Resource SS Monotype Viability Rankings [Crown Tundra]

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Zapdos-Galar B->A


I recently began using mono-flying, and I wasn't sure why a user recommended me zapdos-galar over any of the other picks, but after using it, I do not see how it doesn't at least deserve a rank equal to thunderus-T,tornadus-t and dragonite. If A tier is based on pokemon that literally solo games, then Zapdos should be there. It single handedly denies mono-dark, does very well against rock,ice, steel, ghost (if using throat chop, and scarfed lando-t with knock off can deal with pult+spectrier, the 2 problems if running banded. If scarfed, zapdos can outpace them with jolly throat chop) and at worst, Zapdos tends to trade even in it's worst match-ups, usually breaking down a wall or removing a key target for another of the powerhouses on mono-flying to start dominating. I'm still not the best at singles, but the fact that Zapdos is so reliable and single handedly can win games makes it feel more like an A tier pick, especially considering it is more on the level of the 3 mentioned earlier, offers unique advantages (including a necesary ice check that all flying teams need) and is so good at either ending games after its team weakend the opponents, or breaking holes to enable its powerful allies like ddance dragonite, nasty plot thunderus-t or lando-t to spam 1 move once the main switch in has been weakened severly
on flying, dragonite is probably S (i thought it already was moved up to S tbh), multiscale + hdb is ridiculous also has flyings only good priority, dd is most threatening and prob best overall set.

running zapdos-galar means u cant run zapdos-k, which basically restricts u to very offensive builds (and it also doesnt rly fit on rain/hurricane teams). i am guessing that is why it is B.

i tend to agree with you, flying's boltbeam weakness makes balanced flying (unreliable) imo, and i think rain hurricane teams are prob going to drop off too. flying has a lot of strong offensive options, and zapdos-g is another great offensive pivot alongside lando-t's u turn, and potentially thundurus-t's volt switch. however u see from the ranking of eg mandibuzz, mantine, zapdos-k that balance flying is being given at least as much importance to hyper offense flying, and zapdos-g rly has no place on such teams. also in the current meta, bolt beam isnt as prominent, with kyurem-b banned and threats like urshifu, spectrier, weather and terrain being the biggest offensive threats, and balance flying handles a lot of that quite well.
also, zapdos-g requires thundurus-t as a teammate so at most it is equal to it in rank (while eg rain teams might run thundurus-t even tho they dont run zapdos-g, to whatever extent rain flying is relevant)
 
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Zapdos-Galar B->A


I recently began using mono-flying, and I wasn't sure why a user recommended me zapdos-galar over any of the other picks, but after using it, I do not see how it doesn't at least deserve a rank equal to thunderus-T,tornadus-t and dragonite. If A tier is based on pokemon that literally solo games, then Zapdos should be there. It single handedly denies mono-dark, does very well against rock,ice, steel, ghost (if using throat chop, and scarfed lando-t with knock off can deal with pult+spectrier, the 2 problems if running banded. If scarfed, zapdos can outpace them with jolly throat chop) and at worst, Zapdos tends to trade even in it's worst match-ups, usually breaking down a wall or removing a key target for another of the powerhouses on mono-flying to start dominating. I'm still not the best at singles, but the fact that Zapdos is so reliable and single handedly can win games makes it feel more like an A tier pick, especially considering it is more on the level of the 3 mentioned earlier, offers unique advantages (including a necessary ice check that all flying teams need) and is so good at either ending games after its team weakened the opponents, or breaking holes to enable its powerful allies like ddance dragonite, nasty plot thunderus-t or lando-t to spam 1 move once the main switch in has been weakened severely
I disagree with a few points here. By the way you described your playstyle, I assume you plan to use Lando-I scarf then Zapdos-G as band/non-choice.

There is no correlation between A-tier and soloing games, usually, you just use the Pokemon in A and try to see what they do and compare to potential inductees. As juoean pointed out, A-tier for flying is very stacked right now. Dragonite with HDB is outrageously good, Mantine and Mandibuzz are important walls for common threats such as rain/water teams and Spectrier/Dragapult respectively, and ofc are solid Urshifu walls. Thundurus adds another electric immunity and also a water destroyer or scarfer depending on your needs. Tornadus has cemented itself as the best aggressive defogger and pivot with good Knock off/anti-steel coverage which makes it a unique pick on Flying. Lastly, ofc Zapdos is one of the best walls/stallers this type has, the ability to abuse pressure with heatwave burns and discharge paras behind subs is irritatingly successful.

Your idea of soloing types in of itself is a bit vague and maybe slightly untrue. The Dark matchup is very much in your favor however, Dark has walling/screens options with Mandibuzz and Grimmsnarl, and if non scarfed you are usually scared off by opposing scarfers or Weavile. Let's be real Celesteela bops Rock on its own, and Steel should see you struggle vs the Skarmory Aegislash combo. For the ghost matchup, it becomes very irrelevant compared to Mandibuzz as any ghost scarfer/Mimikyu/Corsola(with eviolite)/Aegislash(once scouted) scares you out.

I agree that Zapdos-G has terrific wallbreaking power and tends to at least result in a trade, however in a type as stacked as Flying that might be a wasted slot. Btw idk what you meant by it as an Ice check, it is still weak to Ice and Ice Shard more precisely, and your Ice check should be Celesteela already.

To sum it all up, I think you don't realise that a lot of the types where you claim Zapdos-G soloes, a lot of Flying S and A tier already are very reliable in. Dark might be Zapdos-G's best differentiator but besides that I struggle to see where it can make an extra impact. Hence why I think it should stay in B tier.
 

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In response to the argument of Zapdos-G to A, I'll just say simply that it's not as important as Mandibuzz, Dragonite, and etc. The roles the A ranked Pokemon perform are critical to the success of any Flying team, and that Zapdos form just isn't that critical atm. Should stay B for now, though you can't deny its immediate wallbreaking power is pretty damn good. That being said...

:tornadus-therian: A -> B

...this Pokemon doesn't really qualify as an important factor in Flying teams within the A rank now. Sure its kit is naturally great as an overall utility Pokemon, but Mandibuzz is better as a Knock Off user at the moment by virtue of typing, especially as Ghost types, specifically Spectrier are a bane for Flying atm. As a Nasty Plot breaker, Thundurus-T is essential for its Electric immunity and overall usefulness to stomp out Water teams. Mantine is great as a solid, specially defensive tank, Dragonite excels at wallbreaking and setup sweeping, no matter which way you look at it, Torn-T looks a bit out of place given that the roles it fills are better suited to other A rank Pokemon on Flying. It should just drop.

We're getting pretty close to the end of MWP, and I think an overhaul of Water is in order.

:slowking: (Water) A -> B
:mantine: (Water) C -> A

Slowking is out, Mantine is in. I think people have started getting off this high of Slowking + HDB, especially when Spectrier is so currently prominent right now and most of Water is NP/CM or Grim Neigh bait. Wisp + Hex sets are detrimental to most Urshifu-R and Crawdaunt sets, while at present the best wall for Spectrier is Mantine. Also factor in the idea that Water has continuously struggled with hazard stacking as balanced teams are foregoing hazard control for multiple HDB users (which has poorly performed in MWP) and Mantine fills all these roles so well for it.

:barraskewda: B -> A

Rain Water has proven to be a formidable playstyle in MWP, especially in the later weeks, and Barraskewda is partly to blame because of it. Adamant, Rain Boosted + CB/LO/Ebelt attacks from this mon while being unparalleled in Speed make it difficult to switch into, as true counters to this mon defensively are limited to dedicated, physically defensive walls in Slowbro and Amoonguss, while offensive checks are limited to Priority attackers, or you wait for Rain to subside and have something faster than Adamant Barraskewda like Tapu Koko or Weavile force it out (assuming it is Adamant). Rain Boosted Flip Turn as a source of pivoting and momentum also addon to its presence, as its raw power in rain forces Pokemon out more often then not, forcing opposing teams to act defensively.

:suicune: B -> C

Not much to say here, people aren't using the thing. It shouldn't share a subrank with Barraskewda and Gastrodon atm. Pickrate and winrate of this mon in MWP also supports this nomination, given its miniscule 6.45% pick rate and and nonexistant winrate respectively.

:crawdaunt: (Water) C -> B

Unlike Suicune, the lobster's becoming a bit more popular with Choiced sets finding value in one way or another. Banded sets exist for their sheer power + Adaptability, while Scarf has been seen here and there to pick off common threats like Specs Lele and Thundurus-T, to name a few.
 

Zapdos-Galar B->A


I recently began using mono-flying, and I wasn't sure why a user recommended me zapdos-galar over any of the other picks, but after using it, I do not see how it doesn't at least deserve a rank equal to thunderus-T,tornadus-t and dragonite. If A tier is based on pokemon that literally solo games, then Zapdos should be there. It single handedly denies mono-dark, does very well against rock,ice, steel, ghost (if using throat chop, and scarfed lando-t with knock off can deal with pult+spectrier, the 2 problems if running banded. If scarfed, zapdos can outpace them with jolly throat chop) and at worst, Zapdos tends to trade even in it's worst match-ups, usually breaking down a wall or removing a key target for another of the powerhouses on mono-flying to start dominating. I'm still not the best at singles, but the fact that Zapdos is so reliable and single handedly can win games makes it feel more like an A tier pick, especially considering it is more on the level of the 3 mentioned earlier, offers unique advantages (including a necesary ice check that all flying teams need) and is so good at either ending games after its team weakend the opponents, or breaking holes to enable its powerful allies like ddance dragonite, nasty plot thunderus-t or lando-t to spam 1 move once the main switch in has been weakened severly
I definitely agree with this. I feel without it flying wouldn't be as good as it is now.
 
Now that this thread's more active, I have a few nominations of my own


Weavile: B=>A (Dark)
Weavile @ Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Icicle Crash / Triple Axel
- Ice Shard
- Low Kick

Weavile @ Never-Melt Ice
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Icicle Crash / Triple Axel
- Ice Shard
- Swords Dance


With Dragon and Flying teams being extremely common in tournament play, Weavile provides excellent offensive utility for Dark in these matchups, with its Choice Band variant having almost no safe switch ins on either type(Skarmory gets 2HKOed by Choice Band Triple Axel most of the time), and Swords Dance variants being capable of pulling off unopposed late-game sweeps, thanks to its amazing Speed tier and +2 Ice Shard removing most of the viable revenge killers on both types(exception being Scarf Dracovish). Even when looking outside of these matchups specifically, Weavile's aforementioned great Speed tier and incredibly strong damage output with Triple Axel is greatly appreciated in a variety of other relevant matchups, such as Ground(reliably revenge killing SD Garchomp), Grass(naturally outspeeding and OHKOing Whimsicott while greatly pressuring Ferrothorn and bypassing Rillaboom's Grassy Glide with its own priority), and Ghost(OHKOing Mimikyu behind Disguise with Triple Axel and having a consistent super effective priority option for Dragon Dance Dragapult, which Sucker Punch won't always be able to beat). Weavile's large list of strengths in the current metagame warrant it a spot in A Rank on Dark.


Kommo-o: D=>C(Dragon)
Kommo-o @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 HP / 28 SpD / 228 Spe
Careful Nature
OR
EVs: 252 HP / 64 SpD / 192 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
- Earthquake
- Substitute / Taunt


For Kommo-o, its Iron Defense set is extremely effective in a few relevant matchups, being Steel and Dark, as well as the occasional Normal. With its excellent natural bulk giving it lots of opportunities to safely set up on more defensive Pokemon(Ferrothorn and Aegislash on Steel, Mandibuzz and Tyranitar on Dark, Blissey on Normal), it can very safely and reliably snowball through these types, since they have very few reliable revenge killers once Kommo-o has boosted up. With Substitute, however, Kommo-o will be able to claim more than enough kills before something like Moonblast Jirachi or Hydreigon will force it out. Another moveset option for it is Taunt, with the purpose of keeping Skarmory from phasing it out with Whirlwind. The 1st EV spread is meant to outspeed Jolly Bisharp, while the 2nd one is meant to outspeed Heatran, both of which become easy setup bait for Kommo-o if it's able to outspeed them. Despite how well it performs against these matchups, though, it fails to do much of anything against many other balance types like Water, Poison, and Flying, and fails to find safe setup opportunities in more volatile matchups like the Dragon ditto, Psychic, and Ghost. Because of this, I'm only nominating it to C Rank.


Heatran: A=>C(Fire)
Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Toxic

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 HP / 216 SpD / 40 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Earth Power


Heatran is in a weird place on Fire teams. With how much more offensive and volatile the metagame has gotten, it doesn't really provide a lot of helpful utility for Fire anymore. The Air Balloon Magma Storm trapping set does a serviceable job against Poison teams specifically, but with how common G-Slowking has become, it fails to get very far in the matchup without being worn down extremely quickly. To add onto this point about Poison, Nihilego is significantly less common on the type, which reduces the usefulness of the specially defensive Stealth Rock set. It really doesn't offer the same defensive utility as Pokemon like Incineroar or Rotom-Heat, both of which are capable of pivoting themselves, while also having much more unique utility(Rotom-H with Screens+Defog, and Incineroar with Intimidate and an extremely helpful Ghost resistance to beat Spectrier). Heatran feels more appropriate in C Rank with other extremely niche defensive options like Volcanion and Moltres; Pokemon that have helpful options, but not enough to the point where they make a noticeable difference.


G-Moltres: D=>B(Flying)
Moltres-Galar @ Leftovers
Ability: Berserk
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fiery Wrath
- Hurricane
- Nasty Plot
- Substitute

In my opinion, G-Moltres deserves a rise on Flying because of what it offers as a wallbreaker. Between Nasty Plot and its extremely strong STAB combination of Fiery Wrath+Hurricane, G-Moltres does an excellent job dismantling fat cores on Poison, Psychic, and Steel teams. While Mandibuzz performs better defensively, G-Moltres' combination of an actual offensive presence and its good natural bulk makes it better equipped at handling Spectrier, who can Substitute for free in front of Mandibuzz once it gets burned. This alone makes the Ghost matchup significantly better, since Spectrier behind a Substitute is one of the current larger threats against Flying teams at the moment. Because of all this, I think G-Moltres is deserving of B-Rank on Flying.


Appletun: B=>D(Grass)
Appletun @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Apple Acid
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
- Leech Seed


Get this thing out of here. It *technically* comes in on Fire hits better than Cradily because of Thick Fat, but it's beating almost none of the Fire types it switches in on, and Cradily's Rock STAB and access to Toxic make it better at not only dealing with Fire-types, but also actually stalling things out. Outside of the Fire resistance, it really has nothing else going for it, since most of its resistances are overlaps with what Grass already has, and it's not lasting long enough against Dragon to actually make use of its Dragon STAB. Apple Acid Spdef drops are sadly not enough to make it worth even C rank, so I personally think it should drop all the way to D Rank.


Amoonguss: C=>A(Grass)
Amoonguss @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
OR
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Foul Play
- Spore
- Synthesis / Giga Drain


Amoonguss is a really solid Pokemon on Grass teams currently, greatly complimenting the defensive core of Ferrothorn+Cradily by removing Toxic Spikes and having access to Regenerator. This greatly improves matchups such as Poison, Dragon, Dark, and Water simply by improving everything's survivability. Additionally, Amoonguss has quite a lot of room for customization, being able to operate as a Physdef tank capable of handling dangerous setup sweepers like Dragapult, Mimikyu, Bisharp, Zarude, Tapu Bulu, and even Urshifu if it's able to safely come in and put it to sleep. Alternatively, you could also make it more specially oriented(with just enough Defense investment to live an Iron Head from +2 Aegislash) so that it can more comfortably switch into Thundurus-T and G-Slowking, which would otherwise cause problems for Ferrothorn+Cradily. Amoonguss has seen lots of use on Grass teams in MWP as well, so I definitely think it's worth the A Rank on Grass.



Kyurem: B=>A(Ice)
Kyurem @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 56 HP / 200 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Earth Power
- Substitute
- Roost


Kyurem is easily one of the best Pokemon on Ice teams right now, mainly by virtue of its SubRoost set. Its amazing natural bulk and solid offensive coverage with Freeze-Dry+Earth Power makes it really effective at wearing down types such as Water, Electric, Poison, Flying, and even Steel, all of which becomes exacerbated even more by Aurora Veil. Even in matchups where it doesn't contribute a lot, the traits it has still prove to be useful, specifically against G-Corsola and Blacephalon on Ghost, and Slowbro+Mew on Psychic. It's always been a great Pokemon, and I think it deserves to be A Rank on Ice.


Piloswine: B=>A(Ice)
Piloswine @ Eviolite
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic


Piloswine is really great as a specially defensive pivot on Ice, being able to check a variety of dangerous special threats like Blacephalon, Volcarona, Tapu Koko, Alolan Raichu, Nihilego, and Heatran. Basically doing what it's been doing since the last few generations, except with Mamoswine's offensive utility being overshadowed by G-Darmanitan and Weavile, Piloswine should definitely rise up to A Rank on Ice.


Mamoswine: A=>B(Ice)
Mamoswine @ Focus Sash
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Stealth Rock
- Endeavor


Swapping places with Piloswine, Mamoswine doesn't offer very much offensively that can't already be done by G-Darmanitan and Weavile, and Ice appreciates Piloswine's strong special bulk much more, which is why Mamo should drop to B Rank.


Crustle: D=>Unranked(Rock)

Completely useless as a Shell Smash sweeper, both Omastar and Barbaracle perform the role much better. Not much else to say about it, send it to the shadow realm.

That's all the nominations I have, feel free to say whether you agree or disagree with any of it.
 

mushamu

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Now that this thread's more active, I have a few nominations of my own


Weavile: B=>A (Dark)
Weavile @ Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Icicle Crash / Triple Axel
- Ice Shard
- Low Kick

Weavile @ Never-Melt Ice
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Icicle Crash / Triple Axel
- Ice Shard
- Swords Dance


With Dragon and Flying teams being extremely common in tournament play, Weavile provides excellent offensive utility for Dark in these matchups, with its Choice Band variant having almost no safe switch ins on either type(Skarmory gets 2HKOed by Choice Band Triple Axel most of the time), and Swords Dance variants being capable of pulling off unopposed late-game sweeps, thanks to its amazing Speed tier and +2 Ice Shard removing most of the viable revenge killers on both types(exception being Scarf Dracovish). Even when looking outside of these matchups specifically, Weavile's aforementioned great Speed tier and incredibly strong damage output with Triple Axel is greatly appreciated in a variety of other relevant matchups, such as Ground(reliably revenge killing SD Garchomp), Grass(naturally outspeeding and OHKOing Whimsicott while greatly pressuring Ferrothorn and bypassing Rillaboom's Grassy Glide with its own priority), and Ghost(OHKOing Mimikyu behind Disguise with Triple Axel and having a consistent super effective priority option for Dragon Dance Dragapult, which Sucker Punch won't always be able to beat). Weavile's large list of strengths in the current metagame warrant it a spot in A Rank on Dark.


Kommo-o: D=>C(Dragon)
Kommo-o @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 HP / 28 SpD / 228 Spe
Careful Nature
OR
EVs: 252 HP / 64 SpD / 192 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
- Earthquake
- Substitute / Taunt


For Kommo-o, its Iron Defense set is extremely effective in a few relevant matchups, being Steel and Dark, as well as the occasional Normal. With its excellent natural bulk giving it lots of opportunities to safely set up on more defensive Pokemon(Ferrothorn and Aegislash on Steel, Mandibuzz and Tyranitar on Dark, Blissey on Normal), it can very safely and reliably snowball through these types, since they have very few reliable revenge killers once Kommo-o has boosted up. With Substitute, however, Kommo-o will be able to claim more than enough kills before something like Moonblast Jirachi or Hydreigon will force it out. Another moveset option for it is Taunt, with the purpose of keeping Skarmory from phasing it out with Whirlwind. The 1st EV spread is meant to outspeed Jolly Bisharp, while the 2nd one is meant to outspeed Heatran, both of which become easy setup bait for Kommo-o if it's able to outspeed them. Despite how well it performs against these matchups, though, it fails to do much of anything against many other balance types like Water, Poison, and Flying, and fails to find safe setup opportunities in more volatile matchups like the Dragon ditto, Psychic, and Ghost. Because of this, I'm only nominating it to C Rank.


Heatran: A=>C(Fire)
Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Toxic

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 HP / 216 SpD / 40 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Earth Power


Heatran is in a weird place on Fire teams. With how much more offensive and volatile the metagame has gotten, it doesn't really provide a lot of helpful utility for Fire anymore. The Air Balloon Magma Storm trapping set does a serviceable job against Poison teams specifically, but with how common G-Slowking has become, it fails to get very far in the matchup without being worn down extremely quickly. To add onto this point about Poison, Nihilego is significantly less common on the type, which reduces the usefulness of the specially defensive Stealth Rock set. It really doesn't offer the same defensive utility as Pokemon like Incineroar or Rotom-Heat, both of which are capable of pivoting themselves, while also having much more unique utility(Rotom-H with Screens+Defog, and Incineroar with Intimidate and an extremely helpful Ghost resistance to beat Spectrier). Heatran feels more appropriate in C Rank with other extremely niche defensive options like Volcanion and Moltres; Pokemon that have helpful options, but not enough to the point where they make a noticeable difference.


G-Moltres: D=>B(Flying)
Moltres-Galar @ Leftovers
Ability: Berserk
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fiery Wrath
- Hurricane
- Nasty Plot
- Substitute

In my opinion, G-Moltres deserves a rise on Flying because of what it offers as a wallbreaker. Between Nasty Plot and its extremely strong STAB combination of Fiery Wrath+Hurricane, G-Moltres does an excellent job dismantling fat cores on Poison, Psychic, and Steel teams. While Mandibuzz performs better defensively, G-Moltres' combination of an actual offensive presence and its good natural bulk makes it better equipped at handling Spectrier, who can Substitute for free in front of Mandibuzz once it gets burned. This alone makes the Ghost matchup significantly better, since Spectrier behind a Substitute is one of the current larger threats against Flying teams at the moment. Because of all this, I think G-Moltres is deserving of B-Rank on Flying.


Appletun: B=>D(Grass)
Appletun @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Apple Acid
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
- Leech Seed


Get this thing out of here. It *technically* comes in on Fire hits better than Cradily because of Thick Fat, but it's beating almost none of the Fire types it switches in on, and Cradily's Rock STAB and access to Toxic make it better at not only dealing with Fire-types, but also actually stalling things out. Outside of the Fire resistance, it really has nothing else going for it, since most of its resistances are overlaps with what Grass already has, and it's not lasting long enough against Dragon to actually make use of its Dragon STAB. Apple Acid Spdef drops are sadly not enough to make it worth even C rank, so I personally think it should drop all the way to D Rank.


Amoonguss: C=>A(Grass)
Amoonguss @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
OR
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Foul Play
- Spore
- Synthesis / Giga Drain


Amoonguss is a really solid Pokemon on Grass teams currently, greatly complimenting the defensive core of Ferrothorn+Cradily by removing Toxic Spikes and having access to Regenerator. This greatly improves matchups such as Poison, Dragon, Dark, and Water simply by improving everything's survivability. Additionally, Amoonguss has quite a lot of room for customization, being able to operate as a Physdef tank capable of handling dangerous setup sweepers like Dragapult, Mimikyu, Bisharp, Zarude, Tapu Bulu, and even Urshifu if it's able to safely come in and put it to sleep. Alternatively, you could also make it more specially oriented(with just enough Defense investment to live an Iron Head from +2 Aegislash) so that it can more comfortably switch into Thundurus-T and G-Slowking, which would otherwise cause problems for Ferrothorn+Cradily. Amoonguss has seen lots of use on Grass teams in MWP as well, so I definitely think it's worth the A Rank on Grass.



Kyurem: B=>A(Ice)
Kyurem @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 56 HP / 200 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Earth Power
- Substitute
- Roost


Kyurem is easily one of the best Pokemon on Ice teams right now, mainly by virtue of its SubRoost set. Its amazing natural bulk and solid offensive coverage with Freeze-Dry+Earth Power makes it really effective at wearing down types such as Water, Electric, Poison, Flying, and even Steel, all of which becomes exacerbated even more by Aurora Veil. Even in matchups where it doesn't contribute a lot, the traits it has still prove to be useful, specifically against G-Corsola and Blacephalon on Ghost, and Slowbro+Mew on Psychic. It's always been a great Pokemon, and I think it deserves to be A Rank on Ice.


Piloswine: B=>A(Ice)
Piloswine @ Eviolite
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic


Piloswine is really great as a specially defensive pivot on Ice, being able to check a variety of dangerous special threats like Blacephalon, Volcarona, Tapu Koko, Alolan Raichu, Nihilego, and Heatran. Basically doing what it's been doing since the last few generations, except with Mamoswine's offensive utility being overshadowed by G-Darmanitan and Weavile, Piloswine should definitely rise up to A Rank on Ice.


Mamoswine: A=>B(Ice)
Mamoswine @ Focus Sash
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Stealth Rock
- Endeavor


Swapping places with Piloswine, Mamoswine doesn't offer very much offensively that can't already be done by G-Darmanitan and Weavile, and Ice appreciates Piloswine's strong special bulk much more, which is why Mamo should drop to B Rank.


Crustle: D=>Unranked(Rock)

Completely useless as a Shell Smash sweeper, both Omastar and Barbaracle perform the role much better. Not much else to say about it, send it to the shadow realm.

That's all the nominations I have, feel free to say whether you agree or disagree with any of it.
I've been playing a lot of Ice recently and I feel like the VR should have a revamp. I agree with your Piloswine, Kyurem, and Mamoswine nominations. Ideally I think for the Ice VR, swapping the current A ranked Pokemon with the B ranked Pokemon makes sense, and then throwing Galarian Darmanitan down to A. You could honestly make an argument for Kyurem to be ranked S and for Glastrier to be bumped up slightly to C. Feedback on these nominations are welcome as always:
  • Galarian Darmanitan is a cool Pokemon, but it's only really extra sauce to do better against Dark if you want to run it alongside Choice Scarf Weavile. Being locked into one attack hurts a ton when actually breaking types like Steel.
  • Avalugg would drop to B because it's just extremely passive as hazard removal and invites in Ghost-type Pokemon for free which is extremely undesirable. Cloyster is a lot better for Rapid Spin because it gets Spikes to punish passivity while the Water typing can be cool for checking Dracovish; while Rocky Helmet along with a Water typing means you have better counterplay to Melmetal.
  • In the same vein, Cloyster should rise to A. Rocky Helmet + duel hazards + Rapid Spin is really nice on Ice for role compression.
  • Weavile is the best Speed control there is right now. Knock Off is also extremely valuable for removing Celesteela's Leftovers.
  • Kyurem is dominating the SS Monotype metagame right now and is one of the best Pokemon on Ice. It gives Ice as a type a win condition against a lot of the top types because Pressure + Substitute spam is just so powerful.
  • Glastrier shits on balance pretty nicely. It sets up on staples like Slowbro, Toxic Celesteela, Galarian Corsola, Toxapex, and Galarian Weezing. I definitely think it's better than the stuff ranked at D right now.
Re: Galarian Zapdos I do think it's more of a niche option to cteam Dark specifically, which can be hard for Flying seeing the surge of Weavile on teams. I really don't feel good about putting it on the same level as something more consistently good like Thundurus-T specifically. It's also ugly as fuck.

Dragonite and Tornadus-T are probably the most appropriate Pokemon to drop from A to B on Flying as both of them struggle with the uptick of Mantine + Dark-type teams that jeopardizes their usage. Those two Pokemon can definitely see Galarian Zapdos eye to eye viability wise.
 
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  • In the same vein, Weavile should rise to A. Rocky Helmet + duel hazards + Rapid Spin is really nice on Ice for role compression.
maybe you mean cloyster?

anyways, huge agree with weavile rising on both ice and dark too. been playing around with dark lately, i'm kinda partial to choiced sets. scarf takes many other scarfers by surprise and is extremely fast in general. band hits hard, sniping stuff like skarm and spdef celesteela and corviknight. overall, it's a pretty solid pick for dark and if pretty good and chipping at problematic mons.
 
I disagree with a few points here. By the way you described your playstyle, I assume you plan to use Lando-I scarf then Zapdos-G as band/non-choice.

There is no correlation between A-tier and soloing games, usually, you just use the Pokemon in A and try to see what they do and compare to potential inductees. As juoean pointed out, A-tier for flying is very stacked right now. Dragonite with HDB is outrageously good, Mantine and Mandibuzz are important walls for common threats such as rain/water teams and Spectrier/Dragapult respectively, and ofc are solid Urshifu walls. Thundurus adds another electric immunity and also a water destroyer or scarfer depending on your needs. Tornadus has cemented itself as the best aggressive defogger and pivot with good Knock off/anti-steel coverage which makes it a unique pick on Flying. Lastly, ofc Zapdos is one of the best walls/stallers this type has, the ability to abuse pressure with heatwave burns and discharge paras behind subs is irritatingly successful.

Your idea of soloing types in of itself is a bit vague and maybe slightly untrue. The Dark matchup is very much in your favor however, Dark has walling/screens options with Mandibuzz and Grimmsnarl, and if non scarfed you are usually scared off by opposing scarfers or Weavile. Let's be real Celesteela bops Rock on its own, and Steel should see you struggle vs the Skarmory Aegislash combo. For the ghost matchup, it becomes very irrelevant compared to Mandibuzz as any ghost scarfer/Mimikyu/Corsola(with eviolite)/Aegislash(once scouted) scares you out.

I agree that Zapdos-G has terrific wallbreaking power and tends to at least result in a trade, however in a type as stacked as Flying that might be a wasted slot. Btw idk what you meant by it as an Ice check, it is still weak to Ice and Ice Shard more precisely, and your Ice check should be Celesteela already.

To sum it all up, I think you don't realise that a lot of the types where you claim Zapdos-G soloes, a lot of Flying S and A tier already are very reliable in. Dark might be Zapdos-G's best differentiator but besides that I struggle to see where it can make an extra impact. Hence why I think it should stay in B tier.
What you said mostly makes sence, however I don't really see how zapdos-g isn't at least on par with dragonite. It's terrifying wallbreaking potential is it's claim to fame, but with how easily it can handle some of the scariest mons (it lives 1 hit from dragapult, and ohko's it with throat chop), lives modest shadow ball from spectrier (modest and either life or or +1 special attack),mamo (adamant) only has a roll to 2 shot zapdos-g with ice-shard, and if it is not focus sash, it just outright dies, and scarf mamo with icicle crash can not ohko or outspeed zapdos-g. On top of living a list of strong hits, zapdos just has the ability to take 1 hit, and nuke something big that either your team doesn't have an answer to, or your answer went down earlier in the match.

I made the post when I was very new to singles, but even now, Zapdos-G has yet to disapoint when it comes to revenge killing or late game cleaning. While it isn't a tank, it can 1v1 almost any major threat, and at worst leave them so weak, even the weakest hits would finish them off. Even if zapdos-g doesn't get the kill and drops, that is just a free switch to either dragonite to threaten the kill, and potentially dance on their switch, or thunderus and either let out a free attack or nasty plot, or even scarf lando if you really need the kill, and the other 2 wont be able to do the job

If you are still hesitant on zapdos-g, it not only lives a timid max special attack psyshock from latias (modest is a 12.5% chance to drop), zapdos-g 2 shots it guaranteed (it's a roll to 1 shot heavily in your favor if they arent bulk invested). Oh, and it is always a roll to ohko with brave bird, and not bulky latias just dies in 1 hit guaranteed to it. This is just one of many rediculous examples of what zapdos-G can do

Zapdos-g isn't just good because it can rip things apart, it is good because it doesn't need much help to do so, and not only can set up easily for it's teammates to sweep by taking down key targets, it can abuse the holes it's teammates make. And just when zapdos-g seems out of tricks, it's natural bulk enables it to almost always take neutral hits and a surprising amount of super effective hits. I don't see it on the level of celesteela (literally the most rediculous mon on mono-flying), but something this good

Oh, and zapdos-g, dragonite and thunderus-T pair very well together, enabling you to win assuming either of these 3 behemoths can get into position, which is very easy with u-turn on lando+torn, and those 2 able to safely chip or take out threats.

Or just...well..use them to take out anything that scares celesteela, and just win cuz they can't kill giga drain or leech seed celesteela, that works too
 
on flying, dragonite is probably S (i thought it already was moved up to S tbh), multiscale + hdb is ridiculous also has flyings only good priority, dd is most threatening and prob best overall set.

running zapdos-galar means u cant run zapdos-k, which basically restricts u to very offensive builds (and it also doesnt rly fit on rain/hurricane teams). i am guessing that is why it is B.

i tend to agree with you, flying's boltbeam weakness makes balanced flying (unreliable) imo, and i think rain hurricane teams are prob going to drop off too. flying has a lot of strong offensive options, and zapdos-g is another great offensive pivot alongside lando-t's u turn, and potentially thundurus-t's volt switch. however u see from the ranking of eg mandibuzz, mantine, zapdos-k that balance flying is being given at least as much importance to hyper offense flying, and zapdos-g rly has no place on such teams. also in the current meta, bolt beam isnt as prominent, with kyurem-b banned and threats like urshifu and terrain being the biggest offensive threats, and balance flying handles a lot of that quite well.
also, zapdos-g requires thundurus-t as a teammate so at most it is equal to it in rank (while eg rain teams might run thundurus-t even tho they dont run zapdos-g, to whatever extent rain flying is relevant)
Zapdos-G from my days of using it just feels like a second dragonite at this point. It naturally lives the most random bs (most spectrier, unboosted pults...anything, dies to crit +1 phantom force tho, psyshock from not max special modest latias, icicle crash from any mamo, unless banded, but that dies to close combat, and zapdos-g will only take half from it) and it just ends up ripping things down and happens to be good at dealing with things that stop ddance or nasty plots from happening...or fat celesteela from just winning via sitting there and doing celesteela things.

It is reliable in threatening switches, acting as a revenge killer with it's natural bulk, rediculous power and respectable speed. I originally was gonna use mantine on my team, and considering how most mono-flyings I run into have zapdos-g, how once everything faster than it is down, you sometimes just get to click brave bird until zapdos-g takes itself out due to recoil (these situations usually lead to trades at worst, but usuall you get 2 mons down), something so powerful that, once it gets a free switch in late game, can just force your opponent to sac something to it everytime it comes in, or even just the situation where they are so worn down, they have to play to bring zapdos-g down to recoil, something that good feels much stronger than the other B tiers.

If these situations were in every game, then itd probably be S tier, but other than zapdos being able to almost always take 1 hit, the whole brave bird thing is more uncommon, but defenitely something you run into every few games, even in situations where you werent even trying to set it up/you sent it in as a sac, and it just sometimes leads to brave bird spam

I'm still newer to singles, so I might not be noticing things, but as of now, zapdos-g has felt super good, and I doubt I would ever consider zapdos-k over thunderus-t, as lightning rod+nasty plot have been so rediculous and have single handedly won me games already
 
What you said mostly makes sence, however I don't really see how zapdos-g isn't at least on par with dragonite. It's terrifying wallbreaking potential is it's claim to fame, but with how easily it can handle some of the scariest mons (it lives 1 hit from dragapult, and ohko's it with throat chop), lives modest shadow ball from spectrier (modest and either life or or +1 special attack),mamo (adamant) only has a roll to 2 shot zapdos-g with ice-shard, and if it is not focus sash, it just outright dies, and scarf mamo with icicle crash can not ohko or outspeed zapdos-g. On top of living a list of strong hits, zapdos just has the ability to take 1 hit, and nuke something big that either your team doesn't have an answer to, or your answer went down earlier in the match.

I made the post when I was very new to singles, but even now, Zapdos-G has yet to disapoint when it comes to revenge killing or late game cleaning. While it isn't a tank, it can 1v1 almost any major threat, and at worst leave them so weak, even the weakest hits would finish them off. Even if zapdos-g doesn't get the kill and drops, that is just a free switch to either dragonite to threaten the kill, and potentially dance on their switch, or thunderus and either let out a free attack or nasty plot, or even scarf lando if you really need the kill, and the other 2 wont be able to do the job

If you are still hesitant on zapdos-g, it not only lives a timid max special attack psyshock from latias (modest is a 12.5% chance to drop), zapdos-g 2 shots it guaranteed (it's a roll to 1 shot heavily in your favor if they arent bulk invested). Oh, and it is always a roll to ohko with brave bird, and not bulky latias just dies in 1 hit guaranteed to it. This is just one of many rediculous examples of what zapdos-G can do

Zapdos-g isn't just good because it can rip things apart, it is good because it doesn't need much help to do so, and not only can set up easily for it's teammates to sweep by taking down key targets, it can abuse the holes it's teammates make. And just when zapdos-g seems out of tricks, it's natural bulk enables it to almost always take neutral hits and a surprising amount of super effective hits. I don't see it on the level of celesteela (literally the most rediculous mon on mono-flying), but something this good

Oh, and zapdos-g, dragonite and thunderus-T pair very well together, enabling you to win assuming either of these 3 behemoths can get into position, which is very easy with u-turn on lando+torn, and those 2 able to safely chip or take out threats.

Or just...well..use them to take out anything that scares celesteela, and just win cuz they can't kill giga drain or leech seed celesteela, that works too
i think some of this is more an issue of ranking criteria. no one is questioning that the team structure you are describing is very viable, and zapdos-g definitely plays an important role in those teams. however, using zapdos-g restricts you to HO (non-rain) builds, and balance builds are entirely viable as well and cannot use zapdos-g.

S rank indicates pokemon that are essential to the type or in their role and find a spot on almost every team of that type. The only pokemon on flying that meet this are lando-t, celesteela, and potentially dragonite. zapdos-g obviously doesnt fit this description since it is entirely restricted to HO builds, there is no ambiguity here.

A rank indicates either having an important role to the type's primary team archetype, or having an essential/mandatory role to one of the primary archetypes. The issue here is that (while i tend to agree with you that HO flying is a more consistent archetype 'theoretically'), balance flying is at least as prevalent and viable in the current metagame as described in kaguya's post, and zapdos-g is also probably not mandatory to HO teams, at least rn, with rain HO being the clearest example. To argue that zapdos-g is A, would need to show that it is mandatory for HO teams (and that HO flying is at least as important as balance flying).

i agree with the earlier nomination of tornadus-t dropping to B as well, even tho it is not as completely restricted to one archetype but balance teams have less and less need for it, so i do agree with you those two mons belong in the same rank. dragonite is not restricted to HO builds at all, most if not almost all balance teams will still want hdb dragonite for its ability to deal with (pretty much any) offensive threat that the defensive core cannot handle; so even if zapdos-g and dragonite were on par in that specific HO team structure they aren't in general, dragonite finds a spot on almost any team while zapdos-g is restricted to HO builds.

as was noted, celesteela pretty completely walls mamoswine, so im not sure why zapdos-g (is taking it on vs either ground or ice). if it is focus sash, zapdos-g is killed by either endeavor or icicle crash followed by ice shard (but it can ofc just either u-turn or direct switch into celesteela instead, if u want to break sash vs if u want to not risk taking ice shard). thundurus-t has volt absorb, not lightning rod. but otherwise, i agree with your specific descriptions, zapdos-g is an excellent wallbreaker for HO teams.
 
What you said mostly makes sence, however I don't really see how zapdos-g isn't at least on par with dragonite. It's terrifying wallbreaking potential is it's claim to fame, but with how easily it can handle some of the scariest mons (it lives 1 hit from dragapult, and ohko's it with throat chop), lives modest shadow ball from spectrier (modest and either life or or +1 special attack),mamo (adamant) only has a roll to 2 shot zapdos-g with ice-shard, and if it is not focus sash, it just outright dies, and scarf mamo with icicle crash can not ohko or outspeed zapdos-g. On top of living a list of strong hits, zapdos just has the ability to take 1 hit, and nuke something big that either your team doesn't have an answer to, or your answer went down earlier in the match.
That is literally the difference between Zapdos-G and Dragonite, Zapdos-G has to play for a trade (or 1 for 1) resulting in it being at low HP, whereas Dragonite has DDance Roost sets that make it a reusable version of what makes Zapdos-G great here according to you + can DDance ofc. That is where the idea of being a waste of a slot on a stacked type comes in. Zapdos is a fantastic Wallbreaker and Cleaner but imo it is in no way a substitute for Dragonite or even remotely comparable. For threats where you mention Zapdos takes a hit where Dragonite doesn't such as +1 Dragapult or Mamoswine, just use Celesteela and hard wall them. This notion of taking a hit shouldn't be so overrated since Flying has very competent walls to support their offensive core.

If you are still hesitant on zapdos-g, it not only lives a timid max special attack psyshock from latias (modest is a 12.5% chance to drop), zapdos-g 2 shots it guaranteed (it's a roll to 1 shot heavily in your favor if they arent bulk invested). Oh, and it is always a roll to ohko with brave bird, and not bulky latias just dies in 1 hit guaranteed to it. This is just one of many rediculous examples of what zapdos-G can do

I made the post when I was very new to singles, but even now, Zapdos-G has yet to disapoint when it comes to revenge killing or late game cleaning. While it isn't a tank, it can 1v1 almost any major threat, and at worst leave them so weak, even the weakest hits would finish them off. Even if zapdos-g doesn't get the kill and drops, that is just a free switch to either dragonite to threaten the kill, and potentially dance on their switch, or thunderus and either let out a free attack or nasty plot, or even scarf lando if you really need the kill, and the other 2 wont be able to do the job

Zapdos-g isn't just good because it can rip things apart, it is good because it doesn't need much help to do so, and not only can set up easily for it's teammates to sweep by taking down key targets, it can abuse the holes it's teammates make. And just when zapdos-g seems out of tricks, it's natural bulk enables it to almost always take neutral hits and a surprising amount of super effective hits. I don't see it on the level of celesteela (literally the most rediculous mon on mono-flying), but something this good
I don't disagree with this Zapdos-G comps have become more common now, with it putting a lot of work vs Dark, Poison and Water teams. However this idea that you present where it rips teams apart is a bit nuanced. If not band, it can face adversity in even those good matchups.

Toxapex takes 2 hits at full hp and has 2 chances to scald burn/toxic Zapdos-G(+brave bird recoil) and chipping it into hopefully being in revenge kill range and can be swapped out into a sack to avoid the 1 for 1 trade.​
+1 252 Atk Zapdos-Galar Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 153-181 (50.3 - 59.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO​
252 Atk Zapdos-Galar Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 102-121 (33.5 - 39.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zapdos-Galar on a critical hit: 201-243 (62.6 - 75.7%) -- approx. 2HKO
252 SpA Tapu Fini Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Zapdos-Galar: 272-324 (84.7 - 100.9%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

Weezing-G does same thing and can WoW/Pain Split/Strange Steam chip you into revenge kill range
+1 252 Atk Zapdos-Galar Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Weezing: 181-214 (54.1 - 64%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252 SpA Sheer Force Nidoking Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Zapdos-Galar: 208-246 (64.7 - 76.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Nihilego Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Zapdos-Galar: 210-248 (65.4 - 77.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Mandibuzz might be your best matchup of the lot but if they have Foul Play, the same result occurs.
+1 252 Atk Zapdos-Galar Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Mandibuzz: 199-235 (47 - 55.5%) -- 75.8% chance to 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Mandibuzz Foul Play vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zapdos-Galar: 123-146 (38.3 - 45.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Hydreigon Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Zapdos-Galar: 225-265 (70 - 82.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Weavile Icicle Crash vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zapdos-Galar: 288-342 (89.7 - 106.5%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO

From those calls you could argue that opposing Physical walls are chipped and prone to a Dragonite sweep however, if the opponent sacks effectively, they could all be healthy enough to take a +0 hit and Toxic/WoW/Foul Play, however in most cases you should be favoured I'll give you that. Now is the 1 for 1 trade worth it? It's up to you to decide. Imo unless you really need to cover the Dark matchup, Flying has better options out there. Before you mention all the other matchups where Zapdos can indeed 1v1 walls, I have omitted them since Flying usually has better threats to deal with those (notably Mandibuzz/Celesteela/Mantine). The commendable thing about Zapdos is that it isn't hard stopped by a lot that is relevant in the meta rn. The worse one I could find was Skarmory but besides that, it can chunk so many things for 30% with the CC BB combo.

Oh, and zapdos-g, dragonite and thunderus-T pair very well together, enabling you to win assuming either of these 3 behemoths can get into position, which is very easy with u-turn on lando+torn, and those 2 able to safely chip or take out threats.

Or just...well..use them to take out anything that scares celesteela, and just win cuz they can't kill giga drain or leech seed celesteela, that works too
Your points are valid here but you forget the glaring issue on Flying, the 6-pokemon syndrome. You obviously need the likes of Celesteela and Lando-T and let's say Dragonite is mandatory. At this point Dark (Hydreigon and Urshifu) and Dragon (likes of Dragapult, Hydreigon or Dracovish) types are a massive problem. Mandibuzz can arguably do an ok job to fix all of those besides Dracovish and cover Ghost issues while Mantine can also do that while help vs all of those except Urshifu and physical Dragapult (need Ice Beam on Mantine), but you could get both to make sure Celesteela has maximum support and lean towards more of a Balanced team. You probably finish off with Thundurus-T to ease the water and mirror matchup.

Now if you were to opt for Zapdos-G and a more HO archetype you'd probably have to give up what either Mandibuzz and Mantine offer, in which case you would have to give up certain matchups that I mentioned. Please provide some replays of how Zapdos-G deals with those issues in order to progress the conversation.
 
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Your points are valid here but you forget the glaring issue on Flying, the 6-pokemon syndrome. You obviously need the likes of Celesteela and Lando-T and let's say Dragonite is mandatory. At this point Dark (Hydreigon and Urshifu) and Dragon (likes of Dragapult, Hydreigon or Dracovish) types are a massive problem. Mandibuzz can arguably do an ok job to fix all of those besides Dracovish and cover Ghost issues while Mantine can also do that while help vs all of those except Urshifu and physical Dragapult (need Ice Beam on Mantine), but you could get both to make sure Celesteela has maximum support and lean towards more of a Balanced team. You probably finish off with Thundurus-T to ease the water and mirror matchup.
well u are prob fine v dark anyway, zapdos-g outspeeds hydreigon and urshifu, also resists urshifu's stabs (if it is scarf, or has sucker punch), doesnt rly care about anything from zarude either, while dark (unless sableye) lacks any switchins zapdos-g is picking up a ko each time. the main threat from dark is prob weavile which mandibuzz doesnt help with anyway. however, without mandibuzz (or moltres-g), the ghost matchup is worse.
 
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mushamu

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Your points are valid here but you forget the glaring issue on Flying, the 6-pokemon syndrome. You obviously need the likes of Celesteela and Lando-T and let's say Dragonite is mandatory. At this point Dark (Hydreigon and Urshifu) and Dragon (likes of Dragapult, Hydreigon or Dracovish) types are a massive problem. Mandibuzz can arguably do an ok job to fix all of those besides Dracovish and cover Ghost issues while Mantine can also do that while help vs all of those except Urshifu and physical Dragapult (need Ice Beam on Mantine), but you could get both to make sure Celesteela has maximum support and lean towards more of a Balanced team. You probably finish off with Thundurus-T to ease the water and mirror matchup.

Now if you were to opt for Zapdos-G and a more HO archetype you'd probably have to give up what either Mandibuzz and Mantine offer, in which case you would have to give up certain matchups that I mentioned. Please provide some replays of how Zapdos-G deals with those issues in order to progress the conversation.
In no way is Dragonite mandatory on Flying. Many Flying teams have started to drop it now; this can be seen in the recent MWP where Dragonite usage has been shaky. For example, Sensei Axew vs Bushtush showcases Flying teams on both sides that are competent and cover a variety of types in the metagame without Dragonite, while both teams also have Galarian Zapdos. Types like Electric, Dragon, and rain Water that Dragonite does well against are covered easily by Pokemon like Landorus-T, Celesteela, and Thundurus-T, leaving Dragonite to be a rather droppable option on Flying. I personally dislike using it massively because I feel it just doesn't cover anything in particular that cannot be covered by more splashable Pokemon, but the bottom line is that Galarian Zapdos can very well take the slot Dragonite would occupy on Flying teams, and it usually does. This makes it as a whole easier to fit, so I don't think the 6 Pokemon syndrome is an argument you should be going by when comparing Dragonite and Galarian Zapdos.
 
In no way is Dragonite mandatory on Flying. Many Flying teams have started to drop it now; this can be seen in the recent MWP where Dragonite usage has been shaky. For example, Sensei Axew vs Bushtush showcases Flying teams on both sides that are competent and cover a variety of types in the metagame without Dragonite, while both teams also have Galarian Zapdos. Types like Electric, Dragon, and rain Water that Dragonite does well against are covered easily by Pokemon like Landorus-T, Celesteela, and Thundurus-T, leaving Dragonite to be a rather droppable option on Flying. I personally dislike using it massively because I feel it just doesn't cover anything in particular that cannot be covered by more splashable Pokemon, but the bottom line is that Galarian Zapdos can very well take the slot Dragonite would occupy on Flying teams, and it usually does. This makes it as a whole easier to fit, so I don't think the 6 Pokemon syndrome is an argument you should be going by when comparing Dragonite and Galarian Zapdos.
the replay doesnt rly show anything, but one of these flying teams runs both moltres-g and mandibuzz, and does not run lando-t. the other is extremely oriented toward the mirror with sets like toxic on scarf thundurus-t and gravity/swords dance lando-t (those two sets are why that team won, it was basically over turn 1 when opposing thundurus-t was hit with toxic, so the replay rly doesnt indicate anything else, and it certainly doesnt show anything about the effectiveness of zapdos-g). idk what the reason might be for running moltres-g and mandibuzz on flying, esp a type so pressed for slots (eg on this team it meant giving up lando-t lol), but at best that team is very niche and idk that it should be considered for viability rankings, and im not sure hm consideration the other team should have either.

not necessarily disagreeing with your general argument about replacing dragonite with zapdos-g tho
 

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:Weavile:

Weavile: B=>A (Dark)

I've been using and watching a lot of dark games, and I can't help but nominate Weavile higher. The SD set is definitely a menace, but I wanted to base my nomination off what band and scarf offer to dark. Scarf, simply put, lets you keep immense speed control on your team, while letting the other common dark offensive threats to commit to being breakers. Hydreigon, Zarude, Urshifu, all of these can secure a lot of matchups when they aren't forced to run scarf, especially Zarude. The water matchup can be quite hard w/o BU Zarude, so having an alt speed control option is nice. As for band? The power and lack of switch ins on types w/o a Toxapex is insane. Opposing dark has no axel resist, grass, ground, flying, dragon, all of these types get shredded by banded axel's and shards. Steel also has a tough time switching into banded Knock Offs, crippling mons for an even easier NP Hydrei/Band Shifu win later in the game. The electric matchup also becomes doable if you choose to go the band Weavile + Scarf Zarude route, with Weavile having minimal switch ins and ice shard picking off/putting Zera and Koko in range of Zarude. So yeah, I find Weavile can easily sit next to Hydreigon in the A rank, as I'd rather people feel encouraged to actively use it.
 
:ss/bisharp:
Bisharp (steel): B --> A

Bisharp is really underrated on steel. I've been using it on my team on the ladder, and I just reached #1 with it, and in many of my games I felt like Bisharp was the total MVP. You have priority in sucker punch, which can help you clean up games and revenge kill, after a boost or two it's wallbreaking power is quite high, it's bulky enough to take several hits, it helps you in matchups like ghost and psychic, and it can defog boost, which is crucial for steel, since most of the time you are going to be stacking hazards, so you can force an uncomfortable situation for your opponent. I've had several games where I get one boost off of a defog and sweep through a team, usually vs flying or poison. You can also switch in on stuff like Spectrier shadow ball, and if they get the spdef drop that's just a bonus for you. Sticky webs as well, though vs bug Buzzwole still messes you up (like bug is a problem). If you can safely get Bisharp in and boosted vs poison, and if pex is chipped, there isn't that much they can do. Aside from Mimikyu, which Skarm can handle fine, it tears through ghost, even walling dd pult. In the steel ditto, it can break through Ferrothorn and Celesteela once boosted. It sucks in the ground matchup, but at least it can sucker punch a somewhat weakened Nidoking and Lando-T can't check it. Personally, I think it's better than Melmetal, or at least equal, which is slow and doesn't offer as much utility, with worse typing and not really helping as many matchups. So yeah put that boy in A rank
 

roxie

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:appletun: B-> D (Grass).
Appletun is garbage and it barely improves Fire, Dragon, and pretty much anything. Cradily is by far the better SpD user as it can help with Substitute Kyurem(huge threat to Grass without Cradily) along with providing Stealth Rocks. Grass appreciates the stacking core of Spikes Ferrothorn and SR Cradily while additionally, Appletun is not a usually usable Pokemon(b rank) it's extremely niche(D/UR).
:amoonguss: C-> B (Grass).
Amoonguss should rise again because of its ability to absorb Toxic Spikes. It also has Spore which invites teammates in very similar to its role in inviting Nidoking on Poison. Its ability in Regenerator allows it to stay alive while also spreading more status in Sludge Bomb and Stun Spore. Here are some replays from MWP:
[Gen 8] Monotype replay: gorex vs. North - Pokémon Showdown (pokemonshowdown.com)
[Gen 8] Monotype replay: ISZA vs. trichotomy - Pokémon Showdown (pokemonshowdown.com)
[Gen 8] Monotype replay: Arch1tect ★ vs. LLLiolae - Pokémon Showdown (pokemonshowdown.com)
:celebi: B-> C (Grass).
Celebi doesn't beat Poison with Galarian Slowking around. It has a niche in potentially beating steel with Aura Sphere + Earth Power and a Pokemon fulfilling mainly only one role makes me feel like this is niche. The Aura/EP set only is good vs Skarmory variants and SpD Aegislash eats a +2 EP if it's healthy.
:dracozolt: D-> B (Electric).
Dracozolt eases the Poison matchup a lot especially with Galarian Slowking being used more once again with Substitute/EQ/Bolt/Fire Blast. This set also eases the Steel matchup as it uses a substitute on Ferrothorn or a switch and just clicks buttons. Fire Blast is more consistent with Wide Lens (than Fire Fang) and does more to Defensive Ferrothorn. Here are some replays from MWP. Electric vs Poison is pretty lenient towards Poison if you're not running this and its far from D rank. If you're telling me that C-ranked ORAS mon Raikou is higher than this, there is something wrong.
:avalugg: A-> B. :cloyster: B-> A (Ice). :darmanitan-galar: S-> A.:glastrier: D-> B :mamoswine: A->B. (ICE)
If Glastrier doesn't rise on the next round, I really need an explanation from some VR council members because it's far from very niche. It alone improves a few matchups like Poison, Steel, and Flying. I know people may say "Well Galarian Darmanitan beats Poison, Steel and Flying xd" well it doesn't because a nice move called Protect exists which scouts what move it's going to use next. Glastrier easily uses Substitute on Pokemon like Celesteela, Toxapex, Ferrothorn, and Aegislash uses Swords Dance and clicks its respective Ice-STAB + High Horsepower to nail through Poison and Steel-types. Cloyster is a nice pair with Glastrier because of its dual hazards in Spikes and Toxic Spikes which puts many Pokemon "in the range" of teammates that need chips. Toxic Spikes also beats Fairy and it compresses Avalugg's role as a Rapid Spinner in its set. Avalugg ruins Ice's offensive momentum and having hazards improves matchups like Steel & Ghost where Avalugg is literally pointless in. (Avalugg invites Aegislash in every time). Galarian Darmanitan suffers from many Pokemon like Baneful Bunker Toxapex and King's Shield Aegislash scouting its set. With the return of Heatran, it simply does not break Steel. Glastrier is your current best Steel breaker. I am going to suggest looking or even trying out this underplayed type and if anyone objects to these nominations please reply. Here are some replays from MWP:
[Gen 8] Monotype replay: starmaster vs. trichotomy - Pokémon Showdown (pokemonshowdown.com) (Glastrier securing the Win against Flying with Galarian Zapdos and Celesteela which poses threats on paper.)
[Gen 8] Monotype replay: Conflux vs. paradisin - Pokémon Showdown (pokemonshowdown.com) (Non-Glastrier Ice losing to Celesteela Flying)
[Gen 8] Monotype replay: Decem vs. king choco - Pokémon Showdown (pokemonshowdown.com) (Galarian Darmanitan Ice struggling to break Poison because of Bunker Toxapex)
[Gen 8] Monotype replay: ISZA vs. Decem - Pokémon Showdown (pokemonshowdown.com) (Defensive Cloyster Ice beating Fire)
[Gen 8] Monotype replay: Decem vs. yedla - Pokémon Showdown (pokemonshowdown.com)
 
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:avalugg: A-> B. :cloyster: B-> A (Ice). :darmanitan-galar: S-> A.:glastrier: D-> B :mamoswine: A->B. (ICE)
If Glastrier doesn't rise on the next round, I really need an explanation from some VR council members because it's far from very niche. It alone improves a few matchups like Poison, Steel, and Flying. I know people may say "Well Galarian Darmanitan beats Poison, Steel and Flying xd" well it doesn't because a nice move called Protect exists which scouts what move it's going to use next. Glastrier easily uses Substitute on Pokemon like Celesteela, Toxapex, Ferrothorn, and Aegislash uses Swords Dance and clicks its respective Ice-STAB + High Horsepower to nail through Poison and Steel-types.
the only aspect that i think could be argued is if ppl dont want to make ranking changes ‘too quickly’ before meta can adapt. glastrier breaking celesteela is dependent on it not having flamethrower, and since one of celest on flying’s key roles is vs ice, celesteela may want to run flamethrower in the fourth slot so that glastrier is a non issue (and obv flamethrower’s other benefits). and on steel, glastrier cant set up sub on body press skarmory.

at darm-g, zen mode (either with hdb or substitute) is potentially very threatening, and even more so if everyone is assuming gorilla tactics, either to take advantage of the protect turn or to use a different move when it is assumed to already be choice locked. either substitute, or flare blitz recoil for hdb sets, can help activate zen mode.

however, i think rankings are supposed to be on the current meta so i agree with making these changes rather than not doing so based largely on speculation, esp for darm-g.
 

roxie

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the only aspect that i think could be argued is if ppl dont want to make ranking changes ‘too quickly’ before meta can adapt. glastrier breaking celesteela is dependent on it not having flamethrower, and since one of celest on flying’s key roles is vs ice, celesteela may want to run flamethrower in the fourth slot so that glastrier is a non issue (and obv flamethrower’s other benefits). and on steel, glastrier cant set up sub on body press skarmory.

at darm-g, zen mode (either with hdb or substitute) is potentially very threatening, and even more so if everyone is assuming gorilla tactics, either to take advantage of the protect turn or to use a different move when it is assumed to already be choice locked. either substitute, or flare blitz recoil for hdb sets, can help activate zen mode.

however, i think rankings are supposed to be on the current meta so i agree with making these changes rather than not doing so based largely on speculation, esp for darm-g.
Flamethrower doesn't break through with Aurora Veil up which means Celesteela is still not an issue. Glastrier does get opportunities to set up on passive Pokemon like Ferrothorn, Aegislash(if Substitute), Celesteela(behind Veil), and I feel like Glastrier's ability to pose a threat to Steel is to a higher degree than Darmanitan(assuming 2-4 mons are simply scouting it with Protect). Skarmory is there of course but it takes a nice 50 at +2 from Crash which can potentially flinch or it just gets whirled out into a teammate. Zen Mode Galarian Darmanitan is barely used in tournament play if anything & the metagame is getting familiar with Glastrier. You can watch some MWP replays and see Glastrier having some success in some matchups where Galarian Darmanitan doesn't. Ice is an underplayed type but just because some types like Ice, Grass, and Rock are underplayed doesn't mean the VR should be not-up-to-date.
 
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That is literally the difference between Zapdos-G and Dragonite, Zapdos-G has to play for a trade (or 1 for 1) resulting in it being at low HP, whereas Dragonite has DDance Roost sets that make it a reusable version of what makes Zapdos-G great here according to you + can DDance ofc. That is where the idea of being a waste of a slot on a stacked type comes in. Zapdos is a fantastic Wallbreaker and Cleaner but imo it is in no way a substitute for Dragonite or even remotely comparable. For threats where you mention Zapdos takes a hit where Dragonite doesn't such as +1 Dragapult or Mamoswine, just use Celesteela and hard wall them. This notion of taking a hit shouldn't be so overrated since Flying has very competent walls to support their offensive core.

If you are still hesitant on zapdos-g, it not only lives a timid max special attack psyshock from latias (modest is a 12.5% chance to drop), zapdos-g 2 shots it guaranteed (it's a roll to 1 shot heavily in your favor if they arent bulk invested). Oh, and it is always a roll to ohko with brave bird, and not bulky latias just dies in 1 hit guaranteed to it. This is just one of many rediculous examples of what zapdos-G can do


I don't disagree with this Zapdos-G comps have become more common now, with it putting a lot of work vs Dark, Poison and Water teams. However this idea that you present where it rips teams apart is a bit nuanced. If not band, it can face adversity in even those good matchups.

Toxapex takes 2 hits at full hp and has 2 chances to scald burn/toxic Zapdos-G(+brave bird recoil) and chipping it into hopefully being in revenge kill range and can be swapped out into a sack to avoid the 1 for 1 trade.​
+1 252 Atk Zapdos-Galar Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 153-181 (50.3 - 59.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO​
252 Atk Zapdos-Galar Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 102-121 (33.5 - 39.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zapdos-Galar on a critical hit: 201-243 (62.6 - 75.7%) -- approx. 2HKO
252 SpA Tapu Fini Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Zapdos-Galar: 272-324 (84.7 - 100.9%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

Weezing-G does same thing and can WoW/Pain Split/Strange Steam chip you into revenge kill range
+1 252 Atk Zapdos-Galar Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Weezing: 181-214 (54.1 - 64%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252 SpA Sheer Force Nidoking Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Zapdos-Galar: 208-246 (64.7 - 76.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Nihilego Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Zapdos-Galar: 210-248 (65.4 - 77.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Mandibuzz might be your best matchup of the lot but if they have Foul Play, the same result occurs.
+1 252 Atk Zapdos-Galar Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Mandibuzz: 199-235 (47 - 55.5%) -- 75.8% chance to 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Mandibuzz Foul Play vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zapdos-Galar: 123-146 (38.3 - 45.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Hydreigon Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Zapdos-Galar: 225-265 (70 - 82.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Weavile Icicle Crash vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zapdos-Galar: 288-342 (89.7 - 106.5%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO

From those calls you could argue that opposing Physical walls are chipped and prone to a Dragonite sweep however, if the opponent sacks effectively, they could all be healthy enough to take a +0 hit and Toxic/WoW/Foul Play, however in most cases you should be favoured I'll give you that. Now is the 1 for 1 trade worth it? It's up to you to decide. Imo unless you really need to cover the Dark matchup, Flying has better options out there. Before you mention all the other matchups where Zapdos can indeed 1v1 walls, I have omitted them since Flying usually has better threats to deal with those (notably Mandibuzz/Celesteela/Mantine). The commendable thing about Zapdos is that it isn't hard stopped by a lot that is relevant in the meta rn. The worse one I could find was Skarmory but besides that, it can chunk so many things for 30% with the CC BB combo.


Your points are valid here but you forget the glaring issue on Flying, the 6-pokemon syndrome. You obviously need the likes of Celesteela and Lando-T and let's say Dragonite is mandatory. At this point Dark (Hydreigon and Urshifu) and Dragon (likes of Dragapult, Hydreigon or Dracovish) types are a massive problem. Mandibuzz can arguably do an ok job to fix all of those besides Dracovish and cover Ghost issues while Mantine can also do that while help vs all of those except Urshifu and physical Dragapult (need Ice Beam on Mantine), but you could get both to make sure Celesteela has maximum support and lean towards more of a Balanced team. You probably finish off with Thundurus-T to ease the water and mirror matchup.

Now if you were to opt for Zapdos-G and a more HO archetype you'd probably have to give up what either Mandibuzz and Mantine offer, in which case you would have to give up certain matchups that I mentioned. Please provide some replays of how Zapdos-G deals with those issues in order to progress the conversation.
Sorry for such a late reply. I have taken quite a break from showdown as of late, and sadly do not have replays. I also am unaware if things have changed since I last played, so until I retest things, I can't really say much on how good zapdos is since my leave
 

Conflux

big boy diamonds
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The next VR update has arrived. The last one was 2 months ago so it'll be pretty long.
Dark
B -> A
B -> A

Dragon
S -> B
B -> A
B -> C
B -> C
C -> B
C -> B
D -> B

Electric
B -> A
D -> B

Fairy
B -> A
C -> D
C -> D
D -> UR

Fire
A -> B
B -> A
B -> C
B -> C
C -> B
C -> B

Flying
A -> B
B -> A

Grass
B -> A
B -> C

Ground
A -> B
B -> C

Ice
A -> B
A -> C
B -> A
B -> A
B -> A
D -> B
D -> UR
D -> UR

Psychic
A -> S
D -> B

Steel
B -> A
B -> C

Water
S -> A
C -> B
C -> B
Dark
These two are really good against popular types such as Dragon, Flying, and Ground in Weavile's case, and Water and Ground in Zarude's, so it felt appropriate to bump them up as they've pretty much become staples on Dark nowadays.

Dragon
Dragonite has dropped down in viability significantly over the past few months as it's very predictable, relies on setting up to be an efficient breaker and usually has to pick between Earthquake and Fire Punch unless you sacrifice Extreme Speed, and once it has revealed its move of choice it becomes much easier to deal with.
Kyurem is great at threatening Flying, Water, and Ground-type teams, all of which are super common in the current metagame.
Duraludon isn't up to par with the other Pokemon in the B rank and doesn't have any valuable niche to keep it there.
Although it's a powerful wallbreaker, Latias is far more common thanks to its access to Healing Wish which is pretty valuable, and you should never be running both.
Dracovish is an incredibly powerful wallbreaker that many teams struggle switching in to, and therefore it rises.
Toxic Spikes plus the ability to switch in on special Fairy-type attacks boosts Dragalge up a rank.
Kommo-o gained some popularity during MWP thanks to its ability to threaten Steel and Dark-type teams with its Iron Defense set combined with Body Press and Earthquake.

Electric
Magnezone is seen on nearly every Electric-type team thanks to its great typing so it didn't feel appropriate putting it in the same rank as Rotom-C and Thundurus which are pretty rare.
Dracozolt has recently gained popularity with its Substitute set catching foes off guard and being a strong breaker with good coverage.

Fairy
Clefable's the best Stealth Rock user on Fairy and has access to Knock Off which is pretty valuable especially when it comes to removing Heavy-Duty Boots. Its also able to deal with some threatening Pokemon such as Celesteela if it's holding Rocky Helmet.
Diancie doesn't quite fit in with the other C rank Pokemon as they all have more valuable roles, so it goes down to D.
Sticky Webs aren't valuable enough to keep this thing above D rank.
Primarina is completely outclassed by Tapu Fini so it's getting unranked.

Fire
Outside of setting up Screens, Rotom-H isn't all that useful despite its Electric typing, so it drops down a rank.
Victini's powerful V-Create and access to Bolt Strike makes it a great addition to Fire-type teams.
Moltres is the superior Ground immunity thanks to its better bulk, higher Special Attack, and access to two useful abilities in Pressure and Flame Body. Charizard relies on sun being up to be an effective wallbreaker and usually needs a Choice item to be good, meaning it has to forego Heavy-Duty Boots to patch up its glaring weakness to Stealth Rock.
Incineroar mainly shines against Ghost and Psychic-type teams, two types that Fire already has answers to in the form of Blacephalon, Volcarona, and Heatran which fulfill other useful roles as well meaning Incineroar drops down.
Volcanion provides a Water-type immunity which is very valuable for Fire-type teams, especially when dealing with Pokemon such as Dracovish.

Flying
Dragonite has dropped down in viability significantly over the past few months as it's very predictable, relies on setting up to be an efficient breaker and usually has to pick between Earthquake and Fire Punch unless you sacrifice Extreme Speed, and once it has revealed its move of choice it becomes much easier to deal with.
Zapdos-G is a great wallbreaker with very good coverage that many teams struggle switching in to. It especially shines against Dark and Steel-type teams, both of which are popular right now, so it goes up to A.

Grass
Zarude has a nice typing that helps Grass-type teams threaten Ghost and Psychic types, and it's definitely better than the other Pokemon in the B rank.
Appletun has fallen off from Grass teams ever since the return of Cradily, so it drops down another rank.

Ground
Garchomp doesn't belong in the same rank as the likes of Gastrodon, Nidoking, and Landorus-T, all of which are much more useful than it and give a lot more to the type.
Despite it's high Speed and access to Extreme Speed, Zygarde-10% is very weak even when equipped with a Choice Band, and its signature move Thousand Arrows isn't enough to keep it from dropping a rank.

Ice
Piloswine is better than Mamoswine as a Stealth Rock setter because of its bulk which covers Ice's lack of defensive utility. Mamoswine is still usable but harder to fit.
Cloyster is better than Avalugg for hazard removal, because it can set hazards which means it isn't completely blocked by Ghost Pokemon at the same time.
Kyurem beats a lot of top types almost single handedly. Substitute sets are incredibly dangerous and provide Ice teams a wincon in many different matchups.
Weavile fills an important niche as Ice's best Speed control and a dangerous offensive threat. A good Knock Off user is also notable for weakening Celesteela and removing Heavy Duty Boots.
Dangerous wincon in matchups like Poison, Fairy, Normal, Flying and Psychic; if it's not outright winning its natural bulk is nice to serve as a natural check to certain threats.
Both these Pokemon suck so they are being unranked.

Psychic
Slowbro's an amazing pivot for Psychic-type teams thanks to its good bulk paired with its Regenerator ability and access to Teleport. Its good Defense and solid typing also allows it to check many physical attackers.
Bronzong provides a solid Ground immunity to check the likes of Landorus-T and Sand Rush Excadrill, and has access to Body Press which is nice against Dark-type teams.

Steel
Skarmory's ability to check Urshifu-R and other physical attackers with its incredible Defense and Rocky Helmet makes it rise a rank.
With Celesteela and Skarmory both being so good right now, Corviknight doesn't see much usage and drops down a rank.

Water
The rise of Skarmory poses trouble for Urshifu-R as it can live its attacks comfortably and whittle it down with Rocky Helmet.
As mentioned above, the rise of Skarmory now gives Keldeo an edge as it's better than Urshifu-R at breaking Steel teams that have Skarmory.
Crawdaunt's a very powerful wallbreaker and is immune to Psychic-type attacks which lands it in the B rank.

Discussion topics:
Kyurem A -> S (Ice)
Celesteela A -> B (Steel)
 
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Garchomp doesn't belong in the same rank as the likes of Gastrodon, Nidoking, and Landorus-T, all of which are much more useful than it and give a lot more to the type.
Could you explain this one to me? I'm fine with the drop, but I don't really understand it or why Garchomp as a Pokemon isn't as valuable as the ones above.
 

roxie

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Could you explain this one to me? I'm fine with the drop, but I don't really understand it or why Garchomp as a Pokemon isn't as valuable as the ones above.
The A rank on the Viability Ranking generally infers Usually Use. Gastrodon is a usually use Pokemon because of its Water immunity, overall bulk & reliable recovery in Recover (I feel like Seismitoad is an interesting topic but I'll propose that in the future) & Nidoking being Ground's best Special breaker with Landorus-I not being existent now thanks to its spectacular coverage paired with Sheer Force & Life Orb. Garchomp is more of a Usable Pokemon (which falls in the B rank) as Ground doesn't necessarily require it to be successful(Like the other A rankings). Its role as a breaker can be fulfilled in options Ground has like Excadrill, Mamoswine, or even Landorus-T which are all a rank higher~
 
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