SCL season has wrapped up, and I had a lot of fun helping the shoguns RU slot. That said, I do think some placements on the VR are kinda wack, and I'm here to rectify it.
A+ -> A
Maybe slightly controversial, but IDT vern really is A+ tier anymore. It certainly is a very good pokemon, but a lot of people are using talon more, which heavily competes with vern. Main issue is that noiverns talents aren't as necessary as before, though ofc they still are pretty great. Before, it checking prominent balance destroyer in volcanion was incredibly useful, now though, there isn't really a mon like that. Idk, can't really explain it more then "its competition is being used a lot and its traits aren't as valuable as they were before, though still valuable".
B+ -> B-
Why the fuck is this still B+. Even if I put my bias against cress aside, it being B+ in this metagame is just kinda silly. In a tier where breloom and amuk are constantly running around, cress just kinda does jack shit. Maybe thats a bit harsh, but its genuinelly very difficult since one can tera and setup on you, while the other threatens you and your entire team with knock and potentially poison, and cress gives incredibly free entry to both of these. It may enjoy suicune being meta again, but thats kinda it, its a passive blob pokemon that lets in way too many things for free and doesn't really have many important things it can only check, its just a rough pokemon to use. Just use any other psychic and call it a day. Theres been some people talking about Cress HO but frankly put I have not seen them yet and I will not be trusting my ground check to something that is weak to dark.
B- -> B
I get amoonguss dropping from B+, but I do think B- is a tad too low. Amoonguss checks a butt ton of the tier. Just to list them out:
Krook, Gengar, Mienshao, Suicune, Mimikyu, Basculegion-F, Gardevoir, Goodra Hisui, Porygon-Z, Rhyperior, Breloom, Crawdaunt, Lycanroc-Dusk, Maushold, Raikou, Barraskewda, Flygon, Terrakion
And thats just up to B rank. Now, does it take them on if they spam all there strongest moves against them? No. But it can do it once and sometimes that is enough. You can take any non Ice Beam +1 hit from Pz and toxic it, putting it on a timer which is massive. You can take one psychic from garde and do the same. Suicune can maybe pp stall you but if its not sub that shit is getting clear smogged. I've also heard some claims that amoong doesn't make progress or is stopped by too much. And lemme say this, amoonguss is incredibly flexible in its last two moveslots that anything it is theoritically passive against it can beat. After toxic and giga drain (don't use stun spore, its bad in my opinion, only really useful on very specific structures), you basically can pick and choose what you want. Foul play is nice to stop setup sweepers from setting up on you, clear smog does the exact same thing, sludge bomb is nice to threaten grasses like loom and hilli, stomping tantrum murders the hell out of a-muk, hoodra, and empo, synthesis allows you to stay around a lot longer, worry seed can be cool to fuck over loom, reun and suicune etc. You can't fit all of these on your moveset, but you can pick and choose what you want for each team, if your team struggles with letting in amuk, go stomping, if you care about loom and such, go sludge bomb. Please use this mon, its really good, and I'm tired of it being dicked on.
C+ -> UR
Wasn't going to do this nom but fuck it, I've prob pissed off enough people already. Every supposed MU that vilpelume is better in then amoonguss, it isn't actually. Two prime examples are mienshao and a-muk. In theory, it should do a lot better, but in practice, it does not. Mienshao just clicks knock+u-turn with hazards up and then you don't actually check it, relying entirely on effect spore to beat it, until you inevitably get into ice spinner range and die, while amoonguss can regen off most of the HP from u-turn. A-muk you supposedely beat with leech seed+sap, which you do, but amoonguss can slot in stomping tantrum perfectly fine to beat it. Now, what do you get in return? A pokemon which sucks into three powerful Pokemon in hoodra, empo and bisharp, and whose main recovery move relies on the opponent not having any of these three mons or having the move substitute or not having swords dance to actually setup on you. Yeah, this thing is buns and just use amoonguss who is way more reliable.
B- -> C
This thing is not low enough lol. Sure, typing is cool, but thats kinda it. You've heard it before, slow speed for a scarfer (and has none of the utility that garde does to make up for it), low bulk meaning it can struggle to switch in, and struggles against bulkier targets due to no knock off to remove items. Most other fightings are better and I would rather use scarf mien or terrak then this because they actually are fast enough to revenge kill +1 mons. And other sets like band or SD just seem kinda mid ngl.
first two to B rank, last to C rank
If you don't know, snow has kinda been dominating tourneys recently, with it doing incredibly well into a lot of common builds. Cetitan is an absolute monster if it sets up, as really if you don't have a quagsire, gl dealing with it under hail. Just a standard set of tera ground with bd, shard, crash, eq works wonders, and it can keep the sweep going due to shard's priority once snow goes down. Its simply just a monster and due to its good bulk and veil+snow, it can easily get off a bd. A-tales is the mandatory setter for the archetype and thus should be ranked alongside cetitan. Finally, snowslash is a decent pick on these structures, and could even maybe go to C+, but it provides spin+spikes for the archetype, which is deeply appreciated, while being an offensive threat in its own right with t-axel+knock.
C+ -> B
Glowbro has kinda been on a tear recently, as its ability to beat hilligant is massive, while it can be pretty threatening with sludge bomb+steel hitting coverage with either flamethrower or earthquake. (okay, hilli got banned after I wrote this, still think its B or B- cause it can check a lot of other annoying shits). Mixed defensive haze sets are also quite useful, being able to take on hilli, suicune and gardevoir in one slot. Really, glowbro has just been incredibly useful in the current meta, with it having a good amount of diversity while
B -> B-
Do I need to even explain this one? I'm tired bro, just nom this down already and maybe ladder will give even a millisecond of thought to drop this to NU (it will not happen and I will see it in the top 20 of usage when the three month shifts happen).
C -> B-
I thought this thing was B- when I last checked but nope, IDK why yall decided to drop this so low. Competitve sets are great on spikestack structures as they are able to immensly fuck any teams that don't have Rhyperior, Hoodra, or Magnezone if it gets a comp boost. Notice how I didn't include Umbreon, A-muk or Blissey? The first two it can 2HKO with +2 hurricane, while the latter is 3HKO'd and if it gets an unlucky para or confuse proc, it could potentially be over for it. You also outspeed a good majority of the tier besides talon, who ofc can do jack shit to you. Only reason why I can think this is so low is nobody is using it, but lemme tell you, mon is goated and y'all should be spamming it more.
B- -> B
Blissey and stall, which is where you mainly find blissey, has been doing pretty well recently. People have also been using blissey more on balance as a check to basically any special attacker in the tier, and even on BO with healing wish (though I'm a lot less confident with it being used on those squads). Basically its a step up from what chansey was because holding boots is so big to allow it to fit on more structures, which we have seen throughout SCL and SSNL. Should rise a bit on the VR cause of that.
C -> C+/B-
Suicune good, vaporeon good. But yes, wish passing is good on vapo, stop using flip turn, it feels ass, use haze or roar to screw over most setup sweepers. But in general, I do think wishpassing+suicune counter is an incredibly valuable trait in this meta that allows Vaporeon to have a solid niche on teams rn.
UR -> C+
Idk why this dropped, its pretty fine. I would say its the 5th best HO hazard lead (not counting bee and araq since webs are a pretty different playstyle). Its a faster spikes lead then mew while also naturally being able to spinblock and beat bike (and vern too), while having lots of utility options in taunt, d-bond, curse, wisp, t-wave, imprison etc. Just kinda good, so thus should be ranked.
C -> UR
use anything else dog, including drednaw.
Now for some mons which idk if I would rank, but they certainly aren't horrible and maybe in the future they are ranked.
Can be pretty annoying for certain teams to face due to corrosion. Toxic+encore, scarf, NP, all of these sets can work well.
Can be cool with scarf, specs, or sash. Really good breaker that really only struggles with bike, but either tblast fairy or spikes help with that.
Can be alright as a QD mon by doing some stuff pom pom did due to tera, but generally a lot worse. Can be nice though.
Maushold if it had knock off. Also has other coverage in rock blast and triple axel, so if you can't fit a knock mon but really want removal on your HO, its def a decent option.
Cool mon on fat teams that can take on scrafty+torn while acting as okay speed control due to scarf. Can use wish to keep teammates healthy or psychic noise to keep up pressure.
Cool scarfer that checks garde. Can also do stuff like f-sight or trick black sludge, but haven't tried those as much.
Amazing on fat due to fast speed, wish, and encore. Can also be used on offense/HO with CM to beat opposing offense, but pretty bad into anything with any sort of good bulk.
-> C
-> C+
-> B-
-> B-
-> C+
-> C+
-> C+
A+ -> S
A -> A+
B+ -> A+
A- -> A+
A- -> A
B+ -> A
B+ -> A-
B -> B+
B- -> B+
C+ -> B-
C -> C+
A+ -> A
A -> A-
B+ -> B-
B -> C+
B- -> C
C+ -> UR
C -> UR
Forretress
