option. It switches into a majority of common rockers and defog in front of them or hits them with super effective coverage, thanks to contrary it scales fast and can remove webs pretty easily against webs teams, and it has just enough stats across the board take the hits it needs to and be threatening still. The things that do wall lurantis in the modern day are not nearly as painful to give entry to, such as amoonguss or delphox. These are arguably easier pokemon to navigate than guno and glowbro, and frankly lurantis is nearly more consistent than Cramorant if your main objective is no rocks.

:salazzle:
A+ to S
salazzle to me will always be one of the best pokemon in the tier. Before I had my break, I was obsessed with subtox lazzle. After coming back, I think it has gotten better. This pokemon is so good at spreading toxic and stalling turns, that genuinely i think an entire toxic spam archetype exists around this pokemon that is relatively unexplored still. Toxic in this gen is huge. Without cleric moves, and limited natural counterplay to corrosion toxic, you can expect a well played lazzle to get timers up on 2+ pokemon per game. In structures designed around this, the game opens up drastically in your favor with setup mons that abuses poisoned walls, cleaners that burn turns away, etc. The key thing about lazzle is it is a threefold goat. The toxic aspect i mentioned is the first thing, the second thing is its defensive value vs hecidueye and stray moonblasts, and its speed and offensive presence is the third thing. This pokemon can just as easily run toxic encore sets, nasty plot sets, a combo, terablast grass, etc. This pokemon is a public menace, and mark my words toxic spam will probably become a bigger thing as time passes.

:golurk:
B to B+ (at least)
call me crazy but like, this thing is way better than B? It is underexplored, a nuke, utility, defensively valuable, etc. This thing has crazy set variety, whether it is rocks 3 attacks, band, scarf, klutz shenanigans, colbur, AV, etc. I have seen plenty of different flavors, and the common denominator is that this is corebuster. Yes it is slower, yes it is weak to some common types, but crucially, it is fast enough to outpace majority of walls and tanks, it has key immunities for stuff like scarf pawmot, and im telling you, this thing has so many unexplored options imo. Trick klutz, different sorts of AoA sets, I do think he is probably goated on para spam too with dynamic punch access, its offensive presence, and rocks. Long story short is that this dude punches way above the weight class of things like sceptile, mowtom, etc.

:shaymin:
B+ to A-
lowkey i feel like shaymin is constantly underrated. I used to underrate tbh, but yeah 100 speed, solid bulk, access to recovery, natural cure, stellar coverage, and a move that drops spdef by 2 a lot of the time is craaazy. Add Tera and how shaymin can get access to a better defensive type, and you have a real difference maker. Since I have been back, this has been one of the more threatening options to fight against, and I think it has been making a steady incline since the departure of stuff like guno and glowbro, just like lurantis.

---
I havent been around for a while I know, but I have been spamming ladder lately and have played enough to have some opinions at least! Woo pu
 
tom holland said:
:golurk:
B to B+ (at least)
call me crazy but like, this thing is way better than B? It is underexplored, a nuke, utility, defensively valuable, etc. This thing has crazy set variety, whether it is rocks 3 attacks, band, scarf, klutz shenanigans, colbur, AV, etc. I have seen plenty of different flavors, and the common denominator is that this is corebuster. Yes it is slower, yes it is weak to some common types, but crucially, it is fast enough to outpace majority of walls and tanks, it has key immunities for stuff like scarf pawmot, and im telling you, this thing has so many unexplored options imo. Trick klutz, different sorts of AoA sets, I do think he is probably goated on para spam too with dynamic punch access, its offensive presence, and rocks. Long story short is that this dude punches way above the weight class of things like sceptile, mowtom, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse...
Rare Sychillz agree post. Golurk could even be A rn. The tier has currently found BIG targets for a no guard set offensively and has left it self open to klutz set shenanigans as of recent. It truly feels like an auto include on my balance teams these days its not crazy to say there is almost ALWAYS something it can do for a team and right now there alot to cover so a nice general safety net feels nice.
 
The latest SV PU Viability Rankings update is in! We voted on the full slate this time due to major shifts. Please note, this vote occurred before the OU Tera Blast ban so any pokemon affected by the Tera Blast ban in PU has not yet been ranked accordingly. Voting can be found here.

NEW

Slowbro-G :Slowbro-Galar: -> S

Heracross :Heracross: -> A+
Scrafty :Scrafty: -> A+
Wo-Chien :Wo-Chien: -> A+

Vileplume :Vileplume: -> B

RISES

Tatsugiri :Tatsugiri: A- -> A

Skuntank :Skuntank: B+ -> A-
Venusaur :Venusaur: B+ -> A-

Rotom-C :Rotom-Mow: B -> B+

Mesprit :Mesprit: C+ -> B
Farigiraf :Farigiraf: C+ -> B-
Hitmonlee :Hitmonlee: C+ -> B-
Mismagius :Mismagius: C+ -> B-
Sandaconda :Sandaconda: C+ -> B-

Ditto :Ditto: C -> C+
Froslass :Froslass: C -> C+
Scovillain :Scovillain: C -> C+
Trevenant :Trevenant: C -> C+
Vikavolt :Vikavolt: C -> C+

Grookey :Grookey: UR -> C+
Drifblim :Drifblim: UR -> C+

DROPS

Milotic :Milotic: S -> A+

Bruxish :Bruxish: A+ -> A

Amoonguss :Amoonguss: A -> A-
Decidueye-H :Decidueye-Hisui: A -> A-
Qwilfish-H :Qwilfish-Hisui: A -> A-

Avalugg-H :Avalugg-Hisui: A- -> B+
Toxicroak :Toxicroak: A- -> B+

Jolteon :Jolteon: B+ -> B
Persian-A :Persian-Alola: B+ -> B
Porygon2 :Porygon2: B+ -> B
Qwilfish :Qwilfish: B+ -> B

Oricorio :Oricorio: B -> B-
Orthworm :Orthworm: B -> B-
Sceptile :Sceptile: B -> B-

Galvantula :Galvantula: B- -> C+
Whimsicott :Whimsicott: B- -> C+
Sneasel-H :Sneasel-Hisui: B- -> C

Coalossal :Coalossal: C+ -> C
Naclstack :Naclstack: C+ -> C
Oricorio-P :Oricorio-Pau: C+ -> C
Poliwrath :Poliwrath: C+ -> C
Spiritomb :Spiritomb: C+ -> C

Articuno :Articuno: C -> UR
Exeggutor :Exeggutor: C -> UR
Muk :Muk: C -> UR
 
I was gonna nom a few things, but by the end of my original post it felt like I was phoning it in a bit, so I'll only nom one guy for now.

:typhlosion-hisui: B -> B+
Typhlosion-H is still a bit high-maintenance, but the reward is much more worth the risk now than it was before. Being a Ghost-type that can reliably punch through bulky Dark-types is really valuable right now. Prevalent walls in the previous meta like Snorlax, Porygon2, and Lanturn are less free now than they were before, which means Choice Specs sets are better at cooking teams and non-Choice Specs sets are easier to get away with. I find this particularly nice because Choice Scarf Hyphlosion outspeeds +1 Heracross/Bruxish and also doesn't care about Ambipom's Fake Out, and it's felt like cool speed control for me lately on slower teams because of that. Infernal Parade is also kinda cheating with this much status flying around and can help you cheese past Milotic, which seemingly walls you, and you also soft check Salazzle. Hyphlosion is still reliant on Eruption most of the time and not a great Fairy resist, so still very flawed, but it doesn't feel like a B-rank shitter anymore.

edit: Frosmoth feels B+ to me right now, does all the same stuff it did before but minus Tera Blast, which is good. Defog sets are good role compression but can be exploited without much trouble, QD sets are decent but nothing gamebreaking in most cases. I don't see it shifting much in either direction unless someone figures out how to break it.

rawr i'm typhlosion
 
:frosmoth: add to B+
without tera blast, this moth still can did well with defog, it free make heattom/snorlax/sandslash in and give chance make your strong breaker like pawmot/redbull attack, qd still useful too
:sandaconda: rise to B
it just rising from C+ but I not care it rise again, in PU Invitational, band/coil sandaconda have more usage and standard sr sandaconda still viable, thanks the shed skin ability, it can being a decent status/knock absorber with rest, coil i think is best sandaconda set cause with defense tera and shed skin it can seen as a weaken but faster scrafty, it have many good move like stone edge and scale shot being a reliable wincon, band is another good set but harder to fit, sandaconda have skitter smack to hit wochien like rhydon's megahorn, and strong eq can 2hko milo, standard set i feel a bit hard decide rock slide, glare, rest but it still can did well about status absorb work and did better than mud in long turn game.
:typhlosion-hisui: rise to B+
see asa's post.
 
:Frosmoth: UR to A- : I've seen people call B+ for Frosmoth, and it would be underselling it. First of all I want to talk about QD sets. QD has proven to be a threat with Sub and defensive teras to get multiple boosts, abuse its ability which turns most special attackers into fodder, and get around Sucker Punch. Tera Ghost especially has impressed me, being able to deal with Fake Out from Ambipom and Shell Side Arm.
It has coverage issues on paper but most Fire types don't actually beat it that well? Special ones can't 1v1 if Moth teras, besides maybe Delphox who needs to be kept healthy if it wants to withstand Bug Buzz, and like, Oricorio who can do stuff with Dancer. Tauros is the only real physical fire type and it's prone to chip. (No, Coalossal is not a real mon..)
So I'd say this mon's issue is more blanket spedef tanks that can target its weaker defense, like Snorlax, Hariyama or Grimm, AV Hoopa, and obviously Aloslash. I just think it can be a bit unreliable and needs a lot of conditions to succeed (removing physical scarfer, be under the right circumstances to avoid trick and priority, tera hog, removing aloslash and such...), which can make it feel "win more", but honestly the price is worth most of the time, it's genuinely dangerous.
Tl;dr: this mon is still a little bit of a headache if you want to deal with it reliably, but it's less effective at that by losing offensive potential.
But honestly, Defog pivot sets alone could be worth A- in my eyes. They're less "do nothing" than they seem, paralysis is a great tool and it provides good role compression by blanket checking stuff like Shaymin, Tatsugiri, CM Florges and offensive Porygon2 who are typically hard to check properly. It allows you to bring your threat via slow pivoting, a role that's relatively hard to find elsewhere.

DROPS:
:Mudsdale: A+ to A : I don't know, I feel like you're way more free to run Rhydon as your ground now. Gbro is a better blanket physical check to most fighters, you don't have to worry about Scrafty anymore. Also, Mudsdale's short set variety from previous meta is less worth now, I don't think you ever want to go AV or Band now. Mudsdale is also weirdly passive and can struggle to make meaningful progress.

:Shaymin: B+ to B : Shaymin is still alright due to pure stats and Seed Flare being stupid, especially considering Gbro plays physdef more than AV, but between losing Tera Blast Rock and reintroducing Frosmoth, meta has not been kind to it.

:Ninetales-Alola: B+ to B : Same issues. Likewise, it's a good mon at its core that can function with proper teammates, able to clean once it's answers are chipped or removed, but it's not as free as before and can't do its job alone since things don't hesitate to switch into a potential surprise coverage move anymore.

:Farigiraf: B- to C+ : What no Tera Blast does to a mf. Sad to see a mon that begun to be experimented with again fall off so quickly. It's not unplayable and TR has interesting applications for HO, but it's way less effective at its job and has to make more concessions.

:Spiritomb: C to UR : Same, except it was already very fringe to begin with.. I just don't think this is ever, ever worth using without tera coverage. Sorry.

RISES:
:Golurk: B to B+ : We've forgotten how threatening Golurk can be. Typically abuses Gbro balances with good Volt Turn teammates, I really like how band has no switchin with the right predictions. Not even Wo-Chien is safe, especially considering how often it has to commit tera. Also has enough set variety (scarf, rocks, trick klutz, maybe even AV) to be ranked a bit higher. Will usually force at least one trade per game.

:Malamar: C+ to B- : Decently underrated. This mon's only flaw is being awkward to fit, as a Dark type that doesn't resist Ghost, with no real defensive utility as it only has one immunity and no resists, so its main value is abusing bulkier stuff to become unkillable or forcing trades. And you know what, we're exactly in this kind of favorable meta. It has a cool mu into the likes of Glowbro, Wo-Chien, Palossand, even Cramorant has to avoid giving def boosts with Gulp Missile. It has to be noted it can struggle against these same teams since they usually carry Florges, but a good team should be able to pressure it. It also appreciates Scrafty being removed, as the closest replacement being a spedef dark type with pseudo bulk up setup that can status absorb (somewhat) and remove vital items. Just be aware it's bulk is a bit fake, but just enough to be threatening.

:Coalossal: C to C+ : I don't really like this mon but it's actually one of the main benefiters of Tera Blast's departure, being able to deal with mons like Alolatales, offensive Florges, NP Lazzle (although it's a worse set than before) and Frosmoth more reliably. It's also the single best answer to Typhlosion-Hisui, a mon that can feel inconsistent to deal with defensively if it tries to nuke you with Eruption.
Flame Body is genuinely insane sometimes, allowing it to punish physical progress makers who tend to click Koff and U-turn too freely and make them think twice about it, such as Ambipom, Bombirdier, Aloslash (if you're not afraid of eq), who are all at the core of current meta. You make your mon weak to hazards in the process, but it's very much worth the price. Momentum sack issues remain, this mon does nothing except vomit hazard, it can't properly answers things it should be able to (*ahem* CM Florges) but you know what, that's enough to be considered on some teams. Also, try Scald if you want to be a bit better at your spinning job.

:Minior: C to C+ : This mon is a bit better than that. The potential is there and after playing it a bit, most of its answers are easy to chip into range, like Mudsdale and Milo who are tasked with answering other things in HO. Priority game is a bit less strong right now. Main trouble is finding opportunities to setup, but when more people are using stuff like Toxic Lazzle, defensive Bombirdier or Surf-less Glowbro, it's not too hard to get going and potential teras can help with that. Also, Substitute is a good move on it to avoid Sucker Punch and get into its fast form, also has interesting applications against Heatom if you forego Stone Edge. Overall, not great because it's easy to trade with, susceptible to priority and has somewhat linear gameplans, but it's a mon which has to be respected and makes dealing with its HO partners harder if you need to keep your tools for Minior. I just can't nom it higher because it's literally never seen in tournaments and double dance Rhydon tends to provide more, but Minior is different enough.
 
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First VR post in forever. I do think the rankings are in a great place right now. I like to see the top offensive mons all represented high in the ranks. Pawmot, Lazzle, Zoroark, Bruxish, Delphox, Heracross are all very strong and hard to counterplay for different reasons. (Disclaimer I've been mostly playing Ladder, random roomtours, and spectating games so my perspective won't be as advanced.)

My noms:

:Poliwrath: C to C+/B-. I find this mon useful since it provide a great blanket check to a lot of common mons. Can use a BU/Drain/Knock/Liquid set or a Circle/Knock/Rest-Talk set on more defensive teams, both do similar things. Checks Ambipom and Sandslash well, also switches into Rhydon. Importantly, Water Absorb prevents momentum gains from Milotic which is very useful when paired with mons like Mudsdale and Rhydon. The BU set can be surprisingly tricky to defeat but you really need to waste Tera (usually Steel or Fire) for special attackers. Meanwhile the Circle Throw set is reliable enough at getting past most Snorlax, Rhydon, Yama in an emergency. It's still weak to too many common types and mons to go any higher, such as Cram and Amoonguss. Some games all it can do is remove items so its by no means a top Pokemon.

:Vileplume: B to B-/C+ I was testing this out cause I love Plume, and Effect Spore shenanigans aside, in reality Venusaur is just better in most regards. And when you want to go more defensive, Amoonguss regen is too good to pass up. It's really not a bad mon, just outclassed.

:Tatsugiri: A to A-. Oh this is absolutely a strong Pokemon and its great to have a Spinner and a Milotic punish, i just find its physical frailty increasingly more annoying now. Maybe it's the meta and the cores that are running like Bro + Wo-Chien, just some games its offensive output vs its ability to get in safely doesn't quite seem A rank level. At the end of the day it still spins and can drop a Draco, so it shouldn't go any lower.

:Rotom-Mow: B+ to B. Not a big deal I just think this is more on the level of E-trode rather than higher. Sometimes hard to justify cause of Rotom-Heat dominance and now things like AV Bro but also mons like Wo and Hecid give it some trouble. Still can cripple stuff with Trick which is good, and has an X factor with nasty plot tera but i dont like this being the tera user

:Froslass: C+-> B- Another thing I need to get more replays of, I think this is fairly viable because of fast Triple Axel/Polter, so it can outspeed stuff like Pawmot and hit surprisingly hard. Then it can Wisp/Dbond others before going down. When I was playing with it I learned not to hyperfocus on Spikes, but the bonus of having Spikes is a great X-factor vs some teams. Just a neat offensive mon that I feel is lower end B, cause it is unfortunately quite prediction based and it does get screwed by Tauros.

Commentary:

:Sandaconda: B- to B Agree. I've been seeing this a lot more as an alternative to mons like Mudsdale and it seems to work in practice. The Shed Skin makes it a viable check to Slowbro-G's shell Side Arm especially when paired with Lefties and some investment, and Glare is always annoying.

:Malamar: C+ to B- Agree with above reasonings. God this is annoying for bulkier teams to deal with, we are lucky that its actual stats aren't that great so strong enough special attacks and Uturns can usually ward it off..... but then again Tera exists. Kinda scary mon.

:Coalossal: C to C+ Agree with above reasonings + Flame Bodys a bitch! Even if it did absolutely zero things besides Flame Body burns i wouldnt unrank this.

:Golurk: B to B+ Agree again, it hits really hard.

:Shaymin: B+ to B : Somewhat Disagree, i mean it's definitely taken a hit with Bro and Frosmoth. But in practice I still feel it puts in work somehow lol, it's that legendary statline with Natural Cure that gives it such great longevity. Plus I think tools like Leech Seed and Hwish are really useful. I think B is okay i just wouldn't want to see it any lower.
 
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:Tauros-Paldea-Blaze: A -> A- Less consistent than it used to be. With physdef Gbro everywhere, you even find multiple answers on a team pretty often, which makes it heavily prediction reliant on top of needing to chip itself too much to break, cutting its defensive utility. Even mons it's supposed to abuse like Wo-Chien or Rhydon can tera without too much drawback. Bulk Up sets have potential but are not very common. Overall worse than other fighting type breakers.

:Snorlax: A- -> B+ Snorlax hype died out a little and it just feels easier to disrupt or threaten. Wo-Chien gives it trouble, meta is slightly more volt-turn focused with breakers like Heracross and Golurk it hates to see. Snorlax can feel a little too demanding with its conditions to sweep (e.g., being super afraid of knock off and trick, needs to tera pretty often, super reliant on rest in a meta where it's not easy to give up turns..). It's just not winning as much as it used to.

:Amoonguss: A- -> B+ Weirdly passive now that we have real toxic immunities, not really good at answering things it should be able to (heracross for example..), moveset issues with heavy opportunity cost (4MSS + needing to fit bad moves), outclassed by another regenerator poison type most of the time.

:Vileplume: B -> B- Fraudwatch. It's just not really good, maybe a little overrated at first with benefit of the doubt. It's easy to abuse, it doesn't do much, it's not a great answer to anything and having such a poor mu into the best mon in the tier is tough. Vileplume feels "fake" and its good mu into Scrafty was the main reason why it was considered decent before.

:Hitmonlee: :Sceptile: B- -> C+ Grassy Terrain is dead (for real this time). Sceptile's rare use cases as a solo unburden sweeper are not worth keeping it at B-, nor is it the case for Specs which is nowhere to be seen now.

:Rhydon: A+ -> S Maybe too early to be certain, but yes Rhydon is at its prime again and one of the best mons in the tier. It's at the center of most defensive cores (most importantly a great partner to gbro), always at a great usage rate, being able to blanket check a lot, always makes progress, not easy to switch into for more offensive teams, just very consistent even against defensive walls who are often forced into recovery turns. Also one of the only benefitters from the Tera Blast ban, you can't snipe it anymore. Spedef is great, Rock Polish is threatening, Rhydon is a key mon in the tier, filling important role compression hard to find elsewhere.

:Hoopa: A- -> A Hoopa is really good right now. It has seen more experimentation with sets like itemless or rest talk which can be hard to answer for bulkier teams. Specs claims against slower teams, as long as you can hit Focus Blast. Scarf is still great.

:Braviary-Hisui: B -> B+ Both sheer force and specs tinted lens shine in a slower paced meta, super theatening into AV Gbro teams. Defog has been used with some success. At worst a trading machine, at best has the potential to win on its own.

:Sneasel: B -> B+ Great stab combo in current meta, fast knock off will always be good. It's able to shred defensive cores of Glowbro-Rhydon-Wo-Chien/Bombirdier. Also one of the best pieces of HO.

:Toedscruel: C -> C+ Underrated. One could say "it's not a real ground or a real grass" and its stat spread is specific, yes, but at the same time this specific role compression is very cool to have on some offenses. Between the versatility of being able to knock, spin while threatening a lot of setters, pivot out with leaf storm epack, the value of potentially fitting toxic, spikes, or sludge bomb, blanket check special mons a few times, this mon can do so much. It can be relatively threatening and some defensive pieces just invite it for free (for example : palo, rhydon, most milo sets...). Being able to volt block mowtom/lanturn/htrode is also pretty nice to have in current meta. What's keeping it from rising further is how specific it feels to fit.
 
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Platum said:
:Tauros-Paldea-Blaze: A -> A- Less consistent than it used to be. With physdef Gbro everywhere, you even find multiple answers on a team pretty often, which makes it heavily prediction reliant on top of needing to chip itself too much to break, cutting its defensive utility. Even mons it's supposed to abuse like Wo-Chien or Rhydon can tera without too much drawback. Bulk Up sets have potential but are not very common. Overall worse than other fighting type breakers.

:Snorlax: A- -> B+ Snorlax hype died out a little and it just feels easier to disrupt or threaten. Wo-Chien gives it trouble, meta is slightly more volt-turn focused with breakers like Heracross and Golurk it hates to see. Snorlax can feel a little too demanding with its conditions to sweep (e.g., being super afraid of knock off and trick, needs to tera pretty often, super reliant on rest in a meta where it's not easy to give up turns..). It's just not winning as much as it used to.

:Amoonguss: A- -> B+ Weirdly passive now that we have real toxic immunities, not really good at answering things it should be able to (heracross for example..), moveset issues with heavy opportunity cost (4MSS + needing to fit bad moves), outclassed by another regenerator poison type most of the time.

:Vileplume: B -> B- Fraudwatch. It's just not really good, maybe a little overrated at first with benefit of the doubt. It's easy to abuse, it doesn't do much, it's not a great answer to anything and having such a poor mu into the best mon in the tier is tough. Vileplume feels "fake" and its good mu into Scrafty was the main reason why it was considered decent before.

:Hitmonlee: :Sceptile: B- -> C+ Grassy Terrain is dead (for real this time). Sceptile's rare use cases as a solo unburden sweeper are not worth keeping it at B-, nor is it the case for Specs which is nowhere to be seen now.

:Rhydon: A+ -> S Maybe too early to be certain, but yes Rhydon is at its prime again and one of the best mons in the tier. It's at the center of most defensive cores (most importantly a great partner to gbro), always at a great usage rate, being able to blanket check a lot, always makes progress, not easy to switch into for more offensive teams, just very consistent even against defensive walls who are often forced into recovery turns. Also one of the only benefitters from the Tera Blast ban, you can't snipe it anymore. Spedef is great, Rock Polish is threatening, Rhydon is a key mon in the tier, filling important role compression hard to find elsewhere.

:Hoopa: A- -> A Hoopa is really good right now. It has seen more experimentation with sets like itemless or rest talk which can be hard to answer for bulkier teams. Specs claims against slower teams, as long as you can hit Focus Blast. Scarf is still great.

:Braviary-Hisui: B -> B+ Both sheer force and specs tinted lens shine in a slower paced meta, super theatening into AV Gbro teams. Defog has been used with some success. At worst a trading machine, at best has the potential to win on its own.

:Sneasel: B -> B+ Great stab combo in current meta, fast knock off will always be good. It's able to shred defensive cores of Glowbro-Rhydon-Wo-Chien/Bombirdier. Also one of the best pieces of HO.

:Toedscruel: C -> C+ Underrated. One could say "it's not a real ground or a real grass" and its stat spread is specific, yes, but at the same time this specific role compression is very cool to have on some offenses. Between the versatility of being able to knock, spin while threatening a lot of setters, pivot out with leaf storm epack, the value of potentially fitting toxic, spikes, or sludge bomb, blanket check special mons a few times, this mon can do so much. It can be relatively threatening and some defensive pieces just invite it for free (for example : palo, rhydon, most milo sets...). Being able to volt block mowtom/lanturn/htrode is also pretty nice to have in current meta. What's keeping it from rising further is how specific it feels to fit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse...
platum can you stop revealing state secrets >:(
 
Been playing PU ladder for inteleon suspect so here are my noms since this thread is dead af rn.

:pmd/frosmoth: B+
Think this is pretty fair. 90% of the reason to use moth is defog, which is a good ass mon but has issues with its passivity at times and not really having a lot of flexibility. Being able to softcheck the likes of florges, tatsu, and with tera, heattom, lazzle, zoro etc is a great thing for both offense and defense. Still a decent defensive piece so think B+ is fair for it.

:pmd/arcanine: A+
Ah, the king is back. Arcanine reprises its role from when it left, acting as a great all around pokemon with its blend of defense and offense. Espeed prio is as valuable as ever to revenge kill faster foes, it has a lot of options like curse, wisp, cc etc. Both setup and CB sets work as well as ever in this meta, and having another florges answer is great. Idk much more to say, this mon is goated AF.

:pmd/kilowattrel: A
Kilo is a great offensive mon in the tier, outspeeding the likes of salazzle, ambipom, pawmot etc is a great tool for dealing with these otherwise annoying offensive threats. It also is great on spikestack comps with competitive or as a pawmot softcheck with volt absorb, though rn competitive seems to be the wave rn. It is hard stuffed by certain things such as heattom and rhydon, but those it can easily u-turn on to get in teammates, and its initial power isn't so amazing that you can break through walls such as mudsdale immediately, it does need good chip to do so. Still, the fast speed and power are a great asset for it and I think A is fair.

:pmd/chansey: B
Think this will drop as time goes on. Chansey stuffs a lot of special attackers and is a good status absorber which the tier does need. I think personally as time goes on, boots will become preferred since you still take every special attack under the sun and the hazard immunity makes up for the lost bulk on the special side. Pretty passive but its able to work well enough.

:pmd/tentacruel: B
Tenta feels like a nice offense addition to the tier, with its ability to spin being very much appreciated. Flip, spin, knock, filler is pretty standard, with options like toxic, surf, haze, tspikes being viable. It being able to check the likes of florges, cm glowbro, salazzle, fauros, and other fightings is a very valuable triat for these teams. I could also see the likes of fentacruel (SD tenta) being okay with something like cloak due to its ability to switch into a lot of staples but that remains to be seen. Still, good addition to the tier that holds its own.

:pmd/araquanid: B-
Webs are prob fine? Idk, most usage I've seen of this has been sub/cb which can be good into certain teams that lack great switchins to both its STABs, and it completely sits on milo but ultimately its still slow, rocks weak and struggles with a good amount of mons that can stuff it.

And now for the non shift related noms.

:pmd/bruxish: A -> A-/B+
Ngl, bruxish has just felt, underwhelming. Yes it can certainly bully certain teams, but it feels like a lot of the time it just kinda has to click flip turn on switch since something is easily going to switch in. Milo, glowbro, wo-chien (who basically says fuck you to bruxish), tatsu etc. Theres just a lot of mons that make it awkward to actually do its job and it feels very much like it can be chipped down easily. Meta trends just feel like it is getting worse.

:pmd/palossand: B+ -> A-
Feels very much that this is definetely the 3rd best ground in the tier, but depending on how I'm feeling it can sometimes be second over muds. In a tier dominated by fighting types, having a defensive ghost is amazing, ensuring you have something that can take the STAB CC's, which even if it can struggle a bit with coverage forcing that alone is half the battle won. Its reliable recovery also means unlike rhydon/muds, it can stick around a good amount, allowing it to pressure pokemon such as pawmot and heracross that are otherwise massive pains for teams that lean more defensive. Sludge bomb also makes sure that usual switchins like wo-chien and bombirdier aren't really switchins and getting a sludge bomb poison can be ruinious for them. All in all, palo is a great defensive mon that solidifies its place in the meta.

:pmd/emboar: B- -> B
Emboar hits HARD, and while the addition of arcanine does mean some physical fire type competition, emboar's secondary STAB and higher power I think gives it a distinct niche. If emboar gets in, something is being blown up. Even physdef milotic is 2HKO'd by stab CC if emboar is a boosting item or any sort of chip is made, which is great for teammates. It can also switch into pokemon such as wo-chien, ambipom, alolaslash and zoroark, so it can provide good defensive utility for the team. Sucker punch finally allows emboar to contribute to offensive MU's by revenge killing faster pokes if needed. Think a pokemon as hard to switch into as emboar should be ranked higher.

:pmd/avalugg hisui: B+ -> B
I know that chansey dropping means you can do the classic lugg+pink blob core, but even still, I think this should drop. Havalugg as a HO lead is fine, but also HO in general feels mid in this tier and IDT the drops make it any better. Theres also defensive lugg, but I feel that really struggles in the tier. It is a MASSIVE tera hog, since it doesn't really switch into a lot with its base typing aside from like, snorlax and uh, arcanine ig? (wisp ruins it so even thats a maybe). Dedicating tera to something isn't the worst in the world, multiple tiers have tera hungry mons, but avalugg legit NEEDS to have tera to even remotely work since its weak to rocks (meaning it can't take knocks at all) and its typing is that bad. So you tera it, and you get a great defensive mon right? Nope. Even when you do that, you have to deal with not being able to deal with large swathes of the meta. Tera ghost is technically the best but making it weak to the multiple knock off users isn't great. Tera grass loses to stuff like fauros and arcanine, tera water is weak AF to pawmot, tera ground is weak to bruxish and t-axel ambi etc. These are important pokemon that you need to check and doubling up on checks to the specific mons you need when you already need to dedicate tera for this just feels bad. Idk, i've never been a fan but this feels like something that kinda has kept its placement when nobody has questioned why its so high.

:pmd/sandaconda: B- -> B
Bandaconda feels a decent offensive pokemon that utilises its access to coverage options like skitter smack and zen headbutt to pressure a lot of common ground resists like wo-chien and hecidueye, which could otherwise impede other grounds. Shed skin and decent speed also means it can switch into a lot more attacks and outspeed a lot of the defensive meta, which is something that feels very valuable when something like venu could outspeed other grounds. Just yeah, better then I think people give credit for.
 
:arcanine: A+
king is back, curse set is most soild wincon, wisp psydef set can make grounds annoying, band sucks sometimes but after tera it can be a decent attacker.

:kilowattrel: A
decent speed tie and good pivot, sub+endeavor can give many surprise, also have two good ability, it's fly stab didn't reliable limit it and it's power not good enough.

:araquanid: B+
didn't like Heatranator said, araq being an attacker is good with spam stab move, web not araq's biggest advantage, this tier lack really strong water wall except milo and milo can't did anything into araq thanks water bubble ingore scald's burn, band/boots/lefties+sub all viable and specs also can try, slow and weak rock is true, but it still overspeed many wall and many powerful attacker weak rock in this tier too, here is one game show araq's viable.

:tentacruel: B+/B
decent defense type good into special based fire and florges, movepool is good, with spin/knock/tox/flipturn/haze, but really passive and easy chip, it also not a good spinner in most rocker.

:chansey: B+
infact it not my mon, i don't like run this pink blob, and looks really passive, twave is good and it is only viable pokemon can learn healbell, but only seismic toss+twave make it bad into ground type or ghost type, knock mon in most team also didn't a good significance.

:sandaconda: B+/A-
defense set is best glowbro/bombird/skuntank check, band set is good attacker, very good into milo be ground check's team.

:bruxish: A-
today i just make Kitoothe use my "stallbreaker" bruxish won one pupl game, but i'm surely it should drop, with new drop's glowbro and wo-chien, it harder spam stab and break down opp's all team, strong psychic fang still make it being a good attacker but with wo-chien you only can flip turn or chip by poison fang, helmet glowbro also annoying, even in kitoothe's ladder test, he feel bruxish really not useful lmao.

:whimsicott: B
i very like this mon, good speed tie overspeed most fight type and ambipom, it not too hard break some team only glowbro/sandslash/heattom be fairy resist and being a good pivot.

:sneasel: B+
good stab combo easy break most team's defense.

:hoopa: A-
scarf/specs always soild but resttalk itemless set is most reliable glowbro counter, with decent spdef, av also can trade special attacker good and pair better corvage to break/help mates like tbolt into cram, psychic noise+psyshock break somewall, fsight help mates break glowbro, av set also good into sun.

:venomoth: C+
bad breaker, it 2hko all thing but can't 1hko most stuff, weak rock didn't a big problem but moth don't have araq's good defense ability so it harder spam stab in most time, hazard stack good pair this type mon but it weak rock...

:coalossal: C+
it sucks but defense type is good check heattom/florges, killo is good partner with it's hazard stack.
 
:Kilowattrel: A+/A : Very strong and consistent even against its bad matchups. Best natural speed control, extremely threatening if you don't have one of its counters, great cleaner and pivot. Competitive is very useful against the likes of Cramorant and Decidueye-Hisui, the two best Defoggers who are both under pressure. Only issue that could make it A is like, choosing between the inconsistency of Hurricane or the safer but weaker Air Slash (which seems to be preferred by a lot of people, even if I disagree).

:Arcanine: A/A- : Good mon all around, with some tough but not impossible matchups that usually require linear paths. I find it a bit too easy to pressure to put it higher, since it's not really countering anything, but this mon compresses a lot of valuable stuff and is very dangerous if you are not able to counter it long term.

:Araquanid: A-/B+ : I was wrong, this mon is actually pretty good. Cool damage output and super great defensive profile, a lot of underexplored sets to get around its checks (especially with pressure from teammates) such as Sub with the potential to run weird techs like infestation, protect, ice beam, giga drain, poison jab or even body slam. Liquidation def drop and leech life's recovery combine to allow it to break way more than I thought. I really like its ability to trade against BO and even if it has some bad matchups against bulky mons, it usually forces recovery turns or is able to break long term.
Band is genuinely hard to switch into since water + bug is a very good stab combo and even if it's not able to 2hko some stuff, they're usually in an awkward position, either because they don't do much back or because they're easy to abuse with partners, and def drop is always a risk. Hazard removal is better than I thought right now, which means hazard weakness is less of an issue.
I don't super believe in boots sets and sticky web sets, but they've shown to be decent as well. Endeavor Custap is a cool tool to pressure removers or force another trade against BO, but ultimately it's awkward and specific.
It's still a bit demanding and sometimes disappointingly unrewarding as I said, because it's slow and has some bad weaknesses, but it's a very cool and unique profile for BO, able to abuse mons like Milotic very well and compress a lot of good qualities thanks to its ability and bulk. It could drop further if it proves to be too specific, but the potential is there.

:Tentacruel: B+/B : Another one where I was wrong. Extremely valuable role compression for BO, so even if it doesn't feel super good at any of what it can do, the long list of short term resists, great spedef and speed, on top of hidden moveset potential makes it relatively hard to play around and it accomplishes more than enough on average. It's able to provide momentum, remove items, cripple with status.. you can think of it as a Persian-A : while not a good check to anything, the general progress making and blanket checking it can do is super valuable. It's still very weak and thus not good into bulky stuff against which it can't do much, but it has the right profile to abuse stuff while not being abusable itself. It should also be noted that Liquid Ooze has a ton of cool applications against nicher stuff such as Strength Sap mons or Sun users with Giga Drain, and this "anti-cheese" can be somewhat decisive in the builder.

:Chansey: B : Everything has already been said. Not super good in BO setting, even tho Chansey Offense is being explored to make use of its ability to clean teams and blanket check stuff a la Avalugg/Mudsdale. Stall potential and general utility should make it decent enough to overcome its passivity and flaws.

:Mesprit: B -> B+ : While I didn't want to nom it higher at first because it seemed noticeably weaker and faker than Uxie for all of its roles, mainly due to poorer bulk and speed... I have to recognize utility has proven to be decent enough role compression with a lot of rare enough tools such as Psynoise or Healing Wish, while NP is extremely threatening under the right circumstances.

:sandslash-alola: A -> A-/B+ : Even I, the biggest Sandslash fan out there, got to admit my goat is (slightly) washed. Very few good matchups nowadays, and the only good matchups it has are inconsistent at best. If you look at S through A-, there's like, Florges, Bruxish, Ambipom, Amoonguss, Hwil and some Venusaurs it can do decently against. Maybe Bombirdier and Tatsugiri if you want to be generous. Even then, all of these have ways to beat Sandslash, either mid term or depending on set.
All other mons in these tiers either have positive mus or straight up oneshot Sandslash. Giving up momentum against gigantic threats like Heracross is obviously not easy in today's meta. The pattern here is lacking damage output to actually beat what it wants to, 4MSS, knock off weakness and having super common weaknesses.
Main redeeming quality was role compression, being one of the few removers, steels and thus toxic immunes in the tier. But we now got a better one named Slowbro-Galar, who, while not a steel, acts a long term fairy resist, a more consistent toxic immunity and on top of that, is a toxic spreader that Slash can't switch into (at least until Gbro fully reveals its movepool).
Sandslash is still alright if you really want to compress its progress making stuff, such as threatening a few knocks here and there, spinning a few times, spreading a few spikes.. But usually at the cost of getting your mon crippled very soon.
The point is, Sandslash was a mon you felt "forced" to play sometimes, and it seems like we're no longer in this kind of era. It's still unique enough to distinguish itself and be valuable, but it's not a meta defining mon anymore. It admittedly got less bad in new meta, being decent against Kilo/Brux Volt Turn cores, pretty good into Tentacruel and Chansey, but I would also argue Tentacruel took some of its usage, being an alternative Toxic immune + fairy resist remover with knock off.

:Rotom-Heat: S -> A+ : It's just not good or splashable enough to be S. While it is a meta defining mon and somewhat restrictive, it doesn't provide that much defensive value, it has inconsistent results when people are spamming Rhydon and Lanturn, Heracross kinda forces it to go fast even when running WoW, it's not super great into these tera dragon and/or AV mons that sun meta forced... Meta is a bit too offensive for Heatom to really be top meta. It's still very good, but I'm not sure it's even top 5 right now.
 
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Okie my turn! Made my personal VR a while ago, and while there were a couple more differences, I figured I'd make the noms I feel more strongly about.

New:
:tentacruel: New -> A- I can admit it's at times much better on paper than in practice, hence why my OG ranking of A+ has gone down over time. But I feel like yall are underestimating it, specifically in terms of filling roles when teambuilding. It soft checks so much and offers so many utility options, very versatile mon movepool and investment wise. You could also go offensive, but I'd say that's where the lower ranking would make more sense.

:chansey: New -> A-/A Another mon I feel should be ranked higher than stated above. it's true it's not the easiest mon to fit on a team, but it can put in so much work and be a total bitch to overcome when it active. It's got a great movepool, and between Natural Cure and its high HP even moves like Toxic and Knock Off don't stop it. This may be a hot take, but this mon is my go-to bulky Normal atm, aka should be ranked higher than Snorlax. No, tera Normal Arcanine doesn't count.

:araquanid: New -> A- Not anything to add NGL, I just think it deserves a slightly higher ranking than stated above for said reasons stated above.

:arcanine::kilowattrel: New -> A Again nothing to add, that's just where I put them on my personal VR.


Rises:
:sandaconda: B- -> B+/A- It's seen use with various sets in recent tour matches, but my fav set is double dance with Scale Shot+Coil.

:toxicroak: B+ -> A-/A It's unique typing and ability makes it a great check for a decent percent of the meta. Also a versatile mon, between SD, AoA, and even Toxic+Protect.

:skuntank: A- -> A It's back baby. Skuntank checks some huge threats in this meta, and both Dark- and Poison-type are must-haves on many teams. Yeah, there's Qwilfish-Hisui, but I consider Skuntank the offensive counterpart and ultimately better of the two.

:froslass: C+ -> B-/B Been experimenting with a snazzy HO team I made with Froslass as the lead, and I've been really enjoying it as a fast offensive Spikes setter, as opposed to the support movepool people usually run.

:decidueye-hisui: A- -> A Diverse af mon. SD, Scarf, Defogger. It's unique resists and movepool makes it super easy to fit on teams, and with its wide variety of coverage, it chooses who gets to check it. Even Slowbro-Galar gonna be afraid of +2 Tera Ghost Shadow Tag Shadow Claw. It also beats a lotta the hazard setters, making it an even better Defogger.

:brute bonnet: B- -> B Seriously scary mon, and I'm not just talking about its looks. If it can get in with Booster Energy, especially late game, it can clean easy af. Pretty much our strongest Sucker Punch user.

:golurk: B -> B+/A- IDK how it ever fell so low. This mon is a nuke. Virtually nothing switches into it, since even Wo-Chien has to watch out for No Guard Dynamic Punch. Somewhat versatile too, between its SR set and CB. Or go wacky with Scarf or some weird Klutz gimmick, but that's obviously not the sets that make it so good lol.

:naclstack: C -> B- Immune to Toxic and bulky enough to tank virtually any attack from Poison mons, especially now that stuff like Tera Blast Salazzle is gone.

:weezing:UR -> C Checks random stuff, most notably Heracross. Different enough from other Poisons like Slowbro-Galar to deserve a ranking.


Drops:
:mudsdale: A+ -> A Amazing mon, I just find it hard to fit on teams over Rhydon, who I'd say is simply better. That secondary Rock typing just really comes through for handling stuff like Salazzle, Rotom-Heat, and Kilowattrel.

:snorlax: A- -> B+ I acknowledge that this is assuming council agrees with my take of Chansey being better. Even with their drastically different sets outside of being bulky Normal-types.

:delphox::venusaur: A- -> B/B+ Not a bad mon by any means, just not something unique enough to deserve such a high ranking.

:jolteon: B -> B- Fast CM is cute, but not as cute as our new bird friend.

:alcremie: C -> UR Adorable mon, but nobody uses this over Florges, especially now that Grassy Terrain is dead.

Might make some edits later on, but that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed!
 
The results of the latest VR slate are in, voting can be found here, and the changes are as follows:

NEW

:Araquanid: Araquanid -> A-
:Arcanine: Arcanine -> A+
:Chansey: Chansey -> B
:Frosmoth: Frosmoth -> B
:Kilowattrel: Kilowattrel -> A
:Tentacruel: Tentacruel -> B+

RISES

:Decidueye-Hisui: Decidueye-H A- -> A
:Hoopa: Hoopa A- -> A

:Palossand: Palossand B+ -> A-

:Braviary-Hisui: Braviary-H B -> B+
:Golurk: Golurk B -> B+
:Mesprit: Mesprit B -> B+
:Typhlosion-Hisui: Typhlosion-H B -> B+

:Brute Bonnet: Brute Bonnet B- -> B
:Emboar: Emboar B- -> B
:Sandaconda: Sandaconda B- -> B

:Froslass: Froslass C+ -> B-
:Malamar: Malamar C+ -> B-

:Coalossal: Coalossal C -> C+
:Poliwrath: Poliwrath C -> C+
:Toedscruel: Toedscruel C -> C+

:Weezing: Weezing UR -> C

DROPS

:Rotom-Heat: Rotom-H S -> A+

:Mudsdale: Mudsdale A+ -> A

:Bruxish: Bruxish A -> A-
:Sandslash-Alola: Sandslash-A A -> A-

:Amoonguss: Amoonguss A- -> B+
:Delphox: Delphox A- -> B+

:Ninetales-Alola: Ninetales-A B+ -> B

:Jolteon: Jolteon B -> B-
:Venomoth: Venomoth B -> B-
:Vileplume: Vileplume B -> B-

:Hitmonlee: Hitmonlee B- -> C+
:Sceptile: Sceptile B- -> C+
:Farigiraf: Farigiraf B- -> C

:Spiritomb: Spiritomb C -> UR
 
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so, because nobody makes a post here in almost 2 months I'm gonna say my personal rises and drops (and a predict on the viability of grafaiai and avalugg in the tier because why not)

Rises
:sableye:UR -> C+
Sableye catch my eye in how well it can check a lot of the tier with his immunites to psychic, fighting and normal moves, that help mons like :wo-chien:, :chansey: and :sandslash-alola:, and its vast movepool that can fit in a lot of teams offering speed control with twave, burn with wisp, prankster encore and knock off. It can also be used in sun teams as a setter.

:Cramorant:A -> A+

For me Cramorant is the best flying type in the tier. He (and also all the flying types) really like :rotom-heat: being gone of the tier, making it more of a reliable defensive entry if needed. Defog is very useful in this meta that has seen in rise a lot of hazard setters like :sandaconda:, :mesprit: and :froslass:, and his ability being able to offer speed control with paralysis is always interesting.

:Lurantis: C -> C+
It's basically the same thing of :cramorant:, but switching the speed control of his ability for contrary being very good and being able to sweep games if given the right oppurtunities.

Drops

:Farigiraf: C+ -> C
I'm not even seeing it in trick room teams anymore, its outclassed by :porygon2: as a special normal attacker and as a psychic type is outclassed by :braviary-hisui: and :delphox:

Predicts

:Grafaiai: New -> B

:Grafaiai: is basically a mid term between :Persian-Alola: , with the possibility to disrupt the battle with Parting Shot, Taunt and Knock Off, and :Hitmonlee: with the possibility of being a terrain sweeper.

:avalugg:New -> B

Its probably gonna replace :avalugg-hisui: defensive roll in the tier, with options like Rapid Spin, Body Press and a better typing that his hisuian counterpart. It doesn't rise more because this tier have a lot of good fighting and fire types.
 
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:Porygon2: B -> A- : Really good. Twave is a great tool and P2 feels kinda hard to play around, especially when it has a lot of hidden moveset potential (ice beam, elec move, OTR). Better at spreading paras and easier to justify as a general spedef wall when no oven in the tier, while being instantly threatening thanks to Download. It's not easy to actually threaten and a lot of switchins just don't really deal with it. Trace is underrated and has a lot of interesting applications in the tier.

:Rotom-Mow: B+ -> A- : I felt like B+ was enough for the mon that can't touch grass types, but yeah honestly Mowtom was really the biggest winner of Heatom ban. Scarf sets were basically the only "real sets" until now, and while i think they're really good with better offensive potential and an interesting speed tier, what sold it to me is the newfound development of other sets. NP is great, able to sport longevity and an interesting defensive profile against grounds and waters, while having a lot of potential to trade with things after tera and switch out of bad matchups. It can even make good trades against the likes of Wo-Chien. I like WoW sets too, they've been more recent and while i think the pool of mons you can target with burn is not that interesting, it's still a good mix of speed, bulk and progress making abilities.

:Shaymin: : B+ -> A- : Shaymin is incredible as well. Seed Flare is such a dumb move, it has no reliable switchins (well, besides fringe mons like Oricorio and Frosmoth) and while stuff like Kilo or Mowtom mitigate it somewhat, I just think the moveset options and tera can get you very far. Murders Balance if you get slightly lucky.

:Jolteon: B- -> B : I've been a fan of Jolteon lately, as something faster than Kilo with cool coverage options. Specs is pretty cool on some occasions, getting access to spammable options backed up by tera. Sweeper is decent as well, with more arguments for 3a

:Scovillain: C+ -> B- : Key component of most suns, super strong in its own right. I think sun is just better than what the VR tends to indicate.

:Grafaiai: B-/C+ : Grafaiai is at worst a C+ mon, it's one of the best options on the few terrain teams that can exist. I'll mostly be talking about the merits of pivots sets here. I've mainly tested Scarf and I think it's decent. It's limited by its bad offensive stats and bad type offensively, but the speed tier is perfect in tandem with the poison fishing aspect and the cool defensive profile. I don't really like choosing between Koff, Low Kick and Switcheroo, but all of these options exist and make it super annoying. I'm not super fan of Boots Prankster, it doesn't accomplish much, but i do think it's a cool option sometimes. Sort of an Ambipom sidegrade. I don't like its Gbro mu though, but at the end of the day Grafaiai is meant to be an enabler for other mons via pivoting, speed control and crippling.

:Avalugg: B/B- : The ice table is larping as a blanket physdef check that's less tera reliant, when in reality it just sits there not doing too much. Pros over hisui : you can hard switch it into the likes of pawmot, ground types, bruxish and araquanid a bit more... but for what? you're much easier to play around, you don't actually really beat these mons very well, and if you want to go for a more offensive route to actually make progress, you give up on your insane defensive profile which is the big argument to begin with.
It's fine enough at removal honestly, but being 10% less reliant on tera doesn't mean you actually beat more things than the hisuian counterpart, i'd argue it's the opposite honestly (see below). 10 more spedef is like, cool, you're not super ohko'd by anything special, you just take 60%... It still struggles against boosting threats like k9 or snorlax, unless you go for ironpress but I don't think it's a real set if you want to actually spin. You also need ice ground coverage and Body Press simultaneously. I like how it can force teams to preserve their answer to it and allow cool defensive cores while struggling less to find a tera opportunity early, but at the end of the day this mon is just kinda fake from what i've seen. Maybe people find a way to make it worth with the right teammates.
:Avalugg-Hisui: B+ -> B : HO has been on a downtrend for a while and there's now competition for the.. bulky Avalugg slot. Most people would argue Kalos Lugg is the better one, I'm not sure I agree but time will tell! Either way, HO lead sets and access to SR, rock stab and mountain gale, more atk and a (unironically) clutch speed tier is more than enough to justify not dropping it too much. Honestly, Lugg (both versions) is just a mediocre tank/wall right now and I would have argued for a drop even without the introduction of Kalos Lugg.

:Florges: S -> A+ : Way more fairy resists that actually beat it : Gbro and K9 come to mind, as well as Tenta for locked sets. Specs feels harder to use without Groundblast even though it can be dumb in some cases, CM is harder to use in general (and kinda mediocre if i'm honest..), best set has been Scarf imo but it can feel a bit slow to actually beat other scarfers or boosting threats, also needs to trick decently often. Fairy is less spammable to the point this mon doesn't feel as consistent and free as before. It's a really good mon but not above our A+ mons.

:Salazzle: A+ -> A : This mon fell in usage after several nerfs, both direct and indirect. The Tera Blast ban made NP sets much worse and predictable, to the point it made Salazzle in general easier to play around, even when not carrying NP. The unknown factor is reduced when it has less options, making HO teams consider it less or having to use endeavor sets which are really hard to use. It's no longer the best natural "good" speed control because of Kilowattrel. It has more competition as a fairy resist for more offensive teams, thanks to the reintroduction of Gbro, K9 and even Tentacruel. The latter even acts as a good check to Lazzle, not caring too much about the Toxic and being able to pivot and threaten it out a bit. Chansey, while somewhat rare, is extremely good against most Lazzle, besides maybe Sub Tect lefties. Meta in general is less kind to Toxic sets, which tend to work long term, even though they can still be strong against unprepared teams. Less frail options tend to succeed more right now.

:Wo-Chien: A+ -> A : This one I'm kind of undecided about, I could be fine with it staying in A+, because Wo-Chien is really good... conditionally. Wo-Chien definitely is a meta defining mon with great reward, but I don't think it's splashable enough and it's super demanding. At first I felt like the rise of offensive Wo-Chien (Specs, Epack and Band) made up for how exploitable it is, enough to justify it so high. However, I just feel like Wo-Chien has too many flaws to consider it a top meta mon. We have a lot of grass types, which both abuse and give competition to Wo-Chien. Hecid especially is a really bad matchup and considering how common it is nowadays... Araquanid also makes it harder to justify, compared to our grass poisons, Hecid or even Mowtom, all with a better matchup into it. The reward after tera just isn't enough and it can be hard to account for a tera hog in the builder. For example, yes it's really good after tera poison, but then you can no longer be a ground resist or a ghost switchin. Its base typing is interesting and convenient, but it can also be impractical, as a dark type that doesn't really want to deal with gbro. Dependency on rest in some teams is also something to be noted. Leech seed shenanigans are certainly threatening, but it's also high risk in a sense, and this difficulty to fit in teams and have the right moveset for every situation should be reflected.

:Lanturn: B -> B- : I mean, it's not exactly bad.. I just find it hard to justify when you don't feel forced to slot it on teams. It's a bit do nothing, a bit too exploitable, not really good at being a bulky water, wants to be both physdef and spedef now, not good into most elecs and not even that good into Kilo which it's supposed to beat. I still see the potential as an annoying pivot to take down with unique traits, Water Absorb is cool, I just don't think enough teams want Lanturn compared to more practical and proactive options.

:Electrode-Hisui: B -> C+ : Volt Absorb Kilo. Also just, not as good as Mowtom who has more merits defensively and has the ability to Trick, boost itself, status, heal, while Htrode is just not that strong as a naturally fast electric compared to Kilo. No tera blast reduces its offensive potential, to the point it's restricted to be a pivot most of the time, not really able to clean efficiently. It has some fun abilities but it's not enough to really justify it a lot of the time.

:Trevenant: C+ -> C : There was a little hype over Trevenant in sticky web a few months ago but now we don't really see it as much. We're not really fearing Milo as much as before and most darks switch into it fine.

:Galvantula: C+ -> C/UR : Yes, I genuinely think Galvantula is not good. It's not a real offensive mon, no one plays it like that since like day 10 of it being in the tier and Volt Absorb Kilo was the final nail in the coffin for it (outclasses and beats it). It's not that good at setting sticky webs either, people usually would prefer Araquanid with Custap Endeavor, or just 3a + sticky webs on offensive teams that do fine without webs. Contrary to what I thought, i'd also argue Vikavolt is better thanks to much better offensive and defensive potential. Not sure about unranking Galv completely, I mean it's a fine viable option, but do we need three Sticky Web users ranked?

:Lycanroc: C -> UR : Another fine lead with potential and interesting attributes that's just not really used in practice, especially considering HO state right now. Lugg-H is always the default option for SR and offensive potential, and Lass the default for fast setter/taunt. Endeavor is cool but kinda easy to play around. Tentacruel and Avalugg are matchups it kinda loses. Offensive sets are like.. functional, but let's be real, there's almost no reason to use it over other fast cleaners.

Also seconding Sableye nom, this mon is cool and has been used to decent success in tournaments as a Heracross check, general physical annoyance, spinblocker, annoying shit with WoW, Encore and Knock Off.
 
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https://psim.us/r/gen9pu-2686228121
https://psim.us/r/gen9pu-2686226706
https://psim.us/r/gen9pu-2686138255
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ur-->c
Hear me out;substitute strength sap giga drain earth power combined with harvest make It an undeniable wall. it's most prevalent set was with starf berry in particular for;chances to boost every stat instead of just one. earth power is so steels don't totally sit on you. strength sap bullies physical attackers like rhydon. sub gets into harvest range so that starf berry be popping a lot;meaning lots of harvesting
That's all I have to say
 
Evan the wise said:
https://psim.us/r/gen9pu-2686228121
https://psim.us/r/gen9pu-2686226706
https://psim.us/r/gen9pu-2686138255
View attachment 865315ur-->c
Hear me out;substitute strength sap giga drain earth power combined with harvest make It an undeniable wall. it's most prevalent set was with starf berry in particular for;chances to boost every stat instead of just one. earth power is so steels don't totally sit on you. strength sap bullies physical attackers like rhydon. sub gets into harvest range so that starf berry be popping a lot;meaning lots of harvesting
That's all I have to say
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seconding this and I also wanna say Choice Specs Arboliva is low key insane against bulky teams. It struggles against Knock Off and U-turn but otherwise you will get to fire nuclear Leaf Storms and stay alive with Giga Drain. If Chansey wasn't in the tier I would have put it higher than C. Even then I remember fighting a Chansey+Glowbro core with Specs Arboliva and I eventually got a good read and KOed with Earth Power before keeping the Chansey stunlocked.
 
I'm Tapu Bulu said:
seconding this and I also wanna say Choice Specs Arboliva is low key insane against bulky teams. It struggles against Knock Off and U-turn but otherwise you will get to fire nuclear Leaf Storms and stay alive with Giga Drain. If Chansey wasn't in the tier I would have put it higher than C. Even then I remember fighting a Chansey+Glowbro core with Specs Arboliva and I eventually got a good read and KOed with Earth Power before keeping the Chansey stunlocked.
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enlighten us with replays of specs arboliva and calcs;and thanks for not attacking my nom.
 
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