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Wanna throw in my VR thoughts for once, since there's quite a few things that I wanna talk about after The Theft Of Hippowdown
B+ -> B
Gatr really just kinda ain't that good enough to belong in B+. Still just kinda too slow, and without enough breaking power to justify in a vast majority of cases. It's only really good at breaking through teams without quagsire that are also all slower than feraligatr. Aqua Jet is nice, especially in a PZ tier, but like if you want a mon that can use aqua jet, crawdaunt is right there to do about double the damage of feraligatr with the same move. Good coverage, and theoretically threatening, but just gets worn down too easily without doing enough damage to justify being brought in a majority of cases. (also can't even beat quagsire without prior chip too lmao)
B -> B+
Speaking of the big sire, I agree with Heatranator on this one. Grounds are more scarce and valuable now, able to be splashed on multiple teams, very flexible movesets with Counter, Spikes, Whirlpool, hell even Encore. Not the bulkiest guy sadly, but Unaware more than makes up for it for stopping all sorts of setup sweepers, and generally just being a very stable mon in an unstable tier. Not A- tier, but definitely deserves B+ for being such a staple of stall and a good mon in general for BO / Balance.
B -> B-
On the topic of the waters... This guy has use i guess, but i just feel like he's never brought to games, and kinda just doesn't have anything majorly useful to do in most games. It sets stealth rocks and flip turns, that's it. Theoretical mon, not a practical one. Maybe it still has a niche on offense teams, but it's just not appearing in the meta enough to justify being B rank.
A- -> A
Entei has been carrying me HARD recently, it's just so good. Just a solid mon, with a good speed tier nowadays that's notably very anti-talonflame; a boon in a tier where talon's the top one mon. Sacred Fire is an amazing stab move as always, and massively supports teammates while nuking any mons that don't resist it, and Extreme Speed is always a great tool to have to stabilize games and revenge kill guys. I think the two major sets atm that I would say should be ran would be HDB Tera Normal and HDB Tera Grass. Choice Band i feel has kinda fallen off lately, especially with our generally weak removal options and the prevalence of webs teams and HO teams in general on ladder, means that although you get big damage, it's taking too much damage over time to really be a major player in most games. Meanwhile HDB sets can always switch in and get something done, especially vs. webs teams like the LBN sample infesting ladder atm (where Entei's good speed tier puts it above most of the slower guys on that team). Tera Normal sets lean into the Extreme Speed idea and are generally pretty reliable and good at revenge killing, potentially either running Double-Edge for a nuke or Crunch to hit Slowbro, and Tera Blast Grass Sets instead lure and OHKO / 2HKO all of the bulky waters in the tier that would otherwise want to switch into Entei and force it out, allowing Entei to go ham in matchups where it would otherwise be stifled. Overall a great mon that should be ran more, definitely deserving of a rise.
S -> S
This is kinda just in response to the discussion that's been happening about maybe dropping Slowbro down a tier, and tbh I think it has every right to stay in S tier. Super splashable, plenty of sets it can run, amazing regen bot just in general, can get away with not popping tera, and has plenty of tech to do better into its less favorable matchups. It can't do EVERYTHING, but it does so much so well that I think it should stay in S tier.
A- -> B+
This guy i have less opinions on, but I think rhyp just isn't really deserving of an A- spot. It's just not as seen and as good as the other mons in that tier, and although Rhpy is certainly a GOOD mon, with solid attributes and breaking power, it's just not a good ENOUGH mon to be in A-.
-> C
I won't extol the virtues and wonders of Meloetta, I'll just say that Meloetta's made at least enough of an appearance, tournament and ladder wise, to at least be on the VR. LBN's been using AV Melo quite a bit lately, and I myself have made numerous attempts to say that Meloetta is at least usable and has niches that cannot be filled by other mons. Thank you for my restrained TED talk.
-> hell
who the fuck is using toxicroak in the big 2026, this guy fell out of usage a year ago get him outta here, ZERO rain teams are using this guy
Wanna throw in my VR thoughts for once, since there's quite a few things that I wanna talk about after The Theft Of Hippowdown
B+ -> B
Gatr really just kinda ain't that good enough to belong in B+. Still just kinda too slow, and without enough breaking power to justify in a vast majority of cases. It's only really good at breaking through teams without quagsire that are also all slower than feraligatr. Aqua Jet is nice, especially in a PZ tier, but like if you want a mon that can use aqua jet, crawdaunt is right there to do about double the damage of feraligatr with the same move. Good coverage, and theoretically threatening, but just gets worn down too easily without doing enough damage to justify being brought in a majority of cases. (also can't even beat quagsire without prior chip too lmao)
B -> B+
Speaking of the big sire, I agree with Heatranator on this one. Grounds are more scarce and valuable now, able to be splashed on multiple teams, very flexible movesets with Counter, Spikes, Whirlpool, hell even Encore. Not the bulkiest guy sadly, but Unaware more than makes up for it for stopping all sorts of setup sweepers, and generally just being a very stable mon in an unstable tier. Not A- tier, but definitely deserves B+ for being such a staple of stall and a good mon in general for BO / Balance.
B -> B-
On the topic of the waters... This guy has use i guess, but i just feel like he's never brought to games, and kinda just doesn't have anything majorly useful to do in most games. It sets stealth rocks and flip turns, that's it. Theoretical mon, not a practical one. Maybe it still has a niche on offense teams, but it's just not appearing in the meta enough to justify being B rank.
A- -> A
Entei has been carrying me HARD recently, it's just so good. Just a solid mon, with a good speed tier nowadays that's notably very anti-talonflame; a boon in a tier where talon's the top one mon. Sacred Fire is an amazing stab move as always, and massively supports teammates while nuking any mons that don't resist it, and Extreme Speed is always a great tool to have to stabilize games and revenge kill guys. I think the two major sets atm that I would say should be ran would be HDB Tera Normal and HDB Tera Grass. Choice Band i feel has kinda fallen off lately, especially with our generally weak removal options and the prevalence of webs teams and HO teams in general on ladder, means that although you get big damage, it's taking too much damage over time to really be a major player in most games. Meanwhile HDB sets can always switch in and get something done, especially vs. webs teams like the LBN sample infesting ladder atm (where Entei's good speed tier puts it above most of the slower guys on that team). Tera Normal sets lean into the Extreme Speed idea and are generally pretty reliable and good at revenge killing, potentially either running Double-Edge for a nuke or Crunch to hit Slowbro, and Tera Blast Grass Sets instead lure and OHKO / 2HKO all of the bulky waters in the tier that would otherwise want to switch into Entei and force it out, allowing Entei to go ham in matchups where it would otherwise be stifled. Overall a great mon that should be ran more, definitely deserving of a rise.
S -> S
This is kinda just in response to the discussion that's been happening about maybe dropping Slowbro down a tier, and tbh I think it has every right to stay in S tier. Super splashable, plenty of sets it can run, amazing regen bot just in general, can get away with not popping tera, and has plenty of tech to do better into its less favorable matchups. It can't do EVERYTHING, but it does so much so well that I think it should stay in S tier.
A- -> B+
This guy i have less opinions on, but I think rhyp just isn't really deserving of an A- spot. It's just not as seen and as good as the other mons in that tier, and although Rhpy is certainly a GOOD mon, with solid attributes and breaking power, it's just not a good ENOUGH mon to be in A-.
-> C
I won't extol the virtues and wonders of Meloetta, I'll just say that Meloetta's made at least enough of an appearance, tournament and ladder wise, to at least be on the VR. LBN's been using AV Melo quite a bit lately, and I myself have made numerous attempts to say that Meloetta is at least usable and has niches that cannot be filled by other mons. Thank you for my restrained TED talk.
-> hell
who the fuck is using toxicroak in the big 2026, this guy fell out of usage a year ago get him outta here, ZERO rain teams are using this guy
I just want to add on the Gatr discussion and want to say that running an adamant nature actually makes quag risk a 2hko
252+ Atk Life Orb Sheer Force Feraligatr Liquidation vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Quagsire: 179-212 (45.4 - 53.8%) -- 41.8% chance to 2HKO
and it's not like quag can just spam recover with just 8 recover pp, but gatr can't switch as freely because of toxic. And me personally, I really don't see the point in running jolly when he gets outsped by every scarfer in the tier so using him as a dd sweeper seems like the best way to use him while differentiating him from crawdaunt. I would say the big thing that makes him unique from daunt is that ice punch scares breloom and chesnaught while crawdaunt gets walled badly. Yeah he has horrible issues like hazards and status crippling him badly but if you can somehow find a good moment to set up like a noivern draco spattack drop or a chipped wall that's forced to heal or switch he can just destroy certain teams. Staying at B+ seems good for now imo.
New scheduled VR update! Please remember that we have our slates ready for the 13th-20th or so, your noms will be added to the next slate ahem Elec-ant1234 ahem.
Additionally, C- will come into existence on the NEXT VR update. We held a vote this month to approve its existence, and next month we'll add Pokemon in there. So, if you have any specific suggestions for who goes there, please post them.
B+ -> A-
This mon is so much better than B+. I remember dunking on this thing back in GWeez / Gapdos meta and while I was 200% correct to do so, the guy has gotten alot better overall, I must admit. Post hippowdon especially, and various fun sets have been seen for this guy. Sub Salac got used in RUPL W1, and I've messed w Choice Band, SR Dice, and there's definitely other sets out there. Mon is definitely nice and unlike other HO mainstay Torterra, who is mostly locked to HO, Terrakion can be used on just about anything. In fact I kinda wanna say A- is a low ball, but I'll save that for future noms. For now, A- is fair as hell.
C -> C+
LBN nomming Infernape higher who could've seen this coming? Yeah, C is just disrespectful Imma be honest that was an overshot. It's all fun and games calling it potential man and while it's certainly awkward at times and its Talon MU isn't great, there's alot of games where it just goes on a tear. After getting it to put in work in 2 ssnl replays vs good players, I think i can comfortably say that Ape is still not bad, and I think it fits surprisingly well on fatter builds. It's not like specs is all it can do though, I've gravitated to CB as like, a Mienshao that doesn't care about spamming contact moves vs Talon. It's pretty good, honestly.
UR -> C-
Thing is nice. I've gotten good success w this on bulkier/more offensive builds, and while it does somewhat step on Tentacruel's toes for its job, Sp def bruiser who pivots and has strong dracos and tspike absorbing utility is hard to call shit, and a lot of times you can pressure steels and that's when you really see this guy shine. I have replays somewhere but honestly i lost em, and the one i didnt was last winter ssnl when I dogged GK in finals so like.. take that how you will. But its good though just take my word for it. It's more proven than fckin scyther.
A- -> A
I think all three of these are significantly above the other A- crop, and are more in line with the A ranks. Entei has been a pain in the ass for awhile, and TB-Grass sets can 1v1 a vast swath of the tier, with immense facetank value and bolsters the HO mu to boot. Very good and annoying mon to deal with, and the natural bulk is just amazing for it. Blissey is the resident cleric and enables probably the 2nd most braindead combo in the tier, or is a bonus piece to the most braindead core in the tier. ShaoBliss or PZ&Shao are easily the stupidest duo the tier has, and cleric support for shao in general is just plain stupid. Obviously, the defensive value is incredible and allows for some more liberties to be taken in the builder on your other slots, since you can sometimes just write some mons off completely when u have blissey. Gardevoir is a more.. underappreciated mon despite how consistent its been, and I'd say its really good now as well. Fits like a charm on PZ&Shao builds, and has amazing anti-bullshit utility vs weather with trace, or can do what cielau did to heatranator and just.. sat on vaporeon the entire game and got like 4 kills lmao. She's always been very good for awhile, but I'd say pressuring steels is easier than ever right now, and Gardevoir finds itself fitting like glue on the best brainless comps the tier has. She's better than A-, imo.
hej --> C-/C
I like this guy a lot, Dark+Flying isn't easy to switch into with no Hippo since common Knock Off absorbers like Chesnaught explode to Brave Bird. Sucker Punch is also super nice anti-weather and and anti-offense in general and Tera Dark Sucker can pick up some nasty kills. Has a decent speed tier and is overall a really solid progress maker with a strong matchup vs offenses. The last can also be legit anything. If you wanna try and be a Krook with prio you can run Rocks. If you wanna snipe Talon you can run Rocky Payload and Stone Edge. If you want recovery so you can wear down teams longer you can run Roost. If you wanna pivot, you can go U-turn. The movepool is super nice on this guy and I've also enjoyed using bulky rocks sets in the past. I hit like #4 or #3 on ladder with him and he puts in the work so he definitely has a niche imo.
Alright, VR Update for the month of March! C- is fully implemented.. though I had to calculate all these C- relevant ones manually so please give me likes to appreciate how much shit I had to do ._.
That said, any further UR mons need to have their replays accompanying them from here on. We've been too lax with this ruling as of late, so we are gonna start enforcing it.
A- -> A
Somehow chesnaught keeps getting better and better. This is prob like, the sole reason torterra runs tblast flying since it can otherwise brute force through every other one of its checks with rock coverage or raw power. But anyways, chesnaught is just such an incredible mon since it can not only put on pressure with spikes+knock off, but also wall a lot of dangerous pokemon such as bisharp, krookodile, rhyperior, terrakion, breloom, crawdaunt etc. Its also quite a flexible mon tbh, as while the standard set is good, people have used stuff like wood hammer, rock slide and even iron defense which can all catch unprepared teams off guard. It feels such an integral part of the metagame that should be shown as such.
UR -> C+
After araquanid was UR'd, I had a long ass discussion in RUcord about why it was unfair, but not a lot of people agreed with me. But I'm here to write out a detailed post on why it should be ranked. This is not me saying araq is a better setter then bee, but rather its unique attributes give it a defined niche that bee is not able to replicate.
Firstly, araq is a lot better into talon. While bee can get up webs and maybe stun spore talon (taunt talon not included, that just completely fucks it), it will be trading itself for talon. Thats fine and all, but I think thats a bit of a waste of a mon. Araq meanwhile, absolutely fucks talonflame. With just max hp invest (which you probably already are doing lol), it easily lives brave bird and clicks liquidation into talon, effectively trading with it. And araq is still around to setup webs later on. Now, what about cyclizar/noivern? Well, it does 'worse' into them, but not really by too much. Liquidation 3HKO's cyclizar while bike can't really do much in return to it, eventually switching and araq getting up webs successfully. Now what about noivern? Thats pretty bad for araq? Wrong. Araq isn't half bad into vern, and thats with the simple addition of ice beam. With just 16 special attack evs, it 2hkos bulky vern, forcing a roost. Since draco doesn't do enough after a single super fang, noivern will be left in a tricky situation. If it wants to prevent webs, it can, but its most likely at its own expense, since if the araq is custap berry, it will KO noivern once its procced, forcing it out. But if araq isn't currently affected by taunt, it can sneakily get up webs, which is big for the webs team. This forces vern to expend A LOT of roosts, leaving it unable to answer araq's teammates, which is massive. And if its not taunt, then araq is just getting up webs regardless lol. Hurrican vern can technically beat it, but that is very inconsistent and means verns only attack is very unreliable. So that is probably already a win for the araq user.
For the second point, araq is FAR more customisable then bee can ever dream of. Bee has maybe like, scarf and e-ball it can tech, which like, the first is fine but if you face a talon you just get up webs, nothing more, and the second is trying to catch people who try to setup hazards on bee with gastro/quag (bad play regardless when every team has a steel or fire, or even both). Compared to bee, araq literally has immense diversity. After webs and liquidation, it can freely choose its two last moves and item. Ice Beam is good in 80% of scenarios and is prob my go to pick for the third move. Endeavor can bring down a target to low hp, mirror coat can surprise special attackers thinking they can chunk it, endure can proc custap easily, leech life can make sure slowbro doesn't just setup on it (technically can use lunge, skitter smack and pounce too, but giving bisharp +3 potentially doesn't sound great), poison jab can fish for poison against bulky waters too, infestation can lock in opponents and deal decent chip. And for items, custap berry is usually the best to get off priority endeavor or liquidation, but mental herb can stop taunt users, rocky helmet can gain good chip and help answer maushold for the team, red card can potentially claim a KO while also guarenteeing webs and resist berries can help into even super effective stab moves in a pinch.
Finally, due to its bulk, araquanid can come in multiple times to setup webs. It lives basically any non choice/+2 stab super effective hit, with plenty of evs to spare for its offenses. This means if webs come off, you can actually attempt to get up them again, even moreso considering it can switch into tier staples such as slowbro, chesnaught, empo, gastrodon, registeel etc. I don't think I have to explain how amazing this is, as that second time you can get them up might just win the game.
In general, araq is just such a customisable mon that can not only deal with an MU bee struggles into, but also can come in again to set up webs over the course of a game. I even brought it to RUPL where while it did get lucky, it still claimed two KO's and got webs up. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ru-916764
C- -> UR
The more I've been thinking about it, the more I've been realising "man what DOES espeon do". Nobody really runs it on weather, as they either use alolaslash, maushold, some other offensive removal or just go without it. So that entire niche is just gone so what about it standalone? Well uh, yeah just feels mid. All of the rockers have some way to rock you and you really want more moves then you can fit. Really only quag can you reliably switch into if you pack air balloon, every other one can either just face tank and brawl with espeon or just beat it. For the 4mss, you have psychic stab and morning sun as neccesities, but then you want g-knot, t-wave, shadow ball and alluring voice that you wanna fit to not just kinda be ruined by something important. Gknot to actually threaten the grounds, t-wave to not just to fuck all into steels, shadow ball for the similar purpose and deal damage to the psychic types like jirachi and reun, alluring voice to dissuade setup attempts and hit cyclizar for something (gl fitting psyshock on it since psynoise is such an integral move to make your progress stick). Its just incredibly awkward to fit, and until hippo drops back in (which then I will say to use stedge hippo since its the good set), I don't see a reason to keep this ranked.
C -> UR
Oh boy, heatran shitting on scovillain again? Yeah I'm back to say why this thing is not worthwhile using on any semi serious team. People point to the damage of doing like, 70% to defensive vern under sun with tera and say thats why its good, but realistically, that huge damage output is why its so bad. Why? Because thats really all it does. On a playstyle that already has to at minimum fit one other rock weak mon due to the setter, having to utilise such a mon that is such a defensive liability is no beuno. The only mediocrum of defensive utility it provides is that it can switch into garde once. On a playstyle that also fits two fairy resists (setter+venu) already. And if you say "drop venu" then you are going to get fucked by tspikes so hard and are just using a worse team because why not.
To illustrate my point, lemme show what three other chlorophyll abusers provide to sun, those being venusaur, shiftry and lilligant. Venusaur absorbs toxic spikes (which are incredibly difficult for most offensive teams to deal with if they don't have a gengar), has great bulk to stomach most attacks in a pinch and has the option to go mixed to break down stall teams. Shiftry provides a lot of utility to sun with defog, wisp, toxic spikes and knock off, has the ability to go either physical or special and resists bisharps sucker punch, which can be a major annoyance for sun teams. Lilligant has the ability to try and sweep outside of sun with quiver dance, alluring voice coverage to smack pesky dragon types like cyclizar for big damage, and has great utility options in encore and healing wish to further help its teammates. These all provide tangiable benefits that sun teams heavily appreciate.
But what about fire type attackers? Well lets look at entei, armarouge and chandelure. Entei has the ability to go physical or special with sacred fire or eruption, enough bulk to face tank most attacks in a pinch and extreme speed as priority to pick off opposing sweepers. Armarouge has decent natural bulk, the ability to turn garde into offensive pressure no matter what (which IDT I have to say how amazing that is) and snowball potential due to weak armour. Chandelure not only has the ability to softcheck opposing entei due to flash fire+espeed immunity (which for sun is annoying af to switch into) but can also use trick to cripple switchins such as blissey or cyclizar that it might otherwise struggle with, potentially enabling teammates as well.
To add further insult to injury, all of these mons are great breakers in their own right, none of these exactly struggle to break down defensive teams in the slightest.
Now, it did win a few RUPL games right!!! yeah it took down a 50% garde then ko'd a bisharp that tera'd in one game then cleaned up a team in which there were a wisped and knocked umbreon and two fire weaks left (still died in that last one cause tera regi killed it LOL). Scovillain is a pokemon that realistically can be replaced with any other pokemon who will provide better defensively to a team. Sun is not lacking in wallbreakers, so there is no reason to keep scovillain ranked.
To round out my arguement, let me look at a few of the games it lost: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ru-921821 Scovillain switches in on jirachi, prob expecting rocks to be setup. However, it gets tricked a choice scarf. This means talonflame is able to easily come in and roost off the damage since it won't be doing enough under sun. It does claim talonflame later on with tera, but by the time it comes in again it cannot deal with umbreon at all and fails to clean out the game. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ru-919842 It does 80% to talonflame on the first time, KO's it from full the next time due to tera'ing and while then it is able to claim the regi's life, it fails to KO the goodra who OHKO's it with eq. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ru-916930 Comes in on talonflame, can't OHKO without tera and thus dies instantly to BB.
And because I'm too lazy, here are my other noms for the C/C- rank.
C -> C- C -> C+ C -> C- C -> B- C -> C- C- -> C C -> C+ C -> C+ C -> C-
If we didn't change C+ rank at all (though vapo should be like, 3 ranks higher or something, it being C+ rank is fucking horrible) it would be something like this:
Indeedee and Vikavolt should be ranked. (Note: I only use this version in one replay)
Indeedee's main attractions are a powerful Expanding Force and Psychic Terrain, and its higher speed tier than Krookodile is also critical. RU is filled with powerful priority users like Entei, Bisharp, Crawdaunt, and Breloom and Psychic Terrain stuffs all of their priority attacks. Its speed tier is greater than Krookodile's allowing it to outpace and KO it with Dazzling Gleam. Stuffing priority is nice with hyper offense teams and a strong Expanding Force and Trick are good against defensive teams. The main appeal over Gardevoir is the strength and Psychic Terrain, but it also naturally outspeeds Krookodile and soft checks Gengar which is useful. Indeedee has flexibility with its item depending on your time. It could be Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Terrain Extender, Twisted Spoon, there are options. Indeedee could run Psychic Noise to prevent opposing Pokemon from healing.
Vikavolt I like as a Webs user the most. Unlike the other Webs users it is genuinely a threat in of itself. If you look at the ranks from S to A-, the only switch ins are really Goodra-H, Blissey, and sort of Entei. In real terms, it may not end up actually achieving much, but relative to the other Webs users, it is a good choice. In terms of its matchups against other leads, if you specialize Vikavolt, it can do pretty well. This EV spread below is for Kleavor's Stone Axe, but it also survives two Accelerocks and a non-choiced Sacred Fire. The SpD ensures that Vikavolt is not 2HKOd by Ribombee's Moonblast. Mental Herb is obviously for Taunts. Now, being OHKOd by CB Entei is not ideal but you can lead with something like Terrakion and switch accordingly, and if it's not CB, it will not KO Vikavolt. I decided to run Charge Beam last in order to punish passive play as much as possible but it's a flexible moveslot. It could be Thunder Wave, Volt Switch, Charge, Energy Ball, and such. Personally, I like it better than Ribombee and think it deserves to be ranked similarly as Ribombee. Ribombee is purely better in terms of Webs but Vikavolt can be more generally useful. Other items are definitely possible too if you're willing to not dedicate it as a lead necessarily, like Boots or Helmet for Maushold, and it's probably even possible to pull off Agility stuff.
Vikavolt @ Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 224 HP / 176 Def / 48 SpA / 52 SpD / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Bug Buzz
- Thunderbolt
- Sticky Web
- Charge Beam
I also find that Regidrago and Toxtricity are ranked way too lowly. Lum Berry Dragon Dance is very good and threatening and Shift Gear is difficult to handle. I mean, Toxtricity is better than... Heatom and Basculegion-M. Chesnaught should be A the council members need to learn to play. It's also exaggerated how bad Forretress is. It can check some things and provide utility; it is still low tier but people exaggerate how bad it really is. It is still able to check Bisharp, Krookodile, Mimikyu and such whilst providing utility even if it is a weak and exploitable Pokemon.