Resource SS OU DLC2 Viability Ranking Thread [SEE: Page 105, Post 2618]

[FreshJuice]

100 percent agree that Pult should drop. So many of its checks are so common rn such as sp def Lando Fini Heatran etc that it makes me wonder why Dragapult was ever considered broken. Not to mention the influx offensive checks like Weavile arctozolt zeraora. I don’t think fitting in at least two checks to pult on a team is very difficult anymore. A+ suits it more imo

Yalls gotta remember pult can rip off a surprize band or dd set.

But even then all of them checks get either u turned into shadow ball range for a 2hko. Or just spedef drop will ruin everything excpet unaware clef which gets toxiced and spikes cut into it health. In fact pult should be s.

 

[remetagross]

Unaware clef actually gets bopped too, since Unaware lets you ignore the opponent's stat changes, but not your own.

 

[Walletinspector62]

But even then all of them checks get either u turned into shadow ball range for a 2hko. Or just spedef drop will ruin everything excpet unaware clef which gets toxiced and spikes cut into it health. In fact pult should be s.

Yes, this is why I referred to them as checks. The way to beat Dragapult is the same way to beat Tapu lele, you just gotta win before pult does. Teams that cannot do that usually have a better mu vs pult.

 

[FreshJuice]

But even then all of them checks get either u turned into shadow ball range for a 2hko. Or just spedef drop will ruin everything excpet unaware clef which gets toxiced and spikes cut into it health. In fact pult should be s.

I understood unaware in the wrong sense. Sorry for the hastle.




And btw why lele should be a+.

breaker cleaner set up sweeper dragon immune. Team support. Lele can do it all

 

[Magcargo]

I understood unaware in the wrong sense. Sorry for the hastle.




And btw why lele should be a+.
https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/battle-gen8ou-1433805648
breaker cleaner set up sweeper dragon immune. Team support. Lele can do it all

Uh, this isn't exactly a replay. Just an empty room that timed out.

 

[airfare]

vr update soon here r my thoughts

weavile: s- --> a+
ppl prep for this mon now. more steel spam/pex/fini and general increase in speed control makes it less of a consistent offensive threat than it has been in the past

koko a+ --> s-
idgaf about the tiny winrate this mons amazing. still incredibly easy to wear down grounds--especially since no ones using the fatter ones--and can place immense pressure on every single team lategame with proper support in wearing down lando and the steels. games are never completely over w a koko in the back...

ferro a --> s-
while ferro isnt exactly splashable, it checks almost every common offensive mon rn and can win fat mus nearly singlehandedly. ferro bo/balance is extremely dominant as a playstyle rn and spikes + knock keep it from being passive

kartana a --> a+
this mon continues to be a valuable asset for offense with timid emerging as a thing again and scarf being one of the best cleaners/rkers itt (in addition to the broken breaking sd lo + band). benefits from decreased buzzwole usage and increased steel spams it can shit on

kyurem a --> a+
this mons a bitch. sub continues to be a massive pain in the ass, especially on the spikes teams and stalls its most common on, while nmi has made its appearance as a solid breaker that 2hkos everything. even brought blissey back from the abyss...

zone a --> a+
not much to say besides that zone is probably one of the most consistent breaking tools in the tier atm. can tear apart ur typical ferro fat thing or corv fat thing while remaining a surprisingly decent threat in its own right by toxicing lando/scaring things w its stabs. also has decent defensive utility vs the ices/fairies as a steel type, can customize what u want to do based on the item. my personal favorite set is broken ass rising voltage + koko (vs maxance)

scizor a --> a-
like corv u lose to many of the things u would like to be checking--cm lele especially is a major threat that this mon gets obliterated by, as well as even things like weav kart clef and twave melm... kind of weird to fit on teams and often struggles to accomplish anything in a more defensive mu where steels or pex cockblock it

a --> a+
cm and scarf are new and scary, specs/cm makes it easily one of the best breakers in the tier and it's hard to set guess on more offensive teams. not much to say but i really like cm as a tool that eliminates prediction vs steels + bird w some bulk that can stop a revenge attempt

a- --> a
offensive volc a menace... once again. idk why this mon ever dips below a

b+ --> a-
no sball resists speed control beats steels etc

b+ --> a-
kyurem and pult pulled this mon out the dumpster

gonna step away from more of the obvious mid tier stuff and highlight mons i think are pretty good

b- --> b
resisting ghost and annihilating most common defensive cores rn is a blessing for the offenses u see this mon on. bulk also gives u ample setup opportunities and the only thing really holding it down is the annoying fairies in koko and friends

b- --> b+
this mon is scary af!!!! every turn is a 50-50 but punishing fogging attempts and being capable of fucking over defense (if u get turns right) is a blessing for this suicidal chicken that people are now taking advantage of. defensive typing and speed tier are also quite useful when dealing with kart + most of the mid speed breakers like kyu shifu etc

c- --> ?? c+ at the very least yo
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...read-see-page-53.3674058/page-58#post-8982080

ur --> b- or somewhere near
this shit is terrifying. a great cleaner especially when speed boosting and surprisingly decent fat breaker w pain split. doesnt really like spdef landos and steels everywhere tho
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-582982
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-574943
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-577661

things to note:
wouldve put this mon in s- a lil while ago but corv lowkey loses to a lot of the shit it usually wants to check (lele weav kart chomp etc). i find lando torn structures have been solid competition because u get a lot more flexibility in playing around middle speed breakers like lele shifu kyurem & a more consistent answer to the grasses, but still think corvs place as a consistent fogger and pivot lets it stay in a+

i think torns good in a+ but has gotten a lot better over the past month or two. said most of what i wanted to above but wanted to mention that np + utility move like taunt is pretty unexplored and super super threatening, lead 6-0s a lot of the ferro fatter structures that ppl are spamming

was thinking about sliding these down a subrank into a- but theres no real reason to besides usage. like weav, most ppl have gotten much more used to playing around hail both in the builder and ingame, but arctozolt can play around some of its tougher mus quite easily and thus remains a permanently scary threat

ppl need to use these guys more

 

[Walletinspector62]

Some moms before the next vr update (def gonna make some controversial noms so stay tuned):

-> A+
These two could definitely rise up again sometime in the future, but currently I don’t think either is quite S-. Teams are so ridiculously overprepared for these two in the current meta. Some teams will run 2-3 checks for both. Over the passing month these two have become less consistently strong options and I think a drop should reflect that.

A -> A+ This thing is terrifying. With a little help from magnezone, this mon can tear the tier completely apart. This mon especially loved that Buzzwole is falling off a little bit in the current meta. Timid set makes it one of the scariest late game cleaners in the tier. Definitely something you should be specifically preparing for in the teambulder.

A -> A+ Kyurem is so annoying. The sub roost set that has kind of replaced specs is incredible, and it also loves the amount of spikes going around currently in the tier. Specs is still terrifying, albeit not as effective as it was a few months ago. One thing I never hear people talk about is how you pretty much have to run a dedicated kyurem check, but like none of the checks are really that splashable, bar glowking. Scizor barely even checks specs anyways. Super annoying, def deserves a rise.

A -> A+ this mon is a top 5 mon in the tier rn imo. Spikes are really strong in the current metagame, with how many abusers there are that benefit immensely from them, and it can also knock off boots so that spikes are even more effective. It also blanket checks a ton of Pokémon, most notably Tapu fini and koko. Honestly could be S- in the future, but for now A+ is fine.

A -> A+ Slowking usage dropping like a rock really helps this thing out a lot. Now it has like zero checks in the entire tier lol. It’s speed tier and always having to run a choice item keeps it from S imo, but still a great choice rn.

A -> A- this mon is just so meh rn. Bulk up is cool but you’re still never getting through Lando or Chomp. As a late game cleaner, it’s kind of outclassed by mons like kart pult and Weavile. Boots is pitifully weak and even with toxic it just kind of does nothing until the grounds are gone.

A -> A+ I’ve nommed this mon up several times before, and I’ll do it again. This mon is ludicrously strong even without band. It also just naturally checks mons like Weavile and kartana without having to put much into bulk. Assault vest can check mons like Pult and Tapu koko. Also one of the only Pokémon that isn’t just decimated by arctozolt, so that’s a plus.

B+ -> A-: This mon is so scary in team preview. It’s offensive typing is incredible and literally nothing wants to switch into it. One of the few special attackers in the tier that can melt Landorus, which is a huge plus IMO. The team support for it is definitely worth it. Definitely needs to rise.

A- -> B+: Poor skarmory. This mon has always been kind of fringe, but now with ferrothorn being the tiers main spiker and corviknight being the tiers main metal bird, it struggles to find teams to fit on where it isn’t just outclassed.

A- -> Lower: kind of crazy that we thought this was broken at one point. Still has its merits, like checking Tapu Lele and Nidoking but overall is significantly less effective then it was five months ago.

B -> B+: why don’t more people use Aegi? Ghost Stab is incredibly strong in the current Metagame, with blissey not liking a close combat at all. It also has an incredible defensive typing that lets it check some mons that are normally quite difficult to check, such as Tapu Lele and some variants of kyurem. There’s also some ambiguity to what set it’s running, whether it’s spell tag, band, specs, or lefties.

B+ -> A- or maybe higher: I don’t really want to repeat myself for like the fifth time on this mon but TLDR: Very strong, multiple good sets, ambiguity. Also checking Lele is a pretty big plus.

B -> B+: This thing loves all of the dark types pretty much being non existent in the tier bar Weavile. Assault vest is a pretty good pivot, behaving kind of like Glowking but with Knock off and better coverage. The Acid Armor Calm Mind set is also pretty good too. Sitting on pex forever is always a plus. Overall, could maybe see a slight rise.

B- -> B+: This thing may kill itself slowly, but while it’s doing that it’s also punching a gigantic hole in your team. This mon is pretty much uncheckable, especially with future sight support. It’s can also run U-Turn to ease up predictions sometimes. The mixup between scarf and band is nice as well. Deterring defog is always a good thing. Eats Lando alive.

C+ -> B: what is this still doing down there? Ground and Ice is a very good Stab combo, and is very difficult to switch into. It’s main niche over Weavile is that it can break pex and melm significantly easier. Snow Cloak is also BS and should be banned.


Felt like I did a pretty meh job explaining my reasoning, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong on any of these. Have a nice day!

 

[THKNKG]

vr update soon here r my thoughts

ur --> b- or somewhere near
this shit is terrifying. a great cleaner especially when speed boosting and surprisingly decent fat breaker w pain split. doesnt really like spdef landos and steels everywhere tho

Gonna piggyback and say that idk where it should be ranked, but it really merits placement on the list somewhere, it’s cracked. Serves as a super reliable switch in to stuff like zapdos, torn, koko, and once it starts snowballing, it’s kinda wild.

steels aren’t even really a strong check to it either, hippowdon and maybe ferro is really the only thing that can’t be worn down by getting nicked by this in the switch.

like, full spdef lando dies to power herb meteor beam + power gem:
+1 252 SpA Nihilego Meteor Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Landorus-Therian: 240-283 (62.8 - 74%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers

+1 252 SpA Nihilego Power Gem vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Landorus-Therian: 160-190 (41.8 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

against heatran with meteor beam + power gem, after lefties, you do like 88% minimum

You do like 55% to non AV melmetal with meteor beam lol

so even the harder counters can be whittled down with good teammate support

on top of that, it serves a really solid defensive role as a solid check for a single hit against a lot of stuff... you can live a Tran earth power and revenge, you can eat any specs pult hit and have a chance to ko after rocks or at least get close to killing, zap and torn just get blown back and can’t do anything back (even if torn knocks off you can just power gem or if you aren’t scared of being locked in just go for two turns). Its speed tier is crazy good too because you actually outspeed chomp so you can pick it off after weakening it and then go nuts

this replay is Uber low ladder bc I am bad and because I’ve dropped by goofing around with a mono Beast boost team, but this replay shows the point that even counters end up getting overwhelmed really easily - weakens full spdef lando t enough to kill it with meteor beam and then knocks out torn to force the forfeit

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1434274885

tl;dr - meteor beam + beast boost is insane and on spdef side this guy is fat as heck plus good speed tier

 

[Ruparajan]

I feel that volcarona deserves a rise to A. I have been on the ladder for a while and have not seen much checks for it once it setted a quiver dance with the bulky set. Building around it is easy as it only has few dedicated checks to this set quiver dance/roost/flamethrower/physic. I have only seen crawdaunt (a non-meta mon tho), Heatran, chansey (non-meta), blissey checking this op mon. It has a suprising fact that non hydro pump variants of pult can be checked at +1 and easily can set 1 more up and hardcore wall it .

 

[Ctann]

I feel that volcarona deserves a rise to A. I have been on the ladder for a while and have not seen much checks for it once it setted a quiver dance with the bulky set. Building around it is easy as it only has few dedicated checks to this set quiver dance/roost/flamethrower/physic. I have only seen crawdaunt (a non-meta mon tho), Heatran, chansey (non-meta), blissey checking this op mon. It has a suprising fact that non hydro pump variants of pult can be checked at +1 and easily can set 1 more up and hardcore wall it .

very much agreed A is a minimum.

the fact that it is a reliable check to Weavile, Kyurem, and Kartana is a big deal right now, you can trade 1 for 1 against a top tier threat (I would presume all 3 of those are in the highest tier for the threatlist

coming in on softer hitters is fun too, tho be careful, as sometimes you might have a brain freeze and you’ll forget some Pokémon might knock off, and using it as a tank can backfire and cost you a game, lol!

an 80% chance to set up +2 on specs pult as long as you’re packing 248HP is also a big deal! Don’t always get too excited, as that 20% chance will cost you games, like the one in this link :(

and there’s not enough credit given to Volcarona for this ability to be bulky. Especially when it’s the best offensive check to Kyurem in particular.

—

if you guys wanna see it, I’ll save a replay of Volcarona besting each variant of Kyurem:

-100% chance to best sub roost Kyurem with misty terrain support, about 80%-90% without it
- 100% chance to best specs and scarf variants of Kyurem with misty terrain support, a coin toss 50/50 if the Kyurem is packing meteor and you don’t have terrain support
- about 90% chance to best the icicle spear dragon dance variants, usually you can easily beat it unless they boost to 2.5x or so and get 2 sets of 5x spears.

—

There is too much attention given to offensive or partially bulky Volcarona, perhaps because of its legacy.

also there are ways to deal with it, even against a team that’s built to make it work, here’s a sample replay, 1900s ELO (or 2k in that game example actually) as always:

Just an aside.. that game was weird!

turns 24, 25 and 26, as well as the final two turns are straight statistical anomalies in every way from the accuracy to the secondary effects and the damage rolls!!! That zapdos was playing on some top luck

softening every Volcarona check made it look like it was impossible to take a win for the opponent, but he did it by forcing Volcarona to attack three times in a row whilst poisoned.

The bulkier sets of Volcarona are really devastating now

I mean some people are so terrified of it, they end up outplaying themselves over predicting the team preview (lol at the little end rage when I only used volc in one turn!!)

—

hope you enjoyed some games from the top of the ladder as much as I enjoyed playing them, let me know if you want to see more replays at the most challenging range of the ladder, or if they’re not needed. I like to add them because it helps to visualise arguments rather than using things like damage calcs!

I tried to avoid posting games that are just one sided stomps where Volcarona has an easy win, these are posted to help visualise what she is capable of and why it’s a top threat.

 

[WhiteQueen]

Arctovish: NR —> B-

Don’t knock Arctovish until you’ve used it or been swept by one. It’s definitely Walmart Dracovish, but Arctovish’s ridiculous Fishious Rend still OHKO or 2HKO most commonly seen Pokemon in OU.

Of course, Arctovish is only viable pairing with Ninetales, very much like how Arctozolt became a threat itself under hail. Some people thought Zolt was a joke initially as well and look how that turned out…

 

[TailGlowVM]

Arctovish: NR —> B-

Don’t knock Arctovish until you’ve used it or been swept by one. It’s definitely Walmart Dracovish, but Arctovish’s ridiculous Fishious Rend still OHKO or 2HKO most commonly seen Pokemon in OU.

Of course, Arctovish is only viable pairing with Ninetales, very much like how Arctozolt became a threat itself under hail. Some people thought Zolt was a joke initially as well and look how that turned out…

The big issue with Arctovish is that it's a completely worse Arctozolt: it's walled by Ferrothorn and struggles with Melmetal just like Arctozolt, and it can't do much to Slowbro, Toxapex and Tapu Fini.

 

[Finchinator]

We will be doing a new slate of voting in the coming days. And I will be including Arctovish because I feel like it. So that’s that. See ya on the flip side

 

[Finchinator]

will be including Arctovish

He’s staying UR in near unanimous fashion, RIP

 

[Finchinator]

We're going to have brief explanations here, focused primarily on the higher ranked Pokemon, but then open the thread up to any questions for the next 48 hours. I will try to get to as many as I can to help inform people why rises or drops may have occurred, especially for the lower ranked Pokemon so some transparency is provided, so please do not hesitate to ask up here during that period. Nominations will be taken right after this period is over, not during.

Rises

• from A to A+: Ferrothorn has been an increasingly practical pick as of late. Spikes and Leech Seed help wear out a ton of Pokemon as we all know, but Ferrothorn also is a good measure against Arctozolt, Tapu Fini, and Tapu Koko, who have all been well-off recently. The options Ferrothorn has besides the aforementioned Spikes and Leech Seed are pretty great, too, with Knock Off, both STABs, Body Press, and even status moves or Iron Defense being possibilities.
• from A to A+: Kyurem has been a very trendy Pokemon as of late, even garnering a lot of potential suspect attention in the recent survey and metagame discussion. Regardless of if it is suspected or not, Kyurem stands out as a strong special attacker that deserves A+ status among the other premier, metagame defining presences. There is very limited counterplay to Kyurem and it has potential to serve multiple offensive roles, which is a big plus.
• from B+ to A-: Blissey has been seeing an uptick in usage due to the number of strong special attackers it helped out with. Be it the aforementioned Kyurem, metagame staple Dragapult, or other options like Hydreigon and Nidoking, Blissey is still a great specially defensive blanket check. Not much has changed about how to use Blissey, besides the occasional Rocky Helmet set being used to punish U-turn spam on teams with reliable hazard removal, but it is just a bit more necessary now than it once was.
• from B+ to A-: The uptick in usage of Body Press + Colbur Berry Slowbro is one thing, but also Future Sight is still a great bonus of using Slowbro as a pivot, opening up many games. With the abundance of Grounds and physical attackers in general, Slowbro is just in a better place now than it was previously.
• from B+ to A-: Victini has a nice niche of being able to resist Tapu Lele STABs, Ice Beam + Freeze Dry from Kyurem, and most attacks you encounter from Volcarona. Couple this with a great offensive presence and you get a decently viable option for bulky-offensive teams. Both physical and special/mixed sets have seen usage, too, which has really helped solidify Victini's viability.

Also rising:

• from B to B+
• from B to B+
• from B- to B+
• from B- to B+
• from C+ to B-
• from C to C+
• from C- to C
• from C- to C
• from C- to C
• from UR to C+
• from UR to C
• from UR to C-

Drops

• from S- to A+: Weavile is still a really great option, but the metagame has begun adapting to it after seeing it rise all the way to S-. There are still few ways to assure long-term counterplay against a Heavy-Duty Boots Weavile with enough support, but it is at least possible to keep at bay and many people are expecting it. This coupled with people also finding other ways to adapt to Kyurem's Ice attacks on bulky-offense has helped open the door for non-Weavile structures that previously mandated Weavile.
• from A+ to A: Garchomp has seen a steady decline in usage due to stiff competition and an abundance of checks defensively and offensively popping up. Revenge killing with things like Weavile Ice Shard or checking with things like bulky Landorus-T makes it challenging to use Garchomp consistently.
• from A+ to A: With a lot of Slowbro, Tapu Fini, and Toxapex, the metagame is not as friendly to Urshifu-Rapid-Strike as it once was. It is still among the strongest physical attackers and plenty viable, but we do not consider it a clear-cut top 10 Pokemon that qualifies for A+ rank at this point in time.
• and from A to A-: Hail is still strong, but it is a bit less consistent and common, leading to us dropping it off a subrank for now.
• from A- to B+: Rillaboom is struggling to see much usage outside of hyper offenses or when paired with Magnezone, which makes it hard to justify in the A ranks when it is far from a staple in either scenario as is. Rillaboom mainly is a utility and pivot right now, so losing the offensive firepower is not enough to keep it in place.
• from A- to B+: Dragonite is super reliant upon support and ideal conditions in order for it to function as a sweeper. The non-DD sets are plagued with awkward situational passiveness, especially when facing Clefable or Slowbro teams, and only really carry their own defensively when facing one of a small handful of Pokemon nowadays.
• from A- to B+: Hippowdon Sand is not quite as common as it once was. Being able to handle Electric types, dissuade opposing weather, set-up Stealth Rock, and even help against some Fire types such as Heatran can still be very helpful, but Toxic vulnerability, being a more reactionary presence, and only working as a part of a pretty limited archetype have not helped everyone's favorite hippopotamus.
• from A- to B+: Skarmory is struggling to remain consistent in a metagame with lots of Defog Tornadus-T and Magnezone. Ferrothorn is also a much more consistent Spike setter that fits better with Landorus-T in particular, which makes it a better pick on many teams.
• from A- to B+: Much like many posts in this thread have alluded to, Slowking's niche is minimal. Slowbro is oftentimes the more practical choice and many special attackers hit Slowking super effectively now, limiting it to just handling choiced Tapu Lele, AV Slowking-Galar, and non-Taunt+Toxic Heatran well.

Also dropping:

• from B+ to B
• from B+ to B
• from B to B-
• from B to B-
• from B to B-
• from B to B-
• from C+ to C
• from C+ to C
• from C+ to C
• from C+ to C
• from C to C-
• from C to C-
• from C to C-
• from C- to UR
• from C- to UR
• from C- to UR

Ask away

 

[Mystras]

What is the reason for Tapu Bulu falling, is it cause it can’t compete as well offensively against the rising threats?

Edit: I’m also curious about the Nihi talk going around lately.

 

[Finchinator]

What is the reason for Tapu Bulu falling, is it cause it can’t compete as well offensively against the rising threats?

Tapu Bulu is really caught in a bit of an awkward spot at the moment. On the one hand, SD + 3A is still quite threatening, but on the other hand it is limited in terms of roles it can fulfill defensively to justify it, teams it can fit onto (as an extension of the former point), and times it can enter safely in the battle when actually being used.

As we see things like Buzzwole remain stable presences in the tier and the abundance of Fire and Ice types take-over the trends, we find Tapu Bulu with less room to be an offensive focus and more reliance on predicting correctly whenever it finds its way in safely. This is not a great look for a Pokemon that tends to function with support and numerous opportunities to break over time.

Utility variants are hard to justify right now at all, but arguably also serve some niche. They are yet to see any consistent usage though, so we cannot base ranks off of theory.

 

[Magcargo]

Not sure if I should be asking about this mon since it wasn't mentioned in the post, but why wasn't Heracross added to the rankings?

 

[Korkskrew]

Any specific reason for the big nihilego rise? UR to C+ is a pretty big jump, I don’t assume it’s the meteor beam set but idk

 

[Yourwelcomethanku]

Zapdos-Galar rose 2 entire sub ranks, curious as to why? Is there a particular trend its taking advantage of and/or have people found better ways to utilize it.

 

[smokeyinferno]

Why was zam unranked?

 

[scorbunnys]

Why didn't Slowking drop? Lots of people have been nominating it down and it clearly has been dropping on usage.

 

[Finchinator]

Not sure if I should be asking about this mon since it wasn't mentioned in the post, but why wasn't Heracross added to the rankings?

Not enough support to be ranked -- there have been things voted on to be ranked each slate that did not get ranked, including this one. We try to bring up everything mentioned in the thread with some semblance of decent logic at least.

Any specific reason for the big nihilego rise? UR to C+ is a pretty big jump, I don’t assume it’s the meteor beam set but idk

Edit: I’m also curious about the Nihi talk going around lately.

We have seen Nihilego sporadically since OLT playoffs, but recently it has been picking up quite a bit higher on the ladder and in tournaments. Personally I have yet to use it, but here are some replays from the last few weeks with it in Smogon Championship League:

• Felix vs dice, W
• Insult vs dahli, W
• Lusa vs mind gaming, L
• Felix vs Insult, W

I am not the most sold on it yet, but it has a practical defensive typing for some match-ups, offers a surprise factor with Pain Split, and has some unique coverage to salvage some viability.

Zapdos-Galar rose 2 entire sub ranks, curious as to why? Is there a particular trend its taking advantage of and/or have people found better ways to utilize it.

Much like Nihilego, it has been trending recently on the higher ladder and in tournaments. It is very hard to switch in to and capitalizes a lot on the staple status of Landorus-Therian. Here are some replays with it:

• Max vs Ox, W
• Talah vs ES, W
• watashi vs Malekith, L
• Felix vs Insult, W
• BIHI vs March Fires, W

Why was zam unranked?

It was never being used and we voted on it to drop to UR near unanimously.

Why didn't Slowking drop? Lots of people have been nominating it down and it clearly has been dropping on usage.

It did unanimously actually. I just forgot the reasoning initially. Check the post again now -- my apologies.

 

[zaeoy]

really curious why blacephalon didn't rise?

 

[Finchinator]

I missed a few things in the sheet that have now been added to the drops of the post -- most notably the Hail duo of Arctozolt/Ninetales-Alola dropped from A to A-, Garchomp dropped from A+ to A, Rillaboom dropped from A- to B+, Tangrowth dropped from B+ to B, and Kommo-O dropped from B to B-. I apologize for missing these, I added explanations to those that needed them in the post, I edited in the others, and feel free to ask about any of these as well!