The Most INSANE SSOU Top 10 Ever!?
- Number 6 Will SHOCK You!
I decided to try my hand at this whole YouTube thing, except without the YouTube part. I like these top 10s, they're a very clean way to organise very disorganised thoughts without compiling a whole personal viability ranking list. I've been finding a lot that Lando-T + Bird + Slowking + Tran + breaker + speed teams are exceedingly consistent right now for a lot of reasons so that's half of the list covered already, but the last few are mons that have utility on similar structures or either have so much overall utility or are so overwhelmingly good at specific things that they deserve worthwhile mention. I'll cover off some sleeper picks and overrated dong picks later too because there's a fair amount of both imo.
10. Zeraora
The mon on the list on the least amount of my teams is this thing, but it's fucking good. I'm gonna open Zera with a long-winded paragraph about another mon, and that's Regieleki. Specs Regieleki is the most adorable and happy mon Game Freak have ever made and I want to hug it. It is also an absolute sleeper pick that needs to be credited beyond just being a fringe-viable speed gimmick. It being hard-walled by all Grounds and Volt Absorbers is a common argument against it but that justification discredits the fact that it can virtually 2HKO the entirety of the remaining metagame with T-Bolt or Electro Ball with the exceptions of T-Tar and Chansey, so while the things that can come in on it can hard counter it consistently in a purely 1v1 scenario, that's still a limited pool of mons that are virtually required to handle this thing. Couple this limitation now with common FuturePort support and you have a forced 'pick your poison' situation whereby you either sac something to Electric STAB or stomach an FS trying to block that every time and suddenly your counter is now under a lot more pressure, particularly if Knocked Off or Toxiced or whatever else, those consistent counters stop being so consistent now and are actually heavily pressured to do their job. Credit for Regieleki does stop there though as it still does suffer from the typical limitations that one-dimensional button-clickers tend to suffer from. Enter Zeraora who can can abuse FuturePort support to a very similar degree, but with additional benefits of set versatility, and coverage options at the compromise of pure absurd power. Access to CC allows it to also abuse FuturePort in much the same way classic abusers like Fu and Ace used to, access to Knock, the most no-drawback move in the game, is a phenomenal asset for an offensive pivot, Grass Knot allows it to function as a lure for mons such as Hippo and Pert to get good immediate damage and Toxic allows it to catch those two along with Lando, Chomp, Tang, and others to limit their consistency and staying power, and its speed tier is brilliant in allowing it to bypass all relevant non-Scarfers (barring the aforementioned Eleki) and it has the coverage to threaten them effectively. Zera does have enough tools in its arsenal and benefits from common team support options enough to be worth keeping on the radar, even if it has been suffering more and more with each new DLC release.
9. Magnezone
Those who know me know of my Magnezone addiction, and while my running joke has been that I say it's the best mon in the game, it's not. All that said though it's still really fucking good, and while DLC2 did bring with it a whole host of new hardships it has to face in the form of Tran and offensive Grounds, it has also brought with it a massive slew of new opportunities for the Magnet Pulling UFO. Corv is everywhere and Ferro is absurdly popular also, making ID Body Press sets very desirable with specific breakers. RillaZone is the obvious
cheap beloved pairing from DLC1, but now options like ChompZone, LeleZone, KartZone, FiniZone, D-NiteZone and others are all on the table now; Corv and Ferro gone can turn the tier into a playground for these things. While I think Specs sets are far from ideal with the sheer number of Ferros that need squashing, one of the main reasons it's probably worth running a Zone so much right now in the first place, it is still a viable option because those Specs T-Bolts and Specs Flash Canons slap. More offensive takes on the ID set have also risen, like Modest Magnet and E-Belt variants being able to OHKO standard Corv from full while acting as a 'mini-Specs' variant to maintain a good strong offensive presence outside of its trapping utility, all while still being able to perform their routine Ferro squashing duties. Couple it with FuturePort support from a generic defensive core and it becomes exceptionally difficult to avoid your metal things being trapped or your non-metal things chipped. It's good.
8. Kartana
Mr no switch ins. I can understand people who believe this falls just short of the top 10 mark, but it's so bonkers with the current support options available that I couldn't leave it off. SD is ludicrous and can manhandle anything defensive, and Scarf and Band are bonkers FuturePort abusers. Scarf is a clean sweeper that can snowball very quickly in the late game and serves as a considerable anti-offence option, though I feel it has stiff competition for being your first choice in that respect. Banded is my personal favourite with its ridiculous immediate power and FuturePort support being able to help it forward with some of its rolls. I've found SD a bit cumbersome to work with, but nothing dismantles fat like it. Grass-spam structures with Rillaboom are also worthy of note because they're still around and carrying their weight, but I think it's a somewhat gimmicky pairing for the most part that serves more utility vs specific teams than being a well-rounded structure in itself.
7. Kyurem
People are calling SpD Scizor good now partly because of this thing, that should say enough. Specs still has the ability to circumstantially 2HKO a vast majority of the meta, but I'm not huge on it right now personally. I'm big on the SubRoost set like most others, that thing is capable of winning some games at preview, Freeze Dry and Earth Power are ridiculously spammable and effective blanket coverage and its bulk is often underestimated. It's well capable of dismantling the common defensive structures around right now, and I'm confident it will consistently remain the premier Ice type of the tier. Scarf is dog shit though, stop using it.
6. Slowking
I lied, this probably won't shock you. I find myself gravitating towards Slowking more because I feel like I have to moreso than I want to, but it's such good compression and utility that it has to be here. Being a good answer to Tran, a passable check to Lele, Water resist, defensive pivot, and FuturePort setter it's a very very desirable package on many teams. I mentioned in my last RMT a functional core extends beyond two mons that just play the 1v1 game given that that relies on your opponent willingly sacing something to you for some reason or you being able to win the battle of attrition of cycling breakers and checks repeatedly; I harp on so much about FuturePort because it helps throw a spanner in that cycle very easily. Future Sight is a really fucking good positioning asset that will force your opponent to make sacrifices they'd otherwise not want to make which is a massive advantage to have in a meta with so many strong offensive titans. Slowking is the best at doing that right now given how well its defensive utilities hold up.
5. Rillaboom
Monke.
4. Dragapult
Ghost resists are limited and Specs Shadow Balls sting. Great support vs Rain and HO, great way to threaten potent breakers like Kyu, Lele, Kart, etc. Really fucking fast. This thing's good, I'm far and away the biggest on Specs and I usually opt for T-Bolt as coverage to lure and catch Mandi which often helps open up complimentary breakers. Speaking of complimentary breakers and going back to FuturePort babble, FuturePort + breaker is a great way to force its checks into provocative positions. Pult's ability to benefit from the support of common team structures as well as offensively handle their threats make it a brilliant choice on a lot of builds, its usage certainly reflects that too. Status Hex sets are also ok, but I think they're a far cry from what they used to be and are just more annoying than anything else, but certainly considerable nonetheless.
3. Corviknight
Premier Defogger of the tier due to its incredible defensive typing and flexibility. Not being susceptible to Toxic or severely limited if Knocked are phenomenal assets to this guy's longevity and it serves as one of the more consistent checks to potent breakers like Rillaboom, Kart, Chomp, Exca, and others while also retaining its utility as a defensive pivot. Its spreads are pretty customisable as well with even max SpD being a considerable option to function as a supportive pivot, albeit a circumstantial one, vs threats like Lele, Kyurem, and Latios, while still being able to decently handle the aforementioned physical threats, albeit also circumstantially. You may be asking if it's worth sacrificing Corv's best defensive utility in its ability to check the named physical threats pretty much all of the time in order to instead check a much wider range of threats some of the time, and the answer is no, no it's usually not worth it and most of the time your main option would be a standard physically-based mixed Def set; but it
is an option regardless and just a testament to Corv's potential versatility. Sub/Taunt BU stall breaker options are also worthy of note and do a fine job at what they're intended to, but I've never found myself gravitating towards it personally; the tier is so full of good stall breakers and wall breakers that I have to question just how worth it it is to run the best Defogger in the tier for that particular role instead, but once again it
is and option.
2. Heatran
Heatran seriously excels in the tier both offensively and defensively, being able to check threats like Pult, Volc, Clef, and others which can be quite cumbersome to handle otherwise while also being able to 1v1 a good amount of things you'd want to try to check it with like Bro, Blissey, Pex, etc make it crazy good, it's such an awkward mon to deal with generally and is one of the biggest reasons Slowking is so useful. Modest just destroys everything, shit's so dumb. The only four moves it really needs to succeed are Magma Storm, Earth Power, Taunt, and Toxic but other options are abundant; Power Herb Solar Beam is considerable on the right team, you can waste Rocks on it if you're so inclined though it does a fair job as a Rocker too so I can't bash that too much, Protect with Terrain is great, Heavy Slam and Flash Canon are around, it can be very comfortably shaped where needed. I think this list is apparent enough at this point that what I value a lot right now is things that create opportunities, trapping to forcibly remove checks to things and FuturePort + breaker to severely pressure them are two incredibly good ways to do that, especially with the removal of Hidden Power and Z-Moves which were good tack-on options to create lures from nothing in the past, these are the best ways force progress and hold positions now, and it's fun I'm really enjoying the meta playing with these things.
1. Lando-T
I'm not gonna harp on too much about Lando-T. It's Lando-T. Role compression for Electric and Ground immunity, a functional defensive pivot either as a phys Def, SpD, or mixed Def pivot, has Intimidate support to force switches and create positioning opportunities, can effectively run Scarf to function as a scout, revenger, and offensive pivot, has Knock Off utility, Toxic support, can set hazards, can set up with SD, can set up with Rock Polish, can set up with both, can Smack Down Corv and Skarm, can Explode. It's Lando-T. I've personally been using suicide Lead on HO and physically base mixed Def pivot on BO for the most part, but I've got a little bit of everything. I think it serves more utility on a lot of teams right now compared to something like Hippo due to the offensive nature of play right now, Hippo's suited a lot more for longevity and drawing out games and, while it's really fucking good still, that kind of opportunity to fall back on your defensive core so you can curl up in a ball while you get kicked in the back isn't really all that ideal; the combination a good standard bulky Lando can bring in Intimidate, base 145 Atk, Toxic, and U-Turn allows it to very consistently maintain or regain offensive momentum even as a defensive asset, a lot of teams really value that in this meta. It's Lando-T.
Honourable Mentions these are just sleeper picks, not really honourable mentions. I just want to be a YouTuber
Mandibuzz
Dark type Corviknight. It's good, but it's not Corviknight. Susceptible to Toxic and suffer more if Knocked, but being a Ghost resist that's actually useful is nice to have.
Tapu-Lele
Another kill-all breaker. Everyone I spoke to roasted me for liking Kyu more, but it's my list and I do what I want with it. It's good though.
Garchomp
Versatile monster. Endure Tank Chomp can screw over so many things, good support vs physical breakers like Skewda who threaten a lot of teams. Mixed lead is really cool, I've been digging it lately and it might end up on more of my teams. SD Scale Shot is the one though.
Toxapex
Pex.
Rotom-Wash
Staple pick for the last two gens, it'll be back here too. Defensive pivot that can check Tran and Lando while threatening its potential switch-ins with Wisp, maintaining longevity with Pain Split, or serving as a Defogger if you're so inclined. It's good, don't rule it out in your builds.
Volcarona
Still stupid, still capable of choosing its checks, and I've seen this thing break through Trans on more occasions than I ever should have. Pretty brutal on HO, but VolcSharp on any team structure will put in work.
Bisharp
Speaking of, hey show me your Dark resists.
Crawdaunt
I have finally drunk the Banded juice, and it's pretty sweet. Hey, show me your Dark resists.
Terrakion
Run this with FuturePort and thank me later.
Regieleki
I wrote more about this thing in the Zeraora paragraph than I did about Zeraora. I'll reemphasise though that it is incredibly cute. Not a fan of the suicide Screens set though unless it's on very heavy offence, I much prefer Koko for my general Screens needs.
Overrated Picks none of these mons are bad, I just think they're over-credited
Tapu-Koko
This thing is ass as a Boots pivot. It's an offensive pivot but it's not really all that offensive and it doesn't really do anything in general. It hits like a heavy sneeze, has no Knock Off utility, is the very very bare minimum of what I'd consider adequate speed control. Zera at least has a relevant speed tier and the right coverage to make use of it, allowing it to function as a great revenge killer and can be deceptively potent with FuturePort support, it will force progress. Koko doesn't really do anything, it has greater longevity for sure but being able to spend longer in the game doing very little is not a trade off I'd make when I can spend less time doing more. U-Turn is a good asset to have so it can actually pivot off its Ground checks I'll credit it that, but all I see it best as is a Screens setter with Taunt and Terrain setting for Lucha.
Tornadus-T
Similar to Koko above, though I do prefer it as an offensive pivot thanks to Knock Off and Taunt being very free and disruptive. I just think its pivot set lacks in all of offensive utility, defensive utility, and speed control, falling
just short of the mark on all fronts; it makes me hesitant to dedicate a whole slot purely for that support alone, it feels more like a mosquito that you can't swat rather than the wolf at the door. Taunt Nasty Plot is an incredible stall breaker if it hits, but it won't so... yeah.
Weavile
This thing isn't bad by any stretch, but I do feel like it's a passing fad. If you want a potent Ice breaker you run Kyurem, if you want a ridiculous Banded Knock Off you run Daunt, if you want a good anti-offence option you run Pult or Zera or Rilla etc, if you want to do multiple of these things then you run those mons together, they gel well enough that it's not much effort to do so. I feel like Weav is a very specific kind of role compression that's desirable in the moment but is ultimately not gonna have the staying power to last through meta shifts the way most of the above will.
Clefable
Gone are the days when this thing was mandatory on all teams. I think without having to cripplingly rely on this thing to check very specific things the meta's opened up with a lot of very effective defensive structures that exclude our little alien friend here. I have not once gravitated towards Clef for its utility set, I considered it as a stall option on some builds, and I have a CM set on one of my more gimmicky teams where it pulls weight but feels often times on the match up fishy side. With the great offensive beasts of the tier freed up nicely, Clef's defensive limitations do start to feel more noticeable now I find. I see it returning at some point, but I don't think now is that point.
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