Resource SV Ubers Viability Rankings (Pre-Home)

[Aberforth]

Hello all! Kicking off the generation, here is the first Viability Rankings thread for SV Ubers.

This is a list of the sixty-two viable Pokemon in SV Ubers, sorted top-to-bottom from most to least viable.

Thread Rules

- Post intelligently. One-liners saying things like "X should be Y rank" without context or supporting evidence are likely to be disregarded or deleted.
- Be civil when debating other users. Any flaming will not be tolerated.
- This thread is for discussion of the viability rankings only. Those wanting to ask simple questions about why something is ranked or how to build a team should look to our SQSA for guidance.
- Be aware of our subforum rules and the global forum rules — they all apply here, too.

The VR Council

The VR Council is a group of experienced players selected to assess any new nominations from the community and vote on them before they become accepted into the rankings. This same council has the same jurisdiction over the upcoming Sample Teams thread. The VR Council also can internally nominate changes to the thread — it then votes on these, just as an individual user would in a post in this thread. We will document all changes to the Viability Rankings in the form of update posts, where votes and associated reasoning are collected in a spreadsheet. Be on the lookout for these.

The current VR Council is:
Aberforth
Fc
Fogbound Lake
Inder
Kate
Manaphy
SiTuM

Rankings

The Pokémon are not ranked within their own tiers, on account of how new this metagame is. Instead, they are ranked alphabetically within their own tiers. This is something we will be doing for the higher ranks in subsequent updates, but not for this first one.

S Rank
S

Koraidon
Miraidon

A Rank

A+
Chi-Yu
Chien-Pao
Flutter Mane
Great Tusk
Iron Bundle
Ting-Lu

A
Kingambit


A-
Annihilape
Corviknight
Gothitelle
Skeledirge
Toxapex


B Rank

B+
Clodsire
Espathra
Gholdengo
Grimmsnarl
Iron Treads
Walking Wake

B

Blissey
Dondozo
Dragonite
Froslass
Garganacl
Glimmora
Hatterene
Iron Moth
Palafin

B-
Alomomola
Iron Hands
Iron Valiant
Pelipper
Scream Tail

C Rank

C+
Cyclizar
Masquerain
Orthworm
Roaring Moon

C
Baxcalibur
Ditto
Dragapult
Dugtrio
Hippowdon
Houndstone
Iron Leaves

C-
Azumarill
Ceruledge
Dachsbun
Garchomp
Hawlucha
Maushold
Pawmot
Scizor
Slither Wing
Tyranitar


D Rank

A reminder that these Pokemon are only Ubers by tiering and possess no real metagame niche.

Empty, for now.

 

[haunted paper]

Where is Pelipper and Hawlucha? At least put them in C rank or something, they do have valuable niches. Pelipper is the best check/counter to most Koraidon sets in the tier thanks to Drizzle, which shuts down Koraidon's sun and ability. Nearly all Koraidons do not run wild charge so no easy OHKOs. The only set that 2HKOs Pelipper w/o set up is Choice Band Outrage, with set up +2 Dragon Claw does 2HKO. But if Pelipper opts for tera fairy, then Koraidon doesn't really ever do anything to it. While it does invite in Miraidon, it can u-turn out on an incoming switch-in. Hawlucha is incredibly good on HO since it doesn't have to worry about Ditto or being outsped thanks to unburden. Hawlucha is also very good at sweeping, w/o including tera, it OHKOs or 2HKOs most of the S and A rank. It's hard to shut down Hawlucha just do to the fact that tera is a thing and it gets access to bulk up and SD. Tera Blast Electric under electric terrain allows for it to break Dondonzo (it's not necessary but it does help against Corvi and Toxapex too). It has access to taunt for defensive clodsire and hippowdon.

It's sad not to see them anywhere on the VR ;(

 

[zf]

Yes where is peliper…. This is easy B rank mon…. And YET… no where to be found… a mystery… and a travesty…

yes yes…. It is no Mystery where to find ME however… should the VR council decide… Good input is a skill they desire… I am Willing to break Bread

 

[Fc]

Where is Pelipper and Hawlucha? At least put them in C rank or something, they do have valuable niches. Pelipper is the best check/counter to most Koraidon sets in the tier thanks to Drizzle, which shuts down Koraidon's sun and ability. Nearly all Koraidons do not run wild charge so no easy OHKOs. The only set that 2HKOs Pelipper w/o set up is Choice Band Outrage, with set up +2 Dragon Claw does 2HKO. But if Pelipper opts for tera fairy, then Koraidon doesn't really ever do anything to it. While it does invite in Miraidon, it can u-turn out on an incoming switch-in. Hawlucha is incredibly good on HO since it doesn't have to worry about Ditto or being outsped thanks to unburden. Hawlucha is also very good at sweeping, w/o including tera, it OHKOs or 2HKOs most of the S and A rank. It's hard to shut down Hawlucha just do to the fact that tera is a thing and it gets access to bulk up and SD. Tera Blast Electric under electric terrain allows for it to break Dondonzo (it's not necessary but it does help against Corvi and Toxapex too). It has access to taunt for defensive clodsire and hippowdon.

It's sad not to see them anywhere on the VR ;(

Yes where is peliper…. This is easy B rank mon…. And YET… no where to be found… a mystery… and a travesty…


View attachment 476485


yes yes…. It is no Mystery where to find ME however… should the VR council decide… Good input is a skill they desire… I am Willing to break Bread

This was an oversight on our end when setting up the slate. Pelipper will go to B-

 

[pokeclysm]

Interesting that Palafin, despite being an Uber, is significantly worse than many Pokemon that are allowed in OU. Guess that shows how centralizing Koraidon and Miraidon are at the moment; Palafin's STAB gets neutered by Koraidon's sun, and Miraidon can survive a Jet Punch and annihilate it in turn. They're clearly the best Pokemon in the format right now; in addition to having the highest BST in the tier by a huge margin, they also enable many other threats; Koraidon's sun, for instance, allows Flutter Mane to outspeed basically the entire tier while using an item other than booster energy, which is incredible. I definitely support there not being an S- tier right now, as those two shape the game more than anything else by a wide margin.

 

[MC Squared]

Interesting that Palafin, despite being an Uber, is significantly worse than many Pokemon that are allowed in OU. Guess that shows how centralizing Koraidon and Miraidon are at the moment; Palafin's STAB gets neutered by Koraidon's sun, and Miraidon can survive a Jet Punch and annihilate it in turn. They're clearly the best Pokemon in the format right now; in addition to having the highest BST in the tier by a huge margin, they also enable many other threats; Koraidon's sun, for instance, allows Flutter Mane to outspeed basically the entire tier while using an item other than booster energy, which is incredible. I definitely support there not being an S- tier right now, as those two shape the game more than anything else by a wide margin.

They're the only boxart legendaries in the game at the moment so it makes sense why they tower ober everything else. When Home support happens and we get threats like Groudon and Kyogre back things will change

 

[LouisIX]

Nominate slither wing to B
the resist of bug type helps slither wing to become probably the only wisper that can eat both tusks and treads at the same time. Physical defensive set with wisp can utilize this ability at maximum.

Atk stats is not bad even without investment and it also packs similar coverage with tusk such as ground+fighting. Really good at pivoting grounds spam. On the other hand the raw special bulk of slither wing is decent, for example bundle would have to run away from full hp slitherwing just to prevent possible revenge. Moveset is also decent, with morning sun as recovery and EQ, stab CC and first impression which both have good coverage and stab power or priority.

wisps+ground+fighting may be the standard defensive set but it can also choose first impression over EQ. Pros such as provides high power priority even in a defesive set which dominates chien pao;
Cons such as it gets completely walled by toxic type without EQ.

The choice band set is ok but definitely shows less capability than the defensive wisp set, as ground type resistances are rare nowadays and people are really relying on corv so hard to deal with grounds, let alone slither wing has wisp.

 

[katerina]

to a+

i think this needs no explanation. this mon is absolutely broken and invalidates 2 playstyles by itself, effortlessly (stall and fat balance). every defensive mons gets completely obliterated by it, with your 2 best switch-ins in ting-lu and blissey getting 2hko by specs fire blast- defensive counterplay does not exist for this thing.
and, altho a bit more inconsistent in ubers, sets like scarf with many different teras (grass, fairy, flying etc) are a viable option to get past your only counterplay in revengekillers. this thing needs to go.

 

[Taka]

Nominating Iron Treads for A+

Near perpetual Electric Terrain remedies its primary disadvantage in OU, so Treads is just incredibly consistent at what it does, which is surviving to attack at least twice. Considering its great movepool, those two+ turns should not be undervalued at A-. The popular Tusk/Ting-Lu double Ground core stacks too many weaknesses to Fairy, so Treads offers a great alternative to one of them.

IMO, Treads is the most reliable spinner, with perfect typing for switching into hazards, and has the speed tier, bulk, and power to threaten all ghosts. Terrain will always offer an opportunity for a near-dead Treads to do something later.

There are two movesets that have been doing work for me, both designed to leverage Iron Tread's typing, natural bulk, and access to key utility moves:

Iron Treads @ Leftovers
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 HP / 32 SpD / 224 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin

This hits the 384 HP Leftovers threshold and 334 speed tier while always surviving 2 Timid Gholdengo Shadow Balls from full (unless SpD drop obviously).

Iron Treads @ Assault Vest
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 8 HP / 252 Atk / 24 SpD / 224 Spe
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Volt Switch
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin

Both EV spreads always survive Timid Flutter Mane's sun-boosted Expert Belt Mystical Fire (the slower option guarantees enough HP to switch into Rocks later). Tera Ground turns Earthquake into a 100% OHKO on 4/0 Miraidon/Flutter Mane/opposing Treads. Meanwhile, Volt Switch chip damage should not be underestimated in terrain:

0- SpA Iron Treads Volt Switch vs. 252 HP / 40 SpD Corviknight in Electric Terrain: 100-118 (25 - 29.5%)

Seconding this nomination, Specially Defensive Iron Treads feels like one of the most consistent switch-ins to a plethora of threats in the metagame. I've tested out the Tusk/Ting-Lu core, and if you can afford another Koraidon check like Skeledirge/Slowtwins on your team, Treads/Ting-Lu feels like a much more solid defensive core that can take on Flutter Mane a lot better.

Also

to B+, Scream Tail is incredibly customizable and can fit any required defensive need for a team, despite not matching into Flutter Mane super well. Although it does tend to be passive at times, Scream Tail can pivot into slower mons like Iron Treads, Tusk, and walls non Specs Bundle and non Specs Shadow Ball Valiant. It also provides valuable Wish support for teams that utilize Ting-Lu, Defensive Tusk, and Defensive Treads. This mon can also switch into non Banded Koraidon and take it on.

I've been running this set:

Scream Tail @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Def / 64 Spe
Bold Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Dazzling Gleam
- Encore

Encore lets Scream Tail not as easy to set up on, forcing set up variants of Korai and Mirai out. Letting Flutter Mane in is an issue, but that can be dealt with by other teammates.

 

[Monai]

in my most humble of opinions
to b+ or a-
up to b+ or a-
has to be at least a B tier mon right
up to b

I also don't think gholdengo is really worthwhile of A tier. GlimmGhold can't really keep more than a single hazard up into either treads or tusk t1, but maybe I just haven't seen it used well personally. Also a huge fan of Pelipper because of how well it checks korai tusk and think it could be considered for at least B.

 

[LouisIX]

Nominate dragonite to B

Temporary the strongest espeed user in the tier, with perfect coverage move and dragon dance boosting.

in this hazard dominating meta, a powerful espeed is a serious threat late game, and it is not risking speed tie, accuracy and priority move at all. Not mentioning when pair with tera normal it becomes a serious win con too.

It also provides good defesive value of its typing. Choice tusk struggled against a dnite team, where bulky tusk was risking heavily punishment by occasionally draco meteor. Its dragon typing with multiscale also grants it pivot into water or fire spam in corresponding weather. The resistant and ground immunity of dragonite appears to be great in the meta which support its sweeping ability with dragon dance, while one dragon dance can out speed even dragapult and + nature.

All pros aside, it has some significant drawbacks. First, its power of espeed is relying on tera if you do not run power boosting item on it, and even with tera you still need hazard support to ratify the sweeping ability, as it is dragon dance, not swords dance lol.
1. Tera reliance

Second, alongside to its quite restricted sweeping ability, it struggles against unaware wall. While some of them can be worn down by hazard , but some run boots such as Skeledirge which stops dnite hard without power boosting item. Its offensive power output is still good against offensive team, but nothing close to be elite so that it could tear stalls. No.
2. Lack of raw power.

To conclude, dnite is a mon with clear pros and cons and should definitely place above C, considering its offensive threat with espeed and its defensive value thanks to its extreme rare flying type. Its role is also unique in the current meta which also proves itself to be much more worthy than a C class.

 

[katerina]

to s rank

absurd offensive presence, 100% usage in HO in uwl (still a bit early in the tour, but you get it), broken stabs, broken dual priority, everything gets 2hkod or ohkod. this thing is making some iron bundles run tera FAIRY just to not die to sucker punch btw. thats how bs this mon is.
boots sd, boots 4 attacks, cb, sd life orb, tera blast electric, every set this mon has is insanely broken.

 

[LocalMetagross]

nominating to A+.

this thing is insane. it shreds everything in its path like nothing else when sun is up. its stellar 135 special attack stat, combined with its amazing signature ability Beads of Ruin and powerful STAB moves in Overheat, Fire Blast, and Dark Pulse. it can run a specs set or scarf set to great effect, and its an absolute monster.

while its absolutely unparalleled power is useful on nearly any team, chi-yu isnt exactly a pokemon that can be thrown onto every team. its odd defensive typing, low HP stat, subpar defense stat, and a modest speed stat leave it in a bit of an awkward defensive position. it doesnt get many opportunities on its own, and relies on teammates to bring it in safely.

stall absolutely FOLDS to this fish, and its somewhat lacking coverage is hardly a problem by the absolute SHEER power of its fire blasts and overheats. in case this wasn't overkill enough, it can easily run tera fire to shred...MORE...

i'll post calcs soon i have to go

 

[McGrrr]

If Moody isn't getting banned, then Scovillain should be higher IMO; I don't know what tier, but Sub/Protect sets are way more threatening than any of its C-tier peers. Sooner or later, you will lose to Moody cheese from an otherwise completely won position. Moody is just always a Hail Mary win con in the vein of Jirachi flinch and that should not be in C.

to s rank

I think Chien is fine sitting at the top of A+ with nothing in S- to emphasise the clear gap between the cover legends and everything else.

nominating View attachment 490329 to A+.

Similarly, I think fish is fine sitting at the top of A. It has an awkward speed tier, wanting to run both Scarf and Specs to do what it needs to do. I'd be more inclined to agree with A+ if it had e.g. a 9/16 survival roll vs Timid Electro Drift instead of 1/16.

 

[Wooper Person]

for A
Incredible mon that walls practically any relevant physical attacker (most notably it's like one of the only pao answers barring tera dark stuff) and it can even help deal with Koraidon
No reliable recovery + Rest failing in terrain hurts a bunch but it's upsides more than make up for its downsides
to A-
Shaky specs miraidon answer but it fends off pretty much every other set, toxic is rlly nice since you can pressure mons like skele and tinglu for teammates
Also pairs rlly well with dozo (outside of bundle, but it's doable specially w tera on clod + wabsorb)

to B- (or even C+ )
Do I need to explain? Sand sux, Fluffy sets seem interesting but I haven't tested that much

 

[hotdog.png]

for A
Incredible mon that walls practically any relevant physical attacker (most notably it's like one of the only pao answers barring tera dark stuff) and it can even help deal with Koraidon
No reliable recovery + Rest failing in terrain hurts a bunch but it's upsides more than make up for its downsides
to A-
Shaky specs miraidon answer but it fends off pretty much every other set, toxic is rlly nice since you can pressure mons like skele and tinglu for teammates
Also pairs rlly well with dozo (outside of bundle, but it's doable specially w tera on clod + wabsorb)

to B- (or even C+ )
Do I need to explain? Sand sux, Fluffy sets seem interesting but I haven't tested that much

The main idea is that you make a team of 5 Pokemon which have a move which kills them, along with Houndstone with Last Respects on its moveset. Houndstone is the final Pokémon on the team, and goes on the field after the 5th Pokémon dies. However, you don’t kill Houndstone. Instead, you use the move Last Respects, which has power equal to 50+(X*50), where X is the total number of times any Pokemon has fainted on the user's side, and X cannot be greater than 100, in order to sweep the remainder of the opponent’s team. If Houndstone is killed however ( the most common perpetrators could be Normal types doing chip damage, Clodsire, Ghost types with a better Speed stat, and definitely Dark types, ), it’s game over.

 

[LocalMetagross]

The main idea is that you make a team of 5 Pokemon which have a move which kills them, along with Houndstone with Last Respects on its moveset. Houndstone is the final Pokémon on the team, and goes on the field after the 5th Pokémon dies. However, you don’t kill Houndstone. Instead, you use the move Last Respects, which has power equal to 50+(X*50), where X is the total number of times any Pokemon has fainted on the user's side, and X cannot be greater than 100, in order to sweep the remainder of the opponent’s team. If Houndstone is killed however ( the most common perpetrators could be Normal types doing chip damage, Clodsire, Ghost types with a better Speed stat, and definitely Dark types, ), it’s game over.

i feel like if your strategy requires 67% of your team to die to be effective and is walled by any resist or immune AND requires sand AND a scarf, it isnt a strategy. it’s a gimmick

 

[hotdog.png]

i feel like if your strategy requires 67% of your team to die to be effective and is walled by any resist or immune AND requires sand AND a scarf, it isnt a strategy. it’s a gimmick

Okay. Sorry for taking an assumption. It’s just the only reason I could think of on why was banned to Ubers.

 

[hotdog.png]

What is the niche of using in Gen 9 Ubers?

 

[LocalMetagross]

Okay. Sorry for taking an assumption. It’s just the only reason I could think of on why was banned to Ubers.

i dont really dabble in OU, so i amn’t sure why it was banned. likely because a 300 bp stab move is a little too strong. but yeah, sand rush hound is a noob trap

 

[LocalMetagross]

What is the niche of using in Gen 9 Ubers?

beats koraidons not running iron head

 

[hotdog.png]

i dont really dabble in OU, so i amn’t sure why it was banned. likely because a 300 bp stab move is a little too strong. but yeah, sand rush hound is a noob trap

Okay.

 

[hotdog.png]

beats koraidons not running iron head

Oh. But do most players run Iron Head on Koraidon? ( tbh they probably do )

 

[Fc]

For the future please keep any simpler metagame questions to the SQSA thread, or for more in depth discussion the metagame discussion thread. This thread is strictly for discussing the viability of Pokemon and potential changes to their placements.

 

[Chmem]

IMO

ttar to C+
Clod to A-
Iron Hands to B+
Hatt to B
Hippo to B-