Resource VGC 2025 Regulation I Viability Rankings

[bdudeinthehouse]

Smeargle should be A

 

[Carrotman]

Smeargle should be A

Is there any reasoning behind this post? I think smeargle is good but A feels too much

 

[bdudeinthehouse]

Is there any reasoning behind this post? I think smeargle is good but A feels too much

look at how hard grimmsnarl falls of in day 2 yet its A+ and look at the rise of smeargle A seems reasonable. and this is just NAIC its still rising. also bolt A???

 

[Carrotman]

View attachment 754025
look at how hard grimmsnarl falls of in day 2 yet its A+ and look at the rise of smeargle A seems reasonable. and this is just NAIC its still rising. also bolt A???

So put it in A-
Grimm needs to be looked at more closely as well

 

[TheEeveeAnimations]

Indeedee-F and Smeargle B --> B+

I think Indeedee-F and Smeargle are better than everything else in B tier right now, and it's not even close. They offer fantastic utility to Trick Room compositions: Indeedee-F has Terrain control and the crazy good combo of Follow Me and Trick Room, and Smeargle can do almost anything. Spore, Wide Guard, Follow Me, Decorate, Fake Out, Spiky Shield or Burning Bulwark...it's got options. They have good results. I think this is long overdue.

Zacian-Crowned C--> B

Zacian is in a weird place. It's better than its compartriots in C, and has done well in recent tournaments with Zacian Miraidon and Zacian Kyogre compositions getting good results. But it's just not quite as good as the solid B tiers Koraidon or Kyogre. It doesn't bring enough to the table when compared to the other restricteds. It's closest to a Terapagos in viability, and that's why I think it should be moved up to B.

Grimmsnarl A+ --> A

The metagame does not feel kind to Grimmsnarl right now. Its high level results have fallen off. It is still absolutely a staple Pokemon on many teams, but I personally do not feel like it belongs with the rest of them in A+ anymore.


Celesteela UR --> SSS
please bring back ubs game freak

 

[Sugarbear]

Smeargle’s not just good on Trick Room - I’ve seen it work well with Shadow Calyrex, since Fake Out + Follow Me is fantastic utility for Nasty Plot sets, making its setup all but guaranteed.

 

[Jesuuuus]

Smeargle could reasonably go to A-, that mon has had a fair amount of success and has a fair bit of flexibility in the compositions it can appear on

 

[Senhorolho]

Stallsun when he makes his first ever VR nomination post (I actually understand the metagame this time around).
In all seriousness, though, this VR is incredibly outdated (is it still the Day 1 VR? Doesn't look like it ever had an update lol) and I felt compelled to offer some reorganizing of my own because the thread is not too active and the thirst for an update is getting slightly dire.

C -> B
Basically, I'm seconding what has already been said about Zacian-C; it's in a spot just as good as, if not better, than Terapagos, and it's NOT as niche as Groudon or Ho-Oh dawg. It's not Koraidon or Kyogre, but if Terapagos fits on B, then Zacian-C fits on B.
(For more information, read sheepie_sheep1's and TheEeveeAnimations' posts on the mon).

A+ -> A
Both extremely strong mons with excellent supporting options (Sword of Ruin counts as a supporting option) but they're not Rillaboom or Urshifu-R.
Rillaboom provides incredible offensive and defensive utility and is a staple on every team not using Miraidon, bar extremely specific exceptions (mainly like, Koraidon + CSR and even then it's still great, just not a staple). There is even a genuine argument to be made for Rillaboom to be S-Tier due to its use both offensively and defensively, but it's not getting the same results as Incineroar and it's closer to Urshifu-R in that aspect so A+ is probably fair.
Urshifu-R provides unbelievable offensive pressure, not just presence,in that it's both incredibly threatening on its own but also pressuring even when not immediately offering major damage, as its potential to deny Protect means you cannot afford to positionally slip up in front of it, like, at all. It's a bit weaker now in comparison to former Regulations this Generation simply because everything is twice as bulky, but it's still an incredible mon and better than those nominated for drops.

B -> A-
I'll spare my fingers here, thank you bdudeinthehouse :)


Now then, the B- rank is swarmed up. I'll try to summarize where I think every mon that should move, should move to, because this is probably the most congested/outdated part of the VR:

to C/C- (*)
to C/C-
to C-
to C+

(*Please scroll down to the next post in response to this specific nom)
Iron Valiant has not been providing this Regulation, especially since Zamazenta-C is everywhere. While it sees viable use on Miraidon + Calyrex-I compositions exclusively, it's too frail and provides net 0 offensive utility; admittedly, even Annihilape probably fulfills that niche better, with the excception of Wide Guard's support (but that's more than made up for with Final Gambit and a pivot move (U-Turn is underrated on this mon btw)), and if you don't believe in Annihilape, then like, Coaching Urshifu would like to say hello LMAO. Spirit Break is nice and all, but just use Grimmsnarl, or support Volcarona, if that's what you're worried about (the latter of which also pairs better with Miraidon, which is mandatory for Iron Valiant, as it allows it to run Focus Sash). Iron Valiant can be justified if you want all of Coaching, Wide Guard, and a move to weaken special attackers, but it's outclassed in each of these roles so much that it's not really worth it most of the time (unless you're REALLY thirsting a Coaching boost and need the defensive utilities).

Pelipper was already mid by the end of Regulation G even though I used it, but now, it's incredibly mid. The only reason I'm not nominating for UR is because it can be used as a desperado check to Koraidon + Weezing + Calyrex-S with Ability Shield, but it's a first aid kit to the matchup and nothing else - and you can usually find better counterplay in other mons.

Ursaluna-B is :sob: like for REAL. Actual UR worthy mon. It's got all to thank the Nielsen brothers for because they's the only reason it's seen use/avoided an UR nom at all LOL

Walking Wake is fine in its own right, but it's too unflexible and limited to be on the same rank as the other B- mons (from after the noms, at least). It's closer to Scream Tail in viability imo - they fit on the same archetypes, and while they fulfill different roles, they suffer form the same inflexibility problem, but are good enough in their specific niches to be perfectly justifiable (but Walking Wake's superior offensive presence is generally better than what I would give Scream Tail credit for in its disruption, and it's unique as a Water-type mon for Sun, so I'd keep it higher).
This is the nom I'm the least confident on, though; if it stays B-, that's fair enough imo too. I just feel like the other B- mons are better in general.


And to wrap up, I would like to second everything gephicka and Pengu said for the C ranks, with one exception and one addition:


stays in C - it's actually gotten its share of success now to justify the placing, just it was after Pengu's nomination (LOL)

Edit: in hindsight, it's probably worthy of a glow-up (see: next post), will come back to this later.

UR -> C- in the place of Iron Crown:
It's an important piece on PsySpam HardRoom, with the benefit of being immune to Flutter Mane's Taunt. While it's definitely not mandatory in the archetype (and while the archetype rn is NOT. GOOD.), the same can be said for Torkoal, and it is at least actually viable in there. Torkoal and Hatterene are both worthy of C- in this case.

 

[LovelyLuna]

to C/C-
to C/C-
to C-
to C+

Iron Valiant has not been providing this Regulation, especially since Zamazenta-C is everywhere. While it sees viable use on Miraidon + Calyrex-I compositions exclusively, it's too frail and provides net 0 offensive utility; admittedly, even Annihilape probably fulfills that niche better, with the excception of Wide Guard's support (but that's more than made up for with Final Gambit and a pivot move (U-Turn is underrated on this mon btw)), and if you don't believe in Annihilape, then like, Coaching Urshifu would like to say hello LMAO. Spirit Break is nice and all, but just use Grimmsnarl, or support Volcarona, if that's what you're worried about (the latter of which also pairs better with Miraidon, which is mandatory for Iron Valiant, as it allows it to run Focus Sash). Iron Valiant can be justified if you want all of Coaching, Wide Guard, and a move to weaken special attackers, but it's outclassed in each of these roles so much that it's not really worth it most of the time (unless you're REALLY thirsting a Coaching boost and need the defensive utilities).

stays in C - it's actually gotten its share of success now to justify the placing, just it was after Pengu's nomination (LOL)

Hihi Valiant addict here, I think this information is a bit outdated; Iron Valiant has been paired with Grimmsnarl Volcarona for a day 2 finish at NAIC. It's also gotten Top 8 at Bologna alongside Miraidon + Terapagos. It can offer a strong niche for Miraidon compositions in general thanks to its great speed tier and access to Fairy-STAB. Coaching, Wide Guard, Disable being tools that help it shine over Flutter Mane. Iron Valiant also has multiple day 2 results earlier in the regulation with the miraidon Calyrex-Ice core you mentioned. I'd say it belongs in B- as of right now, good niche in the metagame and occasionally pops off.

I think C tier Annihilape is also strongly underrating the Pokemon. Final Gambit makes getting up Trick Room so consistent, especially considering its damage output isnt hindered by Intimidate or Screens. I'd argue it's better than many of the B- tier honestly, especially when you look at its performance at NAIC.

 

[Senhorolho]

Hihi Valiant addict here, I think this information is a bit outdated; Iron Valiant has been paired with Grimmsnarl Volcarona for a day 2 finish at NAIC. It's also gotten Top 8 at Bologna alongside Miraidon + Terapagos. It can offer a strong niche for Miraidon compositions in general thanks to its great speed tier and access to Fairy-STAB. Coaching, Wide Guard, Disable being tools that help it shine over Flutter Mane. Iron Valiant also has multiple day 2 results earlier in the regulation with the miraidon Calyrex-Ice core you mentioned. I'd say it belongs in B- as of right now, good niche in the metagame and occasionally pops off.

I think C tier Annihilape is also strongly underrating the Pokemon. Final Gambit makes getting up Trick Room so consistent, especially considering its damage output isnt hindered by Intimidate or Screens. I'd argue it's better than many of the B- tier honestly, especially when you look at its performance at NAIC.

The Annihilape part was mainly a skim through, and I felt compelled to come back and update it after finishing the post, but decided against it because I was tired LOL
I agree completely, I was mainly just writing to counterargue for the de-nomination as far as that one goes.

As for Iron Valiant - I'll admit I didn't know about its newfound results. I did feel like I overbashed the mon after writing what I wrote, especially after looking at Mirai CIR and going "well, it's specific but it kinda does work here" but as far as I knew it hadn't won anything noteworthy so I was like "ehhhh I'll keep it at that".

Glad to see my feelings weren't unfounded lol. I'm still iffy about B- Valiant, especially if we're running Annihilape up there, because I kinda believe it is more splashable on the same comps (not strictly better, but I find it to be more consistently good), but am willing to be proven wrong. Although based on what you said, if Ape is "better" than some B- mons, I guess it makes sense too.

Will edit the post to mention this ig lol, ty

 

[Lycopoky]

B -> A-
Smeargle has been dominating in teams and has basically everything utility-wise you want from a pokemon besides the bulk (and i'm using Smeargle on Sun teams and it has not dissapointed at all) with Spore/Follow Me/Fake Out/Wide Guard or Decorate, it has also been seeing high usage consistently in tournaments and i think it's far from being on the level of things like , or even arguably. Main problem is the fact that Taunt completely shuts Smeargle down and (RS) is a pain for non-Tera Grass Smeargle, and if you go Tera Grass then you are weak to Fake Out, fast mons in general also do well into Smeargle because they can strike it down quickly without Smeargle doing anything (besides Fake Out or maybe after a speed boost it can do stuff for sure) which is why i think it deserves A- and not above (maybe you can make a case for A too)

A+ -> A
Grimmsnarl is still a great pokemon, but teams have been recently dropping Grimmsnarl (like teams using tailroom without screens) and it's not hard to play around Prankster T-Wave if you use redirection from , , or more, of course it's still a great mon on and teams but i feel like it's not hard to play around and i also don't think it's on the same level as , and (RS) who are just better pokemon than Grimmsnarl, and Screens with some practice is not hard to deal with at all

 

[Senhorolho]

Stallsun when he makes his first ever VR nomination post (I actually understand the metagame this time around).
In all seriousness, though, this VR is incredibly outdated (is it still the Day 1 VR? Doesn't look like it ever had an update lol) and I felt compelled to offer some reorganizing of my own because the thread is not too active and the thirst for an update is getting slightly dire.

C -> B
Basically, I'm seconding what has already been said about Zacian-C; it's in a spot just as good as, if not better, than Terapagos, and it's NOT as niche as Groudon or Ho-Oh dawg. It's not Koraidon or Kyogre, but if Terapagos fits on B, then Zacian-C fits on B.
(For more information, read sheepie_sheep1's and TheEeveeAnimations' posts on the mon).

A+ -> A
Both extremely strong mons with excellent supporting options (Sword of Ruin counts as a supporting option) but they're not Rillaboom or Urshifu-R.
Rillaboom provides incredible offensive and defensive utility and is a staple on every team not using Miraidon, bar extremely specific exceptions (mainly like, Koraidon + CSR and even then it's still great, just not a staple). There is even a genuine argument to be made for Rillaboom to be S-Tier due to its use both offensively and defensively, but it's not getting the same results as Incineroar and it's closer to Urshifu-R in that aspect so A+ is probably fair.
Urshifu-R provides unbelievable offensive pressure, not just presence,in that it's both incredibly threatening on its own but also pressuring even when not immediately offering major damage, as its potential to deny Protect means you cannot afford to positionally slip up in front of it, like, at all. It's a bit weaker now in comparison to former Regulations this Generation simply because everything is twice as bulky, but it's still an incredible mon and better than those nominated for drops.

B -> A-
I'll spare my fingers here, thank you bdudeinthehouse :)


Now then, the B- rank is swarmed up. I'll try to summarize where I think every mon that should move, should move to, because this is probably the most congested/outdated part of the VR:

to C/C- (*)
to C/C-
to C-
to C+

(*Please scroll down to the next post in response to this specific nom)
Iron Valiant has not been providing this Regulation, especially since Zamazenta-C is everywhere. While it sees viable use on Miraidon + Calyrex-I compositions exclusively, it's too frail and provides net 0 offensive utility; admittedly, even Annihilape probably fulfills that niche better, with the excception of Wide Guard's support (but that's more than made up for with Final Gambit and a pivot move (U-Turn is underrated on this mon btw)), and if you don't believe in Annihilape, then like, Coaching Urshifu would like to say hello LMAO. Spirit Break is nice and all, but just use Grimmsnarl, or support Volcarona, if that's what you're worried about (the latter of which also pairs better with Miraidon, which is mandatory for Iron Valiant, as it allows it to run Focus Sash). Iron Valiant can be justified if you want all of Coaching, Wide Guard, and a move to weaken special attackers, but it's outclassed in each of these roles so much that it's not really worth it most of the time (unless you're REALLY thirsting a Coaching boost and need the defensive utilities).

Pelipper was already mid by the end of Regulation G even though I used it, but now, it's incredibly mid. The only reason I'm not nominating for UR is because it can be used as a desperado check to Koraidon + Weezing + Calyrex-S with Ability Shield, but it's a first aid kit to the matchup and nothing else - and you can usually find better counterplay in other mons.

Ursaluna-B is :sob: like for REAL. Actual UR worthy mon. It's got all to thank the Nielsen brothers for because they's the only reason it's seen use/avoided an UR nom at all LOL

Walking Wake is fine in its own right, but it's too unflexible and limited to be on the same rank as the other B- mons (from after the noms, at least). It's closer to Scream Tail in viability imo - they fit on the same archetypes, and while they fulfill different roles, they suffer form the same inflexibility problem, but are good enough in their specific niches to be perfectly justifiable (but Walking Wake's superior offensive presence is generally better than what I would give Scream Tail credit for in its disruption, and it's unique as a Water-type mon for Sun, so I'd keep it higher).
This is the nom I'm the least confident on, though; if it stays B-, that's fair enough imo too. I just feel like the other B- mons are better in general.


And to wrap up, I would like to second everything gephicka and Pengu said for the C ranks, with one exception and one addition:


stays in C - it's actually gotten its share of success now to justify the placing, just it was after Pengu's nomination (LOL)

Edit: in hindsight, it's probably worthy of a glow-up (see: next post), will come back to this later.

UR -> C- in the place of Iron Crown:
It's an important piece on PsySpam HardRoom, with the benefit of being immune to Flutter Mane's Taunt. While it's definitely not mandatory in the archetype (and while the archetype rn is NOT. GOOD.), the same can be said for Torkoal, and it is at least actually viable in there. Torkoal and Hatterene are both worthy of C- in this case.

So as an add-on/fix to the Iron Valiant and Annihilape cases, I'll use this post to properly re-nominate them.

to B/B-
The last post's nomming towards this mon wasn't a full nom (I was on 20 hours of sleep across 5 days as I made the whole post btw); it was just me saying "no don't derank Ape", as the mon started gaining traction a while  after the denominations were made.

In actuality, though, this mon is incredibly useful on soft-Trick Room archetypes: Scarfed Final Gambit makes Trick Room nearly impossible to properly deny, while, particularly for Calyrex-I versions, Coaching makes it an incredibly tough-to-manage threat. The threat of Final Gambit can also be used to get a safe Coaching up a lot of times - if you get a +1 Calyrex-I under Trick Room without taking significant damage, you very often just win the game, and even if it doesn't just pop off, it requires so much attention to be dealt with that its partner (I'm assuming you switched the Annihilape out, unless you're in a position to spam Coaching lol) can wreak enough havoc to put you in a winning position more often than not (from there onwards.

Long story short, Annihilape is incredibly scary - a great word to define it imo - and because it's so scary, it has great offensive-supportive presence. It's mainly only used on Calyrex-I teams (a few times on Lunala, I suppose, but the lack of a Coaching recipient means its only half as good), but it's uniquely great on Calyrex-I teams. I'd personally even argue for B because it's more consistently good on it's niche than most B- mons imo.



potentially to C+

Now, its worth noting I was nomming Valiant to C before, not UR - but the paragraph itself did look like an overbash (lmao).

Looking further into the mon, it has noticeable niches; mainly, the rise of Disable sets with such incredible Speed means that, alongside Protect, it can shut down almost all Choice-locked mons, and it offers fast Coaching (just like Annihilape) for Calyrex-I teams, when paired with Miraidon (which is an insane percentage of Calyrex-I anyway) though from a different angle than Annihilape. It also has the benefit of being able to run Focus Sash to make better use of Disable or get another chance to Coach, and even has the bonus of Spirit Break to engage in relative amounts of tomfoolery when facing Miraidon (even Scarf Miraidon if you're willing to use the Focus Sash).

It is, however, more exclusive and less consistent than Annihilape - it cannot properly trade with threats (thus struggling FAR more in poor matchups), it does not pose any serious offensive threat of its own (Spirit Break does not count LOL) and it is far harder to pilot while trying to set up Trick Room because it does not have the option to just Final Gambit. In addition, it relies on Electric Terrain to be up to be as effective - which is a big deal, because you cannot lead all of Iron Valiant, Calyrex-I and Miraidon at once. Then again, its supportive capabilities in Disable and Wide Guard mean it can help with disruption even if Coaching is not as appreciated, while Annihilape's Final Gambit, (its main selling point alongside Coaching), although more impactful, does have the noticeable drawback of, well, causing Annihilape to faint. Shocking, I know.

I believe its less consistent output (due not being able to exert direct, offensive pressure beyond Coaching, nor trade in bad matchups) should put it once subrank below Annihilape - hence the nomination (though it is probably less accurate than Annihilape on B instead). I'm either nominating Annihilape to B (and keeping Iron Valiant as is), or Annihilape to B- and Iron Valiant to C+, tending heavily towards the former.

 

[Lycopoky]

Even though i did state my opinions before, i want to mention more opinions i have and the changes i would make.
Previous opinions (that still stand):

B -> A-
Smeargle has been dominating in teams and has basically everything utility-wise you want from a pokemon besides the bulk (and i'm using Smeargle on Sun teams and it has not dissapointed at all) with Spore/Follow Me/Fake Out/Wide Guard or Decorate, it has also been seeing high usage consistently in tournaments and i think it's far from being on the level of things like , or even arguably. Main problem is the fact that Taunt completely shuts Smeargle down and (RS) is a pain for non-Tera Grass Smeargle, and if you go Tera Grass then you are weak to Fake Out, fast mons in general also do well into Smeargle because they can strike it down quickly without Smeargle doing anything (besides Fake Out or maybe after a speed boost it can do stuff for sure) which is why i think it deserves A- and not above (maybe you can make a case for A too)

A+ -> A
Grimmsnarl is still a great pokemon, but teams have been recently dropping Grimmsnarl (like teams using tailroom without screens) and it's not hard to play around Prankster T-Wave if you use redirection from , , or more, of course it's still a great mon on and teams but i feel like it's not hard to play around and i also don't think it's on the same level as , and (RS) who are just better pokemon than Grimmsnarl, and Screens

Anyway, here are some opinions i will also state including some hot takes.

RISES

C+ -> B-
Sinistcha has been popping up in teams as the form of recovery/redirection and finding a lot of success, not to mention it also has good physical bulk + Grass/Ghost which is always a good thing vs Zamazenta who is a very bad MU for Pagos. However i don't think it should rise more because it's just on one pair and generally Amoonguss is better on other teams and Pagos teams without Mirai also prefer Rillaboom as their form of healing, which is why i think it should be B-

A- -> A
Chi-Yu is a great partner with , , , (mostly just Specs) and , either enabling their damage or being enabled itself with more damage with it's Fire moves and Scarf sets being amazing answers into CSR, Zamazenta, Lunala and non-restricteds like Rillaboom, Amoonguss and more. It does however struggle with things like Fake Out and Urshifu-R at times (which is why i don't like seeing it higher than A) but if you can get around those things you can get a powerful pokemon who will not dissapoint

DROPS

C -> UR
It has fallen off very hard, only having one pair thats worth it being , and Miraidon has also adapted to using Volcarona who does quite well into (one big reason to use Ho-Oh btw) and it's getting no results nowadays. The only reasons to use Ho-Oh are Stall (which is not viable in tournament play) and 100% accurate Flying STAB (which while good isn't needed at all) and the rest is covered by different and better mons. You are generally better off without Ho-Oh.

A- -> B+
As a Koraidon addict, Brute Bonnet is only better than Amoonguss on Sun (which has been struggling recently) and there aren't a lot of pairs where they bring out it's full potentially like + / / and , Terapagos removes the Sun when Terastalizing, Miraidon shuts down your own Spore, Koraidon CIR also really likes Amoonguss too. However it is very bulky in the Sun despite it's awful defensive typing and is not a bad Tera hog but i think it's lack of results and Bonnet falling off as a whole is why i think it should be B+, and i think it's also on the level as Landorus-Incarnate as well.

B- -> C+
This is just a worse that does less damage, has worse speed for TR (Ursaluna nd at worst speed ties with and , unlike Ursaluna BloodMoon who will underspeed them in TR) and has better physical bulk. However Ursaluna-B has got a top 8 in a regional and is used by a player (iirc his name is Frederik Hoj Nielsen), but outside of that it's not doing well. I do think C+ is good for BM as it can still be strong and is on the level as other C+ mons but i just don't think Ursaluna-B is B-

C -> UR
A vast majority of the restricteds beat Dnite, with the only exceptions being Koraidon, Groudon (both of which are commonly partnered with Flutter Mane who destroys Dnite) and Ho-Oh (who is not worth using). It also requires Chien-Pao who is commonly used but it's only common with and (both of which don't need strong priority, especially the former who is way more common) and is a Tera hog in a Restricted Format. It's just really inconsistent with too many bad matchups, requires a pokemon and Tera to be at it's full potential and you are generally spending too many resources on a Non-Restricted to make it work.

C- -> UR
In Reg G there were only 2 cases for Crown: Psyspam teams and teams, not much but it was effective in these teams. In Reg I you should use your other restricted for Expanding Force in Psyspam (usually CSR or Lunala) and Miraidon teams are much bulkier and have a much harder time slotting in Iron Crown than they already did before. Keeping the speed boost in Miraidon teams can be pretty tricky vs Rillaboom (and unlike Mirai, Crown can't pivot) and a well built Miraidon team will never need Iron Crown, as for the matchups Crown makes better you can just slap a restricted next to Miraidon for that and i doubt Iron Crown is great on Tailroom and Screen teams that want to be very bulky, plus the mon on these teams that use a very offensive mon thats not Mirai is Urshifu-R which doesn't help Crown's case