The UD Viability Rankings - Coronavirus Edition, Mark II
S Tier
Tyranitar is by far the best and most versatile Mon in the tier. Last time around I highlighted how naturally bulky it is, which was a good way to showcase its efficacy. Having the stats to pull off both fully defensive/support sets as well as offensive ones is a major factor into why it's the #1 Mon in the game.
Pursuit sets are great team players, but limited coverage can be rather obnoxious. My favorite version is Pursuit/Crunch/EQ/Rock Slide, but this particular set is an absolute zero against Skarmory unfortunately. MixTar is super deadly. I've fallen into the trap of just flat out having no reliable answer for it from T1 and losing loads of HP right off the bat. Consequence of not using Dugtrio/Milotic/Blissey, I suppose. CB Tar is still great. Probably the best way to force damage on opposing bulky Waters from the lead slot when facing a Zapdos. DD is the only way you'll sweep, but picking the 4th move, picking your spread, and picking your item are all fairly frustrating decisions to make. Unrelated, but Salac Berry with 243 Speed (max+) is always an option on any set as a way to extract value out of dire situations.
To summarize: it's way too strong and way too versatile not to be S Tier. Best Mon in the game and in my opinion I almost rarely even consider not using it when building something new.
A+ Tier
The ubiquity of Pursuit Tar definitely cuts into Gengar's viability a lot. But I think that Gengar of 3-4 years ago was that far ahead of the rest of the metagame (but still behind Tyranitar), that it can afford to withstand a lot of metagame adaptations and still thrive. WoW Gengar with a free turn is still a top-three hardest situation to deal in the tier, and every purported answer to Gengar is still incredibly vulnerable to the wrong set.
Gengar suffers in not being very strong if it isn't hitting super effectively, and weirdly there has been a big rise in Mons that aren't weak to any common move that Gengar would run. For instance, Hariyama/Machamp are not overly threatened by almost any Gengar, short of taking the Explosion, which is a trade most teams would be happy to make. Furthermore, the old Fire/Grass coverage bulky Gengar no longer feels like the metagame breaker it once was. BoltBeam is better all around coverage again in my opinion.
Final point I would like to make: Gengar's versatility is outclassed only by the Mon ranked above it. I value versatility extremely highly, which is one of the main reasons I still think Gengar is #2 with a bullet.
A Tier
Suicune at #3 feels a little odd, but I honestly struggle with deciding what is third best in ADV after Tar and Gengar. So I'm using my personal preference as the tiebreaker for Cune and the next few or so slots.
I absolutely love that Cune combines your bulky Water/secondary physical wall and win condition in one slot. Rest/CM/Surf/Last isn't the best sweeper, and it's not the best bulky Water, but it does role compression as well as almost anything in the tier, and defensive minded teams really crave that when you try to pigeonhole your other walls into dedicated roles.
Offensive is also insanely threatening to midrange Spikes teams that rely on Jolteon or Celebi to sponge offensive Waters, and Sub + Rain Dance can sweep BeerLover type builds from the lead position with the right sequencing of turns.
I don't use Metagross nearly as often as I should. It's probably the best purely offensive Mon in the tier with its strong wall breaking sets and ever-dangerous CB Mash spamming. Honestly CB Mash crit attack raise is so stupidly broken. Drawbacks of purely physical Meta are that it telegraphs Magneton, and you can pretty much always tell their spread, and therefore their moveset, after they fire off their first Meteor Mash. Not that the information game is super valuable against Metagross, who will almost always trade if well played, but it is at least something you can use against it.
I think Metagross is actually pretty overrated defensively though. Annoying stuff like +1 SuperBi and SuperRachi can 2HKO, Zapdos almost always 2HKOs you, offensive Waters come close to 2HKO'ing, most EQs 2HKO you, and on and on. It's one of the best things to have against CB users, but against anything else I find it quite vulnerable. I think the trick is to do what linear does, and tap into your unreached potential and use more than 508 EVs, which he definitely does on all his Mons
Celebi is just insanely good. By far the best mixed wall (hot take?) in the tier. Simultaneously one of the best Snorlax and Zapdos switch ins, it's a great Mon for both keeping momentum and turning it in your favor by virtue of Leech Seeding into whatever your opponent's response is.
I love Recover/Leech Seed/HP Grass/Calm Mind on the teams that can't afford a mono Psychic set (read: no Dugtrio), but also want a win condition or better answer to offensive Suicune and Starmie. Really though, the last two moves on bulky Celebi can be anything as long as you pair the appropriate trapper with whatever coverage you dropped (no Psychic -> Pursuit Tar; no Grass -> Dugtrio). Without a doubt, the worst thing about bulky Celebi is how it's Free Real Estate for Metagross, Drill Peck Skarmory, and faster Sub setup Mons (Jirachi and Suicune, namely).
Celebi isn't a one trick pony either! SuperBi rules; try Modest though. Timid seriously sucks that you can't get 328 Speed and anything >299 and <328 is sort of cheesy in exchange for the 10% power drop from Modest to Timid. And lastly, SD Baton Pass sets are scary as hell in some matchups, though not my personal cup of tea as they absolutely require Magneton support, and as a general rule of thumb I try to avoid strategies that rely immensely on Magneton trapping Skarmory in order to work.
Free Shiny Celebi.
Best purely special attacking Mon in the tier with really good defensive properties as well. The Metagross of Special Attacking, if you will. But with a slightly worse defensive typing and no access to the best move in the game.
Mixed Zapdos absolutely cleaves through some defensive cores like a knife through butter. (Sidebar, but this is why you will almost never catch me dropping Rock Slide on my Tyranitar, since it's such a good natural check to Zapdos with it.) Raining down 383 SpA STAB Thunderbolts into CurseLax teams is one of the greatest feelings in ADV. Zapdos is not a Snorlax answer, but Snorlax sure as hell ain't a Zapdos answer.
Unfortunately to use Modest means you miss out on a fairly valuable speed tier, since Zapdos likes to paralyze a lot of opposing threats, and you can still outspeed the odd +1 DD Tar. I still prefer Modest with another Mon in the 328 tier or above in my team. I do the same with SuperBi by the way, before you notice the double standard.
I don't use a whole lot of Zapdos personally because I find it semi prediction reliant, and it doesn't actually have THAT many opportunities for switching in outside of double switches and CB locked Earthquakes. Case in point, Zapdos is really threatening until you decide to just stay in and trade blows. Zapdos doesn't OHKO very much of the tier, so plenty of times I find it worth it to just trade Gengar Ice Punch for Zapdos T-Bolt. I also personally find the opportunity cost of not using Roar/Baton Pass with Spikes to be too great when considering other options in those last two slots (such as Thunder Wave).
BeerLover Tier (?)
I had to invent another tier in the A range because I wanted to clearly delineate these three Mons from the ones directly above and below them, and I would never call the tier below this one "B+" because that's just so wrong to me. (I mean really, Salamence in B+ tier? I couldn't bring myself to do that.)
Swampert is still by far the best bulky Water in the tier, but too often I find myself wanting... more from it. I always want to use Quiet with loads of SpA on my midrange Spikes teams, but then I start taking way too much from all the boys. Go too far in the other direction and then Magneton is almost required. It just hasn't been fitting into my building style or playstyle for a long time.
Don't get me wrong, it's still the most splashable Rock resist by virtue of not really requiring much support. I mean honestly the Dex spread with 40 SpA (give me back the old Dex, this new one sucks ass lol) is still strong enough to not REALLY need Magneton support. BeerLover got away with it for years and that team did just fine.
I think I already outlined my grievances with Pert which are namely that it just doesn't really fit into my current style and feels somewhat antiquated. The metagame has changed a lot in the past few years and I haven't quite figured out Swampert's place in it for me.
Another Mon that doesn't currently fit into my building philosophy. I haven't made a SpDef Skarmory team that I felt confident in in a long time. Still the best Spiker technically, just it always feels like you run into the wrong matchup whenever you're using it. Skarm + Dug is probably the best way to mitigate those matchup weaknesses, but then you still get caught with your pants down against an odd Refresh Claydol or well played Recover Star.
YoloSkarm is an annoying ass fad but admittedly preys upon most Forry teams that don't play super tight and get all their turns right. I still see it as insane bait to Spin Starmie and that alone feels not worth it to me. Why build your team around Spikes but then not be prepared for one of the only three legitimate Spinners in the tier? It's not an archetype I have even an ounce of comfort using myself, but hey it's there.
You probably already guessed this was the next Mon in this semi-tier. Blissey is obviously the most broken Mon in ADV, but it's a bit of a momentum sink, can be bait to quite a few setup Mons, and it's extremely passive.
Bliss gets a lot of points for still being a premiere mixed wall, only truly being threatened by Fighters, Metagross, some Tyranitar, and Snorlax. And even still, you have the trump card Counter against Meta/Snorlax/Tyranitar, which is a gamebreaking move when you pull it off.
A- Tier
Best DD user in the tier, don't at me. Unfortunately, while Salamence excels at only needing one DD to outspeed everything and its mother, it doesn't OHKO anything outside of the frail EQ and HP Flying weak Mons. Still, the following will remain true as long as ADV continues to be played: nothing sweeps as effortlessly as a +1 DD Mence when the circumstances are right.
MixMence with a Spike down can be really brutal too. It offers great coverage alongside a generally strong STAB Dragon Claw. And it's still fantastic as a defensive pivot to EQ and Fighting type moves. A lot of people also consider CB Mence to be the best CB user, a sentiment I can definitely respect. Combining that much speed with that much power is seriously dangerous.
My personal favorite is WishMence. Nothing fancy here, just max HP, max Defense, Wish/Protect/Flamethrower/Toxic. It is an excellent check to lots of physical attackers, pairs phenomenally with a grounded Steel type/Hariyama, and spreads Toxic nicely with a reasonably strong Flamethrower coverage move.
Anyway, it feels weird not to have Salamence ranked higher given all the great things I have to say about it. But something just feels a little off with him. Either it's DD not being strong enough to get that kill at +1, CB mispredicting into Pursuit Tar and getting 2HKO'd, or MixMence running into MiloDol, but there's always something. We'll get there, buddy.
Probably the best CM user in ADV, but doesn't use its typing as well as Metagross does. With its excellent set of resistances and immunities, it laughs in the face of Blissey as it sets up and heals off the Seismic Toss damage. Still, on its own it's not actually very strong. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, but Psychic type is the worst STAB in ADV. It means that without fail, even using two coverage moves, you won't hit all of your targets super effectively. Fire Grass? Entry for Aero, Mence, Flygon, Tar isn't really threatened, and you don't OHKO anything at +1 and even sometimes not at +2. Ice Electric? Metagross and Tyranitar laugh at you in exchange for hitting all the other stuff harder and actually being able to OHKO stuff quicker.
Jirachi's typing, stats, and access to Wish plus really good coverage moves means it has a whole bunch of gadget sets at its disposal. The only two requirements of them are using Wish + HP Fight (or Dynamic Punch I guess), and then luring Tyranitar while passing Wishes at the same time. linear showed off a bunch of different variants to the world in the recently completed Callous Invitational. He combined the moveset with bulk, which was a nice touch. I always used these sets with minimal/zero bulk investment in exchange for hitting Snorlax and Blissey much harder with the HP Fight.
Free Shiny Jirachi!
Aero and Starmie feel super close to me in terms of viability. Aero gets the nod because it's so insanely good at keeping frail Mons and frail teams from ever being truly excellent. It also has just enough natural bulk to usually be able to switch in once or twice during a match. It's a reliable MixMence switch in, and if you clench your cheeks then you can usually slip it in on non-STAB Thunderbolts/Ice moves from Gengar and Jirachi.
There is perhaps some merit to using the offbeat SubLiechi set, or the even rarer Pressure staller, but those feel pretty gimmicky to me and in general you are best suited sticking with the tried and true.
The scariest thing physical offense can face. Offensive Starmie gatekeeps pretty well, just like Aerodactyl does. The difference is Aero exchanges slightly better overall bulk, STAB Rock Slide, and more speed, in exchange for Starmie's inimitable coverage and ability to OHKO damn near everything. If Starmie wasn't so assjuice defensively then it might legitimately be Uber.
Bulky Starmie is an excellent anti-Spikes option for your slower paced CurseLax or just generic fat teams. Nothing is more irritating to a non-ProTox Skarmory than Recover Starmie. And even ProTox can get outwitted.
Really excellent at removing major threats to your stall team. Good at targeting Blissey/Celebi on your special offense. It's certainly a good Mon but you sacrifice a whole team slot just to use it. My favorite Dugtrio archetype is Boom offense, where you can Explode to end turns and guarantee you get Dug in against something. Hat tip goes to Tycoon Prozac for one of my favorite teams ever: Regice / Gengar / Metagross / Dugtrio / Celebi / Suicune.
B+ Tier
I used to think CurseBoom Snorlax was the worst of a bunch of bad utility Snorlax sets, now I think it's the only one worth using anymore. CurseBoom is an incredibly safe bet today because so many people have chosen to ditch Gengar on their SkarmBliss teams, and furthermore their Skarmory don't even carry Protect anymore. I guess by extension the old Fire Blast utility Lax probably should be good again, just it's annoying trading 35% Fire Blast for 25% Drill Peck from Skarmory.
There are occasional matchups, such as CM spam, where Snorlax is utterly phenomenal. Usually though, it's a mess.
CurseLax will forever be mediocre at best. It blows switching in against Zapdos and Moltres, meaning you need to dedicate at least one other slot to pivot them or outright counter them. You can't lure Metagross/other Snorlax Explosions reliably, and clearing Spikes and Sand can be a big effort in its own right. However, shoutout to Impish Earthquake CurseLax for being overall pretty good.
Forretress embodies what I try to do as a builder so well. It switches in on Skarmory, it Spins reliably in the absence of Gengar, and it Spikes comfortably in the face of a big portion of the tier. I also love that it has excellent odds of beating Magneton 1v1.
The last two slots are pretty flexible though, and Forry has a weird amount of highly usable options - EQ, HP Bug, HP Ghost, HP Fire for your Gengar-less stall team, Counter, Light Screen, HP Flying for your 6-0'd by Heracross stall team, Zap Cannon, and Toxic. My rule of thumb is: Spikes, Move for Skarmory, Move for Magneton, Filler. Which means according to my philosophy, Spikes / Zap Cannon / Counter / Explosion is a viable set.
Just kidding don't use that.
Claydol is the Goldilocks Pokemon. Flygon is OHKOd by Ice moves! Forretress can't Spin without support! Donphan can't touch Gengar! But Claydol is juuust riiiiight.
Claydol doesn't really have any versatility in its movesets. You either have Refresh or Explosion/Ice Beam. The versatility comes with its spreads, which can range from specially defensive and a great Gengar/Zapdos check, physically defensive to own QuakeSliders, fast and bulky, or fast and offensive. It's in many ways the face of modern ADV. The Zapdos pivot that threatens Explosion while also resisting Fighting.
I already called Celebi the best mixed wall in the tier, but truly it should be Milotic. Celebi is just significantly better offensively than Milo, and the two don't really compete for team slots at all. But Milo is hands down the #1 threat to anything mixed attacking that tosses on Grass/Fire/Ice coverage moves to hit most of the tier for super effective damage. Problem is, with Milotic's titanic base SpDef stat, it takes laughable damage from non-STAB Grass moves.
Milotic's issues are well documented at this point. It needs a lot of help against Spikes, it's vulnerable to Rock Slide flinches, has one of the worst offensive outputs in the tier, and is not very splashable in general, unless you subscribe to pasy's theorem that Milotic + Celebi + Claydol + literally any three Mons is a viable team archetype.
B tier
Still the lynchpin of a really potent and dangerous archetype, the infamous Jolteon Spikes / TSS, Jolteon is a tough Mon to get consistent success out of, but it has a sky high ceiling when your predictions with Roar and Baton Pass are crisp. Old school Jolteon TSS almost always looked something like Jolt / Tar / Skarm / Gar / Swampert / Aero, but nowadays I think this particular lineup isn't effective due to Claydol's prominence. For this reason I think an offensive Water is mandatory alongside Jolteon, so that you always have a line against Claydol. Forretress is never really the enemy for this type of team since everything is hitting it super hard.
Spikeless Jolteon is incredibly rare and has not been successfully done too many times. I have used it before on a mixed offense that was especially vulnerable to Starmie - like they all are - and Zapdos. So for me, Jolteon was the only possible Mon that fit in my last slot for that team. But in general it's more advisable to use alongside Spikes.
A unique combination of a lot of different good qualities. It resists Rock, has STAB Earthquake, hits a great Speed tier, good overall natural bulk, levitating, and immune to Thunderbolt. The biggest thing holding it back is that it's OHKO'd by So. Many. Moves. Ice moves are probably 2nd to Earthquake in popularity in ADV, and that just chaps Flygon's ass. It's really unfortunate because in a hypothetical world where Flygon was just a levitating Ground type, it could be so much better.
All that being said, Flygon still cleans up weakened teams pretty well, and it pivots HP Grass Zapdos better than anything else on your typical "Mixed Offense."
I'm trying to be very genuine while also blending objectivity in my rankings. I wouldn't use Steelix so much if I didn't believe it wasn't great, and as such my ranking reflects that.
Steelix has an outstanding defensive typing, natural bulk to sponge Earthquakes, and a movepool that's just interesting enough to give you the tools you need to regain momentum on switch ins. Steelix obviously has problems in that it needs super hardcore anti-Gengar and anti-Skarmory countermeasures, but so do plenty of other Mons.
Nothing switches in on Zapdos/Metagross/Aerodactyl all in one as well as Steelix does. It's just really a great package. By the way if you want inside access to my spread, here you go:
EVs: 252 HP / 96 Atk / 16 Def / 144 SpD
Impish Nature
I don't have anything more to say. Steelix just rocks.
I personally dislike using Heracross but I know it's good. Tons of potential with Salac sets. You can even be cheesy and lead it against known MiloDol spammers and you might luck yourself into a lead 6-0. I'm just always left wanting more with the Beetle.
B- Tier
Pretty threatening when it squares off against Tyranitar, and it can snowball fairly quickly if you're not packing a dedicated Fighting resist. I've always thought that ensuring your team had at least one Fighting resist was just fundamental teambuilding, and nowadays that is more apparent than ever.
Problem with Breloom is that they don't really pack coverage moves. Which means if you don't trap Gengar with your Pursuiter, then you could really struggle against it. Also the way Breloom automatically makes your team considerably worse against Aero and CB Mence.
Weezing warrants more use than it gets. It doesn't have that many natural enemies - Psychic coverage comes from exactly two Mons in the tier and is highly telegraphed, and it has just enough natural bulk to soak one Thunderbolt / Hydro Pump before Exploding. Weezing is one of my favorite offensive Mons in the tier since it offers such good wallbreaking ability. A seriously under appreciated Mon.
The Offensive Spiker. Cloyster is better than people think. It's usually good enough to Spike once and Explode, which can often be enough to swing the momentum heavily in your favor. It's up to the player to capitalize on that momentum, with smart teambuilding and gameplay.
Cloyster also has the niche of being soooo good against Claydol + Magneton, which is an invaluable trait for a Spiker.
I gave Gyarados the shaft a bit this time around since I'm a little annoyed with how physically weak its Rest set is. But it's still a really dangerous Mon and poorly built stall teams (i.e. ones that don't have a stray Rock Slide, Explosion, or Thunderbolt somewhere) are the ultimate fodder for it.
Gyarados also has reasonably good physical bulk, but is severely outclassed by Salamence by virtue of being exactly 1 base Def stat worse than Mence, but more importantly, much slower than it. Which means that the Fighters all have a reasonable shot of outspeeding you.
Blasphemy, I know!
I've never bought into the Moltres hype. Moltres and Zapdos fit into the exact same niche for Spikes teams, the only difference is Moltres is a little better against Metagross (is it really though? When once it's revealed it's easy bait for Rock Slides on switch ins), walls the hell out of WoW / Fire Punch / Grass move Gengar, and it's better against Celebi and Jirachi. But Zapdos is not only faster but also has a much better STAB. I get it that Moltres is absolute death on physical offense, but that's only because they can't switch into your Will o Wisp. But I'd argue again, that Zapdos + WoW Gengar is every bit as threatening to physical offense, if not more so.
If you want a levitating special attacker with Roar, Zapdos is just better in that role 95 times out of 100. Just my two cents.
Outrageously threatening from the lead slot. However, you accept the reality that there is a very reasonable likelihood that you'll die on T1 and do nothing but generate a free switch in to their Metagross/Tyranitar.
I wish Jynx was even remotely bulky enough to consider outside the lead slot, but because it isn't, it loses a lot of versatility points for me. Still I have immense respect for its potential right out of the gate.
Porygon2 is not really that good, but it does have a lot of tricks up its sleeve. It's just kinda crappy overall but an invaluable weapon for those grounded armadas with Magneton that really need Dugtrio out of the picture. I just wish it was more... interesting. It would get my attention if it had access to Calm Mind.
C+ Tier
The C+ tier is the last tier that I think these Mons are even remotely splashable. Everything to this point I think you can make the argument that it's at least semi versatile/splashable that you can sort of fit into most teams if you want. Either that or it's just really potent or strong at what it does. On to the C+ tier.
One of my favorite Mons that I don't use very often. Regice is tremendously strong with its STAB Ice Beam, and it's one of the best Zapdos/Gengar/Starmie switch ins in ADV. Regice could be way better if its Explosion was a little stronger, or if it got Flamethrower. A guy can dream, right?
I'm not sure what to think of the offensive sets. It was explained to me that the reason to use them is that they bully Blissey way worse than other Fighting types because of Hariyama's mammoth base HP, which makes sense. But I know firsthand that Hariyama is kinda un-bulky, and it's not a particularly good speed tier either. Still I've seen it do work on the big stage so I will give it respect.
Defensive sets with Knock Off are forever annoying mofos. Extremely frustrating to play against! One thing I've noticed, however, about Knock Off Hariyama teams is that if they have a Blissey and it goes down, they kind of get swept 6-0 by SuperBi or SuperRachi.
I think Vaporeon is okay. I've always liked how strong it is even uninvested. Surf does like 40% to Zapdos for example. The defensive sets are pretty one dimensional and incredibly starved for moveslots though. Offensive sets are pretty powerful and hit a respectable speed tier. I think Vaporeon has a lot of tools in its chest and might even have more unexplored stuff. For instance, what about three attacks + Roar with Spikes? Like a slower but faster Starmie that can Roar Blissey switch ins. That doesn't sound half bad!
I'm told by others that Charizard isn't as good as people make it out to be. I still don't have any firsthand experience using it to accurately judge it. I should really change that because it seems pretty decent to me. Obviously Milotic/Suicune food, and I feel like landing Focus Punch on Tyranitar happens about 1% as often as you think it would. But still that Blaze Fire Blast burning Gengar to a crisp has gotta feel oh so good.
I think it's being used wrong a lot. The HP Fire set was nice for awhile but when most Skarmory switched to Drill Peck, I think it was no longer worth it to try to duke it out 1v1 with them. It's more advisable in my opinion to just do what Venusaur does best: Sleep Powder and Leech Seed, and check Electric types. For this reason, my preferred set is Sleep Powder / Leech Seed / Sludge Bomb / Giga Drain. Loads of Speed and SpDef to take as little as possible from Thunderbolts.
It's not splashable at all, so I'm breaking my own rule for C+ tier, but Donphan is a freaking stud. It's honestly so similar to Steelix, it's just less... good. I know right, I'm the next Shakespeare in the making.
In my experience using it, I can't get away with using Donphan without Magneton + Pursuit support, unlike Steelix. I also rate Steelix's typing considerably higher. I'll trade the EQ and Fire weakness for Toxic immunity, Grass and Ice neutrality, Normal resistance, and Flying resistance any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Raikou is actually really good! I used it with Rest and a Porygon2 so that I could use it as my Gengar and Zapdos buffer early game, and therefore never have to switch my Snorlax into Zapdos. Substitute + Toxic leads are interesting enough to guarantee a good trade, and traditional CM Substitute sets can be just what the doctor ordered in some matchups.
Magneton is just not good. Nobody would ever use it if Skarmory didn't exist. It has no real practical purpose outside of that. When I use it, I like to do the 144 HP Timid spread that always outspeeds an Adamant YoloSkarm and always lives a Jolly one. With Leftovers and Protect, at least you can then sort of function as a Zapdos check and CB Rock Slide answer.
C Tier
This is the last tier where you're not really overextending yourself to fit them into your team. All fairly similar in viability here, will try to create distinctions where possible.
Kingdra is OK. Fairly strong and respectable bulk, but it always has to take one shot before setting up Rain Dance, and you only have 5 turns to make your nut. Probably the best weather sweeper in my opinion.
Medicham is hella strong. I absolutely swear by Dan's four attacks Leftovers set that he posted a while back. It's definitely not good defensively but it's not that bad and can usually stomach one neutral hit. Leftovers > Lum/CB. It's so worth it.
I like Umbreon a little more than Houndoom because while it's the worst offensive Mon in ADV, it's extremely scary if you get caught in a Mean Look Pass and have no counterplay. Also, Gengar can't really ever beat Umbreon without considerable luck, whereas it can definitely 1v1 Houndoom.
Houndoom is just alright. Takes a truckload from everything not named Celebi and Jirachi, and just in general isn't very useful. Great at trapping Gengar though, and it has access to WoW if you can fit it in. That's what she said.
Spore and Spikes is obviously a unique combination. I dunno, it seems okay. I have a couple of teams that lead Lum Berry Focus Punch Tyranitar (not for Smeargle, it's just a great set), and it's always hilarious when I run into a lead Smeargle on ladder. Pretty sure I've invoked a few instant forfeits from that sequence before lol.
Awesome defensive typing and natural bulk. If it had Whirlwind/Roar it could be so much better with an actual answer to its walls. By far the best Moltres wall in the tier, nothing even comes close. Also walls the hell out of MixTar, MixMence, Swampert, etc. I like tossing on some SpA EVs and giving it enough bulk to live physical hits so it isn't taking too much from STAB Fighting moves and the like.
Blaziken is an excellent offensive Mon, and a pitiful defensive one. Still, having two STAB moves for Skarmory and Tyranitar, and not being overwhelmingly threatened by Gengar is a hell of a package.
I don't really believe in Gligar, but I do believe in Cacturne as a standalone threat. I mean, standalone as in, stand alone but with Tyranitar. It actually has two good STAB moves, Leech Seed, and Spikes. It's definitely OU viable on that merit alone.
Edge-of-Usable Tier
I'm a Loose Constitutionalist, so my definition of usable is a lot broader than most. This tier consists of Mons that I think are for sure usable in OU, just maybe they're not very consistent or else require the whole rest of the team to support what they're trying to do. Again, there's not huge differences in viability here, so it's mostly personal preference.
Awesome SubSeeder, but sort of hard to get going.
It's a tank physically and it dishes out pretty good damage too. One of the better pure bulky Water lures out there.
Amazingly durable and hard to kill. Zero offensive presence outside of Explosion though, which is honestly probably enough to make it work.
Very strong and has Focus Punch so I guess there's its niche. Also DD + Heal Bell is actually cool. Triangles pulled that off once I believe.
Two excellent STAB moves and a pretty good defensive typing for soaking physical hits. But it's slow as molasses and OHKO'd by some really common moves.
Thunderbolt immune but otherwise it doesn't really have much going for it. Try it with Quick Claw.
STAB Thunderbolt makes it way better than it otherwise would be. Dugtrio weakness, middling speed tier, and so-so bulk hold it back.
Zam isn't very good. It is fast though, and has Encore and Knock Off. So I guess on occasion it might trip you up.
Kinda like Medicham I guess? Maybe it's better than I give it credit for. Too slow though.
I left it out of my last Viability Rankings by mistake. It's the best Dugtrio punish in the game. Would you rather counter-trap Dugtrio with P2 or hope they don't have a phazer and pass +2 Att +2 Speed to Metagross?
Prototypical CurseLax counter I guess. It's definitely usable.
It can be dangerous as a sweeper on its own, or Baton Passing boosts. It's not bad.
Another SubSeeder but with better offensive options than Jumpluff in exchange for a lousy defensive typing and no Sleep Powder and Encore.
Fits on Superman archetypes as a bulky Water Pressure abuser.
Seems very outclassed by all other Fighting types to me. Especially with the advent of offensive Hariyama, who seems like Machamp's closest competitor.
Passes Wishes and immune to WoW! It's pretty decent.
Enemy of Big 5 TSS everywhere, which legitimately struggles to kill this thing lol.
Strong, has access to Sleep Powder, and always drains my timer a bit on ladder because I have to check its stats to remember if I should attack its defense or special defense.
Budget P2 but with more gadgets at its disposal. One of the GOAT in game Mons though.
Hands down the worst Mon I have ever tried to use after having huge expectations for it. I have nothing good to say about Ludicolo.