Resource ORAS OU Viability Rankings

I fully believe M-alt should drop to B- or at bare minimum the very edge of B-ranking.

Its a mon that while promises a million things on paper, can fail to deliever on a lot of those things. Defensive utility, terrifying sweeping potential and not needing to necessarily mega evolve right away. It also faces fierce competition from the other dragon types that can do one thing or another M-alt promises to bring to the table (zard-x sweeper, chomp defensive utility). You could also argue M-latias is probably easier to splash as opposed to M-alt.

While M-alt isn't unviable and certainly not a mon to sleep on, it requires too much work for not enough returns.
Me when Mega Altaria is already B-:
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New Update
:dragonite:A- / #34 -> A- / #27

Next Topic: Stallbreakers
46. :Gardevoir-Mega: Gardevoir-Mega
72. :Gengar: Gengar

Both Mega Gardevoir and Gengar were brought in WCOP Semis and I think they are very interesting mons that are kind of slept on. Discuss their rank, do they deserve their rank? What about a rise?
 
No way gengar is the 72th best pokemon... right?
Push comes to shove it's still a 110 speed willo, taunt, trick or clear smog.
I was gonna say IF GENGAR IS C+ I'M C+ but then surrounded by Starmie, Terrakion and Tangrowth seems alright?
I guess maybe it's just some other hyper specific mon in some hyper specific meta that need to drop.
 
No way gengar is the 72th best pokemon... right?
Push comes to shove it's still a 110 speed willo, taunt, trick or clear smog.
I was gonna say IF GENGAR IS C+ I'M C+ but then surrounded by Starmie, Terrakion and Tangrowth seems alright?
I guess maybe it's just some other hyper specific mon in some hyper specific meta that need to drop.
It is incredibly pursuit weak..., in the tier where both the ttars and weavile are elite, oh and bisharp is very good too
 
New Update
:dragonite:A- / #34 -> A- / #27

Next Topic: Stallbreakers
46. :Gardevoir-Mega: Gardevoir-Mega
72. :Gengar: Gengar

Both Mega Gardevoir and Gengar were brought in WCOP Semis and I think they are very interesting mons that are kind of slept on. Discuss their rank, do they deserve their rank? What about a rise?
I think Gengar is a very situationnal pick, the fact that it completely walls gliscor (without koff) is hella interesting, but in the current metagame in which Weavile, Bisharp, Ttar, M-Alakazam or even M-Lopunny are omnipresent makes it barely usable while he got a true potential to clear games in some matchups like Ruffles did against ABR

I would say that Gengar deserves no rise, I can't see it above C+ Tier, its current ranking is really fine for a mon that gets destroyed by half of offensive threats in ORAS current meta BUT by staying in this tier it also confirms that it can be a relevant pick for some scouts even if I find that it's risky to use a slot for Gengar !
 
Gengar is for sure a high risk vs. reward Mon. I'm not gonna completely rehash it because previous people have already covered points that I agree with. Gengar is fine where he stands I think.

As far as M-Garde, I guess take what I think with a grain of salt b/c I'm not super fluent w/ M-Garde. I don't think it should be B+ rated. I think it sits around B rating. In my experience it operates with the same efficiency as like MPin. When it has a good MU, gg go next. When it has a bad MU gg go next. Garde is powerful, but it does have clear weaknesses, most priority moves, after some chip any physical attackers that's faster than it can potentially rk it, focus blast missing on steel types. Can it overcome these problems, sure, but it needs some help getting by them and depending on what 6 your building you might have to lean into a lot of help which in my opinion devalues it a little.
 
Gengar is for sure a high risk vs. reward Mon. I'm not gonna completely rehash it because previous people have already covered points that I agree with. Gengar is fine where he stands I think.

As far as M-Garde, I guess take what I think with a grain of salt b/c I'm not super fluent w/ M-Garde. I don't think it should be B+ rated. I think it sits around B rating. In my experience it operates with the same efficiency as like MPin. When it has a good MU, gg go next. When it has a bad MU gg go next. Garde is powerful, but it does have clear weaknesses, most priority moves, after some chip any physical attackers that's faster than it can potentially rk it, focus blast missing on steel types. Can it overcome these problems, sure, but it needs some help getting by them and depending on what 6 your building you might have to lean into a lot of help which in my opinion devalues it a little.
This is basically what I think. Gengar is still solid but in a meta with as many powerful dark types as this one it has a lot of trouble doing what it does best (which is spamming extremely powerful shadow balls) and it should probably stay where it is. Mega Gardevoir is probably just below Mega Manetric in viability in my opinion as it is quite powerful but doesn't quite have the speed that Mega Manetric has (even if base 100 is still good) and for that reason it should be B.

However, while we are on the topic of B+ pokemon, I would like to say that I believe Blissey and maybe Hippowdon should move down to B as well. While Blissey does appreciate the passive healing that Chansey doesn't get access to, I don't think Blissey really has a niche over Chansey until gen 8 when heavy duty boots solve the hazard problem that both blobs have. I also just never see Blissey at all while I see Chansey quite often in comparison. As for Hippowdon, while I can see it being B+, I don't think it is that good of an alternative to Tyranitar as it could be. It definitely has more of a niche as a sand setter compared to Tyranitar than Blissey has as a special wall compared to Chansey, but it is very debatable in my opinion whether the funny hippo deserves to be in B+ or B.
 
I could see gengar moving up a tier but no higher than that tbh. Its destined to be an inconsistent pick with the trio of weavile, AV torn, and scarf tar everywhere, not to mention the many mons on offensive teams that outrun and threaten it. Still has a niche but it flaws make it hard to justify putting it any higher than low Bs.
 
When examining Mega Gardevoir, it's potential to put dents into teams is incredible. Combining that with having access to utility moves like Encore, Taunt, Wisp, etc., and affording to run bulkier spreads really lets Gardevoir shine in midgame fights. While my personal opinion would rank Gardevoir at around 34 in the A- tier, some of the mons in the B+ tier such as Kyurem-B and Mega Scizor are mon's that I'd also place in the A- tier, just above Gardevoir. I just see Gardevoir as a solid value mon for aggressive playstyles, and while lunar dance/healing wish is a valid option for a variety of offensive structures, placing Gardevoir just under Cresselia seems fair imo.
 
When examining Mega Gardevoir, it's potential to put dents into teams is incredible. Combining that with having access to utility moves like Encore, Taunt, Wisp, etc., and affording to run bulkier spreads really lets Gardevoir shine in midgame fights. While my personal opinion would rank Gardevoir at around 34 in the A- tier, some of the mons in the B+ tier such as Kyurem-B and Mega Scizor are mon's that I'd also place in the A- tier, just above Gardevoir. I just see Gardevoir as a solid value mon for aggressive playstyles, and while lunar dance/healing wish is a valid option for a variety of offensive structures, placing Gardevoir just under Cresselia seems fair imo.
I second this. I’ve found that putting bulk and mega gardevoir does wonders for its overall consistency. HP investment helps make the most out of mega gard’s solid special bulk, and also helps patch up your usually heinous physical bulk to help stay out of pursuit range and potentially punish a weavile thinking it has a free trap. Its hardly left wanting for power either, even with no SpA investment its still hitting about as hard as an invested base 135. Taunt can also help overcome the loss in power aganist things like chansey, although will o wisp is also a great option on this set, chansey can still be played around by doubling with hazards up a few times to get it into psyshock 2HKO range
 
Changes
:gengar: C+ / #72 -> B- / #71
:gardevoir-mega: B+ / #46 -> Unchanged

Although a minor raise, I think Gengar is actually surprisingly effective in some matchups and can be devestating. Of course, it can equally be terrible into certain other matchups or if Focus Blasts misses. Nonetheless, it is undoubtedly a B- mon similar to Hydreigon or Victini IMO.

New Topic - Physically Defensive Pivots
A-
29. :Landorus-Therian: Landorus-Therian
30. :Slowbro: Slowbro
33. :Cresselia: Cresselia
B+
38. :Cofagrigus: Cofagrigus
42. :Hippowdon: Hippowdon
B
48. :Mew: Mew
57. :Seismitoad: Seismitoad
B-
64. :Reuniclus: Reuniclus
65. :Alomomola: Alomomola
C+
76. :tangrowth: Tangrowth
C
82. :Jellicent: Jellicent

This will be up for long since there are many mons here. No need to discuss the mons only in the context of being physically defensive. For example, discuss mew as a whole - lead, stallbreaker, utility, offensive, etc.

Personally speaking, I think Cresselia has fell out of favor a little bit as the meta changed to adapt to it. Excadrill now being primarily rocks + spin feels so annoying to let in for free since it completely flips the hazard war. Furthermore, a random taunt from keldeo or serp completely shuts down cress from checking them

Lando-T I think was a little overhyped as well as I do not think its worth a spot in top 30, even though it is better than usual.

More from me later. For now, discuss. As promised, I brought Tangrowth again for further discussion
 
Last time I laddered semi frequently Lando was like top 5 pokemon and Cres was non-factor... To this day I still use Lando-T, Clef and Chomp as the default 2p to gauge the damage a mon can do.
What happended to Cres? Ice beam lunar dance? Is it really two tiers above mew? Maybe I'll try to run a speedy one, otherwise it's just a volt turn into a free knock off.
Otherwise, rest of them look just fine.
 
I think Lando could probably flow up to A rank. Routinely has top 10 tournament usage (i think #9 in SPL?) Super good role compression/utility--better than any of the above listed mons except for maybe Mew.
Seismitoad is ranked too high. Grass types are so good in the meta, bulky waters are everywhere, it's just not great into the meta right now. IMO it belongs in B- alongside Reun and Alom.
I'd make the argument for Jellicent in C+. Keldeo is still a top 10 mon in the tier, and it's a complete blanket check. Bonus points for spinblockers being pretty scant right now.
 
30. :Slowbro: Slowbro
idk if anyone agrees but I think slowbro should be higher. I've been liking helmet recently, a solid pivot that can be played proactively thanks to regen and can use helmet to chip down most physical attackers (it's notably really good into the Power up Punch mega meta sets), and its typing even lets it help with some special guys like keldeo if you give it a little investment on that side. Being much harder to pursuit than most psychics is also nice.
slowbro is for sure a step above every mon on that list imo
this was literally posted as I was writing lmao
 
I am going to just go down the list with my thoughts on each Mon.

I understand landot has very tough competition with other mons as far as being a ground type, but its role compression is pretty unique still. It's typing plus intimidate and having a powerful eq with minimal investment (if any at all) still allow it to generate a notable amount of threat on the board. I don't think Landot should be moved in the VR like at it's worst its at the bottom of A-, of the ground types it's most often compared to it's already ranked behind them (which is justified I think).

Slowbro I think is fine where he's at in A-, big dog is a bulky water with regenerator. Those two things alone help Slowbro out a lot. I think he's pretty splashable too assuming you are not running another psychic type already. It's got access to whatever status you desire, and those future sight sets that have been popping up can be very nasty for teams if they are in a negative momentum position. Bro is a bulky water done well and is a productive member of society.

Cress is weird for me. Like Ruffles stated I think it's falling out of favor, I think as a psychic type Slowbro can do most of what cress provides and better aside from the obvious lunar dance. That being said just the way that lunar dance (and hwish) operate on offensive structures alone makes it an option for teams that want it. As far as lunar dance/hwish slot on a physdef pivot I think Cress is still the best one. Could it maybe be B+, probably, but there is probably a meta cycle somewhere that it'll come back with some revenge.

Cofag I think is fine where he's at. I think it's hard to justify bringing him unless you want a spin blocker due to the number of dark types running around. Mummy as an ability I think is super slept on. It allows you to 1v1 lop assuming you don't have too much chip against you already. Cofag in my experience is super hit or miss. Like the number of games I bring him and it just sits in the back all game waiting for it's window is kind of sad. Toxic spikes in this tier aren't super noteworthy in my opinion. Either the teams are super resilient vs them with steels, flyers, levitators, or the rare poison type, and nearly every Mon that haz clears is immune to them or has nat cure, or the team just plans on winning before they can be a factor. Often times I think a t spike weakness is either a result of a bad build or someone claiming an acceptable loss condition b/c they are not particularly common in use. Maybe I misuse this spooky coffin, I want to be wrong about him, but I think he could sit in B tier and still be pretty appropriately rated.

Hippo is honestly menacing. I think the only thing stopping hippo from being used more is that Ttar is better on offensive structures. I think hippo's usage would be through the roof if ttar didn't exist. This boy is fat, he checks a lot of common threats, even special threats like volc and ZAM, he sets up sand and rocks really freeing up excadrill to be free to do whatever he wants to do freely. A- for hippo is maybe a bit too nice especially given ground type competition. I think hippo is great it just has too much competition and people frequently overlook it because ttar and other grounds get more spotlight.

Mew is the jack of all trades master of none. When building I feel like I can find something that does what a mew could do but with more refinement is most cases. What mew offers I think over other mons is role compression. Mew can do like what two mons do with a little less refinement. It learns just about every move you could possibly think of in a competitive atmosphere bar like spin/spikes and can fit in some cool spots. My issue is that it's a psychic type and stacking weaknesses to dark feels like a death sentence sometimes. I don't have much else to say, I think mew could stay the same placement though.

Seismitoad being B- is wild. Get this man B rank, at least within the top 50. Physical pivot that due to it's typing also can do well into zap and rotom. Two very common pivots. And when I say do well into them. it's not fair. Yes it does possess an Achilles heal and dilly for recovery, but I think he's underused. Depending on how you wanna invest you can be a little shiesty with this big froggo

Reun? idk what this Mon is or does. I have seen it in less than 2 games in my entire time playing oras since I restarted back in December. I would guess it's usage speaks for it's ability to do work. This is absolutely a naive based bias, but does it really fit in B-?

I love wish fish. I can see why people don't like wish fish. Bulky water with Regen. As previously stated with Slowbro these are good things to have. Regenerator and Rocky helmet are two peas and a pod for sure. Unfortunately wish fish kind of is a momentum sucker and doesn't exert a ton of offensive pressure and is horribly frail specially. like all of it's ability to tank special hits is from it's HP, it's spdef is garbage. You know it's bad when keldeo is beating you down with resisted scalds. Ultimately I think its fine where it stands.

why is tang so low still. I know he got moved higher last time he was discussed. He's a dog. Unless ground types packing toxic or fire blast he will eventually kill them all. As I previously mentioned, regenerator with rocky helm is really good. Exca doesn't like spinning into tang 800 times and crying in a green grave because he failed at his job that he generally does better than other mons with the move rapid spin. like this thing takes a beating and follows up by giving a beating back. I will go hunt down a pile of calcs if I need to.

Jellicent is cool. I like the jellyfish. It sadly has issues. can you over come those issues; yes, do you get to play into the true strength of the Mon; not really. you have to spend every possible resource available to you to perform its role. It's funny that it 100% walls keldeo and is a spinblocker, but to fully act as a spinblocker you have to run balloon or else drill just beats you anyways. Its got a bunch of really unique things going on about it, and it offers some neat roll compression, but it's hard to just drop it in on any team. IDK c or C+ seems good

I was super tired when I finished writing this. I can add more posts later if y'all got questions about specific points, if the grammar is absolutely irrefutably terrible. Please tell me or give a poopoo face react.
 
Personal thoughts:
:hippowdon: Hippo should rise to A-. It's very versatile in both physdef/spd sets and an impeccable wall. The 4th move being toxic/ww/rock slide all being pretty good but situational makes playing against it really annoying.
:slowbro: Slowbro should rise to near top of A-. It's coming back again mainly due to eject button, calm mind sets being decent again, and fsight being cool. Colbur is also just very solid.
:cresselia: Cresselia is jut not an A- mon. It's still very good but it belongs in B+. The meta has adapted and so many mons have started teching taunt, substitute, and so on. Not to mention how passive it is vs. excadrill or fat teams.
:landorus-therian: Lando should be bottom of A- or top of B+. It feels extremely good into drill teams but extremely bad into zapdos/thund teams, which continue to rise.
:tangrowth: Tang should rise to B-
:alomomola: Alomomola should be top of B-
. It's consistent and versatile (access to mirror coat etc.) but it's 6-0'd by the move substitute, so shouldn't be B
:reuniclus: Reuniclus should drop to C+. Its great in some mus (metagross, medicham, lopunny), but it's omega ass into strong dark types, which are like 70% usage combined.
:mew: Mew should rise to B+. It's extremely versatile and the best lead on HO

The others :cofagrigus::seismitoad::jellicent:
Cofa is really good but I can't see it in A-. Seismitoed also good but don't see it rising. Jellicent should stay C
 
I've been quite busy as of late, but here we are. this is the first post of a three-part series where I briefly go over each of the defensive staples in the tier`

this week we're looking at the Psychic-types. I love Psychic-types :3

30. :Slowbro: Slowbro
in my humble opinion, this guy is easily the best Psychic-type in the tier. yes I know Alakazam exists. I don't care. what I really love about Slowbro is how it's able to check pretty much every offensive threat in the tier (barring the Big 3 + Thundurus). from the top 10 alone the Pokemon we see at least four Pokemon easily checked by Slowbro: Metagross, Excadrill, Alakazam*, Weavile*, Volcanion, Keldeo, etc. what's more is that it does this running virtually the same set:

:xy/slowbro:
Slowbro @ Rocky Helmet / Leftovers / Colbur Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Ice Beam / Psychic
- Thunder Wave / Toxic

you rarely ever see Slowbro deviate from this set, but that doesn't mean that it can't. on sun teams, for example, it's not unusual to see it drop Scald in favour of Flamethrower. it is also not uncommon to see Slowbro drop it's second attack or status move in favour of Calm Mind on fatter teams. another option is Future Sight; a tech that some bulky-offense teams have started taking from SS's playbook to varying levels of success. one thing to note is that a large part of Slowbro's dominance is due to the immense power of paralysis; a theme you will see as I cover the other Psychic-types

33. :Cresselia: Cresselia
faster, bulkier Slowbro; Cresselia really does it all. similarly to Slowbro, it runs the same set 90% of the time:

:xy/cresselia:
Cresselia (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 88 SpD / 152 Spe or 252 HP / 76 Def / 164 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
- Lunar Dance
- Thunder Wave / Toxic
- Ice Beam / Psychic
- Moonlight

one of the major stand-out features of Cresselia is how it enables offense. Lunar Dance is drug. Cresselia's usage on offense might come as a suprise to some, however it is nothing near the passive wall it appears to be. one of Cresselia's roles is to act a psuedo resist to many of the tier's powerful attacks, such as Metagross's Meteor Mash and Charizard's Flamethrower, that would otherwise pack up the frail offenses Cresselia finds itself on. on top of this, thanks to it's suprisingly high base-speed Cresselia is able to outspeed and threaten a large majority of the tier with paralysis and even potential freezes from its freely clicked Ice Beam. additionally, the Choice Scarf set, while niche, allows Cresselia to take full advantage of its above average speed to potentially cripple the opponent by giving them an unwanted Choice Scarf with Trick. God forbid my Clefable ever gets hit with Trick

Mew is a Psychic-type that has been growing on me lately ever since the discovery of the lead set. God bless Will-O-Wisp Mew. it's a much stranger Pokemon since it's able to run basically any moveset it wants however there are clear standouts:

:xy/mew:
Mew @ Mental Herb / Colbur Berry
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Thunder Wave / Will-O-Wisp
- Explosion

this is far and away the best hazard setter on hyper offense. while I personally prefer Imprison Landorus-T, I have to admit that it's no contest; nothing gets up Stealth Rock quite like Mew. one of the things that really sets Mew apart is the Diancie interaction where Mew uses Magic Bounce against Diancie to land a Synchronise paralysis or burn. Will-O-Wisp is especially useful since Mew is able to leave a real lasting impact vs the Ground-types that otherwise comfortably handle it instead of taunting and pre-maturely exploding. Colbur Berry is another nice tech that lets Mew set up Stealth Rock in the face of Weavile. mandatory BluBirD ping

mew.gif

Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe or 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 Spe
Careful Nature
- Taunt
- Soft-Boiled
- Will-O-Wisp
- Knock Off / Psychic

stallbreaker Mew is a tried and true classic and a Pokemon I believe we need to see more. lately we've seen some variations of this Mew that run Stealth Rock and act more as a bulky hazard setter. I'm a big fan of this technology especially since Mew is able to act like a mini-Slowbro or mini-Cresselia thanks to its bulk letting it check a plethora of threats while threatening back with debilitating status

64. :Reuniclus: Reuniclus
a mix between Slowbro and Clefable. while on paper this seems like quite the niche, Reuniclus ends up not living up to of the peaks of the Pokemon it imitates. unfortunately Calm Mind is all but a meme now so Reuniclus is left running this set:

:xy/reuniclus:
Reuniclus @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Knock Off
- Recover
- Psychic / Night Shade
- Thunder Wave

often times Reuniclus finds itself acting as your second Clefable by freeing up Thunder Wave and Knock Off thus allowing Clefable to use more offensive sets like Life Orb and Calm Mind. maybe if Reuniclus had 10 or more base Defense it would be a real contender for top dog but instead it has to settle for being a Recover spamming Cresselia with Knock Off

-----​
these are the changes I would make:

Rises:
A

25. :slowbro: Slowbro

B+
43. :mew: Mew

Unchanged:
A-

33. :Cresselia: Cresselia

B-
64. :Reuniclus: Reuniclus
 
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