Water
: A+ -> A
I find that Base Swampert is hard to justify outside of non Mega-Swampert Rain builds. Empoleon generally fills the phasing + setting up rocks role better thanks to having reliable recovery, and I find that a particular three-eyed slug tends to be a more favorable elec-immune for Rainless builds.
: B -> A+/A
Gastrodon is FAR more splashable than B Rank would suggest, and frankly, it's a travesty it's been stuck here for as long as it has. Has some of the most customizable moveslots within the entire type which makes it an omnipresent threat in builder, and is strong into the ever-popular mono Dragon thanks to being able to nail threats such as Hoodra and Garchomp with Earthquake and Ice Beam respectively. The only thing preventing me from being deadset on it being A+ is the fact that it's not super easy to slot on Rain, unlike other A+ tiers.
I demand financial compensation and a written apology to Gastrodon and their family for their placement in B Rank by the end of the year.
: C -> D/UR
Meet Potential Craw!
Completely outclassed as a sweeper by many mons such as Ogerpon-Wellspring, Manaphy, Mega Gyarados, and Keldeo, and only generally outclassed as a Choice Band wallbreaker and priority user by Urshifu-R. As tempting as Choice Band Adaptability Knock Offs may be, its lack of pivoting (unlike its grizzly fellow wallbreaker) means it completely blanks into many common mons such as Mega Venusaur, Altaria, Lati@s, etc.
Maybe there's some builds where it's actually worth using, but I think Mr. Craw oughta pick up the phone and call the local job center, because he ain't got much going for him in this type.
: A+ -> S
I don't think this ever should've dropped from S Rank if I'm being honest. Water has no auto-includes, but Toxapex is still an incredibly close contender. It remains one of the best blanket checks to the physical side, and threats like Wellspring, Mega Altaria are still as dangerous as ever, making it a hard sell to not run it. Vacuum Wave Kommo-o has been growing in popularity over Taunt or Clangorous Soul, which only continues to boost Pex's viability.
: A+ -> AI find that Base Swampert is hard to justify outside of non Mega-Swampert Rain builds. Empoleon generally fills the phasing + setting up rocks role better thanks to having reliable recovery, and I find that a particular three-eyed slug tends to be a more favorable elec-immune for Rainless builds.
: B -> A+/AGastrodon is FAR more splashable than B Rank would suggest, and frankly, it's a travesty it's been stuck here for as long as it has. Has some of the most customizable moveslots within the entire type which makes it an omnipresent threat in builder, and is strong into the ever-popular mono Dragon thanks to being able to nail threats such as Hoodra and Garchomp with Earthquake and Ice Beam respectively. The only thing preventing me from being deadset on it being A+ is the fact that it's not super easy to slot on Rain, unlike other A+ tiers.
I demand financial compensation and a written apology to Gastrodon and their family for their placement in B Rank by the end of the year.
: C -> D/URMeet Potential Craw!
Completely outclassed as a sweeper by many mons such as Ogerpon-Wellspring, Manaphy, Mega Gyarados, and Keldeo, and only generally outclassed as a Choice Band wallbreaker and priority user by Urshifu-R. As tempting as Choice Band Adaptability Knock Offs may be, its lack of pivoting (unlike its grizzly fellow wallbreaker) means it completely blanks into many common mons such as Mega Venusaur, Altaria, Lati@s, etc.
Maybe there's some builds where it's actually worth using, but I think Mr. Craw oughta pick up the phone and call the local job center, because he ain't got much going for him in this type.
: A+ -> S I don't think this ever should've dropped from S Rank if I'm being honest. Water has no auto-includes, but Toxapex is still an incredibly close contender. It remains one of the best blanket checks to the physical side, and threats like Wellspring, Mega Altaria are still as dangerous as ever, making it a hard sell to not run it. Vacuum Wave Kommo-o has been growing in popularity over Taunt or Clangorous Soul, which only continues to boost Pex's viability.
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C to A+: Ninetales being so low is implied by the fact that Torkoal is the better sun setter but frankly, just like in SV, Ninetales is and should be the preferred sun setter on this type for basically the same reasons as SV. It's not slow and it has great utility in Healing Wish and Encore, the former being incredibly helpful in bringing back chipped teammates like SD Ceruledge, which leads me into...
A to A+: Ceruledge is Fire's second best wincon and you'll see that I'm going to propose Zard X and it swap places. But in any case, Ceruledge just helps out a lot in the MUs that Fire struggles against. It's like the best response to Dragon once Arch is chipped, and unironically is great vs Steel because Treads won't be able to OHKO it thanks to Sash and you can set it as setup fodder. Ceruledge is also a better wincon vs Flying than Zard X because it's not killing itself with Flare Blitz and it can 1v1 Dragonite if it gets a boost since it's immune to Extreme Speed.
A+ to A: So it was Premonitions that was telling me in a VC a few days ago that NDM Fire did not need to run any mega so I decided to put that to the test and it seems like you really don't. The team I was laddering with had neither Zard X and Zard Y and it lowkey felt better to run. Zard X's issue is that you have to maintain hazards off. Because pre-mega is taking 50% and that's just long to deal with. Which most of the time forces you to run Torkoal, which I think is the worse sun setter rn. It's still Zard X so you can't count it out but I think Ceruledge is a more consistent wincon for the type.
A+ to B: Already kinda stated Ninetales is the superior sun setter.
A to B: I don't really know why you would want to use Iron Moth when Blaceph and Volc already cover special offence so well. Sure it's a more consistent Z move user than both of them but their typings offensively are just a lot more useful, like Psychic without Boulder will just fold to Blaceph clicking Shadow Ball and Volcarona is Volcarona. No one is really considering Iron Moth at any point in the builder.
B to C: This is also another "what use case" sort of mon for the type where it just kinda exists and putting it in the same tier as Volcanion, who is offering Fire teams a lot more uniquely, doesn't make much sense to me. It hits hard yes, banded or scarfed, or Agility Air Balloon or something, but it doesn't really help Fire in any specific mus other than making Steel a bit easier with Flare Blitz + CC (but Fire shouldn't concern itself with trying to make sure it doesn't lose to steel) and Flying.
D to UR: I'm personally not a fan of ranking pokemon in D unless they really really offer something to the type and if it's not justifiable enough, they should be UR immediately. Incineroar is one of these pokemon. Fire is a very offensively-played type and Incineroar simply does not fit the playstyle at all. It's too slow and while it's not a weak mon by any means, idk why I would specifically think to myself "I'm going to slap Incineroar on my team because it's going to do something better than other Pokemon." Like we don't even have Darmanitan ranked and I would rather use that with Band/Scarf than Incineroar because ik it's going to nuke everything.
UR -> D
for a Dragon type. But the few things it has going for it I think are at least worth mentioning.
, 
, 
, and 
(base or 
), as well as mons that can wall Electric/Dragon stab like 
, 
and 
. Hidden Power Ice can lead to OHKO's on certain other switchins like 
and 
without hoping you can simply muscle through these with your Dragon stab.
, 
and 
.
and 
as well as 
, OHKO 
and the aforementioned Terapagos by ignoring their abilities, defeat 
with any move, and ignore 
's Sturdy. It can even chip away at Electric-immune abilities like 
or opposing 
, particularly useful with Volt Switch to get a slow pivot off on a type that's otherwise super fast. 
, 
, 
, and 
with Ampharos' base ability Static to maybe get a Paralysis off, particularly when you expect a Triple Axel.
, meaning there isn't much competition to run a different Mega. I'm not going to sit here and act like it's better than Raging Bolt, as the latter still does a number of things better, namely having a priority move, set up in Calm Mind and stronger Dragon stab in Draco Meteor. But as far as off-beat Mega picks to choose from in the metagame, Mega Ampharos is honestly not that bad, and can even prove more useful than Raging Bolt at times for the unique things it brings to the type. I would even go as far as to say it's the superior pick in the Steel matchup. Electric STAB + Focus Blast coverage hits nearly the entire type super effectively (as was mentioned before, common switchins Steel has for Bolt include Ferrothorn and/or one of Excadrill or Iron Treads, all of which get blown away by Focus Blast off it's 165 special attack), and even Gholdengo or Aegislash aren't eating Thunderbolt comfortably, especially under Electric terrain. Typically I go with a set of Thunderbolt, Dragon Pulse, Focus Blast and Toxic, but the last slot can be also be either Hidden Power Ice or Volt Switch.
conversation topic
Aegislash: -> D (both types)
Iron Crown: -> B (Steel)
