Resource RU Viability Ranking

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Nominating Xatu for B + Rank

Well, why? Well firstly, I find Xatu to be one of the best support pokemon in RU. It can run Dual Screens to complement its Magic Bounce, and has a respectable 95 Special Attack to do some damage with something such as Psychic or Psyshock (wah we don't always need u-turn). I find it to be one of the best counters to froslass in the tier, as with 252/252+, it can survive an Ice Beam (takes away around 57 - 68 percent health) and set up Light Screen, which then makes Ice Beam do around 28 - 34 percent damage, which can be roosted away. It basically stalls out Froslass. Magic Bounce also can bounce back Sleep Powder from Venomoth, and if your Xatu runs Thunder Wave, can cripple fast threats, such as Sharpedo (on the switch). Xatu can also run offensive sets.Honestly, I think Xatu's huge support movepool should bump it up a rank. This thing is really dangerous if used correctly.
 
252+ SpA Mega Launcher Clawitzer Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Slowking: 168-198 (42.6 - 50.2%) -- 1.2% chance to 2HKO

Something certainly isn't right then

psssst

Specs, LO or EBelt

252+ SpA Choice Specs Mega Launcher Clawitzer Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 40 SpD Assault Vest Slowking: 240-284 (60.9 - 72%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Mega Launcher Clawitzer Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 40 SpD Assault Vest Slowking: 208-247 (52.7 - 62.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Expert Belt Mega Launcher Clawitzer Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 40 SpD Assault Vest Slowking: 192-228 (48.7 - 57.8%) -- 95.3% chance to 2HKO
 
psssst

Specs, LO or EBelt

252+ SpA Choice Specs Mega Launcher Clawitzer Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 40 SpD Assault Vest Slowking: 240-284 (60.9 - 72%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Mega Launcher Clawitzer Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 40 SpD Assault Vest Slowking: 208-247 (52.7 - 62.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Expert Belt Mega Launcher Clawitzer Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 40 SpD Assault Vest Slowking: 192-228 (48.7 - 57.8%) -- 95.3% chance to 2HKO

Biggest mistake of mine this year lol
 
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Nominating Meloetta for A/A+ - Meloetta is such a good pokemon in ru. It just has so much versatility. Meloetta can run offensive calm mind/defensive calm mind/specs/scarf/ special assault vest/mixed assault vest/physical assault vest/support/life orb 4 attacks special/life orb 3 attacks physical (relic song)/ mixed life orb relic song/ offensive life orb relic song. Meloetta can just perform all these roles to almost perfection. You never know what meloetta you are versing by looking at team preview, it is just so versatile, a neat typing and a solid ghost immunity. The only things holding meloetta back is the fact that it has averedge speed before relic song and weak to knock off spam.
 
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I almost forgot I was gonna post so this is /late, but I would like to address the idea that Specs Delphox is the set that makes it worthy (or not worthy) of S rank, and frankly I agree with all the above points that that set is not S rank worthy (specs and scarf are both A+ sets). However, the real set that I think makes Delphox a potentially S rank worthy set, is the LO Calm Mind set, which literally just takes a dump all over stall in the current meta (pardon my French). This set is extremely hard to deal with, because at +1/+1 with the ability to change moves Delphox becomes so ridiculously hard to switch into. And while it is true that Delphox is gonna have a really tough time getting around Slowking, I don't think you can disregard Delphox as a top threat due to one counter (I mean Esca isn't getting around Moltres, Venomoth is "beaten" by Escavalier (okay kinda), etc. and these are still S rank threats). I definitely do think Delphox is strong, fast, and versatile enough to be an S rank threat.
 
Hey, i know this is honestly a little nitpicky, but i think that Hippopotas shouldn't be on the list at all tbh, and that it doesn't even deserve D rank.

Really thinking about it, what does Hippopotas really do? I guess it would have had a justified rank if weather was still perma, but given the fact that sand only lasts for a limited time now, coupled with the fact that it can't be abused by teammates quite as well as sun and rain, and i don't really understand why little hippo is worth it. If you run eviolite you basically have a worse Gligar and 5 turns of sand to work with (definitely not worth it imo), while if you use a Smooth Rock, you get 8 turns of sand, which is a bit more abusable sure, but you also have a complete deadweight on your team in exchange. All in all i really don't think that the sand support that little hippo provides is worth it at all, and that it doesn't really justify a placement in D rank :/.
 
Gonna vouch my support for this one:

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up to A+

Zoroark is a fantastic Pokemon in this metagame and I definitely think it could use a bump. On the surface, Zoroark isn't too difficult to deal with; however, its ability Illusion adds a whole different dimension to its playstyle. This is what makes Zoroark really tricky to pin down because just seeing it from team preview and your first thought is, "oh shit, I have to play carefully otherwise I might lose one of my Pokemon". Even outside of Illusion, Zoroark is a pretty fantastic Pokemon in of itself. Dark STAB is amazing, Knock Off especially and combine that with Zoroark's stellar versatility, where it can run All-Out Attacker sets, Swords Dance, Nasty Plot, heck even choice sets aren't too shabby, and you got yourself one amazing Pokemon on your hands! What's more is that courtesy of Illusion, Zoroark can work well in eliminating its teammates checks / counters, then combine that with its access to Memento to help ease setup, and it can play the role of not just an offensive Pokemon, but an offensive support mon if you will. Of course, it has a number of flaws, frailty, inability to touch Fairys, and a trolly Speed tier where it's shy of just 4 points from outspeeding Cobalion and Virizion; however, most of these flaws are negligible or can at least be circumnavigated by Zoroark itself. While it is frail, it has priority (and a very powerful one at that) to keep it from being sniped as easily and Fairy-types don't really exist aside from two, maybe three Pokemon tops. While not being bulky or having the luxury of outspeeding Cobalion and Virizion sucks, I think these flaws are what keep it from being S-rank as opposed to A+.

In short, this is why Zoroark should move up:

-When played right, Illusion can guarantee a kill each game
-Its incredibly versatile and really difficult to counter unless you have a Fairy-type
-It has ways of overcoming some of its flaws, namely Sucker Punch to keep it from being revenge-killed as easily even thought it's frail
-It isn't a one-trick pony, as it can provide some pretty sweet support by removing its partners checks more easily due to Illusion and Memento to help them set up afterwords
 
What is mightyena even doing on this list, I had no idea Play rough was so good.

Also: did Gatr finally get the boot to UU, cause its certainly good enough for at least B+.

Nominating Liepard for C Rank, it gets Play rough too, is much faster, and useable offenses.

Sure Mightyena has intermidate, but it still has garbage defenses, and being able Prankster-thunder wave a counter is Amazing.
 
What is mightyena even doing on this list, I had no idea Play rough was so good.

Also: did Gatr finally get the boot to UU, cause its certainly good enough for at least B+.

Nominating Liepard for C Rank, it gets Play rough too, is much faster, and useable offenses.

Sure Mightyena has intermidate, but it still has garbage defenses, and being able Prankster-thunder wave a counter is Amazing.

No one uses Intimidate Mighyena in favor of Moxie Mightyena
 
So thisis thread is up! I used the one last gen a ton when I was new, and even posted some opinions at the end. I see people have started jumping in (tbh I feel a few should be taking info from this thread, not giving .~.) and I'll get to giving some input myself.

I have a lot of opinions about B+/A- ranks, but for the sake of your sanity and not making it LEER'S VIABILITY RANKING THREAD I'll keep it to the few biggest concerns.

  • Dugtrio from B+ to A-. Lets look at the descriptions for A rank and B rank:
    A Rank: Reserved for Pokemon who can sweep or wall significant portions of the metagame, but require some support or have some flaws that prevents them from doing this consistently. Supporting Pokemon in this rank may give opponents free turns or cannot create free turns easily themselves, but can still do their job most of the time.
    B Rank: Reserved for Pokemon who cannot sweep through or wall significant portions of the metagame, but can properly fulfill a given offensive/defensive niche. Support Pokemon in this category have flaws that prevent them from doing their job or are setup bait for dangerous sweepers. Pokemon who are partially outperformed by a Pokemon in A or S Rank, but are otherwise very dangerous, may also fall into this category.
    In my opinion, Dugtrio could fit into certain fields in both categories, but A rank describes it better...slightly (which is why I say A-). It isn't exactly sweeping the entire metagame with 80 atk, but it can hit quite a lot of Pokemon hard with Edgequake, Sucker Punch, and Reversal+sash on top of 120 base speed. Dugtrio certainly isn't outclassed by anything, as the only other trappers are Gothorita and Magneton, and Dugtrio does a better than both of them. Arena trap also lets it support its team a ton, as it can take out many mons Venemoth as trouble with, and do other niche-y things like memento for Slurpuff (not saying Dugtrio's entire role is a niche). Dugtrio greatly supports its team, and therefore it should have the rank to reflect that.

  • Coming off of that I would also say Gligar from B+ to A- Looking back at the definitions, A's definition says tahat the Pokemon should be able to wall a signifigant portion of the metagme, which I believe Gligar certainly does. It has amazing defense and doable Sp Def with the evolite, resists fighting, bug, and poison types, and is immune to electric and ground, on top of having access to roost. It's only weak to two types, water and ice, and even has a chance to survive some of those attacks. It also gets defog access, and if you dont use that you get poison immuntiy. Gligar is an awesome wall and I think it deserves A-.

  • Finally, I think Smeargle deserves B+ rank. Between the overcoat buff (a.k.a. Escavalier, and that's everywhere) and grass immunity to powder moves Spore has been hit hard. Dark Void is only 80% accurate, the same as stone edge, so that's kind of a pain. He's still pretty good, but his most valuable feature being removed really hurt.
Might edit these later with more reasons
She is the deoxys defence of ru
This is really nit-picky but looking at its bulk and speed it's probably closer to Deo-S :x

Also, 90% of these.posts are for mons to move up, with all this power creep we might just have to bring back S- and S+ lol
 
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Coming off of that I would also say Gligar from A+ to B-.

Slight typo there, but I've got more of my own comments to come. Accidentally pressed the submit button so I'll elaborate on what I want to say soon...

Edit:

Nominating Sawk for C Rank. 125 Base Attack and 85 Speed coupled with great abilities and a bunch of fantastic moves such as Close Combat, Knock Off, Earthquake, etc. This thing can run a Choice Band set to effectively wallbreak, or it can utilize a Scarf to revenge kill stuff like Specs Delphox or pick off any weakened opponents. However, as much potential as Sawk may have, it is for the most part eclipsed by Hitmonlee, as it possesses the ability to more effectively revenge kill/clean teams with an activated Unburden while keeping intact its equally dangerous physical presence on the field, which is why Sawk shouldn't be ranked any higher than a C.

There's also a lot of things I believe should definitely move up, but since this metagame hasn't completely settled yet, I'll definitely wait out on that.
 
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On a different note.

my main hitta rotom is at C- wth thread
ROTOM FOR B+/A-
Here's why:

  • Great defensive typing, sporting 3 immunities and good key resistances against types like electric, bug, flying, and steel.
  • Rotom also has a great offensive typing: It's two STABs are only resisted in RU by the ever popular Sawsbuck, and the never seen Shiftry (sarcasm for those 2 guys who'll be on my case for making jokes)
  • Rotom can run a variety of sets well, it's best Set being SubSplit from my testing. Rotom forces a lot of switches because it walls a lot of common mons like cobalion, braviary, reuniclus, slowking, gallade, etc.
  • hits a good speed, outpacing base 90's w/ it's trolly base 91 speed tier.
  • Good power with a life orb or specs coming off of an OK base 95 special attack.
  • Screws alomomola !!! :]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]
 
On a different note.

my main hitta rotom is at C- wth thread
ROTOM FOR B+/A-
Here's why:

  • Great defensive typing, sporting 3 immunities and good key resistances against types like electric, bug, flying, and steel.
  • Rotom also has a great offensive typing: It's two STABs are only resisted in RU by the ever popular Sawsbuck, and the never seen Shiftry (sarcasm for those 2 guys who'll be on my case for making jokes)
  • Rotom can run a variety of sets well, it's best Set being SubSplit from my testing. Rotom forces a lot of switches because it walls a lot of common mons like cobalion, braviary, reuniclus, slowking, gallade, etc.
  • hits a good speed, outpacing base 90's w/ it's trolly base 91 speed tier.
  • Good power with a life orb or specs coming off of an OK base 95 special attack.
  • Screws alomomola !!! :]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]

really, 5 ranks up? :o
ps gallade runs knock off so it doesn't wall that :)

But yeah, I was considering a jump for Rotom, and I think C works for it, as it can spinblock + beats most common Flying-types, but is fairly frail and has no reliable recovery.
 
Skuntank is really underrated. It beats many of the Pokemon listed in the A ranks.

You can Taunt Cresselia and use Pursuit as it switches out, unable to touch you. Sucker Punch/Pursuit OHKO's Delphox and even Slowking (if you're holding Life Orb). Those are some of the biggest offensive and defensive threats in the tier! Poison Jab wrecks Aromatisse.

Then there's Mega Banette. People seem to love leading with this thing. If you Taunt first turn, you outspeed and it can't Will-O-Wisp. Then it's just a matter of clicking Pursuit and that's one annoying threat disposed of on turn 2.
 
Nominating Durant B >A-
This thing hits stupidly hard and has a very trolly speed tier just above virizion, zoroark and Delphox. If it gets 1 hone claws up, it is essentially gg for defensive teams. Even against offensive teams, it can do some serious work due to its speed and power. It has 4MSS which is its main drawback. It can use choice band which is a nuke from get go and has no 4MSS, but accuracy issues make it somewhat unreliable. I have tried scarf and although it is unreliable at revenge killing, it is hilarious when it hits and can sometimes cleans with a pseudo dragon dance up.
 
These are a few suggestions I have:

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Escavalier for A+ Escavelier is a great pokemon in RU. Great bulk, HP and defences it can be a real pain for many different team archetypes. But escavelier has 1 problem, Moltres and Delphox. Moltres and delphox are extremely powerful and common. This also doesnt cover things such as zoruark which run flamethrower for coveredge. Its a great pokemon, but not quite at the level of the other two S rank's because of its crippling 4x fire weankess.

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Zoruark for A+ Zoruark is a monster, with great offenses and a decent movepool to abuse it, no wonder it is one of the top threats in RU. But its main niche lies in its ability, Illusion. Zoruark can come in pretending to be, for example delphox. The oponent might then send in slowking to counter it but it will then get KO'd by a powerful knock off leaving delphox to boost up with a CM and destroy. Zoruark forces the oponent to always second guess and forces them to make 50/50 plays, this can make the oponent make bad mistakes and really help the player using zoruark.

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Bannete for A+ Bannete is another great pokemon in RU. It can run many sets ranging from a sub-disable, a will-o-wisp attacker, full out attacker, su attack and last minute destiny bond. Unlike most prankster users, Bannete has an awesome base attack stat of 160. This lets it spam its shadow claw like aegislash spams its shadow ball in ou to hit the plentiful psychics and ghosts roaming RU. All in all a very strong, unpredictable pokemon and a definant A+.

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Slowking for A Slowing is such a great glue for so many RU teams. It can work on stall, balanced, trick room and offence. With solid defence and great sp.defence, slowking can abuse an assault vest set with regenerator and some sp.attack investment which allows it to hit extremely hard. Slowking is the only thing stopping pokemon such as moltres and Delphox from ripping stall, balanced and offence apart. The fact that it is such a reliable check to so many pokemon, can fit on a wide variety of teams, has a good sp.attack and a variety of sets definately should secure it a place in A.

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Smeargle for B+/B Smeargle is largely outclassed in all its roles. As a pokemon who can lay stealth rock and sticky web it is outclassed by shuckle who can do this plenty of times with its sheer bulk. As a spike layer it is hugely outclassed by the almighty broken froslass who is nigh unstopable at what it does. Most other sets are gimmicky, but can still work. I think Smeargle definately should move down because it is somewhat eclipsed at what it does.

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Mega Abomasnow for A- Mega Abomasnow has access to some of the best offencive stats and great defencive stats in RU. Coupled with a decent defencive typing and a varied moveset this thing has definately earned its spot in A-. Able to go specially offensive, physically offensive or mixed the oponent can never quite know the set until it is revealed. With decent priority in ice shard and hugely powerful moves in 100% blizzard (hail) and wood hammer to break down defencive cores like tangrowth and slowking. A huge pain for stall and balanced alike. This thing is definately at the level of other A- pokes.

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Aromatisse for A- Aromatisse is a very solid pokemon in RU. With great HP and solid defences it can go either defencive or sp.defencive. Able to form great cores with other pokemon, it can be a huge team player with support such as aromatherapy and fat wishes. It can also hit hard with moonblast. Not only that aromatisse is one of the best trick room setters because of its sheer bulk and typing.

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Shuckle for B+ Shuckle is the most viable sticky webber and stealth rocker combined in the tier. It has amazing bulk and decent defencive typing which allows it to set hazards multiple times during the game. It is a huge pain for deffogers with contrary because it can come in on a defog, get better evasiveness and set up hazards in its face, if the oponent continues to defog shuckle gets harder and harder to hit.

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Doublade for B+ Doublade is criminally underrated in RU. It has superb bulk with eviolite (if invested in sp.defence) and a massive attack. It can set up sword dances in soo many pokemon's faces such as ambipom, cincinno, zangoose, kabutops, durant, gallade, virizion and coballion. With a great movepool of gyro ball, secret sword sd and shadow sneak it can be a pain for balanced, stall and offence. It can hit lots of fast pokemon with an absurdly powerful gyro ball because of its super low speed and high attack. All in all it is a great pokemon and should be no lower than B+.

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Medicham for B- Medicham has a huge attack stat with pure power. An extremely powerful move with HJK and some solid coveredge. Medicham can be a nightmare for offence with a scarf, the biggest pain to stall with a sub LO set and a pure wallbreaker with band. It can also work extremely well with sticky web support. Medicham is such a powerful pokemon and yet again if it is any lower than B- it would almost be criminal.

Those are my suggestions for the rankings :)
 

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These are a few suggestions I have:

View attachment 13396Escavalier for A+ Escavelier is a great pokemon in RU. Great bulk, HP and defences it can be a real pain for many different team archetypes. But escavelier has 1 problem, Moltres and Delphox. Moltres and delphox are extremely powerful and common. This also doesnt cover things such as zoruark which run flamethrower for coveredge. Its a great pokemon, but not quite at the level of the other two S rank's because of its crippling 4x fire weankess.

I think Escavalier should definitely stay in S-Rank, at least for the time being. Yes, its 4x fire weakness really hurts it, but the fact that it has almost no other weaknesses and that it has been metagame defining as of thus far really says a lot about it. However, should the metagame end up adjusting to it like the OU metagame has adjusted to Mega-Venusaur and such, there could be a better justification for Escavalier dropping to A+.
 
I nominate Gallade for A/A+ Rank. The sheer power this 'mon has, the passable defenses, the coverage moves, and the number of sets it can utilize effectively make this thing dangerous. Knock off and drain punch alone give it coverage that only fairy types are safe from. For coverage, want to wreck fairies? Poison jab. Escavalier giving you trouble? Fire punch. Problem with Rhyperior? Leaf blade. Want to get sneaky? Shadow sneak.
Sets it can run include sub+3 attacks, choice band as a wallbreaker, choice scarf, AV, and bulk up. A support set is possible too thanks to its access to destiny bond and will-o-wisp.
 
The Lucky Absol , you forgot SD Gallade... both of them (Offensive SD and Bulky SD) so this adds on to your versatility point. I do back a nomination to A rank, but not A+. Moltres, Delphox, and Venomoth are stupid common and have ways to beat Gallade. The coverage is great, but this also leads to what is arguably the worst case of 4MSS RU has (hey, just like BW!) Generally the best way to go about Gallade is Fighting STAB, Psycho Cut, Knock Off. From there, you have to choose between Ice Punch for Gligar, Leaf Blade for Rhyperior, or Fire Punch for Escavalier. And if you plan on using SD, Bulk Up, or Sub to setup with, you have room for none and then it really gets difficult to cover everything you want to. Gallade is solid at A rank, but the 4MSS and issues with top threats like Moltres, Delphox, and Venomoth hold it back from A+ imo. Now on to a couple of other things:

Agreeing with s_aman on Durant moving to A-. I actually pushed for this earlier, so glad to see someone is on board with me. Scarf wants to run Swarm though. The power from Hustle is nice, but you shouldn't have a 20% chance to miss with all of your attacks as a revenge killer.
Zoroark: Definitely agreeing with this move. It's so versatile and forces a ton of 50/50 plays so long as it takes the same amount of hazard damage as the thing it's disguised as. Specially-based Mixed Attacker, Physically-based Mixed Attacker, SD, NP, Specs, Scarf, Band, and even Agility of you want to go out there. This thing can do almost anything offensively. Frail as fuck, but it still takes a Scarf Braviary's U-turn with a little consistency... Definitely want it up to A+.
Escavalier: I don't agree with it moving down. Sure, Esca is 4x weak to Fire, but let me ask you something. Why does Gallade even consider running Fire Punch? Why do most Slowkings run Fire Blast? Any reason Zoroark should be using Flamethrower over Focus Blast? The answer to all of these is Escavalier. Point is, Esca may have a detrimental 4x Fire weakness, but this causes it to define the metagame to an extent. These Pokemon wouldn't really consider running Fire-type moves were it not for Escavalier (Gallade and Zoro especially) I think it should stay in S rank for this reason.
Slowking: I've actually been using this a lot lately, and it works really good. Although it has a hard time with some top threats like Venomoth, Sharpedo, and Zoroark, it also handles some top threats such as Delphox, Moltres, and Rhyperior quite nicely. The ability for it to fit onto many different teams and run multiple sets warrants a spot in A rank imo. It has the bulky / defensive versatility of Zoroark, but the inability to handle some of the biggest threats in the metagame hold it back from A+.
Meloetta: While I only have experience with using the Assault Vest set, she is incredibly versatile. A god-like movepool creates a ton of possibilities. Offensive CM, SubCM, SpDef, Mixed Relic, Specs, Scarf. A lot of different sets complemented by different moves as well. Each set has a calling card that makes it unique, whether it be Meloetta's typing, coverage, or utility moves (such as Heal Bell for the SpDef set) The higher Speed compared to Slowking is enough to separate her from King to be A rank as well. She's solid on most offensive and bulky offense teams and can even utilize a SpDef set for balanced / defensive teams.

Another nom I want to make, but I need to gather my thoughts first.
 
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