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
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:

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

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
48.

Mew
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:

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 @ 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
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:

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
B+
43.

Mew
Unchanged:
A-
33.

Cresselia
B-
64.

Reuniclus