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A fresh thread has been long overdue, and this would be a good time for one! July 2025 shifts are in and they are quite.... interesting:
Gains
Losses
Clearly the ogre in the room is Ogerpon. With access to a wide variety of useful movepools and coverage especially Spikes, Knock Off, and U-Turn, access to an immediate Speed boost upon Terastallization, Ogerpon can act as an extremely potent progress maker and sweeper. Coupled with the fact that we lost two of the best Poison-types in the tier (one of them being the best hazard remover) + one of the best pivots, Ogerpon becomes downright unstoppable. Ogerpon does have checks, notably Talonflame, Salamence, Noivern, and Amoonguss; the former three gets heavily crippled by Knock Off + gets threatened to be OHKOed by +2 Rock Tomb (Intimidate does not work here due to Ogerpon's Defiant), while the latter is very passive by itself and Knock Off also leaves Amoonguss prone it to Spikes.
As a result, Ogerpon was quickbanned due to a council vote. Here are the results:
Will Grass-types rule supreme in RU? Will hjkhj build an unbeatable Blissey stall? Is Hisuian Goodra going to be S rank with Serperior being everywhere? Let us know your thoughts on the tier!
Aight. Shifts have come in, so I'll outline the winners, Normal People Edition. Those with the audacity to load teams with a defensive backbone are welcome. Let's have fun, I'll be doing first impressions of the new mons and then get into the winners etc. Mind you, this is personal opinions, not Council Member Luna speaking. Not gonna mention losers since honestly thats less fun and not a ton rlly lost this shift.
Gains:
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Losses:
Honestly? Serp has kinda disappointed, truthfully I expected alot worse but it feels like it will always lose to somebody. That being said, forcing Hoodra on pretty much every team ever is stupid and nobody likes glare. I think it'll need a bit more time compared to Oomfiepon above but again, I don't expect reception to this thing being very kind. That being said, when I said every team I mean EVERY single team. Like its silly how many sap hoodra's are being spammed on all squads and I hope that doesn't give anyone the presumption this thing is fine cuz hoodra annoys it a ton.
As for blissey, I think it'll be cool. Niche, but cool. Chansey offense has been a historic meme but at the same time I think Blissey Offense has a bit of potential. Toss Twave Hwish sounds p fun for offensive teams to check ghosts but otherwise it's a fat enabler first and foremost. NU can have fun w Chansey in 3 months after they ban Munkidori cuz we stole A-Muk.
Tier 1 Winners:
Mamo got a bunch of ground and grasses on the come-up, while G-Weez was a common splashed check on offensive & bulkier builds. Truthfully it's eating nicely right now, but I think the panic of it being suddenly broken is overblown. We still has Slowbro, Cresselia, Rotom-Heat among others means while I can see it being premier breaker #1, broken is another story. As for Krook, Slither gone G-Weez gone is absurdly good for CB Krook and every other krook set. Scale shot can stop being a joke, SR protect is great again, pretty much entirely unshackled. Back to A+ it'll go, me thinks. People started souring hard on Hippowdon with G-Weezing's rise to prominence, and with it gone I think its gotten much better. Breloom was mostly soft-locked to Poison heal sets thanks to G-Weez, which, while functional and certainly did tear fat and no sableye stall to SHREDS, it was basically all it could do. Technician sets are back online now, and I think they'll be potent. Bullet seed Mach Rock tomb CC/SD is gonna be nice af, but I think the dust will need to settle before it starts doing any heavy lifting. As for H-Lilligant... honestly I could see this being outright broken lmao losing fez and g-weez opens this thing up ludicrously well.
Tier 2 Winners:
Every ground type under the sun got better who could've thought. Not gonna elaborate on these three the same from the prior 3 applies to these 3 too. Mienshao is noteworthy since it hated g-weez more than it did stuff like slowbro or Cress or what have you. Mimikyu loses a check but hippo gets more common so who knows. Better into offense though. Regidrago loses a fairy and stuff like sub dd eq stab is usable now. Grimmsnarl is fringe anti-fat stuff but it does its job better without gweez.
-> Given the typing of so many winners and that we just lost a couple Fairies, I'm swapping out Meteor Mash on my Lucario in favor of Ice Punch
-> Betting Talonflame will suddenly find Brave Bird or Flare Blitz more useful than U-Turn.
-> So many ground and fighting types means I'm pretty sure Magnezone is just plain screwed now.
I kinda wish this dropped a month earlier when we still had real poisons but alas. This seems really difficult to deal with on paper unless you want to run Hoodra or Blissey (or AV A-Muk?) on every single team ever. Granted, Hoodra and Blissey are good mons but are pretty limited to team styles, and Serp has deceptively good moveset variety in spite of just clicking the same move over and over, with options like Knock, Glare, SubSeed, various tera blasts, etc. letting it annoy any non-hoodra check pretty severely. I do kinda feel like it'll end up just being a situation we get every once and a while where handling it defensively is reasonably capable but it's too good into offense and we have to ban it anyways, but we'll have to see. Get your red card mimikkyus ready!
also rest in peace to webs as a playstyle for as long as this mon lasts
Chansey was already fairly good even on balance here, so Blissey will probably end up being even better because it can run boots in a tier that just lost its best defensive remover. There's basically nothing else to say about it, it'll be a passive blob holding defensive teams together in the face of obnoxious special breakers like serp, although this tier leans more physical which might give it problems. I forsee a like A- Rank for this.
After playing shifts for the last day, here are my thoughts on the changes.
LMFAO, this thing is busted as shit. You have to use hoodra to beat this, and even then knock along with spikes support beat this fucker, nevermind that tera blast ground 3HKO's this anyways. Get this shit out of here quickly, I don't want to have to deal with this fucker any longer.
Omfg, this is a godsend for stall. While stall probably still has to use some form of removal (though I've tried muk+gastro stall for double sticky hold, and it wasn't bad, but does struggle with some knockers a lot), but not having to get constantly chipped by hazards on your main special wall is so good. Blissey can also reliably run shadow ball since it doesn't hit like a wet noodle on the special side (seriously, chansey 4HKO gengar with shadow ball, while herscu was 5HKO'd, it was so weak) as it can 2HKO or 3HKO most of the ghosts in the tier. Just an all around improvement.
This shitter gotta go LMFAO. I've been on the ban mamo train ever since it dropped, as geezing was a fake answer (check adamant LO icicle crash against geezing and tell me that was a good answer to the mon), but now you don't have to be forced into tera fire every time to beat it. This means mamo can experiment with other tera types. Personal favourite option of mine is nmi freeze dry with tera ice, which 2HKO's slowbro and deals well with the water/ground's that could check it. Yeah, totally balanced mon...
Honestly, Krook has felt really great this meta (when you don't face chesnaught). Not much likes taking knock+eq now, which allows you to experiment with other options over gunk shot (though the poison chance and beating ches is still good). BU can finally start to work, scale shot loaded dice can work as a late game wincon, counter can be a niche option to punish the multiple u-turns in the tier, and much more. Just feels a lot better where before it felt like you had to use gunk shot or the niche smack down to make krook work at all.
Due to having to be used as the only counter to serperior, I've been spamming this mon a ton and it feels amazing in this meta. I've liked 4A sets that drop heavy slam for dragon tail and use eq. You suck into bee but well, bee is dead in a ditch rn. Not much likes switching into your moves, with the steels not liking knock+eq at all, while everything else taking knock or draco for big damage. Just feels really good rn.
while individual serperior sets can be overwhelmed (and leaf storm loves missing at the worst times), a combination of unpredictable tera types (ground + fire are the most common, though i could see electric and stellar having their own niches), decent movepool (dragon pulse to hit mence, cyc, and noivern, leech seed for extra sustain, substitute to turn guys like umbreon into setup fodder) and glare being broken as shit makes serp a net negative for the meta. it almost completely dominates HO and encourages a much fatter, stall-y meta. most infamously, it forces h-goodra and/or blissey onto almost every non-offense team; while these mons aren't bad by any means, it's still quite unhealthy and even those mons can be overwhelmed, be it by serp itself (tera ground can pick off hoodra while blissey hates subseed sets) or its teammates. honestly don't even bother with pleasantries and please quickban this fucker
Maybe Problematic?
losing fezandipiti, slither wing, and especially g-weezing has caused the viability of a number of physical attackers to skyrocket, arguably into problematic territory. i haven't seen much of these mons (except g-zapdos) but i'd imagine that they could be problematic in the near-future, especially after serp leaves. mamoswine has to worry a lot less about being burned and can muscle through teams, especially more offensive ones, though its usual flaws (fragile and slow) remain. h-lilligant could be a problematic sweeper akin to ogerpon with the tier's best poison-types gone, with only amoonguss and talonflame being able to really stop it reliably (and even those have to be wary of ice spinner). gapdos has been controversial for a while, and losing its most prominent check makes it even better (especially with the rise of serp and hilligant), though its suicidal nature makes it a bit polarizing. i think these guys should be looked at after serp goes, maybe via survey?
Hey Look, An Actual Special Wall
...it's Blissey. It's basically a better Chansey, there's really not much to say other than "having another special wall that fits on archetypes other than stall is nice".
As I've said in the RU discord earlier, the council will discuss Serperior and its fate over the weekends. Serperior in its brief time has seemed to be one of the biggest threats and progress-maker in the tier. With only one actual counter in Hisuian Goodra, it's still prone to being Knocked and Goodra will eventually lose the war due to hazards being a dominant staple in the metagame. With an high speed for RU + access to Glare, checks like Noivern, Cyclizar, and Salamence get severely crippled while counters like Amoonguss are not great in RU atm. Coverage wise, Serperior can run Tera Ground + Tera Blast to deal with Steel-types and Alolan Muk, Dragon Pulse to hit the aforementioned Dragon-types, and even Tera Stellar + Tera Blast. To add on to it, Serperior also has recovery and disruptive moves in Synthesis and Leech Seed respectively, which allows it to be very bulky for its speed.
On that note, the council has voted on Serperior, and here are the results:
Therefore, Serperior is now BANNED from SV RU. pinging HoeenHero, dhelmise, Marty, and Hecate to implement this, thank you!
In the coming weeks we will assess whether any Pokemon is deemed worthy of a suspect test. Let us know your thoughts!
New survey? New Essay. I'll give my thoughts on them, and highlight some mons I've got on my personal radar.
This mon been dumb, is dumb, and will continue to be dumb. Gastrodon is a good check to it. Ok but who else? It's a trick question you got 3 guesses and the first 2 don't count. Best bruiser in the tier and its not even close, the fact i can just stay in on Krookodile EQs and kill it for its hubris of expecting to kill is nonsense and theres alot of other mons it trades with positively that it has no right to. Blissey is a new check to some sets until you remember Blissey is heading straight to B- because its awkward to build with and chansey going to D. Sure, it can worn down and not do as crazy into common Gastrodon spike stack squads but have you considered those squads are rlly good because your heavily incentivized to load Gastrodon anyways? Personally, 2nd most broken mon here.
I owe some ppl an apology because I've been pretty hard on Mamoswine for awhile for being a fraud and never doing shit to me. See, I spam cresselia alot as it is. So the literal frame I don't have cresselia and I look for other checks? Damn the pickings are fucking slim my lord. Rotom-Heat, Slowbro and tera button that's bout it. What, you gonna hype up Avalugg? Bronzong aka lose to half our grounds anyways? Crocune tries its best and does better than most others but it ain't really enjoying switching hard into quakes and frankly doing "Better than others" ain't a high bar when this thing forces a ton of kills. I think its probably more restricting than Volcanion is, honestly and I think the builder would benefit most from this thing going, though I also think its the weakest performer. That RUPL winrate is atrocious and there's alot of times it feels like it should be doing way better.
This is probably the most traditionally busted thing in the tier. DD Lum Outrage is easier than tying your fucking shoes and tends to just smash games into pieces really easily. There are counter-measures sure, and Hippowdon getting better post shifts is a strike against it but tera 50/50s (not counting whirlwind cuz thats just delaying the problem), between ice fang and EQ means hippo can just fucking lose the 1v1. I really didn't expect G-Weez going to make Mence turn up this hard but damn I'm impressed. I'd be fine with this going.
See, here's the difference between Bisharp and these other guys above him. Bisharp's checks actually fucking work. Quagsire is an immovable wall, Chester is still great at the job, Inner Focus Umbreon can cause problems, and Hippowdon got better this shift so that's another mon Bisharp isn't really getting past easily. Tera type aside, its a one-trick pony, and that one trick having sure-fire stops makes me feel far less inclined to take action against it as opposed to some other stuff. Sure, you'll see a silly win pulled out of its ass every so often, same with Armarouge. But those two tend to be way easier to handle by just.. playing your cards well. The other 3 schmucks don't let you play your cards at all. So honestly, it's a DNB from me on Bisharp here.
These are the two on my personal radar. Gyarados hasn't really changed pre shifts and this thing was pulling wins out of its ass all throughout RULT ladder portion. Still a dumbass mon, but there's bigger fish. H-Lilligant is quite comfortably the biggest winner of the shifts and I've seen alot of fear of it... but I actually gotta see this thing get used before I can call it busted yknow. For now, my eyes are peeled but imma need to see results first.
Frankly put, I am not enjoying the tier rn. I put my enjoyment and competiteveness at a 2 out of 5. Just way too many game ending threats that you have to account for.
LBN I think covered it pretty well, volcanion has one check, and gastro has to specifically be specially defensive storm drain to beat it, when gastro would otherwise love to be phys defense sticky hold. Wallbreakers are fine in tiers, but they have to have drawbacks, of which volcanion has very few due to its bulk. Easy ban.
Hey, you know slowbro? Yeah, one of the best mons in the tier that also is meant to be one of the best counters to mamo?
Yeah, look at this.
0- SpA Never-Melt Ice Tera Ice Mamoswine Freeze-Dry vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Slowbro: 196-232 (49.7 - 58.8%) -- 98.4% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Tera Grass Mamoswine Trailblaze (60 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 190-226 (48.2 - 57.3%) -- 88.7% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Life Orb Tera Dark Mamoswine Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 281-330 (71.3 - 83.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
So yeah, one of mamos best splashable counters, is in fact, not a fucking counter. Theres only two other 'counters' to this mon, cresselia and rotom heat. Cresselia is a passive blob of a pokemon if the mon doesn't care about para (anyways, here is gyara with a million sets that can beat t-wave) and rotom heat either dies to rock blast variants or has to tera when mamo clicks knock off. If there wasn't the fucker above to deal with, I would say this is the first thing to deal with.
Mixed bag on mence, while it does kinda wreck a lot of teams, it also feels like at times it can fall immediately flat. Something like slowbro (use foul play or ice beam please, they are really good) can definetely struggle at times, but can usually still come out on top, along with outrage making it so tera fairy just kinda walls mence (or a steel like id regi). Maybe in the future this is a suspect, but there def is bigger fish to fry.
Yeah, no lmfao. Bisharp is totally okay. It absolutely requires tera in order to do anything most games, and teams are able to usually to tera types through multiple SPLASHABLE answers. If your only bisharp answer is iron defense regi or wisp talon, then I just think you have made a poor team. Hippo in general just hard counters bisharp and options such as encore rachi or sub krook can help a lot with the bisharp war. Hard DNB.
I forgor to put this in the other survey option, but I probably should have. I think armarouge is a step below volc and mamo, but is still way too threatening. The checks just feel extremely limited and the tera types can just stop counterplay way too easily. The best counter is like, umbreon? But also that gets smacked around by tera steel and just takes insane damage in the process.
The first one here has been a hot topic lately, and while I can see the arguements for being busted, I think gyarados is taking advantage of other mons forcing players into specific mons that it can abuse. For example, noivern is having to be used everywhere and that can be taken advantage of by resto chesto gyara, or slowbro variants are forced by mamoswine and thus lose to sub tera dark. I think if the said mons are banned, gyarados becomes a lot more managable. Maybe I'm wrong and its still a piece of shit, but I would wait. Hilligant is def a lot better, but still suffers from its unreliability and being screwed over by defensive teras very quickly (also being a grass that doesn't want anything to do with slowbro). Just wait a bit bros, its good, but not broken. Finally, gapdos. People need to stop saying this is broken every month holy shit. Yes, it can do lots of damage, but people act like it gets in for completely free and can spam its moves all game. Yes, gastro may only need 10% chip to be in range of two brave birds, but gapdos is also taking 60-70% in the process, AKA, its basically dead. If your team loses to gapdos, trust me, it loses to a LOT more. Only playstyle it even is remotely problematic for is HO, but also pack a flying resist (which between bisharp, raikou, jirachi and toxtricity just to name a few) and you should be good. (or just use the goat mmq and be incredibly good).
Looking at the latest survey post, I feel the need to share my thoughts on the state of the tier.
Let's talk about the state of Rarely Used... (this would be my clickbait title if I had a video of this)
While I understand the reason why we make an effort to give the people a voice in the tiering surveys, and I respect the opinion of almost everyone, I feel like this case in specific requires more initiative than just looking at the numbers and reacting to them. My issue is that, from the last time I saw discussion on broken mons, a lot of people can find themselves with very mixed opinions on what they think is broken. LBN, for example, preaches Volcanion being broken and unfair, but you see the survey numbers, and it only has a measly 40% in the survey (28 in the qualified section). There's a lack of clear picture of what is the definitive broken mon right now, and it shows in the very spread survey numbers. It's fine if this happens, but I feel that RU right now needs some tiering action because the state of the tier is a mess in my opinion.
I share the sentiment that Bisharp feels fine. I don't want to get too much into detail on it because it's the same as the posts above.
Without Weezing, this guy is obviously better. I honestly can't say if I think it's broken or not yet because defensive teams are still trying to shape themselves again without Weez, Fez and Slither.
I've used Gastrodon nonstop since w1 of RUPL so to me this mon obviously felt fine LOL. Noivern and Cyclizar are also two of my most used mons so as you can see, I never really have an issue with this mon. I understand why some people want it gone though, but who cares...
These were the 2 guys I wanted to talk about. I think Gyarados is completely stupid right now, biggest tera coin flip in the meta right now between Tera Flying, Ground and Dark, and substitute sets, resto chesto sets, lum berry even and then trying to guess if its 3 attacks, rest or whatever in the actual game just opens up so many bad scenarios for the player facing Gyarados. In my eyes this guy was getting dumb at the end of the pre shifts meta, and right now it's even worse because Weezing gone opens up the other moxie sweeper. These 2 in conjunction break so many teams, with Gyarados feeling like the main enabler at trading with half a team, and mence cleaning up.
Again, I think the sweep potential of these 2 together is absurd, but, to me, Gyarados feels like the biggest criminal in every game I face it in. I basically have to use my phys def Umbreon and pray its not tera dark because then it trades enough with me to the point where the other breaker can get past me.
I feel like when we have such spread results in a meta that's really chaotic, there should be a more proactive approach on what the council, the guys who are trusted with the tiering decisions, feel should be done. I can't speak for the council on what they are talking about behind the scenes, but seeing "we will not be doing anything" just makes me lose the appeal of playing this tier.
Welcome home my sweet boy. Ribombee is still prob going to be the better option, but with the tier slowing down, CB Liquidation is prob going to sting a lot of teams. Funnily enough it also checks certain Gyarados variants without T-blast Flying. Not going to be an amazing option, but a fun one.
Uh, wtf. I know that rain has been gaining some traction in UU, but this seems just sily....
I still think this thing is kinda a fraud, but it did get better with geezing, fez and slither leaving. Just make sure to not use up all your luck before you load this pokemon...
Rest in piss, you will not be missed (its crazy that this didn't quickdrop btw, what are we doing...)
Partially is dropping because serperior was the biggest middle finger webs had ever seen, but webs has been mid for a while. Theres been attempts of using webs on more ordinary teams or trying qd stuff, but those mostly fall flat.
Now that Salamence is banned, maybe Flygon will pick up some usage? Volcanion also no longer has to worry about Facade sets and is more free to run Tera Blast Grass instead of Tera Blast Fairy. But other than that, I don't really think the Salamence ban will massively impact the tier.
Now that that ban is out of the way, there will likely be a tiering survey sometime soon and the following 3 mons are locks to be included:
Can beat any mon in the tier 1v1. From its wallbreaking capabilities using its high powered STABs and insane coverage, trapping problematic mons with Fire Spin + Taunt, crippling "switchins" with Steam Eruption burns or straight up deleting them with the correct Tera Blast, Volcanion defies the concept of traditional checks. This mon has been broken for a while now but has managed to avoid being suspected because there has always been a more controversial target. I think it's high time we got rid of this thing. I would prefer to have it suspected before the below mons because it's been broken for the longest and I also believe its ban will have the largest metagame impact. No longer will you be forced to slot in Gastrodon or Noivern on every team, and the Steels + bulky Waters of the tier get a whole lot better. Talonflame is no longer a liability into a bunch of teams and Entei becomes even more cracked. Banning Volcanion as soon as possible will lead to a new metagame and we can then reassess whether previously unhealthy/broken threats still need tiering action versus pushing the Volcanion ban back a couple of months and just delaying the inevitable.
This was kind of overhyped when it first dropped in January and people were clamoring for a quickban. But now that Geezing is gone, Mamo is reminding us why people were so scared of it when it first dropped. Pretty much nothing in the tier can switch in to to its STABs except for Slowbro and even that is in danger of being 2HKO'd after Rocks by LO Earthquake or NMI Freeze Dry. The best way to beat Mamo is offensive counterplay but that's not the easiest thing to do given the defensive mons Mamo is paired with + Ice Shard picking off lots of faster chipped threats like Gapdos and Gengar. I would vote ban on this thing in a heartbeat but would still prefer Volc to go first for the reasons I mentioned above.
Kind of a dumb cheese mon, but I don't feel too strongly about it one way or another. It can get out of hand very quickly but the standard set is weak to Rocks, is very Tera reliant, needs to get to +2 to outspeed the most common scarfers in the tier, is vulnerable to priority, and recent metagame developments like Foul Play Slowbro have made it much more manageable. I think the reason it got brought up so much in broken discussions is because the combination of Salamence and Gyarados felt like too much but now that Salamence is gone, I would wait to see if Gyarados by itself is still an unhealthy presence in the tier.
Okay, so with Salamence being banned, I think we shouldn't wait around too long and should adress a Pokemon that has been a thorn in the side of many players for a while.
Volcanion has been seen as broken by a large amount of people, if you talk to any RU player they at the very least see the reasons for it to be banned. And frankly, with Salamence leaving, the answers to Volcanion get even less.
There are three primary reasons for Volcanion being busted. Lack of counters, ability to trade into offense, and ease of switch-in opportunities.
Lets cover the first point. Volcanion has three counters in the tier. And as I will explain, they are lackluster or have to use inferior sets.
Starting with the worst of them, Cyclizar can take Volcanion's STABs and earth power pretty easily. The issue comes with everything else. Cyclizar HATES getting burned, as unless it uses facade, it makes its lackluster damage even worse. Furthermore, it loses to not only the common coverage move in Body Press, but also Tera Blast Fairy Variants, which are common enough to mention.
One of the better switchins to Volcanion, Noivern is good into Volcanion at a base level. The issue comes with the nasty 30% burn rate Steam Eruption has. This turns something that comfortably takes the hit, into needing to spam Roost in order to keep itself healhy to take on any other attackers. It also instaloses to Tera Blast Fairy variants, which again, are common.
Finally, we have Gastrodon, by far the best switchin. With Storm Drain, Gastrodon completely ignores Steam Eruption BS and as a bonus, even threatens it out with Earth Power/Earthquake. It only really fears the uncommon Tera Blast Grass/Power Herb Solar Beam variants, but those are not used that often. Now, this might seem like a near perfect counter, but I'd like to argue that Gastrodon is not as good as it seems. This primarily is because Gastrodon has to utilise a far inferior set to beat Volcanion. It has to be specially defensive Storm Drain, not physically defensive Storm Drain, as that set just loses to a well played Volcanion as Earth Power does too much as seen in this replay here. Now, while Storm Drain specially defensive has its other benefits, such as helping to take on Hersculegion, Slowbro and other water type attacks, the issue is that physically defensive Sticky Hold is way better, as its ability to beat the most common remover in Cyclizar, especially with Tera Ghost, while also being able to check Pokemon such as Krookodile, Gapdos and others very well due to being unable to remove its Rocky Helmet with Knock Off. Once you remove Volcanion from the equation, it isn't even a contest which set is better, Storm Drain simply put does not do much aside from countering Volcanion, and this I believe shows how meta warping Volcanion is.
Now, having limited counters is not something unheard of. Golurk , Gallade , Reuniclus and Crawdaunt are fellow wallbreakers are infact very healthy additions to the tier, forcing bulkier playstyles to be more proactive. This leads onto my second point, which aside from potentially reuniclus (which struggles with the final point), these wallbreakers do not have. Volcanion has the ability to trade very well into offense.
I'd like to post a calc, showing how dumb this Pokemon's defenses are.
252 Atk Krookodile Earthquake vs. 120 HP / 0 Def Volcanion: 260-308 (78.5 - 93%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Thats right, one of the best offensive Ground-types in the tier, doesn't even god damn OHKO Volcanion. And if its running Shuca Berry, something we have seen more of (don't even get me started on Custap Berry variants, those are even more bs in their ability to shut down revenge killing attempts), then forget about using it to revenge kill. This means you have to use super effective special moves to revenge kill it, and they do have to be strong (Raikou tbolt only has a small chance to OHKO Volcanion from full), as if its something not super effective, Volcanion can eat up the hit and KO them back.
I'll just post a bunch of calcs to prove my point, this mon is obscene in bulk.
252 SpA Choice Specs Gengar Sludge Wave vs. 120 HP / 0 SpD Volcanion: 255-300 (77 - 90.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Tera Flying Zapdos-Galar Brave Bird vs. 120 HP / 0 Def Volcanion: 218-258 (65.8 - 77.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Entei Stone Edge vs. 120 HP / 0 Def Volcanion: 258-304 (77.9 - 91.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Gyarados Earthquake vs. 120 HP / 0 Def Volcanion: 272-322 (82.1 - 97.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Hustle Lilligant-Hisui Close Combat vs. 120 HP / 0 Def Volcanion: 217-256 (65.5 - 77.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
This means that you do have to chip it a lot to actually revenge kill it, and reminder these are extremely strong attacks, and they don't even god damn OHKO it. So against more offensive teams, Volcanion is still pulling its weight by trading well, which is something other wallbreakers struggle with.
But of course, why don't you try to make it not switch in? But thats easier said then done, which leads onto my final point, Volcanion has way too many switchins.
Volcanion has the ability Water Absorb, and this ability screws over a lot of Pokemon. Combine this with its great defensive typing in Water/Fire along with the mentioned above great bulk, here is a list of Pokemon Volcanion can switch in decently easily into to start blasting (listing Pokemon up to B tier, though do keep in mind others below B tier also struggle):
Some of these it can struggle to take certain hits (shadow ball for hersculegion and stone edge for entei for example), but generally it can switch into the majority of those moves, and with tera, it can easily take them on.
Here is the category of Pokemon that it may take a decent beating from, but can generally come out on top against or it only is threatened by one of their moves, but can get around said move alright:
Now, this may not seem like as much as some expect, but let me compare it to other wallbreakers and what they can safely switch-in against.
Gallade:
Golurk:
Crawdaunt:
Now, you could say that there are maybe max 5 more Pokemon I could add to each, but even if we assume this, this is still a large difference to Volcanion. The only wallbreaker that comes close to this is Reuniclus, who even still can struggle to switch into attacks at times due to Mono-Psychic typing not affording it many resistances and thus having to utilise its raw bulk, which while good, can certainly be annoying as you have to utilise precious turns for wallbreaking clicking recover.
Why not Gyarados?
Gyarados is a Pokemon that has the ire of many people rn, and while I understand the reasonings for wanting to ban it, I think banning Gyarados is addressing the symptoms, and not the root of the problem. As of rn, Volcanion (and to a lesser extent, Mamoswine) forces a metagame in which Gyarados is insanely poised to sweep. Most of the counters to Volcanion that are being spammed are free setup for Gyarados. This primarily applies to Gastrodon, as unless it runs clear smog (something it cannot really fit in its moveset), it is the easiest setup opportunity for Gyarados. Noivern also to an extent can be setup on if Noivern lacking Taunt, which while most do run that, a lot also run Defog which commonly lacks Taunt. Cyclizar also has to specifically be Dragon Tail to not give Gyarados setup opportunities. And if Gyarados still shows itself to be a problem afterwards, then we can still ban it. But I would prefer we ban less mons over more mons, and going the route of Volcanion then Gyarados (hopefully with Mamoswine in between them btw), I believe could allow Gyarados to be a lot more dealable.
Overall, I hope I've convinced everybody reading that Volcanion is a menace that should not be allowed to roam around this metagame any more and should be suspected as soon as possible.
LMFAO, this thing is busted as shit. You have to use hoodra to beat this, and even then knock along with spikes support beat this fucker, nevermind that tera blast ground 3HKO's this anyways. Get this shit out of here quickly, I don't want to have to deal with this fucker any longer.
Omfg, this is a godsend for stall. While stall probably still has to use some form of removal (though I've tried muk+gastro stall for double sticky hold, and it wasn't bad, but does struggle with some knockers a lot), but not having to get constantly chipped by hazards on your main special wall is so good. Blissey can also reliably run shadow ball since it doesn't hit like a wet noodle on the special side (seriously, chansey 4HKO gengar with shadow ball, while herscu was 5HKO'd, it was so weak) as it can 2HKO or 3HKO most of the ghosts in the tier. Just an all around improvement.
This shitter gotta go LMFAO. I've been on the ban mamo train ever since it dropped, as geezing was a fake answer (check adamant LO icicle crash against geezing and tell me that was a good answer to the mon), but now you don't have to be forced into tera fire every time to beat it. This means mamo can experiment with other tera types. Personal favourite option of mine is nmi freeze dry with tera ice, which 2HKO's slowbro and deals well with the water/ground's that could check it. Yeah, totally balanced mon...
Honestly, Krook has felt really great this meta (when you don't face chesnaught). Not much likes taking knock+eq now, which allows you to experiment with other options over gunk shot (though the poison chance and beating ches is still good). BU can finally start to work, scale shot loaded dice can work as a late game wincon, counter can be a niche option to punish the multiple u-turns in the tier, and much more. Just feels a lot better where before it felt like you had to use gunk shot or the niche smack down to make krook work at all.
Due to having to be used as the only counter to serperior, I've been spamming this mon a ton and it feels amazing in this meta. I've liked 4A sets that drop heavy slam for dragon tail and use eq. You suck into bee but well, bee is dead in a ditch rn. Not much likes switching into your moves, with the steels not liking knock+eq at all, while everything else taking knock or draco for big damage. Just feels really good rn.
LBN I think covered it pretty well, volcanion has one check, and gastro has to specifically be specially defensive storm drain to beat it, when gastro would otherwise love to be phys defense sticky hold. Wallbreakers are fine in tiers, but they have to have drawbacks, of which volcanion has very few due to its bulk. Easy ban.
Mixed bag on mence, while it does kinda wreck a lot of teams, it also feels like at times it can fall immediately flat. Something like slowbro (use foul play or ice beam please, they are really good) can definetely struggle at times, but can usually still come out on top, along with outrage making it so tera fairy just kinda walls mence (or a steel like id regi). Maybe in the future this is a suspect, but there def is bigger fish to fry.
Yeah, no lmfao. Bisharp is totally okay. It absolutely requires tera in order to do anything most games, and teams are able to usually to tera types through multiple SPLASHABLE answers. If your only bisharp answer is iron defense regi or wisp talon, then I just think you have made a poor team. Hippo in general just hard counters bisharp and options such as encore rachi or sub krook can help a lot with the bisharp war. Hard DNB.
I forgor to put this in the other survey option, but I probably should have. I think armarouge is a step below volc and mamo, but is still way too threatening. The checks just feel extremely limited and the tera types can just stop counterplay way too easily. The best counter is like, umbreon? But also that gets smacked around by tera steel and just takes insane damage in the process.
Welcome home my sweet boy. Ribombee is still prob going to be the better option, but with the tier slowing down, CB Liquidation is prob going to sting a lot of teams. Funnily enough it also checks certain Gyarados variants without T-blast Flying. Not going to be an amazing option, but a fun one.
Uh, wtf. I know that rain has been gaining some traction in UU, but this seems just sily....
Rest in piss, you will not be missed (its crazy that this didn't quickdrop btw, what are we doing...)
Partially is dropping because serperior was the biggest middle finger webs had ever seen, but webs has been mid for a while. Theres been attempts of using webs on more ordinary teams or trying qd stuff, but those mostly fall flat.
Starting with the worst of them, Cyclizar can take Volcanion's STABs and earth power pretty easily. The issue comes with everything else. Cyclizar HATES getting burned, as unless it uses facade, it makes its lackluster damage even worse. Furthermore, it loses to not only the common coverage move in Body Press, but also Tera Blast Fairy Variants, which are common enough to mention.
One of the better switchins to Volcanion, Noivern is good into Volcanion at a base level. The issue comes with the nasty 30% burn rate Steam Eruption has. This turns something that comfortably takes the hit, into needing to spam Roost in order to keep itself healhy to take on any other attackers. It also instaloses to Tera Blast Fairy variants, which again, are common.
Finally, we have Gastrodon, by far the best switchin. With Storm Drain, Gastrodon completely ignores Steam Eruption BS and as a bonus, even threatens it out with Earth Power/Earthquake. It only really fears the uncommon Tera Blast Grass/Power Herb Solar Beam variants, but those are not used that often. Now, this might seem like a near perfect counter, but I'd like to argue that Gastrodon is not as good as it seems. This primarily is because Gastrodon has to utilise a far inferior set to beat Volcanion. It has to be specially defensive Storm Drain, not physically defensive Storm Drain, as that set just loses to a well played Volcanion as Earth Power does too much as seen in this replay here. Now, while Storm Drain specially defensive has its other benefits, such as helping to take on Hersculegion, Slowbro and other water type attacks, the issue is that physically defensive Sticky Hold is way better, as its ability to beat the most common remover in Cyclizar, especially with Tera Ghost, while also being able to check Pokemon such as Krookodile, Gapdos and others very well due to being unable to remove its Rocky Helmet with Knock Off. Once you remove Volcanion from the equation, it isn't even a contest which set is better, Storm Drain simply put does not do much aside from countering Volcanion, and this I believe shows how meta warping Volcanion is.
, Gallade 
, Reuniclus 
and Crawdaunt 
are fellow wallbreakers are infact very healthy additions to the tier, forcing bulkier playstyles to be more proactive. This leads onto my second point, which aside from potentially reuniclus (which struggles with the final point), these wallbreakers do not have. Volcanion has the ability to trade very well into offense.
