Resource SS Monotype Viability Rankings [Crown Tundra]

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mushamu

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VR Update; shoutouts to Floss for helping me out on the writeups:
Bug:
:Galvantula: A -> B - With Vikavolt's emergence as a semi-viable Webs setter, Galvantula's niche is cut into and therefore drops to the B rank.
:Araquanid: B -> A - Araquanid is crucial to Bug in numerous ways, especially having the option to serve as a Water immunity with Water Absorb that can help Bug in the Rain matchup.
:Vikavolt: D -> C - Vikavolt has shown the capability to act as a bulky Webs setter which offers momentum via Volt Switch and reliable recovery with Roost, and sees a promotion to C rank as a result.

Dark:
:urshifu: Urshifu got banned, so it is being unranked.
:Bisharp: B -> C - Bisharp has seen reduced usage on Balance Dark with rise of Weavile, and Moltres-G is a more effective sweeper on Screens, therefore relegating Bisharp to C.
:Drapion: B -> C - Drapion does not deter Fairy effectively enough, and the niche of Toxic Spikes is not enough to keep it as a B-rank mon.
:Grimmsnarl: C -> B - Grimmsnarl sees a rise due to the increase in usage of Screens Dark, with Grimmsnarl being the most prominent setter.
:Moltres-Galar: C -> B - With the rise of Screens Dark as a viable alternative to Balance, Moltres-G is a mon that benefits as its natural bulk and access to boosting moves such as Nasty Plot and Agility lets it run through types behind screens.
:Incineroar: D -> UR - Incineroar's niche has been long reduced due to its inability to impact the Steel and Fairy matchups since Crown Tundra, resulting in being unranked.

Dragon:
:Kyurem: A -> S - Kyurem's Substitute and Specs sets both offer a variety of benefits to the Dragon type, comparable to Dragapult's impact, therefore seeing a rise to the S rank.
:Latias: A -> B - Latias does not offer as much as the other A-rank mons, and fits better with the collection of B rank mons in terms of utility.
:Dragalge: B -> A - Dragalge has increased in importance as a Toxic Spikes setter which switches into threatening Fairy types such as the Tapus, while also offering momentum via slow Flip Turns to Dragon's assortment of offensive threats.
:Kommo-o: B -> C - Kommo-o's niche in beating Dark and Steel is reduced considering that it cannot break past Skarmory at times, while Substitute sets also struggle with Triple Axel from Weavile.
:Dragonite: B -> C - Dragonite doesn't offer much to Dragon offensively, apart from helping against Electric and mirrors, therefore seeing a small drop.
:dracovish: B -> UR - Dracovish got banned, so it is being unranked.
:Zygarde-10%: C -> D - Zygarde-10% is not strong enough offensively to make up for its frailty and redundancy with Garchomp, dropping to D rank as a result.

Fairy:
:Azumarill: A -> B - Worse than all the A ranks so it's dropping.
:Tapu Koko: B -> A - Good pivot and offensive Pokemon on the type, established itself a slot on teams especially with the dominance of Flying.
:Ninetales-Alola: B -> C - This Pokemon sucks real bad. Other Pokemon cover what it does just fine.
:Mimikyu: C -> B - Good blanket check in such an offensive meta and good against Psychic / Ghost.
:Togekiss: C -> B - Good tech Pokemon for Poison, Steel, and Grass which would otherwise be hard.

Fighting:
:urshifu: Urshifu got banned, so it is being unranked.

Fire:
:Moltres: B -> C - Doesn't do a lot of useful things in particular.
:Marowak-Alola: C -> D - Niche
:Salazzle: C -> D - Very niche now
:Arcanine: D -> UR - Don't use this Pokemon
:Chandelure: D -> UR - Worse Blacephalon

Flying:
:Celesteela: S -> A - Celesteela usage has fallen a bit as people are using Corviknight, which doesn't get PP stalled by Kyurem and has reliable recovery more.
:Tornadus-Therian: A -> B - It's hard to put Tornadus-T alongside the rest of the A ranked Pokemon despite being good.
:Mandibuzz: A -> C - Galarian Moltres has become the premier Dark-type on Flying teams, so in return Mandibuzz has fallen out of fashion.
:Corviknight: B -> A - Corviknight's good defensive typing combined with Pressure and Roost makes it a good multi purpose wall. It is a phenomonal Defog user, being able to stall out Stealth Rock using Pressure, and U-turn is great for preserving momentum in such an offensive metagame.
:Moltres: B -> C - There are better Steel breaker options and Moltres does not do much else.
:Moltres-Galar: D -> A - Galarian Moltres excels at breaking through balance types, while even offensive types can have trouble handling it due to its great bulk. Poison, Steel, Flying, Psychic, Ghost, and Water are good examples of the wide range of types Galarian Moltres can break in.
:Tornadus: D -> UR - This Pokemon is bad.
:Pelipper: UR -> D - 100% accuracy Choice Specs Zapdos rain flying.

Grass:
:Amoonguss: C -> A - Amoonguss has grown in spades to form a solid core with Ferrothorn and Cradily that serves as the defensive backbone of Balance Grass teams.
:Venusaur: C -> D - With the rise of Balance Grass as the dominant archetype and Sun Grass reducing as a result, Venusaur's niche as a Sun Sweeper is reduced in importance, as it is outclassed by Amoonguss in all other facets.
:Virizion: C -> D - Virizion offers less use than Decidueye and other C-rank mons, which is why it drops to D rank.

Ground:
:Krookodile: C -> B - Krookodile sees a rise in viability as a Choice Scarf set for speed control outside of Sand enables Landorus-T to run set-up, while assisting in the Psychic and Ghost MUs.

Ice:
:Darmanitan-Galar: S -> A - Darmanitan-Galar, while still being important to Ice, isn't as vital as Kyurem and Alolatales to the success of the type.

Poison:
:Amoonguss: A -> S - Amoonguss has proven itself to be a cornerstone in many Poison teams, forming an irritating Triple Regen core with Toxapex and Slowking-Galar.
:Drapion: B -> A - Drapion rises above Skuntank due to access to useful utility moves such as Knock Off and Toxic Spikes.
Slowking-Galar B -> A - Slowking-Galar has become crucial to Poison for its immense special bulk with an Assault Vest that can help check threats like Kyurem and Lele which would otherwise steamroll Poison.
:Crobat: C -> D - Crobat is outclassed by Weezing-Galar as a defogger and the token ground immunity on Poison, therefore dropping to D rank.

Psychic:
:Alakazam: A -> B - Nobody uses Alakazam anymore. There are simply better options to use nowadays on Psychic teams.
:Mew: B -> S - Mew fits on a variety of teams with multiple roles. It is notorious for its utility sets like Taunt or Spikes that are able to preform exceptionally against Steel as well as other types, while offensive sets can also be viable.
:Slowking-Galar: UR -> B - Galarian Slowking is an extremely good specially defensive wall that can do numbers against Steel and stomach many attacks easily. It forms a good defensive core with Slowbro.

Rock:
:Rhyperior: B -> A - Rhyperior is one of the key mons on Rock and deserves a place alongside Coalossal and Nihilego on the VR.
:Stakataka: D -> C - Stakataka can take advantage of the more offensive pace of the SS metagame in order to run through teams at times, which sets it above the likes of Crustle and Lycanroc-Midday.
:Solrock: D -> UR - Solrock's niche of setting up TR is outperformed by Diancie, therefore it is dropped to UR.
:Diancie: UR -> D - Diancie takes Solrock's niche as a TR setter with decent STAB attacks such as Moonblast and Diamond Storm.

Steel:
:Melmetal: A -> B - Melmetal is a monster but is not up to par with the Pokemon sitting at A rank at the moment. Therefore it is dropping to B as it fits better alongside Pokemon like Bisharp and Jirachi.
:Skarmory: A -> B - There's even less reason to use the metal bird post Urshifu ban, and Celesteela's mixed bulk is now favored over it.
:Corviknight: C -> B - Cool Pokemon that can run stuff like U-turn and Substitute + Bulk Up. Corviknight is good, and benefits a lot from the Urshifu ban.

Water:
:pelipper: A -> S - Rain is the main defining playstyle of Water teams now, so Pelipper rises to S.
:barraskewda: B -> A - Barraskewda rises to A in reflection of the fact that it is the primary rain abuser.
:Suicune: B -> C - Hard to fit especially when the metagame is rain.
:Cloyster: C -> B - Good Dragon / Grass slayer which are otherwise tough matchups.
:Dracovish: C -> UR - Dracovish got banned so it is being unranked.

Discussion Topics;
:zapdos: (Electric)
:mantine: :dragonite: (Flying)
:toxapex: :swampert: :slowking: (Water)

That's all, enjoy the new metagame!
 
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Zapdos (Electric) A -> S

I'm too lazy to write a big write up on why Zapdos should rise to S rank, but I think most people that play realise that the mon is just insane, and it's specs set is able to get passed all of electric's bad matchups (bar the mirror) assuming you hit all your hurricanes, so zapdos should be on every good electric team.
 
Crawdaunt (Dark) D -> C
Since Urshifu got the boot Daunt gets a little more shine due to it being able to come in vs certain threats and start clicking knock off for free, and adaptability + LO/Band jet gives you a way to revenge kill threats pretty efficiently once they’re weakened a bit. Not an amazing mon but imo fits much better in C compared to D and the mons there.
 
gonna give my two cents on the discussion topics for water

This mon definitely needs to drop down to like either A or B. It doesn't really fit on the more offensive water builds that are more common right now, like rain or bulky offense, since its just a fat momentum sink. These more offensive teams would rather have smth like Slowking/Swampert as their fat since they can keep momentum with slowturn and provide other forms of support like rocks or fsight. Pex is moreso relegated to balance teams that don't care as much about momentum.
Swampy is fine where it is imo, since you don't really see it on every team i guess? Balance definitely still wants Defensive Gastro over Swampert to not L to Excadrill on steel, but it deserves the A rank since it is better on rain and offense.
I also think slowking is fine at A, again, it doesn't really find its way onto balance as easily(which i still think is a fine archetype, just not as good as offense), since balance is hella strapped for slots like a scarfer, fighting type, wallbreaker, elec immune, etc and Slowking doesn't really fit that easily. It's still great glue for the offense teams and pairs super nicely with Urshifu.


some other water noms

this mon is the fkin goat, it compresses a spiker, check to shit like zarude and rilla, and 1 time pivot into one mon, holy shit its so good. Jokes aside, I really do think golis should go to C, spikes are super good when you combine it with slowking fsight+cb shifu. Also considering that a no shifu-s meta will likely see the rise of HO dark, golis is gonna be super good vs that on bulky offense teams that don't have shit like rain barrask to save themselves. Another cool thing golis can do is spam spikes vs steel and psy, then knock off stuff like skarm helmets and bro boots.
i think fini should drop, u dont rly need smth to revenge kill urshifu on rain anymore, which was where fini saw the most usage as a scarf user. It's still good, but since its arguably biggest target dropped, you can just run like Cloyster/Specs Kingdra on rain which are better vs dragon since they dont fold to dragalge.
 
About the water discussion mons:
Toxapex S -> A
Like Hyperspace mentioned above, it doesn't really fit on offensive water builds. While it is still very good against some matchups, it doesn't help a lot versus Waters main weaknesses (Mono Electric, Kyurem, even Rillaboom beats it with Banded Wood Hammer of +2 Grassy Glide). Still a Staple on Balanced water tho, so keep it in A.
Slowking + Swampert Keep in A
Both really good mons, who have a clear role in offensive as well as balanced water. Swampert has the essential electric immunity and provides offensive rain with rocks and slow flip turns. Slowking forms an insanely good FuturePort duo with Urshifu, and is one of the few water mons who actually takes a Kyurem Freeze Dry. However, they are both replaceble by other mons, so A tier for me.

Now for some new noms:
Urshifu Rapid-Strike (Water) A -> S
With Rain Offensive becoming more and more dominant, Urshifu stands out as Waters best breaker. Close Combat + Surging Strikes in the Rain has only very limited switchins. Bulky Waters who resists CC and Max PhysDef Amoonguss are pretty much the only ones, and they can all be beaten by thunderpunch or zen headbutt coverage. This means a lot of types lack any form of defensive counterplay. It also has U-turn to generate momentum against possible counters and Aqua Jet for great Speed control. It can also run multiple viable sets (Band, Scarf, Sub + BU), so it not even easy to guess what you're going up against.
Nidoking (Ground) A -> S
Pretty much Grounds only viable special attacker and by far Grounds most reliable method of breaking defensive mons like Ferrothorn, Flying/Steels, Buzzwole, Weezing-Galar, Fini and Slowbro who otherwise give Ground tremendous trouble. It has insane coverage which allows it to pick it's own counters and it's often ground's best form of offense against otherwise troublesome matchups like Flying, Grass, Bug and Fairy. It's not without drawbacks, as its speed and bulk are mediocre, but I feel that running mono ground without Nidoking leaves you extremely vulnerable to most physical walls. Besides, it still has some utility thanks to it's ability to soak up toxic spikes and it's toxic immunity. Being neutral to grass also helps.
 
Sharpedo (Water) D -> C
Sharpedo’s actually kinda nice because it gives you an option that can beat Electric. Doesn’t rly fit on a lot of teams but I think it fits well on balance water w/o rain. Pretty niche role but I think it warrants it to move up to C.
 
B -> A (Psychic)
Many see Latias as a superior option due to the healing wish + scarf set, but Latios to me is best utilized as a wallbreaker instead of your scarfer. Calm mind paired with Soul Dew allows Latios to become a tremendous breaker, its soul dew and CM boosted draco and psychic/psyshock hit like a truck. The fourth spot can run coverage such as mystical fire to hit shit like ferro, aura sphere for Heatran and dark types, thunderbolt for flying types, or roost/recover to regain health. Despite how scary it is after a CM, it can certainly put in work even before a boost. An equally good choice specs set can be run as well, sporting additional coverage or defog/trick support instead of calm mind.

B -> A (Dark)
With Urshifu gone from mono dark, and screens looking to become the new norm, Moltres Galar finds itself in a comfortable position on mono dark teams having great offensive sweeping potential and fitting quite nicely into the screens HO playstyle. As if this thing wasn’t bulky enough, behind screens it is beyond fat. Goltres’ natural bulk coupled with screens allows it to easily set up and sweep teams rather easily, specifically using the double dance set. Certain types such as steel, poison, psychic, ghost, and fire have little to no counterplay once this thing gets going, and agility coupled with air slash helps immensely with fighting types that threaten dark. With screens this mon can threaten types such as flying, turning passive mons that don't threaten it back such as haze Mantine, Slowking-Galar, or Amoonguss into sweep potential. Overall, Galarian Moltres is a pokemon that I believe has potential to become a centralizing force in the metagame if it already isn’t.

S -> A (Dark)
I see Mandibuzz becoming less common with the transition to screens. While balanced dark w/ mandibuzz is still perfectly viable, screens dark will almost always opt to run Galarian Moltres instead of Mandibuzz due to its offensive presence.

C -> B (Dark)
Krook is a mon that slots well onto HO dark, and can be used in multiple ways. It can run sash, and can play the role of a rocks setter. It can run a scarf set with moxie, where it can function as a cleaner that can assist with the ever-so-common electric team. Krook is becoming an ideal option on screens dark because of its ability to fit into multiple roles and provide dark with another option for one of the better types in the meta in electric.
 
:Swampert: (Water) A
I think this guy should definetely reimain in A.
He offers the electric immunity and he also is resistant to grass-moves coverage from mons like Tapu Koko or Alolan Raichu and he is able to OHKO them.Even strong special sweepers like sash Alakazam,Volcarona/thundurus therian without boosts or Scarf Gengar,aren't able to OHKO him with a grass move.
252 SpA Tapu Koko Grass Knot (80 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Swampert: 220-260 (54.4 - 64.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ SpA Life Orb Raichu-Alola Grass Knot (80 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Swampert: 312-369 (77.2 - 91.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

0 Atk Swampert Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tapu Koko: 270-318 (96 - 113.1%) -- 75% chance to OHKO

0 Atk Swampert Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Raichu-Alola: 402-474 (154 - 181.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252 SpA Thundurus-Therian Grass Knot (80 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Swampert: 292-348 (72.2 - 86.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 SpA Alakazam Energy Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Swampert: 316-372 (78.2 - 92%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 SpA Volcarona Energy Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Swampert: 316-372 (78.2 - 92%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 SpA Gengar Energy Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Swampert: 304-360 (75.2 - 89.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
That should be enough to see how bulky that mon can be.
He is also the most common and strongest rock setter in a water team,and he can toxic potentially threads for a balance water,like moltres-galar or even Volcarona;he also can toxic annoying mons like a zapdos,rotom-wash,corsola-galar or the slowtwins.
He also is a good pivot,he hasn't recovery but he still does his job great.



I also wanted to spend 2 words over Scrafty and Arctozolt.




:Arctozolt: (Ice) D -> C

I think that mon deserves more attention.He might not be the most used wallbreaker,but with the hail he just hits crazy shots with Bolt Beak.
He also has Stomping Tantrum as coverage for steel,useful for mons like Heatran and Melmetal.
Bolt Beak hits really hard with the hail and also Freeze Dry is great as coverage for ground types.
I just don't understand how he can be under Alolan Sandslash or even Froslass,but i know that Froslass has a different role.




:Scrafty: (Fighting) Ur -> D
Why is Scrafty so underrated ?
He has really bulky stats,a bad speed and not a crazy base Attack.
For solving those 2 problems,u can simply run Dragon Dance.
He is almost always capable of setting up one Dragon Dance,the only problem are fairy-type Moves,otherwise he will kinda always be able to set-up at least one dd.
Intimidate may also help as well,but Moxie can give u a big advtange.
He has a really good movepool,and he has access to ice punch and poison jab for coverage.He also has Drain Punch for recovery.
Fighting isn't that good imo,but i think that mons such him might be a surprise for ur enemies and can become an important win condition.
 

mushamu

God jihyo
is a Tutor Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Former Smogon Metagame Tournament Circuit Champion
I think this guy should definetely reimain in A.
The discussion point was moreso whether or not Swampert would be bumped to S rank. Toxapex is honestly not in a great spot as of now, since Water wants having rain in order to not be passive against the rest of the aggressive metagame, and it's a momentum drain there. We were thinking of maybe putting Slowking and Swampert, two Pokemon that are very splashable and good to S rank alongside Pelipper which defines Water's most dominant playstyle as of now.
 

Ashbala

You can pretend that it was me, but no, oh ♪
is a Pre-Contributor
Here are some of the things i wish to convey about the recent discussion topic

:zapdos: (Electric) A --> S

Zapdos deserves the rise due to the usage of choice specs. It has base 125 spA and choice specs breaks most of the walls which gives his team an great advantage against bad mu. Choice specs hurricane can handle grass mu and due to flying type covers its important ground immune which i feel it deserves the rise in the ranking. Not only Choice specs variant, it also has good bulk which can also use as a defensive pivot which makes opponent a tough time to predict what kind of thing it is running.

:mantine: (Flying) A --> B/C

Mantine is a really good bulk mon on a flying team as a reliable switchin for dracovish and a good defogger in the flying team. But post vish ban concludes that there is a reduction in usage of mantine and most flying team depends on corviknight as a reliable defogger.

:dragonite: (Flying) B --> C

Dragonite in flying has seen some reduction in usage due to the rise of g-moltres and zapdos. It still works better on offensive side but the likes of g-moltres, zapdos and g-zapdos which has the ability to break walls has resulted in usage stat.

:toxapex: (Water) S --> A

Toxapex doesnt deserve a place in rain team as it is too passive for the current metagame. Its still an annoying mon and a great team support in rainless or stall water. But the increase in rain playstyle and the metagame is in offensive mode, i feel pex should demote from the ranking.

:slowking: (Water) B --> A

Slowking definitely a best mon currently post urshifu-s ban. Its set are simple, either av 4 atk or F-sight teleport spam. Its supports team by a reliable switchin and rain portTurn is also fun to use.

:swampert: (Water) A --> A/S

Honestly i dont know whether it deserves a spot for S or not, but it is the best reliable water mon in the current metagame. It doesnt have a role in rain team but this mon is phenomenal in balance and rainless team.
 
There is something I don't understand.
Why does Mono Council want to weaken the Steel core when it isn't the strongest in the current metagame.

Flying has by far the best core and best diversity possible in Monotype. No one can deny it.

What's Steel core? Aegislash, Heatran, Flying/Steel Pokémon (And Ferrothorn) ? How does it not breakable?
Flying core is way better, with better Pokémon able to nuke some types alone with teammates covering it.
By example: Moltres-Galar, this lovely bird destroys Ghost, Psychic, Steel,... "Oh but u are wrong, Psychic can deal with it with Tapu Lele and Hatterene!" : Lol. When u've, like I said, good teammates able to cover it like Celesteela, Landorus-T, Thundurus-T, Mantine,... That's laughable.

The point I want to say in this message is I don't understand why Council thought Aegislash was broken and why it gives to Steel a best core than Flying already have but nobody said a word on it. I feel this suspect is pretty strange and maybe not the best for Monotype at the moment.
Don't say what I didn't say, Aegislash is a top Pokemon with a lot of possibilities (Sub-Toxic, Specs, SD, WP,...) but I never had this feeling it made a type broken because of it, or just broken itself.

From an old boomer like me, there was a situation nearly similar to the OP Flying core in ORAS (or XY, Boomer memory is weak) where council really nerved the best core at this time with Zapdos ban because Flying type was just too strong compared to other types.
That was a stronger core than the current one.

Thanks u for ur reading.
I think u better post it on the Suspect Test thread, cause u talking about it and that would be more appropriate.
Anywas i use moltres-g in Flying with screens and the only thing lele and hatteren can do, is to activate my weakness policy
 
Just to add to the current discussions:

Toxapex (water) : S ->A

We all know that Toxapex can be a very annoying mon to break and it for sure always had it's place on most water Teams. The offensive Metagame just gives Toxapex a hard time to efficiently fit into the Swiftswim Water teams. It loses you momentum and, because it has been such an annoying mon, there are plenty of mons abusing it as Sub fodder (looking at stuff like Moltres-G and Hydreigon for examples).

Mantine (Flying): A -> A

Not much negativ to say about this mon. It pairs super well with Corviknight and Steela, is one of, if not the best special defensive wall flying has. it's always good to have a reliable mon to just absorb Waterstab moves from Swiftswim water (or balanced water for that matter), being able to tank Fireblasts or Flamethrowers thrown at the Steelas and Corviknights and it also can reliably defog if brought in against a special attacker.

Dragonite (Flying): B -> B/A

This mon has grown to me alot this gen. Dragonite is easily one of the saviors for Flying in the Electric MU (mind you, Electric is the most played type in Seasonals, combined with flying) and is a huge threat to Steel given it's coverage between EQ and Firepunch (yeah, sets will differ, but EQ + Firepunch is a set i have run to Counter Steel teams and they do not enjoy it). With Ddance it can setup against many mons and pose a threat to types that Flying dislikes, ESPECIALLY electric and, if you ever find the opening, dragon. (With the rise of Dragalge that will happen more often i assume)

Zapdos (Electric): A -> S

If someone told me i would rate Zapdos S tier not because of its incredibly good defensive ability's against the likes of Zapdos-Galar and Scizor, but because of its Choice Specs set, in the past i would have called them trolling. Now we see Specs Zapdos being a real powerhouse with only very little Counterplay. 328 Speed is not the very best in the current gen for example. On the otherhand, if the opponent ever reads your play wrong they basically have to sac a mon. Hurricane, Heatwave + Voltswitch make this mon incredibly tough to predict and that combined with the power to keep momentum. Not to mention it just voltswitches out into Zeraora and suddenly your special wall that was supposed to stop Zapdos is crying a little inside.

This is my View since i mainly played flying in Seasonals lately and i can see the Points against Mantine and Dragonite for sure. I just found them to be great mons for my teams in the current meta.
 
:melmetal: (Steel) B -> A
Honestly surprised it's at B. I don't think I need to say much about this pokemon but Double Iron Bash is broken and hardly has any answers against it. Its great HP and Defense stats allow it to live Super effective moves from virtually anything and in return OHKO them(this is especially huge when playing vs ground and fighting and gives you a good chance vs them). Furthermore, the versatility in its items allows it to be more of a menace in the current metagame. You can run Choice Band which allows you to OHKO Landorus-T with Ice Punch even at -1 and eases the flying match up, or you can run Assault Vest which allows it to live against Heatran and OHKO it, making the Steel mirror easier. All in all, Melmetal is the scariest physical wallbreaker we have and it should definitely be moved up.

:Ferrothorn: (Steel) A -> B
Ferrothorn has been affected quite a bit due to the suspects. It was quite necessary on Steel due to the physical wall breakers the tier had (Dracovish and Urshifu) but with those gone Steel can do just as well without Ferrothorn. Ferrothorn should also move down because of how easily it can be set up on (Sub Moltres-G as an example) and as of now, there isn't any clear benefit of using this when other pokemon such as Magnezone has been performing better.

:Slowking-Galar: (Poison) B -> A
Slowking-G has benefitted from all the bans. It's become much harder to break when paired with the other members of the regen core. It has a great movepool that can threaten or weaken a lot of types such as Dragon, Steel, and Psychic and plays the role of a Special Defensive wall the best in the whole type.
 
:vespiquen:
UR -> D (Bug) vespiquen is bugs literal only non-suicide lead cleric, and is a decent choice on balance. It provides plenty of support options to your team, such as aromatherapy, defog, tailwind, toxic, toxic spikes, and even destiny bond (which isnt viable or helpful in any way but its nice to have I guess). It also has reliable recovery in roost, and u-turn to pivot out easily. it does suffer from four move slot syndrome a bit, because it wants to fit u-turn, toxic spikes, toxic, roost, aromatherapy, and defog all in the same set, and it doesnt get leftovers because of its 4x stealth rock weakness, but its still a pretty decent option for monobug teams.
 
time to revive this dead thread :D
s/o Decem for some of the help

(Dark)
A -> S
have yall ever seen dark w/o this mon? i dont rly have much to say since this should be quite obvious... its been on every dark team this mpl so far. the mon's rly good at breaking stuff like steel/fly/etc but can also act as speed control with a choice scarf. ubiquitous mon on all dark teams and certainly deserves to be a tier above weavile and zarude.

(Dragon)
A->S
aha.... surprising that a mon that subs and nasty plots on like every good type would be s here too ;w;. kommo-o hella fell off in usage and viability after ppl started running steels/darks that dont autolose to this mon(skarm, air slash steela, sableye, and grimmsnarl screens). there rly isnt a single matchup where this mon does nothing; it's certainly as important to dragon as kyurem. (if ur logic is hydra isnt as god tier as dragapult an argument could be made to drop kyurem into a alongside hydra and leave dragapult as the only mon in s bcz dragapult is the goat oml...)


A->S
ok so. this mon is jesus. utility clef is p good, u put up rocks, knock stuff off-the regular annoying clef shit. cm clef has also been a thing that has popped up a few times in mpl like here, and does p well vs stuff like flying in general. its rly hard to not run this mon and every good fairy team should probably have god clefable.

(Flying)
B->C
lmao? hows this mon sitting in b with torn t and dnite... skarm just doesnt beat the same stuff steela/corv do since its spd is so ass. kyurem, hatt, and other mons are all mons that crap on this bird, essentially forcing corviknight/steela(not articuno tho, sorry decem) onto the team and taking up even more slots. spikes are not a real niche since like, whats this supposed to beat besides dark and dragon which other mons can alrdy do. compared to stuff like tornadus, who provides good utility with taunt knock etc, skarm simply cant compete w them.


S->A
hippo is only used with sand. sand is not the only ground build in ss. therefore, hippo->a. sandless has shown itself to be a real threat in ss rn since u dont have to run scarf landorus on every build/rely on sand exca to revenge stuff, or be forced to use a fat hippo that does nothing but come in and rocks 50% of all games. its not like ground doesnt have other good options like steelix or krookodile anyway. pls dont hit me with "sandless sucks lmaooo", sandless has gotten usage in mpl here. :3

(Ground)
B->A
LMAO..... b rank chomp :sob: i think its fair to say that garchomp should NOT be in the same rank as seismitoad(ass) and krookodile(niche), and def deserves to be next to mons like lando and mamo. there are a few good sets it can run, like the mixed rocks sets that consitently gets them up vs a lot of the meta and applies offensive pressure vs stuff like psychic. choice scarf and sd chomp are very niche but they're out there too.

(Ground)
A->B
this might seem p controversial but i honestly dont think nidoking is that good. i think the argument that "its ground's only special attacker" is quite bullshit, bc u dont actually lose to mons like Corviknight anymore since u have gravity lando or whatever. doesnt rly help vs anything that u cant beat- flying gets smacked by choice band/never melt ice mamo, steel u can win with gravity landorus, fairy kind of loses to certain steelix sets... u get the point. just doesnt feel like a "usually use" mon on ground and i think its a lot closer to smth like krookodile.

(Poison)
A->B
it does say b rank in the op, but according to the latest vr update this mon's a. and that is a fucking CRIME. yall can not be using this mon over toxapex lol.... :cry: almost all glowking poisons force u to drop a real mon(like toxapex), or make ur team a passive fuck that just sits there the whole game. its certainly not as necessary as weezy-g or nidoking, and fits more with the mons it competes with for slot 6, usually gengar,nihilego etc. beating kyurem is cool but crobat has been rising in usage which helps vs kyurem a lot since u dont get pressure stalled in the long run.

(Poison)
D->B
speaking of the bat, its actually pretty good as a mon since infiltrator toxic turns out to be very helpful vs a lot of big threats to poison. kyurem wants to sub on u and drain all ur pp? No problem, bat's got u. goltres wants to click sub, np, agility and win? No problem, set it on a timer with toxic. having a lot more of a prescence than galarweezy is pretty good and deserves a rise to B.

(Poison)
C->B
im CONVINCED that ppl who shit on this mon have never actually used it. i dont think drapion having knock off means they should be separated by 2 ranks at all. resttalkwhirl drapion(again, passive fuck) was only really for spectrier, which isnt rly a prominent threat in ss mono anymore. skunk on the other hand checks raichu-alola with sucker punch, a real threat since electric is top 3 types rn and alolachu absolutely dumpsters u otherwise. u also get play rough meaning goltres and hydra cant use u as setup bait. not to mention ur much bulkier and can possibly free up the defog slot on bat/weezy for something like uturn/cgas.

(Psychic)
S->A
this mon doesnt rly fit with mew, bro, and tini. Hatterene is a real mon rn, and even tho some teams run both, it would be a stretch to say that teams with hatterene and no lele dont exist. i dont rly have much to say, just think that lele's kinda overrated rn and its very much so droppable.

(Psychic)
B->A
kinda just shat on this mon but its rly solid on psychic. if u look at the other a-tiers(which includes ms. "i am shit speed control but barely made it into a tier latias"), glowking surely rises. its good vs elec since u can spam sludge bomb and flamethrower and helps vs aegislash steels a lot. prob not the only 1 who thinks this- glowking is the goat(only on psychic)


B->C
who is this again????


A->S(Steel)
have u ever seen a good steel without GOD exca??? i think not. its an electric immunity, form of speed control, victini check, spinner, what does it not do??? There rly is nothing it has to compete with since it is just so vital to steel. There are also sd sets that r very good vs stuff like dragon, poison, and elec. Sorry decem, togedemaru is unfortunately not an excadrill replacement.


i would also do water but i already posted on it, tldr pex->lower, golis->higher :3

edit: grammar
 
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Hi!
:crobat:
D->B(Poison)
I remember complaining alot about poison just flat out losing to goltres/hydre without any skill needed. However, with the addition of crobat, the steel vs flying match up goes from this https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1301442191 to this https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1301442191 As we can see in the first replay, the flying destroyed the poison team with little to no thought. In the second replay however, we see a very seasoned monotype player struggling to make progress vs crobat poison, seeing as his only breaker gets put on a timer. Skysolo didn't play this perfect but this showcases how crobat makes one of poisons worst match ups look super close. This shakes things up a bit because it forces flying teams to run other breakers so they don't lose to crobat poison straight up. Won't share god spread made by Rinda but its usually evd to live a +2 hurricane/fiery wrath. I would even argue this puts poison back in top 3, seeing as flying was one of its most alarming match ups+ it being decent against the rest of the meta.

:Scizor:
D->C(Steel)
will admit Sabella was the first to start using it in SS. The niche scizor has it that it beats Dragon, ground, and flying. Outside of tank chomp nothing on dragon takes a +2 metal coat/life orb BP after rocks. With flying if you're able to SD on corv/celesteela(assuming no flame) its basically game between knock(for mantine) and BP) if you're able to get up an SD after rocks. I wouldn't put it any higher but it has a cool role that should be looked at.

Thanks for having me.
 

mushamu

God jihyo
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:ss/slowking-galar:
Wanted to add onto hyper's nomination for glowking that i don't think it's necessarily bad, it's more of a safety net for certain matchups that can be covered otherwise in todays meta. You run it for stuff like Kyurem, Alolan Raichu, Tapu Lele, Zapdos, and Nidoking, but that can be covered by the other 5 slots albeit not as well but just enough to make it outplayable which is pretty much all u need. Crobat is good vs kyurem with toxic + spD toxapex stalling, skuntank can beat alolan raichu, and gengar/nihilego take on Tapu Lele and Zapdos. This leaves room for the poison team to run nihilego/gengar/scolipede/salazzle/whatever to cover actual bad matchups that you wouldn't be able to cover with running glowking like fire, psychic (victini is a bitch), slowking water with urshifu r, etc offensively. The metagame has definitely evolved to the point where glowking cannot see eye to eye to nidoking and should drop next to other pokemon that fill the same slot like gengar/nihilego primarily. I feel an argument could also be made for Nidoking to S or dropping down Amoonguss to A as well since Toxapex is jesus.
 
Hey, that's a long time since the last update so i will try to not repeat what other people say but there is some pokemon i want to talk.

(Elec)
C -> B
Regieleki looks very underated in this vr, this pokemon shouldn't be lower than Rotom-cut and Thundurus 2 pokemon with very low usage.
Eleki is definitely playable and that's a good pokemon for the type without Ground like psy or fairy



(Elec)
Unrank -> D
I was kinda surprised when i see vikavolt unrank even if he looks like a pre dlc pokemon, he always responds to recurring problems of elec like lose against Rain Water and Excadrill. With his decent bulk he can stop some choice excadrill and he provide a good support for his teammate with the Sticky Web



(Fire)
D -> C
I think this Pokemon is very useful, he hit so hard so it's good vs all the fat type like poison, steel, balance water for exemple. But ofc his main niche is with Lightning Rod, nice ability for elec but that's cool for fairy or fly too.



Some rise who looks pretty obvious after mpl at my eyes :

(fairy) C -> B
(fairy) D -> C
(ice) D -> B
(poison) D -> B
(steel) D -> C or B
(water) D -> C
(poison) C -> B
 
Hey, that's a long time since the last update so i will try to not repeat what other people say but there is some pokemon i want to talk.

(Elec)
C -> B
Regieleki looks very underated in this vr, this pokemon shouldn't be lower than Rotom-cut and Thundurus 2 pokemon with very low usage.
Eleki is definitely playable and that's a good pokemon for the type without Ground like psy or fairy



(Elec)
Unrank -> D
I was kinda surprised when i see vikavolt unrank even if he looks like a pre dlc pokemon, he always responds to recurring problems of elec like lose against Rain Water and Excadrill. With his decent bulk he can stop some choice excadrill and he provide a good support for his teammate with the Sticky Web
In my opinion Regieleki deserves that rank because the only thing it provides is powerful electric attacks, which is clearly unnecesary for an electric monotype that has already a lot of that. Sure, its fast and does a heck lot of damage, but the problem here is that it only does that against already favorable matchups for electric and does not improve the even or struggling ones, meaning that its use may just be justified to cteam even futher and thats why it holds such a low rank. If you want something more universal that could help in all matchups you would go for a suicide lead with dual screens and explosion, which is not bad but also not amazing.

As for Vikavolt im not entirely against for it to get into the VR, as you said with some good EVs it can block threats like Excadrill. It's an slow pivot, has Sticky Webs and has Energy Ball. While you can't get all of this options on the same, this variety on the many good things it can do (things that are helpfull for electric in many different matchups) should allow it to make it into the VR, I would have went for a C but whatever rank it gets for starter should be fine
 
:ss/slowking-galar:
Wanted to add onto hyper's nomination for glowking that i don't think it's necessarily bad, it's more of a safety net for certain matchups that can be covered otherwise in todays meta. You run it for stuff like Kyurem, Alolan Raichu, Tapu Lele, Zapdos, and Nidoking, but that can be covered by the other 5 slots albeit not as well but just enough to make it outplayable which is pretty much all u need. Crobat is good vs kyurem with toxic + spD toxapex stalling, skuntank can beat alolan raichu, and gengar/nihilego take on Tapu Lele and Zapdos. This leaves room for the poison team to run nihilego/gengar/scolipede/salazzle/whatever to cover actual bad matchups that you wouldn't be able to cover with running glowking like fire, psychic (victini is a bitch), slowking water with urshifu r, etc offensively. The metagame has definitely evolved to the point where glowking cannot see eye to eye to nidoking and should drop next to other pokemon that fill the same slot like gengar/nihilego primarily. I feel an argument could also be made for Nidoking to S or dropping down Amoonguss to A as well since Toxapex is jesus.
Fun fact, if Alolachu is running Psyshock, Glowking is gonna cry upon switching in (around 60% damage), so yeah, if you wanna have a chance just don't let your Dark mon (Skuntank/Drapion) faint.
 

mushamu

God jihyo
is a Tutor Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Former Smogon Metagame Tournament Circuit Champion
Honestly ive never understood the hype around offensive regieleki in monotype. Not only are electric teams completely centered around spamming electric stab to overload the opposition it’s not even that great at beating psychic and fairy over Magnezone because you lose out on the resistances a steel typing would provide. It’s a dead slot at best because of how little it provides to a team when you’re trying to cover a majority of the metagame which makes it essentially useless. If anything regieleki is ranked for screens because high speed/boom/spin lets it be a good setter on teams that are centered around taking off with certain setup mons over specs which provides nothing of teambuilding value to electric.
 
The problem i have with the Electric VR is you have the big 6 in s and a rank. When you want to build an elec team 99% of the time you don't want to drop a single one of those pokemon because the other pokemon are bad. And i think you didn't understand why i ask a rise for Eleki, the first thing i say is " this pokemon shouldn't be lower than Rotom-cut and Thundurus" because look at your B rank:

:Rotom-Mow: -> this pokemon is just a worse Rotom-Wash 90% of the time he is just here for like water and ground i supposed.
:Thundurus: -> idk why this pokemon is b rank i think he have a niche with sub bulk up fly or a pivot with u-turn superpower knock off, the first set have a little niche for grass but no one play this type maybe he can do something versus fly if you play wild charge in last but Thundy-T can wall this set i think, for the second set you already have pivot and koff user in elec so i don't think this set have a niche
:Dracozolt: -> this pokemon was used to beat steel before but honestly Magnezone is better he can trap Excadrill and Ferrothorn, provide a psychic and fairy resist.

Those pokemon niche are very small and i don't think Eleki is worse than Thundurus or Dracozolt when he 6-0 psy, fight, fire, bug or fairy he can provide screen or spin too [edit] that's a good speed control he can outspeed scarf lele or dnite at +1 (Specs can ohko it if you break Multiscale) . Eleki is bad but i think he is as bad as a Thundurus or a Dracozolt.
here is a little replay of Eleki doing some work : Mono wcup replay
(sorry i search for thundy but i found 0 good replay :x)

But if you don't want a rise of eleki (i can understand this mon is bad)
i think something like this looks more accurate at my eyes for an electric vr

S Rank
Tapu Koko
Zeraora

A Rank
Raichu-Alola
Zapdos

B Rank
Magnezone
Rotom-Wash

C Rank
Dracozolt
Rotom-Cut
Thundurus
Regieleki

D Rank
Galvantula
Raikou
Rotom-Heat
Thundurus-Therian
Vikavolt


A VR like this looks better at my eyes because your B rank are too bad and that's create problem like if your B rank pokemon is usefull for 1 type what's your C or D rank do that's scary. I don't think Thundurus, Dracozolt or Rotom-Cut have enough utility to be B rank when you look at the other B rank that's Azumarill, Corviknight, Dragonite... I don't want to list all B rank but those pokemon are usefull for more than 1 type they are good in her type they aren't super niche Pokemon.
 
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The matchups you mentioned are kind of the point when we say Regieleki only improves already winning matchups. Elec wins against fight bug and fire 10 out of 10 times with whatever you are running, you dont need to be a genius for those, psy and fairy are also simple, not as much as the previous 3 since they have some counterplay to go for, but still no ground types to stop you from spamming Volt Switch.

Also the way I see Electric is that you have 5 slots that you are always going for: Tapu Koko, Zeraora, Alolachu, Zapdos (who should rise to S), and a rotom (Mostly wash, wash is not S just because you have other rotom choices like cut to have a better MU against water and ground). Then there is that 6th slot... yeah, a lot can go there and thats mostly what's extending Electric's VR, I don't see any of the mons being solid enough to always get the 6th spot so just bring there your favourite niche
 

mushamu

God jihyo
is a Tutor Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Former Smogon Metagame Tournament Circuit Champion
The problem i have with the Electric VR is you have the big 6 in s and a rank. When you want to build an elec team 99% of the time you don't want to drop a single one of those pokemon because the other pokemon are bad. And i think you didn't understand why i ask a rise for Eleki, the first thing i say is " this pokemon shouldn't be lower than Rotom-cut and Thundurus" because look at your B rank:

:Rotom-Mow: -> this pokemon is just a worse Rotom-Wash 90% of the time he is just here for like water and ground i supposed.
:Thundurus: -> idk why this pokemon is b rank i think he have a niche with sub bulk up fly or a pivot with u-turn superpower knock off, the first set have a little niche for grass but no one play this type maybe he can do something versus fly if you play wild charge in last but Thundy-T can wall this set i think, for the second set you already have pivot and koff user in elec so i don't think this set have a niche
:Dracozolt: -> this pokemon was used to beat steel before but honestly Magnezone is better he can trap Excadrill and Ferrothorn, provide a psychic and fairy resist.

Those pokemon niche are very small and i don't think Eleki is worse than Thundurus or Dracozolt when he 6-0 psy, fight, fire, bug or fairy he can provide screen or spin too [edit] that's a good speed control he can outspeed scarf lele or dnite at +1 (Specs can ohko it if you break Multiscale) . Eleki is bad but i think he is as bad as a Thundurus or a Dracozolt.
here is a little replay of Eleki doing some work : Mono wcup replay
(sorry i search for thundy but i found 0 good replay :x)

But if you don't want a rise of eleki (i can understand this mon is bad)
i think something like this looks more accurate at my eyes for an electric vr

S Rank
Tapu Koko
Zeraora

A Rank
Raichu-Alola
Zapdos

B Rank
Magnezone
Rotom-Wash

C Rank
Dracozolt
Rotom-Cut
Thundurus
Regieleki

D Rank
Galvantula
Raikou
Rotom-Heat
Thundurus-Therian
Vikavolt


A VR like this looks better at my eyes because your B rank are too bad and that's create problem like if your B rank pokemon is usefull for 1 type what's your C or D rank do that's scary. I don't think Thundurus, Dracozolt or Rotom-Cut have enough utility to be B rank when you look at the other B rank that's Azumarill, Corviknight, Dragonite... I don't want to list all B rank but those pokemon are usefull for more than 1 type they are good in her type they aren't super niche Pokemon.
Fwiw I think thundy and rotom c are both objectively better than regieleki and have real useful roles they can fill on a team. Rotom c is a water resist that also beats Swampert, which goes a long way in the rain matchup where it would flip turn/toxic it for free otherwise. Elec has generally been known to struggle vs skewda, and Rotom c helps alleviate the matchup more compared to Rotom w. Thundys niche is the fact that it has prankster. Prankster twave is a really nice secondary form of speed control for stuff like the aforementioned barraskewda and Volcarona esp because taking a turn to get electric terrain up and Raichu in can be the death of some games. It also gets taunt for aegislash/hazard pokemon, knock off/u turn for even more utility, and a decent array of coverage options. Dracozolt is dogshit tho for the same reason as eleki so I don’t mind axing it. I also wouldn’t compare different vrs from different types considering each type has their own thing going for it, electrics team structure is just much more defined.
 
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