u need the spa on lo to ko atales which is a big deal but on some bulkier ones that dont care then thats fine but i think ur just better off running a different item on those (?) unsure what u would run tho post custap mayb a resist berry
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Metagame 1v1 Metagame Discussion
- Thread starter clerica
- Start date
I think life orb is bad because you take damage when you attack
Lifeorb is still okay on bulkier versions for av ursa (see calc below) but other options are like herb or resist berry imo barbiri for random heavy slam from like tusk or hands kebia for like sneas and i LWK can see kee genuinely doing smth if it helps vs woger mirror herb MIGHT be heat for the mirror and blastoise
128 SpA Life Orb Pixilate Sylveon Hyper Beam vs. -2 152 HP / 156 SpD Assault Vest Ursaluna: 413-487 (94 - 110.9%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
im posting my cl dump here. Looking forward to random radu flame in cord…
https://pokepast.es/f850cd8db599e2b1
picked the best teams. will rework a few of these for sample subs in the upcoming week. s/o my twin valin
https://pokepast.es/f850cd8db599e2b1
picked the best teams. will rework a few of these for sample subs in the upcoming week. s/o my twin valin
i suppose i will also post mine these are some of the teams i built/used this tour idt i included the mg teams i passed deg but i dont wanna go looking for them
https://pokepast.es/54564deb593045c9
DISCLAIMER: quality isn't guaranteed they are likely bad teams
https://pokepast.es/54564deb593045c9
DISCLAIMER: quality isn't guaranteed they are likely bad teams
thought id go and make a vr post cl because why not ill explain some of my rankings, mostly until whenever I get bored of it.
:urshifu: : i kinda treat it as the same mon in a vr type format because like if you think you can setguess this mon on preview youre really just lying, ofcourse 1 beats crown/gross the other beats grounds and whatever but it doesnt really work like that. But anw i think its the best mon in the tier currently. Its absurdly splashable onto any team ever it can successfully run close to any item i personally like building with water shifu more, i think building with dark shifu requires for more thought to be put into the team, but i think they are both really amazing.
:hoopa unbound: : genuinely just put it here cause im a sheep i think this mon just keeps getting worse and worse its best set is most definitely specs. althought scarf can be cool, but like it doesn't actually belong next to shifu and ursa.
:ursaluna: : second best mon in the tier or the best mon in the tier didnt really use alot of this in cl and also didnt have alot of trouble with beating it but thats also cause i spammed like 10 urshifus this tour its a really good mon but honestly it doesnt have the greatest set diversity i think cb is kinda falling behind and av is bad i could see this falling in the next couple of months.
now to the a tiers which i wont all talk about since its alot and alot of them are just like self explanatory but ill talk about some hot takes
:iron valiant: : its absolutly amazing at responding to scouts bro whatever i said about you val I APOLOGIZE.
:raging bolt: : you could genuinely lower this mon to A- and i wouldnt care tbh. I dont really have a clear opinion on it, but it seems like its somehow always on the right team getting the perfect mu, so thats gotta mean something.
:primarina: : idk if prim A tier is a hot take in 2026 tbh. I think its best set is likely fast lo, max spdef specs or like petaya maybe, but i think this mon is pretty awkward rn idt its the greatest.
:iron moth: : moth A tier might also be a hot take but i think its a really amazing mon. To me its 1 of the best mons where you can just be like "ill just slap a random scarf on it and pray" and make it work out. Also pherb is cool, spatk booster is cool and specs is less cool but usable ig all in all i like it.
:roaring moon: / :dragapult: : kinda wanna talk about both of them. Both deserve their A tier obviously, but i think currently moon is the best dragon in the tier. I quite dislike pult tbh but all my teams somehow manage to lose to it for some reason, but it never looks like it 3-0s is kinda the problem with it, its quite hard to click alot of the time.
:annihilape: / :sneasler: : another 2 mons who i think most people would have lower but both of these, everytime i load them they are absolutely amazing, they get amazing previews. Especially sneasler its really great into alot of people their scout I also really love annihilape its really amazing i love taunt counter, i love low sweep wp, i love sitrus, i love cb all of its sets feel really amazing, but its quite easy to tech alot of the time tho is the 1 problem I have with it but nobody techs annihilape in this day and age.
:pecharunt: : not much to say except its a potential mon. It has the potential to be a S tier but the way its used rn it can chill in the A tiers.
:florges: : maybe A tier is a overexxegaration, but its the second best fairy in the tier if we stop only using lefties/scarf tho.
:sylveon: : its is just on a downwards spiral man. First she got divorced with yawn now they took her child custap berry next they are prolly banning pixalite or smth.
:manaphy: /:iron hands: : 2 mons i think are pretty horrible they are both extremely easy to beat and are very linear. Both of them suffered heavily from custap ban imo.
:scizor: : think its quite bad. Only reason i put it here is because it was like top 10 most used mon in cl with a pretty good winrate so it seems to be a winning pokemon
:corviknight:/:chien pao: : these 2 are kinda just like really bad corv tries to be quirky and have set diversity on preview by using offensive but offensive corv is the easiest set to read on preview so instead you just get a really bad mon who beats 3 pokemon and chp takes absolutely 0 ohkos just use meow man ice shard prio is NOT that important.
:moltres galar:/:landorus therian:/:skeledirge: : really trash dirge is probably the best of the bunch purely because it can run fast wisp balloon successfully
:greninja: : a really good pokemon to mid series cteam with if you want it to beat something it most likely can but just dont expect it to beat anything else. I think a great example of this is me vs fancy g5, right before the game i made it choice scarf to beat fancy his encore disable val i was expecting him to load but in doing so it meant my greninja who was supposed to beat spectrier + zarude now actually lost to both of them but did beat the iron valiant.
:walking wake: : genuinely really horrible it actually does nothing it never hits hurricane it beats corv nice it beats the c tier but you cant even run speedbooster cause otherwise you lose to corv genuinly id put this as low as C tier but i dont wanna get kicked off VRC.
everything in C tier and below could honestly be UR bar a few pokemon.
OVERALL THOUGHTS ON SV THIS TOUR
i didnt really have alot of fun building tbh but i think thats more a personal issue then a issue with the tier i had a great time in finals tho together with ollie we also didnt really have alot of sv games this tour to form a opinion of the meta it was just 6 people circlejerking trying to beat eachother hope pl gives us a more clear understanding of the meta post custap
hello where are the posts Fancy1 bea Indi01 Anonymous1634 Kala chasmah
Attachments
Few thoughts on SV mons from my observations during CL. DISCLAIMER: I did not actively build teams that much but did quite a bit of setbuilding and watched a lot of games.
Disclaimer 2: My metric for how good a mon is = the ability to respond to scouts. Nature of SV 1v1 in 2026.
:zapdos: - Amulet sets feel too fast, Im not sure why you need that much speed so often (Comp is for pz apparently?). More bulk probably means a better bolt MU. Secondly, Discharge is probably straight up better on most teams since ur not dropping your val odds by that much.
:ursaluna: - I feel like you can probably run bold AV. The single most "can do whatever it wants" mon in the tier.
:raging bolt: - Sets feel too slow. Tclap is still good for sneasler hoopa etc. but you should definitely try out fast/max speed taunt + cm.
:pecharunt: - Extremely broken mon, esp considering most teams are using the same 1-2 mons to check it. You can experiment a LOT with the move slots. Night shade, defence curl, imprison, spite all have great use cases and these are just the most surface level ones. Hell, I'll even use toxic + astonish on ladder sometimes w/ a fast set. Very underexplored and the fact that it can bs itself out of so many matchups is just insane.
:corviknight: - offensive is ass pls stop using it custap was the last of the good offensive sets. I think maranga is genuinely good (even though im inherently opposed to using critbait) but PLEASE stop trying to make it beat specs prim just be fast instead of 252 hp 252+ spdef nonsense.
:iron valiant: :sylveon: :ninetales-alola: :florges: Non-prim fairies have gotten much better, especially val. I think sylveon maintains its niche as the bulkiest of them. Ninetales is fine, florges is really really good because it can do a million things while almost always having a pos MU into other fairies.
:scizor: - this mon rises in usage every tour because ppl forget to account for it. I think sub is a really cool tech tho and its ability to get good matchups into moon ursa hoopa val shifus etc is really good with the caveat that most of those can completely reverse the matchup with 1 moveslot. But the fact that they have to dedicate a moveslot to you makes it worth getting on your usage.
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:snorlax: - EDIT: I take everything back
cosigned by frogfacts
Disclaimer 2: My metric for how good a mon is = the ability to respond to scouts. Nature of SV 1v1 in 2026.
:zapdos: - Amulet sets feel too fast, Im not sure why you need that much speed so often (Comp is for pz apparently?). More bulk probably means a better bolt MU. Secondly, Discharge is probably straight up better on most teams since ur not dropping your val odds by that much.
:ursaluna: - I feel like you can probably run bold AV. The single most "can do whatever it wants" mon in the tier.
:raging bolt: - Sets feel too slow. Tclap is still good for sneasler hoopa etc. but you should definitely try out fast/max speed taunt + cm.
:pecharunt: - Extremely broken mon, esp considering most teams are using the same 1-2 mons to check it. You can experiment a LOT with the move slots. Night shade, defence curl, imprison, spite all have great use cases and these are just the most surface level ones. Hell, I'll even use toxic + astonish on ladder sometimes w/ a fast set. Very underexplored and the fact that it can bs itself out of so many matchups is just insane.
:corviknight: - offensive is ass pls stop using it custap was the last of the good offensive sets. I think maranga is genuinely good (even though im inherently opposed to using critbait) but PLEASE stop trying to make it beat specs prim just be fast instead of 252 hp 252+ spdef nonsense.
:iron valiant: :sylveon: :ninetales-alola: :florges: Non-prim fairies have gotten much better, especially val. I think sylveon maintains its niche as the bulkiest of them. Ninetales is fine, florges is really really good because it can do a million things while almost always having a pos MU into other fairies.
:scizor: - this mon rises in usage every tour because ppl forget to account for it. I think sub is a really cool tech tho and its ability to get good matchups into moon ursa hoopa val shifus etc is really good with the caveat that most of those can completely reverse the matchup with 1 moveslot. But the fact that they have to dedicate a moveslot to you makes it worth getting on your usage.
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:snorlax: - EDIT: I take everything back
cosigned by frogfacts
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Good points from Valin, I cannot refute them*. I'll just say that we have never really played with Snorlax in a Custap-less meta, so currently its brokenness is still theoretical.
I suggest we free it for ladder only (keep it banned for tours), give us a couple of weeks to explore it fully and form opinions based on concrete situations, then run a suspect.
*Edit: I do see a clear 4MSS though.
I suggest we free it for ladder only (keep it banned for tours), give us a couple of weeks to explore it fully and form opinions based on concrete situations, then run a suspect.
*Edit: I do see a clear 4MSS though.
Emergency "on the Radar" PL-Related UU Post
Hi, I wanted to let stakeholders (PL players, managers and UU enjoyers alike) know of the discussion we've had internally with council and with some ex-council members who happened to be present, regarding UU's standing generally and especially Espathra. After Espathra was initially brought to the discussion table, we first had to chat about how exactly it shapes the meta. Naturally, discussion also shifted to the presence of natural counters mainly Darks, the Speed Boost-induced ineffectiveness of other techs (Taunt, Encore locks, Trick locks). The main points raised are concerning builder oppression and its byproducts, and can more or less be summarised to the below points:
1) Following tour-usage implementation and further bans, organically good Darks are increasingly scarce (Molt, Zarude, Gren, Darkrai are gone) but the need to play natural counters for Espathra is still prevalent.
2) Unlike other top-tier mons (the counterexample of Zapdos-Galar was mentioned), teching for Espathra with non-natural counters fails way more often in comparison.
3) There is some realized set diversity as Espathra can often flip a matchup by choosing to use one different move (the example of Taunt strategies being ineffective should Espathra go for a Lumina Crash set was brought up). There is also unrealized set diversity as Espathra has theoretical tools to deal with Darks although we should mention this has not been seen yet possibly due to UU having only one slot in the tournament. Overall: CM stall, Featherdance stall, Sub Petaya, Specs, Dgleam WP.
4) The counterargument was focused on either the timing of a potential suspect or ban being in the middle of PL or on Zapdos-Galar being a force that promotes using Espathra.
To bypass the possibility that I have produced a biased summary, I have attached the main points made by other discussants below. For my personal opinion on this, points 1) - 3) suffice and I would support immediate action in PL.
As things stand now, there is generally positive support among council and some PL stakeholders, ranging from slightly positive with some doubts regarding timing to extremely positive. Regardless of the final verdict, I think it's good to know where this is headed to before the midpoint of the tournament and so, I encourage those interested to write about either their support or concerns. I also have to make clear that this post was made after personal initiative.
Hi, I wanted to let stakeholders (PL players, managers and UU enjoyers alike) know of the discussion we've had internally with council and with some ex-council members who happened to be present, regarding UU's standing generally and especially Espathra. After Espathra was initially brought to the discussion table, we first had to chat about how exactly it shapes the meta. Naturally, discussion also shifted to the presence of natural counters mainly Darks, the Speed Boost-induced ineffectiveness of other techs (Taunt, Encore locks, Trick locks). The main points raised are concerning builder oppression and its byproducts, and can more or less be summarised to the below points:
1) Following tour-usage implementation and further bans, organically good Darks are increasingly scarce (Molt, Zarude, Gren, Darkrai are gone) but the need to play natural counters for Espathra is still prevalent.
2) Unlike other top-tier mons (the counterexample of Zapdos-Galar was mentioned), teching for Espathra with non-natural counters fails way more often in comparison.
3) There is some realized set diversity as Espathra can often flip a matchup by choosing to use one different move (the example of Taunt strategies being ineffective should Espathra go for a Lumina Crash set was brought up). There is also unrealized set diversity as Espathra has theoretical tools to deal with Darks although we should mention this has not been seen yet possibly due to UU having only one slot in the tournament. Overall: CM stall, Featherdance stall, Sub Petaya, Specs, Dgleam WP.
4) The counterargument was focused on either the timing of a potential suspect or ban being in the middle of PL or on Zapdos-Galar being a force that promotes using Espathra.
To bypass the possibility that I have produced a biased summary, I have attached the main points made by other discussants below. For my personal opinion on this, points 1) - 3) suffice and I would support immediate action in PL.
As things stand now, there is generally positive support among council and some PL stakeholders, ranging from slightly positive with some doubts regarding timing to extremely positive. Regardless of the final verdict, I think it's good to know where this is headed to before the midpoint of the tournament and so, I encourage those interested to write about either their support or concerns. I also have to make clear that this post was made after personal initiative.
Attachments
Last edited:
UU is rad, I really want to see this tier get actual recognition and longevity. Espa is constraining, it feels like you have to choose to either build a solid team or beat espa which is just annoying, let's ban it :3
I don't mind ZapG much for kind of the opposite reason, although it's obviously centralising I don't think building a good team that beats zapg feels punishing.
Echoing what LongRat said: I want to avoid tiering action on Espa during PL, there have been extreme cases where something like that has been warranted but I don't think this is one of them.
I don't mind ZapG much for kind of the opposite reason, although it's obviously centralising I don't think building a good team that beats zapg feels punishing.
Echoing what LongRat said: I want to avoid tiering action on Espa during PL, there have been extreme cases where something like that has been warranted but I don't think this is one of them.
Hello
The main issue with the arguments I see against espathra is that none of them are true.
I keep hearing that espathra has set diversity and is constraining in the builder, but how? It has 1 good set which is sub petaya, and you can use like stall ig but that's not winning you alot of games + has never actually been used.
Just saying "it has set diversity" is like okay sure you can say it but pls show it, cause the only espathra set we've seen in pl and kickoff has been sub petaya.
Some mons i can name off the top of my head that always beat Espa are like juglis, bax, thugg, registeel, treads, vikavolt, magnezone. These are all actually good mons, cause theres also every dark type and every steel type in existence i prolly missed a few like azu but you get the point
The main issue with the arguments I see against espathra is that none of them are true.
I keep hearing that espathra has set diversity and is constraining in the builder, but how? It has 1 good set which is sub petaya, and you can use like stall ig but that's not winning you alot of games + has never actually been used.
Just saying "it has set diversity" is like okay sure you can say it but pls show it, cause the only espathra set we've seen in pl and kickoff has been sub petaya.
Some mons i can name off the top of my head that always beat Espa are like juglis, bax, thugg, registeel, treads, vikavolt, magnezone. These are all actually good mons, cause theres also every dark type and every steel type in existence i prolly missed a few like azu but you get the point
This feels very similar to arguments for banning darkrai in the no johns tour, where the only set used was choice specs, but it COULD do other things maybe.
Espathra is a bit different though because it is kind of mandated to run sub petaya to beat zapdos-galar:
- CM stall sounds bad tbh what would this beat over sub petaya
- Feather dance can't drop zap g's attack due to defiant
- Dgleam wp doesn't make a ton of sense to run when there's barely any ghosts or darks relevant to the tier. Also is probably a coin flip of whether they click knock off or not turn 1, if they even have it
- 252 SpA Choice Specs Espathra Psychic vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Zapdos-Galar: 270-318 (84.1 - 99%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
It's only 3 weeks in but I haven't found any issues with espathra in the builder, and I disagree with arguments that you have to go out of your way to make weird sets to beat it.
I also disagree that teams can only fit 1 check to espathra. Frog mentioned some above but there's also ursaluna-bm, whimsicott (unironically a top 5 mon), porygon-z, maushold and tinkaton, which are all very good mons in uu and can beat espathra without any weird techs.
If anything zapdos-galar is more problematic with set diversity which is actually used, including band, scarf, av, weakness policy, or any resist berry you'd like. In this case, yes there are checks, but it usually ends up being partial and requires 2 mons to beat most/all known sets. It's especially annoying if you leave beating it to the end of teambuilding, and then your threat list looks like zap g + 6 other mons. Even then, I'm not sure if it needs a mid tour ban, and I certainly don't think espathra does.
UU has been very fun to build and play so far, and I don't see a reason to change things as of rn.
:pancham::pancham::pancham:
post-pl thoughts on sv meta
- :hoopa-unbound: is a+ probably but i put it there cuz it's like the guy
- :ursaluna: is probably the best mon, :urshifu: (both cuz you can't really setguess what shifu it is 100% of the time) close second
- :scizor: lowk sucks same with :diancie: :heatran: :zarude: also :kyurem: is on fraudwatch too btw
- grounds not named ursa or :garchomp: suck ass, only landos and phan line come close to being good and it might be a stretch on lando-i
- fairies still good, no aura in using them tho
- :volcanion:'s biggest fall-off since it was a genuinely solid mon in custap meta, could probably be b+
- :florges: might be the best it's ever been rn, lowk high a- low a tier
- as a result of florges being good, :sylveon: isn't.
- bulky band mons are good: :arcanine-hisui: :great-tusk: :ursaluna: :baxcalibur: :annihilape: :garchomp: :urshifu: :basculegion: :hoopa-unbound: :iron-hands: :dondozo: :donphan: :landorus-therian: :iron-treads: can run it and be decent at the very least.
- fast band is ok on like :meowscarada: and :haxorus: but not as good
- waters are good and super safe to work with, same goes with most fairies (zapdos is here too).
- :klefki: b tier cuz i wanted it to be in a higher tier than sylv but sylv can go lower in c so it's probably b-
- everything else has probably been said by someone better than me.
i heard from llama that he's gonna post some uu thoughts so i'm not gonna type more, hf to the semifinalists in pl! hopefully this stirs some decent conversations in meta discussion.
We wanted to ban crown btw
my top 50 sv mons currently on how much i would use them, most are self explanatory, some are mons i know i can bring good sets into other people with, some are straight fishes, etc. custap leaving probably has changed the meta a lot and its harder to consistently beat some mons that were pretty bad before, or retain your mus well enough without a fourth move. most sets are pretty self explanatory, could have forgotten some b tier mon (idk why treads is here i dont use that guy, but i didnt see a great alternative to put there)
Everything else below these are pretty insignificant (besides the maushold and regieleki the goats)
Ofc hoopa is broken in S tier
Iron crown set diversity is monsterous, running
different types of booster energy (it can be lit any stat that isn't attack), physdef and fast wp are good but I really like spdef so you can usually beat canion
Spectrier is great, run dkiss stuff, it can do a lot of things
Pult set diversity is great, specs, band and WP are my favorites but ofc there's curse sub disable etc
Stop only running CB meow, scarf beats spect and pult and leech seed is also tuff
Zapdos is great, wish I brought it more in PL, subtect pressure is great, specs, lorb, maranga, kee, amulet, etc. all good sets
Annihilape is so bulky and rage fist is still amazing, paired with encore this thing is a beast
Lando-t can tech a bunch of stuff, CB, lorb, and even scarf are all solid, lum Berry for spect is funny (u can just run scarf tho)
I wish I used sneasler more, it's very difficult to cover if my first two mons don't beat it, really solid and beats more things than you'd think. Also try out CB, can surprise some stuff like pecha w/ throat chop, maybe even run dig for poisons lol
Iron moth is AMAZING. Specs, spatk booster, AV beats raging bolt, super scary on preview and VERY underrated.
Bellibolt is so good, air balloon is my favorite set but u can also run eerie impulse stall w/ soak
Espathra is great, don't only run amulet on it, try out subtect petaya and WP which can beat some darks
Baxcalibur is so good, haban, chople, CB, and even scarf are all so good. Can beat a lot of diff stuff with these sets.
Fezandipiti is amazing, fairy/poison is such good typing, and having a physical fairy that actually beats dragons is amazing, tinkaFRAUD sucks, charm icy wind set is also solid
I'm ngl, I was a professional ursaluna Bloodmoon hater until I used it, it's SO bulky and patches a lot of stuff, blood moon does insane damage, minds eye is a great ability and more useful than it seems. Chople is by far the best set but AV and lorb seems cool too, havent tried them out yet
Blastoise is great ofc, bulky, has some MUs where it's disappointing but lorb torrent at +2 hydro cannon does so much damage. Great mon, shell smash is such a good move
Havalugg is great, super underrated, does so much damage, great STABs, mirror coat can come in handy as well.
Tyranitar is AWESOME, also wish I used this more, you can beat stuff that you definitely shouldn't with WP, but you can run resist berries as well as AV and CB.
Sandy shocks is super underrated pls use it, usually fits in as a great second, special ground type that beats prim is awesome too
I promise slaking is nuts. You nuke insane things with CB, scarf is amazing too, completely different MUs. Unfortunately truant SUCKS and you lose to anything with protect, but it's still a great mon. Please please please try it
Blaziken is amazing. Looks good on paper and is good. +1 reversal does so much damage, I wish I could've experimented more on sets but I found protect+sub+liechi was the best, bulk up/SD seem cool too tho
Iron bundle is great, beats a lot of stuff, encore can tech things, specs does huge damage, and spatk booster is also solid, doing damage while being able to run encore and/or sub.
Torterra is great, super bulky and great offensive typing, huge damage as well with GREAT STABs and of course shell smash too. Really fun to build with/around.
Overqwil is so good, please use it, AV is ofc insane, lorb is also great, intimidate is of course a great ability as well.
Sableye is eh, I tried making it work and it looks amazing on paper, haven't tried a team yet but trick disable, encore disable, and even some other cool stuff like metal burst is usable.
As for drops, honestly, PorygonZ is terrible. It looks so good on paper, yet it genuinely beats nothing. I used the whole tier list but I thought it was too irrelevant to include anything below C+ (once again, exceptions to eleki and the maus who sat on C)
Greninja is so underwhelming, It seems good until you realize how hard it is to ev it to actually kill more than 2 mons. Really sad, honestly, it could be been great but it just isn't.
Most of my other drops were like insignificant, just small drops, most of my moves were upwards but I def could've been more harsh.
This post is for already ranked mons, I experimented a LOT during this PL and found a lot of amazing mons that deserve a spot on the VR, lmk if you dislike me because of my vr placements. (Tbh I should've changed more stuff around, it's hard tho)
1v1 old gens; but basically too strong / polarizing for the power level of the gen. i think pz ban was ancient, togekiss was just twave + encore + serene grace flinch, rachi eventually got banned for serene grace, clef got banned from dpp for twave encore, the power level in dpp1v1 is not that high so togekiss is just above the bar
I didn't have much time to help build for sv during PL (mainly because fancy and frogfacts build at like 2am), but I thought I'd share some teams I made for sv ladder tour, a lot of these were used in PL too anyway.
https://pokepast.es/5f8cd9b843b982c0
Thoughts on SV:
:Hoopa-unbound:Bulky hoopa might be top 5 human inventions oat, I think mine were running bulk for choice band urshifu here. The only downside really is a worse mu into primarina, but you're able to beat all ursaluna, donphan, garchomp, iron hands and more in return. Also people should try mixed with life orb more, it beats so much. Maybe it's worth a suspect? I'm not really convinced but wouldn't be surprised if it gets some support.
:Urshifu Rapid Strike:I prefer rapid to single strike, mainly because you can fish with weakness policy to randomly beat valiants and ninetales that don't invest in special attack. Also bulky choice band still feels bs to play against. AND if you build well you can hide which type of shifu you are on preview, but that's usually not feasable.
:Iron Crown:So turns out when there’s about 15 different viable sets the mon is very good. When you can do booster energy with 5 different stats, weakness policy, resist berry + maybe more that hasn't been tried yet, crown becomes really annoying to play against on preview.
Don’t think it’s crazy to say this is top 5 in the tier. I especially like speed booster.
:Goodra-Hisui:Best dragon in the tier? Very high in usage with >60% win rate? I’d say pult is a very very close 2nd but discussions need to be had.
:Raging Bolt:Another defense booster mon has hit the tier.
:Fezandipiti:From jobless bum to making 6 figures. Yeah having a fairy that beats all the other fairies is pretty cool, think I remember seeing balloon, kee berry, maranga berry and life orb in PL.
:Sylveon:This mon is still pretty good, just that it has to be bulkier since the custap ban if you want to beat stuff like meow and chien pao. Psyshock is also a cool tech to beat volcarona.
:Roaring Moon:Don't rate it that highly, just feels like it doesn't quite do enough to be put next to some of the A or A+ mons. I think endure weakness policy and speed booster are cool sets though, people should try them.
:Sneasler:Really struggles into the top meta mons, choice band + throat chop is a cool tech to beat pecharunt though.
:Walking Wake:Get ready to sign for the Guangdong Tigers buddy.
I'll make a UU post soon ish probably after PL finals.
https://pokepast.es/5f8cd9b843b982c0
Thoughts on SV:
:Hoopa-unbound:Bulky hoopa might be top 5 human inventions oat, I think mine were running bulk for choice band urshifu here. The only downside really is a worse mu into primarina, but you're able to beat all ursaluna, donphan, garchomp, iron hands and more in return. Also people should try mixed with life orb more, it beats so much. Maybe it's worth a suspect? I'm not really convinced but wouldn't be surprised if it gets some support.
:Urshifu Rapid Strike:I prefer rapid to single strike, mainly because you can fish with weakness policy to randomly beat valiants and ninetales that don't invest in special attack. Also bulky choice band still feels bs to play against. AND if you build well you can hide which type of shifu you are on preview, but that's usually not feasable.
:Iron Crown:So turns out when there’s about 15 different viable sets the mon is very good. When you can do booster energy with 5 different stats, weakness policy, resist berry + maybe more that hasn't been tried yet, crown becomes really annoying to play against on preview.
Don’t think it’s crazy to say this is top 5 in the tier. I especially like speed booster.
Iron Crown @ Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 192 HP / 68 SpA / 80 SpD / 168 Spe
Timid Nature
- Tachyon Cutter
- Psychic/Psyshock
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
Speed for great tusk, bulk for ada choice band meow knock off and modest specs dragapult shadow ball.
This can beat all dragapults and iron moths, and also non-specs zapdos (which is a roll anyway).
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 192 HP / 68 SpA / 80 SpD / 168 Spe
Timid Nature
- Tachyon Cutter
- Psychic/Psyshock
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
Speed for great tusk, bulk for ada choice band meow knock off and modest specs dragapult shadow ball.
This can beat all dragapults and iron moths, and also non-specs zapdos (which is a roll anyway).
:Goodra-Hisui:Best dragon in the tier? Very high in usage with >60% win rate? I’d say pult is a very very close 2nd but discussions need to be had.
:Raging Bolt:Another defense booster mon has hit the tier.
:Fezandipiti:From jobless bum to making 6 figures. Yeah having a fairy that beats all the other fairies is pretty cool, think I remember seeing balloon, kee berry, maranga berry and life orb in PL.
:Sylveon:This mon is still pretty good, just that it has to be bulkier since the custap ban if you want to beat stuff like meow and chien pao. Psyshock is also a cool tech to beat volcarona.
:Roaring Moon:Don't rate it that highly, just feels like it doesn't quite do enough to be put next to some of the A or A+ mons. I think endure weakness policy and speed booster are cool sets though, people should try them.
:Sneasler:Really struggles into the top meta mons, choice band + throat chop is a cool tech to beat pecharunt though.
:Walking Wake:Get ready to sign for the Guangdong Tigers buddy.
I'll make a UU post soon ish probably after PL finals.
Final team count: 63. Not including the full teams i ended up scrapping.
Similar VR idea as Litt: mons ranked by how much I would use them. Anything at B- is barely usable or hella niche. Anything unranked I would just not load.
- SV is very fun rn. Despite my severe auraloss I found building being a very enjoyable experience. There's a lot of room for creative setbuilding and cool teams.
- Certain glues :zapdos: :basculegion: :manaphy: :iron crown: keep this tier together like that one spiderman meme.
- Custap ban was definitively a net positive for the tier.
- I've noticed that its a sleeper. special attack heavy meta in the sense of physical mons being way easier to check even with glues that are primarily anti-special. Running bulkier sets on physdef mons seems to be the reaction to this.
Wont explain all my rankings, if u want more explanations dm.
:urshifu: I'm the shifus biggest glazer styll but they have in fact fallen off a bit in some aspects post custap. I think dark is better than rapid but I also think that they should be ranked together, and its their collective strength that puts them at S tier. Salac is good btw run it.
:pecharunt: This mon is absurdly broken, you have so few real checks. Run Sitrus btw it's a replacement for maranga half the time and lefties the other half.
:iron crown: I dont think anyone will disagree about how powerful this mon is, but I'm glad that after an year of shilling it that people are finally catching onto defensive stat booster crown.
:goodra-hisui:
I expected this mon to get worse after custap ban and it definitely lost power in some aspects but holy moly this is the best dragon type in the tier rn. Archaludon's cousin comes back for revenge?
:ogerpon-wellspring: very very powerful still. it's tools are rather underexploited.
:walking wake: I actually rather like this mon because water + dragon with good shifus matchup is high value in this tier. Specs is the best set.
:greninja: There is no world where a protean mon as flexible as greninja can be that bad. You can beat fairies on 80% of sets + have good matchups into hoopa basc etc + beat shifus if you want + have a slot/evs to flex beat random mons. This pocket monster is good!
:fezandipiti: this is one of the best fairies in the tier and its chronically underexploited you beat every opposing fairy, you can beat grounds and physicals for free with charm, you can randomly go offensive special, and physical offence still exists to make hoopa uncomfortable. Use this mon!
:raging bolt: defence booster is ass i do NOT care what the panchams propaganda ministry says. Bolt is still good tho. I've learned that running quirky sets on this is not worth it just run fast special attack booster and win games. I've been dropping tclap a lot to run cm + taunt.
:annihilape: Mr. Potential Mon actually is rather good rn into a meta packed with shifus + goodrah + steel/psychics. Band is a garbage set, I've liked LO and various Helmet/Sitrus/WP variations waaay more.
:shaymin: oi this thing can beat half the dragon types with ease and is the best grass into opposing subseed/grasses.
fancy frogfacts make a post bums
Similar VR idea as Litt: mons ranked by how much I would use them. Anything at B- is barely usable or hella niche. Anything unranked I would just not load.
- SV is very fun rn. Despite my severe auraloss I found building being a very enjoyable experience. There's a lot of room for creative setbuilding and cool teams.
- Certain glues :zapdos: :basculegion: :manaphy: :iron crown: keep this tier together like that one spiderman meme.
- Custap ban was definitively a net positive for the tier.
- I've noticed that its a sleeper. special attack heavy meta in the sense of physical mons being way easier to check even with glues that are primarily anti-special. Running bulkier sets on physdef mons seems to be the reaction to this.
Wont explain all my rankings, if u want more explanations dm.
:urshifu: I'm the shifus biggest glazer styll but they have in fact fallen off a bit in some aspects post custap. I think dark is better than rapid but I also think that they should be ranked together, and its their collective strength that puts them at S tier. Salac is good btw run it.
:pecharunt: This mon is absurdly broken, you have so few real checks. Run Sitrus btw it's a replacement for maranga half the time and lefties the other half.
:iron crown: I dont think anyone will disagree about how powerful this mon is, but I'm glad that after an year of shilling it that people are finally catching onto defensive stat booster crown.
:goodra-hisui:
I expected this mon to get worse after custap ban and it definitely lost power in some aspects but holy moly this is the best dragon type in the tier rn. Archaludon's cousin comes back for revenge?
:ogerpon-wellspring: very very powerful still. it's tools are rather underexploited.
:walking wake: I actually rather like this mon because water + dragon with good shifus matchup is high value in this tier. Specs is the best set.
:greninja: There is no world where a protean mon as flexible as greninja can be that bad. You can beat fairies on 80% of sets + have good matchups into hoopa basc etc + beat shifus if you want + have a slot/evs to flex beat random mons. This pocket monster is good!
:fezandipiti: this is one of the best fairies in the tier and its chronically underexploited you beat every opposing fairy, you can beat grounds and physicals for free with charm, you can randomly go offensive special, and physical offence still exists to make hoopa uncomfortable. Use this mon!
:raging bolt: defence booster is ass i do NOT care what the panchams propaganda ministry says. Bolt is still good tho. I've learned that running quirky sets on this is not worth it just run fast special attack booster and win games. I've been dropping tclap a lot to run cm + taunt.
:annihilape: Mr. Potential Mon actually is rather good rn into a meta packed with shifus + goodrah + steel/psychics. Band is a garbage set, I've liked LO and various Helmet/Sitrus/WP variations waaay more.
:shaymin: oi this thing can beat half the dragon types with ease and is the best grass into opposing subseed/grasses.
fancy frogfacts make a post bums
hello I never made a post when I first got added to vrc cause I'm a bum (also cause I wanted to go over like literally everything), this is an appropriate time for me to make up for that. sv is decentralized as hell and I don't really agree with anyone who says stuff like "a lot of the meta revolves around x mon." I don't think any of the top mons really set themselves apart (I have no s tiers) and it's really hard to punish shitters because there's so many of them that can do things. that said I think some people think of me as like a uu loader and I really don't think that's accurate but anyways let's get to the fun yap.
notable rises:
- both :urshifu: A+ to S- // less of a reflection that these mons have improved and more that I've finally come around to the fact that they're s-
- :raging bolt: A- to A // defense booster is not ass and quirky sets on it are fine, spa booster is still great
- :goodra-hisui: B+ to A // yeah goobruh is still him this might have been my worst vote, resist berry ab and av are all good although I will say that nothing hits the same as custap
- :rillaboom: B to A- // "sv rilla I would literally UR" is impressively up there with the worst radu takes of all time, gseed is cracked and lets it be arguably the best subseeder or a decent bulky offense mon
- :walking wake: B to B+ // I still think it's ass but it went up a tier cause specs is like fine I guess (I also clicked it every time I loaded it doesn't mean it's good though)
notable drops:
- :spectrier: S- to A+ // probably shouldn't have been s- in the first place, still think it's great
- :zapdos: A+ to A // still good but not at the same level as the rest of a+ imo, don't fully understand the hype
- :ninetales alola: A+ to A // find that I tend to prefer other fairies, still think it's good like zap but not like the a+ mons
- :sneasler: A- to B+ // feels like it should be better in theory but struggles to get good previews
- :volcanion: A- to B+ // just fell off a bit, isn't great into a lot of common glues/structures
other notes:
- :iron crown: is still really good, wp is always fine and random booster shit can hit like crack
- :great tusk: considered dropping because it often feels not that great to use and scarf/booster spe always seems obvious. decided a- is still fine with how much versatility it has.
- :basculegion: hello mr basc here to tell you that the mon is just really strong, cb is good including fast variants and av is like slightly better maybe. it has a ton of clean mus and gets good previews not much else you could want
- :iron moth: I am also mr iron moth and I thought long and hard whether to put it a tier, I probably would have if scarf was reliable into prim. specs and scarf mog booster spa tbh, pherb and booster spe are just bad
- :ogerpon-wellspring: this mon is lowk bad? idk there's no set that really satisfies me it just feels inconsistent and there's almost always mons I would rather run
- :scizor: is a fine mon that happens to get a lot of usage cause many of us like it, might be the easiest mon to tech in the game tho
- :volcarona: :arcanine-hisui: :arcanine: :talonflame: are all ass, sv needs better fire types #freegouging #freehearth
- :corviknight: :registeel: :azumarill: :diancie: :darkrai: are also pretty bad
- :baxcalibur: :espathra: :tinkaton: :slaking: :avalugg-hisui: are all decent, it's not like I loaded these a crazy amount but maybe this is where the uu reputation comes from
- I think it's already somewhat known that I changed my mind but might as well officially concede that :custap berry: ban was good, salac is an underexplored alternative that I expect to discover is good on a fair few mons
notable rises:
- both :urshifu: A+ to S- // less of a reflection that these mons have improved and more that I've finally come around to the fact that they're s-
- :raging bolt: A- to A // defense booster is not ass and quirky sets on it are fine, spa booster is still great
- :goodra-hisui: B+ to A // yeah goobruh is still him this might have been my worst vote, resist berry ab and av are all good although I will say that nothing hits the same as custap
- :rillaboom: B to A- // "sv rilla I would literally UR" is impressively up there with the worst radu takes of all time, gseed is cracked and lets it be arguably the best subseeder or a decent bulky offense mon
- :walking wake: B to B+ // I still think it's ass but it went up a tier cause specs is like fine I guess (I also clicked it every time I loaded it doesn't mean it's good though)
notable drops:
- :spectrier: S- to A+ // probably shouldn't have been s- in the first place, still think it's great
- :zapdos: A+ to A // still good but not at the same level as the rest of a+ imo, don't fully understand the hype
- :ninetales alola: A+ to A // find that I tend to prefer other fairies, still think it's good like zap but not like the a+ mons
- :sneasler: A- to B+ // feels like it should be better in theory but struggles to get good previews
- :volcanion: A- to B+ // just fell off a bit, isn't great into a lot of common glues/structures
other notes:
- :iron crown: is still really good, wp is always fine and random booster shit can hit like crack
- :great tusk: considered dropping because it often feels not that great to use and scarf/booster spe always seems obvious. decided a- is still fine with how much versatility it has.
- :basculegion: hello mr basc here to tell you that the mon is just really strong, cb is good including fast variants and av is like slightly better maybe. it has a ton of clean mus and gets good previews not much else you could want
- :iron moth: I am also mr iron moth and I thought long and hard whether to put it a tier, I probably would have if scarf was reliable into prim. specs and scarf mog booster spa tbh, pherb and booster spe are just bad
- :ogerpon-wellspring: this mon is lowk bad? idk there's no set that really satisfies me it just feels inconsistent and there's almost always mons I would rather run
- :scizor: is a fine mon that happens to get a lot of usage cause many of us like it, might be the easiest mon to tech in the game tho
- :volcarona: :arcanine-hisui: :arcanine: :talonflame: are all ass, sv needs better fire types #freegouging #freehearth
- :corviknight: :registeel: :azumarill: :diancie: :darkrai: are also pretty bad
- :baxcalibur: :espathra: :tinkaton: :slaking: :avalugg-hisui: are all decent, it's not like I loaded these a crazy amount but maybe this is where the uu reputation comes from
- I think it's already somewhat known that I changed my mind but might as well officially concede that :custap berry: ban was good, salac is an underexplored alternative that I expect to discover is good on a fair few mons
my sv vr of mons I would use in tour. updating my sheet votes alongside this with full vr to match.
:ursaluna: max def forb was one of the best sets before custap and now takes that spot imo. gives u the same physical matchups as a counter set/pokemon (all physical dragons, scarfed tusk, opposing ursa etc) and also stall breaks simultaneously. the meta (heh.) is very steel reliant currently, ursa is the greatest counter because of this aspect and the net of mus u gain just by existing.
:hoopa-unbound: no custap does hurt quite a bit. the zapdos mu was nice. either way it’s still got a lot of sets to fill in the gap. following lunas trend I like fatter hoopas the best right now. u can use similar evs for all the specs/band/lo sets. having both shifus covered with fb is nice. speed doesn’t help convert anything that custap didn’t get/scarf is a more targeted set that I’m only using in specific scenarios.
:urshifu rapid strike: pls rank these pokemon tg. because steels r so strong grounds/fires/ghosts are forced as counters setting rapid and regular shifu to remain strong asf. don’t feel the need to beat a dead horse but strong top tier matchups/strong base sets and good cteam sets/preview pressure = good pokemon
:iron crown: crown already has great base matchups/typing. i said earlier that steels r necessary glue. i think this tour it was realized the amount of tools it has to convert. Each booster flips an original weakness into a win for crown making it a flexible choice to slot on teams opposed to the other steels which remain fairly one dimensional
:zapdos: zapdos has always been a good glue with its wide matchup umbrella beating practically all special attackers and ability to flip some physical matchups with offense sets. bumped this not because i think its role has changed but i think zapdos victims have gotten better making zapdos better as well. kee and maranga r good to target repeating counters used in people’s teams.
:iron valiant: post custap i think val has overtaken best encore disabler again. actually being able to defeat ursa luna hoopa and most goodrah is big I also like it as an spect counter
:ogerpon wellspring: not much to say. pon covers such a large umbrella of matchups with a huge movepool to target patterns and glues in scouts. being able to use it as your phys dragon/shifu/goodrah/whatever cherry-picked counter gives u a lot of flexibility in teams compared to the other waters
:dragapult: bumped this because i think wisp hex is really strong right now, its like a lo spect that gets dragons and fires. both wisp and band sets get great matchups into top tiers
:Spectrier: stated above why i think pult has a better wisp hex niche most of the time. i do think spect fills out a different role as a ghost that can get fairy mus and sub disable bulkier choice users that pult can’t break through.
:primarina: primarina
:goodra-hisui: a small grade below crown as a steel for me because it’s sets are more linear but it makes up with that by having really really strong main sets. one of the greatest glues in the tier.
:metagross: another strong steel glue that i rank below goodra because it generally gets checked easier. goodrah has access to a lot of tools in counter knock etc that give it more matchups whereas metagross can only cash in an airballoon win in sv3 once a tour
:sylveon: max def on all its sets. item change converts few matchups per set but u retain strong matchups into most phys attackers. very solid.
:haxorus: always goes underused for me at least imo this mon is really powerful. has access to a nice spread of moves that gives what u want from a band user but has some unfort matchups into a few rlly good mons pult oger offensive zapdos etc. anti counter with unnerve catches sloppy builds. same for counter as a slot but not easy to fit.
:pecharunt: forcing specific counters is rlly good, allows u to make builds that punish those.
:great tusk: choiced r the strongest right now post custap. can use band as a fairy check. scarf flips some important matchups. good versatility and not the easiest to setguess on good builds
:raging bolt: def booster solid but cmon xd spa’s the best u can flip some stuff with both cm and taunt. all custap ban really did for bolt was make running both easier
:Ninetales-Alola: less superior encore disabler post custap but still solid. atails just can’t threaten things offensively alongside enc disable like val can, it’s pretty unusable offensively.
:Manaphy: still a super flexible water with every single set being solid. i think it struggles sometimes with being slower and requiring setup for damage on most sets but specs hits pretty solid.
:volcanion: Volcanion
:volcarona: without custap carona gets more annoying to check without specific counters. pasho is always decent noob farm to punish bad builds
:annihilape: bumped because a lot of good alternative sets have been pushed in cl and this pl. ape has always been good to punish a lot of steel glue cores and gets even better with shifu and ursa cb user dominated meta. the addition of non choice counter gives it a lot of different possibilities beyond just this on preview. becomes rlly strong when it’s sets r so polar. even stuff like fast or bulky band punish different top tiers and require calls from opponents to be made. i like counter and bulky cb outrage the most right now
:meowscarada: benefits heavily from custap ban. not as if it wasn’t running solo band before but it’s just way better now. same strengths it’s always had with tons of coverage that hit the upper tiers hard. still an ursa victim tho
:iron hands: was debating whether to lower this a tier but I do think hands is quite good. max defense gives u a lot of good matchups for a electric type. random speed is good to hit fairies. just suffers from phys bulk being on everything now and still slow even with speed.
:roaring moon: before custap using band was cool to punish atails squads but vals just everywhere now. hard to use when u just ff to a lot of dragons and if u want to gain some u have to run speed lol. still solid i just think moon requires opportunity cost where other dragons don’t to get the same matchups.
:Moltres-galar: i like moltg a lot but its matchups typing on cord always look better than its matchups in game. u want a lot of sets at once. zapdos gets away w hurricane cus its zapdos moltg pushes it. i do still think if u dont stretch you sets thin beating hoopa pon shifus is still obvi good
:iron moth: specs is quite good u have some flexible move slots to pick whatever top matchup u want. suffers from not being fast enough though
:garchomp: solid but doesn’t have the flexibility of the top dragons
:Dondozo: very valuable as a water that beats what some water counters don’t account for. always gets value in long series.
:cresselia: feel like ppl are ranking this low like its matchups are linear yeah but same tier as serp…xd? specs is quite good
:chien-pao: similar to meow where custap ban makes it better but still suffers from being over bulked and losing to ursa. ada is nice since most only bulk jolly.
:fezandipiti: bumped. covering fairies fightings oger and sometimes grounds is pretty good. but doesn’t do much beyond type matchups which is where other fairies outclass it.
:kyurem: specs and scarf are good but definitely suffers from wanting both boosts
:basculegion-male: water that beats all fairies is a solid niche. more offensive oriented sets w lo cb headsmash and outrage r also good at breaking glues. just still weak to usual water counters and top tiers.
:entei: entei
:rillaboom: actually decent set variety offensive seed is pretty solid to beat dragons flexible slots with knock lowkick. lo better to beat sylv. not easy to fit on teams cus ogerw can fill similar roles but sylv and easier shifu matchup is nice.
:donphan: outclassed by the other grounds but sturdy + slots carves a niche
:walking wake: not a big wake user but I can see the typing appeal. dragon with a good shifu mu. just always seems underwhelming on preview for me
:landorus-therian: outclassed by other grounds that can actually tech for meow/pao and have higher power. a band user with fly is good for higher val usage tho
:florges: unfortunately I do think it gets outclassed by other fairies more now because of versatility (fez) and bulk (sylv) but ill always love florges
:baxcalibur: not as versatile as kyurem and thermal exchange unfort doesnt rlly help in any mus that kyurem cant already get since it can run physical or special. ursa victim. having shard and eq access is good tho
:greninja: specs suffers move slot syndrome a lot but it’s still pretty good, speed tier is rough tho. I recommend petaya as well to break metagross cores. type of mon u cash in once a tour
:ursaluna-bloodmoon: specs and counter r good
:bellibolt: i got my belli win this tour..check
:iron treads: bring back 2025 treads
:zapdos-Galar: band is pretty good
i resonated with the builds from gorilaa kaif and eli used this tour. using top tier mons with edits r better than using straight uu. fishes that r used sparingly tend to hit more
:hoopa-unbound: no custap does hurt quite a bit. the zapdos mu was nice. either way it’s still got a lot of sets to fill in the gap. following lunas trend I like fatter hoopas the best right now. u can use similar evs for all the specs/band/lo sets. having both shifus covered with fb is nice. speed doesn’t help convert anything that custap didn’t get/scarf is a more targeted set that I’m only using in specific scenarios.
:urshifu rapid strike: pls rank these pokemon tg. because steels r so strong grounds/fires/ghosts are forced as counters setting rapid and regular shifu to remain strong asf. don’t feel the need to beat a dead horse but strong top tier matchups/strong base sets and good cteam sets/preview pressure = good pokemon
:iron crown: crown already has great base matchups/typing. i said earlier that steels r necessary glue. i think this tour it was realized the amount of tools it has to convert. Each booster flips an original weakness into a win for crown making it a flexible choice to slot on teams opposed to the other steels which remain fairly one dimensional
:zapdos: zapdos has always been a good glue with its wide matchup umbrella beating practically all special attackers and ability to flip some physical matchups with offense sets. bumped this not because i think its role has changed but i think zapdos victims have gotten better making zapdos better as well. kee and maranga r good to target repeating counters used in people’s teams.
:iron valiant: post custap i think val has overtaken best encore disabler again. actually being able to defeat ursa luna hoopa and most goodrah is big I also like it as an spect counter
:ogerpon wellspring: not much to say. pon covers such a large umbrella of matchups with a huge movepool to target patterns and glues in scouts. being able to use it as your phys dragon/shifu/goodrah/whatever cherry-picked counter gives u a lot of flexibility in teams compared to the other waters
:dragapult: bumped this because i think wisp hex is really strong right now, its like a lo spect that gets dragons and fires. both wisp and band sets get great matchups into top tiers
:Spectrier: stated above why i think pult has a better wisp hex niche most of the time. i do think spect fills out a different role as a ghost that can get fairy mus and sub disable bulkier choice users that pult can’t break through.
:primarina: primarina
:goodra-hisui: a small grade below crown as a steel for me because it’s sets are more linear but it makes up with that by having really really strong main sets. one of the greatest glues in the tier.
:metagross: another strong steel glue that i rank below goodra because it generally gets checked easier. goodrah has access to a lot of tools in counter knock etc that give it more matchups whereas metagross can only cash in an airballoon win in sv3 once a tour
:sylveon: max def on all its sets. item change converts few matchups per set but u retain strong matchups into most phys attackers. very solid.
:haxorus: always goes underused for me at least imo this mon is really powerful. has access to a nice spread of moves that gives what u want from a band user but has some unfort matchups into a few rlly good mons pult oger offensive zapdos etc. anti counter with unnerve catches sloppy builds. same for counter as a slot but not easy to fit.
:pecharunt: forcing specific counters is rlly good, allows u to make builds that punish those.
:great tusk: choiced r the strongest right now post custap. can use band as a fairy check. scarf flips some important matchups. good versatility and not the easiest to setguess on good builds
:raging bolt: def booster solid but cmon xd spa’s the best u can flip some stuff with both cm and taunt. all custap ban really did for bolt was make running both easier
:Ninetales-Alola: less superior encore disabler post custap but still solid. atails just can’t threaten things offensively alongside enc disable like val can, it’s pretty unusable offensively.
:Manaphy: still a super flexible water with every single set being solid. i think it struggles sometimes with being slower and requiring setup for damage on most sets but specs hits pretty solid.
:volcanion: Volcanion
:volcarona: without custap carona gets more annoying to check without specific counters. pasho is always decent noob farm to punish bad builds
:annihilape: bumped because a lot of good alternative sets have been pushed in cl and this pl. ape has always been good to punish a lot of steel glue cores and gets even better with shifu and ursa cb user dominated meta. the addition of non choice counter gives it a lot of different possibilities beyond just this on preview. becomes rlly strong when it’s sets r so polar. even stuff like fast or bulky band punish different top tiers and require calls from opponents to be made. i like counter and bulky cb outrage the most right now
:meowscarada: benefits heavily from custap ban. not as if it wasn’t running solo band before but it’s just way better now. same strengths it’s always had with tons of coverage that hit the upper tiers hard. still an ursa victim tho
:iron hands: was debating whether to lower this a tier but I do think hands is quite good. max defense gives u a lot of good matchups for a electric type. random speed is good to hit fairies. just suffers from phys bulk being on everything now and still slow even with speed.
:roaring moon: before custap using band was cool to punish atails squads but vals just everywhere now. hard to use when u just ff to a lot of dragons and if u want to gain some u have to run speed lol. still solid i just think moon requires opportunity cost where other dragons don’t to get the same matchups.
:Moltres-galar: i like moltg a lot but its matchups typing on cord always look better than its matchups in game. u want a lot of sets at once. zapdos gets away w hurricane cus its zapdos moltg pushes it. i do still think if u dont stretch you sets thin beating hoopa pon shifus is still obvi good
:iron moth: specs is quite good u have some flexible move slots to pick whatever top matchup u want. suffers from not being fast enough though
:garchomp: solid but doesn’t have the flexibility of the top dragons
:Dondozo: very valuable as a water that beats what some water counters don’t account for. always gets value in long series.
:cresselia: feel like ppl are ranking this low like its matchups are linear yeah but same tier as serp…xd? specs is quite good
:chien-pao: similar to meow where custap ban makes it better but still suffers from being over bulked and losing to ursa. ada is nice since most only bulk jolly.
:fezandipiti: bumped. covering fairies fightings oger and sometimes grounds is pretty good. but doesn’t do much beyond type matchups which is where other fairies outclass it.
:kyurem: specs and scarf are good but definitely suffers from wanting both boosts
:basculegion-male: water that beats all fairies is a solid niche. more offensive oriented sets w lo cb headsmash and outrage r also good at breaking glues. just still weak to usual water counters and top tiers.
:entei: entei
:rillaboom: actually decent set variety offensive seed is pretty solid to beat dragons flexible slots with knock lowkick. lo better to beat sylv. not easy to fit on teams cus ogerw can fill similar roles but sylv and easier shifu matchup is nice.
:donphan: outclassed by the other grounds but sturdy + slots carves a niche
:walking wake: not a big wake user but I can see the typing appeal. dragon with a good shifu mu. just always seems underwhelming on preview for me
:landorus-therian: outclassed by other grounds that can actually tech for meow/pao and have higher power. a band user with fly is good for higher val usage tho
:florges: unfortunately I do think it gets outclassed by other fairies more now because of versatility (fez) and bulk (sylv) but ill always love florges
:baxcalibur: not as versatile as kyurem and thermal exchange unfort doesnt rlly help in any mus that kyurem cant already get since it can run physical or special. ursa victim. having shard and eq access is good tho
:greninja: specs suffers move slot syndrome a lot but it’s still pretty good, speed tier is rough tho. I recommend petaya as well to break metagross cores. type of mon u cash in once a tour
:ursaluna-bloodmoon: specs and counter r good
:bellibolt: i got my belli win this tour..check
:iron treads: bring back 2025 treads
:zapdos-Galar: band is pretty good
i resonated with the builds from gorilaa kaif and eli used this tour. using top tier mons with edits r better than using straight uu. fishes that r used sparingly tend to hit more
edits: might lower tusk bolt and val when I finish my sheet vr
Lets unban snorlax. Lack of custap will make snorlax way more balanced and the tier at the time of its banning was completely different to modern SV. Idk why ppl max fearmongering abt it we already have ursaluna in the tier. Its tools (cb, counter) are nothing out of the ordinary and the main reason it was banned in the first place was Always gluttony custap
Arguments like "if lax is a whatever mon then unbanning it the meta can only get worse not better" are not really based in reality at all IMO. You would never ban a mon thats not oppressive/OP and you would never try to ban some A tier mon like Raging Bolt. Unbans should hold the same standard and Snorlax is the most egregious case of a mon that has had its wings clipped by many years of SV tier changes but will still provide builder flexibility as a bulky normal type.
Personally I would suggest releasing the mon immediately so that as much data as possible can be collected whether its from ladder or other tours. 1v1 does not have a great suspect process and I believe this is the correct way to make sure the tier post-lax is in a good state going into world cup!!!!!!!! Urging anyone that cares about 1v1 to post but plz try to avoid framing subjective predictions as objective truth. Mon can always get banned again if it turns out to be a mistake
Arguments like "if lax is a whatever mon then unbanning it the meta can only get worse not better" are not really based in reality at all IMO. You would never ban a mon thats not oppressive/OP and you would never try to ban some A tier mon like Raging Bolt. Unbans should hold the same standard and Snorlax is the most egregious case of a mon that has had its wings clipped by many years of SV tier changes but will still provide builder flexibility as a bulky normal type.
Personally I would suggest releasing the mon immediately so that as much data as possible can be collected whether its from ladder or other tours. 1v1 does not have a great suspect process and I believe this is the correct way to make sure the tier post-lax is in a good state going into world cup!!!!!!!! Urging anyone that cares about 1v1 to post but plz try to avoid framing subjective predictions as objective truth. Mon can always get banned again if it turns out to be a mistake
this snorlax guy seems kinda foolish, lives non banded ccs from both urshifus and can ko with counter same with status orb and cb ursaluna, curse leichi is ok for sd mons with decent bulk. i am currently running counter, belly drum eq and double edge and peaked top 3. i dont think it is ban worthy but most definitely a higher tier mon id think. only spent around 3 hours using it with this one set tho so i cannot say anything for certain
edit: heres team https://pokepast.es/5cc95582b0df0da1 spent most of my games clicking snorlax
edit: heres team https://pokepast.es/5cc95582b0df0da1 spent most of my games clicking snorlax