I really object to Golem going up to S. Some of the facts you presented don't seem quite right, namely:
- the difference between Graveler and Golem in offensive prowess. Graveler has base 95 atk not 90, and Golem had 110 base p atk prior to generation 6. Hence, the attack gap between the two is just 15, and not 30.
- Geodude's natural movepool is really not that good. Rock Throw and Magnitude is as far as you will get with it, Magnitude having an update in a move with a huge opportunity cost and Rock Throw not having any upgrade during the game whatsoever. Exploding unto something can probably be a good argument for moving a mon from E tier into D, but I don't see it working for somebody you're pushing into S.
Then you're saying it's only grass and water types that Golem is afraid of. There is a sufficient number of these among random trainers. As for waters not running a STAB, you can never tell when they do even if you do study the level-up learnset for each of them (most people wouldn't go that far) - regular trainers will occasionally feature moves outside of their sets that you can't predict. Since Golem is so fast, he's at the mercy of the moves they chance to have.
But Golem is afraid of a ton more than just water and grass types. Pryce's ice-types don't welcome its presence, nor do Chuck's and Bruno's fighters. When Golem also fails to OHKO, he's likely getting 2HKO'd in return, and probably outsped - let's say against E4's Will. The E4/Lance portion is generally infested with fliers and Rock Throw is Golem's best move for these folks, Rollout being ineffective due to Golem's dreadful speed stat. As a result, Golem struggles to contribute in these matchups.
Also of importance is Golem's tendency to be outsped and be susceptible to annoyances like accuracy drops, confusion and other statuses - quite an important one considering he'll fail to outspeed too many Pokemon that can hardly be considered threats - whom most outspeed with ease and OHKO with a STAB or coverage move.
Really, Golem fulfils a very strong niche but it's just a niche, and out of the S-tier mons it's by far the furthest way from "attempting" to solo the game ("attempting" because we're considered low enough levels to be part of a big team). His problems are just too big to consider him as anything other than just barely an A-tier mon. If you really do see it being very functionally different from Graveler (which it's not), move Graveler down to B if you like.
I'm not entirely convinced Magmar should be in S either, but at least Magmar's a whole lot better than Golem.
- the difference between Graveler and Golem in offensive prowess. Graveler has base 95 atk not 90, and Golem had 110 base p atk prior to generation 6. Hence, the attack gap between the two is just 15, and not 30.
- Geodude's natural movepool is really not that good. Rock Throw and Magnitude is as far as you will get with it, Magnitude having an update in a move with a huge opportunity cost and Rock Throw not having any upgrade during the game whatsoever. Exploding unto something can probably be a good argument for moving a mon from E tier into D, but I don't see it working for somebody you're pushing into S.
Then you're saying it's only grass and water types that Golem is afraid of. There is a sufficient number of these among random trainers. As for waters not running a STAB, you can never tell when they do even if you do study the level-up learnset for each of them (most people wouldn't go that far) - regular trainers will occasionally feature moves outside of their sets that you can't predict. Since Golem is so fast, he's at the mercy of the moves they chance to have.
But Golem is afraid of a ton more than just water and grass types. Pryce's ice-types don't welcome its presence, nor do Chuck's and Bruno's fighters. When Golem also fails to OHKO, he's likely getting 2HKO'd in return, and probably outsped - let's say against E4's Will. The E4/Lance portion is generally infested with fliers and Rock Throw is Golem's best move for these folks, Rollout being ineffective due to Golem's dreadful speed stat. As a result, Golem struggles to contribute in these matchups.
Also of importance is Golem's tendency to be outsped and be susceptible to annoyances like accuracy drops, confusion and other statuses - quite an important one considering he'll fail to outspeed too many Pokemon that can hardly be considered threats - whom most outspeed with ease and OHKO with a STAB or coverage move.
Really, Golem fulfils a very strong niche but it's just a niche, and out of the S-tier mons it's by far the furthest way from "attempting" to solo the game ("attempting" because we're considered low enough levels to be part of a big team). His problems are just too big to consider him as anything other than just barely an A-tier mon. If you really do see it being very functionally different from Graveler (which it's not), move Graveler down to B if you like.
I'm not entirely convinced Magmar should be in S either, but at least Magmar's a whole lot better than Golem.