Lil cookie on the way to the tiering action... my votes and some reasoning behind them:
Sneasler: 4, Even with Lash Out as the only actual tiny buff to this mon given by the DLC, a combination of a much better Rillaboom and a meta where balance struggles to find a solid foothold (due to other mons on this survey) makes this very difficult for teams to handle, particularly frailer offence builds who often have to rely on defensive Tera to escape instant death. I don't see Poison Touch sets as broken at all, but Unburden and 130 / 120 offensive stats along with a respectable 80 / 60 / 80 bulk that can be enhanced by Grassy Seed + large HP investment is just not a reasonable mon to me. Not rating it a full 5 as I know many other qualified players have, as I'm not dead set that it's some uncounterable cheese that cannot ever be okay in the tier (Unburden sets are near useless into fat/stall unless you run what I think is a suboptimal Tera Fighting), but yeah this is insanely cheap and probably needs to go, I wouldn't be mad at a QB.
Gholdengo: 4, I've been in the DnB Ghold camp for a while, particularly pre-DLC, but Good as Gold has a clear negative effect on a tier which already struggles with not much having removal. Literally the only reason I don't want it gone is because it's nice for dealing with fat teams that find it hard to consistently handle it or make progress vs it, but at a point it's hard to not just take a step back and look at what it's doing to a tier that already struggles with hazards. I don't enjoy the feeling of needing 5 boots mons + a knock absorber on any non-offence build for it to be a usable playstyle, and while yes, Defog and Rapid Spin have a limited number of users even in a post-Gholdengo world, I'd actually consider running Defog Mandi instead of like Foul Play - ID - Roost - Toxic to answer Zama (who may deserve to be on the next tiering survey) and the next mon on the list. It's impossible to argue that Gholdengo doesn't have a massive effect on the tier, likely more so than any other mon, and I'd like to see how a metagame feels without its presence.
Kingambit: 4, It's gotten less bad post-DLC but I still don't like Gambit in the tier, I seriously think people overrate its defensive value; as harsh as it sounds I don't see anyone who thinks it's what holds the tier back from a broken Dragapult as playing the game at a serious level, have fun being a switch in to Specs Flame or even worse Boots Wisp! Of course it does undeniably help to stop Shadow Ball spam, but it is
not a good Pult switch-in. Any actual argument that I acknowledge on this thing has to hinge on it being not broken in itself and not a broken-checks-broken answer to something that it isnt even a good answer to, not saying there aren't other justifications for it but if I have to hear "nooo pult is broken with no gambit!!!" one more time I'm gonna break down in tears. Every team needs to pack multiple checks and counters to not just auto lose to it, and while I've had a friend compare this to past things like SM Lele I do think this is a different beast entirely that doesn't add enough value to the tier to justify.
Manaphy: 3, This is some real cheese that doesn't add anything to the tier at all, it constricts balance heavily by existing with both Tail Glow and Double Dance posing significant problems that are very hard to consistently account for while also loading well into the rest of the meta. Lack of recovery makes it much more manageable and so I won't rate it as high as some of these other mons here but balance has a very bad time trying to 'answer' it without either Tera'ing Skeledirge or geting the Haze and Mirror Coat turns right every time with a full health Milotic. It also struggles with speed control as it can be outsped by anything over base 100 (unless webs are up, so make sure you're packing boots on every fast mon! very cool!), but 100 / 100 / 100 bulk is very good especially with HP investment and reasonable answers to a full health Manaphy like Encore from Iron Valiant / Ogerpon can lose not only the mon but the game on the spot to actual usable techs like Mental Herb. I don't think this is as bad as the other mons on the survey, but that doesn't mean I don't think it may be too strong in this meta.
Ogerpon-W: 4, Balance gets owned by this thing, Mandi gets knocked and the next time it comes in it dies if they get the ~23.4% chance to crit one of their two Ivy Cudgels while you can't Roost in fear of Encore, Amoonguss gets its boots knocked and now comes in on hazards so gets worn down hard trying to come in repeatedly (although it's probably the best we have), and so many other would-be answers lose to Encore. Of course it's not like it can run 10 moves but you have to consider everything in the builder to not run into the wrong set, find out your counter loses to something you didn't consider real and start hemorrhaging mons til the game falls apart; thank you
CheesyBrie for
this post earlier in the thread because this feels to me like a similar case of a mon that people argue struggles with moveslots but more so appreciates having all of these barely-telegraphed options. This definitely feels overtuned, although I wouldn't really want a quickban on it as I know the general consensus is split; however, I'd definitely value some tiering action in future.
To conclude, GameFreak hates Singles and a lot of these things have to go, regardless of Tera being in the tier or not. I'm not exactly a warrior either way on Tera but I do enjoy its presence and I really don't think that any of these issues I've described here barring Kingambit (who absolutely is a Tera abuser) would be solved without it, hazards would be just as oppressive, Sneasler would be just as cheap and both Manaphy and Waterpon would be doing the exact same thing that they do rn aside from Tail Glow Manaphy gaining one more consistent check in Rillaboom. Shoutout the community and the council for actually putting forward action on this shit, I know that people who don't actually play the tier love to hate but I've definitely been seeing improvements to the tier even if it falls short of how enjoyable pre-DLC was to me, and imo the current issues with finding balance (lol) in OU are more the fault of horrible balancing by Pokémon itself than anything else.
is another 4 from me.
5/5, this Pokemon is very annoying as it forces very specific measures to cover while still oftentimes forcing progress due to Spike, Knock, or status. This is not even mentioning how effective SD and pivoting sets can be or how few things regularly swap into Gliscor despite it living very long thanks to Poison Heal + Protect.
5 -- It is broken with or without Dire Claw at this point. Unburden variants on Grassy Terrain offense with Tera Ghost and Tera Fly are ridiculous. I would even support a quickban if it has a big majority as it does not add anything to the metagame aside from Toxic Spikes soaking, but it is a substantial pain in the ass to teambuilders across each playstyle. I would be fine with a suspect, too, and ultimately will defer to the results, but I am a firm 5 and believe this among the most broken things right now.
