Discussion Points:
Mamoswine A -> A-: Mamoswine has been disadvantaged by Rotom-H’s huge surge in relevance, though it also dislikes the healthy competition several other breakers and offensive rockers have recently been providing it with. Kommo-o, Primarina, and Nihilego among some other threats have been showcasing worth as either breakers of offensive hazard setters that compete with it for a slot, which has made it less of a staple pick on the one play style it can really fit well on. It still stands as one of the scariest breakers around, but a drop is worth bringing into question.
Infernape A- -> A: Infernape’s Nasty Plot set has been doing it a lot of favors in the metagame recently, abusing team structures that lack the few Pokemon capable of tanking its STAB attacks and retaining great matchups against several archetypes. Its mixed set has also seen great use as a reliable Scizor/Bisharp check upon using Slack Off more frequently, further adding to its customizability and the many positive traits it can provide to teams it’s fitted on. The issues it can run into regarding its frailty, struggle to combat the presence of threats like Latias and Mega Altaria, and its 4mss could keep it from rising from A-, though the arguments in favor of an upgrade certainly are compelling.
Rotom-H A- -> A: Rotom-H is slowly becoming a huge factor of the metagame thanks to the delightful role compression and utility it can bring to teams both offensively and defensively. It checks a huge portion of threats while checking multiple boxes for teambuilders and is only continuing its steady surge in usage in both tournament play and on ladder. Its inability to adequately damage the tier’s defining Dragon-types, struggles against bulkier Pokemon, and Stealth Rock weakness are all worth factoring into the discussion when assessing its viability, however.
Gligar B+ -> A-: Gligar checks a huge variety of threats in the UU metagame and is entering the discussion for the most useful defensive Ground-type the tier has to offer. Its ability to consistently check a huge array of threats while providing great utility in the forms of Defog or U-turn, crucial tools that its main competition in Hippowdon lacks access to, has been showcased very nicely in recent months. While it still runs into its fair share of flaws, whether or not its combination of tools allows it to be on par with Hippowdon, which also is a less sturdy check to trending options in Kommo-o and Hippowdon, is worth discussing at this stage.
Chesnaught B+ -> B: Chesnaught is still a great pick on account of its ability to check several threatening Dark-types, though as the metagame has adapted to Bisharp and Zeraora’s presences more Chesnaught’s weaknesses have become more pronounced. It often lets some of the tier’s harder offensive forces to work around, like Latias, Mega Altaria, Moltres, and Togekiss, into play for free while it can also struggle to check Water-types as reliably as it’d like to with Primarina and Mega Slowbro being strong picks. While still a great entry hazard setter, it may not be as urgent or strong a choice in teambuilding as when the metagame was slightly more frantic.
Crawdaunt B+ -> B: Crawdaunt is still a threatening breaker, though the metagame has begun adapting to its presence more in recent weeks. It faces heavier competition for a team slot on spikes offense due to the rise in a few different solid abusers, though it also doesn’t combat the further increased usage of Fighting-types well and doesn’t appreciate how strong of picks all of Kommo-o, Mega Altaria, and Hydreigon currently are. Dropping to B after recently rising seems to certainly be a possibility.
Gengar B -> B+: Gengar’s Substitute + Fightinium Z set has proven vital in allowing it to combat a lot of disadvantageous trends the metagame was throwing at it. Through its versatility it has found a way to better circumvent its Pursuit weakness than the majority of other Pursuit weak Pokemon in the metagame, while it has also appreciated the downfall of Alolan Muk and increased viability of a play style it fits well on in Spikes offense. It still struggles to retain really any defensive utility whatsoever and can still be easy to take advantage of, though its adaptations to its weaknesses are worth bringing up.
Chandelure B -> B-: Chandelure’s been on a decline for a while now and B- may be a better rank to reflect its current viability. It struggles to circumvent Hydreigon being the best it’s ever been while working around its weaknesses to Kommo-o, Pursuit trappers, and the general offensive metagame has proven to be more of a task than for Gengar. Whether it lacks an identity enough to stay B or still has the potential to shine is worth discussing more in depth.
Mega Pidgeot B- -> C+: Pidgeot hasn’t been a relevant part of the metagame for a long time now and continuing to drop could definitely reflect where it’s currently at in the metagame. It doesn’t provide many totally necessary tools in teambuilding compared to the benefits that Moltres and Togekiss can offer to larger degrees of consistency. It also lacks appreciation for Rotom-H’s upward surge in relevance and suffers from the opportunity cost of taking up a mega slot. If these flaws are worth dropping it further is worth currently talking about.
Swampert B- -> C+: It’s no secret that the metagame has been kinder to Swampert than it is now. Several Ground-types have much more applicable current niches and Swampert’s lack of recovery hinders it greatly in a metagame that calls on Ground-types to consistently check such a large variety of threats. However, it still provides teams with a reliable answer to Rotom-H, functioning as one of the sturdiest rockers against the oven, and also enjoys the benefits of its typing and bulk allowing it to consistently check Mega Aerodactyl and Mega Manectric, which is recently less inclined to run Hidden Power Ice, while acting as an emergency answer to Pokemon like Cobalion if need be.
Alright, lets roll down the list, shall we? I think I have a lot to say on this one. First, lets address the giant pig-nosed elephant in the room.
to A-: Agree. Mamoswine's breaking power isn't just hindered by the dominance of Rotom-H. It's also hindered by the omnipresent Slowbro duo that Terrakion has pulled out into the open. They force Mamoswine into a 4MSS situation in which it has to pick between Freeze Dry or Stone Edge for the Bros or Rotom-H respectively. Or Knock off as a weird mid-ground that doesn't actually completely solve either problem right away while also hitting Bronzong I guess.... Anyway, this isn't the only issue. The rocks set is pretty much unviable now. Tbf it was never truly that amazing to begin with, but with it gone, it's harder to justify Mamo's spot on a team. Another thing that makes it hard to justify on a team, is that it's very miniscule defensive utility doesn't exist anymore. It used to be an alright answer to certain electrics. But with their investment in new coverage, it loses to every single one. With literally every viable electric right now being able to threaten Mamoswine right now instead of the other way around, along with it being severely outclassed as an offensive hazard setter at this stage, begs the question:
WHERE DO I USE THIS? It doesn't really have much of a place on most offenses right now due to it's rocks set being awful and not helping the team with electrics very well anymore, not letting it compress roles as well as similar breakers and/or offensive rockers. Speaking of offense, it's resurgence as not quite a dominant, but at least VIABLE archetype has also severely hampered this mon, since it no longer holds a mandatory or even major role on offensive builds, the offense builds only serve to hinder it by carrying a slew of fast mons that can KO Mamoswine like Shark, Crawdaunt and Scizor (With their priority), Terrakion, Cobalion, Infernape, etc. Really limiting it's ability to be anything more than a hindrance against those faster builds. Also note how I just mentioned like 3 fightings there. Cause there are fightings EVERYWHERE in this meta. And a lot of teams have them right now. This means that even teams without it's primary three omnipresent checks, Rotom-H and the two Bros, can usually handle it with some type of offensive measure.
to A: AGREE. This thing is honestly flooring. It has so many options for sets and so many options within those sets. Nasty Plot, Mixed, it can do it all. And having so much defensive utility against things like Bisharp and Scizor for something so fragile also makes it an incredible pick right now. Some of my favorite teams to play use this mon to great success.
to A: Agree. This thing has a surprising amount of options. I built a team with pain split + toxic Rotom recently and it's such a menace to a number of teams that think they're prepared for it. I also built a team at one point that used HP ice as a lure for Gligar in conjunction with a Terrak. Its not hard these days to make a team in which this thing can get an extra moveslot, And the insane amount of role compression is to die for. It's an absolute staple on bulky teams outside of full stall. The fact that it also doesn't really clash too much with similar checks to what it handles, such as the steels and rocks that check flyings, and not clashing too much with options like Bro and other bulky waters that also handle Mamoswine, actually makes it a lot easier to build around in a way where it's not getting horribly overwhelmed than you think. I make a lot of teams that are
stacked against mons Rotom checks by complete accident half the time, and that's not a bad thing when it comes to conserving this throughout a game.
to A-: Agree. I thought this thing was the best ground type for about a month now and it's so good to see the viability rankings start to reflect that. It can set or control hazards, it can check a slew of massive electric or fighting threats. It can keep momentum through U-turn. also fit into an insane amount of teams. This is only mon other than Hydra where I can say both my offenses and full stalls have it. It's insanely splashable, can cover so much, can take care of itself with so little if any team support needed. This mon is utterly amazing, it deserves a bump in ranking.
to B: Disagree. Just because Bisharp and Zeraora have died down from their initial hype, doesn't mean they aren't gonna show up. This brings a lot of value to a team for what it checks and also for being able to mess with certain matchups being the only strictly defensive spiker. It does greatly struggle with mons like the flyings and Latias, but Chesnaught can take advantage of those switch-ins by setting it's spikes, hindering the teammates of those Latias, Togekiss, Moltres, etc. unless they have defog. This actually gives Chesnaught a surprising amount of momentum for such a stagnant wall.
to B: Disagree. Crawdaunt still holds a lot of value because it can actually do a great chunk of damage to it's answers not named Chesnaught or Altaria (And even Altaria can take a good chunk if it's not an ultra fat variant) . And while I do disagree that Chesnaught deserves a rank down, I won't deny that's been used less lately, giving this thing more leg room to do obnoxious amounts of damage to it's other prominent checks, either limiting their ability to repeatedly check Daunt or in the case of Hydra and Alt specifically force a roost, gaining momentum. It's Aqua Jet also helps it solve it's problems with fightings to degree, as two of the most appealing ones right now are looking to be Terrakion and Infernape, who Aqua Jet soundly beats assuming Infernape isn't running rare priority. Being able to revenge Terrakion in particular is a really valuable niche for a dark type right now when other darks can severely struggle with it's presence.
to B+: Agree. Gengar wasn't an OU king for every gen up to 7 doing the same thing over and over. The name of this thing's game is adapability and versatile movepool. No matter what meta you throw at Gengar, it's going to find another sneaky way to worm itself around it. The sub fightinium set is just one example of this. It also is quite fond of the offense uptick, letting it find a home on teams that don't care as much about it's defensive utility.
to B-: Agree. "Why mama? Why wasn't I born with ways to circumvent Hydreigon like Celebi and Crawdaunt were? Why must I be cursed to be beaten down by it every game? At this rate people are just going to think I'm a worse Gengar or Decidueye with a niche bullet punch resist."
to C+: Agree. Look up at my little rant on Mamoswine and you'll see where I'm going with this. WHERE WOULD I USE THIS THING???? It doesn't have the offensive prowess to break it's checks, it doesn't have the defensive prowess to really check much of anything outside of ultra passive grass types, it's primary niche is that it's an even faster, harder-swinging bird than Moltres or Togekiss. But at the sacrifice of a mega slot and pretty much any utility. Pidgeot is a case of a mon min-maxing into exactly one thing it's good at. And that's what decides it's place in the meta. And right now, the meta really doesn't have a spot for that one thing Pidgeot is good at: Clicking hurricane and being fast while doing so. It's a shame because this thing was actually kinda alright during the grass meta, but this is obviously a meta that doesn't favor it in the slightest.
to C+ Agree. Oh how the great have fallen. I remember when you were A- rank, my dear Swampert. But alas, this thing has fallen so hard. The demand for grounds that also check fightings, as well as grounds that can continue to check electrics in spite of toxic or grass coverage, Swampert has lost so much defensive utility its not even funny. It's best niche right now is as a check to Rotom-H that can keep rocks up against it, but I'd argue it's even outclassed in THAT niche because of the presence of Seismitoad, who can check more passive waters with it's water immunity and be an overall bigger nuisance to the dominant Empoleon, and Rhyperior, who at least has some offensive versatility with options like fire punch, ice punch, and SD as well as the ability to check flying types. Swampert...Barely checks anything outside of Rotom-H at this point. Its hard enough to justify, and even harder to justify over similar nuisances to Rotom-H. This is easily the worst Swampert has ever been in an extremely long time, if it's even been THIS bad in UU before. Me having to say one of my favorite mons is this bad with complete honesty and facts to justify my words is like putting down Old fish Yeller. Sorry buddy, but you gotta drop.
