Lower Tiers BW NU Viability Rankings

[cb aaron judge]

agreed re: wartortle, its too slow/passive & the best method of hazard control in this tier is thru offensive pressure/taunt. b rank at best, b- at worst.
with shadow tag & assist/copycat being banned there is zero reason to use gothorita/riolu on a serious team. severely outclassed & should be sent straight to the depths of unranked.

 

[Stories]

Heard through the grape vine that this VR was getting an update post NUSD 2, so I wanted to get my 2 cents in before-hand.

First things first:

➡ UR
➡ UR

Their only niches have been banned, and need to be removed.

Rises

A- ➡ A+
Skuntank shuts down so much cheese like and checks extremely potent breakers such as Gardevoir, Misdreavous, Haunter, and Duosion. Stacking these Ghosts and Psychics have shown to be a very powerful and legitimate playstyle and can even be known to overwhelm Skuntank, but these styles also show they completely destroy most balance-oriented teams that don't have Skuntank. Also Pursuit is broken.

B+ ➡ A-
Extremely potent lead with solid set diversity. Has positive MU's vs all the top tier dogs.

B ➡ B+
Biased as its one of my favorite mons but its the only Volt Switch blocker and Charizard check in the tier, sets up Rocks reliably, spreads burns, and has a free 4th moveslot for HP Grass, Roar, Toxic, etc.

B ➡ A-
Niche defensive Grass typing and Grass and Ghost immunity let this thing SD on a lot of bulky teams with very potent Grass and Ground coverage and great speed tier and longevity to continuously pressure slower bulky teams. Way better than some other SD mons like Pinsir or Zangoose.

A+ ➡ S
Serperior can come out on top of so many situations thanks to its speed and bulk, and abuse of Hidden Power, being able to surprise would-be checks with HP Psychic, Ice, or Ground, or sticking with Rock and still hitting most of the tier uncontested. Or you can use SubSeed and beat anything regardless. I've won way too many games just by Subbing up with Serp on a bulky water or a predicted status move and just breaking the whole tier open with only a +1/2 Overgrow-boosted Giga Drain.

Drops

A- ➡ B+
This thing needs too much going for it to be worth using as a breaker; minimal hazards chip along with free entry, a free Swords Dance, no Protect spam, and the right 4th move in CC or Night Slash and if all these boxes are checked then Zangoose can be a monster.

A ➡ A-
Golem does have very powerful tools with Sturdy SR, potential Custap Boom/trading 1-for-1 after getting SR in general, however as teams can afford to become much more bulky after the STag ban, making a 1-for-1 trade just for SR is not as valuable anymore imo.

A+ ➡ A
Not a huge drop but another instance of the metagame bulking up slightly and being able to afford to pivot around CB Sawk a little more. Obviously it still hits like a truck and Sawk will probably bounce back once people discover Sub Sawk is also nutty but for now its just not as good as the other A+ mons imo.

The entire C- tier seems like all meme picks that won't ever see serious tournament use. I haven't played outside of serious tournament use but I think the more vetted players (Bughouse cb aaron judge @ whoever else is goated in this tier) can definitely come together and condense the entirety of the C ranks into one tier.


pls keep in mind I'm relatively new to the tier but I think my purely post-Stag ban perspective of the tier could bring some valuable outside opinions. Also I'm 7-1 in NUSD so I'm not a complete noob :P

 

[Finchinator]

The intent is to update this thread entirely with the help of some recent players of the metagame with a vote in the near future, for what it's worth

 

[5Dots]

Had a lot of fun playing in the BW NU Spotlight tour; here’s my thoughts afterwards!:

C+ -> B-
Sun is actually pretty cool. Wide range of abusers and generally fits how well offense is trending right now. Some things to note are how most Mandibuzzes are physically defensive, which give advantages to abusers like Victreebel and HP Rock Exeggutor, and how all the viable abusers bar exeggutor outspeed Scarf Primeape, which otherwise chip the team repeatedly with u-turn. From my experience, Kangaskhan, while still seen often, isn’t a regular sight to disrupt the archetype, which further gives sun benefits.

B- -> UR
The only notable quality Bastiodon offers is its access to Roar compared to other Stealth Rock setters and maybe Metal Burst, but it’s too prediction reliant to hit Metal Burst and it’s hard to get roar up in such an offensive-based metagame. (Especially) Regirock and even Probopass tend to be better at setting up Stealth Rock, since the former has more utility options with Thunder Wave and Sunny Day, Probopass can pivot with Volt Switch while also having Sturdy, and perhaps most importantly, both can actually damage foes to compensate for their sluggishness. Base 52 Attack is awful, especially since it doesn’t have means to threaten out other stealth Rock setters like Golem or Sawk that can nullify Metal Burst from doing its job.

C- -> UR
Agree with Togkey’s removal of C- rank, there isn’t really a point of using all of these mons since all of them are outclassed by one or more more useful Pokemon.

B+ -> A-
Might be surprising to see considering Garbodor‘s access to Spikes, but Weezing is still serves the role of a physical wall very well, notably able to survive Adamant Choice Band Sawk’s Earthquake before crippling it with Will-o-Wisp, which Garbodor cannot do! Another benefit is that Levitate allows it to perform much better against Stealth Rock setters like Golurk, Piloswine, and Golem, which, unlike Garbodor, gets destroyed by their Ground STABs. Weezing’s access to Taunt makes it more reliable at stopping Alolomola from distributing Wishes and Miltank from using utility moves, something Garbodor wishes it could do.

 

[Meri Berry]

Here's the Viability Rankings Update we've all been waiting for, more drops than rises. No reasoning because I don't know enough about BW, but some others can post their reasoning in the thread for me. Also, we won't do another slate until after NUPL likely, but if there's any consensus about minor tweaks to the VR in the thread or new noms since the slate went up, I can change the VR accordingly. Thank you to all the voters listed below! The sheet can be found here.

Voters for this slate:
Bughouse
cb aaron judge
Finchinator
Lily
Links
Nalorium
Shuckleking87
Togkey

Tiering Changes

Rises:
A+ -> S
A- -> A+
A- -> A+
A- -> A
A- -> A
B+ -> A
B+ -> A-
B -> A-
B -> B+
B- -> B
B- -> B
C+ -> B-
C+ -> B-
C+ -> B-
C+ -> B-
C+ -> B-
C -> C+
C -> C+
C -> C+
C- -> C
C- -> C
C- -> C

Drops:
S -> A+
S -> A
A+ -> A
A+ -> A
A+ -> A
A+ -> B+
A -> A-
A -> A-
A -> A-
A -> B+
A -> B+
A -> UR (shadow tag banned)
A- -> B+
A- -> B+
A- -> B+
A- -> B
B+ -> B
B+ -> B
B+ -> B
B+ -> B-
B+ -> B-
B+ -> B-
B+ -> B-
B+ -> C+
B -> B-
B -> B-
B -> B-
B -> B-
B -> C+
B -> C+
B -> C+
B -> C
B -> C
B- -> C+
B- -> C+
B- -> C+
B- -> C+
B- -> C+
B- -> C+
C+ -> C
C+ -> C
C+ -> C
C+ -> C
C+ -> C-
C+ -> UR
C+ -> UR
C+ -> UR
C+ -> UR
C+ -> UR
C -> C-
C -> C-
C -> C-
C -> UR
C -> UR
C -> UR
C -> UR
C -> UR
C- -> UR
C- -> UR
C- -> UR
C- -> UR
C- -> UR
C- -> UR
C- -> UR
C- -> UR
C- -> UR
C- -> UR

 

[laserduck]

What is the reasoning for Charizard, Samurott, and Eelektross falling in the VR? I'm pretty new to the tier

 

[Stories]

What is the reasoning for Charizard, Samurott, and Eelektross falling in the VR? I'm pretty new to the tier

Many changes to the meta have dictated their drops;

Many Charizard checks were often removed from the game or crippled by Shadow Tag Gothorita, such as Alomomola, Regirock, Miltank, and many common Stealth Rock setters like Seismitoad and Golurk. Now that Shadow Tag is banned these Pokemon are much more common / don't have to use Shed Shell / are better in general. Charizard is still very good but the Pokemon in S rank simply are better.

Samurott and Eelektross are in a similar boat of sorts. They are balance killers but balance has gotten much better recently. Samurott and Eelektross also have very middling bulk despite their poor speed, so they are often found throwing out one or two big hits then going down.

All 3 of these Pokemon struggle greatly against Serperior as well, which has risen to be one of BWNU's top Pokemon.

These aren't the only reasons for their drops but I hope that gives you an idea of how the meta is simply different than what it was back when those 3 were considered better than they are now.

 

[laserduck]

Many changes to the meta have dictated their drops;

Many Charizard checks were often removed from the game or crippled by Shadow Tag Gothorita, such as Alomomola, Regirock, Miltank, and many common Stealth Rock setters like Seismitoad and Golurk. Now that Shadow Tag is banned these Pokemon are much more common / don't have to use Shed Shell / are better in general. Charizard is still very good but the Pokemon in S rank simply are better.

Samurott and Eelektross are in a similar boat of sorts. They are balance killers but balance has gotten much better recently. Samurott and Eelektross also have very middling bulk despite their poor speed, so they are often found throwing out one or two big hits then going down.

All 3 of these Pokemon struggle greatly against Serperior as well, which has risen to be one of BWNU's top Pokemon.

These aren't the only reasons for their drops but I hope that gives you an idea of how the meta is simply different than what it was back when those 3 were considered better than they are now.

Thank you for the great response! What makes Serperior one of the top Pokemon?

 

[Expulso]

Thank you for the great response! What makes Serperior one of the top Pokemon?

my 2 cents, togkey or others feel free to add:

- the speed tier is excellent -- pretty much only scarfers and kanga force it out.
- most grass type checks take a lot from the right hidden power (ground/rock) and dont have longevity (outside of mandibuzz); for instance garbodor and skuntank are very quickly overwhelmed.
- its unboosted power is also solid enough, particularly with LO and/or spikes support. finally, it finds a lot of opportunities to come in and start attacking because of how a ground/rock is on almost every team and that many teams also have a water.

offensive grasses in general are really nice, i've been throwing a sawsbuck or serp onto almost every team. great speed, power, and useful defensively to pressure the rocks, grounds, and waters in the tier mean they offer quite a lot

 

[Bughouse]

fwiw I don't think eelektross struggles with serp much at all...

Eelektross has some natural bulk and its spikes immunity normally means it's pretty healthy, so Giga Drain is hardly a huge immediate threat to it, while Eel has Flamethrower or can even just U-Turn out, doing big damage/breaking sub while slow pivoting to a better Serp check.

I think the bigger deal behind Eel dropping is just that the meta became a bit more favorable to the Rotoms/Eel may have just been a touch too high to begin with. It's still very good.

The main changes to the meta I feel have been caused by Goth's departure leading to Alomomola being able to carry Leftovers again, as well as more frequent use of it these days as a special or mixed wall rather than much more of a pure physical wall (in terms of investment, but also Lefties is even more important for this.) This has spiraled in a number of different ways from there, since it is such a consequential Pokemon in the meta.

I'm not going to theorize too hard what all those changes were but I definitely do think Mola being a much better special wall and having Leftovers has been consequential in the worsening of Zard and Rott. Specs Zard/Special LO Rott just don't steamroll Mola anymore. You would think an improvement to Mola would have made Eelektross's strong Tbolt that much more important, but it hasn't panned out that way. It's still very good. Just didn't get better.

 

[Links]

credit to PKGaming and FlareBlitz for the idea; credit to Annoyer and DTC for running the original thread; credit to Keiran for the amazing banner '3'

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Welcome to the NU viability ranking project. In this project, we will "tier" every Pokemon based on usefulness. An initial tier list has already been made; if you think something should be moved up or down, post in this thread with your reasoning on why, and the change may be enacted. After we have came up with a tier list that most people agree upon, it will go on-site somewhere in the NU hub.

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Viability Ranking Council
For more controversial cases, the viability ranking council will vote on the Pokemon's tiering.

• Keiran

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Tier List
Without further ado, here is the initial tier list with the rough definitions of each tier (note: Pokemon are ordered alphabetically).

S-Rank​

​

​

​

Alomomola​

Garbodor​

Mandibuzz​

Serperior​

​

​

A-Rank​

​

​

A+​

Charizard​

Golurk​

Kangaskhan​

Rotom-Frost​

Sawk​

Seismitoad​

Skuntank​

A​

Carracosta​

Duosion​

Gurdurr​

Gardevoir​

Misdreavus​

Piloswine​

Primeape​

Regirock​

Rotom-Fan​

Samurott​

​

A-​

Braviary​

Eelektross​

Haunter​

Musharna​

Sawsbuck​

Tauros​

B-Rank​

​

​

B+​

Camerupt​

Drifblim​

Exeggutor​

Golem​

Gorebyss​

Ludicolo​

Miltank​

Roselia​

Swellow​

Zangoose​

​

B​

Electabuzz​

Fraxure​

Regice​

Tangela​

Torterra​

Wartortle​

Weezing​

Zweilous​

​

B-​

Altaria​

Combusken​

Floatzel​

Kadabra​

Liepard​

Metang​

Muk​

Pinsir​

Probopass​

Scraggy​

Shiftry​

Simipour​

Victreebel​

Vileplume​

Volbeat​

​

C-Rank​

​

​

C+​

Audino​

Bastiodon​

Cacturne​

Cradily​

Golbat​

Klang​

Lapras​

Lickilicky​

Linoone​

Mantine​

Simisage​

Swanna​

Throh​

Ursaring​

Vigoroth​

Zebstrika​

C​

Armaldo​

Articuno​

Basculin​

Beheeyem​

Butterfree​

Dragonair​

Electrode​

Jumpluff​

Leafeon​

Mawile​

Munchlax​

Raichu​

Rampardos​

Sneasel​

Swoobat​

Torkoal​

C-​

Ampharos​

Frillish​

Illumise​

Marowak​

Relicanth​

Simisear​

Stunfisk​

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Rules

• Post intellegently; no one will listen to you if you post random blabber that isn't supported by sufficient evidence.
• Do not insult users just because you disagree with them.
• Usage statistics do not determine viability.

OP has been updated

 

[laserduck]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but what are some good team structures for BW NU?

Sun seems pretty good with powerful sweepers Charizard, Sawsbuck, and maybe other niche options like Victreebel. Some sort of Magic Guard Psyspam with Duosion and Kadabra similar to BW OU may also be good due to how powerful hazards are in BW NU. Not sure how viable these structures are though, would appreciate any guidance. Thanks!

 

[Bughouse]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but what are some good team structures for BW NU?

Sun seems pretty good with powerful sweepers Charizard, Sawsbuck, and maybe other niche options like Victreebel. Some sort of Magic Guard Psyspam with Duosion and Kadabra similar to BW OU may also be good due to how powerful hazards are in BW NU. Not sure how viable these structures are though, would appreciate any guidance. Thanks!

Sun (and Rain) are generally mediocre and matchup fishes in my opinion. Not entirely unviable, but the high viability of Charizard and Sawsbuck has to do with their utility just as team members in and of themselves. Victreebel and Shiftry's much lower viability in B- is indicative of full Sun's viability.

Psyspam (or perhaps better thought of as Dark-weak spam, since these structures often use Haunter or Misdreavus instead) is certainly viable, but the main thing you have to consider on such teams is that Skuntank and Mandibuzz are omnipresent, and Skuntank in particular presents a huge problem. So you have to structure these teams such that 1) one of these Pokemon actually threatens to break Skuntank in some way, and that 2) you can get that one out on the field first, so the second that can't really break Skuntank comes out second only after Skunk's been neutralized. Duosion and Kadabra doesn't quite do this really, since although it's nice that they both have Magic Guard, neither is particularly good at beating Skuntank and Kadabra is close to useless against Mandibuzz. It's more likely to be successful doing this with for example Destiny Bond Haunter (especially with Thunderbolt) as one member of the core, since it seriously threatens Mandibuzz and can trade with Skuntank, leaving the doors open for its teammate.

Probably the easiest archetype to understand is KangaSpikes, but see all sample teams here:
https://www.smogon.com/roa/?format=gen5nu

 

[laserduck]

Have there been any meta shifts in this tier now that NUPL has concluded?

 

[Links]

Have there been any meta shifts in this tier now that NUPL has concluded?

Extremely late reply, but at the time nothing major, we'll likely do another VR/Samples update soon and I'd like to get some analyses done as well but only time will tell how much we'll actually be able to get done. Anything that is done however will be post NUSD, so at least a couple more weeks

 

[Bughouse]

rank Staryu at least C+ bc honestly it's a better spinner than Wartortle or Armaldo. I haven't given Torkoal enough thought lately to say on that one. I've also tried out Tentacool somewhat recently and it's an edge case, but not sure I'd rank it yet.
Clefairy and Natu also need a rank, but not sure where
Bronzor and Drilbur probably deserve one, but less sure on these two.

other thoughts:
Mola is not S anymore. Even with Goth gone, and it being able to run lefties instead of shed shell, the meta has easily adapted to taking advantage of it.
Tauros, Musharna, Carracosta, and Braviary are all probably a touch too high
Swellow and Zangoose are much too high

Zweilous, Shiftry, Combusken, Vileplume, and Cacturne are all too low. For 4/5 of these, see: doing well vs Mola, also Serperior, etc. Combusken goes brrrr sometimes and just cleans teams. Needs to be accounted for on any team that is remotely offensive that you don't get counter swept, also threatening to bulky teams w CMs passed to it.

There's also surely a good handful of things that should be unranked

 

[Eeveeto]

Thread revival incoming!

When I signed for BWPL, the plan was to be picked by Real FV13 and spend the season eating popcorn while watching him raging everyone all the time. Arceus had other plans for me, however. Monai and Dababy2 decided to spend a big percentage of their savings on me, so I had to justify that. Therefore, I asked to be put in whatever tier team struggled in. My managers said: "You fool, your wish is granted, time to suffer" and thats how I ended up in a Metagame that is dominated by a literal pile of garbage, contains lots of hazard and almost no removal. The next 2 months I had to survive in such an hostile for me environment while not being allowed to use the mascot of our team (Specs Latios) and here are the teams I used for it:

Week 1. A chilly reception.

https://pokepast.es/b9a0866350c31dc1

In terms of building, the first week was the most succesfull one, out of 5 built teams, 3 got used in the tournament. I was quite surprised to be able to start the tour with an Eeveelution, but the team did well in tests and out of the options I had, this looked to be the best one. In a Tier full of Hazards, using a slow Ice type looks counterintuitive, however there is a trick: hazards are not present on turn 1. Therefore, Glaceon can lead and throw 130 Special Attack Specs Ice Beams that deal incredible damager to the rockers and to almost everything, including some resists. And if Glaceon gets one of the few truly bad match-ups, it can pivot out with Baton Pass. Eelektross and Primeape form a Volturn core, with Skuntank being 100% needed when using Primeape. Seismitoad puts Rocks and kills oppsing Seismitoad and Garbodor. Egg absorbs status and resists Fight, which for now I didn,t take as carefully as I should have.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen5nu-2435913603-co4e5tvywbccxrb438ysiy95wdy0qo5pw < Battle with Cao Jie went pretty well, Glaceon did incredible damaged. What worried me most was having to Speed Tie opposing Primeape to win, a situation which I fortunately avoided. I won the battle, but didn,t learn the lesson of needing sturdy Fight resists yet, which proved to be relevant later.

Week 2. Fake Fight resists.
https://pokepast.es/619cfedcbe6df1ec

Since no team built during week 2 convinced me, I ended up using this one. This team applies one of my most used strategies in recent generation, slow but bulky pivots that allow the frail breakers to get into the field easily. Mawile is the first of these slow pivots. With a rare Steel typing + Intimidate, she easily switches into many physical threats and uses Baton Pass to get our breakers breaking. Super Fang, Knock Off and Pain Split are support moves and Rocky Helmet punishes U-Turn and other moves from Primeape, with 2 Fight resists weak to Ice Punch, my game plan vs Primeape was sending Mawile first time it appeared. Eelektross has a pasable Special bulk and no weaknesses that allows it to do the same thing, while also absorbing status due to having Restalk. Specs Altaria is the first breaker, being the Latios of NU. Since I have a Victreebel and a Eelektross, leading Altaria vs Seismitoad is a good idea, no one will suspect of it having Hidden Power Grass. Vs the rest of the meta except Steels, Altaria just spams the dragon moves. For a Specs Altaria to be coming more times to the field, a spinner was needed. I was told by FV that Drilbur was viable, so tried it here, it also has Rocks so that Mawile doesn,t need them. Victreebel absorbs Toxic Spikes, puts something to Sleep and is the second breaker. Finally, Floatzel is the only fast Mon that I think its good, it resisting Fire and Ice played a reason in me choosing it.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5nu-869655 < I perfectly knew that shiloh was the most dangerous opponent of the NU pool and had no big hopes of beating him in Week 2. However, the loss is still pretty embarrasing, he didn,t even have to outplay me, he just sent Sawk again and again and used CC, before cleaning with his own Altaria. My team could have handled Primeape and even more easily a Gurdurr. Sawk however, was both too fast and too strong to be stopped by my frail Fight resists.

Week 3. The yellow magic.
https://pokepast.es/eaf37b5f75ca21cd

These are the teams I built between week 2 and week 3:

Nothing here convinced me (even the relatively normal Gurdurr team was mediocre), so I once again used a team built on Week 1. I looked Misdreavus's sets on site and came across the Nasty Plot one. However, I changed the last move there. Taunt requires prediction (couldn,t be me), Will-o-wisp misses too much, so I picked Thunder Wave, which could allow me to win battles I otherwise had no right to. The rest of the team was built to trigger or abuse paralysis. Lickilicky is a good Special wall with Wish + Body Slam, Seismitoad is the best rocker of the tier. If some Ghost tried to ruin my Lickilicky, Skuntank is there to to Pursuit it, also to trigger Helmet + Aftermath damage. Rotom-F is the main paralysis abusser, also causes it with Discharge. Sub + Pain Split vs paralyzed target = win most of the time. Finally, worried about a Fight resist (but not too much, since when I built this, I still wasn,t traumatized by a Sawk), I picked Scarf Garbodor for last slot. Its a cool revenge killer, can still put Spikes and abuses paraflinch with Rock Blast + Stench.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen5nu-2445478541-pm96jbxnkwrw6wvkw2uwtqo4ywxv66spw < After shiloh, etern was the player I feared most in the tour and for good reason, this battle was incredibly hard and I was on the backfoot during 80% of it. One of the first things I did on the preview was checking Cradily's Gen 5 movepool to be sure it didn,t learn Rock Blast (a move it ended up learning all the way in SS), I had a foreshadowing about how the battle vs it would have to end. The late game consisted in my Lickilicky finishing a Seismitoad and paralyzing Cradily, who still got enough time to use SD twice before finishing Lickilicky. My only startegy was fishing for para with Rotom-F, but Cradily managed to move 6 times in a row. Only when I used Pain Split, it finally got inmovilized and after killing the fossil, my Rotom still had to win a mirror match. The most useful thing I learned from this battle was Scarf Skuntank's existance (used by etern), which would help me later.


Week 4. Crow's comedy.

https://pokepast.es/2b21d613d4ff98d0

After week 2 and week 3 with no convincing teams, on week 4 the first one I built was the one eventually used. I used Specs Tinted Lens Yanmega in many OU tiers, so a discount version of it should work in NU, right? Well, in test games Mothim ended up being pretty bad, but the rest of the team was definetely good. At the expense of Speed, the moth has enough special bulk to always survive a 252 Modest Exeggutor's Psychic. If Egg ended up being Specs, well, Mothim would be dead, but my now Scarf Skuntank would have a free Pursuit. Being slow, frail and x4 Rocks weak, Mothim requires a spinner. Shiloh's Altaria OHKOd my Drilbur almost from full, so after that I decided that the offensive power of Drilbur didn,t matter and invested in bulk, special being the best one due to being able to stand vs Eelektross and Special ghosts longer. Rock Slide also was replaced by Toxic, since now Drilbur was not going to deal big damage anyway. How to get the frail Mothim into the field without having to make crazy plays? Enter Eject Button Alomomola. It could switch into U-Turn or CC from Primeape and provide a free switch-in for Mothim, which would now deal big damage to whatever the opponent sent into it. With Wish + Regenerator, Alomomola could also heal the rest of the team. Taking the dreaded Sawk into account, I couldn,t rely on Mothim and Alomomola to fight it, so I put a Monoatacker Altaria, instead of being the Latios of NU, it now was now a fusion of Dragonite and Celebi, being able to absorb status and sweep. Lastly, the reliable Rotom-F provided paralysis for Mothim as well as a potential win condition of its own. One thing I randomly noticed when building this team was how it was totally destroyed by a well played Simipour. But no one would use that, right?

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen5nu-2449303265 < Well, kiru did. I assumed a lose on preview unless I played a perfect game. Surprisingly enough, Simipour only killed my Altaria, which I sacked to prevent it getting both a Sub and a Salac boost. Skuntank easily killed the monkey, but then I almost got obliterated by a Calm Mind Murkrow under screens. With the very last Discharge PP, Rotom finally critted the evil crow, saving me once again. What did the feauture Mothim do during the battle? Take a Glare and kill the Screens Serperior with U-Turn, which is somehow still more than what Alomomola did.

Week 5. The unexpected guest.

https://pokepast.es/d97ce2a0b56dbabd

Both Lickilicky and Misdreavus helped me in week 3 and when I built another decent team with them, I ended up using it. This time Lickilicky is Sub SD, so it needs some paralysis. Misdreavus is happy to provide it. After using Rotom-F twice in a row and it being the MVP, I thought that my opponent (Bughouse) would be heavily prepared against it, so for some time I simply stopped including it on my teams. Instead, Gardevoir with TW, WoW and Healing Wish ended up being on the team. It looks like a crazy set, considering Skuntank and Mandibuzz exist, but crippling those before using Healing Wish often is better than killing them. Piloswine is a bulky rocker with good offensive power that also abussed paralysis. Since Lickilicky is walled by Ghosts (except Golurk), I included Scarf Skuntank again to deal with it. Lastly, looking that I didn,t have a Fire or Water resist and remembering that Sawk still exist, I included a Scarf Pelipper to somewhat deal with both problems.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen5nu-2454695907-flmys3fuk654351a448aocu6kgaq8vfpw < After 2 match-ups that looked dire on preview, this one looked playable, especially knowing that the opponent is not the original one, but a sub, so he should not be as good as Bughouse. The absolute beatdown that Micaiah did in this battle proved me very wrong and forced me to be more humble afterwards. I got massively outplayed and none of my strategies worked as intented. A Sawk once again contributed to my lose. You should never underestimate a last minute substitute.

Week 6. Traitorous monkey.
https://pokepast.es/695347dc38e001fc

During the previous 3 weeks, on days in which my managers were too busy to play NU with me, FV was my coach. He hepled me a lot, but that came with the downside of him now being my opponent and knowing most of my teams and styles. I had to build something completely new and different from what I have been using vs him. A SD pass Leafeon + 5 physical attackers ended up being the solution. Optimally it should be Baton Passing to Carracosta, which at +4 devastates almost the whole tier unless it misses Stone Edge, but any of the other 4 recipients works. Primeape is a scarfer and Skuntank with Pursuit, its best friend (while having a strong +2 Sucker Punch and Lum Berry to deal with status). Piloswine once again is the rocker, also being the Ground. Finally, a Fight resist and the most common lead, Drifblim. In the past I hated Hypnosis as a move, but in BW Sleep is so broken, that gambling with it is an acceptable risk. It especially works to deny Hazards turn 1 60% of the time. Drifblim has 2 other status to cripple stuff in order to ease the Leafeon set-up.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5nu-878529 < FV pulled out an HO with one of the very few Hazard setters that outspeed Drifblim. However, the Monferno ended up being my biggest ally in this battle. Drifblim paralyzed it, after which it conveniently missed an Overheat vs Piloswine, influencing FVs later decision of not using Surf with his Gorebyss. I succesfully don,t kill Monferno with Piloswine and send Leafeon. Here, FV commits a big mistake of not using Taunt before its too late. I don,t remember whether he told me about it or not, but I think he ended up clicking Taunt on the last Monferno's turn, but got paralyzed. Leafeon finished Monferno, Baton Passed out of Charizard and my +4 Carracosta swept the whole team.

Week 7. Geneva convention stands.
https://pokepast.es/657532e0d9d72511

On the last week before Playoffs, The Eon Executioners ended up winning before I had to play. So, I decided to not use a good team but a very haxy one (which means its also good). 5 mons that paralyze and 2 that use Dynamic Punch were ready to torture my opponent. However Duke Sux smartly avoided the battle, preventing me from commiting funny war crimes.

Semifinals. Future Megas.
https://pokepast.es/db97dcec633d4949

At the beginning of the Semifinals, I looked the usage Stats and realized that I was almost the only player who tried to spin at all in this tier. So, I stopped adding automathically a ghost in the Spikes teams I built during this period. That didn,t prevent me from using one in the actual battle. This team was built around SD Jumpluff, who has Sleep Powder (=broken status), likes hazards on the enemy side and hates them on our own. So, Drilbur and Garbodor were welcome to the team. Carracosta has good defensive and offensive sinergy with Jumpluff, it generally pairs well with Grass types. Scraggy was my way of preventing Psychic and Ghost types like Gardevoir and Misdreavus from abusing my Garbodor without using Skuntank. Scraggy can absorb status, phaze with Dragon Tail and sweep with Bulk Up. Finally, since Sawk (I was still paranoid about it) gets a free switch-in on Scraggy, I put a Scarf Haunter with Trick + Dbond. The former eases set-up for Carracosta.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5nu-882832 < Finally a battle in which I didn,t have to suffer and had full control from the beginning. All the 3 NFEs did very well, proving to deserve getting Mega Stones when they grow.

Finals. An explossive field of death.
https://pokepast.es/4c3cee74300f7839

Before I continue, here is the Eject Button theorem: A Regenerator or Magic Bounce Pokemon holding Eject Button will have a 100% win ratio as long as its used only once per tournament. Battles in which this technology isn,t revealed don,t count.

Also, here are the 7 teams I built during the final week of the tournament, the Pinsir one was very closed to being used vs Bughouse:

The team that proved to be the best was built during Semis. Vs FV it actually sucked a lot (thats why I considered using Pinsir), but vs my own managers it won every single battle. Its a very similar team to the Mothim one I used in week 4, but Swellow is certainly a way better Mon than Mothim. Since I have some paralysis on the team, I decided to make Swellow Adamant, it Speed Ties (with my EVs), Quick Feet Ursaring, but is much stronger than it, except vs Rock and Steel types. It needs Hazards removal and also entering the field, so Eject Button Alomomola is here once again. Since Swellow is constantly on timer whether it kills the opponent or not, I decided to put Healing Wish on Alomomola. This also allowed me to run Will-o-Wisp instead of Pain Split on Rotom, which would have been especially useful if I faced a Rock Slide Piloswine, like the one Feaniix used vs me in Semis. Of course, unlike Mothim, Swellow doesn,t resist Fight, so the resist had to be especially sturdy. Thats how Rocky Helmet+ Thunder Wave + Baton Pass Musharna entered the team.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen5nu-2473608532-pgcm5a3a5lsaxd8ncvawov7d1ile0plpw < Despite both Swellow and Rotom-F having a decent match-up, winning this battle was very hard. Bughouse's bulky team was able to both tank hits and deal damage + status. I had to sack Drilbur quite early to Roselia, fortunately spinning the Rocks that wouldn,t be put again, since Piloswine was already dead. My Rotom ended up paralyzed by his, healed by Healing Wish only to be exploded on by Scarf Skuntank. My own Scarf Skuntank exploded next, Swellow finished enemy Rotom and Musharna ended up being the only survivor. I didn,t face a Sawk, but Gurdurr was even easier for Musharna to wall.

With a 6-2 record and the BWPL won thanks to my teammates, I consider this campaign succesfull and myself entitled to make some VR nomination.

First, the S ranks. I consider 5 being too many. The only one that 100% deserves it is Garbodor, it dominates the Hazards metagame, it prevents playing defensively before its dead (since it will abuse that by putting hazards), it prevents Fight Mons from spamming their STABs and it has an impressive movepool. It has Seed Bomb for Seismitoad, Rock Blast for Charizard, Fling + Light Ball + Thief combo, Explosion for big damage, Clear Smog to deny set-up and so many other stuff that I can,t mention it all. It definetely is the best Pokemon in the Tier by far.
I can also accept Mandibuzz being S rank. I have not used it during the tour, but built a lot of teams with it. Its very bulky, but not passive, since Knock Off, U-Turn, Foul Play and Whirlwind (+hazards) are all useful moves. Skuntank would be the third S rank if there should be one, but I don,t think so. Regarding the other 3...

From S to A+. Its the best Rocker but it happens to have a x4 weakness in a Gen where Hidden Power (unhealthy move that should be banned from every tier) exists. So, it doesn,t 100% reliably check anything. Even without accounting for Hidden Power, Garbodor has Seed Bomb, Eelektross has Giga Drain, the special Ghosts and Psychics again learn Energy Ball, Primeape too has Seed Bomb, Samurott learns Grass Knot and there are lots of actual Grasses viable in this tier. Seismitoad also doesn,t learn recovery moves outside of Rest, so as a defensive Mon its quite easy to wear down. Its a very good Mon, but in no way dominating as Garbodor.

From S to A+. If we had better Spinners, it could be S. As it is, its also easy to wear down and due to being passive, its abussed by Substitute Mons. It has Knock Off to not being abused by Magic Guard Eviolite Mons, but that comes with the cost of not using Toxic or Healing Wish. It doesn,t deserve to be S rank.

From S to A. And I am being very generous for not putting it even lower. With Contrary it would be S rank (but not broken, since Sap Sipper Mons exist and Grass is a sub-par type), without that ability it simply needs to have half of the Tier removed to sweep. When I faced it in tests, 9 times out of 10 I felt like playing with 6 Mons vs 5. As for myself, in all 2 months of BWPL, I only included Serperior on one single team, this one: https://pokepast.es/84accbac02b709e1
This is compared to:
2 Exeggutors.
3 Ludicolos.
5 Victreebels.
4 Roselias.
3 Torterras.
3 Jumpluffs.
I simply never felt the need to include this Mon on my teams. Its Screens set is decent, but that isn,t enough to be put in S rank and the CM set is most of the time is simply bad. The usage stats of the tour reflect this, all other S ranks have around 50% win rate (Mandibuzz has 71%, but it got very low usage), Serperior meanwhile has a pathetic 35%.

Rest of the meta:

From A+ to A. Psychic is a terrible defensive typing and being reliant on Eviolite means you are ruined if someone runs random Knock Off or Thief.. Magic Guard is goated, but I don,t see this guy being superior to Gardevoir.

From B+ to A-. On the other hand, I don,t see this one being that much lower than either of the above. Slow Baton Pass enables a lot of offensive frail Mons, it can still sweep with CM or bring a Status/Trick Room.

From B+ to A-. Same situation here, it isn,t that much worse than the other 3 ghosts. Being Rock weak sucks, but it has STAB Acrobatics, lots of Status and Destiny Bond outspeeding everything.

From A to A-. Skuntank is a good Mon, but having to run it 100% of the time if you run Gurdurr is very limiting. At least Primeape can pivot out of bad match-ups with U-Turn, Gurdurr needs way too much support and is reliant on Eviolite.

From B+ to C, from C to B+. If you look at the Usage Stats of the tour, Zweilous lost 4 battles out of 4. Hustle is a terribly unreliable ability, Sleep Talk already is limiting, so if you miss your offensive Moves it matters. I tried using an offensive set in TR, but on the test battles it missed every single move. On the other hand, I have been very impressed by Dragonair. Marvel Scale gives very good bulk and its Dragon Tail misses less than Zweilous's moves, so they should be exchanged.

From Unranked to B. This is the best spinner of the Tier. Not Wartortle, not Torkoal, not Armaldo, not Staryu. Very easy to slap on teams. Often needs a Skuntank to actually spin, but so does Gurdurr to do anything at all. Resisting Rocks and being somewhat fast is very useful on a spinner.

From Unranked to C. No matter how many disadvantages defensively Ice types have, Specs 130 Ice Beams hurt a lot.

RU Mon that could be tested in NU:

Drilbur upgrade.

The check to the above guy, its currently D rank in RU.

Cool Specs Mon, currently D rank in RU. Would give a reason to run Flareon, which is the one legal Eeveelution I didn,t have the chance to use in BWPL.

Also called Shitmonchan. Its a spinner.


Thats all, have a nice Eeveening.