Here's our update! Discussion Points coming soon
Rises
from
A+ to
S: Mew has quite obviously become an absolutely instrumental component of the current metagame. Between its simply incredible customizability, set versatility, and the potency of supportive and offensive sets alike, it is clearly among the tier’s most consistent and centralizing forces. One of the only Pokemon you can simultaneously call a great utility pick and something that could randomly sweep you with NP or Dragon Dance at any point, S seems more than fitting at this rate.
from
A to
S-: Primarina is another one of the metagame’s central forces that is best represented above the A ranks, though this time in S-, thanks to its excellent mix of utility, splashability, and potency. It offers an immense amount between the devastating immediate presence Choice Specs supplies it with, the ability to function as a top tier glue that its RestTalk set lends it, and genuine ways of circumventing nearly all of its realistic counterplay. The rationale for only raising Primarina to S- for the time being was the VR team’s belief that, despite being a cut above the Pokemon in A+, Primarina still isn’t quite on the level of Mew or Scizor due to their incredible importance and general centralization over the tier.
from
A to
A+: One of the current hot topics of the metagame, Glowbro is a simply fantastic bulky sweeping presence that offers both great self sufficiency and consistent threat level. It has emerged as possibly the biggest teambuilding headache around and has both the influence over the metagame and general prowess needed to make the cut for A+.
from
A to
A+: Thundurus has continued to come into its own as the tier’s premier Electric-type in a post-Zeraora metagame. Its Speed tier and offensive presence have been key in shaping a few metagame trends and its threat level is at an all-time high, which A+ reflects well. Thundurus-T finds itself in a similar boat with some particularly exceptional responses to meta trends, including the surge in hyper offenses like screens that it can often solidly fit onto.
from
A- to
A: Rhyperior has become one of the meta’s most favorable options for a rocker thanks to the blend of many valuable traits it possesses. It applies solid pressure to the bulk of the tier’s relevant hazard removal, while the excellent utility of its typing for checking Pokemon like Rotom-H and Moltres can be pretty enabling support for something like Scizor. Its ability to trade with common threats including Thundies/Lycanroc/Moltres-G can also be pretty key and often ensures that it will consistently put in work in any given match.
from
A- to
A: Zarude continues to rise up the ranks for the same reasons as before. It’s both a premier pivot and scarfer, has a typing with ever-improving utility as Mew and Aegislash only get better, and offers a lot between its pivoting capabilities, Jungle Healing, and even the capacity to run Rock Slide for switch-ins like Moltres. With many ways of applying itself and keeping up pressure, Zarude seems to only be just behind its DLC1 iteration in terms of overall value at this stage.
from
B+ to
A-: Raikou has blossomed into an offensive mainstay of the tier, with fantastic tools to perform between its Speed, coverage, and ability to circumvent most of its counterplay in some fashion through its multiple options for sets. The tier has no shortage of great Electric-types right now, and Raikou is certainly one of them.
from
B to
B+: The current presence of screens has been kind to Necrozma, finally allowing it to illustrate its strength in the DLC2 metagame as a powerful sweeper. Meteor Beam and Dragon Dance have both proven to be incredible fits on popular offensive structures, giving Necrozma a much more defined identity than before.
from
B to
B+: Cobalion has been really nice lately for the various roles it can compress, as well as the many different options currently at its disposal. SD with either Stone Edge or Volt Switch in its fourth slot has been particularly useful for offering good Speed, customizability, offensive pressure, and a soft check to popular Pokemon like Nihilego, Scizor, and Zarude. It’s often pretty self sufficient in matchups without an opposing Aegislash or Buzzwole, and also has decent potential for its item choice with options like Safety Goggles and Shuca Berry being quite potent lately.
from
B- to
B+: Mienshao has surged as one of UU’s rising stars, coming into its own as a great option for a fast physical wallbreaker with no Terrakion around. Regenerator, U-turn, and Knock Off are pretty excellent tools that have lended themselves to a lot of applicability for Mienshao, though it also has the flexibility to fit coverage moves for paper checks like Moltres and Salamence if need be.
from
B- to
B: Azelf has continued to establish some more identity for itself in the tier as a solid option for a fast Psychic-type. Its coverage allows Nasty Plot sets to prove to be pretty nasty in tandem with its Speed, though offensive pivoting sets with boots have also seen some more usage, carving more a niche for Azelf and increasing its general applications in the metagame.
from
C+ to
B-: Another potent Psychic-type at the moment, Gardevoir is continuing to climb up the rankings as its offensive coverage and colorful utility movepool have been further tapped into in the builder. It has a good amount of utility and niches it can carve over its main competition in Primarina between its movepool, typing, and Speed, which has allowed it more recent opportunities to establish an identity.
from
C to
C+: As Keldeo has significantly improved, Mantine has stuck out as one of the more solid means of combating it. Its typing and bulk also present fair utility with Pokemon like Scizor, Kommo-o, and Buzzwole all being important components of the tier, giving it decent defensive value right now.
from
UR to
C+: Slurpuff has become a solid pick as a Sticky Web setter thanks to the value of Fire-type coverage, Unburden, and potentially tools like Magic Coat/Endeavor/Misty Explosion that it can compress. It’s even had tour appearances and is on a current sample team to boot, which illustrates the effectiveness it’s recently established.
from
UR to
C: Darmanitan’s Choice Scarf set has proven to be a potent pick on sun teams thanks to the immense power of its sun- and Sheer Force-boosted Flare Blitz. It’s particularly been able to carve an identifiable niche in recent months with Victini now long-gone from the tier.
from
UR to
C: Although it’s an odd pick, Guzzlord has showcased some fair defensive utility in recent weeks, its typing and phazing abilities yielding favorable matchups against popular Pokemon like Aegislash, Glowbro, Chandelure, and Mew. Despite being quite niche, it certainly has the tools it needs to find some worth with the current makeup of the tier.
Drops
from
S to
A+: Although Keldeo is still a top 10 Pokemon, its two-subrank rise in our last update was probably a bit of an overshot. It’s still plenty threatening but has been relatively well adjusted to in building with AV Tang surging and several Secret Sword resists being quite capable of punishing it. Primarina also has a firm place in the tier, which burdens Keldeo some both in that Primarina both competes with it but can pose as a fair obstacle to its progress in some matches.
from
A to
A-: Even without Skarmory around, Celesteela got notably worse with the recent tier shifts. Moltres becoming a recent tier staple has really hurt it, it can’t reliably combat the rises of Electric-types like the Thundies/Rotoms/Raikou, and Pokemon capable of overwhelming it like Primarina and Aegislash are increasingly common. It will always fulfill a solid role, but simply doesn’t have the same defensive applicability it once did and struggles to find too many top threats that it can definitively check.
from
A to
A-: Chandelure has taken a slight dip due to the heavy competition it faces from the increasingly potent Aegislash, who has a more self-sufficient typing that often makes it an easier fit on teams. The increased presences of Pokemon like Primarina and Nihilego have also made things just a tad more awkward for Chandelure, making it a bit less of a ‘free’ wallbreaking option.
from
A to
A-: Nidoqueen has lost some steam as a rocker as options like Rhyperior and Seismitoad have developed larger niches in the tier. Its typing doesn’t lend it the ability to check or trade with as many top threats as it once did now that Zeraora and Terrakion are both gone, though its damage output will always supply Nidoqueen with a niche.
from
B+ to
B: Conkeldurr has a difficult time actually utilizing its wallbreaking prowess in practice given the current structure of the metagame. The slow builds it would usually feast on aren’t particularly common right now and the tier is flooded with fast, powerful offensive threats capable of overwhelming it. The amount of other valuable Fighting-types with more overall utility has also recently burdened it a fair bit.
from
B+ to
B: Sylveon has already fallen off a tad from its slight surge that was met with a two-subrank rise in our last update. Its typing has a lot of current opportunity cost with Primarina being such a force in the tier and providing plenty defensive utility with its bulky sets, while its special bulk is hard to utilize as consistently lately as special attackers like Aegislash, Galarian Slowbro, and Nihilego have improved.
from
B+ to
B: Tapu Bulu is often very hard to actually make work in practice due to the plethora of strong counterplay that currently exists in the metagame. Pokemon like Aegislash/Salamence/Moltres/Amoonguss/Tangrowth are all over the place and severely stunt its progress and intensify its already bad 4mss. It also can’t tap into the perks of its typing unless it invests in bulk, which ends up making it a fairly subpar check to stuff like Keldeo and Crawdaunt. It just lacks a solid niche in the tier and is way too reliant on support to reasonably stay in B+.
from
B to
B-: Despite some support for a rise in the thread, Suicune finds itself in a very awkward spot lately. While there is no shortage of potent Water-types for it to compete with for a slot as is, it also hasn’t responded too nicely to the surge in Electric-types that can muscle past it, Zarude being excellent again, and the tier’s highly offensive nature, which are all trends its main competition has more gracefully pivoted around. Even smaller trends like Tangrowth running Power Whip more commonly have served to disadvantage Suicune.
from
B- to
C+: Diancie is just awkward. It takes up the Fairy-type slot, which is currently very valuable, but doesn’t actually check or even pressure the tier’s popular Fighting-types all too adequately. It basically needs Mystical Fire for Scizor but would really like Toxic in some other cases, is overwhelmed by many prevalent Pokemon quite easily, and in general just doesn’t tend to offer too many tools that are particularly urgent or specific to it.
from
B- to
C+: In a tier full of one-time sweepers that often outperform Scolipede in terms of effectiveness on screens builds, it really struggles to actually find a place. It simply just doesn’t have the proven worth it needs given its amount of current competition.
from
B- to
C+: Shuckle is slowly falling out of favor as Slurpuff rises as a webs setter. Its passiveness and momentum sapping have stuck out more and more as detriments as its main competition has found ways of circumventing these issues, which justifies a drop and potentially even a lower rank than Slurpuff some time in the future.
from
C+ to
C: Charizard’s niche is incredibly specific, only existing on sun teams which aren’t bad but also aren’t particularly good. It really isn’t a mainstay of the archetype and also can tend to require a decent amount of support, and generally makes more sense to be ranked alongside a similar wallbreaking presence with limited longevity for sun in Darmanitan.
from
C to
UR: Tyrantrum has a niche on paper that hasn’t actually been utilized in practice, while the plethora of other available wallbreakers/sweepers means that it can struggle significantly to find any slots on teams. Unranking it feels reflective of its lack of a proven niche in the metagame.
Hope y'all enjoyed. I have yet to write out discussion points but once I do I'll post those here and open the thread back up. Cheers!~