Personal VR -
Nominations -
:arceus-water: [C+ -> B+/B] - Waterceus is probably the nom I care most about. Pairing it with Calm Mind and Tera Poison specifically, along with Judgement and coverage of choice (Grass Knot is recommended), it becomes one of probably the best CM mons in the tier I believe. The merit it has over other Arceus forms like Dark and Fairy is that being a Water type, it is resistant to both Behemoth Blade from Zacian as well as the Water / Ice moves from Primal Kyogre, both of which are usually nuisances to deal with. At worst, it even trades with the aforementioned two, as well as Primal Groudon. Tera Poison also gives it defensive utility, with being immune to Toxic, and of course getting rid of it's weaknesses. Tera Poison also pairs well with the now Water type Judgement, making Arceus-Water, currently one of the the better forms in the tier.
:eternatus: [A+ -> S] - Eternatus has been on a rise recently, especially with it's Choice Specs and Life Orb sets. Tera Dragon has made this one of the probably broken mons in the tier, especially when aided with pivots. There's nothing much to say about this besides the fact that even offensive sets do run defensive teras at times, catching a lot of people off guard. Defensive sets are whatever at this point, IMO they're just a stall staple.
But altogether I think this deserves a rise to S rank for sure.
:arceus-ground:[A -> A+] - Arceus-Ground has been a staple on Hyper Offense teams for quite a while now, since being able to take hits from pokemon like Eternatus and Zacian is appreciated. Dragon Dance sets have the freedom to run whatever 4th move they want, from Taunt, to Recover and even potential stuff like Tera Blast and Ice Beam. Calm Mind haven't been seen as of late, but I do believe they still have their merit in a strong Ground STAB along with good coverage options. Utility sets have also seen a spike in usage, which is pretty nice to see. Personally, this is one of the more annoying pokemon to prep for since you never know what set it is running. Overall, it surely does deserve a raise.
:lunala:[A- -> A] - Lunala has seen a sudden spike in usage as well. Boasting it's high raw damage output, as well as defensive utility with Shadow Shield, it's mostly found on HO and Offense teams. Calm Mind / Meteor Beam sets are the most used sets I believe, while Choice Specs and Defenesive sets still see their usage. Another thing is once again, the uncertainty of the sets, ranging from HDB, Power Herb, Spell Tag etc. Guessing it's Tera type is also a pain, although Lunala is a pretty good Tera Sink.
:arceus-Ghost:[D -> C+/B-] - Another Arceus form nom, I believe Ghostceus is pretty good since Ditto doesn't beat you, and you can ev for outspeeding a Scarf Yveltal after a Dragon Dance. Ghost moves in general are very unresisted in this tier, making Ghostceus another possibly viable Ghost type. Nothing much to say here, except that you can play around with your evs and sets and see where that leads you. Another merit for this mon is that Calm Mind sets are also pretty good. Tera Ghost Judgement is pretty scary to switch into, especially when aided by coverage like Dazzling Gleam and Aura Sphere / Focus Blast.
Minor nominations -
:kingambit: - [C+ -> B-]
:Salamence-mega: - [B+ -> A-]
:pheromosa: - [B- -> B+]
:Deoxys-speed: - [B- -> B+]
Drops -
:Ho-oh: + :arceus-dark:[S -> S-] - Grouping these two together since I whatever I have to say goes for both of them. I do not think they are not deserving of the S rank. Whatever they used to wall, has now developed a newer way to overcome these, or maybe even not stay in vs these guys. Arceus-Dark in particular, still isn't that great of an Eternatus check especially when you have to burn your tera for it, risking getting crit, and waste a lot of Recover PP. Foul Play sets do what they do best, and I believe S- or even A+ is fitting for it. Ho-oh on the other hand is still good, although it faces heavy competition from the rising Yveltal Usage as well as moves like Taunt and defensive Teras from opponents, do not favour it at all. Recently, I've used Tera Electric Ho-oh, which has great defensive properties. I also think that Ho-oh is mostly a soft check for most things like Eternatus and Zacian. Nothing too much to say about it, other than it not being as annoying to face as it was before.
:Smeargle:[A -> B+/B] - Don't get me wrong but this is still a viable lead, except that the metagame has somewhat adapted to it. There's obviously many ways to beat it now, and I don't think it's deserving of the A tier, and I would even give this a B- if it doesn't perform as well in the future.
:fezandipiti:[B+ -> C+] - I've always had my doubts about Fez, and now it is well know that this mon just isn't good enough in the metagame. Something I ran long ago was Calm Mind, to avoid dropping too many Roost PPs, but that's about it. It's not a great Primal Kyogre check either, and is forced to burn the Tera for it. There's too little pros and quite a number of cons which just makes this subpar to other defensive mons imo.
:Giratina-origin: [B+ -> B] - Giratina hasn't had good performance as of late, and I think it deserves a drop. Once again being a tera sink isn't good, but it can be useful on more offense oriented teams. Mostly what bumbo said about this mon is right, and there's not much it can do in practice. It does soft check a lot of stuff and cripple them with status, although it requires the right one between Wisp, Toxic and T-Wave.
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Overall, I think the metagame is in a pretty good state and is well balanced. Tera Blast and alternative tera types for most pokemon is pretty underexplored I think, but that's about it for now.
Nominations -
:arceus-water: [C+ -> B+/B] - Waterceus is probably the nom I care most about. Pairing it with Calm Mind and Tera Poison specifically, along with Judgement and coverage of choice (Grass Knot is recommended), it becomes one of probably the best CM mons in the tier I believe. The merit it has over other Arceus forms like Dark and Fairy is that being a Water type, it is resistant to both Behemoth Blade from Zacian as well as the Water / Ice moves from Primal Kyogre, both of which are usually nuisances to deal with. At worst, it even trades with the aforementioned two, as well as Primal Groudon. Tera Poison also gives it defensive utility, with being immune to Toxic, and of course getting rid of it's weaknesses. Tera Poison also pairs well with the now Water type Judgement, making Arceus-Water, currently one of the the better forms in the tier.
:eternatus: [A+ -> S] - Eternatus has been on a rise recently, especially with it's Choice Specs and Life Orb sets. Tera Dragon has made this one of the probably broken mons in the tier, especially when aided with pivots. There's nothing much to say about this besides the fact that even offensive sets do run defensive teras at times, catching a lot of people off guard. Defensive sets are whatever at this point, IMO they're just a stall staple.
But altogether I think this deserves a rise to S rank for sure.
:arceus-ground:[A -> A+] - Arceus-Ground has been a staple on Hyper Offense teams for quite a while now, since being able to take hits from pokemon like Eternatus and Zacian is appreciated. Dragon Dance sets have the freedom to run whatever 4th move they want, from Taunt, to Recover and even potential stuff like Tera Blast and Ice Beam. Calm Mind haven't been seen as of late, but I do believe they still have their merit in a strong Ground STAB along with good coverage options. Utility sets have also seen a spike in usage, which is pretty nice to see. Personally, this is one of the more annoying pokemon to prep for since you never know what set it is running. Overall, it surely does deserve a raise.
:lunala:[A- -> A] - Lunala has seen a sudden spike in usage as well. Boasting it's high raw damage output, as well as defensive utility with Shadow Shield, it's mostly found on HO and Offense teams. Calm Mind / Meteor Beam sets are the most used sets I believe, while Choice Specs and Defenesive sets still see their usage. Another thing is once again, the uncertainty of the sets, ranging from HDB, Power Herb, Spell Tag etc. Guessing it's Tera type is also a pain, although Lunala is a pretty good Tera Sink.
:arceus-Ghost:[D -> C+/B-] - Another Arceus form nom, I believe Ghostceus is pretty good since Ditto doesn't beat you, and you can ev for outspeeding a Scarf Yveltal after a Dragon Dance. Ghost moves in general are very unresisted in this tier, making Ghostceus another possibly viable Ghost type. Nothing much to say here, except that you can play around with your evs and sets and see where that leads you. Another merit for this mon is that Calm Mind sets are also pretty good. Tera Ghost Judgement is pretty scary to switch into, especially when aided by coverage like Dazzling Gleam and Aura Sphere / Focus Blast.
Minor nominations -
:kingambit: - [C+ -> B-]
:Salamence-mega: - [B+ -> A-]
:pheromosa: - [B- -> B+]
:Deoxys-speed: - [B- -> B+]
Drops -
:Ho-oh: + :arceus-dark:[S -> S-] - Grouping these two together since I whatever I have to say goes for both of them. I do not think they are not deserving of the S rank. Whatever they used to wall, has now developed a newer way to overcome these, or maybe even not stay in vs these guys. Arceus-Dark in particular, still isn't that great of an Eternatus check especially when you have to burn your tera for it, risking getting crit, and waste a lot of Recover PP. Foul Play sets do what they do best, and I believe S- or even A+ is fitting for it. Ho-oh on the other hand is still good, although it faces heavy competition from the rising Yveltal Usage as well as moves like Taunt and defensive Teras from opponents, do not favour it at all. Recently, I've used Tera Electric Ho-oh, which has great defensive properties. I also think that Ho-oh is mostly a soft check for most things like Eternatus and Zacian. Nothing too much to say about it, other than it not being as annoying to face as it was before.
:Smeargle:[A -> B+/B] - Don't get me wrong but this is still a viable lead, except that the metagame has somewhat adapted to it. There's obviously many ways to beat it now, and I don't think it's deserving of the A tier, and I would even give this a B- if it doesn't perform as well in the future.
:fezandipiti:[B+ -> C+] - I've always had my doubts about Fez, and now it is well know that this mon just isn't good enough in the metagame. Something I ran long ago was Calm Mind, to avoid dropping too many Roost PPs, but that's about it. It's not a great Primal Kyogre check either, and is forced to burn the Tera for it. There's too little pros and quite a number of cons which just makes this subpar to other defensive mons imo.
:Giratina-origin: [B+ -> B] - Giratina hasn't had good performance as of late, and I think it deserves a drop. Once again being a tera sink isn't good, but it can be useful on more offense oriented teams. Mostly what bumbo said about this mon is right, and there's not much it can do in practice. It does soft check a lot of stuff and cripple them with status, although it requires the right one between Wisp, Toxic and T-Wave.
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Overall, I think the metagame is in a pretty good state and is well balanced. Tera Blast and alternative tera types for most pokemon is pretty underexplored I think, but that's about it for now.
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